Destroyer of Ice and Fire

"Chris, you woke up so early again again to train in Thinker's Stone Forest? You're not taking a breather yet after fighting into the national tournament?"

When the marble white color of dawn climbed over the eastern horizon, on a road not far away from the Thinker's Stone Forest, Chris was chatting with some students who woke up early to train.

"I can't relax. Our goal is to become champions. There's simply no telling how strong are the opponents we're going to meet in the future."

Before, if she'd said these words when they greeted her, these Holy Dawn Academy students would certainly have mumbled to themselves, really an amazingly crazy girl, she's still spouting this hopeless nonsense.

But now, watching the figure of Chris' back running into Thinker's Stone Forest, these Holy Dawn Students who greeted her had an entirely different frame of mind. "Pursuing her dream so staunchly, she may well dominate the entire kingdom one day, who knows."

And at this time, running into Thinker's Stone Forest, Chris' frame of mind was also entirely different from before.

She felt that the first strands of early morning sunlight were brighter than usual, the air she breathed fresher than usual, her condition better than before.

Because for her dream, the dawn of a new era finally emerged. It wasn't a purely empty dream anymore.

"Ayrin, you guys must surely have started training as if your lives depended on it as well, right? When I am together with your guys, every day's hard training, every match, seem to have become happy and joyous."

She breathed in deeply. The corner of her mouth bent into a pretty curve.

After the end of the match against Iron Forest Academy, after obtaining the qualification to participate in the great national tournament, the entire Holy Dawn Academy also imperceptibly went through great changes.

Before, at such an early time in the morning, there weren't many Holy Dawn students who came out to train on their own volition. But now, those who woke up early to train were clearly many times more than before.

Many people already changed their ways of thinking. They wanted to join the battlemaster department.

To the point that people's voices in usual times were much louder, much more vigorous.

…

"I wonder what kind of special training Belo, Moss, and the others are undergoing now."

Ayrin stood alone in the primitive woods of Holy Dawn Academy's secret training field. He watched the sky lit up gradually, such a thought popping in his mind despite himself.

For him, seeing the teammates at his sides progress was also something fun and exciting.

"What, you're here much earlier than the agreed time." Carter's voice came to his ears.

"It can't be helped." Ayrin smiled in embarrassment as Carter flashed not far away in front of him. He scratched his head. "The match against Ferguillo and the others has been over for a few days already, but as soon as I think about entering the nationals, I'm a little excited and can't sleep."

"You can't sleep as soon as you think of these stronger opponents?" Carter smiled. "It seems you have even more of a motivation to train hard."

"That's right, first I have to make up the difference between me and people like Ferguillo." Ayrin nodded firmly. "Teacher, what special training do you have in store for me this time?"

Carter looked at Ayrin, brimming with expectation. He said in an earnest voice, "I'm going to make you faster, faster than anyone anticipates."

Ayrin said, "I'm not training my strength anymore?"

"The only way to obtain easy wins over your opponents is to always be unexpected," Carter said. "This is the meaning to arcane masters hiding the secrets of their bloodlines and arcane skills. Ayrin, your real strongest point is your ability to learn and progress. As long as you can hide these, you can fool your opponents' judgments. And in a battle between arcane masters, a single mistake can determine victory and defeat."

"I understand now." Slow on the uptake, Ayrin finally understood Carter's intention. "When everyone thinks that my superiority comes from my strong explosiveness, while my weakness lies in my slow speed, I actually became even faster than them already. Maybe I'll defeat them directly merely because of this."

"You're merely a beginner arcane master. There are countless ways to shape you, because each way allows you to possess astounding ability in a certain area. After that, how much of a surprise you'll give your opponents will depend on what kind of level you can reach during your specialized training in these areas." Carter glanced at Ayrin. "Come, follow me!"

"Ok!"

Without the slightest nonsense, Ayrin quickly dashed and leaped behind Carter.

Carter obviously didn't go at full speed. He merely led the way.

He suddenly stopped only a dozen minutes later.

Dense woods stood in front of them, emitting an eerie cold luster.

"This is?"

Halting abruptly, Ayrin gasped in cold air.

An especially bizarre forest lay in front of him. All the trees were like black steel, without any leaves, long thorns growing all over the trunks. The shortest thorns were already half a meter long, while the the thinnest ones were still thick as a baby's finger.

Light cold enough to make someone shiver in fear flashed at the pointy ends of these long thorns. They seemed extremely hard, even just thinking about them.

