As the crowd of students slowly thinned around him, he was even able to remember some of their faces or crests they were wearing.
Some lower noble houses and even unimportant children of some higher houses. One of them wore the crest of the Frostes, the seventh-ranked family in the kingdom, but it seemed to be only some bastard of them staying behind, barely even being included in the family tree.
So much potential, yet they wasted all of it. Steven couldn’t stand people like them. They shouldn’t even be allowed to attend this university, but he couldn’t change that.
Inspecting a few more crests and students, he found nothing noteworthy among them. They would all be placed in the Topaz class anyway. From those masses at the start, maybe a few dozen actually make it to the finish line, entering the Jade class.
But the low classes weren’t his priority as of right now. It seemed that the organization was only after people at the Sapphire class or above if the principal could be trusted. That meant everyone below Sapphire—the Jade, Emerald, and Topaz classes—should be safe for now.
He had to catch up to the front without them feeling suspicious of him. Or he could just do his own thing; after all, everyone at the top was already special, so why should he try to act normal?
Letting out a small chuckle, he leaped forward instantly, moving past all those Topaz classes. Right into the first bridge connection towards the village at the bottom of the university.
He could count the people ahead of him easily. There weren’t more than fifty Emerald classes this year.
’’This school truly has gone down; even in my school we had more than that. Maybe it’s the people worrying about the safety of their kids?’’ He asked himself, sprinting past a young guy not older than 16.
What was somebody so young doing here? Was he accepted early? With 16 already running at the Emerald level, it is truly a great feat. But it still wasn’t enough for the geniuses ahead.
Being in thought for too long, he hadn’t paid attention to the road at all, nearly colliding with one of the village houses at the bottom. But his lightning-fast reflexes easily allowed him to move past it without even touching it one bit.
Staring at the side of the wall he hadn’t even touched, he could see the stone had melted from merely coming into contact with the barrier that constantly surrounded his body. As molten lava slowly swam above the stony path. Disrupting the path for anyone behind him.
"Is it getting warmer, or are all of you just feeling the pressure?" He shouted towards the group of people not too far behind him.
Slowly but steadily, he had actually reached his limit of speed he could use. Easily passing everyone beside him, the problem was his late arrival to the race. You can be as fast as you want if you only start the race after somebody has already finished; you can never win.
But there was still time; each time a student finished the road, the school would announce it loudly for everyone to hear. And he hadn’t heard a single word.
Finally passing the student of the Emerald class, the last runner of the Sapphires was ahead of him; the distance to the Emeralds was enormous. As if only stones had been running, and finally an animal entered the race.
A small ant would never concern a cheetah. Yet when Steven approached the slowest Sapphire student, he didn’t overtake her. Instead, he slowed down. Something was wrong with this person.
Normally everyone would be wearing either a crest of some noble family or clothes of a beggar, being a genius from some poor village.
But this person in front of him was hiding everything beneath a reddish golden mantle. Worth more than some houses.
’’Who are you?’’ Steven asked, walking just beside the mysterious person, who turned away from him.
’’None of your business.’’ A quiet female voice answered barely above a whisper.
But that had already been enough for Steven to find out who was running beside him.
"The reddish-gold mantle, the royal crest hidden beneath it, and the way everyone avoids your path... You’re the fourth daughter of the royal family. Merency.’’ He spoke softly; not even he was daring to mess with the royal family so easily. ’’Why are you staying so hard behind?’’
Hearing her name, the young woman pulled her mantle only higher to hide her face more. ’’Can’t you see I am already trying my hardest to stay up here?’’ She sounded like she was just about to cry, but Steven didn’t buy her act.
’’It’s embarrassing for a royal to only be in the sapphire class.’’ She continued sniffing and crying. Even fooling Steven for a single second, but he could feel it.
Her magic was calm like the ocean, nothing like someone who was truly pushing themselves to their limits. Their mana would feel like a raging storm desperately trying to break free from its restraints.
"You’re a good liar, Merency, very good, but you can’t hide your true self." He spoke laughing; it was surreal for him. So many people would beg and murder for potential like this, and she didn’t even touch it. No, it was like she couldn’t feel it herself.
’’Who are you?" Merency spoke, her tone having shifted to something dense without a trace of her act. "You’re no noble, and no one of the lower people would ever even dare to talk to me like this.’’ His voice sounded like a sharp blade about to cut him away.
"I am the one who will win this race; who else?" he answered, smiling. Finally being able to see her true self made him feel happy.
’’You’re just as stupid as talented.’’ She spoke with disdain but also some small part of amazement. ’’You haven’t wondered why the strongest students stopped appearing or changed to a different school?’’
As his smile slowly faded away, he realized what she was talking about.
"You should stay behind and try to keep yourself safe; the professors will handle it, and after it you can still rise to the top." She continued words flowing out of her like a waterfall, but Steven wasn’t having it.
’’They are only able to get rid of them because they stood at the top until now.’’
Finally changing into a sprint once more.
’’If being first makes you a target, just be the one to shoot first.’’