Arc 1: Part 24

Day by day, time passed. The academy was busy with club recruiting, as well as the tension of this year's first event, which was a match between Class Two vs Class Seven.

The first year was in the tense mode because they had finally seen a glimpse of Class Seven's strength. Furthermore, the outcome of this fight would alter the class hierarchy's position in their year. For the second and third years, they were amused and excited about the entertainment they would have. They were also curious to see how capable their juniors were due to rumors about how many talented people were in their year.

However, there were those who went about their business as usual, as if they had no burdens on their shoulders or concerns for the rest of the world. Kyle was just such a person. After being elected as the Vice President, he rebelled by being lazy and uncooperative. Everyone called him childish, but he claimed it wasn't his fault because he was elected without his consent. Nevertheless, people ignored his childishness, and Eric seemed to believe Kyle would eventually cooperate. Despite his outward appearance, Kyle would become serious when it came to lessons or his previous commitments.

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On Friday, it was finally the day for Class Three to go through another round of physical and magical training. Like usual, Halbus started their training by running until the top students remained. From his observation, he did see some progress, and at least those who weren't good enough didn't fall to the ground embarrassingly.

Halbus resumed the training with their close combat weapons after a thirty-minute rest. Thirty students, each of them with a unique set of weapons, techniques, and styles. Halbus alone wouldn't be able to teach all of them since he was also different. His experience, on the other hand, would be useful in correcting some fundamental errors and providing insight. But of course, those with the same weapon as him, which was a spear, got better teaching from him.

Not all of the students were close-combat fighters, but Halbus insisted that if the situation forced them to fight in close combat, they had no choice but to fight back if there was no other way. Those who were not close combatants and had never learned had a difficult time because their movements were sloppy and awkward. Halbus concentrated primarily on them in order to correct their movements.

As for those who were already skilled and knew their mistakes, they trained by themselves without much help.

After physical training and a break, it was time for magic training. Monrietta was observing the students who were trained in a group and was impressed with their progress. They progressed faster rapidly as a result of the class training they had undergone. Not all of them, but nevertheless, it was impressive progress. After all, Monrietta couldn't expect all of them to be skilled in magic.

They played a strategy game during the strategy class to put what they had learned into practice. They were playing a board game in which they were given pieces. These pieces were magically connected to the game and the players, so some pieces had special effects on their own.

Players' visions over the enemy's territory were clouded, but the cloud could be temporarily lifted by sending a scout piece. Aside from expanding the view of the player, the scout piece featured a camouflage ability, which meant that other players couldn't see it unless their pieces came into contact with the Scout piece. It should be noted that other pieces might potentially broaden the vision, although not as much as the Scout.

The most precious piece was the commander piece. Without it, the player would be defeated. However, because the commander piece was in a secure place, it would be difficult to defeat it straight away. But, unlike a king piece in chess, a commander had the ability to boost the numerical value of the other pieces.

There were more pieces aside from those two mentioned, and each piece had a numerical value. For example, a Mage piece, each of these pieces contained five mages inside. If this value was reduced to zero, then this piece would perish. For every turn, the piece would regenerate 1 value, but if they stayed in a camp, the value would be increased by 1.

The students were taught how to become a commander. They clearly recognized the significance of knowledge in this class. With information, they could move their pieces without fear. As a result, several students sent their scouts too quickly and lost them. Without the scouts, they were forced to move blindly. Because of the Scouts as well, they were forced to put guards on the border to prevent a single Scout from getting in.

Not all of the top students performed well in this class. Ninia, Wanda, and Friena had been defeated. Although they knew what needed to be done, there were other factors that should be accounted for. Personality, experience, and decision-making abilities were three of the numerous elements that may impact someone's ability to be a leader. Friena, for example, was not a patient person, and she chose an aggressive style in the game. She did a great job of raising her army, but she easily fell into her opponent's traps. Wanda did well as well, but her hesitation in her decision cost her a mistake. As for Ninia, she had no idea how to lead others. She led her pieces skillfully, but once they were in conflict, she was at a loss for what to do other than assault or withdraw. Doing something else would just make her predicament worse.

Kyle, on the other hand, chose to be defensive. He attacked his opponents' scouts, but never once did he send his own scouts. He did not position his pieces at the border, but rather elsewhere. He used his scouts to assassinate other scouts or as an extended perspective for other pieces. With the loss of scouts and a lack of understanding of what Kyle was attempting, his opponent felt worried towards the end. As a result, he marched his troops into Kyle's land and was attacked.

His strategy worked well because he accounted for his opponent's personality and experience, which he had observed before the game. He knew what he had to do after that. If Kyle were to fight Friena, he would let her enter his territory while taking over hers, forcing her to return to her own territory, where she would then get ambushed.

In truth, Kyle had never considered himself capable of leading a huge group of people. But due to his experience, he at least knew what to do.

After the strategy lesson ended, Halbus announced that they would have a spar on Saturday. It was the moment everyone waited for to put their abilities to the test.

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Author: Aida Hanabi

Proofreader: Lola

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