Chapter 15:

The Daughter of the Crimson Dragon Clan

--- --- ---

Upon passing the portal, Vinci instantly arrived in front of Arena Academy. A huge school that towered over him with a rectangular, black gate positioned in front.

He walked through the gates and hurriedly walked towards his classroom.

“Hmm..why is everyone staring at me?...and what are they whispering about…”

As he was walking through the school ground, he could feel many stares directed at him.

“Hey...isn’t that the new student in Class 6?...”

“I heard he disabled three students in his class on his friday day at School…”

“But isn’t he a No Rank?? Pfft, the ones he beat up were probably weaklings anyway...”

“Hmpf! I don’t see what’s so special about him..”

“Seems like another prodigy appeared at this School..ughh, more competition..”

The students around him were silently whispering as they glanced at the new student walking past with mixed feelings of awe and contempt.

When Vinci finally arrived in front of his classroom, he walked in.

Once again, Vinci found himself to be the attention, though this time there were only 24 pair of eyes, excluding the three expelled students...and Cecilia who remained facing the black chalkboard.

Though, as quickly as the heads were turned to look at him, the students turned to once again face the board.

“Hey! Get seated down, will you Vinci?”

Mr. Mercer scolded when he saw the boy standing there since Class has already started.

“Oh! U-uh, yes sir…”

Vinci quickly went and sat down in his respective seat.

“Huh...the students doesn’t seem that fazed by what I did yesterday...does that mean events like that are natural occurrences? Hmm…”

The boy had noticed the strangeness of his classmates when he saw that each and every one of them had a calm expression, even after witnessing the chaos yesterday. Thinking that this must be the norm here at School, Vinci shrugged and proceed to stare blankly at the board for the next few hours…

Though, Vinci was only half correct in his reasoning. It was true that fierce battles were commonly found in Arena Academy, so fatal injuries were more or less a daily spectacle.

But that was different for Vinci. Because he was a No Rank, none of the students had believed he was capable of using Soul Power. But not only was he able to use it, he used an upper Mid-tier magic.

Due to this, many of the students in Class came to slowly fear Vinci a bit. They didn’t know what else he could do as he was a No Rank capable of using mid-tier magics that most of the class were struggling to do.

But they didn’t want to show weakness in front of him either. Those who showed weakness in School were often the ones who get eaten the earliest...so as to conceal their worry, they resoluted themselves to wear a calm expression when the boy arrived to class.

As Vinci stared at the chalkboard, he tried to focus listening to his teacher.

“Alright class, following from yesterday’s introduction on a quick history of Earth, we will be learning about the different levels in this world, such as SP Ranks, magic tiers, etc….”

But before he knew it, he had already lost track of the lesson itself..

*Ding dong~*

Finally, for what seems like decades, Vinci’s first period class was over.

“I guess I’ll go walk around the school again..”

Vinci thought as he got up and left the classroom.

***

After once again browsing through the school, Vinci sighed as he started to head towards the Training ground. He was outside walking on school ground now.

“This is...so boring. I mean, maybe because this is a relatively safe zone called ‘school’, but still, to have nothing interesting happening and to only these mundane lectures coupled with two more periods of boredom...ahh..”

Vinci grumbled in his mind. This was the first time since coming to a dimensional world where progress was slow and nothing stimulating has happened. Normally by now, if it were similar to the other dimensional worlds, Vinci would have been using all his power to forcibly conquer this sphere. But because of his cautious nature, he suppressed the urge to do so until he was certain there weren’t any beings with unexpected great strength on this planet.

“Haa...the only interesting thing that happened to me from all those previous days was meeting that girl Cecilia…”

The boy was interested in the golden-haired princess. Since everytime he spoke with her, he couldn’t help but wonder why he would abruptly lose his speech ability.

After absorbing ‘Googole’, and with the help from «Kami’s Mind» universal ability, Vinci was certain his language skill was no less than those top scholars on ‘Earth.’ But strangely, before the girl none of the right words seem to come out…

“Too bad she hates me now...haaa”

While Vinci was lost in his thought with his head slightly tilted down, a honey-like voice pierced through his mental cloud.

