Academy (3)

As Old Man Eric finished his announcement the class began looking at each other with awe. They would be fighting together as a training exercise? The youths wanted to rebuke against it but Eric didn't hear any of it and as such he began the morning exercise right after.

As they began their five-kilometer run the youths weren't able to complain anymore about the arrangement. Running for so much was proven challenging for everyone even though they had been doing this for quite a while. The problem was that after the warm-up they would have other exercises to accomplish so they had to concentrate on conversing stamina, not blabber about other stuff.

After they finished their warm-up Eric began assessing their growth in strength and reaction speed for an idea of how much he should solicit them in the future. They began doing strength-based exercises and right after reaction-based ones.

As the sun began to settle, and the youths becoming more exhausted, it was time for technique-training. Per Eric's explanation, they would begin training in techniques only once they began feeling exhausted, as such it would be more challenging for them in doing anything.

One, quoting Eric, would say 'It takes more control to use your techniques while being exhausted. You are more fidgety and it is exponentially harder to execute any techniques while not being in a pique state. If you are able to execute techniques during this state of exhaustion then you have successfully mastered the technique.'

The technique training didn't require any special placement, children would choose separate wooden pole on which to use their techniques and Eric would give them advice based on what they are doing wrong or give them the idea of what should be improved.

As such Max and his group gathered around in their special place where they have been training for years and began chatting.

"You got so lucky, good thing that he favors you so much" Ken addressed Max while executing a double parang slash on his respective wooden pole, leaving two symmetrical cuts on it.

"Yea it went better than expected" Rya replied before leaving time for Max to respond to Ken. She was holding her sword clenched in her hands, striking hard against her target.

"I don't know... He might tell my father about it.." Max was able to respond after her. He was feeling anxious and his aim was derailed because of it.

"Max, does your broken left arm affect the way you use your other arm?" Eric appeared behind Max in a matter of seconds.

"No sir.." Max said a bit dazed, not because of the fact that he didn't even notice Eric approaching, he was still thinking about his father and the fact that he might be disappointed.

"Don't worry about it.." Eric said, noticing he was worried about something, then continued ".. what you did was the right thing, you didn't get hurt for nothing. Your father always says how thoughtful you are, and how you are a great fighter, he is not going to change his mindset over something like this." Eric said full of confidence, he knew Max's father and he was a great man. There was simply no way for him to be such a demanding father.

Max stopped using his spear, he wasn't convinced at Eric's words. He didn't understand why he didn't want to disappoint him.

"Alright then," Eric said defeated "I will not report it to him, but if I take a beating when he finds out, then be ready to get one from me as well, tenfold!" Eric said laughing, leaving Max with a frightened face.

"Thank you, Master Eric." Max still thanked Eric, even going as far as addressing him formally. He should at least be the one to tell him about it if he ever demands answers.

"Now concentrate on your aim!" Eric said while already going to another youth which could be seen struggling with something.

"Old Man Eric really favors you." Ashley, listening to their conversation, commented. She finished her impressive five arrow burst attack just before saying that. Clicking her tongue in dissatisfaction she put her bow down and began slowly searching her pockets for something.

As she looked around in her pockets she began pulling out multiple small objects until finally taking a small package from her back pocket. It was a pack of small band-aids, and as she began unsealing the bandage and applying it to her index finger Max was finally able to understand what happened.

She cut herself. It was normal for archers to sometimes get hurt while shooting, that is the reason why they would normally wear a pair of gloves or other types of finger protectors for their fingers. It was really annoying and painful to shoot with a wounded hand so they would be the ones that would take care of their hands to a higher extent than normal.

Being at the academy wouldn't normally bring much trouble so Ashley didn't wear her protective gear during training, which caused this incident. Luckily she was always a bit considerate about things happening so she had some band-aids on her this time/

Max was not able to concentrate on his strikes at that moment so he looked around for the last member of their team, Anna.

He saw her standing still as a rock, not moving an inch of her body. She looked gorgeous as always, but this time she was facing the opposite of Max so he wasn't able to capture her total beauty. He could only see her robe and hair which couldn't hide her slim figure. Her robe was a dark-blue with white spots on it. The robe gave you the feeling of looking at the sky on a clear night, filled with stars and a bright full-moon which only brought a tranquil ambient in combination with her hair which was a dark azure color. The tips of her hair were fluttering in the wind giving off a faint green color, barely being able to be seen by Max while she was standing still.

Lime colored light illuminated her surroundings slowly, as green diamond-shaped lights began flickering all around her body. Max caught the feeling of a small breeze before the intensity of the light around Anna's body skyrocketed.

The wind rose and Max and the others who were closer to her had to protect themselves. But not for long. In an instant, the light disappeared, along with Anna.

"I finally did it!" A happy cheer could be heard behind him.

Alarmed, Max turned around to see Anna looking exhausted, shouting and feeling elated. Her white cheeks were now as red as her lips. She was huffing, clearly exhausted because of the spell she just accomplished.

"Great work Anna... " Eric began praising Anna ".. you were able to use such a spell only at the age of 16, magnificent!"

Eric was elated with Anna's performance so far, but she just broken through the expectations he had for her, she was truly worthy of being praised.

"Everyone continue training while I get Anna to her dorm to rest" Eric quickly said, approaching Anna in the meanwhile. Anna was at the point where she could collapse to the ground so it was great that Eric made it in time to catch her.

As Eric carried Anna in his arms, going towards her dorm, her classmates began whispering and her team wasn't an exception.

"What was that?!?" Ken quickly asked the other, he didn't know a lot about wind magic spells, or any spells for a fact.

"Ashley do you have any idea?" Max asked completely dumbfounded. He spotted the whole performance, from the start of the spell until the end but still wasn't able to understand what happened, after all, Anna did disappear from in front of him and appeared behind him in a flash.

"Neither do I know, but it should at least be a tier two magic spell, placing her close to Peak Low-Tier Mage... " As Ashley responded to Max's question she clenched her teeth. Her hand began shaking but after a few seconds she calmed down continued "She is advancing fast while we haven't even awakened yet.."

"Don't be mad... " Rya saw how Ashley was holding her emotions pent-up ".. we'll get stronger as well, we don't need to be discouraged, let's work harder so we don't fall behind right?" She said, picking up her long sword and beginning a set of continuous, but more advanced moves.

"Yea let's not fall behind!" Ken determinately said when watching the show Anna put up. He began using his parangs in more sophisticated ways, his wooden pole looked like a painting but if one would look closely they would be able to see flaunts in it.

Max and Ashley didn't say anything, and as Ashley saw Max giving a beating to his pole, leaving bigger holes and gushing faster attacks at it, her eyes sparkled as Maxs did a few seconds ago and began training wholeheartedly.