Moving puppet

1 month,24 days later

Timmy slowly completed his training for the day. As he finished sending the last bit of energy particles to his arm,Timmy threw his final punch for that day.

The punch tore through air and a sonic boom formed in the air after Timmy swung his fist.

"Well done Timmy. Somehow to already successfully reached 86%." Jago said to Timmy.

"How long will it take me to reach a 100%?" Timmy asked as he slowly clenched and unclenched his fist.

"You're still worrying about that? You've already done well improving to such an extent in such a short while so you do know that you really don't have to worry about that for now." Jago said to Timmy,the uncertainty evident in his voice.

"I improved quickly because I trained hard. If I train even harder,I'll become even more powerful. I need to become powerful." Timmy said to Jago as he stood up and wiped the sweat on his body.

"You don't have to push yourself but whatever... why should I care? It would probably take you about 2 Months,maybe 3. The last 20 percent is the slowest,and the most difficult." Jago explained to Timmy.

Timmy understood what Jago said because Timmy had already noticed that the more he trained,the more difficult it became to improve. But that didn't bother Timmy.

"I'll try and become stronger quickly." Timmy said leaving the training room.

Jago sighed when he heard Timmy's response,he knew Timmy's personality by now. Timmy was simple minded and that made him a very straightforward person. Once he set his mind to something it was near impossible to convince him otherwise.

But the situation was not so bad for Jago. In fact,it would greatly benefit him if Timmy became stronger. After all,he was going to be attached to Timmy for quite a while. All he was worried about was Timmy overworking. Jago decided to leave Timmy alone,at least for the time being.

Timmy was usually alone in the the training room since not many people liked training and those who did chose to do it on the training ground.

Timmy had learned a bit about the academy in his stay there and,he learned a lot about the mystical world. After being in class, interacting with others and reading a little bit, Timmy felt like he knew quite a but now compared to when he first came there.

Timmy walked back to his room where he took a shower before sitting at his room table with a pile of books in front of him.

Timmy began reading the content in the book he held. When Timmy read books,he tried to understand it. So if he read something he couldn't comprehend he'd analyse and break it down so that he understood it better.

Timmy wanted to learn. He wanted to make sure his foundations were solid.

Timmy read for a while before closing his books. Than he got out of his seat and walked over to the corner of the room,where a large round mat was set. That place, was his meditation spot.

Jago had suggested it, saying it would be better than sitting on the cold and hard room floor. He was right.

Timmy felt much comfortable as he sat down on the map.

Timmy began to take in atmospheric mystical energy while using it to cleanse his body. He was than dispelling the used energy and taking in new energy.

This process was called meditation. It required a high amount of focus and was extremely necessary for any reaper.

When Professor Lucas was displaying meditation to the learners,he had explained to them that all humans had a storage amount. This storage amount was how much of mystical energy they could store in their bodies.

People's rank was decided by how much mystical energy they could store. If given in percentages then it would be like this: A rank F could store 1-29%, a rank E could store 30-39%, a rank D could store 40-49%, a rank C could store 50-69%, a rank B could store 70-79% while a rank A could store 80-100%. A rank S was a whole new discussion and the students were told that as they progressed, they would learn more about it.

"I am currently at rank E, Timmy said looking at his palm as he gathered energy into it, eventually conjuring an energy ball. He compressed it and it reduced a little in size. But that was all he managed. Timmy and his classmates had been learning how to control mystical energy for a while.

Most students wouldn't get evaluated about their ranks only until the end of the academy term. But Timmy had Jago. Jago who was capable of evaluating Timmy's body had already informed Timmy of his level already.

"You can store at least 38% of mystical energy." Jago had said to him.

"What about dark energy." Timmy couldn't help asking.

Jago had than laughed at his question before answering,"68%."

"Oh,thats basically Rank C. Almost rank B too." Timmy said,not expecting that he was that powerful.

"Yeah,but your abilities in that form aren't as powerful as other rank C's" Jago said with a sad sigh.

"How strong am I in a battle? With both of my powers." Timmy asked Jago.

"You can equal a rank D veteran in a fight," Jago replied straightforwardly, not cutting corners.

"Oh. What if I fight my sword? I've improved a lot there." Timmy asked Jago.

"Then you can just beat a rank D veteran," Jago replied.

"What about with my mystical combat added too?" Timmy asked.

"You can't combine mystical combat with your weapon. At least not with the kite technique. The kite technique is made to be used with no weapons, it's made for hand-to-hand combat." Jago said with a small sigh.

"Then, how do I get stronger?" Timmy asked.

"Well, I'd suggest deciding what path you want to do now, and walking that path," Jago said to Timmy.

"How do I choose a path?" Timmy asked Jago.

