Start of training

The bird moved in a simple circle above him, Noah followed the bird with his eyes and got used to its movement pattern.

He patiently watched until the right moment and shot. The bullet hit, the bird started to drop but halfway down it started to fly back up.

Noah got ready again. He was already used to shooting moving targets. He would regularly go hunting at least once a year since he started learning to shoot a gun.

As Noah watched the bird he also kept looking towards Alice. She was currently being taught how to hold a dagger and some basic ways of attacking.

She continuously slashed at the air, getting a feel of the dagger. Her hair was tied back as she had sweat dripping off of her. She looked incredibly tired but pulled through using willpower.

Noah started worrying seeing how she was swaying as she slashed her dagger. Her body had attacks had lost the stability and strength they had at the beginning.

Noah had divided his attention but he had still completed the first level. Now he was shooting at two birds.

As Noah was shooting he saw Alice's body finally completely exhaust as she fainted.

Noah dropped his gun and ran with all his strength. He reached Alice's side and carried her up as he got ready to take her to a shaded area to rest.

Alice's instructor approached, seeing how worried Noah was, she calmed him down.

"Put this in her mouth, it'll help her recover and grow stronger."

Noah didn't say anything but looked at her like he was looking at her with a cold look of distrust as he looked at her. He then looked at the object in her hand.

It was a bright red thumb-size stone Noah could see its description.

[Basic Strength Stone]

Helps in recovering fatigue quickly and has a low probability of increasing the strength stat by 1. (Strenght stat can increase by a maximum of 5)

He decided to trust her held Alice up and popped the stone into her mouth.

"She doesn't need to swallow it, just let her hold it in her mouth. The strength stone will dissolve away into energy and enter her body. She'll wake up in 5 minutes."

Noah held Alice as he watched her recover. Her pale face regained its redness and her eyelids started to twitch.

Alice opened her eyes to see Noah looking down at her, shading her from the bright sun behind him. She was dazed by the scene for a second. As she saw Noah's handsome face worry with the rays of light refracting off his hair.

She quickly regained her thought process and pushed Noah away with all her strength. Noah who wasn't expecting this fell onto his back in shock.

Alice pulled herself up and looked at Noah, "Don't touch me." she said with a fierceness and coldness Noah had never seen from her before. She then ignored him and went to her instructor.

Noah got up still worried about her and dusted himself off as he walked back to his training area.

After that training went on smoothly. Noah had reached three birds by the end of the three hours.

As he started physical training Edward gave him a strength stone, "Take this when you are most exhausted, it'll have better effects then. You're only allowed to have 2 a day so be a little frugal."

Noah trained like a machine, it was like his daily workout, so the 3 hours passed by quickly.

Alice also trained in the same area, she had gotten tired and had taken another stamina stone, Noah just watched her from the sideline.

The two then moved on to their theory lesson, luckily they both would be taught together.

Edward stood in front of a mostly empty class and spoke.

"So these lessons will mainly cover 3 topics: General information on all weapons, Survival Techniques and Basic information on monsters. I'll just give you a quick crash course over the week if you want to learn more you'll have to go to the library."

Edward then started to talk about weapons from types of weapons to their parts and their uses.

After the lesson, they had to go for combat training. The two were brought to an area with multiple fighting stages.

Noah had to fight someone with a shield a sword on the stage. While Alice fought her instructor who also used a dagger.

As they both started training Noah was distracted from the fight as he could see Alice fighting right behind his opponent.

Noah held his gun and shot at the instructor but he easily blocked all his shots and ran to him. The stage was big but in the end, was limited space so had to be smart and not get cornered. He had a ranged weapon so he naturally kept his distance and tried to get behind the instructor.

As Noah shot he suddenly saw Alice had been stabbed, causing him to freeze up.

The instructor used this opening to tackle Noah with his shield knocking him to the ground. Noah on the floor still watched Alice.

Only when he saw that she wasn't injured did he relax.

After three hours of training, they were allowed to go to the cafeteria to eat again.

Alice quickly stuffed the food down silently, Noah wanted to say something but ended up eating in silence with her.

Alice completely ignored Noah and walked back home, into the house and up to her room. Noah followed her up still waiting for the moment to say something but Alice slammed her door to his face and locked it.

Noah stood out for a minute then went to his room. He took a quick shower and changed into other clothes that were kept in the wardrobe in his room.

He then stood out of Alice's door and lightly knocked. Through his talent 'Guardian of Love', he could sense her laying on her bed.

Noah put his back against the door and slid down to sit on the floor, one leg extended the other bent to support his wrist. Noah put his head back against the door and looked up.

He then started to gently hum...