As long as it was a fight using only physical techniques, Ajax was confident of his skills that he could even take down the old man as long as their strength was limited.
So, while Karl hoped to check Ajax's current strength among his peers with repeated matches, none of the trainees were able to put enough pressure to even tire him. After more than ten fights, even Karl felt that pitting Ajax against other trainees was a waste.
Though, the way he fought was impressive, the spectating trainees were more awed than actually learning anything. They were kids who hardly knew the basics and Ajax's fight didn't even give his opponents a chance to have a prolonged fight so that the trainees could observe or learn. So, it was clearly a failure of demonstration.
"You are not to have any spars with fellow trainees any longer. Just watch the other matches, get an understanding of their current fighting capability and listen to my explanations," said Karl as he didn't want to Ajax to spar with any of the trainees as it would do only harm to both Ajax and probable partner if they weren't at the same level.
Ajax was glad that he didn't need to fight and he actually demonstrated his superiority for the same reason. It was boring for him and felt that cultivation would be a better use of his time while his fellow trainees had hand-to-hand combat practice.
He also believed that it would earn the respect of his fellow trainees, but he forgot that they were just teens. The reaction of his peers was more of admiration by few and disgust by others.
"Didn't think you were that good," said Timothy.
"Boss, Timothy, you are good. He is a monster," said Jack.
"Monster, it is."
There were few who were around them who were just jealous and had other things to mutter.
"Show off."
"Shameless liar, he was definitely trained."
"No one can fight like that without training. Probably had a trainer since he was a kid."
"Of course, he is a Dustblade, even those who were kicked out of the main family would be trained. It is like family tradition to them.?
Whatever they thought, it had little effect on Ajax. He didn't care if they liked them or not, especially a bunch of teens who didn't know about him and he didn't know.
"I am not bad," he said to Timothy.
"Modesty?" asked Timothy.
"Why don't you volunteer to go up," asked Ajax.
"No one wants to go after you."
Ajax smiled a bit and continued to watch the rest of the matches. "I might have overdone it a bit. It isn't that far-fetched that they think I was trained," thought Ajax as he watched the others fight. They all had a similar style of combat involving simple blocks and strikes, hardly anyone evaded or grappled or anything else.
"Is Karl not good at completely physical fights," thought Ajax as he kept observing. Some of Karl's suggestions and explanations though all made sense, he felt that Karl is training them to be more careful than necessary which confused Ajax as a guard like Karl who trained and fought for centuries should certainly have more experience.
"Is it him just trying to make the trainees be more careful? I never trained any kids, but I heard they were usually over enthusiastic. So, is it just trying to keep more alive?" wondered Ajax. "It could also be due to the magics and techniques in this world having more range. I practiced the sword in this world, but didn't spar with many nor learn about other styles."
"It is best if I remember all of Karl's explanations and recommendations. He definitely would have his reasons," decided Ajax.
After a few more demonstrations and explanations, Karl stopped and paired the trainees with other's having similar strengths. He and a few other helping instructors moved around observing them and providing suggestions.
They occasionally stopped a few who were clearly more talented or trained than their sparring partner and reshuffled them. It was clear to Ajax that they did this so that the trainees could have some improvement. If one is significantly already better trained than the others, it would be far-fetched to expect improvement from the weaker side and the stronger one wouldn't even get a chance to have a decent spar.
During this time, Ajax was separated and was asked to do his own body strengthening exercises. Similar to him, the instructors moved around found a few others who were much stronger or more well trained and asked to exercise and cultivate. They couldn't have these people fight against one another either as at their level without continuous supervision of someone much stronger, one might accidentally injure the other severely which is counterproductive.
Ajax used this time to exercise and refine mana simultaneously according to the manual given by the spirit, C13. It was odd and much harder to do both at first, harder to concentrate. It was even more painful but he persisted after a few minutes, he began to observe and notice the difference.
As a prince when he exercised and then began to refine mana through circulation, he felt the mana being absorbed by his body making it stronger. Now, it was still his flesh, organs and bones absorbing, but in much larger amounts. It also felt like the larger mana was tempering his muscles and organs to get much stronger than before and to a much greater extent.
"The amount of mana I am absorbing, this method should make me much stronger than even those with a mana core and are done with body strengthening phase," realized Ajax. "By the time I hit my limits with body strengthening, I might even be twice as strong."
Feeling his strength, increasing he got excited and continued. As he continued, he observed that as the mana circulated in his body and was absorbed, it was not just his body that was improving. It was similar to meditation too. The mana which accumulated near his head was smooth and absorbed by his head calming his nerves and putting him in a serene state.
Refining and circulating mana, was always work of mind and one cannot constantly do it as it would strain one's mind. But the circulation technique even reduced this. It was getting easier for him to circulate mana like it was instinctive. He even felt like he was able to absorb mana from the air into his body much easier.
The effect of him able to absorb more mana was not apparent only to Ajax. He didn't notice as it was his first time feeling that, but as he kept absorbing the mana around him faster, the mana surrounding him formed a thin shiny layer around him. Even the surrounding mana in the air started to move towards him causing slight breezes of mana - air currents. The phenomenon attracted the attention of the other trainees and even the trainers including Karl.
