The Mysterious Black Magician

"You are Crimson Agila?" Asked the person in front. 

Currently, there were five people in front of them, blocking them intentionally.

The person in front smiled and glanced at Cinde.

Cinde, on the other hand, knitted her brows. This guy was the guy she saw when she went inside the student council room together with Rea.

"My name is Prince Damian. Perhaps you remembered seeing me the other day inside the student council room," Damian added.

Yman slightly nodded his head as a reply to his question. He was right, he remembered seeing him inside the student council room. "Is there a problem?" He asked.. 

Damian's mouth extended into a smile before opening it. "There's no problem. It just happened that I saw you coming. I thought I have to say 'hi' to a popular person."

Yman was puzzled by his words. "Popular? Who?" He asked out of reflex.

"Fufufu," Damian laughed. "You don't need to act low key. Everyone here already knew about you."

"....."

"....."

"Popular?" Not only Yman was puzzled about it, but even Cinde was also. "Yes, lost puppy," said Damian to her, with a wink.

But Cinde did not notice it as she was staring at Crimson with admiration in her eyes. 

Upon noticing their expression that says they have no idea about it. "Fufufu," Damian once again chuckled. "It's about you being the new ranker," Damian decided to fill them.

After hearing Damian's words, "Congrats, Crimson!" Although knew that Crimson wasn't an ordinary person, she never thought that he would become popular in an instant. Who would have thought that once a person became a ranker they would become so popular inside the campus.

Yman thought.

'Ranker… could it be… the Training Pavilion?' 

Anything aside from it, there was nothing else that he remembered connected to the ranking that he achieved these past days. But, was it that great of achievements that could cause him to rise in popularity? Yman doubted.

"Hm… I see. Do you mean the Training Pavilion?" He asked somehow to figure if his initial thought was right or wrong.

He noticed the person who called himself Prince Damian nodded his head.

"Regardless, I only came to meet you personally as a fellow ranker. With that achievement of yours, you can rejoice while you still can. Being a ranker give you so many benefits, but it also required you to participate in the Pavilion's demands—"

"What? Pavilion's demands?"

"Right."

Yman didn't know about it. Could it be… they forgot to notify him about it? Wait… since it was the Training Pavilion, perhaps they only wanted him to achieve another success by successfully defeating another stage. Yman assumed.

But it seemed like Damian was able to read him. He added saying: "One of them, and the most common one is to accept a challenge from a challenger who wishes to challenge you in the Virtual Arena."

Yman fell silent.

'So a duel again, huh.' He thought.

Honestly, Professor Ronnie told them that there was another way of gaining points and ranks at a faster rate. But it also endangered their rank and points at the same time. The other way to gain points and ranks for their department was to bet their rank and points in a battle. There was this facility that was called a Virtual Arena, in this arena, every ranker could battle to bet their ranks and points.

They could choose either to fight in a duel, duo, and even a team of five players.

Upon hearing it, Yman thought deeply. If he wanted to buy the ingredients that Professor Ronnie needed to help them solve the miasma, he had to gamble with it. After all, there was no ranking they could lose as they were not in the rank in the first place.

So, the question is… how he made a bet? Or what to do to increase their rank? It was what Yman wanted to figure out. It was also the reason why he came here. He needed Rea's help.

He glanced at the person in front of him. "I see, so a Virtual Arena, huh."

Upon hearing his mutter, a glint briefly happened in Prince Damian's eyes. "It must sound like a simple duel. But don't forget that anyone that you will face there is the same ranker as you. Each of them are not easy opponents. In any case, if I were you. I started to prepare myself because the battle of the rankers is not just a child's play. Fufu."

After a chuckle, "Thanks for your time Mr. Crimson Agila. We shall leave you now as you look like you have an important business needed to do." Damian then glanced at Cinde. "See you, lost puppy."

Cinde knitted her brows and frowned. Yman, on the other hand, just smiled wryly. He wanted to ask Prince Damian if Rea was in the council room, but he decided not. 

After Prince Damian and his friends left, Yman and Cinde continued to the Student Council room.

From the outside, they could hear their voices. Looks like they have just finished discussing the future competition.

Yman remembered he needed to return soon to the Human City Zone 7. The inside competition was about to begin in that academy.

After Yman and Cinde knocked on the door, they heard someone's permission to come in.

Around this time, in Human City Zone 7, the academy staff were also busy planning the coming competition.

The instructors were busy training their trainees. On the other hand, those who explored the dungeon still did not return. Mostly, exploration would take a week as the shortest possible days and longest was months.

But Almina and the others just came out of the dungeon. It only took them 3-4 days as they needed to train in the academy. After all, they were still trainees.

Each of them was exhausted as they came out, but everyone noticed that they matured somehow. Looks like some of them were able to advance to some level.

It was noticeable also that their magical aura had raised considerably. Even Bob and his party members had a noticeable difference in growth.

However, their exploration wasn't a smooth one. Bob's party and Kiko's party argue a lot. It was thanks to Almina's party that the issue did not go big and was always settled.

If not because of Almina, a brawl between these parties were unavoidable.

The most who have great advancements among them all were Almina, Maena, and Kiko.

These three people have now reached level 10 or False Path expert.

Kiko was very happy, there were occasions that he was able to converse with Almina.

Although, when he tried to open up a conversation about her likes and such, she would occasionally divert the topic about their fighting styles, skills, monsters, and etcetera.

He sighed. Anyhow, it was a good start to make a friendly conversation with her. However, he wanted to know if she truly likes him. Almina seemed to be not the type of person who was openly expressing her thoughts, especially about her love interest.

It was so depressing for Kiko, he wanted to know her feelings towards him. But he could not force it on her. He wanted Almina to be the one expressing her feelings first to him.

Upon realizing that Almina was not the type of person who would do that. He started to change his plan. Now he had to be friendly to her.

As long as in the end she would fall into his hands, all his hard work would be worth it.

Aside from the talk about love, Kiko's other priority was to gain more influence in the Sun family. Now that he finally reached the first path of advancements, his influence in the Sun family would surely grow.

If things kept going the way it was, all his dreams would be not just a dream. They would soon come into reality.

No.

He would make sure that it would come to reality. Especially that hateful person was already out of the picture.

Kiko shook his head to get rid of that person's name in his mind. That person was just an unnecessary extra that did not need to be mentioned anymore. Everyone already forgot that person existed.

Kiko shook his head once again, he needed to clear his mind.

He almost perfected his new ultimate skill, thanks to his advancement to a False Path Expert, it was easier to control his mana.

When night came, Kiko went to the rooftop of the private building that his family bought inside the city.

He sat cross-legged and started his meditation. His body was immediately enveloped by a brilliant magical aura. After it, he went into deep concentration.

In his mind, the coming competition, he would make sure to come out as the new Ace of this academy.

Around this time, Almina and the others also did their meditation in each of their homes. Almina and Maena finally mastered the second stage of Perfect Breathing, and now in the process of perfecting the third stage.

The exploration helped them a lot to understand the first and second stages of it.