Ten more!

[Levi's Pov]

"Are you sure that you are alright? I can stay if you want to, you know?"

"I'm sure, Mrs. Park. I'm just going to go sleep and rest up anyway, so there's no need for you to stay."

"If you say so..."

Having finally convinced my teacher and mentor that I would be fine, I entered my room, throwing myself on the bed without even changing from the leather armor that I was still wearing.

I still couldn't believe that what had happened this night was real and that Aarick actually acted as he did. That he didn't hadn't hesitated at all when fighting me.

Even though I knew that my thoughts were naïve and that he had been the one to act correctly, giving it everything he got, it still hurt. It hurt to know that no matter how much I wanted it, we weren't part of the fairytales that I had read when I was younger.

"Sniff..."

No matter how much I struggled, I couldn't stop my tears from trailing down my cheeks, slowly soaking the white pillow below my head.

****

[Aarick's Pov]

"Ten more laps!"

"I, huff... already said that I, huff... am sorry... Isn't that..."

"Ten more! Or we will be spending the rest of the day and night sparring."

"Ten more it is..."

Currently running laps around a huge outdoor track under the scorching sun, I knew that complaining now wouldn't help. No matter what I said, I knew that Dona wouldn't cool down until she felt like I had gotten the scolding I deserved.

Therefore, I kept running around the track, taking in the sights of the large trees and soccer field on the side to try and distract myself from the excruciating pain of running while increasing my gravity by more than 50%.

Now, if it had only been a couple of laps, I would have been fine as my body had grown a lot stronger during these last couple of weeks, but after having run for what felt like hours on end, even the smallest muscle fibers in my legs felt like they had been set on fire.

'I guess I deserve this...'

After I had 'accidentally' missed mentioning to her that I would be fighting Levi yesterday, it wasn't as if I didn't expect her to be a bit upset with me, but comparing this kind of punishment to the alternative of her leaving me, I was more than happy with the outcome.

In fact, even though I had used a couple of dirty tricks, and aside from me getting defeated in an instant when Levi finally got serious, I also felt like I did quite well in the fight as well.

Despite that she was stronger, faster, and had more powerful abilities than me, I still didn't feel like it would be impossible for me to catch up to her, and as a result, catch up to the other genius that was part of my class.

Unfortunately, I also remembered the fact that my ability had activated during a moment of panic, where I couldn't stop myself from going into [Blood Frenzy].

Having already tested it out a couple of times with Daniel and Dona, I already knew that it put me in a sort of instinctual-based mode where my body would move on its own, but having entered it on the stage in front of all those people...

Needless to say, it was a huge relief that Dona had knocked me out, preventing me from making a pretty big mistake.

It was one thing to aim for Levi's vitals during the fight, where I was pretty sure that she was stronger than me to the point where her life would never actually be in danger. But to do so after she had relaxed, thinking she had already won, could have ended in a tragedy.

Then again, I didn't think that a fight like that would have been arranged without proper security measures either, no matter if it was in the form of a healer or some other fancy tool to save her. And of course, there was also no way that Levi would have actually believed me to actually try and claim her life. With the exception of that last attack...

'I made it...'

Pretty much coming to a crawl, I had made it through another ten laps, with my legs now more than ready to allow my body to collapse to the ground. Just keeping up the [Inherent Gravity] ability had started to make my head feel like complete mush, so there was no way Dona would...

"Ten more laps!"

"...yes, madam."

"Don't call me madam!"

"Yes, teacher..."

==========

'I want to die...'

Sitting down in the shower, where Dona had put me down as my legs hadn't been able to carry my body after that hellish training, my thighs spasmed to the point where it felt like small snakes were trying to break free from within them.

So now, after somehow managing to undress myself, I sat under the gentle streams of water coming from the overhead shower, carefully trying to massage my legs while gritting my teeth to endure the pain.

Knowing that I would probably be stuck here for a while, I decided to open up my status, to see if I had made any progress during these last few weeks.

===Status===

Name: Aarick Laupier (Dhampir)

Rank: E- [Potential S]

Strength: E-

Agility: E

Stamina: E

Intelligence: E+

Mana Capacity: D-

Blessing: Gravitational Bond - Level 2

Elemental skills: [Inherent gravity], [Pull]

Bond skills: [Blood Frenzy]

==========

And that, I had. Both my agility and my stamina had increased a bit, going from [E-] to [E]. Although there hadn't been any improvements other than that in my status, I knew that I still had gotten a bit stronger and that I had become better at using my abilities.

More than that, I had also already learned yesterday that although one's status and rank made a big difference, it wasn't everything, making me remember the words of a certain woman after I had brilliantly brought down my first digital monster.

'-He didn't hesitate.'

This had truly been my one saving grace when facing off against Levi, the fact that she couldn't stop hesitating while I hadn't hesitated a single time during our whole fight.

Unable to stop myself from smiling, I couldn't help but get a bit of a cheeky thought pop up in my head.

'Seems like those geniuses aren't all that, after all.'

*Knock, knock, knock!*

Suddenly, Dona's voice could be heard from the other side of the bathroom door, echoing a bit against the marble decorations inside it.

"Don't forget to get ready for tomorrow! There are a lot of things you need to pack!"

"Yes, yes..."

Tomorrow would be the start of a very special week for the freshmen, a week where we would be going out on our first excursion to the wastelands.

And, to be honest, I was quite excited. Because this was the first time when we would get to venture out to the 'real world', a world where everyone could only rely on themselves for survival. A place where everything boiled down to kill or be killed.

Naturally, there would still be teachers around to keep us safe, but we would at least get to catch a glimpse of it. A glimpse of what would be expected from us in the future.

'I wonder what party I will get placed into...'

We still hadn't gotten to know how the groups of the excursion would look like, only that we would be placed in groups of four that the teachers would try to balance by making sure different roles would be filled by the students in the groups.

For example, it would be quite bad if a group ended up with only ranged damage dealers, and, similarly, it would be bad if a group consisted of only melee attackers.

To be honest, I didn't really care who I got placed with as long as I didn't have to be in the same group as Will, who I believed was probably pretty upset with me after the show match against Levi.

But then again, I did believe the chances to be quite slim that we would be placed into the same group. I mean, there were going to be six groups altogether, so wouldn't a five out of six chance be more than enough to...

==========

All the freshmen had gathered in one of the large stadiums in Augustus, with our teachers standing in front of us, currently announcing the groups we would be part of for the week.

"And in group 4, we have Aarick Laupier, Lydia Wild, and Jessica Mistwale, and the group leader for this group will be Will Steiner."

In the corner of my eyes, I could see the red-haired man's fist clench a bit, and at the same time, I could feel myself getting exhausted just thinking about the days to come.