The Strongest Student of the Weakest Academy

"...What's up with that look on your face?"

Derek asked curiously, raising an eyebrow as he leaned against his chair while taking a glance at Aestrea's expression.

"Nothing..." Aestrea, practically with a sleepless face, replied shortly after.

Noticing the exhausted expression, James squinted his eyes and then grinned knowingly.

"Did your girlfriend leave you hanging—"

"—Shut the fuck up before I plant your ugly ass face in the table," Aestrea instantly snapped, his glowing red eyes flashing dangerously as he merely glanced at James.

"Alright, alright... geez," James quickly raised his hands in surrender, feeling a small shiver running down his spine as soon as Aestrea's eyes landed on him.

"HA! You had it coming," Derek laughed loudly.

And in that moment...

"Student Derek, could you please keep your laughter to yourself?" Miss Helena, the alchemy teacher, asked calmly, looking at Derek expressionlessly.

As soon as she finished her sentence...

"Pfft..."

Both James and Aestrea almost couldn't hold back their laughter.

"Sorry..."

Derek apologized, attempting to hold back a grin.

"Mhm..." Miss Helena gave a small nod before continuing with the lesson.

"As we all know, the most crucial aspect of an alchemy potion is its effectiveness." She paused, tapping the board to ensure the students were paying attention.

"Efficiency is the key — how well the ingredients interact and how potent the resulting potion is. It's not just about the recipe, but the precision with which it's crafted..."

She continued explaining the nuances of alchemical processes calmly and patiently as she laid out the finer details.

But of course, Aestrea didn't even bother to pay attention to it.

If anything, he could simply take a glance at the alchemy book and record the information directly inside his mind.

"Hey, Aestrea..."

Derek whispered.

"Want to skip the next class?"

"Hey—What about me?" James quickly chimed in as he heard Derek's suggestion.

Noticing how Aestrea's face didn't change the slightest, Derek grinned maliciously as he took out a golden coin from his pocket.

Tremble...

Aestrea's body quivered a bit.

Seeing this, Derek's grin only widened as he took yet another gold coin.

Tremble!

"...We should respect the teachers and—"

Before Aestrea could finish his words, Derek took out another gold coin.

"...Gosh. If you wanted to skip that badly, you could've told me," said Aestrea, snatching the three gold coins and stuffing them into his pocket.

"Woah.." James's eyes widened in surprise.

"I can't believe you were bought that easily."

At his brother's words, Derek gave James a playful smack on the back.

"Aestrea's a sucker for money—he'll do anything for it—"

Glance...

"Ahem! Almost anything to get more money!" Derek immediately corrected his words as soon as he noticed Aestrea's glowing eyes on him.

"Mhm... I should keep that in mind." James nodded continuously, muttering to himself.

RIIIIIIIIIIIIING!

Finally, after a long, arduous class, the bell rang!

Instantly, the expression on the student's face shifted from total boredom to sheer happiness, as if they had never felt so free in their entire life.

"Class is dismissed... except for Aestrea, Derek, and James," Miss Helena announced, causing the rest of the class to turn their gaze toward the trio.

"Ooooohhhh..."

Immediately, a bunch of 'oohhhs' came on their way, as if saying that they are in trouble.

"Shit... You don't think the professor got that offended by me laughing, right?" Derek nervously whispered to Aestrea.

"How would I know?" Aestrea raised an eyebrow.

"Well, of course!" James piped up, putting his arm around Aestrea's shoulder.

"You're the favorite student of all the professors in this entire school. Even our instructor Tony, who is as cold as ice, smiles in front of you!" he added with a small grin.

"Shut it."

As the rest of the students filed out, Miss Helena stepped in front of the three.

"Don't worry, guys, you're not going to be punished or anything." Seeing the troubled expressions on their faces, Miss Helena calmed them down.

"Phew..."

Both James and Derek let out a visible sigh of relief.

Aestrea only nodded his head.

"Before anything else, did any of you see the news yesterday?" Miss Helena asked.

Derek and James both shook their heads.

But Aestrea froze.

'Please don't say it…'

"Haah..." Letting out a sigh, Miss Helena continued.

"So, an S-rank dungeon appeared near the center of Silverleaf City, and because of that, the Headmistress of the Royal Academy has decided to form a temporary partnership with our academy to close that dungeon."

"That same partnership involved sending the strongest ten of their students, and ten of ours, to that S-rank dungeon for experience. So, obviously, you three are included," she finally finished explaining.

"Tsk..."

Aestrea clicked his tongue in annoyance.

"Oh?" Derek nudged Aestrea.

"Is there someone you don't like from there?" he asked curiously.

