Edited by: Black Jesus
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After Delilah's grandmother left, she looked over towards the gate. There stood two rows of soldiers standing at each side of the gate. In the middle of the gateway stood two men, one young and the other middle-aged.
Delilah immediately noticed the young man. She was examining him when she immediately felt something was off. After looking to the right of the young man, she was shocked. Delilah had not immediately noticed the middle-aged man! The middle-aged man completely lacked presence. If you were not staring directly at him, it was like he was not there at all. If Delilah did not have strong awareness, she would not have noticed him.
She instantly figured out both of the men's identities. The young man was her magic instructor, the Summoner Marvin. As for the middle-aged man, he was the head of the Stealth Corps, Archer Roy.
After Delilah finished examining, she straightened her back and tidied up her pure white dress. Delilah wanted to make a good first impression. She immediately noticed stares from all over. The surrounding soldiers and her instructors could not help but take a double take at her. It was most of the people's first time seeing the Fairy Princess. Silver hair and violet eyes were features they had never seen before, let alone together. Delilah was used to it and confidently strode over to her instructors. Delilah soon stood in front of both of them.
"Greetings Archer Roy of the Stealth Corps! Greetings Summoner Marvin! I am Delilah of house Flos." Delilah then bowed to both of them.
Cough cough.
Both of the men did not expect for their crown princess to be so courteous towards them. Marvin immediately panicked and had thoughts of wanting to help her up, but did not dare to touch her. The surprised expression Roy had was fleeting as it was soon replaced with a calm and approving one.
When Delilah looked up, she noticed Marvin's wide eyes and flushed face.
"Did I do something wrong," she thought.
But after Delilah noticed Roy who looked normal, she furrowed her brows. Why was Marvin's face flushed red? Why were his eyes wide? Was he maybe… 'that' type of weirdo her Grandmother warned her about? These thoughts raced through Delilah's mind, and her expression instantly turned sour. Her first impression of Marvin ended up with her deeming him as 'that' type of weirdo. If Marvin knew what she was thinking he would probably have had a breakdown.
"Greetings Princess Delilah," said Roy.
Delilah nodded in response.
After taking a deep breath and calming down, Marvin then introduced himself. But when he saw Delilah give him a weird expression and move towards Roy after he talked to her, he felt faint. Did he do something wrong?
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After both parties finished introducing themselves, Roy took the liberty of telling Delilah the training schedule which they had discussed beforehand. Delilah would train with Roy during the day and practice magic while she recovered at night. After hearing that she would be recovering after physical empowerment training she was slightly startled, but nevertheless, she was still excited. Marvin then said his goodbyes to both of them as he planned to meet with her later that night. Delilah just stared at him expressionlessly and gave no response. Marvin could only sadly walk away.
"Do you not like him?" asked Roy.
"I think… he's 'that' type of weirdo…" Delilah responded.
Roy recounted what happened earlier then instantly understood. He burst into laughter.
"What's the matter?" Delilah asked puzzledly.
"Nothing. Nothing," replied Roy did not clear up the situation as he found it humorous. He would inform the Queen about it later as to not jeopardize Marvin's life but would watch as Marvin was treated as a predator by the little girl. Poor Marvin.
Roy then led her through the gate. Looking around she could see an array of buildings made out of black stone. The rustic appearance and design were completely different from the luxurious architecture that the capital which they were just in possessed.
Wherever Delilah and Roy passed, they were met with curious gazes by the nearby soldiers. The soldiers were told to act normal and do their usual work, but they still wanted to sneak a peek at the girl who was known as the Fairy Princess.
Delilah and Roy continued walking straight at a relaxed pace for nearly 3 hours until they reached the end of the encampment. In the distance, Delilah could see another tall wall and a closed gate. Although the walls were only half the height of the city walls, they still held an imposing air.
"This is the end of the military encampment. The training center we'll be using is just over there," said Roy as he pointed to a large black building to the left of the gate.
Delilah nodded as she followed him in. She was surprised to see that the building was completely empty. As she thought back, the area surrounding training ground was empty as well.
Stopping in the middle of the indoor training field, Roy turned around and said to Delilah, "To ensure you have no distractions, I decided to have this training ground reserved just for you during your period of training. Okay, now that we're here we can start. Her Majesty has ordered that you are to have the strictest training regimen. Do you have any questions?"
"No, Sir," replied Delilah. She was determined to get as strong as she could in as little time as possible. It turns out that her grandmother had the same idea as her.
Roy was surprised when he saw her determined expression after stating the difficulty of her training. He thought she would have an adverse reaction. He questioned if the girl in front of him was actually an 8-year-old princess.
