29 .Realization of the first skill and...???

"Ding" a notification sound rang in Seui's head. At the same time a cute envelope appeared in front of his eyes in the midair. Seui wanted to open it , but he suddenly realized that his limbs weren't functioning properly. It was as if he was dragging his way through a dense pit of mud. He increased his strength, but the outcome wasn't the least bit optimistic.

Then the sweet voice that probably belonged to an NPC guide sounded again. " It looks like the synchronization process hasn't completed yet. Reminding the user to stop all the actions and relax the mind for a few seconds "

'Synchronisation? so this was the reason!' Feeling relieved that there was nothing wrong , Seui relaxed his mind according to the instructions. For a second back there, he even wondered if Ginn's bracelet was broken or something!

After about five seconds , another 'ding' sounded and the girl spoke again "the process is detected to be successful. Now the user can check his mail freely"

Seui sighed gratefully and wanted to stretch his arm toward the little envelope. However, the moment he thought of opening the mails , a new interface was already opened in front of him. Looking at the two mails from Yew , Seui felt incredible. Woah! does this work according to the instructions given by the brain? So wonderful!!

It turned out that Yew had sent him coordinates, there was even a link to the coordinates. It looks like Yew's pretty thoughtful at times! With his lips curving, he followed the link to Yew.

With a brief weightlessness, his surroundings has completely changed. It was a combination of all the good things, there were lots of trees shading the roadside, beautiful flowers decorating the sidewalks, high-tech buildings towering up to the sky and various birds flying overhead along with aircrafts. It looked very much like the earth back then except for the obvious traits of the technology that has advanced by leaps and bounds. To the little otaku who rarely went out this was indeed a world filled with colors and bustling. He totally liked this method of having the best of both worlds! He felt the familiarity among the lush greenery and was curious about the floating transparent platforms and such. 

Just as he was staring at a store-front that kept exploding and mending-itself non-stop, he felt someone tapping on his shoulder from behind.

"Yo, I thought I'd have to put a 'LOST' notice for you" Yew feigned displeasure looking at Seui in a aggrieved manner.

"I wasn't late , was I? there was this slow processing synchronization program...do you think it was because I logged into another's account?" Seui searched around in a hurry to see whether their mentor was staring at them from nearby.

"No way" Yew denied with confidence. "as long as you have power , there wouldn't be a problem even if you wanted to log into a girl's account! Maybe it was hard to fetch your consciousness or something? You're a transmigrated soul after all..." Yew suggested while tapping his chin.

"consciousness? so this doesn't work merely on brain waves? In this case will I be unable to go back into the body after the existing from VR? because the body and the consciousness doesn't match?" Seui asked with a bit of panic. After all it would be terrible to be a drifting ghost!

Yew blinked a few times in confusion "there's such a thing? But I've been in and out of VR a few times without any problem though. According to your theory, shouldn't my consciousness and body not match too? Then again, they only fetch a part of consciousness, so it shouldn't apply in here" he shrugged indifferently.

"Well then.." Seui barely agreed. Since it didn't happen to Yew, it would be the same for him right? Seui inched a bit closer to Yew "..oh right! how does that shop over there keeps combusting and reconstructing automatically? Although there are abilities and this is a VR it shouldn't be possible right?" he whispered in a low voice.

"Ah that? It's an illusion. It sells illusions there, those are made with infusing power into small containers on special conditions. It's quite expensive, but pretty useful at times. I was shocked the first time I saw that!" Yew murmured back, happy that he could finally gossip with Seui.

They walked through several crowds and finally arrived in front of a transparent building. It totally had the shape of Louvre museum. Though transparent, it's interior couldn't be looked through at the slightest and all they could see were the strangely glistening metallic sheets all around it.

"Is this where we're supposed to be?" Seui asked ,curiously poking at Yew.

"Not really, we're going to the private training grounds. Our mentor is waiting for us there. The thing is that you can't go straight away to their coordinates, so we'll have to walk through the entrance .But the crowd is really thick here, it's gonna take a while" Yew answered trying to squeeze through the crowd.

"So where is this exactly?" Judging from the crowd , there seems to be something interesting inside?

"Battle arena, the tickets there're outright robbery! It doesn't allow normal people inside and stipulated requirements for battling are ridiculously high. God knows why somebody would still go there!.." Yew complained endlessly and finally succeeded in making his way through.

Thus, although they gained a few frowns , eye rolls and dagger eyes from the surroundings, in the end they still managed to arrive at the private training grounds on time.

In front of them was a simple counter with the words 'Private Training Grounds' and a single npc was manning there. To say it simply it was a bit shabby. Just as they got there, a middle-aged man who was sitting on a bench nearby got up and walked over to them.

"You're here? Then let's get going" he said very naturally. He had an ordinary face and a lush black hair in a very low-key manner. But the problem is : Is he our MENTOR??! wasn't Mr.Declan an old man with sparse hair?? moreover, they were pure white okay! Don't tell me he's this kind of person who'd take advantage of VR to appear young and tender!!!

"AHM... Mr. Declan?" Yew asked with uncertainty looking as if he's doubting his life.

"Hm" Mr.Declan affirmed nonchalantly "I choose a low-key image since since I'm too famous.."

"Oh" Yew nodded with difficulty "since you say so..."

"Can we go in quickly?" Seui suggested in a hurry. I want to pretend I don't know this 'uncle'... nobody saw them , did they?...

Unaware of his apprentice's treacherous thoughts, Mr.Declan happily agreed. His apprentice wants to practice so much! This is the attitude one should have when learning!!

