Chapter 60: Let’s Try Not to be Like Her

"Hah... hah... do you still... hah... intend to... wait a second." as the two of them returned to the crossroad between the male and female dormitory, it was Medea who first spoke, her sweaty, disheveled self paired with her heaving breath showing just how tired she was from running all across the floating island.

"Hah... you damn cheater, after all this, do you still intend to tell me you didn’t use mana at all??" After finally recovering some semblance of energy back to her body, she straightens herself up, taking a good look at the junior who ran along with her, or rather, dragged her along his run.

’This guy, there’s no way I will believe he didn’t use mana at all...’ she thought to herself as she stared at his figure, ignoring the handsome, sharp appearance and focusing more on his current state, the few beads of sweat dripping here and there, a complete contrast to how drenched she is with her own sweat right now.

"Who knows? Haha..." seeing the look of disbelief in her eyes, he replied vaguely as he laughed to himself, causing her to grit her teeth in annoyance as she proceeded to turn around, heading right back to the female dormitory.

"Fufufu~~ let’s see if you can still laugh like that tomorrow, you damn cheater~~" knowing that she won’t get any good answer from this young man, Medea then decided to leave it at that, the sun already breaking past the horizon and signaling the true start of the day, prompting her to move towards the female dormitory in order to prepare herself for today’s classes.

"Not going to roam around?"

"Later. Unlike the freshmen, upperclassmen still have some classes that they are required to attend to during the preparation for the exams" she answered with a wave of her hand, already walking down the road to the dormitory.

"Ah, also, have a nice day, Junior Novus."

Hearing those words, seeing her turn around with that faint, playful smile on her beautiful face, Novus smiled back as well, a small but genuine one as he returned her words.

"Have a nice day too, Senior Medea."

After their little competition, Novus headed back to his room in the Male Dormitory as well, meeting some other students as he did so, luckily not before him and Medea parted ways, as even if he is truly not that concerned about another issue about him appearing anymore, he still would prefer it if there was less trouble in his life.

Still, given his current reputation, as much as he would prefer some semblance of peace in his already chaotic life, there are just situations that he couldn’t escape from, one such example being the inevitable subject of conversation whenever he walks around.

"Hey, isn’t that..."

"Yeah, but that kind of state?"

"Did he just do physical exercise? Haha, what an idiot, he should’ve spent his time meditating instead."

"Look at that smile, did he feel satisfied with running? Well, it makes sense when his talent with magic is that terrible."

Rumors start building around him yet again, and given that his senses improved with the improvement of his techniques, as well as his raw abilities, Novus could hear all those words directed towards him without even trying, causing the faint smile from the time with Medea to fade as some other thoughts replaced the ones in his mind.

The words grated against his ears, and for a moment, a familiar, sharp, persistent annoyance climbed onto his head.

’Tsk, forget about it.’ pressing down on the annoyance welling up from deep within him, the young man calms himself down with peaceful thoughts, thinking that maybe, just maybe, his Senior Medea is treated just like this by other students when she is a freshman too.

After all, their way of fighting is just too similar to each other, the only difference being how the two of them operate under this combat style.

And thinking like so, he smiles, wondering what that lady will do to deal with situations like this, the image of that beautiful, yet mischievous figure beating up rumor mongers here and there, all while laughing to herself, appears in his mind.

’Mhm, definitely like her, let’s not be like that’ he thought to himself, opting not to follow after the footsteps of the female tyrant who rules with terror over her peers, and whether by causation or not, this thought of his popped into his mind at the same time as another thing.

Within the female dormitory, someone is humming in a mesmerizing, melodious tone as she dips herself in a comfortable, warm bathtub, relaxing herself as she stares at the ceiling, when her humming is interrupted by a sneeze.

’Which bastard is thinking badly of me again?’ she wonders to herself as she slightly rubs her nose before she continues humming once again.

’Mental peace is the best after all.’ Meanwhile, the exact ’bastard’ who is thinking of rude thoughts regarding the Sword Princess thought of those words to himself before he took it back with another line in his mind.

’Not that I can speak about loving peace when I am that violent inside the domain, haha’ he said in self-deprecation, feeling a bit too amused regarding this thought in his mind, as both are true, the peace of mind is something that anyone just wouldn’t be able to resist, yet the violence that comes from the desire to temper himself more and more is a part of himself as well.

It only took him a few hours of roaming around before finally realizing that maybe, just maybe, the information he heard from that senior having a little deal is already the biggest information he can ever get and the biggest benefit of the exploration phase of the exam for him.

Save for encountering and getting familiar with the eldest daughter of the Heavenblade Great Clan, that is.

Hence why he opted to just return to his room and proceed to improve himself once again, meeting the same rumor about him every day as he goes on his way back.

’Damn, it’s already a couple of days, when will these things die down?’ he asked himself in a joking manner before he headed straight to his bed, this time changing plans as even when he absorbed a literal thousand of F-Tier Evolution Crystals last night, there were barely any changes in his stats.

[Novus Helion van Argenta]

[Combat Rating: E Tier Mage (Assessment Ongoing)]

[Talent: True Immortal Blood (EX-Rank Growth-type Innate Talent)]

[Current Evolution Domain Location: Verdant Expanse: Verdant Forest (1.5-star danger level)]

[Immortal Energy: 810/810]

[Strength: 410]

[Agility: 410]

[Vitality: 410]

[Arcane: 410]

[Harmony: 410]

[True Immortal Blood (EX-Rank Growth-type Innate Talent)]

[Growth Progress: 1.315% (98.685% before Talent Rank Up)]

[Mastery: Entry-level (64.27%)]

’Let’s just save the F Tier Evolution Crystals for now, maybe I will also need them for D Tier promotion...’ he convinced himself as he took out a single E Tier Evolution Crystal from the Storage Space, taking a good look at the object in front of him.

There is not much difference compared to F Tier Evolution Crystal; however, if one were to pick out what parts are different, a single thing will be immediately pointed out, that is, that faint blue hue being more apparent in this higher tier Evolution Crystal compared to its F Tier counterpart.

’Looks effective....’ Novus thought to himself as he closed his eyes, beginning to absorb the energy from the crystal.