After the call ended, Felix checked his messages. The message requests already notified him with numbers surpassing the limit of his notifications, but he still had not opened it.

His messages were quite limited, he had also already left all the group chats from his highschool, leaving most of the messages coming from his classmates, asking how he was doing.

He still had not replied and only checked Krisha’s profile, discovering she was offline five hours ago.

He frowned. Did he stay up late at night again? I couldn’t see her in her beast quarters, though. She might have activated the conceal feature of PengPeng’s beast quarters.

I wonder how she is doing?

Felix didn’t dwell too much as he decided to check up on her by messaging her.

Afterwards, he opened the soft copy of the weekly news from the Azure Cleave Dojo’s page.

He has a mixed reaction while reading it. He read for ten minutes straight and he smiled.

Pretty much about the article was how he performed the last week. He was also surprised that Master Shen left a message, which concluded the news about him.

His words echoed in Felix’s mind.

Felix is a child, who has a bright future. It’s evident by how he’s been performing. Like how the mayor and Master Vey perceived him, he’s worth to invest to, for the Chambers City’s bright prospects.

Master Shen also did not talk about him alone, he also mentioned Krisha’s potential, to which he praised her.

Master Shen also left a message for his disciple to do their best in stopping Felix’s bold declaration to reach Top 1. He also mentioned about the reward if they were successful, too.

He also warned those disciples, whose been cheating the merit allocation system in the ramble.

Felix was deeply satisfied by how Master Shen handled the issues in the current week by his meticulous response.

After he finished reading, his phone notified him that Krisha replied to his message.

He was given an assurance and Krisha even invited him to have a lunch together.

Since it was currently 1pm, it was the best time for them to have a brunch—breakfast and lunch together.

...

Felix and Krisha were currently eating in the cafeteria. There were inner disciples eating with them in different table, stealing glancing at them from time to time.

However, Felix and Krisha were unbothered. They were currently discussing about the news.

"As expected, it’s all about you. Also, did you notice that the writer seemed to be praising you quite a lot?"

Felix’s eyes widened. He rolled his eyes upward as he tried to recall every word mentioned about him.

Krisha giggled. "As expected, you didn’t notice. Well, the way I read it made it seem like he’s your fan. As much as he tried his best to hide it by being biased, the tone in his writing was apparent."

Felix nodded. "I see. To be honest, I’ve already noticed it, but perhaps, I just dismissed it since I could not accept the fact I have a fan."

Krisha pouted. "I am your fan. Been like that since you’ve always surpassed me since high school."

Felix was surprised. He chuckled. "I didn’t know about that."

Krisha rolled her eyes. "And I am not the only one. There were many classmates of ours who admired you. Just that, you’re quite distant since you are too invested in studying."

Felix shrugged. "I just hate it every time I feel like wasting time. I’d rather invest most of my time that I acknowledged as something worth it for it."

Krisha was intrigued. "Why do you think studying a lot in highschool is worth it?"

"To not be ignorant," replied Felix instantly. "Ignorance is a poison that will inevitably kill you in the future, and the only medicine for it is to consume knowledge.

Also, the more I learn, the more I know that I know nothing at all.

The world of information is vast, and the more I explore and stumble about important information, the more it’s addicting.

Don’t you feel that way?"

"No," replied Krisha instantly.

She shrugged. "Studying is just another tedious responsibility for me. I guess, that’s the difference between us. I treat studying as a work, while you treat it as passion."

Felix was silent for a while. He gazed at her for some time and finally said, "If I’m in your position, I can understand. But then again, I just want you to know that what you are doing is wrong.

You should enjoy the process of learning."

Krisha, after recalling her master who granted her with the sword art, beamed a sparkling smile.

She said, "Of course, I do. Like you said, it’s addicting."

Felix’s eyebrows raised. He was intrigued. "You are not talking about studying, right?"

Krisha rolled her eyes. "Of course, I’m not. How can you enjoy studying? I was talking about learning sword art. It’s addicting."

"Right. How are you progressing in your sword art now?"

Krisha smiled at him mysteriously.

She said, "Let’s fight in the ramble later."

Krisha had already decided to fight against Felix in the ramble first before fighting in the arena. Simply because she believed it would be better to take Felix by surprise in her current sword art without the need for involving their beast pet first.

Afterwards, they must settle their battle in a beast sync arena to determine who was currently stronger...

Although it was already obvious it was Felix, Krisha was still determined to find out how far her progress compared to Felix.

Felix became her standard in growing stronger. She believed that even in S-grade cities, no one could surpass Felix’s absurd growth.

Felix, on the other hand, was already taken by surprise.

He dazed at Krisha and thought. She wouldn’t challenge me unless she’s confident.

[Host, you still haven’t noticed?]

"What I have not?"

[For the past few days, you still failed to notice that the energy she exuded is already at the Awakener Rank 6?]

"Yeah, what about—"

Felix’s eyes widened.

Only now, everything made sense to him.

He simply ignored it before since he could do it faster, why Krisha could not?

He failed to consider that Krisha had none of the opportunity he had like Rain.

So, how did she achieved it?

Felix stared at Krisha with an utter surprise painted in his face.

===== 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

A/N: Thanks for reading! Don’t forget to show your supports by giving golden tickets, powerstones, and reviews! It means a lot since this is participating for WSA.