The rumours that I heard during the morning that made me the most concerned were about a certain black-haired boy named Shin who had joined the Academy last year with special permission for uncovering a sinister plot against Earl Morgan and his family. Since the eldest daughter of the Morgan household was the betrothed of the second Prince, this matter became directly related to the royalty, hence the special permission.

The main perpetrators were the men of Eliza Kaldia, daughter of Duke Kaldia who was formerly engaged to the second prince and the second son of Duke Cannes, Robbert Cannes. Robert was the fiance Aisha Morgan, the second daughter of the Morgan household and the one who had an argument with Shin on the first day of school. It turns out that Robbert had a huge, secret crush on Eliza. He was enraged when the second prince publicly disgraced and renounced her in favour of a Baron's daughter(Morgans were barons initially). He decided to take his out frustrations on Aisha after she was betrothed to him. He planned to have her kidnapped and drugged after which he would 'catch her' sleeping with a commoner and accuse her of adultery, thereby tarnishing the name of the Morgan household and causing them to fall out of favour. He was assisted in his ventures by the lackeys of Eliza. Unfortunately for them, Shin somehow stumbled upon the kidnappers. As a typical hero that he was, he fought against multiple hostiles gallantly and freed the unconscious Aisha thereby saving the day. Further investigations by the authorities revealed the direct involvement of Robbert. He was quickly disowned by his family and executed. The indirect influence of Eliza caused her exile from the kingdom.

Shin then entered the Academy with a full scholarship. Very quickly, he managed to get himself embroiled in disputes with some arrogant nobles. He was harassed and belittled but he managed to put down his bullies magnificently in the duelling ring as well as show his prowess with the sword. Turns out, Shin is an Awakened. Awakening a very special process that some people undergo after becoming an adult at the age of 18 or after. It grants them direct access to the System. It allows them to use "skills". Skills allow a person to very quickly learn about anything quickly and efficiently without thorough study. Awakened people progress faster than other people. The more blessed a person is, the earlier he would awaken. Shin, who had Awakened before the age of 18 was seen as a favoured son of the heavens. This gained him some female admirers which included Aisha Morgan. And here I thought that I broke her flag that day. Truly, stealing a hero's girl is more difficult than stealing a dragon's eggs.

Two hours later, I found myself in front of the training field waiting for the princess. And there he was, the mighty hero himself, followed by a gaggle of giggling girls and one lady Aishi Morgan in tow. He must have combat classes now and in accordance with the omnipresent plot, I was to play the role of villain today. *Exaggerated SIGH* At least he hasn't noticed me yet.

All I could see when reading his thoughts was a bright kaleidoscope of colours without any semblance of any structures within. *OVER exaggerated SIGH* And that's the cherry on top. Now we have a potential superpower with mind-boggling luck factor and an IQ of a preschooler. It doesn't take much to guess the troublesome matters I was going to face today.

My thoughts were broken by a sudden tap on my shoulders. Turning around, I found the princess smiling at me. It seems she had fun doing what she was doing. I dutifully fell behind her and let her take the lead on this one. As soon she entered the field, all eyes were attracted to her like iron to a magnet. All people started murmuring to each other along with some squealing from the fangirls. Even Shin couldn't resist the brilliant and gallant figure of our princess and I could see a literal garden of bright, colourful flowers blooming above his head. It seems that even Reina was creeped out by his gaze and in a moment of brilliant insight pushed me ahead of herself and using me to barricade his gaze. Not the best way t introduce the antagonist for the day. I could see the flowers withering and dark clouds gathering above his head. One didn't need psychic powers to perceive the pure hostility oozing from him.

Trying my best to ignore the piercing gaze that was boring holes in me, I walked into the training grounds. Reina introduced us and also announced the reasons for our presence. It seems that Miriam and Marvin wanted to compare out combat proficiency to that of other students. I looked up to spot Marvin and Miriam looking at us from his office window. As I peered into his mind, I was hit by sensory overload and had to physically stop myself from falling over. Inside I found rigid structures that usually made it easy for me to read minds but the sheer number and complexity of those structures made me almost faint. As expected of the old devil who mastered magic for decades. Reina noticed my pale face and asked me if I was alright. I nodded lightly and reassured that I was alright. She suggested that I take a break as she sparred with the other students. I had no problem with this suggestion so I took my seat as I watched Reina beat up a couple of poor blokes. She already possessed monstrous strength even before the potential test. In the one year that she spent at Miriam's mansion improved her dexterity and control multiple times over, so the students were no match her. Everybody cheered and praised Reina for her prowess and everyone was happy with the performance. Except for a certain black-haired boy who seemed even more pissed off at me for letting a woman do all the work. Well, I had no hod-blooded, uber-masculine delusions about flaunting my skills for a woman neither I had any plans for courting Reina so I completely ignored Shin's passive-aggressive behaviour. But it seems that Shin had already used up all his patience as he stepped up on the stage and directly challenged me.

"Maximillian Radcliffe, I hereby challenge you to a gentleman's duel. If you have any honour then come face me!!!" I facepalmed as the crowd grew silent at the proclamation. Even the princess looked more amused than offended at the sudden interruption. She walked down from the stage and sat beside me.

"He looks awfully enthusiastic for challenging you. Any idea why?"

"Don't worry, he's just jealous."

"Jealous? Why would he be jealous?"

I let my gaze wander over the princess' sweaty body for a second then gave her most winning smile.

"For obvious reasons...."