"Thank you," he responded calmly, while the rest of the students stood there, their minds reeling in shock.

Five Nakros were killed, with three Arcanas surviving.

None of them had yet been able to kill a Nakros and were still learning to survive a Nakros Arcana, yet he had already achieved so much.

Ten minutes later, the class ended.

Everlearn stepped out of the Combat Building, exhaling slightly as he looked around, noticing the dark.

This was the fifth class today, and now it was about 8:07 PM.

He paused slightly, looking at the stars and noticing the three moons gathered in a triangle.

A quiet gleam of realization crossed his eyes.

Once a year, the three moons in Nvidia aligned together in a triangular format, signifying the passing of half the year.

"Time passes quite fast, huh?"

And speaking of time, he had already spent three months here in the academy.

"Hey, Ever."

The call came from behind, and he turned to find a person walking toward him.

It was a girl, long green hair that he found quite familiar, and he replied,

"Daph?"

She was similar to the girl who was on his team during the simulation training.

"Yes, that's me," she replied.

"Full name is Daphne. Daphne Ventigmilia," she said, reaching his side and stretching her hand out for a handshake.

"Nice to meet you, Daphne."

"I'm…"

"Everlearn Snowfall. First in Combat, Weapon, and Nakros Metric Class Ranking, fourth in the Challenge Ranking, and unofficially the strongest newcomer in X-Guard."

Daphne said, a smile on her lips as she looked at Everlearn's dumbfounded expression.

"Wow."

He said, and she couldn't hold back her giggles.

"You do know quite a lot," he said, as they parted their handshake and continued down the walkway.

"I finally got a 50% mark in the simulation test today, and that was only possible because you came just in time to help me out from getting crushed by that Nakros."

"Thank you," she said.

It was genuine; he could see that in her eyes, and he replied,

"You're welcome."

"You know, back then, before Combat Aura placed you in a defense role, you were always so fast in reaching the end of the Iaricon Scraper, and though your scores were at first 30% like everyone else, they quickly rose to a point where you have never fallen below ninety percent."

"So, I wanted to ask, what did you do, or would you have done if your score was limited to below fifty percent and you wanted to raise it higher?" she asked, and Everlearn's brow creased slightly.

Silence extended for about five seconds, the only sound being their footsteps, before he responded.

"Though the Iaricon Scraper changes with every new simulation, the Nakros positions are fixed," he responded, and her eyes widened.

"They are!?"

"Yes. They might wander off sometimes, but it's like they're stuck in a region."

"So long as you avoid that region on the map, you won't run across them.

"And I think, running across any Nakros is what makes most students never reach the end."

"So, in the next class, try mapping out the regions where the Nakros are, and you could carve a new path to the end."

"Aaaannnnd?" she asked.

He said,

"Also, avoid running on the ground if you can."

"Jumping through the skyscrapers is faster, helps avoid running into other teams, and lowers the chances of meeting a Nakros."

That made her almost pause in her tracks.

"Jumping through the skyscrapers."

"Wait, was that why you were able to reach us fast?" she asked, and he nodded, watching her stare at him in disbelief.

"I mean, it's not against the rules, is it?"

"And it's all just a simulation anyway. There's no damage to the buildings or anything. So… why not?"

He asked, and she creased her eyebrows.

Jumping through those skyscrapers… that had never crossed her mind at all.

The glass frames from breaking into skyscrapers could stab into you, and it was a risky dive since the skyscrapers were so tall.

If you jumped out of one and couldn't reach the other, you would plummet to the ground, and the pain of falling in the simulation was the same as in real life.

Even for Corers, falling from such height stings.

But there was no arguing that it was truly faster.

No need to take so many detours, and one could even avoid the Nakros down on the ground.

There were indeed tricks to finishing fast, just when she thought those having such high scores were crazily strong freaks.

"I've… I've never thought of that before. I just thought other students had high scores because they were strong or faster, like you."

"Thanks a lot for that."

"You're welcome," he said.

They both arrived at the Dorm Building, and her room was across, so she bid him farewell, and he continued to the elevator.

DIIIIING!

Everlearn stepped out of the elevator and continued to his room.

Sliding the green card over, it opened up, and he stepped in, the door shutting behind him.

____

His living room had undergone quite the change.

For one, there was a multicolored lightning rug sprawled across the floor, casting various ripples of light with every step he took, and at the center stood an extra-large circular sofa.

On the wall facing the sofa was a 55" TV, a couple of tech consoles in the space below, and two game controllers.

Being fourth in the Challenge Ranking meant having quite the number of points, and he had ultimately decided to show some love to his abode.

He went to the bathroom right after, taking a quick shower before heading to the bedroom.

On a cupboard by the side, he grabbed a couple of bags of snacks before returning to the living room, switching on the TV, and connecting the console.

Digging his hand into the bag and pouring in a handful of cheeseballs, he grabbed the controller and was about to begin playing when—

DIIIIING!

His device on the side table beeped, and Everlearn paused, finding a notification slide.

Tapping a finger on it, his eyes skimmed through the message, but then they slowly widened in shock.

He let go of the controller, picked up the device, and reread through.

"For...For real!?"

Next chapter will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.