The Perfect Specimen

"A-Assassins?! What were they after? Why kill a few students?" Alistair stutters while trying to keep his composure in front of his teacher.

The teacher sighs at the realization that it wasn't his student being brave, only stupid. He says,

"Who knows why anyone does anything these day. Most likely a student who thinks his family is above the hardsh.i.p.s of the school or something else. Hell, at this point it could even be a monster from the markings we found."

Alistair's ears perk up at the mention of a monster. Realizing this could go down a very bad road if the conversation continues he says,

"Are you sure it's okay to tell students this information? It could cause a panic."

The teacher looks at him and says flatly,

"Oh it's fine, students need to be exposed to these situations as much as possible. Cradling you all won't provide any benefit to your growth. Besides, if you do cause a panic or become a blubbering mess, then you will be expelled immediately. It's a way to weed out the weak in it's own way."

He pauses before reaching into his back pocket to pull out a piece of paper.

"Here's the warning. It's up to you if you would like to stay for class or go back to your dorm for the day. The investigators are currently questioning and everyone so they recommended everyone to stay in there rooms to get to them. But they will come to the classrooms eventually."

"Then how come they don't expel the students for not attending class if they will stop by anyway?"

"That's a damn good question that would be better asked to the Principal of the school. Not that he would ever entertain a conversation with you."

Alistair looks down at the paper and sees the warning giving a vague outlining of what happened last night.

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Warning!

There were, and could still be, assassins that attacked last night. They infiltrated through the sewer systems and we have confirmed the existence of three bodies dismembered throughout the tunnels.

The slaughterhouse has also been destroyed with claw marks and raw meat all over the floor. We are currently investigating the cause of this, but at this moment in time we are postponing the self production of meat in our facility. We will double vegetable availability to make up for this.

If anyone has any information, they are required to comply with the investigative staff and comply with scrying runes. Any signs of resistance will be met with severe punishment and forced scrying measures.

Students are allowed a temporary reprieve from classes while investigators scour the entire facility for traces of the intruders. Please either stay in your dorm or in your class. If the investigators have to go looking for you, you will be punished harshly.

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He feels a deep uneasiness at the pit of his stomach. "I have already seen the effects of magic interacting with my body... I have to find out some way to avoid them using runes which are containers of vast amounts of magical energy."

He asks, "Teacher, will they be coming during this class or next class?"

"Oh, I'm not sure. They need to get through all the children in their dorms first and then they will begin coming to the classes.

In the middle of his thoughts he hears his teacher,

"Alright everyone! No time like the present to start focusing on class!" He claps his hands together and says with an enthusiastic smile.

"Todays lesson will give you a major head start over the rest of the class so do well to make full use of it!"

He begins instructing them on proper muscle training and fighting techniques. Each student is either doing bizarre workout exercises or performing a unique move set that the instructor has taught them.

He makes his way over to Alistair who is effortlessly holding a very difficult pose that the teacher described as a way to strengthen every muscle in torso and arms at once. To Alistair however, he is unable to gain any of the amazing benefits from the repetition of working out.

While he is in this position he is calmly looking all over his body to see his muscles that are supposed to be improving from the routine. He sees however that the muscles he is stretching out are actually becoming damaged and a thin strand of mist originating from his abdomen is repairing it to it's previous state.

"I guess working out my body, it will try to heal itself naturally as it absorbs energy from whatever that spiral in my stomach is. Then I guess that means, my body is actually already dead and whatever is needed to be kept in working condition is absorbed from the food I ingest.

I guess it's not that different from a normal living body... But why do I need to eat raw ingredients and nothing else? Either way I need to limit damaging actions to my body as much as possible unless I can establish a food source." He thinks of the slaughter house and

Seeing that the workout routine is not as difficult for Alistair as he thought it would be, the teacher raises his opinion of his student further. He stops walking in front of Alistair and says,

"I can see that you are having an easy time with muscle building exercises. I apologize for not assessing you properly at first. In all my years as an instructor this is the first time a student has truly shown such physical discipline. How about we focus on something a little more suited to someone with your foundations?"

Alistair, while still in his awkward position, casually carries on the conversation, impressing the teacher even more. "What did you have in mind teacher?"

"I was thinking about working on your fighting style. You seem to just be using moves you learned from your opponents in battle. That will not work when you are up against monsters. Did you get a chance to take a look at any of the books I recommended to you?"

Alistair feels a deep sense of shame as he realizes he never had a chance to go to the library and study. He shakes his head,

"No teacher. I had many things that I-" His teacher raises his hand in a gesture to stop Alistair from speaking.

"No need to worry. We will just have to find out what works best with you. Go ahead and copy the stance and each subsequent movement after it."

He tosses out a small straw doll that has a purple rune on it. After it lands on the ground it takes the form of a faceless generic male with a lean build and grows to the size of the teacher.

The teacher positions his legs so his body is almost perpendicular to the faceless male and puts his clenched fists up in front of his face. His front foot is raised just slightly off of its heel and his h.i.p.s are pushed towards the faceless male.

Seeing this pose, Alistair is reminded of one of the students who he sparred with. Vaguely remembering that the student did nothing more than flail about, the fighting style did not leave a good impression on him.

Keeping these thoughts to himself, Alistair does as he told and copies the stance. He then sees his teacher swing his fists from side to side in very fast and succinct motions before swiftly bringing his knee shooting straight upwards.

The wind rips and makes a loud smacking sound as his knee hits his palms that stopped it. Just imagining if a person were on the receiving end of that combo is enough to understand its power.

After watching Alistair attempt to copy his movements and try them out on the training dummy, the teacher says,

"I can tell you have a good grasp on the basics of some fighting styles. So what we are going to do, is give you broad knowledge of every fighting style and see what works best for you."

Alistair looks at the impact marks that he managed to make on the training dummy and says,

"I'll try to incorporate everything I learn into my zombie style." He smiles at his teacher while thinking to himself,

"Adding all the styles I can find with the natural evolution my body goes through when I eat my food could generate a style completely unique to me... My very on 'Monster Style'".