Chapter 22

The pair followed the teacher to an area Alex had yet to explore.

Michael spoke up noticing their wandering gazes. "Dueling rooms."

His face got stern and he spoke once again. "You cannot take these rooms lightly, always have an instructor in here with you while dueling."

The two nodded.

If they were able to go all out it was because they had someone to stop them before they got seriously hurt.

"Good." Michael said using a blue keycard to open a door.

"System input the two students names into the system, and begin a scan of their prime condition."

[Confirmed, students Alex Erebus and Taylor Grievenor, have been added to the dueling

system. Scanning now.]

A bright light rippled over Alex and Taylor, leaving the two of them blinded for for a moment. As soon as the light arrived it also left.

[Dueler Taylor in prime condition, no abnormalities found.]

[Dueler Alex meets physical requirements to duel. Malnutrition detected and bodily functions are weakened to about sixty percent. May need assistance in order to be ready for the Annual Magic Competitions.]

Taylor looked at Alex a surprised look on his face. 'He isn't even in his best condition.'

He felt a whole new level of respect for Alex. At first he had thought he was just skinny and barely put forth any effort in training.

Alex had a frown. He didn't feel weak, he had run nearly ten miles to the school this morning. Even if he had assisted himself with magic. He travelled far into the woods every day, traversing coarse terrain experimenting for what felt like an endless amount of time.

"Hmmm, Tom and James have told me you have been accepted into the hunting club. am I correct?"

"Yeah I have." Alex answered tearing himself out of his thoughts.

"Good I have a solution, you should be able to pay me back before the end of the school year. I can have you in tip top condition if you wish."

Alex thought of the offer, he had never liked the thought of debt.

Michael as if knowing what he was thinking spoke up. "All members of the club would be able to pay it off within a year. The two captains would be able to pay it off in a few months."

"The length of time just depends on how you are able to handle yourself, and from what we have learned today, you should fare well."

"However if you don't wish to, you can just use the extra income to buy yourself some decent food, and get some minor healing from me over time." He added throwing out another option to Alex.

'I don't want my mother to know about all the extra income, and showing up with food everyday would be a dead giveaway. I could eat away from the house and return later on.'

'No my schedule is already stretched to the limit. I don't even know if the robot is right. For now I'll hold off on it.'

"I'm sorry I don't feel any weaker than usual, and if I'm malnourished, I'll pack larger lunches on the way to school."

Michael sighed. "Okay, but know this the scan shows that you are overworking yourself make sure you get enough nutrition to allow your body to repair. Increase the amount of sleep you get too, I don't want to see you in a few months looking like a mummy."

Alex nodded. 'I can get food before going to school, but it looks like a larger storage room may be needed to simplify things.'

"Okay system deploy chain scythes and a two handed sword."

A tone sounded and a compartment from the wall opened up revealing two weapons.

Alex looked over the weapons with his spacial element. 'So many runes!'

He was able to understand the general uses of the weapons. A great many of the runes were for monitoring the weapon, its speed, and the distance from organic material.

If the weapon ever crossed a threshold which was basically when the weapon would come in contact with anyone. It would switch to measuring the impact sending all the day to the AI

'Good thing the blades are dull still won't save me much pain from getting hit by such a large weapon.' Alex thought looking at the sword that dwarfed his own weapon.

"I'll say this only once, in the dueling rooms magic is only used to enhance your combat efficiency. I doubt even the head wind instructor would be able to stop such a sharp wind blade from you Alex, let alone a laser from you Taylor." Michael said before continuing.

"The only reason they allow you to go all out in the competitions is because of the presence of a king class light mage. Our kingdom is lucky to have trained a great many light mages up to that level."

Alex listened to Michaels speech filled with patriotism. 'Yeah the great Wyatt's army, an unending stream of soldiers.'

They had just as much manpower as other kingdoms but with such great healers they were able to push back their opposers.

'Too bad the feeling of being near death and resuscitated over and over leaves many with PTSD. Far higher cases then other kingdoms.'

Many who didn't get PTSD however were fanatics. They praised the power of the light, scorning those who don't follow it.

"Taylor you go over there. Alex stay where you are." Michael said after activating and handing the two weapons to them.

He then told them how the weapons worked while leaving out more of the technical things Alex had learned by looking at the runes. Alex

"System begin the count down."

A digital clock appeared and a with the number five on it. It slowly started going down when it reached zero a tone sounded.

Taylor's body immediately shined with power, he took a step flicking his heel sharply. With that one step he was already in striking range.

Alex had already began moving to dodge. 'How am I supposed to even hit something that moves that fast.'

Taylor arrived at his previous position, Alex had to increase his speed. He was basically being dragged.

The wind in the room was stirred. All those present had their hair flipping back and forth.

Taylor suddenly had a smile on his face. 'My tutor told me that no one would be able to contest me. I was a little upset hearing that, but it looks like I won't have to worry about having no one to compete with.

