Ian was stunned, alongside everyone else. None of them were expecting Sett to say such a thing. It was already hard enough to believe Ian was a copper rank in silver-ranked beginner-level classes, but now Sett wanted to move him into the intermediate-level classes. This was beyond anything they could imagine, even for Ian.
The other two instructors who had shown up to watch Ian quickly ran up to Sett to reprimand him. They couldn't believe Sett's words and rushed to pull him away.
One of the Instructors grabbed Sett's shoulder and said, "Sett, are you mad? You do realize who this student is, right?"
"Of course I do. This is Ian, the copper rank with a silver's power. And I plan on transferring him to my classes." Sett's enthusiasm only grew as he spoke.
"And why would you want to do that? He's already in silver-level classes, and you want to move him to an intermediate-level class?" the other instructor said.
Sett turned to the instructors and with a huge smile, said, "You two may not be able to see it, but this kid has huge amounts of potential. As you failed to notice, he's doing an old version of the royal guard training."
Everyone went silent upon hearing this. Even Ian was left shocked. He had no idea he was doing such a form of training.
Sett turned to Ian once more and asked, "Son, what do you say? Would you like to join my intermediate-level classes?"
"I…um," Ian couldn't think straight. He was still shocked by everything that had happened.
Sett saw Ian's shocked and confused face, seeming a bit concerned. He then said, "You do realize you were doing a very intense form of training, right? Where did you learn it from?"
Ian was still in a bit of shock but managed to say, "F-from my father."
"Of course, it was from Erik. I should have seen that coming." Sett facepalmed for not thinking of that sooner.
"He made me do this as a punishment for disobeying orders," Ian continued after a moment.
Sett and the instructors seem surprised by this. They wondered why he was punished in such a way.
Ian quickly gave them an explanation while leaving out a few details. After the explanation, one of the instructors asked, "If you were meant to do those workouts until you came to the academy, then why are you still continuing to do them?"
"I got used to them and liked the results I was gaining," Ian awkwardly said.
Sett kept smiling after hearing this. He looked at Ian with a burning passion and said, "Your determination to continue doing such a difficult training routine is incredible. You must join my class."
"I don't know…" Ian seemed hesitant about the offer.
The other two instructors still tried to convince Sett to stop, but he was insistent. They knew there was no changing his mind. Once he set his mind on something, it was extremely difficult to change it.
Ian couldn't stand the attention he was getting. He looked around at all of the students staring at the whole situation and him. He could feel the pressure of their eyes on him. But what made him feel more uncomfortable was the beaming smile Sett was giving him.
After a few seconds of hesitation, Ian finally caved in and said, "I… guess it couldn't hurt to try it out."
"HA HA! Fantastic, you won't regret this decision," Sett enthusiastically proclaimed.
All of the students kept staring at the situation, not able to believe what they had heard. Once they all left, news about Ian getting transferred spread across the school. Most didn't know what to think. Some thought it was unfair, while others seemed happy for him. However, there was one student who hated the idea the most. Darren.
Darren caught wind of the news and became enraged. Of the 14 students who came from the village, he was the only one to be placed in intermediate classes. And now, Ian was being transferred into one.
It took some time for the paperwork to be filled out and accepted, but once it was, Ian got his new schedule. Nothing really changed; only two classes got swapped out. His outdoor survival class and physical education class were changed to their intermediate-level versions.
On Ian's first day in those classes, he was met with some hostility. Most of the students weren't happy with a copper rank joining them. However, Darren was the most unhappy. He never expected Ian to get moved into his class.
He always hated Ian and his group for standing up to him. He believed he was better than them, and he was in most aspects. But now here was Ian, encroaching on his turf. He was the best in the class in both skill and power. Barely anyone could compete with him. Ian, on the other hand, seemed weak and lackluster. He still hated that Ian was in his class now, but that didn't matter; he was still the best. Or so he thought.
At first, Ian didn't seem very impressive. He just participated in their normal workouts and special training. However, when they would do their elemental training, Ian was off to the side doing more workouts.
Sett had told him to continue his morning workouts during everyone else's elemental training. This way, he didn't just sit around doing nothing.
Ian thought it was a good idea. Doing so would allow him to finish his daily routine early on some days and get more rest.
This became normal for him in those classes. While everyone was training and practicing with their elements, he was just doing strength training.
After one month in the new class, things started to change. Sett stopped the solo training and swapped things up.
