In the VIP Dormitory,
Elena, Eva, and Kevin were talking in the lobby while munching on some snacks they took from the cafeteria in the VIP dormitory.
"Did you get any reply from your sister?" Eva asked Kevin.
"No, and I don't need my sister to handle that bastard either," Kevin got annoyed remembering Asher's face.
"It was only because I was careless and due to him being above me by a minor rank," Kevin said as they sat on the sofas that were present in the common lobby.
"I was told that some people from the student council came to Class 1 but it seems like that guy rejected the invitation," Elena said.
Although Asher's presence instilled fear in her heart, Elena Rothschild was not a weak girl either. She knew that beating Asher was not possible for now, even Kevin, who was a prodigy in her eyes, was defeated by him. But she was not going to let Asher humiliate her the second time.
"It seems there are already some people here," a voice made all three of them look back.
It was Damian who had come down to get some snacks for himself.
"What do you want?" Kevin frowned and asked Damian.
"Me? What, what would a loser like you give me?" Damian provoked Kevin with a smirk on his face.
Kevin got angry and he stood up, but Elena stopped Kevin by grabbing his shoulder.
"You are not invited here, Damian Seymour!" Elena said as she looked at Damian.
"Hahahaha, you guys are too funny," Damian laughed, and his laughter annoyed the three of them even further.
"Oh no, don't glare at me like this," Damian acted funny, seeing three glares coming his way.
Just as all this was happening, another guy showed up in the lobby. It was Sam Allister, who had come down just now and saw Damian laughing loudly.
'What's happening here?' Sam thought in his mind, but he just left quietly as he was in no mood to get in any quarrels.
"You have got guts to mock three people from the Elite families," Eva said with a serious look on her face.
"I would give you one piece of advice, don't let your friendship with that guy get to your head." Eva warned Damian.
"Exactly, do you think those Greville bastards will stand up for you?" Kevin mocked the whole Greville family, which surprised Elena and Eva.
It was quite bold of him to say something like that, but they did not correct Kevin. Their hatred for Asher had grown quite a bit, and all three of them pretty much hated the Greville family.
"Who are you calling bastards?" Amelia said as she came down.
Her face was cold, and she looked directly at Kevin.
This made Kevin a bit awkward because he did not completely hate Amelia; on the other hand, he still wanted to be friends with her despite his feud with Asher.
"Do you have a problem?" Elena spoke as she looked at Amelia.
'I did what you wanted,' Damian muttered in his mind as he looked at the situation in front of him.
Meanwhile, Asher was trying to break through to D-Rank while all this was happening.
The mana inside Asher's body was running amok as he tried to force it to revolve around his mana core. During the rank-up of an awakened person, it was necessary to increase the density inside the core, which was the mana heart and also successfully form a ring around the mana core.
Both of these steps were crucial factors in deciding the increase in strength a person would get due to their rank-up. It was evident that people in the same rank did not have similar strength at all. Both of these factors were linked to the substantial increase in the overall strength of the person.
Asher's body was full of sweat, but his expressions were calm. This process was not a painful one, but it required immense concentration. Asher felt as if his body was submerged deep inside a lake due to the increasing concentration of mana all around his body. He was not moving the mana around his mana veins, so the excess mana was forming a thin shell all around Asher's body. Inside Asher's body, a thin thread of dense mana was circulating around the mana core as it was getting into a circular shape forming another ring around his mana core.
Suddenly, a wave of mana went around the whole room. Asher had successfully formed a mana ring around his core. He had successfully completed his first step, and all he needed to do now was to increase the density inside his core.
Due to the formation of the ring, the mana was gradually filling the core, but the pressure from the rings around it prevented the enlargement of the core. The ring formation was done first so that the existing rings could exert enough pressure to increase the density of mana inside the mana core while also maintaining its size.
The mana kept filling the core and had reached its limit now. But Asher did not stop; he wanted to test the limit of his mana core a bit more. He forced a bit more mana inside his core. At first, the mana was getting repelled, but due to Asher's constant use of force, the last bit of mana went inside the core.
