A new morning arrived and everyone was refreshed after yesterday's events, it was fun enough to forget the disaster in the rainforest. They prepared themselves as best they can, especially in terms of tools and equipment, they do not know what Maximus will do to them or where he will send them today? The usual morning training has become a routine such as eating a meal or taking a shower after a hard day. The training was finished very quickly with both its physical and magical phases and the clock hand approached ten o'clock, indicating the approaching training time in the wilderness, each of them began to try to imagine where they would be dragged to, but everyone's guesses were wrong.

'Welcome to the Black Lake, the perfect place to today’s training. The question that arises is the topic of today's training.'

'Isn't it to learn how to swim? Or maybe learn to fish and fight in an aquatic environment?'

The choices were very limited between the primary goal of training, which was to gain practical experience in combat, and the secondary objective, which related to the terrain and environment of the area, and what would they do near a lake if not to learn swimming?

'Well done, Orion, the goal is to adapt to aquatic and semi-aquatic environments while learning how to survive and fight aquatic creatures. If a ship you were on sinks by a monster or even for natural causes, you have to learn how to deal with it.'

'What exactly are we going to learn from this?'

'Swimming for those who are not good at it, the basics of dealing with aquatic creatures and distinguishing the peaceful from the dangerous or harmful.'

'So that's how it is...'

Mira bent over, started thinking about something, and then asked a question that was right.

'You just told us something about a shipwreck, how are we going to practice this?'

'A good question with a simpler answer. I will put you in an illusion where a ship sinks because of monsters and you have to survive. Any other questions?'

'There are people who can't swim here, it won't be enough for a day to teach them to swim and do all these things.'

'I have my ways that are countless, It just that I do not like to use them. I can etch the idea or method in your head and you will become proficient in it directly, but it is not very educational, it teaches you to rely on others and anticipate the results, but due to lack of time, I will engrave how to swim in your minds.'

Maximus raised his left palm to the level of his waist, after which he murmured incomprehensible words and magic letters began to emerge from his mouth gathered in the palm of his hand, forming seven balls of energy. Seconds passed, the seven balls were completed, Maximus tilted his hand towards the little ones, and each ball went and entered their heads through the foreheads. Their consciousness began to become shallow, their eyes glowed orange for a few moments, their bodies rose to centimeters in the air, and twenty seconds did not pass until their consciousness returned and they descended to the surface of the earth. A feeling of dizziness or headache such as a very bad seasickness is. Minutes passed and their consciousness began to return until their vision became completely clear.

'It took longer than I expected. We are not late though, gather yourselves and let's move.'

'W-What just happened?'

None of them understood what had happened before; they did not remember anything since seeing the balls in the teacher's hand.

'I transferred knowledge directly into your heads, so you feel dizzy and headache.'

'Shoot, even the fast way is horrible; I really do not wish to try it again.'

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

'Nor do I want to, but if necessary, I might have to repeat the process for you.'

Maximus turned around and took them to the southern coast of the lake, the far side of the city. Its environment is different from the northern coast, which was rocky, a mud-swamp-like environment similar to that of the jungle, an annoying environment par excellence. Next to the swamp is a high rocky cliff with a height of eight meters and deep in the lake away from the swamp and suitable for jumping and diving. Everyone headed there, following in the footsteps of the heavenly magician.

'Don't go too far, beyond that point is a deep underwater cliff and dangerous creatures are highly likely to appear.'

Like a laser pointer, Maximus drew a line about two hundred meters from their current position, demarcating the area they should not leave.

'Each of you should get used to the dagger now before the end of the month, as it is no less useful than your main weapon, a trump card that cannot be exploited is worthless, and it should not even be called like that.'

'A trump card then, if it's to ensure my survival, I'll learn it.'

Mira held up the dagger, stared at it, updated herself, and then gripped it vigorously, showing a desire to learn and not lag behind others. Maximus clapped twice to get everyone's attention to give a final word before sending them into the water.

'Don't attack anything directly underwater, first get used to swimming and then apply magic to your eyes to enable you to see a lot under this water and then try to catch something small and then bigger and bigger. Don't skip the steps, to get to the number four you have to pass by the number three and the number two.'

'We will do what is required accurately.'

'Don't go too far; we don't want disaster like last time. I will not repeat my words.'

The heavenly magician gave them a sharp gaze capable of cutting iron, he was not joking, then he turned and stepped back and snapped his fingers, and then a chair appeared and sat on it.

'What are you waiting for? Take off your shoes and valuables such as rings, necklaces and earrings so they do not get lost. They jumped off the cliff afterwards. We don't have the time of the whole world to waste it like this.'

Dante, who was accustomed to swimming, was the first to take off his shoes, empty his pockets, jump off the cliff, raise his hands in the form of a spear over his head, and smoothly penetrate the surface of the water. He did not need to remove his clothes, as the adventurers' clothes that Maximus had previously bought them were not damaged in the water and did not hinder movement, so taking them off is a waste of time. He started swimming to cope with the temperature of the water, the rest soon followed him to the water, and a few minutes passed during which they got used to the temperature of the water and swimming skills for those who learned it before. They all gathered in a circle and looked at each other with defiant looks like yesterday, their gaze alone saying, "The fool is the one who will get the last place." It is another stupid challenge among a group of students.

Each of them took a direction and began to look for his prey. From small fish to venomous eels to barracuda fish weighing more than seventy kilograms with teeth capable of grinding steel. The choice to rub against this fish seemed wrong, but as Maximus taught them, avoid the opponent's strikes, if you cannot block them, you may not know how strong your opponent is. Avoidance is not cowardice or weakness but a precaution. Two hours passed and everyone managed to catch large creatures in the designated area and at the signal of Maximus all swam back to the side of the rock cliff. Maximus threw several planks into the water and jumped over one of them.

'Are we going to learn something else now?'

'Yes, fighting in water is useful, but it is not very practical, especially in situations of imminent danger and deep waters such as the high seas. Fighting out of the water always gives an advantage and that's the benefit of boards.'

'Do we have to learn to fight while we're holding a board or standing on it, won't it sink like this? ... Wait a minute! How didn't the board you stand on sink?'

'It's good that you noticed it yourself, you can do this with magic, inject magic into it and imagine that it floats and it will do, imagine it moving in one direction and it will be the case. Perfect style for fighting in the water.'

'I'll try it.'

Each climbed on a board and stood with difficulty because the boards moved with the currents of water. The board became fixed above the surface of the water by pumping mana constantly, the boards managed to stay afloat and the difficult stage came which was moving the board like a waterslide or surfboard, Maximus returned to the top and stared at them again while they were learning this skill.

'You have a time limit of three hours to move it quickly enough to be fit for a fight.'

Each of them has fallen into the water dozens or even hundreds, like a toddler learning to walk slowly but steadily forward, with tangible results placed in front of them at a very close distant. Only by repetition can it be learned if you have enough determination and this is what everyone here has...