I nearly choked on my saliva as I stared at T confused about what he meant, he probably sensed my confusion because he opened his big mouth “What you didn't know they were dating? Those two are practically two peas in a pod,” he chuckled as he picked up his bag again “See you later princess,” as he walked off to his room.

‘Princess’ That was awfully annoying, giving a pet name to someone who wants to be rid of your presence entirely. 

And Liliana and Winter are dating? So that explained their unusual closeness…But I guess that was not my business to pry on. If I didn't know best I say I had better stuff to worry about.

Perhaps I should go for a walk. To clear my mind, I had to sign up for an extracurricular activity anyway. I'll do something that would prevent me from having to work with any nobles because they simply see us, commoners, as peasants, objects to be used and discarded. And right now I am in the lion's den. The academy is a dream for nobles because for them it isn't the gates of hell but the ladder to knighthood and becoming a mage. 

I took a magic lift to the entry level where all the bulletin boards were with the club sign-up and if I doubted the way I just followed where a group of students were going which was all in the same direction.

There were a couple of murmurs and it seemed a lot of groups were already formed from last year.

“Are you going to sign up for the highest merits clubs this year?” a girl asked another

“No way in hell that's where all the competitive ones are including Liliana and Winter,” one chuckled

The girl sighed “I guess they’re grinding the points and climbing the ranks,”

So you can get points from clubs…

“They have broken up at least 5 times in one month,” The girl laughed

“Winter surprisingly hot for a commoner and his voice is so deep and dreamy-”

“Better not let Liliana hear that,” 

I felt somewhat grossed out by the gossip I was eavesdropping on, I wasn’t sure what grossed me out more: the fact the two were actually a couple of these girls thirsting over Winter. 

The group of students moving in front of me suddenly stopped as I bumped into one back. Why did we suddenly stop?

“This year I’ll be sure to beat you, cheater, you peasant,” a guy with blonde hair and dark brown eyes snarled at Liliana. The two stood in front of the bulletin board while Winter leaned on the wall nearby and a small crowd surrounded them.

“Marco I won the sun blade fair and square and it's not my problem I’ve dented your pride by beating you in the tournament,” Liliana rolled her eyes 

“Fair and square? You dirty peasant-”

Liliana cut him as she scoffed “Marco I must warn you, you are treading on thin ice don’t forget my peasant self is a higher rank than your nobility ass,” she warned as her violent violet eyes glared at him.

“You only won that time because of your high-class weapon, your nothing without,” 

“You really should work on your provoking skills,” she stated yawning, she simply walked past him to go to Winter who was by the bulletin board. Marco reached out to grab her hair. But before he could Liliana quickly ducked down and swept his leg causing him to lose his balance. A few centimetres away from the floor. He quickly pushed himself up into a back handspring with incredible speed. Using it as a chance to kick Liliana's jaw. Her eyes glowed for a split second while she clenched her jaw grabbing his ankle and slamming him onto the floor effortlessly despite the obvious body size difference. 

He quickly muttered a few words I couldn't understand then something glowed bright around his head while his body came into contact with the floor. Marco wasted no time in getting up, he clenched his fist as it enlarged, swinging it towards Liliana as she dodged even though I'm not sure how since it was too fast for me to witness. There was a loud bang and shake when his fist came into contact with the floor causing a few shakes.

Liliana smirked before opening her mouth to say “Now is a good time to test out a skill I've been polishing,”. 

Her eyes glowed once again, she blew carefully into the air as if she was blowing out a candle. Was she messing around mid-fight? 

I looked at Marco whose eyes were no longer glowing but it was like the night itself, darkening. He threw a punch once again but one that was uncoordinated and messy as it nearly hit the crowd on the other side. 

“Arrg you and your petty tricks,” he screamed as he rubbed his eyes standing still on the spot in a new stance staying alert.

He swung his fist no longer enlarged at an alarming speed however Liliana was quicker as she dodged, Liliana leapt into the air at that moment, and it was hard to see when her speed made her look like a blur. Her legs up coiled around his neck like a snake strangling its prey to death. Her thighs were locked in crushing his neck as he groaned trying to remove her thigh although somehow he couldn’t, not only did Liliana beat him in terms of speed but in overwhelming strength. 

