Entrance day

"Why are you so out of it Basara?" Melinda said as she looked at me.

We were now inside one of the buildings that were around the School main building.

This was like a dorm room for students of this school. Lady Akari was to soon join us but for the moment I and Melinda were alone inside the giant room.

I kinda feel weird about the whole thing, a boy living together with two girls, but I should still remember my status, I am here to serve, and learn, nothing else.

"Nothing," I said a bit dejected.

"You should not bother with whatever result that thing showed, it must have been faulty, I know for sure that you should get a higher score than that." She said trying to comfort me. This girl was quite frank, she was a nice person, some of the rare kinds of people that I have ever met in my life.

"Thank you for your words, but that is not the real reason. It is the looks of everyone, not towards me but towards our lady. Having an incompetent servant only serves to ruin her image within the school."

"Lady Akari won't be bothered with such trivia, don't worry about it. Just practice and try to prove them wrong, I know you will." She said with a smile on her face.

It was almost evening, Lady Akari was invited to a noble's gathering, while we, her servants were not. This was the case for everyone within the school. Though we should have accompanied her, the school insists on leaving the Nobles to attend this banquet with the supervision of the school staff, once this Gathering is dismissed, we will continue our duties like the usual.

The room we were at was quite grand, it had several separate rooms, where I took one. While the remaining two were for Lady Akari and Melinda.

After arranging the luggage, I found nothing better to do. So I decided to take a tour outside and see the size of this school.

"I will head out, I want to see this school in its entirety," I said to Melinda who gave me an approving nod without saying anything.

Once out I saw the vastness of this school, it was dozens of times the size of Lord Ling's manor.

Behind the main building was the grand arena and as I approached I saw many people gathered there.

On the Arena, there was a fight. Two guys were fighting, they were servants. However, this seemed more like a spar than a fight.

One of them was bulky as an ox, while the other looked small and meager. I don't think I recognize them, due to me not having paid attention to them in the phase of ranking.

The bulky guy was actually being pushed back by the small guy, he struck like a mountain but every strick of his would-be redirected or countered, they were not using blades or tools, just martial combat with empty hands.

Every time the big guy strikes the kid either evade, dodges or counters with swift and small hits.

Hitting the same spots over and over again.

'Hmm, swift palms… I guess this art still lives on' said Nocturne

'What is that?' I asked

'That is a martial art derived from sucking at the stress points of the human body, forcing the blood circulation to destabilize, a continuous usage of the art forces the enemy struck with it to lose consciousness, a specialist can actually kill their enemy with one hit.'

'That sounds dangerous,' I said

'Indeed, fighting against a swift palm practitioner head-on is suicidal' said Nocturne

'However it seems that big guy is not falling down,' I said

'the small kid is going easy on him. He could have destroyed him many times over, probably he is not showing his full strength, however, the other guy is a natural at strengthening, his muscles are forcing most of the attacks to deal less damage and reach their maximum potential, however, there is a limit to defending' said Nocturne

Then the big guy keeled over and fell.

"Sebastian Luge wins!" said a man wearing the school staff uniform.

There was a small crowd of people around them that began cheering while others looked dejected.

"50 points will now be transferred to the winner. Next challenge please"

"Points?" I said then a boy with red hair wearing a butler's outfit like mine casually said

"The school implemented a new system. Each student is given a number of Points at the start of the school year, they can use them for their daily necessities and even upgrade their ranks if possible."

"Oh, I never received anything like that," I said

"Well that is probably due to your double negative status, Points are given based on the potential of everyone." He said with a smirk

"I guess your life in this school will be rather hard."

"What is your name?" I asked

"I am Viktor Dilen," he said giving a courteous bow "Servant of the House Dantess"

I am Basara, Servant of the House Ling," I said giving the man a nod of acknowledgment

"Is there a way to get these points?" I said

"The easiest way to get them is by combat, you can bet a certain number of points, Winner takes all." He said

"How are the points distributed at first though?" I asked.

"Each servant's potential grants them a certain amount of points. An F class servant Gets 1000 points, and for each rank and additional 1000 point. A servant with an S class gets 7000 points."

"So the maximum amount can get to 14 000 points," I said

"Yes, that is a lot of points, however, there was never anyone with that score, the maximum was 13 000 and it belonged to the royal family."

"How can we rank up?" I asked

"You need to upgrade your card, for each rank up, you need to pay twice the number of points there is to get to it. To rank up from class F to rank E it will require 2000 points, but from E to D it will take 4000. You see where I am getting?" he said

"Yes, ranking up all the way to S class should be extremely difficult with just points."

"Yes, that is why there is the option to swap ranks, you can challenge a higher class to a duel and if they accept and you win you may be able to take their position in the class."

"Interesting." I said, "But I guess no one will even accept a challenge without proper compensation."

"Yes, to challenge a higher class member you will need to provide appropriate compensation for their risk of drinking. And they must accept." He said with a smile on his face.

"Thank you for the information, I appreciate it," I said

"No worries, But with all respect to your house, I believe that your situation is quite dire, you will probably not be able to rank up. But all hope is not lost, you can still get points by doing various Jobs at the school notice board"

"The notice board?" I asked

"Yes, there is a huge board that will put some quests to the students, Even achieving high grades in school grants you points, just work hard and you will certainly catch up, Even none fighters this way can get a chance." He said, "It is only fair".

"Thank you for everything," I said

"No worries, not everyone here is an enemy you should make sure to ask whenever you are in need of assistance, I am sure many will help." He said as he left.

Good, now I should go check out the notice board.

'So many uselessness, but it might be a good opportunity for you to learn more if you take in these challenges.' Said Nocturne.

I then headed back towards the school leaving the arena.

Once before the school gate, I saw a huge board with many students around it.

Once I made it through I read the different quests on it.

Some gave up to 1000 points but the condition of them was absurd.

"It needs for us to fetch a Silver fang's horn. They inhabit the Undying Forest behind the school"

'Oh, quite an interesting challenge, you should take this one Basara, it will prove your worth.'

'What is a silver fang?' I asked

"It is a Wolf of sorts, it has a horn on its forehead and a gray-like silver fur, its entire body is useful for alchemy and its horn is quite precious for making some remedies and alchemical concoctions," he said.

'Can I hunt it?' I asked

'If it is alone, then maybe you might be able to take it down with my help, however, a Silver Fang is always accompanied by a group of wolves. You will need assistance' he said

'Hmm, I should probably ask Melinda then, ah wait… there is a condition'

Looking below the request it said

'Minimum class Rank A'

Sigh…

I can't take this one.

Looking all over the other quests, they all had a condition, even some herb gathering quests had an at least F class quest.

This is really starting to annoy me.

"You should probably just try your luck with a challenge then Said Nocturne'

Nothing is going how I like.