Chapter 4: Training
"Mmph....urk....forty nine....ugh....fifty." Ethan grunted as he completed yet another set of push-ups. His muscles were screaming in pain. He plopped on the ground as he caught his breath. The smell of sweat hung heavily in the air, now all too familiar to him. "Man....exercising sure is tough," he sighed. "Well then! Back to the grind!" He continued working out.
It had been two weeks since Ethan had gained the boy's memories. Since then, he had been training his body like hell. Going to Knightsville to get the potential increasing drug was going to be hard- harder than anything he had ever done. Sensing mana was the minimum requirement to even attempt to kill a monster, and he was still stuck at H rank- Human rank.
Ethan was a Physical type awakener. Awakeners were broadly classified into Physical or Mage types. While Physical type awakeners imbued mana into their body to gain superhuman strength, Mage types channeled their mana through certain established pathways in their body to manipulate their innate element.
The easiest way to start sensing mana for Physical type awakeners was to train their bodies. Training involved breaking muscle fibres so that the body could repair them, making them stronger in the process. This repeated cycle of wear and tear would cause an awakener to start sensing mana- a natural defence mechanism triggered to heal the damaged body.
"Huff....huff....huff." Ethan breathed heavily. Two weeks had passed, yet he still couldn't sense mana. Well, that was expected. Most people sensed mana after about a month of hellish training. Maybe setting a target of two weeks was a bad idea? He shook his head, as he slapped his cheeks. No. He'd definitely sense mana in the next few days. He had to.
Ethan closed his eyes and visualised his muscle fibres being torn and rebuilt. His body was like a nest created by ants. Every time it was trampled, the ants got together to rebuild it, making it sturdier. He imagined those ants becoming stronger, faster, smarter, and working even harder. Hard work. That was all there was to it. His body needed to work harder.
Suddenly, Ethan felt a change in his body. "Ba-dump! Ba-dump! Ba-dump!" His heart pounded as his body started tingling. "Crackle! Crackle!" He could smell something burning in the air. Something was happening. He'd always thought that mana was something that was a part of the body, yet it felt like the very air was reacting to him.
Ethan's body started glowing. It was gradual. First it shined a bit, then it grew brighter as he was enveloped in a reddish light. "Crackle! Crackle! Crackle!" The crackling sound got louder as the burning smell started reaching unbearable levels. Bang! The crackling suddenly stopped.
Ethan slowly stood up. Tap....tap....tap. He walked to the mirror as he stared at his reflection. His body had changed. He was now slightly taller. His body had grown bulkier, and his muscles had thickened. "Hmmm....I have grown hotter, if I may say so myself," he smirked.
"Ethan! Are you done training?" Ethan heard a loud voice calling out to him. "Yeah dad! I'll be there in a minute." He put on his clothes as he rushed downstairs. "Ethan, I'm gonna be going be going to Dragopolis in two weeks. I've got some work to take care of, so it'll take me some time. Estelle's gonna come as well. Do you wanna come with us?"
"Dragopolis? What're you gonna do in such a large place?" Dragopolis was one of the largest cities in the human domain. It was known for being the headquarters of two of the five big families. Going to such a place was scary. All it took was offending some random guy on the street with monstrous connections to get yourself killed. Dragopolis' environment could be summed up in one sentence. "My father will hear about this!"
Ethan shook his head. "Sorry dad. The KGS entrance exam's coming up in a few months. I've gotta study for it." His father sighed. Carl Miller always felt bad for his son. Ethan was born weak, yet he couldn't even protect his son. Slice....slice....slice. A knife could be heard as he chopped some vegetables. Originally, he wouldn't have allowed Ethan to give the KGS entrance test, but with all that was happening in Ethan's life, he didn't have the heart to say no. After all, he believed he had failed as a parent when he saw Ethan getting bullied everyday.
"Alright, then," said Ethan's dad. "You can prepare for the test. We'll be gone for a week. Are you sure you can stay alone?" "Yeah dad. I've taken care of Estelle when you've gone on long gate hunts before. I'll be fine." Ethan smiled. This was perfect. He'd be able to sneak out of the house and go to Knightsville without his dad finding out. "Ok then. I'll be heading out now. I'll probably come back in two hours or so. I'm gonna just roam around for a bit," he said. "Stay out of trouble. And don't go near Douglas or his gang. I don't want to see you getting hurt again!"
