"Master, huh?" Ayush rasped, wincing as he spoke through a split, bleeding lip. "Bro, who in their right mind would even want to train us? We look like a bunch of low-level NPCs who accidentally walked into an endgame raid!"
Len let out a heavy sigh, leaning back against the shattered rock and massaging his temples. "You've got a lot to learn, kid. This world is massive—way bigger than your tiny brain can comprehend. There are continents and hidden islands out there that even I haven't stepped foot on. There are gargantuan beasts whose legs literally pierce through the cloud layer. You can't even fathom the scale. Places like the Void exist out there. So trust me, your main-character friends will find masters. As for you?"
Len stood up, towering over Ayush with an intimidating shadow. "I'm going to personally teach you everything I know. I'm going to turn you into a literal cheat code capable of rivaling our King."
Len casually reached down, grabbing Ayush by the collar of his shredded shirt to lift off into the sky like a majestic anime villain. He flexed his back, hovered two inches off the ground, and immediately dropped back down with a pathetic thud.
"Oh... right. Zero mana. Amazing," Len deadpanned, his terrifying boss face instantly cracking into a hilarious "bro is fr helpless" meme reaction. "Welp. Guess we're walking."
Without another word, Len dragged Ayush across the rough, jagged terrain by his shirt collar like a heavy sack of trash.
Ayush was in an absolute state of tragic ruin. His face was swollen like a overinflated balloon, his nose and mouth were leaking blood, and his entire body looked like a walking blueprint of severe combat trauma—covered in deep contusions, scrapes, and terrifying burn marks from Len's fiery arm.
"Bro... at least drag me from my arm, my back is getting a free sandpaper massage here," Ayush groaned weaky, his head bobbing against the rocks.
As his battered body dragged along the dirt, Ayush's consciousness suddenly drifted away from the pain.
ZAP—!
In the dark cavern of his mind, a floodgate burst open. The memories, combat instincts, and subconscious skills of every single Shadow Monster he had recently added to his legion began playing like a high-speed cinematic reel. He watched their movement patterns, absorbed their attack mechanics, and analyzed their battle instincts in ultra-HD detail.
He spent what felt like agonizing hours trapped in this mental training realm. But when his eyes snapped open again, barely a second had passed in the real world. During those mental hours, his brain had been completely offline to the physical pain—yet he woke up with a chilling realization: those monsters didn't just feel like summons anymore. They felt like missing limbs finally reattaching to his soul.
Meanwhile, at a bustling restaurant inside the Grand Kingdom...
Vikas washed down a massive plate of cooked meat with a huge gulp of juice, turning his attention to Aryan. "Btw, I never actually asked you... what even is your actual power kit?"
Aryan took a slow, mysterious sip of his drink, maintaining an absolute straight face as he dropped a completely fake, low-tier explanation. "Oh, me? I can basically replicate certain skills from entities that are weaker than me. That's pretty much my entire useless gimmick."
Vikas's eyes lit up with instant scheme energy, his face turning into the classic devious grin meme. "Ayo! So hear me out: how about you go around copy-pasting an insane arsenal of skills from random mobs, while I grind my stats and level up my raw physical stats?"
Aryan smirked, pushing his hair back. "Bet. That works. Actually... wait, I just had a galaxy-brain idea."
"What idea?" Vikas asked, leaning in.
NEXT DAY
The squad assembled outside the main dungeon gate, looking like an absolute fever dream of conflicting aesthetics.
Aryan was standing tall, wearing a pair of hilarious, bright-green, bug-eyed alien glasses paired with a insanely cool streetwear drip.
Vikas was strapped into his heavy, polished knight armor, carrying his double swords along with a newly equipped katana strapped to his waist.
And then there was Nakamu.
Nakamu was completely shirtless, wearing ultra-durable, dark baggy fiber trousers and heavy-duty white shoes. But the real torture was the gear Aryan made him wear: massive, 50kg iron training weights strapped to each wrist, and another 50kg weight bound to each ankle.
Total weight: 200kg.
"Bro... this is absurdly heavy! What kind of sick prank is this?!" Nakamu groaned, trembling violently just trying to lift his boots an inch off the ground. "Why on earth did you make me wear all this?!"
"It's called high-gravity main character training, bro. Just trust the process and do what I said!" Aryan grinned, adjusting his green alien glasses with zero remorse.
Vikas looked himself over, then looked at Aryan's outfit with pure disbelief. "Bro, you guys look like trendy influencers from a modern anime, and you stuck me in full medieval steel tank armor?!"
Nakamu squinted at Aryan's outfit, making a confused side-eye face. "Honestly, I've never seen such weird clothes in my life... but why are they lowkey kinda fire? Also, where's Rei?"
