Sword Saint's Reincarnation

Book 3 Chapter 23: Profession (3)

The first few students arrived in a group of five, three boys and two girls, talking among themselves. They froze once they stepped into the classroom and looked at Rylan, who nodded at them.

“Hello, everyone,” he said.

They didn’t reply. For a few seconds, they only stared at him, but Rylan could see the excitement rising in their expressions. They traded glances.

“Are you gonna teach us, Rylan?” the boy at the forefront asked, his voice sounding as if he was desperately trying to contain himself.

“Something like that.”

This time, the group of teenagers outright smiled. They rushed to their seats after greeting the others, and Hayden and Jasmine followed them to sit in the very first row. Once she was seated, Jasmine stared at Rylan with a smile. Hayden talked a bit with the other students as they asked him several questions, one after the other, all about what Rylan would be teaching.

It didn’t take long for the next group to arrive. After they used Communication Crystals, however, the next group arrived much faster, followed by the next one. It took less than ten minutes for the entire class to be filled, each student seated and staring at Rylan eagerly.

“I think this is the fastest it’s ever happened,” Alice grumbled in a low tone. “I know you’re kind of a celebrity, but…”

Rylan smiled at her.

“It’s just the novelty. Your classes are great on their own,” he replied.

She smiled back at him. After nodding at her, he took a step forward and ran his gaze over the students. Not long ago, he was part of their ranks. This was his class. The realization that he would be teaching for the first time struck him again, making him take a breath.

“Welcome, everyone,” Rylan said loudly to the class, making them lean forward. “It is with great pleasure that I tell all of you that I’ve officially joined the Academy’s faculty as a professor. For this first class, I’ll assist Professor Alice with Battle Fundamentals.”

The moment he finished speaking, eleven students raised their hands almost at the same time. Rylan blinked and looked at one at random, a black-haired girl, and nodded at her. She leaned forward even more.

“What class will you be teaching?” she asked eagerly.

Rylan rubbed the back of his neck. He hadn’t planned to reveal it right away, but it made sense that the nature of his classes was what the students would be most curious about.

I guess there’s no harm in saying it now.

“Mana Cultivation,” he replied as he kept his eyes on her.

Silence. After three seconds, however, the classroom erupted in conversation. The students talked over each other as they spoke to their friends, creating a cacophony of excitement.

“Holy shit, I can’t believe it,” Rylan heard one of them say.

“We’re gonna fucking learn it! Mana Cultivation! The power that made Rylan the strongest!” another one said.

“Hey, don’t call him Rylan! Be respectful!” a soft female voice replied.

On the opposite side of the classroom, it was the same.

“The gods have blessed us. We’re all gonna become strong as fuck.”

“Do you think Lord Rylan will teach us everything he knows?”

“I have no clue, but you bet I’m learning as much as I can. It’s a power unlike anything else.”

Rylan furrowed his brow.

Lord Rylan?

His sharp hearing managed to grasp almost every conversation going on at once. The previous student wasn’t the only one to refer to him as such; there were a variety of titles going around, but Lord Rylan seemed to be the most common one.

What even makes me a lord?

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Even Damian was only called ‘the Headmaster.’ Still, he could see why the students would admire him. At such a young age, he’d defeated imperial Mages and had managed to become the strongest fighter in Ceotha. A strange emotion bubbled in Rylan’s chest.

It’s not the first time I’m admired, but… it might be the first time I feel like I’m worthy.

In his past life, he’d been admired by those who worshipped strength, but there were even more people terrified of him. He had been a symbol of pure, unbridled power, with no followers or friends. Terror was the emotion Roland had invoked the most. As Rylan, the Flameheart house’s soldiers had been the first ones to admire him, but he hadn’t thought much of it. This was the first time he felt like he had achieved something.

Rylan reveled in the feeling for a bit, then dragged himself out of his thoughts. Before he could say anything, however, Alice stepped forward and clapped her hands once. The sound echoed throughout the classroom, much louder than it should have been. The conversations stopped as if they had been a lie.

“Quiet,” she said firmly. “For this class, Rylan will complement Battle Fundamentals. I know you’re all excited to learn Mana Cultivation, and it will come in due time, but right now, focus on this class.”

