章 14: Sparring dummy

As he stood there, alert, holding his sword firmly to defend himself against any possible threat that might surface.

After a while, the crown of a head surfaced.

Lloyd tensed up and tightened his grip.

"There is no point in fighting a foe stronger than myself if I cannot win." He muttered to himself.

If the approaching threat was something he couldn't handle, then he wouldn't hesitate to run away without a thought because he wasn't stupidly brave or heroic.

He had enough brains to understand when something was out of his grasp, unlike the overly heroic characters from novels who throw themselves into the pit of fire to save a fox.

He stood close to the door to make a quick exit as soon as possible if he felt a bit threatened.

Surprisingly, he didn't feel a hint of bloodthirst or ill intent. He didn't feel anything from whatever was about to surface. He didn't even feel any kind of danger from it, to begin with. It was only because he was overly cautious that he felt tensed and alarmed. After all, it was an unfamiliar world with unexpected events happening all around. It was better to be safe than sorry.

Soon enough, more of its body was revealed, and the moment he saw it, he exhaled in relief because it was a simple practice dummy. The hole in the ground disappeared as soon as it fully surfaced.

'It's just a practice dummy. I was afraid of nothing.'

He relaxed his body and lowered his guard completely. The tensed-up look on his face also dispersed as soon as it was revealed to him that what he thought to be a deadly foe was nothing more than a simple training dummy.

At least, that's what he had thought until it turned its face in his direction.

'I didn't know that we had a sparring dummy here. That makes it easier.'

To our surprise, he didn't seem stunned or freaked out by it but rather relaxed and composed. It was expected, as he already knew about the sparring dummy that worked as the name suggests.

He was indeed a little astonished because he didn't expect a sparring dummy in their training ground, as they had little money to build or sustain something like that.

'Well, I never knew we had enough money to even sustain something like this so nicely.'

The reason behind this wasn't that they had enough money to sustain something like this, but rather, it was never used.

'Anyways, the minimum amount to even build something like this with all the features would at least cost a few million Ete.'

A training ground with sparring dummies would easily cost well over tens of millions of Ete. It was something only the truly rich could afford privately.

'A sparring dummy is a hybrid golem that was created with magic and engineering. Unlike normal golems, it is highly intelligent but also weaker. If its true strength were put to the test, then at most, it could be on par with a B-class warrior.'

"Just like every other golem, this one also has a core, but unlike normal golems, whose energy of the core depends on the maker, here the amount of magic in the core is limited, as is the amount of time they can work before we have to recharge the core with magic."

He explained the basic functioning of the golem with the knowledge that was given in the novel.

"Setting difficulty to grade red."

It said in a robotic, monotonous tone.

"This is also the reason why it's capped at C-rank strength because if used at B-rank strength, it wouldn't even last for an hour, but at C-rank, it can last up to a day."

He couldn't hear the golem as he was busy rambling about the functioning of the golem.

"Well, there are four difficulties which it can set itself or the user can set. You can't set its exact strength, but only the difficulty. The strength of the robot depends on its opponent. Its strength varies throughout the battle depending on its opponent's strength."

"The four difficulties ar-!"

He felt killing intent from his right, where the golem was standing.

Before he had the opportunity to look to his right, the golem launched its attack. He instinctively dodged the attack and saved himself, only getting a small cut on his cheek.

"What!"

He was startled by this attack.

He was looking at the golem. It was like a dummy with a red outline, which was indicating the difficulty. The eyes of the golem also shone red.

"How the hell am I going to fight this thing at extreme difficulty?"

Rather than being frightened, he was more worried about how he would fight it.

"How the heck am I supposed to fight someone with the experience of a true master swordsman!"

He said in a loud voice.

He didn't know much about swords and didn't have any experience in his past life. This was the first time he had held and used a sword. He simply followed the memories of past Lloyd and used them to practice, except that he had no true knowledge.

"How am I going to face it with my current skills?"

There was no end to the "hows" because of the situation he was stuck in. He was indeed going to spar with it, but on the easiest difficulty, as he didn't have much knowledge or experience.

But before he could put an end to his rambling, it launched another attack. He blocked it with his sword, as there wasn't much difference in their strength.

But as soon as he blocked it, the golem retracted its sword and began to launch sequences of attacks. Those attacks showed a difference in their experience.

He wasn't able to predict any of its attacks. He tried to block the attacks, but couldn't, and kept getting pushed back.

The attacks kept coming from his left and right. It was getting harder and harder to avoid getting injured.

It was only because of Lloyd's exceptional agility that he was narrowly able to dodge getting injured.

It didn't mean that the golem was any different with its lean structure. The agility gap was also getting filled with each swing.

'There are no visible openings. How am I supposed to get through its defense?'

****

Hello, first of all, we are back to publishing chapters daily, ig??? Second, if you find something is off or there is any error then make sure to point out it there. It will be fixed as soon as possible.

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