The audience slowly left the training ground as the tournament was finished. They remembered those students who showed great potential in this tournament. They won't forget it. The ranking was going to start soon and the second and third year couldn't wait to see who's going to rise in the first year batch.

Only the students of Shield Class and Mage Class were left in the training ground.

Alex gave Souta the authority to do anything wanted in his subject. He could even skip the class and only participate in the exams.

Right now, the students of Mage Class and Shield Class have a bit of understanding to each other after the tournament so they would grow closer in the future.

...

Alex said something about their next class before he dismissed the class.

Souta stood up and patted his clothes. He looked around and saw Bryan in the back.

"Come on Alice, let's check Bryan," Souta said to Alice before he walked towards Bryan.

Alice reluctantly followed behind him.

...

"Are you okay?" Souta asked Bryan who just woke up from his deep sleep.

"Yeah, it's just hard to move my body," Bryan replied as he tried to move his arms.

"Remember to rest, you will join me in my quest this weekend, right?" Souta said to him so that Bryan wouldn't do any reckless stuff.

"Ah, I forgot about that! Don't worry, I will be back into full force at that time!" Bryan said with a smile.

Souta turned his head and looked at Alice. He asked her. "Do you want to join us, Alice?"

"...I'm not an adventurer." Alice hesitated before she answered him.

"It doesn't matter," Souta said. "Well, I won't force you if you really don't want."

"Hello!" A voice came behind them causing them to turn their head. They saw Brando standing beside them.

"What do you want? Do you want another match?" Bryan said carefully. He was alerted by the sudden appearance of his opponent who defeated him.

"Childish!" Alice commented at the side.

"I'm Brando Hylott, I will train harder and defeat you the next time we fight, Souta," Brando said with a smile as he raised his fist and clenched it tightly.

Souta looked at Brando before he smirked. "Good, I will wait for it."

"Me too, I will beat the two of you next time." Bryan joined them.

"Haha, you can come at me anytime you want." Souta laughed.

"I will go now, see you later." Brando bid farewell to them before he left.

Souta looked at Brando's back and said, "He's the same as you, Bryan."

"Huh? Same?" Bryan didn't understand what he was saying.

"Forget about it, you wouldn't understand even if I tell you." Souta shrugged. He turned his eyes to Alice and said, "He ignored you, you know?"

"Huh?" It was Alice turn to be surprised. "Why would that matter?"

"You don't get it, he didn't ignore me and Bryan so it means that he acknowledged our strength but you..." Souta said as he raised his finger and shook it in front of her.

"So you're telling that I'm weak." Alice's tone turned colder.

"Haha, I'm not, Brando is the one. So train and defeat him next time." Souta laughed.

They talked for a while before they left the institute.

...

Souta went to the market first to buy something for Yuko. There's still some time left so he would try to finish some lower rank quest.

He gave Yuko the food he bought in the market before the went towards the Adventurers Guild. He picked up some herb picking quest and finished it quickly.

He went back to the inn when the sky was already dark. He placed the [Vajra Sword Saya] in the corner of the room before he lay down on the bed.

"Ah~ I'm tired." Souta gazed at the ceiling as he stretched his body across the bed. It really feels good to lay down on a soft bed if you're tired.

"The next thing I will do is to fulfill the requirements for the second evolution." This weekend Bryan will join his party and help him complete the requirements under the guise of Adventurer's Quest.

Both of them will travel to the place between Melosa Country and Hebrei Kingdom. The journey will take one and a half-day before they arrived there. The place between Melosa Country and Hebrei Kingdom was a forest called Desolate Woods. It became a battlefield when Melosa Country waged a war against Hebrei Kingdom. On the outskirts of the Desolate Woods was dry land. It was in that place when Bargan singlehandedly pushed back the army of Melosa Country. That time Bargan's name shook the whole kingdom. He was later called the Fire Master as his fire magic was too powerful that it could even destroy a city.

He needed Bryan's help to get the Rotten Venomous Green Apple. This apple was very lethal to those level 20 and below but since it's in the requirements he doesn't need to worry about the effect. The apple was inside the low-level dungeon there and it was guarded by a powerful undead. The dungeon wasn't entirely a low-level dungeon, its difficultly hover between the low-level and mid-level dungeon. It was because of the boss of the dungeon. If he wasn't wrong it was the level 30 Undead Cyclops.

The other requirement for his next evolution was the flesh of level 20 and above undead. Since the boss of the dungeon was a level 30 undead, he doesn't need to worry about the requirements.

"It's time for the second evolution." Souta couldn't help but grin about his next evolution.

It's still version 1 but he could exceed level 20. He guessed that he could reach level 30 before version 1 end. The demon would start to appear in the early part of version 2 and some countries would fight among each other. It would start to get chaotic in version 2. But since he could exceed the level cap there's nothing to worry about.

Level 40 was enough to finish the quest in the upcoming version that's why the level cap of version 2 was 40. If a player exceeded level 40 then they would easily finish the quest of version 2.

But he joined the Mechanic Country in the game when it was still in version 1. He hasn't left the Mechanic Country until the latest version that's the reason why he became the commander of Mechanic Country. Almost half of the quest that he did in the game was related to the Mechanic Country.

He became the commander because of his deeds when the Mechanic Country expand their territory in the three neighboring countries.

...

The next morning, Souta went downstairs to have breakfast. After that, he fed Yuko her breakfast before he went straight to the institute.

It's still early so he went to the cafeteria and bought coffee.

"Hu~" He went to the classroom and drink his coffee there.

After a few minutes, Bryan and Alice arrived.

"You're early, Souta!" Bryan said.

"Yeah, good morning!" Souta nodded and greeted the two.

"Morning," Alice replied as she sat down in her seat beside Souta.

Souta turned to Bryan and asked, "How's your injury?"

"Well, as you can see..." Bryan smiled as he flexed his muscle. "...I'm fine!"

"Be prepared. We will meet at the Adventurers Guild tomorrow morning." Souta said.

"Okay." Bryan nodded.

"Ah, remember to go there 6 am. I will leave you behind if I found that you're not there." Souta added.

"What?! You will leave me behind! How can you do that to your friend!" Bryan exclaimed loudly causing their classmates to turned their heads to look at him.

"Don't mind him, he's just hit his head." Souta smiled wryly and said to his classmates.

"Hais..." Souta sighed and took a sip of his coffee. "At least, the coffee here is good, just the right taste for my taste bud."

He closed his eyes and silently enjoy the taste of the coffee. He heard Bryan was talking to his seatmate. Bryan was a straightforward type of person.

He then slowly opened his eyes and glanced at Alice who was beside him.

Alice was silently looking outside the windows while supporting her head with her hand.

"Silent type, huh?" He muttered before he took another sip of the coffee.

"Good."

After a few minutes, Bargan came and started the class. The students listened carefully to Bargan's lectures.

While Souta was looking at the words that Bargan wrote on the blackboard, he heard something.

Souta looked over and saw that Bryan was sleeping in the middle of the class. It seems that he's still tired because of the battle yesterday, so he didn't bother Bryan and let him sleep there. Souta went back to listened to Bargan.

Bargan also was ignoring Bryan as he continued his lectures.

But...

There's one classmate that couldn't tolerate this kind of behavior.

"Excuse me, Teacher Bargan but Bryan is sleeping." Lumilia pointed at Bryan.

"Haha." Souta laughed lightly as he guessed what type of person Lumilia is.