19: Combat Experience

Three Hours Later

Corey woke up with a yawn, scratching his head he looked around.

"Hmm. I'm still in the kitchen. Then that means the apocalypse was real and not a dream."

Corey muttered then laid back on the floor. Funny enough and much to Corey's surprise, he slept and he slept far longer than he expected to.

'I guess I was still tired mentally.'

Corey thought then closed his eyes and wished to enter the space of Record.

A second later, he appeared in the space surrounded by bookshelves. Corey looking at the bookshelves had a thought.

"I should give this place a name. Hmm. Let me see."

Corey rubbed his chin, then looked around. A few seconds later, he slapped his palms together.

"I got it. Library Of Record. No wait, The Library Of Records. Yep, that's much better. The Library Of Records."

Corey once again satisfied with his naming sense looked at the place where he dropped The Book of Recorded Beings.

'Please let it be that I was dreaming.'

Core hoped then took the Book of Recorded Beings and opened it with trepidation.

He opened the book to page 2 and saw that the level of the monsters were the same as his 'dream'.

He opened to page 3. It was the same.

He opened to page 4. It was the same.

He opened to page 5. It was the same.

"…"

Pa!

"God damn it!"

Closing the book with force, Corey cursed.

"It was not a dream."

"How in the world are there monsters as powerful as that in this place. Like why would there be monsters as powerful as that? It doesn't make sense. How is somebody meant to defeat monsters like that?"

Corey sighed after speaking then placed the book back in the shelf.

"And there goes my plan of killing those monsters eventually."

Corey sighed once more and was about to will for Record to start the virtual simulation but he stopped. He realized he did not check out the level of Black Smiley.

He took the book of recorded beings once again then opened it to page 7 which had the analysis of Black Smiley.

He checked for the actual name of Black Smiley and saw that it's actual name was called Dark Revenant.

'Still gonna call it Black Smiley.'

Corey thought then looked at the level of Black Smiley, hoping it was not as absurd as the sealed monsters.

[Level 65 Dark Revenant]

Phew

Corey released a breath of relief when he saw the level. Although it was high, he was just hoping for the monster to not be a tier 1 or close to tier 1 because at least he felt he had a chance of killing it.

After checking Black Smiley's level. Corey decided to finally gain some combat experience.

He willed for The Library of Records to open the door to the virtual simulation room and a door manifested out of thin air in front of him.

Corey walked to the door, opened it and entered. After entering, Corey found himself in a white space where it seemed like it had no end. The floor was white, the sky or whatever Corey assumed to be the sky was white, his surroundings both on his left and right side were also white.

Just as Corey was observing his environment with curiosity, a translucent screen appeared in front of him and Corey read the contents.

[Welcome to the virtual combat simulation environment.

In this place, you can choose to face any opponent(s) which has been recorded by Record.

Any environment that has been recorded by Record can also be used as the environment of the combat simulation.

Please Note: Every sensation experienced by the mental incarnation of the holder would be transmitted to the physical body of the holder.

Please choose the opponent, number of opponents and the environment.]

"Every sensation experienced by my mental incarnation would be felt by my physical body?"

Corey muttered with a stunned expression and he spoke unconsciously after.

"Does that mean even death. What if I'm eaten alive or something slices off my head?"

Corey thought with sweat dripping down his forehead. He looked at the white space all around him and gulped.

It wasn't looking so appealing to him as it was from the start.

He had the thought of refusing to go through the combat experience and maybe he would go through it later but when he thought of the fact that to gain combat experience which he severely lacked, he would need to probably fight lots and lots of monsters in real life and the chance of death would be extremely high, he gritted his teeth and made up his mind.

He was going to use this virtual room to gain combat experience even if he has to die a hundred or even a million or billion times.

He knew just how much he needed combat experience especially when he remembered his fight with the eight Smileys, if he had made better decisions, he would never have been caught in the situation where he needed to be saved by Kyle, it was better he die here where his death would not be true than die in real life.

He looked at the translucent screen and saw the various monsters Record had recorded. He saw the monsters in the sealed room and even Black Smiley. Although he was curious about what would happen if he faced those monsters, he didn't choose to face them since they would not be weakened at all and would retain their levels.

He looked at the monsters he could face which were the smileys.

He could face the first Smiley he encountered in the dormitory. He could also face the eight Smileys that almost killed him outside the dormitory or even in the dormitory.

Corey thought he would only be able to fight a maximum of eight smileys since that was the highest number of Smileys he faced, but he found out that he could increase the number of Smileys he could face to any number he wanted and he could also increase their levels up to level 30 at the highest.

