Tension

The girl and boy groups of trainees remained quiet during their break.

After lunch, they would usually go to an open place in the fortress where they could have leisure time and just chitchat about anything that appeared interesting.

Anyway, everyone remained silent. They were splitting into different groups and just looking at each other.

The reason was simple: the battle that just happened in the cafeteria.

Despite the interruption of the general, they could notice that there were a lot of things that they could absorb from those seconds of action.

The first thing to notice was that a boy that still didn't have any mana in his body and wasn't particularly versed in martial arts could pull through three people at the same time, and not only ordinary people but the three strongest among the trainees.

The second thing was that he nearly hit the eldest person among the trainees, which was one of the favorites to become the best Novice of that generation. Not only did he almost punch that man, but he won an exchange against someone using mana to reinforce his body.

Of course, all those thoughts were quite exaggerated. They weren't taking into consideration that the time of the battle was very short and that they didn't exchange more than a single blow each. If they could fight for more time, the outcome could be quite different than what they just saw.

Xavier was sitting on a wooden bench and looking at Ares with anxiety. At first, he didn't know what to say to that boy. He just did something unbelievable.

"Ares, do you know the huge problems that you might have caused to us? Our life will be nothing but misery from now on. In truth, you just threw out of the window all my efforts made carefully all these years not to stand out. Now that I talked with you, they will think that we are friends and things will get very scary...", he didn't seem angry, but rather disappointed and frightened.

What Ares did was the very thing that nobody ever dared to do unless they were super strong and could beat the most powerful guy between the trainees any day.

"You know, I am not dumb, Xavier. And I know very well that you aren't as well, ok? Just think a little bit about what just happened and see with your own eyes what I really did for us," Ares arrogantly said. He had a carefree smile on his face as he looked to the group where Arwin Whitehorse was.

Arwin was looking back at him with narrowed eyes. He had a faint smile on his face, indicating that he knew very well what Ares just did.

The white-headed boy was finding that newbie very interesting. Nobody ever caused such a fuss in their first days at the dormitory. Not even he himself dared to do so before taking notes of everyone's power and seeing that he could get most of them easily.

The girl with purplish eyes was also looking at Ares from faraway. The other girls were whispering between them about the newcomer that caused a fuss, but she didn't care about it.

'What kind of thing is that newcomer planning? That fight wasn't just for show or because he was furious. I could see that he had a smart look in his eyes. He isn't a short-tempered idiot that does everything emotionally. I am too perceptive to be wrong on my guess.'

She had decided long ago that she would keep an eye on that boy. Definitely, she would discover what was up with him. Maybe she could find something interesting that she wasn't expecting. After all, Ares was way too confident for someone that didn't have his Awakening yet.

The elder trainee of the boy's dormitory was half-asleep again. Now that he wasn't angry anymore and his belly was filled with food, he wanted to sleep a little bit more, and maybe sleep when they got to the dormitory again, in the fifteen minutes that they would have before the afternoon training.

Nonetheless, he couldn't keep his eyes shut. He always ended up opening them slightly and looking at Ares.

'That boy nearly hit me. I could even hear his punch piercing the air. However, it wasn't especially strong nor anything like this. His technique is very brute as well. He doesn't have any knowledge about special Martial Arts like me and the others. Even so, he has an awesome foundation and his physical prowess is high compared to others... Also, there is something about that axe that is making me wonder if he is as simple as others may think...'

As he reasoned about those things, that boy began to fall asleep again, just to wake up another time to spot Ares' whereabouts.

Returning to Ares, he was looking around that place and spotting the three students that fought him. Although the girl and the other boy tried to hide that they were looking at Ares, the latter could easily tell that they were doing as such. That was exactly the effect that he wanted to cause.

"If you are still wondering why I did that, just look to the reactions of the other students yourself, Xavier. They are all cautious or frightened about me. They don't know a thing about me yet. They have no clue about my full power. Since I can't go train with them, it will be even more secret. This way, they will be too wary of me to possibly interfere in my life.

"Also, although it was a short battle, I just faced the three strongest of the trainees as if it was nothing. This way, my confidence will make them wonder if I have something hidden under this cover of a non-talented, ordinary countryside boy! Nobody will ever touch us until the day of the exam!"

As Ares saw the perplexed expression on Xavier's face, he smiled widely.

'Yes... this tension is everything that I wanted. This way, things will be a bit easier to pull through.'