Chapter 42: The Next Stage

After casting his vote, Max entered the class and sat in his spot. Everyone merrily discussed who would become the Head and the Vice Head.

Although Max wanted to ignore these discussions, his mind still listened to the gossip. Since he had almost skipped the free campaign period by spending time in the library and practical hall, he had missed who was favored to win each position.

The weird thing was that people still highly discussed the Student Council Head position. They simply did not care about the Diplomatic Affairs Head position. Could it be that if you did not have high ambitions to work in the Kingdom's positions, you could not care less about it? They just wanted to know who would become their immediate authority.

One name Max continuously heard was Frederik Erickson, who placed first in the Dungeon Expedition. Max had somewhat expected this, but that was before he came to know about the other people from the Capital's families. He had half-expected they would secretly dominate all three positions, but those families did not even bother, letting others compete for the other two positions.

One more name he continuously heard, who would be a heavy battle for the Student Council Head position, was Clifford Brunner, who placed second in the Dungeon Expedition. These two would become the Head and Vice Head, but which one would take first place was what the discussion was about.

For the position of the Disciplinary Committee Head, a few names were talked about. The first name was Nathalie Abascal, who was from his own class and placed third in the Dungeon Expedition. She was the leading name, and opposite of her, receiving equal support, was another girl from Class 1B, Irene Cromwell, who placed eighth.

Other than these names, a few more were included in the discussion, but they had no chance of victory to become the Head.

While Max was lost in his own thoughts, the teacher entered, and the class quieted down.

"Everyone, I hope you all participated in choosing the first-year leader positions. The results will come out in the evening," Teacher Morrison said.

"Now that you have all spent your first two months in the Academy, I hope you have learned well in every aspect. From now on, you have a lot of options to spend your time on other than Theory and Practical Classes."

"Although Theory Class is mandatory every other day, Practical Class is no longer mandatory to attend from here on out. You can conduct your own training or fight each other at the arena in a Duel to see how much you all have learned and grown since joining the Academy."

"You have the option to visit Dungeons and level up, and you can join a faction where your seniors can guide you using their real-time experience."

"I want you all to join one of the factions. Benefit from your seniors' mistakes as lessons and grow under their guidance." Teacher Morrison explained the changes that would take place hereafter.

Max, however, knew these changes would happen. The first thing was the Duels; that would be a massive change, most of all the Duel rankings.

Students were required to Duel a certain number of people per week. It was a mandatory rule set by the Academy, and furthermore, they could not Duel the same person to reach that specific number. This was to ensure they trained against different styles of battle, adapting and learning from it. This could help them fight different monsters and potentially battle their enemies in the future.

The number of Duel fights one had to complete was three for first-years. Second-years had a higher number, needing five, and final-years had to battle someone every day, requiring seven.

As for the Duel rankings, they were displayed on the Arena Ranking for the students to watch. It was a matter of prestige and pride for students to maintain, especially for the noble families famous for being combat-oriented.

There were no exceptions for these mandatory Duels, even for Healer class and Craft class students. They had to somehow use their skills to fight or use external weapons, at least reaching the level of self-defense.

The second major change was visiting Dungeons to level up.

Students could form their own parties and begin their progression toward the Level 25 evolution. These Dungeon parties could consist solely of first-year students, or they could include seniors to challenge higher-rank Dungeons. By joining the seniors, the first-years could check their strength, gauge their capacity, and most importantly, gain experience by watching how they battled stronger monsters.

While these mixed parties could be formed randomly, they were primarily assembled from within a student's own faction. This led to the third major change: Joining a Faction.

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A Faction was a gathering of different classes who could grew together through shared knowledge, joint training, and other activities. It was an ideal environment where individuals of varying skill and experience levels came together to support one another.

These Factions were maintained by the final-year students, who held the highest experience and authority in the academy.

However, joining a Faction was not an easy task. Every Faction had its own merit requirements; one could not simply join as they pleased. They were not charities designed to guide the weak or the untalented.

Although every student in this academy was highly talented, to the point where the worst student here would rank first in any other academy, that same student was still considered weak within these walls. Therefore, joining a Faction would remain a difficult task for at least the next few months until one accumulated enough merit.

The real question, however, was whether he would get to complete all these mandatory tasks.

While the possibility existed, his current situation made things weird. The Duels, for example, should have been the easiest part. Even if no one challenged him, he could initiate a challenge himself that had to be answered.

