Chapter 456: Holy Rank Skill I

"Of course, how could I delay receiving something this important until later?" Lian added with a greedy smile.

Of course, he needed some time to just relax, but a skill with the potential to reach Holy Rank...was tempting enough.

This was not something he could easily obtain, of course, as a Vorhelm, his family had several of these skills, but even for the young members of the Vorhelm family, obtaining them was not easy.

He quickened his steps and reached Aldric’s side.

"I knew it." The Professor gave him a short look.

The two moved away from the main arena.

The noise of the ceremony had still not completely ended, and groups of students were spreading out along different paths.

Every few meters, someone would turn their eyes toward Lian and then quietly say something to the friend beside them.

He noticed it several times but did not care.

For Aldric, the scene was a little different, as he walked beside that boy, he sometimes looked at the young man from the corner of his eye.

Level 23.

A number that, from his point of view, was almost funny.

Not much time had passed since the beginning of the year, but he clearly remembered what condition this boy had been in when he first started watching him more seriously.

His Level had barely even been 10.

A young boy with a strange Awakening history that no one still knew where to place.

Even many of the professors were not sure that a bright future was waiting for him.

Now that same boy was Level 23.

He had completed his First Evolution.

He had defeated two Unholy Guardians while one of his main body stats was completely sealed each time.

He had taken two Seals by himself.

And in the end, he had stood against Level 39 Rodrick.

Not a tired and defenseless Rodrick.

But a Rodrick who had completed his First Evolution, unlocked the first innate trait of his Class Tree, and in the end had even borrowed the power of some of his subordinates.

Even so, he had not been able to defeat Lian.

Aldric had been teaching Awakened for many years, Level was still one of the simplest and most reliable ways to estimate a person’s strength.

Someone at Level 30 was usually stronger than someone at Level 20, actually almost always

Someone who had completed their Evolution usually should not even be placed in the same group as someone who had not reached that stage yet.

But the more he looked at this Vorhelm, the more he realized that this standard was losing its real meaning for him.

Not that Level no longer mattered, Lian also became stronger as his Level increased.

But it was no longer possible to judge his real strength just by looking at the number beside his name.

If someone had told Aldric one year ago that a Level 23 boy could stand against a Level 39 Evolver, his first question would have been how weak that Level 39 person was.

But Rodrick was not weak.

The problem was that Lian no longer fit into any normal standard.

And this reminded him of another legend, the man whose simple steps could cause an earthquake that shook the continent.

The Guardian of the Continent and the Celestial Knight, the Patriarch of the Vorhelm family.

The son and father really did look similar.

"What is it?" Lian’s voice pulled the Professor out of his thoughts.

"Nothing." He realized that he had been looking at this boy for a few seconds too long.

"That look usually doesn’t mean nothing."

"I was thinking about how someone who was Level ten at the beginning of the year has now reached the point where I can’t guess how strong he really is just from his Level."

"Was that a compliment? Can I consider that the most serious and bad-tempered Professor in the Academy just complimented me?" Vorhelm stayed silent for a moment and then gave a small smile.

"Whatever." Aldric ignored him and then added.

"Just don’t get too used to it. You are still Level twenty-three. Being able to fight above your Level does not mean the Level difference no longer exists."

"I know." This time Lian’s answer had no joke in it, he knew better than anyone how terrifying the gap between higher Levels could become.

Level was only one part of strength, but even that part was not something he could ignore forever.

Especially after the Third Evolution, the difference between each Level became crazy.

They walked a few more steps in silence until he suddenly asked another question.

"Professor, what do you think about the Land of First Down?"

The Professor’s steps became slightly slower, he did not answer for a few seconds, and Lian noticed that pause.

"That silence was not very promising."

"I don’t have a good feeling about it."

Vorhelm raised his eyebrows, this was almost the last answer he had expected, he had thought this land was some kind of paradise that everyone loved.

So why would the Professor give such an answer?

"Considering that the permit to enter it is the reward for the top three of one of the Academy’s most important tests, I expected a more convincing answer."

"I said I don’t have a good feeling about it, I didn’t say it was a bad place."

"What’s the difference?"

Aldric thought for a moment.

"Almost all the reports we have about it are good. There are resources found there that are extremely rare outside the realm, ancient items, skill books, and even strange treasures."

His expression became a little more serious.

"Every time we explore it, at least several people return with something that can change the course of their lives."

Lian waited for the rest for a few seconds.

But the Professor became silent and said nothing else.

"And where is the bad part in that?"

"That’s it....I don’t trust places that give more than they take."

Vorhelm said nothing for a moment, even to him, this sentence made sense, no great resource came without a cost.

If there really was a place that let Awakened enter it and almost always sent them back with huge rewards, the natural question was not why people entered it.

The question was what that place itself gained.

"Has anything suspicious ever happened?"

"Nothing that can be used as evidence."

"So it’s just a feeling."

"Exactly, stay alive for many years, then you’ll understand that sometimes the bad feeling of an experienced person is worth more than ten pages of reports."

"Do you think something is hidden there?"

"I don’t know. If I knew, it wouldn’t be called a bad feeling anymore." Aldric raised one shoulder.

They reached the end of the path, and the large Academy Store building appeared from behind a row of trees.

Before entering, the Professor stopped for a moment and gave him some advice.

"I’m not saying don’t go. If I were you, I would enter three months from now too. It’s an opportunity that would be stupid to pass up, but when you go there, don’t only look at what is in front of your eyes. Some dangers don’t come at you with teeth and claws, a realm does not need to attack you to be dangerous."

"I’ll remember that." Lian then thanked him for the advice.

The main Academy Store was larger than its name suggested.

The first floor was almost like a controlled market, students could use their points to buy materials, potions, simpler equipment, Mana Cores, and skill books.

But Aldric did not even look at any of them.

He passed the main counter and entered a hallway that normal students were not allowed to enter.

At the end of the hallway, there was a dark metal door, it had no handle.

And he held his Senior Professor Badge in front of the panel beside it, several lines lit up on the surface of the door.

Click.

The door opened.

Lian expected a huge hall full of treasures behind it, but the space behind the door was quite small.

A rectangular room with several shelves and a number of glass containers, each one covered with several layers of Seals, and a large amount of empty space.

"I expected it to be bigger."

"There aren’t many things that are truly valuable, if we had a large storage room full of rare skills, that would be too bad and could make people lazy." He walked toward the far wall.

Three containers were separated from the others, and each one contained a different book.

Aldric stood in front of them.

"The entire Academy only has three skills whose confirmed Evolution Paths can reach Holy Rank."