Just about ten minutes later Helo wakes up feeling groggy, slowly leaning forward he almost tumbles to the ground. “AHHH!” Helo shouts catching himself with his hands. Looking around he is a little put out. He is used to waking up in a nice bed or on someone’s lap. But this time he was just tossed against a wall.
Looking to his left and right he finds Hinata and Rocco on either side. To his left Hinata is chuckling. “Haa, I can see the confusion in your eyes. Hahah, you look so sad having woken up leaning on a wall.”
Helo just glares at her and looks away. He expected to wake up with a lap pillow and Hinata seemed to understand that from his confused lok. All around him people are milling about, some standing, others sitting and some walking around.
“Ahem, the professor gave us a fifteen-minute brake. We have five minutes left.” Rocco coughs into his hand to get Helo’s attention.
Unconsciously petting the fox that is on his lap Helo studies the people that are around him. Some are taking glances at him and Helo can feel their interest. Everyone saw his display of aura and now there is no chance that the entire school won’t find out. He wouldn’t be surprised if it was already posted on the Mana-Net.
Looking for Alli, he can hear her a few people into the group. She is laughing and talking. The voice that is speaking with her Helo faintly recognizes. Just as he is starting to wonder, their voices start drawing closer.
Out of the crowd Alli and Isla appear. Isla is followed by four other people. These are not the posse of nobles that find her popular. But her party and people Helo assumes are her friends.
Isla studies the party but her gaze sticks to Helo. “Hello everyone, that was quite the show Helo.” She smiles down at him, but her gaze hides just a little disgust.
Looking down at himself he can see all the blood that is on his white shirt. He can picture what his face must look like. As she says this Hinata reaches into her bag of holding and hands Helo a rag. Pouring some water on it she gives it to him.
As he starts to wipe his face free of blood he answers her. “Thanks, I think it might be asking too much to say that I hope not many people noticed.”
“Ohhahh, yeah I believe that ship has sailed.” She smiles at him, and her gaze definitely holds interest.
“Hey! How are you feeling? Are your injuries okay?” Alli asks him, she was trying to wait for them to be done talking, but her worry overpowered her resolve to let them talk.
“Injuries?” Isla asks. As she gets a slight run down on how Helo got hurt by clearing rifts and saving Hinata, Helo is checking himself over. Closing his eyes for a moment he sighs in relief as his channels seem to be okay. Next, he starts moving his body around and stretching.
“Hmh. Yep. I am all good. Just a little sore, but it shouldn’t have worsened anything.” Helo says to Alli, but she is excitedly telling Isla about Helo’s heroics.
Hinata who is still sitting next to him pats his arm, “I’m glad you’re okay. And thank you.” She says with a sweet and beautiful smile. Smiling back, Helo gets a little lost in her gaze.
“So, what you’re saying is that he held off the teacher’s aura, while being injured.” Isla says with some surprise. She is happy she came over here, she is learning a lot more than she expected.
“I think that is enough story time Alli. We can talk to her more later.” Hinata cuts in, she knows her friend means well and loves to talk. But sometimes things are best kept to oneself.
“ALRIGHT! Everyone look this way.” A shout rings out, and it is Professor Arkson getting their attention. “Now you all must realize that this class is about fighting. So, that is what we are going to do. Small teams, duo’s, party size, multiple parties, all of you verse me, I hope you get the idea.”
After his words a wave of murmurs breaks out as everyone is excited for the class. “This class is all about fighting with someone else. Most of the time you will be partnered with your party. But not all the time. To start we will be incorporating a single move into a fight and building off it.”
Most of the class gives him a weird look but some of the class already know what is happening. They have been with him before. There are people from all years in this class and all skill levels.
“First I’ll give a demonstration, then split you into groups.” After his word he points at four people. One is tier 2 and the rest tier 1. Then he splits them into groups of two. “By the way, we are doing sparring rules. No kill shots, limit your skills.”
“Now you are going to start sparring, but one person on your team is going to call out ‘Switch’ and you will make some kind of move to distract or break contact, then switch targets.” He walks between the split groups. “You make the call. Start!” Stepping back, his step carries him further than it should. But he is out of the way of the fight.
The two sides come together, and it is obvious that the side with the tier 2 has the upper hand. His movements are faster, and he appears to be trained much better. The tier 2 fighter swings his sword, and he almost tears his opponents shield out of his hand. On the other side a spear wielder is keeping a man with a club at bay with his extra reach.
