After lunch, William decided to visit the stables to see his Mama Ella. Kenneth, on the other hand, had nothing to do since he had already unpacked his belongings in the dormitory room. Since that was the case, he decided to follow William to the stables to meet the red-headed boy's second mother.
"Meeeeeeh!"
"I missed you too, Mama."
"Meeeeeh."
William hugged Ella's neck while the latter rested her head on his shoulders. Kenneth was surprised when he saw this scene because he was very sensitive when it came to sensing the feeling of beasts.
He could tell from a glance that Ella loved William very much. The same could be said for the boy who was hugging her.
Because of this, Kenneth's good impression of William increased inside his heart. For the boy to show so much love and care towards an ordinary goat, made the gray-haired boy think of William as a very good person.
"Mama, let me introduce you to my new roommate," William said as he reluctantly took a step back from hugging his Mama. "This is Kenneth, my new roommate. Kenneth, this is my Mama Ella. I hope the two of you get along well."
"Meeeeeh!"
"Hello, nice to meet you too, Ella."
After the two exchanged their greetings, William took Ella out to take a stroll. He didn't ride on her back, so that Kenneth wouldn't feel out of place. Instead, he just walked by her side as they took a tour at the various facilities of the Martial Class Division.
"Will, are you interested in becoming the Head Prefect?" Kenneth asked while walking beside him.
"To be honest, I'm not really sure," William replied. "I'm the type who doesn't want to take orders from anyone. If the Head Prefect were to order me to do something that goes below my bottomline, I might not be able to take it and hit him with my wooden staff."
Kenneth giggled when he heard William's reply. Frankly, he, too, didn't like to be ordered around by anyone. However, he had a feeling that he really wouldn't mind taking orders from this red-headed boy who had grown up tending goats in the countryside.
"Well, if you don't want to take orders then you can only do your best to become the Head Prefect," Kenneth said casually. "You still have three days to think about it before the competition starts."
"Mmm." William nodded his head. "How about you? Are you planning to participate?"
"No." Kenneth shook his head. "I don't think I'm capable of becoming a Head Prefect. Let's just say that I get lucky and become the Head Prefect, do you think the students will listen to me?"
William turned his head to appraise the delicate boy from head to toe. Although Kenneth wasn't lacking in the "good looks" factor, he didn't seem the type that would make people follow him. However, if someone were to ask if there would be people willing to protect Kenneth, the answer would certainly be Yes.
The boy was too cute for his own good. William was certain that even the hearts of the brave girls in the Martial Classes would feel overprotective of him.
"Well, a Head Prefect might be too high of a goal," William agreed. "But, being the Martial Class Mascot is not impossible. In fact, the moment I raise this proposal, I'm sure that you will get the landslide victory."
"D-Don't you dare do that." Kenneth immediately grabbed William's arm. "I hate being surrounded by people."
William unconsciously patted Kenneth's head. For some reason, Kenneth reminded him of his cousin, Eve. Although Eve was a thousand times cuter than Kenneth, the presence that the gray-haired boy emitted was similar to the adorable girl back in Lont.
"Fine." William chuckled. "However, I'm sure the girls will raise this issue by themselves. When that happens, don't come looking for me, do you understand?"
Kenneth pouted as he let go of William's arm. "As long as you're not the one who initiates the proposal then it's good."
The two had almost finished their tour in the Martial Division when they noticed a crowd in front of them. They could faintly hear the sound of a quarrel. As the two drew closer to investigate, they noticed a pair of boys glaring at each other while holding their weapons in their hands.
The two boys were standing in what seemed to be one of the battling arenas that were scattered along the premises of the Martial Class Division.
"Give it up, Drake," A cool looking boy with blonde hair and blue eyes chided. "The one who will become the Head Prefect will be none other than me."
"Keep on dreaming, Spencer, " a boy with above average looks snorted in reply. His dark-brown hair and hazel eyes looked at the boy in front of him with disdain. "As long as I'm around, you can forget about becoming the Head Prefect. I can't wait to see you bowing your head as you follow my orders. Hahahaha!"
"Why wait until the test starts? Let's just decide this, right here, right now."
