Joint Lesson

It was lunchtime.

Today, Lily decided to eat with Sylvia and other girl friends of hers.

Thus, Mika was currently sitting alone.

[What a pitiful display.]

"Shut up..." Mika whispered in a casual tone as he peacefully ate the food.

For him, it was no problem that the two girls ate with other girls.

After all, it may be a good idea to socialize with others from time to time.

"It's rare to see you alone! Can we join you?"

Mika lifted his face up when he heard a familiar voice calling out to him in high spirits.

Putting his plate down across from Mika was Gerard.

"Sure..."

However, Mika was distracted by the presence of those beside Gerard.

"Ah, right! Let me introduce to you my team, Mika!"

There were two other people beside Gerard.

They all wore the same silver uniform as him.

Gerard started with the boy on his left side.

"This is my classmate Adin Aveg. He is a C-rank water mage."

"Nice to meet you!" Adin greeted enthusiastically.

He was a slim and frail-looking person.

His brown hair was styled into a bob and his deep blue eyes were round and full of innocence.

"And to my right side is the D-rank mage Ron Bellk. He is also in my class."

"Hi, I've heard a lot about you." Ron said in a calm manner with a faint smile.

He had narrow beige eyes meaning that he was an earth mage.

His body was neither slim nor bulky and his long and dark blonde hair was styled to the side.

"And last but not least..."

To Mika's left, a girl put her food down.

"I'm Judi Rein, a B-rank fire mage." she introduced herself with a kind smile.

She had long straight black hair, red eyes as clear and beautiful as Lily's and a slender body.

But what caught his attention the most was that she wore a red uniform.

"Ha, don't think that you're the only one who can get students from other classes to join you!" Gerard remarked with a cocky huff.

Following that, Judi giggled quietly.

"You should have seen him begging me to join him! He was literally on his knees." she whispered into Mika's ear.

"H-hey, Judi!" Gerard panicked a little.

Mika also let out a small giggle.

"Nice to meet you all, too. I'm Mika Elbar and I'm Gerard's roommate." he said with a light smile.

Everyone stared at Mika intensively.

"Something wrong?"

"Oh, sorry. It's just that we were all curious to meet you. After all, there are so many stories about you circulating around in our year."

Ron explained.

"Stories?"

"Yes! Like how you picked a fight against Cail Maystra!" Adin added with sparkling eyes.

"Well, I don't know about that..."

"There's also the rumor that you have seduced one lady after another here." Judi stated with a teasing smirk.

"Okay. That's plain wrong." Mika disagreed bluntly.

"Haha, sorry about my guys, Mika. I think another reason for their keen interest is that we will train alongside you today. They just wanted to see you with their own eyes before that." Gerard said.

"I see..."

Mika looked around.

He sensed the glares of some other students wearing the same uniform as Gerard.

"Is it really fine to talk to me?"

"..."

Gerard turned stern and grim.

"They can say whatever they want, but in the end, I will decide for myself what I do."

A smile crept onto his face again in a split second.

"So don't lump in with those idiots, okay?"

Mika was stunned by Gerard.

"Sorry." he said with a smile.

Then, Adin meddled in.

"H-how about we eat before the bell rings...?" he suggested nervously.

"Good point." Ron replied calmly.

"Ah, yeah that's right!"

It seemed like Gerard remembered something important.

"Eat up, Mika!" Gerard ordered with a wide smile.

"Huh? What's up with you?"

"You'll need that energy for later!"

Judi sighed relaxed whereas Mika just tilted his head in confusion.

The group ate together as time went on.

Then, the bell rang.

"We'll go first, see you on the training grounds!" Gerard said motivated.

Mika nodded his head, before putting his plate away.

"I have to leave now as well. Maybe we will meet again soon." Judi stated with a gentle smile.

"Sure, it was nice meeting you all today."

Now, Mika was on his own as he walked to the training grounds - in other words, the arena.

"The arena may be spacious, but will two classes fit in there?" Mika wondered as he murmured to himself.

"Don't worry about that. That person will cover for it."

"!"

Mika flinched when someone talked to him out of nowhere.

"How amusing. Are you still unable to sense my brilliant presence?"

"Ms. Ross..." he uttered her name in a slightly annoyed tone.

Without a care in the world, she walked beside Mika.

"Based on how much time passed, since the bell rang, shouldn't you be already at the training grounds?" Mika asked.

"I'm a teacher. I can do whatever I want and whenever I want." she said confidently.

"..."

"Just kidding, just kidding. No need to look so disappointed, jeez."

She heaved a sigh.

"As long as he is there, there's practically nothing for me to do." she stated still relaxed.

"He?"

"I'm talking about Ralph Arma. The teacher of the silver class."

"What is he like?"

"He is a kind and good teacher. There's nothing to complain to him as a teacher."

"That's it?"

"Just wait until you see him."

The two arrived in front of the portal and entered it.

And when they were in the arena, they saw the fighting grounds filled up with students.

"Well, then. I'm eager to see what you will show us all." Ophelia said before she left Mika behind and walked to the front.

Not thinking about her words, he just joined his class and waited.

On the other side of his class, there were the silver students and amongst them, Mika spotted Gerard and two of his teammates.

However, it was not the time to greet them as every student here was looking to the front in anticipation.

"I'm overjoyed that we can hold this joint lesson together with the black class."

Beside Ophelia, a scrawny and wrinkled old man with long grey hair and a long grey beard was talking.

With a wooden staff, he supported his body.

"I'm the silver class' teacher, Ralph Arma. And as you all can already assume, we will do combat training today. I recommend to everyone to choose a partner from the opposing class." he explained with a smile.

"Today, you can choose among yourself how you want to fight as long as you don't put yourselves in danger. Especially for the black class, this should serve as a lesson to see for yourself how big the gap is between you and the other class." Ophelia elaborated sternly.

"This is also an opportunity to become acquainted with each other. Now have fun and don't hurt yourselves." Ralph stated.

"..."

The students looked around.

It was still too cramped to move around freely.

"Ehm, Mr. Arma... The space." Ophelia whispered nervously into his ear.

"Ah, right, right. I completely forgot. Thank you."

Ralph slightly lifted his staff up and tapped the ground underneath it once.

"?"

Mika focused his eyes on the two teachers, however, they moved further back suddenly.

He squinted his eyes.

They were moving away, but their bodies did not move at all.

[It is a space-altering relic.]

"Space-altering?"

Mika looked around him.

Besides him, the other students were confused, too.

"What the..."

The training ground was now more spacious.

It was as if its size had tripled.

"Was he able to control the space?" Mika muttered completely shocked.

[Based on the situation, I would assume so.]

But there was no time to feel impressed.

The first silver students approached Mika's class.

"Mr. Arma... Can I ask you, why exactly you wanted to make our classes train together?" Ophelia asked politely.

Ralph did not stop smiling as he watched the students facing each other.

"This year's black class just piqued my interest." he answered.

However, his gaze followed only Mika.

Meanwhile, Mika walked in the midst of the crowd full of silver students.

He was the first and only student from the black class to approach the silver class.

Every silver student made space for him as Mika moved in a certain direction.

[You have received a new side quest.]

"I know." Mika whispered with a smile.

[Will you accept it?]

"Even if I didn't receive the quest, I would have done it."

He stopped in his tracks when he arrived in front of a certain

person.

"I see. You also couldn't wait, huh?"

It was Gerard, who welcomed Mika with an equally excited smile.

Side quest: Defeat Gerard Armwright in a sparring match.

Reward: You can unseal your powers twice a day (only once).

Punishment: For a week, every side quest will turn into a main quest.