“Rusty? Are you in there?”

  Gwen’s voice echoed through the larger section of her dorm room. She looked under one of the tables, then into one of the closets, and for a moment, concern appeared on her face. Soon, however, the voice of her summon sounded inside her head.

  “I’m in here.”

  Rusty spoke from the adjoining room, and Gwen hurried inside to find him. Relief softened her expression when she saw him merely playing with her toothbrush.

  “I hope you didn’t use that…”

  “No, but it must be quite inefficient to scrub your bodies with these things?”

  Rusty replied in a somewhat bored tone. Almost a week had passed since he was summoned, and he had grown tired of being confined to the dorm. Back where he came from, he could always find something to do. He could craft in the smithy or go hunting in the dungeon or forest. Here, on the other hand, he was forced to wait eight hours until Gwen woke up and took him to classes.

  At first, he thought it would be interesting and enjoyable, but after the void gate incident, students had been forbidden from taking dangerous missions. This left them with little to do. Gwen spent most of her time reading, training her mana meditation, and wandering the corridors, but without combat, it all felt dull. Luckily, they were not short of credits, as after selling the void crystal, they had enough to last them for a whole month.

  “If you don’t brush your teeth, they go rotten, it’s just how things are.”

  Gwen chuckled while taking the toothbrush out of Rusty’s small hand.

  “Similar to corrosion, I went through that when I was younger.”

  Rusty replied, remembering his first form. Gwen nodded in amusement, but then her tone became a bit more serious.

  “We should probably go early today. The inter-class competition is today.”

  She lowered her head again, her confidence clearly wavering. While his summoner had become braver, she still had a long way to go. Luckily, there was a second person in this dorm who seemed to know how to cheer her up.

  “I hope we do well… Ack!”

  Just as Gwen started to lose herself in thought, someone jabbed a finger into her side.

  “What’s with that defeated tone? Of course, we’ll do well. Not only that, we will win and probably break a record!”

  It was Astrella, with Airy perched on her shoulder. Rusty could tell this competition was likely the most important part of his mission, and he needed to focus on it if he wanted to make the most of his time here.

  ‘It should end after this, so this might be my last day here for a while.’

  Rusty knew how the summoning chamber worked. Once the mission was complete, he would be sent back to his Soul Forge. From there, he would create new frames and return to Gleam to continue his slow grind toward his next evolution. Considering how much time it always took, it would be months, perhaps even half a year, before he saw her again. While he found this place boring, he still appreciated her company, and it was clear she had grown attached to him.

  “S-sure, a new record… Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”

  Gwen spoke as she picked Rusty up from the ground while he attempted to move past her on his own two feet. He found himself being carried around like a toy by his summoner, and though he could do little about it, the treatment was becoming tiresome.

  Ever since the void gate incident, Gwen had been clinging to him like a child. She refused to let him out of her sight, as if she believed he might vanish at any moment. Each morning when she woke, she searched the room for him. After the first time he escaped into the central area, she had looked panic stricken, as though she truly believed he was gone.

  From what he understood, she was afraid of becoming powerless again. The few living armor she could use were not enough to place her in B class, since D-rank monsters were something people in this class were either capable of summoning or close to being able to. Even so, he could improve her capabilities by earning summoner points after his return, ensuring she would not be left without support.

  “You always worry too much! With Rusty, we can never lose.”

  Both Astrella and Airy punched the air in a display of confidence, which made Gwen chuckle. Her disposition had become more cheerful lately, but today she looked pale.

  “I think we should probably go.”

  “Yeah, let’s see what those teachers prepared this time. I heard our class lost badly last time, and because of that, two spots opened up for us.”

  Gwen nodded, and soon the two girls were walking out of their dorm. No one knew what awaited them in the class competition, but word had already begun to spread through the corridors. Students from every class lined the walkways, some whispering excitedly, others casting curious glances at Gwen as she passed.

  “They are from B1.”

  “We should go and get some good seats!”

