'Miss Lamp said that I have two hours before deciding my final subject.' Having just exited from the summon class, Aiden thought as he walked through the silent hall
'Yes. And there is only one hour left now.' Eden replied as Aiden nodded his head and walked towards his next subject class.
'…Louis recommended me this class.' Aiden said as Eden shook his head.
'Not exactly you but Aron.' He said as Aiden kept on walking.
…
That day, after Enel informed Aiden about the magical book, he ordered him to prepare for his venture to the academy.
Louis got right into it as he taught Aiden some more regarding the mana and magics after that day.
Fuuuuuu
Exhaling a deep breath, Aiden stood on the ground with his legs crossed as he practiced controlling the mana that was flowing through his body.
"Your control over mana seems to be refining day by day without any hindrance." Louis said with astonishment as he observed Aiden.
"You may not remember it due to your amnesia, but you used to faint in every mana-controlling class." He said as Aiden's mood started declining.
'…Have I been too careless?' Aiden thought in worry.
It was annoying how he couldn't train in peace, without the fear that he might be found out.
BOOM
He purposely messed up his mana controlling as a surge of air exploded out of his body.
"Agh."
Louis got taken by surprise as he grabbed his white veil and protected himself from the air.
"Why is it that as soon as I compliment you, this happens?" He said as Aiden opened his eyes and lay on the ground.
"I feel nauseous." He said with a monotonous voice as Louis nodded his head and approached him with a bottle of water.
"Don't worry. That's a huge improvement from how you used to do it in the past." He said as he handed out the bottle.
Taking the bottle, Aiden felt the refreshing cold on his palm as he opened the lid and chugged down the water.
"I've said it countless times: please drink slowly; you might hinder your breathing." Louis said as he frowned.
'…Old habits die hard.' Aiden thought as he stopped drinking and stared at the bottle.
For a slight moment, he was reminded of his past. His current living style was completely opposite to how he used to survive in his previous life.
"…" Louis stared at Aiden as he noticed the emotions in his eyes.
'I wonder what memory makes him like this.' He thought as he had observed this behavior of Aiden silently staring at the bottle countless times.
At first, he thought it was him recovering his memories, but after observing it many times, he wasn't sure.
'…maybe he is realizing that his mana capacity is bad.' He thought.
It was an unavoidable scenario that the young master had faced before too.
Louis started to become soft as he prepared himself to help Aiden in any way possible.
"Louis."
Aiden called as Louis looked at him.
"Yes, young master."
"…What do you think the academy is like?" Aiden asked.
"…The academy?" Louis asked as Aiden nodded his head.
"…I haven't attended the academy myself, but from what I've heard about it, it's a very competitive place where your social status means nothing. A cadet's worth is determined by how well they perform and how high they rank." Louis said as Aiden nodded his head and lowered his head.
"What do you think my rank will be?" He asked as Louis became silent upon his question.
'From what I can tell, it won't be an exaggeration if I tell him that I think he will be ranked the last.' He thought as he tried to look for an answer that would hurt the least.
The silence felt extremely loud to Aiden as he took a deep breath.
"No need to answer me." He said as he suddenly stood up and stretched his body.
"Instead, tell me how I can become stronger there."
…
'He told me that the one thing I can do is look for different power sources.' Aiden thought as he stood in front of a huge door.
'Young master, it may be harsh to hear, but your mana capacity is worse than any average individual… But mana and magic capabilities aren't the only things that determine the strength of an individual. Hence, if you can't improve much on mana and magic, you can choose a subject that doesn't rely on that. For example,'
[Hand-to-hand Combat]
'What do you think? Eden?' Aiden asked as he extended his hand to open the door.
Clack
'I don't know. Let's se-BAM
As soon as he opened the door, Eden's sentence was cut off by a loud sound coming from inside the room.
WOAAHH
At the same time, a lot of cadets, inside the room, exclaimed in surprise.
'What was that?'
Aiden questioned what he saw as he witnessed it all.
"Agh."
A tall girl with brown bob hair fell to the ground as she groaned in pain.
"And that's it."
A giant person suddenly appeared on the small stage as he announced the end of the fight.
Aiden snapped out of the daze with his appearance as he silently observed the event taking place and walked towards an empty seat.
As he walked towards the seat, he observed the giant person, who was most likely a teacher, having a chat with a girl.
The girl had black braided hair and a round face.
Her round eyes looked troubled as she scratched her head and bowed her head to the teacher.
'What happened?'
Eden asked in confusion as he wasn't looking and just laying on the bed the whole time.
'I only saw a glimpse of it…' Aiden said as he looked at the girl.
After ending the conversation with the teacher, the girl walked towards the cadet side.
'I think they were having a duel… She was standing far away from that tall girl, but in a split second, her figure disappeared and appeared right in front of the tall girl.' Aiden thought as he lowered his head, wondering how she did it.
'Then I think she punched her?'
He could tell that it wasn't any sort of skill or anything.
Tak Tak Tak
'I would have sensed the mana if she had used any skill or magic, but I didn't.' Aiden thought as he raised his head.
'Huh?'
As soon as he raised his head, he realized that the girl was standing right in front of him.
Aiden froze as he looked at the girl who was also directly looking at him.
Both of them kept staring at each other for a long period of time.
…Sigh
The staring competition finally ended as the girl let out a deep sigh and walked past him, sitting at the only available seat, beside Aiden.
'W-what was that?' Aiden thought as he felt confused by that.
'Idiot.' Eden, who realized what happened, facepalmed himself as he muttered the word, clear enough for Aiden to hear.
'What? I didn't do anything.' Aiden said as he frowned.
'I think this seat was her seat, and you sat on it like the fucking idiot you are.' Eden said as Aiden froze again.
'I-I didn't kn-ow.' His voice cracked as he felt embarrassed.
The whole class, he didn't dare to look at her or even move.