The bell signaling the beginning of the first class rang throughout the academy grounds. Students quickly returned to their classrooms from the various hallways, and the chatter gradually died down as everyone settled into their seats.
Kai, Mike, and Duke were sitting together as usual.
Duke leaned slightly toward him.
"Hey… are you really okay?"
Kai turned toward him. His face still showed traces of exhaustion from the previous night, but he forced a smile.
"I'm fine."
Mike rested his chin on his hand and looked at Kai.
"If you're still not feeling well, you can take the day off. No one's gonna blame you."
Kai shook his head.
"Nah. I'm fine now. Besides, making me walk all the way home would be more exhausting than sitting through class."
Duke laughed.
"Fair point."
Just then, the classroom door opened.
The entire class immediately fell silent.
But the person who walked in wasn't the strict teacher from their previous lessons.
Standing before them was a young man who looked to be around twenty years old. His light brown hair was neatly tied back, and his gentle face and friendly smile immediately made the atmosphere in the classroom noticeably more relaxed.
He placed a stack of papers on the desk and smiled.
"Good morning, everyone. My name is Ryusu. This semester, I'll be in charge of your practical classes. I hope we'll work well together from today onward."
The entire class immediately began whispering.
"He's so young."
"Completely different from yesterday's teacher."
"He seems much nicer."
Kai leaned close to Duke.
"Practical class? But we've only had one theory lesson."
Duke shrugged.
"I don't know, but this teacher looks way less scary than the lion lady."
Mike nodded slightly.
"Hopefully."
Ryusu lightly clapped his hands.
"Alright. Before we begin, everyone grab your belongings and follow me down to the training grounds."
No one understood what was going on, but the entire class still stood up and followed him out of the classroom.
…
The training ground behind the academy was much larger than they had imagined.
Ryusu instructed the class to stand in several rows.
Once he had made sure everyone was in position, he began the lesson.
"As you all know, each person receives a different Blessing. Some of you possess magic, some have unique abilities, while others specialize in support or close-quarters combat."
He looked across the entire class.
"But a Blessing is merely a tool."
"If you don't know how to use it, it's no different from a sword sitting uselessly inside its sheath."
The training ground fell silent.
"Today's lesson isn't about making you stronger overnight."
"I'm going to teach you how to use your abilities as efficiently as possible."
Ryusu raised one hand.
Snap.
With a single snap of his fingers, dozens of humanoid training dummies suddenly appeared across the ground.
Gasps of surprise echoed throughout the training ground.
"What is that?"
"Where did they come from?"
"Is that his Blessing?"
Ryusu smiled.
"Don't worry about that."
He continued.
"A Blessing is always connected to the body of its user."
"Think of using your power as being similar to running."
"If you sprint at full speed from the very beginning, you'll quickly run out of energy."
"But if you know how to manage your stamina and train to run daily, you can run longer and farther."
"A Blessing works according to the same principle."
He paused for a few seconds.
"On a battlefield, the most dangerous thing isn't necessarily a powerful opponent."
"It's exhausting yourselves before the battle is over."
Quite a few students began nodding.
"In other words, if you want to survive on the battlefield, you have to learn how to control your abilities, not simply release them."
Ryusu looked around.
"Does anyone have any questions?"
Not a single hand went up.
"Then let's begin."
…
Each student stepped forward and took a training dummy.
Kai, Mike, and Duke each grabbed one as well before moving to a corner of the training ground.
Kai looked at the object in his hands.
"So… what are we supposed to do with this?"
Duke placed his dummy on the ground and crossed his arms.
"If this class is graded, I'm dropping out."
Mike gave an awkward laugh.
"I can't even cast basic magic yet. Giving me a training dummy is pointless."
Kai laughed.
"At least I'm not the only one."
The three of them turned to watch the other students.
On the other side of the training ground, a male student raised both hands.
A ball of fire quickly condensed above his palms before shooting straight toward a training dummy.
Just as the flames were about to hit—
Whoosh!
The dummy suddenly leaned to the side, dodging the attack.
The fireball flew past it and exploded behind it.
Kai's eyes widened.
"It… dodged?"
Duke was equally stunned.
"The dummy can move?"
