Chapter 225

Like Benny had said, 30 minutes to traverse the two-kilometer distance from the Dining hall to the Joint-Year Battle Arena was plenty of time. Along the way, Cynrik pointed out the signs pointing towards the Oblisk’s and made a mental note to swing by if there was enough time after class for a quick look.

Weaving through the campus took less time than expected because the party had left with 15 minutes still available in the lunch period, so the streets and walkways were relatively empty. Benny directed everyone to their destination without any obstacles before stopping outside the absolutely colossal multi-level Battle Arena.

“Woah, this thing is awesome,” Gabby said, slackjawed and admiring the large stone, windowed, circular, dome-like building. But all Cynrik and Brance could see was basically the Big Ball at that Mouse Theme park. In fact, if it wasn’t made of stone, the building would indeed look like a giant golfball; instead of panels, there were rows upon rows of hexagonal windows, well that and it was over ten times as big.

[[Hey guys, why does this Arena look so familiar. I can’t put my thumb on it, but I am 100% sure I’ve seen something like this before.]] Scratching her cheek in confusion and practically breaking her neck in the process, Selene examined the Arena with interest.

[[Eh? Have you never been to Mousecot before? There is a ride that looks just like this, but only a fraction of the size; hell, that ride is the main thing people think of when it comes to that stupid park.]] Cynrik informed her with a blank expression.

[[Now, now, Cyn, not everyone grew up in Orlando like us, ok. Most people are lucky to go to the Mouse Themeparks, let alone Mousecot.]] Brance chided.

[[Bull shit, who in their right mind goes there unless forced, legit, it’s the worst of them all. Of the parks, at least Mousywood Studios has cool visual rides, the Creature Kingdom has all those crazy animals, and some coasters and rides, not to mention MousyKingdom is their flagship park. Mousecot has nothing in comparison; it’s a boring park to walk around without any thrill rides. THUS, the big ball is the only semi-decent attraction.]] Clicking his tongue and facing Brance, Cynrik waved an angry finger at his little brother, causing Benny to sigh, Gabby to giggle, and Selene to scoff.

[[I’ve been to those parks, I just didn’t remember where I had seen the ball, but now I do so Blehhhh.]] Sticking her tongue out at the brothers, Selene tried defending herself but only ended up looking adorable in Cynrik’s eyes.

“Alright, enough screwing around; we need to head up, this place has ten freaking layers, and our class is on the second. Since we have some time to kill, we can explore the first floor a bit before heading up.” Stepping in to stop what he expected to be an argument between Cynrik and Brance, Benny pulled everyone’s attention and shooed his friends towards one of the four entrances to the Battle Arena.

“Awww, look at how sweet little Benny is; he’s trying to make sure you two ruffians don’t start fighting.” Seeing Benny’s interruption as a chance to pull one over on Cynrik and Brance, Selene took a cheap shot at them before grabbing Cynrik by the hand and dragging him off before the boy could even utter a word of complaint.

“Cmon, we gotta hurry up; we can’t let the rival couple show us up, Jörnie.” Gabby squeaked, her chestnut long hair whipping around as she grabbed Brance and pulled him as Selene had with Cynrik.

“Couple???” Brance was stunned into silence as Gabby asserted her dominance by stating they were in an official relationship for the world to hear, which technically wasn’t true.

Benny, now alone, shoved his hands in his pockets and shook his head in discontent.

“Gabby and Brance are gross too; I never thought my little sister would be able to take control so easily; maybe Cynrik has the right idea, keeping a firm voice and attitude when dealing with Selene; I don’t want to be henpecked like Brancie is.” He mumbled under his breath while leaning down to pick up a piece of litter off the pavement and shoving it in his inventory to dispose of later.

“Sigh, why is it so hard to find a nice, ordinary girl who has a lot in common with me.” Chasing after the other four, Benny hurried and entered the building, quickly finding them standing in front of seven wall-sized screens floating in the air.

Approaching Brance, Benny leaned over and asked what they were looking at.

“Those are the Battle Rankings, from left to right, the screens show the individual Student Ranks for a bit before switching to Faction Ranking, and APPARENTLY, on the far left screen, we are listed at the Rank 1 Faction in Year One,” Brance stated as he pointed at the far left screen. Just as he did, the real-time image swapped from Individual Rank to Faction Rank, and just as he said, the number one position was held down by MyrkLys.

