Chapter 825: Mr Real Body
The last day was already drawing to a close. Out of the earlier seventeen hours, only four remained as thirteen hours had already passed. It was already dark, the sun had set, and the moon hung high in the sky. Almost all students had already retired and gone into hiding for the remaining four hours to pass. Some were still fighting and refusing to give up... well, those ranked 51st to 60th were.
Within a forest, a luxury tent could be seen, and within it was Asher, who had been sleeping without a care in the world about what was going on. He had decided to get as much sleep as possible; after all, the next round of this Inter-Empire Competition might start immediately after the Qualifiers Round concluded, without giving students time to rest or catch their breath.
Asher yawned as he woke up from his sleep. The first thing he did was check the remaining time before the competition came to a close. Seeing that four hours remained, Asher decided to check the rankings to see how the top ten were faring.
The next instant, his face twisted into a frown as he couldn’t find Thalric’s name within the top ten.
’Did he drop down the rankings?’ Asher thought to himself, recognizing the impossibility of such a thing happening.
But still, he checked. He scrolled down as his eyes scanned the top fifty, then the top one hundred. Not seeing Thalric’s name there only made Asher even more surprised and stunned.
’Who is strong enough to eliminate Thalric?’ he thought to himself, his eyes settling on Acker’s points, which had doubled since the last time he checked.
Asher picked up his phone, which was by the pillow, and immediately checked the news. The information online confirmed his thoughts and suspicions.
’White Flag... I see,’ he thought to himself.
In all honesty, Asher was never bothered about the White Flag to begin with, as he had thought that Finch was the one who was going to get that particular Flag.
Asher watched the video of the standing ovation that Thalric received and sighed. He couldn’t help but feel sad for the guy. He imagined that Thalric must be feeling absolutely terrible at the moment.
Asher couldn’t help but remember the times that Thalric had given him insane amounts of Academy Points, and it wasn’t just once, but four times, all because he could and wanted to see him train more and become stronger. Although they had gotten off on the wrong foot due to everything that had happened in the past, Asher understood that Thalric was simply obsessed with the rapier and was angry about their mother’s death, and he was ultimately a child who couldn’t process his emotions.
The only thing that mattered was that the boy had changed.
Although the boy didn’t apologize for everything he did in the past, Asher didn’t demand one. After all, actions spoke louder than words. And Thalric had displayed such actions far too many times.
Asher couldn’t help but glance at Acker Holloway’s picture on his phone. Thalric had helped him way too many times at Star Academy, hence Asher felt tempted to give this Acker guy some ’special treatment.’
But at the same time, Asher couldn’t help but wonder if Thalric would want that, or if Thalric would simply want him to forget about it.
Asher sighed. If he ever fought Acker one-on-one, then he would deal with him then. As for right now, he would abandon the idea of revenge, as everything depended on the next round’s scenario.
Asher’s eyes went to Acker’s point balance. Funny enough, the Buddhist wasn’t even in second rank. Asher guessed that after gaining Thalric’s points, Acker had definitely moved into second rank, but it seemed Arianna Haellight had simply overtaken him again within the past fourteen hours.
’That’s some ridiculous hunting efficiency right there,’ Asher thought to himself.
Although Asher himself hadn’t fought or actively killed anything since he crossed the two-million mark, he still gained some passive points. Due to his luxury tent being in the open, a few students simply approached, thinking it was some Positive Zone, and unlike the real Asher, who gave students the courtesy of hearing his name and making a run for it, the clone couldn’t be bothered. It simply eliminated the students outright.
And indeed, Monsters and Emovirae came for the tent too, only to be immediately erased from existence the moment they got too close. although Asher’s photon clone didn’t have the bracelet, it still counted toward his points regardless. After all, the creators of the bracelets would have thought of scenarios like this where a student possessed a cloning ability.
Asher was simply growing more and more curious about Arianna’s ability, affinity, or whatever it was that made her this efficient. The more he thought about it, the more intrigued he became. Someone capable of maintaining such absurd efficiency for days on end was definitely hiding something extraordinary beneath the surface.
’I wonder when next I would meet her,’ Asher thought to himself as his back collapsed onto his bed again and he decided to wait the last four hours out.
’I wonder if any of the Elders or if the other Suns and Moons placed a bet on Thalric,’ Asher thought to himself as he rose to his feet and made his way toward the bathroom within the luxury tent for a bath.
’And if the next round goes on for more than a day, those behind the Inter-Empire Competition might just create a rule that stops me from pulling out my tent,’ Asher mused to himself.
He knew nothing had be done till now as he wasn’t breaking any rules. But after this, the rules would definitely be patched by the next Inter-Empire Competition and perhaps even from the next round onward. Well, not that Asher minded, as by the next Inter-Empire Competition, he would already be at the Crownstar Life Rank and might even have little children running around.
He would simply be a spectator by then.
And as he had this thought, Asher couldn’t help but wonder how talented the next generation of the Inter-Empire Competition would be.
’Speaking of which, shouldn’t they show us the winner of the last competition?’ Asher thought to himself.
As Asher made his way toward the bathroom, his steps came to a halt as he received a telepathic message from his photon clone.
’Mr. Real Body, I’ve got quite the special situation here,’ the photon clone spoke telepathically, choosing to call Asher ’Mr. Real Body.’
Although Asher didn’t like the name, he could only endure it, as that was what the clone chose to call him and refused to change it.
’What is it?’ Asher asked.
The photon clone hadn’t contacted him at all since the night of the second day, so receiving a message right now surprised him quite a bit.
’It’s like this...’ the photon clone went on to explain.
’No problem, don’t interfere,’ Asher replied, then turned away from the bathroom. After all, he had just been told that he was expecting a visitor... a special one at that.
’No problem,’ the photon clone answered before cutting off communications and remaining hidden.
