[Bonus chapter]Chapter 115 - Let's Train

"I understand Reina. But my objective won't change. This is the only chance I have to participate in the Grand Tournament. When the next one comes, I'll be 16 - 17 years old already and it will no longer be fated with me. So even if it's hard, even close to impossible, I still need to try and go all out," said Nerun solemnly.

Both Karles and Reina understood that Nerun was being serious, and didn't mock him or make things difficult for him. They also didn't ask why Nerun was so adamant about participating. But looking at each other they simply nodded and said: "Ok. Let's do this."

"To be honest, I would truly love to participate as well, but I know my limitations. Not that I won't do my best on the next Ranking, on the contrary, as we had said before, it's a chance to get noticed by the upper management of the academy. Even if it's nothing more than a pipe dream, we still have to go for it. Otherwise, what's the point of even being here in the Lyceum." said Karles.

"But you Nerun, you might have a slim chance to be selected for the Special Course, and even the Core Class afterwards. We might not be able to help you afterwards, but for the next 4 weeks, you can count on us."

"Indeed Nerun." agreed Reina with a smile.

Nerun felt moved by his new friends' attitude, but he did not want to impose on them. What he was trying to do was difficult, and could also hamper both his friends' chances in the next Ranking battle if they only helped him in these weeks. So, he was about to reject their offer when Reina said.

"Don't be so quick to refuse our help. I know what you are thinking. You think this will put our own plans into jeopardy. Classical, another man that wants to do everything on his own..." said Reina with disdain.

Nerun scratched his head while cleaning the non-visible cold sweat he had. 'Is this the fearsome female intuition?'

"Helping you is also helping ourselves. You see if you manage to become a Special Course student, it means you'll prove to be one of the very best among the 1st year students. Since we are all from the same class, we will also benefit from you, as we will rank up as you do. Most of the times, the only way for a class to go up the ranks is by the whole of the class coming together and fighting against the other classes. But in our class, not only are we just slightly weaker than the students from the other classes, but we also have serious issues and infighting among us, if you have not been able to tell. There is no true leader that has been able to command the rest of the students. Solda and his cronies are one faction, me and Karles are another, and some of the other students tend to support us, but only on the surface. The third party in the class can be considered neutral. This makes it almost impossible for us to overcome the other classes since most of the students don't have major advantages over the rest and we haven't managed to come together as a group.

However, in rare cases, there is another way to go up in the ranks. It has happened before. When one particular student in a class is so good, he alone brings the whole class to the top. What was the case for Senior Brother Hansel."

"Reina is correct Nerun. Also, who says that if we help you these four weeks there won't be other benefits? We'll also take advantage of you and your Contribution Points. Since our short-term goal has changed, I'll make a plan to use them all in order for you to become stronger and as you eat the meat, we'll be able to drink the soup. We'll also train at your place every afternoon to help you improve. Most of the students will also ask for help from their families and clans, but ours are not able to support us as much as we'd like in this endeavour since the core of our clans is far away, but you are different. Your brother is, after all, the Dragon General. I'm sure you can convince him to help us for one or two days with our practice, and having the chance to be taught by a Qi Emperor as your brother would be both our honour and our reward for helping you, for that is something money can't pay."

When Karles with his business-like attitude said this, he convinced Nerun. Even though what Karles and Reina said sounded good and all, he would be the one that got the most benefits, and he knew they were just trying to convince him to accept their full help. After all, Reina's family was full of geniuses in the Martial Path and her father was a true Qi Saint. Karles' family was a merchant family but he also had his advantages.

When Reina saw Nerun's hesitation she said in a tone that left no room for discussion, "That's that, you will accept our help or our friendship is over!"

Nerun conceded defeat raising his hands, and he gave his two young friends a genuine and true smile. He would keep this favour in his heart and swore to repay it manifold.

So, without further ado, Nerun and Company sat together and started planning the training regime for the next 4 weeks. First of all, Karles went with Nerun to the Cafeteria and talked to the Lunch Lady. Since Nerun's case was sort of special, since rarely a student had so many contribution points to eat daily, except of course for the Core Students, Karles, proudly displaying his skills as a good businessman, managed to get the Lunch Lady to serve Nerun the special menu meals for the next 28 days with a 28% discount by paying in advance, for a whopping amount of 600 Contribution Points, truly a small fortune, but nevertheless worth it, since Nerun did not need them for things like Martial Techniques or Skills, nor exchanging for a different Martial Art, at least for now.

Next, the three boys went to the training room area and looked for the rooms' availability for the next few days.

There are multiple training rooms that cater to the needs of the different students. They went to the manager of the training rooms, an unassuming old man who was known to be quite stern, yet fair at the same time, named Lothar.

The different training rooms also needed different contribution points to be used. They were charged by the hour. Since Nerun's foundation was quite solid, he didn't need to especially keep working in this area. He did morning exercises and trained with his brother daily, as well as trying to keep upgrading the forms of the Free Flowing Fist, though in this last area, the difficulty was increasing and Nerun had seen little improvement. So after talking with each other, they decided on an immediate course of action.

