OLD-WORLD EXTRA

Chapter 10: Novel

'So I died, huh...guess I should expect a lot of that from now on.' He thought as he looked back at Lyra.

Right after that attack, she stepped back, her hologram form dissipating.

While keeping up with Emir's pace, she deliberately restrained her strength to match his, even accounting for his age and lack of experience.

'Lyra sure is an incredible AI... She simulated everything.'

'It'll take me a long time to reach that level, but no matter, I've got a long road ahead of me.' He concluded.

Unfortunately for Emir, he didn't realize how long the path ahead of him truly was.

[Good work, Emir.] She said.

He nodded, panting from the intense workout.

[What's next?] He asked after resting for a few minutes.

Lyra's hologram reappeared with a small smile on her lips.

"Now, we move on to your TDS ability."

He took a deep breath, knowing that this was the moment he had been waiting for.

She attacked again, but this time he was ready.

He focused all his attention and saw Lyra moving in slow motion, her hologram form suspended in time way slower than his.

'Maybe I can finally get a proper hit in.'

But his victory was short-lived, as her speed went back to normal half a second later.

And even though he was in a position to block her punch, he felt a sudden sharp pain in his head, like a needle piercing his brain.

This pain caused him to clutch his head in agony, which opened him up for an attack that Lyra capitalized on, causing everything to go dark.

Well... At least for his hologram.

After standing up from the punch, he saw two bodies lying on the floor.

One with its head kicked in, its brain spilling out, and the other with a part of its head lobbed off.

'I feel like throwing up, but I have to hold it in since I'll be seeing worse from now on,' he thought as he looked at Lyra once more.

"Again."

And the cycle continued, with Emir barely fighting back, sometimes being able to use his ability, leading him to block a few hits, and then ultimately dying in some gruesome way.

They took a few breaks but continued until evening, and by the time they finished, Emir was exhausted and covered in sweat.

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Lyra's hologram appeared in front of him again, looking just as fresh as when they started.

"Good job, Emir," she said.

"You have improved a lot since we started."

Emir nodded, feeling a sense of pride in his progress.

"Thank you, Lyra."

Lyra's lips curled up into a small smile.

"It was my pleasure."

"Now, it's time for you to rest. You've worked hard today, and your body needs time to recover."

He nodded again, feeling a wave of exhaustion wash over him.

"You're right,"

"I think I'll just go eat now." He said to himself as Lyra's hologram disappeared, leaving him alone in the simulated space.

He then began to look around, and he couldn't even count how many bodies there were, all of them dead with pieces of their bodies misplaced and or crushed.

'A massacre, I literally got massacred for hours... Man, this looks gruesome.'

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, trying to regain his energy.

After a few minutes, he opened his eyes and walked out of the backyard back to his room.

Taking off his augmented suit, he had a quick bath and went downstairs to eat dinner with his family.

"How was your training today, Emir?" His mother asked, pouring him a glass of water as he sat down.

"It was intense," he replied, taking a sip of the water.

"I pushed myself to my limits."

"I'm glad to hear that. It's important to challenge yourself if you want to— "

He looked up, wondering why she had stopped talking, but she stayed silent for a while.

And suddenly, in a hurried tone, while looking straight into his eyes, she asked.

"Emir, what happened to you? Have you looked in the mirror? What happened to your eyes?"

Surprised by what she said, he quickly replied:

"Oh, this... I didn't check, but I think it might be related to my TDS ability."

'Though I have no idea what changed about my eyes and what they looked like before,' he added in his mind, as he always avoided looking at himself directly in the mirror.

Emir also told them about his ability without mentioning the pain that it caused him, he lied about how he unlocked it, saying that he accidentally discovered it one day during training.

'I don't want to lie to them, but I must hide the truth, after all, if I tell them what really happened, they will definitely ask me where I learned that information from.'

'And I can't look them straight in the eyes and say that they are characters in a novel, extras you might say, extras that are barely mentioned in one chapter and killed off the next, all simply for the MC's character development, now can I?' Emir struggled with his thoughts, justifying his actions to himself.