The spear wielder is teamed up with the other tier 1 and he can see his teammate being pushed back. Shouting “SWITCH!” He attacks the tier 2 from the side and manages to push him back. His teammate barely manages to fix his grip in time, but he does block the club from landing on his teammates side.
Then a shout comes out. “STOP!” All the fighters lower their weapons and the teacher appears again. “Good. Did you all see that. A simple call, but the effect can be monstrous.”
“This man.” He gestures at the tier 2 fighter. “Is obviously a higher level. But he almost got struck. What if he called out instead. He injures his opponent, then calls out switch and leaves the injured opponent for his teammate to finish off. It would decrease the effort and increase the speed at which the fight progresses.”
At this point everyone understands what he is getting at. It is a chance to get the drop on an opponent or pass on a bad match up or an already weakened opponent. Everyone focuses on him now and eager to hear what comes next. “I will be teaching you a few commands. Simple things, but the kind of things that can change a fight. We will be building on the ones we have already learned. But the end of this class you all should be in full teams issuing commands and making your jobs easier.”
Helo is a little impressed. A lot of what this class seems to be teaching are things that people like Alli and Hinata do naturally together. They have a strong sense of teamwork and work well together. But these commands are a way for two people that have never met to bridge the gap.
Everyone gets split into groups and every first year is split into their own group. As the teacher walks by, he says. “Sorry, but you’re going to be gone for half the year. A lot of the second years in this class are people who already took the class but now want the full course.”
Looking around they are in their own section of the arena floor, and everyone is between levels 15 and 45. Helo can tell a lot about where everyone comes from by their levels and the way they act.
The noble parties are all at or around level 40 and they are grouped together well. The non-nobles are in smaller pairs and don’t seem to be in full parties. From what he can tell there are about one-hundred first years in the class, and five or six seem to be noble parties. Studying their faces he can place most of the party leaders faces at the ‘Etiquette’ class.
It’s only a few minutes before Professor Arkson appears in their midst. “Well, this will be simple. Form two lines.” Everyone stands next to their friends and makes two lines in the middle of their section. “Now the person across form you is your partner.” A lot of upset voices ring out, most of the people were standing next to the people they are closest to.
“I don’t care.” He says in a calm tone. Some more grumbling and it is mostly from the rich members who are used to getting their way. Alli, Hinata, and Isla don’t seem to mind though. Alli is pouting, but she isn’t complaining.
Looking in front of him there is a man about his age. He has a stout frame and is about Helo’s height. On his hip he has two swords. Giving the man a nod, he gets a weary nod in return. “Now introduce yourselves.”
“Ah. Hey.” Helo says with a small wave. “I’m Helo.”
“Yeah… Hi. Ruben.” The other teenager gives an awkward wave.
“Good. Now that you are all friends, there are training dummies along the wall. Grab two and start practicing.” After his last word Professor Arkson vanishes and appears near the second year and up students.
“Well, lets go.” Helo says with a shrug, Ruben follows him quietly. Using just the smallest hints of aura, Helo feels for Ruben’s emotions. From what he can tell Ruben is nervous and a little excited.
“So tell me about yourself.” Helo says as he grabs one of the training dummies. They are separated into pairs, and they have levels on the front. One is level 25 the other is 35. So, it will be easy for Helo, but that isn’t the point. The point is to practice smoothly switching with your teammate.
Ruben starts to talk as they move to an open space. “Well, I grew up in the New York area. My parents have basic classes and work as assistants.” He just shrugs. “But they wanted me to do better for myself, so most of their savings went into getting me training and into the school.”
Nodding along Helo can see how that would work out. Even within the BrightMoon Valley or the Kashiwagi Mountain. Not everyone is special and important. Some people are just normal folk trying to live their lives. “Well, I am sure they are happy you are here.”
Under his breath Ruben mutters. “They will be when I tell them I am partnered with the guy who kicked Dorimer’s ass.”
“What was that?” Helo asks. He has an idea about what he said, but he doesn’t want to show off more than he has. His perception is one of those things he wants to hide, along with his knife skills and stealth.
“N… No… Nothing. Let’s get started.” Ruben awkwardly changes the conversation, but Helo doesn’t push. With a nod he draws his naginata from his bag of holding. It is tied to the small of his back and he has basic things in there. Enough to use and seem like he uses it, but he still has most of his things in his necklace. Looking at the training dummies Helo uses his ‘Appraisal’.
