The two people in front of Julius swiftly got their weapon paths. One had the way of the longbow whilst the other had the way of the sword.
Julius expected an even fight since neither of them seemed experienced with their new weapons but the fight ended in seconds.
The sword student rushed in whilst the bow student struggled to pull his string back in time.
Shing.
Just like that, it was over.
Julius found himself standing dully before Gronos. He felt shadowed by the broad shoulders in front of him.
Gronos squinted his eyes as he placed a firm hand on Julius' right shoulder area.
"Your potential is like a wall. However, you have chipped a hole in the wall through some unknown luck. You have a chance with the spear."
Julius nodded carefully.
"Thanks."
He strode over to the lazily dropped pile of weapons and scavenged for the most all-rounded spear he could find.
It was light but its tip was heavy, it was long but not long enough to be pulled away as the other boy's had.
Julius wielded it by his right.
He looked at his opponent who was in the midst of finding his own path.
Gronos chuckled heartily.
"You... you need no weapon. A weapon would hold your potential back. Drive your path through thorns through fists. That is your way."
The boy behind Gronos smirked.
Julius' hands twitched as he saw his opponent.
It was one of the boys who had been around the swordsman with swampy green hair and spiky teeth, Vibra. He was most likely from the Dragon house and therefore a threat.
Julius had grasped that his opponent would wield some kind of great-axe but gulped as his opponent strode into the stage with mere fists.
And muscle.
A lot of goddamn muscle.
His opponent was a head if not two taller than him. His body had been pumped full of muscle and his eyes had an explosive power lurking within them.
He had a bush of orange hair stapled onto his head.
His body was moments away from exploding his jacket from the sheer size he possessed.
Gronos lazily called out the start of the fight, but even his lazy shout made ears ring.
"Fight."
Julius didn't make the same mistake as the ginger boy.
He kept his spear in front of him but not so far forward that he lost control. His feet were always moving and felt stuck in place whenever he moved across the concrete floor.
His opponent had already begun blindly charging toward him, at the current rate Julius had 7 more seconds until he would be forced to fight.
He muttered under his breath.
"Mana."
The system's chromatic voice sounded in his mind.
{500/500}
He knew he wouldn't win this fight with his poor spear skills. He had to use mana.
His opponent had pulled back his right arm heavily for a right swing.
His muscles seemed to flex wildly as he did so.
Julius' mind blanked out. He was no fighter.
His body froze up.
Bang.
A right hook smashed into his chest. He didn't know where exactly. In that moment he only knew...
Pain.
A tidal wave of pain crashed down into his system. He had been knocked onto his butt.
"Shit. It hurts."
He panted rabidly.
Julius groaned in agony, the sight of a rampaging demon charging to finish him off came into his view.
His spear was just barely hanging in his right hand, he tightened his grip.
He lifted himself back up and went for a spear thrust that struck straight for the heart.
His brain had calculated that his opponent was too madly drunk with power that he would forget about his spear but his brain was a fool.
His opponent didn't need to punch Julius and Julius found a left leg blasting him backward powerfully.
He was sent crashing down the concrete ground before rolling uncontrollably for far longer than he should've. It seemed that this world had unnaturally strong people. Although the boy before him had no real technique, his raw strength was probably above even some of the strongest from Earth in the fighting industry.
His ribs felt broken and his lungs burnt. The air vanished from his system and he was suffocating.
He had been winded.
His opponent was unrelentless, following up on his attack.
In that moment time slowed, the silent watchers from the line ceased to be present.
Julius realized he was at the very edge of the arena. His opponent would most likely boot him off the stage. Julius blinked twice.
To his surprise, Julius found himself making eye contact with the stunning tanned beauty from earlier. She was by the side of the stage.
Her magic blue eyes looked at him with a bizarre expression. They were fixated between pity and patheticness.
Julius stuck a wry smile.
He muttered so only she could hear.
"I don't need your-."
