Chapter 677: The Training Begins

Ezra jumped lightly onto one of the poles.

His foot landed squarely on its narrow surface, and he adjusted his balance almost immediately. Without hesitation, he placed his other foot on the pole beside it, shifting his weight with little effort.

He looked around the training room.

Poles covered the floor, arranged across a wide area like a fighting platform.

Their positions left little room for careless movements.

Anyone training here would have to pay attention to where they placed their feet, especially while moving between the poles.

Thud!

Thud!

The Servants of Ash carried the wooden crates into the room and placed them at its corners.

The sound of wood meeting the floor echoed through the space as they unloaded the remaining crates.

"Your training is simple, Ezra."

Duke Valentine’s voice came from the entrance.

Ezra turned his head and saw the Duke standing there with his arms folded.

His gaze moved from Valentine to the crates, then returned to the man who had arranged this training.

"You will suspend twenty of these rods in the air, all at the same height. Then, you will use Alchemy Levitation to control any number of rods, preferably more than ten, while fighting four guards at the same time."

Duke Valentine explained the task in a calm voice.

As he mentioned the guards, four Guards of Ash entered the room.

All four wore training outfits and carried long wooden staffs.

They walked close to the platform, each choosing a pole to stand on before turning towards Ezra.

Ezra looked at them one by one.

He was already analyzing the arrangement and considering what the training would demand of him.

The poles would limit his footing, the suspended rods would require constant control, and the four opponents would force him to divide his attention between several threats.

All of them are Binder Alchemists.

He reached that conclusion without showing any change in his expression.

"You are not allowed to use Cognis enhancement when facing them,"

Duke Valentine continued.

Ezra returned his attention to the Duke.

"You may only use your Cognis for Alchemy Levitation. For everything else, you must rely on your natural physical abilities."

Valentine finished explaining the rules.

Ezra understood the restriction.

He could use Cognis to control the Blacksteel rods, but he couldn’t enhance his body to improve his strength, speed, or other physical abilities while fighting the guards.

He would have to rely on his own body and the techniques he had learned.

"Do you understand, Thousand Fold Mind of Ash?"

Valentine asked directly.

"Yes, Lord Duke."

Ezra lowered his head slightly as he answered.

"Alright."

The Duke turned to leave.

"One of the maids will show you the room where you’ll be staying, along with the workshop and study room you can use if you have any studying or research to complete. Good luck."

He spoke without turning back.

The Servants of Ash who had carried the crates followed him out of the training room.

Their footsteps gradually faded down the corridor, leaving Ezra alone with the four guards.

The guards moved at once.

Each jumped onto a pole, taking positions at different angles around Ezra.

They spread out far enough to approach him from more than one direction, forming a loose circle that left him surrounded.

One of the guards stood directly in front of him.

"Begin whenever you’re ready, Sir Ezra Ashenlocke."

The guard spoke calmly, holding his staff at his side.

Ezra didn’t answer immediately.

He looked at the two guards in front of him, then shifted his attention towards the other two behind him.

His black eyes remained plain, but his gaze moved with care as he studied their positions.

A training exercise focused on concentration and constant movement.

That was how he understood the task.

He had to keep twenty rods suspended at the same height while controlling the remaining rods during combat.

At the same time, he would need to move across the poles without losing his balance or allowing the guards to strike him.

The difficulty wasn’t simply controlling the rods.

It was maintaining that control while responding to four opponents.

I can still use my senses without Cognis enhancement, so my perception shouldn’t be affected. The problem is that the guards can use their Cognis.

His attention returned to the four men and women standing around him.

I need to be careful of anyone capable of using Cognis Concealment, even at their current Alchemist rank.

He couldn’t assume that everything he sensed would reveal the guards’ exact positions or intentions.

If one of them could conceal their presence, he would need to account for that possibility.

Ezra finished his assessment.

Oh, well. Let’s begin.

He extended his Cognis towards the crates placed around the room.

The rods responded almost at once.

Thirty Blacksteel rods rose from the crates, lifting into the air under his control.

Ezra guided twenty of them upwards, arranging them above his head until they hovered close to the ceiling.

He adjusted their positions one after another, keeping each rod at the same height.

None was placed directly above another.

Instead, they remained spread out in an orderly formation, suspended at an equal level.

The remaining ten rods moved around him.

Some hovered beside his body, while others stayed behind him or shifted towards his sides.

They remained under his control, ready to move whenever he needed them.

Ezra kept his attention divided between the two groups.

The twenty rods above him had to remain stable.

The other ten required more active control, since he intended to use them during the fight.

"Ahhh."

He let out a quiet breath.

Each rod weighed sixty kilograms.

