The earth and fire mana in the arena called to me welcomingly. I looked around and saw other intruders among the mana. Water and life mana drifted lazily into the air and mingled with the heat, originating from two of the three people around Amanda.

The third person turned to look at me.

I could feel the earth mana connecting to him. He was like me, a potential earth magician.

He raised his hand in greeting.

“How do you do?” He spoke.

His tone wasn’t harsh or aggressive. In front of him was the regent we used to play dodgeball. It hovered between his fingers, his earth manipulation keeping it floating.

“I was going well until I ran into this situation.” I narrowed my eyes at the uninvited guests. “This room is booked for use at the moment, so I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”

The earth attuned pursed his lips but didn’t complain. His two friends glanced at Amanda and then at me. They weren’t worried or annoyed.

They had already spoken with Amanda.

The three of them stood up in unison and nodded politely at me as they walked by me and out the door. I could feel the mana following them, waving gently at me as it passed by.

I waved back half-heartedly, my focus shifting onto Amanda.

She was sitting cross-legged on the dirt, her eyes gazing at me. I walked up beside her and sat down, crossing my legs, and joining her in a meditative position.

Amanda spoke immediately.

“They told me there had been a meeting to discuss my family… it wasn’t among students.” She frowned, a flash of worry crossing her features. “They told me I should leave for a while, or those houses would make my days difficult here.”

I was silent, and Gold jumped down from my shoulder, nestling onto the ground. Agni was resting on the floor beside Amanda, breathing in and out deeply.

“That’s a threat.” Anger simmered inside my heart.

“Nobles call it a promise.” Amanda folded her hands into her lap. “They challenged me to a duel too. Optional, of course, but a way to publicly shame me, or at least let out some steam.”

From the way Amanda’s brows furrowed and her hair glowed it was clear that the talk had affected her, but she wasn’t panicking. She had been expecting something like this, especially after the incident this morning.

I didn’t think anyone would act so quickly. The mention of the noble houses meeting together worried me.

Alexis had angered a lot of powerful people in Koshima.

“You can’t be forced into a duel.” I kept the anger from my voice. “They can bother you all they want, it’s not happening.”

Amanda’s eyes glanced towards the door and then back to me.

“Actually, I was wondering if you wanted to make it a team battle.” A smile danced on her lips. “I’m not really the kind of person to run from a challenge, and I could use some stress relief.”

Her shoulder’s lowered and I saw the tension on her face give way to weariness. She had been under a lot of pressure lately, but I couldn’t know how it felt.

I could only support my friend from the sidelines.

“If you want to kick upperclassman butt, I’ll help you kick upperclassman butt.” I grinned, gesturing with my thumb at the door. “What can they do?”

Amanda’s hair rustled and glowed a happy red. Agni chirped from beside her and then I saw the two bristling as they thought over my words.

Flames danced across her head as Amanda twirled a strand of hair around her finger. She knew the ins and outs of the noble households in the area. Their strengths, and their weaknesses.

“In a team fight they’d send out Vesper.” She pointed to her left where the boy with the water mana had been sitting. “He’s a water magician of some kind so I’ll have a bit of trouble fighting him, but he’s not really that talented.”

I noted his name in my system notes. When fighting Amanda, it would make sense for an opponent to send out somebody that could use the water element.

Would they accept a second person joining the fight?

“Are you sure they’ll agree to a team fight?” I asked.

“They will.” Amanda nodded. “It’s the only way I’ll agree to a duel. Besides, you’re not even ranked as a fighter in the academy.”

“Your compliments have gotten so coy lately.” I smiled. “So, they’re going to send out that guy. Or at least someone with water magic. How about the earth guy? He seemed pretty confident in himself.”

I didn’t recognise him even with our shared element, which meant he had to be in a different year level from me. Otherwise, I would have seen him in my earth magic studies class.

It was difficult to tell how skilled a person was by looking at them. I preferred to see them in action, or even compete against them like I had with Indra during training.

“That’s the Hou family heir, Shar.” Her eyes narrowed. “He’s strong. His family benefited more from this fiasco than anyone else, because they’re the strongest earth magician family in the city after the Destins.”

“Why would he want to fight you?”

I gestured at Gold, and he nodded at me, moving to the side with Agni. It was time for us to start exercising, or we would waste the rest of our booking.

“They’re friends. Also, avenging the Destins will earn him political brownie points.” She pointed at my chest. “He’ll be countering you at every turn. He’s got the skills to back him up. And unlike you he has a class.”

“How do you know I didn’t pick a class with Mr Black?” I stretched out my arms.

Then I placed my palm on the ground and pushed myself up.

“The sky didn’t break in half.” The words left her mouth casually.

I paused, halfway between standing and sitting.

“Excuse me?” I straightened up and stared at her. “What’s this about the sky?”

“Isn’t that what happens when a Marked one gains their class?” Amanda tilted her head. “The sky- oh Fue, don’t tell me my books were all lies?”

Her cheeks reddened and she clasped her hands together as she tried to hide her embarrassment. I didn’t let her know that her crimson hair was betraying her emotions.

Then I thought her words over.

Could it be true? It sounded ridiculous, but I would need to be sure.

I didn’t want to break the sky in half.

As far as I knew, class selection had to be done with a professional present.

Usually, the professional was from one of the churches. I expected my class selection to be conducted safely within the Crijik church walls.

“I’ll have to ask Gerial.” I manipulated the dirt off my clothes. “I don’t want to cause a scene.”

Amanda lifted herself up as well.

“Can you share some of that?” She gestured at her clothes.

I waved the dirt off her uniform, and she raised the lava ball into the air beside her. Agni and Gold took their spots at the sidelines, staring at us.

