Scarlet AsgerThe next day

I nervously look around the classroom at the dozens upon dozens of empty seats, wondering to myself if I should just leave the class or not, only to let out a sigh when someone finally does walk into the class. When I first stepped into this classroom – the one meant for my Blood Magic class – I felt a little offput by the lack of anyone here. No students. No professor. No anyone.

Now I can’t help but smile a little at the sight of another student entering the class. And the student themself also looks rather surprised at the sight of me here, possibly having not expected anyone to be in this class either.

Which is a plausible expectation now that I think about it, what with how rare blood magic is.

Although it also makes me wonder if they ignore the news or something, considering how often I’ve seen my damned face on it.

Wait.

I frown.

Why don’t I recognize this person? Are they just not a combat focused blood magic user? Or did they miss the ranking tournament?

The student is a guy wearing a black pair of sweatpants and a grey hoodie with a cat’s image pasted on the chest of it, with a double ended pocket at the bottom of the hoodie. He has both of his hands in the pocket and is looking straight at me with his eyes wide open and his long black hair reaching down to around his shoulders partially covering his face. And from what I can see behind his hair, he seems to have complete heterochromia. One seemingly black eye and one crimson colored eye. Neither of which are glowing.

“Check his mana level,” Tar suddenly says, and I do so only to realize that he’s Class II. Not Class I.

What’s up with that? Isn’t this supposed to be a freshmen level class? Or is it not?

Out of nowhere, a flood of blood suddenly spouts from the front of the room, following which a woman appears with crimson eyes, albeit not glowing ones like my own. The woman is wearing a set of red and black leather armor, with two swords sheathed at her waist that must be made from magi-tech or possibly even demon parts from high level demons originating from Demon Isle.

The woman looks between the two of us before pointing at the guy and then at the seat one seat over from me and says, “Sit.” And he immediately does so, seeming slightly stiff when he gets close to me.

Not a people person? I can totally understand that.

“Both of you are special in some way,” the woman says while crossing her arms. She turns to look at me and says, “Scarlet Asger, the Scarlet Wolf. The only student to match our headmaster in reaching the top eighty students while in your first year after only a little over a week since contracting, even if you still placed a dozen ranks beneath her when she did it.” She turns to look at the guy and continues, “Leo Foster, the Blood Wraith. A year one student who had contracted when he was only thirteen years old and is already a Class II Guardian at eighteen years old.”

Both the guy and I share surprised looks, but the professor continues speaking, drawing our attention back to her rather quickly, “Both of you are blood magic users, which makes you inherently more desirable to any team that you may join. One of the few magics that is capable of fulfilling nearly every single role in a team. And in the hands of some Guardians? One of the most powerful magics.”

Guess her stance on blood magic compared to other magics is rather clear.

“The two of you will be studying everything there is to know about blood magic while you’re in my class, and neither of you will slack off even the slightest bit,” she says, a stern look crossing her face as she uncrosses her arms. “I have very little patience, and even less tolerance for the typical shenanigans that students your age with magic and supernatural powers tend to get up to. If you have any interest in those sorts of activities, then there is the door.” She finishes while pointing at the door.

After seeing neither of us moving or even so much as flinching, the corner of her lip quirks up and she continues, “Good. Now, since there are only two of you, tell me the areas your current blood magic skills cover and we’ll begin there.”

My eyebrows lift in surprise, but the guy is already answering, “Manifestation and ailments skills are what I have right now.”

“Not bad. Common for blood magic users, but not bad still.” The professor states before turning to me and asking, “And you?”

If I remember correctly, the skills branch off into various different types, manifestation and ailments like Leo said being two of them.

Mine though…

“Transformation, ailments, and berserk skills,” I answer after a second. “And a recently obtained manifestation skill.”

Leo looks surprised at my answer, but the professor looks like she was expecting it. Since she probably was. After all, she’s most likely looked into us considering how she knew our names, titles, and one of the biggest notable details about us.

“All good skills,” the professor says, nodding her head once in the process before narrowing her eyes on me. “But you also have regeneration skills too, don’t you?”

My eyebrows rise for a second, but I nod my head in response despite my surprise.

“Good,” she says, a smile almost breaking through onto her face. “All you need is to level up that manifestation skill and you’ll have a great lineup of skills.” She turns to Leo and adds, “And you should focus on getting some physical enhancement skills, since if all you have are manifestation and ailments skills, you won’t do very well in close combat.”

And I can’t help but agree with her judgement there. Ailments skills are like my blood boil and life drain skills, or Emily’s malady inducement one. And manifestation skills are things like the blood manifestation I just got from the store yesterday.

Berserk skills are like blood sacrifice, where you get a boost for a price, transformation skills is obvious as to what they do, and so are regeneration skills.

Leo nods his head and begins writing down notes on his terminal.

“Welcome to my Blood Magic class, I am Ruby Hunter, otherwise known as the Huntress, and I will be your professor for the foreseeable future,” she says while tapping her fingers on the pommel of her swords. “It’ll be nice getting to know you better.”