A couple of hours passed and the students were called in for their first and only lesson of the day: Combat training. 

Upon seeing their weekly schedule, Ashton realised they were going to spend a lot of time in the combat arena. Except for Sundays, they had to train there for at least two hours a day. Which to be honest was nothing compared to how much time he had spent on training while under the Mistress’s wings. 

The way he saw it, fighting for two hours was just basic warm-up. Still, spending two hours improving his physical abilities was a much better option than focusing their time and effort on preparing potions.

Yup, they had a potion class as well, where they would apparently be taught about conjuring potions and their uses in real-life scenarios. Along with some other bunch of alchemy bullshit. Ashton knew the worth of potions, but despite that, he just couldn’t seem to get why did they have to learn how to make them from scratch. 

Despite how he felt about potion classes, apparently, they were quite popular. At least from what he had heard from Rose. They also had much more students in that department than in battle arts, which he thought was weird. 

Well, there was one more thing Ashton was getting weirded out by. 

‘Why do these people stare so much? Don’t they have anything else to do?’ 

This time, however, their eyes weren’t filled with disgust or hostility. But with envy and a weird look… as if they were looking up to him with respect. The students around him were very intrigued by him. Personally, Ashton could not have blamed them. After all, most of them would want to have the uniform he was wearing. 

The academy had wasted little to no time to show how the S rankers were favoured over the others. This fact was clear just by the uniforms they had. While everyone had a white uniform, the S ranker were the only ones who had both black and white colours in their uniform to separate them from the crowd. 

The S rankers weren’t the only ones who had different uniforms. The student council, as well as the disciplinary committee, had their own uniforms as well. In Ashton’s opinion, their uniforms were much flashier than the S rankers with black and gold colour.

Still, being an S ranker was considered to be more prestigious than being a part of either of those groups.  Thus wherever he went with the uniform, most of the students either looked at him with respect or with fear. This look only lasted till they got a good look at his face and their demeanour would change entirely. 

It would appear that he was already quite famous on the campus. Thanks to him being a Mutt and having a bounty on his head. The looks were quite disturbing, but slowly Ashton was getting used to it all. 

After another minute or two of walking, he had reached the arena once again. The building looked just as vibrant as it did during the examination. Except now there was a golden plaque right in front of the entrance boasting the names of the students whom he had killed yesterday. 

‘The academy sure is quick to feed bullshit to the ego of the nobles.’ He shook his head and stood by himself in a corner. 

There was still five minutes remaining before the class would begin, but there were already quite a few students gathered there with more of them on their way. However, it seemed the professor had a different plan altogether, the doors to the arena opened up before time and out of it walked the professor. 

A moment later, a red-haired woman walked out. She was already dressed in a black combat suit, unlike the ones Ashton had seen before. On top of that, the professor was a literal giantess about 7’10” tall. Although Ashton did not check her stats, he knew if she wanted, she could have picked them up and thrown them away like a sack of potatoes. 

“The hell are you brats waiting for? Get your sorry assess in before I start kicking them!” The professor roared at the top of her lungs as the students hurried inside like a bunch of scaredy cats. 

The second all of them were inside, she closed the doors once again. The arena had changed completely. The forest had been replaced by half a dozen rings along with several gym equipments scattered around everywhere. 

“But professor, what about the other-“

“Rule one: You will only speak when spoken to. Is that clear?” The professor immediately cut the student off, “Rule two: Answer when I ask something. I said IS THAT CLEAR?”

“Yes, Professor!” The student roared back in unison.

“Good. Now allow me to introduce myself. I am Professor Amaira Holder and I will be teaching you basic combat techniques for the next six weeks.” Amaira said in a loud and firm voice, “It is up to me to make some warriors out of this batch of pipsqueak and believe me, I’m not going to make it easy on anyone of you. Whether you are noble or a high ranker.”

For some strange reason, Amaira was looking at Ashton while she said that, even though he wasn’t the only S ranked student present there. 

“Also, it is up to me to select students who will be a part of the Subjugation squads based on their performance. So be sure to give it your all in case you want to earn some quick bucks and my respect. Are there any questions?”

Several students raised their hands but Amaira completely ignored them and gave them the first task of the day… run a hundred laps around the arena, without stopping or slowing down. 

“While your strength is important in any fight, your stamina and agility are equally important as well. If you can’t even do this within thirty minutes then pack your bags and leave. This academy is not for gentle flowers like you.”

All of the students got to work but as the S rankers were about to join them, Amaira stopped them.

“That basic exercise is not for you guys. Unlike them, the eight of you will head into the arena for duels. I want to see what the S rankers this year have in store for me.” She said while scanning them.

“First will be you and you. Get inside the ring. Three-minute rounds, the one who knocks out their opponent wins. You are not allowed to use your abilities. Break that rule and I’ll break your bones in half. Now go.”

Just like that Ashton and another guy were set to fight one another. Ashton took a quick glance at his opponent before heading inside the ring. Standing at 5’8″ the black-skinned kid had an unfriendly feeling around him. 

He had an angular face, a short nose, and small lips. His brown eyes were puffy and the eyebrows were missing. His short hair appeared to have been burned away, which would also explain the scar he had on his forehead.  His physique was somewhat similar to Ashton’s with well-defined muscles all over his body. 

“Are you morons ready?”

Both of them nodded and got in their battle stances.

“So, you accept you are morons?” She shook her head, “Just start the fight….”