Suddenly, I arrive at an open field and immediately old man Zane comes to a screeching halt, sliding across the field for about five meters.

I don’t dare try the same thing and instead slowly reduce my speed before gradually coming to a complete stop.

I look around the field. It’s a large barren land, parts of it charred black and greatly uneven. This place spans several square meters, so much so that my eyes can’t see the end. There are also several other people here, mostly elves training and practicing magic.

I focus back on Zane, who is standing in front of me with a serious expression on his face.

"A great battle once took place here several hundred years ago during my prime against humans and right here, we decimated all of them," Zane explains.

I look around in surprise and then back at him. If a battle from hundreds of years ago made this place look barren and deserted, how great must that battle have been for even the elves to deem this land irredeemable and convert it into training grounds?

Now, this old geezer with hundreds of years of experience wants to spar with me—a nineteen-year-old. Talk about unfairness.

"Jacob, go all out. I will fight you with only a fraction of my power," Zane says, taking a battle stance.

The stance he takes is that of a martial art, and that tells me all I need to know: he has a Warrior Class. People with Warrior Classes are awarded martial arts tailored for them by their systems, some of them copies of existing martial arts that have been tweaked.

I, on the other hand, don’t have any martial art from this world. However, in my past life, I was a prodigy in Jiu-Jitsu, Muay Thai, and Kickboxing. I was also practicing fencing just before I died while losing my virginity.

If that’s the case, I’ll first fight him as a mage and if he manages to close in, I’ll face him head-on. But damn, my Mana pool is still lacking against an elite like him.

Suddenly, Zane dashes toward me in a flash, crossing the distance in the blink of an eye as if he teleported in front of me, and throws his right fist straight toward my face.

Fuck.

WOOSH!

I manage to dodge the blow by a breath of air and perform several backflips away from him in quick succession.

My heart pounds violently in my chest as if it’s about to burst because it felt like I was literally standing at death’s door.

That speed just now—I can’t even gauge it. It felt like he teleported right in front of me. Even now, it feels like he’s toying with me because in a real fight, he would’ve followed up immediately while I was doing those backflips.

Zane pulls out a toothpick and starts picking his teeth.

"I think some pheasant meat got stuck in my teeth," he mutters under his breath before glancing at me. "Kid, how could you dodge that?" he asks, but I can’t read the expression on his face right now.

I coat my entire body with half of my Mana pool so that if I get hit, I can protect myself from critical damage. Healing from magic potions or spells is more painful than ever, especially when it comes to injuries like broken limbs or damaged organs.

Suddenly, I calm my nerves and just like that, all my nervousness disappears. I look at the wave of Zane’s Mana pool. He hasn’t shielded his body with Mana, which means he’s planning to cast a spell during close combat.

Well, unfortunately for him, I’ve already prepared three spells for him.

Just according to my calculations, Zane dashes toward me again at lightning speed. This time, his hand is shaped like a cat’s claw, ready to rip something apart, but I know this is just a decoy. His actual plan is to cast a spell.

Just as he gets close enough and aims for my face, I sidestep and throw a left jab at him, but he dodges it—taking the bait, hehe.

In that split second, I throw a left kick toward his abdomen but don’t let it connect. Instead, I unleash the three spells I had secretly cast there.

BOOOM!!

A burst of fire engulfs Zane, forcing him to shield his face from the intense heat, followed by a streak of lightning that strikes him squarely in the chest, electrocuting him. He tries to back away, but the third spell activates and a thick circular wall of earth rises around him, trapping him inside the enclosure and allowing the lightning to electrocute him for several more seconds. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

With half of my Mana gone from those three spells, my body is enhanced by the remainder. The moment I notice the lightning spell die out, I lunge forward again, breaking through the earth wall. But I am met by a blazing punch to the face. Thankfully, I evade it by bobbing my head backward and follow up with a kick to the back of his knees, making him stagger forward before I quickly retreat.

I pant heavily, sweat dripping from every pore of my skin, my legs nearly giving out because this is the first time I’ve pushed myself to the absolute limit.

A slight flash of anger appears on old man Zane’s face. When I look at him closely, I notice that his hair is disheveled, his body is covered in black soot, and parts of his clothes have been burned.

The anger on his face suddenly turns into a smile and he slowly walks toward me, no longer looking threatening.

"Alright, you passed this test. But your fighting style—it’s strange and cunning. I wasn’t going all out, but you exceeded my expectations and even managed to hurt me. You’ve passed the third test," Zane says, handing me a vial of potion.

I quickly drink the potion and immediately feel my intense exhaustion fading away. Although I’m still tired— however, all the aches in my body are completely restored.

"Let’s return home," old man Zane says before beginning to run back, though this time not nearly as fast. I follow behind him, matching his speed.