On the ruins of a house that had collapsed until only its triangular roof structure remained, a brown-haired boy and a black-haired, curly-haired boy stood at opposite corners.
They let the strong wind blow through the space between them, listening to the flapping of their robe hems and waiting for the signal to begin.
Not far away, Lein sat cross-legged in his own robe, watching Downs and Harry prepare for their duel with a smile. If he had a goatee, he would have stroked it to project the air of an otherworldly sage he did not possess.
Lein announced loudly, "This is a friendly spar between fellow disciples. Go easy and don't hurt each other."
"Understood!" the two boys answered in unison.
They clasped their hands together and bowed to each other.
"Senior Brother! Please teach me!"
"Junior Brother! Don't hold back!"
Someone might have wondered: wasn't this supposed to be a magic duel?
Why did it look so wrong?
The transmigrator surnamed Lei figured that since the heavens had sent him to revive magical civilization, he might as well slip in some of his own stuff and spread a little culture.
That way, the mages of future generations in this world would all have scrambled aesthetics—scrambled DNA.
Lein raised his right hand, shaped like a blade, then swept it sharply downward.
A purple-blue flag dropped from the sky and planted itself on the ruined roof between them. In an instant, the flag dissolved into crackling lightning, which burst apart and vanished into the wind.
"Begin!"
This was the latest upgrade to the Never Tire of Teaching system: the sparring system.
Previously, Lei had claimed that as their master, he couldn't bring himself to give Downs a "loving beating." In truth, before the Campus Network came along, he would have