The gymnasium was now packed with all the freshmen. Most of them were somewhat excited about today's class. After all, it is the first battle training class with all the students from all three sections. And today not just the people who were in the path of the warrior were here, all the ones who had the potential to be mage or healer were here as well.
Even though, to get the initial success in the path of the mage was way harder compared to a warrior as learning only the first elementary spell could take a month. But gaining experience only by examining others' duels was only limited compared to duel themselves.
Elior was leaning against the wall while the spear is rested on the side. Even though he looked comfortable drowsing off, he was training inside. The customised training suit was hidden under the dress. Within just two weeks, he could train in 20% restriction though his physic was not as good to hold on to about 140 kgs on his body. In the end, most of the time, he trained with 10% restriction—it was safer for his body.
The training had shown effect as his mana application rose further and the physical attribute had grown too. There was still room for improvement. There is always room for improvement through training until your attribute reaches 60 points. After that, most training is a lost cause in growing the physical attribute, though there were other masochistic ways other than using the free attribute points all the time.
Professor William, Sarah and a few other instructors came into the gymnasium, catching all the attention of the students. They came before the students but said nothing. Probably waiting for something.
Only after a little while, the department head of the teaching, Aleister entered with his iconic straight walk. He did not look at any of the students particularly, but his stare made all of them feel he was staring at them.
He came forward to all the other instructors and talked in a low voice for a while, then came before the students again. "You all learned the basics of combats," he said, resting his arm on the chest. "But that was only theory. There is no better teacher than experiencing yourself. Though you all will train in duels, I want you to do your best. On another note, the entire class will be recorded, and the other instructor with me will examine it to find the optimal way of solving all your problems. So do your best."
Elior looked above and found a few floating sausages like things in the air. These were the devices that would record all the combat.
"You can pick an opponent for yourself or choose with a draw. Either way, you have 2 minutes." The teacher then gestured behind them. "Some of you have not learned to coat mana to protect your body. There were the suits for them. It will protect your body throughout the duel."
Elior still stood leaning against the wall. Next to him, Ileana was looking all around to search for an opponent. With her training and study, she did not have time to make friends with others.
"Should I draw the lots?" he pondered out loud.
"Do what you want to do, but do it fast," Elior said, gazing at a boy with a handsome feature coming towards them. "The professor will cut your points if you waste time."
"As if I cared about the points," Shin said and strolled towards the lots to draw.
Ileana was about to go too, but noticing the handsome boy come in towards them, she waited with a little flush face.
"Ileana, are you blushing?" Elior asked with a tease in his voice.
"Shut up." The chestnut-haired girl glared at him. "And don't give me that look."
"What look?"
"The look you have on now." Ileana kept on glaring at him. "The one that implies you know all things."
"But I do know something," Elior said, raising an eyebrow. "It's not all, but more than anyone here."
Ileana grunted, and Leroy appeared in front of the two of them. He was in the unusual school uniform with the leather jacket over it. Other than that, he had a sword on his shoulder, strapped like a real swordsman.
"We are just talking about you," Elior said, even before Leroy could greet them. "Ileana thinks you are the most handsome person here, but I think that pretty face of your was wasted with that deadpan expression."
That joke brought Elior a punch in the shoulder, though the one that was hurt by it was Ileana. While the one the joke was for still had the deadpan expression on.
Leroy was stern and polite most of the time. If not for his young-looking face, nobody could tell he was a teenager.
"I can here to ask a duel with you," Leroy said to him.
"I can see that," Elior said. "But Sorry, I don't duel with blocks of stone."
This time, the handsome boy's lips twitched a little.
"And besides, I already have a partner," Elior said and gestured towards a girl that was still hesitating to approach or not. "There is no time yet. You two should partner up if you do not want to lose points."
Saying those words, Elior moved towards the female classmate who did not have the courage to approach.
Lara flinched a little, noting his approach, and she tried her best to stand still. It has not been the first or second time they were meeting. They had met half a dozen times in the morning jogging, though she never really conversed with him.
Part of the reason, Elior was nonchalant in his behaviour. Most of the time, he was not the first one to start a conversation, and most of the time, his ears were closed with earbuds. That made him hard to approach.
Even though Lara had once asked him to train together and exchange numbers, the teenage girl was shier than she looked. She had not messaged or called him once, and Elior was too busy with his own training.
"Yo," Elior said, raising an arm above his head. "Do you have a partner for the duel?"
"No—"
"Good." Elior removed the wrapping from his spear. "Get in position, we will start now."
"Ah, okay," Lara said and brought out her slick sword. She gripped the hilt with both of her arms, more tight than needed.
"Your shoulder is too tense," Elior said, finishing up wrapping the spear. "You would have problems with the manoeuvre. Try to loosen it a bit."
Lara did as told, like a good student.
Elior considered her for a while. Her posture showed she had trained in sword before and knew at least better than Shin, who only learned from tutorial and games.
"Let's start then," Elior said and showed his spear to her.
Lara knew the basic, very well, and did not assault him running in. Elior took the first attempt, swiped the spear upwards. The speed was not his best, but it was not slow either.
Lara blocked it easily with the sword and she even twisted the blade after blocking and pierced it towards Elior.
Elior saw it coming. He jerked his spear a little to block it easily. Lara tried to withdraw, but he then twisted his spear in an almost arc of full circle. The spear ran against the sword and it fell from her arm.
In just a couple of exchanges of moves, Elior won the duel.
"Pick it up," Elior said, and gave Lara to pick the sword. "Let's go again."
The sword and spear met in the air again, making metallic noises. They had to refrain from infusing mana into it, as it was barely training. Elior did not out matched her in a few moves this time, but checked out what capability she had.
Lara was an elite Guardian in the previous timeline, one that had reached the fifth order in her prime. The reason he wanted to help her was because she has the potential and he saw her strong mindset in the trial as well.
The duel went for a couple of minutes this time. Sweat beads formed in Lara's forehead. She was doing her best, but it appeared her trying was not going anywhere.
Elior defeated her again. "Do you see what's wrong here?" he said.
Lara grasped for a breath. "It's as if you know all my moves," she said.
"That's because you let me know of it before you attack," he said in a stern tone, almost like his teacher. "I just guided you after that and waited for you to get into the trap."
Lara flinched, gripping the sword hard.
"How long have you been training the sword?"
"From childhood," she said, standing up. "My family runs a dojo."
"I see no problem with your techniques, but it needs more refining," Elior said. "And you need more experience. Clearly, you have no idea about the advantage of using a sword and nor you have experience, fighting against other weapons."
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Apologies for the delay.
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