After the ceremony ended, everyone returned back to their respective home.
"I see you enjoyed yourself today," Dave asked looking at Lily who had a face full of smiles. They were both heading back to their house.
"Yes big brother, you were so cool out there today," Lily said smiling from ear to ear.
"Do you made friends?" Dave asked.
"Yeah, a girl named Sama," Lily said happily.
"I am glad you are happy," Dave said.
The next day, the village was back to how it was.
Dave worked up early by the voice of the system.
"Wake up host, it 6 am. Time for training," The system voice said.
"Training?" Dave asked as he rubbed his eyes.
The party only manage to get 3 hour of sleep due to the party which took this entire night.
"Yes host, the system noticed that your fights were mostly reliant to the skills you got. Your endurance is low, your speed is average, your battle tactics is average and your reaction time is slow," The system said listing his weakness.
"So, what is the training about?" Dave asked.
"It is more of a test. There, you won't be able to use any skill except your physical abilities," The system voice said.
"Okay," Dave replied.
"Begin transfer in 5...4....3...2..1"
"Transfer initiated," The system voice said.
Dave looked around him, it felt like every part of his room were replaced by another space.
In a few moment, he was no longer in his room but what seemed to be a desert.
He looked up at the raging sun in the sky.
"System where am I?" Dave asked.
"Training ground 1. After you pass this stage, you can enter higher level. After completing each level you would be rewarded random gift," The system said.
"Mission for level one, survive for 30 minutes," The system said.
"What do you mean survive, what is the main mission?" Dave asked but didn't get reply.
"Your time starts now," A transparent blue screen appeared in front of him showing the count down.
Immediately, Micheal felt the ground underneath his shake.
He ran forward and turn back.
He had an horrified look on his face.
In the spot he stood a while ago collapsed. A blazing red centipede came out.
It started running towards him.
Micheal pick to his heels.
"Time started, counter 29 minutes 53 seconds," The screen said.
Micheal was caught off guard by the sudden beast. But he couldn't stop, the beast in his back was out for him.
Because, every step he took, the beast took hundreds.
Dave ran like his life depended on it.
Every turn he took, the monster could easily predict it.
He continue to run trying to escape but the centipede was right behind him giving him no break.
[Hidden mission triggered. Run for 10km within your time limits" A notification sounded in his ears.
"Shut up," Micheal yelled in annoyance feeling frustrated.
Fighting was not an option, he couldn't land any fatal attack on the beast. And with the looks of it, the mission aim wasn't to test his fighting skill if not he would have been given a beast at his level. But was to test his speed and endurance. Trying to fight it would make him loose his life.
"What can I do?" Dave thought as he continued to run.
"The system said I can't use any of my abilities. But is that true, if it wanted to test me it wouldn't give me a monster that I can't handle without a secret cheat?" Dave thought.
"Hell fire," Dave muttered as he closed his eyes while running at the top of his speed.
A small flame appeared from his hands. It was very weak and couldn't pose as a lethal threat to the beast at his back.
"Focus," Dave said clenching his teeth.
The flame started getting stronger.
After getting enough flames, Dave pointed his hands backward.
"Whooosh," It flew out of his hands at a fast speed.
The little distraction bought him some time run in the opposite direction and getting some distance away from it.
"Auuuuuu," The beast yelled as it changed course heading towards Dave.
After using the skill, Dave felt a sudden toll of exhaustion.
"So this is the consequence of breaking the law," Dave thought but he couldn't help but continue running.
Every seconds felt as if it was longer than usual and time seems to be going at snail speed.
"Bastard," Dave curse.
He looked at the screen in front of him.
"19 minutes more," Dave said.
He continued this same trick. Making him get further away from it, when it gets close he would shoot out his already prepared flames which doubled his exhaustion everytime.
"Ahh," Dave suddenly tripped making him fall hard on his chest.
He quickly looked back at the centipede that came at him.
"Hell fire," Dave yell as the mouth of the centipede got closer.
"A small fire shoot out of his hands and head to the centipede.
"Time counter ended, transporting host back to reality," The system voice said.
The next instant, Dave found himself back to his room.
He was breathing heavily and had his clothes soaked in sweat.
He collapsed on the floor not wanting his dripping sweat to stain his bed.
"Congratulations host, you have completed stage one. And have also completed a hidden mission," The system said.
"Cut the crap, show me the reward," Dave said.
"You will have to select from random cards, for the two mission you completed you will get two chance to pick any skill," The system said as a ble screen appeared in front of him.
In it, contained 20 blue cards arranged in row and column.
"You can pick your card," The system said.
Dave looked at the cards in front of him with a contemplating look. He was hesitant to pick as any card he picked would determine his future skill.
After guessing, he finally touched a card.
A bright light came out.
"Congratulations host, you have picked the dash card. Dash skill has been infused to your status," The system said.
"Dash? Isn't that like sprint?" Dave asked.
"Yes host," The system replied.
"Then that good," Dave said as his previous grumpy mood disappeared in an instant.
"You have one last card to pick from," The system remind him.
"I know, just a bit nervous," Dave said as he made a random guess and pointed a a card.
Another bright light erupted from the system.