"Mine!" Santy
"No, mine." Chris
"I said mine!!!" Santy
"I said it first, so mine!" Chris
"How about asking me?" I said to the two tagging my arms.
"Please let go of Mr. Al, Ms. Santy and Master Chris. You'll rip him apart." Mr. Hera said.
"Mr. Almus can't be your partner for this pre-test sparring because he might get hurt. We'll work on controlling your force first. Your spells might be hard to deflect and impossible to defend by a kid his age. So you'll be each other's partner." He added.
"I'll be your partner, then." He said as he looks in my direction.
"Eh?! No fair!" The Whisper siblings shouted in unison. I just laughed, it's the first time they get along.
"I'll just practice with the targets. You may focus on them teach." I walk towards the targets for bows as I said it.
The teacher put a protective spell to the both of them before they start.
Santy is great with wind magic while Chis is compatible with water magic. They exchange slashes while defending from each other's attack.
Chris holds an advantage because he used to train basic swordsmanship so his form already has foundation.
I sneak to the corner to let them do their thing. I started to fire fireball. I then consecutively shoot rock bullet, wind slash, and waterball. I only use the most minimal power needed to shoot those. The target weren't destroyed but I hit the bull's eye.
I was about to make another round when I feel stared poking behind me.
The siblings and Mr. Hera stopped what they are doing.
"Why?" I cluelessly asked.
"D-Did you ju-just use fireball, rock bullet, wind slash, a-and water ball?" Mr. Hera asked.
I nodded, "Why?"
"So you can use all the elements?!" Santy asked.
Right, it's rare to cast more than two elements. Lucky, I haven't shown space and Mental magic.
"Woah! That's amazing! How can you do that?!" Chris' eyes were sparkling as he asked me.
"B-But that's what all I c-can do." I said in rebuttal.
"But that's still amazing!" Chris said.
"Shall we stop with the sparring test and do the targets first? You may do all the attack spells you know, any elements too." Mr. Hera said calmly but he keeps his eyes on me. He then cast a spell on the target dummy to keep it from any harm.
"I'll go first!" Santy said and position herself.
She shoot wind slashes consecutively. Then, using wind magic she used lift the feebles around to shoot the dummy. It is like rock bullet but it uses wind magic to manipulate the feebles than controling the feebles itself.
The attacks lasted for 3 minutes before she stopped due to exhaustion. Mr. Hera hurriedly handed a potion to replenish her energy.
I looked at the dummy again and a number appear above it. It says 175.
"That number." I pointed it.
"I think it's better to do the test like how we do it in the magic tower. The spell I casted earlier made the dummy a magic item. The number above it tells the damage dealt to it." Mr. Hera explained.
"You fid well Ms. Santy, in your age it's normal to get 70-90 damage points but you've reached double than that." He compliments Ms. Santy then face toward Mr. Chris."Young master."
Chris positioned himself. He get ready to fire water ball. He made five of them float mid-air the shoot them at the same time. He then chanted for water canon and fire it to the dummy.
He was exhausted after those attacks so he stopped. The dummy shows 168. It only took a short time and few hits but he almost scared as high as Santy.
"I scored higher." She tease Chis in between her laghters.
"My turn next, right?" I said as I went to the line.
I should minimize the power I'll show. Maybe 80 points would be enough.
I shoot the same thing as I did earlier. Each earned 20 points so I get a total of 80 points. Yes! Just as planned. I pretend to be exhausted and sat along Chris and Santy.
"I only got 80." I said with disappointed voice.
"But that's okay, you did 4 different elemtal spells. That's still awesome!" Chris comforted me.
"Y-yeah right! you're already amazing." Santy added.
"Well, I guess that's to be expected. It's already a great feat to cast different elemtal spells. And in your age the normal average would be 0-60, getting 80 means you're amazing."Mr. Hera patted my head.
"I was taken a back when I saw you cast different spells. I tought you don't have prior knowledge like Ms. and Mr. Whisper. Where did you learn those?" Mr. added.
"I love reading, so I try it sometimes." I just scratch my head and laugh awkwardly. I think I should be more careful.
"Let's wrap up here. I'll prepare lessons according to what you can right now. Then, I'll take my leave." Mr. Hera said before disappearing. I think he use spatial magic to wrap.
Ms. Ver appeared out of nowhere. She jumped from the walls of the training certer and landed on her feet with a wide smile.
"Okay, my time then!" She exclaimed.
"First, let's run!" We're wearing training clothes so there's no need to change. She immediately drag us to run around the center.
Thankfully I put all my points to physical and agility attribute. I can run longer.
