"Huff! Wheeze! Haaa!"
Fang Raon jogged down the sandy beach, his lungs burning and his legs feeling heavy and jelly-like as if they might collapse at any moment.
He had never felt so exhausted in all of his life.
"Ah… I… I can't…"
Fang Raon stopped running, grabbed his knees, and hunched over, gasping for breath.
"Wheeze… Haaah!"
"Why are you stopping? You have barely run twenty minutes."
The hound stopped next to him, and on its back, Rock looked at him with a disappointed expression.
"I thought you looked like a fit young man, but you are in horrible condition, aren't you? Are you one of those young men who have spent their youth in front of a computer?"
Rock asked.
"Haah… shit…"
Fang Raon sat down on the sand, trying to catch his breath, but it felt like his lungs were on fire.
What a horrible feeling to have!
"At this rate, it won't take you three hours to make a lap, but instead three days!"
Rock shouted and smacked the cane at Fang Raon's back to try to get him moving, almost like he was disciplining a child.
"Stop hitting me!"
Fang Raon smacked the cane away, but Rock didn't stop and kept angering the young man intentionally.
"If you manage to run the lap in under three hours, I will let you marry my granddaughter. What do you say?"
Rock said.
"I don't want to marry your ugly granddaughter…"
Fang Raon said in frustration and stood up, which took all his strength to achieve.
With a deep sigh, he ran his hand through his hair, and kicked off into a slow jog.
He kept his elbows close to his sides, barely lifted his feet from the sand, and just focused on his breathing.
If it was a normal road they were running on, Fang Raon believed he could make the lap in three hours, but they were running on sand.
Every step was harder because of that.
They kept advancing, and the players and locals who saw Rock riding the enormous hound were clearly very surprised.
They had never seen anything like that.
"…Summoned creature?"
"…Who is that old man to be able to summon such a creature?"
The sun disappeared from the sky, and it turned dark, but luckily, there were street lamps cascading light on the beach.
It was dim lighting, but it gave surroundings very magical feeling, as if Fang Raon was running down an enchanted pathway.
'Beautiful…'
Fang Raon saw the stars sparkling across the clear skies, and the moonlight shone down on the water, creating a shimmering reflection that danced along the waves.
Rock lay on his back on the back of the hound, his arms resting under his head, and he looked at the vast, twinkling universe above him in awe.
"I don't quite understand how these floors work still. Is that sky real or just a clever projection on a ceiling? Are each floor part of their own universe or what?"
Rock asked.
"Haah… I don't know… It is a video game, so who the fuck knows…"
Fang Raon said in between his panting and wheezing.
He really didn't want to waste his breath on talking.
"That tower is connected to the sky, so what if someone climbs the tower from outside, and reaches the sky. Would they be in outer space or just touch a ceiling?"
Rock asked with a chuckle.
"Ahh… I don't know… Where is the 6th floor's tower either way? I-I haven't… huff… been able to see it yet."
Fang Raon asked.
"Out in the sea."
Rock waved his hand absentmindedly towards the sea, and it was somewhere there, but clearly far away.
The tower was a massive structure, yet they couldn't see it from the beach.
'This floor is clearly bigger than any newbie floor. It means… huff… I must take a boat or ship to get to the tower.'
Fang Raon wiped the sweat off his forehead.
…
Late in the night.
"Haah… Haah… Haah!"
Fang Raon collapsed on the sand, his feet looking burned and his body completely exhausted.
As a metaphor, if his stamina was water in the bucket, there wouldn't be a single drop left, and it would be completely bone dry.
"That only took six hours, twice as long than I expected. Tch, tch, I wasted three good hours because of you."
Rock clicked his tongue and just shook his head.
"…Huff… Huff…"
Fang Raon didn't bother to answer and instead checked his interface in case his stamina or speed had at least improved.
[Stamina: 5]
[Speed: 4]
"…What… None of my stats improved!"
Fang Raon shouted.
"You thought it would be that easy, you fool? Each stat improvement is countless hours of hard work and training.
"It's not something you can achieve in a single day!"
Rock said.
"…Huff… Haah…"
Fang Raon rested his head on the sand.
He didn't want to move anymore and just wanted to sleep the whole night in the sand.
"…Come on, get up. My place is not that far away from here. You can rest there, and I'll prepare some food for us!"
Rock helped him up.
"Your place…? You own a house here?"
Fang Raon asked.
"Yeah, I do."
Rock said, and the hound started trotting down the sand, and Fang Raon followed behind, dragging his feet through the sand.
He would put his sandals on, but it would sting too much.
A short walk later, they arrived at a nice beach-side villa. It had a big terrace, overlooking the blue ocean, and three floors of luxurious accommodations.
It looked like something that would cost a lot!
"Wow…"
Fang Raon whispered under his breath and followed Rock inside the villa and sat down at the table.
While he rubbed his aching feet, Rock headed to the kitchen and came back soon with two plates of salmon fillets.
"Here you go."
He handed one of the plates to him and also gave him a cold water bottle, which had been in the freezer all day.
"Thanks…"
Fang Raon took a bite of the salmon, and rich flavors attacked his taste buds, and he felt like he was in heaven.
The cold water was also extremely refreshing after the long day.
"Tomorrow we will continue training. If you thought today was hard, you haven't experienced an entire day of training with me!"
Rock said with a smirk.
Fang Raon's expression immediately fell, and he could barely enjoy the delicious dinner in front of him.
"You are a sadist, aren't you?"
Fang Raon asked.