Extra's Fate
Chapter 42: Class S

Chapter 42: Class S

It didn’t take long until the entirety of class was filled with students, all wearing white uniforms.

Scanning the classroom with my grey eyes, I observed all the main characters present.

The Saint was talking with a girl who had thick glasses.

The Princess was reading a book.

Ian was glaring at everyone present.

Arthur was... simply here.

It seemed peaceful.

All of their personalities matched what I remembered from the game, which gave me a small sense of comfort, as I knew what to expect from each of them

’That’s good...’

Intervening my fingers, I took a deep breath, glanced at the clock and closed my eyes.

It was about to happen...

We were about to meet our new professor.

Boom...

As soon as my eyelids covered my irises, I heard a loud sound of something exploding coming from the front of the classroom.

Slowly, opening my eyes, I saw other cadets rubbing their eye sockets with shouts of surprise and confusion.

Amidst the chaos, a man with a stern expression and disheveled hair appeared on the podium.

Our gazes met for a second and a barely noticeable smile flashed across his lips.

It took a minute until everyone regained their eyesight and after they did, hateful gazes were sent the man’s way.

However, he didn’t seem apologetic for his actions nor phased by their reactions.

"Hello, my, dear students~"

Playing with a cigarette in his fingers, the man addressed the whole class with a casual voice as if he hadn’t blinded all the students with his spell ’Light Flash’ just a few moments ago.

"From today onwards, I will be your homeroom teacher, Professor Zane Minz, you can call me Professor Z."

He paused for a moment and lit up a cigarette, taking a long, slow drag before continuing.

"From what I understand, all of you should be the best, the elites of the academy. Right now some of you are probably thinking, ’how dare he treat us like this, we are from Class S!?’ So let me tell you a few things..."

His gaze swept across the room with amusement.

"Most of you are garbage."

"Yes, you’ve managed to get into the most prestigious Academy in the kingdom, into the best class of the year and yet most of you couldn’t even sense a simple damned light spell I launched into the classroom a minute ago!"

"I can count with one finger how many of you managed to avoid being blinded by the spell!"

Extending his hand, he showed all of us a middle finger.

"One!"

Placing the cigarette on the table, he sighed.

"Anyways, let me make one thing clear, I don’t care whether you have a strong background, come from a long lineage of mages or have been praised as a prodigy your entire life. In this classroom if I see any lack of effort, you will be immediately punished."

"Although this is our first lesson, I will be harsh because there is nothing more that I hate than people who think they are the shit when they are mediocre at best."

Seeing that everyone was paying attention, a smile appeared on his face.

"Now that we got that out of the way, let’s begin by checking the attendance."

Summoning a notepad out of thin air with a flick of his wrist, the professor began calling out the names of students.

"Rank 1: Cordelia Lightreal"

"Present."

...

"Rank 3: Aveline Shadowblight"

"Present."

...

...

"Rank 7: Ash Morningstar"

"Here."

Professor Zane continued down the list, his gaze scrutinizing each student as he called their names.

After all of us were accounted for, the professor leaned back in his chair and let out a long and deep sigh.

"As this is your first day, I won’t take too much of your time. I have my own stuff to do as well."

He said lazily, tapping the cigarette against the edge of the desk, letting the ashes fall carelessly.

"Anyways, today you’ll be able to receive a weapon from the Academy’s storage."

He snapped his fingers and a shimmering portal of light appeared near the door.

"Follow me."

With that, he stepped through, leaving the students blinking in surprise before scrambling to follow.

Arriving in front of a large storage room, Professor Zane turned on the lights with a flick of his fingers and leaned against the doorframe.

"There’s a wide selection of weapons here, so feel free to choose what you deem to be the best fit for you."

He said, yawning mid-sentence.

The students gasped as the lights fully illuminated the room. Before them lay an extensive collection of weapons: swords, spears, daggers, bows, staves and even exotic weaponry like chain sickles and war fans.

The sheer variety left some of them overwhelmed.

I scanned the weapons with my grey eyes. The sheer amount of choices made it difficult to focus, but I already had an idea of what I wanted.

"I advise using a weapon that is suitable for you so that you don’t risk damaging it. Experimenting is good, but only if you can afford it."

Professor Zane said, clearly amused by the students’ reactions.

He pointed at a nearby device.

