39 Combined drills

Ark woke up to the feeling of rough sandpaper scraping his face. He opened his eyes only to see a tiny little creature staring back. They stared at each other before Ark closed his eyes once more. The creature started to lick once again.

"I'M UP GOD DAMMIT! I'M UP!"

"W-wa-what was that?"

James woke up, half asleep, at the racket that Ark had caused.

"SHUT IT JAMES! IT IS STILL NAP TIME FOR YOU!"

"N-nap time? But isn't it morning right now?"

Ark hatefully glared at the little black wolf.

"Now why did you wake me up? It is a Saturday you know? You hungry?"

The wolf looked as though it was wrongfully accused and started to bark as the calendar while looking back at Ark occasionally. Ark rubbed his eyes before glancing at the calendar. He froze.

So this was why I was feeling so uneasy yesterday...

"Ahhh, we are so screwed James."

James also rubbed his eyes.

"And why is that?"

Ark bit his lips before answering.

"It's a Saturday."

"So?"

"It's that day of the month."

James frowned in confusion.

"What day?"

James's eyes went wide in realization.

"N-no, it can't be."

"Yep, it is the dreaded combined drills day with our seniors."

Ark glanced at the clock and groaned.

"And we are going to starve too."

"Why?"

"We're late, and the more late we are, the stronger seniors we will practice with."

Finally realizing the severity of the situation, James paled.

"Oh shit."

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In a big field that resembled an open field, about three hundred kids with nine adults were waiting on a field.

Suddenly two people materialized.

A young white haired man started to yell.

"YOU LITTLE IDIOTIC BRATTS! JUST BECAUSE I GAVE YOU A BIT OF LEEWAY FOR THIS WEEK DOESN'T MEAN YOU GET TO ARRIVE LATE!"

"Sorry sir, James overslept."

"HEY!"

"I DON'T CARE! I'LL MAKE SURE YOU BOTH OF YOU WILL PRACTICE WITH SENIORS!"

Ark scowled.

"I knew it. Seems like I'll be feeling death again."

"Hahahaha."

James could only let out a hollow laugh.

Kali made her way towards us.

"Why did you guys have to go and make yourself a late?"

"It was a mistake."

"Hahahaha."

"James, snap out of it. You can get lucky and defeat a weaker senior. I'll probably get Carona or senior Mo Wen due to that white haired bastard."

James finally let out a smile.

"That's right! I'm not going to be humiliated as much as you."

Students near my age were expected to be rank 1. However, there were some that were rank 2, Carona and senior Mo were both rank 3.

One of the senior teachers let out a yell.

"Ok, first match will be James versus-"

Ark glanced at James with sympathy.

"Oh well, goodbye brother. Try to win, that senior isn't that strong, he is at low rank 2. With your high rank 1, you might win."

"There is still the big gap between ranks though..."

"Just try your best."

James sighed and walked towards the where the teacher was standing. Everyone else made a circle around the two and waited for the match to begin.

"Ready? One... two... three... Start!"

The senior immediately whipped out his hands and started to chant.

"When completely mastering and understanding a spell, one can virtually cast the spell with a single word. Some wizards don't even need to chant and can do magic just by thinking of it. The requirement for this is either an incredibly sharp mind or to become rank 3."

Seeing that the senior had finished his spell, James stopped advancing and quickly made distance in between the two.

"Although this student can't blast spells with a single word, he can cast it faster than the other student attack. All those mages out there must remember, a slow wizard is a dead one."

A teacher to the side commented.

"However, the other student is doing very well. He foresaw that he wouldn't make it in time and retreated before it got dangerous. He's pretty good for a freshman."

James held his sword point at the senior and took in a deep breath. The senior, however, didn't care and calmly chanted for another fireball.

James seeing that the senior was going to chant, quickly accelerated into a blur. He appeared right behind the senior with his sword placed next to his hip.

"What a genius! He can use the skill flash with such precision! It's very rare to see it in a rank 2, nonetheless a rank 1!"

James let out a roar as he slashed and cut the senior in half.

The senior dissipated into particles and the surrounding students started to clap.

"Damn, he such a monster."

(Dusk) But then again, he had too many advantages. Although mages Do overpower warriors, that is in the later ranks beginning at rank 5. Until then, warriors can just overwhelm average magicians with speed. And the senior was heavily underestimating James.

One of the teachers walked up to the materializing defeated senior. The teacher gave him a pat on the back.

"Your chanting skills were excellent. However, you looked down on your opponent because he was a rank lower than you. That caused you to have many holes in your defense. You would've won otherwise."

The senior put his head down in shame.

"I will remember those words clearly."

"As long as you do, I'm fine with your results."

"Thank you sensei."

"No problem."

Ark smiled.

At least the teachers aren't half bad.

James came back into the spectator crowd and was praised as a hero by the freshmen. It was rare to see a freshman defeat a senior. Especially when they had a one rank difference between them.

"Next up is..."

Time went on as student after student paired up against each other.

Finally, Ark's name was called.

"Next is Ark and-"

Reeves whispered into the teacher's ear.

The teacher coughed once before staring at the senior and junior crowd.

Specifically two people.

God dammit. I knew something bad was going to happen since yesterday!

"Senior student Mo Wen and junior student Carona White, we would like one of you to battle against freshman student Ark. Which one of you would be willing?"

Senior Mo had very bad rumors circulating about him. So Ark definitely did not want to go against him. However, Carona was... scary.

"Please not Senior Mo... please not Carona... please reject the teachers offer..."

Senior Mo made a face of annoyance.

"I am going to refuse. Waste of my time."

YESSS! One more student come on!

"I would like to bully- guide my junior student."

NOOOOOOO! GOD WHY?!

"Ark, please get to the center of the circle. As well as you student Carona."