The next morning arrived, and Chaewon woke Fang Raon up around eight in the morning and fed him breakfast.
They really didn’t talk much. It still seemed awkward between the two.
After the breakfast, she took him to the Virtual Reality Pod, and he appeared back on the sandy beach of the 6th floor.
"Look who finally decided to show up!"
At the terrace, Rock greeted him while playing around with his grandchildren. His daughter was lounging on a beach chair, enjoying the sun.
"I came as soon as I was able."
Fang Raon said.
"That isn’t good enough. I woke up at five. I expected you to be here by six. I think you aren’t taking this seriously!"
Rock said sternly.
"Listen, you old shi—I mean, old man, I can’t arrive any earlier. I have stuff over in the real world, so deal with it."
Fang Raon said with a smile.
He was about to call him "old shit" but noticed there were children around, so he changed his wording a little bit.
Also, he wasn’t lying about having stuff over in the real world, as he simply couldn’t come any earlier than this.
It would require him to tell nurses to wake him up early so he could go play the game, and it honestly wouldn’t look good.
Also, he doubted they would let him play without having breakfast first, as it was genuinely unhealthy.
"...Hmph, very well. Let’s get going then."
Rock patted the heads of his grandchildren and started walking down the beach with Fang Raon jogging after him.
"...By the way, how can your grandchildren play this game? I thought there was an age restriction or something."
He asked.
"There is something called Child Accounts, which allow children under the age of eighteen to play the game with special restrictions.
"They cannot be attacked, as they basically have a shield of protection around them. They also cannot attack other players.
"They are stuck only in Safe Zones, and they can freely move between the 1st and 10th floors of the game."
Rock said.
"I didn’t know about that."
Fang Raon said.
"Child Accounts aren’t public yet. Rose family has connections that allowed us to have a couple of those accounts. Basically for beta testing purposes, but it works wonderfully.
"It is difficult for us to go anywhere in the real world because of the busy schedules, but the children love coming to the 6th floor."
Rock said.
"I see."
Fang Raon said.
They arrived at a place at the beach where there weren’t any people around, as it was quite rocky on the shore.
"How far are you from the second level?"
Rock asked.
"Half."
Fang Raon said.
"...Okay. Pretty decent, I would say, but the floors get increasingly difficult from here on, so it would be wise to level up before going anywhere."
Rock said.
"What skills do you have?"
"Basic Slash, Basic Parry, Sword Stab, Hard Slash, and Dodge Roll."
Fang Raon said.
"Hard Slash? That’s good. When you practice Hard Slash, you can also improve your Attack stat—two birds with one stone.
"Also Dodge Roll is good for Speed and Stamina. Honestly, Sword Stab is a shitty skill, so don’t even bother."
Rock said.
"Really? I thought Sword Stab was quite decent since it is the quickest skill in my possession."
Fang Raon said.
"It’s just the way you have to train Sword Stab. You don’t increase any of your stats by stabbing your sword.
"You have to learn Sword Stab with a light sword for the best effects, and it doesn’t really work with a heavy sword because the tip of the sword keeps dropping down due to the weight."
Rock said.
"...I guess that makes sense."
Fang Raon said.
"We will do full-body training today. It will be hard. You will simultaneously learn Hard Slash and Dodge Roll while improving your Attack, Stamina and Speed."
Rock said.
"Okay."
In that moment, Rock opened his inventory and went through his large selection of items. It took him a while to find what he was looking for.
After some time, he took out a heavy-looking wooden greatsword with a thick blade. It looked heavy as hell.
Rock was still able to effortlessly swing it around.
"Catch!"
He tossed it over to Fang Raon.
Fang Raon grabbed the blade with both hands and felt its weight bearing down on his arms.
It was as heavy as he expected, maybe even more.
"...Alright, do like I am showing you."
Rock said, and turned his body sideways, then grabbed an invisible greatsword and mimicked the Hard Slash technique.
He then pulled the invisible greatsword back, under his armpit, and rolled down the sand—mimicking Dodge Roll—and then stood back up.
Once he was back standing, he moved the invisible greatsword in front of him, did the Hard Slash technique, and rolled again.
"Do this."
Rock said.
’That looks exhausting.’
Fang Raon thought.
He then lifted the wooden greatsword, swung the sword like he remembered doing with Hard Slash, and was about to roll, but then he heard an angry shout.
"No, that’s wrong!"
Rock shouted angrily.
"Ah?"
Fang Raon stopped.
"That wasn’t the Hard Slash technique. That was Shitty Slash technique. Do it again!"
With a frown on his face, Fang Raon slashed again and then got told immediately to do it again.
Swoosh!
"Again!"
Swoosh!
"Again!"
Swoosh!
"Again!"
Swoosh!
"Are you even fucking trying?!"
Rock screamed so hard that his voice was trembling, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if he suffered cardiac arrest.
"The mastery is still increasing. I already have two percent in the mastery."
Fang Raon said as a protest.
"I don’t give a fuck! It would be more if you actually did the technique correctly!"
Rock shouted.
"Huff! Huff! Huff!"
Fang Raon kept slashing.
"Again!"
With gritted teeth, Fang Raon did it again, and his arms started to burn, and the skin on his hands started to peel.
It didn’t matter whether his mastery increased or whether his technique looked close to perfect. Rock still forced him to repeat the technique.
"...Again... Horrible... That was even worse... Again!"
Rock crossed his arms and watched with a look of displeasure on his face.
He was only going to be happy if he couldn’t tell the difference between using the "activation word" to use the skill and actually doing the technique without the activation word.