Past Life Hero, ch 20

Halfway back, Max was surprised by Gantry Pliss approaching him.  "Your name is Max?"

"Yes. Gantry, right?"

"That's what they call me," said Gantry with a smile. His face grew serious, and he said, "Truly, I am super impressed by how you fight. What the professor said was true. You wouldn't even need to have any contracted spirits to be a serious contender against a lot of other Summoners in duels.  All you would need was to have your third eye open.  If you could see or sense spirits, you probably would have beat me.  What kind of world are you from? Can everyone fight like that on your world?"

Max grinned without humor.  "Earth is a high technology, no mana planet, at least until the monsters attacked. I lived in a very peaceful area that never saw war."

"Then…I don’t get it.  Then how can you fight like that?" said Gantry.

Max thought about how to answer and decided to tell a half-truth. "I used to practice as a hobby."

Gantry shook his head and chuckled. "Well, tell you what. If you don't have anything else to do, want to get a snack from the cafeteria and give me some pointers?"

Max tried to think about how to refuse politely, and Gantry noticed his hesitation. He said, "Even though you have the dagger–" he said, pointing at the dagger Max had put back in his belt earlier, "--I bet you don't have many clothes, right? Tell you what, I've been here a few years. If you give me some advice over a little bit of food, I'll give you one of my athletic sets of clothes. Deal?"

"Deal. But if they're in some sort of stupid color, I'm going to be annoyed."

Gantry laughed. "Don't worry. I've gotten enough comments about my hair since I've been in Summoner Academy. I haven't really wanted to stand out in other ways on top of it."

"Fair enough," said Max.

The two of them walked to the cafeteria. Max wasn't sure why Gantry was willing to give him a new set of clothes, but he was definitely willing to give him a few minutes for the trade.

***

Max sat down across from Gantry at a table in the cafeteria. During and between meals, the cafeteria always had various snacks available.  As Max knew, there was no limit to how many times somebody could eat in a day. However, he assumed there would be a limit to anything if a student took it to an extreme.  After all, there were always people scanning students when they entered.

Gantry, surprisingly, had gotten a bunch of sweets. Since he was in the cafeteria anyway, Max had picked up nachos with some sort of cooked ground meat on top, and he was planning to eat this instead of dinner later. He got directly to the point. "So, what do you want to really talk to me about, Gantry?" Max popped a nacho in his mouth and chewed as he thought about the duel they'd both just had. Both of their little cuts and bruises they'd sustained had already been healed through the energies of the Quartet.

"I heard about your duel with that prince in the Mystic Spear Path Academy. To be honest, I was really excited when we got the opportunity to duel, and I just wanted to talk to you about it."

"That's it?" asked Max.

"Truly," said Gantry.  “Well, I was honest about the pointers too, but I am not sure how much you can actually teach me in one conversation over a meal.”

Max ate another nacho and thought about the duel. On one hand, part of him felt a sting of hurt pride and frustration because he'd lost. But on the other hand, he had to be fair with himself and put everything in context. In Max's past life, he'd pushed his mana body to be an eight star Blade Sorcerer.  At this point, his mana body he didn't even have a single star. On top of that, he'd had to crawl his way up from the very bottom to reach the top in his first life. Along the way, he'd learned how to temper disappointments and not allow losses impact his motivation for long.

It seemed that Gantry had concerns along the same veins because he added, "Honestly, I was very impressed with our duel. It wasn't a fluke that you were able to beat a Mystic Spear Path second year."

Max shrugged.  "I don't know about that. I mean, little lord-what's-his-name wasn't even using a spear. He had a dagger, and I had the reach with the cane that I was using."

Gantry shook his head. "I don’t think that's entirely fair. Or accurate.  It’s possible that you might just be humble, but it’s possible you don’t know.  Because the fact is, you just got here. And I have my summons and in your duel before, your opponent had his mystic spear arts. Meanwhile, both times, you were just a guy with a stick and some mana control."

Max raised his eyebrows. "Mana control?  You can tell, huh?"

Gantry nodded and said, "There was no way I couldn't. I mean, no normal person could have possibly lasted for more than a second with me.  And I have seen other Challengers duel before.  Not much, but enough."

Max ate another nacho as he considered the other man. Gantry's tone wasn't arrogant or boastful. It was entirely matter of fact. And Max knew he had to agree with Gantry's self-assessment.

"Yeah, but I still lost. Excuses are excuses.  In a real fight, I’d have been dead.”

Gantry smiled and said, "Yes, butI think you still might be having a little bit of a misunderstanding."

"What do you mean?" asked Max.

"In the entire academy, there are some who consider me one of the best student duelists, even though I am only a third year.” He shrugged and said, "I don't think I entirely agree. My abilities are not very versatile yet.  But the fact is that I am a very difficult opponent for most other students in the academy.  The vast majority.  Regardless of year."

Max was shocked. "Really? I mean, I'm not trying to insult you, and I lost after all. But..."

Gantry shook his head sadly and said, "The reputation of Summoners being weak exists for a reason. And unfortunately, a large part of it is due to how poorly our Path performs in duels and all of the competitions in the Quartet. And on top of that, yes, I beat you, but you couldn't even see or feel any of my spirits and you have none of your own.”

Max frowned. "Well, in a real fight, that wouldn't matter. And not only that, it's not like we're going to understand the powers as all of our enemies. The reality is I just wasn't strong enough."

Gantry sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "The truth is, neither am I though."

"Huh?" said Max.

