Climbing the Ranking [2]

As of today I am committing to post 1 chapter a day. The frequency of chapters is quite messy because I don't have much time to write, and I write and then I do the translation. But I will try.

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A thunderous impact resounded as the fight began. Julien was surprised at how quickly Dreyden ran at him without letting him create more clones, noting that he had already made two of them.

"Tsk!"

He grunted as he watched his saber collide with Dreyden's brass knuckles.

The first clone raised its saber towards the sky, and slashed down voraciously.

CLANG!

<gwofw>The saber came into contact with Dreyden's brass knuckles, who threw his fist to the side and, at the same instant it created an opening, his right fist went up in flames.

And, without waiting, he pounced.

PUNCH!

As the original faced the confrontation with a scowl on his face, his first exploded on the impact of the fiery fist, disappearing in smoke.

He gripped the hilt of his saber with some trepidation, when he saw Dreyden again ignite his flaming fist and throw a fist made of fire in the direction of his second clone, who had no time to react.

Leaving his strategy of using his clones aside, he truly ran to Dreyden.

"You think you can defeat me just because you killed my clones!?"

The more he talked, the more angry he became apparent.

Dreyden watched Julien's onslaught with his eyes of truth silently.

Julien gritted his teeth before lifting his saber and slashing horizontally, but to his dismay, he watched as his saber cuts into nothingness as Dreyden ducked.

Swoosh!

Julien's blood began to boil, he had a good track record, using his faction as an excuse he won over many students using intimidation and fear.

But now that he was facing someone who didn't fear his faction, he didn't know how to react.

"You are weak, very weak. How did you get into the top 20?" Dreyden said when he saw Julien lose his balance by putting too much force into his blow and falling. "Or maybe you just don't know how to use your skill?"

"Fuck you!"

Julien rose quickly from the ground, in fury he raised his saber, coming on guard, but he saw Dreyden closes the distance. He prepared to slash down, but saw Dreyden, at impressive speed, throw his fist back as he ignited himself on fire.

Dreyden closing the distance slammed his fiery fist into Julien. Unable to counter his speed, Julien lowered his saber to stop him.

Crack...

The low quality saber broke and Julien flew out of the stadium.

Blood spurted from his mouth as a wound in his stomach opened up from the brass knuckles.

He was mercilessly thrown out of the arena where the students were watching, flying towards a face all too familiar to Dreyden.

Who was shocked to see the protagonist staring at him seriously, ignoring Julien, who was about to bump into him.

Taking his eyes off the black man, Lucas lifted his leg, which bumped into Julien's back.

"ARGH!" Julien felt his spine break from the shock, his body sliding down Lucas's sole before hitting the floor.

Unconscious.

Dreyden ignored Lucas as he looked at the Judge who was in shock.

"Aren't you going to announce the result?" he asked, when the Judge came to his senses and announced the result.

Despite trying, Dreyden couldn't contain the smile that crept to his lips as he glanced at his uniform and saw the change on his small screen.

'Ranking 22nd Dreyden 165,983 Points.'

As soon as the fight was over, the crowd began to disperse amidst the various gossip about Dreyden's abilities.

Dreyden was standing in the arena, waiting for Lucas to approach, waiting for him to invite him again or something.

But to his surprise, like most, Lucas just turned and walked away.

'Maybe he came just to see me fight?'

He thought, when his attention was caught by a very recognizable voice and cute appearance that had approached.

"Why are you fighting so hard to climb the ranks?"

It was Maya.

"Merit points, we're going to need more for some plans. How long do you think it will take to use your skill?"

"Actually, I think I can do it tomorrow. The more magical energy I accumulate, the harder it becomes to store."

"Don't worry, you're talented, that won't stop you too much."

"I hope it's right"

"Me too..."

Dreyden muttered that last part under his breath, so low, even Maya hadn't heard it.

He sighed as he took her hands and started to leave the arena.

*****

[06:18 Saturday]

One of the three targets had been crushed when it came into contact with the air rushing violently towards it.

Bang!

What used to be a normal training day for me turned into a very strange day.

