Today the classroom was much more lively than usual, several students around 16-17 years old were standing and chatting happily, some hugging, others simply laughing as they remembered good times and there were also those who were shedding some tears.
However, that was to be expected, after all, today was the last day of school, many of them would take different paths in life and some would never encounter again.
"Heh..."
In the midst of all this, a young man suddenly let out a laugh, he had black curly hair along with green eyes and an olive skin, although he wasn't the tallest in the class, he still was taller than most of his classmates.
The reason of his particularly good mood today was because finally, after waiting for so long, today was the day when everything will change for him...
'Now that I have the opportunity to change my life, I must take full advantage of it... The only thing left now is wait for him to arrive!' He thought, excitedly.
"Jay!"
'Just in time...'
Turning around to see the person that had called him by his name, Jay couldn't help but smile inwardly as he saw a tall young man entering the classroom.
The young man's name was Carl, the typical bully who liked to prove his superiority by abusing others weaker than him, although for some reason, it would seem that his only target was Jay, as he didn't bother anyone else in the entire school.
Carl had white hair which was combed backwards, adding his jade green eyes and his slim build, everything came together to form the person known as Carl.
Unfortunately, it seems that regardless of his personality, the world had been good to him, because not only was his appearance quite good and his family wealthy, he also was... an esper.
"You are really brave to come here today despite being useless, eh!" He said as he approached Jay's desk.
The 'useless' thing was an insult that Jay had heard several times in his life, since he had not manifested an ability for any of the three classes since he was a child, most people saw him as someone inferior to them.
Although of course, no one knew that Jay had... changed.
"Haha, no no, brave is coming to school with the grades you have." He answered as he got up of his seat and gave him the brightest smile he could do, "You know, despite this being the last day of school, you were so kind to come and remind them that their grades are not the worst, you really are such a considerate person~"
Although it was true that Carl excelled in several aspects of his life, studying was not one of them.
On the other hand, Jay could boast about his grades all he wanted, after all, as a person with no powers, he had a lot of free time, time that he used to study and read all the things he could.
While his grades weren't the best in the class, he ranked nearly to the top.
"You..." Said Carl, a vein popping on his forehead, it seems that Jay had managed to anger him.
This was another bad aspect of Carl... he was short tempered.
Woosh!*
Suddenly, Carl activated his ability, causing various wind currents to start swirling around him, even though it was only wind, the pressure they were causing was no laughing matter.
Their classmates stopped their conversations and backed away when they saw what was happening, making it clear that they were not going to intervene, which was understandable, as it was not worth antagonizing Carl for Jay's sake.
Moreover, everyone here was aware of Carl's strenght, even if they wanted to help, they only would get beaten up by him.
As for any teacher intervening here, it wasn't probable, since it was the last day of school, they were all in the teacher's lounge, enjoying the last day of school chatting with their peers and giving the students time for themselves.
"What's happening there?"
At that moment, the loud but clear voice of another young man was heard by everyone in the classroom. Although his tone was calm, it carried a certain authority that made everyone present inevitably pay attention to him.
Fortunately for Jay, if Carl was his personal bully, there was also someone who acted as a hero for him, and in this case, the role fall on this person.
"James..." Said Carl as he watched a really tall young man with a military haircut make his way through his classmates to get where Jay and him where.
Since Jay's seat was in the front row of the classroom, all of his classmates had backed away from Carl and him, pushing some people behind, including James.
If Carl was tall, then James was a giant, if Carl was handsome, then James looked like a movie actor, adding the great physique he possessed, if both were conquerable characters in a dating simulation game, Jay didn't think that anyone would complain.
James, without a doubt the prince of this school, apart from surpassing anyone of the school when it comes to fitness, his fair personality, combined with his lively golden gaze full of determination and confidence which never wavered even against the delinquents of any school, made him earn the undisputed number one place in the girl's rankings.
The reason he was so fair was because he comes from a long line of pugilists, and not normal pugilists, but those who worked in the army, that's also the reason of why he had a military haircut right now.
