[12:50 PM]

[Waterflow Training Facility]

When I thought of having another spar with Zaiden, I never thought that I would meet him right in front of the alleyway where the training facility was located.historical

He looked rather exhausted and dirty, a sign of him just returned from raiding a dungeon. On his waist, a magic bag was strapped. Where did he get it?

The magic bag was expensive, around 5-10 million USD, depending on where you buy it. An ordinary Awakener usually needed to get that much money. Was his family secretly rich? I heard a training facility made a lot of money.

Anyway, that wasn't important. It was perfect that Zaiden was exhausted. So even if I won against him, I could say that I was lucky and he couldn't do his best because he was exhausted.

If he was somehow still able to get the upper hand while I was holding back, I could hit him a few times to at least relieve my stress before faking my defeat.

Zaiden followed me to the Waterflow Training Facility, and as usual, I knocked on the door and shouted.

"Master! I am here!"

I was expecting him to shout from inside to tell me to enter like usual. However, no shout came from inside even after a while, so I shouted again.

"Hey! Master! Your genius disciple is here!"

I could feel Zaiden's questionable gaze from behind. He muttered something like, 'He called himself a genius? It's not wrong, but..' I ignored him and tried to feel Smith's presence inside the building.

'Strange.. There is no one inside. Am I too early? I arrived 10 minutes early because Chloe had a cooking class today, and we exited the house together. Is he still out?' I thought as I touched my chin.

While I was thinking, I felt a touch on my shoulder, and I turned back, looking at the owner of the hand.

"Umm, Vincent. It seems there is no one there?" Zaiden asked with his usual kind smile.

"It seems so," I answered, looking at the door with confusion.

'Should I just enter and use the training room like usual?' I was contemplating my decision.

Would Smith get angry if I let Zaiden enter the training center?

Smith was like a grumpy old man, and he certainly wasn't kind enough to let strangers enter his place without his knowledge. However, contemplating my decision was a waste of time.

Tak tak tak–

I heard footsteps from the main street entering the alleyway where we were in, followed by a familiar voice.

"What are you doing over there, lad?" I turned around and saw Smith appear from the street while holding a brown paper bag. "Who is that other lad?" He asked, turning to Zaiden.

Zaiden, being the man that he was, smiled and answered politely.

"My name is Zaiden Archman. It's nice to meet you, sir."

Hearing Zaiden's introduction, Smith's face changed. He frowned and asked, "Archman, you said?"

I had a bad feeling about Smith's sudden change of expression. Smith had some relationship with the Archman family, and I didn't flesh it out in the novel, so I didn't know how they were related.

Were they his enemy? Or did he have a grudge against them?

Considering the Archman family had a Swordsmanship technique that could rival Smith, it wouldn't be strange if Smith had sparred with Zaiden's father or grandfather before.

But Smith quickly smirked as if his frown earlier was just my imagination.

"Are you Zayn's son?" He asked Zaiden.

"Huh? Ah! Yes. Zayn is my father."

"I see.." Smith muttered as he approached us, stopping right in front of me. "So, why is he here, lad?" He asked me seriously in a low voice.

"I invited him for a spar. We have sparred together a few times, and I thought I wanted to have a spar with him again after a week." I answered, smirking slightly.

"Hoo?" Smith sounded interested as he smiled. "So, who won?" He glanced at Zaiden.

This Master of mine was secretly a sadist, huh? It was clear that I had always won from my expression, but he asked about it anyway.

"Ha..hahaha. Unfortunately, I always lost against Vincent. But, I am confident I can defeat him today!" Zaiden exclaimed, completely oblivious of Smith's hidden meaning.

"I see." Smith nodded, "Then, why don't you show me? I will be the referee to make sure anything is safe." He said.

"Really? Thank you very much!" Zaiden answered with a big smile. He closed his eyes and didn't notice the evil smile on Smith's face that was directed at me.

'This Master of mine. He wants me to beat the shit out of Zaiden, huh? Fine, I will gladly do so.'

***

[Waterflow Training Facility – Training Area]

I changed into my training clothes and went to the training area where Smith and Zaiden were.

Smith was standing in the center of the training room, crossing his arms, and looked like a strict teacher. On the other hand, Zaiden was standing on the side of the training room with a wooden sword in his hand.

He took off his leather armor and stood proudly while looking at me when I exited the changing room.

Without saying a word, I grabbed a wooden sword from the side of the training room and stood right across from Zaiden.

As soon as I was in position, Smith turned to Zaiden and me alternatively.

"Alright. Are both sides ready?" Smith asked, stepping back to the edge of the arena.

"I am ready."

"Yeah."

Zaiden and I answered at the same time.

It reminded me of our spar back then in the Academy. The atmosphere around us was heavy.

Thump thump!

My heart beat at a fast speed, excited about being able to beat the shit out of this guy again. At the same time, I would make him get stronger.

Smith taught me some tricks, and I would certainly like to try them on my sandbag. I couldn't even pull one trick against Chloe because she was too fast and strong.

That was the reason why I tried to find Zaiden for a spar. Although I was forced to hold back to a normal human level, it would still be beneficial for me to try the trick Smith taught me.

So, I waited for Smith's signal and held my sword, facing downward.

"Then start!"

I instantly crossed the distance between Zaiden and me before swinging my sword above. I didn't do any fancy feint or try to attack him from the side because I wanted to try his capability to cope with my attack.

All this time in our spar, he only used normal Swordsmanship and didn't use any of his family's techniques. My intention today was to see how far he mastered his family's technique, so I would actively attack him.

