A little over a month had passed since the end of the tournament. Nothing of note had happened, it was currently a few days past the middle of June, and we'd just finished our mid-year exams.

  As always, I aced the Elemental Magic and hand-to-hand combat exams, but also as always, I just barely scraped by on the written exam. Apparently, Kalbowdi Payse had already made the test before the whole attempted revenge thing, so the written exam didn't get delayed or anything. Lamasa failed and dropped out, as did a couple of others.

  Speaking of Payse……she was still alive.

  The headmaster had taken her to Erhtaph Ragiu, where they had offered to spare her life and cover up the attempted murder so long as she agreed to keep her mouth shut about the covert operations and not try to kill me anymore. If she agreed to that, they'd even let her stay with her kids.

  Apparently, she'd been pretty uncooperative at first, but according to the headmaster, Erhtaph had reminded her that if they executed her for the attempted murder, there'd be no one to take care of her children. He also asked her if she wanted them to lose both their parents. He was seriously shrewd and cunning, and kinda manipulative when he needs to be. He was able to convince her to agree to those terms, and she was placed under a sort of house arrest.

  After they informed me of it, I came up with a measure to ensure that she doesn't violate her house arrest, in the form of a new spell I commissioned from Eloli.

  This spell ended up requiring three scrolls. The first scroll would envelop her house in a non-physical, invisible barrier. In orders words, no one would be able to see the barrier, and anyone could walk through it freely. Except her.

  The second scroll was activated on her, linking her body to the barrier. If her body went outside the barrier surrounding her house, it would trigger a reaction that'd give her a fatal heart attack. In other words, if she tried to leave her house, she would die right away.

  Oh, and the third scroll was to deactivate the whole thing……I destroying that scroll almost as soon as I got it. I couldn't exactly give Elina the specifics of why I wanted this spell, and she was pretty suspicious, but dropped it when I said I can't talk about it. She knew that I worked closely with Erhtaph and Headmaster Yiserir, so she understood that there were some things that I'd have to keep confidential. Anyway, Kalbowdi Payse was still alive……but I doubted that I'd ever see her again.

  On another note, we had officially formed an alliance with Bronztan, creating a three-way alliance between the Rustlands, Bronztan and Silvland. The Valaque Empire had been pretty quiet for a while, but were now beginning to become more active, Silvland had sent some spies to infiltrate The Empire's only ally, Platinberg, however had been able to get little to no useful information out of them.

  Apparently, infiltrating The Empire itself turned out to be way too difficult. They had also found a few spies inside their walls just like we had, though I didn't know how they went about dealing with them.

  As for the Vampire Forbidden Zone……no real changes on that front either, not yet anyway.

  And as far as my day-to-day life goes, it had been pretty peaceful……well, minus the hectic couple of weeks during exams. No particularly exciting Quests, not so much as a single mission, and overall just nothing out of the ordinary.

  I had finally reached my limit with my mastery of Lightning Boost, at x3.3. Well, at least it's symmetrical……okay, that's kinda inaccurate, but you get what I mean, right? I was a little disappointed, but I had kinda been expecting to hit my limit with it soon, so yeah.

  As for Karma, I can now use twenty percent for eight minutes and ten seconds, forty percent for four minutes, sixty percent for one minute and fifty-five seconds, eighty percent for fifty seconds, and hundred percent for twenty-three seconds.

  As for Vampire Mode, I could maintain it for about sixteen seconds now. Soul-Eater Mode doesn't enhance me physically all that much, so I can generally use it for as long as I want, but that's not a good idea since it does make my state of mind more feral.

  Persia was still unable to stay in control past half of the full extent of her Retractable Anima, and it was starting to seem like half was all she'd be able to control. So now, she was working really hard on enhancing her natural physical abilities, to make her Retractable Anima boosts more effective. She had already been pretty strong, crazy fast and insanely agile, and now she was steadily improving those factors even more.

  At the rate she was going, it won't be long before I'm unable to defeat her without using Vampire Mode……I had always looked to make maximum use of my potential since I had literally been professionally trained to do so, but what that also meant was that after a certain point, the amount of room I have to grow will shrink.

