It was time for the theory test for the first-year students, and most of them were busy borrowing books from the library. Apart from special books, each book could be borrowed using an ID bracelet, and each student was given 100 GP only for library use when they joined if they didn’t buy GP with money.
Amelia was helping Damian in his studies. They had five exams over five days, covering basics to advanced theory parts of what they had studied for two months in their classes.
Apart from a few carefree souls, most of the students were anxious and stressed about covering the whole syllabus. The advancement of technology had not only increased the difficulty of the subjects but also meant they had not even started studying the toughest part of the curriculum inside the World Academy.
Currently on Floor 5, Asher was practicing his mana circulation, a crucial step for him to continue on the path of becoming a semi-mage, so that he could increase the mastery of his sword art.
It was 3 PM in the afternoon, and he had completed the practical test today. He had no problems with the theory tests because he perfectly remembered all the questions and was probably better than all of the third-years right now in those subjects.
His madness was under control because these days he was meeting Alyssa a lot.
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“You have reached Rank G+ pretty fast,” Damian said.
Both of them were wearing casual clothes as it was the opening ceremony for the first-years.
Asher was quiet as he listened to Damian, who was explaining something to him.
The opening ceremony began, and after Farnus Calmort introduced himself, Professor Arman called Amelia on stage.
A beautiful girl wearing a black uniform that complemented her black hair and red eyes walked up to the stage. Damian was appreciating her confident look that she was portraying against others, but he found her playful side more attractive than her current one.
“Hello, I am Amelia Von Greville, and I am looking forward to the rest of my four years in the World Academy,” Amelia did not say much and walked down the stage.
But many male students were going crazy for her. Sounds of clapping filled the huge auditorium, but then Kevin Whiteheart was called, and he did a similar presentation to that of Amelia.
Although Damian didn’t like that Amelia was close to Kevin, especially after the party incident where they were rude to Asher, but he didn’t say anything to her. It was normal for her to talk with Kevin because both of them were the Year Representative.
“Let’s go to the dorm,” Damian said as both of them walked to the VIP dorms.
“Hey, wasn’t that Asher Von Greville, the heir of the Greville family?” Many students recognized Asher, and his extremely attractive facial features were attracting a lot of attention from others.
Asher disliked interacting with others, so after parting with Damian, he went straight into his large room where he received his ID bracelet and other items.
“Class 4,” Asher muttered as he looked at what class he was in.
The next day when Asher walked into Class 4, he saw Kevin, Elena, and Eva, who were already present in the class. Kevin just smirked, thinking that Asher was a weakling, and Elena and Eva thought the same. For them, Asher seemed like a person who was not brave enough to become a hunter and was not worthy to become the heir of the family instead of their Amelia, or that’s what Kevin was thinking.
Kevin went back to his class after talking with them. He was placed with Damian and Amelia in Class 2.
Seeing Kevin and Asher in the same room, the rest of the students started comparing them. Asher was more attractive than Kevin, and some girls were even secretly simping for him. However, Asher quietly sat down far in the back in the empty seats. He disliked the attention he was getting, and seeing his stoic face, nobody approached him.
“What do you think his rank will be?” Eva asked Elena.
“Maybe in the top 200 if he catches up quickly, but I doubt it. I wonder who will save him from a duel in World Academy,” Elena chuckled a bit.
Meanwhile, in Class 1, the atmosphere was not exactly peaceful.
“Wait, isn’t she your sister?” one of Alan’s friends asked.
Alan was not in a good mood as he had lost to Kevin in the tournament. Seeing that Alyssa was placed in the same class as him, his mood got even worse. Seeing that Alyssa had two advanced elements made him jealous and angry.
“Sister? That bitch is from the Garcia family. We disowned her a long time ago,” Alan laughed loudly, and everybody in the class could hear it.
Venessa was also in the same class, but she was sitting a bit far from Alyssa. She was surprised by Alyssa’s double advanced elements, but that was it.
One of the few students stood up and walked up to Alyssa, who was sitting with her face down. She was wearing a mask around her face, but despite it being uncomfortable, she didn’t remove it.
