"Stand still! No shaking!"
The loud voice of the bald man with one eye still boomed like thunder, making Raymond's head ache.
But this time, he didn't argue with the bald man anymore. He simply followed the order and stood in a horse stance on two wooden barrels, staying completely still.
After all, he had spent Universal Points to learn the fighting skills that Kuro had mastered from this guy—not to pick fights with a NPC.
Once he understood that, there was nothing more to care about.
He didn't want to get whipped again for no reason or waste another 10 points.
"Kid, remember this—at sea, the most important thing is your stance!"
The bald man had his hands behind his back and shouted at Raymond, "The ship will always rock because of the waves. If you fall during a fight, it means you're already half-dead. Your enemy won't miss that chance!"
"So!"
"The first thing I'll teach you is how to stand firm!"
"In a moment, I'll kick your barrels without warning. You can't get up or fall down. If you stand up—you get whipped. If you fall—you still get whipped!"
The bald man grinned cruelly.
Hearing that, Raymond felt a chill in his heart.
He had been whipped by this guy last time, and he knew just how painful it was. His first thought was to give up and leave.
But if he quit now, the 20 Universal Points he had spent so far would be wasted.
More importantly, his plan to raise his overall stats would be interrupted.
Thinking of this, he gritted his teeth and decided to stay!
While he was still struggling inside, maybe the bald guy noticed he was distracted and suddenly kicked one of the barrels under his feet, making it wobble hard.
Caught off guard, Raymond lost his balance and fell straight onto the deck.
Smack!!!
The sound of the whip followed right after, along with Raymond's painful scream!
"Get back up! Again!" the bald man said coldly, pointing at the barrels.
Raymond clenched his teeth, held back the pain, stood up on his own, picked up the fallen barrel, and climbed back up into the horse stance once more.
Beep!
When Raymond pressed the timer button on his phone, he saw that only three seconds had passed?
Including the time it took to press the button and the moment of confusion when he woke up from the virtual reality, those three seconds could easily be seen as just a brief moment.
But he had spent at least four to five hours in that virtual reality. During that time, he had taken over ten lashes from the bald guy before finally starting to understand the true secret of "standing firm."
After that, no matter how hard the bald guy kicked the barrels—unless he completely knocked them over—Raymond could stay balanced, even when they wobbled like crazy.
"I stayed in there for hours, but only a second passed out here. Does that mean no matter how long I stay inside, it'll only feel like a moment in the real world?"
Looking at the timer, Raymond thought to himself.
The last time he left the virtual reality, it was partly because the pain from those lashes had become too much. His whole body was burning, and he was close to his limit.
But if he had really pushed himself, he could've lasted longer.
He just wasn't sure how time flowed between the two worlds. If time moved the same in both, staying inside for a few hours would be too long. Someone might come looking for him and think something had happened.
But now it seemed he had worried for nothing.
Even if the time ratio wasn't exactly one moment in reality for hours inside, it was still crazy fast. He didn't have to worry about it anymore.
Now that he had figured out the time flow problem, Raymond turned his attention to something else—how much the training in the virtual world affected him in the real one.
"System, show me my current stats."
As he silently gave the command, a screen popped up in his mind:
Host: Raymond
Strength: 0.9
Agility: 0.9
Constitution: 0.9
Mind: 1.7
Abilities: Kuro's Fighting Style (1%)
Exploration Points: 200
Sub-Personality: Kuro of a Hundred Plans, 'Deadshot' Floyd Lawton, "World's No. 1 Assassin" Tao Pai Pai
It actually worked!
Raymond's heartbeat sped up as he looked at the panel.
Compared to last time, besides the drop in exploration points and the increase in Sub-Personality, there were two major changes.
First was his Agility stat.
He clearly remembered that last time, Strength and Constitution were 0.9, Mind was 1.7, and Agility was only 0.8—the lowest of all.
But now it had increased to 0.9, matching Strength and Constitution.
And during this time, he hadn't done any extra training except what he did in the virtual reality. So there was no way this was a random change.
He understood right away—this improvement had to be caused by "Immersive Mode"!
And there was solid proof: a new "Ability" section had appeared in his data, showing "Kuro's Fighting Style"!
Even though it said he had only learned 1%, it was enough to prove that the training in the virtual world was real—it directly boosted his skills in real life!
"Just a few hours and 1% of Kuro's style already raised my Agility by 0.1. I guess those lashes were worth it..." Raymond muttered to himself.
He also knew part of the reason for the quick progress was that his physical stats were very low to begin with.
It was like an out-of-shape guy starting to work out—even a little bit of exercise would show quick results at first.
But that kind of progress wouldn't last forever. Sooner or later, he'd hit a wall.
He figured the same would happen to him.
Aside from his Mind stat, which was way above normal, the rest of his numbers weren't even at the average level of a healthy adult. That said a lot about how weak his body was.
"But at least for now, I'm still far from reaching that wall. If I can fully master Kuro's style, it'll definitely boost all of my stats."
Raymond was getting excited. "Now's the best time to keep going while I'm making progress!"
With that thought, he reset the timer on his phone, got ready, and prepared to jump back into training.
This time, he might stay inside even longer. He needed to check the time flow again to be sure.
--
Join Patreon.com/AHumanMadeMOFO to read till Chapter 40