'Their learning speed is really ridiculous, it doesn't make sense no matter how brilliant you are, you can't learn so fast otherwise they would have been geniuses before I even visited them. Dante was a mercenary but he was not so skilled. Something is wrong or there is a detail that I overlooked.'

Maximus began to rub his beard, wandering through his many ideas trying to find an answer. There is no result without a reason, no reason without a cause, and talent does not appear out of nowhere, so a person is born talented or becomes talented over time; but the sudden change of this kind is suspicious, especially for a meticulous magician.

'Is it because I gathered them to train them or because I am the teacher? Or may it be because I went back in time? There is not enough evidence to give a definitive answer.'

After minutes of sterile thinking, the magician stared at his pocket watch; it is time to check their current level. He approached the cliff and began to observe their skill if they had reached a minimum level that met Maximus' expectation.

'Good enough.'

They had the ability to move it steadily without falling, it was stupid to expect something like fast maneuvers and advanced movements, but by virtue of the duration, it was great even in the eyes of the heavenly magician. Clapping and magnifying the sound through magic like a giant speaker, the students who were scattered in the lake heard the sound and returned to the gathering point. At the foot of the cliff in the water. After everyone had gathered, Maximus lifted them up including the boards, their bodies approached the edge where their teacher was and they stopped in the air, Maximus closed his fist for a few seconds and then opened it and splashed the water that wet their bodies and clothes and then put them on the edge.

'Hurry up and get your things on, time is running short.'

Maximus' actions changed from what they had been before, as if he had a mood swings after hearing bad news. He is not in the mood to hear their complaints or inconveniences; it is their fault if they disturb him. If someone sets fire to a barrel of explosives and it exploded in his face, he deserves to blow up a second barrel in his face so that he can learn the lesson twice. Some people either do not learn the lesson or forget it easily and this is a perfect way to dig a lesson in someone's mind (do not try it at home!).

They listened to the request without debate and waited for the teacher's next step. He teleported them to the academy right inside the training room, unlike what he usually does.

'You remember that time when I tested your mental stability, it's similar to that time but the flow of time will be approximately one hour here by four hours in the simulation.'

'Simulation?? What does this word mean?'

"My bad! Why did I use words I learned from that book in front of them? It's not even a word from our world."

Maximus tried to rectify the situation by explaining it in a simple way so that they could understand it, fortunately for them they are not very educated otherwise the debate would have escalated too much (the image of Albus appeared in Maximus's mind and is an excellent example of this case).

'Simply put, just a virtual training sounds like real. We will start now, sit where you are.'

With a finger snap, the environment completely changed in an instant, that humidity, the smell of the sea, and even a storm. As soon as their eyes were opened, on board a merchant ship dedicated to medium-distance voyages, with a wooden hull and a length of twenty meters. It was waving left and right over the enormous waves. The balance was very difficult to be held, especially with the slippery surface, but it is nothing in front of the mana coating of the feet during the previous surfing on the boards, each of the boys began to check the ocean searching for the danger that the teacher spoke of and that could destroy the ship. Nothing appeared that could pose a threat until they felt pressure from below. A hole from the bottom to the top of the ship, a shark about ten meters long penetrated the hull and passed through the ship and rose in the air and landed again in the water leaving a hole with a diameter of three meters. They all raised their arms to protect their faces and eyes from the scattered wooden fragments that flew at great speeds.

'We don't even have time to slack off. All of you; prepare yourselves.'

'Take slabs of debris or take off a board and jump into the water.'

'Don't stop moving; the moment you stop you will die before you realize it.'

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Dante and Aliana rectified the situation a little faster than the others, began to give instructions to them, as soon as the last of them jumped; the shark breached throughout the ship again, smashed the rest of the props and split the ship in half. The ship was worn out after losing its props, split in half; water seeped faster, and began to disappear under the surface of the water until the last inch disappeared in less than a minute. The shark did not show itself during that minute but its underwater presence was felt.

'Try to attack it while avoiding, try to block and you will be like the ship. Don't hesitate to give your best; we don't know how sturdy its body is yet.'

Each of them pulled out his weapon and began to stare into the water to anticipate the shark's target, the shark attacked Orion first who tried to stab the shark in his side but left only a very superficial wound. He managed to avoid the jaw but could not avoid the fin that slapped his body and threw him into the water a few steps away from his board.