My sword closed in at a fast speed, causing Zaiden's eyes to widen in surprise. However, he quickly stepped back with unique footwork, dodging my attack and creating a distance at the same time.

The one he used earlier must be the footwork from his family's Swordsmanship. It was the first time I saw it, but I was sure he used his family's technique.

"Oh?" I muttered as I straightened my position. "So you can move like that?" I asked curiously.

"Ahahaha, yes. I will come at you seriously, Vincent. I don't want to stay weak all the time." Zaiden answered. His nonchalant expression turned serious as he gripped his sword tightly. "Here I come."

He shot out from where he was and closed our distance instantly. He was faster than the last time we had a spar, and his movement was more precise, unlike the awkward movements he did when he was beaten by the Mutated Hobgoblin a week ago.

'He's growing, I see. However, it's not only him who got stronger.' I thought as Zaiden stopped in front of me, swinging his sword horizontally.

Swoosh!

His attack was straightforward, a simple swing with a wooden sword. However, with my enhanced vision, I could see the trajectory of his sword clearly.

I stepped back slightly to dodge his attack. It passed me by a hairsbreadth, and Zaiden was clearly surprised. My heart was beating in excitement seeing how Zaiden gradually became stronger.

If it was him a week ago, he wouldn't even be able to get close to me. His growth was truly magical; it was even faster than mine. But, it was still not enough. He had yet to use his full strength.

I didn't let this chance slip by. My sword moved toward his stomach and landed, making him grunt in pain.

"Ugh!"

He quickly took a step back before swinging his sword down. I could still see its movement, but it was faster than before.

I intercepted it with my sword, creating a loud sound inside the training room. I grinned when our swords interlocked. His swing was stronger and sharper than what I had expected. My hands trembled a little bit when I caught his attack.

Despite the difference in our Rank, his precise swing made his attack stronger.

"You got stronger, huh, bastard," I said.

"It's thanks to being an Awakener. You will also get stronger if you get Awakened as one." He answered with an excited smile. "And I am still not done yet!"

He put more strength into his sword and pushed me back as he shouted. Because I was holding back, I faked being pushed back, and my sword bounced up.

I noticed Smith making a weird expression from the corner of my vision, but I ignored him.

Zaiden didn't wait for me to recover and used the opening in my defense to attack. He thrust his sword toward my chest, trying to end the spar here and now.

However, I got the trick Smith taught me. I let myself fall to the back to dodge his attack, and it worked.

Thud!

My body hit the ground, while Zaiden's thrust passed above me, piercing the air. He looked down at me in confusion, but I grinned and sent a kick to his stomach. It landed and lifted his body a little.

Thud!

"UGH!" He grunted as he clenched his teeth to handle the pain. Despite that, he quickly recovered and created some distance between us.

I used this chance to stand up and recover my stance.

"Is that it?" I asked as I cracked my neck. "For an Awakener, you are weak."

I quickly reduced the distance between us again. My wooden sword flew toward his shoulder, but he was able to dodge it somehow, using his unique but strange footwork.

Following that, I attacked continuously, like an endless heavy waterfall. It was another trick that Smith taught me. Just attack your opponent endlessly like a waterfall and give him no room to recover.

That was the essence of Smith's Swordsmanship.

Zaiden parried and dodged my wooden swords while retreating slowly.

"How is it, Zaiden? I am not an Awakener. Are you sure you are going to keep retreating like a coward?!" I provoked him as I kept attacking.

"Ugh, no. I am trying to find this opening!"

Zaiden shouted loudly as he ducked suddenly, dodging my attack cleanly. Following this, he squeezed the handle of his wooden sword tightly and counterattacked from below.

His sword shot toward my neck. I quickly tilted my head to dodge it, but it was still able to graze my right ear and bruise it.

He was finally getting a bit serious. Although he did it unconsciously, his body was clad with Mana, letting out a pale blue glow.

'Fucking cheat protagonist.' I cursed inside my head. Even I needed three days, similar to Chloe, to be able to enhance my physique with Mana.

However, he was able to do it, albeit unconsciously, as if it was an easy thing to do.

"Tsk!" I clicked my tongue as I felt the pain in my ear. I quickly swung my sword to make him retreat, and he jumped back, landing 3 meters away.

We had a short staredown. Smith looked rather interested in the move that Zaiden pulled earlier.

Zaiden didn't do any fancy movement or a secret technique yet. It was understandable, considering Zaiden's age and some other things. But, I guessed that his movement was part of Archman Swordsmanship.

His lips curled up in a rather excited grin. He was like a beast who enjoyed the spar.

Without any agreement, we moved at the same time and met in the middle of the training room. He sent a barrage of fury slashes aimed all over my body.

I parried, dodged, and attacked Zaiden when I saw the gap between his defense. We exchanged blows for a while until I finally saw a big opening in his defense.

"Got you!"

I thrust my sword at his neck, the same place where I hit him in the sparring tournament.

He was surprised by my attack but managed to block it at the last moment with his wooden sword. But I bet he didn't expect one thing.

Snap! Tak!

Zaiden's wooden sword snapped, and my sword hit his neck cleanly. Even so, Zaiden wasn't blown away like that time.

He was just pushed back a little.

Of course, it was only like that. I only used strength compared to a normal person and used a wooden sword, while Zaiden had his physical abilities and defense increased by Mana.

It would be strange if I blew him away. It would blow my cover of not being an Awakener too.

"I won," I announced calmly, looking down as I tapped my wooden sword against his neck.

"Yeah.." Zaiden answered as he rubbed his neck where my wooden sword hit him. "I lost again."