"So this where we stay?"
Zen stood before a large, expansive building with an intrigued expression.
"They already brought our suitcases here earlier. So they should already be sitting in our rooms if what the academy said was correct."
"Let's take a look then. I kind of want to see how it looks on the interior."
Nodding, Arvell followed Zen and entered the building before them.
Reyna and Lydia had already left, heading towards the female dormitory.
After countless hours exploring the campus, they decided to check out their rooms and unpack.
Since classes started the next day, the four of them needed to deal with unpacking their belongings.
Walking through the wooden double doors, Arvell was greeted with the sights of an expansive lobby.
The chandeliers glittered the jewels under the moonlight while the floor was laden with a beautifully embroidered carpet.
Even the walls were decorated with an arrangent of various tapestry pieces.
Sparing a mont to take in the sights, the two made a beeline straight to the service desk.
Waiting a few minutes for the line in front of them to clear, the two showed the man working the desk their student IDs and claid their respective room keys.
"By the way, I heard that S-class students have so of the best anities the academy offers, sothing about it serving as a form of motivation for the students," Zen asked as the two made their way up a circular staircase.
"Yeah, that's true. However, for the existing S-class students, it motivates them to work hard to keep their current arrangent while also encouraging the other students to vie for a spot in the S-class." Arvell explained.
"Heh, that's quite the system they got there. Even if you got into S-class, you can't be complacent. If soone manga to usurp your spot, you'd lose every luxury you got to enjoy."
"'The strong should never be complacent, and the weak should do their best to get stronger.' Even outside the classroom, they are trying to teach us sothing."
While it was usually hard for an S-rank to get usurped by a lower-ranking student, it wasn't impossible.
As long as they lost in a 1 on 1 fight, they would lose their position in the class.
However, the S-class students were always the strongest of the strongest in each grade.
For most, beating any of them and claiming their position on the team was nothing more than a pipe dream.
Pulling out the dormitory map he managed to procure from the service desk, Arvell began thodically scanning it.
"It seems our dorm rooms are on the tenth floor, and we are currently on the first."
"So we need to go up another 9 floors…."
Zen looked up at the series of circular and seemingly endless steps that went on forever… At least from his current point of view.
Cringing slightly at their current predicant, he turned to Arvell.
"Hey Arvell, how about you and I… make this more interesting."
Raising an eyebrow, Arvell responded, "what do you an by 'interesting'?"
A small smile ford on Zen's lips.
"The two of us race to our floor. The loser has to… hmm… What should the loser do?"
"Why are you asking ? This is your proposition."
"It's not fair if I choose all the terms of the race myself."
"Eh, does it really matter? I'll win either way."
Rembering the gap between them, Zen's face fell slightly.
"Right, it won't be an even race."
"I an, we aren't really allowed to use magic inside the facility either way."
Zen's eyes widened in slight shock.
"Oh right, that's a thing… Wait, I got it! Let's just run normally! Without your magic, it should be far more even between the two of us!"
"Still… Racing up a flight of stairs is quite childish."
"We are kids, rember?"
"Oh, are you just making excuses since you are just afraid of losing? Does this an I finally beat you?" Zen mocked.
While Arvell's outward expression remained unchanging, he felt a slight urge to beat Zen.
Even if Zen's 'taunt's didn't really faze Arvell, it wasn't as if had anything better to do.
Arvell let out a short sigh before turning to Zen.
"Alright, you're on."
Zen grinned slightly, hearing Arvell's response.
"So what about the stakes then?"
Arvell put his fingers under his chin, for a mont to think.
"How about the loser needs 300 pushups? No magic, by the way."
Zen cringed when he heard the penalty, but he didn't back down.
Even if his shoulders were still aching from his training sessions with Wilfried, he would be reduced to nothing more than a hypocrite if he backed down, especially after taunting Arvell.
Having dug his own grave, Zen had no choice but to grin and bear with it.
"Alright…"
'Okay, as long as I can beat Arvell, I can avoid having my shoulders fall off.'
