Chapter 22: Situational Awareness

After two hours and a dozen opponents, Rita finally stopped calling more people to the ring. "Alright, I have the combat data that I need. It looks like Karl here has a pretty good memory and instinct for someone who has clearly never won a fight before in his life. That's good enough for us to get started on the next round of instruction." She announced. "The next round? What exactly are we going to have to do next? I'm already struggling to win a fight here unarmed, I'm not sure that throwing more knowledge at me is going to help." Karl asked. Rita laughed at Karl's concern. "No, we're not going to force you to learn even more in the next few days. Instead, what we will be doing is tying everything that you have learned into one practical lesson and then grinding it into your brain until it is impossible for you to forget it. You need to be able to block attacks while fighting, and work with Hawk at the same time. Like a Mage that has been tasked with both offence and defence, you'll be working overtime, and you need to build your situational awareness." Karl nodded like he understood, but Rita saw right through his subterfuge. "What I mean is that you must be aware of where all threats are at all times, or either you or Hawk could get yourselves into a lot of trouble. You're not indestructible, and enemies will try to lay traps for you. That means you can't let the Hawk act freely on instinct, they will know what to expect from that. You have to guide him while also protecting yourself and maintaining a solid offence so that you can fight your way out of trouble if it finds you." Rita explained. "Well, that sounds like a lot of work, so it must be important. How am I going to do that?" Karl asked. "Practical skills training class. You will have accuracy and speed training with the mages in the morning, martial arts training in the afternoon, and then an entire day of practical skills training every week. Now, tomorrow is normally the odd day for most students, where they take their elective subjects instead of their core training. For you, that means practical skills. Then the day after is an off day, so catch up on rest and healing, and you'll be back with the mages on Monday morning." At least there was still an off day. "Now, you can call it an early day and go get something to eat. Tomorrow will be a long one, and the first time is always the hardest. But trust me, this class will be important for you, especially if you start collecting more Monsters on your side." Rita added, then walked away. Karl wanted to argue that he could do perfectly well like the mages that he worked with, just doing theory for half the day and practical skills for the other half, but that didn't seem to be an option now that he had been singled out as having a unique skill. The fact that he was currently one of the strongest freshmen briefly entered his mind, but as Karl hadn't actually interacted much with the other new students, his skills could only be compared to the second year students, where even the misfits of the class could probably take him in a fight. It didn't feel all that impressive as a title. When he showered, changed and finally got back to the student cafeteria for an early meal, there were a lot more students than usual hanging around, chatting and laughing. These were the other freshmen that Karl didn't usually see, who were still undergoing mostly theoretical training for the noncombat skills that they had awakened. Unlike the scorched, frozen and bruised freshmen who would show up later, these looked surprisingly cheerful, though Karl could see that whatever they were doing was wearing them out, and they were mentally exhausted. "Oh, it's the first through the field. Why don't you come and join us?" One of the girls asked as Karl stepped into line behind her. "It looks like I already have a reputation." Karl laughed as more people turned to look at him. A boy a few places in front of him nodded. "They use your group as the example of what sort of courage and caution we are supposed to have. You all managed to make it all the way without any issues, other than the ones caused by other groups that weren't as good. The teachers want to make sure that we all know it too, and the others from your group, Dana, James, and Kruger are already living the celebrity life in class. Well, mostly James and Kruger, since Dana disappeared into the Library to do her mage training on the first day and doesn't really come out much." The girl who had greeted Karl laughed. "That's because she wants to find a way to reduce the casting cost of her magic until she can use it for a whole fight. I told her that it's not realistic, mages are burst damage sorts, blast it hard and hope it dies, but she's bent on being able to fight for longer without switching to area effects, which don't work well in a group." Karl shrugged. "We've all got our own style, I guess. But being able to work in a group is important as well. I heard that later in the year everyone gets a chance to go out on missions for extra credit, and that is normally done in a larger group with one of the seniors." The students in line all nodded eagerly as the girl replied. "We're looking forward to it. The extra credit isn't about marks in class, it can get you all sorts of special privileges. Well, it can get us all sorts, but I heard that you already have an assigned tutor and customized classes, so you don't need to worry about the two biggest ones that everyone wants." "It's not all sunshine and rainbows. A full-time tutor means full-time customized classes on their schedule, not yours. I would love to be able to slack off." Karl laughed. The students around him snorted in amusement. "Even without them, the teachers are right on top of anyone who tries to slack. It's like they know the instant that you're not working as hard as you could be, and they're trained to jump on you and make you catch up. The pure amount of homework that we all got the first few days because we treated class like school was insane."