-Clank!

Entering the classroom, I instantly felt countless stares directed towards me. Already prepared for this, I ignored the stares and indifferently made my way towards my seat.

Walking towards my seat, I could hear the faint whispering sounds coming from some of the classmates as they stared at me with a look of apprehension.

"Is that him?"

"Was he really hiding his strength the whole time?"

"Tsk, he's just stealing someone else's credit. He's nothing but a fake"

"Then how can you explain his E+ rank?"

Ignoring the whispers and murmurs coming from my classmates, I continued to make my way towards my seat.

At the moment I was extremely tired.

Having spent most of my morning getting beaten black and blue by Donna, I was feeling lethargic.

To make matters worse, my arm was currently spasming beneath my shirt.

Recently the problem with my arm has been getting more and more problematic.

It was starting to get really annoying as it was impeding me from training with the same intensity as before. Donna did in fact notice this.

When she asked me about it, I could only tell her that I had slightly injured myself during training the past few days.

Since Donna was not a doctor, she quickly bought my excuse and lowered the intensity of the workout.

However, although I managed to avoid getting questioned this time, I knew that this couldn't go on and I had to find a way to purchase an advanced potion to heal my arm.

Lazily sitting down on my seat as I interlocked my fingers together and yawned, my eyes drifted towards the left side of the classroom as I thought to myself.

'she should be able to make advanced potions by now, no?'

If there was someone that could provide me with cheap and high-quality potions, it was obviously Melissa.

Given that Melissa was practically my potion dealer as the deal I had made with her long ago was not just a one-time deal but a long-term one, I could enjoy better quality potions as she improved.

...the real question now was.

Did she improve?

Now that she was busy with the development of the magic card system, there was a possibility that her progress in potion-making stalled.

If so, it would be an annoying problem as I didn't want to fork out 35,000,000 million U to cure my arm.

At least with Melissa, I could pretty much save 80% of the cost as I would only need to provide her with the raw ingredients.

Crossing my arms in my seat, I repeatedly nodded my head.

"Yup, yup, I need to get in touch with Melissa again"

"Can I seat here?"

Snapping out of my thoughts, I suddenly heard a familiar voice calling me from behind. Turning around and looking towards my left, I stared at the person who spoke to me.

A surprised look appeared on my face as I recognized who the voice belonged to.

"Kevin?"

Smiling, Kevin looked at the seat beside me and once again asked.

"Can I sit?"

*Sigh*

"Do whatever you want"

Staring at Kevin for a couple of seconds, a sigh escaped from my lips as I lazily waved my hand.

There was no point in hiding the fact that I was friends with Kevin. Given that I already stood out, Kevin sitting next to me wouldn't make the situation worse.

Plus, I kind of felt bad for him.

He was just as much of a loner as I was. Apart from Emma and a couple of other people, he really had no friends.

Although in the novel he would become pretty close with Jin, that would be at the later stages in the novel, and...

Staring at Jin from the corner of my eyes, my mouth twitched.

Indifferently sitting on the left side of the classroom, Jin was probably one of the only people that wasn't paying attention to me as he continued to stare at the front of the classroom with a serious look.

...yeah, I don't see Jin ever becoming close to Kevin.

Given how unfriendly he had become these past few months, I wasn't sure whether this was a possibility anymore.

Even though he was no longer arrogant and looked down on people like before, I felt like his new personality was a bit too serious...

If I had to be honest, I had mixed feelings about this.

Unaware of what I was thinking, looking at me, Kevin worriedly asked.

"Hey, are you doing okay?"

"Hm?"

"I've seen what happened on the news, it's practically everywhere, are you okay?"

Since it was all over the news, Kevin had obviously heard about what had happened with Ren.

...and unlike the other students that were skeptical about Ren's strength, Kevin was not. After all, he had seen his strength first hand.

Although Ren was weaker than him in terms of rank, Kevin did not think that he was any weaker than him. This was especially since he had seen his sword art first hand.

Fast.

So fast that he could barely react.

At the moment, Kevin felt that between him and Ren, their strength was approximately the same, with maybe him having a little bit of an edge due to his rank being higher.

Hearing Kevin's question, I lazily responded.

"Ah, that...I'm fine, but why are you sitting next to me?"

Blinking his eyes a couple of times, Kevin replied.

"Well, we are friends aren't we?"

"...and?"

"And so it is only right that I sit next to you...or am I perhaps bothering you?"

