Since I had to attend Heroic Dancing at 7:25 in the morning, Thaddeus and I met up at the gym at 5:00. After a brief warm-up on the treadmill and some weight training, he led me to a side room and sat me down on the floor in a meditative position.

“Brick, can I ask how long you’ve been practicing mana control?”

“Less than two weeks,” I replied truthfully. It would have been stupid to lie here for too many reasons to count. Probably foremost among them would be the fact that I could die if I tried to do something too far above my level.

Case in point: I accidentally atomized myself in the exam and I gave myself a mana scar nearly blowing myself up yesterday. If I pretended to know what I was doing, Thaddeus could accidentally guide me to my death.

“Odd…”

I didn’t respond to his comment, though I fully understood it. My stats were low and I had no practice controlling my mana. Anybody who knew anything would wonder how I managed to get into Horizon Academy, let alone the royal class.

“Alright, I want you to circulate your mana for me. I apologize in advance if this feels invasive, but I’m going to examine the flow, power, density, and attribute in detail.”

He placed a large hand on my back and directed me to begin.

I closed my eyes and searched for the mana flowing through my body. This time, it answered my call more readily than before—a consequence of my improved Magic Control stat. Unfortunately, my improved Magic Power stat also meant that the energy was more volatile than ever. The raging storm growled and bit, tearing into me as I tried to grasp it. Warm blood trickled from my nose.

I growled back and the mana recoiled. Taking advantage of the momentary respite, I launched a full counterattack, slamming the mana with every ounce of willpower I could muster. Pain tore through my chest like someone lit a firecracker in my lungs. Gasping for breath, I pressed harder, demanding absolute obedience.

The mana began to move as I willed it.

“Looks like you’ve managed to take control…” Thaddeus muttered from behind me. “Now circulate it.”

I ordered the mana to move throughout my body, from my chest to the tips of my fingers, from my fingers to my toes and back. The flow was slow, like trudging through molasses, but it was moving. When it reached the mana scar on my right hand, it was like sparks erupted in my blood and traveled up my arm.

“Slow down,” Thaddeus instructed. “Take it one step at a time. Move only a little bit. Your body can’t handle the explosive property yet, so you need to get used to it first.”

I nodded and let out a pained breath before releasing some of the mana, allowing it to return to its natural flow. With a much smaller portion than before, I once again began to circulate it.

This time, it moved much faster and it wasn’t nearly as painful. As mana moved through each of my limbs, it felt like pins and needles spreading across the underside of my skin—uncomfortable, yet manageable.

We continued like that for ten minutes or so, when Thaddeus retracted his hand and said, “You can stop now.”

Releasing my iron grip on the mana, I was surprised to feel that its natural flow had slightly altered due to my interference, though it remained focused around my core.

Thaddeus grinned when he noticed my expression.

“Keep doing that exercise every morning until the entire flow cycles throughout your entire body naturally. When you reach that state, you’ll be worth calling a magician.”

Developing internal magic circles. This was an element of my story that I was aware of, but I hadn’t considered it as something important when I wrote it. The fundamentals that I included were more of an attempt to pretend like the system made sense. I was admittedly far more interested in writing about the cool stuff people did with higher-level magic than this entry-level bleh.

“You ready for my evaluation?”

“Yup.”

“Rather than a comprehensive breakdown, I’ll just say that it feels like you’re a four-year-old that just started learning to cycle your mana. In fact, I’m surprised that you’re still alive, what with its natural explosive property and all…”

“Right…”

“We have a lot of work to do, but you’re going to be strong when you finish my training. You said you’re taking Intro to Magic Power this semester, right?”

I nodded.

“The professor of that course is even better than I am, so make sure you apply her techniques to the training I do with you. If you work hard, you’ll be a monster by the end of the semester.”

And with that, I officially gained the main character’s stamp of approval. I let out a small chuckle at the mental image of a red stamp being placed on my forehead that said ‘Main Character Certified’.

“Thanks, man. You’ve been a big help,” I said while offering him a fist bump.

He tapped my fist with his own and said, “Anytime.”

Checking the time on my phone, I realized we had been working longer than I expected.

“I’ll see you later, I gotta head to class.”

“Sure thing,” he said. “Make sure you practice before you sleep tonight.”

With a wave, I started to run.

***

“Welcome to Heroic Dance!” an enthusiastic voice shouted just as I passed through the doorway. “My name is…”

The instructor paused when she saw me standing in the doorway with my hands on my knees, desperately gasping for air. “Ah, we have a late student on the first day. Excellent.”

‘...’ I stared at her wordlessly as she approached and put an arm around my shoulder.

“What is your name, cadet?”

“Brick.”

“Ah, yes. The explosion boy. Well, why don’t you come on in and join us, Brick? I was just about to start.”

“Right…”

I hadn’t been here for more than one or two minutes and I could already tell that she was odd. Since Thaddeus obviously never took a dance class in my novel, I had no idea who this lady was. Her most unique characteristic had to be her purple hair, but her friendly smile and gentle presence exuded calmness and made me feel welcome.

She released me and I made my way over to the other students who were watching me, most of them with amusement. They were standing in a loose crowd near the center of the large room half-encircled by mirrors on three of the four walls. I didn’t bother to check to see if there was anyone familiar among them, instead turning to face the instructor the moment I reached the crowd.

“As I was saying,” she continued. “Welcome to Heroic Dance! My name is Annika Dufault. You can call me Ann, Annika, Dr. Dufault, or whatever makes you feel comfortable.”

She clapped her hands together. “Now, with my introduction out of the way, let’s get started, shall we?”

Taking a few steps forward she pointed at a student near the back. “You, would you step forward?”

The student in question made her way to the front of the class and I blinked in shock when I recognized her.

‘Isn’t that…?’

“My, aren’t you just gorgeous? What’s your name, sweetheart?”

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“Lilith.”

‘Why is she here?’ I couldn’t think of any reason for her to take Heroic Dance. It was too far from her interests…

“Nice to meet you, Lilith. If it’s alright with you, I’d like you to participate in today’s demonstration.”

Lilith nodded her agreement.

“Fantastic! Now for your partner…” Annika scanned the students for a moment, a mischievous grin on the edge of her lips. “Are there any volunteers who would like to dance with Lilith?”

Nobody volunteered. I did a cursory check of the crowd behind me and found that Lilith was the only demon in the course. There were a few aliens and cyborgs, and one or two people who looked like treaders, but the group of thirty or so people was overwhelmingly composed of humans.

Now that I saw that, I realized what Annika was doing.

“Oh? Does nobody here want to dance with this demon?”

Having glimpsed the truth, her warm and inviting smile now felt artificial and plastic.

‘Did I really create an instructor like this?’

There was no way.

“Oh, how terrible! It seems that nobody is willing to dance with a demon. But she came all this way. Won’t someone take pity on her?”

Realizing that the situation would only get worse if I delayed any longer, I raised my hand. “I’ll be her partner.”

“Oh, how kind of you! To…”

“Just for the record, I’m not doing this out of pity,” I interrupted her.

Annika’s eyes twinkled with amusement. “Sure you’re not. I believe you. You definitely volunteered the first time I asked, right?”

Biting back a retort, I made my way over to Lilith.

“Hello, little boy,” she said. “I didn’t place you as one who enjoys the rhythmic expression of emotion.”

“You’re right; I’ve never danced a day in my life.”

She knit her brow. “Then why are you here?”

“Didn’t I just say? I’m here to dance with you.”

The corners of her lips turned up. “Is that so?”

Annika clapped her hands again to regain our attention.

“Now that we have our volunteers, let’s continue with the discussion before they give us a little demonstration. All of you are aspiring Heroes or esteemed guests from our new allies; can any of you tell me what occasions might require a Hero to dance?”

A human raised her hand. “After accomplishing great feats, Heroes will often be asked to attend balls or other formal settings in the Western and Eastern Empires.”

The instructor nodded and said, “Correct. It is important for Heroes to leave a good impression on the nobility if they want to work in those areas. Are there any other places a Hero might be expected to dance?”

Nobody else volunteered an answer.

“Diplomacy is certainly an appropriate application of dancing, including when building a relationship with a demon specialized in charm magic, such as a succubus. There are two other reasons a Hero will value the ability to dance: First, dancing is an excellent means of training your body for combat—it improves your balance, flexibility, core strength, endurance, spatial awareness, coordination, and footwork, among other things. As for the second point? It will help single heroes in their dating life.”

I found myself nodding with each point she made. I’d never thought that much about the value of dancing before, but she made a pretty decent case for it.

“Since today is the first day, we will begin with a simple dance—the Waltz. It is a slow dance with four steps that teaches some essential skills for dancing. Lilith, Brick, follow my instructions.”

With a gesture of her hand, music started playing from somewhere. She guided us into the correct position, with my hand on Lilith’s waist, her hand on my shoulder, and our other hands clasped. With a few more instructions, she taught us the four steps of the Waltz.

“Good. Now put it all together.”

We took the first step, then the second, then the third, and the fourth. I was a little clumsy and stepped on Lilith’s foot once or five times. Lilith was the epitome of grace. She captured the basic steps flawlessly from the first explanation and executed them seamlessly.

On our third cycle, she chuckled and said, “You’re not very good at this.”

“I think I’ve almost got the hang of it,” I replied. “Shall we?”

