"Huff... Huff... I still can't stop..."
Enrico was running around the dormitory. It was already past three in the morning, and that was the only time he could train without drawing attention. He would run for fifteen minutes, rest for five, and then immediately run for another fifteen, repeating the same cycle over and over.
[Why at this hour?]
"Training... huff... at this time is better because everyone's asleep... huff... and the guards only pass by here... huff... every forty minutes..."
He finally stopped, rested his hands on his knees for a few seconds, and grabbed a bottle of water from his backpack. After taking a few sips, he took a deep breath, trying to catch his breath.
[Isn't this training a bit extreme? You're only sleeping four hours a day. That could end up harming your body.]
"I need to do this if I want even the slightest chance of reaching the protagonists' potential. This is a training method Tolen will use in the future. It's explained that when you constantly push your own body to its limit, it can follow one of two paths: break... or evolve. If it evolves, you enter a state called Limit Break."
[But there's a chance it won't work, isn't there?]
'Ninety-five percent chance it'll fail. But if I succeed, my growth potential will increase tremendously. The only problem is that no one knows exactly when it happens.'
In the original story, Tolen began this training out of sheer desperation to avoid falling behind. Since his body remained constantly exhausted, he kept putting himself in danger all the time. Even so, he continued training that way for three straight months.
But achieving Limit Break was only the first step. After that, it was still necessary to surpass that new limit. To accomplish it, a person had to endure an absurd amount of physical and mental strain. In Tolen's case, it took another two weeks before his potential truly increased.
'Time to head back. I'll rest for about thirty minutes and then keep training before going to the academy.'
[I meant rest for the entire day.]
Enrico let out a long sigh as he mentally reviewed his current schedule.
'Train, sleep for four hours, train again, go to the academy, study, eat, train, eat again, pretend I'm not that different from the original Enrico while hanging around Serenya and the other two... then train again...'
[...Your life is kind of sad.]
Enrico looked at the system with a tired expression.
'Why do I feel like you're trying to annoy me?'
A few hours later, he had just finished training and resting, completing the first part of today's training. As he walked toward the academy, he ended up remembering the Three Stooges.
'Strange... In the original story, it said they treated Enrico as the weakest member of the group, but ever since Sunday, they've been treating me better than I expected.'
[Maybe it's because you came back completely beaten up after your "visit" to your family.]
Enrico thought for a few seconds before nodding.
'That makes sense. Maybe they're not such bad people after all.'
"Ugh!"
"Who do you think you are to dirty my clothes, commoner?"
Without any hesitation, Serenya kicked a pink-haired girl in the stomach while she was still lying on the ground. Behind her, Elian and Caelan laughed at the scene as if it were the funniest thing in the world.
[Pff.]
Enrico looked at the three of them for a few seconds before turning his face away in disappointment.
'I take back what I said.'
Elian noticed him arriving and waved.
"Enrico, come here quickly. Looks like our leader found herself a new toy."
For a moment, Enrico felt like walking over and giving them a lecture. However, he soon remembered that he needed to change the original Enrico's behavior little by little so as not to arouse suspicion.
'Calm down... just a little longer.'
"What happened?"
Caelan raised an eyebrow.
"This girl was running without paying attention and ended up bumping into Lady Malquess. What's wrong? You're usually the first one to pick on anyone who causes trouble for our leader."
Enrico looked at Serenya, who was watching him, waiting for his reaction. Then he turned his gaze toward the pink-haired girl, who remained on the ground while trying to hold back tears of pain.
'At least I'll try making a subtle change.'
"Of course, if she had deliberately disrespected Lady Malquess, I would've gone after her. But honestly... this seems a little childish."
Serenya immediately frowned.
"What do you mean by that? Are you calling me childish?"
"My apologies, milady, but if she did it by accident and has already apologized, then a great noble like you would certainly forgive her. That would show just how mature you are."
Serenya froze as if her mind had just discovered something entirely new.
"M-mature? Is that how we're supposed to treat commoners?"
"Actually, after visiting my parents and the way I was treated, I started thinking, 'Is this how the people I mistreated felt?' Since then, I've come to respect nobles who treat commoners as equals even more. I've always thought that showed maturity."
