Full Pr Credits to Draconis afternoon people well it's afternoon here in aust XD anyway here is the first proper ch for ES i hope you enjoy. p.s a cover is bieng made for the story im pretty excited :)

Please Rate/Follow/Favourite/Enjoy ch 1 ^^

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Lyrim, having made his way towards the swordsmanship grounds, had forgotten to put his books away, so he left them on a bench nearby, hidden from view behind hedges of greenery.

The training ground itself had a rough flooring of white stone. White stone itself was quite durable and it was found in many places, making it plentiful. Not to mention it also looked quite good (think marble)

As Lyrim approached the training area, he spotted 15 other students standing in a line. Some having their arms folded with their wooden weapons by their sides. Others were already practicing on dummies. Of course, those were the students that were about ready to advance to a higher tier of training, so they were allowed to continue at their own pace.

Unfortunately Lyrim, being low tier, had to go stand with the other students. He stood at least 2 meters away from the main group and a somewhat tall boy looked at him with a glare and whispered “I hope you’re ready for your beating today…”

Lyrim quietly gulped while maintaining his composure. This boy was one of the main bullies Lyrim detested and usually always picked on him with every chance he got unless his brother was around.

Even then, Lyrim hated how he would stop only when his brother was present. This boy even made attempts when teachers were nearby. He didn’t fear teachers, but he feared his brother. It made Lyrim even more frustrated at his helplessness.

But there was nothing he could do right now except hope it finishes quickly. As a few minutes passed, their teacher arrived. A large muscular man wearing a sort of tank top with a crude delinquent like haircut that showed his black hair.

Usually first impressions are everything, but this man was not to be underestimated. He had a Demon level T.Gear and fought in quite a few battles, thus his experience was more than sufficient for this place.

Everyone then spoke up to greet him. “Afternoon Winfield Sensei” The teacher stayed quiet as he silently took attendance, not budging an inch to reply back to them. He had several scars on his body that he had obtained from battle.

It’s said that if you get a scar from a creature that is higher than the T.Gear you own, then a scar is sure to remain as if to show its power was that much more menacing. Of course this is superstition. Then again, people while seeing the scars believe it considering the healing abilities of a T.Gear user increase per level.

Winfield then spoke “Today all of you are going to show me if you have improved. I hope you all have been practicing, otherwise I’m sure you know what sort of punishment awaits those I see haven't improved an inch.”

Although he was strict, he had to be somewhat lenient, so even a bit of improvement was a sort of pass. Even more so considering this school was low tier as opposed to others.

As the students looked at each other, Winfield spoke again.

“Yiff and Philip, come prepare yourselves on the dual circle” A girl and a boy both made their way towards a large dual circle spanning over 15 meters in diameter. As for them both, there was no gender discrimination. At least not here. In fact, it was a good situation to motivate both to get stronger.

Yiff grinned at Philip as a sly smirk then appeared on her face, brandishing her long wooden sword and pointing it towards his chest. “Too bad for you. I hope you remember last time…”

Philip glared at her as he had taken his own longsword out, but instead of holding it with one hand it was held with two as a mock greatsword. These wooden swords may seem like nothing, but they were made in a way that allowed them to be used in a one handed and also two handed method.

“Begin..” Winfield called out, folding his arms while standing outside the circle. Yiff kicked her feet, bursting with speed, rushing towards Philip, the tip of the wooden sword slashing towards his lower right leg.

“Oh no you don't..!” He called out to which he jumped over her and slashed vertically, taking advantage of his descent towards her. Yiff clicked her tongue and did a low sidestep, managing to barely dodge the attack that hit the marble like stone, causing it to shudder.

The wooden swords were made from a special infused wood that is imbued with natural energy, making them extremely durable. But the sharpness remained the same. Meaning that either way it would hurt like hell.

As the two continued to battle, the students began to talk to each other about who would win. One spoke out “Wow, Philip’s improved quite a bit. I wouldn’t be surprised if he advanced..” While another spoke. “Yeah, but Yiff is managing to dodge and keep up easily..” And then another student intervened. “True, but neither of them have landed a hit. They’re pretty much equal.”

Lyrim gazed with awe. As much as he trained by himself, he could barely improve. He even found the weight of the wooden sword to be a bit too much. How could someone like him hope to improve greatly.

“Enough” Winfield said with a smile. The two combatants were shooting daggers at each other while sweating and panting. They had been going at it for a full 10 minutes of constant defence and offence. For their age that was quite a bit.

Winfield spoke again “Philip, your improvement is pretty good. You must really have wanted to show her.” Philip smirked as he put his sword away “Thank you Sensei” Winfield then gazed at Yiff.

“Last match you easily dominated him, but look, his improvement has gone up so much he equals you. It doesn’t seem like you have improved much, but I saw your speed has improved, so I’ll let you off”

Yiff pouted quietly and glared at Philip as they were sent back. Winfield then called out the next names while the students chatted away with the previous two. “Ferg and Lyrim” Lyrim sweated a bit as he made his way towards the duel circle.

Some of the students glanced at him, as if wanting to chuckle at his misfortune. Ferg was someone he didn’t want to fight, the tall boy who mocked him before. What made it worse, is he was more skilled then both Philip and Yiff and was sure to advance.

