Giovanni left that room feeling dead inside, even though his body was perfectly fine.
It was not just physical fatigue weighing on him, but mental exhaustion as well.
Using his aspect so extensively left him with a relentless headache, and he still had an entire day ahead of him.
To top it all off, Professor Beako had assigned a wonderful piece of homework.
If any of the sleepers paid close attention, they would notice that a sphere of earth and a bee were following him.
To refine his instinctive use of the aspect, he needed to keep it active throughout the entire day. The bee, on the other hand, was there to attack at any moment.
That way, he would have to divide his attention between his studies, the development of his muscle memory, and his combat instincts as well.
It sounded beautiful when described, but it was one of the worst experiences of his life. The stress of so many tasks demanding his focus and dedication at the same time was going to drive him insane by the end of the day.
During the first aid class alone, he was hit squarely three times, each one like a hammer smashing into his face.
When it was time to learn basic sorcery, he felt as if he were hallucinating. His ability to learn new things was already questionable, but with all the other simultaneous tasks, everything that entered one ear left through the other.
'This can't keep going like this… I need to find a way.'
But there was no magical solution.
He needed to accumulate years of experience in a very short span of time. If extreme measures were the answer, then all that remained was to endure until the end of the process.
Instead of trying to understand what he was hearing, he simply began writing down every word spoken by the instructors.
Later that night, he would reread everything as many times as necessary.
For some reason, he did not feel sleepy, so he could spend part of the early morning doing that.
"What's the next class today?"
Giovanni murmured to himself, carefully checking the schedule. Apparently, it was the survival course… great, it was one he needed the most.
After everything he had experienced in the desert, he understood perfectly the importance of knowing how to fend for oneself in the wild.
'Maybe he'll even teach how to season food in the Dream Realm too…'
Suddenly, he felt a sharp acceleration coming from the left, but when he tried to escape its trajectory, it was already too late. The bee struck him square in the face, knocking him off balance.
With one hand, he leaned against the wall and took a deep breath, trying not to get irritated. For some reason, he could hear Beako's irritating laughter echoing in the back of his mind.
'One day, she'll pay for this!'
***
Outside the classroom, someone else was already waiting for him. He immediately recognized the nervous girl.
Apparently, Sofia had also decided to attend the survival course.
At first, she startled at his arrival, but that feeling quickly turned into concern.
"Giovanni?! What happened to you?"
The young man's eyes were devoid of their usual sparkle. Lunchtime was approaching, and all he wanted was to lie down on the first bed he could find and pass out.
"I met… a very competent professor."
He considered gossiping about Beako to Sofia, but felt that would spell his doom the next time they crossed paths. He was certain that the cursed bee was basically a walking camera!
Her analytical gaze noticed the bee, earning her a confused expression as she observed the insect's strange nature.
"Your teacher is… her?"
"Exactly. How… did you figure that out?"
He answered automatically, but hadn't expected Sofia to make the connection so quickly… or to understand it at all. Giovanni never ceased to be surprised by the girl's intelligence.
"I… we'll talk about it later!"
Not wanting to be late for class, he checked the time and opened the door, revealing a spacious and beautifully decorated room on the other side. Many theoretical classes had a noticeable lack of students, but this was the first time he had seen seats empty.
Behind a long wooden table, the instructor waited patiently for his two students.
"There you are! Please, come in."
Sofia nodded for them to go ahead and took the initiative to sit in the front row. She did not know what to expect from a survival instructor, but for some reason, she imagined a muscular, hairy, wild man.
The man before her was rather ordinary, with messy gray hair and thick eyebrows framing his distracted eyes.
"My name is Awakened Julius, but professor works just fine. And you, what should I call you?"
Giovanni took a few moments to process the question. His attention was constantly drawn to the bee circling him.
When would it move again? Where would it aim? If his judgment lagged even for a moment, he would be hit again.
"Giovanni, it's a pleasure, professor…"
"Sofia! Among many others, the best you'll ever find!"
Julius let out a friendly laugh, amused by the clear difference in energy between the two.
