"If it’s allowed in the assessment, we can do it," Kenshin shrugged.

"I don’t think it’s needed." Jude smiled.

"Don’t tell me you’re giving up?" Kenshin raised his eyebrows.

"That won’t work on me. I have a different goal in this assessment, and it’s certainly not entertaining your charades. And beating you when you’re not at your best is not my style."

"Tch." Kenshin kissed his teeth and dropped the issue.

---

"So, these are Zeke’s kids," Anton said as he watched the trio’s interaction with the class of weirdos. He said "kids" with an implied meaning.

"Students, not kids." Yeon corrected. She knew what game Anton was playing. Normally she wouldn’t have cared, but she was bored and she just didn’t like Anton.

Anton’s smile said his plan had worked. "Relax, I did not say they were his biological kids. Taking into account his ’age,’ they are kids, and they are his students. So they are ’his kids.’ Just like the trio. And by extension, you."

"Maybe that’s why you don’t want to make it official." Anton gave an it is what it is shrug. "You detest the idea of dating him. It would be equivalent to having a sugar daddy. I respect your ideal."

"Do you want to die?" Yeon was a step away from flaring her aura.

"Relax, ’kid.’" Anton enunciated the word.

As Yeon tilted her head toward Anton, ready to flare her aura regardless of the location, a voice drifted toward them.

"Did you mention Professor Zeke?" A bubbly silver-haired girl—Virelle—approached. "You know the professor?" She smiled as she drew closer. "Well, that’s true. You’re with them, and we found out they were related to the professor, so it makes sense." She pointed to the trio, then faced them again.

"You must be Virelle." Anton smiled and waved.

’She’s a beautiful kid,’ he sent a mental transmission to Yeon. ’She might steal your sugar daddy.’

"You know me?" Virelle asked.

"By name and reputation. Your professor mentions his students a lot."

"Virelle, these are—" Aelric joined her, having noticed her talking to strangers whose power levels he could not measure—too old to be students. Seeing her break the ice, he joined in.

"They know the professor. He talks about us to them." She turned to Aelric. "Oh, I forgot to ask your names." She turned back to Yeon and Anton.

"I’m Anton. She’s Yeon. I guess your professor has not mentioned us." He smiled, then turned to Aelric. "By your braided hair, you must be Aelric. Nice to meet you."

Aelric scratched his cheek, smiling. "Did the professor mention us by our traits?" His mind drifted back to their training sessions, where the professor would always slam him on the ground by grabbing his braid. He shuddered internally.

"It’s a quirk of your professor," Yeon answered. "I guess you should be used to his nature by now."

’Wow, what a cheap shot,’Anton teased. ’Are you trying to subtly tell the kid you know Zeke more than she does? Thumbs up.’

Yeon gritted her teeth. She would hold back for now.

Seeing Virelle and Aelric talking to them, the rest of the class joined, introducing themselves.

"Wow, you’re Kai’s sister?" Dean smiled, stretching his hand for Yeon to take. "I couldn’t tell. It seems Kai did not inherit the family beauty."

’Hahaha,’ Anton sent. ’Since you haven’t claimed the sugar daddy, the kid wants to take you. What a taboo.’

Yeon scowled. Before she could turn to Dean, Sam slapped Dean’s hand down.

"I’m sorry. My brother hit his head as a child... a lot."

Dean shot him a glare. Sam shot his own back.

’Can’t you tell this is the professor’s love interest?’ Rhaegar teased, creating a mental link between his classmates.

’ Huh? The professor has a love interest?’ Dean asked.

’ Pfft. Did you forget when he mentioned it?’ Seraphin could not help but laugh.

’I suspected it, but I can’t believe I was talking to the first lady,’ Aelric mused.

"Wow, you’re very bold, Dean. Trying to flirt with my sister." Kai walked toward him, smiling in a way that promised nothing good.

"Hey, it was a mistake. Hey hey!" Dean tried to hide behind Sam, who pushed him toward Kai.

