Chapter 11 — Live Combat
By the age of eight, Ren's physical strength had reached roughly twice that of a human.
Having outgrown the beginner training area, he had moved on to more advanced training.
Along with his usual physical conditioning, Ren now trained in hand-to-hand combat and cold-weapon combat.
The Aethergrove Training Center was protected by a powerful formation array.
One of its functions was to protect trainees from fatal injuries.
The formation could detect when an attack was about to cause a fatal injury and intervene to prevent it.
Because of this, trainees could engage in full-contact sparring and combat training without having to worry about accidentally killing one another.
Of course, injuries could still occur.
When that happened, trainees could simply use healing potions to recover.
The formation array also had another function.
It could create copies of magical beasts.
These beasts were artificial constructs created by the formation array. They behaved like real magical beasts, allowing trainees to experience actual combat and learn how to fight them.
Only the beasts were fake.
The trees, lakes, grass, bushes, and terrain were all real.
The formation array continuously maintained the entire environment.
If trees were damaged, vegetation was destroyed, or the terrain was altered, the formation would restore everything to its original state.
Every day at midnight, the damaged environment would be completely restored.
The magical beasts would also respawn throughout the training center.
They were scattered across the vast grounds, waiting for trainees to find and fight them.
If someone didn't know the truth, they could easily mistake the place for actual wilderness.
It was essentially a place where people could experience live combat without having to bear the usual risks.
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Ren was currently walking through the forest.
Woosh.
He suddenly stopped.
'It's too quiet.'
Ren carefully observed his surroundings.
'A beast should be nearby.'
Then he heard it.
A faint rustling sound came from the dense grass.
Ren immediately jumped forward.
While in midair, he twisted his body 180 degrees.
His head turned backward.
And sure enough—
A massive python burst out from beneath the grass.
It was enormous, almost as large as an anaconda.
The moment Ren jumped, the snake lunged forward.
Its body shot past the spot where Ren had been standing just moments earlier.
While still airborne, Ren thrust his hand forward.
A clawed gauntlet covered his hand.
The sharp claws pierced directly into the python's eyes.
Its eyes burst apart from the impact.
"Hissss!"
The python thrashed violently.
Ren landed on the ground and immediately lunged forward.
He drove the sharp edges of his clawed gauntlet into the snake's neck, leaving a deep gash.
The python's tail suddenly whipped toward him.
Ren had already anticipated the attack.
He easily dodged to the side.
The massive tail swept past him.
Ren then performed a backflip, launching himself above the snake.
As he descended, he grabbed its neck.
The additional weight forced the python's body downward, causing its head to crash against the ground.
Ren held onto its neck and began punching its head repeatedly.
At the same time, the claws of his other gauntlet dug into its neck.
The python desperately struggled.
Its massive body began twisting around Ren, attempting to wrap itself around him.
But Ren continued attacking without giving it an opportunity to recover.
Before the snake could successfully constrict him, its movements suddenly stopped.
It had died.
The moment the magical beast was defeated, its body began to disappear.
The python broke apart into countless motes of light, which scattered into the air before completely vanishing.
This was the fate of every magical beast created by the formation array.
Once defeated, they simply dispersed.
Ren looked around before continuing through the forest.
After wandering around for another hour, he eventually returned to the main training area.
The clawed gauntlets he had borrowed belonged to the training center, so he removed them and placed them back on their rack.
Then he began his regular physical training.
He performed various weighted calisthenics exercises, including weighted Iron Crosses, weighted Front Levers, weighted Maltese holds, and other advanced movements.
He also used recovery potions between his training sessions to help him recover and continue.
After training for several more hours, Ren finally stopped.
'Well, let's call it a day.'
He left the training area and headed toward the front counter.
Ren retrieved the recordings of his fights from the training center.
Normally, obtaining such footage would cost a considerable amount of money.
However, his training videos had helped the Aethergrove Training Center gain attention and improve its reputation.
Because of this, the training center had waived the fees for his recordings.
They had even completely waived his membership fee and given him a permanent membership.
Now, the main expense Ren had to worry about was the recovery potions he consumed during training.
Those, he still paid for himself.
---
At the Apartment
After returning home, Ren edited the footage from his training and his fight with the magical beast.
Once he finished editing, he uploaded the video to his channel.
His progress had been quite good, and more importantly, he had remained consistent for years.
Because of that, he had accumulated a decent number of regular viewers and earned a respectable monthly income from his channel.
Not long after the video was uploaded, comments began appearing.
«"Ren, you're getting stronger so fast!"»
«"That fight with the python was awesome!"»
«"I've been watching since your beginner-training days. Your progress is insane!"»
«"Keep going, Ren! We're still supporting you!"»
«"You're only eight and already fighting magical beasts!"»
«"I can't wait to see how strong you'll become after awakening your magic talent!"»
There were also several small donations.
Ren glanced through the comments.
'Not bad.'
His channel wasn't extraordinarily popular, but it provided him with a steady income and a growing audience.
His diligence had also attracted the attention of several companies.
He had received quite a few sponsorship offers.
However, after looking through the contracts, Ren rejected every one of them.
The clauses were too restrictive and troublesome.
He didn't want to tie himself down to anyone when he could already support his training through his own income.
'It's not worth the trouble.'
Ren closed the sponsorship messages and continued editing his next batch of training footage.
As long as his income remained sufficient to support his training, he had no reason to accept those offers.
After all, his goal had never been to become a celebrity.
He wanted to become a mage.