Chapter 262: Jealousy and New Information
[Three months left before second semester/trial]
He still had time to do whatever he wanted until then.
But to be honest, after everything that happened... he didn\'t feel like it, and it meant that he didn\'t feel like staying around doing nothing.
After his talk with [Domination] and [Alchemist], after realizing that killing the apostles was basically a path that he quite literally couldn\'t avoid, after knowing that a third domination trial was coming…
Stark could only do one thing: become stronger.
He had already sold all the items he didn\'t need too, gaining him roughly 11.3 million rher coins, an incredible amount of cash since the items he had gotten this time were next level even among the usual standard.ù
Much like Fellarburg, the capital also regrouped different districts, well, basically the same ones to be honest, meaning that there wasn\'t much difference other than the location, and that the people here were much stronger.
"Thank you for the equipment," Violette smiled at him.
Yes, the very same appraiser he had always been using back there was also in this location for some reason.
"Are you… following me?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.
"I got transferred here because apparently the student batch of this year of the \'rift conqueror\' academy is the strongest, which attracts thousands of awakeners, haha~" she giggled, seemingly so professional and well-known among appraisers that she was hired to go in different locations to appraise items.
"Oh, alright," she didn\'t seem to know Stark was in it, but it was fine for him.
Plus… Violette when he first met her was around level 194 and from the \'Magus\' class, meaning that she had been stronger than he was.
And yet… in less than a few months, even though he was only level 70, he was already confident he could easily beat her if it came down to it, though it most likely would never happen as she was a very nice woman.
But if you want a rough estimate for the [Domination] class against all the others, you could take the domination user\'s level and multiply it by around 4 to 5 times their level to make it fair.
Meaning that the current Stark could take down people at around level 250 if he managed to take them by surprise using his skills, and with enough determination he could do it even in a one on one.
And that wasn\'t considering the fact Stark was a prodigy among prodigies, and that he had two lives, plus the [Superior Clone].
Surely, no one in this academy, not even Sora who struggled against the warden and participated in the second domination trial with him, could even try to hurt him: they would all lose.
But in the end, it didn\'t matter.
Fwish!
He was currently eating lunch with Lana, which was a steak that he himself had prepared for them both.
"That\'s… amazing!" Lana\'s eyes sparkled.
She had recently been spending her entire time in Stark apartment (he kicked her out when night came, though she was reluctant), and there wasn\'t much for him to do other than hangout since he wanted to take a little break from everything.
Since his appearance in this world, it had only been fighting, fighting, and keep fighting, so maybe a small break wouldn\'t kill him.
Afterward, though, he would try everything in his power to reach level 75 if not 80 if he could.
Unlocking his next class was a priority after all!
Plus, he needed to reach level 75 to be able to use a [Breakthrough stone] and climb all the way to [Gold] rank.
As said before, Domination works completely differently than any other class in that regard too.
There are 10 categories for rank: Iron, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, Ascendant, Prodigy, Immortal and Classified.
And even though it only took Stark 25 levels between each rank, it was completely different for the others: it took them 100.
Yes, you heard that right, someone at the Iron-rank at the beginning could only reach Bronze upon hitting level 100, then silver would only be at level 200, and so on.
Meaning that they would have to reach level 900 to be at the peak, a feat only a few people could do, and you could count them on your hands.
But for Stark, it would take him reaching level 225 to be at the top, and though it seemed smaller, the amount of experience needed surely would be unimaginable even to the current him.
"Are you okay?" Lana asked as she noticed Stark deep in thought, scared he would go on a crazy rampage again.
"Hm… yeah," he took another bite of his steak, "By the way, I think I\'ll be gone from two weeks to a month after tomorrow, I need to train."
"Oh…" Lana looked sad once he said that, after all they had only just started hanging out recently for real, "It\'s fine I guess, my father said that you have to be strong enough to protect me, after all!"