"These are iron thorn trees. Before the era of the War of the Dragons, some elven kingdoms grew these trees in great quantities in the surroundings of the forests where they lived, creating a natural protective screen. These iron thorn trees are about as hard as ordinary black steel. Even if an army holding sharp weapons were to slash and chop its way inside, it's hard to tell how much time it would need before hacking a road through," Carter introduced slowly. "That said, any arcane master of the eleven kingdoms back then could travel through these woods very nimbly, as if they didn't suffer from the slightest restriction, and do battle. Pure speed comes from explosiveness, but in a fight, no one will compete with you in a pure straight-lined dash. Ayrin, your explosiveness is very strong right now, but your body coordination and your agility aren't sufficient yet. The so-called speed is an omni-directional speed, where the movements of every part of the body, every flash movement, reach a stunning speed."

"Some people rely on arcane skills to achieve high-speed mobility. But my requirement for you is somewhat higher. Arcane skills and the body proper, you can't neglect any of them.

"If you want to become especially swift, there is only a single recipe for success, it's to train your body's litheness. With the same height and weight, some people look very heavy when they move, but some people seem especially deft. This is related to how skillful they are at exerting their strength. When you punch, you only need to release all of your strength, this is relatively simple in comparison. But the swiftness I'm talking about, sometimes you need to erupt with all your strength, and sometimes you have to restrain part of your strength. You have to give off the impression you're flashing, not charging and halting in a hurry. You can't be consuming your strength to pull yourself to a stop."

"Through this training, first start to feel your body seemingly become lighter. When you can rush through these woods at full speed, I'll choose for you the most suitable arcane skill. I hope that when you climb on the stage of the national tournament and face your first opponent in the nationals, you can be so fast your opponent can't even see you clearly."

After saying these, Carter suddenly set off.

Ayrin's breath caught in this instant.

Carter's body directly became a blue flowing shadow, instantly crossing the patch of woods seemingly crisscrossed with sharp thorns, where no passageway one could go through seemed to exist.

"So fast!"

"He can achieve this step without even using an arcane skill. So teacher Carter turns out to be really amazing. So fast and nimble… I'd definitely take several punches before even seeing him clearly if I fought against him."

A thick layer of sweat covered Ayrin's hands. His eyes glittered with admiration.

"At first, you just need to sidestep away from these thorns and not let them prick you, because your movements will definitely slow down if they pricked you. Through this exercise, your body will naturally become more and more nimble," Carter said from far away, at the other end of the woods.

If it were someone else, they would certainly feel their heart go numb seeing these fearsome thorns in front of them, imagining how painful it would be to be stabbed by these thorns. But Aryin immediately started to shout, surging with enthusiasm,"Alright! Should I begin right now?"

"You're really a guy who doesn't know what fear means… And the regenerative ability of your body is also better than ordinary people. You can train longer in this place, you're really the best candidate for this exercise."

"Alright!"

Ayrin took a deep breath in, rubbed his face, then charged forward without the slightest hesitation!

…

"Come train."

"Not training."

"Why not?"

"Because I'm so outstanding in every aspect, I don't need any further training. Also, who the hell are you, why do I feel like you're more and more familiar. I always have this very strange feeling."

In the forest of giant trees outside the Ivy residence district, Stingham held a cushion and reclined very comfortably on a hammock. He looked at the elite teacher Rui with his ordinary features and his short, slightly curled hair, some suspicion in his eyes.

"You're very outstanding in every area?" Rui said, without batting an eye, "Are you stronger than Ferguillo in every area?"

Stingham froze slightly, but immediately said in a very narcissistic tone, "Even if I'm a tad bit worse, with my lady-killer self's natural talents, I'd progress even if I slept in every single day. That's why I don't need training."

"If you can catch her, then she'll be your girlfriend." Seeing his lazy appearance that just seemed to be begging for a spanking, Rui still didn't get angry. He just mildly said a few words, stretched his finger and pointed not far away beside him.

"Teacher Ciaran?"

Stingham was struck dumb all of a sudden. He saw that the one standing on tree branch nearby, wrapped in a red scarf, was precisely Ciaran.

"Love between teacher and student… Beautiful teacher, if I had such a beautiful teacher as my girlfriend, my handsomeness would simply be dead awesome!" After staring blankly, he suddenly started getting excited, and immediately leaped down from the hammock.

"You're called teacher Rui right? Teacher Rui, are you talking seriously?"

"Of course I'm talking seriously." Rui nodded, very straightforward.

Then Stingham saw Ciaran nod as well, not far away.

"I'm coming!"

Stingham body moved. A water dragon immediately charged out from under his feet, charged so fast his body seemed to fly like a meteor.

Ciaran's body flashed. She also disappearing from where she stood.

"Ah, just a little more!"

"Damn, still didn't catch her."

"I can't catch up even like this. Are you kidding me!"

Stingham's flustered voice continuously rose in many places in Holy Dawn Academy.