———Orrel———

  <2: 02 pm>

  “So I’m not the only one confused why we didn’t get the name of the P.E. teacher, right?” Jeff mentioned. He is right to be suspicious. For whatever reason there are no names attached to it. That seems rather deliberate.

  “Yeah, that’s all kinds of fishy.” Kenni remarked. Wouldn’t she have some inkling as to who that is already? Or am I looking too much into it? She would at most have the same level of access as Karra, who has been more open about what she knows.

  “The main thing is that whoever this is, they are keen on hiding it.” Jass remarked. Indeed, it seems like other groups also encounter the same mystery. For reasons unknown the names of the P.E. teachers are not known, and more importantly, are much rger in numbers this time around, at least according to the website, a bunch of bnked out names.

  “Anyway, do we just wait around looking at the red and blue curtains? Where’s the teacher?” Jeff said, starting to get impatient.

  *Pnt*

  Suddenly a glowing purple spear nded right in front of him, coming out of nowhere.

  “What the fuck!?” Naturally as the victim of this potentially deadly prank, he freaked out on almost getting skewered.

  The spear then dissolves into nothing, and suddenly a cpping sound can be heard, coming from within the dark backstage.

  “I suppose it’s about time I stop with building anticipation.” The person walked out of the darkness and slowly towards us, before stopping as we got a better look at her, a strange grin formed on her face. “Anyway, what’s up guys. Haven’t seen most of you for a long while.”

  “...Rico Uzanki.” I muttered. Of all the faces I expected to be here, hers is definitely low on the list.

  “We’re on a full-name basis now? When did we become so distant?” She jokingly asked. I think the more important thing is why is she here. The one who should be here is a teacher, an adult with a lot of life experience, not someone who is only a young adult. “Look, just because I’m supposed to be the professional doesn’t mean we’re suddenly strangers now.”

  “So why are you here?” Malk asked, not beating around the bush.

  “I’m your P.E. teacher, of course!” She stated as a matter of fact. It is hard to believe, even if her presence here is already evidence enough. There is literally nothing else she could reasonably be if she showed up at this pce and time.

  “...Excuse me?” Useph asked, finding the whole idea ridiculous. It is the reality that is in front of us right now, but the fact that it’s so unbelievable is still there.

  “You heard me, I’ll be your P.E. teacher for the foreseeable future.” She nonchantly stated. Of course, I doubt repeating it a few more times would make it anymore believable. “Anyway. Roll call check time.”

  “H-Hold on, we skipped a few introductory steps, don’t you think!?” Gregori protested, despite probably knowing that she wouldn’t really entertain another line of questioning right away.

  “Nah. We’re no strangers, so let’s skip all the nonsense and get straight to it.” She said with a straight face before her eyes shifted around, clearly checking if everyone was present. “Looks like everyone is here, unless you think my eyes are deceiving me.”

  I don’t think anyone is going to argue against that. I’m still confused as to what someone who is only two years our senior is doing as our teacher.

  “No comment? Guess we can move on to the next step.” She said before creating more distance between us. “Now this is where I am supposed to evaluate you on your practical tests, as well as using the scanners to check your Magic Reading. It’s all just simple checking today.”

  I believe most of us have already done it at this point, but not officially recorded or anything of the sorts.

  “...Wouldn’t both checks have simir results?” Jeff asked.

  “Of course not.” Rico is quick to dispute the notion. “Some people are better at utilizing mana more than others, and things that are impossible to detect like skills and masteries will have an impact… Whatever. Just to the tests and be done with it. I doubt this is too much to ask for you guys and gals and that one person.”

  “...Did you have to singled me out like that?” Jeyst asked, transparently displeased.

  “Now then! Let’s do the running test first! Hundred meters, none of you should reach double digits seconds.” She optimistically said. “Now then. There’s a setting for this…”

  <2: 19 pm>

  “Let’s see here… That’s good.” She remarked as she looked at the tablet she’s holding. “Now then, let’s get to the-

  “Hold on, aren’t you going to at least show the results?” Qyunda interrupted her in the middle of her speech.

  “Being a bit too rude to your teacher, don’t you think?” Rico said, not having a real change in tone. “But if you insist…”

  She put down the tablet and pressed a few buttons on it, and suddenly the whole list appeared as a massive hologram leaderboard.

  “Ha!” Qyunda excimed out loud, seeing her result being a few milliseconds shorter than Malk.

  So the top runners are Malk, Qyunda, Karra, Emmie, and Kenni. It’s about as expected, though the gap between them is very small.

  It is also quite surprising that none of us took more than ten seconds to complete a hundred meter run. I think only a few really cross that barrier.

  …Now that I think about it, what about those elite athletes? With the new power dwelling within them just like with the rest of us, a new record would’ve most likely been set by now.

