Room-A0174 stepped out together.
Haruka.
Saito.
Yume.
No one spoke.
Not because they didn't want to—
But because something about this place…
made words feel unnecessary.
They walked in line with the others.
All heading in one direction.
The Training Arena.
It was massive.
But not beautiful.
No grand designs.
No colors.
Just steel.
Concrete.
And silence.
A circular field surrounded by high walls.
Above—
glass panels.
People were watching.
Haruka's eyes lifted slightly.
Figures.
Still.
Writing.
Observing.
The Watchers.
Watching…
quietly.
Like something that never blinks.
All of 'The Watchers' had a notebook and a pen. Ready to take notes of every single thing that will happen.
A man stepped forward.
The instructor.
with Cold eyes.
Had no emotion.
"Listen carefully."
His voice echoed.
He had a really dominant, deep, and calm voice, the kind of voice that can order anyone around. It looked as if he could command the unmoved statues to move, and the statues would start to move.
All the students stayed silent, listening to him carefully.
"I am Jonathan... Jonathan Galactus. I will be your trainer from now on. J-class mages are all under me, you hear me. The whole venue, the dorm, is mine. I will make sure even the weak sticks get turned into hardwood. I won't tolerate disrespect; that will result in an instant suspension. Without mock battles, if someone gets badly injured because of any argument among you all, the fines are up to you unless you have light magic to heal them. And if someone dies, you will be publicly executed, a crime is a crime even if it is committed by a kid, and last but not least, never hold back on training. Cause I hate weaklings; they have no place in this world."
His voice was calm and collective; each word held its own weight.
His eyes were like those of a hawk. It could spot a random ant crawling on a random tree around the venue. Which itself wasn't a power but a slight bit of an exaggeration of how keen he is.
His hair was a purple-white gradient.
Jonathan began speaking again.
"For the newbies who don't know how T.H.S works... You all are already members of T.H.S. The Heroes Society. By the next day, all of you will get your ID cards. Your pass will have your face and your rank. Scanning it on any door will make our censor recognize you as a member of our Society. All of you are on the J-rank right now. Junior Rank. Then the next rank will be I-Rank, standing for Intermediate, the next one goes with classical ranking; A, S, and the top rank Z. Currently, our nation, Crystologia, has only 4 of the Z-ranked mages and 7 S-ranked mages."
All of the students nod silently. Haruka noted the country's name; it was clearly NOT Japan. But surely their textbooks were written in the same language.
Haruka also took note of the ranking system; he was too confident about the fact that he might surpass others in no time because he had 3 elements.
Suddenly, Jonathan spoke up again, in a colder voice now.
"So who is this 3 elemental guys here, huh?"
Haruka straightened up immediately. For some reason, he was intimidated by the fact that Jonathan was sounding so mad about his having 3 elements.
Saito smiled and pushed Haruka forward, saying playfully, "If you become his favorite, we can get extra facilities."
Jonathan looked at Haruka.
"So, you are the prodigy? I never knew 3 elemental mages were a thing. The highest I have heard was 2 elemental mages. I heard from The Watchers... You have the 3 rarest elements... One dies of thirst, the other drowns in water, they say. Cosmic... Darkness and Light... I won't lie; I am impressed by the fact that your body is still intact. It requires almost infinite mana to control all 3 of them... Everyone from my bloodline, Galactus, held the element Cosmic. I might just want to sharpen you a bit..."
Jonathan definitely took a lot of interest in Haruka.
In fact.
A bit too much.
So much so that he is ready to give him special training.
Despite his best efforts to remain composed, Jonathan couldn't shake the turmoil brewing within him over Haruka's extraordinary ability to wield three elements. The weight of that revelation left him both intrigued and unsettled.
"Are you really a human?" Jonathan asked quietly, almost to himself.
What could disturb the most intimidating man in J class venue?
Jonathan began speaking again.
"Alright, class, I am sure most of you haven't practiced your magical elements. Now you might ask how I can teach everyone while having only Cosmic... it is because I know how every other magic works."
He continues.
"Let us begin... No more useless talks... For performing magic, the first thing we have to do is learn how to control the mana. If it overflows out of your body too much, you die a really brutal death, and by brutal, I mean your whole body will be torn...atom...by...atom."
Saito chuckled a bit nervously and said,
"Maybe it is not as simple as we saw other heroes do it..."
Yume was shocked by the piece of information that Jonathan just provided:
"One mistake and we die that easily?" and softly she said to herself, "again?"
Haruka was a bit surprised himself, too, but he forced his mindset to shift from fear to "I have to do it."
"I have to do it... If not for me... for everyone... for Yume..."