The Weakest F-Rank Who Breaks the System

Chapter 30: Anger

"Today is Thursday. Would it be okay to start next week? Those young students have a lot of theory to review. We should give them at least another week before we start delving into the technical aspects," Clara said.

Lucius shook his head. "We don’t have much time. The Department Tournament is in three months, and then it’s nine months until the next one. In these nine months, we have to get them up to Class B, at the very least, because the Qualifying Tournament is at the end of the year, and that’s when I have to go to the Main Academy."

Clara froze in the middle of the empty hallway. Her body trembled for a brief moment, and she looked at him in shock.

"Huh?! Are you crazy?! You want to move them up several times in a single year and at the same time plan to attend the End-of-Year Qualifying Tournament?!" She bombarded him with questions.

Lucius turned to look at her. "There’s no need to yell. Even though there’s no one around, it’s always better to speak..."

"Have you lost your mind?!" she shouted again.

Lucius sighed and shook his head. "No. I haven’t lost my mind," he said and started walking again.

If he were the Lucius of the past who had somehow managed to increase his strength, he would never have thought of doing that in a single year. However, he wasn’t that Lucius.

He was the famous Lucius who had once dominated the Rankings at a young age.

It was said that he would be the next The EX.

The God of the Rankings, The Excellent himself!

He wasn’t just anyone in this world. He was someone who had reached the pinnacle and threatened to become the true God of the Rankings, so one year was plenty of time.

He even thought he could do it in fewer turns, but he had to choose his Mana Marks carefully—now that he knew that pushing the Overload Marks to their limit was dangerous, and because he needed to level up.

’I can’t keep relying on the Elixir, after all,’ he thought.

He didn’t tell Clara any of this; she didn’t need to know. It was enough for her to understand what they were going to do.

"Let’s go to Old Street. I have some unfinished business there," Lucius said suddenly.

Clara had no choice but to follow him, completely confused and wondering if this guy had gone crazy or something.

Not even her older brother or Lucius’s older brother had managed similar feats in such a short time.

In fact, it usually takes most geniuses two years to advance from the Academic Branches to the Main Branch.

It took those two—who are currently the best in the entire Academy—just one year to get there, but their achievements were nothing compared to what Lucius hopes to accomplish.

It was far too short a time!

--

CRASH!

CRASH!

The sound of shattering glass echoed through a room lit by neon lights.

"How is it possible that bastard did something like that?!" Darius roared, seething with uncontrollable rage.

Standing before him was Kenneth, relaying what had happened.

"I’m being honest, sir. I had to run away..." Kenneth said, showing his wounds. "I still got hurt even though I didn’t exchange many blows with him. That guy... is strange."

"Shit!" Darius started throwing things on the floor, but one of his subordinates quickly stepped in to stop him.

"Sir, take it easy so you can think about your next move. If you get angry so easily, what will you do when he’s right in front of you?"

"What will I do?!" Darius grabbed the bastard who was trying to get in the way by the collar. "I’m going to kill him! That’s what I’ll do!"

"Sir, please calm down!"

Everyone in the room except Kenneth rushed over to restrain him and tried to calm him down.

After several minutes, Darius finally took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and tried to calm himself.

"How did all this happen?" he asked, returning to his seat.

Kenneth finally spoke and calmly told him everything that had happened.

’So his treasure can still be used, and he’s wasting it on nonsense...’ Darius smiled, though he knew he had to act fast.

He didn’t know how many uses a treasure of that caliber might have, so the sooner he got it, the better.

The problem is that his strength is quite impressive.

"Kenneth has the strength of a fairly powerful Rank D, and based on the videos, that guy’s strength far exceeded that of a Rank D+ like that Gorilla. It’s likely due to other factors as well, so at the very least, I’d rate that guy’s strength as Rank C—as long as he’s using that treasure."

’I have several ways to do this. I could try attacking him when he’s not using the treasure, but that’s too hard to tell. So far, no one knows what the treasure looks like, so that option is completely out of the question.’

