At Saint Diyashi Academy, classes were divided between theory in the morning and practical training in the afternoon. There was no point in learning theory alone—in a World crawling with monsters, practical experience mattered most.

Saint Diyashi Academy had three training grounds, one for each year of students. Each ground was divided into more than a dozen areas of various sizes, and every area had a barrier that weakened the force of magic.

“Hello, S-Class! I’m Lashil, your practical training instructor. I’m sure you’ve all got a solid grasp of the basics, so let’s get straight to a combat exercise.”

The S-Class combat instructor was a middle-aged man with short black hair. He stood before the class’s eighteen students and spoke.

“Today’s exercise is a fight against a Hellshadow Demon Wolf, a Grade-B summoned beast. It’s not too hard to handle. If you think you can’t beat it, just call for a timeout.”

Lashil took a monster card from his pocket and swept it through the air in front of him. A purple magic circle appeared on the ground, and a wolf-shaped creature wreathed in purple flames gradually took form.

“You should all know what the Hellshadow Demon Wolf can do. Its attacks inflict a certain amount of corrosion damage. There’s a shield in the training area to reduce magical damage, but taking a hit will still hurt quite a bit, so take this seriously. Let’s start with the top-ranked student, Luna.”

“Yes.”

Luna glanced at Yu Ge, then stepped out of the crowd and took her place on one side of the training ground. The Hellshadow Demon Wolf moved to the other.

“Magic Projection—Glacial Spikes.”

As soon as Lashil announced the start of the fight, the Hellshadow Demon Wolf charged toward Luna with a roar. Luna took out a magic card, and frost spread across the ground, freezing the beast in place.

“Magic Projection—Icicle Blast.”

Luna’s next magic card detonated the frost around the Hellshadow Demon Wolf. Under the force of the powerful ice magic, its HP quickly dropped to zero. Then it turned into a streak of light and disappeared into Lashil’s monster card.

“Impressive. As expected of Luna, who’s on the verge of becoming a Grade-A Mage. A quick, clean fight. Time: twenty seconds.”

Lashil nodded approvingly. Luna really was the strongest of this year’s freshmen. She was also the second daughter of the Trias family, blessed with an exceptional inherited talent for magic. What a promising student—before long, she’d be a Mage renowned across the land.

“She beat a Grade-B monster in just twenty seconds!”

“That’s incredible!”

“Long live Goddess Luna!”

When Luna’s fight ended, the watching crowd erupted. What did it mean to defeat a Grade-B monster in twenty seconds? Even some third-year students couldn’t manage that. And Luna had done it with ease as a brand-new freshman, leaving the other students staring in disbelief, their mouths hanging open.

It really was enough to make anyone feel inadequate. These students had made it into S-Class and felt confident in their abilities, but after watching a true genius fight, they couldn’t help feeling outmatched.

Luna gave Lashil a slight bow, then turned her gaze to Yu Ge. She wanted to see how he’d react after watching her fight—but the moment she saw what he was doing, she was furious.

That guy was actually turning his head to ogle a girl from the A-Class training ground next door!

Damn, that girl’s dressed pretty skimpy. Is this what they call a hot girl?

Yu Ge’s attention was fixed on a blonde girl from the A-Class training ground next door. Her skin had a healthy, wheat-gold tan, and her figure was perfectly proportioned—curves in all the right places. Most importantly, she was wearing way too little.

The blonde girl had tied the hem of her shirt into a knot, exposing her sexy, slender waist. Her pleated skirt was shorter than the other girls’ too, and she wore opaque black tights. As she fought, glimpses of her pink panties showed beneath her skirt, drawing the eyes of nearly every boy nearby.

“Is she pretty?”

Yu Ge was completely absorbed, shifting his head around to find the best angle for peeking under the girl’s skirt, when a familiar voice suddenly came from beside him.

“She’s all right. Her skin’s just a little dark.”

Yu Ge was so entranced that he nodded without thinking.

“I never thought you were that kind of person.”

Luna sat down beside Yu Ge, looking distinctly unhappy.

“L-Luna?”

Yu Ge finally came to his senses and nearly jumped out of his skin. When had Luna come over? Hadn’t she just been fighting the wolf? Had she caught him checking out that other girl?

Oh no. Oh no.

Yu Ge groaned inwardly. Why couldn’t he keep his eyes under control? Luna wasn’t enough—he’d gone and ogled another girl too.

“Yu Ge, why are you hiding this from me?”

Luna sighed. She decided not to dwell on this sort of thing. What she couldn’t understand was why Yu Ge had saved her, then pretended not to know anything and gone out of his way to keep it secret.

“Which thing do you mean?”

Yu Ge shamelessly pretended he had no idea.

“Yu Ge, that’s not very nice. If you won’t admit it, I’ll make this card public.”

Seeing that Yu Ge still wouldn’t admit it, Luna took out the “Mirror of Refraction” and waved it in front of him.