XI

It had been nearly five years since Dylan had enrolled in the academy.

In that time he had never been challenged for his prefect position. He also built a network of reliable students, to run the discipline committee. This meant he spent most of his time being tutored and honing his skills.

In that time he had perfected his previous fighting style and even added magic to his arsenal. During his time in the academy he found out he had the darkness attribute.

Magic was fueled by the persons mana, and each persons soul aligned with a specific element.

There were seven different elements, fire, water, earth, wind, light, dark, and lightning.

These elements also work in pairs.

Fire and wind worked well together as do earth and water. Darkness works well with lightning and light can work with any element. This meant that each person capable of using mana, had dominate and secondary elemental magic

Dylan being naturally talented in darkness magic, was also proficient in lightning magic. This gave him an even wider array of attacks. Ranging from darkness covered sword strikes, and ranged attacks wrapped in pure lightning. Along with any passive or support magic that each element had.

So he was an all-rounder, being capable of assassinations with darkness and all out warfare with his lightning and weapon-intent.

Dylan's battle strength had grown immensely, along with his body.

He now stood nearly two meters tall, and had the defined muscles of a professional athlete. His long pitch black hair was tied in a loose bun, and his pale white skin bled through his black clothing.

He had adopted a modified version of the prefect uniform. It was light, leather armor that had many pockets and straps. Each pocket held items he would use for survival, along with straps along his back and sides that would hold his new sword.

A sword that was gifted to him as a reward, for the tournament almost five years ago.

It was similar to a broadsword.

The wide, one-sided, black blade, shone in the light as the expensive material absorbed any surrounding color. It was over a meter and a half long, just barely avoiding the ground, as it hung from Dylan's back. It had no hilt and the handle only stopped at the start of the wide blade.

It was well over thirty centimeters wide, so there was no worry of his hand slipping.

The weapons name was Harbinger.

It had served him well these last years, and he would continue to use it even after graduation.

-SYSTEM DATA-

Name: Dylan/Grain Wolf Silver

Age: 15 years 3months(post-Gate)

Race: Human/???

Level: 10

Skills: Focus Burst(lvl.5) Darkness(lvl.3) Lightning(lvl.1)

Strength: 32

Agility: 30

Intelligence: 36

Dexterity: 28

Faith: 10

EXP: 575/5000

(Blessing)

Category: majestic

Name: Valor

Skill: Braver (lv.5)

Skill: Inspect (lv.1)

Skill: ??? (Faith>20)

Passive: Weapon-Intent

Passive: ??? (Faith>30)

Description: As an apostle of Valor, the host can channel their magic power into their physical attacks, along with multiplying their power. Faith is gained from use of these abilities and grows as the host's level increases. The host can also gather any information the system has on any target, as long as the host's intelligence stat is high enough.

As Dylan's body matured, his stats also started to equal out. His once low strength and dexterity were now, just as high as his other stats. While his intelligence was still OP, he could be considered more well-rounded now.

-

One last mission was required to graduate.

Dylan would be tasked with spending a week at the front lines. This was essentially, a final exam. If he managed to survive, he would graduate and be considered a young genius. Even more so, considering he was only fifteen and was already stronger than anyone ten years his senior. 

No one was aware of how strong he actually was though. Yes they were aware of his insane offense and skilled darkness and lightning magic, but Dylan had acquired a two trump cards.

Braver and inspect.

Braver was his secret weapon. With it he could reach strengths unseen from people on his level, and with inspect he would have the edge in combat.

Not to mention, he had finally found a way to use his Will. He could slow down his opponents, by reducing their stats. This only worked if his stats eclipsed theirs, otherwise it would only cause a slight irritation.

He was even more dangerous than people thought he was, and they had even already considered him powerful enough to jump into the next realm.

You see there are 3 different realms achievable by the people of this world.

The first realm is the adventurer realm. This is anyone that can control mana or fight beasts. This realm is divided into 3 tiers, Low, mid and high.

Each realm is divided this way, Dylan was easily considered high-tier over five years ago. Now, he had surpassed the mortal realm and entered the hero realm. 

This realm held the legends of war and the leaders of countries. The headmaster was in the high-tier hero realm. 

Most who had seen him, ranked Dylan in the low-tier hero realm. If we actually judged him by these rankings, he would be just shy of high-tier hero. Nearly as powerful as Thomas himself, with over forty years between them.

The final tier is called the ancestor realm. Most who reached this point were over one-hundred years old and didn't involve themselves with the quarrels of 'mere mortals'.

Anyone who reached this point had a good chance of ascending, or becoming a Gear after death. Those who had enough power, could theoretically, live for hundreds of years before passing. This meant most hegemon of the world would be looked at as Gods.

if only they knew the power of the true Gods.

