The rhythm of the West Courtyard had changed.
Three days ago, the air was filled with complaints, groans, and the sounds of bodies hitting the floor. Now, on the fourth morning, the sounds were subtler. The scuff of a boot on stone. The sharp intake of breath. The whish of an object cutting through the air, followed by silence instead of a thud.
Huang Yuan stood in the center of the painted circle, the black blindfold tight around his eyes. His ears twitched, a trait of his Wolf Spirit that he usually ignored in favor of brute sight.
Snap.
A dried twig cracked under Arthev's boot twenty meters away. It was a deliberate noise, a bait.
Huang Yuan didn't move. He held his breath.
Whish.
From the opposite direction, Arthev threw a blunt wooden practice kunai. It wasn't moving at lethal speed, but it was fast enough to leave a bruise.
Huang Yuan's body jerked. He didn't think, or analyze. His spine simply reacted to the sudden pressure change in the air near his left shoulder. He dropped his left shoulder and pivoted his hips.
The wooden kunai sailed through the space where his collarbone had been a split second before.
"Hit," Arthev announced calmly.
Huang Yuan ripped off the blindfold.
"What? No! I dodged it! I felt the wind!"
"You dodged the knife," Arthev corrected, walking out of the shadows of the oak trees. "But you stepped out of the circle."
Huang Yuan looked down. His heel was resting on the white paint.
"Damn it!" The wolf student kicked the dirt, but there was a grin on his face. "But I dodged it. I actually dodged it without seeing."
"Progress," Arthev nodded politely. "Your instincts are waking up, Student Huang. You are finally listening to the wolf inside you rather than trying to drive it like a carriage."
Arthev stood still for a moment, closing his eyes. The Tailed Beasts were quiet in his mind, respecting his focus. He didn't need them right now. Their presence had fundamentally altered his physiology, enhancing his neural pathways and sensory receptors, but the processing of that information was all Arthev.
He felt the wind rustling the leaves. He felt the vibration of Jing Ling pacing nervously ten meters away. He felt the heartbeat of a squirrel in the tree above.
"Again," Arthev ordered. "But this time, Jing Ling joins you in the circle. Do not collide."
-------
Noon
While the combat specialists practiced their blindfolded evasion, Jiang Zhu sat on the sidelines.
She was the team's only support. Her Spirit was the Healing Staff. She was a petite girl with a timid personality, used to standing at the far back of the formation, safe behind Huang Yuan's broad shoulders.
She watched the boys training with a mix of awe and dread. She couldn't dodge like that. She wasn't fast. She wasn't strong.
"You are thinking loud enough to disturb the meditation of the beetles," a voice said softly.
Jiang Zhu jumped, clutching her staff to her chest. Arthev was sitting on the bench next to her. She hadn't heard him approach.
"I... I'm sorry, Arthev," she stammered.
"I'm just... I'm useless for this strategy. You want us to survive ten minutes against the Royal Team? I can't run fast. I can't dodge blindfolded. The moment the fight starts, Osler will dive past Huang Yuan and take me out. I'm a free point."
She looked down at her staff. It was a dark, polished wood, topped with a red gemstone. "I should just quit so you can find a defensive support."
"Resignation is an efficient way to ensure failure," Arthev said, his tone devoid of mockery. "But it is poor strategy."
He reached out. "May I?"
Jiang Zhu hesitated, then handed him her Healing Staff.
Arthev weighed it in his hands. It was heavy, made of ironwood. Most supports treated their tool spirits like wands, delicate instruments for channeling energy. But this...
"It is nearly five kilograms," Arthev noted. "Balanced near the top."
"It's heavy," Jiang Zhu admitted. "I hate carrying it."
"Why do you carry it?" Arthev asked.
"To... to channel healing light?"
"It is a stick, Jiang Zhu," Arthev said simply. He stood up and walked to a wooden training dummy nearby.