  Of course, you can always keep getting stronger, but as far as drastic improvements go, I had reached my limit. All I can do now is sharpen and hone my skills to make sure they stay in top form, as well as think up more creative ways to use them, but I don't think I can significantly improve on them much further. It probably won't be too long before I reach the limit of how much I can increase my time limit with Karma usage either.

  But Persia was different, her fighting style had been almost purely instinctive when I first met her, and over the last year or so, I had extensively trained her to make the best use of her abilities and reign in her instincts just enough so that she isn't too impulsive, but not so much that her fighting technique becomes easy to read. She had a lot more untapped potential than I did, and therefore, more room for improvement and growth.

  And now she was putting all that together and working on solidifying her basics, and over the past month, her improvements had progressed at a very impressive rate……right now, using half the extent of her Retractable Anima put her strength and speed at more or less the same level as mine with x3 Lightning Boost and forty percent Karma combined, and in terms of agility and reaction time……I was nowhere near her level.

  I had been a fair bit faster than her during the final, but she was able to keep up perfectly thanks to her agile reflexes and insane reaction time. She rarely ever used Propulsion for movement anymore, her physical speed with even a quarter of the full extent of her Retractable Anima was superior to her speed with Propulsion.

  Now, she mainly used it if she needed to get some height, or to dodge and evade while in mid-air, or to speed up her attacks. The rate of her progress had slowed down over the past few days as she began nearing her ceiling, and I estimate that by the time she's tapped into most of her potential like I have, which should take another couple of months or so……her abilities while using a quarter of her Retractable Anima would be on par with mine at x3.3 Lightning Boost in terms of speed, with superior agility and strength.

  As for her abilities while using half of her Retractable Anima, I'd estimate that they would reach my abilities at x3.3 combined with forty percent Karma in terms of speed and strength, but her agility and reaction time were far greater than mine.

  What I'm trying to get at is this……she's amazing.

  Anyway……what else……

  Oh, and Mika's training as my apprentice was progressing really well too. She had mastered a significant amount of my fighting technique, she was starting to build up a bit of muscle, as well as improving her speed and reflexes. And her handling of her daggers was also quite impressive.

  I had taken her with Persia and I on a couple more Quests, and in her enthusiasm, she took on every monster we came across, leaving us with nothing to do. Fortunately, we didn't run into any bandits……I'd prefer to keep her away from killing at least till she's a bit older.

  Key had occasionally been helping us out with Mika's training by sparring against her, and recently, I'd enlisted Rai's help. She had become really proficient with discharging lightning and had also mastered Stream, so after she repeatedly asked me, I decided to let her start working on Lightning Boost. But considering how I went about mastering it, it wasn't a good idea for me to teach her how to use it……so I got Rai to take over for it.

  I first made her promise to follow his instructions no matter how boring it is or how impatient she gets, absolutely not to try too much too fast. True, I could probably heal her using Soul-Eater Mode if she messed up, but……it doesn't hurt to be cautious. I also spoke to Rai and told him to train her to use that technique as safely as possible, it doesn't matter if it takes a long time.

  Anyway, today I was busy……doing nothing. I was in my room, lazing around on my bed while my cat had sprawled herself across my face and fallen asleep.

  Persia wasn't here, she was busy with her parents today. I didn't feel like getting high by myself, and everyone else was busy too……Az had his apprenticeship, while Rai and Key were on a date.

  And I don't really hang out with anyone outside of Group D……sure, I'm friendly with a few people like Vi and Einn, but I'm not all that close with people outside my group.

  My train of thought was interrupted by someone knocking on my door. That slow, unenergetic knock……only one person knocks that lazily.

  "Hey, Az, what's up?" I greeted, as I opened the door.

  "Hey, Kuro……come with me, Master said your new spell is ready," He yawned, looking genuinely exhausted and not just lazy for once, the dark circles under his eyes were a lot more pronounced.

  "Huh, Mast- oh, you mean Eloli. Wait, she actually did it? Sweet! Also……are you okay, man? You look awful."

