IDLE Database - Chapter 81

Five minutes into the sparring against the guest Energy Refiner, Aldrin immediately found out that his first strike was his first and last connected hit within that duration.

By utilizing his known Concept early on, he got that clean hit. However, soon after the guest Energy Refiner recovered from being sent rolling away, his refined energy that was eye-catchingly more abundant than Aldrin’s exploded from the Training Metadome.

After receiving one clean hit, the guest Energy Refiner went all out against him.

Is that fair?

Perhaps.

Absurd as it was, Aldrin had no other choice but to quickly switch into a defensive stance. His attacks weren’t connecting anymore and his speed was surpassed by his opponent.

Looking back at his accumulated experience in the lower dimension against the human-sized insects, Aldrin found out that he’s nowhere near an expert yet.

Compared to the real veterans, those insects were nowhere near on par. Most of them were mindlessly attacking him. Even a Commander Ant could only utilize the dumb ants to heed its commands while the insect itself was poor in combat.

“Wait, sir! Let me take a breath!”

After dodging once more by using Shadow Steps, Aldrin hurriedly called out to the guest Energy Refiner.

“Oh? Tired already?”

Luckily for him, the guest Energy Refiner stopped at once. Had he been even one second late in shouting that, the opposing Training Metadome would’ve successfully impaled him on the ground.

“Oi, Aldrin! Is that how I trained you? Put some slack on your back!”

And a distance away from them, Janet’s voice traveled to them, reprimanding Aldrin’s performance.

“Haha! What to do? Your Instructor doesn’t want you to rest.”

‘Ugh. Is she still mad at me for that night?’ Aldrin couldn’t help but think that.

“Then… I have no choice. Please go easy on me.”

“That, I cannot do. You achieved full immersion on your first try. I have to make sure you remember the feeling. The feeling of being trampled while in that state.” The guest Energy Refiner laughed, the engine of his Training Metadome whirled loudly once more. Ready to launch and sweep the ground Aldrin was standing on.

Helpless, Aldrin, who only got a few seconds of rest, readied himself.

He knew that even if he continued using his Concept, he would ultimately fail to outclass the guest Energy Refiner.

However, that didn’t mean he’d just roll over and lose.

“Feeling of being trampled? Why do I feel like I’m the only one to get this kind of treatment?”

“Because that’s true. I do not need to exert my refined energy against the first four. But against you, I won’t win if I don’t utilize it. Enough talking! Here I go!”

And with that, the guest Energy Refiner resumed his offensive against Aldrin.

As he couldn’t think of any solution to his disadvantageous situation, Aldrin soon found the Training Metadome’s durability declining at every punch and kick he would receive.

The sound of grating metals continued to ring out and being under full immersion, Aldrin could literally feel the impact as if he’s being directly hit by it.

And so, five more minutes passed before he raised the white flag. His battered Training Metadome kneeled down before disconnecting through the NQL.

While his senses returned back to his own body, Aldrin helplessly concluded. ‘Even through Metadomes, the gap in our progress as an Energy Refiner could be clearly felt. I was no match at all. That’s just a Stage 2 Energy Refiner but it felt like he’s already invincible. What more those at the level of Commander Yun?’

‘Now that I think of it, I also still have no idea about Janet’s real strength. She hadn’t shown it yet. She’s at least a Stage 2 like this guest Energy Refiner, isn’t she?’

–

–

After Aldrin stretched his limbs, he jumped out of the Training Metadome, looking sluggish and battered.

The guest Energy Refiner also left the Training Metadome, jovially laughing at his plight.

“Great spar, Aldrin! Too bad, you lost when it comes to the denseness of refined energy.”

Upon hearing that, Aldrin cursed silently, ‘And you think that’s fair? Bullshit. But I can’t deny that it’s a great sparring session. I got to know my current limits without the help of IDLE Database.’

It was one hell of an experience for him. However, if he could compare that to the three Ant Champions that made short work of him, the guest Energy Refiner was significantly less terrifying.

Anyway, it’s a Metadome lesson. Now that he had the experience to control one, even if it’s just a Training Metadome, he couldn’t wait to get his hands on a real one.

‘And if I can bring that to the Lower Dimension… Those insects will know the terror of giant robots.’

Since his free basic Metadome from his contract wouldn’t be awarded yet, he had already checked the prices of a basic Metadome. It would cost him around 15,000 IDLE Points for an assembled one along with two offensive and one defensive module. Although Idle Shopping said that the price starts at 1000 IDLE Points, it only pertained to parts.

To speed up his conquest of that lower dimension, he’s planning to invest points on it.

While there’s no problem with its delivery since the Idle Shopping indicated that the Metadome would be sent to a small Dimensional Hangar, most likely created by IDLE Database, he had no idea yet if he could bring it to the lower dimension.

His weapons and battlesuits were being pulled out from his Spatial Pocket after all.

‘Forget it. For sure IDLE Database will assist me on it.’

After Aldrin returned to the group, Janet, along with the guest Energy Refiner for the day, gathered them to evaluate their performance.

Among the four, Janet gave Irina and Frederic a passing remark.

On the other hand, Clark and Caroline were given advice to improve their Metadome operating skills.

As for Aldrin… “You achieved Full Immersion on the first try. That’s a great feat. However, what’s that lame performance? Can’t you do anything else but defend?!”

Janet intentionally smirked as she delivered a harsh remark. Inwardly though, she’s amazed by what she showed. Unfortunately, the woman decided to keep it to herself.

“Now, now. I don’t think he showed a poor performance. I… I think I got too heated up.”

The guest Energy Refiner tried to soften up that remark but instead of Janet, Aldrin was the one who got irked by it.

‘Think? You got fired up almost instantly!’

Aldrin cursed in his mind but soon dropped it.

But thinking about it again, he’s thankful to have been given that kind of lesson.

It’s just the second day so… there are five more days for him to train and improve his Metadome operating skills.