Chapter 441: Training.

Chapter 441: 441: Training.

Silver smiled.

"Agreed."

Ravenna narrowed her eyes.

"Why are you being so cooperative?"

"Because those are all sensible conditions."

"Oh."

He purchased it.

[Purchase Confirmed.]

[Titan-Horn Mountain Bison Core - Tier 4 acquired.]

[-4,800 AP]

[Current Affection Points: 16,073.]

A new core appeared inside Silver’s storage.

He brought it out carefully.

It was considerably larger than the Tier Two core, almost filling his palm, with a dense black-brown surface crossed by pale silver lines. Even without touching it, Ravenna could feel something heavy about its presence, not literal weight, but concentrated power packed into something unnaturally small.

Her expression changed.

Silver activated Insight again.

[Insight Lv2 Activated.]

[Titan-Horn Mountain Bison Core]

[Tier: 4]

[Condition: Perfect]

[Primary Trait: Titan Muscle Fibers]

[Secondary Trait: Skeletal Reinforcement]

[Potential Integration Ability: Mountain Titan Physique]

[Integration Compatibility with Ravenna Arkland: High]

[Recommended: Assisted Integration through Shared Beast Absorption.]

Ravenna stared at the core in wonder.

Silver looked toward her the smugness in his face completely visible.

"Still think the ape sounds better?"

She held out her hand.

He placed the Tier Four core against her palm. Ravenna immediately felt its weight as her fingers closed around it. For a moment she simply looked at it, then she smiled.

"I still think the ape has a terrible name."

Silver laughed.

---

The integration didn’t happen that evening. Ravenna kept her word and so did Silver.

They spent the next few days asking questions without revealing where the core had come from, reading academy material on high-tier integration strain and allowing Ravenna to continue normal training before attempting anything that might interfere with classes.

That was how their first proper week at Alpha Three Academy truly began.

They finally created a routine.

At 05:00, Silver started waking.

Sometimes Dillian was already awake. Sometimes Silver beat him downstairs. Occasionally Jude joined them.

Antony joined exactly once, complained throughout the entire run, then announced that his body required a more sophisticated training philosophy involving sleep.

By the third morning Rebecca somehow heard about this and mocked him during Class Two conditioning. Antony blamed Silver despite him having no idea how she found out.

Morning conditioning became the first constant: running, weighted movement, climbing, bodyweight exercises, resistance machines, obstacle courses and endurance circuits.

The academy didn’t care that Contractors possessed supernatural abilities. If anything, the instructors seemed personally offended by students who used their abilities to compensate for poor physical conditioning.

Silver learned this when he used Short-Step to correct his position during an obstacle drill and unfortunately for him, the instructor saw him. He had to repeat the entire course without spatial movement.

Ravenna laughed at him for nearly five minutes afterward. The next day, she used Fire Step during a balance drill and the same instructor saw her.

She repeated the course.

He waited at the finish line with the most unbearable smile he could produce. She walked past him without speaking.

He followed making sure to keep his smug smile going.

"Anything you want to say?" He asked.

"No," she flatly replied.

"Something about abilities compensating for poor fundamentals?" He asked.

"I will burn you."

"That sounds like compensating with an ability."

Ravenna stopped.

Silver immediately increased the distance between them by going around her and breaking into a full on run.

She chased him anyway while shouting his name amidst his laughter.

Their days became crowded quickly.

Beast Biology.

Contractor Physiology.

Zone Ecology.

Tactical Theory.

Weapons Maintenance.

Firearms.

Melee training.

Ability Development.

Operational Law.

Medical Response.

Field Survival.

By the end of the first week, Silver understood why older students always seemed either busy or asleep.

Peter’s class was only one part of it.

Different instructors handled different subjects, and each seemed convinced theirs was the most important.

Beast Biology became one of Silver’s favorites. The instructor didn’t simply display pictures and demand names.

Students were shown partial tracks, damaged vegetation, claw marks, carcasses, recorded sounds and blurred footage, then required to identify what they could and, more importantly, state what they couldn’t.

Silver’s Field Analysis Lv2 became incredibly useful.

Insight was even more dangerous. He could often identify something instantly which created another problem; he couldn’t always explain how he knew. So Silver deliberately learned the ordinary method too. 𝑓𝑟ℯℴ𝓂

Ravenna noticed.

"You already know what it is."

They were studying a photograph of three deep scratches carved into concrete.

Silver looked toward her.

"Maybe."

"Insight?"

"Yes."

"And you’re still measuring the spacing?"

"I can’t tell the instructor a floating screen told me."

Ravenna nodded.

"Good point." She leaned closer to the photograph. "Then stop cheating and tell me what the marks mean."

Silver smiled.

"You’re using me as an answer sheet."

"I’m using you as educational support there’s a different."

"That’s cheating with better vocabulary."

She ignored him.

Their weapon training became more competitive.

Silver’s Advanced Swordsmanship Lv2 had improved his fundamentals significantly, but Ravenna remained much better.

The first time they sparred seriously after his upgrade, Silver lasted considerably longer than before... Then Ravenna struck his wrist and his sword flew away.

He looked at the empty hand.

She lowered her practice blade.

"You keep relying on the possibility of Short-Step."

"I wasn’t using it."

"That’s the problem."

He frowned.

She stepped closer.

"Your body still fights like you have it available. Every time your position becomes bad, you don’t correct quickly enough because some part of you knows you can teleport."

Silver thought about it and found that she was right.

Ravenna tapped his front foot with her sword.

"Again."

He picked up his weapon.

"No Short-Step."

"I wasn’t using it."

"No thinking about Short-Step," she corrected.

"How do you propose enforcing that?"

"I hit you whenever I see you getting lazy."

Silver blankly stared.

Ravenna smiled.

"Again."

He immediately attacked her. She hit him repeatedly, which was educational. Silver improved through the repeated training.

Ravenna had her own problem.

Precision.

Her fire was powerful enough that she had developed habits that worked extremely well in real combat but became wasteful under academy measurement.

Peter and the ability-development instructor both noticed it.

Burning Arc was larger than necessary. Blazing Guard covered more area than necessary. Flame Edge occasionally used more power than the strike required. Fire Step left excess heat behind.

So Ravenna began doing exercises she hated.

Lighting individual targets without touching those beside them. Maintaining tiny flames at fixed temperatures. Cutting suspended sheets of paper with Flame Edge without burning the edges.

Using Burning Arc through narrow openings. Activating Blazing Guard only over the exact area being struck.

Silver watched one session.

Ravenna had twelve metal rings arranged before her. Her flame passed through eleven and rouched the twelfth.

The sensor buzzed.

Ravenna stared at it completely annoyed and frustrated.

Silver stood nearby.

She looked toward him and immediately glared at him.

"Don’t," she whisper yelled.

He raised both hands and stepped back.

"I didn’t say anything."

"Your face did."

"My face supports you in this gruelling journey."

"Your face is annoying."

He just smiled.

She turned back and tried again. This time, the flame passed through all twelve with no contact.

Silver clapped.

Ravenna looked over, this time she smiled.

Their training no longer happened entirely together, which had changed gradually.