After everyone had already completed the test everyone was split up into 2 groups. The ones who passed and the ones who failed.
"Alright everyone! All of you to the left, you no longer need to come to this class. Instead you will be sent to a different class called Preparation Of The Mind. It will help guide you all to strengthen your mind for the future.
However, the ones on my right will be coming back here every day. For now we prepare, after 2 weeks of honing the mind we will be going on an expedition through the Star Light Mountains to fight beasts not locked behind cages!"
Upon hearing that many felt upset that they wouldn't be allowed to go. They felt like they had failed this class forcing them to take a supplementary class just to have the right to attend this one.
The nobles didn't even kick up a fuss either, instead they were mainly disappointed with themselves. The commoners who did fail had looks of determination on their faces while the ones who passed were relieved.
Currently only 3 nobles and 17 commoners passed the trial, when Ryder began to look around he could already see the nobles getting to work.
The only one who didn't make a move on the commoners was Jacob. He didn't need assistance from anyone, while the nobles were using their influence to force the commoners under their control. At some point even Ryder was approached by one of them.
"Hey, Ryder right? My name is Gabriel Skychaser! It's a pleasure to meet you, I was hoping to get the chance to talk about a potential cooperation between the both of us? Of course I will aid you in the future anyway I can if you need, I do have the money I would just like to have some of the finished products after you are done…"
This boy was definitely opportunistic, he heard that Ryder would become a rune crafter. It wasn't a maybe or if thing, the teacher specifically told Ryder he would become a powerful rune crafter.
Even though Ryder never gave his answer to be Caleb's student he was still going to Rune Creation class. Even if he doesn't officially state Caleb as his teacher he would still get support from the man.
'Seems like my time here is going to be filled with troublesome people trying to use me for their own gain…'
"Unfortunately Gabriel I have already partnered up with Jacob. So unless he gives his permission my hands are tied"
This was just his way to push the trouble off to someone else. Even Jacob didn't seem to react much when he was being used as a scapegoat.
'Since you want to go ahead and use me to get rid of your problems I'll make sure to make this partnership a reality. Nothing is free when dealing with a noble, I'll teach you that personally'
"O-oh! I am sorry for bugging you then… I'll just get out of your hair"
The boy walked off clicking his tongue as he gathers more commoners for his miniature faction, unfortunately neither of the nobles could get Ryder on their side so they were left with 8 people each.
Caleb had been ignoring all of this, this was a common occurrence once people hear about the expedition. No what he was more focused on is writing out a detailed training plan for Ryder. He was going over every little thing he would be exclusively teaching to Ryder while also preparing some material to study for the rest of his Rune Creation class.
Soon the bell rang dismissing the class, however Jacob and a few others didn't move because they also had Rune Creation. The next second however Kaylee came sprinting in, she had been trying her best to avoid all the nobles trying to get her attention as she jumped onto Ryder.
"Ryder! Catch me!"
"Huh!?"
He was forced to catch Kaylee, she was now being held in his arms like a princess as a small group of nobles and few commoners associated with them had walked into the lobby which they had migrated to after the trial was complete.
"P-Princess! How did you get here so fast?"
"Of course I left early! They were telling me things I had already known! So I just decided to not waste my time and come see my favorite knight hehe~!"
Ryder couldn't help but sigh upon hearing this, everyone around him was stunned by the princesses actions. Even Caleb was bewildered by what was going on.
'Looks like I found one interesting kid!'
He chuckled to himself as he finishes preparing some low level bronze rank runes as well as something a little more special.
Jacob and the other nobles frowned at Kaylee for acting so unkempt and wild. It was betraying her image but at the moment Kaylee couldn't careless. Instead she just nuzzled her head up to Ryder obviously enjoying being carried by her knight.
'So it wasn't Ryder who was chasing after the princess at that time… instead it seems like the princess can't help but act like this around him! I fought him based off a misunderstanding!? I thought he was like a toad trying to eat swan meat! I thought he was actively trying to disrespect us by blatantly showing how close he was with Kaylee!'
