The Evolution Of A Goblin To The Peak

by Stayrr

The fantasy VRMMORPG, Battle Worlds, is one of the most played games in the world. In this game, there’s a legendary player that could defeat a “Boss” on his own. His name is Blood(In-Game-Name). Blood is a legendary player that surpassed all the players in the world. He completed hundreds of quest and dungeon raids alone. When Blood was going to log off, suddenly the virtual capsu

2. 33

The Evolution Of A Goblin To The Peak #Chapter 33 - Is this the demon that the boy talked about? - Read The Evolution Of A Goblin To The Peak Chapter 33 - Is this the demon that the boy talked about? Online - All Page - Novel Next

Chapter 33 - Is this the demon that the boy talked about?

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Souta and the girl fought at the high-speed battle. Both of them were fast and extremely well versed in using swords.

In just a few seconds, both of their swords collided hundreds of times. It was unbelievable for a village girl to show a power rivaling Souta.

In terms of stats, both of them reached over one hundred.

Souta slashed his sword horizontally and the girl quickly parried his attack.

Souta frowned and he jumped backward taking a distance away from the girl.

It's been five minutes since their battle started and in these five minutes, he hasn't even managed to scratch the girl. Both of them were just attacking and defending, no one managed to hit each other.

Souta took a deep breath and gripped the handle of his sword tightly. The durability of the sword he was holding fell by three points from that exchange blows.

"Stronger than before, huh?" Souta muttered as he fixed his posture. He knew why an ordinary village girl could go toe to toe with him in a battle. The added stats of a dark grade equipment could even make a child beat an a.d.u.l.t. Especially the dark grade [Vajra Sword Saya].

The added stats of the sword was even higher than his incomplete universal grade treasure.

A universal grade treasure that could only increase his stats by ten points? Is that even a universal grade?

There's a reason why the [Soul Blood Earring] was a universal grade treasure, and it was because of its skill, the [Harvester of the Soul]. The added stats using the soul was permanent. Even if he tossed the earring away, the added stats would still be left to him. It was unlike that [Vajra Sword Saya] that once the girl let go of the sword, her stats would go back to the normal stats she has before equipping the sword. Also, there's another skill the [Soul Blood Earring] holds. Once he got the other pair of the earring he will be able to use its other skill.

"Here I go..." Souta charged at the girl and casted [Shadow Bind].

The shadows moved and were about to restrain her when she emitted a strange aura and disintegrated the shadows.

She looked at him in the eyes and slowly raised the Vajra Sword. The blade of the sword emitted a bright crimson light.

"A skill...?" Souta opened his eyes widely and he immediately turned his head and shouted, "Cover yourself!"

He casted [Shadow Bind] and pulled those abnormal people down on the ground. He doesn't want anyone to die as it would fail his quest.

He then turned his head back to the girl. The crimson light got brighter and Souta pointed his sword at her. He casted [Fire Ball] and [Ice Shot] simultaneously.

The girl just slowly slashed the sword in his direction. It was a simple move but the spells he casted disintegrated immediately.

Swoosh!!

The crimson light got closer to him. It illuminated the whole area in crimson color.

"Damn!"

Boom!

A huge explosion occurred that shook the whole area. It caused some rocks in the ceiling to fall down. Thick smoke and dust swept out and covered the area of the explosion.

"Souta!!" Jack and the other adventurers shouted as they covered their eyes with their hands.

After a few moments, all of them put down their hands and all they saw was a huge crater with smoke coming out of it.

The girl looked at the thick smoke before she waved her sword.

The force from the sword blew away the smoke revealing the bloody figure of Souta.

Souta smiled wryly at this. He luckily managed to get out of that attack with just a little damage. Still, that little damage took half of his health points.

The power of that skill was something that he wouldn't underestimate even if a village girl was the one firing it.

The girl has low base stats so she couldn't bring out the power of the Vajra sword. If she really could do that then he wouldn't survive that attack just now.

"I guess this will do for now..." Souta looked at his left arm. The skin of his arm was gone and he could see his bare flesh covered in blood. It was disgusting if he was to say it.

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He only took this amount of the damage because of the preparation he did before. He placed [Mud Slide] in front of the girl so as soon as she stepped forward and slashed her sword her foot sunk through the mud. He then used [Shadow Bind] to pull her down so the trajectory of the slash was slightly off. After that, he used the skill [Stab] on the ground four times before slashing it. He shot the boulder in front of him to block the attack of the girl.

Even with all that it still took his left arm. He couldn't leave because the other people will die if he avoided the attack.

"Tsk! Not bad!" Souta threw the handle of the sword on the ground. His sword broke from the collision and he used his left arm to block the attack after the sword broke.

"Jack! Give me your sword!" Souta shouted.

Jack came back to his senses when he heard Souta's loud voice. He gripped his sword and threw it towards Souta.

Swoosh!

Souta caught the sword and quickly used [Dash] to zoom in the distance between him and the girl. He then used [Stab] four times in a row.

Swooosh!

Swooosh!

The girl lifted up her sword and parried his attacks.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

...

"Graaa!!" The abnormal people growled loudly as the shadows that were binding loosen.

They grabbed the shadows and tear them apart. They all looked at Souta with crazed eyes.

"Guys! Let's stop them!" Jack shouted as he charged towards the group of abnormal people.

"Don't interfere in their fight!"

"I won't let you!"

The scout and the other shouted as they rushed towards the abnormal people.

"I will show you why I become a Rank D Adventurer!" Jack shouted as he released a very powerful mana.

He grabbed the head of the abnormal person and smashed it on the other people.

Bang!

Jack looked up and saw two strong abnormal people going down straight at him.

"Good! Come!" Jack pulled back both of his hands and clashed against the strong abnormal people.

Boom!!

They did everything they could to stop those abnormal people. Even those strong ones were stopped by them.

...

While Jack and the others were fighting those abnormal people, Souta was fighting the host of the [Vajra Sword Saya].

Clang! Clang! Clang!

"I just need to separate the sword from her." Souta closed the distance and slashed his sword.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Metallic sound echoed in the whole area. Sparks flew each time their sword clashed.

"Bind her!" Souta jumped and casted [Shadow Bind].

The girl simply cut the shadows in half.

Swoosh!

Then, her foot once again sunk down in the mud. She raised her sword and she was about to stab it on the ground when Souta once again casted [Shadow Bind].

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"You're quite lucky that it's only a level 5 spell. If [Shadow Bind] is a level 10 spell then you wouldn't be able to cut it with your current powers." Souta smirked and used [Stab] quickly so that she would not have a time to cut the shadows.

The girl wanted to jump away but her right foot was deep inside the mud. She parried his sword attack but then the shadows bind her arms.

Slash!

A cut appeared on her right arm. It caused her to loosen her grip on the sword.

Souta used this opportunity to smashed the Vajra Sword in her hand. But before he could smash the Vajra Sword, the girl opened her mouth widely and screamed.

This was no ordinary scream as there was force behind it.

Souta gritted his teeth and raised his injured left hand to block her attack. Blood burst out of his left hand as the veins inside it exploded. He didn't stop and smashed the Vajra Sword out of the girl's hand.

Clang!

The sword flew in the mid-air before it fell down piercing the ground halfway in.

At the same time, the girl and the other abnormal people stopped moving.

It was because Souta managed to separate the girl from the sword. The [Vajra Sword Saya] was the one who's influencing the other people through the body of the girl, the host of the sword. So the link between them snapped the moment the sword got separated from the girl.

"Ho~" Souta took a long breath as he lowered his hands.

The girl fell down and Souta caught her before she reaches the ground. He looked around and saw the other people falling down like a domino.

Thud! Thud!

"Is it over?" Jack looked around.

"Nice, it was hard to fight them without using a skill to kill."

"At last..."

"Yes!!"

The adventurers started discussing among themselves. Their tone was different from before. It has a hint of happiness.

At the same time, Souta heard a familiar sound in his mind.

Ding!*

[Congratulations on completing the Rescue quest!]

[You've received 10,000 exp, 10 free attribute points, and 2 skill points!]

Ding!*

[Congratulations on completing the Savior quest!]

[You've received 15,000 exp and 3 skill points!]

Souta checked the rewards that he received and felt quite satisfied with it. He then noticed something.

"Hmmm...?"

He only completed two quests and he received a total of four quests before. He finished the herb gathering before and now he completed the other two. It means that he still hasn't fully completed the other quest.

He checked the quest and was surprised.

[Elimination: Find and eliminate the cause of this incident. Rewards: 15,000 exp, 5 free attribute points, 2 skill points]

"Eliminate the cause...?"

Souta quickly turned around and saw the sword was emitting a crimson light. The aura was stronger than before.

"Oi oi! This is not in the game!"

A silhouette of a woman appeared before the [Vajra Sword Saya]. The figure of the woman was red and it has two horns sticking out on the side of its head. It has no face and doesn't have genitals but its figure was like a woman.

"Is this the demon that boy talked about? But this is clearly not a demon!"

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Chapter 34 - Battling the Red Woman

A figure of a woman appeared before the Vajra Sword. Her skin was red in color and there were two horns sticking out on the side of her head. She has no genitals and face.

She was emitting a powerful energy to the point that people could see it with their own two eyes. It was red in color and looked like blood vessels that were pulsing in the air.

"What the hell is this?!" Souta looked at the figure of the woman before the Vajra Sword.

If he wasn't wrong the Vajra Sword doesn't have a skill like this one. It only has three skills and that was the [Crimson Moon, [Cross Moon, and [Possession]. The [Crimson Moon] was the skill that the girl used before, and [Cross Moon] was a combat arts just like the first skill, while the [Possession] was a skill that will increase the user's stats.

"Jack! Be careful this one is different from before! Be ready to wake up everyone and take them away from this place!" Souta said in a loud voice. His eyes didn't leave the woman for a single second. He was wary at this unknown woman who appeared out of nowhere.

The woman reached out her hand and grabbed the handle of the Vajra Sword. She slowly pulled it out and roared in a loud voice.

"Raaaaahhh!!"

The roar shook the entire ground as debris of rocks started to fall down.

"Should I test her out?" Souta muttered and he looked at his stats.

Health: 164/336

Stamina: 81/148

Mana: 120/280

He lost too much health from the attack before and he consumed his stamina because he was fighting none stop since morning. There's only 120 mana left in his mana pool and for him, this was enough to finish some low-level boss.

He could still fight with these stats. Souta lifted up his head and looked at the red woman. He slowly took a step backward and placed the girl in the corner. The girl was the host of the [Vajra Sword Saya].

He then bent his knees and threw himself towards the woman.

He gripped the sword tightly in his hand and swung it toward the red woman.

Swoosh!!

The red woman slightly bent her body backward and avoided his sword by a hair's breadth. She then waved the Vajra Sword in front of her.

Clang!

Souta pulled back his sword quickly and used it to block the Vajra Sword. He felt his hand getting numb when his sword and the Vajra Sword collided.

Tap!

Souta kicked the ground and jumped away gaining a distance. He observed the red woman with his eyes.

From that little exchange, he knew that the red woman was a strong opponent.

He received 10 free attribute points and 5 skill points from completing the two quests. He didn't think that he would use these points as soon as he received it.

He added 10 free attribute points to his intelligence attribute. Warm energy flow in his body as it made him a little bit stronger than before. His mana increased because of the increased in intelligence attributes.

He then quickly checked his skill tree. There were three skills above the [Shadow Bind] spell. They were the [Shadow Spike, [Shadow Blend, and [Shadow Ball].

[Shadow Spike] spell was an attack spell that could pierce the target's body. He could create a total of five shadow spikes with this spell and every level the spikes increases by five. Just like the other spells he had there's no cooldown using this spell.

[Shadow Blend] was a spell that will let him hide his body in the shadow. The darker the place the more he blend in the shadows. He could hide in the shadows for five minutes and once he attacked or took damage the camouflage will be gone. Every usage drained ten of his mana points. The time limit will be longer as the level increases.

[Shadow Ball] was a spell that throws a ball of shadow and he could teleport to the position of the ball of shadow anytime. It cannot be casted repeatedly. Once the [Shadow Ball] was gone only then that he could cast another [Shadow Ball]. As long as the ball was in the field he could not cast it again. Every time it levels up the number of the ball of shadow that he could throw increases.

All of these spells consumed ten mana points per usage.

Above these three spells were four locked spells. He needed to level up one of these three spells to level 5 before he could unlock those spells above.

He used 2 skill points to learn the [Shadow Spike] spell and another 2 skill points to learn the [Shadow Ball] spell.

"This will be enough..." Souta nodded and said loudly, "Jack! Wake up the rest and take them out of here!"

"But... are you sure you can fight her alone?" Jack asked him unsurely. He was sure that the red woman was strong just from seeing the red energy that was seeping out of her body. He still couldn't believe what she was seeing only those strong people's energy could be seen with n.a.k.e.d eyes. Their energy was so thick and dense that people could see it in their own eyes. From his experience, only those Rank C and above could do this.

"Don't worry about it, I'm sure I can do this," Souta replied with a grin while looking at the red woman. "I'm going to start... Here I go!"

Jack and the other adventurers looked at Souta who was battling the red woman. Jack actually wanted to help Souta fight but from his tone, it seems that Souta wanted to fight the red woman alone. They will have a chance to defeat it if they fought together but if they do that who's going to protect these people. If he wanted to help Souta then he should wake up these people as quickly as possible.

"Let's wake them up!" Jack shouted at his comrades.

The adventurers looked at each other and nodded. They went and started to wake up every people in this area.

"Hello! Are you there?" Jack said while shaking the body of an unconscious man.

The man slowly opened his eyes and looked at Jack. "Where am I?" He asked in a low voice. Just from the way he speaks, Jack could tell that the man was tired.

"Hold it for a while! Help me wake up everyone and leave this place!"

Jack knew that these people would become a burden to Souta if they stayed here in this place. It will be hard to fight that red woman if he still had to protect these people.

...

Souta raised his injured left hand and opened his palm. He casted [Shadow Ball] towards the red woman.

A palm-size black ball flew over and speed up straight to the red woman. The [Shadow Ball] still could damage an opponent tho it was close to nil.

Swoosh!

The red woman shifted up her body slightly and the black ball passed over her.

"Good!" Souta suddenly vanished in his position and appeared in the position of the black ball behind the girl.

Swoosh!

He quickly swung his sword as soon as he appeared behind the red woman.

The red woman noticed his arrival and she managed to react quickly by lifting up the Vajra Sword to block his attack.

Clang!

Souta then raised his feet and launched a powerful kick at the belly of the red woman.

The red woman saw this as she moved her other hand and caught his feet.

Bang!

Souta then aimed his palm on her head and casted [Shadow Bind] on her. The shadows moved upwards attempting to strangle the red woman.

The red woman pushed him away and slashed her sword towards the shadows around her.

Souta looked at her as he landed on the ground and casted [Mud Slide]. Casting a spell like this was a very crucial thing as it could save him sometimes and it could also create an opportunity to attack his opponent.

[Shadow Ball]

Three seconds was what he needed before the black ball disappeared. The black ball needed to disappear first before he could cast this spell once again.

"Raaah!!"

The red woman screamed before she jumped in the mid-air dodging the black ball. She raised the Vajra Sword above her head and swung it down on him.

Swoosh!!

The sword only hit the air as Souta disappeared into thin air. The red woman turned around but a sharp object pierced her belly.

Putchi!

She looked down and saw five black spikes burst out of the ground and pierced her body.

"[Shadow Spike," Souta smirked and dashed towards the red woman. He gripped his sword tightly.

"Graa!!" The red woman ignored the spike in her belly as she crossed swords with Souta.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

In terms of strength, Souta knew that he wasn't the red woman's match. Just from exchanging a few blows, he could already feel the numbling sensation in his hand.

He jumped backward and the red woman chased after him. Suddenly, she stopped and Souta revealed a wide smile.

"Oto... Do you know that I've already place [Mud Slide] across the whole place here?" Souta smiled widely as he rushed towards the red woman. "Well, it's not that you understand what I'm saying."

"Grr!!" The red woman swung her sword towards the approaching Souta. Since she couldn't evade, she would just fight him head-on.

Clang!

Souta gritted his teeth as blocked her attack. He saw cracks forming on the blade of his sword. He waved his injured left hand.

[Shadow Ball]!

[Shadow Bind]!

[Shadow Spike]!

The shadows beneath the red woman burst out. It strangled her limbs and pierced her body.

Putchi!!

The red woman ignored her wounds as she looked at Souta with crazed eyes.

"Good!" Souta pulled his sword and executed [Stab] repeatedly.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Holes kept appearing in the body of the red woman. Despite that, there's no blood that was pouring out of her wounds. There were many strange creatures in this world so Souta thought that everything would be possible with her.

After a few moments, Souta stopped as the spells that he casted dissipated into thin air.

"Huff... Huff..." He was extremely tired and he drained his mana to zero. In his current condition, he couldn't even cast a single spell.

Jack looked at Souta and saw the situation. Some of the people already left this place but there were still people left here. It was because they have injuries that they couldn't stand on their own.

Jack sighed as he thought that Souta won the battle. Then he noticed something from the red woman.

"Souta!! She's still alive!!" He shouted as he stood up and rushed towards Souta.

Swoosh!!

Souta lifted up his head and saw the red woman slowly stood up. Even after all that she still stood up.

"Haha, this is bad..." Souta smiled wryly at the red woman.

"Graa!!" The red woman charged at him with great speed. She was still fast even though she has an injured body.

Bang!

Jack appeared in front of Souta and shot a punch at the red woman. He quickly followed it up by kicking.

Bang! Bang!

"Huff..." Souta took a deep breath and looked at the red woman that was battling Jack.

After a few moments, he saw an opportunity and he immediately threw himself on the red woman.

[Stab]!

His sword pierced the shoulder of the woman. The red woman grabbed the sword and her body shook as Jack delivered a powerful blow on her belly.

"Grr!!"

She raised the Vajra Sword. She was about to slash it when an arrow pierced her wrist.

Putchi!

Jack and Souta turned their head. Both of them saw that the other adventurers were going to help them fight.

"We already wake them up!"

"They said that they will go up on their own!"

"Yeah, they said that they will help each other and they don't need us there as you need us more than them."

A grin slowly formed on Souta's face. "Okay, let's finish this one."

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Chapter 35 - Completing the quest

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Souta crossed sword with the red woman. Jack and Souta were the ones fighting in the front while the other adventurers provided support to them.

Jack and Souta jumped backward and several arrows flew straight to the red woman.

Swoosh!

Swoosh!

The red woman just blocked those arrows using her sword before charged towards Souta and Jack.

Jack stepped forward while swinging a double-handed sword in his hands. He borrowed this sword from one of the adventurers so that he could fight in front.

The red woman shifted her body as the sword passed beside her. She then slashed her sword towards Jack but Souta blocked it.

Clang!

Jack let go of the double-handed sword that was embedded in the ground and launched a punch at the red woman. He followed it up by kicking her away so that he could pull out his sword.

Bang! Bang!

The red woman retreated five meters away and Souta chased after her.

Souta was actually worried about the skills of the [Vajra Sword Saya]. Just one skill and he would be done for. But he guessed that she couldn't use it in her current condition.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Souta launched a fierce sword attack on the red woman. He kept swinging his sword in all directions but the red woman still managed to block all those attacks.

Clang!

Souta was pushed back as the red woman parried his attack. The red woman then swung her sword horizontally.

Swoosh!

"Oto..." Souta ducked down and the Vajra Sword flew above him. Then, another arrow flew over and hit the chest of the woman.

The timing was really good. As soon as he ducked down the archer shot an arrow precisely.

The red woman was about to pull out the arrow in her chest when Souta kicked her knees causing her to stumble forward.

It was at that time that Jack appeared and tackled the red woman.

Bang!

The red woman flew five meters away before she rolled on the ground.

"Good follow up." Souta nodded at Jack and he gripped his sword tightly. He jumped in the mid-air attempting to stab the red woman in the ground.

But the red woman opened her mouth widely and an ear piercing sound came out of her mouth.

"Raaaaaahhh!!"

The scream was a sound attack that could damage him.

Souta raised his left hand and the sound waved hit him.

Bang!

Blood burst out of his wounds and Souta just gritted his teeth. He was pushed back by the sound attack. He clenched his fingers around the handle of the sword and threw it toward the red woman.

Swooosh!!

The red woman rolled sideways avoiding the sword. She quickly stood up and raised the Vajra Sword in front of her.

Souta landed on the ground as several arrows once again flew towards the red woman.

Swoosh!!

Swoosh!!

Swoosh!!

The red woman looked at the arrows and she quickly moved the sword in her hands. She blocked all the arrows without letting a single one hit her.

Souta picked up his sword and looked at the red woman with a frown. It was really hard to fight without using a magic spell. He only has [Dash] and [Stab] that he could use in this fight. The other spells were crossed out in his mind as he doesn't have any mana left in his body.

It seems that he needs to work out some of the combat arts that don't use mana. He already planned to get it in the institute but he didn't expect that he would fight an opponent like this when getting the [Vajra Sword Saya]. This quest greatly exceeding his expectation and the difficulty was higher. If he went to get it before becoming a Rank 1 Mage then he wouldn't be able to finish this quest.

It seems that he needed to prepare himself when getting his other equipments. The difficulty of getting those universal treasure was higher than this one. Also, he would postpone his plan to get the other pair of the [Soul Blood Earring].

Souta shook his head and focused his attention on the red woman.

The red woman was walking while staggering. She clearly doesn't have any strength left in her. It will not be long before she collapses on the ground.

"She's tired..."

Souta turned his head and saw Jack walked beside him. He nodded his head in response to Jack's words.

Swoosh!

Swoosh!

Swoosh!

Another load of arrows fire through the air and went straight to the red woman.

"Graa!!" The red woman roared loudly and quickly cut those arrows but unlike before some of the arrows managed to get passed her defense and hit her limbs.

"Let's go Souta, let's finish it!" Jack said to Souta before he started running towards the red woman with a double-handed sword in her hands.

Souta smiled while looking at Jack's figure. He then also dashed towards the red woman.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Jack swung his sword horizontally but the red woman stepped back avoiding the sword. She then quickly zoom in the distance between them and slashed Jack.

A large cut appeared in the left part of Jack's chest and blood spurted out of it. He ignored his wounds and let the sword in his hands fell on the ground.

Clang!

He gritted his teeth and grabbed the wrist of the woman. He opened his mouth and shouted, "Now, Souta finish her!!"

The red woman was about to turn her head to look back when a sword pierced her chest.

Putchi!!

"Good, now you can die!!" Souta grinned and he swung his sword down cutting the red woman in half.

The red woman looked at him even though she doesn't have any eyes Souta knew that she was looking at him.

Putchi!

"Graaa!!" The red woman roared loudly as her body slowly dissipated into thin air leaving only the sword with a crimson blade.

Souta, Jack, and the rest of the adventurers sighed in relief when they saw the red woman faded away.

At the same time, Souta heard a prompt inside his head.

Ding!*

[Congratulations on completing the Elimination quest!]

[You've received 15,000 exp, 5 free attribute points, and 2 skill points!]

Although the fight was hard the reward was great. It gave him another 2 skill points and with this, he could learn the [Shadow Blend] spell in his skill tree. But he wouldn't do so.

He already achieved the first requirements to become a Rank 2 Mage. Learning 3 skills of his specialty "Darkness" was the first requirement. The other one was leveling up one of the three spells to level 10 and once he completed that he would become a Rank 2 Mage. His [Shadow Bind] spell was already level 5 and he just needed to level it up to ten.

Souta looked around and saw Jack sat down on the ground while grabbing the cut on his chest. In that last attack, Jack didn't dodge the attack of the red woman even though he could do so. He chooses to receive it so that he could grab the red woman.

Souta then noticed that he didn't receive any prompt or exp from killing that red woman. He checked his system once again and confirmed his thought. He really didn't receive anything from killing the red woman. If that's really the case then she was still alive.

Souta turned his head and looked at the [Vajra Sword Saya]. It looks like that red woman was the incarnation of the will of the Vajra Sword. The will of Vajra Sword was connected to the skill [Possession] of the sword.

Back in the game, when he used the [Possession] skill the will of the sword was taking his body but that's really not the case as he was still the one controlling his body. It was only written in the description that the Vajra Sword would possessed him. His stats would only increase in the game when using the skill but he doesn't know what will happen right now that everything became real.

He should avoid using the [Possession] skill of the sword for the time being. It will become troublesome if the Vajra Sword really possessed him.

Souta walked forward and grabbed the handle of the Vajra Sword.

"At last, my dark grade equipment..." Souta muttered as he traced the crimson blade of the sword. It was really a beautiful blade.

He hung the [Vajra Sword Saya] on his waist before he turned to look at Jack.

"We should go up now!" He said to Jack and Jack nodded in response.

"We will go first to see if there are people here in this place." The scout said to the two.

"Okay!"

The scout turned around and said, "Let's go, guys!" They went upstairs to see if there were other people here in this place.

Souta walked at the girl and carry her on his back. She was still unconscious and it will take one or two days before she wakes up. She was the host of the Vajra Sword so she took more mental damage than the rest of the people. She was also the first one to become an abnormal person.

"Let's go up!"

Chapter 36 - [Vajra Sword Saya]

Souta met with Yuko on the surface. This time she couldn't help him in this quest as she couldn't even enter the underground base. If she could join the fight she would be a great help to him as she was stronger than Jack in terms of strength but her skills were lower than him. Even with that, just her strength would be great in knocking down those abnormal people as she could knock those people with a single strike.

Souta looked around and saw hundreds of people laying down on the ground. The villagers who did not become abnormal people were helping them.

From the corner of his eyes, he saw the boy from before. He approached him and called him.

"Hey, boy!"

The boy turned around and saw Souta. Then, his eyes widened as he saw the person on his back. That person was his sister.

"S-sister...!" The boy was shocked. After the people in the village came here he also went here to find his sister. He wandered around and couldn't find her sister among those people. He thought that he would not meet his sister anymore.

"Oi oi! Don't cry in front of me. Tell me where are your house and I'll help you?" Souta said to the boy when he saw his watery eyes.

The boy wiped his eyes and nodded at Souta.

"Good." Souta turned his head and saw the village chief was talking to Jack and the rest of the adventurers.

"You already know that there are abnormal people down there, right?"

"Yeah, but I didn't think that the mastermind would there."

"At least you should have told us everything you know before we get down there."

Souta will leave the talking to Jack. He would leave this place for now as he doesn't want someone to bother him.

He looked in the sky and squinted his eyes. It was afternoon as the sun was up at the peak and it's quite got right now. He stepped forward and said, "Yuko, let's go!"

...

The boy guided Souta in their house. The house was small and made of woods. Just from seeing this, he could guess that they were not doing well.

Souta entered the house with the boy while Yuko waited outside. He placed the girl on his back on the wooden bed.

"Don't worry she's fine, she will wake up after one or two days."

Souta said as he sat down in the vacant chair and sighed. The battle before was really great that it drained his mana and stamina. Also, he injured his left arm. It would take a week before he could use it in a battle.

"Thank you, brother!"

He heard the voice of the boy. He lifted up his head to look at him.

"Don't worry about it, well do you have any bandage here?" Souta asked the boy.

"Yes, we have some here!" The boy immediately went to the drawer and took out bandages. He handed it to Souta.

"Thanks..." Souta received the bandages from the boy. He stood up and asked, "Where's your bathroom?"

The boy pointed at the bathroom. Even though Souta was acting like this he still did what Souta said. After all, he was their savior and without him, he wouldn't be able to meet his sister.

Souta washed his left arm and dried it before he wrapped the bandages around his left arm. Washing his wounds gave him unbearable pain and he could only grit his teeth.

After that, he went outside of the house and sat beside Yuko.

She licked his cheek and Souta let her be. He doesn't have the strength to stop what she's doing as all he wanted right now was to rest.

He looked at the blue sky and said, "Do you know Yuko that I'm a powerful person in this world before? At that time, people called me the top ranker."

Yuko just looked at him with a confused expression.

"Actually, I'm quite scared when I first arrived here, no, even now I'm still scared about everything. I just hid it deeply in my heart and treat all this as a game to lessen it." Souta paused for a moment before he continued, "I don't know what am I or why am I here. Even though I could clearly remember the 'me' in the game, I still couldn't remember the 'me' on earth. I only remember my name and some basic things in the past."

"Muu." Yuko tilted her head as she couldn't understand what he was saying.

Souta found it weird that he couldn't clearly remember his past. It seemed that something important happened on the earth before he came here. Although he couldn't remember he still felt that it was very important to him.

"Let's stop thinking about gloomy things!" Souta shook his head. He then grabbed the handle of the sword on his waist and pulled it out.

Shiing!!

This sword was the dark grade weapon, [Vajra Sword Saya]. It was a very powerful weapon among all the dark grade equipment.

The blade of the sword was really beautiful with its crimson color. He registered it as "equip" in the system so that he could saw its details.

Souta felt a huge increase in his stats by requiring the [Vajra Sword Saya]. It was especially great in his dexterity and agility stats. The increase was enormous to the point that he was a hundred percent faster than before, no, more like two hundred percent faster.

[Vajra Sword Saya](Dark): A powerful sword from ancient times. It's said that it was the sacred sword of the Vajra Race. But no one really knows its origin.

Effect: 200 Agility and Dexterity attributes, 50 Intelligence and Strength attributes, 50% physical damage, 80% energy resistance

Skill 1: [Crimson Moon: It created a moon-like slash that could heavily damage the target. Plus 100% physical damage.

Skill 2: [Cross Moon: It could create a cross slashed in the mid-air and the user could control it in any direction. It deals true damage and corrupts the target energy pool. Cost: 50 mana

Skill 3: [Possession: The will of the sword will possess the host and it will greatly increase all the attributes. Effect: 50% to all stats and abilities when activated.

As expected of one of the most powerful dark grade equipment. With these stats, it could make the user became stronger multiple times. Just like what happened to that girl. She's just an ordinary village girl but when she used the sword it made her strong enough to go fight him toe to toe.

