"We will begin with simple sparring, one versus one! Follow me to the training grounds so we can begin!" instructor Laura said.

She stepped down from the wooden platform and began walking towards what I had assumed to be the training grounds. It was a large open space with sand and dirt ground, a few training dummies, archery targets and in the back, I could see floating crystals. Every so often there was a large shed where I assumed the training weapons were stored.

The two soldiers grabbed the wooden platform and carried it as they followed the instructor. We also began following and quickly reached the training grounds where the two soldiers put down the wooden platform and waited for Laura to step back on it.

"Pick your partners yourself and then wait for my sign, make it quick!" she yelled.

Not wanting to deal with people I just walked away from the group and sat down on the ground, crossing my legs and waiting for only one person to still remain without a partner. Luckily for me, some of the volunteers didn't even consider me as a viable option since they had seen what I was capable of a few minutes ago so they were trying to get a partner as quickly as possible so they wouldn't have to get paired up with me. I smiled at the thought of people being too afraid to pair up with me. When I looked up most others had already paired up with someone and I could see our instructor studying each of us with great interest.

And after about one more minute one person was left beside me. A young-looking girl with curly blond hair that barely reached past her chin in terms of length, silver eyes and wore a dark blue, tight full-body suit with leather shoes, gauntlets and arm armour together with a hard leather harness that protected the rest of her body. Through the tight bodysuit, I could clearly see her defined muscles and I assumed that the whole attire was the way it was to guarantee the most mobility.

An agile fighter huh? That might be interesting.

The girl approached me confidently.

"I guess we'll have to team up then," the girl said with a strange accent that was barely noticeable and unknown to me.

I nodded and jumped up from the ground, only to realize that she was nearly a metre smaller than me, probably around one sixty to one seventy if I had to guess. Together the two of us walked back to the group where a few people were eying me weirdly but I just ignored them.

"Alright, now that everyone has a partner let me explain! This won't be real training, I just want an idea of what I'm dealing with, and I also want to see whether or not there are any among you that I should just throw to the dogs right away before even giving them the chance to take part in the training! Since none of you are pure mages or sorcerers that shouldn't be a problem either! Oh, and about magic and sorcery, none of that during this spar, just physical capability, that also means no weapons!" our instructor yelled.

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Everyone beside me loudly said: "Yes!" Laura eyes me but didn't say anything.

"Once this is over you'll go inside and get looked at before you can go eat and then get led to your rooms! Any questions?!"

There were no questions.

"Begin!" our instructor yelled.

The girl and I walked away from the rest, or rather I did and she just followed me. Once we got far enough from the others I turned around.

"Let's get this over with," I said.

"Sure, I'll give you the first hit!" the girl said excitedly.

Alright, if that's what you want...

I nodded and burst forth before getting into position and without any warning. On her face I could see a look of shock and confusion but as I got closer that turned into a smile. My fist approached her face quickly, everything else seemed like it was moving in slow motion to me. At first, I thought my fist had connected but instead the girl had jumped up and balanced herself on my arm before wrapping her legs around my neck and trying to flip me. Luckily for me, that didn't quite work out for her since I managed to grab one of her legs and pull it off just in time so I was just pulled down a little. Still holding onto her leg I spun, letting go of the leg midway and letting her fly through the air.

"You're good," she said when she landed, whirling up a little bit of dust.

I didn't respond. Instead, I had to block her strike. She was fast, far too fast. It didn't seem like she was a human or at least she wasn't a normal one but since I couldn't sense any mana from her I doubted that she used some kind of magic to reach speeds that could rival me. I stepped to the side to dodge her grab and caught her right between her shoulders with a downwards strike. She hit the ground and spat out some spit before letting out a loud groan.

I turned around and was about to walk away since I thought that the spar was over and that I could just relax until everyone else was done but at that moment all my instincts went on high alert. Instinctively I turned around and kicked the girl right in the head, making her fly into the wall. If I had done nothing she would have killed me. When she hit the wall I could hear a loud groan from her and saw some more spit fly out of her mouth. She then slumped onto the ground and stopped moving. For a second I tensed up but then I saw her breathing steadily and sighed in relief. I was also trying to hold back a laugh.

'You concerned for the enemy now?' Ira asked.

'I'm trying to blend in, and killing another volunteer on the first day isn't going to help me with that,' I responded.

Laura ran up to her, past me and kneeled down, turned her around and looked her up and down, then sighed in relief as I had just done.

"You need to be more careful mister Altair, most normal people don't really measure up to wood elves that well," Laura said.

I raised one eyebrow.

"She would have killed me," I said as Laura walked past me again.

I heard her beginning to say something but then she grew silent and just walked up to the two soldiers who shortly after ran up to the girl I had kicked unconscious and carried her inside the massive fort. When I looked around I noticed that everyone was staring at me, their mouths agape and with shock written all over their faces. None of them had done anything like that. Some were slightly bruised but no one was unconscious or anything close to that.

Laura had returned to her platform and coughed loudly, drawing everyone's attention.

"Listen here, since everyone's done with their spar we'll end it here! Everyone passes so at least I got something out of the majority of these fights! You will now follow me inside so we can get your inspection and questioning done!" Laura yelled loudly, looking at me specifically during some of the speech.