When Edward arrived at the practice hall, the duo he met yesterday was already there. Seems like both of them brought their own weapons as well. The man wore a sheathed sword at the waist, while the woman rested her thin greatsword against the nearby column. They leaned over the railing discussing something, while casually looking down at the fighting pits below. The young man turned and looked up, noticing a new arrival.

“Hey, new guy! It was Edward, wasn’t it?” Marcus called out with a beaming smile.

“Hey Marcus, I’m glad you remember, good to see you too. Where is Tarquin?”

“Oh, he’s not here yet. We start in five minutes and the guy always shows up exactly when it’s time.”

“Okay, then can you guys tell me a bit about how the training usually goes?”

Marcus and Layla exchanged knowing glances. Edward could’ve sworn he saw the corner of their mouths quiver slightly.

“Sure, no problem.” The girl turned towards Edward as well.

“Yeah, Layla and I will gladly explain everything to you.”

“For a warmup, we run 10 laps around the pits you see down there. Then we continuously repeat whichever strikes master Tarquin tells us to. We practice on the dummies over there.” He pointed to the corner of the room.

“Of course he’s also going to be going around correcting your form, while yelling in your ear.”

“Strike harder! Faster! I said FASTER! Bring your sword higher! Step in closer when attacking!” Layla mimicked the harsh tone of the instructor.

“And then you do it again with spear techniques.” Marcus jumped in. “And again with an axe.”

“To master combat, one needs to master every weapon first.” Layla pretended to stroke her non-existent beard, imitating a typical old sage.

“Then, after a couple hours we can finally get a break and a nice big meal.” Marcus continued.

“And you better eat all of it.” He smiled. “Cause that’s when the duels start.”

“The best opportunity to learn is in the middle of a fight.” Layla quoted the old instructor.

“Sometimes master Tarquin joins as well.” Marcus winced at the memory of the last time that happened.

“And at the end we do some physical conditioning.” The guy looked towards the far wall. A bunch of weights, machines, kettles and other workout equipment was aligned along the wall.

Edward’s eyes widened in horror. He was pretty sure he just saw a dumbbell labeled as ‘500kg’. But there’s no way that was true, he must’ve seen it wrong from a distance.

‘After all, that would be absurd wouldn’t it be?’

Unfortunately for him ‘absurd’ is pretty commonplace when it comes to legends.

“Are you ready to start today’s training?”

The trio jumped a bit, and quickly turned to the side where the voice was coming from.

Tarquin was standing right next to the group, yet none of the young warriors noticed when he appeared. How much did he hear, they wondered.

“I’ll take the lack of response as a yes. Layla, Marcus, you know the drill. Edward, follow them, 20 laps around the pits.”

20 Laps?! Well he definitely heard something, that’s for sure.

This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.

After running 15 laps, Edward started regretting everything that brought him to this moment, in this place, at this time. Is the training really necessary? What’s the probability that I actually even become a Legend in the future? Can this really be called a warmup? Those kinds of thoughts passed through his head. But while his mind suffered from the pain, his body constantly healed back up after every lap. That left him with no excuse to stop, and stuck in the perpetual cycle of torment. It seemed like despite his outstanding ability to heal it didn’t eliminate the pain of training beyond his limits.

“Pick up the pace, it’s supposed to be a sprint not a jog!”

“Is this training for warriors, or a senior yoga class? Come on, show me some effort!”

Loud shouts kept coming from the direction of master Tarquin. Whenever somebody fell too far behind the group, Tarquin suddenly appeared, smacking them with a stick in the back. His casual strikes hurt like being struck by a whip covered in thorns. Experiencing it once was enough for Ed to stay in the front of the trio for the remaining duration of the run.

The instructor had to announce that the exercise has been completed, since they’ve long lost count of how much they ran. He graciously allowed them five minutes of rest, which Layla and Marcus immediately took as a permission to fall to the ground, glistening with sweat. They brought out their bottles of water, and started taking big gulps, looking up at Edward.

The young man stayed upright, looking over his body carefully. When he finally stopped running, he started to feel the pain fading almost immediately, almost forgetting how awful it was just a moment ago, with an emphasis on ‘almost’. His body quickly repaired the invisible damage to his muscles, and Edward felt his breathing stabilize.

“Ahh, what a lucky guy…” Marcus sighed and leaned back on the floor.

“Cheater.” Layla nodded.

Unfortunately, it seemed that they weren’t the only ones who noticed Edward’s situation.

“Hmm, how curious… though I’ll admit, that’s exactly what I was hoping to see.” Tarquin stood behind the young warrior, looking him over. Edward felt a cold shiver on his neck, a premonition perhaps.

“I wonder how far we can push that ability of yours,” the old demon said.

The duo on the ground, looked at Ed with compassion in their eyes. They were now ashamed of their jealousy. Knowing their instructor for much longer than Ed, they wouldn’t want to swap places with him.

“Alright let’s proceed as usual for now, the break is over let’s go.” Tarquin led the way towards the right side of the hall, where a bunch of practice dummies, targets and weapon stands awaited the trainees. On the way Edward decided to keep a safe distance from the teacher, and whispered to Marcus.

“Hey, I thought you two were kidding at first. Is the training really like this every time?”

Marcus waited for a bit, before answering the question.

“Yeah, I’d guess. Maybe today is indeed a bit worse, but not that much. Tarquin probably just wants to test your composure, or he’s just showing off.”

He shrugged his shoulders. “You’ll get used to this, sooner than you’d think actually.”

Marcus patted Ed on the back, and went to take his position in front of a practice dummy.

They started with a typical one handed sword of medium length. Seeing his friend pull out his own sword, Edward decided to use the blade he brought as well. Tarquin started the drill with a set of basic stances and attacks. Then he moved on to more and more advanced techniques. Fortunately, all the names and numbers he called out were from the same set of techniques Edward’s previous instructor used.

That of course wasn’t a mere coincidence. The training regime in the House of Alexander was strictly organised to avoid any miscommunication between the instructors and the novices, which helped achieve a much higher efficiency in educating the new recruits. Naturally, things changed a bit when it came to the select few, who went above and beyond what ordinary techniques consisted of. Talents like that received additional lessons on an individual basis.

As the exercise progressed, and the group moved on to different kinds of weapons, the mental load on Edward increased. While he could still somewhat handle other types of swords, now that he had to use a spear, he got bombarded by Tarquins remarks pertaining to his form. He took solace in the fact that his two new friends also seemed to struggle somewhat with handling unfamiliar weapons. Even Layla, who seemed to thrive with every type of sword, and especially enamoured Edward when they got to the greatsword, also couldn’t escape master Tarquin’s keen eyes.

After being thoroughly drained of any energy the group had left, they finally managed to get through this part of today's program. And like clockwork, a row of carts was brought in by the service staff. Hot steaming plates packed with steaks, grilled sausages, various salads, fries and potatoes filled the air with an enticing aroma. As soon as they were allowed to, the trio of Marked threw themselves on the food, their plates overflowing with various delicacies.

They went on to enjoy their single real intermission, taking the time to digest the meal. They passed the time stretching and massaging their sore muscles. Except Edward of course, who after eating the food was almost as good as new. At least if you looked past the accumulating mental fatigue. Which is why the young warrior used this opportunity to meditate and enjoy the peace and quiet a bit.

The end of the rest period came earlier than any of them wished, but with no choice in the matter, the group followed the orders of master Tarquin and prepared for the next challenge.

The duels.