31. It's in your hands, use it wisely.

“Run, chase him.”

“Go after him.”

He continued running and now he was out of breath. These weird-looking creatures were after his life.

Now and then he would turn back to look at them and now they were almost catching up on him.

“What could I do?”

Just then a thought crossed his mind but he could feel someone shaking him.

“No oooo.”

They finally caught up with him.

“Christopher”

He jolted awake breathing very heavily as he looked around him.

“What's going on?” a worried-looking Zinedane and Andrew asked.

He shook his head.

“It's nothing.”

“How can it be nothing you were shouting, sweating, and now you are panting so much as if you ran a marathon,” Andrew stated.

Getting irritated, he lost his cool and yelled.

“I said it's nothing!!!”

Zinedane and Andrew's faces were covered in a frown and they simply went back to their respective beds. He knew he shouldn't have done that but he couldn't help it seeing that Andrew was trying to probe him.

“They were only trying to care,” Lady Bot said in his head.

“Was I too hard on them?”

“Yes,” the system in his head answered again.

He placed his palms on his face and now ran them through his black hair.

He hissed in frustration and wondered what that was about. It was a nightmare that didn't make sense.

Why were those things after him?

He couldn't place it so he held his blankets tightly only to realize that the upper part alongside his shirt was completely drenched in sweat.

Andrew was right and he just took notice of it.

He looked at them again at the other end of the room but they simply ignored him.

He would have to apologize to them later but he couldn't tell them about his nightmare yet. At least not until he had figured it out.

He got out of bed and walked to the bathroom to get dressed for his classes.

………

After getting dressed and preparing, he decided to take his sword with him since he had training classes with Derrick. He was ransacking his belongings when he stumbled on something.

“The falcon key.”

It was the gift he got for coming out first in the examination. Despite having the key he had never visited the private training room before.

Christopher planned to explore as he kept it in his pockets.

………..

Discipleship classes on swordsmanship had ended and he walked towards the top floor which housed the private training room. He opened the door and was welcomed with a room filled with all kinds of training instruments ranging from dummy beasts, to different types of swords, bows, and arrows.

The room was decorated with marbles and the walls were beautifully decorated with glass mirrors. There was a pillar at each corner of the room. It was painted white and had gold sprinkles on it. It seemed similar to the one they saw in the whispering trees.

Christopher loved what he was seeing until a voice interrupted him.

"And what are you doing here?" He looked in the direction from where the voice spoke and he was welcomed by a shirtless Zane.

“Well this is the private training room and I have the keys, so I'm here.”

Zane looked up at him in disbelief.

“That's not possible.”

“Only one person can train here. That's why it's called private, dumb ass.”

“If that's the case then, you do your thing and I'll do mine.” Christopher shrugged.

“No,” he roared and his voice echoed across the room.

“I'm letting Elder Yue know about this right now.”

He walked out of the room and banged the door causing Christopher to jump. Christopher simply ignored him as he continued admiring the room.

The room was arranged and the training materials were kept at the four corners of the room.

The left corner held all kinds of dummy beasts, the right hand held the swords, and the front held the bows and arrows.

The swords caught Christopher’s eye the most so he walked to the right side of the room where they were placed facing upwards on the wall.

He picked up one which was relatively heavier than the one he had acquired after the examination. Christopher could feel its power just by holding it and there was no doubt, that it was no ordinary sword.

He held it in his tight hand as he did a 360 with it.

Just then he heard Lady Bot speak.

“Close your eyes and do the 360." again she ordered.

He simply obeyed.

“Swing it back and forth.”

“Now try and act as if you are fighting with it.”

He walked towards the dummy beasts at the other end of the room which was the left side and acted as if he was in a combat with them.

He swung it while taking 360 turns as he felt the energy surge through the sword.

Just then he stretched it forth and launched it into the supposed heart of the dummy beast and the sword came out through the other end of its body.

He heard loud gasps behind him and he turned back to look at the direction it came from. Then he saw Elder Yue and Derrick accompanied by an angry-looking Zane. He must have been so engrossed in what he was doing that he didn't hear them coming.

The shock was plastered on their faces as Elder Yue and Derrick scrutinized him like he was some sort of criminal.

He stood at that spot until Derrick spoke.

"Won't you take it out?" He asked, gesturing to the dummy beasts that still had a sword stuck in its heart.

He turned back immediately and tried to take it out.

He closed his eyes and this time around focused on the energy and drew it out with force.

He could hear silent whispers from Elder Yue and Derrick.

“The boy is not to be taken lightly.”

He returned the sword to its position and now turned to face them.

Elder Yue spoke first.

“This room is a private training room and it's usually given to our top disciples. For two years now Zane has held that record, being a high rank disciple.”

“But considering the level of complexity of this year's examination we decided to give it to the best aspiring disciple as well.”

So we have both concluded, he said signaling to himself and Derrick, that you both can share the room.

“No,” Zane disagreed.

“If you can't respect that, Zane then there is nothing I can do.” Elder Yue spoke with a tone of finality.

“I would rather not train here than train with him,” he said.

Derrick was shocked at his outburst but he was angry.

“Unity is one of our values at Red Falcons Academy. If you don't know that as a core disciple then you are not worthy of being called one.”

“If you won't train here then drop the key.”

“Many of the disciples seek this opportunity but you were given on a platter.”

Knowing how strict Derrick was, one wouldn't be caught by surprise, but Zane was shocked by his outburst. His face burned with fury but Derrick was unbothered.

He stretched his hands out to collect it from him. Zane placed it in his hands and stared at Christopher with contempt, then he walked out of the room.

Derrick turned to face Christopher.

“How come you were able to train with those swords?”

“It takes high-level disciples to be able to do that.”

Christopher shrugged explaining that he simply picked it up and acted as he felt.

Derrick didn't believe him but he just nodded. He walked over to where they were kept and brought one out.

“Touch it,” he said, stretching it out to Christopher.

Christopher touched the blades and they were very blunt. It felt like just a normal plane surface. Christopher was confused but Derrick explained.

“It takes someone with enough energy and soul power to activate the sharpness in the sword and that is only found among some of the high-level disciples.”

“That's the kind of sword I gave to Evangeline during the placement test.”

Christopher muttered a quick oooh in realization.

“On top of that, it takes a while to be able to fight with it and go ahead to use it to strike the heart of something.

“Just what are you?” He questioned sending a cold piercing gaze at him.

Christopher was dumbfounded. He didn't didn't like how this was going.

Just let him be, Elder Yue spoke.

They both had their doubts about what he was, but Elder Yue just didn't want to push further.

“You have the training room in your hands now.”

“Use it wisely.”

Elder Yue spoke and he and Derrick walked to the door.

Derrick stopped mid-way and turned to face him again.

“I'm curious about what your element will be at the awakening ceremony.”

“It's in three days.”

Christopher hadn't thought about that in a while and with Derrick's last statement, he left the room alongside Elder Yue.