Chapter 15 More training

"Only someone like you would choose to read this kind of complicated book," Javier said. "Still, my… new parents are surprised that we are able to read so soon."

"Mine too," Ruth added. "I told them that Raiden helped a lot, but they find it hard to believe that a kid could teach another kid how to read this fast."

 In any case, since they didn't have anything else to do, they decided to spend the time reading the books and the parts that they were planning to read in the classroom. Javier and Ruth felt like they should do everything to embarrass themselves. Their insecurities were making progress, but they still had a lot of work to do.

 In the end, they passed the test with flying colors. Still, their instructor warned them that their next class would have children that were seven and eight years old. From now on, the tests would be harder thanks to that, and the training would be more arduous, so she told them that they should expect to graduate from the same class in a month as well.

 The next instructor was a guy who had an imposing and muscular physique, exuding strength and determination. He stood tall and proud, his broad shoulders and well-defined muscles straining against the fabric of the uniform.

He had a cross-shaped scar that stands out prominently on his face, adding to his rugged appearance. His wild, untamed brown hair cascades around his face, with strands occasionally falling across his stern gaze. His brows furrow slightly, conveying his focused determination and intensity. He was tough enough to always watch the kids train and not even blink while they got hurt.

 On the first day of the new class, they were greeted by a relatively small classroom of kids. Around one hundred kids were supposed to be on each level, but that one only had sixty… their previous instructor didn't tell them why. In the end, they soon learned why. The kids sparred with wooden weapons for real, and the sparring only ended when one of them fell or dropped their weapons… they had been training for a while, so only some bruises would make that happen.

"Interesting," Raiden thought. "Finally, some fucking delicious action."

 The kids could borrow the wooden weapons as well and take them home. They could easily be made, so there was no problem in breaking them. Still, when Raiden borrowed a wooden spear, he didn't feel any weight behind it, so it felt weird.

"The difference in strength between us and these kids shouldn't be that high, but I can't still hurt them too much if I make a mistake," Raiden thought. "I need to be careful and focus on getting used to the pain."

 On the next day, the instructor called Raiden and Javier to spar against each other. He knew that they were friends, and he also knew that making them spar together would make them get rid of their hesitation faster…

 Javier looked nervous because he was being the focus of everyone around and because he had to spar against Raiden… as for Raiden, he wasn't feeling anything. He doubted that he would feel while sparring against kids, even those who were almost fifteen.

"Well, no point in waiting around," Raiden thought and then assumed his stance while pointing his spear at Javier.

 Raiden practiced a bit with the wooden sword and spear, and he felt better with the spear. So, he decided to see how well he could go using only that.

 Without hesitation, Raiden trusted the spear toward Javier's stomach, and he tried to move to his side while blocking the attacks. Since he only used one hand, he barely parried the attack, but Raiden also held back a little.

 Before Javier could do anything else, Raiden swung his spear to the side and then hit Javier's left side with the spear. He opened his eyes widely and grunted in pain, but he didn't drop the wooden sword.

"At least he has some spirit," Raiden thought.

 Raiden didn't give him any time to rest, he kept thrusting the spear at Javier's stomach, and he barely had time to dodge or block them. Still, while he didn't suffer any direct damage aside from the side sweep, he eventually dropped his weapon since the impacts affected his hands and fingers.

"The match is over," The instructor declared. "Javier, work on your courage and try to fix your posture when parrying it. Raiden… don't hold back. If you are able to only hit the opponent's stomach, you don't have to worry about wounding them too much."

 As expected of an instructor, he could tell that Raiden was sandbagging. Still, before he could return to watch the next match, the instructor stopped him and told Ruth to step up and fight him as well. Raiden wasn't being full of himself, but the result was clear. Javier and Ruth weren't as active as him when it came to learning new things, and until recently, they knew very well that trying to fight back in any situation was a bad idea.

 Still, Ruth knew that she didn't have any other option but to step in and be done with it. She chose a spear as well, but instead of assuming an attack position, she was pointing the spear upward, apparently planning to focus on defense. That wasn't the best of the ideas… one would need some skill and experience with that kind of weapon to be able to block attacks properly.

"Start," The instructor said.

 Raiden thrust his spear forward, and then Ruth moved hers to block. She reacted fast, and she actually put the spear oh the right place, but her stance was all messed up, and she didn't have enough strength in her arms to block the attack fully and was pushed backward and fell on her butt.

"The match is over, do something about your lack of hesitation," The instructor said. "Both of you spar every day against the others in order to get used to hurting and getting hurt, so prepare yourselves."

 Javier and Ruth nodded while showing difficult expressions. They could tell that they would have a hard time on that level… Raiden might have to leave them behind. The reason was obvious; many kids would give up at that level since the training was too harsh.

 After the spars, the instructor told everyone to practice with their weapons. With swords and spears. Slashing, Thrusting, Parrying, Cutting, Drawing Cuts, Disarming… they had to train all of those moves using a sword one hundred times a day. The same thing happened with spears. Stabbing, Lunging, Blocking, Hooking, Sweeping… they were all simple but quite hard to practice with their current bodies. They had to get used to it over time… and they were just basic moves; things might get more complicated in the next levels.

 Still, Raiden felt more satisfied with them since he was doing something more practical and truly seemed like fighting. The other levels were too boring.

"I can tell that I will have a hard time adjusting to this level…" Javier said and then sighed when they were going home.

"Me too… as expected of Raiden, who fought those guards before, you have a knack for fighting," Ruth said with her head down.

"That wasn't fighting, far from it," Raiden said. "The real thing is a lot more bloody and painful. I don't know what you two were going to do, but I am not planning on staying on this level for more than three months. You saw the number of kids in the level; a bunch of them gave up overtime. You can do that too if you want. If you want to try for a while longer, come to my house now and come early in the morning to train together. You will feel more motivated doing that."

"More training, huh…" Javier said and then sighed. "How can you train this much, work with the healers, and still look after your plants?"

"It is called diligence and the will to follow a strict routine to obtain the best results possible," Raiden explained. "If you don't want to be average, you have to try harder than average people. That is all."

 While they were walking, Javier and Ruth thought about what Raiden said. While they were young and couldn't understand that very well, they could tell that Raiden' reasoning was sound, so they decided to follow him.