Ari woke up at six in the morning, feeling sore and achy.

"Damn employee.

He should have told us that absorbing Power Seed would be this painful."

Ari then got up from his bed and sat on the chair in his room, preventing his weight from damaging the fragile mattress. Ari tried to pay attention to his body, looking for certain physical changes that might occur in his body. Unfortunately, there did not appear to be any changes in his body, although Ari could feel something inside his body beating a little faster than his heart.

"This feels weird."

*****

Ari spent his first week at the Knight Academy traveling around the academy and participating in orientation activities that introduced new cadets to accessible and inaccessible places.

Aside from the orientation activities, Ari took the time to try out the basic techniques he learned from books. Ari borrowed the training room for this activity, using a training short sword and training kite shield that felt very light to Ari.

The first technique Ari tried was the Vertical Front Attack, which consisted of a slashing motion from above the head using the right hand while the left hand made sure the shield was always ready in anticipation of a counterattack.

wooshh wooshh

one time.

twice.

three times.

Ari began to feel his body become sore and his movements slowed down. this slashing motion seemed simple but somehow Ari could feel his hands getting tired quickly every time she tried it.

After resting for a while, Ari tried the second technique in the book called Shield and Sword Combination. this technique required Ari to put the shield in front of him, while the sword was in a ready position next to the shield. this technique was then continued in three follow-up counter movements: the Sword Thrust, Sword Slash, and Shield Strike.

Ari tried this technique and found that his coordination was so poor that his follow-up moves could not be performed properly. Ari's thrusts were not straight and always went sideways, his slashes were often off-kilter and stiff, while his shield strikes were weak and lacked power.

Annoyed by the poor training results, Ari tried to cheer himself up by trying another technique in the hope that he could perform this technique better.

The third technique Ari tried was the Shield Control technique, a technique that required Ari to position his shield at a certain angle so that he could dodge his opponent's attacks.

With the help of a training dummy on the road using magic stones, Ari tried to practice doing the Shield Control technique. Once again Ari had to swallow the bitter truth that his body really couldn't be expected to perform any better. every time Ari positioned his shield at the angle described in the book, the training dummy's weapon somehow always managed to make Ari go backward.

Ari tried several times and the result was still the same, as if Ari had only positioned the shield in front of his body and then become as still as a statue. Annoyed Ari immediately returned the sword and training shield, put it down so roughly that she almost threw it, and immediately left the training room.

Ari felt very upset that day because his training did not go as well as she had hoped. his very gloomy condition even confused his two friends, not knowing what they should do to comfort Ari.

*****

the first week has finally passed and a new week has finally arrived.

This morning was the cadets' first day to get formal training. The cadets who were wearing full uniforms had gathered at the South Field and lined up neatly, ready to wait for the next order from the instructor who was standing in front of them.

"Cadets!

Call me Teacher Joe!

I am your instructor in the Physical Development class!

Your task today is to run around the field until I say stop!

RUN!!! START!"

the cadets immediately ran around the field. learning from the previous experience during the entrance exam, the cadets in unison decided to maintain their stamina by running at a moderate tempo. no cadet was ahead, nor any cadet was too behind, all ran at a constant pace and maintained their breath.

Teacher Joe, with his relatively large and muscular body, just looked at them from the center of the field with a smile. no one could read the meaning of the teacher's smile, except the teacher himself.

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Ari and the cadets ran with a moderate tempo and regular breathing, trying to maximize his stamina so that his body would not be too tired after this morning's training. they ran along the side of the field with constant speed until they finally made one turn.

After completing one lap around the field, the cadets began to take a glance at Teacher Joe who was still looking at them with a big smile.

"Was this morning's practice easy, cadets?"

The cadets were silent, unable to answer Teacher Joe's questions. The cadets came in thinking that they would just carry out orders. unfortunately, they were not prepared to answer the questions.

"Let me ask you one more time.

DID YOU FIND THIS MORNING'S EXERCISE EASY, CADETS?"

Teacher Joe's very loud voice made the cadets almost jump up in surprise, but none of them answered Teacher Joe's question until Ari innocently answered Teacher Joe's question.

"Easy, sir!"

Hearing Ari's answer, which seemed to represent the cadets as a whole, Teacher Joe's smile became even wider. Out of thin air, a large hammer with a two-meter-long stick and a one-meter-long hammerhead appeared in Teacher Joe's hand.

"Then this is not an exercise!

GET READY TO TRAIN CADETS!

ANYONE WHO GETS HIT BY MY HAMMER WILL NOT BE ABLE TO CONTINUE PRACTICING TODAY.

AND THAT MEANS YOU WILL MOST LIKELY BE EXPELLED FROM THE ACADEMY!

HAHAHAHAHA"

Teacher Joe suddenly disappeared from where he had been standing, suddenly appeared in the middle of the running cadets, and swung his huge hammer in a wide horizontal swing.

