After the graduation I was also able to reach level twenty four and increased my Intelligence to advanced level. To use high ranking Life magic spells, Wisdom, which mostly was used to remember spell circles, was useless, instead to use high ranking Life magic spells mages needed to increase Intelligence and their amount of mana. High ranking spells needed a lot of mana and ability to channel it, the ability that Intelligence skill improved.

Then I visited Mage guild and bought high elf language dictionary. It costed me ten gold coins, but I felt that my use of the language was still lacking and wanted to improve it.

I had one week before Adventurer guild will star accepting students for the enrolment, so I used that time to do some hunting in Cemetery dungeon.

Then I returned to capitol and for the first time visited Adventurer academy. It was surrounded by two meter high fence. Gates were open and after I went inside I saw an old man sitting in front of a table. Actually he was sleeping. I sat down in front of him and coughed. He did not even react, so I hit the table with my palm. He slowly opened his eyes and looked at me.

- Yes. How can I help you?

- I wish to learn skills in Adventurers academy.

- I see. Are you an adventurer?

- Yes.

- Your name and rank.

- My name is Avone. I have C rank, - I demonstrated him my adventurer tag.

- Quit unusual for someone with you rank to enroll in Adventurers academy.

- I have some magic skills, but no warrior skills. I want to improve my swordsmanship.

- I see.

- Well you are qualified to join adventurers guild. What skills do you wish to learn?

- First Swordsmanship skill, then Increased speed and Throwing.

- You will need two years to learn them. All together it will cost you one hundred and sixty gold coins.

- Can I get a separate room?

- Yes, but it will cost you forty gold coins, for all four semesters.

I put my last two orichalcum coins on the table and he filled necessary lines in the contract.

- My name is Shawn. Sign this. We provide place to sleep and have a diner inside the academy. You will need to pay for food separately. We train five days, then you get two days rest. Lessons continue for five month and two weeks, then months you have free time. After that one semester, week of free time, between semesters. You will need one semester to get Swordsmanship, if you study hard. One more semester to get Increased speed skill, and two semesters to learn Throwing. Be here in one week after sunrise that is when the lessons will begin.

- Understood, - I stood up and bowed. I already knew, that unlike Magic academy, Adventurer academy was not so rich and students had to pay for food. That was additional expense, but I earned enough money hunting in Cemetery dungeon to afford it.

After spending more time in the dungeon, I returned to finally learn my first close combat warrior skill.

Group of adventurers already gathered inside the courtyard. Most of them were young boys, with only few girls among them. There were about twenty new students. To my surprise I also noticed several young men dressed in expensive clothes. They were probably children or less wealthy nobles, who failed enrolment in both Magic academy and Knight academy. Trevor mentioned, that some of them become adventurers with the only purpose of learning skills in Adventurer academy. Soon man dressed in red robe came outside, and everyone fell silent.

- Welcome to Adventurers academy. I am Sork. Principal of this academy. You all are welcomed here. We will begin your lessons today, after breakfast. Most of the time you will need to work alone, following your teachers instructions. But if you train hard, do not skip lessons, and do what you are told, then you all will successfully get the skills that you want. Now please go to your dorm rooms. Your names will be on the doors, so you will not miss them. Breakfast starts an hour after sunrise, and lessons star an hour after that. Dorm rooms are located to your left. After breakfast gather here and your teachers will tell you your assignments.

That was different. I followed the crowd looking around. All buildings were made of wood. There were many of them, but their location looked random. I had a feeling, that they were build as needed, replacing old ones and building additional ones in most convenient places, but without any planning.

Dorm rooms were biggest building in academy. As I searched my name, I noticed that most of the doors had four names, on them and were not separated by gender. Only few had just one name. I found my name on one of doors and went inside. Simple wooden bed, chair and chest for personal things. Room was barely big enough for the furniture, and no magic lamp. That was definitely not the Magic academy. I sighed. Well that had to be expected. I decided to keep my things in my magic bag, and my magic bag with myself. Young adventurers with little income were not known for their honest behavior. I took out one of my wallets and left only three silver coins and copper coins inside it. No need to flash around my remaining gold coins.

I spend some time laying on the bed and reading my elf language book and then went to dining room. I easily found it. All tables were placed outside, and there was a line, formed in front of a kitchen. I joined the queue and had to wait a while until my turn to buy food came. To my surprise there was no choices, just single choice. Soup, piece of bread and cup of water that costed three copper coins. Food was kind of disappointing.

After breakfast we again gathered in courtyard and several teachers joined us. They called out the skills that newbie adventurers wanted to learn and took them in different places of the academy. One of them called out for students who wanted to learn Swordsmanship skill and we followed him to one of the training grounds. Separated by the fence they were built on academy's ground. I counted more than a dozen of such places. with different sizes. There were no fountains and no parks. Just simple ground, only some of it covered with grass.

One of the students, big bearded man approached me and looked over my body.

- Hey there little one. Did you came here to meat real men? Then this is your lucky day, - he put up his hand and tried to touch my breast. I grabbed his forearm and squeezed it. I wanted just to squeeze his hand to make it hurt, but underestimated my strength and broke bones in his arm. Adventurer screamed in pain and I let go of his arm.

