Nagisa had never been so busy before, just with his breakthrough, he now had access to rank three spells just 1 day after he had just started practicing the rank two spells. While Raging pillar was an evolving spell, Water Pistol and Prison Sphere were just ordinary rank two spells.
After reading through all the new spells, Nagisa decided to abandon Water Pistol and replace it with a rank 2 healing spell Cleanse. The healing effect of Cleanse wasn't much better than the rank 1 spell Healing Touch, but what it did bring to the table was the ability to remove negative substances, like poison, from the body, at least to a certain degree.
To fill the slot for his now missing offensive spell, Nagisa chose the evolving rank three spell Bullet Rain. Realizing that it would be a pain to keep refreshing his spell arsenal, Nagisa decided to mostly focus on evolving spells while only learning the unique spells in the future.
It was still early after Nagisa had decided on his spells, so he decided to practice a bit more in the garden.
"Hmm? What do you mean I won't be assigned to any class in the 4th grade?" Kaede asked with a slightly annoyed but mostly confused face.
When she had gone to register her breakthrough this morning, the person in charge there had told her that they couldn't assign her to any class yet since the vice principal wanted to talk to her personally. That's also why Kaede didn't go to any classes today and was just lazing around in her room.
Now the vice principal, Karasuma, was suddenly standing at her dorm's door and told her that she won't be assigned to any class!
"You probably heard that I've started to make a special class recently." Karasuma calmly explained, "I want you to in it."
"Hmm? Why?" Kaede looked at Karasuma suspiciously and asked, "I just turned into a stage 4 mage, there a lot of stronger students in this academy."
"I'm not just looking for strong students. That would be pointless. What I'm looking for are students with superior potential that can't be fully developed by normal classes." Karasuma replied.
"I'm sure there are some talented upperclassmen as well." Kaede kept questioning.
"Most of them are too old. It's too late for them already. Their potential has been wasted, and that is exactly why I suggested starting one of these classes."
"What's the difference from normal classes?" Kaede was starting to get interested.
"You get access to more and rarer resources, have priority when it comes to training grounds, you will have me as your personal teacher with hunting and social classes outside of the school to gain experience in the real world, you will also get special privileges such as leaving the academy at any time and so on.", Karasuma explained.
"… Isn't this a bit too much?" Kaede was surprised.
"I only plan to pick one student out of each element, so the class will only have 4 students. With only 4 then the school can handle these costs." Karasuma answered seriously, "so? What's your answer, Kayano-san?"
"I'm honored for the invitation, Karasuma-sensei.", Kaede easily decided, it was a no-brainer, "I'll be under your care."
"Likewise Miss Kayano, classes will start at 8 tomorrow. We'll meet in front of the school gate." Karasuma nodded and disappeared from his spot.
"Ehhh? Leaving the academy already?" Kaede was surprised yet again, but she was thrilled to bits by the sudden change! She was already getting sick of her normal school life. This might be the change that she needed.
"Jo Nagisa!" Karma waves at Nagisa who just came back from his training while packing something into a bag.
"Hey, are you going somewhere?" Nagisa wondered as he walked towards Karma.
"Yeah, we're going into the forest for some hunting practice," Karma answered nonchalantly.
"Hunting practice? We do something like that in school?" Nagisa was surprised.
"Not in normal classes no, I told you that there are things that only a few students have to do, like my staff, remember?", Karma reminded Nagisa but stopped as if he suddenly thought of something, "Hey you wanna come with me tomorrow?", Karma asked all of a sudden with a grin on his face.
"Huh? I have classes, and didn't you say that only a few are allowed to do that?" Nagisa was confused.
"Sure did, I was thinking of recommending you into the class.", Karma nodded, "As for classes… you can just skip? You know that we're not obliged to be there, right?"
"What kind of class is it?" Nagisa wondered.
"Can't tell you that, but there are a lot of benefits if you get accepted. I'm not sure if you'll be accepted or if you'll be allowed to tag along, but I'm certain that you'll pique our teacher's interest." Karma replied, "I'd much prefer to have you in our class than someone else."
"When you say benefits, is the sword you have one of them?" the information Karma leaked was quickly sorted and digested by Nagisa.
"You could say that." Karma confirmed, "So, what do you say?".
"… Sure, I'll give it a try." Nagisa decided and shrugged.
"Nice, we'll have to be at the school gate at 7:30 tomorrow, so don't oversleep." Karma told him while heading back to his own room, "and just in case, pack some food and equipment."
"Got it.", Nagisa nodded while still deep in his thoughts. The staff, which was a melee weapon at the same time, that Karma used, was something that really intrigued Nagisa, if possible, he would love to get his hands on one as well, but it was almost impossible for him on his own. To craft such a weapon, one would need an extremely pure mana crystal and ores that allow mana to flow through and are sturdy enough to be used in close combat.
Nagisa simply didn't have the money, skill, and connections to get the materials and craft such a weapon on his own.
