"You're here," Cecile said as Josh got into the infirmary.
"Yeah." Josh nodded, "we are not training here are we?"
"Of course, we could do some light training on the bed," Cecile said with a sly smile.
"..."
"You're no fun." Cecile clicked her tongue.
"Take my hand." Cecile outstretched her hand to Josh.
"So rough." Cecile rubbed Josh's palm in a sensual way.
"Can we just go?" Josh asked. Wondering how on earth a woman could be this unbelievable.
'I think I have finally met my match.' Josh thought.
"Loosen up a bit." Cecile pouted, and they both disappeared from the infirmary.
The pair appeared with what looked to be a gymnasium of some sort. Josh looked around at the equipment and was particularly interested in the robots that were inside the gymnasium.
"Where are we?" Josh asked.
"My house," Cecile replied.
"You have a training ground underground?" Josh guessed.
"Exactly," Cecile affirmed.
"Cool. What are those robots for?" Josh asked, pointing at the robots.
The robots stood at about almost seven feet tall. They had no face and assumed a humanoid appearance.
"Oh, those? They're training bots. They act as a substitute for a training partner." Cecile replied.
"Pretty useful." Josh nodded.
"Seeing that you will be fighting that kid from the Thompson family in a little less than a month, you'll need all the training you can get. A disciple of mine cannot lose to trash." Cecile said in a serious tone.
"How do you know this?" Josh asked, not too surprised, as she was a high-ranking staff and would probably do her digging on him. Or perhaps Jessica did.
"I have eyes and ears around the school," Cecile replied, confirming Josh's suspicion. As a high-ranking member of the staff, she naturally had eyes and ears placed around the school. Not to mention the fact that she was a member of the Black family.
"I suppose." Josh nodded.
"Now, I'll have to test your physical limits and your skill with the sword at the same time. So you'll be fighting a training bot, with the difficulty set on F-rank." Cecile said, heading to where one of the training bots stood.
"This shouldn't be too difficult," Josh said.
In his previous life, he was a martial arts prodigy. He even had black belts in some martial arts, and his fencing skills rivalled that of professionals.
He was aiming to become a professional fencer and travel around the world learning sword techniques before tragedy struck. Now he had a chance to become a swordsman with divine sword skills.
This did not mean that this fight with the robot would be a piece of cake. Although he was confident in his skills, he was not arrogant. "Pride comes before a fall, never underestimate an opponent," his fencing instructor told him when he lost to a significantly less talented fencer.
From that day, he never underestimated an opponent. He treated every opponent like a game would treat the final boss of a game.
"Here." Cecile threw a sword that appeared into her hand from nowhere at Josh.
"Where did this come from?" Josh asked, catching the sword in mid-air.
"My spatial ring." Cecile showed Josh a silver ring on the index finger of her right hand.
"Those are pretty expensive aren't they?" Josh asked.
"A spatial ring, no matter the volume would always be in high demand. In a spatial ring, you can store treasures without fear of them being stolen. Some of them even have the volume of an entire stadium. This is why their prices will always be sky-high." Cecile explained.
"That makes sense." Josh nodded.
"Now, get ready," Cecile said, pressing some buttons on the training robot.
"Kill or be killed." Cecile grinned widely as the training bot began approaching Josh.
"What do you mean?" Josh panicked, "you'll come to my aid if I'm in danger won't you?"
"Maybe." Cecile merely shrugged.
'Calm down Josh, she's just bullsh*ting. She can't possibly let that thing kill me. I'm too valuable to the academy.' Josh reminded himself.
[Quest received!]
[Defeat F-rank training robot]
[Rewards: +10 Exp]
'My first quest!' Josh thought, excited.
'I can't lose this.' Josh thought, strengthening his resolve. He refused to lose the first-ever quest given to him by the system.
When the robot wielding a sword got within fighting distance, Josh tried to channel his mana into the sword. Feeling the invigorating effect of mana he slashed his sword forward. The bot parried his attack and slashed at his face.
Josh moved backwards to evade the attack and slashed his sword forward. Their swords clashed with each other in the air.
Josh swiftly moved a safe distance away from the bot and slashed at its feet. The robot jumped backwards to evade the attack. Their swords clashed in the air.
The robot slashed at Josh's chest, he evaded it by leaning backwards. Josh seeing the opportunity, kicked the robot's arm and slashed at it. The robot parried the attack their swords clashed a few more times.
Josh twisted in the air and struck the bot across the face. The bot immediately stopped fighting and headed back to where it was being kept.
Josh turned to Cecile who stood a few meters away and had been watching their fight with keen eyes.
"Pretty good." Cecile nodded, "your sword strikes are still slow and sloppy. That will change soon enough as you start absorbing soul energy.
"Soul energy?" Josh repeated with raised eyebrows, as it was the first time he was hearing of the term "soul energy".
"Soul energy is gained when you kill beasts or anything that has mana coursing through them," Cecile replied.
"Even humans?" Josh asked, frightened by the thought that he would have to kill his fellow human to gain power.
"You need to understand something." Cecile sighed, "This is a dog-eat-dog world, even if you don't go about searching for humans to kill, as you get stronger they will find you."
"Only the strong have the right to life," Cecile said in a sad tone.
"What if I don't want to kill humans?" Josh asked.
Although, he knew he was being naive. The thought of having to thrust a sword through the heart of a fellow human frightened him. But what choice did he have? This was simply human nature.
In this world, there were no villains or heroes. Only people who love. As long as love exists wars will always be waged. The rest of the world saw the demons as the villains, while the demons saw the rest of the world as the villains.
But were they to be blamed? They were simply an ambitious race that wanted the world under their rule, although through devious means and by force. They were caged to the confines of their continent for centuries, now that they would soon be free, would they just act as though nothing happened? No, they would vent their anger on the world, and in a final effort put it under their rule.
"You would have no choice," Cecile replied in a bitter tone.
"Have you killed humans?" Josh dared to ask a sensitive question such as that.
A woman as powerful as her would surely have faced obstacles before she got to her current level of power. Even now, the safety of her life was not assured.
"Only when I had to," Cecile replied, sighing bitterly.
"Remember this will you?" Cecile requested.
Josh nodded in reply.
"Show mercy only to those who deserve it. If anyone hurts you or your family, make sure to end their family. Letting enemies go is a common mistake of kindhearted people."
"Letting enemies go is akin to building up death traps for yourself. They always come back to haunt you."
Josh nodded in understanding, "I won't make that mistake."
Josh appreciated that he had a teacher to make him realise the harsh reality of this world. If he had gone on adventures himself with his former mentality, he would hesitate to kill, and would, unless he was stronger than the enemy, be killed.
"Like I would let you." Cecile chuckled.
"Your mana control is pretty good. Although you'll need mana to perform sword techniques."
"Now that I know of your capabilities with the sword, I'm going to give you an assignment," Cecile said in a serious tone.
"Assignment?" Josh asked surprised.
"Yes. I'm going to give you an F-rank sword technique to learn at the end of the class." Cecile replied.
"That shouldn't be too difficult." Josh nodded.
"It shouldn't," Cecile agreed, "it's just an F-rank sword technique anyway. what I'm really curious about is your assimilation speed." Cecile continued.
"I expect to be a fast learner," Josh said.
'afterall I have a photographic memory.' Josh thought
Josh wasn't worried. He had an almost photographic memory. He was the best student in his high school and even got a scholarship to school in one of the most expensive colleges. This shouldn't be any different.
"good. I can't wait for you to try your sword techniques on me!"