"Most support masters believe they are defenseless," Arthev lectured, his voice carrying across the courtyard. "They believe that because they heal, they cannot hurt. This is a lie."
Arthev didn't activate any spirit power. He didn't glow. He simply held the staff near the base with two hands.
Whack.
He swung it in a tight, upward arc. The heavy ironwood head connected with the dummy's chin. The wood splintered.
Thud.
He reversed the grip instantly, driving the butt of the staff into the dummy's solar plexus.
Crack.
He spun the staff overhead, using the momentum to deliver a downward strike that split the dummy's wooden skull in half.
Arthev stopped. He wasn't breathing hard. He turned back to a wide-eyed Jiang Zhu and handed the staff back.
"It is a stick," Arthev repeated. "A heavy stick. If a Wind Spirit user dives at you, thinking you are a soft target, and you break his nose with five kilograms of ironwood... he will not dive at you again."
Jiang Zhu looked at the shattered dummy, then at her staff. She had never thought of it as a weapon. It was a tool for life, not pain.
"But... I don't know martial arts," she whispered.
"You do not need martial arts," Arthev said.
"You need geometry. A spinning object creates a perimeter. If you keep the staff moving around your body, you create a sphere of defense. Anyone entering the sphere gets hit."
He offered her a hand to stand up.
"Come. I will teach you the Millstone defense. It is a... traditional dance from my village used to thresh grain. It is also very good for threshing ankles."
------
Sunset
The sun was setting, painting the sky in deep purples and reds. The Second Team was exhausted, sprawled out on the grass.
Teacher Su walked into the courtyard, holding a stack of bento boxes.
"Dinner," the teacher announced. "And... I watched from the window. Not bad."
The students sat up, hungrily grabbing the food. Arthev took a box but didn't eat immediately. He sat apart from the group, his senses expanding.
He felt it before it happened.
Huang Yuan, emboldened by his success with the blindfold, decided to test the Alpha again. It wasn't malicious, but it was the playful, roughhousing instinct of a wolf.
Huang Yuan finished his meat bun, wiped his hand, and silently lunged from his seated position. He aimed to tackle Arthev from behind, a friendly gotcha moment.
He moved fast. Faster than he ever had before.
Arthev didn't turn around or tense up. The Tailed Beasts started to speak 'Incoming behind' but Arthev mentally silenced them.
I know.
The air pressure shifted against his neck. The sound of fabric rubbing against grass. The smell of sweat and roasted pork.
Arthev tilted his bento box slightly to the left. He shifted his weight onto his right hip.
Huang Yuan sailed past Arthev's shoulder, missing him by inches.
As Huang Yuan flew past, Arthev extended his foot, not a kick, just a rigid obstacle placed perfectly in the wolf's path.
Trip.
"Oof!"
Huang Yuan face-planted into the grass, sliding a meter before coming to a stop.
The rest of the team froze, chopsticks halfway to their mouths.
Arthev calmly picked up a piece of pickled radish with his chopsticks and ate it. He looked down at Huang Yuan.
"Your stealth has improved, Student Huang," Arthev said politely. "But you inhale sharply before you pounce. It is a tell."
Huang Yuan rolled over, spitting out grass. He looked at Arthev not with anger, but with pure, unadulterated respect.
"How do you do that?" Huang Yuan asked. "You aren't even a Sensory Type. You're a Plant Type."
"Plants feel the vibrations in the earth," Arthev lied smoothly. "And the wind in their leaves. If you listen to the world, the world tells you where your enemies are."
He stood up, dusting off his uniform.
"Rest well tonight. Tomorrow, we combine the evasion with the staff defense. We have ten days left."
"Ten days," Jiang Zhu whispered, clutching her staff. She looked at the weapon in her lap, then gave it a tentative swing. It felt... sturdy.
For the first time, the Second Team didn't feel like they were marching to a funeral.
They felt like they were preparing for a hunt.
To be continued...