“What is this, Junior?”
Seeing the mana appearing in my hand being different from what she had expected, Maya gave a surprised exclamation.
Instead of manifesting the traditional elemental attributes, my mana began to take on a unique form. It wasn’t earth, fire, water, wind, or light mana, but something different entirely.
It was indeed a normal response since the mana in my hand was something I had been using for the last two weeks.
‘Mana of Moon.’
“It’s… something different,” I replied cryptically, not yet ready to reveal the true nature of my trait. Even though Senior was a good person, I don’t want to reveal that this is my trait simply.
Though I think she will figure this out on her own, there is nothing I can do about this.
Maya furrowed her brow, clearly intrigued and puzzled. “Different? I’ve never seen anything like this before. It is your trait, isn’t it? Just like at that time while you were sparing with PhantomGlide Dummy.”
“Nothing escapes your eyes.”
For the moment, I decided to play with it a bit more, manipulating the silvery mana into intricate patterns that danced around my fingers, but I also tried to repeat the sensations.
This was no longer a game where you would push some buttons, and your character would move. This was the real world, so the sensations were in it as well.
And, after a matter of a second, I understood. 𝞸𝒱xt.𝗰𝚘𝑚
After realizing how the color of my mana changed and how I could use it on my own, I understood one another thing.
‘I can’t access other types of mana.’
I didn’t know why it was, but there is a high chance it was because of [Lunar Enigma].
The only mana I can use is either raw mana or moon mana, but this is not something to get discouraged.
‘The moon mana itself is versatile.’
I witnessed it with my own eyes.
‘And, the colors shown here followed the pattern in the book.’
That meant one thing. The contents of the book were true, at least up to some point. Well, since I just read the book to pass the time before sleeping, I didn’t believe its contents, nor did I take it as absolute.
In my head, there was room for it to be wrong, but after all those things laid before me, it was clear that the book contained good information.
‘Arcane Arts, huh? Now I understand why they are not covered at all. Even manipulating mana is hard; how hard will it be when it comes to magic?’
Thinking that, I turned to the Senior.? “Thank you for your guidance, Senior Maya.” I bowed my head to the girl looking at me with a slightly surprised expression.
“I didn’t do anything. It was your hard work.” While she answered, she clearly had an expression of wanting to ask questions.
“No. No matter how hard I worked, I wasn’t able to feel mana even once before. It was thanks to your help and your talent at teaching.”
It seems my words have affected her slightly as her face turned red.
“….”
“I will repay you for your help in the future.”
“A-ah…..You don’t need to do anything; it was my own decision to help you train.”
“Still, you helped me progress. It is something I won’t overlook. Whenever you need help, I will try my best.” Bowing my head one last time, I decided not to be a burden anymore. “Then, I will take my leave. I have my classes early today.”
With those words, I turned back and started leaving the elemental chamber. Today’s lesson was not that long, but it was a lot more impactful than yesterday’s, and it was a very important step for the future.
*******
“What a mysterious kid you are, Junior.”
After Astron left, Maya was looking at the place where they had trained. Small lingering mana of silver color was left, and Maya couldn’t help but see its uniqueness.
Considering his rank and the aura she could sense from him, Maya knew Astron was weak. It was her special ability thanks to her trait [Mother of Nature].
She could see and estimate the strength of a person from the possible danger they possessed, and she knew Astron was not that strong.
However, at that time, when he was fighting with PhantomGlide Dummy, she could see his aura changing. That crimson aura was dangerous; she herself felt the danger it possessed.
That was the second reason why she decided to train his mana control. She wondered if he was some sort of demon or an evil person. She even thought someone possessed him at that time.
‘But, thank god he is the same junior.’ She thought to himself after looking at his mana control. If someone possessed him, their signature mana would change since mana is something related to the soul, but his didn’t change.
That meant he was the same Junior as ever. However, while training with him, she discovered something else.
“The fact that he was able to learn how to control mana in just one day….Junior….I wonder where you will reach.”
CRUNCH
With a smile, she grabbed her chips and started munching them. Normally, it was prohibited to bring meals into the training rooms, but nobody cared when it came to Maya. She was the best of the sophomore year, and her good nature made people overlook those small details.
However, a certain senior witnessed the whole training, and he was not happy about it at all.
********
From not far away, a young man was watching the two people talking inside the Elemental Chamber, training together.
“Who the hell is this kid?” The young man’s voice trembled as he muttered to himself, his eyes locked onto the two figures training inside the Elemental Chamber. His gaze was unwavering, burning with intense jealousy.
It was by no means a special occasion normally. It was actually pretty common for people to come to the Elemental Chamber with their friends and train together while occasionally getting feedback.
For Maya, that was also the case. She came with her friends from time to time.
How did he know?
He was watching her, of course, though only from sides.
But this time, it was different. This time, it was a young man with Maya, and that ignited a blazing fire of jealousy within the observer.
He had been secretly infatuated with Maya for a long time, admiring her skills and pure heart from a distance. He knew Maya was not someone who would spend time with members of the opposite sex for this long amount of time.