Pausing for a second and staring at Kevin, I was at a loss for words.

What he said wasn't wrong.

Since he regarded me as his friend and I too regarded him as a friend, what was wrong with him sitting next to me?

...I guess all those years of being alone caused me to have practically zero social skills.

Thinking along those lines, crossing my arms on my desk, I lowered my head and closed my eyes.

"...Nah, it's fine. There's nothing wrong with what you said"

"Great"

Happily smiling, Kevin took out his tablet and other materials for class. Once he put everything on his desk, Kevin looked around the classroom as he softly muttered.

"Wow, we're really attacking a lot of attention"

Hearing Kevin's remark and lifting my head up, I instantly understood what Kevin meant.

Currently, practically everyone inside of the class was staring at us from the corner of their eyes as they whispered amongst each other.

Although they were trying to be sneaky about it, when almost everyone was doing it, it became pretty obvious.

Glancing at Kevin I muttered.

"Shouldn't you already be used to this?"

Blankly looking around, Kevin bitterly said.

"I am, but it's never been so bad"

Rolling my eyes, I annoying said.

"...this is why I didn't want to stand out"

Patting me on my shoulder as a trace of pity appeared in his eyes, Kevin consoled me.

"You'll get used to it"

"Piss off, I did not have a choice whilst you did"

Opening my eyes wide, I smacked Kevin's hand away as I cursed at him.

With Everblood purposely screwing me over so that I stood out, I really had no choice with regards to this matter.

Kevin on the other hand purposely chose to show off his skills.

Getting used to it my ass, I did not want to get used to this.

The staring felt piercing.

Feeling wronged, Kevin explained.

"Oh come on, I also did not have a choice. It's not like I knew that I was actually talented"

Having spent most of the time outside of Ashton city, Kevin had no idea that he was that talented. Therefore, when he took the exam he tried his best thinking that his performance was not going to be any better than some of the second-generation kids that were nurtured with resources since young.

Who would've thought that they were actually that weak?

Not him.

"..."

Hearing Kevin's statement, I was left speechless for a couple of seconds.

Although I knew what Kevin meant by that statement, I felt the urge to slap him on the back of his head.

To make matters worse, I was the one that made him that way.

Ah, who should I be hitting, him or me?

Seeing the dark look on my face, Kevin quickly diverted the topic.

"By the way, are you coming to the banquet next week?"

Raising my brow, I asked.

"Banquet? Are you perhaps talking about the banquet with the exchange students?"

"Yeah"

"Mhh, I guess I will. Either way, it's not like I have a choice"

Nodding his head, as he crossed his arms, Kevin agreed.

"Mhm, since you're part of the tournament team, you have no choice but to participate"

"Yeah..."

The banquet Kevin was referring to was a banquet that was held by the academy to welcome the new exchange students that came from the four great academies.

This banquet was mostly something that the academy had set up to give an opportunity to the exchange students and the academy students to interact with one another.

The main reason for this was so that the students could build connections and friendships amongst each other.

After all, everyone present at the banquet was someone whose future was bright. It was never wrong to make connections with people living in other cities.

In hindsight, I think this was a good opportunity for me.

Although I could no longer hide my presence as I did before, I think that creating connections was a good way for me to develop my strength.

Especially since I would eventually want to expand my influence outside of Ashton city.

Thinking thus far, I asked.

"When is it again?"

Staring at his watch and looking at his calendar app, Kevin calmly answered.

"In about a week"

Frowning slightly, I asked.

"Do we have to wear formal clothes?"

Rolling his eyes, Kevin responded.

"What do you think?"

"That's going to be problematic..."

"Why?"

Scratching the back of my head, I bitterly said.

"Because I don't have any formal clothes?"

"What?"

"All of my formal clothes don't fit me anymore"

With my physique drastically improving, I no longer could fit into my old suits.

To make matters worse, with my fashion sense being quite frankly terrible, I was in a pickle as I did not know what to wear for the banquet.

Placing his hand on his chin as he fell into deep contemplation, glancing towards the left side of the classroom, Kevin suggested.

"Actually, you can ask Emma with regards to that. She helped me choose one when I had to attend a banquet for my elective last month. Her fashion sense is outstanding"

Frowning, I looked to the side where a beautiful young girl with short brown hair sat. Currently, she was sitting next to Amanda. From time to time the two would talk, but with Amanda not being very talkative, it was mostly Emma who was doing the talking.

