The classroom fell into oppressive silence. Siege waited for Ivaldie to say anything. The girl calmly scratched her scales, then a smile sprang on her lips. “I want to become a dragon Lord.”

  “What for?” He said without blinking.

  Ivaldie became silent again. Her thoughts were also accelerated, so what was she thinking about? Her eyes widened, and her SE increased by 1. “To protect my fellow dragons and lead them justly.” Her eyes flickered towards Kory.

  Siege shrugged. “Whatever. What about you, little Magnus?” His smirk pissed me off.

  “Some people already know – I want to become a supreme wizard!” One blue girl gasped. Siege’s eyes widened. “Why? Because I want to be able to do anything.” Then the whispers followed.

  “He wants to be like the mad wizard Azlatok – the one who killed Lord Rame’s parent’s” She spoke. “He really came to kill dragons.”

  “And Lord Rame made him an honorary dragon?” The diamond girl close to her asked.

  Aitze and Sikro, I put their names on the list. Siege clapped loud enough to silence the room. “I knew I wasn’t wrong when I picked you. So very ironic that a human will take on the mantle of the wizard.”

  I scratched my head. “Isn’t a wizard just a designation for a spell caster? You know – someone who does magic.”

  “What are you on about? Were you raised on five millennia old books?” He shook his head. “I guess it doesn’t matter.” I was sure he held back a laugh. “I think it’ll be nice to have our own wizard, might give these cowards a little push.” He cleared his throat. “Next.”

  Steel shook her head. “I want to protect Kory!” Of course she did…

  Even Siege raised an eyebrow. “Why?”

  “I like her.” Steel raised her hands. In contrast to my own declaration, hers made some students nod.

  “As good a reason as any. You?” He asked all the other students. There was no judgment in his gaze, but I didn’t really care about the reasons of others. They were boring and banal – to become a researcher for dragonkind, to become a soldier, to become a biocrafter, to become a shipwright.

  I was concerned about the term “wizard”, in Dad’s books it was used to refer to powerful nobles, and on earth it was the English word, one of the few that I actually recognized amidst all of them… well, and that plum Simona had. I didn’t think there were negative connotations. Was I calling myself some kind of slur? I sighed.

  “You? Kory, hmm… I won’t let you speak. You know why.” He wagged his finger, and she shivered. No worse, they exchanged glances. What did she hide from me again?

  Nevertheless, Kory said, “I want to become a healer-”

  Siege rolled his eyes, but didn’t interrupt her.

  “I-I want to become a strong healer and be with…”

  “Yeah, yeah. That won’t happen. This is a learning facility, not a charity. You are not to blame, child, but some traits do not have a future.”

  She sniffled and clenched her fists. “I-” Siege pet her head. “It’s okay, you don’t have to do this. Just enjoy life.” That smile – it was the cruelest one.

  “Can you shut the fuck up with that bullshit pity?!” I stomped, the metal floor cracked. “You’re not a bleeding heart, do something useful, you bald asshole.”

  His head snapped to me with a crack. “Oh, now you don’t like pity?” He chuckled. “Ivaldie – spar with him to the death.”

  “What the-” “Yes, professor.”

  Siege raised a force form and blew the line apart – every other student flew away as if an invisible explosion had happened. The dragons landed safely on soft constructs. Incredible mastery.

  Ivaldie and I exchanged glances.

  Siege said, “Why aren’t you fighting? Go on, fight. No pity. Whoever wins gets a Baron rank core.” It was on.

  Ivaldie smirked and flared her starpower. With a flash of lightning, she appeared on the other side of the room. “Attack me when you are ready, wizard.”

  Siege slapped his face. “So it’s that kind of rivalry. Tsk.”

  “Don’t ‘tsk’ at me, I’m doing my best.”

  “She isn’t even fighting seriously – if that’s your best, you’re no better than the other weaklings.” The groans of dissatisfaction rumbled through the room, yet they didn’t dare to speak up. Nobody wanted their skull crushed.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  “Bastard.” I stretched my back and flared my starpower. Ivaldie watched with interest. Mind acceleration ran at full power; today will be the day I kill her.

  So I cast my spells. Thanks to Azzurra’s advice, they turned from distinct movements into a dance. A dance that miraculously lasted three seconds. I put a bullet launcher in my left hand, engraved my right with a parasitic poison infuser, and put absorbing bucklers on both of my hands.

  The professor and Ivaldie watched without blinking. They could see the exact constructs - Siege smiled, and Ivaldie’s smirk twitched.

  “You can do it, Magnus!” Steel roared, raising her hands.

  “Y-you can. Remember the strategy.” Kory wasn’t as loud.

  Ivaldie raised an eyebrow. “Cheering against me? That’s new.” She summoned the Truthpower Sword – it was even stronger than when she killed the Fleshsire. “Would you like me to start, Magnus?”

  “No, thank you.” I adjusted my stance for easier dashing – every twitch of her muscle could mean instant defeat. I raised my hand and formed the aerosolization. Poison infused itself, and a purple mist spread through the room. Siege clapped, and a barrier locked us in.

  “Professor, does this count as an attack?” Ivaldie’s eyes burned with the desire to fight.

  “Just go already!”

