Well...now that THAT'S over...

"Alright, attention!!" Instructor Kaiden said loudly, yet...not as loud as before. He appears to have calmed down from the group lesson. "Cadets! Today will be your best day yet!"

All the Cadets started sweating. They finally had enough time to study in the library at night, and whenever Instructor Kaiden was calm, it was either because VIPs would show up or it was because he was going to unleash hell upon them.

"Today, we will have a Skill day!" Kaiden smiled.

All the Juniors had looks of confusion on their face. It was the last day of the week. They were going to receive their ranking tomorrow. All the Senior's faces turned into pure bliss though. They were going to learn a Skill!!

"Let's do this!!" Linious shouted, causing all the Juniors to pale in fear.

"Fuck yeah!!" Zeke shouted unprofessionally.

All the Seniors seemed to have forgotten every single thing they learned. The Juniors were confused as the Seniors were usually the strictest when it came to behavior. They usually punished Juniors whenever they behaved badly, but they were the ones misbehaving now.

"Yo, Kaiden! Where's the damn gate?" one of the Seniors put his arm around Instructor Kaiden's shoulders.

"Watch yourself, Mike." Kaiden smiled. He pushed the Cadet's arm off himself and turned to the rest of the Cadets. "Alright, everyone. Let's line up!"

"S-Sir! Can you please explain to us what's going on, Sir?" Cadet Ashely Curwen saluted, confused.

"Calm down, Ashely." Kaiden said lightly. "Today is a Skill day. All of you will enter into a special space where you'll find a copy of yourself preforming a certain Skill. You can use that to learn the Skill yourself. Best part about it? You are technically not my Cadets during a Skill day."

"FUCK YOU, KAIDEN!!" Ian spouted as he pointed at Kaiden aggressively with a nervous smile. "YOU CAN SUCK MY DICK!!"

"Yeah, yeah, get it out of your system." Kaiden chuckled lightly. "Just remember, after today, you will still be my Cadets."

Ian paled as he realized. 'Oh...shit...'

Ashely laughed at Ian's misfortune. "You actual dumbass, HAHAHAHA!!"

"Ashely!" a female Cadet lightly hit the laughing Ash. "Keep up appearances!"

"Calm down, Nora." Ash said as she took a breath after laughing. "Alright, what's the stitch, Kaiden? Where's the gate?"

"What the hell is going on...?" Phina whispered to herself. How can everyone suddenly switch their attitudes towards the Instructor? She slowly approached Kaiden, "Sir...what is a Skill?"

Everyone stared at Phina. Zeke looked at her, "Ender...how did you get accepted as a Cadet?"

"A Skill, Seraphina, is a technique that synchronizes with the World Energy around you." Kaiden explains with a sigh. It would be a pain to explain Phina's situation without it causing problems. "So, when you execute the Skill, the synchronization causes a boost in strength, or it creates a phenomenon that depends on Skill."

"So...we just learn that by replicating the copy of ourselves?" Phina asked, slightly afraid of getting looks again. "Doesn't that just make Skills...pretty easy to learn?"

Everyone exploded into laughter, even Kaiden chuckled when he heard her. "Say that to me again after you experience the gate."

Although Skill day gave Cadets a chance to learn a random Skill from the Skill Store, no Cadet has ever learned a Skill in one singular day. Unless, by chance, the same Skill was chosen twice, no Cadet could possibly learn the Skill. They merely used the experience to try and increase their synchronicity rate. Although the chance to increase it was abysmal, on the off-chance that they can increase it by 1%, they would immediately go into the Special Unit training course.

"A-Alright...sorry." Phina said with an embarrassed expression on her face. "When do we start?"

"Line up. I'll open the gate in a bit." Kaiden said as a screen appeared behind him. It had all the Cadets' names on it. The names were separated into the Seniors list and Juniors list.

"Let's do this shit!!!" Zeke and the other Seniors felt their blood boiling in excitement as mad smiles plastered their faces.

Kaiden used his badge, which was a blood-red color, and sent World Energy through it. A blue gate opened beside him as he said to the Cadets in a hurry. "Go! Go! Go!"

All the Seniors rushed into the gate with the Juniors going after them. Phina rushed in with them, a blinding light appeared as she went through the gate.

"What a shame." Kaiden sighed. "They got a Law-ranked Skill. If only I was there instead of them..."

