Arima and Kisuke, also known as Gale, got special treatment thanks to their affinity. Needless to say, Kisuke was happy about it; it was inconvenient to have men in his room. If it's only Arima with him, then he will have some time alone when Arima has a guarding shift.
"Good to see you again, Kisuke. Seems like we still have some time to be together."
"Glad to be in the same room as you, Arima."
Meanwhile, some of the other new recruiters frowned when they heard they will share their room with three other people.
"Sir, is it possible to get better lodging?"
"It is. Rise in the ranks and you will have more benefits. Right now, all the magicians other than Kisuke started from the lowest rank – Trooper. The true mages are better; they started from the Senior Trooper rank. As for Kisuke and Arima, they both started as corporals, which means they will lead teams of troopers and senior troopers."
"How can we become corporals too?"
One of the recruits asked the guard.
"Merits! You can either gain them in one big swoop by doing something great or accumulate them over time. Mostly, the only way is to accumulate them slowly since we don't fight much. One more way is to become stronger; if you're strong, nobody can tell you what to do."
The guard explained to the group what they should do, and the group lost interest. They planned on training diligently from the start, and 'accumulating merits' just means working normally.
"Understood?"
"Yes, Sir!"
"Good, now you can go to your rooms. I will meet you here tomorrow morning at 8, don't be late."
Everyone dispersed and went to their rooms to unpack their belongings and prepare for bed.
Kisuke and Arima didn't do much together, so they just went to sleep after dinner.
-------
"Magicians, come with me. Mages, go with Lieutenant Ashira."
The next morning, they separated into two groups and Kisuke was with the guard who led them so far.
"Everyone, I haven't introduced myself yet. I'm Lieutenant Haruka, and I will oversee your training for the next few months. You will be rewarded according to your ranking among your peers."
Haruka introduced himself to everyone standing in front of him and ordered them to stand in rows.
"Who has a weapon?"
Most of the recruits raised their hands in response. Before leaving, their parents used their family savings to buy them a good weapon to raise their chances to pass the assessment.
"Anyone who doesn't have one can come and take a sword from here. Those are the standard second-grade swords for new recruits. You can get better ones with merits."
The few who didn't have a sword went to pick one from the stand next to Haruka.
"Who has real combat experience with swords?"
This time, only 2 students raised their hands. Since Gale didn't fight with swords, he didn't raise his. Most of them didn't have experience because they were from commoner families and didn't get any fighting lessons.
"Don't worry if you don't have any experience. Those who have it will enjoy a head start and can score better in competitions and tests, but you will have everything you need to learn here. Now, draw your swords!"
Everyone drew their swords, Kisuke included. His black sword immediately drew everyone's attention. The sword was long with a slightly curved, slender, single-edged blade with a squared guard and a long grip to accommodate two hands.
The sword's black color and purple shades caught everyone's attention, but at least Kisuke didn't use mana to make the lightning attribute run on the blade.
"Amazing sword! It seems to have a lightning attribute as well. Where did you get it?"
Haruka admired Kisuke's sword and came closer to observe it.
"Sir, this is our family's treasure. My mother once found a lost child and took him home and fed him. A few days later, there was news that an elite family was looking for their child who got lost, and my mother brought the child she found to the elite family's house. When they heard she took care of him selflessly, they gifted her this sword."
Kisuke made up an emotional story on the spot about how good-hearted his mom is.
"You and your mother are lucky, but you brought this good luck on yourselves by doing good deeds. Why didn't you use it during the assessment?"
"I didn't need to, and I don't know how to use it. My mother provided for us by herself and couldn't afford to pay a teacher for me."
"I see. Do you know the sword's grade?"
"I don't, but I think it might be in the fourth or even the fifth grade."
Kisuke lied without hesitating. He preferred to seem as ignorant as possible since a magician shouldn't be able to assess materials from grades higher than his stage.
"I'm an advanced mage, and I still can't understand it well, so I believe it might be in the sixth grade."
Haruka said with a hint of jealousy in his voice. His sword was only in the fifth grade, and he had to work for years to buy it. Not only that, but his sword didn't have an elemental attribute.
Haruka's words made everyone take a sharp breath; for those magicians from poor backgrounds, the sixth stage seemed too far and unattainable.
"All right, back to the lesson. I'm going to demonstrate a few times and you will repeat after me."
He demonstrated a sequence of three sword strikes and looked at the recruits.
"Now you do it. I will look around and correct your mistakes."
Everyone started practicing the sequence and Haruka walked around them and corrected their postures and movements.
"Put your foot slightly further."
"Your core isn't stable."
He advised everyone and stopped them after 2 hours of practice. After watching them for two hours he could easily notice the experience of the two recruits who raised their hands earlier.
With such basic movements, they only needed to be corrected once or twice before getting it right. He also noticed the fast learners in the group and nodded in appreciation when he watched Kisuke.
Despite his completely amateurish posture and movement in the beginning, he got it completely right under 30 minutes as if he trained those moves for days.
Obviously, it was thanks to the boost Kisuke's brain and body gained from being strengthened as a higher ruler human.
'I should use this chance that I'm his superior to maintain a good relationship with him now. With his high talent in both swordsmanship and magic, his future is far better than mine.'
Haruka thought to himself when he looked at Kisuke and formed a plan in his head to make him the teacher's favorite.
"Kisuke, come here. Use the sequence on me and I will block it."
Kisuke stepped forward and attacked at the signal. He felt he could easily put more force behind his hits and send Haruka stumbling, but he restrained himself and only showed the power of a top-tier magician.
"Good strength, good movements! Everyone, learn from Kisuke."
Haruka gave him a smile and blocked his attacks. They did it a couple of times and Haruka turned to the recruits again.
"Now sheathe back your swords and take some wooden swords. Select a partner and perform the sequence against each other in turns while the other needs to block like Kisuke and I just demonstrated."
Kisuke looked around to find a partner and approached a pretty girl before anyone else could.
"Hello, would you like to partner with me?"
Kisuke smiled at the girl, and she nodded shyly. His foreign charm was quite powerful even when he held back his charm magic.
They practiced all day, trying each time to attack and defend faster than before. Kisuke adjusted his speed to his partner and slowed down his strikes whenever she felt to block his sword, making the blows harmless.
"Thank you for having me."
The girl and Kisuke bowed to each other and separated when the lesson was over.
"Hey, Kisuke, come here for a moment."
"Yes, Sir."
"You've done great today, you're really a fast learner. There's a new mission, and I wanted to ask if you'd like to take it."
"But Sir, I haven't completed my training yet."
"I know, but I saw you on your assessment and you're already strong enough to take it. Normally, new recruits can't go on missions, but thanks to your rank as a corporal, I can make an exception."
"What's the mission?"
"The sixth prince needs a sparring partner. He is only in the first stage now, and practicing with him will grant both of you some benefits."
"Sir, my swordsmanship isn't good enough. Today was my first time practicing the sword."
"His swordsmanship is much better than yours, but as an expert magician, you wouldn't have a problem keeping up with him. As long as he doesn't need to hold back, it's not a problem."
"Thank you, Sir. If that's the case, I shall accept."
"This is a great opportunity for you. You learn too fast to be with everyone, so by sparring with someone who has a better technique than you, you can learn much faster. Make sure to observe his movements and learn. Besides, you can use this chance to get closer to the prince."
Although Kisuke agreed with the part about making connections with the prince, he was quite pessimistic about what he could learn from a teenager, and Haruka didn't miss it.
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