Chapter 4: Wanna bowl?

The room was numbered using strange symbols. This was the 3rd Blossom year's dormitory and housed a mix of both male and female students. "Strange," thought Barbados, "if this was the past era for humans then the women would most likely have been killed for dealings with a devil when they pursued an education. How far they have advanced." Additionally, the dorm was big, huge even. Barbados never imagined the life of a student to be this exquisite. He plunged his body onto the soft covers of the bed, feeling his winds get stuck in the tiny fabric holes. 'To get rid of these worthless flaps would be wondrous.' thought Barbados as no angle made it bearable to lay down. After a solid minute of shifting. Barbados lost to the overcoming uncomfortableness and layed down on his stomach. Tomorrow was a Friday and Barbados was confused. What could he do to pass the time? He laid in complete darkness, listening to the soothing sound of leaves disturbed by the wind…

****

A loud electrical sound came from an alarm clock that made Barbados yelp and collapse on the floor, assuming an attack position, wielding a kusarigama. He approached the strange device with caution, and not wanting to take any chances, he brought down the blade and penetrated the strange mechanism. The item slowly deteriorated and finally turned into a pile of moss that sprouted a Ghost Pipe. Judging by the sunlight that poured into his room, Barbados could tell the last morning before break had arrived for the students. He decided to try and understand the new marvels of technology, but first he had to apologise to Adam for the broken gadget. He struggled to put on his grey tunic, damning the wings, and got dressed in the thin cleric like armour. He left the room just as a conglomerate of students had gathered to ask what the loud clashing sound was. Lies is what he told, saying he got angry, excluding all parts of him getting scared by a shrieking toy. He left to go find Grog and ask what his plan was for today. Along the secluded path the students took, he met Jorvik again.

"Wonderful to see you here, young one. May you point the way to Grog's office. I would like to discuss some matters with hi-" but his sentence got interrupted by his instincts. He pulled Jorvik towards him, feeling the atmosphere grow sharp and a jagged knife erupting from the ground he stood mere moments before.

"Are you fine, Jorvik. It seems you have some enemies." exhaled Barbados with anticipation for an attack.

"If only, thats 's what my friend does to greet me in the morning. There, you can see him dashing now." Just as he said, a student dashed at an unreasonable speed towards the two of them.

"What did he just do? Was that the work of mana? If so, it's truly magnificent."

"Nope, he used his race's signature ability. He placed a piece of metal underneath there and controlled it to attack me. Although that's a new dagger shape." Grog was right, he really was a beast hidden in the form of a human, complementing the attack rather than trying to counter attack.

"Well what is he? Last time I checked, human's couldn't control metal."

"He's a Vander."

"The fuck is a Vander" though Barbados. The running student almost failed to stop himself from his momentum.

"Morning Nam." spoke Jorvik cheerfully.

"Morning Jorvik, how could you abandon me during our walk! I had to run another 5 miles to calm myself down." Barbados looked at him with surprise. "Oh and morning stranger, are you maybe the new teacher?"

"No, I'm just here to visit Grog."

The three of them walked to Grog's class. The Vander explained that he is able to utilise metal as a stand-in for mana. "Still have no clue what you are though" thought Barbados, hoping he would hurry up and explain.

"So basically, I don't know. It's the same with humans and mana. We were originally human but changed drastically to survive battle. That's all I know. Oh look it's Sir Deavron. Hi Sir Deavron." He waved like a maniac. Grog had a face of disgust and Barbados could tell he was about to have a heart attack.

"Not the trouble maker," cried Grog in defeat, "Jorvik please just knock some sense into him."

"I think he's fine as he is now. I like his enthusiasm."

"Nooo, my only peacemaker has finally been corrupted by the trouble maker."

"Does Grog always act this…pathetic?" Grog looked at Barbados, and mouthed the words "screw you", while the Sinborn felt a wave of laughter trying to escape his cool demeanour.

"Actually, Barbados you're right on time. Class I would like to introduce the new teacher, Sir Barbados. He'll be in charge of weapon mastery. Keep the comments to yourselves and treat him with respect."

"What?" said Barbados in utter shock. "Grog, come out here, I want a word." he said as he smiled while cracking his knuckles.

"Adam's order. Take it up with him after he comes back from the Capital. Here's your timetable." Barbados was outraged, he had not just woken up from a millenia long nap just to teach brats. But Grog had long moved on and was already trying to control his class from destroying itself.

He walked to the training facility and was delighted to see Okia polishing the weapons.

"Hello Okia, delightful to see you here. Have you got a class this morning?"

"Hi Barbados, yes I do." The harsh hoarse voice replied with a calm tone, almost soothing. "Care to join me?"

"I would of I didn't get forced to be a teacher. I don't even know where my class is supposed to be."

"May I see your timetable?" Barbados handed them the confusing list. "Oh? You're the new weapon mastery teacher? Congratulations."

"It's not that great, I have to teach brats. Do you know where I am supposed to go?"

"Yes but it will be easier to follow me." They led the way out of the large colosseum and walked behind the building, further into the forest, until they came across a secluded open area. "This shall be where you will hold your classes. Should be diverse enough for the students to train and you will be provided with a plethora of weapons."

"This could work. I could set up dummies on one side. Have a sauna there and even a pool." Okia looked at Barbados with concern and worry, but didn't interrupt his daydream. They bid their farewells and left, and Barbados was left to prepare the area before the children arrived.

The class Barbados had was one of the 1st year Blossoms who had yet to pick any type of weapon. Just Okia mentioned, a trainee staff came by and dropped a crate full of bad quality weapons that would break if overused.

