Andro and Chen turned to face the stairs, both sets of eyes nearly bulging out of their heads at what they saw. What was easily the largest member of the Drakthyn species he had ever seen lumbered down the stairs. While it was common for the lizardman’s more draconic cousins to be on the larger side, the one coming down the stairs and eyeing them intently was just ridiculous, putting even some of the Golen he knew to shame.

  The scaled figure was easily eight, or even nine feet tall with shoulders wide enough he nearly took up the entire staircase. His scales were dark blue to the point of nearly being black, and his draconic snout held a deep scar running across it, exposing one of his larger fangs. Two jagged horns that looked to be bolts of lighting ready to spring out jutted up from his forehead and angled backwards. His eyes were a brilliant electric blue that practically glowed with power as his reptilian pupils narrowed upon seeing them.

  His clothes were nothing more than simple cloth brown pants and a leather vest that hung loosely on his massive frame. No boots covered his reptilian feet, despite his more humanoid legs, meaning his clawed toes left scratches in the stone as he walked towards them. Unlike the Lizardmen, Drakthyn didn’t always have a tail and was something that often determined their overall style.

  Drakthyn that didn’t possess tails tended to be more physically gifted and gained both concepts and skills to support that. The ones who develop a short tail tended to be more nimble and often stealth capable, many of the greatest scouts being a short tailed Drakthyn. Drakthyn who developed a long thinner tail were naturally more gifted with magic and even boasted about an increased inner reserve of mana to utilize.

  Andro couldn't hide his surprise at the sight of the large man, and he is even pretty sure he heard Chen gulp beside him. The few people who stood between the man and the trio quickly moved out of the way, making Andro briefly wonder if it was common for the Drakthyn to just walk through people.

  “I knew you would be stopping by, but I was not expecting it to be this early” The large and frankly terrifying looking man grumbled as he stopped before them.

  “Terry, it’s almost mid day.” Kayla responded without an ounce of fear, even planting her hands on her hips in the same way Andro has seen their mother do. The other thing he realized was she had called him Terry.

  “This was the man she was talking about?” He mentally asked himself, giving another once over of Terry and beginning to calculate how far he could get with a full powered acceleration before being caught by his sister. Speaking of his sister, she slicked her tongue at the massive Drakthyn and shook her head before saying in a disappointed tone.

  “Most people are up before the ninth glass, Terry, not staying up all night like a stubborn teenager.”

  Andro felt his heart drop at seeing the casual rudeness displayed by his sister. While deep down he knew he didn’t have a whole lot of room to talk considering he attacked a corruptor, but he at least thought he had a chance at the time. This however was something else entirely, with every instinct honed over a thousand battle fields telling him that Terry could crush them all with little to no effort.

  Terry’s response was to grunt and lean down towards Kayla menacingly, to give her a hug catching Andro by complete surprise. While his older sister may have shared their mothers height, she looked like a child hugging an estranged uncle when wrapped in the massive arms of Terry.

  “It is always good to see you lady Kayla” Terry said in a gruff warm tone after releasing her and standing straight, his eyes then landing on Andro and Chen. “Are these the two fresh-ling's you mentioned in your message?”

  Andro couldn’t help but be fully aware of how much weaker he was now compared to before he returned. Yet despite his previous power he had a sinking feeling the larger Drakthyn that stood before him, still had him beat.

  “They are indeed” Kayla nodded looking back at them as well, “This is my brother Andro, and his friend Chen. They aspire to join the league and I made it my sisterly duty to ensure they are as ready as they can be.” Pride and excitement dancing in her eyes, along with a healthy amount of mischievousness.

  Terry eyed them both for a brief moment and gave a curt nod, “Lets not waste time then, follow me to the yard.” He rumbled and strode past them.

  Andro and Chen both hurried after the large individual while Kayla followed behind, a grin on her face as they all made their way towards the hallway on the far left of the building. Terry had paused at the counter briefly to order a platter of food to be brought out to him but the worker had barely turned to shout the order through the small window before he was already striding away.

  The four made their way down the hallway and out a set of double doors where they emerged into an absurdly large training yard that boasted just about everything one could use. Sand pits lined one side with larger ones towards the center. Sheds full of equipment were spread around the entire place and straw and wood dummies lined the other said.

  An entire back corner was loosely fenced off for a target range that contained a variety of targets for various methods of ranged combat. The other half of the back corner was a complicated and extensive obstacle course where members climbed, jumped, dodged and swung their way through a variety of beams, poles, nets and even chains.

