"That was brilliant, you two. You all should try to model your fighting style off at least one of them in some way. There's a reason that these two are the prodigies of your year group." He explained.
Instead of continuing spars right away, Master Sergeant Hale decided to talk about some of the main points for the students to take from that spar. He briefly broke it down to them and explained to them why they were so skilled.
During this, the students were talking about the fight while also talking about the spar between Rhys and Leandro. The outcome just made no sense, and Rhys simply wasn't supposed to be as swift and skilled as he was.
"How did you lose to Rhys man?" A student whispered, looking at Leandro.
"I don't know, he's never been that strong before." Leandro replied, deeply saddened by his humiliation.
He looked to Bronson that sat ahead of him, and felt like he was never going to get the approval from him that he so deeply craved.
"He obviously cheated. That kid is from the Arkwrighte family, who even are those people?" Bronson whispered back to them, making them both chuckle.
As he said this, their teacher immediately became quiet and still.
"What did you say, Bronson?" He asked, with a bold tone.
Bronson just chuckled then pointed to Rhys before talking.
"Rhys quite obviously cheated against Leandro. He took some enhancement elixir or had some artefact on." He claimed.
Artefacts were special, magical items that system users could possess to give special abilities, like stat boosts, but even special enhancements to things like skills or even entire new skills.
"You dare talk back to me?" He asked, now with a totally neutral tone of voice.
What they didn't hear was the stern voice of a teacher. No.
They heard the hoarse, cold voice of a cold-blooded killer.
There was no need for rage or intimidation. Just his blank reply did enough.
However, Bronson wasn't willing to submit to this man in front of all of these people that idolised him. His whole life, he had been praised and convinced that he was basically better than everyone else.
"Yes, I do actually." He replied, making the other students stunned.
"Stand." The soldier ordered.
Bronson didn't promptly respond, and this clearly infuriated the teacher.
"I said stand boy! Here's your healing elixir. Step onto the canvas." He commanded, pointing to the central fighting platform.
Bronson drank from the flask that was given to him and stretched his arms while walking to the centre of the ring. Making his stance, their teacher turned and just stared at him, with his arms behind his back. He chucked back the empty glass bottle, and it was caught instantly.
He threw the bottle to the side and continued to glare at him.
"Begin!" He shouted, walking forward.
Bronson was taken aback by the fight that he had pretty much been thrown into, and just ran forward to try and hit him. He had drained his MP, and simply didn't have his full arsenal to utilise anymore.
However, he was more than confident that he could at least do something. His fist came close and he was surprised with how far he had managed to go, but this was just because their teacher had let him.
His head retreated mere centimetres, and his fist was hairs away from landing on the target. This gave Bronson false confidence, and his blood red mana aura flared around violently as he threw a quick, intense sequence of punches.
Sergeant Hale made sure to only remain inches away from his attacks, and his mastery of movement made him look extremely skilled. Bronson fired off with punch after punch, but could do nothing.
Suddenly, he came to a stop with a look of defeat across his face. He simply wasn't going to continue throwing wild punches that he couldn't even connect with. Without any of his main skills to utilise after draining his MP, it was going to take time before his MP would regenerate.
It fully regenerated after a nightly slumber, but it would take hours to regenerate throughout the day after it was drained.
Fwoosh!
The sergeant almost appeared in front of Bronson, flicking him in the face with his index finger. He cut through his skin with ease, and knocked him right off his feet and off the canvas entirely. The finger flick sounded like a sharp thunderclap, totally stunning Bronson.
"Well, that's what you get for talking back to a master sergeant." Lexi said, with a chuckle in her voice.
"You are strong, Bronson, and I commend your abilities. However, you must show respect when in the face of your superiors." He declared, as his arms returned to behind his back.
The students were horrified by this showing of strength, and it made them wonder just how strong these soldiers were if he could do something like that. Their first reaction was to snicker, but they kept silent upon seeing their teacher's stern glare at Bronson. They could tell he was no longer in his prime and was at least several years out of service. So how strong was he back then?
