Genius

"What are you waiting for?" - Teacher Kenzo placed his hand on his sword sheath once more while his eyes remained fixed on his students.

A voice full of killing intent echoed throughout the empty room: "Come on, attack."

Teacher's Mana flow was currently F-rank. But it seemed it wasn't simply F-rank anymore because that energy flow was too powerful to compare with F-rank Mana. And most importantly... its color was gradually changing to dark red.

'Impossible? Non-elemental Mana should be blue, right? And Takagi Kenzo only knows Lightning Magic... which is yellow in color? Could it be...'

"Aura?" - Haruki was the first to discover that unusual power. In such a brief moment, the boy had already figured it out. Ryoshu was quite surprised to hear that too. But after thinking about it, he became more confident in his hypothesis.

Aura, also called battle energy, is a mysterious power that only Awakened Ones of the Close Combat system can possess. It enhances the senses and physical strength of the warrior many times over, along with unlimited willpower and endurance.

His friends were also surprised by their friend's discovery, and especially the proud girl - Esther - asked again to confirm: "Really? This is Aura? But I've never seen any energy flow this powerful... yet I've never seen any Aura flow this clear?"

Indeed, normally Aura would never appear so clearly to lower-ranked Awakened Ones. Unless... that person's Aura was so powerful that even lower-ranked Awakened Ones could see it this clearly.

'I didn't expect he could use Aura too... the game never mentioned that detail before.'

"I'm quite surprised that you can distinguish between Mana and Aura so well. But this is something you'll understand soon enough... so don't rush to learn about it."

That strange red energy had just appeared but now it was gradually blending with the blue color of Mana and surrounding him. Teacher Kenzo's figure momentarily seemed to have become that of a giant.

"Bind!" - As soon as Charlotte's command ended, the hidden vines that had been concealed emerged from the solid cement floor and wrapped around his limbs.

Kenzo was not only unsurprised but also took the opportunity to score the blonde princess: "Good idea! Good Mana control! 60 points. But if restraint alone is-"

When Teacher Kenzo was about to escape from those vines, Haruki flash-stepped before him. 

"Tenku Sword Technique, Fifth Stance!" - The Mana flow carries elements of both dazzling light magic and burning fire magic combined into the Sun element. 

That special Mana flow of Haruki's was what made him one of the strongest characters in Rainfall Disorder. Because Sun Magic was a powerful magic exclusive to Haruki. To simplify, basically in the entire world, only he possessed both Light Magic, the rarest magic reserved for the Chosen One, along with his unique ability to combine Mana.

But not to be outdone by Haruki, Katia also flash-stepped behind the teacher along with her rare silver Mana flow: "Soul Scythe Art"

Realizing true danger was approaching, the scholarly teacher struggled to escape from that situation. But before he could draw his sword, Kenzo realized something else.

'You should carefully watch your belongings, teacher.' - Esther's eyes said it all.

A blood-red tentacle was dangling the sword in the air as if mocking its opponent. And not only that, many other tentacles were also locking his movements along with Charlotte's aggressive vines.

That girl took the sword with a self-satisfied smile on her lips. That was the famous Blood Magic exclusive to the White family.

With the excellent support of his two teammates, Haruki smiled and then tried to channel as much Mana as possible into his ultimate technique. He shouted loudly with an extremely powerful vertical slash toward the teacher.

"Sunset Splitter!" - The sky seemed to have been cut in half in an instant.

And behind Kenzo, Princess Katia didn't have any particularly special reaction. But her eyes revealed a dark killing intent that could kill the faint-hearted who looked into them. Her voice, cold as the ice age, had returned.

"Death Reaper."

Her scythe once again emanated a silver energy flow and then a horizontal slash appeared. Both had used their trump cards right in the first encounter with him.

'That must be Esther's plan... but...'

Kenzo didn't break a sweat at all, just standing there casually and blocking the blades of both with his bare hands. On his hands, an Aura flow appeared even more clearly than before.

Teacher Kenzo just pushed lightly, but the stances of both were strongly affected. They immediately fell to the floor and dropped their weapons.

"Disarming an opponent. Student White gets an additional 80 points."

"Students Volkov and Takahashi each get an additional 90 points for agility and the ability to launch powerful attacks that can quickly finish off opponents. In normal situations, enemies would surely have bled under your blades."

"But I'm here to test your abilities in ABNORMAL situations."

'Truly amazing.'

Ryoshu was getting goosebumps at what was happening before him.

Alan was one of the most important characters in this game. With his 219 IQ brain along with absolute determination and calmness, he could analyze situations and come up with plans to solve the most headache-inducing problems.

And that terrifying ability to reason and develop solutions applied similarly in combat.

Why was this seemingly unrelated information suddenly appearing in Ryoshu's head? Perhaps because of the unique scene happening right here.

THUD!

"So I'm in Class A now, right, teacher?"

Before anyone could process what had just happened, the voice of a boy appearing from nowhere was heard.

Kenzo, in that brief moment, realized he had been trapped by a mere kid. Alan appeared with a face that didn't show even a hint of emotion. As if his emotions had completely died. And not only that, he had coldly stabbed precisely at the spot not enhanced by Mana and Aura.

