The news of Yu Tian-Heng's challenge hit the West Courtyard like a physical blow.
By the time Arthev returned from the library, the sun was beginning to dip below the academy walls, casting long, melancholic shadows across the training grounds. The atmosphere was not one of excitement or competitive spirit. It was the heavy, suffocating silence of a wake.
Seven students sat in a loose circle on the grass. Even Teacher Su looked defeated, leaning against a tree with his arms crossed, staring blankly at his clipboard as if hoping a strategy to defeat the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon would magically appear on the paper.
"Ten minutes," Jing Ling, the Skeleton Spirit user, muttered. He was pulling clumps of grass out of the ground, his face pale. "He wants us to last ten minutes. Against the First Team."
"We're dead," a female student whispered. She was Sun Lian, a Bird Spirit user.
"Forget ten minutes. As soon as Dugu Yan releases her Phosphor Jade Mist, we'll all be poisoned. We won't even see them coming."
Huang Yuan sat with his knees pulled up, staring at the dirt. The usually brash, confident Wolf user looked small.
"It's humiliation," Huang Yuan grunted.
"They aren't fighting us to test us. They're fighting us to show the teachers why we belong in the garbage bin. It's a public execution."
Arthev stopped at the edge of the circle. He adjusted his cuffs, his eyes calm and observant.
'The morale is negative,' Matatabi observed quietly in his mind. 'They have already lost the battle in their fear center before stepping into the arena.'
'Pathetic,' Shukaku snorted. 'If they are going to cry, I should just bury them now. Save the Dragon the trouble.'
'They are not soldiers, Shukaku,' Isobu whispered. 'They are students. They need... encouragement.'
Arthev walked into the circle. His footsteps were silent, but his presence was felt immediately. The students looked up.
"You're back," Huang Yuan said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
"Did you find a book on how to write a will? Because that's the only study material we need right now."
Arthev didn't sit. He stood tall, looking down at them with a polite, puzzled expression.
"I am confused," Arthev said softly. "I was under the impression that we had two weeks to prepare. Why are you all acting as if the match is happening in five minutes?"
"Because the time doesn't matter!" Jing Ling snapped, jumping to his feet.
"You're new! You don't understand! That's Yu Tian-Heng! That's Dugu Yan! They are the Royal Team! We are the Second Team. The spares. The rejects!"
He pointed a shaking finger at Arthev.
"You provoked them. You and your Village Wisdom pushed the Captain. Now we all have to pay for it."
The accusation hung in the air. Teacher Su straightened up, ready to intervene, but Arthev raised a hand.
"I see," Arthev said. "So, because they are 'Royal,' you have decided that your Soul Rings are merely decorations?"
He looked at Jing Ling.
"You are a Skeleton Soul master. Agility Attack System. You are fast, are you not?"
"I... yes, but—"
"And Student Huang," Arthev turned to the wolf. "You have three rings. You are a Level 36 Spirit Elder. Your claws can tear through stones."
"Not Dragon scales," Huang Yuan muttered.
"Have you tried?" Arthev asked.
The question was simple, but it silenced the group.
"The definition of insanity," Arthev stated, looking around the circle,
"is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. You have lost to them in the past because you fight them the way they want you to fight."
Arthev walked to the center of the circle and picked up a stick. He drew a large square in the dirt, the arena.
"Yu Tian-Heng is a dragon. He wants a head-on collision. He wants to overpower you with lightning. If you charge him, you lose. Dugu Yan is a control master. She wants you to bunch up so her poison catches everyone. If you stay in formation, you lose."
He looked up, his dark eyes crinkling in a polite smile.
"So, we will not do those things."
Huang Yuan frowned, leaning forward. "Then what do we do? Run away?"
"Exactly," Arthev said.
The group blinked.
"We run?" Jing Ling asked incredulously.
"That's your plan? Cowardice?"
"Survival," Arthev corrected. "The condition for victory is not to defeat the Royal Team. The condition is to remain conscious for 600 seconds. We are not playing wrestling, Student Jing. We are playing Tag."
Arthev tossed the stick aside.
"Teacher Su," Arthev addressed the stunned instructor. "May I have permission to lead the physical conditioning for the next three days?"
Teacher Su hesitated. He looked at the defeated faces of his students, then at the strange, confident boy in black. He had nothing to lose.
"Go ahead, Arthev," Su sighed. "It's not like I have a better idea."
-----
The Next Morning – Day 1 of Training
The sun had barely risen when Arthev woke the Second Team up. He didn't use a bell. He simply walked into their dorm hallway and released a very small, very concentrated pulse of Killing Intent courtesy of Shukaku.
It woke them up with a primal jolt of terror.
Ten minutes later, seven groggy, grumpy, and frightened students stood in the West Courtyard.
"Why are we up this early?" Jiang Zhu, the healer, yawned, clutching her Healing Staff like a teddy bear.
"Because the Dragon wakes up at dawn," Arthev lied smoothly. "And we need to be awake before him."
