Lord of Charm

Gale didn't think much of the situation. He also didn't mind if a girl was interested in him; ever since he got blessed by the god of charm, most girls were interested in him anyway.

He sat down and gestured to Valentina to sit by his side and she complied with a happy smile.

The four ordered food and Gale found out they were ordering rank 3 dishes for 3 IMG per dish, while he was getting those for free.

"How much do rank 2 dishes cost here?"

"It's 1 IMG per dish. As for rank 1, they're for free. You're quite rich if you didn't even check the dishes under the third rank."

"Haha, I can afford them. Since you eat them too, aren't you rich?"

"Well, kind of. My grandmother is a countess, and their grandfather is a viscount."

"Oh, that's pretty impressive. Are you the heirs of your families?"

"No, there are rarely any heirs in the academy. The mortality rate here is around 4%; out of the 25,000 students present in the academy at the moment, you can expect nearly a thousand to die."

"So why did your families send you here?"

"They didn't. Each of the top 5 academies sends 10% of their recruits here randomly. This academy was built to make sure nobody forgets the basic rule of our world; might make right. The imperial family and the nobles all agreed that the only ones who can't be sent here are the named heirs of the noble families."

"But what is so dangerous about the academy?"

Gale had one duel, and although people could get injured, it seemed impossible for people to get killed in those duels with expert mages acting as judges.

"First of all, there are the duels. Most of them happen in the duels arena, not in a class like yours. The arena only stops the fight when one side admits defeat or loses consciousness, so deaths aren't that rare there."

"Are the nobles fine with the fact that their kids get killed here?"

"Of course not. Mostly, people won't kill a kid of a noble family of similar strength. Do you know why our academy isn't smaller than the rest of the academies despite only getting 10% of their recruits?"

"No, why?"

By that logic, Dream's Peak Academy should've been only 4/9 of the size of the other academies, yet Tim said they were the same size.

"Around 40% of the students here are recruited from other schools like us, we were Midjar Academy's recruits. Around 10% of the students enrolled here as their first choice, either because their families' beliefs align with the school's methodology or because they come from a commoner's background and can't afford the other academies."

"What about the rest?"

"Those are the people with the highest mortality rate in the arena, and they are also the majority in the academy for students under 25. Those are orphans with high affinities that the school's executives found in the streets and brought here. They strive to get stronger and be rewarded by the empire on the battlefield."

Gale found it cruel, but he also understood they had a much better shot at improving their lives compared to the orphans who weren't chosen.

"Since they are taught to fight ferociously from a young age, they sometimes fight to the death in the arena. So out of the deaths in the arena, only 10% or less are nobles."

Gale thought for a moment and decided to ask a question that popped into his mind.

"To be honest I come from the Miyena Kingdom. I've been selected to come here after the imperial tournament for the five kingdoms. I come from an earl's family, but do the titles of the kingdom hold any importance here?"

"I'm sorry, but they don't. However, I'm sure you can get into a viscount family easily by marriage."

Amanda said with a smile, and everyone laughed at the obvious hint.

"Is the arena the only cause of death in the academy?"

"Oh, not at all. It's probably the lowest of them all. There are two more reasons; everyone must take on one military mission every year, and everyone must sell 5 beasts of their rank every year. You will eventually hear about it later."

Satisfied by the answer, Gale decided to finally ask the question that intrigued him the most.

"Do you know something about the academy's records?"

They thought for a moment and the first one to reply this time was Valentina.

"Yes. There are many records, but they are extremely hard to achieve. Some are even in specific challenges; you can see a list of them if you ask Alessa to show you the 'hall of fame'. For example, there's a record to be the youngest to enter the top 10 on the overall list."

Gale decided to check them later and find the records he can break as soon as possible. Since he was 20 years old, he could probably break all the records requiring a young age.

The four finished their meal and it was time to separate. Gale didn't mean to really get a girlfriend because he knew he'd have to cheat on her at some point if he got the opportunity and reason to become stronger.

Ever since he heard he had only around 8 months left before losing his higher-ruler beast status, he felt a sense of urgency to rank up. However, he knew he couldn't just use innocent women to boost himself. Part of him wished to have an excuse to use his abilities, but he was pretending that part didn't exist.

Despite his plans to stay single, he did enjoy their company and planned to befriend them as long as they didn't condition it by dating Valentina.

Since he had no idea what other classes he had, he went back to his apartment and planned to check the hall of fame. As soon as he entered the apartment, he saw a package at the entrance.

"A package of an Alessa watch was accepted. I'm glad you liked me enough to ask for a second me."

Gale heard the now familiar voice of Alessa, and he could imagine a genderless Nina making a smug face. He shook his head to forget the unnecessary thoughts and opened the package.