Chapter 69: Blink.

By the time he was done cultivating for the day, he had filled up the 6th star and was closing in on the half mark of the 7th star. The good thing was that he had only used 2 out of the 7 beast cores and he still had an elite grade beast core in his inventory.

The next day was the advanced combat class and the boring history class.

Whatever instructor Zirrack had said in the introductory class about working on their bodies, he meant it. He made them undergo hellish body workouts that made them beg for mercy, but it wasn't much to Blake who had to undergo 3 fusion processes.

Those who ended up fainting during the exercises had their points deducted and Blake who seamlessly performed the exercises was award 100 points boosting his total points to a little above 1000 points.

When it was time for the history class they were in another round of trouble. The demonic exercises had physically drained them causing most of them to doze off in the class. Professor Bach the history teacher wasn't aware of what they had done, so he thought they were being disrespectful by sleeping in class.

At first, he had warned the first two he caught sleeping, but after seeing more people doze off, he began deducting points from anyone he caught sleeping.

It was after deducting points from almost half of the class that he knew there was a problem.

"Can someone tell me what's going on here?!" Professor Bach was both confused and angry as he slammed his fist on the table.

"…" The students would have loved to explain, but there was no one to bell the cat. After having three classes so far with professor Tacitus, an instinctual fear had been instilled into them especially when the professor was angry.

"Why is no one answering?" Still seeing the stunned students, professor Bach felt the urge to face-palm but he resisted it.

"Okay, what class did you have before mine." He handled different classes across all the years, so it was impossible for him to know the schedule for the first years.

'From the looks of things, something can be done about the advanced combat class.' Although the exercises didn't affect him that much, if there was a boring class like this one after the advanced combat class, he would have to battle just to stay awake. 

"Advanced combat handled by instructor Zirrack." Blake ratted out the instructor by adding the extra information.

'That explains everything! Who in their right senses would put the class of that beast before another class?!' Professor Bach face-palmed before opening a warp gate that led to the principal's office.

'But I must say they are very unlucky to have him as of other instructors.' He shook his head and pitied the students.

"Professor Bach, what brings you to my office?" Principal Lovren asked with a smile.

"Why assigned Zirrack as the instructor of the first years, do you want to get these innocent students killed?! Why was he even removed from handling the 3rd, 4th, and 5th years?"

"Although his methods are 'quite' harsh, the results are the best when compared to that of other instructors, and because this set of first years are special, we are giving them the best training." Principal Lovren answered with an unchanged expression.

Blake's set was considered as an experiment to know how the new rules and activities would affect their growth; they were just the prototypes of a new system that would soon be implemented.

For example, in the early days of the magic school, the position of a student was dependent on the points they get during their classes, but after a few years, the school saw that the students were only improving in the theory aspect of magic while their field and combat experience was close to nothing.

So, they beefed up their combat classes, assignments, and trimester tests which would take the students through all types of scenarios, but Blake's set was even tougher.

The points gotten from the class activities didn't fully determine whether one passed or fail, they were still other determinants like their ranking, field assignments, and trimester test, which increased the competition by a whole lot.

(AN: The rankings play an important role in their final points because every rank has a number of points attached to it, which means the higher the rank the higher the points.)

"So, what did he do this time?" Principal Lovren said with a tired expression.

"I caught many students sleeping…" Professor Bach narrated everything that happened in the class, which left the principal shaking his head.

"He agreed he would go easy on them, so why? Judging from his nature, this might be his easy." Principal Lovren sighed. "Well, we can't do anything to him because he is not wrong. He is here of his own free will and his skills are highly needed so I can't do much about it." Principal Lovren said with a helpless look on his face. 

"I request that the advanced combat handled for the first years which is handled by Zirrack should be moved to the second class of the day." Professor Bach requested.

"That will be done then." The principal said with a reassuring tone.

…

Back in the classroom.

'Does that mean the class has ended?' He thought the matter will be handled after the class, but he never thought it would be immediately.

After some minutes of waiting, professor Bach warped into the room announcing the end of the class and informing them of the change in their schedule.

'That makes things better, I guess…' Blake would have loved it if the boring history class was canceled entirely, but he could manage to have it in the morning hours then ending the day with a fun-packed advanced combat training.

…

Just like every other student of the elite class, Blake slept early because of the training and woke up with a sore body, but him being roomies with pain, it was just another day for him.

"Let's hope the class holds this time." Blake remembered that the knowledge of array class didn't hold because the professor meant to handle the course was absent for some reason.

"What has gotten over me?" The castle walls hindered Blake from checking if the sky was inverted because he was beginning to… like school.

He didn't like the education system of Earth because it mainly focused on the student's ability to recall in order to pass their exams and not what they could actually do with that knowledge. He loved the magic school because they balanced both the theory and practical aspect of magic because if one knew the theory but couldn't cast a spell, they would be useless and those who didn't know the theory wouldn't be able to cast a single spell making everything balanced.

"Good day kids, I am professor Mack and I will be taking you all on the mystery known as the knowledge of arrays." Professor Mack who was the same age as professor Tacitus appeared in front of the class without using a warp gate.

Unlike Professor Tacitus who was muscular for a man his age, professor Mack wasn't muscular but was taller than the grumpy professor and had a gleeful smile on his face.

If he was compared to the homeroom teacher, professor Gibson's smile was a gentle one, but that of Professor Mack was a fun one with a tinge of madness in it.

"Let me guess, you are wondering how I appeared here without a warp gate?" He walked up to a student before snapping his fingers and appearing at the same spot he was at when he entered the class.

"It wouldn't be fun if I just said it. Can anyone guess? Ah… Blake Wilson, the rumors about you raking up all the points are true. Let's see if you can rake in 100 points too." Professor Mack gestured to him to continue.

"Judging from the position you appeared in front of the class and you reappearing at the same place, I would say there is something like a beacon or mark at that point." Blake explained.

"Your observation skills are as good as they say! Plus 100 points to you kid." The professor said while applauding.

"The mark acts as a beacon for the spell which opens a path in space towards it. Unlike the warp gates and arrays that require a controlled space and a large mana supply, it doesn't because only one person gets warped requiring less energy and the mark acts as the controlled space." Professor Mack explained the spell.

"But it is not for your level." He said with a grin.

'This isn't the first time! Why will you display a spell if you wouldn't teach it!' Blake felt like pulling out his hairs, but he managed to get himself under control.

"At least can we know the name?" Blake asked with his fingers crossed.

"Of course, I call it Blink."