After a few laps, Ms. Santy stop to catch her breathe. I stopped after another lap. Ms. Ver and Chris continue but Chris almost fainted after two more laps.
"Don't sot down! Hold your swords." She said as she throw three wooden swords to us.
We get up and hold our swords. Chris' hands were still shaking. Maybe because he didn't get a chance to catch a single breather.
"Now, SWING!" She shouted. We instinctively did what she said. Here commands were so powerful that you'll obsy right away.
We swing and swing until our arms got numb and our hands let go of the swords.
This is heeeeeell!
"No more please." I pleaded Ms. Ver to stop this training.
I was aboutto drop on my knees when she catch me.
"You can't sit, you might get a heart attack." She warned me. She let go of me the clap. "Okay that will be it for today. Walk around for three minutes before you sit or take any water."
After a few minutes, we were wiping our sweat. We're refreshing ourselves by washing our face and drinking water.
"Please wear something like this every time we have class. We'll be working on your stamina first, before I teach you any swordsmanship technique." Ms. Ver said to us while handing us more water.
It was so exhausting that I just wanna lay down and rest.
*rumble*
We all look to Ms. Santy, the source of the sound.
"That's not me!" She refute.
"No one said it's you." Chris replied.
"Let's wrapped it up and get our lunch. For sure there's a feast prepared for you." Ms. Ver said as she leave.
"The chef has prepared the lunch. The Count and Mr. Meteor will also be joining you." The butler said as it pop out of nowhere.
"Let's go?" Chris offers his hand to me. I accepted it and we walk to the mansion hand in hand.
After the lunch, we took a nap before getting a written exam from the other teachers.
I can still answer some questions in etiquette since I've lived years serving in the palace. I'm not sure about the politics since I've been holed up here in countryside and I didn't have time to think about it in my other 999 lives.As for trade and business, I'm confident. It might have been loong time ago but I used to be a College student under school of business administration and accountancy.
Hours passed by quicly and the first day of class that was full jammed ended.
I played with the kids before leaving. It seems like the day didn't tire them out and still has energy to fight one another. Chris is more timid than Santy but always wins in any argument. Santy's more hot-headed and starts the fight.
They always argue but at the end they make up. I wanted to run away from them but they always catch me when I start to sneak out. It's like babysitting two babies that are bigger than me.
Well, they still take care of me. Santy even gave me her favorite dessert at lunch. And Chris is like a chick following me behind at all times. I feel a little burdened from all the attention but I don't hate it. I'm just new to it. It's the first after my first life after all.
┌
New unopened quest!
┘
I was startled by the sudden notification. It is in bright red, the second quest I've had since unlocking quest feature.
┌
Quest: Be friends with the
Whisper kids
____________________________
Difficulty: Easy
Task: Be the kids' first friend.
Reward: Link quest to find other
characters
Punishment: Quest window
suspension(duration: 1 month)
┘
I can find the other characters? Sweet! I'll just have to be nice to this kids.
My father came in and lift me in his arms.
"Let's go home, little one." He said to me. I just nodded in response and bid my goodbye to the two.
While on our way, I whisper something to my father. "Pa, can we go to Mr. Legere? I need a book."
"For class?" He asked me.
I just nodded with a smile. He then rush to the bookstore/library in the square.
This bookstore is an integrated library where commoners can read books but there's just one or two copies available in the library. You have to wait if there are others reading the book you are looking for. If you want to have your own, you can buy it.
The library is Mr. Legere's own collection. He loves books and want to share it so he made the library. But he's actually the bookstore and stationary store owner.
I pick the books I need. I've read most of the books in the library so I just get the new arrivals realted to politics, trade, and etiquette. I probably don't need magic books because I know more than what's written there so I'll focus on my weaknesses.
I saw a book about making friends so I snuck it in between the other books. My father might tease me when he catch a glimpse of that.
"Long time, no see Al. I thought you've already forgotten about this old man." Mr. Legere said as he pack the books.
"I finished the books here so I stopped coming for a while. But I miss you Granpa!" I replied with a sweet smile.
"If you miss me, you should have come sooner and often." He pin hed my nose as said those words.
"I'll do Grandpa, I'll visit again when there's no tutoring classes. Promise!" I said as I raise my hand as if taking an oath.
"My Al is a big boy now huh? You're not twisting your tongue anymore and you've also have tutoring classes." Mr. Legere said as he ruffles my hair.
"Of course I am! I'll come again soon. Babye Grandpa!" I said proudly and bid my goodbye.
At night, I laid in my bed and open the friendship book I bought. I was reading it when fell into slumber.
TBC...