Aryan chuckled, folding his arms smugly. "I went to a local tailor and gave him the blueprints for these drip designs. He didn't even charge me a single coin because he's mass-producing them to sell! They literally went viral across the kingdom overnight."
Aryan tapped his chin, looking toward the dungeon entrance. "Alright, squad. Let's head in."
"Wait, what about Rei?" Nakamu asked, wheezing under his 200kg gear.
Aryan smirked under his green glasses. "I know, I know. But for now... let's just let him farm his aura in peace."
They dove straight into the dungeon, blitzing through floor after floor. Nakamu fought like an absolute demon, pushing his absolute limits to strike through the crushing 200kg weights. Vikas focused heavily on raw speed, reaction time, and precision execution, slicing through hordes of beasts.
Aryan stayed in the backlines, systematically analyzing every monster, copying their skills, and absorbing their combat memories in real-time—rapidly expanding his arsenal just like Ayush did.
Finally, they breached the 8th Floor Boss Chamber.
The boss was a terrifying, grotesque entity made of shifting, bio-organic mass. Vikas and Nakamu immediately engaged, coordinating their strikes. Aryan stood back, scanning the boss's attack telegraphs, copying its abilities, and shouting callouts to direct his team.
Suddenly, the Boss's health bar dropped into the red zone.
RUMBLE—!
"Watch out! It's casting an Ultimate!" Aryan yelled.
The entire cavern began to shake violently. Vikas kept his balance, but Nakamu stumbled hard as the earthquake combined with his 200kg ankle weights completely destroyed his balance. He face-planted straight into the dirt with a hilarious thud.
SPLICE—!
The Boss violently split its own body into dozens of razor-sharp, autonomous clone fragments, raining down on the squad from every angle!
"Watch out!" Aryan shouted, firing a blue projectile. "Water Arrow!"
The arrow hit, but the fragments just divided even further! Within seconds, Aryan, Vikas, and Nakamu were completely surrounded, each fighting four high-speed clones at once. Exhausted and overwhelmed, they were on the verge of getting wiped.
Suddenly—
A thick, supernatural white mist surged into the chamber, smothering the entire battlefield in complete, eerie silence.
SHING! SHING! SHING!
The sound of effortless, high-speed sword draws echoed through the fog, accompanied by slow, cinematic footsteps.
The mist slowly parted. Dim cavern light filtered through the water droplets above, illuminating a single figure standing in the center of the room.
It was Rei.
He was wearing an oversized, aesthetic kimono patterned with crescent moons. In his hand, he held a sleek, pitch-black Katana. The sheer, cinematic aura radiating off him was so blinding that the boss clones literally froze in place before crumbling into dust.
Nakamu and Vikas stared at him, their eyes popping out of their sockets like cartoon characters.
"WHAAAAAT?! THAT IS SO COOOOOOL!" they both screamed in unison, their jaws literally hitting the cavern floor.
Aryan smirked, pushing his green alien glasses up his nose like a true mastermind. "Yeah. That is what real aura farming looks like."
Rei broke his stoic anime posture and chuckled awkwardly, scratching his neck. "Aryan, man... that was so hype! I finally get why you were pushing me so hard to learn this style and look. Thanks, bro!"
Vikas whipped his head toward Aryan, his eyes wide in realization. "WAIT! So making him aura farm was your master plan all along?!"
"Haha, yeah! Look at him, he looks insane!" Aryan laughed, pointing at Rei.
"Alright, fair enough, he does look cold!" Vikas grinned. "Let's fall back for today. We shouldn't push past this floor yet."
Aryan turned to the group as they caught their breath. "You guys head back first. Nakamu... before you go home, I need you to do a 10km run with those 200kg weights still attached."
Nakamu's eyes practically popped out of his skull, his face turning into the ultimate "are you fr right now" reaction. "WHAT?! Bro, that is literally impossible! My legs are going to fall off!"
"Which is exactly why you're doing it. Now go!" Aryan ordered with zero mercy.
Nakamu groaned loudly, dragging his heavy feet out of the dungeon like a zombie. "Fine, whatever! I'm going! Let's go, Vikas, help me up!"
Once Vikas and Nakamu left, Aryan turned toward Rei.
"So... did you learn the techniques I drew for you?" Aryan asked.
Rei rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, looking down at his Katana. "I mean... I couldn't learn all of them. Just First Form. They're insanely hard to learn, bro. I've barely scratched the surface."
Aryan smiled, his eyes locked on the dark abyss of the next floor. "You'll master it eventually. Come on... let's head to the next floor and refine your sword forms—and my copied skills. Let me see what you've got."
Rei gripped his Katana tighter, a confident smirk spreading across his face. "Haha, alright man... let's go!"