First Meeting

.....

Suddenly, from all around Nova were all of the people that had attacked him appearing from the white spaces.

『Hi, Nova… Are you well?』[Derenne]

『Haah… That was pretty intense. Did any of you guys get him?』[Hanzo]

The people that had attacked Nova were mostly standing behind him.

『Not at all!』

Nova had turned back to the source of the voice and saw a familiar face.

『...Andrew?!』[Nova]

The 7 foot tall behemoth raised a hand in greetings.

『Yo, Nova! You've never really seen me fight before, right?』[Andrew]

Nova recalled the giant shadow that had almost slammed on top of him.

『...I still haven't.』[Nova]

Andrew laughed toward the ceiling.

『I guess that's true! Anyways, here are all the first year applicants.』[Andrew]

He nodded over to the person next to him, who was already walking over to the side of the person that Nova was just fighting.

The person he was just fighting had a bit of an awkward shy expression when the girl with yellow eyes and a black ponytail stood next to him.

『Err… My name is Alex. The girl next to me is Kikhia.』[Alex]

The girl seemed to stare at Nova with a bit of a conflicted look.

Her eyebrows knitted until she suddenly took a breath and removed a black veil on her face, revealing her full face.

『My name is Kikhia. I'm a bit bitter that you held up so well against me. Please continue to fight with me in the future.』[Kikhia]

Alex was taken aback by her sudden talking.

『K..Kikhia? Are you alright talking?』[Alex]

She looked at him for a moment before she looked down near Nova's feet as she slipped her veil back on.

As she was slipping the veil back on, Nova could faintly see a smile and blush on her face as she rearranged her face.

The look on Alex's face slightly deflated when she did that though.

『...Anyways, Alex. You had two knives and a string, how did you do that?』[Nova]

Alex was shocked out of his state.

『Oh! I imagined my weapon that I usually use. I actually thought I was going to have to fight you in martial arts when you threw away my weapons...』[Alex]

Alex seemed like a timid individual, Kikhia was hard to describe…

Nova turned back to Andrew, who smiled back.

Nova gave him a big grin in return.

He spent a lot of time with Andrew but didn't know much about Andrew's battling habits.

The first year's greetings were ended by Hanzo.

『Anyways, that's all the first years for this year! You guys will be sort of a group for the rest of high school!』[Hanzo]

Nova was surprised that there weren't more people.

『Weren't there supposed to be a swarm of people? I saw there were a bunch of them last time.』[Nova]

Hanzo nodded his head before giving a smile and thumbs up.

『The weapons mastery club is super exclusive! If you fail to dodge or block too many attacks, you'd be kicked out!』[Hanzo]

Nova suddenly felt a cold sweat began to crawl down his back.

「...If Reischneid didn't do all that training with me, I'd have definitely failed...」[Nova]

Hanzo clapped his hands.

『So, congrats on getting in! Those pins I slapped on you are yours to keep. They're used to take you to a space for training. In here, your physical body won't be harmed and time in here moves faster than out there!』[Hanzo]

Alex was taken aback at this.

『But… isn't time relative to everything? How is it possible that we can spend less time in here than out there?』[Alex]

Hanzo was about to answer before he realized… he didn't really know the answer himself.

Thankfully, someone spoke up on behalf of Hanzo.

『...Because of the perception of time of the human mind not being relative to actual time. According to some sources, the adult mind may move up to 2 and a half times the speed of the average child. However, in this world, the brain is pushed to the absolute limit in order to make the world the best possible thing for training.』[Derenne]

Nova was awestruck that Derenne spoke, not because she spoke so much but…

『That's why it is hard to channel mana or use spells, as there is no course of mana veins to direct your mana through, causing any attempt to use your mana to fail. However, because your body is perceived normally through your brain, your phantom used in this mental world matches the skill and strength of your real body.』[Derenne]

...But because she seemed to have that same sparkle in her eyes as when Reagan spoke about mana and the application of it in spells.

Nova looked over to the side, where he saw Hanzo happily half smiling at Derenne.

….

After Derenne explained the rest of the workings of the world, Hanzo took over once more.

『As such, this will wrap up the first meeting of this club! The fourth years and second years didn't show up this time as they were busy with some other things.』[Hanzo]

He tapped on the pin that he slapped onto their uniforms.

『This is a magical sync pin. By pouring your mana into it, it will form your mana into a certain frequency where you can connect into this world, no matter where you are. The mana enters your mana veins and into your sense of perception. Do not ever use it in a place where you are endangered.』[Hanzo]

He suddenly took a katana he formed from thin air and sliced off his arm.

Nova and the other first years reacted violently.

『HEY! HANZO!』[Nova]

『WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!』[Andrew]

『W-w-w-w-wha-ha-at?! What did you just do?!』[Alex]

『Hanzo?』[Derenne]

The only person who seemed to remain calm was Kikhia.

Hanzo raised his hand up to show them his hand, slowly regenerating.

『...You can hurt and die as much as you want in here. But outside, you only have one shot. That's why this club and place exists.』[Hanzo]

He grabbed the pin off of his uniform and crushed it, causing him to vanish into some crystals.

After they stood in stunned silence for a while longer, they all awkwardly talked before exiting the world.