“Too slow,” said Lazer solemnly. “Too slow. Wrong. Too slow. Do it again,” he repeatedly constantly.
Since the beginning, Lazer had been dissatisfied with the girl’s performance.
She had been absent-minded since after the class and did not demonstrate the speeds expected of her during the combat training. Lazer deliberately put on a serious look to try to pressure her into maximizing her abilities.
Lizard demihumans differ significantly from humans in terms of their basic abilities.
Lizard demihumans have protective, armor-like scales, possess a superior sense of balance because of their tails, and are extremely explosive and sensitive to subtle sensory reactions (such as sensing a murderous atmosphere and identifying hidden weapons) as a result of living in harsh environments. It may take years for humans to hone these skills, whereas the teenage female demihuman in question only needed half a year to predict the direction where Lazer’s hidden weapon would go.
The girl did not grow up in an affluent and protected environment, which helped her pick up the combat training very quickly. In half a year, she was already moving like a semi-pro. Lazer was aware of this. Had it not been the perilous throne war, he would have commended the girl for the progress she had made instead of constantly pressuring her to improve.
“Teacher… I…”
The girl panted, and her movements gradually weakened. This may have been because she had not rested since waking up in the morning. She was in a worse shape than yesterday, in terms of physical strength, and her face turned pale. Although Lazer did not want to stop, seeing her like this made him realize that any more training would be counter-productive and damage her body. He let out a sigh and gestured to end the training.
“Let’s take a break.”
“Yes, thank you teacher…”
She fell to the ground, landed on her bottom, and gasped incessantly for air.
Lazer turned and looked around. The Juan family territory was a short distance from a lively town. The higher hills were mostly surrounded by desert, and no buildings were found in the vicinity except for aqua tree fruits that the family had grown. Despite being in the periphery of an oasis, the region contained water, allowing other crops to be planted and the landscape of the house to be shaded in green.
The girl walked to one of the desert trees and stopped. The desert trees had no branches and leaves and featured slender trunks (only the size of an arm) that were almost as hard as rocks. The tops of the trees were thick fine sand condensed into balls containing clear drinking water. Only lizard demihumans knew how to grab the balls and drink the water. She let the water balls sit for a while until sand and stones precipitated, and the two proceeded to take turns drinking the water.
