Chapter 37

It's been two weeks since the incident happened, and these days, the students started coming to this hotel to stay. 

A week ago, we got a message from the academy saying there would be a rank assessment test and their decision to enroll new students in the academy.

They did the same when the dungeon incident occurred. Since it's only been half a year, they decided to take students, and the only requirement for joining the academy was to pass their ranking assessment. 

And the old students have to take the same test and decide their ranking. So this time my class E10 won't be holding back. Given what had happened, I know they wouldn't be hiding their strengths anymore. 

I'm sure they will thrive and get stronger, and this time Ms. Elisa will also go with this and support them. After all, the more you jump the classes, the more advanced the classes will become.

But something was bugging in my mind—an absurdity in the status, or more precisely, the technique mastery. 

I only checked my status points and didn't check my mastery of the technique because it only had a few points to complete the technique. 

But after learning and practicing my new technique, 'Master of Weapons', I noticed that my dagger art, 'Dark Slash', far surpassed its mastery. An absurd thing.

===] Techniques [===

Dagger art: Dark Slash:- ‹★›

Proficiency: 123.9%

(Dark Slash is a technique that unleashes condensed mana slash to erode skin)

__________________________

Mastery can only reach one hundred percent. No matter how hard you train, it won't go above 100%. And as far as I know, every main cast member only reached hundred percent mastery over their techniques.

Getting out of the VR capsule, I stared at the status screen.

"What is happening?" I muttered, staring at the status screen. "Is this some kind of bug?… Does the system even have bugs?" I pondered for a long time, but I couldn't form a reasonable theory. My proficiency had even increased by 0.1% after my training.

"Sigh, what the fuck is happening?" scratching my head, I started to walk to my room. 

While staying at the hotel, I also discovered something strange about my passive skill—something I would never have noticed back at the academy, where the rooms are blocking mana and senses from inside to outside and outside to inside; however, the effect is painfully clear now.

The passive skill was tied to my innate ability, 'Emperor of Ocean,' and it allowed me to detect any movement in water. At first, I thought it was useful, even fascinating. But I quickly realized how inconvenient it could be.

Whenever someone took a shower in the building, their image popped into my mind as clear as day, the water droplets tracing every detail of their body. It was as if I had an unwanted front-row seat to their bathing routine.

Meaning if there is a single water drop on their body, I can detect them. 'But how I didn't come to not know this when their body produces sweats? Is it different, or am I missing something?'

….

After reaching the room, I took a shower and changed my uniform before heading to the rank assessment area, a big building that was protected by many rankers. 

The hotel was located in the heart of the city, close to all the important buildings, so it only took five minutes to reach my destination.

When I arrived, a long queue of students waited at the entrance. Security was tight; the rankers guarded every door, inspecting everyone before letting them in.

After a few minutes, it was my turn. They checked my fingerprint, face, eyes, and mana signature. After confirming it was me, they sent me inside to the register desk to register my name there.

Upon entering the testing center, I saw lots of students from the academy. Some had slightly gloomy faces as they couldn't completely overcome what happened in the academy. 108 students died in the academy; not only that, 75,982 people died in the incident, and more than 198,913 people were gravely injured. Some of them being their family members, friends, or relatives.

I arrived at the register desk and gave my information.

"Cadet name: Jadel Wayner, rank: 2500, disabilities: damaged mana veins. We will call you when your time comes. For now, please take a seat." The registrar pointed to a row of chairs behind me.

I nodded and settled into one of the seats, closing my eyes and allowing myself a moment to rest, impressing in my thoughts.

There is a hidden dungeon in a city, a C+ rank dungeon. The specialty of the dungeon is that there are a variety of mana stones. But that doesn't concern me. My goal of going there is to increase my status points so I can enter another dungeon called 'World of Lost Souls' and obtain the skill. 

But the problem is that I will die if I enter it alone, and I don't want to enter the dungeon with others, so I have to be careful. One mishap could lead to my death.

"What are you thinking, Jadel?" Suddenly a sweet voice called me, alarming every cell within my body.

I didn't bother opening my eyes, because I knew who it was—that disgusting gaze as if it were peering through my soul.

"What is it, Lucy?" I asked, keeping my eyes closed, trying to suppress the growing irritation that was rising.

"You seem irritated." Lucy asked, her tone having a playfulness in it.

"How do I not get annoyed? when you're suffocating me with pressure." I opened my eyes, directly meeting her gaze with pure disdain. "What do you want?"

"Well nothing." She elegantly walked to my side and sat beside me. Crossing her legs, she looked into my eyes while balancing her head with her hand.

"I just have a few questions for you, you just have to answer me properly, and I will leave."

"And do you think I will answer that?" I asked. Not showing any willingness.

She smiled, unbothered by my reluctance. "Expected, I knew you wouldn't say anything to me." The pressure on me intensified, cutting down the oxygen around me.

"I just have to force you to answer."

The irritation grew stronger and stronger; I felt my blood rushing with atrocious thoughts that kept on appearing in my mind. But I controlled it all.