With a few more small spars, their day of training was over. During the lunchtime break that they had been given, Emmerich and Rhys headed to one of the school's communal training areas. There were several buildings, small and tower-like, across the complex that encouraged students to train and hone their skills.
They were usually occupied by students of older years, which had more discipline and determination to improve their systems and strength.
"I need to see just how strong you are now. Let's see if you can beat me." Emmerich stated, making his battle stance.
They were now on a white platform, surrounded by other large platforms where others were fighting. Many students were exchanging powerful attacks utilising the full power of their systems and respective skill trees.
He was surprised by Rhys' wonder victory over Leandro earlier that day. He was happy for him but was curious to test out this power for himself.
[Sudden Quest!]
[Spontaneous Spar]
[Showcase the new battle you've received to your close friend and beat them in this upcoming spar!]
[Rewards: 50XP]
Rhys felt further motivated by the next quest he had received, and it felt like a dream for him. With his previous system, he only received a handful of quests per year that would give him only a few XP per quest.
Now, the rewards he was receiving were truly bountiful.
"Begin!" Lewis stated, trying to emulate the voice that their teacher had used before.
Emmerich closed in on his friend with a smile. They were sparring, but they were just having fun nonetheless. They weren't in there to kill each other and there wasn't much rivalry between them.
Emmerich slugged forward a punch, but Rhys possessed enough speed to step back and evade it.
Another punch came in quick succession, but Rhys slipped past it. Instead of evading by falling back, he moved forward at a slight angle so the fist whipped right past his head. Entering close range to his taller friend, he cocked back his right fist and aimed to land a shot right to his open jaw.
However, as his fist advanced, Emmerich's other fist was heading to him and seemed to have already been heading toward him before he threw his.
POW!
Rhys was shot backward by the force of this strike, and it briefly stunned him. His punch packed a serious punch to Leandro, who had placed more stock into speed and skill like himself.
"Intense Impact!" Emmerich stated, landing his signature palm slam right on his chest.
The attack shot him across the canvas they stood on, and somewhat rattled him. It was like his internal organs had rumbled in his body. It wasn't a great feeling, and he swiftly opened his stats page to see what that had done to his HP.
[Level: 1]
[User: Rhys Arkwrighte]
[Titles: Fledgling]
[Strength (STR): 4]
[Speed (SPD): 6]
[Durability (DUR): 4]
[Endurance (END): 5]
[Species: Vampire]
[HP: 6/10]
[XP: 50/100]
[MP: 10/10]
[Stat Upgrades: 0]
[Skills] [expand]
Upon looking at his HP stat, however, it started to increment.
[HP: 7/10]
[HP: 8/10]
It was updating in real-time, and he could feel the pain in his body washing away. It was a surreal feeling, and the feeling he had of his inner body had vanished. However, he just about evaded the incoming punch that was aimed for his face.
Relying on his speed, he almost leaped out of the way of the incoming punches and Emmerich was not just strong, but fast. He was quite an athletic person for the level of system that he possessed, and he just was impossible to hit.
Rhys didn't want to get hit by an attack of that calibre again and was forced onto the defensive without any opportunities to throw attacks of his own.
The two fighters faced each other once again, and Emmerich practically hadn't been hit once. Rhys managed to use his speed to dodge most of his attacks, and he also possessed quite good skill from the robots that he utilised.
Even when his friends decided to relax, he was in one of the school's gyms, advancing his reflexes and abilities in those terms.
Rhys dashed ahead, and knew that this would amount to nothing. At the last second, he slid past Emmerich with immense speed, after placing all his weight on his hind foot.
He arrived by his back, and swung out a swinging kick, only to see Emmerich block. He remained persistent, though, and bent back his shin only to deliver the same kick in quick succession.
These two kicks amounted to little, and Emmerich sprung on him as he span around.
He landed an elbow to his face, and tried to land another subsequent punch, but Rhys was quick enough to block. Emmerich just advanced once again but as he did so, Rhys performed the same 1-2 combination that he had trained so frequently.
With his newly powered body, his fists moved with new power and flow, and it seemed easier to make his punches more precise.
His punches had landed, but he could see that Emmerich was already moving into his next move.
"Intense Impact!"
"Intense Impact!"