"Too soon. You seem more relaxed today," Lord Canning commented on her relaxed demeanor and the lack of bags under her eyes.
"I managed to get some sleep. What fresh hell am I in for today?" she asked with a wide grin, still proud of her accomplishment.
"Based on your fights with the bandits, you have achieved moderate physical skills in fighting but your weapons and magic usage are almost basic at this point," Lord Canning said.
This attracted a raised eyebrow from Annabeth who thought she had become a force to be reckoned with at such a young age. She thought defeating the bandits laid testament to her prowess but nooo, she was getting labeled as a basic mage.
She was about to dispute but Lord Canning continued.
"In the tournament, you will realize that there are younger mages who possess far greater skills with only a single element, and have developed more complex spells than anything you have ever seen before," he said.
Annabeth got curious about who she will be facing but also realized that she knew nothing about the tournament she will be in and what the prizes were. She asked Lord Canning for more details and he happily obliged like he had been waiting for the question all along.
"The tournament will last for at least 6 months, where you will compete against more than a thousand young mages like yourself. The goal of the tournament is to gain experience, develop friendships, earn titles and prestige.
You will earn a lot of privileges and material to help you develop in joining the ranks of the kingdoms mightiest mages," he explained joyfully.
"Your target will be to reach the top 16. And as your master I will also get a lot of money in return, hahaha," Canning jokingly said and laughed away at the thought of getting some more money. Unfortunately, Annabeth only stared at him with a blank unamused expression.
"Your training will be supervised by Menzine for the next few days. I will see you in the capital after two weeks. Pack enough clothes," Lord Canning said, as he took out an old-looking brown scroll with strange marks on it.
"Wait! Where are you going to be for the rest of this week and next week?" Annabeth asked, surprised that Lord Canning won't be the one to give the full training instructions.
"I will be in the capital," he smiled and said, "I have some business to take care of."
Annabeth saw Lord Canning open the scroll with the strange markings and then rip it in half, instantly getting sucked into the purplish-black portal that had opened behind him.
"What the hell was that?!" Annabeth asked Menzine.
"It was a fast travel pass, a teleportation technique for longer distances or to very specific points around the world. As we speak, Lord Canning is in the capital right now," Menzine answered, before starting to weave his hands to conjure a spell.
Annabeth did not even have time to close her dropped jaw before she was surrounded by numerous weapons of different sizes, shapes, and functions. The only similarity they had was that they were completely black.
"Choose a weapon or weapons of your liking to begin your training," Menzine instructed as he walked over to grab a black thin stick that looked like it had been burned and become charcoal.
Annabeth grabbed the nearest sword she could find and made a few practice swings.
"Protect yourself," Menzine said, rushing towards her while her brain was still processing his words.
Annabeth held the sword in front of her to receive Menzine's attack but what she received was much more than she could handle. The sword she held was knocked away from her hands and a sweeping kick sent her legs flying into the air before her body hit the ground.
"Use your legs," Menzine instructed, as he turned around and walked to his starting position.
Annabeth got up, there was some pain due to the fall but it quickly faded away. She ran to pick up her sword and returned to her starting position.
This time, she initiated the attack and ran towards Menzine. He bolted towards her and was right in front of her in the blink of an eye. She tried to sidestep but tripped on one of the metal pieces on the ground and fell.
"Always be aware of your surroundings," Menzine said, turning around to walk back to his position.
Annabeth got up quickly this time and attacked while Menzine was still walking to his position. She got close enough to attack but received several blows her eyes could not see, finding herself looking up at the sky.
"In a match that isn't life or death, it is shameful to attack someone's back lady Annabeth," Menzine scolded, "an injury on the back is disgraceful to a swordsman."
He then turned again to walk back to his position. Annabeth felt guilty. She wanted to win so badly that she forgot that this was just training. She stood up, apologized and walked back to her starting position. She had no reason to walk back to the position but seeing Menzine do it, she thought it was part of the training too.
Menzine and Annabeth did several more bouts, nothing lasting more than 3 seconds and Menzine defeating her every time. She had yet to successfully defend or launch an attack against Menzine's one-sided onslaught. She applied every instruction she received and could feel herself improve but it didn't help against Menzine.
Annabeth observed that as time went on, she could tell where each weapon was and each metallic piece while concentrating on Menzine too. Just when she had gotten used to her environment, Menzine did two unexpected things. He changed his starting position to about 30 degrees clockwise and asked her to pick a different weapon.
Annabeth had also been considering changing her weapon due to Menzine knocking it out of her arms constantly. No matter what she tried, she just couldn't find the right balance with the sword and the weight distribution kind of felt off. She needed something lighter but more balanced.