『To continue on from the previous topic of space, there ARE creatures in space.』[Reagan]
The class all looked at him with strange expressions.
『Huh?!』[Nova]
『No way, that's impossible.』[Marn]
『...Where?』[Sophia]
『A good portion of creatures come from space. In fact, because of the vast amounts of mana in space, it's creatures are many times stronger than the ones on Graebrande.』[Reagan]
They stood there for a moment before Marn had a realization and began to shake.
『...Stronger than the Brown?』[Marn]
Reagan shook his head and shrugged.
『Maybe not. The stories of the Brown say he is a creature than transcends traditional knowledge. But, it's hard to say that the Brown even exists. In our small world of Graebrande there are too many mysteries. Within each person lies an infinite amount of potential and strength, confined by the limits of time. So, under the common known saying of "there's always someone hig-"』[Reagan]
『Can we move on?』[Sophia]
Reagan stopped his sentence and coughed to clear his throat.
『Okay. You next.』[Reagan]
『Alright.』[Sophia]
She walked through his barrier and conjured a staff.
『...A stick? Why would you make that your weapon?』[Thomas]
『...Reminds me of wizards in those cartoons..』[Katherin]
Sophia turned back and looked at Reagan.
『Obviously, because it helps my concentration. Right, Reagan?』[Sophia]
Contrary to everyone's expectations, he nodded his head.
『Yeah. It does help your concentration along with magical aim.』[Reagan]
『What?! You're kidding, right?』[Thomas]
Sophia puffed her chest out and held her head high.
But, Reagan couldn't let her have her way for long.
『But, any other weapon does the same thing as long as it's easy to use said weapon and easy to point with the weapon.』[Reagan]
This made her silent, and she just turned away from the class.
『...Please just call the weird yellow watermelons with arms and legs...』[Sophia]
Reagan shrugged before summoning the brownlings.
Sophia watched the brownlings start rushing toward her.
They sporadically jumped all around from tree to tree.
『Woah! They're going crazy!』[Jenny]
Sophia raised her staff up.
『Waltz! Waltz! Waltz! Waltz! Waltz!』[Sophia]
From the staff came out with a large amount of white slashes.
They whizzed past some of the jumping brownlings, and cut some cleanly in half.
They then began to curve to attempt to hit more or the ones they missed.
『Woah! They're going for more?!』[Marn]
Most of them curved around the trees, and some of them went through some trees.
『That's really strong, huh?!』[Marn]
『No. Look.』[Reagan]
Marn changed his view toward the white blades.
Some of them got lodged into the trees and broke, whereas two last blades kept cutting into the brownlings.
『...Huh? Why won't she just make more?』[Katherin]
『She's concentrating. She doesn't have the time to make more.』[Reagan]
『But.. She's going to get overwhelmed!』[Nova]
Reagan smiled then shook his head.
『No. The less things there are to focus on, the easier it is.』[Reagan]
When they redirected their view to the blades, they did move deftly in between the trees.
『Oh! It's moving faster, and more accurately!』[Marn]
They cleaved a bunch of brownlings, before one broke.
『She has one left! What now?!』[Katherin]
『There aren't many left. It's up to her.』[Reagan]
The blade flew around cutting most of them up.
Suddenly, a brownling backed up into a tree.
When the blade came for it, it jumped above the blade- causing it to break on the tree.
『What?!』[Sophia]
The brownling jumped at her as she raised her staff.
『Wal-』[Sophia]
Before she could finish her cast, the brownling popped into dust.
『...Nope. Points off.』[Reagan]
He had hit the brownling with an invisible attack, causing it to disappear.
『You should've used bind instead of screaming. That's why I taught you the spell. If you're cornered, you take your distance or swing with the weapon and bind.』[Reagan]
Sophia had a conflicted face and looked down.
『...I would have had it.』[Sophia]
Reagan shook his head.
『No. No you would not. Chances are you would have been grabbed and killed.』[Reagan]
Sophia looked up at Reagan, who kept eye contact with her.