"Don't you think the Exodia is kind of being too generous with them?" an old woman walked next to the young Kaiden.

"Vice Captain Virgile must've used her EPs." Kaiden sighed deeply.

"It must have cost a fortune." the old woman mused.

"I don't see what she sees in that Cadet." Kaiden said, a little frustrated. "While Seraphina has a solid physique, her knowledge is not up to par. I don't think she's worth it."

"Is that jealousy I hear?" the woman smirked.

"I'm not going to lie to you, Lady Nina." Kaiden looked to the side. "A little..."

"The genius of the Special Unit is jealous of a girl with amnesia?" Lady Nina giggled lightly.

"I just...don't understand her." Kaiden scoffed. "Samantha said I was her genius, now there's another one?"

"Dear Leo...you're actually jealous." Nina was shocked. "I guess you just have to...deal with it."

--------------------------------------------------------------

Phina opened her eyes in a white space, a copy of her stood in front of her holding a sword. An unknown man stood in front of her copy a few meters away. Her copy raised the sword then appeared behind the man before bringing down her sword into his back creating a flashing light.

"What the hell?!" Phina closed her eyes as the light shone bright. She opened her eyes just to see the scene repeating itself. "I see. I just have to try and replicate it?"

Phina looked at the repeating scene for a few hours. Drool dripped down her face as she watched the scene over and over and over in unending concentration.

She shook her head after watching for a while. She pulled out her dagger as she wiped her face. She repeated the action as she was pushed backwards like a canon.

Kaiden's face turned to shock as he was watching the list, a small "11.24%" appearing next to Phina's name. "WHAT THE HELL?!!"

"I'll be damned...I guess there's always a higher peak..." Lady Nina sighed.

Phina stood back in the white space. "What the hell!?"

"I thought I got it..." Phina sighed. She looked at her dagger. "Is it because she's using a sword?"

Little did she know, the reason she cannot execute the Skill was because she did not know the Law related to this Skill. Her even managing to slightly touch the Law, resulting in the rejection that threw her back, was a miracle in and of itself!!

After the day finished and before all the Cadets left their respective gates, Kaiden hid the screen with a smile on his face, an idea popping into his head. Ian, Ash, and a Junior by the name of James Ruther came out with pure confidence radiating off their bodies.

Ian smirked and said, "1st place is mine."

"In your dreams, fake noble." Ash scoffed.

"Enough, 1st place is mine." James sighed.

The rest of the Cadets were happy about their gains. While they didn't increase their synchronicity, they still learned a lot about how to circulate Life Energy and even took some hints about World Energy.

"Okay, everyone!" Kaiden smiled lightly. "Since it's your first Skill day, let's have a bet! I'll be the bookmaker. Who wants a chance to win some EPs?"

"We don't have any EPs yet, Sir." James rolled his eyes.

"You'll have some after the list is revealed, the least any of you would get is 100, while the most is 20,000 EPs. If you mess up and bet too big...well, at that point, you'd have experience with debt." Kaiden laughed. "Now...how's confident in their results?!"

"It looks like there are 6 Cadets worth betting on. Ian, Ash, James, Cody, Norman and Seraphina." Kaiden smiled at the results. "Alright, here are the rates. Seraphina would get a 1 : 20 rate. Norman would get a 1 : 10 rate. Cody would get a 1 : 8 rate. James would get a 1 : 4 rate. Ash would get a 1 : 3 rate. Ian would get a 1 : 2 rate."

"I'm betting 50 EPs on myself!" a Junior Cadet, Norman Liteia smiled.

"I'm betting 20 EPs on Ian." a Senior sighed.

"I got 200 EPs on Ash!" Nora, Ashely's friend, bet on her friend.

"I got 20,000 EPs on myself!!" Ian laughed loudly.

A sinister smile appeared on Kaiden's face for a single second, yet it did not escape Zeke's sight. 'It's not Ian? Interesting...he wouldn't do this unless he's making a killing off of us.'

'Who would be a dark horse here?' Zeke examined the 6 Junior Cadets. 'Cody? No, he's too weak physically. Maybe Ash...no, she has a high chance of winning, it can't be her...then who?'

"Who would bet on Ender?" a bunch of Cadets laughed. It was obvious from the rate that she was a bait. A few laughed and some sighed, yet only one person smirked, Zeke.