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Golem of Basic Combat. (Uncommon)
A simple golem created to help with the training of students. It has three modes easy (Lvl.25), Medium (Lvl.35), Hard (Lvl.45).
- Uploaded with a set of basic combat moves.
- Self-mend
Looking at the item, he feels like the phrase ‘training dummy’ is far too simplistic, for what this actually is. It is a real-life magical golem. It also makes Helo wonder about more advanced versions. Do they have an army of golems ready to be unleashed.
Focusing back on the task at hand Helo is standing next to Ruben. “Alright on your mark, but I’ll call out switch.” When Helo says this Ruben just nods. His full attention is on the golem in front of him. It has ‘Level 25’ written on its chest and it is still four levels above his own. He can’t help but feel a little nervous.
With a deep breath and a slight shudder, he nods. At his nod both golems leap forward. They are carrying basic short swords and wield them simply but with skill. They are not using any advanced techniques or fancy combos. But they are wielding their blades flawlessly. Both start with a lunge, but the level 35 does a straight thrust at Helo, and the level 25 sends a sweeping slash at Ruben.
Holding his naginata with his blade lowered in front of him in a downward guard position, he is easily able to knock the thrust to the side with the shaft of his polearm. Stepping into the golems reach Helo is about to hit the golem with a backward slash, but then he remembers that this is training. Instead, he pushed forward with the naginata shaft and pushes the golem back.
To his side Ruben is struggling with both his blades. Helo can tell that he has some formal sword training. But nothing even close to advanced enough to use two weapons. Why is he using two swords? He would be better with one. Better yet, with a sword and shield.
Helo hasn’t used his naginata for a while, so he is taking the chance to scrap the rust off his techniques. He isn’t using any true techniques from the ‘Moon-Staff’ style just basic stances. But he is easily able to keep the level 35 golem at bay. One thing he does note as he blocks an overhead strike, is that the golem has more strength than he does. But Helo’s speed far outstrips the golem.
As the strike is deflected the golem stumbles forward. Helo steps forward and lashes out with a forward kick his blow sends the golem stumbling back and Helo quickly spins. His naginata arcs out and clips the sword in Rubens left hand.
With a “Clang” and a soft thud the blade is embedded into the ground. He can hear a yelp from Ruben, and the teenager has to hastily jump back to avoid a slash.
Turing back to his own golem Helo shouts, “Don’t use two blades, you look like a fool.” He can no longer see Ruben, but with his aura he can feel his embarrassment. But after a few more seconds of fighting Ruben starts to do better.
His moves are sharper, and he makes better decisions. With only a single weapon to focus on he is moving much better. Now that Ruben is doing alright, Helo feels comfortable calling for a switch. But he is under no illusion that Ruben will be able to hold his own against a level 35 golem.
Blocking a cross slash with his own heavy downward strike, the two blades meet with the ringing over metal. Then with a thud they both hit the ground. With much higher speed Helo flips his own weapon and hits the golem with the butt of his staff. Then as it stumbles back, he slashes along its thigh with the blade. “Switch.” He calmly states.
It is just loud enough for Ruben to hear, and he jumps away from his own golem. He has been tensed the entire fight waiting for that call. At the same time, he was nervous to fight the level 35 golem. With a blur of black hair and red eyes Helo appears in front of the golem he was fighting and kicks it away.
Ruben, with no opponent in front of him any longer, turns, he is feeling the slightest bit of horror. But to his relief the golem is visible wounded and having trouble standing on its leg.
The fight continues for some time, and it is mostly Helo playing around with the golems. He is trying new things while randomly yelling switch. Each time he does he creates an opening for Ruben and then kicks whatever golem he was fighting away. After fifteen minutes of this Professor Arkson appears and stops them. “Alright everyone face your partner. Now, the strongest partner. Move to the next space to your left.”
Helo looks at Ruben and shrugs; it is pretty obvious that Helo is the strongest. Ruben is still too nervous around Helo to even try to joke about it. With a wave over his shoulder Helo steps aside as Ruben says. “Nice meeting you.”
All around them people are shifting spots and in a few cases, arguments are breaking out around them. The spot that Helo is going to is one of those spots. The partners were a man and a woman. Both felt to be around the early 30’s in level to Helo’s aura.
