Chương 9: The Secret Training Facility Underneath An Electric Substation

"Training facility?" Theo blurted out. Cayman nodded, although all we could see were stone walls engulfing us like my reading bubble.

"This is where you will train to increase your XP," he explained.

"Here, you will train until your XP reaches stage 3. Then you will accept the opportunity to become Hoppers." I was perplexed; we were standing in an empty torch-lit room around a hundred feet below my house with nothing that we could potentially do to increase our XP levels. What could we possibly do in this room to potentially increase our stage?

"There's nothing here." Maya had the same idea as me. That was when Cayman walked to one end of the room and pressed a button camouflaged in the stone. The stone disappeared afterwards, revealing a room with what looked like wild animals. Ben's jaw dropped while Ellie pointed at the animals. Clearly he didn't realise that there was another room beyond the stone walls.

"How?" Ben was bewildered.

"How many rooms are there underneath this neighbourhood?" What a day it had been for Theo, Maya and Ben. It was only four or five hours ago that Theo and Ben were about to bully Maya to a pulp, and it was during that time that I realised that I wasn't the only skill user on Planet 500, no, Planet Earth. I focused my attention on the animals beyond the seemingly invisible wall. Those were probably mana beasts. In Night Hoppers, by defeating mana beasts, skill users can gain more XP to level up and get stronger.

Mana beasts varied by levels. At the bottom end of the spectrum, there were basic mana beasts, which were the weakest and easiest to defeat. Though they are a good starting point for new skill users trying to level up, they are of almost no use for stronger skill users trying to level up because of the limited XP defeating a basic mana beast gives. The strongest mana beasts were at the infinite level.

Stronger skill users would want to defeat those kinds of beasts since they give the most XP and the most valuable rewards. However, defeating legendary and infinite level mana beasts are not easy, and many naive skill users die at the hands of those beasts because they underestimated the beasts' abilities.

"I promise I've shown you all the rooms down here," Cayman said.

"This is the last one. Now do you believe me that this is a training room?" Everyone else nodded. Cayman and Ellie pointed at the mana beasts beyond the wall.

"These are mana beasts," Cayman explained.

"You will be defeating these as part of your training." Theo and Ben flinched.

"What?" Theo was taken aback.

"These are what we will be defeating to level up?" Ellie nodded.

"Don't worry, mate," Cayman said.

"These beasts are at the lowest level possible. They shouldn't hurt you any bit." Theo was shuddering, while Maya managed to maintain a calm and composed look. I, on the other hand, who had read all about Cayman and Ellie defeating mana beasts of various levels, showed no visible signs of being scared of the beasts. All the physiological changes I had experienced whilst descending the ladder had disappeared. Cayman sighed.

"You guys are all babies. Grow up. They won't kill you. The worst you'll get is a cut on the arm, but you won't lose enough blood to end your life." The others weren't convinced at all. Cayman sighed again, this time letting out a deep, prolonged sigh.

"It looks like I haven't convinced you enough to instill confidence in you guys. I can't believe it has gotten to this point, but I'll give you a demonstration. Ellie, let one of the mana beasts out." As if the wall had magically disappeared, a beast from the other room appeared in the same room as us. It was probably because the walls in this room were controlled by mana. Theo and Ben gradually moved towards the back end of the room, whilst Maya and I remained rooted to the spot, unmoving.

Theo, Ben and Maya would have no clue how the walls work in this room, so it was wise for Theo and Ben to move back. Once the beast was released, Cayman charged towards it, pouncing. With a singular punch, the beast and Cayman's fist made contact, sending the beast flying to one end of the room, where it hit the wall at a terrifying speed and crashed to the floor, unmoving. The beast was dead from just that one punch. Again, Theo and Ben's jaws dropped. They couldn't believe what they had just witnessed.

A boy had punched what looked to be a cheetah with his bare hands, killing the thing with just that one punch. And he had most likely used the skill that they were so proficient in.

"See?" Cayman said when he turned around to face us.

"You have nothing to fear. You might not have enough strength to do what I just did, but you'll be fine with the skills I've given you." That was when Ellie walked over to Cayman, grabbed his left hand and started nagging him.

"What?" Cayman asked Ellie.

"I'm just about to release the mana beasts for these guys to defeat. What is it now?" Ellie was pointing at something. From another person's perspective, it wasn't clear what she was pointing to, but I knew that she was pointing to something on Cayman's system. Maybe those two did have telepathic communication after all. Or maybe Ellie had a skill that could allow her to see other people's systems. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

"Crap," Cayman whispered to himself.

"You're right." Ellie let out a quiet grunt.

"Sorry guys," Cayman announced.

"I forgot I have something to give you all before I release the beasts." Everyone else sighed. Cayman reached out to his system and pulled out several large knives seemingly from out of nowhere. He then gave us each one of those knives.

"I was extremely reluctant to give these out at first, but then I realised I had no choice." Cayman hung his head, defeated.

"These are mana swords at the basic level. Thanks to Ellie, I realised that you guys won't be able to replicate my move and kill those beasts with just one punch. These swords are imbued with mana, and that allows you to kill mana beasts with ease. Regular swords won't be able to kill mana beasts; killing mana beasts requires you to wield a sword with mana." I touched the handle of the sword. It was extremely smooth and light, and the metallic blade shone despite the training room being fairly dark.

I could definitely get used to using this. When I looked up, I saw the system window pop up and I almost jumped. Mana Sword Level: Basic Description: The most basic but useful item that allows skill users to defeat mana beasts. This is the easiest weapon to create. Durability: 50 (basic), 250 (advanced), 2750 (legendary), infinite (infinite) Not a bad weapon to have, if you ask me.

