Two weeks had passed since the first day of training.
And it was an intense two weeks, the first two days, Alexa had drilled all the basic and intermediate techniques into me like she had promised.
From the majority of weapon techniques to unarmed to movement, all sort of techniques made solely for battle.
Even movement techniques were first created to become more agile and quick on your feet during battle instead of being used to travel.
Asking me to drain all my Vaes on the first day was because she wanted me to learn the techniques while i was at my weakest, which is totally drained of Vaes.
Also asking me to keep a spell on that constantly drained my Vaes but didn't help me physically or mentally in anyway, so that it wouldn't regenerate.
I did as she asked and had cast a spell that had increased the gravity acting on my body by two times,
making my movements much slower and the amount of effort i need to make to move much higher.
I needed to slowly increase it from x1 normal gravity to x2 normal gravity in the span of around 3 minutes to get used to it increasing.
I would've felt a heavy force pushing down on all parts of my body otherwise if i increased in one go.
Alexa didn't seem to notice as i didn't act much differently from before, only moving a little slower, as she was starting to demonstrate the techniques i was to learn.
The method of having a more rigorous training by increasing the pressure on your body was a thing in this world just like in multiple novels where the protagonists would train the same way.
My increase in pressure wasn't as extreme as them though, i just felt like how i was before, slow and heavy with little energy and stamina.
It wasn't much of a problem for me before so why would it be a problem now?
From that point, i had been using the spell on myself constantly which helped me train my body as well as my Vaes capacity from constantly draining it near the bottom.
It made learning and doing the techniques harder to do perfectly and would have seriously increased the amount of time i needed to learn and master them if it wasn't for my live video.
My live video as previously mentioned had the accidental function of memorizing everything that i had experienced or done, from tastes to emotions to even how it felt to execute a technique.
Every time my attempt to execute a technique was judged as better than the previous times, i would "replay" that memory onto my body and did it in real life over and over.
This allowed me to become familiar with it and from that point use it a base on which i would make small changes to it to further improve my execution of the technique.
The increased pressure on my body and the method to easily master techniques negated each other, preventing them from positively or negatively affecting my training speed.
Even though that was the case, both of them helped me immensely.
The pressure would help train my body and execution of the techniques as it would make it much harder to execute.
And my live video as i said would allow me to improve upon the best execution of each technique.
The training lasts eight hours a day from 2 PM to 10 PM.
After she had drilled all the basics into me, we constantly sparred, with her using only a quarter of her strength and ability as she had claimed.
From the start, i didn't know what status she was as i had not felt the signal from anything.
I didn't even consider that she had a status lower than me and knew that she was definitely higher.
Every time we sparred she would tell me to integrate the techniques i learned into the battle, telling me to go with my instincts on which to use and how to use them.
I knew that she wanted me to find out which techniques i was good with and which i liked to form a sort of specialization of certain techniques and teach me from there.
But i wasn't going to do that…
---
In this world, as in most worlds, i would assume, most people be specialized in a certain area, whether it was magic, science, sports, martial arts etcetera.. even in those areas you would be able to specialize.
With magic you could be melee or ranged, specialize in a certain type of attributes like fire or light, and even specialize on being either a combat mage or a research mage.
But for me, i was never particularly good at one thing, even the things i liked to do i wasn't good at them.
Like in MMORPGs, i didn't like ones where you had to pick a specific class and only liked those that allowed you to do all of them.
But even in those, the majority of players still chose to specialize as it was the best way to reach the top.
Though my goals weren't much different from them, which was to reach the top, i had never specialized and was a jack of all trades.
I was actually a serious and hardcore player that i did grind a lot in the game, but i grinded for so many different things that i knew that if i had specialized.
Just with my amount of grinding, i would be considered one of the top players.
I would always be partied with players much lower level than me but can match me in certain areas.
I was popular amongst the mid-level players as i could fill in any gaps in a party with my wide array abilities and skills, even being able to switch mid battle according to the scenarios.
