Magic Affinity

After leaving the infirmary, Leo followed Miss Camille outside. They walked for about ten minutes until they arrived at a large, round building.

"This is the training center. This is where students can go to train their magic and other stuff." Miss Camille introduced the place to him.

In Leo's old world, this training center would be a gymnasium.

They entered the building shortly after.

Once inside, Miss Camille brought Leo to a private room. The room's interior was made of steel, and it was the size of a classroom.

"What kind of training will I be doing?" Leo asked.

"What else? In order to keep up your appearances, you will need to learn how to use the sword, just like the old Leo." Miss Camille said as she locked the door to the room.

Leo looked around the spacious but empty room.

"I don't see any swords around here."

"Here."

Leo turned around to look at Miss Camille after hearing her voice, and to his surprise, she was suddenly holding a sword.

"What the? Where did you get that from?" He asked.

Miss Camille flipped her palms and spoke, "Spatial magic."

Leo then watched as Miss Camille put the sword into the small hole that had suddenly appeared on top of her palm, almost as though she'd split the space apart.

The sword disappeared into the hole without any effort.

"With this spatial magic, I can cut open space and store inanimate objects into another dimension that can only be accessed by me." Miss Camille explained as she took the sword back out of the hole.

"Holy shit, that's freaking amazing!" Leo's eyes flickered with excitement.

What he'd witnessed just now looked like it belonged to a fantasy novel or movie!

"Instead of learning swordsmanship, how about I learn magic?! Kayn is a magician, right? It would only make sense if I fought him with magic, not a sword!" Leo suddenly suggested.

Miss Camille frowned and said, "Did you already forget? Leo cannot use magic! If you suddenly use magic, everyone will become suspicious of your identity. And we don't even know if you can use magic or not."

Leo sighed, "I remember just fine. I just really want to try using magic, that's all."

"If you can reach a certain level of swordsmanship in the right time, I will teach you how to use magic." Miss Camille suddenly said.

Of course, her true purpose was to motivate Leo to learn swordsmanship.

"It's a promise! How good do I have to get, and how long do I have?!" Leo immediately asked.

"There's no need for you to know that. I will let you know when you reach that goal… if you even reach it at all."

"Deal!"

Miss Camille handed him the steel sword and spoke, "We'll start with the basics. Swing the sword straight in front of you a few times."

Leo grabbed the sword that weighed about 2kg and immediately started swinging it with all of his might.

Despite seeing many mistakes at glance, Miss Camille didn't stop Leo until he swung the sword a dozen times.

"Okay, you can stop now."

"Man, that was tiring…" Leo sighed afterward.

"I'm not surprised, since you swung the sword with all of your might every time." Miss Camille said.

And she continued, "You're putting too much strength into it. You're using a sword, not a blunt object. The most important thing when it comes to the sword is speed and precision."

"Let me show you." Miss Camille took out another sword with her spatial magic and started swinging it.

"Wow…" Leo was totally enchanted by her graceful movements.

Each of her strikes felt as light as a feather, and he could feel the sharpness of the blade even though he was far away from it. Furthermore, her movement felt as natural as water flowing downstream. There were no wasted movements, and it looked like she was doing it without any effort.

"Can you see the difference between my sword swings and yours?" She asked him afterward.

"Yes. Your sword swings feel as light as a feather while mine feels unnaturally heavy. Your movements are swift and agile while mine are stiff and awkward."

Miss Camille narrowed her eyes at him, and she thought to herself, 'If he can see the difference so quickly, he's not hopeless. In fact, he's got some sharp eyes.'

"Very well. Since you know your mistakes, go ahead and fix it. I won't stop you this time, so keep swinging that sword until you're satisfied." She said to him a moment later.

Leo nodded his head, and without asking any questions, he started swinging the sword again.

This time, he did not put all of his strength into the swings, and he tried to mimic Miss Camille's movements,

A few minutes later, Miss Camille spoke, "Do not just copy my movements. You need to understand the reason behind these movements first, or you'll never truly improve. Tighten your grasp on the sword handle and stop using just your shoulders to swing the sword. Use your entire arm and your body as well. You'll be able to swing the sword more and spend less energy that way."

"Yes!" Leo listened to her advice and adjusted his actions accordingly.

Half an hour later.

'This guy… He's a fast learner. The way he's swinging the sword now is incomparably better than before. At this rate, he might really surpass my expectations…'

'Or he could just be pretending to be a newbie to lower my guard. Just who are you, really? And where did you come from?'

