After the incident with the student council, our team decided to adjourn the meeting early. It seemed that rumors of an ongoing battle between some first-year students and the student council had already spread across the academy, causing multiple students to gather in the cafeteria.

As for Tim, he casually left us with cheerful goodbyes, as if he hadn’t just threatened to fight us when he first arrived. Surprisingly, the members of my team brushed it off and moved on without making a fuss. I was now standing inside the training grounds located next to the classroom buildings. Unlike the training floor at the dorms, this one was much larger, accommodating a diverse range of training areas.

A lot of students were gathered there, most of whom were first years, seemingly training in groups of four. In all classes, from low to high, combat classes would finally begin, and the rankings would naturally change, even if only slightly.

“Hey, did you wait long?” a sweet voice snapped me from my thoughts, and I turned my head toward the source. A girl with short green hair, wearing shorts and a vest, walked up to me. The black tight suit under her clothes outlined her fit body, something you wouldn’t notice when she wore her uniform.

“Oi, eyes up here, green newbie,” Rin said in a hoarse tone as if she were a delinquent.

“That’s not how he sounds,” I replied, looking away.

“Oh, really? I thought that was a pretty good impression,” she said with an indifferent expression, walking up to me and standing beside me.

“Your body is surprisingly well-developed for a mage,” I said, giving her a side glance. It was something that could only be achieved by working out from a very young age—a proper balance of muscle and fat. Neither slim nor fat, but simply well-built.

“What, really? I don’t think they’re that big, though,” she said with a confused expression while placing both her hands on her chest.

“That’s not what I was talking about,” I said with a sigh, shaking my head. She turned to look at me with a mischievous grin, causing me to frown. She’s doing this on purpose, isn’t she?

“Oh, you guys seem to be getting along.” Roran’s voice put an end to our stare-off, causing both of us to turn our heads. He was with Ruby, who was wearing the same outfit as Rin. Her face visibly brightened the moment she saw Rin.

Since none of them had anticipated that we would need to train together after school, they hadn’t prepared anything to wear, which is why I had to wait for them to run back to their dorms. With everyone’s arrival, we moved into one of the empty private training rooms.

“For obvious reasons, none of us will disclose our Authority, but we should at least give each other a rough idea of what we can do. That way, we’ll be able to work as a proper team,” I explained, and they all nodded in agreement. Even to this day, despite having worked with Eliana for many years and living with Lily for even more, I still don’t know what their Authorities were. But for the purpose of working together, they’ve shared enough for me to be satisfied.

“I guess I’ll go first. Let me borrow this,” I said, taking Roran’s water bottle and standing in the middle of our makeshift circle. I continued to explain,

“My power isn’t really that amazing, but...”

I opened the cap of the bottle and then casually tossed it into the air, causing a frown from Roran. As they all looked up toward the bottle cap, I activated [Time Perception] and targeted all of them, accelerating their thoughts to a manageable degree. From their perception, everything in the world must have slowed down, causing the cap to fall at an unbelievably slow rate. But for me, the bottle cap fell into my hand in the next second, and I deactivated my skill.

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“W-wow. You can control time?” Ruby was the first to speak, looking at me with a surprised expression as if she’d just witnessed a magic trick.

“I see, so that’s how you were able to see the professor’s attacks,” Roran said with a smile, sounding somewhat relieved. Did he think I also had super speed? It was a reasonable suspicion, considering that I could keep up with someone two ranks above me.

“That was creepy,” was all Rin said, looking at me suspiciously.

“Well, I don’t really control time per se. For example, I can also do this.” I swung my hand, discharging water toward a certain someone. She widened her eyes in surprise as the water splashed across her face, and only then did she move out of the way, quickly crouching down.

“H-how?” Rin muttered with a confused expression as she touched her now-dripping face.

“A-are you okay?” Ruby rushed to her side with a worried expression. She also seemed confused as to what had happened.

“As you can see, to everyone else, I casually swung my hand, but to little Rin here...” I looked toward Rin, causing everyone else to do the same. She stood up from her crouched position, her expression returning to normal as she explained,

“The water came rushing toward me too quickly. I suspect your Authority has to do with manipulating how other people perceive the flow of time, is that right?” She shot me a side glance as she asked.

“Correct.”

I had used [Time Perception] to slow down her thoughts, creating the illusion that everything around her was moving too quickly. That was the extent of my abilities before they later evolved to affect objects too. Add that to time magic, and it seemed like a very good set of skills.

“Oi, go and refill my water,” Roran said as he glared at me. I simply shrugged, telling him I would do it after we finished all our power introductions. He took back his water bottle, which still had some water inside.

“Tch. Fine, I’ll go next then.”

He placed the bottle cap in one hand and showed it to all of us, like a magician preparing to do a trick. Then he smiled and moved his hand slightly, causing the cap to completely disappear.

“Eh?”

“Where’d it go?”

Ruby and Rin stared at his hand in awe, trying to strain their eyes, thinking it was some kind of illusion magic. Roran scoffed and pointed into the air, causing us to look up where a bottle cap was slowly falling toward us.

“My Authority is super speed,” Roran said as he caught the cap with his hand and bowed as if concluding his show.

“Wow, now that’s what we call a real Authority,” Rin said, clapping her hands exaggeratedly while cheering him on. What exactly does she mean by real Authority? Roran, on the other hand, took the compliments with a wide grin spread across his face.

“Um. Can I go next?” Ruby asked in a low tone, worried that their banter would go on forever. She went through her bag and took out a water bottle. It seemed like everyone had decided to use bottle caps for their demonstrations. After taking out the cap, she placed it in the palm of her hand, and to everyone’s surprise, it immediately started to shrink.

“Oh?” I let out a surprised gasp as I watched. Roran also seemed momentarily surprised, but it didn’t seem like he was impressed. Knowing him, he was probably wondering how such a power could be used in combat, which was far from what I was thinking.

Logistics. Her powers had a huge range of applications, and I could see a lot of potential in transporting goods.

A perfect 10/10 War Potential.

I’d heard her name dropped a few times in the future, but it seemed like they were purposely hiding her abilities. In war, people naturally became the most important resource, and many leaders went to great lengths to gatekeep the most talented ones on their side.

“I guess it’s my turn next,” Rin said as she stepped toward me, causing me to take a step back.

“Why are you running?” She asked with a teasing smile. I didn’t know what her Authority was, but because of what I did to her, I was certain she would somehow try to take revenge on me. Also, she was carrying a bottle of water in her hand.

“I’m not running, just trying to give you some space,” I said, looking at her suspiciously.

“Oh, how kind of you,” she replied in a sarcastic tone. She then stopped chasing after me and suddenly raised the bottle into the air. What’s she trying to do? As we all watched her in confusion, she suddenly twisted the bottle, letting the water pour down her hair.

Huh?

Water suddenly rained down on my face as I looked up in surprise, but there wasn’t anything there. Yet, water continued to drip down my face, drenching my clothes as if I’d just exited a pool. I glared at Rin, who was smiling as she continued to pour more water on herself, and each time she did, her experience was shared with me.

What kind of messed up Authority is this?

“Hahaha. As you can see, I can share my suffering with others,” Rin said, laughing out loud while walking toward Ruby. She then snatched Ruby’s water bottle and continued to pour more water on herself, sharing the experience with me. For someone raised in a military state, she was surprisingly childish. I continued to watch her with longing eyes, not even realizing that at some point, a warm smile had appeared on my face.