Razeal sighed inwardly, shaking his head.
When
Swish
He suddenly shifted his body to the side just in ti as a punch flew toward his face.
"Oh? You can react to that?" Kaal scratched the back of his head, pulling back the fist he’d just thrown. His expression flickered with mild surprise. From what he could sense, this kid doesn’t even have thread of mana or aura.
Is his reaction really that fast? Kaal wondered. Just by physical movent alone?
He had thrown a clumsy punch not even reinforced by mana or aura but still it wasn’t sothing a first year could dodge. Especially not soone like Razeal, a kid with known defects and almost no foundation.
I almost got embarrassed just now, Razeal muttered to himself, exhaling quietly. He had predicted the punch, sure but reacting to it? His body was sluggish. If not for all that ti fighting those hundred Mantises with E-rank agility, I wouldn’t have been this flexible now.
Even then... Compared to this guy, my agility is too slow.
He must be at least C rank, maybe even B in agility when using mana or aura. And even without those, his base body alone must be at D rank, at minimum probably the result of years of training with aura, which naturally strengthens the body over ti.
"Damn... Did he really just attack him?"
"He’s called the ’Crazy Yellow chimpanzee’ of the Academy, but even champagne aren’t usually this dumb..."
Whispers rippled through the gathered students, forming a wide circle as they watched the scene unfold with growing enjoynt.
"Guess I won’t be lazy anymore," Kaal muttered, rotating his shoulder with a slow swing.
So fast, Razeal whispered as his hearing picked up the shift in wind pressure the sign of an incoming attack. He tried to dodge to the right imdiately.
Kaal smirked as he watched the boy start to move before the strike had even launched. Such good perception, he thought. But your speed it’s nowhere near enough.
BAM!
Kaal didn’t use his hand he suddenly retracted it mid motion and instead delivered a swift, brutal kick straight into Razeal’s stomach right below the ribs.
Razeal saw it coming. He knew it was coming.
And still he couldn’t react fast enough.
The kick connected cleanly.
His body flew through the air, launched nearly six feet up but he managed to stabilize mid air and land on his feet, right beside the outer edge of the crowd. The surrounding students instinctively stepped back the mont he landed.
Razeal stood straight.
Expressionless even little sighing.
As if he hadn’t just taken a solid kick to the gut. Calmly, silently, he began dusting off his suit jacket where the impact had landed. No groans, no wheezing, no doubled over stance.
Just adjusting his clothes.
Kaal blinked. What the hell?
Does this guy not feel pain?
He had used enough force to send an ordinary academy trainee to the infirmary. Yet here this kid was barely blinking, let alone showing pain. No grimace, not even any ouch?
Was the kick... too light for him? Kaal thought almost confused.
He kept staring at Razeal, now doubting whether the attack even connected if not for seeing the kid casually brushing dirt off his weird, unfamiliar looking suit.
Razeal tilted his head slightly.
"That was it? You kicked like you were trying to put a baby to sleep."
The crowd collectively gasped.
"Oh no, he didn’t..."
Kaal’s face twitched violently. Was this kid mocking him?
"I was just playing with you, but since you clearly don’t understand.." he cracked his knuckles, stepping forward slowly, his eyes sharpening with aggression.
"Hey hey... this is getting exciting."
Just as Kaal stepped closer
"Stop."
Razeal raised a hand calmly.
"Huh?"
"What?"
"Give two seconds," Razeal said casually, turning away from Kaal ignoring the fight entirely and walked toward a group of senior students standing nearby.
Confused murmurs rippled through the watching crowd. Even Kaal’s expression warped into pure bafflent.
What the hell? Two seconds in the middle of a fight? Does he think this is cricket? That everyone’s going to pause because he asked nicely?
But the strange thing was... Kaal stood there, watching.
And so did the crowd.
Razeal didn’t care.
He walked over to the trio of upperclassn, who raised their brows but didn’t move.
"What do you want?" one of them asked, folding his arms as he stared at Razeal.
There were three of them, clearly seniors. Probably not nobodies either.
"One hundred elental cores," Razeal said without emotion, "to break that guy’s bones."
He casually pulled out a spatial pouch from inside his suit and began fishing out shimring elental cores Grade D.
The front guy blinked almost confused. "Huh?Why should we? No wait 100? Are you serious? One hundred D grade elental cores... just to beat up one crazy kid?"
He glanced at his companions, confusion on his face. After all, that kind of currency was equivalent to 1,000 gold coins. Definitely worth it.
"Here."
Razeal handed hundred cores to the front man, then gave fifty each to the other two. "Help your friend."
They took the cores instinctively.
"...Alright," the first guy smirked, sliding the cores into his own spatial bag. "What a generous deal. And it’s not like fighting’s banned. Just... don’t kill anyone."
Without another word, the three seniors started walking straight toward Kaal.
From behind, Razeal heard his voice.
"Hey guys... what are you"
"Now that’s sorted," he muttered to himself, adjusting his suit like a businessman wrapping up a eting.
Behind him, screams rang out.