Even though she was the one who told Leo that he was from a parallel world, she didn't completely believe such a theory.

In fact, she suspected Leo to be created by some kind of forbidden magic for whatever reason. However, in order to investigate his true origins without making him suspicious, she decided to give him the bullshit story of coming from a parallel world.

It is also entirely possible for Leo to be a spy from another country, who is currently living and disguised as Leo.

After all, it was too much of a coincidence for Leo, who had mysteriously died without his corpse ever being found, to suddenly come back like nothing had happened.

'Until I can figure out his true background, I must keep him by my side… It would be great if you were truly 'Leo', even if you're from another world…' She sighed inwardly.

The training lasted for two hours until Leo could no longer move his body anymore.

"T-That's it! I am done! I cannot lift my arms anymore!" Leo collapsed on the ground with his body soaked in sweat.

"Two hours? You're not very athletic…" Miss Camille looked down on him.

"What?! How am I not athletic? I had been swinging a steel sword without much breaks for the past two hours! I even work out very often because I am always fighting back the bullies in my old world!" Leo exclaimed, feeling a little offended by Miss Camille's words.

Beside his academic skills, there was one other thing that he was very proud of— and that was his strong body that had been trained and refined just so he can fight back his bullies.

Of course, that didn't matter most of the time since the bullies would always gang up on him.

"Your stamina may have been impressive back in your world, but here, it's only below average." Miss Camille said to him.

And she continued, "Anyway, since the training ended earlier than I had expected, and your progress surpassed my expectations, I guess I can teach you a little—"

"Magic?!" Leo suddenly jumped to his feet and interrupted.

"..." Miss Camille looked at him with narrowed eyes.

"Are you really tired?"

"Of course! But I will not miss the chance to learn magic even if all of the bones in my body are broken!" He said.

"Whatever. But before we start, I need to see if you have any magic talent and if there are any specific elements that you are blessed with. This way I will know how to train you properly."

She retrieved a clear crystal ball that was slightly bigger than a baseball with spatial magic and handed it over to him.

"Hold it on top of your palm." She instructed him.

Leo nodded and held the crystal ball with his right hand.

Miss Camille then pressed her palm against his chest and closed her eyes.

The next moment, Leo could see something appearing inside the crystal ball.

It appeared as a small black dot at the center of the crystal ball at first, but the dot began growing in size until the entire crystal ball was pitch black.

Miss Camille's eyes widened with surprise after seeing the results.

"What does this mean? It doesn't look good…" Leo asked her in a nervous voice.

"You have a magic affinity for Dark Magic, and it's fairly powerful," she responded a moment later.

"Dark Magic? That sounds very ominous…"

"A lot of people will agree with you since Dark Magic is associated with vampires."

Leo Swallowed nervously, "D-Does that mean I am actually a vampire?!"

"No, humans can also use Dark Magic, but it's a rare occurrence. Because of this, these people are also known as 'Cursed One'."

"Oh my god! If people find out that I can use Dark Magic, I will definitely be bullied for the rest of my life here!" Leo cried out loud.

"That's not true. What truly matters in this world is your strength, not your magic affinity. As long as you're strong enough, nobody will dare to bully you. In fact, there is a Witch in this school that also has a magic affinity for Dark Magic, and nobody dares to bully her."

"And judging by the results, your Magic Talent is at least A-Rank. I will need better equipment to see your actual rank. You can attend elite classes as a magic student if you reveal this information."

"As if I can do such a thing!" Leo sighed.

"So what do you want to do? Do you wish to learn Dark Magic even though you cannot use them in public?" Miss Camille asked him.

"Do you even need to ask such a question? Of course, I do! I want to learn magic no matter what kind of magic it may be!" Leo declared with a resolute expression on his face.

Ding!

A crisp noise suddenly resounded in his head.

<The System has acknowledged your resolve!>

A transparent screen with texts that looked like it came straight out of a video game suddenly appeared before Leo.

<System activated>

{Magic System}

[System Level: 1]

[Magic Talent: EX+]

[Dark Magic Affinity: S]

[Magic Experience: 0/1,000]

[Magic Points: 0]

<You have received a Quest from the Magic System>

[Quest: Learn a new Magic Spell]

[Description: Learn a Tier 1 or above Magic Spell]

[Time Limit: 7 days]

[Reward: 200 Magic Experience, 1 Magic Point]

"What the heck is this?" Leo muttered out loud after seeing this phenomenon that came out of the blue.

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