Being led to a secluded area underneath the stairwell, I tried my best to keep a calm and collected face as the man before me stared daggers into me.
"I need you to be honest with me. Is it true that you lost your memories?"
His tall figure towered over me, wearing eyes that looked like they could pierce any lie I told.
I exhaled and nodded, tilting my head toward him to reveal the obvious scar.
His eyes widened at the grotesque sight.
I couldn't blame him either, as it also took me a while to get used to.
"I'm sorry if you knew me from before, but unfortunately I don't. If that was all, I must be going."
Get me the hell out of here!
My body turned away and began to walk as my thoughts screamed at me to escape this situation.
Suddenly, a hand gripped my shoulder.
"Wait. Do you seriously not remember me?"
His voice was low and cold.
A shiver ran up my spine as I slowly turned his way once more and shook my head.
His face was now mere inches away from mine, his grip squeezing as his eyes stared deep into my own.
His eyes were narrow, and his brow furrowed as he gave a devilish smile that nearly made my legs give out.
"Let's train together!"
My brain blanked.
His face, which could make even the grim reaper shake in fear, now glowed brightly as if he were a dog who had just found his old toy.
Managing to recollect myself, I moved his hands away from my shoulders and took a few steps back.
His face radiated sincerity.
This man actually wanted to be my training partner.
"Sorry. But that's kind of hard to agree to. We only just met," I said, giving a faint smile.
"I understand, but I must insist you agree!" he said. "I was second place in the Academy Fitness Test!"
He pulled a paper from his back pocket, then shoved it in front of my face.
Perfect marks in all categories.
This man was a fitness god!
After analyzing the papers a bit more, I looked back at the man, who held his head high in pride.
Maybe it was because of my last random encounter with a stranger at this school, but I really didn't want to get involved with such a guy. However, I couldn't deny this guy was amazing. He also majored in combatives, so we would be seeing each other a lot moving forward.
I let out another exhale of hot air, then begrudgingly held out my hand.
"I-it would be a pleasure if you give me your time to train me."
His eyes widened, and his smile grew twice its size as he clenched his fists. He suddenly wrapped his arms around me, squeezing tightly as the air within my lungs was forcefully evicted from their home.
"W-what are you doing?! Let go!" I exclaimed.
"Welcome back, Cal."
Although his voice sounded upbeat, a hint of sadness broke through the veil he had made.
My eyes grew darker, and my teeth bit down on my bottom lip, knowing I had done it again.
Some time passed, and we both sat down underneath the stairwell once more for lunch.
I stared my food down as drool slid down my mouth.
The meal presented to me was none other than a high-class meal, fit for high nobility.
A tear trickled down my cheek, as I had now been assured the luxury of high-class food didn't disappear from my life.
Digging in, my trainer, now known as Gale, downed his food like a starving hyena.
We had decided to eat lunch together, since I still couldn't handle all the attention I was receiving throughout the day.
It may have been exhausting, but I couldn't say I hated it.
It was quite the opposite, in fact.
As more people looked my way, my chest tightened and my body grew warm as my ego only grew.
The empowering feeling was so intoxicating, making me instantly addicted.
Finishing the remains of my meal, not sparing a single scrap, I turned toward Gale, who was writing on a piece of paper, which he handed me after a few minutes.
On it were a set of exercises, along with time frames within the week that were the training sessions me and Gale would be executing.
It was thorough, to say the least.
"Try to make it to at least two appointments if you can. I won't be mad if you miss them. That's why I wrote down some exercises you can perform on your own with your body type," Gale said.
As the bell went off, I gave him a nod before collecting my things and heading toward my next class.
I didn't trust him, not in the slightest.
Everything within my commoner blood screamed at me, telling me this was a ruse.
Nobody gives something away for free and expects nothing in return.
Perhaps he wanted to grow closer to me to use me, or make himself feel better by looking down on my weakness.
No matter the scenario, I was certain he was hiding something.
Making it to my next class, I cleared my head of the negative thoughts and entered.
Eagerly taking my seat, I waited as a beautiful woman and a herculean man entered the classroom.
"Hello, class. My name is Ms. Hellena, your magic instructor."
"And I'm Mr. Seyor, your combatives instructor."
As the two introduced themselves, I, along with the other students, roared in excitement, and for good reason.
Mr. Seyor and Ms. Hellena were Knights, and some pretty high-ranking ones too.
Those with the magic and physical prowess to be sought after by the kingdom and hired to deal with the world's calamities.
