Autophagy

"Did you just stop your punch mid-air..?" The instructor muttered. He wasn't expecting an answer from Song Lei. Instead, he just told him to continue attacking. Nodding, Song Lei launched another attack. The same thing happened again and Song Lei had to jump back.

For some time, Song Lei kept going back and forth, trying to find an opening and hit the instructor. Unfortunately, he would always have to stop to avoid getting caught. Although this wasn't getting anywhere, his instructor was already plenty surprised with Song Lei's ability.

"We'll discuss this later. Now, attack me without any restraints. Remember, don't avoid like before," his instructor ordered Song Lei.

"Yes sir!" Song Lei said. He wiped the sweat that was pouring out of his head and took a deep breath before charging once again at his instructor. Closing the distance quickly Song Lei threw a punch and pulled it back mid-air as he did before, this time, however, he didn't dodge back like he always did and kept on going forward.

Expecting Song Lei's movements, the instructor used one of his hands to get a grip of Song Lei's wrist. This time, his movements were very fast, so much so that Song Lei couldn't even catch a glimpse of it before being thrown into the ground. He felt the air leaving his lungs as his back made contact with the ground.

In a second, Song Lei managed to recuperate from the shock and rolled on the ground to get away from his instructor. However, his instructor acted faster than him and put his foot in Song Lei's trajectory to stop him. Song Lei, seeing that he couldn't keep going in the same direction, pushed himself off of the ground using his weak arms. Fortunately, his low body weight offset his lack of strength.

He rolled forward and managed to put a distance between himself and his instructor. He turned around to look at what his opponent was doing, however, he was met with a huge fist getting bigger and bigger in his vision.

The fist stopped just an inch away from Song Lei's nose. If it were to go any further, his nose would've probably been broken by now.

"Good job Lewis," instructed said while lightly tapping on Song Lei's nose. Song Lei nodded as thanks and followed him off of the ring. "You've great senses for CQC. I'm surprised that you haven't gotten any training before. However, you're too weak to properly utilize those senses. You'll have to spend effort and suffer a lot to become stronger. Are you ready to do so?"

"Yes sir. I'm ready," Song Lei said. He was no stranger to pain. His skill upgrades, his fights with ghosts had given him nerves of steel. If it was the relatively little amount of pain and effort it would take him to clear this dream space, he would push through.

"Very good. Come with me, I'll prepare a training schedule for you. We'll start today with a few exercises..."

...

"Huff... Huff..."

Left gasping for breath, Song Lei lay on the floor. He had spent most of his energy and his body was screaming for him to stop.

"This is enough for today. Don't forget to come earlier tomorrow. I still have some things to measure. Now go and have lunch in section B cafeteria. If you show your name card to the cafeteria attendant, she will give you your specialized meal," Song Lei's instructor said. He turned around and left without waiting for Song Lei's answer.

After he was good enough to get up and walk, Song Lei lifted himself off of the ground. His legs were wobbling because of all the exercises his instructor made him do. It would've been tiring at most for an average adult, however, for Song Lei who was now in Lewis' body, they were more like an insurmountable mountain. He had managed to finish them purely by willpower.

While walking towards the cafeteria by looking at the map, Song Lei found a clock. It was exactly 8 o'clock, which was the time for dinner. He would've to go and find his class before 8:20. So he had at most fifteen minutes to eat and go back.

When he found and entered the cafeteria, a hot gust of air hit his face. He had to block the air from his eyes by using his hand. As he walked further into the cafeteria, he was met with more than three hundred people all ranging from little children to famished teenagers. They were all eating a meal composed of different colored purees. To be honest, their meals didn't look appetizing even a little bit, however, all of them were eating enthusiastically. Probably because they couldn't find any proper meal until now.

Seeing that a lot of people had already started eating, Song Lei located where he would take the food from, took a tray in his hands, and walked up.

"Hello. I'm Lewis. My instructor told me that you guys would prepare a special meal for me so..." Song Lei said to the cafeteria attendant. The attendant was an elderly woman, probably around her sixties with a gentle smile on her face.

"Oh, sweetie! You must be Lewis that they mentioned. Come here," the woman said cheerily. She took a few steps to the side and brought up a pan. She took out different kinds of meals and placed them all on Song Lei's tray. Compared to the others in the cafeteria, Song Lei's meal looked more like proper food, rather than a pile of goo.

"Why does everyone eat this stuff?" Song Lei asked. Hearing his question, the woman sighed deeply.

"How sad... Truly... They are so young but look at their situation," the woman said with grief. There was no one waiting in the queue behind Song Lei so they could chat without a care in the world. "We prepare these puree meals so that they don't hurt themselves. If we give them good food, they will eat it too fast. Because they haven't eaten properly for a long time, their bodies wouldn't accept the food. We don't want them puking all around the cafeteria so..."

Listening to her explanation, Song Lei nodded in approval. He knew that the woman was right.

"I see... Anyways. Thank you very much," Song Lei said. Without further ado, he picked a seat and sat down. None of the children around paid any attention to him as they were busy eating.

Song Lei, knowing that he shouldn't overdo it, started eating slowly. Fortunately, he was able to finish the food in less than fifteen minutes without gulping it down. Leaving the cafeteria, Song Lei headed to section A. He didn't know his class, so he decided to go to the cafeteria to meet up with his dorm mates. As he arrived in front of the cafeteria, he saw Clark, Rufus, and Aston leaving the cafeteria. He was lucky for being able to catch them.

"Hey..." Song Lei greeted them.

"Oh, Lewis? Let's go to the class. How was your first morning?" Clark asked him. Song Lei thought for a short time and answered.

"It was a bit tiring, however, good enough..." He said. Clark smiled widely.

"You'll get used to it in no time. And from what I can see, you're faring pretty well. I still remember Rufus' first day here. After the morning training was over, he was puking everywhere," Clark said. Hearing him, Rufus rolled his eyes in response.

"So? What class do we have?" Song Lei asked.

"Today's first lesson is on survival 101. It's pretty interesting and very practical. You should listen to it carefully."

"Mm," Song Lei nodded. Shortly after they reached the class and sat down on their seats, their teacher came and started the lesson. Song Lei did his best to absorb and remember every information he could, as the knowledge he gathered in the dream space was much more important than his physical gains. After all, he could carry those out of the dream space as opposed to his muscle mass.

Lesson after lesson, the day went on.

At 13:00, they had firearms training. Standing on the shooting grounds, side by side, they were holding rifles that were from the 19th century. Although it looked normal in others' hands, it looked a bit ridiculous in Song Lei's hands.

"How good are you guys at using these?" Song Lei asked Clark while pointing at his rifle.

"This is our first day doing so actually. You have come just at the right time," Clark answered. "That must be the instructor," he said.

Their firearms instructor stood in front of them and started speaking.

"These rifles you're holding in your hands are called Mk.2 Whitworth Rifles," he said. "There are two things you have to know about them," he said while raising the rifle in his hands. "One is that they're incredibly accurate," he said. He quickly turned around and shot at a target that was around a kilometer away from them. As soon as he fired the gun, a ding resounded in the shooting grounds.

Managing to hit the target, he lowered his gun and turned back towards the trainees that were watching him with awe.

"And the second is the fact that they cost a lot of money. So take proper care of them...."