Dragon's Wrath: The Cursed Returnee

Little by little, the class began to get filled by students. Most of the kids there were pretty friendly toward each other. Although some of them showed some interest in Ethan, they soon lost interest since it looked like Ethan and Ian were acquaintances.

"It looks like you are pretty infamous," Ethan said.

"You don't have to praise me," Ian said while forcing a smile. "I told you, it is because I'm bad at magic. Most people here what to increase their rank as fast as possible, so they don't want to waste time with those that might make them lose their time."

"What about her?" Ethan pointed to Emily, who still was reading a book. "I would bet my dominant arm that she is pretty good at magic, but no one approached her or even said good morning."

"Well, while I'm helpless at magic, she is too good for her own good," Ian explained. "Emily is also too frank, as you already know. Thanks to that, she doesn't have any friends. Well, it is not like she wants one since she also is obsessed with raising her rank."

"What about you?" Ethan asked.

"Me? I want to dedicate my life to miss Lyla," Ian smiled from ear to ear.

"… I was asking why you aren't her friend, given that you know so much about her," Ethan frowned. "Just like you are weird, she is also weird. You two have something in common."

"You are weird as well," Ian said. "So, you should know that weird people repel each other instead of attracting each other."

"… In any case, why didn't you ask her for some help with your magic?" Ethan asked. "Even if you are helpless, you should learn a thing or two from her. Come to think of it, she should be pretty bad at physical activities since she is good at magic but still is in this rank."

"True, but I would rather improve my skills alone than ask for help," Ian said, looking pretty proud of himself. "That way, I will show to miss Lyla how much I love her."

"So, it is because you are too prideful, huh," Ethan shrugged. "I should have known."

Ian lowered his head until he buried himself on the table to admit his defeat. Regardless, the talk was over because the teacher finally appeared. The teacher, this time, seemed far calmer than Lyla. Although he had a somewhat dignified presence, he paid Ethan no mind during class and only asked him to introduce himself. Ethan was more than thankful for it since teachers like Lyla were a bit overwhelming.

The teacher tried to pass the theory to his students about the spell: Bronze Skin. It was one of the simplest defensive spells one could learn, and it would also be useful for Ethan since that one increased his END. However, he didn't understand the logic behind it because the teacher used too many fancy words, and he liked to choose a more roundabout method when teaching his students.

Although Ethan didn't learn the theory, he learned several other things. For example, the courses were divided into thirteen parts. Each part was one hour of lessons, and each lesson could teach him something different. He could access those lessons at any time while he was at school since it was saved on the database of the tower. Thanks to it, he and everyone else could take the tests to graduate from a course at any given time. However, studying by themselves was hard since only the teachers could give them some pointers.

As if that wasn't enough, to pass the tests, the students would have to perform all those thirteen things they learned in those lessons perfectly in order to satisfy the teachers. It was really troublesome…

"See?" Ian asked. "I told you. You are no better when it comes to sucking at magic."

Ian was talking as if that was something he could take pride in. Still, Ethan didn't want, nor could he say something to protest. As expected, magic was really troublesome. He was a bit better when he practiced over and over again, but there was nothing he could practice when he couldn't understand a single thing about the spell. Although Ethan couldn't care less about the rank system of the school, he needed to learn magic in order to find a way to control his power as an Omni Hero, and in that situation, Ethan only found a single solution.

"When are we going to your house?" Ethan asked.

"After lunch," Ian replied. "I still have another class after this, after all."

"All right then," Ethan said. "I will meet you at the plaza."

Ian didn't have any other classes that day, so he left the class in a hurry because there was only one person who could help him: Emily. As one would expect, she was the first to arrive at the class and the first to leave. Although it was troublesome to involve himself with Emily, Ethan had decided that he wouldn't let his pride or anything else get in his way to control his powers. He could only blame himself for being so incompetent, but doing that wouldn't solve anything.

Fortunately, it looked like Emily didn't have any other classes for the time being. That became pretty clear since she was heading to the elevator. Just as Ian said, she was really prone to make people stay away from her. Although she heard Ethan's footsteps and even saw him approaching, she didn't stop and even let out a long sigh.

"What now…" Emily said.

"I have an offer for you," Ethan said. "You will help me with my magic training, and I will help you with your physical training."

"I'm not interested," Emily said while she entered the elevator.

"Is that so?" Ethan frowned. "So, do you really want to take the same courses over and over again just because your pride is in the way?"

"No… it is not because of that," Emily said. "I don't need your help; I'm already working on something. Thus, your offer is unnecessary."

"Is that so…" Ethan frowned. "When did you begin to attend this school again?"

"Why do you care about that?" Emily frowned. "It was six months ago."

"Six months? I thought you were supposed to be smart…" Ethan shrugged. "I guess you won't be able to help me them since you took so long to think of a way to solve your situation. I will bet it is a masterplan that won't lead you to anywhere."

"You really are starting to piss me off…" Emily glared at Ethan.

"Look, I'm not asking for a favor. We don't need to be friends to help each other," Ethan said. "Believe me, I'm not enjoying this, just like you are, but we can help each other for a while. If you are really smart, you will at least try. If you don't see any progress today, then we don't need to help each other tomorrow."