After replenishing his mana, Arthur kept hunting in the same pattern. He hunted seven more furred monsters, and that made him level up once and gave him only 5 points of agility. Counting the three he hunted earlier, he hunted ten monsters this day. After absorbing the eighth, however, the monsters stopped giving him any agility points.
It seems he has already absorbed the essence of these monsters, and he needed to hunt others if he wanted to keep getting stronger. With his credit balance increasing $900 for selling 9 mana cores, Arthur's stats looked like this.
[Scholar Guardian's Legacy]
[Level: 4 (22%)]
[Strength: 15]
[Agility: 21]
[Stamina: 14]
[Perception: 10]
[Mana: 4/4]
[Abilities: Beginner Runes Wordsmith (2%), Useable Runes: 5]
[Skills: None]
[Stats Points: 0]
The weird thing is that his strength increased after he went through the process of hunting and resting. He realized that he could get stronger without relying on his legacy. As for his agility, it has broken past the 20 points mark, and Arthur could feel like the world moved a fraction slower than before. Well, he was the one being able to move faster than before.
Arthur kept one mana core because he wanted to try the other part of his ability, permanent runes. He wanted to use the mana core as a medium of energy. He was excited at the prospect of increasing his stats permanently and rushed back home to test it.
His first day at the academy was tomorrow, and he wanted to improve his stats in case he faced any problems. After all, he would be meeting people who awakened since they were 15. They had three full years to learn how to control their ability or their mana.
As he got home, Arthur went to his room after an early dinner and decided to use the rest of the night reading his curriculum and experimenting with his ability. As he closed the door, he grabbed the mana core from his pocket and sat on the bed.
He then used his ability to imprint a [Strength-I] rune, but he stopped before he did that. If his hunch was correct, he needed to fuse the rune with the mana core.
As he Grabbed the core with his right hand, a faint red rune symbol appeared on his left. Arthur moved his hands as they neared, combining the two. With the vibration of both the rune and the core, the rune started moving as if it came to life and began fusing with the core before breaking down and starting to circulate the core. The core then turned ethereal as if it has abandoned its physical form in return for something greater.
[Permanent Rune: Strength-I has been created. Increases Strength stat by 5. Cannot be used on the same person more than once.]
Arthur was thrilled at his success as he thought he would fail. He knew the mana core from an unranked monster was of very little purity, almost being an ordinary crystal. However, it appears that since this was a basic rune, that was enough for it to turn into a permanent rune.
Arthur hesitated no longer as he slammed the rune into his chest as he felt the power rush through him. He opened his stats and saw that his strength was now 20 as well. As the feeling coursed through him, filling with power almost a third of what he originally had, he felt almost invincible.
However, the feeling then faded as he started getting used to it. He calmed down and remembered he was still only a fish in the vast ocean.
[Strength has increased by 5.]
After he mediated and got used to his new strength, he started trying something else. Would a permanent and temporary rune conflict with each other? As he created the [Strength-I] rune using mana, his strength rose to 25 before returning to normal ten minutes later. This time, Arthur didn't feel the excitement. Only a heavy sense of responsibility.
"Why did you give this strength to me, Jizo?" He said, looking at the mirror.
***
The milk tasted sweeter than usual. Amelia frowned as she looked at the milk pack she was drinking. It was her favorite strawberry yogurt, and she drank it more than once per day. Yet today, the taste was a bit different, not that she hated a change in routine.
"You'll burn a hole in it if you keep staring like that." A voice tried to break her focus, but she didn't even listen.
A hand grabbed the milk she was holding and lifted. A redhead boy with blue eyes was examining the milk to see if there was anything noteworthy. Amelia tried to take the milk back, but he easily evaded her hand.
"What do you want, Markus?" Amelia's tone was cold, but that's how she was raised. She subconsciously took her parents' demeanor as she grew up to be another ice-expression person. That's the name people called her family, the Icy Family. None of them were capable of showing emotions even if they feel them.
Knowing her personality quite well, Markus handed her the milk as he finally got her attention before saying. "I heard we'd be receiving a new student today. A transfer at this time directly placed to A-Class, what kind of student did we get?" Markus's eyes easily told his anticipation as he usually found the routine their academy lived to be boring.
"I don't know nor do I care. If he has the ability, it doesn't matter. If he doesn't have it, then he just used his connections and that's a bigger reason that it doesn't matter." Amelia's logic made Markus speechless as he looked for an answer. It was then that a student came in shouting.
"There's a fight near the school gate!" The class was surprised, then confused. Another student who was sitting down answered. "So? Fights are a common thing. We're not middle schoolers anymore." The rest of the class had the same thoughts.
