Carl Swan proceeded out of the tower after clearing the first floor of the VR tower of the Oslon City academy in the intermediate difficulty mode.
A large crowd had gathered outside the tower, discussing in waves his achievement. Although it was not that much of a feat, he was the first amongst a few E+ rankers in a long time to achieve such outstanding results.
" I have really outdone myself this time... To think all that time spent looting credits from those weaklings would come in handy. " As Carl grinned ear to ear, all eyes seemingly landed on him. A couple of females even attempted to rope into his good books as they cast flattering comments at him.
In this world where strength reigned, it was obvious that quite a number of women would even battle each other to curry favor with him.
He had an A rank talent potential after all. If you ended up marrying a man with so much potential for growth, your future would be assured. He would definitely become an A ranker one day.
Just as Carl basked in the praise of his current bootlickers, a notification message appeared synonymously with a paused video of a young man on the holographic screen that hung outside the VR room that led to the VR tower.
[Congratulations to E rank awakened Lucas Grimstone, for being the first amongst E rank and E+ rank awakened to clear the hard mode of first floor of the tower in a period of 50 seconds. For such an outstanding achievement, he has been rewarded with 4000 student credits].
"What in the... "
"Did I hear that wrong? "
"Wait... Isn't that name familiar? "
"It's the name of the SSS rank talent holder, and the disciple of the Headmaster of the Academy... "
"He actually challenged and cleared the hard mode of the floor of the tower as an E rank, just who is this guy? "..
As though the previous reactions of the people gathered around him were a reverie, Carl was utterly flabbergasted as they shifted their focus and attention to the video on the holographic screen before them. A singular individual had paid about 200 student credits in order to stream the recorded video of Lucas' display during the trial of the first floor of the tower.
Even the lackeys of Carl were shocked as they watched the video....
It was not his flame affinity that shocked them, but his control over the flames, was top notch for an E ranker.
A flame affinity user blurted out in surprise as he watched Lucas skillfully utilise his flame affinity to eliminate the beasts in one fell swoop.
''This guy has learnt a very difficult flame affinity skill, and that means the skill he assimilated is high ranked, since the higher the difficulty in learning a skill, the higher ranked it is, and it's effect when utilized''.
Another flame affinity nodded in agreement ''The advantage of learning high ranked affinity skills is that they increase your utilization of the particular affinity compared to another individual who has assimilated a skill with a lower learning difficulty. This guy just awakened recently , and yet he has assimilated a skill with a probably very high difficulty learning rate. Just what sort of person is he?''
Carl could only clench his fists as he watched the video. He remembered that he used to bully this Lucas guy from time to time. A few days ago, Carl remembered humiliating Lucas, and overnight, this guy had turned into some genius.
As for the blue flames, he seemed slightly familiar with them from somewhere, but he could not put a particular finger on where exactly he recognized them from, therefore, he did not dwell on the matter anymore.
He knew that Lucas would soon come after him, as he had bullied him in the past. There was a video circulating on the campus forums about how Lucas overpowered Cruz Fanoma of the Fanoma family twice, even when Lucas had no backing. Carl was completely convinced that Lucas would not hesitate to come after him, now that he had the backing of the Sword Blade. Carl had a backing of course. However his master was an old man, an A rank hunter with an A rank talent.
Becoming an A ranker was his master's talent limit. Although Carl had a powerful backing, compared to the Sword Blade, Lucas' master, who currently stood at the peak of humanity, Carl's master was not in the least bit significant. Even if Lucas told him to roll himself over in mud, Carl knew he'd have no option but to succumb to Lucas' demands.
Carl currently thought of trying to overpower Lucas in a duel, however he quickly got rid of the idea. Strength was not always about rank, although it played a very important role.
In Carl's opinion, Lucas seemed to have awakened the flame affinity which boasted very offensive capabilities compared to Carl's body hardening.
Lucas could also utilise his affinity with more precision and control, probably due a peculiar high ranked flame skill Lucas had learnt. Carl knew that there was no way he would stand a chance against Lucas in a battle.
Not forgetting about the fact that Lucas had cleared the hard difficulty mode of the first floor of the VR tower, when Carl himself had only managed to clear the intermediate level after trying and failing for several days. The gap between them was not a small one
Also, now that Lucas was revealed to have an SSS rank talent, even Carl's master would want to curry favor with Lucas and reprimand Carl for being rude to Lucas.
