It was late at night, and I had already finished my dinner.
I was walking across the campus toward the main training hall. The cool night breeze felt pretty good after the stressful day I'd just had.
Melissa and I were never close during my past life.
Mostly because she always stayed right by Zephyr's side, and I was never really interested in the whole harem thing anyway.
I had demons to kill and a world to save, so dealing with noble drama and complicated romances wasn't exactly on my schedule back then.
But things were different now.
I had a death timer counting down in my head, and she had the connections I needed to stay alive.
The training hall looked a lot bigger than I remembered. Glowing mana lamps hanging from the high ceiling brightened up the space, casting shadows across the reinforced floors.
"You're here."
Melissa was in the middle of the floor, warming up.
She wore a black tracksuit, and her light blue hair was tied up in a ponytail.
She was stretching her legs, completely aware that I was looking at her.
Honestly, she looked incredible.
My teenage hormones definitely agreed with that assessment.
"How long have you been here?" I asked, walking over and dropping my bag by the wall.
"I started training two hours before you got here," she replied, not even sounding out of breath.
'That is a lot of training,' I thought to myself.
I usually trained strictly at midnight in my past life to avoid the crowds, so I must have just narrowly missed her schedule every single night back then.
"Alright, since we are both here, tell me the problem," I said, leaning back and crossing my arms.
Melissa looked at me for a split second.
Then, instead of speaking, she closed the distance between us. Just as sharp ice formed around her right fist, she aimed a punch straight for my stomach.
I caught her fist in the palm of my hand before she could even raise it fully.
But right as I touched her, my body started to feel hot.
The ice in her hand melted into steam instantly.
Her left hand suddenly lit up with bright blue flames as she shoved the fire directly into my face and quickly stepped back to watch the show.
Now I was completely wrapped in fire.
The flames flickered at my hair, and my uniform started burning.
But this fire just felt like standing outside on a really hot summer day.
I didn't even flinch.
After a few seconds, I casually waved my hand, and the flames disappeared into thin air.
I stood there completely unharmed, brushing some black ash off my shoulder.
"You understand now?" Melissa asked, giving me a smug smirk.
'Crazy bitch,' I thought to myself, smiling at her.
I really liked the attitude, which made things more fun.
"You can't control your affinity due to sensory overload," I started, pacing slowly around her like a professor giving a lecture.
"It seems like you can use multiple affinities at once. Fire and ice. That is rare, but that is also the reason your control is so unstable right now."
I stopped walking and looked at her.
"Focusing on both fire and ice means your physical body has to automatically keep those conflicting thoughts separate as the mana actually forms.
It is like trying to drive a carriage forward and backward at the same time. Your brain is fighting itself."
"Watch this," I said and raised my right hand.
I snapped my fingers, and a perfectly smooth block of freezing ice formed above my palm.
"What the fuck?" Melissa dropped her smirk as her eyes went wide.
"How are you so good at this?"
"I can only give you one answer right now," I said, taking a step closer to her, keeping eye contact.
"Do you want the cure to your technique, or do you want my secret?"
She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.
The tight tracksuit really didn't hide much when she did that.
"Hmph, whatever. I don't care about your secrets. Just tell me how to fix my magic."
"You need to learn how to separate the mana right from the very center of your core," I explained.
I raised my left hand, and a red fire formed there, burning hot and steady.
It was separate from the ice sitting in my right hand.
"If you only divide the elements after pulling the mana into your arms, it will cause an imbalance," I told her.
"They will bleed into each other. That is exactly why your ice melted and turned into blue fire just a minute ago."
"Right from the core? How do I even do that?" she asked, looking genuinely frustrated.
"That is what training does," I said, letting the fire and ice fade away.
"You have to learn to use one affinity properly from the source before you start throwing both of them around like a maniac."
"Oh, I see," she said, acting like she was thinking deeply about my words, looking down at the floor.
Then she stomped her foot hard on the ground.
A massive wave of sharp ice spikes erupted from the floor tiles, racing straight toward my legs to pin me down, trying to catch me off guard again.
I just laughed and changed both my hands to fire, then spread a wide wave of intense heat across the ground to meet her attack.
Both of our powers clashed in the middle of the room, creating a huge cloud of white steam that blocked out the mana lamps.
Before Melissa could see anything through the smoke, I used my speed to move out of sight, snuck right up behind her, and gently pressed a very sharp blade of ice against the side of her soft neck.
I leaned in close, my chest pressing lightly against her back, and I could smell the sweat of her workout.
"No cheating," I whispered right next to her ear.
"Now you fulfill your part of the deal."
Melissa didn't flinch away from the ice on her neck. Instead, she reached back and rested her hand against my chest, right over my ruined, burnt shirt.
She let out a soft laugh that sent a thrill straight down my spine.
'There's not a single shred of fear in her eyes,' I thought.
"Alright, Shane," she replied, turning her head slightly so her lips were close to mine.
Her eyes were filled with amusement.
"Let's talk about your milf professor."