Elion did not understand what conversation they were talking about and did not intend to respond to yet another absurdity.
"If you didn't consider it a conversation, that's even ruder!" The voice was now a couple of meters away from Elion, rising up the stands.
As Elion silently pondered how to escape the impending danger, the other students emerged from the locker room and began walking toward the man by the courts.
The man continued to stare intently at Elion; it was unclear what he was thinking.
"Well, can you answer my question now?" the girl asked, sitting down next to him.
"..."
"Or I'll have to..." The girl began to approach the boy's ear again.
Elion continued to ignore her. He wasn't used to dealing with people like this. He used to be like that himself and never put himself in his victims' shoes. Now, he tried to figure out what to do.
The first option is to run away, but class is already starting, so that's not an option. The second option is to continue ignoring her and hope for the best... He pondered this as the girl continued to whisper in his ear.
"Or... Do you want to be forced? I didn't think you were that kind of person..." She whispered sweetly.
"..."
"Then the first thing we'll try..." The girl was now close to the poor boy's ear, touching it with her lips as she continued to whisper.
Elion felt like his head was about to melt, and his brilliant plan-making process was forcibly interrupted. He couldn't let this continue. He certainly didn't want to hear what the crazy girl would come up with next. It was more important than any lesson, so he jumped up without hesitation and leaped across three floors of the stands in one movement.
"Hehehe!" The girl laughed sweetly.
Immediately after landing, a single drop of cold sweat ran down the boy's forehead. Suppressing a sigh of relief, he straightened up and began to consider further options. However, the voices of the students gathered around the black-haired man rang out in unison,
"Comrade instructor, we are ready!"
Elion shifted his gaze to the crowd involuntarily, then looked at the man and met his gaze.
"..."
"..."
The left corner of the man's lips rose slightly.
He rose from his comfortable high chair and finally took his eyes off Elion. In a relaxed tone, he addressed his students:
"Good afternoon, young Seekers. Today, we will do some sparring exercises to figure out where to start and how to improve," He said casually.
"Comrade instructor, will we be using weapons in combat?" Asked a tall, muscular guy.
"Hmm... Let's put it this way: Right now, we only have one artifact available that can heal fractures and bruises... The artifact for healing flesh is currently unavailable, so using real weapons is out of the question... This time, we'll stick to wooden ones." The instructor explained.
The students cheered up a little and began discussing the upcoming fights among themselves. While waiting for their conversation to end, the instructor continued,
"Since we don't know your abilities, the first sparring matches won't be entirely fair, but this will be corrected in the future. We will start with the first and last person on the list, and so on. For now, women and men will be in separate categories.
The students were a little surprised by this strange selection and began calculating their opponents. After waiting a moment, the instructor continued,
"We will watch the first sparring match together so that you can adapt better. The subsequent fights will take place simultaneously on two platforms: One will be for the girls and the other for the boys. When the girls are finished, the remaining men will compete on the second platform." He said.
There was one girl for every three men, so this arrangement made sense.
"Finally, let's call our first participants," the man concluded. He took a piece of paper from the chair and said,
"First is Arron Ramsdale, followed by... The Last is Elion Efistion. You may choose any weapon you like." The instructor announced.