’The other option would be to take advantage of a moment of carelessness to kill him... He went to the Toolmaker’s Department; I don’t know what he was thinking, but during the creation or study of a tool, there are always moments of carelessness.’

Darius hatched a plan in his mind.

If he were to catch him off guard, he would have to enlist the help of some people in the hall. To do that, he would need to pay bribes.

"The problem is that bribery discovered within the academy carries severe penalties. I’ll have to tread carefully," he thought.

Although he still had another option: hiring professional assassins. But they’re too expensive. The option of surrounding him with a group of D-Ranks was also on the table because there’s no way he could use that treasure for very long, but...

’What if it isn’t a treasure?’ He swallowed hard. For some strange, unknown reason, fear welled up from deep within his body.

If it wasn’t a treasure, surrounding him with D-Ranks would be useless, and he would lose many men.

If it wasn’t a treasure, Lucius would be... far more talented than himself.

Darius shook his head quickly. ’No. Impossible. There’s no way that guy could be that talented on his own. He must be a treasure.’

’He has to be, no matter what!’

As he was lost in thought, his bedroom door opened. "Sir, I have news for you," said a messenger who entered.

Darius looked at him. "You’re the one I left watching over Lucius." He recognized him.

"Yes, sir. It’s something about him."

"Go on." Darius gave him permission.

He didn’t think he’d be told anything new, because after all, Kenneth had just told him they were already in the classroom, after having killed a Three-Step Jaguar, but...

"Lucius Asturias has managed to restore an ancient tool that all the experts believed was useless."

"Pfft!"

"W-what?!"

Darius jumped to his feet. "How the hell is that possible? Since when is he a toolmaker? I never knew that!"

The messenger simply nodded. "Sir, it’s no mistake. Your classmates are talking about it a lot, and even Professor Jake Lakeside is praising it." freewebnovёl.ƈom

Darius swallowed again. "Did you see it yourself?"

"No..." The messenger shook his head. "I can’t get near the classrooms. However, apparently she restored it together with Miss Clara Thorne."

"Clara Thorne?" Darius rubbed his chin and paced back and forth, searching his mind for information. "That girl was always a toolmaker, but she wasn’t very talented. Could she have done it?"

"That’s doubtful, sir. Because the students claimed it was Lucius."

"What do a bunch of Rank F students know? Lucius is cunning; he could easily have tricked them while they were watching!"

"And Professor Jake? He’s a Lakeside; he’s not easy to fool."

Darius fell silent.

It was true; he had forgotten about the professor.

Once again, silence reigned in the room for several minutes, until the messenger spoke again.

"Sir, they also say they’re going to participate in the Department Tournament in three months and are aiming to move up a class."

Darius stared at him. For a brief moment, he wanted to snap back angrily, something like: How could that bunch of trash possibly move up a class?

But suddenly his eyes lit up as he realized something.

’They want to move up a class... It’s the perfect moment.’ He smiled and took a deep breath.

"Kenneth, if I recall correctly, you have good connections with the C and B Classes in the Tool Creation Department, right? I heard that some of my family’s subordinate families have people there."

Kenneth nodded. "That’s correct, sir. Do you need me to put you in touch with them? They would be delighted."

Darius smiled. "Yeah... we’re going to crush those F-Rank idiots who think they can move up in rank. We’ll make them suffer."

"Are you planning to rig the results of the Tournament, sir? Doing that isn’t very wise..." Kenneth interjected.

"I’m not that stupid. If that were discovered, I’d be doomed. Not even my father could get me into the Main Branch on good terms."

Kenneth was relieved that he knew that.

Darius continued. "You don’t need to know what I’m planning. Just take me to the homes of those families you mentioned. Right now."

Kenneth stood up. "That’ll be easy. We’ll have to go to Old Street."

"Old Street? All right." Darius smiled and started walking. Kenneth followed behind him.

When the messenger from earlier tried to give him one last message, Darius waved his hand in farewell and ignored him.

"Sir... I was going to tell you that Lucius also went to Old Street." Those were the words that came out of the messenger’s mouth, but they never reached their destination.

--