7 - 7 -

I pushed through the crowd into the courtyard after school, looking around to see a small group of creatures that had all gathered around on slender looking one that was wearing a suit. Thinking they were potentially a part of the beginner's club that B had mentioned, I started to approach them. As I did so, the creature with the suit acknowledged me. "Excuse me, are you a part of the beginner's club?"

I was half-startled by the sudden inquiry. "Yes. Yes, I am."

The creature clicked a pen and stared at a piece of paper. "And what is your name, young one?"

I replied honestly since he was most likely checking off the list of individuals that had signed up beforehand via the promotion sheets that were stapled onto the bulletin board. "My name is Feste, sir."

As I expected, the pen flicked and he looked back up. "Alright, Feste, welcome aboard." He leapt off a stool and started to bound towards me. He coughed into a fist and began to recite a speech that he had probably told all the club members already. "Alright, so here's the rundown of what's going to happen. Every week, we will train overnight. If you live off-campus with a legal guardian, I will have to get you to sign a few forms first. You don't seem to be one of these people, are you?"

I shook my head.

"Great. Because you live off-campus, you will be able to attend directly, with no forms whatsoever." He peered at me almost expectantly. "Do you have any questions?"

I nodded. "And just where are we going to be training, exactly?"

The creature smirked. "We're going to embark on a journey to a place with dense forests and thick brush. Truly a good place to just clear your thoughts, significantly better than training in this bland school."

I nodded and the creature broke away from me, greeting all the other guests that had arrived, giving them a speech identical to the one that I was given. I also started to examine the other group members, who were idly chatting with one another. They were all of different sizes, with some being tall and slender and others short and wide.

My train of thought was shortly interrupted by the creature standing in front of me. He was about my height. "Hey, what're you looking at?"

"N-Nothing," I stammered, caught off guard. "I was just spaced out." I quickly looked away, but not before I received an intense glare. I turned my gaze towards the club leader, who was inspecting the roster. He then flipped it over and gazed over all of us. "Alright, we have everyone."

I breathed a sigh of relief and the creature started speaking once more. "Make sure everyone is here tomorrow. That is when we will be leaving. Alright, everyone?"

With that, the group started to dissolve, with some members heading back towards the school and others grouping around the leader, receiving sheets of paper. I assumed that these were the forms he was talking about and turned away. However, I didn't go back inside the school like all the others were. I picked a deserted spot inside the courtyard and started to execute spells, intent on studying the magical techniques that I had learned that day.

As usual, I met up with my other classmates outside of the courtyard doors. We all waited somewhat eagerly for B to arrive and order us outside, but instead, we were left hanging. I was especially confused as I even broke away from the group to peer down a long hallway, which had no sign of the teacher at all. They were empty or occupied by a few students that either were skipping their current class or had no classes for them at this time.

Finally, someone entered our field of view. The figure that turned a corner was tall and he wore a grey suit. He strode towards us, his long pointed alien snout poking almost threateningly at us. He held up a hand to wave and began to stare us all down as he pushed open the doors. From the hushed whispers that I could hear among us, this was Mr. Grey.

"It's a pleasure to be back," he said in a smooth, monotonous and almost guttural voice. "I pray that your times with B have been satisfactory? I've heard nothing but positive comments from him about all of you."

The crowd responded with groaned affirmation. Mr. Grey expressed a weak smile and his chin rose.

"Good, good. Now, let us go on with the lesson, shall we?" He waved an arm towards the now exposed courtyard, and we started to flood out of them. I trailed behind them, breaking off a few meters outside.

Conflicting thoughts also started to float around my head. One portion said that everything was going to be alright, that Mr. Grey was most likely a better teacher for beginners than B was. The other was worried about the negative reputation that Grey had seemed to garner among the students, and whether that it might all be true in the end.

"I was told that you were a special case."

A voice from behind startled me. I whipped around to see Mr. Grey looking down at me. In a few seconds, he began to scan me over. "So you haven't interacted with magic at all before you came here? That's interesting. Why would he pick someone so inexperienced? Enrolling students that are like that only fills the school with incapable individuals that can't even defend themselves should a disaster strike."

My lips started to move, speaking what was on the surface of my mind. "But sir, I believe that-"

"So how much have you learned from B?" Mr. Grey had narrowed his eyes. "Give me a summary of what spells you've started to cover with him."

Not wanting to get on Mr. Grey's bad side, I slowly started to list off the important things that I had done with B over the past few days. All the spells that I have learned, the study sessions that we conducted on the field and even my solo practicing after school hours in the same spots.

As I finished, I looked up again to see Mr. Grey nodding. "So you're up to that point." He uncrossed his arms. "Well, I suppose I'll test you a bit first before we move onto the next subject. It'll also help me better understand just what you are capable of."

With that, Grey led me towards a more secluded area of the field as B had done. Then he turned around and crossed his arms again. "Show me a fireball."

The test was boring at best. One minute Mr. Grey would be telling me to conduct a spell, then the other he would stop me to nitpick it and demand that I do it all over again. After what felt like half the class later, he finally shut his eyes and processed it all mentally. He gave me an approving nod. "Alright, I think you're ready to move on."

I wheezed, clearly exhausted from wasting nearly all of my magical energy reserves on this one session. Now that I was fully conscious of it, it felt like a new pair of lungs. I gasped, trying to recover while Mr. Grey droned.

"The third least taxing spell is the ability to bend and change sound. It branches off from controlling air currents, and it can also be beneficial in developing telekinesis."

I started to listen and was taught how to conduct the spell in question, albeit weakly since it was my first class and Mr. Grey often shook his head when I said that I hadn't heard of terms that were developed on planets other than mine.