There was a brief silence as Sol observed Alicia with a confused look on his face. He couldn't help but silently admit that this lady was attractive and completely different from her father, Instructor Kane.
"What's wrong with my appearance?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Nothing, my Lord," Alicia responded hastily. "It's just that rumors of your bad condition have been spreading around and everyone in the territory thinks you are a step away from the doors of death…" she said.
"Alicia!" Instructor Kane rebuked with a stern face.
"Let her continue," Sol said with his hand raised, effectively silencing the instructor.
Alicia looked up to see Sol's gaze, which seemed to lack any form of emotion—making it impossible for her to know what he was thinking.
"These rumors have been spreading ever since the elders visited, and the news of you getting hurt by an instructor in the academy cemented these rumors." She continued. "Seeing you now, I realized the rumors are false, and you are more handsome than I expected." She added.
Hearing this, Sol's gaze turned frosty, and he shifted his gaze to old man Chamberlain, who also wore the same expression. Without saying a single word, the two communicated a lot with their gaze alone.
"Cancel my plans for the academy today," Sol said. "I will spend today dispelling these rumors." He added with a deep frown.
Sol knew what was going on since he had done this before in his past life. One of the best ways of usurping a throne is making whoever is seated on the throne lose credibility in the eyes of the people.
A king loses his power when he loses the respect of his people. The Ark family is made up of people who believe in strength and strength alone, that's why they are the only ones who don't value people who turn out to be Ru-Neatros (balance types).
By making Sol look weak, the Kahi'k was effectively making Sol lose faith in the eyes of the people and when he was certain the people resented their weak leader, he planned to carry out a coup.
Why wouldn't the people accept the powerful Kahi'k over the weak and dying prince?
"This is the final class before the ranking test." old man Chamberlain said. "Do you really think it's wise to miss it?" He asked.
"Today's class covers the various resources that can be found in the first examination area. It's really important." Instructor Kane agreed with the old steward.
However, their rambling only made Sol more infuriated, and his eyes lit up with power.
"My throne or a class. Which is more important?" He said with a voice filled with fury and venom.
His questions made the instructor and the old steward shiver in fear as they instinctively took a step back.
"I will not allow you to question my actions anymore." Sol turned his attention to the old steward.
"From now on, you will do as you are told without question. Do you understand?" Sol hissed.
Bam!
The old steward was shaken as he fell to his knees and bowed hastily.
"I-I understand!" He screamed.
He realized Sol was not some child he could dictate his actions and for a moment he felt like if he didn't accept he would be killed without hesitation.
The young master has changed!
Sol shifted his attention to the instructor, Kane, who shivered instinctively and lowered his head.
"I need you to prepare a note of everything taught today," Sol said with a calm look on his face. "I trust you can do this, correct?" Sol asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Of course!" Instructor Kane screamed as he bowed, and Sol nodded in approval.
"Good. Now let's have breakfast and start our day." Sol said with a gentle smile on his face.
During breakfast, Sol was able to learn a few things about instructor Kane and his daughter. Instructor Kane lost his wife during the Bashomon event that took the life of Sol's parents.
She served the house of Sol and was amongst the few who swung into action as soon as they realized the deceased Chieftain was under attack. It ended her in heart, leaving Alicia without a mother.
Sol also had the opportunity to get some details concerning the ranking test from Instructor Kane. The ranking exam uses a point system to judge the three tests, with each test worth ten points.
The first test focused on revealing the survivability of the students. They will be put in an enclosed forest filled with numerous resources of various kinds and grades. However, it is also filled with beasts of various types.
The fatality rate of this test is usually high and to survive, students tend to work together, but it doesn't matter since they are being graded with three categories.
Survivability: As long as students can survive the entire week in the forest, they are awarded one point.
Resources acquired: points are awarded based on the resources found by students during the test. The rarer the resource, the more points they gain.
Beasts killed: During the test, students are expected to use the resources acquired to improve their abilities. Meeting beasts of various races during the test is highly possible, and it is expected they can defend themselves. The more beasts they kill, the more points they gain.
While the points of the test are capped at ten points, someone can gain more than ten points in the test. Sol was shocked to learn that his father gained 15 points on the test, while Darth Ark gained 30 points.
This alone made Sol wonder what kind of man Darth Ark was and why he declined to lead the Ark family. He finally understood why the alpha races of Aetheria were terrified of the man.
Just by observing Instructor Kane when stories of Darth Ark were narrated, he could see the man shiver from time to time. The fear in the eyes of the man said it all.
According to old man Chamberlain, Darth Ark was more a demon than a man.