After talking with Lim, Felix headed back to the class. He entered the class and looked around. The rest were carrying their tracksuits, ready to leave for their practical class.
Nobody waited for Felix. They walked past him, making sure they didn't bump into him. Felix took out his tracksuit and headed to the training grounds, alone, like always.
Before going to the training grounds, he went inside the boy's changing room. He made sure not to look at their faces, cause he was already having an anxiety attack at this point.
'Though I didn't speak a word, the club briefing messed me up.'
He tried his best and kept looking down but sometimes caught glimpses of the crowd from the corner of his eye.
'Even a second of it gives me shivers.'
Felix opened his closet and started unbuttoning his shirt. As he took off his clothes, he felt the gaze of every boy in the room.
His lean physique and toned muscles with scars on his body, mostly his back, were eye-catching. Some of the others too had the same physique but Felix's looked ethereal
The boys looked at their own bodies and shook their heads. Not only was Felix handsome, but his body was something they wished they had.
'Just train 30 to 45 minutes every day. You can get this too, you know.'
Of course, Felix didn't say that out loud.
Felix waited for everyone to leave. Staring at his upper body was fine but not his crotch. He quickly changed his trousers and was about to leave, when he heard someone hit themselves on the locker.
Thud
Felix surprised, peeked at who it was.
"Ouch."
There was a boy the floor. He touched his forehead and checked if there was a bump or not. Picking up his glasses, he quickly started to get changed.
'I didn't feel his presence.'
Felix didn't know if the boy hid his aura on purpose or if it was so weak that his presence was not noticeable. Either way, it was impressive.
Felix tried to remember the name of the person. For him, who couldn't see faces it was hard to remember names, and the only way he could do it was by remembering their body structure.
'Short and too lean, mole on the wrist. It must be Kean.'
It was creepy to remember every minor detail of a person, but that was the only way he could recognize people unless they talked.
And he had never heard Kean talk.
' I haven't noticed him in the class either.'
Kean started getting changed and Felix stopped peeking. He left the locker and walked to the training ground.
The HexaCore training facility was a large building. It wasn't that tall, but it covered more width than any building in Arcadia, except the labyrinth.
The facility was divided into six different arenas, each with its own weapons room and a small healing station. This was made so practical classes could be conducted effectively.
Felix entered section A-I, one of the six training grounds. Everyone was already in line. Professor Vicent also was there at the front and looked at Felix.
He picked his pace and walked over to the end of the boy's line.
After a while, Kean too entered the ground. He watched Kean running towards the end of the line but he tripped... well one boy in the middle tripped him. The one who tripped him and the two ahead giggled and kicked away Kean's glasses.
Kean bit his lips and got up. He touched the slight bruise on his elbow and picked up his glasses. Holding his elbow, he walked towards the end, behind Felix.
Felix could hear Kean sniffle and rustle to wipe the dust on his face and snot
'He's a mess and those three- They are brave enough to bully him on the second day and in front of Vincent.'
Though the boy was quick, he couldn't escape Vincent's eyes. But unlike how Felix imagined Vincent to take action, he ignored it.
'A man of discipline ignoring such things.'
Felix inspected Vincent's demeanour and noticed him looking back.
'I don't like that look.'
"Silence."
Vincent shouted, and everyone looked in front. He looked at the watch in his hand and nodded.
"Since everyone is here on time, there will be no 100 pushups today."
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
"Today we are going to learn a new mana movement technique. But before that, I have something to announce."
Felix didn't like the sound of it. And though Vincent was looking at everyone, he felt the most targeted.
"I made a mistake on the first day and forgot to assign a class monitor."
Vincent was keen to teach that day, and the topic of the class monitor left his mind.
The role of a class monitor was simple. All they had to do was inform the students about any extra assignments and take attendance in the class every day before the first class started.
"Felix, from now on, will be your class monitor."
Vincent said, and Felix could only sigh. He saw this coming from miles away.
They didn't complain. After all, Felix was assigned a bothersome role, without a single advantage of having it.
"I can see some of you aren't happy with this decision. I can see some of you sighing and frowning ."
Vincent expressed his discontent, and the students looked at each other.
Who in the hell frowned?
Felix again sighed.
'Nobody frowned. He just made that up.'
Vincent folded his arms and said,
"I see that you guys still underestimate the capabilities of a Star. If that is so, the only Star in the class has to prove himself to be the class monitor, am I correct?"
Everyone now started to realise where this was heading.
"All of you will have a duel with Felix."
Vincent said, and everyone took a big gulp and they turned towards Felix. He was just looking at the ground, stoic like always.
