I stared at Alex and I could already see multiple gaps in his defense. He was acting like the predator, staring me down as he seemed ready to react to any of my movements.
However, that was only what it seemed like.
"Are you ready to see the difference in class between the two of us?" He said with a smirk. "I'm not sure what the headmistress saw in you, but I'll be showing her just how wrong she was about you."
I raised an eyebrow.
It wasn't as if I had asked for any of this in the first place. It had been forced upon me.
I sighed and decided to put an end to this fight.
"This is a class, right?" I said with a glance to the professor, who seemed surprised by how calm I was.
He barely nodded, confused.
"Then, I will be teaching everyone while fighting him."
I pointed at his legs.
"As you can see, he lowered his center of gravity, which is a good thing. However..."
I dashed forward to the right side of his body, surprising everyone in the class.
"I didn't even see him move."
"How is he so fast?"
I smirked.
"While he did lower his center of gravity, he is putting too much weight on his left leg, making him unstable. With a slight push to his left shoulder, he is bound to fall."
I did exactly as I showed and everything happened exactly as I described.
"Get up. I'm not done with my teachings."
Alex gritted his teeth and screamed, "Ice Wave!"
A burst of ice suddenly launched from both of his hands, aiming straight for my head. If I couldn't dodge in time, then I'd die.
I glanced at the professor and noticed that he wasn't planning on intervening. It would only do so if Alex was the one in danger. I knew that he was on his side, but wasn't this too much?
[Shadow Body]
I turned my head into a shadow flawlessly as the ice went right through it, not even grazing me.
"He managed to use [Shadow Body] in that split second?"
"Just how high his Affinity Control?"
I couldn't help but find the standards ridiculously low. I hadn't done anything worth merit.
"Another important lesson is to only cast a spell close-range when you're absolutely the opponent can't dodge. Otherwise, it gives an easy opening."
I closed my fist and aimed straight toward Alex's solar plexus, cutting off his breathing in an instant.
"H-How..."
I glanced at the professor, who was frowning deeply, clearly unhappy with how the fight had gone. He had been absolutely sure that I'd be ridiculed, but the opposite had happened, right before his eyes.
He sighed as he gave me a death stare.
"This fight is over. You went too far at the end. You should have held your punch, you knew the fight was already over the moment you dodged his Ice Wave."
"Didn't you say I could go as hard as I wanted since you'd interfere?" I replied with a smug smile.
However, the professor didn't care at all. He was bound on finding a way to punish me.
"Detention tonight."
"But sir, he didn't do anything wrong," a random student spoke up.
"Do you want to join him?"
The moment the professor uttered those words, everyone else shut up. They knew there was no point in trying to intervene with this decision.
The rest of the day went by much more smoothly than the first class. No other teachers tried to pick a fight with me, probably because they heard I had already gotten punished.
Nevertheless, as the sun set, it was now time for me to head to detention room.
"He's finally here. Alright, everyone. Let's go, we got work to do."
The professor in charge of detention didn't even bother explaining to me what was happening as he simply stood up from his seat and began walking out of the class.
"You don't know what detention is, do you?" A student with half-broken glasses asked me.
I shook my head.
"Basically, once classes are over. We have to clean the entirety of the Royal Academy."
'Cleaning duty?' I frowned. 'It didn't seem all that bad.'
Still, I kept my mouth shut and quietly followed the rest of the group as I continued to talk with the half-broken glasses student. Well, it was mainly a one-sided conversation, he talked and I nodded.
"My name is Lucius, by the way. I already know yours, don't worry."
'Am I that known inside the Royal Academy already?'
"Though, I have a question. Are you really a commoner?"
I glanced at him and quietly nodded.
"That's incredible. You managed to be ranked second of your year without any resources?!"
Before I could nod back, the professor in charge of detention spoke up again.
"Alright everyone, split into groups of two and start cleaning. Don't even think of not doing it, I'm watching."
"Do you want to do it together?" He asked.
I nodded as I finally understood why he kept talking to me the whole way even if I didn't seem interested in the slightest. He wanted to be in the same group as me. I knew it was strange that he was so helpful. Nevertheless, he seemed somewhat reliable, so I accepted his proposal.
It was just cleaning after all.
"Let's start with the exterior training ground," Lucius suggested, to which, I just agreed.
We arrived outside and, at first, everything seemed pretty normal. We quietly cleaned together. But, after a few seconds, a weak whisper reached my ears.
"Hey... you..."
I looked around.
However, I couldn't detect anyone's presence apart from Lucius's.
"Come to me..."
I frowned.
"Are you hearing this?" I asked Lucius, who seemed even more confused by my question, especially since we hadn't spoken a word since arriving here.
"Can I leave this to you? I'll come back in a few minutes."
Lucius didn't seem so sure, but ended up agreeing. "Just don't take too long, if the professor notices that you're gone, you'll be in even more trouble."
"Sure."
Without saying another word, I looked to my left where a large forest could be found and used [Shadow Manipulation] to teleport myself in it.
"T-This way..."
The voice began sounding clearer the deeper I advanced inside the forest.
And then, a beeping sound echoed in my mind.
-Beep!
[??? is reacting to a strange energy...]