Chapter 101: Road To the Finale [5]

Looking at Ren and Serena strolling through the hallway side-by-side, I couldn't help but fall into thought.

The only reason Ren and Serena had gotten together at the end of the novel was that Carissa had died, allowing Serena to replace her.

But...now what?

Were they going to fight over him?

...

Damn that bastard.

The daughter of the richest tycoon in the human realm, and the undisputed second strongest hero in the world were his options?

What did I have left over!?

A psychopath girl who had threatened to kill me over a hundred times, and a girl who was going to become the damn sun!?

At that moment, perhaps sensing my gaze, Ren suddenly looked up, his shining ocean-blue eyes meeting mine.

"..."

Without a second's hesitation, I activated Anubis's Ferry and phased through the wall behind me, finding myself in the forest outside the first-year building.

However, before I could even take a step, a voice suddenly echoed from behind me.

"YOU!?"

"..."

Speaking of the devil...

Turning around to face the source of the voice, I saw Haerin standing with a wooden sword in her hand.

Slowly, I scanned the area around her... finding every tree trunk within a ten-meter distance covered in sword marks to the point where the bark had peeled off.

Perhaps thinking I would vanish in the next moment, Haerin rushed forward and grabbed my right shoulder, yelling in my ears.

"YOU TOLD ME YOU'D SAY LATER! THEN YOU JUST VANISHED!"

Scratching my head, I awkwardly asked.

"Tell you what?"

"THE PERFECT SLASH!"

Looking at the trees covered in her failed attempts, I paused for a moment and thought.

Why exactly had I become so proficient with the sword, even passing Haerin, who was supposed to be a prodigy?

"...ah."

Grandmaster Kim was right about that thing...put yourself in a life-or-death situation.

I had reached the second stage of Martial Arts, unlocking the golden thread across my body, in the Dreg Realm where I had to cut through the wall to survive, and completed my first perfect slash when facing a serpent's mana sphere.

My pathway of progression had simply just been...throwing myself into fatal situations. If I survived, I grew stronger, and if I didn't, I died.

That was it.

Of course, that method only worked on me because I didn't care too much about life.

Her crimson-red eyes sparkling, Haerin looked at me expectantly until I finally answered, thinking about the current Haerin from the novel's perspective.

"Give up."

"..."

The only reason Haerin had chosen intent over mana was because of her low mana capacity stat.

In fact, prior to entering The Sunken Pearl, she had been extremely skilled at using mana, being the youngest person ever to reach the third stage, mana sight.

However, as she slowly raised her rank from F to now D-, her mana capacity simply...did not budge, leaving her falling more and more behind everyone else.

She would never be able to wield and use mana like Carissa and Ren, who were granted the maximum stat for mana capacity.

Yet, even now, Haerin was still chasing after mana: in the novel, after reaching A Loose Thread, her first reaction hadn't been to swing her sword in joy but to absorb mana and see if anything had changed.

"Give up on mana."

Clenching my shoulder even harder, Haerin gazed at me in silence for a second before turning around, muttering as she left.

"You're just like Grandmaster Kim."

"..."

...

...

...

Waking up, my forehead burning and sweat covering my body, I took a deep breath and slowly gazed out the window, the two massive holograms of a clam and tree facing each other under the early-morning sky.

Today...was the day.

The finale.

"..."

After staying still for a moment, watching the light-orange sky, I finally turned on my smartwatch.

Pushing past the variety of urging messages from Grayson and Reed, I began typing.

[Ash: Ready?]

Looking down, I was about to go back to sleep when...

*BZZT*

[Ren: Remember our promise.]

From this day onward...I would no longer be the most infamous person in the Sunken Pearl.

It would be the boy who had attacked his own teammates and prevented the Sunken Pearl from winning the Inter-Academy tournament final for no explicable reason.

Though I did feel some sympathy for Ren, a surge of joy couldn't help but flood through my mind.

After all, he was the reason I got my rumors, so it was only right that he got them, now too.

Slapping my head, I got out of bed, took a shower, and changed into my academy uniform, finding a familiar card in my pants' pocket.

If I prevented Spare from betraying the human realm and joining the Dregs... thousands, no, millions of lives would be saved.

But how?

Carefully placing the card on my desk, I slipped out of my dorm room and headed onto the still empty academy streets, feeling restless.

Why was I worried?

Now having Aether, the Ren now was surely at the same level as the novel Ren who had successfully defended the trophy in the maze.

Sighing, I headed to the train station and hopped on a five-minute mana train to the capital, simultaneously navigating to the nearest alchemy shop.

Even the capital city was covered in banners and posts promoting the finale, with Ren and Leon's faces plastered beside Charlotte's and Angel's.

After purchasing a few potions and supplies, I prepared to head back to the Sunken Pearl...only to find the train station packed to the absolute brim, even the escalator heading downward packed with people.

"MOVE!"

"THE TRAIN IS FULL! STOP PUSHING!"

"I PAID $1,000 FOR THESE TICKETS!"

"LET ME THROUGH!"

Not even trying to join the crowd of people heading down into the underground train station, I glanced at the streets...only to see the entire street completely packed with motionless cars.

"..."

The traffic was so bad that some people had gotten out of their cars and begun sunbathing atop the roof.

Ah...how the hell was I supposed to get back?