"Don't call me Sir, just Roy is fine. Okay, first I'll give a general explanation regarding magic and physical empowerment. Then, since today is the first day, we will start by testing the state of your physique to better tailor your training regimen."
Roy then began explaining.
In this world, there were two types of energy. One was called Mana and the other called Qi. Mana was used to practice magic while Qi was used to practice physical empowerment. The users of magic and physical empowerment were also known as either Sorcerers or Combatants.
After a person turned 8, their innate constitution would awaken. A person's constitution would decide if they would be a Potential Sorcerer or Potential Combatant, and in some rare cases, both. Sorcerers and Combatants were then divided into classes based off of their Mana's magical affinity or Qi's physical attribute. The Sorcerer classes were Mage, Warlock, Priest, and Summoner. As for the Combatant classes, they were Swordsman, Archer, Shield Bearer, and Martial Artist.
"For Combatants, classes are determined by three factors. Firstly, their physical attribute. There are four physical attributes which can also be differentiated by color: strength is red, durability is yellow, agility is green, and the speed is blue. A person can at most have at most three attributes or a rare fusion attributes such as the one you have. Fusion attributes are a fusion of two attributes."
After mentioning fusion attributes, Roy had a longing expression.
"What's the difference between having a fusion attribute versus having two?" Delilah did not see the difference between having two attributes and having a fusion attribute. She also thought that having 3 attributes would be better.
"There is a major difference! But explaining it to you know will just make you confused. Now, moving onto Combatant class physical attributes. Each class has two main attributes. I won't go into detail about the rest, but an Archer's main attributes are agility and speed. These attributes are exactly what your cyan fusion attribute possesses. It would be a waste for you to become any other class. Luckily I heard you have an interest in archery from the Her Majesty. This is a good thing as no matter your attribute you'll never progress if you don't have a likeness for it."
Delilah really did not have an interest in archery until she found the inheritance from her parents. The only interest that she previously held was in the Mage class due to her grandmother, but that was shut down during her constitution test.
"The second thing that determines a Combatant class is Class Power. The Class Power that Archer's develop is Sensory Power. This is something that you will be developing at a later date. The last thing is the most obvious one. That is the Class Weapon. I won't go into more detail around this as it is self-explanatory.
"The last thing I want to mention are the three foundational levels for potential Combatants. The levels include Body Tempering, Bodily Vessel Stage, and Planet-Forming. Every Combatant goes through these stages and they are the same for everyone. This is why I want it is important to gauge your strengths and weaknesses so we can maximize your training."
Roy then waved his hand and a 2 meter tall black stone pillar appeared between the two.
"Now it's time to test your strength. This is a tier 1 strength testing stone. After hitting it, the enchantment will then display your strength. Although your strength shouldn't be too high considering your physical attribute, potential Combatants tend to have stronger physiques than potential Sorcerers. Since your body is not tempered yet, I'll give you an enchanted glove to protect your hand. Make sure to not hold back at all when hitting the stone."
Delilah nodded and put on the enchanted glove Roy gave her on her right hand. These gloves were specially made for kids who had not tempered their body yet, so her glove was just a little bigger than her small hand. She then took a deep breath, clenched her fist, and put all of her power into a punch creating a barely noticeable
Thud. Thud thud thud.
After her fist made contact with the stone pillar, it immediately did a thud sound, then exploded. The sounds of falling debris hitting the floor then followed after. Delilah was surprised. She cast a questioning expression at Roy who currently had his jaw agape. After remembering what he said, Roy felt a warmth creep onto his cheeks. Roy then looked at Delilah. When he noticed her puzzled expression towards him, he instantly felt like knocking his head into a wall.
Why are you looking at me like that? I'm the one who should be questioning you here! Are you really an 8-year-old girl? Roy thought but did not voice his opinions.
Cough cough.
After clearing his throat, Roy then continued to say, "The limit to a tier 1 strength testing stone is 50 pounds of force… Usually, that is enough for a child who had just awakened their constitution. That being said, usually… We'll test your strength the tier 2 strength testing stone." Roy then took us another stone pillar that was identical to the previous one. Tier 2 strength testing stones could withstand up to 200 pounds of force and he seriously doubted that an 8 year had not yet started practicing physical empowerment could muster such strength.
Delilah then punched out with her right hind again. A light thud could be heard and then a flickering light could be seen on the stone. A glowing number could be seen gradually increasing.
