"Yeah! Just try not to make a fool out of yourself with your lame-ass punch!" Kaela smiles arrogantly.
"Your self-confidence is unmatched. I like that about a student!"
When Ellie heard that, she started to write it down where Lia saw it. "You don't know how to write down everything he said, Ellie..."
"But it's important..."
William stood about ten feet away from her and said, "Alright, if you give me the offer to attack first, then I'll gladly take it."
He carefully looked at her stance, paying attention to how her weight was spread out and how her muscles were already tense and ready to move quickly. This girl was built like a battering ram for people.
"Whenever you're ready," Kaela said, opening her arms wide in a clear sign of mockery. "I won't even try to dodge. Give me your best shot, and let's see what the great Instructor Wade can do."
"She's very convincing about it, I bet her durability is off the chart... I need to be careful because she can be even stronger than that asshole, Reinsoft."
The crowd stopped talking and waited to see what would happen. William could feel the pressure of their expectations on him and see the doubt in some of their faces.
Princess Kaela was known for her crazy strength and ability to take a lot of punishment. It was supposed to feel like hitting a wall.
William took a deep breath, got his bearings, and then moved. "Here I come...!"
He quickly closed the gap between them in three steps, and his fist came up in a textbook straight punch aimed directly at Kaela's solar plexus. It probably looked like a normal attack to everyone watching, or maybe even a weak one since William wasn't putting his whole body behind it.
William, on the other hand, knew better. He had spent his whole life learning how to use force to the fullest without giving away too much information. He knew how to make a strike look casual while putting all of his power into one point of impact.
He hit Kaela in the stomach with his fist, and for a second, nothing happened. "Knew it..."
Then the princess's eyes got big with real shock as she gasped in surprise, and all the air left her lungs. Her knees gave out a little, and she actually took three full steps back before catching herself, one hand on her stomach in disbelief.
Everyone on the training ground gasped and whispered in shock. Someone in the crowd really dropped their phone.
"What the hell was that?" Kaela wheezed, still trying to catch her breath. Her ice-blue eyes were now fixed on William with an intensity that was even scarier than her earlier anger. "Nobody's ever hurt me like that before."
"How did you do it?"
"Technique over raw power," William said calmly, but inside he was glad his bet had paid off. "You were too sure of your strength and left yourself wide open. I just took advantage of that."
Kaela slowly stood up straight, and William couldn't quite place the look on her face. It wasn't anger or shame, but it was something else that made him feel a little uneasy.
"Again," Kaela said in a low voice that was strangely intense. "Hit me again. I want to know how you did that."
William said, "That wasn't the deal."
"I got a clean hit, which means you agreed to let me teach you."
"I know what I agreed to," Kaela said. Her face was definitely unsettling now because a bright red blush was spreading across her cheeks that had nothing to do with working out. "I'm asking my instructor to show me the technique again so I can learn it."
William looked at Lia and Ellie, silently asking for help, but they both shrugged, as if to say, "This is your problem now."
[Kaela Trained: Strength +5]
[Student Bond Created with Princess Kaela Aurelius]
[You got a new passive skill: Perfect Counter]
The system notifications flashed in front of William's eyes, giving him another big boost to his physical abilities. He could tell right away that his body was stronger and more responsive than it had been just an hour ago.
"Okay," William said, already wishing he hadn't said that.
"But we're doing this right as a training session, not just me hitting you over and over again like some weird kind of—" He stopped talking because he didn't know how to finish that sentence without worsening it.
"Like what kind of weird?" Kaela asked innocently, but her smile showed that she knew exactly what he was thinking.
"Forget it," William said quickly. "Let's just concentrate on the training."
...
William tried to teach Kaela how to defend herself properly, but it was both productive and chaotic for the next hour. Lia wanted her own training time, and Ellie kept trying to set up daily sessions for mana control practice. At one point, all three girls were fighting over who got what time slots, and William thought about faking his own death and starting over in a different kingdom for a short time.
Lia glared at the other two and said, "This is stupid. I was his first student, so I should get to choose my classes first."
Kaela crossed her arms defiantly and said, "I'm a princess, which makes me more important."
"But I need to practice every day, or my magic could really hurt someone!" Ellie said, her amber eyes pleading.
"Alright, let's stop arguing and—" William was about to suggest that they make a reasonable schedule like grown-ups when a strong voice broke up the fight.
"Instructor Wade."
Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned to look at an old man walking across the training grounds. He wore formal academic robes with gold and silver trim, and his presence was so powerful that even Princess Kaela stood up straight in respect.
William remembered him as Headmaster Albert, the most powerful person at the academy and someone you definitely didn't want to make angry.
"Headmaster," William addressed him, attempting to maintain a professional demeanor amidst the ongoing conflict between three of the academy's most prominent students. "How can I assist you?"
Headmaster Albert looked at him closely, as if he could see through any lies or tricks. When he finally spoke, his voice was calm, but there was an undertone of real curiosity mixed with doubt.
"Three of the best students in the world have chosen you as their instructor in one day."
"Lia Valestria, the undefeated sword prodigy."
"Ellie Von Synthia, the healing prodigy whose power is greater than that of all her peers."
"And Princess Kaela Aurelius, whose strength is thought to be unmatched in her generation."
The headmaster stopped for a moment, his eyes growing more intense. "You came to this academy as a Zero-Class instructor with a bad reputation for being completely useless."
"But today, you beat a department head in a fight and got three of our best students to join you. So tell me, Instructor Wade..."
His eyes got very narrow. "Who are you, really?"