Eleris POV
At 7 a.m., sunlight had long since filled the room through the large windows. In the luxurious bedroom, a beautiful red-haired girl was still asleep. That girl was Eleris.
About ten minutes later, she slowly woke up.
Eleris lazily got out of bed and sleepily walked toward the bathroom. After washing her face, she spent another five minutes staring blankly into space before finally waking up completely.
Yawn.
"I overslept a little today."
Thinking that, I quickly headed toward the academy cafeteria.
As soon as I entered, the cafeteria looked as impressive as ever: luxurious tables and chairs, high-quality and nutritious food, and students calmly eating before classes.
Cecilia was already eating together with Viren, though the two sat in complete silence.
Those two would never start a conversation unless someone talked to them first.
I smirked slightly. Taking a plate of rice with beef, I sat down across from them.
"Morning."
"Good morning."
The two answered in unison with neutral expressions.
Seriously, these two are way too unsociable.
I let out a quiet snort, though naturally, neither of them reacted.
We spent around ten minutes talking about nothing in particular. Just before leaving, Viren suddenly spoke.
"Train without me today. I need to study magic."
I silently nodded. I understood how important second-circle magic was.
The three of us headed toward the classroom building.
After entering, I saw the familiar lecture hall once again. Rows upon rows of seats, enough to fit over two hundred students. As usual, we sat neither too close nor too far from the professor's desk. I took the seat beside Viren.
He's still a strange guy. I still don't understand why he hid his magic before.
Though fighting him is fun.
Soon, the boring lecture began.
I forced myself to pay attention while remembering the theoretical exams waiting for us.
After that came practical magic classes. Each student headed toward the professor specializing in their primary element.
Naturally, I chose lightning magic. It was the closest thing to my red lightning aside from a few minor differences.
The magic lessons were actually interesting, so time passed quickly.
Finally, classes ended.
Now I could spar with Cecilia.
Ten minutes later, we were already standing inside a circular arena roughly fifteen meters wide. The distance between us was about two meters.
I moved first.
I hate waiting.
As usual, I opened with a punch, testing the waters out of habit.
Cecilia calmly parried it.
I immediately launched several lightning bolts at her while continuing to pressure her with close-range attacks.
Every single one missed.
Still, I kept attacking.
I didn't give her time to properly reset her stance.
Meanwhile, Cecilia continued defending herself calmly.
At least on the surface.
Gradually, I started pushing her back.
Still, I didn't have enough mana to force her completely out of the arena, and honestly, winning like that sounded boring.
So instead, I shifted my attacks to strike more from the sides, trying to make parrying harder for her.
Cecilia simply dodged.
Then suddenly—
Cecilia attacked me first.
That was unexpected.
Before I realized it, a grin appeared on my face.
At the same moment, I dodged her strike.
A fast exchange followed as we continuously attacked and evaded one another. Little by little, I began gaining the advantage.
Of course, I could've used my second-rank spell with six lightning bolts.
But beating Cecilia that way wouldn't feel satisfying.
The spell's weakness was its relatively long casting time.
And offense wasn't Cecilia's specialty anyway. She probably wouldn't interrupt the cast.
Too boring.
So I resumed overwhelming her with rapid attacks and continuous lightning spam.
While I pressured Cecilia, I noticed her frown for just a moment before she quickly regained her composure.
That only made the fight more enjoyable.
Eventually, I closed the distance completely and landed a direct hit.
Victory.
The moment I seized control of the pace, the fight started tilting in my favor. If I hadn't closed the distance that quickly, it probably would've ended in a draw.
Over the next three hours, Cecilia and I fought nine more matches.
The final result was:
4 victories for me
5 draws
1 loss
It was difficult for Cecilia to attack me properly because of my agility, so honestly, I was surprised she even managed to beat me once.
Then came strength training.
Exhausting, but nothing unusual.
Afterward, I said goodbye to Cecilia and went to continue studying lightning magic on my own.
Until 9 p.m., I trained while thinking about how I could apply normal lightning magic principles to my own red lightning.
After quickly preparing for bed, I lay down and fell asleep.
---
We're baiting the comas again.
By the way, the next chapter is from Cecilia's perspective.
The question is, should I describe every mission Viren takes on, or should I just time-skip a few weeks?
1.yes
2.no