Practical Activity

Speeding through the courtyard, Leon frantically checked to see if he'd missed anything important. 'How could I sleep in?!'

Leon woke up late. It wasn't like him to need rest—he never displayed signs of exhaustion since that stormy day.

But today was different. For the first time, he felt relaxed. Unburdened from the weights he'd placed on himself before, he slept soundly, almost as if his body had seized the rare moment of peace to recuperate.

Almost barging into the room, he was greeted by unamused eyes. But he didn't falter.

"Apologies, sir Mardak. I slept in," he announced confidently, not bothering to make an excuse.

"Find your seat. Your points later will be deducted," Mardak declared mercilessly. Inwardly, he was impressed. 'Something changed after just two days?'

Mardak was an active Awakened. His watchful eyes couldn't miss the newfound clarity in Leon's actions.

"We will begin practical applications of Law." He waved his hand, and wooden blocks appeared before each of the 30 students, who immediately groaned and complained.

"Professor, isn't it too early?" asked a tall girl, her discontent echoed by the girls around her.

"Silence," Mardak barked. "Before each of you are wooden blocks weighing exactly half a kilogram. Your job is simple: make it weigh as heavy as possible. A perfect 50 points will be given if it reaches one kilogram. You have 45 minutes."

The students quietly pondered the lesson from the previous day.

But no matter how they considered it, a single day of preparation and vague explanations didn't feel like enough.

Then—creak.

A sharp crack followed.

Mardak moved to Leon's table, where the topside was about to break under the weight of a slightly deformed block of wood.

'I knew they should have imbued these tables,' he thought, effortlessly picking up the block.

Scanning it—and the position of the table's breakpoint—he calculated that the block used to weigh over 90 kilograms, now it was half of that.

"Perhaps a man does not always need to be fearless." He said thoughtlessly, confusing Leon. Mardak cast a worried glance at him, wondering what he will be able to teach the boy.

"45 points for Leon Oaken," he announced to the now silent classroom.

"Thank you, sir," Leon replied, as if unaware of the attention he'd drawn.

'What do I do now?' He had almost an hour before the class ended. 'I wonder if the second class will be a practical one as well.'

The first and second classes were taught by Professor Mardak.

"You will help me give advice, as the student who finished first," Mardak told him.

Leon didn't mind. He first went to the row behind him to check on Leia's progress.

"Is that 600 grams?" he asked.

"612," she answered succinctly, her focus unwavering. She didn't let Leon's accomplishment distract her—she expected such things from him.

"You may not need to uniformly increase its mass, but doing so will help redistribute the workload focused on keeping the altered and unaltered parts connected," he said aloud, noticing several students trying to increase the weight only on the block's surface, thinking it was a shortcut.

Leia's block fluctuated slightly before stabilizing, steadily increasing in mass. Leon nodded and moved to assist other students.

"You heard him!" Mardak shouted. "Yet you continued increasing the mass of a single corner! Now look—your block got lighter in the end!" A corner of the student's block blew off, cutting 30 grams from its mass.

'Not as patient as I thought.' He smiled as Mardak's ears were blowing steam at another student for putting her leather bag on it, claiming that the block was now over a kilogram in weight.

Then he focused on a female student nearby. Her progress caught his attention.

"Try not to overexert yourself at once, only to rest and stop the Imbuement suddenly. It destabilizes the resonance," Leon advised. "Go slower, and don't let the process halt entirely."

The girl followed his instructions, and soon felt less exhausted. Though her pace didn't increase, her efforts were more efficient.

"Thanks," she said softly.

Leon nodded before checking on Orick and a timid girl sitting nearby. Both had blocks roughly at 600 grams.

"Relax a little. Your block's about to fall apart," Leon warned Orick, who ignored him. Seconds later, a loud crack echoed as Orick's block split. He grumbled and walked to the teacher's desk to retrieve a replacement.

The timid girl, however, was steady. She made no outrageous mistakes although it was slow going, so Leon moved on, noticing a shift in her emotions.

"Done," Leia announced as Mardak approached.

"Fifty points for Leia Edarin," he declared after scanning her block. Leia had finished in 22 minutes.

She was soon followed by Calla Quinn, who completed hers at 27 minutes.

After the first three, no one else reached one kilogram by the time the 45 minutes ended, though some came close. Joan Spark, the timid girl, managed 975 grams, earning 48 points. Orick listened to Leon's advice on his second attempt and scored 39 points.

Leon was fourth place with 45 points.

* * *

Mardak stood at the front of the room, his gaze sweeping over the class.

"Most of you struggled today because you failed to grasp one crucial lesson: control. It isn't about brute force or speed. The Laws demand balance and precision. Misjudge either, and you'll fail—or worse, destroy what you're trying to shape."

He turned to Orick. "If you force too much change, it fractures. Wasting energy that could be placed more efficiently. Learn patience."

