Red and I were currently standing in the middle of a large padded room, along with the rest of the combat students. Instructor Reina's classroom seemed to just be a training room designed specifically for fights with abilities. Instructor Reina herself waited for everyone to come in before speaking up and beginning class.

  "Hello everyone! As you already know, my name is Instructor Reina, and I teach basic combat classes. Now, I personally believe that the best way to learn something is through practical application, and so this class will have a lot of duels and fighting practice between students. Furthermore, I will make arrangements with the other instructors to ensure that everyone here will get some safe experience with real gates, as learning something is very different from actually applying it in the real world.

  With that being said, some of you may wonder why we're focusing on combat skills rather than ability usage. Well, unlike what most people may think, abilities are not the foundation of a hunter. Rather, it's combat skills. I sound biased, but it's true. Hunters who are skilled in combat are able to fully utilize their abilities to the max, and they can make the best judgement in any situation.

  So, for today's class, I'd like to fight each and every one of you individually in order to show you the importance of knowing combat skills. After I duel you or while you're waiting for your turn, you may watch or you may duel amongst yourselves. This room does have healing potions stored in the corner, but take care not to go overboard."

  Once Instructor Reina had finished speaking, she sectioned off an area of the training room and brought a student inside of it with her.

  "I wonder what Instructor Reina's ability is..."

  Red looked inside of the makeshift arena with curiosity, and I did the same. I was looking forward to seeing how my classmates fought.

  The student and Instructor Reina had a short discussion, and then they stepped back from one another and began the duel. The student inside showed off a sparkling water ability, letting the water form a tidal wave from the ground. Instructor Reina also used her ability, giving her sharp claws and fierce eyes like those of a tiger. She seemed to be holding back her ability quite a bit to match the student she was facing so that whoever had better combat skills would win.

  The tidal wave quickly surrounded Instructor Reina in an enclosure, but she leapt through it with enough momentum to break out and let out a low tiger's growl for intimidation as she quickly charged the student. The student, afraid, flinched and let out a beam of water towards Instructor Reina in a panic, but she easily dodged it and swiped at the student's throat. It only left a small cut, but it was clear that the student would've been dead had this been a real fight.

  'Ah... it was so short.'

  The student and Instructor Reina seemed to talk for another short moment, before the student left the arena and Instructor Reina called another student inside. The process repeated, and that student was also completely defeated. Red gasped in admiration.

  "Wow! Instructor Reina's amazing!"

  "Yeah, she is. She's doing this in a way where it's theoretically possible for us to win."

  "Really? It just looks like a one-sided massacre."

  "I mean, you're not wrong, but let's take the first round as an example. I don't know what that student's ability fully encompasses, but it looked like she could freely control the water and make it come from the ground. In order to beat Instructor Reina, she should've used that to her advantage to try and break Instructor Reina's momentum as she was charging at her. Instructor Reina's advantage is her momentum, so once you get rid of that, it's easy to defeat her. At least, while she's holding back."

  "Hm... how are you sure that would work?"

  "Well... I'm not, but it's at least something I would do if I were in that student's situation."

  "I don't think it's easy to think rationally when you're in the heat of battle though. Even simple ideas can become difficult to think of when you're facing a tough enemy."

  "...Really? I mean, it makes sense, but..."

  My thoughts wandered back to the ranking exam that was yesterday. I had been facing plenty of difficult enemies, and yet my mind was calm during the entirety of those battles, even while I was in agony. Now that this fact had been pointed out, I realized how strange that was, especially given that it was my first time facing monsters yesterday.

  "Is something wrong?"

  Red looked at me with concern, and I shook my head.

  "No. I just got a bit distracted, that's all."

  It was no use thinking about it now though, so I simply continued watching the students duel Instructor Reina. Some of them had very strong abilities, and others actually came close to beating her. A few times after a duel, Instructor Reina even had to heal herself with a healing potion. However, they always made a misstep or two that caused them to lose. But considering their lack of experience, that was already very impressive.

  "Gene Halvanna, you're up!"

  '...Looks like it's my turn. Honestly, I'm not sure if I could do much better than them.'

  As I stepped away, Red gave me a pat on my shoulder and a bright smile.

  "You got this!"

  "...I'll try my best."

  With Red's words, I stopped worrying so much and entered the arena, where Instructor Reina stood across from me and gave me a light smile.

  "Hey Gene, it's nice to meet you! I've noticed you've been paying good attention to the duels going on today."

  "...Yeah, that's right."

  "You can actually gain quite a bit of insight from watching people spar, so it's good that you're paying attention. Anyways, you already know that my ability involves partial or full tiger transformation, so why don't you tell me a little bit about your ability?"

  "Ah... well, it's nothing much, but I can use a dagger's worth of dark energy and manipulate it freely."

  "I see... you'll definitely have to work on improving the amount of dark energy you can use, but don't worry about that too much for this duel. Are you ready to begin?"