  “We should!”

  To Rusty, who had been here for about a week, this was no longer such a strange phenomenon. It seemed that the humanoids at this academy turned everything into a spectacle for others to watch.

  When he was first summoned, he stood in a large arena, observed by many. The second time, it happened in a closed-off space, yet he later learned that the entire process was still being shown to others. It became clear that people here liked to rank one another by ability, and when someone failed, many were quick to point fingers. It was a harsh and competitive environment, one in which he fully intended to succeed.

  Their group of two continued walking until they arrived at an open-air area. It was a wide space of polished gray stone, and this time there were seats arranged around them, similar to the arena where he had fought his first duel. Above, strange glowing orbs floated in the air. At first, Rusty did not understand their purpose, but then the one in the center began to glow brighter. Within it, he saw two familiar figures, both teachers he had seen before.

  “Please line up everyone. B1 to the left and B2 to the right gate.”

  The more rotund man was speaking. Rusty recalled his name was Harold, the head teacher of class B2, and Quienten stood beside him. Rusty watched in fascination as the large orb above them perfectly mimicked the teachers’ movements, projecting their actions in real time. It was something he had never seen before, though he could loosely place it alongside similar things he remembered from Alexander’s old thoughts.

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  “They are taking out the wheel?”

  Gwen whispered to Astrella, who replied.

  “I hope it doesn’t land on the personal duels. I’d just have to give up.”

  Astrella had no combat-ready summon. While Airy could manipulate things like branches and roots, it was more suited for binding than for attacking.

  “If it comes to that, I’ll leave it all up to you guys.”

  “...”

  Syber was now standing near the two girls as well. Even though he did not seem to appreciate the company, they had gravitated toward him ever since the void gate incident.

  “Well.. well, if it isn’t Aranea Venomridge. I hope you are ready to lose to me like you did last time.”

  As the trio was discussing something, a voice called out from Class B2. It belonged to a large, bearish-looking young man, someone who did not fit the usual image of a summoner but also fully human. His gaze locked onto Aranea, who was considered the leader of their class. The small spider on her shoulder released a strange hissing sound at him, prompting Aranea to pet it to calm it down gently.

  “This time it will be different. You will see!”

  “Yeah!”

  It was not Aranea who spoke, but her two henchmen, Eldric and Aldric. The moment they did, they received a sharp glare from the large student of Class B2, which made them both flinch.

  “Ha, that is what I thought. All bark and no bite!”

  “No more whispering. Line up in order.”

  Before the chatting could continue, Quinten called out to them. Soon, everyone was lined up neatly in three rows, and all eyes fell on the strange wheel positioned between two large teleportation gates. Rusty was too busy staring at the floating orbs to ask about its purpose, but he could at least see that words were written across its surface.

  “It’s starting.”

  “I wonder what it will be!”

  “I hope it’s not just killing monsters, I want to see them fight!”

  While the students were forced to remain silent, the people around them continued to talk among themselves. All eyes were fixed on the wheel in the center, and soon it began to spin. It was divided into several segments with titles such as Personal Duels, Summon Hunt and Territory Control. The wheel spun for a good ten seconds before it began to slow.

  Tick.

  Tick.

  Tick.

  An arrow at the top of the wheel pointed downward as it gradually came to a stop. The chosen words glowed and pushed forward in a shimmering illusion, and the same text appeared on the large floating orbs above.

  “Flag defense and capture?”

  Rusty read the words aloud, unsure of what the selection implied.

  “Oh, thank the stars.”

  Astrella exhaled in clear relief, her shoulders relaxing as she clasped her hands together.

  “Flag defense and capture is much better than personal duels.”

  “I would not be so sure…”

  Syber folded his arms and looked far less pleased.

  “What do you mean?”

  Astrella asked.

  “You will see once we get there.”

  “What is that supposed to mean, you big idiot?”

  Syber turned his head away from her, which only made her angrier. Airy copied her summoner’s furious expression, leaving Rusty even more confused.

