33: The Four Friends

Days flew by. Two days had already come and gone in the academy.

During these two days, a lot of things happened. The three-day all-department attendance ended two days ago too. Since yesterday, the students had been taking the classes they wanted, except for the General Magic Arts class and the Elemental and Variant Magic Arts class. Both of these classes were mandatory for all students to attend.

However, even though the school routine remained the same - waking up, eating breakfast, attending the first class, taking a break, attending the next class, eating lunch, attending the third class, taking a break, attending the last class, training, eating dinner, and having free time until curfew - the students now had more time to train and improve their skills.

One can skip auxiliary classes and pursue their interests in the academy or outside of it, without facing any questioning.

And this arrangement had helped a certain group a lot, who were planning an adventure soon.

In the last two days, they had been preparing themselves for the adventure - physically, mentally, and strategically. Cedric had already been let in on what they were planning since he was one of their core friend cycles. Anyway, they decided that only four of them would be enough for the dungeon adventure.

Every evening, before the sun sets, for the past two days, this group of four has always gathered in a specific spot of the general training unit. This was their agreed-upon strategy to strengthen their daily plans for the adventure. Also, the four of them had enrolled in different auxiliary classes after the two main morning classes.

Evelyn attends the alchemy class to learn how to brew pills and potions that will help increase their overall strength, agility, stamina, and elemental power reservoir. Zoya chose the formation and runes classes to increase their overall defense and survival rates. Elvis was stuck with the combat classes, perhaps because he wanted to sharpen his sword skills for the upcoming sword duel tomorrow. And Cedric, who had already chosen the blacksmith department before he was told of their plan, continued with it.

What's more, this group had been practicing their elemental skills and combat/weapon skills together on the training grounds. Most of the time, such as yesterday, they took turns sparring with each other in the Arcane Arena. Not to mention, they had gone beyond what was taught to them in classes, as they had made the academy's library their second home.

In the library, they studied a lot of scrolls and books about the dungeons, as well as the beasts and monsters that were always found within them. Still, one piece of information was missing in all the scrolls and books they had checked so far: no one knew how the dungeon was able to birth those beasts and how it was able to keep them confined within its domain.

They were also studying intermediate and next-to-advanced skills and spells related to their elemental affinities. Not to mention, they were also accumulating knowledge about combat and weapon mastery. Zoya also suggested that they learn about dungeon survival, battle essence, and strategy.

Just within a span of two days, these four students had accumulated a significant amount of knowledge and undergone rigorous training. And it will continue this way until the day they set foot into the dungeon levels... until the day they come face-to-face with a beast and extract its core...

They are pushing themselves beyond their limits.

Only one of them was taking an extra class with a specific boy. It was Evelyn. She had been honing her archery skills under the guidance of Steve. And the more these two spend time together, the more Evelyn feels something inside of her trying to express itself. Steve himself was also beginning to grow fond of Evelyn.

However, he was still trying hard to suppress some inner voices because he didn't want to deviate from the main plan of coming to Rylinth Academia of Mages.

…there was also more to his getting close to Evelyn than just to forge a friendship. But now, a part of him is getting in the way…

***

Currently, all the first-year students were gathered at the canteen. The morning was still young, so they were definitely having their breakfast before heading to their first class of the day - the general magic arts class.

On a round table, four students were seated - Evelyn, Elvis, Zoya, and Cedric. They were all busy shoveling the contents of their plates into their mouths; a joyful atmosphere filled the air around their table.

Cedric stuffed a spoonful of food into his mouth as he looked up at the others with a mischievous smile on his face.

"What's with you, Cedric? You have been acting weird since we arrived here." It was Zoya who was sitting opposite Cedric who asked, noticing his devious smile.

Cedric grinned even wider before he said,

"Zoya, I wanted to thank you for yesterday's sparring session with you. I feel like sharing my meat with you now, but unfortunately, it wouldn't sit well with my stomach."

The other three glared at each other before shifting their scowling faces to Cedric. This is because yesterday, for some reason, Zoya had gone beyond just sparring with him. She dealt with him to the extent that Elvis had to support the battered and beaten Cedric back to their room. He was even cursing at her yesterday, so why thank her today?

'He still hasn't learned from the lesson I taught him yesterday. He can still joke around. Let's see if you will be able to next time... I will definitely freeze those balls of yours then.' Zoya thought as she glared at him before her lips curled into a smile.

"What are you talking about, Cedric? It seems you enjoyed being trapped in her ice yesterday... how about I infuse it with lightning during our next sparring?" Elvis said sarcastically.

"I won't complain either. At least your lightning will only tickle me now. And I don't have to worry about her ice in our next spar because I now have the stormy gale at my command."

"You had a breakthrough? And even the powerful stormy gale?" Asked Elvis.

"Of course, that is why I was thanking her. Do you think it was because I was left frozen after sparring with her? If not for Evelyn's flames, who knows, I would have been frozen to death in the night.

"I reached the peak of 4-star before joining the academy. I was waiting for a stimulus that would help me breakthrough. That was why I even let her damn ice touch my skin…"

Zoya scowled. She couldn't believe that the guy had taken advantage of her yesterday.

"Just because we are now on the same level, it shouldn't make you all cocky. I'm already at my peak while you've just become a 5-star."

"We will let our next sparring session decide that," said Evelyn. They had already finished their food, so they returned their plates before returning to their seats. There was still some time left before the first class commenced.

"That reminds me, Evelyn, have you taken those two pills?" Elvis asked, taking his seat. All of them turned their gazes toward Evelyn's face.

"Yeah. I took them on the very day you gave them to me. It's a pity I didn't have a breakthrough," Evelyn said with an emotionless expression.

"The pills will help you overcome your next bottleneck. It won't be long before you break through to the intermediate level," Zoya said, before continuing. "So, Elvis, how is your sword training? Have you finished studying the moves in the scroll, and has Mr. Ronald chosen the opponent you will duel with?"

Elvis sighed. He said,

"I finished practicing the scroll's moves last night, despite being distracted by someone's grunting."

They all laughed while looking at Cedric, whose frown deepened as he glared at Elvis.

"I will be introduced to my opponent today. I'm a bit nervous, though. I just hope he won't get me to duel a second-year swordmaster. What if he uses it to discourage me from becoming his disciple?"

The four of them continued chatting and joking, oblivious to the other students dining in the canteen.

"Oh, about the pills and potions. I have learned a lot. At least, now I know which herbs and resources to combine to create a specific pill. The method of brewing pills is entirely different from that of potions and elixirs. But... we haven't had any practical classes yet... and the herbs and most alchemical raw materials are rare and expensive to obtain."

"Guys, I have something to tell you during our meeting today. The blacksmith department is the best of all. Just wait until you hear the good news I have in the evening."

'Ding!'

They kept talking until they heard a ding from their watches, signifying that it was time for their general magic class.

"We will meet at our usual spot in the evening. We might as well spar with weapons today. It will help Elvis a lot for his duel tomorrow," said Zoya as they stood up.

The canteen was located near the academic departments of the academy. So, all of them left the canteen together and walked towards the General Magic Arts Hall.

As they walked, Evelyn was lost in deep thought.

'I haven't heard anything from that voice in two days. I don't know why she isn't talking to me anymore. Is she avoiding me? But why?

'Maybe I should just focus on my training for now and not bother about some mysterious voice... That reminds me, Mr. Leonard told me about a method for overcoming my mana core issues. I might as well meet with him today.'