Word spread through the school like wildfire. Before Zeph made it back to class, kids were already pointing at him and whispering. No doubt, they recognized him as the boy from the rumors. He was starting to understand why Ivy didn't have friends in her last school, because kids were backing away from him like he was the plague. It made sense, considering the political climate of the country. Asperitus commoner's only had one noble family to worry about. And until recently, it only consisted of an old recluse. With the corruption of aristocracy in the capital being brought to light recently, the children decided to be wary of the new young lord.

Zeph was hoping more people would be like Drew. The boy was easy going and paid no mind to social status. Then again, that probably meant that he was probably the weird kid in school, seeing as no other person attempted to converse with him either. When Zeph asked him why Drew didn't hang out with his friends, the boy stated that it was much more interesting to hang out the new kids. He had other friends, but they were wary to approach Zeph and the girls. Drew promised to talk to them later and see if he could help Zeph and the girls make more friends.

They appreciated the sentiment, especially Ivy. She looked excited to make more friends. In fact, today was already the most fun she'd ever had going to school. Lili talked constantly to her, and Ivy was enjoying their time together. Zeph tried to talk with the half-elf too, but she was still too shy to hold a conversation. Drew saw her blush and stare at Zeph during lunch, and decided to elbow Zeph in the side and send him a wink. The only response he got from the young lord was an exasperated sigh.

Instead of going back to class, they made their way to the locker rooms. Combat lessons were after lunch so they needed to change into their combat uniforms. It sounded more exciting than it was. The suit was basically a pair of blue sweatpants and a grey shirt with a few padded sections around the joints highlighted in black. He was hoping for a few enchantments like reinforcement or auto-repair, but nope. A magical plant similar to cotton was used to create the fabric. Aside from that, there was nothing else interesting about the outfit. If he had to guess, it was about as durable as thick leather, but as light as regular clothing. Replacement gear was provided by the school in case damage occurred during practice, but it was pretty pricey if he wanted to buy it from a vendor. Well, pricy by commoner standards. Zeph sighed when he looked at his reflection. He didn't look bad, but he didn't look cool either.

After changing, the kids met up in the hallway and went outside to the practice field. Drew led the way since he was familiar with the school, and Zeph was glad they made at least one friend today. Ms. Davis was near the exit waiting for Zeph and the girls in case they needed directions. She surprised the kids with a bright white and pink tracksuit. With her hair tied up in a ponytail, her appearance was a startling contrast to the one she showed in the classroom. Ivy noticed Zeph was a little distracted by Ms. Davis' appearance. After following Zeph's stare, she decided to drink more milk.

Ms. Davis led their group to the practice field and waited for the rest of the class. When everyone finally arrived, she told them what they would be doing today. She was going to check how strong their magic was by using some target dummies. Zeph noticed magic gather around her hand, she wasn't using a spell focus, so she must be confident in controlling the spell. Suddenly, a glowing circle with arcane shapes and symbols appeared on her outstretched hand.

She was using magic circle casting. Bernard told Zeph that it was a practice mainly used by wizards when they weren't using a spell focus. The circle would act as a temporary medium for spell casting. It was actually a spell diagram drawn in the air to cast a spell. It was a common practice for casters who couldn't construct the spell in their head. Zeph equated it to doing math mentally or on paper. Things were easier to understand if they were drawn out in front of you. Unfortunately, magic circle casting had the disadvantage of letting everyone know what spell you were about to cast. Those who understood the circle could predict what effects it would have. Many of the children could tell Ms. Davis was going to use earth magic the moment her magic circle appeared in the air. This didn't mean she couldn't cast without the circle. Instead, she was just too lazy to put in the extra effort.

A stone target dummy grew out of the ground several yards away from the group of students. It seemed like the kids were used to this kind of practice and started lining up to take turns. Ms. Davis told the children to attack the statue with their strongest spell. She would be able to judge how strong the kids' magic was by looking at how much damage they could do. Before they started, she brought out a magic tablet to record the children's performance.

Zeph was surprised to see many of the children use circle casting instead of a focus. Drew had to explain that they didn't allow focus use until high school, or unless a student was trying to cast a tier one spell. The children were expected to have enough magic control to cast cantrips and tier zero spells without injuring themselves. It took a moment for Zeph to remember that the backlash from these low-level spells would only result in damage equal to getting punched in the stomach. His training was different because Bernard had him learn a borderline tier one spell right off the bat. The backlash from spells tier one and higher could lead to more severe injuries.

Some of the children, like Ashley and Jasper, were able to cast minor attack spells without a magic circle. Zeph would say it was impressive, but he really didn't have a good standard of measurement to compare everyone too. After all, he and Lili could destroy the target with little effort. Cracking, chipping, and breaking off a few chunks was the most damage the students did. The kids' spells did about as much damage as a baseball bat or a hammer. After every turn, Ms. Davis would repair the statue.

When it was Drew's turn, Zeph took Lili and Ivy to the back of the line and brought them in for a huddle. He whispered, "I think we should hold back and keep from showing off."

"Why?" Lili whispered back.

"Because these guys are already scared of me, and I don't want to freak them out any more than I already am. Grandpa sent me here so I could get used to talking and interacting with people. That's gonna be hard to do if they run away whenever they see me." Zeph hoped they would understand.

Lili scoffed. "Are you okay with that Ivy?"

"Y-yeah. I'd like it if they weren't scared of me too," she whispered in response. Her cheeks flushed red because Zeph had his arm around her.

"Fine," Lili wobbled her head in annoyance.

