—a few days later—

"Good, now that your physique has reached the Expert Knight realm, I will teach you something that is essential to all combat, physical or magical. When you are done memorizing, alert me." Master said.

I didn't expect it to actually work at first but who knew that the process of continuously destroying and rebuilding the body could actually improve my physique. Every night just after training, I would find that my body hurt all over but by the next day, I looked good as new. My strength stat also seemed to grow everyday since I started practicing the Golden Refinement technique. My only comment would be that the technique was a bit too masochistic. I never knew there would be a day when I wished to be beaten up in order to grow stronger.

After he imparted to me the next technique, I looked over it for a good hour trying to memorize the movements.

{Assimilated Technique: Intangible Steps(Godly)}

I looked at my master who was next to me and also practicing Eight Rebirths. Did he also have an affinity to all the elements?

Now that I had memorized the technique, I tapped my master's shoulder to signal that I had finished the task.

He opened his eyes and before saying anything, he threw a punch at my stomach. I had not expected that he would throw a punch out of the blue so I ate that punch like a sandbag.

I crouched down and grimaced in pain before recovering shortly after. Compared to the feeling of broken bones, this was nothing.

Before I could question his action, he started talking. "As a fighter, you must be prepared for all possibilities so that you will not be susceptible to surprise attacks. I expected a bit more for a hero but I guess in some ways, experience is more valuable than talent. Good, now that you have memorized all the movements and positions for the Intangible Steps, I will spar with you so that you can develop the proper muscle memory. Get up, you have no need to rest in my Soul Plane so this is the perfect place to spar."

He didn't even give me a sword or any weapon but started throwing his fists at me.

"What's the matter? I won't stop until you learn to properly incorporate the Intangible Steps in your footwork." He said to me as I took a punch to the face. Maybe I should have learned how to fight with my body before learning the sword...

—Daniel's PoV—

After sleeping for the first time in a long time, I awoke to the chirping of the morning cicadas. Since I came back yesterday, today was Monday meaning we had classes. I looked at the other two that were sleeping cozily on their beds. Looking at Sam's face, I noticed that the bruises and bumps from last night had disappeared.

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I got up and showered first. It was pretty normal for me to be the first to get up since Sam and Robert were sleepyheads. If anything, it would be abnormal if either of them got up early. I had even suspected that they were late to their morning classes while I was away.

Getting out from the bathroom, I opened the window curtains allowing Mister Sun to do the work.

"Rise and shine!" I shouted.

Robert groggily rubbed his eyes and Sam got up almost immediately as if he just got jump scared.

"You guys go on ahead, I feel a bit tired today." Robert said.

He looked a bit confused. Almost as if he was having an internal breakdown.

"Alright, you want me to get the doctor in case you're down with something?" I said.

Without responding, he covered himself with the blanket.

"It's fine Daniel. He's probably stressed about the Midterms. Just let him sleep in for a bit. I'll save some breakfast for him."

What? Midterms? It looks like I almost forgot I was attending an academy. It makes sense that there were tests but...wasn't this big news for me? If I did too bad or if I did too well on the tests, that could spell disaster...

"Daniel, you alright?" Sam said, noticing that I was in a daze. Did his observation skills get sharper with the increase of his power?

"Everything's fine, let's go." After Sam got ready, we had some breakfast and just as we were about done, Robert came for a quick bite.

Entering my first class, which was basically about the history of this world, I could feel the aura of the classroom being much more tense.

'Were they seriously administering the test right after my field trip?' I thought to myself. It wasn't that I had missed last week's lessons or anything since I took the same classes at the Wizarding Academy; it was just a bit too sudden.

I went to my usual seat at the far corner of the class.

Once everyone had settled down, the professor explained the usual unnecessary information and passed out the test papers.

When we got it, we could begin. I wrote my name as I took a cursory glance at the double sided sheet of paper. Wow, looks like the concept of multiple choice answers did not exist here. I read the first question.

'In the history of humans, who is known for achieving the highest realm in magic?'

Well that one was obviously Merlin. But was it really a coincidence that it was the same name as the legendary wizard from the Legend of King Author on Earth? Well Merlin was a figure of the far past so it didn't matter. Next question.

'What was the impetus for the rising of the Holy Church 600 years ago?'

—6 hours later—

"Haaa, it's finally over." Sam grimaced while looking at the food on his plate.

Robert seemed to be completely silent for some reason. Did he really do that bad?

And Rachel...when did she become part of our lunch group?

"Do you think you did well Daniel?" Sam asked me while holding a fork with a meatball.

"Meh, I should pass at least." I replied passively. The questions for all the subjects were really easy and I could have aced the test but I figured the results would be announced publicly so I got some of the questions wrong on purpose. It totally wasn't because I forgot how to do some of the algebra. But it would definitely be a problem if that curse was somehow triggered since the duration for the temporary removal was up since yesterday.