He completely missed the name of the student being called as he moved his arm to ensure it was working correctly. The student's voice brought him back to reality, and he turned around to see Leon challenging the kid behind him. Luckily for him, it seemed Leon wasn't inclined to try his hand at him.
That fight didn't last long. As soon as it started, Leon took a lightning bolt and stunned the poor student, dashing forward and knocking them off the stage with little hassle. That might have worked on anyone, but the student he fought seemed especially absentminded.
Charlotte had gotten lucky, or people didn't want to try their hand at him anymore. He did witness some interesting powers, one of which seemed to create vines and plants. He didn't know about any, so it made him curious. Their opponent also appeared similar to him, and he was worried they might not have power.
As time went on, though, their bodies changed. Their mouth disappeared, replaced by what looked like a mask with gills. They looked similar, but he couldn't find the words to describe them. Their eyes sunk in, and as a thin net seemed to form over them, their entire body began changing in strange and grotesque ways. Their limbs grew longer, and their calf began growing something akin to blades, cutting the vines with every step and preventing them from stopping his movement. Their fingers grew incredibly sharp claws that sliced through things like butter.
It was all fascinating, and he wanted to ask them for more details on their power. By the time the match reached the climax. They were a completely different beast; they managed to end the match by pushing them off the edge with their unrelenting assault.
When the match ended, they remained in that grotesque form for quite a while. He might have also been staring a lot more than he should have. But he wanted to see as their bodies slowly turned back to normal. They were a few feet away and got a first-hand look at it.
Most people had powers to control elements, so the few who were different stood out. He was curious to find out his power; maybe he could ask the teacher when he arrived tomorrow. He was in class B, almost like walking into a new classroom.
Most of the matches ended without much change. Juba could duel someone to regain his spot in the row. He didn't win, though. The person he had picked seemed to have a strange power that trapped him in place, and he pushed him off the stage. He wasn't happy, as he cursed silently...well, silent enough that the teacher wasn't hearing, but a few giggles behind him let him know they had heard.
"Good job, everyone...well, passable job; you're all a bit too scared to try and fight to climb. Most of you challenged those in your class to keep yourself safe. One of you was brave enough to challenge people beyond his level and came out winning a bit. Isn't that right, Charlotte? Another of you seems to enjoy kicking down at those lesser than themselves."
His gaze moved to Iza, who didn't react. She seemed to be looking ahead at something. She was living in her world, not that Charlotte could judge. He had forced his way into it and was surviving, not yet thriving.
When the teacher waved his hand to dismiss them, most students began leaving. He was about to get up and go, but Reese stopped him and waved him over.
"Yes, sir?"
Reese seemed surprised to be called sir as he coughed and smiled. The rest of the teachers had made themselves scarce. The only ones that stayed were him and his teacher from class D.
"I can't believe you did it, you tr-, hm...I can't call you that anymore. I'll settle for brat, and you need to be at the top for me to bother with your name. Good job, especially without proper control of your ability. How do you feel?"
She asked with a mischievous grin. Reese rolled his eyes, opened a portal above his hands, and dropped a jewelry box in his hands. Charlotte shrugged; he felt happy when he won. But fighting Iza twice and getting beaten by her had drained that from him. He was left with a strange emotion within himself.
"Stop bothering the kid, and he's probably tired enough...he shouldn't have to deal with this."
Reese gestured to all of her, which caused her to roll her eyes and lean against him. Her gaze then moved down to the box.
"Alright, Charlotte, you get a few perks for making it to Class A. One of them being a house to yourself. When you get back, walk around and check them; your name should be written on top of the door. The next perk is this."
He opened the jewelry box, revealing earrings, necklaces, rings, and even bracelets. All of them are made of silver and have different-colored gem ornaments.
"You can pick one of these to wear, and you got to see them used by Iza during her first match—they're a sorta storage device, so you don't have to carry your things around—a few words before you choose. Please don't lose it; you won't get another one...unless you're an A class. Second, don't worry about it getting stolen. I will find whoever did it and bring it back to you. Trust me, they know not to do that, just in case. Lastly, they don't have an infinite space to store things. Depending on the size, you can probably store around five or six things."
Charlotte nods excitedly, looking at the options available to him. He had decided to go for something that would match his eyes. Sadly, there didn't seem to be a magenta-colored gem; the closest he found was a reddish-pink gem on a stud earrings. He took them out of the box and tried putting them on. Surprisingly, it was pretty easy. He hadn't worn earrings before, so he wasn't sure how it looked.
"So...how do I store things in it?"
He held onto his gauntlet and tried to put them into the earrings. He tapped the earrings with his fingers, but it didn't work.
"Picture storing them in a box; the earrings will do the rest."
Reese quickly responded while the other teacher was giggling to herself, watching him struggle. As soon as he closed his eyes and pictured himself hiding them under his stairs, he felt the weight of the gauntlets disappear. He moved his hand to touch the chest plate, and he also felt it disappear.
"That's so cool; this makes up for the pain I experienced today."
Reese was about to speak up before his mouth got covered by the other teacher as she smiled and pointed behind him.
"Seems you got a friend waiting for you, so how about we stop keeping you."
She didn't wait for him to respond as she hoisted Reese over her shoulder and ran off. It was quite the sight watching her carry him off so effortlessly, especially considering how big Reese looked compared to her.
He turned around, expecting Fang to be waiting for him, only to be met with Iza standing a few feet away, seemingly waiting for him to finish his business. The two, once again, awkwardly stared at each other. He didn't know what to say. Whenever he opened his mouth to speak, it felt like he would say the wrong thing. So he quickly stopped himself.
She tilted her head slightly and quietly nodded her head.
"Good choice, those earrings suit you. You got a minute to talk?"
Oh god, she wasn't about to ask him for another match right? Charlotte had already reached his limit for how many times the same person could kick his ass.