Some of the students smiled, while others nodded like woodpeckers. Alice looked at Rylan. He nodded at her slightly and looked back at the students.

“Alright, let’s get started,” he said. “First, we’ll discuss some more general tips about fighting that I’ve learned. The first one is to know what to do in a melee.”

Most of the students furrowed their brows, and many others outright frowned. He could see the questions in their eyes.

“Not all enemies are Mages, and not all Mages will only fire projectiles from afar. Once you learn Mana Cultivation, your bodies will become a source of strength, but before that, you must know how to use them, even if only to avoid spells like Earth Spikes,” Rylan continued before any of them could say anything.

This time, he could see some understanding dawning in their expressions. The ones who had been in the middle of raising their hands slowly brought them back down.

“Having a weapon but not knowing how to use it is meaningless, with or without Mana Cultivation. At the same time, I understand that your capabilities will be augmented with the Skill, so you might feel like some of this knowledge will become obsolete. I assure you that my goal is only to help you, especially when fighting monsters, which most of you will need to do to Level up,” Rylan said.

And pushing yourselves in battles is an effective way to awaken Aura.

The students nodded at him, and he smiled at them. After that, class officially began.

“Your first priority should be not to lose your cool if an enemy gets too close. You need to be able to still cast effectively to protect yourselves or even avoid their attacks. This is the kind of thing you only learn with experience, so I’ve come up with a few assignments similar to the previous Battle Fundamentals one, where you guys fought monsters,” he said.

Some students winced, while others shifted uncomfortably, but most of them seemed determined. Rylan nodded to himself after seeing this. Being willing to fight was the first step. Was it because they knew the kingdom was under threat from the Empire? The number of students who seemed willing was higher than he expected.

Or maybe I just inspired them, I guess.

It was an amusing thought. Grinning, Rylan continued the class. He started talking about the steps that would follow the first one once it was achieved, including his advice on how to achieve Dual Casting, which would be the biggest boost in strength to virtually all of the students. Once he got to this point, even Hayden and Jasmine seemed completely focused as they took notes. Rylan internally nodded to himself. Even though they were also Damian’s students and could ask the man about it anytime, they still listened to Rylan’s advice.

After a certain point, Alice joined in to explain that Rylan would sometimes assist with Battle Fundamentals, though he would be focused on his own discipline. It had been something that Rylan had asked himself; training the students into better fighters was one of his goals in becoming a professor.

After two hours, the class ended. Rylan smiled at his old classmates.

“And that’s it, for now. Three days from now, I’ll give the first lecture on Mana Cultivation. Any questions?” he asked.

Dozens of hands were raised in a heartbeat. He blinked, then smiled.

I should’ve expected it.

He couldn’t let his lack of teaching experience show too much. He pointed to the leftmost student, a brown-haired, ordinary-looking boy. The boy stood up and gulped.

“How do we become able to gauge an enemy? How do I know if I’ll be able to handle them, especially if they get too close? Mostly monsters, I mean,” the boy asked.

Rylan grinned to himself. It was a good question, but one that came from a place of inexperience.

“With experience, you’ll be able to more or less tell only a few seconds into battle. For enemies that are closer to your level, force them to reveal their cards. Use spells that force them to move as quickly as they can and show their own spells, therefore gauging their speed and arsenal, the two most important things. Of course, when it comes to humans, you’ll be able to have an idea just based on how much mana their Circles are emitting,” he replied.

The boy nodded and sat back down, but even more students raised their hands after Rylan’s reply. Taking a breath, Rylan moved on to the next student. He continued answering their questions until all of them had brought their hands back down.

“Class is dismissed,” Alice said after scanning the room. “See all of you tomorrow.”

The students started standing up and heading outside, throwing glances at Rylan as they talked among themselves with excitement. Jasmine and Hayden walked closer to him, as did Alice.

“So, it’s our turn now, right?” Alice asked, making Rylan look at her. Judging from her expression, she was even more excited than the students.

He smiled at her.

“Yeah. Faculty and student council. Let’s head to the student council’s room already.”

It was where his next class would take place. He would start teaching Mana Cultivation to the Academy’s strongest.