Chapter 39: Suffering Ahead
Suffering Ahead
It didn’t take long for other students to start arriving.
Mike checked the time and saw that people started to funnel in around 7:30, which was his original intention before sleep eluded him.
There honestly wasn’t a lot to say about this. Some students came by themselves, others came in groups, some in duos or trios, and so on.
Mike did pay attention to the groups, though, as he noticed each big group had a ringleader of sorts, and he noticed a few of them were the figures he had taken note of during the orientation.
4 of them, to be precise.
’Namor Vortan, Sunny Nerevas, Kim Caedryn, and Seth Zevran. All of them are direct descendants of some of the Apex families.’ Mike noted as he watched people pine after them like crazy.
He kept his expression neutral as they started to filter in, and he noticed numerous curious gazes land on him. However, the attention shifted quickly to Kris, who had stood up a few minutes ago.
He did still feel some gazes linger on him, no doubt people who knew about his performance against Agnes, but Kris was simply that much more renowned than him, so it was inevitable that he would draw most of the attention.
’Also... dang, we’re kind of a lot, huh?’ Mike noted with surprise.
Only a few minutes had gone by, and more than 50 students had entered the hall, and they were still coming. Thankfully, the training hall was more than large enough to accommodate all of them. Sadly, as he thought, Theresa wasn’t among them.
Everyone naturally gravitated to where Masha was, which was the center of the hall, and Mike found himself standing beside his fellow students, Kris, having been whisked away by several interested people.
The assault of smells and sounds was a bit uncomfortable, but at this point, Mike had somewhat gotten the hang of it, so it wasn’t overwhelming to the point of being debilitating. That didn’t make it any less annoying, though–
Mike’s eyes narrowed subtly as he felt a gaze land on him, and it wasn’t friendly in the least.
He didn’t turn his head in the direction of the gaze, but the sheer hostility was unmistakable, and he didn’t need to look to see who was the cause of the gaze.
Agnes Agni.
’So you’ve resurfaced, huh?’ He thought as he sensed her struggling to hide her killing intent. He didn’t know where she’d been or what had happened to her after their last confrontation, but he imagined that it wasn’t pleasant. So, chances are that she intended to take her frustration out on him.
He barely resisted a snort.
’You’re not worth my attention at this point.’ He thought.
If one were to use the predator analogy, then Mike would say he derived no satisfaction from humoring someone he had already dealt with.
Hence, he completely put her out of his mind.
Oddly enough, his instincts were uncharacteristically quiet concerning the issue, too.
Soon enough, all the students entered. Or at least, Mike guessed as much, and the doors to the training hall closed as it hit 8 AM.
’Wait, weren’t we meant to do some readiness checks or whatever?’ He suddenly remembered just as Masha moved away from the crowd of students enough for everyone to see her, and they quietened down as she regarded them before speaking.
"Good morning, everyone. My name is Masha Nobi, and I will be your instructor for your Close-combat classes for the foreseeable future." She said calmly, and Mike sensed several spikes of surprise through the hall, which took him aback slightly.
’Is she a significant figure?’ He thought as he looked at Masha. Thinking about it, he read that the instructors in the school tended to be significant figures who excelled in their fields, so it wouldn’t be surprising if she were a prominent individual.
Masha let the silence stretch long enough for any lingering chatter to fade, and then she spoke again.
"Close-combat isn’t flashy. It is not something you post clips of to brag. It isn’t something you learn to look cool, and it certainly isn’t something you play with. It is what keeps you alive when everything else fails." Her voice traveled through the hall easily despite its size.
"Some of you come from places where you were taught the basics. Some of you think you won’t need them. I’m here to tell you that you’re wrong." At this, a few students shifted uncomfortably, and Mike heard a faint huff of irritation from a boy near the front, his ego already slightly bruised.
He noticed Masha notice as well, and he felt like she’d already found a scapegoat.
"For the first few lessons," She continued. "I don’t care about your families, your abilities, what prominent bloodline you hail from, or what your parents’ money can buy. None of that matters to me. You’re going to fight like ordinary people. You’ll fight until those bad habits of yours crawl into the open where I can crush them." This got a few more murmurs. Mike noticed her scanning the crowd as she spoke. Not just looking, but gauging, measuring. Like a predator picking its options carefully.
"Some of you have abilities that augment your strength. Some of you have abilities that enhance your speed. Some of you have abilities that make you nightmares to hurt. Some of you just rely on showing off. Strip that away, and what’s left? That’s what I want to see." Hearing her speak, Mike had to suppress a smile.
Her actions appealed to him in a strange way that he couldn’t help but approve of. The way she spoke... she wasn’t trying to impress them. No.
She was setting the rules of her territory.
"The first couple of sessions will be more diagnostic than anything. You will face holographic opponents with adjustable strength and skill levels. They can’t kill you, but they WILL hurt you. I’ll be watching for sloppy footing, wasted movements, and whether or not you fold at the first hit. If you can’t do that much, then you’re a sitting duck without your abilities.
Her gaze swept over the crowd, and Mike noticed it linger on a few people, him included.
"Questions?" The hall was silent, but not because there were none, but because no one wanted to be the first idiot to raise their hand.
A sentiment Mike clearly did not share.
"How will the skill adjustment work?" He asked calmly, feeling the majority of the gazes fall on him, but he wasn’t perturbed.
He saw Masha smirk slightly, but it was gone as quickly as it came.
All the holographic enemies will be set at the bare minimum of skill and strength. So, chances are that you will all thrash them for the first couple of minutes. But they will adapt quickly, and they will adjust automatically to whatever you display until the system gets them as close to your level of skill and strength as possible.
Keep in mind that when I say they will adapt to your level of strength and skill, I don’t mean you will go from thrashing them thoroughly to just being matched. They will try to exploit weaknesses, strike at you from angles you forget to defend from, use tricks, and most importantly, they will not stop. Unless you can destroy the projection, you will be beaten down into the ground until you can barely resist anymore." She smiled, but it felt like she was inspecting her next meal.
"And when you recover, we will do it again. When you flesh out one bad habit, another one will be exploited, and you will suffer for it, and then you flesh it out as well. Over and over and over again. Until you lot become monsters in close range." Several people shuddered, and Mike felt a bunch of regret among them.
It wasn’t surprising. Most of them probably grew up being coddled and complimented about how incredible they were no matter what they did, so it’s likely that they rarely ever struggled. Hence, the prospect of suffering repeatedly was foreign to them.
In fact, Mike sensed that some were in denial, like they couldn’t believe that Masha would truly put them through something like that and was just bluffing.
But Mike knew she wasn’t.
Moreover, he found himself getting anticipatory.
Unlike them, Mike wasn’t surprised at being told he would suffer. Hardship was all he’d known for most of his life. However, what made the hardship he’d go through now and the hardship he went through before was that, unlike the former, the latter would actually take him places.
It would actually make him stronger.
Moreover. He welcomed the challenge.
Just what sort of hologram would he fight? How would it exploit his many weaknesses? Could he handle it with his instincts? Would his instincts even work on it at all?
The possibilities were downright tantalizing.
"Alright. Everyone spread out. There should be at least 5 meters between everyone." Masha smiled. "Let’s begin, shall we?"