Worder Ronny was getting ready. He started warming up a little, but in a way that felt… mocking.
He stretched his arms lightly, as if he had just woken up and his body was still half asleep.
After a short while, he stopped the unnecessary movements and took his position. His eyes shifted toward a direction no one else had chosen before. In other words, directly in front of us.
"Looks like he's about to do it. I wonder if he'll hold back too…" Valentina said in a quiet, thoughtful tone.
Marie and I remained silent. We simply watched. After all, this was someone strong—someone everyone expected something from.
As expected, he began to show off his magic. He raised his hand calmly, closed his eyes, and started murmuring something. Probably the name of the spell. A magic circle began to form in front of him.
It was dazzling. Glowing runes floated around the circle, which was about fifty centimeters in diameter.
At the center, a small flame appeared. But not just any flame—it was a deep, intense red. A color rarely seen, even in summoning magic.
Then he launched it forward. The speed it reached was absurd, almost like it broke the sound barrier.
But that wasn't all. The flame didn't just travel fast—it tore through a massive number of trees like they were made of paper, until it finally crashed into a huge boulder… and shattered it completely.
What we were witnessing was unreal. He had burned through at least a kilometer of forest. For a moment, we genuinely feared the attack had reached the outskirts of the capital.
Everyone stared in silence. The forest was charred. There was no question—this wasn't just some impressive magic. It was the work of someone on a completely different level. Someone worthy of the title: 『Out of Class』.
Worder returned to his group with a proud smile. His friends didn't hesitate to cheer him on.
"Worder Ronny, grade: S," the professor announced, his tone calm but clearly surprised, scribbling the result into his notebook.
Worder turned his head and looked right at us. That smug grin on his face said it all. Like he was thinking, This is what real power looks like.
I couldn't tell if he was becoming more arrogant by the second, or if he had always been this way and I just hadn't noticed. But one thing was clear: his popularity had just skyrocketed. Was being one of the strongest in the academy enough to turn anyone into some kind of hero?
Apparently so. There was no room for doubt.
After him, and a few more students, it was finally my turn.
Neither Marie nor Valentina seemed even remotely worried. I stepped forward, and both of them just kept watching—no words, no reactions.
"Garieth Kael, I guess you're last again. Sorry, I still haven't updated your alphabetical placement… but I'll get to it when I have the time," the professor said, sounding tired and halfway asleep.
I nodded without a word. His face said enough.
I walked toward a different spot than the rest. While everyone else had used the central part of the field, I chose a far corner, untouched and still intact. The professor didn't seem to care, so I didn't overthink it. It was time to act… but then...
"Hey, twenty points. Use your full power. Maybe you'll at least manage to scratch that tree in front of you."
That was Worder Ronny again, speaking in a mocking tone. His group burst into laughter, treating me like the main joke of the day.
(I should ignore them… and focus on the real task.)
"You should stop saying nonsense and just watch," Valentina said coldly. I didn't even turn to look, but her voice was sharp enough to kill the laughter.
They didn't say anything after that. But I could feel it—how their amusement faded, how they just nodded silently at her command.
(All right. Just one drop. That should be enough. Though this isn't just any drop… It's a drop heated to 260 degrees Celsius, packed with a dense layer of compressed air. Together, that combination… could probably slice through a mountain. Well… maybe that last part's an exaggeration.)
Time to test it.
"Come on, is that little drop really all you've got? It won't even tickle the bark."
One of them didn't get to finish his sentence.
I moved my finger sharply, cutting the air in a simple cross-shaped motion.
A high-pitched slicing sound echoed—so faint, I was probably the only one who noticed.
Silence fell. At least for a moment.
Then the laughter resumed.
"Did you seriously throw that tiny drop of water? Hahaha," one of them said, mocking as loudly as possible.
Their laughter was full of intent. But while Worder Ronny and his group laughed like they'd just won a comedy contest, everyone else outside their circle stayed quiet—almost uncomfortably so.
"Could you all just shut up and watch?"
This time, it was Marie who spoke. Her voice was firm. Dead serious.
And silence returned instantly.
Then… a tree fell.
Followed by another.
And then another.
One by one, an entire line of trees began collapsing, as if someone had drawn an invisible blade across the forest. It wasn't a massive area—maybe only twenty meters or so—but that was more than enough to get my message across.
Now that no one was saying a word, I allowed myself to walk back to Marie and Valentina. Behind me, the trees continued to fall in perfect sequence, like part of some silent performance.
I returned with my hands casually in my pockets and a harmless smile on my face. I couldn't help it. Watching their shocked expressions after all the mocking… was absolutely satisfying.
And it wasn't just them. Even the professor had that same stunned look—trying hard to hide it behind a professional façade. Well, almost everyone.
Except for one.
And honestly, Marie and Valentina probably saw this coming from the start.
"Garieth Kael, grade: A+"
The professor announced it calmly, as if trying to keep his cool after everything he'd just seen. But his tone said something else—like any doubt he once had about me had vanished in an instant.
(An A+? I was just aiming for an A… but hey, this works too.)
"Took you long enough to show a little of your power. Now I can relax a bit," Valentina said with her usual smug tone—but there was a faint trace of relief behind her words.
I gave her a small smile and nodded. Maybe it was time to stop holding back so much… before the teasing returned.
"All right, we'll now begin the second test. Everyone, form teams of four," the professor announced, clapping twice to grab everyone's attention.
There were three of us. Enough to make a team.
We just needed one more.
I looked around at the rest of the students and spotted someone standing completely alone. Everyone else had already formed their groups, so I decided to go with him—or, well, with that person.
"Hey! Want to join us?"
The person looked a little shy. Didn't really stand out. And for a second, he glanced around like I must've been talking to someone else.
I walked closer, just enough to make it clear I was referring to him.
His hair was messy—black and long, down to the base of his neck. The upper part of it covered most of his face, so I didn't think twice about grabbing his wrist and gently pulling him along.
But then, once he was right in front of me, I looked again—closely.
It hit me.
He had never been a guy.
She was a quiet girl… and I had completely mistaken her for someone else.
(Crap… What am I even supposed to say now?)