"Hey, I heard we got a new professor for martial combat. And guess what? She's super pretty."

"But she can't use zenshi…"

"What, Are you serious? What a waste, honestly. Everyone in this class has an Aura, I bet she won't survive a week for sure."

By Monday morning, the news of a new professor had already spread across the academy like wildfire. Both professors and students were shocked by the sudden hire of a new professor so early into the year. Usually finding a replacement took about a year since the academy focused a lot on the quality of their professors.

It's why the teaching staff had so many privileges.

"I doubt."

The two gossiping girls were interrupted by another student. He was in a navy blue uniform just like the pair. A fellow student.

"Really? What makes you think that, Regan?" One of the girls asked, playing with her brown locks.

His piercing red eyes turned to her as a faint smile appeared on his face. He had sharp features, a pale handsome face, and short faintly dark hair.

"Just hunch." He replied with confidence. "I've been here for three years and never seen anything like this. The new professor must be something if they rushed to hire her so quickly. Don't forget there is the possibility she was offered the hire a long time ago."

The brown-haired girl shook her head along with her friend. They seemed not to have anything to say back or challenge the young man's statement.

The three of them, along with ten other fourth years were taking the martial combat class. It was the least popular class and had no weak students since most of them came from powerful clans.

When the brown-haired girl finally found something to say, she paused when someone else entered the lecture room. Just then, everyone turned silent when a woman who looked just about their age walked down the small stairs leading to the front of the room. Her serious footsteps echoed across the room as she slowly approached the bottom.

The woman was ghostly beautiful with short raven black hair, dark eyes, white pale skin, and a small petite body that made both boys and girls stare with both envy and desire. She was smartly dressed in a long-sleeved buttoned black shirt, a pair of light black trousers, and a black coat hanging on her shoulders.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the young woman reached the platform where the training took place.

"Excuse me, that's where the professor stands. You don't bel—"

Regan put his hand over his colleague's mouth and stopped her from saying anything more.

However, the young woman didn't seem to mind her words.

"Good morning ascenders, my name is Professor Lunaris but you may call me Professor Luna. I will be your new professor for martial arts from today till your sixth year."

As expected, the silence got deeper. Ans Luna already had a vague idea why; it was because she was almost the same age as most of these students, perhaps even younger.

'Maybe I should have rethought all of this.' She felt like slapping herself. Luna had spent the weekend practicing this encounter, learning everyone's face, Aura, strengths, weaknesses, and levels of Mastery. Only two students here had cracked to the second level of mastery. And the stronger one was…

"I heard Regan is the strongest fighter here. Will all of you introduce yourselves if I defeated your strongest fighter?"

The silence was then replaced by small laughter and clamor as if she had said something impossible.

She scanned the room and stopped when her eyes landed on a crimson-eyed boy. He was handsome, but to her, his most interesting features were his crimson eyes. People with unique colored eyes were usually special.

"I will fight you!"

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He accepted her challenge and rose and appeared on the same platform where she was standing.

'He's not afraid of exposing his Aura. What a confident fellow.'

She smirked and picked up a training sword. The academy provided weapons with stored plasma energy to go against zenshi-created weapons. They were not as powerful, of course. But were tough enough to hold their own against these special weapons.

Regan watched her with a stoic expression then held out his hand to summon a weapon of his own. First, a gentle blue flame manifested in his hand, transforming into a replica of a sword when the flame disappeared.

Weapon manifestation needed at least level one mastery to be possible, meaning that one needed to have mastered zenshi manipulation after opening the First Gate. Judging from how perfect his weapon looked, the young boy must have trained that hard to achieve such.

"Do you think you will win?" Regan's expression grew serious as he asked.

"Yes of course. You don't feel like a powerful opponent." She replied, her dark eyes staring at the weapon he had manifested. It was a very obvious choice; a long beautiful tachi. Highblood clans always loved old-style weapons.

Suddenly, Luna had an interesting idea. "But I will give you an offer. If you last sixty seconds…you win and get to ask me for anything. If you lose, you will become my class assistant."

Regan only nodded in reply. Then narrowed his eyes with fierce determination as he tightened his grip on the weapon. With a sudden burst of energy, he lunged toward Luna, his movement a blur of speed and precision. The clash of their swords reverberated through the air, creating a shockwave that rippled across the shimmering barrier surrounding them.

Regan's heart raced as he witnessed the confrontation. To his astonishment, Luna, despite the absence of zenshi—energy that imbued Ascenders with their formidable strength—had managed to block his powerful strike. Ascenders were renowned for their strength, their abilities magnifying their physical prowess to extraordinary levels.

To see Luna withstand such an attack was nothing short of remarkable.

