6. Wrong.....Again.

"Alright, students what will be your most difficult foe in your upcoming Guild assistance run? You get this wrong and ill make your training for today a living hell." announced Prof. Raizen.

**

Professor Raizen is a teacher at the academy, who is known for his incredibly harsh tactics and respectable aura due to the fact that he was a pretty famous Tangent Hero, a swordsmen with amazing Lightning Elemental Magic. He was fast approaching the top 5 in strength but stopped for some reason and took on an angry demeanor while picking up his new position as a teacher at the Angelos Districts C.S academy.

*****

Claude's hand shot into the air as he was more than confident in his answer, Prof. Raizen directed his attention to him giving the boy the greenlight to answer the question.

"i'm pretty sure we'll be assisting the local Skylight Guild in dealing with invasive Nightmare Beetles in the Skyhaven Redwoods."

Prof. Raizen served him a thunderous glare from beneath his thick eyebrows, ".....Your incorrect Claude...again, and you have damned your class to a lengthy session of hellish training."

Claude heard the whole classroom let out a collective sigh along with a slew of negative remarks under their breaths. They didnt seem to understand he was doing them a favor, when someone got an answer wrong in the class it made Prof. Raizen turn up the intensity in training, whether it be longer sparring sessions, more reps in weight training or even sparring with Prof. Raizen himself. It was all for their own benefit.

Claude knew the class thought of him as a dick but those extra hours of repeated movements and drills would be the deciding factor in a life or death situation. They could call him whatever they wanted if it meant everyone was better prepared. But, it was unfortunate that he found this to be the most effective way to do things.

***

Class carried on with an easily understanding haze of anger hovering over everyone like fog at the thought that when the bell rang, they'd be plunged into hellish domains. They read exerpt after exerpt in silence while the class dragged on for unbearable lengths until Prof. Raizen broke the silence.

"Alright, before class ends somebody tell me what your all actually facing." Said Prof. Raizen.

Samuel raised his hand, "Sir, we’ll be killing Plated Snakes on behalf of the Skylight Guild."

"Correct, Samuel. What are Plated Snakes, do NOT get this wrong." Prof. Raizen said, leaning in to glare at Samuel harder than before.

Samuel shrugged off the intimidation tactic, showing no chance of folding under pressure as he responded. "Plated snakes are as the name states, snakes with sleek black keratin plates on their backs that act as armor and sandpaper like bellies that they rub against you when constricting you-- wearing away your skin and causing deep painful cuts and scrapes."

Prof. Raizen exhaled and nodded along, "Well done, Samuel. Now, its time for physical training so everyone pack your bags and get to the grounds. I will not tolerate anyone being tardy."

*****

The training grounds were located on the far right of the academy on a wooden platform in the middle of a field, whats on the platform always gave Claude a jolt of excitement that caused goosebumps to ripple into existence along his arms.

The training grounds were divided into sections by category, the first being; Weights. Anything to do with lifting, whether it be your own body, barbells, or atlas stones the training grounds had it, along with calisthenics equipment like pull up bars, rings etc. If you wanted to transform your body and increase your strength, Weights was the place to be.

Next was the Combat section, placed a few hundred feet away from the Weights section. It was also the second largest. The Combat section housed sparring equipment such as extra armor, training dummies imbued with Magic and even Archery targets. But the gem of the Combat section was; The Ring. A simple circle in the center of the Combat section where classes held spectator sparring matches routinely.

Lastly is the Obstacle Course section which is self explanatory and where races are held once a week. Nothing crazy, but equally as important as the rest since being able to traverse the twisted biomes of a Tangent is paramount to a Hero's survival.

 ***

As Claude stepped out of the Academy with the rest of his class to head to the training grounds he noticed people where murmuring about a sparring match in the ring causing him to remember something he couldn't believe he forgot.

"Ohhhhh yea. I completely forgot that I'm sparring with Samuel today."