Walking to my next class, I rolled my shoulders back, feeling an ache set in. I guess using the windglider activated muscles in my back that I don't typically use. Hopefully, the soreness won't be too extreme and I can still glide as easily as I had today. I also hope there aren't any future glider accidents. Assuming the location of my gliding class meant we'd be jumping off cliffs eventually, I shuddered at the thought of what might befall someone if their windglider malfunctioned as mine had mid-flight.

Venti's Anemo power really was impressive, for him to conjure up a gust of wind strong enough to keep me from falling to the ground. The instructors at this academy must be at an extreme level for him to exhibit such a skill with ease.

Lost in thought, I hadn't realized my walking speed slowed until I heard the telltale sound of a bell ringing. I was about to be late to Physical Combat. If the rumors about Instructor Xiao were anything to go by, I suppose it wouldn't be good for me to show up tardy.

I sped up to a light jog, luckily the fighting ring wasn't too far. As I approached and heard the sounds of battle, I feared class had already begun. Though, it seemed that the crowd of students gathered around the ring wasn't participating in any sort of combat activity yet.

Weaving through the group, I caught a glimpse of a person moving so fast that I could barely land my eyes on him for more than a second. He was attacking a wolven...thing. It hovered in the air, swooping down to attack the lone fighter and teleporting away whenever its opponent advanced—but he was quick to anticipate where the monster would spawn next.

"Are we going to have to fight that thing, too?" I heard one student worry. "It's just the first day!"

"Our instructor is super scary," another whispered. "I can't believe they imported rifthounds on campus for practice. He's taking it down as easy as a regular hilichurl."

The man, who I suspected to be our instructor, drilled into the beast with a burst of Anemo.

"Disappear!" he snapped, and the rifthound retreated into a dark portal with an angry howl.

Cheers went up from the crowd, but Xiao didn't seem to pay them any attention. He looked on edge still. Twirling his polearm to sit on his back, Xiao finally acknowledged his audience—his students—with a scowl. He seemed to be assessing us as a class and as individuals. My classmates shifted uncomfortably as his unwavering glare passed each of their faces. When his sharp gaze landed on me, I felt tempted to look away but instead lifted my chin to return his stare.

His expression shifted, eyes narrowing ever so slightly. I had a fleeting thought that maybe challenging his gaze wasn't the right move. Did he think I was being arrogant?

"This is Physical Combat," he stated. "You will learn how to fight properly without the use of a Vision."

"No Vision?" Someone cried out. "But that's what—"

"Silence," he barked at the student. "I will not be repeating myself. Your strength should not depend on a little trinket. Your strength comes from your body. Your skill. Your willingness to persevere."

He stalked the perimeter of the fighting ring, golden eyes trained on us. "If you cannot bring yourself to fight without a Vision, leave."

No one moved a muscle.

"Seeing that you've all made it this far, I assume you know how to handle a weapon."

He gestured to racks of weapons on the sidelines. They were simple training weapons made of wood, but there was a decent variety of bows, polearms, claymores, and swords.

"Go. We're wasting time standing around here," he huffed. "Choose the weapon you believe yourself to be most proficient in. If you are a ranged fighter, move to the field for target practice. If your style is melee, select a partner to spar and move to the outer circles."

We didn't need to be told twice. Our group migrated to where the weapons lay, but some seemed to be more hesitant than others. I was quick to single out a wooden sword from the racks.

Swordplay had always been a favorite of mine, growing up. Madame Ping had enrolled me in sword-fighting lessons upon multiple requests. She didn't like that I wanted to fight so badly from such a young age, worried that I'd be more likely to injure myself than an opponent. But I had heard countless times of bands of hilichurls attacking unsuspecting caravans and travelers. I wanted to be able to defend myself if I were ever to explore this world on my own. If I wanted to find my brother.

The training sword was light in my hands, as the wood was less dense than the steel I was used to fighting with. After taking a few practice swings, I scanned the crowd for a partner.

"Hey," a guy with styled hair waved at me. "Do you want to be my partner?"

I shrugged. "Sure, let's go find a sparring ring."

We walked together away from the main ring, and he started to make light conversation. "My name's Huffman. You're Lumine, right?"

"Yeah," I blinked in surprise. "How'd you know?"

"We were in Beginner's Gliding together." He scratched his head. "Guess you don't remember me, huh?"

I didn't know what to say for a moment. "Oh, I guess I was just so focused on gliding? Sorry."

"Oh no, don't worry about it," he assured as we found an empty area. "You and that other girl were really amazing with those gliders. You sure you've never glided before?"

"Her name's Amber, and no, I don't have a gliding license."

"I myself was struggling a bit. If you're free sometime, would you mind giving me some pointers?"

