Qwarian smiled.
"Do me a favor."
He slid the list across the table.
"Visit these people. Tell them everything you personally witnessed concerning Dante, as well as everything you learned from Merlin."
Aishwani glanced over the list.
"Anything else?"
Qwarian leaned back in his chair.
"One rumor. Dante appears to be Level Four."
Aishwani's eyes narrowed slightly.
"That's quite the rumor."
"It doesn't need to be elaborate. Just enough to create suspicion and curiosity."
He took another bite of his meal before continuing.
"More importantly, if we're lucky, the people who need Academy Points from Dante will start cooperating."
Aishwani looked at him.
"You expect them to attack him?"
"Not necessarily."
Qwarian shrugged, seemingly unconcerned with the possibilities.
"Maybe they will. Maybe they'll form a temporary alliance. Or perhaps they'll simply start competing with him. Either way, I want to see what happens when people whose strength we already understand begin putting pressure on him."
He smiled.
"It might cost them points. It might cost us points. But I want to test something myself."
Aishwani nodded slowly.
"That makes sense. The best way to determine how strong someone is... is to involve people whose abilities we already have a reasonable understanding of."
She sighed and looked at him.
"You're a problematic person, you know."
Qwarian shook his head.
"Aishwani, Jurian, and Dante in the same faction is already bad enough. Very bad."
His expression gradually became more serious.
"And then there are the failed first-years. We need to make sure they don't pass. If they're going to become problems, it's better to remove them now. I doubt I'm the only person thinking this way."
He finished his meal and stretched comfortably in his seat.
"There are simply too many monsters in this academy. It would be stupid to assume I can deal with all of them simultaneously. Better to remove a few early and deal with the rest as time goes by."
Aishwani nodded.
'He really is a schemer. For someone this strong, he's surprisingly cautious.'
She glanced down at the list again.
"What about everyone else? You're not putting nearly as much emphasis on them."
Qwarian shook his head.
"I'm not expecting them to eliminate Dante. The rumor serves a different purpose."
He tapped the list with his finger.
"If enough people become suspicious of Dante, they'll naturally start interfering with Aishwani's faction. And Aishwani's faction will respond. Then the others will respond to them."
He smiled.
"Eventually, they'll either eliminate one another or lose enough points trying."
Aishwani chuckled.
"I thought so."
She folded the list and slipped it away.
"So, what exactly am I getting out of this?"
Qwarian laughed.
"Five thousand Academy Points. Extra, of course. I'm not making you run around for free, faction or not."
Aishwani smiled.
"Fair enough. Then I'll get started."
The next instant, she disappeared. There was no flash, no sound, and no lingering mana. She simply ceased to be there, leaving Qwarian alone at the table.
He watched the empty seat for several seconds before letting out a sigh.
'Luck really did favour me. If she, or any of the others in my faction, had refused to cooperate... they'd have ended up on the list of problematic figures themselves.'
He rose from his seat, but before he could take another step, a familiar sound rang out.
Ding.
His academy bracelet vibrated.
Qwarian glanced down.
Candidate: Qwarian
Tier: Mythical
Time Remaining: 20 Days, 0 Hours, 0 Minutes
Core Objectives
Exploration
Required Points: 400 / 500
Extra Points: +200
Meet Students
Required Points: 200 / 1,200
Extra Points: +100
Defeat Monsters
Required Points: 300 / 1,500
Extra Points: +300
Take Points
Required Points: 170 / 1,000
Extra Points: +70
Survive
Required Points: 100 / 800
Extra Points: +0
Required Points Acquired: 1,170 / 5,000
Additional Points Acquired: +670
Total Academy Points: 1,770
Core Objectives Completed: 0 / 5
Phase Status: In Progress
Another notification appeared.
Current Rankings
Remaining Time: 20 Days
Legendary Tier
Talon
Crush
Fade
Vexion
Lexa
Zorion
Onyx
Suzen
Equonix
Ragnar
Elric
Elisophere
Gorgon
Amber
Jinx
Ember
Ivarr
Ebony
Sylvette
Giona
Zev
Burn
Innox
Hexes
Qwarian barely glanced at the list. There was nothing particularly unexpected about the Legendary rankings, so his eyes immediately moved to the Mythical Tier.
Mythical Tier
Vaygar
Lunara
Luna
Shade
Dante
Zenith
Bullshar
Jurian
Vespar
Qwarian
Merlin
Zephir
Neo
Ivory
Aishwani
Shana
Loana
Fred
Rowan
Oceana
Lazarus
Crimson
Ubryan
Ophilia
June
Qwarian stopped.
His eyes moved back up the list, scanning several names in succession.
Dante. Jurian. Vespar. Luna. Shade. Vaygar.
Those were the names that mattered. Some were immediate problems, while others were future headaches. He committed their positions to memory before finally glancing at his own.
Tenth.
Acceptable.
He dismissed the ranking, then frowned slightly.
"There's no indication of points."
He stared at the notification for another moment.
"Interesting."
However, he quickly pushed the thought aside. The ranking itself wasn't what bothered him. It was one particular name.
His eyes drifted downward.
Fred.
He stared at it in silence, his expression gradually becoming more serious as he read the name again.
Fred.
There was nothing particularly threatening about it. Nothing that suggested an ancient bloodline, a legendary title, a terrifying epithet, or some mysterious identity.
Just...
Fred.
Qwarian frowned.
"Who is Fred?"
He waited for a moment, perhaps expecting the academy to provide additional information, but nothing appeared. He checked the list again.
Still Fred.
He looked toward the empty seat where Shade had been sitting, then returned his attention to the name.
"...Who the hell is Fred?"
For the first time that day, Qwarian found himself genuinely curious about someone he had never even heard of.
And somehow, that bothered him more than the names of the monsters he already knew.