On one hand, I’ve been curious about the nature of my summoner’s abilities for him to be enrolled in this school. On the other hand, fighting him was the last thing I wanted.

  With the abilities I’ve practiced for myself, with them being telekinesis and object creation, as long as I had a concise and clear picture of what I wanted, I was confident I could at least contend with some mages in this school. They were capable of surprising me just as much as I could surprise them.

  If they were faster, then I would have to defend.

  If I could react, then there was a possibility of me countering, maybe even overwhelming them.

  But if they did something I didn’t expect, then there’s a strong chance I can get caught off guard. Possibly even lose.

  I was prepared to practice fighting against a teacher as a training exercise.

  I was prepared to fight against a student if it were a sanctioned spar.

  But I wasn’t prepared to explore these possibilities against my summoner.

  We stood on opposite corners in the square arena. My summoner had a corner that put the large door in his view. Both of us could glance at the doors not in our immediate field of view by simply turning our heads a little in either direction.

  I couldn’t help but think our positions were intentional. Not to put as much distance as possible between us before we fight, but also to give as much time as possible to react to whoever comes through the doors.

  This distance… the vine and wind mages didn’t have this much space between them when they started fighting.

  Hang on… could this be how much he doesn’t want to fight?

  I’m very welcoming to the idea of not starting this fight. Sure, I needed the fighting experience, considering how many near-death encounters I’ve had in the past 2 days, but I was hoping to receive training, either from an instructor at this school, a class, or anything that meant teaching before implementing. This feels reckless, impulsive even.

  Although I’ve only known him for a few hours at most, he struck me as the kind of person to not seek out fights. His large, deliberate strides toward this room… him getting bullied, yet seemingly making no retaliation until Fireboy came… me being summoned before him… it felt like he needed my abilities to accomplish something he couldn’t achieve. I just couldn’t figure out what.

  I shook my head, exaggerating my head movements to ensure they were visible from his end of the arena.

  He didn’t make any movements.

  Does he seriously want me to use my abilities on him?

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  I was able to telekinetically lift him in his sleep with relative ease. If I could do that to him on with gentle, precise control over my telekinesis, imagine what I could accomplish with unrestrained, malicious intent.

  Whatever he wanted to accomplish in this arena, I had little knowledge of. All I could do was hope things could go well from this point forward.

  Maybe I could intimidate him? All I need to do is show a display of power that’ll make him back out.

  If my summoner insists that I use my power in his arena, it’ll be on my terms.

  I recalled the fight between the vine and the wind mage. If there was any strategy I could act upon with my current abilities, it’d be overwhelming my opponents with sheer brute force. Sure, techniques could let them hold their own, but it’d mean nothing if I could overpower them.

  I should make it non-lethal.

  4 red dodgeballs appeared and levitated in front of me. Specifically, the dodgeballs with a gridded pattern over their spherical surface and that have a small hole to allow for insertion of the needle attached to a ball pump. They were no bigger than my head, but were an appropriate size for me to be able to throw them with one hand, not that I planned on doing that now.

  I imagined the trajectory each of them would take toward my summoner, arcing at different heights and traveling at different speeds. Of course, I’d replenish them regardless of whether they hit or miss. It’d be fun to spam infinite projectiles, and I’d feel like a video game boss battle.

  The first ball traveled in a straight arc. It was a slow speed, as if I had thrown the ball like we were playing a game of catch. He stepped out of its way, and a ball replenished the moment the first one bounced.

  The second and third balls curved, coming in from the left and right in sequence. Both were faster, as if they were thrown with the competitive drive of a dodgeball player, but were still easily dodged. 2 more balls were replenished in position the moment the second and third bounced.

  The fourth went straight for my summoner’s head. The previous balls had 2 to 3 seconds of travel time from opposite corners of the arena. This had a second or less. Fast, but not dangerous enough to outright kill my summoner. Maybe an accidental bloody nose could be expected if it hit at the right angle.

  The fifth one was launched the moment I saw the back of my summoner’s head, flying straight at him. It hit, bouncing off his head and into the barrier surrounding the arena.

  I heard my summoner shout something. He sounded annoyed, and I could make a few guesses as to what he had said.

  Despite all of this, he hasn’t used his power.

  Does he have a power?

  From all my encounters in this school, most of them showcased some sort of superpower. Mr. Blonde with his golden orbs, water assailant, and his entourage, Fireboy, the nurse, the vine and wind mages, and the old man. Because of those encounters, I’ve concluded that every student and teacher at this school is a mage to some capacity.

  What is he trying to accomplish?

  I conjured a monobloc chair to sit in, keeping the levitating dodgeballs primed to launch. I’d still defend myself, but I wanted to see what he’d attack with. Also, I was starting to feel bad for overwhelming him with dodge balls in this one-sided fight.

  Eventually, he realized I wasn’t going to attack and looked at the leftover dodgeballs in his corner of the arena.

  Just because you’ve summoned me doesn’t mean I’m going to attend to your every need. Fulfill your every whim. I’m only going to listen to you when I understand why you’ve summoned me.

  I saw him kneel next to a leftover dodgeball. Whatever he was doing, I couldn’t see, as his back was obstructing whatever it was that he was doing. After a while, he got up, holding one of my dodgeballs. Except that he wasn’t holding the ball in his hands. Instead, it was cradled by a string, and the ball was dangling over the ground.

  He swung the string, and the cradled dodgeball started spinning rapidly around his hand, like someone building up speed with a sling launcher.