Gantry said, "When I was fighting you, I burned up a large portion of my energy just to keep up. And one of my contracted summons is a spirit of a dead sword master. He was not only guiding my actions, he was even directing my body. And my second summon, a less powerful spirit, was pushing my limbs and my sword to help me generate speed. Without the two of them, I would have been helpless against you. Even without one of them, I would have been completely outclassed. And a large part of it is because I'm just not a good enough fighter yet. I will keep working hard but I’d be a fool not to understand you will likely soon surpass me."

He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "All of this was actually one reason why I joined the Basic Group Combat class. I've already progressed through most of the other combat classes in the academy and I can't seem to get any better. Sure, I'm good in a duel against most other Summoners in the academy. But if our school is going to have any hope against the Mystic Spear Academy mid-semester, I need to get better.  We all do."

Max thought about what he was hearing and some of the subtext. He bluntly said, "You're going to ask me to help you, aren't you?"

Gantry merely nodded. "I think I can help you too," he said.

"How so?"

Gantry took a sip of water. "Contacts, for one thing," said Gantry. "You just got here and you are probably soon to talked about than I am. But you don't know everybody. My advice might be helpful about who is who and I have no reason to lie to you. And to be honest, I've been paraded around like a show animal for the last year, being told by all the professors that I am one of the academy's best hopes for the tournament in the Quartet at the end of the year.

“They can say what they want but they are delusional.  I know that right now I don't have what it takes to place highly. But maybe with your help, I can. And not only that, we're in the same group combat class together and we are both opposing team leaders. I think that if we can train together, maybe even have a friendly rivalry, perhaps we'll get more out of the class than we otherwise would. And maybe others in the class would get more out of it too.  You will still surpass me but others will rise as well."

Max said, "I think I might get it.  This isn’t just about the Quartet.  You’re thinking about when we return to our worlds too, right?"

Gantry nodded. "I think that sometimes after people are here for a year or two or more, it's easy for them to forget what we're training for. Or maybe even ignore it. But even though that might make the time go by a little more pleasantly, I don't think it's the right thing to do. Because I remind myself that this isn't my real body." He ran one hand over his arm. "And I remind myself that everybody I knew before coming to the academy is still back home. And I don't even know when I'm going to be able to return."

He fixed Max with a direct stare and said, "I want to get stronger. I need to get stronger. And maybe I'm speaking out of line, but I felt like I could feel the same drive from you today. You looked like you were ready to fight me again. No hesitation. A lot of other students in the academy just don't seem to have that fire. They're good people. And in order to be here in the first place, they have to have a warrior spirit. But... But... Most of them have either accepted a support role or naturally gravitate towards it. That's not me. When I go back, I want to be on the front line with everybody else who's helping save my people."

"So boil it down.  What makes you think I can help you?" said Max.

Gantry snorted. "That's obvious. Even if I couldn't hear the direction of my sword master summon…  Actually, the nature of my summon is just between us, by the way. It's apparently a rare sort of thing, and I don't need that information going out to everybody who already thinks I'm greater than I really am. But I could tell that you are far more talented and skilled than me when we were dueling.  Everyone could.  And I could tell that if you could move faster...You would have absolutely destroyed me. The impression I got is that…”  He seemed to search for words.  “Your body couldn't keep up with what you wanted to do right now."

Max slowly munched on a nacho and nodded. He was impressed by Gantry’s insight.  Despite all the man’s frustration with his lack of power, he definitely had talent.

Then Gantry continued and said, "I can also tell that you have real experience. You didn't hesitate when you came after me. And that's not something I can say for the majority of other students that I've dueled. So, even though I'm not rich–I don't have much money here–but I have enough to be comfortable. And I'm willing to help you if you will help me."  He gave a lopsided grin.  “Although to be honest, you’ll likely have the resources I do soon, too after more professors find out how you can fight.”

Max thought about the matter carefully. And Gantry left him in peace as he finished his nachos in silence. Finally, Max looked up and said, "Okay, I'll help train you. To fight. But in return, you will also owe me a favor."

Gantry smiled widely, held out his hand, and said, "Deal.  Gladly."

Max quickly finished the last nacho he was eating, brushed his hands off on his robes, and shook the other man's hand. "Okay, my short days are Tuesdays and Thursdays. Will you be able to meet me after class on days like today?"

Gantry nodded seriously. "I think we can make that work, especially if occasionally we only meet once a week."

“Sounds good to me," said Max. "But let's start next Tuesday, not this Thursday."

"Alright," said Gantry. Then he picked up his tray and stood up. "I'm done with my cupcakes, so I will get going. I'll see you around."

"See you," said Max. And as the other man left, he scratched his cheek in thought. If he was already helping Gantry, maybe later he could also ask Lance if he wanted to join in. Of course, his friend might not have the time or even the desire, but he figured it wouldn't be a bad idea to ask. Especially since Lance would be returning to Earth with him.

Some of what Gantry had just said definitely resonated with Max. And as he left the cafeteria, moving back to his dorm, he thought about what the Earth might be like when he returned. He also thought about how much longer it would take to reach a first star mana body as a Blade Sorcerer. The first star would still not be easy for a normal person, but Max had already done it before. And once he achieved a single star, he would still have many more options in any fight or duel he might be in in the future.

A lingering concern at this point was that the mana in this Quartet was still not great. And he wasn't sure if he would be forced to leave Summoner Academy if he grew his mana body too powerful. Maybe they'd send him to another school, and Max didn't want that. So far, the Summoner Path was interesting to him, and he really wanted to see this thing through.  He also really didn’t need to learn how to be a blade sorcerer again, and this was a way to become much more powerful than he could have dreamed in his first life.

When he got to his room, he pulled out a sheet of paper and a pen. Then he checked his syllabi on his tablet, opened one of his text books, and began to study.