A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor

Chapter 480 Finding Momentum - Part 2

The boy returned to his position, facing off against Oliver, preparing to begin the second round of sparring. Kolan intervened once more.

"This is better for him than you," he said to Oliver. "More experience. You are better spent working on your thrust. Do you like sparring?"

The quiet man had a jarring way of speaking at times, completely eliminating any connection from one statement to the next.

"If you advise that I work on my thrust, then I shall follow your wisdom, Professor," Oliver said.

The man grunted, and gave a sharp nod. "You, new partner," he tapped the other boy on the shoulder, and pointed to a student that hadn't yet found anyone to spar with him. "You, over there, space is free," he said, pointing at Oliver.

Oliver nodded, and went to the patch of frozen sand at the other end of the training square. The snow had been shovelled off, and dumped on the sides. Over the last week, it was beginning to lay good and proper on the Academy grounds, though it still didn't seem to land as thickly as it did in the Grand Forest.

He attracted a few odd glances from the others, as he worked on his spear thrust, alone. He could have stubbornly insisted that he would have preferred to spar, but to do so would have been foolish. He trusted that Kolan knew more than he did, especially about this sort of weaponry.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

To have gained such a level of competence in as many different weapons as Kolan had was a remarkable achievement, and one that likely didn't get the recognition it deserved. People flocked to the very best at one thing, after all, rather than someone who was competent at many.

He worked away at his thrust, feeling the twist of his hips as he forced through it, and punched at the air. The use of the hips was different than it was in the sword, since the balance was so different. He experimented with different positions, bringing his arms further back, and testing the power of his thrust from there.

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Along with his first Close Combat lesson, he was finally allowed a chance to experiment with the Academy's physical enhancement problem... But that was disappointing, to say the least.

The Professor had been blunt with him from the moment that he'd arrived.

"I doubt you'll find this useful, Patrick. It's meant to be a class drill, teach them how to tend to their bodies. It'll likely be too basic for you," the Professor had said, not unkindly, though Oliver had gotten the distinct sense from him that the man wasn't awfully keen on him.

Nevertheless, Oliver had been allowed the chance to see what the class was like. Running and rocks about summed it up. It was similar to the sort of training he'd done with Dominus in the Black Mountains. A long-distance run to start with, followed by sprints, then rock lifts from the floor, and then rock lifts overhead.

Oliver had at least hoped to find equipment that he'd not had access to before. When he was developing his Poison Water Style, and had worked on the style of Overwhelm as a pre-evolution of that, he'd tied bits of wood around his sword to give it extra weight. He had hoped that he would find something in the Academy, more fit for that purpose.

He'd asked the Professor, and the man had bluntly dismissed it.

"Not for third years. You'd have to buy something like that yourself," the man had said.

So it was, by the end of the day, Oliver was faced with a choice. What to do instead of the Physical Enhancement class?

Unlike with the Close Combat class, the Professor had made it clear that his focus was on the class rather than the individual. He wasn't interested in teaching Oliver anything new, since he was already ahead of the rest. He'd said that Oliver could use the class to do whatever training he wanted himself, but that had seemed more like a dismal than a gesture of goodwill.

"Indeed, I am of the same opinion as you, my Lord. You are already training by yourself come evening. It might be a waste to use that tutelage time on things that you can accomplish yourself," Verdant told him, as they once more shared tea around the table of the Advice House.