"Straight to the point huh? Well." A smile curled up the side of the boy’s lips as he pointed his thumbs to his face and said. "My name is Ethan Kaiser, and I’m one of your competition."
Ace looked at the boy with a slight confusion flashing through his eyes, though his expression quickly settled back into its usual calm neutrality.
"One of my competition?" Ace blinked as he repeated the boy’s words.
"Yes, one of your competition. You smashed through every record in the first two trials, surpassing that of the Soul-King himself." Ethan said as he could barely contain his jealousy, but at the same time, he was thrilled.
A grin spread across his face as it became obvious he could hardly wait for the chance to smash the following records of the fifth trial.
Ace stood still as he sensed the remnants of Ethan’s Soul-Energy lingering within his body.
’This guy... I can tell just from him standing across me... Despite his lean build, he’s strong.’
"Smashed through every record?" His brows jerked as he finally processed Ethan’s words. "What do you mean by that?"
"You mean you haven’t seen it yet? There’s a ranking window that updates itself every time an Awakener clears the trials of a sanctuary. That rank displays the amount of time an Awakener uses to clear a trial. So far the Soul-King held the record for the shortest time to clear the second trial. But just mere minutes ago, the rankings were updated after more than 100 years."
"Rank window?"
"See for yourself, it’s part of the system programming."
Ace faced forward, then with a single word, he summoned the rankings of the second trial.
——— 4th RANKING UPDATE ———
[1st Place - Ace Voltia — 50:00]
[2nd Place - Eliza Morgan — 50:00.]
[3rd Place - Tim Ashborne — 50:00.]
[4th Place - Alexa Noir — 50:00.]
[5th Place - Arthur Curry — 1 year, sixty five days.]
[6th Place - Lilith Ravenscar — 5 years, 10 months, sixty days].
[7th Place - Ethan Kaiser— 7 years, six months and fifteen days.]
From the rankings panel, he saw the time duration it took the top seven Awakeners to clear the second trial of the Sanctuary.
It was the fourth rankings, but because he skipped three levels at once, it applied to the second, third and fourth rankings.
’So that’s how he knew my name, 7th place... 7 years and six months? No wonder he’s so uptight about me blowing up the rankings. Eliza and the others are also ranked in the top four because we took the trial as a team.’
Ace’s eyes slowly settled on the fifth place in the rankings, his expression remaining calm as he silently stared at the name displayed there.
’Arthur Curry... Considering the time frame he used to complete the second option, he must be the Soul-King who’s rumored to be humanity’s strongest Soul-Hunter. Fifty minutes? That’s actually impressive, unlike me he didn’t have the God-Tier Adaptation System, so for him to clear the second trial on his own, especially against the supreme general, it really earns him that title.’ He thought.
Ace stole brief glances around him, his eyes narrowing slightly as he felt the unsettling gazes directed at him from every corner of the room.
"Disturbing aren’t they?" Ethan said as he stepped forward. "These people, they spent years fighting and surviving through the first four trials. They sacrificed a part of them, lost their morals, their body parts. They even lost cherished comrades on the way, hearing there’s an Awakener who managed to ascend to the fifth trial in just nine minutes, I guess their reactions are a bit justified."
"If the main goal of the sanctuary is survival, why does this ranking system matters?" Ace couldn’t wrap his head around the whole ranking system, after all from his perspective, survival was the only thing that really mattered as countless people lost their lives even in the first trial alone.
"Because it’s not the rankings itself that matters, it’s the rewards."
"The rewards?"
"As you know, with each beast you kill, and with each trial you complete, you earn a certain amount of evolution points. If we are talking about survival in the sanctuary, it all comes down to evolution points. Not only does it acts as the currency of the sanctuary, it is very vital for levelling up individual skills and even Soul-Techniques. So the more evolution points you have, the stronger you grow, and your chances of survival increases."
Ethan paused for a moment, and the energetic smile he gave slowly faded.
"The rankings system acts as a privilege to the strong, so the higher you climb, the more evolution points you obtain. The Soul-King was already a freak of nature, and that got him the first place rankings throughout the 14 trials, I cannot imagine how many evolution points he accumulated over the years."
Ace’s eyes immediately widened as he remembered the last system notification he had received after defeating the Supreme General.
His rewards had not been granted to him yet.
Because of his incomprehensible achievements, the System had stated that the calculation of his rewards would be delayed until further evaluation. Even now, those rewards had yet to be released.
But now, thanks to Ethan’s explanation, Ace finally understood.
"So that’s why..."
The delay wasn’t simply because the System had been calculating his rewards.
It had something to do with the Ranking System, now that he broke the Soul-King record by hours, he couldn’t imagine the rewards.
That was why, despite clearing the second option of the second trial of the Sanctuary, he still hadn’t received his rewards.
"Yes... That is why you should watch your back, Ace Voltia."
"Hm?" Ace blinked as Ethan’s demeanour flipped, the remnants of his energetic smile disappeared as he took a step closer and shot Ace a cold glare.
"For years, everyone, not just me have pushed our bodies far beyond it’s limits. Every scar, every injury and every blood shed is our testament to what we endured to get here. After nearly three years of blood and lost comrades, I finally ascended the rankings, only for a naive Awakener to shatter those years of sacrifice in a single day."
Ethan didn’t believe Ace got to where he is by his own efforts and sacrifice, he believed that he sacrificed his teammates, or worse, betrayed them to ascend, and that was why out of the four people that passed, only him wasn’t in a critically condition that threatened their future in the sanctuary.
After all, there’s a reason why for centuries, in the history of mankind, no one has been able to surpass the Soul-King’s record.
"I don’t know how you broke the record and got ranked first place, but I assure you, this is the first and last you’ll ever taste the feeling of such success, not after all the efforts the humans of the sanctuary have sacrificed to climb the rankings."
Ethan turned around without another word, then as he walked away, he said coldly. "See you at the First Selection."
Ace watched as Ethan walked away, and at that moment, he realized.
He thought that clearing the trials so quickly would help humanity ascend at a much faster rate and finally escape this hell, but he was wrong.
By ascending at such a frightening pace, he caught the attention of the examiner, especially the examiner of the second trial. And worse, he unknowingly made enemies he didn’t even know he had.
His encounter with Ethan made one thing clear, no matter what, developing Chronos and creating two Soul-Techniques was his top priorities if he was going to be prepared for what waited ahead for him.
But developing Soul-Techniques wasn’t an easy feat, even the vice captain understood how challenging it would be for the Awakeners, which was why he had given them a duration of two whole months.
But even with the odds against him, a smile formed at the corners of his lips.
Three days ago, he was nothing but a Null, a dead weight that everyone casted aside. He was even pushed to the thought of committing suicide to save himself from becoming a burden.
But now, the same association and Awakeners that looked down on him and shunned him now envied him and became wary of him.
It didn’t matter whether you were strong or weak. As long as your existence was a limiting factor, there would always be people who would try to exploit or eliminate you to serve their own interests.
That was the true nature of humanity.
But that didn’t trouble Ace one bit.
In fact, the thought of it put a devious grin to Ace’s face, and he slowly raised his fingers and stared at the double doors leading into the hall they just left.
A faint blue aura gathered around his eyes, covering them like a thin shroud, and the glow made his gaze look almost unnatural, while one of his eyes shone with a pale blue light.
"If they want to take me out..." His grin widened.
"They are welcome to try."