Hayden made his way up the aisle, climbing the staircase until he reached Aubrey's row. She was seated somewhere in the middle, about five seats away from the aisle. Aubrey held her paper tightly, her hesitation clear in the way she glanced at him, unsure about handing it over.
"What's the problem? Let me see it," Hayden said, outstretching his hand as a gesture.
Aubrey averted her gaze without uttering a word, refusing to pass her paper.
"If you don't hand it over now, I'll give you 0%."
Reluctantly, Aubrey went towards the aisle while trying to avoid eye contact, her steps hesitant and uneasy as she passed the paper onto Hayden's open palm.
Hayden was taken aback that she actually handed her paper over. 'Was she conscious about getting a low mark?' Hayden thought to himself.
Looking back, Aubrey in her previous school didn't excel in academics. In fact, Froilan even cautioned Hayden that she often skipped classes. Aubrey was completely ignorant of her grades, but has she changed now?
The only hint Hayden notices is that perhaps Aubrey has zero interest in scholarly pursuits. Instead, she's passionate about learning Demon Hunting since she became grade conscious upon entering the academy.
Hayden stretched out the paper, grasping it firmly at the top and bottom as he scrutinized her essay. "Are you serious with this nonsense?" he exclaimed, barely holding back his laughter.
"I'm confident I've polished my essay impeccably," Aubrey defensively said. "And regarding its content, we've studied this topic in our prior classes, so I can't get it wrong."
She held her head high, 'I know my stuff," her inner voice chimed.
"You're claiming this material has been covered in previous lessons?" Hayden smirked mockingly. "That's rather amusing—I was under the impression this academy prides itself on top-notch teaching quality. Frankly, what's written in this paper barely scratches the surface about Demon Hunting." He glanced at Aubrey for a second before pulling his eyes back to the paper. "Fine, I'll read it out loud."
"In 1800, chaos descended upon Earth as gates—bla bla bla…" Hayden recited before commenting. "I said write about blessing, not blabber about history."
"You said write every-" Aubrey tried retorting, but was interrupted by Hayden.
"Shut up. I'm not done reading." He then continued, "Individuals with Blessing are called Demon Hunters. Blessings can manifest in various and unique ways; some individuals are graced with elemental magics such as fire, water, lightning, and all elements that exist. Subsequently, there are cases where one may awaken to possess distinctive magics like weaponry or augmented abilities."
While Hayden was reading, gritting teeth sounded from the other students. Aubrey is the third best performing student in class 1A, so her classmates were definite about her paper being well-written with facts, but Hayden's disapproving expression as he read it suggested otherwise. It was as if he was belittling not only Aubrey but the entire pride of the academy—and it's making the students' forehead to curl.
"Don't tell that one is wrong," Aubrey said, her chin lifted with confidence. "I've read that directly from the books."
Both Aubrey and the instructor are the only person standing on the aisle, drawing all eyes on them. But despite the weight of everyone's attention, Aubrey stood straight with a puffed shoulder, reflecting her confidence in her essay.
Hayden scoffed contemptuously, "Pfft—everyone knows that."
He flipped the paper around before resuming, "There are two primary ways to wield a Blessing—the first and most common approach is magic manipulation. Magic manipulation is the simplest to use since its only function is to control an existing magic. For instance, DHs with fire elements could pluck the fire out of the torch and float it around. The other approach is magic creation, often used in combats and unlike magic manipulation, it's harder to perform as it demands the user's mana. Magic creation is simply the process of summoning one's blessing out of thin air."
There's a lot more to read, but Hayden folded the paper and handed it back to Aubrey, commenting, "Glad I didn't read all of your garbage."
"So you think you're some kind of big shot?" a male voice from the back heckled.
Everyone's eyes darted towards that direction, spotting a guy alone in the furthest back with his feet propped up the seat in front. His arms spread open, loosely laid on the backrest of his seat. The guy was rocking an army cut, and band aids swarmed his face, taped on the bridge of his nose, left cheek, chin, and left corner of his eyebrows.
The way he's brazenly sprawled out in his seat and his messed up face will give anyone the impression that he's a delinquent, which actually isn't far from reality as no one dared to sit next to him for his arrogant and unruly behavior.
"Taking her essay as a parody while you yourself is a joke of an instructor," he smirked. "I bet you're an E-ranker at best," he added in a louder tone.
"Huh, what's that again?" Hayden's ego wouldn't let such audacity slide, but upon closer look, the appearance of the guy that spoke somewhat resonates within his mind.
Earlier in the lounge, Vash informed Hayden that the student he had beef with has a sharp jawline, band aids across the face, and Vash precisely described the student as a version of himself when he was younger.
Hayden was certain this was the guy, but needed confirmation, "Are you Klein?"
"What if I am, mister know-it-all?" came the defiant reply. "Feeling like you know everything when you can't even prove her essay wrong. That's pathetic. You claim to be a young instructor, but your action says you're just downright childish."
Klein messing with the instructor wasn't a surprise—he was notorious for clashing with all of their professors. What was surprising, however, was that he was now fighting to defend Aubrey, something completely out of his character.
"I'll admit that all of you learned the fundamentals based on this bitch's essay, but that's not what I'm trying to point out," Hayden said. "It's just that your knowledge lacks substance. At that rate, y'all will struggle performing even a basic spell."
"Don't take us so lightly," Jea, Aubrey's friend, retorted sharply. "Haven Academy is the best of the best. Every student here can cast a basic spell with ease, and some can do much more."
"Yea! You're in no position to underestimate us," more students became open with their voice. Because of Klein, the students who were previously shrinking in fear found the courage to revolt.
In just a second, more students chimed in boldly, commenting about how horrible of an instructor Hayden is.
Hayden's eyes roamed the room, his brows knitting together. "Oh, so you think you're all smart, huh? Alright then, consider this: an enemy hurls a fireball straight at you. Dodging it is impossible, but you have the power to deflect it with your own spell. You can use any elemental magic. Which element do you choose?" Hayden posed a situational question, and the answer is obvious to everyone.
"Even a kid would know that blasting water to a fireball would counter it completely," Jea answered confidently.
"But what if the enemy is your friend, and you don't want to harm her? If you use water, it will extinguish the fireball but might also hurt her in the process."
The students thought for a moment until one student came up with an alternative approach. "You could make a water barrier instead of shooting it towards the fireball."
"Stagnant water is weak—the fireball will seethe up the barrier and boils you like an egg," Hayden replied. "Do any of you know what will happen when two fire elements collide?"
"I possess fire type magic, I know my blessing all too well," Klein said before continuing with his answer. "Upon impact, the flames will combust and produce a larger explosion."
"Are you sure?" Hayden pressed the paper into Aubrey's chest, forcing her to take it.
He then slid his hand into his pockets before adding, "Pou, lock the room," he smiled wickedly, "Let's test if he's correct—right here, right now."