"Class rep," said Gatan, looking at the seat next to Gaus where a backpack rested. "Can I sit here?"

"No," Gaus said. "Pick another seat."

Gatan frowned but didn't object and turned to look for another seat.

After him, Telsa and Tiara all attempted to sit in the same chair but Gaus sent them away, offering them the rest of the empty seats.

The last woman to come was Raya, the red-haired girl coming from the fifth world. There were no chairs left except for the one on which Gaus put his backpack.

"Raya," Gaus said, glancing at his bag. "Here's a seat."

The girl was curious for a moment before she went and sat down.

Gatan and Tiara turned to look at Gaus with knitted brows. Why didn't the class rep give them the seat? Tiara rolled her eyes at him waiting for him to challenge her. Linc came in at that moment and the girl had to swallow her anger and look away.

The class continued in the same way as the previous loops. Gaus barely paid any attention to it and was mostly there for the attendance sheet.

After the class, Gaus accompanied Raya to the cafeteria and then escorted her to her room using the same excuses as the previous loops.

That done, he went to the enchantment teacher.

"Sit down," the teacher said, pointing to a chair.

He sat down. "Thanks."

"What brings you here?" She asked.

"My name is G..." Gaus started.

"I know who you are, what brings you here?"

"As the class rep," he said. "I came on behalf of the class to thank you for choosing our class. It's an honor."

She silently watched him, waiting for him to finish.

"And... I want you to mentor me."

The woman frowned but Gaus nodded. He usually chose Linc as his mentor, but in this restart, he wanted to change a little to see if there would be any effect on the loop in general.

The woman smiled for the first time and shook her head. "Who put you up to this? Linc, or one of your teachers?"

Did the teachers send students to her for this purpose? Well, that's even better.

"No." Gaus shook his head. "I came to you on my own. It has been obvious to me that no one in this world can teach me like you."

There was more frowning coming from the teacher.

"And why do you think I'll waste my time on you?" She said. "I mentored your teachers. I'm long past that stage."

He could just tell her he had alteration right away, hoping that would attract her attention, but he preferred to show it to her instead.

Gaus silently looked at the polished floor while the teacher looked at him, waiting for his answer. After a period of silence, she threw him a practice stone. "Show me everything you know in enchantment."

Gaus grabbed the stone and inscribed the runic syllable for a red light on it. He compressed it into a small barely visible dote. Then he inscribed blue light on the same stone and compressed it. Then green and the remaining colors of the rainbow. He pushed mana inside the inscriptions and the color of the office changed - seven colors of the rainbow flashed like torches.

Gaus pushed a little bit more mana in and the runes disappeared altogether. He drew the inscription for explosion and used advanced compression on it to make it disappear. He handed the stone back to her.

But if the teacher was impressed, she didn't show it. Instead, she threw him another stone. "Tell me what you see."

Gaus grabbed the stone midair and looked at it carefully. There was an inscription that had been hidden by advanced compression. He could use reverse compression, or decompression to make it visible. The mana required by each was almost the same, so he just chose decompression. He drew the inscription for the skill on the rock and pushed his mana inside it.

The rock lit up and lines of text appeared on it.

"The first three - runic tongue, runic writing, and mana insignia - in addition to compression, advanced compression, decompression, and reverse compression." She turned the pen in her hand which Gaus didn't notice until now. "At what school did you learn enchantment before coming here?"

"At home, I'm afraid," Gaus said. "Someone I worked for in my old neighborhood taught me."

She stared at him. Her sharp eyes looking deep into his soul and making him uncomfortable. Did she figure it out?

"If you master these seven skills properly, you will be allowed to specialize," she said. "Which one did you choose?"

"Alteration," Gaus said directly.

"How much is your K value?" She asked.

He had seen in the description of the skill that his K was equal to 20. What that meant he didn't know.

"Twenty," he said.

"Not bad," she said. She got up from her chair and went to look out the window. For more than five minutes she stood there and said nothing to him. He even thought she had forgotten about him. "If you can master enchantment up to this level then you may benefit from an extra lesson or two. But I won't be your mentor. We have someone who specializes in Alteration in the academy. I will connect you with her. Come back in six days."

