Chapter 12: Combat Instructions [Bonus]

*Knock* *Knock*

A door was knocked.

"Come in"

*Click*

The door opens up to show a room larger than the private dining room but smaller than the main one.

A maid walks in with a medium sized tray with food in it.

She finds the boy she came to serve looking in a mirror dressed in all black adjusting his silver hair.

This boy is of course Ezra, and he had woken up early because he was starting his training today.

His body was in good shape for a five year old, but according to his past-life's standard, it was terrible.

His stamina, constitution, and reflexes were the best, thanks to him consistently cultivating.

Mind you, this was according to the standard of a five year old.

To begin his journey to Grandmaster level, he first and foremost had to build a solid foundation.

One which could be built onto multiple times over. His mana cultivation was helping, but he needed a fit body to bring out the full potential of his mana.

Else, it would be akin to giving jewelry to swine.

Thankfully, his father had gotten him a combat instructor.

'It's a knight from Niton, but I don't know any of them'

Ezra thought as he hastily finished eating, as the maid informed him that his teacher would be waiting in the training grounds.

'Ok' Ezra affirmed as he moved to the training grounds for new members located a fair distance away at the back of the castle.

The sounds of swords clashing greets him as soon as he enters, but it suddenly becomes silent.

Turns out his silver hair was quite eye-catching, because he found all eyes gazing on him while muttering and whispering, but Ezra was able to listen in into a few of their comments.

"Is that him? The fourth prince"

"I think so. Look at those clothes, he's a prince alright, but I don't know which one"

"People said he was five years old? Is that true?"

"Yeah, I think. The biggest rumor is that he sensed mana at age three, is that even possible?"

"They say he's a genius only seen every thousand years"

"Yeah but he's still a greenhorn, maybe I can get him to call me senior"

"Stop having stupid dreams, but yeah, who's going to teach him?"

"I don't know, it could be Sir Michael or Sir John? They the best around after all"

Comments like these were heard from the trainees as well as older knights.

A hoarse and gruff voice rang out at this moment.

"Oi, are ye the toddler I'm training"

From the trainees to the official knights, they instinctively froze, before turning their heads slowly upwards to affirm their deepest fear.

"It's the demon trainer!"

No one knew who talked, but it set off a chain reaction once their fears were confirmed, especially among the official knights.

"Damn it! Why is he here?"

"Didn't he retire?"

All sorts of exclamations were heard, with the knights and trainees acting like it was the end of the world.

Ezra stood unmoving and tried to grasp the situation, especially since the man who talked stood right behind him.

He was baffled at the scene unfolding before him.

The trainees' reaction was still acceptable, but what could he say about the two dozen adept and six intermediate knights who were acting even worse than the trainees.

Thankfully, the one's he could identify as Expert ranks weren't acting disgracefully. Everyone stood still, till a voice called everyone to order.

"SHUT UP!"

Everybody suddenly calmed down, gradually gaining their senses, but not before a nice dose of words.

"Look at how you're all behaving, AND YOU CALL YOURSELF KNIGHTS?"

"One hundred laps around the courtyard, then you'll do three hundred sword swings right after"

"Sir, isn't that a little-"

"NOW! And the last person does fifty more!" the knight shouted as a pressure erupted from his body.

And I instinctively know what it is.

'Aura'

Which meant his sword mastery was very high.

"Shit, move it, I can't be last"

"Move faster or get out of the way, damn it!"

Of the official knights and the trainees, none remained as they picked up the pace and began to run around the courtyard, leaving four white armored knights.

All of them at the same rank as the one who just issued out punishment.

There were all Expert ranks.

From the moment the voice was heard till now, I hadn't moved an inch.

Only watching like a kid in shock as I assess the situation.

Then I see the four Expert knights walking towards me, or not, because they passed me by like I was invisible.

I turned backwards to see who had caused the ruckus, but I saw the Expert knights paying their respects as they bowed lightly to a man who was either in his late 30's or early 40's.

