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[Profile]
Name: Tristan James Whitlock
Age: 16
Race: Human
Bloodline: Human
Allegiance: East Victory
Profession Archetype: Combat
Class Archetype: Warrior
Rank: Novice (20/100)
[Skills]:
• Basic Breathing Technique (Perfect 250/1000)
• Basic Fighting Technique (Perfect 275/1000)
• Basic Footwork Technique (Perfect 300/1000)
• Fencing (Major 250/500)
• Shooting (Minor 50/250)
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It's the second day since TJ and Sieg were granted access to the school's private training room.
Both of them have gained 20 exp at this point, making them feel that every moment they spent inside the training room was worth it. It would've been better if they could earn more exp, but since it was already provided for free, they don't dare to complain.
Putting in hours in the training room wasn't that hard anyway, given how much equipment there is for them to busy themselves with.
A few examples were the treadmills.
Unlike the ordinary kind, a professional treadmill was designed to test and maintain the user's footwork technique. The machine can change its texture mid-run; from a soft and even leathery track, it could transform into a stone road. It could also be transformed into a rocky or gravelly path, a trimmed patch of grassy field, a muddy road, and so on. It could incline, decline, form stairs, etc.
There was no option to turn this function off; anybody who uses a professional treadmill must accept the way it works. That said, there are options to make the change predictable or even stretch the transition to make it safer.
Of course, for those who are seriously training, these options are pretty much untouched. If anything, they might even shorten the transition between transformations to truly train themselves.
Of course, there were plenty of other options too. There are training dummies here that fight back, a real and semi-dangerous obstacle course, numerous programs for focused training, etc.
This was truly a place for young professionals to train.
Even the usually talkative and jolly Lily turned unusually quiet and serious during her training. And her training was far more intense than what they, warriors, do.
Lily's weights are cranked up to 100 kg spread out evenly on her body. It's insane given how at ease she was while having that much weight on her. TJ's weights were only half of that, and he's still adjusting. Sieg, due to his large build, wasn't doing so bad, but even he was only at 75 kg.
The impressive part is that, even with these weights on, Lily was much faster and more flexible than TJ. She's much stronger than him already, and the increase of her strength was boosted by the fact that she's a Fusion Class professional.
Lily trains like a warrior and hits harder than one on the same level. And that's in addition to her magic training.
As a Fusion Class pro and a wannabe magical girl, Lily can't fall behind in her magical studies. In fact, if she truly wanted to transition to that class, she must excel in both the physical and magical aspects of her current class.
Lily can already use reinforcement spells. And she could use it much better than the guy TJ faced in the Dream Echo Battlefield. The amount of mana she has and her control over it are leagues above that dream echo.
And TJ, having experienced defeat at the hands of that inferior Fusion Class pro, was completely convinced that he wouldn't stand a chance against Lily.
Besides, Lily's already a 1★ Novice. This tiny difference actually has a much bigger impact than one might think. Increasing one's rank doesn't just add a star to it; it also makes them exponentially stronger.
That said, since Lily was a Fusion Class pro, her strength was much higher compared to 1★ Warriors or Casters.
The only thing that she does weird, which makes it hard to take her seriously, is the way she calls out her attack sometimes.
'Fist of Love! '
'Heartbeat Kick! '
'Leap of Faith! '
And probably, the most ridiculous of them all was 'Pink Sparkles!'
It's what she calls Magic Missiles, even though they're blue.
Her reason for naming it that way? It's for her debut, what else!? Once she becomes a magical girl, it will turn pink anyway. If it doesn't, then she'll make it pink somehow. Nothing can stop her.
Nothing TJ can say would change her mind; Lily's always been steadfast like that. Maybe if she didn't awaken as a Fusion Class pro, she would listen to him, but that's not the case. The world loves her too much and gave her what she's been wishing for since she was a child.
**
[Kepler Household]
The Keplers are a budding clan of professionals. Their patriarch, Ferdinand Kepler, was a combat professional who transitioned into the 'Spear Master' class and had participated in the District Ranking Tournament, gaining some fame.
Ferdinand had three children from his main wife and about five more from his concubines. His attention has always been focused on his main children; after all, he had a reputation to hold.
The firstborn, Christina Kepler, has been arranged to be married off to an allied clan. The second born, Randy Kepler, awakened as a Caster and grew up closer to his mother than to him.
And so, Ferdinand has always favored his youngest, William Kepler, because, like him, William was a combat professional and had always been vocal about his desire to follow his footsteps or maybe even surpass them.
This was proven when he chose to master the spear despite its inherently difficult learning curve.
However, recently, he noticed that his youngest had been in a slump.
His once proud and boisterous heir has gone silent and moody. The child was avoiding him. It's like he's feeling guilty about something that he did.
Obviously, that got him curious, and so, he sent his aides to investigate what happened. When they reported back to him, well, he'd say that he's surprised, but he really wasn't.
He's displeased too; he didn't like the idea that his favored son was losing to some nameless nobody.
Even more so because apparently, nobody has passed the initial screening and is now earning exp. His own son was falling behind, and if he didn't do something, that nameless nobody would become the greatest roadblock his son would ever face.
As a father, who also deeply cared about his reputation, this simply won't do. And so, he had to do something.
He found his youngest on the training ground. But instead of training as usual, his child was slumped over on a bench, staring lifelessly at an empty space with doubts clouding his face.
"Two defeats."
William jumped in fright as he heard the deep and solemn voice of his father behind him.
He looked up at him and saw that his father was wearing a serious and mildly disappointed look on his face, and that was enough for William to forget everything he was about to say or any self-defense he wanted to make.
"You experienced two losses, and you're reduced to this? I've raised you to be better than this."
There was an accusatory tone in Ferdinand's voice. William swallowed nervously. He wanted to defend himself, except, what could he say?
It would've been fine if I was only defeated once. He could chalk it up to bad luck. The problem is that he challenged the same person twice, shamelessly at that. On their second match, his opponent was seriously ill, and that should've been his win, but no, healthy or not, that commoner completely and utterly outclassed him.
He never stood a chance.
It's this shame that made him avoid his father. He doesn't know how to face him anymore.
"I'm sorry, Father."
William usually calls him 'Dad,' but in situations like this, that won't work.
"You should be sorry." Ferdinand snorted. "You had access to better things compared to that commoner; you even resorted to foul and desperate means and still weren't able to defeat him. Am I just wasting my time and resources on you? Hm?"
William gritted his teeth and clenched his fists so hard, they might bleed. His father's words cut deep. It's completely unlike his older brother's jeers; this was more personal, and he's more affected.
"Now, that commoner is starting to earn exp. Soon, he'll become a 1★ Novice, and the gap between you and him will continue to widen. Are you just going to let that happen?"
"You promised me that none of your peers will be better than you. Were you lying when you said that?"
William was horrified. He blanked out and didn't know what to do anymore. That commoner was already earning exp? He'd soon be a 1★ Novice? How could that be? Is the gap really that big?
Fear, anxiety, and unwillingness coursed through William's body. Everything was so much that his mind was shutting down from being overwhelmed.
Slap!
The crisp and heavy smack of his father's rough hand and the pain it brought woke him up. He looked at his father in disbelief and saw the brewing anger on his face.
William became afraid again.
"It seems that you need some TLC straight from me. Don't worry, by the time I'm done with you, you'll have learned some real and valuable lessons."