“No!”

“But-“

“No! No student of mine will pass this class without at least using a magic barrier.”

Friday’s practical magic class began with an argument between me and the teacher, which wanted to see me block his magical attacks.

Despite knowing about my condition the magic teacher still wants me to create a barrier to block his magic attacks. The highest grade of magic manipulation I can use right now is Shadow Step which is flawed and incomplete; and this guy wants me to cast a lesser ward despite failing the last two times. That’s one of the reasons; the other is the incantation, something I’m not going to say out loud.

A lesser ward is just a form of magic manipulation in which your magic gathers in front of you to block or reflect magic depending on the user’s power. Lesser ward is one of the basic spells that can be casted by anyone who possess magical power. The problem is that my magic loves me so much it won’t leave my body.

“It’s going to be fine even if you fail, just try using it once.”

So he calmed down; good. I have nothing against the spell but the incantation was strange and I am a follower of Ellen’s teaching: killing a mage before he is able to cast spells.

“Come on boy!”

“Fine!”

I straightened my posture, extended my right arm and began chanting.

“Guard me from the forces of evil, Protective ward!”

……Nothing happened, as expected. The spell is that the magic activated but it couldn’t leave my body, so I can’t actually say something happened.

“I told you this would happen.”

“Nothing happened; I guess I should’ve listened to you.”

When I looked at my arm I saw something interesting; my palm was coated in magic, different than body enchantment, something more stable.

“Teacher, can you throw a fireball at me?”

Why is he looking at me like I’m insane, it’s not like I told him to kill me. I want to try deflecting his spell and if that doesn’t work Liliana will have to give me another uniform.

“Why in God’s name do you intend to do?”

“Just hit me already.”

“Very well; Burn the enemies with the scorch of Hell, Fireball.”

The teacher formed a ball of fire as big as basketball and sent it flying towards me. The trick is to hit that with the sad excuse of a lesser ward that formed around my right hand. I want to see if my body is responsible for my inability to use magic normally or not.

The fireball came at me, it was slower than I thought but fast enough for the other students to think I can’t see it. Most beginners aren’t capable of seeing the spells so they activate their wards as soon as the battle starts.

The ball was weak so I shouldn’t have trouble deflecting it. When the fireball got close enough I hit it with my palm sending it in the sky where it exploded. Deflecting the fireball took about one quarter of my magic but that’s not the strange thing; after I hit the ball the flames turned black.

“How’s that for protection magic?”

Big words for someone who was breathing heavily but he is the one who wanted to see me use a lesser ward.

“I see, so that was a lesser ward; very well, you pass for now.”

“Yo, what do you mean “for now”?”

“There are going to be other tests in the future, look forward to them.”

He ended today’s class with that. Truth is I was not mentally prepared for deflecting magic so the shock from magic loss hit me harder than I expected.

I entered the dorm room and sat on my bed. Since I deflected the fireball my arm started shaking a little. It seems that when my arm blocked the fireball and changed its trajectory it also took some damage.

“That was really cool you know.”

“The young master is right; deflecting magical attacks is something only demons have been capable of doing.”

Obvious accusation aside this is the second time I heard Mir talk while she is with Jaden.

“Besides this do you need my help for anything; I want to rest a little?”

“I need some help to keep up with our History classes.”

“I’m not the one to talk but you should pay attention to the teacher instead of staring at the red haired girl next to you.”

Someone bring the fries; the tomato sauce is almost ready.

“H…How did you know about her?”

“Chill man, I’m not that oblivious; you are looking at her whenever you get the chance.”

“D…Do…Don’t you need to pay attention, why are you watching me?”

“Because I’m special and now you and I are going to have a talk about that girl.”

“What’s there to talk about, she doesn’t even talk to me. I’m not popular like you, you know.”

“I’m not what you would call popular.”

“You’ve been talking to most of the girls in our class while most of us have to watch; do you know how we must feel?”

Oh boy, typical boy problems. If he knew how it feels to love a girl who cheats on you every chance she gets he would shut up.

“I am fabulous, that’s a fact but I don’t see how’s that bad for you, Saya didn’t speak to me once.”

“Saya?”

“You are special type of snowflake aren’t you? That’s her name you idiot. I know pretty much everyone’s name and appearance so come to me if you need to know someone’s name.”

“Saya huh; it’s a really good name, what’s her family name?”

“Why don’t you try talking to her for a change?”

“What should I say?”

“First introduce yourself then make some small talk and then slowly start asking her more personal things like the classes she likes, food, music, books, stuff like that.”

“Fine, I will do it tomorrow.”

Tomorrow, the peak of human productivity, needless to say I’m going to beat him if he doesn’t speak to her.

“Now I think it’s time to talk about what we studied this week.”

I spent all afternoon teaching him about the battle between the beastmen and humans. Apparently he is one of the people who remembers the things he hears so he usually reads out loud when studying.

“The last battle is called Bloody Beach, you remember it, right?”

“I remember that one; the humans and the beastmen fought one another over a tactical location and then they joined forces to fight the demons who wanted the location.”

“Why where the humans fighting the beastmen?”

“Because they thought that the beastmen and demons are the same race.”

“You forgot to mention that the location’s name was Azure Village but that’s about it.”

That was the end of the lesson. It is about 22 o’clock so I might as well take a nap.

After the afternoon nap I usually go to the rooftop where I talk to Mir. This became my daily routine.

“That was quite a feat.”

And there she is, right on time; she usually arrives five minutes after me.

“The result isn’t worth the cost. It took a quarter of my magic to deflect that spell; dodging and killing is faster and more efficient.”

“I am not talking about efficiency here, I am talking about making a reputation for yourself; people tend to follow interesting people.”

“As always you talk to me about something that has nothing to do with the reason you came here; the talk I had with Jaden.”

