Chapter 497: 497. You get additional hardships this year

"This student here is Theo Merrick. He joined our academy three months ago and completed the entire first-year curriculum within that time," Caslos announced while resting a hand over Theo’s shoulder.

Out of the three students, one immediately seemed to recognize Theo’s name, while the other two just stared blankly at him, still trying to digest the fact that Theo had completed his first year in such a manner.

"First year... in three months?" one of them muttered.

Theo glanced at the boy before his eyes drifted toward the sword hanging on his waist.

He could tell right away that this boy had worked really hard. The calluses on the hands and the scars lining his arms each had a story of their own, something Theo knew in his heart.

The boy was around the same height as Theo, maybe slightly shorter, which was an even bigger surprise. Theo was already considered tall for his age, so finding someone nearly as tall as him while also being in the same age group was rare.

The other two were shorter, and one of them lacked any of the subtle traits that usually hinted at their noble upbringing.

"Introduce yourselves within a minute. We need to start the class soon," Carlos said again.

"Name’s Darian Voss. My familiar was recently granted noble status, young master Theo. In our family, everyone practices hybrid combat." The one standing in the middle, the one whose height was the same as Theo’s, spoke first.

Theo nodded and offered him a normal handshake, though inwardly he still felt slightly cranky by how crowded his training area had suddenly become.

Studying alone was a privilege which Theo hadn’t realized he would appreciate this much until it disappeared.

The boy returned the handshake, and at the same time, Theo quickly checked his level. The guy was already Level 6, which was an impressive achievement for someone his age.

"My name is Seris Vale, young master. I come from a family with a long history of blacksmithing. We live in a small village to the north," the boy at the side said with a slight bow.

"Nice to meet you, Sir Seris. But I would like to request something from all of you," Theo said in a deep voice.

"I don’t want to be called ’young master.’ In this academy, we are all equals, and societal status doesn’t matter. Let’s have a great year ahead." Theo said and extended his hand for a handshake to the commoner as well.

The boy stared at the offered hand for a moment before quickly grabbing it, as though it were an opportunity that might never present itself again.

Theo’s gaze then shifted to the third individual, and he smiled knowingly.

"My name is Pavel Renn. My family runs a bakery in the royal capital, Sir Theo," the boy replied calmly.

Theo silently made sure that the boy’s family wasn’t associated with a rank above the ’Count’ status.

His earlier speech would only work if he held the highest status among them. But if someone of a higher rank were to appear and preferred being given special treatment, There wouldn’t be much Theo could do about it.

"Alright, enough chit-chat," Carlos said with an annoyed expression, even though he had been the one who told them to introduce themselves when they could have done so after the training as well.

"You all spent the last year learning the basics of manifesting your aura and the training needed to get there. Now, in your second year, your objective is to improve yourselves through this new training regimen and manifest your aura as early as possible so that we can prepare you for the third and fourth years. Got it?" he asked.

Everyone nodded immediately and straightened into a posture resembling military discipline.

Theo had been standing casually and didn’t realize he was supposed to do the same, so he quickly corrected his stance.

"Theo, you’re already at the lower-medium level of aura, so your training this year will be different," Carlos said, prompting the trio to look at Theo with mixed emotions.

No one spoke, but everyone understood how abnormal it was for a boy who was around the same age as them to already possess a lower-medium level aura.

"You will need to summon your beast out for this one. We will start your synchronous training with your beast," Carlos continued.

This time, Theo let out a quiet sigh.

’So we’re really doing this, Mantis.’ Theo thought, his breathing subtly quickening. ’I want you on your best behavior for this hour.’

The bond with the mantis opened, and immediately, Theo’s head began to glow as something materilaized out of it.

The other watched with curiosity as the light faded. Everyone wanted to see what beast the young master of the Merricks possessed.

But when the light disappeared, their curiosity instantly turned into horror.

Carlos merely looked at the mantis casually, and Theo was always grateful about the fact that he could control the suppression ability from working on him. It was one of the reasons his respect for Professor Carlos had increased over the past two months.

The other three, however, were not the same, and the familiar strudel of forcing others to get used to the mantis began once again.

"Professor Carlos, as you may already know, my beast possesses a suppression ability. While you can handle it, I know that Sir Darian, Sir Pavel and Sir Seris won’t get used to it anytime soon. Their movement will become rigid if they remain close to it for too long," Theo explained, gesturing toward the trio.

Carlos already knew what was going to happen, but he still sighed deeply when he saw the three students staring at the mantis in cold sweat.

"You really don’t play the easy game, nor let others do so," the professor muttered.

"Alright. This challenge is specifically for this year’s students, and I want you three to overcome it while still giving me results that are as good as if there was no suppression," he said before taking a deep breath and roaring.

"YOU GOT THAT?"

His shout snapped the three out of their daze.

It was going to be a long journey this year, and Theo didn’t feel it was fair to the others.

But there was nothing he could do about it.