Bam!
Laf suddenly flinched while looking at Buram and Sir Kai training.
Well, there goes Buram, eating the dust.
I am sure he didn't eat breakfast today.
"Stand up again, and fight back," said Sir Kai, pointing a wooden sword at him.
Buram stands, trying to get into a stance with a wooden sword in his hands, being all sweaty.
"Ahhhhhh!" Buram shouts, trying to land a direct hit on Sir Kai.
Bam! Again.
"Ugh, Laf, now your turn," said Sir Kai with disappointment on his face.
I stand up from the ground with a wooden spear in my hands.
Well, looks like I forgot to tell you what's going on. So basically, Sir Kai is beating us up—well, not exactly that. This is our combat class, and as you can see, Sir Kai is our instructor. There are only 6 students from the adventure class taking part in the combat class.
"Ahh, a wooden spear today, huh? Are you stupid to not seriously consider fighting with only one weapon and trying to get better at it?" said Sir Kai with a faint smile on his face.
"No, sir, I already told you how I want to be like the hero and have mastery in all 7 weapons," I said while taking up a stance and getting ready to fight.
Well, yes—the hero had good mastery in all 7 weapons: a broadblade, a katana, a sword, gauntlets, a spear, a bow, and a scythe. And obviously, he was perfect in magic.
Sir Kai took his stance, with one hand at the back and pointing the sword toward me—his typical training stance for students.
"And I already told you that the hero was the hero and you are you. Don't mistake me, Laf, but you don't have to follow his steps. Follow your own, as I have told you," said Sir Kai.
Laf starts with a blow, directly aiming for Sir Kai's head.
Sir Kai deflects Laf's attack with his sword as he takes a step back and tries to hit Laf with the edge of his sword.
Laf manages to block it with the spear haft, but he gets pushed back.
Laf tries to get into stance.
Sir Kai launches forward, hitting Laf on his head and making him eat dust too.
I ate breakfast today, okay...
"See, you are still no good with a spear, and you think you can master all 7 weapons? Listen to me, Laf, there is no point in mastering it all—focus on one weapon," said Sir Kai with a stiff and emotionless face, looking a bit concerned, and then looking at the school entrance.
"Buram, come here and train with Laf. I will be going for now. Everyone continue your training and then go back to class after the session is over," said Sir Kai as he started walking toward the school entrance.
"Huh, again something happened. These days, Kai is being a bit stiff at work. Well, what can I say—whose brother is he?" Buram said with a proud face, striking a hero pose.
Meanwhile, Laf was in a serious state, his face stiff as he was deep in thought.
"Oye, oye—Buram to Laf, Buram to Laf, you here?" said Buram with concern.
"Yeah, yeah. Well, what do you think—should I try what Sir Kai said?" said Laf.
"What did he say again? I was dozing off," said Buram.
"For God's sake… about me training with only one weapon and not following the hero," said Laf with frustration, holding the spear tightly.
Buram looks at him and says, "Yeah, I think Kai was right about you training with one weapon. Because even if it looks cool, it will be useless in an emergency."
"Well, let's leave it for now and get back to training, or we will be beaten up again for slacking off by Sir Kai," Laf said.
Soon, they returned to class.
Meanwhile, in the potion lab—
Boom!
Cough! Cough!
"Stela, not againnn," said Madam Ville.
Ohhh yeah, Madam Ville. Well, I don't know very well about her, but she is the potion class instructor, which Stela takes. She is a woman who can be very strict and very sweet. She has purple hair and brown eyes. Some even say that she resembles a mochi with her white skin and hair color.
"Sorry, Madam Ville, I am really sorry. I was just trying to make the potion you gave us as a task," said Stela, with her face covered in black soot and on the verge of crying.
"Oh really? I gave the task to make a potion for burnt skin, to reduce the pain—not explode the area," said Madam Ville with disappointment.
"Sorry, Madam Ville, I will clean it up and try again," said Stela, her hands shaking.
"Stela, you—" Madam Ville suddenly looked outside the window and noticed a few guards.
Madam Ville shouted, "Class over, everyone. Make sure to do your homework. Now get back to your classroom."
"You too, go and wash your face. After that, take care of this mess and return to your class. Make sure to study the potion formulas again," said Madam Ville with a hint of anger.
"YES, MADAM!" said Stela.
Later in the evening, after all the classes ended, the trio sat on the ground near the school gate—
Sitting on the ground and looking at the sky, Laf asked Buram, "So why are you standing here again, with a bucket in your hand?"
Buram looked at him while pouting and said, "You know Kai. Say a bad thing about the dome and he will punish you. I only said how the barrier is getting weaker and weaker like an old person. Then he goes on a rampage and punishes me."
"Yeah, you deserved it. You already know how this dome has been protecting us from entries for over a century," said Stela while looking at him with displeasure.
"Well, the dome is still the biggest change in our world. There are many towns, but the dome was only properly made here and has lasted the longest, with special materials and the stone of pros, which somehow no one seems to find," said Laf.
Well, this dome really is a big deal. Even though it's a dome, it somehow manages to let rain pass through it and keep the entries away, even though it's not made of magic but a special stone that somehow resists entries.
"I still don't understand how it is possible to not find a single stone that keeps these entries out," said Buram.
"We don't know that, but what we do know is that the dome really is getting weak. At the beginning of the Second Generation, it seemed to avoid any kind of entries, but recently there have been frequent cases of entries," said Stela.
"Well, not like we can do anything. Let's get going," said Laf.
If you are wondering where these fools are headed, we are actually going to our usual hangout place after school. Yeah, we don't go home directly… it's boring, okay.
Soon, they reached a place with bushes covering the area, a small pond, and a tree which had a treehouse. It looked like a place directly out of a fairy tale.
"Ahhh, there it is. Never gets old," said Buram while stretching his body and climbing the ladder to the treehouse.
Well, this is a treehouse made by me and Stela more than a year ago. I still remember how proud we were of it that we even stayed here for a night.
Bam!
Buram suddenly fell to the ground.
"AHHHHH! What—what is in our treehouse?" Buram said, with a tremor in his voice.
Suddenly, the wind stopped, and two shady eyes popped out, looking at us like an entry looks at its prey.
We were too scared to even react or move. Our heartbeat became loud, and our eyes were locked on the thing.