"Whew..." Ruto let out a sigh laced with the mental exhaustion from his first real 'fight.'

Well, it was more like a one-sided beat down, but it doesn't change the fact that this is the first instance he has ever gravely injured someone before, in both lives. It also gave him clarity on how drastically his strength outweighs that of the average student, despite the education they may have received before. Also, the remarks made by the students around him during the fight helped him realize that the school is not simply meant to facilitate the growth of magical prowess. Given that there seems to be an exam to become a second class student, and that there seems to be a physically-oriented exam, it seems that the school tackles a variety of subjects within its walls. His main objective at the moment is to lay low and wait for Asuna and Erin to show their faces inside of the cafeteria.

Ruto couldn't help but smile as the pale tender face of the blonde cat-girl he aimed to make happy appeared in his mind. Thinking of her in the situation he had gotten himself into only made him affirm his aim as he now vowed to himself to protect and comfort her... along with Erin.

'Ah, there they are!' Ruto began to run up to the familiar faces of Erin and Asuna, of which he spotted at the complete opposite side of the cafeteria.

'Is it just me, or are there a lot of people looking at me,' Ruto thought to himself ominously noticing that the room had slowly been getting quieter as students shushed each other.

He had hoped to escape the focus of the school by not sticking around in the same location immediately after the incident. If he could simply keep his appearance from circulating too much, he'd be fine, right? Well, even if his identity were to spread, he was sure he'd be able to reason with the school given the fact that Ruko had instigated the conflict. Ruto had simply seen it through.

*Ding!*, a small bell rang in his ear before something popped up in his field-of-view, as if to mock his naiveity.

[Relationships-1] :

(+) indicates a bond can develop further with a little effort. A person's 'score' shows their level of positive and negative interest in you. These values can be further understood by the small phrases next to their score. Unknown individuals only appear when they harbor extreme emotions towards you.

[Asuna] : 99 (Sibling Love?(+))

[Erin] : 99 (Best Friends(+))

[Tyr] : 60 (Intrigue)

[Ruko] -99 (Fear, Anger(+))

[Unknown] -??? (Hostile, Hate)

[Gentle Woman] ??? (Pity, Motherly Love?(+))

[Nana] (Decea...

Before he could finish reading the notification, Ruto quickly realized its was a naive sentiment as his instincts as a demi-human began to alarm him of a hostile presence approaching him. His body seemed to react to the fear that began to seize him as his body went rigid, but his body's reaction became a secondary concern as an adult-sized fist buried itself with practiced precision into his gut.

"Huuuu-" a wheeze escaped Ruto's small body as it was knocked across the cafeteria.

Coming to a violent stop, his body crashed into the wall ten meters away from where he had been.

"Ugh," a small groan escaped Ruto's mouth as he tried to reoorient himself by standing, but he collapsed back against the wall. He could've sworn two high-pitched voices screaming his name, but the ringing in his ears made him unable to be sure.

"Oho...?" an exasperated sigh escaped the lips of Ruto's assailaint as a more gentleman expression appeared.

'Odd. The small amount of strength I put into that punch should have been enough to incapacitate an experienced adventurer around level thirty, let alone a small commoner child that couldn't possibly muster up strength surpassing a level 10 citizen. The only way to have survived that hit would be that either that kid has hit level fifty, maybe through skill training, or maybe he's still a low level but has been put through some intense physical training with the help of elixirs. Even then, what commoner could possibly afford to spend time doing such training or gaining enough experience to level-up at such a young age? There is no way this kid only gained stats through leveling, I feel kinda bad for the hell he must've been through to have that kind of physical endurance.'

(A/N : Ruto currently has the physical strength to easily break bones of low-leveled people and, with some effort, shatter large boulders. His magic capabilities match that of a level fifty every-day person that has had no physical or magical training, meaning they only gained stats through leveling up, so he'd be able to cast simple magic like \u003cFireball\u003e a few times, but he could never contest with most well-trained individuals above level 25 either way. The potential for stat growth through training is way more than that from natural increases during leveling, but the more stats gained per level is definitely indicative to natural talent. Level 25 and under is considered to be the level of most apprentice adventurers, Level 26-50 is considered to be the level of an average professional adventurer, while anything above 50 is considered to be levels where a person begins true mastery of their talents and skills.)