The woman and turned to enter the new spot but the man stopped her. Now there was an argument as the tone loudly debated who was stronger and the other just seemed totally done with the conversations. The woman just keeps nodding her head as the man starts to get angrier. Based on their levels, each is either a part of a party or has a rich parent. Helo doesn’t have a great opinion about nobles due to people like Dorimer and Calain. So, he just assumes that the man is in some noble’s party, and the woman has a rich parent.
Then man is very animatedly speaking in a foreign language to Helo. He knows a little Japanese and obviously English. But people mostly talk to him in English, at the school a lot of the students use ‘Multiversal Common’.
“I… No… Wah?” The woman is obviously flustered, but she seems to know how to speak… Chinese? Helo guesses. He doesn’t want to seem racist or anything, but he isn’t totally sure.
The man takes a breath and is about to continue yelling. He is starting to draw attention, everyone in the first-year section is starting to look over. Most of the arguments ended quickly, this is the only one that has gone past a few words. Helo is just standing outside the space they are in and wondering what is wrong with the man. After another few seconds the woman finally finds her resolve and is about to start shouting back.
To his left Helo can see another chinses teenager looking embarrassed. He is starting to walk over, reading his strength Helo thinks that this is his party leader. Stepping back, Helo waits for the party leader to arrive. When he is halfway to the space they are arguing within, the man who is yelling raises a fist.
Now this might be a class about fighting and in the future, they might end up fighting one another. But Helo doesn’t think this is the right place to do something like this. Still, he doesn’t move, it isn’t his fight and he doesn’t want to get involved. Looking to the side the man’s leader is now moving faster to reach his obviously deranged teammate.
But as the fist is raised Helo can feel the telltale sign of mana start to swirl around the man’s fist. Dammit. Helo thinks. He still doesn’t want to get involved. He is a pretty callus person, but just like the Talisman shop, he knows what Alli and Hinata would want him to do.
With a sigh Helo activates ‘Bloodline Awakening’ for only a moment. The massive boost in speed is enough to propel him the twenty feet to the man in the blink of an eye. Behind him a cone of sand is ejected away. Helo doesn’t kick the man; he just uses him to stop his own momentum. As his foot contacts the chinses teenagers’ side he is launched into the next space over and rolls a few times on the ground.
Landing softly on his feet with his momentum completely bled away Helo’s brightly glowing eyes slowly dim into his normal red color. “Ah. Hey. I’m Helo.” He casually says as he ignores the teenager that is sputtering on the ground and spitting out sand.
“Um… I am Ana” She speaks English with a Spanish accent and Helo starts to wonder if he just found the first traces of Alli and Hinata’s friend Maria.
Giving a simple wave and a small smile Helo turns toward the golems. He is hoping that the man he just kicked will go about his day like nothing happened. But from the feeling of gathering mana within his sense, he doesn’t think things will work out like that. Taking a quick look around Helo has a spike of worry as he sees the professor looking at him. But as they make eye contact, all Professor Arkson does is nod his head.
Off to the side Ana is still staring at him in shock. He appeared so quickly and now he is just moving past kicking someone like nothing happened. Looking between Helo and the teenager that is now storming up to him, she isn’t really sure what to do.
Before the teenager with obvious anger management can do anything, the assumed party leader arrives. He stops just outside the space where Helo and Ana will be fighting the golem. Intercepting his party member with a hand on his chest, he turns to Helo and offers a quick bow. His name is Da Chen, and he is distantly related to the leader of the Chinese Loong Clan.
But he is mostly a rich noble, what makes him special is his ability to sense and control energies. With his people’s unique take on cultivation and growth, his abilities make him superior in cultivation. That is the only reason he was made Heir to the Chen clan.
He already has brothers and sisters that want him to be gone, he doesn’t need more enemies. He saw Helo combat the teacher with his own aura. That is not a man he wants any negative karma with. Right now, standing in front of Helo, Da Chen can feel the lingering energy in the air. He wouldn’t be surprised if nobody else saw it. His unique senses let him feel things others couldn’t. But he could feel the ferocious mix of life and dark energy that was swirling around Helo. Now, standing next to him, it is forcing him to suppress a shiver to save face.
