"Why not? You just log off and back on again, and you're still in the teahouse, aren't you? You never left!"

"Ah..." Eric Ford regretted his own cleverness.

"You're really clueless, must be a newbie!"

"Yeah, yesterday was my first day playing!" Eric Ford said with a wry smile.

"So what did you get thrown in here for?" Eric Ford changed the subject—if they kept talking about his own embarrassing situation, he'd really lose face.

"I broke some stuff in someone's restaurant during a fight."

"Ha... then you have to pay for it, right?"

"Yeah, luckily it wasn't much money. But this jail time is driving me crazy. The system is so annoying, insisting on filling up one cell before opening the next. Can't they just distribute people evenly? The cells next door have enough for a few tables of mahjong, but I've been alone in here the whole time! Isn't that frustrating?"

"Just chat with friends or message them!"

"No such luck. Once you're in jail, all that gets disabled!"

"Uh, so, why did you get into a fight?"

"Oh, what else could it be? We were talking, then started arguing, and then it turned into a fight!"

"Oh. How long is your sentence?"

"Four hours in total, not even two hours left! What about you?"

"I got two hours too! It's fine, two hours will go by fast!"

"Two hours!! One 'shichen' is two hours, so two 'shichen' is four hours!"

"Ah, I forgot about that. Four hours... what am I supposed to do all this time!"

"Practice your skills!"

"Practice what skills?"

"Whatever skills you have, practice those! Every martial art has levels. If you don't practice, how will you level them up?"

"How do I practice?"

"You really are a newbie... Look at your martial arts, there's a proficiency bar underneath. When proficiency hits 100%, you can level up."

Eric Ford quickly checked and, sure enough, there it was. "Wind Like Lightning," proficiency only 1%.

"I don't have any internal energy left, I can't use it!"

"Practice internal skills! Practicing internal skills doesn't need potions!"

"I don't know any internal skills yet!"

"Oh, that's fine. I'll practice internal skills, and you can have all my potions!"

"Ah, I can't possibly accept that!"

"If you feel bad, you can pay me back later!"

"What's your name? I forgot to ask!"

"Emily Lewis! And you?"

"I'm Eric Ford. We can't add friends right now, right? I'll add you after we get out!"

"Of course, we're cellmates after all!"

The two exchanged a smile. Eric Ford took the potions Emily Lewis handed over, and they each went off to practice.

Chapter 12: Training in Jail

The cell was fairly spacious, but practicing lightness skills inside was a bit ridiculous. Still, it was better than nothing—without something to do, four hours would be unbearable.

Eric Ford clutched the potions, warming up while thinking, "Should I run laps in here, or do shuttle runs?"

Over in the corner, Emily Lewis had already tucked herself away, getting ready to practice internal skills. Before starting, she glanced curiously at Eric Ford, wanting to see what skill he would practice. But when she saw Eric Ford swinging his arms and legs around, she instinctively edged further into the corner.

Eric Ford had made up his mind. After a quick stretch, he activated "Wind Like Lightning" and started running laps around the cell.

In the corner, Emily Lewis was once again left speechless by Eric Ford's antics. She told him to use the time to practice, but who would have thought he'd actually start practicing lightness skills inside the cell!

Luckily, the cell was damp, so there wasn't a cloud of dust. But because of the dampness, there were some puddles on the floor, which inevitably led to mud splattering everywhere.

Emily Lewis dodged the flying mud while watching Eric Ford run around with his head down, clumsily tossing potions into his mouth to restore internal energy. With a character like this around, how was she supposed to focus on her own training?

After watching Eric Ford run a few laps, she suddenly noticed that every time he got close to her corner, he would deliberately speed up. What was that about? Then she realized—Eric Ford was trying to get past her quickly so he wouldn't disturb her practice.

Unfortunately, when Eric Ford put in the extra effort, his speed didn't actually change, but the amount and size of the mud splatters increased dramatically.

Once Emily Lewis figured this out, she was both annoyed and amused, but couldn't help feeling a bit of fondness for Eric Ford.

As for Eric Ford, while running laps, he noticed that Emily Lewis wasn't practicing but was watching him instead. He had no idea why. Meanwhile, running in such a small space at such a fast pace, he was already feeling dizzy after just a few laps.

He wanted to stop and rest, but Emily Lewis kept staring at him. If he gave up after just a short while, wouldn't that be embarrassing? Little did he know, Emily Lewis was wishing he'd stop as soon as possible!

One wanted the other to rest, while the other kept going just because he was being watched. Finally, as Emily Lewis watched herself slowly turning into the 101st Dalmatian, she couldn't take it anymore and jumped out to try to stop Eric Ford.