A Friendly(ish) Spar

After putting down the weapon, Raisen's expression became grim. His lips formed a thin white line across his face, a sharp contrast from the usually wild old man face.

"You saw how difficult the Scenarios are, right?" After Fen confirmed it, Raisen continued. "As you are right now, there's no way you can survive even Erudite."

The old man must've seen how his face shifted because he hurriedly continued to speak. But his next words didn't help much with alleviating the sense of doom affecting Fen.

"Before you can complain about how the Points Table won't help you, let me explain. Your body is in phenomenal condition, you don't have to worry about not lasting for half an hour. Especially if you know how to use that weapon of yours," he said, gesturing to the Iberian short sword lying in a corner of the Training Hall.

"The real issue is instead your mind. Just like how other candidates will hesitate when killing another person, your body might lock up when you experience the pressure. The creatures living in that reality aren't normal; their species have gone through countless evolutions to survive, they've almost reached the standard of perfection when it comes to killing other living creatures."

"If I'm not mistaken, you should be able to reach that standard eventually, but that won't happen for a long time. They will put fear into your heart, and when that happens they will kill you."

Raisen finished speaking, no longer meeting Fen's eyes. How could he? He had instantly destroyed any of the candidate's hope for gaining even a small part of the benefits that would await him if he could complete a Scenario after practically leading him on.

But when the old man raised his eyes to look at Fen's expression, what he saw wasn't a face of despair. Instead, he saw a face of silent determination, and even a sliver of excitement.

Inside Fen's mind, the candidate rejoiced.

'Thanks to entering that strange reality every night, I think I know what that 'pressure' is. If the two are one and the same, then I should be able to survive. Haa, and after that the benefits will just snowball until I become just as powerful as a Chosen!' Fen thought. The boy had another reason to be thankful to the black energy being. Without it, he would have died without being able to take advantage of experiencing the pressure those evolved creatures outputted.

Raisen was confused.

"You're not... scared?" Finally, the boy in front of him reacted to him after going through a period of silent thought.

"Why would I be? You just said that my body's fine; the only thing I need to worry about is my state of mind." A fierce smile flashed on his face revealing his teeth. "If I can't even control my state of mentality, then I don't deserve to enjoy these benefits."

The Training Hall was silent for a moment, before a roaring laugh echoed through the room. Raisen, who was serious just moments ago was now bent over himself, wiping tears out from his eyes. In fen's eyes, the old man image flickered and in front of him was a tall and imposing warrior, with big shoulders and powerful muscles. The gray hairs on his head vanished, replaced by wavy and luscious fire-red hair.

Fen blinked and the hallucination ended, replaced by the slightly shorter man with much grayer hair.

"I was wrong. You're no genius, you're just as crazy as the rest of us!" A wide smile was on Raisen's face.

The candidate's face twitched.

'I'm perfectly sane, thank you!' Raisen meant it as a compliment, but to Fen's ears, it was the worst insult that he could think of.

At that time, a deep intake of breath was the warning that Erik was finally recovered from being put into an unresponsive state. The candidate stood up on shaky legs, as he looked up with fear at Raisen, his body visually loosening when he saw that the flat weapon was nowhere to be seen.

"Ar-are we done?"

'Poor kid. He'll probably be afraid of Raisen for life now. Good, now he should know to be careful around other VPF members.' Fen thought, inwardly reciting a prayer for his comrade's mental state.

Even Raisen was a little shocked at the fear inside of Erik's eyes. He had thought that the two candidates were capable of taking his training, and Fen took it well enough, but Erik looked like a war veteran facing the battlefield once again after seeing the brutal reality of war.

Fen was more than a little worried about Erik, but after quietly speaking with him away from Raisen he was assured that he was alright.

Their conversation went something like this:

"Hey, you alright?"

"Y-yeah. I'm good. Great."

"Sure you are. You never been hit before?"