Like if i was acting as an archer, wearing light armor and dodging attacks, if our tank was taken down i would be able to immediately switch to heavy armor and a shield to take over.
Every mid-level party had wanted me to do bosses and dungeons with them as even if the party had all its gaps filled if a gap opened up during battle i was able to fill it.
A lot of players called me "One man party" kinda like one man army and some lower level players worshipped me when i had beaten several low-level bosses alone, as even high-level players need one or two more people to fill in their weaknesses.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
Speaking of high-level players, I'm pretty sure my fame had spread in a different way, as no players at the same level as me or even those a bit below me wanted to party up.
The difference between specialized high-level players and mid-level players is as you would guess, like day and night.
The fact that i couldn't grow much stronger as i increased my level and proficiency in all areas didn't really deter me from playing further, as i knew that this was i had chosen.
Let's not forget the fact that high-level areas and bosses are untouchable by me as no now would want to party up with me, further stunting my growth.
Even in the novels and anime i watched and read i didn't limit myself to a specific genre. Though there were things i disliked and things i really liked, it didn't stop me from trying more and more different things.
I knew why i had not become like others, choosing only one path and following it all the way.
It was because of my childhood, all children are new to the world and want to explore and do everything under the sun, before finding a few things they really like or are really good at and sticking with it for life.
It was the same way that school worked, teaching a bit of everything to make you have common knowledge and finding out your strengths and weaknesses, and then choosing a career path based on those strengths and weaknesses.
Though as i have said before, i never liked or disliked anything to a great degree nor was ever good or even that awful at anything.
It seemed like my curiosity towards everything turned into having a near neutrality towards everything as i grew older.
When i first awoke in this world and saw all the amazing things in the city, finding out about and learning magic, and even eating that amazing burger i felt a surge of emotions within me.
I felt awe at the sight of the futuristic city, i felt excitement and thrill just reading the first book about magic, i felt bliss when i took the first bite out of that burger.
And then i felt an absolute love for this world just a few days after i had first awoken.
Even though my life seemed repetitive and boring, working, going to the gym and "reading" in the library, it was much better than my previous lifestyle.
I held high hopes for my future and felt that i had achieved more in a few days in this world than my entire 19 years of living in my previous one.
This was not only thanks to the world and also to my canvas that made it possible for me to achieve so many things in such a short span of time.
Instead of walking on a single path to becoming stronger, I'm determined to walk on all paths that i can take.
Actually… that's a kind of specialization in itself, the specialization of doing everything.
---
With my will to never focus on one thing i had been using all the techniques taught to me to spar with Alexa.
I made sure the first time we sparred that i used such a wide array of different techniques and different battle styles so she wasn't able to pinpoint any specific pattern i was going for.
The only pattern i had though was no pattern at all, using quick movement techniques to dodge her attacks and attacking back with frequent light blows.
Then changing to defensive techniques and heavy blows, she also taught me multiple weapon techniques and i constantly switched weapons, from ranged to melee, from piercing attacks to blunt.
This did disadvantage me since i wasn't familiar with melding so many different techniques at the same time, totally unlike melding all the information in my canvas.
It seems I'd have to practice more on that part.
Alexa didn't reprimand me for what i did and instead didn't say much about it, only telling me what i had done wrong and how i could easily switch from technique to technique without disturbing the flow of the battle.
Realizing that she had silently accepted my decision, the days after, she didn't teach me a specific set of techniques but instead what seemed like everything she could remember.
Though it seemed like she was much stricter than before as it seemed she never planned on teaching me so much in such a short span of time.
The more we sparred over the two weeks the more i was able to meld different styles and techniques together and instead using everything i knew in one battle, i would pick a certain set of techniques to use and try melding together.
Always changing the techniques i used every day and slowly creating different battle combinations for different scenarios.
Alexa helped me silently by changing up her fighting style each day, on one day she was on full defensive and another day she would use her full strength but left multiple openings and didn't take any defensive actions.
