As Luke staggered away from the grueling armored terrain training, his body screamed for rest with his stamina reaching dangerously low levels, however, since his next training was more related to the mind, Luke pushed himself onwards.
[ Battlefield Strategy And History Training ] was the next training on his routine, as Luke pushed himself to the library where his next teacher was supposed to be.
The library, a vast chamber of knowledge, was the domain of librarian Aelric, the academy's only scholar knight.
A veteran of countless battles, Sir Aelric's presence was as demanding as the tomes that surrounded him.
"Ah, a student so early? Might you be Skylion? The one principal sent a memo for?" Master Aelric questioned, his voice a blend of curiosity and sternness, as he peered over his spectacles.
" Yes, indeed, I'm Skylion," Luke replied.
"What brings you to the realm of scholars and strategists? If you're only here because the principal asked you to be here, then feel free to leave. I'll just mark your training as done" Aelric said as Luke shook his head and refused.
"I wish to learn earnestly" he said as Sir Aelric smiled listening to his response.
" Very well then, follow me. Even for you we can't make noise in the library, let's find a discussion room to talk" he said as he led Luke to one of the soundproofed discussion rooms as he sat across from him.
" Since it's your first day, let's just talk candidly about strategy and how you would tackle various problems that I am about to present to you-
The best way to learn battle strategy is to learn from history and then innovate on-top.
It's like playing chess but with yourself.
It's a very fun activity" he said as he unfurled a terrain map and started randomly placing small soldiers on it.
" Imagine each soldier is a unit of 100 soldiers, and this is the terrain of the battlefield.
Your side is outnumbered two to one, how would you fight this war?" He asked Luke as the two engaged in an intellectual conversation.
Time flew by as Luke tried various approaches and Aelric pointed the flaws with each of his approach as he gradually guided Luke towards giving better answers.
Only at the end of his session did he reveal the tactic that the real strategist who planned this war used and how he won a fight against a two thousand strong army with only a thousand men, while losing less than 50 of them.
The final answer included insights which Luke had just practically experienced in the form of how hard it was to maneuver on certain terrains and how the knight general used all this to his advantage.
It was a fun activity overall and Luke thoroughly enjoyed it.
[ Lunch Break ]
Following his battle strategy session, it was time for lunch as Luke headed to the empty lunch hall and took a seat in the corner.
He was served three plates of food, carefully balanced for nutritional value for lunch.
Each bite of the hearty, nutrient-rich meal seemed to seep vitality back into his exhausted body as the carefully designed academy diet worked its subtle magic on his drained stamina.
[ Sword and Shield Live Combat ]
After lunch, it was time for sword training as Luke headed towards the sparring arena.
The arena, a stage of countless blood stains and broken teeth was where Luke first met Sir Gareth, his instructor for the afternoon's sword and shield training.
Sir Gareth, a knight of renowned skill and little patience for mediocrity, eyed Luke with a mix of skepticism and challenge.
"Let's see what you're made of, special entry student Skylion" Sir Gareth declared, as he displayed Luke no mercy.
The ensuing hours were a brutal testament to Luke's unrefined technique.
Sir Gareth, with precise and relentless attacks, dismantled Luke's defenses time and again, humiliating him and punishing him by giving him serious bruises.
" That's the 602nd time I could have killed you, are you dumb? Protecting your neck is the basic of basics" he said, as he tried to teach Luke the importance of guarding his neck, however, his way of teaching was through shaming the student.
By the end, Luke was left with a bloody nose, quite a few scratches and a earful of insults as Gareth deemed him as 'Irredeemable trash'.
[ Knightly Virtues and Ethics ]
As the day waned, Luke joined a circle of old knights under the ancient oak for his final lesson of the day.
He did not have much hopes for this lesson, however, after a bloody nose, loss of confidence and aching body, he was secretly glad that he got to do something simple.
" Student Skylion. Listen to this tale and tell us your views on it-
It's a tale of Sir Edmund, one of the very famous master knight's who lived 50 years ago" One old man said as he began to recount the tale of Sir Edmund.
Sir Edmund, tasked with safeguarding a village, found himself torn between his duty to protect the villagers and the commands of a corrupt lord who was his employer who demanded the village's destruction for its defiance.
"Obedience to his lord, or allegiance to the code of knighthood and the innocents it swears to protect? What would you have done? " The old men asked Luke, who felt himself facing a serious moral dilemma.
Defying his lord meant breaking his vow to follow him to the ends of the world.
Killing innocents meant breaking his vow to live a life of honor.
No matter how much he thought about it, it seemed like a lose lose situation.
In the end the old knight's chuckled to see Luke so deep in thought as they told him to think about it over the day and give them the answer on the next day.
[ Evening Reflection and Physical Recovery ]
The day's end found Luke in the quiet solace of the academy's healing chambers, where the gentle hands of the healers offered solace to his battered body.
As they tended to his bruises and aches, Luke's mind wandered through the lessons of the day—from the relentless defeats of hand to hand combat, to the lessons on his to move as one with his armor, to everything else.
Each moment of failure, each hard-won insight, was a step on the path to understanding the true essence of being a knight, but for Luke who understood the stakes that it represented, it was even more.
Luke now knew that somewhere down the line, his real body would become capable of performing everything that his in-game body could do, so he wanted to make the most of it and train as hard as he could, to get the best possible body later.
Right now, the pain was limited to the virtual realm.
Although he was feeling out of breath and weak, he was not actually physically feeling those effects.
However, the benefits of training this hard would one day be transferred to his real body as well and that was the final goal that he had to aim for.
Improvement within the game to improve his teachers was only a very small matter.
Improvement for his eventual survival was the main goal.