Deciding that he had nothing else to do for the day, Nagisa lazily went back into his room and went into his bathroom. There was a possibility that he might join Karma's mysterious class for hunting practice tomorrow, so Nagisa was debating if he should bring his dagger along with him.
After grabbing it out of the bag where he stored all his stuff for his "night job", Nagisa played around with it for a bit and decided against it. The jet-black dagger would stand out too much and it wouldn't fit Nagisa's mage image… but getting a good staff was too expensive for Nagisa while settling for a poorly made one would be plain stupid.
That's why for Nagisa, just the custom made weapon alone would be enough of a reason for him to join that class Karma was talking about.
The next day, Nagisa was in his bathroom and brushing his teeth still half-asleep. The clock in his room read 6:15 and it was still completely dark outside.
After quickly taking a shower and slipping into his uniform, Nagisa took his bag in which he had packed some bread and an extra set of clothes and left his room.
When he was downstairs, Karma was already waiting for him at the gate. Unlike Nagisa, Karma had a huge bag and his huge broadsword on his back. He was also wearing some light leather armor made from some magical beast unknown to Nagisa instead of his uniform.
"Ehh… you're wearing your uniform?" Karma questioned Nagisa's decision.
"These are the sturdiest clothes I have." Nagisa shrugged awkwardly, aside of the set of clothes that Kagero had gifted him and his assassin gear, the uniform was indeed the sturdiest wears Nagisa possessed. His assassin gear was clearly out of question, appearing in a tight full body suit with a mask wouldn't be suspicious at all. And while the set Kagero had gifted him could compare to an actual set of armor when it came to protection, it was a lot harder to maintain.
For example, if a magical beast would land a hit on Karma, it would at least leave a scratch on his leather armor. However, that would not stop Karma from continue wearing and using his armor. Even now, Nagisa could clearly see some claw marks and mud on it.
Nagisa's blazer on the other hand clearly was not designed for combat even if its protection abilities are possibly superior to Karma's leather armor. It would be such a shame to have a claw mark on such a fine piece of fabric. Moreover, the option to repair it after each use would simply cost too much.
All these matters aside, just the fact that it was a gift from Kagero was enough of a reason for Nagisa to reject wearing it in combat.
As for the school uniform, they may not be as protective as a set of armor, but still miles better than clothes that normal people wear. Not only did Nagisa have 3 sets of them, but the school also provided its student with new ones if they outgrew or damaged them.
So for Nagisa, it was the natural choice to use his uniforms as his combat gear. But for Karma, Nagisa's action was really strange, even though the dawn academy was a measure to build up a friendly relationship between the human and the dragon race, only students with a background were accepted. So a poor student like Nagisa had never existed before.
"Well, whatever. C'mon we gotta hurry up." Karma decided to just shrug it off and urged Nagisa.
"Yeah yeah, coming." Nagisa nodded and walked out of the gate with Karma.
When Karma and Nagisa arrived at the school gate, Karasuma was already there. Realizing that Karma had brought a person with him, Karasuma quickly shot a glance at Nagisa and frowned a little bit. He still remembered Nagisa from their encounter the other day, his first impression of Nagisa was a boy with great mental strength, decent potential but wasted a lot of it with his class change.
Karasuma roughly remembered Nagisa mentioning that he was a second-grade mage student. So even though Karasuma was very impressed by Nagisa's ability to remain calm while being pressured by him, the thought of recruiting Nagisa into his elite class did not cross his mind. Compared to Karma who was 13 and a stage 4 level 5 mage and Kaede who was going to get 13 in a month and a stage 4 level 1 mage, Nagisa was lacking a lot.
However, the fact that Karma was bringing Nagisa with him, made Karasuma decide to reevaluate Nagisa.
Karma had been the one and only student in Karasuma's class for more than 2 years now. Being the only member, Karasuma had also told Karma to keep looking for students with potential and allowed him to bring them along for testing. But over the years, Karma had never even mentioned a single person who had caught his interest, let along bringing someone along.
Karma was known for looking down upon other students, especially the so-called geniuses among them. To him, these so-called geniuses were nothing but a joke. They might have decent potential, but due to their background, they were all raised and taught in an environment where they had to work for nothing, they got everything they needed and wanted just by opening their mouths.
Karma was acknowledged as a genius as well and since he was the nephew of the principal, most students in the academy had put him in the same group as the people he despised. What other students didn't know was that all he got from his parents was his talent. Ever since he could remember, the times that he saw his parents could be counted with the fingers on his two hands.
He was raised by his uncle, but being the revolting kid he was, he had never asked him for any favor or recourses when it came to training. All the requests he actually made were either for pranks or just for random purposes that would give the principal a major headache.
So seeing Karma finally bringing someone along had more weight for Karasuma than Karma had initially thought.
"Yo, Karasuma!" Karma greeted Karasuma casually, "I brought you a new student." He straight up said without even asking Karasuma for his opinion.