To start a Duel, one first had to announce it in person, and then both parties had to register their names. The challenged individual could only reject the Duel with a valid excuse, such as an injury or having already completed their quota of three Duels.

However, given the pride of the people here, Max figured they would simply deny his challenge regardless.

The second hurdle he had to face was Dungeon visits and leveling up. Although it was not mandatory activity by imposed by Academy like a duel, it was mandatory for him; leveling up was one of the best ways to grow stronger.

However, forming a party was mandatory. If one were to enter a Dungeon, they must have proper class members, such as a healer, a tanker, and long-range classes. These members were necessary to battle effectively. More importantly, the Academy wanted to teach them how to coordinate effectively.

Forming a party would be difficult given his current situation, but it was not an issue that could not be overcome. There were always loopholes he could exploit to achieve what he wanted.

The final matter was joining a Faction. Again, it was not mandatory, but it was very necessary for a senior's guidance. A first-year student could learn a ton of things from what a senior went through during their first high-rank Dungeon visit, along with many other experiences. Thus, joining a Faction to broaden their knowledge was a good thing.

For Max, this would again be a difficult task considering his current situation. However, he might get help from the Academy's Head Teacher regarding this. Since he had already asked him about introducing some seniors, this issue was also solved easily. Overall, everything was under his control.

"Max."

Suddenly, his name was called by the Teacher. Looking forward from his thoughts, he saw that the Head Teacher's assistant was present in the class.

"You are called to the Head Teacher's office," Teacher Morrison said.

Max was a little confused since he did not have any appointment for healing today. Unaware of the reason for the call, he left the class and went with the assistant. Max asked the assistant what the purpose of the call was, but the assistant merely shrugged his shoulders.

Both of them reached the office, but only Max entered. As soon as he stepped inside, he was greeted by a group of people standing to the side, while the old man sat in his mighty chair as usual.

Max ignored the group of people wearing long black coats with a mix of cream-colored patterns. This was Max's first time seeing his final-year seniors. Entering the first-year premises was forbidden for third-years; only second-year seniors were allowed, and even then, they were limited to restricted areas.

There was no explanation for these restrictions, but he guessed it involved their third evolution. Since the final-years were already on their third evolution, their Mana cores would be extremely violent, which could easily affect beginners like the first-years. Thus, until they learned to control their Mana cores, they were kept away. Now that two months had passed, most of the bright students had already mastered their new strength.

"Student Maximus," the Academy's Head Teacher called out. Max gave a greeting and stood at attention.

"Everyone, please meet Student Maximus from Class 1A." The Head Teacher pointed at Max, introducing him to the group of third-years.

"Student Maximus, please meet your seniors. They are here to seek a favor from you," the Head Teacher said.

Meeting the eyes of the group, Max gave a deep bow. There was a rule in the Academy dictating that one must give the same respect to their seniors as they would to their teachers. Therefore, Max did what was necessary without making any mistakes.

"Maximus Bransford, I have heard a lot about you, especially over the last week. Finally, we meet," the senior standing at the front of the group said as he walked toward Max.

This man gave off the vibe of a leader. With a tall, well-built posture, shoulder-length hair, and a sword hanging at his hip, he projected the image of a strong, confident, and capable person.

"My name is Adrien Hardiman," the man introduced himself with a handshake.

"Maximus Bransford; you can call me Max. Nice to meet you," Max replied, introducing himself.

"Max, let me introduce my party. This is Leon Rincke, our party's Tank. Next is our Ranger, Harold Mapletoft. Our damage dealers are the Lightning Mage, Katerina Lirova, and the Battle Mage, Ewan Starger. Finally, this is our Healer, Candice Schultz." Adrien quickly introduced the party members, and Max promptly exchanged greetings with them.

In the next second, Adrien spoke quickly. "Max, let us move to the purpose of your call. We would like you to join a Quest that will change our lives. It is a big opportunity for our futures, so we came here to seek your assistance. What do you say? Would you be kind enough to help us?"

This sudden request left Max confused. What Quest? Why were they seeking his help who was first year, and why was it so important for their futures? What was this all about?

"Okay, I could definitely help, but I need some more details about the Quest," Max asked, since he could not understand the situation.

"Very well. Max, let me explain what we need your help for," Adrien said with a big smile on his face.