Chapter 62. Speed

“You know Rena. I have been thinking. Could it be possible that girls don’t just want me because they like me? There was that succubus lady who only slept with me because she thought she could brainwash me and you just want me to provide you with a comfy life right?” Ken asked as the pair laid in bed on Ken’s last day in Ostrium.

“You are so smart on some stuff yet so dumb at the same time! Of course everyone is out for themselves. You think your wolf girl started hanging out with you because she thinks you are cute or something? She was looking for someone to protect her because she is shy. The vampire one is obviously just using you as a blood bank.

I could go on and on but my point is that none of the girls got interested in you because you are some prince charming or whatever else. You are attracted to their looks because you are a typical guy, they find you bearable with something that could benefit them and that’s that. Sure, maybe over time, their priority might change and they might begin to fall in love with you but you should definitely change your mindset.” Rena replied as the pair slowly got up and ready to start Ken’s final day of lesson.

“Just bearable? Sheesh, you are one harsh foxy. Can’t a girl love me for who I am? like my charming smile or personality?” Ken asked in a pleading tone.

“I am just telling you the truth Ken. You are too naive. Everyone’s out here with their own agenda and you should really think why someone is behaving the way they are before you just commit.

I am a princess no matter how small our kingdom is and I won’t ever marry some guy who’s going to make me work and live in a shack no matter how handsome or great his personality is. This is real life Ken. Not some fantasy where girls are all in love with you because they are pure of heart and fall for you because you are a nice person or some crazy handsome guy.

Sure, I am only able to bag you because you are just a dumb boy who sees nothing but the pretty face but not everyone will be honest and upfront with you with their intentions.” Rena answered as the pair headed for the dining hall to meet up with Fernard.

“Well, I at least know all of my girls love me without any doubt! I don’t care why they decided to be with me but I am sure every one of them plus you is in love with me.” Ken proclaimed confidently.

“Whatever you believe that will make you happy, Ken. All I will say is that I believe the best relationships are the ones where both parties benefit equally so just make sure you don’t end up dead and I ended up letting you sleep with me for an entire month and end up with nothing.” Rena replied as the pair greeted Fernard as the trio ate their breakfast.

“Hey Fernard. Can you ask someone to book a nice restaurant for us tonight? I want to invite your father and whoever else you all want to have a nice dinner for treating me so well for an entire month.” Ken asked as they headed towards the training facility with a large group of students.

“I sure will! Your attendance has been great too! My father is extremely happy that he gets to train and teach someone as talented as you are and sparring with you is helping me grow as well.” Fernard answered happily as the pair had grown to become very good friends over the month long daily training sessions.

“You are too humble, Fernard. You are at holy level! I am not even near divine yet. I know you are trying to be nice but I am nowhere near the level to be able to compete against you.” Ken replied, knowing the limit of his abilities compared to the grizzly beastman.

“That is simply not true. I am pure physical, when you combine your elemental magic for those combo hits, you know your offense power is almost on par with the likes of me who’s specialized in only the physical side.” Fernard replied.

“When you two are done stroking each other’s ego, it looks like Nolan will be here for the last session.” Rena added, getting tired of the pair complementing each other while ignoring her.

Like she said, one of the top 10 heroes, the speedstar Nolan Bileth the cheetah beastman was already at the training facility with a group of admiring students surrounding the hero just happy to be in the presence of someone this great.

In the month that Ken had spent here in Ostrium, Nolan had shown up to the campus once previously and it was a short stay where Ken was barely able to chat with him much less train with the hero.

From their single meeting where Nolan didn’t even stay long enough to show off any of his skills and the way Fernard and professor Aethelwulf spoke about him, Ken was under the impression that this hero was a rather self-centered person and mostly just focuses on his own training while rarely showing up to the academy for this required duty to the kingdom much unlike how Yvette behaved while Ken was in Feirvenn.

“What do you mean by last session Rena? I know I’m leaving tomorrow morning but are you guys not having more training classes?” Ken wondered as the trio walked through the large crowd towards Nolan.

“We are having our midterm tomorrow and then we will be off for two months. Unlike you privileged ones at Dragonspire, we don’t get an academy provided teleportation artifact to get back home in a blink of an eye and some of the students take weeks just to get home. For us, it’s 4 months of school, 2 months off so I will be going back home tomorrow after I take my exams.” Rena answered.

“Will you do alright? you haven’t done any school work at all this entire month. I guess we do have the extra week for the tournament at Dragonspire but I wish we also get to have more weeks off so I can travel more and visit more places.” Ken commented as he absorbed the new information about how other academies around the world operated.

“We have a similar structure as Dragonspire but obviously with a lower standard. We have four years to pass advanced level to remain enrolled and I am already at advanced level and only in my third year so I am more than good.” Rena replied proudly while swatting away Ken’s hand as he tried to pet her head to congratulate the fox beastman.

“Ken! Fernard! Come quickly boys. Nolan will be sparring with students for the next hour only so you two hurry up and warm up.” Professor Aethelwulf squealed as he waved the pair over.

As hopefully students got in line wanting to get a go at a top hero, Ken and Fernard started their warm up as Nolan easily one tapped each and every student in line to test their skills without any efforts.

“Doesn’t seem like it’s any sort of training to me when he is just one hit beating everyone with his speed.” Ken observed as he watched the fights unimpressed.

“Yeah. Nolan only shows up because he is paid by the kingdom and part of his duty is to come and help with the students. If that wasn’t part of his job, I doubt he would ever show up. My father is not a fan of his attitude but no one can deny his talent or how fast he is.” Fernarnd answered as the pair got ready and got in line to face Nolan.

While the line was long as every student wanted a chance to have combat training versus one of the top heroes, none of the students could last a single hit as the queue moved quickly and soon it was almost Fernard’s turn as the students all waited in anticipation.

“Since you are also at holy level, you will be able to match up well right?” Ken asked as the line continued to move along.

“No, Sadly I am still no match against him. He is just too fast for me to react and I can’t deal with his speed at all.” Fernard replied as he got onto the arena to face off against Nolan.

Finally able to see the hero fighting against someone noteworthy, the entire facility got quiet as Fernard got ready.

BAM. The pair clashed with only Ken and professor Aethelwulf able to anticipate the movement while the rest could only react after the pair had already clashed.

Unlike the boy who was once frustrated when he couldn’t even see Nolan’s movements at reduced speed, with his training and experience, Ken was able to follow the blur of a man as Nolan dashed around at ease with speed faster than most could ever follow.

Like Fernard predicted, while he could no doubt match Nolan in terms of power, the cheetah beastman danced around effortlessly too fast for Fernard to use his strengthen and after a few minutes, professor Aethelwulf told the pair to stop so more people would gets a chance to spar with the hero.

“Double boost.” Ken whispered to himself the moment he got on stage to face off against the fastest man in the entire world.

While he is still far from being able to double boost and go full out, with his training with Boris, working on his body and going over the techniques and thinking outside of the box with the help of professor Aethelwulf, Ken is now able to selectively boost to reach levels even above double boost.

With his senses heightened and the entire world slowed down to a crawl. Suddenly from the corner of his eye, the shadow of Nolan’s claw caused Ken’s body to reflectively raise his broadsword just in time for sparks to fly as he successfully blocked the slash from Nolan.

“Impressive! To think someone this young could block my attack on the first try. No wonder all the cute girls are flocking over you.” Nolan commented as he continued the barrage as Ken started to block the hits better and better as his body began to get used to the speed of the cheetah beastman.

Just when Ken started to think that he is in a position to counterattack, Nolan disappeared from his view and with a claw at his throat, Ken begrudgingly surrendered and left the stage disappointed.

“I can’t believe that wasn’t his max speed! His base speed couldn’t have been normal! Is he part dragoon or another special race?” Ken complained as he joined Fernard and the professor as more students got one shotted one after another.

“Who’s the fastest person you have fought previous to Nolan and how are they different, my boy?” Professor Aethelwulf asked.

“Not entirely sure who is faster but Lovetta’s father is at holy level with top tier boost while Seraphina’s father is also at holy level with his 5 times natural advantage and teleportation magic. Both are extremely fast but speed is not their main weapon so while I was definitely weaker when I fought them, I could at least track them. But Nolan just disappeared from my vision and I had no clue how he could be this fast.” Ken complained.

“Have you heard about awakening before?” The professor inquired.

“I think so! It must have been years. But I remember asking Clare why her uncle Zishell was so strong and she said he told her that he was awakened but we never actually got an answer to what that meant.” Ken answered, remembering the conversation he has had with Clare from years ago.

“As far as I understand. Even amongst the top ten, only Nolan and Zishell have awakened a part of their power. For Nolan, it’s obviously his speed while Zishell seemed to have awakened his water elemental magic. Unfortunately I don’t understand how it works but you should ask Nolan yourself since it’s not a chance you will get often.” Professor Aethelwulf offered as Nolan wrapped up the sparring without actually teaching any of the students anything useful as he overpowered all of them without breaking a sweat.

“Hey Mr. Bileth, can you tell me what it means to be awakened?” Ken asked after Nolan called it a session and walked towards the professor as those that didn’t get to spar looked on in disappointment.

“Drop the honorifics, Nolan is fine. Can’t really explain it myself. All I can tell you is that the way I awoke was from focusing all my training on my speed and one day, things just clicked and it was different ever since. Not sure how else to explain it but one day, things just felt right and my base speed became on par with those of the special birdman tribes who are born with base speed that’s ten times higher than a normal person. It’s different from how Zishell did it though. He’s always been searching for something ever since he awoke his water element but whatever he was searching for, obviously it’s not something he shared with the rest of us.” Nolan replied.

