Chapter 146: Training [1]

Villains.

They were the ones that had dominated many arcs of the game, with most of them being Noah defeating the villains, fending off attacks against the academy, and saving heroines from their eventual demise.

The same old story.

My interference had removed more than half of the entire plot that had made the game so famous around the world.

Still, there were some villains whom I hadn’t recruited…

At least, not yet.

A majority of the non-recruited ones are from several cults that hide in the shadows, hoping to spread the teachings of their supposed gods to the general populace.

I wasn’t much of a religious man, but I didn’t discriminate against people who practiced the worship of gods either.

One could call me an open-minded person.

Still, I had asked Julien to not recruit anyone who was already part of some cult or the other.

These fanatics who worship the so-called evil deities were the craziest ones that I had ever seen.

They didn’t understand logic and reasoning.

Most of the cult followers had their brains fried under their loyalty to the gods judged as evil by the church.

So, I didn’t have any interest in keeping such ticking time bombs under me.

Though recruiting them would have increased the strength of D.X. by large margins.

Still, there were a few among these cults that I had found interesting in the game.

And coincidentally, one of them was here at the academy, in the S class, just like me.

I had many things on my plate since coming here, so I didn’t have the time to have a proper discussion with him… at least until now.

Since my academy life had settled a bit, I was planning to make my move on him.

Those were my thoughts as I entered the training facility along with John.

The moment I stepped in, all eyes turned in my direction.

This had become the usual norm for a long time.

Though I didn’t like being the centre of attention every time, it wasn’t like I hated it either.

“Haa… Kael, ready to get our arses beat up?”

John’s voice was surprisingly cheerful.

I just gave him a side eye, without commenting on his weird motivation.

John too wasn’t upset about my lack of reply. He had now grown used to it.

One thing I liked about early mornings was the feeling of cold air hitting against my skin.

Inhaling it gave a unique feeling every time I experienced it.

As I quickly scanned the entire training hall, I could see that nearly everyone had already arrived, with us being the last ones.

Maybe…

I had to learn to arrive early.

Recently, it had come to my notice that I had been coming late for every occasion. There was a difference between having a cool entrance and being labelled as a delinquent.

Moving towards one of the corners of the hall, I leaned against the wall, with John following along.

Corners were the best place to rest without attracting unnecessary attention… or that had been my general belief, as even after being in a corner, I could sense several gazes on me.

Though I chose to ignore every single one of them.

Still, there were some who refused to look away even if I tried to ignore them to the best of my abilities.

And as expected, one of them began to move in my direction.

Sigh.

“You didn’t come for training yesterday.”

Diana was now standing before me, her hands behind her back as she pressed her right foot against the floor below.

“I was busy.”

I kept my reply short.

Diana just nodded while moving to stand beside me.

Though I was the one who wanted her to be close to me again, it was becoming increasingly difficult for me to maintain my relations with her.

If I remembered correctly, I had promised to train her yesterday, but some matters demanded my attention, and that led to my absence from the training session.

I could have apologised, as Diana’s face looked downcast, but I chose not to.

There was an awkward silence between us, at least it was awkward for John, who just stood at the side watching the two of us.

Alicia and the rest were standing some distance away, their heads turned in the other direction, though I could feel their gaze on me every now and then.

“Oh! Is everyone here?”

Raising my head, I looked towards the far end of the hall, only to find the same bald instructor from yesterday standing at the entrance, with his usual smile.

The students didn’t reply, nor was the instructor expecting any sort of response, as he quickly walked to stand at the centre of the hall.

Clap. Clap.

“I hope you all slept peacefully, as today’s session will require you to be in your best possible condition. Though I will be there to supervise your fights, please understand that if you fight half-heartedly, there might be a possibility of you getting seriously injured”

The instructor paused, moving his gaze around the entire hall, as if looking at each student in particular.

“Also, remember not to use excessive force against your opponent, as this is a friendly spar and not some fight to the death.”

The last sentence was aimed at the strongest students in the class, specifically at me and Noah, as we were the only ones who were capable enough of crushing the others completely.

“Now that the basic… guidelines are out of the way, step back and sit on the periphery of the hall, so that we can proceed with the fights in the middle, and all of you can… enjoy the show.”

As the instructor finished speaking, everyone began to orderly retreat and took their seats at the boundary of the hall, leaning against the wall.

As Diana was with me, Alicia and the rest had no choice but to sit with us.

That was somewhat expected, but it was another person who surprised me.

I could see Amelia approaching me from the other end of the hall along with her… friend?

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