  "Yes."

  "Alright, don't be afraid to treat this as a real battle. Attack whenever you're ready."

  I stepped back from Instructor Reina and made a dark energy spear, while she transformed her hands into claws and her eyes into those of a tiger looking at its prey.

  'Instructor Reina's advantage is her speed, so I need to hinder that somehow.'

  I decided to try and throw my spear at Instructor Reina's leg in an attempt to keep her pinned to the ground, but unfortunately it didn't work. Instructor Reina easily dodged the spear and let out a low tiger's growl that nearly sent shivers down my spine. Being away from me, the dark energy spear dissipated, and like with many other students before me, Instructor Reina began charging at me.

  'If I time this right, I should be able to land a surprise attack.'

  Just before she reached me, I created a dark energy spear from my hand and attempted to pierce Instructor Reina's abdomen. She had said to treat this as a real fight, but I felt hesitant about trying to stab someone's neck, so I chose the abdomen instead. Unfortunately, Instructor Reina mostly dodged it as if she'd predicted my moves beforehand, so it only cut her side.

  Feeling that Instructor Reina was about to slash me with her claws, I sidestepped her and used dark energy as armor to block her assault. That's when she used a kick to knock me completely off guard, and I stumbled back. Using that opening, Instructor Reina finished me off with a quick swipe to the back of my neck, leaving a small cut.

  "...Looks like I've already lost."

  I regained my posture and dissipated my dark energy as Instructor Reina released her transformation.

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  "You did, but you honestly performed very well. Have you ever fought monsters before coming to Evergreen Academy?"

  "No. Yesterday was my first time."

  "Really? I'm surprised. You have good instincts, and I can tell you kept a cool head throughout our duel. In fact, I think I can confidently say you've remained the calmest out of anyone I've fought so far."

  "Thank you."

  "A few things to mention though. Firstly, your moves are too predictable. After I started charging towards you, you were clearly waiting for me to get close. I figured something was up, and so that's why I easily avoided your attack."

  "Huh... I didn't even think of that."

  "That's okay, most people wouldn't, especially someone without experience. It takes some getting used to."

  "I'll keep that in mind."

  "Secondly, you leave yourself too unguarded. Specifically, I think your mind tends to focus on one thing at a time, and so you lose awareness of your general surroundings. When that happens, you're giving the enemy an opening to take advantage of."

  "I see."

  I nodded at Instructor Reina's advice and thought back to how my shortcomings also appeared during the ranking exam.

  'I definitely will need to work on those weaknesses, as well as improve my overall ability.'

  "Anyways, that was a good duel. I look forward to seeing your growth this year, Gene."

  "I'll do my best not to disappoint."

  With some new goals in mind, I left the arena and returned to the area where Red was standing. Once he saw me, he grinned and waved me over.

  "Oh, man, I thought you would've won... don't worry though! I'll definitely get revenge for you!"

  "You just want to be the one to beat Instructor Reina, right?"

  "...That too. But still!"

  "Here's some advice then. When you fight Instructor Reina, make sure she can't predict your moves. Also, don't panic no matter what happens."

  "Ah- Is that what Instructor Reina told you?"

  "A little bit, but some of it's my own advice."

  "Okay, that seems easier said than done, but I'll try my best! Wish me luck!"

  "Of course."

  After a while, Instructor Reina called Red up to duel her, and I waved him off. When their initial discussion was over, the duel began, and Red created pure white flames from his hands while Instructor Reina did her partial transformation.

  Red fired the first attack, launching a pillar of pure white flames at the ground underneath Instructor Reina. The floor was set ablaze, and it quickly spread around. Instructor Reina, unable to completely escape the flames, opted to charge straight at Red.

  In turn, Red used more flames, this time spreading them out into the air like an AOE flamethrower. Instructor Reina forced her way through the thinnest part of the flames and swiped at Red once she broke through, causing him to step back to dodge. As a counterattack, Red fired even more flames from his hands, but Instructor Reina was relentless in her pursuit despite the numerous burns on her body, forcing him to keep moving. After a bit of back and forth, Red eventually stumbled back and fell out of exhaustion, allowing Instructor Reina to use that opening to cut his neck and defeat him.

  'Wow- Red's ability seems really awesome! And to think that there's so many more people out there more powerful than him...'

  Shortly after the duel, Red came back to where I was standing while Instructor Reina took a quick break to grab a potion. Even though he lost, he seemed pretty happy.

  "I was so close to beating her! If my flames were stronger, or if I had better endurance, I might've won!"

  "Yeah, I really liked your duel. You made good decisions and you even made Instructor Reina use a potion afterwards."

  "Haha, I think I might've just gotten lucky. I was almost scared to death, but I tried my best to make rational decisions."

  "Either way, you did good."

  "Thanks!"

