Mentor 1’s worries were well placed , only a few minutes after they left the class, before even arriving at his house, Aegon’s sword fell on the ground as his arm trembled uncontrollably.

“Hmph.” Roy pridefully scoffed from the side even if he was also barely holding on, his face was beet red as sweat stung his eyes, the sword placed on his fingertip trembled slightly and it was becoming more pronounced by the second.

With his ego bruised, Aegon couldn't avoid shouting back. “I started way before you, even before the class began, you would be pretty useless if you couldn't manage to hold on longer than me, but let's see if you can handle the extra twenty minutes I had to endure.”

“I didn't say anything.” Roy added with a smug look.

Yet, twenty minutes later, when his sword fell to the ground and he heard his friend’s prideful laugh his smug face disappeared in a flash.

Needless to say, a pointless ego battle ensued until they reached a compromise, it being that Aegon had lasted longer because his sword was lighter and so they were equally matched, at least that's what they agreed on the surface, both had their own thoughts as they shook hands.

…

Night came and Aegon was sitting on his bed, he had already trained with his other arm until exhaustion and was now massaging his aching arm with his other equally aching arm. In the end it only worsened the situation.

Taking a peek at the dimly lit path through his window he saw a lone room with light still peeking through its windows.

“Bastard!” He unknowingly clenched his fists out of frustration and that made him wince in pain but his determination and competitive spirit had been lit.

He pulled a sword from its scabbard and started balancing it atop his fingertip just like he had started getting used too, the experience wasn't as painful as he thought it would be, for the first few seconds that is, as only a few minutes later he was already feeling as much pain as he did doing the exercise for an entire hour in the afternoon.

Clang

Ultimately he dropped the sword not even five minutes after he pulled it out of its scabbard.

“Aaaaaaahhhhh”

Right before the sword hit the ground he felt something tearing in his forearm and the pain flooded in, a blinding pain unlike anything he’d ever felt before made him cry, roll, bawl and roll some more, it only lightly subsided much later and even then it would come back if he made the smallest of movements with his arm.

That night Aegon didn't get any sleep and unknowingly to him, a few rooms down the path a similar scene had played out inside Roy’s room.

…

The next week was pretty rough for Aegon, he was clearly beaten both times during battle class, he was injured and supposed to be recovering during the fights but even he found those excuses a bit lacking. Adding to that, his plants were not growing as fast as he thought they would and, worst of all, due to his tiredness he hadn't paid much attention while watering them and a few small sprouts which had appeared on the fringes of his small garden didn’t get enough water and so, when he finally noticed, they had withered and were past the point of saving.

That day he kneeled on the soft soil of his garden while weeding with a trail of tears rolling down his face and a powerful ache in his heart, wasting contribution points was a luxury he couldn't afford.

Yet that wasn't all, the cherry on the top of his week, contrary to expectations, happened at the very beginning.

In the morning after Aegon and Roy ruptured their ligaments they were going to the infirmary with dark circles under their eyes and one arm clearly swollen.

With his uninjured arm raised in front of his eyes to block the blinding morning sun Aegon broke the uncomfortable silence.

“This is ridiculous, they could have warned us about this!”

“They did.” Roy countered.

Thinking back on the conversations they had with Richard he couldn't avoid cringing at his own arrogance, he had heard it in the moment but he hadn't really cared.

Lowering his arm back down and looking at his friend who was in an equally rough shape Aegon let out a chuckle.

“What’s so funny?”

“We are morons.” Aegon responded with an amused smile.

“We are.” Roy ruefully agreed.

“But I don't understand what got into us, we always tried to avoid pain and suffering when training, we got along so well because of it, most people here are just so obsessed with cultivation and their supposed progress that they are even willing to torture themselves….I believe there's a case to be made about sects promoting masochistic behaviour.”

“Is that so?” A voice that didn’t belong to any of the two youths interjected into the conversation.

Immediately a chill crawled down their backs and they froze on the spot.

From a road which was hidden by a denser patch of trees Richard came with an amused expression, he was ready to scold the students for their nonsensical words and to somewhat get back at them for their behaviour during his class, but then he saw their arms and immediately lost his teasing mood.

He started massaging his wrinkling forehead but stayed quiet while he pondered how he would get this troublesome pair back in line.

Yet that wait, even though it wasn’t that long, seemed like an eternity to the fear-stricken young men.

“You are arrogant.” Richard’s tone was chillingly calm.

…

“I always saw him as a powerful guy but you know… his attitude didn’t really induce respect….”

“Aegon!” Anna interjected from the side with a warning in her tone.

“Oh come on I'm just telling it as it is, when I first saw him on the colosseum I felt an incredible presence from him, but during class as I saw the way he handled things he started appearing less like an unfathomable senior and more like a… nice grandpa.”

Looking around the table and noticing the interest in his friends' eyes he continued.

“He scared the shit out of me.”