Chapter 108 - Reina and Karles

After Nerun and company left the cafeteria, he felt quite happy and was expecting the afternoon lessons with his two new companions, who kept making small talk. They both talked about their family situations and Nerun got to know them a little better.

Karles Dai Santana was a member of the Eonian nobility, and his family owned a piece of land close to the capital. The Santana family was old nobility, however, they were not part of the 5 Great Families. Their main income came actually from agriculture, they were experts in the farming of Spiritual Rice among other products, like the one they got on the special menu, and their family was quite well off. They had important business partners, including the Corena Household, and were also one of the main suppliers of the Royal Family's kitchen.

Karles, however, was not the main heir, he was the fourth son of the main house in his family. He had no hope to inherit the family business, but he was quite happy nonetheless since his relationship with his elder brothers and sisters was quite good. He was also very business savvy, and actually pestered Nerun for a while for being too reckless spending his Contribution Points like that. Karles thought that Nerun had spent all of his contribution points on that lunch, and he was admonishing Nerun never to do so again. Nerun just couldn't find a way to explain that he actually had tons of contribution points, however, he knew that Karles' concern came from a sincere standpoint, so he simply acquiesced.

Reina on the other hand was quite boisterous and said: "If only we could eat like that every day. I felt the Qi in my body moving on its own, and I think I'm quite close to increasing my Qi level. Probably after a night of meditation, I'll be level 27. I'm about to tie with you, you dumb oaf, I hope you are ready for our next sparring session."

Karles simply rolled his eyes, accustomed to his friend's antics, and looked at Nerun with a look that seemed to say 'Ignore her'. Nerun could not help laughing a bit when watching his new friends, and their sincerity and openness were quite refreshing, especially when comparing them with those stuck-up upperclassmen that were surrounding Julieth.

Reina Dai Aitana's family was different from Karles'. Her family was much like the Renata family, an old militaristic clan, whose centre of power was in the northern counties, close to the Barbarian Border. Her family was one of the main forces resisting the Barbarian attacks. When Nerun heard about this, he was quite impressed and in awe of Reina's family. He had a special kind of feeling for the military since his own brother was one of the Dragon Generals, Sylvester was in the Rhodnian Frontier, and he also had good relations with the Vanilla Family who also worked as soldiers for the kingdom.

Later, Nerun found out that Reina was the only daughter among a group of 6 brothers, all of who were in the military. 'That explains a lot' thought Nerun to himself while listening to Reina talking about her family and complaining about one brother or the other. Complaining as she was, there was, however, a subtle but clear sense of pride in her voice whenever she talked about her family.

After getting to know the circumstances of Reina and Karles' families, they also asked about Nerun's and the latter was quite succinct about them. He did not want to lie to them, since that would be the wrong start for a true friendship, however, he could not be completely honest with them either. So he and Elijah had already decided on a way to circumvent this, by saying that they grew up in an Orphanage near the border with Rhodnius, where they were lucky to be trained by a passing expert who saw their talents and gave them some pointers. Afterwards, Elijah joined the military under the command of Elizabeth Dai Baruna and Nerun stayed behind until he had to start his own martial training.

He did not talk about Maikal, and barely mentioned the rest of his brothers and sisters. Reina and Karles did not press Nerun too much, after all, they barely knew each other, and simply figured that Nerun did not want to talk about his past as an orphan that much. What mattered to them was Nerun's present, and much to their surprise Nerun was a charming teen, smart and resourceful, who seemed genuine in the way he treated others. Also, although they had also heard about the rumours about Nerun and his trouble with the Royal Military School when they met Nerun, they were of the mind of getting to know him better first before coming to a conclusion, which was a much better attitude than many of his classmen. If Nerun proved to be a complete wastrel, then, they would gradually distance themselves from him.

So far, both Karles and Reina thought that Nerun was very much to their liking, even if his martial prowess ended being poor. His demeanour and openness in the Cafeteria, his quick thinking, his smart mouth, and his mischievousness were all quite appealing to them. They did not really care that much that Nerun had gotten into the Academy using a so-called back door since resources and influence was also part of one's strength, and not using them was true foolishness. Nevertheless, they wanted to know about Nerun's true strength. Not because they would think less of him, however, it was true that there was a small amount of rivalry among the students, and if they were to team up in the future they needed to know each other's strengths. This would also help in case they needed to elect a team leader in the future. Karles and Reina were part of the better students in their class, and they were actually on the bottom part of the Inner Class Ranking for very little.

The opportunity for this was not long in waiting, since the afternoon classes that day consisted of self-study and practice. The Academy offered a lot of different classes, but most of them were not mandatory, and it gave a lot of freedom and resources to the students so they could choose their own path, and work hard for their own improvement. It was necessary that the students got their own contribution points to get more and more resources to keep getting stronger, so every day was a constant struggle. This was the way to make true experts.

