Free Web NovelChapter 27: 27. Let Them Watch. Let Them Plan. I’m Building Something They Can’t Stop.
William pulled up his system interface to look at the changes after the women left to rest and talk about the training session. In just one session, his stats had more than doubled.
The Synergistic Training Boost passive meant that teaching more than one student at a time would now provide him much bigger rewards than teaching each student alone. He was getting forceful, not just by the standards of the academy but also by the standards of his old life.
He’d probably be better at fighting than most elite instructors after a few more weeks of this kind of training. The idea was both exciting and scary.
He was already dealing with people who wanted to kill him, and more power meant more attention. If they knew he was getting stronger at this rate, they would speed up their plans before he became an unstoppable threat.
"William?" Catherine’s voice broke his train of thought.
She had come up to him while he was looking over system data, and her face showed that she was pleased with the training but worried about how tired he looked. "You look tired..."
"We might want to end early tonight."
"No," William said, standing up straight and making his body work with him even though it hurt. "We’re going to do one more drill."
"Tactical analysis and finding threats."
"Everyone come over here."
The six women gathered and looked at each other with a new sense of friendship that came from fighting together. William took out a big tactical map that showed the layout of the academy.
"Pop quiz," he said, pointing to different parts of the map. "Based on what we know about the conspiracy and the training we did tonight, where do you think enemy agents are most likely to attack, either this training ground or my home?"
Clara quickly started looking at sight lines and ways to get in. Olivia compared what she knew about magical theory to what she knew about spells that avoid detection.
Lia and Kaela talked about how to defend yourself in a fight. Catherine and Ellie thought about how to handle administrative weaknesses and emergency response logistics.
In less than ten minutes, they had found twelve possible threat vectors. Eight of these were ones that William had already thought of, and four were entirely new ideas that he had missed. The combined knowledge of six different experts was impressive and much better than looking at things on your own.
William said, "Great job," and wrote down their results. "This is why it’s important for teams to work together."
"Your combined knowledge fills in gaps that no one person would notice."
"Based on these results, we will start using security rotations tomorrow."
"Rotations for security?" Kaela got excited at the thought of actually doing guard duty.
William said, "If there are enemies in the academy who are actively trying to hurt us, we need to be proactive instead of reactive."
"Pairs that switch off will keep an eye on high-risk areas during times when they are most vulnerable."
"Catherine and Olivia take care of the paperwork, and the four of you take turns doing the actual surveillance. Think of it as putting everything we’ve learned tonight into practice."
Lia said, "That’s not a terrible idea at all. Turning training into active security serves two purposes."
William saw something moving in his peripheral vision while they talked about how to put their plans into action. Someone was looking at them from one of the high windows that looked out over the training ground.
It was just a shadow against the darkening sky, too far away to tell who they were but close enough to see the whole session. William couldn’t get a better look at the figure before it disappeared, but the message was clear.
They were being watched, probably by the same people who had tried to erase Olivia’s memory. The enemy was aware of his training sessions and students, and they were almost certainly planning something.
William made a mental note to tell the headmaster about the surveillance and make security stronger, but for now he kept his face calm so his students wouldn’t get scared. They had done outstanding work tonight, and they deserved to be recognized for it instead of being scared of threats they couldn’t see.
William said, "Okay, everyone is free to go."
"Same time tomorrow, and be ready for some endurance training."
"We’re going to work on staying effective in combat even when the pressure is on for a long time."
The women left in different states of excitement and tiredness, but their conversations were lively as they talked about what they had done that night. Catherine and Olivia stayed behind, both of them seeming to want to talk to William about something in private.
When everyone else had left, Catherine said quietly, "That observer in the window was watching us..."
"You saw them too?"
"Yeah," William said. "Could have been a curious student, but my gut says otherwise."
"We should assume that our training sessions are not safe and plan for that."
Olivia said, "I can put up magical wards around the training ground to keep people out."
"We should avoid any actions that would reveal our awareness of the situation. Instead, we should focus on passive monitoring to determine when we are being observed."
William said, "Do it, but be careful."
"They might speed up their plans if they know we’ve seen the surveillance."
Catherine looked worried. "Do you think they want to attack while they’re training?"
"Are they aiming for maximum effect by hitting several high-value targets at once?"
William admitted, "It’s what I would do."
"That’s why tomorrow’s session will have drills on how to respond to an ambush."
"They want to see us train? Okay then... We’ll train for the exact kind of situation they are most likely planning." freewebnσvel.cѳm
He looked at both women and saw the determination and real worry in their faces. "You two did an impressive job tonight."
"The students look up to both of you, and you already work well together. Keep it up."
"Thank you," Catherine said in a soft voice. "Thanks for letting me remember who I used to be."
"I had forgotten how much I missed real combat training instead of doing paperwork."
"And thank you for saving my life and teaching me how to really protect myself instead of just talking about it," Olivia said. "I know I’ve only had one training session, but I already feel better than I did after months of practicing on my own."
William nodded to show he understood, but inside he was still trying to figure out what the huge stat boost meant. The system had basically confirmed that his way of teaching was working better than he had thought it would.
He wondered if he could continue improving at this rate while also ensuring his students remained safe from conspiracy threats. He might actually become strong enough to deal with the academy’s corruption problem head-on instead of just fighting it off.
But that was something William would have to worry about later. He needed food, sleep, and probably some kind of pain medicine for his muscles, which had just been pushed past their limits and were protesting the quick change.
William told his assistants, "Go get some sleep."
"Tomorrow will be another long day."
After they left, William had a moment alone in the empty training ground. He pulled up his stat screen one last time to make sure the changes were real and not just something he imagined because he was exhausted.
[William Wade, Instructor Rank D]
[Level: 12]
[Strength: 34]
[Agility: 28]
[Stamina: 31]
[Magic: 22]
[Mana Control: 19]
[Active Skills: Quick Draw LV3, Better Teaching Efficiency, Perfect Counter]
[Passive Skills: Mana Sensitivity LV2, Synergistic Training Boost, Combat Instinct (Master)]
"Holy shit... I’m getting even stronger now just because I trained many girls today..."
In less than a week at this academy, he went from being a Zero-Class joke instructor to having stats that would get him into elite military units. And if the results of tonight’s training session were any indication, he was just getting started.
William smiled to himself as he locked up the training ground and went back to his room. Let the people who are in on the plan watch.
Allow them to devise their strategies for attacks and schemes. He was putting together a team of amazing people who were learning to work together under pressure.
They couldn’t understand or fight against what he was doing. And when they finally made their move, they would find out that the weakest instructor at the academy had become something much more dangerous than they could have imagined.
Tomorrow would bring new challenges, new training situations, and probably more problems that would make his life even crazier than it already was. But what about tonight?
He had earned the right to fall asleep like the dead tonight, knowing that six talented women were well on their way to becoming the kind of warriors who could change the course of history. William Wade, the academy’s most unlikely success story, has another day like this.