- You betch! You broke my arm!

He fell on his knees, holding his broken forearm.

Uups, that was unexpected. I decided to pretend that it was exactly what I wanted, and looked at him with disdain.

- What is happening here? - teacher approached as and looked at the wounded man.

- She broke my arm, - he pointed his chin at me.I put my hair behind my ears, to let teacher know that I was an elf. I also took out my adventurer tag from under my short, and placed it above my clothe.

- That low life tried to touch my chest.Teacher looked at my adventurer tag and smirked.

- You, get to the infirmary. For the rest of you, let this be your first lesson. Never underestimate your opponent, no matter how he looks.

- Won't you punish her? - complained wounded adventurer. Teacher kicked him and pointed to the direction of one of the buildings.

- I said, get to infirmary. And do not even think about causing more trouble.

After adventurer left, he looked at rest of us.

- Now does everyone has a sword?

I also looked around. I was the only one unarmed. I got so used to the Magic academy's rules, of no weapons, that did not even thought that Adventurer academy had different ones. All other students were armed. They had swords of different shapes and sizes, but all had them. I quickly took out my sword and fastened it on my belt. Teacher looked at me and sighed.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

- My name is Dorian. I will be your sword skill teacher. From this day on you will all have your swords with you. When you train, when you eat and even when you sleep, you will sleep with your sword buy you side. Every morning you will start with some training to increase your speed, stamina and strength. In the afternoon you will spare and receive your sword use lessons. There are only six teachers in Adventurer academy, so do not count on teacher holding your hand all the time. I will be with you during your sparring, to prevent you from killing each other and also teach you sword techniques. But mastering sword techniques and training in the morning you will do alone. If you do not practice, you will not be able to receive the Swordsmanship skill, and even worse you will never be able to get it. So do as you are told. Practice hard and do not be children who skip lessons because you are too lazy. Now form the line and start running.

We run in circles, until one of us stopped and started vomiting.

- Good, - said teacher: - Every morning you will start with running. Next some exercises.

He forced us to do exercises like pull-ups and a push-ups, sit ups, jumping and other exercises. Many of them to strengthen our palms.

We continued training until midday, when someone rang a bell and we were allowed to go and eat lunch. Thanks to my increased strength stats many exercises were easy for me, but even I felt tired and hurt in many places. I was thankful for the end of morning exercises and did not look forward to next morning.

After lunch we again gathered in the same training ground. The adventurer whose arm I broke also joined us. I noticed that his arm was already healed. Probably by someone who could use Cure spell.

- Now, let us see how good you are with your swords.

- You, - he pointed at me: - Let's see what C rank adventurer is capable off.

Other adventurers whispered among themselves. Apparently they failed to notice my adventurer's tag and its color.

I stepped forward and took out my sword. Teacher glanced at it, and squinted his eyes.

- Your opponent will be...

- Me, - adventurer with healed arm stepped forward and took out his sword. It was a longsword, and he took it in both of his arms. Dorian shook his head, but allowed it.

- Fine. But no complains later, from either one of you.

Adventurer pointed his sword at me and spit on the ground.

- I am Grog the destroyer. Just so you know, I am at level nine. And your increased strength stats will not help you in a swordfight.

I did not answer and put my sword in front of me preparing for the fight.

- Begin! - ordered our teacher. Grog so called destroyer screamed and attacked me. He slashed at me from above, using all his strength. If he would have hit me, that would kill me. I could easily avoided the attack, but this fool angered me. I also used my strength and met his sword with my attack. My sword split his greatsword in two and half of his blade fell on earth. I stepped back and looked at broken sword. I got used to fighting monsters and did not expect the steel greatsword to break so easily.

Grog looked at his sword with surprise and cursed.

- Enough! - commanded our teacher: - And I said no complains.

He glared at Grog and destroyer bitted his tong.

- Show me your sword, - he ordered. I hesitated, but handed over my sword. He looked at it from all sides: - Made from monster materials I see. But I do not sense any magic, so it is not an artifact.

He handed over the blade: - My I ask who made this sword?

- Ashurga from Grimsburg.

- I heard about him. Grimsburg's best blacksmith. I see that his reputation was not exaggerated. Now let us continue. You and you next, - he pointed at nearest adventures: - But keep in mind that you are training, so no lethal attacks, or you will be expelled.

After everyone fought, and four adventurers that were wounded came back from the infirmary, Dorian continued with our lesson. He showed us the way how to hold a sword and basic attack and defense moves, most of which I already knew. We continued practicing them for two hours, to make sure that we all remembered them. Dorian corrected those students, who used their swords incorrectly.

- Good, - he said, after all of us managed to copy all attack and defense moves: - Tomorrow you will practice on your own. I will join you in the afternoon and oversee your sparring. Any fighting in the academy's grounds are forbidden and are the reason for expulsion, - he looked at Grog, and big adventurer averted his eyes: - Now you can rest. Dinner will be after third bell.

