*Slash*

A downward slash filled with the confidence of striking his opponent landed on the training dummy. Vikram clearly felt the difference in his attack as compared to his earlier attacks. Filled with ecstasy he swung his sword again and again as he got drunk on the feeling of hitting the dummy.

The instructor saw Vikram hitting the training dummy and nodded to himself which was followed by a message appearing in front of Vikram.

You've gained Old Man Krieg's acknowledgement.

Unfortunately, Vikram was too immersed in hitting the training dummy as he didn't notice the transparent message right in front of him as he continued doing what he was doing.

"Alright, that's enough, you can stop now young man." Old man Krieg said but unlike his expectations, Vikram didn't even notice him as still continued slashing down the sword on the training dummy.

"Can't you hear me?" Old man Krieg asked, this time making sure to increase his voice by a bit.

Getting no response from him he got irritated and smacked Vikram's head in anger. The pain worked like magic as it quickly stopped Vikram making him come out of his state. Rubbing his head now which was paining very sharply Vikram looked at the instructor and said feeling wronged "Why did you hit me?"

"I know that testing it out now is fun for you but how long do you plan to keep on doing it? Do you want to keep on doing it or want to learn something new from me?" Old man Krieg said.

Hearing him Vikram immediately forgot about his treatment and said, "Of course, I would like to learn something new!"

The instructor smiled hearing him and said "Alright, watch carefully because I'm going to do this only once."

Vikram nodded while looking at him carefully. Old man Krieg proceeded towards the training dummy and got on his stance. Vikram made sure to make a mental note regarding his stance. The Old man tightened his grip on his sword's hilt as he used both of his hands to launch a stab right at the draining dummy's stomach.

Vikram kept his eyes on the old man expecting him to do something else but was met with only disappointment as he soon turned towards him as said "Alright, practice this for now."

Vikram who was expecting to learn something interesting from the old man didn't know whether to laugh or cry at the moment. He just saw the old man walking away carrying an expression as if he had done a huge favour on him by showing him such a simple move.

"I won't be disturbing you anymore then. Go on. I know you can't wait to try it yourself." Old man Krieg said as he walked inside the training hall leaving Vikram alone in the courtyard with the dummies.

Vikram would have abused the shit out of him if he wasn't concerned about ruining his affinity with the instructor. Taking deep breaths to calm himself down he went towards the training dummy to try it out himself. Following a similar stance as the instructor, Vikram stabbed at the dummy. There was nothing special about it, but it didn't feel bad. It was similar to how he felt while slashing vertically downward on the dummy.

Without knowing he had already stabbed the dummy more than 20 times, each time he adjusted his posture just a little bit to make it suit himself and finally he felt that the 20th slash was done in the correct manner. He was right on that because just after performing the 20th slash he got a message indicating that his sword proficiency had once again increased.

Sword Proficiency- LVL1(5/1000)

Vikram couldn't help but raise his eyebrows seeing that he had gained 2 more points instead of just one. He didn't fret much over it and instead was filled with happiness. Just like last time he started stabbing the dummy in a manner like the 20th stab not wanting to forget the feeling.

He continued doing it for thirty more minutes, some of his stabs were not meeting his expectations and it was becoming difficult for him to concentrate so Vikram decided to call it a day. He removed his helmet and putting it aside went to sleep.

The next day Vikram woke up earlier than usual. He was kind of feeling refreshed and went out for a morning jog. It was his first time going for a jog after a long time, even though he wasn't very keen on going for a jog he kind of felt inside that this small thing would kind of help him in improving his life though the bigger reason was that his body felt stiff from lying on the bed so much.

On the way back Vikram bought some eggs and had them for breakfast before switching on his gaming equipment and wearing his VR helmet as he lay on the bed. Entering Odyssey Vikram found himself again in front of the training dummy but this time he felt like doing something else.

Maybe it was the confidence he gained from learning the downward slash he wanted to try it on the demonic hounds. If it was him before, he would be scared of dying but after dying for more than 3 times even if someone was a total coward, they would still be less afraid of dying.

Thinking like this he ran outside the village to test his skills. Reaching the forest, he soon found two demonic hounds. They looked like massive black dogs with thick hair. Their red eyes along with the sharp yellowish teeth were enough to make even a grown man scared.

Gulping down his saliva Vikram slowly approached the hounds. Unlike before he didn't stupidly run towards them and got surrounded but instead waited for them to approach him slowly first.

One of the hounds took the lead as It slowly crouched towards Vikram ready to jump at him the moment, he found him vulnerable. Vikram took his stance with laser-like focus as he prepared himself to attack the hound with the only move, he was confident about.

Not being able to find any weakness in Vikram the hound finally lost its patience and jumped at him. Vikram who had been keeping his eyes on the hound didn't let this opportunity go and he forcefully lifted his sword down and with a much greater force swung in right down slicing the hound in half.

CRITICAL HIT

LVL 5 Demonic Hound Slain

+500 EXP

Before he could enjoy the sensation of levelling up, he found his throat in between the other hound's mouth as it crushed his head making his vision go dark.