Running across the training ground with a bow in her hands, a white-haired girl was panting as she raised her bow and aimed in the opposite direction of the robot she was supposed to hit.

'What is this girl doing here!?' I thought, as I faced one of the heroines.

As soon as the arrow fired from her bow, she raised her right hand and the arrow began to curve until it was finally in the robot's chest.

"She shouldn't be here!"

In the novel, Raisel never trains during the day. His relationship deepens with the protagonist because they both train at the same time, at dawn.

Since they're both the only late-nighters, they get closer and get to know each other better, but now, Raisel was doing something that the original script doesn't do.

Frowning slightly, I looked around me. However, realizing that I was the only person besides Raisel on the training ground of room 1A, I couldn't help but be a little apprehensive.

"Mhhh... I wonder what happened!?"

In the novel, even though Dhara and Raisel's rivalry exists, it is something more one-sided.

Dhara wants to prove in any way that she is better than Raisel, however, she never manages to beat Raisel.

This was the rivalry of these members of the Silvius family. Dhara tried to be better, while Raisel just ignored her and did her best.

For her to be training during the day, something must have happened.

I started to organize my thoughts, which was much easier than before because of my intelligence skills.

"Wait... She... Lost it?"

I muttered, as memories of combat class and the test result came to my mind.

Dhara had been ranked 6th, while Raisel had been ranked 8th.

Although it doesn't look like it, Raisel has always been a little arrogant because of her position. A defeat was something unexpected even for me.

"Anyway, that's not my problem. It's not like I care about the plot anymore."

I turned and walked out of the training ground without looking back.

There were several characters that didn't exist in the original novel, there's no way the world can follow the plot of the novel, with my interference or without.

That's why I was pushing myself every day, even if it didn't follow the plot, still a line to follow.

For example, in the dungeon raiding class, when the dungeon is breached and the students are sealed, I need to be prepared for that.

"Dreyden."

As I turned around, I heard a barely recognizable voice.

As I was leaving, the owner of the voice was coming in, he nodded.

"Lucas."

I waved back as I continued to walk outside without a care for the rest.

'That's right, go help her, protagonist. Show her your charm!'

*****

Seeing Lucas and Raisel training in the middle of the morning aroused a sudden curiosity inside me.

Come to think of it, the small differences from reality to romance could already be seen.

Like, Lucas and Raisel training by day, Riven falling behind Dhara in the school rankings and Dhara flirting with Riven.

They had a sibling relationship in the novel, but now it seems to have evolved into something more.

"This is seriously scaring me. Even Jayden isn't the same as before."

Jayden, who had turned anti-social after losing in a humiliating way to Lucas in the novel, was now full of friends and smiling like never before.

Come to think of it, I should be very worried about the changes.

If small changes turn into big changes, the line that the romance follows can be cut and events started to be different.

'Looks like I'm going to have to deal with the big butterfly effect.'

Picking up my ID card, I looked at my profile.

_________

Name: Dreyden Stella.

Class: A-1.

Score: 165,983 points.

Balance: 1050 Merits.

Historic:

+ 500 Merits for climbing to 22nd in the School Ranking.

+ 300 Merits for climbing to 50th in the School Ranking.

+ 250 Merits for climbing to 100th in the School Ranking.

- 1600 Merits successfully used.

_________

"The advice really is very cheap."

Among the thousands of students in the combat class, being in the top 20 only earns 500 Merits.

"Haaaf..."

As I sigh, I could feel a strange sensation in my body.

Since I started circling magic control in times when I'm not doing anything, it's become a habit.

Unless I'm fighting, I'll probably be training my magic energy.

Closing my eyes, I could feel the great river of magic energy within my core, which was shaking.

I took a deep breath as I tried to pull the glowing dots towards the core, but even though they got closer, they bounced back and forth.

After several conversations with Maya, my circulation speed improved a lot, I would say it was 80% faster than before.

Opening my eyes, I couldn't help but crack a smile again.

Both my progress and Maya's were exceeding my expectations.

I had managed to reach the limit of my current magical energy. It was time for me to evolve my core.

</gwofw>