However, she had followed me at a point once I exited the dungeon to here.
I couldn’t pick the first option because it meant that I would have to come up with an explanation of why I had brought firearms to the academy and where I bought them from.
I couldn’t risk terminating my contact with Bunnytea, which I had painstakingly tried to obtain.
I also absolutely couldn’t pick the second option.
I realised that the ’secret’ she was talking about was my strength.
She was one of the least people that I wanted to know what I was capable of.
"You aren’t planning to kill me, aren’t you?" Thᴇ link to the origɪn of this information rᴇsts ɪn novel-fire.ɴet
I took a deep breath and asked.
Sarafina’s expression turned stunned.
Suddenly, realisation crossed her face.
"No. I never planned on killing you. I came here to discuss the agreement you’ve made with Chioma. I can assure you that I’ve nothing to do with the Zahara Clan, and the rumours that had been spread were perpetrated by Instructor Fredric, your teacher," she responded.
"Besides, if I wanted to kill you, I would have buried you in that hole you’d dug and fled the academy a long time ago. Although fulfilling the Zahara Clan’s request is tempting, the unseen costs are not worth it."
So, she was here for that.
I couldn’t help but feel excited because this meant that she had managed to get Fredric’s confession.
As long as we had that, it should be smooth sailing in dealing with the Descendants of the Zahara Clan.
I opened my storage bag and pretended to summon Spiral Fang from within.
Sarafina narrowed her eyes at my sword with a frown.
"What kind of magic weapon is that?"
"It sure doesn’t look like a sword."
Her brows twitched in annoyance.
"It’s a special sword."
Her expression grew stiff.
She sighed and asked, "What grade is it?"
I could say that Spiral Fang was an Uncommon-ranked magic item, but if that information leaked after I had managed to upgrade the sword to Rare Rank, and she found out, it would be problematic.
"Fine... Fine... A magic item is one of an Awakener’s strengths. If you don’t want to tell me, it’s fine," Sarafina said. "However, at least tell me what rank you are?"
"Rank One. Late Stage."
"Are you sure?" she asked, frowning. "The strength you showed three days ago seemed to be edging toward Early Stage Rank Two.
"My reason for this assumption is that you defeated twenty-five noble descendants of the Windcrest Clan. None of them are pushovers and could handle one or two Magical Swordsman Awakeners of the same rank. But even if you had defeated twenty-five common Magical Swordsmen, that would still have been a subject to discuss."
She looked at me intently, as though desiring to slice me open and uncover all of the secrets I possessed.
I shook my head. "I don’t know where you got this idea from. But I can assure you that I’m a Rank One Late Stage Awakener."
The atmosphere around me became saturated with my mana and turned oppressive.
Her eyes widened in surprise.
I realised that she genuinely thought I was a Rank Two Early Stage Awakener.
If she had arrived at this conclusion, that meant others might have also thought the same way.
I hoped that the other noble descendants were too blinded by their pride to arrive at such an assumption and would make an attempt to ambush me, because I needed them to help me improve my strength.
I didn’t know how much I wanted to be ambushed by classmates until now.
Having an extraordinary talent does change everything, including one’s state of mind!
"As you’ve sensed, I’m a Rank One Late-Stage Awakener," I repeated.
The atmosphere around me returned to normal.
Sarafina’s expression became thoughtful for a while before she nodded in understanding.
"Alright, let’s do this. I’ll suppress my power to that of Late Stage Rank One, and you will fight me with everything you have." She paused, untied the red scarf on her head, and tied it around her lower arm.
The other ends of the scarf billowed freely in the wind.
"As long as you manage to touch or cut this scarf, you win. And I’ll pretend as though I hadn’t seen you doing anything suspicious." She grinned broadly.
I nodded in agreement.
"Perfect. Now that we’ve both come to an agreement, go ahead and attack first." She spread her arms open.
"Give me everything you have."
I channelled my mana into Spiral Fang.
WWHHIRRLLL!! WHHIRRLLL!!!
The drill spun sharply.
"That’s an interesting weapon," Sarafina said.
A deep wave of crimson enveloped me and Spiral Fang.
I sensed my sword intent coating the drill and its tip.
I could stop it, but there was no need to.
My sword intent was something I had wanted to expose from the beginning, to draw the attention of the academy onto me.
This would make the Descendants of the Zahara Clan hesitant to continue targeting me.
After all, the bigger and more protected a target is, the more complicated and severe the consequences are when they are eliminated.
I didn’t plan on revealing my Beastmaster Path Talent.
Awakeners were humanity’s greatest hope, and when one of them showed a talent surpassing that of an average Awakener, even the Zahara Clan would hesitate to harm them so they wouldn’t draw the anger of other powerhouses of equal standing.
However, if the Zahara Clan sensed me as too much of a threat, then they might be willing to bear the burden of eliminating me.
Sarafina’s smile widened as she scrutinised me from head to toe intently.
Wind wrapped around my body, almost lifting me off the ground.
If I didn’t have the system, it would have taken a while for me to properly learn the spell without making a fool of myself.