'Why would you put me up there?!' Phina hid her face in embarrassment. She then grit her teeth in frustration, 'Screw it, I did well! I'll bet 500 EPs on myself!'

"All right, let's do this shit!!" Kaiden laughed as he revealed the screen behind him. Everyone paled. Most of the assumptions were correct, yet one defied all logic.

6th place, Cody: 0.43% of the Law-ranked "Flashing Step" Skill learned.

5th place, Norman: 0.49% of the Law-ranked "Flashing Step" Skill learned.

4th place, Ashely: 0.81% of the Law-ranked "Flashing Step" Skill learned.

3rd place, James: 1.32% of the Law-ranked "Flashing Step" Skill learned.

2nd place, Ian: 1.89% of the Law-ranked "Flashing Step" Skill learned.

Nothing sent a colder chill down any of the Cadets' spines than the 1st place position, which was the most unexpected.

1st place, Seraphina: 12.01% of the Law-ranked "Flashing Step" Skill learned!

"Holy shit..." a Senior Cadet whispered as a bead of sweat went down her forehead.

"Bingo." Zeke smirked. He laughed at Kaiden as he put his hand on his shoulder. "I guess you owe me 40,000 EPs!"

"I barely fucking broke even, you dick!" Kaiden lost his cool as he looked at the laughing Zeke.

Thud!

Everyone turned to the unconscious Ian as he hit the ground. No one was in the mood to ridicule the young man as everyone had lost a massive amount of EPs. Almost every Junior Cadet was in debt! Even some of the Seniors were in debt! Everyone had bet over 100 EPs, except for a few lucky Cadets. Some Seniors had even bet over 1,000 EPs!!

"How did you know?" Lykan, one of Zeke's good friends, asked in hushed voice.

"1st place only gets 1,000 EPs." Zeke chuckled. "I just happened to read a book in the library about Exodia rules. If a Cadet manages to get over 5% of a Law-ranked Skill, they receive 10,000 EPs. If he said that the most someone would get is 20,000 EPs then someone must've gotten at least 8% from my assumptions. I just tried my luck and went with Ender...though a 12% learning rate is freaky to say the least."

"There must be something wrong!" Norman protested.

"There's no way she got a 12.01%!! You must have changed the results!" a few of the other Cadets also objected to the results.

"I can accept Ender getting 1st place, but 12.01% is simply unbelievable." James sighed as well. "There must have been an error."

"Now, now, everyone." Kaiden smiled. "The rates I put up might have been a little crazy, but the Exodia magic array handles the results. If there was an error in the system, our little bet would be the least of our worries."

"I still cannot accept this." Ash spoke up. She was usually happy about any of the Juniors doing good, especially if it was a fellow girl, yet she still could not believe that someone could get a 12.01% rate on a Law-ranked Skill!!

"Alright, then!" Kaiden clapped his hands to hush the crowd. "Since Ian is out of commission...James, please demonstrate what you learned from the Skill gate."

"Yes, Sir." James walked forward as he unsheathed his sword. He got into position and swung his sword with ferocity. The circulation of Life Energy in his body caused a strong gust of wind to blow past everyone, it had even woken Ian up.

"A difference of 0.5% shouldn't be that big..." Ash slightly bit her lip.

"12.01%...12.01%...12.01%..." Ian kept muttering to himself as he looked at the results on the giant see through screen created by the magic scroll.

"Not bad." Kaiden smiled. "Now...Ender, please demonstrate what you learned."

"D-Do I have to?" she had already rolled around enough when she was being flung about the white space.

"You don't have to...if you don't then we'll just cancel everyone's bets." Kaiden smiled. Phina had bet 500 EPs on herself. With her rate, she had won 10,000 EPs!! There was no way she would refuse such a payout.

Phina hesitated slightly. Kaiden became nervous when he saw Phina's hesitation. 'There's no way she'd actually choose not to, right?'

"Ender! Seraphina! Please, don't do it!!" Ian went to Phina and grabbed her by the shoulders, shaking her. "I'll give you anything you want!! I'll pay you 500 Gold!"

Phina saw a perfect opportunity here. She was already mentally and physically tired from practicing Flashing Steps, so she wasn't in the mood to duel Ian afterwards. She smirked, "I don't know...we ARE talking about 10,000 EPs..."

Ian fell into a panic. If she preformed Flashing Steps, he would have a debt of 20,000 EPs on his back. "D-Do you know who my father is?!"

