First Step [10]

'This isn't bad... this isn't bad at all!'

Stuffing my mouth with the delicious food that I had found in the cafeteria, I could almost not believe that something could taste this delicious despite the meal just consisting of meat and potatoes, with some greens on the side. 

Maybe it was because I hadn't eaten real, solid food in what felt like an eternity, or maybe it was because of the close-to-death experience I just had, but it was a struggle to keep tears from forming in my eyes. 

"Ummm... hello?"

Taking a second to look up from the food, I locked eyes with the white-haired girl sitting in front of me, looking at me with two confounded light blue eyes. Yes, it was the girl who I now knew to be Zoe... something.

Her first name was Zoe at least, and that was honestly all I cared about to remember. She was the one who had stood on stage next to Cerus at the opening ceremony, one of the two supposedly strongest freshmen at the academy. 

But that didn't matter to me right now. 

"Hello."

"...?"

*Munch! Munch! Munch!*

Gruesome training, good sleep, and proper nutrition were mandatory for a human to become strong and these three parts of my day were sacred to me. Therefore, I continued eating while making sure I savored each and every bite of sustenance. 

"...alright."

Thankfully, Zoe seemed to have understood me as she opted not to say anything, instead also putting her focus the the plate in front of her. 

****

[Cerus' POV]

'What is he doing now?!'

The whole cafeteria filled with freshmen from all of the classes were now taking peeks at a table in the corner of the room, as there was something very peculiar happening. 

In that corner, Zoe had found her place, which meant that naturally, the other students steered away from that table. No one wanted to accidentally get on the bad side of the ice lady who was hailed as a genius on the first day of their academy life. 

...except for one person. 

Ray had for some unknown reason chosen to sit at that table, seemingly not caring at all that the one in front of him was for all intents and purposes above him. Although the nation of Adria had dismantled the notion of royalty and nobles long ago, there was still a very clear hierarchy in the country. 

Zoe Damaris was, as seen by her last name, part and heir of the Damaris family. With their long history of producing immensely powerful ice conjurers, as well as their impressive efforts in defending the nation, the Damaris family couldn't be said to be anything but elites. 

So even if the nation, as well as the academy by proxy, had a pretty ingrained meritocratic philosophy, that didn't mean that there weren't differences in statuses inherited by blood. 

For many, disrespecting this fact meant that one was trampling on the bloody history of our nation, showing a complete disregard for the contributions that had been made by, in this case, Zoe's ancestors. 

'Is he just insane? Or does he have some kind of plan?'

As I, Celine, Jacob, and Rose were sitting in the middle of the large cafeteria, pretty far from their table, I had a hard time making out what they were talking about. No, I had a feeling that they were probably not talking at all judging by the way Ray shoveled down food down his throat. 

"Do you guys know him?"

Jacob was the first to open his mouth, as he sensed that I and Celine had a bit better grasp on the man who had overstepped his boundaries than he and Rose had. Which could be argued to be true but, in all honesty, I knew as little as him. 

With his a bit smaller than average build and dark green hair, Jacob's appearance did suit his role as an archer. He had a bit of a baby face, but he still carried some sharp features that made it hard to call him anything but handsome. 

On his side sat Rose, another girl whom, just like Jacob, we had talked to for the first time just moments ago in the cafeteria. Rose had a pretty average build, a bit flatter than Celine and just about as tall as her.

Her face as well was... she wasn't unattractive by any means, but it wasn't accurate to call her a stunning beauty as well. What was different about Rose, however, was her long, pink hair that flowed down her back. 

So far she had not said a word to us. Granted, we hadn't known each other for more than a few moments, but it was still a bit awkward. Luckily she appeared to feel safe enough around Jacob that she didn't seem uncomfortable in our company.

It just so happened that both of them were in the same class as us, in 1-A, but as a result of a certain someone, we hadn't had the chance to talk to them until now.

"We don't know him. Right, Cerus?"

Celine had been faster than me at answering Jacob, and without hesitation, she made sure that they wouldn't get the wrong idea. Even if I did feel slightly guilty about her frank response, I couldn't deny her words as we truly didn't know him at all.

Putting his hand to his chin, Jacob didn't seem entirely convinced but decided to leave it at that.

"Is that so? Anyway, he is a weird one, isn't he? Isn't he afraid of what might happen to him?"

His words made me for some reason clench my fists a bit, and without realizing it, I accidentally responded with my inner thoughts. 

"Maybe he doesn't feel like he needs to be afraid..."

"Hmm?"

"Cerus?"

"...ah! It was nothing! I was just thinking out loud. Don't mind it."

"Pfft...! Hahaha"

Out of nowhere, our green-haired acquaintance suddenly started laughing and he was laughing so hard that he had to wipe a tear from his eye. 

"Jacob?"

"Ahaha... Man, you need to loosen up a bit! You're gonna get a stomachache if you keep acting like that! But he does not need to be afraid, you say? I can't say that I can see what you're seeing, to me he looks pretty average. No, doesn't he look pretty weak?"

Turning my sights back to Ray, it wasn't as if I didn't get what Jacob meant. 

Ray was pretty tall, but his body didn't belong to someone strong. He had a very skinny and lanky build, without much, or any, muscle on his body. Even though magic users often only did the minimum required amount of physical exercise to make sure their bodies could handle at least a bit of strain. Still, it was clear to me that even Zoe and Rose both had better physiques than Ray. 

Yet, despite that, I still couldn't quite accept Jacob's assessment. Strangely enough though, was that I wasn't the one to reproach him for making premature judgments.

"Don't judge someone by how they look, Jacob."

A very pretty voice made its presence known at our table, with the origin being the pink-haired Rose. Her face was still very much expressionless, but there was a certain sharpness in her eyes that made Jacob sweat a bit. 

"...sorry Rose. My bad."

"Mm."

While Rose made sure to keep Jacob in line, my focus was still honed in on the mysterious man across the room. 

The man who now simply stood up, lifted his emptied tray of food and left. He just... left, seemingly without saying a single word to Zoe and while completely ignoring all the eyes that were watching him.

As he did, my back grew cold as I found another very likely explanation to his unexplainable behavior.

'Is he... just an idiot?'

****

[Ray's POV]

I felt pretty good as I traversed the campus grounds, watching the strange mix of modern and almost medieval looking buildings around me, happy with the meal I had just consumed.

It had already been a very long day for me but with some food in my stomach I felt at least somewhat ready to tackle the rest of the day.

A day that was still far from being over as our teacher had ended our first lecture early.

'Then again, I still have a lot of work to do, don't I?'

Despite my steps feeling slow, it didn't take long before I had returned to my dorm room, one of many located in a large dorm which contained all of the male freshmen. Or at least, that's what I assumed was the case.

The room was still just as small and empty as before, as decorating my room wasn't exactly my biggest priority right now.

No, the only reason I had returned to my room was to check one singular thing before I would start training. And to do that, I needed a certain gift that I had obtained.

"Now, let's see if we can somehow figure out what happened at the training field."

Grasping the crystal ball that I had placed on the desk, I closed my eyes and circulated my mana, feeling the heat slowly spread out inside my body.

*Zwoom!*

===Status===

Name: Ray

Level: 10

Class: Temporal Fighter

Strength: 5

Agility: 6

Stamina: 8

Intelligence: 6

Mana: 24/24

Skills: [Flicker Step]

Talents: [Temporal Synapses]

Awakened elements: Null

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