Each with their different thoughts somehow ended up with the same goal and eagerly went over to the counter. "Welcome to the private training grounds! What kind of area do your esteemed selves want to reserve? Sealed platform, Practicing space or Assessment area?" the NPC recited in a helpful voice. But why did Seui felt that there was a bit of gloating in it? it was precisely the mood he himself would have when watching other people's dramas!!

"Give us a practicing space" Mr. Declan decided immediately.

"Well, we've got no.102 vacant now. The rent for an hour is 1000 kvd , you must pay an advance of 1500 kvd. You may choose the payment method. And please show your verified ability user identification "

Mr. Declan turned to Yew with a kind smile. Yew was dumbfounded and warily asked "...you want me to pay?"

Mr. Declan shrugged , agreeing by default. He didn't feel anything wrong with it. He is the tutor , who was hired for money. Shouldn't it be natural for the students to pay?

Helpless, Yew turned to Seui , who made an even miserable look "sorry bro, I'm penniless now. Maybe I could pay for you in the future. So.. write me an IOU first?" He looked extremely pitiful that even Mr. Declan observed a moment of silence for him.

Yew sighed , yeah..what was he expecting from this estranged soul? he had even fallen to the point of mooching off his enemy, Ginn. Where could he afford to pay for them?!! So he bravely went over and paid the advance after showing his verification.

When it was Seui's turn for showing his verification, after learning from Yew , he entered his account code into the scanner. With a 'ding' the verification passed and the NPC offered the money transferring code very intimately. Seui was confused for a moment and his turned begrudging the next moment ".. I have to pay too?"

"Well, 1500 per person" the NPC offered a very harmless smile. Though outraged, Seui could only turn to Yew with despair.

Gritting his teeth, Yew came forward to pay twice more while murmuring "...told you everything here is a rip-off!" and while he's at it , he even spared two dagger eyes to the unscrupulous NPC and his mentor! his family is rich indeed, but he only get a limited allowance okay?

...

When they sat inside the practicing space, Yew had a look of utter determination on his face, this was brought through his own blood, he must make sure not to waste it!

Mr. Declan leisurely scanned the menu and ordered two fluctuation bells. Since those guys managed to shatter the orbs last time, he better not order it this time. At least bells are thicker and harder to destroy! He turned to the 'determined' students "it's the same principle as before, practice activation control. Every time the ability is activated the bell will ring. Its sound determines the energy of the skill. To pass, you must ring it to 250 decibels whenever I say. It's pretty low already, so start now!"

Each took their bell and started working seriously. Time passed bit by bit, as if water trickling out of a leaking pipe. Seui concentrated on the wrist , where there should be a soul shard and slowly directed it toward the bell. In the end, he simply took the bell onto his hand and continued. Suddenly he felt a arm feeling on his hand and spreading all over, and the bell softly rang once. Feeling that he had succeeded in grasping a corner and tried to recur his state. The rang again, this time a bit louder. Seui's eyes brightened, now he knew what to do! It was like a tap on his consciousness, a merging of all things. Ability was a part of him, once integrated, a light mental hint would do!!!!

The next ten minutes passed in this manner of testing in his theory. Finally he stopped it when he felt a bit tired. It seems that ability consuming in the VR is real? Afraid that he'd be overdraft and end up failing to show his results, he quickly adjusted his state.

At this time , a loud sound of a bell came nearby with a pearl of laughter. Next moment, Yew ran over in a hurry "I succeeded! Saucers, I succeeded!!! Ya ya!! I heard your bell too , you too must have succeeded?" Overjoyed, he almost threw his bell into the air. "I finally don't have to pay anymore!! It seems like skills are really expensive!"

Seui was almost amused into laughter by him! but that was 'almost'He happily joined in "congratulations!! to you and to me too!!!"

Yew's smile widened even more "superb! then we shall quickly get out of here, our mentor went out a few minutes ago"

"Don't we have to show him the results?" Seui wondered.

"We do! But for that we must go to an assessment area. So let's check out fast" Yew urged.

"Alright" Seui agreed taking pity on Yew's evaporating wallet.

...

"Where could we find the mentor? We've already walked a few times around here" Yew's voice was gradually turning bitter after the search went from ten minutes to twenty minutes.

"..maybe he went to have fun abandoning the two of us?" Seui suggested.

"but the facilities here are very expensive, do you think he'd be that generous?" Yew opposed after thinking for a while.

Seui felt that statement carried a great truth! Their mentor wasn't this kind of person!!

"hang on, why couldn't we just message him?" Seui had an enlightened expression.

"mm...because he won't reply? otherwise we wouldn't be searching in the first place" with Yew's reminder, Seui's face started to wilt.

As they were talking they had already arrived among the crowd and the noise around them was deafening. Feeling disturbed, they walked over to a huge and lush tree , where there were several benches under the cover of thicket. They tactically choose a bench and sat together, only that both were clueless that it was an area reserved for couples!

Just as Seui was opening his mouth to complain about their mentor, he heard a few ambiguous wet sounds and suddenly paused, his face twisting in shock. Probably, Yew heard them too as he was petrified in place. Right when they tactically decided to leave the place hurriedly, they heard an incompatible voice among the other sounds "....do you think Ginn will be able to balance his powers properly before that? Now that he'll married to Sol, why do I feel that things will take a turn for the worse? if his soul shard was already handed in.."

The voice slowly trailed off and both Seui and Yew stood stunned there...