After helping Beiste and Min study for their exams, I left the study hall and decided to do some training.

That and there’s something I needed to check while doing so. It didn’t take long before I finally made it to the Training Hall.

There didn’t seem to be anyone else here, so it looks like I had the whole place to myself.

“Alright, let’s get started, then,” I said while getting everything ready.

After that, the first thing I did was check my status. I checked it before, but I needed to see again the changes.

My stats went up a lot again. Considering I went up against an A-rank mutated Manicore, I shouldn't be all that surprised. Not only that, but I surpassed Luke and the others in terms of stats. Although it was only a little bit, there was still a distinct difference.

But, my stats weren’t what I wanted to double-check. It was my Talents. Or in this case, one of them. My [Arsenal] Talent was now D-Rank! I managed to get a Rank-Up on this Talent!

A Rank-Up was a term used to describe a Talent going up a Rank like F-Rank to D-Rank. It’s a way to show its development.

At first, I had no idea how I was able to do this, and I didn’t remember anything about it going up a rank when I defeated the Manticore, so it must’ve happened when I passed out. And the reason why it likely got a Rank-Up is because of what I did to defeat the Manticore. When I used the Sub-Talent, [Mana Boost].

I used this Talent because I needed to expand my mana pool enough so I can summon more magic weapons. And by doing this, I must’ve somehow improved its ability, causing me to experience a Rank-Up.

Thanks to this, both my stats and Talent were now at the levels of an exceptional Agoge Student. Despite being ranked last, I’m practically at the level of the prodigies right now!

Of course, Charisma is still lagging behind, and Luck...I don't even want to talk about this bastard. This one will likely stay at one, considering I have that stupid cursed talent associated with it. But, I shouldn't be worried about that though. I should be more focused on [Arsenal] at the moment.

“Now then, let’s test out [Arsenal] a bit.”

Declaring this, I soon summoned two magic blades, almost instantly. They gave off a nice bright light blue glow as they slightly hummed while floating next to me.

“The Conjuring time is a lot faster,” I noted. “It usually takes me a few seconds or so to summon one, but I was able to do two almost in a split second. Looks like my understanding of my Talent is improving as well.”

In order to develop your Talent, you also need to understand how it works. The more you understand it, the stronger it will be.

Like how I could change the form of what I summon and know that the size is equivalent to how much mana I have and can use. This was good. Since my understanding of my talent is improving, I can make more progress with it.

I then started individually manipulating the two blades to do what I want from spinning, moving up and down, or back and forth. I was basically testing my mental focus on the weapons while also on the fluid movements of them as well.

“They’re moving a lot smoother now,” I smiled. “Plus, it’s not all that straining, so my body and mind are definitely adapting to my Talent, which makes things even better.”

Now, let’s see what happens when I summon three…

Just when I was about to summon a third magic sword, another talent decided to interrupt me...

You just can't let me work in peace, can you...?

I then heard a noise from behind me and turned to see what that was. When I did, I made a sour expression because it was someone I didn’t expect or want to see.

“If it isn’t Mister Low Rank,” Jacob said with a shit-eating grin. “Looks like you’re toying with that shit Talent of yours, huh?”

I didn’t reply to Jacob and simply glared at him. Behind the bastard, there were four to five people walking with him. They all scattered from him as they slowly started to surround me like they were about to perform an ambush. When I saw Jacob and his friends, I instantly knew what was about to happen. This bastard was about to harass me again…

And here I thought this bastard learned his lesson. In fact, he should’ve after the events of the Manticore, since that was when he was supposed to turn a new leaf. When Luke saved his life from the manticore, his entire personality changed and he became a decent person thanks to that.

However…it’s obvious from his smug face and goons that he’s still the same bully that he’s been since the start of the novel. That in itself...was rather annoying to see.

Good grief…

I sighed while looking at Jacob and his goonies.

“When are you going to take a hint, Foyer? I don’t have time for this. Also, didn’t I save your life when the Manticore showed up? Why are you still doing this?”

“Save me?” Jacob lowly growled after hearing this. “You humiliated me, you bastard! Telling me to sit the fight out like some child! Ridiculing me!”

The way he spoke was so violent and raw, that he practically spat these words at me. Seeing this, it was obvious that I somehow offended Jacob during the Manticore incident. Though considering I saved his life, regardless of what I said to him, he should still be thankful he’s alive thanks to me.

But, that unfortunately didn't appear to be the case.

“So, you plan on getting revenge by jumping me?” I scoffed.

“If that’s what it takes to put you in your place, then yes!”

God, this guy’s pathetic. I thought he would change like how it went in the Novel, but it’s clear that I did something different than what Luke did when he saved him.

I guess this is just another moment in the story that I messed up, huh? But, instead of being paranoid and worrying about it...I mostly felt angry and annoyed. Despite my annoyance, I smiled smugly at Jacob, causing him to get infuriated with me.

“The hell are you smiling about, low rank?” He spat in anger. “Don’t think I believe for a second about those damn rumors about you defeating that Manticore beast.”

Oh yeah, I totally forgot about those rumors…

So, after everything that happened with the Manticore, Luke and the others explained how it was me that defeated the monster. And this kind of information spread like wildfire among the students in the academy, to where it became a rumor that the weakest freshman was actually the strongest.

I mean, when an F-rank student took down an A-rank monster...there were bound to be issues and suspicions. That and a butt load of rumors circling around me.

Ever since that rumor started going around, a lot of the students at the academy either avoided me, were curious about me, and stared, or actually tried to pick a fight with me to see if what was said about me were true.

Needless to say, it was a bit of a hassle having all that attention. What was worse was that I couldn’t really refute what they were saying since I definitely was the one that defeated the Manticore. Regardless, I should focus on Jacob and his posse for now.

Even if these idiots jump me, I can take them all on without much trouble. I did make sure to check all their stats to see how tough they were, and thankfully, all of them had stats in the fifteens or less.

And Jacob's stats were just about the same as before. Then again, I did hog all the kills so he didn't get stronger and all. Considering how my stats were above Luke, Beiste, and Min’s, fighting them wouldn’t be much of an issue.

“Alright,” I said. “If you want a fight, then so be it.”

The sooner I beat these guys and end the fight, the sooner I can get back to training. I would’ve just used [Intimidation] like last time to get them to back off, but since I did so before and it didn’t work out, maybe kicking the shit out of them will get my point across.

Once I was ready to fight, Jacob and the others smiled evilly while getting into fighting positions.

“It’s time we showed you your place, bastard!” Jacob taunts.

Then he proceeds to throw a punch at me. I wasn’t all that surprised by this and was about to block the attack.

That is until Jacob stopped midway, actually catching me off guard. For a moment, I thought he was pulling a feint and tried to hit me with his other fist or maybe his legs. However, as I tried to defend against his actual attack, nothing happened. Jacob just stayed in place like some statue with his fist right in front of my face.

Confused, I look at him and noticed that he looked a bit tense, like he was stuck or something. Looking around, the others looked the same. All of them were frozen and had strained expressions like they were trying to fight back whatever was holding them. It’s kind of like with my [Intimidation] Sub-Talent, but I wasn’t using it right now…

“What the hell…” I muttered.

Did [Absolute Misfortune] activate or something again? I didn't notice the panel like before, so that can't be it.

“Instead of him learning his place, it should be you, Foyer,” I heard a familiar voice close by as they coldly stated this to Jacob.

Turning to the person speaking, I was surprised at who it was that was behind Jacob and his goons’ behavior.

“…Naomi?” I muttered.

Standing before me was none other than the Gravity Princess herself, Matsumoto Naomi. And judging from her cold expression…she didn’t look happy.

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