"Good morning, class." Professor Seraphina greeted the class as she came in. "I've done my part in guiding you on how to form your mana core. Sadly, I would not want to hold your hands so as not to contaminate your core. So I'll have you begin practicing on your own. Feel free to come to me for guidance."
As instructed, Kyle like the rest of the awakened assumed a lotus position and began to sense his mana flow once again.
Time quickly flew before it was time for the class closure. None of the awakened made any major progress in the exercise.
"Keep practicing. Remember, you have a deadline of seven days, with two gone already." Professor Seraphina encouraged them as they left the class.
The awakened quickly made their way to the General weapon training class.
The training ground, where they held the class was surrounded by a wooden fence, with a space for a large door.
Unlike last time, the doors were shut. The academics tried knocking on it but when there wasn't any response, they came in.
They entered the training grounds to meet, its usual sights but Instructor Harris was nowhere to be found.
Shortly after they entered, they heard a creaking sound, only for the door to shut.
The students began panicking. They all began to run towards the door, trying to open it, only to hear a sound that sent shivers down their spine.
Growl!
The students turned around to see the feline mana beast. Its presence induced fear in them.
Orion was the quickest to react. "It's a tier-1 Flame tiger. Run! We stand no chance!"
They all scrambled in different directions. Kyle was very familiar with his very first kill here. He was humble enough to know he was only able to kill it because of the sword's intent.
[New Quest: Desperate times call for desperate measures. Prove yourself reliable by taking down the beast! ]
[Reward: 10 SP]
'There's no way I'm facing that beast,' Kyle decided as he ran.
As he passed through the sword section, his mind underwent a sudden change. 'There's also no harm in trying.'
He picked up a Katana before he scanned the field for the beast. Luckily for him, the beast was chasing another student from the other direction.
The beast felt like it was in an all-you-can-eat buffet as there were plenty of options to choose from.
Kyle wasn't the only one who had picked a weapon. Riya had managed to fire some arrows at it until she finally landed a shot. The attack proved futile as it only drew aggro towards her.
The beast's movement became predictable as it ran towards Riya allowing another arrow to land on it.
The beasts roared, annoyed and confused about who to go after.
The kids, bolstered with their efforts began to go for more daring actions.
Kyle saw his chance as they ran towards the beast. He immediately went for a slash at its side, positioning his body to the impact of the maximum force.
More and more slashes pelted the beasts from all sides and soon others began to build momentum and charge in with spears and lances.
Many of them were already part of the onslaught as they further disturbed the beast with their attacks.
Disturbed? Yes, disturbed. Except for being irritated, the beast felt barely any danger from their attacks. After enduring for a while, it decided to let them have a feel of why it was called a flame cat.
The beast shook its body and shrugged off all its close-combat attackers. Before it started to gather mana from the atmosphere.
Thankfully, most of the awakened had sensed the sudden change, so, the moment a fireball was spat out from the beast. They had already dived or rolled out of the way.
The fireball was just about thirty centimeters in diameter. Allowing most of them to leave its radius. The other ones who were near only experienced slight burns from its heat.
The beast panted after it threw its attack and prepared for another.
Kyle picked up an ominous feeling from this one, having none of it slid towards it, raised his sword and screamed.
"DIE!!"
The beast felt a nudge from its underbelly as it looked face-to-face at the kid who had hit him.
He stopped readying its payload and opened his mouth to deliver on the little human.
"Freeze!"
A calm voice spoke from the side. Harris directed his hands towards the beast which controlled the mana around it to reduce its temperature eventually freezing it in place, turning it into a popsicle!
Kyle lay on the floor frozen by fear was jolted by the system.
[Quest Failed]
The academics all heaved a sigh of relief after the appearance of Instructor Harris.
"Good job, y'all!" he said as he resoundingly clapped his hands.
He checked all their conditions and except for the select few who had gotten burnt; they were all right.
"I'm impressed by all your performances today," Harris said with a smile. "This shows you took our training seriously.
Kyle, great job sensing that attack. Your intuition proved to be sharper than I thought.
Kyle slowly stood up not paying attention to Harris' words. The fact remained that he had failed. Assuming, they received no help, he and the rest would have died.
Harris noticed the dejected look on his face and then continued. "Yes, you all must have failed. But, to be honest I didn't set up this test for you to slay the beast. I did so to test how you can face your fears and you all did excellent on that."
He continued after giving them a thumbs up. "But, it's nice that you're seeing this as a failure," his eyes wandered over to Kyle. "Next time, trust in your weapon."
"I would have wanted to teach you, but I'll save that for next time. Today, we'll dismiss early." Harris concluded as he dismissed the class.