Everyone was surprised as Natasha the Artemis arrived with Noah Quill. Now, Natasha clearly said that Noah was much stronger than the other cadets at the academy.
"I doubt that, Miss Natasha. Didn't mean to impugn your judgment." Mathias smiled as he tried to clarify Natasha's statement.
"In my opinion, the other cadets are also strong and capable of winning against beasts. In fact, they probably wouldn't have been injured as badly as Noah was," Mathias retorted.
"It's up to you. When the graduation exam ends, you'll all know why I called Noah that." Natasha didn't have much time to talk about the obvious. She left the classroom after dropping Noah off. Mathias loudly told Noah to come in.
"Thank Miss Natasha. If it wasn't for her request, you would have been expelled from this academy," Mathias revealed, pointing roughly ahead at Noah.
"I understand. I'll behave myself," Noah replied, returning to his table, ready to receive a lesson from Mathias.
Mathias no longer cared about the truth of Natasha's words to Noah. The middle-aged man resumed his subject by explaining the hierarchy of beasts in this world.
There were three categories of beasts that all prospective Beast Slayer members needed to understand: ordinary, dangerous, and legendary. Most Beast Slayer members can only kill the ordinary category, monsters that are not too strong in physical and magic attacks.
For dangerous category monsters, usually killed by several Beast Slayer members assisted by the Legion. And finally, the legendary category is mainly killed by the combined power of The Legion members.
"The mark on their foreheads distinguishes the three types of monsters. If you don't find a red pattern on their foreheads, then you can be sure that the monster is an ordinary type," Mathias replied.
"Then what's the difference between dangerous and legendary monsters?" asked one of the students.
"Simple. A red pattern for dangerous category monsters will appear on their foreheads according to their race. However, for the legendary category, the pattern color turns white," Mathias replied.
"You, Noah! Miss Natasha said that you had a fight with one of the beasts. Do you know what kind of beast it was?" asked Mathias, directly addressing Noah sitting in the back row.
Noah rose from his seat, seeing all his classmates focusing their eyes backwards to watch him.
"There's no pattern," Noah explained.
"I knew it. It was an ordinary beast. It's pathetic that you lost to a common beast," Mathias scoffed.
Instead of sympathizing, all of Noah's classmates laughed at Noah's inability to kill a monster of the common kind. Among the laughing class, only one girl did not.
That girl realized something, not when Noah answered Mathias' question but when Noah came to this class. She noticed a crimson-red aura similar to the blood color surrounding the young man's body.
Mathias continued his explanation until all the students in the class understood, as did Noah. The bell rang loudly throughout the academy, signaling the students to stop their studies and go to break.
"After lunch is over. I want you to prepare for your sparring with the other classes in the arena," Mathias explained; the students agreed.
One by one, they left the classroom with their friends. Noah was planning to buy his lunch and eat it in the back garden of the academy.
The girl continued to follow Noah wherever he went, buying the same food he had bought until they arrived at the academy's back garden.
Noah sat on a lawn chair facing the water fountain. The girl saw the figure of Noah, who was eating alone. As a result, she immediately approached the young man.
"Can I have lunch with you here?" the girl asked, surprising Noah.
"Freya?" asked Noah when he realized the girl with shoulder-length brown hair and fair skin standing next to him had never said anything to Noah and vice versa.
Noah said yes, shifting his position to allow Freya to sit beside him. Noah realized that Freya had bought the same sandwich and drink as him, a cheese sandwich with strong black coffee.
"Aren't you going to lunch with your friends?" asked Noah, curious as he opened the topic of conversation between the two.
"There's something I need to make sure of with you."
"What is it?" Noah was still chewing slowly on the sandwich he'd bought, his attention diverted to the side, and he stared at Freya, who still hadn't eaten her lunch.
"The power of my talent is aura projection. I can control a person's spirit and aura, and I can also see a person's aura," Freya said, lowering her head with her eyes fixed on her unopened sandwich, "Before, your aura was not visible to my eyes. However, there's something different now. I see a red aura around you."
Noah stopped eating with his eyes wide. The young man had never thought that Freya could see changes in him, not just physical changes —a difference in hair color.
