I, the spiritual mentor of beautiful girls from all over the world

Lynn's voice was flat.

"Everything you fear, hate, and cannot overcome can be recreated here."

He turned to the side, gesturing for Asuna to go inside.

Asuna gripped the initial rapier at her waist and stepped into that pure white expanse.

As she stood still, the air not far in front of her began to distort like ripples on water.

The next second, a large, robust wild boar with protruding tusks appeared out of thin air.

It was the monster that "killed" her.

[Rampaging Wild Boar]

Seeing the scarlet text above its head, Asuna's heart skipped a beat.

But this time, fear did not take hold of her.

She simply gripped the hilt of her sword, adjusted her breathing, and prepared herself to be ready to draw her sword at any moment.

She thought that was all there was to the trial.

However, Lynn simply stood at the door, watching her serious and prepared demeanor, without a trace of approval on her face.

He slowly raised his hand and snapped his fingers.

"Snapped."

The crisp sound echoed in the pure white space.

Immediately afterward, one after another, identical monsters began to appear next to the first wild boar.

Both ends.

Three heads.

Five heads.

...Ten heads!

Ten ferocious wild boars half-surrounded Yuuki Asuna, pawing at her with their hooves, spewing thick white breaths from their nostrils, their ten blood-red eyes fixed on the tiny human.

The oppressive feeling, formed by ten layers of malice, crashed into Asuna like an invisible wall.

Her face instantly turned ashen.

The courage that had just been mustered seemed so laughable and insignificant in the face of such an overwhelming number.

"The groundwork is laid; now, it's time to light the fuse."

Lynn muttered to himself.

His voice, at this moment, turned cold, devoid of any emotion.

"I gave you food, and I gave you sleep."

"But in your soul, I still see only cowardice and escapism."

The voice, like a knife chilled to the bone, pierced Asuna's ears.

She turned around abruptly, staring in disbelief at the man in the doorway.

His face was no longer gentle and calm; instead, it bore a condescending and chilling indifference.

"Your trial is simply to struggle for a few more seconds before they tear you apart."

boom--!

This coldness was a stark contrast to the previous gentleness!

A strong feeling of being played and betrayed instantly overwhelmed Asuna's rationality.

anger.

For the first time, she felt such pure anger.

It wasn't directed at those ferocious monsters, but at my own cowardly weakness and at this... unpredictable "NPC" in front of me!

So, everything before was just charity?

So, in the eyes of this guide, he was just a ridiculous, hopeless weakling from beginning to end?

"I'm not!"

A scream, a mixture of sobs and anger, burst from her throat!

Those hazel eyes, now ignited by tears and rage, shone with an astonishing brightness.

Lynn's lips curled into a subtle, unnoticed smile.

"Took the bait."

He nodded with satisfaction.

"Then prove it with your sword."

His voice remained cold, yet it was like an inviolable imperial edict.

"Until you stand and kill the last pig, or until your 'soul' is utterly torn apart here!"

After he finished speaking, he slowly closed the door to the training ground.

The moment the door closed, Lynn activated [Time Flow Adjustment].

In the pure white space, time is stretched to its extreme.

"Roar--!"

The first of the ferocious wild boars roared and charged towards Asuna like a runaway tank!

"Ah ah ah ah ah!"

Asuna screamed, but this time, it wasn't out of fear.

She channeled all her resentment, anger, and grievances into power, pouring it into the sword in her hand, and thrusting it forward haphazardly and without any strategy!

"clang!"

The sword tip collided with the wild boar's hard tusks, producing a piercing metallic clang.

A tremendous force emanated from the sword, sending her flying backward and crashing heavily to the ground.

"it hurts!"

The pain of a direct impact on the soul is far clearer and more profound than physical pain!

The feeling was like someone had smashed a hammer into her head, making her see stars and causing her thoughts to freeze briefly.

But before she could get up, a second wild boar charged at her.

She was like a rag doll, being knocked away, lifted up, and then thrown down again and again.

The sharp fangs even tore through the skin of her arm, and the soul-piercing pain almost made her faint.

She awkwardly swung her sword, parried, and dodged.

Each impact made her feel as if her soul was being torn apart inch by inch.

Each time she fell, she could see, through her blurred vision, the cold, emotionless silhouette of the man outside the door.

"I'm not... weak!"

She screamed and got up from the ground again and again.

Tears and sweat mingled, blurring her vision.

The cloak he wore was torn open again and again as he rolled and tore it.

I don't know how much time passed, or how many times I was knocked down.

Her consciousness was beginning to fade.

Every part of my body is screaming in pain.

She could no longer distinguish whether she was in reality or in a dream.

But that burning flame of resentment never went out.

It sustained her, and time and again, she gripped the sword tightly in her hand.

In the hellish training, she began to instinctively learn and evolve.

She began to study the angle and timing of each charge by the wild boar.

She began to learn how to adjust her posture and roll to absorb the force when she was hit and thrown into the air, in order to reduce the damage.

She began to learn how to more effectively channel her resentment and anger into the tip of the sword!

Her movements, which started out in a panicked and haphazard manner, became increasingly concise and efficient.

His gaze gradually shifted from initial anger and fear to a cold, focused intensity.

at last.

When the ninth wild boar collapsed to the ground, turning into data fragments and dissipating.

In the entire pure white space, only she and the last monster remained.

Asuna leaned on her sword, panting heavily.

Every part of her body was intact.

The deep red cloak was so tattered that it looked like strips of cloth hanging on her body.

But her eyes were calmer than ever before.

All the anger, resentment, and fear were exhausted and forged into the purest, steely will in this hellish battle.

She slowly straightened up.

She looked at the ferocious wild boar in front of her, which was also panting heavily and staring at her with blood-red eyes.

She took a deep breath.

He lowered his body slightly, assuming a standard thrusting stance.

There are no system visual effects or skill prompts.

Only her, and her sword.

The world seemed to stand still at that moment.

The monster's roar, his own heartbeat—all vanished.

In her eyes, all that remained was an imaginary, straight line in the very center of the monster's head.

The next second, she moved.

At this moment, the body and the sword seemed to completely merge into one, transforming into a pure light.

"call out!"

A silver flash, like lightning tearing through a pure white canvas, instantly ripped through the air, faster than the limits of vision.

The last ferocious wild boar didn't even have time to let out a mournful cry.

Its movements froze.

A thin, almost invisible red line appeared in the center of its enormous head.

Immediately afterwards, its enormous body transformed into countless blue data fragments that flew through the air.

The whole world fell silent.

Asuna remained in a thrusting stance, staring blankly at her hands.

Those hands trembled slightly from exerting too much force, and the tiger's mouth was even rubbed bloody by the sword hilt.

A breeze blew.

The deep red cloak she wore, a symbol of escapism and cowardice, which was already tattered, finally lost its last bit of power at this moment.

They turned into pieces of cloth, blown by the wind, and scattered in the pure white space, like a farewell ceremony to the past.

Beneath the cloak lies her true form.

The white top and red skirt that belonged to a novice swordsman were already soaked with sweat, clinging tightly to her shapely body.