*Ding!*

[Congratulations on completing the quest monster tide!]

[Calculating rewards...]

*Ding!*

[You've received 50,000 exp, 10 free attribute points, 3 skill points!]

*Ding!*

[You've level up!]

[Strength attributes have increased by 8!]

[Intelligence, Agility, Dexterity, and Vitality have increased by 5!]

[You've received 2 free attribute points!]

[You've received 1 skill point!]

*Ding!*

[You've reached the level requirement for the next evolution!]

Souta heard a series of sounds in his head. The rewards he received from this quest was plenty. He was satisfied with the result.

He now fulfilled all the requirements that he needed to evolve. He could undergo evolution any time he wanted.

Souta looked around the place. The corpse of monsters was all around the place. Almost five thousand monsters died in this battle.

Their side also suffered some casualties. Some of the adventurers and guards died in this battle. A group of people was handling the carcass of the monsters. The hunters took the monster that they killed. They wouldn't give the body of a monster with a monster orb to anyone.

All the souls became a nutrient to increase Souta's stats. With all the souls here, Souta managed to use the effect of the [Harvester of the Souls] five times. All of these went to his vitality attribute.

Souta stretched his arms and felt pain all over his body. His arms, chest, and legs were covered in small cuts and bite marks.

With all the monsters here, Souta wouldn't be able to avoid their attack if all of them attack at the same time.

Souta walked towards the gate. The healers built a tent beside it to treat the wounds of the adventurers and guards. There's a long line of people waiting to be treated.

"Souta!" A familiar voice sounded behind him.

Souta turned around and was surprised by what he saw.

"Wha-"

Bryan was covered in blood. His body was full of wounds. His wounds were worse than Souta. It seems that he fought recklessly this time again.

Souta could only sigh at Bryan's look. He wondered how Bryan survived like this as an adventurer.

"What's wrong, Souta?" Bryan asked as he tilted his head in confusion.

"Nothing." Souta shook his head.

Both of them fall in line. A lot of people suffered injuries in this battle, so the line was quite long.

"Ah! I remember something!" Bryan exclaimed.

"What is it?" Souta asked with a bored expression.

"What do you plan to do to the ranking?" Bryan asked him.

"Hmm... Let's see..." Souta recalled the ranking battles that were happening in the institute. A lot of students were participating in this battle. They were eager to raise their ranks.

"Hmm... Influence of the Mechanic Country..." Souta muttered as he looked in a far distance place. The Mechanic Country was slowly revealing its technology.

"Souta?" Bryan looked at Souta with a confused expression.

"Ah! Sorry. About your question... I plan to participate this time to gather some points." Souta paused for a moment before he continued, "There's a combat arts that I want."

The points that the students could be exchanged for foods, skills, house, or anything in the institute except life. They could even use points to kick out other students or teachers. But the amount needed for that was tremendous.

"Hmm! What is it? Tell me!" Bryan put his face closer to Souta.

"You're too close." Souta grabbed Bryan's face and pushed him away. "You will know it later."

"Eh!! Why?!" Bryan put up a long face at Souta's answer.

"Hahaha, I will not tell you. Just wait and you will know it in time." Souta laughed.

Both of them chatted until their turn to be treated. Souta went inside the tent first. The cleric there applied medicines first in his wounds before casting a healing spell. His treatment only took a few minutes.

After Souta, it was Bryan's turn. Bryan's treatment took half an hour before it finished because some of his wounds were deep.

...

It was already afternoon when Souta and Bryan came back to the institute. It was lunch break, so both of them went straight to the canteen.

"George! Joshua!" Bryan waved his hand when he saw their classmates.

Souta glanced at the two before he bought lunch. He opened his mouth and said, "You can go and talk to them. Let's talk later in class."

"Okay." Bryan nodded. George and Joshua were the students that joined the class at the same time as him and Souta. He, George, Joshua, Souta, and Alice were from the same batch.