"What a shit piece of craft" thought Barbados, staring with utter disgust at the feeble attempt of a weapon. He believed that being a training weapon shouldn't restrict the respect other weapons had. Barbados planned to try and forge new swords and axes when he regained access to his forge. But that is all that they had so they had to deal with it.

"Right class. I won't bother with attendance. If you want to achieve greatness, then you won't need to be forced to attend as you would by your own choice. Those who will be lazy and slack, well I wish your parents would have taught you better discipline. Now, who here has any experience in any type of combat." Not a single sound emanated from the students. "Brilliant" though Barbados as he stares down on the inferior with pity. He took a deep breath and calmed his nerves, and told them to each take a weapon that they thought looked cool, not on how strong they thought it was.

After a surprisingly short amount of time, the students all picked out their weapons, with there being a glaring preference. Almost all the students chose a Katzbalger.

"What's with the lack of originality? Is there some sort of regime? I know damn well the older years have a more diverse spread." He looked at the students, being met with the tired faces of overworked children. One of the students put their hands up and spoke.

"The Knights that visited us yesterday told us we need to choose this weird sword or we won't be able to graduate."

"Oh really? How did these knights look?"

"They wore black and sharp armour with gold and red highlights."

"Well I don't care what some measly humans in metal cans say. You will re-pick your weapon and I'll face the backlash. Quickly though, I still have to teach you something." After the students all choose their weapons that their soul and mind appreciated.

"Alright," Barbados said while clasping his hands, "Think of these tools as an extension of yourself. When you swing, swing with might. Be proud of the weapon you have chosen and respect it. These may be of bad quality, but when the time comes for a replacement, think of these as your starting point. Now I want each individual here to try and strike one of the many dummies."

The students lined up all took turns to take a strike at their dummies. "At least they know how to properly hold their respected weapons. All but one." thought Barbados as he looked at the only student who chose a bludgeoning weapon, a maul. It stood tall compared to the compact student. It was a miracle that they could even hold that behemoth of a weapon.

Barbados walked over to them and calmly asked them why they chose the obscure warhammer.

"I thought it would be cool if I could easily smash a boulder to smithereens."

"Like this?" asked Barbados as he politely took the heavy metal hammer and simply touched a nearby stone, making the world free of a rock. The student was amazed at the marvel and pleaded to know how he did it.

"Simple, I'm just that good with weapons. It's part of my nature, you could say. If you train your body, you most definitely will gain such strength. What I suggest for you right now is body training then practising using this warhammer. Push ups, pull ups and running would be a good start. For now I suggest using an alternative, maybe a mace or hammer as a substitute."

"Okay sir!" The boy rushed back to the container and chose a hammer. Barbados walked to each student and gave them tips on how to better utilise their weapons. He did that for the whole day and just as he was leaving the secluded area, a student from the 4th year Blossoms asked if he was interested in bowling. Barbados recalled vague memories from his cyclical prison of a sport by the same name. But he had to play dumb and act as if his ancient mind had never come across that word.

"May I ask what this 'Bowling' you speak of is?" To his surprise, the student tried to mimic his form of speech, which he achieved to a certain degree.

"It involves the person holding a spherical ball made of stone and launched towards 10 pins down…an alley." He shortly gave up after not being able to find a suitable replacement for 'alley', which Barbados found heartwarming.

"Intriguing. May I ask for what purpose you inquired about this?"

"Ahem. Some friends and I are going bowling and we were wondering if you perchance wished to- I give up on the dialect, no offence sir."

"None taken, I found it amusing."

"We were wondering if you would like to go bowling with us. We would need to leave the academy but it's only 5 minutes away."

"Reasonable enough," he said as they began walking to a group of 6 more students, "but how did you know where I was."

"Adam sent a message over the speakers in the academy to announce your employment."

"Huh." "GOD DAMN YOU ADAM" Barbados yelled inside of his mind, while calmly laughing with the student.

****

They arrived at the establishment and the Sinborn felt overstimulated. An amalgamation of music and bright light smacked his sense and almost made him feel sick. He enjoyed the present much more than the past. Not once did a human stare at him on his way to the facility, but there were different races walking among each other as equals, which almost brought a tear to his eye. There were the Vanders he learned about in the morning, some people from the same race as Grog, flying avian creatures that imitated the flight of angels, ginormous buff people with rock-like texture. One of the passersby even complimented Barbados for his 'cosplay', which he didn't understand but thanked them regardless. At the alley, the 8 people, including Barbados, split into 2 teams and made bets on who would win. Barbados went 1st on his team and initially missed, but the second time he spun the cement ball and almost knocked all the pins over and the ball split in half as it smashed against the back. This sent a shiver down the laughing opposition, as if they faced an awakened tiger. He grinned and anticipated his next turn. Turn after turn, he got perfect strikes and eviscerated ball after ball. To no one surprise, his team won and they celebrated with a round of drinks. Barbados took a large gulp of his and was repulsed at the cheapness of it. "Even demons have better tasting alcohol than this trash" he thought, forcing himself to drink it all. He paid with the money Adam handed him before leaving the meeting yesterday.

He helped the rest of the group get back to their dorms and went for a late walk around the campus. His legs wandered him to the colosseum and was shocked to see the light turned on. He saw what seemed like a club about body reinforcement. The teacher in charge saw him and welcomed him to the 'Stronger Body club' and while he talked about the meaning of this club, Barbados looked at the burdened students whose eye bags looked like sinkholes. Their bodies encumbered by the bags of sand on their back as they did a plank formation. As the teacher explained, this was to increase core strength and make it easier to push mana throughout the central part of the body. Barbados bid them adieu, wishing to not disturb more than he had already done, but before leaving he caught a glimpse of one of his students from the morning class. It was the student with the maul. "So you took my advice. Well done." he thought as he left for his chambers.