As the hours pa.s.sed by, the students continued with their a.s.sessments. When it was finally lunch time, the academy"s cafeteria had brought in the lunches for the first years to the stadium."So, how were they headmaster? Pretty good seedlings we have this year no?"
"...yes. Pretty good indeed," the headmaster said while eyeing the students who were currently having lunch. "But, they lack... something."
The instructors who were gathered around the headmaster listened intently at his words, but they were puzzled as to what the children were lacking.
In terms of fighting capability and magic capabilities, all the children that were accepted into Arks Royal Academy were the best of the best. The cream of the crop, if any other academy had even one of these students accepted into their curriculum then it was a foregone conclusion that they would be at the top of their cla.s.s.
Arks Royal Academy"s criteria for acceptance were just that high. Only the elite would even think about enrolling into the academy and only the best among them would be accepted. Previous years" acceptance rates have been very long sometimes not even reaching 100 students. This year"s acceptance ratings have been the highest, reaching a total of 209 students being accepted.
So you could say, that this generation"s talents had blossomed and all 209 students were gifted in their own unique way. The criteria have never changed and the level of criteria has never lowered. So it puzzled the teachers at what could possibly be lacking of them.
"Ah... experience. Yes. That"s what they lack. They lack any form of combat experience. They"re like home grown plants. They haven"t experienced the wear and tear of the wild."
"Sir... they"re only 12-14 year old children."
"Ah. I see, I see. I"m sorry it didn"t cross my mind!" The headmaster chuckled. He turned an eye towards the students of S-cla.s.s.
"But, not all of them seem to be home grown vegetables." The headmaster said while smirking. His eyes glinted in expectation when he eyed some of the students in the cla.s.s.
Back at the stands, in the seating area of cla.s.s S, Cecil had subtly turned an eye towards the higher levels of the stadium.
A particular gaze was directed at him and he turned to look back at its source. He briefly met eyes with the headmaster who had a smile plastered on his face. He immediately turned away after a short observation.
"What"s wrong Cel?"
"Nothing. Just hurry up and eat."
"M"kay~"
The group was eating together and Ainz finally couldn"t contain himself.
"SO! Brats! What"d ya think about the earlier battles?"
"Plain."
"Boring."
"Uncultured!"
Everyone gave their opinions and only Cecil remained quiet, silently eating his food. Lucia was beyond bored after watching the slugfest while Eli wasn"t one bit impressed at the single-minded way their fellow first years were fighting.
"Uh-uhm... they were okay? I think..." Fina was trying her best to sound a little nice, but her words started fading near the end. Even she wasn"t convinced that her fellow first years were doing good.
"WAHAHA! Well, for people who haven"t had any combat training, of course they"ll have a lackl.u.s.ter performance!"
Lucia raised an eyebrow at his words.
"...and you"re saying that you"ve got training?"
"Of course!"
"Heh."
"Don"t underestimate me brat!"
Lucia scoffed and ignored the boasting Ainz. She turned towards Fina and Eli and began asking.
"Have you guys taken combat training?"
"Yes. It"s something that was required of us at the pal– I mean back at home."
"Same for me, Lucia... I had to train because I live in the ocean. The monsters in the ocean are much more abundant and ferocious than the ones on land..."
"Oh! That"s good! At least you won"t perform as miserably as those people!"
"What about you Lucia?" Eli asked.
"Hmph." Lucia gave a side-long look at Ainz and said, "Even if there were 10s of this guy coming at me. I"d blow away all of them with a stroke of my sword!"
"BULLs.h.i.t!" Ainz roared.
"Heh. Try me!"
Seeing as the two were about to bicker, Cecil sighed.
"...finish your food Lulu."
"Yeah, yeah."
When lunch was over, the matches continued. They"ve been at it since morning, but only half of the students have finished their matches.
"Looks like we"ll be fighting tomorrow..."
"Yeah. The second segment was meant to be completed in two days anyway."
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Cecil was listening in on the rest of the cla.s.s" conversation. Many of them were antic.i.p.ating their matches tomorrow.
