NOVEL NEXT Chapter 167: Training Room
He placed his ID card on the bulged artifact, that was at the side.
Then.
The door slid open with a faint hiss.
The marble walls were sturdy and worn.
Basic weapons were lined on the racks—wooden swords, dull-edged spears, and iron-braced gloves.
A few projection crystals floated lazily near the ceiling corners, casting a soft amber glow that pulsed like candlelight.
Near the far wall, a trio of training dummies stood in a neat row.
They weren't ordinary hay-stuffed scarecrows either—these had faint glyphs etched into their frames, flickering subtly with reactive enchantments.
Not strong enough to fight back, but just enough to register hits, speed, and precision.
A faint grin tugged at the edge of Kai's lips as he stepped inside.
His eyes lingered on the space, taking in the small details.
"Definitely worthy of being called a prestigious academy," he muttered under his breath in amusement.
To the left, tucked neatly beside a rack of wooden staves, stood a short shelf.
On it, a stack of training clothes was folded with surprising precision, plain black tunics and fitted trousers, designed for ease of movement.
No fancy enchantments, just functional and well-made.
Kai moved over, pulled off his uniform, and tossed it on the nearby bench. And quickly changed into the training set.
The fabric was light, breathable, and fit—perfectly for what he had in mind.
He rolled his shoulders once, stretching his arms, and then let his gaze drift toward the dummies.
A slow, satisfied smirk played on his lips.
A soft yawn slipped from Vex as she stretched lazily atop the shelf, her silver-tufted tail flicking once before settling again. The Phantom Lynx blinked slowly, gave the room a disinterested glance, and curled up tighter, her misty fur phasing slightly through the wooden surface beneath her.
Kai glanced at her and sighed. "Useless fluffball."
Vex didn't even twitch.
He rolled his shoulders, letting out a quiet breath as he stepped into the center of the room. The faint warmth of his exertion still lingered from earlier, but he wasn't done yet. Not by a long shot.
Status, he called in his mind.
A translucent screen blinked into existence before his eyes, neat and crisp with soft runic etchings along the border.
[Status]
{Basic Information}
Name: Kai
Race: Human
Age: 17
Class: Beast Tamer
Sub-Class: Rogue
Rank: Mid-Advanced Core
Affinity: Dark, Poison
{Attributes}
Strength: D+
Agility: A+
Endurance: D+
Charm: B+
Intelligence: B-
Mana Capacity: B
Soul Essence Capacity: B
{Skills}
Active: Ghost Steps, Phantom Slash, Stealth, Beast Synchronization, Falcon's Sight, Warding Veil, Beast Merging,
Passive: Mana Regeneration.
{Tamed Beasts}
-Dual-Heart Kitsune—Luna (Evolution stage) Mystic
Rank: Peak-Intermediate Core
Skills: Fireball, Ice spear, Icicle barrage, Illusionary Viel, Foxfire
-Phantom Lynx—Vex Rare
Rank: Mid-Advanced Core
Skills: Phantom slash, Ghost Steps, Stealth, Shadow Ball
-Windsight Falcon—Vael Uncommon
Rank: Early-Advanced Core
Skills: Sonic Dive, Falcon's Sight, Echo Ball
-Thunder Drakelet—(Stromeon) Rare
Rank: Early-Great Core
Skills: Thunder Roar, Groundbreaker Slam, Thunderclap, Static Field
Kai studied the screen for a moment.
Then.
He dropped to the floor in one smooth motion.
"1... 2... 3..."
His voice was a murmur between steady breaths.
The floor beneath his palms was cold, but familiar. The kind of grounding sensation that made him forget about the pressure, the expectations, the lingering questions in his head.
"167... 168... 169…"
Sweat beaded along his brow.
His arms burned. But he welcomed it.
"180."
He collapsed into a kneel, exhaling sharply, chest rising and falling.
Then he stood up and began running around...
{Daily Task}
Push-ups: 180 ✅
Pull-ups: 180 ✅
Running: 18 km ✅
Crunches: 180 ✅
Plank: 18 min ✅
[<Ding!>]
[<You've completed your daily task.>]
[<Here are your rewards: 3 pts>]
{Current Gacha Points: 99/100}
-----
Kai stared at the screen for a moment, watching the number flicker just a little close of a full hundred.
With a flick of his fingers, he dismissed it.
He reached for a bottle near the bench, uncorked it, and downed the water in heavy gulps, letting it wash the dryness from his throat.
Some of it dribbled down his chin, but he didn't bother wiping it off.
Instead, he cracked his neck to either side, then stood.
Time to sharpen the edge.
Twin daggers shimmered into his hands, summoned with practiced ease.
Their blackened blades caught the soft light of the crystal lanterns above.
He spun one around his finger, then gripped it in a reverse hold. His stance shifted low, agile.
