Matthew Atkinson
Sixth Layer of the Supernatural Realm
"Oh, right. Commander."
Matthew approached the female commander and asked, "May I ask your name?"
"My name is Arsinia Scato," the commander replied. Her tone was much more polite than in their previous conversations.
Matthew's punch really changed a lot of things.
"Commander Arsinia." Matthew greeted him politely, then said, "Let's go."
Seeing that Matthew wasn't riding a horse, Arsinia Scato asked in confusion, "Aren't you riding a horse?"
Matthew waved his hand. "I don't need to ride a horse... You lead the way, I'll follow."
Of course, Matthew didn't know how to ride a horse. And he had no intention of embarrassing himself by pretending he did.
However, with his current agility, catching up with a running horse would be a piece of cake for him.
Upon hearing Matthew's words, Arsinia Scato asked no further questions. She immediately steered her horse toward the dark distance.
Matthew, on the other hand, took a few steps and kept up easily.
...
Watching them leave, the other supernaturals on the city wall panicked immediately.
"Where are they going?"
"Is that even a question? If he's letting a native lead the way, he's definitely going to hunt down monsters."
"Holy crap? I just realized, the monsters are too scared to come any closer because of that guy..."
"Then what do we do?"
"What else can we do? If we want a high mission grade, we have to keep up."
Then, a large number of supernatural individuals jumped off the city wall and ran towards the darkness.
Only those supernatural individuals who chose to lie down remained motionless.
At Zone 17, Filip Walker and the others did not move.
They kept Matthew's task in mind and surrounded Natalie, keeping a watchful eye on the others.
Seeing the solemn expressions on everyone's faces, Natalie calmly said, "You don't need to be so nervous. I believe you've all realized that the reason we've been able to get SSS-grade mission ratings time and time again is entirely because of Matthew. The truly important person among us is also Matthew. I'm just a target to attract attention. Anyone else who isn't an idiot wouldn't come looking for trouble with me at this time."
Everyone thought it made a lot of sense.
But, they still dared not let their guard down.
What if there really was a fool among others?
At this moment, a commotion broke out on the city wall.
Everyone looked over and saw the female general, leading her subordinates, arrive at Zone 17.
The female general came to offer her gratitude.
After exchanging pleasantries with Filip Walker and the others, she ordered someone to bring them various foods and warm clothing.
This side of the city wall faced north, and it got very cold at night.
Although Natalie and the others were superhumans and not particularly afraid of the cold, they would definitely be more comfortable with some extra clothes.
For the rest of the mission time, Filip Walker and his companions were practically on vacation.
They lit a bonfire on the city wall, dressed in cotton-padded clothes, and roasted food, which made the others envious.
Unfortunately, this kind of treatment was only given to Natalie and her teammates.
The female general did this to curry favor with Matthew.
So that Matthew wouldn't come back and find his teammates hungry and cold, and blame her for not treating them well.
...
At the moment, Filip Walker and others gathered around a campfire, chatting and warming themselves by the fire.
"This mission was... so enjoyable."
"Yeah. Everyone says the Supernatural Realm is a place where you're almost guaranteed to die, but for us right now, what's the difference between this and a vacation?"
"We're only able to do this because of Matthew. If it weren't for Matthew and Miss Natalie leading the team, we would probably be in a dire situation."
Everyone nodded, recalling the enormous monster they had encountered earlier.
Without Matthew's heroic efforts, that giant monster would have been unstoppable.
If that giant monster had attacked while they were defending this place, they would have inevitably faced death.
"Exploring the Supernatural Realm with Matthew is so much fun." Bobby Burns said.
The words had barely left his mouth when suddenly, a bright flash of light from an explosion came from afar, illuminating half the sky.
Soon after, a tremendous roar followed.
But seeing this, no one panicked.
Because they all knew that Matthew had displayed his incredible power in the monsters' lair.
The rest of the time passed relatively uneventfully.
No foolish supernatural dared to cause trouble.
Even without Matthew, Natalie was still the strongest among the freshmen, and she was also a Logia-type Devil Fruit user with a wide range of attack methods.
As freshmen, it would be far too difficult for them to kill Natalie Russell.
It seemed that only a large-scale human wave tactic would be possible.
But even if they succeed, once Matthew returned, in his rage, he would definitely kill everyone here.
After all, Matthew had that ability.
...
Time flew, and it was already late at night.
Everyone thought that Matthew would probably not return until dawn.
Unexpectedly, it was only one or two o'clock in the morning when he returned unharmed with Commander Arsinia Scato.
"Matthew. You've worked hard."