Carl could only await his judgement from Lucas. He had grown up in a slum, a suburb of Oslon City where life was difficult.
Due to his manner of harsh upbringing, he became very violent. Sometimes, where he grew up, people even fought to the point of committing murder for food. At the age of 9, Carl had murdered about 2 kids his own age over the insanity of hunger for food.
Luckily for him he had awakened the skin hardening skill at an early age , with an A rank talent, and therefore he became an overnight sensation from then.
He enjoyed the feeling of being worshipped and hailed as a prodigy . He was no longer the inferior slum pet he used to be. However, whenever he saw weaklings like Lucas, he was reminded of his past self. Due to that, he felt pathetic.
Those demeaning memories would return to him, and he hated that. That was why he had decided to get rid of scum like Lucas, weaklings who made him feel like he was standing in a past mirror of himself.... Weaklings like those non awakened who assumed the posture of straws burning to crisps in a flame.
However, right now, he was scared and confused... One of the very same persons he abhorred had become someone he could not even touch.
One of the very same people he abused had turned into an overnight sensation, that even the master he, Carl, assumed could protect him from any form of threat would love to curry favor with.
Carl questioned his decisions... He questioned , whether or not abusing and eliminating others who reminded him of his past self was the best way to deal with his gruesome past.
He finally realized that in attempt to slay his inner demons, he had embarked on this path, that had led him to this current predicament... He realized finally that those people he deemed weak were not the ones who reminded him of himself... They were not the problem... but himself...
He was too cowardly to face the fact that growing up in the slums and the experiences he had there, no matter how gruesome they were, would always remain his past.
He just had to accept that reality, and learn to live in the present, if he really wanted to not feel pathetic about himself. He had to stop acting pathetic, if he wanted to not think of himself as pathetic. However, what if it was too late for him?...
Would Lucas Grimstone, really spare his life?...
Just as Carl was caught up in his own thoughts, a female voice rung in the ears of all present and exonerated him out of his musings.
The voice was familiar to everyone. She was the current secretary of the students council after all.
''Out of my way you pebbles.''...
Carl turned towards the voice that everyone was familiar with. Carl was also on the students council after all. He was a member of the disciplinary committee.
''Amanda?'' Carl's voice reached Amanda who turned to look at him.
''Oh Carl. I did not expect to see you here. I just came out of seclusion... Thank goodness I was able to break through to E rank...I spent a few days after breaking that loser's heart in an ether dense area breaking through. Anyway right when I got back to campus, I heard some vague whispers of a disciple of the Sword Blade challenging the tower so I came to take a look ''. A faint blush not very noticeable appeared on the side of her right cheek.
'What is her problem, does she like me or something?'. Carl inwardly mused. Amanda always acted shy around him for no sensible reason.
'' From your words, It looks like you do not know about your ex boyfriend yet'' Carl sighed.
'' What are you trying to imply?... .... Did he die or what?...'' Amanda asked with a tone of disdain as she thought of Lucas.
Carl sighed again then spoke '' No.... he... is the new disciple of the Sword Blade..''
'' Enough jokes Carl....'' Amanda who composed herself from breaking into a fit of laughter in order to not tarnish her cold image suddenly recalled someone mention the name Lucas to be the name of the so called disciple of the Sword Blade...However she did not consider it to be her ex boyfriend. After all, he was a weakling.
She also did not know that Lucas had been trending on the United federation platforms for a few days now since she had turned off her ID slot notifications in order to focus on her breakthrough.
She forgot to enable her notifications after completing her breakthrough to the E rank when she heard that some new disciple of the Sword Blade was challenging the tower in an unprecedented manner....
'' Wait a minute...'' She glanced at Carl who gave her a deadpan look... '' Carl does not seem to be lying...''
''Could it be...him...but... hehe... Carl... enough jokes....why... would..'' Before Amanda could conclude her doubtful and crazy mummering, a notification appeared synonymously with a paused video of a black haired young man on the large holographic screen hanging before the crowd.
[Congratulations to E rank awakened Lucas Grimstone, for being the first amongst E rank and E+ rank awakened to clear the hard mode of 2nd floor of the tower in a period of 30 seconds. For such an outstanding achievement, he has been rewarded with 5000 student credits].