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Chapter 28: Parallel Development

Chapter 28: Parallel Development

A few weeks had passed since classes started at the academy. In a large meeting room, a group of students were gathered wearing the traditional red outfit of the student council.

Iris sat next to a grunting Barron and thumbed through a book; the other council members looked bored. Footsteps got closer and suddenly the door opened, revealing Hope and Thomas.

"We... We came on time!"

"... Everyone's here, you idiot, we're anything but on time."

A young man with short blond hair coughed to impose silence and the two men went to Iris's side in embarrassment.

"Alright, now that the stars of the day have finally come, we can start the meeting."

"Sorry, this crazy guy has a fetich for training and doesn't know when to stop."

"Hey!"

"Fufu, it's all right, it's never a failure to train, but let's try to be on time next time, okay? S so as we said before, today we're going to decide the list of students who will be selected for the school exchange, so I ask the representatives of each division to provide their suggestions."

Three students stood up, a sheet in their hands, Hope looked at them intrigued and leaned towards his mentor.

"Um Thomas, what is the school exchange?"

"... Of course, you haven't listened, you have 1000 muscles and none of them are a brain. Like I told you, the Royal Academy represents the spear of the kingdom, to put it simply, we are the nobles who vowed to use force to defend our people, concretely, the academy needs powerful people and is therefore technically open to any person... any person who would be an emissary, of course. Next to us, we have Saint Nova, the academy strictly... You know what is Saint Nova, right?"

Hope pretended to think, causing Thomas to sigh in despair, but he patted his shoulder and smiled.

"I'm kidding, I know what it is, Nova academy is like our magnificent academy but is strictly reserved for nobles without powers."

"Now listen here, you little brat, It's not nobles without power but nobles of higher social rank! If Nebula Royal Academy is famous for no class distinctions, at least between nobles, Saint Nova is the exact opposite. This is the playground for the very heirs of the kingdom, the children of the royal family study there, the future duke, some of them are emissaries but since they're fated to rule the kingdom, they are forbidden to risk their lives like us."

"... Technically, since we're the ones fighting, aren't we more important?"

"Oh my God... If we were that important, do you think we would be sent to the Rifts? Why do you think the highest-ranked people are in Guilds? Most of us here are descendants of knights for this reason, we are the SWORD, and they are the CROWN, if a high-ranked noble is among us it means that he's either a genius or a disposable asset, can you fix that in your head."

Hope frowned for a moment, for him, this concept was incomprehensible, he had been told that the nobles of the academy were the most important people because they fought actively for the kingdom, but now he heard the opposite.

"Okay, I understand... So, what's the deal with the school exchange?" He asked, but the answer came this time from the blue-haired girl.

"The deal is, dear Hope, that as Thomas said, we are destined to become defenders of the Kingdom, and the best of us will join the royal guards, like your sister. It's not just a matter of power, it requires particular distinctions in many fields, such as education, Wisdom, performance, and sometimes status. It's also a big chance to build relationships with the top of the hierarchy, and show off the progress of the academy, some of us could even be recruited as personal knights."

She turned to the other members of the council and continued.

" It's like a contest between us, they will show us how distinguished they are and we are going to show them that we are the best knights they've ever seen. So, it's time de commencer the selections."

Meanwhile, somewhere in the wild, motionless on a lake, Dora levitated, a wooden bow in his hands, his eyes closed. Beneath him, waves and bubbles occasionally tore the surface.

"Snipe Art..."

A gigantic shadow appeared under the water and the next moment a colossal black snake appeared, mouth open under the young man.

|Subquest:

Collect 10 Black Blade Fangs

|Black Blade Fang: 08/10

"Lightning Rain"

A multitude of luminous arrows pierced in an instant the interior of the monster which fell back into the lake, coloring the water in green.

|Subquest: Completed

|Kill 50 monsters with an archer skill: 50/50

|+7800 exp

|Reward received:

|1 soul stone / 7 elemental stones

|New skill unlocked, Poison dart, Shoot the target with a poison hit, dark element attack. Chance to inflict [Poison] and [Paralysis] on the target and when successful, reduce the target's defense.

Mana Cost: 20

Poison Rate +40%

Paralyze Rate +20%

Foe's defense reduction: -15% physical def

|Subquest: Completed

Collect 10 Black Blade Fangs

|Black Blade Fang: 10/10

|Jobs have leveled up

|+5 stats points

Jobs

Warrior lvl1

Knight lvl1

Healer lvl16

Swordmaster lvl1

Archer lvl26

Rogue lvl12

Mage lvl29

|Special Job (Locked)

"... Say, Midget, can I use the stats point on something else? The physical jobs never change."

(Sorry I can't hear you, I'm too busy doing your homework.}

(Are you mad because I killed your people?)

(... Is that Gamma again?)

After the failure of the quest to exterminate the Dire Wolf, me and Midgard decided to prioritize the quests of collecting and eliminating small groups of monsters in order to accumulate as much experience as possible and everything was going better.

the stats had a huge impact on my power growth so we started taking bigger targets, but increasing there had some problems. One of them was that all the jobs were increasing in level except the ones I really lacked, tanking and physical damages.

No matter how many monsters I killed or elemental stones I assimilated, their level never changed. The second problem was that, for some reason, Gamma and Midgard hated each other. Gamma was the main fighter until we met Midgard and hated losing his role because of her.

(Couldn't you talk about it for a while? We're all partners.)

(That's a lot of assumptions there, darling, but whatever, we can't let you have a weakness so keep focusing on the physical stats, we have the soul stone for the rest and besides, don't compare me to those ridiculous water snakes, not all snakes are the same, you are living proof.)

(I take that as a compliment, okay, all stats in attack.)

|Stats:

|Attack: 67

|Physical Def: 53

|Intelligence: 29

|Magic Def: 23

|Speed:39

|Stamina:31

|Mana:55

|Agility: 33

|Sensitivity: 48

|Luck: 6

|Stat Points: 0

(Done, what's on the menu next? Can we return to the Wolfy?)

(Not until you unlock the tanking job, I refuse to take any more risk with you, next week will be full of study classes so we better find a way quickly.)

Midgard was quite anxious since the battle against the death hounds, at first I thought she was angry because it was her body who got injured, even tho now it was completely healed, but she pressured me to level up as quickly as possible and to never try a quest I wouldn't be 100% sure to complete. It was the catalyst of Gamma's anger.

(Hmm I heard students say that they would have free time next week though, isn't it possible for the best students to... Skip some classes?)

(Maybe I should let you put some points in intelligence, it would help you to not... Wait what did you say?)

(I knew you were still mad at me.)

(No, no! That's a great idea! You're a genius! How did I not think of that? You're amazing!) It was the first time she complimented me since the dog fight.

(You told me I needed intelligence.)

(I was an idiot! You are awesome!)

(...You are not insecure.)

(You mean insincere.)

(So ??I do need intelligence...)

I played with her like that for a little while, it was a bit weird when she was quiet and angry so I decided to make her pay, but on good terms.

(You are the most beautiful bird in this forest, my little toy, you are a phoenix!)

(I heard that phoenixes were ugly before reincarnation.)

(You are so handsome that 3 girls confessed to me when I used your body.)

(You lie.)

(Even the boys!)

(... What?)

(And that's exactly why we're going to succeed! I know exactly how we're going to save free time.)

(You won't dare make me date an ugly man, will you?)

I couldn't see her, but I clearly felt her happiness rising and so, cold sweat ran down my forehead.

(Better yet, you'll date a frog.)