"Klein Heart. Gerald Flinder. Rachel Azka..."

While the professor was checking the attendance, I had noticed that Lizzy was in my class as well. She had the same stoic expression engraved on her face. Not that it made her any less pretty; that stone-cold face enhanced her beauty somehow.

"Daniel."

"Present."

The people around me started to distance themselves. Why? I could only guess that it's because I did not have a last name. Being without a last name meant being of peasant descent. Since a large majority of students were aristocrats, I could only assume that as the reason. Being different usually led to being ostracized. It was the same in my past life. 'I guess societies like these never change.'

Once the roll call was finished we got into the actual lesson.

"For today, you will all be fighting. I do not care if you have no experience. On the battlefield, whether you are a magus or a knight, you will be expected to put up a fight somehow. For the first year, magic will be prohibited. You are not allowed to use any artifacts either. Either you have the skill to win, or you don't. Go grab a weapon from the weapon rack."

On his word, everyone got off the bleachers and went to the weapons.

There was a wide variety of weapons, from axes to spears. There was also an assortment of unique swords. All of the common long swords have already been grabbed by the others so I decided to pick something else. I noticed that almost no one took a spear or a longbow. It was either a sword, rapier, or an axe. I wasn't proficient in marksmanship nor was I any good at using spears so I picked the short staff. It was roughly the same size as my practice sword so it was relatively easier to handle. It was a lot heavier but I could manage.

I walked back and sat on the bleachers with it.

"I will call two names. Whoever is called will have to fight the other on the arena. Today's class will be an example of the coming classes."

"Anyway, let's get on with the show. Elizabeth Grate and Rachel Azka."

Lizzy and another girl stood up. She had short brown hair but other than that, there was nothing too noticeable about her.

—Lizzy's PoV—

My opponent is Rachel. Although I have heard of the power of the Azka family, I am confident that I will easily defeat her. After all, I am the one and only disciple of the Holy Church's Knight Captain. I doubt there are many freshmen who can beat me. I got up and walked to the arena.

Locking eyes with Rachel, I went into stance. She did not wield a weapon, but gauntlets. I did not recall there being any gauntlets on the weapon rack so it must have been her own soul weapon.

"Rachel Azka, since you have been given special permission to use the gauntlets by the headmaster, I have no say in this matter. But, a small warning that you shall not activate any of its abilities for the fairness of this match. You can start."

With Professor Mark's announcement, I immediately dashed forward and tried to slash at her neck. Keyword—tried, but she vanished the moment I swung the sword. Realizing that my slash would land on nothing, I hesitantly stopped and turned around.

Yet again, she was nowhere in sight. 'Where the heck is she?'

"Over here."

I turned around in response to the soft voice but it was a trap. The moment my head turned, her fist was already meeting with it. I was momentarily stunned, not knowing how to react and just like that, I was blown away by that punch. This was bad, the sword in my grip was proven to be useless when I was caught off guard. Feeling light-headed, I saw something coming into my vision.

—Daniel's PoV—

She did not stop after that heavy punch. Taking advantage of Lizzy's recovery from that hard hit, she followed up with a strike straight at her chin. Just like that, Lizzy was knocked out. This Rachel reminded Daniel of the boxers in his previous life. Smooth, agile, and accurate.

'Rachel Azka.' He chose to remember that name because he felt that there would be a day that he would fight her as well.

As for when she had seemingly disappeared from Lizzy's vision, all she did was move behind Lizzy. A simple action, yet it was extremely fast. If Daniel did not spar with Sam everyday, his eyes would not have been able to capture that movement. Her fast footwork allowed her to follow behind Lizzy even when she turned around which gave her a perfect opportunity to strike.

Daniel pondered about it for a moment before deciding that he should train more. Especially his footwork and reaction speed. After all, strength was useless when your opponent was too fast to be hit.

Lizzy was brought to the infirmary by some big guy in a lab coat. Turns out, another function of the magic watch was monitoring our health. When we black out or are half dead, someone would come to fetch us.

"Daniel and Klein Heart. You guys are up next."

[Ding!]

[System Notification: Battle Mode has been installed]