After the morning of intense sparring sessions there was no longer any feeling of warmth and appreciation towards her father…
Sophie could feel her entire body aching with pain even with the help of healing salve. The duke had not gone easy on his daughter and towards the end of the session, he had even raised his cultivation base to the middle of the qi spirit stage.
"Would you like a glass of water milady?" Katarina calmly asked.
Sophie nodded slowly as she lay on the ground trying to recover some energy before going to the rest of the lessons. Katarina handed her a small glass which Sophie immediately downed the contents with a refreshing sigh of happiness.
"I will now take you to the holodeck where Jack will begin the second lesson," her bodyguard waited until she had finished drinking before continuing to speak.
Sophie tried to get up but only managed to briefly stand before crashing back into the dirt. A healthy flush of embarrassment crept up on her face when she heard Katarina's stifling laughter.
It was only a small relief to know that her father was not present as he returned to the study after the training session ended.
"Um… Katarina… I order you to help me to the holodeck room," Sophie turned her head away and softly whispered.
Katarina could barely contain the grin that threatened to break out on her face.
Why was her lady just so cute!
Years of training helped her to maintain a poker face and she carefully lifted Sophie up and placed her on her back.
"Let us go milady."
Holographic technology had been around since the early days of the Earth Federation and was especially popular among younger generations. It began with headsets that could connect the user to a virtual reality.
The net contained a galaxy wide virtual hub where people from all across different planets could connect with one another. These games could allow one to live a completely different life and fulfil their unspoken dreams.
Of course, the government strictly regulated the types of games allowed on the market as the technology could stimulate any type of experience.
Holodeck rooms were basically large rooms with photon emitters embedded into the walls that could project light constructs of any type of environment. It was essentially taking the virtual reality technology and transferring it over to the real world.
It was extremely popular as a training method among some upper-class families and could allow their prodigies to experience life and death battles without the dangerous risk.
The constructs could not physically interact with the real world, but the illusions were able to trick the user into experiencing the five sense of the scenarios generated. The supercomputer which oversaw the photon emission would analyse the damage a user would sustain in a fight with their virtual opponent.
There were only two holodecks in the Peterlor mansion as Sophie's father did not believe that holodeck training was efficient.
The biggest flaw of this method would be an increased level of recklessness in the fighting style of the trainees as there were no actual consequences to poor combat choices.
Katarina gently put down her young miss in front of the door to the holodeck and ruffled her hair in a playful manner.
"I can't enter this lesson with you because Jack gets really annoyed by me for some reason," she explained.
"You don't need to worry because I will be here at six o clock to start our session"
"There are some nice surprises in store!"
With a sunny wave, her bodyguard left to prepare for the last lesson of the day. Sophie shivered slightly and had a feeling of unease at the mention of surprises.
Later that day she would realise that her instincts…. had unfortunately been correct.
"Well… it can't be worse than the morning session," Sophie reassured herself then knocked confidently on the holodeck door and entered inside.
[Holodeck Room 2 – Scenario 1043 initiated!]
It was like an entirely different world and Sophie was almost taken aback by the beautiful sights before her. Somehow the inside of the room contained an entire jungle which stretched as far as the eye could see.
Soft green grass tickled her feet and Sophie could hear the calls of birds and animals rustling in the bushes. A waterfall flowed thunderously down the sides of a cliff and a gentle mist of water sprayed across her face.
"The first test is to find me within this jungle," a male voice called out from above her.
"You only have ten minutes."
Sophie looked up quickly but could only see a sunny sky reflected back at her. She needed to find Jack quickly otherwise she would fail the second lesson.
It was a hunt.
The moment that thought crossed her mind, a strange emotion of excitement welled up in her chest. Sophie's eyes began to glow menacingly and suddenly the forest around her vanished abruptly.
She found herself looking at a white room the size of a football field with strange light particles forming the shapes of the sights she had seen before.
Was this the holodeck without the illusions?
Sophie would have pondered on this matter more if she did not spot a red thermal image in the shape of a man several feet to the right of her location.
"Found you!" she shouted.
(Jack's POV)
Jack was relaxing in the center of the room when he heard a small notification on his tablet which told him that Sophie had entered the holodeck. He saw her looking around in wonder at the simulated forest and a gleeful smile appeared on his face.
He had been carefully reading articles on the net on how to be a good teacher and one of the most important advice according to one website was to establish yourself in the hearts of the students.
Jack had set the illusion in the holodeck to the highest levels of realism that could even temporarily confuse a void stage cultivator.
The plan was to set Sophie an impossible task to find him within the jungle and after the time had passed, he would reveal himself and show that she needed much more training.
Jack put on his manliest tone of voice and spoke into the intercom,
"The first test is to find me within this jungle."
"You only have ten minutes."
Upon careful observation, Sophie appeared to be frozen in place and was peering in all sorts of directions with no idea of where to go. This was in line with his expectation, so Jack was already thinking of how to present himself at the end of the test to act cool.
But his thoughts were some interrupted by a loud shout of,
"Found you!"
Jack glanced up from his tablet to see the horrifying sight of Sophie leaping towards him with all four legs spider legs outstretched like blades. Her eyes were shining with a golden light and a ferocious aura of blood-thirst made him subconsciously activate his cultivation.
"How…how is this possible?!" Jack shrank backwards in shock.
Unfortunately, he did not retreat in time and collected a solid blow to the face which caused him to crash backwards into the bushes.
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