The Beginning After The End (Beckoning Fates Book 3) (12 page)

Elijah
decided that he wanted to go to the library after his plans suddenly washed
away, so after walking him there on the way, I made my way to my first upper
division class, Team-Fighting Mechanics I.

The
classroom, or should say field to be more accurate, was on the other side of
the Academy, where all of the upper division classes were held.

The
“room” consisted of a huge grass field with several obstacles placed randomly,
encased by high walls with runes engraved on them.   On top of one of
the walls was a separate little room protected by a glass encasing. I assumed
that the room was used to be a viewing platform for the rest of the students.

I see
some students arrived before me talking to each other and I immediately notice
some familiar figures

“Ah! I
didn’t know you’d be in an upper division class, Arthur.” Curtis Glayder waves
at me as soon as he realized who I was. Grawder, Curtis’ bond was lying with
his eyes closed right next to him.

“Yeah, I
didn’t think I’d have a class with you. Please take care of me.” I grasp his
hand.

“Good to
see you again, Arthur!” Claire Bladeheart puts her arm around my neck while
smiling brightly. “We have to do our best not to embarrass the Disciplinary
Committee, right?”

“Haha,
I’ll do my best. Is this everyone that’s going to be in the class?” I reply,
turning back to Curtis. I heard that this class had a fairly small number of
students, and that it was one of the most popular classes.

“Hmmm,
there should be a few… ah, there they come!” Looking back, I see several more
students and I couldn’t help but smile wearily.

“Princess
Tessia is as beautiful as always, isn’t she?” I hear one of the students
murmur.

Walking
this way amongst the small group of students was Tessia Eralith, my childhood
friend, and Clive Graves, the Student Vice President.

She
notices me and I could tell she was about to greet me but she notices that I
have an older woman’s arm around my neck, so instead she shoots me a glare
before snapping her head away, pouting.

Clive,
oblivious of why she got angry, straight up gives me the death glare as his
narrow eyes become even sharper.

“Good
afternoon, Princess Tessia!” Not bothering to remove the arm around my neck,
Claire smiles and waves at Tess.

“Pleasure.”
She responds, her expression fierce.

After she
walks past us, she secretly sneaks in a pinch to my side, jolting me up.

“Hmm, I
wonder if she’s in a bad mood today.” Claire ponders.

It’s
because of you!

Removing
her arm around my neck, I turn to see someone behind in the back of the group.
As soon as I recognize who it was, my face starts burning in anger while my
clenched fists turn white. It was Lucas Wykes.

My body couldn’t help but tremble
in suppressed anger at the thought of being in the same class as that brat Lucas;
and of all classes, a team fighting class.
 
The sick irony of having that traitor in a class focused on learning
team cohesion in battles almost makes me want to laugh.
 

Our eyes met but he looked at me
apathetically, like I was an insect on the ground.

“Good!
 
Everyone’s here!” A loud voice suddenly
booms over the field.
 
As all of the
students start turning their heads to locate where the voice came from, I look
straight up to see a massive hawk-like mana beast hovering over the field.

This beast was at least 4 meters
long and its wingspan was well over 8 meters.
 
With its sharp talons tucked underneath
it, the beast slowly made its descent, revealing a well-toned woman with a
giant sword strapped to her back, standing up on the back of the hawk.
 

“Welcome!
 
My name is Professor Glory and I will be
the one teaching all of you brats!
 
This Flare Hawk is Torch, my precious bond.”

The first thing I did was measure
the stage our professor’s mana core was at, but upon trying to inspect her
level, I felt a sudden sharp pain in my head as Professor Glory whipped her
gaze at me.
 
Giving me a confident
smile, she gazed down to my direction.
 
Hopping off of her Flare Hawk, she makes her way around the group of
students in her class.
 
Studying
each of the students she passes, she takes a closer look at some of them before
making her way towards me.

It wasn’t unusual for mages to
build defenses around their core stages, especially the higher level ones.
 
It was also lot more difficult to hide
which element they use, since the mana particles of their element naturally
surrounded them.
 
Most don’t find
the need to hide their elemental attribute so it wasn’t a big deal even if they
couldn’t, but needless to say, it was surprising to see how strong Professor
Glory’s defenses were.

