Chapter 20: Training Arc (1)
It has been 5 days since the attack on Monday.
For the past few days I together with Ciel and Noel, have been training hard under the guidance of miss Monica. We have actually improved quite a bit in our teamwork and have created a formation together with Noel's and Ciel's summoned beasts.
But even today, while on my way to a private training room for teachers, I still think of what happened during that day.
Maybe if I was a little faster to react, I could have saved that girl from getting killed. Maybe if I was a little stronger, I wouldn't have needed my summoned beast to sacrifice his life for me. Maybe if I was just a little stronger I could have fought against the contractors and saved everyone in that room.
Maybe if I was just a little stronger. With that, I checked my status.
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[Name: Arthur Drajar]
[Age: 17]
[Overall Rank: E]
[Strength: E+]
[Agility: E]
[Endurance: E-]
[Magic: F]
[Inteligence: D-]
[Luck: S+]
[Charm: B+]
[Talents]
-[Swordsman]
[Martial Arts]
-None
[Skills]
-[True Colors]
[Artifacts]
-None
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While my stats were a league above those in my grade, it was still not good enough. When contractors sign a contract with a demon, they will receive a slight boost in stats. And during that day, I was overwhelmed by the attackers and if it wasn't because of my summoned beast, I would have probably been dead by now.
Then something came to my memory, the little boy in the corner of the room. I heard from Monica that during that day, he used telekinesis on the shoes of the demon contractors and stuck them onto the ground.
If it wasn't for him either, we could have been in big trouble as we took a while to get ready for the contractor's attacks.
I finally arrived on the training grounds on the fifth floor of the academy, after heading inside I was greeted by Noel and Ciel who were stretching their arms.
I joined them and after 10 minutes the doors to the training ground shut open and Monica came running in.
After taking a while to gather her breath, she calmed down and began to speak.
"Arthur", She said.
"Yes?"
"Normally this wouldn't be allowed but I got you another chance on using the summoning circle"
My eyes widened and my jaw dropped. There was a rule in the academy that said that if the summoned beast were to die, you wouldn't be allowed to use it again because you would be considered irresponsible. This was due to the fact that many would just let their summoned beast do all their work while they rested.
"But how? isn't it against the rules?", I said still perplexed at what she had said.
"Well, you see, while that would be true in most cases since you were fighting against contractors that were let inside due to the academy's negligence, you will be given a second chance at summoning"
With that, we headed onto the fourth-floor summoning room and I once again walked up to the center of the room and infused my mana into the summoning circle. A blinding light appeared and in the middle was a cute little bird with long wings, it had white feathers with red at the end of its huge tail.
I gave a huge smile and asked, "Will you come together with me on my journey? I know I might have failed to protect my partner once but I promise you that I will not betray your trust and protect you even if it is at the cost of my life", Soon tears began to appear in my eyes and I lowered my head.
But soon I heard the sound of something burning and when I looked up a contract was halfway into turning into ashes. I walked slowly towards the little bird and picked it up like a newborn baby.
I looked at others with a huge smile on my face.
And they all gave me a thumbs up, but for some reason, Ciel and Noel seemed to be quite red, which would be most likely because of the blinding light.
I walked up to them and we decided to head back to the training room.
...
I was currently on my way to Ray's workplace, the past two days were gone fast with me spending most of my time reading in the library while also talking with Alicia.
She was acting quite weirdly and blushing now and then, she might have been sick, so maybe I should buy her some as thanks for the clothes.
Soon I arrived at the Branch and like always, I headed straight to Ray who then lead me up to his office.
He sat down on his chair and I sat at the one in front of his desk like always. Since I wanted to get my hands on the book as fast as I could, I immediately got to the topic.
"Do you have the book?", I said with a big grin on my face.
Annoyance flashed across Ray's face but he soon regained his calm and pulled out a book from his dimensional pocket.
I immediately turned on my skill and appraised the item.
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[Two Faced]
(Description): Uses half the mana of the user and is able to change the user's face, hair length, hair color, eyes color, and body properties but cannot change private parts and height. The effects of the change will remain until the user deactivates the skill, it will only consume the initial mana.
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"Hoo, it is a nice skill", I said while stroking my chin.
Ray let out a chuckled and said, "So you are appraiser, kid".
I clicked my tongue and grabbed the book.
"Hahaha, don't need to be angry kid, so, I got you a nice one didn't I", He said with smug written all over his face.
But I had to admit it, not even I thought he would be able to get such a good skill but there is probably a reason for this.
