Alex stood before the large shelf, which was filled to the brim with various weapon skills waiting to be discovered. Standing beside him was Zephyr, with hands folded across his chest.
"Before choosing a technique, you need to decide on the type of weapon you qill make use of," Zephyr said to him with a slight smile. "I will leave you to choose the weapon of your choice."
Alex didn't reply quickly, and was currently thinking over what he had just heard. "A weapon of my choice," he muttered his thoughts wandering over to younger times. A scene played before him, in the midst of the forest, Dalux holding a twig, swinging it with a delighted expression.
'That's true. He was a fan of the sword. I guess I would go with the sword.' He finally decided with a long sigh.
"Now, what type of sword should I go for?" He thought heading to the sword section, glancing through the description of the different types of swords displayed there.
'I think the longsword will suit my style of fighting.' Deciding on the weapon of his choice, he began browsing through the numerous sword skills.
After a few minutes, he screened out the few ones he had selected and was left with one.
Alfred had been looking over at Alex since they had been in the library and was quite curious to see the skills that he had picked. Observing the rest, he soon noticed they had finally finished choosing with everyone heading back with an excited expression, all eager to delve into their respective chosen skills.
Alex, along with Zephyr, were the last to come out. "Alright, with everyone done, it's time to leave." Opening the door, they all moved out of the room with Alfred taking the lead. It wasn't long before they arrived at the hall and were once again seated.
"You guys are to train your body continuously, performing exercises in other to strengthen the process of forming your core. For now, I will help you guys in activating your inner energy and with that, you guys can slowly cultivate the energy. "
"I believe some of you have already activated yours, but for the rest. That's what we're going to begin with today."
"So come out to the front ... I want you guys to take a lotus position on the floor with your eyes shut. What I'm about to do is quite delicate, so I need you to concentrate fully on your breathing."
Everyone headed outside, and Alex had gone to the extreme edge with fewer students. 'This is easy, right?' Taking a lotus position, he closed his eyes and then awaited whatever was next.
Slowly, Alfred, the combat class Instructor, walked round, passing his inner energy into them and then further controlling it, enabling them to know the feeling and be able to continue onwards.
"Where's that boy?" he thought as he moved across the students, repeating the same process. The students were over 300, and only a quarter had been able to awaken their inner energy, all from the middle zone.
He soon reached his position and did the same thing. Resting his hand on his head, he directed it, moving it to all parts of the body. "Remember the feeling, slowly, you would be able to do the same thing."
Finally he had gone round everyone and now they continued with the process, getting familiar with the strange energy. Over an hour had passed and Alfred had decided to call it a day.
"You guys are to learn the techniques within a month. We'll meet up here in a week time to display what you've learned. The training facility is opened to y'all," he said, and with that left the hall.
Taking that as a cue, everyone headed out, walking to their respective destination. Will saw the scrawny guy, his hand fully healed along with his gang walking towards the training facility with excited expressions.
He was quite surprised but he didn't bother to think much about it. He followed the path back to the hut with quick strides eager to delve into the skills.
"Huh? It seems he has already left," Zephyr stood looking round, searching for Alex. With a sigh, he walked towards the training facility.
Alex was back at the hut standing within the large hut with the scrolls neatly placed on the ground.
"So which one should I begin with. I think the footwork technique will be the best to start with." Keeping the rest, he began going through the explanation and descriptions in it.
After a few minutes, he stood up, slowly he began following the instructions in the book.
"This would take a while," he thought after two unsuccessful trials.
~~~~
Standing in an area filled with countless beasts, Fen raised his hands with a large magic circle forming amidst the air. The circle seemed to suck in the energy within the atmosphere.
"Crystal ice shard!" He exclaimed. A chilly aura was released as various ice shards burst through striking down the beast within the area. "These beasts are increasing by the day. The higher-ups need to do something about this before it gets out of hand."
Walking round the field filled with various beast part, he raised his hands, and slowly, wind energy began to gather, forming various hands, which began harvesting the beast stone in them. These beasts stone could be used in creating various weapons and elixirs.
"Now, where can that flower be?" He thought, walking about the field. "Each day, the request keeps getting dangerous, sending me to the centre of the beast nest just for the petal of a flower. What's the name again?" he said, scratching his head. "Lotus bloom flower, I think. I wonder what's needed for? Anyways, I might as well get one or two for myself."
"This pesky creature he waved his hands towards the incoming beasts, sending a large cyclone wind towards them with an irritated expression."
~~~~
It's been four days now since the combat class. Alex stood amidst the empty field, his steps moving in a fluid manner as he moved around the field. "This is cool," he thought with an exciting smile. After countless failures, he had successfully learnt the Crane's Grace footwork, though, just the beginning part.
"Now, I'm going to learn the hand to hand skill to go with it. How I wish someone was here to train with me, hold on, that guy from the other day. I guess it is time to explore a little."
Walking into the room, he changed into a long sleeved shirt with brown pants. Coming out, he began the long walk to the academy.
"Darn! Senior Fen needs to find a solution to this." He thought after a long walk in getting to the academy. He walked through the gates and took some time brooding over his destination. 'Instructor Alfred talked about the training facility. Maybe he would be there.'
It didn't take long to get to the training facility, passing through the glass doors he entered an open field filled with students who were practising their techniques. Looking at the students he finally found the guy amidst a group of people.
Watching as he walked forward, he saw Zephyr standing boldly, deflecting the strikes of those attacking him.
"Amazing!" He thought as he quickened his step. Standing at the side, he waited for some minutes before the sparring finally ended.
"Hey!" Zephyr had caught sight of him, calling after him.
"This guy," he couldn't help but mutter with a wry smile.
"How was my performance?" he asked with shining eyes.
"You did great! It seems you've mastered your footwork perfectly."
"Yeah... I'm currently in my hand to hand technique," he said. "Let me introduce you to the others." Walking forward the group soon noticed them standing at the center. "This is Alex, from the outer zone just like us," he said.