"Ah, those are student ranking. It goes from 1 to 100. Students in Withokere University are at the strength of low Diamond Rank to High Diamond Rank."
"Hmmm, isn't the teacher at High Diamond Rank as well?"
"You can begin to apply as a teacher when you reach High Diamond Rank, and your status as student can also be maintained. Of course, you need to pay a lot more as your strength improved."
Withokere University wasn't free. Every students here pay a lot of money every month just for tuition. And this did not include the resources required to increase their power.
Even though most of them came from wealthy and influential family, they still felt pain for paying the tuition. That was why some students became a teacher at the same time, because then they would get funds to pay their own tuition. Also, they could access to more knowledge and resources that was only available for teacher.
High Diamond Rank needed a lot of resources every single day just to improve a tiny weeny bit. Their pills, potions, herbs, and magical fruits were enough to create 100 Platinum Rank magicians per day. Of course, high Diamond Ranks were more valuable than mere Platinum Ranks.
A single high Diamond Rank could even destroy an army of 10,000 Platinum Rank by using hit-run tactic.
"Who is that at the top of the ranking?" Tom asked.
"He is Nerdam Biv. He's been at the top of the list for 50 years now. Everyone is sure that he will reach Adamantite Rank soon. The king has a lot of expectation on him. The moment he reached Adamantite Rank, there will be a fief given to him."
"The king will give up some his territory?"
"Nope. He will wage war and take some." Zerdar laughed.
"Is that a safe approach to take? What if another kingdom attacked us because we are too aggressive?"
"Withokere is not a nation of cowards, Tom. We do not think 'what if'. We always expect someone out there will come and attack us, therefore, we must prepare our best for that day. And for the last 100 years, we have been invaded many times. We lost no territory at all, and even obtain a little bit."
Tom was very impressed. According to the information Corduul gathered, Kingdom of Withokere was a small kingdom compared to its neighbor. The Divine Empire of Stotford and Kingdom of Presteria was the two giant of this continent. And despite that, Withokere still manage to held its head high.
According to what he had gathered, the Adamantite Rank within Withokere had tight friendships with each other. And this apply to the noble families as well. They do compete with each other, but they had this code of never betraying each other.
And this all happened because they respected their king.
'Heshad Withokere… how did he manage to do this?'
Aldred would never trust anyone with his back. He only trusted his undead and golems to do the work for him. As for managing people, he wasn't competent enough for that.
The king of Withokere reminded Tom of Edeline, the Empress of Ceraisian Empire, she was a master at managing those nobles.
'I still can't believe that I get to sleep with someone like that.'
Empress Edeline manage to form her power under the Emperor's nose. It grew so powerful that it even matched against the Emperor's side.
And with Aldred's help, she manage to take over the entire Empire.
"Isn't the kingdom at war against Ber and Winch right now?" Tom asked.
"Yes, they both are smaller state even compared to us. It's only a matter of time before we take over."
"After taking those two, are we going to attack the Divine Empire?"
"Hardly. The Divine Empire is scattered, everyone knows that, but if they are threatened, nobody can say that they will stay scattered for long. So probably, we will set sail and look for new ground to cover."
Tom nodded. Corduul had gathered a map, and there were two other continents nearby with the same power level. They were very near as well, one could see the continent just by standing on the edge of the beach.
As Tom was talking with Zerdar, a man called out for him.
"Oy."
Tom looked to the side and saw a tall man with tight-fit clothes that revealed his muscular body. He also had a fair skin, almost making him looking like an angel as he gazed at Tom with his clear blue eyes.
"Are you Tom?"
Tom nodded.
Zerdar bit his lips and whispered on Tom's ear. "That's Russam Bummei. He's at the top 15th in the ranking. Naturally, he's a high Diamond Rank, and a very powerful one at that."
"I will be fine." Tom nodded.
Russam approached, he was towering over Tom. Tom was in his child form, so this was natural.
Tom kept looking at Russam's eyes. He did not see any ill intent in it, instead, it was curiosity, hesitation, and maybe a little bit of jealousy.
"Do you want to fight, Tom?"
Helid, Zerdar, Hemur, and the other youngsters gasped in shock. Why would a top 15 student wanted to fight Tom? They were with him all day, and he never disrespected anyone.
Besides, Russam was a high Diamond Rank, challenging a mid Diamond Rank, a new student at that, to battle seemed inappropriate.
"Can I refuse?" Tom replied.
"Don't worry. It will just be a light spar. I am a senior here. I won't harm you."
Tom began to see ill-intent in his eyes, but the emotion of jealousy grew as well.
'Why is he jealous of me? Is it because of my handsome face?'
"I would like to refu—"
"I will take that as a yes."
Without warning, Russam charged forward. He did not use any mana, but his speed was ten times faster than the speed of sound.
Tom tilted his head to the side, wind blew his hair intensely. The sudden speed, surprised him a bit. Russam was definitely faster Than the assassin before.
But Russam was not a warrior, he was a magician, so this physical speed must have been achieved through hellish training.
As expected for top 15th student. Tom wondered how powerful the number one was.
Tom tilted his left and right, rolling side to side like a boxer as he dodged every punch coming towards his face.
Russam's movement speed was so fast in a blink of an eye, he already swung more than 100 times.
The air around them rippled from the power of Russam's movement. Even the ground began shaking as well. If the ground wasn't made out of high-quality material, the whole school might be destroyed by the impact.
Russam took a step back, surprising Tom slightly, but then he punched forward, mana burst out from his fist, forming a tornado attack.
Tom widened his eyes and tilted his head to the left, the tornado spun like a blender, and missed his scalp narrowly.
Russam rushed forward again, bringing the battle to close-contact.
As he was about to dodge another punch however, the chip inside his head warned an incoming threat coming from the side.
The punch was a feign, the real attack was a side kick. A metallic liquid moved out of his pocket and hardened on the left side of his waist.
The kick landed, throwing Tom a few meters away, but the blow was mostly absorbed by the armor that Corduul had created for him.
Russam nodded. "Impressive," he said that as the his left sheen let out a hot steam, resulted by the kick earlier.
Walking forward slowly, Russam spoke. "That armor is strong, but it won't be able to protect you any longer."
Right after saying that, the armor on Tom's waist, cracked and crumbled.
Tom tried to activate the armor's self-repair mechanism, but it was completely destroyed.
"Interesting armor. Does your father made that for you?"
"You can say that," Tom said calmly.
Zerdar was in awe at how Tom could stay calm in this situation. That wasn't a spar at all. It was more like murder attempt.
Zerdar's bones would break the moment he received that kick.
"Senior, am I allowed to use my weapon?"
Russam was silent at first before he spoke: "Sure."
Tom raised his hand, and then an infernal flame came ablaze, revealing a devilish blade as tall as a man. It then exploded with a terrifying aura, like a demon king roaring into the sky.
The atmosphere seemed heavy and dark for a second, before the aura returned inside the sword.
Russam frowned when he saw that blade. "How did you find a weapon like that?"
"I didn't find it. It grow along with me."
"A weapon that can grow… a soul weapon usually has that property. You are quite well-equipped. Not a lot of people has a soul weapon as powerful as yours."
Russam's eyes gleamed. "How many people have that blade kill?"
Tom's eyes turned red. "Too many too count."
