A/N
FOR EVERY 10 POWER STONES I GET I WILL RELEASE A NEW CHAPTER OF AT LEAST 1K WORDS
FOR EVERY 100 COINS WORTH OF GIFTS, I WILL RELEASE A NEW CHAPTER OF AT LEAST 1K WORDS.
[THIS IS ON TOP OF THE REGULAR UPLOAD SCHEDULE WHICH IS ABOUT 2 CHAPTERS A DAY OF 1K WORDS MINIMUM]
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I got back to the academy in the early hours of the morning.
I had managed to receive permission to leave earlier through the Church's influence.
The academy security checked my identification and let me in without trouble.
Entering my room, I saw it was clean, most likely thanks to Evelyn, my attendant.
I crashed onto the bed and dozed off peacefully.
Tomorrow would be the weekend and thus I had the liberty to sleep in late.
-----
I woke up and immediately went to the training grounds of the academy.
The power boost I received was no joke.
[Name : Ares Von Castellan
Class : The Joker
Overall Rating: B
Stats:
Strength : C+
Vitality : C+
Agility : B-
Intelligence: B
Wisdom: B+
Charisma : A+
Jack : F- ]
My physical stats had massively increased and were no longer shackled by the cursed affliction I once bore.
I noted strangely that my intelligence and wisdom had not increased, but my magical abilities felt stronger.
My mana had undergone a qualitative change, and it seemed as if the change did not reflect within the system window.
As for my light magic...
[Name: Light Magic
Rank: A-
Allows the user to generate light element mana. This may be used as per the user's discretion. Light magic deals massively higher damage to evil foes. Light magic is also capable of powerful healing]
Going from a rank of C- to A- was a tremendous boost.
Fighting a high rank death knight, whilst difficult, would be far more reasonable a fight now.
'Honestly, if drinking just a drop of the guys blood is this good, I need to get more...'
Such a thought process entered my mind, but it was quickly thrown out.
I was not because I found the idea of drinking blood to be too gruesome but instead because opportunities to meet gods would be far and few inbetween.
In accordance with the way hell mode changed the story, most gods were dead, and their corpses could only be found deep south, an area where I would die instantaneously no matter what I did.
If I were to find their corpses, I could gain a massive power increase, but to even enter the area in which their corpses would be, I would need to be a powerhouse far beyond what I was now.
As for lesser traces of gods, such as their tears or blood, such items were also not able to be found.
The empire itself most likely only had one or two vials locked up in the imperial vault, and other countries might not even have a single drop.
I sighed.
'Truly, gaining power isn't a cakewalk...'
"H-hi, Ares, how was the raid?"
I looked over at my side, not realizing someone had approached me.
Cassenia was wearing a casual white summer dress, which suited her greatly.
"The raid... yeah, it was a great success."
Ragan did tell me that I should only reveal 'some' information to her if she probed.
I had full intentions to respect his wishes, as I had already built up great respect for the man.
"So... I heard some inquisitors say that you.. uhm.. absorbed the lord's essence?"
She was wording her sentence in a strange way, most likely as she did not want to say that I had drank his blood.
"Well, yeah. I got a pretty good power boost from it."
I did not want to reveal too much about it at all, as I had originally told her my divine revelation was simply 'save the world' whilst I had told a different story to Ragan, that I was told to drink Solan's blood directly.
"That- I'm glad to hear it..."
She had been acting quite kindly to me... I was quite happy to have someone I could at least partially rely on around here.
"Yeah, it's a good thing that his grace's blood didn't fall into the hands of a heretic."
Lucky for me, Cassenia did not seem to want to go into the nitty gritty details, and instead changed the topic.
"So, have you been preparing for the first round of tests for this semester?"
....
There was an awkward silence before I answered.
"Uhh, yeah, naturally."
Cassenia's blue eyes clearly showed her doubt, but it seemed she would give me the benefit of the doubt..
I had been too busy training up my stats to bother studying, doing the bare minimum to submit homework.
"Well, the first semester's tests are quite easy, so I'm sure whatever studying you do will be enough!"
She gave me a bright smile before leaving the training grounds.
I was sure even if I had not studied, I would be able to pass the first semester exams with flying colors.
Could I really call myself the number 1 veteran of Etherium Academy RPG if I could not even pass an in game written test?
I remembered thousands of tiny details about the game, so passing would be no sweat.
As for the practical exam, with my massively improved abilities, I would be able to clear it easily.
Ding!
[Main Quest
First Semester Exams
Score within the top 10 in the first semester exams.
Bonus Objective
Score 1st place in the exams.
Reward: Upon returning home, +++ Reputation with family, + Fame in the Academy, 1000 Credits
Bonus Reward: Upon returning home, +++++ Reputation with family, +++ Fame in the Academy, 3000 Credits
Failure Penalty: Disownment, Forced withdrawal from the Academy]
I frowned at the quest that appeared before me.
'...How annoying... The rewards aren't great either.'
There were no notable rewards other than the credits, unlike the last quest in which I was awarded an arcanium bracelet, something I wore at all times now.
'No. I have to change my thinking.'
Earlier, I had received no quest for the auction raid.
I thought that was strange, but after further thought, it seemed to be a type of balancing done by the system.
The reward from the auction was the divine blood, something incredibly useful, so adding an even further reward would be ridiculous.
So in accordance with that logic, could the reward for first place be something great?
I remembered in game that the first place student received some good privileges, but nothing great.
'....Well, anyway, I suppose I may as well aim for the top.'
A part of me wanted to improve my relationship with the new family I had in this world, and achieving a high score was an easy step.
'Welp, time to read up.'