Chapter 146 Volume III - 67: After the Boss

Chapter 146 Volume III - Chapter 67: After the Boss

I took an involuntary step back, away from Alice, no, away from the necklace. Dozens of questions popped up in my mind.

Was Alice... an elf? And if so, how could she have the exact same necklace as mine? Why does an elf remain a 'student' here, in the kingdom of humans...?

I have my own reasons, I'm not even a full elf and so I didn't grow up in elven culture. But if Alice is an elf, why would she go to an academy in a human kingdom?

I paused for a moment when I realized that I was starting to overstrain my brain.

Actually... why am I thinking about this so much? I'm overthinking again... She must have her own reasons too, right?

Yes, exactly. I... will pretend I didn't see that.

I looked at Alice who was sleeping comfortably in her bed, my eyes drifted back to the necklace hanging from her neck and I sighed.

"I'm sorry."

I bowed my head and walked out of the room as if nothing had happened, closing the door slowly and quietly.

There's nothing else I can do, is there?

My eyes scanned the room, but there was nothing in the room that I could really 'fix'. There wasn't even any decoration, there was only furniture in the room, like a sofa and a table. That and everything else seemed to be in absolute order.

I took a deep breath and, after making sure again that there was nothing I could do, I headed outside, this time to leave for real.

This time I pulled the outer door open without hesitation. This time I had no regrets, just seeing Alice relieved made me happy and I smiled, thinking that I had helped someone.

When I finally walked out of the dormitory, I was walking with a smile, and I was walking toward the training building.

For a moment, I remembered what I had said to Alice after the attack at the academy, and I clenched my fist involuntarily.

I have to train and train and train until I'm so strong that people like James wouldn't dare touch me.

No... not just train. If I really want to help people in the best way I can, I have to find other things.

I will get stronger, but I will also concentrate on different things.

Alice's words echoed in my mind.

Unless I become God himself, my dream will remain just a dream?

Then I will be even stronger than them so that even they can't stop me.

I clenched my fist tighter, my fingernails trembling from the pressure, but I didn't care.

'Lithoa.'

I called out to the old man for the first time in a long, long time, with desire.

He must have understood that because his voice instantly echoed in my mind.

'What is it?

'You said that you could make me much stronger, didn't you?

I could have sworn the old man was grinning in my mind. n0velusB.c0M

'Of course, brat. You just weren't cut out for that sort of thing. But now...'

Lithoa paused, a laugh echoed in my mind, and without even trying to calm himself, he spoke as if he was quite amused.

'It seems you have found what you really wanted, your purpose in life. That's what you were missing, Adrian. You were getting stronger, you were growing, but your life had no meaning. And now... you have a good motivation not to give up in the face of what I have in store for you.'

Motivation, huh...

Maybe he's right. I didn't really have a purpose until now.

Now... I want to change, I want to be like Aiden, I want to protect people, I want to do everything I can to get stronger, whereas before I used to think it was unnecessary as the training time got longer and longer.

I took a deep breath when I realized I was finally in front of the training building.

I made up my mind.

*******

"Aid..."

I heard a sound, then an intense pain enveloped my whole body.

I felt the need to moan, but immediately afterward, I was involuntarily halted by a warm, tasteless liquid entering my mouth.

Only seconds after the liquid had passed down my throat, the pain subsided slightly, if not completely disappeared. At least they became more tolerable.

"Aiden? Are you okay?"

My eyes opened, but the surroundings were so blurry that I couldn't make out anything.

"Alex... is that you?"

"Yeah, it's me, but don't worry about it. How are you feeling?"

"You're wrong to even ask... I feel extremely bad."

I took a deep breath and sat up.

My whole body is in pain, but I think I can move. I'm hoping that after transferring mana to the Absolute Mind and planting a particularly high-level potion in my head, which must be the one Alex gave me, I'll be able to walk...

Fortunately, the world has not disappointed me.