"Sorry, dude. Business is business," one of the seniors said.
Then ca the screams.
Kaal’s voice echoed behind him shouting, cursing, and eventually even crying out as fists t flesh.
Students around Razeal parted again giving him a wide, reverent path as he walked out.
[Was that your idea of ’taking care of him without touching’?]
The System’s voice echoed in his mind, clearly disappointed.
[You had hoping for sothing brilliant. Not bribing rcenaries.]
"Money is also a superpower," Razeal shrugged. "And why would I fight sothing so... sapid when I know it won’t get anything in return?"
"I’d rather pick a fight with a Duke. Or a King. That would be more my style."
He ran a hand through his hair with an overly heroic flair.
"Always fight people stronger than you. The level of people you fights with are level you be looked on by."
After a few more minutes of walking, Razeal reached his designated classroom.
Well, calling it a classroom would be underselling it. It looked like a miniature castle repurposed into a learning hall. Tall arched windows lined the walls, letting in streams of golden sunlight. The floor was laid with deep red carpets woven with complex designs, and each desk and chair looked antique, crafted from what appeared to be gilded mahogany, gold-trimd and velvet-cushioned.
This was the Royal Classroom.
Only students who had gathered at least 1,000 elental cores in the trial were allowed here. Just thirty six had made it this year which might be one of highest record.
Of course, Razeal knew all too well how most of them passed. Except for one person, every student here was part of a large party during the trial. Most were directly affiliated with Selena or Areon. Their collected cores had been redistributed among their teams and protectors, ensuring everyone passed just over the minimum requirent.
And those protectors? Almost all were nobles or children from powerful houses trusted, talented, and well-funded.
Even Selena and Areon themselves had barely cleared the threshold, not because they were weak, but because of how widely they’d shared their resources.
Razeal had done it alone. Ofcourse cheated but he cheated on his own strengths right? That’s not illegal right? and even if it is he doesn’t give a shit.
His thoughts ca to a halt the mont he stepped through the ornate doorway.
And just like that, every gaze in the room snapped toward him.
Conversations fell silent.
A heavy stillness spread across the chamber as every single person turned to look no one moved, no one spoke.
They stared.
Wait... what?! He’s in the Royal Classroom too?!
It was as if Razeal’s appearance had shattered the ground beneath their feet. Shocked expressions flared across dozens of faces as if soone had tossed a thunderbolt into the room.
There were roughly forty to fifty students seated within most were first years, but quite a few were seniors. Razeal quickly noted that many of the older students likely had no need to attend classes anymore, yet they were here today. After all, the Royal Classroom was open to anyone who’d been officially recognized and admitted into it regardless of their year.
Still, as Razeal recalled, seniors rarely showed up unless sothing significant was happening. Most of their ti was spent training, fulfilling special missions, or working to earn contribution points. The fact that so many were here today... said enough.
Razeal stood there in silence for a few seconds, his gaze sweeping the room.
Every face stared back at him with a mixture of emotions confusion, suspicion, shock, and even disgust.
But he didn’t said anything.
He simply looked.
Until, eventually, his eyes landed on a few familiar faces.
Areon Drakenvyr and Selena Luminous both seated in the very front rows. They weren’t sitting together, of course, each occupying their own throne like chair, separated by several seats. Both of them had calm, unreadable expressions.
As if they’d expected this.
Selena’s gaze, however, was different.
Her golden eyes locked onto him not with disdain, but with sothing far more intense. As if she were analyzing him from head to toe, trying to absorb every detail of his being with her gaze alone. There was an unsettling sharpness to it. Sothing far too focused... too curious.
What’s with that look? Razeal wondered. Why is she staring like she wants to scan my soul? Disgusting
He didn’t even wanted to look at her ad he turned his gaze to other side. Making selena eyes move
His attention shifted to another girl seated a few rows behind Selena.
Erald green hair like flowing spirit-vines, and matching vivid eyes that held the shimr of clarity and calm. She looked surprised truly caught off guard by his presence.
Sylva Faerelith.
The only student in this room aside from Razeal himself who had truly earned her seat here through her own strength alone. She had collected over 700,000 cores, nearly reaching an impossible feat on her own rit. One of the youngest kingdom level threats in the entire world.
Even now, Razeal knew, she could destroy nations by herself.
And then... his eyes moved again.
To a figure so striking that for a mont, the rest of the room simply ceased to exist.
Even among the two goddesses seated here Selena with her divine golden glow and Sylva Faerelith with her ethereal erald grace this woman outshone them. Not because of jewels or presence. But because of sothing else... sothing mot possible to define. A stillness or maybe a pressure.
Platinum-white hair cascaded in gentle waves over her shoulders, shimring faintly beneath the golden light that poured in from the tall academy windows. Her eyes those sa platinum irises seed to gleam like untouched ice, sharp and distant, focused entirely on nothing... and yet sohow, on him.
Sitting silently at the very first seat, closest to the professor’s platform. Just so steps away from him.
And just with that entire mood shattered. he put hand on his mouth as almost wanted to puke
His ex-fiancée.
---
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