-Monday Morning, 21st Of the 1st Month, Year 910-
After eating breakfast, we split up with Jasmine and go to our first class of the day, History. We walk into class and go to the back of the room to sit in the same seats that we sat in last time.
"Haah," I sigh, releasing some of my pent up feelings.
"Wh-Wh-What's wrong?" Noah asks me with a worried expression.
"Nothing," I shake my head, "I'm just a little tired."
'They've been asking me questions ever since yesterday,' I sigh again, remembering how tiring it was.
After I left the cafeteria on Saturday, I stayed in my room for most of the day because I wasn't feeling that good after seeing Amelia and dealing with Percy right after that. Johnny, Noah, and Jasmine came by my room when dinner started. But I didn't feel like eating with them at the time, so I acted like I was asleep when they knocked on my door. At the time, I thought that was a good idea. But this morning, I realized that I was wrong.
During breakfast, after class, lunch, they didn't stop questioning me. They asked me about why I acted like that on Saturday and if my body was okay. At first, I tried to avoid answering and change the topic. It worked a couple of times, but soon we were right back on it. So I tried to act like it was nothing and wave it off. But that didn't work either, so I tried to end it by saying, "I'm fine" and "It's nothing."
Even then they didn't give up though, I knew that they were worried about me, but I didn't want to talk about it. In the end, Jasmine told me that I should go to the Infirmary and get my body checked out, and Johnny almost dragged me there. But there was no way I was going back to that nurse, besides like I said, my body is fine. So I fought back with all my might.
They finally gave up and stopped when I just told them that my body is fine and that I didn't want to talk about it. Although it was awkward for a bit during dinner, things went back to normal pretty fast after Johnny started to boast about some of his past accomplishments.
'I should have just told them from the beginning that I didn't want to talk about it,' I sigh and shake my head again, 'I should stop thinking about this, class started already.'
Mrs. Russo stops talking and takes out a big map from her storage ring. She puts a pin into each corner of the map, connecting it to the blackboard behind it.
After putting in the last pin, she turns back to us, "Now, can everyone take out their notebooks and draw a picture of this Map on the first page."
We follow her directions and take out our notebooks and a pen. Opening my notebook, I start drawing the map.
"You can put down your pens when you're done drawing the map to let me know that you're done," Mrs. Russo tells us, after a couple of minutes pass.
Around seven minutes later, I finish drawing, just like the map on the board, I left all 15 areas of the map blank. Since I'm done, I put my pen down and look at Noah, who finished a couple of minutes before me.
"Can I see your map?" Noah nods and shows me his map with shaky hands.
'Seriously!' I open my eyes wide, looking at his drawing, 'It's almost the same as the one up on the board!'
"H-How i-is-is it?" Noah's hands start shaking even more after asking me this.
"It's awesome, way better than mine," Scratching my head, I show him mine.
"I-It's lo-looks good," Noah's shaking settles down, and he compliments my drawing with a smile.
'It's not bad, but…' Comparing our drawing, although they're similar, my lines are more uneven, and the shapes of some of the areas are off.
"Done! Guys, take a look at this!" Johnny puts his pen down and shows us his drawing, "It looks just like it, right?"
Looking at his drawing, I cover my mouth with my hand and turn away, trying to hold myself back, 'Johnny, I can see the scribbled out drawing on the back of the page. Also, that doesn't look anything like the map up there.'
I look towards Noah, hoping that he would say something but-
'So I'm not the only one…' Just like me, Noah has his hand over his mouth, trying not to laugh, but his hand isn't enough, and his laughter starts slipping out.
Seeing each other, we both start laughing, causing everyone to look at us, but seeing that we're playing around, they all turn back around, losing interest. Mrs. Russo doesn't say anything and looks at us with a small smile on her face.
●●●
After a little bit, we stop laughing and tell Johnny that his drawing is 'great,' making his smile even bigger. Seeing that, I almost start laughing again, but I'm able to resist it this time.
A couple minutes later, everyone finished copying the map, so Mrs. Russo starts the lesson again, "This is a map of where we live, The Western Continent, Regalia. All the land on this map is part of the Western Continent."
Hearing that, someone raises their hand to ask a question, "Even those three small pieces of land in the water?"
"Those three small pieces of land are called islands, they have no official names at the moment as they are unclaimed territories. But they're still part of the Western Continent," Mrs. Russo answers while pointing at the three islands.
I raise my hand to ask a question, "Why are they unclaimed?"
She claps her hands, "Good question, we'll get into this more in another unit. But these islands are unclaimed because their location is undesirable."
'Undesirable? Why?' Although I'm still curious, I don't ask about it because she said that we would go over it later.
'I'll write it down, so that way I can ask later,' I draw an arrow to the islands in my notebook and write down my question next to my note about what she said about the islands being unclaimed and undesirable.
"This is where we live," She points to one of the areas, "This is the Mistrom Kingdom."
In the blank space she points at, on my map, I write down 'Mistrom Kingdom' and like that we spend the rest of the class going through the different areas. There are 10 provinces, the Devila Province, Highland Province, Galveen Province, Loreen Province, Bishop Province, Poshville Province, Noriston Province, Conwell Province, Blayne Province, and Junip Province.
