There isn’t much to talk about for the first two weeks of school. It’s a period of time meant for students to get into the flow of things, so the lessons aren't that difficult… or interesting.

  Seriously, Michi is bored out of her mind in Mathematics and Physics lessons. These are probably her least favorite subjects. At least she is having some fun in the specialized courses. Especially Mana Circuitry, which is something she’s new to.

  It’s now the third week of the semester. And that means, combat courses are on the schedule for the first-years! Michi has signed up for the shared combat course and the Esper combat course with het Wind Control.

  The Esper lesson isn’t starting until a few days ter, but the shared lesson is today. Students are already gathered in the training area, and Michi can see Leonard and one of the heroines standing near each other.

  ‘So it’s her…’ Looking at the pair, Michi has identified who the girl is.

  Elena Miller, a girl hailing from a normal family. She herself is nothing but ordinary though. She’s a Magician who specializes in Force Magic, and ter on, will convert herself into an Esper with Telekinesis to further pursue the path of a Force Mage.

  Magicians who use rituals to become Espers can choose what ability they get, in exchange for less control and power compared to a true Esper. They do at least retain their Tier, but still, they can only select abilities from common Spells. Abilities like Michi’s, or Leonard’s are out of the question.

  Despite the drawback of being an artificial Esper, in the game, Elena has been a Force to be reckoned with, having reached Tier 8 just like other main heroines.

  Well, that is in the far future. Right now, she is just a Tier 0 Magician that can barely cast a dozen cantrips.

  Michi turns away from the protagonist duo and starts to scan through the other students. Out of the 60 students that are attending, only around 10 are Schor faculty students. Kurami, the dark girl from her css, is here too. She seems to have recognized Michi, and is giving her a quizzical look.

  It turns out, they are the only two students from their css here.

  “You are Amemiya Michi, right? Seems like it’s only us who signed up for this course.”

  “Oh, Mizuhashi-san.”

  It surprises Michi that Kurami would open the conversation. Maybe her gloomy air is just a front?

  “Well, not many Schors have the time to focus on combat training after all.”

  Time is the major reason why specialization exists. Even when one can walk both the path of Knight and Magician at the same time, it requires not just twice the effort.

  Kurami nods her head in agreement.

  “You can call me by my name. We are in Neverwinter after all. I’ll be relying on you for this css.”

  “Likewise, Miz… Kurami.”

  Well, while it requires an exorbitant amount of effort to be both a Magician and a Knight, the Professor in charge of this course, who just arrived, seems to have accomplished just that.

  “STUDENTS! COME OVER HERE!”

  His shout envelops the entire arena, and all the students quickly scurry to the center.

  “A quick introduction! My name is Calvus Klent! During my lessons, all of you should refer to me as Sir Calvus!”

  “I am a Tier 6 in both the Magician and Knight path. The main goal of this course is to let you train your combat awareness and gain some much needed experience before the real thing.”

  “Now, you won’t be spending a lot of time with me. While I will offer advice and tell you what you need to improve on, you will still need to do a lot of training on your own.”

  After a not-so-lengthy introduction, the lesson begins. And the first thing that happens is naturally to assess all the students.

  ”Knights and Magicians, stand up! We will be having a light sparring session. Schors, if any of you want to join in, feel free.”

  “Don’t worry about performing badly, just give it your all. This is just for me to see what you need to improve on.”

  Everyone in the css is able to fight in some way. So, the whole css gathered together.

  “Knights and Espers are going to have a big advantage…” Michi whispers to Kurami who’s beside her.

  “That’s a given.” Kurami whispers back.

  Knights and Espers are more likely to have gone through combat training prior to enrollment. Magicians, who have to study more, are usually not as adept at fighting.

  In the open area, two students have already been picked out, and are facing off each other. The battle does not st long, as the Knight swiftly sidesteps the low level Cantrip sent his way and pins down the Magician.

  Sir Calvus, who’s standing to the side, signals the end of the spar and starts giving out pointers to the two students.

