Chapter 9: Training and...

Sorry for this late release, however, I had things to do.

Hope you enjoy this chapter.

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The very next day, Harlow woke up, with the same uneasy feeling, he already knew who was it, so he decided to ignore it. Of course, that didn't change the fact, that he didn't know what did he do wrong, to be stalked, but it was another thing.

At first, Harlow didn't want to even stand up, he was completely lazy today. However, he also didn't want to miss a lesson, so he forced himself to wake up.

At first, when he stood up, he had a bit of unease. He couldn't see and be feeling unwell, at first he thought, that he was sick, however, those thoughts were quickly denied, he just stood up too quickly. He sighed in relief.

After Harlow, have finally stabilized, he quickly put on his casual clothes and quickly ran over to the classroom.

He wasn't late, nor early. He arrived at the perfect time, just before the lesson. However, everyone still looked at him, like at someone late. Well, speaking frankly, everyone got early, very early, and were jealous that he got in perfect time and go to sleep.

That was not true, he was reading books till 3 am, however, vampires almost don't sleep at all, so he was still feeling like a god.

The teacher has entered the class and said just those few words:

"Alright, kids. Come after me, we will train on training grounds."

Even though he just entered the class, he immediately after those words left, and at that moment, everyone in class followed him.

'Training grounds... so probably 1v1'

1v1 fights weren't rare in white grounds, they were pretty much popular, first: Strenght yourself and second, make ranking in the tower. Those who lost were always despised and deemed incompetent.

'I can't lose! If I will do then I will be deemed incompetent and who knows what will happen. However, I am the weakest of them all in physical strength, and they all probably can use swordsmanship.'

No matter, whom you lose against, as long as it's from your class, then you're deemed incompetent, however, if someone from a class lower than you defeat you, then you are expelled from the class. Both options were the same for Harlow since being incompetent is the same as being demoted.

'Damnit, in the end, I will be forced to use those martial arts, don't I?'

Harlow, in his previous incarnation, has learned a lot of martial arts, they didn't just end at Philippines ones. He was talented in that sort of thing. He learned also, for example, Krav maga, Karate, Taekwondo, Kendo, and many more. And he had mastered all of them at an above-average stage.

Well, he started to learn martial arts, at age of 9 and he even continued to learn them when he was 40, before his death, he was still going on kung fu.

It didn't take long, for him to form the martial art, that he used. He combined a lot of his martial arts and used them in combination, which led to new martial arts, that were later known to the world as 'Aura Battle'. Even though the name states Aura, something often from games, novels, or anything like that it didn't use anything like that.

Aura battle was dirty-game martial arts, often doing things, that normal people wouldn't be allowed to do, which was why only special forces could learn them.

'However, me as a Magicial Swordsman, will I be allowed to use them? I think that it is about being noble and fair game, not a dirty game. Well, whatever, trying doesn't hurt.'

They arrived at the training ground.

It was approximately the same size as the stadium in Warsaw, pretty big. Well, the academy itself, could be called a city in a city. Remember, that there were other towers, so naturally, there were other Training Grounds, of the same or smaller size.

'To use this much city, just for academy... As expected from another world it's full of fantasy.'

The teacher has formed pairs. For example Harlow, as weakest paired with second weakest and would be forced to fight with him, but for example, strongest would be paired with second strongest in the class. Everything to fight fairly.

The first fight was between Harlow and his classmate, Marcy Von Schauffhusen. He was still, much stronger than him in terms of pure brutal power. But, the match wasn't based only on brutal strength, it was based on magic, strength, and the most important one, tactics and martial arts.

As long, as you had a strategy and good techniques, you could overpower someone stronger than you in brutal strength. It is commonly known.

"Well, then start!"

The match started, Harlow wasn't prepared, as he was having thousands of thoughts at once. All he could wish right now was, for him to be faster than the enemy.

***Whoosh***

He ran over to the right, and it was as he wished, the enemy was slow, for his standards.

"You dare run?!" He shouted.

One of the tactics, used often by Harlow, even in his first incarnation, was to use the enemy's all stamina, since he had a lot of stamina, just from training and experience in the field.

