Chapter 87: Chapter 87- Earth-Shattering Strength (Part 1)

At this point, all of Talon's stats were 65+ points without counting the percentage boost 'Boundless Breaker' gives him, which meant that he was now better than an average human by more than 6 times. It was ridiculous to think considering he only started leveling up a few weeks ago and was now probably the strongest human to ever live on earth.

That fact alone was weird to contemplate as Talon really couldn't feel any different mentality-wise. He didn't feel like he was the greatest to ever live or the best genius Earth has to offer. He just felt an endless eagerness to get better every day and move forward at his own pace.

If he was fearful of the outcome of continuously getting stronger a few days ago, then he was now more than curious to see what the end of this path would lead him to. Whether it was destruction or prosperity, pain or happiness, he was on it for the longer term.

Meanwhile, Hyun-Jae watched Talon silently as if she was contemplating something. Her eyes flashed with a mysterious glint for a split second.

'He's getting really strong...' She thought to herself as she realized that the young man in front of her was now a force of nature. She could feel it from his aura and presence and it made her feel even more complicated.

'If he continues at this rate, I will fall behind. I can't let that happen.' A mysterious fiery determination fired up in her eyes as she realized that she wasn't that close in strength to Talon anymore.

This entire time, the two of them were very close in terms of overall power with Hyun-Jae even exceeding him in agility at some point. However, that wasn't the case anymore. Talon kept on aiming higher, doing far more ridiculous things and gaining extremely powerful abilities along the way.

Hyun-Jae knew that if she wanted to keep up with him in the future, she had to actually up her level too. She didn't want to be left behind as Talon reached new heights. Standing next to him and helping him was now her goal aside from finding her family.

Unaware of Hyun-Jae's resolution, Talon put his spear to the side and finally looked at her.

"Thank you for the help as always, Hyun-Jae." He said in a soft tone.

"Hm? Oh, it's nothing much. This all your hard work, I didn't do anything." She replied as she shook her head.

"No, really, you're a very good friend. I don't know what I could've done without your help." Talon laughed wryly.

Hyun-Jae: "..."

"Hm? Everything good?" Talon noticed Hyun-Jae's expression change completely.

"... Friends? You think... we're friends?" She asked with a confused look mixed with surprise.

"Of course, wait, aren't we? I thought it was obvious." Talon blinked, even more confused than she was. Then, he frowned as he realized the huge blunder he did.

'Shit! I jumped to conclusions on my own! We're obviously not friends!' Talon cursed inwardly.

Even though the two didn't know each other for long, Talon assumed that after everything they went through, they had at least become friends.

"Ah, sorry, I was mistak-"

"I thought I was the only one who thought so." Hyun-Jae cut him off.

"Huh? Of course not, I always thought that way... Wait, you also thought the same?"

"No, I mean, I never said it before, but I also assumed it was the case the entire time."

"Yeah, me too..."

The two looked at each other in confusion for a few seconds before they exploded into laughter.

"This is so weird! Hahaha!" Talon murmured as he wiped the tear from his face. "What kind of misunderstanding works like this?"

"I don't know. You confused me for a second there."

"You did too! But... I'm glad we're on the same page. So, to make things clear, wanna be friends?" Talon asked as he extended his hand for a handshake.

Hyun-Jae stared at his hand for a second before she smiled too and grabbed his hand.

"How are you doing, folks?" He asked.

"W-We're doing great, sir!" One of them answered hesitantly.

"Good, keep up the good work." He nodded his head as he continued walking.

"Damn... Why did I feel way more nervous seeing him today?" One of them asked the other.

"Hmm, you felt it too? He seemed... Different? And also, am I imagining stuff or... Is he noticeably better looking now?"

"Yeah... I think that's not your imagination..."

What Talon didn't notice was that after all the continuous evolution, his face had also undergone some changes. His skin was brighter now, his messy black hair more luscious and his facial features were better than before.

He was now a rather good-looking young man, far from the average looks he had a few weeks ago.

Unbeknownst to him, he reached the main area of the gymnasium where he greeted everyone.

The students were delighted to see him fine. They heard how he was in a grave state after what happened which made them extremely worried. Talon was by far the strongest student out of them and losing him meant their chances of survival would drop really hard.

In any case, Talon gave everyone a brief notice and thanked them for their hard work. Then, he walked around making sure that everything was going as he intended.

It didn't take him long to notice the changes that happened inside the gymnasium during his absence. The biggest change by far was the teamwork and chemistry between students as they did their tasks.

They seemed more effective and fast, clearly a huge improvement from before. After two weeks at this rate, they started to learn how to live and adapt to this world better. Naturally, that boosted their performance, and tasks that would've taken hours before are now finished in a matter of minutes.

'It's nice to see that things are going well. Hyun-Jae really did a magnificent job.'

After making sure that he checked everything, Talon finally left the gymnasium to the quiet training place he found before.

"Time to give my newfound power a try," Talon said as he stretched a little.

"Are you sure you won't hurt yourself?" Acrypha asked.

"Yeah, don't worry. Just going to move the spear around a little and see what happens."

"Ok, go ahead, big boy," Acrypha said as she shrugged and flew to a nearby rock to watch.

"Hnng, let's see..." Touching his side to see if there was still some pain, Talon pulled his spear out as he took a fighting stance.

His calm eyes immediately turned extremely sharp as his muscles contracted. His veins expanded visibly as his entire body moved forward, swinging the spear with a terrifying speed that shocked him.

*Swish*

The moment Talon's arms moved, he realized something.

'Oh no!'

*BOOOOM*

Before he could even react, a huge explosion filled his ears as a giant cloud of smoke filled his vision. A huge shockwave spread from his spear to the vicinity, sending the rocks flying away as if they were feathers being carried by the wind.

"Cough! Cough! What the fu-"

Before he could even utter a single sentence, Talon's eyes fell on the area in front of him and he immediately swallowed all of his words.

(A//N: Thanks to everyone who supports the book with power stones and golden tickets, you guys are the best:) )