  And the next pair comes, and then the one after that. At this level, the fights are quite boring to watch.

  But soon enough, Leonard has been picked by the teacher.

  “This will be interesting.” It is actually Kurami who says this.

  “Why? Do you know this guy?”

  “He’s pretty famous among the Esper csses. Good-looking, and has a powerful ability too. His Lightning is known by everyone.”

  Of course he is famous… As expected of the protagonist.

  His spar is already starting, and immediately, sparks appear between his fingers, and with a swish, a lightning bolt flies out.

  The opponent can’t even react to this almost instantaneous attack that’s at the peak of Tier 0, and is hit squarely in the chest. So much for an interesting fight…

  “Haa…” Sir Calvus lets out a sigh. He signals to the side, and a medic immediately arrives to heal up the lightning-struck student.

  ‘This isn’t really ideal for an assessment…’ Aya says.

  Sir Calvus must be thinking the same too. A duel between two peak Tier 0 somehow ended in an instant.

  Still, other students are waiting. A few turns ter, Kurami goes up to face off against a Magician, who she beautifully dispatches with a few well-pced Cantrips, dispying her power as an advanced Tier 0 Magician.

  She performed the best out of the Schors so far. After all, other Schors joining this css mainly just want to learn some self-defense.

  As other students come up and then rejoin the group, Michi has a bad premonition. And sure enough, after a while, she’s the only one left who hasn’t gone up.

  “Alright, you are the st one, come up! As for your opponent… Edward, you haven’t had a chance to dispy your talent.”

  The student who Leonard defeated slowly rises up, picks up his spear, and gets into a stance. Michi, who has never fought anyone before, now has to face off against a peak Tier 0 Knight that’s probably still salty over his loss against Leonard.

  “Go for it, Michi. Sir Calvus won’t let any students get hurt.” Kurami gives her some encouragement, but there seems to be some implications… that she’s going to lose for sure?

  Well, Michi did tell the girl about her ck of experience during the wait.

  ‘Remember, you are here to improve.’ Aya also offers a simple sentence, and Michi slowly walks to a spot facing the spearman Edward.

  Within a week of obtaining Wind Control, she has learnt most basic techniques, like a wind bde or a compressed air explosion. And this ability is currently at the peak of Tier 0, no worse than her opponent’s knightly ability.

  ‘I have a chance…’

  Well, turns out she doesn’t. The Wind Bdes, while invisible to the naked eye, are easily dodged by her opponent. The compressed air bomb isn’t potent enough at Tiet 0 to do any real damage, and as for movement? Her ability can only assist her own body, and she isn’t athletic, not one bit.

  Edward simply charged at her, dodged all the wind bdes she sent out, and tanked an entire air bomb unfazed before sweeping her off of her feet. Aside from a bruise on his chest from her air bomb, he’s basically untouched.

  He doesn’t even spare her a single extra look, and calmly walks back to the group of students after getting some pointers from Sir Calvus.

  And then, it’s Michi’s turn.

  “You say that you have never been in a fight before? How did you even reach peak Tier 0?”

  Well, she… can’t really tell him. Fortunately, Sir Calvus doesn’t pry further.

  ”You need to train your body, at least to the point where you can move around with your Wind without hurting yourself. For Magicians and Espers who have no endurance, you need to rely on mobility. That’s all I can give you, and other than that, you just need to improve your control over your Esper Ability. Though, this should go without saying.”

  Well, since Michi is cking in fundamentals, there really isn’t much to be said. Experience will build up with time.

  ‘He told me to train my body… Not a chance!’

  Michi, as expected of her bookworm disposition, doesn’t like moving around. Even if she’s not opposed to taking a walk outside, exercising is an entirely different story.

  ‘Maybe you can find an alternative way… A grimoire or something simir might work.’

  ‘That’s true, but I don’t know anything I can absorb that can help strengthen my body.’

  There really isn’t anything she can do about it at the moment. So, leaving that problem for future Michi, she goes on about her day as usual.

  A/N: Nothing this time