1375 Faking It

"What?" Catherine's eyebrows jumped.

"I could barely notice it. Calamity was sharper than me. Even though I can beat her in a battle, she's still better than me, huh."

"Not that, why didn't you arrest him?"

The Dean looked at her and shook his head. "If someone can sneak into this academy, he's either reckless or confident.

He must be using a treasure for his disguise. An excellent treasure, since only Calamity and I found the truth.

But he's also using another treasure. A treasure to hide his age."

Saying those words, the Dean's mood turned complicated. "I did my best to check his age without him noticing. It always came out to be 19. A 19 year old."

Catherine parted her lips to say something but in the end, she sighed deeply. "So he's an Empire's genius, huh."

"Yes, only they have such treasures. For my power to fail even after so many tries, it must be from a divine ranker." The Dean's voice was filled with longing and sadness.

Divine Ranker.

For every practitioner even half-serious in the journey, it represented the pinnacle of existence.

Dean Ankh too longed to reach that state when he was young. But as he fought one war after another, he gradually lost his chances.

Now, even though he could live for a long time as long as he didn't fight, he saw no chances of reaching the divine rank.

Under the quiet of the night, when the cold breeze washes over him, the old man would often recall a saying he heard on a planet thousands of years ago.

< If you're not going forward, you're going backward. >

"Always remember, If you're not going forward on the divine path, you're going backward. If you stop climbing, the wall between you and the divine rank would continue to grow. One day, it'd be so big that even your most hopeful aspirations would fall into despair."

Hearing his melancholic words, Catherine, who was usually aloof, lowered her head and clenched her fists.

She was the most dazzling genius of the kingdom until Isadora arrived. After she left, a lot of expectations were pushed onto her shoulders. She tried to carry them but was crushed under their weight.

It was a bitter lesson but she came to accept that she could not fill Isadora's shoes. 500 years ago, the woman already reached the peak of rank 9. Even today, she's still a low rank 9.

500 years ago, Isadora already fought the Dean and could easily defeat him.

Today, other than the two other pillars of the kingdom—the King and Martial Saint—no one could defeat the Dean.

Even Miss Calamity who was a genius from the Empire couldn't do it.

The standards set by Isadora were so high that no one even talked about them anymore.

Divine Ranker? Not a single person with a functioning brain doubted she could reach the divine rank.

And what about her?

Forget others, even she was not very confident.

Biting her lip, the noble lady looked at the screen once again. Her gaze fell on Telor and a heavy silence filled the air.

*** *** *** ***

[Host, even though you make the System have existential crisis sometimes, you're quite a genius when it comes to fooling people.]

'That I am.' Varian smirked, as if it was something he took great pride in.

[The Dean is keenly watching you.]

'That's why I am running this show.' Varian pulled out a music recorder and started to play some of his rock favorites.

Varian wasn't too surprised when the System informed him that the Dean was spying on him.

This peak rank 9 mysterious woman popped out of nowhere and was disguising herself as a student. It couldn't happen without the approval from the higher ups. So, Varian decided to put on a show.

It's the only chance he had anyway.

He'd bluff the dean and act like an 'Empire genius who came to experience the life of the peasants.'

He picked it up from the little tales Isadora told. When she was touring a planet, she found a guy whose rank was out of place with the region.

When she questioned him, the guy tried to escape. She thrashed him and got her answers.

There wouldn't be many of these idiots but there would always be a few scattered throughout the kingdom.

'Appear strong when you are weak and weak when you are strong.'

[Please stop smiling. Everyone is getting scared now.]

"…" Varian opened his eyes reluctantly and noticed that this round too came to an end.

[7 Candidates for the next round. Telor gets the pass. Along with Telor, 3 students will pass.]

"Yes! That bastard has to fight in the next match! He can't hide anymore!"

"If I fail to beat you, please beat him on my behalf."

"Same, buddy. Same. Whoever of us wins, let's thrash him badly."

Varian was speechless. "Aren't you guys too petty?"

""Shut up!""

Varian raised his arms. "I tried to be kind. But you brought this onto yourself. I'll rub the floor with whoever is fighting me in the next round."

The round ended in an hour, significantly longer than previous rounds.

[From the 7 candidates, 4 proceed into the semi-finals. The matches are as follows.

Prince Robert vs Princess Gwalior.

Telor Xon Navak vs Aurora Von Wissalis]

A few seconds later, Varian stood in front of the mysterious woman with a blank expression.

"What happened? Aren't you going to…rub the floor me?" Miss Calamity chuckled with an amused expression.

Varian sighed. "I didn't think it'd be y—ooo!"

Without any manners, Miss Calamity attacked.

Varian responded in time and retaliated. Her strength was adjusted to that of a strong mid rank 7, just a bit higher than Varian's.

In a few seconds, they exchanged dozens of blows.

And Miss Calamity confirmed her hypothesis.

'Even if it's his suppressed strength, his moves are getting better and better. The rate of growth is insane! His talent should be as good, no, even better than her. This man is a monster.'

"I quit."

Saying so, she jumped off the stage, surprising Varian and everyone else.

[And the finals:

Prince Robert vs Telor Xon Navak]