Second Day of Teaching (3) - 36

<Ryker's POV>

"The most important thing in life, is to always be in control."

This was the mantra that my teacher lived by, the mantra that I was raised up on.

Then, there were the rules:

1. Never trust anyone.

2. Assume that all humans are evil.

3. Avoid direct conflict, control from the shadows.

4. When you absolutely must get involved, crush the other side with your power and preparation, don't hesitate to kill.

5. If you are somehow losing, do not hesitate to run away, your life is worth more than your pride.

These were the rules that Teacher had reminded me of at the start of each and every single mission that he had sent me on for "training", and now, they had been engraved in my brain.

'But I still failed.'

Before Teacher committed suicide to pass on his legacy to me, his special stigma, he had told me to take the admission exam of the train from Cavil, as the biggest competition, namely the nobles that had been training since birth, were there.

He had then instructed me to beat everybody else as thoroughly as possible, so that I could get rank 1 and show that time users were not to be scoffed at.

I followed his instructions to the exact letter, almost killing a girl in the process, but I still didn't get rank 1.

Instead, because even the teacher's information network couldn't figure out which train would be the Train to Purgatory, which would have given me the best marks if I had completed it, I was stuck with only getting the best marks on a regular train, losing the first rank to a examinee that had taken the Train to Purgatory.

Then, I was blindsided even more when I found out that he had become one of my teachers, and that he was only 13 years old!

If he had been on the same level as me and had only won because he was on the Train to Purgatory, then I could accept the defeat, knowing that we were the same, and I could pass him with a few weeks of hard work, but because of the big difference between our age and intellect, I was completely blown out of the water!

I was no longer the person that other people had to look up to, I was now one of the ones being quickly left in the dust!

'What a joke Teacher! You told me that I was the strongest kid in the history of this world because of your teachings, but it looks like those were only the last delusions of an old man.'

So I had trained myself hard after the admissions ceremony, losing my frustration in the act of exercise.

But then, another bombshell had been dropped on me. Ashen, as he called himself, had created this new theory about magic that could completely change the world!

I almost tried committing suicide at that point, but decided on resolving myself to training even harder, so that I could at least beat him in strength.

But once again, I was left in the dust today.

During his first lesson with the whole class, I had thought that he was a really good teacher, as I was engaged and could understand everything in the lesson properly, so, I had had high expectations for my individual lesson.

But he completely blew those expectations out of the water.

He had fixed the only problem in my strength, and, by the fact that he didn't even bat an eye doing it, he either was a really respectful teacher, not caring that his student could become better than him through his teachings, or he was so powerful that teaching me this stuff couldn't even help me compare myself to him.

'Just wait, I'll show you the results of hard work, dedication, and some scheming.'

'Sigh, well it's back to training.' I thought, lifting up my 200 pound curling bar again.

<Akimitsu's POV>

'Whew, now that the protagonist is gone, the rest of the day will be easier.'

'Actually, scratch that, it'll be annoying. Why the heck did Ryker and Wilhelm have to be on the same day, I mean, Ryker's fine now that his power is controlled, so I only need to watch my actions and what I say around him, but Wilhelm's constant way of thinking that he's better than everyone is going to be a big pain to be around.'

'Well, speak of the devil, and here he appears.'

I watched as the blond haired noble in his usual fancy red and blue robe walked into the training room, 5 minutes late.

"You're late."

"And why must a noble like me have to be on time to an appointment with a filthy commoner half blood like you?"

'Sigh, maybe I'll just beat him up, so that he won't dare talk back. Yes! That's exactly what I'll do.'

"Come here."

"No, why should I move at a bastard's orders?"

'Really, are you kidding me!'

Utilizing my speed, I phased right in front of him, before grabbing his pretty, but annoying face, and smashing his head back, right into the ground.

Like in a cartoon, he was left in a smoking hole with his whole upper half in the floor.

"You're dismissed, come back next week with the actual mindset to learn."

Grabbing him by his legs that had been sticking up into the air, I carried him to the door, before throwing him out like the trash.

'Well, only one student left for today.'

...

The last student that came in for the day was Adelaide Lark, the genius bow user.

She was the first "normal" student that I taught today, with a lesson that closely followed what happened with the students on Tuesday.

We found out that she had an affinity for water magic, and because she didn't have the stigma, she enthusiastically practiced, as she now had a new weapon that she could use in fights.

Seeing the green haired girl off, I quickly changed into my Akimitsu appearance whilst putting on my witch's clothes.

Getting to the library, I greeted Annalise and sat down next to her, starting a new book that I had randomly grabbed off a shelf.

But then, after 3 hours, Annalise said something that completely caught me by surprise.

"Hey Junior-kun, would you lend me your ear for a second?"