Amari pretty much speed-ran the first-year classes after the initial first one, but that question had been on his mind ever since. He wasn't going to play it off as "Oh, I guess I'm special" only for it to come back and bite him in the ass.
For the first time since his reincarnation, he began to look at the system as a potential problem rather than the world-awing boon he'd always imagined it to be.
So he made a decision quickly. After finishing his classes for the day, he would go to the library to learn more about the intricacies of the world. Any one of his random secrets could get him killed or, even worse, experimented on.
There was no telling what could harm him. So the only way to solve this problem was to acquire new knowledge. Ignorance was not an excuse for anything.
With that in mind, he went to the last and final class of the day.
Combat Practice.
He groaned inwardly as his feet dragged against the floor. Combat practice, aside from the fact that it was the most cliche thing ever, was also probably going to be his most annoying class yet.
Not because he would fail. But because his "classmates" would be able to pose little to no challenge at all.
He reached the end of the hall and stood before two large doors, musing.
'This school seems to have a thing for large menacing doors.' He didn't hate it, but it was kinda overplayed at this point.
"Whatever," he murmured, pushing the door open before he drowned completely in his annoyance.
A familiar voice, then a face, reached him.
"Not only are you late, Mr Raion'shalang, but you are also somehow the last person to arrive here. Did the pride of passing the Death Battle Exam get to your head?"
What to call this surprise? Pleasant or unpleasant?
Amari grimaced as soon as he noticed SilverOak's perpetually frowning. This man was another problem he wasn't sure how to deal with.
Was he a friend or foe? That would take a while to determine, but the very least he could do was hope the powerful beings didn't employ some sort of Powe Devour follower system. If they did, then that meant he was royally fucked.
"Pick up some practice gear. In order to make this effective, I've decided to change up the content a little and make your first lesson a little memorable." the professor said, smiling for the first time since Amari had seen him.
It was a crooked impression of a smile that gave everyone chills. Including Amari.
He tried to shake off the bad feeling he was getting and walked over to get some protective gear. It was nothing more than some semi-hard chest guard and some other accessories, like pauldrons and knee guards.
He scoffed at the remaining items but put them on anyway, just to be courteous.
"Alright everyone, come out," SilverOak yelled upon confirming that Amari had done his part.
For the next few seconds, nothing happened and a series of suspicious stares couldn't help but fall on their teacher's body. The same thought came to their minds at the same time: 'Is he mentally ill?'
But in the next instant, they held the words that almost flew straight out of their mouths.
'How?!'
Dozens and dozens of people. People who were not there before. In the moment it took to blink, they all appeared behind SilverOak. And the most thing, they all wore similar emblems. It was nothing but the same emblem on their uniforms.
A large red skull whose horns formed the name of the school in bold letters.
Amari recovered quickly and got on guard.
'They're students!'
He instinctively looked to his side to give Belat some instructions, only to remember that the pup had retreated to the forest within the school's premises, preferring to stay there instead of following him to class.
'Fuck, how did they do that?!'
No matter how he tried to think of it, Amari just couldn't cough up an adequate answer for the situation.
"As you can see, they are also students of the academy. Third years, to be exact. The exercise today will be a battle against them…" The man paused and gave Amari one of his crooked evil grins, "And the first person to go will be none other than our resident latecomer Raion'shalang."
Amari, in question, couldn't help but widen his grimace. If there was anything he'd learned from the brief meetings he had with the second years, it was that he couldn't mess with a vast majority of them just yet.
The thoughts ran through his head without stopping, but he managed to get himself together.
"Permission to use real equipment, please. This isn't a normal battle after all," He said, raising a hand and staring into SilverOak's light blue eyes.
It was almost like staring deep into the bottom of the ocean. He couldn't begin to comprehend what was going on within the man's head.
The professor said nothing, but that his constant switch between Amari's figure and the third years proved that he was actually considering his offer.
"Alright, but one more condition. You are only allowed to use three spells or skills to fight. Anything more than that will result in immediate disqualification. Please note that it is remotely impossible to fool me, so I suggest that you give up now. Is that clear?"
Amari gave a not-so-subtle sigh of relief, then threw the practice gear to the side, pulling out the now familiar ragtag pieces of equipment.
SilverOak let out a visible frown as his eyes landed on the sword in particular, causing Amari to reveal a slight grin of satisfaction. It was too late to back down now.
"Who is my opponent?" he asked, flexing and stretching his muscles as fast as possible before the match started.
It was the man's turn to smile at this point.
And without SilverOak even saying a single word, a lithe figure stalked out of the crowd of third-years with a frown on his face. His eyebrows were long and curved down like two sword blades.
Amari activated Observation before anything else. There was no time to hesitate!