Luckily, her movement was that of an amateur and it's very predictable. She was just so fast and could react instantly to his every attack. She wouldn't be able to injure his left arm if not for him protecting the other people. Even with the skills of the sword wasn't enough to defeat him as long as Souta could predict its trajectory.

The strange red woman too. Her strength was strong but it's not to the point that it was overwhelming. He felt that the added attributes of the sword didn't work on her. If that's really the case then she would become stronger than the rest of them and will not have any chance to defeat her.

He wouldn't want to use the skill [Possession] because he doesn't know whether it was the same in the game that it will only increase his stats or like the abnormal people here that the will of the sword controlled them.

This was the only sword he could use right now as the yellow grade sword that he used before only have one durability points.

Durability point. After red grade equipment, the dark and universal grade equipments doesn't have any durability points. A person could only break this grade of equipment by fulfilling certain requirements.

Back in the game, there was a certain guild that used all their resources to fulfill all the requirements needed to break the equipment of the guild master of their rival guild. Fulfilling the conditions was really hard as sometimes it can only be found on other continents.

"It's all worth it." Souta smiled and he hung the sword on his waist. He then stood up and patted his clothes.

Suddenly, the door behind him opened and the boy came out. He looked at Souta before he bowed his head.

"Thank you, for saving my sister. Although I couldn't repay you now, but someday surely I will repay everything for what you did to us." The boy thanked him from the bottom of his heart.

"Don't worry about it." Souta smiled and waved his hand before he turned around. "Let's go, Yuko."

Yuko looked at the boy before she followed behind him.

"Someday, huh?" Souta muttered and he looked in the sky. He doesn't know if the boy could really do it or not. Well, it doesn't matter to him as he didn't do it for him or his sister. He only did it for the quest and the [Vajra Sword Saya].

Souta and Yuko went to the inn that he checked in yesterday. He hadn't slept in this inn last night because of the appearance of the abnormal people.

Now, he could finally relax his tense muscles.

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Chapter 37 - Going back to Ladros City

Souta woke up early in the morning. He groaned as he felt the pain on his left arm. He carefully stood up and went to wash his face. He didn't forget to clean the wounds on his left arm before he left the room.

He went downstairs and ordered a meal for his breakfast. He noticed that the waitress was acting weird as she kept looking at him. She didn't even ask him to pay his bill.

He guessed that the village chief told them that he was one of the saviors of the village. That's why she's acting like that.

Well, he's going to leave this village later so it doesn't matter to him if they knew it or not. It's not that he's not used to it. Back in the game when he became the Commander of the Mechanic Country, a lot of people respect him and kneel to him. Even the nobles of those weak countries bowed down their head in front of him.

After he finished his breakfast, he exited the inn and went to Yuko. He fed her some foods before they went to the plaza.

He saw the carriage of the dwarf was still here and the adventurers we're also here. They were preparing their things before they go to the next village. He looked around and didn't saw any carriage except the carriage of the dwarf. It seems that there's no other merchant that arrived here except for the dwarf.

He actually wanted to take an escort quest going to the Ladros City. That way he will receive some exp even it's too low.

He walked forward and talked to the adventurers. Since they were going to leave, he talked to them. It's not bad to get to know other adventurers as it will also benefit from it. From their conversation, he got to know that they drunk last night. They wanted to invite him but they found that he's already resting.

The dwarf then came out and talked to him. He thanked him for helping the adventurers in protecting the village last night from the abnormal. He let Souta picked one of his merchandise. Souta accepted it and picked a yellow grade sword.

"It's okay, I hope you accept my quest sometimes." The dwarf said to him with a smile.

"Yeah, I will do that." Souta nodded at the dwarf.

"From your strength, it's not that long before you become a Rank D adventurer." The dwarf said as he closed the door and locked it. Inside this door was his products that he was selling.

"Rank D... Well, I'll prepare myself for the promotion quest." Souta said as he rubbed his chin. It's easy for him to complete the Rank D promotion quest with his current strength. Especially now that he has the [Vajra Sword Saya] in his arsenal.

Thinking about the Vajra Sword, Souta couldn't help but caressed the sword that was hanging on his waist.

"Where's Jack?" Souta looked around and asked. He hadn't seen Jack this time.

"He's still sleeping inside the carriage. He got drunk last night and he kept asking if you're going to join the party." The dwarf said as he rubbed his beard.

"I will go now, just thank him for me," Souta said and he waved his hand.

"Okay, I will tell him that." The dwarf nodded.

...

Souta and Yuko went around the village. They bought everything they needed because they were just going to walk their way to Ladros City. There's no other merchant here so he couldn't do some escort quest. Also, there's no public transportation here in this place. This place wasn't advanced enough to have that kind of transportation.

All the villagers that he met were looking at him with respect. They all treat him too well and some of the shops even let him took a thing that he wanted for free. He, saving the village spread out really fast and in just one day almost everyone in the village knew that he was one of the saviors.

"It's pretty convenient, right Yuko?" Souta smiled as he got free things from the shops. They even gave Yuko some foods and fruits that she likes. It made her happy when she received it.

After that, they went back to the inn and packed his luggage.

He organized his things in his room before he checked out. He found that the village chief was waiting for him outside the inn.

"Oh? What's up?" Souta said as he was quite surprised that the village chief was waiting for him outside.

"I just want to thank you for saving this village." The village chief said in a polite tone.

"Ah! About that? Don't worry about it, I already got what I want." Souta said as he waved his hand.

He already got the [Vajra Sword Saya] and that's enough for him. That was the only reason why he came here in this village. If not for that, he wouldn't even bother himself coming here when the class would start this week. Also, he received a lot of skill points this time and that let him learn the two spells from his skill tree. The benefits of this quest were higher than when it was a game. That alone was enough for him.

"Wait!!" The village chief stopped Souta from leaving.

Souta turned his head and asked, "What do you want?"

"I hope you accept this little money from saving our village!" The village chief took out a small pouch and handed it to Souta.

"Hmm..." Souta recalled that the village chief said that he would do anything as long as they save the village. He's not going into details about that but he will gladly accept the money they gave him.

"Okay." Souta reached out his hand and opened the pouch. He saw that it was full of gold and silver coins. He was satisfied with it as this was enough for the tuition fee in the Ladro Institute.

"Thanks for this!" Souta thanked the village chief and placed the pouch inside his pocket. He then turned around and called Yuko.

"You can visit this village anytime you want and we will treat you with hospitality." The village chief bowed his head towards Souta.

Souta walked away and he raised his left hand. "Okay, I'll remember that. If you really want that then build a house for the monster so that Yuko can sleep comfortably."

"Thank you! May God bless our race!" The village chief once again bowed down his head.

"Thanks!" Souta walked away with Yuko.

'Our race, huh?' Souta thought as he looked on the horizon. If the village chief only knew that he's not from the same race and knew that he was a monster then his attitude towards him would also change.

He knew that it's only a matter of time before they knew that he was a monster. The unique energy of the monster, the beast energy, or what they called best feram. At level 40 he would gain that energy and everyone would know that he's a monster. It's the inevitable truth that he already knew a long time ago.

That's why he's going to take all the quests in the institute first. No, he's going to learn without using the system. He will try if he could learn a skill without using the skill points. He's going to use his time in the institute to learn all the things that he needed to know.

The village chief straightened his back and looked at the figure of Souta. His eyes filled with respect and admiration.

"Good luck! I hope you help a lot of people on your journey!" He muttered in a low voice.

...

In the carriage, Jack woke up when Souta left. He stood up and felt dizzy.

"Ah! Damn!" He cursed as he exited the carriage and saw that everyone was preparing to leave.

"Where's Souta?" He asked one of the adventurers.

"Him? He already left a while ago." The adventurer answered his question.

"Damn! That guy! Leaving without saying anything!" Jack cursed.

"Actually, he bid farewell to us saying that he will go back to the city." The adventurer said while scratching the back of his head.

"Ahhh!! Then, why didn't you wake me up?" Jack opened his eyes widely at the adventurer's words.

"Well, you're sleeping here with a satisfied expression so we thought that we shouldn't bother you." The adventurer smiled wryly.

"Damn!! Why would you do that?!"

...

It took Souta and Yuko two days before they arrived in Ladros City. The city was the same as before. Well, it's only been four days so it's unlike that something will change the city.

They went straight to the inn and left there his baggage before they go to the adventurers guild. He still has three days before the class start so he's going to use this time to complete some quests.

Just like that, three days have passed quickly.

It was his first day at the Ladro Institute as a student.

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Chapter 38 - Start of Class 1

Souta woke up early in the morning. He sat on the bed and looked outside the window. As expected a lot of people were already awake at this time. They already start another day of their life even before the sun rises.

"What a good morning..." Souta stood up and stretched his body. This was the start of his class at Ladro Institute so he couldn't afford to be late on his first day. He doesn't want to leave a bad impression on his first day.

After that, he went to wash his face in the bathroom. He also didn't forget to change to bandages on his left arm. The wounds were already closed and Souta guessed that it would take two days before it completely healed.

He then wore a normal white shirt and black pants. He knew that he will get the uniform of the Ladro Institute so he couldn't wear the normal leather armor that he always wore. The uniform of the Ladro Institute was a yellow grade equipment and it has the same grade as his armor. Even though they were of the same grade the attributes he added from the uniform were higher than his leather armor that was made of High Kobold's hide.

He looked around and found the Vajra Sword in the corner of the room. He picked it up and hung it on his waist. There's no weapon ban in the Ladro Institute and every student could bring their own weapon in the Institute. The Institute didn't forbid it as the Institute didn't only teach knowledge but also skills on how to fight and defend themselves. In this world, it's natural for the children to know some fighting skills.

Right now, he only used bandages to wrapped the crimson blade of the sword as it doesn't have any scabbard. He planned to go to a weapon smith and asked a custom made a scabbard for the [Vajra Sword Saya].

After he checked his things thoroughly, he went downstairs to have his breakfast.

"The same as always!" Souta said as he sat down in a vacant chair. He waited for a while before the waitress came out with his order.

The waitress placed down his order on the top of his table. While placing down his order, she opened her mouth and asked him a question.

"You've been out for four whole days, where have you been?"

Souta shrugged his shoulder and replied, "Well, some escort quest to the village around the city."

"Escort quest, huh? It's really hard to become an adventurer." The waitress said.

"At first it's hard but once you get used to it you will find it enjoyable as you will see many things that you wouldn't see in a city like this," Souta said as he picked up the fork and spoon. "Thanks for the food!" He said before he dug down the food that he ordered.

"Enjoy your meal." The waitress said before she left.

...

Souta exited the inn and went to the ranch. He found Yuko there and fed her breakfast.

"Yuko, I'll be going to institute so be a good girl and stay here for a while." Souta looked at Yuko who was munching her food. He reached out his hand and patted her head causing her to whimper comfortably.

He smiled before he stood up. He turned around and departed.

The city was already filled with different kinds of people early in the morning. They have different traits and skin color. Actually, only this part of the city was filled with people as this was close to the market and adventurers guild. It's not like this in the residential area of the city where the folks live.

The Ladros City was divided into five districts and each district has its own huge market and residential area. The population of the city surpassed fifty thousand excluding the adventurers who didn't have permanent living quarters. Actually, Ladros City was one of the smallest city in the whole kingdom and have the lowest population. After all, this city was just a border city.

The Hebrei Kingdom was a large kingdom and it was founded three hundred years ago. It was drawn in the continental map and only huge countries or kingdoms have the right to be drawn there. They were not like small countries or kingdom that can be easily destroyed by some large monster tide or terrorist group.

The Hebrei kingdom has a total of one hundred twenty cities around its territory and border cities were the smallest cities in the whole kingdom, having a population of fifty thousand and only ten thousand of them were military force. The other cities have a population surpassing one hundred thousand comparing to border city it's twice as huge as the border city.

There's a reason why Ladros City was famous throughout the whole kingdom. It was because of the Ladro Institute. Ladro Institute was one of the greatest institutes in the whole southern part of the kingdom. It produces many powerful people such as the Captain of the Royal Guards.

The only reason why Souta knew the ins and outs of the Ladro City was because he did some quests here in the game. If he wasn't wrong it was about the time when the demon invades the continent.

...

Souta entered the weapon shop. He looked around and saw many colorless grade equipment and some of them were yellow grades.

He approached the salesman and said, "I want to order a custom made scabbard for my sword."

"A scabbard, sir?" The salesman was a man with purple color skin. He has a furry purple tail sticking out of his back and his ears were pointed just like an elf.

He must be a half-moon elf and half-beast folk. It's not pretty rare to see a hybrid in huge kingdoms.

"Yes, a scabbard for this one." Souta nodded as he raised the [Vajra Sword Saya].

"Please wait a moment, sir." The salesman said before he went inside a room.

After a while, he came back with a dwarf.

The dwarf looked at the sword in Souta's hand and said, "What a good sword."

"Yeah." Souta nodded. If the dwarf knew that it was a dark grade weapon he would believe his eyes. It was pretty rare to see a dark grade weapon even in a huge kingdom such as this one.

"Can you entrust your sword on me for a while? I will measure its size so that I can make a perfect scabbard for your sword." The dwarf said to him.

Souta nodded and handed his sword to the dwarf. He's actually reluctant to hand the Vajra Sword as he knew that there's a chance that the dwarf would be possessed just like those abnormal people in the Bullmar village. But when he thought that he already defeated the red woman he gave up his thoughts.

He just needed to raised his guard in case the same thing happened. He was sure that he would be able to handle it easily. He would be able to separate the sword from the dwarf in this distance without having much problem.

"You can do it here," Souta said with a serious expression.

"Hey, I'm not going to run away with your sword." The dwarf felt that Souta didn't trust him.

"I'm not worried about that, I'm worried about different things." Souta shook his head.

"And what is it?" The dwarf asked.

"Nothing," Souta replied and didn't say anything more than this.

The dwarf also didn't say anything. He just went to get his measuring equipments and proceeded to do his thing.

After a few minutes, the dwarf finished measuring the size of the scabbard. He gave back the sword to Souta and he talked to Souta about the quality of the scabbard.

The highest grade of equipment that the dwarf could make was blue grade. A blue grade equipment was enough for now.

They proceeded to talk about the prize of the scabbard. Souta accepted the price for twenty gold coins.

"Okay, it will take three days to make that scabbard so you can come back after that." The dwarf said and he waved his hand.

"Okay." Souta nodded and exited the shop. He then heads straight to the direction of the Ladros Institute.

It took him half an hour of walking before he arrived at the gate of the institute.

He looked up at the huge gate before he directly entered the institute. He went to the building where he would receive his uniform.

...

Knock! Knock!

Souta knocked on the door.

"Come in!" A voice sounded inside the room.

Souta grabbed the doorknob and opened the door. He saw that there were other students lining up to get their uniforms.

"Oi! Souta!"

Souta turned his head when he heard someone called his name. He found that Bryan, the one he met in the entrance exam, was in the line with the other new students of Mage course.

"You all came here pretty early, huh?" Souta said as he walked towards the group.

Bryan noticed that Souta's left arm was covered in bandages. "Oi! What happened to you this week that you receive that kind of injury."

"It's actually nothing, it's just that something unexpected happened in the quest that I was completing." Souta shrugged his shoulder.

"Ah! You're an adventurer too!" Bryan raised his voice when he heard Souta's words.

"You too?" Souta looked at Bryan.

"Yeah, I'm also an adventurer even though it's Rank E," Bryan said as he took out his Adventurer's ID.

"Well, I'm also an E Rank," Souta said.

"Okay, I've decided let's do some quest together," Bryan said as he raised his right arm in the air.

"Suit yourself." Souta shrugged and he looked around.

Alice was also here. She was pretty noticeable because of her beautiful appearance but not everyone could approach her as she's giving everyone a cold look. Only this guy, Bryan, have the guts to talk to her.

Even though they only met two times Souta could guess that Bryan was a simple and straightforward person.

He talked to Bryan and the other while waiting for their uniform.

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Chapter 39 - Start of Class 2

After waiting for a few minutes, it's time for Souta and the rest to receive their uniform.

A faculty member assisted them and they received their uniform without any problem.

Souta, Bryan, Alice, and the rest of the mage course students received their uniforms and quickly changed into it.

Souta changed into a white long sleeve and on top of it was a dark blue coat with linings partnered with a blue checkered tie. On his lower body was dark blue pants with black shoes. He was also wearing a dark blue small robe with a wand symbol on the left part of its chest signifying that he was a mage student.

All of these were yellow grade equipment.

Souta smiled and thought that this looks good on him. He exited the changing room and found that Alice already changed into her uniform.

The girls' uniform was the same as the boys except for the mini skirt.

"Already, finish I thought that girls take more time changing clothes than boys." Souta started a conversation with her.

"Don't put me together with other girls as I'm different from them." Alice glanced at him and said in a cold tone.

"Well, suit yourself if you really think that way." Souta shrugged his shoulder and leaned his back on the wall. He saw that Alice started to walk away. He opened his mouth and asked, "Hey, where are you going?"

"To the class." Alice gave him a simple reply.

"We should go together with the rest," Souta said. He felt that this girl wasn't a talkative type. It felt that she's not comfortable talking with other people.

Talking with other people? He's a master in that and if he was to say it all players were master. Always talking to NPC and asking them if they need help just to get a quest. That's what all players in Battle World Online did. One would be lucky if the one they ask was an NPC with a deep background. That way they would get a high difficulty quest with rich rewards.

Ten thousand players were enough to take all the quest in a single city as big as this one. The players would wander around the city asking every people they met if they could help.

Now that Souta thought about it, he felt that their attitude was extremely weird from the perspective of NPC. Helping others without even asking for a reward and completed those quests at the risk of their lives. It's not that the players wouldn't receive a reward. It was the system that rewarded them just like what happened in the Bullmar village. The village chief thought that he was only doing this to help them not for any rewards but he doesn't know that Souta would receive an exp, skill points, and free attribute points for completing such quest.

He couldn't help but grin when thinking about this stuff.

Alice frowned when she saw Souta grinned. 'He must be thinking about some weird things.' She thought.

Then, the door opened and Bryan and the rest of the mage student came out of the room. They saw that Alice and Souta were waiting for them outside the room.

"Sorry for the wait." Bryan smiled wryly when he saw the two waiting for them.

"Don't worry about it," Souta smirked.

"Hmph!" Alice snorted as she turned her head.

"Yosh! Let's go to the class!" Bryan said with a hint of excitement in his voice. He was eager to learn something new in this institute.

He then took out a paper in his pocket. This was the map of the Ladros Institute that he drew.

"Okay, I've found it just follow me guys!" Bryan said in a loud voice. He began to lead everyone to the direction of the class.

"What a simple man..." Souta said with a laugh. He then followed Bryan while putting both of his hands inside his pocket.

"Hmph! What an idiot!!" Although Alice said those words, she still followed behind them.

Souta just laughed at her words.

They left their clothes before in their locker room. Every student here has their own locker and inside it was the things that the school gave them. Notebooks, books, and pens. All of these were provided by the school and it was included in their tuition fee. Also, they didn't just receive a single piece of uniform. They all received three pairs of it.

...

After a few minutes, the group arrived in front of the classroom. They could see that there were students inside the class.

Bryan stepped forward and knocked on the door without hesitation.

Knock! Knock!

After a few moments, a middle-aged man opened the door and looked at them. He has short blonde hair and yellow color pupils. His build was average but he was taller than Souta and the rest of the group. He was wearing a black shirt and black pants with six pockets. On top of his shirt was a dark blue robe with a wand symbol on the back.

Souta remembered that this man was called Bargan and he's also the one who assisted them after they passed the entrance examination. He felt that Bargan was quite familiar to him.

"Although all you know me I would still introduce myself once again," Bargan said while looking at their face one by one. "I'm Bargan, a teacher of the Mage course and your teacher from now on."

"Yes, thank you, teacher Bargan!" Bryan said in a loud voice.

'He didn't tell us his surname.' Souta thought. He really felt that Bargan was familiar to him.

"Come, I will introduce all of you to the other students of class 1-B," Bargan said to them with a smile and he moved his body to the side so that everyone can enter the class.

"Okay, thank you, teacher!" Bryan said and he directly entered the class without hesitation. He was quite excited right now.

"Haha, what an enthusiastic guy we have here!" Bargan laughed.

Souta, Alice, and the rest entered the class after Bryan. Starting with Bryan, they introduced themselves one by one in front of the class.

"I'm Bryan Dagruel, a human and I hope I can learn new things here and get along with everyone!"

"I'm Souta, a halfling..."

"Alice..."

The students inside the class weren't surprised that there were new students coming into the class. Four entrance examinations would be held every month in the institute. The new students would be divided into class 1-A to class 1-I. And this was the time for the class 1-B to received new students. The next batch of the new students would go to the class 1-C. It's a repeated cycle.

Souta, Bryan, Alice, and the rest of the new students sat down in the vacant seat on the back.

Bargan started talking after everyone settled down. He started talking about the introduction and all the lessons that he will teach this year. Also, what should they expect in the class. He also explained the grading system of the institute.

Souta listened to every word that came out of Bargan. He was quite interested in learning the structure of the spells. He took down some important information on his notebook.

"Oho, I'm quite excited to learn all that," Bryan said eagerly.

Souta smirked at his words. Bryan was sitting on his right side while Alice on his left side. He was between the two and the rest of the new students were beside Bryan. It seems that they became close with Bryan easily. Well, with Bryan's personality he wouldn't doubt that Bryan could get along with everyone in the class in just a week.

At the end of the discussion, Souta finally recalled who was Bargan. Bargan Hevifield, the Fire Master of the Melosa War. Twenty years ago, when the Melosa country was trying to expand their territory Bargan became famous as he singlehandedly pushed back the army of Melosa in the western part of Hebrei Kingdom. He was called Fire Master because of his incredibly powerful fire attribute magic. And in version 2 of the game, he defended the Ladros city from the demon along with the chairman of the institute and the city lord.

'I would learn more with this kind of teacher.' Souta grinned when he thought about this. It would be great if Bargan would personally teach him one on one. That way he would learn more about magic.

Alice noticed that he was grinning once again. She really didn't know why would he always smirk or grin. Who knows what kind of things he was thinking.

...

The bell rung and Bargan dismissed the class.

"Oh! Finally! It finished!"

Some of the students came toward Souta and the rest and asked them different questions. Bryan and the two new students were the ones who answered most of the questions. Some of the students asked Alice but she ignored them.

Souta stretched his body and slipped away from the crowd.

"I should buy some fruits for Yuko."

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Chapter 40 - Affinities 1

"Will you believe me if I told you that magic is real, Souta?"

"I won't... if I see it with my own eyes then I would believe it, grandpa!"

"Earth is too brittle and feeble. The things here were too fragile and weak. It's easy to break them. So using magic in this world could even destroy a whole city and that was just a tier 1 spell."

"What are you saying, grandpa? Does magic really exist?"

"Hmm... I won't tell you, just remember everything that I said and you will understand it one day."

"Okay, grandpa!"

"If a two tier-2 spell user fought here in this world then they would destroy the whole continent of Asia. That's how brittle this world is. You know a tier 2 spell user is not even that powerful. The energy here is too thin that's why this world isn't as strong as any other world. If you used an ordinary [Fire Ball] spell here it will burn all the surrounding houses here. The energy and heat coming from it are too strong for this world. I think even a slime would do a massacre in this world as there is no weapon that could stop it except the nuclear bomb."

"Then, grandpa what level is powerful to you?"

"That's a good question, I think it will be the level of Amaterasu and Susanoo. Their level would be considered god-like here as they could easily destroy this world."

"But grandpa they are really a God. I've learned it in school."

"Hoho it seems that you're studying well."

"Of course grandpa, I'm listening well to my teacher."

...

Souta woke up with sweat forming on his forehead. He felt that he dreamed something important but he couldn't recall it.

Lately, he kept having a dream and that dream was important for him. He would understand why he was here in this world or how did he come in this world. Unfortunately, he couldn't remember it as soon as he woke up.

"It would answer all my questions once I remember my dream," Souta muttered to himself. He shook his head and put those thoughts in the back of his head.

He stood up and prepared himself for the class. He went to the bathroom and washed his face before he wore his uniform.

He went downstairs and ordered a meal for his breakfast.

"That uniform...?" The waitress was surprised to see him wearing the uniform of the Ladro Institute.

"Looks good on me, right? I've passed the examination so I'm a student at Ladro Institute." Souta laughed at her reaction.

"I'm surprised..." The waitress muttered.

"The same as always," Souta said with a smile on his face.

"Good luck on your studies." The waitress said to him.

"I will." Souta nodded his head.

After that, Souta left the inn and went to Yuko. He fed her some foods before he went straight to the institute.

...

Souta was on his way to the institute when he met Bryan.

"Oi! Souta!"

Souta turned around and saw Bryan running towards him. "Good morning!" He greeted Bryan. He then said, "You're up early, huh?"

"Of course, I would always wake up before the sunrise." Bryan patted his chest feeling proud.

"I see, I forgot that you're an adventurer. An adventurer always woke up early and do various jobs so that they can earn more money." Souta said as he walked forward.

"We can do quest together if you want," Bryan said as he walked beside Souta. "We're of the same rank so I think it's good that we party sometime. No, we must party as we're also classmates!"

"I don't even know how strong are you and you're saying that you want to party up with me," Souta said as he cast a glance at Bryan.

"Huh? How can you be like that? You don't even trust your classmates." Bryan complained at him.

"Okay, let see... We don't have a class on weekends, right?" Souta rubbed his chin.

"Yeah, why?" Bryan tilted his head in confusion.

"If you're strong enough you can help me in doing something," Souta said to him. Since he was level 18 now and he would reach the level requirements soon, he needed to prepare for his next evolution and complete all the other requirements.

He already has a suitable race for his next evolution. It's still a goblin but it was much stronger than before. He planned to keep evolving as a goblin until he reached the level of the progenitor. That way he would be able to control all the goblins and he would build a kingdom of goblins. All the other species of goblin would worship him like a God and they would do everything that he wanted.

If he wanted to build a kingdom of goblins then it would be suitable for him to establish it in the Dark Forest. Because if he created it in the eastern or western part of the continent the human and demi countries would stop him. But creating it inside the Dark Forest would lessen his influence because of the Monster Lord living there.

There's no shortage of Monster Lord's in this world. Especially in the Dark Forest, the largest forest in the whole continent, where a lot of powerful monsters live. Even the Three Great Country would hesitate to go through that forest. So he would be having a hard time if he wanted to dominate the other monsters.

"Yosh! I can't wait for it!" Bryan said excitedly.

"I don't even know how strong you are..." Souta said.

"Hahaha, don't worry about it. I'm quite strong and you will see it later." Bryan laughed as he patted his own chest.

"Well, let's talk about that later." Souta shrugged his shoulder. He was wondering if Bryan could really help him. That way he would be able to complete all the requirements of his next evolution.

...

The two arrived in their class and Bryan quickly talked to their other classmates.

Seeing this, Souta sighed and he sat down in his seat beside Alice. Alice was already sitting in her seating without saying anything. She's just waiting for the teacher to come here and start the class.

He just glanced at her before he took out his notes and waited for the teacher to come in.

After a few minutes, Bargan entered the class.

"Okay class, sit down," Bargan said as he placed down the book in his hand on top of the table.

The students sat down in their own seat and the class became silent. All of their eyes were focused on Bargan.

"Today, we will check your magical aptitude." Bargan took out a first size transparent orb from his pocket and placed it on the top of the table. "We will thoroughly check how large is your mana inside your body and your affinities to elements using this device. This device is called Magical Scanner and it was developed by the Red Crystal Empire, one of the Three Great Country."

Everyone looked at the transparent orb on top of the table. Some of them knew what it is and some were not.

Bargan looked at them before he continued, "Every creature in this world have affinity to at least one element. It doesn't matter if you're a human, demi, or even monster. As long as you're a living creature you have an affinity to one element."

Everyone nodded at his words. They already knew this thing as this was the basic thing.

"You're affinity will decide your future path of becoming a mage. Of course, not all people followed their affinity. For example, the city lord of Ladros City, Jarvan Detrios. His affinity is dark element but he decided to take the path of the light element opposite of his affinity. It just you will need double effort if you want to master a spell that is not your affinity. Although City Lord Jarvan's affinity isn't light element, he still became a powerful City Lord of Ladros City." Bargan paused for a moment before he added, "One more thing, the effect of your skill will be fifty percent more powerful if you cast a spell of your affinity."

Souta rubbed his chin. He wondered what his affinity and he was interested to know it. In the game, there's no such thing as affinity at all. Every player could learn every skill and spell as long as they met the requirements. They could even pick their own specialty once they got a class.

"About the energy capacity of each person. We will also check it today. We will know how large mana you can store up in your body. There are some races that are born with large energy capacity in their bodies. Such as Witches, Magical Humans, Elves, Mermen, etc. and there are some that aren't born with large energy capacity like Barbarians, Dwarves, Giants, etc."

Souta knew about it. Those races that weren't born with large energy capacity have other traits. Some were born with super strength and some were born with super speed.

"But don't worry about it even if you have low energy capacity as it can be trained. With proper training, a person can expand their capacity and store more energy in their bodies."

In Souta's case, he will just add some free attribute points to his intelligence attribute and his mana capacity will increase.

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Chapter 41 - Affinities 2

"Alright, now that I've finished explaining the details, we will start measuring your energy capacity and affinity," Bargan said as he clapped. "We will start with the first row. Do you understand?"

""Yes, teacher!!"" The students said at the same time. Their voice echoed in the whole classroom. They couldn't hide their excitement.

"I'm first." A petite girl stood up. She has shoulder-length blue hair. Her skin was white as snow and her blue eyes were like a crystal of ice. She wears a white big ribbon on the back of her head. She has a blue thick tail sticking out in her back. Her height was low as she was even shorter than Souta who was a goblin. For your information, Souta was the shortest among the boys in the class. She was the class representative of class 1-B, Lumilia Von Asvares.

"Good, come here!" Bargan nodded at her.

Lumilia walked forward and stopped in front of the transparent orb.

"Just place your hand on top of it and gather your mana." Bargan's voice sounded beside her.

She nodded before she raised her right hand and placed it on top of the transparent orb. She closes her eyes and circulates her mana.

