055

'Practical Battle Simulation'… That was the name of the class he taught at the academy. Alfred Newman Junior was filled with pride from this job. In this time in which augmented soldiers were considered heroes by the people and praised to the heavens, he was their teacher. He was the one to guide them on the path of battle.

His job was, in reality, very simple. He had to help the future augmented, the future heroes, get used to their newfound strength after their augmentations. He needed to help them realize the changes in their capabilities and limits. And he taught them how to fight as well. How to efficiently go for the kill and maim the opponents.

As the first lesson of the second semester for this young first years, he planned to start slowly as usual. He had them pick an assistant each and spar in two against two situations. It was only light sparing with nothing but their hands. When they would go to the front lines, if they ever did, they would probably not fight bare-handed. Heck, they definitely would not. But then again, it was better to be safe than sorry. And beyond that, it enabled them to get used to their bodies.

The way to move to dodge, the way to move to attack… And how the opponent moved. There were many things to learn from simple spars like those. Fortunately, the students knew this as well and took the lesson particularly seriously every time. Considering that only elites could enroll, it was to be expected.

In order to be here, they had to be wealthy, smart and powerful. And beyond anything else, they had to be better than the other potential candidates. After all, the number of places was limited.

After he settled the new kid, he walked around. He took his time to correct the youths and taught them carefully how they should fight. He took his job very seriously. Never did he even entertain the thought of being lazy while doing it. It was an incredible job with incredible perks and honor but a lot of responsibilities as well. Those kids were the future shields of humanity after all.

As he finished his first round, he returned to where he left the new kid and Celine. He had high hopes for that girl. Even though she would likely join the private company business of her family and not the military, she would still be a human augmented. One that could be deployed if required. And she showed impressive potential.

He didn't know much about the new kid aside from the public information given to him. It was fake information too. Only a few members of the faculty were aware of Ron's real situation. To make sure that his past wouldn't affect him negatively, only core teachers and faculty heads were made aware of it. Alfred Newman Junior might be a respected teacher and one of the most important ones but he didn't require to know the student's past. At least, the faculty believed so.

What he knew from the fake file was that this was a genius that unfortunately didn't arrive in time for the augmented department examinations before the first semester. He read that he ended up being enrolled in here after many considerations. Put more simply, the file gave him high expectations of the kid.

He paired him up with Celine because the file was promoting his abilities. Otherwise, even if he had to break up another pair, he wouldn't have done so. Celine was a genius and it might be better for her to remain alone instead of being put with deadweight. He was glad that the new recruit was deemed 'promising' and since he trusted in the files given to him, he saw no problems pairing them.

However, as he arrived and saw Celine sparring against two classmates while he played around with his wrist-com while laying on the ground, he was surprised. He was slightly angry as well as he saw the girl beating up her two opponents while alone. The results of the fight didn't matter, what mattered was that this was supposed to be a two on two. It should give them experience in team fights! Yet, here he was, in the grass.

Why?!

He calmed himself and went up to the youth. Celine and her two opponents didn't stop fighting though. They didn't even see it happen as they were focused on each other. Celine was having a good time beating them up and training while they were giving it their all to escape the humiliation.

Albert arrived in front of Ron and asked him: "Student, why are you not participating?"

Ron took his eyes off his wrist-com and pointed towards Celine. Albert looked and didn't know what the kid was trying to say.

Once Ron saw him gazing at the battle, he told him: "She does not need me"

Albert agreed with that but this wasn't the point. He rebuked the youth: "The goal of this training isn't to win the spars. It is to get familiar, even a bit more, with team battles. Student, you should join your partner"

Ron got up and nodded before walking over. Then, he sat down close to the battle without joining them.

Albert glared at him furiously. It was his first time seeing a student with such a bad attitude. He began to walk towards him once again.