In the river water, a tornado formed.
The tornado connected the surface of the water with gray cumulonimbus clouds in the sky. It spun around itself at high speeds, producing wild gales around it.
Then all of a sudden, the tornado was unnaturally disconnected from the gray clouds. A certain individual was ejected from its mouth towards the deck of Freya.
Badum.
Eren appeared on the main deck of the ship through the tornado, which he dispersed with a wave of his hand. The butcher ran his finger through his hair and looked around him with a smile on his face.
Eren hadn't changed much physically after his breakthrough into the Expert rank. And his presence got even more conspicuous.
Still, the mystery around Eren was what made him appear more intimidating and intriguing at the same time. He had the potential to fly under people's radar if he wanted to and force them to back off with his mere presence at the same time. It was now up to the perception of his opponents.
Every breakthrough was done with a particular mindset that affected a ranker in various ways. When he broke through the Oni dungeon's Adept rank, Eren required absolute power for himself. As a result, his presence became sharp and domineering.
Eren's breakthrough this time highlighted his calm mindset. It allowed him to regain the control he had lost when he was at the Ace rank. With his breakthrough to the Expert rank, Eren had made substantial progress in his Way of the Elements. With progress came control. His mana control training also paid off, allowing him to achieve a certain tranquility with his elements.
When he was an Adept-ranked entity, he couldn't keep his presence completely sheathed. As a result, no mortal could come near him. The recent promotion in rank allowed him to change that. The C-rank offered him finer control over his powers.
'This… I was never a C-rank in the previous timeline.'
Eren clenched his fists and felt a new energy surge through his body. He felt like he had been born anew with his recent breakthrough. It's as though he shed an impurity from his last timeline that had been following him around. He had officially risen above his previous self with this breakthrough.
Eren rotated his neck and stretched his limbs. There was no elemental surge as he rediscovered his identity as an Expert ranker. Unless one used their mana sense on him, he appeared to be a harmless mortal.
Most of Eren's clothes had been torn to shreds by his breakthrough. He was only able to keep his pants intact. When he appeared on the ship's deck, his ripped body was on full display for his viewers. He wasn't buffier than before. But the three ladies instinctively felt that he had leveled up.
Eren's pants stuck to his skin. His wet hair stuck to his scalp and face. There were streams of droplets making their way down all over his body. The two ladies couldn't help staring at Eren when he suddenly appeared on deck in a raunchy manner.
Nina didn't pay attention to Eren's physical appearance. She was glad that he was successful in his ranking advancement.
"Eren!"
She appeared near him before taking him into her embrace. Eren smiled before returning the gesture, his hands caressing her back.
Cough!
Levine feigned a cough before speaking up in a dignified manner.
"Eren… congratulations on your breakthrough. You really are one lucky guy."
Eren separated from Nina and smiled at Levine a bit to receive her compliment. But he felt like he had to add something.
"Thanks, teacher. Yes… this breakthrough came really out of nowhere. But lucky? I had to spend a thousand restless nights to get lucky once. If that's what luck is, I don't want to find out what being unlucky means on that scale."
Eren's emerald green eyes met Levine's and shone with confidence. He knew that Levine didn't mean to undervalue his diligent work. By saying that he was lucky, she wanted to say that he didn't get stuck in the Adept rank for a long time. That he didn't face any long-term bottlenecks like most Adept rankers.
However, Eren felt like he shouldn't disrespect his own diligent work by allowing someone to call it luck. He clarified Levine for his own sake– for his own mindset.
'He… he doesn't fear me anymore.'
Levine thought to herself as she looked Eren in the eyes. She could still feel that he valued her as his ally. But there was no longer any need for her.
Eren had never feared Levine in the past as well. Still, he was always careful with his words and his actions in her presence. However, becoming an Expert ranker liberated him from the shackles of decorum.
Eren's change of attitude towards Levine made her subconsciously seek even more approval from him than before. Unbeknownst to her, her subconscious mind started feeling the urge to grab his attention even more. She started feeling irritated by his obvious indifference to her subtle advances.
The butcher flashed a knowing smile in his head when he subtly observed Levine's expressions. They were proof that his act of playing aloof in the face of Levine's advances was working for him. He just needed to crank her thirst to the maximum before he approached her.
Levine was an entirely different equation to solve for Eren. She wouldn't be wooed by him simply because he gave her compliments and said all the right things. She wouldn't be impressed by money alone. And she didn't care about his ranking status before his breakthrough.
Eren needed to act indifferent until he wasn't ready to handle Levine. However, his recent breakthrough gave him the confidence to... bait the fish. He just needed to cast his net wisely and wait for the right opportunity.
But the fisherman wasn't aware that another fish was swimming near his net as well, wanting to get trapped. Unbeknownst to him, he was about to have a better haul than expected.
Jiana Jihang also congratulated Eren for breaking into the Expert rank. She couldn't help but stare briefly at his torso when she did that.
***
It was a big deal in rankers' society to finally reach this milestone after all.
The C-rank was a dividing line between low- and high-ranked entities. A ranker could not be considered a low-ranked entity after it reached Expert rank. This was the first breakthrough in a person's ranking journey that consolidated all of their advancements to this extent.
This very consolidation of various accomplishments a ranker had achieved during their journeys was what allowed the Expert rankers and beyond to exert their powers more freely than before.
Most of the Expert rankers who had naturally achieved their breakthroughs could tweak their existing spells and elevate them to their current standards with only minimal effort. Although it would take relatively significant time, they could also alter their ranking techniques to suit their current needs as well.
Exceptional rankers started becoming free from the organizations' hold over them from the moment they stepped into the Expert rank. The organizations needed to offer high-ranking entities exponentially more rewards to keep them under their banner.
In short, a ranker's individuality would start to show when they entered C-rank. This was why Expert rank breakthroughs and beyond were celebrated so much.