With a fluid motion, Luna redirected the young man's sword and surged forward. Her initial step shattered the platform beneath her, sending fragments of stone flying. In an instant, she was right in front of him, her dark eyes locked onto his with an intensity that seemed to pierce through his very soul. Before he could react, she unleashed a punch that struck him squarely in the face, the impact reverberating through his entire body.

The young man staggered, his vision blurring as he attempted to regain his balance. But the force of her blow sent him reeling and he teleported in a desperate bid to escape. However, the teleportation proved ineffective; he materialized directly behind Luna and collided violently with the barrier.

The barrier quivered under the force of the impact, a dazzling display of energy cascading outward.

The sheer force of the collision was overwhelming. Regan's senses were engulfed by a blinding flash as the barrier's defensive aura flared in response.

When the light faded, Regan realized with a sinking feeling that he lay unconscious, sprawled on the ground.

The fight was abruptly ended, with Luna standing victorious amidst the settling dust.

…Not even fifteen seconds had passed.

'Huh? I thought this was their strongest student. Is this really the guy who has been challenging the previous professors?'

Feeling disappointed, she turned to face the rest of the class. All of them were dead silent after what they had just witnessed.

Did they really believe she was that weak?

"Umm…anyone with a healing ability?" she felt awkward. Was beating a student bad? Or challenging one?

One of the students raised her hand in response and quickly stood up. Like Luna, she was very pale but with brown locks and green eyes.

"My name is Diana, I am a healer from House Artemis." She spoke in a small tone as if afraid of what Luna might do next.

'Oh yah…I told them to introduce themselves. Never thought I would meet a member of Artemis so soon.'

She studied the young girl and lowered her head in a bow. Artemis was one of the Great Powers ruling this world.

However, they didn't reside in the Eastern Settlement of the world. Artemis resided in the Western Settlement where their headquarters were.

Diana must have been an exchange student sent to keep peace between the clans. But how could they send a healer of all things? Healers were rare and were heavily demanded by a lot of military factions around the world. Also, she was at level 2 like the boy she just defeated.

"Could you please attend to this young man?" she pointed at the unconscious student.

"Yes."

Diana smiled shyly and rushed down from her seat to the platform. She used water Aura to heal every injury and cut on her college's face. Soon, he was stable and his pain was gone.

When Diana was finished, Regan regained some consciousness and was led out of the room by one of his close friends—a short girl with brown hair who kept on giving Luna death glares as she led him out.

Currently, she was looking at the rest of the class as each of them introduced themselves. She had already memorized everyone's name and face here over the weekend. But Luna thought this would be a good start if she wanted to build a good relationship with her students.

Most of them were of the same age as her while the others were a year younger. So it shocked most of them when they learned of her real age.

"Alright. Now that we are done with introductions, I will begin the class right away. To some of you, martial combat may seem very pointless since it's just fists in a world where you have magic powers. But as you can see, magic powers are not everything.

"Martial combat is the most lethal art of combat, lethal enough to rival even zenshi. It's a combination of one of the most dangerous styles from the old world…ranging from taekwondo…which is harmless to Kenjutsu, ninjutsu, kudo, kendo, tang sudo…and many others from the old world. They were all transformed to create these specific combinations that Ascenders today use when fighting devils and cursed creatures."

Luna paused, the corner of her lips had curved up. The class was silent—they were interested.

"Small as I may look, I have inheri…learned so many styles since I've been training from the time I started walking as a child. So, I need you to believe me when I tell you I am the best martial combat teacher you'll ever meet."

Luna knew she sounded cool because she had written these exact words while preparing for her first class—this facade of confidence seemed to be working too.

Luna took them through the basics of martial combat after requesting them to forget everything they thought they knew about martial arts. She believed her methods were more effective than some expensive tutors.

'My methods are original. Not copy and paste.'

***

"My assistants will be Diana and Regan. That will be all for today."

She turned away from the class as everyone else started to exit the lecture room. She collected the training equipment and carried it to her own office located next to the platform.

It was a beautiful office with beautiful furniture and air filters to prevent the pollution that sometimes leaked through the city's barrier.

"And the best part is the super-fast network."

"Really? Despite the fact this is one of the best offices in the academy."

"Ye…" she paused and turned to see who had just entered her office. Standing at the entrance was a tall old man in a black checked suit with a dark blue cape attached to it.

"Professor Graham. What brings you here?" she faced her senior and bowed.

"As the head of the professors, I wanted to see how the class would react to you. I'm surprised you handled it so well, honestly."

'So he was watching all along and I couldn't even sense him. How formidable.'

Luna was impressed. As expected of a veteran.

"The professors are holding a dinner party today, we would like you to join us. Come and get to know your fellow professors."

The old man's request was a polite one. Much as Luna wanted to reject his offer, she needed connections to survive in this society. And what better way to do so than engaging with the rest of the teaching staff?

"I will be there, Professor Graham."