Thirty rods gave him a total mass of 27,000 kilograms to keep suspended in the air. That was slightly heavier than the combined weight of seventeen QF 13-pounders, its carriage, and a loaded limber, which came to 25,976 kilograms.

The difference was not small.

Yet Ezra maintained his control over all thirty rods without allowing the formation to break.

He moved his right leg onto another pole and settled into his Tai Chi fighting stance.

His knees bent slightly, and he kept his body relaxed, ready to move in any direction without wasting effort.

The four Guards of Ash watched him.

They didn’t need to look down to check the positions of the poles beneath their feet.

Each moved backwards with steady steps, adjusting their distance from Ezra while maintaining their balance.

One of the guards spun the wooden staff in his hand before settling into a fighting stance.

The weapon turned through his fingers, its end tracing a quick arc before he caught it firmly.

The other three followed suit, adjusting their grips and positioning their feet on the poles.

For a brief moment, nobody moved.

The training room fell quiet apart from the faint sounds of the rods hovering in the air and the occasional creak of wood beneath someone’s foot.

Then...

"Ahhh!"

The guards at Ezra’s front and back moved almost at the same time.

They ran across the poles with practiced ease, their steps quick and controlled.

Neither had to look down to check where to place their feet.

They kept their attention on Ezra as they closed the distance.

Ezra’s black eyes shifted from left to right.

His senses picked up the movements of the two guards behind him, allowing him to follow their approach without turning his head completely.

The first guard leapt into the air.

He raised his wooden staff in a vertical swing, bringing it upwards before turning the motion into a downward strike.

As he came down, he used Cognis to strengthen his arms, adding more force to the attack.

The staff cut through the air.

Its end came straight towards Ezra’s face.

Ezra leaned to the side.

The staff passed his cheek by barely an inch.

The rush of air stirred his hair and made the fabric of his training clothes flutter.

His feet remained steady on the poles.

He had avoided the first strike, but another attack was already coming.

The second guard thrust her staff towards Ezra’s current position.

She drove the weapon forward with both hands, aiming to catch him as he recovered from his lean.

At the same time, the third guard swung his staff horizontally from behind Ezra, aiming to strike him across the back.

Three attacks were closing in from different directions.

Ezra sensed their movements before the weapons reached him.

He didn’t panic.

Nor did he need to leave his position immediately.

His right hand moved down while his left forearm rose, the movements smooth and controlled.

One of the Blacksteel rods dropped from the air.

It struck the staff thrust towards him, smashing against the wooden weapon and knocking it away from its intended path.

At almost the same moment, another rod shot behind Ezra and intercepted the third guard’s horizontal strike.

Bam!

Bam!

The sounds of metal colliding with wood echoed through the training room.

The guards’ attacks had been stopped, but Ezra didn’t waste the opening.

With a fluid movement of control, he redirected two more rods towards the guards who had attacked him.

Both rods flew at once.

Klang!

The guard on Ezra’s right raised her staff in front of her, holding it like a sword to block the incoming rod.

The impact rang through the room, and the force pushed her slightly backwards along the pole.

She tightened her grip to keep herself from losing balance.

The other guard, positioned behind Ezra on his left, reacted differently.

He jumped backwards, twisting his body in the air to evade the rod.

The Blacksteel passed him and continued through the space he had occupied a moment earlier.

His feet landed on another pole, and he steadied himself without looking down.

The remaining two guards attacked immediately.

Both brought their staffs down in vertical strikes, aiming for Ezra from different positions.

Ezra moved before the weapons reached him.

He flashed away from the spot where he had been standing, running across the poles with steady steps.

His body shifted from one narrow surface to the next without hesitation.

As he moved, he controlled two Blacksteel rods and brought them in front of himself.

He used them as stepping blocks.

Ezra placed one foot on the first rod, pushed himself upwards, then stepped onto the second.

The rods held their positions long enough for him to use them as footholds, allowing him to rise above the incoming attacks.

He pushed off the second rod and turned sharply in the air.

His body rotated towards the guards behind him.

As he completed the turn, he stretched his right hand forward.

Four Blacksteel rods shot from behind him.

They flew towards the two guards who had just attacked, their paths crossing the space between them and Ezra.

The third guard reacted first.

He moved in front of the fourth guard and began spinning his wooden staff rapidly, turning it into a moving barrier between them and the incoming rods.

Klang!

Klang!

The first two rods struck the rotating staff, their impacts ringing through the training room.

The guard continued spinning his weapon, deflecting the attacks before they could reach either of them.

The other two rods came in behind the first pair, forcing him to keep his staff moving as he blocked them as well.

Ezra remained balanced on the poles, his right hand extended as he controlled the rods.

The four guards had attacked from several directions, but he had used his Alchemy Levitation to block their strikes, counterattack, and move through the air without abandoning his footing.

And the training had only just begun.