Chapter 151: Unexpected Gains

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That was the number on the piece of paper given to me.

Similar numbers were given to all students at random.

“Now that all of you have read your numbers, drop the paper slips in this box.”

On Zenur’s instruction, every student moved to drop their own slip.

“I thought you were someone who liked fighting stronger opponents.”

The instructor spoke to me, as I had arrived near the box to drop the paper in my hand.

Dropping the slip, I looked into his eyes, only for the instructor to move closer to me.

“I do.”

On my reply, Zenur raised his brows.

“So why didn’t you volunteer earlier?”

The instructor seemed to have forgotten that we were still in the class surrounded by students waiting for his instruction, as he had focused his entire attention on me.

The students waiting behind me for their turn didn’t say anything, as they silently stood in their place.

“Because I like fighting stronger opponents.”

Silence.

Zenur, as well as all the students around me who had heard my reply, widened their eyes in disbelief.

My statement clearly meant that Zenur wasn’t strong enough.

“Aren’t you getting ahead of yourself, boy?”

Though the instructor spoke with his usual smile, I couldn’t feel it reaching his eyes.

I didn’t reply to his words, as I didn’t think there was any real need for explanation.

“Do you think I am weaker than you?”

Seeing that I had no interest in replying, the instructor spoke again, trying to clarify the meaning behind my statement.

I took a long pause, as the silence around us felt deeper.

“I don’t know about your actual strength, but surely I have no interest in fighting a handicapped person.”

Shifting the reason to his decision of not using mana during the fight, I turned to walk away, only to feel a strong hand gripping my shoulder.

Zenur wasn’t actively trying to crush my shoulder, but just his normal grip felt far stronger than I had expected, making my mind go into an instinctive self-defense.

Slap!

Slapping his hand away, I jumped back to create distance between us.

The entire hall went silent, as I had actively begun to channel mana around my body, resulting in a subtle mana pressure being exerted on the surroundings around me.

The smile vanished from Zenur’s face, as he bent down a little, getting into a quick stance, expecting some sort of attack from me.

But contrary to everyone’s expectations, I didn’t move an inch from my place.

The moment I had looked into the instructor’s eyes after jumping away from him was the moment I knew that he meant no real harm to me.

It was his insane strength that resulted in creating a feeling of immediate danger for me.

Cutting off my mana supply, I slid my hands into my pockets, as my body had returned to its usual calm.

“Ah! Sorry for that.”

Realizing what had happened within a fraction of seconds, the instructor scratched the back of his head with his right hand, bowing a little at the same time.

“I was just trying to say that it was childish of me to confront you on such a petty thing. And I didn’t mean to insult you by asking you to fight me while restricting my mana. I know you are strong; it’s just that I wanted to get a taste of your strength.”

Zenur spoke the words, which felt entirely out of character for him.

I wasn’t expecting such a sincere apology, but nodded my head nonetheless.

Zenur, seeing that, returned his attention to the rest of the students, who were waiting to submit their own slips.

“What was that?”

As I had returned to my previous place, Diana approached me, her eyes showing concern.

“Nothing… Just a misunderstanding.”

“You okay?”

The words came from John, who was standing next to me, his eyes darting between me and the instructor repeatedly.

“I am.”

What was he being so cautious about?

Seeing the look that I was giving him, John blushed a little, while coughing at the same time.

“That… I thought you were going to kill the instructor there.”

Hm?

Was my reaction that intense?

I didn’t think so.

“Yeah, me too.”

It was one thing for John to spout random theories, but surprisingly Diana too had agreed with him.

“Your mana had enveloped the entire hall in an instant. It was like you were ready to fight till death.”

Diana added further, as she turned her head to look at Alicia, who stood next to her.

Leaving aside their reactions, I didn’t think that I had exerted so much mana pressure on my surroundings.

I mean… I hadn’t actively tried to do anything of the sort. It was just that while supplying mana throughout the body, some amount of pressure was emitted outside—But it shouldn’t have been intense enough to blanket the entire hall.

Strange.

Now that I think about it, my train of thought had recently always been aimed at killing someone or fighting to the extreme.

The recent example being my thoughts about ending Kevin’s life.

I wasn’t petty enough to fight over small things, still such extreme thoughts had filled my mind before I was able to process the situation.

Not that I cared for Kevin.

I was perfectly capable of killing him over anything, but still…

I was rational enough to not cause trouble for my goals only because someone had offended me.

“Is everyone done?”

On Zenur’s words, the remaining students quickly rushed to submit their own slips.

The instructor waited patiently for a minute before the last of the students had dropped their slips into the box.

“Alright! Now that everyone’s done, I will be picking a pair of two slips at random, and the students that have been assigned the numbers given in those slips will be sparring against each other.”

Completing his sentence, Zenur began to pick the slips from the box, announcing their respective numbers.

The students who had those numbers assigned to them quickly formed groups standing at the other end of the hall.

I must say, this training session was becoming a little time-consuming for me.

Not even for a second did I believe that having a spar with the students here would improve my combat prowess by any margin.

Though there could be some unexpected gains.

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