The next class is already starting. I’m still making my way to the classroom. I can’t believe that this was going to be my first late attendance. And it only has been one month since I started over here. I was late because I fell asleep after sending Zenith off to her room this morning. Even so, I did arrive to the classroom, although I was a bit late. 10 minutes late. But still, I made it in class. Zenith was there as well. I’m not surprised, really. She had a goodnight sleep unlike me. I had to watch over her throughout the night. And here I thought I could sneak by and sleep at the back of the class but now the class turns into a physical class…

“Alright everyone, today I would like to see how far you have developed your ability since you last finished high school. We will do this by having a duel. But before that, I have to show you this.”

The lecturer brought out a small ball in her hand.

“This ball is called The Training Ball. With this, you will be able to train in a safe space without causing any chaos on your surroundings.”

“Um, madam.” A male student asks, “Is this like the dimensional bag? What I meant is that…does the ball have its own separate pocket dimension?”

“You are correct. When you use a Training Ball, the ball will bring you to a different location. It’s much like a gateway to another world. Except in this world, time moves slowly. You can train for as long as you’d like but once you return back here it will only be for a short while. Say you train for 5 hours, it will only be 5 minutes here. So basically, today is going to be a long day for all of you because our class is three hours.” The lecturer smiled menacingly.

“Oh jeez…” the male student sighed. “White…you looked tired there…This is going to be rough for you.”

“I’ll be fine, Zed.” Of course I lied to him.

Meet Zed, he is another of my classmates. His house, not his dorm, was actually very near to this academy. So far, he was a nice guy. He seems to be still trying to get used to academy life over here. And that’s that.

The lecturer threw The Training Ball to the ground and in a few seconds after, it exploded. Creating a shocking blast to everyone in the classroom. It was so bright that I had to protect my eyes away from it. The next moment I opened my eye, I saw a vast empty light blue land. The land was flat; there was no wall at all. Flat as far as the eyes can see.

“We are now inside The Training Ball’s world. My assistant will wait for us back at the classroom while we train today. So, to start…Is there anyone who wants to volunteer?”

“Can I be first?” Ziggs raised his hands.

“Very well, Ziggs.”

“So, who’s going to be my sparring partner?”

“Let me see…” The lecturer opens up a list and began going through the name list, “From the information I got about you…I think the best sparring partner for you would be…Lala.”

“Lala?!” Ziggs was very surprised.

Lala, a female classmate. And not just that, Ziggs was surprised because now he had to face The Cardinal of our class. I don’t really know who Lala is but she’s capable enough that the lecturer chose her to become The Cardinal without even settling it with a vote. But it’s not really a big difference between Ziggs and Lala. Ziggs is one of the Trinity alongside Zed.

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“Alright then…this is probably going to be fun don’t you think, White?” Zed told me so with excitement.

“Alright both of you take your position and wait for my whistle.” The lecturer gave out her order to the two of them.

After a few seconds has passed, the lecturer blows her whistles and the battle has begun. Ziggs immediately went in for the first strike as he run straight toward Lala. While running toward her, Ziggs materialized a long sword made out of just thin aura. The sword was transparent just like glass but it was also like air, steam or smoke.

Ziggs swings the sword to Lala. As the sword was about to hit her however, cracks started to show up few centimetres in front of her. Ziggs finishes his swing but for some reason, he didn’t feel any flesh. It was like Lala dodged the sword. But in our eyes, she didn’t dodge it. It took several seconds until Ziggs began to realise what was going on. The space between them has been distanced. The cracks that showed up on the floor were ripped apart. Leaving behind a deep and dark gap between them.

“Have you all understood what happened there, everyone?” The lecturer asked us.

No one seems to get what just happened except for the fact that Ziggs and Lala were separated by a huge empty gap.

“Very well…Listen up everyone. What happened there was that both of them were using their ability.”

Zed then said, “But I only saw Ziggs doing something. Lala didn’t do anything at all.”

“She did. She ripped the earth apart.”

“What?!”