After the Ranking number, said S-Rank, and then a tiny picture of the Faction logo, the two swords crossed behind a shield with ML and the Factions Name. Seeing this, everyone except Cynrik felt a sense of pride welling within, but soon, their eyes drifted downward, and they noticed that there wasn’t a single other Year One Faction listed, leaving that pride to deflate a bit.

“Um…then what is the 7th screen for?” Again, noticing that the numbers didn’t add up, Benny asked curiously; this time, Cynrik answered his question.

“Overall Academy Ranking, it’s a comprehensive list of every student in order of their Official Win-Loss ratio. I assume that’s how all the ranks are maintained. So next week, that little Year One leaderboard will be swollen with every student who took a shot in Arena Battles. It’s better to not pay TOO much attention to it, yet at the same time, it means if we want to stay at the top, we will have to start competing ourselves in group battles.”

Tilting his head to the left and releasing a pop, Cynrik continued.

“What I wanna know is the rewards for being at the top of the list. We will compete if it is worth it; if not, we let it go. First, however, the Academy Ranking List, now that is something we will all have to work on. Individual Rank is one thing, but our Faction will not fall behind, even against those Upper Classmen.”

“Interesting thoughts you have there, Student Ivar Ragnarsson.” When Cynrik finished speaking, a voice entered his ears from the right, and when he looked over, there was a Professor he vaguely remembered from their battle the first day the party had arrived at the Academy.

“Oh? Is that so, Professor…im sorry I don’t know your name? Anyway, I simply stated facts. If the rewards are decent, I have no issues having my Faction compete in both leaderboards; if not, we will just sit it out.” Cynrik rebutted with his arms crossed over his chest defiantly, not bothering to look over at the Professor.

“Professor Dennis, and as your Combat Instructor, I recommend you drop the attitude and add a little respect to my name when you speak to me.” Professor Dennis grumbled, fighting the urge to bop Cynrik on top of his head.

“Ah, so it’s Professor Dennis; I’m surprised to see you haven’t already headed up to the second floor where the class will be held. So what brings you over? How may I help you, Sir?” Toning down his attitude slightly, Cynrik finally turned to look at the man standing beside him.

Appearing to be in his mid-thirties and boasting a Tier-2 power level, the medium, athletic build of the man didn’t impress Cynrik much, but his Red and Green hair did. It reminded him of Guy Fieri’s look, the short spikes, but in a different color. Matching his hair, the Professor had monochromatic eyes; the left was Red, and the right was Green.

What actually surprised Cynrik was that the Professor was able to restrain the leaking Mana from his Codex, and thus made it slightly tricky for Cynrik to check his power. Still, with the aid of his [Inspect Skill], he was able to get an accurate read on the man.

“I came over because I saw not one but five of my new students standing idle in the hall staring at the Leaderboards when there are only 6 minutes until the bell. Usually, new students would be found panic running to class, yet you five seem calm. Care to explain yourselves?”

“That’s easy; it’s because we aren’t worried; four of us already evolved to Tier-2, so what could a bunch of Tier-0 and Tier-1 First Year students do against us? Plus, you were one of the Refs for our Group battle the other day, and im sure you are fully aware of the extent of our combat prowess.” By this point, Cynrik and Professor Dennis’s conversation had drawn the attention of the other members of MyrkLys, and they snuck over to eavesdrop.

“Sigh, while I admit you all are reasonably experienced in fighting…wait…did you just say four of you reached Tier-2? When did this happen? Why haven’t you told anyone or filed the specified forms on the website?” Mid-sentence, Professor Dennis registered what Cynrik had said and was astonished. He began stumbling through his sentence and questioned Cynrik on why he hadn’t recorded his new Tier.

According to Academy procedure, before and after someone attempted to break through and Evolve into a higher Tier, they had to inform the Academy via either a Professor or the school’s website; that way, an appropriate staff member could monitor the process by stepping in if anything went wrong.

“…uhhhh my bad.” Cynrik knew that he was supposed to report it but had chosen not to since he wasn’t exactly excited to let other people know about his actual strength, including the teaching staff.

“Hehe, my bad, he says, good, outstanding Student Ivar Ragnarsson, very good indeed. Fortunately, your blatant disregard for Academy policy has given me quite the opportunity here. By not only failing to inform the staff both before and after your successful Evolution, along with missing the subsequent tests required afterward, you have broken three separate, essential rules, all before classes began.”

Cynrik, wearing the Jim from the Office look, stared at the Professor with raised eyebrows, wide eyes, and pursed lips, listening to the man’s ranting.

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