80…
85…
93…
98…
And finally, the glowing number stopped at 104. Roy took a deep breath. This princess really was a freak of nature. Delilah then tested out her left fist strength which resulted in a slightly lesser number stopping at exactly 100. Roy decided to hold off on her leg strength until they were done tempering her body.
"We will now test your agility. Follow me," Roy gestured and then led Delilah out of the open training field into the hall. The hall was full of wooden pillars that had different heights with the shortest being 2 meters and the tallest standing at 6 meters. The circumference of the pillars measured about a foot. Each pillar was separated by a varying distance within the range of a few feet.
"This is one of the footwork training halls. You have 5 minutes. The test will end when the time is up or when you fall. Take this talisman to protect yourself from hitting the ground or a pillar. It's good for a single use I'll activate it if I see that you're in trouble."
Roy then handed Delilah the talisman. Before he could ask whether Delilah needed help getting onto one of the pillars at the start she had already started climbing up a 3 and a half meters tall pillar. Roy's eyes widened as he watched girl crawl to the top bearing semblance to a little monkey. His widened eyes soon nearly popped out when he saw her hopping through the pillars. What made it worse was that she was laughing while doing it seemingly having fun. It looked like she was playing hopscotch!
After watching her reach the middle of the hall, he sighed. He was glad he decided not to make estimates earlier and just gave her a time limit. By the time 5 minutes had passed Delilah had nearly made it to the end of the hall. He did not tell her that the time was up as it did not matter anymore. Roy just reasoned that this was due to her fusion attribute.
After reaching the end of the hall Delilah then made her way back. Her playful countenance from earlier had disappeared and was replaced with a worried expression. She knew she had not made it to the end by five minutes. She was worried that she had failed. Roy immediately noticed her downcast expression when he saw her.
"What's wrong?"
"I… I didn't pass in time… " said Delilah as she looked like she was on the verge of crying. She had high expectations for herself and was really disappointed.
When Roy saw Delilah on the verge of tears he wanted to vomit blood.
I'm the one who wants to cry here! What do you mean you didn't pass? Even 18-year-olds couldn't reach the end of the hall within 5 minutes much less an 8-year-old like you! Ahh!
As Roy was thinking these things, Delilah interrupted, "Mr. Roy?"
"Oh… Haha. Don't feel bad. I didn't make it to the end within 5 minutes when I was your age either haha."
Roy was obviously lying. Reach the end? He could not even get on a single pillar when he was her age!
"Okay there's one last test and then we're done for today."
Roy then led Delilah to an empty room. He proceeded to do some hand seals when the floor caved in and a staircase leading down appeared.
"We'll test your speed on your way back to the Royal Palace."
"On my way home?" asked Delilah. This staircase led to the Royal Palace?
"This tunnel goes directly to the Royal Palace. It's one of the escape routes for the Royal Family. This is why your training was specifically chosen to be at this training field."
Escape route? Delilah had never heard of escape routes in the Royal Palace. She didn't question further as she made her way down the stairs. The tunnel was surprisingly well ventilated and was dimly lit with light crystals. It also seemed to be well kept.
"Okay let's go, we'll test your speed now."
"Mm," Delilah nodded then started to run. She had already taken off her dress before jumping through the pillars, what lay underneath was a white bodysuit that was perfect for training.
Delilah and Roy continued to run at a fast pace for around 4 hours. Although Delilah had slowed down after an hour and was now out of breath, she did exceedingly well. Roy was already used to it and just labeled her as a monster. It was his first time seeing how much innate talent could affect a person.
After reaching the end of the tunnel, Roy did a series of hand seals again and a flight of stairs immediately and light immediately shown down on them. Delilah was surprised when she made her way up as she really was in the Royal Palace. Delilah knew the place where she was well as she had spent most of her time here. It was the Royal Library.
"This is the talisman to open the tunnel. As part of your training, I want you to run to the training field and back. I'll be timing your performance starting at 5 A.M. There won't be any rewards but there will be a punishment if you don't be your previous time. As for what the punishment is, let's say it will not be fun."
Seeing the hint of evil on Roy's face, Delilah had decided that she would never receive his so-called 'punishment' no matter what.
Delilah saw him off then proceeded to clean herself up. She was exhausted from the run but she still had her magical lesson with Marvin. When she thought about Marvin and how he was 'that' type of weirdo, Delilah shuddered. She wanted to change teachers but Marvin was the only kingdom's Summoner. She pulled out a protective talisman and promised that if he tried anything, she would blow him up.
She then lay on her bed waiting for the evening as she had gotten back early. Today was the day that she stepped on the road towards becoming both a Sorcerer and Combatant. Delilah clenched her first and she trembled from excitement.