Fatal looks and suffocating killing intent came from the shark, which, once returning to the water after the jump, turned 180 degrees to attack the unarmed Orion. Aliana intervened with the spirit of the water that pushed Orion away from the shark's path and helped Mira move the board towards Orion who was in the water, managed to avoid it thanks to help and climbed over the board again.

The shark that did not jump this time only swam near the surface and only climbed to identify its next prey. The shark went without the slightest response towards Dante who seemed stronger to eliminate him, Eric who began to get used to the water currents tried to aim at the shark's right eye that was on his side, he fired the arrow but he missed the target. The speed of the shark and the turbulence of the waves did not give Eric the opportunity and it only made the shark furious and rushed more quickly towards Dante, who was preparing for a counterattack.

"His scales are thick and hard, the attack is useless and will exhaust our energy and we may die in the process, his eye maybe? Good idea but it is close to his freaking jaw. Those sharp teeth seem to be able to cut me off just by touching me. Should I try with his belly or his tail?"

In the midst of Dante's thoughts he decided to attack the tail to limit the movements of the superfast shark, it's like hitting the hamstrings of the hind legs of a lion or tiger; it will lose its overwhelming advantage with just one critical hit. The shark dived for a few meters to pounce in another jump, Dante moved the board as fast as he could and drowned the board moments before the shark swooped, he managed to avoid the beast jaw with his belly exposed, he hit him with the dagger in his left hand and the damage was negligible as he expected so he waved his second hand with all his might, with a blow wrapped in a very sharp blackish-purple halo. The side of the tail was stabbed centimeters away from the fin, but the stab succeeded and deepened for about 15 centimeters, the wound healed and closed in seconds but the tail did not move as smoothly as before. The tissue was regenerated but the damage to the nerve did not disappear, it was damaged enough to slow its movement and reduce its cannon-shot like bursts.

'The tail is its weak point; try to hit it to slow the monster down. If you think it's dangerous, just avoid, we have all the time to do it.'

After Dante was sure of the effectiveness of his strike, he shouted at the rest to notify them of the effective way to conjure this annoying monster. He will not be able to take it down on his own, but if the group cooperates, the mission is possible.

'Clear.'

'I would try to hit its eye with my arrows if it got a little slower than this.'

Over the next five minutes, the group was able to achieve four tail strokes either using their weapon like Orion and Tai Min or by using a dagger for the rest. The speed of the shark has decreased significantly compared to what it was at the beginning and it has become a bit easier to avoid.

'Hit his fins too, if we can cut one of them it won't be able to turn around quickly. You Eric, shoot it now.'

Eric fired an arrow charged with magic and hit the left eye of the shark, its eye was trying to regenerate but the presence of the stuck arrow prevented it and thus lost his peripheral vision, but his sense of his surroundings was not completely altered. The pace of fighting accelerated and the number of efficient attacks began to increase until Orion cut off his left fin. The shark is moving in random moves after its ability to turn declined. Tai Min stabbed the shark in the side several times in close positions to delay regeneration and recovery. The injuries were definitely recovering, but the blood lost was not compensated and the shark began to get confused and it was time for the last move. Thanks to her wood-manipulating abilities, Mira moved one of the small planks towards the jaw of the shark that swallowed it without hesitation and it was Aliana's turn to perform the last move, summoning the spirit of wood and asking it to activate her ability to 'unconditional growth' that makes wood or any plant part grow endlessly if there is enough magical energy. The roots began to bud from the wooden piece inside the shark growing at a crazy speed, penetrating through its organs and hindering its movement, and after several minutes of futile struggle, the shark died and its lifeless and hardened corpse remained afloat on the surface of the water without life.

'Fiooh. We succeeded in killing this despicable shark.'

Their bodies, exhausted of the fighting, which lasted more than a quarter of an hour in an unsuitable environment, did not take a moment until they returned to reality, to the training room.

'This is faster than I expected, everyone's growth is really impressive. It wasn't even four minutes.'

Maximus applauded his disciples' success and then stared at the clock to calculate the time it took, praised them for their success, and promised to teach them things in their combat specialties the next day...