CRKSH!

Leon was confused. 'What's happening?'

The world like a futuristic mechanic factory in front of him shattered, and unlike the previous time, a new world didn't directly appear in front of him.

Instead, Leon woke up.

When he woke up, he realized that his head felt groggy and then he had a thought. 'This is a dream!'

'But I can think, a lucid dream?'

At that moment, he finally woke up completely. He stood up and then he looked at the new world that appeared before him.

Chirp! Chirp!

The cheerful sound of birds in the sky snapped him fully awake.

Leon looked up and his eyes constricted. Above him, he saw different types of colorful birds flying through the sky while chirping cheerfully.

Leon was taken aback. 'Normal birds, not Neon Beasts?'

He finally paid attention to his surroundings.

He already noticed the gentle natural breeze in the air like he was in a forest, and when he looked, Leon realized why. He was currently standing inside a field of green carpet grass that spread endlessly into the horizon.

Far away in the distance, there was a mountainous region with a certain mountain peak towering above the others.

And then, Leon noticed three people other than himself.

'People?' Once again, Leon was taken aback as he immediately became wary. 'What's going on? I thought this is supposed to be my Trial'.

'Talia never told me that people appear in Trials after completing the Trial. She didn't meet any other person, so why am I experiencing something like this?'

'Who are these three people?'

'Or is this outside the Trial?' Instantly he entered combat mode. 'Am I being attacked? Is it the secret sponsor of the Zmer gang? He found us?'

Leon looked at them closely but he didn't feel any malicious intent coming from them, they simply sat there looking at him. He felt puzzled.

And yet this was when he noticed something that made his hair stand on end. 'T-they're humans!'

At first, he thought they were Geneforms but on closer look, these three people were actually humans just like him!

His heartbeat instantly accelerated.

Despite it being just a little more than a week since he awakened in Neo-Tokara, the nature and culture of this world already affected and indoctrinated him.

He was used to meeting Synths and Geneforms, not humans. To suddenly meet a living and breathing human just like himself, it was only natural that his pulse spiked in confusion. His panic was natural.

Leon forced himself to calm down and carefully observed them.

The first man was Caucasian and he looked like he was only 6 inches tall, but despite his clothes, he had a clearly strong and athletic build typical of a professional athlete.

He has dark hair, a beard, and a serious, stoic expression on his face that gave him a rugged vibe like someone who grew up in the mountains.

He had a disciplined and humble air around him.

He wore a white grappling sambo attire.

The second man was black, he was shirtless and he wore simple boxing shorts with white bandages stained with blood ominously wrapped around his arms.

His body was obviously fit and athletic.

As for the last man, he was also Caucasian. He wore green military attire with an intimidating-looking Rifle held on his hand. His eyes were stern and serious as he stared at Leon.

Leon felt even more freaked out the longer they stared at him. 'Who are these guys? F*ck! Can't they talk?'

On a side note, he felt hopeful. 'Is Talia wrong? Are there other humans apart from me in this world? Is this really Earth?'

And the most important question. 'My Trial is over, right?'

Then, the first man stood up and bowed respectfully. "Welcome brother, my name is Umar Nurmagomedov, my great grandfather is Khabib Nurmagomedov. My job is to teach you grappling".

'Khabib Nurmagomedov?' Leon was taken aback. 'I know that name!'

He tried to wrack his brain to remember exactly where the name came from, but his fragmented memories left him frustrated.

He clearly had a deep impression of the name, but he just couldn't remember from where exactly it came from.

Apart from the name, Leon caught on to another keyword. 'Job? The three of them are here to do a job? Who gave them the job?' He was even more confused but the man, Umar didn't wait for him.

After clasping both his hands to his chest and bowing again, he started.

"Grappling fundamentals focus on core principles like base, posture, connection, leverage, and using body mechanics to control opponents, maintain dominant positions, escape bad spots, and apply submissions, prioritizing efficient movement and tactical awareness over raw strength to control and submit".

Umar Nurmagomedov jumped lightly, showing his agility as he looked at Leon. "To be a good grappler, you have to be light on your feet".

"To tackle the strongest guys and smash them, you have to be not just light but explosive on your feet".

"Come, let me teach you".

Leon walked forward.

He didn't make the conscious decision to go forward, his body moved forward without his consent but he was aware. If he wanted to stop it, he could but he didn't. 'It's really a lucid dream'. He thought.

But then, all thoughts soon left his mind when this Umar Nurmagomedov guy ramped it up and showed exactly what his job description meant.

'What the hell!'

BAM!

For an indefinite period of time, Leon was forced to grapple with this guy.

Even when his muscles ached, even when his lungs burned and he felt like giving up, he couldn't stop simply because his body kept on going with single-minded determination like he was a robot.

He knew he was in control, he was lucid, but he wasn't aware enough to feel lazy or procrastinate.

The people or whatever created this whole dream seemed to understand human psychology extremely well, putting him in this lucid state to prevent him from being lazy or procrastinating to make the most out of the moment.

Since Leon was in control, he also didn't stop it because he could tell that whatever this was, he was learning from it.

And so, he learned grappling.

From the fundamentals, Umar Nurmagomedov ramped it up, teaching him grappling positions, movement techniques, and then attacking techniques like armbars, triangle chokes, rear naked chokes, kimura, and arm triangles.

