CHAPTER 209: CHALLENGE’S END

Alex left the training room with a skip in his step because his passion for music had been reignited.

However, all the fairies whom he had faced and defeated gave him the same advice.

"You have amazing talent! You should just keep it hidden! Forever if possible!"

Under the countless gazes that bore into his back, Alex stopped walking, turned around to face them once more, and flipped his hair like a K-pop Idol.

"I am the Club President of Endless Horizon," Alex declared. "Alex Stratos. I hope that all of you have a wonderful and amazing day."

After giving everyone a slight bow, he turned around and walked away.

The young man was feeling very smug and was even looking forward to Renard’s reaction after the news of his one-sided victory in the Seventh Training Room reached the Ironheart Dormitory.

"Sometimes, I scare myself when I get serious," Alex muttered as he headed toward Fran’s farm to look for Dim Dim.

Also, it was almost lunch, and he was very hungry.

If he was lucky, he might once again taste Fran’s cooking.

Her cooking might not be the most delicious in the world, but it was every single dish she cooked was made with great care and used ingredients that she had grown with her own hands. Alex always looked forward to eating her dishes.

Meanwhile, at the Staff Room of Frieden Academy...

The Musical Professor, Ms. Arienna Lyrell, who had also judged Alex’s singing during the class allocation trials, heard the news.

But when her teaching assistant told her that the person who managed to get first place in the challenges went by the name of Alex Stratos, Professor Arienna genuinely believed that she was being pranked.

Alex had left a very deep impression on her, so it was impossible for her not to recognize the name.

"Alex broke all the records of the Seventh Training Room?" Professor Arienna blinked. "He even became the Singing King?"

"Yes, Professor!" The assistant teacher nodded. "Every music student has been talking about it!

"Are you sure that it’s Alex Stratos?" Professor Arienna frowned. "That Alex Stratos, whom we heard sing in the Trial of Music? Is Alex Stratos a common name?"

The assistant teacher hesitated before answering, "I believe that it’s the same person."

"..." Professor Arienna decided to take a look for herself and immediately left the staff room for the Seventh Training Room.

She was the manager of this training room, so she could access the musical records of the battle.

But when she tried to check them, she couldn’t find any of them.

"Strange..." Professor Arienna muttered. "Why haven’t his challenges been recorded?"

What the professor didn’t know was that all the fairies had erased the evidence of Alex’s singing from the magical database.

If news of his singing came to light, people might start to question if they were even qualified to keep their positions as the judges of the Seventh Training Room.

Aside from the second round of the Battle Choir, all other evidence of Alex’s performance couldn’t be found within the academy’s database.

This was also the only recording that the students could see when they tried to look for the challenges that he participated in.

Everyone already knew who Astrea was, so when they saw Alex summon her, they knew that her voice would already be a winner.

But what took them by surprise was that the song she sang was one they were hearing for the first time.

Also, when they saw the beings that manifested from Astrea’s singing, they instinctively felt that they were looking at something divine.

The majority of them even thought that they had seen these beings somewhere before.

Minutes later, it finally hit them.

The Deities of Arcana, whom many people wished to meet but were unable to find, flashed across their minds.

The statues of these mythical beings were scattered all across Arcana.

And the beings fighting Melodina looked exactly like them!

"T-This... is this even possible?" Professor Arienna couldn’t help but gasp after seeing this scene.

She then immediately wrote down the lyrics of the song that Astrea was singing, making sure she copied every word down to the last letter.

The Professor then copied the recording onto a magic crystal and left the Seventh Training Room to look for Astrea.

She would ask the young lady to memorize the song and see if she would be able to manifest the same beings when she entered the Battle Choir.

———

On Fran’s farm...

Dim Dim was currently perched on top of the Doom Cow, Daisy, and chatting with the leader of the Farm Animals.

It was none other than an Eagle Parrot that was nearly three-meters tall.

The name of that Eagle Parrot was Captain, which Fran had bestowed upon it when it had hatched from its egg.

Since then, the Eagle Parrot had been watching over the young Dwarf who had raised it with love and care.