  "She didn't let me go home yesterday……I was up all night filling out scrolls……and this morning too……I can finally go home now that I've passed her message onto you," He replied with a sigh of relief, his eyelids beginning to droop and his legs buckled slightly.

  "I'll go to her place now, but first……come on, let's get you home……I feel like you might collapse on the street if I let you walk home by yourself."

  "Much……appreciated," He let out another yawn, rubbing his eyes……

  I definitely made the right call, he almost passed out on the street multiple times on the way back home, and after I dropped him off with a sigh of relief, I made my way to Elina's place.

  I knocked on her door as I reached her place, entering as she let me in.

  "Az told me you've got the latest spell I asked for ready?"

  "Yes, I have……I must say, this one very nearly stumped me. A long distance communication spell……I must admit, it is a brilliant idea, I would even go so far as to call it revolutionary."

  Right, so the spell I requested was called Call, it used two scrolls with two users, one takes each scroll. She then explained how to use the spell.

  Like I said, this spell required two users, they each take one of the scrolls. Let's call them User A and User B, and Scroll A and Scroll B.

  If User A wants to contact User B, he would have to run his Mana through Scroll A. Then, as long as User B is within range, Scroll B would vibrate. Both users would then have to continously run Mana through the scrolls. If both users are running Mana through their scrolls, they can then talk to each other by holding each of their scrolls near their mouths like microphones and talk into them.

  If User A talks into Scroll A while running Mana through it, and User B is also running their Mana through Scroll B at the same time, the sound spoken by User A will be transmitted from Scroll A to Scroll B, and User B will hear what User A says, and will be able to reply. Essentially, this spell was like a makeshift phone.

  I had asked to make it with multiple scrolls so that one person could contact multiple others, but Elina hadn't been able to do that. If I wanted to be able contact two people, I'd need to have two sets of the spell. Oh, and as for the range, she had managed to make it within a range of fifty kilometers.

  "I was getting tired of the fact that there's no way to contact someone on short notice in this world, especially if you don't know where they are. This'll be real handy, thanks, Eloli!"

  "Hmph, you are most welcome. I believe this spell will be a good option to mass produce and sell to Adventurers……it may be useful in events such as an Adventurer getting lost or is in need of backup. Do not worry, you shall receive half the profits."

  It took me a sec to process that.

  "Wait, so……you get the profits from sales of Spell Scrolls?"

  "Yes, for the ones that I produce and provide. I have not mass produced any of your prior spells, although I am considering some of them. If I do, since they were your ideas, you shall receive fifty percent of the proceeds."

  "Cool, that sounds great……a continuous stream of revenue would be pretty sweet. Well, if there's nothing else, I'll be off now."

  "Wait, before you leave……ahem, I would like to request you to play the piano."

  "Uh……sure, why not……I have nothing to do today."

  You've probably noticed……at some point, we had started being pretty civil to each other. We interacted fairly often over Spell Scrolls, she sometimes consulted me for ideas when she was stuck on a spell. I guess, overtime, the animosity between us had slowly faded as we formed a mutually beneficial business-like relationship.

  These days, she wasn't even bothered by the nicknames I called her, which admittedly kinda took the fun out of them. There were still times when we argued and bickered like before, but they were starting to get increasingly rare lately.

  I wouldn't say I liked her, but I also didn't really dislike her anymore. Though I'd never say that out loud.

  After I finished playing the piano for about five minutes, I stood up and headed for the door.

  "Oh, and, uh……maybe you should take it a bit easier on Az. You're gonna work the poor guy to death at this rate."

  "Hmph, do not tell me how to train my apprentice, I do not tell you how to train yours, do I?"

  "……man, I feel really bad for him."……

  On my way back, I ran into Ekai and Fuo, who were heading towards the west gate.

  "Hey, guys. What's up?" I greeted them.

  "Ah, Kuro. How are you doing? We are heading to the Goblin territory in order to train by sparring," Replied Ekai.

  "It's better than having to pay to book the arena to spar in, this way we don't waste any money, not to mention that we'd attract a crowd," Sighed Fuo irritably.