  Red and I continued watching the duels, trying to figure out strategies for each one of the abilities that we saw. It was good inspiration for how to use our own abilities.

  We also considered dueling against each other during this class, but we decided against it since we weren't sure when we'd get the opportunity to watch so many duels again.

  Eventually though, the last duel ended and Instructor Reina removed the barrier between the arena and the rest of the room. Gathering everyone's attention, Instructor Reina began speaking up once more.

  "I hope these duels have given you all a sense of what combat skills are about. Think about what I've told you in terms of your combat and try to work on it in the future. This training room, alongside the virtual reality training room, is available at any time other than classes, so don't be afraid to use it.

  Anyways, after the lunch period is over, you will head to Instructor Lee for your next class. Hopefully by the time I see you again, you will have received your schedule and be in much more manageable class sizes. In any case, you may now be dismissed. Have a nice day!"

  When Instructor Reina finished speaking, a mass of students began rushing out the door. Red and I followed them, and we eventually made our way to the cafeteria.

  ? ? ?

  "This food's pretty good."

  I stabbed my fork into the pasta on my plate and took a bite. Unlike the lunch at my high school, the food here actually had a pleasant flavor and texture. It was also self serve, so there wasn't a super long line to wait in.

  "Is it better than my cooking though?"

  "Obviously not."

  Being honest, I answered quickly. Red smiled at my compliment before continuing to eat his food as well. He had made himself a homemade salad for lunch in the morning, and it looked very appetizing being filled with toppings and dressings.

  "But I think we should've eaten somewhere else. It's very loud here."

  "Hm..."

  It seemed that about half of Evergreen Academy had lunch during this time, and a lot of students had chosen to stay in the cafeteria. Red and I had gotten here relatively early, so we were able to get a small table of our own, but it was quickly reaching the point where students were sitting at any table with open seats.

  "What if we went outside? I bet the view from the top of Evergreen Academy is awesome!"

  "Is it even possible to get on top of the academy?"

  "There's probably a rooftop access somewhere. Come on - let's go look for it!"

  "Wouldn't it be inconvenient to bring our food around while looking for it though?"

  "I can deal with it!"

  With Red agreeing to deal with the cumbersome food, we left the cafeteria and went to the top floor of the academy. When I was touring the academy myself two days back, I only really focused on the classrooms and student amenities, so I wasn't sure of any of the other areas to go to.

  "First, let's look for any door or hatch that contains the word 'exit' on or near it. If that doesn't work, then we'll check out the maintenance areas and any other miscellaneous rooms. And if that doesn't work either... then we'll just have to climb our way up."

  "...Why do you sound so serious about this?"

  "Going outside is a very serious business! Plus, we only have until the end of lunch, so we need to hurry!"

  With a firm resolve, Red and I wandered the top floor of the academy according to the plan. Fortunately, we didn't have to resort to visiting miscellaneous rooms or climbing up a five story building, as we soon found a door with an exit sign above it.

  Opening the door, there was a small staircase leading to another door. This second door led to the outside rooftop, and so Red and I stepped through it.

  'Ah... looks like we aren't the only ones here.'

  There were a few small groups of students hanging out with one another on the rooftop. Regardless though, they remained pretty quiet with their conversations, so our goal of finding a tranquil place to eat was a success.

  "Gene! Gene! Let's go check out the view!"

  Although Red was enthusiastic, he also kept his voice at a reasonable volume in respect for the quiet rooftop sanctuary. We walked over to the edge of Evergreen Academy's rooftop and gazed out into the distance. Red let out a small gasp.

  Evergreen Academy was located at the edge of a city, so we saw numerous buildings in the distance. Even further beyond the roads and skyscrapers, the ocean was barely visible and glistening. At the same time, on the other side of the rooftop, there was a view of a large mountain in the distance with a waterfall rushing down it. The tops of many trees were visible, and it was almost as if we were on top of a forest canopy.

  'Wow... it's really nice.'

  Neither Red and I said anything for a while. We just appreciated the moment in silence. Eventually, Red quietly spoke up again.

  "...I bet the city's even prettier at night."

  "...Yeah."

  My mind sank into thought as I stared into the city side. Fame and wealth came with being a hunter, but honestly, I appreciated simple moments of peace like this the most.

  'Why did I become a hunter in the first place when I could've just been an ordinary hard-working citizen then? I think... it's because I want the power to protect this peace.'

  Of course, I didn't have any lofty ambitions like stopping all the monsters from dungeon gates or something like that. It would be enough just to be able to protect myself and the people I care about.

  "Oh shoot, I almost forgot!"

  Completely breaking the silence and my thoughts, Red handed me back the plate of pasta we'd taken from the lunchroom. By now, it was lukewarm at best, but I still smiled happily.

  "Thanks."

  "No problem!"

  Eating my pasta, I looked out into the mountainside with Red.

  'Yeah... this is exactly the kind of life I want to live.'