"Did you cross paths with any noble?" Tessie whispered as she felt uncomfortable from the glares.
"Apart from yours, It was only the Nystrom family, but I highly doubt that knew it was me." Blake answered.
"They received a lot of training and resources from their different families during the break. The funny thing is that they think they can challenge us." Luciano chuckled.
He had also received the best training any 16-year-old would receive in the Snyder empire and of course he knew that Blake must have gone through a lot of training from their stories.
Even Castiel and Brian couldn't help but nod at his words because they had a first-hand view of Blake's capabilities.
"Can I join you guys?" When the group turned they saw Camilla.
"No…" Luciano's smile was replaced by a frown.
"I am so sorry about last time. Please can you guys forgive me?" Camilla asked.
'She can't be trusted but that doesn't mean she can't be used.' Blake thought.
"As long the others are cool with it." Blake said causing the others to look at him before nodding.
The group became awkwardly silent but a warp gate appeared and Principle Lovren stepped out, saving the situation.
"Welcome back. I hope all of you enjoyed your break because things are only going to get harder than last semester." Principal Lovren's words made the students unconsciously gulp.
"I thought last semester was hell, now he is saying it will be worse?!"
"Why are we going through hell but those above us didn't suffer this much?" The hall became noisy as students lamented.
"Everything will be explained. So all you have to do is listen." Principal Lovren said making the hall quiet.
"As you all know your set is an experimental set and so far the results have been excellent from the nobles and especially the commoners." Principal Lovren's words made more than half of the hall look at Blake.
"Because of this Prince Bryon, as the councilor of the eastern region of the empire has decided to scrap the 4th and 5th year." Gasps could be heard all over the hall, but Principal Lovren continued.
"His Highness feels that 2 extra years will be a big waste when a better and concise job can be done in 3." Principal Lovren said.
They finally knew why the school had become a living hell, but the news about scrapping the 4th and 5th year was quite shocking and caused the students to have mixed feelings.
The new system was implemented because it brought the commoners and the nobles on equal grounds with resources given based on merits.
This meant if things continued this way the nobles won't be able to keep the commoners under their vice grip for long.
This was what almost all the old noble families were against and the main cause of all this was Blake.
Not only was the number of commoners in the top 10 shocking, but a commoner taking the 1st position in the presence of the emperor's son and the descendants of the 3 top noble families also cemented the decision.
On the other hand, most of the commoners began doubting themselves, while Blake, Castiel, and Brian were happy about the news.
The less time they spent in school the more time they would have to discover their purpose in Infinite realm.
"With full implementation of the new system, you all will be working together with the higher years only in missions." Principal Lovren continued. "As we are preparing you all for the dangerous world of a mage, we also have to teach you how to work with everyone and anyone you come across."
"Finally, I would like to remind everyone about the approaching beast tide and to inform you all that you will be deployed to the walls alongside the higher years as your examination." Immediately he was done, Principal Lovren ignored the chaos that had ensued and left through a warp gate.
"That makes sense…" Blake thought aloud causing the group to look at him. "We are being trained to work with our seniors beforehand in order to avoid silly mess-ups and arguments when it really matters."
"Is it me or are you guys not bordered about us being sent to defend the city from the best tide?" Camilla couldn't help but ask when she saw the looks on their faces.
They weren't freaking out or worried like the other students and from Blake's words it was as if he was more worried about working with the seniors than the beast tide.
"Worrying about things won't solve the problem, besides we have a lot of time till the beast tide and it's not as if the school is crazy enough to send us to the front lines." Blake said as he stood up and began heading for the exit.
"You going to the canteen?" Castiel asked.
"… Yes." Blake paused for some time before answering, causing the group except for Camilla to chuckle.
Slowly the crazy day filled with surprises was drawing to a close.
A lot of reflection and planning was done and most importantly everyone rested for what will be a long time because classes were to begin the next day.
…
The next day Blake woke up with a smile on his face as he imagined the new things he would get to learn this semester, and although his mind kept reminding him that the difficulty would increase he tried not to think much about it.
"Time to begin raking in points, for my forgemastery practice." Blake grinned as he left his room.
As usual, every semester began with a class with the homeroom teacher, Professor Gibson.
"Welcome back everyone, I am glad that you all came back in one piece." Professor Gibson said as he looked at Blake for more than a second before moving on.
'Was that suppose to mean?' Blake with a mind-raised brow.
"Last semester we focused a lot on arcane magic, this semester we will be focusing on fusion magic."