The Undying Magician - Book 1 - Chapter 29 - Progress (Patreon)

                                                                                          Nathan

                                                        Year 2849 | Month 5 | Day 9 | Sunday

“I think that’s enough for today,” Instructor Leo says with a wide grin on his face, which is the stark opposite of my own as I finish recovering from the most recent instance of having my arm blown off. “You probably made an entire month’s worth of progress in just these past two hours! It’s honestly amazing!”

I wince slightly at the sight of his ecstatic grin before rubbing my arm as I walk out of the BFS.

Now I’m starting to wonder which of the two is worse. The doctor, who wants to experiment on me till his heart’s content, or the instructor, who wants to train me till my impossible death.

When I came here hoping to train, I didn’t expect him to make me repeatedly attempt to make magic circle after magic circle after magic circle while alternating each time between using the device and not using it.

Nor did I expect for him to just tell me to keep going every time I messed up, causing something rather painful and unpleasant to happen each time.

Although I did learn that backfiring can apparently result in more than just flames spewing out of the ruined magic circle.

So that’s good to know.

After resetting the BFS to normal again, the instructor turns around and walks over to the magi-tech board before opening his plane storage and pulling out what looks like a boxed lunch.

And a table.

Too tired to question the idea of keeping a table in the plane of fire, I simply walk over to my sword and rifle that I had resting on the floor near the shooting range.

“Considering your immortality’s effect on your mana manipulation training, you might actually be able to free-cast by the time you’re a Class A, or possibly even a Class B magician,” I hear the instructor say as I lean down to grab my sword, causing me to freeze in place. “Although, your talent level isn’t very good, so I doubt your magic power or capacity will be very good for a very long time.”

I straighten up again and turn around whilst strapping the sword’s sheath to my waist using the belt the instructor had handed me.

“Not like time will be a problem for you though,” he adds as an after-thought.

My brows raise slightly in surprise as I realize that his statement… doesn’t actually bother me. In fact, I just feel proud about what he’d said before it.

Although it might have made a bigger effect if he hadn’t been in between bites of food when he said it.

The instructor eats some sort of sandwich for a few seconds before pausing as he’s about to take another bite. He then turns to look up at me and says, “I have a meeting after lunch, and I won’t be testing you over your sword skills tomorrow, so you’re free for the rest of the day.”

Oh? Well, that’s a nice surprise.

I give him a brief nod before grabbing my rifle and making my way towards the Magical Warfare classroom’s entrance.

Time to get my own meal.

Here’s hoping that the Snowcrest Diner still has some of that mint ice cream today.

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“So what were you doing all morning?” Aidan asks me with a frown from his place seated on the other side of the table from me and Amelia, next to Sophia. “You weren’t answering your card.”

I ended up running into Amelia on my way to the diner, so she joined me for lunch, only for us both to run into these two already seated here eating.

Sophia turns to me at his question before I answer with a shrug, “I was training.”

Aidan continues staring at me for a few seconds, only to turn back to his plate as a waitress arrives with his food.

“You spent the entire morning training?” Sophia asks with a confused frown. “On our day off?”

I glance at her before turning to look at my mint ice cream – which they did have, fortunately – and saying, “It’s better to be busy now than be dead on a battlefield sometime in the future.”

She looks at me for a few more seconds before turning back to her food as she admits, “Guess you have a point there.”

While grabbing a spoonful of my ice cream, I nod my head with a faint smile before putting it into my mouth.

It isn’t until after I finish a couple spoonfuls of my ice cream that something Aidan had said registers in my mind.

Wait, he called me on my card?

I pull out my id card before tapping the academy’s icon on the back of the card, causing a panel, similar to the ones on the Battlefield Simulators, to appear above the card, showcasing my information, including my name, ID number, room number, total number of credits – both currency credits and class credits – and some other details. Meanwhile, beneath that is a contacts list, along with a messenger app, call feature, the internet, and some other random apps that I have no idea what do.

“Huh,” I quietly utter to myself as I find a message from Aidan on the card, attracting Amelia’s attention before she immediately brings out her card and asks, “Can’t believe I forgot, but let’s swap IDs.”

Without much thought about it, I move my screen to show her before she begins adding my ID to her contacts.