“I was genuinely impressed by what you did but you are right, I came to talk to you about Jaden and the little girl.”

“Figured as much; It’s going to be fine, I told him to talk to her and that’s what I’m going to do and I have a feeling that the girl is not a bad kid.”

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“She didn’t seem like a bad kid to me but that’s not what I’m worried about?”

“Then what’s wrong?”

“Some girls like more aggressive guys.”

“You, me, bedroom, sex, now; that kind of aggressive?”

“You were actually really close to a good example.”

“What’s wrong with these girls, don’t they like a smooth talker?”

“That’s why I was worried, if I knew for sure then there would be no problem.”

“Because Jaden’s not the aggressive type, is that why?”

“Correct, he has no experience with girls and is too afraid to screw up.”

“Don’t worry, if he screws up I will use my charm and charisma to smoothen things a bit.”

“Before making promises like that make sure you can keep up with it all; it’s already midnight, Lady Maria is waiting.”

“You sure, I’m sure it’s still… Oh shit, I have to go.”

That’s what I get for not checking what time it was after I woke up, now I’m going to be late.

“You are late.”

Well she looked angry; I guess I would be too if I were in her place.

“I overslept, I had a rough day.”

“I heard about your little experiment today, quite the feat.”

“Thanks.”

“Would you like to talk about it some more or get on with your training?”

“Let’s forget about that for the time being.”

“Then let’s begin.”

There are two things wrong with my Shadow Step: magic cost and partial sound dampening and Maria has no idea on how to help me. A human’s body gets used to magic if he practices so I don’t really care about the first problem but the fact that Shadow Step doesn’t fully works is the most pressing problem and there’s the fact that Maria won’t teach me anything until I master this.

“No good?”

“There’s nothing wrong with your form.”

She looks like she is deep in thought. I have been doing this all week and I didn’t even get past square one, even I am pissed; so much for the two abilities that should help me learn.

“Can I go back, there’s nothing more to do here?”

“If you ask me that again I’m trapping you here in a magic barrier.”

“Fine, I will just keep walking.”

“Talking about walking, when do you release your magic?”

“Are you talking about Shadow Step? I release it continuously.”

“During your Magic Practice class you somehow managed to create a ward on your hand.”

“Yeah, what about it?”

“I thought about something; activating Shadow Step when your tiptoes touch the ground. External magic spell put a strain on your body so you could time it right and minimize its use.”

How am I supposed to do that?  Maybe I can create a ripple in my magic flow when I step I might be able to get the same result.

When I took a step the magic I released created a small explosion on the surface on the ground.  Should I be worried that the explosion made no sound?

“So this happened.”

“Of all the things I saw you do this is ridiculous.”

“There was no sound so I’m into something here.”

“Use less force next time and you might finally master Shadow Step.”

Finally, it’s done; I was able to use Shadow Step correctly. I using it by altering the flow of my magic a little when I step so a little magic will escape my body; it’s a little difficult to control but it works.

“I think that’s enough for now, go get some sleep then come to the headmistress office.”

“Isn’t it weekend, why do I have to go?”

“The headmistress didn’t tell me and I am in no position to ask.”

“Fine. I will see you in a few hours.”

I have to replenish my magic and prepare myself for whatever talks I will have with Jaden. I entered the room from the window and got in bed.

When I woke up Jaden was dressed in a yellow suit of some kind, must be the formal clothing of rich people.

“What’s the occasion?”

“Oh hey, good morning; I’m going to meet Saya so I dressed properly.”

“I have to go to the headmistress office and you go pick up girls; talk about life.”

“Unlike you I actually have to try and talk to a girl to see if she is interested in me.”

“Nice change of personality, yesterday you were scared and now you are full of confidence.”

“I’m a little nervous but I’m going to try my best.”

“Just remember, even if you get rejected, all that matters is that you tried. She isn’t the only girl in the world, even if she rejects you; you can try again with another girl. Don’t lose faith, go to her and have some confidence.”

I left the room with Jaden. Somehow Jaden arranged a meeting with Saya in the courtyard; as for me it’s time to meet Liliana again.

When I got close to her office I smelled something sweet, cookies maybe? I opened the door and saw Liliana and Ellen eating cookies with milk; since there are three glasses of milk I bet one’s for me.

“Welcome Alex, take a seat and let’s talk.”

“I’m going to seat some of these first.” I ate some cookies. They were good.

“The cookies are a gift from a student whose parents work as chefs, they are widely known.”

*munch* “Good for them.” *munch*

“I called you here to ask you how you are holding up.”

“The schedule is fine and the atmosphere is relaxed; the only thing I don’t understand is the reason why there isn’t a writing slate or something for the teacher to write on, it’s difficult for students to keep up especially during math class.”

Liliana started to chuckle a little; she looked at me but at the same time not at me, like she was remembering something.

“When she was a student your mother said the exact same things. She never mentioned a writing slate but she also complained about the difficulty of classes, you do resemble her a lot.”

“And that’s when she read all the books in the library and graduated?”

“Yes, she got fed up with our teaching methods and decided to graduate as soon as possible.”

“Nice.”

“Since you share her point of view; how about helping me change this school?”

“For starters you could bring some slates and pieces of chalk here.”

“I think I may be able to obtain them in two or three months.”

“What do you think we should do after that?”

“I don’t really know; I’m the type of person that takes things one at a time.”

“Then you’d better be prepared to show us how we can use slate and chalk to write.”

“It’s going to be fine. On another note, can I have the rest of these cookies?”

“I have a sickness that forbids me from eating too many sweet things; if I eat too much I get nauseous.”

When I scanned her she was fine. It may be an allergy or something that’s not dangerous for her but I’m curious to see if I can find and remove the illness.