Serenya remained completely silent for several seconds. First she looked at Enrico. Then she turned her eyes toward the girl lying on the ground. Finally, she puffed out her chest proudly.
"O-of course! I'm an adult, so that's very easy for me. Hey, commoner, as an apology for this incident, I'll give you compensation. Wait here."
Elian and Caelan immediately joined in with the act.
"Yes, yes. We forgive you this time."
"Be more careful next time. The next people you run into might not be as kind as we are."
Enrico watched the three of them walk away with the expression of a complete strategist.
'Heh. It's so easy to manipulate these idiots.'
[You're really good at stroking people's egos.]
The three of them left after helping the girl to her feet.
She continued staring at them with a completely confused expression, as if she still couldn't understand what had just happened.
Enrico carefully observed her eyes.
'Pink eyes too... I've never seen another character with eyes that color besides the Evil Goddess Eris... but Eris has completely dark hair.'
His gaze then shifted down to the number pinned to the girl's uniform: Rank 240, the last place in Astrong Academy.
'She'll be expelled in about two months.'
The first year at Astrong Academy was divided into eight classes, each composed of thirty students.
Class S: Ranks 1–30
Class A: Ranks 31–60
Class B: Ranks 61–90
Class C: Ranks 91–120
Class D: Ranks 121–150
Class E: Ranks 151–180
Class F: Ranks 181–210
Class G: Ranks 211–240
Every four months, an entire class was eliminated. In some years, when two classes performed far below expectations, both were expelled at the same time.
By the end of the first year, only Classes S through D remained. Even then, half of Class D was also eliminated, since only one hundred students had the right to advance to the second year.
Not even the teachers escaped this system. If they wanted to continue teaching, they had to challenge teachers from higher classes and take their positions. Whoever won took over the defeated teacher's class.
[What a difficult life.]
'That's exactly why this school manages to produce the strongest mages on the entire continent.'
Enrico picked up the girl's backpack, brushed some of the dust off it, and carefully placed it into her hands. She trembled slightly at the gesture, surprised to be treated that way.
"Be careful. And next time, look where you're going when you're walking, so you don't end up running into idiots again."
"Enrico, hurry up!"
Serenya called out to him from a distance. Enrico simply waved his hand and ran to catch up with them, while the girl remained standing there, watching his back as he walked away.
"He's different from what they said."
The four of them had gathered in that warehouse. While waiting for the meeting to begin, Enrico kept a close eye on Caelan and Elian to make sure neither of them knocked over the vases scattered around the place.
"Very well. Do you know why I called you here?"
Serenya calmly paced back and forth with her hands clasped behind her back and her chin proudly raised. Every step seemed carefully calculated to demonstrate her authority before her three subordinates.
Beside Enrico, Elian raised his hand with a certain excitement. The gesture only made his appearance even cuter. Serenya and Caelan were already used to it and simply ignored it, but Enrico had to bring a hand to his face to keep himself from being affected.
'Damn... even though I hate this guy, that feminine appearance is just too cute.'
Fortunately, the System wasn't there at that moment. Otherwise, it would certainly have started making fun of him. On second thought, Enrico placed a hand on his chin with an extremely serious expression.
'On the other hand... I don't even feel bothered by thinking he's cute... Very interesting.'
Elian felt a slight chill run down his spine and looked at Enrico, who was still staring at him. Not understanding the reason for that look, he glanced away and, after receiving a nod from Serenya, spoke.
"Why, milady?"
"I'm glad you asked, Elian."
She slapped a blackboard she had bought specifically to explain her plans.
On it were four drawings representing students from Class E. The portraits were terrible, drawn like childish doodles: the arms and legs were nothing more than straight lines, while the heads were simple circles. If it weren't for the names written beside each drawing, it would have been impossible to identify who they were.
"These four people are nobles from Class E who dared to disobey my orders."
"Impossible! How dare they do that?"
"Don't they value their own lives?"
"What order did they refuse, milady?"
As always, Enrico was the first to react, exactly as the real Enrico would have. Elian followed immediately after, with Caelan speaking last.
