Reuge Institution.
A place where people from various walks of life learn their trade. Whether it was a merchant trying to make their way by learning how to create contracts or a mercenary wanting to learn combat skills, this was one of the places to be.
As the self-proclaimed fairest institution to learn skills, it even gave monsters and other non-humans a chance to learn. There were even some instructors who were non-human. Though the head of it was undoubtedly human.
Fair and right, without any corruption. The Reuge Institution was a favorable place to learn a specific set of skills.
Xeril brought Sammuel ahead of the line. This made a few people slightly annoyed at them cutting the line. But after realizing that they had a recommendation, they quickly shut their mouths.
Everyone was treated equally, if you were good enough to stand out then you would be praised, if you were unskilled then you wouldn’t make it that far. That was how equality was enforced. No race, no color, no species was given preferential treatment against another. It was all about how well one conducted themselves.
The two entered a special room where the current head of the Reuge Institution warmly welcomed them. His grey beard had white streaks on it showing his age yet it only solidified the aura of seniority on everyone else.
“Xeril, good to finally meet you. I would’ve thought you would come in a few months later on. I certainly didn’t expect you to bring someone else with you. He must be quite the catch, I presume?” Weston smiled.
Sammuel tried to keep his calm in front such of a behemoth. Yet it was quite difficult to do so.
[Name: Weston Eregus
Card Quality: Diamond
Star Quality: ???
Affinity Level: ???
Combat Power: ???]
Sammuel was all far too familiar with what those unknown numbers meant. Weston was so strong that he would have no accurate comparison numerically. Weston was a genuine monster.
But this only solidified Sammuel’s understanding of how Xeril would become. As they both had a Diamond Card Quality, Xeril would surely reach the ranks of Weston one day.
“Don’t tease my friend too much.” Xeril patted Sammuel on the back. “We just want to learn under Miss Hease. Her mastery of all weapons seem to be the right fit for us.”
“Hease? I’m afraid she’s been held up due to a certain… troublesome Hatchling going about.” Weston shook his head. “There are still other instructors that should fit the bill. Though, I don’t think anyone can teach you a better spear technique than what you have right now.”
“That’s unfortunate. We’ll just settle for a swordsman instead.”
Weston gave an awkward smile. “Your friend should have something better than what he could offer to outsiders.”
Both Xeril and Sammuel turned to face each other. Sammuel already had somewhat expected this from Fian’s words but he didn’t expect Weston to point this out so easily. From Xeril’s perspective, he seemed to be more pleasantly surprised that Sammuel kept getting more and more mysterious.
Sammuel offered up his suggestion, “What about fist techniques?” There were multiple reasons why he said so. First of all, [Flowing Swordsmanship] required a sword and that wasn’t going to be viable the entire time. Secondly, his body was already strong enough based on his [Ego], body-strengthening techniques were just useless.
It was obvious that Xeril wanted them to learn under the instructor. Sammuel understood this so he tried to find a middle ground that served to benefit both sides.
Xeril agreed. Close-quarters combat would be a beneficial thing to learn.
“What a twist of fate. I guess you’re really meant to learn under Miss Hease.” Weston laughed at the strange circumstance.
“Pardon? Why is that?” Xeril didn’t understand what he was referring to. Meanwhile, Sammuel recalled a certain girl that nearly broke his arm.
“Miss Hease has a daughter, Jynnette Hease. She’s been making waves in Aganth for her assassination techniques. As it turns out, her mother wanted her to curb her murderous tendencies by teaching a few students. I’m sure you’ll be able to handle her course.”
“Miss Hease is… isn’t she young?” Xeril’s mind’s gears started turning. From what she recalled Miss Hease was a really young person.
“She isn’t as young as you think it is. Oh, look at us talking about women’s ages. Let’s just move on from the topic lest Miss Hease learns of this and hangs us three.”
