Rina was sitting on top of the unconscious Narisse. She had been perfect and defeated her opponent without difficulty, so she decided to pose in an impressive way to look even better.
'Enrico is impressive, he fought them as if he knew every move they were going to make... could it be they were enemies in the future?'
Seeing Enrico's reaction throughout the battle, it was clear he didn't like them, so it was quite possible they had been enemies or had a rivalry. The fight was reaching its climax and she was finally about to see Enrico's full power, but unfortunately, the battle was interrupted by an Elf.
"He seems to respect that Elf."
Aoi appeared suddenly, speaking with Velka on her shoulder, while Yumeha ran over to Enrico to check if he was hurt anywhere else and heal him.
"Well, if you notice around her, natural magic is very strong."
All races had circles, but each had a different way of using magic, like the Elves, who had great aptitude for natural magic, or the Orcs, who in their entire tribe had no support roles because they were all compatible with combat, always using it for attack or body enhancement. There were exceptions, but only one in every hundred thousand.
Enrico was walking toward his friends after Yumeha's thorough analysis. He had to admit that if it weren't for the improved clone, he wouldn't have been able to land so many hits.
[Unique Ability: Elemental Clone – new skill allows switching positions with the clone up to four times]
[It's a good skill, but still has the same limitations—don't forget that.]
The clone still had its limits, but with each circle improvement, the ability would evolve. Kai and Serenya were the first to arrive, asking lots of questions about how he had gotten so much stronger in just a week.
"I simply trained."
"What kind of training?"
Valença arrived already wanting to know what kind of training he did, but he had an excuse ready.
"Family secret."
"Please, tell me."
While the three wanted to know about his training, he thought it was good because he had created a strategy to appear stronger than he was, becoming the wall they would all have to overcome. He had hidden the clone as much as possible so everyone would think it was his speed, shrinking it to a level where normal eyes couldn't see it—only able to sense its mana.
[You know, I thought you were an idiot for saying something was behind her—but it was just a distraction, wasn't it?]
"Yes."
Seraphina approached with a smile that annoyed him—not because it was happy, but because it also carried satisfaction.
"It was really good seeing you punch the princess in the face."
Everyone looked at her surprised, wondering if they had a problem in the past. Serenya commented that when Seraphina appeared, she seemed quite scared.
"Did she do something to you, Seraphina?"
Kai asked, concerned. Enrico didn't know much either, since Seraphina didn't even appear in the original story. But since Elowyn had done a lot of crap in the story alongside Lan, the two were the most irritating to him.
'Tsk, I need to get stronger and teach her a lesson—just like I did with Lan.'
[Good luck with that, because after today, that girl will probably level up.]
'I know.'
He knew that, since he was familiar with the original story, and he knew how fast Elowyn could grow in the future—and how massive her potential was.
'She's not on the same level as those five monsters—but comparing anyone to them is unfair.'
[Who are those five monsters?]
'Two of them are Elaris and Kai.'
[Sorry to say, but Kai doesn't seem to have that much potential.]
Enrico stared at the system with a poker face and started counting off on his fingers the many abilities Kai would eventually have.
"God of War skill, Sword Saint, Infinite Evolution, the strongest magic user—"
[Wait, I'm still reading the story—let me find out on my own.]
Enrico looked at Kai, who seemed downcast. Kai didn't just have five unique abilities, three powerful magics, and a powerful weapon—for Enrico, Kai had more than that, and he had all that potential in his hands, ready to make use of it.
On the other side, Elowyn saw all her subordinates defeated. She would have to either make them stronger or find better ones. But that didn't matter now. What mattered was discovering who Enrico was and why his essence felt so empty and yet caused no discomfort to her eyes.
"Alright, all of you are going to the principal's office to wait for Mr. Hao to return."
Elaris immediately began leading everyone to the office. Elaris had to admit she knew what Elowyn did at school, as she was the student council president, but she had wanted to use the princess—so she let it slide. But now that there was a new piece with unknown potential, she needed to rethink how to use everyone.
'But I admit I'm leaning more toward Enrico's side.'
On Enrico's side, there weren't just new people—there were also those she was already interested in before he appeared. Comparing the two sides, it was clear who had more potential. Elowyn's side had simply gotten ahead, but in the long run, they'd be left behind.
'I have to find a cure for fire cancer soon.'
Elowyn arrived at the principal's office, and after the teachers returned, the healing mages treated all the injured. It was clear that the battle outside the city had been hard on the teachers, and apparently, over fifty Ranvil-level Nartheis had appeared—this had been the worst attack in years.
'It must have been difficult for them.'
Elowyn then noticed Enrico was deep in thought after hearing everything. But before she could ask anything, Director Hao called them in and scolded them all. He gave a punishment: Enrico's side would be suspended for three days, which made them all panic, and Elowyn's side would be suspended for a week. Neither side would be allowed to challenge anyone for a rank-up for a month.
'This is harsh. Director Hao is really strict—though, given what happened, it should be even more so.'
The director needed to impose punishment but didn't want to interrupt the development of Classes A and S. That was because more Nartheis were starting to appear on the continent, and to make things worse, many were Ranvil-level—when in theory, there should only be a few outside the dungeons. Most should appear or go to Floravita.
Seeing everyone leaving, Hao sat down and sighed.
"Many mages and knights died in this battle, and we nearly let some of them get in."
The continent needed stronger mages quickly for several reasons—besides the dungeons becoming more difficult, Nartheis were appearing more frequently, even in places without dungeons.
"It's as if we're entering the golden age of the Nartheis."
Hao looked out the window at the sky, thinking about how the king had sent Damian on a mission to the Aquatic Kingdom.
"I hope you return, my friend... so you can train the boy who caught your interest. We need that..."
Hao rested his chin on his hand, remembering Virelle, who was also interested in training Enrico as her disciple.
"Or maybe someone else will get here first—like Virelle... or even me."
No matter what he had to do, he needed stronger mages and knights. So he would speak to Enrico and ask for permission to use his idea about ego weapons and mages.