Chapter 61. Lesson

“Ken. You should get up now if you don’t want to be late for your first lesson.” A soft voice whispered into Ken’s ear.

As the young man opened his eyes, he stared into the bright orange eyes of the fox girl he had just met the day before.

“Ugh.. How did this happen? Man this sucks.” Ken complained with a sigh as he got out of bed, trying to get ready to start his month long training.

“It happened after you complained about not having a warm body to snuggle with for an entire month. I know I don’t have any experience but am I that bad? You are hurting my self-esteem.” Rena replied as she got dressed along with Ken.

“Oh. Sorry I was talking to myself. I am not trying to pretend and be dumb or anything. Obviously I remember exactly what happened and why you ended up in my bed. It sucks not because of you, it sucks because I couldn’t control my urges… It’s just the first day! I am here to train and get stronger but nope! Just couldn’t resist when a cute girl flirts with me, how am I supposed to ever focus and become the top ranked hero? Aren’t you supposed to go for Fernard anyways…” Ken complained as the pair headed for the dining hall.

“I told you he isn’t my type. Besides, he isn’t even interested in any of the girls. All he cares about is training and getting stronger. No one’s even coming close to get him interested so it’s not even worth my time trying to go for him. At least you are easy to read and not single minded on just training and getting stronger.” Rena replied as the pair grabbed some breakfast and greeted Fernard who was already eating his meal.

“Good morning Ken. I hope you had a good night of rest. My father was excited last night and wanted to put you to the limit to see just how far he can push someone as talented as you in a single month.” Fernard said as he greeted the pair.

“He was busy busy last night.” Rena replied as Ken gave her a dirty look.

“I am good and ready to get the training started! I never let what happens behind closed doors affect my training.” Ken replied as girls near their table whispered amongst each other.

Not asking for the details, Fernard simply chatted with the pair while they finished their breakfast before the trio headed for the training facility to meet up with professor Aethelwulf.

“Are you going to be following me around for the entire month?” Ken asked as Rena showed no signs of wanting to leave the pair alone.

“Of course. I am good with my studies so obviously keeping an eye out on you so my potential rivals don’t get to make a move is the most important thing for now. It’s not like you have any self-control to reject a girl’s advances.”

“HEY! I have standards! You just happen to meet them so it’s not me, you just happen to be a cute one. I didn’t know I would be that popular either. Are you sure you will have many competitions?” Ken replied defensive, rejecting her notion that he would sleep with just anyone.

“Are you joking or you honestly think you won’t be popular? My father was ready to let you have a daughter simply from making it to Dragonspire. For you to get to the top of your class and have so many princesses and beautiful girls after you. Obviously you will be popular for anyone who’s trying to bag themself a potential famous and rich husband.” Rena replied matter of factly.

“I guess that makes sense. I am pretty freaking awesome aren’t I. I guess Genesis and Alice are probably the reason why no girls approach me while I am in Dragonspire.” Ken pondered at the facts Rena just provided him.

“As long as you train hard and don’t end up dead right? The whole reason why you are here?” Rena reminded him as Fernard laughed at the pair, impressed how close they had gotten in just a single day.

“Quickly boys! You two are the stars of this show! Don’t make everyone else wait.” The high pitched voice from the small man said impatiently as Ken and Fernard quickly gathered at the center of the training facility amongst a huge crowd of eager students ready for the lesson to start so they could see the human in action.

“Alright class. Since we will have a special guest for the next month. I have designed a special training program just for him since he doesn’t have to worry about other classes and just needs to focus on his training. While most of you do not have the luxury to train all day, you can take the lesson and apply it when you return home for the holidays or just in your free time.” Fern said to the class as the students listened closely to every word, much different compared to how most of the students like Genesis would act at Dragonspire.

“As most of my students already know, I believe the reason why it’s so hard to be a good teacher is due to everyone’s natural limits. Someone like Nolan could come and try to teach the class how to get faster but none of you would be able to learn anything because he is simply the fastest person alive and the fact he is fast is due to his natural born talent.

The biggest flaw I have seen from my visits to Dragonspire is that they try to hire the strongest. Now my boy, based on what I just said, can you tell me why that’s not the best idea?” Fern asked while tossing the question to Ken.

“Mmm, I guess from personal experience. Since all of the professors at Dragonspire are at holy level in the subject they are teaching, if they just happened to be more talented like Nolan in your example than I guess their way of teaching might not resonate with everyone?” Ken replied.

“YES YES YES!” Professor Aethelwulf squealed excitedly.

“That is exactly correct! Some people have talent, some people have potential. It’s very rare for someone to have both talent and potential and with the way Dragonspire operates, a lot of potential is wasted because some kids are not talented enough to grasp what the professor is trying to teach!

Obviously I love my son wholeheartedly and this is not meant as a knock but he is not that talented. If he had chosen to attend Dragonspire after getting selected instead of staying here and trained under my guidance, I believe he would have turned out to be like that Vincent boy who got to divine level around the same time as my son but is now stuck while my boy has reached holy level on all 3 types of physical enhancement.” Fern announced proudly as most of the students looked at Fernard with admiration while the giant grizzly beastman blushed from the attention.

“So how should Dragonspire go about fixing that?” Ken asked, interested in hearing what the professor had to say.

“That’s the issue Dragonspire is facing and why they tried to recruit me! How do you maximize someone’s potential? Dragonspire’s selection is able to very accurately determine someone’s max potential but how do you allow them to reach it?

