Chapter 173.

PART 1.

The dueling team has gathered for their sparring session. Dimitri trains them individually, but they also gather every four days for a sparring session. They spar with students selected by Dimitri, and against each other, and sometimes, the coach and Nandan also participate in the sparring.

“Today, before we begin to spar, let me explain why stamina is so important.” Said Dimitri. “If you have more stamina, you can cast spells for longer periods, and if a battle starts to stretch out, you will have an edge over your opponent if you have better stamina than them.”

“Coach, I do get that, and I also understand why you’re making us train physically to increase our stamina. But doesn’t the force of the spell matter?” asked Praduman.

“It does.” Nodded Dimitri. “And this is where the control comes. Your spells should not hit hard by default, they should hit as hard as you want them to be. A normal tap is enough to kill a mosquito,” Hatori looks around angrily, “But throwing a full punch is overkill. Not only it is unnecessary to force, but it is also slower, and it will give your opponent a chance to get away.”

Praduman still does not look convinced. So Dimitri decides to start the sparring. “Tell you what, let’s start the sparring with you. Hatori, you’re up. you are not allowed to attack, dodging and blocking are allowed. Do not leave the area of the ring. Is that clear?” asked Dimitri.

“Clear.” Said Hatori and Praduman.

Praduman is experiencing the same feeling when Professor Bali called him to spar against Hatori all those years ago. At least this time, everyone knows how strong he is. if he ends up in a heap by the end of this despite the restrictions on Hatori, there won’t be any loss to his reputation.

“Begin!” orders Nandan.

Praduman starts with some light spells, trying to get an idea of Hatori’s defense. Displaying his excellent footwork, Hatori dodges all the spells, batting some of them aside. He idly notes in his mind that Dimitri never said anything about sending these spells back at Praduman, but he decides that he won’t do it here. the coach is trying to impart a lesson to the other boy, Hatori should help out since he is his teammate.

Seeing that his initial volley is not having an effect, Praduman resorts to the heavy spells in his arsenal, attacking him with earth spells to either crush Hatori, sink Hatori in a swamp, or turn him into a bloody bruise with a barrage of small rocks fired at his way. he shielded the last one, but the rest he avoided.

Praduman is now starting to get tired. He has to move with Hatori, who is not standing still. He could not blame him for that, given the restrictions put on him by the coach. But it is still not making his job any easier.

By the end of this session, Praduman is on the ground, struggling for every breath, while Hatori looks still fresh, aside from a little bit of sweat on his brow, which he quickly wiped away.

“You see?” comes the gruff voice of Dimitri. “This is what happens when you lack stamina.” He helps Praduman up, and after his breathing normalizes a little, gives him a bottle of water.

“Nandan, give him a recovery potion.” Said Dimitri. “You will have to work hard to overcome this.” He pats Praduman on the shoulder encouragingly and helps him to the bench, where Nandan gives him the potion.

After drinking this potion, Praduman speaks. “Thank you, coach.”

“No problem.” Said Dimitri. “Now, get ready rest of you, you have to spar as well!”

They all line up, as they have to spar with each other continuously.

PART 2.

The voting is done, and the rankings are revealed. Suraj has gotten tough competition, but he has won, coming out on top, and becoming the new president. Josh is handing over the keys to the office to Suraj in the ceremony.

“May you have a peaceful term.” He wished him.

“Thanks.” Said Suraj.

Immediately deciding that he will start working on the issues, Suraj checks for any pending issues. apart from a few which are long-term ones, he is happy to find out that Josh has left him a clean slate. ‘I will do the same for my successor two years later.’ he thought.

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“Now, let’s decide the position in the council,” he said, and everyone started to offer their suggestions.

Meanwhile, Josh is happy to be relieved of his responsibility. He hopes that this system will last a long time because what they had before was nothing but a sham.

PART 3.

Hatori is sitting under the oak tree, and Tom comes to him. “Aren’t we doing the control training today?” he asked.

“I thought you might take a break today, given your training in the morning.” Said Hatori.

“Yeah, but I’ve rested since.” Said Tom.

Hatori likes this about Tom. He could have easily called the day off, but he is still here, after his rest, ready to do some magical training. “Sure. Let’s start with handling multiple objects at the same time while levitating them,” said Hatori.

He displays the example of accomplishing this feet without the use of his foci. He makes the small stones move around in a complex arc around him. “Once you manage to reach this level, only practice will improve your control.” Explained Hatori.

Hatori is not sharing his fociless magic with Tom. Some things are not for teaching others he feels, and besides, the other boy has not shown any interest in it, despite his liberal use of it right in front of him.

PART 4.

Josh comes to see Suraj in his office. “So, how are you adjusting to the first day?” he asked.

“Oh, good. particularly because I don’t have any pending issues,” he explained.

“Yeah, I deliberately made sure that you won’t have that problem.” Said Josh.

“I’m not looking forward to the paperwork though,” said Suraj.

Josh laughed. “Better you than me, buddy. I’ve done this for the last four years,” said Josh.

“Speaking of which, do you think that the future presidents will have a shorter run than you, like me?” asked Suraj.

“Nah, I’m not worried about that,” said Josh. “Remember, you can fight in the elections once you’re a fifth year. I bet sooner or later, another person like me would show up, and take this position, and serve as just as long as me.”

PART 5.

Hatori is wandering around the Academy, looking at the decoration. The time of the winter festival is coming soon. ‘It would be interesting to know how Dimitri handles that time. I doubt he will give us an entire month off.’ He thought.

“Hey, look! He is the winner of the tournament!” and once more, Hatori is surrounded by the younger students.

Much to his own amusement, he does not mind their company, like he used to in his younger days. ‘Younger days. What the hell is wrong with me?’ he snorts at his thoughts, feeling as if he is quite old.

PART 6.

Avinash brings the flames in his palm and then crushes them under his fist. He is improving fast, magically and physically. ‘So this is the difference between self-training and guided training.’ He thought.

“And then he made me levitate pebbles.” Tom was saying.

“Multiple of them?” asked Akshit.

“Yes. he said that once I reach that level, only practice will improve my control.” Said Tom.

“Did he share any secrets about fociless magic?” asked Sagar.

“No. I did not ask him either.” Said Tom.

“Good,” said Avinash, catching their attention. “His willingness to train you this much is a sign of his generosity. We will not take advantage of him like that, we’re better than this.”

“Of course!” all three agreed.

PART 7.

Unable to fall asleep, Hatori walks out of his dorm. He does not suffer from the bouts of sleeplessness as much as he used to, and after gaining his artificial eyes, it has reduced even further. Still, it comes back time-to-time.

Hatori sees some lights flickering in certain dorms. He is not interested to know what is going on there. nearby, a student screams as he is getting attacked. The attackers are screaming about cheating in the exams or something, and Hatori decides that he wants to do nothing with it.

He walks to the grounds and enjoys the cold wind on his face. He would have been terrified in his first or second years, but now, he is one of the deadliest students in this school. That is why he can enjoy this rather normal night in the Academy.

‘I won’t get to do that once I graduate. What would I do after that?’ he thinks since no career comes to his mind that he would like to pursue for the rest of his life.