"Thank you, ma'am." He stood up. It was expected but he still felt a little downhearted since he was expecting the woman to be eager to teach him after seeing his skills. Linc would do that. But that just meant she was on a different level from the other teachers. "Is there anything you would like me to check before then?"

As if waiting for him to ask, she reached into the drawer in front of her and pulled out a large, hardcover boo,k and gave it to him. "Check this out. You will have better chances of impressing her if you read it before your first meeting."

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Gaus took the book and thanked her. After making sure, the old woman understood how grateful he was, he left and headed for Linc's office.

"I want you to be my mentor," Gaus said after sitting in the teacher's office. Since XM9997 had rejected him, then he might as well just manage with Linc.

Linc expressed his disapproval at first, as usual. But after Gaus showed him his skills in mana taming, he quickly agreed.

"You have to choose a classification," Linc said.

Gaus shook his head. He had planned what to tell him before coming.

"Sir, I have decided not to classify until I have mastered at least 20 mana taming skills. I know how difficult it will be and I'm ready. If it's too difficult then I'll look into other fields of study in the meantime. I have already talked to the enchantment teacher and she agreed to let someone called Nostalgia..."

"Nostalgia?" Linc interrupted, his eyes wide.

Gaus frowned. He still didn't know who Nostalgia was. Only a select few among the upper echelon seemed to her and they weren't willing to share.

"Yes," said Gaus, nodding.

Linc sighed, looking away at the wall. Gaus could see how the teacher was debating. It had to be related to this... Nostalgia. Linc wouldn't have considered him at all if he didn't mention her name. Two things immediately came to his mind: one, how to use the name in future restarts to get the teacher's attention; two, why did the teacher insist on seeing his classification before giving him any more lessons? Was there an important reason for this, or was it just a formality?

"Okay," Linc said. "I will teach you but you will choose classification as soon as you learn the twentieth skill. Do you agree?"

Gaus nodded. "I agree, sir."

Without asking if he was ready, Linc retrieved a stone from his drawer and threw it at him. It was smaller than the practice stones he had been using in previous restarts. Did the teacher want to test his levitation skills again? But that didn't make any sense; he had already proven he could do better.

Advanced levitation activated.

Gaus applied a gentle pull on the rock using advanced levitation to lift it so it would pass just above his head. As his mana made contact, the little rock glowed. White rows of runes appeared on it and it burst. Freezing water splashed on Gaus.

"Hmm." Linc sighed. "You think I will use the same tactics?"

Gaus gritted his teeth looking at his wet shirt. The cold water ran through his skin and he shivered.

Elemental enchantment. One of the specializations that allowed elemental transformation through seals.

"You have only learned one branch of advanced levitation," Linc said. "You need to be able to push water as much as a rock. What can you do when you meet enemies that control the water element? Without water levitation, you can't stop them."

Gaus understood the teacher's point. But there were many ways to teach him without splashing cold water on him. Now he needed to change his clothes.

The teacher threw another stone at him. He tried to dodge but he wasn't fast enough; another cold water engulfed him. He was happy that the floor of the office was drenched as well. At least, the teacher would have something to work on.

Two weren't enough for Linc. He went on like this until Gaus stopped trying to dodge. He used levitation to move the projectiles but it wasn't easy. Later on, the teacher dismissed him and told him to come back the next day so they could continue from where they stopped.

He was angry but he had learned to control his anger when it came to Linc and his overzealous attitude to the point that it no longer upset him. He just sighed and went back to his room to change his clothes.

He slept for the rest of the afternoon and in the evening, he looked for one of his classmates, Gatan. The burly guy who called him a patriarch.

"Patriarch?" said Gatan, his eyes wide. He didn't expect Gaus to come looking for him after refusing to give him a seat earlier in class.

"Gatan, I thought I wouldn't find you in your room. I mean, with the rumors about you training all day in the training room. "

Gatan smiled and raised his left arm to expose his biceps. Gaus looked at the size of the arm and mentally compared it with his own. He felt a twinge of shame. Every muscle in Gatan's body was hard, twisted, and big. The boy was taller and broader than he'd ever been. He was the kind that girls admired...

