The lionman came to a stop in front of the desk and in a loud voice says "Sir, I've come to collect our new student to test him, sir."

"Thank you Alec, and I can hear you perfectly fine at normal levels of volume. Your testee is the young man beside you." Helix used his finger to gesture towards Neo.

Alec's fiery lion eyes travelled Neo's body, observably not impressed he turned back to Helix and still in a loud voice said, "Sir, are you sure we should test this human? He looks like he'll snap in two just standing there, sir."

Neo couldn't say anything to that, as he did look horribly pale and tired. Helix lazily waved his hand, "We will have one of the healers there to stop him from dying. Just don't kill him on purpose and he should be fine!"

'Seriously' Neo thought. He was surprisingly excited about fighting, mainly because he could then tell everyone that defeated a lion barehanded, but it was also good practice since he hadn't moved or sparred in weeks

"Right then!" Alec looked at Neo, "Follow me."

Alec stomped out of the room after saluting Helix, who sighed in return."I wonder if he relaxed, would he just fall down dead? You'd best follow him, and I'll be interested in seeing what'll the first human in… I have no idea how long will fair."

As they followed Alec out of the room Neo's eyes followed the mesmerising tail that floated so daintily behind the tough looking lion in red leather training gear. Alec guided them out of the academy and out onto a field with several rectangular arenas surrounded by stands. Quite a few students seemed to be loitering around, but when they saw Alec and Neo several of them became interested in what was happening and followed to observe.

Finally they came up to a stand which had a clear ball on it. The ball was about the size of a basketball, maybe slightly more prominent. Alec stepped up and stood behind said sphere, "Right, to get started let’s measure your magical ability. Place your hand on the clear ball, it'll also give us an idea of what we can do with you."

Neo stepped up to the ball and nervously placed his hand on it. The ball shined brightly before the light retreated inwards where Neo was left with a glowing orb the size of a tennis ball that was greying into blackness.

Alec's eyebrow rose, however, there were whispers and snickers from the crowd that had formed after they had seen the bright flash Neo also saw some of the teachers standing at the back, talking. There was Old Warm Hands, Jane, and her hooded assistant who he never got the name of.

Grunting, Alec jumped off the stand, "Do you know anything about weapons?"

As Neo moved to keep up the crowd also followed, "Hm, I'm ok with them. I know the basic of holding and using some like the bow, sword, spear and staff. I have little experience with the gun."

Alec scoffed at the word gun "That's good. You won't need any experience with the gun since they're pretty useless against any mages, and the tougher creatures can easily survive them. Plus you can't enchant them. Now prove that you know how to you use this weapon."

Neo grabed the wooden sword that was flung at him as Neo walked into the arena. There was a spike in the conversation from the crowd, Neo ignored them and set up opposite from Alec.

Alec started off gently with a few swings that had none of his body weight behind it. But, once he realised that I wasn't going to keel over, he started increasing the intensity of his swings and movements Unable to block a specially vicious blow, Neo instead he deflected it away with his blade at an angle.

Neo needed to take the initiative. He couldn’t just keep taking the attacks, as the likelihood of getting hit increased exponentially the more time passed. Seeing the next attack coming across he bentback, bending his back leg to make more space. The blade whistled past and Neo pounced with his sword pointed at Alec's stomach. Alec’s sword blurred to block the attack causing Neo’s arm to numb and flail as he was hit. Neo knew that he was wide open, but he was too close to Alec.

Closing the distance, Neo punched Alec in the stomach causing the Lion to take a step back. Not giving Alec the time to re-adjust he used the pommel of the sword to strike Alec's sword arms shoulder. Neo then used the momentum of the rebounded sword to swing it up and under Alec's chin, ending the bout in seconds.

There was a round of applause from the students and teachers. Looking back to Alec, Neo found the lion had a spark in his eyes and Neo wondered if he was grinning or grimacing. From deep with the furry face a growl emitted, "About time you stopped defending. I see that you do have the skills you boast of, you have my apologies. But I will still have to test you in your other areas to see where you need improvement."

This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

Alec walked back to the shelf's and grabbed a pair of staffs. Sighing, Neo caught the staff that was thrown at him and took a deep breath to calm his ragged breathing. 'Man, I wish I were fitter. This is going to be embarrassing.'

Neo held out the staff in a defensive posture, he wasn't wrong in his thinking as the sparing went on. The attacks got harder while Neo's arms only got more tried as it went on. He had tried on several occasions to take back the flow, but with his lack of endurance he couldn’t get the motions right, and Alec wasn't going to be embarrassed twice in one day.