"Carl..." Said James as he stood in front of Jay, facing Carl face to face.
With both of them facing each other, the atmosphere became even more tense than before.
"If you're going to beat him up, I also want to join!"
Suddenly, a girl's voice was heard loud and clear in the room, momentarily interrupting the tense situation unfolding.
Then, someone else made their way through their classmates.
The person who came out this time was a girl with long blue hair that fell like a waterfall all the way to her knees, she was wearing a white blouse which was unbuttoned at the neck and a skirt that reached her thighs, both revealing the girl's gleaming white skin.
Although the girl was quite pretty, her charm went beyond the physical, as she radiated a certain aura that seemed to overshadow everything around her, adding her confident and bright attitude, this girl inmediately managed to make everyone momentarily forget the real conflict that was taking place in the classroom.
As for her height, while it was true that she was short when compared to Carl and James, she didn't fall behind too much since she was almos as tall as Jay after all.
"Sarah? I thought you wouldn't come to school today." Said James as he looked at the girl who had appeared.
"Well, I suspected something like this would happen and I definitely couldn't pass up such a good opportunity to give this idiot a lesson."
"Haha, you really don't like him, do you?" Answered James while crossing his arms and laughing.
"I just hate bad guys." Said Sarah, giving Carl a cold gaze before lookint at Jay. "Anyway, are you okay, Jay?"
"Physically I'm better than ever, but the way you're clenching your fists right now are making me wonder who the dangerous person is here, if you or Carl." He answered before backing away.
"Indeed, those fists are dangerous even to a pugilist like me." James played along with him, laughing a bit louder than before.
"Oi, I came to school just to help you and you make fun of me!" Sarah on the other hand crossed her arms and turned her head to avoid looking at them.
"DON'T IGNORE ME!!"
WOOSH*
However, before any of them could finish their conversation, Carl released a strong current of wind into the room while, forcing everyone in the room to take a few steps back, everyone except 3 people.
The first person was obviously...
"He gets angry really quickly." Said James, whose pupils were now emitting a golden light giving him a mystical air, and that wasn't all, his body was wrapped in a silver aura which seemed to protect him from the wind.
The second person was...
"He's rude too, we were having a conversation here in case you hadn't noticed." Said Sarah, who was also surrounded by something, although it wasn't an aura like James' but a transparent sphere with a surface similar to that of a soap bubble, which despite appearing weak was quite resistant.
And finally...
Jay, the person behind the two living windbreakers.
"I appreciate the gesture, guys, but you're making me look bad..." He said as he walked towards Carl, leaving the security that they both provided.
"Hey! What are you doing? Get back here!" Yelled Sarah when she saw him walk past in front of her.
James on the other hand just watched him closely, as if to find out what he had planned.
'...Seriously, your senses are just too good, James!' Thought Jay.
"Somehow I feel like you're different today, I hope you know what you're doing." He said, moving aside so Jay could get closer to Carl.
"Of course I do, so for now... leave this to me!"
With those words as the trigger, he ran to Carl with everything he had.
Seeing this, Cal didn't even bother to dodge.
Pfft, maybe it would be different if James or Sarah came, but do you really think that a good-for-nothing like you can take me on?!" He shouted, obviously not taking him serious at all.
However, that was understandable, after all, Jay was only a normal human, while Carl was a skilled esper, the difference in power between the too was just too great.
The next moment, Carl moved his arm horizontally, causing a small but incredibly fast moon-shaped wind current to come flying towards Jay.
There was no doubt, if that hit him, Jay definitely would have to stay in the hospital for a good time, however, that's only if it managed to hit him.
While it was true that it was fast, it was also quite predictable, so Jay inmediately jumped to the right, successfully avoiding the wind and getting closer to Carl in the process.
"Ohhh, well done Jay!" James shouted from where he was standing, clapping his hands.
"You can do it Jay! Kick that bastard's ass!" Sarah also joined, cheering for him.
