On days when the weather permitted, Practical Magical Combat was held outdoors, so the group headed outside and followed Thomas once again. Waiting for them to arrive was Professor Elius, who seemed to be observing each and every student with a keen eye.

The area for their lesson was entirely flat except for a few elevated platforms that appeared to be arenas for duels. There was an array of various targets, both moving and stationary, and even dummies armed with swords and spears.

"Good day, students, I hope you are all well rested and enthusiastic for today's lesson," Professor Elius announced when the last few stragglers arrived. "For those who haven't met me already, I am Professor Elius and will be your first-year instructor for Practical Magical Combat, or PMC, as some call it.

"Some of you might believe this class is about honing your offensive magic and practicing duels, but I can assure you that is only a quarter of what I hope to teach you. Some of you might have guessed correctly that we will also include best defensive practices, and that includes the simplest and most effective measure of all—don't get hit."

A few of the students chuckled at that, which Elius seemed to enjoy.

"It sounds simple, but I can assure you I've seen many fellow or would-be mages fail this simple task. Even a mage who can summon forth the strongest of barriers should know when a simple dodge would suffice.

"Of course, that is where friendly duels will come into play, to help install some basic battle sense in you, as most of you have likely never even seen a monster, let alone fought one before. There will also be drills where I'll cast a barrage of harmless spells at you, where getting hit will disqualify you.

"At the same time, we will also work on your basic fitness level, mostly some light cardio."

Some of the students slumped while others groaned and even rolled their eyes. However, the professor merely chuckled and continued on, as if expecting this response.

"Yes, don't groan, you heard me correctly. How can you expect to explore the dungeon if you're out of breath after every encounter? If you wanted a sedentary lifestyle, then you should have picked a different school.

"Of course, I'm obviously well aware that not every solution fits everyone, and that is where your own personal creativity will come into play. Those of you who can think on their feet and use your unique talents or innovative ideas will excel and have bright futures ahead of you at Regarth.

"This obviously includes your Familiars as well. Yes, they are not just pets to carry around with you, and I hope some of you have started thinking of how to incorporate some teamwork with them. That could be having them provide a distraction, another set of eyes or ears, brute force, and numerous other possibilities."

The class whispered amongst themselves, voicing their opinions to their friends and peers. Lily noticed Lotte was staring at Jade as if asking herself, "What can you do?"

"Right. So how about we get started with a light jog? One or two laps around the PMC facility should be enough to get the blood flowing, I reckon."

The grumbles and complaints came out in full force, but when Professor Elius showed he was dead serious and was even joining the students on the jog, they were forced to comply.

Lily wasn't thrilled about starting the class this way, but she understood the merit behind it. Most of all, she was just extremely thankful that having Mana flow throughout her body had somewhat "healed" her condition, as her past self would have failed on the spot.

It was a relatively slow experience, except for two students—Arthur and Hana—who raced ahead and ended up doing three or four laps by the time the last students finished their second.

Lotte commented that he was an idiot for trying to race an Equinia, but he somehow managed to not embarrass himself and only finished a few lengths behind her.

"I like the enthusiasm, I just hope you saved some energy for the next part," Elius said to the two.

"I'm still raring to go," Hana said confidently. "After all, I didn't need to use Mana to keep up."

Arthur snorted. "The professor said he applauds creativity. I just used some small amount of magic to give me a bit of a boost while removing some wind resistance."

"We could use magic?" one student asked between heavy breaths.

"I didn't say you couldn't," Elius pointed out. "Although anything beyond what Arthur did might get some scrutiny, as the point is to help build on your basic cardio. I once had a student who used ice magic on his feet to skate."

"My cloak would probably be cheating…" Lily whispered.

"Hey, at least that means you won't be leaving me behind. The only way I could use my magic to win would be if I poisoned the runners," Lotte said with a devilish smirk.

Before Lily could admonish that idea, the professor continued talking.

"Now that we've got you all pumped up. How about we start with some basic target practice?" he said and gestured towards a set of large dummies that looked more like golems than targets. "I want to see what each and every one of you can do, so we'll do it in pairs, so I don't miss anyone. I'd encourage you all to use your strongest attack spell as the dummies certainly can take it."

The class formed a loose and somewhat orderly line with the professor at the front so he could observe. Naturally, Arthur and Hana were up first as they had rushed to the front, and Lily could practically see the sparks of rivalry between them.

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"Begin," Professor Elius instructed.

Arthur gave a small chant and let out a blade of wind that went directly at the dummy and cut a small but clean groove into its stony skin. Hana adjusted her glasses while murmuring a chant. When she reached the end, she pointed at the target, and a thin beam of light fired from her solitary fingertip. The beam was high-speed and precise, and left a puncture wound in her target.

"Mine was bigger," Arthur said confidently.

"Mine went deeper," Hana retorted.

Their bickering was interrupted by Elius, who was chuckling, "Good work, both of you. Next up."

"But who won?" Arthur and Hana both asked.

"Neither of you. It isn't a competition, I just want to see what we're working with and if any of you need some initial guidance on attack spells."

Arthur rolled his eyes as Hana kicked at the ground; both seemed unhappy with the outcome, but the professor shooed them away to let the following students have a go.

