Chapter 7 : A Breakthrough...In my CLASS !?

Since the day we discovered my categories, my training regimen got even tougher. Akira did a whole annoncement to Yuri and Rowdy, basically saying that I could be the "Ultimate Trump Card" if I trained hard enough.

And while they had their own opinions on this matter, they accepted, to my great despair, and made my life a training hell.

From now on, I had my morning routine with a random guy of the Agency, sparing and muscle reinforcement, then dense classes with this knowledge enthousiast.

At this point, my soul is already gone from my body but I'm not done with the day. Akira the sadist take me in and makes me run to train my endurance, and makes me hunt different monsters to

raise my level.

"AHHHHHHHHHHH !" I screamed like a little girl when I was chased by numerous beasts, making a horde large enough to wipe out a average sized village.

'Maybe I went too far with the difficulty.'

He thought has he ran beside me, seemingly living his best life. Joy was written on his face.

I ate any thought about this bastard and focused on the threat behind me.

[FIREBLAST],[WATER BULLET][THUNDERBOLT],[WIND SLASH][STONE LANCE] !

I rampaged this horde with numerous spells, draining my mana but that wasn't the most important to me, as my recovery went off the roof. Akira whisled at me and said : "Damn, that was actually pretty good."

I was pissed and lacked energy, so I vented loudly : "With all due respect, SHUT THE FUCK UP" I swear I got swearing class with all the time I spent with them. And of course Akira was surprised.

"Oh yeah~ Good luck dealing with them." He said before disappearing in my shadow. He had no need to rub the knife.

In fact, if I stop running, a knife won't be the only thing in my body.

....'That came out wrong, wait.' While I was deep in thoughts, I finally noticed the monster herd became smaller.

'I SURVIVED' I cheered in my mind with a smile on my face. Then my senses went off for a second, which feels really wierd to be honest.

I instictly looked behind me, and I saw a fury of spell behind me. All type of magic were falling on me. So naturaly, I ran even faster in this arid desert.

Dodging, rolling on the ground and brutaly changing directions and nearly getting crushed by a boulder didn't really help my stamina.

But little did I know, that wasn't the biggest problem in sight.

All of a sudden, the ground started shaking and my senses went off again. I reflexly jumped on the right. But something pierced the ground below me and caught my hood.

For the next five second, I felt like I was flying. BUT I looked up and saw the first creature I ever killed in this world. A Giant Earth Worm. I panicked, naturally, but the monsters below me had it worse.

Yuri once explained to me that Giant Earth Worms got another name from the locals in another language than Lightarian (English, the main language in this world) which means "The Cleansers". And they are pretty damn good at it.

The worm ate anything in its path. Monsters, not that dumb, ran away, the best choice in this situation, or fought back.

But the attacks are so weak that it was impossible for them to survive, and only the beast known for their agility managed to get away from it.

Only I had the best chance to survive this ordeal by grabbing on the worm, and hoping for the best.

"Tatsu, I need a little bit of help here !" I screamed in horror and frustration, as my face deformed from all the wind coming on it.

"You'll have to wait for my signal and endure it, the worm is heading close to a place close to the base. We could use this opportunity to finish this ridiculous training." He said with his usual serious tone.

"Boy, prepare yourself." He said in a hurry.

"Prepare for what ? PREPARE FOR WHAT !?" For unknown reason, I turned my eyes to the ground and noticed I was going straight to the ground.

"WHAT THE FUCK, NOOOOO-" My voice couldn't be heard anymore for I am now underground.

But I activated [Tough Skin] right before going in, I'll be fine.

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"So how was training ?" Yuri asked.

"To be honest, hard, but not undoable" Mostly due to the fact that I fought back and leveled up to level 47, quite nice if you ask me.

"So he toned it down, huh. Good to see all that tor- I mean arguing took it's effect." Now hold up, you were about to say something very dangerous weren't you !?

"Anyway, since you're quick when it comes to absorb and maintain knowledge, let's teach you geography."

He said with excitement, and it scared me.

This world is far wider than I thought.

The Republic of Earth, Aetharn, alone has a area of (Area of Africa) with very different ecosystem on it. And it's right in the center of the continent. Very different cultures all over it too.

I'm not surprised it has numerous political issues.

