After the meal, Adlet led them to the first floor. “There’s no need to rush. Classes will only start in the afternoon. If you would like, young masters, you could take a brief nap. No need to worry, I will call you when it’s time to get up for class.”
Adlet stopped in front of a certain set of rooms and gestured to the small, intricate metal plates on the doors. Each one had their names written on them.
Adlet opened the room labelled ‘Augustus’. The room was rather refreshing. There were dumbbells in the corner and even a sandbag hanging from the training machine. On the table was a pair of red boxing gloves. There were books and gaming equipment on the shelf.
“I hope that you will not be offended that I asked your parents in advance and prepared a room according to your preferences. If you need anything, feel free to let me know. I will do my best to accommodate.”
The next two rooms on the right were Ye Yun and Cairns’ rooms.
Adlet moved out of the way. “Your rooms have been stocked with daily necessities. They will be reserved for you permanently. Please feel free to use them as you wish. Until this afternoon, everyone.”
The trio also said goodbye to Adlet, “See you in the afternoon, sir.”
Ye Yun and Cairns also opened the doors to their respective rooms. Ye Muo subconsciously followed Ye Yun until he was held back by Adlet. “Your Little Highness, your room is upstairs. I will clear a lounge nearby if you like.”
Ye Yun glanced back. “What are you worried about? I’ll be with you the entire afternoon.”
Only then did Ye Muo relax. Ye Yun would be a merciful sparring partner.
Ye Muo was always littered with bruises as a child because of how many times he got beat up in combat class. Ye Zhiyuan took him to meet the school officials and ruled out the possibility that he was being bullied.
Yet in the end, that did not solve the root of the problem. Ye Zhiyuan tried to train him at home, but the child was like a little ball of mochi that couldn’t exert much strength. Ye Zhiyuan couldn’t bear to teach him properly in the end.
During that time, a cloud of sadness would hover over Ye Muo from the moment he woke up on the days when he had combat class. Ye Zhiyuan and Lady Ye worried themselves sick.
Finally, Ye Yun unilaterally ended his cold war with Ye Muo and took the initiative to be his partner in combat class. Ye Yun was the best fighter in the class at that point. He possessed both strength and technique. He was able to teach Ye Muo at his own pace while secretly going easy on him. When he threw Ye Muo down, the floor mat was already there before Ye Muo hit the floor.
He managed to pulled Ye Muo’s combat class grade up to barely passing.
Adlet reminded Ye Muo, “It’s time to go back and rest, Your Little Highness.”
Ye Yun grabbed the door with one hand and said, “Go take a good nap. See you in the afternoon.”
Norton and Ano were already at the training hall they had once used. It had been checked over several times before Ye Muo was to use it, but they still needed to test whether the equipment here could withstand a Grantz’s psychic power.
Ano carefully tested every instrument with his psychic power as he chatted with Norton, “I’m thinking about how we should go about teaching him. Ye Muo shouldn’t be sparring with anyone else. It’s a miracle there haven’t been any accidents in his combat classes over the years.”
Children who were still in their psychic power development period actually more or less all lose control at some point. However, young Grantz were able to attack without using a weapon conductive of psychic power even before maturity. Thus, the consequences of their psychic power going out of control were more serious.
Ano injured his instructor during his very first combat class as a child, even though his instructor was a Level S elite. After that, his combat classes were handled by his father or his older siblings.
This wasn’t the only thing Ano was worried about. “I don’t want to be too rigid. I want to be a cool da– cough.”
Norton gave Ano a look at that point. Ano coughed and awkwardly swallowed the rest of his words.
Norton had obviously given it some thought already. “The way Father taught us should be fine. How about the Hunting Game? This way, Ye Muo won’t be matched against anyone other than a Grantz. “
Ano thought about it for a moment. Father often played games with them during combat class instead of just having them do something as boring as normal spars. By teaching them through play, they were able to learn a lot of other things as well, such as tracking and cooperation.
Sometimes these games took place in the wild, sometimes in the training hall. The entire area would be cleared out before a psychic power shielding device would be activated. They could play as hard as they wanted inside. Father wouldn’t use any weapons as he went after them. Their task was to evade capture as long as possible. They could work together or use anything in the field to attack Father.
It was very exhilerating.
Ano still remembered the joy they all felt when they won for the first time. After Norton succeeded in sneaking up and hitting Father on the shoulder, all their other siblings that had helped emerged from their hiding places and cheered despite their wretched states.
Adlet knocked on the door. “Instructors, your students are ready.”
Ye Muo and the others walked out from behind Adlet. Ye Muo glanced at the mats and exercise equipment commonly used in combat class behind Norton.
