Chapter 6: Military Academy II

"Thanks for standing up for me. It really means a lot." Josh appreciated Zoey and Cherry.

He had assumed that as descendants of the White family, they would be pompous, arrogant and dismissive. Although Zoey seemed somewhat arrogant, seeing her actions, Josh realized that it was just her personality.

Cherry was the direct opposite of her sister. She was friendly, funny, and interacted well with people.

"It was no big deal." Cherry grinned.

"I was only doing the right thing." Zoey said coolly.

"And I was only defending my sister's future boyfriend." Cherry giggled cutely.

"You need to be a little more careful or your sister will actually kill you." Josh warned Cheery, on seeing Zoey's angry expression.

"She won't do anything. She can't live without me." Cherry poked Zoey on the cheek playfully.

"Wouldn't bet on it." Zoey muttered under her breath.

Cherry was right. She couldn't live without her. Losing her would be like losing a part of herself. She was the only person that truly understood her. The rest just saw her as a cruel and sadistic beauty. Only her sister truly knew her for who she was.

"So, Josh, are you a warrior or a mage?" Cherry asked Josh, "or are you unawakened?" Cherry quickly added.

Josh thought hard about what answer to give. How would he explain that he had suddenly awakened when he was already registered as an unawakened?

Before getting put in their classes, they usually put on a watch that revealed their status as either an awakened or an unawakened, so he couldn't hide it.

Besides, he didn't want to hide it. How would he train if he was identified as an unawakened? Sure, he would get quests from the system. But to his knowledge of light novels, he needed to be in danger to get quests. He wouldn't be able to take on missions due to him being unawakened.

'It won't hurt to reveal this one secret.' Josh thought.

Revealing this would give him more merits than demerits, so he chose his poison.

"I can double as both, as I'm pretty good with my sword." Josh said.

"Oh, she's also good with the sword," Cherry pointed at Zoey, "You both have so much in common."

"You're sure you can use the sword well?" Zoey asked.

She would need a sparring partner, her sister was just too lazy to learn how to use a sword, so she was out of the question. An opportunity to get a sparring partner stood right before her but she wondered if she should take it.

She needed a sparring partner who didn't have to be at her level, but at least have a decent knowledge of how to use a sword.

"Although I never learnt any of those sword techniques, I swing pretty well." Josh replied.

"I'll give you a try." Zoey nodded.

"A try for what?" Josh asked confused.

"To be my sparring partner." Zoey replied.

"Sparring partner huh."

Although Josh was pretty confident in his sword skills, he was not an arrogant idiot who didn't know his place. Zoey must've been trained by top professionals right from when she was able to swing a sword. While he just had Danny and online videos.

'That old man.'

Josh's mind drifted to thinking about Danny. How would he be feeling at the moment? Was he grieving about his inevitable death?

'That's impossible.' Josh thought.

Danny was a strong man, and he would face his death head-on. What he needed to do was focus on himself and stop grieving.

'That's what he would've wanted.'

"I can be your sparing partner, although I might not be on your level, I'm a pretty fast learner." Josh said to Zoey.

"It's settled then." Zoey nodded.

"I want a sparring partner too," Cherry pouted, "What is your magic affinity?" Cherry asked Josh.

Josh thought hard about whether he should reveal his blood magic affinity. Blood magic was the signature magic affinity of the vampires, and was why they were so terrifying.

Blood magic users could use the blood of their enemies to cast spells, which drastically reduced their mana consumption, unlike mages who expended large amounts of mana to cast spells.

It was just like a water magic user fighting in an aquatic environment. He would be almost unstoppable when  fighting a mage with a different magic affinity.

Although the majority of blood magic users were vampires, a minority of them were humans.

If Josh revealed just his fire magic affinity, he would still be discovered later on and would be seen as a liar. He didn't want this, so he decided to be truthful.

Besides, this would improve their impression of him, which was his goal.

He would need friends and powerful acquaintances to survive in this academy. He was not arrogant enough to want to become a one-man army. Maybe when he did become strong enough he would consider that path.

For now, he needed powerful acquaintances and friends. He had never had friends his entire life. Now that he was starting this journey, he wanted to feel what having friends felt like.

Sure, he would be betrayed by some of them, it was all part of a learning experience. And he trusted himself to be a good judge of character.

"Fire and Blood magic." Josh replied, feeling a sense of pride.

How could he not feel proud? How many people could boast of having a dual affinity? Just a few days ago, he was a thrash unawakened without the potential to become someone that would make a decent impact on the world. Now, he had the potential, and more.

"Dual magic affinity?" Cherry looked at Josh surprised, She turned to Zoey, "good catch sis." Zoey glared at her.

Although she found it hard to believe, due to the sheer rarity of people with more than one magic affinity.

Having just one magic affinity was enough to become a powerful mage, with the right training and resources.

Having two magic affinities was just cheating, dual against users had a wider range of spells they could cast. And they had the element of surprise, as their enemies would have a hard time predicting which type of magic they would attack or counter with.

This alone would give many mages a headache and would leave warriors almost useless.

"A dual affinity huh." Zoey muttered under her breath.

This boy was an interesting one.

"You have one of my affinities." Cherry pointed out.

She possessed a dual affinity just like her sister, and they were; water, which was the signature affinity of her family, and fire, which was the same as Josh's main.

"You have a fire magic affinity too right?" Josh asked.

He knew from articles he had read that she and her sister were both dual affinity users, with Cherry possessing a water magic affinity in addition to a Fire magic affinity, Zoey on the other hand possessed a Dark magic affinity and a Water magic affinity.

"Yeah it's not my main though, I just prefer using water magic." Cherry replied.

"Fair enough." Josh nodded.

As a member of the White family, her main would naturally be Water magic, unlike her twin who chose a different path.

"So we can do some sparring together to improve on my fire magic mastery." Cherry suggested.

Josh scratched his head. How would he explain that he had never used magic since his birth?

"I kinda haven't trained enough when I was younger. You know I didn't really come from a well-to-do home and stuff." Josh explained.

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot." Cherry understood Josh's plight.

As children of the elite, they were miles ahead of their peers in terms of mastery over magic. They had the resources and had been learning how to best control mana and how to cast magic spells, since when their bodies could handle the loss of mana, which was usually at the age of ten. Now, they were sixteen years old and were way ahead of their peers.

"I expect to catch up pretty quickly though." Josh said with enthusiasm.

Of course, he would expect to catch up with them soon enough, he had something they didn't have, a system.

"Which affinity is your main?" Cherry asked.

Josh wondered which magic affinity he would choose to be his main. Choosing Blood magic as his main would bring him a lot of problems he was not ready for, humans were prejudiced against dark and blood mages. He did not have the status of Zoey, so he chose the safer option.

Josh raised his eyebrows, "Fire magic, why?"

"I have quite a number of Fire magic spell scrolls, It's better than sticking with the tier 1 magic spell scrolls in the school library. I could borrow you a few." Cherry offered.

She didn't know why, but she just saw this boy called Josh as an interesting person. And for her, it was the first time in a long while that she was having a conversation with a boy, who wasn't trying to date her so he could have a taste of her glory hole. Josh was just authentic.

"Really?" Josh asked surprised.

He had wondered where he would get the funds to get high-tier spell scrolls, now an opportunity presented itself.

"Anything for my sister's future boyfriend." Cherry smiled.

Zoey ignored her sister's comment, "It seems we have reached our destination."