He also taught him grappling defense.

Before Leon knew it, he was sweating profusely like a dog but he realized one thing. 'This guy is a great teacher!'

He absorbed everything that he was being taught like a sponge.

And then, Umar Nurmagomedov suddenly stopped, clasped his hands together and bowed towards him again. "You've learned the basics now, you can pursue mastery anytime you want from what I've taught you".

Then, he faded slowly.

"Thank you". Leon blurted out before he could fade away completely.

And then, before he could catch his breath, the second guy, the black guy stood up and walked towards him with a straightforward 'no hard feelings, this is business' look on his face.

Compared to the first guy, he seemed rude immediately.

"My name is Craig Mayweather, and I am going to teach you the fundamentals of boxing or striking".

"In boxing, there are 4 fundamentals," Craig raised his fingers up and counted with a serious look on his face. "Your stance, your footwork, the four main punches- jab, cross, hook, uppercut, and your defense".

"Every single one of them is important".

"Apart from the 4 fundamentals, there are also 5 key concepts that you need to know," he counted again with his fingers. "Distance, positioning, timing, and setups".

"That is boxing. To be a warrior, a true fighter no matter where you are and what you're facing, you need to learn a few more concepts".

Craig's face became serious. "A warrior is not someone who swings wildly, nor someone who depends on strength alone. A warrior is someone who understands how a strike works, how force behaves, and how to use it correctly".

"You do not need to be the strongest, you do not need to be the fastest, you do not need to be the most gifted, you only need to be technical".

"What matters at the start is having the correct fundamentals, and everything begins with learning to strike correctly".

"It's my job to teach you that".

After the mauling from Umar Nurmagomedov, Leon thought it couldn't get worse but boy was he wrong.

Just like with Umar, Leon had no collection of time to calculate how long they spent.

Time faded into a blur as his face turned into a punching bag through which Craig Mayweather impacted him with technical fighting knowledge and techniques in the most brutal and unforgiving way possible.

By the end of it, he was left with a bruised face and cut lips. He was bleeding all over his face and most of his ribs were broken.

Soon, Craig also left and the last guy finally stood up.

"My name is Franklin Aaron and I am the greatest sharpshooter in history". He said arrogantly. "My job is to teach you how to hone perfect accuracy with any weapon that you hold".

"Watch closely".

And so, Leon started his third straight lecture despite how tired he was.

By the end of it all, his head was once again throbbing with pain but Leon was no longer just an engineer, now he was a budding expert grappler, fighter, and sharpshooter.

Still he cursed. 'F*ck, my body aches!'

When Franklin Aaron left, Leon finally felt the familiar suction force that Talia talked about as a familiar rift appeared in front of him.

'I'm about to leave'. He thought, then he became puzzled. 'Talia didn't tell me about this, what really happened just now?'

Under the suction influence of the Rift on his consciousness, Leon didn't resist as he crossed the Rift and disappeared inside.

…

Blink!

Leon opened his eyes and the first thing he felt was hunger.

His stomach growled furiously.

He was taken aback. 'I'm hungry? Is it because of the sudden surge in my body potential, so I need to fill myself up quickly with calories?'

'Wait…' he observed his surroundings, confirming that he was back inside the familiar underground facility but he noticed that there was more dust than last time. From this and other subtle evidence that he found, he arrived at a different conclusion. '2 days have passed in reality?'

Leon was once again confused. 'Isn't time supposed to dilate? That's like an absolute according to Talia,' he narrowed his eyes. 'My Trial was different!'

By now, even if he was dense, Leon already saw enough evidence to tell him just how different from normal his Trial was.

From using his System as the Trial Catalyst, to how the System functions were locked in the Trial, to Neural Overclock, to the lucid dream that he had at the end, there were so many unusual elements about his Trial.

'What was that lucid dream at the end?'

'Who were those people?' Once again, he was left with even more questions than answers.

Leon clenched his fists tightly. 'I need answers!'

Talking of answers, he remembered Mr. Grok and the Big Gig Construction Company. At first, he was conflicted but then he remembered that not only did he have a Chip blueprint now but he also had most of the materials on hand to create a simple smartphone.

Leon didn't hesitate, he felt anxious to confirm a guess that he had.

Construct!

As he created a chip and slowly started constructing a smartphone, he thought. 'I know Trials are supposed to be simply manifestations of ADE, they're not real, but so many elements are strange about my Trial'.

'It felt too real'.

'I can't help but feel that…'

He didn't complete his thought because the smartphone was finally completed.

The System lit up with two new notifications but he didn't pay attention to them as he quickly picked up the smartphone.

He switched it on and with it, he accessed the psionic network.

Then, he searched.

["Mr. Grok and the Big Gig Construction Company."]

The search loaded and Leon waited.

Less than a second later, the smartphone's screen lit up with a notification.

["The Big Gig Construction Company has grown over the years to become one of the biggest construction companies in the Federation's Megacity, Red Meridian. It is owned by Mr. Grok Letho, a Synth who's rumored to be more than 200 years old…"]

"…"

Leon felt like an explosion just detonated inside his head.

'T-the company's still alive,' he shuddered. 'He's alive!'

His eyes widened. "Did I just go back in time and affected history?"

[END OF VOLUME 2: THE WASTES.]

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