Chapter 123: *Foreign presence*
It was better to know what he had already planned to do and see how he could adapt it to help him as much as possible. He finally said to him, "As you already know all of this, I guess you already have plans to craft as many potions as possible. What did you plan to do? I will tell you honestly what I think about it."
Alan thought it was really a big advantage that Kevin wasn’t an ignorant boy; he had the makings of a great leader and would make a great king. Too bad he wasn’t interested at all in becoming the next king, at least for now; things could change in the future.
Kevin then said to him, taking him out of his thoughts, "I wake up every morning at 5 am, and I want to craft as many potions as possible until Axel wakes up at 6:30 am. At my current speed, I will be able to craft 17 potions. Then, on the days when I have Alchemy class, I could craft 4 more potions."
Alan looked at him, startled, and asked him, "Why only 4 when you could easily make between 20 or even 30 potions if you took a high-grade Spirit potion to fill up your reserve of Soul force?"
Kevin shook his head and replied, "During classes with the other students, I don’t want to use my items; I only want to use my own Soul force points and my normal recovery time. Otherwise, I would feel like I’m cheating."
Alan thought it was a bit of a waste, but he remembered the life Kevin had led in his home world, and the fact that he wanted to fit in with others was quite a positive thing, so he would let him do as he pleased.
Alan asked him again, "Well, that’s only for the mornings... What about the afternoons then? How do you plan to organize them?"
What Kevin said next made him smile because he shared exactly the same point of view, "It will depend on when Axel and Erik are there. When they go on an expedition, I would like to do my 3 hours of meditation right after lunch so that I can be free when Axel comes back... And after the 3 hours of meditation, we will both go to train."
Kevin the said to him, "When Axel and Erik are away, I will train you personally. You have to break the rhythm of your movements; they are too predictable. These afternoons, we will only work on technique. When Axel and Erik are there, I want you to continue training with Axel; he needs an opponent who is as powerful as him to progress, and so do you. If we take into account only your respective levels, you and Axel are quite close. He is stronger than you, but thanks to your spells, you can maintain yourself at his level. Erik and I are quite close too; my experience in combat will allow me to reduce our level difference, and Erik, who is able to acquire any technique quickly, will be able to progress faster this way."
Alan was quite happy with what Kevin had plan fir them, and it wasn’t over yet as Kevin added, "And finally, every day without exception, I would also like us to work on new spells for an hour, the kind of spells that can help us in close-range or long-range combat."
Kevin stopped and asked him, "What do you think about my training plan?"
Alan smirked and said to him, "Well, I’m just wondering who is the tutor between you and me... But more seriously, I agree with your program except for the potions. I want you to craft more potions. If in the morning you are able to craft 17 potions, then in the afternoon or in the evening, I want you to craft more potions for at least an hour."
He explained to Kevin, "Besides the number of Soul force points you will be able to gain by doing this, you will also gain more experience points, and the sooner you are able to craft medium-grade potions, the better. Do you know if the System takes into account the items or not for the requirement of the 1,500 Soul force points?"
Kevin shook his head, "No idea, but since it takes them into account for crafting potions, I hope it takes them into account for that too."
Alan nodded; he was sailing a bit blind with Kevin’s System but he wasn’t worried because this System was really of great help to him. Without it, it would be much more difficult for him to progress that fast.
Axel and Erik came back just then, and Alan explained to them what they had agreed between them for practice. Axel couldn’t help but be disappointed, and he said to Kevin in an aggrieved tone, "Babe, I thought we would train together..."
Kevin chuckled, and he caressed his cheek before explaining to him, "We will train together, honey. I will just fight against Erik and you against Alan, but we will all share our views on each other’s techniques, and we will try to find solutions together to improve them."
It wasn’t quite what Axel had imagined, but he had to admit that if he wanted to keep getting stronger to protect Kevin, fighting Alan was his best option.
Erik ended up asking Alan, "Have you finished?" Alan gave him a sideways look, and he saw that gleam in Erik’s eyes that told him it was time for them to have a little face-to-face together. So he said to him, a smile already forming on his lips, "We are done, sweetheart. We can go home; I can’t wait to taste my favorite dish."
Erik blushed a little; he didn’t understand why Alan always needed to make this kind of comment, but when he saw that smile on his lips, he forgot everything else. Damn, he was so sexy.
He stood up and held out his hand to him; he couldn’t wait to get home so that he could offer him his favorite dish, and seeing this smile, he already knew that doing it once tonight wouldn’t be enough for him.
He told him when Alan took his hand to get up, "Let’s go home then!"
Alan chuckled and suddenly hugged him, whispering in his ear, "I’m going to serve myself as much as I want tonight, sweetheart; you can’t say I didn’t warn you."
Erik turned even redder and pinched his sides to make him understand to stop it, and Alan chose to be reasonable and stop teasing him, at least for now.
Alan then turned to Kevin and Axel and said to them, "Axel, tomorrow you can go back to your usual training, and you, Kevin, can try fighting for a few hours but still no meditation or potions. If tomorrow, after fighting for a few hours, you still feel good, you can go back to class on Friday and use your Soul force again."
He put an arm around Erik’s shoulders; it had been so long since the last time they went home, and it was time to take good care of his man.
He told them just before heading towards the door to leave, "See you tomorrow; have a good night, guys."
Kevin raised his hand and said quickly with a tensed face, "Wait! Don’t move!"
Everyone looked at him in astonishment, but when they saw his serious face, they also got on their guard. Kevin could sense a foreign presence in the living room; it appeared suddenly just when Alan and Erik were about to leave.
It was a very powerful presence; all of his hair stood on end. It was a feeling he knew well, and his senses had never gone wrong before. He then asked a little surprised to Axel, "Honey, are you really not feeling anything? Not even with your super-developed senses?"
Axel didn’t know what to say; he felt absolutely nothing. Even after concentrating all his senses, he couldn’t feel anything, but he trusted Kevin, and if he said something was wrong, then it was definitely true.
He didn’t have time to answer him because Kevin at that moment suddenly pulled out one of his daggers and threw it in the direction where the phoenix egg was while he was still looking in another direction. It all happened too fast for the others to understand what was going on, but Kevin smirked and then said, "I got you!"
He looked in the direction he had felt the presence moving, and his dagger was like frozen in midair. Axel’s reaction was quicker than the others’, and he hurried to stand in front of him to protect him, his two swords in hand, and Alan and Erik joined him, weapons also in hand to create a bulwark in front of him.
His dagger suddenly fell to the floor, and Kevin said to them, "It’s over! The presence is gone. It doesn’t matter who he was; he is no longer there, and there is no more danger."
