Strongest Noble's Daughter Uses Water Magic

Mock Exam Preparation

After Terranium gave us such a heavy message on what it meant to be a part of Class F, a class filled with commoners and low-class nobles with bad reputation, she left us in the classroom, declaring it to be a self-study session, with the option to just simply leave. Heck, she gave us the option to not attend class at all for the rest of the week until the mock exam. A suggestion... that did not go well with majority of the class.

"She cannot be serious!" Leroy exclaimed. "She's basically saying that we wasted our money for nothing in coming here!"

"Our family supported us when we decided to come here, too. I don't know about you guys, but I am not going back to my dad without paying him back a bronze," Tem said.

"But what can we do? It's not like we can change her mind about this," Belle asked.

"What about the mock exam? Her reason for refusing to help us is because our class is always ranked last. What if we raise our class rank?" Mindy pointed out.

"You say that, but isn't it a team exercise? How can we be a team when the other half of our class doesn't want to cooperate with us?" Hailey questioned.

As she said, the moment Terranium practically concluded class for the day, the nobles and crossbreeds just left with her. Whether it was to study on their own, their irritation that they weren't going to be taught properly, or simply because they did not want to be around commoners, no one knew. However, it did not change the fact that they left rather than stay behind to think their situation through with us.

"This is just impossible at this rate! What are we supposed to tell our folks?!" Austin questioned.

"Nothing," I answered then, as I got up from my seat and walked to the board. I picked up the chalk set by the board and started writing. "It is not as though the professor left us with nothing. Let's review what she told us about the mock exam. To start with, she said the exam is a team exercise, where our teammates are our classmates, right?"

"Yeah. And the objective was to take the opposing team's flags and bring them to our base, while protecting our own," Azalea added.

"So in other words, we need to find a way to reinforce our defenses, while Levi and Mindy snag the flags," Shaun said.

"That sounds easy, if not for one thing," I interrupted then. "I don't remember exactly what sort of magic all of you use, but even if we do use these next few days practicing defenses, the other classes may already be onto that, especially if they plan to target us first, as Professor Greenwood said. In the cases of high-class nobles, especially, you can bet those guys won't go easy on us."

"But we saw their level of power back at the entrance exam. Compared to you, those guys are practically nothing," Leroy pointed out.

I held back the urge to face palm at that, knowing well the truth behind the power of some of the nobles. I was not the only one who noticed, as Mindy actually did face palm at Leroy's statement with a sigh.

"Don't tell me you thought those people were being serious in that exam back there," she said to him, much to our peers' confusion.

"What do you mean?" Shaun asked.

"You tell me. What did you guys focus on when you did that part of the exam?"

"Well... I was wondering how I was supposed to hit the target from so far away, especially when I am more proficient to fighting enemies closer than that distance, and focused on adding more power to my spell," Tem answered. "I wasn't sure if I was going to hit one using a simple spell, but using a spell that is capable of attacking multiple enemies is perfect to use, even though it drains more of my mana."

"Same here," Hailey agreed, as did everyone else.

"That's not what the nobles thought," I said, bringing all attention back to me. "You may focus on power, but nobles- being the egotistical group they are who believe themselves to be better than commoners- focus on one other option; precision. In other words, focus and aim. Rather than using a stronger spell to attempt to take down at least one target, they keep their eyes, their focus, on one target and use a simple spell to take it down."

The commoners all widened their eyes at my explanation.

"Wait... Are you saying none of them went all out like we did?!" Austin questioned.

"Sadly, that is exactly what I'm saying. Not only that, but we also showed them what we are capable of, which only adds on to our disadvantage."

Leroy gritted his teeth in irritation and slammed his fist against a wall. "Damn it! So after all our hard work, we are still being looked down upon by those bastards!" he cursed. "Even though we proved how strong we can really be, to them we're..."

"Hold on, I was not entirely finished," I spoke up. "Although we showed the nobles what we are capable of, that does not mean we showed them our full strength, all our capacity."

The others were puzzled at my statement. "Isn't that the same thing?" Azalea asked.

"Not entirely so. It's only true if we don't do something to improve ourselves now. Thankfully for you guys, you have Mindy."

That made them all the more confused. "Why is that a good thing?" Shaun asked.

"Because I can teach you guys a very effective method in improving your magic," the harpy explained. "The methods shown in books can be done as well, but those take up time. Time that we don't have. Besides, my method also involves you people getting to know one another. If we are to win this mock exam, we need to use up all our time training both our magic and our teamwork. Only then would we have the chance to do anything else."

"That sounds great and all but... what about the rest of our classmates? Not only that but, how are we so sure this will change the professor's mind?" Tem questioned.

"I'll try to talk them into joining," I volunteered. "Believe it or not, what I showed back at the exam was just a portion of my powers."

The others went speechless at my confession. "That was just a portion?!" Azalea gasped.

"How much of a portion?" Hailey asked.

I wondered how to answer that for a moment. I did not want them to know my true origin, not when it was clear that I will never return to it. Instead, I simply said, "Let's just say if you go through with this training, what you showed back at the entrance exam, you will be able to do as easily as breathing air."

That got them more curious about both my full potential and Mindy's training method, as well as got them motivated for the training and the upcoming exam.

"In any case, it looks like we're all in agreement with what to do next. Mindy's training may be either too tough or too boring, depending on the method she choose to use, but I promise you, it will be worth it. In the mean time, I will try to get the rest of our classmates to at least cooperate with us in some way, and see if I can get more information about the exam. The more information we have, the better our chances. Training will be... Hmm... For now, our training ground will be at our dorm. Everyone, dismissed."

At that, the others left the room, Azalea approached me. "By the way, I had been meaning to ask for a while," she said.

"Hm? What's up?" I asked.

"It's just... Did something happen between you and Leia? I don't know, you both just seem a little... tense since your spar at the entrance exam. What happened?"

I held back a grimace at the question asked. I had a feeling she would ask that at some point. After all, Azalea is both my and Leia's friend, and she was there when the two of us were friendly with each other. But... Even so, I could not trust her with the truth about myself. Rather... I was not feeling comfortable about other people knowing the truth about me. At least not just yet. 

"Let's just say... I have a bad history with duke families," I could only say, hoping Azalea would take that and leave it as is.

To my relief, she did just that, as she simply nodded and followed the others out the room. As for me... I have some classmates to speak with.