"What are you currently getting stronger at?" Jago asked Timmy.

"My sword technique. I'm also going to have to learn how to use my powers well. I'm learning mystical combat arts." Timmy said to Jago.

"That's it. You currently have 3 things you can utilize. You can learn to use your sword technique with your powers as you slowly improve. The mystical combat art will help you stay physically capable in a battle and it can also help you when you run out of energy or cannot use your sword." Jago explained to Timmy.

"Oh, so I still need to get a lot stronger?" Timmy asked again.

"Well yeah. You need to gain experience. You need to learn how to use your abilities to their full extent. That is when you can start developing into your own unique fighter. At the moment, your end goal is to become an official reaper," Jago explained before asking. "correct?"

"Yes. I want to graduate and get my reaper license. Timmy said to Jago.

"Then you have a lot of time to develop. By the end of these 3 years, I can guarantee that." Jago said to Timmy.

"I guess. I'll just work as much as I can." Timmy said to Jago.

"Yeah, that's what you should do," Jago replied. Timmy simply nodded and got up so he could get ready to go to bed.

***

Timmy woke up early, as usual, the next morning and attended his classes. The day dragged on as he went through each subject until it was time to go for Combat training.

Soon the class reached the training room and found their professor waiting for them. Numerous training puppets were placed all over the area but that wasn't what caught

Timmy or any of the other student's interests. What caught their interest was the fact that each of these training puppets was etc. up within what seemed like a transparent dome.

"Welcome class and good afternoon to everyone." Professor McKinney greeted them.

"Good afternoon professor." The class replied in unison.

"Now today, we're going to be doing something a little bit more different than usual," Professor McKinney said to the class. The students expectantly gazed at the professor as he spoke. "today, you will be tackling a training puppet. It will help you gain experience in actual combat. Before you all train, I'll advise you on a few things. Keep a few meters away from the puppet. It can only fight in close combat so you'll have to keep your distance. You'll be able to use the one skill that I've taught you, which is the energy ball. You can do damage using that spell."

Professor spoke a bit more before he added, "This particular lesson will take some time so it'll take maybe a week before you complete it. Your next lesson will be mystical combat arts. If you work hard in these 2 lessons, you would have mastered your basic skills."

The students were a little hesitant about getting into a ring with a moving target when they hadn't even mastered their targeting just yet but they didn't have much of a choice anyway. Once Professor McKinney said something, it was law. That was how things worked in his class.

After giving them a few more bits of advice, Professor McKinney gazed around the class before asking a question, "are you kids ready?"

"Yes, Professor." The students replied in unison.

"Now please,if you would each choose a battle circle." Professor said waving his gloved hand to the numerous domes in the room.

Soon every one chose their own dome, Timmy had already picked his dome and had begun walking towards it. It was a random pick because all the domes and puppets were identical anyway.

"Remember,focus on keeping your distance and defending yourself. Stay cool-headed. Make smart decisions. Until you can destroy the puppets or the period ends, you're not getting out of there. All of this training is for the intergrade competition in 2 and a half months time." Professor said as he conjured a comfortable seat out of mystical energy and sat down on it.

"This is excellent training, it will definitely help you develop into a fighter," Jago said to Timmy."I just hope these puppets aren't too weak."

"We'll see, Timmy said as stood about 4 meters away from the training puppet. Timmy was standing a large space but he didn't stand to far back,he wanted to enure he had enough space to move left, right or backwards. After all, he was on defense not attack.

The puppet slowly lifted it's hand into a fighting stance as its non existent eyes sort of scanned Timmy from head to foot. It had no facial features but it seemed to be analyzing him as it looked him from top to bottom.

Then it looked up,and after a split second it made its move. It moved,it was amazingly quick. It appeared before Timmy in an instant and threw a punch. Timmy took a step back and leaned back avoiding the attack. Then he hopped to the side and quickly conjured an energy ball, throwing it towards the puppet which had already turned to face him.

The attack narrowly missed the puppet which began charging towards Timmy, releasing a kick to his side. Timmy crouched to avoid the attack and rolled to the side, trying to create distance between him and the puppet.

The puppet was already charging at him again. Timmy stood up and saw it approach him. Timmy conjured another energy ball and waved his right hand towards the approaching puppet which was a little more than arm's length away. It was too close to miss.

Timmy's attack hit the puppet, causing a glitch like hole to form when it hit. It wasn't that the puppets were weak,Timmy's attack was pretty strong.

"You've done a bit of damage." Jago Said to Timmy.

"But when will it go down." Timmy asked as he panted and created distance between him and the puppet.

"2 or 3 more attacks maybe." Jago Said.

Timmy let out a heavy breath as he stood up straight. This was goin