"Hey... Come back here! you... you.."
The warriors training on the sprinting track ignored the shouts of the goblin teacher and rushed to take a look at the spellbook.
Grasping a pure-mana spell and creating an elemental version of it wasn't impressive to these nobles and working students, as any mage can do it. Still, a rush of excitement was fervent on their face, and their uncontrolled actions highlighted it.
These nobles and working students weren't illiterate. They identified his class weapon as the famous A-ranked Frost spellbook through the glacial shine.
High-ranked Ice related spellbooks were really rare in this continent. In the entire Frost Fall Academy, dozens of students have an A-ranked class weapon, but only one person except Whittaker has an Ice spellbook.
That student was a third-year senior, and these students couldn't even meet him face to face. So, this was the first time, these students saw a high-ranked Ice-related spellbook, and they got awed by it.
The students around were doing what anyone else would do in their position. Using their Scrying Devices, they excitedly recorded this act of Whittaker and posted it on the Mana Net. Sooner or later, every student in the Academy is bound to know of his existence, as everyone in the academy has access to the mana net.
The senior student that wanted to kick him out of the training hall couldn't even leave the training hall in shame, as the bulky trainees from the sprinting field have gathered around the entrance that was also the exit and blocked it. He could only stare at the snow-haired boy and discreetly feel envious.
Yato felt as if his eyes has been blinded by the Sun. He could only gape at this classmate, who happened to be a dark horse with grand potential.
As time passed, the Frost spellbook shine lessened until it was no more.
The elemental version of the Pure mana spell "Mana-Shield" has condensed as a page decorated with silvery patterns and became a permanent part of the Frost spellbook.
Its description appeared in his vision.
[ Frost Shield (F-ranked) (Aoe)
Cost: 50
Effect: Materializes three Frost walls on an area around you. Frost walls create a 3 Square meter chilling field that absorbs a certain percentage of the total damage( 5% elemental and physical damage). Enemies in the chilling field have their movement speed decreased by 5% and are inflicted by a frost stack. The Frost walls can shatter under heavy impact. The chilling field lasts for 2 minutes.]
In his eyes, the elemental versions of mana-shield seem far better than the basic version. His daily quest was shaded in grey and a ticking clock was placed above it.
Until tomorrow, he won't obtain the reward for learning a pure-mana spell. Realizing that he decides to learn one Pure-mana spell a day
As the elemental version of the spell was formed, the spellbook was recalled into the soul space. No longer engrossed in training, he sees everyone glaring at him.
He thought anxiously, 'Why are so many people staring at me? Am I an exotic beast caged inside a zoo?'
Ignoring the ruckus around him, he adorns a fake expressionless face to hides his anxiety. Then he turns around to leave the training hall with an expressionless face.
The students blocking the entrance opened a path for the snow-haired boy by moving sideways.
After walking out, he saw Shadow sprinting with a boulder on his back. With sparkling eyes, he beamed a wide smile at him. He was saying—"I am done with my training. Let's go hunting!"—through facial expression.
Seeing that smile, he thought, 'Oh, so it was Whittaker who learned the new spell. How fast do you train! It's only been a handful of minutes!'
Immediately, Shadow placed the boulder down and turned to the Goblin teacher and asked for permission to leave the class with a pleading expression. "Teacher, can I go hunting?"
The Goblin teacher has an ugly face and a stubborn personality but his heart isn't ugly. He was kind-hearted and, if possible, didn't like to make life difficult for students. So he replies to Shadow with a smile,
"You are my most talented student, so I won't stop you from going out to hunt, but only for today. Remember, for those dependent on Battle energy, training and hunting go hand in hand. Training your body to produce battle energy is as important as the experience gained through battling with magical beasts. I hope you will not forget my words. Now go, your friend is waiting."
The Goblin teacher smiled kindly but a hideous expression was seen on his face. His kind words didn't match the expression on his face.
For those standing far away, it was as if the goblin teacher was giving Shadow an earful.
Whittaker was standing far away, and he felt sorry thinking that Shadow has gotten in trouble with the teacher due to him.
Shadow respectfully salutes him, "Thanks teacher, I will change my training timing and start training early in the morning with the senior students from now on."
The sophomore students' physical training class starts at 6°clock. They didn't train on the sprinting track near the training hall. The sophomore students trained in the training ground located in the back mountains.
"Sure!" The teacher feels pleased with his words. He glances at the back of the black-hair boy and thinks that such a thoughtful, hard-working, and responsible student, one can only beg for but never get. As luck would have it, I scored one.
Shadow and Whittaker meet up and walking side by side they head towards the "Quest Hall".
He has never hunted as his elder brother Hera didn't take him to hunt. He also didn't know what they are gonna hunt.
"Shadow, are we gonna hunt Deer or Antlers?"
Along the way, Whittaker asked–with an excited expression and an innocent tone– Shadow. He was beaming his signature wide smile.
Shadow chuckled after covering his mouth with his hand. Seeing his innocent smile that highlighted the pearly teeth, he thought back to the old days, once he was also ignorant and, on his first time hunting, he said the exact same words to his stepbrother. His past was reflected on the snowy-haired boy's face.
He says, "Whittaker, we awakened don't hunt animals."
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P.S: For those that don't know:
Aoe means Area of effect.
Area of effect spells affects a wider field. A commonly known spell is meteorite fall that can be used to destroy a city.