I stare at the dolls in front of me. These were constructed of Kuronium, a dark magical metal alloy. Magical metals are metals that can emit mana, similar to living beings.

They were regular metals before the mana changed their properties to create a metal that existed outside the periodic table.

Scientists were previously unsure how to classify these materials. They did something only life could do, yet they were dead.

After years of analysis, they were assigned the term Psuedo-Life. Another thing they had in common was that they housed a soul, which made it nearly impossible for mages with solid attribute to manipulate them.

I read the instruction on the use of the doll, before injecting my mana into it. It buzzed to life and its eyes started glowing. After choosing its setting, grabbed a weapon from its back.

These dolls couldn't move and could only defend, but were still very useful for learning to strike optimally.

We weren't allowed to use more than 3kR of mana to enhance and reinforce ourselves, as the internals of the doll could be damaged. We had to wear a bracelet to measure and limit the output, so we didn't go over.

I swung my greatsword at the doll. It lifted its sword and easily blocked it. We exchanged blows, me trying to precisely the weak points of the doll.

However, it blocked most of the attacks, sometimes even striking back. The programmer of this doll must've properly understood how to fight as I could see the doll forcing me to strike more optimally.

After 15 minutes of training, the doll shut off and the exercise was over. I was slightly sweating and breathing lightly. Though I could tell I was improving, there were several problems with the doll.

After a while, the moments started to feel predictable and since the doll couldn't move, I was limited in the ways I could attack.

A doll like this wasn't a substitute for a real opponent. Maybe in the future, it could, but as of now, the technology is too new.

I then trained again, but this time the doll didn't move. I wanted to see how my strikes landed and to check whether the placement of my sword would deal the most damage to my opponent.

After training for another 15 minutes, I got bored of training with the doll and walked around, seeing the other facilities this yard had.

"Hey Jules, I finally found you. I finished the archery course. It wasn't that hard. Let's spar now."

"Spar? Don't we do that always? Shouldn't we test the all facilities that we didn't have?"

"Nah, we can do that later. We haven't sparred in ages and we can use state-of-the-art recording equipment as well. We can finally analyse our fights properly and improve ourselves. We always have used second-hand information from Veronica or grandpa."

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"Okay... fine. Where are the grounds?"

"Over here, follow me."

The training courts were all full, with students sparring with each other. To keep it fair, it was split into two segments.

One segment was where you could fight a partner on your own. You would have to wait for your turn before you could fight.

The other segment was a king of the hill style format. You would challenge the king and whoever won stayed on the court.

After our turn was up, we stood on opposite sides of the court. Since every court had stands, some students were watching us. We are two students in Class 1A; the goal of every student here.

I held my greatsword in front of me, while Amina twirled her naginata around.

***

(Sarah Rumbles POV)

"You've got some interesting students this year. I feel like the average potential has risen this year."

"Oh, it's you. It has been a while Winter Witch."

"Don't be like that, Sarah-ra. We're friends."

"I'm joking. I've missed you, Blanche."

I turned and hugged the woman behind me. I hadn't seen her in years. Her name was Blanche Sistina, an S rank and one of my closest friends.

Her epithet was the Winter Witch. It was obvious from her name that she specialized in the frost attribute. She was the most talented of our generation and a potential candidate for one of the 20 Rulers.

"I can't believe they pulled you out of the front lines."

"Well yeah. Another S rank joined in the fray and I was allowed a break. It was about damn time. I had been fighting since I was an A rank and never gotten a break."

"What? Who went to the front lines."

"That old geezer that taught us."

"God you still need to work on your manners. It's rude to call Umbra Moria, who is one of the 20 Rulers and our teacher a geezer."

"But to me will always be an old geezer."

I sighed and shook my head. This girl had been rebellious since she was young. She wasn't going to change. She rarely listened to anyone and called others whatever she wanted. Though that was part of her charm.

"So why'd you come here? I thought you would've checked out some other ruins in your spare time."

"I wanted to see that man's granddaughter. I've heard from her parents that they received letters from Umbra stating how talented she was."

"You sure teacher wasn't exaggerating?"

"He may be a doting grandparent, but doesn't lie on these types of things."

"Yeah okay. So how was your opinion of her?"

"She was more impressive than I thought. I can't believe she's already C rank."

"I know. It's ridiculous. I've got two C ranks and two on the verge of becoming C ranks. At most, we get mid-D ranks. This year is something else."

"Though Amina-ra is impressive, I've got my eye on someone else."

"It's Julius Argenti, isn't it?"

"His mana sensitivity and capacity are off the charts. I can't believe he managed to detect me, if only for an instant. Even though I wasn't actively trying to conceal my aura, only A ranks and above should have been able to sense me."

"He got into the school unusually. He didn't actually take the exam but got in because of the principal. He's only an attendant for Amina Moria."

"He probably didn't want to deal with the world of nobles, so he aligned himself with the Moria family."

"Since you share the same attribute, are you taking him as your student?"

"Maybe in the future. He seems to be doing fine right now. I also have a feeling that I'll be called up again and I don't want to leave my pupil behind. The final battle is happening soon."

"You shouldn't be telling me about that."

"Anyone mage with half a brain knows the operation that's been in the works for years."

"Haaa... There's no point arguing with you. Regardless, your future pupil is sparring with Amina. Let's focus on that instead and we can catch up later."