It was a rather comical sight.

Still, recalling my past experiences with Emma, I shook my head.

"Emma?...I'd rather not"

Understanding my thoughts, Kevin reassured me.

"It's fine, I'll come too. You won't have to go with her alone"

"Eh, I don't know. I'll think about it"

Seeing that I was still not convinced, Kevin suggested.

"How about this, why don't we go after class? Since there are no electives today, we should be able to go after class no?"

"Eh, I'll see..."

Honestly, the idea did sound tempting, however, I was still not fully convinced as I didn't want to deal with Emma.

...I'd honestly rather deal with Melissa.

Actually, I didn't mind being Melissa as she was quite fun to tease these days. With me no longer being scared of her, getting a reaction off of her was actually quite entertaining.

Just recalling how pissed she was in our last meeting made me smile.

Suddenly recalling something, I looked at Kevin and asked.

"By the way, what class do we have next?"

Without hesitation, Kevin responded.

"Theoretical science of mana and psyons"

Hearing the name of the next lecture course, suddenly remembering something, I cursed out loud.

"Ah...fuck"

Confused, Kevin tilted his head and asked.

"What's wrong?"

Weakly staring at Kevin, I muttered.

"Well, I just suddenly thought of an annoying problem"

"What annoying problem?"

-Clank!

Right before I could answer Kevin, the doors of the classroom opened and a handsome youth with dirt blond hair entered the classroom.

"Everyone please sit down"

Blinking a couple of times, Kevin's eyes became cold as he stared at Gilbert who was slowly making his way towards the podium in the middle of the classroom. Suddenly realizing why I cursed out loud, Kevin looked at me and nodded his head in understanding.

"My condolences"

Hearing Kevin's comment, my mouth twitched.

"What condolences! You're just as much of a target as I am!"

"Silence! Class is about to start"

Suddenly, Gilbert's voice drifted across the classroom as everyone shut up. Smiling gently, he looked around the classroom until his eyes suddenly paused on me.

Staring at me for a couple of seconds, Gilbert muttered.

"So you must be student Ren Dover"

Instantly, as soon as his words fell, everyone turned their heads in my direction.

Feeling the countless stares directed in my direction, I bitterly nodded my head.

"In the flesh"

Alternating his head between Kevin and me, Gilbert nodded his head.

"I see, I've heard of what happened. It must've been rough"

"It was alright"

Nodding his head, Gilbert smiled as he turned around and looked at the whiteboard before him. In a rather stern tone, he said.

"Well, it doesn't matter. I hope you obediently follow the class like the rest of the students here. Although what you have done can be considered an astounding achievement...that is only if you have actually done what is said on the paper. It wouldn't be good if you took someone else's credit for something that you did not do..."

Understanding the meaning of his words, I rolled my eyes.

"Yes"

This was karma I say.

This was the karma I got for all the times I gloated at Kevin for having to deal with Gilbert.

"It's good that you know"

Finished talking to me, Gilbert proceeded to start the lecture.

"Alright, today we are going to be talking about condensing your..."

Fortunately, Gilbert was rather tame today.

Apart from the beginning of the class and the fact that I was picked a couple of times to answer some of his questions, nothing particularly annoying happened to me today.

In fact, aside from the occasional stares from my classmates, it was pretty much just like any regular class.

If I had to guess as to why Gilbert was not proactively making my life difficult, it probably had something to do with Donna. With what had happened to Kevin not so long ago, Gilbert knew that he couldn't perform the same stunt again as he could actually get into trouble this time.

Although his father could cover him for a while, that didn't mean he could do as he wished.

Especially since the headmaster of the academy was also an SS-ranked hero. Once the headmaster returned from his trip, there was no way Gilbert would get away with what he had done Scot free.

Knowing this, Gilbert could only lay low for a while.

...and so thanks to that, Kevin and I didn't have a hard time today as the class ended in about an hour.

Staring at Gilbert's figure leaving, I muttered.

"Well, that was better than I thought..."

Nodding his head, Kevin added.

"Yeah, I honestly thought he would pick on you more"

Pausing for a second and staring at me, Kevin glanced at Emma who was packing up her stuff on the left side of the classroom, and asked.

"...so do you want me to help you with the suit thing or not?"

Frowning slightly, after a bit of thought I nodded my head.

"Sure"

Since I had nothing to do as well, I may as well buy a new suit.