Way of the Knights

---

'These kids are durable…'

This is what majority of the older batch thought at this point. It wasn't that they were weak, they were just really exhausted. Victor might've given them enough time to recuperate and sleep but the examinations took a different toll on them, and that's on their physiological health, something that a good night rest wouldn't cure.

Even then, these kids were still impressive for their age, it seems that newer generations are becoming scarier and scarier.

Eventually the warm up finished, the older batch finally had time to catch their breath while the newer batch already did, they even had time to spare.

"Alright, that's enough. Now let's talk about activities." Victor waved his hand and a bunch of scrolls appeared in his hand.

He then asked each student to grab at least one, after everyone's done he nodded and said: "You may read the contents."

Raven caught his and opened the scroll. His eyes shone since it reads:

*****

Monthly Task: Recon

- 5km Northwest of our kingdom, the task leader would be the Adventurers Tavern. For further details, please visit them at their facility.

Requirements:

- One month deadline.

- Must submit an exclusive report to Director as proof. Must be stamped with an Official Seal to confirm validity.

▪ Failure to confirm said task by end of said deadline: Merit deduction.

Rewards:

- 100-500 Merit Points.

- 1hr to any Cultivation Environments.

- C-grade Item Raffle Ticket.

- 1000 Gold Cards.

****

'Oh? First day and we already have a mission? According to my knowledge, this should be at least an upper B-grade Mission since it has something to do with going outside of the kingdom.'

While he was deep in his thoughts, he heard someone complaining on his side.

"Oh come on Sir! Seriously? Mission Already? And it's monthly one nonetheless! Can't we have like a week's rest? We just came back from a grueling place you know?"

The one who's complaining was a chubby guy with a mohawk-ed hairstyle. The way he complained was a bit over the top since he moved too much and each time he does, the fats on his cheeks and belly jiggles.

"Oh, complaining again Little Rupert?"

Under Victor's sharp and narrowed gaze, the chubby guys named Rupert shrank back and sweated nervously. He then laughed awkwardly and hurriedly said:

"N-no! Who-who's complaining? I'm not complaining!" Rupert then faced one his batch mates and asked: "You! Are you complaining? You must be complaining! Sir it's Trebor who's complaining! " Even the way he pointed at his classmates was weird.

"Enough nonsense Fat Child." Victor smacked him in his head, although lovingly. "Just do your mission and you'll stay here, otherwise get out."

"Yes sir!" The fat guy Rupert saluted stiffly to Victor's words.

"Alright then, I expect you guys to complete said missions by the end of the month. Goodluck." After saying this, Victor disappeared in a flash, leaving the atmosphere a bit awkward.

Of course it is understandable that there is a strange atmosphere, specially this is the first time that this two batches of the Genius Class met. Even so, someone decided to break the tension…

"You guys hit the jackpot already. I don't know if that's luck or what…" Fatty Rupert walked up to them and initiated the conversation. "Oh right, the name's Rupert, nice to meet you."

The group returned his greeting, it was Paul who asked: "Why Jackpot?"

"Well…it's due to us being a part of the Genius Class." Rupert said, "We're not allowed to take any missions that are lower than C-grade, it just ruins our so-called 'reputation'."

"I mean…we won't be called the genius class for nothing right?" Another voice interjected after Rupert explained.

It was girl, she had a rare violet colored hair and eyes. She certainly is beautiful, but compared to Luna, she's lacking in some certain areas.

"Sorry, I heard you guys talking and I thought I should join, my name's Veronica. Nice to meet you." The girl bowed slightly after introducing herself.

"Yeah, you're just really nosy like that-Ow!" Rupert replied but couldn't quite finish since Veronica pinched some skin on his arm and twisted it, making him grimace in pain.

"You said something Fatty?" Her eyes narrowed dangerously.

"M-mercy, dear goddess!" Fatty tapped her arm while begging to be released. In the end, Veronica released him while snorting.

On the other hand, Raven and his friends could only laugh at their antics. Ellen then said: "Well, we already knew that since our previous teacher explained to us, but this Monthly Task…is it a bad thing?"

Ellen hid the fact that it was actually Alice, their 'supposedly' previous classmate, who told them about this.

"It depends on your definition of 'bad thing' lady." Fatty Rupert replied while nursing his arm, Ellen tilted her head in confusion which made him explain a bit more. "Typically, missions are divided into grades such as E, D, C, B, A, and S. Monthly Tasks are different, they don't have any ranking."

"Which means that it is a specialized request. Only us from the Genius Class would be able to access these missions, and it's difficulty is static, meaning it might change depending on the situation. You saw the rewards right? That's also subjected to change according to the mission itself. So we can't really tell if it's a 'bad thing' or not just yet." Veronica completed the explanation for Rupert.

Hearing her words, the team nodded in understanding and made them think about the contents of their mission.

"Does this monthly tasks come often?" Mark asked after a while of silence.

"No." Both of them replied at the same time, it was Rupert who continued. "In fact it only comes once every three or four months, which provides us with a good amount of Merit Points and Environment hours, and some gold. Usually, we claim missions from the Mission Section or our Organizations for our uses."

"Also, during monthly tasks, Sir Victor won't conduct any classes in order for us to focus on the mission. But on regular days, he will. And don't expect him to teach history, math or laws, in a way he's already expecting us to know all of those things. His lessons are rather…practical most of the times." Veronica explained, though her tone switched to a hesitant one during the end.

"Practical? You must've mean sadistic! Don't lie to them, they might be kids but they won't enter the Genius Class for no reason." Rupert snorted as he had some flashbacks of the regular lessons with Victor. It seems that he isn't a huge fan of his methods.

This time, Veronica had nothing to say. Though she hate to admit it, Fatty was right in some areas. She was just convincing herself to believe that Victor only wants the best for them but…it's too painful.

"But hey! Come to think of it, you guys performed rather well earlier. It must've been hard for you to act like you weren't exhausted. To think that you even fooled Sir Victor! You guys have a bright future! Just know that sometimes you have to tone it down, or else he will get carried away. Do it in moderation."

Fatty winked at them, sounding like he was giving them the best advice there was. Veronica shook her head and thought: 'He might be thinking that he is some sort of a cool Big Brother to them. What a slutty fat-ass...'

And in truth, it truly was the case. Rupert was already expecting these kids to fawn over him and reveal that his guesses were right. He waited for it, but unfortunately it didn't come. Instead he saw them looking at him strangely, like he just spoke a different language just now.

"Eh?" Was all he could say, there was an awkward air around them right now. Veronica sighed and smacked his head.

"Get the clue Fatty. They weren't acting all you dumbass." She said while shaking her head. It was safe to say that she wasn't actually surprised by this, after all these kids seems to be quite honest so far.

"EH!?" Rupert shuddered exaggeratedly as he looked at them, "B-but! How is that possible? That was 500 push ups and 10 laps around this huge ass building! And you only sweated! Are you even real?"