Lucius stared at him for several minutes before smiling. "Professor, do you know my name?" he asked.

"Huh? What’s that supposed to mean?" the professor replied.

"I mean, I was wondering if you know my name."

"Who doesn’t know the scum of the Asturias family? Lucius Asturias. We all know who you are, don’t we?" he asked, glancing at the other students.

They looked away so as not to answer. They weren’t stupid enough to cross an Asturias or a Thorne, even if they were the worst of that family.

This act annoyed the professor.

Lucius spoke. "If you know that so clearly, then you must know that the system has now determined a new way to address me. Please don’t forget it. The system might get upset if you go against its wishes."

The professor stared at him intently for a brief moment. His thoughts suddenly became chaotic, but he quickly regained his composure and smiled.

"That sounds good. I used to think of you as the scum of the Asturias family, but now, let me change that nickname, because you’ve surprised me. I’ll call you Little Asturias from now on," said the professor with genuine interest, rising from his chair. "But if you don’t answer the next question correctly, I’ll make you eat your previous defiant words toward me."

"A question? Just don’t ask me how many times you wash your private parts when you take a shower," Lucius replied sarcastically.

Although the professor was annoyed by his sarcastic tone, he approached him and said nothing. "Could you repair any of these tools?" He got straight to the point.

"I can answer that question if you start addressing me as Lucius. I’m no longer an Asturias," Lucius replied.

"Well, are you disowning your last name? I don’t recall you losing that bet." This time, the professor was genuinely surprised.

"They disowned me as their son, so they’re not worthy of being called my family."

The professor nodded slightly. ’This kid has guts.’

Although he was surprised, he didn’t let it show on his face. He simply replied, "Very well. I have no reason to call someone by a name they don’t currently go by."

Lucius smiled. "Well, to answer your question, yes, I can. Any of the ones here."

"That’s a very arrogant answer," the professor replied, staring at him.

Lucius shrugged. "Take it however you like."

For several seconds, the atmosphere between them grew tense. Even Clara and the rest of the students could feel it.

A moment later, the teacher began walking toward the scrap metal. He picked up one of the pieces—which was broken into fragments and whose joints were completely rusted—and looked back at Lucius.

"You’ve got more guts than a buffalo. I admire you a little for that. But there are some things that simply shouldn’t be said, no matter how arrogant you are." The professor threw the tool at him, and it fell to the ground, rolling apart into different pieces.

"Believe it or not, it’s the same tool. I want you to fix it. If you do... I’ll make sure you move up a grade this year. If you don’t... I’ll personally make sure you can never set foot in a hunting ground again. My name is Jake Lakeside."

Lucius looked at the tool, listened carefully to what the professor said, and then smiled.

"I don’t like what you’ll do if I do it. So let’s change that." Lucius replied.

"Change it? Aren’t you interested in moving up a class?" Jake frowned.

"I won’t do it just because you say so; I’ll move up a class because I’m capable. You’re a Lakeside—you have strong power in the hunting grounds, right?"

Jake nodded. "Indeed. We have strong power throughout the region and in other regions as well. When it comes to hunting grounds, just ask any Lakeside and they’ll be able to answer you."

Lucius nodded. "Then you just have to promise me this: that you’ll let me enter any of the hunting grounds where you have power, whenever I want."

Finally, the tension reached a boiling point. The students could no longer listen in silence.

"Is that guy crazy? Is he challenging Professor Jake? Doesn’t he know that Jake is one of the most vindictive professors out there?"

"It’s fine that you’re the new Rising Star, but challenging a Lakeside isn’t smart at all."

"But he’s an Asturias," one of them interjected. "When have the Asturias ever shown respect for other clans? They’re the founders!"

"But didn’t he just renounce his last name? The Asturias will want to kill him, just like the Lakesides!"

"Well... that’s true."

The students didn’t say anything else. They just knew that someone was digging their own grave.

And Professor Jake knew it.

He smiled coldly. "Very well... I’ll promise you that."

"Very well." Lucius’s reply was immediate and came with a smile. "Then let’s get started right away. You made a good choice this time, Professor Jake."

"This is a tool worth restoring." Lucius crouched down and gathered all the pieces. "It’s expensive because it’s one of those high-level tools that requires three specialized Mana Marks to function."

Jake nodded. ’He’s well-informed,’ he thought.

"Do you know which ones they are?"

"The One-Tooth Tiger Mark. The Red Snake Mark, and the Three-Step Jaguar Mark. Do you have any of them, Professor?"

"I have the One-Tooth Tiger Mark and the Red Snake Mark. You should already know how difficult it is to get the Jaguar Mark, and I don’t plan on going out to hunt them, so how are you going to manage? It comes at a high price."

Lucius stared at him. He finally understood what this guy wanted.

Basically, he was giving me a test. And there was only one condition to pass it: repair a tool from scratch.

’He’s providing me with the resources, but he’s asking me to find the most difficult one to pass the first part and see if I’m qualified. Very well. Since I’m going to need your help in the future, I’ll have to complete your test,’ Lucius thought.

"Just give me access to one of your hunting grounds, and I’ll take care of finding that remaining Mark. However, I’ll have to set a condition for you."

"What is it?"

"This girl is coming with me," Lucius said, pulling Clara closer to him. "You may not know this, but she could fix that tool, too."

This time, Jake wasn’t the only one taken aback. Clara turned to look at him sharply.

"Me!?" she exclaimed.

Lucius looked at her blankly. "Of course. You can handle a little damage like this, right?"

’L-little?’ Clara swallowed hard. She tried to say something, but the words wouldn’t come out.

That damage wasn’t little at all!

However, Jake didn’t give her time to correct what Lucius had said.

"Alright, very well. If you both can, then you both can go hunt it. But only one of you can step in to fix it."

"No problem." Lucius smiled. "Well, Clara wants to fix one too, so if you’d like, find another tool to fix it at the same time."

–