His gaze then fell on Calla. "Steady application yields the best results. Remember that."

Finally, he nodded to Joan. "And you—good effort, but hesitation can cost you. Confidence will take you further than you realize."

* * *

"For the next task," Mardak raised a hand to silence the groans already rising.

"–you will turn your blocks onto their sides using nothing but the matter in the block itself. You have 20 minutes."

"Moving the block earns 30 points. Lifting it earns 40," Mardak announced, his expression stern.

The tall girl from earlier scowled. "Is this a joke?" she muttered under her breath.

"This time, the top five students from the first round will automatically earn 50 points. Your job now is to help your fellow classmates."

Leon sighed quietly, disappointed by the lack of challenge. Leia offered him a small smirk, while Calla began giving instructions to a struggling group nearby.

By the end of the 20 minutes, a handful of students managed to move their blocks successfully. A few even turned them multiple times using the momentum.

"Remember this: the Laws of motion aren't about what you can force. They're about what you can guide." Mardak concluded. "Learn that, and you'll master more than just wooden blocks."

* * *

The room fell into a quiet hum of murmured conversations as the class wound down. Students were gathering their belongings and discussing Mardak's lecture when Leon noticed something unusual at the dim corner of the room.

Joan Spark stood by herself, clutching her block and looking down at the floor. The tall girl from earlier—Vivian, Leon recalled—was standing over her with a group of her friends.

"Really? You only managed 975 grams?" Vivian sneered, her voice loud enough to draw some attention. "I guess even with all that advice, you're still too weak to reach a full kilogram. Pathetic."

Joan said nothing, her shoulders trembling slightly as she held her block closer to her chest.

"Don't tell me you're crying already," another girl from Vivian's group said mockingly. "What a waste of a spot in this class."

Leon's brows furrowed. He was about to approach when Calla Quinn stepped in, placing herself between Joan and the group.

"Back off, Vivian," Calla said sharply. "Joan did better than most of the class, including you."

Vivian scoffed, flipping her hair. "Oh, please. She's just some scared little mouse who got lucky. She'll never keep up."

Calla crossed her arms, her voice steady but firm. "At least she's not wasting time bullying people instead of focusing on her own improvement. Maybe that's why you couldn't even break 800 grams."

The retort hit its mark. Vivian's face twisted in irritation, and her friends fell silent. "Whatever," she snapped. "Come on, let's go."

As Vivian and her group walked away, Calla turned to Joan, who was still holding her block tightly.

"Are you okay?" Calla asked gently.

Joan nodded hesitantly, her voice barely above a whisper. "Thank you..."

Leon stepped forward, his presence drawing both their attention. "That was well-handled," he said to Calla, his tone neutral but approving. "Not everyone would bother stepping in."

Calla shrugged, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. "Someone had to. Vivian's been like that since the first day. I don't have the patience to deal with her nonsense."

Leon looked at Joan, his expression softening slightly. "You did well today, Joan. Don't let people like her get to you."

Joan glanced up at him, her cheeks slightly flushed. "I'll try..."

Calla gave Joan a reassuring smile. "Come on. I'll go with you."

Leon watched them leave together, his thoughts lingering. He wasn't close to Joan or Calla, but the scene struck a chord.

'Why waste energy tearing others down?'

His gaze shifted to Vivian, smug and loud as she left with her group. 'Does she feel bigger by making others smaller?'

He shook the thought off but couldn't ignore the sense that Joan would be targeted again.

Turning the block over in his hands, Leon muttered, "Control, balance, precision…" Mardak's words echoed in his mind. Perhaps the lesson wasn't just about changing the wood's mass, or changing its position.

'Change...' The concept seemed so all-encompassing to him.

His eyes followed Joan, clutching her block as if it were her anchor, walking alongside Calla. The connection was clear. The exercise reflected something deeper: 'The Laws are about harmony.'

'Some of us didn't have to do the second practical activity in order to help our classmates.' He recalled, thinking it was also done to build connections.

To change something wasn't brute force—it was balance. Overwhelm one side, and the rest falls apart. Too little, and the change remains incomplete.

Vivian came to mind again, her loud confidence masking something fragile.

'Some people only know how to tear others down, but that only destabilizes their surroundings. Eventually, they crack under the weight of their own flaws.' He thought of the excessive energy Orick put in his block.

Joan's quiet perseverance and Calla's decisive intervention stood in contrast. Together, they showed a different kind of strength: not dominance, but connection.

Leon clenched the block. Mardak's lesson clicked into place. Power, unchecked, caused chaos. But when directed with purpose, it became a force for transformation.

'Change is constant,' he thought. 'But it's not just about breaking limits—it's knowing when to push and when to hold back.'

As the bell rang, Leon walked away, his path clearer than before. Power wasn't isolation; it was growth, understanding, and purpose.

'Change doesn't have to destroy. It can create something stronger.'