Alice went back to the classroom and sat back down next to Tania.
"You are all dirty again" The dryad giggled while she brushed off the dirt from Alice. She did a great job at at that as there was no dirt to be found moments later.
"Thank you. So what will the rest of the lesson look like ?" Alice asked the dryad, tapping her pen against on the desk and playing with her hair.
"We were tasked by prince Charles to practice creating magic circles of our own" She explained to her while writing down her own engravings. It seemed that Tania was inspired to follow Alice's steps and she tried to make a magic circle to store her air magic aswell.
Alice examined the room. Alice was right. Every student tried was practicing drawing the circles. She stood up and walked around staring at peoples creations. Some were powerful spells with way to many runes to ever work. Others decided to go on a smaller scale and make engravings for the most basic spells. But they didn't get far as the bell rang shortly after.
"We will see each other on the practice grounds then!" Charles said before excusing the class.
As he left everyone in the room followed, walking towards them. Alice was dozing off slightly because of her lack of sleep.
"Hey !" Tania raised her voice at her.
She instantly sprung up because of the loud sound "What is it ??" She could her hear heart beating fast.
"I've been telling you something, but you didn't answer" A pout forming on her face, which then changed into a concerned look as she took a step closer and stared thoroughly at Alice's face "I'm certain nwo that you arent'd doing fine. You can tell me. I want to help you" She whispered, spreading her arms to hug Alice. But Alice pushed her away.
"You really don't have to worry" Alice silenced the dryad, her heart heavy with unspoken thoughts, unwilling to risk putting her in danger by revealing what was on her mind. "I just didn't get enough sleep" This technically wasn't a lie but it for sure wasn't the whole truth. Any further inquiries about this topic were met with similiar cold answer. That was the only way to keep the dryad safe, since she knew that if Tania found out about the reality of her mission she would either stop her or join her, and she couldn't allow for either of them to happen.
Charles was already waiting in the field where their next class was supposed to take place. This time he wore loose clothes that allowed for a lot of movement. For a reason unkown to them he had a dumbfounded look on his face.
"Why are you still in your uniforms ?" He stood there frozen with his eyes wide open "Did Valen forget to give out the training clothes during his class ?" He sighed loudly. It seems their drunk homeroom teacher skipped on more than just training them. "I will have a word with him later, now give me a second to give out your clothes. After i do change into them and come back here so we can start our class" He stormed off presumably to beat Valen into a pulp as his fists were clenched tightly.
"It seems that drunkard is even worse than we expected" Tania chuckled. The whole class laughed loudly at her comment.
They quickly changed into their new clothes. It wasn't anything fancy, the cheapest shirts with short sleeves and pants that irritated the skin. But it made sense as they were expected to be burned down or torn during their practice. When they got outside again they saw three different classes waiting already. Charles got back moments later, with blood dripping from his hands and a menacing stare on his face.
"Is everything alright ?" One of the students asked him. The prince's demeanor switched back, now a warm grin on his face.
"Oh yes I just had a nice chat with A-classes homeroom teacher, thats all" He said while rinsing off the blood down. "Anyway today's practice will be a tournament. But because sixty people wasn't good enough for my liking i invited your upperclassmen to join on the fun ! Intorducing second year D-class from the magic course, A-class from the gizmos course and B-class from the swordsmen course. Please clap for our guests !" He pointed towards the three groups. The whole A-class clapped excited. "You will split into groups of three and then fight other teams!" He painted on the air with fire. Showing the breakdown of this tournament. Each group of three will be put in a random spot on the bracket, and will fight their enemies. Winners will move up to next match and losers are out of the competition. But because by the end there won't be an even amount of teams, five teams will clash in the final match. "If anyone has more questions, please ask"
"Are we allowed to team up with other classes ?" Someone asked.
"Yes ofcourse. You can mix and match however you want. As long as there won't be more than three people in one team" Charles clarified.
"Is there a prize ?" One of the upperclassmen inquired.
"Thats a good question. To make it more competetive we should add a prize to a tournament. Good thinking whoever asked that." Charles pondered for a moment. "I will fulfill the wish of the winners. Unless its something unreasonable like blowing up the castle" His joke made the crowd laugh. "Now you have fifteen minutes to find a team. Don't forget that finding reliable teammates is the most important part" His words of advice fell on short ears to some as they just wanted to find a strong team to power through this competition.
"Alice..." Tania was fidgeting with her fingers, her eyes very interested in the floor all of sudden "Do you want to team up with me ?" She stared into Alice's eyes.
"I thought it was obvious we would be in the same team though" It seemed that Tania was worried for no reason. "I was thinking who took for the third teammate though. We don't really need another magic user since both of us are great at it, we don't need a swordsmen because I am able to hold the frontline on my own... That would mean we need..." She looked towards the students from the gizmo course noticing a familiar face. "Him!" She flash stepped towards her target, dodgins the crowd trying to find teammates before embracing the short frame of the person she was after "Hi Jasper ! Come join our team" She huged him tightly.