New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

Chapter 729 Caught In The Ropes

Leaning over the ropes, Alex let Kary help him put on gloves as he whispered to her.

"You might want to prepare some ice packs. I don't know how much his body is tougher than before since he now uses mana, but I can guarantee I won't be able to control myself enough not to cause some bruising. And hell, who knows? He might be the one bruising me."

Kary giggled lightly.

"You might be skilled with weapons, and have some basics in hand-to-hand combat, but I don't think you'll be taking him down so easily. How about we see how it goes first?"

Alex laughed as she finished strapping the gloves on over the bandages.

"Hey, hurry up, you two little lovebirds. We're on the clock."

"Yeah, yeah. I'm coming," Alex replied, walking toward the center of the ring, warming up his arms.

Clark's eyes were already trailing on him like a predator on prey, and Alex knew he would be going serious.

They touched gloves before taking two steps back each.

"By the way, I saw your interview the other day. I figured out why you progressed so fast regarding strength, speed, and combat experience. Who'd have known that you weren't human."

Saying this, he darted forward, extending his right hand into a direct. Alex tilted his shoulder back, throwing a hook towards Clark's ribs.

Clark blocked the hit, lowering his elbow, still feeling a part of the power behind it, grinning in response.

"I'm still human. Well, I guess I might be a bit more than that now. But I can sense that you are also going beyond normality, right? Clark?"

After having his strike blocked, Alex took a quick step back and two steps to the side so he didn't stray too far into the ropes. Clark tended to drive him there before pounding him into submission with a flurry of blows.

But he wouldn't let it happen this time.

Alex might be less experienced than Clark in hand-to-hand; he was also substantially stronger than him. And he wasn't against using a bit more strength to compensate for his lack of experience.

Clark chased after him, unrelenting in his assault.

Alex could see each hit come and position himself to block, dodge, or parry the strikes. But something felt weird.

With every strike that contacted him, Alex felt more and more uneasy. He couldn't quite understand why, but he knew something was happening.

The fight continued, reaching thirty seconds already, the barrage of hits from both sides looking like they weren't sparring but fighting. And the more time passed, Alex could feel himself getting slower.

Splitting his attention, Alex looked inward, and that's when he grasped what was happening. A foreign mana signature was going around in his body.

Merely a trickle. But it was disturbing the flow of his mana.

And it came from Clark.

'Does he know he's doing this? Is this something he does in the game, and he just naturally emulated it outside?' he wondered.

But he couldn't let himself get hit anymore. He had no idea what letting this mana course through him would do, and he would rather not find out.

So, Alex accelerated himself, pumping a bit more mana through his body. He didn't go too far and only accelerated enough to dodge and parry more.

Clark saw this and responded in kind, subconsciously.

From the sidelines, Kary began frowning. At first, they were already going fast for two people sparring.

But now, the people around were starting to look at them strangely. They were moving much too fast for human standards.

"Hey guys, you might want to rein in. You are attracting unwanted attention," she warned them.

But neither man heard her. They were already too focused to notice anything other than their opponent.

Clark decided to kick it up a notch and started using kicks and shoves to throw Alex off balance. He had no intention of hurting him, but he wanted to point out that he wasn't the only one getting stronger.

Clark had no idea when he started feeling like he needed to point this out.

Was it when he saw that Alex had strength that surpassed everyone? Or was it because he started feeling inadequate to teach the young man if he couldn't even hurt him if he tried?

Clark hadn't felt this competitive in years. But logging into New Eden had made him realize that he liked winning more than he cared to admit.

In the game, all the young people around him were striving to improve and one-up each other.

And that had revived a long-since-dead competitiveness inside him. One he wasn't sure he wished to un-bury.

But he hadn't fought against it, either. When he started playing, he had done his research and found a class and guide on obtaining it online.

He had fought tooth and nail to reach the spot where it was acquirable and proved himself worthy. And after that, he realized his competitiveness was an asset in that world.

He was now a Monk inside New Eden, learning about fighting daily. And the knowledge made him realize he was much lesser than he had thought.

And the feeling of weakness had washed away his repugnance at spending hours inside New Eden. He had even bought a pod recently, and that was when he noticed a difference.

Something in his body had changed. He had no idea what and could barely describe it, either.

He only knew one thing for sure. It was making him stronger.

"If you knew this game had this effect on people, why didn't you share this with the world, Alex?" Clark asked, his face growing more serious.

Alex heard his tone, saw his face, and instantly knew what he meant.

"Clark, I think we should stop before someone gets hurt. We need to have a serious conversation about New Eden."

Alex tried breaking off from Clark, but the man chased him down like a hound, striking from angles that became trickier and trickier. Alex could tell that eventually, he would take another hit.

And the foreign mana inside him was getting agitated.

"Just answer me, god dammit!" Clark spat.

Alex jumped back again, but he felt the ropes on his back.

'Shit!' he thought, looking at Clark with apprehension.

Clark grinned at him, looking almost animalistic.

"Got you!"