Khan watched them burst into a playful mood, his gaze shifting to Yeon and Anton. The two people whose power levels he could not measure were saints. Which was surprising. The professor for the class of weirdos, when he had seen him last, was only SS-ranked—one of the lowest-ranked professors in the academy. The fact that they were saints was not mind-boggling; he had come in contact with saints before. What surprised him was that a saint would stoop low to date an SS-ranked person, especially since she was female. And he was not even being misogynistic. He needed lectures from the professors. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

---

"The summoning field actually has good seeds." Zeke turned to face the professor for the summoning field—Professor Karl Vasper. "You’ve hidden quite a lot."

The summoning field, in fairness, was part of the magic field, but broad enough to be its own separate field.

"It’s just so-so," Karl said perfunctorily.

"Say, why don’t you join in on our little bet?"

Karl turned his head lazily. "...Boring." He snapped his neck back, placing a book on top of his face. The cover read: Do Not Disturb.

"..."

Can I hit this bastard? Zeke was speechless. He wanted to smack the professor. But then again, he was the one who had disturbed him; they were not even close.

{Off,} Zero commented. {Your charm failed to work today. When chaos meets one too bored to care for it.}

Fuck off.

He turned his head. Camille and Beckett turned their heads from his, holding back laughter.

"Ahem. It seems it’s the turn of the ability field." Elio changed the topic; he had nearly choked on his cigar at what had just happened.

"Finally. We get to see your hidden piece." Camille addressed Beckett.

---

The assessment had reached the turn of the S classes of different fields. After the "minor" fields completed theirs—the summoning field being the last—it was time for the "major" fields: abilities, magic, and combat.

Now they would see Elijah, a king who had not made an appearance since losing to Jude. According to the little secrets Beckett had let "slip," Elijah had been training with him.

---

"Elijah is a talented child." Beckett smiled as he watched Elijah walk to the pit. "It’s a fault common in most nobles—elitism. A trait most common in our fellow professor over there."

"It is not a fault, it is the truth." Aldric spoke from his seat. "Nobles have the most talent. The emperor made sure to choose the best of the best as nobles when he became emperor. As a result, all descendants of nobles are gifted."

"I do not have the energy nor the time to preach to you. I have to talk about my product." Beckett’s smile did not waver. "Elijah, during the course of my dedicated training after his loss, has embraced his elitism. But instead of it being a crutch, it has become the fire in him. In this assessment, he will show you all that a noble needs only his ability to make lesser men bow—no need to ride on a title your strength did not earn. He is a noble by birth, but after this, he will be a noble by strength. Just like his patriarch."

"Why do I feel like you’ve made him worse?" Zeke commented.

"No. I made him better."

---

"Elijah is going up." Khan observed Elijah. "Where has he been?"

"I knew he wouldn’t miss it." Eden clutched his sword. He and Elijah went way back. Elijah had been a worthy rival until he let his noble origin go to his head. Seeing that he had been training off the grid, it seemed the Elijah of old might be back. Renewed. Reawakened. I look forward to seeing how much you have improved, my rival.

Kya stared at Eden, then looked back at Elijah.

---

"Student Elijah Vane, would you like to face your opponents at the same time or one after the other?" the assessment proctor asked.

Elijah raised his head, staring at the proctor, then back at the pit.

"Bring them all at once."

He stepped into the simulated arena, fighting spirit leaking from his body as he waited for the monsters to appear.

---

"Five at once?" a civilian spectator said. "Is he arrogant or is he strong?"

"Elijah Vane... Why does it feel like I’ve heard the name Vane before?"

"Where do you live? Under a rock? The Vane household is a ducal household—one of the households that earned their title through strength in the last war."

"Yes, yes. I heard there was a genius who awakened their inherent ability at the rank of the duke."

"Yes, that genius is the young man before us."

"What even is their inherent ability?"

"Heh. I happened to be in a squad led by a Vane, tasked with clearing a dungeon once."

"You’re an adventurer?"

"Of course. This one here is an A-rank adventurer, but that’s not the issue now. Their ability, when I asked my senior, is [Quake]. An ability that allows them to cause tremors, distortions, quakes in whatever they touch."

"Once I saw the glory of the senior from the Vane household, I went to read about them. It is said that the duke killed a saint-ranked demon with a touch. The demon burst into a spray of blood."

"Wow. You’re not only strong but well-learned. I will have to teach my child to be like you."

"Haha, I’m not even worth comparing to the bigwigs I see in passing at the Adventurer’s Guild."

"Once I was present when an eccentric young man came in..."

—