Astrid watched the other students practice while her mana recovered. They were significantly better than she was. How long had they been practicing? She should ask someone later, as it would give her an idea of how long it would take before she was as good.

Villads seemed to be the best student and the only one she knew by name, as he had introduced himself when she first entered the classroom for combat magic class. He cast five different shields, each holding up to Birk’s attacks.

The weakest student was the mean boy who had stood beside her. He could only cast the basic shield, and it dissolved immediately after a single attack from the teacher.

Eventually the defense class ended, and the teacher announced they would take a break. The other students sat together in the middle of the training ground, talking, so Astrid went over to join them.

"Look, it’s the new girl,” the mean boy said as she sat down as far from him as she could while still being part of the group. “Why don’t you just go home already? If you can’t even last one class, you don’t belong here.”

Astrid had no idea where this boy’s hostility came from. Had she done something to offend him? She had very limited social experience, so it was possible, but the few people she had interacted with in the past had never treated her like this.

“Don’t mind Ruben,” a girl next to her said. “He’s just upset that you beat us all in that foot race. I’m Brigitta, by the way.” The girl was pretty, and Astrid felt the same envy towards Brigitta as she had always felt towards her sister. Her shoulder-length copper hair was thick and braided in a fancy style that Astrid had never learned to do. Freckles dotted her cheeks and nose. Her dress was a deep purple, a shade Astrid knew was quite difficult to make as she had listened to the man at the dye house rant about it several times.

“How do you run so fast?” Villads asked.

“I’m sure she cheated. Ruben snorted.

“I did not cheat,” Astrid said, unable to mask her rising anger. “I’m just level two in running.”

“As I said, she cheated. We should report it to the teacher.”

“You have a level two skill already?” Villads asked, ignoring Ruben’s comment.

“Yeah, shouldn’t I have that?” Astrid felt self-conscious, with everyone’s attention directed towards her.

"Well, neither of us have any skills above level one yet, although we are getting close now. How did you do it?”

“I had to outrun the monsters attacking my family’s farm.” Just mentioning this brought back memories from that horrible day. Her sister's bloody body sprawled on the ground, with a wolf beast howling above her. Her father’s angry scream reverberated through the fields as he rushed to fight the monsters. Her mother’s tear-stained face as she dragged Astrid into the cottage and ordered her to flee.

"Sigrid, are you okay?” Brigitta's worried voice brought her back to the present moment.

“I’m fine.” Astrid wasn’t sure the others believed her, but thankfully they didn’t ask more questions about it. She didn’t want to talk about it.

“How did a farm girl even get into this academy? Pathetic peasants shouldn’t be able to afford this,” Ruben said.

“What’s your problem?” Astrid asked, fed up with this boy’s behavior.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“This is a prestigious institution that educates the best people in Largon.”

“Then how did you get in?” The words flew out of Astrid’s mouth before she could stop them. The other kids snickered, and Ruben’s face turned red. He gave Astrid a glare that sent shivers down her back. If she wasn’t confident in her own fighting abilities, it might have scared her. Instead, she sent a glare at her own back.

“My father is an important member of the city council. When I tell him that they let refugees from the countryside study here, he’ll have you kicked out, so you might as well save yourself the embarrassment and go back to where you belong.”

“I paid to attend this academy like the rest of you, so I’ll stay.”

“Your parents must have sold their entire farm to afford that.”

“My parents are dead.” Images of that day threatened to overwhelm her again, but she pushed them aside. Don’t think about it, she reminded herself.

An awkward silence hung in the air. This hadn’t gone as Astrid had hoped. All she wanted was to make friends with someone so she wouldn’t feel alone in the world anymore. The loneliness was gnawing at her insides, getting worse with each passing day. Why did this boy have to be so mean?

“I still don’t get how you can afford to attend for even a day. Peasants shouldn’t have that kind of money.”

“My sister earns money doing quests.” She couldn’t tell them that she was the one doing it, even though she really wanted to. The lure of the satisfaction it would give her to prove Ruben wrong was almost too much to resist, but everyone else already assumed it was her sister doing it. Lying about it made her feel dirty, but they probably wouldn’t believe her either if she told them the truth.

“Your sister is the woman who goes out to the forest alone?” Villads asked.

“Yes, do you know her?” Astrid wrecked her brain trying to remember if she had met this boy before while impersonating her sister. She couldn’t think of anything.

“My brother told me about her. She turned down his team's offer for protection.”

“Yeah, that sounds like her.” Astrid said, remembering the incident at the job hall where the monster slayers had approached her. “I hope she didn’t offend your brother.” Part of her was still worried that she had made enemies with those people, but she hadn’t needed their help.

“Not at all. At first, he worried she would get killed by the monsters, but she always returned unharmed.”

"Okay, students line up again so we can start the next class,” Birk said, and the class quickly followed the order. “Good. Now let’s see how well you remember the basic blast spell. I’ve set up the targets, so fire when you are ready.”

As she had never cast this spell before, she paid close attention as the other students went through the necessary staff movements, trying to commit them to memory so she could cast it herself.

“Basic blast,” the other students said one by one, sending small balls of magic towards the targets lined up about twenty feet away.

About half the class managed to hit the target. The same people had also been able to cast the shield properly on their first try. Those were told to practice their other attacks. The others who hadn’t hit the target were told to keep practicing the basic blast spell. Finally, the teacher made it to Astrid.

“For attack spells, you need to add more mana up front, but there is no maintenance cost, nor do you have to maintain focus after firing. You do have to aim, however. Try starting out with three mana. Now the movement is a big X and then a thrust through the middle while you say the spell.”

Astrid did as her teacher had said. Her mana had returned to full capacity during the break and even gained two new points to its maximum value, which meant it was now twelve points total. However, that still made these attack spells quite expensive. She pushed three of them into her staff and did the movement.

“Basic blast.”

The attack shot from her staff flying towards the target. It hit it, but not in the center. It only manages to graze the top.

She received a few messages that she quickly scanned.

You have unlocked the offensive magic skill

Offensive magic is at level 1 of 10

You now have the ability to cast level one attack spells

“Make sure your staff is pointing straight at where you want to hit. Magic blast attacks don’t change their trajectory. They continue in a straight line until they either hit something or fizzle out when they reach their limited range. Try it again.”

Astrid did so, and this time she hit the target closer to the center.

“Nice. Go a few more times if you can, then rest while you recover your mana.”