Artificial Entities

"Mana pressure is a force exerted by a person's mana on others, like a gravitational force," said the teacher in the first class of the second day of school.

Leon wasn't paying attention, but Hiroshi and Kami were both focused, which annoyed him.

"Hey, why are you paying attention in this boring session?" Leon asked, looking bored.

"You're saying that because you don't have mana," Kami replied.

"Oh yeah, understandable," Hiroshi added.

"But it's boring anyway," Leon said as he started dozing off.

Suddenly, everything slowed down. Everyone stopped moving. Leon, confused, looked forward and noticed a chalk piece that was about to hit him. He slightly tilted his head to the side, and just as he did, time resumed in its normal flow. The chalk, which was supposed to hit him, hit the wall as he dodged it.

"Why the hell are you not paying attention, Leon?!" the teacher yelled.

"Sorry, you can continue," Leon said with a nervous smile.

Everyone was staring at him. Most of the class was giving him serious looks, still holding a grudge over his interruption during the opening ceremony yesterday, though some remained neutral.

A girl from Squad 4 whispered to another member of her squad, "Is he some kind of joker? Typical commoner. Who the hell let a brat like him into this school? He doesn't even have mana."

Both of them looked rich and refined. The girl had light purple hair and matching light purple eyes, while the guy had black hair and brown eyes.

"Not our problem. He's not in our squad," the guy replied.

"Yeah, you're right," the girl agreed.

In the lunchtime, Leon wandered around the garden, then he noticed a girl sitting alone on an old bench with her lunchbox. She wore glasses, and her messy hair covered most of her face, making it impossible to tell whether she was ugly or beautiful. But instead of eating, she just stared at her food.

"Hey, why are you eating here? The school has a giant cafeteria, you know," Leon asked with his usual attitude.

"Try minding your own business," the girl replied in a neutral tone.

Leon sat beside her. It was clear that it startled her because she immediately slipped away to make more space between them.

"Wh-why the hell are you sitting here?" she asked nervously.

"What else is a bench for?" Leon said.

"Sigh... Are you here to bully me?" the girl asked, in frustrated tone.

"Bully? Why? I was just wandering around, and then I saw you sitting here alone, so I thought you might be lonely," Leon answered.

"So you were trying to cheer me up?" the girl asked, still sounding frustrated.

"Yes, absolutely!" Leon said.

"Shut up with this BULLSHIT!" she raised her voice. "Do you think anyone will believe that? You bullies are getting out of hand day by day!"

Sigh

Leon stood up and started leaving with his hands in his pockets. "I can understand you. Bullying is really frustrating."

The girl watched him walk away, mumbling to herself, I said what I wanted, but... he didn't seem hostile... No, no, no... these bullies nowadays act all innocent before showing their true colors.

In Combat Class, Every student held a unique weapon, some using their personal ones and others using practice weapons.

A female teacher, dressed in a high black skirt with a black coat over a white shirt, addressed the class.

"As you can see, these are called Artificial Entities. They are designed for training beginners like you. They can be adjusted to match the power level of any entity from D-rank to S-rank," she explained, gesturing toward the Artificial Entities behind her. The control panel to control them was in her hand.

Even though this world wasn't modern in terms of technology like smartphones or entertainment gadgets, it still had advanced systems. The buildings resembled those from the 18th century, but in certain areas, the technology was far beyond that of Leon's past world.

"I will assign each squad one Artificial Entity for practice in this class. The squad that deals the most damage will get a grade increase, so do your best, my kids!" the teacher said, winking at them.

Once the teacher assigned an Artificial Entity to each squad, they all started their practice. From a distance, she observed the students. Most of them were performing well, combining magic and combat effectively. However, Hiroshi, Kami, and Leon hadn't even dealt a single hit yet, they were just dodging.

What are these kids doing? This isn't a dodging game... The teacher frowned. That no-mana boy is in their squad. I feel bad for the other two, being stuck with such a failure. Maybe I should lower the difficulty for them...

"Swordsman Art... Hack & Slash!"

Suddenly, multiple slashes appeared across the Artificial Entity.

The teacher checked the control panel, and her eyes widened in shock. Their squad's damage score had jumped from 0 to 279, instantly moving their rank from 12th place to 6th.

What the hell was that?!

She focused her gaze on the squad. It wasn't magic, it was one attack, from only one person. The zero-mana boy.

Was that Swordsman Art?! One of the strongest combat arts? He's too young to use it… Isn't his body suffering from the pain of using such an advanced art?!

Kami began slashing the Artificial Entity wildly, while Hiroshi aimed for its legs, throwing it off balance. Meanwhile, Leon repeatedly kicked it like a madman, not out of rage, but purely just for fun.

"Hey, you can't just hit it from your legs!" Kami yelled.

"There's no rule like this?" Leon continued kicking with a smirk on his face.

The teacher who was still observing, let out a sigh and facepalmed.

"...A certified fool."