1368 Minimus

Telor Xon Navak's victory caught the academy in surprise.

Even though Telor was the 'top 50' of the academy, he's actually the 50th guy. So, him defeating the 41st Chanlar was an achievement.

Despite being in the range of low rank 7, the difference between the weakest and strongest of a subrank was very large.

The unexpected victory caused Miss Calamity's streaming video to go viral. The students were amazed at not just Telor winning but at his aura increase that led that victory.

As Varian intended, rumors started to spread that the sword was a type of natal treasure that'd give him a big rank boost.

Sooner or later, Telor would hit mid rank 7 and drastically improve his rankings. And who knows? He might even graduate this time!

But these rumors and news accounted for only a small portion of the total. The larger discussion was, of course, gossip.

The tale of 'A depressed man who went on a vacation and found a woman. Then the woman came to the academy as a transfer student.' — the bullsh*t that Miss Calamity spouted was now believed by many to be true.

There was a clip from the fight that really exploded in popularity.

It was an injured and nearly defeated Telor standing up after the woman was insulted.

#The power of friendship

This created even more theories. Some even opined that the reason Telor even had that growth was because of his rage after seeing his friend being disrespected.

Telor was now in the spotlight of the academy.

"…Time for the next opponent." Varian exhaled deeply as he looked through the window.

"Yes, yes! I picked your next opponent! It's Maximus Ostallis."

A sudden voice that appeared out of nowhere, causing Varian to almost jump onto his feet.

Varian turned around stiffly and saw the mysterious woman who called herself 'Aurora'.

Clenching her fists in front of her chest, she bumped her fist into the air and said. "Let's go! I will cheer for you as you beat him up!"

Objectively, she looked very adorable doing that action.

But—

Varian pulled a few strands of his hair and asked through gritted teeth. "What the fuck are you doing in my room?"

"Your room? No friend, it's our room." Aurora said with an innocent expression, tears swirling in her eyes.

"W-What?"

"Friends share everything. So your room is my room. Your treasures are my treasures. Your opponents are my opponents." Aurora put her hands on her hips and said with a confident expression before she waved her finger at him with a dangerous smile. "So my dear friend, never say 'my', it's 'our', got it?"

"…"

Varian was speechless. He had a million ways to deal with a cheeky woman like this. But he had no way to deal with a peak rank 9.

"I don't want your friendship. Can you please leave?" He said in a last-ditch attempt.

"A-Are you really going to abandon me after all the help I gave you in the vacation?" Tears threatened to drop from Aurora's eyes.

"But I don't even remember it properly. I told you some of my memories are messed up."

"Your mom fed you when you were a baby. You don't remember it. Does that make it any less real?"

Varian's shoulders drooped and he dragged himself to the door.

"Hey, hey, wait for me!" Miss Calamity said with an amused smile on her face and followed after him.

Looking at his back as he walked to the arena grounds, her eyes flashed with a curious glint.

Despite Varian's disguise, she could see some things about him.

"Are you going to kill him?" She chattered as she caught up to him and walked side by side.

"Nonsense," Varian scoffed. "Why would I kill him? I'm not a bloodthirsty demon."

Miss Calamity smirked.

This man who looked so normal and easy going had blood in his hands. No, that's not enough to describe it. The closest expression would be 'He has an ocean of blood and he's swimming it!'

"Will you crush him then? Break his hands and legs? Smash his chest into smithereens? He's a Life Spirit. He won't die so easily." She said with an excited expression.

"…What do you see me as?" Varian shook his head with a wry smile on his lips.

"Really? That's a shame." Miss Calamity pouted and lowered her head in disappointment.

But her mind was clear.

This man liked fights. He didn't mind violence. Even though it's just one battle, his scary battle experience was obvious.

"And you are talking as if I'm going to win. Maximus is ranked 30th." Varian glared at her.

"You won against Chanlar so easily!"

"Chanlar is 41st! He's the strongest low rank 7! But Maximus is a mid rank 7!"

Looking at Varian's frustrated look, Miss Calamity laughed on the inside but continued her facade on the outside.

"B-But I believe in you! If you can't even do this, how can you win against Robert? You are the one who challenged Robert, not me!"

Varian wanted to slap himself for doing that. He didn't know a peak rank 9 would fall from the sky and stalk him like crazy.

His plan was to attack a few ranks up every day and create the story that he's growing slowly.

Going from 41st to 30th ranked was much riskier.

'I have to show that my natal treasure is more special than they initially thought. That way, the crowd will come up with some justification on their own.'

The end goal was to appear as a genius, not as a freak. If his strength rose from low rank 7 to peak mid rank 7, that'd be considered as 'extraordinary genius'.

But if he revealed his actual strength, the very peak of rank 7, then he might be kidnapped and taken to the laboratory.

"Telor, my best friend, we're here already!"

Varian glared at the woman and walked into the huge arena ground on the 13th floor.

A palm-sized humanoid with little wings was dozing off on top of a 2-meter sword.

Glancing around the room in confusion, Varian yelled. "Maximus, I'm here! Show yourself for the duel!"

"You blind bastard! Can't you see?" The little humanoid roared in a deep and dangerous voice, one you'd expect from a hundred-foot giant.

Varian tilted his head in confusion and turned to the mysterious woman. She shrugged carelessly. "He's from a border province, I heard. Depsite how he lo—"

"Battle start!" Maximus yelled and a green light flashed across the room.

Varian ducked in a hurry but half of his hair was sliced off.

"Fuck! Are even barbers are so arrogant these days?!"

"Who are you calling a barber? I'll skin you alive!" Maximus seethed and stardust flowed out of his wings.

Then, like it was conscious, the stardust enveloped the sword in his hand.

Giving a dangerous hum, the sword moved at a space-breaking speed and reached the target in a blink.

Varian managed to dodge but three star particles greeted him in the face. He dodged two and the third struck his left arm.

Within seconds, his arm dried off like a dead branch before it disintegrated into ashes and dispersed into the air.

The terrible pain caused Varian to shudder.

A redlight flashed in front of him and 'Requiem' appeared in his hand. In a few breaths, the disintegrated arm was fully regenerated.

"What the fuck?" Maximus was dumbfounded.