"I know! But the person fighting is wearing the sash for A-Class, but he's not someone we know!" As soon as these words left his mouth, the class stood up and went to the windows. As Markus was the first to dash to the windows, he was able to see two figures surrounded by people. One of the figures wore a blue sash on his uniform, meaning that he was the infamous transfer student.
He couldn't hear them, so he activated his ability, and his ears elongated as his irises dilated. He was soon able to listen to what was going on. He also recognized the person facing the transfer student, someone he knew from B-Class, Isaac, known him as a low-level bully.
"How about we both walk away? I don't want any problems on my first day here." The transfer student said, and only then did Markus see one more detail. It was someone sitting on the ground behind the transfer student. A thin C-Class student with glasses having a nosebleed.
"I never saw you here before, you must be new here? Do you have no idea who I am? Just because you're A-Class…" Isaac said as he was reading the lines of a manga villain.
Markus laughed audibly, and the others looked at him with confusion. It seems the transfer student was also amazed at this as he looked around to make sure that no one was pranking him.
"Really? Are you a six-years-old? Let's just drop this dude. You were the one who started it."
Markus was starting to like this guy more by the second. He was level-headed and mature, unlike most kids here. However, Isaac boiled with rage and activated his ability, and dashed forward. His skin turned red and hardened as he struck with his fist.
The transfer student was taken aback by the sudden attack. It seems he wasn't expecting the opponent to suddenly use his ability. However, Markus could see that he regained his calm and sent a fist to meet the first of Isaac. It was then that a white glow flashed over the transfer student's skin that only Markus could see, thanks to his ability. The two fists met as the forces canceled each other. Isaac rebounded, and the transfer student sent a kick to his ankle, knocking him down. The transfer student then picked up the C-Class student and fled the scene.
Hello ~ Here's today's chapter! I've been uploading none stop for the past few days as I wanted the readers to have a glimpse of the work as fast they can, and also encouraging others to give it a go. I will now focus on a more stable update rate of one chapter per day.
Goal: TOP 200 POWER RANKING!
"I had no idea you attended this place, Noah," Arthur said as he looked at his old friend from middle school. He was coming to the academy when he saw someone shoving his hands into the pockets of another student and taking his wallet.
Arthur was about to ignore it as that was common, and he wouldn't be the hero who stands up for everyone at his own expense. He then saw the student's face and realized he was his old friend from middle school.
"I… I never thought I'd see you today, and here on top of that. Your sash… You're A-Class? Did you awaken a powerful ability?" Noah was still stunned by the turn of events that took place just earlier.
Isaac, the person who always took his money, clashed with his old best friend from middle school, who he hasn't seen for years. Everything was surreal, and even more, Arthur looked different.
Arthur laughed as he said he got here by connections. As he saw Noah staring at his eyes, he realized they were the most significant change that happened to him and proceeded to tell Noah that it resulted from his ability.
"Are you sure you don't need to go to the infirmary?" Arthur asked with worry as he saw Noah wipe the blood off his nose. It seems Isaac had hit him as he was trying to take his money. Noah shook his head and stood up.
"Let me show you around. It's the least I could do for not asking about you all these years." Noah extended his hand, and Arthur took it.
"Don't say that. We both had a lot on our plate." Arthur shook his head, and the two people headed toward the classrooms as they were chatting. After agreeing to meet at the arcade later, the two split up, and Arthur headed toward his class.
As he walked in, Arthur got the class's attention toward him as they began to scrutinize him. Arthur expected this with his unusual circumstances. He found an empty seat and headed there.
"Is this seat taken?" Arthur asked a red-headed guy sitting next to the empty seat.
"Oh, it is. You can sit here with no problem." The student glanced at the seat and replied. As the students didn't bring anything with them, as most classes were recorded online with notes, they didn't need to get anything such as books or notes.
They can just go back home and find everything they need on the website. Furthermore, not many awakeners cared about studying as they did for power assessments.
"Thanks, I'm Arthur." Arthur sat down and kept chatting with him. He found this student to be easygoing and had a good personality.
"I'm Markus. Usually, people say my eyes' color is weird. Yours are on another level… Is that natural?" Markus seemed to be the straightforward blunt type as he asked Arthur a personal question from the start. However, Arthur gave the excuse he gave to others without being offended. The two kept chatting until Arthur felt a person stand beside him.
"That's my seat." It was a blonde female student with ponytail hair. She had black eyes and a cold expression that Arthur could swear that it made the room chillier.
"It is? I thought…" Arthur was confused and turned to Markus, who was trying to hold back his laughter.
