The guy lecturing the triplets was almost two meters tall. He was muscular and had short brown hair. His eyes were also brown and of a color similar to his tanned skin.
His appearance was above average, but he wasn't exceptionally handsome. Nonetheless, the reason many people paid more attention to him was his confident demeanor and clothing.
He wore expensive clothes, which had a unique insignia engraved on them. The insignia depicted a large stone fist that smashed on the ground, breaking it apart.
Michael's attention was drawn to the insignia as it was weaved with a trace of origin energy.
'These two seem to hail from bigger families,' Michael thought as his attention moved to the other guy, who nodded when the tall brown-haired student said that he could finish the blood-controlling student with a single strike.
The second guy was not as tall as the brown-haired student, but he was no less intimidating. His build was athletic, but he was more on the leaner side. However, he had heterochromatic eyes that caused Michael to feel the chills. One of his eyes was green while the other was black like the abyss. Even the white of his eyes was much darker than it should have been. It looked quite terrifying.
The student with heterochromatic eyes wore expensive clothes, and he had an insignia engraved on them as well. The insignia was different though, showing a black eye shrouded in golden sparks.
"Even if we can defeat her, she is giving her best to be picked for the Battle Exchange just like everyone else. If you think that the Battle Exchange with the Berserkers and Warlock Centaurs is not worth going all-out to soak your hands in the blood of your opponents, you guys have to learn a lot more about this world," The student with heterochromatic eyes said to the triplets.
Everyone had been taught in school that killing your opponents in the Origin Expanse was essential. It was a necessity to ensure that your enemy couldn't recuperate and prepare thoroughly to attack you when you least expected it.
Being merciful would lead to your doom. That's what everyone had been taught in the past.
Nonetheless, it was never easy to make your first kill. Michael struggled a lot at first as well. His first blood was the worst because he had killed a human, but the next few times weren't necessarily better. He felt bad about killing for a long time until he noticed that he would end up dead the moment he hesitated to deliver the killing blow.
'They've been taught differently from the fundamentals,' Michael thought while observing the two young men. He had already seen their fights before and clearly recalled that they didn't have to do much to defeat their opponents.
Their fights had been quite simple; overwhelming victories that didn't require much effort. That was how their fights looked on the outside.
Michael figured that they had powerful Soultraits, and both their War Runes and their presences were extremely powerful.
Compared to most of the other freshmen, they felt like polished gemstones, whose hidden potential had already been unraveled, while everyone else was still a rough gemstone covered in dirt and impurities.
The triplets' eyes glowed brightly as they continued to talk to the two freshmen. Michael was also interested in their discussion, so he got up from his bench and took a step closer to them.
He cleared his throat and did something he wouldn't usually do; he tried to be an extrovert and socialize.
"Sorry for butting into your conversation, but I unintentionally eavesdropped on some of it," Michael started slowly, trying to find the right words only to realize that he failed miserably, "You sounded very confident when you said that you can defeat the female student, who can control blood, that too, with just one strike."
Michael tried to keep smiling even after he saw that the two students did not like his interjection.
"Are you guys confident to make it into the Top 100 of the freshmen?"
There was no malice in his voice and no hidden intentions. The two students thought Michael wanted to provoke and ridicule them for their statement, but that was not the case.
On the contrary, Michael was merely curious if those two students would make it into the Top 100. According to their response, Michael would get to know whether he would make it into the Top 100, or if he would struggle to make it into the Top 500.
"We should be able to. Why are you asking?" The student with heterochromatic eyes asked, still doubtful of the stranger joining their conversation.
"I just wanted to know how strong the Top 100 will be to see if I have a chance or not," Michael responded with a light shrug.
"That's all?"
Michael nodded.
The brown-haired student saw the determination in Michael's eyes, and he couldn't help but smile lightly.
"To be truthful, I think our parents will travel to Kelta and beat the shit out of us if we're not even going to make it in the Top 100 of the first year. They would probably take away all their investments," He said half-jokingly.
Michael figured that the tall, brown-haired student was a little bit more relaxed. He didn't seem to doubt Michael anymore or mind answering him.
Understanding that Michael wanted to compare his strength with theirs to see if he had a chance to enter the Top 100, the tall student didn't feel like shooing Michael away.
"Are the two of you from big families then?" Michael blurted out without thinking. He was not too sure where he had seen the insignia engraved on the two students' clothes, but they seemed familiar.
The triplets and the two powerful students looked at Michael feeling dumbfounded. It was rare to find an ignorant fool, especially in a place like the Saphirelake Military Academy. However, it looked like they had struck the jackpot.
They were a little curious about the newcomer. Not many were daring enough to jump into the conversation of other people, especially not if two people in the conversation had a presence like the two powerful students. Both of them were already Tier-2 Lords, and Michael could feel heavy pressure radiating from them that reminded him of Fenrir.
At first, Michael thought that it was killing intent, but he was quickly proven wrong when he recalled what Harry taught him before.
'Is that what Harry considered Soul Power overflow?'
When young Lords awakened strong Soultraits, often they could not properly control their Soultraits and the Soul Power they naturally exuded.
