Learning

After all the students had intruduced themselves, the class started with the Proffesor teaching the basics of mana.

Justine patiently waited while the students had introduced themselves and once he found that the first lesson they will be learning will be something he had already known.

Well, not like he didn't expect it though. He rested his head on his right hand as he tried to think of something to do.

'I guess i should upgrade my mana core here since i already know everything about this lesson.' He thought as he got himself to enter in a lotus position.

He then focused on absorbing Worldly energy around him then use it to upgrade his mana pool. Worldly energy can be used in restoring lost mana and in upgrading the Mana Core.

The ranks of Mana cores are as follow: Purple, Blue, Dark green, Light Green, Yellow, Orange, and Red.

Currently Justine is at the Blue Core. People who can learn magic have a Light Gray mana core at the start.

If someone has a Gray mana core, they are unable to learn magic and is thus left with the option to take up Swordsmanship or something else they are talented at.

'Due to my village being near the borders of the kingdom, the worldly energy there is scarce and thus i am only able to reach Orange rank even with my techniques from my previous life.' Justine thought as he started to absorb the worldly energy around him and started promoting his Mana core slowly.

'But this area of the kingdom seems to have a lot of worldly energy around it. maybe it's for that reason the Academy is built here, or maybe it is something that has occured after it was built. For whatever reason though, i can use this abundance of worldly energy to promote my Mana core.' He thought as he slowly took in the worldly energy around him and slowly upgrade his Mana core.

As he sat on his chair silently, alone at his row, he also slowly upgraded his Mana core. After a few hours it was now noon witht he sun at the middle of the sky.

As the sun was up in the kiddle of the sky, it signaled lunch for the kids and the professors. Justine stopped meditating and went to the cafeteria of the Academy.

It was a large space filled with tables and chairs for the students. At the front of the cafeteria was the counter in which students can take their luches.

Of course one had to pay for their lunch but there was the option of free meal but it would only consist of 5 pieces stale bread and a bowl of soup. And of course the water was also free but there were several other drinks.

Justine chose the free meal as he wanted to conserve money since he had only received 1 gold coin from his parents when he was about to leave the village.

1 gold coin was 100 silver coins and 1 silver coin was 100 bronze coin. 1 gold coin was already considered to be too much money in his village and he did not want to waste money on temporary things like expensive food. For Justine he is fine with eating anything as long as it is edible and tastes decent.

He picked up his meal from the counter and went to a nearby empty table. The tables which were made of wood were made very skillfully and very detailed. It's shape was of a rectangle and could fit 4 people eating on one of its long sides and 1 person on its short sides.

Justine chose a table which was next to a wall and sat opposite to a wall so he could lean back and relax while he ate.

While he did travel with a bunch of other people, Justine mostly prefered to act alone, sort of like a lone wolf. That way, no one could bother or disturb him unnecesarily and could find peace whenever he wanted to.

As Justine was about to take his first bite on his stale bread, he was interrupted by his bag which seemed to be moving. As he checked what was inside, he saw Aster waking up and rubbing his eyes.

Justine was quite surprised as Aster was usually so obedient but quickly understood why he would disobey him this time. He split all of his stale bread in halves and dipped them all into his bowl of chicken soup and gave them to Aster.

Aster quickly took a bite of his food and immediately looked at Justine with a look of confusion.

"Haha, well that's what you get for following me and me not knowing about it. Sorry there bud but you just have to deal with this this time. I'll try to get better food for you next time ok?" Justine murmured to Aster in a gentle tone while rubbing the top of Aster's head.

Aster understood what Justine was trying to say and began to ate with no problem after that. Justine smiled as he saw Aster and was about to continue eating when hr was interrupted once again.

"Hey Justine! Mind if we join you here?" A chubby boy asked as he was already about to sit down next to Justine.

'Well you did already sit.' "... Sure, i don't mind either way." Justine answered as he ate his stale bread.

A tall scrawny kid sat nextto the chubby boy and saw the food Justine was eating. "You aren't going to get some more tastier food? Maybe atleast some toast?" asked the tall scrawny kid.

"No, it doesn't matter what i have for lunch. As long as it's edible and tastes fine." Justine answered casually.

"Hey, did anyone notice that we were the only swordsmen who came from a village back in class?" An average looking boy asked.

"*cough* Swordsmen and swordswoman." Velvet corrected.

"Ah right hahaha..." The boy quickly felt awkward and thought that he shouldn't make any more awkward mistakes like this again in the future.

"Anyways, you seemed to be in your own world back there Justine, in the back row all alone and stuff. I mean, did you even hear any of the lesson from way back there?" A good looking kid with crimson spiky hair asked.

"I could hear just fine actually, plus, there was a window just at my left so i wasn't bored." Justine answered as he finished all of his bread and drank down some water.

As he was about to leave to go return back the bowl of soup. A hand had stopped him. It was from the chubby boy. Justine immediately knew what he was about to say and decided to shrug and give the bowl to him before the boy could say anything.

The chubby boy had looked pleased and surprised that Justine already knew what he was about to say before even saying it and decided to give him the bowl of soup. This definitely left an impression on him, thinking that Justine is some sort of mind reader but in actuality anyone could tell what he was thinking just by looking at the face he was making.

