Since I had finally understood the concept of magic and how to basically make it work, I had begun my path to becoming a successful mage and actually entering the upper echelon of the academy, the place that would allow me to get closer to the geniuses.
The issue is that the wall before me was still too mighty and traversing it wasn't something that would be easy. It would require the utmost dedication from me and for me to give my all.
After all, I was mostly a wind mage and I had barely noticeable understanding of other magical concepts.
Now, for someone that had barely gotten into things, the next class I had wasn't generally a pleasant one. It was the next day and it was combat class.
But classes had been broken up into the S class, the A class, the B class and so on. Luckily, I was assigned to the A class; well, it wasn't really lucky because the A class were believed to be the good mages.
S class was the place where all the geniuses are; they were taught things that were entirely different and had training that set them apart.
As I stood in the training ground with Andrew, I spoke, "I'm going to make it to the S class." I said in a calm way; it wasn't pompous, it wasn't cocky, it was just me saying what I wanted to say.
But someone else heard that, and he instantly took it that I was claiming I was better than all fifty people in the A class. He looked at me with a nasty look and then leaned over to his friend, telling him what he had just heard as well.
Suddenly, it spread, and every eye was on me, everyone having different expressions on their faces, but the most common was that they hated my guts.
In the academy, pride was a very prevalent thing, and each student strove to be their best; they also hated when someone tried to say they were better.
The only way to make them accept that someone was better was if I actually became so good that the fact became undeniable.
"This sort of attention is definitely not good, but I'll have to make do somehow; it doesn't matter how," I thought to myself, calming my heart. But Andrew wasn't as cool as me; he could see them looking at me already and he was panicking, not a good panic to have.
"This isn't good, Leo. Maybe you should tell the teacher that you are getting targeted," he said, his voice calm and very quiet, to ensure that they didn't hear him.
But all I did was give him a smile and then shook my head slowly. "That's only going to make it worse. If they hate me, reporting would be me asking for all the trouble that I could get; it's not worth it even in the slightest." I said, then scanned around, looking at their eyes.
"The only way to go now would be to do what I set out to do, and I'll be taking you along with me." I said, and his eyes widened. He looked at me in shock then immediately stepped back, waving his hands, trying to say he didn't want it.
I stretched out my hand and placed it on his shoulder. I looked him right in the eye, "If you want to reach the level where she will respect and see you, then you have to become a risk taker and fight against the odds."
He listened to those words and slowly nodded his head. He looked at me right in the eyes and nodded again.
The teacher suddenly walked into the training ground, his entry pulling everyone's attention; he was hard to miss, to be honest. He was tall, over six feet five at the very least, with a slim build shown by the tight black shirt he had on and the leather pants that gripped him tight, along with the black boots that added to his look.
He had white hair and blue eyes, main character type of stuff. He walked in front of all the students and everyone immediately stopped and paid attention to him.
The girls were already drooling over him, and some had blushes on their faces; it gave me the same feeling as with that stupid blonde-haired idiot.
The teacher, though, was undisturbed. He scanned the students with his eyes; his gaze lingered on me for a bit longer than I would consider usual. It made me a little worried, but then he looked away.
"Today, all of you will begin your combat training. As students of the academy, fighting is a main part of your curriculum; you need to be competent fighters even as mages.
The time when mages were forced into long-range combat had long passed; now mages are the main force, and you must fight and learn to use even weapons," he spoke with a confident and powerful tone, his eyes looking at everyone as he spoke.
He walked a few steps forward and raised his hands into the air, and without as much as a spell, he formed a flame; the flame immediately shifted into a blade in his hands.
He pulled out a piece of paper and used the flame to cut through the paper. Everyone around me was stunned, including me; he had done that so fluidly that it was crazy.
"This is what I can do with fire manipulation. Some of you might be asking, how did I just do that without casting a spell and all that?
But that's not something for you to know right now. What you need to know is that if you came against me in close combat, I would kill you without the need for any fancy tools or spells, only a flame blade in my hand.
Things like this are one of the many things that you'll learn in combat classes." He finished speaking, and I could swear that he looked at me again; it felt off.