What did that mean? The two students had extremely powerful Soultraits which they cannot even control after advancing to Tier-2!
"I'm Lincoln Piedra, from the Piedra family. I'm the descendant of one of the High Nobles," The tall, brown-haired student introduced himself.
He gestured to his friend, who exhaled deeply.
"Zeke Lavita. Also, a descendant of one of the High Nobles," the student with heterochromatic eyes, introduced himself shortly. He saw that Michael's lips parted to ask another question, so he quickly intervened, "Lincoln and I are childhood friends, we're hopeful of making it to the top ten…and yes, our Soultraits are 6-Stars. Our families have been close to each other for the last 500 years. No more questions about our families!"
Michael didn't expect to encounter the descendants of two High Nobles so soon, but it was quite interesting. Zeke Lavita merely revealed information about them that could be procured with some research, but Michael was still thankful that he shared it – though it seemed a little bit forced.
But what surprised Michael the most was that both Lincoln and Zeke had 6-Star Soultraits. Danny was already extremely powerful with his 5-Star Soultrait, so he could not even imagine how powerful the two students in front of him would be.
The publicly known statistics said that 50% of all Awakened will be Starless at first. They would awaken their Soultrait later after accumulating more Soul Power. Most of them would awaken after advancing to Tier-1, but their Soultraits would mostly be 1-Star or 2-Star, at most. The rest of all Awakened had a 30% chance to awaken a 1-Star Soultrait, a 15% chance to awaken a 2-Star Soultrait, and a 4% chance to awaken a 3-Star Soultrait.
The remaining 1% made up the probability of awakening a 4-Star and above Soultrait.
Michael nodded his head at that answer. He could tell how rare and powerful high-star Soultraits were. Nonetheless, he was not shocked to the core. His Soultrait was much stronger than a 6-Star Soultrait. Extraction might only be a 4-Star Soultrait for the time being, but he could use it to procure more Soultraits and improve his existing Soultraits as long as he was given enough time.
Curious about the triplets, he turned to them. Michael expected them to possess high-ranked Soultraits as well.
"We don't have 6-Star Soultraits, but we're the descendants of a Minor Noble," One of the triplets hastily blurted to avoid any misunderstandings, while the second added, "And as you can see we're triplets."
The third snapped his fingers and revealed a mischievous smile before he continued what his brothers left out, "We belong to the Barscht family, and are called Janus, James, and Jarg."
While watching the triplets, Michael felt a little weird. Somehow, he thought that he was watching three monkeys that were trying to act like humans – only to fail miserably.
The triplets had brown eyes and hair. They were rather short with an average height close to 1.6 meters, and their arms were out of proportion. Their hands were a little too big and their arms were too long compared to the rest of the body.
'If they let their hair grow and attach a tail to their tailbone, they can be considered monkeys… Wait! What am I even thinking about?!?' Michael shook his head and returned his attention to Lincoln, Zeke, and the triplets.
But he noticed that their attention had already moved to a young woman who had just arrived at the entrance of the arena. It was Alice Zenovia.
"What is Alice doing here?" Michael mumbled quietly to himself, but the others heard him as well.
Zeke lifted an eyebrow and asked "'Alice'? I know that you're ignorant, but you shouldn't call Professor Zenovia by her first name – if you want to stay alive that is."
'Hmm? Aren't you exaggerating much?' Michael asked in his mind, but he didn't speak his doubts aloud. Yet Lincoln noticed exactly what Michael was thinking based on his expressions. He could only shake his head at that. What kind of reckless fool did they attract today?
"The Zenovia family is one of the Supreme Families. Furthermore, Professor Zenovia is a prodigy with a rare elemental-combat 6-Star Soultrait. Her territory suits her Soultrait perfectly as well, she summoned a Quasi-Legendary Summon from her Fortune Summoning Scroll, and she is likely to become one of the youngest Queens in the Origin Expanse…She is already a Tier-5 powerhouse at the tender age of 25, and has a Tier-5 Glacier Flood Dragon, a mythical creature, guarding her palace. Don't. Fucking. Provoke. Her!!"
Michael could instantly tell that neither Zeke nor Lincoln wanted to get on Alice Zenovia's wrong side, and he could clearly understand why.
"Is she that powerful? I never knew," He mumbled, which caused even the triplets to shake their heads.
"You should really study the nobility, clans, and influential families of mankind," Janus remarked.
"If you don't do that…" James added,
"You will die miserably!" Jarg finished.
"Oh…well…I guess…" Michael said, agreeing that they had a point.
He saw Kaleb walking behind Alice, but Michael could tell that Lincoln, Zeke and the triplets would beat the shit out of him if he were to wave at Kaleb and shout his name loudly.
Just as Michael thought about doing it, Kaleb turned his head in their direction. He recognized Michael with a single glance and tilted his head.
He raised an eyebrow and stared at the odd group before he raised his hand lightly, greeting Michael without saying a word.
Michael smiled and raised his hand to respond with a peace-sign.
Zeke noticed the exchange between the two and frowned.
'What did I just see?'
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