Drew came back from putting a nice big dent in the statue with an earth spike. He saw them in their little huddle and smirked. Ivy was fidgeting, and it made him chuckle. When they got back, he decided to tease his new friends. "Zeph, if you wanted to hug your girlfriends, you should have done it someplace more private." Tilting his head to the side, Drew gestured in the direction of the rest of class. Some of the boys were looking a little jealous, and a few girls were lightly blushing.

Zeph facepalmed. "I wasn't hugging them, we were huddling."

"Cuddling? You dog you." Drew leaned in and elbowed Zeph in the side again. Ivy's face grew beet red, but Lili didn't even seem to pay attention. Zeph looked annoyed, so Drew decided he would end the teasing here.

"Could you not? Your teasing is making Ivy uncomfortable." Zeph said in an exasperated tone while he watched Drew laugh. "And as I said before, we're all just friends."

Drew lifted his hands in surrender while still chuckling. "Whatever you say, man."

Zeph was about to say something else, but he was called by the teacher. It was his turn next. When he left, Drew walked next to Ivy and nudged her to get her attention. Ivy looked up to see Drew smiling at her. The boy gestured to Zeph.

"Good luck, I'm rootin' for ya." Drew gave her a big thumbs up, causing Ivy to smile. Her opinion of him rose instantly.

Zeph walked up to a line drawn in the dirt. The whole class was watching him, curious as to what spell he was going to cast. They watched as Zeph pointed his hand at the statue. Small arcs of electricity sparked between his fingers. The sparks intensified rapidly and then a thin bolt of lightning hit the target dummy in the chest. The stone statue cracked and a few small bits were chipped off. A black singe mark smoked where the lightning struck. Several of the children flinched when the sound of electricity crackled in the air. Everyone else used elemental attacks such as stone spikes, flaming spheres, Ice shards, wind blades, and just regular blasts of pure magic. Electricity, or lightning affinity, wasn't rare, but it was known for its difficulty to control. It was surprising to see Zeph use it so well. Some of them tried to use electricity before, but quickly gave up when they kept shocking themselves.

Zeph walked back to his friends smiling, thinking he did a good job holding back. After all, the statue was still standing. He didn't know what the class was thinking, or how surprised Ms. Davis was. The boy just assumed they were quiet because they were still wary of his noble status. Ivy walked up to him, it was her turn next.

"That was cool. I didn't know you could use lightning magic." Ivy mustered up some bravery to talk to Zeph without looking away. It was surprising how a bit of encouragement, from someone she just met, gave her more confidence. She liked it. It was the first time someone other than Lili acknowledged and supported her crush on Zeph.

Zeph smiled at Ivy. "Yeah, I don't know why, but I just like using it more than other elements. It's probably cuz I like the way it feels to control. You know, the power of a storm in the palm of my hand." He chuckled. "I'm looking forward to your performance. I've never really seen spirit magic before. What do you use?"

Ivy smiled. "I can summon a small spirit to shoot a blast of energy right now. He's not really strong yet, but I'm gonna make him an amazing familiar!" Talking to Zeph became easier with every word she spoke. Her passion for spirit magic also helped Ivy express herself more confidently.

"Awesome, I can't wait to see." Zeph watched the girl use her magic.

Ivy raised her palm toward the sky and spoke a few magic words of power. A small bead of light formed above her hand. It grew slowly at first, but after a second it rapidly increased in size to be as big as Ivy's head. It looked like a small yellow sun, but its light wasn't blinding or painful to look at. Instead, it was gentle and soothing.

Ivy approached the line in the dirt and pointed at the target. "Ethris, hit the stone statue with your strongest attack please," Ivy spoke loud enough for everyone to hear.

The gentle aura of Ivy's spirit instantly disappeared and its light vanished. The familiar turned into an orb of darkness and seemed to suck in the light around it. In the blink of an eye, the familiar shot out a beam of black energy into the target dummy. There was an aura of danger coming from the attack, and everyone watched as it hit the statue. It didn't create any sound, no pop, thud or crackle. It was simply there one second and gone the next. Everyone looked to see the damage. A fist-sized hole several inches deep was left in the wake of Ivy's attack.

Zeph whistled. "That was pretty cool Ivy."

Ivy turned to face Zeph with a great big smile. The black sun transformed back into the gentle orb of light. "Thanks, Ethris can shoot a ray of darkness that eats away at anything it touches. It may not be as cool looking as a lightning bolt, but I like it." Ivy brought the glowing orb into a hug and squeezed it like it was a stuffed doll. She always spent a little quality time with her familiar after summoning it, because she didn't have the magic capacity to keep it out permanently.

"Is Ethris your familiar's name?" Zeph looked at the ball of light, it shrank and dimmed slightly. It started to transform. Soon, Ethris looked like a small glowing pale golden ball of gel. The familiar looked like a cute little slime from a video game Zeph used to play. There was even the faint image of a couple of big round eyes and a happy smile. He had to admit that it was pretty cute, not Rin cute, but almost.

"Yup, Ethris this is Zeph. Zeph, this is Ethris. He's a spirit of light and darkness." Ivy introduced her familiar. In response, Zeph heard the little ball of light make a cute little noise.

'Did that thing just squee at me?' Zeph tilted his head.

His thoughts were interrupted when Lili started to cast her spell. She went to take her turn when the two of them weren't paying attention. The students watched as Lili started to radiate a faint icy aura. Lili pointed at the target dummy and a frozen bolt of energy shot out and pierced its head. A pointy shard of ice stuck in between the statue's eyes and exploded into a rain of dust and snow.

The whole class gasped. Then they started muttering and talking, talking about Lili's attack excitedly. Most of them thought it was super cool or awesome. A few decided not to get on her bad side. Zeph and Ivy looked at their friend.

"I thought you were going to hold back?" Zeph asked.

"What?" Lili said confused. "I only blew its head off".

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