Xander was shocked by Asher's speed in Aura formation. Even a genius would take at least 30 minutes to form their aura, but then again, their aura would be unstable in its initial stage.
Aura was similar to Mana Manipulation, which gets better the more control one has over it. This was the reason nobody could match Greville's in terms of swordsmanship due to their absurd control over their auras.
"Can I go now?" Asher asked again, bringing Xander, who was in deep thought, back to reality.
"Yes, you can go to Duel class," Xander agreed as Asher was already done with the class.
"But can we talk outside for a minute?" Xander's words surprised the staff member as he was rarely this polite with others.
Asher nodded, but he also knew what Xander wanted to talk about.
"Is it true that you have not chosen Sword Art as a subject?" Xander asked Asher as they were walking in the empty hallway that led to Duel Class.
"Yes," Asher replied with his usual indifferent tone.
"Can I change your mind?" Xander asked Asher, while looking forward.
"Vice Principal Xander, I think you are forgetting that you are one of the people my father hates the most and would probably kill if my grandfather didn't stop him," Asher replied.
"Sigh, I can't erase the past, and I respect Arthur the most in this world," Xander said, with a solemn look on his face.
"But you are the best swordsman I have seen, even better than Ivar. I don't want you to waste your talent," Xander stopped in his tracks and looked directly at Asher.
"You know that learning the space element is equivalent to decreasing your lifespan. No human can handle the mental strain that comes as the aftereffect of using that element."
His words were true. Despite being considered the strongest element, space element was like a double-edged sword that hurt its user the more they used it.
"I am a swordsman, not a mage. You don't have to worry about me stopping on the path of swordsmanship," Asher replied with an indifferent look.
"I see. You may go now," Xander allowed Asher to leave, but he kept looking at his back until he turned at the end of the hallway.
"He is different from Ivar and Arthur," Xander could not put his hands on it, but something about Asher intrigued him.
Xander's senses were telling him that Asher was not what he seemed like on the outside, but he was willing to help Asher however he could. Perhaps it seemed like a lifetime ago, but Xander was determined to ease the burden of guilt that had weighed on him for decades, carving a deep hollow in his heart.
Asher arrived in the Duel class, which was, unlike its name, a big hall with multiple training equipment in it.
This time, only the people who had gone through Aura creation were allowed to enter the Duel class, but it was big enough to accommodate 1000 students at once.
Asher walked up to the training rooms that were meant to be used by rankers, but one could use them by spending GP (Grade Points), and Asher had already accumulated around 2000 GP. His current amount was 1900 GP.
"ID CONFIRMED - ASHER VON RAVEN GREVILLE"
"TRAINING ACCESS GRANTED - COST NONE"
Asher had chosen one of the best rooms in the Duel Facility for training, and due to him being the Year Representative, he could use them for free, but others would have to pay the hefty price of 100 GP for each use.
Asher and Alyssa were the only ones who had the privilege of being Rankers before the assessment test. Duel Class was where such authorities were used the most.
In World Academy, you could challenge others for a duel for something you wanted or due to disagreements, but challenging others also had its limit. Only Rankers could challenge other Rankers, and after the assessment test, other students needed to wait for the End Term Evaluation to change the rankings.
Asher went in and saw the room brimming with mana, and multiple facilities were also accommodated in this room. Even Asher's dorm room did not have such an amount of mana, but he knew that the Top 1 of the year and the highest floor of the Rankers' dorm had the best facility that were even better than this.
Asher changed his stance and started moving around by swinging his sword. Asher could feel that his strikes were now sharper, and the power behind them had increased significantly.
"Let's add aura," Asher's mana started to run rampant, but he controlled it quite fast.
The pressure around his surroundings kept increasing, and a thin layer of blue started to form around Asher.
[ Aura is enforcing Host's body ]
Asher started to move and use his sword art while maintaining the very thin aura around his body.
Aura was not a simple defense mechanism, but it was a crucial part of the capabilities of any weapon user.
Unlike mages who used their mana to sense their surroundings, using aura was much better because less mana was used to perform similar tasks. Also, each sword art had techniques that could only flourish once the person had unlocked their aura.