"Are you threatening me? I guess you're that desperate to see my Flashing Steps." Phina said as she stretched and unsheathed her dagger.

"Wait! Please, I beg you! Don't do it!" Ian was on his last straw. His father had very clearly explained to him how hard it was to earn EPs, and that the easiest time to earn them was during the Cadet years.

"On your knees." Phina smirked.

"W-What?" Ian was flabbergasted. Everyone was too. While Phina had quite the ego, she had never shown it, rather, she had never had the chance to show it. Everyone here, Instructor Kaiden included, had thought of her as a nice girl that just had a bit of an attitude.

"Beg me. On your hands and knees."

"Have you lost your mind?!" Ian questioned with an aggressive tone.

"Seems like you like to give Instructor Kaiden EPs. Do you have a crush on him? I could tell him for you if you want." Phina played with her dagger in her right hand.

Ian grit his teeth to the point where they were bleeding. He slowly got on his knees. He almost forced himself to put his hands on the ground.

"Head too." Phina giggled.

Ian slammed his head on the ground, releasing some frustration. 'Just you wait, you bitch!! My father will kill your entire family!!!'

"What's the magic word?" Phina said as she squatted next to the kneeling Ian.

"P-Please." Ian said in a cold tone.

"Alright, you can stop now." Phina smiled. Ian stood up immediately as he glared at Phina. "Well, guess it's time to do this Skill. My 10,000 EPs await!"

"W-Wait! I did what you wanted, you skank!" Ian bellowed in pure rage.

"I just told you to beg me on your hands and knees, I never mentioned anything about not getting my EPs." Phina laughed.

"S-Seraphina!" Ash finally spoke out. "I know it isn't our place to ask this of you, but please don't do it!"

She bowed at the waist as she asked, in fact, everyone did! Phina looked at everyone awkwardly. They had put her in quite the position. She had no problem picking a fight with Ian, but with all the Cadets...

"How about this, we all give you the EPs we receive this week." James proposed.

"I don't know..." Phina was in thought.

"Please." Nora, easily the most sensible Cadet in their group, pleaded.

"Alright, but just because Nora said so." Phina decided.

"W-Wait, why me?" Nora asked.

"You always offer me a towel after we hit the showers." Phina smiled. "I don't actually have one and I've never thanked you for that, so I guess we're even now."

"Shit!" Kaiden cursed aloud.

"Why are you pissed?!" Zeke looked at Kaiden with a pissed expression. "Even if everyone except Ian put up 500 EPs, you'd still have to pay out of pocket!"

"I would've made 6,810 EPs after giving you your win!!!" Kaiden yelled at Zeke in frustration.

"What about Ender's cut?" Zeke looked at Kaiden in confusion. When he saw the look of realization on the Instructor's face, he facepalmed. 'This dumbass.'

'I made a killing off of Seraphina because I knew everyone would disregard her...to think I too would disregard her even after continuously mentioning her 10,000 EPs.' Kaiden thought to himself in relief. 'Is this why the Captain put me in the Special Unit?'

"Since the bet is off, I'll just give Ender everyone except Zeke's EPs for this week." Kaiden sighed. "If you refuse, you still have to pay your debt."

He then revealed the list of winnings which included both Juniors and Seniors. He also revealed the combined list where Phina still dominated the 1st place, yet the 2nd was held by Zeke who achieved a 3.89%. Everyone was most surprised by the winnings though. With these winnings, they'd be paying back their debts for months.

41st to 50th get 100 EPs, 31st to 40th get 150 EPs, 21st to 30th get 250 EPs, 11th to 20th get 300 EPs, 4th to 10th get 500 EPs, 3rd gets 700 EPs, 2nd gets 850 EPs and the 1st place gets 1,000 EPs.

"Due to Ender's achievements, her reward was bumped up to 20,000 EPs." Kaiden explained.

The 8th, 10th, 22nd, 40th, and 44th places all refused as they had bet lower than what they received. They could just pay off their debt and keep the rest.

"Alright, so Ender gets 31,100 EPs in total." Kaiden totaled it up. He then smiled, "Alright, everyone. Dismissed. Get back to the dorms. Also, Ender, I need you for a second."

"Yes, Sir!" Phina said as she saluted to him. He was officially their Instructor again.

"Go see a doctor. Your back is all kinds of fucked. Dismissed." he casually said as he left too.