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As the first of the goblins crashed into the line of assistant instructors, it became glaringly apparent to me that they were restraining themselves to a considerable degree.

Instead of cutting the goblins down where they stood, the three assistant instructors were fighting more defensively and were doing more shoving with their shields than striking with their swords, and the mage assistant instructors in the back were keeping to first and second circle spells to stun, distract, or cripple the goblins.

This demonstration went on for a solid minute as the melee-oriented assistant instructors did a fantastic job of moving around to keep the mages from getting flanked.

After that minute passed, one of the mages in the back said something I could not pick up, and the melee fighters performed big swings that threw or scared off the goblins they were engaging, making them back off.

Once the goblins backed off, the melee fighters jumped back closer to the mages who peeked out between their rank and started firing small wind blades and fire bolts at the goblins.

This barrage of spells killed or crippled the goblin force until there were only four left standing and recovering from the magic assault. Seeing the very obvious opening, the melee assistant instructors took that chance to charge in and cut down the remaining goblins with minimal resistance.

When the last goblin fell, Instructor Greyham was in The Pit once again to address the students, “And that, my students, is how it is done by the book. And as you all grow in skill and competence, you will be able to clear a group of goblins of that size in a scant few seconds.”

He then looked around at the crowd of students and said in a more somber tone, “From the look on a lot of your faces, this is the first time many of you have seen the death of anything remotely humanoid, and I understand the aversion. But it is a rough world out there, and even if those of you who are more academically inclined decide to live the life of a scholar mage, you will most likely travel, and on your journeys, there is a good chance you will run into things like this.” Gresham said while pointing to the corpses of dead goblins that were in the process of being dragged away by the arena staff.

“Better you learn to defend yourselves here under the supervision of your instructors before you learn the hard way that out in the real world, goblins are the least of your problems.” Finishing his speech, he allows a few seconds for his words to sink into the student’s heads. Then he shouted out instructions again.

“Ok, now we are moving on to the part where we show you the ropes. Shortly, you are all going to gather in The Pit, I want the students from Advanced Spell Theory on my left, Advanced Combat & Tactics on my right, and those who are currently taking both classes to meet me in the center. Let's move people!” Instructor Greyham said as he performed an ear-splitting clap that prompted everyone in the stands into movement.

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I followed the crowd down, and since I was in both classes, I made my way to Instructor Greyham, when everyone was gathered in their respective groups, there were just over fifty of us among the Year 5 cohort.

Instructor Greyham then guided us to a side of The Pit to make space for the two bigger groups.

“Alright, you are all gathered here to learn of your place in a fighting formation, which is most of the time, the role of a skirmisher. While the mages are doling out damage on the enemies, and the pure melee fighters are busy defending the mages, the skirmisher’s job is to perform hit-and-run tactics to harass the enemy to open them up for a killing blow from your allies, and if you get the chance, take out the enemy’s leader.” Instructor Greyham said as he paced back and forth while lecturing us.

“But before we start, answer a few questions and answer them truthfully, how many can silent cast second circle magic without hand gestures or chanting?” to which, me and three other guys raised our hands and were asked to move to one side.

“Next, second circle magic with only chanting, step to the side.” he said while gesturing to my small group which was about to get a lot bigger, as around thirty more students joined my group.

“Next, those who can at least silent cast first circle magic without hand gestures or chanting.” this time majority of the leftovers joined my group. All that was left was four guys looking rather embarrassed and nervous.

Instructor Greyham walked up to the four leftover people, “I think it for the best you go over the Advanced Combat & Tactics and rethink your taking of the magic courses you may have registered for, if you cannot silently cast first circle magic competently by now, I think it is better you stick with swing a sword. please proceed to the Advanced Combat & Tactics class. Tell the instructor I sent you.”

After the four downcast students left the group, Instructor Greyham turned to us, “As for the rest of you, I will be instructing you on how to fight like a skirmisher…”

From there, Instructor Greyham instructed us on different strategies and techniques used to survive as a skirmisher, which at our low level of experience meant using fast and short ranged first to second circle spells to stun, restrain, or blind our enemies, giving us the time we need to attack, counterattack, defend, retreat, or maneuver to a more advantageous position.

When Instructor Greyham moved into a short Q&A session, there was one question that caught my attention, “Instructor Greyham, were there any skirmishers in the demonstration by the assistant instructors? Those in the front line did not seem to cast any magic.”

Instructor Greyham just nodded at the student’s question, “A good observation and valid question… I am sure you noticed the huge disparity in our numbers compared to the two other groups?”

To this question, me and the gathered students nodded in agreement, “Well don’t get used to it, out in the real world, it is rare to find someone who can wield a blade and magic at the same time competently, there are pure melee fighters who act as skirmishers out there, but instead of spells, they use the tools of thieves and assassins to compensate for their lack of magic. The only reason there are so many of you gathered before me is due to the gathering of talent at the Royal Academy, and even as I train you on how to be a skirmisher, I will most likely find some of you unfit for the role.”

After answering a few more questions, Instructor Greyham decided to get on with the lesson and pointed at me, “Ironcrest, get up here.” then he addressed the rest of the students, “I will now demonstrate how a skirmisher fights.”

Oh shit…