'...I really don't know if she's encouraging me or just expressing her displeasure for Carl, haha.' Thought Jay.
"...What have I done to you?" Suddenly asked Carl to Sarah.
"I just hate bad guys so shut up and let him beat you up!"
Faced with such a strong and direct statement, Carl could only give up.
'Hm, something tells me there is a deeper reason than that, but oh well, I'll leave it for later. First things first, now that I'm pretty close to him...'
"Ha!" With a war cry, Jay tried to throw a punch towards Carl's face.
"Heh, in your dreams, idiot!" Shouted Carl, instantly gathering more wind currents, there was no doubt that Jay wouldn't get out of this unscathed if any of them managed to hit him.
Fortunately, he had already thought about what to do in this situation.
Tap*
"...Eh?"
"..."
'They're pretty quiet, they must be impressed by my surprise move~'
"Why... Why did you throw yourself on the ground, I haven't done anything yet..." Said Carl, taken back for Jay's unexpected move.
However, while this may seem just a desperate attempt to avoid getting hit, this was part of Jay's plan.
"...Take this!" He yelled as he quickly grabbed his ankle.
Unfortunately, even after a few seconds passed, nothing happened.
"...Hahaha, what are you trying to do, tickle me?" Carl didn't seem worried in the least that Jay was touching his ankle, "I'm afraid you're going to need a lot more than-OUCH. Hey, don't pinch me!"
'So that's what it feels uh... oh well, better for me.'
"All right, I'm tired of this!" Said Carl before releasing the strongest wind current until now.
"Ahh!"
As Jay no longer had the reliable living windbreakers by his side, he was sent flying a few meters.
"Argh! Damn, I landed on my ass, it's definitely going to hurt tomorrow..." He said as he rubbed his buttocks before standing up and looking at Carl again, "You know what... let's call it a draw."
"...What?"
Since he had already achieved his goal, there was no reason why Jay should continue "fighting" with him, so he decided to stop at this moment.
"Well, nevermind, in the end you couldn't even hit me, and you even dared to act brave?" He said with an arrogant look on his face.
"But I could touch your ankles! So you better watch them because next time I'm not just going to grab them, you heard me!"
A good line of intimidation never hurts... at least that's what Jay thought.
"...What?" Carl said with a confused look on his face.
"I said that next time I won't just touch your ankles, I'll bit-Ugh!"
However, before Jay could finish repeating his weird threat, a pair of long and strong arms lifted him up against his will.
"All right, that's it, this fight ends in a draw, then, see you later!" Said James as he headed towards the classroom door with Jay on his shoulder.
Although it definitely wasn't the most glorious form of retreat, Jay didn't have a say on this.
"Next time I see you I'll kick your ass myself Carl!" Added Sarah while making a "You're going down!" expression with her hands as she also headed towards the door.
"Hey, why can she threaten but not me?" Jay protested.
"Because your threats are weird!" She answered.
That way, the three of them quickly left the classroom leaving behind an entire classroom full of confused people, what's more, when they were outside of the classroom, Jay heard Carl's say: "What did just happen?!"
It was to be expected that he was confused, as everything had happened too fast, however, Jay couldn't care less about how Carl was feeling right now.
After all, the message he had been expecting all this time finally appeared before his eyes.
[Host successfully infected]
Chapter 2
Origins
After his glorious retreat from the classroom, they left the school grounds and headed towards a street food stands area.
There was no problem with leaving early since it was the last day of school, in fact, most of the students hadn't even brought backpacks to school.
"That was weird, even for you." Said James as the three of them walked down the street.
"Yep, quite a bit, and that-*munch*-that was your plan? Just touch his ankle?" Sarah added as she ate a candy that she bought at one of the stalls.
Suddenly, she stopped eating and her expression changed to one of realization before saying "...Could it be...that's what you're into...?!" And then she took a few steps back...
'...Really...?' Thought Jay as his eyebrow twitched.
He decided to ignore her for the moment before starting to explain.
