Ryo froze, his eyes fixed on the huge shadow that came out of the darkness. A giant, black dragon towering above him—its eyes filled with an evil red glow—hung before him, a dominating presence that rocked the air itself.
"Wh-What… is this?" Ryo stuttered, his heart pounding as his instincts yelled at him to run. The Shadow Dragon, level 9573, towered over him, its wings creating a shadow that filled the whole space.
The voice of the system boomed out coldly: "This is your training, Ryo Takashi. You must die 500 times to finish the first stage of your development."
Ryo's eyes went wide with horror. "What?! 500 times?!"
"Impossible! How the bloody hell am I supposed to survive this at level 31?!" Ryo cried out in frustration, his hands shaking as he automatically went for his weapons, but his own strength seemed so insignificant next to the dragon's overwhelming might.
"You don't have to kill it. You just have to die… 500 times." The voice of the system was unnervingly calm, as if it did not care about Ryo's terror.
Ryo's thoughts ran wild. "Die… 500 times?!" He could hardly process the stupidity of it. He wasn't anywhere near powerful enough to even touch this creature. But there was no escape. He realized that fleeing was out of the question. His only option was to comply.
The dragon roared with a deafening sound, and before Ryo could even move, a huge wave of dark fire flew towards him, reducing him to ashes in an instant.
"Aahhh!"
He cried out in agony, his body crumbling into ash instantly. His senses disappeared, and he was once again at the starting point—alive, but only for a moment. The dragon's abominable figure stood before him once more.
Ryo clenched his teeth. "I won't be weak… I can't let this be the end!" But he wasn't able to move a step before he got hit by the same blaze.
The loop started.
Ryo's consciousness began to distort as he kept dying repeatedly.
20 died went by, and every time he was engulfed by the dragon's flames, trampled under its huge claws, or ripped asunder by the intensity of its attacks. His body disintegrated in all possible manners, yet he would come back again—each time more aware of the dragon's patterns.
50 dead. Ryo's mind was slowly deteriorating by now. He could hardly recall what it was like to be alive. His body was not his anymore; it was a shell, constantly destroyed and remade, with no respite in sight.
150 fatalities. Ryo started to pay attention. His sanity-shattered mind was still clever enough to perceive the patterns in the dragon's attacks. With each death, he managed to dodge slightly quicker, or counter slightly stronger. But still, the distance between his abilities and the dragon's was so great.
230 fatalities. Ryo finally began to glimpse the end of the tunnel. He had discovered the dragon's vulnerabilities—the little inconsistency in its attacks, how it telegraphed its fire, and where it was vulnerable. He was able to approach, delivering a lone scratch to its armored hide. The dragon growled in fury, and Ryo was immediately engulfed by its fire once more.
400 dead. His body was nearly unrecognizable. His mind, though, had changed somehow. The grief of the losses had begun to lose its overwhelming edge. Ryo was close to losing himself utterly, but in some deep place within him, his determination to live, to become stronger, kept him going.
At last, after so many tests and so many deaths, Ryo stood before the dragon once again. This time, he didn't waver.
His heart racing, he rushed in, using everything he had learned. The attack by the dragon came, and Ryo parried, catching his timing perfectly. With what strength he had left, he cut at the enormous body of the beast. His sword, filled with the unfamiliar new power, left a traceable cut along the dragon's scales.
The system's voice rang out across the air, "Training phase 1 finished. 500 deaths confirmed. Congratulations, Ryo Takashi."
Ryo sank to his knees, completely spent. "Is. is it over now?"
The system answered: "Yes. The initial training phase has completed. Initiate phase two."
Ryo gasped for breath as he sat down on the ground. The dragon was gone, but his head still reeled. He had never felt anything so draining.