For everyone else in the Quartet, a week had passed. Meanwhile, Max had been fighting for his life for months. On top of that, he'd even been back to Earth. So, going to class again and walking through the Summoner Academy grounds felt a little surreal.

As he neared his group combat class, some of the other students gave him a double take. One of the women whispered to her friend when she saw him. The two of them tried, and failed, to subtly distance themselves from him on the walk to the classroom.

Their avoidance didn’t matter to Max. He was used to varying opinions in his past life, when the entire world had known his name. It didn’t bother him if in the Quartet, a temporary situation, others kept their distance.

However, as soon as he was in the small building, Professor Grave Call practically beamed. He must have talked to the headmaster, thought Max. Once class actually began, Professor Grave Call said, "We are going to do something a little bit different today." Every student in class including Max was silent, taking that in. He started to feel to feel a sense of foreboding.

"A truly rare opportunity here," said Professor Grave Call. "As you all know, Gantry Pliss and Max Cunningham have been the two strongest fighters in our class for some time now. However, I have received word that Max is significantly stronger now." There were rustles around the room and whispers as the other students absorbed this. Gantry turned and gave Max a searching look. Max tried to keep emotion entirely off his face, but inside, he was seething at the professor.

Where the hell is he going with this? he wondered. In the back of his mind, Lavinia was laughing. Her amusement didn’t help with Max’s growing irritation.

"Class, please follow me. Hold your questions for later." Then, without further ado, Professor Gravecall got up and left the classroom. All the students were left for a moment, just looking at each other, until a man whose name Max didn't know got up and left after the professor.

The practice area was the same as it always was,except now there were more chalk-outined circles, all of varying sizes. One of them was absolutely huge.

To one side, the weapon racks had grown in number. Now there were even more practice weapons ready to be used by students. Matx spotted a few exotic-looking weapons that definitely had not been there before. He figured that over the course of the semester, students had requested additions based on their style or skill. Professor Gravecall’s group combat class was not the only group using this practice area.

"Now then," said Professor Grave Call, "Max and Gantry, please enter the original circle." Max frowned, wondering what in the world the professor was trying to prove. But as he selected a sword, Gantry with him, the professor suddenly called out, “Percy and Isaz, please join them.

Both of the new students that had been called showed visible signs of confusion and surprise, but they slowly obeyed, heading to the weapon racks and choosing their own practice weapons.

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Percy was an average height and build. He used a thin, single edged sword. Despite its light weight and nimble handling, the sword was still strong due to the rigid spine and clever construction–with fullers down most of its length. The trainer weapon he was using perfectly copied the real steel weapon he preferred. Percy was a Lifer, but not an obnoxious one. His pockets weren’t too deep, either. His face was thin, and he wore his hair long.

Isaz was pale and muscular, with short dark hair. She was about as tall as an average human man, but she apparently was small for her kin. Her inhuman features were slit nostrils, a slightly blue tint to her skin, and a small tail. Her weapon of choice was a heavy, two handed hammer.

Moments later, Max stood in the center of the field with the three other students. All of them were waiting for Professor Grave Call to tell them what in the world was going on. "Now," said the professor, "all of you are aware that Max was able to beat Gantry the last time they sparred. Sorry, Gantry.”

“It’s okay. No complaints. It was a good fight.” Max’s friend shrugged.

“That’s a good attitude to have,” said Grave Call. “What we will be doing now is perhaps an object lesson, perhaps not. We will see." He gestured at the four students in the center of the field. "Gantry, Percy, and Isaz, you are on one team. Max, you are on your own, acting as a stand-in monster. The group’s goal is to force Max outside of the circle that he is currently in."

Gantry frowned, but it was Percy who raised a hand and asked, "Professor, don't you mean 'Beat Max'?"

"If you can beat him, go ahead. Hell, you can even try killing him. The truth is I have not seen him fight yet, with this new power I hear he has. But I believe it. If he dies I will take responsibility and petition the Quartet administration to channel extra power into his recovery. And if you beat him, I will award your entire team five mana units. Each. However, your actual win condition is just to force him outside the circle. So don't forget your goal in the face of greed."

Percy slowly lowered his hand with further confusion showing on his face, but Max understood what the professor was doing. At least he had a really strong suspicion of what this demonstration was supposed to teach. Grave Call said, "Team of three, would you like to confer before the fight?"

Gantry nodded his head. "Yes."

"Okay, you may walk some distance from Max if you'd like. Max, please stay in the circle and don't leave it. If you leave the circle, you lose."

"Got it," said Max. He sighed. Now he was more sure about what he thought the professor was trying to do. All three students that he'd called together were from different teams, which meant that they were likely going to have bad teamwork. The professor was likely trying to demonstrate that teamwork was extremely important in a visceral way.

But Max had other plans. He wanted the students to have a different understanding. It was obvious and practically confirmed at this point that Grave Call had talked to Headmaster Mong Hao Han and had heard that Max was stronger now. How much stronger, he didn’t seem to really grasp.

There was a big difference between a one star mana body and a two star mana body. Max didn't want to discourage or break the will of his classmates, but it was a big universe, and maybe if he showed them even a bit of his true abilities, it would help those who were already motivated work even harder.

It might also humble those who never left the Summoner academy and didn’t know how strong the other Paths were.

Max was thinking of his martial arts students watching all of this well. Gantry was even participating. He would see the rest of them later in the day to teach, and this might be a good object lesson for them.

Before this point, Max had seriously considered just barely winning, putting on a show to hide most of his abilities. But it was not in his nature to hide too much, and he’d already decided he’d do more good by going into this spar seriously. He still wasn’t going to use bead sorcery, but he decided to otherwise try to end the fight as fast as possible.