The classroom emptied quickly, students leaving the room in groups.
Kazuma got up from beside Ronan and took his leave as well.
Ronan didn't move immediately, he stood still. One by one, more students left the room until only a few remained.
Amongst them was Elara Lockhart.
She didn't leave her seat, instead focusing on circulating her mana and attempting to control it. Her focus was unwavering, but even Ronan could tell the results were subpar.
Even now she's trying, Ronan mused.
Her mana output was excessive, that much was obvious, but if she didn't have control over it, she would never advance to the next stage.
One thing Vera had failed to mention during the lecture was that having a large capacity for mana was also something that mages needed in order to get to the next rank.
It didn't matter how much control you had over your mana, if your reserves were minuscule, you wouldn't have the foundation to advance to the next rank.
Ronan's own mana was above average, which was one of the few things he had going for him.
Ronan continued watching Elara as her mana spilled uncontrollably like water from a broken container.
Standing up from his chair, Ronan made his way towards her.
Elara didn't notice him walking up, focusing on improving her control.
"You're doing it wrong."
Elara's body flinched slightly as her eyes met Ronan.
The mana around her hands flickered violently before it dissipated.
Elara's eyes flickered with recognition, then annoyance, as she sneered at Ronan.
"What do you want?"
Her voice was anything but friendly.
"Nothing. I just wanted to tell you that you're doing it wrong."
Elara's eyes furrowed.
"Excuse me?"
"You're forcing it, that's your problem. If you keep going like that, you'll get nowhere."
Elara's face twisted.
"And what exactly would you know? You're a bigger failure than me, Ronan Ashbourne."
Seems like she had recognized who he was. Not that he expected her not to.
"I'm a bigger failure than you, and yet I placed in the same class as you. I guess even being the sister of Freya Lockhart won't save you from being on the same level as the Ashbourne failure, huh?"
"What did you say?!"
Elara stood up suddenly, her hands pressed down against the table as she yelled.
The few students who were still in the class turned. Elara noticed the gazes and calmed herself down, glaring at Ronan.
"What's your problem, huh?" She asked with a sneer. "You come up to me and try to correct me despite not being any better. And then you compare me to my sister?"
Ronan didn't respond to her outburst, instead he just looked at her with a small smile.
She was obviously not in a good mood after being insulted by Vera.
"Also, you're loud," he said. "Looks like you lack control in a lot of areas."
"Wow, you're worse than the rumors say you are," Elara spat.
"I'm not the one making a scene, am I?"
"You came up to me!"
Students turned again.
However, from an outside perspective, it probably just looked like he was messing with the 'failure of the Lockhart family.' Rumors described Ronan as a bully, despite his lack of any significant talent.
"What's your point?"
"Whatever," she spat venomously. "I'm out of here. Go look for someone else to pick on, I don't care."
"You're trying to control your mana too much."
Ronan's voice stopped her in her tracks, and she looked at him.
"What?"
"You're treating it like something you have to force into submission," he said. "Like you're trying to grab it and hold it down. That's not how it works."
Elara scoffed.
"And you would know?"
He did.
"No, but I have eyes. You're trying to push everything into one point, and it's naturally collapsing."
"That's how you control it, dimwit," she said, foulmouthed. "I don't need you–"
"Eventually. But right now, you can't even keep it stable."
She clenched her jaw.
"You're talking like you understand something that you very clearly don't."
"I understand it better than you, at least."
"That's not the same–"
"But I clearly understand it better than you."
"Tch. Whatever, I'm not taking advice from a failure like you."
She walked past him without saying another word.
Ronan took one glance at her and then the rest of the students.
"Good enough."
➜➜➜➜➜
The next day arrived like any other, and Vera started explaining multiple subjects. Class had started far earlier today, and it was much longer than yesterday's class. In the Academy, students would learn all of the core subjects in one class, their assigned class.
Electives were different, but those could only be applied for after two weeks into the Academy.
"Now," Vera said. "Let us begin with the final part of our lesson. Same thing as yesterday, focus on circulating your mana."
Ronan circulated his mana as he did the previous day. He didn't show much sign of improvement, as this was something that came naturally to him.
Perhaps it was the muscle memory of the original body, or something similar.
Vera was shouting out critiques like yesterday, and Ronan only paid attention when she got to a certain girl.
"Did you learn nothing from yesterday?!" Vera yelled at Elara.
It seemed there was some bad blood between those two. Or at least on Vera's end, because she didn't cut the girl much slack.
Elara gritted her teeth but didn't say anything.
"You're not even attempting to control it, you're just spreading it around everywhere!"
It wasn't even real teaching. Vera actually gave half-decent advice to the other students, but to Elara, she was ruthlessly unhelpful.
It was an interesting sight to see.
Kazuma, who had decided to sit next to him again, was controlling his mana just fine.
Ronan turned to him and spoke.
"You don't have to keep sitting next to me, you know. You should go make some friends and sit with them."
Kazuma tilted his head like a cat.
"That's what I am doing currently, though?"
With a groan, Ronan focused back on his circulation, using the time to improve. There was no point in thinking about Kazuma. Today he had tried to move to a different seat, but Kazuma simply moved as well.
What a pest.
Vera passed by him and gave him a useless critique, and he simply nodded, pretending to absorb the information.
The class ended like it did the previous day.
Students started flooding towards the exit, but Ronan stayed behind.
Like before, Elara stayed after class.
She focused her mana in her hands, but Ronan could tell… she was improving.
Ronan didn't approach her and instead walked towards the exit. However, instantly when he left, he could hear whispers.
"Did you hear? Someone said he was bullying Freya Lockhart's twin sister."
"The rumors aren't wrong."
"I am in his class as well, he just sits there with those ugly, dead eyes and sleeps during class."
So the rumors had already started?
Ronan had expected rumors to start about him bullying Elara, or at least something similar, but he hadn't expected them to start so early.
It would only be a matter of time, now.
For her to approach him.
How long would it take her to come find him, he wondered?
But it didn't take long for his question to receive an answer.
The crowd ahead slowly parted, conversations lowering into quiet murmurs as a girl stepped forward.
Her appearance mirrored Elara's almost perfectly, but the difference lay in the way they carried themselves. Her posture remained upright, her movements smooth and unhurried as she stopped a short distance away from Ronan.
Freya's gaze settled on him, steady and direct.
"I have heard someone has been bothering my sister," she said with a calm, gentle tone, etched with familiarity. "I didn't expect that someone to be you, Ronan."