“Lyrim, I hope you have been training your guts out…” Winfield mumbled to him. Lyrim then nodded. “I..I have Sensei..” Winfield patted his back, giving a hearty laugh and spoke “Good. We’ll soon see.”

Ferg was grinning at Lyrim, obviously thinking of ways to injure not just the outside but inside to.

“Both of you know the rules. Just like before.” Lyrim gripped his weapon with one hand while Ferg, like Philip, choose two. Lyrim could hear the mumbles of the students. “He is so dead…” One spoke while another followed “I heard he was in the medical bay for 2 days when they fought. Damn shame I wasn't there..”

As if showing the difference, Winfield then called out. “Begin!” Ferg wasted no time. He rushed towards Lyrim with a menacing killing intent. “Shit!” Lyrim spoke to himself “-Why show such intent in a spar..-” He moved quickly, jumping to the side.

But Ferg knew he wasn't that fast and agile, and predicted his movement well. He slashed downwards with his longsword, hitting Lyrim’s left arm. “Ahh!!” He let out a pained yell. Even the students seemed to show some pity.

Winfield though, watched carefully. Lyrim dropped his sword and clutched his left arm tightly, as if he were about to tear up. Ferg smirked as he walked up to him and spoke “Little bastard...Grab your weapon. You know I can't hit you if you don't have it in your hand…”

Lyrim, clenching his teeth, knew he couldn’t show more weakness than now. So he quickly reached for his weapon and slashed from a downward vertical position towards Ferg. A grin was all that Ferg showed before he countered and kicked Lyrim in the chest, knocking him several feet away.

Lyrim let out several coughs, and thankfully blood didn’t come out. He now clutched his chest as tears formed, but he didn’t forfeit. Duels like this were common, and unless one gave up or a life threatening situation was shown they would continue for 10 minutes.

Lyrim weakly stood up as he panted, trying to breathe properly as Ferg walked towards him. Lyrim began to quickly think “-Argh...This is the same as before… If I'm right, he is going to do a downward slash towards me once he gets close enough. I need to take advantage of him underestimating me…-”

Although Lyrim wasnt that strong physically, he had trained regardless, trying to develop a way to counter that final downward slash, as it was the only opening he could hope to fight back against. Like comparing an ant to a lion. But even an ant is capable of pestering a lion in the right place.

Lyrim tried to show weakness as if to lure him in. “H...Hey Ferg, can't we call it a draw…” Ferg glared as he walked closer. “If you forfeit I’ll just beat you up outside of this.. So just be good and rest in the medical bay again. Worthless like your father.” Lyrim clenched his teeth as he felt anger, clutching the hilt of his longsword.

Ferg prepared to slash downwards, and as he did, he yelled with fury. At this point, Lyrim jumped forward with all the might his legs could muster, managing to get within range and avoid his attack. Winfield let out a surprised whistle, but Lyrim wasn't done yet.

Clutching the sword's hilt with both hands, he roared as he smashed it towards Ferg’s face. Of course, using the back of the sword. Ferg gave a stunned expression, not realising that an animal is most dangerous when it was cornered.

Before he knew it, he had experienced a mind numbing pain as several of his teeth were broken and blood came out of his mouth as he fell several feet back and went limp on the ground, unconscious.

“Uhhh…” Winfield gave, not expecting such a turn of events. He then gazed at one of the students. “Go get the medical team right now!” He called out. The students, looking at Lyrim, gave shocked expressions, wondering what had happened.

Although they didn’t like Lyrim much, Ferg would also bully them, so they went over and patted him on the back. It seems Ferg had been handled for the moment and got what he deserved.

Winfield gazed at Lyrim and cleared his throat.

“I honestly didn't expect you to pull such a tactic. You seem to have studied his attack pattern well. And managed to defeat him in one blow. I think it’s safe to say you have improved the most out of everyone here” Winfield spoke in a complementive tone.

Being complimented felt the greatest. Lyrim gave a happy smile, although his legs were shaking from having hit someone like that. It was good to relieve his frustration out on a bully who deserved it.

After a few minutes, the medical team came and helped Ferg up, who screamed in agony and anger as he gave a dangerous look towards Lyrim, who was practicing on a dummy with the rest of the students. Lyrim couldn't help but feel frightened. He knew Ferg would be back with a vengeance.

Swordsmanship training had ended after 30 more minutes had passed. Low tier swordsmanship consisted of sparring and practicing and building up physical strength. The advanced tier is when techniques and such were taught, as well as training with a weapon to specialise in.

Lyrim went over and got his books back as he wiped the sweat off his face. He looked at the time. “Uhh, I got 15 minutes. I’ll go take a quick shower before I go to the evaluation.” He ran inside the main student dorm area for males and made his way down the hall.

He found his room. It was somewhat spacious, and he had it to himself because no one wanted to be his roommate. It was convenient like that. As he removed his clothing and headed to the shower, his body showed several bruises and marks that were left behind from previous battles from Ferg and other bullies.

Lyrim had finished after contemplating the events today, and how he could stay out of trouble with Ferg. As he got dressed, he left his books behind, thinking it was better here. He then made his way to the evaluation area and blinked. Looking around in front of him, there was a crowd of students blocking his path as they chatted as if a famous star had arrived.

“What’s going on?” Lyrim thought to himself before using his little body to push through to see what it was.

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