INFINITE MONEY - I Will Buy Everything

'Alright, this didn't go as I had anticipated.' William muttered as he lay sprawled on the floor, his body riddled with fresh bruises and an even greater number of fractured bones lurking beneath the surface.

'I genuinely believed I could beat him—no, that's too ambitious. But at the very least, I thought I'd get close to injuring him. Well, that plan didn't quite as I expected it to.' William thought, his breath labored and uneven, before finally succumbing to exhaustion. He closed his eyes, allowing himself a brief respite.

Though Adam hadn't been struck with much force, nor bested in the fight, the battle with the boss had taken its toll on him. He, too, was breathing heavily as he looked over at William, perplexed.

'What got into him today? He came in brimming with confidence, starting the fight without so much as a word.'

'It was almost as if he knew he was going to win—or, at the very least, put up a formidable fight. But what brought on this sudden surge of confidence? Something must have happened to cause this unexpected shift.' Adam pondered, unable to piece together the puzzle.

'He certainly hit harder today, and somehow managed to last a full 30 minutes longer than before. That's a remarkable leap in endurance for just one day.' Adam mused as he ambled toward William, his own body groaning under the strain of their grueling session.

"Why the sudden outburst?" Adam queried, standing over him.

William, dazed and lost in his own fog of fatigue, barely registered the question. "Huh?" he mumbled incoherently.

"I said, what was going on with you today? You were different. More beast than man. You fought with more tenacity than usual and withstood far more pain than you have before."

"Boss... you didn't, by chance, take steroids or some kind of illicit enhancers, did you?" Adam asked, his eyes narrowing with suspicion.

"What? No!" William replied indignantly, raising his voice. "Why would I resort to that for no reason?"

"Well… I thought maybe you were trying to boost your strength, to gain an edge over me. I assumed that might've driven you to use something. But clearly, I was wrong. I apologize for the accusation," Adam said, bowing slightly in contrition.

William waved it off, quickly crafting a harmless lie. "No harm done. It's nothing, really. I just felt lucky today after obtaining this super rare item in a game, so I figured I'd push myself a bit harder. Turns out, it didn't make much of a difference."

"You definitely seemed different today, though. Even your strikes were off," Adam remarked, his tone now lighter. "But hey, at least nothing serious happened. You lasted 30 minutes longer than before—that's no small feat."

"Yeah, thanks… but I think that might've come at the expense of breaking more than just a few bones." William said with a strained smile, one that barely masked the agony coursing through him.

Adam chuckled awkwardly. "Good! That pain is just your body's way of telling you you're improving. The greater the pain, the greater the growth."

'Is that why you keep hitting me so hard?' William thought sardonically, as Adam's words echoed in his mind.

"Keep pushing yourself, and in a few years, you'll become a real weapon specialist. Who knows, maybe you'll even surpass me… although that still seems like a distant dream."

"Oh, believe me" William said with unshakable conviction, "I'm going to surpass you, and not in some distant future—give me five, maybe seven years."

Adam laughed heartily at William's bold declaration, but there was something in his expression that gave Adam pause. Perhaps it wasn't such an outlandish ambition after all.

"Alright then, keep striving. Who knows? Miracles do happen." Adam said, patting William's shoulder—eliciting yet another audible crack from his battered frame.

"Should I call for a healer?" Adam asked, genuine concern creeping into his voice. "You really put yourself through the torment today."

William shook his head. "Nah, I'll be fine. Just need some time to rest and recuperate. I'll be good as new… by tomorrow morning." he joked, though both men knew the reality was far from it.

"Alright then, I'll leave you to it." Adam said, heading for the exit.

As he lay there, William found his thoughts drifting back to the same troubling question. 'Why didn't the skill activate?'

'Do I need to manually trigger it somehow? But the description specifically said it was passive, always active. So why was my performance still so abysmal?' William brooded, frustration gnawing at him.

Then, it struck him. 'Why did I think I'd become powerful overnight, just because I unlocked a new skill? The description only said I'd learn faster than others—not that I'd instantly master everything.'

'It'll still take time, but not as much as it would for someone without the skill. As long as I remain focused, train diligently, and give it my all, I should be able to master it in four, maybe five years—or even sooner.' William reasoned, allowing a faint smile to cross his face. Then, another joint popped loudly, and he groaned.

"Yeah… maybe smiling isn't the best idea right now." he muttered to himself.

After lying on the floor for what felt like an eternity, William finally summoned the will to get up and wash away the sweat and grime. His day unfolded much like any other: eating, gaming, helping out wherever he could, signing off on documents, and playing with Clawdia, who, as usual, seemed to have boundless energy.

Oh, and there was more eating, punctuated by casual conversations with the beautiful woman who he had hired. He could tell she was starting to develop feelings for him or she was just horny, but he restrained himself for two reasons.

He was still underage. You don't sh*t where you eat. And in his case, the situation was perilously close to that—minus the actual sh*tting part, of course.

Later that night, he went to bed, woke up the next morning, got dressed, and returned to the training room. Instead of easing up, he doubled down, determined to push his limits even further. He didn't stick to just one weapon either—no, he rotated through multiple weapons, changing every half hour, determined to master them all.

Adam, observing from a distance, was taken aback by William's relentless energy, but he didn't overthink it. He simply guided him, correcting his mistakes, fine-tuning his technique.

William fought with everything he had, managing to last two minutes longer than the previous day before his body finally gave out, and he collapsed like a felled tree.

Adam, equally drained, wanted nothing more than to rest. But his pride wouldn't allow him to show weakness in front of the boss. He figured he'd sneak in a break later, alone in his room, sword in hand.

He considered offering some parting words of wisdom to William but decided against it. He too was spent. Instead, he gave a brief nod and mumbled a casual goodbye before shambling out of the room like a zombie.

William didn't respond. He simply lay there, eyes closed, lost in thought, for a long while.