He took half a step closer towards Ye Yun. People were generally paired up with the one closest to them. He tried to convince himself it wouldn’t be so terrible. According to prior experience, the instructors would usually demonstrate a move to them before they paired off to practice. Ye Yun would go easy on him.
Norton stood up and untied the sword at his waist as well as his dagger and concealed weaponry. He tossed everything onto the floor. Ano followed suit. He had even more weapons on him than Norton, for the man rarely used anything outside of his sword.
As he threw the dagger to the floor, he said, “Let’s have some fun in class.”
“The scope of the activity will be the entire training hall. Ano and I will not use any weapons or psychic power. The rules are simple. Don’t get caught. If you manage to injure either of us, you win. If we don’t manage to find you within an hour, you also win.”
Norton finally bit off his gloves and threw them on the floor as well. “If you understand, then let’s start.”
Ye Muo quickly extracted the key information. So this was basically hide and seek. If he wasn’t caught, he wouldn’t have to get beaten up!
Ano also stood up and glanced sideways at them. He smiled. “All of you can use your psychic power. Adlet, activate the shielding device.”
He then said to Ye Muo and the others, “Run. I’ll start counting. Leave one by one with a minute between.”
So the first person to run would have plenty of time to hide. Ye Yun turned to Ye Muo. “According to year and grades, you go first. Then Cairns.”
The older Augustus consciously stated, “Then I’ll be last.”
The order was quickly ironed out. Ye Muo was a little hesitant. Augustus had to push him. The training hall consisted of multiple wide floors. If Ano and Norton weren’t using their psychic power, he might be able to hide until the end with a little luck.
Along the way, Ye Muo carefully covered any obvious tracks.
He hasn’t really been to the training hall before, so he was unfamiliar with the layout. All he could do was run in what seemed to be the most remote direction. In the end, he had no idea where he was.
The doors here were very close together like changing rooms or storage. Most training rooms were very expansive and there wouldn’t be so many of them.
The doors were not locked.
Ye Muo looked into at several rooms which were basically empty and had no hiding spots. He randomly picked one and closed the door.
He stepped back cautiously before half crouching against the cabinet.
Ye Muo stared intently at the door before looking around the room. In addition to the cabinet, there were some training equipment here and even seven pairs of shackles neatly placed not far away.
He hesitated but ended up walking over and squatting down for a closer. Ye Muo knew from videos that some countries would use such shackles to restrain prisoners about to be let loose in the Exile Sectors to make sure they stayed there for good. Modern technology could accomplish a similar feat by implanting a chip in the human body, but these heavy and restrictive shackles were deliberately used to punish criminals.
Ye Muo carefully picked up one pair. It was very heavy and seemed to be somewhat oxidized. Parts of it had changed colour. He lifted it a little higher for a better look.
The parts of the shackle that would come in contact with the skin were ringed with black. Flipping it over, the other side was spotted with black.
A thought suddenly floated into Ye Muo’s mind. These traces were from old blood that hadn’t been cleaned up in a timely manner.
His hand trembled and accidentally let go of the shackle, which fell to the floor with a heavy, muffled thump.
It took Ye Muo a moment to react. He quickly put it back where it used to be and stood up immediately. He wanted to get out of here. Someone might have heard the sound just now.
Ye Muo opened the door. He stopped half way.
Norton stood outside the door.
He took two steps back and unconsciously got into a wary, defensive stance.
Norton did not pay Ye Muo’s reaction much mind. He glanced around the room first. His gaze paused for a moment on those shackles before returning to Ye Muo. “So you were hiding here.”
Ye Muo looked at him warily, continuing to inch back until his back hit the cabinet.
Norton closed the distance and directly swept his leg forward. Ye Muo’s eyes widened. Many possible courses of action came to mind. He should block or duck behind Norton and jab the man with his elbow or…
But in reality, Ye Muo did not move an inch.
Norton even deliberately slowed down with the intention to go easy on Ye Muo. He realized part way through that something wasn’t right. Ye Muo didn’t dodge or block with his forearm. Even a Grantz wouldn’t have a good time taking this blow directly with fragile areas like the face or chest. A certain degree of injuries were to be expected in combat class, but that would simply be beating someone up.
Norton immediately shifted to the side. His calf brushed past Ye Muo and hit the cabinet behind him. The wooden furniture made cracking sounds as the part that came into direct contact with Norton’s leg broke off. As he retracted his leg, the cabinet completely collapsed into a pile of splinters. Some of the small items stored inside also scattered out.
Ye Muo turned his head and numbly watched the entire process unfold. From Norton’s leg swiping past him with a gust of wind to wood splinters flying everywhere and small items littering the floor.