"Um," I sensed that we may be doing a bit too much talking and not enough sparring. "You think we can start now?" I lifted my sword. "I don't want to get in trouble with Instructor Xiao."

"Oh sure," he nodded and readied his own. "Instructor Xiao...I respect the guy, but seriously? No using Visions? I mean, I don't have a Vision, but who in their right mind would choose to fight without one, given the opportunity? He's a bit of a hypocrite too," Huffman lowered his voice. "I saw him using Anemo against the rifthound."

"Huffman," I took my fighting stance and positioned the blade. "I hope you're as ready with a sword as you are to make judgments."

He held off from any further commentary after finally noticing my reluctance to gossip. "Right."

I came at him with my sword, swift and neat as I had learned to become. My attack was parried by the length of his blade. Huffman pushed me away and lunged towards my center. His footing gave away his intentions, and I easily dodged before feinting a low attack, coming for his neck instead. He blocked me, just barely, but he wasn't expecting the strength behind my blow, nor was I. Still not quite used to the weight of the wooden sword, I knocked into Huffman with such force that he lost his grip.

Picking up the blade that had clattered to the dirt, Huffman returned to fighting position. "You're good."

"Thanks."

I launched myself once more.

Our brief spar ended once again with Huffman's empty hands. And the next one with him landing in the dirt, breathing heavily. "Are you sure you're a first-year?"

"Positive." I held out a hand to help him up and he accepted.

"Can we take a break?" he asked, not letting go of my hand. "I didn't expect to be worn out so fast."

I pulled out of his grasp. "You should work on your stamina. Run up a mountain. Maybe do a perimeter around the island."

"I normally like to have a running buddy, but I haven't met anyone willing here." He looked at me expectantly. "So far."

I examined the wood grain on my sword and said, "Running can be a solo activity."

"Maybe you could—"

"I don't see any blades crashing." Instructor Xiao interrupted, and I straightened my spine. "Why is that?"

"Huffman seems to be out of commission." I gestured to my partner.

"Already?" Xiao looked down at him in disdain.

"I—Well, Lumine wasn't really pulling her punches," Huffman explained. "I thought this sparring was supposed to be more of a warm-up exercise. It's only the first day."

"Lumine," Xiao crossed his arms and nodded in the direction of another student. "Go spar with Xiangling. She also had an incompetent partner."

Huffman gaped. "In-Incompetent?"

"Huffman, I want pushups from you. Three hundred. Now."

"Yes, Instructor Xiao," I nodded and jogged over to where Xiangling was, and the sounds of Huffman's sputtering faded away.

As I neared Xiangling, I noticed she was distracted by something in the grass. She poked and prodded before bringing up a piece of something and sniffing it. I watched as she took a pause, contemplation written all over her face.

"What are you doing?" I leaned over to get a closer look.

"Oh!" she hopped back. "You surprised me."

"Is that grass?"

"I was getting bored waiting for a new partner." She stood and brushed off the dirt from her clothes. "And then I noticed an unusual herb growing here? I thought I could try adding it to a new recipe. Never mind that, though. Are you my new partner?"

"Yup," I smiled at the interesting girl. "Let's fight."

Xiangling wasted no time, which I greatly appreciated. Unlike Huffman, she was focused with her polearm. She cut through the air and jabbed with precision. It took more effort for me to dodge the attacks and return with some of my own. Ducking under the length of her weapon as she swung at my head, I swiped at her ankles.

"Woah!" she nearly toppled over before making a quick recovery.

Dashing to the side, she lifted the wooden polearm in an upward strike, and I jumped back just in time to avoid a nasty bruise. We continued like that, our attacks and sidesteps working together despite fighting against each other. I soon found a smile blooming on my face, and I could tell Xiangling was having fun as well.

Our sparring lasted much longer than I thought it would, but the match came to an end when I managed to break through her defense and point the end of my sword at her neck.

"That was so fun," Xiangling beamed. "You're great with a sword."

"You're not so bad yourself. Want to go again?"

Before she could respond, Xiao announced for everyone to find new partners. Xiangling and I sighed in unison and waved each other off. Scanning the area and latching my eyes on my next partner, I approached the boy out of curiosity.

"Hey, Bennett. Want to spar?"

Surely, his luck couldn't be all that bad.

"You're the first person to ask." His eyes twinkled with glee, pumping a fist in the air. "I'm all fired up!"

We took our opposite ends of the sparring circle before running toward each other at the same time. Swinging my sword to knock him down, he hopped away with finesse before I could even get close.

My brows shot up in surprise at his quick reaction, and they climbed even higher after he tumbled backward into the dirt.

"Oops," he sprung back up as if nothing had happened. "Tripped over my own feet, again."