I couldn’t tell what her core stage
was or even her elemental attribute.
 
While I got the hang of masking my core stage level, I needed to use
seals in order to completely hide my elemental attributes.
 
I wasn’t sure whether she used seals
like I did in order to hide her abilities but one thing for sure is that she
knew I was the one inspecting her.
 

“I have to say, you guys have set
the bar pretty high for all of the other classes.” She announces after
inspecting Lucas.
 
She took quite a
bit longer to inspect the Disciplinary Committee and the Student Council
Members, nodding every once in a while.

“Well if it isn’t my newest
colleague, Arthur Leywin.
 
It’s a
pleasure to meet you.”
 
Professor
Glory gives me a playful grin, as if she was itching to tease me.

The students start murmuring
amongst the group in confusion at her greeting.
 

“Professor Glory, what do you mean
by colleague?”
 
One of the
upperclassman males raised his hand.

“Ah!
 
Most of you have probably seen him from
the commencement this morning but this boy is a freshman Disciplinary Committee
Officer.
 
A real prodigy if I do say
so myself.
 
He’s also a newly
appointed Professor for the Practical Mana Manipulation class that you guys all
took during your underclassman years.”
 
She gives me a firm pat to my back.

“““WHAT
?!!
”””
 

“You can’t be serious,
Professor!”
 

“If that brat is a professor then
I’m the King of this Continent!”

“What has this academy turned into,
to accept a freshman as a professor?”

“How is that even possible?
 
Even the best upperclassmen these days
don’t get picked to be professors, but that first year did?”

Various noises of protests make me
sigh.
 
They were bound to find out
eventually but it would’ve taken the upper classmen a bit longer to find out
this news, considering they don’t really get much communication dealing with
lower division classes.

“GRRRR~” Sylvie has her fur
standing on its end as she growls warningly at the group of students. ‘Papa is
stronger than all of you combined!’

Everyone has seen Sylvie by now,
whether it was passing through the Academy or at the Commencement ceremony
earlier today so no one really cared much about the tiny mana beast on my head
that could turn big enough to gnaw on their bodies.
 

“Now now!
 
Before we jump straight into complaints,
we should have more faith in the Director’s decision.
 
He has qualified to some degree by
beating the professor that taught the class previously!”
 
She shoots me a wink.

“But Professor Glory!
 
The underclassman professors aren’t all
that great anyway!
 
I bet some of
the upperclassmen students here could beat most of them!”
 
Another round of complaints issue on,
making me grow sleepy.
 
Must be the
food coma from lunch.

“Haha!
 
To be honest, I’m itching to test how
strong you really are, boy!
 
Unfortunately, Director Goodsky made it clear for us to not do that.
So!
 
These students here will test
you in my place!” She puts her hands on her hip, grinning in anticipation.
 

By now, I see a sudden raging fire
burning in some of the male student’s eyes as they look at me.
 
I can almost see the words that they’re
thinking etched into their face.

‘I’m going to kill this bastard.’

‘Who does this brat think he is?’

‘Murder, murder, murder, murder...’

‘I’m jealous.
 
Why is he good looking too?
 
He needs to die.’

The female students, on the other
hand have a look in their eyes that scare me even more.
 
Their stares remind me of hyenas looking
at fresh meat as they almost drool over the ‘goods’ that I suddenly became to them.

Taking a glance at Tess, I notice
that she has a surprised look on her face, her lips curling slightly in pride,
but when she notices that I’m looking at her, she quickly glances away, but I
did notice her ears were a little red.
 

Sigh, you know… it’s not weird for
you to talk to me.

Clive, on the other hand, is
scowling in contempt while Lucas is looking at me with his brow raised in
renewed interest, as if I got promoted from an insect to a mammal.

“Director Goodsky told me to take
it easy on my upper division classes until I adjust to school.
 
This is my first day after all.”
 
I try to ease my way out of this.
Fighting against these hormonal teenagers wasn’t going to end well.
 

“Oh come on!
 
That’s no fun now, is it?
 
In order to get proper respect, a
certain amount of skill needs to be shown, you know?
 
It’s just to prove to us that you are
actually capable of being in this upper division class. Isn’t that right,
class?”
 
