Chapter 317: Still kids

Chapter 317: Still kids

After Sofia shared some of her stat lines, she was bombarded by questions again. Why is your mana so high? Doesnt your class name imply you summon saints? Your age is locked? and more. Her answers were about as short as the questions, this was not meant to be a class about her. At the first occasion, she changed the subject, asking the students to follow her to the classrooms courtyard. The training courtyard was an enclosed square area of about twenty meters each side, surrounded by tall gray cobblestone walls separating it from the rest of the academy. The ground was made of smooth stones laden with active ritual circles, covered in a fine layer of coarse sand.

This barely counts as outdoors, but its not bad. Just a bit small for five students. Ill probably need to request to use the underground arena later.

Do you know what the enchantments on the ground are? Sofia asked the class.

No one answered.

I see. Well. Probably safety stuff I assume, we shouldnt need them anyway. Pareths ready to take your hits, who wants to go first?

Me! En almost screamed, jumping in place.

Alright, Miss Totemist. Let me set up everything.

Sofias [Bone Dominus] had enough range to cover the entire courtyard, so she dumped a bunch of bones out of her storage and moved them around without lifting a finger. She made two circles on the ground ten meters apart to show where Pareth and the students should stand at the start, and a life-sized statue of herself in armor behind Pareth. She preemptively silenced the incoming questions about what she had just done. Dont worry about the details of how my skills work, else well still be here next year. Focus on your own magic.

Pointing to the ring for the students, Sofia explained the rules, En, you stand there. Pareth stands in the other circle, he can only defend and grab you to throw you away, and will try to limit himself to the skill and speed he had when he was around your level. You have to try to hit or topple the statue behind him. Of course you can move around however you want, and so can he and the statue. I will tell you when to stop. All good?

Yes! En enthusiastically confirmed before leaping to the circle in a single jump.

That statue moves? Lola whispered to herself.

Of course it does.

I know you couldnt do shields back then, but use that instead of a sword, maybe just a small buckler. I want them to be able to focus on the task. Sofia communicated to Pareth as he walked to his position in the other circle. His weapon of light appeared, taking the form of a small round shield.

Do you need time to prepare? Sofia asked En as a final confirmation.

The small girl shook her head in response, and took a punching stance, fists clenched.

Then start!

No storage item? The magic feels just like my bone storage. She has a generic spatial storage skill? Thats handy. Also, she sure is a rich kid, Daughter of a Marchioness, right? Erian is from a Ducal family too. En is a princess from her race but her totems were still just regular wood. I guess they were just mana constructs though, but she doesnt have any fancy gear that I could spot.

Sofia observed as Lola put her hand on the back of the armor, slowly filling it with mana. There were strange mana movements around her that Sofia couldnt trace back to Lola. That must be the ghost. Its really sneaky.

Activating [Graveyard of the Righteous] Sofia had a graveyard skeleton grab her ankle to bring her halfway into the spiritual plane, giving her vision into it. In the blurry white world of the spiritual plane, she saw a tall and lanky, vaguely humanoid form, hovering around Lolas soul. It turned toward Sofia for a second before getting sucked in where the armor was.

Interesting. Before cutting her vision of the spirit plane, Sofia observed the souls of all of her students. They all look nice and smooth, no injuries. I know Alith said my soul looked weird, but even through Pareths vision I can never see it. Well its not particularly worrying. If there was anything wrong with my soul surely Aphenoreth would have fixed it when he put his mark there. Maybe its just the aftermath of hosting a Soul Parasite for a while.

Seeing Lolas soul move inside the courtyard, Sofia dismissed the graveyard. The young Exidian girl was followed by the heavy orichalcum armor, now controlled by her strange ghost.

Start!

The following fight was underwhelming. Lola stood still in her circle while she ordered her spirit around through a soul-link just like Sofia gave commands to Pareth. She looked confident at first, but her countenance slowly crumbled throughout the fight. It seemed her skills werent very combat-oriented, because she did not do much at all herself, only worriedly watching her summon try and miserably fail to get past Pareths defenses in close quarter fighting.

Her only interesting move had been a [Confusion]-inducing skill that got instantly canceled by Pareths share of [Blessing of the Deep].

After a minute, Sofia stopped the fight. The statue hadnt suffered a scratch, the possessed armor never even got close. Lola seemed disheartened, looking down at her feet as she walked back to the group.

Dont be discouraged by just this. I assume your skills arent very focused on combat for now?

They really arent Lola dejectedly confirmed, the armor is usually strong but it could not do anything against your skeleton

Its alright, my job here is to make every single one of you into a summoner competent at fighting. I havent seen much of your [Spiritist] class yet, but Im confident well make it work. Erian will be up next, then Shaily, then Guerand, and well have a quick look at everyones skills before the second round. I assure you that as far as I know, there are no bad classes; I even once fought a [Stonemason] who could destroy mountains with his skills.

If there are no bad classes then does it not mean Im the one who is bad? Lola answered with a bitter smile.

Not at all, Lola. At your age I was still stuck at level one, spending all day reading religious books in a decrepit library. Do you think youre bad in comparison?

Does she have self-esteem issues? She looked the most confident when I announced the exercise, was that just a front?

Anyway, good job Pareth, three more.