Chapter 33 - Vigorous Training

Joren saw the notification bar when his vision went dark. When he was about to fall, he stomped his foot forward as he remembered that someone tried to help him but was utterly destroyed like a flimsy wood in front of a wrecking.

Well, at least he tried helping.

Holding the hole in his stomach, Joren tried to stop the bleeding. He felt weaker the more his wound healed. He removed his hands since it seemed pointless and just put it in his pockets.

"Joren, are you okay?"

Jack galloped towards Joren as he asked.

"I'm fine, Mister Jack. But that zombie there might not be."

He pointed.

The zombie tried to shake his head as he wore a smile but since it was not connected to his body, it was futile.

"I'm... fine..."

"I-I see... you're a zombie, after all."

Joren then walked over to him and asked.

"Do you need help building your body again?"

"Eh... how'd you know?"

"Just a hunch."

Joren shook his shoulders took the zombie's head and placed it back on its body. As expected, the moment he placed it, it attached as if he smeared glue between.

"Thanks... and, sorry..."

"What are you apologizing for?"

Joren then attached the zombie's limbs.

"Well... I'm... no help."

While the two of them talked, the ghost professors went to Jack to ask some questions.

"Alright, before I hear any of your annoying boos, I'll take care of all the damage!"

"Boo~"

The ghost professors replied.

Jack clicked his tongue before reading what they were trying to say. Ghost professors know how to communicate so they get a communication device attached to their bodies.

[Boo~]

"Wait..."

...

"Nah, it's just fine."

Joren replied to the zombie after piecing his body completely.

"Also, you seem to know how to communicate more now, huh."

"Yes... I'm learning..."

The zombie smiled before standing up.

"That's good..."

Joren said before his vision finally went dark...

Unknown time passed and Joren woke up, seeing a slightly familiar ceiling.

"Joren, you're awake!"

Ness excitedly said.

Joren's head rang for a moment as if he got a hangover. He sat up and looked around to see his surroundings.

"Ness... why am I here?"

"You seem to hate being here."

Virena replied but Joren just chuckled.

"Quite the contrary. But what happened?"

"Well, I heard you fainted after winning a fight like a shonen protagonist the second time!"

Ness flailed her arms in excitement as if this was the first time she encountered such a situation.

"Second time?"

Joren then remembered his fight with Virena. Although the first time, he greatly lost, the second was arm wrestling.

"How'd you get into a fight anyway?"

Virena asked which made Joren ponder for a while. Afterwhich, told the story and towards this, Ness asked him.

"Why are you kicking doors in the first place?"

"Uhm... it's my training."

Joren didn't lie.

"Training for what?"

Ness continued with interest.

"For... getting stronger for getting my soul in the UnderWorld."

"What kind of training is that? Are you training to be intimidating and scare the Cerberus away?"

Virena raised an eyebrow.

"Hahaha... I'm an Abnormal, remember?" Joren pointed at himself, he was trying not to lie and currently, he was barely succeeding in it.

"Oh, so that's how you get strong."

Ness nodded in understanding but Virena shook her head in doubt.

"Yeah, but being a lesser undead, none of my training has real effects."

"Huh? Then why are kicking doors then?"

"And creepily jogging around your neighborhood."

Virena added Ness' words.

"... it's a preparation."

"I see. I don't think Joren is dumb at all. I trust that he's doing what he thinks is right, right?" Ness looked at Virena then back to Joren.

This made Virena smirk.

"Even the Principal is saying that she thinks you're not dumb just to not make you feel bad."

"What!? That's not why I said that!"

Ness panicked since that's the actual reason why she said that.

"No, it's fine. Thanks for trusting me, Ness."

Joren smiled, unaffected by Virena's sharp remarks.

"Well, on that note, if that's really how you get strong. How about we help your training?"

Ness suggested which was pleasant for Joren. Of course, he wouldn't decline it.

"Sure!"

"So thick-skinned, you could at least hesitate."

"I wouldn't decline a favor I'm sure I can repay."

Joren said while pumping his fist.

A moment later, a small room was propped in the misty yard near the Principal's office. This is where Joren and Virena first met.

"Wow, that was fast."

"It's quite easy, don't worry about it."