A giant shadow marauded his sight.
In that instance, his mind felt clearer than river water.
Hundreds of thoughts crossed his mind until only a few remained.
His opponent readied a fist to slam straight down his back. He saw two open legs before him.
His animalistic instincts kicked in.
He crawled and stumbled through his opponent's legs at top speed.
His opponent turned around, realizing Julius was acting like a monkey. He readied a right hook before his entire figure crumpled.
Julius muttered words with emotions driving his entire force.
"Shockwave."
The {D} Rank Skill he had acquired not long ago.
Julius pushed his right-hand forwards as an open palm.
Before his opponent's huge gorilla-like fist could make contact with Julius' pale skin his entire figure was blasted back, straight off the stage and straight into the ground behind it by an invisible throttling force.
His figure rolled through dirt before he looked up enraged.
There stood Julius, still in his last stance with a right palm drawn out.
After a few moments of null feelings, he heard his pants and his figure broke down partially. He pulled himself back together and walked off the stage in shambles.
Julius looked at the tanned girl with raised eyebrows.
"Guess I didn't need your attention either."
He spoke amusedly.
The girl merely turned her head and walked off.
Julius' ears perked a small audible mutter trailed through the wind.
"Lucky bastard-."
Julius groaned. Pain was coming in from all angles.
It took Gronos a few seconds to commend the results of the fight. He himself hadn't understood what had just happened.
Gronos cursed under his breath.
"An ancient martial art? One that I don't know?"
He cleared his throat, vanishing from his distressed trance instantly.
"Winner... Lighthause."
The surroundings had never felt so silent.
Julius walked over to the back of the line before lying down in peace.
He felt awful despite the glowing hue of victory that surrounded him.
Students glanced back at him in confusion occasionally.
Most likely wondering how on god's good Earth had he come out on top in the fight.
Julius enjoyed the rest of the session since he was early in line meaning there wasn't much else to do but rest his sore bones.
Gradually the Dragon house group formed once again, muttering from a corner. Julius noticed them pointing at him every once in a while but shook it off.
Julius blatantly checked his mana.
"Mana."
{329/500}
Julius gulped.
Although he had a lot left the fact that his relatively mediocre shockwave that had taken his opponent off guard had required around 200 mana points was disturbing.
It truly was a horrific mana-to-power transfer.
A bell rang faintly in the distance.
Gronos looked to the left in acceptance.
"End of lesson, good work."
Every student had managed to find their weapon path.
Julius sprinted off, in pain.
He wandered across the school until he found the hospital accommodation.
It was grim and blocky. The doctor was a perfect male-female mix with no hair.
"The name's Windy."
Julius stood silently and awkwardly as Windy inspected him from head to toe.
"Hmm... One damaged rib and two bruises. A quick fix."
Julius waited patiently as Windy pulled a wand from his back pocket.
"Healing Remedy."
A holy light blinded Julius, his eyes were seared in pain. When they could finally open he felt no more pain. He had been healed.
He thanked the doctor modestly before heading down to lunch.
He grunted and groaned due to how tired he was. He was never one for stamina and yet now he had been moving around the huge academy of Ruloy with all of its strange stairs and forbidden exits.
The only good merit of the Combat Training was him winning his fight but even that had been close and painful.
As he crossed into the Grand Hall, he found the Grand doors already wide apart. He walked in without a huge fuss for the first time and found his saving grace.
Steaming buns full of busty juicy meat had been laid out along the tables as starters. Steam rose and formed flavored scents that wandered around the hall.
Yevian was waiting for him, but his mouth was stuffed with the buns so he was incapable of talking. He looked immeasurably silly.
"Mmh. MM. MM."
Julius felt like fainting. He completely ignored the brainless Yevian who was stubbornly trying to talk with a mouth crammed with food.
He grasped a bun brainlessly.
His jaw snapped down.
And he let a world of ingredients melt in his mouth.