A punch to the face snapped my spine again. The simulation registered that I died in big, bloody letters.
I respawned, and the demon kicked me in the throat. "You can call me teacher if you want."
I choked to death and respawned. He let me rise and then took me apart again.
The pain felt real, but I couldn't die permanently. How was I supposed to learn from any of this?
Simulations ran at 50x speed. Only a few hours meant days of training, and the body couldn't get tired in the simulation. On the downside, anything I learned had to be practiced in the real world.
"What's wrong? I knew you were soft, but are you also stupid? Maybe I just wanted to beat on someone for a while. Look at me compared to me you're a woman with her ass up in the air waiting to be fucked. I've listened to you squeal enough to know I like the sound."
His thumbs jammed into my eyes, shattering the sockets and impaling my brain. Again, I appeared, and he grinned at me. His massive canines stood out, making the man look like a mix of lion and ape. He moved in, and I punched out on reflex. My knuckles crumbled against the man's skin, and he grinned before snapping my neck.
This continued at a brutal pace.
I respawned, and he stood on the other side of the room. "It's been eight hours, and you haven't given up. Now charge me. I want to see what you're made of."
I blinked and then ran using the technique the app had forced me to practice. He grinned and practically walked around me and kicked me in the back of the head. I felt something break, and the world went black.
"My martial art doesn't really have a name. It's a mix of all the useful bits and pieces I learned. I'll teach you how to strike, kick, and move. Once you're able to spar with me, you pass. But if you want to learn the real lesson, then learn other martial arts and get good. Then come back here and beat me. That will let my original know he has a potential student."
He showed me a technique, drilled my use of it for hours, and then attacked me until I could use it against him. He was relentless, and I still didn't know his name.
For some reason, I believed that if I could fight him, then nothing could intimidate me again. In the second real-world hour, I was drilled on several deadly techniques designed to turn men into corpses. He taught me how to move silently in the second hour, and there was so much more to learn.
"Power is everything, don't let anyone tell you differently. Your system only exists for a purpose you will have to find out for yourself."
The helmet went black. I slowly took it off and curled up in bed. No one could see me shaking. I rolled over and faced the dawn blasting through my window.
After going through the exercises, I couldn't help but think that I was being led to something. Well, that much was obvious, but why bother? Who would send these apps out, and why? Why give out power? I couldn't see the point.
I added another egg to the omelet and a cut of leftover lamb. This time, I remembered to season it, and I had a much better breakfast. It was the fourth day, and I felt a little stronger. After the workout, I slowly went through every movement and technique I knew.
My mind struggled to work through what happened as my body moved, forcing the beginnings of muscle memory into me. I dreaded returning to my teacher, but refused to fail just as much. All my life, all I seemed to do was fail, and this felt like my greatest and last opportunity to become someone.
…
The helmet fit back on my head despite my shaking hands. My heart beat nearly out of my chest as I forced myself to face my teacher again. He puffed on his cigar while looking me over.
"You know the greatest part about this simulation? It's not the opportunity to beat down the weak trash of the world, finding satisfaction in spotting those rare talents that show promise, or the pleasure of new experiences. No, it's the fact that I have an unlimited supply of fine cigars to smoke." He sucked in another puff as I watched him with a blank expression "This is important you should be thanking me for my wisdom you little punk."
I shifted into the stance he taught me, and his lips twitched upward. "I will remember that cigars are what's important, teacher."
"Don't be a little shit. I felt all contemplative and proud of you because you had the spine to return. Now I see we need to break it and build it back." The man proceeded to kick me in the stomach so hard my spine snapped. I tried to fight, and the beatings continued.
My fist flew forward, and I felt it scrape a chin that might as well be concrete before a fist shattered my jaw.
"How long has it been since we started this session, four hours on the outside?"
As painful as the blows felt, they were only temporary. Two hundred hours of straight Dark Souls level punishment had its benefits. I felt so much stronger. The helmet synchronized with my gains from training. Since yesterday, I saw a marked improvement. It didn't seem like much, but as the hours stretched, the change became obvious. Sometimes, I lasted longer than a few seconds.
"You're not improving anymore, get out of my sight until you've rested." Teacher said.
I nodded slowly and stood up. I peeled the helmet off my head and breathed heavily. The helmet rolled out of my hand and tumbled to the floor. What was I doing? How could I let this happen to me?
Under the harsh cries of cicadas, I fell asleep and had nightmares of a giant beating me into clay and remolding my remains into something unrecognizable.
