Chapter 24: Always Number Two

Claudia suddenly showing up in the area was a catalyst for Arsha to leave faster than he planned to and that was without taking even a bite of the steak Maya brought him. He did take the sandwich though because he didn't want her to feel like it was pointless for her to go through all the trouble.

He appreciated the fact that she went through the trouble to get him something to eat but if she had asked him first, he would have declined the offer.

Now that he was away from the garden, he was making his way to the school gymnasium alongside Claudia who had been quiet for a while now while he slowly consumed the sandwich in his hand.

"Must be nice having your girlfriend bring you lunch." She remarked as they got closer to the entrance to the gymnasium.

Arsha had his mouth full at that moment so he had to swallow what was in his mouth before turning to her.

"You think someone like me has a girlfriend?"

"Are you talking about how you're an outcast from the rest of the class?" She responded.

"Umm….I wouldn't describe myself as an outcast but you get the point." He remarked before throwing the last piece of the sandwich in his mouth.

"That must have tasted good for you to finish it that fast."

"To be honest, the only thing I could taste was the meat, and that itself was slightly bland." He responded as he robbed his hands against each other.

"It was that bad?" She asked, raising her eyebrow in shock.

"No, it's just my taste buds, I'm sure it'll taste good to you or anyone else."

"Huh?"

She didn't really understand what he meant by that but it wasn't her intention to pursue it any further.

"So….."

The atmosphere suddenly shifted from normal to slightly awkward for her at that moment as she folded her hands and kicked her left leg farther than it was supposed to go.

"The air." Arsha inhaled just before she could say what she wanted to say.

"Huh?"

"The air just felt nice before but now it also smells nice, sweet fragrance in the air." He remarked, turning to her for a second.

Claudia suddenly stopped walking at that moment as her mind flashed back to what happened in her room yesterday but that memory didn't last for long as it suddenly got clouded by something else.

'Punching bag.'

"You know that doesn't hold much weight coming from someone who beat me up and called me his punching bag recently."

She sounded quite annoyed as she bit her lower lip before proceeding to quickly walk ahead of him creating good distance between them.

Arsha stopped at that moment and just watched as she made her way to the door and disappeared inside the gymnasium.

"I would be surprised if she didn't bring that up." He uttered with a sigh.

'No helping it now.'

________ ________

Aigis Academy's gymnasium was quite a huge one and that itself might be an understatement given the fact that it was able to contain all one hundred and sixty-five first-year students with a lot of space still left.

At that moment, those one hundred and sixty-five first-year students were all on their seats with their gaze on the podium where Claudia was standing alongside Arsha.

She had a headpiece microphone around her head with a tablet in her hand and while Arsha didn't have a tablet, the microphone was necessary.

Surprisingly, the first years weren't as noisy as she expected so she didn't have any trouble getting things started.

Giving her mic a little tap was all she needed to get the attention of the few who had things to whisper about.

"Alright, I believe you all know why we're here so let's get started, however, before that, I believe it's appropriate for me to introduce myself since most of you don't know who I am." She articulated before clearing her throat. "I am Claudia Hart, a second-year level four student and I am ranked third in my class and today I'll be informing you about a couple of things as instructed by our Vice Principal alongside him."

'I just hope telling them her rank was something she decided to do on her own.'

There wasn't particularly any reaction from the students after her introduction so she proceeded to make her way to Arsha who was standing a little distance from her.

"Hey, you have to do the introduction like that." She whispered to him.

"Wait, seriously?" Arsha responded.

"Yeah, ordinarily I wouldn't include my rank or level but she said we must do it like that, look it's written here." She disclosed before proceeding to show him where it was written on the tablet.

The only response had for that was a sigh, a very weak sigh.

"Well, that's all I wanted to tell you." She said before returning to her position.

'I guess it wouldn't kill me.' He sighed inwardly before taking a step forward.

At that moment, he made contact with someone in the crowd, someone who had tried to bully him recently and failed miserably but the first-year student couldn't even hold the eye contact for more than two seconds.

'Here we go.'

"I'm Arsha Logan, second-year student, level five rank two." He blurted out like a recital.

Now, this was an introduction that got a reaction out of the students.

"So he really is a level five."

"And he's rank two, she's right below him."

A couple of them saw his spar with Preston two days ago and that fight made them question his level, hearing him say it himself now, it was inevitable that there were going to be whispers.

"If someone like him is ranked second then the second years must be weak."

Arsha could clearly hear everything they were saying, unlike Claudia who could only hear some of them while everything else came back to her as noise.

"Alright, everyone, that's enough, we're about to get started so please keep quiet."

She was able to get everything under control after a few seconds and just before starting the orientation, she turned her gaze to Arsha who seemed to be staring off into the distance with both of his hands in his pockets.

She kicked things off with the basics and to be honest, most of them already knew about those, she worked her way up from there, and before long, it was time to talk about the ranking system.

The level of students was something that was determined after they had gone through a series of physical and mana tests and this wasn't just for students, the levels of everyone with mana in the world were determined by these tests.

What Claudia was there to explain was how that affected the ranking system in the academy.

"On getting to the academy you'll be required to retake the tests to reevaluate your levels but you guys haven't done that yet. Once this test is done, you guys will be ranked with those with the higher levels being ranked higher. The takeaway here is that you can leave your rank as it is or you can choose to challenge those ranked higher than you, once you challenge someone and defeat the person, you will automatically obtain his rank and he will be pushed down a rank forcing everyone below to also be pushed down a rank.

"Something to keep in mind is that when you challenge someone ranked higher than you and lose the fight you will be pushed down a rank and the person directly below you will move up a rank so think about it before challenging someone ahead of you. Finally, a ranked match is something you cannot refuse or you will just be forfeiting the match, handing your opponent a victory without effort.

"That's all for the ranking system, any questions?"

It took about about ten seconds but somebody finally raised a hand.

"Yes," Claudia uttered pointing at the hand.

The student got up on his feet at that moment and that was when she could see that it was a girl with dark hair tied back in a ponytail.

"Miss Claudia, I would like to know what rank you were assigned at first before you became number three, or was that your first rank?"

"A curious question I see." She responded with a smile. "I was ranked seventh, that was my first rank."

"Oh, so you worked your way up to third."

"Not really."

"Huh?"

"That rank didn't stick with me for too long, I challenged my classmate who was ranked third then and I won against him. To be honest, I was just desperate but it worked out and I'm glad it did." She illustrated with a shrug.

"Oh, I see." The first-year student was quite intrigued but she wasn't done yet, she had her gaze on Arsha now. "And what about you, Mr. Arsha?"

"Me?" He responded.

"Yes, what was your initial rank?"

Unlike Claudia, he didn't respond immediately, and because he was taking his time, the first-year students were starting to think that he was about to drop a bombshell. Claudia on the other hand was just glaring at him.

"Number two." He revealed just after half a minute had gone by.

"You've always been number two?" The first-year girl inquired.

She sounded quite shocked and a couple of her classmates shared the same feeling.