  They were all led over to one of the unoccupied sand pits where they were instructed to wait while he went to one of the many sheds and pulled out a rather large sized weapons rack that held just about one of each kind. To the two young men’s horror, Terry pulled a larger wooden blade off with a two handed grip, and handed it to Kayla who stepped into the pit.

  “Here is what is going to happen” he rumbled while turning towards them, “You two will face Lady Kayla one at a time in a full spar with no skills at first. I want to see your movements, your techniques, how you step, how you dodge and everything else when there is an actual threat of violence. Chen you are up first”

  Chen gave Andro a nervous look but nodded with determination towards the massive Drakthyn and joined Kayla down into the sand pit. Andro and Terry watched from the sidelines as the two squared off, Chen sinking into a low stance with his arms held close to his chest ready to move. Kayla meanwhile stood tall as she gripped the weapon loosely out to the side, a grin splitting her face.

  “Begin!” barked Terry and unlike their previous spars, Kayla was the first to move as she lunged at Chen with a wide heavy swing.

  Chen ducked beneath the blow and twisted his body in the process attempting to go for a leg sweep, yet Kayla was ready for it. She quickly stepped back just enough to avoid the tripping attack at the same time she brought the blade back around and down. Already practically hugging the ground, Chen rolled to the side, the wooden blade showering him in sand as it slammed into the ground inches from his body, yet he remained focused and leapt up to deliver a jab into Kayla’s side.

  Her grin only grew as the blow landed and before Chen could do more she expertly twisted her wrists to bring the blade in close enough for her to slam the pommel into his chest. The strength of the blow was enough for him to stumble back, his instincts barely enough to allow him to avoid her follow up swing.

  The fight lasted a good while longer than what Andro had anticipated, with Chen even able to land a few more hits on his sister. Nevertheless, Kayla’s experience along with her higher rank won out as she finally caught the younger man with a wide sweep, the force of the blow enough that he nearly flew out of the pit. His body hit the sand hard, sending up a cloud of the stuff to gather around. Chen lay there, groaning as he held his rapidly bruising side and Andro walked over using his time heal to rewind the majority of the damage. Terry had been made aware of his healing skill and had asked him to not fully heal any injuries they incurred, saying something about pain being an excellent teacher.

  Confident that his friend was no longer internally bleeding, he helped him up and out of the pit so he could rest while Andro faced his sister. As he approached the weapon rack Andro grabbed a spear and shield, not too dissimilar to the ones they used at home, then joined Kayla. His spar wasn’t something he would call impressive, and while he was proud that he lasted longer than Chen, that was due almost entirely from him taking what he learned yesterday and was able to avoid most everything.

  What he failed to avoid he was partially successful in deflecting with the shield, but that is where his lack of strength continued to fail him. He failed to land a single hit on her this time, and what ended the spar was a failed attempt to go for a counter by deflecting her overhand swing just off to the side so he could move in close. Not only did the maneuver fail to work, all he succeeded in doing was taking her downward chop straight into his collar bone when failed to get his shield up in time.

  There was a silver lining however, as this allowed him to discover that his healing skill worked on broken bones. The downside to this discovery was unlike skills that specialized in it, his was much rougher with the process. Andro was even fairly positive that Chen had shivered when there was an audible click from his bone snapping back into place. Just like he did with his friend, he stopped before the injury was fully healed, leaving a dark bruise covering the area between his neck and shoulder.

  When he looked back up he was startled to see how intensely Terry was staring at him, an intensity that he had only seen with scholars when facing a problem they struggled to find an answer for.

  “See” Kayla stated as she moved next to Terry, “This is what I was talking about. He moves like a veteran of a hundred battles, yet he is about as effective as an angry toddler with a stick”

  Andro gave his sister a look that said, “Really? You couldn’t have used any other metaphor?” but she ignored him and waited for Terry.

  “Fighting stance” Terry rumbled after a long moment and in a tone that brooked no argument.

  Andro institutionally obliged, sinking into his fighting stance with his body low and legs bent as he held the spear just off to one side, his shield held up in front of him. He held the stance as Terry slowly paced around examining every inch of Andro. To his shock and mild horror, Terry grabbed the larger weapon out of Kayla’s hands and began to twirl it around with a single hand as he strode into the sand pit. He stood across from Andro for a moment before settling into his own stance looking as if it were the most natural way for him to stand, a bad feeling crept up into his gut upon seeing it.

  “Fight me like your life depends on it” Terry growled in a tone that demanded obedience “Use everything, don’t hold back”

  Andro barely had a moment to register the words before the large Drakthyn lunged towards him with a powerful thrust straight at his chest. Instincts that had been built up over three decades of fighting took hold of his body, more than likely being the only reason he escaped in a single piece.