Next, Yuri's birth country, the Frozen Country, Idti. It's pretty chilly there but in summer, it can be quite the good place to rest in. There's also a frozen forest with monsters lurking in. Moreover, Yuri told me about a Pyramidal System of pure meritocracy.

We follow up with Akira's country, The Thunder Striking Empire, Shinto. Far in the east, it's often confronted to various natural disasters. But they hold up as a unified country, even considering the fact that it's a Archipelgo.

Surprizingly, he also mentionned Rowdy, his country and his people that wasn't quoted in the book I read the other day.

Apparently, the Giants were a evolved species, but got terminated by, guess who, fucking Sanctum, the Holy Principality.

Anyway, he comes from Barak, the Democracy of Metal. Basically the most advanced in terms of technology, coming with new innovations each years. They are more all about brains than muscles. But now it makes sense that the unit he is has a doctor degree in Enginnering. The territory is right at the East-South side of the country, blessed with ores.

Then there's me, legaly born in Aetharn, since we needed to forge my new identity.

It was easier for them since they are used to break in this country's data base. I told you, chaos is everywhere, you just can't see it from my point of view.

Of course, that's not the only thing I learned today, but I don't think you want random reminders about the Noperian Logarithm.

"That's all for today, come back next day."

I only nodded with a pale face, and slowly walked to the door. As I opened it, Rowdy appeared with two chocolate chip muffins, one in his mouth as he is eating it, and another in his hand.

He looked at me and saw the disasterous state I was in. He shaked the other muffin with his hand and looked at me as if to say : 'Want one ?' I took it without complaining and said a silent "Thank you."

He carried me over his shoulder again and took me to the gym.

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"Focus....focus....focus....Failed."

Thwak !

"Ouuuuuuch !" This is me, currently training with Rowdy.

We have been training my Mana Pool since the moment I left Yuri's class, to purify it, and eventually rank it up.

"Please Hibiki, concentrate only on your pool."

But he didn't know that Tatsu has been observing me since we started. I couldn't keep my focus this way.

My consciousness projection, basically watching over my Mana Pool, is a result of my focus. It allows me to oversee the growth of Mana Pool.

But as I focused my mind on this only this task, I could feel my mind slowly losing itself. My mana went out at explosive rate and Rowdy, watching over me, acted immediatly and placed his hand on my torso.

"DO NOT let the mana out of your grasp. Do you hear me ?" Rowdy screamed as

he focused himself and helped me on this task.

His consciousness took form in a red vessel aside from mine, and stretched a hand in direction of the blue orb my mana pool was.

"I see. You are adept to learn that too..."

All of a sudden, a man, armored in black and red and a tenfold bigger than us, took form aside from us and also stretched his hand in direction of my Pool. But a red energy came out of it, and slowly calmed the Rupture.

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Author Note :

The Pool Rupture is a phenomenon when a someone uses to much mana or greatly expanded it's limits. It can also happen when a Mage does not use magic in a long time. If it is ever completed, the individual can only dream about using magic again. However, it can be confused with the outstanding, but normal, growth of the Mana Pool of a child. This is why a higher Mana Aptitude is recommended.

I hope it helped.

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The man disappeared. And we went back outside our minds, taking control of our bodies again.

"W-who was that ?" I asked, as I heavily breathed to to cool down.

Rowdy was also taking back his breath, bit the first thing I noticed about him is that his face was grim, and anger could clearly be seen as his head's veins were budging.

"Rowdy ?" I said. Not as a question, but more as a way to see whenever he's still aware of his surrondings.

"What do you want ?" He said back, with a voice definitely more crude than usual.

After a few seconds that felt like an eternity, during which we stared at each other. Him with no emotions on his face, and me with a starstruck one.

He finally spoke after sighing, he said : "If you want answers, meet me in a week, after your birthday, at midnight. To be honest, I would have liked to hide this from you for a few more years, but I guess you deserved to know at the very moment you stepped in this place as a member of the Corps." He looked away sadly, and seemed to be thinking about something else.

Tatsu thought it might be a good idea to leave him alone for once, and I had to agree, since I felt the atmosphere getting heavier, and frankly, I couldn't handle it.

So I'll wait, I'm not in a hurry.

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*The next week*

I woke up and prepared for my routine. I've been here for so long that the exercises they told me to practice became a habit to me.

Immediatly after a morning shower, I went to the gym where I practiced various combos and trained my muscle.

