There Must Be Something Wrong With This Game!

Since Coach Liu had made such a kind request, Duan Fei naturally had to comply.

He took off his glasses, releasing the seal. The power of the Void surged within him as he activated [Spiritual Armor].

His 21 points in Spirit were boosted directly to 74 through the transcendent effect of [Spiritual Armor]. His other Attributes also received a buff equal to one-third of his Spirit.

But that wasn’t all.

He used [Random Summoning] and [Substitute] at the same time, causing a towering, eight-foot-tall figure to appear on the training ground.

The moment Lord Hasshaku appeared, it grabbed Coach Liu’s arm, forcing him to experience the terror of facing the unknown.

Simultaneously, another of his Summoned Creatures was channeled into Duan Fei’s crowbar, changing its form.

The crowbar began to extend and lengthen. Its end transformed into a small skull, while the front became a long whip made of interlocking pieces of bone.

Then, eerie blue flames erupted from the skull’s eye sockets, followed by a greeting from the skull itself: "Duan Someone, long time no see. I feel like something’s wrong with my body."

"So it’s you, Beist. Don’t worry about it, as long as I’m having fun! Come on, Instructor Liu, accept this token of my respect and let me blast you to smithereens!"

"It’s fine if I’m not smithereens," Coach Liu muttered to himself.

When an item was infused with one of the Summoned Creatures via [Substitute], its form would change, which was also why the item would eventually be destroyed.

However, Duan Fei’s crowbar had the [Indestructible] tag on it, so he didn’t have to worry about the item breaking. He could just go all out.

But he still wasn’t done.

[Void Injection] was activated. The remaining Void Energy was poured into the whip of bone, imbuing it with the power of the Void and causing Beist to let out a groan.

"I feel... great! More invigorated than ever! Come, Duan Someone, let’s obliterate the being before us!"

"Alright, let’s go!"

Eerie blue flames blazed along the bone whip. The killer combo Duan Fei had assembled made its debut, and in that instant, Coach Liu realized he might have been a little too cocky.

"W-Wait a minute!"

"Words are useless! Die!"

He cracked the whip. The full-power strike instantly pulverized Coach Liu, and the excess Power even shot through, punching a black hole into the pure white space of the training ground.

After the attack, Duan Fei let out a long breath, feeling incredibly satisfied.

’So my build concept isn’t half bad.’

It was just a shame that the final strike required too much Void Energy. He could only use it once in a short period. Otherwise, it would be absurdly powerful.

The duration of [Spiritual Armor] quickly ended. On the ground, the robot that had been smashed to dust began to reassemble, finally reforming into a livid Coach Liu.

"Coach, how’d I do?" Duan Fei asked expectantly.

Coach Liu’s eyes were locked on Duan Fei. "Not bad. You’re at my level from back in the day."

"You must have gotten a lot worse over the years, then."

Coach Liu nearly ground his teeth to dust.

Finally, he let out a long sigh and said to Duan Fei, "Alright, you passed. Let’s move on to the next phase. In this phase, we can work on your fundamentals. I’ll arrange some basic courses for you. You are not allowed to use any Skills during these courses. And for this phase... all coaching fees are waived until you’ve completed it and are ready for the next stage."

Duan Fei thought for a moment, then asked, "Coach Liu, I have a question."

"Go ahead."

"When you first told me to kill you, was it because you saw that my melee-related Attributes were low and I didn’t have much combat experience, so you were trying to scam me? If I could never manage to kill you, were you going to try and sell me some kind of ’gym membership’?"

"I’m a professional!"

"A professional scammer?"

"Duan Someone, I’m warning you..."

"So you were trying to scam me?"

"Young man, that kind of thinking is dangerous! I’m a coach. Would I really recommend a scam course to you?"

"So..."

"...Yes, I was trying to scam you."

Coach Liu finally gave up all pretense and admitted it frankly.

"It’s not really scamming, though. Everyone does it. We just string you along for a few hours to earn a coaching fee. During that process, we can get a rough idea of your personality and strengths, then make a plan accordingly. After all, we coaches have to make a living, you know?"

Coach Liu’s reaction made Duan Fei wonder if he was an NPC. Even if he was, he was an incredibly advanced one.

After happily extending his time at Coach Liu’s for another three hours, costing him a total of 2,500 Abyss Coins, Duan Fei’s basic training began.

Although he hadn’t managed to scam a coaching fee out of Duan Fei, Coach Liu was indeed a professional.

He meticulously corrected Duan Fei’s power delivery and refined his techniques. Combined with some basic physical conditioning, he quickly depleted Duan Fei’s stamina bar.

In the Abyss, all sorts of physical sensations were realistically simulated. Although negative feelings were only at one-tenth or even one-hundredth of their real-world intensity, he could still feel a hint of fatigue.

But whenever that happened, Coach Liu would have Duan Fei rest and then teach him some melee combat techniques.

Though these techniques weren’t Skills, Duan Fei found them to be a real eye-opener.

Against a novice, you have to be relentless. After all, novices have no experience and fight with nothing but brute courage. After taking a few hits and seeing blood, they’ll get scared.

Against a veteran, you need to focus on dodging. Keep your body turned to the side as much as possible to reduce your target area.

Against an expert, just run. Or go all out with your ultimate move—trading your life for theirs is a worthy exchange.

Four hours flew by in a flash.

After the training ended, Duan Fei sipped on a free Energy drink and was pleasantly surprised to find that his Constitution had increased by 1 point.

This was likely because he had already accumulated some attribute experience from the previous dungeon, which was then activated in the training ground.

But this also showed that raising Attributes through the training ground was a viable path.

It was just too expensive.

Coach Liu patted Duan Fei on the shoulder. "You’re pretty good. Your all-around qualities are solid. But you’re a Summoner, so you just need a little practice. You should still focus most of your attention on Spirit and summoning."

Coach Liu’s words were surprisingly earnest, considering how little they knew each other, and Duan Fei appreciated the sentiment. "Thanks."

"Alright, time’s up. You should try to train in the real world, too. It’ll be beneficial."

Duan Fei nodded again, feeling that Coach Liu was right.

The *Abyss* developers’ obsessive attention to detail was on display once again. Even these movements seemed to be linked to reality, making him feel like he could use them in the real world.

After saying goodbye to Coach Liu, Duan Fei logged off and saw that it was already ten o’clock at night.

He took a shower and was about to go to sleep when he heard a knock on the door.

Puzzled, Duan Fei opened his apartment door and saw Jinghong standing outside the security door.

"Jinghong, what are you doing here?"

Opening the door, Duan Fei watched as Jinghong walked in, dragging a suitcase behind her. Her stunning appearance seemed to brighten up his entire living room.

"I told you, I’m coming to stay with you for a while."

"Huh? Why?"

"I’ve been kicked out of my house," Jinghong said casually.

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