The transparent orb emitted a white light as soon as it made contact with her mana.

"It's okay to remove your hand now," Bargan said to her.

Lumilia slowly opened her eyes and removed her right hand. She saw some changes in the transparent orb. There were two things inside the transparent orb and both of them were color blue. One was like a whirlpool of water while the other one was a solid crystal. And on top of these two were the glittering stars.

"These two things were your affinities," Bargan said while pointing at the two things inside the transparent orb. "You have two affinities and they are Water and Ice. And the small stars in the orb are your magical capacity."

"So teacher what is my magical capacity?" Lumilia asked Bargan. She wouldn't know what's her magical capacity just by looking at these stars.

"A big star like this one is equal to fifty mana and this medium-size star is equal to ten mana while the smallest one is equal to one mana," Bargan explained to Lumilia. "So counting these stars, we would know how large your magical capacity."

There were six large stars, two medium-size stars, and seven small stars. It means that her magical capacity was three hundred twenty-seven. She could store three hundred twenty-seven mana inside her body.

As expected of a demi. They really have a large magical capacity compared to a goblin like Souta. Well, they all have different starting points. Back in the game, a human character was stronger in the first version. It was because the stats added to every level.

A human and demi's added stats were fifteen per level while the ordinary goblin was one per level. The difference was so large that it was impossible to catch up to them without evolution. But not all goblin was weak. Out of all monsters in the whole world, the goblin was a monster that has a lot of subspecies. And most of them were very powerful and brutal.

Back in the Great War, there was even a record that three Goblin Executioner, a higher species of a goblin, killed an a.d.u.l.t dragon and ate its flesh. It was recorded in the library of the Three Great Country. Humans and demis feared this higher species, no, they all feared all the monsters that's why they hunted and killed them when the monsters were still in their first evolution. Even a simple slime was fearful enough as long as it reached the level of higher species. Consuming a whole country was a feat of a really powerful slime in ancient times.

...

One by one the students measured their magical capacity and got to know their elemental affinities. The students' magical capacity was between two hundred and three hundred. And most of their affinity was one and some of them were two like the class rep.

Should Souta say as expected of humans and demis? Their starting point was clearly higher than the monster. No, there were some exceptions about that, like dragons. Dragons were born powerful compare to the other monsters but their evolution was complicated and they would evolve once every twenty years. Other talented monsters would keep evolving in those twenty years and gained the power to slay them. Not every monster evolve as some of them stay in their lowest form and died of old age or in battle. Only a talented monster kept evolving and become a higher species of their kind.

At this time, Alice stood up as it was her time to measure her magical capacity and affinity. She walked forward and stopped in front of the transparent orb. Without saying anything, she raised her right hand and placed it on top of the transparent orb. She poured her mana on her right hand and the transparent orb emitted a white light.

After a few moments, Alice removed her hand and looked at the transparent orb.

Souta looked curiously at her result. He was interested in her as he felt that she was different from the other students in his class.

The result was Alice have darkness and ice affinities, and her magical capacity was four hundred forty-eight. It was the highest recorded in their class. Her reserves were higher than all the students here in the class.

"Oh!!"

"What?!"

Various exclamation sounded in the whole class. They were surprised that a new student has a higher magical capacity than the rest of them. Even Bargan was surprised when he saw this. He knew that she was talented but not to this extent.

Alice was now the top in the class in terms of mana capacity. The second was Lumilia, the class representative.

"Darkness, huh?" Souta muttered. In the entrance examination, Alice only used ice attribute spells. She didn't even use any other type of spells.

Alice turned around and went back to her seat beside Souta. All the students looked at her and Alice ignored them by closing her eyes.

"That's a good result you have there," Souta said and he stood up. "I guess it's my turn."

Actually, he didn't need to measure his magical capacity as he could see it in his system. Even with the added effect of the Vajra Sword he only has three hundred eighty mana. If not for the Vajra sword his mana would be two hundred eighty. He would only do this because of the affinity.

"Good luck, Souta!" Bryan said to him.

Souta walked leisurely and placed his hand on top of the transparent orb. He controlled his mana using the skill [Mana Manipulation] and the orb emitted the same light as before.

Alice who was sitting in the back slightly opened her eyes. She looked at the orb in front of Souta before she once again closed her eyes.

"That's good you're the second highest here!" Bryan's voice sounded.

Just like in the system his magical capacity was the same in the transparent orb. Souta was quite surprised that this transparent orb could accurately measure a person's magical capacity. It could even compare to the system in terms of measurement.

With this, Souta was the highest before Alice and the third was Lumilia as her magical capacity was only three hundred twenty-seven. Everyone looked at him just like what they did to Alice.

Souta saw that his elemental affinity was darkness. Yes, only darkness. The darkness almost turned the whole orb into black.

'Darkness? Is it because of my specialty?' Souta wondered. He already guessed it before but to think that his specialty was really his affinity.

"Well, that's a good result." Souta shrugged and he turned around.

"Not much..." Alice said.

Souta looked at her and couldn't believe that she talked to him. There must be something wrong in her head. He shrugged his shoulder and sat down. He said, "That's already passable for me."

Souta then turned to his right side and patted Bryan's shoulder. He said, "If it's lower than my result then I wouldn't bring you in my quest this weekend."

"Ah? What are you saying? This is not related to my combat prowess. It's just a measurement." Bryan complained.

"Hahaha! I know!" Souta laughed. He noticed that everyone was looking at him and then at Bryan.

They were wondering if Bryan was like him and Alice that have a high magical capacity. Thinking about this Souta couldn't help but smirk. He was wondering what would be their reaction if they knew that he only have a two mana capacity a few weeks ago.

Bryan stood up and walked straight towards the transparent orb. He couldn't hide the excitement in his face.

The orb emitted a light as soon as he placed his hand on top of it. He then looked at Bargan asking if it was okay to remove his hand or not.

"You can remove your hand," Bargan said.

"Okay," Bryan said and he placed down his hand in his side.

Everyone looked at his result. Both Souta and Alice have a high result so they couldn't help but think that Bryan was like them.

And the result didn't disappoint everyone. His mana capacity was even higher than Souta.

Four hundred eleven was his mana capacity. It wasn't that shocking anymore as Alice was still higher than him but still... over four hundred mana capacity was surprising.

And the result of his affinity even shocked Souta who was looking in the back. Everyone opened their eyes widely when they saw Bryan's elemental affinities.

Alice who was in the back also opened her eyes widely. She couldn't believe what she was seeing.

"Four... Four affinities...!" Souta didn't think that Bryan had this kind of ability.

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Chapter 42 - Inner Spell

"Four affinities?!"

Everyone was shocked when they saw the result. Bryan has four affinities and that were Fire, Lightning, Wind, and Wood.

"This is...?" Bargan was stupefied. His eyes opened widely and his mouth hung open. He looked at Bryan and the orb back and forth.

Only a few people have four affinities and Bargan knew it. All those people were extremely powerful individuals. A mage with four affinities was destined to become an influential figure in the future. As long as there's a person that guided him then he would stand at the top someday.

"Hehe, to think that I would meet a person like him here..." Souta laughed and tried to recall if there's a person named Bryan Dagruel back in the game. But to no avail, he couldn't remember a person that has the name Bryan Dagruel in the game.

'This is really something else... The future I know maybe not the same as the future here.' Souta thought with a grin on his face. The present time was going in a direction that he doesn't know.

Even Alice who was always silent was showing a surprised expression on her face.

Bryan turned around and went back to his seat under the gaze of all students in the class.

"How is it? I have a good result, Souta!" Bryan said with a smile.

"Yeah, I didn't expect that." Souta smiled and he closes his eyes. The result was really surprising.

Alice glanced at Bryan with a frown on her face.

The students started murmuring to each other while looking at Bryan. They were talking about his four affinities.

"Silent!" Bargan said in a loud voice causing the students to stop talking. He then continued, "Okay, next."

The person beside Bryan stood up.

"Good luck!" Bryan said to him.

"Y-yeah!" The person smiled wryly. He didn't think that he would get a good result. He's okay as long as it's not bad.

...

After half an hour all of them finished measuring their mana capacity and affinities. All of them have more than two hundred mana reserves and that was good news to Bargan.

They would be able to cast various spells if they have more than two hundred mana reserves in their body. It was enough to last one battle.

A tier 1 spell consumed five to fifty mana per usage. That's why in their current level their mana reserves were enough. They would be able to increase it through training hard until they reached the level where they could cast a tier 2 spell.

...

At lunch break, Bargan went to the principal's office. He reported the students that have talent in his class to the principal.

"Hmm... Is that true? A person with four affinities appeared here in our institute." A middle-aged man with white hair and beard said. He had white fox ears and tails.

He's the principal of the Ladro Institute, Azrim De Reigan. If Bargan was the most powerful mage in the institute then Azrim was the most powerful fighter in the Ladro Institute.

"Yes, principal. Also, three among the new students have astonishing battle prowess and skills." Bargan said as he placed three files on the table of Azrim.

"Good, as long as the students show willingness to learn then we will not hesitate to teach them and provide them with proper resources," Azrim said as he picked up the files and looked at it.

It was the information about Bryan, Alice, and Souta. Only the basic things were written in the files as they have no information about the background of the three students. It means that they weren't the people of this kingdom.

"We don't care about their background as long as they have a skill," Azrim said and he turned his head to the other man in the room. He asked, "Jess, what about you?"

Jess was an elf with blue skin. To be precise he's an ocean elf. Ocean elf was a species of elves that lived in the depths of the ocean. Some people called them mermen or elves of the ocean but only they knew that their origin was an elves not mermen.

"Two of the new students of the swordsman course show great talents," Jess said as he also the files of the new students on top of the table.

"Hmm..." Azrim picked it up and looked at it one by one.

"Our shield course also have new talented students." A man with a huge build stepped forward. He was wearing full plate armor.

"Train them well," Azrim said before he closed his eyes.

""Yes!!""

...

"What should I eat today?" Souta stood up and stretched his body. He felt tired from sitting for a few hours without doing anything.

"Let's go to the cafeteria, Souta!" Bryan stood up and said.

"Okay..." Souta nodded then he looked at Alice. "Want to join us?"

"I'm fine, I brought my own lunch," Alice said to him.

"That's unfortunate," Souta said and he shrugged his shoulder. He wouldn't force her if she doesn't want to join them.

He exited the room with Bryan and the rest of the new students. They bought lunch in the cafeteria and ate it there. While eating, the group talked about the affinities that Bryan has.

"See, then you wouldn't have any problem if you bring me in your quest?" Bryan said as he nudged Souta's side.

"Well, I remember that was only a measurement and it didn't show our combat skills," Souta said as he rubbed his chin.

"Hahaha, you don't have to be envious in my result. You can just praise me." Bryan laughed loudly.

'This guy probably doesn't have any idea how great it is to have four affinities.' Souta thought as he looked at Bryan who was laughing loudly.

He rubbed his chin. This upcoming weekend, he was going on a journey to complete the requirements of his second evolution. His destination was the forest between Hebrei Kingdom and Mali Country. There he would find the Rotten Venomous Green Apple.

Yes, the one he needed was a rotten one. It was one of the requirements of the evolution that he choose. The other one was the flesh of the undead higher than level 20.

Souta shook his head and said, "Let's go back now, the class is going to start."

"Oh? That's right, I forgot about that!" Bryan said.

They went back to their classroom and after a few minutes, Bargan came and he started the class.

...

"Once a person learn a magic spell, the spell would be imprinted in their inner consciousness. A person would build up the structure of the spell and imprint the magic circle in their inner consciousness. The inner consciousness is like the soul of a person but it is also different from the soul. It's inside our mind and we would build the spell there so that we could cast it easily." Bargan explained about the spells to the students.

One of the students raised her hand. She was the class representative, Lumilia.

"What is it?" Bargan said to her.

"Teacher, we could already cast a spell even without imprinting it in our inner consciousness," Lumilia asked.

"Yeah, all of us could cast magic even without imprinting it in our inner consciousness." Bargan nodded at her.

"Then, what's the difference between the two spells," Lumilia asked with a confused expression.

"The spells that people imprinted in their inner consciousness is called inner spell. It was two times more powerful than normal spells. Also, you can make it more powerful by modifying it and arranging the magic sequence in your inner consciousness. You will not need to build the structure of the magic circle when casting a spell. After all, you already have the structure of the magic circle in your inner consciousness." Bargan paused for a moment before he continued, "A normal person could only imprint four magic circle in their inner consciousness. But it is not the same for everyone. Like me, I have imprinted seven magic circles in my inner consciousness. The only problem is that the more you imprinted a magic circle in your inner consciousness the harder the process becomes."

"Okay teacher, I understand." Lumilia nodded at Bargan as she sat down in her seat.

Souta listened to Bargan's words carefully. He doesn't have any idea what's an inner consciousness or imprinting the magic circle. A spell wasn't like a combat skill that could be enhanced through training or repeated use. The thing was... he could enhance the spell by using skill points and he doesn't need to build a magic circle when casting his spells. He just thinks about the spells and the magic circle would automatically pop up.

Souta closed his eyes. The structure of every spells that he learned was in his mind. It was forcefully put inside his mind when he used the skill points to learn it.

In Bargan's description, the inner spell was like the same as the spells that he used. He doesn't need to build up the structure of the magic circle to cast the spell.

Then, what if all of his spells were inner spell and it was already imprinted into his inner consciousness by the system. That's why he didn't need to build up the magic circle when casting a spell.

If it's really like that then he already has nine inner spells. After all, he could cast all of his spells with just a thought.

He just needed to enter his inner consciousness to confirm his guess.

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Chapter 43 - Physical Strength Subject

Souta, Bryan, Alice, and the rest of the students were inside a fifty meters wide room. It was the meditation room of the Ladro Institute.

All of them were sitting in a lotus position with their eyes closed.

Today, Bargan taught them how to enter inside their inner consciousness. Getting inside the inner consciousness was the basis of being a mage. A lot of adventurers already knew how to enter their inner consciousness a long time ago.

Souta confirmed his thoughts. All the spells that he learned using the skill points were already imprinted in his inner consciousness. He could see the structures of every spell that he have inside.

So that's the reason why he could cast a spell with just a thought. It was impossible to cast a spell with building up the magic circle except if a person already built it inside his/her inner consciousness.

Bargan said that he only has seven magic circles inside his inner consciousness but Souta has nine magic circles, and it will increase more in the future as he still has many spells in his skill tree that he hasn't learned yet.

After a while, Souta opened his eyes. Not just him but also the other students. They saw Bargan standing in front of them.

"Next time, I will teach you how to build a magic circle inside your inner consciousness. It is different than building it outside to cast a spell. It is also many times harder and it will consume a lot of your mental strength." Bargan paused for a moment before he continued, "Remember to choose your inner spell wisely because you can't build an unlimited magic circle in your inner consciousness. It told you that normal people could only build four or five magic circles. The difficulty is not that high if it's only your first and second magic circle but for the third and above it's hard. Also, it's better if you choose a spell related to your affinity that way it will become stronger."

'Would I be having a hard time if I build a magic circle manually without the help of the system?' Souta thought as he rubbed his chin. Since he already has nine magic circles in his inner consciousness then building up another magic circle without the help of the system would give him difficulty higher than Bargan.

He still would try it if he can. It's not gonna harm him anyway so why not try it. He's really grateful that he has a system in this world. Without it, he would still be an ordinary goblin trying his best to survive in the Undead Sanctuary.

Speaking of Undead Sanctuary, Souta planned to came back there after he reached his third evolution and gained the best feram. There were still a lot of treasures there especially in the deep floors where the high-level dungeons reside.

He was really lucky that he found the [Soul Blood Earring] easily. No one would notice that there was a secret door in that path as the door was made of the same materials of the walls. Many dungeons have dead-end so people wouldn't become suspicious of that path. Also, no one would have thought that by extinguishing the light of the lantern they would be able to open a secret door. Of course, no one would extinguish a light in a very dark place like dungeon.

...

"Dismiss, you can go to your other class," Bargan said to them before he exited the room.

"Ah! I forgot that we have another class. I thought magic is our only subject!" Bryan exclaimed loudly.

"Ah? Are you an idiot? You thought we only have a magic subject just because you enter the mage course." Souta smirked at Bryan.

"It's not that! I actually knew it before but I was too excited in learning magic that I forgot about it." Bryan complained at him.

"That's what you call dumb, right Alice?" Souta smiled at Alice.

"Hmph! Don't ask me something that you already know." Alice snorted but she still replied to him.

"See... Even Alice knows that you're a dumb one." Souta looked at Bryan and shrugged his shoulder helplessly.

"Even you Alice... " Bryan looked at the two with a helpless expression. He doesn't know how or when these two got close that they could pick up on him.

"Well, let's go to other class now," Souta said as he stood up and patted his uniform. He placed his hand on his chin and said, "If I'm not wrong, our next class is... physical strength and other course will be joining us."

"Physical Strength? I'm confident with my physical power. Did you see what I did in the entrance exam, Souta?" Bryan said while showing his muscles.

"No, I forgot about everyone's match except Alice," Souta said bluntly. He then heard Alice harrumphed at the side.

They went to the changing room and changed their uniform. The boys wore fitted pants and a navy blue tank top while the girls wore a tight blue shirts and black leggings.

...

The mage class 1-B students went to the training ground of the institute. They remembered this place. This place where the physical examination held. Here in the training ground, they met the students of the shield course.

Souta rubbed his chin while looking at the students of the shield course. Most of them have huge build and males. There were only six females among the forty-seven students of shield course class 1-A. All of them were armed with different size shields.

"Whoa! That's hot!" Souta said in a low voice while looking at the girls of the shield course. He could see that the girls of the shield course have abs.

Alice tied her long silver hair in a ponytail and she turned her head. She saw Souta casting a glance on the girls of the other class.

"What are you looking, Souta?" Bryan suddenly said beside him.

"Nothing. You wouldn't understand it even if I tell you." Souta shook his head and turned to look at the man in the front.

The man has cat ears and tails. He was wearing a white jersey. This man was their teacher in this subject. He was holding a thin notebook in his left hand. He was not as huge as the other students in the shield course. He was only a head taller than Souta but he was the most powerful person here.

"I could guess that he was going to test our strength." Souta grinned and he stretched his body.

"Test our strength?" Bryan looked at Souta.

"Yeah, he's going to test our strength." Souta nodded at Bryan.

"Quiet! Don't talk in front of the teacher!" Lumilia, the class rep, shouted when she saw her classmates talking to each other with a loud voice.

"I don't know what test it is but I'm sure it's related to physical strength. Well, it doesn't matter as I'm going all out anyways." Souta ignored the class rep and said while stretching his body. He was quite excited in doing some exercise. He hasn't used his strength ever since he obtained the [Vajra Sword Saya].

Thinking about the Vajra Sword, Souta couldn't help but caressed the sword on his waist. The [Vajra Sword Saya] was inside the custom made scabbard that he ordered.

He found a figure blocked his vision. He looked up and saw that it was the class rep, Lumilia.

"What is it, class rep?" Souta asked her.

"Can you talk without raising your voice?" Lumilia looked at him with a fierce expression. Then, she looked at Bryan and said, "You too!"

"Huh?" Souta turned his head and looked at Bryan. "Did I talk that loud?"

"...yeah." Bryan just nodded. The class rep always reprimanded him when he was talking out loud in the class. It was not the first time that class rep reprimanded him.

Souta looked at Lumilia and said, "Okay, I get it, I'm just excited."

Then, he found that Lumilia was still in front of him.

"What?"

"Nothing!" Lumilia shook her head and she walked away.

Souta looked at her back and said, "What a weird girl..."

"I know." Bryan agreed in his words.

"Okay! Everyone look at me!" A voice sounded in the whole training ground.

Souta turned his head and saw that it was the teacher.

"I'm Alex Ventilorna, as you can see I'm a cat person and your teacher in physical strength subject!" The man introduced himself as Alex Ventilorna. "This is our first meeting so I don't have any idea who's strong among you so I will test you!"

"Looks like I'm right," Souta smirked when he heard the words of Alex.

Alex opened the thin notebook in his hand and said, "We have three hours so list down all your names here in this notebook. Separate the female and male."

He handed the thin notebook in the student nearest to him.

After a few minutes, all the students finished listing down their names in the thin notebook.

Alex looked at it for a while before he closed it. He looked at the face of his students before he opened his mouth and said, "I will create a mini-tournament and the one who wins all the battle can do what they want in my subject. I will arrange your name and after this, we will start immediately so prepare yourself."

His words shocked everyone. They didn't expect such a thing to happen in physical strength class. They started to murmur among themselves.

"What?"

"A tournament?"

"We're going to fight?"

No one anticipated this thing even Souta. Souta only guess that the teacher was going to test them but he didn't know how would he do that. He didn't expect that it was through a tournament.

Souta stopped moving as he heard a familiar sound in his mind.

Ding!*

[Quest Triggered!]

[Tournament: Fight and win in the tournament. Rewards: (Base on your ranking)

"Oh? Then, I really shouldn't hold back." Souta grinned.

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Chapter 44 - Battle Start!

"Just you know this is a physical strength subject so any usage of mana is forbidden," Alex said to the students with a serious expression.

"But teacher we're a mage..." A girl from the mage class said. If they didn't use mana then they were bound to lose in this fight. A mage without mana was pretty much a trash.

Alex raised his eyebrows at the words of the girl. He opened his mouth and said, "Huh? What are you saying? I just said that this is physical strength subject so it's natural that all of you will use your physical strength, not magical strength." He paused and looked at everyone's face before he continued, "This is not a magic subject. This is physical strength subject. Did you get it? Just from the name of the subject, one would understand what we'll do so why ask such a question."

Souta smirked inwardly. Physical strength was not a problem for him as his strength stats were even higher than his intelligence stats.

"A mage should at least have some physical power. What will you do once you drained your mana? Wait for your opponent to kill you? or wait for someone to rescue you? You should've at least have the physical strength to run away so that you wouldn't become a burden to your comrades... if you have some." Alex said in a loud voice.

"Well, that's true..." Souta said in a low voice. If the mage doesn't know how to defend himself when he runs out of mana then he/she was going to become a burden to his/her comrades.

Alex clasped both of his hands and said, "Okay, we will start the battle so be prepared." He then turned around and placed a blackboard in front of the class. He listed the matches of the tournament on the blackboard.

Souta, Bryan, Alice, and the rest of the students looked at the list on the blackboard.

"My battle..." Souta turned his head and looked at the class rep, Lumilia. "Is with a class rep and it is the first match."

Bryan also looked at the class rep. He saw that Souta will fight Lumilia in the first match.

"What about you, Bryan?" Souta asked Bryan who was looking at Lumilia.

"Hmm... How to say this... It's not from our class." Bryan said. He doesn't know who's the one he's gonna fight. The name was unfamiliar to him so he could guess that it came from the shield class.

Souta then turned his head to Alice and asked, "What about you Alice?"

"Hmmph! The same as him." Alice closed her eyes. She seemed that she's not going to answer if he asked another question.

Souta smiled wryly at her response. He then shook his head and looked at the students of shield class. He knew that they have an advantage among the people of his class as he knew that shield class was tackling physical strength than magical. They were focused on strengthening their body.

If a mage was going to fight without mana then he/she was bound to have a hard time. It was because they were not trained that way. Fighting close combat wasn't easy for a mage who preferred to fight long range.

While Souta was thinking about this thing, Lumilia was observing him. After all, she was going to fight him in the first match.

She was the third daughter of the Asvares family. Asvares family was a noble family of the Gripin city, the neighboring city of Ladros City. She inherited some of the sword skills of her family so she knew how to fight in close range despite being a mage.

'Just what is that guy thinking? Looking at other class when he knows that he's going to fight me.' Lumilia thought.

Most of the students in the mage class were nervous. It was especially to the students who were going to fight the student of the shield class. It was easy to understand why they were nervous. After all, they were going to fight the people who trained physically in a physical battle when they were a mage.

...

"I will not meet you in battle," Bryan said to Souta.

"Yeah, I'm from a different bracket." Souta nodded as he looked at the list of matches. "If we somehow meet then it's going to be the final battle."

"Yeah, I will fight you and show you my strength," Bryan said with an excited expression.

"But before that, you have to defeat Alice first. You know that..." Souta smiled at Bryan.

It's true that Bryan will meet Alice if they both win their upcoming matches. They were in the same bracket after all.

But Souta knew that it's not easy to win as they were going to fight without using mana. It's a big disadvantage for the mage.

Souta looked at Alice. He saw her fight with the instructor in the entrance examination and he knew her fighting style. If that's all, then she's not going to win in this mini-tournament.

...

The students went to the side as the match was going to start. This place was the training ground so there's a wide space here than could be occupied by thousands of people.

It's natural that a training ground was huge. It was because they need a wide space, especially for the mage if they wanted a mock battle or spar.

They also placed the equipments for training at the side, such as a dummy, shooting targets, and weights.

Before they knew it, some of the teachers and students of other courses of the institute came here to watch the battles.

"Oho~ it seems that Alex is doing it again." A man with fox ears and tail said while looking at the students. He was wearing a simple white shirt and black pants. His black coat was wrapped around his waist.

He was the teacher of the sword class 2-C, Kanda Yulong.

"It's not that bad to check the skills of his students." A woman with long green hair nodded at his words. She was wearing a navy blue coat and skirt. On top of her coat was a robe with the same color as her coat. She was the teacher of the mage class 3-A.

Both of them knew that Alex always does this in his class. It became famous in the whole institute and a lot of people came just to watch this mini-tournament.

"Sadly, it's the student shield and mage class."

"Yeah, the mage is at a disadvantage in this kind of fight."

"What was it before? A brawler and lancer?"

"Yeah."

The two talked while waiting for the battle to start. The other teachers came forward and joined their conversation.

...

The battle between Souta and Lumilia was going to start.

"It's time..." Souta stretched his arms as he stepped forward. He removed the bandage wrap in his left arm and moved his arm, familiarising himself to the feeling that he could use his left arm in a battle.

"I can use this but I shouldn't overdo or else the wounds will open again," Souta muttered while looking at his left arm.

"Good luck, Souta! Beat the crap out of that class rep!" Bryan shouted as he cheered for Souta.

"Eh...?"

Souta turned his head to looked at Bryan. Not just him but the other students also looked at Bryan. Even Lumilia looked at Bryan with a frown on her face.

"...Did I say something wrong?" Bryan looked at everyone and was wondering why they were looking at him.

Souta shook his head and walked to the center. He looked at the approaching Lumilia and he smiled at her.

Alex looked at the two of them before he stepped forward and said, "You do anything to knock down your opponent as long as you do not use your mana. Any of you can surrender if you felt that you can't fight anymore. I will be your judge and referee at the same time so I will give you five minutes to fight. Do you understand?"

"Yes, teacher." Lumilia nodded her head with a serious expression.

"Yeah." Souta grinned as he cracked his knuckles.

Lumilia looked at the sword that was hanging on Souta's waist and asked, "Teacher, can we use a weapon?"

"Yeah, as I said before you can do anything as long as you don't use your mana." Alex nodded his head.

"Okay." Lumilia nodded and she walked to the side and picked up her sword. It was a beautiful sword with a blue gem on its handle.

Souta thought that her sword wasn't meant battle but instead it was meant for display. Though, it was more beautiful than his sword he knew that it was just a blue grade sword.

"Let the battle start! You can fight to your heart's content." Alex said as he started the battle.

Lumilia readied herself and she exudes a fierce aura like a lion looking at its prey.

"Good, let's finish this quickly!" Souta grinned and he charged towards Lumilia while using the skill [Dash].

He opened his palm attempting to grab Lumilia's face.

...

Yuko was in the ranch. She was looking outside with a dazed expression.

Lately, master didn't bring me out to play. He seems very busy with something that I can't understand. He only came here when he's going to give me a meat or fruit.

Ah~ master where are you? I want to play outside.

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Chapter 45 - Mini-tournament

"He~" Souta charged towards Lumilia. He reached out his right hand and opened his palm attempting to grab her face.

"So fast!" Lumilia was shocked when she saw him instantly appeared in front of her. She quickly reacted by shifting her head sideways barely avoiding his hand.

Swoosh!!

"Kuh! What a speed?!" Lumilia gritted her teeth. Suddenly, she felt a pain in her side.

Bang!

Souta kicked her side and Lumilia was flung away.

Swoosh!

Lumilia rolled on the ground a few times before she stopped. She held her side and looked at Souta with a frown.

She couldn't believe what's happening right now. Her nameless classmate was overwhelming her with boundless strength. She felt that Souta wasn't a student of mage class but instead a brawler. She was quite confident with her skills since she practiced sword skills when she was a child.

'I finally understand why he didn't bother himself to look at me, his opponent.' Lumilia finally understood why Souta was only looking at the student of shield class because for him she wasn't his opponent. She was arrogant to think that she could fight someone with low-level skills.

...

The students watching from the sidelines were surprised when they saw Souta's speed.

"Is he really a mage?"

"Yeah, I really doubt if he's mage!"

Only the first year doubted if he's really a mage. The other people were just shocked and surprised. They knew that in this institute the mage will have to train their bodies to the point that they could rival some of the strength base class. It was just surprising to see a first year to have this kind of speed when he's just a new student.

...

"Both of them are your students, right?" Kanda, the teacher of sword class 2-C, turned his head and asked the man beside him.

"Yeah." Bargan nodded his head while looking at the battle between Souta and Lumilia.

"That boy showed some impressive speed rivaling some of my students who excelled in speed," Kanda said as he turned his head and looked at Souta.

"I don't about that until now as he was one of the new students," Bargan said in response. From the information he gathered, Souta was an adventurer and that proves his close combat skills.

"A strong new student, huh?" Kanda muttered and he casted a glance at Bargan.

...

Souta walked towards Lumilia and said, "I'm not going easy on you just because you're a girl. Remember on the battlefield there's no girl or boy there's only life or death. So do not expect your opponent to go easy on you because of your gender."

Lumilia gritted her teeth and she slowly stood up. She pointed her sword at him.

"Oh? Still fighting." Souta grinned and once again he dashed toward her.

Swoosh!!

In just a second, he arrived in front of her.

