Races: Online (VR Smartphone App)

The clang of bells erupted across the entire place, the sound resounding across the entire Academy from the classroom to the courtyards. Professor Carnus blinked and the jet stream of acid trickled to a stop.

They were saved by the bell—for real this time.

Han's knees buckled down for a moment, somewhat fazed for a moment. Did he hear correctly? But the man had stopped so it had to be true. He rested a hand over his chest and greedily gulped down some air, and yet his gaze still stuck to the orbs floating serenely in the air. They were still an awful shade of mucus-like green. His body tensed slightly in case the orbs went haywire on their own.

The man had started to use freaking acid on them! That wasn't even supposed to be an available element!

"Alright… it seems that's all for today." The Battle Mage sounded both relieved and disappointed. The man then glanced away from the two of them and addressed the other spectators, "I hope that all of you were able to take note of how the spell can be upgraded—it's not all evocation, but its most basic form is simply that. Tomorrow I hope to see at least each one of you perform even one [ Elemental Orb ]. Check the four-hundredth page of our book. You're all dismissed."

Han finally sighed in relief and then glanced around and saw Timothy a couple meters away from him. The young man was rubbing the back of his shoulder, wincing slightly in pain. But unlike Han who had been chased by the acid orb, Timothy seemed to have encountered different things. There was a lot of grime on his face and once you mixed it with his soggy clothes—he looked like a drenched dog.

He knew he should be relieved that Timothy was alright but why did it feel like it was he who had it worse for wear than this guy? 

Did this guy secretly have some [ Monkey Speed ] as a Skill or something? Well, he still did get hit with mud and water so not exactly speed. But did he not experience getting electrocuted or something? Did he have High Luck? 

When Han glanced back at their classmates, he could already see Penelope on the front row of the crowd. She already had a bottle of potion in her hands, a concerned look on her face. It struck a comparison to her younger brother who was leaning down beside her, relaxedly reading a book.

But that wasn't just that, Han focused on the glowing potion in her hand. She was ready to give healing potions away like it was free samples! Surely making a healing potion was expensive right? 

Han only had one because of Ellynn.

He really should ask Timothy about the ingredients though—maybe his unused Crafting Skill and Gather Resources could be put to use if he actually knew the contents of potions. That was another thing on his to-do—

"As for the two of these young men," Professor Carnus crossed his arms and gave them a sharp look, "If the two of you don't make any progress tomorrow in your mage studies and present it to me tomorrow, I assure you that the two of you will be back dodging around every one of your classmate's elemental orb."

The threats were real but some of his words were somewhat vague. At least when he said that the two of them should progress in mage studies. Han scratched the back of his head, "Uh so we don't have to learn the [ Elemental Orb ] just yet...Professor?"

"You can try if you like—I have no doubt that it's more likely to explode in your faces." The Professor answered in a flat tone. He sighed and rubbed his face with a spare hand, "Learn a new spell that's actually useful if you can. It's a little hard in learning new spells unlike the [ Light ] one but if you two can show me some progress in learning a spell then I'll let you guys observe tomorrow—proper mana manipulation this time for you." He looked at him, "If you cannot draw from your inner reservoir then do not savagely draw mana to you, it's a pain to the eyes."

Han might have focused on the Professor's last words but he had focused on something else. The man really thought it took them three days to learn the [ Light ] Spell? Was that the average length of time in learning? It hardly took Timothy some time and he got away with it under one afternoon.

This might be something that the two of them could use in their favor. He honestly didn't think that the Battle Mage would actually be reasonable now that he'd actually considered them as his Students. Well then, this guy would be in a surprise then—

"What if we learn a new spell by tomorrow?" Timothy asked. Despite his appearance, there was a determined look on his face. "Is there any sort of benefit to it if we do, Professor Carnus? Besides catching up to the class?"

Han's jaw dropped for a moment. He wanted to motion for the man to cut it out—but it was already too late. Didn't he know that it was better to be seen as an underdog?

"A spell that's actually useful in combat?" The Battle Mage raised brow at Timothy, he rubbed the edge of his mustache and chuckled. "The [ Light ] spell is an easy one, a young man. It is a multi-discipline Spell that many learn at a young age so do not think that the other ones will be just as easy as this one. Something more useful to actual combat is dangerous if you try to rush yourself and your mind cannot comprehend the spell—do not force yourself even if you wish to impress me."

