Chapitre 44: The Class' Best
The morning classes were already in motion.
Unfortunately for the students of the black class, they had to start the day with physical training.
Making use of the good weather, Ophelia decided that they would start with a light jog on the academy's grounds.
Setting a good example for her students, she participated as well and led the students to the front wearing appropriate sports clothing.
In the beginning, she made sure that everyone could keep up until the students each picked up their own pace.
Naturally, she was still in the front, however, she was impressed that there was someone who could keep up with her.
Without even a ragged breathing, Mika walked by her side.
"You seem pretty eager. Did something good happen to you?" she teased with her typical smug smirk.
"Not really."
He sped up.
"Is that so? It's quite unusual to see you participate in the lessons so earnestly. Back then, you would always slack off with other students in the back. Why the change of mind now?"
Ophelia sped up, too.
[Whatever you do, do not tell her about the quest.]
Their warm-up was about to finish as the academy, which marked the finishing line, was in sight again.
"For now, I just can't allow myself to slack off." Mika said sternly while widening the distance between him and her.
"..."
Slightly confused, she watched his back.
After everyone arrived, they headed to the arena space, where they would have trained otherwise.
"Alright, everyone! We will now continue with some light sparring!
You know the drill! Everyone has to fight at least three times against different students!" she announced loudly.
Each student had to fight three times.
They had to fight at least once without using magic, without physical attacks and once without any restrictions.
Most of the time, Mika would choose an easy opponent against whom he could relax a little.
But this time, he decided to challenge himself.
"Care for a spar, Adrian?"
He did not spend much time with his classmates yet, however he could still tell, who was capable in which field.
Therefore, he approached the best fighter aside from himself, Adrian Buk.
He was lacking in the magic department, but instead, he excelled in the physical aspects compared to his peers.
Adrian was not really bulky, he was rather slim.
Still, his body was well-toned and he possessed quick reflexes.
"Mika? Sure, why not?"
Baffled by the surprising suggestion, Adrian accepted.
He was an easy-going person, who was very enthusiastic about fighting.
He welcomed every challenge with beige eyes shining as bright as his bald head.
"Thanks."
Mika took up his fighting stance.
"A physical match, huh? I like that!"
And when the two heard the first students shouting as they clashed, the two went at each other without a sound.
They launched a punch at each other.
With a great amount of force, the two fists were pressed against each other.
The two put in more and more force in order to break through the other's punch.
"Didn't know that you were this strong!" Adrian shouted impressed with a strained voice.
"Hrngh!" meanwhile, Mika groaned as he held his breath in.
"?"
Adrian noticed that his fist was slowly getting pushed to him until even his arm was flung away by Mika's sheer force.
At the same time, Adrain saw an opening after Mika had to lean towards him.
With his free left hand, he clenched his fist and swung it at him from the side.
"!"
However, Mika managed to evade the attack by crouching down.
While he was hitting the air, Mika prepared a counterattack.
He retracted his left arm while still crouching.
And in an instant, he shot his body up with the fist upwards.
"Ugh!" Adrian grumbled after he received a clean hit to the chin.
He flew backward and landed on the ground.
As it was just a sparring match, Mika decided that it was for the better to end it for now.
He walked up to the lying Adrian, who was placing his hand on his chin.
"Can you stand?"
Mika offered him his hand.
Adrian smiled despite being in pain and took his hand to stand up.
And after sharing their respect for each other like good sportsmen,
Mika approached the next opponent he selected in his head beforehand.
It was a girl named Lykria Mac.
She had short slicked back black hair, which just reached her neck.
"Can I ask you for a match, Lykria?"
"Sure!"
She was the best in the class if it involved magic.
Just like Adrian, her deep blue eyes were firm and full of passion for her subject.
Students in the black class only wielded magic up to E-rank, however, it was speculated that Lykria was about to or already did break through to the D-rank.
Thus, for their own safety, the students around them made space for Mika and Lykria.
And after he made sure that everyone was in a safe distance, he made his first move.
With lightning flowing through his body, it seemed like he warped himself from one spot to the next spot.
And when he got behind her, he tried to simply shock her by touching her.
"?!"
But his plan got crushed as he reflexively had to jump back.
He sensed something beneath her.
"I suppose, that you really already achieved the D-rank." Mika remarked impressed.
"I could say the same to you. Being able to move so fast is only possible with D-rank lightning." she replied with a smirk.
Under her feet was a puddle wide enough for five people to stand in.
Furthermore, from that puddle, four water pillars, which were moving like snakes, emerged.
Lykria managed to put up a defensive strategy against close-quarter attacks.
"I see..."
The lightning around Mika fully vanished.
With his index and middle finger pointing at her, he compressed lightning into a small ball.
"As if I would let you do that."
Keeping her cool, she signaled with her hand an attack.
Alone, each water pillar was about seven feet tall.
However, when she combined them into one, it reached an enormous size.
Thus, it was possible for it to hit Mika, who was concentrating on his attack.
A gigantic snake-lie water pillar was heading towards Mika.
But he, too, kept calm.
A question mark popped above her head when she noticed Mika stopping his attack.
Again, his body was covered in lightning sparks.
Following that, he moved from one spot to the next with high velocity.
It took her everything to launch that huge water pillar, thus it was too late for her to redirect her attack.
Neglecting her defense, Mika used the chance, closed the distance and got behind her again.
"!"
Softly, he put his hand on her shoulder.
"You're a good mage, but your attacks are too straightforward."
Mika remarked indifferently.
Her attack did not stop making the other students in the direction jump out of their way.
The water pillar crashed violently against the wall.
Lykria sighed with a satisfied face.
"I admit defeat." she said.
She approached him and stretched her hand out.
"Were you hiding your powers the entire time?" she asked jokingly.
"Well, I guess I just trained a bit more..." he replied nervously.
Again, they showed their respects to each other, before they moved on to their next opponent.
Mika was done with two matches meaning that he had only one match left.
It was a match with no restraints.
A match, where physical and magic attacks were allowed.
There was a person, Mika already thought of again.
"Hm? What do you want?" Ophelia asked intimidatingly.
"I want to have my third match against you, Ms. Ross." Mika stated seriously.
"Huh?"
She tilted her head.
"Did I hear you right? You want to fight me?"
"Yes."
Now she put her hand on her face.
"Come closer for a second." she ordered.
"Okay...?"
He stepped forward.
"..."
With an indifferent expression, she raised her hand to the same height as his forehead.
"Ouch!"
Mika turned his face away and rubbed his forehead with his hand, after Ophelia flicked his head.
"What was that for?!" he asked outraged.
"You already fought against Adrian and Lykria, right? You may have won those matches, but they were still the best in the class. I know what you're capable of but don't overexert yourself."
"But-"
"I won't fight against you now. Go ahead and rest for now. That's an order." Ophelia said sternly.
"..."
Mika slightly bit his lips.
"There will be more in the afternoon." she said with a sigh while Mika was passing her.
"?"
"I forgot to tell you. But during your previous absence from the academy, the teacher of the silver class, Mr. Arma, proposed to hold a joint lesson with us."
"You have more chances in the afternoon, therefore take a rest for now." she added
The students of the silver class wielded magic ranging from D to C-rank.
"After all, it will be another combat training lesson."
Cadeaux
-- Cadeau
reçu État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone