After five minutes, the two contestants were thoroughly humbled, and grateful to escape the ring.

"Oh, that's what I forgot. We didn't call for staff to bring refreshments. If they're going to be training, we should have at least one palace maid on hand to call for drinks and light snacks." Karl realized.

"And Popcorn." Dakkarian muttered.

Librarian Barry smirked. This was definitely popcorn worthy. He had expected the children to be humbled, but the gargoyles had been holding back on them far more than he realized.

When they were facing a trained combatant, they were brutal. Adorable, but brutal.

And Karl had found the perfect way to torture the dragons. The bunnies triggered their species' innate prey drive. They wanted to hunt them, needed to hunt them once they got started.

And then they lost the fight to prey.

Even if their mind knew that it was only logical to lose to gargoyles who had much more innate combat potential than they did, their instincts screamed at them to improve themselves, and that it was shameful to not be winning this fight.

"Alright, I need to try. We're all tutors, not soldiers, but one of us has to be able to land a hit." One of the older blue dragons insisted.

"You know we're like the worst possible choice to win this contest, right? None of us are even combat instructors." One of the others noted.

"Oh, that's an idea. Let's bring a Palace Guard. We can top up the mana for him to fight." One of the others suggested.

The Palace Guards were mostly Overlords, ceremonial in nature, while the soldiers outside were Totems and Myths.

One of the tutors ran outside, then came right back in with a door guard from the Library, who looked thoroughly confused.

"We need you to beat up the bunny." The dragon was explaining.

"Librarian?" The guard asked, hoping for clarification.

"It's a training exercise. The goal is to land a hit on the bunny maids, and the tutors here have all realized that they cannot. So, they want you to try and prove that it is possible." Barry explained.

"Do we have a healer?" The guard asked.

"The bunny is a gargoyle. She will regenerate within seconds, they have innate [Trollish Regeneration] level self-healing." Karl offered.

The guard frowned. "If that's the case, what am I even doing guarding the Library? That thing can likely beat me senseless."

Karl shook his head. "The enchantment will set their attack power and movement to your level when you're in the sparring ring. This is a training room, not a punishment."

The guard nodded and drew his blade before entering the ring.

As usual, the maid curtsied as she drew her weapon, a battle staff this time, with metal balls at the ends.

The battle was immediate and furious, with two trained combatants going all out with each other. Five strikes in, the guard grabbed the centre of the staff, trying to gain control.

But the bunny was more agile, and used his hold on the staff as leverage to give him a double footed kick that slid him halfway across the arena.

"I should have seen that coming." He muttered as the gargoyle backed off to let him recover.

"He should just be glad that I didn't let the Badger program their fighting style." Karl quietly joked to Dakkarian.

The black dragon smirked. "She would have definitely kicked him in the dick."

Cara left her space to join the fun. "You get me. That's rare. But if they're going to leave their vitals exposed like that, it's only right that you should attack them."

Dakkarian smiled down at Cara. "And what do you consider the vitals?"

"The basics. Eyes, ears, groin, that spot between the shoulder blades, and the Achilles tendon." Cara replied with a shrug.

Barry frowned, while Dakkarian smirked at the badger.

"None of those are lethal strikes." The Librarian noted.

"Well, the centre of the back is, if you go through to the organs." Dakkarian corrected.

"Still. How are those the vital areas?"

Cara shrugged. "The goal of fighting isn't to kill, it's to make them stop wanting to fight you. I only kill annoying things, tasty things, and ones that Sister Rae wants for her art exhibitions."

"That was the Blood Destruction Demonic Spider you mentioned earlier, was it not?" Barry asked.

"That's her. She's an incredible artist. She does all our fashion, but she also does dioramas." Cara explained.

He didn't want to know. He definitely didn't want to know what the Mythic Ranked demonic spider called art in diorama form.

But he was afraid he already knew.

The guard and the gargoyle fought for a few more minutes, and then disaster struck. A well-placed skill knocked the staff from her hands, and the guard finally managed to land a sword strike across her abdomen.

The bunny leapt back and bowed politely, then frowned as she held her dress together.

A few seconds later, it mended itself, as the dress was part of the Gargoyle spell. But his victory was secure. The guard had proven that he could land a strike on the Gargoyles.

Karl knew that in the future, there were going to be many more creative contests than simply trying to land a strike. The better that the combatants got, the more specific that they could get. But for now, even against the average guard, the maids were still a serious contestant.

"Do you mind if I call someone else over?" The guard asked.

"Just not too powerful, this is mostly intended for student training, it's not set up for anyone Totem Rank or higher." Karl agreed.

The guard smiled. "Actually, I was thinking of someone younger. There is a combat prodigy among the teens. A commoner Swamp Dragon berserker. He should be in the Palace right now, as his mother works here."

"Oh, that should be fun. This is an excellent spot for those who excel at their rank. If they're strong enough, they can ask the maids to fight a rank above them. There is no better way to get a feel for the mana use at different levels, or to measure your current capability." Karl suggested.

"I foresee much pain in their future." Dakkarian noted.

"Wait until they get the dumb idea to try to flip her skirt. They don't know true pain yet." Cara joked, with an evil smirk on her face.

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