Whoosh!!

AAAAAAA!!!

About ten cadets were hit by Teacher Joe's attack and thrown several meters into the air before finally crashing back to the ground in an alarming state.

Right after Teacher Joe sent the cadets flying with his hammer, the other cadets who survived the attack immediately ran scattering in all directions. Teacher Joe just laughed out loud at the sight of the cadets running in fear.

"HAHAHAHAHA

RUN CADETS!

SAVE YOURSELVES IF YOU CAN!"

Ari, who was almost hit by Teacher Joe's hammer, tried to run as far and fast as possible. Ignorant of maintaining stamina, Teacher Joe seemed to have gone crazy and started attacking the cadets randomly.

Ari saw some pretty smart cadets trying to escape towards the main building, trying to get out of the south field and save themselves from Teacher Joe's reach. It was just that Teacher Joe seemed to have anticipated this and always focused on the cadets who were trying to escape and hit them with his almost lightning-fast hammer.

"NO ONE CAN ESCAPE FROM THIS FIELD!!!"

Teacher Joe's speed was beyond belief. He seemed to disappear from where he stood before appearing next to several cadets, smashing them with his huge hammer.

Somehow, Teacher Joe's hammer which appeared to be too fast to follow with the eyes moved at a much slower speed, allowing many cadets a chance to dodge his hammer.

Ari who was trying to avoid Teacher Joe's attack target tried to run into the larger crowd of cadets, trying to distract Teacher Joe using his fellow cadets around him. Unfortunately, Teacher Joe seemed to have noticed Ari's movements so not long after, Teacher Joe appeared in front of Ari with a hammer ready to hit Ari's face.

Ari could see the hammer zooming on his face. Dodging was no longer on Ari's mind, all he knew was to put his hands up to protect his face as quickly as possible.

Buugh!!!

Ari was thrown ten meters backward, falling and dragging on the ground until he finally stopped and lay on his stomach with his breath taken away. Ari's hand was in excruciating pain as if all his bones were crushed and almost shattered into splinters.

Ari refrained from screaming in pain, trying to get up which surprisingly could still be done quite easily even though it made his bones scream in pain. Teacher Joe seemed to see that Ari could still stand up and chase after him once again.

In an instant, he was in front of Ari with his hammer swinging from the side.

Buuuugggghhhh!!!

It was fortunate that Ari had time to put his hands to protect his side, avoiding injury to his abdomen. Unfortunately, that decision rendered one of Ari's hands useless and shattered his bone into helpless fragments.

Ari only briefly regained consciousness before collapsing from the unbearable pain.

*****

HUAAAHH!

Ari sat up awake, frantically looking around him and finding himself currently among dozens of cadets moaning and whimpering in pain. Some of the healers seemed to be busy running here and there, with sweaty annoyed faces along with mutterings full of annoyance because the task load was too heavy.

Meanwhile, Teacher Joe seemed to be standing in front of the cadets who seemed to be lucky enough to be able to hear Teacher Joe's final explanation, which Ari could not hear due to the distance. They only had a few abrasions on some parts of their bodies, probably from colliding with other cadets or from falling while dodging.

Ari lay back down while rubbing his hands, which seemed to have been healed by the healers. physically, Ari's hand condition could be said to have completely healed, although mentally Ari could still feel the shadowy pain that haunted his hands.

Ari and the remaining conscious cadets were finally allowed to leave the field to the dining room in the main building, leaving their unconscious friends in the field with the healers. with tired bodies and mentality, the cadets quickly ate their lunch with great relief as if it was their last meal.

having finished with the generous lunch, the cadets still had a short time to rest before they returned to class for the next lesson.

During this free time, Ari decided to arrive at the next class early and rest in the classroom. Ari deliberately left Alma and Leon behind as they were among the lucky cadets who only suffered some minor injuries from avoiding Teacher Joe's attack.

Alone in the classroom, Ari began to feel a little peeved for his two friends who did not feel the pain like him. blaming them as if they were the cause of him still feeling the shadowy pain in his hand.

Not long after, the class began to fill up with other cadets including Alma and Leon. The two sat to Ari's right and left during the lesson. occasionally chatting about the topic discussed by their teacher about the history of knights in the past. at this moment, Ari noticed that the teacher didn't even mention anything about them being forbidden to join the class which means Teacher Joe's threat might just be a bluff.

The class lasted for two hours, which although quite boring but still executed fairly well by Ari. After the history class, the cadets gathered again in the southern field for the next class called Weapon Use Class.

The instructor for this class was Teacher Lee, a man with a fairly small body and lean muscles. although Teacher Lee was small, all the cadets could see Teacher Lee's bloodthirsty gaze, as if he couldn't wait to chop the cadets into small pieces of meat.

"Alright, cadets.

My name is Lee.

Please take your training weapons from this box I brought and let's see how much you know about weapons."