The classes were dismissed and everyone began heading back to their dorms, but Cecil had Lucia accompany him alone after class. In a private room at a restaurant in the business area of the academy, a pouting Lucia and a helpless Cecil were currently having dinner together.

"Lulu, you know why I had to do that..."

"Tsk... so? It's not like you didn't have anything better to show."

"If I did better, then what about you, Lulu?"

"What about me?"

"You held back too."

"..."

"Listen Lulu, you've seen the power levels and capabilities of all our other friends... even the ones in our class... we eclipse them no matter whether it is our combat capabilities or magic capabilities..."

"I know that! It's obvious isn't it? Especially with how hard we've trained! How hard we... do you really have to undermine all our efforts when this is the place where we're supposed to shine?!"

Lucia was still a 14 year old child. Of course, she wanted others to know about the results of all their hard work and receive praise from that, but Cecil saw further past that. He wouldn't have minded if this was before, but after the opening ceremony where those 10 irritating gazes had locked onto Lucia, Cecil had to be careful. Even if they were from the same school, he's read too many light novels in his spare time to know that each and every one of those faction leaders had their own hidden agenda. He didn't want Lucia nor him to be caught up in whatever it is they might be scheming since all they came here to do was to learn, not play politics or whatever.

"Lucia...should we care about whether or not other people praise us?"

"Eh?"

"Listen, Lulu, with how hard and how fast we've trained and progressed, it will attract unwanted attention to us. Sure, it will attract some praise and admiration from our teachers, instructors, and friends, but it will also attract bad attention too!"

"..."

Lucia could only keep silent as Cecil lectured her. Although, she still looked aggrieved, she wasn't stupid enough to not listen to Cecil's reasoning, even though it was really paranoid of him.

"I know I may sound paranoid, Lulu, but what if something bad does come knocking on our door. Back on Earth there was this saying, the nail that sticks out will be hammered in. We may not want it, but if we stand out too much... you understand, don't you?"

"...yes."

"Even if we want to chase after a King's title, we could do it without exposing too much of our abilities. Even your Explosion spell was overkill, you know?!" Cecil chuckled. This caused Lucia to let out a small smile in return.

"Ok, Cel... I'll listen to you."

Cecil smiled and patted Lucia's head.

"Thanks Lulu. I'm sorry for calling you out here only to lecture you like this... how about I brush your tails the next time we have a free day from classes?"

"Really? Promise?! You better! Or I'll..."

"Yes. Yes. Now, let's eat! It's been a while since it's been only us two!"

"Yeah!"

Cecil and Lucia happily began their dinner, after they finished eating they quickly returned to their dorms.

The next day, back at the large stadium, the first year classes had once again gathered together. The layout of the stadium was a little bit different. There were now 5 small rings scattered across the large arena that were covered in a light transparent barrier. This time, it wasn't instructor Jin, but a different class's instructor that was directing the students.

"Alright, maggots! This is the second segment of the assessment, magic combat! Listen closely and listen well since I won't be repeating anything!"

The instructor of class A was the one that was directing this segment. He was a bit rough with his words, but he explained the details of the second segment clearly. The second segment, which was magic combat, was a mock battle between two students. A battle that not only consisted of using spells, but a battle where you could use training weapons, body enhancement techniques and other skills to win against your opponent.

However, to keep things fair, the students were assigned to battle against the student who was next to them in rank. This way, the battle power of the competitors wouldn't have such a large divide if unluckily, rank 209 had to fight against rank 1. The matches would start from the lowest rank until the highest rank, so it started from rank 209 and 208, all the way up until rank 1, but this meant that the first ranked student, Lucia, wouldn't have anyone to spar with.

However, it was decided that rank 1 would fight with whoever won the match between ranks 2 and 3. This meant that either Cecil or Elizabeth would spar against Lucia in the end. There was no penalty for losing, but the winner of the match would be given access to choose a battle technique, training manual, or spell from the academy library's third floor with the exception of the top 10 ranked students.

Regardless of whoever won or lost in their match, the top 10 would get the opportunity to choose a book from the library's third floor. By top 10, this naturally meant the students' rankings from the assessment rankings and not the student rankings.

Lucia didn't want to underestimate Eli, but she knew that Cecil would be the one who would most likely fight her in the end, so she began preparing her countermeasures against him.

"Well, Cecil. It looks like it's either you or me who would be fighting our princess later," Eli said with a confident smile. "Hmph. I don't plan on losing though!"

"Same here, Eli," Cecil responded with a faint smile.