"Nope, not once." To Fen's shock, Erik truly was never exposed to violence before; it was a miracle considering that he was somehow exposed to Vitality manipulation before the Guardian Program. That was the exact reason why Raisen was so shocked; physical training was essential to the growth of an individual, and this was emphasized for Knights, those who trained in Manipulating Vitality.

For a Knight in training, not experiencing physical combat would be the same as a Mage never touching an book or going over magical theories that are superimposed atop of the reality we exist in. It just never happens.

After being consoled, Erik walked back to Raisen, said his goodbyes, and left the Training Hall, presumably to recover more with his Squad or in his room.

Fen had already gotten the information he needed to hear from Raisen, and so also started towards his Squad Room to practice manipulating Vitality some more and get some more familiarity with his sword.

Gray and Qin would be much more experienced than him by the time their practice session began, but every little bit of practice would help Fen build up a sturdier foundation. With every improvement he made now, he would be able to more effectively soak up the knowledge that were ingrained into his two Squad mates, the basics.

Fen continued practicing with his short sword for the next hour, and was greeted by Amelia after she came back from her Lesson. She looked almost annoyed from seeing that he was in their personal Training Hall, for some reason. The girl looked around for a moment before entering with him.

"Hey." She spoke very softly; Fen almost didn't hear her. He was just finishing a set of cuts with the Iberian short sword, practicing to get the movements right, not that he knew what the proper movements were. Mostly, he was just following his instincts or experimenting. If his body flowed smoothly, then if was probably right.

The biggest obstacle he encountered was his footwork. Although he was athletic and was great shape, even without the Vital energy enhancing his musculature, he hadn't received much help in where to put his feet. The short sword was easy enough to swing; it was short and easy to handle, but Fen struggled to put more of his body strength into the weapon's swings and slashes.

Amelia had come at a good time, Fen was starting to get frustrated with the lack of progress he was making.

After finishing one last swing with his feet planted close to him and his knees slightly bent, Fen let his arm drop to his side and his stance relaxed. He was slightly out of breath from the exertion, but his body quickly recovered with the combined efforts of his natural healing abilities and the small touch of Vitality he sent through his system.

"Yeah?" Amelia winced, looking somewhere behind him before her eyes flickered at looked him in the eyes.

She took a breath, her words tumbling out of her mouth.

"DoyouthinkIcanpracticewithyouandtheothers?" Huh? What'd she say? Fen didn't catch her words, and asked her to repeat herself.

Amelia grit her teeth together. "I want... to practice with you. Can I?"

Fen blinked, his mind slowly digesting what she said. So she just wanted to practice with him? No problem, he could use a punching bag- No!

For a second Raisen's twisted ideas had infected his mind, but Fen quickly regained control of himself. After being cleared from those polluted and disgusting thoughts, he quickly put out his hand in front him, to shake Amelia's.

"It's not a problem with me. I could use a partner to help me."

"So I can join you and the others later?" Amelia raised her eyebrow.

He paused.

"You'd have to ask them." Fen said slowly. It wasn't an issue with him, but he didn't know why she wanted to train with weapons and magic. The two would be great combined, but unlike with Fen and his two chosen subjects, he worried that Amelia wouldn't be able to learn both magic and weaponry at an efficient enough pace.

Unless... she wasn't some sort of magical creature like him, right?

No way, that'd be too nonsensical. If she was able to do both however, Fen would have some questions to ask her... Maybe she'd be able to help him with understanding his own abilities if she was also a magical creatures.

Amelia nodded before walking over to the Training Hall interface, probably to chose a weapon to use. Waiting for her, Fen focused on recovering the lost strength he had used in the previous hour of training. In his mind, he corrected the mistakes he notices he noticed he made, criticizing his own skills in order to learn from them.

A person's biggest enemy is themselves; unless they can understand their mistakes, they will fail to improve and so fail to become better. Although Fen generally disliked other people that he didn't know, he hated himself the most. Not in a depressing matter, but only when he failed to improve himself, to become better.