“Who allowed you to sit here?” one of the boys asked.
Alyssa’s lifeless eyes looked up and saw a few mocking faces looking at her. She was used to it, and losing the Representative Tournament made her life even more challenging. Looking back, she thought she was really naive to think that she could beat others in a fair battle.
“It was empty,” Alyssa replied.
“Hahahaha, move from here,” another boy said as he tried to touch Alyssa.
But before he could do so, Venessa grabbed his arm.
“Stop it,” she said, staring at the boy who got a bit intimidated by her grip strength.
“What are you helping a member of the Garcia family?” he shouted without showing any fear.
“Was she the one who did this? She was only 4 years old when it happened anyway,” Venessa could not guess why they were making it so difficult for a helpless-looking girl like Alyssa.
“So are you saying the whole city that was sacrificed because this bitch’s family and their human experimentation, and we shouldn’t blame her?” he shouted, and some of the students stood in favor of the boy.
Venessa found herself in an awkward position. She was just trying to stop the apparent bullying, but why was everyone turning on her?
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Weeks passed, and similar scenes happened in Class 1, where people would try to gang up on Alyssa. But due to the difference in their strengths, eventually, it died down quite a bit. However, there were still some bullies who marked her desk and cursed her every time they saw her.
It was nothing new for Alyssa, and she would ignore it, but the fuel of revenge was burning in her heart. Her desire for revenge was growing stronger day by day.
There was another case of bullying that happened, but this time it was some influential kids who tried to mess with Asher because they got jealous that all the girls were giving him too much attention.
“They thought that due to the death of their Seat Holder, Greville had become weak.”
“Hey, do you think you rule everyone here?” a black-haired boy shouted at Asher.
It was a combined class for all the Weapon Arts students.
“What?” Asher stopped his training and looked at the boy, but his expressionless face intimidated the boy a bit.
But thinking that he didn’t want to get embarrassed as his crush was watching him due to how loud he shouted at Asher.
“Do you think just because your grandfather was the sword god, you are too good?” He smirked and mocked Asher, but his words didn’t make sense to Asher.
“What are you trying to say?” Asher was holding himself and tried to ignore some stupid boy who came up to him.
“I am telling you to not act so haughty around me, you bastard,” his words made all his friends laugh at Asher.
“What if he is from the Elite family? We are better than him,” a thought came to their mind.
“Haaah,” Asher took a deep breath, but the laughter didn’t stop, and it caught the attention of all the students.
Asher used mana, as Arthur had taught him himself, and he dashed towards the boy and grabbed his head, slamming it on the ground.
His sudden action caught the boy off guard, and he was knocked out cold. His actions resulted in him injuring the boy as blood started to come out of the back of his skull.
Kevin, who also heard the commotion, came to see what happened, and he saw Asher standing on top of the body of one of the students, and saw the blood coming from the back of his head.
“You!!” Kevin judged that it was Asher’s fault and started to run to help the boy.
“Using mana outside of duels is prohibited, even for you, Asher Von Greville,” Kevin glared at Asher who stared back at him.
‘Annoying, everything is annoying,’ his head was hurting, but he felt a bit relieved from his urges when he attacked that boy.
Asher tapped his ID Bracelet and transferred 2000 GP to the student council for breaking the rules. Although it was everything he had, he could just buy more GP from the trade center.
Asher showed him the hologram and walked out of the big hall like he didn’t care at all.
Kevin kept glaring at Asher, but now that Asher had paid the fine and it was his first mistake, and Asher’s status didn’t allow Kevin to pursue the matter any further.
Asher walked down the empty hallway, as he had left he class a bit earlier than scheduled. As he turned a corner, he noticed a girl in a wheelchair heading his way. He couldn’t help but notice her pink hair and mask, and he could deduce the identity of that girl.
As they approached each other, Alyssa looked up and locked eyes with Asher who showed no emotions on his face like Alyssa. She could recognize him due to his distinctive crimson red eyes but it was a short glance.
They passed each other in silence, both of them didn’t care about the other to think much of it.