With less than 10% of their students ever reaching holy level and they pretty much having the monopoly on those that have the potential, the headmistress also wants more students to reach their max potential but it’s just not likely with the current environment and structure at Dragonspire.” Fern replied.

“Yeah. I can see that. The environment there is rather toxic and even some of the most talented are wasting it away because their goal does not align with learning or getting stronger.” Ken replied thinking about Genesis as the professor nodded profusely in agreement.

“I couldn’t stand it when I visited! Talented kids wasting their potential away in favor of meaningless mingling! Kids with high potential but lacked talent not getting the guidance they needed! The whole thing was a mess!” Fern complained as the students began to fidgety waiting for him to start their lesson.

“As someone who barely had the potential to reach divine level and none of the talent. It was a struggle for me to get to where I am and over the years of trial and error, I have developed a system to allow students without the talent to reach their max potential.” Professor Aethelwulf said excitedly.

“Wait! Yvette said the same to me! If you are good at helping those without the talent to reach their max potential then you won’t be able to do much for me right?” Ken asked, wondering if his trip here was a dud and all he ended up with is another headache from getting involved with another girl.

“Ah Yvetta. She is definitely a more responsible hero than our Nolan when it comes to training kids for the future. As far as your talent goes. Whether you are talented or a genius, It’s not something we will know for sure until you reach divine level.

Most of the super talented will hit a wall when they reach divine level and it takes hardwork and dedication or a genius to get over that hump. What I will teach you is to think outside of the box, to broaden your horizon so if you ever do get stuck, you have different tools in your arsenal to try and resolve the issue. Besides, I doubt you will find a better sparring partner than my son to test things out.” Professor Aethelwulf replied, instantly relieving any doubt Ken had about the exchange program.

After going over the basics and providing Ken a very detailed and specific training regiment, Ken spent the rest of the day training, sparring and getting advice from the professor on different ways he could improve while other students came and went throughout the day for their own lessons.

“So Fernard, are you no longer taking written classes?” Ken asked as the trio took a much needed dinner break after barely getting any rest the entire day.

“Correct. I am not good at studying at all so once I reached advanced level on all the basic subjects, I have been dedicating my entire time on training on my physical enhancement with some minor training on my elemental side as I am not all that versed in that area either.” Fernard answered as the trio enjoyed their dinner after an exhausting day training.

“So you are pretty much like a stronger version of my Lovetta in terms of areas of strength. It seems like most beastman are more gifted in physical enhancement?” Ken commented, noticing a pattern with the heroes and beastman in general from the likes of Lovetta and her family to Fernard.

“In general, beastman and lizardman are naturally more likely to be physically gifted while elf and merman are naturally more likely to be elementally gifted. You humans seem to have no preference which is why I think humans were the original race and not elf.” Rena decided to join into the conversation after spending the day training with the pair.

“Yea, I don’t care about the original race debate that some elves and humans seem to think is the most important subject ever. I much prefer how things are now. I have met so many interesting people from all types of races. How boring would it be if everyone was a human or elf.” Ken replied.

“As long as she is a cute girl, you could care less about their race right?” Rena commented, after hearing Ken’s stance on the topical.

“Exactly! Who cares if she is an elf or beastman or lizardman or merman or human or whatever else!” Ken answered in total agreement to the statement.

“I don’t know. I would have preferred if you had a fluffy tail and maybe some cute tiger ears. But beggars can’t be too picky.” Rena replied while examining Ken closely.

“Better watch it, Foxy. If you make me mad, you won’t ever see me again when my month here is up.” Ken warned jokingly.

“I know where you live, you doofus. You didn’t think I came into this without any plan did you? If you try to just hit and run, I will go cry to your family and tell them the sob story of how terrible you are.” Rena replied.

After dinner, the trio chatted with some of the other students before they headed back to the training facility where Fernard’s father got the pair to spar late into the night before finally calling it a day.

“Man, that little old man sure goes hard. Do you train this hard everyday or is he going extra hard because I am here?” Ken asked as the trio walked about the now empty academy ground dimmed lit by light artifacts.

“He is very tough on those he deemed to have potential and he absolutely hates it when someone ends up wasting it. I think that was the biggest reason he decided to turn down the offer to Dragonspire.” Fernard answered as the trio reached the dorm and went their separate ways after wishing each other a good night.

“I am exhausted! I hope Professor Aethelwulf doesn't expect me to train this hard every single day for a entire month!” Ken complained as he slumped into bed.

“Go take a shower before you get on the bed!” Rena complained as she pulled Ken off the bed and into the bathroom and forced him to take a shower before the pair finally headed for bed.

“Weren’t you exhausted from a long day?” Rena questioned as Ken was ready to get it on.

“Exactly! Thankfully you decided to make my evenings bearable. Could you imagine spending an entire day training and all exhausted and having to sleep alone? I guess I will never have the dedication to reach the top. Seems like you bet on the wrong man foxy.” Ken joked.

“I mean it was either bet on a guy who’s got no interest in girls or hope your talent is greater than your lust.”

“Hey! To be fair, I was planning on spending the month focused on nothing except my training but you literally threw yourself on me!”

“Early bird gets the worm. I knew I had to act fast if I wanted you since I had the advantage over the rest. We will see if it’s a mistake betting on you and you end up getting murdered by the Yelwraek king or if I hit the jackpot and will one day get to live a relaxed life as the wife of a hero.”

“One of the wives! I am not settling for just having a single wife if I can get out of this mess I’m in.” Ken replied as the pair chatted and made love late into the night even after a full day of exhausting training.