Virena said without giving an actual explanation.

"But does it really needs to be a room? Can't it just be a door?"

[Mission: Kick one hundred doors upon entrance to a room.

Time: None

Progress: 373/100 doors kicked open.

Reward: +1 Strength Points]

Joren took a peek at the mission bar to make sure and nodded.

"Yeah, it needs to be a room."

"Hmm... but I don't know if this qualifies as a room. It's just four walls with a ceiling and a door. Also, with one chair inside."

"Why is there a chair?"

Joren pointed before placing his hand back in his pockets again.

"You want me to stand? I thought you have to reply a stupid huh!? at every greeting?"

"Oh, you will greet me when I enter?"

Virena nodded and entered the room.

"Tell me when you're ready."

Joren shouted which Virena replied.

"Why would I need to be ready? I just need to sit and call you when you enter."

"Oh... right, that was a stupid question."

Joren swaggered towards the room. For some reason, he's quite nervous.

Bam*

Joren kicked the door to see a redheaded beauty waiting for him in the middle of the room as she greeted him.

"Hello, Joren."

"Huh!?"

But he replied with 'hostility'.

"..."

"So, how was that?"

Virena nodded as she gave her verdict.

"It was more annoying than I thought it would be."

"Well..."

"It's fine, you can continue."

"Okay, be right back."

Joren exited, closed the door, and at the next second- bam*

"Hello, Joren."

Virena sighed as she greeted.

"Huh!?"

"..."

"Is it that annoying?"

"It's fine."

Joren nodded as he felt that it was not fine at all. He repeated this over and over again nonstop. After an hour or so, Joren kicked the door open and saw that Virena was standing with a stiff smile. Nerves were popping out of her forehead and her head twitched from time to time.

"Hello... Joren."

"Huh!?"

Joren's reply was quite weaker than before. He exited and kicked the door open again to see Virena's position closer to the door.

"Hello, Joren."

"Huh!?"

"Urgh..."

A groan came out of Virena's mouth.

"Are you sure you want to-"

"Let's continue."

Virena said which made Joren exit and kicked it open again. This time, Virena was at arm's length.

"Hello, Joren."

"... huh!?"

Pak*

Joren suddenly received a slap from Virena which made her sigh in relief. It was not heavy but it released a lot of pent-up stress within Virena.

"Does... that help you?"

Joren asked.

"A lot... it helped me a lot."

Virena said as she was able to deeply breathe.

"Well, it's fine for me. I would be annoyed too if I'm in your situation."

"Then, excuse me."

...

For every five 'huh!?'s, Joren gets one slap. However, after another hour, one 'huh!?' equals one slap.

Pak pak*

Joren's cheeks were bulging already.

"That was two... and you haven't greeted me yet."

"Sorry, seeing your face just made me so annoyed."

Virena said with a smile. Joren felt danger and suggested.

"Why not we stop for today?"

"There's tomorrow?"

Virena gritted her teeth, thinking she has to go through all this again.

"Well, if you don't want to..."

"No, the Principal wants to help you so I should too."

"Well, how about we substitute Ness for a while?"

Joren changed his suggestion.

"The Principal's busy..."

Virena said but she really wants to rest. A moment later, they went down to the actual Principal's Office and saw that Ness was playing her console.

"Is that busy...?"

Joren pointed after waiting for himself to heal from traveling.

"Oh, you two are back! How did it go?"

Ness asked while her eyes were still stuck on the monitor. But when she won, she pumped her fists before looking at the two. It was a glance at first before she turned her head with widened eyes.

"Joren... did Virena beat you up?"

"It's a small price to pay."

He then explained it to Ness to which she responded.

"Leave it to me! I'm the most patient monster in all Myth Academy!"---

"Huh!?"

"..."

Ness just smiled when Joren responded with a 'Huh!?' towards her greeting.

"I give up, this is annoying."

"Ah..."

Joren's smile twitched.

"I sympathize with Virena now, I want to slap you too for rudely responding to my kind greeting."

"But that was just the first."

"We can't have it this way. I have the perfect person for your training."

Ness continued as if she didn't hear Joren.

A moment later, Jack was sitting on the chair within the room.