First day at the academy [2]

I finally got to see him. The one who had saved me from the pain of everyday life when I was bedridden, unable to see my friends or family. In the middle of the training grounds stood a lone man, continually abusing a poor dummy with his sword.

Arthur Luminary, the tall man with a perfectly sculpted body that would make most fitness participants green with envy. His perfect V-taper complemented by big arms and athletic legs almost made me drool when I saw him. Adding to that, his beautiful blonde hair and piercing blue eyes were enough to blow my mind.

'I love him...'

Without even having spoken to him, I already knew that I loved the man hitting a dummy with his fierce longsword. Gathering some courage, I made my way to him and tried my best to initiate some small talk.

"Hey there... You are pretty good at using your sword, aren't you?"

Even though he was incredibly focused on his training, my words still reached him as he let his sword fall to his side and he turned to me with the brightest smile I had ever seen. "Oh, sorry. I didn't see you there, and thanks! I practice a lot after all, so it feels good to hear someone compliment me!"

'Oh my god! That smile...! That fucking smile!'

Restraining my emotions, I only let a gentle smile rise on my face, "I can see that. Are you training alone? Don't you have someone to practice with?"

And with that, the bait was planted.

Scratching the backside of his head, he looked a bit embarrassed, "Well no, not really. I don't have any friends. No one wants to get along with a commoner, after all."

As I already knew that he was a loner at the beginning of the game I did feel a bit bad about having baited him into telling me about his situation. 'But it's for the greater good!'

"Oh, I thought that with your looks you would be super popular."

His face turned even redder at my sugary sweet words, "Oh, thanks again... But no, looks aren't really important here. Shouldn't you know that? You are already attending the academy right?"

Arthur appeared to have assumed that I was a senior of his who was already attending classes at the academy, "No, I'm going to be a freshman, just like you."

A slight smile once again emerged on his face, happy that he had found someone of the same age that might possibly become his first friend. "Oh? Then I guess we are going to see each other a lot!"

'Ah! My heart! I love you! I love you so much!'

"I guess so. But if you don't have a practice partner, do you want to practice with me?"

Taking a quick look, I found that I was probably a pretty suitable partner for him to practice with.

===Status===

Name: Sophie Red

Rank: E-

Strength: D-

Agility: E

Stamina: E+

Intelligence: F+

Mana Capacity: E

--> Main Manual:

[Dragoon - ★★★★★★★ ] - Minor Understanding

Follow the steps of the legendary dragonkin and unleash the power of the dragons onto your enemies. Nothing can stand in the way of unlimited strength!

-Core Skill: [Dragonize]

-1st skill: [Draconic Strength]

--> Side Manual:

[Empty]

==========

My Manual was Dragoon which pretty much let me become part dragon and let me use draconic powers. It was the Manual that I found most fun in the game as it let me run through all the content without having to care all too much. I had tried other Manuals as well but most of them were either too complicated or weak for me to find enjoyable. After all, I wasn't playing the game for combat, I was playing it for the love of my life.

Arthurs's face took on another notch of excitement as I spoke, incredibly excited to not only find a friend but a training partner as well, "Sure! I would be happy to spar with you!"

It was a good thing but something was irking at the back of my mind. 'Isn't he supposed to hesitate a bit because of the fact that I'm a woman?'

Unknown to me, he already had the impression that I was a warrior because of my stature. Even though our heights weren't all too different, he still had to look up a bit at me. A rough estimation would be that he was probably about 190 cm tall, meaning I had a good 5 cm on him.

"Let's start then!"

He had already turned his back and gone further in on the grounds, making his place in a makeshift arena that had a white circle around it. Unable to retort because of his excitement, I also made my way there and got ready to spar.

'Wait... I have never fought someone before...;

As I realized what I was about to do, I felt a slight shiver run down my back. Having lived a sheltered life as the miss of a wealthy family I had never even gotten close to getting into a fight. That being said, something inside of me was telling me that it was going to be fine.

Readying his sword, holding it in two hands outwards, he shouted, "You can start whenever you want! I am ready! But aren't you going to bring out your weapon from your inventory?"

He was probably expecting me to have stored my weapon in our digital smartwatches, which also acted as phones, bank cards, student IDs, and spatial inventory, but my Manual didn't use a weapon at all.

"It's fine! My weapons are right here!"

A small, blue fire engulfed my hands as I transformed them into scaly dragon paws, fully adorned with big claws which were as sharp as swords. Needless to say, Arthur was a bit surprised at my sudden transformation, "Holy shit! What is that?!"

"Don't worry about it!"

And with that, I sprinted forward. As I approached him he raised his sword to make a downward slice, fully synced up with the speed I was nearing him. Instinctually, I could see his movement and knew what I had to do.

As his sword was nearing my neck, I quickly sidestepped to his side and punched him in his ribs. "Argh!" Unfortunately, there was one little thing that I had forgotten about before we started sparring, which I happened to remember as soon as I felt my hand make contact with his sturdy body.

'Wasn't Arthur incredibly weak at the beginning of the game...'

Before I could conclude my thoughts, which were happening at the speed of light, the man was sent flying several meters before his body hit the ground with a *Thud*.

Regaining my senses, anxiety started to quickly bubble up from within me as my thoughts were spiraling out of control.

'I KILLED ARTHUR! NOOO!'

I ran to his side, clinging to the hope that I didn't kill the love of my life during my first day in my new life. "Arthur! Are you okay?!"

*Cough! Cough!*

Luckily, it didn't take more than a couple of seconds before he sat up, coughing out blood from his mouth. For some reason, the idiot was smiling at me as I kneeled at his side, "I am fine! But Jesus, (who never existed in the history of this world) you sure are strong, aren't you..."

Realizing that I hadn't told him my name yet, I quickly gave it to him, "Sophie, my name is Sophie Red! And, thanks..."

I was so embarrassed. My fantasies of him being the prince on a white horse who would save were now completely blown to smithereens, now looking like I would be the one who would wear the pants in our future relationship.

Noticing my distress, the perfect man, excluding his current weakness, brought his smile to yet another level. "Don't worry Sophie. It's not your fault that you are strong. Actually, I admire it a lot. I just wish I was as strong as you... Maybe then I could have...

For some reason, the mood got dropped into the Bermuda Triangle, sinking faster than a body strapped to cannonballs in those old mafia movies. Unable to control myself, I patted his head with my still transformed dragon paw, "It's ok. You still have plenty of time to grow stronger. I'm sure you will be strongest in time!"

Turning his head, he looked at me with eyes filled with hope, "Really? Do you really think so?"

"I'm sure of it! Don't worry! I will also help you along the way! Always..."

"Hmm? What was that last thing you said?"

Having unconsciously blurted out that last part, which was supposed to be an internal thought, I waved my arms and tried to change the subject, "Oh! Nothing! I just said that I will help you! By the way, do you want to grab some food? I am starting to get a little bit hungry..."

Although it was mostly an excuse for us to hang out more, it wasn't a lie. The biggest demerit to my Dragonize skill was that it apparently cost a lot of nutrients to activate, which now created a situation where I felt like I had a hole in my stomach.

Yet another blinding smile was thrown at me as he accepted my proposal, "Sure!"

'Ah! My heart!'

****

[James's Pov]

"FUCK! THIS SUCKS ASS!"

I had just recalled my clone to make myself ready for bed and thereby caused a situation where all my muscles were now spasming and constricting like snakes.

It was so incredibly painful that even though I had some plans of going out for a nightly meal at the cafeteria, I was now stuck in my bed.

"Fuck! I just hope that Sophie's day is just as miserable...'

It was not.