Surviving as a Villain at the Academy

63 – Hell training with teacher Ethan Crassus.

“I’m not doing it right! Again!”

What am I doing now?

Sweat was pouring off my body, my arms were very heavy, and my vision was blurry. How many hours has it been like this now?

I looked at Ethan Crassus, the commander of the Imperial Knights, who was yelling at me right in front of me. He was staring at me with his expression contorted as if he were a vicious monster.

“Don’t lose your mind! Prah Lancel!”

The shouting echoes in my ears. I barely managed to come to my senses and struck down my sword again in an upright posture. How many times have I done this today?

With a little bit of lying, it seemed like it was more than 3,000 times.

Why am I doing this now? I remembered why things were like this.

* * *

After Asti’s magic class, I realized that I, as an individual, Frach Lancel, can change. It was an achievement that could be called enlightenment, so I held Asti’s hand and shook it several times.

From then on…… Okay. As thoughts changed, actions also changed. I began to make earnest efforts to strengthen my own personal capabilities.

It would be correct to say that I went from simply thinking about ways to help Ruslan to gaining the initiative to find my own path.

I decided to continue her magic lessons with Asti, learning from her how to use all of her magic. Starting with fire magic with powerful firepower, there are many other types of magic that can be helpful.

“Magic is infinite. It’s a magic that twists the status quo, so you have to keep thinking about what’s on the other side. For example, when using fire magic, you cannot properly handle magic with a one-dimensional way of thinking that simply ‘fire is hot’. “You have to look beyond that.”

“Beyond that?”

“Okay. And you have to think about it yourself. Starting with how to make the fire hotter, when condensing magical power to maximize fire power, what magic can be used to further amplify fire power. “Because it’s not limited to just fire-type magic.”

“I’ll try my best.”

“Of course it won’t be easy at first. Creativity is not something you can develop all at once, and you must have a good knowledge of magic theory. If the Academy reopens training, you’ll need to attend magic classes as well. Honestly, you didn’t take the magic class properly. Aside from the fact that magic professors don’t teach properly due to their pretentious taste, you must know the theory itself in class. Understand?”

Not only that, I also learned from Asti how to use magic efficiently and creatively. Creativity doesn’t happen all at once, but if you keep doing it, you will definitely make some progress.

I nodded to Asti’s words to not always accept phenomena as they are, but to think about something on the other side.

“Yes. “I’ll take note.”

“If you don’t know anything, be sure to ask me. “Because I can tell you everything about the level of human magic.”

“…… Okay.”

As soon as the magic class with Asti ended, I immediately contacted the commander of the Imperial Knights. I asked if you could watch the training every day for the time being.

He may have been busy with work, but the knight commander immediately came to Lancel’s mansion.

“Are you curious about whether you can practice every day?”

“Ah, yes. That’s right.”

“It is possible if it is possible. I may not have much time, but…….”

“Really? Even 30 minutes a day is good.”

Learning the sword from a strong man of the rank of knight commander is not an issue of whether the time is long or short.

He will be able to find countless things I need to improve just by looking at the way I swing my sword.

And I knew better than anyone else how much each piece of advice he gave me meant to me.

“Thirty minutes? That’s all I can use. “I’ll watch you for two hours.”

“Are you sure?”

I became angry and shouted. It had to be that way. You learn swordsmanship from him for two hours a day? That alone will increase my skills tremendously.

Because I had become stronger thanks to Asti’s magical power, my level of wielding a sword was exactly at the level that Frah Lancel had achieved before being possessed.

But, if my swordsmanship skills significantly improve…… Not only will the range of actions I can do expand, but I will be able to do the work I need to do later much more easily.

Thoughts like that, I asked him for guidance, and he readily accepted my request.

However, I overlooked it at the time.

How merciless a person Commander Ethan Crassus is when it comes to training.

* * *

He wanted to check my basics first.

And that too without using magic power.

For me, who had endured most of the events I had experienced with the help of magical power, the condition of not using magical power was quite harsh.

I always agreed with the statement that you need to develop pure physical strength to improve your swordsmanship skills, but when the situation comes…… It was horribly difficult.

You can only properly handle a sword if your basic skills are strong, but the basic skills he required from me far exceeded those of an ordinary knight.

The first thing he asked me to do was hit him 3,000 times. Hit it three thousand times. I thought I could do it with Prah’s stamina.

But when I heard the next words, I couldn’t believe my ears.

“Does it seem simple to say 3,000 times? Not at all. Concentrate with all your mind and hit with all your might. And always maintain a consistent posture.”

“…… “You mean consistent posture?”

“That’s right. Only when sword strikes that are undisturbed and contain all of one’s power, as if breathing, are you qualified to enter the Imperial Swordsmanship. It’s difficult to judge based on the academy’s standards. The way students are taught at the academy is quite similar. But not me. I will teach you the way the Imperial Knights teach their knights. Therefore…… “Very harshly.”

So, it is quite difficult to do it properly by putting all your mind into the sword and striking it down once, but he made me do it thousands of times.

Even asking for an undisturbed posture. Since he couldn’t use his magic power, it was obvious that the physical burden would be considerable.

The word harsh came to me with great urgency. This…… Can I hold out?

The first sword strike was pretty good. The knight commander also praised it as a classic attack that did not need much correction.

However, as time passed, my swordsmanship began to falter. Concentrating all my mind on the sword and maintaining that concentration without breaking was much more difficult than I thought.

In the end, as the number of sword strikes increased, the knight commander’s yelling and posture correction continued to follow.

What was even more painful was that I couldn’t even use my magic power. Through this training, I keenly felt how much I depended on magical power.

Developing physical abilities was essential. If I were a devil like Asti, I wouldn’t know. Since I’m a human who borrows Asti’s power to a certain extent, I wouldn’t be able to endure the middle to late part of the narrative without developing my physical abilities.

That is why you endure and receive painful training. Although my mind was dizzy…… I had to endure this much.

Even when my vision was blurring, I somehow held on to my spirit, and even when my arms were shaking, I somehow poured all of the spirit I had into my sword.

And finally, the last three-thousandth sword strike split the air.

But the moment the last sword strike cut through the air, I felt something different from when I usually swing the sword.

The feeling as if the sword became one with my fingertips.

Something was different. One thing was certain.

If you don’t do that…… There’s no way the knight commander would look at me with his eyes wide open.

It looks like I did something. If I had to do it again, I’m not sure I would.

* * *

As Ethan watched the slam that Prah had just performed, he realized that his eyes were not wrong.

Certainly, Frach Lancel had talent. He may think he is inferior to Ruslan, but he is not at all.

He knows that he has a strange amount of magic power. Since he was Lancel’s precious son, he must have been fed some good elixirs, that’s what he thought.

So, the use of magical power was deliberately limited. Even though it was definitely like that.

The sword strike he just showed was a sword strike that could not be made unless he was a swordsman who had reached a certain level in front of him.

Ethan was sure. Prahransel is completely devoid of his self-objectification.

Self-objectification is usually used to mean not looking back at one’s shortcomings, but Prach was the exact opposite.

He was unable to accurately judge what his capabilities were. I don’t know if he just doesn’t want to admit how good he is.

Perhaps the presence of Ruslan paralyzed his thinking. Because the Ruslan Ares he saw was a boy capable of that. Overwhelming talent. A violent talent that blinds the eyes and breaks the hearts of those who look at it.

But that doesn’t mean that the blind person lacks talent.

Prah was like that.

He was simply a swordsman teacher because it helped him with this project, but for some reason, Ethan started to become greedy.

I am eager to see what this boy will be like when his talents bloom.