CHAPTER 80: TO NEW BEGINNINGS [2]

(Inside the newly established administrative office)

The leading professors of the academy and the members of the committee sat at the round table, with the headmistress and the Emperor’s first sword sitting at each end.

"So what do you think about them?" A youthful, stunning woman with white hair and blue eyes addressed the group.

Neko-sensei, who was seated next to her, smiled. "Headmistress, you did witness it with your own eyes, didn’t you?"

The headmistress let out a gentle chuckle, then swept her gaze across the twelve who sat around the table. "I suppose I did." She paused, then fixed her gaze on Neko-sensei. "But that young man is your pupil, isn’t he?"

Neko-sensei nodded. "He even exceeded my expectations."

Kylie, who sat directly across from Neko-sensei, scoffed. "It’s not that big of a deal."

As soon as she voiced her opinion, a deep voice echoed through the room, drawing all eyes toward him.

The Emperor’s first sword — Adrian Hohenzollern.

The elderly man, who looked barely thirty, had been dispatched by his royal Highness, the Emperor of the Empire, to investigate the incident that took place in Noctis, as the princess — the Emperor’s most beloved child — attended the academy.

But upon hearing what had unfolded in one of the most secure academies, he not only reconstructed his entire report to the Emperor but also reconsidered his purpose for visiting the school.

Adrian rested his head against his palm, his lengthy blue hair swaying to the left and his sharp blue eyes seemed to pierce through deception. He locked eyes with Kylie momentarily before shifting his focus back to the headmistress.

"I have to disagree, Professor Kylie." He paused, then continued. "As you’re already aware of, I served as the former Emperor’s sword, so I know a thing or two about mages and combat."

He raised his head and leaned in slightly. "And I can say that what that boy did wasn’t just extraordinary... it was a once-in-a-millennium phenomenon."

Most of the professors nodded in agreement before he continued. "And it seems like all of you are overlooking the most bizarre element that took place."

The entire room fell silent until one of the staff members blurted out, "But it’s not impossible, right?"

Everyone turned their attention to him, though they weren’t truly focused on him anymore.

Their thoughts had drifted elsewhere. One single question lingered in their minds.

Was it truly feasible for someone to advance from low-level D-rank to mid-level B-rank in less than two weeks?

It certainly wasn’t something recorded before in the history of the Empire.

Adrian placed his hand on his chin. ’Did his talent bloom under the pressure of the crisis? But even then...’

Adrian couldn’t quite pinpoint exactly how it occurred.

He, who had lived for over 150 years and witnessed countless events, was now baffled by a child barely of age.

But still, he couldn’t help but chuckle.

It was undeniable: the boy had accomplished the unthinkable. One could even say that, at this moment, he was a talent surpassing all the prodigies of the other continents.

That was why all rationality had abandoned him.

He placed his hand over his face to conceal his broad grin. ’If it’s him, then maybe...’

Clearing his throat loudly, he offered a soft smile with his well-defined, handsome face. "I believe His Majesty will be quite pleased with how things turned out."

The staff’s eyes glimmered with a subtle trace of relief.

For most of them, the academy had become their home, so it being attacked by one of their own professors had made them uneasy.

Especially since many High-Rankers and nobles viewed the influence of the three academies under Meltonia’s hero academic system as a nuisance.

So if the man considered the Emperor’s right hand had chosen to overlook it, it meant their biggest obstacle had been removed.

Neko-sensei stared at him intently, eyes narrowed. "So what does the Empire want in exchange?"

The man smiled, then stared directly into her eyes, waiting for her to avert her gaze, but she didn’t, which only piqued his curiosity further. ’So a monster is instructing an even greater monster... Seems she doesn’t even realize she’s on the doorstep of entering the realm of superhumans.’

"Well, not much...." He paused, then smiled so broadly that his eyes shut. "By the authority granted to me by His Majesty." He raised his voice to give the decree. "I hereby summon all students of Noctis to the royal capital for their reward ceremony."

The room erupted into murmurs at his declaration. "Is he being serious?"

"No other school has ever received such an honor."

"He did mention our school holds the greatest talent in Meltonia’s history."

The man glanced at Neko-sensei again. "You too, Elizabeth Roswell, you’ll be receiving an award, not just as the one who defeated an S-rank or as the mentor of one of our heroes, but also for stepping into the domain of superhumans."

As if on cue, all the teachers turned to Neko-sensei, who looked just as bewildered. "What?" she whispered.

The man pointed at her, then replied. "Yes, you’re one step away from S-rank."

****

The academy had become relatively calm after the attack by Deerheart and for Kai, well things weren’t so calm.

At least ten times a day, he was constantly greeting and having awkward chats with many people he hadn’t seen before, both students and professors alike.

"Damn, my head hurts," Kai groaned as he dropped onto the hospital bed. "At least the bed’s comfy."

Not much had changed after the incident happened, but of course the things that did change did so drastically.

Like how he was now the center of attention in school, which only got worse after an unknown man, whose presence nearly suffocated him, visited the school.

Aside from that, there was also Frieren who, after her three-day quarantine period, was tested to be a high-level B-rank. The same went for the rest of the group.

As for Anica, because of the attack and the fact that Isabella had been involved, both of them had been sent back to their family. After that, no further news was heard from them.

Neko-sensei was now at the doorstep of S-rank, and Matt too was one step away from reaching A-rank.

"Being famous is exhausting," he muttered, shielding his eyes from the setting sun with his hand and closing his eyes.

But in all this, he had one comfort.

His stocks had risen sharply, and now he had enough time to play all he wanted using his V.R pod.

"Speaking of important things..." Kai jolted upright.