Lumilia slashed her sword horizontally.

Swoosh!!

Souta quickly moved aside dodging the sword before he delivered a powerful blow on her belly.

Bang!

"Kuh!!" Lumilia felt the pain in her belly. She kicked the ground trying to distance away from Souta.

Souta chased after her and lifted up his feet. He kicked her stomach and she flew ten meters away from him.

"Guh!" Lumilia spat a mouthful of blood. She stood up and she looked at Souta with a fierce expression.

"Oh?" Souta was surprised to see her face. Judging from her expression, she clearly doesn't have a plan to surrender.

"Hais..." Souta sighed and he scratched the back of his head. "After all the things that I've said before I'm still doing this. Well, it doesn't matter as this is just a mock battle."

Lumilia doesn't have any idea what's he's saying.

Souta looked at her and he stepped forward causing Lumilia to flinch. He increased his pace and Lumilia readied herself. She gripped her sword tightly.

Swoosh!

Souta stopped in front of her and threw a punch, and Lumilia slashed her sword in response to his punch, but Souta opened his palm midway and grabbed her sword.

"Wha-" Lumilia was shocked when she saw him grabbed her sword. She could see blood come out of his hand.

While she was busy looking at his hand, Souta pulled back his other hand and threw a punch on her stomach.

Bang!

He then released his grip on her sword and grabbed her wrist. He followed up by chopping the back of her neck knocking her out.

"Wha-" Lumilia didn't even manage to finish her words as she lost her consciousness. She fell down but before she reached the ground Souta caught her.

Souta checked if she was really unconscious before he sighed and placed her on his shoulder. He walked to the corner ignoring the gazes around him. Everyone watched him placed Lumilia in the corner.

'I said that I wouldn't show her mercy but in the end, I still show her mercy.' Souta thought as he stood up and patted his clothes.

"The winner of the first match is Souta!!" Alex's voice sounded in the whole training ground.

"That's it, huh?" Souta glanced at Alex before he went towards the direction of Bryan and Alice.

"You didn't show mercy, Souta!" Bryan said to him.

"Ah? I showed her mercy in my opinion. If not, then she would at least be put in the hospital with a few broken bones." Souta shrugged his shoulder. He caressed the sword on his waist.

Actually, that was a cheat. With the added stats of the [Vajra Sword Saya, his stats were two times higher than his base stats. It's not surprising that she couldn't react in time. After all, his dexterity and agility were 295 and 308 respectively.

Also, Souta guessed from the battle before that she wasn't that proficient in close-quarter combat. Although she has high magical power her physique was too weak. A Rank F Adventurer was even stronger than her.

'Still, the first year students here in the institute are stronger than some Rank D Adventurer.' Souta thought. This was what he concluded after comparing the strength of the two. It just that the student here don't have much experience, unlike those adventurers.

...

"That's something from a mage class student," Kanda said while looking at Souta.

"Yeah, his speed isn't something that ordinary mage students could possess." Bargan nodded.

"What about his mage skills? You're his teacher, right?" Kanda asked. He was curious if Souta's mage skills were higher than his close-quarter combat. If that's the case then Souta would be able to put up a fight to those third year students.

"I don't know, I'm still discussing them the basics. I think it will be a month before we went to practical." Bargan shook his head.

...

"Oh? A strong first year appeared." A man with shoulder length black hair said. He has pitch black eyes and his skin was pale. He's Rein Ventogram, the top ranker of the Ladro Institute.

"If I'm not wrong when you were still a first year you won this tournament, right Rein?" A man with rabbit ears and tail said. He has messy red hair and his build was average but one could see some scars on both of his hands. He's called Zac Triton, one of the top ranker of the Ladro Institute.

"Don't talk to me, you trash!" Rein snorted.

"As usual, your attitude is really bad." The man laughed at his words.

...

Souta noticed that some people were watching the tournament. He looked around and noticed some powerful presence that didn't bother to hide their aura.

"It seems that this tournament is more famous than I could imagine," Souta said in a low voice.

"Yeah, a lot of teachers and students came here just to watch the tournament." Bryan nodded at his words.

...

The second match already started and it was between a girl from shield class and a boy from the mage class. It was a one-sided battle from the girl of the shield class. The boy from the mage class was beaten black and blue to the point that Alex sent him to the clinic.

As time passed by the people in the training ground kept increasing. The words about the mini-tournament quickly spread around in the whole institute.

Souta saw how powerful were the students of the shield class compared to him as most of the students who won the match came from the shield class. It was really a sight to see. It feels like they were bullying the students of the mage class just because magic was forbidden to use in this tournament. He was pairing himself to the people who won their match inside his mind.

After the fourteenth matches, it was time for Alice to fight.

"Good luck, Alice," Souta said to her.

"Good luck, Alice! Beat them up just like what Souta did before! Show them what you've got! Beat them! Defeat them!" Bryan said in a loud voice as he raised both of his hands in the air.

Alice turned her head and looked at them fiercely. "Oi! Stop doing that your ruining my concentration!"

"Oh?! She talked!!" Souta said.

"Oh?! She talked!!" Bryan said.

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Chapter 46 - Alice's match

It was Alice turn to fight. She was going to fight a male student of the shield class. Her opponent almost reached three meters in height.

Alice walked forward with a calm expression. She observed her opponent's movement.

The man stopped in front of Alice and he raised his huge shield in front of him.

...

Souta rubbed his chin as he doesn't have any idea who's going to win this match. He doesn't know the abilities of both fighters so it was hard to predict what's going to happen.

"Go! Alice!" Bryan cheered for Alice using his loud voice. It's not just him cheering for Alice but their other classmates also were cheering for her.

Souta turned his head and said, "Bryan, keep quiet..."

"Why?" Bryan looked at him.

"Hais..." Souta sighed and shook his head. For now, he's going to ignore Bryan and will only focus his attention to the match.

...

The whole area became quiet as Alex stepped forward in front of the two fighters. He turned his head left and right to look at the two fighters and asked, "Are you two ready?"

"'Yes!"" Alice and the man from the shield class nodded their head simultaneously.

"Good, now let the match begin!!" Alex shouted as he officially started the battle between the two.

Whoosh!

Alice took out a small pipe in the pocket of her leggings. The length of the pipe was just five inches and its color was red.

"Release!"

Alice shouted and the red pipe started to transform. The pipe grew longer and a sharp blade appeared at its tip. Black metal dragon coiled around the pipe up to the blade and red gem appeared in the center of the triangular blade.

In just a moment, the small pipe became a spear.

Her opponent was surprised when he saw this scene. He subconsciously took a step back.

...

'Oi! Oi! That's an orange grade weapon and it has compression ability!' Souta was surprised to see that she have an orange grade weapon.

His guessed was right. It seems that she's not an ordinary person. Orange grade and red grade weapons were already a weapon of a commander or general in a small country. But that's not the case here in a large country. Even ordinary nobles could possess two or three red grade weapons.

The fact that she took out an orange grade weapon easily and show it to the public means that she has a higher grade weapon in her arsenal.

Souta looked at the sword on his waist. The [Vajra Sword Saya] looked ordinary compared to other weapons. The handle and the scabbard of the Vajra sword were pretty lame. The crimson blade was the only thing that differentiates it from the rest.

"Whoa! What's that?!" Bryan exclaimed.

"That's a spear," Souta answered him.

"No, that's not it. How did that happen?" Bryan shook his head.

"It was because of the compression ability of the weapon." Souta sighed and said.

"Compression? what's that?" Bryan asked him. He really doesn't know how did that spear appear.

"Damn! You're really an idiot!" Souta cursed at Bryan's ignorance.

He looked around and saw that the students and teachers were not that surprised. They already knew that some weapons have that kind of ability. They were just surprised to see that she possessed that kind of weapon.

"Hais..." Souta sighed and said, "I don't know how it works but compression is an ability that compressed large objects into a small item. Some of the weapons possessed an ability and only a few have compression ability."

In the game, the players didn't care if the weapon has compression ability or not. It was because all the players have inventory and compression or not that didn't matter as they would store all the items in their inventory.

"I see..." Bryan nodded.

'Did he really get it?' Souta thought.

...

Whoosh!

Alice waved the spear in her hand and looked at her opponent. She stepped forward and clenched her fingers tightly around the spear.

Her opponent observed her every movement. He guarded tightly and prepare for her attacks.

Alice didn't hesitate and charged towards the man. She raised her spear and stabbed it three times.

"Here she comes!" The man saw this and he raised his shield to blocked her attacks.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Sparks flew out from the collision of the spear and the shield.

"Kuh!" The man felt her power from those three attacks. He was pushed back one meter away from Alice.

'I could defeat him by continuing this!' Alice thought and she stepped forward while stabbing her spear at the same time.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The man moved his shield and blocked her spears. The spear caused a few cracks to emerge from the surface of the shield. After all, his shield was just a blue grade weapon.

She quickly moved to his side and waved her spear.

Swoosh!

The man followed her movements with his eyes so he reacted quickly when she appeared beside him. He tightened his grip on his shield and moved it to his side.

Bang!

'Not good! My shield wouldn't be able to handle a few more strikes!' The man thought and felt trouble with her higher grade weapon.

Alice didn't stop and she continued stabbing her spear.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

"Grr... I don't have a choice." The man gritted his teeth and his aura flared up. He bent his knees and charged towards Alice.

[Shield Charge]!

"Combat arts!!" Alice was surprised when she saw this. She moved her body and jumped to the side dodging the man's attack.

Whoosh!

Alice struck the man with her spear when he passed at her side. She wouldn't let this chance to knock her opponent.

[Shield Bash]!

Clang!

The man parried her spear using a skill.

...

"Oh, right. Combat arts aren't forbidden in this tournament." Souta muttered as he rubbed his chin.

The shield class really has a huge advantage in this tournament. They could use all their skill, as it only consumes their stamina just like his [Stab] and [Dash, while the mage class couldn't use any of their spells in this tournament. It was pretty easy to win against a mage who couldn't use their spell.

But if the mage knew how to handle close-range weapons and have combat arts like him. Then, they could fight a melee class to a stand off.

...

"Not good!" Alice hurriedly jumped away from the man while pointing his spear at him in case he chased after her.

[Shield Charge]!

The man didn't hesitate to use his combat arts once again.

Alice prepared herself for the clash. She took a deep breath and also charged towards the man.

Whoosh!!

The man was surprised when he saw Alice intending to clash at him when he's using his combat arts.

"Naive!" He smirked and continued his way towards her.

Clang!!

Both of them collided causing a loud metallic sound to echoed in the whole area.

Alice was getting pushed back by the power of the man. 'Should I use it?' She thought before she shook her head.

She took a deep breath and pulled back her other hand. She then threw a powerful punch towards the shield.

Bang!

The man stopped for a moment and Alice used this opportunity to stabbed her spear on the ground. When the man continued to move forward he noticed that he wasn't moving from his position.

"What?!" The man was shocked when he saw this.

Alice jumped in the air and twisted her body. She raised her feet and used her own combat arts.

[Repulsion Kick]!

Bang!

The man was pushed back and Alice landed on the top of his shield.

"This is the end..." Alice said before he punched the man on the forehead. She then used [Repulsion Kick] on his arm to loosen his grip on the shield.

Bang!

Once again she used [Repulsion Kick].

Bang!

"Guh!" The man was pushed back three meters away and his shield wasn't in his hand anymore.

Whoosh!

Alice quickly pulled out her spear and charged towards the man. She waved it towards him and struck his stomach.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

She continued to launch her attack until the man fainted.

The man fell down on the ground with a loud "thud" sound.

Alice looked at the man and the spear in her hands started to go back to its item form. She placed it back in her pocket before she turned around and left.

"The winner of this match is Alice!!" Alex's voice sounded in the whole area.

...

"That was a good fight," Souta said to Alice.

Alice nodded and sat down in the corner.

Souta glanced at her before he began to think about her fight. The man before was stronger than Lumilia so it's natural that she drained her stamina in the fight. Stronger than Lumilia doesn't mean that he's overall stronger than her. If mana wasn't forbidden to use in this tournament then Lumilia would be able to knock him down easily.

He started to think about what sort of combat arts does the other students of the shield class had. He only has two combat arts and that was the [Dash] and [Stab]. The next time the institute presented a skill, he will pick a combat arts for himself. He doesn't need a spell as he already has a skill tree.

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Chapter 47 - Alice vs. Bryan 1

Souta watched the tournament matches. He evaluated all the combat prowess of the participants based on what they showed in the matches.

He also has a guess of Bryan's strength. In Bryan's match, he showed strength and speed that's not normal for a mage student. The power of his punches was strong and his speed was fast that he overwhelmed his opponents in just two minutes.

Should he say that Bryan gained this power as an adventurer? Just like him, Bryan was very proficient in close combat much stronger than Alice, and he entered here in the institute to learn magic.

He also saw a stronger fighter in the shield course. Especially the one that was called Brando. Brando was a tough fighter and his defense was extremely hard to breakthrough. If he wasn't wrong Brando was the strongest fighter here in the tournament. Of course, if the magic wasn't forbidden here then Lumilia and Alice would be able to match him.

Now that the first round of the tournament was finished, it's time for the second round. They were going to fight those who won their first battle.

Alex gave them five minutes to prepare before they start the first battle of the second round of the tournament.

...

Zac, the sixth top ranker, turned his head to Rein, the second top ranker, and said, "Now that we have a bit of understanding in their strength, wanna bet to me? As a second rank in the institute you possess great amount of points, am I right?"

"I said don't talk to me! you trash!" Rein snorted and looked at the participants.

"Haha, I still have a lot of points here! What should I do with this?" Zac laughed awkwardly as he looked at the object that was attached on his wrist.

The object looked like a wristwatch and this item was a private property of the institute. Their points and information were recorded in this piece of technology. They could also use this item to challenge the other students here to raise their ranks and earn points.

The points could be used to redeem spell books and combat arts. The students could also use this to get a teacher to teach them a skill or spell one on one, some of the students used these points to rent a living quarter here in the institute and some used it to use the training ground on their own.

There were many uses of points here in this institute. All in all, these points were like the currency of the Ladro Institute.

Souta and the others were still new here so Bargan hasn't prepared the items for their use.

"Ah~ what a wonderful display~"

Zac heard a feminine voice at his left side so he turned his head to look.

Turning his head, he saw a girl wearing the uniform of the institute. She has long lilac-colored hair that was tied in a ponytail. Her left eye was color blue while the other one was red. She's Yanagi Shina, the rank number one across the whole institute. The strongest students here in Ladro Institute.

"I didn't think that she would come here..." Zac muttered in a low voice. He knew that this girl has some screw loose in her heads so he wouldn't bother associating himself to her.

He shuddered as he recalled those people that she destroyed. Across the whole institute, she dominated everyone ever since she enrolled here. Even Rein wasn't her match at all.

To think that this small tournament would attract her attention. He knew that she didn't even watch the other tournaments that Teacher Alex made in the other class but now... she really come here.

'I wonder who's the unfortunate person that attracted her attention.'

...

The second round of the tournament started. The battle was fierce and intense. It exhausted some of the students that don't have huge stamina. Although some of them won the battle, they couldn't participate in the next round because they don't have much stamina. They don't have enough time to recover their stamina as Alex only gave them five minutes. So some of them could only surrender.

Every battle the crowd that was watching the tournament grew larger.

While the second round was ongoing, Souta noticed that Lumilia woke up.

He patted Bryan's shoulder and said, "I'm going to check if she's okay."

Bryan looked at Lumilia and nodded his head. He then closed his eyes to recovered some of his stamina.

"Hmm... Really good..." Souta looked at Bryan who was resting before he shook his head. He turned his attention to Lumilia and slowly approached her.

Alice who was also recovering her stamina slightly opened her eyes and glanced at Souta's back.

After a few moments, she shook her head and opened her mouth, "I can't, this form of mine is too weak. I can't use my full strength."

She looked up at the matches. If she won her next match then she would face Bryan. She glanced at Bryan wondering if she could win against him in her condition.

From the matches before, she knew that Bryan's physical strength was higher than her and his close combat skills were extremely good that he could rival Souta.

...

Lumilia slowly opened her eyes. She saw her classmate's worried look. She was wondering what happened and she was about to ask them when she recalled that she fought her male classmate in the tournament.

"Are you okay, class rep?"

"...I'm fine..." Lumilia held her head as she sat up and looked around her. It seems that the tournament was still ongoing.

She clenched her first tightly when she recalled her fight. She was knocked down in round one and she couldn't even fight back against that man.

That's a huge humiliation for her.

She's the third daughter of the Asvares family and she must show that she wasn't weak. She wouldn't forget why she enrolled in this institute.

"Don't force yourself." One of her female classmates said in a worried tone.

Lumilia heard her classmate's words. She shook her head and thanked them. She said that she's fine now and the don't have to worry about her.

"Yo! You okay?"

She heard a man's voice beside her ears.

She turned her head and saw the man who defeated her before. He was called Souta Ieshi, if she's not wrong.

"I-I'm fine... You don't have to worry about me." Lumilia crossed her arms.

"I'm glad, I just get a little excited earlier because I haven't fought someone for a long time," Souta said to her. Actually, it's only been a few days since he fought the red woman. He just got out of hand this time as he wanted to test his power against the students here in Ladro Institute.

"I see..." Lumilia frowned as she looked at him.

Little excited? She's thinking if he's a battle maniac or not. Yeah, the attitude he showed in the fight was different for his usual self. Normally, he's just a quiet student that only talked to Bryan and Alice. He doesn't have any friends either except for those two.

How did she know this?

Of course, she's the class representative so she thought that she needed to observe her class. She at least needed to understand the attitude and personality of her classmates. After the measurement of their mana capacity and their affinities, she focused her attention on these three. Bryan, Alice, and Souta, those three friends have potential that surpassed her.

She knew about the rules of the institute. The points were the most important things here. And she needed Bryan, Alice, and Souta if she wanted to compete with other classes.

Next week, their teacher would introduce them the usage of points. She already asked some of the upperclassmen so she has an idea about it. If a student wants to get a powerful spell or combat arts they needed points. They could even learn those high-level spells that the principal and Bargan knew. The institute has thousands of spells and combat arts. It's not the most famous institute in the whole kingdom for nothing.

"What's wrong?" Souta's voice snapped her out of her daze.

"N-Nothing..." She looked up at him and shook her head.

"Really?"

"Really!" Lumilia stood up as she patted her clothes. She turned her attention to her classmates and talked to them.

Souta just watched her talked to their other classmates assuring them that she's fine.

"Hais..."

He sighed and put his hands inside his pocket before he looked at the match. He looked at the board and saw that it was nearing the third round and his fight was next.

He walked forward and looked at the name of his opponent. From what he remembered, this man wasn't that strong. He could easily handle his opponent.

"I wonder if I could get some skill points in this quest. It doesn't matter even if I don't get exp, as long as I get some skill points. Then, it worth it."

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Chapter 48 - Alice vs. Bryan 2

Souta rubbed his chin as he pondered which one should he cheer. He looked at Bryan and Alice back and fort.

"What?!" Alice noticed his gaze. She looked at him with a frown.

Souta lifted up his hand and raised a thumb in front of her. He smiled and said, "Good luck!!"

"...what?!" Alice took a step back as she pondered what he was doing.

Souta didn't answer her. He just closed his eyes and ignored her presence. He could see it all. The students of shield class and mage class.

All the strong fighter and weak fighter in the stage. They couldn't completely conceal their power to him. Among all the participants here, only a few people weren't breathing heavily. One of them was him, the other one was the student from shield class, Brando. The other one was Bryan. And lastly, his classmate called Jin.

Jin was suspicious as he was hiding his true strength. He finished his fight but surrendered in his second match. He didn't even break a sweat from that. Right now, he was just leisurely watching all the battles in the sidelines.

Souta didn't know the reason why Jin's hiding his real strength, but now that he got an idea about it he will not forget Jin's name and face.

Then about Bryan and Alice's match. From his perspective, he could see that Alice's breathing was already heavy clearly different from Bryan.

Souta opened his mouth and said, "You'll be having a hard time. It's better to surrender if you can't handle him."

Alice looked at him with a scrutinizing gaze. After a few moments, she opened her mouth and said, "What do you mean?"

Souta shifted his eyes to her and replied, "Can't you see it? You're already tired from your previous battles but Bryan is different. Although you could put up a fight you will not win this battle."

Alice's eyebrows knitted together from his words. She turned her head to looked at Bryan. She understood what Souta meant.

"Well, it's only my opinion." Souta shrugged his shoulder.

Bryan approached them and asked, "What you're talking about?"

"We're discussing how to defeat you. Alice was just asking me for advice." Souta replied.

"What?! Why are you discussing that!!" Bryan said in a loud voice as he looked at Alice and Souta.

"Of course, we'll discuss it after all you're pretty strong," Souta said.

"Hehe, well you can take your time." Bryan laughed as he scratched his cheek.

'Damn! This idiot! He thinks I'm praising him!' Souta cursed inside his head.

Souta shook his head and asked, "You will fight Alice in the next battle?"

"Yeah." Bryan nodded and he looked at Alice. He clenched his fist in front of him and said, "Let's both do our best!!"

Alice looked at Bryan in the eyes before she turned around. "Yeah."

Souta smiled looking at Alice's back. He guessed Alice wouldn't surrender easily from her reaction.

'Now they will consume some stamina in this fight. It will be easy for me to win this. The only problem is that Brando.' Souta turned his head and looked at the students named Brando.

Brando was a two-meter tall man. He has short brown hair and reptilian eyes. Some part of his body has green scales. From the looks of it, he was probably a halfling of beast kin. He was armed with a one-meter silver-colored shield with black linings at its side.

...

After a few minutes, Alex called Bryan and Alice's name. It's time for their battle.

"Good luck, Alice! Do your best to tire him!" Souta said to Alice.

"I know! I will knock him down and your next!" Alice replied as she turned her head.

"Oi Souta! Why are you only cheering for her?" Bryan complained to him.

"Ha!! It's already clear that she's more tired than you!" Souta said.

"So I'm stronger than her..." Bryan mumbled.

"I'm not saying that. I'm saying that her opponent was stronger than you fought in your matches!" Souta said as he patted Bryan's shoulder.

"Huh? What's with that?" Bryan said in a loud voice.

"Damn! Don't talk just go!" Souta pushed Bryan's back.

"Ah!" Bryan stumbled forward as Souta pushed him. He looked at his side and saw Alice.

...

Souta looked at the two who were facing each other. Alice was wearing a cold face and Bryan have a cheerful smile on his face.

"Now, I could only hope that they put up a good fight..." Souta murmured as a grin appeared on his face.

...

The crowd was excited to watch the battle between Alice and Bryan. They saw them defeat their opponents with their strength but now they will face each other.

Even the teachers were eager to watch this battle. After all, they knew that unlike the other students these two were quite strong in their own ways.

"Ever since the first battle, this one will be the fiercest," Kanda said while looking at the two.

"Hmm... But Bryan has the advantage." Bargan said.

"Yeah, but also Alice. Her weapon is an orange grade, after all. If she could properly utilize its strength then she have a chance to win this match." Kanda said.

...

Bryan was standing five meters away from Alice with a smile on his face. He was excited to fight Alice as she was strong.

"Prepare yourself, Alice. I will not hold back." Bryan said with a hint of excitement in his voice.

"Me too, I will not hold back." Alice nodded.

She then took out a small red pipe and it transformed into a spear. It was her orange grade weapon.

Bryan's was just a blue grade gloves. His gloves were black in color and it has five black gems in the back of his palm.

Alex looked at the two of them and nodded his head. He opened his mouth and said, "1... 2... 3... Battle start!!"

Bryan immediately rushed towards Alice as soon as Alex gave the signal. He pulled back both of his fists and when he arrived in front of her he threw a barrage of punch.

Alice took a step back and waved her spear blocking all the punch of Bryan.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

"Huff..." Alice took a deep breath before she lifted up her feet and launched a kick at Bryan's side.

Bang!

Bryan crossed his arm beside him and blocked her kick. He opened his palm attempting to grab her feet but Alice already pulled back her feet.

'Bryan is strong... Among all the students here he's the one that could match up to Souta.' Alice thought as she gained some distance.

She gripped her spear tightly and executed a combat arts that she hasn't used before.

[Triple Stab]!!

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

Bryan opened his eyes widely. He gritted his teeth and waved his hands quickly to block her attacks.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Bryan was surprised by the power of her attacks. He could feel a numbling sensation in his hands. He knew that he couldn't afford to block her attack. If that's the case then he would avoid her spear.

"Strong... Just like what Souta said." Bryan muttered in a low voice. He smiled and once again dashed towards Alice.

Alice calmly looked at Bryan and when he entered her strike zone she stabbed her spear.

Swoosh!!

Bryan ducked to avoid her spear. He then rolled to the side before he threw himself at her.

Alice gripped her spear tightly and clashed against Bryan.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Both of them traded blows against each other. From the looks of it, a person wouldn't think that they were students from mage class. They fought like they were an expert in close-quarter combat.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Blow after blow they continued to attack each other.

"Ah!" Alice shouted as she executed [Repulsion Kick].

Bang!

Bryan flew five meters away before he stabilized himself. He lifted up his head and looked at Alice.

Alice also looked at Bryan and she moved her spear at her side while her other hand was in front of her. She then placed her pivot foot in front and her expression calmed down.

She exuded a fierce aura as she maintained her position. She waited for Bryan to attack her.

Bryan smirked when he saw her like that. He knew that she was preparing to launch a powerful attack.

In that case, he will also attack her with his own combat arts.

He made a grabbing motion in the air and a flame emerged from his palm. The flame coated his fist.

...

'Oi oi, that's high-level combat arts!' Souta was surprised that Bryan knew high-level combat arts. Souta only knew two combat arts and that's only common arts.

To produce flames without using mana. With just this, Souta already guessed that it was a high-level combat art.

To create a natural phenomenon without using energy. It can only be achieved by using combat arts.

...

"Let's go!" Bryan said before he charged towards Alice. He clenched his fist which was covered in flames. He then threw it at Alice.

"[Blazing Strike]!!"

Alice clenched her teeth and executed her own combat arts.

"[Berserk Spear]!!"

Boom!!

Both of their collided and it shook the ground.

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Chapter 49 - Semi Finals 1

Boom!

The ground shook and a gust of wind swept out as Bryan's and Alice's attack collided against each other.

Smoke and dust shot up and covered the two.

Swoosh!

The crowd was waiting for the dust to clear up so that they could see the outcome of the match. They patiently waited while looking at the thick smoke.

"Well, that's not bad." Souta sighed as he shrugged his shoulder. He already knew the outcome of the fight. To think that Alice would put up a fight like that with little words. She exceeded his expectations during this battle.

After a few moments, the smoke dissipated and it revealed the two participants. Bryan was standing and his fist was covered in blood, and Alice was lying on the ground. Her breath was ragged as she stared at the ceiling of the training ground.

"Huff... I... won..." Bryan said between his breath. He slowly turned his head and looked at Alex.

Alex saw Bryan looked at him so he declared that Bryan won the battle.

"Hmm... I lose..." Alice muttered in a low voice. She turned her head and looked at Bryan before looking at Souta. She wondered how Bryan going to fight Souta in his current condition.

Bryan was exhausted while Souta was still full of energy. Ever since the first match, Souta hasn't met anyone that could put up a decent fight to him. So it's natural that he still has a lot of energy left.

...

Souta looked at the time and saw that there were still ten minutes left before Bryan's next match. With this time, Bryan would recover a bit of his strength.

Souta delayed his match and he didn't finish it quickly so that Bryan would recover. He needed Bryan's strength to probe Brando so that he could widen his understanding of Brando's power.

He already concluded that he would fight Brando in the finals. If Brando was stronger than he expected then the fight would become trouble for him. If not, then he would win the tournament and received the rewards of the quest.

If not for the quest then he wouldn't even bother himself with this kind of tournament. He wouldn't even receive benefits from winning.

He smiled and approached Bryan. "You're stronger than I expected."

"See... I told you before that I'm strong." Bryan said as he showed his muscles.

Souta shook his head and turned to Alice. He extended a hand and said, "That was a good fight."

Alice looked at him with a dumbfounded expression. She then turned her gaze on his hand.

"Don't hesitate..." Souta said.

"Yeah, yeah, you're strong too Alice!" Bryan said at the side.

"Hais..." Alice sighed and took Souta's hand. "...thanks."

Souta shook his head before he helped her stand up.

The three chatted for a while as they went to the corner.

Alex looked at the three before he said the next match.

"It seems that there are quite strong first year in this batch."

...

The tournament continued and it entered the semi-final.

Bryan won his match and Brando too. These two were going to face each other in the semi-finals.

Unexpected things happened, Souta opponent in semis quickly surrendered as soon as the match started. This was outside of his expectations. He planned to delay the battle until the last seconds but his opponent surrendered without putting a fight.

Souta glanced at his opponent as he walked towards Alice and Bryan. He will remember his face.

Yujin Drune was the name of his opponent. He was also a student of Class 1-B.

"Hmm..." Since both of them were classmates, there were a lot of opportunities to interact. He would know something about him in the future.

He shook his head and he was greeted by Bryan.

"Hoho, you enter the finals Souta! Wait for me and we will fight in the finals!" Bryan said enthusiastically.

'You're going to lose in your next match and that's without a doubt.' Souta thought as he looked at Bryan. He knew that Bryan was exhausted but Bryan was still cheerful despite his condition.

"Go..." Souta pushed Bryan's back.

"Right, I'm gonna win this and show you my power," Bryan said as he raised his fist before he went towards the center.

"Do you think he will win?" Alice asked while looking at Bryan's figure.

Souta glanced at her. He was surprised for a moment that she took the initiative to talk. He shook his head and answered her question.

"No."

He looked at her and saw that she wasn't asking why he thought that Bryan wouldn't win so he added, "You can think of this. We're Mage and we're forbidden to use our mana in this tournament so we have a huge disadvantage. Bryan couldn't use his mana and he's clearly tired after your battle. If he's going to fight without any of those disadvantages then he will probably win this fight."

"Then, why?" Alice asked.

"Why?" Souta repeated her.

"Why are you encouraging him to win even though he won't win this battle?" Alice elaborated her question.

