System's POV
chapter-462-1

"Master, today's the day I will finally overcome the challenge that you have given me," Derek declared with a smug smile on his face.

"You seem awfully confident today, Disciple." Thirteen eyed the Swordsman with genuine curiosity.

"Indeed, I am very confident today because I brought a secret weapon with me," Derek chuckled. "Master, you did me dirty by letting me fight that Rank 4 Chad Skunk. But, I have learned from my losses. So today, I will make you see the fruit of my training."

Roland and Joshua, who paused their training just to see their daily dose of entertainment from Derek, looked at their comrade with a smile.

They were naturally familiar with Derek's personality, and they knew that the swordsman was secretly enjoying their hardship and misfortune.

Because of this, they decided to watch Derek's battles as a payback and a form of stress relief from their own training.

"Okay. We'll see if you really have what it takes to overcome the challenge that I have prepared for you today." Thirteen nodded. "Wear the Neuro-Link."

"Right away, Master," Derek replied with excitement.

After wearing his Neuro-Link and laying down on the yoga mat, he connected to GANDAM and prepared to start his training.

When he appeared at the familiar training field, Derek took out something from his dimensional storage, making the corner of Thirteen's lips rise slightly.

The item the Swordsman took out was a Full-Face Respirator Mask. He must've prepared it to save himself from the horrible stink that always assaulted his senses.

You can buy a wide array of weapons, equipment, accessories, items, and consumables within the Game's Database.

Of course, you would need to pay real money for it, but those with money didn't really care.

It was like buying skins for their favorite playable characters in games.

GANDAM also had many of these so-called Fashion Sets, which was the Developer's greatest source of income aside from the monthly subscription to the Virtual Duel Game.

Derek triumphantly wore his mask and summoned his sword in preparation to fight his opponent.

A flash of light appeared in front of him, which was the sign of the Monster being summoned to the battlefield.

But when his gaze landed on the unfamiliar yet familiar monster, the swordsman tilted his head in confusion.

"Dafuk is this?" Derek muttered as he appraised the name of the monster that he was going to fight today.

Blaze Skunk (Giga Destroyer Mode).

Even Roland and Joshua thought that there had been a bug in the Duel Game's Database.

They had never seen such a monster like that one, which made them glance at Thirteen, who was chuckling at Derek's reaction.

"Master, is this a glitch?" Derek asked.

"It's not a glitch," Thirteen replied. "That is your opponent today."

"Master, I thought I was going to fight against a Chad Skunk," Derek commented. "I don't remember signing up to fight against Metal Graym*n."

The Rank 3 Sovereign in front of him was a Blaze Skunk that stood two meters tall even on all fours, which would double the moment it stood up.

Its eyes and claws were blazing brightly, giving it a very intimidating look.

That was fine, and Derek could still live with it. But half of its body was covered in metal armor, making him look like a Sci-fi Monster that could only be seen in movies.

"Master, I don't think that this kind of monster exists in Solterra."

"Oh, it does exist. It's just an extremely Rare Monster that you won't find so easily."

The corner of Derek's lips twitched because he knew that the thirteen-year-old was simply speaking bullsh*t.

However, seeing that the countdown timer was ticking, he had no choice but to brace himself for the upcoming fight.

'It still looks like a Chad Skunk, so I'm sure I will be able to fight it properly,' Derek thought. 'I've been fighting Rank 4 Monsters every day. This Blaze Skunk is merely a Rank 3 Sovereign, so its strength should be equal to a Rank 4 Alpha Monster.'

But a Rank 4 was still a very tough opponent for him.

Derek was an Initiate, which was the fifth stage of the Mortal Rankings.

While he could defeat common Rank 4 Monsters, not all of them were the same.

Just like the discrepancy between ordinary Rookies and Thirteen, there were monsters that were stronger than others.

The moment the countdown timer reached zero, the swordsman was already running toward the Blaze Skunk, using his speed to cross the distance.

While Chad Skunks could fight in close combat like bears, they weren't really battle-oriented monsters.

Because of this, their fighting abilities were average among monsters of the same Rank.

Their ultimate weapon was their stink spray, which could incapacitate their enemies with its properties.

It was like getting hit by an extremely potent pepper spray that smelled worse than rotten eggs and sewer water combined, making the Chad Skunk a monster that even predators avoided unless they were desperate enough to fight it.

After fighting against it for a week, Derek already had a general understanding of its fight patterns, which made him confident of his victory today.

Unfortunately, Thirteen also knew that the Swordsman was ready to go to the next stage of his training, which was why he deliberately prepared the "modified" Blaze Skunk to become Derek's opponent.

When the Swordsman was only a few meters away from his enemy, he prepared to launch a preemptive strike.

He knew that Chad Skunk were slow-moving monsters, so he had gauged the speed and distance of his attack to perfection.

All of these were good and well, but there was one problem.

He wasn't fighting a Chad Skunk.

He was fighting a Blaze Skunk Thirteen specifically programmed to become Derek's training partner.

The Swordsman's sword reflected the light of the sun as Derek suddenly increased his speed, which would make others miscalculate his distance for a fraction of a second.

This was one of the techniques that Thirteen asked him to Master so that his opponent would not be able to react to his sudden burst of speed, which might end the battle in a heartbeat.

The Swordsman made a swift, deadly sword thrust toward the Blaze Skunk's eyes, which weren't protected by its metal armor.

He didn't know how tough the armor was, so he didn't gamble and simply attacked the monster's exposed body part.

However, when his sword was only inches away from the Blaze Skunk's eyes, the monster suddenly lowered its head.

The sound of a metal hitting metal spread in the surroundings as Derek's sword sparked upon clashing with the Blaze Skunk's armor.

Derek, who didn't expect that his opponent would be able to move at such a speed, momentarily froze in shock.

As if knowing that this would happen, the Blaze Skunk raised its head the moment Derek's sword collided with its armor and used a headbutt against the young man, sending the latter flying upward.

Without any wasted movements, the Blaze Skunk turned around, raised its tail, and unleashed a blazing inferno at point-blank range, making Derek scream as his entire body was bathed in flames.

The faces of Roland, Joshua, and the girls who had just arrived in time to see Derek's ending became pale at the abrupt end of the battle.

Perhaps feeling the intense pain and being brought back to reality at the same time, Derek rolled over the ground of the training room while screaming, making everyone feel sorry for him.