Nova sat in his room alone, staring straight forward.
「...Select!」[Nova]
From an outside perspective, nothing would be seen, but from Nova's eyes, a colorful interface appeared.
「...Hehe. Reagan gave me a great toy today!」[Nova]
He navigated all of the options slowly, only to find that it was on par with his phone, if not better.
「Eh… where is the time and stuff?」[Nova]
He looked up to find the time blinking there.
「Oh..! It's only… 2 a.m.!」[Nova]
Suddenly, Nova remembered that Reagan was supposed to pick him up at 6.
「NOPE. STRAIGHT TO SLEEP!」[Nova]
He slammed his head onto his pillow and tried his best to go to sleep.
「...My body hurts.」[Nova]
....
Nova laid in bed until Reagan burst into his room.
『Wake u-』[Reagan]
Nova pulled himself up, getting out of bed.
『Did… did you sleep?』[Reagan]
『...No. Not a wink.』[Nova]
Reagan's face actually held a rare trace of pity.
『...Uh… actually, maybe you could...』[Reagan]
『No. It's okay. I've gone unconscious or fell asleep so many times in the last couple weeks that my sleep schedule has literally crumbled to dust.』[Nova]
He got up, already dressed in some more comfortable clothing with a wider range of movement.
『...Where did you get that?』[Reagan]
Nova casually scratched the back of his head before putting his hand into the storage space of his necklace.
『I got this as a gift.』[Nova]
Reagan seemed suddenly intrigued in something.
『You were previously houseless… and that storage item seems to be made quite well… Who did you receive that from?』[Reagan]
「...Ah crap. If I tell him Reischneid made it for me, I think I might get dissected...」[Nova]
He decided to go about it in a roundabout way.
『A relative gave it to me.』[Nova]
「Will… this work?」[Nova]
Reagan seemed to think extremely hard, bringing to Nova's attention that he had bags under his eyes.
『Hmm… But if your relatives gave you that, they must be pretty wealthy… Well… it does look a little crude. Maybe they came upon it by chance? Hmm... 』[Reagan]
Reischneid's voice chimed in Nova's head.
「Hey… What the hell do you mean by crude?! I'm clearly one of the best craftsmen in this damn world! It's the material's fault, god damn it!」[Reischneid]
Nova almost burst into laughter right there.
「Haha… calm down..!」[Nova]
『But… It should be okay. The spatial storage space seems to be within the threshold for spatial interexistence.』[Reagan]
『Spatial what?』[Nova]
『Simply put… only a certain spatial strain can enter a teleportation or spatial dimension at a time.』[Reagan]
『Oh! That's why my Area broke when I used it against the blood giant!』[Nova]
『...You clashed with another spatial dimension?』[Reagan]
『...Well, I used it to try and redirect an attack, but some lightning flashed out of it and my spell broke.』[Nova]
Reagan sighed before rubbing the bridge of his nose.
『...This is why conceptual knowledge should be mandated for first years...』[Reagan]
He raised his hand before purple mana formed into a fluctuating orb.
『Warp Gate!』[Reagan]
He crushed it, causing sparks to explode forth and reform into a portal.
『Well, maybe I'll give you some special lessons...』[Reagan]
He walked closer to Nova before grabbing Nova by the arm.
『...Huh?』[Nova]
『Let's...』[Reagan]
He flung Nova toward the portal feet first.
『...get started!』[Reagan]
Nova saw purple and black for a moment before he saw a darkly lit sky.
『WOOOOOAH?!』[Nova]
Nova raised his mana shield before he hit the ground on the other side.
He ended up bouncing off of the floor three more times before landing on his knees.
『Hooh. You pulled up your mana shield on time! Not bad!』[Reagan]
Nova looked around to find himself in the training yard, but it seemed too dark for 6.
『...It's still dark out?』[Nova]
『I decided that I want to spend time with my family, so I wanted to go earlier. Did you even see the time on your phone?』[Reagan]
『...What time is it?』[Nova]
Nova got jumpscared as a voice spoke in his ear.
『It is currently 4:37 A.M.』
『What the heck?! What kind of technology is this?!』[Nova]
『Hey, keep it down. I decided to skip sleeping for this. I should have just took you training the moment I suggested if I knew you weren't sleeping.』[Reagan]
He raised his hand into the air.
『Genesis, activate mana formation "Cityscape"!』[Reagan]
Rumbling noises echoed from all around them.
『What's going on?!』[Nova]
Bright lights appeared all around them until several story buildings manifested all around them.
『The training ground is also used for administrative work, amongst other things. In fact, the citizens are being kept about 20 miles away from here while the city is being rebuilt.』[Reagan]
『Wait… so..?!』[Nova]
『Nah, we're just using this as a battle setting.』[Reagan]
Reagan formed a sword similar to Nova's go-to.
『Is this really the weapon you prefer? I have decent experience with this, but it isn't the best in range nor strength.』[Reagan]
『Well.. It's what I'm used to.』[Nova]
『That's fine, but don't you want to try something new?』[Reagan]
Nova thought about it for a bit, but shook his head.
『No. I'd like to use it. Maybe have a second weapon in my other hand, though.』[Nova]
In Nova's mind, swords were the epitome of strength, with all of the strongest people he's ever known using them.
『A second weapon? Dagger? Shortsword? Gun? What?』[Reagan]
『Maybe a dagg- wait, what? A gun?』[Nova]
Nova was wondering if he misheard something.
『...Though it is rare for a student to gain access to a gun, we do allow it to certain students.』[Reagan]
『Certain students?』[Nova]
Reagan put his hand into his ring's spatial storage and pulled out a handgun.
『...Namely, Knights or Squires.』[Reagan]
He handed Nova the handgun carefully.
『...This is a bit early, but congratulations on your Knighting. Because there isn't a Knight for you to serve under right now, you will be indefinitely put at the Squire rank until a Knight or high rank accepts you as their Squire. 』[Reagan]
Nova held the gun with awe.
『The thing about guns are that they are harder to conjure up. You can create a decent sword or spear, but if you don't understand a bit about guns? No way.』[Reagan]
The gun looked like it was also decked out in technology, having an interface with a blank circle, the number '0' at the top of the interface, and detailed with a chrome finish.
『You can change the mode of the gun from lethal to non-lethal by removing the ammo cartridge at the bottom. Though you aren't authorized to learn the details of how to conjure a gun, the cartridge basically pools your mana and condenses it as ammo. If you are low on ammo, put more mana into the gun, and it will create more ammo.』[Reagan]
He made a finger gun and point it around.
『Without the cartridge, you directly fire your mana at the enemies. Even if you don't plan to use it, the gun will be useful for training your mana control, mana speed, and mana quality.』[Reagan]
Nova laughed awkwardly.
『Haha… You're making it hard to say no...』[Nova]
『Well, this gun was specially selected by me to fill in your faults.』[Reagan]
He produced a clipboard from his ring.
『...Like, weak offensive powers, low mana, and no far-range attacks. So, by giving you a gun that allows you to leverage your strengths… like good mana control and high spell versatility- you can become more akin to a guerilla-style Striker than a Specialist.』[Reagan]
Nova was taken aback by how much thought Reagan had put into the weapon.
『You… put that much thought into choosing a weapon for me?』[Nova]
『...Well, to be honest, this is for the class points. You can use the non-lethal version during duels and tournaments, and you really need to make up the points...』[Reagan]
Nova's feelings of admiration and respect disappeared pretty fast.
『...Oh.』[Nova]