Chapter 9 - The Awakening

Everyone in the courtyard, both students and teachers alike, knew the sight of someone's level going up since they experienced it at least once, or because they had seen someone else online.

But what scared them the most in this situation, was the fact the first time Stark had level up was from beating up Daniel in a duel, and he didn't even seem to care.

Amidst the stunned silence, a few whispers began to ripple through the crowd, their voices barely above a whisper.

"A monster…?"

"What the fuck just happened?"

"Daniel got beaten?"

Stark was slightly tired from the encounter, and sensing that his first day of school had been greatly spent improving his abilities, he decided that it was time to head back home.

[Good job, now everyone knows about your 'powers']

'I don't think anyone is gonna expect me to be from the domination class though as it is so rare…'

[…Fair enough]

"Yawn~" Stark stretched his arms, "But wait… doesn't that mean I wouldn't have died even if he killed me?"

He just understood what 'deathless' meant, yet in the end decided it didn't matter whether Daniel would be revived or not, he had done his part.

But as soon as he took the first step toward the exit…

"Huh…?" his pupils started burning, as if they were set on fire, resulting in him putting his hands over his eyes.

"AAAAAAAAA-" he was screaming, taking aback everyone, his entire body surrounded by a crimson aura.

Using his quick thinking to try and find an explanation to what the hell was happening, Stark's mind immediately went toward the information he had acquired in the books from the library.

His body was still burning, the aura now spread throughout everything, even his hair feeling like it was set on fire.

[Information about classes: when someone awakens a class, they will, in most cases, immediately collapse because of the power they just acquired, the duration of sleep completely depends on the person, but it is said the faster a person wakes up, the stronger their class and potential is (although that doesn't mean they will be the strongest)]

[Some people actually fail their awakening even after unlocking their classes, making them just like the rest of people, and some don't even wake up since their potential or mana is just too low]

[Additional info: it has been recorded that the world record for fastest awakening (which is currently held by Miss.Catherine, also named 'The Dragon Tamer') is of one day and three hours.]

The fact Stark stayed up long enough to finish the battle was already a miracle.

'But wait… doesn't that mean there is a big chance I miss the 'Class Showcase' if I don't wake up…?' Stark thought as he fell to his knees, the pain had become quite numb now, but his mind was screaming for him to just close his eyes and succumb to the tiredness.

And so he did.

He collapsed to the ground in front of everyone's surprised gazes.

***

(3 hours later)

"…"

As Stark opened his eyes, the fiery aura surrounding him slowly dissipated, completely seeping into his body for him to use.

Meaning that he had indeed been capable of acquiring the 'domination' class, but it wasn't unexpected either since he had already been capable of using it.

As he checked his surroundings, he noticed he was located in some sort of infirmary, the sun was beginning to go down, but he guessed that it was still the afternoon.

"How long has it been?" this was his biggest worry, after all, he really wanted to participate during the class showcase as it would allow him to gain more power.

"Around three hours," a feminine voice answered his question.

"Oh, well, I guess it's fine, WAIT WHAT," he turned his gaze toward a chair located to his bed side, and there sat the blonde-haired girl he saw at the library yesterday.

"…"

Looking up close, she was extremely beautiful, and most girls would be jealous of her impressive figure, but Stark wasn't interested in any of that for now.

He immediately got out of the bed he had been resting on.

"I carried you here by myself since nobody wanted to touch you, but it seems like it wasn't bad," she was reading a book while talking to him.

'Is she expecting some kind of reward for helping me out…? Or maybe a favor from me in the future?' Stark felt like receiving such kindness out of nowhere was extremely weird.

[Outstanding determination, only three hours sleeping after an awakening? I might have made the right decision picking you]

'Oh yeah that's true, although she doesn't look surprised…' he was talking about the girl beside him.

[Most people wouldn't even believe you if you told them you awakened in three hours, so they must believe it's just a coma after exhausting yourself with Daniel]

'WAIT, DOES THAT MEAN?'

[Yes, although you have shown incredible power, many people think you cheated or got the luckiest battle of your life]

"HOW DOES THAT EVEN MAKE SENSE," he shouted, absolutely furious his efforts were reduced to mere 'luck', even in his past, Stark really enjoyed being praised.

"Huh?" the blonde-haired girl looked at him as though he was crazy.

"Nothing," he began heading toward the exit of the infirmary, and the girl that was sitting on the chair didn't even bother to glance at him.

And then, he left…

As soon as he closed the door behind him though, the girl that had taken care of him for the past hours closed down the book between her hands and let out a deep sigh.

"What the hell was that?" she kept thinking about the feeling she had gotten while carrying Stark here, it was an unexplainable power that was emitting from him.

"Pfft~ cheater, investigate him!"

"Maybe he used the power he would get during his entire life for that?"

She heard such talk from others, but deep inside, she felt like this couldn't be it, there was no way someone could do 800 points of damage out of nowhere.

Although she didn't believe he had gotten a class either since he hadn't awakened all this time, plus he was sleeping only for three hours, which was a day below the world record, but maybe it was something else?

"Well…" after waiting five minutes, she got up from her seat and began heading toward the exit, "the beginning of our classifiers lives is tomorrow, so I need to be full of energy and mana to make sure everything is fine…"