preparations for the exam

Whoooosh!

A black car flying at high speed toward academy city with the logo of a golden A. inscribed on its sides

A young man sitting inside it crossed his legs while twirling a card in his hand deep in thought

It was Aamon that after finishing his business in Ezir town was getting back to the academy

'Hmm, the news about the disappearance of charles party should have reached the mercenary guild by now, but'

Crack!

Aamon crushed the card in his hand

'Unfortunately for them, the culprit have already escaped, I finally got what I came here for, with the sword I can survive the coming apocalypse and of course secure my number 1 ranking in the academy.'

In the novel, Aamon gets the second 5th place in the upcoming test and loses his ranking as the number 1 to Tyler and shortly after to kyle and Olivia

Events of the novel will follow one by one, and even the matter of his

Dark Affinity will be exposed by his dear fiance after Aamon naively tries to save her from death

at this point in time Liam will get involved with Aamon, as a famous demon hunter he hunts Aamon all around the 4 kingdoms in the end he lands a deadly wound on Aamon resulting in his death by Kyle's hands

'But not this time, I killed a future threat to my life and even stole his opportunity, but unlike the original Aamon who searched for a companion to mend his wounds, who stays by me matters...no more.'

.

.

.

.

Far away in the academy city

It was getting dark, and a beautiful red shade dyed the sky red

Many holographic billboards and hoverbikes and cars were rushing in the sky, creating a lively atmosphere

Olivia, accompanied by Sophia, was heading toward their dorm when Olivia said

"Still no news of him returning, and here I thought I finally found a way to beat him, but it looks like all of it was for nothing." (Olivia)

she was walking with a downcast expression while talking about his failed plan concerning Aamon

Sophia, seeing this, decided to console her after all she was looking for a way to beat Aamon too

"Dont worry, we will find a way. Eventually, he can't always remain number 1. Can he?

"Besides, kyle has been training hard these days.

"it's only a matter of time before he catches up with Aamon

"You're right. I just hope that he gets stronger, fast. Otherwise, I have to..."

Suddenly, Sophia grabbed Olivia's hand and said with a resolute face

"Dont worry, we're not gonna let them force you into a marriage you don't want, I promise you...and besides you already like someone else."

Hearing this, Olivia's face blushed like a tomato

"W-what are you s-saying!"

Whoooosh!!

Suddenly, a flying car creating a gust of wind passed over them and landed right in front of Manticore dorm

Sophia got pissed off because her hair got messed up

But when she saw who came out of that car, all of her anger washed away

she pointed towards that person and hit Olivia at the same time with her elbow that was busy tidying her hair

"Olivia, isn't that Aamon?."

Olivia quickly raised her head and said

"Yeah... let's go. we need to find Ellis fast before he leaves again or something."

She grabbed Sophia's hand and dragged her away fast, running in the opposite direction towards Goblin dorm

Aamon POV

I finally reached the academy after a long 4 hours ride with my personal car

Aamon went towards the lobby of the dorm, and from there toward the elevator

Ding!!

Doors opened, and Aamon saw his huge empty room

'Strange, I thought she would be here jumping at me with questions like where I was.'(referring to Emily)

First things first is to take a shower and dispose of these clothes I ve been wearing for the past 3 days

Then I can make my breakthrough to D- rank with peace of mind

After 1 hour or so, Aamon disposed of his clothes and took a shower, then wore a black t shirt with a logo of the Ares guild on its chest and black pants

He headed downstairs towards the mana breathing room, a room especially built to create a favorable environment for training or breakthroughs

He sat on a lotus position and took out a small box, and took out a pill a white round pill emanating a very captivating aroma

Aamon took a deep breath and closed his eyes while he swallowed the pill

Immediately, he did his mana breathing technique to absorb the pills' power fast

Slowly, Aamon's mind became focused to the point that he couldn't even hear his own breathing

Thump!

Thump!!

Thump!!

He could only hear his heartbeat. All his focus was on his heart that was surrounded by 2 circles, and each circle had 3 glowing balls orbiting around them

For a person to break through to D- rank, they need to form their 3rd and final mana circle around their heart

'The 1st step'

Aamon began slowly gathering mana from his surroundings toward his heart

This process is very delicate if someone gathers too much mana than their heart will explode, and if it's too little, the breakthrough process will fail. The best possible outcome would be becoming a crippled

Aamon easily performed this because of his past experience with demonic energy

'The 2nd step'

The person will have to focus the mana around their heart, taking the shape of a circle similar to others but bigger than them

This step tests the mind of a person. The stronger you are, the better, and the pills' effectiveness will be shown here

After half an hour, Aamon completed this step while his breathing became uneven, and a stinging pain began surfacing in his chest

'The 3rd step'

Forming a ball of mana from the mana present in your body on the newly formed circle and converting the foreign mana into yours was the final step

this process was the most painful one because the foreign mana that resisted your will it will do the same here too and rage everywhere

What Aamon has to do is prevent that from happening and contain the mana as much as possible and prevent the risk of internal injuries

After another hour or so around 8 pm

Aamon finished his breakthrough

Boom!

Suddenly, a huge amount of mana radiated from his body like a torrent

He slowly opened his eyes that were brimming with vitality and looked around him. The pain in his chest was gone, and his breathing became stable

Aamon slowly felt the new improvements in his body his senses had grown sharply, and his sensitivity to mana also increased, he also felt a huge amount of mana in his body

'Good this much should be more than enough to deal with the upcoming test and secure my ranking'

Ding dong!!