"Yeah, yeah, this is way more than I had originally expected, I see you are great at your work"
"Enough with the praise, now, did you really think I got such a nice grimoire for you, without asking for anything else?"
"Yeah, yeah, I already saw this coming what do you need?"
"Well, you see I did a background check on y-"
"Yeah, I already knew you would get to the point", I said with a bored expression.
I could see Ray's eyebrows twitch but he continued.
"Anyways, I found that you have been doing some weird actions lately, for example, investing in 2 guilds that are not even in the top 100 and also paying 500 million for 45% of the profits from that small clothing store, and I want to know why"
I thought about it for a second but building a relationship with Ray could become quite useful in the future, so I decided to tell him the truth.
"Well you see, the two guilds I invested in are probably going to be rising in the rankings in the soon to be updated guild rankings"
"Hmm, how much do you think they will climb"
"Bright Guild from the rank 503 to rank 17 or maybe even higher while the Black Horse Guild will rise from the rank 157 to rank 12 or 13"
"Huh? come again", Ray was probably in disbelief at my sudden words and had eyes looking for an explanation.
"The Bright Guild and the Black Horse Guild are infested with contractors that have reached the S ranks thanks to their new little buffs, that will make them rise to the top of the ladder"
Ray finally understood the situation but I also added something else to further build our relationship.
"And the Skysword guild will probably go from the rank 56 to the rank 19 or higher"
"Hoo, you are quite interesting, kid, now tell me why you invested in that little store"
"Oh, I invested in [Elegante], because it has good clothing that will probably make it big in the near future"
"I see, and that new shop you setting up?"
"You know even that? Well, it doesn't matter, but I will be building an appraisal shop"
"Hoho, how good is your skill?"
"I will be honest with you, as I know you are able to keep a secret"
"So you also did your research, now tell me"
"I can appraise SS ranked artifacts but to the public, it would only be S+"
Ray's jaw dropped and the room stayed silent for almost a whole minute until Ray finally snapped out of his trance and busted out laughing.
"I knew you were worth investing in kid, from the moment we first met I already knew"
"Well anyway, with that out of the way, you should also probably invest in those guilds if you wish to make money and also try to get a deal with George, he will probably give you a small percentage if you offer him like 1 billion or so"
"1 billion, are you kidding kid?"
"It would probably multiply by 100"
"Then I will be taking my leave now"
"Yeah, yeah get out of here kid"
I opened the grimoire first and then left the room.
'Status'
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[Name: Keith Devans]
[Overall Rank: G]
[Strength: G- (Potential: C)]
[Agility: G- (Potential: C)]
[Endurance: G- (Potential: C)]
[Magic: E- (Potential: A+)]
[Inteligence: C- (Potential: S+)]
[Luck: C+ (Potential: Unchangeable)]
[Charm: D (Potential: Unknown)]
[Talents]
-[Magician]
-[Telekinesis]
[Martial Arts]
-None
[Skills]
-[Truth Eyes]
-[Avid Reader]
-[The Hawk]
-[Spirit Communication]
-[Two Faced]
[Artifacts]
-[(S-)Glomer's Gloves]
-[(S)The 40 Knives of Shi]
-[(SS-)Detective John's Hat]
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Not bad for a magician in the first year.
As I was walking outside I noticed Alicia and after she felt my stare she turned to look at me waved her hand and arrive in front of me in a matter of seconds.
Now that I thought about it, Alicia is always outside of classes, so I decided to ask.
"Uhm, miss Alicia why are you not in class right now?"
Then a nervous expression flashed across Alicia's face and she finally responded.
"You see, most students are currently in an internship in their guilds or mercenary groups and this would last for 6 months but I rejected every guild offer so I had no choice but to stay behind at the academy with nothing to do"
Now that I thought about it, there was a lower and lower number of third-grade students after the entrance ceremony for the first-year students.
"But doesn't that mean you will be losing the grade?", I asked with great confusion.
"Well you see, we are given a month to decide on the guild and get there but after rejecting every single guild, I don't really have anywhere to go", She said while laughing nervously.
I let out a sigh but instantly thought that this was the perfect opportunity to get Alicia into my mercenary group.
"Hmm, I think I can help you with that"
"Really!?", She said while looking extremely excited.
"Why don't we head to a cafe or something first", I said.
"Okay!", She responded, with a lot of energy, which was quite cute.
We then headed to the cafe around the corner.
...
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Onjou
Onjou -I think the reason why Arthur can't see his potential is quite easy to understand but it is not really that important so you shouldn't really care about that.
-I would also like you to tell me if I'm making them talk too much and just make the conversations shorter.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone