'I think I can do it this way.' Standing in his position again, Talon looked down at his body and started making small adjustments. He was trying to completely replicate what he was seeing in his head.
However, because the adjustments were so minuscule, it took him a whole 10 minutes to finally give it a try again.
"Hng!" His body moved as a whole, putting all of the momentum into the spear before he slashed down using all of his power. A small gush of air pushed the dirt around him a little as the blade made a screeching sound.
This time, he stumbled forward but didn't fall on his face. The young man used the spear as his support to stop himself before he adjusted his posture again.
Then, he went back and started again. He didn't say a word of complaint or annoyment, he simply kept repeating the same thing again and again, each time making small adjustments. Time slowly moved and the first hour passed and then the second hour and Talon was still doing the same thing.
Even in that cold weather, he was sweating and his arms were starting to feel number from all the slashes he performed. However, apart from occasional groans, he didn't say a word as his whole focus was on the spear in his hand.
Acrypha watched all of that occur with fascination in her eyes. It hasn't been a day since everything started and yet Talon was already training with the determination of a veteran.
'He is improving at a very fast rate. Each attempt he makes is better than the one before it.' Acrypha thought to herself with a curious look.
Talon was clearly a complete beginner with some basic knowledge about spearmanship. But the way he was improving was so amazingly fast that Acrypha was sure he would be able to master the slash in a single day.
By the fourth hour, Talon was completely spent. His face was completely covered in sweat and his arms were shaking. His progress has been amazing. His slash became faster, stronger, and more efficient.
Talon was sure that if before, his slash was a good 5/10, he made it an 8/10 now. An extremely good improvement. However, he forgot one thing.
"Huh?" As he tried to slash again, Talon's legs suddenly gave up and he fell to the ground. His eyes were shocked for a second. Looking at his body, he noticed that his legs were shaking visibly.
"What happened?" He murmured as he tried to stand up again, only for his legs to give out again and he ended up falling again.
"Stop trying. Your body is spent." Acrypha said.
"..." Talon pursed his lips. "I guess this is as far as I can go without resting." He murmured.
"Your improvement is not bad. Getting too greedy will only cost you heavily."
"I know. I guess I was too engrossed in mastering the slash I forgot that I can't keep going at it forever."
Talon sighed as he finally let his body fall to the ground as he stared at the dark sky. As eerie as it seemed, the gate's appearance in the sky was majestic. It was as if a celestial body from far away finally reached Earth, casting its magical presence over everything.
Talon's hand slowly extended up as he opened it and closed it, trying to grab something that didn't exist.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm just... Nothing..." Talon shook his head as if he decided not to speak. Some time passed before he finally opened his mouth again.
"Hey, Acrypha, can I ask a question?"
"What?" The beautiful woman replied.
"Is it weird that I'm starting to like this?"
Acrypha's eyes squinted as she stared at Talon. The latter was still looking up, not bothering to stare at her as if he was completely captivated by something.
"I don't know why. But, I feel like I belong to this. I feel like it fits me."
"Are you not angry that the integration could kill your family?" She asked curiously.
"I am sickly worried. But, I feel like my true potential will only appear in this current world. This desolate, apocalyptic mess of a world. I wasn't fit for a normal world." He said in a mysterious tone.
Talon's whole life till that moment was hard. He was born into a very poor family, his dad was a salaryman for a construction company that barely gets minimum wage while his mom was a house worker that gets hired by rich people to work in their houses as a maid.
Their lives were very tough but also happy. They stayed close to each other and took care of each other. Talon felt all their love and care his whole life and he was deeply grateful for that.
The way he showed his gratitude was through studying extremely hard. He had barely any friends as his whole life was either studying or working part-time jobs to help the family.
In reality, he was never a fan of that lifestyle. He hated studying more than anyone else and the long shifts at work killed him. He would see his peers living their lives as they wanted while he had to think of what to cook that day, and how to tackle the next school module.
Deep down, he hated that life but he couldn't complain. His mother and father had it way worse just to provide for him. How dare he whine? Or so he thought and that was why he ended up being able to join Seoul's National University.
Yet, deep down, he was never that happy with that achievement. Sure, he was now in the most prestigious university in Korea but that wasn't really what he wanted.
Talon was eager to live a different life. To experience things that not everyone would experience in their lives. He didn't want to waste his life sitting behind a desk typing away on a computer and getting a salary every month.
Lo and behold, that dream of his came in the form of the worst disaster humanity had ever seen. Ironic as it is, he couldn't hide how eerily acclimated he felt to this environment.
Acrypha's eyes flashed with a weird glint for a second before she closed them and exhaled a long breath.
"I would be lying if I said that it's wrong. I am almost certain that you have been born simply to thrive in the integration."
Talon's talent, his unique mind and thought process, and everything else around him made him seem almost perfectly compatible with an Integrated world.
'He felt it too. But, his comes from instinct and an innate feeling. He isn't aware of how much he is different.'
As the two were like that, they suddenly were alerted by the sound of screaming coming from outside the warehouse. The screams were clearly that of humans and very terrified ones at that.
Talon immediately rose from his resting position as he looked in the direction of the noises confusedly.
"Help!! Please!!!"
"Anyone!!!"
"Mommy!! Mommy!!! Waaaah!"
"Don't worry baby, we're close!"
"From here! From here!"
Multiple voices kept yelling over each other making it hard to determine how many they were.
"I guess your company finally came," Acrypha said casually as Talon quickly stood up and rushed toward the gates to check.
"Hopefully not a bad company. Let's go." He said.
Although his body was very exhausted, the few minutes of rest he took gave him some energy back. His high stamina made recovery a lot quicker.
When he reached the gates he climbed on top of the wall and took a look outside. The place was dim with barely any light for vision. However, Talon could easily see the group of people running, and behind them was a huge swarm of Dimension Walkers. Some were normal looking while others were buffed up and muscular...
'There are many of those...' He squinted his eyes.
Fighting that many monsters was impossible for Talon and so he immediately scratched that idea from his head. His eyes then wandered to the actual group of people. There were 4 in total, one man, 2 women, and one child.
The man was noticeably huge with a very good physique. He had a hair body and a slightly longer hair. He was the definition of the term 'Wildman' and a pretty good-looking one at that.
As for the girls, they were rather beautiful with each one having a different eye-catching feature about her.
Talon didn't give them any longer looks before he suddenly yelled.
"FROM HERE!! THIS PLACE IS SAFE!!" He yelled as he finally prepared himself to jump.
"Are you sure that you can open the gate before the other monsters can arrive?" Acrypha asked.
Talon smiled slightly as he jumped down. "Time to give my Spearmanship skill another try." He said with a playful wink.
"... This brat and his playfulness." Acrypha raised an eyebrow as she murmured. Talon ignored her astonishment as he rushed to the gate.
He then quickly opened the gate and rushed outside. He then lifted his arm. "Here! Here!"
The group of humans noticed him and without even thinking twice, they rushed toward him. The first to reach him was the wildman and he asked urgently.
"Where do we go?!"
"Inside, hurry." He said.
"You heard him, hurry!" He yelled at the other women who quickly ran inside with terrified looks on their faces.
When everyone was safe, Talon quickly rushed inside, closed the gate, and came out again.
"15... No, 13 seconds before the gate closes. I need to hold them off till that happens. The first time was dangerous, this one is different!" Grinning wildly, Talon finally looked at the swarm of Dimension Walkers without fear in his eyes.
"I'm sorry for trying my ability on you."
[Ding!]
[You have activated Dimension Harvester.]
[You have activated spearmanship (level 2)]