“Birdman tribe? I met some a while ago. Didn’t know they were the race that are the speed specialists. I guess I spent most of my time training and that Angelica wasn’t the friendliest.” Ken commented as he thought back to the time he spent on Seraphina’s home island.

“So let me get this straight. You are probably one of the fastest people at base level based on talent and potential. Then one day, you somehow ‘awoke’ and your base level got a 10 time boost? Well, no wonder you are the fastest person in the world. I guess once I reach holy level, figuring out how to awaken will be the next step.” Ken commented as he made mental notes of everything he still had to learn.

“Quite a confident boy aren’t you to believe you will for sure reach holy level when most fizzles out around divine.” Nolan commented, showing more interest in Ken since their quick spar.

“It’s not confidence Nolan. It’s the fact that I need to reach the top 10 if I don’t want the king of Yelwraek trying to assassinate me the moment I am out of the spotlight.” Ken replied as the hero laughed.

“Good luck!” Nolan replied casually as he waved to the students and left the training facility.

“That Nolan. Barely puts in any effort to train the young!” Professor Aethelwulf complained as he gathered the students to go over what just took place and how they could use this brief experience with the hero to improve their own abilities.

After a day of hard training and sparring, Ken, Rena, Fernard and the professor along with a group of the top students that also helped sparring with Ken over the month headed into the city to enjoy the goodbye meal Ken had asked Fernard to help him get set up.

Before they even walked inside, the wonderful aroma from within signified to Ken that they were in for a treat. After the group walked inside, they were greeted by the staff and led to the feast that was already in the making spread out on a few large wooden tables that were pushed together to make enough room for all the wonderful food.

“Are you sure you can pay for all this? I won’t lend you any money.” Rena whispered to Ken after seeing the table full of food.

“You live in my room! You know I don’t have much money on me. Fernard will be covering the tab. I will pay him back when he comes to Dragonspire for the tournament.” Ken answered casually as the group started chatting happily while destroying the table full of delicious food.

“What a nice guy to trust you enough to cover for all this food. Too bad he has no interest in girls or I'd rather go for him than having to hope you are trustworthy enough to not just pretend I’m a stranger after you leave tomorrow.” Rena whispered so only Ken could hear her with the restaurant filled with laughter and loud chatting.

“Fernard really is a nice, standup and strong guy. Any girl who ends up catching his eye will definitely be one lucky girl. Too bad he isn’t into foxy girls like I am.” Ken whispered back as Rena jabbed him in the ribs in retaliation.

“Well everyone. Thank you so much for helping me train for the past month. I am definitely one step closer to reaching divine level after this month of training with all of you! The lessons I have learned are definitely going to be put to use on my journey to reach holy level as well. If any of you visits Dragonspire or Miodod, don’t be a stranger and come say hi, I will definitely treat you to a nice meal!” Ken told the group as the night got late and the chatting slowed.

“Fernard, Professor Aethelwulf, thank you so much for everything you have done for me in the last month. I have definitely learned greatly from the both of you and I look forward to meeting you again at the tournament!” Ken said sincerely as the group got back to the academy after the rest of the students went their separate ways.

“Come on boy. I am a teacher! I want the next generation to succeed! You are without a doubt the most talented student I have ever taught. While my son’s potential might be just as high, your ability to learn and adopt is without a doubt impressive. I have no doubt you will reach divine level by the end of the year and if you can put my teachings to practice, I don’t foresee you having any issue reaching holy level within the next 4-5 years!” Professor Aethelwulf commented in his high pitched voice as he patted Ken on the arm, too short to reach the young man’s shoulder.

“4-5 years! I don’t think I will be alive for that long! If I reach divine by the end of this year, couldn’t I reach holy in the year after?” Ken complained, not liking the time trajectory the professor provided.

“If you really have the talent to reach holy level from zero in just five years. You might as well be the greatest genius to ever be born. Even the likes of Zishell and Julius took 6 years of academy and they were both from noble families that had them training the basics since birth. Be patient with your training, work on your fundamentals and I have no doubt you will eventually reach holy level and have hundreds of kingdoms fighting over each other to hire you. ”

“No one will hire me knowing they are making an enemy out of the Yelwraek kingdom! I guess I will need to face the king eventually and do as many exchanges and learn from as many as I can and hope to become this greatest talent ever.” Ken replied with a sigh as the group reached the student dorm.

“Well, I know you all will be busy tomorrow for the midterm exams so I will be saying my farewell right now. Fernard, I hope I get good news from you during the tournament on that request and I will wish you the best of luck getting prepared and maybe overtake one of the top ten spot.” Ken said to the father and son pair.

“I will make sure to get your request submitted and pushed through. I have no doubt you will hear good news from me in a month. Training with someone as talented as you has definitely helped me improve as well and I look forward to the day when you will reach the pinnacle.” Fernard replied as the giant gave Ken a bone crushing hug and the two groups parted ways.