As everyone finished running around the track, most of the class was a little surprised to see Alex in the middle of the pack.
But no one was more surprised than Camille, who expected him to be near her like usual.
However, seeing Alex sitting alone with a cold face during the break, no one was daring enough to walk close to him.
"Sophia, what happened to your brother? Why does he look so different today?" Camille asked first.
"Yeah, why does he look like someone owns him money or something?" Evelyn added.
"He just, um, lost a bet. Yeah, he lost a bet to us, right Mary?" Sophia answered as she looked over to her.
Mary quickly nodded in support, but it only made the four of them even more curious.
"What kind of bet is it?" Luna curiously asked.
"It's a secret."
"Come on, when did we have secrets between us? Mary, you'll never hide things from sister Camille, right?"
"Stop trying to get an answer. My sister is not going to get pushed over so easily."
"Oh really? Let's see if you two can run away——"
As Camille started chasing Sophia and Mary around Luna and Evelyn, Chloe was sitting aside in silence the whole time.
Although she didn't mind being with her friends all the time, she couldn't resist the urge to ask him directly.
But before she could get up, Luqing had already walked over and sat down next to him. Enjoy exclusive content from m v -novelhall.net
---
"Alex, you're okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine... You're the tenth person that had asked that question already."
Despite Alex's irritated attitude, Luqing didn't seem to mind it at all as she checked her clipboard.
"You're 10th place today... What happened?"
"My leg still feels a little sore from Monday." Alex quickly made up an excuse on the spot.
Luqing only looked back at Alex with a warm smile as she got up from the ledge they were sitting on.
"If you're tired... Just tell me. I can give you a break."
After seeing Alex nod, Luqing headed back to resume class once again as the break was over.
"Okay, now everyone, please spread out on the track. We will be doing some stretches before we head back to class..."
Slowly, everyone got up from the ground and got back on track, beginning to spread out among themselves.
"I'll be doing the stretch first, and you can follow along after the first time."
As Luqing stretched out her arms, everyone watched in silence as she began to move it in a mysterious pattern.
Even though it looked relatively easy, the class quickly realized it was much harder than it looked.
Almost two-thirds of the class couldn't touch their toes without bending down.
Even for the people who could, it was due to their longer hands and short legs, not because of any particular flexibility.
But at the same time, she knew mages could have a strong body, but it would interrupt their time in studying magic.
It's simply up to knights and other frontline roles to protect the mage from her personal experience.
"Everyone knows mages are exceptionally weak when they are in close combat, and they aren't meant to let the opponent get close."
"Can you please be straightforward?" Luqing impatiently asked, as she didn't want to hear him talk about common sense.
More importantly, she wanted to go catch up with Sophia and Mary in case they did something stupid.
"Okay, well. My higher-ups had been noticing an increasing trend of mages who are... a little bit on the fat side.
So, I had been planning to roll out a mandatory Physical education class... I was looking far and wide for someone fit for this job.
You know, I can't just hire some knights and let them torture these young mages..."
Luqing nodded, as she had witnessed the harsh knight training in the past back in Regina before.
If it weren't for a wondering master who proposed to Fredrick about teaching her in cultivation, she would have been put in a different route.
"It just so happened that Lady Katherine suggested you be the teacher leading the testing ground.
So far, I'm very happy with the results... This is why I want you to be the head teacher of physical education.
I want you to help them implement Physical education into their classes and have their students go through the same training."
After a short consideration, Luqing still shook her head.
"I don't think I'm qualified to be a head teacher for that purpose... But I can share my experience and plan with the other teachers."
"That's perfect! Thank you so much——"
Just as the school principal was about to show his gratitude, a gust of wind blew right into his face.
With a blink of an eye, Luqing had disappeared from the hallway, nowhere to be seen.
"Are cultivators all like this?" The school principal murmured as he began heading back to his office.
---
Meanwhile, as Alex arrived at the front door of the house, he froze for a second before knocking on the door.
With no one answering, he kicked the small rock in frustration as he sat down on the stairway ledge.
"Fuck my life... Why didn't I ask Sophia for the key? How could I forget about that?"
As Alex looked up to the sky, the sunlight was just starting to be covered by the clouds.
"Can today get any worse?" Alex murmured to himself as he put his backpack aside.
Taking out a book he had taken from the bookshelf a few days ago, he resumed reading where he had last left off.
Although it covered basic magic, the author had an interesting proposal that gave him a completely new perspective.
Rather than using mana and casting the spell in the air, it opted to go with casting a spell inside a person's mind.
The same mana pool where all the mana goes when people go into meditation.
However, the reason why it was a theory book rather than a real magic book was the first step in attracting elements into the mana pool.
In his eyes, this was the same as asking a person to light up a cigarette in a firework factory filled with gunpowder.