After five weeks of only theory for the Combat class, today was finally the day that they were going to have their first combat class.
As of now, all students of the Special Class had changed to the Academy's combat uniform.
It was a mixture between a tracksuit and light armor.
The boys had dark blue uniforms complemented with leather shoulder pads, protection for the torso, and knee pads. All of them were also already equipped with their weapon of choice.
Cù Sith was not using anything. Zillah was clutching a dull dagger close to his chest, his expression showing how nervous he was fully. Jynn was swinging a training rapier, with a blunt end, around, seemingly testing its weight.
Ray, on the other hand, stood with his arms crossed, a dull sword at his waist.
He felt that it was a waste of time to not use sharp tools to train. After all, they were fighting almost to the death during the entrance exams, how could they de-escalate the intensity so much?
Of course, he could tell that no one would really die, since both the Practical Test and the Combat Test were in simulated stages, but he was pretty sure that the guy that he killed back in the Practical Test had been taken out of the academy by his family due to tremendous psychological damage.
So now they were worried?
Ray wished he could bring that topic up again, but when he had done so with Cù Sith, he had only received a concerned and confused expression, so he never brought it up again.
As he was in inner ramblings, the girls finally left their changing rooms.
Their uniforms were of a vivid red color that deeply contrasted the male uniforms. As for their leather protections, they did not differentiate that much from the boys', other than a few adjustments to the chest for obvious reasons.
The first to enter was the ever-excited Tiana. She was pulling a small cart filled completely with training weapons, from swords, bows, spears, morning stars, axes, daggers, shields, gauntlets, throwing knives, rope darts, and...
... Was that a gun?!
"Hello there, guys!!"
The girl waved her hand towards them, the gun in her hand slightly out of place in the room full of weapons that dated before the current era.
The one who entered right after was Mara. She was only carrying a simple staff on her back, which was to be expected, most mages who trained in martial arts either trained unarmed or with a staff.
She simply waved at Ray before trying to appease Tiana into not making such a ruckus.
After her, the one that entered was Arianne, with a polearm in her back, a polearm very reminiscent of her cross-shaped polearm that she had used on the Combat Test.
As soon as she entered, she made sure to greet every student with a 'Good Morning' before settling in a corner, silently making some prayers.
And last, it was her, Stelle.
They had been in the same class for five weeks, and yet, the closest contact they had was when Ray caught her gazing at him.
And that happened quite often.
The number of times that happened per day varied between five times and thirteen times.
And yet, they hadn't actually approached each other.
Merely staring at each other from afar for uncomfortable amounts of time.
Tiana had even joked about how they seemingly were playing a game to see who blinked first in the middle of class.
Which wasn't true.
'I only stare back so she can stop staring at me, but she never does.'
Like Ray, she was only using a simple training longsword on her waist.
Noticing his gaze, she looked at him with the same deadpan look as always.
'Oh, here we go again. I wonder how long we will be at it this time.'
Not wanting to deal with that at the moment, he looked away and started to talk with Cù.
"So, ready for the first combat class."
"Are you awkwardly trying to make conversation to dodge Stelle's gaze?"
"What? No. Of course not, why would you say that?"
"Because it's the fifth time you've done something like that."
"Pshh, whaaaaat~?"
Ray feigned ignorance.
At their side, Jynn chuckled.
"It is quite interesting, Ray. I've never seen her do this before, except when she watched something that she wanted to learn about. She gave a similar gaze when I first showed my rapier skills to her. Well, that interest did not last long, though, after she easily replicated those moves."
'Is that what this is? Is she trying to learn something from me?'
That made sense, after their fight, she was most likely interested in his strength.
Still, couldn't she walk forward and ask for a spar or a simple talk?
"What do you think she wants to learn from Ray?"
Zillah's voice suddenly made itself heard.
The boys stared at him, making him flinch and slightly lower his tone of voice.
"I-I mean, aren't you guys curious t-to know what she was so interested in?"
Jynn chuckled.
"Indeed, my friend. Her actions seem to lead me to think that whatever she wants to learn from our friend Ray is simply something that she cannot grasp on her own, and she is hesitating to ask him."
"Why? From my understanding, she seems to be someone quite steadfast and rarely lets herself waver, no?"
