Kyle ran out of the forest with a bunch of beast corpses and put them to the side.
Bonk nodded with a smile, and the two of them returned to training.
For several hours, Kyle just kept swinging away.
In the past, he would have already given up due to the constant exhaustion and work, but Theodor and Nervon had drilled discipline about training into him.
He still didn't enjoy doing it, but he knew that he had to.
'Well, whatcha gonna do? Just gotta get through it, you know?'
Kyle swung again.
'Actually, you know what? If I had been like this back on Earth, I wouldn't have been in such a shit situation.'
'I mean, yeah, it was stressful and all, and I felt like I didn't have any energy or motivation to improve my skills, but was that really true? Or was I just lazy?'
'There are solo parents who have like two jobs and still take care of their kids. They probably had way less energy than me and were way more exhausted. And yet, they still kept going.'
'While I was running my business, I could've learned programming or IT or something. Learn about PCs, networks, and stuff like that. Maybe learn how the electrics in a house work. Change a couple of lightbulbs, look at a socket, get some cheap equipment.'
'Then, I could've just applied for an entry-level position as an electrician or something, and they would have taught me the remainder.'
'Or maybe I could have just learned how cars work.'
'With the internet and smartphones, almost all of humanity's knowledge was at my fingertips. I just had to reach out, but I didn't do so.'
'I was lazy. I was demotivated.'
'I was just living day by day, doing whatever I wanted to do during the day while worrying about the future.'
'Why didn't I change things about my future?'
'I was super worried all the time, but I never really did anything about it.'
"Stop," Bonk said.
"Yes?" Kyle asked.
"Train over," Bonk said. "Need go."
"Ah, okay. Thank you, Bonk," Kyle said.
"Bonk help. Kyle help. No thank," Bonk said.
Kyle nodded. "Bonk need help. Kyle help Bonk."
Bonk smiled and lightly shoved Kyle's shoulder. "Kyle brother."
"Bonk brother," Kyle answered.
Bonk nodded once before he-
BANG!
Kyle's eyes widened as the floor in front of him exploded.
He looked up and saw Bonk jumping up the mountain and landing inside Starkhold.
'Brah,' he thought. 'That's hundreds of feet that this guy just jumped.'
'Wonder how high I can jump.'
Then, Kyle jumped.
BANG!
The floor below him also exploded, and he shot upward.
He soared through the air, but eventually, he stopped.
Kyle looked down, and he had to gulp.
'That's high,' he thought.
Right now, Kyle was at a height of about 40 meters.
One had to remember that Kyle still carried his hammer and his armor with him.
Without that, he might have been able to reach 70 to 90 meters.
Then, Kyle started to fall, and he grew nervous.
BANG!
He hit the ground, and his legs entered the ground up to his knees.
'Hurt a bit, but I can handle that,' Kyle thought as he pushed himself out of the ground.
He walked back to the Stark Brotherhood the old-fashioned way and slept for a bit.
Naturally, his reliable alarm, Theodor, woke him with his usual positive encouragement.
"Wake up, imbecile! You're wasting your entire life by just lying on the ground!"
Kyle's hand carefully moved through his head, pressing on different spots.
"What strange ritual are you doing now?" Theodor asked with annoyance.
"Looking for the snooze button."
"As usual, you're not making any sense. The fact that I'm stuck in your head has to be punishment for something I have done in my life," Theodor said with a snort.
Kyle just ignored Theodor and entered the cafeteria.
"Oh, you're back," he said when he saw Tracy waiting near the bar.
Tracy just nodded without saying anything.
"So? Did everything work out?" he asked.
Tracy nodded again and put a bunch of Ether Pebbles on the bar.
"That's my share?" Kyle asked.
Tracy nodded.
Kyle collected the Ether Pebbles happily.
"Anyway, gotta go. See ya," he said.
Tracy just furrowed her brows without looking at him.
Kyle walked towards-
"Are you not going to ask?" she suddenly asked.
"About what?" he asked.
Tracy furrowed her brows.
"Nothing. You can go," she said.
"Oh, okay. Bye," Kyle said as he walked to the training hall.
Tracy just sighed.
Wasn't it obvious that something was bothering her?
Shouldn't Kyle ask her about what's wrong?
Meanwhile, Kyle entered the training hall and looked at the timetable.
'Oh, hey! One of the free courses is in 30 minutes!' he thought with interest. 'I gotta check that out.'
He idled around for 30 minutes, watching as many of the newer members walked into the training hall.
By the end, there are about 25 people waiting for the free course.
All of them were either in the Initial or Early Fighter Realm.
Then, Noah walked in and told everyone to gather.
'Oh, Noah is holding the course,' Kyle thought.
"Welcome to the free course," Noah said. "Today, we are talking about the behavior of criminals. It is important to know how they usually act to increase the probability of the mission becoming a success."
For the next 90 minutes, Noah talked about bandits, murderers, marauders, rapists, corrupt officials, and other kinds of criminals.
Mostly, he talked about how people like that usually thought and how they perceived the world.
Understanding how the criminals thought made it easier to find out where they were hiding.
When the course was over, Kyle just raised an eyebrow.
'He didn't even talk about battle. It's all just about how to find them and how to deal with them without attacking.'
Kyle scratched the back of his head.
'I guess the free course is about teaching us valuable information that helps us during missions. For example, I didn't know that many criminals avoided caves and holes in the wilderness since that makes them feel trapped.'
'They tend to prefer locations with higher elevations. They prioritize the flexibility and adaptability that information gives them over an all-or-nothing approach.'
'They want to feel like they are in control.'
'Pretty interesting.'
Kyle shook his head.
'Anyway, gotta take a look at the paid course. I want to get better at fighting humans.'
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