MMORPG: Rebirth of the Mortal Online - Chapter 76

Chapter 76: The Dark Room
Tap, tap. Footsteps sounded.

Two figures waltzed down stone steps into the dark, musky basement.

In the basement, there was a heavily chained door. It looked heavy and ominous. It was black in color, with the chains being gray and rusted.

Digby flicked a lightswitch, and a dim light fell over the basement.

“This is the entrance to the dark room.” Digby said as he looked straight at the chained door and pulled out a small key from his inventory.

Adam looked at the door and felt a chill run down his back. It was suddenly getting cold.

Digby inserted the key into the chains, removed them, and then heavily opened the door. Once the door was open, they saw a dark interior with all light sucked out of existence.

Even the light from the basement didn’t reach that place.

“This is a dark room, specially created to learn Kiryoku.” Digby said. “It will be dark, quiet, and cold there.”

“What do I have to do there?” Adam asked like a clueless student.

In his past life, he had learned Kiryoku but stopped as soon as he was able to sense the attacking intent of the people. He thought it was enough. To an extent, it was.

“I’ll give you the instructions.” Digby said and stepped through the door. “Follow me.”

Adam followed behind, and as soon as he entered the darkness, the heavy doors shut down, trapping both of them in the darkness. He couldn’t see anything.

However, Digby was able to see clearly, as if he had night vision. After walking further into the dark room, he turned around and instructed.

“Take three steps forward.”

Adam nodded and took one step, then a second, and finally the third step. He was in the middle of the room now.

“Sit cross-legged and close your eyes.” Digby’s voice echoed.

Adam sat down on the ground, put his legs cross-legged and closed his eyes.

‘Cold…’ Adam shuddered as he felt cold seep into his bones.

However, because of his Bronze VR Pod, it wasn’t an absolutely realistic feeling. He kind of felt cold, but also numb. It was a strange sensation, almost like a distant memory of winter’s bite.

Digby pulled out a wooden stick from his inventory. It was a strange item to have, but it looked like something he had just picked up from outside in a hurry.

“The first level of Kiryoku is able to read the attacking intent of people and their emotions.” Digby said. “It is the first step in mastering Kiryoku.”

‘Kuruma was at this step.’ Adam thought to himself. ‘If he was at the second step, which allowed him to sense the aura’s of others, I would’ve most likely lost.

‘The first step is easy to bypass. Just hide the attacking intent. Luckily, it is not that easy to master—not now. Fleur Verner, the second general of Star Faction, found a way to learn it easier, allowing almost every mercenary to learn it.

‘However, Fleur hadn’t discovered that yet. So, the people who can hide their attacking intents are quite rare!’

“Kiryoku is usually learned through pain.” Digby said and then he started circling Adam, his voice turning into an echo. “Learn it with pain. Try to dodge my attacks.”

Adam entered deep into his consciousness and put all his senses on high alert. His hearing became more acute, but for some odd reason, Digby’s footsteps disappeared.

“I am not allowing you to use any of your senses to locate me,” Digby said with a chuckle. “To learn Kiryoku, you must abandon your five senses.”

Adam took a deep breath and put his hands on his legs. He wasn’t trying to locate Digby anymore. Instead, he started to tap into Kiryoku, like he had done countless times in his previous life.

At that moment, a wooden stick smacked Adam on the back of his head, causing him to lose focus.

“Ah…” Adam touched the back of his head with a grim look. ‘I couldn’t use my Kiryoku. I was so bad at it because I never practiced enough. Now I need to learn it again…’

‘Hmm…’ Digby still circled around him. ‘He slightly moved his head, but he didn’t use Kiryoku. He felt the air flow around the wooden stick. He has great instincts.’

This time, Digby changed the grip on the wooden stick. Next time, there won’t be any air flow around the wooden stick.

He was feeling rather carefree, knowing that he could just throw some sloppy strikes and they would hit Adam. However, he underestimated his fighting instincts.

Adam closed his eyes again and took a deep breath.

Digby walked a few circles, then he swung the wooden stick and hit Adam in the side of the head. Crack. It sounded like a whip had landed.

“Ngh…” Adam touched the side of his head and sighed heavily. “Master, I can’t sense anything.”

“Kiryoku, is your body finally saying enough.” Digby said. “Without pain, you will be unable to learn it. You must learn to embrace it, allowing your brain to expand.”

‘Kiryoku and its classic nonsense.’ Adam sighed heavily. ‘Masters of Kiryoku always explained things in such a cryptic way.’

“I am not expecting you to learn Kiryoku today or tomorrow.” Digby said. “It will take months. However, for now, embrace the pain.”

Adam closed his eyes and then felt another whip-like attack hit the back of his head.

For the next couple of hours, Adam continuously got hit. He got hit hundred, two hundred, perhaps even three hundred times. Yet, he wasn’t even close to dodging a single attack.

After a three hour mark, the training came to an end, and Adam limped back to his room, where he laid down on the hard, wooden bed.

In the central courtyard. Digby looked at the courtyard fountain, deep in thoughts.

Drip, drip. The water droplets splashed softly against the wooden floor, providing a calming rhythm that matched the movements of the leaves rustling gently in the wind.

It wasn’t raining anymore, and the dark clouds had almost all vanished from the clear afternoon sky.

“Master.” Dutch walked over. He also just finished training his students.

“Dutch.” Digby nodded and asked, “How did the class go?”

“Good, good…” Dutch replied, but he clearly wanted to ask something as he fidgeted.

“What is it?” Digby sensed his anxiousness and inquired.

‘Sigh, it’s impossible to hide our emotions from the Master of Kiryoku.’ Dutch wryly smiled and asked, “How did he do?”

“Adam?” Digby asked and saw him nod. “As well as you can expect. He couldn’t learn the Kiryoku.”

“Oh…” Dutch nodded.

For a moment, he thought that Adam would be able to learn Kiryoku. After all, S-rankers were known as monsters above monsters. However, he thought it was also foolish of him to think that.

S-rankers were monsters, yes, but even for a talented individual of A-rank, it would take several months to learn Kiryoku.

“I’ll need you to be in charge of his other training.” Digby said. “Martial arts and weapons training—that’s on you. I’ll personally teach him Kiryoku.”

“Alright,” Dutch replied enthusiastically.

It wasn’t every day you got to train a S-ranker!

“I’ll log out for a bit.” Digby said and pulled out his interface. “I want tomorrow’s training program on my desk before I return; is that clear?”

“Yes, sir!” Dutch saluted and watched as their guild master vanished into floating light pixels.