Ethan waved without looking behind as he headed out. Unfortunately, he would eventually meet Douglas' goons right now. And his dad wouldn't be happy if he found out what he was going to do. Crunch....crunch. Pebbles crunched under his feet as he headed into a small building. Knock....knock. "Hello, is the tower open today?" Ethan looked at the receptionist sitting behind the glass wall. She glanced at him.
"You must be G rank or higher to enter the tower. Additionally, you need to pay a fee of 50 credits." Ethan nodded, as he fished his phone out of his pocket. "Sorry, you must be G rank to enter the tower. H ranked awakeners aren't allowed inside," she smiled apologetically. "No, I've just advanced to G rank." Ethan placed his hand on an orb. Its screen lit up in green text. 'G-1'
Awakener ranks were divided from H to SS. Additionally, each rank had 10 stages, and somebody on a higher stage would be closer to the next rank than somebody on a lower stage. Ethan was currently a G-1 ranked awakener- the lowest ranked awakener possible. "Alright then. I'll be heading into the Tower now.
The Tower was an artificial environment created to simulate gates. It was created by Richard Gibson, the weapons maniac, 50 years ago. The Gibson family was a pretty nice family, to be honest. Not like other families. In fact, Richard Gibson was widely renowned as a philanthropist who had helped thousands of people suffering due to various disasters caused by gate crashes. Maybe that was why his memories of 'The Ghost System' didn't mention the Gibson family a lot.
Ethan walked into a large room full of VR capsules. To ensure fairness, access to the Tower was strictly controlled by the Gibson G-corp. It would be pretty annoying to fight hackers continuously, what with VR capsules running on obsolete technology that was easily hackable. Plus, VR capsues were pretty expensive. So being able to go to a local VR centre to log into the Tower was pretty handy. He stared at the rows of capsules present and got into a red coloured one. Red was his favourite colour. Plus, it looked comfy.
Shhhhhhhhh. The capsule huffed as it logged into the Tower's servers. He entered his credentials as he prepared to fight. A screen appeared in front of his face.
[Please select the game mode]
.
.
[Player versus Environment- A game mode that allows the user to fight in artificially simulated dungeons, ranging from G rank to D rank]
.
[Player versus Player- A game mode that allows the player to fight against other players in artificially simulated environments]
Ethan chose the PvE function. His surroundings melted away as a swamp materialised around him. Ethan unsheathed a combat knife as he prepared to battle. A knife could be held in two ways. Forwards, which was ideal for stabbing and attacking enemies from above, and backwards, which was ideal for slashing and attacking enemies from below.
Ethan had read a few books on the usage of knives. He needed nimble fingers to be able to switch the directions of his knife, and he also needed to judge how much force he needed to apply while attacking. When should he stab? When should he slash? How should he react when he saw enemies? By the end of the day, Ethan would be be a better fighter than he was before.
Schlock....schlock. Ethan moved noisily through the swamp. An eerie fog covered the entire region, making Ethan go on high alert. He could see various shapes moving in the distance. "Kieek....kekeker." He could hear the goblins chattering. Suddenly, the water exploded. An ugly faced being popped out, grabbing his legs. It was a water goblin. Water goblins were blue in colour. They had gills on the side of their necks, and their webbed fingers and toes helped them move around in the water. "Kieeeeeek," shrieked the goblin as it pounced on Ethan.
Ethan had held his knife forwards, expecting to attack a goblin himself, but he was ambushed instead. His fingers fumbled as he struggled with the knife. Slash! A bolt of pain shot through his leg as the goblin dug his claws into his leg. Stab! He stabbed his knife downwards into the goblin's head. The goblin shrieked as it thrashed its limbs. Eventually, it stopped moving.
"Huff.....huff." Ethan breathed heavily. He pried the goblin's corpse from his body. He had been injured slightly, but the reality of killing a living being weighed down on him. He looked at the goblin's corpse with revulsion. Maybe the fact that it had a hideous face lessened his guilt. A goblin was a G rank monster, yet it had given him so much trouble.