Souta received his lunch. He looked around and saw class rep, Lumilia, with her friends. He wanted to talk to her but he was not close to their classmates. He wasn't Bryan that always talk nonstop and almost made the whole class his friends.

Lumilia lifted up her head and saw that Souta was looking at her.

"Mila! Mila! Mila!" A voice called her nickname repeatedly.

Souta smiled at her before he averted his gaze.

Lumilia snapped out when the voice beside her grew louder. She looked at the girl with purple long hair beside her. Her hair was curly at the end. She was Lynn Yaoli, a student of Mage Class 1-B.

"What is it, Lynn?" Lumilia asked her.

"What are you looking at?" Lynn asked and she followed Lumilia's line of sight and saw Souta. "Oh? That's Souta!"

"Souta!" Another classmate called Nayo said as she turned her head and looked at Souta.

"Do you have a grudge at him, Mila?" Lynn asked Lumilia carefully.

"Why?" Lumilia asked back.

"Um... You know, what happened in the tournament..." Lynn said with some hesitation.

"Ah! That... No, I don't have any grudge regarding that matter." Lumilia shook her head.

"I see... Don't you think he's kinda cool?" Lynn asked as she lowered her head.

Lumilia and Nayo looked at Lynn with a surprised expression.

...

Souta continued to look for a vacant place when he saw Alice figure from the corner of his eyes.

As usual, she was eating alone. Hmm... There were no classmates of them that talk to her. Only Bryan and Souta had the guts to talk to her despite her cold appearance.

He approached her and asked, "Is this free?"

Alice looked at him before she nodded.

"Thanks," Souta said as he placed down his lunch on the table before he took a sit.

The two didn't talk about anything. They just enjoyed their lunch without saying anything.

...

Two months had passed quickly. Nothing big happens these two months.

In the institute, Souta became active in the ranking battles. He joined the battle left and right increasing his ranking among the first year. A lot of people were watching this event and they wonder who is going to reign the top.

The teachers, the second year, third year, and the fourth year were all watching how the battle will be concluded. It became chaotic when Souta joined the rank battles.

He defeated students left and right without stopping. He only stopped when he reached the top 10 in the whole first year. It was because he gathered enough points. He earned a decent amount of points as he didn't experience a single defeat. There were quite a few opponents that gave him trouble like Brando and Bryan. Bryan challenged him to a duel every week and Souta always defeated him. Brando challenged him once again to test his strength but he found that Souta was on an entirely different level when he's using his mana.

Souta rent the training ground using his points for a whole day. That day, Souta learned all the "mastery" skills of all weapons except the guns. There'no guns here. It was only available in the Mechanic Country.

In the end, he acquired the skill [Weapon Mastery]. The weapons under this skill were Sword, Lance, Spear, Scythe, Bow, Dagger, Staff, Axe, and Mace. He acquired all the "mastery" skill of these weapons. It means that as long as he equipped any of these weapons there's a plus 10% damage to his basic attack.

For his remaining points, Souta exchanged it for some combat arts. He barely managed to learn three combat arts. These three combat arts were [Cat's Speed], [Air walk], and [Triple Muscle Hardening].

Souta and Bryan visited Cluster in Lumilia's apartment almost every day. Souta could feel it that he was getting closer to Cluster. Cluster wasn't restraining herself with them anymore. She was a lively little girl. Just a little bit push and Souta would be able to know her secret.

Souta didn't just train in these two months. He also cleared the low-level dungeon around the Ladros City. He earned a decent amount of exp, free attribute points, and skill points in all of his expeditions so far. He also got some skill books in the dungeons and the most important thing that he found was the [Pet Bestowing Skill].

With this, he could give Yuko some of his skills.

...

Souta took Yuko with him. Both of them went out of Ladros City and found a cave.

"It's finally time..." Souta muttered as he grinned.

He opened his bag and took out the Rotten Venomous Green Apple and the flesh of an undead. The scent of these two things quickly struck his nose.

"It stinks!!" Souta pinched his nose and he grabbed the apple.

"Finally, the long-awaited moment."