" How long are you going to continue? ", Max asked Axle.

" I...will..kill...him..", Axle replied as he continued to sob.

" Woah! Calm down. Don't make it any worse. I just looked into your room a while ago. There is still some stuff left. You should be protecting them."

Hearing him, Axle immediately got up and made a dash towards his room.

Max could only hear his screams of joy and sorrow as he entered his room.

He smiled at this event. Axle really was different when it came to his stuff.

….

Max was sitting on his bed and browsing through the internet while in meditation.

It might sound odd. But it was true. For him, in order to meditate, he only needed to relax his body and activate his skill.

" Hm..it doesn't look good.", he murmured.

He was currently looking through the information about the All-Academy Competition.

And it was terrible. Arcane had always placed last in the past 10 years. There was one more thing that caught his attention. There were many cases of injuries.

It wasn't odd for injuries to occur during some events. But it would really become odd when the total number of injuries from a single Academy surpassed the sum of injuries from all the other Academies.

" Max, are you ready? ", Kevin's voice came through the door.

" For what? ", Max asked in confusion.

" Creak! "

The door opened and Kevin walked in.

" Oh! I forgot you weren't here for the past few days. We have an extra class today.", Kevin said.

" What for? ", Max asked as he got up to prepare for classes.

" I don't know. The professor didn't tell us about it.", Kevin replied shaking his head.

Max wore his black jacket and hung his headphones around his neck before grabbing his hammer and hooking it onto his waist.

Even though he didn't need the headphones, it had become a habit for him to have it around his neck.

" Let's go.", Max said as he pulled his bag on his shoulders.

…..

Blacksmith Department, Classroom.

The bustle from the classroom could be heard out in the hallway.

Max hurriedly entered the classroom with Kevin behind him. He looked at the empty teacher's stand and breathed a sigh of relief.

They were already late and with the fatty panting and slowing them down along the way, it was already very lucky for them to be on time.

" Huff..we..huff...made..it..", Kevin said as he panted vigorously.

" Yes, we did.", Max replied while taking a deep breath.

At this moment a familiar figure with dark skin and a strong build with rippling muscles walked in.

" Students take your seats.", Mr. Olive said as he moved towards the teacher's stand.

Max and Kevin too moved. The seats in the front row and middle row were already taken. Without any choice, they moved towards the back row.

But as they moved, a familiar face entered Max's vision.

It was the silver eating bastard, Stain.

Seeing him Kevin immediately avoided his gaze. It appeared as if something had happened in his absence.

" How are you doing?, Fatty.", Stain asked with a smile.

The scene immediately attracted everyone's attention.

Mr. Olive didn't interrupt them. He was busy organizing his files and preparing the presentation for the class. Besides, it wasn't a big deal to have such sparks among students. It was a way to encourage competition and the Academy would not step in as long as things didn't cross their limits.

" I am doing fine." Fatty replied with a forced smile while Max looked at Stain with a frown.

Stain got up from his seat and said with a laugh, " Good.. good...you have to do fine for us. Or else it would be too boring for us."

Fatty didn't retort nor did he do anything as stain put his hand over fatty's neck.

Most of the students were smiling at this situation.

Some of them had the wrong impression of people from Dorm No.7. So they were happy seeing the troublemaker in trouble. While some of them were just enjoying the show. Only a small minority of students were aware of the truth. But they knew that going against them would only get them in trouble.

Stain slowly started to tighten his grip on Kevin's neck. But this fatty only stood there letting himself to be trampled on.

Max, on the other hand, was watching the scene waiting for fatty to retaliate. He knew that the lump of mass around fatty was not for show. He had witnessed it first hand after all.

But seeing the fatty struggle, he knew that something was wrong.

He immediately moved and grabbed Stains' hand.

Feeling the grip on his hand, Stain turned towards Max.

" Huh? What do you want? "

" Leave him", Max said.

" Woah! We have another troublemaker here. Aren't you from Dorm 7 too.", Stain said with a smile.

Max frowned. This bastard was obviously linking Dorm no. 7 to troublemakers without any reason.

" I said leave him ", Max said as he increased the strength in his hand.

" Y..You..", Stains eyes widened as he felt the pain in his arms. His eyes turned red in anger.

He didn't know that his hands would have been broken if Max had used his full strength.

But if someone told him about it, he would refuse to believe it. He wasn't wearing his equipment. He only lost because Max was wearing his equipment. This would probably be his reply.

For blacksmiths, their equipment was their everything. This was their way of fighting and competing.

" Didn't I already say to take your seats. WHAT ARE YOU DOING!!" Mr. Olive's thunderous voice resonated in the class.

Max released Stain's hand and he too pulled it back.

" This ain't over yet.", Stain slowly said as Max walked past him.

Max could only smile at this. He too wasn't the same person. He won't take it lying down if someone came to provoke him.

Everyone took their seats and the class finally began.

…

On the back row.

" I am sorry.", Kevin said to Max.

" What are you apologizing for? ", Max asked with a smile.

" I got you into trouble. ", Kevin replied with a dull face.

" Tsk..I didn't like him to begin with. Besides, aren't we friends.", Max replied.

But Kevin was staring straight with wide eyes. He didn't even seem to hear Max at all.

Max followed his gaze and it landed on the big screen beside the teacher's stand which had a title, " Field trip to Orena ".