Sparring With a Teacher

"Change into our training uniform and grab a weapon that suits you. Those are the only weapons you can choose" he pointed at a wooden stand with training weapons like a wooden sword and staff "I'll be waiting you in the ring"

He left, slamming the door.

*sigh*

"I better start preparing"

Although I haven't learnt any new spells... I have managed to learn a tiny, little trick.

I call it, fake incantationless magic. It's not incantationless magic, but to others it might seem so. In reality, I chant the incantations before, using up the required mana for that spell. By doing that I leave it reserved for later for when I actually need to cast it.

Why go into a desert with an empty water bottle you have to fill, instead of going in with an already full water bottle.

Sometimes I'm really amazed at my own genius...

...

Given how dumb I am. I don't know how I'm the only one who came up with this trick.

"Great winds that have been whistling in the eternal, scorching desert that divides our continent ever since the beginning. Sing on this battlefield to blind all those who dare cross you" strong sandstorm incantation complete.

"Winds of the of the north, attack my opponents with a wind, akin to the weapons used by the warriors you blessed" neutral northern wind weapon set incantation complete.

"spiritual winds, bless my weapon" quick wind infusion incantation complete.

...

"Dessert winds, blind my enemies" quick sandstorm incantaition complete.

And those are the four spells I have dicided to use.

I can feel sweat forming in my forehead. I'm still getting worked up by only four spells.

I'm taking a lot of time... I could probably excuse myself by saying that I was getting used to a sword as it's not the kind of weapon I tend to use.

I changed into the uniform given to students for training and classes that require more movement, grabed the shortest sword I could find, and headed out.

"What took you so long!?!?" Unnamed teacher was visibly angry.

"I'm not used to longer swords, haha" I tried to excuse myself with a fake smile "I'm only used to weilding shorter swords, so it took me a while to get used to it"

"Who cares!? I didn't ask for you to tell me about your life"

... Asshole...

On the right side of the ring stood both Hellen Goldenlaw and Lycree Doolvo.

"While Mr. Tramer is the one that decides if you pass or not, our own conclusions on how good this sparring goes are also taken into account" Lycree explained

"Your califications will be given to you after this last part. But you shouldn't worry about past things, just focus on your match with Rick"

"Understood"

Rick Tramer, you're a background character, mentioned as one of the teachers that start a revolution against director Hellen.

You're probably one of the faceless, no-name units I killed on many of my playthroughs.

Even then, you are a wall I have to break to enter Aurum academy.

"Ready..." due to my inexperience with a sword, I assume simple position with my sword in front of me "FIGHT!!"

"[Sandstorm]" I raised my left arm and casted my strong sandstorm spell.

A large flow of sand formed on a radius that was as long as this whole ring, so my opponent won't be able to escape it.

"Wha-"

"No incantaition!?!?" I could hear their surprised exclamation.

That doesn't matter righ now, I have bigger problems here.

The teacher yell out as he started rubbing his eyes.

Quickly, I got as closed the distance and began my swings.

While it's true that I was using this sword as a simple large stick or branch you could find anywhere, it IS just hard stick to hit people, and it was truly serving it's purpose.

I was striking every blind spot he had... wich means that I was attacking every part of his body, arms, legs, stomach, chest, head or back. I left no spot unhit.

"Raah. You shitty brat!!!" He was desperately trying to block my attacks and reposition "I'll kill you as soon as I catch you!!!"

That's right, keep getting angrier and more desperate, that'll only give me a bigger advantage.

"Stop fucking with me!!!" He blocked me!?

That was just luck. Right?

He blocked me again, and again.

*Thud*

He... he hit me.

"Haha, so you get hit and you immediately retreat" he leaped towards me.

How!?

He was now the one on the offensive, while I could only defend and avoid.

"Don't underestimate me you brat!" His movements are kinda slopy, which means that he's still blinded.

"Hugk!" He hit me with a horizontal slash, sending me flying back... thankfully I had a safe landing.

"Winds of purity that are as unchangable as they are fierce..." that incantation, I start running towards him "bring your being into this field..." I won't make it in time "[Defog]"

The reason [Sandstorm] is considered a weak spell. A spell whose sole purpose is negating any terrain debuff, with only a neutral incantation it can even dispel a strong one.

"Not so tough now, are ya?" He swung his sword, and even when I blocked it, I was pushed back "I don't know how you did that, but casting such a useless spell against a skilled warrior. Ha, don't be so full of yourself"

Warrior...

!!!

One of the warrior's class skill [Battle Sense] can negate vision debuffs if the level and skill stat are high enough.

"Today was a great saturday..." he looked up "I had a date with a beautiful girl, she was the love of my life..." he started to slowly approach me "We were gonna get married and have 3 kids. We were gonna buy a house on the Raychmen Kingdom, and spend our time as grandparents watching the sunset on those beaches..." he grabbed me by the collar "But you ruined it all. Our first time meeting each other..." he lifted me. "DO YOU KNOW HOW LONG HAVE I BEEN KEEPING AN EYE ON HER!!!!" He started shaking me.

"Do you have nothing to say? Do you have no empathy? Don't you wanna apologize for all the pain you've caused me?" He stopped shaking me

...

"[Sandstorm]"

"Aaaaaah"

Since it was a quick incantation I aimed my spell directly on his face.

"[Wind infusion]" my sword got imbued by a weak wind that was still able to cut through clothes. Like the uniform my opponent's grabbing.

As soon as I cut my uniform, I punched him in the face, pushing him back a few steps.

"[Wind ram]" I aimed this spell to the ground. And immediately, I jumped to attack him.

My plan worked and the sound of my spell impacting the gound confused him, making him attack in the wrong direction.

As soon as he did that, I punched his face with all the strength I had.

My punch made him fall backwards. And before he could stand up, I placed my imbued sword next to his neck.

*Clap*

"That's all for this match, don't you think, Rick Tramer?" The blonde woman stopped our match and entered the ring.

"Tch" he rubbed his eyes.

"Now, Alen..." she looked really creepy with that voice tone and smile that tried to look and sound calm even though she wasn't "Both me and miss Lycree Doolvo have found your lack of incantation a key point of your arsenal that we weren't told about"

"Hehe well, you know... if I revealed my ace before the fight, I would've lost this battle" i have to tell half truths to make oit alive.

"Hohoho, I see" even her laugh is creepy "Well, you may have had your reasons to hide information from us" she opened her left eye, wich was the same ocean blue color as her right eye, but with a white star-shaped pupil inside of it "But I'd strongly advice you to not keep this kinds secrets from us in the future. Did i make myself clear, Alen?"

"As clear as water!!" I instinctively straightened up.

She closed her left eye and calmly smiled "That's a good answer" she started walking back to where Doolvo is "You don't seem like you want to tell us about your secret right now, so we won't try to make you talk right now" she stopped as soon as she was in front of The old woman "We do have three years to make confess after all"

...

Whait. Does that mean that...?

They probably guessed what I was thinking due to the surprised expression I had on my face.

"Yes, starting on monday you'll be one of Aurum Academy's students" Lycree said in a happy tone... she was really different to the other two that tested me today.

"Yes... I'll try my best"

"You can start by taking this bags with you to your dorm" Hellen pointed at all the bags I brought with me.

Finally, I'm a student in this academy. And starting on monday, the game'll finally start.

____________