He held a bundle of black cloth strips in his hand.
"Today, we start with Lesson One: The Failure of the Eyes."
He tossed a strip to each student.
"Put them on," Arthev ordered. "Cover your eyes."
Huang Yuan caught his strip, looking at it with disdain. "Blindfolds? Are we playing pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey? This is childish."
"Dugu Yan's Jade Phosphor Mist," Arthev explained, his voice taking on a lecture tone,
"is opaque. It blocks vision. It also irritates the tear ducts. If you rely on your eyes to aim or dodge, you will be blind the moment she releases her first skill. If you cannot fight without seeing, you are already dead."
"This is stupid," Jing Ling muttered, but he tied the cloth around his head.
Soon, seven students stood blindfolded in the center of the yard, looking ridiculous and disoriented.
"I can't see anything," Sun Lian complained, stumbling slightly. "I feel dizzy."
"Good," Arthev said. "Now, stay inside the white circle painted on the ground. If you step out, you run ten laps."
"We can't see the circle!" Huang Yuan shouted.
"Then feel the texture of the stone," Arthev replied calmly. "The paint is slightly raised."
Arthev walked silently to the edge of the training ground. He bent down and picked up a handful of small, hard acorns that had fallen from the oak .
Arthev projected. 'I need non-lethal trajectory calculations. Let's aim for the ears, forehead, and shins.'
Arthev didn't warn them. He flicked his wrist.
Thwack.
"Ow!" Huang Yuan yelled, clutching his ear. "Something bit me!"
Thwack. Thwack.
"Hey! Who hit me?" Jing Ling spun around, swinging his arms wildly at nothing.
"My shin!" Jiang Zhu cried out.
"Focus," Arthev's voice drifted from a different direction than the acorns. "You are reacting to the pain. That is too late. You must react to the displacement of air."
"Displacement of air?" Huang Yuan roared, rubbing his ear. "It's an acorn! It doesn't displace air like a cannonball!"
"A wolf can hear a twig snap at fifty meters," Arthev said. "Are you a wolf, Student Huang? Or are you a domesticated dog?"
Thwack.
An acorn bounced off Huang Yuan's forehead.
"Dammit!" Huang Yuan growled. "Alright! Bring it on!"
Two Hours Later
It was a disaster.
The Second Team was covered in small bruises. They were sweaty, angry, and exhausted. They hadn't dodged a single acorn intentionally. The few misses were purely accidental.
Jing Ling tore off his blindfold, throwing it onto the ground.
"This is impossible!" he shouted, his face red.
"You're just humiliating us! No one can dodge a projectile they can't see! It's physically impossible unless you're a Titled Douluo!"
The other students stopped, panting. They looked at Arthev with resentment. The initial intrigue had worn off, now they just felt foolish.
Arthev stood perfectly still. He reached into his pocket and pulled out another blindfold.
"Impossible is a word used by those who have stopped trying," Arthev said gently.
He tied the blindfold over his own eyes. The black cloth covered his dark irises, leaving him completely sightless.
"Student Jing," Arthev said. "Pick up the acorns. Throw them at me. All of you. Throw them at once."
Jing Ling hesitated. "You want us to hit you?"
"I want you to try," Arthev corrected.
Huang Yuan grinned maliciously. He scooped up a handful of acorns. "You asked for it, genius."
The seven students gathered their ammo.
They looked at each other, nodded, and then unleashed a barrage.
Twenty acorns flew through the air, converging on Arthev from multiple angles.
Arthev didn't move his feet.
He tilted his head to the left. Three acorns sailed past his ear.
He rotated his shoulders slightly. Two acorns missed his chest by a millimeter.
He caught one acorn between his thumb and index finger without looking.
It was a dance. Minimal movement. Maximum efficiency. He wasn't moving fast, he was moving before the acorns arrived.
For thirty seconds, the students threw everything they had. Not a single acorn touched his black uniform.
When the barrage stopped, Arthev stood amidst a circle of fallen nuts. He slowly untied the blindfold and opened his eyes.
The resentment in the students' faces was gone. It was replaced by shock.
"How?" Jiang Zhu whispered. "You... you didn't even use Soul Power."
"I listened," Arthev said .. "The air tells you everything before the object arrives. The object pushes the wind then the wind pushes your skin."
He looked at the stunned group.
"You have two weeks. You can spend them complaining that it is impossible, or you can learn how to listen."
Arthev picked up the blindfold Jing Ling had thrown on the ground and held it out to him.
"Well?" Arthev asked politely. "Are we done for the day? Or do you want to survive?"
Jing Ling stared at the cloth. He looked at Huang Yuan, who was rubbing his bruised forehead but looking at Arthev with a newfound hunger.
Jing Ling snatched the blindfold back.
"Give me the acorns," Jing Ling said through gritted teeth. "I'm not going to let the new guy show me up."
Arthev smiled, a small, barely there expression.
"Excellent. Round two."
To be continued...