“Quiet down class!” A middle-aged man wearing a red robe walked into the classroom. He started writing on the board.

“Enchantments.”

He spoke loudly, “Today, we will be some doing basic enchantments. As you all know, enchanting is one of the supportive elements that can quickly increase your battle power besides learning better spells and expanding your mana pool.”

The middle-aged man took out a short wand, flicked it in the air a couple of times and chanted some words.

A bright green glow appeared on the tables in front of the students. As the light faded away, papers and pencils could be seen.

The teacher pointed at several students and instructed them to pass out some wooden swords.

The appointed students got up and grabbed some swords and passed them out to the class.

A mischievous young boy conjured up a small flame as he grabbed a sword.

He pointed the fire at the wooden sword. The wooden sword seemed to suck in the flame and didn’t look any different. This was gone unnoticed by Astra.

“Hehe, here’s your sword.” The boy chuckled.

Astra took the sword and placed it in front of him.

“Now class, practice drawing this inscription on paper.”

The teacher scribbled down some weird lines and shapes on the board.

“This is a basic inscription for increasing the durability and sharpness of a weapon. Start drawing.”

Everyone got to work and began scribbling on their papers.

Astra struggled a bit since these weird lines and shapes were unfamiliar to him.

A few moments later, the teacher spoke again, “That’s all the time we have for warm-ups,”

“The most important part of enchantments is your control over mana. Inscribing these inscriptions onto your sword requires intense concentration and focus.”

The teacher explained the basic techniques of enchanting. Apparently, it was like drawing a picture in midair with mana and then pasting that image onto your equipment.

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Everyone started swinging their fingers wildly in the air, constructing their inscriptions.

Drawing the inscriptions on paper first helped Astra significantly. If one drew the inscriptions too slow, it would disperse before it finished.

Astra finished the inscription and slowly pushed his inscription towards the wooden sword in front of him.

As the inscription touched the sword, the blade cracked open slightly. A tint of flame could be seen within the crack. The cracks intensified and the whole sword seemed to be breaking apart.

Was this supposed to happen? Astra wasn’t sure. He reached for the sword and attempted to inspect it.

“BOOM! ~” The wooden sword blew apart, and pieces of wood flew everywhere.

A girl next to the mischievous boy whispered, “Oy! You overdid it! The fire was too intense!”

The mischievous boy chuckled and whispered back, “Nah. It’s fine. Watch this.”

The boy stood up and raised his voice, “Oy! Where did you come from! Didn’t anyone teach you anything? How did you manage to draw the inscription wrong? You’re an utter failure. You’re putting your classmates at risk!”

A girl who was cut by a piece of wood also stood up, “He’s right! Look at my face! You’ve scarred it! What family are you from! Your parents must’ve been stupid commoners!”

The nobles in the classroom realized that Astra was dressed like a commoner and no one knew his family. They immediately stood up and fanned the flames.

“Your ancestors were probably retarded as well. How stupid do you have to be to get the drawing wrong? Even a five-year-old could inscribe better than you!”

The nobles started throwing every single insult they knew of at Astra.

Watson saw how Astra was silent the whole time. He couldn’t take it anymore. Watson stood up.

“You guys are idiots! His sword was obviously tampered with! How could a basic level inscription break apart a sword?” Watson shouted.

All the nobles turned towards Watson. They did not like how Watson had just defended a commoner despite being a noble himself.

A noble said sternly, “Watson, we’ve extended our invitations to you many times, and you’ve refused every single time. We left you alone because you were no threat to us but now you’re defending this commoner. Should we take this as a challenge to us?”

Watson put his hand on Astra’s shoulder.

“He’s my fri-”

Astra grabbed onto Watson’s arm and pulled him down, making Watson sit down. Astra turned to Watson and smiled. He was thankful that Watson had defended him. The time they spent together was short, but Watson had decided to be his friend. He was truly a good person.

Astra’s smile turned into anger as he stared at the nobles.

Rage and fury built up within Astra as the insults echoed in his mind. Why did the nobles have to insult his family? What was so wrong about being born poor? Why did it matter where he was from? Was it wrong for him to be here? His ancestors? Really? They would insult a person’s entire lineage so easily?

Bitterness and frustration fermented inside of Astra. As he replayed the words that the nobles had said, he felt his heart beating wildly. Something inside him wanted to massacre these nobles like the inferior life forms that they were. Astra wasn’t in control of these emotions bubbling up inside of him. This anger inside of him seemed to belong to someone else.

His head started aching. He closed his eyes in pain and blanked out.

Astra’s jade-blue pendant glowed lightly under his shirt.

When he tried to open his eyes, he was surrounded by darkness.

A blue glow floated freely in the distance.

Astra extended his hand out and reached for it.

As his hand was almost grabbing the glow, a weak voice echoed.

“Don’t…!”

It was too late. Astra had already caught the ball of light.