Arts And Skills

(Third Person Pov)

Silence followed.

But then soon after, her indifferent expression broke into a smile and the icy detached look in her eyes changed back to a radiant look, as she playfully gave a wink and then stuck out her tongue as she began to speak

"The television image is just for the public, I just bother myself trying to look perfect and all but this is how I am! Sorry to ruin your image!"

She chuckled.

The swift shift in her character was seamless and honestly left some of the others a bit unsettled.

And with that her introduction ended and the next person stood up.

"Lucy, I am an E+ ranker. My class is Shadow Master. I don't have any affinity. I chose to come to this academy simply because of its known fame" She kept her introduction on point and simple and then sat down.

"My name is Ketharine Wright. I am an E ranker. My class is Saintess. I have an affinity for light. I just thought if I could get into this academy it would be really nice since the academy provides all the living necessities for free. This academy seemed to be a really good choice." Ketharine said so while scratching her cheek with her finger.

Honestly, she had found herself quite overwhelmed by everything. Her family isn't particularly poor but not rich either.

But with ketharine turning 15, the money needed for her further studies would increase and with her two little brothers, it was going to be financially taxing on her family.

She just wanted to help her parents who worked so hard, so she did in the only way she knew.

Saintess is one of the highly rare classes.

A Saintess's abilities depended on their rank, like the Mage class. They both need a high rank to cast a high-ranking spell.

Well, what made Saintess's class intriguing was that it was believed if a Saintess reached a high level then she might even be able to use Revival.

However, it wasn't proven since people with Saintess class have a really slow growth rate.

The last person who had a Saintess class was someone S-ranked.

"My name is Lenny Lennister, it's a pleasure to meet you all." The boy's voice was relaxed and soothing courteously bringing his hand to his chest he gave a small bow, then straightening his back he began to speak once again "I am an E+ ranker. The name of my class is Blood Manipulator. I chose to come to this academy because I wanted to meet others of my age who are strong like me, well, I ended up meeting people even stronger than me, and that sums up my situation" With a chuckle he settled back into his seat.

His hair, a silky shade of black, and his vibrant crimson eyes bore a resemblance to blood. His smooth, pale white skin complemented his chiseled face, and he seemed to be approximately 6 feet tall.

Without a doubt, the boy would have been the most handsome in the classroom but ...students inevitably ended up comparing him to Noah and Noah won by a landslide. Sure, Noah fell short in the height department but his features simply made up for it.

Regardless, the boy possesses a face that could give the original protagonist of the novel a run for his money.

The next person stood up, popped the bubble of her chewing gum, and then started to chew as she began to speak

"Lisa Roland. I am an E ranker. My class is Battle Mage and my affinity is water. The reason I joined the academy is well, because everyone around me was trying to do the same. So I did it too, what else was I supposed to do?" Saying so and shrugging her shoulders Lisa sat back down.

Lisa had simply lived a life where she let others make the decisions in her life or simply went along same decisions others made in their life.

She simply didn't know what else she was supposed to do.

"My name is Eros Callista. I am an E ranker and my class is Trap Master. The reason I joined the academy is simply because my best friend's mom is pregnant with my child. So, I needed to run away. I couldn't bring myself to face him. He doesn't know yet and probably won't." The boy said it casually and sat back down in his seat.

"Really?" Max asked.

Such a curious child he is.

"It's the truth, she showed me the reports" Eros hadn't forgotten how excitedly she had shown him the reports while clinging onto him the entire time.

"What the hell dude!?"

 Eros didn't reply, he ignored the looks he was getting.

After a minute or so, to dispel the awkwardness another student stood up, her turn was next anyway, better start her introduction and move from this topic with that thought she began to speak.

"I am Emma Woods, an E ranker, and my class is Beast Tamer. I would also like to apologize for what happened yesterday." She bowed her head a little.

"I have a similar offer fo-"

"No"

Before Laura could finish her words Emma cut her off with a smile tugged on her face, Laura in response simply gave a nod.

Emma, like Marianna, wasn't interested in experiencing death.

"My parents had asked me to enter this academy and so I did" Her reason was simple, really simple.

There was nothing more to it.

"I am Aleister Jones, an E ranker and my class is Warrior, the reason I joined this academy is similar to her. Let's get along well!" He said it with a huge smile on his face, flashing his white teeth as he sat down in his seat.

The next person who stood up was none other than the original protagonist of the novel.

"My name is Aqua. I am a D ranker and as for my class ...sorry, I can't tell you about my class. I hope you understand. I joined this academy because I want to be strong, strong enough to protect innocent lives." His voice was filled with firm determination.

While they were curious about it no one really pressed Aqua about his situation.

No one in the class had tried to involve themselves with other people's business, it was like they shared a mutual understanding of not crossing the line.

Someone who came to the academy to become a hero!

Ashly thought in her mind, giddy.

Alas, Ashly didn't realize, that Aqua wanted to be strong to protect innocent lives while she wanted to be a hero.

