Beyond M-Eclipse: Easy Mode LIVE

———Lynda———

“Now I wasn’t there to witness it, but all of us have received the report.” He suddenly said. What is he talking… Oh. Is it about that? “The student Kenni Krale has been terrorising students, winning each match in a few seconds and moving on to the next so quickly she ended up causing a lot of grief… It is odd for such a stunt to be pulled off and reported so quickly.”

“Is anything gonna be done about that?” Trener bitterly asked, as one of the people who got his ass beat. At least I almost survived for half a minute.

“No. Such an act does not violate any guidelines. Though if she did this for a few more days, then we might consider reprimanding her.” He said, sounding more bored than anything. Why are you acting like this is normal!? “But I am not telling you all of this just to rub it in your face. Her actions do lead into today’s topic. The efficient usage of mana.”

Huh? Is this class gonna be a long lecture? Do we need to bring pens and papers? I sure hope there isn’t any actual need for that, or homework. Why would a P.E. class even provides homework.

“The reason she, or anyone else skilled in combat, can defeat a large number of people in only a few seconds is because she has mastered the basics of mana. When you get past that threshold, your body gains strength as you accumulate more mana. In a combat state, the mana in your body will be used to bolster your defense and offense, doing so automatically. It is not a conscious spell, but something akin to a state of being. You can still layered supportive spells on top to amplify your strength, but that is still too complicated for many of you who haven’t dealt with magic until recently.” Yeah, this seems to be a long one. Just a long lecture on something I already- “Why don’t the two of you try to explain how it works and feel? Lynda and Glery.”

“Excuse me!?” Why are you calling me out so suddenly!? “Can I… not?”

“Hmm…” He pondered as he looked at the reaction of my classmates. What the hell are you doing putting us in the spotlight!? “Perhaps that is not necessary, but it would be a boon to your classmates if you two could assist them. I’m sure all of you want to stop getting wasted in only a few seconds.”

Is he rubbing it in to provoke these guys? Making them try to learn it out of personal pride and spite? That’s one hell of a way of motivating your student. Talk about letting no crisis go to waste… I also feel like while this would help them last longer against those freaks, they will still end up as a bunch of punching bags, unfortunately. Those talented freaks are something else.

———Karra———

“...By the way, what the heck are you gonna be teaching?” Kenni asked, not sounding even a little bit cautious as she asked Rico.

“Me? Well, the catch here is that everyone else is teaching the other class about stuff like mana-cladding or whatever. You guys have all mastered the practical stuff already, so you guys need to build up more before trying to master anything, at least that’s my very expert opinion.” She said with the carefree tone unfitting of someone who should be a professional. I know she’s never someone to take herself super seriously… In fact, it kinda reminds me of Coach Wana in a way. “Mhm? Karra, you have something to say?”

Suddenly I felt a strong sense of dread that interrupted my line of thinking. What the hell was that!? I was just… “N-No, it’s nothing.”

“Anyway, back to whatever I was just talking about…” Now that I think about it, where is Coach Wana right now? “Karra. Are you listening?”

“Of course I am! Stop singling me out!” I called her out on the weird behavior and vibes she’s giving off. Why can’t she bother the rest of the class?

“It is quite rude for someone who is supposed to be a teacher.” Gregori remarked, butting in on this weird situation.

“Seriously? Whatever.” Rico said dismissively, probably intending on getting back on track despite the fact that she is the one derailing her own plan. “Anyway, I need you guys to just focus on gathering strength for this class. Meditate, beat each other up, cast hundreds of spells. Don’t care, any of those will work.”

*Beep*

She pressed a few things on her tablet and the room lit up, with patterns showing up in certain areas. I think this means mechanics like auto-healing is applied, so we can fight and damage our body without worrying about the aftermath. Obviously anything fatal is still off-limits, only so much these things can do, according to Wiina.

…Or was it a bit more than that? Can’t quite recall the specifics, but I sure as hell don’t want to figure it out. Last thing I want to do is traumatize my friend by pulverizing their body just to see if they’ll die or not. Have to be one hell of a crazy person to do anything of the sort.

“Excuse me, Rico.” Suddenly, Orrel walked over and asked a question before everyone could go about their business.

“What’s up?” She replied casually.

“Why hasn’t the institution found a way to give us access to the dungeons? Isn’t that one of the easiest ways to gain strength?” He asked, bringing up a topic I haven’t thought about in a while. “What exactly are you guys planning?”

“Someone’s been doing their homework, I see.” She said with a sly grin. “It’s good to know that those books weren’t merely collecting dust. They provide quite a lot of insight, but I was a bit skeptical if any of you still valued physical books.”

When you kill something, you siphoned a small portion of their power in the process.

I don’t know the exact mechanic or why it is even a thing, but it is a way to gain power in a relatively short amount of time.

But it has a rather disturbing limitation. Unless it is a being high in mana, those that are naturally powerful and monstrous, you will gain nothing out of it. It basically left you with only a few things you can kill and stole the power from.

Monster, mythical beasts, demons… and humans. It’s disturbing, despite how such a practice is seen in games as commonplace… It’s pretty screwed up, especially in novels when there’s no excuse of it being a gameplay thing.

