The training centre was a huge room with various equipment and different kinds of weapons to train with were placed on the left.

At the centre, it had multiple squares big enough for two to fight marked on the ground. At the right was the practice range where stood dummies, moving targets and much more practice equipment.

At the moment, all of the students stood beside the squares; before them stood ten masked figures. Each holding a different kind of weapon; sword, axe, spear, whip, gauntlets, bow, daggers, claws, scythe, and a mace. They wore a full black fabric outfit and covered their head with a hood; their faces were hidden by a smooth white mask which only had a slit for eyes.

The students stared at the masked figures with thoughtful looks as each one of them thought about the reason behind them being here. Right at that moment, a soft voice echoed within the room, "Everyone's here?"

Zaria stood at the forefront of female students with Selina and Shelly and spoke, "Yes, Miss Maria."

"Good, good," Maria said as she walked over to Zaria and began to scan her. Zaria fidgeted under her examining gaze until Maria stooped and moved on, "You have to improve a lot."

Zaria gave her a nod and clenched her fists.

She then checked Shelly, rubbed her chin and displayed an expression between surprise and amusement, "Oh? You are an assassin, aren't you?"

Shelly's eyes widened for a moment before she gave her a silent nod.

"You are good, but not great, and anything under great is bad," she stated before walking over to the student standing behind Selina.

Seeing her do that, Zaria voiced, "Miss Maria, why didn't you check Selina?"

She gave a smile and replied, "I don't think the moon duke would allow his youngest to stay at anything other than great."

Zaria gave her a look of understanding before turning back as she mumbled to herself, "Thanks for answering me..."

"It's all right," Maria replied as she was still able to hear her.

She moved to one student after another until she reached a familiar face—Jamie. He looked at her with hidden annoyance as she scanned him and spoke, "You are all right... could be used as a meat shield."

Jamie lowered his head and nodded slightly while clenching his fists. She leaned forward and whispered in his ear, "Work hard~ little brother~"

His fists tightened, and she moved to the student beside her, who was staring at her with sparkling eyes, "Big Si—"

"Now now, I am here as the Instructor, Arden."

The sparkle in his eyes dulled as he replied with a frown, "Sorry, Miss Maria."

She scanned him and raised an eyebrow, "You have improved greatly."

He smiled at her words, and she continued forward. Next was Navin, to whom she remarked, "You are great, but you lack experience, don't you?"

"I do," Navin agreed with a serious expression.

"You don't have to worry about that. The academy is for students just like you." She added before patting his shoulder and moving towards the next student.

Who also turned out to be a familiar face—Jaden. He was looking at her with a wry smile as he spoke, "Miss Maria..."

She smiled and spoke, "You are great, you have experience too. What you lack is stability, for which I would be training you by myself."

He gave her a serious nod as he thought, 'She is right. I need to stop spamming spells... I can't drain my cores mid-battles.'

She leaned forward and mumbled in his ear, "We will be training alone... all sweaty while you thrust at me with your sword... I hope no one finds it strange."

His eyes widened upon hearing her words, and he shifted his gaze towards Selina, who was glaring daggers at Maria. Her eyes looked as if she had murder on her mind.

"Y-yes, I will work hard," he responded, at which Maria smirked and whispered teasingly, "work... hard, indeed."

Hearing her teasing remark, he closed his eyes and lowered his head as he thought about what crimes he had committed to go through something like this.

Seeing him do that, Maria chuckled and moved towards the next student.

A few minutes passed as she checked the remaining students before clapping once.

"All right, everyone. I have told each of you about what each of you lacks... now let us focus on these ladies and gentlemen standing behind me," she said as she stepped aside, "as you can see, each of them is holding a different weapon and the held weapon is what they are master of. Now, some of you may use weapons other than these ten, but you don't have to worry because they can still help you improve greatly."

She turned and pointed towards the racks of weapons before adding, "Now you make go and pick up your chosen weapon. After selecting your weapon stand before the one who has the same one as you."

The students nodded to her and walked towards the left of the room where the weapons were.

Jaden picked up a knight's sword, Selina picked up a rapier sword, Navin picked up a long spear, Jamie picked up two one-handed straight swords, Arden picked up a wooden bow and a quiver full of arrows, Shelly picked up a dagger, and Zaria picked up two short swords.

They moved and stood before the ones who were holding weapons similar to theirs.

Jaden, Selina and Jamie stood before the masked figure with the sword, Arden before the masked figure with a bow, Navin before the masked figure with a spear, and Shelly and Zaria before the masked figure with daggers.

Soon, other students also took their spots, and only a select few had weapons other than the ten.

Maria looked at them and spoke, "I'll be the one to help all the remaining ones."

She clapped once and spoke with a wide smile, "Let us begin."

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