A difference that will lead them to cross blades.

And now, stood the highest ranked student introducing herself.

"Um...My name is Alyssa. And, uh, I am D+ ranker. I am not permitted to divulge any other information. Uh... I was ordered to join the academy and um...uh, it's nice to meet you" With that she introduced herself.

They didn't know why, but the students in the classroom started to clap for her, even Noah did!

It lacked any form of energy but it was clapping. She was the first to receive a clapping!

My introduction just now was perfect, wasn't it? I did stumble a little here and there but it seems it worked even though I wasn't able to say like I had practiced introducing myself in my room but still, I totally nailed it!

She thought to herself.

The claps stopped as she settled down back on her seat, happy with herself.

And now, only one student was left.

Laura looked towards the black-haired boy sitting slumped in his seat and without even bothering to stand he simply spoke.

"Noah. I came to this academy for shits and giggles" 

Laura couldn't help but let out a sigh as the introductions of all the students ended.

She didn't even want to know why none of them had bothered to talk about their hobbies or anything of the sort. They had introduced themselves and only talked about important points. Their name, class, and affinity, and then told about why they came here.

And if that wasn't all, some of them hadn't talked about their affinities and some straight up lied about not having one, of course, if not for the duel that occurred yesterday, there was a chance these brats would have lied about their rank, and class to each other too.

It was clear how they were all anything but normal.

"You all need to go visit the life counselor, therapist, and the psychiatrist and until you all get the green card from them you need to keep going to them. I will share the details in your mail. Before you all start saying anything, it is compulsory. Besides, you need some way to resolve your problem related to yesterday's issue anyway better deal with all of your issues."

At those words, most of the students in the class flinched.

They had seen blood and organs fly yesterday and almost experienced death. 

All these things were something that the academy would slowly make the students acquainted to them with but these kids had suddenly gotten into that situation.

No matter how incredible they are for their age or mature, they are still just teenagers.

The psychological toll of yesterday's duel was evident on their faces.

"Well, let me tell you about this special class. It's not the first special class, you are now the 100th batch. Special class students go through a different curriculum than the students from other classes. It's only natural, you are far stronger than kids your age there's no point in some nilly-willy sort of training. You will be trained by a personalized instructor, the instructor will be someone with the same class as you, if you want to train under a different instructor, you will be allowed to do so."

"How will your evaluation be done? Well, here's something new that we came up with. Every month you will all fight up against Noah. The same way as you all did yesterday."

Laura could see their soul leaving their bodies ...though there were some with a burning desire to fight in their eyes.

Shaking her head, she continued.

"We will evaluate you during your fight and your rankings will be decided accordingly. Now, here's the thing, perform well enough and we might just give you Arts and Skills"

Students let out a gasp.

Skills, some people were born with skills, some skills came along with the class, like a package, and some skills could be learned, for instance eating poison many times and then acquiring the skill poison resistance but acquiring skills by going through experience was pretty hard.

And then the other way to acquire skills was to enter the dungeon and get one's hands on the skill scroll.

Once acquiring the scroll, by willing one's energy(mana, aura, demonic energy/soul energy) into it you can gain the skill.

Skill scrolls weren't something just anyone could buy. They were rare to begin with and thus their prices in the market were absurd.

The only person in their class who could buy skill scrolls like it's nothing is Marianna.

Even Emma and Aleister would hesitate to buy skill scrolls.

They were far more expensive than even Elixirs.

Arts were like books related to different classes, books related to healing arts, martial arts, sword arts, and many more different types.

Arts were divided into 0-5 grades. The higher the grade, the stronger the arts would be.

Once acquiring the Arts book one has to simply open it and then with the help of the system the information, knowledge, and experience contained within the book would flow inside the owner of the book. Of course, one still would need to keep practicing to master it but without a question, it makes the stuff much easier.

People with Arts in their possession are mostly stronger than those without.

The art book can only be used by one person.

And of course, they were expensive to buy. Their availability was even less than that of skills.

I can't get it, can I?

Noah thought as he remembered his talk with the system.

Noah had gone through intense pain in the hidden dungeon, enough pain to have gained a skill but he didn't.

He never received any such notification.

As such he questioned the system about why was he not getting any skills.

The response he got was simple 

[You were the one who told me to make sure I never let any skill, class, art, affinity, or anything get integrated into you ever once you become my master]

And that was when it hit Noah, Noah had tried to avoid gaining any skills and that was why he was so weak and had a low proficiency despite having a monstrous intelligence. He wanted to avoid gaining any of it but he wasn't able to become the system's absolute master so in the end, he was doing whatever he could to keep himself from getting any.

Noah didn't know why he didn't want any skills and the stuff but since he is supposed to be a fucking genius Noah concluded that he should avoid getting any as well.

What Noah wanted to know more though was something else

Why? He would have died anyway so why would it matter if he gained a skill or not?