Justine decided to take his bag with him as he was going to get more cold water from the counter.

"Are you already leaving? That was quick." The spiky haired boy said as he saw Justine leaving.

"Well, my lunch was after all only 5 pieces of stale bread and soup that i gave away, so ofcourse it would be quick, but i'm only going to get more cold water and return here." Justine said as he reassured him that he'll come back.

After that, Justine went on to grab more cold water. He requested a bottle of cold water from the person at the counter and while he was there waiting for his cold bottle of water, he saw an interesting scene.

Instead of a noble bullying a commoner, a commoner was bullying a noble, demanding money and humiliating him.

The bully stood at 4'6" with short brown hair and a lean body while the noble was 4'4" with blonde hair that covered his eyes and a thin body.

This left an amused expression on Justines' face as he watched the scene continue. He wouldn't try and stop it ofcourse, since why would he? This was a pretty interesting scene and it left an impression on all of the nobles.

Anyone of them can always be taken down by someone stronger than them. During Justines' research on the kingdom, he found that, anyone with high magical power or a high level of skill in swordsmanship, could be granted nobility if they ever fought in a duel with a noble and win.

So if any noble ever antagonize someone from their school days, it could come back and bite them in the ass when the person they antagonize comes to challenge them and end up winning.

Ofcourse since it is a duel, both parties must agree that they will accept, but for nobles, if they ever refuse to accept the challenge, they might suffer mockery from fellow nobility and a fall in their reputation from the public.

In other words, they have no choice but to accept the challenges issued to them unless they want their family to experience mockery and the likes.

As Justine watched the scene, he noticed that none of the teachers nor any kind of adult in the Academy tried and stop this blatant bullying.

It couldn't be because of the bully's background since he was a commoner, so he could only think of one reason.

Justine was very amused by the conclusion he came up with, though he still needed to verify it.

'Suppose i should do it later.' Justine thought with a sinister smile.

Soon after the noble handed the money to the bully, 3 other nobles had walked behind the bully.

All of them were taller than the bully, all of them atleast 4'8" of height and the bully only standing at 4'6".

"You better give that back to my brother or you won't like what happens if you don't." The tallest of the nobles said.

He had smooth blonde hair that was styled very neatly. His bright blue eyes showing a light of justice in them. He had a lean body which with the slightly tight white uniforms of the Academy, made him look somewhat like a hero, especially so with his good looks.

"Heh, or what? you're gonna beat me up huh? well then try to do so if you can." The bully said with a vicious grin.

"... Hmph, i suppose i should make my standing known to the rest of you now. I thank you for volunteering yourself as an example if you cross me." The noble said as he took a stance.

He bent his legs slightly with his left foot at front. His left hand infront of him with his right fist on his right chest.

"Oh? So you ARE going to fight me, but since you're the brother of this weak fool, you're probably going to be just a bit stronger." The bully said as he took a stance also.

Both of them backed a few feet away from each other and continued to stare at the other.

Soon the bully made the first move and rushed to the noble with his right fist ready on his chest and his left hand at his left waist.

As the bully was only a few feet away, the noble then firmed his stance and took a deep breath and holding it.

The bully moved to the right when he was only 5 feet away from the noble, getting out sight from the noble and momentarily shocking him.

The noble moved his head to the right but as soon as he did so he was punched in the face with the bully's right fist.

The bully then stomped his left leg after his right fist hit the noble and punched the noble on the stomach after he withdrew his right hand.

The noble fell down coughing as he took two powerful blows on his face and his stomach.

"As i thought, you are nothing but a weak fool with a rich background. You couldn't even take a punch from me even though you're taller than me and even having a bit bigger body than me." The bully had a vicious smile on his face as he stomped on the back of the noble.

This scene shocked everyone present in the cafeteria as the bully took the noble down very easily.

The other two nobles punched in sync together at the bully. The on the right using his left hand and the on the left he used his right hand to punch atthe bully.

The bully only crouched down, with his right leg at the front and used it to launch himself at the nobles after their arms were fully stretched forward.

He punched them both at the stomach, making them step back and cover their stomachs as they felt intense pain for not putting their guards up.

The bully took advantage of this after stabilizing himself with his left leg. He punched the noble on the right first and then kicking him making him fall down on the ground. And dealt with the noble on the left in the same manner.

"Hah~ you guys went at me at the same time but i still took both of you down. Sheesh, you guys were already raised in a good family yet you still lack power to beat me, how pathetic." The bully mocked them with a smile.

It was then at that moment Justine felt a sense of jealousy from the bully.

'I guess the reason is pretty obvious huh.'

The bully then walked back to his seat and continued eating with his classmates. All of the people who were on his way got out as quickly as they can, in fear of angering him.

Justine looked at the nobles, the blonde one helped his beaten little brother get up while the other two struggled to get up.

Soon after the fight, a group of mages went in the cafeteria and went to the nobles who were beaten and healed them of their injuries.

After they were done they quickly left and the nobles quickly got back to their seats. What interested Justine though was that the tall blonde noble had no trace of shame nor humiliation on his face, only concern for his little brother but the little brother had a look of anger in his eyes as his hair that covered them got messed up while he was being beaten.

'How amusing.' Justine thought as he went back to his seat once he got his bottle of cold water.