I could recognize that Bennett had the skill and perseverance that Xiao had mentioned earlier. The kid was relentless in his fight against himself. He would fall forward unexpectedly and turn it into a dive roll that worked surprisingly well. Even though my quick sidesteps were meant to mess with his footing, Bennett held steady and only tripped up by some miracle of an invisible rock in his path.

Our match ended with him entirely worn out, but with the same bright optimism as before we had begun. It was admirable.

"You're a good fighter."

Bennett shook his head. "You don't have to say that to make me feel better. I know I'm a clumsy mess."

I frowned. "Don't say that. You just need to be more aware of your surroundings. Noticing your opponent is one thing you've got down," I assured him. "Noticing the elements of the environment you're in is something else that needs to be...considered."

"Thanks, Lumine," he nodded with determination. "I can work on that."

Smiling at his newfound resolve, I outstretched my hand. "Here's to a good match."

Bennett gave an eager shake before letting go to swipe at his brow. "Phew, this class sure is something. I kind of like not having to use my Vision. Less people get burned."

A sudden, sharp clapping sound cut through the air and we turned to look at Xiao standing in the main fighting ring. "That's enough for today. Return your weapons," he announced.

We walked back to the weapon racks, hanging up our swords and regathering around the big circle where Xiao stood, arms crossed.

"Most of you fought well today. Some of you need to understand what it means to fight. For those who are not up to par, I suggest you drop the class."

My gaze unintentionally flicked to a wheezing Huffman.

"I have no time to teach worms how to grow a spine," Xiao bit out.

A few people in the crowd flinched at that, even I thought it was a bit aggressive.

"You are dismissed." Xiao turned from us. "Class is over. Lumine, a word."

Me? I balked and stepped forward as the rest of the class moved away. I caught Xiangling and Bennett shooting me an encouraging thumbs-up.

"Is something the matter?" I spoke hesitantly.

"Nothing of the sort," he looked me over. "I wanted to let you know that your fighting was the most formidable I have seen amongst the rest of your peers."

He's praising me?

"I understand this was the first day of class as a first-year," he went on. "But if you wish to consider moving to the second-year level of Physical Combat, know you have my full support."

"Are you sure?" I was shocked. "I didn't think my matches today were a true reflection of my skill."

Huffman was less than ideal, and Bennett was struggling with his odd, self-sabotaging antics. Xiangling and I had a good run, but then why hadn't Xiao also spoken to her?

"I know a good warrior when I see one."

I was speechless. From what everyone had said about Xiao, Conqueror of Demons, I was expecting him to be some ruthless brute who only cared about fighting and making students weep. And though some of that appeared to be true, he was also observant in a way that showed he did care—to some degree—that we achieve our full potential.

"Thank you," I said.

Students in the next class were beginning to filter in, and I took that as my sign to leave. "See you in tomorrow's class."

He responded with a simple nod, and I hurried back to grab my bag.

"Let me guess," Childe had my schoolbag in his hand, this must be the second-year class then.

"Instructor Xiao held you back after class? You didn't happen to be facing his disappointment, did you? Don't worry about it, Lumi, it gets easier."

"On the contrary," I swiped my bag from him with a grin I couldn't hold back. "He quite likes how I fight."

"Don't be ridiculous," he chuffed. "Xiao doesn't like anything."

"Not true."

Childe hummed. "You're right. I think he might like torturing his students."

"He did have my partner do three hundred pushups. Ordered it, even."

"Only three-hundred? One year, he had a student teleport to the base of the mountain, run three laps around the island, and climb up a cliff all within the span of one class."

"Really?" I gasped in shock and Childe laughed. I thwacked his arm. "Stop lying, there's no way."

"I'm not lying, really. You should have seen the look on your face."

"Xiao had Huffman do three hundred pushups because he wasn't strong enough for me," I shrugged. "I wonder what the student in that class must have done to deserve something like that."

"Honestly, it was just a little prank. Hilarious, if you ask me." Childe sighed. "Goes to show Instructor Xiao has no sense of humor."

I looked at him. "Wait a minute. Was it you?"

"What do you think?"

I tapped a finger on my lips. "I think you probably deserved it."

"Probably, but I made it back with minutes to spare," he bragged. "People are constantly underestimating me. Even you, Lumi."

"Well, I guess I'll have to see you in action, then. When I'm in your class tomorrow."

"You're going to watch me fight?" Childe's eyes brightened.

I shook my head. "Xiao suggested I move up a level."

"My, my."

"Impressive, I know. Even more so than three laps around the island."

"And I climbed the cliffs. Don't forget that part."

"Mhm," I patted his shoulder dismissively. "I've got lunch now. Try not to get in any more trouble while Xiao's in a good mood."

"I'm telling you, Lumi. The man has no good moods."

Maybe not, I shrugged. Or maybe no one takes the time to notice them.