"There is no need to feel shame."
The Head Warrior, Brutus, approached the fallen Billy and stretched forth his hand.
"You did well for your first battle. You possess powerful Skills and the potential to surpass me." For the first time ever, something was tugging at the corners of Brutus' face.
It was… a smile!
Brutus was smiling, and it was a very warm grin.
"That is why you need training. So, what do you say… Grand Knight? Do you wish to grow strong and defeat me one day?"
The hand of the Head Warrior remained outstretched as Billy looked at it with widened eyes.
Following Brutus' words were a round of applause. It started with Lucielle, followed by Adonis, and before long… everyone was clapping.
'For me? They're clapping for me?'
Billy's face shifted slightly as his widened eyes bulged even further as he noticed a particular girl clapping as she smiled.
'Alicia is also clapping? She's even smiling at me!'
It made him feel immensely happy. The experience just now had humbled him, but this… this had now raised his spirits.
From a trembling form to a smile, Billy returned his gaze to the Head Knight and nodded.
"I wish to grow strong!"
Billy reached out for Brutus' hand, and the Head Warrior pulled him up with relative ease.
Both warriors stared at each other with a measure of respect and honor attributed respectively.
It was like a new bond had been forged—one between a mentor and his protege.
"Good. I look forward to your training."
*******
'I see now…'
Rey smiled as he observed all that happened from beginning to end.
'Our Skills are only as effective as our mastery over them, and our Levels. It's just as Lucielle said.'
A Level 1 A-Tier Skill user would never be able to defeat a Level 10 B-Tier Skill user.
'I think this much is fair. Also, there seems to be some kind of power cap. It's likely that the B-Tier Skill will stagnate at some point, while the A-Tier one will keep improving.'
Also, Rey theorized that a Level 1 A-Tier was no doubt going to defeat a B-Tier of the same level.
'In the end, it's just better to have everything.'
After calculating everything, and observing that their real training was about to begin, Rey decided to give it his all.
'I need to become stronger… and fast!'
In order not to be controlled by his classmates, the people of this world… as well as the enemy.
'This world respects the strong and despises the weak… just like my previous world.'
As an Extra among all his seemingly overpowered classmates, Rey could already guess some challenges that would come his way.
'But, well… I have to try.'
***********
[A Week Later]
"Huff… huff…."
A lot of steamy breaths escaped the lips of the students who were jogging in circles.
In the vast training grounds, as large as a football field, the Beta students were being made to run round it for a hundred times in one go.
It initially started off as five laps, and even that was extreme.
But now… it was a hundred!
"Huff… huff… haaa… haaa…"
Many were out of breath already, despite only passing the fifty lap threshold. Others were sweating profusely, but they still had their determined expressions on.
No one wanted to give up!
Among the many who struggled to keep up, and were barely hanging on, there was one student whose expression felt a little too forced.
It was Rey.
'This sucks. What am I doing here…?'
Right now, he was trying his hardest to be as average as he could. That was why he was pretending to be tired, like most people in the Beta group, but in actuality, he was perfectly fine.
He had to force himself to sweat, and even his steamy breath was him trying hard to increase his body's temperature.
Nothing about this training exhausted him in the slightest.
'Those Alpha group students are undergoing tougher and more complex training, yet I'm stuck with this. Damnit!'
After training concluded on the first day, the students were divided into two groups—Alpha and Beta.
The Alpha group had all the immensely talented and powerful members there.
People like Adonis, Alicia, and Billy were the students in the group. There were a total of nine of them—a small number compared to the twenty-nine students in total.
'Of course, I didn't make the cut. In everyone's eyes, I'm as average as they come.'
In fact, he could argue that they thought he was less than average.
'The remaining twenty of us were put in the Beta group and are made to improve on our foundations, while the Alpha group has gone ahead to learn more advanced things.'
Right now, the curriculum of the Beta group involved two major things;
Physical exercise and Basic Skill application.
'We aren't even learning Magic yet!' It pained Rey to the depths of his soul, but what could he do?
He had to remain lowkey.
'I overheard some of the A-Tier students talking about training, and apparently they have started learning Magic. How lucky…'
Some Beta students would get jealous of the Alpha students learning Magic because that meant they would spend more time with the gorgeous Lucielle, but that wasn't Rey's reason.
Sure, Lucielle was immensely attractive in his eyes, but that wasn't his priority at this point.
'It's the Skills!' His eyes widened as he intentionally slowed down his pace.
He didn't want to outrun everyone else.
'Apparently we can naturally awaken more Skills if we practice hard enough and have enough mastery in an aspect.'
That was what vexed him most about this training. It was meaningless to him.
'I have Passive Skills that make my body naturally acclimate to physical stress very quickly. The first few days were hell, sure, but I've pretty much obtained the Stats that make me capable of enduring something of this level.'
Rey wasn't sure, since he didn't know the Stats of the rest of his classmates, but he was certain he was currently on the level of the average Alpha Group students.
'I should be learning what they're doing.'
Still, he told himself to exercise patience. Right now, he couldn't afford to stir the hornet's nest too much.
'Status Window.' His thoughts trailed.
[STATUS WINDOW]
- Name: Rey Skylar.
- Race: Human (Otherworlder)
- Class: Commoner (F-Tier)
- Level: 1 (0.00% EXP)
- Life Force: 5
- Mana Level: 10
- Combat Ability: 10
- Stat Points: 0
- Skills (Exclusive): [Doppel]
- Skills (Non-Exclusive): Nil
- Alignment: Neutral
[Additional Information]
You possess the weakest Class, but the strongest Skill. You can only be described as an 'Overpowered Weakling.'
[End Of Information]
In this world, people needed EXP to increase their Levels. That was the surest way to get Stat Points and develop one's Stats.
However, since the students were currently too weak, training was needed to help them gain Stats naturally through practice and pushing ourselves to the limit.
'That's why this is so frustrating. I can't push myself to the limits here anymore.'
Thanks to his Passive Skills, he had gained these Stats after a few days of hellish training, and now he was basically stagnating.
'I currently have 49 Skills at my disposal. If I can get that ONE Skill… I should be able to do the rest on my own.'
Rey finally let out his first chuckle since he began the exercise.
'I should strike tomorrow!'
*
*
*
[A/N]
Thanks for reading!
Hope you enjoyed the chapter.