* * *

Next morning I woke up after the bell that informed everyone that breakfast will be ready soon. On my way to kitchen, I noticed that many adventurers eat food, that they brought themselves. That was probably cheaper, but I decided to stick with local kitchen's food. It was not very good, but I was too lazy to shop outside the academy.

After going to sleep and feeling pain in my body, I thought that I will feel the same in the morning. But apparently my increased health stats were large enough to heal me over the night. I felt refreshed and ready to continue.

I noticed that other adventurers tried to stay away from me. I did not mind, since I did not look for new friends. I took a seat at empty table, and finished my breakfast without anyone joining me. Apparently I got myself a reputation, after yesterday. I used the toilet, which was a small wooden box, with deep hole, that reminded me of similar ones, that people on earths used too, long time ago.

I repeated yesterday's exercises alongside other adventurers and diligently practiced my sword moves after lunch.

Two hours after lunch ended, Dorian joined us and brought with him wooden swords.

- Take one of these swords and separate by two.

All adventurers found a partner, and I was the only one who turned out to be alone.

- Now practice moves that I showed you yesterday, and try not to lose an eye. You, - he looked at me: - What is your name?

- Avone.

- Fine Avone, - I will spare with you: - Continue practicing your moves, until I join you.

Sounds of wood clacking filled the air. Dorian looked after students, separating two couples when they started hitting each other instead of training. When everyone fall in rhythm, he joined me. We practiced moves that he showed us until dinner.

My hands hurt and I was even more tired than yesterday. Next day we had same routine, that continued day after day.

During rest days I continued my dungeon exploration, but it went much slower than before, because after my training in Adventurer academy I felt more tired than before. I had no idea how could Trevor and Luara hunt with us, if they had the same practice every day.

When we learned sword techniques Dorian showed us new ones. By the end of semester he showed us more and more complicated combinations, that we had to practice until perfection.

After my first day, rest of adventurers tried to stay away from me. My usual practice partner was Dorian, and I was happy about that, since I could fight against him without holding back. I got used to morning practice and increased the repetition of exercises.

The hardest thing for me was anticipating my opponent's movements by the movements of his shoulders or by watching his eyes. I did not manage to master that skill, and failed to defeat Dorian even once, during our practice matches.

I thought that there will be some kind of special training, but semester ended with the same routine, just with more advanced sword techniques, that Dorian showed us. Then semester came to an end and we used similar skill orbs that Magic academy had. The graduation ended with us using the skill orbs, with no celebration or dinner. We were informed that second semester will start in one month, for those of us who could afford and decided to learn more skills.

Talk about disappointment, I got used to celebration dinners.

After graduation I visited Adventurer guild to use leveling crystal, before my yearly hunt in Cemetery dungeon. I got lucky and gained one level and increased my Swordsmanship skill to basic level.

I spend one month mapping Cemetery dungeon and located additional floor guardians. But I avoided any dangerous battles and mostly refreshed my spell use, that I almost abandoned during semester in Adventurer academy.

Next semester I chose to learn Increased speed skill. I was the only one who chose it during that semester and exercised alone, in my private training ground. I had to spend most of my time exercising. Sprinting short distances, running, catching objects that instructor Shawn threw at me and doing many other exercises. They turned out to be simple, and there were no secret techniques, that I again expected. But by the end of the semester I got Increased speed skill.

I had one week of vacation, but decided to spend it in a tavern with soft bed, instead of visiting the dungeon. One year on nonstop exercises tired me out and I decided that I needed rest. I also visited Adventurer guild to increase my level, but to my surprise my level did not increase.

Next semester I chose Throwing skill. It was one of the more difficult skills to learn and acquiring this skill took two semesters instead of the usual one.

I had a partner from previous semester this time. But he practiced throwing knives, spears and such, while I got stuck throwing rocks. First I needed to hit center of the target, ten meters from me, then twenty and then thirty meters away. I would have complained a lot, but just like before, most of the time I had to practice alone. Only two month later I graduated from rocks to throwing knives, again with the same goal of throwing them in the center of the target, first from five meter distance, then ten and finally twenty.

My teacher showed me how to move my wrist during the throw and corrected me until I used it the right way, but rest of the time I had to practice on my own. Throwing daggers into center of a target ten time out of ten turned to be much more difficult than I expected. I needed nine more weeks until I managed to do that and the rest of semester I learned how to throw a spear. That turned out to be much easier that throwing knifes, until distance increased to thirty meters. By the end of semester, my spear throwing still was not perfect, but my teacher was satisfied with the results.

I had whole month to myself, but I could not afford the rest. I already paid for next semester, but until then I earned only fifty gold coins, and needed to earn much more to cover my payment for last semesters. Especially if I wanted to keep my private room. I was not allowed to use leveling crystal and had to take bigger risks in Cemetery dungeon without even leveling up.

I already mapped and searched more than a half of the dungeon, but did not find any treasure or artifacts that could bring me a lot of money. There was just one place left, that I could go, to earn enough to cover my expenses in academy. I bought enough food to last me for a month and departed on my most dangerous Cemetery dungeon visit yet.