"There's no way our lovely Aestre could hav—"

Thud!

Derek received a direct blow to the stomach.

"Pfft... this time, you also deserved it." James laughed.

Miss Helene only smiled at their actions clearly reminiscing about her own student days.

"Anyway, the dungeon experience will take place this Friday, in three days. Until then, make sure you're prepared," she said, turning to leave.

And just like that, the trio was left alone to process everything.

"Shit... Now that I think about it, it's an S-rank dungeon!!!" James suddenly turned to Aestrea and started shaking him by the shoulders.

"Normally, you'd need twenty S-rank awakeners just to clear one of those, and we're all just students!" He shook Aestrea harder, clearly panicked.

But then, James felt a hand land firmly on his shoulder, and his frantic shaking slowed down.

"Don't worry about it, peanuts. We have Aestrea here! Don't you know this guy right here went to throw hands against an Archdemon and remained victorious?" Derek grinned.

But as if he had only realized what he said, he suddenly turned to Aestrea, who had escaped James's grasp.

"Now that I think about it... how the fuck did you beat up an Archdemon?" Derek raised his eyebrow in genuine curiosity.

James also looked at Aestrea.

At that moment, Aestrea curled up his lips into a small smirk.

"It's a secret."

Without another word, he turned and walked off.

"A secret? That bastard's really getting cocky..." James scoffed, watching Aestrea's retreating figure.

But then, as he exchanged glances with his brother, both of their eyes widened at the same time.

"Does that mean that bastard was really going easy on us?" Both of them exclaimed at the same time.

"Ah! My precious three gold coins!!" Derek suddenly cried out and dashed after Aestrea.

"Hold up! Wait for me, you shitty brother!!!" James followed suit.

Thud!

However, before Derek could catch up to Aestrea, he collided with what felt like a solid wall.

"...Watch where you're going, kiddo." A rough voice stopped him.

Instantly, Derek recognized the voice as he clenched his fists tightly.

"Ulgar...!"

James, who had been behind Derek, quickly helped him to his feet and shot a glare at Ulgar, who towered over them, almost twice their size.

"Both of you don't want to get beaten up again, do you?" Ulgar sneered coldly, looking down on them as if they were mere ants.

"Last time was a mess, and I don't feel like making it easy for you again."

After all, James and Derek had lost their solo duels against Ulgar.

James was quickly thrown out of the arena as soon as Ulgar activated his bloodline, and Derek was about the same.

But of course, if Ulgar didn't use his bloodline, each of them would probably have won.

Hearing his threatening words, both James and Derek instinctively shifted their body into a combat stance, and Ulgar grinned maliciously as he saw this.

But before he could make his move, a voice interrupted.

"Ulgar, what did I tell you about causing trouble?"

A female voice.

It sounded incredibly arrogant.

There, a stunningly beautiful woman with long light-blue hair and pointed ears appeared, slowly walking towards them.

It was none other than Eira, the frost elf, who had recently joined the academy.

"But Miss Eira, these insects dared to—"

"Shh! Don't call them insects..." She cut him off with a small, amused smile as she glanced at Derek and James.

"You should be calling them ants instead," she added, her smile widening in a haughty, almost mocking way, causing Derek and James to grit their teeth.

None of them were able to challenge her in a duel because Ulgar always stopped them, but if they could, they probably would have made sure to make her suffer a lot.

"You... fucking bitch!" James couldn't hold back any longer and yelled.

At his words, Eira's eyes flashed dangerously.

The corners of her mouth twitched as her expression darkened.

"Never mind," she muttered, her cold gaze still fixed on them.

"Ulgar... feel free to handle them."

"Yes..." Ulgar's grin spread as he stepped forward, ready to strike.

Both James and Derek prepared themselves for the hit, protecting their body with mana.

But...

Someone who had just gone to the bathroom had finally come back.

ZOOOOM!

Ulgar's body was suddenly sent flying across the hallway.

『 Shield Series: Winter's Barrier! (✦ 6th-level Spell ✦) 』

But before he could crash into the academy's wall, a powerful ice barrier appeared in front of him, stopping him dead in his tracks.

"KUGH!"

A mouthful of saliva mixed with blood escaped his lips as his body was forcefully slammed against the hard ice barrier.

"Hah..."

Then, a sigh came from behind them.

James and Derek's eyes brightened, and Eira turned around cautiously.

"I only left for a whole semester..."

His silver hair reached up to his glowing red eyes.

"And these new students..."

A face that could only be described as beautiful, but containing a scar under his left eye, and an extreme sharpness coming from his eyes.

"Really think that they own the place?"

It was none other than Aestrea.

And right now...

He looked pissed.