“All right everyone is here, here we go.” Luxios is starting the physical training class. “I can see some of you have already warmed up during the break. Go ahead and grab a wooden sword from over there.” He points us to an equipment shed on the verge of the yard where it connects to the fence.

“Ser, Luxios, I prefer polearms, is it alright if I take one instead?” A girl asks Luxios, I think her name was Anabelle, I don’t remember the guild she’s from.

“Ser?” I catch Luxios smiling “It’s important for me to see how you handle every weapon. And it is important for you to know the basics of every weapon." He sends us off with no choice, it’s quite dense with pupils around the shed, some are checking for splinters on their swords and switching to the ones with less wear. I also look for a couple of swords that aren’t in too bad a shape before stepping out of the mess.

“Grey, I got a sword for us…” I guess it wasn’t needed though. Just as I say that he receives a wooden sword from Delvin.

“Oh, sorry Fren, I just had a spare one, I brought one extra for Albi or Darsh but they both had ones already.”

“That’s fine.” I guess I’ll have to look around for someone to give this to. Oh, that Anabelle girl still hadn’t chosen one. I offer her one of mine and she takes it with a quiet thank you.

When we get back to the center of the yard we are greeted by Luxios holding an odd device. It looks a bit like a compass in his hand, it’s reminiscent of my shield, it looks like the same material, but the top is glass and it had some dial and things written on the inside.

“Good, now split into couples. Don’t start fighting yet, I want to make sure the coupling isn’t done unevenly.” He orders us without explaining what the device in his hand does.

I look at Grey, everyone else is nice but I kind of feel awkward dealing with them. Grey looks back at me, I think he als-

“Hey, let’s pair up.” Darsh walks between us. “I’m excited to see just how strong you really are.” he’s already in a fighting position.

“I said no fighting yet! I need to calibrate this thing.” Luxios gently scolds us.

“I thought of pairing up with Gregory anyway.” I explain and try to recreate eye contact with Grey.

“He’s a spellcaster, right? I think it would be best if he paired up with someone less familiar with physical combat.” Luxios rebukes.

“I’m a spell caster.” Delvin walks in “I can stand in for you.” … I guess that’s going to be alright. It’s probably for the best, don’t want to hurt Grey accidentally, or outmatch him too much to have an effective work out.

Luxios steps in closer and has a pondering thought. “That would be alright, but I don’t think there is anyone who’s quite a big boy like Darsh here is.” He looks around for someone. I don’t see a problem though.

“It’s alright, I can manage.” Luxios looks at me after I say that, it’s like he’s testing me with his eyes.

“Alright, if everyone else has a partner. You will do the following. Troll Head, won’t you help me?” He asks Anabelle for help, taking her from her training partner for a bit. Now I remember, she was from Troll Head. He gives an example of proper form and what to do or not to do. It’s a bit similar to what Rodrick did, just a lot slower and less complicated. “Thanks, you can return. Now let’s begin practice.” And with that we start the exercise.

Darsh probably didn’t listen at all, he’s not using the form or techniques Luxios told us about at all. He is using his big arms to cover a lot of space, which counteracts his slow movements. I try to move in and find openings to counter but I don’t feel fast enough. It’s weird, I know I had an easier time with faster opponents, and with slightly heavier clothes too, but now I feel so sluggish I can only dodge. I peek over to see how Grey is doing. He’s now doing too bad, but Delvin clearly knows more about weapons than Grey does.

“Don’t look away!” Darsh tells me. He stops swinging for a moment. “Take this seriously, you didn’t even try to attack.” He says a bit disappointed. He’s not wrong.

“I’m sorry. I feel a bit sluggish today. Let’s continue.”

In the meantime Luxios walks over between the pairs and points the device at the students. I still can’t find an opening until he reaches Darsh and me. “That’s odd… Fren, are you not wearing your armor under your shirt?” my armor?

“No… does it have something to do with it?

“That armor has some magic in it, I thought that’s why you wanted to fight Darsh. It’s better if you train without it but…”

“Does that thing look at magic?” Darsh looks confused, honestly I feel like I don’t even know enough to feel confused. “What does magic have to do with this? We’re not casting spells.”

“You’re not casting spells?” Luxios answers back with a question. “I guess you could say you don’t, but some people here are casting spells of sorts. Everyone has magic within them, and even if you don’t make fire or levitate you still use some of it to make yourself stronger or faster.”

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“And we can also draw it from weapons and armor…” I connect the dots now. That’s why the armor is important. I guess I’m not as strong as I thought I was. Wait, is making the armor out of goblin bones important? What about the axe that Dali had? Was that made from monster parts too? I’m a bit confused.

“Wait, you’re saying that these fries can be stronger than me? Ha!” Darsh laughs it up, it is hard to believe, but after seeing Ruby take on someone even bigger than Darsh when she was empowered by magic I have no doubt about it.

I think I get it… so the same feeling I have with weapons and armor, I can use it with my body? Well, it’s not really mine but… “Alright, let’s continue.”

“Are you sure?” Darsh asks me. Yes I’m sure, I know what to do now. I take a stance and point the wooden sword at him. “Alright.”

