Wizard and Witches: Griffith Academy

Training

The tournament was coming up in three days. 

For the past week, Naomi and Lisa were overwhelmed by the training that Nova provided. Every day, they would come to the Protector’s HQ early in the morning and return to their dorm late at night with pain and ache all over their body. If not for the constant stream of stamina potion Fox provided, the two would be already in the hospital. Or dead from exhaustion.

Not to mention they were lucky school was on a break. Lisa was planning to catch up by learning by herself, but she was forced to cancel that idea by the amount of training she received.

Their training mainly consisted of fighting the humanoid robot and knowing what their power could and couldn’t do.

“Knowing what you could and couldn’t do is important. It allows you to know when you must stand and fight and when to run,” Fox explained to them when they started their training. And he kept repeating it as the two experimented with their power.

Lisa learned to use roots and vines to hold her enemies still and choke them until they passed out. She tried using the vines and roots as whips, but she felt it was too brutal, so she canned the idea. Nova would question this somewhat flawed logic but decided against it as he didn’t want to be the guinea pig for her testing.

On the other hand, Naomi learned she could do a lot with her power. She could turn water into anything she wanted. A shield, dome, anything Naomi could imagine as long as it was for defensive purposes. She tried making a sword and attacking with it, but all it did was make the dummy she slashed wet with water. So for the offensive, Naomi mainly launched water balls at high speed. Nova suggested making the balls more petite, but Naomi disagreed as she thought they were too deadly. 

Each time she discovered a new way to use her power, a new screen popped up, informing her about it. Which was annoying, but she had no way of turning it off. So all she could do was just suck it up.

The robot that the two fought turned out to be a challenge, even after the two were starting to master their power. The robot easily detached itself from Lisa’s roots with its buzzsaw. It then threw knives at Naomi, forcing her to turn the water balls she was about to launch into a water shield.

[Certain activity has created a new technique!]

Name: Water Shield

Rank: ★★ 

Level: 1

Type: Activate

Mana Usage: 5 mana

[A water shield will appear when the user is attacked. Upon being pierced by a solid object, it will stop the attack from hurting the user. A higher level will enable it to deflect the attacks.]

After reading the notification, she exited the screen and returned her focus to the robot.

While Naomi focused on getting more handy with her power, Lisa focused more on her analyzing technique. It had gotten so good that she was capable of analyzing the training robot they were fighting.

[Name: Holosen]

[20 years old. Protector training robot]

[Power: Capable to adapt to enemy power]

[Weakness: ?]

Lisa sighed. Even with her analysis skill at a higher level, she was still unable to see the robot’s weakness. The only upside she got from it was the robot’s skill of adapting to its enemy’s power, which still didn’t help much.

“Nova! How do you expect us to beat… this thing?” Lisa half yelled between her, taking a breath.

Nova smirked. He didn’t expect her analyzing technique to develop so fast, but he should’ve. Lisa was one of the honor students in her school, after all.

“Everyone has a weakness, no matter how strong they look. You just haven’t found it yet,” Nova replied through the room speaker. Lisa could see the grin he tried so hard to hide.

At the end of that day, they still failed in beating the robot.

The next day, Nova suddenly stopped their training mid-way.

“I think this is enough. You need to rest for the next 2 days.” Nova said as he entered the training room.

“Are you sure? I mean-” Naomi was cut off by Fox before she could even finish.

“You’re ready. At least for a beginner. You understand your power. You know how to use it. That’s all you need. Just don’t hope too much because even if we don’t,” Fox’s robotic voice somehow felt a bit sarcastic.

“Thanks a lot for the encouragement,” Lisa rolled her eyes, trying to return the favor. But Fox simply shrugged at her word.

“He is right. We can’t teach you anything else. All you can do now is rest, and hopefully, the tournament goes well. You could ask us a few things before you return,”

“The robot, is it Clara who created it?” Lisa asked. The question piqued Naomi’s interest, as she never really got to know who Clara was. She only saw her once when passing by her shop and when Fox was fighting the four heirs.

“Yes. It was a special commission by the principal for Clara. The principal wanted to create a safe and worthy training dummy, and Clara delivered what he wanted. Fox oversaw the process to ensure nothing went wrong, and you can see the result for yourself,” Nova turned his head toward Fox. The masked protector just waved one of his hands dismissively.

“One more question! Why is Clara not a student? I mean, she is still so young, yet she is a shopkeeper instead of a student,” Naomi asked.

“That’s kind of a personal question; you should ask her yourself. All I could say is that she fits more in that shop than she would ever in the school,” Fox answered, quick and straightforward. His face was still glued to his phone.

“A-as he said it. Clara was quite shy, and it would be a shame for her to waste her technological skill to be just a student. Still, Fox and I ensured she got enough education before dropping out of school. Now, that’s enough for the questions. I think you two should rest now. Fox and I had matters to discuss.”

The two returned to their dorm. After taking turns in the shower, they decided to relax in their room, resting their tired body after rigorous training the past couple of days.

Naomi laid on her bed while Lisa sat on the window to admire the dorm’s green scenery. She must admit, she was afraid about a lot of things involving Powered and Academies at first. But after living there for just a week, she was glad she had accepted the offer. And so did Naomi.

“Hah... My body hurts so much...” Naomi groaned.

“Other times, ask me first if you want to sign up for anything…. Especially if it involves me too...” Lisa moaned, feeling her whole body burning up.

“I-I understand. I will be more careful in the future.”