On the training field of Astrong Academy, the students continued training under Virelle's supervision.
Serenya jumped between invisible platforms she had created to increase her mobility. Spinning in the air, she tried to send two different commands to her own brain to increase her speed and strength at the same time, but only one of them worked. Her strength increased, and when she landed on one of the platforms, she ended up breaking it under her weight and lost her balance, crashing into the wall before falling to the ground.
"Huff... I still can't send two commands. Will I only be able to do it when I reach the Second Circle?"
Serenya stood up, brushing the dust off her clothes, and looked to the side. Virelle had her hands behind her back, calmly dodging several attacks from Kai and Valença.
'I'll join.'
Serenya raised her hand, wanting to participate, and then grabbed a few wooden swords that were stored near the field. She threw them at Virelle, who simply took a step to the right. The swords passed by her and hit Valença, who was advancing to cover Kai.
"Hey, you idiot! If you wanted to participate, you should have said so!"
Valença shouted while remaining on the ground, massaging her forehead where one of the swords had hit her. Serenya simply waved her hand as if it were not important and attacked again.
She created a platform behind Virelle to try to surprise her, but the teacher simply turned her body and destroyed the platform with a backward kick.
Kai appeared above her.
"Crescent Slash!"
A blade of wind advanced toward Virelle, but a vine appeared behind her at the same instant and struck Kai, sending him flying. He crossed the field and nearly hit other Class A students before crashing into the wall, opening a small crater.
"That must have hurt."
"I wonder if he's okay?"
The students tried to see if the boy was badly injured.
Serenya did not waste time looking at Kai. Using her magic to control her own body, she began moving in increasingly unpredictable ways, trying to find an opening to attack Virelle.
The teacher, however, dodged her movements with ease and flicked her forehead, making her fall to the ground.
"Ouch."
Valença, who had gotten back up, could not help but smile when she saw that while still rubbing the place where she had been hit by the wooden sword. Ever since the day Enrico had explained the Ego Weapons, Serenya had been acting that way toward her. It was annoying, but over time, Valença had gotten used to it.
'Spoiled noble.'
Valença stood up sulkily, grabbed her staff, and pointed it at Virelle. The teacher had her back turned, paying attention to Kai, who had already returned to the field. Valença began concentrating the fire magic she had been training intensely over the past few days.
A small flame appeared at the tip of the staff.
Then, suddenly, it compressed and shot forward like an extremely concentrated blast.
Virelle noticed the attack at the last moment. She turned and extended one hand, blocking the blast. The impact caused an explosion that raised a large cloud of dust across the field.
Kai and the other students watched the strength of the attack in surprise. Serenya, who had just stood up, crossed her arms and made a sulky expression.
Virelle emerged from the cloud without a single scratch and brushed the dust off her clothes.
"That's a very powerful attack for someone in the First Circle. But be careful. Besides consuming a lot of mana to use, an attack at this level can injure your own companions if you don't control its direction properly."
Valença nodded, still somewhat displeased.
Shortly afterward, the bell rang, ending the training.
"Very well, students. Analyze all the fights you had with me today and don't forget the notes on elemental magic control."
"Yes, ma'am!"
The students answered together and began leaving the training field. The day had been more difficult than usual. Lately, Virelle had been increasing the intensity of the training more and more, although none of them knew exactly why.
The reason was precisely Enrico's absence.
Virelle had received a message from Angela informing her that Enrico had not gone to the Solcren family's estate. Instead, he had gone to a dungeon and then traveled to Tsuyokuni. From what Angela had managed to discover, he was becoming stronger during the journey.
This made Virelle pleased, but it also awakened a small concern.
She did not want Enrico to start believing that he could evolve more by training alone in other places than under her guidance. After all, when her family finally accepted Enrico as her disciple, she intended to make it clear that the training he would receive from her would be superior to any other.
That was why Virelle was training her students even harder.
Besides, she did not want to receive weak students when the time came to train them seriously. In her view, the members of Class A were still below the level they should be showing. The problem was that her comparison was being made with the three students who had just fought her.
After watching the students leave the field, Virelle remained silent for a few seconds.
She still had a lot of work ahead of her before Enrico returned.
'And to think that boy used the week that was supposed to be for rest to train even more...'
Virelle sighed as she imagined Enrico doing exactly that. The students were clearly dissatisfied with the intensity of the training, but at least Serenya, Valença, and Kai seemed to have enjoyed it. The three were already walking out of the field, but judging by the looks of things, they still intended to continue training on their own.
"Well, I'd better give that girl some more advice today."
The girl Virelle was referring to was Seraphina, the same one Enrico had asked his friends to help. She had to admit that the young girl had potential and was evolving quickly. Even so, just as happened with many of the students she had trained before, she lacked the intelligence and mentality that Virelle considered necessary to reach truly high levels.
'I hope she's training properly. Just like I told her.'
Virelle left the training field and headed toward Class B, where Seraphina had managed to enter the previous day. Meanwhile, Kai walked a little ahead of the two, holding his sword and thinking about his own development.
'I'm still using the hero's magic in this sword, and I haven't managed to awaken my own magic yet.'
He had already learned a lot about the different elements and trained as Enrico had instructed, but he still could not draw the magic from his own core.
'He said I'm close to awakening... so it must be true.'
Kai continued walking, but soon noticed something ahead.
Two Class A students were kneeling on the ground, clearly injured. In front of them were five people: three girls and two boys. The girl in the center appeared to be the leader of the group.
Kai immediately ran over and stood in front of the two students.
"What do you think you're doing?"
The girl in the center looked at Kai with irritation. After noticing something, for some reason, she seemed even more annoyed by his presence. She brought one hand to her eyes for a few seconds, as if trying to protect herself from a strong light.
"I hate your kind of light. It's too bright and irritating to my eyes."
"What?"
Kai could not understand what she meant. Before he could ask, the boy beside her advanced and kicked his body.
Kai was caught off guard and was sent flying toward the wall. However, before he could hit it, his body stopped in midair.
Serenya had used her control magic and caught him. She raised an eyebrow as she looked at the group.
"Why is a noble helping a weak commoner?"
The question came from the black-haired boy who had attacked Kai. Even so, Serenya remained calm.
"Because my subordinate likes him."
The five were surprised by the answer. Valença, who had just arrived, ignored the situation and went to help the two injured students. One of them was an orc and the other was an elf.
Serenya released Kai, allowing him to return to the ground.
Kai remained silent for a few seconds, looking at the boy who had just attacked him.
'I couldn't see the attack...'
It was the first time since the fight against Enrico and against that zombie capable of controlling gravity that he had felt completely incapable of keeping up with someone's movement. And, incredibly enough, it irritated him because, despite the strength demonstrated by the boy, Kai could not see a single quality in him that he could respect.
'I feel uncomfortable around this guy.'
Serenya, on the other hand, had already understood who was standing before them. Enrico's words returned to her mind, and she calmly looked at the girl in the center of the group.
"So, what is one of the heirs of Sanos doing near Class A? Could you tell me, Princess Elowyn Pendrave?"
Kai and Valença immediately became serious upon hearing that name. Enrico's warnings about the princess returned to their minds.
Elowyn, for her part, continued rubbing her eyes with a certain disdain, as if she were still annoyed after looking at Kai.