Free Web NovelChapter 24: Unexpected Reward
[Ding!]
[The quest ’Survive for 30 Seconds!’ has been successfully completed!]
[Ding! 1x Lucky draw has been claimed!]
[Ding!]
[Do you want to Spin the Lucky Draw?]
[Yes/No]
Alden’s eyes drifted toward the system window buzzing in front of him.
’Hmph... A Lucky Draw? Well, whatever. At least it should give me something useful.’
He slowly raised his hand and clicked ’Yes’ without wasting any more time thinking about it.
A loud chime rang in his mind. The system interface changed, and a slot appeared. It began to spin rapidly. Alden waited patiently, ready to accept whatever he might gain.
The spinning continued for a few seconds. Then it began to slow down until it finally paused on one reward.
[Ding!]
[Congratulations Host, you have gained 1x ’Divine-tier Skill Chest’!]
’Damn! What is this Divine tier? It is the first time I have ever heard of it. Does such a tier of skill even exist?’
As far as he knew from the original owner’s memories, there were various grades of skills in this world, such as:
1) Common grade
2) Uncommon grade
3) Rare grade
4) Epic grade
5) Legendary grade
6) Mythic grade
There was no mention of a ’Divine-grade’ skill in existence. The ’Mythic-grade’ was widely considered the highest grade possible. But now, his thoughts shifted as he learned that the world’s power scaling was far bigger than he expected.
But that didn’t shock him too much. He was already getting used to receiving unexpected things. He wasn’t even that shocked when he found out that he had an SSS+ rank in Luck. He hadn’t understood what he was going to do with that luck back then, and he was glad he hadn’t celebrated in happiness. Now, he fully realized what kinds of trouble he would face because of it.
That taught him one important lesson in his new life: With great ’power’ comes great ’trouble’. He actually wanted to avoid trouble, but thanks to his luck, he couldn’t run away from it.
’So, let’s just open it. Please, my dear luck, give me something that will not attract others’ attention. Please!’
He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and pressed on the ’Open’ button below the chest icon.
[Ding!]
[Congratulations Host! You have gained ’Infinite Nexus (Divine-tier)’!]
[Description: Inexplicable!]
’Wait—What?!... What kind of skill is this? Explain it to me in detail, System!’
[Ding! The skill cannot be explained, as there is no explanation in existence...]
’Huh? How the hell am I going to use it if I don’t even know what this skill is?’
As he was cursing under his breath, he looked at the front where the class was still continuing.
A student entered the field. He stood proudly in front of the instructor as the battle started.
’He is going to get beaten up...’
Just as Alden expected, Instructor Darius directly burst from his place and appeared in front of the student with a fast step. He quickly caught the student off guard and punched him hard, launching him into the wall and knocking him out instantly.
As Alden continued to watch, more students started to appear on the field. The exact same thing happened to them. They got knocked out by his first attack and were thrown out of the battlefield.
’Hah... It seems I am the only one he took lightly. Well, that explains it. Since I was his first prey, he showed a little mercy on me.’
But unaware to Alden, he hadn’t survived the match because Darius showed him mercy. He had survived entirely because of his luck influencing his evasive movements.
As the matches continued, only a few students were able to survive the one-minute timer. Only the top three students were left to go.
’It seems this class is really overpowered. How did they even survive in front of that monster? It seems I am still quite behind everyone else.’
Suddenly, the golden-haired girl with bright golden eyes entered the field. She wore the academy uniform as she walked calmly from the middle rows of seats and stepped onto the field.
"So, are you ready, young girl?"
"Of course, Instructor Darius. Just please go light on me, because I am a mage."
"Hah... Don’t worry, I will be careful."
As the duel began, Sarah focused her overall movements on dodging his attacks with swift motions. Since Darius was holding back, Sarah managed to dodge his fast-tracking attacks expertly.
She channeled her mana and touched the ground beneath her.
[Nature’s Magic: Veil of Binding!]
A sphere of swirling green vines erupted from the earth, encircling Darius and attempting to restrain his movements. He smirked. A faint shimmer of aura appeared around him, effortlessly shattering the thick vines into pieces.
"Good try, little one. Just a little too slow."
