Chapter 31: Training

Chapter 31: Training

After dinner, Stanley went back to his room and tried to sleep, but he couldn't fall asleep at all.

It seemed that he had enough sleep during the day and now he wasn't feeling sleepy at all. He stayed on his bed trying to fall asleep, but all that happened was his mind wandered to various things he had experienced lately.

It still felt surreal to know that he had some sort of power now and was no longer a Dull. It had only been 3 days since he had figured it out, but so much had happened in just these 3 days.

The Mayor had announced for all Dulls in the Defenders to immediately be sent to the farm. As a result, about a dozen or so people in total had already been sent to the farm.

If not for his powers, he would have gone back there with them as well. He didn't mind being back in the farm. That was never really a problem for him, unlike the other people. After all, he had grown up on that farm.

What would have bothered him was that he could never have had the chance to avenge his mother's death if he was sent to the farm.

Thanks to his powers, he had managed to stay as a Defender trainee.

He remembered his battle today as well. Without his stronger and faster body, there was no way he could've won against that man today.

His thoughts led him through everything that had happened today. He remembered everything from the adrenaline during his fight to the anger he felt when the old men and women were forced to have their son be recorded as a Dull and most likely be sent away.

While it was what they were meant to do, it still felt a little unfair to Stanley. Why did a Dull have to go to the farm when he was perfectly wealthy right now? Why couldn't a poor non-Dull go?

Weren't the people at the farm currently ones that were useless to society? Why instead were hardworking Dulls being sent to the farm? Just because they were Dulls? Just because they didn't have powers, they were useless?

Stanley continued with that line of thought for a while before he fell asleep.

He woke up to the sound of his brother knocking. "I'm up!" he shouted and the knocking stopped.

With his eyes half opened, he quickly dressed up in fighting gear and went for his sword. However, he remembered that his sword had broken yesterday and he needed to go get a new one from the smithy today.

The smithy was on the side they were going to train on, so Stanley took a small chit that he could give to the blacksmiths to get himself a new sword on the way back.

He walked outside to his brother who was waiting for him. "Where's your sword?" Bradley asked.

"Destroyed in the fight yesterday. Can we use some sticks today? Or maybe get some wooden swords from the training area?" Stanley asked.

"Okay, let me get some."

After they got the swords, the two brothers walked in the foggy morning to go to the other side of the bridge on the fourth quadrant.

Arriving on the grassland, they quickly got ready to start their training.

Stanley stood on one side with a wooden sword, while Bradley stood on the other side with his iron sword. Realizing that it wasn't fair to his brother, he changed to a wooden sword as well.

The fight started with Bradley making the first move. Stanley got on the defensive and blocked his brother's attacks.

He was fast and had better reaction speed than his brother, so stopping him was quite easy. However, Stanley was still surprised that he was struggling a bit against his brother.

'He's not holding back at all,' he realized. Perhaps because Bradley was using a wooden sword to fight this time around, he didn't have to worry about accidentally wounding his brother.

With how strong Stanley was, he didn't need to worry about hurting him either if he was hit by the wooden sword. The most it would do was leave a small bruise on his brother's body and seeing as how Stanley no longer had the dark spot on his left arm from yesterday's ice burn, his body could heal any wound in less than a day.

Stanley remained on the defensive, not because he couldn't attack back, but because he chose not to. He was too strong for his brother, and a fair fight was never what they were here for.

Although they called it training, they weren't training to become better fighters at all. They were here to train so that Stanley could get a hold of himself whenever his trauma surfaced alongside the feeling.

For the last 3 training sessions, Bradley hadn't managed to evoke any sort of feeling from Stanley at all. He could only hope today was the day.

Because his fighting had gotten serious and because he was using a wooden sword, instead of a metal sword, Bradley could do something this time around that he couldn't during the last 3 training sessions.

He could finally use his powers,

He crossed his fingers over the hilt of the sword and struck toward his brother.

Stanley obliviously moved his sword to block his brother. As he did, his eyes widened as the feeling finally came for the first time.

Time passed slowly for Stanley as he saw everything that happened in front of him one moment at a time.

The sword was supposed to be blocked by his sword simply passed through it as if it were an illusion.

He saw his brother's eyes which were staring directly at him, meaning that his brother had used his powers on him.

As the sword arrived near his chest, the intangibility of his body had already gone, so the sword struck him right on the chest.

Stanley felt pain flare through his chest and the world seemed to revert back to normal speed. The feeling he had received had also disappeared.

However, the feeling of the feeling remained, and with that surfaced the trauma of his mother's death once more.