“...lot like science when it comes to applications.”

“Makes sense.” I nodded as I shoveled one more spoonful of the roughly textured noodle. It was basically ravioli without the filling. Or better described as boiled dumpling wrappers with an orange sauce.

“What about elemental affinity?” I raised the question.

“That’s just a meme. No such thing. At least I don’t think it is.”

“I see.” It made a lot more sense now.

“Well, I mean, it’s not entirely black and white on what is and what isn’t. Some parts of it are similar to those anime clichés, but other parts are very logical and coincide with science. But for the most part, practice makes you better.”

“So for example, if you dedicate more time to Fire, you will be able to cast better Fire magic and so on and so forth.”

He continued lecturing me since he emptied his plate ages ago.

“So it’s like martial arts,” I said.

“Basically.”

“And people call talent in one element as elemental affinity?”

“You can say that. The ‘talent’ portion is just about how well you understand the element. Most people understand things like water, fire, or air intuitively which is why most magicians are versed in those elements.”

“I must be talented at everything then,” I jokingly said.

“Hah, sure.” He laughed with me, though I had a tiny feeling he took my words seriously.

I quickly ate the last portions on my plate before bringing up a topic.

“You play with swords right?”

“Swords? Yeah, how did you know?”

“I had a dream about you using one,” I admitted.

That wasn’t a complete lie either. I remembered the fragmented experiences as if they were my own. That was sort of where I learned that mana explosion whatchamacallit. It was the technique that sent an explosion of air when I punched. I still need to work on that…

Anyway, when was it from? If I remembered correctly, it was that time when… What was her name? Melly was it? I dreamed of it right after she kidnapped me and put me out of commission.

“A dream? You sure that’s not just you?”

“Do I look like I normally sleep?”

“I guess not. You’re quite lucky that you inherited a body identical to mine in that case.”

“So I’m immortal too. Neat,” I said nonchalantly.

“Hmm, you’re a bit different from me so I wouldn’t say immortality… Maybe something similar but you aren’t quite at my level yet. The fact that you still need to eat and take dumps is proof.”

“So immortality transcends homeostasis, right?”

“I already forgot what that word means, don’t remind me of my 9th-grade biology test now,” he chuckled.

“But you should still sleep from time to time. Your body itself isn’t exactly immortal so given enough time, sleep deprivation might get you.”

“I see.”

“You can also achieve a similar resting process with extensive mana training. It’s kind of like meditating but with literal chi or whatever those monks called it back then. But even then, your body would still need occasional sleep to develop properly.”

‘That’s what I’ve been doing.’

I kept that thought to myself since I haven’t slept in weeks so I couldn’t say I wasn’t a naughty boy. But I have been meditating while circulating mana consciously so maybe Santa will drop by.

“Hey you!” A solitary voice came from somewhere. Someone was starting some beef with another person, I’d presume.

“Oh, that’s right. What did you say about that dream again?”

“I’m pretty sure I had a dream about you living in this world,” I replied.

“Really?”

But before he could say anything more, he was cut off rudely.

“Don’t you hear me? What? You talking some gibberish to pretend you don’t see me or something?”

“Fuck off,” I said to the person while raising a finger.

“This… You’re a Holy Preacher?”

‘Holy?’

I took another glance at the confused student who approached us. He seemed terrified of this “Holy Preacher” whom he thought I was.

Taking an extra moment to recall what happened, I came to the realization—I was speaking English this whole time.

‘So this is how being bilingual feels.’

“What do you want?” I said, this time in the tongue of this continent. I had no clue what its name was so I’ll just call it that for now.

I also couldn’t ignore the fact that Benni was off laughing by himself for some reason.

“I would like to challenge you to a duel to take your membership position in the combative squadron,” the blue-haired kid said. His words seemed to be restrained in a robotic fashion, but his eyes weren’t. They were glaring daggers, some might say. I didn’t understand the sudden change of tone from retard to bootlicker, but okay.

I was naturally going to decline such a blatant confrontation. I had nothing to win and something to lose after all. Who the hell even was this kid?

But seeing Benni hold in his laughter even harder made me start to doubt my situation.

‘What the hell is going on?’

Anyway, after the initial shock, I just went back to Benni.

“The heck is a Holy Preacher?” I said. In English, of course.

“It’s someone who can speak the church’s language. Only popes and archbishops send orders in the holy language,” he said, cracking a slight laugh over a few words.

“He mistook it for that language,” he said, explaining the logistics of something I did not need to know.

“That sounds stupid.”

“Aren’t you going to accept his challenge?” he continued, trying to agitate me for some reason.

“Just ignore him,” I said.

“But that’s not fun—I mean—it’s school, right? Youthful experiences, am I right?”

“You just want to see me do something I don’t want to.” I couldn't help but sigh. He was a horrible friend.

“Did you just say that I was a horrible friend?”

“No. Was that a Freudian slip?”

“Freudian slip? What’s that?”

To which I ignored.

As for how he read my mind, I’ll try not to think about it.

“Hey—I mean excuse me. Are you ignoring me?”

I ignored that person too, including the one watching all three of us in the corner back there. Yeah, I haven’t forgotten about him. I just couldn’t give a fuck.

“Oh right, classes are about to start.”

“Yeah,” I said, checking my watch before returning a glance at Benni.

He for some reason had a smug expression on him.

“How about I take over classes in the afternoon too?” he suggested with charisma that could entice anyone. I could only describe it as him exuding protagonist aura.

“But I’m already dressed.” I lifted my hand to show more of my uniform while a certain individual was bowing, continuing with the plea. Why to such shameless lengths for a challenge? No clue.

“It’ll be fine,” Benni said again with an awfully seductive smile…

‘Did I really just think that…’

“Please don’t ignore me,” chimed the irrelevant guy in the midst of my craze.

“...”

Even though he would be doing me a favor by replacing me in classes, the way he was asking for it like I was the one doing a favor for him was… Strange…

But there weren’t any detriments I could see and since he wanted to be in classes so much…

I could also spend the time to train since I haven’t been doing much these past few days…

The offer was enticing. And even if his motive didn’t make sense—I don’t recall him being a fan of educational institutes like me—it’s not like I had a reputation to maintain since I’m relatively low-key. So I’m sure it will be alright if I let him take my place again…

Hopefully.

“Fine,” I answered.

I said that to Benni.

Not the challenge.