Thanks to the team, Kyle also got more training partners.
Every three days or so, Gill held one of his courses, which Kyle always visited.
Bonk had time five days a week to help Kyle.
Of course, it was important to note that none of these appointments went on for the entire day.
Gill's course only went on for about an hour, while Bonk only had three hours of time at most.
Apparently, Bonk also helped the dwarves in the city with many different things.
The dwarves were his people, and he made sure that they were treated well.
Very often, he acted as their representative.
For the remaining hours of the day, Kyle had only been able to study and practice on his own.
But now, he could also train with Bormine, Horatio, Falk, and Tracy.
Twice a week, he trained with Bormine.
Twice a week, he also trained with Falk.
Tracy was willing to help him four times a week. She wanted to learn how to be useful against Shouters.
Horatio could help Kyle three times per week.
As expected, Kyle had it pretty easy against Tracy.
His fights with Bormine were about equal.
His fights against Horatio were horrible. Horatio avoided Kyle and just gave Kyle one injury after the other.
However, Falk was even worse for Kyle.
Falk's spear was fast, and Kyle's armor might as well not exist in front of it.
One strike from Falk, and Kyle would lose. On top of that, Falk was faster than Kyle.
Falk completely outclassed Kyle.
Despite having trained for over nine months, Kyle was still as helpless in front of Falk as during their first fight nine months ago.
The difference this time was that Falk was actually helping his team get stronger, which was why he was willing to help Kyle.
Falk wasn't gaining much from their fights, but Kyle learned a lot.
By now, Kyle was fighting several hours every single day, and he also had a lot of variety.
After two months of training with the team, Kyle became confident enough to join another paid course.
This one cost three times as much as Gill's course, but the money was worth it.
Apparently, this course was the one with the most regular members.
It was held by one of the members of the Ace Team, and he was probably the most experienced person when it came to fighting other humans.
He had been in a very successful tournament team before.
From what Kyle had heard, this guy had even once managed to enter the Skysand Tournament, which was essentially the ultimate tournament for teams.
Only eight teams qualified per level, and the tournament was held every four years.
Eight teams of people in the Initial Second Realm.
Eight teams of people in the Early Second Realm, and so on.
The member of the Ace Team had been in the Early Second Realm team back in the day, and they had fought with him as their Juggernaut.
They lost in the first round, but the fight had been pretty close, apparently.
This meant that the teacher from the Ace Team knew how to fight every single kind of human enemy.
He designed his course in a tournament format.
Several people fought each other in groups, and he gave everyone feedback after the course.
During this course, Kyle also gained experience when it came to fighting Snipers and other Shouters.
In the beginning, Kyle had been one of the weaker people, but he had not been the absolute weakest.
He had grown quite a bit already.
This new course also taught Kyle how to coordinate his team better.
A month after Kyle started to join the course, he noticed a considerable improvement when it came to his other fights.
His fights against Tracy had already been one-sided, but now, there wasn't even really a fight anymore.
With certain tricks, Kyle could take Tracy out almost instantly.
Bormine was starting to lose way more than he was winning.
By fighting other Shouters, Kyle got a feel for how Fighters defended against Armor Piercers, and he was using the same tricks.
One certain movement and Bormine's offensive was halted, which required him to rebuild his offensive from scratch.
Kyle's fights with Horatio were even now.
Horatio was still dangerous, but Kyle became better at trading injuries.
Sure, Horatio was hitting him sometimes, but Kyle gave him an injury in return.
After a couple of fights with Horatio, Kyle noticed something.
Horatio became hesitant.
Kyle's counterattacks were getting scarier and scarier.
One wrong move, and he could lose.
When Kyle noticed that, he remembered something Gill had said.
"You will know when it is time to become intimidating again."
After remembering these words, Kyle steeled his gaze and looked at Horatio as he readied his hammer.
Horatio smiled nervously and took a deep breath.
Kyle suddenly felt much scarier.
Attacking him felt extremely dangerous.
"You don't have to be so serious, you know? This is just practice," Horatio said with a dry chuckle.
"No worries, I know," Kyle slowly said. "Just come closer. I promise nothing will happen to you."
Horatio took another deep breath.
"I never noticed how strong your Momentum is," he commented.
"Because I haven't used it until now," Kyle said as he took a step forward.
Fire and Wind Ether gathered around Kyle's hammer as he continued stepping towards Horatio, who just looked at Kyle nervously.
That hammer was fucking terrifying!
From this day onward, Horatio had much more difficulties with Kyle.
Due to his careful nature, Horatio wasn't as reckless anymore, which, surprisingly, made the fight harder for him.
He was afraid of making mistakes due to the severe consequences, which led to him becoming more passive.
Yet, as a Controller, he had to be active. In a fight between a Shouter and a Controller, the Shouter was always the passive one, while the Controller was the active one.
But, right now, Horatio didn't feel like he was fighting a Shouter.
He felt like he was fighting a Juggernaut.
Shouters were not supposed to be this scary!
Meanwhile, Kyle was also practicing with Falk, and these fights also changed.
Kyle was still on the losing end, but from time to time, he also managed to push Falk into a corner.
Compared to Horatio, Falk actually grew more excited.
Finally!
Kyle was finally becoming a proper challenge!
Yet, during all of this excitement, Falk forgot something.
Kyle wasn't supposed to be a challenge.
Falk countered Kyle's battle style.
Kyle was supposed to be easy to beat.
On paper, Falk should win 100 out of 100 times.
But he was only winning 70 out of 100 times.
This meant only one thing.
When the party that was weaker on paper won far more than they were supposed to…
They were better.
They were more skilled.
The difference in numbers was compensated by training, experience, and skill.
One month after this change occurred, another change occurred.
During one of Gill's courses, Kyle fought Bundt again.
Kyle managed to get past one of Bundt's defensive techniques.
Then, he struck Bundt's shield with Ether Strike, Air Current, and a new technique.
Bundt's arm nearly broke, but he managed to defend.
However, his offensive was broken, and he had to start again.
For the first time, Bundt was forced to use his True Body and his techniques at the same time.
With the addition of his True Body, Bundt managed to win against Kyle.
But it was not easy!
"You're actually becoming a challenge, Kyle," Bundt said, breathing heavily after the fight.
Kyle just smiled.
When the course was over, Kyle went to his room.
"That good enough?" he asked.
"Passable," Theodor said.
"You can reach the Second Realm now."
Kyle smiled with pride.
He had done it!
A year ago, he had been the weakest.
Now, he could even fight Bundt!
He was no longer weak.
In fact, he was not even average.
He was above average.
But when compared to other Initial Fighters, he was part of the top 20%.
He belonged to the best of his class inside the Stark Brotherhood.
And how had he achieved that?
By fighting every single day with several people for an entire year.
He learned from many more powerful Fighters and constantly worked on himself.
He wasn't better than so many people because he was born this way.
No, he was better because he worked harder.
He trained more than almost every single other member.
And that training was showing its effect in a big way.
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