A catchy tune began playing on a phone. Moments later, a hand came upon it and tapped the "snooze" button.
"Mmh… good morning, me. Time for another day of school."
Although Dignitas wasn't ecstatic about the fact that today was a school day, the events that would happen did excite him.
It had now been a week since school had started. He believed that everyone had had adequate rest, and it was finally time to continue his mission.
Nothing interesting really happened during the past week, save for Lorelai's unsurprising improvement with the sword.
She was already nearing Dignitas' level, and he felt like he wouldn't have anything left to teach her soon.
"Hmm, that's sad. I really did enjoy our training sessions. All good things must come to an end, I guess. Maybe Teacher will consider taking her in as well when she sees Lorelai's skill."
After finishing up on his morning routine, Dignitas then put on his Academy uniform and had a small breakfast.
In just twenty minutes, he was already prepared and ready to go.
"I'm off." Dignitas said as he closed the door to his dorm.
The Academy wasn't that far away from the dorms, but most students liked to drag their steps in order to enjoy the morning breeze more.
It was exactly what Dignitas was doing, but he had an entirely different reason for it.
He felt someone pat his shoulder. Turning around, he caught sight of Rokas, who was followed by the rest of his party members, save for Wang Jin.
"Good morning, Leader." Rokas greeted Dignitas with a warm look on his face.
"Good morning to you as well, Rokas."
"Don't forget us as well, stupid." Alter dragged Percivale with her until they were both at the same walking pace as the two of them.
"Of course not. Good morning, Alter and Percivale."
The quiet younger sibling's face instantly lit up. Nodding profusely, Percivale replied. "Good morning, Sir Dignitas!"
During the past week, Dignitas and the others had not found the time to meet up. It was natural. While the Academy was known for being the top Hero-producing institution in the world, it was also known for being exceedingly difficult in regards to academics.
But thankfully, the world seemed to have found some time for all of them to meet, even if it was for only a short moment.
"Anyway, where's Wang Jin? Have you guys seen him anywhere?" Dignitas asked them.
"Unfortunately not, Leader. It has been a week, but I have not seen him since school started." Rokas replied.
"Hmph. That idiot is probably just fooling around." Alter chimed in with her own assumption.
"Huh. Didn't think him the type. Any luck with his dorm room?"
"Nothing on that side as well, Sir Dignitas. My sister and I… we tried asking around Class 1-B, but they all just laughed and sent us off when we did." Percivale added.
Wang Jin was the most hyper of the team. It wasn't like him to just disappear for days on end without notice.
"Well, I'm sure we'll see him soon. Maybe he's just preoccupied with something. In the meantime, I have something to ask of you all."
Reaching into his pockets, Dignitas brought out a few envelopes. They were all sealed tightly. On the back of the envelopes, there were names written.
He then handed the three of them one envelope each.
"If you could, I'd like you all to deliver those to the person listed. And if you can, try to bring them to the third floor of the Academy."
"The third floor? Isn't that where the faculty and the teachers' rooms are located? Percivale questioned.
"Yeah, that's right, but we're there for something else. It doesn't matter if you can't get them to come, but I hope you can get them to accept the letter."
"Ah, and before I head there, I'm gonna be going off on my own to meet the person I assigned myself too. If you don't see me, just wait outside the professors' lounge."
Dignitas turned his gaze to the watch on his wrist. "Shoot, looks like we spent a little too much time talking. Come on, let's go!"
The party hastened their pace, eventually making their way to the Academy entrance, where they split up upon reaching the classrooms.
"Alright, see y'all later." Dignitas bid farewell to his party members, and entered his classroom.
Opening the door, Dignitas was surprised to find Professor Shib at the front of the class. He didn't seem to be teaching anything, instead focused on adjusting his hair and glasses.
It didn't take long for him to notice Dignitas standing outside. Beckoning towards him, Shib called out.
"How long are you going to stay outside, Dignitas? Come in, we have a special test today."
Heeding his instructions, Dignitas entered the classroom. He went over to the front of the class where Shib was.
"What is it?"
"You said test. Is it a theoretical test, perhaps?" He asked.
"Quite the opposite. You'll be dueling with another student and applying the techniques I taught you all this past week."
"So… a pop quiz of sorts?"
"Yeah, it could be considered that. Now go on, get to your seat. We'll be getting started soon. Shoo."
During the first few days of school, Professor Shib had made it a priority to drill into his students the ins and outs of Mana Manipulation.
Being one of the top professors when comparing control over mana, Shib was notorious for being excessively passionate on the subject.
In that one week, Dignitas had learnt a lot of things. For one, he was able to conserve his mana more efficiently now. When before, he was wasteful with the amount of mana he used, now he was somewhat able to control how much he expended.
While also enhancing his overall power, of course. Mana manipulation covered everything that had to do with basic mana studies.
Ten minutes passed. The whole classroom was now filled, and students were chatting with each other loudly, despite Professor Shib being there already.
The professor in mind didn't seem to care, however.
"Ahem!"
A single clear of the throat from Professor Shib was enough to gather the entire class' attention.
"Great. Looks like we're all here. As I'm sure you've already heard, we'll be having a small test today. I'll explain on the way, so why don't we all get up now and head to the school's arena?"
***
The Academy stretched out underground as well, it seemed. Dignitas was surprised to see that there was a large arena located directly under the building.
Once everyone in Class 1-A had gathered in the arena, Professor Shib once again cleared his throat.
"Now that we're here, I'll be announcing the partners for the battle. The person whose name I call out after you is the one you will be dueling. The first person to get knocked down loses."
"Let's start, then. Firstly, why don't we have our resident honor student Dignitas Qwerdan duel it out with… Warren Michash?"
Whispers immediately flooded the entire arena. Everyone couldn't tell, was it favoritism or a grudge? Professor Shib had decided to skip past the alphabetical order of names and instead called out Dignitas.
The person in question had his mind fixated on something else, however.
"Warren Michash. I've heard that name somewhere… right! It was Aiden's partner back in the first assignment."
Within a few short moments, the entire arena had been cleared of students, leaving Dignitas to fully take in how large it truly was.
It was about half the size of the Colosseum's arena. It did not seem much on paper, but it was still impressive.
That wasn't what was important though. Dignitas took his eyes off the shining arena floor and stared at his opponent, who was already in front of him.
Warren Michash was a man of similar height to him, who had hair covering his eyes. Dignitas wondered how he could see through them, if they were obstructing his view.
He was also hunched over, making Dignitas feel worried for his back later on.
"Ah, but if he was able to slay the supposed beast that laid in the southwestern region. I'd better keep my guard up."
On the other hand, Warren's attitude was the complete opposite. He loosely kept himself upright by leaning onto the staff he carried.
It was as if he couldn't even be bothered to be here.
"Warren! Wake up." Professor Shib called out to him.
He yawned. "Mmh, I've been awake this whole time, Professor. Let's just get this over with. It's already interrupted my sleep schedule."
Weakly slamming the end of his staff into the ground, Warren muttered. "Whenever you're ready."
"On the count of three, the battle will start. Ready? One, two, three… fight!"
Dignitas prepared to take the first move. Just as he was about to lunge forward, he stopped when he saw that Warren had not moved a single inch.
"Oh dear. I've seen this type of character before. Now I really need to be careful."