Chapter 497 — Ranking Up

A few moments later, the man’s confident demeanor had vanished completely. Disbelief and fear filled his eyes as he stared at his "easy target".

"H—how is this possible?", he stammered, but had no chance to finish his sentence.

A crack echoed through the arena.

The next instant, the hand gripping his skull tightened, tearing his flesh and bursting it apart.

Blood and brain matter splattered across the arena as the man’s lifeless body collapsed to the ground.

Fortunately, before the aftermath could reach Liora and stain her, a white light descended from the sky. It landed on the corpse and its pieces, erasing them from existence and deconstructing them into streams of information.

In Liora’s field of view, her vision flickered momentarily, and she found herself back in her own arena.

The emotionless voice echoed in her ears:

"Awakener Liora Augustus has emerged victorious! Contribution Points +100."

"Score: Wins: 1, Defeats: 0."

"Overall Rating: 1 Star."

"Please continue your victory streak to upgrade to 2 Stars. Wins required: 9."

Hearing these words and seeing her balance rise to 600, Liora nodded her head in satisfaction.

This was how the Blood Arena worked for Rank 1 Awakeners.

With every victory, the challenger would be rewarded with 100 Contribution Points. Similarly, the loser would incur a penalty of 50 Contribution Points.

This meant that the strong ones would get stronger, while the weak would gradually be left behind.

"With such a low reward, I would have to fight for months to obtain the required Contribution Points...", Liora muttered.

"Thankfully, this is not the only way to obtain points in the Blood Arena."

Her gaze shifted to her Overall Rating.

This was not related to her Rank in reality, but was her ranking within the Blood Arena.

The participants could only match against opponents of the same Rank.

Each Rank was divided into 10 Stars, with everyone starting at 1 Star and having to win ten consecutive victories in order to upgrade their Rating.

Then, they would be matched against 2-Star opponents and have to win the same number of battles to rank up further.

Each upgrade brought not only fame, but also a possible upgrade in Authority.

However, Liora was mostly focused on something else: the rewards the Blood Arena would give upon each "Rank Up".

With each upgrade, the Awakener would receive a certain amount of Contribution Points.

The higher the Rating achieved, the more these Contribution Points would be.

Compared to the sum earned by winning the battles, these rewards were far more lucrative.

"Of course, this is only the case for me. For most Awakeners, they would struggle to reach 2 Stars, much less go any further."

"Even most of the students in Super-Grade Academies would be stuck at 6 or 7 Stars. Only those with extraordinary combat prowess, powerful awakened talents, and various means can reach the top of the ranking."

Countless thoughts raced through Liora’s mind, though not much time passed in reality.

When the mechanical voice of the Battle Arena echoed again, asking her whether she wished to conduct a Battle Simulation or participate in the Blood Arena, Liora responded with no hesitation.

The next instant, the familiar sensation of teleportation occurred, and she faced another opponent.

"Huh? Only 1 victory? Newbie, give up! Argh—"

"You’re quite lucky to have reached this point undefeated. But that’s only because you haven’t met me yet—bang!"

"What? Thirty consecutive victories? Wait!"

Battle after battle took place.

They all only lasted for a few seconds, leaving only the lingering voices of her opponents behind and their lifeless bodies.

Challenge after challenge, Liora climbed through the rankings, increasing her Rating at an astonishing speed.

More importantly, this led to her Contribution Points soaring at a similar rate.

--

While Liora was participating in the Blood Arena and trying to gather the required Contribution Points, countless undercurrents were surging through the War Academy.

The new students had just arrived, meaning that another teaching year had started.

The Academy had grown restless. Chaos had spread, not only among the students—new and old—but also among the instructors.

In particular, the matter of instructors taking in students had made the situation even more complicated.

Instructors not only sent out messages of invitation to the students, but also fought among themselves to recruit the most talented students.

Liora, who had performed extremely well during the College Examination, was the target of many instructors.

However, her refusal to accept their invitation, though polite, also set some people off.

--

"What? Has she refused my invitation?"

In a high-level, high-precision lab, a young man wearing a research coat was tinkering with several metal parts, assembling a strange-looking weapon.

If anyone were here to take a look at it, they would discover the weapon closely resembled the guns that ordinary mortals would use before their Awakening.

Yet, the weapon in the young man’s hands was obviously not ordinary at all.

Cosmic Energy could be seen flowing in and out of its glowing body, while its muzzle exuded a terrifying pressure.

LED lights lit along its surface, making it seem as if it were ready to explode.

The man, however, did not pay much attention to the weapon.

He instead glanced at the young student behind him from the corner of his eye, his expression turning ugly.

Hearing his question and seeing his anger, the student’s face grew pale.

Regardless, he nodded his head repeatedly.

"Yes, Teacher Amon! Not only you. There are rumors that she refused the invitation of all the instructors. She didn’t even take the initiative to meet them in person. She only sent a polite message over the Information World."

Hearing this, the instructor’s expression darkened even further.

But the next moment, he snorted coldly.

"It seems that this girl is too naive. Does she think that it’s impressive to be a top performer? There’s a new one each year! How many SS-Rank talents are there in the War Academy?"

"If people had not suspected she possessed a mutated physique that increased her Spirituality, why would they have spent so much effort to accept her as their student?"

The student nodded, agreeing with such an assessment.

Seeing his instructor calm down, he relaxed. He looked thoughtful, a glint flashing across his eyes.

"Teacher, do you wish to send someone to teach her a lesson?", he questioned, making a motion against his neck.

"She is only at Rank 1 after all and has no background. If we apply some pressure, we should be able to get her to acce—"

Before the student could finish, the instructor, Amon, lashed out.