After their collective surprise about what he said and his attributing his ability to being the son of a very high-ranking hunter, Laura spoke.

"As long as you're fine, that's all that matters."

But before he responded, his sister jumped into the conversation with widened eyes, demanding.

"Tell me! Tell me! How did it feel?"

"It was like everything around me slowed down, and I could react, attack, and defend faster," he explained with a chuckle.

"But it's still difficult to control."

His mother nodded, looking proud.

"You're making great progress, Emir. I don't doubt that you'll become a powerful hunter one day, just like your father."

He smiled, always grateful for his family's support.

"Thanks, Mom. I'll do my best."

They continued to talk and enjoy their meal, sharing stories and laughing together.

As they finished, he went upstairs to his room after saying goodnight to both of them.

Laying on his bed, he closed his eyes, feeling his body slowly relax.

It had been a long day, but he was happy with his progress.

And while he drifted off to sleep, he couldn't help but wonder what other secrets Lyra was hiding from him.

But for now, he was content with the knowledge that he had gained, after all, he knew that he had a long way to go before even thinking about mastering his TDS ability.

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This cycle continued for days, months, and years, every day with hours of training with no end in sight.

Some days they trained in hand-to-hand combat, while other days they trained using weapons.

Weapons ranging from a simple bare-bones machine gun, a grenade launcher, to futuristic laser rifles and railguns.

Lyra also explained the concept of how the weapon simulation works, and it was similar to how she controlled his suit when he gets hit.

The weapon's recoil is calculated by her, then she controls his augmented suit to move as if he was actually firing a weapon.

From the weight of the weapon even to the way he gripped the weapon, everything was simulated.

It wasn't perfect however, since it felt a bit floaty at times, but of course, he didn't expect the simulation to really hold up to the feeling of holding a real weapon.

The weaponry practice was done against monsters and humans.

Lyra also simulated a plethora of environments.

One day he could be in the middle of a desert surrounded by nothing but sand dunes, and the next he could be in a lush forest, et cetera.

He experienced warfare in many environments, but she mostly focused on underground ruins and residential districts.

Emir learned how to take cover, how to effectively ambush his enemies, and how to deal with a group of hunters and monsters alike.

And obviously, for such big simulated scenarios, they aren't possible due to the limited space of their backyard.

So instead, going with Lyra's suggestion, Emir went into a desolate place in the sector where barely anyone passed by and trained there.

If some people do, however, Lyra quickly informs him, and they momentarily end the simulation until they leave.

Since if they saw Emir, some rumors might fly around about a retarded kid in an augmented suit running around pretending to shoot at imaginary things.

Anyways, after each and every training session, some might think that his bodies littering the ground would decrease in number, but no.

The number of bodies stayed constant throughout, despite his massive improvement.

So the more he trained, the further he realized how much Lyra was and still is holding back.

And unknowingly to Emir, Lyra has long since begun to enjoy training him, spending time with him, and even more so during her conversations with him.

So, as the days continued to pass by, she began to smile more, but it went unnoticed as he was too busy struggling to survive each fight.

Not even taking into account the constant nightmares he experiences every other night, his guilt in taking over Emir's body building up with every passing day.

Something unnatural that he had no control over...

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Present time

Today, Emir finally had the courage to look at himself in the mirror.

Although he generally knew how he looked due to constantly seeing holograms of himself lying about dead at the end of every training session, but he had never looked straight at his face before.

It just felt weird, after all, he still remembers his past self before reincarnating, and well...

He never wanted to confront the truth.

'The birthday party that mom and sis planned surprised me, I even forgot that it was my thirteenth birthday that day because of the constant training.'

He quickly cut off that thought, managing to keep them from spiraling as he steeled himself.

"Haaaah, alright... Let's get this over with." He voiced out, his tone indicating his resolve.

And as usual, Lyra continued to watch silently, but this time, she wasn't indifferent.

Guilt was apparent on her face, as she clutched her holographic hands, seemingly in the know of what was coming next.