Chapter Twenty-Two: In a fight?
The idea of having a weapon that could help their element had not been on their minds when speaking. This was Zenith's painful observation.
Why will a Gravity manipulator want a slingshot as weapon? Zenith kept his eyes on Aleksandra as she spoke passionately about having a slingshot as her main weapon. He hoped he didn't look disappointed.
"Sandra, take it from me." Alexandria placed his hand on his chest. "You'd buy a new weapon every time you go to battle because you'd always lose it."
Kawaya chuckled while nodding. He forgot he sat by Aleksandra and her hand reached the back of his head, slapping the laughter out of it.
"No, I won't!" She defended, glaring at Alexandria. "It's a good long ranged weapon that I can use. It's cool too." She looked at her teacher to support her.
It was an interactive class so Zenith had no intentions to, any one could say what they want. Her thought her choice was lame but she had passion for it so could work, he'd never had passion for weapons and that's why he rarely carried them.
He only used them when convenient or if they had an emotional connection to him, but a weapon as a form of defense or attack barely stayed with him. Magic was better, or maybe he hadn't found the right weapon yet.
"A weapon should complement your element and magic skill, if it isn't doing that then something is wrong." He said generally, but Aleksandra assumed he meant that to her directly. He did, and hoped she noticed.
"I think having a long ranged weapon is cool though." Nephis chipped in. "It can hunt fish too," she shrugged, "and it's light and easy to carry about."
Alexandria stared at her with many questions in his mind. It's light? Can hunt fish? "Those aren't your basis for a good weapon, are they? Seriously?"
Layla covered her face with her hand when Nephis spoke. She turned to Dexter Esther who sat besides Aleksandra. Dexter Esther girl didn't look conflicted as the other students spoke about weapons to match their combatant magic.
"Maybe she had really accepted her magic being non-combatant. I wish I can find peace like that." She said absentmindedly, looking at the girl.
The girl chuckled when Aleksandra hit Kawaya again for something he said, then her eyes suddenly shifted to Layla. Layla froze before looking away. She glanced at her and noticed Dexter Esther now smiling.
"That was really creepy. How did she know I was looking?" Layla mouthed and forced a smile back to the girl. She kept her head forward afterwards.
After another student spoke of having a war fan as their weapon, Zenith became fed up. "War fan?"
The student, Tomah, became smaller as the teacher's eyes rested on him. He scratched his neck. "Is it too much? I actually have good control with it too, Sir."
Alexandria shook his head, sensing the problem with the boy's choice of weapon. A war fan was best suited to a Mage with a Wind element or any element that needed flow, definitely not Tomah's.
It seemed everyone understood this problem and stared at Tomah worriedly, wondering why he couldn't see it. His seatmates dragged him to his seat to spare him the embarrassment.
Zenith cleared his throat when he realized he'd been looking at the boy with an unfavorable expression. "Tomah Jalingo, your magic deals with what?"
Tomah's head hung low after being drained of all motivation. "Beast Taming." He tilted his head. "Doesn't it go with a War Fan?"
There was silence in the class.
Zenith sighed and left the chair, writing something else on the white board. Behind him, Kawaya left his seat and imitated how Tomah would dance with a War Fan while taking control of beasts.
The class laughed quietly to his antics, but Tomah was still convinced a War Fan would suit him more, mainly because its his tribal weapon and his own was given to him with a badge of honor.
"The animals you'd tame wouldn't take you serious if you show up with a war fan, Tomah." Alexandria added. "They might break contract with you if they can't stand the foolishness."
The class's laughter increased.
Tomah being at the receiving end of taunts was just as rare as Lilian being quiet. Tomah was the usual offender while Lilian was inexplicably loud, so when things were not that way, it made the class amused.
Tomah stayed calm, still keeping his mind on the war fan. "I know very well that my war fan can take your halberd any day."
"In... In a fight?" Alexandria's face had disbelief.
Kawaya erupted with laughter and the rest of the joined him. Tomah's seatmates stopped him from speaking as it obviously didn't help his case.
Layla did her best to suppress her laughter but she felt like they'd escape her ears as car horns instead. She shouldn't laugh when he spoke of something he's passionate about but Alexandria didn't help.
Zenith ignored the students, and turned to the class when he was done. "All of you are capable of creating a hypothetical scenario, am I right?"
On the board was 'creating scenarios'. He didn't need to write it out but he did so he wouldn't derail.
"Tell me, in a hypothetical scenario were you're being chased by three two-headed snakes and as you run, you discover two children up ahead." He started.
The class had gone quiet, being intrigued by the 'story' and already formulating their reactions.
"But," Zenith continued. "there's a district being attacked by these two-headed snakes and you were sent to destroy the stone controlling it within ten seconds or the district will be wiped out."
The class grew dim as they realized where the question would be heading to.
"Will you spend your ten seconds fighting off three two-headed snakes to protect only two children, or will you use your time to destroy a stone at a nearby pillar and save the district?" he stared at the students.
"Will… they die?" Lilian struggled to ask. "The children, will they die before I destroy the stone?"
Zenith nodded. "Of course, if the snake chases you and you make a detour, they'd attack the nearest prey. Ten seconds will be more than enough time."
The class fell silent and the only thing that could be heard were Zenith's finger taps on the table, with a slightly humored expression on his face.