“I’ll be honest. Kloso crushed you three.” She giggled, Arne was too focused on staring at her lovely… to listen. “it was more of a slaughter than a battle. It probably even felt impossible. As if you couldn’t do anything.”

She captured Loko’s thoughts precisely. “Well. Don’t worry. There are techniques to help the weaker beat the stronger ones. Let me show you.”

“Kloso, walk 100 steps away and charge at me when you hear the crack of my whip.”

Kloso chuckled and began walking away, the teacher stood still. The notion that she’d be able to beat him simply wasn’t fathomable to him. Pride was the right word; pride and a whole lot of ego.

A familiar blue slender hand wrapped around Arne's neck. “I noticed that you were an Archer. I’ve never seen a skeleton archer before.” Arne turned his head but the hand clenched making it harder. Nokko said, “I don’t take kindly to archery being insulted by the likes of you. Drop your bow and stop archery.”

Crack! Kloso rushed towards the teacher. She flicked her wrist and the long red whip flew into the air. She jerked her hand in a circular motion and the whip fastened to Kloso’s leg. Kloso continued rushing towards the teacher, uncaring of the whip that was tied to her leg.

“Students. When the enemy pushes, do not push against them, instead pull. And when the enemy pulls, push.” When Kloso raised his leg to take another step, she pulled him, his leg over extended. He fell into a split.

As Kloso tried to correct himself and stand up he was actively stopped. Each time he tried to do one motion the teacher added in force to it to make him unstable. He simply couldn’t stand up, he was paralized and all the teacher did was flick her wrist.

Arne felt his body stopping him from turning his neck, stopping him from breaking his spine. He pushed that feeling, shoving against it, he heard a crack. He had broken his spine. His head continued turning and he saw Nokko’s face. “Who do you think you are talking to?”

Nokko slapped Arne’s head, making it correct itself. “I’m talking to a lowly skeleton, what else.” Oslo overheard that comment and got offended. “You piece of shit Mantisman, don’t you.Nokko had slapped Oslo’s head, making it fly away.

The teacher continued, “He’s Immobilized and I didn’t shed a drop of sweat. Memorize this word, technique, technique, technique. After class I want you all to borrow a book on a technique you want to learn.”

A strange red matter glowed at the end of the whip. The whip rose into the air and when it crashed down it cut a deep gash into the minotaur’s skull. It rose again and whipped Kloso on the same spot. Again and again, the teacher a wicked smile broke out on the teacher's face. Arne was glad he was no longer human.

Eventually she stopped, the bull had been slaughtered. As Koslo was reanimated he felt himself. He had never been beaten before, except for his father of course. It all felt dream-like to him.

Oslo’s head had sulphurized when it got too far away from his skeleton core, a new head appeared on top of his neck. He was furious, the wind around him pushed away from him, slightly. Nokko had already walked down.

Arne put his hand on Oslo’s back, calming him down. Loko was in a deep train of thought, “techniques, what techniques can bridge that gap?” Oslo marched away from them and towards his room, he wanted to delve into air magic.

Loko’s eyes were more hollow than usual. “Well. We technically still have one lesson left.” Arne said. Loko responded, “Yeah… You go to that, I'm going to the library.” Loko slowly walked away.

Arne was left alone. When he heard of the crystals he’d found them interesting. They were a way of isolating what one found weak and focusing on that. Arne thought about what was his weak point.

His strength was his weak point. The stronger he was, the stronger shots he could pull off. His bow could certainly handle more pressure. He’d have to get stronger. He knew that there was a crystal where he’d face a monster slightly stronger than himself.

He decided to enter that one. He travelled down to the crystals, and when he touched it he was transported to a stone platform. There was cliffs all around them. Arne saw mountains far below him.

On the other side of the platform there was a figure. The figure was humanoid shaped, and completely white. They charged towards Arne, and before Arne had time to react he was pushed and thrown off the platform.

He fell down, the wind whistled in his ears. Suddenly, he found himself at the edge of the platform staring at the white figure. It charged towards him, Arne charged back this time. He pushed and shoved but was slowly reaching the edge.

“+1 strength.”

He fell off and appeared at the edge. He realized that this was a perfect way for him to increase his strength. He pushed against the figure excitedly. An hour passed and he was dragged out of the circle.

“+10 strength.”

He had increased his strength by more than 50%. He’d make sure to come back here everyday. Matter of fact, he didn’t have to stop. He could go back to the crystal and continue training. But something caught his eye.

The hallway was almost empty. All the students were stacking around a spot. Something had happened, Arnew walked there to investigate it. There was a giant list hanging on the wall. Arne couldn’t make out what it said but noticed that everyone was in awe over it.