He didn't understand what was so funny, and he apologized before moving to another seat. It seemed this girl wasn't picking on him, but Markus playing a prank on the new transfer student.
"Why did you do that?" Amelia sat down with her new strawberry milk as she asked Markus.
"I just wanted to piss him off a bit, but it seems I failed. It seems he's a lot more mature than most students here." Markus shook his head as if he just analyzed Arthur's personality.
"…You're more childish than most students here." Amelia said after being speechless for a short moment. She then glanced at Arthur, who was now sitting in the seat behind her, looking through the window.
***
"Most of you here are aiming to get into Jerano College. Some might have other goals to achieve. Nonetheless, all of that would need your dedication and hard work. Every year, Jerano accepts only 200 students per batch.
They want the elite of the elite. That's why even you, A-Class, are not enough in their eyes. Except, of course, to some of you." The female teacher who introduced herself as Miss Rachel explained as she surveyed the students.
Her gaze lingered for a second on a student sitting at the back who got here by the recommendation of an influential figure, Master Ronin. She wouldn't have known this if not for her father being the principal of this academy.
"As I am your homeroom teacher, I'll be the one guiding you in your college admission process. For today, we'll be having a theory class followed by a training session, and ending with free time for the clubs."
After she explained the schedule for today, as well as introducing Arthur to the rest, Miss Rachel left the room, and some students came over to talk to Arthur, although most kept their distance.
"I'm sorry for earlier, brother. It was a harmless prank." Markus said as he turned to Arthur. The latter smiled and said it was fine. Markus pointed toward Amelia and continued. "This one here is Amelia, known as Ice Milk. You can probably see why she's always drinking milk and is cold all the time!"
Amelia shot him a glare before ignoring the two. Arthur kept chatting with Markus as the latter started introducing the rest of the class. To his surprise, Markus was the top student in the class in theory. The top student in power, however, was Amelia. These two were childhood friends, and Arthur found it amazing that they kept their friendliness even while ranking at the top of the school.
"So, brother, can you tell me why you transferred with only one semester left before the national exams?" Markus finally spilled the beans as he was dying of curiosity. If every person had a major flaw, then Markus's was that he was a curious person since he was little. This made him almost die several times, but Amelia was always there to save the day.
"Well, I'm planning to attend Jerano College, and I figured it would be a lot easier to apply as a graduate than applying directly to the college." Arthur had nothing to hide as he told the two of his plans. As he said that, the two's eyes flashed as even Amelia turned and looked at Arthur. Even though Jerano was everyone's goal, Arthur spoke like he was confident.
They were right. Arthur had confidence in his growth rate. He knew he could become a full-fledged neo-ranker before the start of their exams and might even be able to advance further than that.
Right now, Arthur has awakened, but he was unranked in terms of strength. His body has just awakened, and even if he was able to grow through his legacy, others still had a head-start over him. He wasn't too worried, as he could use his ability to strengthen himself further.
As their theory class began, Arthur remembered why he hated school. No matter how much interest he had, the bombardment of information made him bored. However, he held until the end, and he learned a lot from just one day.
Their class for today was history as they explained how the kingdoms of Yalen, Vernia, and Anerk made a union three hundred years ago, creating the Yalveran Federal Union.
The three kingdoms each had equal governance over the people, and these people can choose the union's president through elections. They had banded together to fight against the appearance of monsters and dungeons.
There were also details about who was a popular figure in the past, the dates, conflicts, etc. As the class ended, Arthur couldn't wait for their training session as he wanted to grow stronger by the minutes. They headed toward the gym, where there were many machines they could train with or compete against each other.
However, their training session was mostly about their fighting skills. There were many capsules where students would lie down to connect to the virtual reality to learn how to fight in different styles.
[Unable to learn the runes.]
Arthur got this message as he tried studying the runes in the capsule, but they were too complicated for the current him. With a sigh, he logged in and started his training for the day.
"Welcome." A virtual teacher stood in front of him. "What do you want to learn?" A list then appeared about all the combat styles he can learn. It ranged from swordsmanship to basic training. Arthur took his time thinking. His father once taught him basic swordsmanship. However, he felt that his ability didn't suit such a style.
Although the runes he could use right now were basic, only strengthening him at best, he knew he could learn more, and they would increase with time. He imagined himself casting multiple runes that charged at his opponent with deadly fire or freezing storm, maybe turn the whole sea upside down.
However, now was not the time for that. His fighting style can change later, but he needs to become stronger now. Arthur chose swordsmanship, and the training began.
Goal: TOP 200 POWER RANKING!