[VOLUME 1] N.E.X.U.S. : Inception

Chapter 9: The Bond in Sword Training

Finally, the morning broke again, and I was still in a deep slumber, reluctant to wake up from the beautiful dream. As usual, Orion always woke up earlier than me and woke me up, "Morning, Hector. Let's get up and get ready..." "Hmm...Alright... morning, Orion," I half-heartedly replied while rubbing my eyes. Vaguely, I saw Hector sitting beside my bed with a smile, of course, he was already prepared and wearing his armor. Lazily, I got up and washed my face, then put on my armor. Then we descended the hill to the lake to cleanse our bodies, dry ourselves, put on our armor again, and hurried to the dining hall. 

As usual, the dining hall was still empty, except today we found Hyperion sitting there waiting for us!"Morning, Hector, Orion, let's have breakfast together!" Hyperion said warmly. Oh, this guy is get used to doing this, ... but, ah, never mind. We quickly grabbed our breakfast and sat at the same table with Hyperion. "Let's eat quickly, and leave before anyone sees us, don't you feel awkward yesterday?" Hyperion said with an innocent smile. Oh well. The important thing is to eat first. We quickly ate our breakfast dishes eagerly. Not bad, today we got some tasty smoked meat. "Hey Hector, are you free tonight?" Hyperion suddenly asked, "around 7:30 PM, after dinner." Hmm... I thought for a moment and checked the schedule on my gear's projection, then nodded, "Yes, of course, is there something?" I asked. "Ah, well, I want to invite you to do sparring with me, I sometimes do it with Orion too. But since Orion just had an asthma attack, maybe it's better for him to have a good rest first, I'm looking for a sparring partner, and I hope you'll accompany me," Hyperion said with a slightly hesitant tone, but his blue eyes demanded seriousness."Are you kidding, Knight Hyperion? I just started sword training yesterday," I replied in surprise. "It's okay, sword fighting isn't as difficult as you think, and Leonidas said your performance was good yesterday, you learn fast. I'll just teach you the basic sword sparring techniques. Besides, you'll improve faster if you practice often," Hyperion said with a slightly pleading tone. 

I felt reluctant to refuse Hyperion's offer, then I agreed, "Alright, where will we spar tonight?" Hyperion smiled, then said, "At the training ground as usual, we'll use the northern field, I'll prepare the swords, you just need to come. I'll be at the field by 7:20 PM tonight, so be ready!" Then he patted my back, got up from the dining table to finish his meal, and headed to the dishwashing area. We had finished our meal too, and quickly got up and headed to clean the dining utensils. We finished it, and hurriedly left the dining hall. "Don't forget to attend the sword training this afternoon, you'll learn some additional techniques that you can use for sparring tonight," Hyperion whispered in my ear. I nodded. Then Orion and I hurried to our room to get ready. 

Just at the doorstep of our room, we heard Sir Gunter shouting from downstairs. "Hey, for those who haven't had breakfast yet, hurry up. We'll start training 30 minutes earlier today. So don't be late!" Ah, luckily we had finished our breakfast. "Hmm... unusual," said Orion. "Why?" I asked. "Sir Gunter never speeds up the training schedule, this is the first time it has happened since I joined here," explained Orion. Hmm... maybe something important that Sir Gunter wanted to convey, I thought."Let's go downstairs," I invited Orion. Orion nodded, "Right, let's go down, maybe we can find out why Sir Gunter asked us to start training earlier today." We immediately went down, and the field was still as empty as usual. But not long after, one by one, other soldiers crowded the field. Suddenly Dionysios approached us, and patted our backs, "Morning, Hector, Orion." We immediately returned the greetings, "Morning, Dionysios." Shortly after, Sir Gunter had arrived at the field along with Hyperion and Leonidas. "Alright, good morning, soldiers. Have you all had breakfast? Okay, today we're starting training earlier, and as usual, we'll walk around the training track, carrying the same load as before. And today, groups A and B will be accompanied by Hyperion; while groups C, D, and E will be accompanied by Leonidas. Okay, without further ado, please take your respective load bags from the storage warehouse, and join the training line. Return here before 10:00 AM." We immediately obeyed Sir Gunter's command, and began to take our load bags, carrying them on our shoulders, then walked following Knight Leonidas.