Strength

I quickly ran into my dorm room and cleaned myself off, changing clothes. For some reason my clothes felt baggy, but I decided to push it out of my mind for the time being. I take a deep breath and then start coughing. 'Dang, that slime got me good!' I say as I try to calm myself down from the pain in my chest. Seems I might have a broken rib or two from getting hit in the chest. I sigh carefully, what a way to start the day. I then make my way to the classes as quickly as I can, while keeping my pain manageable.

I peek into the classroom to see that it has already started. I take a slight breath and then quietly open the door. As I went into the classroom Mr. Myth called me out without looking.

"Why Mr. Silver, it's great to have you here!" He smiles, as he turns around.

Expecting to be in trouble I brace myself. Instead, he pauses and looks at me confused.

"You are Mr. Silver correct? Adrian Silver?" He questions

Huh? "Yeah? Is something the matter Mr. Myth?" I ask confused.

I looked around the room and it seemed some other people were confused as well. I looked over to Scarlet and gave her a questioning look. She just kind of looks at me like 'Haven't you noticed?'

"Never mind," He says shaking off whatever was wrong. "You are late Mr. Silver, I hope this doesn't become consistent."

"Don't worry sir, it won't. I just overslept!" I laugh. Technically that was the truth!

"Good, now take a seat!" He says excitedly.

Although confused by everyone's reaction, I went and took my seat with relief to be out of that. I then lean over to Scarlet. "Why was everyone looking at me like that?"

"Haven't you noticed?" She asks. I give her a confused look and shake my head.

Before she could continue, Mr. Myth cuts in.

"Pay attention you two." He says

The rest of the class goes by normally. Teachers start coming and going until Mr. Fang comes in.

"Hey everyone." He kinda waves his hand. "Today we are going to do some weapon training. So please follow me," he says with a slight grin on his face. Just before he leaves, he gives me a mischievous look.

'Uh oh, that doesn't sound good.' I think as we all get up to follow him. He leads us to an open arena and puts us in pairs with those who have the same weapon. As he is going down the line doing that, Scarlet and I look at each other knowing we will be partners. Mr. Fang then stops in front of us.

"As for you two," He smiles. "Scarlet, you will be practicing with Mr. Futachi." he then gestures to a man to the side holding a Katana.

Confused, Scarlet and I look at each other, then she walks off to Mr. Futachi.

"What about me sir?" I ask

He smiles a smile that concerns me. "I will be your sparring partner," He says menacingly.

He then gets everyone ready and starts them on sparring. Afterward, he pulls me to the side so that we will be left alone and have plenty of room.

"Alright, let's see what you got." He smiles.

I nod and summon my Katana. He then summons two daggers. 'So he is a dagger user then?' I think to myself. I run towards him and swing my sword. He dodges with ease and beckons me to try again. We do this back in forth a couple of times. As this goes on, I notice that I don't have a lot of strength in my hits. I try to swallow the pain in my chest as I continue to fight. Mr. Fang then frowns at me.

"Is this the best you got?" He asks disappointedly.

"You want to see the best that I got?" I smile through my pain. "Alright, here!"

I then activate Swiftness and Swordsman skills. I then dash and close the distance between us quickly. He seemed a little taken aback and blocked my hit rather than dodge.

"Well, aren't you something?" He smiles. "But not enough, at least when you are trying to fight pain it seems."

I freeze for a moment. Is it too obvious? I stand in a fighting stance waiting for him to make his move.

He walks closer to me so that he can speak what I will only hear. "Tip: I assume you have swordsmanship skills? Max it, then you will be able to mix and match styles." He then gestures for me to attack me. "Give it all you got, I will only need to hit you once."

I then charge at him. Just before reaching him, I slide underneath him and try to get him from the back. He then dodges to the side and with one swift blow, hits me right in the chest. I hear a couple of cracks as I go flying through the air. Once I land I start gasping for breath clutching my chest.

"Alright everyone, I am going to get Adrian to the nurse. I expect you all to keep training." He calls as he picks me up.

Everything around me starts to blur a bit. After a little bit, we reached what I assume was the nurse's office. My vision starts to come back and I see the nurse look at me with worry.

"What happened to him, Lycaon?" She asks sternly.

"The boy injured himself." Mr. Fang says playfully defending himself.

The nurse then sighs. "Just put him on the bed, I will check out his wounds in a moment."

Mr. Fang then sets me on the bed surprisingly gently. "Oh, by the way, he has a couple of broken ribs...anyways, bye!" Mr. Fang said as he ran out of the room.

"Lycaon Fang!" The nurse yells. She then takes a deep sigh and turns her attention to me. The nurse then lifts me slightly, and I grimace from the pain in my chest. "That bad huh?" She asks, examining me. "Alright, I need your shirt off."

She then helps me take off my coat and shirt. Afterward, she started treating my body, leaving bandages on me, to keep my bones from moving too much.

"Keep the bandage on, and try not to move too much." She tells me as she puts her equipment away. She then looks over to the other side. "I'm sorry to ask you this, since you are here for your injuries but could you keep an eye on him while I go settle some stuff?" She asks someone.

I assume they nodded because, without another word, the nurse left the room. As I lay down on the bed, a face appeared over me.

It was Kara! "Well Adrian, it seems you got yourself into quite a bit of trouble!" She laughs.

I laugh a little and then wince from the pain. "Yeah, guess you could say that." I remark. I look up at her and notice a bandage on her cheek, and then some on her arm. "What about you? Seems you aren't in the best of conditions either."

She then looks down at her arm. "Oh, this? Nah, it's nothing." She smiles. "At least my bones are all intact!" She laughs a little.

She does seem to be in better shape than I am by far. I carefully watch what she does. Her long black hair was tied into a ponytail swinging, and her bright green eyes seemed to be smiling.

"What?" She asked. I guess I made her feel a little uncomfortable.

"Nothing, sorry, I was just spacing out." I respond. 

"Ah I see." She said as she sat down at the edge of my bed. "Actually, I gotta know something, Adrian."

I look at her with a curious expression. "What's up?"

"How did you lose all that weight so fast!" She exclaims excitedly.

Confused at her question, I looked down to see that my large stomach was gone! I have been using Swiftness nonstop for the past two days. It looks like it really worked out. Now I have to be careful about using it. Otherwise, I could overdo it and end up hurting myself. I might have to up how much I eat to maintain.

"I guess, I have just been pushing my body a little too hard!" I nervously laugh.

"Hah! You and me both." She beams. "Have you been going to the dungeon a lot then?"

"Yeah, trying to get stronger and such." I lament

"Stronger huh? What soul weapon do you have?" She asked

"Katana, you?" I respond

"Daggers. I'm actually the only one in my class that has them!" She answered

"So, who do you go dungeon diving with then?" I asked

"No one. I don't know any Dagger users." She said as her demeanor changed for a second before bouncing back. "But that's alright! I am strong enough to keep going!"

"I see." I pause to think for a moment. "Give it some time. You might just find a good friend in that dungeon sometime soon." I smile