"Okay, class. Today, we're going to move on to the next step in this class, combat training. You will each go up against me to determine your current fighting capability and move on from there." Sett seemed excited. His enthusiasm was very visible.
Most of the students looked worried. A good number of them barely had any combat history. One student spoke out and said, "But sir, how will that work? You're much stronger than us since you're crystal rank."
Sett turned to the student and with a big smile said, "Simple, I won't fight back. I just want to see what you're capable of first. From there, we will improve your skills by identifying some of your weaknesses. Now, who wants to go first?"
The students looked at each other, concern and worry still plastered on most of their faces. However, one student almost immediately stepped forward.
Darren walked out from the crowd looking proud and excited. He walked towards Sett and said, "I'll go first, teach. I'll show you how powerful I am."
Sett's excitement grew upon seeing Darren step forward. He had expected this and was ready to get started.
Sett and Darren moved onto the arena at the center of the training grounds, standing on opposite ends. Sett looked like he was getting ready to have a fun time with a smile plastered on his face. He took a stance that made him look bigger and intimidating, but Darren didn't care.
Darren, on the other hand, didn't take a fighting stance; he was just standing casually. He still had his presence of superiority even when facing someone like Sett.
Since Sett wasn't going to fight back, he couldn't make the first move. He happily looked at Darren and said, "Alright, Darren, come at me with all you got. Don't hold back."
Darren couldn't help but smile back at Sett. He looked at Sett and proclaimed, "Okay, old man, I'll hit you with everything I got, but don't blame me if you get hurt."
After speaking, Darren stomped on the arena, sending a wave of spikes that came out of the ground.
Sett watched as the spikes got closer, narrowing any possible escape. But before the spikes could hit him, he jumped in the air, doing a front flip mid-air. He then landed behind Darren and acted like he was going to punch him.
However, Darren was able to react to the fake punch and used his wind abilities to blast himself away. Darren was pissed at having to dodge a fake attack. He yelled out, "The hell?! I thought you weren't going to fight back."
Sett turned to face Darren and said, "I was testing your reaction speed. It was a fake attack that I threw."
Darren wasn't happy with that answer. He stared at Sett angrily, summoning multiple ice spikes around himself. He then threw all of the spikes at Sett, hoping one would hit.
Sett was able to easily dodge all of the spikes. Not one came close to even grazing him. He started walking towards Darren slowly, observing what he did next.
Darren saw this and panicked slightly. He started throwing wave after wave of different attacks, each one taking a wide area, and yet, none landed on Sett.
Sett kept slowly approaching Darren, dodging all of his attacks effortlessly. However, once Sett was only a few meters away, Darren tried to blast himself away again. But before he could, Sett said, "Okay, that's enough. I've seen plenty."
Darren looked confused. He wasn't expecting Sett to end the fight so soon. He looked at him angrily and said, "What do you mean enough? I can keep going."
"I'm sure you can, but I've gotten an understanding of your fighting style. You prefer long-range barrages to try and overwhelm your opponent. You lack close combat experience. You also seem to have trouble switching between your elements. There's always a delay between different elemental attacks. However, your control over your abilities and your reaction speed is very impressive." Sett looked more serious as he pointed out Darren's flaws and strengths.
At the same time, Darren looked confused and annoyed, hearing what Sett had to say. He didn't want to hear Sett's criticism, and he didn't want everyone else to hear it. He just wanted to rush up and punch Sett to shut him up. But he knew he couldn't. He knew he was outmatched and it pissed him off.
Once Sett finished going over his observation, he turned to everyone else and said, "Who's next?"
After seeing what Darren went through, some students seemed more willing to go next. They didn't like the aspect of being made a fool in front of everyone else, but they all wanted to know how to improve themselves.
One by one, each student went up to fight against Sett. None of them were able to land a hit, but they all learned something about themselves. Those who had little to no fighting experience were picked apart the most and given the most advice. Those with combat experience were just told what their weaknesses and strengths were.
Finally, near the end of the class, most of the students had gone up to fight against Sett, but there were still a few left. The remaining students were the weakest in power. Among them was Ian.
Sadly, there wasn't enough time for them to fight against Sett. They would have to wait until the next class.
Ian was happy, though. Even though he didn't get a chance to go up against Sett, he had learned a lot. Being able to know the strengths and weaknesses of anything was always good for him.
He knew Sett was going to pair them up into sparring partners to help them gain some combat experience against someone of the same level. If that was going to be the case, then he was going to prepare for it. He replayed all of the fights and breakdowns in his head, making sure to memorize as much as he could.