“Next!”

In an open field, a middle-aged man wearing a brown robe shouted. On his left hand, he held a blue notebook. Next to him, a beautiful woman stood, silently watching over the students. A row consisting of 5 students replaced the others at the field and stood in position, taking aim at the training dummies about 30 meters away from them. The training dummies were firmly secured with a pole skewered vertically inside them and an affixed damage meter above the dummies’ heads.

“You may begin!” The instructor flipped a page in his notebook and surveyed the students as they each released their spells. Behind the instructors, the rest of the students formed a cluster as they waited for their turn. 4 of the 5 students used intermediate-class spells to attack the dummies and their scores ranged between 200 and 400. The male instructor spoke briefly to each of them, and then, expressions of relief and joy appeared on the students' faces. A similar type of measuring device for soldiers measured that the average knight of the kingdom can muster a score of 100-150 if they strike with their body's full force.

("Must be nice...")

Jenyx watched with a blank face as the wave of students returned. For Jenyx, watching his fellow students perform on the field was nothing short of torture. To people who could be classified as normal, the students' performance was nothing special. One of them might even be described as being below average. But, to Jenyx, the mere fact that they were able to utilize magic and fire off spells was a source of envy. Suppressing his emotions so they don't show on his face was nothing new to him. Still, it hurt him all the same. To distract himself from his thoughts, Jenyx steered his sight to the remaining student who stood motionless ever since the other students began. Just as the other students were returning to the cluster, the other student's head tilted to the side, towards the instructors. In response, the female instructor subtly nodded. As Jenyx pondered the meaning behind their actions, he saw the student raise his hand.

!!

Suddenly, the student summoned five levitating flames beside him. The student swiftly outstretched his hand towards the dummy, making the flames rush in its direction before converging as one. Once the flames touched the target, the student suddenly clenched his hand into a fist, making the clump explode. The explosion was strong enough to prompt a gust so strong even Jenyx could feel the heat. The monitor perched atop the burning dummy displayed the numbers “728” and the field was swarmed with gasps as they turned their gaze towards the student.

“Examinee, Cerdyne Sarthas, pass!” The instructor yelled the student’s name out loud and ripped an azure-colored slip from his notebook. The man then turned towards the woman standing next to him. Sillia nodded and ripped an azure-colored slip from her notebook as well. The student bowed as he took the slips and walked away.

“H-hey… wasn’t that?” 

“Yeah… but it was him after all, can’t say it was unexpected…” Jenyx happened to overhear the conversation of two students behind him. It was only natural that they were surprised. Exploding FoxFire was an intermediate-class spell that was once regarded as an advanced-class spell. It was only fair to give him a blue-colored slip. The slip that was given to the student was a promotion slip enabling him to move towards the higher sections. In the special Magi-tech course, a class that combined the students of pure magic and those studying magi-tech, there were currently six sections in their year, classified by letters from A to F. Jenyx is part of the D class while Rose is in A. Every year, students are given the chance to move themselves up from their current sections to a better one in the coming year through the combat ability testing event. For passing students who performed beyond expectations, their proctors give them slips that signify as recommendations from the proctor for the student to move sections. These slips vary in color and have different meanings; A yellow slip means you get to advance 1 section up, red means 2, and blue means 3, and on very rare occasions, a purple slip lets you advance 4 sections up. However, Jenyx also heard rumors of a fifth slip when students reach the top section. 

“...Oan, Mr. Troan!” A gruff voice snapped Jenyx back to reality. In front of him, the male instructor stood with his hands on his waist. He wasn't exactly someone who could be called handsome or desirable, but the frown on his face only made this idea a lot more agreeable to Jenyx.

“Please stand and take up your position!” Jenyx then stood up and looked around. A different set of students were already lined up. Jenyx sluggishly nodded as he assumed his position. He could hear snickers and muttering from behind him, but paid them no heed.

“Begin!” As soon as the instructor signaled, the first student placed his hand on his waist, assuming a low stance. He placed his hand on the sword by his waist and in an instant, unsheathed it. A gust of wind shaped like a crescent emerged from in front of the student as he swung his sword. The gust struck the dummy and the monitor moved. Settling on the numbers, “425” 

(“That was… wind blade. A staple of the wind SpellKnights…”) 

The Wind blade spell is an intermediate-class spell that sends a sharp blade of wind in one direrction and is usually unleashed with a sword. By imbuing the sword with the wind element, their slashes can send a wave of wind that cuts through anything, depending on the power and quality of the wielder.