『Even though these are first circle creatures, that doesn't mean that they cannot kill you. If you were able to use mana shield, you would have passed this time. You're getting extra homework this week.』[Reagan]
『...But! That's not fair! I don't know how to use mana shield! How am I supposed to use something you never taught me?!』[Sophia]
『You're supposed to use what you have in order to clear the task. Not just this training. In any given time or place, you will do what you can do to the best of your abilities.』[Reagan]
Sophia clenched her hands around her staff tightly.
『...Fine.』[Sophia]
She stepped back to where the rest of the class was.
Marn was thinking for a bit, before patting her on the shoulder.
『...It's okay. It's our first time fighting live beasts. You can't be blamed.』[Marn]
She looked at him with a surprised expression.
『Marn. You next.』[Reagan]
『Huh?! Uh.. Okay.』[Marn]
He stepped up through the barrier, then realized something.
『Wait-』[Marn]
Reagan clapped to interrupt Marn.
『Okay! Let's begin!』[Reagan]
『Wait hol-』[Marn]
Before he could even speak, a swarm of brownlings had already appeared close by.
『What the?! Take this!』[Marn]
He raised his hand up and aimed toward the group.
『Wind cutter!』[Marn]
Nova was curious as to what Marn was doing.
『...What kind of seed does he have? We've seen everyone else's before Jade, but what about him?』[Nova]
『...You're right! What kind does he have? Katherin too! And what about Anastasia?!』[Jenny]
Katherin chimed in after Jenny asked.
『Oh! His seed is sort of a "support" skill. But… not really? He said if he wanted to use it, he could probably use it just once.』[Katherin]
Anastasia also answered.
『...My ability makes everyone in my area slow.』[Anastasia]
Reagan immediately went into thought when he heard this.
『But.. I couldn't even see you when you attacked.. Does that mean that you slow down my senses..? Hmm.. If I circulated my mana..?』[Reagan]
He went into a deep thought.
Immediately as he went into thought, a shout called him out of it.
『Reagan!』[Marn]
『...Hmm?』[Reagan]
Upon looking at Marn, he saw that Marn was being swarmed by jumping brownlings, and had summoned a sword about half the length of Reischneid- which was about an arm.
『Can I destroy this forest?!』[Marn]
Reagan snorted.
『Hah? You think you can? If you do, go ahead.』[Reagan]
『Okay! Limit Break!』[Marn]
The moment he said that an overwhelming aura appeared that made a viridian color coil around his body.
『Okay! It's showtime!』[Marn]
He began to form a magical circle for his signature Wind Cutter.
He raised his hand up and the viridian spiraled through the air and formed a second magical circle in front of the one he was forming.
『Two magic circles?! What the..?』[Reagan]
The magic circle glowed green, and a green blade of wind came shooting out.
『You can see it?! Wasn't it invisible last time?!』[Nova]
It grew large and began to shred the tree and brownlings.
『...Badass.』[Thomas]
『It.. Reached the threshold for rank two?!』[Reagan]
『Huh?!』[Nova]
It cleaved the entire surrounding area away, before Marn fell over.
『I'm… out of energy.』[Marn]
『...Oh. This is… so not good.』[Reagan]
Jenny was very concerned when she heard that.
『What?!』[Jenny]
『So, remember the thing about mana drawing beasts?』[Reagan]
『...Yeah?』[Thomas]
『That shot he fired is going to summon a swarm of higher circle creatures.』[Reagan]
『So, are we going to run?!』[Thomas]
『Nah. You three. Katherin, Nova, and Anastasia. Go fight.』[Reagan]
『...An army of brownlings?』[Anastasia]
『Yeah. Go.』[Reagan]
They saw an army of maybe 300 brownlings over the horizon, with some being a good deal bigger.
Marn stood up off of the ground after regaining his energy and pointed at something in the distance.
『What is that..?』[Marn]
There was a hulking tree sized brownling with the eyes of a human staring at them.
A collective silence filled the area.
『...』
『I want to die. I REALLY don't want to live in this world anymore.』[Marn]