But yet again, nothing. She seemed to be in some sort of trance as she kept her eyes locked forwards, staring into the empty air. As far as Lucian could tell, she was completely out of it. All he could do was pick himself up off the ground after he felt he could stand on his own and look at her, puzzled.
He waited and waited for an answer from her, but one never came. Instead, he decided to take his chance and slowly started walking in her direction, making sure to stay vigilant as he came closer to her. Until he walked right past her and continued onwards. He started moving towards the main area of the academy and didn't dare to look back.
'She really seems to have been affected by that last move.' Lucian curiously reflected on that final part of the fight. He knew that she probably wasn't expecting him to actually be able to match her in that final bout.
Lucian made his way to the main path after a few more seconds, but right as he turned the corner, a sense of deja vu came across him. He looked behind him, with the hairs on the back of his neck tingling, but found nothing. But when he turned his gaze back to the front, he met a familiar yet not so familiar face.
"Not bad, kid." Sofia's servant spoke in a soft tone to Lucian, casually giving him a compliment. This was the first time Lucian was hearing the man speak, and he couldn't help but notice the subtle hint of something… different about him. It was like his every word carried a hidden weight behind it. It was difficult to describe, as it was something that could only be felt.
Lucian wasn't surprised that this man was watching his and Sofia's spar, as it only made sense for her protector to be near to her at all times, especially in a moment like that one where it was just the two of them and a few daring onlookers a few dozen metres away.
If Lucian wanted to, or had the ability to, he could have seriously harmed her or injured her. This never crossed anyone's mind, though, due to the impression Lucian had on everyone, and it was clear Sofia hadn't considered this either, evident by her current state of surprise even as Lucian was approached by her servant.
For all anyone knew, he could have laced his rusty sword's edge with some poison or just as sinister, and all it would take was a small nick on the most minor places of her body that she would usually overlook, and she could have been six feet under within minutes.
As a scientist, Lucian had no doubt that he could find enough chemicals and materials somewhere in the academy to make a poison that could achieve this — only he had no such need for a thing.
Lucian gave a curt nod to the mysterious servant before passing by him too, intending to make his way back towards his dorm. He was supposed to spend a little under the next 6 hours practising his sword techniques, but thanks to Sofia's sudden request for a spar, he felt too tired to carry on.
However, he felt like he had gained much more out of that short bout than he would have from practising sword techniques for a few hours, so it was worth it in the end.
He had the next three weeks ahead of him to put his all into training anyway, and he had already achieved so much in this one day. He felt he deserved a rest before he really busied himself in the coming weeks.
'Now that I have felt the power of an Official Knight for the first time, I can only imagine what kind of power Grand Knights, or even Mages hold.' Lucian pondered to himself with a bit of anticipation running through his veins.
Facing off against a powerful Official Knight like Sofia had given him many insights, not only into just how strong they were in comparison to the humans of Earth from his previous life, but also in comparison to his own strength. He was satisfied to find out that even with the severe gap in strength between him and an Official Knight like Sofia, he could still fare generally well.
This was with very little to no training as well, as he basically relied on pure instinct combined with the memories his AI had sent him of the sword techniques during the fight. A little bit of his footwork came into play as well, but it only had a minor role, thanks to how clumsy he felt whenever he tried to put it to work.
But in a real battle, he knew that his chances of survival when facing off against an Official Knight would be slim to none. They wouldn't pull their punches or show mercy like Sofia did, and every attack would be a kill shot.
'If an Official Knight is this powerful, I look forward to seeing the kind of power Mages hold. I have to do my utmost to make sure I am selected when the time comes!'
Above Official Knights were Grand Knights, which was also the highest level a Knight could push their power to, that he knew of. They were one level higher than Official Knights but the disparity between them was even higher than between Lucian and Sofia. From the knight training manuals he had read and the vague hints of memories he had from the previous Lucian, he knew that a Grand Knight was about the equivalent to a platoon of about 40 Official Knights! This was essentially a 1 man army!
Back on Earth, that would be the equivalent of a super soldier, which didn't even exist yet without the use of something like a super advanced exoskeleton. Meanwhile, the Grand Knights over here could do this with just their bare bodies — completely naked if they really wanted to!
'I wonder if Sofia's servant is a Grand Knight…' Lucian pondered, but he doubted it. He'd already scanned his stats, and while they were in the realm of impossibility for humans from Earth, it didn't seem so much higher than Sofia's that he could defeat 40 of her alone…
As for mages, Lucian had no idea how strong they were. He just knew that a Grand Knight stood very little chance against even an Apprentice Mage, the disparity was just that high.