Since this was a combat duel, magic was allowed, especially for mages, as they were vulnerable without it.
Sarah didn’t falter. She was already leaping backward, creating distance.
[Nature’s Magic: Thorns of Retribution!]
Sharp, hardened wooden thorns burst from the ground exactly where Darius stood, aiming to impale him.
Darius, with a swift sidestep, evaded the attack. A playful glint appeared in his eyes. He lunged forward, closing the distance between them in an instant, his fist already aiming at her. Sarah, however, had already anticipated this move.
[Nature’s Magic: Shifting Earth Shield!]
The ground before her rose rapidly, forming a thick, earthen barrier just as Darius’s punch connected. The shield absorbed the heavy impact, cracking loudly but holding together. Dust and small pebbles scattered as Darius recoiled, a flicker of surprise crossing his face.
As the time was up, Darius quickly stepped back.
"Impressive. Your movement and reflexes are quite fast. Go back to your seat."
Sarah bowed respectfully and walked away.
"Now, the next student. Alicia von Valerion, come down to the field."
A girl appeared from near the last row of seats. Alden saw her stand up from very close to his own seat and walk toward the front. He felt surprised.
’Wait? Was she sitting near me all this time? I didn’t even notice...’
As she walked onto the field, her movements were graceful, and her face remained poised. She entered the field and stood before Darius, keeping a few meters of distance.
"So. Without wasting much time, let’s begin."
As he spoke, he had already moved from his place and directly appeared in front of her.
But Alicia stood there calmly. She simply side-stepped the attack right before he could hit her.
*BOOM!*
Darius quickly moved again, planning to catch her off balance as he punched forward.
But Alicia had already anticipated his attack. She side-stepped again, smoothly dodging his fast strike.
He narrowed his eyes and started to throw a rapid barrage of punches at her.
Alicia kept dodging every single attack. A smile appeared on Darius’s face.
"Impressive. You have perfect control over your movements and your body. It seems you are quite experienced in actual combat."
Alicia kept dodging his strikes silently.
Darius finally looked at her, and this time, he twisted his body mid-punch. He slid beside her and directly punched forward to catch her off guard.
But as his punch rushed toward her and hit, her body suddenly broke into pieces of solid ice.
*CRASH!*
As the broken ice pieces sprawled on the ground, Darius looked at them in surprise.
’An ice clone? How can she switch places so rapidly?’
Just as he was surprised, a chill ran down his spine. Several shards of razor-sharp ice suddenly manifested in the thin air around him, stopping right at his neck.
Alicia appeared behind his back. She stood there calmly, folding her hands.
Darius couldn’t help but smile at the younger generation.
"Haha... Impressive. You are the first student who was actually able to catch me off guard. Well done."
With a simple flick of his finger, the ice shards near his body shattered into several pieces. A small release of his dense aura was enough to shatter the sharp shards into snow.
Alicia remained expressionless and calm at his trick. She already knew she couldn’t actually beat him with her current strength.
’Just as I expected. He is really a monster. Even in my past life, no one was better than him in martial arts. The only thing that stops him is the wall to the next rank.’
Darius was widely considered one of the strongest S-rankers in Elderia. He was a renowned martial artist who could destroy small mountains with a single attack. The only thing holding him back from becoming stronger was his natural talent limit. He couldn’t bypass the wall to the SS-rank. He currently stood at the absolute pinnacle of his actual talent.
Alicia turned around and walked back to her seat. She climbed the stairs and walked to the back row, near Alden’s seat.
She noticed his glance, but she didn’t look back at him.
’Hehe... He is looking at me. Should I just sit beside him? Well... Let’s keep some distance during the classes, or he might feel disturbed during the lessons.’
She sat near him, keeping her eyes staring straight to the front where Edwin had gone down to fight. Her thoughts were on the tour next week.
’Hmph... Beastriheim? Well, it seems it is a nice place for a date. Hehe... I will make him wear cute cat ears when we are on a date. It seems like a very good idea.’
The battles continued. The final match went exactly as everyone expected. Edwin survived through the one-minute time period easily. Since he was the top-ranked student in the academy, he was bound to survive.
