Yuan Jin stood in the courtyard of his house, feeling the gentle breeze carrying the scent of damp earth after last night's rain. However, his mind was restless. In front of him, Aether stood with a neutral expression, staring at him with sharp eyes that seemed to pierce into his soul.
"I know you want to become strong," Aether said, crossing her arms. "But are you truly ready for it?"
Yuan Jin clenched his fists. "I have no other choice. I must become strong."
Aether observed him for a moment before nodding slightly. "Very well. Then we begin today."
The Training Dimension
With a wave of her hand, Aether altered the surroundings. Yuan Jin's small house vanished, replaced by an endless expanse of shimmering crystal-like ground. The sky turned a deep purple, with clusters of stars swirling slowly. Yuan Jin was shocked, feeling as if he had been transported to another world.
"Here, time moves much slower than in the outside world," Aether explained. "Every one hour here equals only one minute in reality. This is the perfect place to train you."
Yuan Jin swallowed hard. "So... what do I have to do?"
Aether raised a single finger, and suddenly, from the shadows around them, dozens of humanoid figures emerged. They were pitch black with glowing red eyes. They had no faces, yet their presence was so overwhelming that Yuan Jin felt his body freeze in place.
"They are manifestations of your weaknesses," Aether said in a calm voice. "If you want to grow stronger, you must defeat them."
One of the creatures suddenly lunged at him with incredible speed. Yuan Jin was caught off guard and barely managed to dodge as its claws nearly tore through his chest. Reflexively, he rolled to the side, but another attack was already coming from a different direction.
"Damn it!" Yuan Jin struggled to evade the relentless assaults, but his enemies were too fast. Within seconds, he was already cornered.
Aether remained silent, watching from a distance without any intention of helping.
"How am I supposed to beat them? I've never even fought before!" Yuan Jin shouted in panic.
Aether sighed. "You have a healthy body and a decent survival instinct. Use them."
Suddenly, one of the creatures slashed his shoulder with its claws. A sharp pain surged through his body, forcing him to his knees. Blood trickled down from the wound, making him realize that this wasn't just ordinary training—this was a real battle.
"If you don't stand up and fight now," Aether's voice echoed, "then you will never become strong."
Yuan Jin panted heavily. His hands trembled, but deep inside, something began to ignite. He couldn't die here. He had to survive.
With all his strength, he forced his body to stand. If he couldn't defeat them with brute force, then he had to use his intelligence. He began to observe the creatures' attack patterns. They were fast, but their movements repeated in a predictable sequence.
When one of them attacked again, Yuan Jin dodged more deliberately. He rolled to the side and kicked the ground to stabilize himself. Quickly, he grabbed a stone near his foot and threw it directly at the glowing red eyes of one of the creatures. The creature let out a shriek and staggered back.
"I can hurt them?" Yuan Jin was surprised but didn't waste any time. He grabbed another stone and threw it again, this time aiming for the head.
The creature wavered, and before it could recover, Yuan Jin lunged forward and struck it with his fist. The sensation was strange, like punching a dense fog, but the impact was real. The creature collapsed and dissolved into black smoke.
"I did it..." Yuan Jin whispered, catching his breath.
Aether, who had been watching with folded arms, finally gave a faint smile. "Good. You've just taken your first step toward greater power."
However, Yuan Jin had no time to feel satisfied. From the darkness, the remaining creatures began moving again—this time, even more aggressively. Yuan Jin clenched his fists tighter.
---
Yuan Jin stood in the middle of the training dimension, his breath still heavy after defeating one shadow creature. However, the other enemies remained standing, their glowing red eyes fixated on him.
Aether watched from a distance, her expression indifferent. "Don't think that just because you defeated one, the others will be as easy."
Yuan Jin swallowed hard. Earlier, he was lucky to find their attack pattern, but now, the creatures were moving faster and more aggressively.
"I have to stay calm."
As one of the creatures lunged, Yuan Jin tried to dodge, but he was still too slow. The sharp claws barely missed his face, sending a chilling wind across his skin.
"Damn it!"
He attempted to counterattack by throwing a rock like before, but the creature deflected it effortlessly and immediately launched a counterattack. Yuan Jin had no time to react—the dark claws tore through his arm, leaving a deep wound.
The piercing pain made him stumble back. Blood dripped from his wound, darkening the ground beneath him.
Aether let out a sigh. "If you keep this up, you won't last much longer."
Yuan Jin bit his lip. He couldn't let fear take over. He had to find a way to fight back.
His eyes and mind worked faster.
He started observing the enemies' movements. Every time they attacked, there was a brief pause before they launched their next strike. That was the opening he could use.
"Alright, then..."
When one of the creatures leaped at him, Yuan Jin didn't dodge immediately. Instead, he stayed in place, waiting until the creature was within reach. Then, just as the claws were about to strike, he ducked low and jumped to the side, slamming his elbow into the creature's stomach.
Thud!
The creature staggered backward but didn't disappear immediately. Yuan Jin didn't waste the opportunity—he lunged forward with a second strike, hitting its head with full force.
"Begone!"
The creature let out a piercing screech before its body dissolved into black mist and vanished.
Yuan Jin panted. "That's two down…"
However, the remaining enemies didn't give him time to breathe. Two creatures attacked at the same time from opposite directions.
For a moment, Yuan Jin panicked. But then he remembered Aether's words.
"Use your body and survival instincts."
Instead of retreating, Yuan Jin leaped forward, bypassing one of the creatures, then spun around and swept the legs of the other. One fell, but the other remained standing and attacked without hesitation.
Yuan Jin raised his arm to block, but the sharp claws still slashed his shoulder. He suppressed a groan, then countered with a powerful kick to the creature's chest.
Boom!
The creature was sent flying backward. Yuan Jin quickly finished off the one still on the ground, slamming its head into the earth. Once again, black mist spread, signifying the creature's destruction.
Aether watched from afar and finally smirked slightly. "Interesting…"
Yuan Jin stood in the middle of the battlefield, his body covered in more wounds. But there was now a fire burning within him.
He was no longer fighting just to survive—but to win.
To be continued...