A barrier table appeared in front of the three in a blink, taking them by surprise. Lev took a step closer and started summoning equipment from his ring.

Shortswords, longswords, greatswords, maces, shields, hammers, spears, and many more things appeared atop the table, the eyes of his team widening proportionately. Lev had no idea how to use half of them.

"Take your pick," he said casually. "I will blunt the edges once you do."

"What about me?" Kayla piped up.

He brought out several wooden staffs, daggers, and light leather armors. "I didn't know what else you would need, since there's no mana channeling equipment standard for Classers."

"These are fine," she said with a small smile. Scrutinizing each piece carefully, Kayla eventually picked up a dagger. Amelia was holding the largest longsword on the table, and Jack was testing a broad hammer with two flat sides, foregoing the sharper choice. He also grabbed a round shield of medium length, not undermining the flexibility of his relatively small weapon.

Mage, Healer, Swordswoman, and a Shield. Quite balanced for a team, Lev noted, Perception slowed to take in all the subtle details. Their obvious joy aside, there were still doubts present in their movements. Whether they were because of his presence, or if it was the nervousness of an uncertain future, Lev didn't know.

I think I'll hold off from spoiling them from the very start, he smiled to himself, and discarded the initial plan of giving them the custom items in his ring. There weren't many, to begin with.

"Let's begin. Who will go first?"

Unsurprisingly, Amelia stepped forward first. Lev made the table and all the equipment vanish and formed a large bench in the left corner for the other two.

Suppressing a grin, he faced Amelia in the center and summoned Stargazer. The swordswoman staggered, and the spectators also sucked in shocked breaths. It lasted for a few seconds before they flew out of their seats and approached with hurried steps, eyes the size of dinner plates.

"Superior," Amelia wheezed, taking deep breaths to get used to the glaive's presence and center her thoughts. "Is that above Epic?"

Lev double-checked that the room's mana concealment was functional before replying. "Yup. I got this beauty remade after evolving. Still haven't fought with her."

"But…" Jack gulped. "Are superior items common?"

"Hell no," Lev laughed. "This is the only one I've ever seen."

Kayla nodded dumbly, too entranced to speak. Her gaze roamed the glaive's entirety several times, trying and failing to comprehend the sheer power packed inside.

"So much mana," she absently breathed out, eyes glazing over. With a shake of her head, she pulled herself together and created some distance.

"I'm sorry for startling you all," Lev said, slightly abashed. "I also need to get used to wielding her, and thought this would be a good opportunity."

"What about the blade?" Amelia pointed her sword at the glaive's empty top, still breathing heavily to calm herself.

"It's up to me to create it, which I will keep blunted," he said and gripped the haft firmly, settling into his usual stance, tip facing downward. A thick, blunt barrier blade took form in the glaive, increasing its overall length by more than a foot.

Amelia inhaled deeply, bending her knees while raising the sword up to her shoulders, its blade pointing straight forward. Her muscles audibly coiled like a spring as she pulled the sword back slightly, her explosive stance complete.

Lev observed it while forming a thin barrier along her blade, removing its sharpness. She matched the picture of a fire enhancer he had in his mind, given how her arms were strained to strike like a snake. A warm glow streaked through her body, originating from the torso. Fire enhancement improved her physical attributes considerably, the boost not that massive at her rank.

All the while, three completely invisible shields hovered around them, concentrated near the swordswoman. Lev was confident in stopping himself in time, but they still lingered near her to avoid any accidents.

"Kayla," he called out. "What is the range of your buffs?"

"Which one?" she asked. "I have both of them."

Lev paused. That was quite special as far as he knew. "Which attributes do they focus on?"

"The physical one enhances Strength, Dexterity, and Perception, whereas the magical one focuses on mana regeneration, Intelligence, and Perception."

What on Monarch? Lev tried not to show his shock. How the hell does all of that fit in a Classer healer class?

"No passive aura?"

Her shoulders drooped a little. "Just one that empowers the mana regeneration of everyone around me. It's toggled off because it can get slightly tiring."

Just one she says, Lev shook his head imperceptibly. What an incredible class.

"What about you?" he asked Amelia. "Anything special I should know about?"

She tilted her head slightly. "No, my class is normal. Fire enhancement, heat sense, fire manipulation, fire resistance, and swordsmanship. Fire slash and swiftfoot general skills."

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"No mana barrier?"

"It was deemed redundant," she replied, still holding her stance. "My teacher wanted me to focus entirely on my class and nothing else."

Lev shrugged a shoulder and looked at Kayla, who used her buffs on both of them. Her passive aura also came alive, empowering everyone's regeneration by a small amount. Since she was using her active buff on him, which was slightly higher in potency than the passive, the latter was ineffective.

The change is… minor, Lev noted in his slowed Perception, finding the buffs to barely make a difference. He already had massive boosts in each aspect she empowered.

Amelia was tensely waiting for the start signal, which he supplied with a nod as time returned to normal. She burst forward and learnt the first lesson— the difference in range. Stargazer snaked in a straight line, its speed glacial to his senses. Yet Amelia's widening eyes told him it was still too fast, so he slowed it even further.

The steel sword met it just in time to deflect the attack, saving her side from getting punctured. Only, the move was overdone, the force pulling her out of a proper stance slightly. Lev made her aware of the opening by pulling Stargazer back and thrusting it at Amelia's other exposed side again.

She seemed to have realized it too as a burst of fire escaped her sword toward him. Lev could've simply walked through them, but jumped to the side, aborting his attack to dodge. His opponent also hastily took a step back, trying and failing to mask her frustration.