Lily and Arakil watched eagerly as each pair of students had their turn. Lily had never seen so many different spells cast, while Arakil was naturally curious to see what magic students of this era were capable of.

Firebolts, waterballs, rocky shrapnel, and all sorts of magical displays were made by the students as Lily and Lotte inched closer to the front.

The professor didn't say much about their successes and only really took action if there was anyone incapable of casting a proper "offensive" spell. Not everyone had learnt one yet, and those students would be given some extra guidance to catch up.

Eventually, it came to Thomas' turn, and the boy next to him had already cast his spell and walked off while he was still standing there.

"Do you not have an offensive spell prepared yet?" the professor asked, as he'd done a few times prior.

"I have a few. But the one I want to demonstrate isn't ranged… yet. Would it be okay if I touched the target?" Thomas asked.

"Sure, go ahead, I'm surprised nobody asked you before, to be honest."

A few of the kids who had already had their turn groaned, as apparently they had much more impressive spells to show off, but hadn't due to thinking there was a distance requirement.

Thomas nodded and walked over to the target. He was chanting as he went while flexing his right hand. To Lily's surprise, Yona had even departed from his head when he began his spell and was sitting still and waiting.

When he reached the target, his incantation was complete, and he thrust his palm forward, his fingers arranged like a pseudo-claw. There was a crackling sound, and when he made contact, there was a boom followed by a surge as whatever he did had dissipated into the target. Yona let out a grumpy "Mreow!" and it became evident why she left her perch.

"Lightning is an interesting choice," Elius said. "I presume that is what you're going to be selecting as your speciality?"

Thomas nodded. "I've only got this one spell so far, but I'm committed."

I can't believe he learned a whole new spell already. Did he sacrifice all his sleep? When did he have time to read about the school and memorize its locations?

While Lily was confused, Arakil chimed in and provided an explanation that quenched some of her burning curiosity.

[The chant was much longer than needed, likely to compensate for his currently lacking internal imagery. He also skipped over a section that would have fired the spell as a bolt of lightning, which explains why he needed to approach the target. However… considering he's hardly had any time since it was suggested to him, I'm impressed with what he's achieved.]

Lily was surprised to see Arakil praise another student, especially over work that he had always deemed "sloppy," such as repeating the chant over and over before casting to help manifest it. When he was teaching her, he refused to let her use such a stopgap and always demanded perfection.

Maybe it's because he's the one teaching me. I'm sure if Arakil were teaching Thomas, he'd also refuse to allow him to use repeated chants.

After Thomas' display, a few more of the following students did close-range spells, one even attempted to use a simple fire starting spell as an attack, which the professor applauded her for her effort.

Eventually, it came to Lily and Lotte's turn, and it would be an understatement to say that almost the whole class was watching the magical bunny with curiosity.

"I'm going first, no way I'm casting my spell after you!" Lotte declared and quickly cast her spell.

Once again, the serpent of magical energy flew out and bit into the target, leaving behind a sizzling hole that was growing larger over time before the dummies' repairing magic eventually overwhelmed it. The fact that she'd cast it so easily with basically just a single word chant showed how practiced she was with it.

"Ah, you're the one who is unfortunately banned from duels," Elius commented, sounding a little disappointed.

"Yeah, just monsters and target dummies for me, I'm afraid," Lotte replied with a grin.

"Well, you can still take part in the dodging drills," he pointed out, causing Lotte's grin to fade.

Lily held back a giggle as she stepped up to take her turn. In theory, she could have used Nebula Veil as an "attack," and it would have been theoretically a safer option due to the random nature of Starburst. But she wanted to use her actual attack spell and show the power of Astral magic!

It's too bad I'm nowhere near close enough to cast Lunar Radiance, or I could have improved my luck.

Lily didn't want to chance it and decided to hold nothing back; there was always the chance that she would roll her maximum, but she'd rather have that than the embarrassment of one.

She held her breath as she cast, and her Mana surged. A small part of her wanted to close her eyes and pray for a good outcome, but her strict tutoring reminded her to always keep them open and honed on the target.

When five stars emerged, she wanted to faint with relief, as they went soaring towards the dummy. There were some gasps from the onlookers, and even the teacher raised his eyebrow in surprise, as Lily had barely shown anything prior.

The first star hit, scattering stardust and marking the dummy as it was illuminated. This allowed stars two to five to hit with escalating damage, and the final star caused the dummy to fall over backwards, a chunk of its front section missing.

The result was startling, even a bit to Lily as she'd never needed to summon that many stars before. Even on her solo hunts, she would try to never go above three.

"I think she beat both of you," Thomas said to Arthur and Hana, breaking the silence.

"She really can cast spells?"

"So that wasn't just a trick with lights?"

"What if she has a magic item?"

The students began to gossip wildly, until Professor Elius grabbed their attention by loudly clapping his hands.

"Enough of that. Well done, Lily, you and Lotte can move to the side with the other successful students. Next!"

Lily and Lotte dashed off to the rest of the finished group.

"I'm so glad I went first," she giggled. "I feel sorry for everyone who has to follow up after that display."

Hana approached Lily, adjusting her glasses and with a large smile plastered on her face. "As expected of my rival! I can't wait for our duels!"

Lily's ears drooped a little.

Maybe I should have held back and risked no stars.

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