Corey was curious and kept on increasing the number but the moment he increased it to a hundred, he heard a warning telling him that if he increased it to more than a hundred, his mental energy would reduce drastically and there could be consequences.

Corey since he was just curious about how far he could go, stopped and reduced the number of Smileys to 4 and set their levels at level 10. He also set the environment to outside the dormitory where he fought the eight Smileys.

He wanted to face eight Smileys at first but he decided not to be too cocky and faced four. At least he felt he should be able to fight 4.

After Corey confirmed his choices, the white space around him changed. It twisted and spun before the white receded and change to the outside of the dormitory.

Corey looked around with interest and curiosity, wondering how his ability could do this.

He even looked behind him and saw the dormitory but with no black smiley inside. He looked at his clothes and realized that it was the clothes he wore after having his bath, although he still had bandages wrapped around some parts of his body.

Just as Corey was about to continue his observation, white lights appeared around him and then he heard growls all around him.

When the white light receded, he saw four smileys forming a circle with him at the center.

"Hey there Smileys. Although you're not-"

Just as Corey was speaking, the Smileys roared. The smiley in front of Corey jumped at Corey not waiting for Corey to finish his words, stunning Corey.

"Shit."

Corey's eyes widened and he cursed, he tried to dodge to the left and he did, successfully avoiding the attack.

After dodging, a smile appeared on his face and he tried to bring out Smile Reaper from his waist but,

Chomp

"Argghhhhh!!!"

The smiley on the left bit Corey on his left shoulder making Corey to shout in pain.

He punched the Smiley's head reflexively, hoping for it to leave his shoulder but his strength which was lower than a normal level 5 human could definitely not make the smiley release it's bite.

The pain becoming unbearable for Corey tried to bring out Smile Reaper but just as he did, the Smiley on the right bit Corey on his right leg.

"Arrrrgggghhhhhhh!!!!!"

Corey screamed in pain.

He was not used to pain at all.

He rarely encountered situations where he got injured since he rarely did physical activities. The pain he was going through at the moment was making his mind numb and his heart beat at an extremely fast rate.

Just as the smiley bit Corey on his leg, another Smiley, the Smiley which was behind Corey walked towards Corey and pierced his chest causing Corey to look at his chest with a blank gaze.

The first Smiley he dodged, ran towards Corey with an angry gaze, probably due to it missing it's attack and bit Corey's neck, eventually tearing off a part of Corey's neck.

The four Smileys started biting and chewing on different parts of Corey's body, eventually leading to Corey's death.

-------------

(In Real Life, The Kitchen of the Cafeteria)

Corey's physical body spasmed and a few seconds later, a scream was released from Corey.

"ARGHHHHHH!!!!!"

Bang!!

"Corey?!!!"

The door burst open three seconds after Corey screamed and Kyle came in rushing with Mat and Mac.

Kyle seeing Corey spasm in pain had a confused expression.

He looked around warily but finding out nothing which could be the cause of Corey's condition, he crouched and touched Corey.

A shocked expression appeared on his face after touching Corey.

"He's burning up."

Kyle then turned towards Mat and Mac and shouted. "Get me a bucket of water. Fast!"

Mat and Mac although confused did as Kyle ordered and ran to find a bucket to fill with water.

Kyle turned towards Corey and his confusion increased the more.

"Corey what happened to you?"

He asked but Corey could not reply and his body kept have violent spasms.

A few seconds later, Mat brought a bucket of water with a bowl inside and dropped it beside Kyle.

Kyle took the bowl, filled it with water then poured it all over Corey's body especially his head. Steam rose up from Corey's body shocking Kyle, Mat and Mac.

Kyle kept on pouring water until Corey's body stopped spasming.

Kyle walked over to Corey and touched his body, finding the temperature to be normal. He touched his head, finding the temperature to also be normal.

Corey opened his eyes slightly and Kyle seeing that, spoke.

"What happened to you Corey?"

Corey looked a little lost before his eyes focused on Kyle's face.

'Even when I'm weak and can't see properly, you're still handsome.'

Corey had this weird thought but when he replied Kyle's question, he spoke weakly not because he was faking it because he felt exceedingly weak at the moment.

"I just did something stupid that's all."

Corey chuckled weakly after speaking and Kyle looked at him strangely before sighing then getting up.

"Just don't do something like that next time. Alright?" Kyle said and Corey nodded weakly.

"I want to sleep." Corey said and Kyle nodded, leaving the room with Mat and Mac allowing Corey to sleep.

------------

[ A/N: This chapter was sponsored by Prime_Zen and deathmonarch. Thanks a lot.