The Hidden World

The contents of the lecture were things that were familiar to Yuki already. All of the points were similar to the ones that were written in the magic fundamentals book that he had read the night before.

 

However, there was one discrepancy. According to Mabel, spells were written in the language of the gods and were given to the beings of Ethros by the gods. The one that gave the most was the god Kilik, who was said to be the strongest of the gods. Nothing of this was mentioned in the manuscript. Magic was written in the “magic tongue” to quote the book.

 

‘There is also the fact that others don’t seem to be able to read this language of the gods,’ Yuki thought. ‘But for whatever reason, I can.’

 

When the lecture ended, Mabel then started a more practical lesson on the basics of magic. She had them manipulate their mana flow and do basic exercises in elemental magic. She didn’t have them do any non-elemental magic.

 

“I want you all to have a good grasp on how to control your mana and how to picture what it is you want to happen,” she explained. “Elemental magic is the easiest to manipulate so I want you to be able to do this well before we move on to non-elemental magics.”

 

This made sense. At least to Yuki it did. Based on the rules and the information given to him by the magic book he read, the intent of the spellcaster as well as their control are the most important parts in magic.

 

‘Mabel is quite a capable instructor,’ Yuki remarked. ‘She’s much better than the human instructors on Earth.’

 

But no matter how great of an instructor Mabel was, she was still teaching things that came easily to Yuki. And she seemed to know this as she had complimented him on his mana control when he was being examined by her. So Yuki spent most of the class bored until it was time to go to his next class.

 

The now familiar bell rang again and Yuki headed toward the door but glanced over to Mabel who seemed to be staring at him.

 

When she noticed his gaze, she nodded at him which Yuki returned before exiting the room. He turned his attention back to his smartwatch and pulled up the map again. His next class was already marked on it.

 

Yuki left the Magic Hall and walked across the Meadow. His next class was located in a building named the Combat Hall. Based off the name, Yuki assumed that this was where all physical related courses were located.

 

The Combat Hall was a short but wide building. Unlike the Magic Hall, it only contained two floors but these floors were twice the size of the ones in the Magic Hall. The overall design of both of the buildings were similar.

 

Yuki entered and saw that the floors were split into two sections. Each section was for one of the years. The one that Yuki was to go to was the room on the left. He walked over and the door slip open smoothly to let him inside. The inside of the room was wide and spacious, much like how they were in the Magic Hall. But these rooms had many unrecognizable objects attached to the walls, ceiling, and the floor. There were no windows.

 

Inside of the room, there were already students waiting. It seemed that combat classes were much more popular than magic classes. The instructor stood in the center of the room, a male elf who wore what seemed to be a muscle t-shirt.

 

‘He’s too skinny to wear a t-shirt like that,’ Yuki thought.

 

Yuki went to the corner of the group of students that surrounded the instructor and sat on the floor away from them. Then he waited for the class to start.

 

The bell rang again and the class became silent as the other students watched the instructor with eager eyes.

 

“Hello, cadets,” the man spoke, his voice surprisingly deep for his thin frame. “This is the Combat Training class and I am your trainer, Deral. We will be teaching you the basics of combat and work to strengthen you physically. I take it that you all have some training?”

 

He scanned through the nodding heads of the students and landed upon Yuki who stared back at the teacher. Deral’s eyes narrowed and his mouth went up into a smirk.

 

“At least, most of you,” he continued. “Some of you are weak and flabby beings that got in because of magic. But my job is to try and change that. To show you all what real combat is, I want the two top combat cadets to step up.”

 

The elf boy from the General Magic class who volunteered to be tested and a rabbit beastkin stepped forward. They both had smug expressions as they puffed their chests out.

 

“Cadet William Bied and Cadet Heath Furo,” the instructor announced. “These two are certainly the most promising of you lot. Both of them were tested to have high level intermediate swordsmanship.”

 

There were murmurs of appreciation and respect from the gathered students.

 

‘I have that,’ Yuki remarked. ‘Along with other weapon techniques. How is that special when a person that lived in the human could achieve that?’

 

“I will have them spar to showcase their techniques and be an example to you of what skill looks like,” Deral continued. “Clear off of the arena.”

 

The students hurried off to the sides of the room to create a wide open space for the two combatants to spar in. While they were doing this, Yuki saw the elf boy and the rabbitkin grabbed two practice swords from a rack near the entrance of the room. Then they stood in the center and faced each other.

 

“Start!” Deral barked.

 

Yuki watched as the two boys bowed then sprang at each other, violently swinging their black practice swords. They exchanged blows for several minutes— slashing, parrying, and countering. No one gained the upper hand and soon Deral halted their mock fight.

 

‘That wasn’t real combat,’ Yuki criticized. ‘No killing intent, no fear. In a real battle there is no room for politeness. Every blow must aim to kill the opponent.’

 

Yuki knew this from experience. If you don’t aim to kill then you are going to be the one that dies.