  "Wait, can't you use one of the Academy training halls? Or aren't there any other training grounds for Adventurers to use?" I inquired.

  "Only students are allowed to use the training halls in the Academy……and the guild training halls are always booked, the next available empty slot is several weeks away. The only option is booking the arena in the stadium, which is rather expensive," Explained Ekai.

  "I see……are you guys using a safety barrier?"

  "Duh, I'll probably get roasted to death otherwise," Replied Fuo with a huff.

  "My apologies," Said Ekai awkwardly.

  Huh……

  I've always wanted to fight these two, but they graduated before I could challenge them to duels.

  "Mind if I tag along too? I can help with the sparring."

  "Hm, I don't know……it is against the rules for Adventurers to duel Student Adventurers," Ekai replied doubtfully.

  "But this won't be a duel, it's just sparring……don't Adventurers with apprentices who are students spar with them to train? I spar to train my apprentice and she's not even a student yet," I countered.

  "Yes, I suppose that is true. Okay then, I shall be glad to have you join us in that case," Ekai nodded, after mulling it over.

  "Cool, let's go!"……

  After a quick stop at my place to put on my gear and grab my weapons and cards, I headed out the west gate and towards the Goblin area with them.

  We arrived there and set up in the clearing in front of the cave. The two of them went first, as I activated the barrier around them.

  This should be interesting……

  Fuo started things off by moving around Ekai using Skate and firing a few ice arrows at him. He responded by dodging the first few, before quickly forming a smaller version of that flaming tornado attack around him. The heat was so intense that the arrows melted and evaporated as soon as they got within a couple of meters of it. Fireballs then began bursting out of the rapidly spinning flaming tornado, Fuo narrowly avoided them by using Skate to zip around and evade them.

  She then pointed her bow upwards at an angle and fired a barrage of arrows. They flew up and over the tornado, the trajectory of the angle would have them drop into the eye of the tornado. The intense heat melted them before they could drop in though. She continued evading the barrage of fireballs unleashed by the tornado, she looked like she could keep it up for a while in terms of stamina, but the inside of the barrier must be getting hotter and hotter, not to mention the oxygen that was rapidly burning up.

  Fuo stopped as soon as the barrage of fireballs ceased for a moment, before forming a thicker and longer ice arrow and firing it after taking aim. It flew up and plummeted into the opening at the top of the tornado right as it began to spew out more fireballs, and a second later, Ekai was teleported out of the barrier, a surprised look on his face.

  Fuo clenched her fist in triumph, she was clearly over the moon with that win, but it looked like she was trying to play it……cool, pun intended as always.

  Even though his flaming tornado hadn't been at full power, it had still been pretty powerful, and she managed to get past it and beat him. She had been pretty low on self-confidence after she saw Az's abilities during the Goldway Quest, so this must feel pretty good.

  "Hm, you got me……I did not consider that someone could attack into the eye of my tornado," He remarked, with a thoughtful expression, "This is a weakness I must fix."

  "In that case, why don't you try converging the spinning flames at the top while widening the base? A tornado expands wider the higher it gets, so do the opposite……uh, how to put it……oh, like surround yourself in a spinning, upside-down cone of flames," I suggested, before realizing,"Wait, that'd work for a while, but since you'll be closed in by the flames, you'll run out of air before too long. For any opponent who figures that out, it'll just be a waiting game."

  While he mulled it over with furrowed brows, I tossed him the barrier scroll and stepped out to the middle of the clearing, to take on Fuo. She used a Mana Orb to replenish her Mana, as Ekai activated the barrier around us.

  "I've been interested in fighting you for a while……there aren't many people who are better than you in a long range fight," I remarked, drawing out my blades.

  "Don't patronize me," She responded with an annoyed look, before firing an arrow at me.

  I deflected it away with my sword with a smirk……this should be fun……

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  Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Don't forget to vote, and feel free to leave a comment, I appreciate any and all feedback and criticism! Also, check out my Instagram account @aimdaqs for posts relating to this book.