The class didn't take long before it ended and Seth decided to spend his entire free time in the library until it was time to head for training.
After reading another three books in less than two hours, it was finally time for Seth's private lesson. This time, he dared not delay for a second as he bolted toward the training area.
A dome-shaped building two kilometers from the library was his destination.
This building was the sparring center for the students and below it was several large rooms, each about fifty meters long and forty meters wide. They were rooms assigned to special individuals for training, Seth being one of such.
Inside the particular room assigned to him, Seth was bent forward, his hand resting on his knee and his chest heaving with ragged breaths but his eyes slightly angry.
He managed to get here two minutes before the fixed hour of his training by running all the way here without stopping. After arriving, his teacher who was hell-bent on Seth arriving early was nowhere to be found at the moment and they had less than one minute left for the training hour to begin. So yes, Seth was angry.
One minute passed.
Five minutes passed.
Ten minutes passed.
This same man had beaten Seth to his satisfaction yesterday because Seth arrived late and now, this man was choosing to be late.
What made Seth angrier was the fact that even if he wanted to beat this man so he could teach him how to be punctual, he couldn't. Raiden would beat him unconscious if he tried such.
Well, if he wanted to truly beat Raiden, he could beat him to a pulp but he wanted to remain low-key for a while. Fighting and beating his teacher to a stupor wasn't a path that achieved what he wanted.
After an hour, Seth couldn't wait anymore or he would explode in frustration but he tried to calm himself by meditating which didn't do shit to his current rage.
With anger in his mind, he started fantasizing about how he would beat the crap out of Raiden when he grew to that level.
Different thoughts coursed through his mind as he sat down in a lotus style.
'Should I just beat him up, revealing my level of awesomeness? I can as well still cover it up and say it was a momentary burst of power like never before. Beating him wouldn't take more than half my current power so it should be effective to lie later on.'
'Or should I just show him that I'm a genius when it comes to combat training and ask for a fight purely on combat? Beating him that way should be easier though.'
'No, this body isn't fully developed yet and I still plan to raise my class soon. I'd have to leave the institute to do that.'
He returned to his fantasy of thrashing Raiden and before he knew it, someone had appeared in front of him.
Raiden was standing in the room along with Seth.
"You've been here?" Raiden asked with squinted eyes. He was a bit surprised to see Seth in good shape. He wasn't just in good shape, he was as good as new.
"I should be asking you that. All the while I ran to the training area and waited for an hour and then waited some more, where were you?" Seth was already fuming.
Although his rationality was screaming for him to calmly speak, his mind was set ablaze.
With slight anger in his words, Raiden asked. "Is that how you speak to your teacher?"
"My teacher beat me for arriving late yesterday and now, he arrived later than I did. Is that how a teacher should behave?" Seth asked.
"I was searching all around for you but it seems that wasn't necessary. Now I'll have to teach you manners."
"I'd like to teach you punctuality." Seth replied, rolling up his shirt and showing his fists to Raiden
"Let's see about that."
Seth opened his mouth to speak, not aware that the next hour would be horrible. "Yes, we'll see about that a lo…"
Bang.
A knee connected to his solar plexus and spit flew out of Seth's mouth instead of words.
"Gah!"
Bang!
Another kick to his chest and he was sent flying.
'Ah… the feeling of getting beaten. It's a nice feeling. I better enjoy it more since it'll come to an end soon.' Seth thought as he was punched and flung all around this enormous space of the room.
After an hour of serious thrashing by Raiden, Seth fell to the floor barely moving.
"Have you learned manners now?" Raiden asked.
"Pfft. That's not enough to teach me anything. Besides, you didn't beat me that much just to teach me manners. You seemed pissed and I'm certain I'm not the cause." Seth replied.
"Before Raiden could speak, Seth asked. "Did someone steal your wife?"
Raiden looked at his new student with a dumbfounded expression. "Pfft…puhahaha."
"What brought that assumption?" Raiden asked.
"Hehe… I have a knack for nonsense. I spout nonsense at serious moments and look serious when saying it." Seth answered with a smile, still lying on the floor.
"Pfft… puhahaha."
"Hahaha…"
Seth had spent over two weeks with Raiden and had never seen him laugh but he had done so in a matter of seconds. Twice at that.
"I see. Well, it's true that I was angry when I arrived and got further angry after hearing you speak and then I took out my anger on you. Sorry about that." Raiden confessed and apologized.
"As compensation, why not tell me about the source of your anger?" Seth said, forcing himself into a sitting position.
Raiden's face was complicated as he thought of where to start.
"It can't be that your wife was taken away right?" Seth asked again, looking shocked at Raiden's face.
"No, it's not that. It's about my mother. She's severely sick and although my salary helps to keep her in a relatively good condition, her health took a nosedive recently and the doctors announced that it'll only get worse with the amount I usually pay which is almost eighty percent of my salary. Since I'm not a magic swordsman for hire who could hunt in dungeons or fulfill requests, I have a fixed payment."
Raiden began answering Seth's question as best as he could.
"So, why not become one?" Seth asked.
"It's not that easy. The principal himself saved me years ago and I promised to repay him by working for him until he deems my service worth it and retires me."
"Ahh… I see. That reminds me, I should never make such promises in the future." Seth was going to make a mental note but he spoke out loud, looking at Raiden as he made the statement.
Raiden didn't take it to heart.
"So, how much is the complete treatment going to cost?" Seth asked all of a sudden, making Raiden jump in surprise.
"I haven't asked because I didn't think I had the money for such treatment." Raiden answered.
"Then you should head out to ask. Let's end today's training here while you go to the doctor." Seth finally stood up after slowly healing himself.
"Even if I knew the amount, what would that change?" Raiden asked.
"Just ignore who's paying for now. Head there first and make inquiries about it." Seth waved his hand.
"I guess we'll see tomorrow then." Seth walked away, leaving a perplexed Raiden.