After spending their time, listening to all the theoretical knowledge. The Class-S and A, students were standing in the spacious room of the dorm, while instructor Leo, kept pacing forward and backward in front of them.

The place seemed strangely scented.

Raviel rubbed his eyes, and yawned, he glanced around without much interest at first.

Then something clicked.

'...Huh?'

He looked again.

Most of the familiar top rankers were missing.

All the clan heir's and rank-6, 7, 8 — gone.

Raviel's sleepy brain finally connected the dots.

'This sleep is really killing me!...'

All the top eight rankers were choosen to be the leaders to the upcoming visit to the newly discovered ruin. As far as Raviel knew, the ruin exploration was an important event according to the novel, where all the leads and the main character finally do something plot worthy.

Raviel's mood dipped suddenly.

"Tch...", he clicked his tongue. "I really want their privileges."

All the eight rankers were entitled to skip twelve classes.

Twelve classes.

That was basically legal freedom.

Raviel crossed his arms and stared at the floor with deadpan expression.

'If only...I had learnt to use the katana earlier'

Seeing all the sixty students.

Leo just stood there, staring at all of them for few more minutes.

Then.

His face slowly twisted into clear disappointment.

"So," he said flatly, "did you all come here just for sight-seeing, or what?"

The room went silent.

"I've been watching you for over three weeks now," Leo continued, eyes sweeping over them, "and let me be clear. All of you half-primitives don't even understand what extra training means."

He held his chin.

"Are you all drunk on your ranks from the entrance exam or something?"

No one dared to answer.

"I've read every single one of your files," Leo said, his voice getting harsher. "And right now, none of you are worth more than a fly."

"…Except two students."

That made a few heads snap up.

Leo's gaze shifted — and then his finger lifted.

It pointed straight at Raviel.

"What do you say, Rank 11?"

Raviel blinked, still in his half awake state.

Leo didn't stop there.

"You should also know," he added calmly, "that his rank is the same as our Rank 1 apex— Ezio."

The room exploded — both literally and metaphorically.

— "Isn't he that chocolate freak..."

— "Rank 11 I can imagine, but on the same tier as rank 1, insane!"

Someone whispered loudly, "Then why isn't he Rank 1 if he's that strong?"

Raviel felt dozens of eyes drilling into him.

He understood it immediately.

'Tch...you bastard, so this is your plan.'

Raviel understood that Leo wanted to use him as a scapegoat like Ezio.

He knew for what reason Leo was doing it. As this was neither done with the intention to motivate the students — no it was far from it. From the beginning Leo had always wanted a good show between the students, because he couldn't care less about the students whether they died or lived.

Still, Raviel stayed calm.

'Maybe it's about time I stop being so complacent', he thought. 'I've been laying too low.'

Before the noise could settle, a boy stepped forward.

He was good-looking, wearing the black academy uniform with a few buttons loose and confidence written all over his face.

"Instructor Leo," the boy said smoothly, "may I ask for a spar with our Rank 11 student?"

Inside, the boy scoffed.

Leo's lips curved into a smile.

"Let's make it more interesting," he said. "Loser pays the winner 10 Nova credits."

The class gasped.

Nova credits weren't just pocket exchange. They could be used for various other things, other than training too.

Raviel walked toward the match box and stepped inside calmly.

The floor was smooth.

As he got closer, he noticed a small red pin on the other boy's uniform.

Raviel tilted his head. "Are you in a faction?"

The boy smirked. "Does it matter?"

Raviel shrugged.

The boy clicked his tongue. "Still can't believe a guy like you is Alyssia's brother. Damn, she's hot."

Raviel blinked once. '…Is this supposed to be rage bait?'

Before the boy could reply, Leo's voice echoed.

"BEGIN!"

In an instant, the boy — Lance summoned his sword from his storage.

While Raviel tapped on his ring.

His katana appeared with a soft shimmer.

Gravity pressed into Raviel's soles, and he shot forward.

Weapons clashed.

Raviel blocked Lance's first strike easily, the impact vibrating slighlty up his arms.

'How is this guy Rank 9?' Raviel thought as they exchanged blows.

Lance swerved his body midway and tried to pierce his sword in Raviel's direction.

Swoosh—!!!

Raviel deflected it easily. "Let's get this over with"

Before lance could use his affinity.

He stepped inside Lance's guard and kicked him square in the chest using gravity to add the extra momentum.

The impact sent Lance crashing to the ground.

Before he could recover, Raviel grabbed him by the head and slammed him down again —hard enough to knock the air out of him.

Lance tried to kick up.

Raviel brought the flat of his katana down onto Lance's chest, pinning him.

He leaned in slightly.

"Faction," Raviel said calmly. "You still didn't answer."

Lance clenched his teeth and struggled.

Raviel glanced around.

Students from the lower ranks looked uneasy. Some frowned. Some looked away.

Raviel looked back down at Lance.

He placed his palm over Lance's face.

"Which faction do you belong to?"

Lance thrashed, breathing uneven.

Raviel let gravity seep into his hands — using it, he pressed his palm on Lance's nose harder, till the boy shrieked and wriggled in pain.

Leo didn't stop it.

Raviel applied the pressure more— popping sounds came from the boy's nose.

Crunch—!!!.

"You see even if i break this, leo wouldn't mind."

Hearing Raviel's tone, lance grew terrified.

Lance finally cracked.

He gasped and shouted the name out.

Raviel released him slowly and stood up.

Then he looked at Leo.

"Can I take all his Nova credits?"

Leo smiled faintly. "Of course," he said. "This deserves more than just ten."

Raviel walked out of the match box without another glance back.

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