Alex swung a scythe, however it was blocked instantly and sent flying. Taylor was already ready to swing again while Alex was still trying to retrieve the scythe.

'He is smiling, is he playing with me?' Alex thought as he began to read his opponent.

'No he has relief mixed into his face while I don't know why, but it's still a lot better than spite or the look of someone that thinks they are a predator.'

Alex repeatedly swung and made some distance between them while trying to come up with a plan.

'It should work.'

Alex encased the three of them within a dome of darkness. Michael who had expected this was unfazed as with a certain technique he could see perfectly in the dark.

Taylor however, panicked with his sight gone he immediately tried to get some distance between him and Alex while also creating a source of light so that he could see.

He could see better now, however Alex wasn't where he was before. He felt a breeze, all his hair stood on end as he turned to see Alex on his left. Both scythes on each of his sides, he would be hit no matter what.

Alex sighed as there was no way he could block both at once.

"Swipe, swipe, thunk."

'Wait that's not right.' Alex watched a large sword collide with his chest.

Both of his scythe had collided with Taylor, but Taylor had charged him. Minimizing the damage that the scythes would have done while also getting a direct hit on Alex.

With the last bit of processing Alex had in him before he would get launched, he shook the chains, so that they would hook around his opponents legs.

Alex was knocked a few feet away coughing and attempting to catch his breath.

Whenever he was good enough he lifted his head up, A smirk filled his face. Taylor could be seen lying on the floor as well he was chuckling, and had a goofy smile on his face.

He had thought that Alex was good, but not good enough to beat him. He swung holding back a lot of his strength, he didn't want to hurt Alex too badly, but he would never expected that he would be used to knock himself over. He had landed with his legs in the air. He could have gotten up a while ago, but was too excited going through everything that had happened.

If the weapons had of been real Alex would hav been lethally injured while his own back would have been torn up and also missing both of his legs.

If Alex hadn't have been the first to initiate a rush, he would have blinded him and charged. He was already thinking of different ways to make things go in his favor. He wouldn't have thought that Alex would be able to make him lose his sight first.

He lifted his head to see Alex lying there looking at him, a small smile on his face. 'I've never seen him smile. Well I suppose that I've never really payed attention to him either.'

The two seeing each other smiling soon broke into laughter. Neither of them knew who started it, but neither of them really cared. They were sure of one thing though. They were going to be good friends.

"System how did the fight go, can you determine a victor." Michael asked a soft smile on his face while looking at the two kids.

[Unable to determine. The two would have been knocked unconscious, but both of their wounds would not be fatal.] the system said after scanning the two boys.

"What do you mean both, Alex's wounds should have been fatal. I can see how Taylor's healing would keep him safe, but how would Alex be fine." He asked in a quiet voice, leaving the to boys to converse while he spoke to the AI.

[There are two reasons for that, the first is that Taylor purposefully held back in order to not injure him while this would have still been fatal in most cases it seems that Alex's body is strengthened.]

[he would have at most have a light slash that would be possible to survive.] the system said showing the scan of Alex's chest.

Only a light red line was visible showing that he had been hit.

[Had Taylor attacked more fiercely, Alex scythes would have continued to pierce his back leaving fatal wounds. This in turn leaving the two of them fatally wounded. Still resulting in the same situation.]

[In any other case Alex would have had the advantage due to having landed the first hit.]

"Thank you system, end the dueling session." Michael said while pondering.

'How could he be strengthened, does it have to do with his advanced magic. I need to discuss this with Daniel.'

"Alright you two enough with the chitchat, the duel ended as a tie." Michael said a bright smile reappearing on his face.

"Let's go we will meet up with the rest your peers before sending you guys off to take a look at the clubs."

The two stood up and walked towards the instructor.

"What do you mean it's a tie." Taylor asked a questioning look on his face.

"I told you I don't feel any weaker." Alex said lifting up the front of his shirt. only a thin red line was visible.

"You, huh, what?" Taylor thought subconsciously reaching out to check if what he was seeing was real. He was expecting to see maybe some swelling or bruising, but Alex was fine as if he had only slapped him.

Alex had also subconsciously reacted seeing the hand traveling towards him he moved back to avoid it while also dropping his shirt. He rarely had physical contact with other people, he also felt much less comfortable with having someone touching him in less usual places.

"Anyways that's just a secret behind my training." Alex said to draw the attention back.

Taylor knowing that he had a secret he didn't want to share didn't pry further. "Whatever keep your secrets, I'm sure you will tell me one day." He said

"Yeah, maybe I will." Alex replied.

'Hopefully my light affinity awakens before I graduate, because sometimes showing is better then telling.'

Michael just listened while continuing to walk back to the others. 'I'll have to ask him about this secret training, there should be no secret trainings in such a small manual.'