The smoke from its disappearance faded away, Luke opened his system.
---
[SYSTEM INTERFACE]
[ Host profile]
* Name: Luke Aurelion
*Age: 17
* Rank: S
* Mana gauge: 80.2
Attribute | Current / Max | Gauge
HP (Vitality) | 600 / 1,250
MP (Mana) | 1000
SP (Stamina) | 200
[ Core Attributes ]
* Strength : 200/5000
*Intelligence: 48/100
(Shadow Essence: 30, 000)
Luke stared at it for a moment, he wanted to start unlocking skills but he changed his mind, "System I want you to upgrade all Thenatos unlocked skills to the max."
[All Thenatos unlocked skills has now been upgraded to max]
(Shadow Essence: 600)
[Notification: 270, 000 Shadow Essence Would Be Needed To Unlock The Next Shadow Warrior]
[Shadow Summoned]
Name: Shadow Warrior (Thenatos)
Tier: Emperor Tier (86.0) – past mid stage
"What! I thought after upgrading to max it would be much more higher, why still the same?"
[Because The Max Of The Skills That Made It 86.0]
"So what you are trying to tell me is, they measured the mana gauge of Thenatos with the maximum of the unlocked skills?"
"So that means, my mama gauge wasn't real?" He asked.
[Yes, This Is Actually Your Mana Gauge In Your Current State Without The Unlocked Skills. Since You've Upgraded The Unlocked Skills Of Thenatos To Max, You Will Have To Start Unlocking And Upgrading Skills If You Want Your Summon To Ascend Quickly And Your Summons Attributes, Their Strength, MP, HP And SP, Can Still Be Upgraded If They Absorb Shadow Essence]
Status: Active
[Skills]
Shadow Void (max): the one it used to kill the wolves.
Shadow Control (max): Commanding Shadows
Shadow Summons (max): The shadows Thenatos and Luke summoned was from this power.
Shadow Duplicate (max): can make multiple copy of yourself.
Shadow Remand (max): creating multiple Portals that sends back the magic that was meant for you to the opponent.
___________
"I really have to unlock the rest of them."
Luke pushed his door open slowly and stepped into his room. The moment he entered, the quiet hit him.
He let out a small breath and didn't even bother doing anything else. He walked straight to the bed and dropped on it. "…I'll just rest a bit," he muttered.
But the moment his body touched the bed, his eyes closed, and he was gone.
---
Light hit his face, warm and annoying, Luke's brows tightened slightly as he turned his head away, trying to escape it, but it didn't stop. The sunlight kept pressing against his eyes until he finally gave in.
"…Tch…" He slowly opened his eyes, blurry at first, then clear. "…Morning already?" His voice sounded tired. He sat up slowly, rubbing his face, his movements sluggish. His eyes felt heavy, and when he stood up and passed by the mirror, he paused, dark circles.
"…I look terrible," he muttered. He scratched his hair lightly, his expression annoyed. "I slept at like… three why is it morning already." He let out a breath and went to wash up and then change his clothes.
Just as he was done a sound was heated from the door. Luke walked to the door and opened it, ethan stood there. The moment he saw Luke's face, he blinked. "…What happened to your eyes?
Luke leaned slightly on the door frame. "... nothing."
Ethan didn't look convinced, but he didn't push it. "Did you have a bad dream that made you sleep very late?"
"…Something like that." Luke turned back inside, picking up his phone absentmindedly. The screen lit up, a notification, he glanced at it, then froze. "…What?" His eyes widened slightly as he read it properly, 10,000 credited to your account.
Luke stared at it for a few seconds. "…Ten thousand?"
Ethan leaned in a bit. "What?"
"Nothing!" Luke replied.
"Okay..."
Luke looked back at the phone, still a bit surprised. '…Dungeon clearing really pays.' he thought. But after a second, he understood.
It wasn't just the dungeon, it was because they were only two. If it was a full team, the money would have been split more.
---
Later that day, the academy was lively again, it was the day for the freshmen to prove themselves.
Luke and Ethan sat among the others, waiting, but something felt off, Luke could feel it, the stares, from different directions, sharp, focused, he didn't turn, but he knew.
People were watching him, his mind replayed her words from last night, beware of enemies. "…I think she might be right," he muttered under his breath, he didn't know she was actually one of them.
Not far away, a group of students stood together, watching from a distance. One of the girls crossed her arms lightly as she looked toward Luke.
"So that's him?" she said. "The new guy… already among the top five in summons. That's actually crazy." Orion stood beside her, his gaze fixed on Luke.
His expression wasn't friendly. "…It doesn't matter," he said, but his tone said otherwise.
A guy beside them spoke. "The rankings have already shifted."
For overall strength presently.
Quinn – 1st
Holden – 2nd
Lethis – 3rd
Orion – 4th
Darius – 5th
These were the strongest in terms of personal power. But summons...that was different now.
Luke – 1st (86.0)
Holden – 2nd (85.0)
Darius – 3rd (84.8)
Lethis – 4th (84.3)
Orion – 5th (83.8)
Quinn – 6th (83.2)
A new name had entered… and taken the top spot instantly, Luke, the one nobody took seriously before after getting beaten by Karl.
Now, everyone was watching him, and not all of them… with good intentions, the atmosphere in the hall was already tense, but it shifted the moment Holden and his group walked in. It wasn't loud or dramatic, but the effect was immediate.
Students who were seated around that section quickly stood up, some pretending they had somewhere else to be, others not even hiding it as they moved away. Space opened up for them without a word being said.
They took their seats like it was normal, like it belonged to them. Holden sat at the center, his posture relaxed but commanding.
He didn't speak, he didn't need to, his presence alone was enough to make people uncomfortable. Slowly, his eyes moved across the hall, observing everything without interest… until they stopped, on Luke.
The look wasn't friendly, it was cold, measuring.
Then his gaze shifted slightly, landing on Quinn, he actually hated Quinn more than Luke. Quinn didn't react at all, he leaned back in his seat, eyes closed with earpiece plugged in his ears, like none of this mattered to him.
A faint click of the tongue came from beside Holden. Darius leaned slightly toward him, lowering his voice but not enough to hide the irritation in it. "How did that guy even surpass you?"
Holden's expression didn't change, but his answer came instantly, low and sharp. "Shut up." There was a pause before he added, "I don't want to hear anything about these freshmen, I came here to wait for my turn with this Quinn and Luke not to talk."