I swear they’d been betting on us using leftover treats.

Once one of us won a round they would kick the ball back into the middle of the arena for us.

“Okay.” I didn’t have to think about it too long.

“Okay?” Amanda asked. “Okay what?”

She dropped the regent in the center of the arena, ready for us to fight over it.

“We should fight, if you want to fight.” I smiled. “Maybe I’ll even go up in ranks.”

“To go up you need a rank in the first place.” Amanda poked her tongue out at me.

Then she smiled at me.

“Thanks.”

I responded by stealing the regent with my earth manipulation.

“Hey!” Amanda’s eyes widened.

I grabbed the ball and threw it towards her as fast as I could.

“What?” I gazed at her innocently. “I need to show you what kind of person you’ll be fighting with. It’s called a winner.”

A smile tinged her lips as she raised her palm towards and stopped the flying regent in its tracks. My words died down and my concentration was focused fully on the match.

I won the war.

Two matches out of three went to me, and the ball spun out during the third one. Amanda was better than me at tag, but the last couple of sessions I had been handedly winning in dodgeball.

“I’m starting to wonder if we should add some more exercises.” I huffed the words out between deep breaths.

Fighting against Amanda was like trying to hold down a roaring bonfire. It was only pleasant to be around when the fire wasn’t actively trying to beat you up.

“That sounds good to me.” Amanda skipped up to me. “Do you want me to ask if there’s any metal element exercises?”

“That would be amazing.” I gave her a thumbs up.

I reached into my inventory to grab my water bottle and spotted a flashing light. It was my texting regent.

Gerial had already responded to me.

The regent appeared in my hand and Amanda quietened down as she eyed it curiously. I’d told her between breaks that I wanted to discuss my class selection with him.

She hadn’t chosen a class yet either, but that was because she was waiting to see what Mr Black added.

Technically, she had a larger part in defeating Oubliez than I did, and the accomplishment was sure to change her class options.

The question was whether or not she would have to spend more time grinding out other skills and accomplishments. After all, Mr Black listed the classes we could have, but also the ones we could gain with additional practice and time.

He’d handed me a list among the papers he’d given me, but it informed me that none of my legendary classes or rare classes would change or upgrade with the learning of new skills or addition of accomplishments. Not in the timeframe I had.

I looked at Gerial’s texts.

‘Yeah, let’s talk.’

‘Face to face.’

I can meet up tomorrow if you’d like. But busy today.’

‘Bit*’

‘Do it at Ophelio’s church?’

‘Important to discuss MO options.’

I grinned at the wall of spam that appeared after every message I sent to him. He had started referencing our Marked status using the letters ‘MO’ in case anyone read the messages, and I smiled as I sent a reply back.

Tomorrow was as good a day as any to discuss class options.

Technically, I could choose my new class right now. The more time I spent idling and delaying, the less likely it would be that the legendary classes would appear for me.

Getting a class early was an accomplishment in itself.

It was interesting that my classes took my age into account. So far everything in society around me had suggested that age was irrelevant in most interactions.

Adults treated me like an adult, as did the others around me.

Status and reputation played a much more important role.

I heard the flapping of wings and looked up from my regent to see Gold flying towards me. I raised my hand and he landed on it, hopping onto my shoulder.

Agni did the same for Amanda.

“Do you want to come and hang out with Gerial and I tomorrow?” I probed.

It wouldn’t just be a long talk about my class options, we would probably hang out for a while.

“I’ve got my own class options to look over. Mr Black already had my notes on file, he just needed to modify them a bit.” Amanda’s eyes sparkled. “But tell Gerial I say hi.”

I felt a wave of happiness at her words.

That was the closest she had gotten to acknowledging that she was comfortable knowing Gerial. The two of them hadn’t interacted since I’d last gotten them together in one place.

Rather than going our separate ways at the entrance of the Academy, I accompanied her towards the safehouse.

There was no real threat. The nobles had already reached Amanda at the academy, but I felt better making sure my friend wasn’t jumped on the way back home.

When I got home by portal I spent the rest of the night thinking over my classes.

The options swam across my mind like a baited hook.

Every time I tried to think about something else, the thoughts grabbed my attention and wouldn’t let go.

It lasted throughout the day, and I even accidentally broke through one of the regent materials I was using for the regent professor Pernacles had asked me to make.

That convinced me to sleep immediately.

The rest of the school day went as usual, and there were no interruptions this time to Amanda’s day.

She had arranged for our fight to be at the end of the school week, on Inné. That was three days away.

The nobles had accepted.

Finally, the school day ended, and I felt my fingers trembling. There was a chance that I would be gaining my class today, something that stuck with me for the rest of my life.

It might even help me overcome my inevitable death.

I needed to do this properly.

A portal took me into a familiar waiting room, rainbow flowers greeting me.

Gerial was here, and I greeted him warmly.

“You’re the last one here.” He grinned.

I had invited one other person to help me in discussing my class options.

It was risky to divulge information to people, after all, the more mouths talking, the more likely it was a secret would escape their lips.

I still felt that it was the wisest decision I could make.

“You understand, right? By telling me this information you’re revealing secrets that others would kill to possess?” A voice spoke out from beside me. “A Marked one’s class information isn’t to be given lightly.”

William was leaning against the church wall, his eyes boring holes into me.

“I understand.” I nodded. “But you’re my friend, I trust you. Besides, I should be thanking you. I felt bad for even thinking about asking for your help.”

“It’s good that you did.” William snorted. “It’s the best decision to make.”

Then he smiled, pushing himself off the wall and walking up to us.

“Everybody needs a little [Wisdom] in their decisions.”