"What did you say?" Vince almost screamed out loud.
"Ragnar was placed first in his class as well as almost first in the overall ranking when compared in the first two divisions. He broke the record set for mana sensitivity by a senior of ours and also managed to defeat Ralph Moore in a battle with ease. The principal has decided to upgrade him to the Beta Class." Sonya spoke the same thing once again.
As soon as she heard this, Rhea grabbed Vince's hand and gave him a big smile. She was truly elated that her son managed to perform so well in the competiton.
"Did he managed to awaken some other ability?" Vince asked.
"No he didn't. He used his body strengthening ability while fighting, but it seemed that his ability itself has grown to the next level. Also, he defeated Ralph using sword arts which I have never seen before."
"His ability was enhanced to the next level and he also knows a secret sword style. Did you see someone else?" Vince asked.
As soon as he spoke, he was punched on the shoulder by Rhea. He made an awkward face. This was too much to take in at the same time. His useless son who didn't even talked properly with his family and was known to be a wastrel, suddenly performed so well that he was promoted to he Beta Class at once.
"Doesn't that mean he has a chance to get to Alpha class by the tim when graduates? He may even be able to get there sooner and be scouted by recruiters. This is too good." Rhea almost jumped around with joy.
If their son continued to grow in this fashion they wouldn't have to worry about him anymore. They could let go and fully concentrate in rebuilding their list heritage.
While the conversation was till going on, they heard the sound of Ragnar walking down the stairs and everyone went silent, looking at him. To their dismay he didn't even look at them. He just grabbed the water from the jug, and chugged down a mouthful before turning around to elave through the doors.
Rhea punched Vince once again and looked at him to say something. Vince gulped down his saliva and scratched his throat before speaking.
"Ragnar. We heard about your performance in the annual test." Vince spoke.
"Good for you. Aren't you busy with other work to have time to hear about this?" Ragnar didn't even turn around and simply out on his shoes. Vince's expression changed when he heard this and wanted to scream at him but Rhea's expression suggested that she wanted him to speak seriously.
"Congratulations on your promotion to beta class. We hope you will be happy after experiencing the new heights you have reached and will continue to do better in school." Vince said.
"Parents, the only quality they have is demanding more from their children. I mean, I understand that you went through the same cycle and since you were incapable of doing something to your own parent, you decided to take out the owner up frustration on your. ext generation. But I am not interested neither inclined to support your cause or your interests."
"Our deal was to have me perform well at the school. I did that. I don't want to hear your bickering from now on." Ragnar said as he left the room and went out of the door.
"You " Vince almost rushed behind him but Rhea stopped him.
"What now? Are we supposed to allow such behaviour and let him do what he wants? What have we become Rhea?" Vince said.
"The question is adequate but the tone is not. We never saw him in positive light neither did we support him since he didn't show any kind of talent. Now that he had shown it, you just want to get behind him and seem as if you care for him. No one would accept that. We need to slolwy work our way with him." Rhea said.
"But we need stoped caring about him as a son. I know I never did so. I tried my best to find other ways to support him. No matter what other siad I enrolled him inthe academy and did my best to keep him there, pulling all strings that I can. I may not be showing my support, but I have sure always provided it to him. Would it pain him just to talk properly to me? That is all that I ask. I don't expect much from him, I never will since the time in which I had to have expectation had long passed. But he always will be my son, whether he likes it or not." Vince said before leaving the table and turning back to his room.
Rhea looked at him with sad eyes and then turned to Sonya who didn't know what to say. She wanted to say that she will take care of the situation, but Ragnar didn't pay heed to her either. She decided to follow him up and see where he is heading.
.....
Ragnar began his morning run to a secluded mountain side which was preserved even after so much time had passed. Once he was there, he went near one o the bushes and took a small cloth bag out of it
The bag contained a metal sword in it. Although it was off balance it did not matter to Ragnar. For him what mattered was that he needed to strengthen his body. He started to train his sword arts one after another. Once he managed to complete one revolution, he put the sword down and began to training with body training method. He was going to follow it trill he managed to increase the strengthening ability to D-rank. His body would then be strong enough to switch to higher level body refinement arts. He continued to train more and more. Once the multiple revolutions of that were finished, he began practicing the attack arts.
He continued to perform them till he was exhausted, and then he sat down in the lotus position to start breathing and replenishing his energy reserves.
He recovered his energy and the cycle repeated once again. It continued on and on for four hours, before Ragnar almost collapsed and had to halt the training. He mediated and regained his energy. He looked at the time and knew that he had to get to the academy for his promotion to happen.
Sonya was watching him from a distance and she was shocked. Everything she saw was not only a mystery to her, but a shock. The breathing method Ragnar used was not something she had seen before. She could feel the energy signature and it felt immense. She had never felt the same with the arts she used.
The other surprise came in the form of the sword arts. Each and every sword art was way more refined than anything she had used. It looked as if Ragnar was dancing. She couldn't help but be mesmerized by it.