"Morning Akabane-san, I didn't expect to ever see you bring someone along." Karasuma admitted bluntly, "Also good morning… Shiota-san I believe, we meet again."
"Good morning vice principal Karasuma." Nagisa nodded politely, "I suppose we do." Nagisa scratched the back of his head awkwardly.
"I was going to look for you anyway, I still needed to talk to you because of the compensation for that accident." Karasuma told Nagisa seriously, "As long as it's not too unreasonable, you can ask for anything. Having someone attempt to take your life inside the academy is a huge mistake on our side after all."
"Anything?" Nagisa eyes widened a little before his brain rapidly started to go through the options he had, "Ehh… can I request to join your class then, vice principal Karasuma?" Nagisa asked carefully. What he needed drastically right now were training resources and a new weapon, but both of these are not acquirable without a massive amount of money. If what Karma had told him were true, simply being a member of this class would solve both of these problems for him as long as he remained a student of this academy.
"You want to that as your compensation?" Karasuma frowned hearing these words, ironically, if Nagisa had asked for the academy to supply him with training resources and a new weapon, Karasuma would've agreed right on the spot without thinking twice. However, joining his class was a completely other matter for Karasuma. His objective was to raise a class of 4 unparalleled geniuses from each dragon tribe to take part in an interschool tournament that was a year later.
While Nagisa's mental was quite a bit above Karasuma's bottom line, his mana level was just a bit below his bottom line. Of course, that alone was not enough for Karasuma to determine if the student was qualified enough for his class. What Karasuma also put a lot of value in was the student's personality or even nature. There was no point in raising a student that might turn his back on the academy once someone offers him a better offer, no matter how talented that student might be.
"I can accept you on the spot, but I can put you in my list of candidates for further evaluation." Karasuma decided after giving it some thought, "Do you have anything else you want?"
"C'mon Karasuma, just accept Nagisa, I can vouch for him, I promise you won't be disappointed." Karma shrugged casually and grinned. He didn't know that the academy owed Nagisa such a huge favor. If he was only bringing Nagisa to try his luck before, he now was sure that Nagisa had a 50% chance to get into this class.
"It's fine Karma, and ehh, I can't think of anything right now vice principal Karasuma," Nagisa said. He was going to ask for resources and a new weapon if it didn't work, but since he had a chance of joining Karasuma's class, he would wait until the decision if he would join the class was made.
"Understood." Karasuma nodded, "Normally, I would've taken you with us for hunting practice since Akabane-san brought you, but I'm afraid I can't do that today." Karasuma said to Nagisa but was looking towards Karma.
"Huh? Why is that?" Karma asked with a dissatisfied expression.
"We already have a new student coming along with us today. You've been hunting alone on these trips until now. Building up some coordination with one new member is already a lot of work. Bringing in two new members would only result in absolute chaos. If I have to interfere with every single encounter, this entire trip would be pointless." Karasuma explained.
"A new student?" Karma frowned, "Like official student?" the way Karasuma said that was different than when he had a member to come along for testing.
"Yes, our official second member." Karasuma nodded, "I've been observing her since she joined the academy and officially invited her after she broke through the third stage yesterday."
"A stage 4… age? Mage or combatant? What element?" Karma's frown slowly mellowed. Karasuma's standards were just as if not higher than Karma's. If he said that he has observed that new student for a long time, then she must be quite special.
"I think she's turning 13 soon, you'll hear the rest from herself." Karasuma nodded approvingly at Karma's reaction, "Excuse me Shiota-san, but I'll have to ask you to participate in your normal classes for today. Starting tomorrow you can come to our training sessions with Akabane-san."
"I understand, I'll be under your care then, Karasuma-sensei." Nagisa nodded understandingly, "I'll be taking my leave then, see you tomorrow."
"See you tomorrow." Karasuma nodded. Nagisa's behavior and attitude left him with a good first impression.
"Our new member is going to be here anytime now, get ready to leave Akabane-san." Karasuma reminded Karma after Nagisa had already left for his morning classes.
A few minutes later, a girl in a clad in some light leather armor, a small staff, dagger, and a decent sized backpack appeared at the end of the road with the sun that was just starting to rise.
New chapter :S again it took a lot longer than I had expected, but my internship is taking all of my time and effort =.= at least I didn't think that they'd send an intern on business trips all over Europe. Not that I mind, of course, it's a great experience but naturally that results in me not being able to write at all since I don't even have access to my own computer with the chapter.
But yeah :D that's enough about me, how have you guys been? Hope you're not too disappointed with the lack of updates for the last entire year actually. But I promise I've been trying my best :S It was a lot harder to write it since I had to reread the older chapters to check on some smaller details since I've forgotten quite a few of them over the time.
Well, all things said I hope you enjoyed the chapter, if you find any bugs when it comes to some details please let me know :D also don't hold back in telling me what you think about the chapters in the reviews and I'll see you in the next chapter ;) (soonish I hope? :3)