Hearing those questions, Serenya slapped the blackboard once more and clenched her fist, clearly outraged as she recalled what had happened.
"They cut in front of me in a line I had been waiting in for a long time, and when I ordered them to move out of the way, they simply ignored me."
"What? Those little bastards!"
Enrico was the first to stand up. This time, his expression was filled with genuine indignation, even letting out a few irritated snorts. The sight made Serenya find him a little cute, although she would never admit that out loud.
In truth, there were two reasons why Enrico was so upset. The first was that, this time, he genuinely agreed with Serenya. People who cut in line had always irritated him, unless they were elderly, pregnant, or had a truly justifiable reason. The second reason was much more personal.
'I can use this as an excuse to fight another Circle Zero mage besides Chalés before facing Kai.'
The battle against Chalés had been a valuable experience despite its disastrous outcome. However, if he wanted to improve his mastery over magic even further, he would need to participate in more real battles. Even so, he had to be careful not to let the student council president discover his new abilities, especially Fire Fist, which he had created during his fight with Chalés.
"When do we start making them pay for their crimes, milady?"
"I agree with Enrico. I, Caelan, will show them the power of a true noble."
Even Elian seemed excited, rummaging through his bag for his weapons.
Seeing the enthusiasm of the three, Serenya discreetly rubbed her nose, satisfied with the loyalty of her subordinates.
"We'll begin today. I've already prepared an ambush that will take place tonight."
The four left the warehouse with serious expressions. Anyone who saw them would have thought they were marching toward a decisive battle, when in reality, it was nothing more than a dispute between proud nobles. Since night had already fallen, Serenya immediately led the group to the place where the ambush would take place.
"It's here. From what I found out, the four of them gather every night to train."
The four of them watched Astrong Academy's training field while hiding behind a wooden wall. The place was spacious and filled with wooden and metal dummies used by knights and mages to practice their attacks. To the right was a small arena, where the four young nobles had already begun their training while talking among themselves.
"Jil, are you sure what we did will annoy her enough to make her challenge us?"
"She's a noble, just like us. She won't let something like that slide."
The boy named Jil rested his armored, gloved hand on the sword hanging at his waist, while the young man beside him ate a banana with a completely bored expression. The other two were a robust young man, clearly a knight wielding a two-handed sword, and a girl dressed as a knight with two swords fastened at her waist.
Enrico placed a hand on his chin and glanced at Serenya, noticing that she was striking the exact same thoughtful pose.
"The four of them seem to be knights, Lady Serenya... and judging by the looks of it, provoking you was part of their plan."
"Yes... what a bunch of cowards. I understand what they want now. We'll challenge them immediately, face to face."
A flash of indignation mixed with a faint desire for revenge appeared in Serenya's eyes. Enrico, on the other hand, remembered the words she had said before they arrived.
"Weren't we supposed to ambush them?"
"I changed my mind. To deal with these nobles, it's better to demonstrate the superiority of my power. Come, my subordinates."
A bead of sweat ran down Enrico's forehead. Even so, just as the real Enrico would have done, he was the first to step forward. Elian and Caelan followed right behind him, while Serenya calmly walked in the rear.
"Hey, you bastards! If you wanted a duel to take my Rank, all you had to do was ask."
The four knights turned around, surprised to see the mages from the higher class appear before them. It was Enrico who had spoken those words with an arrogant expression, something that surprised them because that fat boy had shown such confidence despite undoubtedly being the weakest person there.
Jil, who appeared to be the group's leader, narrowed his eyes slightly before showing a faint smile.
"Zaine, prepare the arena. It seems we're going to have a match."
The sturdier young man rested his enormous sword on his shoulder and began removing anything that might interfere with the fight. Then Jil took a few steps forward and pointed toward the arena behind him.
"Since you've figured out our intentions, how about we settle this in the arena? If we win, we'll take your Ranks. If we lose, we'll apologize and do whatever you want."
"As far as I'm concerned, that's fine."
The eyes of Serenya, who remained farther back, shone with an intense purple glow. At the same time, mana began surrounding Enrico, Elian, and Caelan. On the opposite side, the four knights also released their magic while staring at their new opponents.
This would be a battle for the Ranks of Class D.