63: The second mock-battle

The second mock-battle

Ed woke up and headed to the class. Today was the second mock-battle so it was simply a repeat of last time. When he got there, he joined the same team as before. All teams headed to the monitor room and waited while the battles took place. The opponent this time was D class. Ed was glad since it meant the difference wouldn't be as big as with B or A class. Now, his classmates had more chances of winning.2

The first team that went was made of a group of students that didn't join Ed's training. They fought almost the same way as in the first mock-battle. However, they were able to knock own a couple of students from D class, at the cost of their own teammate. In the end, their flag was taken and E class suffered the first loss.

The second team was a team that joined Ed's training. They used the decoy strategy and ganged up on students who fell for it. They also had an Earth magic user, so they were able to hide the flag and make some traps. They lost three students and were able to defeat all other D class students or at least make them unable to fight. E and D class were now tied as well.

The next fight went almost the same way and they were two for one. The second teams fought again due to D class' students asking for a rematch. And this time class D won. Ed's team would be able to decide which class truly won. Ed made his way to the starting point and activated his Map. He was going to finish this as fast as possible since he wanted to use the time left for training. They didn't have any other classes today.

"I'll try to finish this quickly." He told the rest of his teammates. Another reason he was doing this, was because Ellie still looked spiritless. Her loss to Ed must have crushed the pride she had in her power.

Ed checked his Map and pinpointed the location of the other team. He noticed that one of them was represented by a red dot. 'Is he a friend of Norris? Or is there something going on in this academy?' Ed was feeling restless. The red dots he noticed in the capital last week and this one made him feel uncomfortable. If they were all friends of Norris, it's good he can handle them. If there was something deeper going on it would be very troublesome.

Ed decided to leave it for now and focus on what he has in front of him. He activated Ten and his Spectral Shadow steps. In this state, it took him less than two minutes to reach the enemy's location. The one who was guarding the flag was surprised that he screamed loudly. "How is it possible?!" He couldn't believe it so he was stunned, but quickly reorganized his thought and used magic to stall Ed. His teammates couldn't possibly be as fast as Ed so they should still be nearby and come to help.

Ed's opponent activated fire magic and sent a firewall at him. However, this wasn't enough to stall Ed. He quickly jumped up and activated wind magic of his own, sending the opponent flying away. Ed made his way to the flag but was stopped by an ice wall this time. He looked ahead and found a different teammate this time. 'It seems like they took precautions this time' Ed simply punched the ice wall making it crumble. He simply couldn't be stopped and took the flag before the others could even get back to their starting point.

Ed's performance was outstanding. He quickly got back to the monitor room and excused himself. He wanted to spend as much time as possible training Nen since it was both useful to use and hard to master.

Ed spent two weeks doing the same thing. Other than the weekend where he went out of the capital to hunt and meet up with Eri and the rest, he was almost glued to his room. He was able to ascend another level becoming King Establishment Level 3. He was also finally able to use In, so he explained it to his monster buddies.

"You can think of In as the step-up version of Zetsu. In this state, you're able to completely hide your aura while allowing it to flow normally. You do not suppress it like with Zetsu but simply hide it. Take this for example." Ed lifted his finger and the number could be seen forming thanks to his aura. "This is my aura without using In. Now if I use it." The number suddenly vanished and only Ed's hand could be seen. "You can't see it or feel it in this state. However, if you use Gyo you'll be able to see it as if nothing is used." Ed used Gyo on his eyes, indicating that they should do the same. Now everyone was able to see the number one. Same as before In was used.

"You can also know if someone is using In on their aura if you don't see it when it should be used." Ed finished his explanation and continued with the normal Ren extension training.

In the second week, they battled B class. E class was able to snatch two wins thanks to Ed's team and another team. Now Ed could access B class level in the library making him read about monsters up to Heavenly Establishment.

Ellie was still down even after two weeks. This was worrying Ed and his companions so he was thinking of ways to cheer her up, but it wasn't easy. Harry, their teacher even told him that an inter-class tournament was due to happen in the next week. They were all surprised since they weren't told at all, and now they have so little time to prepare.

Ed, however, decided to focus on the auction bound to happen this weekend. He was going to try and get the cockatrice meat, as well as anything that interests him. Ed prepared the night before and got the money ready. He was also going to be selling some potions and monster carcasses to increase his income. He had no idea how much he was going to spend, but it was better to prepare.

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