Second day of classes [1]

Somehow, the excitement of yesterday had sort of just... disappeared?

Walking through the large gates once again, and entering the courtyard of the academy filled with students, everything seemed to have lost a bit of its luster. Still, I wasn't one to just lie down and let myself waste away to nothing for something like this.

I could only keep my head up and keep going, just like I had always done in life.

That being said, it was a bit unnerving to pass the horde of students completely alone, as Lucifer was still sleeping inside of me. Another reason was the fact that I had done something that plenty of people might have deemed to be an act of treason against humanity.

Or, at least these two tall, male sophomores that blocked my way seemed to think so.

Looking up at the ones I decided to refer to as Bob 1 and Bob 2 in my head, I had already made up my mind about how to go about things if they were to get physical.

"Are you Aarick?"

One of them stepped forward, asking one of the most useless questions that had ever been uttered in the history of man. Because, as far as I could tell, I was probably the only student at the academy with white hair and red eyes, not to mention my current height.

Still, if he was going to do a lay-up, I had no choice but to dunk it.

"Ah, no. Seems like you have gotten the wrong guy. Sorry!"

And with that, I started walking forward, well aware that I wasn't going to be allowed to go very far until they stopped me again.

"Hey! Who said you were allowed to leave?!"

Bob 2 now stepped in, putting his hand on my shoulder, putting in just enough strength to make sure I wouldn't just run away.

It was quite funny really, how this obvious kind of bullying went completely unperturbed by the other students, who instead just started to gather around us, whispering amongst themselves about what was happening.

Unfortunately, I still had to get to class. There were two new courses that I would get to try today, so I wasn't too keen on just wasting time here for nothing. So putting my finger up, I pointed behind the two gorillas and spoke loudly.

"Ah, Ms. Zito! Good morning!"

In a matter of a microsecond, Bob 2 had released his grip on me and turned around, with Bob 1 naturally following suit. And that's when I used all the strength I had in my right leg to take a step and launch myself forwards and up, while at the same time changing the gravity of my body.

The result?

I was now soaring upwards toward the roof of the building, which I gently landed on while the onlookers down below couldn't understand just what had happened. The weirdest thing about all of this was that my ability somehow felt a lot more natural to use all of a sudden as if it had become more of a part of me than yesterday.

Now, I could still feel a relatively large chunk of my inner energy disappearing as I activated my ability, but the way I could fulfill the vision I had was a lot smoother than before.

"-HEY! COME BACK HERE!"

To the sounds of the two older students screaming, I just kept walking forward, entering the main building of the academy through the rooftop entrance while trying to regain the mana I had lost due to activating my blessing.

****

[Lydia's Pov]

"Hey, did you see that Lydia?"

The green-haired Stella appeared to be just as confused as I was about what had just gone down. Though I was about to run and get a teacher to stop the obvious fight that was about to happen, everything had just ended as the white-haired Aarick just... flew away?

"Yeah, I saw that. But we still have to get to class, Stella."

"Ah, right!"

Aarick Laupier, the person who had gotten bullied by Peter on the introductory day at the academy and lied about it, and also the person who had for some inexplicable reason picked a fight with the one person everyone knew not to touch.

Though I wasn't there to see it for myself, the rumor that he had picked a fight with Levi wasn't something that could go unnoticed and at this point, there was no doubt that the entirety of the school already knew about it.

To be honest, it didn't make much sense. Not just that he had picked a fight with the blue-haired goddess in and of itself, but the way he acted just felt insanely fragmented. At one point, he is so scared of Peter that he forces himself to lie, and in the next, he is picking a fight with someone who could squash him like a bug?

No, that couldn't be right.

'There is something about him...'

Although I had no idea what it was, I couldn't shake the feeling that he was up to something. Something that I truly, desperately wanted to uncover.

****

[Aarick's Pov]

As the teacher for the course I was going to attend started introducing the contents of what we would be studying, I had a feeling that things might get more complicated than I would have wanted them to be.

'Ah, this might be trouble...'

"Welcome, everyone. This will be the first lesson of the monster elimination course, a course where you will learn how to go about hunting and fighting monsters. My name is Henrick Ainsworth and I will be your teacher during the entirety of this course."

Yes, the teacher in charge of the monster elimination course was Mr. Ainsworth himself, the teacher that had come around yesterday to not only save his own student from the clutches of Ms. Zito but also to make sure he could land some verbal jabs at her as well.

Now, did I truly believe that a teacher would be so immature that he would allow a small incident to change how he treated me? Yes. Yes, I did.

In this class as well, I was far from being the only one here. Though I had no idea about the students from the other freshmen class, except for Hugo who was unfortunately here as well, there were a lot from my own class here as well.

Lydia, Stella, Bruno, John, Astor, and Sophie were all students from my class who had decided to attend this course. Who were Astor and Sophie?

Astor was a very energetic and friendly young man with yellow hair, and Sophie was a mellow girl with pink hair. About her personality, I had no idea, but she had two quite large personalities equipped at all times.

The only thing I really knew about her was that she was a friend of Celina Black, the blonde-haired girl that was seemingly very normal.

So, from the looks of it, it appeared that this course was a course that the higher echelon wasn't too interested in. Celina, Will, Levi, and Peter were all, from what I was guessing, from more esteemed households, and as they weren't here, I had no other explanation other than that.

"So, before we being, I will explain just how this course will work. If you look behind me, you can see multiple, full-body capsules. These are meant for you to be able to enter a digital world where you can pick and choose what kind of monster you want to fight against. Naturally, during the first few lessons, I have already decided what you will be going up against."

Looking behind the man, there was just like he said, a row of multiple capsules, all fully equipped with a screen on the side and large cables connecting them to what I assumed was some sort of database.

Then, some random girl from the other class raised her hand.

"Yes?"

"Umm... How do they work?"

That was quite an interesting question, and it would be a lie to say I was not a bit excited to hear Mr. Ainsworth's answer.

"Through magic and technology."

"Oh, okay..."

'Fair enough.'

Instantly moving on, for some reason being quite content with his answer, the blonde teacher pressed on with the lesson at hand.

"Before you begin fighting the monsters in the digital world, we will always begin with a short briefing about what you will be going up against, as well as what kind of possible weaknesses they may carry. And as this is your first lesson, your first opponent will naturally be..."

'A goblin or a slime?'

"A kobold!"

Behind him, the wall lit up, acting like the biggest tv-screen that had ever been made, and on it, a monster very much resembling a dog standing on its hindlegs was shown. And as he was talking a bunch of boring stuff about their weight, how they moved, etc., I couldn't help but zone out a bit.

Sadly, it didn't take too long until he dragged me back to reality with the force of a thousand men, doing something that could only be said to be extremely petty.

"So, because it's a good learning experience, we will now get to see Aarick Laupier enter one of the capsules by himself and everyone else will be watching his fight against a kobold!"

'You absolute fucker...'