Chapter 26: Combat class
Felix Sythias’ POV (continued):
It was early in the morning, and my wing itched. It was slowly driving me insane, and I really needed to pick up more of that anti-itching salve. I couldn’t do so right now, though, because I was currently standing in a field together with the other hundred students of our dorm, waiting for our first combat class to start.
Professor Scott and his assistants—third-year students, mostly—stood in front of us. He had been standing there silently, looking at us. I knew he was waiting for us to quiet down before he began, and most of the others realized that as well. Keyword there being most. It took another five minutes, and some hands being held over mouths, but the group eventually quieted down.
“Finally! You all make more noise than a barn full of hungry squirrels around feeding time! Now that you’re all ready to listen—whether you want to or not—we can begin!” he said, looking pointedly at one student who was still protesting the hand over his mouth. “I am Scott. You may refer to me as professor, professor Scott, or just Scott, but under no circumstances will you use my last name.”
There was some confused grumbling at this proclamation, but a glare from Scott shut them all up. I knew that within a few lessons, nothing but a gesture with his hand would be enough to shut everyone up.
“Today will be simple,” he said while pacing slowly in front of the group. “I and my assistants will explain the use and maintenance of the protective combat suit. Then you will change into them—yes there are changing rooms, and no, they are separated by gender—after that we will do some sparring to let you get used to them. Questions?” he asked and a few students raised their hands. “No? Good! Let’s get started then.”
Scott motioned one of the assistants to step forward, and while she did so, Alex leaned in close and whispered a question to me.
“He doesn’t always talk this much.” I whispered back. “He’s usually rather chill with his students. Well, his second-year students, anyway. I think this is just the way he is with new students.”
“Alright, as you can see, Leo here is wearing a combat suit.” Scott showed us his assistant—Leo. She was wearing a sleek black suit with lots of enchanted panels of armor—I knew most of the actual enchantments were woven into the very fabric of the suit, though; Scott liked to brag about it. Leo moved around a bit, showcasing the flexibility of her suit. “This is the protective combat suit, and it will keep you safe while you spar. It is enchanted to be resistant to cuts, to lessen impacts, and to keep you safe from area effects, like fire magic. It will, however, not make you completely immune to the sensations, including pain. For this reason, counselors are available to talk to at any time, with the costs covered by the Academy. Just let me, any teacher, or any healer know, and we will set up an appointment. Now then, let’s see how it’s put on. Leo, please take off the suit.”
Leo took off the suit, revealing another layer of black clothing underneath. It looked thin, but I knew it was tough.
“These underclothes must be worn at all times while wearing the suit. They monitor your vitals, keep track of your movements, and are there to prevent chafing. Leo, can you put the suit back on? Slowly, so the students can see how.”
Leo nodded and picked the suit back up. It was a one-piece suit. She stepped into it with her right leg first, then bent down to tighten a bunch of straps near her leg—to keep the armor in place—then the other leg, and then she pulled the sleeves over her arm. And that was all she could do by herself. She turned her back to the professor, who closed the back of the suit and tightened the remaining straps while he explained why.
“The suit is designed in such a way that you can not put it on by yourself. This is because using the suit and facilities alone is forbidden. If something goes wrong, someone needs to be nearby to help you out,” he said, and clapped his hands, looking at the group. “Now, then. Please go to the changing rooms and equip your suit. You will find your suit in the changing room appropriate for your gender. Only use the one tagged with your name, as they are custom tailored.”
The students looked at the three changing rooms Scott was pointing at and walked in their direction. I wasn’t sure what to do, since I doubt they had a suit that would fit me.
“Oh, Felix, come here for a moment; I got your suit—and money.”
I walked over to the professor and followed him to a side-building. Alex tagged along, not wanting to go to the changing rooms by himself. I didn’t mind, and neither did the professor. Inside the building was a table, upon which laid a protective combat suit—I thought it was one, anyway. It looked nothing like the suits the other students wore. It wasn’t really a suit at all, but just enchanted, interconnected plates which would have to be attached all over my body.
“I’m sorry we don’t have anything better and more protective for you, but your scales are tough so I’m sure you’ll be fine. The protection system was never designed for someone as heavy as you in mind, so it won’t be as effective, but the other functions work well enough.”
I smiled at him. “Thanks. It’s more than I expected, really. How do I put it on?”