"Hmm... Why..." Souta rubbed his chin and decided to tell her his reason. "It's because he will help me grasp the strength of his opponent. With his strength, he still could put up a decent fight. Well, it doesn't matter as I'm going to win in the end."

Alice looked at him and saw his carefree expression. She opened her mouth and said, "You're pretty confident in your strength."

"It's not that I'm confident in my strength. It's just that I know clearly how powerful am I. I know my weakness and strength so I know if I could defeat someone or not." Souta said as shrugged his shoulder.

"Never mind that, the fight is going to start."

"Hmm..."

...

Bryan was looking at Brando with a serious expression. Even though he said that he was going to win this fight, he still knew that his opponent this time was strong, unlike his previous opponents.

Brando was a tall man with a large build. He has short messy brown hair and blue eyes. Some parts of his body have green scales indicating that he was a half-beast. He was armed with a meter silver-colored shield. Just like Bryan's gloves, his shield was also blue grade.

Brando smiled and said, "I saw your fight before. I will say that you're strong and it's making me eager to fight you."

"Me too," Bryan said with a smirk. He then clenched his fists tightly.

Both of them waited for Alex to start the match.

"1... 2... 3... Go!!"

Bryan disappeared from his position and instantly appeared in front of Brando. He pulled back his fist and threw it towards Brando.

"Ah!!"

Brando was surprised but he quickly reacted by moving his shield.

Clang!!

When he blocked the punch of Bryan, Brando immediately used his skill [Shield Bash].

Bang!!

"Argh!!" Bryan flew away and crashed on the ground. He wiped the blood on his mouth and a shadow covered him. He looked up and saw that Brando was going straight at him.

"[Shield Smash]!!"

Bryan quickly moved his body sideways to avoid the attack.

Boom!!

Brando smashed his shield and it hit the ground. Spider web cracks appeared on the ground.

Brando looked up and saw that Bryan was gone. Then, he felt something on his back. He tightened his grip on his shield and waved it behind him.

Swoosh!!

Unfortunately, Bryan reacted as fast as him so Bryan avoided the shield.

"Argh!!" Bryan raised his fist and smashed the ground.

Boom!

Smoke and dust shot up in the air.

"Not good!" Brando quickly waved his shield to disperse the smoke but Bryan was faster than him.

"What?!" Brando felt a pair of hands grabbed his waist. He turned around saw that Bryan was grabbing him with a smirk on his face.

"I finally got you!" Bryan said with a smile.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

...

"Hmm... Brando's going to release his full power." Souta muttered while looking at the two.

"What do you mean by that?" Alice asked him.

"Do you really think that's Brando's full strength? No, that's not his full strength! In his previous battle, he hasn't released his full strength, you can see that by seeing how he breathe and how tired he is! In the battle, it's okay if you overestimate your opponent but you must never underestimate them! It will cause your downfall!" Souta said.

"Hmm..." Alice glanced at Souta's face. After a few moments, she opened her mouth, "Is it coming from your experience or not?"

Souta lowered his eyes and looked at her.

"You can also say it like that."

...

[Shielder's Aura]

Brando emitted a greenish aura. This skill was one of the important combat arts of a shield class. It raised the user's defense by one hundred percent and damage reduction by twenty percent.

Although it was a low-level skill, the effect was higher compared to other high-level skills.

Brando turned his eyes to Bryan. He opened his mouth and slowly said, "It would be great if you could use your spell but unfortunately you can't, so there's no doubt that you will lose against me."

"Hehe, then I can only use my combat arts." Bryan smiled. Even in this situation, he could still smile.

"You will not be able to damage with my [Shielder's Aura] on," Brando stated.

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Chapter 50 - Semi Finals 2

"Hmm... I will try if I could learn that skill late." Souta muttered in a low voice while looking at Brando who was emitting a greenish aura.

He knew the effect of [Shielder's Aura, so it will help him in his quest. If he could learn that skill then there's a possibility that he could learn the skill of other classes.

Thinking about other classes, he couldn't help but recalled Yuko. He would try to learn the skills of Tamer class later. If he learned it then he would be able to launch a combination attack with Yuko.

He grinned thinking about Yuko.

Alice looked at him and saw him grinning. She wondered why he's always like that. Grinning without any reason.

She shook her head and put those thoughts out of her mind. She focused her attention on the fight before her.

...

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Bryan fiercely attacked Brando using both of his hands.

"Ah!!"

He threw several punches and Brando received it without taking any damage.

"Stop wasting your time!" Brando said and he used [Shield Bash] to pushed Bryan away.

Bang!

"Argh!" Bryan rolled on the ground a few times before he stopped. He opened his eyes and looked at Brando.

"I said before that you will not be able to damage me with that kind of attack." Brando paused for a moment before he added, "I always want to become the greatest shield. I came from the Green Mythril Turtle Family. My family always boasted that they have the toughest body but I'm just a halfling. I don't have their tough body. I just train nonstop ever since I was a child to become the greatest shield."

"Why are you saying this to me?" Bryan asked as he slowly stood up.

"I'm just saying this so that you understand that I'm different from your previous opponents. I'm not gifted like other people. I acquired this strength through hard work." Brandon said. "Well, I'm going to start now."

As soon as he said those words, he dashed towards Bryan.

"Argh!!" Bryan gritted his teeth and he clenched his fist tightly. Flames emerged and coated his fist.

"[Blazing Strike]!!"

Brando raised his shield and it emitted a blueish light.

"[Titanium Crash]!!"

A shield and a first collided causing a shockwave to swept out in the whole area. The floor beneath them cracked and debris of rocks flew away.

Boom!!

The crowd covered their eyes as they were afraid that dust would go inside their eyes.

The teachers and the rankers used their mana to protect them from shockwaves.

Boom!!

Souta waved his hand and he controlled his mana. His mana protected him and Alice, also the students behind them.

"Really powerful..." Souta muttered while looking at this scene. The students here really have strong combat arts while he only had [Dash] and [Stab].

...

Alex looked around and saw that some students didn't know how to control their mana so he took the initiative to protect them.

"What a troublesome first year..." He waved his hand and he emitted a large amount of mana. The mana covered the entire area and protect everyone from the aftershocks of the battle.

Souta and the rest who were using their mana stopped when they saw Alex covered the whole battleground with his mana.

"What a dense and powerful mana..." Souta muttered. He could see Alex's mana with his own two eyes. The mana was so dense that he could see it with his own eyes.

The teachers here in the Ladro Institute were unfathomable. They were not the teacher of the most famous Institute for nothing.

...

[Blazing Strike]!!

[Titanium Crash]!!

Boom!!

The ground continued to shake as the two used their combat arts without minding their surroundings.

Boom!!

"Argh!!" Bryan was pushed away. Blood flew out of his mouth. 'It's hard to fight without using mana.' He thought while looking at Brando.

Brando didn't escape their clashed unscathed. He took a few burn marks in his body but it was not as bad as Bryan's wounds.

"I admire you. If you can only use your mana then you would have a chance to defeat me." Brando said as he slowly walked towards Bryan.

Brando stopped in front of Bryan and he slowly raised his shield. "Let's fight again..." He said as he brought down his shield towards Bryan.

Bryan clenched his fist and used [Blazing Strike] once again.

Boom!!

Shockwave swept out like ripples in the air as both of their attacks collided.

"Give up, now," Brando said as he used his strength to push down his shield.

"Argh, I will not fall down easily!" Bryan gritted his teeth as he pushed the shield using his fist.

...

'That's right Bryan, struggle until the end. Tire him out, so that I could defeat him without any efforts.' Souta looked at the two with a smirk on his face.

If he saved more stamina in this tournament, Souta would complete some quest after the class.

He doesn't want to drain his stamina.

"Hmm... To think that Bryan would last for a long time is out of my expectations." Souta said. He still couldn't accurately grasp the strength of Bryan.

He looked at Alice and asked, "If you win your fight against Bryan, then how long do you think you can last against Brando?"

"You're not asking me if I could win..." Alice looked at Souta with cold eyes. She couldn't believe that Souta already assumed that she would lose to Brando.

"Yeah, if you could use your mana then I'm going to ask if you could win but unfortunately not," Souta said.

"Hmph!" Alice snorted and turned her head away.

...

"Fall down!!" Brando roared as he used every strength he has to bring down Bryan.

Boom!!

A large explosion occurred. It was larger than before as thick smoke blocked the vision of the crowd.

The crowd couldn't see what's happening. They just waited for the smoke to disperse to see the outcome of the match.

...

Bargan closed his eyes and said, "The fight was already finished."

"Yeah, that was a good fight." Kanda nodded his head.

...

"They showed us some spectacular fight. This shows that some first-year could already pull down those weak second year." Zac said.

"You're weak too." Rein commented at the side.

"Oi, I'm the sixth rank so I'm not that weak." Zac smiled wryly as he scratched the back of his head.

...

After a few seconds, the smoke slowly dissipated.

Everyone saw Brando was still standing holding his shield while Bryan was knocked out.

"Huff..." Brando breathed as he looked at Bryan then at Alex.

"Brando win the match!!" Alex declared that Brando's win.

Brando smiled and he raised his fist in the air.

The crowd clapped because of the great fight he showed.

...

Looking at this Souta couldn't help but smile. He closed his eyes and felt the surroundings.

"Okay, I'm next. I'm not going to show any mercy as I'm gonna knock him out as fast as I can." Souta muttered as he crossed his arms.

"Can you really do what you said?" Alice asked him.

Souta looked at her and said, "If Brando is stronger than what he showed in this fight then I would only have a few problems but I already expect that, but if he's three times stronger then that's really a problem."

"You really have a lot of confidence in yourself," Alice muttered.

"Anyway, you became talkative today, huh?" Souta looked at her with a smile.

"..." Alice looked at him with widened eyes before she turned her head.

"Don't mind me, let's just help Bryan," Souta said as he approached the unconscious Bryan.

The clerics also approached Bryan and they checked his condition. After learning that Bryan didn't receive any grave injuries, Souta left. He let Bryan rest there to recover his strength.

...

Souta checked the time and saw that there's still time before the finals. He turned his head and saw that Brando was trying to recover his strength as fast as possible.

"That's not bad..."

He stretched his body to ready himself before the match.

Alice took a distance away from Souta as he was the center of everyone's attention. After all, he was one of the fighters in the finals so a lot of people were eager to watch his fight with Brando.

Souta looked at his stamina in the system and saw that he still have a lot left. He would try to reserve his fight in this battle.

...

"Get ready, fighters!" Alex's voice echoed in the whole area.

Brando who was resting in the corner opened his eyes. He looked at Souta before he picked up his shield and stood up.

Souta saw Brando's look and he smiled. "He~ it's already time, huh?"

He then walked to the center and faced Brando. The distance between them was five meters.

Brando has a serious expression while Souta was looking as if he was amused by what's happening.

"Try to struggle as much as you can," Souta said to Brando.

"1... 2... 3... Go!!"

Chapter 51 - Finals

"Try to struggle as much as you can! Let me see your strength or else you will fall easily!" Souta said to Brando.

Naturally, Brando wasn't the only one who heard his words, the audience too heard his words.

"Oi oi, that's some cheeky first year," Zac said then he recalled a certain individual. He turned his head to Rein and said, "You remind me of him. You're trash talker too, right?"

"Don't compare me to him! You sc.u.mbag!" Rein said with an annoyed tone.

"Ah~ I can't wait to see it~"

Zac turned his head and saw that Yanagi, the number one, was still here. It seems that she's much more excited than usual.

"Don't tell me..." He turned his head and looked at the two contestants of the finals.

...

"Hahaha, so he's like that!" Kanda laughed when he heard Souta's words.

"Hmm... I'm still not familiar with my students so I don't know much about their personality." Bargan said as he closed his eyes.

...

"Hais..." Souta sighed when he heard the audience started to murmur. He could hear some of them were saying some mean things to him.

"I'm just saying the truth why won't they believe it... Anyway..." Souta grinned at Brando. He slightly bent his knees and crouched on the ground. He looked at Brando and said, "Be prepared! You don't know what will happen next!"

Brando was looking at Souta with a frown on his face. He wanted to rush towards him but his intuition was telling him that's not a good idea. Something was wrong about this Souta.

He tightened his guard as he observed Souta's every movement.

Then...

He widened his eyes as Souta instantly appeared in front of him. He tried to raise his shield but Souta was faster than him. 'My body's to slow to follow his movements.' He thought.

The plus 200 agility and dexterity of the [Vajra Sword Saya] wasn't for display. If he displayed the full speed of his stats then only a few first years would be able to follow his movements, but that's only followed him with their eyes as their body and reflexes were to slow to follow him.

"He~" Souta opened his palm and grabbed Brando's face.

"Fall down."

He then smashed Brando on the ground.

Boom!!

"Go!" Souta tightened his grip on Brando's face. He raised him once again before he smashed him on the ground.

Boom!!

"Ha!" Souta's muscles bulge out and he threw Brando in the air. He then followed him in the air.

"I told you to prepare!" Souta said as he raised his arm in the air before he brought it down smashing Brando.

Swoosh!!

Boom!!

"Argh!" Brando crashed on the ground creating a small crater. He spat a mouthful of blood.

Souta wouldn't stop at all. He's going straight to Brando intending to destroy him.

Bang!

As soon as his punch landed on Brando's face, he quickly took a distance away. It was because he saw that Brando used the [Shielder's Aura].

...

"He hasn't used any combat arts at all. His abilities were surprising." Kanda was surprised when he saw this. He finally understood why Souta had the guts to say something like that before the match.

"Not just his abilities. He does everything with absolute confidence and you can see it in his face." Bargan said as he looked at Souta's smirk.

...

"He's more on the fighter side. He's not using any flashy combat arts. He's a textbook fighter." Zac said while looking at Souta. To be frank, if he didn't know that Souta was a mage he would think that he's from the fighter class.

"Ah, beautiful."

He heard Yanagi's voice at his side. He rubbed his temple and thought that this would become a problem. Every person that she got interested in was destroyed to the point that they quit the institute and hole up in their room. The only one who persisted until the end was Rein, the rank number two.

'I wonder what will you do once Yanagi pursue you...' Zac thought while looking at Souta.

...

"That's why I surrendered..." Yujin, the one who surrendered before fighting Souta, said. He had a feeling that Souta's physical abilities exceeded those of the other class and it's true. His decision wasn't wrong at all, if he fought Souta then he would suffer great injuries.

He wasn't a fighter but a swordsman who's using magic. It would be inconvenient for him if he would fight without using magic. He's also not the type of person to fight even if they saw that they don't have a chance to win. He will only fight someone if he saw that he have a fifty percent chance to win, lower than that he wouldn't bother himself.

...

Brando stood up as he wiped the blood on the mouth. He looked at Souta and said, "You will not be able to damage me without using combat arts."

"Ah, is that so? Let me tell you something. You're much slower than I am so you wouldn't be able to avoid my attack." Souta said as he opened his palm looking at Brando with an amused expression.

"I don't need to avoid your attack," Brando said. He's talking so much so that he could recover a little bit of his strength. He wanted to avoid direct confrontation with his current condition.

"It's true that with your [Shielder's Aura] most of my will be ineffective, but it's not that you're not taking any damage at all. If my punches before were damaging you forty, then with your skill on you only took five damage. Do you know what it means?" Souta knew what Brando was doing. He's just letting him do what he wants, for now.

"I don't..." Brando replied.

"It means that if I punch you hundred times using that five damage then the damage you took would acc.u.mulate to the point that you couldn't handle it. Also if I just targeted your head then do you think you can hold out a hundred punches only aiming at your head." Souta pointed at his head as he patiently explained what he was saying to Brando.

"..." Brando didn't know what to say anymore. He knew that Souta's words were right. The difference in their speed was large. He could follow Souta with his eyes but his large body was too slow to react, so even if he could see Souta's movements it was pointless if he couldn't even defend.

"Okay, let's stop talking, I will start now." Souta shrugged his shoulder and he started to walk towards Brando.

Brando tensed his muscle and expand his senses. He took a deep breath and braced himself.

The whole training ground was devoid of any sounds as no one dared to talk. They just focused their attention on Souta.

Tap!

Tap!

Tap!

Souta's footsteps echoed as he slowly walked towards Brando. Souta opened his mouth and slowly said, "Actually, I don't want to use this at all but I don't have a choice now, do I?"

Brando subconsciously took a step back. He then saw that Souta was already gone.

"Wha-"

Swoosh!!

"I'm here..." Souta appeared behind Brando. He grabbed the handle of the [Vajra Sword Saya] and pulled it out of its scabbard.

Shiing!!

He quickly slashed Brando's back using the [Vajra Sword Saya].

Putchi!!

"Argh!!" A large cut appeared on Brando's back. His blood flew in the air and some splattered on the ground.

Souta quickly sheathed his sword. He looked around him. It seems that some people with sharp eyes saw the abilities of his sword. He pulled out his sword and placed it as fast as he could but he couldn't escape the eyes of those powerful teachers. Some of them would gain some idea about his sword.

Souta turned around and walked away.

Alex then declared the winner of the tournament.

At the same time, Souta heard a familiar sound in his head.

Ding!*

[Congratulations on completing the Tournament Quest!]

[You've received 5,000 exp, 2 free attribute points, and 1 skill point!]

'Nice, a skill point!' Souta was glad that he received skill point in this quest.

Although it was only one, it was still better than none. It didn't matter to him if he doesn't receive exp or attribute points. There were many ways to earn exp. Just farm outside the city and you will earn a huge amount of exp. That's also the case for attribute points. Just find some rare fruits or potions to increase your attributes. But skill points were different, it could only be earned by completing a quest.

...

"To think that everyone forgot his sword," Kanda said. He was the teacher of the Sword Class 2-C, so he instantly guessed just from one slash how proficient Souta in using the sword.

"Yeah, it's the first time he used his sword, and you see it too, right?" Bargan said.

"Yeah, that's not an ordinary sword. It could pierce through the [Shielder's Aura] like a thin paper." Kanda nodded. He looked down at the sword that was hanging on his waist. He felt that the quality of Souta's sword was higher than his sword.

"What about his sword skills?" Bargan asked.

"It's high... I couldn't even believe that he enrolled in the mage class. His sword skill is already at the level of my students." Kanda said in disbelief. In terms of proficiency in using sword skill, Souta was without a doubt higher than any first-year students.

After all, Souta's [Sword Mastery] was level two.

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Chapter 52 - Another Day

The audience slowly left the training ground as the tournament was finished. They remembered those students who showed great potential in this tournament. They won't forget it. The ranking was going to start soon and the second and third year couldn't wait to see who's going to rise in the first year batch.

Only the students of Shield Class and Mage Class were left in the training ground.

Alex gave Souta the authority to do anything wanted in his subject. He could even skip the class and only participate in the exams.

Right now, the students of Mage Class and Shield Class have a bit of understanding to each other after the tournament so they would grow closer in the future.

...

Alex said something about their next class before he dismissed the class.

Souta stood up and patted his clothes. He looked around and saw Bryan in the back.

"Come on Alice, let's check Bryan," Souta said to Alice before he walked towards Bryan.

Alice reluctantly followed behind him.

...

"Are you okay?" Souta asked Bryan who just woke up from his deep sleep.

"Yeah, it's just hard to move my body," Bryan replied as he tried to move his arms.

"Remember to rest, you will join me in my quest this weekend, right?" Souta said to him so that Bryan wouldn't do any reckless stuff.

"Ah, I forgot about that! Don't worry, I will be back into full force at that time!" Bryan said with a smile.

Souta turned his head and looked at Alice. He asked her. "Do you want to join us, Alice?"

"...I'm not an adventurer." Alice hesitated before she answered him.

"It doesn't matter," Souta said. "Well, I won't force you if you really don't want."

"Hello!" A voice came behind them causing them to turn their head. They saw Brando standing beside them.

"What do you want? Do you want another match?" Bryan said carefully. He was alerted by the sudden appearance of his opponent who defeated him.

"Childish!" Alice commented at the side.

"I'm Brando Hylott, I will train harder and defeat you the next time we fight, Souta," Brando said with a smile as he raised his fist and clenched it tightly.

Souta looked at Brando before he smirked. "Good, I will wait for it."

"Me too, I will beat the two of you next time." Bryan joined them.

"Haha, you can come at me anytime you want." Souta laughed.

"I will go now, see you later." Brando bid farewell to them before he left.

Souta looked at Brando's back and said, "He's the same as you, Bryan."

"Huh? Same?" Bryan didn't understand what he was saying.

"Forget about it, you wouldn't understand even if I tell you." Souta shrugged. He turned his eyes to Alice and said, "He ignored you, you know?"

"Huh?" It was Alice turn to be surprised. "Why would that matter?"

"You don't get it, he didn't ignore me and Bryan so it means that he acknowledged our strength but you..." Souta said as he raised his finger and shook it in front of her.

"So you're telling that I'm weak." Alice's tone turned colder.

"Haha, I'm not, Brando is the one. So train and defeat him next time." Souta laughed.

They talked for a while before they left the institute.

...

Souta went to the market first to buy something for Yuko. There's still some time left so he would try to finish some lower rank quest.

He gave Yuko the food he bought in the market before the went towards the Adventurers Guild. He picked up some herb picking quest and finished it quickly.

He went back to the inn when the sky was already dark. He placed the [Vajra Sword Saya] in the corner of the room before he lay down on the bed.

"Ah~ I'm tired." Souta gazed at the ceiling as he stretched his body across the bed. It really feels good to lay down on a soft bed if you're tired.

"The next thing I will do is to fulfill the requirements for the second evolution." This weekend Bryan will join his party and help him complete the requirements under the guise of Adventurer's Quest.

Both of them will travel to the place between Melosa Country and Hebrei Kingdom. The journey will take one and a half-day before they arrived there. The place between Melosa Country and Hebrei Kingdom was a forest called Desolate Woods. It became a battlefield when Melosa Country waged a war against Hebrei Kingdom. On the outskirts of the Desolate Woods was dry land. It was in that place when Bargan singlehandedly pushed back the army of Melosa Country. That time Bargan's name shook the whole kingdom. He was later called the Fire Master as his fire magic was too powerful that it could even destroy a city.

He needed Bryan's help to get the Rotten Venomous Green Apple. This apple was very lethal to those level 20 and below but since it's in the requirements he doesn't need to worry about the effect. The apple was inside the low-level dungeon there and it was guarded by a powerful undead. The dungeon wasn't entirely a low-level dungeon, its difficultly hover between the low-level and mid-level dungeon. It was because of the boss of the dungeon. If he wasn't wrong it was the level 30 Undead Cyclops.

The other requirement for his next evolution was the flesh of level 20 and above undead. Since the boss of the dungeon was a level 30 undead, he doesn't need to worry about the requirements.

"It's time for the second evolution." Souta couldn't help but grin about his next evolution.

It's still version 1 but he could exceed level 20. He guessed that he could reach level 30 before version 1 end. The demon would start to appear in the early part of version 2 and some countries would fight among each other. It would start to get chaotic in version 2. But since he could exceed the level cap there's nothing to worry about.

Level 40 was enough to finish the quest in the upcoming version that's why the level cap of version 2 was 40. If a player exceeded level 40 then they would easily finish the quest of version 2.

But he joined the Mechanic Country in the game when it was still in version 1. He hasn't left the Mechanic Country until the latest version that's the reason why he became the commander of Mechanic Country. Almost half of the quest that he did in the game was related to the Mechanic Country.

He became the commander because of his deeds when the Mechanic Country expand their territory in the three neighboring countries.

...

The next morning, Souta went downstairs to have breakfast. After that, he fed Yuko her breakfast before he went straight to the institute.

It's still early so he went to the cafeteria and bought coffee.

"Hu~" He went to the classroom and drink his coffee there.

After a few minutes, Bryan and Alice arrived.

"You're early, Souta!" Bryan said.

"Yeah, good morning!" Souta nodded and greeted the two.

"Morning," Alice replied as she sat down in her seat beside Souta.

Souta turned to Bryan and asked, "How's your injury?"

"Well, as you can see..." Bryan smiled as he flexed his muscle. "...I'm fine!"

"Be prepared. We will meet at the Adventurers Guild tomorrow morning." Souta said.

"Okay." Bryan nodded.

"Ah, remember to go there 6 am. I will leave you behind if I found that you're not there." Souta added.

"What?! You will leave me behind! How can you do that to your friend!" Bryan exclaimed loudly causing their classmates to turned their heads to look at him.

"Don't mind him, he's just hit his head." Souta smiled wryly and said to his classmates.

"Hais..." Souta sighed and took a sip of his coffee. "At least, the coffee here is good, just the right taste for my taste bud."

He closed his eyes and silently enjoy the taste of the coffee. He heard Bryan was talking to his seatmate. Bryan was a straightforward type of person.

He then slowly opened his eyes and glanced at Alice who was beside him.

Alice was silently looking outside the windows while supporting her head with her hand.

"Silent type, huh?" He muttered before he took another sip of the coffee.

"Good."

After a few minutes, Bargan came and started the class. The students listened carefully to Bargan's lectures.

While Souta was looking at the words that Bargan wrote on the blackboard, he heard something.

Souta looked over and saw that Bryan was sleeping in the middle of the class. It seems that he's still tired because of the battle yesterday, so he didn't bother Bryan and let him sleep there. Souta went back to listened to Bargan.

Bargan also was ignoring Bryan as he continued his lectures.

But...

There's one classmate that couldn't tolerate this kind of behavior.

"Excuse me, Teacher Bargan but Bryan is sleeping." Lumilia pointed at Bryan.

"Haha." Souta laughed lightly as he guessed what type of person Lumilia is.

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Chapter 53 - Hunters

The next day, Souta woke up early in the morning. He quickly went to the bathroom to wash his face, then he went downstairs to have breakfast.

After that, Souta went to the ranch to fed Yuko.

"We're going out, Yuko. I will introduce you to my classmate." Souta said while looking at Yuko who was eating her breakfast.

"Mu." Yuko looked at him for a second before she went back to eat her food.

Souta smiled looking at her.

...

Souta and Yuko arrived in the Adventurers Guild and found that Bryan was already there waiting for him.

"Yo! Bryan!" Souta called Bryan while he raised his hand.

"Oh! Souta... W-What's that?" Bryan said while pointing at the huge bear behind Souta.

"This... She's Yuko, my partner." Souta said.

"Don't tell me... Your the rumored Tamer!" Bryan said while looking at Yuko.

"Ah! Hmm... Yeah." Souta could only nod his head. He tried to recall if there were any other tamer in this city and found none in his memory.

Most of the tamer could be found in Ambrosie. Ambrosie was a powerful country that was situated in the north of the Forest of Light. It was a country were people didn't discriminate monsters as most of them were tamers. This was also the reason why other countries, who suffered from the monster tide, were isolating the country. They tried to bring down the Ambrosie many times but unfortunately for them, Ambrosie's army was extremely powerful.

"Ooh! I didn't think that you're a tamer, at all." Bryan said in amazement as his mouth turned into an "O" shape.

Souta noticed that the Adventurers Guild was strangely quiet this time. He asked Bryan about this.

"Ah! I think someone said that the hunters are here!" Bryan replied.

"Hunters..." Souta rubbed his chin. He looked at Bryan and asked, "Are you sure that it's the hunters?"

"I don't. I only heard it while standing here." Bryan tilted his head.

"Okay, wait for me here!" Souta said before he approached one adventurer. "Can you tell me what's happening?" He asked the adventurer.

"There's a sighting of Basilisk with monster orb near the city so the hunters came here to subjugate that monster." The adventurer said.

"Thank you!" Souta thanked the adventurer before he turned about but the adventurer called him.

"Hey!"

Souta turned around and looked at the adventurer. "Is there something wrong?"

"You're a tamer, right?" The adventurer asked Souta.

"Yeah." Souta nodded in response to his question.

"Be careful. Don't offend them. The hunters have deep hatred on the monsters. One wrong move and they will kill your pet." The adventurer warned him.

"Okay, thanks for the warning. If they come at Yuko then..." Souta's voice turned colder. "... I will kill them all."

...

Souta went back to Bryan. "Let's go!" He said as he picked up his luggage.

"Yosh!" Bryan raised his fist up in the air.

Yuko just followed behind Souta without making any sound.

'Hmm... Should I try to hunt that Basilisk? But... with this force, I don't think it's possible.' Souta thought as he turned his head to look at Bryan and Yuko.

All the monster that gained monster orb was level 40 and above. The beast energy the monster orb produced was extremely potent to the point that it could kill an ordinary human or demi(level 1-5) just by making contact with the beast energy. It was poisonous to those lower life forms. It was one of the reasons why those countries tried to exterminate monsters.

No ordinary human or demi could escape alive once they made a contact with level 40 monster.

'Even if we could hunt it. There's no time left because the hunters could leave the Adventurers Guild anytime.' Souta thought. He doesn't have time to deal with level 40 monster as it will need a lot of time and preparation to hunt it. Also, the hunters will get angry at him if he stole their job. It will give them a reason to trouble him.

The hunters were a specialist in dealing monster. They were the force of Adventurers Guild that only took the monster subjugation quest. To become a hunter a person needed to become a Rank B adventurer. In other words, each one of them was powerful in their own right. It's not something that a monster who only undergo first evolution like him could handle.

The hunters were also the problem of the monster character players in the game. The hunters chased those players until they die. It was also the reason why monster players banded together and attack the main guild of the Adventurers Guild in the Nivari Kingdom. It was chaotic in the Nivari Kingdom at that time as the players killed every NPC they saw. It only stopped when the S Rank Adventurer annihilated the players.

Souta shook his head and removed those thoughts in his mind. Right now, his priority was to complete the requirements of his second evolution.

"Say, Souta. Where would we go now?" Bryan asked him with an excited expression.

"The Desolate Woods," Souta replied.

"Eh!!" Bryan exclaimed then he asked, "What it is?"

"Hais..." Souta sighed he then said, "The forest between Hebrei Kingdom and Melosa Country."

"That's it!" Bryan said as he understood where they would go. He then tilted his head and looked at Souta. "Isn't that place pretty far?"

"Yeah, that's why we would miss the class if we took longer than what I expect," Souta said.