At the instructor's cue, the first 5 pairs, rank 209 and 208, rank 207 and 206, rank 205 and 204, rank 203 and 202, and finally, rank 201 and rank 200, went up to their stages and their matches quickly began. Everyone was watching intently at the ongoing matches. Colorful, but deadly spells flew through the air. Barriers shattered and weapons smashed against each other.

To Cecil and Lucia, it was painfully obvious how inexperienced in combat the first 5 pairs were. They all showed too much openings in their attacks and their defenses were far too flimsy. If either of them were to fight these guys, it would be an easy and overwhelming win. If this was the quality of students starting from the low ranks, then it was going to be a long time until the 'proper' fights happened, but even then, they didn't have their hopes up because the lowest quality student was already this bad and they were the ones that passed the academy's entrance exams.

Cecil sighed and gave Lucia a 'See, I told you so' look and she immediately turned glum because everything he said was true. Even if they showed any more of their abilities it wouldn't make a difference. Just the things that they've shown right now had already garnered the shock and awe of everyone, and they were being praised as the two most gifted and talented students among the first years.

Yesterday evening, after Lucia had returned from her dinner date with Cecil, she heard how everyone in her dorm was talking about how talented she and Cecil were and because of their talent, they were able to get to where they were right now. Lucia frowned when she heard this and wasn't in the least bit delighted even though they were technically praising her.

It wasn't all just talent that got her and Ceil to where they currently were. They had put an incredible amount of hard work and effort in their training to get to where they were standing, otherwise, in order to reach their level, it would be impossible if they just trained casually during their half year journey.

If everyone praised them and only acknowledged their 'talent' and not their hard work, Lucia found it a little frustrating now that she really thought about it. She had to admit that it did not matter anymore. With how low everyone's standards were, showing any more would indeed just attract unwanted attention to themselves.

"You win, Cel... but don't expect me to hold back later."

"I don't expect you too. Go all out if you have to. I'm not telling you to restrict yourself on purpose. Just do things in moderation and don't show off."

"Hmph. Well, it's not like our magic capabilities will have any further exposure. Since it's a fight between you and me, it'd be hard for either of us to actually cast a big spell."

"..."

Cecil stayed quiet and smiled at Lucia's words. Not long after, all 5 matches finished and the losers and winners were made clearly apparent. As expected, it was just the higher ranked students taking the win since it was a match where each student tried to just overpower each other with sheer force and because of that, there was no way a lower ranked student could win against the higher ranked one.

The only way for the lower ranked students to win would be to use strategy and not face their higher ranked opponents head on. It was listed clearly why they were lower ranked, so instead of using their muscles to win, they should use their brains.

To Cecil, this was but a simple thought since he was drilled with it ever since childhood. For other children of his age, however, this wasn't the case unless they had prior combat experience which the students in his academy year obviously didn't have. At least, that's what he saw from his initial observation of everyone. However, he kept a vigilant eye out because someone among the 200 plus students might be up to his standards.

He had particularly high hopes for the kids in his class, the S Class. Lucia told him that they had previously bumped into Ainz back at the kingdom's dungeon before, so he obviously had combat experience in a live environment. If he was at that level, then there was hope that the others in his class were at a similar level. He was just feeling a little bit impatient because the fight happening right now were a little too...bad.

After the first 5 pairs were finished, the next 5 went up and quickly started their matches. There was no change in the fighting styles and everyone still went with the head-to-head approach. The next 5 was the same and the ones following them.

Cecil sighed in exasperation after having to witness such boring battles. His spirit as a martial artist wouldn't let him stay quiet about this and he really wanted to go over to the next batch of students and advise them to start using their brains instead of just stupidly using their brawns to fight, but he didn't want to act out and was left frustrated at the fact that despite seeing everything happening right now, he couldn't do anything about it.

'At least learn from your failing predecessors!!!' Cecil thought in frustration.

"There, there~" Lucia had already started patting Cecil's head after she saw his anguished look.

Fina, Ainz, and Eli were puzzled seeing Cecil's 'pained' look, but Lucia knew exactly what was up with him. Being a martial artist, she knew it was frustrating for Cecil to see such sloppy battles. As the hours passed by, the students continued with their assessments. When it was finally lunch time, the academy's cafeteria staff brought in the lunches for the first years to the stadium.

"So, how were they, headmaster? Pretty good seedlings we have this year, no?"

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

"...yes. Pretty good indeed," the headmaster said while eyeing the students who were currently having lunch. "But, they lack... something."

The instructors who were gathered around the headmaster listened intently at his words, but they were puzzled as to what the children were lacking. In terms of fighting and magic capabilities, all the children that were accepted into Arks Royal Academy were the best of the best, the cream of the crop. If any other academy had even one of these students accepted into their curriculum then it was a foregone conclusion that they would be at the top of their class.

