Dueling was held in a large square room, disproportionately massive to how it looked from the outside. The wooden floor had white painted rectangles on its surface, which I suspected were dueling rings of some kind. A few dozen students were already here, milling about and quietly talking amongst themselves.
I noticed right away that Sophia and Theo were both in this class, talking in a particular large group of a half dozen. I knew Sophia would be here though I would prefer Theo not be present as well.
The more significant concern was when I also spotted Amelia speaking to two other students. Mentally, I said some things that would have gotten me whipped with a switch by Girem and felt myself on the verge of panic.
Taking a few steadying breaths, I scanned the rest of the room and spotted several apprentices standing nearby. I walked a bit closer to them, nodding at the nearest one in greeting who gave me a slight smile in return. If I stood on my own, I suspected I would be much more noticeable.
My disguise was not close to perfect and had a limited window of utility. The more someone I knew well got a good look at "Marcus," the more likely they were to realize my true identity. Theo likely did not care enough to see through the dyes and glasses, but Amelia would soon know me well enough to see past the different appearance.
And I was sure Sophia would figure out sooner or later. I had initially labeled her as intelligent, but I was beginning to suspect brilliant may be the more appropriate term. It seemed it was too much to hope I would share my classes with exclusively strangers and idiots.
A tapping sound rang out from the middle of the room, and the conversations died down as we all looked over to see a tiny woman dressed in robes. She was ancient, hunched over on a wooden cane, and incredibly frail in build. Despite that, her eyes were sharp, and I immediately felt a sense of danger. Another apprentice, an older one judging by his features, stood nearby quietly.
"My name is Professor Barlow, master of Dueling. Both the class and the skill. I am here to teach you how to handle yourself in battle with another mage." she said, her tone biting.
Moving forward slowly, she paced in front of us, shaking her head a bit as she walked.
"My my, not a very dangerous looking bunch. This year looks to be quite pitiful, though maybe some of you will prove me wrong. I can tell by the looks in your eyes that you find me a disappointing choice of teacher." she said, her eyes glinting dangerously.
She was not wrong in her assumption. I had expected a teacher more like Sig, young and athletic. I suppose a master of magic duels did not necessarily need to be physically gifted, but still, she seemed to be days from death. Theo seemed to share my opinion and was openly looking at Professor Barlow with skepticism.
She grinned like a wolf spotting prey and pointed a finger right at him. "You. Come forward. Now."
Theo started a bit but recovered quickly, shooting a cocky grin at his friends. He walked with Professor Barlow to one of the dueling rings, a swagger evident in his step. When they stopped, the professor gestured to the apprentice, likely an assistant of some kind, who produced a small wand from his robes and held it out to Theo.
"That is a wand enchanted to project mana blasts when activated by a mage. Extremely easy to use and perfect for a novice such as yourself. If you manage to defeat me in a duel, not only will you pass this class, but I will personally ensure you pass all five years of Dueling." Professor Barlow said, slowly making her way to one end of the ring.
Theo's eyes lit up, he grinned, grabbed the wand, and swaggered into the ring opposite the professor. I noted idly that his stance was very unbalanced and watched intently as the two of them faced one another. The aide walked to the side of the ring, looking between the two before shouting, "Begin!"
Theo made an elaborate flourish with the wand, but before he cast a spell, a ball of white mana popped into existence before wrapping around his head. Yelling in shock, Theo held one hand up to swat at the orb, but his hand phased through it without resistance. He turned one way and the other, but I could not see his face through the screen of mana.
Professor Barlow had a sickly sweet smile on her face, as she held the cane up to him and launched a small bolt I recognized as an arcane bolt at his chest. When it hit, Theo stumbled backward before tripping over his own feet and landing on his ass.
As he slammed into the ground, several more bolts launched through the air, stopping a few inches from his face while the original white sphere dissipated into nothingness. The room fell into stunned silence, only broken by Professor Barlow's loud cackles and more subdued chuckles from her aide.
She limped forward, the bolts breaking into mana as she walked past Theo before standing in front of us again. "I hope the rest of you prove a bit more skilled than this one. If not, well, I fear for the future of our country."
Theo stood, his face bright red, not even bothering to fix his disheveled clothing. "You cheated! Of course, I would lose to a master. You have more mana, and it's stronger than mine!"
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Turning to face him, Professor Barlow lowered her voice threateningly. "Raise your tone to me again, brat, and see what happens. I may never have reached archmagi but never forget who taught Elden how to sling a spell."
Looking at the rest of us, she carefully scanned the room. "To answer this incipient welp's accusations, I used as little mana as I possibly could, even less than most of you would put into spells to illustrate a point. Skill is just as important as power in winning a battle. All too often, we forget that raw strength can only take you so far and that creative thinking can win you the day. After all, if your opponent cannot see you, how can they defeat you?"
When none of us answered, she grinned before gesturing to the ring behind her. "Who wants to go next?"
One by one, each of us entered the ring to face her, and one by one we lost. Professor Barlow used different strategies with each opponent she faced. Some she used magic to blind, like Theo, others she seemed to confuse with strange images of monsters. A few times, one of the students got a blast off from their wands at the professor, hitting nothing but air as her visage faded into wisps of mana, before the real woman launched them out of the ring with a well-timed bolt.
I noted that Sophia did better than most, being one of the few who managed to cast a spell before being defeated. Amelia was a bit less skillful, though she did manage to dodge one of Professor Barlow's blasts, before being tossed from the ring a second, invisible blast took her in the stomach. I had to hide a bit of a vengeful smile as I recalled her effortlessly defeating me in our duels less than a day before.
Soon, it was my turn to face her in the ring. I swallowed hard, running over every other student's attempts. I was relatively confident I knew how her skills worked, but I realized I had no choice other than to throw the match. If I showed too much success, it would draw attention to me, and I had to avoid that.
Holding the wand in one hand, I felt it pull a bit of my mana and waved it experimentally before looking to the professor and taking up a ready stance. I made sure my posture was unbalanced and severely flawed, just in case Amelia was paying a bit too much attention to me.
"Begin!" the aide shouted, and I went to cast a spell, purposefully taking a bit too long to marshall my mana. Professor Barlow snorted and flicked one hand dismissively, a bar of light slammed into my ankles and knocked me down. My face hit the ground, hiding the mixture of grin and grimace as the aide called a halt to the duel.
Other students had done better, others worse, which was precisely my intention. Either extreme would make me stand out, but right in the middle would leave me mostly anonymous.
I walked back into the rest of the students, rubbing my legs when I came to a stop. Professor Barlow finished off the last few duels, all with the same indifferent ease as before. Shaking her head a bit, the professor then addressed the entire class.
"Well, that was pitiful but not unexpected. Next class, we will begin addressing these shortcomings. Something to ponder in the meantime is what kind of mage you will be in combat. Remember, even Archmagi Elden focuses on only a handful of spells, which he has raised to perfection and fit into his preferred style of combat." she said, for once sounding insightful rather than cruel.
With those words, Professor Barlow turned and left the room, her aide following behind her. The rest of the class departed after a few seconds, most grumbling as they did. I pondered on her words and reflected on my original future.
I must have taken her advice and built my style around a theme that appeared to molding mana into weapons of some kind. In that future, my primary attacks seemed to be blades of aether, which I used to slice apart my enemies. A unique style of combat and likely an effective one, if that future was any indication. But was it one that I wanted to emulate?
I pushed that concern aside, as I entered my last class of the day, Espionage. It was a smaller group, with only six other students, and I noticed with mild panic that Amelia was also in this class, sitting quietly and reading a book at one desk. My pulse spiked when she glanced over at my face, but after a second, she looked away, and I shakily exhaled.
The teacher was a surprisingly excitable man in his forties named Professor Morell, who stood in the front of the room with a massive grin on his face.
"Good afternoon, everyone! My name is Professor Morell, and it is my distinct pleasure to be teaching you this semester. So, to get started, what is espionage? Anyone?"
"Spying?" a young man shouted from near the back of the class.
Professor Morell nodded a few times, clapping his hand once loudly. "A good place to start. Yes, espionage does mean spying in a broad sense. It is the skill of subtly obtaining information for the benefit of another, through a variety of means. There are many abilities essential to learn and not nearly enough time in the year. Why don't we get started right away then? All of you close your eyes, please."
Several of us looked at one another, but one by one we did as he requested. I could hear a slight clinking sound and felt a weight settle on my leg, but I was unsure why.
"Perfect! You can peek now. Or not, but that would make the rest of our lesson difficult." a voice said cheerily.
As I opened my eyes, I saw Professor Morell smiling as he looked at all of us. Looking down to examine the weight I had felt, I saw a chain with a heavy padlock wrapped around my leg and hooked around a small metal loop. The loop itself looked to be driven into the ground and was likely nearly impossible to remove.
"So! You all would have noticed your new problem, which is also your first assignment. The first and most important attribute for espionage is problem-solving. You need to be able to think on your feet and find solutions when under pressure. I decided to be generous this first time, but never assume you'll be so lucky again. " Professor Morell said, with the same grin on his face as always.
Walking over to the board, he drew a bizarre series of letters that spelled out a nonsensical string of words. Then, he held out one hand, and small leather packets appeared on each of our desks from orbs of black mana.
"On the board behind me is a cipher, which should be pretty easy to solve even for novices such as yourselves. If you figure it out, I will unlock your bindings. The packet in front of you has a few other avenues to explore if you would prefer. You have fifty-three minutes left to escape your chains successfully. Oh! And if you are unable to escape, you fail my class immediately. Good luck!" he said, sitting down and opening a small book as the room burst into shocked whispers.