Lunch had ended and sparing class had begun.
But the students knew that today wouldn't be the same as others. The classmate who hadn't come in 2 weeks had returned and immediately challenged Benson for his 5th place spot in their rankings.
With keen excitement to see the match, the class gathered around Loren and Benson. A ranking match was similar to a normal spar but would be viewed by the teachers, who would judge the fight and determine if the victory was won by his own might or a simple fluke.
'I'm not used to using dynamic movement like Rito taught me or 'Mana Vision', but I should be able to win either way.'
Loren held his wooden sabre trying to familiarize himself with the weapon again, he had rarely touched it for the last 2 weeks, only having time to practice the night before.
"You really gotta do this Loren? C'mon, I just lost rank 4, It's kinda cruel to try and kick me out of rank 5 so soon."
Benson carried a claymore by his side, a large wooden shield latched onto his left arm. He towered over Loren at a tall 165cm tall, his natural advantage gained from his height furthered by the age gap between the two.
Loren smirked as he faced Benson.
"Come one Benson have some confidence, you sound like you already lost."
"I am confident, rather not take the chance though."
"Well... I'm sorry but I'm on strict orders from my master over there to enter the top 5 today, blame yourself for losing to Trina."
Benson's smile turned into a scowl, and the two trainee knights went silent, staring at their opponent's eyes and channelling their mana.
As he enhanced his body, seeing that the familiar blue wisps no longer spread out, Loren looked up with confidence.
*BOOM*
Slamming the ground with his foot, Loren created a cloud of dust, covering Benson's vision. Benson stayed calm, facing the direction Loren had been, his shield ready to receive any blow.
Suddenly from the cloud of dust, a figure left, shooting into the sky.
"What?!"
Now 3 meters into the air, Loren plunged towards Benson, focusing all his weight and mana into his arms as he slashed down at him. The sound of 2 weapons clashing reverberated through the class as Loren's sabre smashed into Benson's shield.
'H-heavy!'
Benson stumbled back, not expecting Loren's strike to have such power.
Upon landing and seeing that his opponent was off-centre, Loren quickly continued to attack, each blow pushing Benson backwards, not giving the teen a chance to use his claymore.
Gritting his teeth, Benson dug his sword into the ground and began to hold his shield with both hands.
[Mana Art: Stalwart!]
Mana surged into Benson's joints and limbs, his entire body locking into place. As the sabre and shield met again, Loren felt as though he had hit a steel pillar.
[Mana Art: Expulsion!]
As mana pulsed from Benson, Loren felt himself be pushed back, forcing his relentless assault to halt. Before he could regain his footing he already saw Benson lift his shield into the sky over him, preparing to slam the shield down.
Benson expected Loren to jump backward and avoid his attack, resetting the tempo of the battle and allowing him to pick up his claymore, but...
"What?!"
Loren held his ground, receiving the blow with Benson's full weight behind it. Feeling his knees buckle, mana surged from Loren's body, the shield slowly rising as Benson left Loren's strength increased.
[Mana Surge!]
With one final push, Loren sent the shield into the air, completely disarming Benson.
"I... forfeit."
The tip of a sabre being placed at his neck, Benson could only surrender in utter shock.
The battle took 17 seconds from start to finish. The entire class had wide eyes, not understanding how Loren was so domineering in the battle. Just 2 weeks ago he barely won against Trina through a trick, yet now he could utterly decimate Benson in a straightforward duel.
They felt the scene was familiar, the relentless flurry of strikes, the speed of his attacks and the merciless way he defeated Benson reminded the class of a moment from just a month ago when Rito had given Loren his first lesson.
"I knew he was talented, but what the hell?!"
Loot had a crooked smile, worried he might one day lose his 2nd place spot to a 9-year-old child, yet his nervous smile had a tint of excitement.
Unaware of the class's uproar, Loren stood still, as though in his own world. He stared at his palms before clutching his hands with passion.
'Awesome.'
The increase of his battle power that came from 'Compression' had even surprised Loren himself, he felt that not only did none of his mana go to waste, but it even increased in usage.
It was not just a quantity, but the quality of his mana had improved.
The mana art itself already made Loren excited, but what made him silent in amazement was the progression through the 1st stage he achieved through the art. He could now concentrate half of his mana anywhere he wished.
Loren walked away from the stunned Benson towards his teacher, he scratched the back of his neck while looking off to the side.
"Thanks..."
Rito's eyes slightly widened.
"You're my student, It's expected that I teach you properly."
Loren nodded his head, nothing was left to be said between the two.
The entire class surrounded Loren, now curious as to what his special training was.
"Loren buddy! When, how, what did you do for the last 2 weeks?!"
Loren scratched his nose, his ego rising.
"That's a secret you'll have to ask Sir Rito Rito for, I'll just let you all know it was pretty amazing."
"Really? My Father told me you were just helping your father at his work."
Trina shut down his frivolous story-telling, curious how carpentry helped increase his strength so much.
"Haha... He told you huh?"
"What?! You just spent your time working? Now I have to know what Rito taught you!"
***
Loren was bombarded with questions for the rest of the day, he also got a fair amount of requests from people wanting to spar with him.
He hadn't practised his swordsmanship so Loren still couldn't defeat the top 5 without any use of mana, much to Benson's joy.
Loren got the most requests to spar from Benson.
With his new quantitative increase in mana control, while he wasn't a match for Revold, Loot or Carol, Loren could now face Trina on even footing, winning half of his spars with her.
The person who asked to spar the most after Benson was Bort, still jealous of Loren stealing his thunder as the class genius. But even though he had entered the 1st stage, he was simply no match for Loren with or without mana.
Loren even felt bad for Bort. While he was an ass to him, he was only 10, Loren even saw the boy tear up slightly after his consecutive losses.
After the school day had ended, Loren gathered the study group to confirm their plans, making sure that Carol was still willing to host.
"Aside from our written test Loren, do you have any plans for the excursion we have right after?"
Loren tilted his head at Loot's question, unsure of what he was talking about.
"Excursion, what excursion?"
"Ah! Forgot you've missed a few weeks of classes. We're heading south to a village called Galan to hunt mana beasts, the class is going to be divided into 5 teams with the top students as leaders."
"So does that mean I'm going to lead a group?"
"Yup! It's pretty competitive, the group with the most kills will all get a stage 1 elixir to share. The leader even gets a stage 1 built artifact."
Loren felt his eyes widen. "An artifact?! Really?"
Artifacts were divided into two categories, built artifacts and inherited artifacts. Built artifacts were made with rare ingredients dense with mana, most knights had built artifacts as their chosen weapon. Inherited artifacts were rarer, they were the inheritance of dead people of the 3rd stage and above and contained within the deceased master's path. While Inherited artifacts were more valuable than built ones, that didn't change how valuable getting a stage 1 build artifact would be for Loren.
Loren's thoughts froze as he realised something and turned his head towards Benson.
"S-sorry about taking your spot."
Benson waved his hand. "It's fine, it's not like I had a chance at winning anyway. I'll probably be in your group when the hunt starts, make sure not to let me down."
Smiling, Loren nodded with confidence. "Of course, I won't."
As the group dispersed, Loren continued to think about the hunt, his expression turning solemn.
'Hunting huh?'
"Loren? What's the issue?" Salrie noticed Loren's worried expression.
"No, it's just that I've never killed anything before."
"Oh... Well, living in Altera, it's something all people have to experience, but I understand if you're scared."
Loren shook his head, attempting to throw away any negative thoughts.
"You're right, it's something I had to do eventually anyway, it's better that I can do it with the supervision of our teachers."
Loren left the spot he had been standing at, making his way home.