  They are not topics I normally find myself pondering over, but since everything is clearly becoming a bit more focused on being a musclebrain, perhaps I should look into it a little more.

  “Now then, let’s go check your readings in full. I think all of you are more interested in that.” Rico said before putting the results away, picking the tablet back up and pressing a few more things on it.

  We have all seen the teachers having one of those on them. Looks like that’s what they’re using to control the mechanisms inside the buildings remotely and quickly.

  There is still a lot to know about the pilling mysteries of this pce, but even a child knows that a device like that is important. Which makes it all the more confusing that it is a tablet that could only be used efficiently with both hands. It has to be rather weighty.

  If I were to guess as to why it is not a more foreign and esoteric device, it is that the people hired for this job are still regur people without much knowledge on the inner-workings of this pce. In fact, it would be unlikely, if not outright impossible, for people who can comprehend and use anything of that nature to come together here in such rge numbers. I would suspect most of them have their own grand project like this one.

  “Okay then, let’s line up now. I’ll show you the full results once everyone gets scanned.” Rico said as she held the tablet with its camera pointing towards us.

  <2: 27 pm>

  “Tada! This is what the results get ya? What do you think?” She asked as the results finally showed, and well…

  “...How much work did you two put in?” Useph is quick to ask the two people who really leave us in the dust in terms of power.

  “Quite a bit. It’s just that having the tools really helps.” Kenni said, not sounding particurly boastful. “Also, shouldn’t you be calling out that freak of nature who managed to reach third without any of that?”

  “At least she wasn’t doubled how much the rest of us have!” Qyunda was quick to point out. I do think Emmie is quite an outlier, but why would she be scrutinized with these two around?

  “I think the things you all should be focusing on is the difference in performance and stats.” Rico interjected before we could get into another argument about this. “As you saw, Karra and Kenni have a huge advantage over the rest of you in terms of raw power, however… Hold on. Did you two hold back?”

  “Uhh…” Kenni let out an awkward sound while Karra simply looked away. Did they seriously do that even though we already know how strong they were?

  “Whatever. I still get Emmie to use as an example. So as I was saying.” She quickly got back on track. “Despite being clearly stronger with better Output and Capacity, she can allocate her mana into strengthening herself during that race, and yet both Qyunda and Malk are able to keep up and even reach the finish line faster, even if by a small margin. There is more to a fight or a race than just your pure power. Techniques are still important even in a world of magic. The two of you have always been the athletic ones who have done a lot of practice, so naturally you have the advantage over her in that regard.”

  It does seem like she has some insight into this brand new world of magic, if she can say all of that with so much confidence.

  Now does that mean she is someone already well-versed in magic even before the Mythical Eclipse, or does she become experts within just a few short months.

  Another likely scenario is that she was given a rundown on what she should say to us by the principal and others. It does look like she already expected this to happen…

  Yet the sheer fact that she was even hired at all should mean that she does have some expertise of some kind. Why would whoever manage this pce hire a clueless young adult? Especially considering that this individual must be quite smart and powerful to pn and construct this pce within less than a day.

  There’s too much to specute, and I doubt we will get an answer to it.

  “Well isn’t that reassuring.” Qyunda sarcastically said. “So what’s the pn now? More lectures or are we free to roam around this gym?”

  “Hmm… I guess you all could just do that.” She said, not sounding all too sure. “Just stay here I guess, there’s not much for you to do in the first week in general.”

  “Still so weird you’re here as a teacher, of all things.” Gregori said, still finding issues with it.

  “By the way, what the heck was that purple spear just now?” Jeff asked, now that the examinations are over. I think we all know where it came from, but as to the why, that is a bit of a mystery.

  “Could be anything.” The culprit said without a hint of shame. It really does seem like she has a few clues on the world of mystics.

  …Actually. I cannot sense her power at all. At the very least, a little bit of mana should be leaking out of people, especially in a time of stress or exertion. She must be rather well-trained to be able to keep it in check without leaking at all.

  Then again, maybe my techniques are still faulty. We didn’t really have anyone else to use the techniques on aside from ourselves.

  We all managed to achieve the ability to use mana-cdding and sensing power, no doubt techniques that are considered rather rudimentary for someone like Wiina, but for us it probably put us way above the majority of the world as it currently is.

  And yet she is here, very confidently talking to us and seeing all the numbers shown. I get that we aren’t exactly strangers, as she herself has said, but it’s rather unnatural for her to be unfazed by the results anyway. She must have something about herself that she is hiding, be it power, or knowledge. Perhaps a combination of the two, or even if it’s just her attitude.

  There are many possible reasons as to why she is hired and stands before us here today, but at this point I’m going to get lost in my own thoughts. I should go talk to others and pass the time. They probably have their own opinions on why she is even here.