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"Up! Down! Up! Down!......." Norman repeated the pattern a few more times before he told everyone they could get a water break.

"I thought we would never get a break" Elana expressed as she finished swallowing a mouth full of water.

"I don't think I have worked out this hard since I was a kid," X responded to her. "It is clear that he wants us to understand he is stronger than us."

"No worries guys. If you keep up exercising at this rate, you will catch up in no time." Darius attempted to lift their spirits. He was used to this and often did exercises like this during his time with his family.

The group training session was well underway. Norman was annoyed that the two mages got a pass because they were off teaching Professor Von the basics of mana manipulation. Even though Darius promised that he would run them through the exercise later it didn't seem to do much for Norman's mood.

After the water break, the team prepared for some light sparring. They must get better at weapon fighting in order to continue to survive in a world where creatures could attack them at any time.

"Darius! You and me. I am going to kick your butt for always stealing my boyfriend away from me." Elana joked.

"Sure, we can go a few rounds." He responded trying not to laugh.

X realized what that meant. He would have to fight against Norman. Even with the experience of fighting against the goblins under his belt, he knew this would be a difficult fight.

X gave his baton a few practice swings. Trying to remember what Darius taught him from his basic lesson. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Norman giving the club he looted from the goblin a good few swings. They would have the first fight. X knew that Norman was a lot stronger than he was. His main goal during this fight was to attempt to avoid attacks as best he can.

"You ready short stack?" Norman asked with his usual distasteful flavor. It was clear that he was going to enjoy bulling X in this sparring match.

"Let's do this," X murmured. He decided he would make the first few moves. If he didn't allow his opponent to gain footing, he would be harder to overwhelm. 'One... two... three..' X counted his movements in his head.

After X's third strike, Norman swung his club with great force horizontally. This forced X to make one of two moves retreat to avoid getting hit or take a massive strike to the body. When X created distance, it was exactly what Norman needed to charge into X with a solid tackle. On contact X was flung to the ground with a good bit of force. Thankfully X put points into his own Dur stat. This reduced the amount of time he would be dazed by an attack like this. Before Norman was able to hit him with another attack X was getting back up on his feet.

'Damn, I could only imagine how hard it would be to keep up if he was any faster than this.' Thankfully hew was able to disrupt the effects of the home turf buff for the sparring matches, otherwise, X would not have the ability to hold on. 'I can't get tackled like that again.' X remembered the combo Norman used just now and rushed back in to regain some momentum.

Once again X throws another flurry of attacks against Norman. This time Norman takes a few steps back to create distance. Once again he charges towards X. When X sees this he gets ready to dodge to the side. Right before the tackle connects, X sidesteps his opponent and sends a swing to his leg. This swing causes Norman to trip and fall on his stomach. Being top-heavy from weight lifting and football it takes Norman just a bit longer to get up. This allowed X to close the distance and attack.

After the first two attacks connect Norman was back up off the ground. He looked mostly unphased by them. "That was clever pipsqueak, but you have to hit a lot harder than that if you want to beat me." Norman grabbed his baton and pulled X much closer to him. He adjusted and quickly pulled X into a headlock. "I call this my win."

X taps on Norman's Hands signaling that he surrenders. "I tap," X manages to rasp out though being choked.

Norman lets him go and quickly shoves him to the ground. "Listen here punk, you are too weak to be saving the world. If you think for even a second any enemy will just let you go because you tap out, you are out of your mind. You better get tougher and stronger if you plan to survive this trip. I would hate to lose these abilities just because you are fit enough to survive."

"That's enough Norman," Darius says after realizing what was going on. He and Elana just finished their practice match. "I am sure he could feel the difference in strength between you two. X isn't in this fight alone. We all decided we would help him achieve this because we all want to get home. Your brute strength alone means nothing in this world if you get swarmed by more of those creatures than you have the stamina to defeat. The only way we win is if we work together."

"Big talk. Care to put your money where your mouth is?" Norman stood in front of Darius sizing him up. "Let's go the two of you pieces of garbage vs me. You win I will back down and live in your teamwork makes the dreamwork world. If I win, I become the leader and you all listen to what I say."

"X you cool with that?" Darius asks confidently.

"Someone needs to knock him off his high horse," X says as he stands up and brushes himself off.

"This is gonna be so easy," Norman says while smugly lifting his club on his shoulder.

X took pause for a second. This allowed him to enter strategy mode. He knew that their stats were not even and that Norman was tankier and stronger than both of them. However, neither of them were slower than Norman. As a matter of fact, X was almost as tanky and equally as fast. A plan quickly began to form in his head. If X could distract him and use Darius' speed to his advantage, they could win this fight.

<Skill Message> user: Darius \\ "We have an advantage, I will distract him. You use your speed to get around him and take him down. We can do this combo until we wear him out."

Darius gave X a nod acknowledging that he got his message. With that out of the way, X exited strategy mode and took the initiative by charging towards Norman.

Norman seemed unbothered by X's charge, mostly due to the outcome of the last fight. He knew that he lacked the power to harm him. 'This will make it easier to crush his spirit. The kid has to be insane to try the same tactic as last time. Aggression only works if you have the power to back it up.' Norman stood his ground and waited to see what X would do once he was in attack range.

Stay Worthy Readers!