“Just go ahead and test out your spells freely as usual, if there’s anyone who’s attempting to cast a Rank 4 spell, please inform me beforehand for safety.”

The students form into their usual social groups and begin practising.

I minded my own business by keeping to the corner of the field. I pretend to raise my hand like I was casting a spell. There must be some opportunity I can find here.

I practice casting one of the spells I learnt, Wind Impact. It may sound like an offensive spell, but it just unleashes a powerful wind in close proximity. The impact is pretty powerful, but the area of effect is only about the range of my hands. This will be enough.

I inconspicuously move back while pretending to cast spells.

“Urgh, watch it!”, Qiu Long grunts in dissatisfaction as I trip him while moving back.

I simply scoff at him in response, staring at him, smiling.

He gets more irritated by my actions, seemingly trying to control his anger.

In response, I beckon to him using my finger, provoking him.

“Just because you’re the eldest son, do you think you still have any power?”, he mocks.

“I just have enough to deal with you.”

“Hah, I’m almost Rank 4, stop dreaming, Rank 2. Let me show you the difference in us.”, he says as he musters the Rank 3 spell, Fireball. He has no intentions of killing me, of course, he just wants to vent his anger.

“Ah, stop, n-no!”, I stumble back away, trying to get away from him.

“It’s too late, I can’t stop it anyway. Just stay in bed for a few days!”, he laughs as he launches the fireball.

As soon as he fires the fireball, however, he has a face of shock. He sees the person who’s now behind me when I moved out of the way. It’s the boy who was teaching his classmates. His name’s Xun Zhou, and his father’s a Marquis. His family doesn’t have rich Mage blood within, hence he’s their only Mage-inclined child in this generation. He's known for being extremely studious in the class.

Back to the situation, I easily move out of the way as the fireball propels itself towards Xun Zhou. He’s still unknowing of his impending crisis. A metre before the fireball reaches him, I execute the prepared Wind Impact spell towards the ground. The Spell is invoked, launching a stream of Wind towards the direction my palms are facing. The Wind hits the ground and propels me straight at Xun Zhou.

I use my feet as brakes once I near the ground, stabilising myself in front of Xun Zhou. My ankle bone breaks from the impact of this. I quickly position myself in front of him, bracing myself for impact by covering my head with my arms.

“Arghhh!”, the fireball hits me on my arms, flinging me away like a broken rag doll. Xun Zhou's friends see that happening, as Xun Zhou was hit by me while I was being thrown away.

Xun Zhou runs towards me, asking if I’m ok and thanking me for shielding him. “It’s ok, it’s my family’s problem to begin with. We shouldn’t drag in outsiders.”, I reply softly but firmly, appearing to be in great pain.

“What are you guys doing!?”, the teacher noticed the event happening just now but wasn’t quick enough to react to it. There are so many students afterall.

“This ends now. Xun Zhou, bring Qiu Xue to the infirmary. Qiu Long, sit at the side and calm yourself down. I'll leave this matter to the Duke. ”, She deftly said. As expected, she didn’t punish anyone or try to find out who started it. It’s an internal affair for nobles after all, it wouldn’t be tactful for her to meddle in our family’s matters. She’s simply ‘handling the matter’. She may not even bother to inform the Duke.

Xun Zhou lets me lean on him as he brings me to the infirmary. The nurse treats me quickly with a Class 1 Mage Spell, “Healing”. My injuries quickly recover. The reason why such a spell is being used on me without question is of course due to my identity, if it was Xun Zhou in my shoes, he probably would have been given a smaller spell, or been requested to pay. I’m part of a Duke House, so the school has no doubt that this treatment will be paid for, but a Marquis House is much less wealthy.

They can afford the treatment, but it’s simply a needlessly high expenditure for them, than just waiting for it to recover. Healing mages are much rarer due to the complexity involved in healing spells, it’s also because people tend to pick the offensive mage path due to it being more practical and flashy. It takes years to learn a healing spell, and while it guarantees a job, there’s not accomplishment in the path like defeating a Dragon.

“Thanks again for taking the hit for me. You may not know this, but you really helped me. If I had to take that hit, I would have had to stay bedded for the next few months. Regardless of your intention, I want to thank you for that.”, Xun Zhou says earnestly.

“You’re welcome. You’re a good person.”, I reply curtly.

“Hahahaha, so introverted as usual. If you don’t mind, I hope we can be friends.”, he looks into my eyes and says.

“I’ll be glad to.”, I answer.

“That’s great, I’ll introduce you to the rest of my good friends later, they’re a bunch of rowdy people, but they are good people. Speaking of which, how did you reach me so fast? I saw you at the side before the impact.”

“That’s simple. I used the Wind Impact spell.”

“That’s an offensive spell, right? Not a movement one.”, he asks with a questioning gaze.

“Yes, it is, I used it towards the ground to propel myself towards you. I minimised the structure to direct it to just the direction I was using it on in order to cast it faster.”

“That’s how you did it! I would have never thought of using it that way!”

I chat along with him, discussing the spell used earlier. We quickly become closer friends.

I could have went for the Prince or the female noble, but they only had power because of their backgrounds. Not to mention they’re more familiar with such tricks being played. I need assistance, but I don’t need the help of another faction. There’s no point in employing help you’ll eventually need to pay back. What I need now, is a faction of my own. I don’t need to have talent myself, if I can nurture an army of talented commoners. This is just the first step.