Ajax’s remedial lessons turned out to be a lot more concentrated than he had thought. He had only been to two of them so far and already they had covered one third of the previous year's curriculum. All of this was built on the back of Ajax’s previous knowledge but he now found that he could identify important names.

All of that was nothing compared to everything else he had picked up in the previous days. His new combat training focused a lot more on learning how to lead, unlike their first year where the class was divided into mages and physical fighters they were now fully integrated and focused on learning how to lead a squad.

Exciting as the new training was, Ajax was also quick to pick up that he was a terrible squad leader. It wasn’t so much the power difference or that he wasn’t good at planning, the issue came from Ajax’s perfectionism and micromanagement of the squad as a whole. His previous experience with strategy games had shown him to be a decent strategist but in the field he always found himself front and centre of the formation.

“Your best chance is going to be leading as a result of your position.” the mage instructor had told him. “You have no problem hatching a plan, good ones at that, but the moment anything goes wrong you micromanage too much and focus too much on getting everything back to the way it should have been.”

What Ajax lacked as a leader however he made up for in spades as a second in command. On all of the different biomes they had run drills on Ajax had quickly shown both the issues with his leadership over a squad as well as his value as a right hand man.

Both Anna and Benedict had clearly noticed his value in the chain of command. So long as Ajax had someone to make the overall decisions he could freely focus and obsess over his own specific task.

“I can’t say I’m surprised.” Benedict said as he was talking with Anna and Lexi.

“How so?” Lexi asked.

“Are you both aware of what method he used to get so much stronger for his level?” he asked, not wanting to speak out of turn.

“Yes.” Both of them confirmed.

“Think about it.” He said. “Not only that but out of all the professions he could have chosen he picked alchemy. Biggest surprise I have is that he doesn’t suffer from an obsessive compulsive disorder seeing how he does things.”

“I’ve seen quite a few obsessive squad leaders.” Lexi said.” In fact they are some of the better ones I have seen.”

“And they are.” Anna said. “Being obsessive is a good trait in a planner and a squad leader in means you make back-up plans. His issue is that he also has another trait that makes for a good leader, one that when combined with an obsessive turns a squad leader into a tyrant.”

“Oh,” Lexi sighed, “He is a bit paranoid isn’t he.”

“Considering his life before he came to the capital I’m pretty sure he would have been dead if he wasn’t.” Benedict nodded. “But where an obsessive leader is good and a paranoid leader is good, an obsessive and paranoid leader will lead a squad to ruin.”

“First person I’d want as a second in command.” Anna continued. “He’s the kind of person who does well when watching the big picture in small glimpses between focused tasks. Once you give him something to do you can rest assured that it will get done.”

“Think he’s going to be joining a team again?” Lexi asked as they all walked towards the dungeon for their first delve on the second floor.

“Doubt he will give up the chance to practise his alchemy some more.” Benedict answered and Anna nodded along.

The class cut a very different sight as they made their way towards the dungeon. Unlike their first year when everyone had been similarly equipped when heading to the dungeon a clear status distinction could be seen when watching the class head towards the dungeon now.

The difference came from a simple item, a storage ring. Students whose families had given them a storage ring for their school delves had only a regular suit of gear on, some kept a weapon on them as well but that was it. Those without a ring however could be seen carrying big heavy packs where consumables as different gear sets were held for anything a random floor might throw at them.

Much to his surprise Ajax had been asked to take a more active role during their delves. “You want me to go around with a group again?” Ajax asked professor Silvertongue.

“At least for the first two or three delves, yes.” the professor said.

“But why me?” Ajax asked. “If you needed another person to watch out for them I’m sure you could have gotten them.”

“Because, for a few of them, you feel like a classmate and not a watcher.” the professor explained. “Having you go with them won’t make them feel like they are being watched over and will give them the genuine feeling of delving without a safety net.”

“Benedict, Lexi, Anna, Rick and to a certain extent prince Xavier.” Ajax rattled off the names. “Outside of them everyone else has been a lot more wary of me since they saw me take part in the tournament.”

Ajax couldn’t understand why prince Xavier seemed to be so reactive to him, he had no way of knowing that this was all because of Xavier’s uncle who had clearly marked Ajax as someone who had the potential to become the strongest champion across all the kingdoms.

“That’s the group.” the professor confirmed. “You can still pick up anything useful for alchemy that you find along the way and you’ll have time in the last day when they will all be waiting as a group to craft in peace.”

With his crafting time assured Ajax had no more real objections so once the class entered the dungeon they quickly made their way to the closest arch and one on the other side they split into their groups.

“Ajax,” the prince said once they were on their own, him speaking up caused the entire group to freeze for a moment as all of them knew there had been some tensions between Ajax and the prince towards the end of last year. “First let me apologise for last time we talked, it seems I was a bit harsh and spoke without a good understanding of the facts.”

“What gave you a better understanding since then?” Lexi was quick to jump into the conversation after Ajax accepted the apology with a nod.

“My uncle, he dispelled some of the wrong assumptions I had jumped to when I learned about his stat gaining method.” the prince said. “He was more than impressed with you when he saw you fight in the tournament.”

Benedict was quick to turn towards the prince. More than anyone else here besides prince Xavier he knew just what that meant. The king’s oldest son might not be the kingdom’s strongest fighter, yet anyway, but he was its most gifted fighter. According to his father the only person stronger for their level that he had seen was Ajax himself.

“Firstly?” Ajax said, curious about what else the prince had to say besides the apology.

“I also bring a request from my grandfather.” the prince said.

Those words were quick to focus Ajax’s attention. So long as the request was nothing too excessive Ajax very much wanted to get on the king's good side.

“Is this about the dungeon delves in the Empire?” Anna asked, it was the only reason why the prince would approach Ajax about the request in this group instead of when he was alone.

“Yes.” the prince confirmed.

“You managed to get a delve slot in the Empire?” Rick was the only one shocked at the news, despite the rumours about the deal that house Goldmancer was making with the Empire getting a delve slot was something very rare.

“Rick!” Benedict was quick to chastise his friend. “My house will be very interested in talking about a possible deal regarding any delve slots you may acquire.”

“I can set up a meeting.” Anna nodded.

“What is the request?” Ajax asked.

“The request is for the main dungeon delve.” the prince said. “He asks that you accompany me, as well as anyone else delving, and give us a fair chance to push as high as we can with you keeping us safe. We might be able to get one floor higher if we can focus on the boss and we never know if we will get another chance to delve that dungeon.”

“That doesn’t sound too bad.” Ajax nodded.

“He also wants you to fully clear the last floor you delve to if at all possible.” the prince continued. “The Empire will certainly make assurance of having them clear anything that comes out after you but ideally you wouldn’t give them any indication of how high you reached.”