After finalizing the matter at hand, they were both given a place to go to. Weston’s smile faded as he keenly looked down at his desk. “Sammuel, last name unconfirmed. Entered Aganth roughly a week ago and stayed at a civilian’s establishment working as a bodyguard. Overpowered by Jynnette Hease during an interaction. Erratic growth. Cannot be the Hatchling, far too weak.”
Weston’s smile returned once again.
“Fortunately, he’s not it. That’s a relief, I didn’t want Xeril’s first friend to be someone so troublesome. Questionable history but who doesn’t? For the time being, he’s not a threat. Though, he might not like learning under Jyn. Hahaha.”
And Weston was right, Sammuel didn’t feel at peace with the current arrangements. The worst part about this was that because he was the one who proposed the idea, he couldn’t just back out of it.
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Entering a certain room, it turned out to be an open area where the ceiling had been cut out. In the middle sat a young girl with fiery red hair and defiantly similar eyes. She gazed upon her two new students.
“I’m not the type to hold back.” Jynnette faced her two new students. She wasn’t particularly thrilled about this. “Oh? It’s you. You got stronger than before.” Jynnette’s gaze landed on Sammuel. “And you, why are you hanging around someone that you’ll leave behind?” Her gaze then landed on Xeril.
Xeril clasped his fists together and bowed. It didn’t matter that she was only a few years older than her, being his teacher he needed to respect her. Sammuel followed Xeril’s actions even if he didn’t believe them.
“Doesn’t matter. If you don’t reach a certain mastery within the time limit, I’m throwing you out. You’re not worth my time teaching.” Jynnette gestured for both of them to follow her. They went to an open platform where two mannequins were placed for practice.
“Hit.” Jynnette tapped on the two mannequins before her. The both of them suddenly exploded unexpectedly. She sighed and brought out two more mannequins. “Hit it this time. No technique or anything, just your brute force. A straight punch.”
Sammuel was stuck with a very odd choice. Should he use [Ego: Base] or [Ego: Runic Bear]? This would severely affect how this lesson would continue. After thinking it for a little bit, Sammuel made his choice.
[Switch Ego: Base]
The EXP multiplier from learning a technique relied on the current [Ego] he was using. He hasn’t improved his [Ego: Base] much, which meant that he still had a lot of potential to grow. Granted that he was unbelievably weak now.
Jynnette noticed Sammuel suddenly turn so weak. She didn’t mind it much.
They both did as instructed and punched with all their might. Jynnette shook her head, “Now use your full power. Any technique you want to use to inflict as much damage as possible.”
Xeril was first, he went all out.
[Raw Explosive Strength | Gain Combat Power: +6.3 | Xeril: 14.85]
[Point Burst | Gain Combat Power: +16.32 | Xeril: 31.17]
Xeril’s full-force punch had caused a slight dent to form on the mannequin’s head. He shook his hand right after, feeling the recoil of bringing out so much power.
“Next.”
[Switch Ego: Hemorrhaging Bat]
[Combat Power: 30.32]
Sammuel’s Combat Power might be lower but the single-focused attack he used was much more impactful than Xeril’s attack. He hadn’t used any technique but raw power.
“You’re both pathetic. But for some reason, Sammuel’s better here. He didn’t use any attacking [Skill]. Xeril, you need to work more on your fundamentals. But Sammuel, don’t look too happy, you don’t know how to move your body at all. Both a disgrace.” To further humiliate them, Jynnette closed her eyes, not wanting to see both of them at all.
Xeril understood that his weakness was his foundation. It was odd, to pave his future he severely injured his foundation. But nonetheless, it wouldn’t be as obvious once he awakened to mana.
Sammuel also agreed with Jynnette’s words. He only knew how to somewhat wield a sword, as for his body, he didn’t understand how to fully bring out the power from within.
It was a stark contrast, if Xeril was the epitome of technique then Sammuel was the epitome of foundation. Both had what the other lacked.
“Since you both want to learn close combat, I’ll give you a choice. Do you want something easy or something that won’t disappoint me?” Jynnette sat down, resting her face on her hand. Her piercing gaze looked down on both of them.
As Sammuel started to think this through, Xeril nudged him. “That easy option should make us a lot stronger.”
