Pulling himself to his feet, Lucian inspected his shoes, trying to figure out the reason for his unnatural fall.
"Hmm? Why are my shoes tied together?"
He found that for some reason, both of his shoe laces were tied together.
Probably being the most likely case for him falling.
"These were certainly not tied before. This is quite intriguing…" He muttered to himself.
Lucian fixed his shoelaces and got back up to his feet.
By then everyone else in the class had already passed the finish line, leaving only him and Mark as the two people who still needed to complete their run.
Since he activated iron skin around the parts of his body that would hit the floor, he'd come out of the ordeal fairly unscathed.
"Sigh… To think Stella's reaction training would actually come in handy one day."
Knowing that he already lost the bet, Lucian just slowly sauntered to the end of the track.
There was no point in continuing to run at full speed if he had already lost the bet.
So Lucian might as well conserve some energy for the spar.
As he neared the other students he saw Andrew coldly smiling at him before breaking eye contact by looking away.
'I see… So you're behind this.'
An icy smile grew on Lucian's face.
'If you want to play, then who am I to refuse?'
Lucian walked up to James and Ethan, raising his hands in defeat.
"It's my loss."
James walked up and inspected Lucian.
"You're not hurt right?"
Lucian shook his head.
"No, I'm fine."
"What's with you and falling today? You should really just sit the rest of class out…" Ethan asked worriedly.
Seeing his friends genuinely concerned for his well-being put a smile on Lucian's face.
"Well enjoy fighting the other guys!"
"Don't worry, we'll prepare a proper funeral for you."
Lucian's smile twitched.
"I retract any and all good things I may have said about you two a*sholes in the past!"
Mark finished slowly after Lucian, and stealthily exchanged glances with Andrew.
'This is going to be interesting…' Mark thought to himself.
Mr. Driscoll walked over to the group.
"Now that our jog's done, let's go back to the gymnasium for combat practice. Don't want to accidentally damage school property out here after all."
Mr. Driscoll led the group back into the gymnasium.
Their gym was a state-of-the-art facility which was built like a bomb shelter. Some students were not yet able to fully control their power, so they needed to make it as sturdy as physically possible.
Ability users were classified based on their total strength, being a mixture of both their ability and any auxiliary tools or techniques they could use.
Ranks were classified by a colour-based system, so it would be easy for the masses to remember.
Everyone, before they got an ability, would be considered 'colourless', and then once they get an ability, they would be considered 'white-ranks'.
White was then followed by yellow, orange, red, green, blue, indigo, purple, and then black.
9 colour-based ranks in all.
This building could withstand a full-powered blow from a blue-rank, so the attacks of a few high school students would barely put a scratch on it.
While the majority of their class were white-ranks, it was still possible to damage the outdoor fields if they fought outside.
The instant Lucian stepped out of the sunlight, he saw a new system notification.
*Ding*
[The Presence of Sunlight Is No Longer Detected!]
[All Decreased Stats Will Be Returned To Normal]
'Finally!' Lucian thought to himself.
The weakness that was plaguing him was no longer there.
Lucian no longer felt that he was being chained down.
He felt free.
Mr.Driscoll walked and turned around to face the group.
"All right, I want all of you to break off into pairs. After that, each pair can go up to fight one by one."
He pointed to a group of men and women in white attire standing by the side.
"The medical team will be on standby in case anybody gets injured, so there's no need to hold back. But, remember, if someone surrenders, you must stop fighting immediately. If anyone goes against this rule, there will be dire consequences."
After hearing their teacher's announcement, the students started to break off into pairs, preferring to partner up with other people at their level.
Since abilities served as an equalizer between genders, there were many female-male pairs in their class.
After all, even if the boys had stronger bodies in general if a girl had a strong enough ability, that wouldn't matter too much.
Lucian separated himself from his two friends and started looking for a partner.
"Hey Lucian, do you want to partner with me?"
Lucian's mouth curved into an amused smile.
'As expected, he challenged me.'
"Oh hey, it's Andrew!" Lucian turned around and explained with false surprise.
Lucian brought his hand up to his chin deep in thought.
"But… Andrew, you're a C-rank ability user… How can someone like me ever match up to that?"
Andrew shook his head.
"Don't worry about that, I'll make sure to hold back."
'Hold back enough, so I only beat you until you're an inch away from death.' Andrew thought inwardly.
Lucian's face lit up.
"Really? Ok then!"
'This guy is an idiot! Even if he gets somewhat high grades in class, he's far too gullible!'
However little did Andrew know…
He was in for a rude awakening.