Julian met Luna at the station the next day to go to the academy. His body looked more toned after breaking the second tier of windbreak.

"Have you been working out?"

Luna was a little shocked looking at Julian's figure. For some reason, he seemed more manly.

"Just a little."

Julian smiled as he looked out the window of the monorail.

He had practiced windbreak to the second tier, and that caused his body to undergo a small evolution.

After arriving at the academy, Arielle was waiting in front of the entrance gate.

'This can't be good.'

"Can I speak to you? In private."

She made sure to glance at Luna when she said that.

"I don't see why not."

Julian followed Arielle to a secluded spot beside the academy building.

'I don't remember this happening before I died. Have the events changed?'

He was slightly confused about what was going on.

"I'll get straight to the point. I remember everything, and I regret nothing."

'Wait...What?! Is she saying what I think she's saying?'

"Just because we've been sent back in time, doesn't mean that we're on good terms. I still despise you. This time, I'll be sure to surpass you."

After saying that, she walked to class. Julian was standing there pondering on what he just heard.

'So Arielle still has her memories? This doesn't make sense. I thought I was the only one who was sent back. I'll have to find a way to contact Titus and ask him about this.'

...........

A few days had gone by since his talk with Arielle. Julian had been practicing windbreak to get ready for the exam. The exam was tomorrow, and he felt like he was plenty ready to take it.

After practicing, he decided to go to the store for some food. He had been practicing nonstop and hadn't eaten anything.

After coming out of the store with the snacks and drinks he bought, he spotted Larrick and his group harassing some guy in an alleyway.

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"Come on kid. We told you last time to have the credits by tonight. We know your dad gives them to you, so there's no point hiding it."

"I already told you, I need these credits for my mom. If I don't save what I earn at my family's store, then I won't be able to pay her hospitable bills."

Julian recognized the guy. His name was Luke Benning. He sat close to the window at the back of the class.

"That's not our problem, dipshit. Hurry up and give us the credits."

Larrick's cronies were holding Luke against a wall, while he was leaning against the wall opposite Luke.

"How about you let him go, and we'll forget this ever happened."

Larrick and his group looked at the person who called out to them. Julian was standing at the end of the alley staring in their direction with a grin.

"What do you think you're gonna do if we don't? Do you think you can go up against me? I'll have you know that I've already broken through the first tier of the Hammer Strike martial skill."

Larrick looked conceited as he folded his arms across his chest and puffed it out.

"Yeah! Boss is unstoppable in our class. What can some turd like you do to him?"

Julian ignored their antics and walked closer.

"You don't listen very well, do ya? In that case, let me show you what power looks like!"

Larrick lunged at Julian with his fists clasped above his head. When he got to Julian, he swung his fists down at Julian's head.

If this were anyone else in their class, Larrick's strike would've been very difficult to go against, but Julian had broken the second tier of Windbreak. His fitness was now higher than Larrick's.

As Larrick was striking down at Julian, he had a confident look on his face.

'This punk is dead!'

Just before he hit his target, Julian moved his arm and caught Larrick's strike with one hand.

"What the hell! I've broken the first tier of Hammer Strike! You should be in a coma by now!"

"Sorry to disappoint, but not everyone is as weak as you."

Julian squeezed Larrick's fingers until he heard snapping sounds.

"Arghh! You broke my fingers! You bastard!"

Larrick backed away from Julian with a sour look on his face.

"If you think that's all I've got, then you're sorely mistaken. I haven't even used my ability yet!"

Julian already knew what his ability was. Larrick's ability allows him to control metal objects that he touched. Although he could only control one small object at a time with his current aura pool.

Larrick pulled a small metal rod about 6 inches long from his back pocket. While staring at Julian, he tossed the rod into the air. It started floating beside his head.

"Let's see how you fare against this!"

Larrick targeted Julian's head with the rod and sent it flying towards him.

'If I had my talismans then this would've already ended.'

Julian felt a little irritated that he didn't have his medium with him.

Julian's ability allowed him to infuse his aura into paper. When he was young, he was considered the weakest student in his class. All his ability did was infuse aura into paper, and everyone saw it as a useless ability.

It wasn't until he was older that he discovered something new about his ability.

He was given an assignment in class to write down an ability that he thought would be useful in combat. He thought about it and wrote 'levitate' on his slip. As everyone was still thinking, Julian was in the bathroom practicing his ability. He believed that if he continued to practice and increase his aura pool, then his ability would evolve. It was rare for this to happen, but he figured that it was worth a shot. While infusing different objects with his aura, he felt the slip for his assignment in his pocket. He took it out and infused it with his aura also.

Not even a second later, the slip of paper started floating 3 inches above his hand. That was when he discovered that if he wrote commands onto whatever he infused his aura with, then the paper would carry out that command.

He did many tests with his discovery and found many new details about what his ability was capable of. It only worked when he wrote his commands on paper. Each piece of paper could only carry out one command. Eventually, he found a shop that sold talisman that could stick to whatever it was placed on. That's what gave Julian a new idea. He bought a few talismans and wrote a few different commands on them. One had a command to levitate 2 feet in the air, one had a command to move forward for 20 feet, and the third command set the speed at 5 feet per second. He placed all three talismans on a box and then infused his aura into them.

The box then levitated 2 feet off the ground and shot forward at 5 feet per second. When it reached 20 feet, it stopped and fell to the ground.

This discovery is how Julian managed to learn more about his ability and increase his aura pool. It may not seem like a very useful skill for combat, but with Julian's smarts, it becomes a major asset.

Julin not having any talisman is what made him want to help Luke in the first place. This was because the owner of the shop that he bought his first talisman was Luke's father.

With Larrick's metal rod flying towards him, Julian decided to quickly end this fight. He leaped into the air and let out a small windblade kick.

The windblade flew towards the rod and then collided with it. The rod was completely destroyed as bits of it fell from the air.

Larrick wasn't given any time to react as Julian quickly dashed towards him and let out a punch directly into his gut. Larrick folded forward and passed out from the pain.

"Take your trash and go somewhere else before you end up like him."

The others that were with Larrick quickly did as Julian said and carried Larrick away from the scene.

"Thanks for your help! Let me make it up to you. My dad owns a medium shop. How about I let you pick one out?"

Luke bowed his head to Julian to show his gratitude.

"How could I refuse?"

Julian smiled and followed Luke to his dad's shop.