The two students, Fayn and Colette, walked along the trail to the forest where their objective resided.

Feeling the need to start a conversation with the ever-so-silent Fayn, Colette decided to speak.

"So… what's your fighting style?" Colette asked. 

It wasn't much but it was a start, especially since she figured that he didn't participate in small talk. Or rather, he only spoke to her when the topic related to, in a broad sense, work.

"I mainly use ice magic and can fight close combat with Eternal Zero if needed," he replied as he retrieved his weapon from his storage.

"Wow," Colette was left in awe the moment she saw his weapon.

The blade was sheathed but even then, anyone could tell how delicate the sword known as Eternal Zero was.

It looked as if it were made out of crystal and ice, a fragile blade, but even Colette who wasn't well-versed in weapons could tell it was incredibly sharp and anything but fragile. Not to mention mana conductive.

Fayn studied her expression as she stared at his sword. Since there wasn’t anything but admiration in her eyes, he couldn't help but feel inwardly proud but soon depressed after.

“I will be mainly fighting up close today though… for training. How about you?”

"Ah!" Finally snapping out of her dazed state, Colette took out her own weapon, "I'm a supporter, but I am also proficient in using a dagger!"

The dagger was made of silver and was not encased in any kind of ornament. It was a weapon of simplicity and efficiency. Colette laughed timidly since she didn't really have a special weapon to showcase to her temporary partner. She was even afraid that he might stop working with her right then and there altogether due to the nature of her role.

"I see. I'll be the vanguard," Fayn nodded, seemingly ignoring her inner turmoil, "What buffs and debuffs can you apply right now?"

He was straight to the point, as usual, which surprised Colette.

'He really is Mr. Nice Guy.'

Colette misunderstood, happy that Fayn didn't seem to care about her being a supporter. 

In this world, supporters were frowned upon by many. Leeches, baggage carriers. It was clear they didn't have a good name, but only a handful of people knew how useful supporters truly were. 

Fayn was among those people in the know. He had seen the true power of a supporter. She was all the more valuable especially since she could defend herself, meaning he could entrust himself to the vanguard fully.

There was no reason to doubt her skill either since she was a second year soon to be a third year (the emblem on the uniform told him that she was a second year), something that wasn't achieved by just luck and relying on only supporting. This was no ordinary Academy, so striving for higher mastery was a must.

"I can cast [Tri Boost] and [Tri Nerf],” Colette said with a wide smile, her thoughts unknown to Fayn.

In fact, Fayn was a bit surprised and confused when he heard her. It simply didn’t make any sense since they were derivative spells- a spell possible to cast only when mastery over the spells required was achieved.

“Why is your rank low, Colette? You could easily deal with this mission alone.” Fayn said the longest he had spoken today.

Although rank wasn't something he cared about much, there were benefits to having a higher rank. Fayn himself was B-ranked as it allowed him to take C-rank subjugation missions alone, and was a stable source of income, provided he was early enough to snag a mission. He knew that Colette was also troubled earlier, being unable to take the mission.

"Well… About that…" Colette stuttered. She tried forming the words in her mind but couldn't.

Though, looking at her now, Fayn guessed it was because she had no self-confidence. It wasn’t his place to rectify it, though… probably. He wasn’t a good person. 

‘Might as well leave it to the idiot who would for sure meet her eventually.’

“No matter, it’s none of my business,” Fayn pushed his suspicion aside and ignored the voice in his head which also broke Colette out of her thoughts, “We’ve arrived.”

The two stood at the entrance of the forest, which admittedly wasn’t that far from the city walls as it could still be seen from the distance. Fayn spread out his mana into the forest like a sonar, the same as he did yesterday, which had picked up a few responses. 

A set of responses in particular were in a group and felt similar to the mana responses of an average gray wolf. 

“I can sense our targets further in the forest.”

“Ah, yes. I’ll start buffing us now, then,” Colette replied with her hand out, as she began coursing mana through her body.

“[Tri Boost].”

The moment the words left her, a golden shroud encased the two. Fayn was impressed. It didn’t take her more than two seconds to cast a buff that people usually took at least five seconds. Chant omission was a powerful tool, but it was difficult to learn since the use of a chant was to direct the mind and form an image of the spell.

‘I really can’t underestimate the students at the academy.’ He stared at the brunette with respect. It wasn’t like he was the strongest-- far from it. There were only a few among his cohort he was impressed by, and certainly, they had passed their yearly task to move up a grade.

“All done,” Colette breathed out in relief and surprise when there was no resistance when buffing Fayn. 

It was something that happened a lot since people had an innate mana field that naturally resists magic from other people, mainly mind magic. Buffing magic was of the mind magic nature since the magic allowed people to use more power than they can usually draw out. There was also the fact that others didn’t take to kindly to Colette’s role and rejected her buffs.

“Then let’s go.”

takeruu

This took me longer than expected. Conversations are hard. Trying to info dump but not really at the same time is hard (introducing more world mechanics(?)). I really hope the conversations weren't stiff and repetitive. I mean, trying to hint at one main heroine in a JRPG here is pretty weird.

I'm trying to nerf the MC but I'm somehow making him stronger. Damn. Yes, there is a foreshadowing of more characters. For now, it seems like he has only met people that are 'good' in nature. Although, there are only people with no balls to mess with him in the academy right now.

Spoiler

Because what kind of MC doesn't suffer? even though I've already hinted at his suffering. Meaning more suffering.

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As always, thanks for reading!