Chapter 14- The Start Of Training

"Fight you?" Acht asked confusedly.

"Yes, you may have one of the lost elements but that doesn't mean you will excel in combat. Knowing how to do something and applying that in real life are two different things." 

She then took a sip of her coffee calmly and continued, "I need to see your weak and strong points. That's why there is no better than a spar to gauge these things."

"I see. Then, when should we start?" He nodded his head before asking again.

"Follow me." 

Then, both of them stood up and walked out of the hotel. The city was as bustling as ever. In fact, with the end of the hunter appraisal phase the day before, the number of people in the city increased. Many families and guilds came here to see if there were any potential hunters they could recruit beforehand. 

This kind of thing happens in basically every city in the lower world, the rivalry between the influential guilds and the weaker guilds alike makes searching for opportunities to become stronger a must. That's why, even though Scarlett was the supervisor of the appraisal, she didn't allow for Acht's information to leak since if that happened, every other family and guild would try to get him to their side no matter how they did it.

The duo walked in the street for a few minutes before stopping in front of a rather small but well-organized building. The sign on the front said 'Bluerise Training Capsules Center'.

"This is where we will train. This capsules center allows us to simulate all possible cases in a fight including holographic dungeon monsters and other fighting conditions. The perfect place for training." She explained briefly before walking inside followed by Acht.

The two then spoke to the worker and rented a capsule for 12 hours. It was quite costly as they had to pay 13 gold coins but they were both swimming in gold so neither of them cared about it.

When they walked away, the male worker looked at their silhouettes and muttered with an envious look, "You lucky brat! Staying for 12 hours with a hot babe like that!"

The capsules were basically akin to modified rooms that could handle the power of hunters since they couldn't train anywhere or it would be a disaster.

They found their room and entered inside. In contrast to how it looked from the outside, the room was the size of a coliseum arena. The ground was made of hard rock and the walls out of some kind of metal.

Acht whistled lightly as he looked around, he liked the atmosphere of this place for some reason.

While he was doing that, Scarlett just started undressing her clothes. She wore a training suit under her normal clothes for this training session but it only worked as an amplifier for her lethal curves and amazing body.

'She really sees me as a kid. I can't blame her though.' He thought with a calm look. He wasn't some lustful kid who would drool on the spot whenever he smelled female pheromones and even if he lost himself in lust, she would be able to erase him out of existence quite easily.

"Do some light stretching before we start. I don't want you to harm yourself before we even start the training."

"You're underestimating me too much, miss Scarlett." He answered with a cold gaze.

"Oh! I heard that actions work better than words. Show me what you have. We will fight without using soul force or gifts. I want to assess your close combat prowess."

"Understood." 

The two then stood facing each other, the difference in height and age made the fight quite weird from an outsider's point of view.

"I will throw this copper coin and when it falls down, the match starts." She then flicked the coin. It soared for a few meters in the sky before falling down.

Both of them watched the coin attentively and the moment it touched the ground…

*Swish*

Acht rushed toward Scarlett quickly, their distance got closed in a few seconds. He then jumped and kicked with his right leg toward her face.

Scarlett didn't move from her place and held her hand to guard against his attack. His leg connected with her arm but neither of them got pushed behind.

Acht expected this to happen so he landed on the ground and instantly sent a punch to her abdomen. His height didn't allow him to reach any other part of her body.

"Very good." She said as she sidestepped his punch and barely missed it.

She then tried to hit his right elbow when it was extended but Acht saw right through it and grabbed her fist with his left hand.

Her strength was way higher than Acht so he could only hold her for a few moments before jumping behind to make a distance between them.

'As expected, she's strong.' He thought with a small smile on the corner of his face. It has been a long time since he faced an opponent that could make him go all out. He felt his blood boil in excitement as every part of his body filled with endless energy.

As for Scarlett, she was quite shocked by Acht. She expected him to be somewhat decent but she never thought he could be this skilled. For a moment, she even felt like she was fighting an expert.

'This kid is full of surprises.' she could only think so as she took a fighting pose again.

"Let's continue." She said with a calm tone.

Acht didn't speak and instantly dashed toward her again. Their fight continued for minutes, they were almost on equal footing with some slight advantage for Scarlett. 

Their punches and kicks barely missed their targets each time. Acht had to use all of his abilities to keep up with her. No matter how much he tried, he couldn't hit her, her speed and accuracy were simply outstanding. If she were living in his previous world, she would've been considered an unbeatable monster.

When the fight passed the 10 minutes mark, Acht started getting exhausted. His body couldn't handle such intensity for a long time. He could've kept up this rhythm for some more time if he used his soul force but that was not allowed.

Thus why, in their last clash, he couldn't dodge one of her kicks and was sent flying before falling to the ground. 

"Are you ok?" She asked him.

"Huh…yes." He said with a breathless voice. His lungs were threatening to explode from lack of oxygen and his heart was overheating from work.

"Let's take a break."

They sat down for a few minutes, none of them spoke and soon awkward silence took over the place.

"To be honest with you, your power surprised me. You have skills that could rival the strongest of hunters if you had some more power in your body. Can you tell me from where you learned how to fight?" She asked without looking at him.

Her question was logical and Acht knew that he would have to answer her sooner or later.  That's why he prepared an excuse for such cases.

"When I was born, my father and mother had to leave because of their work as hunters, but they never came back. They died in Ecrasia. So, my grandfather took responsibility for raising me up. He was also a hunter back in his prime so I made him train me." He said without hesitation. 

It was a flat-out lie but he had no other choice. He can't tell her that he was a strong hitman in his previous life and he got reincarnated by a crazy goddess in the body of a small child. He will either be considered crazy or hallucinating.

"Oh, I see…I'm sorry for your loss." She said with a slightly sad tone. She may have been considered a cold person by many, but Scarlett was a very kind person inside. Her cold expression was something she made to face this cruel world where the stronger rules and weaker suffer.

Acht saw through her front and tried to hold back a smile from appearing on his face. He was a cruel and cold person so seeing people like Scarlett was like a breath of fresh air for him.

'She reminds me of her.' he thought as he sighed inwardly. Every time he sits down to relax, his mind will wander back to his previous life. The nostalgia was killing him.

"Ok, enough with the chit-chat. Here, take this." She said as she stood up and threw a glass bottle in his direction.

"What kind of potion is this?" He asked as inspected the vial with interest.

"It's a stamina replenishing potion. It will restore you to your peak condition. You will have to start drinking these until your body gets stronger." She answered while pointing at the potion.

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