Chapter 5:

Rivalry Amongst the Poor

Second Chance At Life


I should’ve done something when those guys were ganging up on Tsubasa.

Luckily, Cassiopeia came in the nick of time to escalate the issue.

Which brings me to my unwavering questions, I need to speak to Cassiopeia.

She must have the answers.

However, that would prove to be more difficult than I expected.

Due to her royal status, she had more homework than the rest of us.

In fact, those who came from noble families (which was almost all of them, except the peasants) had important duties they needed to fulfill.

Those who attended this university were expected to come out succeeding their house and name.

I felt blessed to be a peasant.

The concept of magic was something I never believed in.

Gods, ghosts, or any of those legends.

So it was difficult to manifest magick.

At least I wasn’t alone in that department.

Tsubasa couldn’t manifest a single magick due to his low pool of magick.

In fact, that other guy—Kaito Yakumo—was way better than us.

Even nobles were astonished by his mastery in magick.

They made up excuses to compensate for their jealousy.

Magick came in affinities, or in easier terms, elements.

Everyone carried at least one affinity, and my affinity was Earth.

Kaito carried three affinities: Wind, Fire, and Lightning.

Due to his natural talents, this attracted many students.

The most obvious would be Tsubasa.

In fact, there was nobody in the entire world who kept nagging Kaito but Tsubasa.

He was active and engaged to spar with Kaito.

The results ended the same: Kaito was the victor.

This didn’t stop Tsubasa, and it would only fuel his determination to improve.

All to become a “hero”.

I never understood why, but I admired his efforts.

Even as one of the audiences, their fights were entertaining.

They fought in a swift and graceful movement, each strike was more careful than the other, and both fighters respected each other’s distance.

Despite Tsubasa ending up losing like always, he never let his emotions best him.

He used each fight as a learning lesson.

It was like working with Rin all over again.

When he couldn’t spar with Katio, he would come up to me for a sparring match.

I couldn’t deny his offer.

Plus, it helped me improve too.

I would say I was near the same level as Kaito, but there were times Tsubasa bested me.

The written exams were mostly about magick, and sometimes the history of Valera.

Sparing with Tsubasa helped me understand the use of magick.

So when the physical exams came, I demonstrated my Earth magick.

A miniature meteorite made out of dirt was cast, and I passed the physical exams.

The top students in the written exams were Kaito (as expected), Cassiopeia, myself, Tsubasa (surprisingly), and this other student named Juliana.

“Congratulations on passing your first exams!” the professor announced.

Those who couldn’t reach academic expectations were immediately exiled, and failing nobles were no different.

So it felt different when coming to class with a limited number of classmates.

“You have one more exam to complete before the Rank-Up Selections.”

Tsubasa raised his hand like always, unafraid to gain knowledge.

“Yes, Tsubasa?”

“What’s the Rank-Up Selection?”

“It’s an annual exam for underclassmen to graduate from their current spots to become upperclassmen. Students from all over the kingdoms will come here for this particular exam, competing to become upperclassmen. And don’t worry about failing, it would only result in you staying where you are until the next Rank-Up Selections.”

A mixture of anxiety and excitement fueled me.

What awaited that annual exam, I was looking forward to it.

And only then, would I be able to find the answers I’ve been searching for.

NoahTheReviewer
icon-reaction-1