'Ugh. Why do I always seem in pain?'
Nico groggily opened his eyes as he took in his surroundings. He had inadvertently passed out. It seemed the three duels had strained his body past its limit.
Which was not surprising, given the fact that he was still scrawny, albeit making good progress in bulking up.
As his eyes darted across the place and he noticed the many beds that lined the walls and the soft verdant glow that enshrouded the place, Nico frowned. This wasn't the Exercise square.
Rather it was…
"Oh, good. You've woken up." A stern voice that contained hints of motherly tendencies streamed into his ears. Nico shifted his gaze and locked eyes with Kendra, who was standing to the side inspecting the readings of the machine.
Nico couldn't help but let out a mirthful chuckle. "Why do I always seem to make it back here? This should just become my second home."
The middle-aged healer's brows twitched, and her lips curved upward subtly at the joke. A moment later, she spoke in a strict tone; her smile gone. "You probably should, young man. That way I can keep a better eye on you. Honestly, I don't think I've ever seen a more reckless trainee - apart from the fool who snuck out and drunk a mana potion to heal his 'unbearable' wounds."
Kendra rolled her eyes as she sighed in exasperation.
What was with her luck and careless students?
Nico laughed nervously in response. A sheen of sweat formed on his forehead.
'Man, can she be scary.'
He inwardly gulped and reaffirmed his decision never to mess with her, the cook or any other stubborn woman out there. Nico shook his head, banishing any of those thoughts lest the healer catch on.
He turned his attention toward his own body.
A cursory examination revealed that there were no major injuries of note, apart from the large welt on his clavicle and a few aches here and there.
Which was a good sign, all in all.
It meant that with some meditation and healing salve, Nico didn't have to worry about missing training and falling behind his peers.
With his mood turning cheerful, he chatted a bit more with Kendra and ate some food to provide sustenance and energy for his body, for what should be a simple case of rest and recovery.
Once he satisfied his stomach, the brown-haired boy began meditating. He focused on increasing his recovery speed and awareness of his own body.
What felt like seconds later, which was more likely to be several hours, the sound of footsteps in the usually silent infirmary broke Nico out of his meditative state.
The boy turned his head and found Henry and Leon entering the room. Behind them, the middle-aged healer walked with an impassive frown on her face.
Nico smirked watching the young farmer rub his temple in frustration.
"How are you feeling, Nico?" the half-blood rushed up to the bed eagerly. He was just like an over-excited puppy, Nico thought with a smile.
"I'm fine, really." he answered, placating his burly friend.
"That's good. How does it feel to have passed?" Henry asked with a smug tone. It elated him that all three of them had passed the assessment.
"Hmm… it feels… satisfying!" Nico smiled brightly. His eyes lit up like two luminous moons.
The raven-haired boy entered a daze as he searched his companion's eyes. This was the first time Henry had seen the hollowness in Nico's eyes retreat, replaced fully by a positive emotion.
He inwardly resolved himself to make sure the brown-haired boy had many more moments such as these, where his joy could overpower whatever bad he had experienced in life.
The trio continued to chat some more, laugh and joke around. Kendra retreated to her office and left the boys be, not before applying another round of salve on her patient's injuries.
A while later, just as Leon's laughter died down, Nico heard a knock on the main door.
Kendra quickly came out her office and opened the door. Instructor William, who seemed to have a permanent scowl on his face greeted her.
His scowl resulted from having to deal with those stuck-up nobles, Nico drily thought.
"Oh, good. You're all here. Saves me the trouble of having to hunt you down." the white-haired man quickly strode in the room and took a seat on the edge of a nearby bed.
Henry and Leon's posture went rigid, before they forced themselves to relax. They should have gotten used to their instructor's presence. Sadly, that didn't seem to be the case.
William leisurely crossed one leg over the other before speaking, "I've come here to give you my evaluation of your performance within the duels. I assume none of you care about me disclosing how I thought you fared it in front of each other?"
The trainees from hut three glanced at each other before shaking their heads.
"Excellent." A small breeze flew in from an open window and ruffled the instructor's pale hair.
"First off, I'm going to start with Leon. From your performance and combined assessment by Phantom, Nix and me, I can confidently say that you can hold your own well in a mundane fight. Your use of heavy strikes in conjunction with that sledgehammer allowed you to make good use of your natural constitution."
"The only problem with this, however, is when you encounter what I like to call speedsters. Those who focus on becoming more agile at the expense of raw power. These extremely agile people can land multiple hits on your body, in the time it may take you to launch a strike of your own. To combat this, work on making sure your agility doesn't fall too far behind your strength and increase your stamina as well."
The half-blood nodded seriously, promising himself to work on that right away.
"Next is Henry…" William shifted his gaze as he examined the young farmer. He did not care an ounce about the boy's status and focused on giving the raven-haired trainee high quality feedback for him to improve.
The white-haired instructor wouldn't mind if there were more 'commoners' that possessed strength like the nobles. In fact, he encouraged it.
In his opinion, the upper echelons of society really needed a lesson in humility.
"Overall your performances were somewhat satisfactory bar your first duel, where you made the most mistakes, but that's okay. Your opponent then was vastly more skilled than you, such that it was impossible to close the gap through effort and will alone."
"Your choice of agility over brawn was a wise choice, which is also reflected through the longsword you had picked to train with. Currently, your main weaknesses are your lack of skill and stamina. The former has a direct impact on the latter as there will be a plethora of wasted movements if one is unskilled. This leads to a quicker depletion of stamina."
"I recommend you focus on increasing your skill and endurance to expand your proficiency in combat."
Henry nodded, "Understood, Sir."
"Last is Nico…" the instructor stared at the brown-haired trainee, "Your performance in the duels was second best behind Leon. It was certainly eye-catching, though. You seem to have a penchant for injury."
William shared a glance with Kendra and smirked, before continuing, "Your ability to fight through any pain is admirable. I know for a fact that most trainees if placed in your position, would crumble and cannot fight. Well done. I can see you take inspiration from the great warriors of our past."
Unwittingly, Nico puffed out his chest at the praise. However, a moment later his shoulders hunched as he heard the next part of his instructor's words.
"However, in most situations, intentionally injuring yourself to achieve victory is tantamount to suicide, as you may never know when you'd be forced to fight again. It is much better to increase your skill and accomplish a "clean" victory, so that your combat power does not drop and you're left in a helpless position where you have to rely on others. Remember, the only person you can depend on fully is yourself."
"Don't expect too much of others." The white-haired man's eyes darkened briefly, as if recalling an unpleasant memory. A second later though, he shook his head and inspected Nico's progress in tempering his body.
William hummed to himself in satisfaction. The brown-haired trainee was on track to have an adequate body fit for the Awakening Ceremony by the end of their time in the Camp.
"One last thing, I recommend you increase your stamina. Especially since you're learning Phantom's Spear Art, which I've heard is very taxing on the body. I also saw you tire out relatively quickly in one or two of the duels. I see it fit to improve your endurance."
Nico nodded solemnly, "Yes, Sir."
The Head instructor then glanced at each of the three trainees, hesitated, and then spoke in an indifferent tone, "Good job."