"I see Miss Beako is being as brutal as ever. What an energetic woman."
The man commented, recognizing his colleague's aspect.
"I think… she's being especially mean to me… Did I do something wrong, sir Julius?"
"You're looking at this from the wrong perspective, young man. If she's being more intense, it's precisely because she saw growth potential."
Potential? Giovanni remained silent, reflecting on that word. Meanwhile, the man turned to the anxious girl.
"And what made you decide to take the survival course, among so many others?"
"I overheard Giovanni talking at the entrance and decided to look deeper into it. I intend to be completely independent in any situation!"
She finished her explanation, puffing out her chest. When Julius questioned Giovanni with a look, the boy added:
"I had to survive in a desert for three days without any preparation…"
Julius showed both intrigue and concern at the remark. Sofia did not seem surprised, having heard the story during the Q&A session in the cafeteria the night before.
"Both are valid reasons! To begin, then, we first need to see which other courses you're taking so we can decide on our schedule."
It took a few minutes to sort everything out, considering Sofia was taking more classes than Giovanni expected and had a packed timetable.
That was how he discovered that the young woman was learning hand-to-hand combat and the use of martial weapons. Apparently, he was the only one falling behind…
In the end, it was decided they would have class three times a week, which was more than enough, honestly.
"Perfect! You two won't regret choosing this class, my young ones. In six months, the Dream Realm will feel like a second home!"
***
Julius seemed like a simple and relaxed man, but his teaching method could easily be described as an explosion of information. Many new terms and concepts were presented as if they were common knowledge, branching into endless tangents that threatened to consume one's sanity.
Sofia seemed to keep up and absorb the lessons like a sponge. She did not ask to repeat sections she failed to understand, but instead grew curious to learn more about things that had only been briefly mentioned.
Giovanni, on the other hand, was like a child drowning while swimming in the ocean for the first time, except he had never even seen the sea.
Fortunately, the two managed to slow the pace whenever it became clear that the boy had lost track of the reasoning. If that was the curriculum with just a few classes per week, he did not even want to imagine what that man would do if given more time.
One of the most interesting topics by far was the way runes and dead languages worked.
The spell was not a perfect translator and could not flawlessly convey the nuances present in human language.
He would not even come close to learning multiple other languages fluently, but knowing key and critically important words could be the difference between life and death.
When it felt like it would never end, lunchtime marked the conclusion of Julius's class, allowing them to go their separate ways.
Feeling no trace of hunger, Giovanni chose to avoid the headache that was the cafeteria and headed to his room, eager to test something he had been putting off for a while.
He moved the sphere of earth into his palm and, with some effort, tried to activate transmutation. He decided to start with something absurd and attempted to transmute the sphere into a grape.
Nothing happened. Giovanni felt his power activating, but both his current rank and his amount of soul essence were pitiful compared to the minimum requirements, apparently.
"I set my hopes a little too high…"
After that, he shifted his focus to something simpler.
The sphere of earth became almost liquid, turning into sludge between his fingers.
Then it dried and became fine, almost like clay.
At the end of the experiment, the sphere returned to its original state.
Changing the consistency and state of things seemed relatively simple, but the cost was still higher than merely controlling terrain.
Modifying the shape of things also became far more convenient this way. For example, when he tried to raise a wall on his first day, the individual rocks were irregular yet fit together perfectly.
With transmutation, he could create a solid, smooth barrier, straight as a ruler.
When it came to drastically transforming something, however, things became very limited. The clearest barrier was between non-organic and organic matter.
It was far easier to turn solid rock into water than to transform a piece of flesh.
Lastly, the final noteworthy point was the difference between soil and other materials.
While he could transmute earth, stone, sand, clay, and everything else at long range using his seismic sense as an extension of his body, Giovanni was forced to physically touch other objects and materials outside his domain.
"I just need to find a way to use this effectively in combat…"
He had barely begun, yet he was already eager to improve as fast as possible.
