CHAPTER 8: A SPAR AGAINST AN INSTRUCTOR

"Woah, what a monster. What sort of genius monster did the empire produce? Aside from the first emperor, who had the only supreme talent rank, no one has ever reached the realm of supreme rank. And that's crazy as well. He's a mad genius," Jessica said, clearly excited.

"Alright, calm down, Jessica. No need to be this excited. What we need to do now is think of how to groom him," Alexander said casually.

"Good luck to you guys. I have a daughter to train," Seth said plainly, preparing to walk away.

"You can't, Seth. We all agreed that there will be tutors teaching all the kids. Only those who have surpassed the tutor can gain special training from the commanders. Don't go around breaking the rules," the ever-so-quiet Genevieve said.

"Tsk, no fun," Seth said. "Well, that means that rude crown prince will be having a tutor too," Seth added, clearly looking for a way to get an exception for his precious daughter's tutoring.

"I'm afraid that won't be long. The boy already has a skill to surpass even tutors. He was the heir to the throne, after all," Alexander said with a cunning smile plastered on his face.

The ceremony was brought to a close, and the kids were ushered to a specific place together to rest, their training already prepared and awaiting them the day after.

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The day of the training, the children were woken up quite early by their instructors. An exercise session was held, which included running, lifting weights (the right size for their age), and several bone-wrecking exercises. Of course, some kids complained, some were unable to finish the exercise, but a few accomplished it: Jayden, Silas, Kaitlyn, Arthur, Gwen, and some other kids. After the training, they were all allowed to rest until the evening session arrived—combat training.

The majority of the kids were looking forward to this session happily, finally being able to learn how to fight and be of help to their parents and the revolutionary army. Each kid was assigned an instructor to spar with, with the instructors providing guidance while sparring with them.

The children sparred and obviously lost, nodding eagerly after being corrected. Of course, the harmonious spar came to an abrupt end due to the spar between Arthur and his instructor.

The instructor, a plain-looking man, gazed at Arthur with a knowing smile. He had heard about the monstrous genius and had personally decided to train him, being the best tutor and also the strongest. Being the tutor of the soon-to-be strongest man of the continent was an appealing title. He decided to go a notch higher and nip any form of pride Arthur might develop at this stage.

"Alright, boy, show me what you got. In this spar, we won't use Viz, just swordsmanship skills. Show me what you've got," the instructor, Jay, said with a smile.

Arthur looked at him, picked a sword that felt just right, and began his fighting stance. After gazing directly into the instructor's eyes for a few seconds, he rushed immediately at him. With precision, he swung the sword, aiming at the neck of the instructor, not worried about causing lethal damage since it was a wooden sword. The instructor, seeing this, had a knowing smile and brought his own sword toward his neck to defend against the attack, preparing for a reprimand. But Arthur deftly retracted his attack at the last moment and struck the abdomen of the instructor, getting a grunt from him.

The instructor was shocked and realized he needed to be on guard against this handsome devil. He stepped back two steps and prepared again for the attack. Arthur rushed toward him again, aiming for the same neck before changing to the legs, but this time the instructor was on guard and would not be beaten. He blocked the attack neatly but was kicked before he could react, forcing him back a few steps.

His eyes were bewildered, being outsmarted twice. He prepared himself even more, not wanting to be embarrassed again. And so the crazy battle began, Arthur attacking the instructor like some devil incarnate, not even giving the man time to catch his breath. Adding feints into his attack while diversifying it, Jay felt so much pressure that he didn't realize he had started defending Arthur as he would his peers.

Still, he couldn't shake off the pressure, which mounted on him so much that he began to sweat. In a bid to gain control, he started attacking, refusing to remain on the defensive. But even that couldn't save him from the fierceness of the young kid. At this point, everyone had their eyes on the match—the children and tutors combined—no one willing to miss a scene. Jay could feel the gazes around him but couldn't pay more attention, barely able to block the attacks of the child. Countering was already a distant dream.

After what seemed like an eternity for Jay, he finally had no choice but to surrender, knowing his defeat was at hand.

Clap clap clap.

"I guess you were right, Alexander. The kid is more skillful than we thought," Jessica said after clapping, shocking everyone present when they realized the presence of the commanders. The commanders had all been watching the show, albeit secretly, until it concluded.

"Guess we have a little monster in our midst," Genevieve said with a genuine smile on her face.

"Guess so," Jack said. "Would love to fight him when he grows up."

"He's dangerous," Seth said, finally not focusing on his daughter for the first time in ages.

"Well, now we're sure the tutors can't handle him. So who's gonna teach him?" Alexander asked, but his gaze lingered on Daniel.

"Well, we all know the right person already. Daniel's the only one that can teach that child and not destroy his potential," Jessica said matter-of-factly, gaining nods from every single commander aside from Daniel.

With a sigh of resignation, Daniel accepted the task.

"I'll be teaching you from now on, kid. Be prepared—it won't be easy," Daniel said to Arthur.

"I'm prepared for that as long as it makes me stronger," Arthur said, a coldness that shouldn't exist in a child permeating his whole body.