At least from what Wiina told me, it is not something you could entirely rely on, and mastery still takes precedent. It seems to have a few limits to it, and that the act of killing doesn’t provide as much as one may think. There is a method to siphon more, but it takes even more inhumane acts than taking a life. Hard to imagine what is more cruel than that.

“So? I don’t think this place lacks the resources to strong-armed something like that.” Orrel confidently said. That much is impossible to argue against. The fact that they are even allowed to actually make this place a legitimate school probably means some way of stringing the officials along despite how absurd and unprecedented this place is in many ways.

“Heh. Just because it’s possible doesn’t mean it will, you know?” She said with her gaze sharpened and her small grin looking oddly serene. Something about her has felt different ever since the Eclipse, but nothing about her actually changed… or does it? “You kids are really impatient and wanting an answer right away for something you might never even get.”

It’s odd. According to Wiina, she hasn’t changed at all. But how can that be true when the atmosphere surrounding her felt entirely different, and the vast gap in strength that couldn’t be explained away by talent, alongside the oddity in her parent’s store.

The way she talks is also suspect. It’s something I haven’t really thought about too much, but she seems to disassociate herself with us and the other students despite the small age gap. There is a… sense of wariness, in some of the things she has been saying.

“You cannot possibly convince anyone here that there are no plans to involve dungeons.” Gregori interrupted the confrontation with his own opinion, siding with Orrel in getting an answer.

The air feels heavy. There is a strong sense of tension in the air. Neither side has lashed out, as obviously it would be unbecoming of either side.

“Think however you want, but it’s not my job to spill every bit of information.” Rico replied, making it clear she’s not so easily fettered. Just what is with this line of questioning. There seems to be too much weight put on it than necessary. It seems to come more from the attitude of both sides rather than the significance of the topic itself. “So? Are you two done wasting time and distracting your merry band of friends? Glaring at me isn’t gonna do anything.”

A condescending observation. It flagrantly comes off as antagonistic. Not saying anything wrong, but at the same time pointing things out that would’ve upset anyone regardless of how factual it is.

We are watching this scene unfolding, not actually being productive. That much is not wrong, but most people wouldn’t actually call attention to it aside from making mockery of the instigator.

Both Orrel and Gregori look rather frustrated. Not just that they got no answers in return, but also because trying to argue with that line of observation, no matter how blunt or antagonistic, will make them look rather foolish. Even if both of them called out on her antagonistic tone, it wouldn’t change the fact that they are keeping this line of questioning going even though she makes it clear they will not get the answer they want.

As if knowing the conversation is already over, and continuing it would just lead to more pointless argument, Rico simply walked away, getting up on the bleachers and sat there.

“Well, you tried, at least.” Useph quickly walked over to Orrel and consoled him.

“It was a fool’s errand from the start, let’s be real.” Kenni said with an exaggerated shrug, leaning in towards Orrel with a funny face.

*Smack*

“Ow!” She got hit in the head by Gregori for the whole act, playing it up by holding the back of her head and crouching down despite not being hit that hard.

“Let’s just forget about this.” Gregori said with a hint of frustration.

…Wasn’t he only there for the last little bit? He should be way less miffed than Orrel who started the whole thing in the first place.

But then again, he is quick to temper compared to him. Orrel is kind of a mild dude, not exactly one to shout or shit talk. The two have their shared interests, but their personalities are quite different.

Anyway, everyone started doing their own things or as a pair. They’re looking the other way and keep this behind them if at all possible, so I’ll do the same and go chat with Wiina or something. Maybe she’ll tell me in private if we’ll get in a dungeon or not. I’ve been raring to go in for a long time now! I have things I want to try out!

———Wiina———

…Oh right. I haven’t streamed in a good while. I’ve been focusing on reading what we’ve been talking about in the group chat and stuff, as well as school work, but the contents are quite light and not really worth thinking about.

Rico has really gotten into their heads with those words of hers. She really went mask-off during that whole spiel, barely containing her natural disdain for people in general. Just let people ask something even if it’s stupid to do so without being so condescending about it, can’t you just do that. You were managing just fine before!

Anyway, back on the topic of this very small hobby of mine that went nowhere. The fact that it only spiked up whenever people wanted to interrogate me for info on Karra and… myself, really makes it clear I wasn’t all that successful with this.

Good thing I mainly do it for fun, not that the last few streams have been, with impatient tourists filling in just to ask some questions and dip. If I was more like usual streamers and just wanted the clout I probably wouldn’t mind it as much.

At this point and time, I know what is going on in the rest of the world, roughly speaking, as well as what is going on with this little town I’m in. When it comes to if there are vultures around my channel for streaming for fun… No idea, honestly.

I feel like there should be some prospective young streamers who also became a student here. They could get some attention. I know Karra has been posting some short videos on it, getting a good deal of impressions.

…Speaking of Karra. She is also pretty damn keen on going into a dungeon. Which I can’t fault her for. That stream of the two of us exploring the dungeon next to the school rakes in a good deal of views, and even more on the archive once the words spread.

I would’ve like to tell her that it is happening, but it’s not like I’m given the schedule for everything. Been acting as more of the muscle of the operation than anything else. I’m not even an actual school staff member, let alone a teacher who would’ve gotten some sort of notice.

Sometimes people really need to remember that I technically start with the same amount of knowledge as most of the world, which isn’t a lot, and even now there are still things not said to me.