  [Temporal Perception] had come first, energy flooding into it in order to not only seemingly slow the world down around him, but also give him a brief glimpse into Terry’s actions. Even with the skill operating at max capacity, Terry was still fast and still a very real danger prompting Andro to also trigger [Acceleration] with as much energy as he could pour into at once. With the near miss of the attack, Andro felt his skill [Marked by Sin] activate and the follow up swing was ever so slower. He twisted to the side while ducking and raising his shield to have the blade glance off of the wood and pass over his head.

  Andro grit his teeth in frustration at how much it was taking to just barely stay ahead of the attacks, but he drew on his resolve and kept moving. Terry had told him to not hold back, to treat this fight as if his life were on the line. That is something Andro was more than capable of doing. More energy coursed through his body and down his arm, the wooden spear in his hand becoming coated in thin tightly wound black flames that held streaks of purple and green.

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  The black flame was the result of his [Focused wrath] while the green and purple were the result of his [Envious leech]. Both skills tied together would increase the damage of each of his attacks by a moderate amount with his leech skill would also help in restoring his spent energy. With what he believed to be the best skill combination he could pull off, Andro went on the offensive by lunging in towards Terry, but had to instantly abandon the attempt as a clawed hand rushed up to gut him, only stopped by his shield, yet that still came away with deep grooves cut into it.

  Andro came at him from a different angle and started to throw in feint attacks in order to draw out an opening. None of them were working, the larger warrior easily intercepting every thrust and the occasional slash attack and reading each feint.

  A building frustration was all Andro was gaining from the exchanges and despite his skills' lower energy cost, he couldn’t keep them all active at this degree for much longer. He needed to land some hits so his leech could restore at least some of his energy, but Terry felt indomitable with his defense. Not only that but it was obvious Terry had no issue keeping up with his speed despite him having [Acceleration] at its maximum output.

  Frustration turned to anger as everything he threw at the trainer was turned aside, the worst part being Andro could tell Terry was holding back. Many of the attacks he made could have easily just been dodged by the scaled warrior, yet he went out of his way to knock them aside in a casual parry every time. It was as if Terry was purposely telling Andro that his attacks were nothing but a joke and something to merely play with.

  Before his anger could grow too much, Andro paused his flurry and took a deep calming breath, letting the anger subside and fade. He had to remember that he wasn’t in his old body anymore nor did he have his old skills. This was purely training and Terry was going out of his way to help them, and if Andro was being honest with himself he wasn’t even sure if he could beat Terry as his old self.

  The large Drakthyn was on a whole other level when it came to pure technique to the point that Andro was confident that if Terry started using skills, there was nothing he could do against him. Perhaps once he surpassed his old level of power he could challenge Terry and at least be able to land a hit or two, but that was still a long way away. It had taken him over twenty years just to reach the Journeyman rank and another ten just to get his ninth star. Andro would bet money that Terry was at least at the peak of Adept, or perhaps even an early Master.

  Once he felt his emotions under control again, he reaffirmed his grip and nodded at Terry who had waited patiently as if he understood what Andro was going through. The trainer nodded back and charged again, this time however Andro focused more on his own movements and staying ahead of the larger weapon.

  He needed to bide his time and strike only when the moment was opportune instead of forcing them. Kayla had been correct yesterday in saying his speed would be his greatest asset, and that he shouldn’t worry about single big hits. But she failed to understand that sometimes that was all that mattered in a fight, that one single hit that would determine who won, and who died. However at the same time, that one big hit was pointless if the enemy knew it was coming, and Andro couldn’t hold out forever, something needed to change.

  So that is exactly what he decided to do, and unlike in his past where every strike he made was optimized to be a fatal strike every time, this time he just needed to hit him wherever he could. His two damaging skills will still work no matter how hard the attacks hit, and his leech will drain his target no matter how much damage is dealt.

  The wooden spear clutched in his hands became a blur as he launched a flurry of attacks towards the Drakthyn, however this time he aimed for literally whatever was in his reach. Fingers, knees, forearms, hip, shoulder, it didn’t matter what he was trying to hit, he just needed to hit his target and his skills would do the rest. For the first time during this spar, Terry went purely on the defensive and even began to actively dodge attacks instead of trying to parry them all.

