Strength Test
Kelvin went to the sword combat training; Ray and Nao went to the arrow and target practice section, Nathan went to the hand to hand combat area, and Carl went to the unique weapons training.
The unique weapons training section was for students who used a different and rarely used weapon type. For example; gauntlets, chained daggers, bladed brass knuckles and so on.
All the first years thought that the physical combat and weapons training would be fun; instead it turned out to be nothing but hellish, military type training.
Captain Oliver was moving from section to section, and if he caught any student slacking off or not doing the training right, he would send them off to the running track to run a number of laps. When they were through with the running, they would come back to their weapons training, sweating profusely.
Kelvin listened attentively to the sword training. He knew how vastly unskilled he was in sword combat, and he wanted to change that. He needed to learn how to properly defend himself; he also didn’t want to be reliant on his demonic blood powers.
The sword combat instructor taught them how to strike and parry different attacks. At first Kelvin didn’t get it and he had to run a number of laps; but after some time, he started to understand the concept a little.
After a few more hours of the torturous training, the physical combat class came to an end.
“This is just the beginning of your combat training and as such, I decided to go easy on you all.” Captain Oliver said.
‘You call this going easy? I wonder how not going easy is going to be.’ Kelvin thought.
“Don’t expect things to be this easy from tomorrow. You are dismissed.” Captain Oliver concluded.
The first year students left the training compound feeling stressed and tired. It was evening and their classes for the day had come to an end.
A huge majority of the first year students went back to their dorms for a well deserved rest.
“I don’t know which is worse; the boring lectures or the painful combat trainings.” Ray said, feeling drained and tired.
“Tell me about it; I ran around the track 10 times. I can barely feel my legs.” Carl complained, as they reached the student residential area.
They were all exhausted and so, they bid each other farewell and went to their separate dorms. Their first day was really hectic and this was just the beginning of their demon hunting trainings.
The next day was basically a repetition of the first day. They had engineering class, which was just a boring lecture about gadget and inventions. This subject was mainly aimed at future divine construct users. The other subjects they had was the support and health studies, which taught them how to perform some quick treatment measures to an injured comrade, and surprisingly math.
The only interesting activity they had for the day was the combat training. They still had to go through the same torturous training. The only bright side to it all was the cool new training apparatus the school administration installed.
“Before you begin today’s training, I would like to do a strength test using this new installment.” Captain Oliver said, gesturing to the new training apparatus.
The new training apparatus was an odd looking machine. It had a metal base, with a single circular ball like contraption, sitting in the middle. On top of the metal base was a strength meter, which was connected to the ball contraption in the middle.
“So the rule of the test is simple. You just have to come over here and punch the circular ball as hard as possible.” Captain Oliver explained.
They all came out one by one and punched as hard as they could. A majority of the first years had an awfully poor performance. The strength meter wouldn’t even move an inch.
Only a few of them managed to actually earn a slightly decent score on the meter. Nathan was one of these few first years; followed by Jason who earned a slightly higher score than Nathan.
Carl, Nao and Ray earned below average; a clear fact that they were highly lacking in terms of strength. It was eventually Kelvin’s turn.
‘Okay no showing off; just strength good enough for average.’ Kelvin said to himself.
He added a little bit of strength behind his punch and hit the ball like contraption. Kelvin’s small punch turned out to be not so small.
The strength meter shot up and even passed Nathan and Jason’s points. The strength meter eventually stopped and they all looked at Kelvin in awe.
“That’s a very impressive display of strength Ken Wilson.” Captain Oliver said.
“Now the result of this test has shown how lacking you all are in the strength department. This is bad; for any of you to gain a level of mastery in your weapons you need to have the physical strength to back it up.”
“This is just a personal analysis and I would like you all to use this machinery to evaluate yourselves. That is all; you can now resume your trainings.” Captain Oliver concluded.
Kelvin knew he had grown in strength all thanks to the demon; but he didn’t expect his punch to be that powerful. He began to wonder what the result would be if he had punched with full force.
“Woah, Ken; I didn’t know you were that strong.” Ray said.
“Yeah, you even passed me in the strength test.” Nathan added.
“If you had this much strength, why were you acting like a pathetic wimp in the entrance exam?” Nao asked.
“I don’t really know; I guess I didn’t want to show off.” Kelvin awkwardly said, scratching the back of his hair.
“The last time I fought Ken, I beat his sorry ass; I wonder how the result will be if we fought now.” Carl said, voicing his thoughts.
They would have chatted even more, but Captain Oliver gave them a dirty look, which made them rush over to their separate weapon trainings.
After the training the first years headed back to their dorms, well except a few that still wanted to run some errands and have some fun in one place or the other.
Kelvin and his gang, with Nathan joining in this time, were among this group of first year. They were seriously craving for the taste of the glorious smoothie from smoothie haven. So they left the academy, heading in the direction of smoothie haven.