As he watched Astron and Maya interact, a deep sense of envy gnawed at him. He couldn’t bear the thought of someone else getting close to the person he had admired for so long.
“How dare you? How dare you get close to my goddess?” He hissed through clenched teeth, his voice a hoarse whisper.
He knew Maya would come to Elemental Chamber very early in the day. He even adjusted his training schedule to fit Maya, to watch her from sides.
The young man’s eyes grew wild, and a wicked grin twisted his face as he concocted a sinister plan. He had been lurking in the shadows for far too long, and now he believed it was time to take action.
“I won’t let him take her away from me,” he muttered, his voice a sinister hiss. His obsession with Maya had reached a point of no return, and he himself had already misunderstood the relationship between them.
Since he was far away in order to escape their senses, he couldn’t hear what they were talking about, but the fact that she was talking with him alone made him jealous as hell.
The Maya he knew had never talked with males for this long; in his mind, it was clear that something was going on.
He knew that he had to eliminate that boy to remove this obstacle from his path to Maya.
The young man was convinced that he alone was worthy of her affection and attention, and he couldn’t bear the thought of her being with anyone else.
*******
After the training with Senior Maya, nothing else happened in the academy until Friday.
“-know that the reason why the Valerian Kingdom was founded after merging all human nations.”
DING
Just as the professor was explaining the history of the Valerian Federation, suddenly, the sound of a bell ringing echoed inside the classroom.
“I guess we should end with this today.” With those words, he pushed his glasses up with his middle finger and looked at the students.
‘Sigh….He is going to give another assignment again.’
It was his habit that whenever he gave an assignment, he always pushed his glasses first.
Then, with a small smile, he continued, “Now, your assignment for this week is quite simple. I want each of you to research and prepare a presentation on a significant event or figure from the founding era of the Valerian Federation.”
Groans and murmurs filled the room, but the professor paid them no mind. He was used to this reaction.
“Please remember,” he emphasized, “the Valerian Federation’s history is a tapestry woven with the stories of many nations and individuals. Your presentations should shed light on the factors that led to the founding of this great Federation. I expect well-researched, informative, and engaging presentations.”
He then projected a list of topics on the screen at the front of the classroom, ranging from the Treaty of Unity to the contributions of notable leaders.
“You may choose your topics, but I encourage you to select subjects that resonate with you,” Professor Armstrong said. “Presentations will be due next Friday, so make good use of your time. And remember, knowledge is the key to understanding our world. Dismissed.”
As the students began to gather their belongings and head out, the classroom buzzed with conversations about who would choose which topic and how much research would be needed to complete the assignment.
I also picked my things up immediately and started leaving the classroom, since today we were going to have a joint training with Archery Club.
Even though the last week didn’t have any club activities, this week we had. The schedule was getting tighter and tighter with assignments and coming up with other aspects as well. Therefore, I needed not to waste any time.
I could hear the main cast talking amongst themselves while I was preparing myself.
“Ethan, what are you going to do?”
“Well, I am going to train as usual.”
“Don’t you have any club activities?”
“Well, we had one last week. The spear club does joint training every two weeks.”
“I see. Then, want to spar with me? It had been a while since we clashed weapons, don’t you think?”
“I can’t.”
“Huh?”
“I will go to a dungeon tomorrow; I need to be in my best condition.”
“So what? We can train now, no?”
“Sigh, Julia. Whenever we spar, it never ends without blood spilling.”
“This is the way of warrior? Are you chickening now?”
“Tch. Julia, you know it’s not about being a man or not. It’s about not wanting to deal with your relentless teasing when I have to explain yet another injury to my mom.”
“Oh, come on, Ethan. You’re no fun. Besides, it’s not like I go all out on you. Well, not all the time.”
“Not all the time, she says. Remember that time you chipped my tooth during a friendly spar? I needed to spend my whole monthly allowance on a potion. I was hungry for all month.”
Julia shrugged, a playful grin on her face. “Details, details. It was just a tiny chip.”
Ethan shook his head, still smiling. “You’re impossible, Julia. But seriously, I need to conserve my energy for tomorrow’s dungeon dive. You understand, right?”
Julia sighed dramatically. “I suppose I can’t argue with that. Fine, go and prepare for your dungeon dive. But don’t think you’re getting away from our next sparring session, Ethan.”
Ethan chuckled. “Wouldn’t dream of it, Julia. Take care, and I’ll see you soon.”
From the way he talked, he was mentioning the dungeon dive Emilia requested. Well, in the game, Emilia explained it as not an easy dungeon, but it was something normally beyond the scope of their guild, thanks to her father’s injury.
Well, it was reasonable that she trusted Ethan since it seemed she had warned him beforehand. She was such a character, after all; she paid everything back to those who helped her.
After packing my things up, I also left the room, following Ethan, and headed towards the Archery Club area.
FLINCH
However, for some reason, on the way, I felt something, a gaze on me as if someone hostile was watching me from afar.
This had been happening for a whole week, and I had yet to find the source of the gaze.
‘Tch.’ Clicking my tongue at my helplessness, I walked further, reaching the club room.
————————————
You can check my discord if you want. You can see the illustrations of characters there.
The link to the discord server is in the description of the book.