Ethan steeled himself. The noise had attracted the other goblins, and they were approaching him quickly. "Kekeker...kieek." He could hear the shrieks of the goblins. He channeled some mana into his legs and jumped. A green coloured goblin came into his view. The goblin screamed as it noticed him.
Ethan moved quickly. He slashed the goblin's chest, forcing it back. He the dived towards its feet, stabbing its leg. The goblin wildly slashed at him with its claws, barely missing his hair. He shifted behind the goblin, plunging the dagger into its neck.
Ethan stared at the goblins approaching him. He smiled. He was going to test all kinds of attacks on these goblins. "Come to me," he grinned evilly. "Let me take a good look at you, you sorry excuses for monsters." Ethan pounced towards the goblins
.
.
.
.
.
Shhhhhhhh. The VR capsule let out some steam as it opened. The cool air of the room felt good against Ethan's sweaty body. "Man.....that capsule sure is stuffy," he sighed. He'd learnt a lot today. He also knew what he had to work on when he went home. Jumping towards the goblins was evidently a bad idea, as the goblins immediately surrounded him and killed him. The pain was calibrated to 2% though, so it hadn't hurt much.
Ethan was lacking in two aspects- battle instinct and technique. Sure, slashing and stabbing were the two main facets of a dagger, but constantly switching the knife and deciding when to slash or stab was difficult. He couldn't predict when and how he needed to attack, and his battles went awry because of that. Also, he hadn't fought enough battles to be able to tune his reflexes and instincts.
Ethan sighed. Two weeks didn't seem like enough to be able to fight monsters, but he was special. In his past life, he had observed people a lot. He had stared and stared as he discerned people's thoughts and feelings. This made him pretty good at observing details. He played the fights in his mind as he observed the goblins patterns.
Goblins were vicious creatures that fought with their claws and their instincts. Their fighting style was quite crude. Goblins fought in a way that left their desires bare to see. If Ethan had to sum if up in one word, it'd be - Lust. Goblins were lustful creatures. They lusted for his flesh and made no attempt to hide. "Goblins are quite honest. More so than some people," he chuckled.
As Ethan was thinking about the philosophical aspect of goblins, he suddenly noticed that somebody was in his way. It was...it was....generic bully 5. An overweight bespectacled buffoon. One of Douglas' lackeys. What was his name again? "Oi.....oi runt," he stuttered. "What....what're you doing here? You...you went to the tower? Trying to....to get strong, are you? Ha...ha..ha"
Ethan groaned. He was already tired after training in the VR capsule. He didn't have time to deal with this bullshit. "I'll....I'll keep this a secret from Doug.....Douglas if your sister can carry me home. Now call her here and...and let me sit on her back." The bully licked his lips as if he was about yo enjoy a meal. Ethan's face paled. "What did you say, asshole?"
The bully screamed. "What...what did you call me? You H rank piece....piece of trash? I'll...I'll fuck you up you ass..asshole." The bully unsheathed a sword as he rushed towards Ethan. Ethan took a deep breath. A goblin. This shithead was a goblin. He was full of lust. Slash! The battle was over in an instant. Ethan ducked underneath a swing of his sword and slashed his chest.
"Arrrghh....." The bully screamed. "You....you asshole. You....you won't get...get away with this!" Ethan bolted, leaving the bully rolling in pain. He didn't want to be seen with that guy. They'd definitely find a way to pin the crime on him if he was discovered. He ran home, hoping nobody had seen him.
Ethan stared at the stars. It was getting pretty late. He felt a sense of emptiness. It wasn't fair. He should've been able to beat that guy up even more. He should've been allowed to punish him. Yet, Douglas' status in Stella G-corp was in the way. Life sure was a bitch! This world was unfair. But now there was a way out.
Two weeks later, he'd make his way to Knightsville. He'd increase his potential and become the most powerful gatekeeper. What the hell could the five families do if all of their armies amounted to nothing in front of his power? He clenched his fist. Two more weeks. Then, everything would change. And he wouldn't let anybody forget who he was. He was Ethan fucking Miller.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
J_Striker
J_Striker Here's the next chapter. Sorry for the wait. I was busy with my exams :(. I'll try to be more regular with my updates. Anyways, thanks for 300 views! It's pretty cool how my book has been red 300 times! Thanks so much! J_Striker out.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone