Three months passed quickly. I followed a similar routine where I'd help David on Monday, Keira on Wednesday, and Alicia on Friday and on Tuesday and Thursday, I'd spar with the Swordfighting class and practice Archery. In that time, Swordfighting hit level 5, Archery hit level 3, Writing hit level 4, Reading hit level 5, and General Magic hit level 3.

I'd put in my class requests for the following trimester: History 1, Language 4, Spellcasting 1, Spearfighting 1, and Practical Chemistry. Practical Chemistry, I'd found out, was what the school called anything related to magical potions. I hoped this would help me learn more about the monster core I still had. The third trimester each year was focused on practical experience. I'd be spending most of that time actually being an adventurer... or at least tagging along with real ones to learn.

With only a couple of weeks left before the end of the trimester, my Swordfighting class had organized an informal tournament to see who the best fighter was. I'd fought each and every person there and knew I was only middle of the pack. Great for my age, no doubt, but nothing special in the class. The bully, whose name turned out to be Kevin--because of course, that's how it worked--hadn't done more than taunt me over the last couple of months. I still expected some kind of bullshit out of him if we were paired together... and we were for the first round. Because of course, we were.

I rolled my eyes at the hand of fate. The tournament itself wouldn't begin until the final week of classes, starting that Monday afternoon with matches scheduled to run through Friday. While my match wasn't the first of the day, it was one of the first.

When it was my turn, I stepped into the ring with my longsword, this time carrying a shield. It'd taken learning how to use a sword and shield, rather than just a two-hander, to gain the fifth level in Swordfighting. Kevin stood ready on his side.

"Begin," the teacher told us.

Unlike usual sparring, these matches were to knock out or points after five minutes. Most matches didn't last two. Kevin rushed at me. It looked like he was aiming for a quick victory. I didn't blame him for that and wanted to come out of this with minimal damage, too. I parried his hasty blow and kneed him in his groin. He howled in pain. Did I mention that anything was allowed provided there was no permanent damage? An evil smile came over my face.

Kevin slammed down his wooden sword into my right shoulder, catching me off guard. I stumbled back, bringing my shield up for defense. We circled each other before I struck out with my shield. He blocked with his. i tried to push his shield out of the way, but he was able to turn with it. I backed off and we circled again.

This time, he attacked me with an overhand slash. I brought the shield up to block and attacked in a slash from my shield side. I was barely able to catch his ribs before being blocked by his shield. He pulled back his sword to make another attack, and I based forward with my shield. I succeeded in staggering him a bit, but his sword hit me on my left shoulder.

We, again, circled each other. The few exchanges thus far had been mostly in his favor and barely thirty seconds had passed. I knew I was better than this. On his next attack, a side slash, I met his sword with a hard shield bash, knocking it away. I stepped into the open gap and slashed at his side. I scored a direct hit. He winced and tried to retreat. I pulled my sword back and swung downwards. His shield blunted the blow, but I still managed to hit his head.

Kevin sat down from the strike, looking dizzy. I brought the tip of my sword under his chin and the match was called in my favor. I offered my hand to him and he smacked it away. I thought I'd be friendly, but he, I guess, was just an asshole through and through.

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On Tuesday, I barely won my second match against one of the better fighters in the class. I counted myself lucky when I scored a hit to his legs that caused him to stumble. On Wednesday, I was not so lucky. I got my ass handed to me by the person who would eventually win the tournament. She knocked me out cold.

Following the tournament, I went with Dave and Alicia to an inn in the city to celebrate surviving the first trimester. Keira had gone to see her family. My three friends had managed to get to Swordfighting level 3 with my help, putting them towards the front of their class.

"Thanks for the help, James." Alicia said.

"Yeah, thanks," Dave chimed in.

"No problem. You helped me a lot, too, Alicia."

"So I did. What are you guys taking?"

"The basics," Dave answered.

"Same as Dave, but with Practical Chem instead of Math."

"I guess you'll have to teach us math, then," Alicia said, knowing full well that I'd placed out of it by my response. "I'll be taking Blue Magic instead of the basic Spellcasting, but that's otherwise what you both are doing."

"We may have classes together for once!"

"That'd be fun," Dave agreed.

Our food came. I had ordered giant boar with potatoes and carrots. it was better than the bland pork I remembered. A lot better. Monster meat was imbued with magic so it just had a better taste to it. Like how salt, sugar, fat, and carbs could make food addictive, adding magic to the same list of things the body craved and wowee. The only real downside to eating like this was that it was expensive. If a normal meal cost about a large copper, these meals were extravagant by comparison, costing a small silver coin. It was like the difference between a bowl of cereal and a steak dinner... and the meal I'd had was on the cheaper end of monster-based cuisine!

We chatted and ate and drank--juice--for a couple of hours before taking our time going back to campus. The cold night air felt good after the efforts of the last four months. The next trimester would begin after a one-week break.

Laying in bed that night, I looked at my status at the end of the trimester. Most of my stats had seen great improvements, though it was entirely from learned skills. The next trimester probably wouldn't give me as good of results as the first, but I wouldn't slack off. The third trimester was when we would head out into the real world to fight real monsters and get a taste for adventure. I looked forward to that more than anything!

Name: James McPherson Level: 3 Class: None

HP: 44/44

MP: 54/54

SP: 48/48

Attributes:       AGI: 22 CHA: 24 CON: 18 END: 20 FIN: 25 INT: 22 STR: 29 WIS: 23 Affinities:       Black: 10% Blue: 10% Green: 10% Orange: 10% Red: 10% Violet: 10% White: 10% Yellow: 10% Skills:       Reading Lv5 Language Lv3 Archery Lv3 Swordfighting Lv5 Writing Lv4 General Magic Lv3