Arcane Foresight

Thomas readied his stance by taking one step back. Alex rushed towards him and both smirked at each other.

"Do not worry, I will go easy on you mate!" Alex said once he reached Thomas and swung his flaming sword.

[Dodge by taking a step to the right]

Thomas listened to the system and managed to dodge Alex's blow then swung his own sword. Alex instantly reacted and blocked it with his own, however was met with surprise. His sword began falling apart the more contact it made.

"Your sword erases magic?!" Alex complained.

"You do not like my surprise?" Thomas smiled broadly.

"No! On the contrary, this just got interesting!" Alex licked his lips all excitedly again.

Thomas managed to break through Alex's sword and swung in an attempt to slice him. Alex expeditiously ducked by lowering his knee and bending his back on a low angle towards the ground, watching the sword miss above his head. He smiled and prepared another flaming sword quickly to strike.

Alex clenched his left fist while swinging his sword, creating a few flares within his closed palm.

[Dodge the…]

Alex tossed a couple of flares that managed to blind Thomas' eyes. His movements were too quick for Thomas to follow, especially when Alex was so close to him. By the time Thomas regained his vision he was staring at the ceiling, falling from a leg sweep onto the ground and hit his back hard.

"Sorry about that one, I tossed in a fake with my sword to direct your attention before flaring you," Alex apologized and reached out to help Thomas back on his feet.

"Thanks," Thomas was genuinely impressed.

Alex definitely knew how to fight and he had both the speed and skills to back it up. Now he knew why Alex was always so confident.

"How about I go next?" Corbin walked up and Thomas nodded.

Corbin began forming spheres of water on both hands and pulsated beams of water towards Thomas. Corbin held his distance while Thomas had a hard time finding any opening to move forward while swinging his sword and negating all the water beams.

[Dodge right]

[Strike sightly left above your shoulder]

[Parry waist]

[Duck to a 55o angle]

The system kept calling out random things for Thomas to do. He began figuring out what this "Arcane Foresight" passive skill really was. It appeared to be a preemptive read on your opponent.

Thomas thought of two possible drawbacks. One being it could only read a certain amount ahead of time. The other would be involving both your own and your opponent's speed. If your opponent's agility exceeded yours, reading became more difficult, especially once up close.

Corbin smiled and started to move in slowly on Thomas. He kept firing with one hand and made a water dagger behind his back with the other. Corbin threw a large sphere of water instead of a beam towards Thomas, then followed up with the dagger closely behind it.

Thomas thought to swing and block the incoming water spell as usual by negating it. However before making contact it popped by the water dagger and drops of boiling water barraged his face.

Humanity developed hardened bodies over the centuries and were more sturdy to spells and prone to quicker healing. Thomas' vision became a blur once more.

"Not again…" he complained and all he could hear was Corbin laughing before leg sweeping him back onto the ground for a second time today.

"Sorry, just had to do it to you," Corbin grinned like Alex and helped him back on his feet by reaching out his hand.

Thomas sighed disappointingly, "Guess I have to improve on a multitude of things, huh?" he said loudly.

Thomas realized in the short span of time by just fighting the two of them, he lacked knowledge, faints and other basic things when it comes to combat.

"Your sword is quite neat though, how did you manage to craft it?" Corbin stole Thomas' sword for a second and flung it around before tossing it to Alex.

"Wow… it is really light and sharp!" Alex remarked.

"Maybe I am a prodigy?" Thomas laughed.

"Do not flatter yourself" Alex joined in on the laughter.

Even though Thomas did not mind the idea of telling his friends how he managed to forge the sword truthfully, he intended to keep the system hidden for now. Thomas explained how he managed to merge the magical molecular bonds together into a harmonious state. The prismatic crest on the hilt was the sign of the sword being able to repel and erase any kind of magic attacks.

He furthered his explanation based on being the only idea Thomas could find to counteract his own weakness of not having an ability for the time being. Both Alex and Corbin applauded him.

"Bravo Thomas, you have really outdone yourself!" Corbin clapped his hands.

"Yeah! And with the right training, you will become strong in no time! Well not stronger than me of course!" Alex laughed and gave a knuckle to Thomas' shoulder.

The three of them spent the rest of the day training in basics. Alex taught Thomas to the best of his abilities with skewed explanations the things he knew. Corbin somehow managed to translate most of what Alex.

Thomas figured out that Alex was more the instinctive type rather than thinking ahead in battle. If this was true, him and Corbin would be the more calculative and thinking types.

The days flew by and with a bit more of a practice Thomas managed to complete his daily quest which persisted until late Thursday. Right on time in hope of receiving a new one on Friday.

[Daily Quest Complete]

[You have gained 10 Exp]

[Experience 20/200]

"Are you ready for tomorrow?" Alex asked.

It took a second for Thomas to respond, his attention lied on the completion message.

"Yeah, definitely," Thomas replied late.

Corbin put on a mischievous look and bumped his elbow against Thomas' chest.

"A bit nervous, are we?" Corbin joked around, fishing for a reaction.

However Thomas gave none but a smile instead.

"Never, after all, I have you guys!" Thomas smiled broadly.

Both Corbin and Alex instantly jumped him and roughed up his hair.

"Yeah, you bet!" Corbin grinned.

"We will always have your back," Alex smirked confidently.

The three of them headed to the dormitory, and not before long, the sun shone in through the curtains. It was time for the first-years mini tournament on Friday.