Chapter 6: Chapter five – Quite the workout indeed

I lay panting on the mats. When I thought of ‘quite the workout’ I thought of something sensible, like endurance weights, running, squatting, pushups, things like that. I did not think that it would mean four hours of running with only pauses for water every half hour. “Up. We got weights waiting for you next.” a voice called out to me. Groaning, I got up and walked over to what I was sure would be my own personal hell for the next few hours.

A few hours later, I found that I was right. The weights were barely within a range that I could lift, and that was at the beginning. It got worse from there, as I had to continue, even with my aching limbs. But I was finally done for the day, so I said goodnight, ate everything I could find, and passed out on my bed. 

Having stayed up the night before to do research, I slept like the dead. For 12 hours, that is. After that, it was back to that cursed training area, situated underneath the manor. This cycle repeated until the weekend, strangely similar to Earth’s own, with the same seven day week and two day weekend. That pattern ended with the months though, as all of them were 30 days, and there were 14 of them. I spent the next seven of them training. 

Today was the first day that I would be sparring, so I had made a blunted sword and dagger combo, enchanted for durability, and weighted the same as my real ones. Taking a combat stance, my feet set shoulder width apart, at a rough 45 degree angle to my opponent. Xcero stood across from me, eying me critically. Nodding in approval, they got into a ready stance as well. The fight began.

I looked at Xcero, hoping to find a usable opening, and upon seeing none, smiled. I may be very much out of practice, but I still knew what I was doing. Seeing Xcero begin to move, I raised my sword up to block the attack, and when it hit, I stayed there, waiting for the second one. Blocking that as well, I used my dagger to sweep their blades to the side, opening up a nice spot for my now freed sword to strike. I did so, and they looked at me, some pride in their eyes. Having won this little bout, I was not expecting another easy win. Taking the previous stance, but crouching down a little, I again waited.

This time the attack came from behind, Syn sneaking up on me. Just barely hearing anything in time, I moved to the side, bringing my dagger closer to my chest while striking back with my sword. A clash of metal rang out, and I backed away to keep them both in my field of view. After a few moments of silence and stillness, I decided to take the initiative. I struck out with my sword, a simple downwards slash, aimed in between shoulder and neck. The blade was blocked by Xcero, so I shifted my wrist back, letting my blade slide down, and hooked the dagger on the end of my hilt around their wrist. Moving the arm out of the way, I stepped into their guard and tapped their throat with my dagger. Turning around, I released Xcero, and got into position to block the blade coming for my back. 

Blocking this one, I moved the blade up, stepped under and to the side, then blocked the second blade coming for me with my dagger. Pushing back, I saw Syn’s eyes widen a bit, as they lost balance for a second; long enough for me to strike out against their now open torso, as their raised blade was flicked back. As the blade moved towards them, I saw their raised sword glow teal for a second, before starting to fall at me, increasing speed quickly. I leaned to the side, bringing my dagger into place to try to deflect it. It slid down my blade, slamming into the cross guard, and my hand beyond. I shoved forward, tilting my blade forward to try to get it to slide down. The two things happened at the same time, my sword slamming into Syn, and their blade slamming into the ground at my feet. The next thing I knew, I was knocked out with a blow to the head.

Taking a break, we talked over the sparring session. They all were surprised at how good I was, and even I was. I never had those reaction speeds when I was human, and the only person that came close was my teacher, but even then, he was still slower. The entirety of the second bout lasted no more than 10 seconds. The last blow came because I disregarded Nix, thinking that a slashed throat would  do anything when we didn’t even really have blood. I was shocked when I heard that, though it made sense. The only criticism that my parents and trainers had for me was that I didn’t use any magic during the battle.

 I blanked for a second as I realized the implications, before going over the fight in my mind. I could have done any number of things, and I might even be able to create things already in motion. Those would be invaluable, giving platforms to jump off of, projectiles to distract, smoke, objects to block, so many things. Teleporting mid fight, being able to sense movement, creating magnetic fields to pull weapons away, even making portals to attack from a distance. Portals could even be used to block their own weapons, hitting them back with themselves. I looked at my parents, excitement in my eyes.

“This is going to be so much more fun.” I said, a grin slowly forming on my face.

...

A year later, it wasn’t me that lay knocked out on the ground, but my parents. I had grown so ridiculously fast that they, even with all their connections, hadn’t heard of anything like it. If I had to run at my speed during the first session, I could likely keep it up for a full day before needing water, and another before food. At my top speed, I was almost as fast as I was while driving on the highways back on Earth. I could now move Anil’s hammer, even if only a few centimeters. I could see further, hear better, and still make sense of it all. I could think and react faster, and I could sustain a perception field based on movements and air disturbances. My magic was still my strong point though, having gained multiple combat capable Skills in that front. Only my Perception Field hadn’t ranked up, sitting just on the edge. All the others had all given great benefits in the form of their perks.

 

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