"Sounds like a plan. I don't want to waste too much time kicking your as* when the test officially starts."
Both boys readied their weapons and prepared to clash with each other. The crowd got rowdy and started to cheer them on. William observed the two combatants with anticipation. He wanted to know the level of the freshmen that were currently enrolled in the Martial Class Division
Kenneth, too, was looking at the two boys with a serious expression. He was also curious about how strong the students were in the Hellan Royal Academy.
"Excuse me," William patted the shoulder of the tallest boy in the crowd. "Can you please tell me the identity of the two combatants?"
"Are you not familiar with them? They're quite popular in the Hellan Kingdom," the tall boy replied.
"Sorry. I came from the countryside," William gave a refreshing smile. "This is my first time in the capital."
"Ah... that explains it." The tall boy nodded in understanding. He then pointed at the two combatants who were busy duking it out against each other in the arena. "The cool looking boy holding the spear is the fourth son of the Duke of the Armstrong Duchy. His name is Spencer Armstrong.
"The one holding the greatsword, is the third son of the Duchy of Craig. His name is Drake Vi Craig. Both of them are well-known among the young generation for their incredible fighting skills."
"Thank you," William nodded his head in thanks. He then returned his attention to the two combatants who were currently in the midst of battle.
'Are all sons of Dukes this hotheaded?' William thought. He could still remember the magic swordsman, Kingsley Rhodes, who had challenged him in Lont four years ago. That boy was also a son of a Duke and he seemed to be very happy to use his background to throw his weight around.
Even so, he had to agree that, like Kingsley, Spencer and Drake had the ability to back up their words. The two were very proficient in their weapons and their attacks could easily blow away those who had abilities weaker than them.
Kenneth silently walked beside William and tapped his arm. "Who do you think will win?"
William pondered for a bit as his eyes focused on the two individuals in the arena. "Hard to say, but if I were to really choose between the two, I'd choose Spencer."
"And the reason?"
"Because he has better technique."
William had observed the battle for a while now and managed to gauge the battle prowess of both combatants. While Drake had more explosive power than Spencer, the cool looking boy's technique was very refined.
Each block, each thrust, and each swing of the spear was perfect. There were no wasted movements, which greatly impressed William. Of course, if the red-headed boy was going to be perfectly honest, he would simply say that his own technique was two to three levels above Spencer.
After all, he trained with the best fighters in Lont. Even a complete amateur like William would improve during those four long years of sparring. Not to mention, the martial arts he had learned in his Martial Job Classes were honed to the very limit.
William's War Arts with the sword, bow, and hand to hand combat were only at the basic level. Even so, we're talking about the basic level of the strongest War Arts provided by the system. These "Basic Level" War Arts could be considered Intermediate Techniques to the people of his current world.
As for the staff and the spear, they were in the Intermediate Ranks, which set them on par with the Expert Techniques in William's new world. How did this become possible? It's really simple.
When William used the Millennial-Grade Beast Core to max out his Disciple of Thunder Job Class, he immediately ascended it to its advanced class which was the Prince of Thunder.
William pooled all the exp he could during his dungeon expeditions to help the Prince of Thunder Job Class reach level 10. That way, he could unlock the "Lightning God War Arts (Intermediate)" and learn the more advanced moves of this particular War Art.
Also, let's not forget about his movement technique which was the Heavenly Phantasm Movement Technique (Basic). After getting his skill points, William pumped them into this movement technique and upgraded it to Heavenly Phantasm (Intermediate).
With constant practice, William had made these techniques his own. If he and Kingsley were to fight again, William was confident that he would send the arrogant little prick packing. Of course, this was on the condition that Kingsley wouldn't use magic during their duel.
Right now, William's Martial Skills,when using the wooden staff, spear, and lance, were enough to contend with most experts within the Gold Rank of the Martial Classes. His movement technique would also allow him to escape most tricky situations.
(A/N: The rankings for the martial classes are Copper, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Mithril, Adamantium, Black, and Saint.)
After the battle with Kingsley Rhodes, William swore that he would dedicate his time and effort in learning Martial Skills while he couldn't use his magic powers.