Second year

Today was going to be our first day as 2nd-year students. There was no big ceremony or special event. We were trained knights who just went from one routine to the next.

The students were told to gather in the dining hall. Training lessons were to be cancelled for the day while we were told what our new schedule was.

As I was walking through the hallway making my way to the dining hall. I looked at my skill window.

<Skill (Mana Drain)>

Mana drain was the skill that I had unlocked after the events of yesterdays scuffle. Of all the skills I had, why did this skill have to be unlocked?

Mana drain was a skill that allowed me to steal the mana pool from humans or magical beats and add it to my own. The good thing about it was it was a permanent effect.

When I was a dragon Mana drain would work within a radius of a 100 meters. Allowing me to steal the mana from the surrounding area and adding it to my own. Of course, powerfull creatures or humans would be able to block this skill.

The problem was the skill had changed slightly now to how I remembered. The skill now stated that I had to touch the object to drain its mana. No opponent would allow me to just hold them and drain their mana, so it wasn't useful in a fight.

The other problem was when checking out my status window my mana pool was 0. I had no mana, this was probably the reason why I couldn't become a mage. Although absorbing magical beast mana might now increase my mana pool it was rare to find a beast with magical abilities.

Only high tier beasts had the ability to use magical abilities and I wasn't confident in my abilities to defeat one at the moment.

Even if I did increase my mana pool, I currently contained no skills that used mana. Therefore the skill I had gained at the moment was pretty much useless.

I had finally made it to the dining hall and as usual, the five master knights were stood on stage to great us all. I sat at my table with my roommates choosing a seat next to Gary.

Gary had dark bags under his eyes. For the last few days, he hadn't been sleeping great and seemed to be talking in his sleep. I shared one of the bunk beds with him. I had the bottom bed while he had the top bunk. The sleep talk was beginning to bug me, I was a light sleeper so I woke up easily.

Before we could get comfy Wilfred started his speech.

"Welcome everyone, I congratulate each and every one of you for lasting one year at Avrion academy. Unfortunately for you guys, the second year is where the training really begins."

Behind Wilfred, a holographic screen appeared with a list.

"Behind me here is the list of clubs you may join. You need to think about your choice wisely for this will now be your main focus and replace your basic training."

Looking at the list I saw many things that interested me, duel swordsmanship club, sword and shield club, mace club, spear club, there was a club for every type of weapon you could use. The master knights had advised us to take something different from our special sash training.

An example was if someone had a green sash there was no need for them to join the archery club, it would be more beneficial for them to learn another skill.

When looking down the list something had caught my eye "Martial arts club." The old man had told me to join the martial arts club once I had become a 2nd-year student. The skills he displayed were interesting and the advice he gave helped greatly when facing the dark guild members.

There were no other clubs that had interested me so I decided to sign up. Using our communicator on our wrist we were to select a club we wanted to join.

"What class are you all thinking of joining?" Monk asked.

Slyvia was the first to reply.

"I'm thinking of joining the medical club, you never know when someone might need immediate attention on the battlefield."

"Definitely the spear club for me, I'm so sick of holding a sword. What about you big guy?" Dan said.

Ian looked nervous.

"There's too many to chose from, I can't decide."

Martha had already chosen what she wanted to do without even looking at the other options.

"Archery for me, that's all I know and all I've ever done. I know they advised against it but I can't imagine using anything else."

Gary's eyes were focused on the swordsmanship club.

"Well, I'm definitely going for swordsmanship classes, Ray?"

It was a good choice for Gary, he hadn't had much focus on swordsmanship since becoming a black sash.

"I'm thinking about the martial arts club"

When I said these words most of them started to laugh.

"You can't be serious no one goes to the martial arts club."

Dan said.

"Why? I think its quite interesting."

Slyvia started to explain.

"When humans first learnt the use of Ki we were only able to use it in our bodies. Martial arts became the norm for adventures and knights to learn as it was our best chance of fighting magical beasts. As time went on we learnt to infuse our Ki into objects and weapons. Making us stronger than ever before."

"But why would they stop using martial arts."

"If a sword went against a fist, the sword would cut the fist. If the fist was infused with Ki, the sword would break. But if both were infused with Ki the sword would win again."

What Slyvia had said was logical, but I decided to still go for the martial arts club in the end. The old man had only used his fist yet still beat two foes with just his fists.