"For fucks sake, Lucy, this is a rank assessment center; don't cause trouble." I growled through gritted teeth, struggling to keep my temper in check.

The pressure on me lessened. "Fine, then just answer my question." She said casually, going back to her normal expression. "First question, you're the one that cast mist, right?"

'Yep, I knew it.' She is here to ask this question; otherwise, she would have completely avoided me. She is only aggressive when something really is dangerous or threatens them.

"I don't know. Are your eyes for decoration? Didn't you detect the mana sign?" 

"That's why I'm in front of you. And asking the question," she replied coolly.

I sighed thoroughly unimpressed, "I don't know what you're talking about. Ask the next questions and get it over with. Your mere presence is irritating me."

Her eyes narrowed slightly, but she didn't say anything. "Okay, the second question. Are you the one who lured the monster? Or is it someone you know?"

"Oh, would you look at that, me, an almost cripple luring monster to you guys; you think I'm idiot enough to book my flight to heaven?." I said sarcastically, mocking her.

"And trust me, I do want to smash you and your friends' heads into pieces, but I'm not insane enough to kill you guys. So I don't know who that fucker is."

She looked at me, observing me for a few seconds. "Jadel I've been seeing you since childhood; your mana signature may have changed, but the properties are the same. So don't try to lie to me, it's easy to detect." 

With that, the pressure returned, much heavier this time, forcing me to my knees.

Something within me shifted. My bloodlust stirred. My nose is twitching to smell a metallic aroma. And my mind is filled to see the crimson. 

'I'm thirsty.'

"Jadel, two weeks ago, your core was just F+ rank; now it is emitting the presence of D- rank, how surprising and suspicious." She said, her eyes glowing intensely, peering through me and scanning my body.

Feeling the disgusting gaze on me, something inside me—the thing I'm suppressing—finally snapped. 

I released a wave of bloodlust, the passive skill boosting my power.

In one swift motion, I lunged forward, my right hand shooting towards her as if to grab her arm. But she saw through the move, effortlessly dodging my hand.

"Fooled yaa!!" I grinned as her eyebrows shot up in surprise. My left hand darted forward and grabbed her face, covering the eyes.

Before she could react, I slammed my fist into her jaw with brutal force.

Crack!

A sharp cracking sound echoed her jaw dislocated.

"Those damn eyes of yours really disgust me... But what I hate the most is you prying into things you shouldn't." I released even more bloodlust, smashing her into the seats.

Kacha!

"Huh!" But before I could do it, my hand had been severed. 

Blood pooled out from my hand, and I felt my vision blur. Before I knew it, my body was littered with cuts, and blood was gushing out of every wound.

Kurgh!" I was on the verge of passing out when I saw a clad in black figure holding a knife looking at me with a cold gaze.

Burst!

Suddenly The figure's head burst into multiple pieces, raining blood down on my face. Oddly, I felt satisfied, craving to see even more of that crimson splatter.

A red haired woman and a few instructors stood where the clad in black figure body is. She rushed to my side, hastily pouring potions into my mouth and over my body.

"Guhh!" I felt like my head was split apart, and I felt my breathing stop for a second as blood dripped from my nose.

Seeing my condition, she took out more potion from her spatial storage and drenched me with it.

"Give him a mind calming potion if you don't want him to go into complete madness." I heard Lucy's voice from the side. "I can see abnormalities in his brain and nerves." 

After her words died down, I was forcefully fed the mind calming potion. Drinking it, I felt my mind calm down, and the pain slowly lessened.

"Sigh" The woman in front of me sighed in relief.

Tap! Tap! Tap! Tap!

A middle aged man approached. It was vice principal Sebastian. He stood in front of us and gave Lucy a sharp look.

"Remind your family again; don't touch the academy students next time. The things that happen in the academy will stay within the academy, and we will give appropriate punishment for what they did. You hear"

"Yes, sir," she replied curtly, still adjusting her jaw.

"And you, why did you hurt her?" He stared at me with a fierce look.

"I... don't know. I can't remember why I attacked her… I can't even remember if I attacked. All I know is that she was the one who started it," I said honestly, my mind still foggy.

Observing me carefully and seemingly confirming I wasn't lying, he looked at her again.

"After the assessment is finished, you both come and see me, you hear it?"

""Yes sir"" We both respond in unison.

Sebastian's gaze fell on the headless body and the red haired woman, Juvylenor Aira, his expression telling, 'Why did you kill him?'.

"He is my disciple." She said.

'Huh!? I only knew her for almost 50 minutes, and she went this far for me?'

"Disciple, huh. Anyway, clean up the mess, fire the guards who let him easily enter. We don't need incompetent people." Sebastian said, his voice cold.

"Yes"

As the principal walked away, she turned her attention back to me and smiled.

"Hehe," I scratched my head, smiling awkwardly, unsure of what to say.

"Hehehe!" her laughing sound faintly resonated. 

Flick!

"Gah!"