"We will keep that in mind. Thank you, Professor."

Howard Carnus coughed and waved a hand, "Alright the two of you can go now, class is already dismissed." The man then left the courtyard, not exactly vanishing into thin air but the man still made an impression.

But before Han could even say a thing—red hair smacked him in the face as Penelope rushed to Timothy's side. "You poor thing, I have a cleaning charm with me—let me use it on you." The young woman took something out of her dress, some kind of ornate dream catcher shape item and began to dab it on Timothy's face.

With a quick motion, all of the dirt and mud on Timothy's face was removed in the swipe.

"Are you hurt anywhere? Do you need a healing potion?" She asked and dabbed the charm on the man's shirt, the sogginess also removing itself along with the dirt. "You did great during the test—I think Professor Carnus has started to take a liking on you."

Timothy blinked and rubbed the back of his neck, "I think that's a little too early to say, Miss Penelope—er, Penny." He caught himself right before the woman could give him a glare. "I was lucky, especially with the Headmaster coming out of nowhere."

"I do think he likes to watch from the shadows, we simply can't notice him but he keeps the Academy running smoothly." She answered and fussed around his shirt, dabbing and pressing every here and there. "What I think was really great was your Skill? I saw you eat up the flames like it was nothing! Is it by any chance related to how you start fires?"

"You could say that? My Skill is related to starting fires—so when there's another available fire source, I learned how to use existing fires to start my own, I think I only managed to do it since I've been using the Skill a lot."

"Fascinating! I am aware that some Skills do allow for a certain amount of creativity, but that's splendid." She brushed a hair behind an ear, and looked him in the eyes. "You know I wouldn't say it in front of Professor Carnus, but if one can tinker around the [ Light ] Spell then it's useful for blinding opponents, I used that on Donovan if you can recall during our spar at Professor Liddell's class?"

"Oh, I think I can recall that." Timothy scratched his cheek. "You fought him after I sparred with your sister…" The young man trailing off a bit.

But perhaps Penelope didn't register that last bit, unlike how he remembered it.

She once again pressed the charm into his abdomen, the man's shirt drying up. "Ah, would you like to use this for your pants? It's a little tricky to use at first, my apologies..." The woman's cheeks were as red as her hair, even as she pressed the charm into his hands.

Han's lips pressed into a thin line, this young woman was literally taking advantage of Timothy right now and all the man was doing was standing around awkwardly! He finally glanced behind them and found that most of the Students were leaving, at least those of the Mage curriculum group while the Mixed curriculum like him were regrouping into another part of the courtyard away from the mess that happened in their area. 

He didn't even catch a sight of Ellynn leaving or anything, not a trace of her cloak.

When she truly wanted to be fast, she was gone before he could even say hi or anything. But wait, what were the two—

"I think we should go to the Potions Classroom now, big sister?" The little red-haired boy, Elliot stared at the two still huddled together. 

Penelope glanced back at her brother, a patient smile on her face. "Just a minute Eli, we can't have him all muddy like this, can we?"

Her brother didn't exactly look happy watching the scene unfold in front of him.

Something that Han was glad that it wasn't only him who shared that particular emotion right now. Except the two of them were distressed for completely different reasons. Han shook his head and then assessed his own body—he got electrocuted once, had a rock hit him in the back of his head, nearly impaled himself on a stray ice arrow and almost stepped on the puddle of acid littering ahead of him. 

His Skills were levelling up thanks to this short-lived trouble, one of them being Lesser Resistance but it didn't mean he was completely happy about all the danger he got himself through. And on top of that there was no girl to congratulate him—well, he was just being petty now. That didn't even actually matter that much, but it would have just been nice, you know?

Han shook his head and sighed.contemporary romance

Anyhow, his questions in regards to the healing potion would have to be done later then. He'd have to leave Elliot to be the third-wheel for those two. He shot one last look at Timothy, "I'll see you at lunch!" He would have added 'lover boy' or something else to tease the guy but didn't want to get attacked by the brother.

He still kind of valued his life.

Han soon joined the rest of the students for his next class.

done.co