I breathe in, and out. It feels a bit different, but still the same. It’s no longer like borrowing someone else's power, if before it felt like I stood with someone now it feels like I’m standing with myself, like I have a bigger presence than my body. It almost feels like I’m around myself, I can feel something like heat in my hands, it’s not heat, but it’s like I have more power. I know this feeling from before. I’m doing it.

Darsh swings, this feels familiar but slower, I dodge to the right with little issue. He can tell I’m faster than before, I can see it in his expression. He swings again, this time downwards. Let’s test this power. I block with the wooden sword and maneuver it away, Darsh’s hand follows where I tell it to, then I hit Darsh’s stomach with the hilt of the wooden sword. He folds inwards and drops his sword.

“Incredible! I didn’t think that just explaining it would make you do it.” Luxios is amazed. “You might be a pretty good spell caster in the future too.”

“What was that?! No way.” Darsh recovers. “Was that magic power?” He looks at me shocked. Is he angry?

“You must teach me how to do it! Do it again!” He’s not angry at all… I think I understand him now, he’s trying to get stronger all the time. I thought he might be bitter after that but he’s more excited about getting stronger than anything else.

“You should start by using the pose I showed you at the start of class.” He gets scolded by Luxios. “Fren, you should watch your strength when you do that.” He also tells me off, I didn’t mean to do it too hard.

The class continues pretty straight forward. We do more of that and try out different weapons, some have better results then others. I don’t know how Fren and Delvin are doing though, I’ll have to ask later.

“Alright, that’s the end of class, tomorrow we will talk about magic for a bit, and more. Those of you who had a hard time should practice more. Even if you only plan on using magic, this sort of thing can save your life in a hard place. I have a few stories to tell you about that too.” Luxios dismisses the class, some stay and spar and some others just leave.

“Fren! I saw what you did, that was amazing.” Grey finds me after class, he then directs his attention to Darsh with a smug ‘I told you so’ tone in his voice. “Told you he could win.”

“You weren't kidding. He’s the real deal!” Darsh doesn’t figure out it was smug, he’s gotten a hard beating this lesson but he never gave up, and kind of pestered the teacher asking if he’s getting better.

“Yeah, it was fantastic! I can see why you were accepted to Dragon Shifter, Grey is probably a lot better as a spell caster though.” Delving joins and weighs in, behind him Albi from the Red Wings guild also joins.

“Hey, I could win in physical combat.” Grey takes a bit of offense for that. “I was saving my secret card.”

“What card, Grey? I was beating you, and I'm no swordsman.” Delvin doesn- Wait when did Delvin start calling Grey by his pet name?

“It’s a spell, so I shouldn’t use it in physical training, but it’s the real deal.” Grey tries to make it sound cool, I myself wonder what he’s talking about.

“How about we try it? Think you can take me?” Darsh is picking a fight again, even though he’s panting after the class exercise.

“I… umm…” Grey is assessing his potential opponent’s size, he doesn’t look confident but still says. “I think I can. Just a moment.”

He mumbles some things and holds his palm over his chest. Then he starts glowing, same as Ruby did when she fought the bandit leader at the battle, is this what he meant? I must admit I forgot he could do that.

“Wow! Look at that! Let’s do it! Let’s fight!” Darsh can’t calm down. He grabs a sword and hands one to Grey. “How long does it last?”

“Long enough.” Grey is trying to be smug again.

They position themselves and… fight. Grey moves very quickly, dodges out of Drash’s rash attack, out of Drash’s sight even, he maneuvers behind him. Grey then strikes Darsh’s back… but it has no effect. Darsh turns around and Grey steps back and swiftly moves around his opponent again, but still no effect from his strikes.

“That is impressive.” Delvin says while watching the fight. Albi nods silently in agreement.

“I don’t think either can win…” I tell them, looking at the state of the fight it’s hard to draw a different conclusion.

“Yeah, let’s break it up. Before someone gets actually hurt.” Delvin agrees.

“But we were just getting started.” Darsh say’s disappointed. He barely got to hit something all day.

“We should get going to our guild and tell them how our first day went.” Delvin insists, I guess they can’t stay much longer.

Darsh looks at me, looking for validation? “You can come, right? I wanna keep fighting.” What ridiculous stamina!

“I was actually planning on getting something to eat, I’m starving.” I try to let him down gently.

“Me too, I think casting spells and using this other magic makes you hungry.” Grey agrees, we can go out to eat together.

“I know a great place next to our guild hall, we should go, all five of us.” Delvin throws a suggestion.

“Let’s go, Fren! I wanted to see the city.” Grey is excited for that, it doesn’t sound too bad. I guess the five of us could go out to eat together.

“I’ll go get some money first.” I left it in my room.

“Don’t bother, it’s our treat, right Delvin?” Darsh pats me on the back. He probably wants to thank me for the workout, or bribe me to make me train with him more.

“Umm… Sure. We are inviting you, so why not. And in exchange, you can tell us about how you entered Dragon Shifter. Although, by seeing how you fight, I can imagine.” Delvin affirms and laughs a bit. I guess we’re going to eat together.