"So you are Rank 657?" a senior-year student asked.
"Yes," the first-year student replied.
"Sorry, we have no openings," the senior said.
"You are kidding, right?" the student spoke up.
He was a first-year student from Class 3 who was trying to enter one of the clubs in World Academy.
"You heard me right. We have no spots, sadly," the senior replied as he stared at the first-year student.
"Not again," the student said to himself as he turned to go back.
He had received a similar response from most private clubs that were also popular inside the World Academy.
And he was not the only one; many students from the first years were getting similar responses from the seniors. At first, they thought entering the clubs would be easy, but most popular clubs were picky about their members.
"Tch, why are we getting these useless people to come up all the time," one of the senior year students said.
"Let's wait for one more hour and if we don't get any good members, let's go back," the other replied.
While Asher was outside the World Academy, the First Years were finally allowed to access the entirety of World Academy.
And most of the First Years went to the Club Registration Areas to look around for specific clubs for them to join.
A club was a gathering of like-minded people with similar hobbies or goals. The concept was to promote extracurricular activities among students.
Not every student was part of a club, but most students were. Clubs were the best options to know Senior Year students and increase their social connections.
Most people, from elite families to rich families, would join such clubs. And most students from a common background did as well.
"Well, at least we ain't as bad as the Blood Faction or the Student Council," one of them muttered quietly.
In the Outer Sector of World Academy,
Asher entered the World Academy, and various devices scanned him for any unauthorized items.
After getting past the security, arriving at the Ranker's Dorm didn't take too long.
Arriving at his room, the first thing he did was contact Elsa about his arrival.
He connected the video call to Elsa Robles, and after a few seconds, he could see Elsa's face inside the hologram projecting in front of him.
"Oh, you arrived early?" Elsa asked Asher.
"Yes, and I will be using this week to increase my rank," Asher spoke.
"This early?" Elsa asked with a confused look.
It was already absurd for Asher to reach D Rank at his age, but trying to reach C- Rank was impossible for him in Elsa's mind.
"Listen, boy, I know you are talented, but rushing such things is not beneficial," Elsa said with a serious look.
"It's a try, and I would like to proceed with it," Asher replied, using an important keyword in his statement.
'Try' was a word hunters used when they felt like they touched their threshold and used that chance to try and level up. Even if they failed, they would find a new threshold to reach next time.
Ranking up was a process of increasing the overall power of one's body. It was a gradual process where you yourself needed to know thresholds and limits.
"Still, you should wait for some months before doing this," Elsa tried to sway Asher's mind.
"I have made up my mind," Asher replied.
'Is his bloodline the source of his confidence?' Elsa thought as she stayed silent for a couple of seconds.
"Well, you can have two weeks for your training, and we will send you a C Rank Mana Gem for your rank up," she finally gave Asher consent.
Each student could take two weeks from their mana core progression every two months.
"Okay," Asher disconnected the call as he stood from the table.
He went towards his room and touched his ID Bracelet, opening the various articles that were being published in the World Academy.
News Club, which was partially under the Student Council, was responsible for covering various news inside the World Academy.
As the students were living far from society, it was obvious that they would be interested in what was happening worldwide.
'So the club recruitments are still going on?' Asher thought in his mind as he glanced over several pages.
He could see nothing major had happened over the days he was gone.
<New Class Schedule: Space Element Class is scheduled for Friday, three weeks from today>
He saw the notification pop up.
It was the schedule for the Space Element class, and Asher could imagine why it would take so long for them to schedule this particular class.
It was known that those who continued to practice the Space Element would eventually harm their minds so much that their emotions and actions would become uncontrollable and unpredictable.
No single sane person was among those who took researching the Space Element seriously. And this was why it was hard to find a teacher among such people.
Despite the Space Element being such a self-harming element, there were always people who believed they could master it. One common thing among the people who had an affinity for the Space Element was their confidence in their own ability.
After waiting many hours, the C Rank Mana Gem finally arrived on his floor through automated delivery, and he took the small case inside the mana meditation room.
He was shirtless right now as he opened the case, and a shining blue gem-like crystal was in front of him. But it was much duller than the S Rank Mana Gem he had used during his awakening.
Unlike awakening, where most of the pure mana inside the mana gem was wasted and only used to form a core and open your mana meridians, a normal hunter used this mana gem as a mana source.
And Asher was going to do the same thing. However, due to the effect of the SSS Rank artifact that made the mana density around the island much thicker, he only needed this Mana Gem as an extra assurance.
He closed the case for now, as it wasn't the time to use it. Instead, his priority was to strengthen his body and increase his stamina.
Stamina was one of his lowest stats, and the reason for this was his late awakening. Even though he had ranked up pretty fast, his body had only recently started getting used to such high amounts of mana.
And it was one of the stats that could only be increased over time and by training it regularly by pushing your body to the limit.
And for the first week, until his system returned, he would focus solely on strengthening his body.
'It's time,' Asher thought as he flared his mana.
From the day of his awakening till now, he had made sure that his body strengthened slowly till he reached the peak of D Rank.
It was one of the reasons that his Stamina and Endurance stats were behind the others.
His mana core formed when he awakened was an E Rank Core much higher than normal people. Due to this, his mana meridians were overworked from the start, but his new bloodline decreased the strain over time.
But now that he had finally reached D Rank, he could feel the tension around his mana core had stabilized significantly.
His body and mana core were finally balanced, and now he could focus on improving his stamina and endurance alone.
And he started it by spreading his mana around the room and absorbing the mana in his surroundings simultaneously.
He mimicked the pattern of mana absorption that would happen when a person was fighting. Of course, it was impossible for a normal human, but Asher, who had knowledge from his previous life, could do it.
He had already experienced what his body went through during all those battles, so mimicking the mana absorption in that particular state was not that tough for him.
He could feel the pores around his body, and his muscles could feel the constant flow of mana around his body. Both his mana-related skills were helping him right now.
It was a slow process that would take him days as he would slowly temper his body. And the environment around him was perfect for this kind of training.
*********
"Keep targeting the people in Class 1," Leonard said with a bored look.
"And make sure they feel the source of their suffering is Asher Greville," he raised his eyebrows as he moved a chess piece before him.
"But how will that help us against him?" Jack Allister asked as he looked at the chessboard in front of him.
Jack made his next move and looked back at Leonard.
"I want to see how he will react when he becomes the source of hatred for everyone around him," Leonard replied.
"Keep pushing him until I find the things he reacts to," he replied, moving his knight.
"It's only a matter of time," Leonard said.
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