Reina and Karles invited Nerun to go with them to a practice room they had previously booked to train. Nerun accepted since he didn't know much about what the academy could offer just yet, and this would also help him understand the level of his peers in the Lyceum.

The training room was neither big nor small, it was a round room with many mystic and ancient runes inscribed on the walls, with a central arena of 50 square meters. There was a special altar that functioned by using contribution points, that activated the central square, and the students could ask for special sentient puppets that helped them practise their special and secret moves, and many other functions such as measuring strength, time, reflex and much more utilities, each with a corresponding cost in contribution points. Nerun was quickly learning the importance of the latter and understood that even if he had a lot of them, he needed to use them wisely, so he could get double the results with half the effort.

"Nerun!" called Reina. "As you know, there are many students who think less of you in this academy. Much of that is jealousy and foolishness. There was also instigation from some of your brother's rivals and their friends, so I guess that you are not completely unaware of what you might be facing in this academy. Karles and I might not care much about such rabble, but we still need to make things clear. Even if we like things about you, if you are too weak to be demoted to the Outer Class, then we won't have many opportunities to keep interacting in the future. We won't think less of you, after all, each person has their own history, advantages and fate, however, both Karles and I need to work hard to improve our class standing in the Inner Class Ranking. Otherwise, the resources we get in the future will be too limited and the rest of the students will leave us behind. In the Lyceum you either soar to the heavens or get stuck with the rest."

Nerun was listening quietly to Reina's speech. He liked her frankness and he preferred people like her. Karles was nodding his head after listening to Reina. He then said to Nerun: "Both Reina and me are Qi Grandmasters, and are considered quite good even in the Inner Class that is filled with geniuses. Our ultimate goal in the Lyceum is to become Core Students by the time we are in our fourth year. Even if that dream seems farfetched, that is what we aspire to become. So our full effort is in getting stronger and stronger at a quick and consistent pace. I'll make the ugly talk first. Even if we can stay as good friends in the future, if you can't keep with our pace, then I'm afraid that you'll not be able to keep training with us."

There was no change on Nerun's face after listening to Karles. He let his actions answer them by jumping agilely to the centre of the arena and then said: "So Karles, Reina, who wants to come first? Although, I would recommend both of you come together." Nerun's face was serious and both Karles and Reina were a bit surprised and annoyed at the same time by his cockiness. Had they been wrong about him and was he show-off? He didn't seem to be the kind. However, Nerun was facing them with a smile. After all, true steel does not fear the hammer.

Reina looked at Karles, who simply made an affirmative gesture and walked slowly towards Nerun, while Reina activated the altar, and the mystic runes in the walls lighted up, and a transparent membrane rose up from the ground to enclose the arena in a protective halo shaped like an upside down bowl, filled with magical multicoloured lights that served as a sort of ring boundary. This was a special boundary made to protect the observers as well as the practice room itself.

As Karles approached Nerun, his momentum was rising, his muscles and joints were crackling, and his whole body was preparing for the bout. Nerun stayed at the centre of the arena, appreciating the spectacle given by the activation of the arena. However, he did not seem nervous, as his posture was relaxed while facing Karles, and simply raised his hands in his usual posture. After seeing the seriousness with which Karles and Reina were treating this training, he decided to treat them to a little surprise.

"START!" yelled Reina.

Once the shout was heard, Karles lowered his stance and started going towards Nerun full-speed ahead. His speed was breathtaking as if a water buffalo was running making the ground in the arena tremble. His power and speed were quite close to that of Elijah back when he was with Nerun at the Rando Woods, and his explosiveness was mesmerizing.

However, Nerun was hardly taken by surprise, since his eyes, which had turned golden seemed to be able to see each and every pore in Karles' skin, as well as every minute movement that the latter's body did. For Nerun it was as if Karles was moving in a very slow motion, and Nerun simply raised his hand while moving the mana inside his body.

"Ακίδες πάγου" /Akídes Págou/*

When Karles was about to ram Nerun, the latter's voice was heard and Karles stopped right in his tracks. Reina's eyes were opened wide and her mouth was making an "O" shape as everything happened in less than a second.

Karles did not dare move a muscle while looking directly towards the still smiling Nerun who stayed at the centre of the Arena. When Nerun pronounced those words, the moisture in the air had quickly and silently formed three metre-long ice spikes, one right in front of Karles, where Nerun had been standing, one right above his head, and the other right behind him, menacing to pierce his spine. Nerun had not moved a single step before Karles needed to concede defeat.

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Ακίδες πάγου: Ice Spike