"Before taking a weapon, swipe your student card to register it in the database. After that, take your weapon and meet me in the main practice area."

With that, he turned and walked away without another word.

As soon as he was gone, the tension in the room broke and chatter filled the space.

"What the hell is his problem..."

"He’s so reckless!"

"I think I want to strangle him."

Ignoring the background noise, I made my way toward the sword section. Without hesitation, I swiped my card, picked up a sleek and elegant Odachi and tested its balance.

Swoosh... Swoosh...

"Perfect."

Its weight was just right and the grip fit my hands naturally. With a satisfied nod, I left the room and made my way toward the training grounds.

The academy’s training grounds were massive. The entire facility stretched out like an arena of endless possibilities.

To the top right, a shooting range extended into the distance, marked by various target distances from 100 meters to a kilometer.

To the bottom right, numerous practice dummies stood in neat rows, designed to withstand even high-tier magic attacks.

The middle area was empty. It was an open space meant for footwork practice and freeform sparring.

And lastly, to the top left, there was a fully equipped gym.

Zane was already there, lazily lounging on a nearby bench as he scanned the students gathering before him.

"Alright..."

He said, stretching his arms.

"As I told you before, since it’s your first day, you don’t need to force yourselves. I’ll be here to supervise, but don’t expect me to hold your hands."

His lips curled into a smirk.

"Now go and train."

The students sprang into action. Some rushed toward the dummies, eager to test their weapons. Others went straight to the shooting range, determined to show off their archery skills.

I scanned the field and saw the main characters moving into their respective training areas.

Cordelia headed towards the training dummies. Arthur made a beeline for the gravity room, while Aveline and Ian walked toward the shooting range.

Cordelia specialized in the spear. It was apparent that she would choose to train with dummies.

Aveline wielded wind magic, which synergized well with archery, so the shooting range was the perfect place for her to hone her skills. She was a magic archer.

Ian, on the other hand, was a pure ice mage. His magic powers were beyond imagination and the shooting range would allow him to train the range of his spells.

Arthur, ranked second in the class, used a great sword. Despite that, he opted to go to the gravity room, located at the far end of the training grounds - a special area designed to increase the user’s strength through intense physical training.

Those were the main characters

As for me?

Well, I was just going to train in the open space.

Since the only Weapon Art I could use was created by me and was unique, even if I practice it, no one would probably notice it.

Closing my eyes I began concentrating.

Ever since my mastery over『 Shadow Manipulation 』had reached level 2, I unlocked another one of its branch abilities - ’Shadow Control’.

Although its use was far more modest than『 Shadow Step 』it was still a powerful tool.

It gave me the ability to perform the first movement of my unique weapon art.

Shadow Current.

It took me five entire years to create and perfect this simple yet elegant move in the game. It was the foundation of my swordsmanship.

The concept of it was quite simple, but a lot of calculations were involved to make it work seamlessly.

First, I had to use my newly gained『 Shadow Control 』to manipulate my shadow, making its blade tangible.

This was no simple feat. It required precise concentration and a deep understanding of the shadow’s properties, but I didn’t have any issues with that.

Next, I would use『 Shadow Step 』to travel behind an opponent or directly into their shadow.

Normally, when activating『 Shadow Step 』, my physical body wouldn’t move, only my shadow would travel at fast speeds to its ’target’, instantly shifting me to its location. However, with the shadow blade now tangible, the shadow would now be able to cut through anything in its path at a speed that was impossible to match.

The combination of『 Shadow Step 』and the tangible shadow blade created a devastatingly fast and unpredictable attack.

The beauty of this technique lies in its synergy.

Normally, if I were to create something tangible with『 Shadow Control 』and order it to attack, it would be slow and cumbersome, easily dodged or countered. But when coupled with『 Shadow Step 』,which happens almost instantaneously, the attack becomes nearly impossible to evade.

The shadow blade moves at the speed of thought, slicing through the air and anything else in its way before the opponent even realizes what has happened.

This was the foundation of my unique Sword Art: Shadow Current.

My only issue with this move was that it took quite a lot of training to execute perfectly and practicing it was...

Embarrassing.

From an outsider’s perspective, it would look like I was trying to cut my own shadow...

And unfortunately, I had to repeat this movement for about 500,000 times before I could move on to the next step of my Weapon Art.

"..."

Yeah, I think I might get expelled from the Academy, because of mental health concerns.