Chapter 35: Talent

On the morning of the first day of school, classes began for all students, including the freshmen of Garden College.

There were a total of eight separated practice areas, each for a single class full of freshmen. An expecting face faced the awaiting students, but was replaced with a frown. “Hello, students, I’m your teacher and adviser, Hershal.”

He spoke with a slightly languid tone. No trace of enthusiasm appeared in his voice, and he seemed to slump a little after scanning the class.

This class was one of the many freshmen classes, but it was a little different.

For Garden College, the minimum standard to be even considered for admission was the level of a 5th grade intermediate, however, the country had designated standards for a quota of students. Unable to completely reject this ruling due to being a public college depending on the country’s funding, the college created a class to meet this requirement. However, the students in this class were either poor or barely below admission standards, or cases like Fang, when someone influential put them in. It was a struggle for the students in this class to stay in attendance, in fact, historically most people had left.

Hence, a blind eye was turned towards this class, and very few instructors wanted to take this class as their home class, but Hershal had no choice.

A couple of days ago, Dean Rook had approached him and patted his shoulders. Back then, the Dean had said, “Ah, Hershal, your luck is really good, your class for this year might have some of the best talented geniuses in the college!”

So Hershal wasted no time in checking the background information of all the students, and he groaned. The dean really needed to stop with the drinking, there was no one outstanding, and more embarrassingly, a student had only been at the novice level at the entrance examination…

What the hell, this was “the best talent” at Garden College, one of the top colleges within this country?!

But there was no use for regrets – he was stuck with this class for the entire year, so Hershal took a large breath. “The purpose of today’s meeting is for introductions and help learn about your fellow classmates. Simply, display your strength and tell us a little about yourself.”

Looking at the class list in his hands, he read, “So, Tom, start us off.”

A fierce, coarse voice shouted, “My name is Tom, from a small city named Estonia City, and my goal is to become a mercenary warrior, nice to meet you all!”

Finishing his introduction, energy burst forth from his body, and according to the thickness of the energy, he was a 4th grade intermediate. If considered throughout the small cities, his talent was shocking, but at Garden College, he only managed to get into class eight. Moreover, his results from the entrance examination were good, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if Thomas was the strongest of class eight.

Sure enough, starting from the second student onwards, everyone was a 3rd grade intermediate. Sighing, Hershal could only shook his head in disappointment.

“Number 49, Blue!”

When Blue’s name was read, Blue introduced himself, then showed off her energy – it was a 3rd grade intermediate rank.

Blue was also another 3rd grade intermediate.

Wait, when did Blue become a 3rd grade intermediate?

As far as Fang recalled, when he entered the camp, he thought Blue had been a 9th grade novice like him. Later on, he remembered that Blue said he was weaker than Fang, when Fang had just become a 1st grade intermediate. But instead of Blue’s level being lower or equal to his, it was this high.

Did he conceal his strength in the training camp? Blue probably didn’t, judging from his personality that Fang knew.

No wonder Blue was admitted to Garden College.

“Number 50, Fang!”

Hershal paid particular attention to Fang, the last one on the list as he distinctly brought to mind that Fang was only a 9th grade novice at the time of the entrance examination.

Will he really dare to report his energy rank at Garden College?

“My name is Fang, from the small Victoria City in the west, pleased to meet you all!” Fang released his energy.

2nd grade intermediate.

In addition to Hershal, the other students were very astonished. Almost everyone in their class was a 3rd grade intermediate, and they thought they were the lowest of the low in this college, but here, someone was even lower than them.

Hershal rubbed his eyes, though, his disbelief was opposite to his students’. He couldn’t believe that the level that Fang was at was much higher than he thought. If he was a 9th grade novice at the entrance examination, he rose a level and two grades in just over two months? Could it be, that the lowest level was the best student with unlimited potential?

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The schedule for the college and training camp was quite similar, but in the beginning of the day there was a mandatory class for all students with their adviser. Everything else was up to the students. There was also an energy tower on campus, but it wasn’t as big as the previous one, and in addition, there was a fee to enter.

Upon realizing that Fang wouldn’t accept her money, Valeria had already bought an annual access card for him. It wasn’t refundable on purchase, and Fang was secretly grateful as even with the recent earnings, he couldn’t afford to enter for an entire year.

A few days later, when Fang and Blue came to practice in the evening at the practice field, they heard loud arguing.

The voice belonged to someone in his class – the student who wanted to be a mercenary, Tom. Although he had the highest energy rank in his class, he was hearty, and easygoing, full of goodwill to everyone including Fang. To be honest, Fang thought Tom reminded him of a certain dwarven friend he had, so Fang pulled someone in his class off from the side and asked, “What’s happening?”

Outraged, the boy responded, “Some assholes from class two are refusing to leave, saying that it was for the good of everyone if they stayed longer.”

Fang quickly understood what was going on.

For the practice field that offered multiple, helpful guides, all classes were assigned slots of time. Simply, there wasn’t enough room for everyone. Class two had the spot before, but time had long past for class eight to take the opportunity – thus, Tom had gone up on representing the class to deal with these people.

“Are you deaf? More practice is useless; just be grateful that you had the chance to enter this place.” A man in a suit with accents of gold stomped his foot on the ground. Known as Ray, he was the heir of the business that his father had owned, Ray Industries. It was a relatively large business in Minuet City, and even though Ray’s father wasn’t able to use energy, his son was. Greed and ambition drove him, so, to promote the products further, Ray’s father invested the large majority of his funds to assist with Ray; that, combined with the large donations to Garden College, had paved an easy road to class two.

The upstart attitude that pretentiously preached in front of them provoked all of class eight.

“The hell, do you think we’re cripples?”

“Your class must be so great, not complying with the school rules and bullying others.”

“We’ll just have to ask a teacher to resolve this.”

Ray sneered. “You could find a teacher, but the only penalty I’d get would be a fee. And well, money, I have lots of that, though after today, everyone in Garden College will know that class eight are full of cowards that can’t solve anything on their own. It’s to be expected though, the weakest class crying and complaining away to the teachers.”

Beside Ray, another student stepped up. “Well? Go ahead and complain, you spineless cowards!”

Unable to take the insulting taunts, Tom replied, “Okay, let’s settle this like men and decide it through a fight!”

Laughing, Ray almost fell on the ground. “You challenge me? This scum, dares challenge me? It seems that big body comes with a small brain.”

A student noisily whispered, “Ray, perhaps he’s just admiring the people from the top classes. They rarely get the chance to appreciate us; let’s help him nicely.”

Struggling to keep a straight face, Ray continued. “Who knows what would happen? Big fella, come at me and let me show you the immense gap that separates our class from your lower class!”