Chapter 13: Year 5 Begins, P2

~13.2~

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I am concerned about the mysterious wave of aether. I unconsciously released it, and I don’t know what it did. It really didn’t seem to do anything. No one else could figure it out either. I’m hesitant to think it was harmless, but Alfia insisted there was nothing wrong, and I know what silver is.

I’m more concerned about that dream. I know who two of those people were. Both are people from realm nine, and they seemed to be fighting over four others. One was Lord Zalo Valen, king of the human nation Aeveron. The other was Lady Vera Erendell, queen of the Elven nation Erendell. The only other race that the masses have been introduced to is the demons of Daemonheim. Elves, dwarves, and various beast peoples lived in some of the other realms, but the people in the connected realms did not know of them. I showed the dream to Allison and the others, and I’m confident they know who those two are at least. I didn’t push the topic, but I’ll ask later if the thought nags.

This is the year 12006 and I’m twenty-one now, legally twenty-two. I’m starting my fifth year at the academy today as a student, and my third year as an instructor. My little brother Zen started last year, and my little sister Yami starts this year. The way things worked out since my third year is that I don’t take afternoon classes anymore. That means no mana, magic, or combat classes. I still take academic classes in the morning, but I teach mana classes in the afternoon.

My mana growth method was so effective that... well, I started at 27.5m at the beginning of my first year, and slowly ramped up my method that is basically mana weight training, though that’s an oversimplification, and rose to 95m by the end of the year. I double downed on my training and started year 2 at 140m. It’s gone up dramatically since then.

My fellow immortals grew rapidly as well, but not as fast as me. Alethea was the closest to me, and Michelle and Adele were each around the same as each other. My students and classmates also grew rapidly at first. Most of them started in the thousands, a far cry from our level, but my classmates ended up reaching a billion minimum by the end of last year.

And that’s where we are at now. Here I am standing in front of my own class. Class S.

“Yes... so...” Kye looked around the class and saw that everyone’s eyes were glued to her with somewhat strained expressions. “It seems I am the instructor of my own class now. So... can we all just agree that this is awkward and get on with it? Good, let’s get started.”

Most of them didn’t answer, a couple shrugged, and Colton said, “Eh, you’ve been teaching us unofficially for long enough. No need for it to be awkward, I think.”

Kye smiled at him.

“I’ve got a question first,” said Adele. Kye raised her eyebrow but nodded and let her ask. “What is she doing here?”

As Kye looked at where she was pointing, her eyes widened. A three-year-old version of Kye was standing behind her.

“Who’s the kid?” asked the commoner boy, Jesse Bell.

“She’s adorable!” said the commoner girl, Julia Valza.

Kye scooped Joey up and teleported, returning a moment later. “Ah, please disregard that.”

“She’s back.” Doran pointed behind her again.

“What?” Kye swung around and reached for the girl, but the girl teleported around behind Kye. “Hey!”

“How old is that kid? She’s teleporting like nobody’s business!”

The class laughed as Joey scampered around, dodging Kye. Once Kye finally caught her, she teleported again. That time she took a minute to return, and Joey did not follow her back.

“As I was saying, please disregard that.”

“Who was that? A relative of yours?”

“You know very well that I can’t answer that publicly.” Kye opened a screen on her NeuraPhone and perused the class list. Our class hasn’t changed since we started together four years ago. “I’m a proctor this year for recording mana readings, so our class will be short today. I’ll only be recording everyone’s progress, then you’ll be dismissed and may do as you wish until your next class.” She summoned a mana reading orb, one bigger than the one they’d been using the last several years. “The academy will be using these from now on. They’ll read you much easier. I expect good results from everyone since you’ve all been using my growth method for years. Who wants to go first?”

“I’ll volunteer,” said Colton Becker as he stood up and headed to the front of the room.

“Go right ahead.” Ten minutes later, they were finished. “Well done everyone! Those with the highest growth percentage are Rika Tachibana, Luka Romanov, Isabell Strauss, and Adrian Zelenov. The other nobles and archnobles were a little under them. The rest of you-”

“So the rest of us are dragging down the upper half of the class?” one of the commoner boys asked.

“No. Alethea, Liliana, Aliana, Adele, Michelle, and I are filling that role. We had the smallest growth percentage. The rest of you were about on par with the class average, so no, none of you are dragging down the class.”

“You’re the lowest in growth percentage, but what are your actual numbers?”

Kye laughed dryly and moved on. “Anyway, since I’m a proctor, I have to go to the next class now. See you all tomorrow!” With a smile, Kye dismissed the class and moved on to the next class. Yami’s class is next. I can’t wait! As she entered Yami’s classroom, she was met by a katana being swung at her face. She didn’t as much as react and simply allowed it to smash into her now-visible barrier of light aether.

“Damn, not even a flinch!” Yami complained. “One of these days, I’ll get you to block properly.”

Kye looked around at the shocked class and gave Yami an evil smile. “Please return to your seat.”

Yami flinched and stepped back. “Aneue?”

“You’ll refer to me as Instructor Kye or Instructor Akari. Take your seat. The rest of the class may also say Miss Kye or Miss Akari.”

Yami smiled and turned to the class. “See? I told you she won’t give me any preferential treatment!”

“Of course not,” Kye said. “Class, do you think I received any preferential treatment from Lady Layla Barrett, Lord James Barrett, or Lady Allison Barrett in my first year? No. In reality, they were even harder on me than everyone else... and still are, because one is my history instructor... As such, I shall also be harder on Yami. Speaking of which, since you have not yet taken your seat...” Kye snapped her finger and Yami was teleported to her seat.

“You have your own instructor, Instructor Kye?”

“Ah, yes, you younger students would only know of my public life. Let’s start properly with introductions. Greetings, Class 1-A! I am Kye Akari of Nippon Sekai. I am currently in my fifth year of this academy as a student and my third year serving as a mana instructor.”

“You’re still a student?!”

“Yes. I am sufficiently qualified to teach mana, magic, and combat to all years, so I am exempt from those classes. However, I am still a young royal myself and require the academic courses in the morning.”

“Is it true that you beat multiple S-Class beasts in your first year? We’ve all seen the videos, but was it real?”

“Yes, the stories are real. Due to how famous those battles became, attention came to my mana growth and what methods I use. As such, I became an instructor as soon as possible and it is my duty to ensure each and every one of you breaks the standard set by previous first-years!”

*****

Revision: 2024-3-9