Since everyone knew who they were fighting against tomorrow, the vibe around the cla.s.s grew a bit tense. Cecil looked around and smelled gunpowder in the air.
"...why so serious..." Cecil mumbled.
"Of course they"re serious Cel! Why wouldn"t they be?"
"No... It"s nothing. I just wanted to try saying that once."
Cecil had a faint grin on his face.
"Cecil! A word please?"
Cecil turned to look at the golden haired girl next to Lucia.
"Sure."
Eli got up and went to sit beside Cecil.
"Although we"re friends... I won"t take it easy on you tomorrow!"
"Yeah, I know."
"That"s why– what?"
"I know... and I expect you to take it seriously... you"ll lose if you don"t." Cecil said plainly.
"Lose? Hmph! I don"t have any plans on losing to you! Even if I"m ranked lower than you I won"t lose!"
Cecil smiled seeing the stubborn look in her eyes. Cecil turned towards his "childhood" friend and said, "That goes the same for you Lulu."
"What?!"
"I"ll crush you just like during training. Don"t think that just because your number one I"ll be lenient to you. You still haven"t one a single match against me." Cecil smirked.
"Why YOU! Just wait for tomorrow! I"ll crush you!!!" Lucia yelled.
"Lucia?! Why are you implying that I"ll lose to this piece of wood?!"
"Huh? Oh... uhm... that"s not what I meant Eli!"
Cecil smirked and walked away from them, he was heading out of the stadium since those unbearable matches would continue all the way until into the evening.
The instructors wanted them to witness the different fighting styles of everyone so they could gain experience, but all Cecil could see was a slugfest. A test of strength and nothing more, it wasn"t worth his time staying in the stadium.
When he got outside, Cecil looked up towards the orange tinted sky.
"Let"s go see Silver."
He activated Mana Burst at full power and disappeared from his spot.
Back in the stadium, Lucia was currently giving Elizabeth details regarding Cecil"s combat style.
"Listen well, okay Eli! That Cecil... he"s a total monster in combat! So never under any circ.u.mstances should you ever underestimate him!"
"I can understand that Lucia... and besides I never underestimate my opponents, even when they seem weaker than me!"
"That"s good. Cecil"s the one who trained me so it"s easy for me to antic.i.p.ate some of his moves and actions, but... I"ll give you some advice, Eli. His every move, all his actions, you have to read further into them! Well, just enough so it doesn"t affect your performance!"
"Huh? Why?"
"One thing that Cecil"s taught me and has drilled into my head is that in combat, every action has to have a motive, a purpose, behind it!"
"...?" Elizabeth still had a puzzled look on her face.
"I"m saying that you have to be wary of all his actions, even a seemingly useless action could lead to something big if Cecil was the one doing it!"
"Basically I should stay alert to whatever action he takes?"
"Yes! Don"t forget this! Because if you don"t... you won"t know why you have lost once the match is over..."
"...don"t write me off as if I"m going to lose to him... I don"t plan on losing to him or to anyone else, and that includes you, Lucia!"
"...yeah. Let"s both give it our best!"
"Of course!"
The two smiled at each other, Lucia"s smile was a little wry because deep down she was convinced that Cecil wouldn"t lose. Not to her or to anyone else.
If their combat standards weren"t at least on par with Lucia"s then it was going to be an easy win for Cecil.
Cecil himself has taught Lucia, so Lucia herself could somewhat adapt and respond to his actions, but for others who have no knowledge or any intensive battle experience... then it will only be a one-sided match.
"I won"t lose to him though! This time, I"ll try and force him into a draw!" Lucia pumped her fist and resolved herself. She knew herself that it was somewhat hopeless to expect to win against that training junkie, but if she could at least mete out a draw then it could be considered good progress for her!
"WIIIINNNN!!!" Lucia abruptly yelled. "Guys! I"ll be going out now! I"ve got something to do!"
Her abrupt war cry had startled the rest of the cla.s.s, but before anyone could question her, Lucia had already bolted to the exit of the stadium.
"Just you wait Cel! I"ve been working on this one for a while! I"ll use it on you tomorrow!"