The lesson after Eterization is the Combat and Martial lesson. The students of class 1A were asked to leave the building by the professor who taught the subject. After arriving at the backfield of the Eins building, the professor then introduced himself.
"Good morning, children. Let me introduce myself. My name is Joshua Turner, and I am the professor who will be teaching you Combat and Martial lessons for the next year. I hope we can all get along well."
Unlike Professor Marius, who had a large and trained body, Professor Joshua had a rather slender but still sturdy body. He had long brown hair tied in a man bun style and brown eyes that gave off a friendly and non-intimidating impression.
In addition to the students of class 1A, there were students from other classes already gathered in the backfield. Professor Joshua then spoke with a cheerful expression.
"It seems like your class schedule clashes with another class. So, I suggest we have joint classes for a few meetings before your schedule is changed. You will have joint classes with class 1B, hopefully without any undesirable incidents like bullying!" Right after the last sentence, Professor Joshua's expression suddenly became serious, emitting a slightly intimidating aura. The students who felt it couldn't help but feel nervous.
"Now, since everyone is here, let's form groups with a maximum of 5 members. This is only temporary, but if you feel comfortable with your group members, you can stay together until the end of the year. Groups can consist of students from other classes or your classmates." After being instructed to form groups, the students began to form their groups.
"We are short of 1 person, does anyone want to join our group?"
"Is there a group that needs 2 more people? My friend and I want to join a group that needs 2 more people."
The situation became a bit noisy as the students actively searched for groups and groups tried to find missing members.
Meanwhile, at a different part of the field, Ryan, Matt, and Alicia were sitting at the end of the field enjoying the view in front of them. They seemed not too concerned about forming groups.
"Hey, why don't we look for members like the other students?" Alicia asked, actually wanting to look but ended up joining her two lazy friends.
"3 members are enough, no need to worry. After all, this is just temporary, better off practicing alone." Ryan replied casually, seemingly disregarding the professor's instructions, with Matt nodding in agreement beside him.
"I'll just find it on my own! I can't bear your relaxed attitude," Alicia exclaimed, annoyed at Ryan and Matt.
"Ryan, but we should just help Alicia. I feel bad for her." Matt suggested, feeling guilty for leaving Alicia to find other members alone.
"Fine... sure, let's find other members."
Ryan and Matt then followed Alicia to find group members. Without saying a word, they were already surrounded by students who wanted to join their group.
"Ryan, Matthew, Alicia, please let me join your group. I promise not to be a burden."
"No, pick me instead! I'm sure I can be a better group member."
The situation that was already chaotic became even more chaotic. Matt and Alicia were puzzled about choosing other members, and Ryan saw them both with an expression that said 'I told you so'.
"Wow, I was expecting this," Ryan commented as he observed the chaos in front of him. Matt and Alicia were equally perplexed about picking the other members. Soon, a woman emerged from the crowd and approached the three of them. She had long black hair and blue eyes.
"Hello, I'm Tiana, just like you guys, I'm also in the top 10 albeit the last one. I'm sure with my abilities, I won't be a burden to you."
"Hmm... what do you think?" Ryan asked for a signal from his two friends. Then, both nodded simultaneously.
"It seems so, okay... welcome to this group."
"I brought a friend, can my friend also join you guys? She's a bit shy so she's not in this crowd." Tiana asked with another request.
"Of course, I'm already confused about choosing the last one, so it's better if I choose both of them at once." Since Ryan already had a complete group member, he asked the students gathered to disperse. The students hearing that couldn't contain their disappointment, but they dispersed orderly.
"Thank you very much," Tiana said, bowing her head. She then called her friend to come over and introduce herself to Ryan, Matt, and Alicia.
"Hello—nice to meet you, my name is Clara Morgan. I'm ranked 17th, please help me." Ryan, Matt, and Alicia then introduced themselves. After introducing themselves, Ryan then asked something.
"Both of you aren't combat types, right?" Hearing the question, Tiana and Clara were surprised and slightly lowered their heads.
"But, Ryan, actually there are no pure combat types here except for you. Alicia and I use ether elements for attack too, we both belong to combat caster types." Matt clarified, providing a clarification to Ryan's opinion.
After forming groups, all students were told to gather in front of Professor Joshua. Professor Joshua explained that the purpose of forming these groups was to train teamwork. Students could use ether up to caster-type attacks, although this was a Combat and Martial Lesson. The students would be fighting against assistants brought by the professors, all of whom were Etherea graduates, making the students somewhat nervous. Of course, they were given limitations when fighting against class 1 students.
The first group to start was one of the groups from class 1B, they had fairly good team coordination even though they were working together for the first time. However, their attacking power was not enough to overwhelm the assistants they were facing.
Then it was the second group's turn, which was the opposite of the first group. The second group had high attacking power but poor team coordination. As a result, they were played by the assistants they were fighting against, luring caster attacks to hit one of their team members.
After seeing the first two groups go up, I and the others then devised a strategy that could at least corner the assistants even though we couldn't defeat them. Before starting, we shared information about how we usually fight, finishing moves, and so on. Ryan then spoke with a sour expression.
"For some reason, I won't be using Burning Memory and other techniques. I'll just stick to basic attacks. So, the key to our victory lies with you two, Matt and Alicia. I'll make the assistants focus on me, and you all can attack at the same time."
"No need to tell us, there must be a special reason, right? Alright, I'll accept my position as the core attacker."
"Alright, let's do it according to the strategy," Tiana said with enthusiasm.
The professor then called Ryan's group.
"Specifically for your group, I will be your opponent!"
"..."
Fate is indeed cruel and always unpredictable. All members of Ryan's group fell silent, unable to say a word.