MOCK BATTLE (2)

As Heres' words fell, Carl was swift as he shortened the distance between them. He was a little taller than Felix and his aura was fiercer.

Immediately, he brandished his axe sidewards, aiming to hit the waist of Felix with the blunt part of his crude axe.

But, his speed was average and the trajectory of his axe was predictable. Felix swiftly parried the axe and then took steps backward.

*tuck*

Felix pointed his wooden sword forward as he pondered.

'Our stats are almost equal. I can do this', Felix could feel that the strength and speed stats of Carl were not that far from his based on the clash they just had.

He could see through Carl's movements just fine and it appeared that Carl similarly allocated his status points into mana as he used a skill that caused diminutive tremors in the ground.

Felix lost his stability for a moment as he secondly blocked the onslaught of attacks by Carl, stomping his foot to the ground to block the axe.

Felix heaved a deep breath as he then found an opportunity. When Carl halted his attacks, Felix swiftly jabbed the sword forward only to deviate from its original trajectory as another and stronger series of tremors rumbled in the ground.

And as Carl planned, his axe quickly touched the chest of wobbling Felix.

"Mr. Carl won", Heres announced the end of the first mock battle.

Felix was dismayed, pulling himself from the ground. He lost the battle and he didn't have the face to look at Alab.

Felix shook the hand of Carl and sluggishly went toward the crowd, standing adjacent to Girth.

"Ke! Thank you for the fight, joker elf! Ke!...", Girth sneered

"Thank you for giving us nothing, KEKEKE!", he jested, slamming the back of Felix as he erupted with laughter.

Next, it was the fight between Girth and Dennis.

Dennis had already stood in the open area, lingering in wait for Girth. His eyes were bloodshot as he punched his other palm.

Ogres utilized their very bodies as their weapons. They fought with nothing but gauntlets.

"Come to the ring now, Mr. Class Liaison! GRE!", Dennis taunted.

However, this level of taunt wouldn't trigger the mildest speck of infuriation from Girth. Truth be told, Girth was overwhelmed with fear.

"Ke! I concede! I concede, Sir!", Girth hid behind Felix.

Looking at his expression, the class couldn't help but erupt with laughter. They couldn't blame Girth anyway as they equally feared the red ogre.

In terms of power, they deduced that Dennis was second in Copper Class 3, just slightly weaker than Carrot.

Heres shook his head at the sight of quivering Girth and then took notes in his small notepad. Looking at the list, he called for the 3rd pair.

"Ms. Carrot and Mr. Alab?"

It was finally Alab's turn.

Carrot jumped into the open space, gnawing on a carrot. Alab on the other hand walked with his unfaltering composure.

Carrot was visibly taller than Alab and her aura was stronger. She was not cloaked with any weapon as the bunny species inherently relied on their fatal kicks and nimble movements.

Seeing that they were both at lax, Heres muttered.

"You may now start"

Carrot chewed on the last shred of carrot and then nimbly dashed forward.

"Garchu! You better last long, Mr. Alab!", she muttered.

Alab evaded the thrown first kick by Carrot as he moved sideways. It was visible that Carrot was holding back her kicks.

'It is slower and weaker', Alab didn't want to let this battle end with a little measure of the bunny species' strength.

The event last night made him reconsider his decision. He couldn't let anyone know about his power and with that, he decided to battle Carrot relying merely on his own strength.

He didn't dare summon Locust who was seemingly throwing pits within his consciousness, craving to break out and battle Carrot by himself.

Alab calmed Locust as he evaded another held-back kick. The moment Locust calmed down, Alab could now sort his thoughts.

Before Carrot's feet could fully retract, Alab pulled out a sword from his inventory and jabbed it forward.

He needed only to make contact and he would win the battle. If Carrot would parry the attack with her feet, then that would be Alab's win.

But, fate decided to write otherwise.

It came as a surprise that when the tip of the sword was an inch away from jabbing Carrot, the bunny girl actually somersaulted to the side, nimbly evading the attack of Alab.

As she made distance, Carrot giggled as she found it fun.

"Garchu! So you can battle at least, huh? Then... How about this!"

Carrot dashed forward with a visibly faster speed, raising her right foot toward the figure of Alab. As Alab had allocated most of his stat points to Intelligence stat, his agility fell short than Carrot's.

Alab blocked the kick with his metallic sword and the impact was too strong that Alab was delivered meters away from his original spot.

The sword broke as another kick landed shortly, touching the shoulder of Alab as it broke through the sword.

"Ms. Carrot won!", Heres announced.

The class clapped their hands in amazement at Carrot's performance. Her speed was unimaginable for Copper Class and her strength was destructive.

"Our kicks can kill, garchu!", Carrot celebrated her win as she pulled out another carrot from her inventory. She then shook Alab's hands and returned to the crowd right after.

The class proceeded with their mock battles until the last 18th pair concluded their fight.

Heres then gathered the students, deliberating some vital matters about the arrangement in their practical class. After a while, he dismissed the class.

"That concludes our class for today. I hope you enjoy your mini battle and I will announce as soon as I finish making the training routine for each student. The gold coin reward for the winners will be sent later in your system. You may now leave.", he muttered.

The class dispersed, exiting the school grounds. It was still 2:30 in the afternoon and the day was far from ceasing. They had much time to spend on other matters.

Girth rushed to Alab who was quick in leaving the school. Wrapping his arm to Alab's shoulder, Girth sneered.

"Keke, I didn't know that you are that weak, reckless boy. Ke!", Girth teased Alab.

Alab had no retort to his words either. A moment ago, Alab knew that he had given his all in the fight. He didn't hold back in terms of his personal capacity and the result yielded unsatisfying realizations.

"Aside from my sloppy swordsmanship, I am lacking in strength, agility, and even endurance.", Alab evaluated his fight earlier.

It was hard to come up with objective judgment and Alab was all ears to criticisms from other students earlier.

'Maybe I should allocate more points to other stats rather than focusing solely on mana. And swordsmanship... I am not adept at it either...', Alab pondered.

Girth found it annoying to see that Alab remained unfazed by his teasing. Scrunching up his face and making faces behind the back of Alab, Girth snorted.

"Ke! You are boring!"

He then nagged the easily startled elf beside him.

Felix didn't have a plan after class. He felt relieved to see that Girth had invited him to access the training facility in the outer core.

Of course, Girth didn't plan to train but rather, to check out the famed stalls outside the facility. Han Seo Yeon and Anastasia still had classes to attend and wouldn't be back for 5 more hours.

Felix agreed, persuaded by Girth's sweet words on how training in the facility could increase their stats. This matter had been verified by Heres earlier.

"Will you come with us too?", Felix asked Alab.

Girth saw that Alab had no plan to respond and just pulled Felix toward the prosperous town in the west.

"Ke, don't bother asking him. He will probably hunt in the dungeon again! Boring guy!", Girth jeered.

Felix just watched the figure of Alab, walking in solitude as he traced the path outside of Academia.

While other students hurried to the prosperous town to loosen up, Alab summoned Misery and then banished into the distance.

"Had he always been like this?", Felix felt aggrieved

Girth sneered.

"Ke! That reckless boy. He hates the world! He prefers being alone, Ke!", he muttered.

-----

The next day, the class was energetic as usual, exchanging greetings one after another. The ambiance was pleasing and sound.

It was the usual day for everyone to work on being stronger. Copper Class 3 proceeded with their classes as usual...

just that there were 5 more absentees.

Ms. Savra entered the room.

"The S-mail won't be working during nighttime for a while."

"There is a system error.", Ms. Savra added.