Balanced.
Across the room, the dummies stood silently.
Kai exhaled once.
Then he moved.
Kai lunged forward, one blade drawn across his body.
Sshk!
Steel met the dummy's midsection in a clean arc, but—
Thunk!
The blade passed through like it had hit a sandbag.
But there was no splintering. Just… dead weight.
He narrowed his eyes. "Absorbed it, huh."
Then he pivoted on his heel, stepping sideways toward two more dummies positioned at the corners of the room.
His daggers flashed and—
Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash!
quick, efficient slashes meant to gauge weak points.
One to the neck. One to the ribs. One through the side.
Each time, the result was the same.
They soaked the damage like padded sponges.
"Hah…"
Without breaking stride, Kai twirled his blade in one hand and reached toward the wall-mounted pedestal nearby.
A dull-blue glow pulsed from the artifact embedded into it, its surface etched with runes that lit up under his touch.
Click.
The crystal's glow intensified. A soft mechanical hiss sounded.
In response, the dummies shimmered briefly.
Their exteriors thickened, layered with a second coating of hardened mana weave.
They now had defense enchantments. Slight hums of resistance filled the air, like a low war drum building tension.
Kai grinned.
"Alright then…"
The floor beneath his boots barely creaked as he kicked off.
He shot forward, a blur in motion.
[<Ghost Steps!>]
His figure shimmered once, then split—shadows rippling at the edges as he darted behind one dummy in an instant. He didn't pause.
Clang! Clash! slash!
He struck all three in sequence. First with a horizontal slash across the first dummy's torso, then a sharp elbow spin that sliced through the second's side. He kicked off the ground and twisted mid-air toward the third.
[<Phantom Slash!>]
A dark blade extended from his dagger like a crescent of shadow and cleaved toward the third dummy's shoulder.
Thud!
This time, the blow left a faint scorch where the spectral slash hit, a hiss of mana friction dispersing into the air.
He landed in a crouch, blades drawn, breathing steady.
All three dummies now bore shallow dents and scorched marks across their bodies. Not critical damage, but something.
Progress.
The nearest one lurched slightly, its chest plate hissing as it tried to realign.
Kai blurred again.
[<Ghost Steps!>] [<Ghost Steps!>] [<Ghost Steps!>]
Like a flicker, he disappeared and reappeared, weaving between the trio of enchanted dummies with speed and precision, chaining normal strikes with skill-infused cuts.
He slashed. Twisted. Duck. Lunge.
A dagger met a shoulder joint—
Clink!
A reverse grip stabbed under the arm—
Tap!
He dropped low, spun, and carved a sweeping arc through their legs—slice—shnk—
[<Phantom Slash!>]
Another crescent of ghostly energy carved through one dummy's head clean off—though it landed with a soft thud and slowly began to reform itself using mana tendrils.
Kai stepped back, sweat now trickling down his brow.
He wasn't panting—but his heart raced. The burn in his arms and legs was growing with each pass.
Vex cracked an eye open from her perch.
She yawned again.
"You wanna do it?"
She blinked.
Then slowly laid her head back down.
Kai sighed, then resumed doing his own work.
After what felt like hours of relentless movement, slashes, dodges and more slashes.
Kai finally dropped to his knees.
Then, with a harsh exhale, he collapsed backward onto the cold, stone floor.
Thud!
His chest rose and fell in sharp bursts, sweat soaking through his training clothes and dampening his hair.
His muscles burned with that dull, satisfying ache, the kind that settled in only after you'd pushed past your limit and kept going anyway.
The room had gone still.
Kai lay there for a moment longer, staring up at the ceiling beams, letting the silence fill his ears.
"...Haaah..."
With a groan, he pushed himself upright, his arms trembling slightly as he forced his body to move.
He grabbed the training shirt off the floor, shrugged it off, and reached for his academy uniform from the shelf near the wall.
Vex yawned, long and lazy—before leaping down from her perch atop the shelf.
Her paws padded softly against the floor before she landed neatly atop Kai's head, curling her body without a sound like a shadow wearing a crown.
Kai didn't comment.
He was too used to it by now.
With sluggish steps, he left the training room, the enchanted door sliding shut behind him with a soft hum.
The hallway was quiet.
Evening light had begun to trickle in through the stained glass windows, casting colored streaks on the walls.
He walked slowly and reached his dorm room, let himself in, and without a second thought, stripped off the sweat-drenched training clothes and tossed them into the corner.
The water in the bath was brisk, refreshing. It shocked his senses back into clarity. He let it run over his body in silence, washing away the fatigue layer by layer.
A few minutes later, dressed in his clean academy uniform, Kai stepped out of his room.
Vex still perched atop his head, completely unbothered.
"Let's go."
He headed downstairs, one hand in his pocket.