They decided to rent an intermediate gravity room. This was a special training room that with the help of a special material harvested from the core of the Grand Desert of Avi-Cena paired with alchemical means, could increase gravity a certain amount, up to 10 times the normal gravity of the planet.

Normally, it would be used by warriors and adepts to feel the strength of the earth, the power of magnetism, and even train their inner organs in an increased gravity environment, however, not many of the students used it. For one, most of the students did not have the appropriate Core meridian, not to mention Celestial Gate, to properly use the increase in gravity to further improve their powers. Also, being careless while training in an increased gravity environment was supremely dangerous, the inner organs might not be able to tolerate it properly. And the third, and perhaps, most important reason, it wasn't cost-effective for most students. The Gravity Training room was one of those that needed a lot of contribution points for a single hour.

But, since this was a special and important situation, Nerun, once again helped by Karles, made an important investment in the renting of the room, with some discount. Still, it cost him 350 contribution points to rent the room for 2 hours every afternoon before the time of the test. Nerun was left with close to no contribution points until the next allocation came, which would be right after the Inner Class Ranking.

And thus, the next 4 weeks of hard and focused training began. Nerun used the Gravity Room first and after a while got accustomed to the different functions. His main objective during these two hours would not be sparring, but actually practising the first three forms of the Free Flowing Fist at increasing gravity. This was the idea he had come up with in order to further ingrain them into his body, and also allow his body to fight under higher and higher pressure. The progressive increase in gravity would permit Nerun not only to train his muscles and tendons but also to reinforce his inner organs little by little. Unlike other students, Nerun had an advantage after all. His whole body was almost as strong as that of a Magical Beast, therefore he could sustain a much higher pressure than others.

The benefits of long-term gravity training might not show themselves unless he did so regularly for a long time, but still, any small improvement during the next month would help him in his endeavour.

After leaving the Gravity Room, Nerun would then rest for a while to allow his body to properly recover. Later, joined by Karles and Reina, Nerun invited them home, where he wanted to introduce them to his brother. The new manor was already looking quite different, since now a lot of people could be seen coming and going. Many soldiers and guards were posted in the entry and around it, and in the gates, a grand flag with the royal symbol was already waving proudly. On the reverse of the flag, the symbol of the Grand Army. A new plaque was also at the entry gate, that read:

"HOUSE OF THE QILIN".

Elijah was quite pleased that Nerun had made friends already. Both Karles and Reina were a bit nervous when they met Elijah. After all, the latter had a resounding reputation throughout the kingdom and he was synonymous with fearlessness, bravery, boldness and fortitude. Even Reina, as tomboyish and rambunctious as she was, felt a bit shy when meeting Elijah.

When the three teens told Elijah about the recent changes in the Academy, and their plan to train together and help Nerun towards his objective to enter the Special Course, Elijah was deeply thankful to Karles and Reina. Reina also took the chance to tell Elijah that her father and brothers were sincerely pleased with his election as Dragon General. Whether these words were perfunctory or not, Elijah was not sure, but at the very least, he could tell that the Aitana Family from the north wasn't, in principle, against him.

Since both Karles and Reina looked quite sincere in their treatment of Nerun, Elijah promised them his full support. He would not be able to join them every afternoon, but they were more than welcome to come openly to his house and use the specially built training room. Also, he would try to join them from time to time and give them pointers in their training, something that although Karles and Reina had mentioned before, were not truly expecting to actually happen. After all, a Dragon General is one of the busiest people in the Kingdom, and they are not truly that close to him to warrant such treatment. This, of course, made them quite exhilarated and, they were sure that they had made the right decision and bet, by lending their full strength to Nerun. Gaining the favour of a Dragon General is something that can't truly be fathomed.

It was easy, therefore, to conclude the great importance and love that Elijah lavished upon Nerun. Perhaps others might think this a weakness. However, these couple of brothers couldn't care less what others thought. On the contrary, this could also help them fish for those that wanted to make trouble for them.

And so, Nerun and company started the rest of the afternoon training, which consisted of back-to-back sparring against multiple opponents. While Nerun was truly strong, he couldn't actually defeat both Reina and Karles all the time, especially when both of them were also gifted Grandmasters in their own right, and their power was nothing to be scoffed at.

The next three weeks simply seemed to fly by in a blink of an eye. Nerun had settled well into school life, and although there were still some people giving him disdainful looks, most didn't really care about him. After all, there were more important things to take care of, mainly the coming Inner Class Ranking. Even Solda and his cronies didn't go and find trouble for Nerun. However, Solda gave Nerun a strange look at times, as if a snake slowly but surely cornering its prey.

Nerun wasn't sure why was Solda giving him that look, but he wasn't particularly concerned either. As a confident young man, he was sure that he could take on any and all obstacles that appeared in his way.