74 Independence

"So, money huh? Is that really what you want to ask for? I feel like I have to tell you, I have access to a lot of things, everything from weapons and armor to unique elixirs that might help you progress your mana cultivation."

I had finally managed to stand up again, albeit with extremely shaking legs. They still hurt like hell.

Mr. Borr stood in front of me with a perplexed expression in his training facility. It was understandable that he was confused by my demand. Most things he could get a hold of wouldn't be able to be translated into a monetary value as ordinary people didn't have access to them.

Not everyone could go to the Union's auction house or even trade with licensed arms dealers who had powerful artifacts for sale.

But for me, this didn't matter. I had something else in mind completely.

"I already have my weapons, and I intend to keep on using them. As for armor and gear, it would be nice to have, but I think the academy's combat uniform will do fine for now. And I don't even know if I can use any elixirs to help my cultivation with my unique situation."

His brows furrowed a bit and I could see the confusion in his eyes clear up a bit, "What is it that you want to do with the money then? If there is something you want to buy, I can do so for you."

Looking at the huge, suited-up man, I couldn't help but feel a bit happy at his intent. He truly did want to make things up for me after all that happened, it was even to the point where I started to believe that even if I lost the bet he would have still got me what I wanted.

Unfortunately, this went completely against what I had in mind.

"I want to start to build a foundation for independence."

His confused eyes quickly changed into ones of sadness, as the edges of his mouth started to fall a bit, "So that's how it is..."

He probably understood the underlying intent hiding behind my words. It meant that I couldn't trust a future at the academy, and thus I needed money in case I were to have to leave. Even if I said that I didn't want to run away anymore, I had to be realistic.

There were a lot of situations that could arise that would make me jump ship. If my progress stagnated and I didn't get strong enough to survive attacks from the demonkind. If my name had gotten infamous enough for political figures to want to get rid of me, and so on.

The worst situation was if I saw signs that my dreams, or visions, were coming true. I had already sworn to myself that I would keep Misa safe, and becoming stronger was nowhere near as important as that. I wanted to be strong to live a happy life, not just for the sake of it.

I felt like that was the biggest difference between James and me. It didn't appear that he wanted to be strong to protect or prosper, he just had a need to be the strongest for the sake of it.

Thankfully Misa was with Sophie at the moment. It was one of the reasons why I felt it was fine that she stayed behind, Sophie was a lot more capable than me at keeping her safe. That is not to say that it didn't hurt leaving her, but at least it let me focus on getting stronger and building my foundation for now.

I gave him a small smile, looking at the man that now looked more like a distressed bear than a gorilla.

"That is so teacher. But I don't blame you for it, I know you wanted what was best for me, most of the time at least."

His slight frown turned into a full-on sulk as he didn't appreciate my little banter relating to the situation regarding the ranking matches, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that, I was just saying that you have already done a lot for me, but I want to start standing on my own."

A part of this had also been seeing Sophie and all she had achieved during her stay in this world. Unlike me, she had done a lot of impressive things, ranging from creating her own organization to now even getting a District wide legislation to be written.

Mike's eyes lit up a bit with a bit of resolution behind them, "I understand. I will send you as much money as I possibly can. But I still haven't paid you back for my actions back then. So I will also get you one piece of gear, no matter the cost!"

"But you already gifted me a suit for the party? That's enough you know?"

Honestly, he had already given me so much. Guiding me through my school life and giving me a chance to improve myself to be able to compete with all of my classmates was already priceless.

He crossed his arms and looked at me sternly, "No buts! The suit isn't even left, is it? I will get you a catalog with armor and items to choose from, and I expect you to choose one!

With that, we concluded our little sparring session for the day. Now all I had to do was to wait for tomorrow to arrive.

At the same time, a shining young man also had similar thoughts.

****

[James's Pov]

*Hisss*, *Clang!*

I took out my sword from its sheath and started to hit the dummy in front of me.

'He is finally back!'

*Bang!*

I had waited for this day for a long time, a day when I could finally try and fix the broken atmosphere of our class.

After the ranking matches, nothing had been the same. Everyone started to mistrust each other and everyone started to segregate themselves. Even if the class was divided before to an extent, it was nowhere near as bad as now.

It had started to show during the dungeon dives as well. No one could completely trust one another, which meant that the clears were inefficient. Guess that's what happens when the innocent-looking, little kid in the class almost murdered his classmate in cold blood.

*Bang!*

We all knew by now that it was an accident, but that was still not the problem. It was his demeanor after the incident, his cold eyes that told us that he wouldn't hesitate for a second to do it again if needed.

*Clang!*

It didn't get better after the demonkind launched an attack on the academy. Somehow, they had managed to infiltrate the grounds with three Rank IVs and one Rank V. By the use of some sort of barrier they had isolated the freshmen when we were practicing together. Luckily I managed to awake some sort of new skill that allowed me to defeat the rank V, and my classmates defeated the Rank IVs.

'-You what? Do you think you have any sort of justification for your actions here? You are very welcome to challenge me to prove that you are the mighty James Luminary, the bringer of light, but don't try to hide it. Just admit that you have a need to prove that you are the strongest.'

Miren's words still rang out in my head though, and I knew what he meant. After some time of introspection, I had already identified that my decision to challenge him wasn't purely based on wanting to keep my classmates safe and happy, there was, indeed, a part of me that felt the need to be the strongest.

But as time had gone on, I had already managed to move on from it, accepted it, and let it be a part of my driving force. Something akin to "the greater good". In the end, the most important thing to me was to fix things, and that included saving Miren from the fate of being the rank 1 student.

*Bang!*

I still wanted to make things right between us, but when I saw his face in the cafeteria I felt a slight shiver surging through me. He was not the same anymore. No, his eyes reminded me more of the time he fought Arthur than his previous ones. Infinite black, uncaring and aloof. Eyes that saw me as nothing more than a bump in the road, something he just had to walk over.

*BOOM*

With a final strike, I used [Arc of Glory] sending a huge wave of light which destroyed the poor dummy.

I was scared. He had emitted a different kind of pressure, one which I had never felt before. He wasn't more powerful than me, but it felt like he held my life in his hands.

'Tomorrow I will start to make things right...'