Ryusu calmly spoke.
"On a battlefield, your enemies won't simply stand still and let you attack them."
"You need to remember that."
The moment he finished speaking—
All the training dummies across the field suddenly began moving.
They charged straight toward the students who had just attacked them.
"Wait—"
BAM!
One student was knocked to the ground.
Immediately afterward, a series of impacts echoed across the training ground.
Ryusu continued watching calmly.
"…And they'll fight back."
A brief silence fell over the entire field.
Then, only seconds later, the training ground erupted into chaos as students frantically dodged the dummies charging at them from every direction.
The dummies that had initially stood motionless as practice targets were now constantly moving, dodging the students' attacks before immediately counterattacking.
The sound of hurried footsteps, impacts, and screams filled the entire training ground.
In one corner, Kai, Duke, and Mike were also running for their lives, desperately trying to avoid a dummy charging straight toward them.
Kai glanced over his shoulder, his expression immediately changing.
"Hey… hey! It's coming!"
Kai immediately turned and ran, but because he was panicking, he accidentally ran straight toward Duke and Mike.
Mike looked back at Kai while running.
"Why are you attacking it!?"
"I'm not doing anything! It suddenly started chasing me!"
Duke looked at the approaching dummy, then at the distance between the three of them.
"We can't keep running like this forever. It'll catch us eventually."
The three continued running around the training ground, trying to find a way to shake the dummy off.
But no matter which direction they ran, it continued following them closely.
Kai began breathing heavily.
"Alright… does anyone have a plan? Because my legs are starting to get tired."
Duke glanced at Kai.
"Hey, Kai… are you absolutely sure you didn't attack it?"
"I'm sure!"
Duke remained silent for a few seconds, quickly studying the dummy behind them.
"Then… I have an idea."
Kai turned toward him.
"What idea?"
"Listen carefully."
As they ran, Duke quickly explained his plan to Kai and Mike.
The three continued moving while listening. After a while, Kai and Mike looked at each other before turning toward Duke.
Duke simply nodded.
They both nodded back.
After running a little farther, Duke suddenly shouted.
"KAI!"
Kai immediately separated from Duke and Mike, running straight toward the crowd of students in front of them.
He glanced back while running.
The dummy wasn't following him anymore.
Kai gritted his teeth.
"So it really work like that…"
He immediately looked ahead.
"Then…"
On the other side, Duke and Mike continued running.
They maintained their distance from the dummy behind them.
Then, suddenly, Mike slowed down for just a moment.
Duke immediately accelerated.
The dummy changed direction as well, charging straight toward Mike.
Mike was startled when he realized the distance between them had rapidly decreased.
"Hey!"
Duke looked back.
"MIKE! NOW!"
Mike immediately understood.
He turned around almost instantly, dodged the dummy's grasp, and ran straight ahead.
The dummy immediately changed direction and continued chasing Mike.
Duke watched the scene, a look of certainty appearing on his face.
"So I was right…"
Duke immediately shouted.
"RUN FASTER, MIKE!"
Mike gritted his teeth and ran with everything he had.
Ahead, Kai was also sprinting toward him.
Mike's eyes widened.
"KAI!"
Kai shouted.
"MIKE! GET READY!"
"IT'S COMING!"
The two continued charging toward each other.
The distance between Kai and Mike grew smaller and smaller.
Behind Mike, the dummy continued charging toward him.
Behind Kai, another dummy appeared.
The two kept running straight toward each other.
Kai looked at Mike.
Mike looked at Kai.
Only a few steps remained.
Duke immediately shouted.
"NOW!"
Kai and Mike simultaneously dove to opposite sides.
Both rolled across the ground just as the two dummies collided.
CRASH!
The two dummies slammed directly into each other.
Their bodies immediately shattered into pieces.
Kai lay on the ground, staring at the scattered fragments.
"It…"
Duke immediately ran over and pulled Kai and Mike to their feet.
"Are you guys okay?"
Mike brushed the dust off his clothes.
"We're fine…"
He looked at the broken dummies before laughing.
"Your plan actually worked."
Kai turned toward Duke.
"But how did you know it would only chase the nearest person?"
Duke exhaled before explaining.
"I guessed."
"What?"