[ Mana Core is reacting to Aura Force ]
[ Host's strength is increasing +1 ]
[ Host's strength is increasing +1 ]
[ Host's strength is increasing +1 ]
Asher could feel that his aura was nourishing his body, and this was the headstart that every student of World Academy had over other hunters. Unlocking Aura early meant higher stats in their early stage.
Asher started to perform his footwork and kept increasing his speed of his swings and dodging imaginary attacks. If someone could see him right now, they would be amazed by it.
[ Host's agility is increasing +1 ]
[ Host's agility is increasing +1 ]
[ Host's agility is increasing +1 ]
...
**********************************************
While Asher was training, a whole 40 minutes had passed, and all the students from Elite families were already done forming an aura around their hand.
"Woah, I feel like my punch will do more damage now," Damian spoke as he tried to punch the air in front of him.
For a moment, Damian had forgotten his role as a tanker, but it was not exactly his fault. Seymour family was famous for their hand-to-hand combat techniques, and David Seymour was an SS Rank Hunter who didn't use any weapon and only used his body and fist as his weapon.
Kevin was looking around to see Asher, but he was nowhere to be found. Others, including Damian, were thinking the same, but Xander cleared their confusion quickly.
"If you are looking for Asher Greville, he has formed his aura in the first 3 minutes and has already gone to the duel class." Xander said, but his words shocked others.
The one who was most shocked was Kevin. His whole life, others have hailed him as the prodigy of this generation, and some people even said that he had the potential to become an SSS Rank Hunter.
But this was the first moment that Kevin realized something he wanted to ignore this whole time; maybe he was not the best, perhaps he was not the prodigy everyone claimed that he was.
This was the moment when Kevin had acknowledged that Asher was, quite frankly, a lot stronger than him. But upon seeing their look, especially Kevin's, Xander remembered the real reason Farnus Calmort had sent him for this session.
"His time was better because he is already in D-Rank, but he is still the fastest person to form his aura in such a short time," Xander said. Kevin felt a bit relieved that the difference in rank was the reason why Asher was quicker, but then he realized something and suddenly felt awful.
Was he seriously finding excuses as to why Asher was stronger than him? Kevin realized that Asher was truly better than him.
"I will defeat him," a fire was born in his heart, and Kevin made Asher his end goal, his target that he needed to defeat in order to avenge Elena and Raelyn and for himself.
But the person in question was looking at his increased stats, while his red eyes were glowing. Asher could feel the intense urge to kill others, and he could see that increasing his stats so rapidly was affecting his mind much faster.
"System, put 10 points in intelligence," Asher finally decided to use the AP that he had been saving until now to calm himself down.
[Intelligence +10]
Asher could feel the burden on his mind had decreased a lot, and he could feel a cool sensation around his head.
After 20 more minutes of practice Asher stopped as Duel Class was about to start.
"Status," Asher said as a blue screen appeared in front of him.
[-Attributes-]
Strength: 75+10
Agility: 62+10
Endurance: 70
Intelligence: 110+10
Mana: 86
Stamina: 60+5
Charm: 65
Fate: 9230
[AP]: 70 [SP]: 32
Hidden Quest Compelted
Objective : Become Kevin Whiteheart's sworn enemy
Reward : 500 Fate points
"Me, his enemy?" Asher's eyes showed his madness, and his suppressed killing intent ran rampant.
Asher could not believe that people who had always hidden in fear and never came to fight him were making him, the man who was once feared by this whole world, their enemy.
Asher quickly controlled his killing intent as he was fine with extra fate points, and his increased intelligence helped him calm himself much sooner. His face had gone expressionless, and his gaze became colder than ever. Nobody but Asher himself knew what was going through his head right now.
He came out of the training room after 20 more minutes and saw that the vast room of Duel Class was filled with 50 students and Xander and Erwin, who were talking with each other.
Erwin turned and looked at Asher, who was coming out of the training rooms, and a frown appeared on his face, but his expression turned to normal pretty quickly.
"Vice Principal, why don't we ask the person in question if he will agree to the duel or not?" Erwin asked Xander with a respectful tone.
