Chapter 6. Change in Attitude

Noah opened his eyes slowly. The pain in his stomach was still there right when Natasha hit him in the solar plexus.

The young man got up immediately and cast his eyes around the surrounding area. He was in the infirmary, and no one seemed to be near him. The bed he lay was surrounded by closed white curtains, so Noah couldn't see his surroundings.

"The bleeding hasn't stopped. I've only seen something like this. It seems Noah is the only one who knows how to stop it."

"Really? Unfortunately, Noah is still unconscious."

"I'm here," Noah announced, drawing the attention of the two women talking.

The curtain to the right of Noah's bed opened, and Instructor Misa arrived with one of the doctors in the infirmary. Misa smiled to see Noah was fine. The crushing blow from Natasha didn't seem to significantly impact Noah.

"Thank goodness you woke up fast. Are you alright?" asked Misa, looking worried.

"I'm fine. It's just my stomach still hurts," Noah explained, pointing at the solar plexus where Natasha had punched her in the arena.

"Put it aside. What happened to Talon?" asked Noah, trying to get up from his bed.

Misa forbade Noah to stand up. He was worried that Noah's condition would worsen if the young man decided to push on.

"Since the sparring match, the wound on Talon's body hasn't healed. Doctor Nana and I have tried our best, but blood still flows from the small wound on Talon's body."

Misa decided to pull back the curtain that covered Talon's bed. Noah could see bandages on several parts of his body, from his arms, waist, chest, thighs, calves, neck, and a small part of his face.

Noah gulped down his saliva. He never thought his third skill would have such a significant impact on Talon's body. Talon's current condition was quite concerning. If they couldn't close the wound, Talon would slowly die of blood loss.

"You attacked Talon with your talent. Can you help stop the bleeding?" asked Misa, pointing at the unconscious Talon.

"I'll try," Noah explained.

His right hand stretched forward, from being clenched to wide open. From the power of his talent, Noah saw the blood from Talon's body begin to flow into Noah's body, which surprised Misa and Nana.

"What a unique talent," Nana noted, never having encountered someone who could control blood.

After all of Noah's blood grains returned to his body from Talon's body. Talon was slowly able to open his eyes, realizing he was lying limply on a bed with many bandages around his body.

"You can check his wound," Noah revealed.

Nana agreed. She carefully unwrapped the bandages on one of Talon's arms. Nana's eyes were shocked as her hands continued to unwrap the bandage, watching Talon's wound heal completely.

"The wound... has disappeared," replied Doctor Nana.

"How did you know?" asked Misa, curious.

"The blood from me stuck to Talon's body works with the characteristics of a sharp, piercing thorn. When I withdrew my skill, the regeneration in Talon's body worked quickly because of the help from my blood," Noah explained.

"You're terrible, Noah. I didn't expect you to have such a talent," praised Talon, casting his eyes sideways to look at Noah.

Noah was still sitting on the edge of the bed, smiling as he realized the strongest cadet in the academy was praising him. Noah also felt proud and happy to have such an ability, but he was only worried about the risks of that power that Noah didn't know yet.

"So what about the sparring?" asked Noah, looking at Misa.

"Mathias is still doing it, but he's become gentler than before. Maybe it's because Miss Natasha scolded him," Misa replied.

"Right! Where is she?" asked Noah, trying to locate Natasha, who had knocked him unconscious.

Misa shook her head, not knowing anything about Natasha's whereabouts. However, the most important thing was that Natasha trusted Misa to look after Noah while he was at the academy.

"Maybe she's back on duty. For now, I will be your guardian and watcher at the academy, Noah." Misa crossed her arms over her breasts and kept her eyes on the right side, watching Noah intently. Noah gasped at that, but the young man found it natural for Misa to say so.

This is based on Noah's talent, which is terrible for some people. Natasha also said that Noah's talent has its own potential aspects.

From the impact on Talon's body from the attack of Noah's third Blood Manipulation talent, it was certain that Misa would take firm steps to keep the victims of Noah's abilities from falling again.

"I don't want a similar incident like Talon to happen to another cadet," Misa explained, Noah clearing his throat in agreement with what Misa had said.

