This merely meant that the training dummy had the same weakness as an armored human. Luckily, it didn't move as fast as a human would. Otherwise, this first quest would prove to be incredibly difficult for most beginners.
Noah tried again, this time with more conviction. The dummy leaned back, and the sword missed. Ultimately, he was a gamer who never fought in real life. The sword was heavy, and his grip was weak.
Noah observed as other players fought against the dummies. He was relieved to see that a lot of them had a hard time, just like him. However, some players were better than average. It was worth observing how they moved around the dummies and defeated them.
On his third try, Noah fought against the training dummy until he learned its movement pattern.
[-2]
[You've killed a training dummy!]
[+0 EXP]
Killing the rest of the dummies after defeating the first one was not hard.
[Congratulations! You successfully killed all of the training dummies!]
The old trainer walked up to Noah after he completed the quest and patted him on the back.
[Haha, Miro, you're not half bad for a first-timer! I think you have it in you if you put your mind to it, young man! Here! I'll give you 20 gold coins as a reward for showing me something good. I wish you good luck, brave hero!]
[Quest Reward: 20 Gold]
The trainer walked away after wishing him farewell. Now, Noah was left alone in the world of Eternal Dreams. The tutorial quest was the only mandatory quest inside the game. Everything else was generated based on probabilities and hidden conditions.
The players were supposed to wander around and discover the game on their own. Noah was tired after the tutorial quest. He sat down on a wooden bench near the training ground and observed the other players as they tried their best.
Noah wondered how it was possible to feel tired inside a virtual game.
'Is it my brain tricking me, or is my body sweating inside the Dream Pod as I play? Do I get better inside the game if I start working out in real life?'
Noah stood up and approached the trainer, who was currently observing another player fighting against the training dummies. The trainer noticed him approaching and lifted an eyebrow.
[How can I help you, young Miro?]
"Uhmm, can I try fighting against the training dummies once again? I want to beat the record."
[I don't mind if you want to train here, but don't expect me to reward you again for something like this.]
"Not at all, I just want to see how far I can go against the training dummies before leaving the area."
It was true. Noah had no delusions about breaking the current record. A VRMMORPG was vastly different from the legacy games. Here, players who shone in real life were better, while shut-ins like him had to try harder.
The trainer nodded at Noah before continuing.
[I don't mind if you want to try it, but let me give you a piece of advice. Your current record is more than 10 minutes. The world record is 20 seconds. Beating it with your level of skill is impossible.]
"What?! Isn't that supposed to be impossible? It takes time for the dummy to reappear after each defeat. 20 seconds is supposed to be impossible."
[It is not impossible. Don't worry, even I couldn't believe my own eyes when it happened. Just do your best while you can. You're not allowed to fight against the dummies once you get stronger.]
The trainer walked away after informing Noah about the current record. He suspected that the trainer had to tell the record every time it was mentioned in front of him. The first training dummy attacked him, and his grind towards a new world record has officially started.
[You've killed a training dummy!]
[You've killed a training dummy!]
[You've killed a training dummy!]
Noah killed at least 100 dummies before giving up. He was convinced by now that the record couldn't be broken using ordinary means. There was a trick to it. A trick he needed to research if he wanted to find a way to surpass the current record.
His current record was barely less than 8 minutes. This was the best he could do with his current stamina and strength. Noah suspected that getting a better record required him to train outside of the game.
He wanted to log off and test his theory, but Eternal Dreams had a unique system when it came to playtime. Players were supposed to play while they were asleep. Eight hours of sleep equaled a whole day inside the game.
The player had the option to log out after 24 hours had passed inside the game. They stopped sleeping inside the Dream Pod as soon as they logged out and went about their day until it was time to sleep again.
However, the 16 hours the players spent in reality equaled nothing more than a second inside the game. Making it seem like players were online all the time. Thus, Noah faced a dilemma. He had 23 hours remaining in the game.
It was a long amount of time he had to spend without leaving the training grounds. He decided to rest first and check out the game commands before continuing the fight against the training dummies.
"Status"
[Name: Miro]
[Health: 100]
[Mana: 100]
[Level: 1 EXP 0/100]
[Strength: 3]
[Intelligence: 3]
[Dexterity: 3]
[Luck: 3]
"Inventory"
[Inventory: Default Sword, Leather Armor]
There was nothing unusual about his status, and his inventory was almost empty, just as he suspected.
Noah hoped that he would find a lead if he explored the game system, but he found nothing.
Thus he decided to spend the rest of his time killing the training dummies. At one point, however, there was no point in defeating the dummies anymore.
His personal best remained the same no matter how hard he tried. Improving a second after trying for hours was pointless.
Noah decided that it would benefit him if he fought other players instead.