Scott grimaced. “With difficulty, I’m afraid. And a lot of help. It’s a good thing you brought your friend, now that I think of it; I can just directly explain it to him rather than having you relay it. Alright, then. Listen closely…”
He explained the process to us, and by the end of explanation I was grimacing too. It wasn’t actually difficult to put on, just extremely tedious as it had a lot of straps that needed to be positioned just right and tightened. Scott helped lift the suit on my back and Alex and I were off. But before we made it out of the door, Scott called after us.
“Wait! I forgot the money I owe you!”
We stopped, and Scott handed me a small card worth a hundred merit points, and then went to talk with his assistants.
“Did… did he just give you money?” Alex asked
“He owed me,” I said and explained how I had to ferry someone to the Administration building last week. “I wonder if he made the student pay, or if paid from his own pocket.”
“Why would he pay from his own pocket?”
I shrugged. “Not all of them are well off, and he really cares about his students.”
When we got to the three changing rooms, we went inside the male one. It was meant to accommodate a hundred students and was thus more than big enough to accommodate me, too. Inside, we found most of the students struggling to put their suits on, despite almost ten minutes already having passed. Did they not pay attention or anything? Most of the female students and a lot of the non-binary students were already outside waiting.
I ignored them and helped Alex get his suit on. He stripped down to his underwear and put the suit on. I helped tighten the straps and close up his back, then he turned to help me. It was tedious and took almost ten minutes just to get every plate in place, and by the time we were done, almost everyone else had already left. There were only a few idiots left, fucking around with the straps, trying to get them to work alone, despite the fact that they were literally designed to not allow that. Alex and I helped these students, and we went outside.
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I was glad we could take the armor back with us to our room. Next time I’d put it on before we came here. Time wasn’t really an issue since this course always had two periods in a row, but the way so many people had stared at us while Alex and I changed had made me really uncomfortable. Like I was an animal on display.
Back in the field, everyone had gathered in small groups while Scott talked with his assistants. Upon seeing the last of us come out, he called for everyone to gather in a circle. Then he gave us instructions on how to care for the protective armor suit. It was simple, really. Keep it clean, check it over for faults at the end of the day, and once every month or so, take it to get checked by a professional. He explained a bunch of little things, too, but they weren’t really relevant to my suit since it was so different. I tried paying attention anyway so I could help Alex with his suit later.
“Now that we’ve got that out of the way, we can truly begin. We’re going to do some sparring. But before that you’ll need to see you can actually trust the suits. Any volunteers? Felix? Great, come on up here.”
I looked at Scott with wide eyes. Did he really have to volunteer me? There were a hundred other students to choose from! And… none of them had the experience with these suits like I did. I sighed and got up, walking towards the center of the circle.
“Anyone else?” Scott asked. Someone I couldn’t recognize or didn’t know raised their hand. “You? Alright, what’s your name?”
“Alfred, sir. I’d like to be the one to hunt this monster—”
Scott interrupted him. “Stop. You will not insult any of my students, is that clear? If I catch you doing it again, I will make sure you regret it,” he said and turned to me. “This is up to you, Felix. Do you want to spar with him?”
I glanced at the student. Between now taking a closer look, and hearing him speak his own name, it was clear it was Alfred. Did I want to spar with him and get the chance to work out my frustration without retribution? Yeah, absolutely.
I nodded to Scott.
“Alright, then. Let’s clear the area, I’ll prime the enchantments, and then you can start.”
The rest of the group cleared to the sidelines, and Alex sent me a worried look as he walked. I flashed him a reassuring smile and turned back to Scott. He was just finishing priming Alfred’s enchantments. Not wanting to wait, I primed my own. It was simple; you just needed to send a bit of mana down a particular trace and it would know you were expecting combat and would turn everything active. A very reasonable limiter, if ineffective against people like me who could already manipulate mana.
When Scott turned to me, I gave him a nod to signal my readiness. To the rest it would simply look like I chose to not fight with my armor enabled. Scott would tell them later if someone asked, of course, but until then it would just make Alfred’s loss look worse.
I wouldn’t call myself a petty person, but I wasn’t going to limit myself now. Not against him.
Professor Scott stood between us, blocking my view of Alfred. With a loud voice, he explained the rules of this spar. They were the standard rules for this type of sparring. No active Skills, stay within the boundaries of the arena—they were painted with white, glowing lines on the ground—no purposely destroying any equipment, and no anti-magic effects. Anything else was fair game. Good. Instinctive magic wasn’t a Skill or Path bonus; I could use it as much as I wanted.
Scott moved to the sidelines, leaving me alone with Alfred. Now without all the other people near, I could finally single out his smell. I scrunched up my nose. Did he not shower? Not only was his base scent rather repulsive—smelling strongly of a nauseating perfume—he reeked of sour sweat, and also smelled like… squirrel feces? They must have sentenced him to do labor on the squirrel farm. But why did he smell so strongly of it? Did he roll around in shit?
I readied myself, finding stable footing and coiling up as if ready to sprint towards him. Alfred did the same, shifting his feet and pulling his sword out from the scabbard on his hip. He held it in his hands before him, glaring at me.
“Alright, then,” Scott yelled, “The fight lasts until someone yields or is defeated. Is everyone ready? Good! Then you may start in three… two… one… start!”
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Alex Sandclaw’s POV
Standing by the sidelines, I watched Alfred and Felix get ready for their fight. I didn’t like it. Felix didn’t have a System, but Alfred did. Sure, Felix won against the bear, but he even admitted himself that it had been mostly luck. And the bear had been dumb, while Alfred wasn’t. I glanced at the boy. Well, he was smarter than the bear at least, if not in general—that idiot had shown a remarkable capability for making stupid decisions. But he was still capable of actually making choices and strategies. The bear wasn’t.
While I did really want to see Felix pound that asshole into the ground, I didn’t want to see Felix lose a fight against him, and the chance of that was real.
“—three… two… one… start!”
There was no turning back now, though.
On the field, Alfred shot into motion, dashing towards Felix at a surprisingly high speed. He was at a higher level than I expected. A quick check told me he was already level twelve. Quite high for our class. Then again, I didn’t know when he had turned eighteen. I didn’t even know if he still was eighteen. Not that it mattered much.
Felix himself stood his ground, looking calm while the bigot rushed towards him. I was worried about the sword Alfred was carrying. It wasn’t the Academy-issued basic sword I had received. No, it was a wicked-looking blade with serrated teeth, like a saw. It looked impractical, and scary, but what really worried me was the mana crystals set into the side, fueling enchantments.
I needn’t have worried, though, because when Alfred got close, he slipped. He actually slipped. The big bad man who claimed he would hunt the monster—really, who said dumb stuff like that—actually fucking slipped. The students around me laughed and giggled, whispering to each other about him.
Looking at Alfred’s feet, I saw they were covered in mud. And now his whole body was covered in mud, too. Felix must have used his magic to create a trap. I smiled as I watched him struggle to get up, only for him to lose his footing and fall back down again, spraying mud all over the place. Felix watched him too, but he wasn’t smiling. No, he was glaring at Alfred; his body tense and his breathing heavy.
After watching him struggle to get up several times, Alfred finally got back to his feet and Felix immediately pounced on him, slamming him back into the ground and spraying them both with mud. Alfred tried getting up, but Felix pressed him back into the mud, stopping him from moving. Alfred screamed indignantly and started saying something, but Felix violently and brutally swiped a talon at his head, jerking it back and shutting him up.
“I’m not a monster!” he roared at Alfred, “Just how many times do I need to repeat that? Just how many times does your sister need to repeat that? Are you really that dense? Why can’t you just leave me alone?!”
Alfred tried to say something again, but with his mouth pressed into the ground and filled with mud, I couldn’t make anything out. Felix clearly did, though, as he roared with anger and reared up, smashing Alfred even deeper into the mud. “Yield,” he said, his tone even and cold.
Alfred didn’t respond.
“You’ve lost. Yield.”
He still didn’t respond, so Professor Scott stepped in. He appeared next to the duo in a flash and moved Felix to the side, picking Alfred up like a misbehaving cat. “Felix, that’s enough,” he said, then turned to Alfred, who he put down on his feet. ”Alfred, you’ve lost. This fight is over. And you will stay after class; we’re going to have a talk.”
Felix stepped away from Alfred and stalked over to me. Once here, he sat down beside me without saying a word. He’d just vented his anger, and I didn’t think he needed comforting words right now. But a comforting presence could never go amiss.
I sat down next to him and leaned against his side. He smiled at me, or at the very least tried to, and wrapped his wing around me. I immediately felt warmer—though I wasn’t sure if it was because it blocked the wind, or because it was Felix who covered me.
I didn’t even mind that he got me all muddy.