After doing what I thought I could do, I was able to walk slowly, with slight pain, even if I couldn't run.

Depending on the potion's effect and how long the mana potions will last, I think I'll last quite a while. Of course, when it's all over and I'm back at the academy, I might be bedridden for a few days... but I don't mind being bedridden for a few days in the face of what I'm going to gain.

Now, first of all...

'Sith, you're there, right?'

'Yes, I'm here. You're fine, luckily this time you didn't have to sleep for a few days like you did in the preliminaries. And I could be wrong, but... you might have even improved a few stats.'

What? Really?

I suddenly forgot all my pain and quickly opened my statistics window.

<<------------------------------

--Personal Information--

Name: Aiden (Ethan)

Last Name: Tenebra (Subter)

Race: Human/Wiera

Age: 18

--???--

???: %3,2

--Statistics--

General Level: E+

Strength: E

Agility: E+

Vitality: E+

Endurance: E-

Luck: E

Magic Power: E+

Mana Efficiency: E+

Charm: E

--State Effects--

Abnormal Status Effect: [Divided Soul] -- [Body Dissonance] -- [???]

--Chaos--

Devotion: Greed

Status: Representative Candidate

Grade: E+

Control Tolerance: F+

Limit: E

Authority: [Chains of Sin(E+)]

--Masteries--

[Swordsmanship(E-)] -- [Mana Expert(E)] -- [Spirit Magic: Wind Elementalist(E+)]

--Active Skills--

[Mana Barrier(E)]

--Passive Skills--

[The One Who is Close to Spirits(A)] -- [Absolute Mind(A-)]

------------------------------>>

Whoa...

Yes, I've been training for a while and it's been quite some time since I got an increase in my stats, but I really didn't expect so many things to improve in a row. Besides strength, vitality, and mana efficiency, even my mana expert and wind spell mastery have improved...

Well, I wouldn't say I don't deserve it... right?

'Egotistical.'

Come on, Sith...

Sith didn't answer, but I was pretty sure he was smiling. I was smiling too.

Joking aside, this increase in my stats is really good. I expected something like this, I just didn't expect so many things to increase at the same time.

Yeah... that's definitely good.

"What do we do now? We killed the Boss. We can get out when we enter the treasure room behind the throne."

Alex's voice woke me from my thoughts.

That's right, I was distracted when I saw my stats going up... Let's get the job done first, I need to celebrate later.

"Forget the treasure room."

Alex's brow suddenly furrowed.

"Excuse me?"

"We have nothing to do with the treasure room, our business is elsewhere."

Alex looked at me without saying anything, even more confused. I smiled, turned around, and walked toward the wall where the boss had died. Where there was a huge fracture.

Alex followed me, curious. When I stopped in front of the fracture, his expression became even more meaningless.

"What are we doing here?"

"Simple, we're going to jump down."

Alex's eyes suddenly widened with fear. The fear of heights had suddenly overtaken him.

"Hahaha... Don't be scared, we're not really going to jump. We'll just go down. It's not directly below us, but it should be a little to the right... We'll enter the palace again through a window there."

Alex swallowed.

"And what is that place?"

"That's where we'll actually need your skill."

Alex said nothing about that, he was still curious about something else. Something that he feared to hear...

"And how do we get down there?"

"With mountaineering gear, of course."

Alex's expression shifted into shapes that I would probably never see unless something about heights was going on.

"Pfft... Hahahahahah- Ah!"

I laughed so hard that for a moment a sharp pain spread throughout my body from my wounds. Alex narrowed his eyes and looked at me coldly.

"I guess this is what they call divine justice."

"S- sorry... I won't laugh again."

I waited for a moment for the pain to subside before speaking again and then pointed to a pillar behind Alex. Alex quickly turned to it.

"We'll tie a rope to that pillar over there and climb down. It's not too hard, it should be no more than two meters to the right and three meters below us if I remember correctly."

Alex didn't look relieved at all.

"O- okay..."