It was early in the morning. The town was quiet, the gentle chirping of the birds echoed. The silence of the vast forest outside the town enveloped the town eerily. Although almost everyone was used to it by now.
Egeria was outside. He was wearing his new armor he had received from the tournament, which had a nomadic style, he also had summoned his enhanced scabbard and longsword into existence and tied them around his belt.
He was heading to the location Nymphia had mentioned in the note she'd sent him. Apparently, the Virellis family had decided to sponsor him. That meant both he and Nymphia would receive a better instructor. Though Egeria had hesitated at first, he'd eventually accepted—there was no sense in turning down a good opportunity
The place he arrived in was in the outskirts of the town, just near the exit of the town. The place looked like a training ground. As he walked further he could see the 10 familiar faces that had participated in the tournament alongside him and became harmonics. Other than them, there were other 5 do ranked harmonics that he did not recognize and 4 instructors that were of the Re rank.
"Morning," Nymphia muttered as Egeria came to stand beside her, he nodded as a greeting. She was wearing the Re ranked battle robes she had received. Although it seems she, or her family had added some protections to her robes, such as shoulder, knee and elbow guards.
Other than her, Vex was here too. He was draped in his silver kingly armor, and his blonde hair was tied in a ponytail. He was practically shining, Egeria also noticed that some of the female harmonics were practically drooling as they looked at him.
When Vex noticed Nymphia and Egeria, he walked towards them calmly. "Greetings you both, it is good to see a few familiar faces around here."
"Greetings," Egeria replied, noticing how Nymphia offered only a brief nod. Was it just him, or did she seem... off?
"The instructors of this year are very skilled. They also come from families that have high influence." Vex said.
When Vex praised the instructors, Egeria couldn't help but peek a glance at them. Currently the four of them were standing away from the new harmonics and chatting amongst each other.
There were 2 men and 2 women amongst them. The men were rather tall and had great builds under their expensive armors. One of them had auburn short hair with orange eyes? Perhaps his FWA changed his eye colors, or he was wearing lenses. The other was more on the simpler side, he had brown hair and dark eyes.
Although most of the Harmonics had looks that were above average due to their body getting rid of the imperfections, this man looked rather average. But he exuded a powerful aura.
As for the women, the short one seemed very cheerful, she had a constant smile on her face that made Egeria irk. She had long orange hair and a pretty face. Unlike the other instructors, she did not have a powerful aura. But Egeria was somewhat convinced that she was a two-faced devil.
The other woman instructor..
Her face was smooth and symmetrical, with sharp, refined lines that gave her a cold, captivating beauty. Her dark, shoulder-length hair was tousled, tied back into a long ponytail that trailed behind her.
Her physique is lean and honed, with the unmistakable presence of someone trained. She's not bulky, but every line of her body hints at refined strength. Her shoulders are broad and squared with effortless posture, the short sleeves of her fitted black shirt outlining the subtle curve of her upper arms—toned, firm, and agile.
But what caught Egeria's attention most… were her eyes.
They were blue.
His mind drifted back to the underground chamber where he had first awakened as a Harmonic. Where a mysterious blue-eyed 'spirit' had watched over him. Was it a coincidence?
"Who has got your eye?" Vex asked, making Egeria tear his gaze away from the blue-eyed woman.
"No one particular.. I was just observing the instructors."
Vex did not press further, and right after that the dark haired man stepped forward, where the Do ranked harmonics were gathered.
"Everyone, gather in a line." His cold tone was authorities as he addressed them. The newbies immediately made up a line. "My name is Cale. I am one of the instructors that will be teaching you the ways of a harmonic."
Then he pointed to the other instructors and introduced them. The smiley woman was Kaith, the handsome man was Adam. And finally the blue eyedwoman was Miyu from Lancaster family.
Even though Egeria had never met a Lancaster, he knew that no one was weak in that family. The children are raised as Harmonics who serve the town with unwavering discipline. Their ways of teaching is said to be brutal, both emotionally and physically.
As Cale was about to speak again, he suddenly stopped and looked in the direction of the entrance. Aria Lyriou was entering with the bodyguard of the Lyriou estate. The bodyguard approached Cale whilst Aria joined the newbies on the line.
After the bodyguard left, Cale continued. "My apologies for the interference. Lady Aria will be joining us in this training regime it seems even if she is not a harmonic. Please do not discriminate her."
'The privilege that comes with being rich.' Egeria thought bitterly, he did not glance in her way and kept his attention on Cale.
"Now, instructors will be calling out your names, every 4 of you will be assigned to one instructor. Each squad will head out into the forest once a week, and they will train amongst each other every day."
With out the instructors starting calling out the names of their students. When it was Miyu Lancaster's turn, she simply named the people who had shown the highest performances during the tournament: Egeria, Vex, Aria and Nymphia.
Each squad retreated to their own section of the training grounds. The atmosphere amongst Miyu's squad was rather awkward and cold. As the group members had animosity towards each other.
Now that they had lined up, Miyu was observing them quietly, after a long moment of silence, she finally spoke up.
"I am Miyu Lancaster. You shall be calling me Madame Miyu. Today we won't be doing much as most of it has been wasted on useless introductions." Her tone was quite sharp and cold.
'What a cheerful personality..' Egeria wanted to scoff, but Madame was a bit too intimidating as she looked like she could chop his head off if he said something. Her voice sounded familiar too.
"Pick up training weapons, Lady Virellis, you just use your chains if you want. You will be attacking me as a group."
Egeria picked up a wooden longsword, Vex did the same while Aria picked up a long stick. Nymphia just summoned her chains that were given in the ceremony. The chain could extend and shrink, with her Do skill it would be very useful.
Egeria cast a sideways glance at Aria, she was most likely going to hold them back as she was a simple human instead of a Do ranked Harmonic.
Madame Miyu also took a wooden claymore. The woman was as tall as Egeria.
"Come at me." She ordered. The first one to charge was Vex.
As he closed in he raised his sword and slashed is downwards to Miyu's left side since it had less defense than the right side. But Miyu was a rank higher than us, she reacted almost immediately as she pivoted to the back and swung her claymore with such force that even if Vex had brought up his sword to block it, he fell to the ground and his wooden sword shattered.
Right when Miyu was going to turn to them, Egeria was already upon her. He swung his sword in arc, just as Miyu was going to swing her claymore against Egeria to parry his attack, Nymphia's chains wrapped around her claymore. And Aria was bringing her stick downward to bash it onto Miyu's head.
Miyu simply sighed. With a sharp tug, she yanked the claymore free from Nymphia's chains, sending the girl stumbling to the ground.
Aria brought her stick down—but Miyu tilted her head, letting it smack harmlessly against her shoulder. She didn't even flinch.
As for Egeria, he had closed in to land a clean blow—but Miyu suddenly stepped into his space, cutting off his swing. Not even a second later, she slapped him with the back of her hand with ferocious force.
The impact rang in his skull like a bell. He hit the dirt hard, gritting his teeth with a wince.
Then she turned to look at Aria, who was the only one standing. She was staring at Miyu as if she had just seen a ghost.
"Your teamwork is shit." She briefly commented.