"You said you never attacked the first dummy. But it still chased you."
Duke pointed toward the other dummies that were still chasing students.
"So the most likely explanation was that they weren't choosing targets based on who attacked them."
Duke looked at Kai.
"They were choosing whoever was closest to them."
Kai blinked.
"So…"
"Yeah. I just wanted to see if my guess was correct."
Mike looked at Duke with admiration.
"That was pretty clever…"
Then he suddenly remembered something.
"Wait, Kai. Where did you get the second dummy?"
Kai pointed toward the other end of the training ground.
"I just ran back toward our class and got as close as possible to another one."
Mike immediately understood.
"Oh…"
The three looked at each other.
After a brief silence, they all sighed and sat down on the ground.
They looked at each other for several seconds.
Then none of them could hold it in anymore.
All three burst out laughing.
It had only been a practical lesson, but running around and figuring out how to deal with the dummies had made them feel as though they had just survived a real battle.
Kai raised his hand.
Duke raised his as well.
Mike looked at the two of them before quickly doing the same.
The three hands slapped together.
"Alright!"
Suddenly, several screams came from the distance.
Mike immediately turned his head.
"What's that?"
All three looked toward the center of the training ground at the same time.
The sight before them left all three speechless.
Every single training dummy had been defeated.
Broken pieces were scattered across the ground.
Standing in the middle of the wreckage were three people.
Hajime.
Chad.
Daniel.
Each of them stood surrounded by roughly five to ten destroyed training dummies.
Duke stared at the scene in disbelief.
"You've gotta be kidding me…"
Kai looked at the three of them.
"Those three…"
Mike couldn't say anything.
Suddenly, applause echoed across the training ground.
Ryusu stepped forward, a smile appearing on his face.
"Excellent work."
He looked around the training ground.
"I think this is the best-performing class I've ever taught during a practical lesson like this."
Ryusu's gaze settled on Hajime, Chad, and Daniel.
"Especially you three."
He was just about to continue.
"Congratul—"
A loud horn suddenly blared.
The shrill sound immediately cut him off.
The lively atmosphere suddenly became strange.
Ryusu raised one hand to cover one ear.
"Hello?"
He fell silent as he listened.
The calm expression on Ryusu's face gradually changed.
"What happened?"
A few seconds later, his eyes widened.
"What!?"
The entire class looked at one another in confusion.
Ryusu kept his hand against his ear, his expression becoming increasingly tense.
"No way…"
He continued listening.
"Isn't that a little too sudden!?"
Nobody understood what was happening.
Finally, Ryusu lowered his hand.
He sighed before turning back toward the class.
His face was now covered in sweat.
One of the students immediately stepped forward.
"Teacher Ryusu, what happened?"
Ryusu didn't answer immediately.
He snapped his fingers.
All the broken pieces and remains of the training dummies instantly disappeared, leaving the training ground completely empty as though no battle had ever taken place.
Ryusu looked at the class.
"Anyone who's injured can go to the infirmary."
He paused.
"Those who aren't injured can return to class or go wherever they want."
The students began looking at one another.
No one understood why Ryusu had suddenly decided to end the practical lesson.
But just as everyone was about to leave, Ryusu spoke again.
"But remember what I told you."
The entire class stopped.
Ryusu looked at each of them.
"From now until the end of today…"
His voice became serious.
"Do not cause any trouble."
"Do not get into any fights or engage in any hostile behavior toward one another."
The entire class fell silent.
"Understood?"
No one understood why such a simple warning had made Ryusu so tense.
Hajime immediately stepped forward.
"But aren't you supposed to be—"
Ryusu suddenly spun around.
BANG!
His foot slammed heavily into the ground.
A small shockwave immediately spread across the training ground.
The entire class fell silent.
Hajime stopped mid-sentence.
Ryusu looked at all the students.
"JUST DO AS I SAY!"
His shout echoed throughout the training ground.
Not a single person dared to say another word.
Ryusu remained in that position for several seconds.
Then the tension in his face gradually faded.
He sighed.
His voice became quieter.
"…Please."
The entire class looked at one another.
Nobody knew what had caused the teacher who had seemed so friendly only moments ago to suddenly become this frightened.