Slowly, Luke regained consciousness. As usual, his grandfather hadn't bothered to take him to the corner, Luke was still lying in the middle of the training room, on the cold floor.
Today's defeat showed that he has a long way to go.
He lacks experience and malice in combat. Luke, at the beginning of the duel, only thought about his grandfather's swordplay, he never considered the idea of magic.
If he was fighting a real battle, he could have died.
Rising from the ground, Luke looked around. He expected to find a big mess in the training room, but to his surprise, everything was clean.
While Luke was unconscious, Josedh cleaned the room.
'How long ago did I lose consciousness?'
Josedh must have taken a long time to clean the entire room. So, Luke was curious to know how long he had passed out.
Suddenly, the training room door opened, catching Luke's attention.
Who entered was Josedh himself.
"You finally woke up."
"You hit hard."
"I ended up getting carried away and for a moment I took the fight seriously. In short, it's your fault."
A chill ran down Luke's back, all this time, his grandfather was just playing with him.
Once again, Luke realized how weak he was.
Josedh fought in earnest for a few seconds, and that was enough to defeat Luke in the blink of an eye. Hearing this, for some reason, Luke felt frustrated and pathetic.
In those two months, Luke did his best, but even then it wasn't enough to scratch his grandfather, who didn't even fight seriously.
He didn't know why, but a desire to get stronger rose in his heart.
Seeing this scene, Josedh inwardly smiled. In his many years of experience, he has seen this situation many times.
Luke, who until recently had never shown an interest in battle, didn't know why he felt this way. But Josedh knew.
Today, for the first time, despite being a training session, Luke gave his all to beat Josedh. He wanted to win, and at one point he believed he could. However, all of this was destroyed in seconds.
Luke had never fought to win until today, when the fight ended, for the first time, he felt the bitter taste of defeat.
'Luke is a human being and, like everyone else, he doesn't like to lose. Now, I wonder if the flame has kindled in your heart.'
The flame, which Josedh referred to, represents a warrior's will.
The will to get stronger, the will not to lose, the will to massacre the opponent, the will to feel the adrenaline of battle, this flame represents all of that.
'If Luke develops this flame, the greatest monster in the history of this empire could arise.'
Luke started training seriously just two and a half months ago, he has no combat experience and low magic power.
Even so, he made Josedh, one of the strongest people in the empire, fight for a few seconds in earnest.
Not even Imperial knights, who undergo the best training, could make Josedh fight seriously.
That's the difference between normal people and geniuses.
"Let's see, what was your mistake today?" Josedh asked, returning his focus to the boy in front of him.
Luke put his frustrations aside. Now, he had to focus on getting his grandfather's guidance.
"Did I forget you could use magic?"
"Yes, you forgot my magic and let your guard down. But it wasn't the main mistake."
"No?"
When Luke landed, he focused entirely on the attack and forgot to analyze all other possibilities.
"Attacking is important, but it can't be careless. You'll never know what an unknown opponent is hiding."
What Josedh meant is that Luke should consider all options. He will never know if his opponent has a hidden card, and if he doesn't take this into account, it could cost him his life.
"This new generation is really crazy, they like to show that they are strong and end up revealing everything they have at the beginning of the fight. When things get tough, they have nothing to surprise their opponents with."
The man who spoke is a person who has lived for several years and witnessed many things. Knowing this, Luke listened carefully to his grandfather's words.
"It's important to be strong in this world. But in addition to being strong, be cunning. If you're not, other people will and will harm you."
Luke has never left the imperial city walls, he doesn't know the evils of this world. Josedh's speech was precisely to warn Luke about this.
"I understood."
"That was the lesson for today. Now, let's go before anyone else arrives."
"OK."
Luke and Josedh left the training room. As they walked, Josedh noticed that his grandson was quieter than usual.
When they reached the place where they were going to part, Luke looked into his grandfather's eyes and said.
"There are endless possibilities for the future. Recently, the thought of losing my family has crossed my mind." Luke began to convey his true feelings.
"I never cared about anything, I just wanted to live in peace. But, I can't rule out the possibility of a disaster happening, even though I have a 1% chance."
Josedh was listening intently to Luke's words.
"Today's defeat made me feel pathetic and incapable."
"Look, Luke..."
"If you want to comfort me, I don't need it."
Luke interrupted Josedh's words.
"I was born into the Harvestz family and I have Imperial blood. You, my mother, my father, my aunt, and even other nobles. There are only monsters around me. Knowing this, I cannot be shaken by a simple defeat. So..."
"So?"
"So if I want to protect these monsters, I must become the greatest monster this world has ever seen. And no matter what needs to be done, I will."
It was a speech full of confidence.
Looking at his grandson, Josedh saw incredible determination in the young man's eyes.
'Today's defeat changed him.'
With a defiant smile on his face, Josedh said.
"I'll be looking forward to it.... now, you must go back."
"Right."
After that, Luke returned to the dorms.
After mandatory classes, Luke was heading to optional classes.
As he walked, Luke thought about his grandfather's words.
"Be cunning."
Luke sighed, he somehow wanted to get stronger faster.
Suddenly, he remembered the dungeon his ancestor had spoken of. According to Argonos, at the end of the dungeon there are various spells and swordplay created by him.
Luke has never heard the name Argonos in history, but his ancestor claims he was an extremely powerful person. If this is true, there must be strong unknown spells in the dungeon.
Luke plans to go to this dungeon, but the problem is its location. This dungeon is in the forest of doom.
Near the academy, there is a forest that serves for the application of practical tests for the students. In the middle of this forest is the forest of doom.
It's a forest within a forest.
It is possible to differentiate the two areas by looking.
The forest of perdition has different vegetation. The trees are bigger and the forest is denser, preventing light from entering.
If Luke wants to get to the dungeon, he will have to enter this forest. But before that, he plans to gain experience with beasts/monsters in the academy's light forest region.
During his walk, Luke suddenly saw a girl with shoulder-length brown hair.
When the girl saw him, she cracked a smile and started walking towards Luke.
"Luke, it's been a long time."
"It's been a while, Cecilia."
The girl is Cecilia Arnstein, council president and the empress's first daughter.
Cecilia's two brothers are sixteen, Cecilia herself is seventeen and Luke is fifteen.
In addition to her brown hair, Cecilia has huge, bright eyes, is one hundred and sixty centimeters tall and conveys an elegant aura.
"At the last meeting, Charles said he called you. Why didn't you go?"
Luke remembered his cousin's invitation two months ago. He said it was an S-class reunion, Luke thought it was a sophomore reunion, but other years also attended.
He had thought Rebecca had been invited because of the hero title, but that wasn't the case.
"I was busy. Besides, I wouldn't feel comfortable in a group I don't belong to."
"I understand. Are you going to do something now?"
"I planned to go to afternoon classes. Why?"
Cecilia smiled charmingly. Luke has known her since childhood, he knew she would ask him for something.
"I don't have a sparring partner, can you lend me a hand today?"
"What happened to your friend?"
Usually, Cecilia goes out with a friend. Cecilia's partner is the student council vice president, whose name Luke can't remember.
"She's busy recovering from our last battle. I overreacted yesterday."
After a few seconds of thinking, Luke decided to accept Cecilia's invitation.
'It will be a good experience to fight someone who is not Josedh.'
"Fine, I can replace her."
"So, let's go." She said with a smile.
Cecilia took Luke to an arena.
"I've never seen this place before."
It was totally different from the common areas for the students.
"That's one of the perks of being student council president."
Cecilia said as she positioned herself on the other side of the arena.
"Enough wasting time. Let's get started."