Suddenly, Aamon heard the doorbell rang

'Agh, here she comes that annoying sister of mine'

Aamon got up and climbed the stairs all the way to the entrance

Click!

But the person he was expecting wasn't on the other side

Instead, a girl with short black hair tugged behind her left ear and a pair of beautiful violet eyes

wearing a blue jacket with a white blouse underneath and black pants with a pair of sports shoes standing behind the door

Aamon noticed her holding a box in her hand wrapped with a red ribbon and a bow tie, but something else got the attention of Aamon a wowen black chocker that had a small violet crystal hanging in the middle, it ignited a small spark in Aamon's body

"H-hello sir Aamon!"

Aamon knew who she was and vaguely even guessed her intentions but still went on with her little ploy and put on his business smile

'Its Ellis one of the heroines in this world'

"Hello, young lady, how may I help you?"

Aamon noticed her nervous behavior and her left eye twitching

Ellis raised her head after a slight bow

"I'm Ellis, young master Aamon. I'm here on behalf of my friends to thank you for the other day. This is a small gift from us. We hope you accept it."

She bowed her head while handing out the chocolate box wrapped with ribbon

"The other day?"

Ellis had a surprised expression when Aamon said this she had a feeling that he was doing this on purpose

"The incident in the cafeteria that day you saved me and my friends from a huge trouble

"Oh, I remember pls come in. I can't have a guest staying outside. let's drink tea while we talk."

Aamon smiled and invited Ellis inside like a gentleman who cared about her feelings

but in reality, he was trying to know her purpose of visiting him he knew Olivia well and understood this must be one of her small ploys and a certain someone that helped him get into the Manticore dorm didn't escape his eyes

Ellis didn't refuse as Aamon expected, and she walked in

"Excuse me, then."

Aamon guided her towards the living room while gesturing her to sit on the sofa

"Coffee or tea miss Ellis

"Coffee"

'That's strange novel described her as someone that absolutely despised bitter flavor'

After Aamon brought the tea and coffee

him and Ellis chatted for a while about random things and got familiar with each other, especially Ellis, who always found it hard to communicate with others.

She felt like she found a soul mate or something because Aamon perfectly understood her words and expressions

She was beginning to have some strange thoughts when she suddenly remembered her purpose of coming here

'He doesn't seem like a bad person. Why is Olivia so scared of him? I feel bad for doing this, but.."

"Young master Aamon, how did you become so strong in such a short time everybody in the academy still talks about the day you beat Lucas the current number 22 in the rankings easily"

'So that's her purpose, well it doesn't matter'

Aamon chuckled with an amused expression who surprised Ellis a little and then said

"It's nothing much I train like everyone else but the only difference being harder and more intense"

Ellis, who got disappointed with this answer, went for plan B, which was testing Aamon's strength herself

"Young master Aamon, would you please guide me in my training? I'm stuck at a bottleneck in one of my techniques

"I dont have a problem with that however...my treatment may become a little rough,"

Aamon said this in a teasing manner, making a red haze appear on Ellis's face

She quickly turned her head sideways and broke free from Aamon's eyes that had a strange glint to it, trying to captivating her soul and mind in them

"I-its okay, I understand

"Then please follow me,"

Aamon led her to the underground training room

Upon seeing the gigantic room filled with all kinds of training equipment and even a mana breathing area, Ellis's mouth was about to hit the ground

She was initially very surprised by the size of Aamon's living room, but it didn't hold a candle to this one

She still remembers the first time she wanted to use a public mana breathing room that she had to fight with tooth and nails to occupy it

Ellis took off her jacket and stood in the middle of an arena that was covered with sand and took a fighting stance ready to attack Aamon

Aamon looked at her with a bored expression and gestured her to attack

Hyaaa!!

She dashed towards him

In Aamon's eyes, even her extremely fast speed amounted to nothing her every move was like an open book to him

Ellis's punch was so close to Aamon that she was sure it's gonna land

But the next thing she saw was the ceiling of the training room

'Huh'

Bam!

She landed on her back while Aamon held on into his hand, staring at her from a high position

"It wasn't bad, but still, it's not enough. Do you want to continue miss Ellis"

Ellis, who came out of her daze by Aamon's sound, quickly got up while patting her clothes

"Yes! Please, one more time."

She understood from the last move

Aamon wasn't an opponent she could face at all even if she used all of her powers and hidden cards

Aamon smiled and said

"As you wish,"

And a one-sided beating session similar to Emily started

After an hour or so, Ellis found herself lying on the couch in the living room of Aamon's room, exhausted

She failed to understand Aamon's techniques or get any information regarding his training or trump cards

And worse than that, she failed to land a single hit on him. This was a huge blow to her

After drinking a herbal tea made by Aamon, she left with a gloomy expression

Ellis headed towards the 20th floor of the Manticore dorm to Sophia's room where kyle and the rest of the group were waiting for her

When Sophia unlocked the door, she shouted "Ellis are you okay!!?."

Ellis's hair was disheveled, and her blouse, along with her pants, was torn in several places

Ellis responded with a tired voice she just came out of a one-sided beating, so it was understandable

"I'm tired,"

And soon enough, everyone knew what she went through

On the other side, Aamon stood in the balcony holding the chocolate box that Ellis gave her

'So her goal must have been to find a dirt on me or a weakness that they could exploit, come to think of it its about time I break off this engagement of mine and end this cat and mouse game'

Then Aamon threw the chocolate box down from there while a dangerous glint passed by his eyes