n

n

n“Of course,” He responded with a wide smile.

nThis battle junky…

nI suppressed the urge to roll my eyes before comparing his excellent results to his previous, younger form.

nHe was exactly six feet tall, his original pale skin took a bit of a darker tone, but it was still primarily white.

nHis body was toned with one hundred forty pounds of lean muscle and I could only imagine what his body fat percentage was.

nPreviously, his black hair was a bit messy, but now it was clearly laid across his forehead in a hairstyle that I thought fit him.

nAnd that was pretty much it with him.

nWell, I guess, besides his body, something changed, and that was the spear he used.

nThe original spear that he treasured and used with pride cracked, and after seeing this, he immediately set it away in his house and began using other spears that couldn’t withstand his skill.

nHe was truly a frightening monster that was inept in the art of battle… Also, his mom and grandma were super nice when we visited his place for a bit.

nSoon, Spear Theory started, and after we finished warming up with some of the training spears made of wood, we immediately got to the duels.

nThis week was a dueling week where we did nothing but duels in order to increase our fighting sense.

nIncreasing our actual skill would come later in the month when the teacher would personally adjust some of our movements.

nApparently, he gave up trying to find somebody talented and instead switched to just increasing everybody’s skill, honing the talents in the process.

nIt was a much slower process, but for the things happening, I understood why he stopped.

n“*sigh*… When is this war going to happen?” I muttered.

n“I don’t know. Why are you asking me? Do I look as smart as you?” Cy replied to a question that was intended for nobody.

n“Well, I may not know when it will occur, but I do know why it hasn’t occurred… It’s because of this damn stalemate between each big family. One is waiting to pounce on one another after seeing somebody create a crack that leaves them vulnerable,”

n“And I guess once that happens, there will be an all-out war, right?”

n“Yeah, Amlas will most likely become a battlefield. Other big families from other cities will support some of the big families here that they’ve taken a liking to,”

n“Huh… Maybe I should just move now. I don’t want my family getting caught up in this mess,” Cy muttered, supporting his chin with his hand as he leaned forward.

nDespite how he is around others… blunt; he really cares for his family, and after seeing how lovely his mother and grandmother were, I could understand… couldn’t relate, but could understand.

n“Yeah, Findir and Aisa were thinking the same thing,” I replied.

n“… Then what are you going to do?”

nWell, maybe his personality hasn’t rotted like milk… It’s only his personality when he starts fighting… that’s when it gets ugly.

nAnd to answer Cy’s question, I just shrugged because I really had no plans.

n“Don’t you have any fami-… never mind… but what about Arthur and that woman who took care of you in that boarding school?”

n“Arthur can take care of himself and that woman….”

nI glanced at Cy for a few seconds before continuing with my sentence.

n“I completely forgot she was a thing,”

nI was completely serious, and Cy understood that as he squinted his eyes at me for a few seconds.

n“This is why tons of people don’t like you. It’s hard to understand when you’re being genuine or just heartless….”

nIn my eyes, there’s not much of a difference between the two.

nGenuinity and heartlessness are kind of the same page on a book, but when you flip that page, you see the other.

n“The correct way would be genuine or sarcastic,” I replied.

n“Yeah, but you’re never sarcastic,” He chuckled a bit before sighing deeply.

n“What?”

n“Well, I guess the only people who can understand when you’re being genuine or heartless are probably, myself, Aisa… and definitely Findir,”

n“Hm… Well, it’s not like I’m planning on making any more friends right now. I’m planning on just absorbing as much information from this damn school as possible then getting out of Amlas before the war breaks out,”

n“Oh yeah, you have the test for the second layer of the library,”

n“Yep…”

nOur conversation didn’t continue much longer as I was soon up to spar, and it was against somebody who was about the same skill level as me.

n“Ready! Start!” The teacher announced, and I took a wide stance.

nThis is annoying…

nThe boy in front of me with long white hair was already charging towards me with an expressionless face.

nFwoosh

nI swung my spear at the side of his head, but he quickly ducked.

nBam

nBut it was a bait that he immediately fell for.

nHe charged in, and the momentum was too quick for him to stop, so baiting him into this move wasn’t that hard… but it felt a bit too easy.

nTup

nHe landed on his back, adjusting his bruised jaw, but before he could get up, I kicked away his dropped spear and pointed the blade of my spear towards his neck.

n“Alright! Winner: Orion! Loser: Paul!”

nAs a sign of respect, I helped him up and muttered a few words.

n“Why’d you do that?”

n“I’ve been practicing something, but I forgot we couldn’t use skills until the momentum you hit my chin….” He chuckled.

nI slightly smiled as I returned to Cy.

n“Oh wow, lucky win,” He laughed before patting me on the back.

nThen, it was his turn, and I carefully watched his match just in case he was about to kill the poor girl who was ranked three in our class.

n“Start!” The teacher announced, and Cy’s face warped into a sadistic smile.

nWell, better get ready to jump in and save this girl’s future.

n