’Alpha, bring up my stats.’

[Alright]

After Kai’s long chat with Alpha, he had pieced together some information that was mind-blowing, but judging it unnecessary for the moment, he set it aside.

For now, all that mattered was getting stronger, and with Alpha’s intelligence and Neko-sensei’s support, he was sure he’d reach the peak of B-rank before the next major arc.

Since the red dungeon incident hadn’t occurred yet, probably because of how long and intense Deerheart’s arc was compared to the original story.

Letting out a tired sigh, he continued his telepathic exchange with Alpha. "Can you also sync my laptop with my stats window?"

[I will try...]

He snorted. ’So much for being a Primordial thread and an ancient god.’

Kai could feel Alpha’s anger flaring inside him, but he just laughed.

If someone saw him like this, they’d definitely think he was insane.

Kai just stared blankly into the air, thinking of nothing in particular as he waited for Alpha to finish her task.

[Stop thinking of perverted things and look at your stats]

’I wasn’t, though.’ Kai gently lifted his head and began scanning through every word in his stats window

---

[ARCHAIC SYSTEM]

∆ Name: Kaiser Vanguard

∆ Combat Class: Wave Controller

∆ Affiliation: Weaver’s Coven

---

∆ Rank: B-Rank (Unofficial)

∆ Core: Evolving

∆ Title: King (Unofficial)

---

∆ Archetypes: Manipulator

∆ Affinity (Singular Affinity): Arcane

∆ Mana Pool: 700/1000

---

[Techniques]

∆ Weaving [Primordial]

– Mastery: 1/???

---

• User’s Core Capacity Is Currently Unavailable Due To Interference From Both Weaving And Infinite Adaptability.

---

[Talents]

∆ Infinite Adaptability

∆ Alpha

∆ Weaver Of Life

– Skills

---

[Vestiges]

∆ Star Of Ruin [Transcendent]

• All User’s Current And Future Vestiges Below Transcendent Grade Will Merge With Star Of Ruin Vestige Due To New Feature.

---

New Feature:

∆ Author’s Authority

∆ Tracking

---

Kai blinked twice. ’Well, that’s a lot of info.’ Narrowing his gaze, he began reading the stats one by one, and almost immediately, he spotted differences.

At first glance, nothing much had changed in his stats, except for his rank, which had a strange "Unofficial" tag next to it. Then there was his core, which was in the evolution phase, something he hadn’t written in his novel.

But the key difference began to appear from his affinity: which used to be shadows but had now become Arcane.

"Hmm..." Kai mused. ’If I remember correctly, there isn’t any affinity, even among the variant affinities, called Arcane.’

Kai didn’t know anything about it, and he also doubted Alpha, who always either had excuses or was napping, would answer.

As for his mana pool, he had expected it to increase after he ascended, but he never imagined that his real mana capacity would already be so high for someone at his rank.

He didn’t understand much about weaving, so there wasn’t any need to even look in that direction. The same went for his missing core capacity.

But the major changes came after that.

He frowned slightly as he leaned back against the pillow. ’I did expect my talents to change after seeing my Affinity, but it doesn’t make sense.’

[If what you’re confused about is the fact that you can still use Shadow of Dominion when it isn’t in your stars, then you don’t need to worry]

’How so?’

[As you might have already figured out, weaving, or to be precise, your Weaver of Life ability, lets you use any element or power freely as long as you have the basic understanding of it]

’Then that means Shadow of Dominion, along with every other saint’s talent I understand, has become a skill.’

[Correct]

’Does that mean Arcane is an infinite affinity?’

[In layman’s terms, yes]

Kai loosely placed his hand over his lips.

If it was really as Alpha said, then all he had to do was study theoretical magic and see it in action. Then he’d be just like Matt who could use multiple abilities, maybe even more since his would be more stable and entirely his.

He stared into empty air. "The problem is, I’m not the brightest of the bunch." He grinned widely. "Who needs to be smart when I have an A.I., right Alpha?"

[.... sigh]

’Don’t be like that.’ He turned his attention back to his stats. ’Well, seems like the gods want me dead.’

The sight of his vestiges, which had now merged with Star of Ruin, nearly gave him a headache.

Star of Ruin was by far his most powerful vestige since there wasn’t another like it in the whole world.

But that didn’t mean he was thrilled about merging all his vestiges with it. Even if it was already a game-changing vestige, adding other vestiges to it would only give it more features, like using the power of one vestige in another form.

Maybe borrowing the flying ability from a merged winged vestige and adding it into a flame shuriken to make it a flying shuriken.

The possibilities were nearly as limitless as weaving. But unlike weaving, Star of Ruin gave him an unpleasant drawback for using it outside of mid-level A-rank.

Which made him unable to directly refuse a request or command for a certain amount of time after using it.

He could just pretend to faint whenever he used it, but he doubted that trick would last forever, and it would definitely be useless during a long battle like Deerheart’s.

Kai sighed, then summoned the glowing white light with colors of different shades, shaped it into his dragon vestige, and added in the power of the regulator vestige.

Ding!

{Tracking has been automatically activated}

Through Kai’s lenses, he saw something strange — something he had never seen before.

’No way, tracking can read other stats and affinity.’

What was written next to the blade was:

---

Dragonite [Transcendent]

Formed from the scales of a Mollusk Rider

Ability: Can increase or decrease its size and the temperature around it

Transcendent Skill [Locked]: Shrink

---

Kai sighed. There was no point thinking too much about it. He dismissed the blade, then clicked on the last feature, Author’s Authority.

It was time for him to withdraw his funds and become rich.

’Maybe I should use Tracking on myself and my saints later.’