CHAPTER 78: CLEAR PROGRESS

"Don’t tell me you’re still tasked with spying on my every move?" Everlearn said, getting his green card from his pocket and preparing to slide it over his scanner, when she stood before it, blocking him.

He turned his gaze to her.

"I’m not spying on you anymore," she said, but he only rolled his eyes.

"I swear it!" she added.

"Okay, fine. See you around then?" he said, trying to shoo her off, but she remained where she was.

"Though you didn’t fall for it," Rosa said, continuing,

"I know it wasn’t right, playing with your feelings like that. So..."

"So?" Everlearn asked.

"I want to make it up to you," she said, turning her face up.

He saw it in her eyes, the conviction, and he hummed a bit.

How had he realized she didn’t fall for him the last time she said she did?

Because even Everlearn wouldn’t fall for himself because he was weak?

No. That was an excuse he cooked up.

As much as he wouldn’t call himself a model, he knew he was above average in looks.

And even in this cold world, some girls were dumb enough to fall in love with that.

What gave her away was her eyes.

Everlearn had always been good at reading them.

And when he had looked into hers after her declaration, he had noticed there wasn’t really anything in them, making it obviously fake.

But now, looking into the depth of those same pink eyes, he could see the glow in them, showing she had indeed realized her actions were wrong and was truly trying to make it up to him.

"And how did you plan to make up for that?"

Everlearn said, and Rosa noticed as his eyes trailed down from hers, slowly moving down until they stopped right there.

"Don’t even dare think about it!"

She said, and Everlearn chuckled, watching the side of her face turn pink.

"Don’t worry. I’m not," he said, and she looked at his once more serious expression, the pink fading slightly.

"I love riding."

"So... how about going on a bike ride? If... if you’re fine with it, of course. I... could even rent a bike... extra, if you’re not fine with us... you know... on the same..."

She said, the words coming out in a rush and pause, but then she stopped when she noticed the hand on her shoulder.

"6:00 PM tomorrow evening. Hmm?" he said, and she nodded as he took his hand back and she finally stepped aside.

BEEEP

The door beeped, and Rosa watched as it closed behind him.

She stepped towards the railings, her hands unconsciously reaching for her chest.

It was pounding so heavily, reminiscent of her time in training, something weird since she wasn’t even moving from a spot, and yet her heart had been sent into such a frenzy.

She exhaled, calming her heart.

A slight smile bloomed on her face, giving one last look at his door, before she also returned to hers.

_________

║ Mission Completed ║

║ Mission Information: Win your first Challenge ║

║ Rewards:

1.+7,000 EXP,

2. +2 Level Up Cards,

3. +3% Core Compatibility ║

The system panel flashed as Everlearn jumped onto his bed, a towel around his neck, with wet hair clinging to his forehead.

"Not only did I gain 350 points from the fight, even got myself some level-up cards..." Everlearn mused to himself, switching on his device and seeing the number of points he currently had:

[ Total Points: 540 ]

"Seems like the Challenge System of the academy ain’t that bad. Literally, the quickest way to good living," Everlearn mused to himself, a grin opening on the corner of his lips.

When he moved to the ranking, he found his name.

15 ║ Everlearn Snowfall ║ 540 points

Right now, he has the highest points among the remaining students below the Top 10.

As for the Top 10 themselves, Number 10 was the lowest, and he had 600 points.

That was crazy, but when he checked the Number 1, he almost choked on his breath.

1st ║ Lucien Nightingale ║ 2,670 Points

"2,670 points!? That’s insane!" he screamed in shock but then settled.

If he were number 1, only the devil knew how much of a devil that dude was.

"I wonder how strong he really is, though."

"Maybe I’ll watch some of his fights once he gets a challenge next time,"

He mused to himself before turning off his device.

’Initiate MDS protocol.’

╔══════════════════╗

║ [ SYSTEM INTERFACE ] ║

╠══════════════════╣

║ ▸ Name: Everlearn Snowfall ║

║ ▸ Race: Human ║

║ ▸ Age: 17 ║

║ ▸ Level: 14 ║

╠══════════════════════════════════════╣

║ CULTIVATION ║

║ ▸ Current Energy: Core ║

║ ▸ Cultivation Stage: Anomalous X-Grade Corer ║

║ ▸ Core to Body Sync: 13% ║

║ ▸ Energy State: Stable ║

║ ▸ Core Energy Points: 130 ║

║ IMPORTANT NOTE: At 13% Core to Body Sync, activating the Core will lead to a boost of +13 on all stat points except Charisma and Intelligence. ║

His core sync had moved from 10% to 13%, an increase of 3%, and Everlearn had indeed activated the Core during his fight with Vulcan.

Not only that, he had also gained an extra 30 points in Core Energy and three extra points anytime he activated his Core.

║ EXP: 7,000 / 25,000 ║

║ Level Up Cards: 2 ║

║ Does Host wish to level up? ║

’Yes,’

║ -1 Level Up Card! ║

║ Congratulations, Host has leveled up to Level 21. ║

║ +20 Attribute Points Obtained. ║

║ -1 Level Up Card! ║

║ Congratulations, Host has leveled up to Level 22. ║

║ +20 Attribute Points Obtained. ║

════════STATS════════

║ Strength: 100 ║

║ Agility: 100 ║

║ Endurance: 100 ║

║ Intelligence: 100 ║

║ Charisma: 65 ║

║ Attribute Points: 40 ║

’Does Host wish to distribute attribute points?’

’No,’ Everlearn replied.

The points wouldn’t make much difference at his current level of strength, so it was better to farm more before deciding to properly allocate his stat points.

With him having fused with a Core, completed the Battle Challenge and won, and fully resolving the system’s notifications, Everlearn found satisfaction in the progress of things and decided to reward himself with a good night’s rest.

...but what ought to be a good night’s rest would quickly turn sideways soon enough...