"You know, patriarch, we must train to stay ahead of the women in class and academy in general."

Gaus took a deep breath and looked to the side. "Between a sword and an ax, which one do you prefer?"

"It depends on the target, patriarch. If it's a man, I like a sword better. But if it's wood, then I like the ax."

Gaus smiled. "I want to test my sword against yours." The sight of Gatan's furrowed eyebrows made Gaus laugh. "Uhm. Don't worry about my below-average physique. I have a few strategies to cover for it, hopefully."

"It's not that, patriarch," Gatan said. "I can go easy on you and lower my strength. But I don't think physical fighting is the right thing for you."

Alright. Challenge accepted.

"If I could ask," Gaus said with a serious tone. "What's the right thing for me?"

"Mental prowess, patriarch. Everything in LA is time-bound. Everyone in the class has already been training for five months before you arrive. And some of us have entered the school with a good physique. Imagine if you are going to start training your physique from the start now. You won't catch up to us until the exams. But there is something you can do that no one in the class can. Mind magic. Since you were able to conquer your LA syndrome in less than 24 hours, I figured you can learn mind magic. What do you think?"

There was some truth in the boy's words, but Gaus had time. Much more time than the average looper. After all, very few people would ever complain of having less time when they were trapped in two loops at the same time.

"I understand," Gaus said. "But just indulge me. Show me what you can do."

Gatan paused to mull it over before finally nodding. "Let's go."

On their way, Gaus apologized for the seat. He told him he wanted to give the seat to Raya just to make a point to Ariwen. Making sure Gatan understood that the same thing would keep happening until the end of the week.

Gatan led him to the training room. The entrance hall was large enough for five teams to fight at the same time without disrupting each other. The test weapons and the dummies serving as punch bags were kept in the entrance hall for any student who was interested in trying them. Inside there were several rooms reserved for training. Gaus and Gatan occupied a room on the right numbered #39.

Gaus silently activated his skills.

Swordplay activated.

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Advanced levitation activated.

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Javelin activated.

Gatan also drew his sword and waited for him.

After staring at each other for a minute, Gaus lunged forward and slashed at the other boy. Gatan didn't try to avoid it, he lazily swung his sword and blocked it.

Gaus used swordplay to pick just the right point to hit on Gatan's sword. Then at the same time, he pressed forward with the full power of javelin, and when their swords clashed, he gave one final push with advanced levitation.

He pushed Gatan back with sheer force. Gatan narrowed his eyes in surprise. He never expected Gaus and his physique to push him back like that. Having realized his mistake for underestimating his opponent, he released the full power of his physique and pushed back. But Gaus was ready for that. He quickly moved to the side and slid his sword against his opponent. Gatan slashed thin air instead. Then, before Gatan regained his balance and pulled his sword back, Gaus slashed the side of his sword. The force caused the sword to slip out of Gatan's hand and fall to the ground. Gaus put his sword on his neck and smiled.

"I won," he said.

Gatan stared at him. He didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Eventually, he took a deep breath and nodded.

"You won, patriarch, but we both know I didn't use my full strength."

Gaus shrugged. "I didn't ask you to go easy on me."

Gatan was still amazed. Gaus's physique shouldn't be able to do what he just did. There must be something to it. A trick of a sort...

"I agree," Gatan said. "But how did it happen? Are you hiding your strength, or is it some secret skill I don't know about?"

Gaus smiled. "If I told you about it then it won't be a secret anymore." They stared at each other for a while before Gaus smiled again. "It's advanced levitation. The skill allows me to increase the speed of my sword, or reduce it if the need be. I don't have a good physique but I figured speed is strength."

Gatan frowned in confusion. "XM8883 said we can use advanced levitation like this but the time required to learn it triples the time you need to adjust your physique. That's why no mage has ever tried it."

"XM8883? When did we get a new teacher?" Said Gaus, feigning ignorance.

Gatan narrowed his eyes in sudden realization. "Er... it's an... extra lesson. It's not something important, just forget it." He shamelessly changed the subject.

Gaus had of course realized he was talking about the elite classes. Antelina had already told him about it.

Gaus shrugged. "Now, what next will you teach me regarding my physique?"