  Andro felt his confidence grow at seeing that he was actually pushing Terry back, he might have not hit him yet but it was progress. Every thrust and swing was instantly followed up with another aimed entirely at a different body part as he drew out every speck of speed he could. Finally he saw an opening when Terry shifted his body a hairs breadth too far to avoid his attack and Andro pounced on the opportunity. Only he realized too late that it had been a trap as Terry’s large clawed hand clamped down on the shaft of his wooden spear and crushed it into splinters

  The surprise was enough to shock Andro to the degree he couldn’t dodge or get his shield up in time. He felt a large foot bury itself into his gut and launch him backwards with enough force he bounced out of the sandpit and past his sister and Chen. The contents of his stomach trailed after him and when he eventually came to a stop it took all his willpower just to get to his hands and knees. He was drenched in sweat and heaving for air all while his stomach tried to empty itself again but had nothing to produce.

  Chen and Kayla both walked up to him, his sister crouching to rub his back as Chen gave him a thumbs up.

  “That was impressive to watch” His friend said with a grin. “I didn’t know you could move like that. All you all right?”

  Andro was going to refute the praise to say he could have done a lot better but was interrupted by Terry, “Your friend is correct” He rumbled while tossing the broken weapon aside and joining them all outside of the sand pit. “Your overall battle prowess is impressive for one who has yet to even earn their first star. However, Lady Kayla was correct in her assessment towards your ability to fully utilize your weapons.”

  Andro had perked up at hearing the praise from the large Drakthyn, but collected himself and nodded along not wanting to fall into the trap of arrogance. He wanted to explain to them he was better with a spear than what they had seen him do but knew it would be difficult to explain as to why, so he let Terry keep talking.

  “I believe however, that I have something in mind that should be more suited to your overall style” Terry said with a small grin and turned to walk towards the shed once more.

  When he emerged a few moments later he tossed something at Andro who caught it reflexively and Terry spoke again, “It will not be apparent at first but after some time and practice I am confident that it will become the best weapon to utilize your skills and capabilities.”

  Andro looked down at the weapon in his hand a little dumbfounded, as while he was holding a new spear, it was a much shorter spear than what he was used to. He looked up at Terry and could only give him a confused look to which Drakthyn sighed and motioned down towards the weapon.

  “Watching you fight, I could see the way your body adjusted and instinctively moved as if wielding the spear was as natural as breathing, yet it was painfully obvious you do not possess enough strength to draw out the full potential of utilizing a spear and shield combination,” Terry began and held up a hand when Andro opened his mouth to say something. “However, with your skills and without access to the extra physical power the fighter class would provide, a normal spear will only hold you back in the long run. Eventually you will start to fall behind your peers, unable to keep up in terms of potential” He pointed at the shorter spear in Andro’s hand and continued “That should be your best option as it fits with your style of a skirmisher, while also giving you the reach that your body is obviously comfortable with. And while it may not possess the same punching power you can get out of a larger spear, that's where your skills come in. With the ones you currently have, and what I suspect you may get in the future, you won't need to rely on strong single attacks. All you need to do is hit your opponent and let your skills tear them apart.”

  Andro was feeling skeptical at first, yet the more Terry explained his reasoning the more he looked down at the weapon with curiosity and some excitement. After all, if Terry was correct, he would have become difficult to deal with while also being able to better utilize the speed he was growing accustomed to. Something that would only increase as excess speed and agility was something those with the expert class gained an increase in when ranking up.

  “Now that I have a better understanding of each of your capabilities, let's see how hard you can be pushed.” Terry said, an unnerving grin crossing his features, “Oh, and put that useless hunk of wood down, a shield is pointless if you're too fast to be hit.”

  Andro and Chen shared a look that oozed out with worry, but they both just sighed and tried to mentally prepare themselves. Andro tossed the damaged wooden shield to the side and gripped the short spear with both hands. The weapon was roughly a meter and a half, close to two, much shorter than the ones he usually wielded that were at least three meters, sometimes more.

  Terry did exactly as he said, pushing them both till they each collapsed from physical exhaustion, their bodies unable to keep going. Somehow their scaled torturer managed to pace everything just enough, that it was past lunch time by the time they collapsed. Neither wanted to move but understood if they didn’t, they would be going hungry. Despite the difficulty, Andro was actually enjoying himself as it had been awhile since he pushed himself and he knew what he gained would be more than worth the effort.

  For Chen, Terry focused more on getting the young man to become more comfortable in using his more mage-like skills with his hand to hand techniques. For Andro the focus of their first week of training in this manner was getting him used to the shorter weapon. As much as he would have liked to say he was a natural and could wield it as easily as he could a normal spear, he would be lying. The first day alone all he could reliably do was hit the practice dummy, which he was not satisfied with at all.