"...Well, the plan was just to touch some part of his body, so it's just a coincidence that it was his ankle." He answered as he crossed his arms. "More importantly, don't you think it's about time...you let me down?".
That's right, all the way from school to this street, Jay had been carried like a sack of potatoes by the prince of the school.
"Ah, right."
Munch*
'You seriously forgot!?'
"Sorry, sorry, I forgot that I was carrying you, since you're so light, I didn't feel the difference." Answered James as he put me down.
"Wow, you insult my weight while flattering yourself, how skilled."
"Of course not, you know how we pugilists are-"
"Yeah, I know, don't worry, I'm just kidding." Jay knew what he was going to say so it was best to interrupt him before he started explaining everything about the pugilist's story.
That was because Jay didn't want to hear it again, he even knew it by heart after all.
Munch*
"If you know so much then you won't mind explaining it to us, right?" James said with a look of wanting to test him on his face.
He originally wanted to refuse, but seeing the fervent look on Jay's face, he decided it was best to comply.
"Of course not! Ahem! Long ago, after the Great Proliferation, a man was born...with no special ability... and no capacity to feel the mana in the world...but what he had, was an unwavering determination.
The man in question set out to train the only thing he had at the time...his body.
After many tribulations, traveling all over the world, creating training methods that put his life at risk and fighting battles impossible to win, something changed inside him.
The limit he had as a human being...was broken.
Munch*
The battles that were once impossible were now solved with the lifting of one of his fingers, the trips that used to take him months, now took him just minutes, the training techniques that were once so deadly and complicated for him were now as easy as breathing.
Munch*
That is how the first pugilist in history was born, with pure determination and hard work.
And his name was... Atlas, The Pugilist Founder.
Since then, countless people who didn't born with a special ability or the capacity to feel mana followed his example, and although it was hard and risky, some managed to obtain stenght that far surpassed that of a normal human.
Of course, it was easier for them thanks to Atlas, who opened the path and shared his knowledge."
Munch*
"Hey, stop eating!"
Munch*
"You..."
"Alright, alright, I'm done with the candy, you guys want to eat something before we go home~? I know a good ramen restaurant nearby." Said Sarah after finishing the candy she had bought in record time.
"...you literally just ate and now you want more...? Wow..." Jay said with a surprised expression on my face.
"Voracious as always eh, as expected from Sarah the glutton..." Said James, playing along.
"It's just a sweet, you idiots!"
"Oh, oh, now that you're at it, tell the origin of the magicians." James added.
"Hmm, would you like to do it Sarah?" He said by looking at the girl who was suddenly at another candy stand.
As Sarah was a mage herself, she knew much better than he did what the origin of mages was.
"Nope, I'll give you the honor of enlightening our friend." She said without even turning around.
"All right then! Ahem!" Jay said, assuming again a storytelling posture.
"Before the first pugilist was born, there was a woman, the word genius would be an understatement to describe her, with academic achievements that would shame the vast majority of the world's scholars at the young age of 15.
This woman was particularly fascinated by natural phenomena, and loved even more the espers, human beings who were the living embodiment of those natural phenomena.
Unfortunately, she had not been born with powers and had not manifested them in her entire life, causing her great disappointment.
However, she was not someone who was willing to accept things as they were, so determined to find some way to control the natural phenomena she loved so much, she began an investigation, studying ancient ruins, meteors, and the events that changed the world as a result of the Great Proliferation.
Several years passed and she disappeared from the sight of the world, slowly making the world forget her.
Until one day, suddenly, the whole world shook, in the sky of the country that now is known as Gliedal, everyone could see the same woman who years ago had amazed the world with her intellect.
But before people could do anything else, several complicated and extremely huge circular patterns appeared in the sky, their appearance was mystical and mysterious, then, a huge crack even bigger than the circular patterns opened in the sky, only to disappear seconds later along with the woman.
However, in the short time that the crack had appeared, something had seeped into our world from there, a new kind of energy that would later become known as... mana.
