Chapter 75: Real Stage (1/2)

Strength was absolute in this world. Even then, women were looked down upon for their lacking physical strength. Most women had a higher affinity to mana than men. However, if their abilities didn't showcase this advantage, they would lag due to their lack of physical strength.

That was the reason her father married someone else, forcing her mother to run to this city. He wanted boys, he said. She wasn't worthy of inheriting his legacy, he decided. No matter how cold her personality was, Amelia still felt a stabbing pain every time she remembered those words. If even her father didn't accept her, who would? Thankfully, her mother was there to answer that.

Even still, Amelia sought strength. She wanted to prove her father to be a fool for disregarding her and her mother. For that, she would try anyway to grow stronger. Her lacking physical strength would be nothing but a stepping stone in proving who cared about her in the end.

One such person was Markus, her childhood friend. She glanced at him trying to coax the transfer student into giving them his training method. It was for her sake that he stooped so low to try and deceive others. However, he was terribly inexperienced at scheming that the transfer student simply rejected them flatly.

”Don't worry, we'll get you to Jerano.”

Markus said, making Amelia feel slightly pathetic. With his scores in theory classes, Markus was destined to earn a scholarship in any field he liked. However, she had to compete with other monsters to get admitted through the power channel.

”I'll find a way by myself,” Amelia said before leaving Markus in the library. Her favorite strawberry milk tasted a bit bland for some reason.

”There's no time left. Don't you wish to prove your father otherwise what he claimed?”

Markus's words made her halt her steps. She crushed the empty milk back in her hand away from his view. In the end, she gritted her teeth and left.

After a few days, they had a power assessment. It was the perfect chance to peek at the strength of the transfer student. In the beginning, she didn't care about him much since she saw his abilities to be average.

However, in a matter of a few days, he came back looking like a different person. His aura changed so much that even Markus agreed with her, that Arthur Silvera has gotten a lot stronger in a few days.

The power assessment was simple. They would measure your strength, speed, reflex, and power output. For other academies that focused on theory, power assessments represented your GPA for awakeners' colleges.

Amelia got 812 Kg in the punching machine, sprinted 100 meters in 5.3 seconds, and evaded 26 out 30 poles in the reflex assessments for neo-rankers.

The power output was the final test. It was set to measure how much damage one can cause to an object. There was a black pillar in the middle of the gymnasium for that purpose. They could attack it however they wanted to get the score relevant for their rank. It was set for the neo-rank for now, so the scores would determine how close you are to the rei-rank.

Lighting crackled around the training sword; she felt the gaze of Arthur in her way. She dashed like the wind toward the pillar and struck it with all of her might. A booming sound echoed as if thunder followed the lightning, arcs of electricity flying everywhere.

After the lightning disappeared, the score appeared on the screen. 95/100. She was that close to becoming a rei-ranker. Unknowingly, she glanced at Arthur in a challenging way, earning a 'what did I do?' head tilt from him.

Students from her class showcased their powers, but no one was that special. They were average at most. She felt slight indignation for not being able to study in the capital, where the real monsters were, but College was the real stage.

It was Arthur's turn at last. 707 Kg in the punching machine, 7.4 seconds in the 100 meters dash, and 20 evasions out of 30. It was what you call average. However, Amelia didn't miss that he held back on purpose. He was too leisure that he didn't even break a sweat. Why would anyone take the risk of lowering their scores? Was it to deceive others that he was a genius? It wasn't worth it as a low power assessment score meant the person was slacking off.

When Arthur walked to the black pillar in the middle, Amelia's attention was fully on him.

'Just how did you grow so strong in a few days?' She wondered to herself.

She saw Arthur's mana surround his fist; he didn't even use a training sword. With light steps, he expressionlessly punched the pillar. It showed a score of 71/100. Amelia, for the first time since she came to this academy, felt suffocating anger. He was not taking this seriously. She would train until she bleeds every day, yet, here he was treating this as a joke and belittling what she achieved.

Their day ended, and she felt obliged to take it out of her chest. When the day was over, she followed him when he left school.

”Why did you hide your strength today?” Her voice was a bit louder than she would have liked, but it couldn't be helped since she was not used to talking in the first place.