Becoming the new Protagonist of the Game's World

22. Training

"Of course. You can count on me. Let the first training session of...Cool Name Pending start."

'How can she say something so embarrassing so loudly?'

At that moment, instead of starting the match, Lucas, Anastasia, and I were just relieved that we were in a private arena and nobody could hear her.

But I immediately got serious as soon as I saw Anastasia starting to cast a spell. She wasn't the only one; I could feel my body becoming a little lighter as Melina cast a speed buff on me. It wasn't on the same level as Hunter speed boost, but it could at least help me match the protagonist's current speed.

I charged toward Lucas, who was already a few meters from me. But before our swords clashed, I leaped to the side to avoid his strike. There was no way I could take his attack head-on. The difference in our strength's ability was so great that if one of his attacks directly hit me, I would be on my way to the infirmary.

Lucas immediately changed his stance to defend against my counterattack. I feinted a high attack, then quickly switched to a low strike, and I was able to hit his knee. Thanks to the technique of Trickster Inverse-Grip, I was able to make Lucas fall down on one knee, but before I could follow with another attack, a dozen fireballs were directed at where I was standing.

Melina put a barrier between me and the fireballs, but I knew that it could only stop four to five fireballs. I immediately got away from Lucas, and after Melina's barrier broke, a few fireballs hit the ground around Lucas without touching him. I was captivated by Anastasia's spell accuracy.

It was enough time for Lucas to get back on his feet and, again, charge at me. I made eye contact with Melina, and after she nodded, she cast a debuff speed spell on Lucas, which made him slower, but he was still running toward me.

Anastasia was also preparing another spell, but before she could finish it, I threw my wooden short sword in her direction, which hit her directly in the stomach. Seeing that, Lucas immediately stopped with a surprise look on his face. There was no need to continue the fight since I didn't have any weapons anymore.

While Melina ran to heal Anastasia, Lucas approached me. "Why did you do that?"

I waited for Anastasia to be back on her feet before replying so that the trio could hear me.

"That's what I would have done in a real fight. But instead of my sword, I would have used a dagger. Lucas, you are really strong, but instead of always charging toward your enemy, you should be more aware of your surroundings. You were only focused on me, but Melina and Anastasia were also here. Because you forgot about them, Melina was able to hit you with a debuff spell that you could have avoided, and more importantly, you failed to protect your support."

"Now, Anastasia, you should always be able to protect yourself in case of an unexpected attack. Your damage spells are really powerful, and your accuracy is perfect, but you are still lacking in defensive spells."

Both Lucas and Anastasia became silent after hearing my advice. It's true that they were strong, but from now on, they will need to improve their team performance. Since I knew of the dangers that would come in the future, I was planning to accelerate their growth a little.

"Finally, Melina, you should know the limit of your own barrier. If I trusted your barrier and didn't step back, Anastasia spells would have hit me directly. But your buff and debuff spells were truly remarkable. Why don't you try to buff yourself before creating a barrier?"

"I tried it once, but it was really hard, so I gave up. But if you think that it will make me stronger, then I'm going to try again until I succeed this time."

After explaining to everyone their shortcomings and how to improve themselves, we decided to have another team battle. This time, Lucas and Anastasia took a few minutes to discuss a good strategy, something they didn't even do the first time.

***

'Why is he taking so much time to reply to my messages?'

I was currently on my way to the third-year dormitory building after finishing all my student council work. After classes ended, I sent some messages to my brother to know how his first day was, but he still hasn't replied yet.

He really has changed. He wasn't my cute, timid, loving brother anymore. I didn't know what happened, but he has now become more mature and responsible. I was proud to see how much he grew, but part of me was missing his daily messages and calls.

I didn't want to doubt my own brother, but the first time I saw his change, I was scared that someone else was controlling him or something worse may have happened. I immediately went to the president, whom I trusted the most after my brother, and I told her about my conflict. Thankfully, the president understood my emotions, and she assured me that something like that always happens to some students when they start the academy.

While I was in deep thought, I accidentally bumped into someone in front of me.

"I'm so sorry, I wasn't looki...."

I immediately stopped apologizing when I saw the person I bumped into. A tall, dark-skinned boy with blonde hair. Someone who always made me angry just by looking at him.

"Oh, hey, Cathy, long time no see."

I decided to ignore the lazy prince and started walking again until his next words caught my attention.

"I heard your brother did something interesting during his first day of class."

"What do you mean? Wait, how do you even know what is happening with the first-year students?"

"Didn't I tell you last time? I find this first-year batch quite interesting. And your brother, Alex Fawn, is the most interesting one."

"Are you talking about his theory? If so, then everyone already knows how smart he is, not just you."

"It's true that he is really smart, but I just learned that he was equally strong."

"Strong? What do you mean?"

"I heard he provoked the elf princess, then he had a battle against two of her subordinates at the same time, but he was still able to defeat them in only a few seconds."

I was totally confused. I already knew that my brother was smart, but I never saw him train by himself. So how was he able to defeat two people at the same time? My head started hurting again, and I decided to go back to the student council and meet the president.

***

After three hours, Lucas Anastasia Melina and I decided to finally stop our first training session. We were all completely out of breath. It was only thanks to Melina's new spell that we were able to train for so long. We had a few team battles where we even changed partners, and our progress was clearly visible from the first one.

"I have never trained so hard before. Do you boys always train like that? No wonder you share the top place."

"I agree. I have always trained until I ran out of mana, but with Melina here, our mana always gets replenished faster. I didn't even know there was a spell that could help refine the atmosphere's mana faster."

"I didn't either. If Alex hadn't explained in detail how the spell works, I would have never been able to cast something so complex. Thank you again, Aleeex."

"It was just something I read in a book a long time ago. And I don't think anyone could use this spell except you, Melina."

Of course, nobody except for Melina could use this spell since Melina herself created it in the future.

I turned my head and saw Lucas lying on his back, his eyes close and a smile on his face. I'm sure that he was thinking that this was the best training he had had since awakening. If things continue like that, it won't be long until I fully gain the protagonist's trust.