"You know what? Instructor Mathias said that our talents give us an aura. I researched a few things, and it's true, the color of their aura is just like the characteristics of their talent." Freya explained again as she opened the sandwich she had bought and ate it. The girl needed to eat because soon, there would be a joint training event with other classes.
Freya turned her eyes and closed her mouth while chewing the sandwich. "Has your talent appeared yet?"
BLURT!
Noah reflexively spurted the coffee he was drinking forward, his heart entirely shocked to hear Freya ask such a question. Noah raised his right hand, wiping the coffee from his mouth.
"What are you saying? My talent hasn't shown up until now," Noah explained, smiling slightly again, trying to find an excuse so Freya wouldn't continue to be suspicious.
But Noah's forced smile only made Freya more curious. The girl was sure, with her confident heart, that a crimson-red aura seemed to be hovering around Noah. Freya's talent could not be wrong.
"Hmm."
"I don't know what exactly you're hiding, but you'd better not do that if you want to graduate from this academy," Freya said, placing her sandwich and coffee on a garden chair, surprising Noah.
"There's a sparring event with another class soon. In short, it's a practice battle with other cadets from outside our class," Freya said, sternly looking at Noah, who she thought was hiding his strength, "If you pretend to be weak, they'll hate you, and you'll be in danger of not graduating."
"W-Was that true?" asked Noah.
The academy bell rang again, signaling that the sparring would begin. Freya turned her head towards the academy and saw the cadets starting to walk into the arena. The girl immediately invited Noah to go to the arena.
Noah said yes, leaving the park without finishing his sandwich and coffee.
Natasha's advice was obvious to Noah, he should not use his talent before the cadets and academy instructors. Doing so would jeopardize Noah's status at the academy.
The best option Noah could do was to use his elemental magic ability. Fortunately, he remembered the elemental magic spells, so he might be able to use them.
"I'm not going to lose this fight," Noah explained, resolutely staring ahead, at the gathered cadets, "They'll know that I'm no longer weak."
Two academy instructors arrived, Mathias and Misa. 60 cadets were in the arena, sitting in a circle with two cadets in the center to fight each other later."Hey, Noah. You might need this!" insulted Caleb, the best cadet in the class who constantly bullied Noah.Caleb threw a wooden sword at Noah, which Noah immediately grabbed with his right hand. All the cadets laughed loudly; they couldn't wait to see Noah fight with the wooden sword."Since Noah has arrived, how about the first battle between Noah and Talon?" Mathias suggested.Misa couldn't argue because Mathias would be the referee in this sparring match. A fight that Misa didn't think was fair, the weakest against the strongest. Noah, known as the weakest cadet in the academy, is against Talon, who is known as the strongest cadet and the future successor to Ares in The Legion's Elite Unit."Talon will destroy him in one strike!"Noah had expected it. The 58 cadets in the arena fully supported Talon. Not a single one wanted to
Noah opened his eyes slowly. The pain in his stomach was still there right when Natasha hit him in the solar plexus.The young man got up immediately and cast his eyes around the surrounding area. He was in the infirmary, and no one seemed to be near him. The bed he lay was surrounded by closed white curtains, so Noah couldn't see his surroundings."The bleeding hasn't stopped. I've only seen something like this. It seems Noah is the only one who knows how to stop it.""Really? Unfortunately, Noah is still unconscious.""I'm here," Noah announced, drawing the attention of the two women talking.The curtain to the right of Noah's bed opened, and Instructor Misa arrived with one of the doctors in the infirmary. Misa smiled to see Noah was fine. The crushing blow from Natasha didn't seem to significantly impact Noah."Thank goodness you woke up fast. Are you alright?" asked Misa, looking worried."I'm fine. It's just my stomach still hurts," Noah explained, pointing at the solar plexus w
