On the other side of the campus, at a different time, something more interesting was happening.
Leo's eyes flew open. His mouth curved up into a smile as he marveled at his progress. He had finally gone through all the pills at his disposal. There were four empty cases of pills lying on his bed.
If anyone saw this sight, they would be afraid that he was a lunatic addicted to pills. In a way, he was. This training session proved to him that his body could truly tolerate as many pills as possible. He put the pillboxes away. He didn't want anyone to see them if they came into his room without him knowing.
After doing that, he got up and punched the air. The punch pushed the air around him forward and shook the objects in his room. The shaking stopped after a few seconds. He wasn't surprised that he could do this. It was a perk that came with his breakthrough.
He was now a Middle-Stage 2nd Circle Aura Knight. It was a phenomenal increase in strength for him. The small breakthrough almost made him twice as strong.
This was because he increased the quantity and quality of his aura by a lot. The Aura Techniques he would display would be more powerful and would last longer.
He had gotten to the Middle Stage just 250 pills in, but he wanted to keep going. He could also go out to buy a few more pills but chose not to do that. If he broke through to the Middle-Stage 2nd Circle this quickly, he would only be labeled as a genius.
But if he broke through 2 levels very quickly, there would be a little more suspicion. He wanted to avoid too much suspicion if he could. He already had enough strength at his current stage.
He had a lot more aura than he was supposed to have and would be able to use his Aura Technique which was essentially overpowered with it. He was very confident that he wouldn't have a problem with his fight at all.
He walked out of his room and saw Roland sitting on the couch outside. When Roland saw Leo come out, he immediately stood up to talk to him.
"Are you okay? I didn't see you come out for almost 2 weeks!" Roland said.
It was true. Since Leo had started training, he had been stuck inside the room for 12 days. The only reason he wasn't taking longer was because he was periodically taking two pills at once.
"I'm good. I was just training. Did anything happen in this time?" He asked.
"Yes. I was going to my classes and Marcus and Lyra saw me. They were looking for you and said it's incredibly important. They were even thinking about just coming to the room but I said I would tell you that they wanted to see you," he said.
Leo nodded. "Thanks for telling me. I will go find them," he said.
"They said they would mostly be at the Gravity Steps to train," he said.
"Yeah, I'll find them. Don't worry," Leo said as he stepped outside the room. He walked down the stairs and exited the building with no intention of going to the Gravity Steps.
He was planning on going there eventually, but not yet. He was going to the point shop first.
He walked down the streets while getting a couple of stares. He was still partially famous because of his duel against the 2nd Year Student. But he wasn't completely famous.
The most famous among the entire academy was a list of ten people. Leo was unaware of this, but it was an unofficial list that circulated among the students that update every month. There was even a group of students that dedicated themselves to updating this list. Leo was only 9th on this list.
He got to the points shop and went to the counter to buy something.
"Hello, how can I help you?" The lady at the counter asked when she saw him come to her.
"I'd like to purchase a challenge," he said.
"Of course. Are you a New Student?" She asked.
He nodded.
"Then challenges are going to cost 5000 points. Can I have your card?" She asked.
He gave it to her. When she checked his card, her expression changed.
"Sir, there is a slight problem with your challenge," She told him.
"Why?" He asked with a frown.
"Well, if you are going to challenge someone inside the New Student Ranking, then it would cost you 5000 points. But all the ranks above you are also on the Student Rankings so that ranking takes precedence. You would need to buy a normal challenge which costs 10000 points," she said.
He sighed in relief. "Oh, that was what I wanted to do anyway. I wasn't challenging someone inside the New Students Ranking," he said.
The girl shook her head in disbelief. The new students in this batch were a lot more monstrous than she had thought.
"Then, who would you like to challenge?" She asked him.
"Well, do I have to tell you now?" He asked. He already knew who he wanted to challenge but was surprised that his challenge was restricted to only a single person.
"Yes. If you give us a name, then we will issue them a challenge. They have a month to accept or they will risk forfeiting their rank. If they get defeated in the process, then the challenge is transferred to the person who replaced them. They will also have to accept the challenge within the month that it was issued," she said.
Leo was very surprised at how detailed the rules were. They were very well formed and were taking into consideration every aspect that he could think of.
"Okay, I would like to challenge the... 97th ranked person?" he said in a guessing tone. He wasn't completely sure which rank he was.
"So you would like to challenge... Seraphina Nightshade?" She checked the name and asked him.
He shook his head. "No, I wanted to challenge someone named Remus Eldridge. I thought he was 97th on the ranking," he said.
The expression of the woman that had become normal changed again to shock.
"Are you sure? He moved up a lot of ranks just a week ago. He is now the 89th Ranked student. He is also a Middle-Stage 2nd Circle Mage," she said.
He nodded. "Yes, I am sure. How will I find out that the challenge was accepted?" He asked her.
She sighed and gave him his card back.
"I deducted the points for the challenge. You will find out by a letter delivered to your dorm. It will be sent three days before the fight," she said.
He smiled. "Thank you so much. You were a great help," he said.
He walked out of the points shop with a satisfied smile. He had finished what he had come for. Now he could go to the Gravity Steps to where Marcus and Lyra were.
He walked through the streets to get there. It wasn't far and the walk was only 5 minutes.