She was panicking, and it wasn't hard to understand why. Stargazer had her own aura, and Lev's concealed presence wasn't anything to scoff at either. To top it off, the swordswoman was also no doubt trying to impress her future teammate. Her class was bound to be strong given her talent with fire, yet she fumbled the first move.

Lev gave her time, keeping his face impassive. He didn't want to show anything that might cause a misunderstanding.

Bringing her sword up, Amelia banished all self-doubts and focused on the opponent in front of her. When she moved again, her steps were slightly firmer, her gait more controlled. Stargazer sought to keep her at range again, but she deflected it with less force and flared her enhancement brighter.

With a grimace of pain, she slashed at him diagonally, the force and speed of the blow higher than expected. Lev blocked it easily enough with the haft of his glaive. A small frown flitted on his face but he didn't stop the spar. Stepping forward, he loosened his grip on Stargazer and let her slide back, grabbing hold of her closer to the blade.

Now more suitable for closer-range engagement, he met the swordswoman in a clash of blades.

Seconds passed as the sound of ringing steel echoed in the large hall. Kayla and Jack were standing behind the barrier wall Lev had conjured in front of them, just in case. Their eyes tracked every move as he aimed Amelia's openings, teaching her what she was doing wrong.

To her credit, she was rapidly finding her footing, cutting off excess movement borne of nervousness. With the large amount of her mana she was using to power the body enhancement, the spar wasn't going to last much longer.

Perhaps understanding that, she disengaged. Lev didn't pursue, curious about where this was going to go. Her entire body glowed a fiery red. Amelia gritted her teeth to focus through the pain of overloading her enhancement and surged forward, much faster than Lev could move at the same level.

Deflecting her first strike, he brought back Stargazer just in time to block her straight thrust, holding himself back greatly to let her have an advantage. Sword ground against Stargazer as it slid forward, missing his cheek by a few inches.

With a jerk, Lev slapped it away to backstep a middle kick, an eyebrow raising when she spun with it. Her sword followed her momentum and came around with a fireslash, which he ducked under to find a wave of fire heading for his face. From the corner of his eyes, he could see the tip of her sword rushing for his face from the left.

A small shield immediately took shape and blocked the wave of fire as the previous slash harmlessly exploded on the ground behind him. Thrusting Stargazer forward, he deflected Amelia's swords through her own flames, catching her off guard. She stumbled, almost falling face-first before Lev casually stood up and grabbed her shoulder to stabilize her.

"Not bad," he praised, genuinely impressed. "If the wave of fire was larger, I wouldn't have seen your sword. You're also quite a bit stronger than I was at your level, though…"

Amelia's lips were still curved downwards, clearly showing her pain. Channeling a bit of mana into the restoration converter, he suppressed a smile at the high efficiency and sent it into her right arm. The healing mana immediately took over after entering, gently flowing through her body and healing the burns caused by her own enhancement.

"You have a healing skill?" she blurted out in surprise.

Lev dismissed the barrier wall holding back her friends. "No, just a converter for the mana type. Is your resistance skill not potent enough?"

"It is," she avoided looking into his eyes. "My active skills are just significantly stronger in comparison."

… That makes two with stronger than usual classes. Where did Orianna find these guys?

"I hope you get used to the pain sooner rather than later," Lev said absently, remembering how moving his armor too fast affected his body in the early days. His Constitution was way higher now though, reducing the effects for the time being. It was bound to fall behind as his magical attributes grew further.

Amelia nodded, similarly solemn.

"You…" Kayla grabbed Amelia's arm with a furious scowl, biting back whatever she was about to say. "I told you not to push it."

Lev and Jack stayed on the side, sharing a glance and not interrupting. Kayla used her healing skill for the first time, answering Lev's question of whether they used the same mana type. Her's had a different flavor, one that fit the term 'healing' better than his own, but it was also… weaker? Lev wasn't proficient in healing skills.

"The burns were minor this time," Kayla said, exasperated. "Please wait until you have more Constitution to handle the enhancement before doing this again."

The swordswoman just nodded, looking at the ground. Kayla deflated seeing that and gave her a short hug before separating.

The burns were very much not minor, Lev thought while watching the interaction. Idiot nearly blackened her flesh for that burst of strength.

He would have to keep an eye on her. Pushing one's limits was respectable but the last thing he wanted was a repeat of Drakys' situation. Amelia would need to let go of the limits only when her life was on the line. Tolerating unnecessary pain regularly was unacceptable.

Jack hovered behind the girls, disapproval radiating off him, as well as concern. The trio had most likely tested the limits before if they were handling it so well.

"So," Lev summoned his refillable water bottle and filled a barrier glass before handing it to the swordswoman. "What did you notice in that short exchange?"

"I lack practice," she replied immediately with a frown. "I don't know my limits either, and have little to no control over fire."

"… I wouldn't say any of that is true," Lev said slowly, keeping the incredulity out of his tone. "You need to practice, is all. Everything else is already decent."

"And patience," Jack added, looking down on her silver head. "A lot of it."

"I'm sorry," Amelia said, her confidence vanishing as soon as the topic of fighting was no longer relevant. Lev stopped himself from showing any outward reaction, dissecting her mannerisms.

She has had her class for less than a month, but is already acting like she's used to wielding that sword of hers. Her control over fire is also way better than a fledgling apprentice mage, even if she refuses to acknowledge that. Monarch help us, that only leaves a single conclusion.

She was going to be a battle junkie. Lev was sure of it already.

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