Noah glanced to the side again to see Talon's condition. It was fortunate that Talon had survived and not died, but it would have been a different story if a similar incident had happened to another cadet with less endurance than Talon.

"I understand."

After recovering in the infirmary for a while, Doctor Nana allowed Noah to return to his class, while Talon had to remain there until the final bell rang to restore the amount of mana lost from the young man's body.

Together with Misa, Noah slowly left the infirmary to arrive at his class. It was three o'clock in the afternoon, the last hour until dismissal.

The students had returned to class, but there was no lesson. Mathias had told them to rest after being tired from the sparring.

When Noah arrived at the classroom door, he was immediately greeted with quiet silence. The cadets who used to bully him began to step away. This was after they knew what Noah was capable of.

"What's wrong?" asked Noah, startling them as they immediately turned their attention away from Noah and began to occupy themselves.

Freya rose from her seat, stepping closer to Noah until she was right before him. Freya smiled widely in satisfaction, feeling confident when she met Noah.

"So, my guess was right, was it?" Freya asked.

"I'm sorry I lied to you. I didn't want to tell you I had such a talent," Noah replied, bowing his head.

"That's fine. I understand your reasoning after seeing your powers earlier," Noah explained.

"That was really cool. A power that's both terrifying and cool!" stated the other girl, walking up to Noah.

Noah glanced to the side, as did Freya, who looked at a girl with short, shoulder-length black hair and jet-black eyes.

"Kira?" Freya asked.

The enthusiasm in Kira really surprised Freya. Among all the cadets in the class, whether boy or girl, only Kira had a strong, quiet nature. However, when commenting on Noah's abilities, Kira's personality changed significantly.

"S-Sorry," Kira said softly.

"Thank you for your compliment." Noah smiled as he knelt before Kira, trying to get his eyes level with hers. Kira looked away quickly and returned to his seat, avoiding conversation with Noah.

"What's wrong with her?" asked Noah, curious.

"She's always been like that, quiet and introverted. That's why I was surprised to see her speak out loud to you, which is different from what I imagined about her," Freya replied.

Noah nodded. While talking to Freya, Instructor Mathias returned to the classroom. That sent all the cadets back to their seats.

"Good afternoon, cadets. Before you head home. I have something to tell you about the final exam," Mathias replied.

Mathias' eyes caught sight of Noah in his seat, but following Natasha's orders, he couldn't continue bullying him. Mathias was afraid that if he got angry again, then all the cadets in the class would be injured or even killed.

"The final exam will decide whether you graduate or not. However, at the moment of the exam, many cadets will die," Mathias replied.

"D-Dead?"

"Don't make jokes, Instructor Mathias."

"I'm not joking. This Final Exam has been held since the Beast Slayer was founded. You will go to the restricted district to compete for this," Mathias replied, reaching into his pants pocket and retrieving a diamond-sized pendant with stunning ornamentation and engraving.

All the cadets' eyes were on the pendant, an object the size of an adult man's hand. Noah was sure he could snatch the pendant from the restricted district.

"The instructors will hide the pendant in several places. There are seven pendants for the 10 teams to fight over," Mathias replied.

"Teams?" asked one of the cadets.

"It's not an individual battle?" asked another cadet, Mathias shook his head.

"You've shown your individual skills well. Now it's your job to work as a team to get this thing," Mathias said.

Mathias kept the pendant on his desk as he picked up the file he had brought with him, containing the cadets' names divided into their groups.

"I will read out the names of you and your groups." Mathias began reading the names of the cadets and their groups. Starting from group 1 to the last group. Right on the list of group 6, Noah's name was called out.

"You will be in the same group as Kira and Susan!" announced Mathias. Noah said yes.

He looked at Kira, and she returned his gaze shyly. However, when Noah looked at Susan, her facial expression turned hostile, and she turned away rudely.

"That's the distribution of the groups. I hope you can get ready soon. The final exam will be held when the full moon arrives," Mathias replied.

"That's next week!" insisted several cadets, to which Mathias agreed.

"That's right. Prepare your strategies before the exam, strengthen your magic skills, and get practicing," said Mathias.

"Anyone who fails in this final exam. Then he will have to retake it next year."