  Time came to a standstill; this was enough to catch the tiny flash of lightning near her feet. I fired up all my constructs and twitched my toes to dash left. Ivaldie appeared, her sword mid-swing. I predicted this and put my shield in the way.

  The weapon made contact, and at the same time, I fired a poisoned bullet . Shield cracked with a bang, but I heard something else – a groan of pain. The bullet struck firmly in her stomach.

  I dashed without stopping. Already a swing was flying in my direction – it was as if she moved in normal time, but I knew this was her moving when slowed. I put the other shield in a way and made a plasma form with my other hand.

  The angle of the sword was wrong – it shouldn’t have cut, and yet it did, slicing right through the shield. I saw a spark of pure light. She used the dispelling form. The pain exploded as my hand was cut clean off.

  I couldn’t hold back a screech, despite that I completed the plasma form. Purple fire spewed out of my hand, covering Ivaldie. She didn’t even twitch as her scales started rotting right off. Instead, her sword shone with bright white light, only to be caught ablaze. The mist flew towards the flames, feeding into them. Ivaldie couldn’t dispel it.

  My dashes were slightly slower than her movements. Without sight or touch, she swung her sword right at me. The barrier, on my other hand, had recovered already, and I put it in the way.

  I was too slow. The Truthpower sword stuck in my gut, engulfed with diseased flames. I howled in agony, the sword went in without pain, but my own poison burned far beyond anything I’ve experienced.

  Ivaldie let the sword go. The flames around her extinguished, revealing a rotting skull with horns. It took far too long for her body to drop. Cackling rang in my ears, my own cackling.

  The pain was eating me from the inside – it was my poison. My starpower! But yet, when I ordered it, it refused to listen, burning endlessly in that short moment. When I could reach my stomach with a dispelling form, there was hardly anything left of my guts; it burned further, deeper. I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t scream.

  Of course, it didn’t work. I made it like that; my hand caught on fire. My mind gave up, and I blacked out from pain.

  Then warmth. When I opened my eyes, Kory was hugging me, and healing energy flowed through my body. “Hello?” I shook my head and pushed her away. “D-did I win? I think I saw Ivaldie die.”

  “Nope, you didn’t win.” Siege cackled. “What a bunch of losers. This was a massive letdown.”

  I stood up and brushed the invisible dust off my shoulders. “I most certainly did kill Ivaldie. What are you on about?”

  The girl in question peeked from Siege’s back. “I killed you, too.” She approached me.

  “Yep, it’s a draw.”

  Kory spoke, suddenly. “D-doesn’t that mean they both won?” Her eyes sparkled with excitement.

  “Yeah! Kory is right, we both won. Give us two cores.”

  Ivaldie raised her hand. “I don’t need the core; you can give both of them to Magnus.”

  Siege stared at us slack-jawed. “I’m not giving any of you cores. I don’t even have a Baron rank core; it was just a joke to motivate you, ha-ha.” The flat tone of his voice told me a different story.

  “Are you seriously backing out right now? Give me the core, stop being petty.”

  Siege burst out laughing. “You hear me, children?” He clapped his hands. I became aware of all the eyes directed at me. All of them held disgust, except for my dear friend. “Your literal nemesis is asking for cores for losing! Come on, get angry, try to kill him maybe.”

  “Hey, hey, hey! I don’t want anything bad to happen to my classmates, okay. They are my friends.” I put my hand over Kory’s shoulder, and she smiled wryly.

  This time, my classmates didn’t bother to whisper.

  “He’s forcing her…”

  “I heard he tortured a second year.”

  “Steel always comes to the medical hall with terrible injuries; he is evil.”

  “Are you serious, Siege?” I sighed. “You want to ignite petty drama, for what? Is this one of your disgusting ways to get me to grow SE faster?”

  “So what if it is? It works, doesn’t it?”

  “My SE didn’t-”

  Your SE has increased by 3. From 42 to 45

  “This is bullshit, and you know it. I just want to peacefully study – this whole fight? I hated it.”

  Ivaldie sighed. “Well, I liked it. It was a good fight.” She looked at me with a strange mix of exasperation and a smile. “You know; this was my first time…”

  “Why are you saying it like that?! Okay, don’t stare at me. I didn’t like the pain, your strategy, the way you ignored the pain, and stabbed me with your sword was cool.” I sighed.

  Siege giggled. “See, I’m already helping you make friends.”

  “You’re an asshole.”

  “So are you, little human.”

  “Y-your strategy was cool too.” Ivaldie stuttered for some reason; worse, there was a faint, nearly imperceptible blush on her face.

  Kory bumped my shoulder and said, “What were you doing with her?” She was frowning.

  “We just fought. What are you thinking?”

  Ivaldie put her hands on her cheeks. “I didn’t think you’d use the mist as a smokescreen.” Her blush intensified as did the spark in her eyes. “And you’ll use my lack of visibility to predict where I’ll strike, it was… amazing~”

  The looks from the classmates grew worse, much worse. This different kind of disgust made my stomach sink.

  “Enough pleasantries.” Siege clapped. “Safe to say, you share the same place on the line for now. I have to check the weaklings too.” He grinned. “Steel and Milli, your turn to spar!”

  Steel tilted her head. “Where?”

  “Here! You, get out.” He swiped at us with the force form, and I flew right into the wall. It didn’t even harm me.