Individual Lesson [3]

"Too slow! Don't let it put it's guard up! Again!"

My sense of time had gotten lost in the endless attempts of trying to kill the unkillable dummy in front of me.

Despite me being noticeably faster and more agile than the doll, the percentage of me dealing lethal blows was less than ten percent. That meant that even with me, supposedly, having an advantage, I still couldn't capitalize on it.

My homeroom teacher still kept his vigor while teaching me, although his earlier view of me being talented had swiftly been replaced with me appearing to be a complete novice. A statement that couldn't be said to be untrue.

Limited guidance and zero fighting experience would, indeed, make it so.

After the Gorilla's short berating, I dashed towards the dummy again. I had already gotten in the mindset to try and look at the position of his shield and sword.

'Shield ready to block to the left, slightly raised. Sword held at an angle already, ready to parry attacks more dynamically.'

Even without my [Lightning Step], I could still approach very quickly. Not quickly enough to throw someone off guard, especially an inanimate object, but still fast enough to create a bit of a guessing game as to where I would attack. Something that my dual daggers also helped with, giving me the ability to attack with both hands.

I made a quick thrust with my left hand, assuming it would get parried by the sword, as to then instantly follow up with my right-handed weapon in the small opening made between the sword and shield.

*Ting!*

A deadly strike, right in the throat of the dummy.

"Oh! That was a good strike, but you have to have your feet ready to retreat at any time as well. If the dummy were to bash into you with his shield, you would have been in trouble."

Even if Mike's words contained some criticism, I was happy with the brief praise. The words that came out next made me even happier though, "Now we will end part two of your training for today. Time seems to have eluded us, three hours have already passed. Moreover, because of the incident in the first part, we are unfortunately out of time for today. We will end the session with a light rest and then stretching, so your body can recover for tomorrow's session."

I let my body sink to the ground, finally feeling how exhausted I truly was. My body was completely gassed. With shaking limbs, back covered in sweat, and blurry eyes, my mind had somehow numbed these sensations to let me continue training.

Now, with me relaxing, they all came at once.

'This is worse than after lifting weights with James...'

Mike took the chance, with me temporarily incapacitated, to sit down cross-legged next to me, "Now, there are some things the principal and I want you to do and know. First, I've already heard that you get double servings at the cafeteria, is that right?"

"Hmm? Yea, that's right. Why?"

Smiling, he explained, "I need you to force yourself to eat it all. I'm also aware that these lessons will push your body to the limits, and therefore you need to force your body to get enough nutrients. Hell, even forcing down fast food or snacks would be worth it if it made it possible for you to consume enough calories. Although it is better to do so with quality food."

'I guess he really isn't just a big doof after all. To be fair, he is probably the head melee combat instructor for a reason.'

Taking a breath he proceeded, "Secondly, you are going to divide your five hours in the time capsule, using one hour each weeknight. I want you to use this time to only focus on your martial technique until your virtual feet bleed. To be honest, you have somehow gained one of the greatest movement abilities I have ever seen, and it has the potential to become one of your greatest assets. You just need to be able to use it dynamically. Approaching, retreating, repositioning, etc. "

At this point, I finally started to feel a bit better, so I sat up to be able to converse a bit more normally. Looking up at the man I inquired, "So, what did the principal need me to do?"

His brows furrowed a bit, and his gaze got more intense, "You are not allowed to execute the general use of your Art until he gets to inspect it closer. At first, I didn't understand why he would forbid you from doing so, but after witnessing the side-effect of your [Lightning Step], I can sort of see his point.

Half understanding his words, I still wanted him to explain a bit more, "What do you mean?"

"Start stretching and I will tell you."

Obliging, I started to stretch my weary body and at the same time he stood up.

"Miren, you should probably already know this, but what do you think most melee Battle Arts are made for?"

"To empower the body in order to wield a weapon more effectively?"

Nodding his head in confirmation, "Correct. Unlike mage Arts where they instead create more intricate movements of mana, weapon Arts almost always enhance one's body. For sword users, it might be a general boost, for assassin-types it might be bursts of power and so on. But from what you explained, your overclocking can't be categorized as either of these, neither is it a mage Art. Even more, it even has a backlash that could be severe enough to kill you."

"Hmm, you're right. But couldn't I continue to train it in the time chamber then, where there is no risk to my physical body?."

Shaking his head, my teacher had even thought about this, "No. One of the reasons is that you won't have the time, that time will be better spent practicing your actual combat prowess. The second, and most important reason is, we don't know the effect it might have on your mind. Regardless, he wanted you to follow this until he says otherwise."

Pointing towards the exit, he finished our session, "Now get going, you have just enough time for a shower before dinner."

Knowing I would have to wait until Thursday to get a verdict on my Art did make me a bit stumped, but with the decision to trust my experienced instructor, I made my way to the exit.

"By the way, you will have four sets of training wear waiting for you in your room. You can't keep using those rags anymore, you are a Kirkegaard student now lad!"

****

Standing in line, surrounded by giants, I was awaiting the delicious food I was about to inhale. My physical entity was completely drained and seemed to scream for calories, feeling as if I had a gaping hole instead of a stomach.

"Oh, are you Miren?

The lunch lady didn't proceed to just smilingly distribute the double serving to the "small kid who needs to eat to grow" this time. Instead, she started to talk while grabbing a few different items.

"Mike told me you would need a more personal diet, in addition to the extra food. Please enjoy!

...

I took my tray and sat down at my table. Inspecting the food in front of me I was met with a disturbing sight.

Not just a mountain of curry and rice, but on the side were two energy bars, as well as a protein shake.

'I have to eat this? Won't my small stomach just explode?!'

*Haaa*

'No, I just have to do it. It's all for the sake of being able to enjoy my future!'

With newfound resolve, my spoon started to move.

"Yo Miren!"

The trio had arrived simultaneously, seemingly having planned to eat together after classes.

Taking their seats, they all wore worn but satisfied faces, appearing to have worked hard.

Of course, our topic of conversation was going to be the afternoon lessons.

"Isn't our teachers amazing?! Our mage teacher was rank VI, how crazy is that?"

"Yea, my sword instructor was also the same. Seems like Kirkegaard truly was the right choice!"

As they continued to talk about their amazing instructors and about how they got to practice different techniques, mana control as well as combat strategies, I kept forcing down the endless amount of food.

Alternating between the curry and the energy bars, taking gulps of my shake in between, it genuinely was a herculean trial for my tiny figure.

"Erm, Miren?"

"Byeads"?

Talking with my mouth full of food wasn't exactly polite, but I didn't want to stop and then be forced to re-initiate the process of eating.

Sarah had a bit of a worried expression as she inspected the absurd amount of food on my tray.

"Don't you have to talk to the lunch ladies to stop giving you so much food? Today you even seem to have gotten more than usual, I mean why did they suddenly give you energy bars and a shake as well?"

Making a stupid comment, Brad interjected, "A man's got to eat! Miren also wants to get big and strong like our homeroom teacher and me!"

'What happened with the silent guy? Did his real personality emerge after getting used to us?'

Bluntly, I got rid of the misconception, "No. Mr. Borr told me that I had to eat at least this much for my body not to break down from training."

Only the background noise and my spoon could be heard for a couple of seconds, with James breaking the silence, "Miren... What kind of training are you doing?"

"Me?"

Continuing my squirreling of nutrients I told him the truth.

"I just spent a bit over three hours hitting a dummy."

Dumbfounded, they all appeared to not want to know any further details, and we proceeded with our lunch.