I decided to invest all five points into Perception. My goal was clear: I wanted to read emotions—maybe even thoughts—and ultimately detect skills just by looking at someone.
The training that followed was brutal. The sunlight pouring through the glass ceiling only added to the exhaustion. Our arms ached from repeatedly punching the sandbags, and the fatigue showed on everyone's faces.
Time crawled by like a snail—slow and painful.
Then, the teacher returned and offered us a challenge.
"If you've finished your warm-up routine, you may now enter the ring and spar with a partner of your choice," he announced."Except for Lucy and Lutz. You two will fight each other."
So her name is Lucy…
Fighting her was like throwing punches at a stone wall. Even if I had talent, that didn't mean I had experience. But there was no way around it.
I stepped into the ring and greeted her politely.
She looked at me with an annoyed expression.
"If you're trying to put on a show, then I'm the wrong person," she said sharply.
"Start the fight!" shouted the teacher.
She lunged at me right away. An uppercut came flying, but I managed to block it just in time. Before I could react again, she followed up with a front kick straight into my unguarded stomach.
Pain rippled through my body like a chain reaction.
I didn't back down. Rage surged inside me, and I tried to strike back. But Lucy read my rising anger like an open book and countered with a quick leg kick that knocked me off balance.
I stumbled backward and nearly hit the ground—but caught myself with my left hand just in time.
Now I was furious.No—exploding.
I rose to my feet and gathered every ounce of strength for my next move.A shovel hook—my magnum opus. My all-or-nothing.
I saw her elbows shifting, covering the right side of her face.
Too late.
My elbow slipped through her guard and landed squarely on her cheek.
Then everything went dark for a second—I was falling. And so was she.
The teacher rushed to us and began healing our injuries with magic. But the bruise on her cheek didn't vanish. It looked like she'd been hit by a baseball flying at 100 km/h.
I immediately apologized.
But she didn't accept it.
The teacher looked at me gravely and spoke.
"Beating a noble is one thing. But beating a noble from a family specialized in hand-to-hand combat… and one of the promised wives to the King's son—if he's ever found—is something else entirely."
"It's okay," she said, turning her icy gaze to me."But I'll beat you next time. And until then, I won't accept your apology."
The teacher nodded.
"That punch you landed—it was a solid prototype of what all your punches should look like in the future.""Train hard, all of you. Only through effort comes strength."
I felt... incredible. But something about his words lingered.
Promised to the king's son?
If my system buff says Son of a King, then I'm either closely related… or I'm exactly the person they're talking about.
After one more hour of intense training, the two-hour class finally ended.Exhausted but exhilarated, I made my way to the lunch hall—where a boy was already waiting for me.