It isn’t often that he sees his own senses as a burden. But when his family found out his siblings started to resent him. That was the first time he felt the burden of being unique. Now, standing next to Helo, he found another negative, sometimes being able to so clearly feel the energy someone emits isn’t a good thing.
The energy in Helo is powerful and dangerous. It feels like standing next to a beast that could casually tear him apart. The life energy gives him a sense of power and overwhelming domination, while the dark energy makes him feel like he is nothing and there is no way for him to seek victory. Every move he makes will be useless and nullified.
Trying his best to keep his voice in check Da Chen bows to Helo. It is obvious that English isn’t his first language, he speaks slowly, but very well. “I apologize, my cousin, Wei Chen can have a temper, I thank you for helping me keep him in check.”
Not expecting this response, Helo turns around and looks surprised. He has his aura sense out, but he isn’t trying to invade people’s privacy, it is just a natural thing for him to do. He was mostly using it to sense when Wie Chen was going to strike. But to his surprise he lets his sense focus on Da Chen. In that moment he can feel fear, trepidation, and worry. All rolled into a feeling of respect. It must be cultural respect that most awakened feel toward power. Helo isn’t sure but that is what he thinks.
Facing the two men, Helo makes eye contact with Da Chen. His slitted glowing red eyes meet the deep black that is Da Chen’s. In that moment Helo can tell that he is unique. He is someone I might actually become friends with. He isn’t sure, most people he sees not as less than, but not worth it. The only people he is friendly with are his party, their parents, and teachers. Everyone else is just there.
Da Chen can feel the slight respect Helo has for him and he steps over the line and into Helo’s space. Holding out a hand he says. “It’s a pleasure.”
Looking at his hand for a moment, Helo does the same. The two share a nod, then they go their separate ways. The entire time Wei was fuming off to the side and the rest of the class was watching with a mix of curiosity and glee. Alli and Hinata both look at one another, and their faces ask. Did Helo just make a friend?
The rest of the class goes by quickly. After Helo spartan kicked someone into the next space over, everyone has been transitioning nicely. By the time the class ended they all got thoroughly used to and sick of the word ‘Switch’. They continue to transition partners for the entire class.
Getting back to their mansion Helo mentions to Alli and Hinata that he met a woman with a Spanish accent that was mid-tier 1. They look at him in confusion until he asks. “Couldn’t she be a part of Maria’s party? Isnt it odd that you haven’t seen her? She should have been in your noble classes.”
“Did you get her number?” Hinata asks, Helo just looks at her blankly.
“On the topic of numbers. What about your new best friend?” Alli asks with a smirk.
Helo squints his eyes at her. “I don’t follow.”
“What was his name…? Hinata you were closer, what was it?” Alli nudges Hinata on the arm.
“Da Chen.” She says. She is trying to keep a straight face, but her lip is twitching.
“Yeah! Da Chen! Do I need to set up a playdate?” Alli asks with a laugh. It is at his point that Helo excused himself from the conversation. She continues to tease him through the rest of the night.
The rest of the week goes by quickly. In Helo’s free time he checks out the different shops that Jorden acquired. He also found out the name of the street. It is called ‘Blossem Street’ and it is one of a few different streets that have a mixture of shops on it.
It might be a small town that caters for the school. But it has over ten-thousand residents and they work with merchants to ship their products all over the world.
With the school being one of the only places in the world where all sixteen factions can meet in peace, the city of Hornheim and the School of Awakening are bustling hubs of trade and production.
Because of this the shops that Jorden have taken over are all getting support from the BrightMoon and Kashiwagi families. They are helping to turn the privately owned shops into stores that will draw attention. This is all above Helo’s pay grade, at least for now. But he can understand what Jorden is doing, he is trying to take over the entire street. Then turn it into the go to place to buy and sell.
In regard to Allen and the Starhaven family, after Jorden confronted Allen, nothing happened. It is the same for Henry and the goons that were sent to harass Alli and Hinata on the day of orientation. They haven’t heard anything from them. But, with Alli being friends with Isla, who is the clan head daughter and Henry being a goon for one of the merchants. It isn’t a surprise that they backed off.
One thing that does surprise Helo is that Isla is from Australia. The Space Callers that transported them to school said that Greenland and Australian were lost to high mana zones. After asking about it he learned in Greenland there are small towns on the outskirts of the landmass. Australia is similar, they have large port cities that are heavily defended, and they rarely venture into the center of the continent.