A/N: Thank you ’GrimReapen’ for the supergift—Spacecarft!
Truly, thank you.
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Chapter 298: Shaken Mountain
Tarun suddenly felt as if he were being watched by a colossal eye—an unseen gaze that filled him with an unexplainable fear. An existence so vast, so overwhelming, that it could erase him from the past, present, and future without leaving a trace.
For a brief mont, Tarun stood stunned. By the ti his senses returned, Leo had already gone back to his seat.
Thankfully, his body hadn’t reacted outwardly. Otherwise he might have actually collapsed.
W-what the hell was that?! Tarun scread inwardly.
He’s protected by a higher existence?! I-is he one of those?!
Tarun forced himself to breathe slowly as the host delivered the closing speech. Once his heartbeat steadied, he began thinking clearly.
Alright... Those people take an interest in anyone, but... isn’t he too weak?
The last one I know who was chosen was a 7-star wyrm—he rose to 9-star within 50-years and beca the protector of the skies...
Leo is currently at... wait.
That was when Tarun noticed the inconsistency.
When he tried sensing Leo’s strength, it barely touched the peak 3-star levels, but he had fought and defeated Leon, who, in his soul-fusion form, was at the peak of the Pseudo 4-star realm, not to ntion Leo didn’t even have any techniques; he completed raw dogged Leon in the match.
Am I unable to sense the strength that he might have gained by their gift? This... this needs to be hidden. The last thing I want is to get my existence wiped out for revealing his information to others.
Tarun’s consciousness was already marked by whatever existence he had sensed now, and he knew that these existences had unfathomable power; the minor incident that he had just had with Leo had already put them in their range.
Now, his entire thought process might already have been tapped by that existence. And even after figuring out Leo’s situation, if Tarun tried to sabotage him or compromise his growth by revealing this fact to others, he can get erased.
Tarun exhaled a long breath.
Calm down, calm down... At the end, even these unfathomable existences are also trying their best to prevent the destruction of this new world.
And the fact that I am aware of another potential candidate, brings a great advantage. Especially when I can guarantee a favour from him since he is still weak.
It was then that he realised he had already fumbled hard.
FUCK!!! No wonder he had that little reaction after he got so many rewards that I thought were valuable for him. He is already stronger than what we perceived him to be! He might already be planning to give all his rewards to his little girl since they are no use to him!
Tarun carefully glanced at Leo to see him confused as Leo turned his head left and right, finding sothing amiss. He had once again felt that disturbance when he touched Tarun’s palm, but still couldn’t pinpoint what the exact source was.
"And with that, my friends!" the host’s voice rang out.
"We have reached the end of this 10-day-long competition! Congratulations to all the rank holders—we will et again after 3 months!!!"
The crowd roared as the lights dimd. A soft hum filled the arena as the top 50 students were teleported through the special exit.
On the other side, Miho was already waiting with an enthusiastic smile. Within just a month, she had overco her trauma—though much of the credit went to Leon after Lily.
As they walked toward the area where Brok would take them away, Leo noticed a familiar figure.
Andrew.
But he looked drained—as if all the energy had been sucked out of him.
Still, those perpetually narrowed eyes were unmistakable.
"Andrew! Why do you look so down?" Leo asked as he crossed paths with the informant who had led him to Leon.
Andrew looked up. A flicker of anger crossed his face, but it faded almost instantly.
"...nothing," he said flatly, walking past Leo. Then he added,
"You hid your strength quite well..."
Only then did Leo understand. Andrew must have bet on Leon—and lost most of his savings.
At that mont, Leo rembered sothing he had been forgetting.
"Miho, who did you bet on today?"
He had forgotten Miho had to choose between her master and her beloved Leon.
"Eh? M-?" she stamred.
"I-I an we!" she quickly corrected, including Veronica and Virat.
"Oh? So who did you all bet on?" Leo asked, already assuming mistakes.
"W-we didn’t bet on either of you... We were confused," she replied, averting her gaze, as if eye contact would expose her lie.
"Oh, really?"
Leo narrowed his eyes slightly.
"So... how much credit do you have now?" he asked, his tone slow .
"8-8,712,090 AC..." she answered, showing her phone—though this ti, she wasn’t nearly as enthusiastic as before.
"8 million? Hmm..." Leo muttered, sothing feeling off.
"You started with 387,000 AC... then I won... it must have crossed 1 million. Then Lily... then Leon..."
He ran the numbers in his head, then took out his own phone.
From the corner of his eye, he noticed Miho fidgeting—sweating slightly, avoiding everyone’s gaze as she stared at her feet and walked slower.
"I think everything is fine... isn’t it, Leon?" Leo said.
"Yeah..." Leon replied, already catching on.
Nearly 2 million AC was missing. It didn’t take long for everyone to realize where it had gone to Miho’s personal bet on Leon.
Then Lily stepped in.
"You know what, Miho?"
"Y-yes!"
"You can keep all that AC. I don’t think we’ll be short on money anyti soon..." she said, glancing at her balance.
The others nodded as well. After choosing money over advancent materials, their balances looked like this:
Lily’s balance: 4.5 million AC
Leo’s balance: 14 million AC
Leon’s balance: 7 million AC
Miho’s balance: 8.71 million AC
But the numbers shifted the very next second.
Lily’s balance: 5.95 million AC
Leo’s balance: 15.45 million AC
Leon’s balance: 8.45 million AC
Miho’s balance: 4.35 million AC
"I’ll only take what’s mine!" Miho said firmly, her expression resolute.
She kept the 50% she had been promised and distributed the rest equally.
Under the quiet glow of the night moon, the group finally departed for their territory.
From tomorrow... the real ga would begin.
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