Chapter 282: Training Ground

Day 41

Today, the second period of the 10 days interval elite class compulsory training session began.

Right after Emery and his friends entered the training ground, he saw familiar faces all around him. Only ten days had passed, but Emery could sense that everyone carried a different air about them

Unlike the previous period, this time the session started with the combat lecture by Magus Rommy. At first, there was confusion amidst the class, but when everyone saw another figure flying into the training ground, all of them let out an exclamation as they realized the purposes of the lesson.

The figure that just came from the sky was Grand Magus Aimon, the head instructor of Elite Class 7.

As the stern middle-aged instructor landed on the field, everyone in the class unconsciously straightened their back due to the inviolable aura he exerted. The grand magus opened the class by giving a compliment to Orycon. He was the lightning combat magus Emery defeated in the second game of Magus Games.

The muscular guy with broadsword on his back apparently had succeeded in defeating 50 third year acolytes during the first 10 days. Emery heard from the others he spent all his personal training days in the facility, doing countless duels against the third years.

It looked like his efforts were not in vain, as Grand Magus Aimon rewarded him with his second Spirit Foundation Pill in front of everyone. Seeing the small box where the valuable pill lay, Orycon could not help but let out a wide grin.

Afterwards, they went into the material of today's class. It was not started with lectures regarding combat, instead they went straight into practice, or rather, live duel. It appeared the duel would be between the elite acolytes, where Grand Magus Aimon decided who would be fighting against who.

All in all, the first duel began. Grand Magus Aimon started the class with a fight between one of the half-blood from Goat Bloodline, Igor and Akiyo, the Jade Flash.

After the first pair to fight was decided, everyone immediately spreaded out, leaving a wide clearing in the middle for the two of them to brawl it out.

Even though at first Igor seemed to have the upper hand due to his monstrous beast transformation, he could not do anything substantial against an opponent that was fast and could turn invisible. 

Sure, he would be able to knock Akiyo in one blow, but that would only happen if he managed to land the blow in the first place. Looking at how the young girl zipped around through the clearing, appearing in and out of existence, Igor had no idea what to do. He was completely helpless.

Using her towering advantage in speed and mobility, the Jade Flash chose to play the slow game, hurting the massive body of the half-blood bit by bit.

In the end, Igor lost the match.

The second match was Chumo against Okoye. The two worked together and fought side by side during the second stage of Magus Game, now they were standing opposite each other. 

At first, Chumo appeared to be reluctant about this match, but after a while, he took out his bow and began launching a barrage of arrows towards Okoye. Initially, Okoye still managed to fend off the arrows and got closer to Chumo.

Alas, the moment Chumo noticed he could not suppress Okoye with his arrow attacks, he immediately used his skill [Shadow Self]. With the addition of his other self, he sent a combination of close-range and long-range attack on Okoye.

Unable to receive the strikes and arrows from both Chumo and his other self, Okoye was at her last straw. She continued to be pushed back by the two of them, accumulating injuries over time.

At last, the match was won by Chumo.

The third was a match between Klea and Gerri. With both of them were known as the powerhouses of spellcasting, everyone expected the fight to be spectacular. Their expectations were not betrayed as the battle between the two was extremely flashy. Thunderous lightning strikes and fiery blazing flames were flying around, causing extreme destruction to the area.

Half an hour through the match, Gerri suddenly started joking around, which eventually resulted in him losing the fight. Thanks to his antics, Magus Rommy harshly scolded Gerri, saying he had to stop not being serious.

After a few other matches, the next interesting one was a match between the two rivals in Emery's group, Thrax and Julian.

Even though this was not considered as an official match, but merely a practice between peers, it did not stop them from fighting seriously. 

Everyone, without exception, could clearly see Thrax tried to dominate the fight through his ever-flowing spear strikes. However, the defensive Julian would always find his way to block and dodge each attack sent to him.

The other elite acolytes and the magus didn't foresee that the two acolytes from the lower realm would be able to show such a good duel. In fact, some of them were amazed by the two's fight and recalculated their thoughts about the other acolytes from the lower realms.

At the end, Julian emerged victorious because he managed to play with Thrax's emotion, causing him to make a lot of blunders and mistakes. In short, the Thracian was fooled and defeated.

"Damn you, Roman!! I will beat you next time!"

"Keep saying it again and maybe it will come true... in your head! Hahaha!"

After a round of bickering which was quickly stopped by Magus Rommy with a series of scolding, it was finally Emery's turn. Grand Magus Aimon matched him with Lymord, one of Roran men, who was also a half-blood.

When the fight began, the man quickly transformed into a tiger. Looking at the ferocious tiger before him, Emery shook his head and transformed as well.

Even though Lymord had the top tier bloodline, Tiger Bloodline, it was a pity that his gene was one of the lowest ones. 

Rank 2 Black Tiger Bloodline against Emery's Rank 3 Fey Wolf Bloodline.

As the fight went on, it was surprising that although Emery's has a higher rank bloodline gene, their stats seem to be similar. Strength, speed, durability, and mobility. The only reason Emery has the upper hand was because of his battle art immortal gate. Fortunately, when Emery starts to change his tactic into spells battle, with his versatility in spells, Lymord was unable to keep up with him at all. Lymord battle experience and martial skill only able to made him hold on for a few minutes.

Seeing Lymord was on the brink of losing, Grand Magus Aimon suddenly called out another name, Malara, to join the fight. The red-haired earth acolyte, who was also Lymord's teammate.

Out of nowhere, Emery was presented with a two versus one duel. Even so, he did not lose his cool and began to pick a different approach, as two versus one fight was completely different than one on one fight.

The other acolytes thought the Grand Magus' decision to make the fight like that was proof of Emery's skill and capability. However, if Emery could hear their current thoughts, he would say that, unless he could win this fight, there was nothing he could gloat about.

The main problem Emery had to face in this fight was, the two of them were veteran acolytes, who also had excellent skill and teamwork with each other. Sure, he could overwhelm Lymord when he was alone, but the situation drastically changed when Malara joined the fray.

Lymord's close-range skill coupled with Malara long-range sand spells were truly a headache-inducing combination. 

When Emery wanted to land a strike on Lymord, there would always be a spell coming at him, causing him to cancel his attack in order to dodge the spell. On the other hand, Lymord would always try his best to obstruct and block Emery when he tried to approach Malara.

The situation continued on until Emery dropped to the ground, kneeling.

Grand Magus Aimon stopped the fight, without giving the result of who won and lost. Some acolytes wanted to ask about the reason, but a single glare from the grand magus was enough to halt them.

In conclusion, the next few hours were filled with Grand Magus's insight about all the duels that were happening before. These were the most important and valuable lessons of entering into an elite class.

An opportunity to learn with equal peers, combined with the guidance by a thousand years expert was invaluable to an acolyte's progress.

…

The second day was led by Grand Magus Aimon and Magus Rommy again. But this time, the matches were a team battle, five against five. The grand magus tried out multiple combinations, seeing each and everyone's strengths and weaknesses.

The day ended with some went into the medical center and all the rest lying dead tired on the ground.

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Written and Directed by Avans, Published by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,