Today it's leg day and I know I will suffer, especially since Akira added abs in the regimed.

And yes, I exercise without eating. Akira told me that for his line of work, I needed to "Get used to it". Bullshit, he's one of those who eat the most during breakfast.

Anyway, today's program is leg, abs and cardio.

For legs, I did weight training, exercising my calves and thighs. The abs consisted in mostly plank, russian twists and leg raises.

And cardio was done with long runs and intense 5 mins of spring on a treadmill.

After finally finishing this 1h30 work out, I was really hungry, my belly was screaming that it's time to eat, so I headed to the cafe.

Surprisingly, no one was in the cafe. More hungry than caring, I took some milk and cereals, and of course took a bowl.

I dropped the cereals then the milk. But I started to feel uncomfortable in the cafe, as if someone was watching. Then I remembered something my hungry mind didn't notice.

Nobody was in the corridor while I came here, which means I'm supposed to be alone.

I immediatly jumped away from the table and called for someone, the feeling of being watched getting stronger. I called for someone : "WHO'S THERE, SHOW YOURSELF !"

I took a magic pistol and a knife out of my pants (They were hidden), aimed in front of me with my knife under my wrist.

"I won't repeat myself. Do what I asked you to do if you don't want to die." In reality, I was scared, and slowly backing up to the door so I could run away, with a cold sweat going down my forehead to my neck.

Suddenly I felt a presence creeping up to me in my back. I turned around and backed up but it was already to late, a hand a already going to grab my head...

But it stopped, a few centimeters away from my face. I feel on my back, with face drained of all colors. My eyes immediatly went up to the face of culprit...

Surprise, surprise. It was Akira ALL ALONG. As I was ready to drop on him my entire anger, all the light of the cafe lit up, showing me the entire groupe of highly skilled mercenaries...In festive clothes ?

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HIBIKI/CHILD/BOY !"

They screamed with joy.

Meanwhile, I was standing there, with a confused face. I knew it was my birthday today but I never saw them even bringing the non-alcoolic drink in the base...

Wait, didn't Rowdy spoil the surprise, but I still managed to get surprised....

Man, I'm a dumbass !

"We have surprises for you !" Akira says as The Boys are singing "Happy Birthday to You !"

When they finished singing, they all went one behind another with presents in hand.

Rowdy was the first to come with a book called "Introduction to Support Skill" and a magic wand for practice.

Yuri came close and told me about a way of fighting with knife coming straight from his country

Other came with differents presents with a very broad diversity. Someone brought a hamster and another guy came with a brand new generation console.

I like this guy, he got taste.

Akira was the last one to come, and I was already covered in presents, my face wss barely visible.

"Kid, as you have guessed, I do not have MY present in hand." Called it. "But I have a trade offer." Honestly, a deal seems interesting.

"Tell me more." He took a blade, blue like the sky, strapped to his waist, inspected it, spined it around his fingers to grab it by the sharp side, showing me the handle.

"You take my personal favorite from me, and I teach you about my jobs as a assassin. And become my sidekick."

The impression that accepting this would eventually lead me to kill someone. So I asked : "Will I ever gave to kill someone ?"

His smiling face became serious and he stated : "As long as we do our job correctly, you won't have to....Until you're ready."

I expected this. I mean, I might as well accept and leave the future problems to future me.

"I accept." I then took the blade away from him.

Suddenly, I felt like everything except me slowed down.

You took the Assassin Path !

Become stronger as you mercilessly slaughter the ones after your neck.

[Warning ! A Unique Breakthrough Class can be unlocked. As it is a Unique Class, you won't know in advance your own skill. Work hard to earn them !]

Signed by : "The One watching over you."

The world went back to normal.

I blinked into oblivion, and Akira seemed to notice something wrong about me.

"Hibiki...Why are your eyes shining ?" He asked with a confused face. "Did a god address you a Direct Request !?" He asked while shaking my body.

"Don't wor-ry, I g-ot no-ne of tho-se." I managed to let out while he was shaking me. When he stopped, my eyes rolled around. When I snapped back to reality, I asked : "What is Direct Request anyway ?"

Yuri fake coughed, and started explaining, making everyone's happy expressions go sour.

"An Direct Request is a message from a God, a signal that the God in question is willing to give you their blessing, marking you with an Arcana."

