A loud bang echoes out from the front of the classroom.

I temporarily stopped my fiddling with Genesis to look towards the commotion.

The Blessed classroom is quite special, being more like a stadium than a standard classroom. The front of the class is actually an arena that is heavily enchanted. From life-saving enchantments to keep any spars from being fatal to shields and wards that make sure any damage is contained within. There's also a self-repairing enchantment to keep the whole thing from crumbling down every time it's used.

That's not an exaggeration. The raised arena right now is nearly completely destroyed.

It's the result of the monstrous spar between Mirria and Geraldt.

Since their Blessing is extremely combat-oriented, the best way for them to train is to fight each other. And their blessing is highly compatible with each other's as well. One that is purely defensive, while one is purely offensive.

Right now, the two are glaring at each other, raring to charge at each other again.

The state of both of them is rather pitiful.

Their clothes are torn in places, and there are scratches, cuts, and bruises all across their body. Mirria is slightly panting, while Geraldt is still standing firm, his breathing stable. But if you look closely, he's gritting his teeth, and his hand holding a sword is trembling from time to time.

The next exchange should be the last.

The two charge at each other at the same time, activating their blessing. Wings of flame sprout behind her back as Mirria literally fly forward, her sword wreath in holy fire. With a spirited yell, she slashes her sword at Geraldt, who is already ready to receive her blow.

Geraldt's change is more subtle, but his skin immediately begins to light up and change to a shade of dark gray around the hand that's holding the sword. His fingers seem to lock in place as he holds the sword up to block, his weapon glowing with the same powerful light.

With a deafening blast, a large cloud of dust and debris explodes out and obscures the result of the bout.

Clang. Clang.

Two metallic sounds rang out, two broken swords hit the ground.

The both of them now stand in front of each other, breathing hard and grinning slightly, before their legs give out and they had to sit on the ground.

The Prince, Victus, and their commoner friend Genis run towards the pair, a slight golden glow already on the Prince's palms.

Hmm. Wings of Vengence, Adamantine Body, and Divine Hand. Those are the names of their blessings. Attack, Defense, and Healing. As for specifics, well, I don't remember.

Hey, don't judge my past self!

It's already years after the game's release that I died, okay!

Since most of the Heroes at the start have rather boring blessings (except Genis), 'I' didn't bother to raise them that much. Starting Heroes are supposed to be easy to help players get into the game, so I understand why they do it.

Still, with all the flashy shit that happened, later on, they are woefully forgettable.

It's not that they're weak (especially Genis, he's super strong). Some players stick with the starting team the whole game and had no issue clearing contents.

I glance at the rest of the class.

Katarina is just using this time to do homework, while Drevor is just sitting around brooding.

He does that a lot, brooding I mean. He's using his blessing, though.

A dark and foggy cloak is covering his entire body, making it hard to discern any details about his body and face. If I only turn slightly away, I won't even feel his presence, and he would simply blend into the background. I might even forget that he's in the classroom and assumed that he's absent, if not for my Soul Sight.

No matter how hidden he is, Soul Sight seems to be still capable of picking him out. That's a relief. I don't want my lunch to be inexplicably poisoned by some invisible jerk, thank you very much.

I turn my attention back towards Genesis, only to feel a strange gaze linger on me for just a second before turning away.

Sigh. Why is this happening?

For some reason, Katarina Voress has been secretly peeking at me for the entire class now. It's making me uncomfortable. It's not the same as those slimy gazes that are measuring my worth.

I used Soul Sight to analyze her emotion as well, but that makes me even more confused.

Her aura would slightly roil in excitement after every glance. I can't understand it.

It can't be because she likes me, because of how terribly outmatched we are. She's an extremely beautiful daughter of a high-ranking noble, with a powerful Blessing, and I'm just a son of a lowly Baron. There's no way she would fall for me.

Is she excited because of another reason?

Could she be plotting something terrible? Does she know some kind of horrible secret that can change my life forever? Is she going to use those secrets to blackmail me, forcing me to become her slave? Is she secretly a pervert who likes to dominate people?

No way... right? She's a Hero, one of the good guys, so she won't have such a perverted hobby right?

So I sit there, anxious about my future for the rest of the class.

===

One other aspect about Genesis that I found out completely by accident, is its ability to disguise itself.

Since I'm supposed to use my Blessing in the Blessed class, I need to pull out Genesis. But such an extravagant-looking instrument will no doubt draw a lot of attention, so I was wishing that it's a little less decorated, even if I like the decorations.

Well, it sort of works.

The lute that I summoned had much fewer decorations and instead, opted for thin golden trims of vines and flowers. But if one were to look closely, every bit of details and etchings are perfectly done, making it seems like living vines are crawling across the lute's surface.

Overall, still extremely exquisite and expensive-looking.

Still, I got only curious glances and nothing else, so I think it was a success.

And I think I understand how to cast magic through Genesis now, maybe, sort of.

When holding the instruments and playing some notes, I feel like the mana around me starts to dance with joy. And I hypothesize it's this 'dancing' that I need to control.

If normal casting is like issuing a command, forcing mana to comply, then casting with Genesis is more like coaxing and convincing the mana to act. To make it dance to my tunes, to make the fabric of reality bend to my charms. That is what it's truly meant to wield Genesis.

The moment I had that thought, a strange sense of fulfillment enters me and soothes my very soul.

It feels like when I named Genesis, but much greater. Everything just feels right, somehow. Like a puzzle had clicked in place.

I have named it, and now I have learned of its purpose.

It seems that the intuitiveness of Blessings is what makes Blesseds so powerful.

===

I was performing my morning run along the Academy grounds before stopping at a message board.

Message boards are very useful for the school to give out announcements, so they're all over the place. In this case, though, it's not a school notice that caught my eyes, but colorful posters advertising different clubs available this year.

It seems that Clubs Day is almost here.

It's a day for all the clubs to advertise about themselves to recruit new members and anyone who's interested may join a club regardless of the year you're in. As long as you pass their tests, of course.

Clubs are an aspect within the game as well. By joining a club, you can gain extra quests and missions that are club activities. These are like weekly or daily quests that require you to collect different materials, fight different enemies, or solve puzzles. They're like mini-games more than anything.

Still, the club selections in the game are very limited. Only clubs that are somewhat adventuring oriented are present, like the Dungeoneering Club, or the Monster Research Club. Some item-related clubs appeared as well, such as the Alchemy Club or the Enchanting Club.

In reality, a lot more clubs exist. Music Club, Nobility Tea Club, Reading Club, etc. Mostly, they are clubs that exist to help students relax and unwind after a long week of learning.

Last year, I didn't join any club, so maybe this year I should try one?

I think Yermen is in the Enchanting Club, but I don't want to spend all day reading about runes or something like that.

Maybe the Storytelling Club? Or the Outdoors Camping Club, that one exists in the game as well, I think. Music Club is certainly an option.

I want to join a club that's going to help me learn some extra knowledge from other students. The Royal Academy accepts people from across the country, nobles and commoners alike, so different students from different walks of life or regions might know something that you don't know about the world.

Since I'm going to travel to many places in the future, having some extra knowledge wouldn't hurt.

But what to choose?

I shrug. It's not going to come until next Sunday, so I still have some time to think about this. I still need to do what I set out for today.

It's time to try and contact the dwarf.