A nerdy-looking girl raised her hand.

  "Yes, Valerie," Emily said, nodding toward her.

  "Rankers are divided into two paths based on their ialent at birth," Valerie began fidently. "Warriors, who use aura to reinforce their bodies, and Mages, who manipute mana. While aura strehe body, mana allows users to manipute reality, enabling them to cast spells like fireballs!"

  Emily smiled, clearly pleased. "Good expnation, Valerie. As she said, rankers are divided into these two categories. I know that in this css, there are individuals from both paths. Some of you might believe that oh is superior to the other, but the truth is, her Warriors nes are ily better. What makes the difference is the strength and skill of the individual."

  A few students exged doubtful looks. Notig their skepticism, Emily sighed. "You may not agree now, but you’ll uand as you gain more experience."

  She turo the board and quickly sketched a small cirext ter one.

  "When you start your journey as a ranker, you all begin at F- rank, regardless of whether you’re a Warrior or a Mage, or whether you’re talented or ued. Everyoarts at the same point, with what we call 100 units of either aura or mana."

  Pointing to the small circle, she expined, "Your core at this stage will be like this—a tiny sphere. Iy, its size is closer to that of a small pearl. When you exhaust your mana—and I’ll use mana as an example since I’m a Mage—you’ll absorb ambient mana from the air, causing your core to grow."

  She gestured toward the rger circle. "How much your crows per session depends on several factors: your natural talent and the tration of mana in the air. That’s why training rooms equipped with Aura and Mana tration arrays are so valuable. As you rank up, your core will tio grer until it reaches the limit at SSS+ rank, beyond which further growth would destroy your body from the inside."

  At this point, Mikael raised his hand.

  Emily noticed him and said, "Yes, Mikael?"

  "You just mentiohat a crows based on a person’s talent and the mana tration in the air. But does the size of the core itself influehe growth rate? In other words, does having a rger ake it grow faster?"

  As Mikael finished speaking, a boy nearby snickered. "Dumb oner doesn’t even know basiowledge!"

  Mikael gave the boy a quid immediately reized him as one of the students who had seemed upset when Amelia smiled at him the day before. ‘Simp,’ he thought, before responding coldly, "Are you braindead?"

  The noble’s face flushed with anger, and he opened his mouth to retort, but Mikael didn’t give him the ce. "I mean, we’re at an academy to learn. If I don’t ask questions when I have them, how am I supposed to learn? It’s only logical. Or are you just the dullest tool in the shed?" Mikael gave him a pitiful look, further enraging the noble.

  The boy’s face turned crimson, and he seemed ready to explode, but Emily quickly intervened. "Alright, boys, that’s enough!" she said firmly, sileng the room, which had bee filled with murmurs from the other students.

  The ill fuming, protested, "But Miss Emily, the oner insulted me!"

  Emily sighed softly. "Kenzo, calm down. Yes, Mikael wasn’t the most polite, and he did insult you. However, you also had no reason to mock him for asking a question."

  She turned her attention to the css as a whole. "As Mikael rightly pointed out, this is a pce to learn. If you have a question, no matter how simple or 'dumb' you think it might be, you should ask. That’s how you grow and improve."

  Ohe matter was settled, she returo Mikael’s question. "Now, to answer your question, Mikael: unfortunately, the growth rate of your core remains stant, no matter he it gets. This is why ranking up to higher levels takes more and more time. However," she added, "you could argue that the process feels faster in a way, as ranking up enhahe potency of your mana or aura. While you gain 'units' at the same rate, eait bees more potent as you advance. I’ll expin this cept more ih ter."

  She paused briefly before tinuing. "First, let’s talk about how ranking up works. To rank up, your ust reach its maximum capacity. For instance, an F- rank mana core starts with 100 units. As you exhaust and refill it, the crows until it holds approximately 500 units. Some individuals might cap out slightly lower, say 480, or slightly higher, like 520, but the differences are minor."

  "When your core reaches five times its initial capacity, it hits its saturation limit and ot grow further. At this point, you dehe core, shrinking it back down thly its inal size. Ohis process is plete, you officially bee an F rank."

  Emily turned back to the board, drawing a diagram to illustrate her expnation. "However, the increase in potency during a rank-up vary greatly, depending on several factors. The first is how much mana or aura your core holds before you begin pression. For example, pressing 500 units into 100 will yield greater potency than pressing 250 into 100. This is why attempting to rank up before reag the saturation limit is sidered foolish."

  "The sed factor is your talent. Depending on your ialent, your potency boost will vary. With a Trash talent, you’ll gain a 20–27% boost. A Bad talent grants 28–40%. Average talent offers 41–53%, while a Good talent ranges from 54–65%. Those with a Genius talent gain 66–80%, and finally, the extremely rare Moalent provides araordinary 81–100% boost at each minor rank-up."

  Emily’s tone became more serious. "During major rank-ups, the potency gain is doubled. Lastly, trol also pys a crucial role. With high trol, you achieve greater potencreases than your talent alone would normally allow."