'What about that blank area? Is that another 'undesirable territory?' Before I can raise my hand to ask, the bell rings, meaning that class is over, 'I'll write it down for next time.'
I draw an arrow and write my question down before leaving class with Johnny and Noah.
●●●
After Literature class, it's Qi Usage with Mr. Davis. We walk into class and find some empty seats in the back like usual.
Mr. Davis greets us and starts class, "Today, we'll be starting our first unit on the history of Sages."
Someone raises their hand and asks, "What's a Sage?"
"Sages are people who reached the pinnacle of Qi Cultivation. Most of the Qi Cultivation techniques passed down today were invented and developed by them," Mr. Davis adjusts his glasses and continues his explanation, "Although almost every Sage has either died or gone into seclusion by now. Which is the reason why not everyone knows about them."
"Why did they go into seclusion?" Another student asks.
"To run away from the war. Some Sages died fighting until their last breath, but some didn't want to do that. Because they didn't want to die, they ran away. Be it because of fear, cowardice, sadness, or suffering serious injuries. The truth is that they ran away and abandoned everyone on the continent because they didn't want to fight a losing battle and sacrifice their lives," Without a single change in his voice, Mr. Davis finishes his explanation. After hearing that, everyone goes quiet for a bit.
Shaking, Johnny stands up and raises his hand with an angry expression, "Why are we learning about people like that!?"
Mr. Davis looks up a little bit, staring straight at Johnny, "Why shouldn't we?"
"They were cowards who ran away when they should have been protecting the continent, right!!?" Johnny replies with an even louder voice than before.
"A lot of people will agree with your opinion-" He pauses mid-sentence and looks around the classroom, "-I'm not one of those people. I have a deep respect for the Sages. Everyone has the right to chose what to do with their lives. They had a choice to not participate in that war, and some of them didn't, but most of them did, and as a result, most of them died, but many were saved due to their presence. Regardless of their participation in the war, the cultivation methods and techniques they passed down allowed us to fight back in the war, and by practicing Qi Cultivation, we're able to practice Mystic Arts safely. I have nothing but gratitude and respect for those Sages who gave us the ability to fight. That's why I'm teaching you all about them first, they deserve it, for it was their accomplishments which gave us a path to this future and the one beyond it."
Some people gasp hearing his words, I'm just as surprised as them. Hearing him explain it that way, I feel gratitude for the Sages too, 'It's thanks to them that I can cultivate and get stronger, without strength, I wouldn't have any hope left of achieving my goal.'
Johnny sits back down, still looking angry, 'It's probably hard for him to accept them running away when they had the strength to fight.'
After that, the class continued without any incidents. Mr. Davis tells us about the First Cultivator, Long Wei, and the creation of the First Cultivation Method. The bell rings in the middle of his story, cutting him off. Although he seems a little upset, he shakes it off with a sigh and opens the door, letting us go.
Done with our morning classes, we go to lunch and talk about our classes with Jasmine until lunch is over. After saying goodbye to Jasmine, we go to Mathematics.
Mr. Rosa just has us review single-digit addition and subtraction, so it's not too hard. Tomorrow we're moving on to double-digit addition, and we have a review test at the end of the week, 'Hopefully, I can pass it.'
I'm really bad at math, but I can do single and double-digit addition and subtraction, but the bigger the numbers, the harder it is for me. Hopefully, we don't move onto three-digit stuff, or else I might not be able to pass.
Finished with Mathematics, it's time for us to change and go to Physical Training. Just like before I stand in front of Noah after I finish changing. Again we were almost late, but Mrs. Janson doesn't say anything this time. Today, it's Jasmine and Noah's group turn to take the Fitness Exam. Sitting with Johnny and the other students that aren't in Group 1, I watch them take the Exam.
After a few minutes, I start to feel bad watching them. I knew that they weren't that good with physical stuff, but I didn't know that they were this bad. They don't have much upper or lower body strength, and their stamina is really bad. At the end of the Exam, they're both on the ground covered in sweat, breathing heavily, 'They'll probably have to do the afterschool training.'
Sighing, I put Jasmine on my back and carry her to combat class. Noah's partner already picked him up to take him to class. The only reason that I'm carrying Jasmine instead of her partner is that Johnny's carrying her partner since she isn't doing much better than Jasmine.
In combat class, we practice the same set of moves he showed us last time. Although he had to show us again, we still had a good amount of time for practice. Busy moving my body, class ends pretty fast for me, but-
'Is Noah going to be okay?' His skin's almost as pale as Juliana's, and his combat uniform is sticking to his skin because he sweated so much.
I honestly didn't realize it was him for a bit, but like last time, I put him on my back and carried him back to our dorm after saying goodbye to Johnny and Jasmine, who isn't doing much better than Noah.
Author's Note:
Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Ima starts writing again tomorrow, but the next few chapters might be a little late, sorry in advance, school's starting up again soon and I gotta study.