CHAPTER 39: SERIOUS PROBLEM

After everyone was present in the classroom, the class started. Lindy had a board behind her, and she drew things and explained as she went.

The first thing the students had to know was about the core of the demons.

"Demons are classified in rankings according to their strength, keep that in mind. Some ignorant people believe that S-rank demons or beyond are all intelligent beings who can talk and look human, but that’s not the truth. There are many high-ranking demons that act on instinct alone, and those are even harder to contain," Lindy explained.

"The ranks are pretty straightforward, and I believe all of you know about this. But the groups of demons are a different thing. Each demon belongs to a certain group that we classify according to their appearance, skills, etc."

Lindy then started to explain the major demon groups. Many demons fell into those groups. Even though the demons were different, there were some characteristics in common between them, and that’s what would make them fall into a specific group.

Damian had a notebook with him, and he wrote that down. It was important information to him. With it, he could know the group of a demon before even fighting it, and have some idea about its powers.

For someone like him, who was always fighting demons to get their skills, that knowledge was golden—life-saving knowledge.

After the class ended, Mitra and Curt left the room with Damian.

"Lindy was looking at you the whole time, or am I crazy to think that?" Mitra said. "Do you know her or something?"

She was not crazy at all. Damian had noticed how she looked at him, but that was because of his early help.

"No, we just met," Damian said. "Maybe I’m just handsome?"

Mitra laughed at that. "For sure that’s the case. Anyway, see you guys later."

She had something to do, so she left. Their classes had ended for the day. Curt also left not long after. Damian didn’t ask what they were doing.

The morning class was always with Randal, and the afternoon class changed depending on the subject of the day. Classes ended at around 3 p.m.

After that, the students were free to do whatever they wanted. Most of them practiced at some point during the day. They needed to work on their breathing techniques as well as their other skills.

Damian wanted to do that too, so he went to the practice room with his new books in hand.

The academy provided a private practice room for all students. That way, they didn’t need to schedule anything. All they had to do was go there and practice.

That was why this hunter academy was known for producing the best hunters in the country. The resources they offered made all the difference.

Damian reached the area where the training rooms were. A man was standing at the front. Damian talked to him before doing anything else. That man was the officer responsible for the practice rooms.

"Name, please," the man said.

"Damian Crawford."

The man checked the system on his computer. After a few moments, he said, "Your practice room is number 37. Here’s your key. You’ll need to return it to me or any other officer who’s here later."

The students had a set time they could use the practice room each day—two hours.

The reason was pretty simple: to make sure students didn’t overtrain and hinder their progress.

Many people wanted to keep training non-stop, thinking that would make them stronger. While breathing techniques could be trained for longer hours, the actual skills couldn’t.

Using skills required mana, and using mana also tired the body. So training for too long would only slow progress—or worse, cause injury.

Damian understood the time limit and wasn’t angry about it. After getting the key, he searched for his room. There were other students going in and out of the area.

The practice rooms were close to each other, each with a specific number on the door. When Damian found his room, he opened the door and stepped inside.

The room was pretty simple. It had a refrigerator stocked with drinks and some snacks, as recruits would need energy during training. It also had a bathroom, just in case.

The rest of the room was filled with training dummies, but these weren’t ordinary dummies. They could regenerate after taking damage!

Not only that, their appearance was demon-like. That was meant to get aspiring hunters used to fighting demons.

Damian placed his bag on the ground, grabbed the book about the breathing technique, and started reading.

He had no idea if it would work for him like it did for other hunters. Damian had a system with attributes—something no one else had—and even his mana was different.

Still, he tried. He had to do everything he could to look normal, or else he’d get into trouble, and maybe even die.

Damian read the book for about thirty minutes. Then, it was finally time to practice. He sat cross-legged, closed his eyes, and tried to focus his mana, following the breathing patterns described in the technique.

To do that, he had to breathe in a specific pattern.

Most recruits struggled to master their breathing technique. Even powerful hunters had trouble mastering theirs. Damian’s technique was a beginner one. Hunters would change their breathing techniques over their lifetime, always following their affinity.

Anyway, when Damian tried to use the technique, nothing happened. The system warned him:

[As a half-demon, you cannot use this type of breathing technique. You can only learn the demonic breathing technique.]

That wasn’t the only problem, though. Damian couldn’t learn the body-enhancing skills in his books either. Basically, training like all the other hunters was impossible for him.

"This is serious..." Damian thought.

The way students kept themselves at the academy was by showing good progress and improvement. But how was Damian supposed to do that if he couldn’t learn the skills?

Although he couldn’t use the breathing technique to increase his mana, he could still fake his aura using his demonic skill, and he could grow stronger by absorbing demons, so that wasn’t a problem.

But what about the skills? Randal would want to see his students learn the skills and show him, but Damian couldn’t do that. He didn’t know what to do...

Feeling discouraged by all that, he stayed in the training room for the full two hours. He tried to practice, but nothing worked, which was a shame.

After leaving, he gave the key back to the officer. Then, he saw someone — none other than Lindy, who seemed to be waiting for him.

Damian blinked a few times, thinking for a moment he was imagining things. But no, Lindy was actually there to speak with him.

"Hey, Damian," she said, "can we talk about something in private?"

"Sure," Damian said. "What about?"

"I’ll tell you when we’re alone," she said. "Come with me."

The two walked together through the academy, reaching the residential area where the teachers lived. Lindy led Damian to her home, and she even cooked them dinner...

"This smells so good," Damian said while waiting at the dinner table, "but I’m curious — what did you want to talk to me about?"