  “So, about this competition…”

  Now that the category had been chosen, he finally asked Gwen to explain. The other students reacted with a mixture of emotions. Some looked relieved, like Astrella, while others clearly felt disappointed. From Rusty’s perspective, more students in Class B2 seemed pleased with the outcome.

  “Ah…”

  Gwen opened her mouth to answer, but she was interrupted when the large student shouted and pointed across the arena.

  “Haha, you are going down, Venomridge! You do not stand a chance if it is flag defense! This will be easy.”

  The students from B2 were smirking as if the outcome had already been decided. Rusty did not understand why their opponents were so confident. With his mana sense, he could gauge the strength of most people present, and both classes seemed roughly equal, although he would have given B1 a slight advantage as he was among them. The students around him did not seem to share that opinion, and at last Gwen took the chance to explain.

  “Flag defense and capture is simple. Both teams receive a flag that they must protect. The opposing team must capture it and bring it back to their own camp. A group wins only when both flags are in the same camp.”

  “Sounds interesting.”

  Rusty was intrigued by the event and wondered how it would play out. He realized immediately that the main challenge would be securing both flags at the same time.

  “So, could we hide our flag in my body and then take the other one?”

  He asked because he was not completely sure about the rules.

  “We probably could, but I am not sure that would be a good idea.”

  “Oh, it would not?”

  As he pressed for more details, the two gates nearby began to activate. Each teacher poured magical power into them until a whirlpool of mana formed at the center.

  “Proceed through the gate. The competition will last at most one day. If no one achieves victory by then, the teachers will review the battles and decide the winner. Now go.”

  Quinten urged his students forward. The B2 group was already passing through, and Harold wore a confident grin as if certain of his class’s success. Rusty and the others followed. The sensation of traveling through the teleportation gate reminded Rusty of the void gate, although the place they arrived in was completely different.

  “Is that our flag?”

  Rusty jumped down from Gwen’s shoulders and activated his skill to reveal his true form. His size expanded, and he found himself in his enchanted steel body. Once he was there, his gaze instantly fell onto a rather large pole with a blue flag on it. It had the Academy logo on it and was placed in the middle of what looked to be a small stronghold.

  It reminded him slightly of Ferndale as the walls were similar, only built of sturdier stone. Beside the flag stood another socket meant for the second flag. They would need to bring that flag here and place it inside. Only when both were gathered would the event end.

  This meant that one main strategy presented itself. A group of students would need to defend this flag while another group set out to siege the opposing B2 class stronghold. They would need to attack and defend at the same time.

  The rules allowed the students to remove the flag from the area and carry it along. However, this approach would free the opposing group from the need to attack and would let them focus entirely on protecting their own flag. Such an approach would work only if the two groups were not evenly matched. The defenders naturally held the advantage because they had a moat, guard towers, and battlements.

  There seemed to be many tactics involved in this test. The students would need to plan carefully who would attack and who would defend the area. Rusty, with his metal body, could be placed anywhere, but some of the summons were probably better suited for this terrain.

  The moat was wide and filled to the brim with water. There was one main entrance gate that pointed toward another structure in the distance. They found themselves on top of an elevated space surrounded by a thick forest and other natural barriers.

  ‘Maybe the more agile summons should be the ones to attack, but perhaps I could also ride one of them?’

  Rusty already liked the idea of charging through the forests to fight. Yet his contemplations were interrupted by something he did not expect.

  “What do you dislike about it? It’s obvious that Lady Venomridge will be our leader!”

  “Why would she be the leader? She does not even seem interested in ordering anyone around!”

  Astrella and Eldric, who had confronted Gwen in the earlier seating dispute, were arguing again. The class was split into several groups, and a clear leadership problem had formed.

  ‘Was this what Syber meant?’

  Rusty wondered as he watched the scattered groups struggling to organize. Without a real leader, creating a proper plan would be difficult…