We repeated the steps once more, and I executed them with confidence. Once we both captured the rhythm, Lilith and I began to soar. We moved across the stage like two birds flying freely. Her beautiful black hair fluttered with every motion. I stared into her sapphire eyes, mesmerized by the swirling ocean depths hidden within. Before I realized it, I was grinning like a fool.

And then the music stopped. Our hands lingered together for a moment before we separated, faces flushed and hearts racing.

‘That was surprisingly fun…’ I thought.

After our demonstration, Annika had the rest of the class pair up and dance. Lilith and I moved to the side of the room and sat down to take a breather.

“You’re not very good…” Lilith repeated.

I mentally braced myself to get insulted once again.

“But I had fun. Let us dance again sometime.”

‘...Huh?’

I stared at her, dumbfounded.

Her gaze seemed to linger on my right hand momentarily, but she quickly turned away. I knew she was staring at my mana scar, or ‘soul scar’ as the demons would call it. I made no effort to hide it since I knew she would be interested, but the likelihood of her asking about it first was pretty low at this stage.

“I see you two are becoming friends,” Annika said from right next to us.

Both Lilith and I jumped. Neither of us sensed the instructor’s approach.

Annika looked me straight in the eye and said, “Thank you, Brick. Your actions today were exemplary. I would like you to continue to be Lilith’s partner for the semester if that’s alright with you?”

“Sure, if Lilith’s okay with it.”

Lilith nodded. “I have no complaints.”

“Wonderful!” Annika exclaimed. “Oh, I can’t tell you how much of a relief that is!” She whirled around and disappeared.

I blinked and realized she was halfway across the room giving pointers to another pair of dancing students.

“Are there many humans like her?” Lilith asked.

I shrugged and replied, “I don’t understand her, so I dunno.”

Lilith watched Annika flutter around the room like a hummingbird.

“Your race is very odd…”

“Eh, setting aside racial characteristics and our origins, we’re not all that different from demons.”

She scoffed. “And you would know?”

“A bit, yeah.”

Folding her arms and pursing her lips, she stared me down, her eyes declaring an unbending challenge.

As the all-knowing creator of this universe, I couldn’t possibly back down.

“If you want the cliché answers, we think, we laugh, we cry, we dream, and we die. A more interesting similarity is that both humans and demons recreationally poison themselves.”

“You speak of alcohol?”

“Among other things.”

She laughed. “So you’re claim is that humans and demons aren’t all that different because members of our races enjoy drinking? I have to admit; I wasn’t expecting that response.”

“I think you’ll find that conventional wisdom tends to bow in my presence. I dunno if you’ve heard this yet, but I’m kind of a big deal.”

“Is this your usual style, or are you off your pace?”

“I’m kinda off pace,” I admitted. “It’s not every day I get to dance with a pretty girl. I’m a little over the moon right now if you can’t tell.”

She smirked. “Oh, I can tell.”

“Well, dang. Guess I gotta step up my game.”

“If you want my interest, you’ll need to take a slightly different approach. For example, I specialize in destruction-type magic. I’ve been wondering; how did you survive your demonstration during the exam?”

“Ah…” I hesitated to answer. What was I supposed to say to that? ‘I died and the Editor resurrected me’?

However, she seemed to misinterpret the meaning behind my hesitation.

She placed a hand on my shoulder and leaned over. Before I realized what was going on, something soft pressed against my lips for a moment.

“Is that enough payment?” she whispered.

I blinked. It took a second for the shock to wear off before I leaned back. “Sorry, I don’t take that kind of payment. This is Earth, not Asmodeus.”

She pulled away and studied me for a moment with narrowed eyes. “You know of Asmodeus?”

‘Oops…’

That was a dangerous slip of the tongue. Very few humans would know the names of sacred areas in the Demon Realm.

“I’ve heard a thing or two,” I replied nonchalantly, trying to play it off.

Unfortunately, my opponent was a succubus, a race specialized in reading people.

She flicked me on the forehead, the surprising amount of force causing my head to snap back.

“If you don’t wish to tell me, then fine. I have plenty of time.”

Lilith stood up and moved to the other side of the room. I watched her go with a stupid grin on my face.

Though I didn’t know that she would be in this class, this was a good development. If I could turn Lilith into an ally, she would be invaluable. She was killed by Thaddeus in the early stages of the original story, but her base stats, her understanding of magic theory, and her future potential were all incredible. If she survived until the end, her strength would rival the Demon Queen.

She was a little awkward since she didn’t really know how to act like a proper succubus, but maybe that’s why she managed to catch me off-guard. That was a hell of an act from a person who always lived like a shut-in researcher until recently.

I touched a finger to my lips while my gaze lingered on her retreating form.

‘It was kind of fun dancing with her…’