Surprised by this new word, I let out : "Arcana ?"

"Well, an Arcana is a Crest of Power, somewhere on your body, showing you belong to a God in particular. All Gods have a different mark. To be honest, you could have more than one God's blessing, but that's extremely rare."

Then I took a look at my plexus.

'Does that means Fenrir is so powerful, he can be considered a God !?'

I thought at the moment.

But my thoughts were cut off but Akira carrying me on his shoulders.

"Whatever, let's just celebrate this day !" He said as he had a glass of beer in his  other hand.

I gave my entire attention to the table and, oh boy, I won't be hungry after this.

Burgers, French Fries, Pizza, Soda, Pastel de Nata, Bol de Berling, Muffins, Cookies, and other junk foods....

Diabetes, I'm getting dangerousely close to you...

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(Timeskip brought to you by Chibi Hibiki and Chibi Akira having a eating contest.)

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*Late that day*

I am currently watching TV in my room.

Rowdy got wasted and went to sleep on the sofa I'm sitting on, and Yuri slept on his bed, and a bottle of vodka in his hand.

Akira dissapeared for now.

The program I'm currently watching is "Rift Stream Live". A 'show' in which Adventurers filmed themselves hunting in the wild or in dungeons.

It seems like it was made in order to make money out of bored people. And to tell you how popular it is, it's basically that show you watch with your whole family a saturday night.

Except my family is those drunkards.

On the screen, there is a pretty red gaired lady, relentlessly slashing Minotaurs, tens of them. Blood splatering everywhere, even on her face, not even bothering her.

Minotaurs, creatures known for their strength and inpenetrable defence.

But it seems like their advantages didn't mean shit for her.

She made them her bitches.

She grabbed one's face, before slaming her knee in it.

Have you seen a monster's head explode ?

No ? Well it happened in front of me.

Not letting any of them breathe, she grabs the body of the minotaur by the arm, and throws it to the rest of them.

She jumped on one, planting her sword in it's face, before taking it's weapon, a greatsword, and dual wielding.



She blocked a incoming attack with the greatsword, basically using it as a shield, she gritted her teeth and jumped in the air again, but this time she chanted something in the air.

"Arise, Father of All Flames."

"Burn, Destroy and Cremate."

Her red hair shined, lighting the whole room, as her green eyes did the same.

"I, daughter of the Ember of Life, ask for your help."

"ANNIHILATE, DRAGON OF FLAMES !!!"

"VULLLLLCANNNN !"

She jointed the blades together, and flames surged from them, slowly taking the shape of a huge dragon. It silently roared, and headed for the army.

It burned everything in it's way, even the boss behind the door. The pretty lady is broken.

"SHE DID IT, MYTHRIL RANK DIENE PENDRAGON SOLOED A SS RANK DUNGEON." The presentator exclamed with passion, as the lady called Diene stealthed her sword back into place with a empty gaze. A passion I shared.

"WHOOOAAAA, SHE'S SO COOL !" I screamed throughout the whole room.

"With what I offer you, you could become even better." A familiar voice said.

I turned around, and I remembered the promise he made me last week.

Rowdy, standing there with his stern face, even more serious than usual.

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(A/n): Honestly, I was having a vacation. That's why I'm late. You can guess where I went if you read carefully.

Now, what can I say ? Except thanks for reading this book if you made it this far.

Now for a little tease from the far away future...

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War. Do you know war ?

Of course, you could just pull out the romantised definition of the dictionary.

No, no, no. I'm talking about true war.

The war during which the night sky take a crimson color, warning of the incoming bloodbath.

The war during which you can feel you sanity slowly escaping your mind as you become a killing machine.

The war during which you can trust no one, not even yourself.

The war during which death is unpredicable, just like the trajectory of missiles heading our way, forcing you to forget your dead friends.

The war during which you think you are fighting for your significant other and children, for something important, when it was in fact a petty dispute between governments.

The war after which countless of those family mourn their lost one.

Tell us now, do YOU know war.

No, you don't....

And I hope you never will.

Hibiki Kuze, Last Alive Survivor of The Evolution Project

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So, how was it ?

Are you pumped up ? Are you dying in cringe ?

Let me know, I'll look at all of your comments.

See you next time for "Chapter 8 : The Berserker's Spirit, a Blessing or a Curse ?"

TOBY out.