"Well, you should be. If it were someone else, I'd have never agreed to have dinner with them. Not talking about twice," she replied to Amon with the same kindness and a little bit of tease.

Amon got surprised at her response.

"Do you mean… I'm the only one… Ohh, lucky me. But why don't you mind having dinner with me?" Amon was confused now.

This woman was truly kind. Amon thought even if it was someone else in his position, she would have agreed to them. But now it was not the case. Then why?

"Oh, why? Well, it's simple. You just look too innocent and cute… but today… I saw that you were not," her reply was something that caught Amon off guard.

"Well… so you think I'm not innocent?" he asked nervously.

She nodded. "Yes, yes. I can clearly say — you are far from being innocent… but you are still a little idiot… in a good way. So I guess I'll just ignore it." She blinked one eye at Amon with a sheepish grin.

Amon was taken aback again.

But he shook his head with a chuckle.

The professor of his actually thought of him as a cute idiot who was not innocent, but in a good way.

"It seems our food is here," she said as the staff from the cafeteria, who came to deliver food every day, entered the infirmary.

He glanced at Amon but didn't bother thinking about why he was with her again.

He just did his job quietly, gave them food and got out of there. Simple.

Putting the food on the desk, she exclaimed, "Let's dig in!"

'That looked cute,' for some reason his professor was becoming more and more adorable.

---

It was Friday now,

Swish!

Thud!

The black crescent arc nearly able to reach the wooden dummy before crumbling.

"Hah! Hah!" Amon breathed heavily.

The shadow returned to his feet again.

"I am getting the hang of it."

He raised his hands again.

He was closer to it now.

Mana covered his sword in a blue hue.

The shadow moved again and wrapped itself around the silver blade of the sword.

It glistened darkly, ghostly over the mana.

He positioned his sword to the right, behind his side.

Gripping it tightly, Amon-

"Aargh!" He screamed.

He swung his sword in a horizontal slash.

[Umbral Veil Sword Art: First Form – Crescent of Dusk]

A beautiful yet dark crescent arc formed in the training room.

The slash moved with lightning speed at the wooden dummy.

Slash!

The wooden dummy was cleaved in half. It was cut from the middle of its stomach horizontally.

Thud!

The half-cleaved part of the dummy fell on the floor with a thud sound.

Amon exhaled. Heavy breath.

Ding!

New skill acquired: [Umbral Veil Sword Art]

A ding sound sent a notification.

Amon calmed himself.

Breathe slow!

"Status Window," he muttered.

---

[Status Window]

Name: Amon Vale

Age: 17

Rank: Awakened

Class: Death Bearer

Element: Shadow, Darkness

Mana: 145

Strength: 41

Agility: 49

Speed: 47

Endurance: 26

Skills: [Basic Swordsmanship], [Umbral Veil Sword Art]

Spells: [Gloom Orb], [Shadow Clutch], [Mana Bullets], [Shadow Claw]

Abilities: [Death's Shadow]

---

Amon continued to look at it without blinking his eyes.

And then burst into laughter.

"Hahahah!" He laughed loudly. Crazily.

"Oooh! I got it! I got it! Even if it's only the first form, I learned it! Hehehe."

His laughter echoed through the training room. It was good that currently there was no one. Or they might have thought the guy had gone mad.

Slowly his laughter died down.

"I guess it's enough training for today. Hehe~ I should share this good news with Seraphina. She will be happy to hear this."

Putting his sword in the storage ring, he collected his things and left the training room.

He also needed to accompany Princess Selena tomorrow.

"After lectures end tomorrow, I need to meet her," he said with a delighted expression to himself.

It was already evening. The sun was slowly setting down as night started to take over the sky.

---

Next day,

It was again getting evening. The lectures had all ended.

Amon parted ways with his friends, telling them he had some business to attend to.

Of course, all of them looked at him with suspicious gazes.

Don't know why they don't believe him.

Well, not like it matters.

He leisurely walked toward the fountain on campus. The same fountain he watched every day while jogging.

The central fountain, where the statue of the academy's founder stood tall. Sword pointed toward the sky.

Just near it was his senior, Selena.

She was also in her uniform. It seemed she also came directly here after classes ended.

He waved his hand.

"Good afternoon, Senior!" Amon greeted her cheerfully.

"Hm... so, are you ready?" she asked with a calm voice.

"Yes, I am," Amon replied. Then,

Amon tilted his head curiously.

"Senior, how are we going to the Imperial City and your palace? Isn't it far from here?"

Selena turned her gaze toward him, her red eyes reflecting the fading orange sky. "We'll use a teleportation gate," she said simply.

"There's one available in Elarith City. It'll transfer us directly to the Imperial City."

Amon's eyes widened slightly. "Teleportation gate? You mean one of those expensive spatial devices nobles use?"

"Yes," Selena replied calmly. "The royal family maintains a direct gate link between Elarith and the Imperial Capital. It's mainly used for official purposes, but since I received permission, we can use it."

Amon gave an impressed whistle. "Whoa… must be nice to have connections like that. I thought those things were restricted for high-ranked mages or nobles only."

Selena gave a faint smile. "Normally, they are. But since you're accompanying me as my assigned student partner, you're granted access."

"Well, that's a relief. I was half expecting we'd need to ride a carriage for days. My poor legs can't handle that," Amon joked with a grin.

Selena shook her head slightly, but the corner of her lips lifted. "You complain too much for someone with good stamina."

"Good stamina doesn't mean I like walking," Amon replied with a smirk.

"Let's go," Selena said, ignoring his banter as she turned toward the academy's main gate.

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