The Drafty Class Leader

Early the next morning, the lower deck was steeped in a stifling, peculiar atmosphere.

Yesterday's clamor and bloodshed had faded, yet the invisible barrier amid the surrounding whispers was even stronger than before.

The reserve apprentices around him were all avoiding Li Ang. He knew that, as Matthew's "prey," no one else dared get too close to him.

Before long, the assembly call rang out. It was the signal for breakfast, and they went to a somewhat larger cabin on the fourth deck to eat.

This place barely counted as a crude dining hall. Several long wooden tables and benches were fixed to the deck, giving off an old, rotten smell.

Soon, two silent sailors carried in the food.

Each reserve apprentice received a chunk of dark, hard coarse bread that reeked of fermented sourness, along with a bowl of watery oatmeal porridge in which the grains could practically be counted.

"Why are we eating this again?" A young noble pinched his nose as he stared at the food before him, his face turning green.

Most of the others were frowning deeply as well, looking as though they could hardly swallow it.

They might not have been extravagantly wealthy before, but when had they ever eaten such coarse food?

Not to mention, they had been eating this stuff for several days in a row.

Li Ang silently picked up his black bread and oatmeal, then found an empty spot and sat down.

He broke off a small piece, put it in his mouth, and chewed slowly.

The rough grains scraped against his mouth, and the sour, astringent taste made him want to vomit, but he forced himself to swallow.

His body needed energy, especially now, when illness plagued him.

He took a sip of oatmeal to wash down the hard-to-swallow bread. Heh, this bowl of stuff was less porridge than it was water.

As Li Ang grumbled inwardly, he began to miss his old life desperately. Never mind the meat at every meal in his previous life—even the original owner's former life had included white bread and thick soup with meat in it!

He truly missed the satisfaction that fat brought.

Just then, he noticed Helena sitting diagonally across from him.

One of the few girls yesterday who had sympathized with Li Ang's plight and had not joined in the "bullying," she was now eating her portion in tiny bites with great seriousness.

Unlike the others, she did not complain or show disgust. She merely lowered her head slightly and carefully ate the chunks of bread soaked in her bowl of porridge, one bite at a time.

Sensing Li Ang's gaze, Helena looked up. Their eyes met, and when she saw it was Li Ang, she gave him a slight smile in greeting. She had some goodwill toward the boy who had lent her a hand yesterday.

Li Ang returned Helena's smile. He, too, had some goodwill toward the girl who had not joined the others in mocking and isolating him.

Suddenly, a small commotion came from the entrance to the dining hall. Matthew had arrived.

His face still bore obvious bruises and swelling, especially around his chin and lips. The swelling made his once fairly proper features look somewhat comical.

Most eye-catching was his slightly turned-out upper lip. A conspicuous gap showed there, where one front tooth ought to have been. Now, there was nothing at all.

As he walked, he deliberately kept his back straight to preserve what little authority he had left, but deep in his eyes lurked a trace of undisguised fright and humiliation.

Kavi still followed closely behind him, his face wearing a fawning expression and a barely noticeable hint of schadenfreude.

"Class Leader, please sit."

Kavi pulled out a bench, his voice as booming as though he were calling a drill command. In the quiet dining hall, it sounded rather abrupt.

Matthew nodded faintly, trying hard to maintain the dignity of the class leader. He slowly sat down, took the black bread Kavi offered him, and carefully bit into it.

"Hiss!" A muffled cry of pain escaped him.

The hard black bread struck the wound on his lip, making him suck in a sharp breath.

He instinctively covered his mouth, and a flash of pain and embarrassment crossed his face.

"Big Brother... Class Leader, take it slow..."

Kavi hurriedly leaned closer.

Matthew set down the bread with a dark expression, then picked up that bowl of watery oatmeal.

He scooped up a spoonful and carefully brought it to his lips.

Enduring the pain from his lip, he swallowed the spoonful, and then... quite a bit of the thin porridge flowed back out through the gap in his lip.

"Pfft..." Someone in the dining hall failed to hold back a very quiet snicker, then hastily swallowed it down.

Matthew's movements froze at once, his face shifting from green to red.

He jerked his head up and swept his fierce gaze across the crowd, trying to find whoever had dared laugh at him.

But everyone had their heads lowered, pretending to focus intently on the food in their bowls.

"Hmph." Matthew let out a muffled snort, then spoke.

"All... all of you, eat faster. When you're done... cough... hurry back and meditate. Whoever... whoever holds us back, don't blame me for being rude!"

That drafty threat, paired with his swollen cheeks and missing front tooth, lost most of its intimidation.

Quite a few reserve apprentices kept their heads lowered, but their shoulders were trembling slightly.

Matthew had barely eaten anything before getting to his feet and leaving first, his face iron-blue. Kavi hurried after him.

Only after he left did the atmosphere in the dining hall seem to loosen slightly, and the complaints about the food resumed in low voices.

Li Ang finished his last mouthful of bland oatmeal and felt a little strength return to his body.

He did not linger. He rose as well, silently left the dining hall, and headed straight back to his tiny ramshackle room.

He shut the door, cutting off the noise and moldy stench outside.

Under the effect of [Gale-Sailing Canvas] Lv1, the air in the room circulated more quickly, and it became noticeably fresher at once.

He sat down cross-legged and took out the Level-0 Spell Compendium.

His Astral Star had already condensed, and much of his mental strength had recovered. It was time to learn his first spell.

He opened the book and let his gaze settle on one of the spells within.

[Level-0 Spell: Breeze Technique]

[Effect: Within the range of the caster's mental guidance, gather or disperse a small area of airflow, forming a breeze]

[Spell Structure: Use an Astral Star to trace a basic wind-element symbol and trigger magical resonance]

[Learning Requirement: Wind-element affinity; at least one Astral Star condensed within the Mental World]

"Gather or disperse a small area of airflow?"

Li Ang softly read out the effect description, and something suddenly stirred within him. This description was so familiar!

He instinctively looked up, as though he could see through layers of rotten planks to the three sheets of [Gale-Sailing Canvas] hanging high above on the mast.

"The principles... are almost identical!" Surprise burst into Li Ang's eyes.

The canvas used the Wind-Gathering Array to control airflow on a large scale, while [Breeze Technique] used mental strength to trace runes and achieve a similar effect within a small range!

At their core, both involved guiding and shaping the flow of wind-element magic. Only their scale, medium, and degree of precision differed.

This discovery was like a lighthouse in the black of night, instantly illuminating the path ahead for his spell studies.

He no longer needed to force himself, like the other apprentices, to understand that abstract "symbol." Instead, he connected it with the sense of airflow manipulation he had already "felt" through the canvas.

His consciousness sank into the Mental World, where that azure Magic Starlet rotated obediently.