“Over there is the male’s dormitory… That’s the chemistry room… And here’s my classroom.” The old man guided us into his “classroom.”

But instead of a normal-sized room, it was a giant gymnasium with seats surrounding all sides. It was indistinguishable from a football field with the exception of the floor which had no grass. The surface was marbled and waxed to look new. A large portion of the ceiling was just a giant window, and with the way the light came down, it was even possible to see reflections off of the floor.

“Alright take a seat as I explain the curriculum for this class.”

Everyone took a seat in the same vicinity, except for one student who sat all the way on the opposite side with his lonesome self.

He had white bangs covering both eyes which told me that I shouldn’t associate with him.

“You.” Eigenvalue, the old man, pointed his walking stick at him.

“Come sit together with everyone else.”

The student didn’t talk back and moved himself quietly… Toward me.

For some reason, he just had to take the spot next to me when there were so many other seats.

And with him this close, it wasn’t hard to see the visible edginess exuding from him. I didn’t quite know what to say, except that there was this ominous aura that isolated him from everyone else. I would usually consider myself the edgy bastard, but this guy’s quirkiness was on another level.

He looked about as big as any run-of-the-mill teenager. Much like everyone else, he was taller than me.

When he caught me staring, he gave a soundless groan.

“...The goal for the end of the year is to have a basic understanding of how dangerous fights are if you are weak and inexperienced. You will learn how important it is to train both magic and your physique as a duality instead of single-mindedly focusing on one.”

“Now who here knows how to use a sword?”

Everyone raised their hands, except for me and the white-haired student.

“Good good, it looks like you all have some experience. Alright, you—what’s your name?” He pointed with his stick.

“Melissa Eisenhower.” The girl with green and blue eyes stood up.

“Eisenhower, eh?” His eyes fixated on the girl for a moment as his brows wrinkled in some epiphany.

“Very well, come up and grab a sword.” Eigenvalue nudged the equipment rack with his shoe.

All of the weapons on display were wooden swords, some of similar sizes, and some of different models. I wasn’t an expert at swords, so I couldn’t identify any of them by name. In my eyes, all I saw was “Sword, Big Sword, Bigger Sword,” and “Biggest Sword.” I didn’t even know the difference between a longsword and a greatsword so…

“Hmm, let’s see who else… How about you?” His stick aimed at the white-haired student.

“No not you, the one with black hair.” Those words struck him back down to his seat.

“Come on up now.”

“Can you hear me? What’s your name?”

It took me a moment to realize he was talking to me.

I stood up. “My name is Daniel, sir,” I said with a degree of confidence.

“Daniel, eh? I see…” He seemed to be pondering over something before snapping back and signaling me to come over.

“Grab a weapon.” He patted the rack.

I thought about what to pick from the wide collection when I noticed something that stuck out like a sore thumb.

Going all the way to the far end, I picked up a stick—it was just like the stick the old man had in his hands. While I could use a sword, I knew better than anyone that I was a horrible swordsman. But a stick. A stick. Stick! That’s right! A stick!

Sticks were essentially polearms. I’ve never used a polearm, but I had a better understanding of a stick than I had a sword. In fact, sticks were probably more versatile than swords.

If you held it at one end, it could be used as a sword. And if you held it from the middle, it could be like an axe or a hammer. It could thrust like a spear. And it could even be shoved up someone’s—!

I’ve been practicing Draconic Thrust recently and I have yet to implement it into a weapon. So why not test it with this stick? Or was it a staff? Pole?

“Oh?” The professor was a bit surprised at my pick, but the surprise was momentary as he continued speaking.

“The two of you have experience in sparring, right?”

I nodded even though I didn’t raise my hand before.

The heterochromia girl did the same.

“Good, now everyone watch closely. You will all be doing the same thing with a partner every day from now on. Melissa and Daniel here will demonstrate how it’s done.”

“Question?” He pointed his stick at another student who had his hands raised.

“But we all already know how to!”

Eigenvalue replied back, “Now now, there’s bound to be someone who is not familiar with how sparring works. Alrighty then, if there are no other questions let’s start the demonstration.”

He made a loud clacking sound from slamming his stick.

“The two of you may—.”

‘Woah.’

I narrowly avoided a slash at my neck.

Her sword was blunt, but any blow to the head area was fatal regardless. I didn’t understand why she was going for the head when this was supposed to be a demonstration of a light spar.

She came again with a body shot.

With the stick in one hand, I held it in a weird position that exposed my wrist while slamming it on the ground as a defensive measure.

The stick was able to absorb the impact from the strike, but before I could relax, she swapped her sword inward and sent a thrust at my body like a lance.

With my foot, I kicked the stick up from the ground, effectively bouncing the sword away from me.

‘This is fun.’

I didn’t think sticks would be so overpowered. I guess the better term would be a staff since it was heavy and at least as long as me.

The girl’s face contorted as she went in for another thrust, not learning from her previous mistake.

I knew I could easily deflect it again by kicking the staff up, but my body didn’t move.

It wasn’t stage fright and it wasn’t a freeze response as to a fight or flight reaction. There wasn’t enough adrenaline and I couldn’t hear my heart beating in my ear to trigger such a response. If anything, I had enough experience to null all of those debuffs that amateurs had. Blinking in the face of a fist was a conscious and optional decision for me. At least it should have been.

I knew all of that, but for some reason…

“Kss.” I let out a hiss when the tip of the sword struck me square on the abdomen.

My body clenched up on reflex to dissipate the incoming force.

This pain was nothing, but for this body that had not been conditioned by rulers, it burned.

All I needed was the reminder of pain for my body to resume action. The paralysis had gone and I lashed out immediately while I still could.

I moved along with the centrifugal force as I pivoted on my lead foot. From my legs to the hips to the shoulders to the forearm, and finally the wrist, I whipped the stick full-force without regard for any shrivel of rationale remaining. I didn’t know when my perspective changed, but I had stopped viewing this as a friendly spar the moment I threw the move. I had already gone too far to pull back now.

“Stop!”

The stick struck solidly on what felt like an unmovable steel. But even after the initial attack, a breeze from out of nowhere enveloped my body as if passing by for a secondary strike.

By the time I could recognize what happened, my grip on the stick had loosened enough for it to slip out of my numbed hand.

[Sweeping (Transcendent) has reached level 1 of proficiency.]

[Received: 1,000 Merit Points.]

My eyes made contact with the eyes of the professor.

His wisdom-filled eyes held no shred of anger.

The entire left portion of his robe had ripped into tatters, revealing bulges of dense muscles here and there. He had his left hand up, where a white scratch was left on his forearm.

Contrary to what I thought, he was not indignant of my action.

“Meet me at lunch,” he whispered enough for only me to hear.

With that, he turned his head back to the students sitting in the audience. As if not knowing the left side of his robe was shredded, he started a lecture about what we did wrong in this demonstration.

I looked at the girl and she was looking at me strangely; a normal reaction considering that I almost bashed her head in like a pumpkin. It was completely different from the calmness Professor Eigenvalue displayed.