Everyone watched as Harold’s lips lifted slightly, clearly preparing to speak when...
The door suddenly swung open, cutting him off mid-breath, and in stepped a rather familiar face.
It was Layla Forze, the brilliant beauty staring with a straight face even after interrupting a Sergeant mid-speech.
It was remarkable how she had kept her calm even after that, Thors thought.
Almost as though she were sure she could defeat Harold in simply a few moves, or, even worse, as though she owned him.
Harold did nothing but glare at her before taking his eyes off her, almost as though he had been defeated.
At this, Layla nodded slightly and then turned to face the crowd of students, who did not fail to start murmuring about her.
"She’s number two, isn’t she?"
"The Forze family, damn..."
"What is she looking for here? I heard she has already conquered her own first-year class. Badass, right?"
"Man, I wish I could date her."
Conversations erupted from left to right, some praising the young prodigy, others ogling over her beauty and astonishing features, her large thighs to be precise, while others were just outright jealous.
Thors, meanwhile, had none of those thoughts in his head. He only thought briefly about how high she was in the top ten before finally, his mind settled on the most pressing question he had at this moment.
’If I had gotten a system from placing my hand on that obsidian rock...’ His fingers pressed against each other, his body leaning forward across his desk as the thought consumed him. ’Did she also inherit a system similar to mine, or even better?’
He whispered to himself.
Layla finally spoke after the long silence.
"I am sorry to interrupt your class, but as the acting head of the top ten, I am here to pass on the message of a private meeting that will be held with the top ten this afternoon, immediately after the end of your classes. There are urgent matters we must discuss concerning the situation of our year."
"All further information will be sent over to your watches. Failure to attend will definitely result in consequences you would rather die than bear."
With that, she turned away with her usual cold indifference and walked outside the classroom.
Seoul groaned, stretching out his hands.
"She’s the kind of person who wants to do everything alone. She couldn’t even send a messenger to pass on her news."
Thors gave Seoul a long, questioning stare.
"Don’t you think if it were a messenger that stepped in, Harold would have ripped him to shreds the moment he entered?"
Seoul shrugged and then playfully clapped his hands.
"Brilliant deduction."
Thors could only sigh and shake his head at the company he was keeping.
Though, even with how Seoul had put it, he was right. She was the number two strongest individual in their year, so she should be able to command just as much authority as she wanted. With a powerful family name unlike Thors, whose orders would likely be questioned, hers would not.
This left Thors with one question.
Why?
Why had she decided to come here herself?
And for now, he would just have to wait and find out.
Class had finally ended, and each student had gone to either get snacks for themselves before approaching their second class or simply enjoy a playful hangout with their friends.
Thanks to Layla’s interference, though, Harold had suddenly changed his mind about answering the questions of the young woman, leaving the entire class in painful suspense.
Thors sighed as he began stretching himself, his hands, then his legs, groaning with each almost impossible stretch he made as he tested his flexibility.
Well, unlike the other students who had taken pleasure in the thirty-minute break, Thors was far too determined to waste his leisure time having fun.
’Isn’t leisure time for fun? So wasting it means working during that time... Uhhh... Just fuck it.’
He rubbed his face softly and then turned to the large metallic dummy standing on the same platform as him.
This was how he planned to spend his own leisure time.
Having arrived at the weapons battle class early, he was the only one present. Seeing this amount of equipment just sitting there collecting dust was far too tempting to ignore.
Especially when he was so eager to test his new ability.
Thors could already feel his heart racing at the thought of what golden lightning was and the effect it would have against the dummy.
’I analyzed the thickness of the dummy against my previous lightning. At best... I would only slightly dent the armour from a distance blast, but up close, I would be able to do greater damage. The armour would still survive, though, with only caves in its surface.’
That was the strength of his regular lightning.
Thors raised his hand, his palm outstretched toward the metallic dummy. He took in a long breath and then willed for the golden lightning to form.
For a second, there was nothing.
But in the next, his palm surged with whistling, bright flashes of golden electricity, surging and dancing wildly around his palm.
With a low grunt, he sent a beam flying out of his hand toward the metallic armour.
Something was strange...
The lightning did not curl through the air in streaks like his original Superhuman Ability did.
It was more concentrated, circular in shape, and tore forward through the air like a horrid bullet, striking true and devastatingly against the armour of the dummy.
Sheets of metal scattered into the air.
The dummy’s body, after the flash of golden lightning had sufficed upon impact, now had a large, glowing hot-red hole burned into its surface.
Thors’ mouth grew wide open, and then he blinked a few times, glancing at his open palm.
"What the..."
"..."
"This is over three times stronger than my regular ability."
He found himself whispering in disbelief as he glanced back up at the body of the sorry dummy, a large chunk of it missing, before looking back at his palm.
And the scariest part was the fact that he wasn’t even trying.
"Is this the effect of the lineage cores or the golden lightning itself?"
Curiosity clawed at him, and in the end, he stretched out his hand to run another test when...
"What are you doing in my training hall, and to my dummy?"
Thors’ face paled.
He turned around swiftly, only to see a man who appeared to be in his mid-thirties staring directly at him.
One hand was placed firmly on the hilt of his sword, ready to draw it against Thors at a moment’s notice as though he were an intruder who had broken into his territory.
Without a doubt, this was him.
The one the academy and many others knew as the Ghost Swordsman.
The man smiled, his eyes trailing toward the damaged dummy before returning to Thors.
"Now, let’s try that on a real opponent."