That’s exactly what happened. Ziggs were supposedly able to slash through Lala with his ability called, Infinity Aura. With Infinity Aura, he is able to manipulate his Infinitum energy into anything physical. It can even have projectiles properties if he wishes to do so. It is a very versatile ability that is useful for most situations even outside of combat.

Meanwhile, Lala had a very interesting ability. Our lecturer basically told us this ability in her own way…

“Lala over here wields an Ancient Type ability. Her ability is called Mother Gaia. As the name stated, it was named after the mother of all titan, Gaia or Mother Nature as we all know. She’s able to control the earth’s behaviour at her own will.”

“The earth’s behaviour? What does that mean?” Zed asks.

“It means that she can manipulate the ground and even the nature. Her ability will be at its powerful state if she were to fight out in the open. But even in a closed space, she still can manipulate both of those although it will be limited.”

“You should have told me that, Lecturer…” Ziggs nervously responded.

“Focus on the battle, Ziggs!”

“What?”

Whoosh. Ziggs was sent flying away by a huge pile rocks made out of the light blue ground.

“Look out, Ziggs!” Zed shouted at him.

“You should have warned me earlier!”

Cracks started to appear all over Ziggs. The floor underneath Ziggs was ripped apart as wild greenery started to appear and entangle Ziggs. As that happens, piles upon piles of pebbles appeared from below and fly toward Ziggs. It was like a reverse rain. Only the rain this time was pebbles. Ziggs formed an Infinitum Energy Armor out of his ability to protect himself. He brought out his Infinitum Energy Sword and cut down the greenery that was tangling him up.

“This is quite a difficulty.” Ziggs sounded a bit confident, “But not too hard. She’s just another Earth Magic User.”

Ziggs charged toward Lala. Lala retaliates by ripping apart portions of the floor all over the place. It immediately hit Ziggs on her first try but all of a sudden. Ziggs started to diminish himself into nothingness. Ziggs was then seen standing next to the destroyed floor. He continues his assault as the same thing kept happening on every single hit Ziggs received.

“What’s happening?” Zed was confused.

“Ziggs used his ability to make a mirage version of him. His mirage version pushed him away out of safety and sacrificed themselves. That’s what happened, Zed.” I explained to Zed.

“Correct, Mr Cyclone. You know a lot about how certain magic works…Where did you learn?” The lecturer complimented my knowledge.

“Self-study…” It was self-study in a way but all of the books I read were from one of those Forbidden Tomes that I got from someone in high school. I’m not sure if I still remember who I borrowed it from but it was a girl with flowers on her hair, I think.

In any case, Ziggs continued his onslaught while Lala suddenly begins to make slight movement from herself. It looks like Ziggs managed to make her move, slightly. I got a feeling that this might be a rare case for Lala to be facing such a challenge. Ziggs was getting nearer to Lala. Lala continues to struggle as she finally moved her hands to directly control the cracks and plants to attack Ziggs.

But all her struggles were in vain as Ziggs was already in front of her. But then something happened. Lala somehow made a crack to the air with just her fist. Yes, that was exactly what happened. The air had a crack. It wasn’t really big but it was noticeable. It was like she just punched a piece of glass. And after that, Ziggs stopped his movement as a portion of his hair moved back and forth furiously. It even cut out few strands of his hair.

Ziggs dropped his sword and kneeled down. He surrendered.

“And that’s the battle. Everyone.” The lecturer called the match. “Alright. Choose your partner and go spare with each other while I go and talk to those two.”

I’m not quite sure what happened but I believe it was something related to Lala’s ability. The fact that she can manipulate the earth and living plants means that she has been hiding her real ability. Nobody really notices it but I think this power has some sort of vibrations to it. I noticed that when Ziggs hair seemed to vibrate in place instead of being blown away by a wind. Something was up. But, before I was able to find out. Zenith pulled my shirt.

“Will you be my…partner?”

“…Sure thing.”

And so I forgot my intentions with Lala and partnered up with Zenith. We practice for hours upon hours until the real class hour was over.

TO BE CONTINUED