Kenji did not hear their conversation but he pretty much figured it all out. He typed on his wristboard and summoned his triplet orbs. He gathered all three in front of himself and hugged them tightly. With a deep sigh, he jumped off the wall. His fall was, however, slow, much slower than what gravity usually allowed. And just as he was about to touch the ground he suddenly stopped midair. And slowly his body levitated towards the dome where Amanda lay.

“What is he doing? He looks ridiculous. Just walk like a normal person” roared Thompson.

“Y-you haven’t noticed?” said Mei.

“What?”

“Amanda’s ability. I think she can only know where Kenji is as long as he is on the ground. If it’s in the air or on the platform she had created herself, she can’t see him” explained Mei.

“Very interesting” mumbled Vlad.

Just as they stopped talking, another giant fist-shaped platform rose from the ground and slammed into the top mid part of the wall, proving that their theory about her powers was right. After making progress slowly and gradually Kenji came in front of the dome. The orbs allowed him to levitate a little higher and he gently placed his legs on the dome to not alert the girl lying within. However, he still had no way to bring Amanda out. But he had a sly idea that just might be slick enough to bring him victory.

He dug his bag and brought out a small lunch box, which was empty now. And he threw it towards the recently made arm shaped platform. The box landed a meter or so from the arm shaped platform. Within a second, dozens of spikes rose from the ground and threw the lunchbox into the air. Kenji then threw a glass potion bottle next to the spikes and from beneath it rose another bunch of spikes.

He could easily exhaust all of her mana until she no longer had a choice but to get out. While Kenji grinned at the idea, a platform rose just beside the dome and it’s top curled towards him. Kenji was slick enough to jump and dodge it but he fell on the grassy ground with his side. When he got up, a thin platform with a pyramid-shaped top rose from the ground and slammed right into his crotch.

Kenji cried in pain but the platform stretched higher and higher until it was the size of a two-story building and somehow Kenji was balancing on top of it.

“Ooohhh, that’s gotta hurt” sympathized Vlad.

Everyone else looked with cringe at Amanda’s ruthless attack. The pain was enough to make Kenji see rainbows in his vision. But just as he was falling, he slammed his daggers to the top of the tower and was left there hanging.  With the command of his mind, he brought his triplet orbs under his body and using them as a foothold, he jumped up and stood on top of the daggers. He climbed unto the top of the tower and raised his hands. The daggers burst out of the tower and flew back into his hands.

Now, all he had to do was wait. And as he had suspected, Amanda had run out of mana (or patience) and dome in a single moment turned to dust. She was standing practically defenseless. However, upon seeing Kenji she retreated a few steps and placed her hand on the ground, waiting for Kenji to make a move. Kenji dug into his bag and brought out… a rock of sorts. It was hard for Amanda to make out what he was up to from down there. 

“Hell Mighty Grenade. FIRE”

He threw it towards Amanda which in return she created a thick wall to protect herself. But the rock did not explode. It simply slammed onto the wall and fell to the ground. The situation, however, turned out beautifully for Kenji as he jumped into the air fiercely.

He landed on the newly created wall with skill and the triplet orbs followed him. At that moment, Amanda realized her grave mistake, turned around and ran. But the orbs came flying and simultaneously crashed unto her back and exploded. The impact was enough to crush her to the ground and when she finally became conscious of what had just occurred Kenji’s dagger was at her throat.

“Give up?”

“Yeah, I guess” said Amanda.  

He returned his daggers to his bags and instead offered his hand this time. Amanda silently took it and got up.

“Alright, that was my personal favorite battle as of now. Well done you two” claimed Vlad.

“Yeah, is your crotch okay, Kenji? You had it pretty rough there” asked Mikhail.

“Definitely would have sued her if It weren’t for the fact that this world was virtual” said Kenji sarcastically.

“Now, who is going to fight next?” asked Vlad

“Hey, Vlad. Let’s all just practice and battle. Seeing two fantastic fights one after the other, I
just cannot hold my yearning” yelled Thompson.

“Yeah, seeing is fine and all. But it’s boring” said Emma.

“Oh, if you guys feel so. Then go ahead. Three fights are enough of a show anyway” said Vlad.         

And after a few minutes of warm-up, everyone went into sparring and training.
Bold was training with Natalia on his sword swings. Mikhail was just lazily watching them. But Bold quickly got tired from doing the same move over and over again and observed his surroundings.

Amanda sat alone on a tree trunk and seemed to have been checking her items in her dimensional bag. And Vlad was enjoying the friendly spar between Mei and Emma. Emma had summoned a yellow orb resembling a sun to her aid. She gave a command to it with the movement of her index finger and the sphere plunged at Mei. But she was prepared. Mei summoned a blue deer and hopped on it just in time before the sphere reached her.  

The deer galloped like the wind and the sphere kept following them. But it soon became clear that its speed was not enough to reach her. She pulled the rein of the deer to the left and dashed in a semi-circle pattern and now headed straight towards Emma. And she was now completely defenseless, the sphere was already too far away from its master.

