We blinked as we watched our professor remove her heels, stand in the middle of the room, and take a fighting stance.

"Hand-to-hand combat is the basic of fighting. I know some of you might not use it since you have weapons, spells, and skills, but one day it could prove useful. Plus, many great fighters combine the basic martial arts with the abilities they receive from the game to create something powerful and unique to them."

During my fight with the players, I almost lost because of my lack of ability to fight.

Had it not been for the unusual skills I had, then I most likely would’ve.

These skills are what give me an edge over the others.

I mean, what other player would have a skill that allows them to spit acid and shoot a sticky secretion out of their arms?

If a player was an assassin, then they would have a stealth skill along with a range of other skills pertaining to that class.

If they were a swordsman, then they would have skills that would require a sword.

Compared to theirs, my skills were a bit more unique, which means I had to come up with my own fighting style to use them more efficiently, at least when I’m outside Vesperia.

"Come at me one at a time without using any weapons or your abilities." She instructed.

The first to step up was the girl with the Dread Knight class.

She marched forward without even taking a fighting stance and threw a wide punch without hesitation.

The professor leaned back and slipped beneath the punch with little to no effort.

"Not bad. Do you have fighting experience?" the professor asked, a small smile playing on her face.

The girl nodded.

"I’ve been in many fights."

She answered and, without hesitation, threw another punch. Amanda deflected her punch and kicked her feet, causing her to go down in an instant.

The whole thing happened so fast that I almost missed it. Her movements were fast and fluid, as if she had done it a thousand times.

She then extended her hand and pulled the defeated girl to her feet.

"You did good," she said before patting Eve on the shoulder.

Next up was the Alchemist. She removed her glasses and placed them in a corner before taking her stance in front of the professor.

She kept one of her legs raised while her right hand was extended and the other was tucked next to her chin.

Seeing this, Amelia smiled and nodded.

The two then began trading blows back and forth.

"What do you know, the lost puppy actually knows how to fight," the boy beside me mumbled.

That was Jayden, the boy with the spearmanship talent.

I was also surprised that the daughter of the Player Association president actually knew how to fight.

Come to think of it, Amelia said her father also taught her hand to hand combat.

Did all the elites and top players train their children?

She didn’t just know how to fight. She seemed extremely good at it.

Too good for an Alchemist.

She must’ve gone through some intense training to be able to keep up with a player ranked in the top 100.

Still, even with her skill, it was obvious that the professor was holding back.

"Well done," Amanda patted her on the back.

Alyah smiled shyly and bowed her head before stepping back.

Immediately after her came Jayden, who stepped up confidently and took his stance.

Even though he wasn’t as skilled as Alyah, he too was very adept at martial arts.

"Your movements are a bit stiff, but overall, it’s not that bad. Did you receive training?" Amanda asked as she deflected his fist.

Jayden smiled cheerily before spinning on his heels to deliver a well-executed roundhouse kick, but our skilled professor raised her hand and blocked the attack with ease.

"My guild gives all its members mandatory training lessons," he finally explained.

He unleashed a barrage of kicks and punches, but none of them managed to land on the professor, who deflected them all before ending the sparring session with a swift kick to Jayden’s stomach.

The boy collapsed to the ground and subsequently had to be dragged away for the next player to spar with the professor.

Next was the blonde-haired boy who was staring at me before.

I remember he said he was a mage. Even though he wasn’t built like a mage. He was muscular and tall. He looked more like a knight than a mage. Since mages mainly relied on magic, hand-to-hand combat was where they were weakest, but this expectation completely shattered the moment he stepped forward.

His strength, speed, and combat ability was far greater than Alyah’s.

Amanda seemed pleasantly surprised by his skills, even though it looked as if she was barely trying.

The force of their blows echoed through the entire room, and the sparring match went on for a full 10 minutes.

Who is he exactly?

Amanda eventually ended the match with a swift blow to his abdomen. When the blow hit, it felt as if the whole room had vibrated before the boy collapsed to the ground.

Soon it was my turn.

Unlike most of the people here, I had no training in martial arts or any combat.

Still, I didn’t like the idea of being beaten to a pulp while everyone watched.

Regardless of whether I had any training, I wanted it to at least look like I was putting up a fight. Even if I had to cheat.

Approaching her, I raised my fist to lessen the likelihood of me getting punched in the face off the bat.

Amanda smiled, likely noticing that I have no combat experience.

A part of me thought she would take it easy on me after realizing this, but oh boy, was I wrong.

She fired a powerful roundhouse kick aimed directly at my head. If I didn’t attack a small strand of googum to her feet and pulled her off balance, so the attack missed by just a few inches, my head would have been knocked from my shoulders.

What the hell?!

She wasn’t this aggressive against the other students.

"I was right. You are a punk," she sighed, almost seeming disappointed

"Huh?"

I was so speechless from the near-death experience and the fact that she called me a punk that I didn’t know what to say.

"Tell me something, do you have a girlfriend?" she asked me in a low voice so the others couldn’t hear.

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"How well do you treat her, your girlfriend I mean. Are you the type to talk to other girls while knowing you have a cute girlfriend waiting for you at home?"

Is this some kind of psychological attack?

"Answer honestly. This could be the difference between whether you live or die."

Is this woman crazy?

What the fuck?

For a moment my eyes drifted over to the exit, but at that moment I felt the ground disappear from under me.

It was only when my head hit the mat that I realized that she had done a leg sweep.

Instinctively, I covered my face as I prepared for a barrage of blows, but it never came.

Instead, I felt her soft hands as she tried to help me get to my feet.

"You’re not much of a fighter, are you? Don’t worry, with enough training you should be fine." She pulled me to my feet and patted me on the back while smiling warmly.

Her personality did a complete 180. So much so that I had to question whether I had imagined it. She then turned to the rest of the students and spoke loudly.

"Now that I know all of your capabilities, I’ll train you on individual areas that you need to improve."

For the rest of the training session, I learned the basics of fighting. Mainly, the stance and how to execute a straight punch. The professor never even mention the strangeness that occurred just moments ago.

Instead she seemed more interested in Damien who had shown potential before. For now I decided to ignore it thinking it wouldn’t be wise to confront a player that was so far above me in rank.

By the time I reached back home, I was tired, but I still decided to log in to Vesperia.

Amelia wasn’t home yet, so I decided to message her and tell her that I was entering the game-like world.

’Be safe. And also, I want to talk to you about something when you’re back.’ 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

Talk to me about something? Is it about what happened on our date? That must be it.

I quickly placed the sleeping Lily in my storage space and laid down on the bed, allowing my mind to drift off as I entered the game world.