Chapter 38 — Calm Before The Storm I

At a shooting range behind the training facilities, a crimson-haired boy stood holding a black gun with silver engravings.

He pointed the gun at a large stone in the distance.

Even though it was quite far, every detail of that stone was clearly visible in his crimson eyes. It was as if he could see miles away without needing a scope.

"Boom!"

With his left hand in his pocket, he fired with his right.

The first shot pierced straight through the rock, nearly splitting it in half. The upper portion teetered, about to fall.

"...Let’s try area-wide damage using Omega Point."

He adjusted his stance.

"Omega Point – Seed Shot."

"BOOM!!!!"

The second shot didn’t just destroy the stone—it obliterated it. The entire rock and the ground around it exploded into dust and debris.

"..."

Damian lowered his gun, staring at the crater where the stone used to be.

"I can finally apply Omega Point to either make a concentrated attack, or... an area-wide destructive one. So much power... and this is only level one."

For the whole week, he’d spent every second trying to improve his weapon arts. He’d even acquired an eye skill to make sure he could see his targets without needing a scope.

"Status."

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Name: Damian Valcor

Age: 15

Rank: E → E+

Talent: S

Core Attributes:

Strength: 45 → 50

Speed: 43 → 50

Stamina: 50 → 51

Vitality: 41 → 53

Aura: E → E+

Will: 149

Skills: —

Shooting: B+

Hand Combat: B

Telekinesis: E+ → D

Macro Vision: C

Aura Control: D → D+

Aura Magnification: 1×

Weapon Arts: —

Omega Point - S: Level 1

Abyssal Slaughter -SS: Initiated

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

After training for an entire week, his stats hadn’t increased by much – but they were enough to advance him to E+ rank.

Yes. Damian had advanced again in just a week’s time.

It wasn’t that advancing was easy. His core had already been nearing E+ before, and after rigorous training, his physical attributes had caught up.

But the most important gain was in controlling his Aura.

After Adrian told him he could take private classes from professors, Damian never went to regular class again – except for theory. He took private sessions from Professor Seraphina and drastically improved his understanding and application of Aura control.

One benefit of having her all to himself was that she’d helped him reach Aura Magnification level one.

Meaning... his Aura would never be wasted. All of it now reflected effective combat strength. No waste. Every drop counted.

Seraphina Vale had been more than happy to help Damian improve.

He’d also learned the Macro Vision skill, which enhanced his eyesight to the point where he could see an ant clearly from 100 meters away.

But the only thing that hadn’t improved was his Abyssal Slaughter Weapon Arts. Even though he’d trained relentlessly, no change was reflected on the status screen.

"...I should go meet Professor Blackwood later to understand the next levels of Omega Point. But for now..."

He holstered his gun.

"It’s time to meet Professor Seraphina. She told me yesterday to come by Saturday night."

****

Damian quickly changed into an all-black suit and headed toward the professors’ residential area.

All professors had their own houses on the right side of campus. Even the mysterious Headmaster had his residence there.

Soon, he arrived at Professor Seraphina’s house.

"Knock! Knock!"

"...Come in."

A lazy voice sounded from inside after a few moments.

Damian entered and wasn’t surprised to see the mess scattered everywhere.

"Sigh..."

He sighed as he carefully stepped around clothes, books, and empty coffee cups, making sure not to dirty his suit.

Seraphina was lying on her couch with her long black hair tied up in a messy bun and her violet eyes half-closed. She was in her pajamas, sipping coffee like she had all the time in the world.

"I don’t get your obsession with suits."

"...Habit."

"Is it? But from the information I’ve acquired about your entire life, it doesn’t seem to be the case."

Seraphina’s eyes gleamed with lazy curiosity.

"Sigh... Professor, you belong to a Noble family as well. Can you at least maintain some cleanliness in your house?"

Damian sighed. His professor was the complete opposite of how she carried herself in front of her class. He still couldn’t get over how dumbfounded he’d been when he first saw her living like this.

"...What are you? My mother?" Seraphina stretched lazily, not minding at all that her curves were on full display in front of a teenager.

"Anyway, stop this bullshit about being noble. Coming from someone who’s been declared the biggest enemy of Nobles in the academy, it sounds pretty funny."

"..."

Indeed, there seemed to be a campaign going on in the forums declaring him the enemy of all Nobles.

Even though he hadn’t done anything against them, it felt like someone was deliberately fanning the flames. His performance in the gravity room had been leaked, which only sparked more conflict.

Nobles from the senior years were starting to get involved as well. Some had even started personally guiding the nobles of his year in training.

Clearly, they wanted to remove him from his rank – and from the student council.

"Forget about all that." Seraphina sat up, her lazy demeanor vanishing in an instant. Her violet eyes locked onto his with sharp focus. "Let’s talk about the reason you’re here. Are you sure you want to do this?"

"...Yes."

Damian paused for only a moment before replying resolutely.

Seraphina studied his face for a long moment, then sighed.

"Here’s all the information the military has on the Shadow Council’s activities in Tranquil City." She pulled out a thick file from under a pile of magazines and tossed it to him. "I know you’re strong and have already clashed with them multiple times, but going after them like this... you’re declaring war."

’They already started it...’

Damian didn’t reply. He caught the file and started reading through every page, eyes sharp, committing everything to memory to avoid any mistakes.

"If you decide to act, make sure to leave no trace behind." Seraphina’s voice was firm now, all traces of laziness gone. "That therapist of yours is also quite active in the city, trying to dig up more information on them. I used many important connections to get this intel. Don’t let my effort go to waste."

She stood and walked toward the kitchen, then turned back to face him.

"Also... if even a single civilian gets hurt, you’ll be the one responsible. I’ll just pretend I had nothing to do with this."

As soon as she finished speaking, she reached into a drawer and pulled out a key. She tossed it in Damian’s direction.

"...I know your bike was damaged and hasn’t been repaired yet. Take mine this time. But I don’t want it back completely destroyed, got it?"

Damian caught the keys mid-air and sat there for a few seconds, staring at them in his palm.

Then he stood up and bowed slightly.

"...Thank you for everything, Professor. I owe you a favor."

Yawn. Seraphina waved her hand dismissively as she walked to the door and practically shoved him out. "Don’t waste more of my time. I wanna get some sleep."

The door shut behind him with a soft click.

Damian stood there for a moment, staring at the keys in his hand.

Then he turned and walked into the night.