"Sir John greets Sir Fredrick"

He was the one who issued out the punishment, but then...

"Hahaha, John, this ye? You've grown, acting like a man now"

The man who was called Fredrick exclaimed while laughing as he slapped Sir John's back, who momentarily flinched but managed to maintain composure before speaking...

"What brings you here, Sir?" he asked.

"Ah that, I was called to teach a genius and bring out his full potential, or that's what I was told anyway"

Sir Fredrick replied nonchalantly.

"And have you found him?" he was indirectly asking if he needed assistance.

"Of course, that's him right there" he said with his hands pointing in my direction.

The knights who already had suspicions on my identity were wide-eyed when it turned out to be true.

All four of them were gazing at me for a whole minute, like they were burning my image into their memories, but I noticed something else.

Their eyes seem to contain a bit of...pity?

Why the hell are Expert Knights gazing at me with pity?

But I didn't get any answer as I looked at my combat instructor, getting a better view.

He had brown eyes with long brown hair tied up nicely, his body was fit to an absurd degree.

His complexion was tanned brown, not tall but not short either at 5'7, and on his face was a very friendly smile.

I couldn't help but wonder what such a man had done to be named "Demon Trainer", but with the way things are, I'll find out in due time.

"Ezra Miller greets Sir Fredrick" I said bowing at a ninety degree angle before raising my head.

After all, I have to give a good first impression.

"Hahaha, nice to meet ye too, it's good to know ye still have such toddlers these days"

Sir Fredrick answered with his tone like cowboys who would hit a horse and go "Yee-hah" riding into the sunset.

"So, when are we going to start swordsmanship training?" I asked expectantly, but got a reply I wasn't planning for.

"You can't swing a sword with ye skimpy hands, so, we start with body training"

'Oh, I guess he does have a point' I thought while examining my body.

In truth, my hands were actually quite good considering that it was expanded and strengthened with mana, but it seems it's still too low according to his standards.

Meanwhile, Sir Fredrick was having thoughts of his own.

'Though I said that, he's actually good enough, but if he's like this now, it just means that there's a lot more room to for him to grow'

'I'll make sure to squeeze all the potential out of him. It seems I'm gonna have a lot of fun training him'

His eyes glinted a dangerous light while looking at Ezra.

*Shiver*

'What the hell? Why did I feel a shiver down my spine?' thought Ezra.

"Well, little toddler, your training starts now"

"Huh? What do you mean?" I asked, wondering if he wanted to ask to spar with the expert knights.

Yet, I couldn't have been more wrong.

"Follow me to ye new training ground" he said, getting into a running stance.

"Huh? We're not training here?"

It seems my new teacher is bent on proving me wrong.

"Of course not, if I'm gonna bring out all your potential, we'll have to go to a training ground for geniuses"

"I guess?"

"Good, so try and keep up" he said as he sprinted out of the training ground.

"Let's do this!" I said enthusiastically before running after him.

I lay on a barren ground with my chest heaving rapidly.

I am dead tired right now.

I was excited at first when we began sprinting, but my enthusiasm quickly died down as we kept sprinting all over the place.

I was competing at speed at first, but I slowed down as we continued sprinting after nearly two hours and began to conserve my energy.

This made me move a little slower, but I was able to catch my breath, which came with its own disadvantages.

It took me all my concentration to not lose Sir Fredrick's tail while storing little bits of mana, which in turn caused me to deplete stamina at a very fast rate.

An hour after that, we finally reached our special training ground.

Yet, I just fell on my back the moment Sir Fredrick came to a halt, before my mind slipped into the darkness.

*Splash*

"Rise and shine sleepy head, rise and shine"

Water pours on my body, waking me up as I open my eyes to meet a pair of brown ones of Sir Fredrick.

I had slept because of how tired I was, and thankfully, Sir Fredrick allowed it.

I try getting up as I feel my body aching, especially my legs and my head.

I got up after a minute, my eyesight got clear enough to see the training ground in its entirety and...

"What the heck is this?"