Did I somehow miss getting the message earlier? Or is it possible for the instructor to block communication from the outside while in the classroom?

Because that would make sense, seeing as he said it was his property.

“There, it’s done,” Amelia says before going back to her food.

I simply nod before mentally shrugging and going back to my ice cream.

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                                                      Year 2849 | Month 5 | Day 10 | Monday

“The tests are going to be ordered by weapon,” Instructor Leo says as soon as class starts for Magical Warfare. “And each test will also be based around the main weapon of the wielder’s choosing.”

Whispered conversations begin to break out amongst the cadets at his words, only to quiet again as he looks at each of the ones whispering while continuing, “Each one of you must select your main weapon before the tests begin, and you will only have to participate in the test for that weapon. The only exception to this being if you use both of the weapons at once. In which case I will go ahead and design a custom test for you, if there isn’t one already made.”

This class will be a lot busier than the rest of the classes I’ve had today, which basically all just repeated the same series of events from yesterday.

The instructor moves over to the panel for the BFS as he finishes, “To select your weapon, just come to me and tell me which one you selected.”

After a few brief seconds of silence, everyone begins talking amongst themselves. Meanwhile, I look around for a second before walking up to the instructor with my team.

Once he notices us, he looks at me and says, “No need for you to say.”

I simply nod, to the confusion of my teammates, before stepping back and letting the others talk.

Aidan squints at me as he says, “I’m using both of my weapons at the same time.” He then turns to look at the instructor, who is looking between the two blades sheathed on his waist.

“There’s already a test for dual blades like the ones you have,” he says after a second before turning to look at the large staff in Sophia’s hands and asking, “Am I to assume that’s your main weapon?”

Sophia nods her head without a word, prompting the instructor to look between Cyria and Rebecca next.

“Bow for me,” Rebecca says with a slight nod of her head. Meanwhile, Cyria just says, “Sword.”

The instructor nods before waving us away as another team of cadets can be seen approaching him from the direction of the training dummies.

We walk back over to the shooting range before proceeding to wait until each and every cadet has chosen their weapon. Which ends up taking around five or so minutes at most.

As soon as the last cadet has told him their main weapon, the instructor begins messing with the BFS, causing the inside of the simulator to expand before splitting up into a couple dozen different rooms, with many of them being larger than the classroom itself.

I watch in awe as the simulator continues morphing for a few seconds before wondering just how much of our nation’s advanced magi-tech is due to that one Class S space magician.

Especially considering how the public – myself included – doesn’t even know his name.

“We’ll start things off with the close ranged tests, for those of you who chose a close ranged weapon as your main one,” Instructor Leo says while drawing his sword from the sheath at his waist. “For those of you who didn’t chose a close ranged weapon, remain outside of the BFS as the other cadets take their tests.”

I give Sophia, Aidan, and Cyria a nod for support as they begin to walk into the BFS, leaving me and Rebecca to wait outside of the simulator.

“Each weapon is labeled on the wall of the simulator for the room that tests it,” Instructor Leo says while waving his hand towards the various weapon pictures floating on the edges of each room, “enter the room for your weapon and proceed to wait for your turn. The tests will all be at once for each weapon so as to save time.”

The instructor then claps his hands once and presses one last button on the panel, causing each room to finish morphing.

Of the rooms within the BFS, they all have some similarities, with that being a podium next to a panel in each of the rooms – likely meant for the instructor to use when judging everyone’s test. Outside of that, the rooms vary from having training dummies, raised platforms, and even some obstacle courses.

All of the cadets quickly spill into their designated rooms. Meanwhile, I turn to look at the remaining cadets; the ones that chose a ranged weapon like me.

Huh, most of them either have sniper rifles like me, or bows and arrows. There are a few crossbows, and one guy who actually has a machine gun.

Then again, most of the groups need an eye in the sky and long range shooter in their group, and snipers and archers are the best choice for that.

Anyways, might as well take the time to see how the close combat tests work.

The instructor begins to leave the panel for the box after making it vanish before saying, “There will also be some other tests along with your weapons test. These tests are meant for me to judge how physically fit you are, along with your hand eye coordination, and various other areas.”

My first instinct is to frown at this added part, but then I remember that he’s technically meant to help me keep my secret.

So everything should be fine.

I hope.

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