“Hello students, I am your Mind Branch Tutor Jovana Alek. I will teach you the basics of Mind Branch, those mastering at this arm and creating Mind Seeds can further take lectures if they want to.” A female tutor spoke as she wrote her name in the air. Unlike the other tutors using her wristwatch, she was using even-sized sticks and making them float in the air with her mind powers.

Her voice was ethereal as if students could hear her in their minds. Also, unlike the first time they entered the classroom, now they were sitting in a grassland. The class, academy, mountains, and monsters all vanished. One could only see the green ground and blue sky. The smell of the grass in their noses and the wind on their skins were as real as they could be. They could even feel the hotness of sunlight pricking their skins.

These were all Mind Branch powers of Energy.

“How many different powers have I used ever since I entered?” Tutor Alek asked. She pointed at a girl who raised her hand. She too had a primary mind branch.

“You have used the most basic applications of Mind Branch, telekinesis to move sticks to write your name. While attracting our attention to it, you have used illusory techniques of the branch and changed the environment into a meadow.

Instead of talking to us directly, you have used telepathy to speak into our brains directly.” The girl said one by one as Tutor nodded.

“Very good, 2 merits.” Tutor nodded and was about to continue when Miles cut her off, “There is one other thing, right?”

“Oh, and what is that?” Tutor asked with an amused smile.

“You are using your energy to entice us to believe whatever you say.” Miles grinned as he answered. Because he and Coin were connected at the mind level, he wasn’t like others in the classroom. Of course, it was also because he lived under the constant illusion for half a month, thus had sharper insights.

“Excellent! 5 Merits!” Tutor smiled brightly and explained, “I am using this to sharpen your instincts. At the end of each class, you will be given 10 minutes time to distinguish some of the small movements I made to separate the truth from lies. It is to prepare you for the mind-level battles.” The tutor said and continued to lecture.

“You can break down the Mind Branch into a few sub-branches, namely; Sense, Psychic, Illusion, and Exception.

Any type of technique of the Mind Branch can be categorized under these four sub-branches.

My superpower is Rainbow Mist and my element is wood. By changing the color in the mists, I can pull my targets into the illusions. Although anyone can achieve the same thing with energy, my superpower still allows me to have better control over targets, and easier to put them into an illusion.” Tutor Alek said as she looked at the students.

Miles was expecting her element to be wood. Although the sun and wind also felt real, the smell of the grass was most distinct.

Even when forming illusions, the person’s element would influence the surrounding. After all, energy would be washed by the ancient gene and couldn’t be free of the element. Thus any illusion created would involve the element of the person. Although it seemed small, it was a major flaw.

For example, in the middle of the ice zone, an illusion with fiery land wouldn’t be convincing at all. Also, this illusion would hurt the target ever so slowly, which would reduce the success of putting the target under an illusion.

That was why it was very important to consider the surroundings in the battle of minds. After all, if the target realized he or she was under a mind attack, it would be easier to break free. That was the downside of the energy others possessed. But Miles was different, his energy was elementless.

In a sense, Miles had no cons when he used Mind Branch, as his energy was as pure as it could be, but he also didn’t have any advantages. Except the pure energy was easier to form, even to illusions, although Miles had no experience on this branch.

“Good, now for the first assignment, I want all of you to try to break free from this illusion. Its power is a tad stronger than your level, so it should take long for you to break it. After doing this, you will be matched in the order in which you break the illusion.” The tutor said and looked at the students who were condensing energy. Miles wasn’t interested in breaking quickly, as he was more interested to learn, but Tutor’s next words lit the fire in him. “First to break the illusion will earn 10 merits.”

As soon as Miles heard this, he rose from where he was sitting and walked to the other side of the classroom. Students and the Tutor looked at him with surprise, while Miles ignored the obstacles placed in the room and walked around them. He soon reached the waiting area.

As soon as he did, a student rose too and mirrored Miles to pass through the obstacles, but clearly that student hadn’t broken the illusion yet. He couldn’t see the obstacles were constantly moving. He fell to the ground by tripping over them.

He rose to his feet and laughed in embarrassment, before sitting back. Tutor Alek didn’t say anything and waited for others to break the illusion one by one. She didn’t give any credit to Miles after the initial surprise. Every person had their strong sides, and she thought Miles’s was this. But actually, Miles cheated. He used Coin’s vision to pass through the obstacles and hasn't broken the illusion yet.

He could have if he wanted to. But he still wanted to experience and feel the illusion to take a leaf out of the tutor's book.