Cù Sith asked.
"Ah! In a sense you would be right. But if there is something that always leaves Stelle Meyer hesitating, it is asking for help."
'Asking for help? Is it her pride or something else?'
Ray started to think. His mind went back to her condition.
Overexertion of the body and mana channels. Resulting in severe damage to both, effectively crippling her usage of mana and limiting what she could do with aura.
Something like that could only be a sign of a traumatic level of effort.
She was either forced to follow that path, or she herself decided to do it out of some kind of pressure on herself.
Someone like that, it would indeed be hard to ask for help.
'Has she even asked for help before?'
A strange feeling swirled in his chest. It was uncomfortable, as if something was not right.
'Forget it.'
He tried to ignore it and focus on the teacher who had just arrived.
The teacher was a man with a dark skin tone. His build was unreasonably big, his muscles seemed to have muscles. The man had sharp grey eyes and a black beard that compensated for his lack of hair.
"Hello, students of the Special Class. My name is Hector, and I will be your Combat professor in practical classes. I will expect nothing else from this class but discipline and effort, understood?"
""Yes, sir!""
Ray and the others answered.
"Good. As if you have been learning in theory classes. The combat class' focus is on improving your already existing strengths and adding intent on top of them."
He walked around for a bit before extending his arm towards a few items that were on the floor.
They were small spheres of what seemed to be marble or some other type of stone. Those spheres' outlines suddenly glowed in a bright white color, most likely Hector's Intent.
They rose from the ground and stood still right in front of him.
"These spheres are made out of a special mineral called psychogeo, most normally known as the psy rock. This mineral is highly compatible with Intent, which will allow you to more easily go through the exercises that we are doing today."
A hand suddenly rose, it was Tiana's.
"Yes, Miss Bellator, any questions?"
"Yes, sir! We are in a practical class, right? Shouldn't these exercises be practiced in the theory class?"
"That is a good question. Normally, yes, these exercises would be made in a classroom instead of the practical classes of Combat Class. However, this is my only opportunity to catch you with as little experience as I can. In order to push you to the finish line, both you and I should be highly aware of where the starting line truly is."
A total of eight stone spheres floated in the direction of the eight students of Special Class, leaving behind a single one with him.
"The exercise is simple. Coat these spheres with your Intent. As you might've learned in theory classes, Intent is born from refined mental energy, so if you want to make your life easier, you can already picture an intention for the sphere to follow, since it's easier to refine mental energy into Intent when there is a purpose, an intent."
The spheres dropped to the students' hands, quickly losing their bright white outline.
"You can start now!"
Without asking any more questions, every single student went to work.
Some, like Zillah, Tiana, and Arianne, decided to sit on the floor in a meditative state. After all, meditation was indeed a good way to clear the mind, allowing easier refinement. Tiana was sitting cross-legged, her hands holding the sphere resting in between her legs. Zillah was seated similarly, although he was clenching the stone way too hard. Arianne, on the other hand, held the stone in between her hands and knelt on the ground with both knees down, in what could be described as a praying pose.
Others simply close their eyes in concentration, like Jynn and Mara.
While others seemed to be in a position of utmost confidence.
They were Cù, Stelle, and Ray, of course.
As soon as the sphere touched their hands and lost its bright outline, the white outline was soon regained at incredible speeds.
Cù Sith was highly sensitive to Intent and might even be adept at using it once his unique affinity reached more than two howls. Along with the most recent lessons about Intent, it was not a surprise that he was able to achieve it.
Stelle's result was not that surprising either. After going through the Washing, albeit in a virtual world, it was enough to experience slightly how Intent felt. Not only that, but her own expertise in controlling natural energy outside her body required great mental strength.
As for Ray, well, that went without saying. As a monster, a.k.a., a demonic beast, he was highly sensitive and aware of his and other people's Intent. Not only that, but his affinity with Dominion gave him a great advantage, since Dominion was a simpler way of saying that you impose your Intent to change other people's way of life.
So there were no surprises.
What was surprising was the speed that his other classmates were able to catch up to the already finished three.
************
Author's Note: Another Chapter! I'm trying to change my writing schedule in order to speed up updates, let's see how it goes.
Check Out my other Novel: This Novel's Plot has Completely Changed