'A true monster... He can even deceive Kenzo...'

All those attacks, from binding his legs, disarming him, or setting up the pincer move. It was just a performance to lure him into a multi-layered trap. And ending it was the silent step along with an attack containing no killing intent or Mana.

'So when I enter the academy, I'll have to face people like this?'

But that wasn't all! That was just the beginning.

"I knew I could trust in that unique genius brain of yours... my dear Alan."

The sound of small, elegant footsteps echoed throughout the room. The talented prince didn't seem to care much.

'Her...! Why is she here?'

Ryoshu's eyes became fierce and filled with killing intent directed at the red-haired girl.

"Seems like I entered the room at an inconvenient time, didn't I?" - Alice showed no expression at all and just stared into Ryoshu's eyes.

He seemed to sense that her gaze wasn't simply looking... it was as if she was looking straight into his soul.

But quickly she turned away, pretending not to see anything. Somehow, Ryoshu's heart stopped constricting and began to beat again. Alice turned to look at her "old" best friend and said:

"Esther... Aren't you going to do anything but stand and watch your teammates fall? You're pathetic." - Her contemptuous voice and ice-cold expression replaced the fake smile from earlier.

Esther said nothing, just lowered her head looking at the ground. Her limbs trembled slightly.

'That proud girl freezes up whenever she sees Alice... can't do anything.'

Ryoshu secretly sighed in his mind. Then he spoke directly to the red-haired girl:

"Hey, Alice Scarlet."

"What is it... nameless commoner whom I don't know?"

Alice spoke in a tone full of sarcasm. That made him a bit irritated but he ignored it.

'Let's see if you can keep that fake smile on your face?' - A smile gradually appeared behind the mask.

"Can you tell your three friends..."

She couldn't wait any longer so she interrupted Ryoshu:

"Who?"

"..."

He seemed speechless before Alice's awful attitude.

"Speak quickly. I don't have time to talk with trash like-"

Teacher Kenzo, who was still caught in Esther and Charlotte's magic, upon hearing the inappropriate words of the students, immediately criticized:

"Student Scarlet! Mind your language. This is the last warning before I lower your conduct grade!"

Despite her arrogance, when hearing the supervisor's warning, Alice immediately retracted like a turtle. However, Ryoshu gradually felt his coolness was being severely insulted as he kept getting interrupted:

"Forget it, I don't care about what you say anyway."

"So what? Three friends...? What do you mean?"

"Azure."

Just one word and Ryoshu had made the atmosphere much more tense. Especially Teacher Kenzo and Alice, they stared at him. The space around them momentarily seemed to have very small movements. But how could that escape the notice of the main characters?

Esther was the first to realize something wrong was happening. Then Haruki and Charlotte with their Mana sensing abilities are not inferior to the ash-white haired girl. And finally Katia and Alan looked up reflexively.

"What do you mean? I don't understand what the hell- I mean what you're talking about?" - Noticing Teacher Kenzo's fiery gaze, Alice immediately corrected her words.

Though she wasn't afraid of anyone, she would be quite wary of accidentally ruining something related to her own future. Alice seemed to be avoiding something but Ryoshu didn't care about that at all.

"Cynthia Azure, Selene Azure, and Luna Azure. Remove this third-rate illusion magic right now."

His voice momentarily sounded colder than Death itself. The killing intent from his words was so great it caused the space around to crack.

"Eek." - a girl's weak cry rang out.

And immediately after, the surrounding space had returned to normal along with the sound of someone falling to the ground. And after that illusion completely disappeared, more than a hundred students appeared in Ryoshu's sight.

'So she has gathered quite a number already, huh?'

The hundred-plus students here weren't simply weak people. Most of the students here were the sons and daughters of some noble family. And there were some extremely powerful characters no less formidable than the main cast standing here too.

Moreover, there was also the presence of a character even more influential than Alice Scarlet. Ryoshu paid special attention to that person's existence. That person still maintained a calm face as if not feeling any joy or excitement at all. That person was simply bored.

"What is this!?" - All those affected by that magic couldn't contain their astonishment when they realized it.

Several other voices rang out from that building where the main characters and Ryoshu had just fought.

Currently, Haruki, Katia, Charlotte, Alan, Esther, and Ryoshu were standing right in the center of the building.

'This is where Teacher Kenzo just finished fighting. So they've cast spells from there already?' - Ryoshu couldn't help but be surprised at the illusion magic abilities of the Azure family, one of the Five Great Earls.

"Student Ryoshu gets 100 points! You detected illusion magic that was disadvantageous to your teammates and quickly dispelled it. Very commendable!"

Supervisor Kenzo, who wasn't affected at all by that magic and had escaped from Charlotte and Esther's binding magic, was now standing proudly among their group.

Those hundred students began activating their Mana and getting into combat positions, signaling the final attack of this examination.

While his "temporary" teammates were sweating profusely from tension, Ryoshu was trembling nonstop.

Fear? No! That wasn't accurate at all. This was the excitement of a madman when everything was going EXACTLY as he wished.