The True Meaning of Practical Training

“What’s with that look? What’s with that look!” Aya Tone scolded, his voice dripping with frustration at the students’ lack of imagination.

His expression was exactly that of a father hoping his son would become a dragon.

“Don’t spend all day thinking about killing monsters. We’re civilized people. We need to focus on inner cultivation.”

“What does that have to do with us picking up trash…”

“How is it not related!” Aya Tone snatched the trash bag and immediately demonstrated what ‘inner content’ meant.

“Watch closely. Don’t just think about fighting all day. And! Besides the training room, every moment in life is an opportunity to train!”

Aya Tone opened the trash bag with one hand, and with a slight thought, the mana inside him materialized, wrapping around the scattered trash on the ground.

“Watch closely—picking up trash is also a skill!”

“……” The class of students saw the large hand formed from mana and collectively swallowed.

They wanted to say that they were only freshmen—mana manifestation was beyond their syllabus!

Sure, Aya Tone’s movements were smooth, no different from waving an arm.

But the precision of mana control was remarkable. Even a slight mistake could cause mana imbalance.

“Teacher…” a female student raised her hand pitifully.

Her mana contained explosive fire energy; if it became unbalanced, it could easily turn into a bomb…

A single blast would either kill or severely injure.

“What’s wrong?” Aya Tone had some impression of her.

Wasn’t she one of the two who used magical fusion earlier? What was her name?

Nong Yiyi?

Nong Yiyi poured out her worries.

“It’s fine. If it explodes, I can heal you. This is a good chance to practice your control.”

Your teacher isn’t a demon. If a student gets hurt, I’ll do my best to treat them.

And the sanitation of this area was fully under her responsibility; the surrounding crowd had been cleared. Even if it exploded, it would only damage the environment, not hurt innocents.

As for the other students…

Hah, this is a practical combat class. If you don’t get blown up a few times and injured, can you even say you took a practical combat class?

Nong Yiyi: “…”

It seemed she couldn’t avoid the fate of being injured by her own mana.

With her as the sacrificial lamb, the rest wisely shut their mouths.

Now they could only pray that when others exploded, they wouldn’t be too close, so as not to get caught in the blast…

“Stop dragging your feet. Clean up all this trash quickly.”

This outsourcing job had a deadline of half a day; otherwise, they’d deduct pay.

“Boom!!”

“Rumble!!”

“How many times is that?”

The old men in the park didn’t even lift their heads, continuing to focus on chess, but couldn’t help teasing.

“Fifty-six times. Are those young folks conducting some terrorist operation? Hey, checkmate!”

“Terrorist operation? That’s clearly self-harm. Young people these days are so quick to despair. Their bodies come from their parents, yet they don’t cherish them.”

“Wait, I didn’t see that. It doesn’t count.”

He grabbed the chess piece and moved it back, the action fluid—clearly a repeat offender.

The old man chuckled, not angry. This old friend was as shameless as ever.

Over the years, if he ever stopped being cheeky, the old man would worry that he’d been possessed by some evil spirit.

The occasional explosions from nearby added a unique touch to their retired life.

Back in the day, we too shed our sweat with such passion.

“Teacher… I… I can’t go on…”

“What do you mean ‘can’t’? A man can never say ‘can’t’!” Before the male student could finish expressing his limit, the holy light in Aya Tone’s hand fell on him.

In the blink of an eye, his battered body was restored.

“You’re fine now. Continue!”

“……” The male student looked at his hands, healed once again, and silent tears fell.

So tired, didn’t want to move…

His body was restored, but his mental exhaustion needed time to heal.

He regretted…

They had all thought it would be easy.

Picking up trash here was more terrifying than going into a dungeon to fight monsters.

Injuries from fighting monsters were at least medals of victory, but here, picking up trash, they got blown up every few steps. Worst of all, he hadn’t even done anything wrong, yet he was inexplicably half-killed…

He could already initially control mana manifestation, so why was he still being blown up?

It turned out that the most dangerous thing was always the companions beside you.

Teacher, I understand now.

“Hey, Nong Yiyi, you’re not doing that on purpose, are you!”

After another mistake by Nong Yiyi caused a mana imbalance and the explosion caught surrounding classmates, someone finally couldn’t help asking.

Even the dumbest person wouldn’t fail hundreds of times without any improvement.

Failing every time made people suspect it was intentional.

“S-sorry.” Nong Yiyi tightly covered the wound on her arm, head down, not daring to meet anyone’s eyes.

She understood that her repeated mistakes had caused them many injuries.

Seeing their wounds, guilt piled up like a mountain in her heart.

“Alright, everyone take a break.” Seeing the situation heading toward a bad end, Aya Tone clapped his hands, announcing the end of this practical combat class.

His gaze fell on Nong Yiyi, whose head was bowed so low it was almost buried in her chest.

The combat suits provided by Dragon Court Academy were indeed good quality; after so many explosions, there was only a little dust from the blasts.

It’s not like I wanted to see the damaged suits! (gulp)

After healing everyone, Aya Tone sat down next to Nong Yiyi.

When he sat down, he noticed that another female student was already sitting beside her—the one who had performed the combined attack.

What was her name?

Just as Aya Tone was trying to recall her name, Nong Yiyi suddenly looked up, her eyes red.

“Teacher, am I really that bad?”

“Ah?” Aya Tone was slightly taken aback. “No. The magic you two used together really impressed me.”

There was one thing Aya Tone didn’t say.

How could a student admitted to Dragon Court Academy have weak talent?

“Actually, that magic was all Tian Tian’s doing…”

Huh?

Aya Tone looked in surprise at the girl named Tian Tian, and her information came to mind.

Lin Tian, uses nature attribute magic…

“No… I just played a supporting role. Yiyi was the main force.” Unlike her masculine-sounding name, this young girl named Lin Tian spoke with a hint of shyness, giving the impression that she always wanted to hide.

And indeed, as she spoke, she had already hidden behind Nong Yiyi.

Severe social anxiety, huh.

Just from this encounter, Aya Tone had already labeled Lin Tian as “socially anxious.”

No one would have guessed that this duo—one socially anxious, one unable to perfectly control mana—could together unleash a magic that nearly reached B-rank power.

It seemed that Nong Yiyi’s power was too strong, making it hard to control, while Lin Tian served as a soothing agent, allowing her power to be unleashed perfectly.

In the end, it was still because they had only recently awakened.