It was as if a current of fresh air was moving through the world, and although many people did not feel it, there were several others who began to perceive this energy, and most importantly, began to make use of it.
Some imitated the patterns that had appeared in the sky at the moment the crack appeared, others used the mana in their own way, giving birth to many branches of magic, achieving what before only espers could do... control natural phenomena.
And although that woman did not reappear after the day the crack opened, she is considered the first magician in history and also the reason of why there is mana in this world.
This woman's name was...Aphra, The Mage Founder."
"Hm, she's not only the first magician but also the reason why there is mana in this world... truly an amazing person." James said with a look of reverence on his face, which was normal, he admired strong people regardless of what class or gender they were.
"That's right, the Founder is truly amazing! And even though you skipped over some details, you told the Founder's story well!" Said Sarah with a bright and prideful smile.
"Then, how about you also tell us the origin of the espers next~? I don't know it very well." James said as he approached another candy stand.
"Oh, well, the origin of the espers is a little more complicated," Jay replied as he followed James. "As they were the first class to appear and since it was a really long time ago, only the first esper is known, and it is not even clear if that person really was the first esper."
"But you, ah excuse me, give me 3 of those chocolate bars, please." James asked the salesman.
"Make that four." Added Sarah, it seems that the candy she bought in the previous stall was no longer in this world.
"4 then... thanks, here." After paying the vendor and giving us the candy, James continued. "Ahem, as I was saying, then tell that, there's still a distance until we arrive to our houses~"
"Hm, alright~"
Munch*
'Sarah's already eating... why am I not surprised...'
The three of them continued to move forward as Jay started to tell the story of the first esper.
"It is said that the first esper was a person loved by the world itself. When the world had not yet known the existence of mana or the martial techniques of pugilists.
A woman was born, blessed with a beauty that was enough to embarrass the most beautiful women in the world.
A family so influential and powerful that rulers of entire countries didn't dared offend.
An intelligence that rivaled the great minds of that time.
With all the things she had, it was already enough for her to triumph in this life, however, in that year, the Great Proliferation occurred, a catastrophe in which the animals of the world began to reproduce at insanely fast rates and most importantly, they began to mutate, becoming stronger, bigger and more intelligent, turning into something completely different, monsters.
Even until now, no one knows the exact cause of the Great Proliferation, but one thing was known, most of the mutated animals were incredibly hostile to human beings, attacking anyone who came into their sight.
The human race suffered great damage in that time because the weapons they had were not effective against the monsters, and as a result, countless lives were lost.
Those were desperate times, quite a few countries had fallen and many others were in a precarious situation, forcing them to escape to the island that now is known as the Altur Country, and that gave them a temporary peace.
However, the monsters were relentless and managed to reach the island, then, seeing as they had nowhere else to run, humanity gathered all the remaining military power they had, waging war against the monsters.
Unfortunately, the monsters were attacking as if they didn't care about their lives and there were so many of them that they looked like a sea flooding the human army.
But just when humanity was about to lose the battle, someone appeared in the sky of the battefield.
She was the daughter of that prominent family, and at the moment she arrived at the battlefield, without even giving the monsters a chance to get close, she displayed her abilities, creating huge hurricanes of fire, provoking earthquakes and enormous thunderstorms that completely destabilized the sea of monsters, giving the human army time to escape.
That way, she single handedly eliminated the sea of monsters.
According to the records of the supposed survivors who saw her face the army of monsters, it was as if she was mother nature herself, retaliating against them.
From that day on, as if it were a domino effect, several people began to manifest special abilities, helping humanity in the fight against monsters and thus creating the class that would be known as espers".
"Creating hurricanes of fire, causing earthquakes and thunderstorms...for a pugilist that's almost impossible to do..." James added.
"That's right, even with magic, you can only do one of those things and I doubt that it would be as strong as hers, oh right, you didn't mention her name~." Said Sarah with her lips a little bit stained with chocolate.
"That woman's name was Cyra, The Esper Founder
."