"Matthew, please sit here."
"Matthew, have a bowl of hot soup first to warm yourself up."
When Matthew arrived at the city wall, everyone stood up and rushed to greet him.
Matthew immediately waved his hand. "We're all classmates, don't begin flattering."
Then, he saw what was on the ground and immediately laughed.
"You guys are living the good life. You're even having barbecue now?"
Filip Walker quickly replied, "It's all thanks to you. That general sent these things. No one else has them, only we do."
"Matthew, all this food because of you," Bobby Burns said from the side.
Matthew nodded and, without any hesitation, sat down and started eating with them.
He was indeed a bit hungry after killing monsters all night.
"After you left, many freshmen followed you there." Natalie Russell asked curiously, "Didn't you run into them?"
"We ran into them. They're still looking for monsters to kill." Matthew said.
Matthew's teammates noticed that he used the word "look".
The fact that he used this word indicated that the number of monsters now must be minimal.
Natalie Russell immediately asked, "You didn't kill all the monsters, did you?"
"No, not at all," Matthew said. "Those monsters are too cowardly. They all hide in the abyss and dare not come out. I heard that the abyss leads to another world. I thought about it carefully and decided not to go in."
"It was right not to go in. We don't know what the situation is like in the other world. Stepping out there could even be deadly for us. We just need to complete the mission," Natalie Russell said.
"Yeah. I thought the same way."
Matthew nodded, took the roasted meat from Denis Read, and began to eat it heartily.
Denis Read couldn't help but ask, "Matthew, how many monsters did you just kill? The monster kill count on the mission panel turned into an exclamation mark after 99,999."
"I can't remember the exact number..."
Matthew thought for a moment and said, "But there were definitely hundreds of thousands of monsters."
Upon hearing this, everyone gasped in shock.
Killing hundreds of thousands of monsters in a layer?
This was outrageous.
And yet this was precisely what happened, and they were the beneficiaries.
They were sure their grade would be another SSS-grade mission rating.
Everyone was very excited at the thought.
"Matthew, you're amazing." Sam Harris couldn't help but exclaim.
The others nodded in agreement.
Matthew shook his head and remained silent.
If he weren't afraid of going into another world, he could have slaughtered his way through the abyss and accumulated tens of millions of monster kills.
However, that would also attract too much attention.
Even if this were an Amnesiac Layer, once they get out and the super announcement comes out, everyone would see that they killed tens of millions of monsters, which would probably cause a sensation all over the world.
Even a fool knew that Natalie Russell's Flame-Flame Fruit alone was definitely not enough to kill millions of monsters.
That might expose his secret, then.
He didn't need to go that far.
"Matthew, that general has arrived with her men..." Lucian Richards reminded him.
Upon hearing this, everyone stood up and looked in the direction Lucian Richards indicated.
At this moment, the female general had received news of Matthew's safe return and was leading a group of subordinates toward them.
Filip Walker and the others noticed that the female commander from before was also following behind the female general.
Not long after, the female general, accompanied by her people, arrived at Matthew.
"On behalf of all the soldiers, I thank you for your bravery in fighting the enemy and saving us from the calamity of the abyss."
Matthew quickly said. "No need to be so polite." He really didn't like such formal speeches.
The two exchanged pleasantries for a while.
The female general then invited Matthew and the others to return to the military camp to rest.
Those monsters were terrified by Matthew, and they probably wouldn't come back.
Even if they came, there was nothing to fear. There were naturally guards on the city walls.
It wouldn't be too late for Matthew to come and provide support once the guards discovered the monsters.
Faced with the female general's invitation, Matthew readily agreed.
Being constantly exposed to the cold wind was really unpleasant.
...
As dawn approached, Filip Walker and the others then saw that the people who had chased after them earlier had returned from the Abyss.
They all had sour faces and did not look satisfied with their results.
Especially Marcus Kelly, whose face looked extremely ugly.
Upon seeing this, Filip Walker smiled slightly.
He really wanted to stop Marcus Kelly and ask him how he had fared and whether he could surpass the University of Oxford's efforts.
But after thinking about it, he decided against it.
It would be too childish.
A moment later, as the dawn's sunlight began to shine upon the earth, all the supernatural individuals in the sixth layer of the supernatural realms received a notification in their left eye.
[Attention: This layer of the Supernatural Realm has ended. You will be teleported out of the Supernatural Realm in 30 seconds...]
[29, 28, 27...]
Seeing the countdown, Matthew suddenly remembered that he still had an extraordinary treasure chest he hadn't received, given after the fifth layer of the supernatural realm.
