"Stage is yours, kids. Go on.. introduce yourselves one by one." Yana twirled around and stepped back, climbing on the instructor's desk like a ruffian. Clasping her hands together, she waited for the kids to step forth.
Christina glanced to check out the boys on either side of her. The one on her left was busy drooling at the teacher herself while the other one on her right was carefully checking out the students in the class, probably with the motive to challenge them to a fight.
Finding herself to be the only sane one among them, Christina approached to stand in the center. "Good morning to one and all. I am Christina Desmond, child of the Desmond family and disciple of Saintess Rhine."
Most of the students in the class had already known that twins belonged to the church. It's just that this was the first time they were witnessing them in person.
"I am adept with Divine magic. In addition, I can somewhat manipulate Light Magic as well.." Christina was pretty confident in her skills. She raised her right hand and rubbed her thumb against the index finger.
*Zapp* *Ziip* Students which included Julia and her gang stood in awe as light magic traveled between Christina's fingers back and forth. "I am not very good currently, however, I plan to improve."
*Clap* *Clap* Mrs. Yana was the first to start clapping, her lead followed by the rest of the class. "Awesome..!!" The lady exclaimed, impressed with how easily the girl managed to channel light mana that had always been one of the hardest, if not the hardest, disciplines to master.
"We don't have a separate department for Light Magic, Christina. You might already know, students like you are extremely rare, hence the allocation of an entire department doesn't make sense." Yana narrated.
"Still, it doesn't mean you will face any difficulty in unraveling your potential. Divinity Magic department will have all the resources as well as learned faculties, that you will ever need to become the best light mage there is."
Yana's words made Christina beam like a three-year-old. Why would others complain about Mrs. Yana? At least from the initial interaction, she came out to be quite a benevolent soul.
"Thanks.. Mrs. Yana. I will do my best as well." Ending the show, Christina took an arbitrary bow. "Looking forward to collaborating with all of you."
Right when she stepped back, Chris took over. "Greetings friends. I am Chris Desmond. Christina is my sister and both of us are under Saintess Rhine's tutelage." Although he was being respectful, Chris lacked the same sophistication as her sister.
*Churn* Bright flames covered his forearms as the boy put on a show for his fellow students. "How do you rate them, Hera?" Sophie turned to look at their friend, wanting to listen to her opinion.
"Both of them are strong. Not quite at Julia's level but not too far off either." While making a judgment based simply on someone's appearance can be deceiving, the group believed in Hera.
Watching the fire boy juggle the flames in his hands, Julia crossed her arms together. "With the Church behind them, can you expect anything less?"
"What about our slave boy? How would you rate him?" Hestia was the next to ask a question. Hera tilted her head to the side intensely scrutinizing the boy in the front.
"I am good with fire and divinity magic. Any one of you is free to challenge me whenever you want. I love dueling.. haha.." While Chris went on a total tangent there, Aron who had just managed to convince himself not to simp for Mrs. Yana any further, felt his senses tingle.
His eyes darted towards the students' benches, quickly locating the girl who was staring right at him. "heh.." With a big smile, he waved at Hera, instantly making her head drop.
"He.. I am not sure about him." Trying her best to slither behind Julia's shoulders, Hera revealed her analysis. "Hain? What do you mean by that?" Hestia was simply not impressed with the answer.
Hera had always been good at scrutinizing the levels of her fellow mages. If she could not gauge someone's level, that meant the person was amazingly stronger than Hera herself.
With that in hindsight, it was hard to digest she could fail with Aron. "He isn't strong in the traditional way.. still, I have a feeling he can be a good match against Julia even with his exceptionally low mana reserves."
Seated next to Hera, Julia's eyebrows twitched dramatically. While the rest of the girls were left scratching their heads, the blonde knew exactly why her friend rated Aron so high.
It was certainly because of his strengthened physical body. Even so, she can't believe it. Can stronger muscles give him an edge over her? To think a slave that was only good for carrying their loads can even stand toe to toe with her, felt her heart with an array of emotions.
"A match for Julia? Damn.. either you predicted it wrong, or this world is too unpredictable." Hestia offered her response as the girls broke into a chatter, discussing the latest developments.
"It's your turn, brother.." Chris gave Aron a pat on his back as he retired. With a nod, the tall boy walked to the center. "I am Aron. I don't have a surname. Still, I have worked very hard to stand in front of all of you."
Yana was feeling strangely nostalgic. It was only a month back when she would find Aron sweeping the classroom and corridors after class. Sometimes she would stay past in the classroom, well past her students to grade their tests or to take care of some other teaching duties.