Even she didn\'t believe in that \'protection\' bullshit since she could defend herself using her abilities, but right now… she just felt that it was right.
What was her relationship with Stark, she wondered.
There was no denying it at this point: she had feelings for him, but what about him?
It was always fight, fight, fight… and he probably didn\'t think about her for a single instant while doing so, while on the contrary, she would keep thinking of him every day until he came back.
Death was never too far in this world, after all.
Basically… she knew that her feelings were one-sided.
And she wasn\'t wrong: Stark wasn\'t dense, he could sense it in the air, but he just refused to acknowledge it, as for him, it was all about the apostles and getting stronger now, especially not knowing when the next domination trial would happen.
He couldn\'t enjoy himself until he was confident that he was safe.
And for now, the looming danger was still there, so getting close to anyone was a bad solution.
"Well, thanks for the meal," he nodded his head after finishing and took the plates.
But right as he did that…
Ding! Dong!
Stark froze for a moment, eyeing the entrance door.
Who could this be?
He certainly had no friends at all, and no one should be visiting him.
Someone for Lana, maybe?
He walked toward the door.
Ding! Dong!
And as he pulled it open, a familiar figure stood on the other side: Sora, the white-haired and emotionless beauty.
"Oh?" Stark blinked in surprise, "Hello?"
Sora\'s expression remained neutral as she spoke, "Hi, I just felt like visiting since I\'m free for today."
"Sure," Stark replied with the same tone, both of them seemed as neutral as ever, making the conversation look robotic, "Consider yourself home."
If Sora was here, it meant that she wanted to speak to him about something important alone, otherwise there was no other reason to come.
And just as expected…
"I have something to talk about, I received it recently but didn\'t have the time to speak to you because I was busy," she looked at Stark while entering the apartment, making sure to remove her expensive shoes.
"Oh?" Stark wanted to know, "Just sit on the table then."
"Thanks," she bowed out of respect, then entered the living room.
And what she saw there almost made her emotionless expression falter: she saw Lana sitting on the couch, looking at her.
"Oh! Sora!" Lana beamed, genuinely happy to see her friend.
But Sora on the other hand… was annoyed.
"What are you doing here?" she asked.
"Huh…" Lana was taken aback by the question as you normally wouldn\'t ask that, "Well… I just hang out with Stark since it\'s our break… you know?"
"…Alright," that\'s all Sora answered before turning her back to her and sitting on the table, trying her hardest to shake off that annoying feeling she had in her mind.
She still didn\'t know what it was, but seeing Lana alone with Stark while she wasn\'t there angered her more than anything else.
And after two minutes…
"Thanks for waiting," Stark placed a cup of grape juice in front of him and Sora, "We can talk now, tell me."
Lana stayed on the couch, though, sensing that she didn\'t really have the power needed to sit on the table beside these two… monsters.
Sora didn\'t waste any time in going directly to the point though: she had come here for that, and although Lana\'s presence annoyed her for some reason, she still needed to inform Stark of \'THAT\'.
"As the year president and member of the group that completed this semester\'s trial first, I got some kind of \'information\'," she spoke, emotionless as ever, and looked into Stark\'s eyes.
"Hm?" Stark sipped into his juice.
"Well… I got a single piece of information about the next trial, apparently the chairman rewards those who complete the trial first with that as to help them."
"Oh?" Stark was surprised, but it could definitely help, "What is it?"
"Well, I have received a panel around a week ago, it seemed as though I was the only one to get it for some reason though," Sora taped something in the air, probably at her screen.
Stark hadn\'t received anything, so it made sense.
And so…
"Here, I\'m transferring the information, read it for yourself," she taped a few more times then slid her finger toward Stark.
Ding!
And so a new panel opened in front of him.
[As the group that completed the trial first, you have received a few pieces of information concerning the next one!]
This made sense for now.
But… what came right after… almost made Stark spit out all his juice.
[Second Semester Trial: The Colosseum.]