Arks Royal Academy's criteria for acceptance were just that high. Only the elite would even think about enrolling into the academy and only the best among them would be accepted. Even then, their acceptance rates were extremely low, from around 1,000 student applicants sometimes not even 100 of them would pass the entrance test. This year's test was made to be even harder than the previous years, but a total of 209 students managed to pass the test and get accepted into the academy.

This showed just how amazing this year's talents turned out to be. This was likely the next golden generation since there were so many talents, but the headmaster said that they were all lacking something. The teachers all thought that perhaps he meant experience, but the headmaster quickly denied their thoughts.

"I know what you're all thinking, but it's not that. It's painfully obvious that they lack experience, but that can be obtained later and I don't expect such young children to have that kind of experience already and even if they did have it, it would be at the basic level at best."

"Please headmaster, enlighten us," one instructor said.

The headmaster rubbed his chin before replying, "They lack creativity and insight."

"Yes?"

"Look, even after all the battles, the next batch of students continue to fight like the previous ones without learning anything about the mistakes that happened from the previous fights. I'm slightly disappointed."

"Headmaster, they're still only 12-14 year old children. They're all still learning..."

"Hohoho~ that's indeed true! I guess I'm getting a little too old and that just slipped my mind!"

The other instructors couldn't say anything and remained quiet. The headmaster was an elf, so he still looked quite youthful, but no one knew his actual age and some say that he's actually approaching 100 years now. He may have said it as a joke, but no one laughed because 100 years old as an elf was still extremely young.

"..."

The headmaster chuckled before turning his eyes over to the students of S-class and smiled, "At least not all of them seem to be like this. I can see that there are plenty of them who are very creative and insightful. Perhaps, a little too insightful."

Back at the stands, in the seating area of class S, Cecil had subtly turned an eye towards the higher levels of the stadium. A particular gaze was directed at him and he discreetly turned to look back at its source. He briefly met eyes with the headmaster who had a smile plastered on his face and Cecil immediately turned away after an extremely discreet observation.

"What's wrong, Cel?"

"Nothing. Just hurry up and eat."

"M'kay~"

The group was eating together and Ainz finally couldn't contain himself and asked, "SO! Brats! What'd ya think about the earlier battles?"

"Plain."

"Boring."

"Haha, pretty simple way of fighting, yeah?!"

Everyone gave their opinions and only Cecil remained quiet, silently eating his food. Lucia was beyond bored after watching the slugfest while Elizabeth wasn't one bit impressed at the single-minded way their fellow first years were fighting.

"Uh-uhm... they were, okay? I think..." Fina was trying her best to sound a little nice, but her words started fading near the end. Even she wasn't convinced that her fellow first years were doing any good.

"WAHAHA! Well, for people who haven't had any combat training, of course they'll have a lackluster performance!"

Lucia raised an eyebrow at his words and asked, "And you're saying that you've got training?"

"Of course!"

"Heh."

"Don't underestimate me, brat!"

Lucia scoffed and ignored the boasting Ainz. She turned towards Fina and Eli and began asking, "Have you guys taken combat training?"

"Yes, it's something that was required of us at the pal–I mean, back at home."

"Same for me, Lulu... I had to train because I live in the ocean. The monsters in the ocean are much more abundant and ferocious than the ones on land..."

"Oh! That's good! At least you won't perform as miserably as those people!"

"What about you Lucia?" Eli asked.

"Hmmmm," Lucia gave a side-long look at Ainz before saying, "Even if there were 10s of this guy coming at me. I'd blow them all away with a stroke of my sword!"

"BULLSHIT!" Ainz roared.

"Heh. Try me!"

Seeing as the two were about to bicker, Cecil sighed, "...finish your food, Lulu...and don't go provoking Ainz."

"Yeah, yeah. I was just telling the truth..."

"Stop your boasting, brat!"

"Hmph!"

When lunch was over, the matches continued. They've been at it since morning, but only half of the students have finished their matches.

"Looks like we'll be fighting tomorrow..."

"Yeah. The second segment was meant to be completed in two days anyway."

Cecil was listening in on the rest of the class's conversation. Many of them were anticipating their matches tomorrow while others were feeling a little nervous. Since everyone knew who they were fighting against tomorrow, the vibe around the class grew a bit tense. Cecil looked around and smelled gunpowder in the air.

"...why so serious..." Cecil mumbled.

Lucia, who was close enough to hear him, quickly said, "Of course they're serious, Cel! Why wouldn't they be?"

