Chapter 3

"Damn, sitting for two hours isn't good for my back." Daesin stretched his back and thought back to what Theodore said about mana. 'Will I also be able to do it as well as he could?' He thought.

The golden statue of the first principal reflected the sunlight and shone in his eyes. On the other side of the statue, he noticed something blue moving around.

"Eli?"

Daesin moved towards the field and examined the spot. He indeed saw Eli walking around.

"There you are, Eli. Where were you?" Asked Daesin. Eli jumped when she heard his voice.

"I was waiting for you to come back. So how was your first lesson?" Asked Eli.

"Well, it was kinda easy. Next lesson is PE. I wonder what we're going to do," said Daesin.

Watching the grey clouds merging together, Eli knew it would storm soon. If she didn't say anything Daesin wouldn't notice it. The school, located at one of the highest places in the country, would soon be a target of this terrifying storm.

"Daesin. Look at the sky. It will start storming soon," she said.

"You can stay in my pocket if you don't want to get wet."

"I will take that offer," she said as she jumped in his pocket.

She moved around a lot, but after finding a comfortable position, she lied still. Daesin walked towards a bench and sat down. He felt in his left pocket to see what was inside. There was some candy and also a dull pocket knife. He grabbed the knife and threw it away. He never liked using weapons, as he never saw the need of using one.

"Eli, I've got some candy for you."

"Really! Thanks!" She said.

Daesin gave her the candy. She opened it and put it inside her mouth.

"Delicious!" She said with bright eyes.

'So she likes candy.'

'Ding-dong-ding-dong.' The bell rang. PE was about to start.

"Eli, I think I'm lost," said Daesin. He searched, but couldn't find anyone from his class. He felt stupid by not asking where the sports field was.

"You can go inside and ask the lady at the desk," said Eli.

"So you weren't waiting for me the whole time?"

"Y-Yeah, but I kinda followed you when you entered the building." Embarrassing as she may have looked, Daesin liked her idea and wanted to go to the lady at the desk right now. He walked towards the front door, that had more similarities to a gate and went to the lady.

"Sorry, can you tell me the way to the sports field?" He asked.

"Daesin, right?" She asked while staring at Daesin with questioning eyes.

"Yes, ma'am."

"Well, if you walk to the back of the school, you'll see five big rings with different colors. If you go through the green one, you will enter another dimension. The sports fields are all in that dimension," she said. " Don't you have to go to your lesson? The school bell rang."

"Thanks! And yeah, I will go right now."

Daesin quickly left. He walked through the main hall, which had the schools history shown in drawings on the left side. Most of the drawings felt alive. They all moved, and some of the drawings extraordinarily came out of the wall. There were two men and a woman watching him as he walked by. On the other side was everything instead of drawn, written in different handwritings. Daesin looked back to the drawings, and a man pointed past Daesin.

"What, why is my name written on this wall?" He asked.

Letters made sentences. 'I've been expecting you.'

Daesin read the words and asked back: "How do you know my name?"

'No time to answer. Someone's coming. Come back at midnight.' It said.

"I will think about it." Daesin left without looking back. A bald man walked through the hallway. He noticed Daesin talking to the wall. He stopped at the place to see what he read, but the words already changed back to its original form.

"Well, Eli, that was a weird conversation, right?" Daesin asked.

"Yes, what could it be and how could a wall talk to you?"

"I don't know. Wait, I see the rings." Daesin walked out of the back door and saw Theodore standing in front of the blue ring.

"Why. Are. You. Late. Again?" He asked. "You know what, just go through the ring. I will condone it only this time."

Daesin walked through the ring and arrived at another dimension. He saw three large sports fields in front of him and a gigantic green building with GYM written on it.

"Go to Field 1."

"Yes, sir."

Daesin arrived at Field 1. It was a weird field that had trenches, hideouts, and spots to take cover all over the place. It looked more like a battlefield than a sports field.

His classmates stood in a line. Arms behind the back and feet straight in the width of their shoulders, like in an army.

"Daesin, go to your place." Said Theodore. Daesin went to his place and stood in position.

"The PE lessons will, as you know, exist of martial arts, sports and the use of magic; though most of the lessons will be martial arts or magic lessons. We are partly a military school, the moment you guys signed in for this school, you all became soldiers. I will make teams of four depending on this week's PE lessons. After two weeks, each team will get a mission. The people in your squad will become like family, and you remain a squad till the end of college. After college, you will be serving this country for three more years, and then you can go your own way or continue what you were doing," said Theodore.

"After PE you guys are free and you can go to your dorms. Daesin, you stay here after the lesson." Daesin nodded his head as a reply and stood calmly in his position.

"We will practice martial arts right now. Do remember, we have a big gym on the school grounds itself and in front of these sports fields to train and practice martial arts and magic. Make use of it. Now, pick a partner."

Almost everyone picked a partner and lastly Quinn and Daesin were left.

"It is of great importance to know how to defend and attack. Daesin and Quinn! You guys are now training partners. Stand opposite each other. The line of Daesin will attack, and the line of Quinn defend. After every combo, you will change attack and defense. Understood!?"

"Yes, sir." They all replied. Daesin and Quinn stood face to face and in the primary attack position. Everyone held their hands high for the defense and they kept jumping lightly.

"Front kick! Roundhouse kick! Punch to the face!"

One side executed the orders, while the other side defended it. Daesin and Quinn seemed to be on another level. They executed every move perfectly and with enough power to keep themselves from injuring each other.

--

One hour has passed

"Well done, well done. Especially Daesin and Quinn. I never knew you could fight this well," said Theodore.

"Well, I've trained for quite a lot of time. Can I spar with Daesin the next hour?"

Daesin was surprised. Why did he have to be mentioned? He felt in his pocket and Eli was still lying there safely. "The next hour is going to be sparring as you know, I can let you guys fight first. Magic is allowed." Said Theodore.

Daesin didn't know what to say anymore. He didn't want to fight, but he couldn't disobey his teacher. He went to his position in the line, opposite of Quinn and looked him right in the eyes.

"Why do you want to fight me?" Daesin asked.

"Because it's disturbing to have someone new be at my level of martial arts," Quinn replied.

"Well, I don't want to," said Daesin.

"It has already been decided by Mr. Theodore. If you want to cower in fear, you can do it after the match. Hahaha."

Daesin faced a dilemma. He can't fight with Eli in his pocket, and he can't let her out either.

"Don't worry. Nothing will happen to me." Eli said. She knew what he thought and replied without worries. "You can beat him."