“Are you Vinci Noburo?”

“Uh..huh?”

Startled, Vinci quickly looked up. In front of him stood a silver haired girl whose ruby eyes shone like blood and who wore a black dress. The girl was looked to be about the same height as him and in her right hand, she held a small black, Chinese fan embroidered with beautiful midnight feathers. Behind her stood several other students who looked to be older than Vinci.

“Ah, uh, yes, I am. I don’t think we have met, but you are…?”

The crimson eyed girl smiled and proceed to speak with a tone of confidence.

“My name is Emi Luther, sole daughter of the great Crimson Dragon Clan. I am currently attending Class 7. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.

The girl named Emi made a slight bow upon finishing her introduction.

“O-oh! Um, likewise.”

Vinci awkwardly mirrored the bow back.

“So...what does the daughter of the Crimson Dragon Clan want with me?”

“Simple. I wish to have you work under me as one of my underlings.”

Emi smiled and motioned to the group of students behind her.

“...Excuse me?”

“Ara? Did you not hear me? I said I wish to have you work under me. For the Crimson Dragon Clan. Shouldn’t you be happy?”

“But why me?”

“Ahh...that’s because I saw your battle yesterday. I was finishing up my training and was about to leave when I heard the commotion and went to look, and thus found you. I want that abnormal strength of yours even though you’re a No Rank. Plus, you are not affiliated with any Clans right? After all, you’re only a “Citizen” residing in the Rising Sun territory... ”

“I see...then...if I may ask, if I were to work under you, does that mean I will be a part of the Crimson Dragon clan?”

“Well, that is not exactly correct. You will be working solely for me until I graduate from this academy. And once I succeed the Clan as the next Clan Master, I can easily place you into the clan. So, working under me will be beneficial for you in the future and ---”

Before she could finish, Vinci flatly intervened.

“I refuse then.”

“?!?”

Emi stopped talking and looked at him with surprise.

“H-huh? And why would you refuse? This is a once in a lifetime chance you know…”

“Well, if there is no immediate benefit to working under you, then I see no reason why I would do so. It’ll just be a waste of time.”

“A-a waste of time?! You dare say it’ll be a waste of time working for me??!”

The silver-haired girl narrowed her eyes as her face took on a faint glow of red.

“Hmpf! Fine then. If you are unwilling to work under me, then I will simply crush you.”

With a sudden raise of her left hand, the students behind her began to take out their +Arena device.

“Since this is not the Training ground where one can freely battle without needed consent, my beloved followers will be challenging you right now through +Arena. Don’t you dare run away.”

Emi glared at Vinci as the students behind her began to tap on their screen.

Moments later,

*ping*

Vinci looked down as he took his +Arena out of his pocket. On the screen a notification was displayed.

[table]You have been challenged by Nominya Fetterlu. Accept?YESNO[table]

*ping*

Another similar notification popped up, this time only the name was different.

*ping* *ping* *ping* *ping* *ping*

Vinci’s device began to rapidly make sound as notifications after notifications surfaced. Shortly after, when the sound stopped, Vinci judged that there was around nine battle requests.

At the bottom of the screen, a convenient {Yes to All} box appeared.

“Haaa...this is such a drag…”

Vinci looked up to see the silver-haired princess glaring at him.

“Hmpf! You better prepare yourself! All of my loyal followers are Master Rank practitioners. And don’t even think of running away, or we’ll find you next period during Training Class…”

“..Yup, there’s no way out of this but to fight huh...”

He inwardly sighed as his finger reached to tap the button at the bottom.

Although he was fond of battles, he disliked to fight ones that have no immediate benefit for him.

“Guess I’ll finish this quickly...my next class is starting too…”

Vinci quietly thought as he lazily directed his gaze at his glaring opponents.

A new message was then displayed.

You have accepted All challenges. Match starts in 3...2...1..Begin!