Sammuel’s brain continued thinking through the implications of this. If what both of them said was true then Sammuel could only assume one thing. That easy technique should make them stronger in the short term but it wouldn’t be good later on. The hard technique will require them to work tirelessly before becoming stronger.
“I’ve made my choice. How about you Xeril?”
“I’m good with either. So what do you choose?”
“The hard technique. That should be more useful for me.”
“Really?” Xeril furrowed his brows. He then shrugged it off, it didn’t matter that much. “Then I’ll do the same.”
“Morons.” Jynnette shook her head in disappointment. “You have no idea what you’re trying to do here. Xeril might be able to do it but there’s no point in you trying Sammuel. You’ll only be wasting your time.”
“Then why did you even give me the option to choose?” Sammuel was curious.
“To see if you understand your place. And as it turns out, you both don’t. Xeril will learn the hard technique while Sammuel will learn the easy one. That’s final.” Jynnette made her choice. Sammuel wanted to talk back but Xeril stopped him. Once their instructor made their choice, it would be hard to convince them otherwise.
Seeing Sammuel down, Jynnette couldn’t help but tempt him to understand just how lowly his place was. “If you impress me with your progress then I’ll consider it.”
Jynnette threw Xeril a scroll that was named [Mastery of Weaponry]. “Read this for the day. Doesn’t matter what you learn just read it.”
She then took Sammuel’s collar and dragged him along.
“I can walk by myself.” Sammuel tried to get out of her grip but she was far too strong.
Jynnette let go and pointed at the pond to the side of the arena. “Jump in then.”
“Is this necessary?”
“Whatever I say, you do. No questions asked.”
Sammuel couldn’t talk back to her. She was both his current instructor and a person well above him in strength. He followed her questionable demand and jumped right in. Water splashed all around as he coldly settled in.
The water reached up to his waist yet he still stood there. With [Ego: Base], he was unbelievably weak right now. Seeing Sammuel obediently follow her orders, she then threw a block of stone right at him.
“Break it using your fists without any abilities.” Jynnette had a few cinderblocks ready for her to throw. Contrary to the expectedly fast projectiles, it was moderately fast to the point that Sammuel could see them coming in.
As he struck the first block, it quickly fell apart. There wasn’t much resistance for him to strike at all.
“Next.” A sliver of something entered this block.
Sammuel punched it once again but this time it had a bit more resistance to it. Sammuel’s fist had turned red from it. He oddly felt his hands sting.
[Learned Hardened Fist]
Seeing the name, Sammuel couldn’t help but question Jynnette. “So I just punch hard things until it progresses? Is that it?”
Jynnette’s face turned a little surprised. “Didn’t expect you to understand so easily.”
“Then why am I drenched here? What’s this for?” This was the one thing he didn’t expect her to do.
“Cause I can.” Jynnette then placed her hand over the blocks beside her. Each one had turned even stronger than the last. “Keep punching until it’s all broken. Simple and easy. The only thing I want to see is how far you’ll make it before you make any progress. Go work on your own now.”
Saying so, Jynnette walked outside the room but not before ordering the both of them. “Xeril, you can’t leave until after midnight, and Sammuel, you can’t get out of that pond until the sun sets. If you leave before that, you’re out.”
“What if we do without you knowing?” Xeril asked.
“I would know.” Jynnette disappeared before their sights. It wasn’t that she slowly walked away, her body vanished before their eyes. Something that further signified the difference between them.
“But I haven’t eaten yet.” Xeril sighed. “Sammuel, could you get me something to eat later? Maybe some booze?”
“If I can still feel my hands by then, sure.” Sammuel grabbed the nearby blocks and started punching them using his bare fists. After breaking two more blocks, he could feel his hand start to wear out.
[Earned 0.4% EXP | Star Quality EXP: 23.3/100%]
[Earned 1.2% EXP | Mastery EXP: 1.2/100%]
He was making progress towards [Hardened Fist] and [Ego: Base]. It was a straightforward yet grueling training period.