She shouts.

“”””“Yeah!”””””

Was this a military boot camp or
something?
 
Why was there always a
reason to prove myself in whatever situation came up?

“Sigh… What did you have in mind,
Professor Glory?” I say in defeat.
 
This wasn’t going to end and I didn’t want to waste my breath in arguing
with people who don’t want to hear logic.

“Fear not! I am a just and fair
woman!”
 
She harrumphs.

Just and fair, my ass.

I feel as if she just read my mind
because she wraps her well-built arm around my neck and squeezes.
 
Unlike Angela’s, from the Twin Horns,
breasts, they were muscular and hard, not much different from a man’s.

“We will start off this semester by
playing a little game!
 
Aren’t I so
nice?”
 
By the look on her face, she
was the most excited about this.

Continuing on, she says. “So!
 
What kind of game should we play… a mock
team battle?
 
War?

“How about having the three
Disciplinary Committee officers on the same team, Professor?
 
I feel like that could be a good way to
let us work on teamwork as well.”
 
Curtis raises his hand as Claire nods in agreement next to him.

“Hmmm, not a bad idea!”
 
She responds while rubbing her chin.

“But Professor, both Curtis and
Claire are one of the top students in this Academy!
 
It wouldn’t be fair to have both of them
on the same team as him.”
 
A tall,
black haired teen argues.

“That’s true…. Aha!
 
I got it!
 
For the DC team, we will have Arthur
play the role of King, the match resulting in an immediate loss if he gets put
out of battle.
 
I think that should
be fair.
 
Now, what about the other
team?”
 
As if she was talking to
herself, she starts muttering the possible candidates when a hand is raised up.

“Professor.
 
How about having the Student Council
President and I as their opponent.”
 
Clive raises his hand up high as he makes his suggestion.

“What?”
 
Tessia turns her head to Clive in
surprise.
 
Before she has the chance
to object, however, Professor Glory clasps her hands.

“OHH!
 
NOW things are getting interesting!
 
But it would unfair to have only the two
of you versing the three of them.”
 
She looks around the group of students.

“I think the President and I will
suffice if the immediate loss rule affecting Arthur Leywin is implemented.
 
He says seriously.

“I’ll volunteer to be on the
Student Council team.”
 
Lucas Wykes
says calmly while leaning on his staff.

“Hmmm, Mr. Wykes, our other genius
freshman… Very well!
 
It would be a
good chance to see your abilities in action as well!”
 
I could tell she had a twinge of doubt.
Maybe she heard some rumors about him.

““Awww.”” Some of the other
students were disappointed that they didn’t get the chance to beat me up and be
on the same team as the Student Council President but everyone was excited to
see the match.

“The match will have a time limit
of 30 minutes, where we will have a short discussion and a breakdown of it
afterwards.
 
Please gear up!”
 
With that, a pile of what looked like
exercise gear dropped to the ground out of Professor Glory’s dimension ring.

Turning serious, she begins
explaining.
 
“These are special
equipment designed by artificers to measure the amount of damage that is
dealt.
 
This equipment will
activate, releasing a shrill noise, if the damage it takes passes the threshold
that’s encrypted into it.
  
If
anyone chooses to ignore this warning and continues to fight or cast spells, it
will lead to immediate expulsion from my class and other possible consequences
regarding your stay here as a student.
 
This rule goes for any upper division fighting class in this Academy so
engrave this rule into your guys’ brains.
 
All of you are all at the level where protecting yourselves with mana
shouldn’t be a problem.
 
Let me
reiterate this but, these equipments don’t protect you so don’t rely on it as a
source of protection.”
 
She
announces to everyone else in the class as well.
 

Clearing her throat, Professor
Glory shouts.
 
“Do I make myself
clear
!?
”

““““““YES!””””””

“Good!
 
Now, the six of you gear up.”
 
She gets back on her bond while the rest
of the students head towards the viewing platform.

Curtis come up to me and pats my
back before picking up his gear.
 
“Well, it seems like we’re going to have an early practice session!
 
Let’s do our best, Arthur.
 
I still remember you wanting a sword
back then for practicing as a hobby.
 
Let’s see how good you are!”