Then the worst happened, an overhead attack came plummeting down. Neo met it, but with his tiredness, he didn't angle it right and he ended up taking the full force of the attack. Neo cried out as he heard the sound of his arm cracking from the force that was applied to it.

Alec saw the mistake and pulled back while the healer ran up to Neo and started asking questions. After explaining what he felt and where, the healer placed her hand on his arms, and a soothing sensation replaced the aching pain that was radiating from his arms. The healers breath became more ragged and drops of sweat started dripping down her nose, but the pain faded and Neo found that his eyes were drooping.

The vibe from within the small crowd was generally impressed with Neo’s skill and was curious at why he was suddenly wracked with pain, but the excitement that was in the air had disappeared. When they realised that the fight wouldn't continue the crowd started fading away with only a few who stayed.

Alec walked to Neo looking a little sheepish, if a lion could be sheepish. "Sorry Neo, I got a little carried away back there. I should have stopped once I realise you're excellent well beyond the fairies that usually arrive. I let my excitement at a worthy opponent get the better of me, and forgot that you were in a weakened state. Actually, saying that out loud just elevates how impressive that was."

Neo smiled at the praise. Neo had figured out how Alec worked. He relied on his large frame and strength, so Neo just relaxed and diverted a vast majority of the blows. If only he weren't so unfit he might have lasted longer or managed to take the initiative.

Alec continued speaking. "I will put off the rest of the tests, like the bow and hand to hand, until tomorrow."

The remaining people that were waiting around disappeared after they heard that it'll be restarting the next day. Neo was also gladly listening to him while he sat on the sandy ground, letting the air cool down his hot, sticky body.

Alec left after informing Neo that he be here tomorrow, and that he expected him there in the morning. It immensely upset Neo that he wasn't going to be able to sleep in. The healer who hadn't let go of his arms finally did so. She moved his arms about and asked relevant questions, but stopped once she saw the blue sealing ring, at which her eyes grew wide.

She glanced at the clear ball that was on the pedestal and whistled before bringing her attention back to Neo. She finished asking her questions and informed him that she overhealed and he should recover a lot sooner, but he would be much more tired and suggested that he eat and sleep the rest of the day. Neo really liked that idea as his eyes felt heavy. She left him sitting on the warmish ground and he debated whether he could just sleep right there.

Bethany appeared in his view as he watched the water move with its stars pulsing, "Come on Neo, we will get you some food, and I've also collected our room keys."

Reluctantly, Neo stood up on his wobbly legs and, in a zombie like state, he followed Bethany's directions. They found the food at the open air canteen which had very nice smell floating out of the entrance. The canteen also had a good view of the water dome and the forested area a little further out. After they finished their meal, they moved on towards a dozen separated, plain looking buildings. Even though they were dull looking there were subtle differences. One of the buildings had a hole in the wall which he was sure that he saw people flying in and out of.

They walked past two blocks of these buildings. Neo wasn’t really paying attention to anything around him. He was lead to another building where they entered. Staying on the ground floor, Neo followed Bethany to the back of the building. They had the final three rooms, with one on the left and another on the right, and the last one right at the end of the corridor. Bethany guided him into the right one.

Neo took in the room with its simple design. There was a desk, bed, and a cupboard with a separate toilet and shower. Finished taking it in he sat down on the end of the bed and looked back into the corridor where Gie was standing with his faceless form blocking a huge portion of the door. Neo tried looking past him seeing the door opposite him open where Bethany was chucking her luggage about. She saw him looking from behind Gie and said, "I see you in the morning Neo, sleep well!"

"Goodnight. Gie do you think you could close the door while you're standing there?" Neo replied to Bethany, but Gie just crossed his arms, "Okay, I can do it myself, I think."

Neo stood up wobbly and walked up to the door then stared at Gie, "Goodnight Gie."

Once he slowly closed the door on the unmoving Gie, he headed back to the bed and stripped off his damp clothes before dropping into his bed where he tried to sleep.

He tossed and turned trying to sleep, but there was just something on his mind and it irritated him to no end. Something felt wrong. His mentality was different then he expected, but it wasn't the silences or beating the lion guy. Neo pondered about what he felt was wrong for way too long to the point that he heard the neighbour to his left enter their room. 'I guess Gie finally went to bed.' Neo thought and continued his pondering until sleep finally came.