"No... It's nothing. I just wanted to try saying that once," Cecil replied with a faint grin on his face.

"Cecil! A word please?"

Cecil turned to look at the golden haired girl next to Lucia and nodded.

"Sure."

Eli got up and went to sit beside Cecil.

"Although we're friends... I won't take it easy on you tomorrow!"

"Yeah, I know."

"That's why– what?"

"I know... and I expect you to take it seriously... you'll lose if you don't." Cecil said plainly.

"Lose? Hmph! I don't have any plans on losing to you! Even if I'm ranked lower than you, I won't lose!"

Cecil smiled seeing the stubborn look in her eyes. He turned towards his 'childhood' friend and said, "That goes the same for you, Lulu."

"What?!"

"I'll crush you just like during training. Don't think that just because your number one I'll be lenient to you. You still haven't won a single match against me."

There was a provocative smirk on his face and this immediately prompted Lucia to yell, "Why you! Just wait for tomorrow! I'll be the one to crush you!"

"Lucia?! Why are you implying that I'll lose to this piece of wood?!"

"Huh? Oh... uhm... that's not what I meant Eli!"

Cecil smirked and walked away from them, he was heading out of the stadium since those unbearable matches would continue all the way into the evening. The instructors wanted them to witness the different fighting styles of everyone so they could gain experience, but all Cecil could see was a boring and lame slugfest. A test of strength and nothing more, it wasn't worth his time staying in the stadium.

When he got outside, he looked up towards the orange tinted sky and mumbled to himself, "Let's go see Silver."

He activated Mana Burst at full power and disappeared from his spot in an instant.

Back in the stadium, Lucia was currently giving Elizabeth details regarding Cecil's combat style to help her out a bit. Even though she had confidence in her friend, it was hard for her to imagine Cecil actually losing. So, she decided to giver her some advice for her fight against him tomorrow.

"Listen well, okay, Eli? That Cecil...he's a total monster in combat! So never, under any circumstances, should you ever underestimate him!"

"I can understand that Lucia... and besides I never underestimate my opponents, even when they seem weaker than me!"

"That's good. Cecil's the one who trained me so it's easy for me to anticipate some of his moves and actions, but... I'll give you some advice, Eli. His every move, all his actions, you have to read further into them! Well, just enough so it doesn't affect your performance!"

"Huh? Why?"

"One thing that Cecil's taught me and has drilled into my head over and over again is that in combat, every action has to have a motive, a purpose! A meaningless action is just a waste of energy, so make sure that you make every action count!"

"...?" Elizabeth still had a puzzled look on her face even after her explanation, so Lucia further simplified it, "I'm saying that you have to be wary of all his actions, even a seemingly useless action could lead to something big if Cecil was the one doing it!"

"Basically, I should stay alert to whatever action he takes?"

"Yes! Don't forget this! Because if you do... the match will be over before you know it..." Lucia warned with a grim look on her face. Elizabeth could see that she was speaking from experience so she hesitated a little bit before replying, "...don't write me off as if I'm going to lose to him... I don't plan on losing to him or to anyone else, and that includes you, Lucia!"

"...Yeah. Let's both give it our best!"

"Of course!"

The two smiled at each other, but Lucia's smile was a little wry because deep down she was convinced that Cecil wouldn't lose to Elizabeth. If his opponent's combat standards weren't at least on par with her own, then it was going to be hard for them to clutch a win from him since his battle style was truly unpredictable and sharp.

Lucia had been trained by Cecil, so to some extent, she knew what to expect from him in battle. However, this wasn't the case for others, so a fight against him might quickly become one-sided with how powerful he was. Of course, Lucia didn't know exactly how strong Elizabeth was, so she still had a small hope that she could pull off a win from Cecil by using some incredible hidden technique that'd be able to catch him off guard, causing him to lose.

'It might just be my wishful thinking, but I do hope Eli will win! This way, I can fight with her instead! Of course, this is Cecil...I have to be realistic. This time around, I'll definitely try to win, or at least draw against him!' Lucia pumped her fist and resolved herself.

She knew that it was somewhat hopeless to expect to win against that training junkie, but if she could at least mete out a draw then it would be considered extremely good progress for her!

"YEAHHHH!!!" Lucia abruptly yelled before turning to her friends and saying, "Guys! I'll be going out now! I've got something to do!"

Her abrupt war cry had startled the rest of the class, but before anyone could question her, she had already bolted to the exit of the stadium with incredible speed.

'Just you wait, Cel! I've been working on this one for a while! I'll definitely use it on you tomorrow!'