The student silently sheathed his sword as the proctor gave him a yellow slip. However, as the proctor turned to his colleague, his face twisted into surprise as he noticed that she ripped a crimson-colored slip from her notebook

“I-I don’t understand, Professor Sillia. Wind blade is but an intermediate-level spell. Not to mention the output was simply average!” Jenyx noticed that the middle-aged man was slightly trembling as he spoke. Sillia did not even bother to look at her fellow instructor and coldly replied.

“Just an intermediate-level spell, you say? Wind blade by itself may indeed be nothing special as an intermediate-level spell in terms of its destructive capabilities. However, the ability to successfully use it in combat and procure as much damage as it did despite the distance? Not many can attain that level of mastery over both their swords and magic at such a young age. How disappointing, Professor Fuldam.” 

The middle-aged man let out an unintelligible sound as he cowered before the presence of the female proctor. Sillia ignored him and walked towards the student, handing over the crimson-colored slip.

“Yes!!” The student suddenly yelled. “Oh.. oops.” the student awkwardly laughed and apologized to Sillia who dismissively waved her hand. Afterwards, Jenyx silently watched as the rest performed. There was almost no tension in the air whatsoever because none of them felt concerned about their performances at all. To them, no matter how badly they did, there will always be one person to bear the brunt of it all.

“Jenyx Troan! Are you ready?” Hearing the instructor yell out his name, Jenyx casually walked onto the field and picked up a rock. After inspecting it for a few seconds, he walked up to the dummy and threw it. The stone weakly bounced on the dummy's face and fell to the ground, not even registering on the damage meter. 

“There, Stone strike.”

 Stone strike is a beginner-class earth spell that involves levitating a rock and guiding it into becoming a projectile that strikes its target. As Jenyx announced his attack, the crowd burst into laughter.

“AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, did you see that!? Stone strike he says, HAHAHAHAHA.”

“Oh man… that was precious! You’re better off suited to be a comedian!”

Amidst the rain of mockery and laughter, Jenyx remained quiet. He had nothing to say, and nothing to refute them with. The male instructor sneered as he repeatedly clicked his tongue and wrote in his notebook. As Jenyx was on his way back to the stands, a group of students approached him. Ear to ear smiles on their faces as they looked down on him.

“What do you want? Brad?”

“I told you, that’s Mr. Brad to you, commoner!” Brad stood with his arms crossed on his chest. Jenyx tiredly sighed as he realized his day was yet to end. If he could, he would’ve just walked away and slept somewhere in the school.

Sillia stood in between them and spoke.

“Is something the matter here, students?” 

“N-nothing, ma’am, we were just here to congratulate our dear friend for being able to cast a spell” Brad nervously replied to Sillia. Despite her not doing anything, Brad noticed the frigidness in her voice and instantly tensed up.

“Oh? Didn’t seem like it to me. No matter, go back to the spectator’s area and await the end of the test. You can congratulate each other once it concludes.” Sillia then turned back and walked towards the male instructor who timidly welcomed her back. 

“You’re always so lucky, aren’t you? Always getting protected by girls. Pathetic.” Brad shook his head sidewards and urged for his cronies to follow him.

(“Can’t say he’s wrong...”) 

Jenyx remembered all the times he got protected by Rose. In fact, he can’t remember a time when Rose hasn’t protected him since the day they learned that he was manaless. Regardless of his frustration, nothing would change.

**

“I’ll take two grilled cheese sandwiches and two bacon and egg sandwiches.” Jenyx raised up two fingers as he spoke to the elderly woman tending the store. In response, the woman took four sandwiches from inside a box-like object and handed them to Jenyx. The sandwiches were quite warm as like always which is why he loved eating at their cafeteria. As he opened one of the sandwiches, he put the three inside his bag.

(“Gotta keep the bacon and egg sandwiches for Rose…”)

 After stashing them away in his bag, he thanked the woman and went outside. The weather was quite nice. The sun was partially hidden by the clouds and it wasn’t too hot nor too cold. Perfect for taking a stroll and taking his mind off things. However, as he enjoyed his sandwich, a voice emerged from behind him.

“Found you! Today is the day I’m gonna teach you a lesson, you damn reject!” Brad and his goons (again) found him as he was about to go to Rose’s testing field.

“Look, Brad, I don’t want any trouble, so why don’t you just leave me alone? If you can’t stand me, then don’t look at me. How hard is that?” As he spoke, Jenyx took another bite of his sandwich and turned away.

“Wait!” As Brad yelled, Jenyx was restrained by his goons. “Bring him to the back. I told you, didn't I? Today, I’m going to teach you a lesson!"