[What is it Mars?]

"It's about my skill that identifies magic beasts, it doesn't work, why is that?"

[Well it's probably because it draws the information from the hunters and mercenaries guilds records, if there's no record it will not show anything]

"I see... Well that makes sense..."

After chatting a bit more with Info Mars left the temple with an unusually quiet 78 in tow, the two of them walked back towards the academy grounds when 78 suddenly asked

"Mars are you going to leave me behind?"

"No, I am not going to do that"

".... But weren't you going to join Info?"

"That's... Not going to happen in your lifetime"

"... Promise?"

"Yeah I promise"

78 clung to Mars when he promised with a happy smile on her face as the two of them walked into academy grounds and parted ways as it was late already, Mars walked to his room and spent some time to think up a training plan for Gorge and his friends before he sat down on the bed and began to meditate on his divine mandate. Before Mars noticed it was already morning but alas he felt that he had made zero progress on his mandate, he felt disappointed for a moment before he shook his head and thought

'One step at a time... I'll get the mandate eventually...'

He knew that it wasn't going to be easy to from his divine mandate so he decided to take it one step at a time

'... Let's get ready for cla.s.s'

Mars quickly switched gears and got ready for cla.s.s by brus.h.i.+ng his teeth before he made his way to the training field and sat down and continued his meditation until the students arrived, then he opened his eyes and stood up, or at least he was about to when he felt a stone getting thrown in his direction aimed at his head. Time slowed down for Mars as he quickly identified the student that had thrown the rock and caught it without opening his eyes

*Grind*

A low sound was heard that made the student that had thrown the rock freeze up as the dumb grin gradually disappeared from his face, Mars opened his eyes, stood up and walked over to the student before he said with a smile

"Hold out your hand"

"W-Why should I?"

"Because I'll kill you if you don't"

Mars released a moderate amount of killing intent as he spoke, the student instantly paled before he held out his trembling hand, Mars' smile widened slightly before he held out his hand and slowly let the rock dust fall down onto the hand of the student that began trembling even more

"You are no longer welcome in my cla.s.s, leave"

Mars turned around and walked out in front of the students again before he spoke up

"I don't demand much from you, only that you do your best and show me the minimal amount of respect that I demand as a teacher... Now let's start cla.s.s, everyone grab a wooden sword"

The cla.s.s went on as usual with the students improving leaps and bounds in the short hour they had to train in, Mars went with the student's to grab breakfast before he went on to teach his next cla.s.s which went without much trouble. Soon it was afternoon and Mars was preparing to teach his afternoon cla.s.s when a teacher came to the training field and called out to him

"Mars do you got a second?"

"Sure, what do you need Henry?"

Mars recognised Henry from the teachers meeting

"We got a complaint from a student that you banned from your cla.s.s"

"Ah right, the little s.h.i.+t that threw a rock at my head I a.s.sume?"

".... Yes that would be him although he just said that you threw him out of cla.s.s without reason"

"Well if you speak with the other students I think you will see the picture, I won't explain myself further as I have to prepare for cla.s.s"

"I see... Well I'll do as you recommended then"

Henry gave a nod and left the training field behind while Mars prepared for cla.s.s, soon the students arrived and Mars taught cla.s.s of course 78 was there too but instead of trying to get Mars' attention all the time she spoke with a few friends and helped them train their [Swordsmans.h.i.+p], Mars gave a nod seeing her get a little bit more independent as the afternoon cla.s.s slowly pa.s.sed it was time to train Gorge and his friends. Mars as usual sat down and meditated until they showed up

'My mandate... Energy... Home...'

Mars felt numerous thoughts pa.s.s through his head, like floating clouds he was able to observe them from afar as they flowed on without distributing his state of mind but all too soon he had to wake up from his meditation as Gorge and his friends arrived

"Well then let's get started"

Mars walked over and grabbed some wooden swords before he threw them to the group of four that easily caught them

"What are we doing today Mars?"

Katrina asked Mars that was doing some light stretches, Mars gave a smile and held his wooden sword up

"As warm up we will be having a light four VS one spar, in other words all of you come at me"

The four of them looked confused for a second before Katrina suddenly stepped forwards and slashed down on Mars that took a step backwards and narrowly avoided her swing before he yelled at the other three

"Come on, move it!"

The other three woke up from their daze and jumped at Mars, after about 10 minutes Mars was finished wiping the floor with them, they were all battered and bruised despite Mars not striking them once, the reason for their unsightly appearance was because they kept attacking without looking around them so when Mars dodged they often hit one of them resulting in the current situation. Mars gave a sigh and spoke with a wry smile

"Well now we know what to improve on, no need to feel down after all knowing what you need to improve is half the battle"

Mars' words managed to cheer the four of them up somewhat Mars gave a nod seeing that the fire in their eyes still burned brightly and continued onwards with the training, this time it was one on one as Mars directly attacked and lightly struck their weak points while telling them how to improve at the same time, time pa.s.sed and eventually the four students were all worn out from the training. Mars gave a smile and walked over to Gorge that was sitting on the ground and helped him up before he clapped him on the shoulder

"Good work today"

"Thanks Mars"

Then he did the same with the rest of the group and made sure they were all standing before he spoke to them again

"You all have done very well today, but remember that today is only the start on a long journey and that you have to keep it up for sometime before you will be able to see yourself improve... A certain amount of strength is needed to live freely in this world and I believe you all are on your way to obtain that strength... Well then see you tomorrow at the same time, same place"

Mars walked off leaving the group of four alone on the training field to catch their breath before they looked at each other with wry expressions on their faces as they imagined doing the same thing tomorrow too but then Freya spoke

"Tomorrow too... I don't even know if I am able to move tomorrow..."

Gorge gave a nod and so did the other two before he spoke

"Well he is without doubt the best [Swordsmans.h.i.+p] teacher this academy has to offer, so of course his training is hard... Let's just see if we can keep up with it"

Kelvin gave a nod and spoke

"My dad always said that strength is hard earned, now I kind of agree... There are no shortcuts"

The other three gave nods before Katrina spoke

"Well I am starving let's go get some food..."

The group of four left the training field to get some food, meanwhile Mars was starting his meditation without eating dinner and so before he noticed it was morning again and a new day had dawned as he got up and stretched before he walked towards the training field. Weeks pa.s.sed like this and soon Mars had been teaching at the academy for a month, he was now completely used to his life at the academy, currently it was afternoon and Mars was waiting for Gorge and his friends to show up for training so as usual he sat on the training field and waited for them to show up

'...Tomorrow is the day of the field trip... Hopefully it will go smoothly'

Mars had been to a couple of meetings about the field trip and knew that there had been years where there had been casualties among the students and teachers so he hoped that this year would go okay