***The next day.Noah found it peaceful at the academy. He found no intimidation or bullying from his cadet classmates. Not only were they not bullying Noah, but none dared to approach Noah.Although Noah was avoided because of his talent, Freya still wanted to be friends with Noah. The girl thought Noah's powers were unique, and she wanted to know more about Noah's talents.At lunchtime, Noah and Freya went to the academy's backyard to eat their lunch peacefully —the cafeteria was noisy."Susan is a good girl. Her talent is Cloning; it allows her to create clones that look like her." Freya sat on a garden chair with her legs crossed, her hands no longer holding a sandwich but a packed lunch of fruits and boiled potatoes."She seems to have a problem with me," Noah revealed, raising his head to look at the sky above the garden."I don't know about that. Why don't you try talking to her?" Freya asked, suggesting."I've tried, but she's so rude. I'm at a loss when it comes to talking t
Dr. Nana finished making warm porridge for Kira. Kira accepted the porridge and ate it with gusto. Noah was happy to see her eating the porridge happily."So, you're in the same group for the Final Exam?" Dr. Nana pulled out one of the chairs and sat to the right of the bed where Kira was still lying. Kira was still busy with her food, Noah had to answer Nana's question."Right, with another girl named Susan," Noah said."I always remember those Final Exams, full of suspense and pain," Nana replied.Noah squinted when he heard Nana's statement. None of the three in the group knew exactly what the final exams looked like, especially the suspense and pain Nana had described.The young man only knew that he and his group members
***Two days later.London Cadet Academy."Hey, you already lost against us. You have to keep your word!" Kira sternly spoke to Susan while the class was on lunch break. Noah just watched and didn't help Kira force Susan.Noah was confused. What exactly made her hate him and Kira? Noah didn't feel like he had done anything wrong, intentional or not, to Susan. Kira didn't seem to either —considering Kira's quiet nature."What a noise! Can't you see I'm busy?" Susan asked, showing Kira a book."What's the need to learn that book if you're not training to be strong?!" snapped Kira, trying to snatch it out of Susan's hand.The book Susan was holding was a beast encyclopedia. The 500-page volume contained hundreds of beasts with different characteristics, which had been recorded before.According to Susan, a trainee cadet needs to know the characteristics of the beasts they will fight later. Only a fool would continue to train hard without knowing the weaknesses of the beasts they would fa
***Three days later.London Cadet Academy.Since the night incident, Susan began participating in preparation exercises with Noah and Kira. Not only that, but Susan also participated in explaining about various ordinary-level beasts that she had remembered through the beast encyclopedia.According to Susan, the beasts appearing during the exam would undoubtedly be ordinary-level beasts. The Beast Slayer's higher-ups must have arranged precautions so the cadet candidates would not encounter dangerous level beasts.That day was the last day Noah and his team members practised. Since yesterday, the other teams have stopped training and are fully rested for tomorrow's Final Exam.Noah, Kira, and Susan were forced to use their rest time to practice, especially attack and defense combo exercises. Susan apologized that her attitude the other day was causing Kira and Noah trouble at the moment, Noah and Kira didn't mind at all.The three sat on the arena floor, their bodies covered in sweat.
Noah went through the forest cautiously. He tried to keep a high alert so that he wouldn't get hurt a lot while walking alone in the middle of the forest, especially lest he be attacked by beasts.Screams of pain could still be heard, echoing off every tree in the forest. However, the intensity had decreased compared to when the cadets finished parachuting.There were several possibilities as to why the screams had subsided. Either the person was dead, or they had been rescued by their team members.Noah encountered several beasts with low abilities, such as goblin beasts, insect beasts, and snake beasts. It was easy for Noah to defeat them, especially when the young man already knew the weaknesses of the three beast.He lifted his head and looked up at the sky. The sun had already slipped to the west, a sign that noon was ending."I need to find shelter before nightfall," Noah muttered.Along the way to finding shelter, Noah collected a lot of firewood that he found along the way to
"I heard you managed to defeat Talon. Is it true?" asked Freya's teammate, Noah knew him as Allen."Aren't you from A class?" asked Noah.Allen shook his head. He was from C class, where C class had never had a sparring match with A class. However, news spread quickly among the cadets in the academy, especially about the best cadet being defeated by a loser cadet who couldn't even use magic.Noah had expected the news to spread like a virus through the air so even the cadets in C class would know that Noah had defeated Talon."It seems so." Noah was still standing at the cave entrance, and it was his turn to stand guard in the rain, still falling. The intensity of the rain was not as great as before; only a small trickle remained."No wonder you were able to kill those three beasts," Allen pointed out."I managed to defeat those beasts because I put my training and knowledge of their characteristics to good use. My victory against Talon has nothing to do with my victory against the be