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Chapter 35

Chapter 35

Adamantium Fortress: Training Ground

“All right, now that everyone is here. Let’s start the class. For the past month, all of you have been doing nothing but mana control and few physical training. This is to make you all adapt to your mana and focus on absorbing as much knowledge as possible. After all rushing to learn magic will only result in an unstable foundation.

However, now that all of had more or less mastered the Inner mana control, it is time for you all to learn the basics of Enhancement Magic,” Instructor Edder said, making all the new high knights excited as they whispered amongst each other since they couldn’t hold their excitement.

“Finally, It’s time to learn magic.”

“I can’t wait.”

“I have been training hard for this day.”

“I wonder what the first magic we will learn.”

Before Instructor Edder could continue his lecture, Julia raised her hand. “Hm? What is it, Julia?” Instructor Edder asked

“What about our Outer Mana Control?” Julia asked

“Good question. As I have said, Learning Basic Enhancement magic doesn’t need Outer Mana Control. However, that doesn’t mean Outer Mana Control is less important than Inner Mana Control. In fact, Outer Mana Control is more important than Inner Mana Control since the majority of Advance Magic relies on Outer Mana Control.

However, Mastering Outer Mana control is 100 times longer than mastering Inner Mana Control, So it would be pointless to dedicate another month just for you all to practice Outer Mana control since you all won’t be able to master it with that kind of timeline. After all, usually, it would take years, if not decades, to fully master Outer Mana control.

So, For Outer Mana Control, we will slowly train it alongside the basic of Enhancement Magic and other Physical Training. That way, once we finish our Basic of Enhancement Magic, all of you will have at least some expertise in Outer Mana Control. Do you all understand?” Instructor Edder said

“Yes, Sir,” Julia and some high knights replied

“Good. Now, before I teach the basic of Enhancement Magic, I want to assess the combat prowess of all of you by Duel. That is why we will spend our lecture in the training ground for today. This Duel will be on your record, so make sure not to hold back, or you will only hurt your grade,” Instructor Edder said, making all the new high knights tense. “All right, Everyone spread out. Make room at the center for the sparring session.”

“Yes, Sir,” The high knights replied as they created ample space in the center of the training ground.

“All right, When I say your name, Come to the center.” Instructor Edder said. “I made sure that the Duel is equal as possible based on the physical training he previously did. However, I want to see the fighting capabilities of all of you, so as long as you show me good fighting capability, even if you lose, you will still gain a good result. But that depends on what I think, so if you really want a good evaluation, then Win. Is that understood?”

“Yes, Sir,” The high knight replied

“Good, Then let’s not waste any more time and start. Deon and Harris, Come to the center; you guys will start the Duel.” Instructor Edder said, startling Deon as he didn’t expect to be the first.

‘Was it a coincidence that my opponent is Harris?’ Deon thought as he approached the center of the training ground, where he saw Harris also walking confidently with a smirk

‘Heh. Well. Might as well.’ Deon thought, ready for the Duel.

Deon was never afraid to fight against his ‘senior.’ In fact, he wanted to fight them even before when he was in the institute, mostly because his peers couldn’t keep up with him, and the only person who could keep with him was Rayner, mostly because he had a stronger physique than Deon.

‘Our physique should more or less be the same. So, he won’t have too much advantage in this fight. Not that I need it anyways.’ Deon thought, but as the thought popped out, he immediately shook his head. ‘I can’t be overconfident. I don’t know anything about his fighting style. It’s best to proceed with caution.’

“Why are you shaking your head? Are you afraid? Don’t worry, as your senior. I’ll be gentle,” Harris said, more confident than ever when he saw Deon shaking his head, with his thoughts becoming more malicious. ‘I finally get to beat this son of bitch. If it weren’t for the Instructor being here, I would beat this little shit until he is half-dead… no… Even beating this little shit half dead won’t satisfy me. I’ll thoroughly humiliate this ‘genius’ and show people that he is nothing but a piece of shit. I’ll make sure you grovel in my feet. That would show them what kind of piece of shit you are.’ As his thoughts grew more rampant, the darker his thoughts became, and Harris started to imagine Deon begging for his life, losing the dignity of the imperial knight order in the process.

“All right, I’ll explain the rules.” Instructor Edder said. “The rules are simple, the first person to hit their opponent three clean hits will be the winner. Is that clear?”

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“Yes, Sir,” Deon and Harris replied, with Harris’s smile growing more malicious.

“All right, pick your weapons, you are allowed to pick any weapons or how many weapons you want to be, but I suggest you pick the weapons that would allow you to showcase your Imperial Battle arts to the full extent,” Instructor Edder said

Deon picked a shield and sword. Out of all the techniques in the Imperial Battle Arts, his shield and sword combination are his best combination since they allow Deon to balance his defense and attack capabilities.

Of course, Deon isn’t the only one that picks the shield and sword as their preferred combined weapons. In fact, it is the most popular weapon combination out of the three combinations.

Harris also picked a shield and sword, and when he saw Deon having the same weapon as him, he grew more confident. ‘Hmph, Wrong choice. Even my sword and shield combo would make Edmund cautious. This is going to be easy. Hehehe.’

“All right, Are you guys ready?” Instructor Edder asked

“Yes, Sir,” Deon and Harris replied as they took their stance.

