The Author's POV

-Clink!

"Bastard! Bastard! Bastard!"

Entering her dorm, Emma furiously threw her stuff on her bed.

Her mood couldn't be any worse.

"How dare you ignore me like that!"

This was the first time she felt so disrespected.

Throughout her whole train ride to the Lock, she sat next to the one guy she was most curious about. The guy whom she suspected saved her life back in Hollberg.

...and she wasn't wrong.

He brazenly admitted this fact when he rubbed it all over her face. Just recalling the smirk he had on his face as he openly admitted that fact irked her to no end.

Although this annoyed her, it wasn't what truly irritated her.

No.

What irritated her was the fact that he had completely ignored her after she had answered his question.

No matter what she did, he wouldn't respond nor acknowledge her existence. Almost as if she was nothing but air.

Ghhhhh

Just thinking about it irritated her even further.

She would definitely not forget this...

Ren Dover, Ren Dover.

That was his name.

Clenching her jaw, Emma swore to herself.

"You better make sure that the next time I see you I'm not in a bad mood...else"

...

Achoo!

"Is someone thinking about me?"

Rubbing my nose, I couldn't help but feel like someone was talking behind my back...and I was pretty sure I wasn't overthinking things.

In the first place, with my current body, normal flues shouldn't be affecting me. After thinking for a bit, I just shrugged it off.

'...meh, who cares. I have other things to worry about.'

Like training.

With exams starting next week, the Training center was filled to the brim with students. It was to the point that in order for me to get a decent workout, I had to train late into the night.

Huuuu—! Yaaaaa—!

The heavy and tired shouts coming from the training dummies sparring areas echoed throughout the whole center. The residual magic power from the spars swept throughout the halls creating a thick and dense atmosphere.

In the gym area of the training center, students could be seen lifting 150kg dumbbells effortlessly. Almost as if they were just holding onto their phones.

I too tried lifting dumbells. However, what I could do was pitiful compared to other students...this was mainly due to the fact that the people next to me were muscleheads.

Like, each of their biceps was about the same size as my head. Ridiculous.

Wiiing—

"Uuk."

Using my phone's vibration as an excuse to stop training, I put down the bar I was lifting. Dizziness immediately came over me as I felt my chest become numb. It seemed 190kg bench press was still too much for my current self.

Sitting up straight, I wiped my sweat off with a towel hanging around my neck. I then proceeded to check my phone.

[The documents are ready…but are you really planning on going through with the terms you've offered to Leopold?]

It was a message from Smallsnake.

Ah, it looks like Smallsnake has already made contact with Leopold.

...that's good. I wasn't worried about him not accomplishing the mission as I fully knew the extend of his abilities. With how well connected and intelligent he was, recruiting Leopold shouldn't be a problem.

Now I only needed to wait for Ryan. I was sure he was already contemplating my offer. With just a little bit of time, he would definitely come along.

...With regards to Ava, now that I was back in the Lock, I could easily take care of her.

Everything needed time though.

I wasn't quite going to approach her yet.

I first needed to pass the mid-terms. This was a far more pressing issue as the results could determine my future.

You see, I set myself a goal for the upcoming mid-terms.

Top 100.

Yes.

I didn't misspeak. Top 100.

There were several reasons as to why I set my goal to be that high...but it primarily boiled down to two reasons.

—Facilitate recruitment of people whom I want to join my mercenary group.

—Buy time for my parents.

The first point was self-explanatory. Who would want to join someone's mercenary group when the current leader of the group was only ranked 1550 in the Lock. It just didn't make sense.

I mean, in all fairness.

If someone ranked 1550 approached me and tried to recruit me, I'd probably laugh at their face. Though I doubt Ava was the type of person to do that, she wasn't the only person I wanted to recruit.

If I reached the top 100, recruiting people that I wanted would definitely be much easier.

The second reason...well, if I reached the top 100, my family could use this to stop the advances coming from the opposition. Not fully stop them, but slow down.

With me reaching such a high rank, my parents could definitely use this as leverage when talking to the board members.

...but well, I knew that their talk wouldn't go anywhere as my talent was assessed as <D> after all.

To them, regardless of how outstanding I was, I was destined to never go beyond <D> rank.

Well, at least that was what was written on paper. In reality, I had no talent cap. Let alone <S> rank, I could easily go even beyond <SS> rank. Higher than the current top leaders of humanity.

Pausing my thoughts, I frowned.

'Matthew will definitely be not pleased about this development, but well, it shouldn't be a problem as of yet...'

I knew he wouldn't move until my parent's guild was fully taken, and with that, I probably bought myself another couple of months. Moreover, with me currently being in the Lock, he couldn't even vent his frustrations on me.

This was ideal as I really didn't want to go through another annoying situation where old Ren would take over.

...plus, the more time I had, the more I could prepare for my trip outside of earth.

By the time I returned, the curse taking over my parents would no longer be a threat, and old Ren's influence would no longer haunt me.

...actually with regards to the trip.

"I have to talk to Kevin don't I, huh?"

I mean, he was the only person that could go out of earth whenever he wanted.

All thanks to the system he had.

With his system, he could travel to any planet he wanted...but it didn't come cheap.

Depending on how far he wanted to travel, he had to use a monster core. This alone prevented him from going very far as they were all rare and expensive.

Plus considering the place that I wanted to go, I estimated that I needed to find at least a <D> ranked core.

...Dammit.

Buying it was definitely not an option. I mean, I'd have to have at least 100 million U, and that's with no one making a bid for it.

If only the planet the cure was located in wasn't that far off from earth...

In the end, that was only wishful thinking on my end. Just the fact that I didn't need a <C> rank or above core was enough for me to thank the heavens.

If it was really above <D> rank, I may as well just give up. I mean, regardless of how much money I saved up, there was no way I could afford to purchase such high leveled core in that short of a time frame.

It just wasn't something I could do even with stocks.

Either way, the planet I needed to go to was called...[Immorra]

A planet that used to be inhibited by the orcs...well, that was until the Demons came and took over.

Though it wasn't considered their main planet, it was still considered an extremely important planet for them as it was the planet with the most fertile soil...meaning that it was the planet where most of the orc's food was made.

The place was fraught with danger, and if by the time I went there I wasn't at least <E> ranked, I stood no chance at surviving.

That's how dangerous the place was.

Dangers aside, I had another problem.

How was I going to ask Kevin to bring me there?

It's not like I could go to him and say~

'Heeeeeyyyy Kevin, my good pal. I want to go to Immorra so bring me there—Hmm? How did I know you could travel to different planets? Ahhh what a silly question, I am your creator after all'

Yeah.

Not happening.

-Ding! -Ding!

Disrupting me from my thoughts was the loud sound of the alarm I set on my phone.

"Ah, I guess it's time for me to head back"

It was already 10 P.M. signaling that it was time for me to wrap up with what I was doing and go to sleep.

I determined that for me to be in optimal conditions each day, I had to sleep at least eight hours a day.

Especially since the mid-terms were now right in the corner.

In the morning I would study, and in the afternoon and night, I would train my body. That was my current lifestyle.

Couldn't say I liked it, but...well, I needed the good grades. Especially since I had a goal to accomplish.

Thus, I went back to the dorm.

...with regards to the Kevin situation, I'll figure it out after the exams.. I still had four months to prepare after all.