 

“Good! Perfect,” Deral praised. He spun slowly as he addressed the whole class. “That was what combat it. That level of technique is what you all should aim for and what we will teaching you. Of course, not all of you will be using swords since everyone has weapons that they are suited for.”

 

‘Those are some low standards,’ Yuki thought, his eyes not impressed. ‘Maybe if the whole class was made up of babies then that would be a lofty goal.’

 

“Everyone go to the weapon rack and claim the weapon that you will be using as your main,” Deral instructed.

 

The class walked over to the side of the room and started to grabbed practice weapons. The majority chose swords despite what Deral had said. Some snatched long swords, others broadswords, and others took a variety of other blades. There were some that grabbed different weapons such as axes and spears and bows but they were few and far between.

 

Yuki looked at the weapons critically, determining what it was he wanted the most. Unlike the others, he couldn’t make a decision easily. The reason was due to his extensive training in a multitude of weapons. Yuki could wield a sword, dagger, and a bow all at a proficient skill level. The only reason why his bow technique wasn’t recorded yet was because he never had the chance to use one yet. There was also the temptation to try out new weapons such as a staff.

 

In the end, Yuki gave in to the familiar and took a single edged sword. He was confident that he would be able to do well enough with a sword as to not attract attention from being horrible. He also was certain that he would be able to conceal his skill level easily with a sword.

 

Deral looked at all the weapons the students had chosen, nodding his head as he saw their choices. Then he saw the weapon in Yuki’s hand and the smirk reappeared.

 

“A single bladed sword is difficult to use, human,” Deral remarked. “Are you sure you want that?”

 

Yuki stared at Deral with cool eyes, his expression unchanging. Deral looked away uncomfortably after a while.

 

“There is one more thing that I would like to show you cadets before we start to train,” Deral announced, readdressing the class. “And that is the special function of this room.”

 

He clapped his hands and called out a name in a loud and clear voice. The room pulsated with a blue light and a synthetic voice replied.

 

“How may I help you?” it said.

 

‘That sounds incredibly real,’ Yuki thought.

 

“This is our training room AI, Raphael,” Deral explained. “This thing controls this room. Raphael, initiate training.”

 

The room pulsated again and the genderless voice spoke again.

 

“Understood,” it said in a calm voice similar to that of a butler. “Battle simulation training initiated. Please select your difficulty level.”

 

“There are ten levels of preset difficulties,” Deral said. “There is also a custom function where you can choose what type of enemies and how many you would like to fight.”

 

He turned his attention back to Raphael.

 

“Level six,” Darel ordered.

 

“Level Six initiated. What setting would you like?”

 

“The plains. Single combat.”

 

“Understood. Starting simulation,” Raphael announced.

 

The room dimmed and soon blue light was shining from every part of it. This light began to change in color and holograms were created. Holograms that were extremely detailed and realistic. The training room was quickly transformed into a grassy plain with a single armored hologram standing in the center. Yuki heard gasps and a surprising number of shrieks from the students.

 

‘I want this in my room,’ Yuki thought.

 

Deral took no notice of the students’ reactions and raced toward hologram with a sword that he had taken from the practice rack. The hologram raised its own blade and the clashed against each other with a metallic bang.

 

‘A solid hologram,’ Yuki realized. ‘Hard light or magical. It would make sense because otherwise how would a hologram train someone.’

 

Yuki watched Deral as he clashed against the holographic soldier. The way Deral danced around the figment was that of an expert and Yuki could see clearly who would be the winner.

 

‘Though, he is doing quite flashy moves,’ Yuki remarked as Deral did a long downward slash. ‘He’s trying to show off to his audience.’

 

The battle soon came to a close and as Yuki had predicted, Deral was the one that came out on top with a decisive stab.

 

“The challenger wins,” Raphael announced.

 

Deral turned around and looked at the students with a satisfied expression as he saw the looks of respect from them.

 

“That is what this room is for,” he said. “We will spar against both other cadets and against these fake things. But be warned. I made this look easy but even the first level of difficulty will be impossible for you all to defeat. Only a handful of you would have a shot.”

 

‘This seems like an excellent place to train,’ Yuki thought. ‘I wonder if it’s open at night. I could sneak out and practice here when no one is around.’

 

“You can also get hurt while fighting these fake things,” Deral warned. “If it had hit me then it would have felt like a real blunted sword. If you take enough damage, Raphael will deem you defeated or dead and cancel the simulation. So only challenge the simulation if you feel confident enough to do so.”

 

‘Midnight seems like a good time,’ Yuki planned, not really listening.

 

“Now we will start the actual class,” Deral announced. “I will show you how this system thing works then we will spar each other.”

 

With that, Deral began to give instructions and later split them into pairs to begin their sparring. Then class ended and it was time for the lunch break.

 

Yuki was the first one out of the class and followed the map to the dining hall located in the Main Hall. According to his map, the dining hall gave out free food to students.

 

‘Perfect, I didn’t have any money anyway,’ he thought as he walked into the Main Hall.

 

‘I hope the food doesn’t taste horrible.’