On Earth, he didn't study as much as he should've; he realized that now. A small part of himself curled up in revulsion as he thought about how much time he wasted instead of improving himself. Alas, hindsight was 20/20, so he reeled in his self-hatred with the resolution that he wouldn't waste any time.

To Fen's surprise, Amelia picked a longsword as her weapon, which looked comically unproportioned against her 166 (5'4'') cm tall self. But, even with shaky hands, Amelia managed to carry the weapon over to Fen in the center of the room.

Seeing this, Fen couldn't help but shake his head. He walked over to the side and lay his weapon on the ground and walked back.

"What're you doing?" She was nonplussed at his behavior. Did he intend to spar with her without a weapon?

Crazily enough, that was exactly what Fen intended to do.

"I'm fighting with you. What did you expect?" Fen spoke in a casual tone, as if his behavior was completely normal. Amelia didn't know about his healing capabilities, so of course this seemed needlessly reckless.

He raised his fists above his shoulders in a guard position, both his thumbs touching his chin as his biceps tightened in order to strike forward faster and harder. His stance slightly lowered, a trick Fen had learned in his training in order to increase the amount of force he could use by relying on the power his legs could generate.

It wasn't the most effective stance, far from it, but it was the one Fen was currently the most comfortable with. He believed that with more practice he would be able to create a more practical stance that would use the power of his entire body.

Amelia tapped the sword she was holding.

"This'll cut you, you know? You sure you don't want a weapon?"

In response, Fen pointed towards the short sword he set on the ground.

"That would cut you too. Your point?"

"Gah, whatever." It seemed Fen didn't have to convince her anymore; she was angry enough to fight him without worrying about the consequences.

Even better. Now, he would be able to test how his regenerative body would fare in a semi-real environment. The spar would help him test his body and his reflexes, perfect training to prepare for entering the Scenario.

But, the spar devolved into Fen constantly giving his partner advice; she couldn't land a blow anywhere near him. He doubted that she would even be able to cut him if he stood still!

"Put your feet closer together."

"Angle the weapon with your wrist, not your arms."

"Don't throw your whole body into your swing."

"Shut up!"

Amelia was getting more and more frustrated. She was even more frustrated because his advice was actually helping him; why did Fen know so much about handling a weapon than her? He had only practiced for a couple more hours than she had.

What she wasn't aware of was that Fen's method of training was very different than hers.

In the short times she was in their personal Training Hall, she mainly focused on simply swinging the blade however which way until her muscles started to hurt; basically endurance training.

Fen however, already enough strength and endurance from his Knight Lessons and the 'gift' he received.

During his time in the Training Hall, the only thing he did was correct his own movements, enhancing his mobility and speed. Consequently, he also increased his own power as his muscles were used 'correctly'. Basically, as his form got better, he got an all-around boost in all aspects of his fighting abilities.

While Fen wouldn't last more than a few seconds against someone like Raisen, his abilities were more than enough to kick any of his Squad mates asses, even Qin and Gray, who he could easily overpower.

"Fuck this! It's too hard." The entire time the two of them 'sparred', Amelia was never able to land a hit on Fen. For one, his reflexes were too quick and his speed only made him more agile. Secondly, she took too long to swing; her moves were predictable from the way she angled her hands and shoulders.

But, Fen's next words made her freeze in place.

"Just use magic."

Amelia slowly looked back at him, her movements creaking along. Then, when she faced him, a nasty smirk appeared on her face.

"Let's do it." Her reaction confused Fen a little, but if it mean that she would finally be able to do some damage to him, then it would be worth it. At least he would actually gain some valuable experience from their spar.

With a smirk on her face, Amelia picked up her sword in one hand and in the other, a small red flame appeared, which completely knocked away all of Fen's confidence.

'Oh shit. I forgot she was in a fire magic Lesson.' Seeing the blood draining away from his face, Amelia's smirk only grew wider and more sadistic.

As Fen worried how his healing abilities would hold up against fire, which might burn him faster than his body could heal himself, a small red jet of flame lit up his vision.