Chapter 89: Back on Track
As Alex woke up from the bed the next day, his eyes were full of dark circles again.
Even though he had reached his goal of being a level 2 mage, Sarah didn't give him any breaks in his training.
What was more unfortunate and fortunately at the same time was the schedule she gave her.
He finally didn't have to guess when Sarah would show up, as she announced the days he didn't exercise would be the day.
"Alex, you okay?"
Katherine worriedly asked as she started to get a little worried about his health.
"I'm fine. I just didn't well yesterday..."
After everyone had finished eating lunch, the three kids, along with Luqing, headed out for school.
---
As the four of them entered the classroom, they were much earlier this time as only half the class was in.
By the time Miss Amy walked in, everyone was in the class, allowing her to start teaching right away.
With the morning lecture done, it was lunchtime.
Alex once again sat down next to his sisters, eating his food in mostly silence as he spent half of his time hitting magic books from home.
Nobody bothered him until the lunch break ended, causing him to head back to the class with everyone else.
In the afternoon, Miss Amy only taught for an hour before handing the class over to Luqing.
With two hours of class left, everyone prepared themselves for the upcoming struggle, which had made their muscles still sore.
To their surprise, Luqing brought them out to the track and didn't tell them to run around it.
Instead, they were only required to do some stretches and stand still underneath the sun.
Unfortunately, after standing for ten minutes, they were given the assignment to run the track.
However, they only had to run it twice, which is much less than what she assigned last time with the nine laps.
"Okay, good job everyone. Let's all go back to the classroom."
Everyone was a little shocked, as they were only out for just an hour, with two hours of class remaining.
Still, nobody questioned her choices, as they were more than happy to head home to escape the burning sun.
"Ahem, by the beginning of next week, I want to see you all wear short-sleeved shirts and shorts to class."
"Huh?"
Just as the entire class sat down in their seat, they were shocked by Luqing's announcement.
"You guys can't exercise in long sleeves and long pants like these. It's just way too hot.
I don't want you guys to fall into a heat stroke, and it's too hard to see your faces outside in a robe."
"But Miss Luqing, wearing a robe outdoors is a tradition and rule at this point——"
"What rule? I don't remember seeing it in the rulebook that Amy gave me... Or perhaps you're the principal?"
The student that spoke out immediately shook his head and sat back down in his seat.
"Anyway, just make sure you are dressed to exercise on Friday. Class dismissed."
Although most of the class was still thinking about the announcement, they all immediately rushed out like there was no tomorrow.
"Luqing, why didn't you tell us——"
"Ahem."
Alex interrupted Mary as he cleared his throat, as a few of their classmate were still in the class.
"Sorry."
Mary quickly shut her mouth, even though Luqing didn't mind it at all, sitting down in her seat with her notebook in hand.
After the class was now mostly empty, Alex and Luqing were forced to stay.
Sophia and Mary just kept on chatting with their four friends until Camille finally decided to bring something up.
"You guys want to go meditate?"
"We're good for now... We just reached level 2 mage recently."
As soon as Sophia said it out loud, all four of her friend's jaw dropped.
"What! How? Mary, too?" Evelyn asked in shock as she looked over to Mary
"Yep. And Alex as well."
"No way!"
Camille instantly rejected the thought of it happening, as she and Alex had always been the bottom buddies in the class.
At the same time, it sowed a seed inside her heart to catch back up to him.
"Well, believe it or not. Anyway, I'm going to go back home now. Good luck in your studies."
All four looked jealous as the three of them left the classroom, with Luqing following right behind.
"We can't let them beat us." Evelyn declared, with Luna and Camille both nodding.
"Um... I'm also a level 2 mage..." Chloe whispered.
"You too? God damn it, I thought everyone was enjoying their winter break instead of studying."
Chloe didn't say anything back to Camille as she awkwardly swirled her hair before following the three toward the training district.
---
The rest of the week went by quickly as nothing exciting happened, with everything seemingly back on track.
The only thing that stood out was Katherine finally brought back the milk for them to drink in the morning.
To Alex's confusion, she also insisted that he drink a glass of milk before he slept.
When he asked why, the only reason she gave was that it could help him sleep better, which was never going to work.
Besides that, Luqing and Meiya both went out on some sort of trip over the weekend.
As Monday morning finally arrived, Katherine and Meiya were both standing by the door.
All three of the kids, along with Luqing, were right at the door entrance, and both parents were checking up on their children.
"Okay, you guys brought your gym clothes, right?"
"Mom, you said that for the fifth time already. Yes, we brought it in our backpack." Sophia impatiently answered.
"Luqing, are you sure you don't want to bring your gym clothes?" Meiya asked.
"Mom... I'm the teacher. I don't need to exercise," Luqing murmured, wearing a T-shirt and long track pants.
"Okay then. See you all later!"
As the two mothers waved goodbye to the four of them, they couldn't help but smile when they were out of sight.
"They're finally out of the house..." Katherine murmured as she closed the door.
"Yeah... Ahem, what do you want to do today? The usual or something else?"
"How about just the usual?"
"Sure."
Within the blink of an eye, a dark cloud surrounded the two mothers, blocking anyone from seeing them.
By the time the cloud had dissipated, the two had vanished from thin air.
---
Meanwhile, back in the school...
"Okay, everyone. This Thursday, there will be a mid-term exam to recap everything we have learned from the year."
As soon as Miss Amy announced it out loud, the entire class let out a sigh, including Alex.
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"Quiet. I don't want to hear any complaints. You all should be happy you got me as your teacher."
"Why?" One of the students whispered from the back, hiding themselves in the crowd.
"Because all the other classes already had two midterms before the break. You all should be thankful that I'm only doing one this year."
Even though all of the kids knew what Miss Amy said was true, they still disliked the idea of the test.
"Also, make sure you have completed all the arena challenges for level 1 mage before the end of the year.
It will factor in if you get to move up a grade or not... I really don't want to see any of you retain a year."
Everyone in the class immediately focused up, as if what she had just said out loud intimidated them a little.
Their minds were filled with the idea of being embarrassed in front of everyone because they had failed the class.
"Ahem, time for a lecture... Today, I'll be starting a new unit with mathematics."
As soon as Miss Amy said it out loud, half the class let out a sigh before their mouth suddenly couldn't open anymore.
"Anyone that talks today one more time will be muted for the class period..."
The warning worked as the only sound in the classroom was her chalk marking on the blackboard.
All the people who could talk remained silent, with all the talkative people's mouths having their lips taped together.
"I'm going to start from the beginning to make sure everyone is caught up..."
Two and a half hours later...
As lunchtime finally arrived, half of the class was scratching their head in confusion.
Meanwhile, the other half was bored out of their mind, as all the stuff was just old reviews.
No one was more bored than Alex, as the class almost felt like basic middle school learning Algebra for the first time.
The fact that the concept of variable confused them and took almost five minutes to explain just drained all of his energy.
He flat out took out a book and started reading it, which Miss Amy allowed as half of the class did the same.
However, just as Alex got a little bored and decided to lean down on the desk, Miss Amy immediately woke him up.
"No sleeping in my class!"