Chapter 9: Combat Mages (1)

The training field was a place built to teach student mages the art of combat. Mostly focusing on combat mages, each field was designed as large as a stadium; one for each year group.

Kathleen led Caleb to the field dedicated to the second year. From afar, Caleb could see the outline of each training field arranged in a circle with a garden in the centre. The field has sitting areas for an audience in the event of a tournament or a duel.

Entering the training field and heading to the centre space, Caleb saw a group of students, numbering about 100 in total. They were paired with one another practising martial arts. Unlike the uniforms he had seen on the students prior, the ones in the training field were in some kind of training gear. The males were adorned in black combat suits and the females in blue-black.

Going around instructing the paired students, Prof. Banks Nartin; also known as 'Bani' by the academy population. As he was giving hints and advice to the students, he noticed Kathleen with Caleb standing close to one of the entrances.

He moved towards them with a bright smile on his face. Standing at a similar height to Caleb with a heavy build, Bani was a force of pure power.

"Hey you, how you doing?" He asked Caleb who replied briefly. He glanced at Kathleen as if to ask what was wrong with him. The Caleb he knew was easygoing whenever they interacted. Waiting for her to reply, he looked back at Caleb closely.

"Bani…" she softly said, "Caleb doesn't remember anything besides a few things. So the headmaster instructed to give him a tour around the academy to see if it could trigger anything."

"I see…" Bani muttered.

"Caleb, this is Prof. Banks Nartin, known by all as Bani. He is the one instructing your students" Kathleen introduced Bani to him. At this point, the students had stopped their training and were looking over to the professors.

They had already heard from the headmaster the reason why one of their teachers had been absent for some time. The story circulating was that Prof. Caleb was on a mission for the royals when he encountered a magical beast he was not strong enough to defeat.

Caleb took everything in and replied with a nod and how some of the students were waving at him with smiles on their faces. 'I guess Caleb was loved by his students.' He pondered to himself and refocused on Bani who was lost in thought about what to do.

Bani then said after some thought; "Why don't you talk with your students a bit? They missed their favourite teacher." He proposed moving towards the students.

"All right everyone, gather around. You all know Prof. Caleb, especially his students in our midst. The accident he encountered during his mission for royals seems to have affected his memories even after treatment. Maybe you brats can help him regain some of his memories."

Caleb and Kathleen stood behind Bani as he talked with the students. He turned around to Caleb and signalled for him to step forward.

Standing before the students, Caleb took a deep breath and assumed a posture with his hands behind him before addressing them. "To be honest with you guys, I can't feel any sense of familiarity with any of you.

"Some of you might be disappointed with this but that's how it is. As it stands, I can only trace my steps to see if anything can be triggered." Caleb said to them but inwardly felt bad for lying to them. 'Maybe I should hint at the possibility of never actually regaining my memories. That way, my personality change won't seem suspicious.'

"I don't know how long this condition of mine may last, but it could be possible I never regain my memories." At this point, the students began to murmur among themselves. Then from one of the male students came a suggestion. With a blonde hair and a smug smile, he said; "Prof. Caleb, I've heard that going through a similar situation that impacted a condition could also be the key to addressing it."

From behind, Bani flashed a smug smile while thinking to himself, 'Maybe this is my only chance I can beat him to a pulp. We always seem to draw when we spar.'

Kathleen standing next to him could guess what he was thinking when he saw the smug look on Bani's face. She just sighed and shook her head. These two had always had some sort of rivalry where they fight it out to see who was stronger. Currently, they were tallied with similar win and lose streaks.

Caleb pondered on what the student said and turned to look at Bani, who was looking at him like a dead man. Guessing what he was thinking, he thought about it, 'This could also be my chance to see how strong [Genetic Manipulation] made me.'

As it was now, he still had no idea how to use magic, but he was willing to test out his physical attributes. But the was another issue, "I don't think I can fight… you know the memory loss and all."

"Don't worry. With the training combat mages have gone through, I doubt memory loss will screw your battle instincts. Besides, we are at a similar level of strength." Bani said before turning to the students.

"Okay guys, go take a seat and watch the show." Hearing what their teacher said, they moved towards the seating area with excitement evident on their faces. Kathleen also made her way there but gave them a warning to take it easy and not overdo it.

Nodding at her suggestion, Caleb and Bani proceeded to distance themselves from each other. With a distance of about 70 m between them, Caleb and Bani got ready to battle. "I won't use my attribute in this fight so you can relax. I won't hurt you…much." He muttered at the end with a wide grin.

Although still not sure about what combat mage or attribute meant, he nodded and took a stance.

"Okay… Caleb, here I come!"

~WHOOSH~

Bani disappeared from where he stood…