Why Is The Main Cast Here?!

As Mr. Booker swung his gauntleted fists at me, I knew that I wouldn't stand a chance against his powerful punches with an earthen shield.

Last time I had tried that, he had smashed right through the compressed dirt I had pulled from the ground and broken a rib. And that was him pulling his punches already.

I'd been trying to implement a new maneuver that I had come up with, but I hadn't succeeded yet.

Just don't lose your balance…

Suddenly, two thin earth pillars pushed out from the ground under my feet, launching me into the air and over Mr. Booker's violent punch. I gulped as I soared over him, seeing the air pressure scatter the loose dirt in the air with a powerful burst of wind.

However, I was too distracted by his attack and forgot that I was in the air.

That was when I was reminded by the ground as I crashed into the floor and tumbled for several feet.

When I finally came to a stop, I simply laid on the ground for several moments.

"Are you alright?" asked the powerfully-built teacher as he walked over. His neutral expression showed some worry.

I only groaned in response as I pulled myself off the floor.

A patchwork of light bruises covered my body, making moving far more arduous than normal. Thankfully, Dr. Andre had soothed the major aches and verbally accosted Mr. Booker to not roughhouse me too much.

"That was ridiculous," I panted. "Did I see your punch make shockwaves?!"

Mr. Booker gave me a flat look. "You dodged it, did you not?"

"That's not the point!" I stuck my tongue out at him. "Don't you care more about the safety of your students?"

He finally cracked a grin, before returning to his normal stern expression. "Already complaining? I thought you were tougher than that."

I blew him a raspberry, picking up my sword that I had thrown aside before hitting the ground.

I wouldn't have been able to do that before, I pondered. Maybe my senses have gotten a little better

There had been little things, like noticing small details I hadn't noticed before and feeling things with more detail-- food tasted more vibrant, textures felt more distinct, and colors seemed brighter.

I hadn't noticed the change at all at first, but when I managed to dodge a random student stumbling in the hallways during lunch, I knew that something had changed.

"Hey, are you sure you're alright?" the red-haired instructor asked with more concern in his voice. "You're spacing out right there."

"It's nothing," I waved. "I was just thinking about how different everything feels after fixing the mana blockage. Everything seems… clearer?"

Mr. Booker nodded sympathetically. "Like your body was always half-asleep before?"

I made a vague noise of agreement. His description was perfect.

"Yeah," the man sighed, carefully taking his gauntlets off his hands. "That's what I meant when I said that it was really impressive that you made it this far while being so much more disadvantaged compared to everyone else."

By this point, I had really come to appreciate Mav and the work he had put in. 

Thanks to his knowledge, I never had to study for any of my classes and had almost perfect grades in every subject… other than weapons training and magic studies. Though both were improving steadily.

"I think we're done for today," Mr. Booker clapped me on the back, causing me to wince as he touched the bruises that basically covered my whole body. He looked apologetic but there wasn't much that he could do-- he already gave me some muscle ache cream, which I greatly appreciated.

"See you tomorrow," I waved, before grabbing my stuff and returning to the changing rooms.

I need a shower, I clicked my tongue as I examined my dust-covered clothes and body.

***

The next day, at lunch, I was going to sit down with Lucia and Perseus at our usual table.

In my hands was a full tray of food: cheesy pasta, toasted bread, baked artichoke, and ribeye steak. Basically any food that you could imagine could be found at the Class A cafeteria.

Truly, transmigration isn't the worst thing that's happened to me.

Although the world was almost certainly going to end in less than four years, at least I got to live a convenient and luxurious life for a while.

However, when I came close enough to see our normal table, I paused. A few more people were sitting with Lucia and Perseus than usual.

Gauss looked profoundly uncomfortable as he was crammed between Lucia and Rebecca. Perseus sat across from the blue-eyed protagonist, while Leo sat next to Rebecca.

I sat down between Lucia and Perseus, across from the white-haired boy whose expression soured as soon as he noticed my presence. However, no words were exchanged.

Lucia examined me curiously as I sat down at the table. "Nice trinket."

Confusion flitted across my face.

Following her gaze, I realized she was talking about the magic training device that I had in my hand.

I had developed the habit of carrying the orb around with me wherever I went, though most of the time I kept the device in my pocket in order to not distract the other students during class.

Now, after using one of the E ranked demonic cores…

[Mana: E → E++]

The boost was significant, though I had temporarily succumbed to the bloodlust aura from the corruption. For one whole night, I had kept myself tied to the bedframe with my blankets.

The experience had been terrifying-- for the first few moments, I knew that something had gone terribly wrong and began binding myself. The rest of the time was a blur of red. I couldn't remember much of it, but I did remember wanting to violently break things and find people to fight at the time.

I shuddered just at remembering it. I didn't plan on consuming any more demonic cores for quite a while-- I wasn't sure whether the side-effects were solely because of the E rank demonic core, or rather the build-up of demonic energy in my body.