Jacob could only facepalm at the situation, he never thought that the princess would act like a child madly in love! She couldn't keep away from him or holding onto his hands or body for even a second!
Ryder on the other hand didn't seem to react much, this annoyed the other 2 nobles who created their small factions. Just seeing him not really reacting much shows how often something like this happens to him!
''Lucky Bastard!''
Both of them thought as Caleb headed to the front of the class just to have the entire area go silent.
"Now that I have your attention it's time for us to start with Rune Creation!"
He flicked his hand as a symbol glowing in the air above everyone suddenly vanished letting the sound return to the room. The only sound that wasn't nullified was Caleb's voice talking to his students.
"Today we will be going over the basics of rune creation. By the time you leave I expect everyone to be able to make a bronze rank rune. The rune we will study for now is called [Silence] this rune demonstrated earlier allows one to cut out all sounds in a certain area for an amount of time depending on the soul force used!"
He had quickly lifted one hand using his finger to draw in the air. This symbol looked more like Japanese letters then anything. With a few simple strokes a new tune was born made exclusively through Mental Power.
Caleb threw the rune at the closest wall as a image is projected onto it. In that image the silence rune stayed, he had placed this image just to help the students remember how it looks as he goes over the basics of mental power.
"Mental Power is similar to Soul Force in many ways. This power is concentrated in the brain around the Soul Realm. Usually the space around the soul realm is a wide open area that is filled with Mental Power, that space is also known as the Sea of Consciousness.
Now I will be going around and marking each of you with a special rune used to guide you in gaining control over your mental power. This is the first step and the most important one! The better control you have over your power the better!"
Caleb started off with Kaylee, he wanted to go ahead and give the mark to Ryder first. However with Kaylee's background he couldn't ignore her, even though her power was stripped from her when coming to the school there is no way a rational person would not try to get on the princesses good side.
The next person was Ryder, this had made some of the nobles in the room feel offended that a commoner had gotten a mark before they did. It was frustrating to see this boy with no background getting treated with such favoritism!
They could understand Kaylee, but Ryder? It was a well known fact that the boy was a nobody even worse then the commoners in the capital! He was a country boy that could never surpass them, at least that's what they believed.
The moment Ryder had felt the rune start working he closed his eyes and focused. For him it wasn't hard at all to start manipulating the mental power around his body. He had already felt a little bit of it when doing his previous trial, now all he needed was to grab that power and control it.
'Amazing!? He is already showing such control after just getting the rune! Looks like I'll have to adjust the lesson plan a little'
Even though Kaylee had gotten the rune first it didn't work as quickly as Ryder's. She did eventually feel her mental power but something was off.
She tried to exert control over it and it complied in seconds. When she moved it around her body or made it go wherever she wanted it was fast and accurate. She was smiling as she looked over to Ryder only to get startled by the wave of mental power coming off him.
When she looked at him it was like a large river with very fast rapids swirling around his entire body. This didn't feel like the small amounts of mental power Kaylee had felt when she swirled the mental power around her.
'Ryder is so talented! His mental power is so strong! I wonder how he trained it?'
Kaylee's mental power was like a small puddle compared to Ryder. The only explanation Ryder could think of was little gold, it had put him under a constant state of intense fear each time he looked at it. Sometimes he would even actively look at it or examine it trying to understand why it was there.
The 3 years of training had caused him to interact with the beast a lot. Though his mental power couldn't help shield from Evan's attacks back then or Jacob's he felt now that he had control over his own power he could use it in many ways besides just for protecting against a beasts intent.
"Now then, it's time to gather the mental power around the tip of your finger. I want you to draw the image on the wall as best as you can! If you succeed within 10 minutes I will give you another rune this one will be silver rank. I will keep increasing the rank until no one passes!"
The room went quiet after he said that, though it wasn't because they were shocked. Actually many people were trying to talk but no sound was coming out. There in Ryder's hands a [Silence] rune floated above his palm.
"Uh… Mr. Runechild I think I have successfully created the rune"