Chapter 43- The True Damage

The classroom is silent on his announcement until both Avos and Mariath jump up both crying out in confusion and outrage.

"How does he get an S? He barely did anything."

"He only killed the Necromancer and he scores that high, that's bullshit."

The teachers face grows serious as he places both palms on his table, leaning towards both of them.

"Watch your language while in my class, demon. Since he figured it out first, I'll go ahead and explain that a damage dealers job, is to accurately identify and prioritize the real threats and efficiently dispose of said threat. The real threat is not the skeletons, but the Necromancer himself."

Someone raises their hand and he nods his head at them.

"If that's so, how did Mariath get such a high grade for killing so many skeletons?"

He begins to pace back and forth as he lectures the students,

"That's because the test is two-fold. Let me explain it like this, I commend those who decide to fight all the waves of skeletons, in fact, I would too, but it's not wise especially when you don't know how you got in this situation in the first place.

This could be the spawn room and your actions justified. This could be another monster prior to your fight against the boss monster. Or worse, you could have been separated from your team by a trap in the dungeon and sent to this monster. So, for this test, I'm conditioning you guys to know how to properly identify targets."

Another student with neck long hair and has his uniform blazer draped over each shoulder instead of wearing it. "Well, everyone in class A got to show off, I guess it's time for me to show that Class B isn't far behind."

Walks confidently towards the runes and goes through the transfer to the test zone. As he stands, not bothering to move as the Necromancer appears, sending the green shockwaves raising up the skeletons.

He makes a show of summoning his sword, which is surprisingly a katana, as he holds one hand on the hilt of his sheathed sword and the other hand in front of him. When the skeletons get near him, his thumb lifts the sword from the scabbard pulling the blade then dashes through the skeletons. As they clatter to bones, he lands kneeling as he sheaths his blade.

Watching him do this, many other students excitedly murmur amongst themselves, but I facepalm as I realize that there are a lot of like him lately. I wonder what his gameplan was as he knew he scored the best if he addressed the Necromancer first. Judging by how he was waiting for the Necromancer to summon more skeletons, I guess he was trying to showcase his skills compared to us.

My assumption is true as he quickly deals with each wave then waits for them to respawn before dispatching the next. He does this for a bit until he sits on the ground exhausted, but an accomplished smile is on his face.

Coming back to the classroom, he strides pridefully back to his seat and calls out, "Surely that was an A+."

Mr. Augustine scoffs, "Hardly Mr. Kenjiro. Despite knowing the criteria for achieving a high grade, you choose to focus on the skeletons anyway. You killed 240 skeletons and didn't touch the Necromancer, giving you a C. Remember what was said earlier and I can guarantee you'll get a higher grading on this."

The rest of the class continues to try the test but it seems like the others aren't quite as good as the earlier attempts. One girl not even being able to kill at least one skeleton. The only one who remains is Adriana who still has her head on the desk passed out.

"Ms. Mournwalker, you're up."

She rises up, walking to the runes nonchalantly before getting sent to the testing area. She yawns stretching out her hand as the Necromancer appears. As he does his routine slamming the staff on the ground to summon the skeletons spell, a black fireball appears in her hand that launches at the Necromancer. The monster sees the spell but his staff hits the ground summoning the skeletons which immediately fall back to the ground as the Necromancer explodes and the test ends.

Sighing Adriana says, "How about next time not wasting both of our time and just giving me whatever score, there's nothing you could possibly teach me more than I already know and Im just here because I have to be."

"Sure, you got an S as well for efficiently dealing with the Necromancer. We still have a couple of moments left in class that I will spend advising the students with the lower grades. The rest of you who scored an A and above may go."

Since this was the last class we had to go through and dinner wasn't going to be ready yet, I decided to train a bit to level up my different masteries to get to Tier 5 as soon as possible. The way it progressed, it was going to be a while before I gained a level in any Tier 4 spell or skill.

Heading to the training area where I was prior to the Damage class, I slightly got annoyed at seeing that my spot was taken by a group of boys who were just mindlessly swinging a sword at the post. My annoyance got cleared by the pills effect as I briefly contemplated fighting in what I learned was named the Combat Area. No sooner had I thought of that, did Kenjiro approach me with Mr. Rainer.

Kenjiro stands back with a smug look on his face, as Mr. Rainer stands before me. "I apologize for the interruption Mr. Eric, but you have been issued a challenge by Mr. Kenjiro here for your spot in Class A. Should you decline this challenge, you will resign your spot to him and be able to challenge him for said spot within a weeks' time."

"So I can get challenged by anybody at any time?"

Mr. Rainer shrugs, "It's a school policy to keep students on their toes. Fret not, for it's only this week as the ranks will be revealed next week. Ranked students can only be challenged by a rank under them whereas the tenth ranked student can be challenged by anyone in the Contenders list. So, if you accept said challenge, head on over to the Combat Area."

Sighing, I follow behind both of them as we walk the halls to go to where we'll fight. Along the way there, I make the mistake of glancing over at Kenjiro, who returns my looks with a prideful smile that made me adamant that I was going to kick this guy's ass.