The reason this school held a combatives major was mainly for those who aspired to become Knights.
It was also the fact that such high-ranking Knights were in one of the worst classes.
Perhaps it was divine intervention, but I didn't care. I was in the presence of people who are considered the best at what they do, for no cost whatsoever.
"It's a pleasure to meet you all. I can't wait to see how far y'all progress throughout this year," Ms. Hellena said.
After their introductions, the lesson instantly began.
"Today we will be going over the absolute basics. To start off, we'll be talking about the fuel of magic itself: mana," she said. "Mana exists within the world itself, lingering within our air for us to absorb and use. The big thing about mana, however, is the fact that it varies in density. Some areas throughout the world hold more mana than others, causing spells that are cast to act differently."
"Think of it as a golden zone for mages. Each one of y'all has a different intake and output that you can work with easily. Some may need to absorb more mana than others, and some's output can be higher than others. It's all about that golden zone," Mr. Seyor explained.
"We'll go into the causes and effects of differentiating your intakes and outputs later on, but for this lesson, we'll be going more in depth about your golden zones," he said. "Would anyone like to volunteer for this demonstration?"
My hand shot up into the air so fast I swear I broke the sound barrier. Almost noting my eagerness, Mr. Seyor turned my way, giving me a grin, and pointed at me.
"Mr. Caelum. Please come over here."
Walking down the stairs, I made my way to the center of the classroom and stood next to Mr. Seyor.
"For this demonstration, I will assist Mr. Caelum in finding his golden zone," he said. "Now what I need you to do, Mr. Caelum, is release the feeling that will build up in your body when you think it's at its most prime. Understand?"
I nodded and looked toward the class as Mr. Seyor placed his hands onto my back.
A jolt of electricity shot throughout my body as it discharged into my limbs.
It wasn't a painful feeling, but definitely an uncomfortable one as something built up within my chest.
As quickly as the buildup came, it slowly disappeared from my body as that uncomfortable feeling died out.
It was also as if my body was rejecting the mana.
There was no feeling of pressure build up anymore, but a deep feeling of incompatibility.
The only way I could make sense of such a feeling was comparing it to the mixing of water and oil.
When shaken up, it makes a terrible mixture, then separates itself.
After a few minutes, I looked back at Mr. Seyor, who was still concentrating his mana inside of me.
"Mr. Seyor. Nothing is happening."
His eyes slightly widened before going back to their sternness from before.
"You most likely have a high intake. Nothing to fret over. Just continue to wait for that feeling and try your hardest to release it."
Giving him a nod, I once again tried to concentrate on that feeling I held earlier, desperately searching for it within myself.
Ten minutes had passed, yet nothing had happened.
While Mr. Seyor continued to concentrate his mana within my body, Ms. Hellena continued the lecture about mana and went into detail about some of the effects it can have on an individual.
Although the class was very interesting, there was a big distracting factor.
I was still in the center of the class trying to expel the mana within myself.
It wasn't like I didn't have a functioning mana core. Due to the accident, my body was preserving itself with my magic and basically jump-started my inactive mana core.
The doctor seemed to have overdramatized my mana core's condition since it wasn't Caelum's.
"Are you sure you aren't feeling anything? Even in the slightest?" Mr. Seyor asked.
"I'm positive, sir."
"I see. I guess I'll have to increase the input. Is that okay with you, Mr. Caelum?"
"Yes, sir!"
As the two of us went back to concentrating, there was definitely a change in the way mana flowed within my body.
The only way I could describe the feeling was like a funnel being stretched to take in more water.
Mr.Seyors mana was overwhelming the wrongdoing of my body, and trying to make the raw mana inside of me burst out by force.
A warm, overwhelming feeling surged within my body, causing a slight amount of pain to spread into my veins like venom.
I held out my hand, trying my hardest to remove the foreign feeling, as a large burst of air shot throughout the classroom.
My eyes widened as I looked back down at my own hand.
The lingering feeling staying in my palm felt awful, but I didn't want to lose it.
I gritted my teeth and replanted my feet onto the floor to make sure I didn't fall, and held my hand close.
I had actually cast magic.
The feeling was invigorating, so much so that I fell backward onto the floor even though I made sure my feet were squared away.
"Careful now. You don't want to hurt yourself. You did good, Mr. Caelum."
Those words hit deeply.
I nodded and walked back to my seat as I went back to taking notes on the lesson.
Maybe this wouldn't be so bad.