I woke up in the middle of the night and left the house. After pushing my old truck to 55, I rolled my windows down to let the cool night air in. Driving made it feel like I could get away. Running felt good; it felt like I had a choice and was choosing to go back.
Deer lingered on the side of the road bigger than I remembered, but it was summer, so maybe they were fattening up for the winter. A honk of my horn would have had them scatter back in the woods a year ago. Instead, a buck charged my way. I slammed on my brakes as it crossed, and it stopped to stare me in the eyes.
My front bumper crumbled, my windshield fractured, and its legs pounded on my truck as it flipped over me. I stopped my truck and rushed out to check on the animal. My fingers pressed against its neck, and I felt a pulse. At 40mph, the animal hadn't died on impact. I glanced over at the side of the road, and the deer were still there watching. It was bizarre.
"How dare you attack my herd, you hunter?" Out of the shadows, someone stepped into the orange glow of an old street light. "This world isn't yours; you have no right to demand roads to be clear." I turned my gaze to someone holding a strange antlered staff in one hand and wearing a cloak of poison ivy.
His neck was thin, it would be easy to snap.
I shook my head at the sudden, intrusive thought. My teacher made dummies appear to be practiced on. I left home to buy a 100lb bag, some boxing gloves, and some sand to fill the bag. At two in the morning, I would have to wait another 4 hours for a store to open.
This was so bizarre I couldn't quite believe what I was seeing.
"Alright, buddy. If these are your deer, then that makes you liable. I need your ID, or I'm calling the cops."
"How cute you think the world is still the same, that anyone will come and protect you when the new order comes knocking. I have been to the other side and seen a world untouched by man, where the rivers flow without pollution, and it is heaven for all. Let me show you what I mean." He pointed his staff, and I dodged to the side as a beam blasted out and struck my truck.
Metal warped before my eyes into patchy tan fur, rawhide, and bone. I looked at the man, gleefully pointing his staff at my truck, slowly turning the old gas guzzler into a deer. My mouth hung open as my hidden masturbator fell out and bounced on the ground as a deer the size of my truck took a few tentative steps.
"Look at her beauty, behold her majesty." The man cackled before pointing his staff at me. "You're next." I picked up a piece of glass and threw it before juking out of the way of the beam.
The man screamed and dropped his weapon. He clutched his face as I delivered a flying knee strike to his head. It felt like hitting rubber stretched around metal. I picked up his staff, and he threw a punch wide thanks to his damaged eye.
With a hold like a baseball bat, I smashed the head of the staff into the man's temple. He dipped to the side as I delivered a second strike. The insane man moved to put his hands on me, and I kicked his unprotected crotch. He screamed as I slammed the head of the staff into his damaged eye.
His blows flew wild as he slipped and fell down a hill. I followed him to the drain ditch below. This was the shallow creek through which waste from the local animal shelter and other houses passed.
300hrs training with an insane man did not leave me willing to let bygones be bygones with someone turning things and let's be honest, people into deer.
I was much stronger than I ever was in my teens. Without the staff or the lucky throw, this guy would have beaten me with raw physical toughness alone. I wasn't confident in killing him by snapping his neck or tickling his brain with my thumbs. But everyone needed to breathe, and this piece of excrement could die with feces in his lungs.
He managed to get up on all fours when I swung the staff, slamming him between the legs and dropping him back on his face. I grabbed one of his feet and dragged him toward the creek, where the water was nice and high, thanks to the rainy day when all this started for me.
"You can't kill me, no matter what you try. I am the savior of the world. I will stop the world from sinking. The caps are melting and only I can save them."
"I never put much stock in global warming. It all sounded like commie crap to me. You know if they wanted to fix the environment, they would have promoted nuclear power." With a heave, I tossed him in the creek.
He surfaced fighting to keep his head above the admittedly shallow water. "I have friends who'll come for you." I tossed the staff on the ground and picked up a heavy boulder. My shoes dug deep into the beach as I made my way over to him. He scrambled for the shore, but he was bleeding a lot and had taken multiple blows to the head.
I tossed the rock on his chest with a heave, and he sank. He raised his head but couldn't quite stretch it above the water. I scratched my back with the butt of the staff. Then I thought about it. I could turn boulders into deer and solve world hunger.
Then I shook my head, having the weapon was too much of a danger. Eventually, some other nut job would get their hands on it and turn people into deer. I sat the staff on two stones, picked up a big rock before slamming it down, and watched the staff snap.