While there was still some time, he quickly claimed the treasure chest and opened it.
The thirty-second countdown ended quickly.
And then all the supernatural individuals vanished from their original locations in an instant.
...
Cambridge, United Kingdom
On the University of Cambridge's training grounds, the students returned from the supernatural realm one by one.
The teaching and university staff members in charge glanced around and, seeing the large number of students returned, immediately smiled with satisfaction.
After quick counting, they realized that only one group of students had not returned.
The University of Cambridge's management was delighted with this result.
After all, the loss rate of the sixth layer of the supernatural realm was relatively high every year.
Most importantly, Marcus Kelly's entire team returned without a single member missing.
What did this tell them?
This indicated that Marcus Kelly's trip must have gone very smoothly.
"Marcus."
The professor approached Marcus, her expression inquiring. "Do you feel unwell anywhere?"
"No." Marcus Kelly said, "I feel perfect."
He had lost his memory and had no idea what had happened in the supernatural world.
However, Marcus Kelly wore an arrogant expression himself.
He felt that with that one-time use endurance supernatural item, even if he lost to Natalie Russell again in this Supernatural Realm, the results wouldn't be too far apart.
"Next, we will tally everyone's grades." A university staff member shouted, "Students who have received the mission results, please report to your professor immediately."
Many people immediately raised their hands.
The professors also went up to collect the results.
The first team reaped considerable rewards, killing a total of 1339 monsters and earning an A-grade mission rating.
As expected of the University of Cambridge.
Even one of the teams they randomly selected received an A-grade rating.
The other teams were either A-grade or B-grade results.
Judging from the initial data, there must be a lot of monsters in the sixth layer of the Supernatural Realm.
As long as someone didn't die inside and come back alive, their gains would all be quite good.
The professors were also very satisfied with the students' performance.
At the same time, people had even higher expectations of Marcus Kelly's performance.
Even these ordinary students could get an A-grade mission evaluation. Marcus Kelly was so strong, he must get at least an S-grade, right?
Who knows, with the support of an endurance item, Marcus Kelly might be able to achieve an SS-grade mission rating, or even a perfect mission rating, surpassing Natalie Russell of the University of Oxford.
With this in mind, the managers looked at Marcus Kelly with anticipation.
But amidst these expectant glances, Marcus Kelly's expression suddenly changed.
Not only him, but all nine of his teammates' expressions also changed, and chaos even broke out among them.
"How so?"
"Impossible, this can't be..."
"There must be a mistake. The Supernatural Realm must have made a mistake. How could we possibly have such a result?"
Upon hearing this, the managers were also shocked.
The professor in charge of Marcus Kelly's class immediately came over and asked, "What's wrong? What happened?"
Marcus Kelly's face still held an expression of disbelief, as if he hadn't heard his professor's words.
The other teammates were also shocked.
"Is there a problem with your grade?" The professor asked another question.
One student couldn't help but reach out, glancing first at the team leader, Marcus Kelly, before saying, "Professor, you can see for yourself."
The professor immediately grabbed the student's hand and checked their grade.
Then the professor's expression changed; he was clearly taken aback as well.
"Professor, what happened?"
"If the results come out, read them out loud."
Several managers who were paying attention to this matter spoke up.
The professor hesitated for a moment, then read aloud.
"Marcus Kelly, Calvin Ryan, Casper White..."
"Killed Monsters: 793"
"Comprehensive Grade: B"
"Overall Ranking: Not in the top 100."
"Obtained Basic Reward: 97 Attribute Points"
...
After the professor finished reading, the entire training grounds fell silent.
Everyone looked incredulous when they heard about Marcus Kelly and the others' results.
Because everyone knew that, to ensure Marcus Kelly and his teammates could perform well this time, and perhaps even surpass Natalie Russell, the principal of the University of Cambridge personally funded a one-time use endurance supernatural item for Marcus Kelly.
Unexpectedly, Marcus Kelly actually received a B-grade mission evaluation?
This score was even worse than that of the students around him.
Even Marcus Kelly's worst performance in the past was an A-grade mission evaluation.
In the first five layers, three of them were even S-grade mission evaluations.
Why did his grades get worse this time, even with the help of some supernatural items?
They couldn't figure it out.
They really couldn't figure it out.
Marcus Kelly had already come to his senses by now.
When he saw the strange looks he was getting, he wished he could disappear into the ground.
---------------
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Next Chapters' Name:
Ch.148: The Demon God's Descend
Ch.149: A New Innate Skill Activated
Ch.150: Trying a Different Approach