'What is his motive behind this? '
Felix was confused. There was no need to make up a lie and do this, just for a simple role and when nobody complained.
Felix, of course, didn't want the role, but he also wasn't angry he got it.
The students wanted to retaliate, but it would only make things worse. They knew this wasn't going to be a duel but a one-sided beating, so all they could do was look at Felix with puppy eyes and hope he didn't break their bones.
Vincent also knew this was unfair to others, so he had another plan in mind.
"Don't worry. I will make it fair. The duel isn't one on one. All fifty-six of your present here will fight him at the same time. And the rules of duels are simple. All you have to do is touch Felix, either with your weapon or any spell. And the same goes for Felix. "
'This b*tch'
Felix couldn't help but curse.
The students again started murmuring. The ground was big enough for all of them to participate and maybe working together, they might defeat Felix. All they had to do was touch him.
Vincent added more to the proposal.
"If you guys manage to win the first exam, all of you will get an A + in the practical exam, except Felix"
That was a bold statement, and Felix could see flames lit in the student's hopeless eyes.
It was a big deal because the practical test, though it changed every year, was going to be a lot harder than this. Being exempt from it was a blessing and getting an A+ on top of it was icing on the cake.
Now they were determined to do whatever was necessary to make sure Felix lost today.
'What next, if you shove a sword up my ass, you get a billion, Lira?'
Felix wasn't pleased with these conditions. He wasn't afraid of fighting, it's just that it was meaningless to him.
He would be a class monitor if he won, and that would add more work which he didn't want. There was no benefit in winning for him.
'I could forfeit or just act to lose, but he will notice it.'
Vincent would keep making them fight unless Felix gave his all.
"Now."
Vincent clapped his hand to get everyone's attention.
"First, fifty-six of you get your weapons. You have five minutes. And then Felix will get his. Use that time to come up with a plan to defeat the Star."
As soon as he finished the students rushed towards the weapons room. It didn't take them even two minutes to return back with their choice of weapon.
They made a circle and started planning until Felix returned back.
But that's when a problem arose. They didn't know much about Felix. Yes, he was a Star, and they were strong, but how much?
A person's rank, strength and mana level could be measured by using an Assessment Orb. As far as they knew, from the academy's evaluation, Felix was D-rank, exceptional for his age. But not every D-rank has the same strength.
And not just that a person [Ability], [Blessing], and [Art] if they have any couldn't be measured. They were sure Felix didn't have any [Ability] or [Blessing] but his [Art]; they had no idea about it.
The fifty-six of them had never seen him [Art] but knew it was something fearsome. They knew Felix's score from the first test. It took him three minutes to complete it while none of them managed to kill even one giant rat.
"Does anyone know about the Valerius's Art?"
Everyone nodded. They knew the Valerius family was famous for their spearman ship, which was mainly focused on wind and earth elements. His mastery over it at a small age got him the nickname.
Treasure of Valerius.
"We can do this. There are fifty-six of us. Yes, he is strong, but all we need to do is to just touch him."
Grian, the boy that tripped Kean, said. The others nodded in high hopes. This duel was a lot easier because they didn't have to knock him out or push him out of the arena like in a professional duel.
Grian, after Felix, was the second-highest ranked. His rank was 101, and for now, the others considered him the leader. And Grian's plan was simple. At first, the lowest-ranked students would attack, while the highest-ranked would wait for a hole in Felix's defence.
As they were discussing their plan, everyone felt chills. The hair on their body rose as they turned to the weapons room.
Felix was walking towards them, spinning the spear to get used to its weight. He didn't look angry, nervous or excited, nor was he using mana to make his aura fierce. His stoic demeanour was enough of a scare.
Vincent didn't need to say anything, as the students quickly moved and surrounded Felix. Moving his spear, Felix quickly scanned his surroundings, and the body language of the students.
'Their aura oozes of nervousness, mostly Kean. The sword he's holding is probably even heavier than him.'
He then looked at Vincent.
Their homeroom professor nodded and then shouted.
"Start."
Before the nearest students to Felix could move, he struck his spear on the ground.
*Boom*
A loud roar echoed through the training ground, and everyone covered their ears. Even Vincent flinched because of how loud it was.
Kean dropped his sword to cover his ears but soon realised his mistake as he watched the tip of Felix's spear, about to pierce his stomach.
The fear had stuck him to the ground and all he could do was accept this fate. Before the spear could pierce him, it only touched his training suit.
Kean was eliminated. He was sweating a bucket load but he was sure a bucket load of blood would be pouring out from his stomach..The hostility behind the spear was meant to kill. In the end, it just disappeared.
But in that moment, Kean was closer to death than he had ever been.