  "What this means is that before ranking up, you need not only to have reached your saturation limit but also to have developed a high level of trol. It’s better to remain at F- rank for a while than to rush a rank-up and end up with only a small gain in potency!"

  As Mikael heard her words, he immediately frowned and began to think, though he remaitentive. Multitasking wasn’t an issue for him thank to his Intelligeats that were beyond the human limit. ‘The talent system is even worse than I thought. It doesn’t just allow faster growth, which I expected, but it also determines your strength…’

  ‘Yeah, that’s ued, and it puts me at a massive disadvantage. With my talent level, my aura or mana will bee only 41–53% stronger with each rank-up. Meanwhile, there are people in this css with genius-level talent who get a boost of 66–80%.’

  ‘The real problem is that this difference will snowball with every rank. By the time I’m at k, someoh genius talent could have aura or mana 10 times strohan mine.’

  He rested his hand under his , deep in thought. ‘The only way I think of te the gap would be to unlock the Advanced Race Gain System, but it costs 50,000 points. In all my time in the Records, I haven’t even e close to that amount, so that’s out of the question for now.’

  ‘If that solutio work, what else could I do?’ He paused. ‘Hmm, maybe I could foproving my trol to an inceivable level. My Intelligeat enhances my mind as it grows, which might allow me to reach a level of trol unattainable for a normal human. From what I know of this world, ranking up doesn’t seem to affect mental faculties, so that could be my advantage.’

  ‘Ane I have over the natives of this world is the Spiritual stat, which boosts the overall poteny energy. Right now, it’s around 50, making my aura or mana five times more potent. That’s what allowed me to hold my ground against Amelia. Without it, her aura attacks would’ve crushed mine.’

  ‘Still, no matter how good this all sounds in my head, I’m at a signifit disadvantage pared to more talented individuals. I shouldn’t dwell on that, though. Instead, I should focus on increasing my bat power by refining my fighting style. I already have several ideas, and once I implement them, eae will multiply my battle power!’

  "…And that will be all for today css," Emily said, her voiapping Mikael out of his thoughts.

  Despite being lost in thought, he hadn’t missed a word of her lecture, thanks to his ability to multitask.

  As the css ehe students around him began chatting amongst themselves. However, the atmosphere in this elite css felt very different from that of a typical sikael noticed he was the only oner in the css, and the rest of the students were busy f es with nearby nobles.

  Lower-ranking nobles were sug up to those of higher status, and some groups had already formed arouain iial students. Mikael didn’t pay it much attentioood up, deg to head to the cafeteria for a meal before expl the Academy’s training facilities since he didn’t have any other csses for the rest of the day.

  As he walked past Kenzo, he noticed the noble gring at him angrily. However, Kenzo made no move to front him. Having already beeed by Mikael during the sed test, Kenzo knew he was no match for him.

  He exited the css amidst the chatter of students who didn’t seem to be in any rush. After a short walk, he arrived at the rge cafeteria building. It was still a little before noon, but the pce was already bustling with students.

  He avoided drawing attention and quietly joihe queue for food. The wait was shorter than he had anticipated, and sooood before the cook. After paying 3 credits, he received a small pte with an appetizing steak apanied by some golden, crispy French fries.

  Mikael found ay table and sat down, ued in socializing. He’d always been more of a loner—tent with his own pany but funal in social settings when necessary. Being alone in a er suited him just fine.

  He took a bite of the steak and couldn’t help but think, ‘This is incredible. I’ve always heard that school cafeteria food is bad, but this is surprisingly good.’

  While he ate, a few people nearby took notice of him due to his growiation, but no ohered him. At least, that was the case for a while. That ged when a group from his css ehe cafeteria, including Amelia Mournsky, Lucas Henker, and Aria Cliffborne.

  Their arrival drew the attention of the nearby first-years, sparking whispers and chatter. Mikael, however, only gave them a brief gnce before returning to his meal.

  A moderately handsome boy with blue hair and matg eyes approached Mikael, his expression brimming with self-importance. In a loud voice meant to draw attention, he decred, “So you’re the oner who wotle royale? Hah, doesn’t look like much!”

  Mikael turned his head and responded with a mog smirk. “I don’t look like much, huh? You say that, but I wotle royale among the students. And you—who are you? I don’t even know you. You’re not in my css, which means you’re not iop 20. That means you were eliminated like trash during the test. So why are you ag so self-important?”

  The blue-haired student’s face turned red with anger. What irritated him even more was the ughter from the students nearby, who had been drawn by his loud void were now snickering at his expense.

  “Fug oner!” he yelled before throwing a punch at Mikael.

  The attack was slow and clumsy. Mikael effortlessly caught the boy’s fist and yanked him frabbing his head, Mikael smmed it against his rising knee.

  BAM.

  The sound of the impact echoed through the cafeteria, drawing gasps from the onlookers. Mikael had trolled his strength, ensuring nothing was broken, but the hit was hard enough to hurt.