"Urgh…"
His eyes felt unbearably heavy. A short nap would not hurt… but the moment he finally relaxed, the bee struck and slammed full force into his stomach.
The Grafter's Tunic absorbed almost all of the impact, but it was still enough to make him jump to his feet in shock.
'My God, it's only my third day, and I already want to skip class!'
If Margaret were there, a single disappointed look would be enough to break Giovanni's heart.
He slammed his head into his notebook a few times, trying to shake off the exhaustion. He still had an entire afternoon ahead of him.
***
Hours turned into days, and before Giovanni realized it, an entire week had passed. Amid study sessions with Sofia, training with Professor Beako, and general lessons, he could say he was doing better than expected.
The first signs of tangible improvement had begun to appear recently. The cursed bee and the earth sphere exercise had become slightly more bearable than before, as using his aspect became less of a constant effort and more of an unconscious action.
He was still unable to dodge the bees' attacks, but he was no longer caught by surprise and consistently tried to evade, even if with little success.
The torture did not cease even during the early morning hours, so Giovanni was forced to remain in a transitional state between being awake and asleep. Only then was he able to keep the sphere of Earth floating in the air.
Sunday was not a completely free day, but it had the lightest schedule among all the others.
Most students, who barely had time to interact due to attending different courses, took advantage of it to relax together throughout the academy.
And when he said interact… well, love was in the air.
Locking hundreds of young people together, all destined to face life-or-death situations in the future, generated drama and gossip that spread like wildfire.
"I wish I had time for something like that…"
He muttered grumpily, staring at a target a few meters away.
His task at the moment was to improve his aim. Even if he did not actively intend to use projectiles to injure enemies, it was still a valuable skill to have sharp eyesight, especially since he had future ideas involving ranged attacks.
One rock after another flew through the air, striking different parts of the target. He had not quite gotten the hang of it yet, but in a few more weeks, he should be able to consistently hit the center.
Giovanni did not believe anything could disrupt the peace of his day. How naïve.
At some point during his practice session, he heard the emotionally charged voice of a young man he had never interacted with before.
"YOU!"
Even though he did not think it had anything to do with him, he turned his head out of pure curiosity. What he saw at the entrance of the room left him speechless.
Another boy, taller and more muscular than him yet still slender, was slowly floating toward him.
With skin as pale as snow itself, eyes of deep ocean-blue, and long, straight, silky hair cascading down his half-naked body.
He looked like a triton stepping out of the pages of a mythology book.
Dark strands alternated with vivid cyan streaks, making it seem as if his hair had a life of its own.
The memory he wore was less like armor, considering how much skin it revealed, and more like a seductive outfit woven from the very waves of the sea.
On his chest, an emerald heart was etched.
"Me…?"
Giovanni, thoroughly confused and embarrassed, tried to clarify the situation.
"At last, we meet face to face, my rival. Since your coronation as the one leading our kind, I have hunted you through these corridors, but like a ghost, you eluded me! Now, however, destiny has come to pass, inevitably."
The individual had outright refused to enroll in any theoretical courses, which was why he had never encountered Giovanni during the week.
Since when did he have a rival?!
"Sorry, but… who are you, and why are we rivals?"
The stranger dropped to his knees, clutching his chest as if gravely wounded.
"So this is how it will be… You feign ignorance to belittle me, but I will not fall for your tricks, Giovanni!"
Several bottles of water floating around him exploded, spraying upward like a fountain, except for one that seemed to aim directly at Giovanni's face.
Now soaked from head to toe, the young man shone brighter than ever.
His hair swayed in the wind, and without a shred of embarrassment, he assumed a combat stance, summoning a spear made of shells and coral.
They were underground. How was that even possible?
Several other sleepers stopped to witness the spectacle, entertained by the absurd situation.
The Triton's voice carried unparalleled emotion and passion.
"Can't you see?! We are two sides of the same coin, like light and darkness, sea and land! There is no one in this academy besides me worthy of bringing an end to your empire… Remember my name, rival, I am Aguiar, the one who will become the strongest saint in history! And at this moment, I challenge you to a duel!"