Amari's somewhat confident smirk dropped and he felt his heart plummet. One part of him wanted to immediately deny the judgement and draw a blade to this clown's head, but the smarter rational part of him told him to calm down.
"Understood," he took in a deep breath, trying to look as unperturbed as possible, "May I know what caused me to fail, please?"
All this while, Cluez had neither moved from his spot nor stopped smiling. The jester-like man tapped his sceptre against the floor multiple times, never once taking his eyes off Amari.
"Well, if I have to be honest with you. There are multiple reasons for why I can fail you. Like my mood, my preference, or maybe your shit ability to control mana. Or the more likely option, all three,"
"You definitely are lacking, and it is quite obvious that you're the only one here that hasn't practised the mana control exercises SilverOak instructed you to. But other than that… mostly just my mood, hehehe."
The whole class went up in silent uproar, students whispering to each other at how unethical Cluez' practices were, but from the man's persistent grin, it was almost like he didn't care or hear what anybody said.
But Amari did.
That was it?
He didn't know how to feel about it. The fact that he'd failed because of his teacher's mood. His anger turned to mellow introspection as he walked back to his previous spot.
The rest of the class went by in a flash to him, and he'd hardly noticed the impossibly large boulders of earth Sitri had summoned, nor the flowing stream of water his roommate triggered by moving his sword.
Soon the class ended after a lacklustre explanation from the clownish man and similarly, Amari walked in a lacklustre fashion to his next class without any words.
Slowly, with each step he took, he began regaining most of his senses.
"Did that bastard just fail me because of that?!"
He was beyond furious! Luckily no points were deducted from his total score. If thathad happened…
Amari stopped his thoughts from going any further, clenching his teeth with determination.
"I'll have to practise my mana control when I get back. At least then, he won't have any real reason to fail me…"
With those thoughts in mind, he headed to his last two classes.
Non-Magical Combat Practice didn't take long. Luckily, the professor assigned was neither as eccentric nor biassed as Cluez or SilverOak. The man oddly appreciated his lack of technique and flashy movements in exchange for pure strength.
Professor Jack as he called himself used it to emphasise a valuable lesson.
"Don't let flashy fighting techniques fool you. You can't beat a person two times larger, faster and stronger than you with fancy kicks or punches. In the same vein, raw strength and speed are useless if you don't know how to properly use it."
All in all it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say Jack was his favourite professor so far. Heck, aside from the nice old lady who stitched his clothes, Jack was the best person he met in this big-ass school!
So, Amari decided he would also learn some form of martial art when he found the time to do that.
The mana control exercise, learning a new martial art, studying the patrons and their given skills in the system.
'Damn, so many things to do. Where will I find the time from.' he complained inwardly, dragging his feet against the floor on his way to his final class of the day.
"Runic Study and Ancient Runes…"
The name flew off the tip of his tongue comfortably, and a few things popped into his mind. The first was dozens of magical runes forming cool magic circles in the air, and the second was weapon forging.
It was always a rather convoluted process to him, and something he never liked when he read novels in the past. He still didn't like the forging process but the advantages and prospects that came with learning Runes were endless.
So he didn't let his prejudice affect his judgement and stepped into the lecture room, half expecting a weird teacher like SilverOak and Cluez.
But nope. There was nothing. She walked out of the door at the side of the room normally, in a short flowing red gown and fairly tall heels.
Her blonde hair formed bangs that weren't nearly thick enough to cover the large dark horns on her forehead.
She was quite pretty, but not his type. Just as he thought this, her cold blue eyes stared straight into his red ones before he could even react
The boy in question groaned, a small grimace forming at the side of his lips.
'What did I even do to these teachers??'
Luckily the gaze didn't last long as she turned to the rest of the class, smiling.
"My name is Ava'lyntra. However, you all can just call me Miss Ava. I'll be teaching you guys about runes for as long as you decide to stay in my class. I hope you don't leave too soon…"
Miss Ava's attractive voice paired with her even more beautiful expression elicited a collective nod from most boys in the class, causing her to giggle a little.
"Now, that's very nice. Let's discuss runes for a second here," she said, and her face turned serious a little, "If there's a way runes can be described for a layman it is one thing. A magical language? What about the rest of us who have gained a god's favour? What would we describe runes as?"
Without waiting for an answer, she grabbed a piece of chalk and jotted some bold words down in the Demon language.
"Simple. Runes are the ancient language used by the gods to communicate with us mortals. They are words of power…" her voice paused for dramatic effect but Amari couldn't help but feel like it was directed at him.
"Words of power with enough force to kill when directed with such intention. That is what a rune is. We'll talk about the basic forms and structures of runes in this class. The more advanced stuff is too difficult for you guys…"
Amari stared at the blonde-haired demon lady in a daze.
"Words of Power…"
Who were these professors? Did they want something with him? How did they know his skills? The questions racked up with each class he took, and he did not have the strength to deal with any situations that could arise. He lacked something very crucial.
Power.
That was all that mattered in the end. And it was the only thing he lacked. Raw power.