The things she taught in order to prepare me for the Entrance Exam was catered to trials, explaining how in detail how each of the trials went and what to do and not to do.
She explained that in the first, second and fourth trial that my biggest obstacles are the other examinees, everyone knew that the lesser people there are when they reached the fourth trial the easier it would be.
That was the reason people usually tried knocking each other out of the race in the first and third trial.
The fourth trial was self-explanatory as the more people you killed there the more benefits you would receive.
She taught me multiple spells and techniques that would useful for the trials and had me practice and master them.
Magic and spells were integrated into our sparring a little late into the training at around the 11th day, due to all the different techniques she had decided to teach me.
If she had stuck with her plan with teaching me a specific set of techniques i knew that we would've started much earlier.
Using magic while we sparred had increased the number of combinations of attacks and number of battle combinations making our spars more intense and required much higher attention to the pace of the battle as magic made things much more complicated.
Though she seemed to be using much higher difficulty and quality spells compared to even my strongest spells, my immensely large library of spells had countless spells that could be used for very specific circumstances
This made me extremely flexible, and in combination to my techniques and Vaes bar, i was able to dominate Alexa during our spars multiple times.
I knew that this frustrated her, as i noticed that she had increased how much of her full abilities she used a few spars later.
I didn't mind, knowing that only when i fight a stronger opponent would i improve in ability and strength, the same reason why monsters lower level than you in games give less experience.
---
The last day of my training, it had already way passed our agreed 8hrs of training a day and was already past
1 AM.
I was outside of the abandoned building, lying injured and bloodied amongst a pile of rubble.
Alexa had decided to fight me one last time with her full strength, even promising to heal my injuries until i was in perfect shape for tomorrow incase that she had injured me too badly.
Of course, since this was a real battle where we both used all that we got, i happily obliged.
Our battle was three times longer than it usually was when we sparred and in the end, Alexa had caught me off guard after i had thought i had beaten her, just like the first time we met.
There i was in the rubble, a bit of bitterness inside me as i had let my guard down and was beaten again.
Though satisfaction was what i mostly felt, along with
relief that the training was finally over.
Alexa was standing over me again, her serious expression changing back to her cute wide smile like it was two weeks ago.
"Hehe~ You almost got me! Much better than the first time, you even almost avoided my final attack!" her arms were crossed and she nodded in approval.
"H-how c-close?" i struggled to speak as every part of my body hurt.
"Hmm… Just maybe another thirty more hits from you~" Alexa put her finger on cheek, tilting her head to the side while thinking.
"So nowhere close.." I let out a bitter laugh, our whole battle had us exchange multiple blows with each other, the exact number times i did substantial damage to her was 37 times.
The number of times we made contact, including blocks and exchanging blows was exactly 274 times.
Standing up from my position, i wasn't too badly injured and was able to heal myself easily, my internal injuries were more serious and would heal while i slept, together with a healing spell that had a long period of effect.
"So off you go!" Alexa lifted her arm up and shook her hand in a shooing motion.
"What, no congratulations, treating me to a meal or giving me some wise advice before i go?" It felt kinda bland that after these two weeks of training and sparring that our parting would so abrupt.
"I mean you only have less than seven hours before the registration starts and don't think that this is the last time we're gonna meet"
"Just make sure to pass the exam mister!! And get some rest!" She stuck out her tongue at me before turning around and walking in the other direction.
Staring at her back for a few seconds before walking back myself, i suddenly heard a voice shout out to me.
"And make sure not to forget to reconfigure yourself to your techniques!! Your body will be more flighty without that spell you used when you use your techniques so hurry and get used to it!!"
Huh, it seemed like she did notice… this entire time, including when we were sparring, i had been using the spell that increased the gravity acting on my body, except for our final battle when i had wanted to use my full strength.
I did notice i wasn't able to execute the techniques as perfectly and was always a little off. Seems like it's exactly as she said.
I had a small smile on my face the entire way home, happy that such a person had trained me these two weeks.
I'm getting two massive burgers in the morning as a reward to myself for having survived.