Edited by: Chip

The promised day with Atlas’ combat teacher arrived. This person was called a “monk” but in this world, monks were people who specialized in martial arts and magic. Their fighting style focused on using their fists and would occasionally use their legs. It can be both close combat using their fists and range combat using magic, so monks were quite strong. 

The monks in this world were not spiritual either, so Atlas had a hard time getting the image of a bald spiritual person out of his mind… 

His teacher was a woman(?) in her mid-twenties. Her name was Devina Altman. She had dark brown hair that looked more like black in certain lighting, but in the sun, her hair was a beautiful shade of brown. She also had brown eyes, showing that her highest attributed magic was Earth Magic. She also had tanned skin. Atlas wasn’t sure if it was because she was out in the sun every day, or if she was born with it. 

Still, she had this masculine look to her that made someone want to be protected by her. She wasn’t wide and bulky like Wallace, but she did have muscles that were defined and cut.

Overall, she was quite handsome! 

Devina was also an Aura master. Aura masters were those who mastered a combat skill. This could include martial arts, sword arts, spear arts, etc. Anyone with a combat skill could become an Aura master but it was difficult and the requirements were unknown and were still being studied. 

That was why, children who were told “they could be an aura master” were children who had a combat skill outside of magic skills. 

“So you must be Lord Atlas.” Devina looked at Atlas and didn’t seem surprised to see his hair color or his eye colors. “You can call me Teacher Devina.” 

Atlas wanted to ask what pronouns Devina used but wasn’t sure if he should ask. 

“Ah, I can see the look on your face, asking about my gender and what pronouns I use. I’m intersex and decided to not go by any gender. We call ourselves agender. There’s a lot of us in this world and it’s one of the many genders out there. You can refer to me using they/them pronouns.” 

Even though Atlas was a bit shocked, he quickly accepted it. There were people in his past life who also identified as an agender person. Agender meant the person didn’t align with any gender at all. Some people identified as non-binary and they often used the/them, but the people who identified with that term could be different from each other. 

Well, gender was forever changing and differed between cultures. Atlas was not one to judge and respected everyone’s gender.

“I understand! Thank you for teaching me, Teacher Devina.” Atlas was earnest about wanting to learn more about this world, especially because this world was different from his previous life’s world. “There’s a lot I don’t know about the Hirean Empire, nonetheless how gender works, so I hope you don’t mind me making mistakes from time to time.” 

“Ah, I do recall the Duke saying that you were living in the forest for a really long time. Since you are ignorant, no one will fault you as long as you are willing to learn.” 

“Thank you, teacher! I will do my best to learn well.” 

“Well, that’s the spirit!” Teacher Devina gave a hearty laugh while patting Atlas on the shoulder. “Since you are very willing to learn, let’s start with some exercises to get your body going. The Duke told me you can use some magic so we can do that later. I heard you don’t have any systemic training when it comes to martial arts, am I right?” 

“That’s right. I have never learned to fight and I can use magic but it’s using instincts. I’m not very good with magic theory but I will try my best.” 

 “Hmmm… Alright, I will note that for you. Let’s start with running. I want you to run 10 laps around the training grounds. Try your best to maintain a constant pace. Don’t worry about time, I just want to see how good your stamina is.” 

“Yes, Teacher Devina!” 

They were already at the training grounds right now, so Atlas got started and began to run. The training grounds were about half the size of a football field, so running ten laps was a lot, but not something Atlas couldn’t handle. 

He used to run with Sir Walter in the forest when he was bored, so running on the flat training ground was a walk in the park! 

“He seems to be having an easy time running. I guess I can increase the number of laps and add some more exercises for today…” 

Sir Walter was also near the training grounds, but he was taking a nap by a large tree. He knew that it was Atlas’ training, not his, so he decided to just stay nearby and take a nap. If Atlas needed him, he would come running. 

Atlas actually liked to run, so he ran at a speed that was much faster than what Devina was expecting, but he was able to run at a constant speed, not showing any signs of fatigue. 

It didn’t take long before he finished running all ten laps. 

“Good job, kiddo. You tired? Do you need to rest?” 

“I’m good! I did a lot of running in the forest, so this isn’t too bad.” 

“Oh? Ok, then let me teach you three moves. You will do each of them 100 times, got it?” 

“Yes, teacher!” 

Atlas wasn’t the fastest learner, but after getting pointers and tips from Devina, he was able to start doing the techniques all the way up to 100. It was a lot different from running because his stance, posture, and movements had to be precise to get a pass from Devina to continue. If he messed up, he had to do it again until he got it right. 

By the time he was done, he was exhausted, but happy. 

“Alright, you can rest but we will be talking about magic.” 

“Okay.” Atlas sat down on the ground and took some water out of his item box. He slowly drank, doing his best not to drink too fast. 

“So, what do you know about magic?” Devina wanted to know where Atlas was at in his magic theory studies.

Atlas stopped drinking and thought about it. Honestly, he was taking a magic theory class but he just couldn’t understand it. In his mind, imagination while activating mana equals using it. 

“You imagine using it while activating mana and then boom, you got yourself magic.” 

Devina physically stopped moving and their mind went blank. Even if they weren’t the smartest, they at least knew some magic theory. Atlas on the other hand… Was he a brawn-over-brains kind of person? Well, he wasn’t wrong but it was a bit too simple of an explanation and that wouldn’t slide in the Imperial Academy. 

“You technically aren’t wrong but you have to learn more about mana and how it works in your body and its surroundings.” 

“I did but it’s a bit complicated. I learned magic using instincts and wasn’t taught by a teacher… If it works, can’t I just continue doing what I have been doing?” 

“It’s not like you can’t, but knowing how it works, as my teacher once said, is a way to make sure your mana is stable, especially when you use high-level magic. If you don’t understand how it works, you can hurt yourself.” 

Atlas thought back to the time when he was in the forest and used a large lightning bolt to kill that A-ranked bear, White Star. After using that move, he fainted from mana exhaustion. If he was really unlucky, another monster could have eaten him while he was passed out. 

That was when he realized that it was probably better to understand how magic worked in this world. 

“I understand, thank you for explaining that to me, Teacher Devina!” 

Seeing that Atlas understood, Devina gave a small sigh of relief. 

“It’s good you understand. What kind of magic can you use? We can tailor your combat around that.” 

“Well, I can use Fire, Lightning, Light, Earth, and a little bit of water.” 

“That’s a pretty good selection. Lightning is considered to be one of the strongest offensive attributes, but it’s one of the most difficult to control. I can’t use it, but I can use Earth and Fire, so I can teach you how to use those first with your martial arts!” 

Devina was not a magic theory teacher, so they will leave that to the other teacher. What they could teach was the practical use of magic, something that was important to learn alongside magic theory. 

“Thank you, teacher!” 

“It’s not a problem. We will start incorporating magic once you finish learning all the martial arts moves. It will take some time, but do not rush and learn magic theory well in the meantime.” 

“Understood!” 

Since it was the first day, Devina ended Atlas’ first day of training right there. They also told him to study hard in magic theory class because they would be asking him what he learned in class. 

Atlas didn’t complain and said his goodbyes to Devina. 

He vowed that he would do his best with his studies and training!