[Jessica's Pov]
I walked quickly, trying my best to keep the tear ducts in my eyes from bursting. It didn't take long for me to find my way back to the apartment, throwing myself on the couch where I could finally let go of my restraints.
"Uwaaaaa! That's just so damn sad! That poor James, being forced by his family to grow stronger if he wants to keep on living!"
His words haunted me, making me feel awful right down to my core.
Hearing how he had bravely told me about how he had to perform to live on shocked me. Him telling me he would have no second chances, that this was the only chance he had to live...
*Pom!*
Unable to contain myself, I threw a pillow in the wall, creating an explosion of feathers, "Fuck those hidden families!"
It was awful, but there was nothing I could do. The underworld of our society was too strong, with a lot of the houses having several monstrous people under them. Just last year a noble house got completely eradicated because they managed to piss off one of the hidden families. There was not a single survivor.
*Meoww!*
Mr. Fluffy came to my rescue, lying down in my lap, waiting for me to give him attention while at the same time calming me down a bit.
'I just hope that James manages to escape from his horrible fate... He seems too proud to accept help, so I have no choice but to wait and see if he asks for help later on...'
****
[James's Pov]
Even though I was now surrounded by other students, both from the A-class and the B-class, I was still pretty excited for my first real class.
We were standing in the designated classroom for the mana cultivation class, a big room most reminiscent of a stereotypical dojo from Earth.
Looking around, I could see a few familiar faces that had also chosen this class.
Mike and John were standing by themselves while the two princesses from the different classes were also doing their own thing. Lastly, we had me and some crazy-looking dude who burst into the room yelling 'Make way for the Harrower!'.
A complete nut job, to be honest. Everyone knows that the coolest is to be a secret in the shadows, after all...
Finally, our teacher entered the stage. A small, elderly woman who looked like a gentle granny, with white locks of hair.
She took her position in front of us and, as she did, we all turned our attention to the granny.
"Welcome to mana cultivation 1. This is where you will start your journey to attune your body like instruments towards the wave of energy that is always surrounding us. My name is Katarina Bright and you may call me Mrs. Bright."
Our teacher was just adorable! Her first impression was friendly, gentle, and calm, albeit still slightly eccentric.
"Now, I want all of you to take on a lotus position and I will start to explain how this course will work."
We all sat down, cross-legged, and listened to the words of our instructor.
"Mana cultivation is, as the name suggests, just learning how to assimilate more mana into your core, as well as to make sure to filter it in order to make it more potent. During this class, you will spend your mornings meditating, gathering, and accumulating mana through your mana channels."
"Umm?"
The edgelord raised his hand, his face looking confused, "Yes, my dear?"
"What are mana channels?"
'Thank you for asking!'
I didn't know what they were either, but I didn't want to make myself seem like a fool by asking. Luckily, the emo saved my ass.
"Oh! Well, mana channels are just that, channels to gather as well as to make mana flow. The more channels you manage to open, the more mana can be absorbed into your bodies as well as allowing you to use it more efficiently. You could imagine it as capillaries but for mana instead of blood."
It was such a great answer, leaving no question marks to be had at all. 'That God could probably learn a thing or two from this woman...'
"Now that you know that, let's begin. Do remember to try your best to actively find your mana channels and open them up one by one. My suggestion is to start in your dominant hand. I will also go around and help guide your mana while you do so."
Closing my eyes, I started the same thing I had done for the last few days, with the exception of now also trying to open my mana channels in my right hand. At the same time, my main body also got the same information but instead started to open the channels in my left hand.
The fact that I had two bodies was just so incredibly efficient. It pretty much meant that everything would always take half as long for me to do.
Then, I felt two hands on my back, sending in an unknown force that guided my mana to a closed mana channel in my hand.
"Now, gently but purposefully send your mana through the channel.", she told me with a sweet tone.
Adhering to her words, I pushed some of my mana into the channel, making it open up and making me feel a minuscule difference in the way my body handled mana.
"Good job, dear! Now you only have about 2 million to go! Hohoho."
The hands left their place on my back and I figures that she went ahead to another student to help them.
'Two million, huh? Guess I better get started!'
****
[Sophie's Pov]
I was the only one attending this class, all alone with the instructor who happened to be Mr. Brown, my homeroom teacher.
Even though I would have liked to choose my course to have the same classes as Arthur, it would be detrimental to do so. I had to pave my own path, at least when cultivating my strength
"Now then, Ms. Red, let's start practicing in bare-handed combat. First of all, the most optimal way of training you would be if you told me what Manual you have. That would make it possible for me to construct a personal training program for you, something that is only possible because you are the only student here. Gahahah!"
It would be a lie to say that it wasn't a bit awkward. At the same time, it was impossible for some courses not to end up with only a single student or even none at all. There were just too few students attending the academy.
James had told me that it might be a good idea to keep my Manual a secret, but it felt pretty unnecessary as I wouldn't be able to hide it at all as soon as I used [Dragonize]. I mean, I had already shown it to Mike, John, and Bellatrix.
"Sure. I have the Dragoon Manual, a 7-star manual that lets me borrow the power of dragons."
...
"YOU HAVE A 7-STAR MANUAL?! Miss Red... are you sure about this?!"
The big man got pretty exasperated when I told him the truth, probably never expecting to hear that a freshman had acquired a 7-star star Manual.
'Oh right... In the game, Arthur was the only one who had a 7-star Manual beside the player...'
Arthur had a Sword of Light or something Manual which was incredibly efficient against demons and let him send beams of light that incinerated all his enemies.
Thinking that I might have made a mistake, I still thought that there would be no use in hiding it, "Yes, I'm sure.", and at the same time I transformed my hands into the blue, scale-adorned, dragon paws.
"Holy crap! You weren't lying! I have only ever heard myths and legends talking about that Manual but here it is, right in front of my eyes! How did you find it?!"
Spouting some bullshit I just made up, I tried to make it seem like I didn't truly know, "Well, as you may or may not know, I'm an orphan. It seems like my parents had made me attune to the Manual before they died, and thus I have no memory of it. Sorry, Mr. Brown, but I don't know where it came from..."
Trying my best to look sad and pitiful worked wonders against my teacher as he suddenly started waving his hands and speaking in order to neutralize the situation, "Oh! Don't worry about it, Sophie! I was just curious after all."
"Oh, are you sure? Because I truly want to tell you, if only I could..."
"Now, little... I mean Ms. Red, stop that. It's not your fault, so don't blame yourself for it! Who knows, maybe you can create a new Manual when you master it! Now, let's get started with our lesson instead!"
And with that, he went through some of the basics of hand-to-hand combat with me, how the legs were always the most important as they we always used, not only for attacks but also for movement, as well as to generate power when punching.
After no more than about 20 minutes of showing me some basic movement and verbal guidance, Mr. Brown already decided that we should begin sparring, "The way real warriors grow stronger is by fighting after all! If you wanted to grow stronger by dilly-dallying you should have chosen that silly mana cultivation class!"
The classroom, or should I say arena, that we were in was very fitting for sparring so it didn't take long for us to get going, me now already wearing the student uniform that we had gotten during our first homeroom. A black and golden set of pants, a shirt, and a jacket which was enchanted to be more durable than most leather armors.