Arvell turned to the dragon that was cradled in his arms.
"Hey August, would you mind going back into my backpack?"
"Kyuu!"
Springing to his feet, August dropped onto the floor and let Arvell place him in his backpack.
After August entered the backpack, Arvell zipped it up and placed it on his back.
Reaching the foot of the stairs, the two turned around to ensure the staff mbers nearing the door weren't watching them.
Even if it wasn't technically allowed, the two would rather avoid getting reprimanded for their conduct if possible.
Seeing they were in the clear, Arvell put three fingers in the air.
"Okay, the instant I say go, we start."
Nodding in agreent, Zen prepared himself by taking a running stance.
"3"
"2"
"1"
"GO!"
Without missing a beat, the two took off like rockets and began sprinting up the 9 flights of stairs between them and their rooms.
Several boys looked over their shoulder to see 2 high-speed people dash right past them as Arvell and Zen climbed the stairs as fast as they could physically manage without the help of magic.
"Huh, what was that?"
"Who were those two guys? They were quite fast."
Arvell and Zen did not heed these people, treating them as nothing more than obstacles in their race.
The two eloquently slipped through these students, doing their best not to collide with them.
Since the two of them weren't using their speed-related powers as a crutch, it was far more challenging for them than it usually would have been.
Neither boy seed to care too much about it, though.
If anything, their mouths' bright, competitive smiles spoke loudly enough.
Despite not using Aether/magic, it still wasn't long before Arvell took the lead.
"It's my win," Arvell ca to a halt on the 9th floor as he turned behind him with a teasing smile, "It's ti for you to pay up."
Approximately fifteen seconds later, a sweat-covered Zen appeared before Arvell with a pitiful expression on his face.
"300 pushups…" Collapsing to his knees, Zen lanted.
"Aren't you going to do it?" Arvell teasingly asked.
Zen vehently shook his head.
"Going against my word would dishonour my family na, so there's no way I would do that."
Hearing Zen talk about his family honour, a small smile ford on Arvell's lips
'When was the last ti I saw him act like this? Back when we first t?'
Since Zen returned to his family, the cold exterior he built up for himself began to be chipped away at.
After going through an event as traumatic as being kidnapped and abused, he had thoroughly locked away his heart to protect himself and his sanity.
Fortunately, the day that Rupert and the army managed to find Zen, everything took a turn for the better.
Day by day, he began to open up and show his repressed feelings more.
Being with his family, fiance, and a new friend allowed him to sowhat move on from what had happened.
Arvell gave Zen a small smile and moved his hand to place it on the shoulder as if he were trying to show his sportsmanship.
Instead of a light pat, Arvell clenched his hand and gripped his shoulder
"YOUCH!!!" Zen painfully cried as he shrugged off Arvell's hand.
"As expected, your shoulders are killing you, aren't they? I could see from the way you were acting today."
Zen narrowed his eyes at Arvell with a wronged expression.
"You.. you did this on purpose?"
"I wanted to see if you would accept or not, to be completely honest. You were that confident in beating ?"
"Hey, I assud we would be on an even playing field. But sohow, you're still faster than even when you aren't using magic."
'Well yeah, my base speed is still much higher because of my Nether Body,' Arvell thought.
He wasn't even running at full speed during their little 'race.'
Since magic wasn't allowed, he had no feasible way of justifying his superhuman speed.
Arvell let out a sigh.
"You know I didn't ever specify when you needed to do the 300 pushups. Just do them when shoulders aren't killing you."
Zen's eyes lit up as he looked at Arvell with a gratified gaze.
"Thanks, Arvell. I knew you were a good guy!"
Arvell faintly smiled before offering Zen a hand to help him back up.
"Co on, we have a lot of unpacking ahead of us. Best to get started as soon as possible."
"Great, that's the last thing I wanted to hear right now…."
Despite complaining, Zen took Arvell's outstretched hand, and the two headed to find their rooms.
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