60 Chapter 60: A Trace of Peace (2/2)
”Well, get ready to finish up your training.” I glanced at the time. I had just barely made it back before six. ”Let's start heading toward the dojo.”
”Yes, Vice-President!”
Since there wasn't enough time for me to begin my own training, I decided to hold it off for today. Besides, I was going to be subject to a pretty strict and tough training regimen once I got to the dojo, and the mission had been exhausting and a good experience, so it wasn't any major loss. Having genuine combat experience was better than any amount of training, but obviously I required sufficient training to survive that dangerous battle in the first place.
I wasn't given much choice anyway. Before I could say anything, Dong Fang Yue Chu frowned and glanced at the door when someone knocked on it.
”Please enter,” he said.
A towering figure of someone over six feet lumbered in, and waved at me.
”Hey, Richard. It's been a while. You have really prospered since the last time I saw you.”
My jaw dropped when I saw the huge guy. He wasn't that big, to be honest, but he was definitely larger than average, packed with muscle. His dark chocolate skin seemed to give off a sheen under the fluorescent lighting of our society room, and like me he wore a pair of glasses. He held up a beefy hand and waved at me.
”Troy!” I was delighted to see my friend. Even though we were on opposite ends of the school ranking spectrum, we had developed a good friendship. Well, I say that, but Troy's current ranking was not as impressive as I made it out to be. Currently, he was around rank 400 or 300 something, just a couple of hundred positions above my 500 something.
Interestingly enough, he had achieved his rank through fulfilling missions like I did. That was why I hadn't seen him in a while. He had gone overseas for a mission, and no doubt that was what helped him achieve his ranking. He did have his fair share of wins in ranked matches too, and his combat ability was what caught the eye of Alicia, who invited him into the Black Roses.
”Eh? Is he a friend of yours, Vice-President Richard?” Harvey sounded surprised as he stared at the dark-skinned giant (sort of) who had just entered the room. Troy chuckled as he swiveled his head to stare at me.
”Vice-president now, is it? You've really risen up the ranks, Richie.”
”Uh, well, there were quite a few circumstances.” I scratched my head, feeling a little embarrassed at my undeserved rank. I then turned to my awestruck juniors. ”This is Troy King. He's actually from Black Roses Society, but he's a good friend of mine. We both go way back.”
”Amazing…”
Harvey, in particular, was as usual in his hero-worship mode, no doubt thinking Troy must be some sort of godlike figure if he was friends with me. Well, he wasn't far from the truth, but as powerful as Troy was, he wasn't a god. At least not yet.
”I didn't know you were friends with Troy King.” Dong Fang Yue Chu was also looking pretty astounded. Troy had a reputation for being a loner, especially during the first year, so it was to everyone's surprise when he accepted Alicia's invitation to the Black Roses. But he mostly kept to himself, and his notoriety was further exacerbated by his direct and brutal fighting style.
”Yeah, as I said, we go way back,” I repeated with a laugh.
To be honest, I had no idea how we ended up being friends. If I wasn't mistaken, it was because of that incident a few years ago, when Troy first showed up in my father's dojo. He had a keen interest and great passion for martial arts, and he had been going from dojo to dojo to spar with all the dojo masters and their disciples, to learn and experience the pinnacle of martial arts.
He had coincidentally subscribed to Dad's position to learn martial arts first and separately from combat magic. That was why he was visiting dojos – to learn ”proper” martial arts instead of the hybridized combat techniques that mage academies taught. He was interested in the ”pure” essence of martial arts, techniques passed down from an ancient age where magic didn't exist.
The next time we met was last year, when we both first enrolled in Jing Tian Magic Academy. Troy had spotted me in the cafeteria and he immediately recognized me as the son of the dojo master who defeated him a year or two ago. He then came over and we ended up discussing martial arts. Troy didn't care that I was a summoner or that I was at the bottom of the rankings. He was more interested in non-magic martial arts than he was about student rankings and competition.
And that was basically how we ended up being friends. More often than not Troy would approach me to talk about martial arts, most likely because none of the students here subscribed to such an ancient style of combat that many thought obsolete in the age of magic.
”We're actually going to the dojo right now,” I informed my friend with a grin. ”You're welcome to join us if you want.”
”How's Uncle doing?” Troy asked me. He had occasionally dropped by for a visit to my Dad's dojo over the past year, often to spar with him and exchange pointers. True to their similar philosophies, neither of them used magic in their duels, and Troy held a healthy amount of respect for my old man. That was probably why he befriended me too.
”All right. I got him to agree to train my society members.” I grinned again. ”I think he actually enjoys it.”
”A bit too much, if you ask me,” Dong Fang Yue Chu muttered under his breath. Dad was harder on him than the others because he apparently saw the potential in Dong Fang Yue Chu…well, potential in fire magic. And Dad tended to focus a lot on fire magic, so he was happy to have a student who specialized in fire magic.
”Hah! Sounds like Uncle all right!” Troy laughed. ”I'm in!”
”Great! Let's go then!” I turned to my society members. ”Are you guys ready?”
”Yes~” they chorused. Harvey was the only one who sounded enthusiastic while Dong Fang Yue Chu paled. I ignored our poor, trembling president, and pumped my fist to the air.
”All right! Let's go!”