This fight must have been arranged as the stage was ready for us to begin with an audience. Standing on the ring, Mr. Rainer shouts, "Both parties will now negotiate the rules followed by Mr. Eric staking a claim against Mr. Kenjiro."

Kenjiro doesn't waste any time, stepping forward and shouting, "No Invisibility. Only cowards hide in the dark and stab in the back. Stand your ground and fight me like a man, or do you need me to show you how to?"

Rolling my eyes, I wasn't even fazed by his taunt. He clearly was trying to handicap me by taking away the Invisibility I revealed in class. I could set the terms that he couldn't in return use any dashing abilities, but I was positive I could beat him.

Of course, I was cautious and the thought that he was so clever that he purposely did what he did in the test to make me think he's weak just to absolutely wreck me right now did cross my mind.

To be sure, I activated Mana Survey and pulled up his status

Race: Human

Class: Swordsman LVL 18

Health: 400

Mana: 1100

No active blessings/curses

Although he looked to be above average from what I've seen so far from anyone not in Class A, he was still underwhelming.

"No rules on my side, do whatever you have to."

He chuckles, "Hmm, you're pretty confident or foolish. Either way, youll pay for your arrogance."

"Sure. If I win, I want three favors, that you have to do with no questions at any time this entire school year."

"You're not winning so I agree to this."

With the terms set, we back away from each other, drawing our weapons in preparation for the go ahead from Mr. Rainer. Once again, I only draw my right dagger for this bout and pull the other in case I need it. He bends slightly, one hand holding the scabbard to his blade and the other grasping the hilt.

Mr. Rainer shouts, "Begin." And he wastes no time, dashing towards me as his blade slashes towards my chest. In terms of speed, he's a bit faster than Avos, but with him using only one hand to wield a larger weapon at such a close distance, I had no problems holding my dagger up to stop his advance.

With his blade stopped earlier than he expects, he jumps back away from me. He stands there for a brief second, sizing me up before crouching again. I raise an eyebrow, thinking that he's surely not going to try the same attack again. Retaking the previous stance, he dashes again but this time he swings his blade from my opposite side. Taking a step forward, I hold my dagger up to my left side which meets his blade and he pauses again before jumping back once again.

I stare in disbelief as he crouches into the same stance once again. Fed up this game he's doing, I activate Shadow You, summoning two clones who stand by my side. Surprised he straightens up, which I take advantage of by casting Blessing of the Fox on my two clones who charge forward.

Knowing that he'll be in a bind if both reach him, he wastes no time in dashing through the first clone, which disperses it into a dark cloud, and then raises his blade, parrying the attack from the second clone and pushes him away.

With him focused on backing away from the clone, I switch places with it, then dash forward, catching up to him. Surprised, he lashes out at me in desperation, but his mistake costs him as I easily parry his blade and hook it with my own. Putting some strength, I flick the blade away from both of us where it clanks to the ground further away and push him to the ground where I hold my weapon against his neck showing that he's beaten.

He gasps on the ground, "Impossible. There's no way you won that; you must have cheated."

"The first step to improvement is acceptance. Acceptance that your terrible so you can do something about it." I respond.

Knocking my dagger away from his throat he jumps to his feet, "Hmph. You only beat me because I wasn't trying hard." He waves away my words, refusing to accept them.

"That's denial, the opposite of acceptance. Keep it up and your progress will go nowhere." I admonish him. 

He ignores me as he walks off, picking up his fallen weapon as he leaves. Mr. Rainer approaches me, "Excellent work Mr. Eric. Just so you know, you can't be challenged back-to-back, there's an 8 hour wait period before someone can challenge you again. Enjoy your dinner Mr. Eric and I'll see you in the morning."

Considering it was the first day of classes, it wasn't as bad as I did before. The classes were teaching basically what should be common sense and other things I was already taught by Garbhan. I guess my main focus was to continue to get stronger and aim for the number one spot.

Walking into the cafeteria the first thing I noticed was that almost everyone was sluggish and droopy. Students were probably burnt out from doing more than they did before in their entire lives. Some probably had a rude awakening that they weren't as good as they though they were.

Despite the down mood, I was happy for I clearly remembered the distinguished smell of lasagna, one of my favorite foods. Rushing in line to grab a plate full of salad, two lasagna squares and a bowl of assorted fruits with a roll on the side.

Sitting down at my now favorite spot at the table. I don't hesitate to dig into the lasagna, which bursts with a smooth blend of tomato sauce and garlic. I combine the salad, lasagna, and the roll together in one bite, which just brings back nostalgia.

Adriana watching me from beside me goes, "Yo, are you eating that, or are you eating that?"

"Sorry. It's just so good."

"I'm glad you're enjoying meat for the first time."

I freeze halfway through a fork full of more lasagna while gulping down what I have in my mouth. I feel a sense of dread as I realize that I causally forgot there's meat in lasagna. The dread clears due to the pills effect and I suddenly feel way better about messing up like that. Looking down at my fork I think, "That was pretty good."