"Ehhh! I don't want to miss the class! Come let's go finish it quickly!"

...

Yesterday, Souta took the escort quest to the village near the Desolate Woods, so they don't need to walk. They had a smooth journey as they didn't encounter any bandits on the way. It took them one and a half-day before they arrived in the Dry Gulch Town.

Dry Gulch Town was the largest town in this area. It has a population more than ten thousands. Many humans and demi visited this place and some huge corporations even went their way here to sell their merchandise. Since this town wasn't part of any country or kingdom, the merchants used this chance to expand their business here. The tax here was lower compared to those huge countries and kingdoms. They would export products from other countries to this town, so it's not easy to guess why this town was more advanced than other towns.

"Oh? So this is the Dry Gulch Town!" Bryan exclaimed when he saw the bustling town.

There were people everywhere and shops. It looks like a city than a town. A lot of people turned their heads to looked at him. It was rare to see a tamer in this place. All of them focused their attention on the group of one human, one demi, and one monster.

"It's nice, right?" Souta said as he stepped forward and entered the town. He ignored the gazes of the people around him.

"Let's go!" Bryan was excited as he rushed forward.

"Let's check in an inn first," Souta said to Bryan.

Bryan turned his head and said, "I know."

Both of them checked in an inn and left their luggage there before they went inside the Adventurers Guild. The Adventurers Guild looks the same as the one in Ladros City. They have the same looks and materials, and even the interior part of the building was the same as the one in Ladros City.

Souta opened the door and looked inside the guild. The saw many round tables that were full of different people laughing and chatting. Some of them were looking at the quest finding a quest suitable for them, and the others were talking to the receptionist.

Souta and Bryan stepped inside the guild. Some of the people glanced at them while the others didn't bother looking at them. They knew that a lot of different people came in and out of the Adventurers Guild.

"First, we need to let the receptionist record our quest," Souta said as he fall in line.

"Okay." Bryan nodded and followed him.

They needed the receptionist to record the escort quest that they completed. It will help them have a good record in their Adventurers ID. It will increase their completion rate and some of the people will personally make a quest for them. Just like some of the nobles that have personal adventurers. Those nobles didn't make a request to the guild but they instead personally request those adventurers that they trust. The rewards of their quest were much higher than normal, so a lot of adventurers wanted a noble to hire them.

...

Souta and Bryan sat down in a vacant chair. Souta noticed that some of the adventurers were acting strangely. They were restless while talking about something.

Bryan wasn't that sensitive in his surrounding so he doesn't have any idea about the strange atmosphere.

"Wait here!" Souta said to Bryan before he stopped up and approached the table beside him.

"Did something happen here?" Souta asked the three adventurers.

The three adventurers looked at Souta before they looked at each other.

"You know there's a sighting of Mystical Light Cherry."

"What?!" Souta exclaimed loudly when he heard the words "Mystical Light Cherry".

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Chapter 54 - Mystical Light Cherry

"What?!"

Souta was surprised when he heard when the words "Mystical Light Fruit". He looked at the three adventurers and once again asked if it's really the Mystical Light Fruit.

The three adventurers looked at each other for a second before they replied.

"Well, you see... It's just a rumor but we think that it's true."

The one in the center looked around and carefully said, "You see... A lot of higher rank adventurers are gathering here so it's probably true. Even some nobles from Melosa Country are here."

"I see... " Souta nodded at them and once again asked them. "So, can you tell me where they saw the Mystical Light Cherry?"

"Desolate Woods." They answered his question in a simple way.

"Okay, thanks for telling me." Souta thanked them before he left.

...

Souta rubbed his chin and pondered what he should do.

It was probably true that the Mystical Light Cherry was in the Desolate Woods. If those nobles were involved here then they must have silenced the one who saw it and spread the words. Since the person who saw it was nowhere to be found, the other people thought that it was just a rumor with no clear evidence.

It will be hard dealing with those nobles but since they came from the Melosa Country, Souta wouldn't hold back at all if they bothered him. The nobles from Melosa Country were hard to deal if he was staying in the Melosa Country, but since he was staying in Hebrei Kingdom and the distance between them was huge, he doesn't need to worry about them causing trouble for him.

His priority right now was to get the Rotten Venomous Green Apple.

If he had energy left after he acquired the fruit then he wouldn't mind taking the Mystical Light Cherry for himself. Also, Bryan and Yuko were here with him so he could probably save more stamina in completing that low-level dungeon. He needed to save his strength if he wanted to compete for the Mystical Light Cherry. The battle for the cherry was going to get chaotic as nobles were involved.

Mystical Light Cherry was a type of fruit called Mana Fruit. It could greatly enhance the consumer's mana capacity and mana manipulation. The consumer's senses over mana will increase greatly.

If Souta wasn't wrong, the Mystical Light Cherry could increase a person's mana capacity by one hundred and also level up the mana manipulation skill by one. The only problem was that a person will only receive the full benefits of the fruit if they consumed it for the first time. If someone who ate the fruit before consumed the cherry then they will only receive half of the benefits.

For subsequent use, the effect of the fruit will lessen until a person wouldn't receive any benefits.

...

Souta left the Adventurers Guild and saw Bryan and Yuko waiting for him.

"What did you do?" Bryan asked him curiously.

"I just talk to some adventurers there," Souta replied.

"I know that. I see you talking to them for a while so I decided to wait outside. Say, what are you talking about?" Bryan asked him.

"I'm just gathering information about our quest," Souta answered him.

"Yosh! So how is it? I'm ready to depart any time to complete the quest." Bryan said with an excited expression.

"We're departing tomorrow morning. We just arrived here, so we need to rest first then we can go all out tomorrow." Souta said.

"Aw! Why? I wanted to complete it soon. I don't want to skip class you know." Bryan complained.

"It's important to rest," Souta said and he called Yuko.

Souta and Yuko walked away.

Bryan looked at them as he dropped his shoulders. He reluctantly followed behind them. He doesn't know what quest it is so he couldn't complete it alone. If he only knew the quest then he would go out to complete it this night.

The three of them went back to the inn. Bryan and Souta sat in the vacant table before they ordered their food.

"Enjoy yourself, sir!" The waitress said as she placed the food that they ordered on top of their table.

""Thanks!!"" Souta and Bryan thanked her at the same time.

Souta looked at the food and placed his palm together. "Thanks for the meal!"

"Oho! It looks delicious!" Bryan said while looking at the meal with stars in his eyes. He licked his lips before he began to eat his food.

Souta looked at Bryan and said, "We will go to the Desolate Woods 6am, so wake up early. We will investigate the outskirt of the woods to see if there is something wrong."

"Why?" Bryan looked at him with a question mark all over his head. He couldn't understand why they need to investigate the woods first.

"To see how many opponents we have and also to see the danger lies in the woods. We don't even know how powerful our competitors." Souta explained to Bryan.

Bryan could only nod his head. He couldn't understand what Souta was saying.

"Hais..." Souta sighed and he pinched his nose bridge. He knew that Bryan didn't understand him. He just needed to keep Bryan and once the battle started that's Bryan's stage. Bryan could help him greatly in battles.

He lifted up his head and looked at Bryan. "I will count on you when the battle starts."

"Yeah, you can count on me!" Bryan said as he patted his chest.

Souta and Bryan finished their meal before they went to their own room to rest.

Souta stretched his body and took off his clothes. He then lied down on the soft bed. He looked at the ceiling and took a deep breath. He relaxed his muscles and he slowly felt tired.

"Ahhh~" Souta yawned as drowsiness hit him.

He placed the [Vajra Sword Saya] on his side before he closed his eyes and fell asleep.

...

Souta woke up before 5am. He sat up and looked around the room. It was still dark outside.

"Ahh~" He stood up and he stretched his body. He crouched down and did some exercise.

After that, Souta went to the bathroom and washed the sweat on his body.

...

"Ho~ that was a good bath," Souta exclaimed.

He picked up a towel and used it to dry his hair. He then went downstairs and ordered a meal for his breakfast.

Souta heard someone coming down. He turned his head and found that it was Bryan.

"Yo! Bryan!" Souta greeted him.

"Good morning, Souta!" Bryan replied and he sat down in the seat opposite of Souta.

"Your early, huh?" Souta said.

"Yeah, I always woke up before six," Bryan said. He was used to waking up early. "What was it called again?"

"Body clock," Souta said.

"Yeah, that's right! It's body clock!" Bryan nodded at him.

"Here's your order sir!" The waitress came. She quietly placed his order on the table.

"Okay, thank you!" Souta thanked her.

Bryan looked at Souta's meal and asked, "Where's mine?"

"Huh?" Souta looked at him with a confused expression.

"Where's mine?" Bryan repeated what he said.

"Huh? You just came here! Why are you thinking that I would order a meal for you?" Souta asked him.

"Eh? You didn't?" Bryan looked surprised at Souta's words.

"Of course, why would I bother myself to order your meal if I don't even know what time will you wake up?" Souta said as if it was expected. He picked up the spoon and began to eat his meal.

"Ehhhh?!" Bryan had no choice but to accept his defeat. He ordered a meal for one person with his shoulder dropped.

...

After they finished having breakfast, they went to Yuko to give her her breakfast.

Souta was holding a cup of coffee while looking at Yuko who was eating her breakfast. He took a sip and looked in the sky. The sun was already shining brightly in the sky.

"Hmm... I feel that something is going to happen." He muttered while looking at the blue sky.

"Oho! Yuko's quite a good eater!" Bryan said as he continued to give Yuko a slice of meat. He was clearly having fun as Yuko ate every meat he threw at her.

"You're having too much fun," Souta said to Bryan.

"What's wrong with that?" Bryan replied. His focus was still on Yuko.

"Hais... You know that you need the owner's permission if you want to play with his pet." Souta said as he took a sip and glanced at Bryan.

"Ehhh?!! Is that so?!" Bryan exclaimed as he turned his head and looked at Souta with widened eyes.

"Hmm... I guess so." Souta smiled and he didn't further explain it to him. "Hurry up with that. We'll go now."

"O-Okay!!" Bryan replied.

...

After 30 minutes...

"Yosh! Let's go!!" Bryan shouted with both of his hands above his head.

"Hmm!" Souta smirked as he walked forward.

"Mu." Yuko followed behind Souta.

The three of them walked to the direction of the Desolate Woods.

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Chapter 55 - Encounter in the Desolate Woods

"So this is the Desolate Woods," Bryan muttered while looking at the vast forest in front of him.

"Yeah. Be careful a lot of powerful monsters inhabited this forest." Souta said to Bryan.

"Yeah, yeah." Bryan nodded.

"First, we will scout the outer area of the forest," Souta said. "Come, follow me." He walked forward and entered the forest.

"Okay." Bryan nodded and he followed Souta while looking at his surroundings.

Yuko was also observing the surrounding around her. Her senses were higher than a human and a goblin. Her level was also higher than Souta and she was in her second evolution, so it's not that surprising if her stats were higher than Souta.

When Souta met her for the first time, he knew that this bear was much stronger than him. Her stats were clearly higher than him and he was exhausted at that time because he ran over 600 km that day. In fact, Yuko would be able to kill him that day if she only used her trait skill. He didn't have much stamina to move his body that day. She just underestimated him and it caused her downfall.

Souta's group walked for a few minutes before Souta stopped. Souta looked at them and raised his hand signaling them to stop.

"What's wrong, Souta?" Bryan asked curiously.

"Shh!!" Souta placed his finger on his mouth and he pointed at the bushes twenty meters away from them.

Bryan looked ahead and saw a two meters tall spider.

The giant spider had eight sharp-pointed limbs. It has a hard exoskeleton that looks like a metal plate and its color was glossy black. It shone brightly as the sun rays hit the exoskeleton.

"What's that?" Bryan asked in a low voice while looking at the giant spider.

"Grr..." Yuko growled in a low voice. She felt danger coming out of that giant spider.

"That's a Black Tusk Spider," Souta said and he explained to them what it is.

Black Tusk Spider was a powerful monster that inhabited the Desolate Woods. The spider hunted their prey using their sharp limbs. They rarely used their web in battle as they mostly used it in building their nest. Their level was between 20 and 39, just like Yuko, a Red Fur Bear, the Black Tusk Spider was a second evolve species.

Souta explained to them that it was most likely a male Black Tusk Spider because of its size. The female Black Tusk Spider was larger than the male ones. It was also stronger and it possessed traits that males don't have.

"So what should we do?" Bryan asked.

"Wait here for a while. I will scout the area first. If it's the only monster here then were gonna hunt it." Souta said.

"Okay." Bryan nodded his head.

"Yuko, you also wait here." Souta looked at Yuko. He then turned at Bryan and added, "If I attack it then you can also start attacking."

"Okay." Bryan nodded.

"Good." Souta was satisfied that Bryan was following his command. He was worried that Bryan would suddenly attack the spider but fortunately, he was worried for nothing.

Swoosh!!

Souta jumped in the branch of the tree and looked around. He moved to the other tree to see the area around him clearly. He moved in a circle around the Black Tusk Spider.

"Okay, good. There's no other monster here." Souta muttered before he looked at the Black Tusk Spider.

He opened his palm and silently casted [Shadow Bind].

Swoosh!!

The spider was surprised when the shadow beneath move. The shadow strangled the limbs of the spider.

Bryan who was hiding in the bushes jumped forward when he saw Souta casted a spell.

"Ah!!" He gathered his mana on his fist and threw a punch on the abdomen of the spider.

Bang!

Souta followed Bryan as he threw a punch towards the spider.

Bang!

He then grabbed the handle of his sword and pulled it out. Since no one was here, he could freely use the Vajra Sword.

Kiek!

The spider broke free from the shadows. It quickly moved its limbs and it aimed at Souta's head.

Swoosh!

Souta tilted his head and sharp limbs grazed his cheek. He tightened his grip on the handle of his sword and swung it.

Putchi!

His sword sliced the limbs of the spider like a hot knife cutting through a butter.

Kiek!

The spider screeched loudly as it felt the pain from its limbs.

"Hmm?" Souta saw flames behind the spider and he jumped away. He saw Bryan used the [Blazing Strike].

Bang!

The spider flew away and it crashed in the trees.

Souta quickly chased after the spider. He raised his sword and threw it towards the spider.

Swoosh!!

The sword pierced through the body of the spider.

Pak!

In an instant, Souta arrived as he grabbed his sword and swung it upwards slicing the body of the spider in half.

Ding!*

[You've received 478 exp from defeating a Black Tusk Spider!]

Souta heard the system prompt in his mind while putting back his sword in the scabbard.

"I hardly do anything from that," Bryan complained.

"Yuko didn't even move. It's better if you save your strength for the upcoming battle." Souta said to him.

"Okay. I hope we finish this quest soon." Bryan's shoulder dropped.

"Don't be disappointed with this. There's a lot of monsters here so don't worry. You will fight later even if you don't want it." Souta smiled.

...

Souta's group wander around the outer part of the Desolate Woods for about an hour. They hunted down every monster that they met.

Souta was using the Vajra Sword without minding his surrounding. He did it because he wanted Bryan and Yuko to save their strength as much as possible. Also, he did it because of the exp he will receive from killing those monsters.

The monsters were getting stronger the deeper they went in the Desolate Woods.

But Souta wasn't bothered by this because he saw traces of battle here. From the looks of it, they were using magic and sword. It seems that the people who were after the Mystical Light Cherry fought here.

"We're getting closer..." Souta muttered.

"Closer?" Bryan looked at Souta asking what he meant by that.

"Closer to the dungeon. We will get a rare fruit there in the dungeon to complete the quest." Souta explained to Bryan.

"Ah, I see..." Bryan nodded.

"Whew~" Souta wiped the sweat on his forehead. He looked up at the sky. "We should find some food for lunch."

"Ah! You're right, Souta! Now that you mention it. I notice that I'm hungry." Bryan looked at his stomach and he caressed it.

Yuko's ears twitched. She turned her head on her left side and growled angrily.

"Graaa!!"

Souta and Bryan stopped talking when they heard her.

"What's wrong?" Bryan asked.

Souta ignored him and he looked at Yuko. He jumped in the tree beside her and followed her line of sight.

He then saw a girl with long green hair. The girl was wearing a white outfit that looks like a robe. Behind the girl was a group of people wearing a black hooded robe. The group of people was chasing after the girl.

"Is this some sort of encounter?" Souta muttered. He didn't move and just observed the scene. He waited for a while to see if he would trigger a quest.

After five seconds, Souta hasn't heard any prompt inside his head.

"Huh? Why? I don't want to bother myself if this wouldn't give me a quest." Souta sighed.

"Huh? That's a girl! Let's go save her, Souta!"

Souta turned his head and saw Bryan beside him. 'Is Bryan some kind of hero of justice?' He thought while looking at Bryan's face which was filled with concern for the girl.

"Hais... Suit yourself." Souta sighed and said. He looked at Yuko and said, "Yuko, go help her."

Roar!!

Yuko roared loudly and it shook the trees around her. She then rushed towards the group of people wearing a black robe.

"Yosh! I couldn't turn away when I see someone in need." Bryan said before he disappeared.

"Hmm... I will just watch them." Souta said as he crossed his arms. He then leaned his back in the tree behind him and looked at them with an amused expression.

...

Roar!!

The group of people including the girl stopped moving when they heard the roar of some wild monsters.

A huge figure emerged from the trees. It was the wild Red Fur Bear.

The giant bear looked at them with fury in her eyes. The bear opened her mouth and once again roared loudly.

Roar!!

"Let's kill this bear quickly before we capture the girl."

"Okay."

"Let's go!"

The group of people talked to each other. They agreed to rid the bear first before they capture the girl.

Swoosh!!

Swoosh!!

Swoosh!!

They moved and surrounded the huge bear.

"Grr!!!" Yuko rushed towards the person in front of her and waved her hand.

"What's happening?!" The girl was shaking. She subconsciously took a step back while looking at the huge bear that appeared.

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Chapter 56 - Saving the damsel

Roar!

Yuko roared loudly as she charged towards the group of people wearing a black hooded robe.

"Let's kill this monster quickly!"

"Yeah!"

They quickly move around and surround Yuko.

Swoosh!!

Swoosh!!

Swoosh!!

A dagger fell out of their sleeve and they grabbed it before attacking Yuko.

Yuko grabbed a huge boulder on her side and threw it.

"Dodge!"

The hooded people quickly jumped sideways to avoid the boulder.

Boom!

Yuko saw them avoid the boulder. She turned around and faced the one behind her.

She stepped forward and waved her hand towards the hooded man.

Swoosh!!

The hooded man bent his body barely avoiding her attack. "That's close..." He muttered while looking at Yuko warily. He understood that this Red Fur Bear was strong and knew how to fight.

"Bombard it using magic!" He shouted before he jumped backward.

Roar!

Yuko charged towards them but they just avoided her maintaining a distance away from her.

"Stop the monster for a second!"

Five hooded people then charged and clashed with Yuko.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

While the five hooded people we're exchanging blows with Yuko the other five from the back casted their magic spell.

But before they threw their spells at Yuko, Bryan appeared with flames coating his fist.

"[Blazing Strike]!!"

Bryan threw his punch towards them.

Boom!!

...

"Hmm... These people are quite strong." Souta muttered while looking at the people who were exchanging blows at Yuko. Even he wouldn't dare to take Yuko's blow head-on. Her strength wasn't something he could ignore.

"Don't tell me they are nobles from Melosa Country," Souta said. He heard from the adventurers in the guild that nobles from Melosa Country came here for the Mystical Light Cherry.

"These troublesome nobles..." Souta sighed. He too was killed by the army of those nobles back in the game when he was doing a quest concerning them.

That's why right now, he doesn't have a plan to solo all the quest. He planned to build a team and train them to avoid getting killed. He knew clearly how dangerous the quest that he will take in the future. While taking those difficult quest he died at least once.

...

Boom!

"I will take you!" Bryan said and his mana flared up. He moved his hands and casted a magic spell.

"[Lightning Edge]!!"

Lightning crackled and it formed like a blade at the side of both of his wrist.

"[Lightning Boots]!!"

He casted another spell. Lightning crackled around his feet.

"Okay, let's do this!" Bryan smiled and charged towards the group of hooded people.

Swoosh!!

"Wha-" The group of hooded people was shocked. They found the Bryan was already gone. They slowly turned their head behind them and saw that Bryan was already standing there with his back towards them.

Crackle!!

Suddenly, they felt pain all over their body.

"Ahh!!"

They groaned as they found that they couldn't move at all. Their consciousness was fading slowly as their vision began to blur.

They gritted their teeth and was preparing to attack Bryan but he was already gone.

Crackle!!

"Ahh!!"

They screamed as they fell down and lose consciousness.

...

"[Lightning Boots]..." Souta muttered in a low voice. This spell was more effective in raising the agility and dexterity attribute than his [Agility Boost] spell. He could see it that those people could barely react to Bryan's speed. This was the first time he saw Bryan used a magic spell. Bryan always used combat arts before so Souta doesn't have any idea what type of mage Bryan is.

[Lightnight Edge] also wasn't an ordinary spell. It's a powerful spell that has high damage and could paralyze the target. It was perfect for subduing the target's alive.

"It seems that Bryan is going to the path of Battle Mage..." He patted his clothes and walked towards Bryan.

...

Bryan looked at the green-haired girl that looks like 13 years old girl. He smiled and asked, "Are you okay?"

"...um." The green-haired girl didn't know what to say.

Bryan turned his head and looked at Yuko. It seems that she was done in her business too. He turned back his head to the green-haired girl.

Bryan smiled gently and said, "Don't worry, I won't harm you. I'm just here to help you."

"...why?" A simple question escaped out of the green-haired girl's mouth.

"Um... I say do I need a reason to help other people." Bryan said gently.

"Cough... Cough..." Souta coughed when he heard those cringy words. Those words made him shiver. 'What the hell?! Is he some kind of real-life hero?!' He thought.

Bryan turned his head and saw Souta. "What's wrong, Souta? Did you catch a cold here?" He asked when he saw him coughing.

"N-Nothing..." Souta shook his head.

He then focused his attention on the green-haired girl. He narrowed his eyes while looking at her green color pupils.

"...um." The green-haired girl subconsciously took a step back.

"Oi Souta! Don't scare her." Bryan said to Souta when he saw the green-haired girl getting scared.

"You're too kind." Souta sighed and he turned around. He saw that Yuko was already behind him. He reached out his hand and patted her head. "Good job, Yuko."

Bryan squatted down and asked the girl. "How many people are chasing after you?"

The green-haired girl shook her head.

Souta joined them. "Then, why are they chasing after you?"

The girl lowered her head as she didn't dare to meet his eyes.

"Hmm..." Souta narrowed his eyes. It seems that the girl knew why those people were after her. She just doesn't want to answer him as there was a chance that he will get involved in her affairs.

'I smell a secret quest from this girl. Okay, there's value in keeping her.' Souta rubbed his chin and grinned.

"Stop Souta!" Bryan stopped Souta and he patted the girl's head and said, "Don't worry, if you don't want to tell us then we will not force you."

"Well..." Souta shrugged his shoulder. He then looked around and said, "Let's go now."

"Okay." Bryan nodded his head. He then asked the girl. "Do you want to come with us? Don't worry we will protect you."

"I promise I will not harm you," Souta said from the side. He decided that it's worth keeping her beside him.

"...O-Okay." The girl nodded meekly.

"Yosh! Let's go now!" Bryan said as he raised his fist above his head.

"Yuko, Let's go!" Souta said as he started to walk.

Bryan, Yuko, and the green-haired girl followed him.

...

Souta stopped after walking for a few minutes.

"What's wrong, Souta?" Bryan asked him.

Souta glanced at him and said, "I forgot something. Wait for me here."

"Huh?" Bryan looked at him with a confused expression.

The green-haired girl also looked up at him.

Souta ignored them and he patted Yuko's soft and fluffy fur.

"Yuko, stay here for a while."

"Mu..." Yuko looked at him meekly.

"Okay, I will go now." Souta smiled and said. He then jumped in the tree.

"Wait, Souta! Where are you going?" Bryan shouted.

"Wait for me here!" Souta's words echoed as he disappeared.

"Jeez... That Souta." Bryan complained. He looked at the girl and Yuko. "I guess we will wait here for a while."

...

The group of hooded people slowly regained their consciousness.

"Ouch! My head hurts!"

"What happened?!"

"That girl managed to escape!"

"Argh!"

"We need to find her or else the boss will..."

They complained as they felt the pain on their body. They couldn't even move properly with their condition. They recalled what happened before and cursed the one who helped the girl.

"That f.u.c.k.i.n.g tamer!"

"Why did he help that girl?!"

They thought that Bryan was the tamer. He didn't saw Souta before so they thought that Bryan was the master of the Red Fur Bear.

Suddenly, their shadows shot upwards and bind their bodies.

"Argh!!"

"What the hell is this?!"

"F.u.c.k!!"

"Darkness element spell, Shadow Bind?!"

"What's that?!"

"A spell perfect for binding!!"

"We're done!"

"Hahaha, we're going to die!"

Various exclamation sounded as they tried everything they've got to free themselves from the shadows.

Tak! Tak! Tak!

A sound of footsteps echoed causing them to stopped moving. They turned their heads but the shadows moved and prevent them from seeing the person's face.

They could only see the lower body of the approaching person. They don't have any idea about who it is.

"W-Who's that?!"

One person got a courage and asked while stuttering.

"Hmm... That doesn't matter. I want to ask you some questions so you better answer me honestly." The person said in a monotonous tone.

From the tone of the voice, they guessed that this was a man. They kept their mouth shut.

"Hmm... If you're going to keep quiet then let me do this..." The man grabbed his sword and swung it towards the person near him.

Putchi!!

A head of a person flew in the sky. The headless body spurted out blood like a fountain.

The people beside him opened their eyes widely. They looked at the headless body of their comrades with wide eyes. Fear started to seep deep in their soul.

Gulp!

They subconsciously gulped and when they were about to turn their heads towards the man, the shadows that were binding them tightened around their body.

"Okay, I will ask a question so think carefully before you answer."

The person's voice was cold that it made them shuddered in fear.

"Why are you chasing that green-haired girl?"

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Chapter 57 - Interrogation

"Why are you after that green-haired girl?" Souta asked the hooded people in a cold tone.

"N-No...!!" One of the hooded people shouted.

Suddenly, a red line appeared in the center of his body. Slowly, his body split into two. He had a surprised expression as he drew his last breath.

The whole place turned quiet once again. All the people looked at their comrades with a mixed expression.

Souta looked at them with cold eyes. He could see none of them died when Bryan saved the girl. Bryan was an honest and straight forward man. Souta doesn't think that Bryan would intentionally kill someone, so he has to clean up this mess as these people saw Bryan's face and Yuko.

"I'll ask once again. Why are you chasing after the girl?" Souta repeated his question.

The people only lowered their heads and looked on the ground. After a few moments, one of them opened his mouth and said, "Our boss will kill us if we tell you..."

Souta frowned and he once again waved his sword.

Putchi!

This time he killed two people at the same time. Their heads shot up in the air and landed on the ground, spewing blood all over the place.

"Me too..." Souta said and he turned his head to the remaining hooded people.

He approached them as he tightened his grip on his sword. He then slowly raised it and swung it.

Putchi!

Putchi!

Putchi!

This time he didn't kill them. He just sliced their limbs apart so that they wouldn't think of escaping here. Also, the [Shadow Bind] spell was going to disappear soon.

"Argh!!"

"It hurts!!"

"Help me!!"

They groaned as they tried to move their body. They felt all kinds of pain but still, their lips were tightly shut. They didn't tell Souta anything no matter how many times he asked.

Souta looked in the sky and said, "Okay, we're running out of time." He then smiled at them. "Do you know what that means?"

Souta charged towards them with a cold grin on his face.

Putchi!

Putchi!

Putchi!

...

"Still not giving up?" Souta muttered while looking at the piled of corpses around him. He slowly turned his head and looked at the remaining two people.

The two people wanted to run away when they saw him look at them. Their face contorted due to what they just saw. They don't think that they will survive this time.

Souta deliberately left the two of them alive. It was because he wanted to extract information by torturing them.

He lifted up his feet and walked towards one of them.

The hooded man struggled to move his body.

"Ahh!! Don't come here!"

Souta lifted up his sword and stabbed the man's body. It was an ordinary stab. He didn't use the skill [Stab] as it could kill the man in front of him. He also deliberately missed the man's vital parts.

"Argh!!" The man screamed at the top of his lungs. The pain he felt was extreme to the point that he just wanted to die.

Souta stabbed and twisted his sword in the man's body causing a loud scream to escape out of the man's mouth.

After a few minutes, Souta stopped. He turned his head to the other one and asked, "Do you want to tell me? I can let you live if you tell me what you know."

"I-I know that you will still kill me even if I tell you." The man replied while stuttering.

"Hmm? I see, then how about this." Souta paused for a moment before he grinned and asked, "Do you want me to torture you or not? I will bring you to my house and will torture you every day until you collapse, then heal you before I repeated it."

The man was terrified by what he heard. "Y-You're a monster!!"

Souta smiled and said, "Yeah, I'm a monster. I mean it, literally."

"..." The man opened his mouth widely. He couldn't process what just Souta said.

In the end, the man submitted to Souta. He opened his mouth and said, "Okay, I will do what you want."

"Good." Souta nodded and he swung his sword to kill the other man alive. He doesn't need to keep the other man alive anymore.

Souta then placed his sword back in the scabbard before he focused on the remaining hooded person.

"Why are you after that girl?"

"Um... I don't know many things as the boss hid a lot of things from us."

"I understand." Souta nodded.

"That girl's name is Cl.u.s.ter. She came from one of the Three Great Countries, the True God's Holy Kingdom." The man paused when he saw Souta contemplated.

'True God's Holy Kingdom...?' Souta rubbed his chin.

He didn't think that he would make contact with one of the Three Great Countries this early. The Three Great Countries was one of the reasons why the Gods from the Gods Continent haven't invade the Giza continent. The Pope of the True God's Holy Kingdom, the Emperor of the Red Crystal Empire, and the Leader of the Purple Cloud Dynasty were powerful enough to match Zeus, Odin, Susanoo, Shiva, Lugh, Ra, etc. from the Gods Continent. The Three Great Countries were the pillar of the whole Giza Continent and in the future, the Mechanic Country would join their ranks.