Asher finally stopped pushing his limits. His body was sweating a lot, and his whole body was heating up. Asher used his mana circulation technique and connected all the mana veins, increasing the overall strength of his body. The connection of his mana veins was cutoff until now, but now that his body could finally access his mana core, Asher could feel that his strength was rising. He heard a sound of notification, and he had expected it to show soon enough.
[ Host had increased his from E+ -> D- Rank ]
[ Rune of Eirdin is activating ]
[ Host's intelligence is negating the side effects!! ]
[ Side effects partially negated ]
He remembered that the Rune of Eirdin somehow could make the bearer of the rune fall and experience their worst nightmares. But due to his high intelligence stat, the side effect was mostly negated, leaving him to just see a glimpse of the past.
Asher felt as though he were in a dreamlike state, but he couldn't remember when it had started. Suddenly, memories of his past life came flooding back to him.
**********************************
From a very young age, Asher felt an urge to kill everything around him. It was as if something inside him wanted to destroy everything in sight. As a result, he found it difficult to communicate with others normally.
"Arghhhh," he constantly groaned, gripping his head due to the voices he kept hearing.
After his birthday party, his condition was getting even worse. He avoided interacting with others because he was aware that he was not like others.
One or two weeks after his birthday party, news of the sudden death of Nathan Greville spread to the whole Greville family.
The world had lost an SSS-Rank Hunter, and it was a great loss for all of humanity, but for some people, it was the greatest blessing they could ever get.
It was only an hour later when Arthur received this news. He flared his mana and ran with his sword out towards the lost land. He arrived there after using the portal at their Guild Headquarters, but all he could see were countless monsters and a huge crater in the ground due to the mana explosion.
Arthur could still see monsters eating the remains of the other Guild members that were outside and far from the dungeon.
"Vice Guildmaster," a member of the Abyss Guild shouted upon seeing that Arthur had gone berserk as his mana ran wild, making it hard for others to approach him.
Arthur usually had a carefree aura about him. After the death of his brother Ivar, he started behaving a bit more cheerfully as a way to cope. But upon hearing the news of his father's death, his mask shattered, and his ruthless nature emerged.
Although other S Rank hunters from the Abyss Guild were present, no one had the courage to step in and stop Arthur as he wildly killed one monster after another. He was consumed by his rage and sadness as he continued to slay beast after beast.
Arthur was a peak S Rank hunter who could even rival some early SS Rank hunters. Even for other S Rank hunters, stopping Arthur in his current state was an immensely difficult challenge, as he was consumed by his rage. They were waiting for SS Rank hunters to arrive and somehow stop Arthur.
"Stop, Arthur," Sylvie hugged Arthur, who was breathing heavily and looking for his next target.
Sylvie placed her head on his back. Hearing her voice, Arthur finally came to his senses, but his heart was still full of sorrow and anger.
"It's enough, let's go back," Sylvie spoke, but approaching Arthur resulted in her getting badly hurt due to his rampant aura.
Arthur did not move, nor did he reply, but after a few seconds, a roar of man could be heard near the vicinity of the lost lands.
Sylvie did not let go of Arthur, despite the fact that she had multiple cuts on her face and hands. She knew he needed her the most right now. Even the Abyss Guild members could do nothing as they let their heads down and mourned the death of their guildmaster.
And this was the day when the first step towards the eventual downfall of the Greville family was taken.
"Chairman, Nathaniel Greville has died," a man hurriedly informed the man sitting in front of him.
"Hahahahahaaha," the man sitting in the seat laughed crazily.
"Here I was thinking how to handle that old bastard, but it seems even the gods are on my side," his words made the man who reported the news in front of him shake a bit.
"Tell the Allister family, we will begin with our plans," he said as the man bowed and left the room.
It was a week after the death of Nathaniel Greville, and the atmosphere inside the Greville estate was quite gloomy.
Arthur and Sylvie were busy because the fall of Nathan was the signal for many hidden enemies to finally bare their fangs towards each other.