Liliana twisted her hips swinging her body in the air like a ballerina while his legs went in the air sending him to the ground with a loud thud I looked away quickly not wanting to see that scene unfold. 

I took a quick peek again his eyes back to normal as he groaned bleeding from his nose and his head brutally swollen as he lay on the floor.

 “That was a good test,” she chuckled, stepping onto him while he lay on the floor groaning. She laughed as her finger ran through his hair “Bark for me,”.

Liliana was able to beat a noble. It was one thing to hear about but it was another to see it in person. I looked around the crowd to see a mixture of people laughing and some cussing her out obviously coming from the prideful nobles.

“C’mon bark for me,” she repeated as she kicked his face a couple of times resulting in a black eye. Now I understood why T told me it was best that I don’t hang out with her, she was practically the target of every noble. 

“Now don’t forget I am an Aereus knight*  rank you are just a second-class recruit in other words I am two ranks higher than you,” she ordered so fiercely that you would think she was the noble and he was the commoner.

*The seventh rank out of the thirteen ranks

I didn’t know anything much about the ranks system the academy had but the fact that Liliana was higher than some nobles was honestly shocking. It wasn’t impossible to beat a noble or become stronger

“Liliana,” a stern voice called out as the crowd scattered in a blink of an eye with only a few students that were by the board.

It was a teacher. Short, buff with grey hair tied up as she walked up to Liliana with her cane.

“Liliana was is the meaning of this?” The teacher asked pointing her cane toward Marco. 

“Now now before you get angry at me for kicking his ass outside the combat area and time, he started it!” Liliana explained folding her arms. 

“Regardless of whether he started it or not doesn’t matter, you fought outside the combat area and time but also severely injured him,”

“Serverly injure him my ass, I broke a nail while fighting him do you know these were the last ones in the shop,” she whined holding up her nail for the teacher to see, Winter chuckled as he came forward toward Liliana taking her hand to check “I’ll get you new ones,” he said as he turns to the teacher “Miss Smith Marco was the one who was about to pull lily’s hair so in any sense lily did it in self-defence,” he reasoned with a warm smile on his face.

The teacher sighed, she took a look at Marco poking his wounds with her cane “I’ll let you off this time but Winter please try to keep Liliana more in check,” Miss Smith stated 

Liliana scoffed opening her mouth to say something but stopped as Winter stood behind her and whispered something in her ear making her look up blushing.

“Alright, I’ll try to keep on my best behaviour,” Liliana reluctantly complied like a child forced to apologise. Miss Smith shook her head smiling dragging Marco with her as she left.

I turned to the bulletin board taking a look a look at all the clubs and sign-up forms most of them were full already leaving very few open 

magical beast grooming- Tend to newborn beasts - 1 merit per session attended - Full

Potion/medicine brewing - help the academy Doctors - 2 merits per session attended - may keep potions and sell them for points

Pegasi riders - compete in races and festivals  - 5 merits per session attended - 10 merits per race won on top of the 5 merits

Knighthood - compete in duals - 5 merits per session attended - 10 merits per race won on top of the 5 merits

Gardening -  cultivate magical plants -  2 merits per session attended - may keep plants and sell them for points - Full

Archaeology - Discover rare artefacts - 2 merits per session attended - may keep plants and sell them for points

Notice: 1 merits = 10 points

Potion brewing didn’t seem like a bad idea however thinking of Doctor Slyvia being there made my skin crawl so that was a no. Leaving Archaeology, Knighthood and Pegasi Riders Club option. 

“I recommend doing two clubs,” Winter advised standing next to me.

“What do you mean?” I questioned prompting him to add to his vague advice.

“Well besides clubs the only other proper way to earn merits is from exams, awards, competitions or from teachers themselves which is quite hard. And that is only if you don’t want to earn them from gambling, duals in the combat arena, general shady stuff,” He stated as he yawned.

I quickly scanned my student ID on the board with a blue menu popping out of thin air it was one of those fancy mana-gram but there was no time for me to be in awe. I tried to follow the steps on how to use it that I remembered from the student handbook yet it seemed more complex than I thought it would be.

After finishing up I pressed the complete button with a chime sounding as the system disappeared.

Sign up completed.

Clubs: Archaeology, Knighthood and Pegasi Riders 

Huh….wait a second. I only signed up for one club