"Is he in a trance? state of enlightenment?" asked one of the guards moving towards Karl hoping that the old commander might indulge him with an answer. "What might have caused it?"
"What might have caused it? All he did was some hand-to-hand combat, hardly even used mana. Whatever triggered it, might not even be related to fighting. Moreover, he is actually doing physical training and not meditation. I am having a hard time understanding how it is happening," said Karl as he approached Ajax.
Though it had been less than a minute, all the trainers noticed it. Even the trainees stopped their own spars and began to look at Ajax. Karl too noticed it and quickly moved them away from him.
"Keep your distance. If he is in enlightenment, it is common courtesy to maintain your distance and if he isn't, it is common sense as we don't know if it dangerous," said Karl while he carefully moved closer to Ajax.
As Karl came within 3 feet of Ajax, the phenomenon around Ajax abruptly stopped and he fell down. Seeing this, Karl quickly ran towards Ajax and checked on his condition.
"I don't know whether to call him lucky or unlucky. Unlucky as he just got knocked out due to lack of nutrition. Lucky as he entered such a state during body strengthening and his state would probably have been continued if he had eaten more," said Karl.
"So, he is fine? He is no danger?" asked one of the guards.
"No danger. The kid is fine. Just put him back in his room along with some food. Just feed him one of the fasting pills you take during missions. It will provide enough nutrition and he will wake up after sometime," said Karl signally the guard to take Ajax.
"Continue, continue, with your training," said Karl. As he was thinking whether to follow Ajax to make sure he is alright, he received a spiritual message from Krev whose also paying attention to the class secretly.
"You continue with the class; I will keep an eye on him. It might draw unnecessary attention if you followed him."
"Ok. But you also maintain your distance. Just have your spiritual sense on him," answered Karl.
"What happened did his bloodline awaken? Was that his mother's side."
"No, it isn't a bloodline awakening. It doesn't have marks of any clans. I hoped that we gained a new bloodline holder, but it is just like an enlightenment which just strengthened his body," replied Karl.
"Is that even possible without bloodline awakening?" asked Krev confused, as he also used his spiritual sense to check Ajax's body condition.
"Never heard of it either," said Karl. "So, keep out an eye for any complication that might occur."
During this time, Ajax was also awake. He could hear everything, but he felt too tired to even open his eyes. Hence, everyone thought he fainted, but heard Karl explain his problem to everyone understood that he needn't feel too bad.
As he was put in his bed after feeding him a fasting pill, he started to feel his strength come back after a few minutes and decided to take a nap too. He felt it was a waste of time to wake up as he wasn't a good enough condition to even read.
After a couple of hours, he heard a slight noise along with a sudden sense of danger causing him to wake up startled, his heart beating rapidly. He immediately got up from his bed and noticed Timothy was already sleeping in the other bed.
"It's night already," thought Ajax as he got up. The fasting pill did its work. It not only gave him the nutrition he required but also compensated for his dinner. He didn't feel hunger even though it was midnight.
"Why did I wake up? What was that feeling?" thought Ajax as he opened the room door and checked the corridor. It was calm and quiet outside too, but that sense of peril didn't leave him and his heart continued to beat faster.
After a minute or so, his heart calmed down and his unease also felt relieved, when he remembered about his incident. After the small phenomenon during training, he didn't get a chance to check himself. He noticed that his body became much stronger than before. Even when he was in mana refining stage, his muscles, blood vessels and meridians weren't as strong or flexible.
"This amount of improvement in one's body is better than initial stage of mana refinement," thought Ajax as he continued to check his body. "I hope no one notices and covets my technique. I would have to be a lot more careful and avoid doing it in public."
He checked the room and corridor once again before he went back towards his bed. He had yet to read any of the books that he had received from Karl. So, he took them and placed them on his bed as he laid down and began to read. Even though, he started to read, he continues to feel the sense of tension and kept his guard up, staying vigilant.
He started with the cultivation technique given by Karl, but immediately noticed that its body strengthening phase was similar to the others he had seen before. Thus put it aside as it was bound to be inferior to the legacy which he tried today.
The three fighting techniques alongside it couldn't be used till he went to the mana refining stage. Even then, he needs to use refined blood alongside mana which allowed mana consumption to be much lower. It was so low that as long as he used his own blood produced by his body, he could use them even in body refining stage for small durations. But it would hurt him too as his blood needs to be pulled out of his body in order to use the techniques.
The first one involved using blood as a blade by shaping it is mana. This was similar to mana blade which a common technique, but as it used refined blood, the mana consumption was much lower which is an advantage. The second one involved using blood as shield/armor, but it is also similar to another common technique.
But both of them were to be used only in emergencies, only when a person's actual weapon and defences like shield and armor are lost or broken. So, it wasn't much useful. The third one caught his attention the most.
This was called blood absorb, which allowed him to use the blood and other body parts of living being to absorb their mana and vitality. It would allow him to recuperate quickly and also cultivate much faster. This was the one he wanted to try the most. His immediate priority was to become stronger at much faster pace. So, this method seemed to be good fit.