Mei typed on her wristboard and a small figure of a maiden appeared in her hand. She threw the statue, not at Emma but towards the ground right in front of her target. When the figure touched the grassy plain it turned into an icefield. Emma slipped to every side until she held some balance by pressing on the ground with her four limbs like a newborn sheep. But this had left Mei with quite the opportunity as she pulled out a dagger from her bag and cut her sister’s back from above the stag. The stag that she was riding was simply a pro at balancing itself on the icefield.

“That hurt” said Emma as she was barely balancing herself on the ice with four limbs.

“That was the point”.

“Why you- “

Emma forced herself to stand up but the act was only followed with her slipping and falling on her back painfully on the cold surface. Vlad clapped his hands and threw a double thumbs up towards Mei who replied to him with a kind smile.

                   As the sun slowly set and the crimson light bathed the plains with delight, the ten companions gathered around and started a fire. They fried some fishes on the fire, laughed and sang. But after the meal, everyone had become silent almost as if to mimic the weakening fire at the center of the circle. Diego especially was the one who talked the least and laughter was not heard from him the whole day. Whereas the reason some people like Thompson shat up was that he had fallen asleep after their stomach became occupied.

Vlad got up and to the others he said:

“Let’s go back to the inn. We have to sleep early and get up early”.

After the members stashed their weapons into their bags, the team headed towards the exit of the park.                                                                            

---------         
“Sorry about this. Wish we could order two rooms. But gotta save cash. Got to have money”

As Vlad said this he slowly opened the door to their room.

“It’s okay. If anything, we should be thankful for you. Didn’t spend a single paper on this. So how can we complain?” said Mikhail.  

“Yeah, I can sleep on the ground with my mattress,” said Diego.

Bold, Diego and Mikhail were staying in the small room. Vlad and Natalia had their own room. And Kenji piggybacked the sleepy Thompson into the third room and decided to sleep there as well. Amanda, Mei and Emma were sleeping in another room. 

“Goddamn, tomorrow is gonna be a pain in the ass. Couldn’t summon that horse or get better at handling my sword” complained Bold as she slouched on the bed.

“Who gets to become a pro in sword fighting in just one day? Relax man. And everything will happen itself” said Mikhail.

“How am I supposed to relax when I know I’m the weakest around here”

“Oh, who said that? As far as I know, you kicked Diego’s ass” said Mikhail with a grin

But Diego was not having it.  

“That was sheer luck. The fact that you have a sense of reality is by far one of your few redeeming qualities” said Diego coldly.

“Bastard. You’re still not better than me” said Bold with anger.  

“I’m fine with that. I don’t have any concern to have a dick measuring contest with you”

Diego jumped into his bed and covered himself entirely with his blanket.

With no one else to argue, Bold got into bed as well and Mikhail soon slipped into his side. Lights were out and darkness had taken over the room but Bold could not sleep. He rolled to the right, he rolled to the left but neither the sandman nor whatever nonsensical fairytale goddesses could bliss him with sleep.

“What’s the matter? If you’re hungry get something from downstairs” said Mikhail

“That’s not it”

“Then what’s the matter?”

“I can’t sleep” said Bold.  

“I can see that silly”

Bold quietly looked at the ceiling as the memories of the day started to haunt him. Then he just spoke out loud. Confessing everything that bothered him.  

“You know, my grandpa was a general who used to work for the country. He was fantastic at his job. Stopping bad people from harming others. He even helped out with the national security of other countries. After he passed away tho, the lives of my mother and I became pretty grim. He was always kind to me, the father that I never had. And he always had high hopes for me and after he was gone all I became was lazier and lazier. Why did it come to this? Why have I become so pathetic? My gramps is probably scolding me from the heavens”

There was silence for a brief moment. But then Mikhail said with an enthusiastic tone:   

“Comparison is the source of suffering. You’re not your gramps. You said you were a NEET, right?”

“A hardcore one at that. For four years”.

“Even NEETs have some advantage that a normal person doesn’t get to have” said Mikhail. 

“Like what? Memorizing internet memes and thrashing out like a maniac cause they suck at Call of duty?” asked Bold with obvious irritation.  

“Haha. Whether that’s the case or not thinking about the past, regretting the past isn’t going to help anyone. Thinking about the future will only make you tense too”

“Then what the hell am I supposed to do”.

“Be in the present. Do not let your mind wander into the past or the future” said Mikhail.

“The present huh?”

“Yeah, it’s the only reality there is. And you have to sleep in the present, now don’t you? So just sleep”

"Easy to say that. If there was any method I could use to go to sleep" mumbled Bold. 

"Haha. Yeah, you're right. Every attempt at trying to sleep will disturb your sleep. Because every attempt is sort of tension. So you just do nothing. When thoughts come, you observe them without identifying yourself with them. But other than that...do nothing" said Mikhail.

Thoughts come? What is he talking about? Aren't I the one generating those thoughts myself? thought Bold. 

But still, he did what Mikhail told him to do. He did absolutely nothing and soon drowsiness began to settle within him.