Forging the body
For a few seconds, tension reigned on their table, the two looking each other straight in the eye at each other.
"Nah, I'm just kidding! Come on, let's hurry up and eat so we're not late for the next class!"
Adam smiled in response, for a second he actually believed him.
...
Half an hour later, Adam and Erwan found themselves in the amphitheater on the second floor.
It was a breathtaking room, far beyond what Adam could ever have imagined in his previous life.
"If science fiction fanatics found themselves here, I wonder what kind of reaction they'd have?"
Already the amphitheater was designed so that the professor stood on a stage in the middle of all the students.
It was as if the hall were a coliseum, with the students as spectators and the professor as gladiator.
In the center of the room, there was only one desk for the teacher to set down his equipment if he had any.
There was a constant buzz in the room, a cacophony of excited voices and students chatting and settling into the amphitheater's various comfortable seats.
Adam and Erwan made their way through the crowd, their footsteps drowned out by the general bustle.
Students greeted each other, laughed and joked, all in a very relaxed atmosphere.
Given the size and grandeur of the place, Adam and Erwan's arrival went completely unnoticed.
"Shall we sit there?" proposed Erwan, pointing to a fairly high empty space to the left of the central island.
"I'll follow you."
The two sat down and continued chatting while waiting for the class to start.
"Why are there so many people in this room? I thought all the students were divided into smaller classes according to talent." asked Adam curiously.
"Because it's a theory class so there's no need to dispatch students like before." replied Erwan in a light tone.
A few minutes later, the amphitheater door closed automatically with a thud, and the crowd fell silent almost instantly.
Almost at the same time, a thin man with glasses entered from an entrance down the hall.
He wore a loose-fitting Belgian tunic, perfectly representative of the outfit a martial artist wore in the ancient world of Adam.
Of course, in this world, there were more clothing choices available.
But most warriors chose to wear high-tech armor on the battlefield, with old-fashioned outfits generally worn only to feel good in their clothes or to be comfortable during training.
The professor stopped in the middle of the arena, observing his students with a piercing gaze.
His mere presence meant that no one dared speak.
Even though there were several hundred students in the room.
"He said in a deep, calm but firm voice, adjusting his glasses as he went.
His resonated perfectly in the great hall, without the aid of any technology.
"I'm one of the two masters of this high school, Master Arval. Pleased to meet you all."
"This class will focus on the essential foundations of your progression as a martial artist: body strengthening."
A gigantic hologram activated in the center of the arena as the room went very dark.
Adam opened his eyes wide in surprise, almost feeling as if he were in space.
At the same time, a faint scent of perfume wafted past Adam's nostrils.
Erwan noticed this, and murmured very discreetly:
"It's a scent that helps improve our attention span and memory."
"It's extremely valuable because it can even have long-term effects."
Adam nodded, full of surprise.
"Definitely this is a great world," he thought, very happy with everything he was discovering.
A translucent humanoid figure, sculpted in bluish light, appeared, floating slightly above the ground just behind the professor.
Although the hologram was an advanced technology, Arval seemed perfectly at ease with the tool.
"Before trying to master your talents, it's very important to learn to understand and control your own body. A martial artist without a solid physical foundation will never get far on the martial arts path."
"And to do that, today I'm going to teach you the standard method of body forging, created by our scientists in the Kingdom of Kerya."
"This method is intended to enable all of you here to progress smoothly, until, I hope one day, you become warriors."
...
The course went by very quickly, even though it lasted a full 3 hours.
Master Arval went from the history of the Kingdom of Keria and the scientific research that had been carried out, to human anatomy and finally to the various postures that constituted the method of forging the body.
"A hologram will be sent to the e-mail address you provided during registration.
"This hologram will enable you to review all the material we used today, and I particularly recommend that you go over the body forging method several times."
"If you don't have the tools at home to display the holograms, don't worry, we'll also share a drive link to view the session we did today in film form."
"Please be careful not to share the links on the internet or with others in any way."
"You could be accused of treason to the nation, attempting to harm others or other very serious and annoying things, since as we've seen in this course, this forging method is the intellectual property of the kingdom of Keria."
"And remember that you could disable a person by showing them the movements of body forging if they haven't awakened any talent."
"Every year we record cases despite prevention, so I'll say it again, but please really pay attention."
"That concludes today's lesson, we'll meet again in a month's time to observe everyone's progress and also observe if your practice hasn't deviated."
"It would be a shame if you damaged your foundations at such a young age."
"Good day to you all."