This was the weapon that many people used in Night Hoppers to defend against and defeat mana beasts, and even Cayman and Ellie used it in the novel from time to time.

"Listen up!" Cayman shouted; he was clearly getting more impatient.

"It's your turn now to defeat some mana beasts. Since you guys are low on confidence, how about we take a volunteer first?" As expected, nobody decided to volunteer. There were at least ninety seconds of awkward silence before I decided that it was my time to shine. I put my hand up to volunteer and defeat the mana beasts.

Although Cayman continuously reassured us that we wouldn't die from getting severely injured by those beasts, we all knew that it was a lie, and that even the most basic of basic mana beasts could kill an ordinary human if they wanted to. In simpler terms, I was putting my life on the line to show my 'friends' that it was possible for us to defeat mana beasts as the skill users at the lowest level. Cayman nodded.

"Looks like we have a volunteer. Looks like we have someone who isn't a scaredy cat who might possibly get killed only a few days after awakening. Release the mana beast!" Once again, the wall separating us and the live mana beasts disappeared, and a mana beast came hurtling towards me. I didn't know what it was at first, but at least the system gave a clear description of the beast. [Mana Lion (basic)] That abomination didn't look like a lion, but oh well. I had to defeat that thing before I become lion food.

Without thinking about anything else, I charged with my sword pointing forward. I gained momentum, and eventually, the blade of the sword made contact with the mana lion's right eye. Stab! Ack! The mana lion fell to the ground, writhing in pain. I didn't think twice; I took this opportunity and stabbed the lion repeatedly, making deep cuts to ensure it couldn't get back up anytime soon. Maya screamed. Theo and Ben covered their mouths with their hands. Everybody was in shock.

I had just defeated a basic-level mana beast, and I was unscathed. Holy crap, what the hell have I just done? Cayman walked up to me with a smile on his face. That made me realise that I rarely saw Cayman smiling. I felt like I had accomplished something significant.

"You saw him," Cayman said.

"This gives me enough confidence to say that you guys are all capable of defeating the most basic mana beasts. Whenever you're ready, I'll release the rest of the mana beasts." Theo and Ben's astonishment quickly turned to excitement.

"You can release them now," Theo said confidently. It was like all of his surprise at me seamlessly defeating the mana beast gathered into a large bubble which burst once Cayman congratulated me. Ben and Maya nodded.

"All I can say now is good luck," Cayman said.

"Release the mana beasts!" Ellie did as she was told. In a matter of seconds, many mana beasts were stampeding towards us like wildebeests, showing no signs of stopping.

"All right, this is the real deal," Theo said, cleaning the blade of his sword with his shirt.

"Looks like we have something to bully. You ready, Ben?" Ben nodded in agreement.

"Charge!" Theo, Ben and Maya all shouted in unison. I watched as Maya inflicted a deep stab wound on one of the mana lions, causing it to shriek, stop and fall on the spot. Ben managed to stab both eyes of the mana lion he had been dealing with whilst Theo, with his athletic body and his natural muscles, managed to decapitate the mana lion charging towards him, causing Cayman to cheer and Ellie to shriek. I managed to pin down the mana lion running towards me, allowing me to stab it several times with ease.

"This is way better than bullying humans," Ben said to Theo, which made me happy to hear.

"If we let out all of our anger on these irrelevant beasts instead, it gives us more pleasure than letting it all out on humans."

"Agreed," Theo replied, displaying a genuine smile on his face. Come to think of it, I didn't think Theo was capable of smiling like that. After that, we all handled the next bunch of mana beasts with ease, causing our confidence to increase drastically. We were actually working as a team, which I didn't think was possible just yesterday.

"Those guys are handling it quite well," Cayman said to Ellie.

"I didn't think they had that kind of fighting spirit in them." Well, two of them were the school's most feared bullies, so it was truly no surprise to see them doing well.

"You've all done well," Cayman announced to us.

"Check your systems." I opened my system. There were multiple unread messages. [You have gained 50 XP for defeating a 'Mana Lion (basic)'.] [You have gained 50 XP for defeating a 'Mana Lion (basic)'.] [You have progressed to stage 2!] [You have unlocked 'Skill Creation'!] [You have unlocked 5 new inventory spaces!]"You may get confused by the term 'Skill Creation', but don't worry, I'll explain it later. You won't need it just yet. Now, it's time for the rewards."

Cayman's words lit up the eyes of Theo, Ben and Maya. They should definitely be proud of themselves, I thought. They shouldn't even be doing this in the first place. They were dragged into this mess and shouldn't even be seeing this.

"Usually," Cayman began, "mana beasts leave mana crystals behind as rewards for the skill users. However, these mana beasts are too basic to drop mana crystals. However, I do have some mana crystals to reward you myself for your hard work." Theo, Ben and Maya had their hands out ready to receive the mana crystals. They were like beggars asking for cash. Cayman gave us each three blue crystals that shone despite the room being fairly dark.

"Keep hold of these crystals, and don't get them stolen." Cayman emphasised the second part of that sentence.

"We don't want other people on this planet turning into skill users, so please take good care of these crystals."

"We will," Theo, Ben and Maya said in unison.

"Well, since you've all worked hard today, how about we call it a day?" As soon as Cayman finished his sentence, Theo, Ben and Maya were already running out of the training room as if their mothers had just told them that they could have free time after finishing their work. It had been a truly exhausting day, but I was secretly thankful that Cayman provided the opportunity for us to flourish as skill users. This was the starting point of our life as skill users. There was no turning back now.