『Silver Class』

*Murmur* *Chatter*

"Hey... is that the rumored double of Arthur-sama?"

"He looks... plain"

"..."

The sun was at its peak—its light pierced through the large arched windows of the room. In that room, lies Naoki—who was one of the only two males in the class. Everyone inside seems to be wearing a silver uniform, indicating their place in the academy.

"Quiet!" A stern woman exclaimed.

"I know you're all eager to experience the Silver Class as some of you seem to be new faces. In any case, I'm Leila Fredia—the one in charge of this class this quarter. As you all know, this is the D-Class, which is the lowest in the Silver-Class so I recommend that you do not become lax in your cultivation."

"That's..."

That's right, this was the same woman that handled Naoki's Elemental Exam—a person who, aside from her face, showed no skin. Her most striking feature would be that she had worn mostly dark colors and most of all, her hat that reminded Naoki of witches.

"I'm just going to say this, I don't give a damn about any of your names—so I'll begin with my first practical project. Whoever is in the top 10th places in my class, can have these Pure Soul Fragments."

"Wait...!"

"A 3-star node Sky Raven Fragment!"

"To be precise, that's a 15th node Pure Soul Fragment." Naoki thought to himself.

Naoki had used his [Discerning Eyes] which he got from the Silver Queen's fragment. At the table, several identical crystals were placed—a single of these Pure Soul Fragments could potentially boost Naoki's cultivation up to the 7th Soul Node in one fell swoop.

"It's quite simple, participate in my class and do my tasks efficiently—the bracelet in front of you will serve as a tracking device of your performance. It also tracks your overall cultivation, so that will be calculated as well. Remember, if you want to be at the top, then do whatever it takes to strengthen your soul."

In front of Naoki, was a silver bracelet—and as instructed, he began to wear it. Somehow, the situation had excited him. After several minutes, everyone seems to be wearing the bracelet—and with the signal of the instructor, it lit up.

[97th Naoki Ozawa, D-Class]

Naoki was amazed at what he saw, it seems that this bracelet indicated your rank and flashed it in beautiful, legible calligraphy. Apparently, he was in 97th place—this was not bad as the students inside the large room were at least 200.

"Now, this is only for this column—if you cannot achieve it in a month, there will still be the next."

A Quarter in the Lizea Academy was divided into three parts: The first, second, and third columns. In each column, a tournament will be held within a class to determine who are the top students of the month—and is usually accompanied by a prize.

"Moving on... I will now teach you the most effective ways to cultivate your soul." The teacher continued, beginning her class.

Surprisingly, no one made a single noise and listened to the class attentively—to be precise, no one could. Her voice was enough to make everyone silent, which is likely attributed to her special ability.

<<----------->>

"Arthur-sama...!"

"We're still in the same class yet again!" A girl squealed.

"Mhm, likewise—I look forward to working with all of you once again."

It was lunch break, and everyone huddled toward a particularly fashionable astute young man. Although despite his age, he had looked as if he was older—an aura of maturity emanated from him.

"Uwah... pretty boy." Naoki looked in disdain from afar.

"Anyways, to think that that I'd end up back in school again... it's a weird feeling." Naoki can't help but sigh.

The Royal Academy of Lizea, Anize, contains most of the high-end cultivation materials in all of the kingdom—which Naoki couldn't just ignore as he wanted to be stronger. Although, while he said that, it seems that he was slightly looking forward to his time here—as it appears that it wasn't as boring as he thought.

*Cough*

"Ah...! We're very sorry Lady Trisha!"

"Let's get out of here..."

"...?"

It seems a commotion was brewing up, Naoki saw a finely crimson-dressed woman enter as she stood just a little ways from the crowd—a look of annoyance from her otherwise elegant face.

"It's good that you all understand." While she said it softly, her eyes said otherwise—glaring at the girls that surrounded Arthur just a moment ago.

"Hey... there's no need to be rude, Trisha." Arthur had a look of disapproval on his face.

"Rude? Is not visiting your fiancée for over 2 weeks not rude then?"

"That's... I was just occupied with cultivating my soul."

Trisha Merdonia

The second daughter of the Merdonia family and is the current 5th strongest of the academy—she's considered also considered a prodigy in the Diamond Class as she achieved her cultivation at the young age of 18. Moreover, she's part of the famous <Soul Stars> which is considered to be the strongest team of the younger generation in the Lizea kingdom.

Her family, the Merdonia Family, is closely knit with the Hrothford Family—which explains the arranged engagement of the two. Though that may be the case, Arthur had not done anything to contribute to it at all—it seems he was just not interested.

"And that doesn't give you a minute to come and see me?" Her composure slightly broke.

"If you're not satisfied with it, then go ahead and cancel our engagement." Arthur spoke in a calm voice, speaking rationally.

"You...!"

Naoki just blankly stared at the commotion in front of him—while practicing his ice arts. Despite the fact that he was also a male in the silver class, no one approached him.

"Astria was right... aristocracy is really different..."

Knowing he was quite uninformed of the nobility in the Lizea Kingdom, Astria gave him a one-on-one lecture on all the things he needed to know before the first day of the academy—though they mostly spent that time flirting.

The couple continued throwing remarks at each other until her agenda was finally communicated through. It seems like Arthur was called by her older sister—apparently, a friendly sparring will be held and he was invited to come to see it. When this was mentioned, Arthur became more amicable and agreeable—it looks like he was heavily interested in anything that relates to cultivation.