Harlow had no armor, meanwhile, his enemy had a full 100kg [220 pounds] elite armor set. It was obvious who will be tired.

After 20 minutes or so, the enemy was finally tired, Harlow was quite surprised at how long did he run since he used all his might to run after him. It was his chance to attack.

***Clang***

Despite being tired, Marcy still blocked Harlow's sword. Well, it was expected from someone, who was in class S, not only that but was also a noble.

Most nobles were nobles because of three options:

One: They had a lot of money, and they bought the rank, with money. This was the rarest option.

Second: Their strength contributed to the empire, or the empire acknowledged the strength they had.

Third: Their strategies/economical strategies helped the empire, and they have been acknowledged as a genius, with that, they gained the noble title and seat in the "Table"

Marcy's family had good genes and that was the reason why they got the Noble title. Baron to be exact. Their strength didn't contribute yet to the empire, but their strength was acknowledged in a tournament 100 years ago.

***Cling***

Second attack.

Marcy blocked the attack, however! His sword flew up to the sky. It was chance

***Whoosh***

Now Harlow's sword was near the enemy's neck. It was a decisive victory for Harlow. Even though he was playing a bit dirty.

'In the end, I didn't use that martial arts'

Everyone was surprised at how Harlow played the game, he used a lot of things to his advantage. For example, He used to advantage not having an armor, and light sword.

What was even more amusing, was that Harlow used technique, that no one had seen before. In the Empire, there were known 4 techniques on the sword, and other techniques were family's ones.

First was Holy Sword Technique.

Paladins used them by combating into the sword their Divine Mana, with reinforced the sword. The rest of the technique was fighting with rhythm.

The second was the Blood Claw Technique.

The third was the Assassin Thrust Technique.

And Fourth, the last was Avalanche Shatter Technique.

However, none of those techniques were used, and Harlow wasn't a noble, so he couldn't use one. And it was almost impossible to form a new one, it would normally take few generations to do so.

'Amusing, I understand why Administrator took him!' The teacher thought.

"Well then, now ... Shall spar!"

And so for the rest of the lesson, about 2 hours, all of the students sparred each other. It was a good fighting lesson, and it wasn't just typical training, you could learn something from it since it was fighting one to one.

For example, a lot of students learned from Harlow and understood that sometimes, mobility goes over armor, especially when the enemy is stronger.

And.

Mobility over strength.

If your mobility is for example 10x higher than the enemy, however, he is stronger 10x than you, then you will still win. Since, what will the enemy do if he can't hit you? Also, with mobility, the faster you punch someone, the greater impact and greater damage in time. However, if the enemy will land hit on you, you're dead. Win-win situation.

Harlow, for the rest of the lesson, watched other students sparring each other, like some people may tell "With passion". He genuinely wanted to learn something from those fights, since they weren't mere kids fight, but fight, that on earth would've been impossible.

At the end of the day, only 2 students that were 'weaker' actually won. It was Harlow and Elisabeth.

Elisabeth, used the same tactic as Harlow did, so she meets even more disagreement than Harlow did. Since not only, she did not play fair but also copied someone's style. But Harlow did not care.

The Second Lesson was about magic, they were learning finally 2nd-grade magic, from level 2 to level to 4th level.

The lesson was not hard for Harlow, since he learned 2nd level magic, in first grade. He now started 3rd level. It was something, that only he did since only he could enter the library.

So for the rest of the day, everything was boring, since his first day in tower, was almost literary the same as in first grade. Honestly, he was bored as fuck.

After lessons, he decided to just stay in his room, and there learn magic since he had nothing better to do. For the time being, he couldn't leave the tower. To be exact for 1 month.

However, during his 'trip' to his room, something interrupted him.

His vision suddenly got dark, and his consciousness suddenly died, as if he was dying or something. However, even though that, he could hear Albedo's voice.

"Notice: You were knocked up, 18 minutes left until your body will gain consciousness"

He couldn't think, as if his mind was interrupted. For a while, it was like that, he was scared.

However, after he regained the consciousness, he has seen...