The buzz of power I felt when I held the weapon slowly vanished. I turned my head to the guy who wanted to turn me into a deer to see that he had gone glassy-eyed. His hands weren't clutching the boulder anymore.
I thought about it for half a second and tossed more boulders on the body. It would at least hide the body long enough for some decomposition to happen. I finished breaking the staff into two pieces, tossed the bottom half in the creek, and took the top half with me. I didn't know if it could be recombined, but I didn't want to find out.
After returning to the road, I saw that the giant deer that had once been my faithful truck was, in fact, still oversized. It was figuring out how to walk still, and the other deer gathered around it while watching me like I was some stranger.
I was a murderer, and my truck had been turned into a big deer. Could that guy have been in control of the deer? If so, did he send it after my truck? Or was there still a human inside there and he was trying to find an end to his suffering.
Hours later, I returned home and threw myself into bed. I slid the helmet back on my head because I felt like I needed to be punished.
"You shouldn't feel bad about killing such a lowly piece of shit." Teacher said.
Five hundred hours into my training, I had just begun to spar with him. I wasn't close to being stronger, and his technique was ridiculous. Every blow was a work of art, precisely timed and engineered to kill. It struck me as my neck was broken and I had died. I wasn't taught how to defend myself; I was taught to kill and kill well.
He taught me holds, joint locks, and basic throws by materializing dummies for me to practice. When he didn't give me basic instructions, I lost.
Thinking ahead and planning wouldn't help me win it; it would only let me lose slower. At first, nothing I did seemed to matter, but slowly the seconds before my defeat increased. I grew used to dispair and felt my skills grow by the hour.
At hour 721, he called an end when I survived 20 seconds against him.
"You've passed the test. While you're still trash to me, you can be proud that I acknowledge you as trash."
I closed my eyes and let the insult pass over me. It was just how he spoke, nothing to get angry over. "What's next?" I asked.
"You will learn everything you can from other teachers, and when you feel you're ready, you'll fight again. If you beat me, then you will earn a spot in a tournament to decide if one of you is worthy of being a disciple of my sect."
"So of those crazy or depressed enough to put up with you, one will join you full time," I said.
"Look at you. When did you grow such a healthy spine?" The teacher said.
I removed the helmet and threw it into the bathroom on a pile of dirty clothes.
Quest completed
Learn Hand-to-Hand Combat
Rewarded
500pt
Travel Guide to Ichor Prime
The book didn't appear in front of me as expected. I got out of bed and searched my house until I found it on my bookshelf. It was a thick tome with pictures of various sights from the world's prehistoric times. A type of giant elemental monster ruled the world. They were said to be the offspring of some ultimate monster. There were a few of note.
There were eight known Kaiju, each with a tribe that worshipped them. From the giants' blood, the world's inhabitants mutated into forms similar to the kaiju to be devoured once ripe. This process allowed the Kaiju to raise their powers and expand their territory worldwide eternally.
A type of energy that exists in Ichor Prime called chi. Breathing techniques were needed to utilize it properly. I was 99.9% sure that it didn't exist in my world. I was also sure that kaiju did not roam the world, and elves certainly weren't real.
With that in mind, why did the system make the travel guide appear on my bookshelf instead of on the bed?
I wasn't stupid, only lonely and possibly a murderer. Why was my first thought when fighting someone for the first time to kill them?
They were stronger and possibly more knowledgeable than I was. Oh, and they also turned my truck into a deer.
The next week, I worked hard to build points, continue training myself, and practice what I learned. Something was coming, and I had to work hard to prepare for it. Daily quests let me do 75 reps of body weight exercises five times daily, and I only took my pills after I trained my martial arts into my body.
New Weekly Quest
Learn melee weapon combat
Reward
500pt
Neutral Breathing Art
Chi Source
I was in my second week, and the knife and spear combat simulation went much smoother. The trainers seemed impressed with my willingness to murder them by accident. After only 200 hours in each simulation, I walked out with proficiency in both forms of combat.
The chi source appeared in our second bedroom as a glowing wet organ in a complicated life support system. Tubes forced blood to cycle through it, and it shivered when I neared.
As for the breathing technique, it was hard to get down at first. But when I did, it clicked into place. I had difficulty figuring out why I hadn't always breathed like that.
Nearing the end of the week, a new quest appeared.
Monthly Quest
Use the Travel System to enter Ichor Prime and survive one month.
20,000pt
Unlock Travel Gatcha
Unlock Clans
So this was why she left. Could I even blame her when I wanted the same thing? She gave me the link, but I refused until she left, and I still couldn't look at the letter.