To think that girl came from one of the most powerful countries on the whole continent. She must be hiding some sort of secret of the True God's Holy Kingdom. That must be why these people were after her.

Souta nodded and said, "You can continue."

"The boss said that he wants something from her. Cl.u.s.ter is hiding something the boss wants but I don't know what it is." The man said while looking on the ground.

"What's your boss's name?" Souta asked.

He tried to recall the organization against the True God's Holy Kingdom. There were many organizations that were trying to put down the Three Great Countries, but if he knew the leader then he would be able to know the power of the organization that was after the girl.

"Curdova, that's the name of our leader." The man replied.

"Curdova? Are you sure that it's Curdova?" Souta asked.

"Yeah." The man nodded.

Souta was surprised as he doesn't recall any NPC that has the name Curdova back in the game. It means that it's not that powerful organization.

No, this was not a game anymore. There were many unknown factors that he didn't know in this world.

"What's your aim?" Souta asked.

"The boss wanted to bring down the True God's Holy Kingdom." The man replied.

Souta already guessed their motives so it's not that surprising. Nonetheless, to bring down the True God's Holy Kingdom was not something that could easily be achieved. Supposedly, they have a plan and the girl called Cl.u.s.ter was connected to that plan.

Really... This must be a hidden quest and Souta must trigger it no matter what happens.

"I will ask one last question," Souta said. "Tell me the formation and secret of your organization."

"Our base is hidden in the mountain between the Melosa Country and the Barbarian Kingdom. We have our boss and our seven executives are the core of our group. Our boss and the seven executives are powerful individuals." The man explained the details of their organization to Souta.

Souta listened to the man without saying anything. He finally understood the power of their organization. Their organization wasn't that powerful as it was only a small size group. They only have a hundred people in their group but their ambition was so high. They think that they could bring down one of the Three Great Countries with only a hundred people. Souta guessed the reason why they have such confidence was because of the girl.

Although, they were only a small size organization Souta guessed that the boss and the seven executives were powerful enough to go against the True God's Holy Kingdom.

"Okay, I understand you can rest now." Souta paused for a moment and asked, "Do you have any last words?"

"Huh...? Last words..." The man looked at him with a dumbfounded expression. He then took out something from his robe and gave it to Souta.

Souta received the item and saw that it was an ordinary necklace. The necklace has a pendant with a picture within it. The man, a woman, and a girl were smiling in the picture.

"This...?" Souta looked at the man with a questioning gazed.

"Find the girl in the picture and gave her the necklace. She's my good daughter. Tell her that I love her." The man said.

Souta stopped for a moment as he heard a familiar sound in his mind.

Ding!*

[Quest Triggered!!]

[Finding: Find the girl in the picture and gave her the necklace. Rewards: 20,000 exp, 5 free attribute points, and 3 skill points.

'Oi oi, 3 skill points for this quest!' Souta was surprised. He took a deep breath to calm himself.

He looked at the man and asked, "Okay, I've decided that I will not kill you. I'm in a good mood today."

"No, I already told you the secret of our organization so the curse is already spreading in my body." The man shook his head.

"I see..." Souta nodded in understanding.

The man had a curse in his body. Once he told someone the secret of their organizations the curse will spread in his body and kill him.

"Can you tell me where is your daughter?" Souta asked.

The man shook his head and said, "I don't know where she is. My family suffered from the suppression of the True God's Holy Kingdom. My wife died and my daughter disappeared. I don't know if she's still alive but I have a feeling that she's really alive."

"I see... Don't worry about it your daughter is alive. I will find her." Souta said as he placed the necklace inside his pocket.

Since he received the quest to find his daughter, his daughter was still alive.

"Kill me now." The man said. His face was already pale due to the curse.

"I understand." Souta nodded and he raised his sword above him before he swung it down.

"I hope you don't forget your promise." The man said as the sword separated his head from his body.

Putchi!!

"Hais... This ending really leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I shouldn't have asked about that." Souta sighed and looked in the sky.

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Chapter 58 - The Great War

"Sorry, it took longer than it needed." Souta apologized to Bryan after he came back. He cleaned the bloodstain on his body. That's the reason why he took a long time.

"I'm curious... What did you do?" Bryan asked Souta with a curious expression.

"It's not that worth mentioning." Souta waved his hand and walked beside Yuko. He stretched out his hand and patted her head.

"So where should we go, Souta?" Bryan asked. Souta was the only one who knew their exact goals, so he needed to depend on him.

"We will go back to the village and come back this night," Souta said.

"Huh?" Bryan exclaimed.

"What's wrong?" Souta asked him when he heard Bryan's loud voice.

"Why?" Bryan said one word. He was asking why they should go back to the village.

"I said before that we will scout this area first," Souta said as he shrugged his shoulders.

The girl called Cl.u.s.ter just looked at their interactions. She didn't know why but she felt afraid of Bryan and Souta. She didn't know why but she felt a powerful presence behind the two. It was especially towards Bryan.

Souta noticed her looking at Bryan with slight fear in her eyes. Although it was just a second, it didn't escape his eyes.

"Oi, what's your name?" Souta asked the girl. He asked her name to avoid suspicion in case he blurted out her name.

"Um... Cl.u.s.ter." The girl replied in a low voice.

"Oh! So your name's Cl.u.s.ter, huh? You don't need to worry now, I will protect you." Bryan said as he patted his chest.

"...thank you for saving me!" Cl.u.s.ter hesitated for a while before she bowed her head and thanked Bryan and Souta.

'Cl.u.s.ter, huh? It felt familiar to me...' Souta thought while looking at her. He smiled at her and said, "My name's Souta Ieshi and this guy is Bryan Dagruel, a comrade of mine."

Bryan smiled and patted his chest proudly.

Something caught Cl.u.s.ter's attention in Souta's words. She tilted her head and said, "From Ieshi Clan?"

"Ieshi Clan? What's that?" Souta asked her when he heard her mentioned Ieshi Clan. It was the first time he heard a clan in this world that has the same surname as his.

"Um... They are a family with the power to see the future." Cl.u.s.ter lowered her head and said in a tiny voice.

"I see..." Souta nodded in understanding. It was the first time he heard that someone has the power to see the future in this world. Even in the game, he hasn't heard it at all. Especially, the Ieshi Clan. He looked at her and asked, "So where are they?"

Cl.u.s.ter shook her head and said, "They are an ancient family and some people said that they all died in the Great War."

'So that's why I didn't know about the Ieshi Clan.' Souta thought. The happenings in the Great War was still a mystery even to him. He only knew little details about it.

"Where did you learn about that?" Souta asked.

"In the place where I lived. There's a lot of books there and I don't have anything to do, so I kept reading books." Cl.u.s.ter replied to him.

"Hmm..." Souta guessed that it was the books from the True God's Holy Kingdom. It's within his expectations that the Three Great Countries have some records of the Great War. After all, they were founded for a few thousand years ago.

Souta squatted down and asked, "Can you tell me more about the Great War later? I'm curious about what happened in that war."

"...okay." Cl.u.s.ter nodded.

'This girl really has some value.' Souta smiled contently.

...

Souta's group including Cl.u.s.ter went back to the village. They met some monsters on their way out but Souta and Bryan eliminated it. They successfully got out of the forest without having any problem.

The group was walking in the market looking for something valuable.

"What should we do now, Souta?" Bryan asked Souta with a bored expression.

"Rest," Souta replied while checking the fruits that were on the stall.

"Rest?!" Bryan couldn't believe what he heard.

"Yeah, rest." Souta nodded and he bought the fruits that he picked. "It's important for an adventurer to be cautious. It's also important if your energy is full."

"Yeah, yeah." Bryan dropped his shoulders. He was clearly bored and was itching for some action.

"Hais... You really don't get it." Souta picked up the fruit he bought from the plastic bag and placed it close to Yuko's mouth.

Yuko looked at the fruit for a moment before she opened her mouth and bit the fruit. She ate the fruit in just a second, so she looked at Souta and opened her mouth as if she was asking him to feed her.

"Here." Souta picked another fruit from the plastic bag and put it inside her mouth.

"Mu." Yuko happily ate the fruit that he gave her.

Bryan looked at him and Yuko back and forth. "...sucks to be you." Then, an idea came into his mind. "Ah! I know! Maybe I will tame a monster myself and raised it to become the strongest! Hahaha!"

Souta looked at Bryan with a dumbfounded expression. "Oi, how did you come to that conclusion?"

"I saw how Yuko fought, so I think I should tame some monster for myself. Then, I'll become a tamer too." Bryan laughed.

"Do what you want. I'll tell you that it's not easy to raise a pet." Souta said and he continued to feed Yuko the fruits that he bought.

...

Souta's group went back to the inn. They rent another room for Cl.u.s.ter. She's a girl so Souta thought that it's not a good idea to let her stay with him or Bryan.

Bryan rested in his room while Souta called Cl.u.s.ter to come into his room. Cl.u.s.ter came in his room and Souta asked her about the Great War.

Cl.u.s.ter told him everything she knew about the Great War. Her knowledge about the Great War was limited but this was enough for Souta.

Twenty Thousand Years Ago, the demons tried to destroy the world. Various races joined hands to repel the demons. It was said that the technology of ancient civilization was more advanced than the current technology in the current era. They have different powerful weapons and the people from ancient times knew how to create the Universal Grade Equipment. They also have connections to many different worlds. They used that force to pushed back the demons from the edges of the world.

That's the normal story of the Great War which was passed down through generations.

But... From Cl.u.s.ter, the story was quite different.

The demons were searching for something that's why they launched an invasion. They were looking for a door, an entrance to a different realm. It was because they said that the world, no, the whole cosmos was going to end soon. The Ieshi Clan also said that the world was going to end in the near future.

Of course, the other races didn't let the demons roamed in their territory, so they forced back the demons.

Then... Something entirely different appeared all of a sudden. It caused chaos in the whole cosmos. They thought that the end was coming, so the demons joined hands with other races. Cl.u.s.ter didn't have much information about this part, so her description was vague. But Souta understood that all the forces of the whole cosmos suffered great casualties. The Ieshi Clan disappeared, the Founding Gods of the God's Continent died, the Supreme Dragon God died, the Vajra race was annihilated, powerful leaders of Humans and Elves died, and also the progenitors of different monsters died.

Souta was shocked when he heard this. All those powerful existence died from unknown existence that came out of nowhere. He was curious about what really happened that day.

"Really... This world is getting interesting. There's really a lot of things that I haven't know in this world." Souta's mouth cracked into a smile.

He looked at Cl.u.s.ter and said, "You can rest now. Thanks for telling me this."

"...no, you saved me so it's natural that I help you." Cl.u.s.ter shook her head. She then hurriedly left his room.

Souta looked at her retreating back before he lay down on his bed. After fulfilling the requirements of his next evolution, he would try to acquire more combat arts so that he could level it up to two in his next evolution.

He rested for a few hours before he got up and went to Bryan's room.

Knock! Knock!

"Bryan we're going to depart now. Prepare yourself we're going deep in the Desolate Forest." Souta said.

"Okay!!" Bryan replied in a loud voice.

Souta then went to Cl.u.s.ter and said the same thing.

In just a few minutes, Souta, Bryan, and Cl.u.s.ter went out of the inn to fetch Yuko.

The group departed and went to the Desolate Woods.

The sky was dark and the night breeze was cold. Soon, they were going to meet a lot of people after the Mystical Light Cherry.

It seemed that it's going to get chaotic in the Desolate Woods tonight.

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Chapter 59 - Commandments

Souta brought Cl.u.s.ter with him. He was afraid that she would run away once he left her in the village. He wouldn't let a valuable person like her leave easily. He would squeeze some benefits out of her before he let her go.

Souta's group arrived in the inner part of the Desolate Woods. The trees around this part were ten to twenty meters tall, and all of the trees had brown and gray color leaves. It made them looked like withered trees, but this was its natural color. This was the reason why this forest was called Desolate Woods.

"The atmosphere is different than the outer part of the woods," Souta muttered while looking around his surroundings.

"Whoa! This is the first time I see this kind of tree!" Bryan exclaimed while looking around the trees in wonder.

Cl.u.s.ter was also looking around quietly. It seemed that she was still holding back in front of Bryan and Souta. She didn't want them to think badly of her.

"What's with this forest, Souta?" Bryan asked Souta.

"Hmm... This forest is called Desolate Woods. A lot of powerful monsters inhabited this forest but the most dangerous was the Giant Nova Boa and the Mountain Back Crocodile." Souta paused as he turned his head and looked at Bryan. "These two monsters were the overlord of this forest. If we somehow meet these two monster then we have to run as fast as we can. With our current strength, we would not be able to defeat it, because these two monsters are monsters that already created its monster orb. In other words, these two are powerful enough to crash the four of us with the use of best feram."

"What is a monster orb?" Bryan asked with a curious expression.

"Huh...?" Souta looked at Bryan with wide eyes. He couldn't believe that Bryan didn't know the monster orb at all. He couldn't help but sigh at Bryan's ignorance. "Monster orb is the core of a powerful monster. It is also the source of strength of the monster and the reason why the monsters are powerful. The monster orb can be fetched at a high price in the market. It can be sold by a hundred thousand platinum coins. The energy inside the monster orb is more potent than the energy inside the mana stone and essence."

He patiently explained the monster orb to Bryan. "Do you know the light in Ladros City?"

"Yeah." Bryan nodded.

"The reason why those bulbs across the street light up are because of the monster orb. One monster orb is needed to light up all the lights in the whole city for one week. If a person would monopolize a single monster orb then it would take a few months even a year before that person consumed all the energy inside the monster orb." Souta explained to Bryan. The monster orb was also the reason why the human and demi hunted down the monsters.

"I see." Bryan nodded.

"I can't believe you didn't even know this." Souta sighed.

...

Souta's group walked for a few dozen minutes before they met some monster. The monster was a carnivorous plant. The plant was three meters tall. It was a powerful monster but with Souta and Bryan, it didn't look like one.

All the monsters that they met all died by the teamwork of Souta, Bryan, and Yuko.

The trees became twisted like everything around them was changing. The area around them was completely covered in brush and branches.

Souta asked Bryan to clean the area.

"We will rest here for five minutes." Souta picked up a decent place to rest. Of course, he scouted the area within it before he settled with this place.

Souta's group sat down and they leaned their back on the trees.

"This is such a weird forest," Bryan said in a low voice.

Souta ignored Bryan and he looked at Cl.u.s.ter. He noticed that she wasn't gasping or out of breath. It seems like she really holds some power inside her. There's also a possibility that she didn't know about this power and only those higher up of the True God's Holy Kingdom knew.

Souta shook his head and put his hand inside his bag. He took out fruit and bit it.

"This is good," Souta said as he looked at the fruit that looks like an apple on his palm.

"Gulu gulu!"

He heard a sound beside him, so he turned his head and saw Yuko was looking at the fruit on his hand with drool on her face.

"Really." Souta smiled wryly and he took out another fruit for her.

Yuko swallowed the fruit with a happy expression.

Looking at her expression, Souta smiled and patted her head.

After a few minutes, they packed their things and began to move forward. They trek towards the eastern part of the inner woods. The surroundings were dark, so their pace was quite slow.

While they were walking they heard a sound of metal clashing against each other.

Yuko's ears twitched as she looked at the direction where the sound came from.

"That's the sound of fighting," Souta muttered. Then, he turned his head and looked at Bryan and Cl.u.s.ter. "Don't make any noise. We're going to check it."

"Okay," Bryan replied.

Cl.u.s.ter just nodded her head.

"Good. Follow me." Souta nodded in satisfaction at their reply. He walked slowly towards the sound.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Souta's group saw thirty people battling each other. Those people were powerful especially the two people who were fighting in the center. Both of them were wearing a full plate of silver-colored armor. The only difference was the symbol that was engraved in their chest.

The symbol in their chest indicated that they were the knights of the nobles. The symbol represented the family they supported.

Souta turned his head and looked at his group. He slowly opened his mouth and said, "A lot of people were going to fight in this place, so we better avoid them. This time we only came to check the strength of each group, but we can see from their force that we wouldn't stand a chance if we fought them head-on. Also, their numbers were greater than us."

"Yeah, they are strong. I wanted to fight them." Bryan said while looking at the people who were fighting against each other.

"Don't worry about it, you will get a chance to fight later," Souta assured Bryan. It's true that Bryan would have a chance to fight later in the dungeon they were heading.

"Let's go now," Souta said.

The group turned around and quietly left the area, but they didn't know that a figure was hiding in the trees was looking at them.

...

Somewhere in the forest...

Two people wearing a black robe were walking leisurely. Their black robe wasn't an ordinary robe. The robe looks like the one that those priests from the church wear. The robe had red linings and a symbol of a hand holding the world was imprinted in the back. Behind them were the corpses of various monsters.

"Ah~ poor little monsters. You sacrifice your lives for the greater goods of people. Oh, God! Please guide these monsters towards the paradise!"

A man with long blonde hair said. The man has red pupils and part of his bangs covered his left eyes. He had a tattoo of red arrow pointing downwards below his left eye, and below that arrow was the "Love" word written in cursive form.

The man was looking at the corpses of the monsters with intoxicated expression.

The other figure was a woman. She has long black hair that was tied in a ponytail. Her skin was pale and her pupils were crimson in color.

She looked at the man with annoyance and said, "Stop that! We just kill them because they attack us, that's all. We wouldn't even bother them if they didn't attack us."

"What are you saying, Carmilla? All the things here were created by the Supreme Creator, so it's natural that we show them our love." The man said.

"Hais... I shouldn't have partnered with you in this mission." The woman called Carmilla sighed. She then stopped moving and turned her head on her left side.

"Hmm...? What's wrong, Carmilla?" The man asked when he saw her strange expression.

"A group of people is coming," Carmilla said.

The man also turned his head and saw more than twenty people came out of the bushes. The people were wearing a full plate armor indicating that they were knights of a noble household.

Carmilla and the man looked at the knights with a curious expression.

A young man in his twenties stepped forward and looked at the two with arrogance. He was wearing luxury clothes for nobles. He was the master of the knights.

"I'm Ransen De Rougen, the third son of the Rougen Family!" The young man introduced himself. He looked down at the two and ordered them. "You two, tell me who you are and why you are here!"

Carmilla and the man looked at each other.

"I'm asking you! Don't you know me! I'm the son of Jasvin De Rougen! I'm a noble lineage, so don't you dare ignore me! Are you also here because of the Mystical Light Cherry?!" Ransen grew angrier when he saw the two people in front of him ignored him.

Carmilla laughed at his words. She opened her mouth and said, "Mystical Light Cherry? We're not here for something as low as that fruit. We have hundreds of that in our base."

"You!! How dare you!! Draug!" He raised his voice and called his most powerful knight.

"Young master. We should not-" Draug said but Ransen interrupted him. He wanted to tell what type of monsters were behind the two unknown people. The corpses of the monster behind the two weren't ordinary at all. Every corpse of monsters was a powerful one that could even give him, a knight, some trouble.

"I'm your master, so you should just follow my instruction without saying anything!" Ransen said.

"Yes, young master!" Draug bowed and pulled out his sword.

The rest of the knights also pulled out their swords. They pointed their sword at the two people.

"Now tell me, who you are and what's your goal here?" Hansen looked at the two people with a smirk.

"Fine, I'm going to tell you. After all, I never told a lie before." Carmilla stepped forward. Her mouth curved into a smile. "Commandments of the God's Words. Representing the Truth commands, Carmilla Rybentatores."

"And I'm Julius Reanhar, representing the Love of the Supreme God." The man opened his arms widely as he turned his head to look in the sky.

"We're here to retrieve the corpse of a God." Carmilla smiled at them with a gentle expression.

"What?!" Everyone was shocked when they heard their introduction. They subconsciously took a step back. Fear started to appear in their hearts.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Their grips on their weapon loosen and it fell on the ground.

If Souta was here, he too would be shocked. It was because the God's Will was currently in the Desolate Woods.

If someone said the God's Will cult then the priest of the True God's Holy Kingdom would burn those people. The True God's Holy Kingdom target among the three Bringer of Calamity Group was the God's Will cult. The people from the True God's Holy Kingdom despised the God's Will cult. It was because of the inhumane things that God's Will did saying that it was for the Supreme God.

God's Will was one of the three Bringer's of Calamity. They were called like that because every time they appeared in public something bad happens. It was either annihilating a country or causing a strange phenomenon in the world.

If the three Great Countries were the good camp, then the three Bringer's of Calamity was the evil camp.

The Commandments, the Deadly Sins, and the Zodiacs were the most powerful terrorist group that could go toe to toe to the three Great Countries.

The Commandments of the God's Will were active in both Giza and God's Continent, while the Deadly Sins were active in the God's Continent. Lastly, the Zodiacs were active in the Giza Continent. Each of them was a powerhouse of their own that could even bring down a god.

...

Souta stopped and looked in the starry sky, "I sense something terrible."

"What's wrong, Souta?" Bryan asked him when he saw Souta stop.

"Nothing." Souta shook his head.

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Chapter 60 - Meeting Lumilia

"N-Nononono!" Ransen, the young noble, looked at Carmilla and Julius with fear in his eyes. He fell down on his back as he kept repeating the same word. There's not a hint of arrogance in his presence enemy, it was instead replaced by fear.

Beside him were the corpses of his proud knights. All the powerful-looking knights were now lying on the pool of blood without any signs of life.

"Ah~ God! Please forgive these sinful people! The Supreme God loves all the creatures equally!" Julius said as he put his palm together and looked in the starry sky.

"Tsk! Don't mind that idiot!" Carmilla clicked her tongue while looking at Julius in annoyance. "Do you know that we wouldn't even bother insects like you if you didn't attack us? It's all your fault that your knights died and also your fault that you will die. Anyone who goes against the Supreme God will die. And going against us is equivalent to that, so it means that no matter what you say today I will not let you live."

"Nonononono, please forgive me! I will do anything that you want! Just don't kill me!" Ransen pressed his forehead on the ground as he begged Carmilla to spare him.

"Actually, I can see it in your eyes before that you have the intention to kill us. You can't hide those things to us, the representatives of the God's Will, as we are sensitive to any malicious things." Carmilla slowly walked towards Ransen. "If you didn't show that intent to kill maybe your knights were still alive right now."

"Please, I will not do it again!" Ransen begged for his life until the end. Tears and snots were flowing down on his face. There's not a hint of noble demeanor in his presence.

"Goodbye, and may God guide your poor soul," Carmilla said as she raised her hand and her nails grew sharper. She swung it down on Ransen's neck.

Putchi!

...

Souta's group was heading towards the dungeon in the eastern part of the inner woods.

While they were walking, Souta noticed that Yuko's ears kept twitching. He carefully glanced at his surroundings and noticed that someone was following them behind. That person was silently following them above the trees.

Souta looked at Bryan and Cl.u.s.ter before he said, "Bryan, Cl.u.s.ter. Someone is following us."

"Wh-" Bryan was about asked when Souta interrupted him.

"Don't shout or else that person will notice that we knew about its presence," Souta said as he narrowed his eyes at Bryan.

"O-Okay." Bryan nodded at him.

Swoosh!!

Suddenly, the person that was following him disappeared.

"Hmm...? It seems that he already left." Souta said while looking at the position of that person before he/she disappeared.

"Eh! That person is already gone?" Bryan look surprised.

"Yeah, maybe that individual noticed our strange behavior. No, it should be your strange behavior Bryan." Souta said.

"Eh! Why?"

"You shouldn't look at that person's location repeatedly as it will give that person our plan." Souta explained to Bryan.

"Okay, I get it now." Bryan nodded.

Souta then looked at Cl.u.s.ter and asked, "Do you know how to fight?"

Cl.u.s.ter shook her head in denial.

"I understand. Don't worry if something happens Bryan will protect you." Souta said as he assured her. Cl.u.s.ter was physically fitted. Her stats were quite high but the only problem was that she doesn't know how to defend herself, that's why she could only run when those people chased her before.

Cl.u.s.ter meekly nodded her head. It seems that she was ashamed that she couldn't even protect herself.

"Okay, let continue."

Souta's group continued to walk deeper through the Desolate Woods. Here in the inner parts of the Desolation Woods, battling was present everywhere.

Souta's group sometimes felt the ground shook and sometimes the could hear a loud explosion.

...

Souta's group arrived in the river. They walked towards it but Souta felt someone appeared behind them.

Souta glanced at Bryan and Cl.u.s.ter. It looks like these two didn't felt the presence of that person. He then looked at Yuko and saw that she was aware of that person.

"Let's go." Souta took a deep breath and grabbed the handle of his sword.

He quickly pulled out his sword before he turned around and threw it towards the location of that person.

At the same time, Souta saw the face of that person. It was a middle-aged man with short white hair and a white mustache. He was wearing the clothes of a butler.

Swoosh!!

The Vajra Sword quickly tore the air as it went flying straight to that middle-aged man.

"Wha-" The middle-aged man revealed a surprised expression. He quickly pulled out the sword that was hanging on his waist and parried the Vajra Sword.

Clang!

Souta bent down his knees and charged straight while using [Agility Boost] and [Dash] at the same time. He then jumped in the air when he was close to his sword and grabbed it.

[Stab]!

[Stab]!

[Stab]!

In the mid-air, Souta threw the skill [Stab] towards the middle-aged man. He wouldn't let this middle-aged man escaped.

The middle-aged man was shocked as he couldn't even move because Souta was blocking all his escape routes.

Tugh!

Souta landed in front of the middle-aged man and pierced his palm on the tree using the Vajra Sword.

"Argh!" The middle-aged man groaned and his weapon fell on the ground. "I got careless." He said while looking at Souta's face.

"Fred!" A girl appeared behind them. She raised her sword and pointed it at Souta. "Release Fred and I will forget about this!"

Souta turned his head and looked at her. If this middle-aged man was a butler then this girl was a maid. The maid has long blonde hair that was tied in a bun.

"Souta!"

Bryan, Cl.u.s.ter, and Yuko approached Souta. They were surprised when they saw him suddenly attack someone.

"What happened?" Bryan asked while looking at Souta and the middle-aged man back and forth.

"This man was the one following us," Souta said as he looked at the middle-aged man in the eyes. He gripped his sword tightly and twisted it.

"Argh!" The middle-aged man screamed when Souta twisted the sword that pierced his palm.

"You! Release him!" The girl shouted at Souta.

"Release? Don't make me laugh. You don't have the right in your current situation." Souta sneered at her. "You should understand your current situation first. If you continue to show that kind of attitude in front of me then I will kill this man."

"I-" The girl didn't know what to say.

"In the end, your just all talk," Souta said as he twisted his sword.

"What happened here, Fred? Jusmin?" A feminine voice sounded behind them.

"You!!" Bryan exclaimed when he saw the person who just arrived here.

Souta grew curious so he turned his head and saw that person.

That person was a petite girl with shoulder-length blue hair and blue color pupils. She has thick long blue tails sticking out in her back.

She's Souta's classmate, Lumilia Von Asvares, also the class representative of Mage Class 1-B.

"What are you doing here, class rep?" Bryan asked Lumilia with a curious expression. He didn't even hesitate when he asked her.

"Souta? Bryan? Why are the two of you here?" Lumilia asked the same question.

"We're adventurers so we both doing a quest here. What about you?" Bryan replied.

Souta didn't say anything and he just observed them. He could guess why Lumilia was here. It seems the rumor about the Mystical Light Cherry reached the Ladros City. She was a noble so it was natural that she would receive such information.

Bryan and Lumilia talked about why they were here. Then, their conversation shifted to Cl.u.s.ter. Bryan explained to her how they met Cl.u.s.ter and saved her from those strange people.

Lumilia observed Cl.u.s.ter's appearance when she heard that Souta and Bryan saved her.

"Um... Young miss." Fred said with slight hesitation.

"What is it, Fred?" Lumilia turned to look at him.

"Do you know them?" Fred asked.

"Yes, they are my classmates." Lumilia nodded her head.

"Um... Then, can you please tell them to let go of me?" Fred smiled wryly. After all, Souta's sword was still embedded in his palm.

Souta heard him, so he looked at Lumilia and nodded. He pulled out his sword causing blood to spurt out of Fred's palm.

"What really happened here?" Lumilia asked Souta.

"Hmm... There's someone following us but that person suddenly disappeared. Then, I sensed that someone was behind us so I quickly attack that person." Souta said as he shrugged his shoulder. He's telling them that he couldn't help it.

He sat down and sheathed his sword. He supported his head with his palm and said, "Okay, in return to what I did to him. I will heal him."

Lumilia looked at Souta and asked, "Do you know healing spell?"

"Yeah, just a simple [Light Heal] spell." Souta nodded at her. "Okay, let me see your palm."

Fred looked at Lumilia asking for confirmation.

Lumilia nodded her head.

"Thanks." Fred smiled wryly as he stretched out his palm in front of Souta.

"It's okay." Souta shook his head and used [Light Heal] on his palm.

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Chapter 61 - Lumilia's Quest

Souta used [Light Heal] on the palm of Fred. He stopped the bleeding of the wounds before he took out something from his bag. This was a potion to completely heal the wounds.

His skill was only a basic heal skill. It couldn't completely heal any wounds, so to completely heal any wounds without leaving a scar a potion was needed.

"No need." Fred shook his head as he declined the potion that Souta gave. "We also have some potion. No need to use a potion in such shallow wounds."

"Okay." Souta nodded and he placed back the potion in his bag.

"So your name is Cl.u.s.ter?" Lumilia looked at Cl.u.s.ter and asked while patting her head.

"Yes." Cl.u.s.ter nodded meekly.

"Where are your parents?" Lumilia asked her in a gentle tone.

Cl.u.s.ter replied by shaking her head.

"I see... I'm sorry for asking such question. It must be hard for you." Lumilia said as she gently caressed Cl.u.s.ter's head.

Souta looked at Lumilia with a surprised expression. Her tone was different from the usual. She was always putting up a cold front and a strict tone, so it was surprising to see this side of her. He guessed that she was like that because she was seriously taking the responsibility of a class representative in the Institute.

