Ascension Of The Blood Supreme

Chapter 26: Chapter 26. Trap within trap.

"The whirlwind is not the only factor to consider," Aiden said.

Some thought he was spouting bullshit. What else was there to consider?

Asmodeus and Desmonda, however, listened quietly.

As for Vultor, he snorted. Asmodeus had said it all. What else did he have to contribute? And besides, he was sure whatever the instructor was looking for was definitely different from whatever this Aiden Vhorn had to say.

Instructor Ashira smiled faintly.

Aiden continued, "The charred corpses on the ground. They are not as a result of the whirlwind. If you watch the video carefully, the moment the whirlwind appears, some sort of acid is also secreted from the ground to coat the charred corpses. The whirlwind is just a diversion. The whirlwind is not harmful in the first place. It is to camouflage the actual trap, which is the acid secreted at the same time the whirlwind appears. Environmental awareness includes recognizing the trap within a trap."

"Exactly what I was looking for. Watch the video again."

After the instructor’s words, those who thought Aiden Vhorn was spouting bullshit earlier had expressions of shock and renewed perception of him on their faces.

This guy, there was something unsettling about him. He looked very normal. If one saw him, he would look like he’s not even a warrior. There were not even any fluctuations of worldly energy around him. The only thing that would make him stand out is his calm demeanor and good looks.

But after this explanation, many realized he’s not normal. He had actually noticed something that the strongest first-year student, Asmodeus Vincent, had missed.

Glints flashed through the eyes of Asmodeus and Desmonda.

They were right. Aiden Vhorn was definitely abnormal.

Also, others may not have noticed, but the instructor’s behavior towards him was not normal. It was as if she knew something they didn’t know.

Each of them decided to do a follow-up exercise on him. Wait, he was ranked 34,700 on the Heavenly Ascension Ranking list, right? It meant he had completed a mission. After this class, they would check the mission log and see the mission he completed.

Vultor and some other students who were not convinced about Aiden’s strength had to admit that Aiden Vhorn was quite sharp,although to them, Aiden Vhorn was definitely weaker than everyone in the class because of his low rank on the Heavenly Ascension Ranking list. But he was sharp.

What Vultor and some of the students in the class did not consider was that the Heavenly Ascension Ranking list was not a measure of a student’s strength. It was a measure of how many contribution points students had as a result of mission completion. The ranking in a way reflected a student’s strength, because technically, a weak student could not take on very difficult and dangerous missions. If they could not take on such missions, their contribution points would be lower compared to others.

However, there were cases where using this kind of judgement to judge a student’s strength was wrong. Take Aiden Vhorn for example. He had just completed a single academy mission. But he was not weak among the first-year students.

Everyone in the class watched the video again with renewed perception. They identified what Aiden Vhorn had noticed earlier after almost a minute of watching the video. It was so subtle that had he not pointed it out, everyone would have missed it.

"You see," Instructor Akira said, "you’d be dead before you even knew it. A moment of dull observation on the battlefield, in the danger zones, in a pocket world, or wherever it is you may find yourself, could cost you your life."

Everyone was reflecting on her words.

After a few moments of silence, she nodded.

"Hopefully they’ve learnt a valuable lesson. But this Aiden Vhorn, I look forward to his performance in the monthly combat assessment. It seems everyone is gonna be shocked. I have a feeling he will shake Derulo City University in the future," she thought.

"That’s all for today. See you next month. Dismissed."

Everyone was quite surprised.

It had not even been 40 minutes since the class commenced and she had finished what she was here to do?

Well, they could use the rest of the day to make use of university resources.

Aiden stood up and left quietly.

"I should purchase some poisons I may need for my next mission. It seems I cannot buy an invisibility bracelet with my current amount of contribution points. But, I could make use of the gravity chamber to also hone my reflexes."

Aiden thought.

He returned to his villa and ordered four intermediate rank 1 poisons.

Very soon, they were delivered to him by drones.

He bought powdered poisons because he wanted to use them for area of effect destruction.

It cost him 400 contribution points.

All his contribution points combined could not even help him order a single advanced rank 1 poison.

He decided to make use of his remaining contribution points in the gravity chamber.

Using all his contribution points would let him sink to the bottom of the Heavenly Ascension Ranking list again. But the ranking list was not his priority. Strength was. And for him, apart from poisons, storage bags and invisibility bracelets the university had to offer, he didn’t need any resources from the university. His medium of strength lay in absorbing the blood essence of the dead.

Aiden left the villa and headed towards the university training halls. This was where the gravity chambers were located.

****

Desmonda was currently seated in her living room in her villa.

"Impossible." What she had just seen had left her extremely shocked.

How?

"How has no one noticed this?" She was shocked.

What Aiden Vhorn had done was impossible for a first-year student to do.

It was clearly written beneath the mission log of the mission he had completed that he had completed it alone and he had overcompleted the mission.

"It makes sense no one has noticed. After all, he’s ranked at the bottom. Who would try to find out about it? But this guy, he’s definitely stronger than Asmodeus. No wonder the instructor was paying close attention to him. It seems he’s the most powerful first-year student." She was shocked. But this was the bitter truth.

"To think Vultor Han and some of our classmates were actually looking down on him. I should try to be on good terms with him," she thought.

"Securing connections with future powerhouses is not a bad thing."

****

Asmodeus Vincent lay on his bed. A holographic screen from his watch had popped up before him.

Asmodeus Vincent was not too surprised by what he had just discovered.

"Interesting," he thought. "Aiden Vhorn. I knew he was abnormal. It seems campus life won’t be boring."