  In his previous life he was a master with his spear, able to slice a mosquito in half with a single thrust while it flew. This time however, he had to keep adjusting and changing everything to make up for the shorter reach. He had to move closer, his trusts had to be more precise, and he even had to rely on more slashes instead of purely thrusting.

  Undiscouraged, Andro pushed himself through the training with a fervor that both impressed and worried his sister and Terry. Kayla even pulled him aside after the fifth day and asked him if he was doing all right, if there was something going on that she could help him with. There was a part of him that wanted to just tell her everything, about what he had done, how he had come to the past and what he needed to do in order to make things right.

  He didn’t tell her anything of course, Grandmother's warnings echoing in his head. He instead reassured her and gave her the excuse that he had been restricted all his life from his condition that he wanted to see how far he could go. He instantly knew she didn’t fully believe him but didn’t push the matter anymore and said that she was always there for him. Andro hated lying to his family like that but he understood how important it was he didn’t go blabbing everything, time was a funny thing like that.

  His skill with the short spear grew every day to the degree that by the end of the first week he could reliably strike wherever he wanted on the dummy. By week two he could attack while moving around at nearly his top speed and still hit at least close to where he aimed. By week three both the accuracy and the speed of his attacks only grew until he actually started to need more dummies so he could work on attacking multiple targets as he danced around them, his spear a blur.

  Week four Terry had changed it up a bit seeing how far Andro was progressing, deciding to give him a test of sorts. In one of the larger pits Terry had set up a group of the enchanted practice dummies. Unlike the normal ones, these were mostly wood and could actually move around and sort of attack and defend. The large Drakthyn had splashed some paint on them, each a different color and gave Andro his task.

  “Here is how this is going to work” he rumbled while digging out a time counter from his pouch, “I am going to call out a color and a body part. When I do, you will have a count of ten to strike that body part. Each one you fail to strike is a lap around the entire yard with no skills.”

  Andro shrugged but nodded, finding that the challenge probably wouldn’t be all that difficult, however he had no doubt that Terry would eventually make it difficult. He strode into the large sand pit where the painted dummies stood there waiting, his spear absently twirling around him as the dummies stood in a line waiting to be activated. Terry barked out a few command phrases and they all started to run wildly around in the pit, somehow expertly avoiding each other in their mad dash.

  Andro waited for his first target, his spear still slowly spinning, “Blue, left calf!” Terry barked the words coming suddenly and fast, barely giving Andro time to react. That didn’t stop him from snapping his head in the direction of where he had last seen the blue painted dummy and surged towards it, his arm already snapping forward. The dummy had spun around the one painted yellow and had tried to double back the way it had run but barely made it a few steps before the wooden blade of Andro’s spear slashed into its right calf as he lunged for it.

  As best as he could tall, Andro guessed it had taken only a three count from the moment he moved until he struck. He was proud of himself but stayed focused and waited for Terry to call out the next one.

  “Red, Sternum!” he called out and Andro moved in response.

  This continued on for quite some time and he had been right about Terry making it more difficult as it progressed. It had started with him pausing for less time between each one until he was calling out the next one before Andro had gotten to the first one. Eventually it turned into Terry practically calling out a stream of targets forcing him to also try and remember the order. By the time Terry was satisfied, Andro was breathing hard and covered in sweat, which only meant the large Drakthyn was more than happy to say he owed him twenty-six laps.

  Throughout the weeks of training at the league, Kayla had insisted they still do more at home, taking advantage of every waking moment they could to maximize their potential. One of the exercises she had devised for him to help with his skills was trying to hit thrown clay plates with drops of blood he controlled.

  He had underestimated the difficulty the task would be and was quickly humbled when he failed to hit just about every single plate tossed in the air. Andro refused to let that failure deter him, if anything he worked even harder because of it, spending every waking moment he could practicing. Day by day, he slowly improved his control and aim until he was to the point he could accurately use his blood to strike any plate tossed his way all while sparring with Chen.

  He had never imagined he could feel this in tune with his skills to this degree. In his past life Andro had been in full belief he was a prodigy when it came to his skill control and usage, however the fast few weeks with someone the likes of Terry showed him just how arrogant he had been. Perhaps things would have gone differently if he had utilized a trainer of this caliber instead of insisting on doing everything himself.

  There was no point dwelling on it now, all that mattered is he was on track to achieve his goals. With their current rate of training, Andro was more than confident he and Chen could accomplish great things, and save many people. But first they needed to pass their entrance exam to the Mettle League, something he wanted to ensure he had the right equipment for.