Xan continued cultivating for most of the night and only decided to sleep for a while after realizing the sun had risen.

'I can't go to Rad's class without sleeping, or I won't pay enough attention. A short nap should be enough to be as fresh as lettuce." Xan thought as he rested his head on the pillow.

In the second his face touched the bed, his consciousness turned off completely. After all, cultivating drained his physical stamina like nothing he had tried before, so he needed to eat and constantly rest to continue performing well.

Xan felt his eyes close for a second, but as soon as he woke up again, he didn't feel nearly as tired as before.

'This is weird. How much time have I slept?' Xan thought to himself, trying to understand how much time had passed.

As he stood up, he neared the window and checked the sun's altitude before realizing it was already midday.

'Dammit,' he thought as he ran toward his room again.

Xan changed his clothing as fast as he could before leaving his room toward the courtyard, as he was already arriving late.

He didn't know exactly how late he was, but Xan trusted that Rad would start replying to some questions from the other kids, allowing him to sit on the edge of the group and act as if he had been there for the whole time.

As he got near the courtyard, Xan began to hear some cries and grunts, only to find the kids fighting among themselves when he arrived.

All the kids were in pairs, each with a similar body structure to their partner. There were dozens of dirt circles drawn on the ground, and each kid tried to throw their partner out of the ring.

Realizing his plan to sit on the edge of the group wouldn't work in the current situation, Xan gave up and began looking around, trying to find Rad to ask him what he should do.

"What are you looking for?" Rad said from behind him.

Instinctively, Xan jumped to the side, trying to dodge a cane that never arrived, before turning around.

"I was looking for you," Xan replied with half a smile as he scratched the back of his neck. "Sorry for arriving late. Yesterday I stayed cultivating until late and didn't wake up on time."

As he heard Xan's excuses, Rad couldn't help but smile.

"You haven't missed much, so don't you worry. I initially solved some doubts about cultivation, and then we started with hand-to-hand combat." Rad explained.

"I guess there isn't anyone with which I can practice, right?" Xan asked with little hope.

"No, there is someone."

"Really? I thought they would be all in pairs already." Xan replied surprisedly.

"Well, he couldn't find someone to practice with, so he had been practicing with me. Gren, come here. You will practice with Xan for the rest of the class." Rad said as he waved his hand.

When Xan looked over where Rad was waving, Xan saw an adult.

And not an average adult, but one big and wide. Even though Xan wasn't huge, that guy was at least three times more corpulent than him. He even needed to look up to look at his eyes.

But when Xan looked at his face, he realized that he had a teenager's face, which created even more doubts for Xan.

"He is huge, right?" Rad said as he patted Gren's back. "As you were late, know you must learn how to fight against someone much bigger than you."

"That doesn't seems fair..." Xan tried to say.

"Life isn't fair. You won't be able to choose your opponents most of the time, so it will be better if you get used to fighting with stronger people." Rad explained before looking at the Gren. "And you, don't underestimate him just because you are larger. Judging people because of their appearance can be deadly, so don't fight mindlessly and think your movements carefully."

"I will do my best, Master," Gren replied while nodding excitedly.

Before Xan could say anything else, Rad had already drawn a circle on the ground using his cane and instructed them to get inside it.

"Same rules as before. Whoever touches the ground with his back or gets out of the circle first loses. Avoid hitting your faces or crotches; if you think the other is wounded, stop the battle immediately to ask for help." Rad explained." Nothing else besides that. You can start whenever you want."

As he said those words, Xan saw Gren start running toward him with all his might.