"Stand still! No wobbling!"
The loud roar of the bald, one-eyed man shook Ray to the core, his eardrums aching from the sheer volume.
But this time, Ray didn't talk back. Instead, he obediently followed the man's instructions, squatting in a horse stance atop two wooden barrels, holding the position without moving a muscle.
After all, he'd spent universal points to learn Kuro's martial arts, not to bicker with a virtual sparring partner conjured by the system.
Once that clicked in his head, there was no need to take anything personally.
He had no desire to get whipped again — or waste another 10 points.
"Listen up, brat! At sea, the most important thing is your foundation!"
The bald man clasped his hands behind his back, barking his lesson at Ray:
"The ship rocks constantly from the waves. If you lose your balance during a fight and fall, it's as good as losing half your life. Your enemy will not let that chance slip by!"
"So!"
"The first thing I'll teach you is how to stay standing!"
"I'm going to kick the barrels under your feet without warning. You can't jump off, and you can't fall. If you stand up — that's a whipping. If you fall — same deal!"
The man grinned wickedly.
Ray's stomach tightened at those words.
He remembered clearly how painful that first whip had been last time. The thought alone made him consider backing out.
But if he quit now, the 20 points he'd spent so far would be a complete waste.
More importantly, it would interrupt his plan to raise his overall stats.
Gritting his teeth, he made up his mind to stay.
Just as he hesitated, the bald man — seemingly catching his lapse in focus — lashed out with a lightning-quick kick to one of the barrels, sending it wobbling.
Caught off guard, Ray lost his balance and crashed onto the deck.
Crack!
The sharp crack of the whip came instantly, along with Ray's scream of pain.
"Get back up! Again!" the man ordered coldly, pointing at the barrels.
Clenching his teeth, Ray held back the pain, righted the barrel, and climbed back on, returning to the horse stance.
…
Beep!
When Ray tapped the timer on his phone, only three seconds had passed?
Considering the time it took to press the button, the brief disorientation after waking up, and the transition back — those three seconds basically amounted to a blink.
But inside the virtual scenario, he had spent at least four to five hours.
During that time, he'd taken a dozen lashes from the bald drill sergeant before finally grasping the true essence of maintaining balance.
After that, no matter how violently the barrels wobbled — as long as they weren't completely toppled — Ray could remain standing without falling.
"I was in there for hours, and out here it was just an instant. Does that mean no matter how long I stay inside, only a moment passes in the real world?"
Looking at the timer, Ray pondered.
He'd left the scene earlier partly because after so many lashes, his whole body was burning with pain. He'd felt close to his limit.
Still, if he had pushed himself, he probably could've endured a little longer.
But not knowing the time ratio between inside and outside, he'd feared that hours inside meant hours outside — and someone might worry about him if he stayed too long.
Now he knew…
That fear was unnecessary.
Even if the time ratio wasn't a perfect instant-to-hours difference, it was clearly heavily in his favor.
He didn't need to worry about that anymore.
Having solved the key question of time flow, Ray turned to the next critical point:
Did training in the virtual scenario affect him in real life?
"System, show my current stats."
As he mentally issued the command, the system's prompt appeared in his mind:
> Host: Ray
Strength: 0.9 | Agility: 0.9 | Constitution: 0.9 | Spirit: 1.7
Skill: Kuro's Martial Arts (1%)
Exploration Points: 200
Sub-personalities: 'Hundred Tricks' Kuro, 'Death Shooter' Floyd, 'World's No. 1 Assassin' Tao Pai Pai
…
It really worked!
Ray's heart raced as he looked over his stat panel.
Compared to the last time he'd checked, aside from the reduced exploration points and additional personalities, two key changes stood out.
The first: agility.
He remembered clearly that last time, both strength and constitution were at 0.9, spirit was a high 1.7, and agility was the lowest at 0.8.
Now, agility had risen to 0.9, matching strength and constitution!
And he hadn't done any physical training outside the simulation. That increase couldn't be a coincidence.
He understood now — this was the result of using the "Immersion Mode" function!
And the definitive proof? A new skill entry appeared: Kuro's Martial Arts.
Even though it only showed a 1% mastery, it confirmed that the training inside the simulation had carried over into the real world.
"Just four or five hours in there, and I gained 1% of Kuro's Martial Arts — enough to boost my agility by 0.1. Those dozen lashes weren't for nothing!" Ray muttered.
Of course, he knew the quick progress likely came from how weak his base body was.
Like an out-of-shape couch potato starting to exercise — even the smallest effort yields rapid results at first.
But that kind of rapid growth doesn't last forever. Eventually, you hit a plateau.
He was no exception.
Aside from his unusually high spirit stat, his other attributes were below the average for a healthy adult.
Still, he figured his "plateau" wouldn't hit any time soon.
If he fully mastered Kuro's martial arts, it would definitely lead to significant boosts across multiple attributes.
Excitement bubbled in Ray's chest.
"Now's the time to strike while the iron's hot."
With that thought, he reset the phone's stopwatch and prepared to time his next session.
This time, he planned to stay even longer, to confirm exactly how time flowed between worlds.