"Your friend is here, Dim Dim," Captain noted when he noticed the young man walking towards them.

The Dim Sum God was chewing on a cookie as it turned around to look at the farm’s latest visitor.

"Dim!" Dim Dim waved at Alex, which prompted the latter to wave back at it.

"Dim Dim, you should have been there," Alex said proudly. "I managed to beat all the challenges and got first place?!"

Dim Dim blinked once then twice before eating the rest of the cookie in its hands because it needed time to process what it had just heard.

"Dim Dim!"

The Dim Sum God praised Alex, but deep inside, it was wondering if the two of them needed to leave the academy.

Why?

The little white bun was afraid that the Professors would come looking for Alex to pay for property damage, magical restoration fees, emotional trauma compensation, or whatever absurd charges they might want to file against the young man after reviewing what had happened in the Seventh Training Room.

Suddenly, Fran appeared, carrying a basket of freshly picked cherry tomatoes.

"Alex, Dim Dim, have the two of you eaten lunch yet?" Fran asked. "I’m just about to cook something, so if the two of you are interested, feel free to join me."

"I haven’t eaten yet," Alex replied. "Free lunch is always good!"

"The food in the cafeteria is also free," Fran commented.

"But I prefer eating the food that you make, Fran." The young man gave the cute dwarf a thumbs-up. "It tastes better because I know that you personally raised them on this farm."

Fran smiled faintly after hearing Alex’s sincere words. She then looked at the little white bun.

Dim Dim told Fran that it usually only ate cookies, but it would love to eat Fran’s cooking.

Since she had two additional guests to feed, she decided to put more effort in her cooking today.

"Okay, I’ll have it ready in thirty minutes," Fran said before going to the house to prepare their lunch.

Just as Fran entered the house, the young man sensed a presence behind him and saw Fran’s twin brother, Finn, walking toward the farm, pulling a cart filled with chopped firewood.

"You’re here again, Alex?" Finn frowned after seeing the young man who had been loitering on their farm for the past few days.

"I came here to pick up Dim Dim," Alex replied.

"I see." Finn glanced at the little white bun, whom he didn’t mind staying in the farm.

As for Alex... the young man was still a stranger in his eyes.

There had been no shortage of humans who were trying to get close to his sister. Some of them might mean well, but there were others who were looking at Fran as if she were some kind of rare animal they were seeing for the first time in their life.

This didn’t sit well with Finn, who had been protected by his sister ever since they had left their hometown.

The Dwarf was very tempted to tell Alex that he shouldn’t spend so much time at the farm because he could instinctively feel that he was just like the other men who were trying to get into his sister’s good books.

But unlike the other guys who visited the farm, Fran actually liked talking to Alex.

Because of this, Finn decided to just observe Alex for now.

’It won’t be too late to bury him six feet under if he really does something stupid,’ Finn thought before pulling the cart to the shed where they kept their firewood.

Although they could use fire crystals to create fire for cooking and heating, Fran and Finn preferred to use wood because it felt more natural to them.

Alex watched the Dwarf walk past him, knowing exactly what Finn was thinking.

Fran’s twin brother was the first obstacle that players had to overcome in order to get Fran’s happy ending.

By raising Finn’s good impression of him, Alex knew that the Dwarf boy would be more inclined to support him in the future.

Although Alex planned to do that, he didn’t want to use the methods that were available in the game.

He wanted Finn to recognize him properly not because he already knew his likes and dislikes. This, afterall, was no longer a game.

Alex didn’t want to treat relationships as if he was just raising the affection meter of the people around him.

No. He wanted a relationship of mutual respect, which was something he was taking very seriously.

’I guess I will have to approach this differently.’ Alex sighed internally. ’But that will have to wait until the first main event of the first arc ends.’

In a month’s time, all the First Year Classes would have to participate in an interclass battle royale.

’The demon worshipers will make their move soon,’ Alex thought. ’But it’s fine. I already have a plan in mind.’

The young man thought about Nessia, who would play an important role in the upcoming battle royale.

If things worked out the way he intended, then the battle royale would be a stage where everyone would truly learn the might of Endless Horizon.