It wasn’t a coincidence that Deon and Harris ended up dueling against each other. As the Instructor of high knights, he is very observant of his students and has long realized that Deon and Harris have some hostility to one another. Thus, he planned the two youths to battle it out, hoping to resolve the enmity between them.

Of course, he also planned to use this Duel to humble Deon. After all, he didn’t want a student that is full of himself, and although Deon wasn’t showing arrogance, it was still better to humble Deon now since the other new high knights might not get a chance later on, with how fast Deon is improving.

Instructor Edder sighed internally as he observed the two youths before him. he actually didn’t want to do this since he also knew that confidence is key to success, but with how much the fortress master and the three visitors praised Deon, he had no choice but to do this since deon’s ego might become too large.

Unbeknownst to Instructor Edder, Deon doesn’t care about the praises of the Fortress master and the three visitors. Not because Deon is immune to praise, it’s because to Deon, they are nothing more than a stranger, and what they think of him doesn’t matter. However, if the praises came from Father James or one of his friends, then it might’ve been a different story.

“BEGIN!” Instructor Edder shouted

Harris immediately rushed Deon the moment he heard instructor Edder as he slashed his sword at deon’s head, but Deon quickly blocked it with his shield.

Deon felt a tremor travel through his arm. ‘Just as I have thought, our strength is more or less the same.’

Before Deon could continue his thought, Harris delivered another slash to deon’s shield, bombarding Deon with consecutive slashes, but deon’s shield didn’t budge.

“Not bad, but if this is the best you can do, then you are 100 years too early to fight me,” Harris shouted as he continued his bombardment, and as he finished his words, he immediately changed the direction of his slash to deon’s stomach, but even then deon calmly defended it.

Harris frowned but didn’t stop his attacks and tried attacking Deon in every direction, but deon’s shield could easily defend his attacks as though it was a magnet, annoying Harris in the process.

“Is defending the best you can do? You fucking coward!” Harris shouted, trying to provoke Deon to attack

Deon parried Harris’s sword with his shield and delivered a piercing blow to Harris, but before it could connect, Harris was able to block it with his shield.

After blocking deon’s sword, Harris saw an opening and quickly delivered an attack while shouting. “I’ve told you. You are too early to—”

Before Harris could finish his sentence, Deon had already blocked his attack and quickly parried it by twisting his whole body while using the momentum to quickly deliver a sword slash to Harris’s side. “You talk too much.”

*BAM*

The impact was strong enough to throw Harris for a few steps as he clutched his side while groaning.

“Ughh”

Both Deon and Harris used wooden swords and shields, making the damage less compared to if they used a real sword.

However, Harris was directly hit on his kidney, making the blow extremely painful as his face became pale.

Deon didn’t continue attacking Harris and looked at him while wearing a mocking smile, igniting Harris’s anger as he endured the pain while trying to look composed as he could.

“Is this it?” Deon provocatively asked, making Harris grit his teeth in anger

“Ahhhh!!” Harris shouted as he threw his shield toward Deon

Deon easily deflected Harris’s shield and saw Harris rushing toward him, but Deon wasn’t worried and slightly smirked. ‘You can’t just throw your shield away.’

Harris clenched his sword with his two hands while trying to attack Deon with a heavy sword slash as though he was giving his all into the heavy slash.

Deon raised his shield to block the heavy sword slash, but unexpectedly the heavy sword slash didn’t arrive as Harris side stepped into deon’s side and delivered a piercing attack.

‘A fake?’ Deon was startled but quickly reacted as he dodged Harris’s piercing attack and rammed his shield toward Harris, sending Harris a few steps back. “Too slow”

‘Fuck, That was my chance if it weren’t for that blow earlier,’ Harris thought as he held his side, trying to endure the pain near his kidney. Earlier, the moment Harris side step to deliver his piercing blow, his kidney gave him a stabbing pain due to his instantaneous movement, making Harris flinch for a moment, which makes him fail to connect his blow.

Before Harris could think further, he saw Deon lunge forward and give a sword slash toward Harris’s face

Harris instinctively raised his hand to protect his head, but unexpectedly the blow didn’t happen, which instantly alarmed him, only to realize that his hand blocked his eyesight

‘Fu—’

*BAM*

“Ahhhh!!”

Before he could continue his thought, he felt another blow toward the side, hitting his other kidney, which immediately made Harris shout in pain as he fell to the ground while clutching the other kidney that Deon just attacked.

Harris rolled on the ground as Deon looked on with cold eyes. At first, Deon wanted to hit the same kidney that he hit earlier to maximize the damage, but in the end, he felt it was too cruel and changed his mind.

‘Maybe, if I targeted the same kidney, he would’ve passed out by now. I guess it worked out in the end,’ Deon ruthlessly thought.

Deon has no intention of giving mercy toward his enemies, and the only reason he does so is because everyone is looking at the Duel, and he doesn’t want to appear cruel, especially in front of Instructor Edder. After all, a Knight should be merciful. That is the teaching of the Order, and if he can’t show that, then he is just hurting his evaluation.

“Do you surrender?” Deon coldly spoke, refocusing on the matter at hand as he pointed his sword toward Harris.

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Thought for Thoughts

* Easy dub for Deon

* It took longer than I thought. Did I make it too long? Give feedback, please.