After being briefed on is mission, he was sent to the front lines.

A two week journey from the capital. Once he arrived he would have to prove his worth.

Dylan wasn't worried.

-

Cries of warfare rang through out the air, as steel clashed with steel, and mana blew apart the terrain. 

This was the border between the Kingdom of Crane and the Kingdom of Seacrest.

Both kingdom resided on the continent of Nastria, this was the human continent. Crane was the kingdom in the center. It was bordered by three other kingdoms, that were slowly shrinking due to the never-ending war. The king of Crane had decided that all of Nastria would fall under his command.

Dylan was standing in a laxed position on top of a hill, overlooking the battle. It currently looked like Seacrest was pushing back the Crane invaders.

It was his job to change that.

If one were to look to the east, they would see a lone soldier. Cover from neck to toe, with black leather armor. Many straps and chains hung from different parts of his body. The straps on his back were wrapped around a huge black sword. His outfit could only be described as, extra.

There was no reason for half of the straps and chains, but Dylan modified the armor after his favorite RPG protagonist.

Parts of his previous life had grown blurry after fifteen years here, but he still had images of valiant heroes, clad in layers of black clothes with so many straps. Chains were an accessory at this point, they served no purpose, but they did achieve something.

Intimidation.

He looked scary, absolutely terrifying in fact.

Long strands hung from a thick knot of jet-black hair, while his purple eyes stared with a cold intent. His giant sword along with his thin frame, would leave anyone evaluating his skillset, utterly confused. Yet, no one could deny that fact his aura was deadly. Some felt that they would be slaughtered with just a look. 

There was this feeling of dread coming from this young man, as if the air around him could cut you.

With out anyone noticing Dylan vanished, only to reappear behind enemy lines.

At first no one was alerted to his presence, that was until blood hit their faces.

As soon as he appeared, three different soldiers were divided at the waist. Leaving behind a huge mist of blood, and a figure clad in black, holding a huge sword in one hand.

Just standing there.

Like nothing had happened.

His posture said he couldn't be bothered being there. Slightly bent spine and head drooped back.

Almost like he was looking at the heavens as he committed a sin, he had the look of omnipotence. Like no one could even get on his radar.

Before anyone could react, lightning descended upon them. Thick bolts slammed into dozens of soldiers, as they turned into dust.

-SYSTEM DATA-

(Host received 100 experience for defeating mid-tier human x37)

EXP 4275/5000

Dylan activated focus burst and sped further into enemy territory. His actual goal was to take out a captain. 

'Looks like EXP I gain from regular soldiers goes down as I level up.' he thought. 'Maybe its 'cause I'm so much stronger now.'

He decided after killing the first three soldiers, that he needed bigger game.

The final exam was based on his contribution to the war.

Taking down a captain and a whole platoon in an hour, should be enough to pass.

He seen one soldier that stuck out from the rest. This was a two meter tall man donning expensive full body armor. The other soldiers only had helmets and light armor.

This was definitely the captain!

He wielded a spear and large tower-shield. Obviously meant for close range combat. If he was a captain however, he definitely possessed some type of magic. 

'This might actually be a good fight,' he thought.

"Inspect"

-SYSTEM DATA-

Name: ???

Age: approximately 35 years 

Race: Human

Level: 13

Skills: ???

Strength: 28

Agility: 25

Intelligence: 19

Dexterity: 23

Faith: ???

Description: Captain of the Kingdom of Seacrest, that wields a spear and shield. Could posses high-tier adventurer magic of any element.

Threat-level: C

The captain had felt his instincts scream at him to dodge. He had over a decade and a half of experience in this war, so he had a sixth sense when it came to danger.

Luckily for him he just barely managed to avoid a lightning bolt. He rolled to the side and regained his balance, only to find himself face to face with a pale-skinned man with a large black sword. He readied himself, because he could tell this was an enemy. Maybe even the same one that cast the lightning magic.

"Braver"

Dylan's stats doubled as he activated his blessing. 

In less than a second he dashed around the captain and readied his weapon.

From the captains perspective, the young man just vanished. He shot a glance in either direction, as his instincts told him to turn around and defend himself. Barely managing to get in a defensive position, he turned one hundred-eighty degrees.

Dylan swung Harbinger in an arc as he released a powered up focus burst. 

An explosion sent anyone in the surrounding twenty meters flying.

Waves of white mana spread across the entire battlefield, as the attack connected with the captains shield.

Dylan was also blown back due to recoil, but regained his balance in less than a second. Adopting his lax pose.

Nothing was left but a five meter wide crater. 

-SYSTEM DATA-

(Host received 700 experience for defeating mid-tier hero-level human)

(Host received 25 additional experience for first hero-level kill)