And I sat down in my seat.
As soon as I sat down, the teacher called out, "Alright, that's enough," and announced the next student.
Minerva S.: "Our next student is Alice Rivière, please come to the dueling area," she said.
Yes, the change in the teacher's manner of address made it clear that Alice's family had some influence. Her family was a small one involved in medical treasure cultivation, but her older brother owned a large auction hall in the world within the M-Diveace capsule (Eclipse Lands), which greatly spread their fame.
M-Diveace dont have any record option so some artists depicted what they saw and gave the people in the world a general idea of what they had experienced.
Alice walked gracefully to the board. The slight sway of her hips highlighted her curves and gave off an upper-class vibe. You could tell by her walk, it screamed "I am superior." Her face, however, was full of politeness. Which one was real, I didn't know, but one thing was certain—Alice was truly beautiful.
When Alice reached the board, the teacher gently handed her a greatsword. Alice carried the sword on her shoulder, exuding a slightly masculine aura from her otherwise feminine demeanor. As soon as Alice took the sword, the atmosphere shifted, and I became the observer. The environment suddenly split into two cliffs. The air smelled of rain and earth. The peaceful scent of nature was in stark contrast to the scene before me. It was easy to see that the ground near the edge of the cliff was slippery. I guessed the other end of the cliff was about 4 to 5 kilometers away. On the opposite side, dried trees swayed slowly, giving the impression that the area had been abandoned for a long time. Alice subtly adopted a more aggressive stance.
Her posture was slightly bent, with her balance point shifted forward—a fighting style where she constantly attacked the enemy while using a parry dagger in her other hand to block their strikes. Normally, this style might seem strange, but it was perfectly normal because Alice possessed the 'Hand Rune.' From what I could gather, the 'Hand Rune' granted her a situational aura.
Despite getting extremely tired, her mind sent her the message that she was fine, and because of this, I believed she could probably fight until death. Her opponent, however, felt a constant sense of being left behind and hesitated in their decisions. This was especially effective on the weakest-willed beings, as their minds lacked self-control.
She was also receiving some kind of power boost, allowing her to wield the heavy greatsword easily with one hand. Her reflexes became faster as well. For most people, the situational aura might seem unnecessary, but when you think about it rationally, it was likely very powerful. After all, when fighting a stronger opponent, it's not just your strength but also your mind that needs to be in play.
I couldn't get past my impressions as the teacher started talking about the area. The teacher was separating students, but the area I had received seemed very ordinary compared to Alice's. I didn't know if it was random, but it probably wasn't a coincidence.
The existing areas were from the world before A.R. 0, and now we could access Eclipse Lands through M-Diveace. It was probably a valley that had seen far more epic battles, as you could guess.
The teacher continued explaining about the valley, but by then, my mind had already wandered elsewhere. Noticing this, the teacher immediately directed a question at me.
"Esteban, since you're not paying attention, I assume you know this subject much better than others."
Without waiting for my answer, the teacher continued.
"Tell me, why were these two valleys separated back in the day?"
How the hell could I know? I didn't have an M-Diveace device, and if the teacher had told me the name of the valley, at least I could have recognized it from the books I'd read, but I had never encountered this valley's manifestation before.
After about a minute of silence, the teacher said:
"Esteban, since you weren't paying attention, you're going to the training area early. You're penalized, and you'll run an extra 25 laps. You'll probably finish by the end of class. Go on."
I lost the chance to watch Alice. I hadn't had much opportunity to watch her before, since I was usually either kicked out or the class happened on days I wasn't there. I grabbed my bag and slowly got up from my seat, walking at a pace that wasn't too fast toward the door. My slow pace created a strange atmosphere as the entire class fell silent, watching me leave, and that made me feel good.
I exited through the door, which shut automatically behind me. It took me about 10-12 minutes to reach my designated training area. I changed into my training clothes after removing my school uniform in the locker rooms and tied my hair back with a clip. Normally, runs weren't done with heavy vests, but since I needed to improve my endurance quickly, I ran much faster than most people and wore heavier vests.
As a result of malnutrition, I hadn't built much muscle, but I had incredible endurance.
After grabbing the sandbag, I began running at a slow pace for 5 laps, observing the surroundings as I went. Outside of training, the fields were usually a popular spot for young couples. People would often relax or eat in the resting areas while others ran or worked out. Over time, people had gotten used to it, so no one bothered the couples or the runners. After completing my 5 laps, I increased my speed and ran 15 more laps. At that moment, I didn't pay much attention to what was happening in the outside world, as I was focused on my breathing and the path ahead. When I reached the last 5 laps, I began to feel tired, sweaty, and out of breath. I didn't mind, since health nanobots were injected into my bloodstream and would activate if my condition became critical. The slow response of these bots was meant to prevent people from doing reckless things. I couldn't argue with that.
During my last 5 laps, I sprinted until exhaustion. Usually, the number of laps was less, but today I did 6.5 laps. Finally, I removed the breath-enhancing device from my mouth. Drool dripped from my mouth, and I spat out the accumulated mucus into the designated area at the edge of the field.
When I finished my laps, I checked the time on my old analog watch. Eight students were scheduled for practical combat today, and the teacher would point out their shortcomings. At first, the teacher would mention at least my weaknesses, but since some parts of my fighting style were unconventional, the teacher let me be, allowing me to improvise and develop my abilities. Even though there was a divide between us, at least the teacher cared about doing his job.
I took a moment to catch my breath and sipped from my fizzy water. As I slowly approached, I could make out some students from my class in the distance. As I got closer, I could hear the crowd's chatter. One student said:
"Hey, but Alice really can't be serious. How can you stun your opponent with a single parry and then decapitate them in one strike? If I didn't know any better, I'd say the system's broken," they laughed.
Alice blushed. Oh, how cute she was when she got embarrassed.
Alice thanked them for the compliments and made her way to the running area. When the students started looking at me closely, I immediately got up from my seat and quickly walked over to join them, water bottle in hand.
Augustus made some silly mimics, implying that I smelled of sweat, and they laughed.
The teacher asked, "Did you run well, Esteban?"
Before I could answer, the teacher responded to his own question.
"Yes, you seem to have run quite well. Now, you'll run 50 laps with your friends. This run will count toward your physical fitness grade for the end of the year," he said.
Hearing this, the students became excited, but I wasn't. "Damn it, this stupid bastard, did she forget that I ran 25 laps with equipment? How am I supposed to run 50 laps without it, especially with my exhaustion?" The only thing I could do in response to the teacher's decision was grit my teeth and move toward the starting line with the other students, taking my place.