Suddenly, a group of people appeared before them. Those people were wearing leather armor and pants. They were also armed with sharp weapons. They were bandits without a doubt.

Souta just looked at these bandits without saying anything. In fact, he knew that a lot of people were coming in this direction but he got distracted when he listened to Lumilia and Cl.u.s.ter's conversation.

Bryan, Yuko, Lumilia, Fred, Jusmin, and Cl.u.s.ter stopped moving. They turned their heads to looked at the bandits.

Lumilia glared at the bandits. "Who are you?" She opened her mouth and asked them in a cold tone completely different from the one she used on Cl.u.s.ter.

The bandits looked at them with a grin on their face. They looked at them as if they were prey that fell in their traps.

"Oh!" The leader of the bandit stepped forward and looked at Lumilia with lewd eyes. He didn't even bother hiding his desire. "From the looks of it, you're a noble, right?"

"What if I am?" Lumilia replied in a cold tone. She placed her hand on the handle of her sword.

"We're finally going to enjoy some noble after a long time, boys!" The leader said as he looked at Lumilia up and down.

"Yeah!"

"Boss! At least let me enjoy the maid first!"

"Boss! That little girl, can you give her to me? I have a thing for little girl!"

The bandits said in a burst of laughter. They already think that the girls here were their property.

...

Souta looked at the bandit leader and Lumilia. He doesn't know what got the bandit leader's interest in Lumilia. Is it a body? No, Lumilia's b.o.o.b.s were close to none existence and she doesn't have that great curves. If Souta was to say it, Lumilia looks like a child, a loli to be precise.

Souta would prefer the maid over Lumilia. He could see the curves and those well-endowed chests of her through the maid outfit.

He shook his head and removed those thoughts in his mind. He looked at Bryan and thought that he should teach reality to him.

'Okay, I will show him how to handle a situation like this, so he wouldn't make any mistake again.' Souta thought as he nodded to himself.

Souta knew how Bryan think, so he guessed that Bryan would let these bandits go.

Ah~ how shallow.

...

"You started it!" Bryan said as his mana flared up. He clenched his fist gathering his mana around it.

"Otto, don't you see that you're at disadvantage here. We have numbers here. You can't hope to defeat us!" The bandit leader said with an amused expression. "We're going to slowly enjoy those girls, right boys?"

"Yeah!!"

"This sc.u.m!" Jusmin gritted her teeth as she pulled out her sword.

"Stand back, young miss! I will protect you!" Fred said as he stepped forward in front of Lumilia.

"You don't have to worry about me, Fred. I can protect myself." Lumilia said as she pulled out her sword.

"Hmph!" A sneered sounded.

All of them looked at Souta who stood up while patting his clothes.

"I'm grateful... Just like what the maid said before, you're just a lowlife sc.u.m." Souta looked at the bandits and slowly approached them. He stopped in front of the bandit leader. "So..."

Bryan, Yuko, Cl.u.s.ter, Lumilia, Fred, and Jusmin just followed Souta with their eyes.

"Huh?" The bandit leader placed his hand on his ear as if he couldn't hear what Souta was saying.

"...I will not have any second thoughts in killing you." The [Vajra Sword Saya] in Souta's hand emitted a red aura.

[Cross Moon]!

Swoosh!!

A red light flashed and everyone saw a red line in the body of the bandits.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Slowly their upper body fell down on the ground. The face of the bandits showed an expression of shock. It seems that they couldn't believe what happened to them.

Spurt!!

The lower body spurted out fountains of blood in the mid-air. The whole area was dyed in a blood-red color.

Cl.u.s.ter was terrified when she saw the bloody scene. She quickly turned around and covered her ears.

"Eik!" Jusmin felt a little dizzy witnessing such a gore scene. She's just a maid that have knowledge about fighting, so she hadn't seen someone kill people like this.

"He's not an ordinary student. From his reaction, I could see that it's not his first time killing people." Fred narrowed his eyes as he looked fiercely at Souta.

Lumilia subconsciously took a step back while she covered her mouth with her hands.

After all this were their first time seeing someone killed like this in front of them, so it's natural that they felt nausea because of the gore scene.

Souta ignored them as sheathed the Vajra Sword. It was his first time using the skill of his sword. It feels different from using the skill he learned.

Souta closed his eyes and heard a sound in his mind.

Ding!*

[Experience points reached!]

[You've level up!]

[Strength attributes have increased by 8!]

[Intelligence, Agility, Dexterity, and Vitality attributes have increased by 5!]

[You've received 2 free attribute points!]

[You've received 1 skill point!]

Finally, Souta reached level 19. Just one more level and he will reach the level requirement for the second evolution.

"Souta!!" Bryan walked towards Souta and grabbed his collar.

"Hmm..." Souta looked at Bryan with plain eyes. He saw that Bryan was clearly angry at what he did to the bandits. "Why?" He asked in a plain tone. There's not a hint of emotion in his voice.

"Why did you kill them?" Bryan asked him in a loud voice.

"You know the reason why," Souta replied as he shook his body and fell on the ground.

"But... You don't have to kill them." Bryan said as he gritted his teeth and clenched his fists tightly.

"Is that what you always do in your quest? When you met a bandit did you always let them live?" Souta said stood up while patting his clothes. He turned to look at Bryan's eyes and continued, "You know that the bandits you let go before didn't stop in what they are doing. Because of you they killed and r.a.p.e more people, you know?"

"But..." Bryan lowered his eyes.

Souta narrowed his eyes when looking at Bryan. He then sighed and shrugged his shoulder.

"Okay, let's go now."

Bryan's attitudes didn't really bother him. In fact, he actually liked it. This kind of attitude was the one that would lead him in getting more quest. Like before, if Bryan didn't insist on helping Cl.u.s.ter then Souta wouldn't know about the Great War.

He's just testing if he could influence Bryan easily... But it seems that's not necessary for him. Souta decided that he will do things in the shadows secretly.

Souta turned to Lumilia and asked, "You Class rep, what are you going to do?"

"Um... Young miss, we should go now. This man is dangerous. I don't like that feeling." Jusmin whispered to Lumilia.

"Young miss, we should ask him for help. His strength would help us in a lot of ways." Fred whispered.

Fred and Jusmin have different opinions. One was afraid of Souta because of what he did, while one thought of taking advantage of Souta's strength.

"Young miss... If we don't get it, you know what will the lord say." Fred continued to persuade her.

Lumilia frowned when she remembered her father, the family head of the Asvares Noble Family.

She gritted her teeth and slowly opened her mouth, "Um... S-Souta..."

"Hmm... What is it?" Souta titled his head with a confused expression.

"Um... I want to ask you... If you can help us..." Lumilia stuttered. She wasn't used in asking other people for help.

"Hais... Speak clearly." Souta sighed.

Fred was the one who stepped forward and bowed his head, "We request you if you can lend us your strength to get the Mystical Light Cherry!"

"Hmm...?"

Ding!*

[Quest Triggered!!]

[Gathering: Help Lumilia's group in acquiring the Mystical Light Cherry. Rewards: 20,000 exp, 10 free attribute points, 5 skill points.

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Chapter 62 - Into the Dungeon

Souta was surprised when he received a quest.

[Gathering: Help Lumilia's group in acquiring the Mystical Light Cherry. Rewards: 20,000 exp, 10 free attribute points, 5 skill points.

'Five skill points...!' Souta was surprised to see 5 skill points as rewards. The difficulty of this quest was clearly higher than all the quest that he did before.

He turned his head and looked at Lumilia's group. He wondered if he should accept the quest or not.

Accepting the quest means that he wouldn't acquire the Mystical Light Cherry, but he would get five skill points. That's a lot of skill points.

"Okay, I'll help you but first you have to help me first." Souta nodded at them and stated his condition. If he hadn't asked them anything in return then they would grow suspicious of him.

"Thanks for accepting our selfish request, but I have a question," Fred said politely.

"Do tell me," Souta said in response to him.

"How should we help you?" Fred asked carefully.

"Hmm... We will enter the dungeon later and just protect Cl.u.s.ter." Souta said as he rubbed his chin.

"Is that all?" Fred took a glance at Cl.u.s.ter and asked Souta.

"Yeah, Bryan and I will become too busy in fighting so we need someone to protect Cl.u.s.ter."

"Then, I'm curious about this Red Fur Bear."

"Ah! Her? She's Yuko, my partner! Yuko say hi to them!"

"Mu."

...

Souta turned his head and looked at Bryan. Bryan was looking on the ground while his fists clenched tightly.

Souta approached him and patted his back. He said, "Don't worry about it, I'm just testing you if you're going to change your perspective in life. But don't worry, that okay, just do what you think is right."

Souta left after he said those words to Bryan.

Yuko looked at Bryan before she followed Souta.

Cl.u.s.ter lifted up her head and looked at Yuko and Souta's back. Then, she turned her head and looked at Bryan.

...

Souta talked about the detailed information of the Mystical Light Cherry to Lumilia.

Souta, Lumilia, Fred, and Jusmin were around the Map of the Desolate Woods. They were looking at the map with a serious expression.

"Where is the exact place of the fruit?" Souta asked.

"We don't know the exact place but the fruit was said to be seen in this part," Lumilia said as she drew a circle in small part of the northern woods.

Souta looked at the map with a scrutinizing gaze. After a few moments, he opened his mouth and said, "We should go around this part to avoid the nest Titan Hornets. We shouldn't use our energy in fighting these monsters as we need to fight the other people that came here for the fruit."

"Other people?" Lumilia looked at Souta.

"Huh? Do you think that you're the only one who came here for the fruit? There are people who came here with the same reason as you. They are competitors. We have to fight and defeat them if you want to get the Mystical Light Cherry." Souta said in a cold tone.

"...yeah." Lumilia lowered her head and nodded.

Souta guessed that Lumilia didn't know anything at all. She just came here because she heard about the Mystical Light Cherry. She didn't even bring knights in her quest like the other nobles that came here.

"Hais..."

Souta sighed helplessly. It seems that Lumilia was innocent in outside world affairs.

To think that the strict class rep didn't know this. It seems like he overestimated her.

"Okay, let's finished what we came here first," Souta said as he stood up.

"Thanks." Fred also stood up and thanked Souta.

"You can save your thanks after we get that fruit." Souta glanced at him and said before he left.

Lumilia, Fred, and Jusmin looked at his back.

"Is he really your classmate, young miss?" Justin asked Lumilia in a low voice.

"Yeah, from what I see he's the strongest in our class." Lumilia nodded.

"Young miss, if I'm not wrong your class is Mage Class, am I right?" Fred asked.

"Yes, we're from Mage Class. He showed a power not befitting any mage in our class. He even defeated the students from Shield Class without using any spells." Lumilia explained to them.

...

The group walked for an hour before they arrived near in front of the waterfalls.

"Is this where the dungeon resides?" Bryan asked as he looked at the forty-meter tall falls.

"Yeah, it's behind that falls." Souta nodded as he observed Bryan. It seems that Bryan recovered now. His mental capacity was high and it looks like he experienced the same thing before.

Souta doesn't know what Bryan experienced before that made him like that. Bryan seems bent on saving everyone that needs help.

Souta looked at Cl.u.s.ter and said, "Cl.u.s.ter, stay behind Lumilia. She will protect you."

Cl.u.s.ter nodded her head and she stood beside Lumilia.

Lumilia looked at Cl.u.s.ter and patter her head. "Don't worry, I will protect you."

"Thank you." Cl.u.s.ter nodded meekly.

"Follow me," Souta said as he stepped forward and let the water fell on his body.

The rest of the group followed Souta behind.

Behind the waterfalls, they saw a wide cave. It was so wide that Yuko could move inside the cave freely.

Everyone's clothes were wet because of the waterfalls.

Bryan looked around and saw Jusmin's bra through her maid outfit. When he saw her bra, he quickly turned around and looked deep in the dungeon.

Souta noticed it so he looked at the girls and said, "You should dry your clothes first. Bryan couldn't even concentrate when you're showing such things to him."

Lumilia, Cl.u.s.ter, and Jusmin looked at their body and saw that their wet clothes were sticking close in their body.

"Young miss!" Fred exclaimed as he removed his coat and placed it on Lumilia.

"Thank you, Fred!" Lumilia said with a hint of redness in her cheeks as she glanced at Bryan and she saw him looking at the cave, then at Souta, and saw him looking at her. "You!!"

"You, what? I couldn't even see what's there even if you don't hide it." Souta said to her.

"You!!" Lumilia blushed and she didn't even know what to say anymore.

"Young miss is still in her growing phase, so she would grow into a fine woman after a few years." Jusmin stepped forward and said while looking at him fiercely.

"Then, complain to me after a few years or after she got the same body as yours," Souta said as he turned around and shrugged his shoulder.

Jusmin covered her chest with her hands when she heard Souta's words.

Yuko stepped forward and stuck out her tongue. She licked Souta's cheeks.

"Stop that! I will give you some fruit." Souta said as he patted Yuko's head. He placed his other hand on his bag and took out a fruit. He gave the fruit to her so that she would stop.

He then walked beside Bryan and placed his hand on Bryan's shoulder. He placed his mouth near Bryan's ear and whispered, "After this quest, you should come with me to the Red Light District? I will pick the best woman for you."

"I-" Bryan was about to decline when Souta interrupted him.

"Don't worry it's my treat." Souta patted Bryan's shoulder.

...

The group went inside the dungeon. Souta lit up a torch and he let the none combatants hold the torch. The area inside the cave was wide so they were not cramped in a small narrow path like any other dungeons.

The road was dark and they could barely see what's inside the cave.

After walking for a few minutes, they saw crystals on the ceiling that was emitting light.

"Beautiful," Jusmin exclaimed when she saw the crystals on the ceiling.

"Yeah, it's pretty." Bryan nodded at her words.

Souta didn't have any reaction except that he thought that these crystals were convenient. These crystals were nothing compared to the crystals the lit up the Undead Sanctuary.

Souta looked behind him and said, "You can throw the torches. We don't need them anymore." Souta knew that at this point they didn't need the torches.

"Okay." Cl.u.s.ter nodded and she threw the torch that she was holding. She was a non-combatant so Souta gave her a task before to hold the torch.

"Hmph!" Jusmin also threw the torch that she was holding.

"Also, be careful," Souta warned them as he knew that they will meet monsters when they go deeper in the dungeon.

Bryan, Lumilia, and Fred nodded at his words. They prepared themselves to fight the monsters.

Soon, they met three giant snakes. The snakes were ten meters long and they have green scales.

"Let's kill it quickly," Souta said as he pulled out the Vajra Sword.

"Okay." Fred nodded at him.

Souta and Bryan charged towards the three giant snakes, and Fred followed behind the two.

Swoosh!! Swoosh!!

The snakes attacked Souta but he easily avoided it.

Bang!

He then slashed his sword at the snakes. His sword easily broke through the scales of the snake.

Putchi!

Red blood spurted out of the cut he gave to the snake.

Souta then jumped in the air and he twisted his body. He followed it up by waving his sword towards the head of the snake.

Putchi!

The snake was cut into two cleanly.

...

Bryan pulled back his fist and he gathered his mana.

Boom!

He jumped in threw a powerful punch on the head of the giant snake.

Bang!

He landed on the ground and flames coated both of his fist. He bent his knees and threw himself at the snake.

[Blazing Strike]!!

Boom!

The snake was pushed back. It took damage from that punch.

Suddenly, Bryan saw a sword flew in the air straight to the eye of the snake.

Putchi!

The sword pierced through the eye of the snake and Souta appeared.

Souta grabbed the handle of the sword and he pushed it deeper.

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Chapter 63 - Cl.u.s.ter's change

Souta turned around and saw that Lumilia and Fred already finished the other giant snake.

"Let's go now." Souta took a glance at the corpses of the giant snake before he started to walk. He could sell them but he doesn't have enough hand to bring them back to the village. Even then, the giant snake was too large for him and it would take a lot of people to bring back a single giant snake. Also, he wouldn't get much coins if he sells this type of snake.

"Okay."

The rest of the group followed Souta. They didn't know what's Souta's goal here so they could only follow him. Fred even asked Bryan what's Souta's goal, but even he didn't know what's Souta's objective here in this dungeon.

...

The group continued going deeper into the dungeon. They only stopped when they saw two pathways in front of them.

"What should we do now, Souta?" Bryan asked Souta.

Lumilia, Fred, Jusmin, and Cl.u.s.ter also turned to look at him.

Souta rubbed his chin and closed his eyes. He tried to recall the right way here.

"Hmm... Where should I go?"

After a few moments, Souta opened his eyes. He finally recalled what's in these two pathways.

These two pathways lead to the boss's room. There's not that much different except the type of monster. The monsters on the left side was an undead while on the right side was not undead.

"Let's go this way." Souta pointed at the left path.

"Okay." Bryan nodded at him.

Lumilia, Fred, and Jusmin don't have that much opinion regarding this matter. They will all leave this to Souta.

There's a reason why he chooses the left path full of undead creatures. A spellbook was hidden in the secret room here in the left path and Souta wanted it. He could sell the spellbook for a huge amount of money after he learned the spell. It will give him an allowance for two months.

...

The group entered a wide space and saw more than fifty undead blocking the way. The atmosphere turned into a cold one completely different from before. The smell of rotten meat spread in the air.

Lumilia, Jusmin, and Cl.u.s.ter pinched the nose when they smelled it.

Souta took a deep breath and clenched his sword tightly. The atmosphere here was the same when he entered one of the low-level dungeons in the Undead Sanctuary. The scent and cold air were the same.

"Let's go!"

Souta shouted as he dashed towards the group of undead. Although they were low-level undead he would still get a decent amount of exp if he killed them.

"Graa!!"

The undead noticed him, so they turned their attention at him. All of them opened their mouth revealing sharp fangs.

Swoosh!!

Souta arrived in front of them and he used the skill [Stab] consecutively.

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Several small holes appeared in the bodies of the undead in front of him.

Bryan jumped above Souta. Bryan's fists were covered in flames.

[Blazing Strike]!!

Bryan threw a powerful punch causing a huge explosion to occur in the back.

Fred looked at Souta and Bryan. He opened his mouth and said, "I'll go, young miss." He then brandished his sword and charged towards the group of undead.

Swoosh!!

Swoosh!!

He swiftly moved his body from side to side whole dodging every undead. He did this while waving his sword to cut the undead.

Putchi!

Putchi!

Souta stopped attacking the undead when he saw Fred. He was surprised at Fred's sword skill. Fred's mastery over the sword was higher than him.

"As expected of a butler of a noble family. He clearly possesses some skill to prove himself."

Now that Souta thought about it, he recalled that when he threw his Vajra Sword before. Fred reacted quickly to parried his sword.

Souta turned his head to looked at Lumilia and the rest. Lumilia was standing in front of Cl.u.s.ter and Jusmin while holding her sword in front of her. If some undead passes through Bryan and Fred, she was the one who's going to fight it.

Souta slightly bent his knees and launched himself towards the group of undead.

"Let's go, Saya!"

He waved the Vajra Sword left and right cutting the bodies of the undead like a butter. He was getting impatient because the undead kept coming.

"Get down!!"

Souta shouted and Fred and Bryan looked at him. They quickly got crouched down in response to his words.

[Cross Moon]!!

Souta executed one of the skills of the [Vajra Sword Saya].

Swoosh!!

A red light swept out in the whole area and it cut every undead in front of Souta.

The system prompt kept ringing in his head.

"Huff... There's still more!" Souta inhaled deeply and shouted. He once again dashed towards the remaining undead in the back.

Bryan and Fred also joined the fight.

...

It took them a dozen minutes before they cleared all the undead in this area. The undead have numbers more than Souta estimated.

At first, only fifty undead appeared but as the fight goes on the undead kept appearing until they reached more than a hundred in numbers.

"That's a lot of undead," Fred commented while looking at the dead bodies.

Souta glanced at the girls and saw Jusmin was covering Cl.u.s.ter's eyes. He opened his mouth and said, "Ignore it if you can't stomach it."

Lumilia nodded at his words. "Let's get going, Jusmin."

...

The group went deeper. They met undead in their way but its number was not the same as before.

After half an hour of walking, Souta and the rest arrived in the middle part of the dungeon. The area here was wider and there's a lot of undead here.

Souta, Bryan, and Fred worked together to get rid of all the undead in the place. It took them ten minutes to completely finished all the undead.

Souta looked at his group and saw that they were showing signs of exhaustion, so he let them rest here for a while.

"Rest here," Souta said to them. He then walked around the area.

Lumilia looked around the area and noticed a huge metal door at the side.

"What's with that door?" Lumilia asked.

Souta walked towards it and placed his palm on the cold surface of the door. Behind this door was the spellbook that he wanted.

On top of the huge metal door, was a line with a red light. It looks like a bar and the red light was the power that operated the mechanism inside the door.

Bryan also walked towards the metal door. He pushed the door with all of his might but the door didn't budge an inch.

"I can't open it."

Bryan said and he tried to punch the door.

Bang!

His punch didn't even leave a dent on the door.

"You wouldn't be able to open the door inside the dungeon easily," Souta said to Bryan.

Cl.u.s.ter also walked towards the door and placed her palm on the surface of the door.

"Cl.u.s.ter!" Jusmin called her but Cl.u.s.ter ignored her.

Lumilia and Fred looked at Cl.u.s.ter with a curious expression.

Souta noticed that Cl.u.s.ter's eyes were lifeless. It was different from her usual expression. It feels like someone was taking over her body and controlling her.

He took a step back and observed her. He wondered what she will do and he was also curious about the secret she's hiding.

A magic circle appeared in her palm. Then, the red bar above the door shone brightly before they heard the metallic sound inside the door indicating that she opened the door.

Cl.u.s.ter suddenly loses her consciousness. She fell down and Bryan, who was beside her, caught her before she landed.

Bang!

The huge metal door slowly opened and revealed a dark room.

"What?!" Souta was shocked when he saw this. The way she opened the door was different from what he knew.

"How did she do that?"

He tried to recall if there's another way to open the door but unfortunately, he couldn't think of anything.

The only way to open this door was too filled the red bar using the bodies of the undead, but Cl.u.s.ter did it in her own way.

How?

Souta doesn't have any ideas on how she did that.

He stepped forward and looked at Cl.u.s.ter on Bryan's arms. He checked her pulse and found that she was just unconscious.

"What happened, Souta?" Bryan asked him while looking at Cl.u.s.ter with a hint of concern in his eyes.

"She's fine. You don't have to worry about her."

Souta said to him. He then entered the dark room behind the door. He used his [Fire Ball] spell to create light.

The light from the fireball illuminated the whole room. Souta saw a bunch of equipment on the ground. The grade of the equipment ranges from Colorless to Blue grade.

The one that caught his attention was the normal-looking chest at the back of the room. This thing was hiding the spellbook that he wanted.

"Okay, let's check it out," Souta said as he stepped forward.

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Chapter 64 - Undead Cyclops

Souta squatted down and placed his hands on the side of the chest before he opened it.

Inside the chest, he saw a thick black book. The book looks ordinary and it doesn't have any titles indicating what's written inside this book.

The [Undead Light] spell.

A spell where he could shot a dark light. If the target was undead, they will only lose their energy. But if it's not undead, the target will lose their life force and the life force will go to the user. And if the target died using the skill, then the target will become undead.

The user will be able to use the life force he/she collected to increase the damage of his/her attack and defense.

The spell can only target one person at a time. It will increase by leveling up the skill. It also can not be used while using another spell.

Souta smiled looking at the spellbook on his hand. This spell was a Tier 2 spell. It means that he couldn't use his skill points to learn this skill as he only had a low-level class. Tier 2 spell was for those who have mid-level class and Tier 3 spell was for those who have high-level class.

But Souta didn't have a plan to use skill points to learn this skill. He will try to learn it manually. After he learned the spell, he would also try if he could imprint it in his inner consciousness making it an inner spell just like the rest of his spell.

"Souta, what's that?" Lumilia asked him from behind.

Souta glanced at her and said, "It's a spellbook."

"Hmm... Is that the reason why you came here?" Lumilia nodded and asked.

"Nope, I don't even know that this spell is here in the first place," Souta answered her. He said this because he wanted her to know that he doesn't have any idea about what's inside this room. It will be suspicious if he knew what's inside the locked door.

"I see... So what's your reason?" Lumilia nodded and asked what's his objective in this place.

"The Rotten Venomous Green Apple," Souta replied. Since they were already here and they will know his goal when they arrived in the boss room, Souta decided to tell her.

"Did real Venomous Green Apple grow here?" Lumilia asked him with wide eyes. She heard about the Venomous Green Apple, so she had an idea about it. Then, something came into her mind. "Rotten?"

"Yeah, it decayed because of the negative energy of the undead that is guarding the Venomous Green Apple. That's the reason why it became a Rotten Venomous Green Apple." Souta explained to her.

"That's unfortunate..." Lumilia said as she lowered her head. She knew that the value of the Venomous Green Apple was greater than the Mystical Light Cherry, but since it was a rotten one the value became less than the cherry.

"Well, the client still wants it so what could I do?" Souta shrugged his shoulder.

"I see..." Lumilia recalled that Bryan said that they came here because of the quest.

Clap!

Souta clapped his hand to gathered everyone's attention and said, "You can pick anything that you wanted here. We could bring all of this equipment so pick the thing that you only want."

Lumilia, Fred, and Jusmin just stayed in their place. They were not interested in some Blue grade equipment.

But Bryan was different, he wasn't a noble and he didn't have money to buy his own set of equipment. All the money he earned was for paying the institute.

Bryan was excited when he saw a lot of equipments on the ground. He went around to looked at the equipment with an excited expression.

"You can pick anything you want Bryan. You can also sell it." Souta advised to Bryan.

"Okay." Bryan nodded as he continued to check every equipment on the floor.

Souta looked around and picked up some Blue grade equipment. He then called Yuko and hung those equipments in her back.

"Good! We will earn a few hundred gold coins for these equipments." Souta nodded with a satisfied expression.

Souta looked at his stats and saw that [Harvester of the Soul] only need a few more souls before he could use its effect once again. The souls of the monsters, bandits, and the undead that he killed before almost filled the bar.

Just a little bit more and his stats would increase once again.

His base stats were mostly in balance right now. His strength attribute would increase than any of his attributes because he picked it when he evolved into High End Goblin. His agility and dexterity attributes were catching up because of the [Harvester of the Soul]. And his intelligence attributes were also increasing because of his class. The only thing he lacks was a skill to increase his vitality attributes.

...

The group waited for Cl.u.s.ter to regained her consciousness. She woke up after thirty minutes since she opened the door.

Souta didn't ask her how she managed to open the door because he thought that Cl.u.s.ter doesn't have any idea about that. Even if she knew that side of her, she will keep silent about it because she already hid why those people from before were after her. Naturally, she doesn't want to talk about it.

Lumilia also didn't ask about it. Since she didn't ask about, naturally Fred and Jusmin wouldn't ask too.

Bryan was different. He was just amazed and praised Cl.u.s.ter because she managed to open the door that he couldn't open.

"Okay, we will go now," Souta said to them while glancing at Cl.u.s.ter.

Cl.u.s.ter was beside Jusmin still feeling weak. It seems that she exhausted her strength in opening the door.

Souta then looked at Jusmin. "You stay beside Cl.u.s.ter." He planned to quickly kill the boss, the Undead Cyclops, with this group. He, Bryan, Yuko, Lumilia, and Fred will attack the boss. He knew how powerful the boss, so even with this group it would take some time.

"Yeah. I will protect her." Jusmin nodded and she patted Cl.u.s.ter's head.

"Good." Souta nodded.

...

Souta led them to the boss room. Their journey wasn't smooth as they met some undead on their way to the boss room. Since all of them were fighting except for Cl.u.s.ter and Jusmin they easily eliminated those undead.

Half an hour later they arrived in front of a wide space. The area of the boss room was wider than any other part of the dungeon here. The distance between the ceiling and the floor was twenty-five meters.

Souta and the rest looked inside and saw a five-meter tall undead standing in the center of the room. This was the boss of this dungeon, the Undead Cyclops. Beside the Undead Cyclops was a tall rock and on top of it was a small tree without any leaf. They saw only saw one fruit which was hanging in one of its branches.

"So that's the Venomous Green Apple..." Jusmin said in wonder while looking at the green apple.

"Yeah, and that's my goal." Souta nodded and turned his attention to Yuko.

He approached her and took the equipments that were hanging on her back. He then placed it on the ground. He did this so that Yuko could fight without restraint.

"Jusmin, stay out of the fight," Lumilia said to Jusmin.

"Yes, young miss." Jusmin nodded at her.

"You can go now," Souta said as he patted Yuko's back.

Roar!

Yuko roared and she charged towards the Undead Cyclops.

The Undead Cyclops noticed her so it turned its body and faced Yuko.

Boom!

The two clashed causing a loud sound that echoed in the whole room.

"Here I go!" Bryan clenched his fist as he bent his knees and charged towards the Undead Cyclops.

Lumilia closed her eyes and she gathered her mana in her palm. She then casted a spell towards the Undead Cyclops.

[Water Blade]!!

A blade made of water shot towards the back of the Undead Cyclops.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

[Shadow Bind]!!

Souta also used his spell to restrict the movements of the Undead Cyclops.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Fred also charged as he joined Bryan and Yuko in battling the Undead Cyclops. While Lumilia and Souta provided them support using their spells.

[Agility Boost]!!

[Strength Boost]!!

Souta casted his support spell on Bryan, Fred, and Yuko. He looked at them before he pulled out the [Vajra Sword Saya] on his waist.

He looked at Lumilia and said, "I will join them, you can continue supporting us using your magic."

Lumilia nodded and she casted [Water Bomb] spell.

Bryan, Fred, and Yuko took a distance away from the Undead Cyclops and Lumilia's spell exploded.

Boom!!

"Continue!!" Souta shouted. He knew that the Undead Cyclops wouldn't die that easily. The boss was a powerful undead. It possessed the power to carry the level of this dungeon higher than the low-level dungeon, so it wouldn't die easily.

They nodded at him before they launched themselves at the boss of this dungeon.

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