That is mostly when she would encounter Aron, diligently working to keep the place tidy. With small interactions between them, Yana came to like the boy. To see the same boy introduce himself to her class, felt so unreal to her.
"I am not very good with mana yet, but considering I could barely channel any mana at all just a month back, I will say I have improved a lot." Although it seemed like Aron was thumping his own chest, the genuine emotions on his face did manage to convince his audience.
"Please let me tell you, I am already living my dream. From here, I want to one day become the strongest person ever, so that I can protect what's important to me."
Yana had her fingers on her lips. Her cheeks were hurting simply because she was smiling so widely. Others might have missed a small detail in Aron's speech, but it didn't escape her prudent mind.
While claiming to be the strongest, the boy actually said he wanted to be the strongest person and not the strongest mage. There was a small yet important distinction between the two.
By claiming to be the strongest person ever, the boy subconsciously broadened his horizons. He was not fixated on gaining mastery over mana itself.
Yes, humans had mostly relied upon mana to snatch a space for themselves in this world. But that didn't mean there were no other powerful beings in this world that didn't rely on mana to achieve the same.
Vampires can be one example of such power. They were able to reign over this world for so long dealing not using a single shred of mana. Then there were the species of Shards and Elves, both exceptionally strong and rely on nature energy instead of mana.
Maybe Aron was not even aware of his words but Yana was excited for him nonetheless. "Please feel free to ask me for anything. I will be happy to be an asset to our class."
*Clap* *Clap* Like the last two times Yana initiated the clapping, immediately followed by the whole class. Aron neither possessed a rare trait like Christina nor was he able to produce a spectacular show like Chris, yet the fact that the thundering claps were louder than ever, meant that the boy conveyed his motivations flawlessly.
"That's what I like about young ones.. never willing to settle for anything less than the best." Mrs. Yana jumped down from her seat, approaching Aron. "Welcome to the team, kid." Not bothering to hide her feelings for him, she went on to ruffle his head affectionately.
"Go ahead and take your seats. We will begin today's class." All three newcomers bowed respectfully to their homeroom teacher, then made their way toward the benches.
There were quite a few empty seats in the back but Aron quickly located Ester in the crowd and made way towards her. Julia's bench had no space to accommodate any extra individuals.
Passing by her bench, Aron naughtily placed his finger on top of Hera's wrist and dragged it along all the way over to her biceps. Seated on the edge, Hera almost tumbled, not expecting the boy to flirt so rampantly right in the middle of the class.
Her countenance turning red, Hera would have almost melted had Julia not intervened to keep her focussed. "This jerk.." She gritted her teeth but there was nothing that could be done since Aron had sneaked away.
"Can we sit with you?" Aron had noticed that Ester was sitting all alone in the class and hence brought the twins over to her place.
Ester like many other of her classmates, just saw the boy tease Hera on his way over. Not knowing if she should laugh or cry at his bravery, for now, she chose to slide her butt to let the new students join her on the empty bench.
"Of course. Welcome to the class." Though Ester wasn't sure how good Mrs. Yana was going to be for a bunch of newbies, the fact remained that homeroom class was decided by Academy itself, they had no role to play in the same.
Ester was tall as ever, her long exposed legs reached well beyond the capacity of the wooden bench. Settling next to the beautiful girl, Aron watched Julia turn her head and scowl back at him like a drenched cat.
Letting the siblings settle next to him, he winked back at the blonde.. his action making the blonde seethe from anger. Aron laughed out loud in his mind. Academy was definitely going to be a fun experience.
Aron's flirtatious shenanigans were witnessed by Mrs. Yana as well. The lady was left astounded by the rapid development of his personality. Who would have known a reserved boy who could barely manage to greet her with a straight face would one day start teasing her students?
"Ahem.. I think we had enough disturbance for the day." Yana's voice stopped all kinds of gossip at once. "Before I resume today's class, let me tell you new bloods that I will not be repeating any lessons that you have already missed this year."
It was a piece of disappointing news but there was nothing that can be done. They had fully expected this outcome. "Curriculum won't change just because you guys joined. Hence, it's entirely your responsibility to catch up to the class. That's the norm around here."
"Joining in the middle of a semester is not going to come with its own shortcomings." Yana smirked lightly and raised the book in her hand, reading the next title she had to explain today.
"You three have this week. Ask around for notes, pull an all-nighter, spend your day in the library.. do whatever you can, but after seven days from now, I will take a small test."
After scribbling today's title on the board, Yana manufactured a smile on her face. "If you fail that, I will throw you out."
Aron and the siblings found themselves nervously glancing at each other. One week to cover what was taught in the last 7-8 months of the fresher year. They wanted to cry, but no tears will come out.