Chapter 34. Last Day

With the sun barely shiny through his window, Ken heard the normal morning greets from the girls as he opened his eyes and got ready to start a new day.

“Morning everyone.” Ken greeted the girls as he opened his dorm and got ready for the final day of the semester.

With a fixed daily routine, endless hours spent studying and training, the days hanging out with the girls and trying to get stronger and more educated passed in a blank of the eye and the first semester of Ken’s second year came to an end just like that.

With a blonde girl holding his left arm and pressing herself onto him tightly and a wolf girl doing the same with his right arm, As the group headed for the stadium to grab some food and enjoy for the final day of the tournament, Clare and Alice’s absence provided the opening Genesis and Lovetta needed to get as intimate with Ken as physically possible while Emma and Indra watched in envy and Seraphina just following along being her cheerful self.

Thanks to his natural talent and hardwork, with the continued tutoring from Alice and the two of them spending hours a day at the library along with Genesis going over history books, geography books, solving math problems and learning the science behind the elements and human biology, Ken managed to pass intermediate level on all four of his written classes without stepping into the classroom once and was well on his way to possibly pass the advanced portion by the end of their second year.

On the physical and elemental practical classes, Ken was able to join the advanced lessons from day one with Alice, Seraphina and Genesis also tagging along for those lessons. With additional training and practice with Lovetta and the others at the training facility, while Ken was still at intermediate level on both, he is well on his way to pass advanced level on all physical enhancements and basic elemental spells by the year end exam as well.

Not only was he doing very well with improving his overall scores, he had spent many hours at the training facility working on combining his enhancements and spells with different keywords and is now able to seamlessly enhance any combination of physical traits while also able to fire out all the basic elemental spells without much delay and improved his actual combat abilities greatly.

With his unmatched desire to learn, boundless curiosity and some of the best private tutors for all of the subjects, Ken ascended the ranks like never before and after 3 semesters, he went from ranked 1022 all the way up to rank 555 and is now ranked higher than Genesis.

“You better put in some effort soon Genesis, you don’t want to waste this chance and end up having to drop out next year.” Ken warned as the blonde human girl showed no sign of wanting to do anything except spending all available hours with Ken.

“You know I am doing more than just staring at you everyday when we are in the library and at the training facility right?”

“Really? What else were you doing? Definitely doesn’t seem like you were doing any studying.”

“I was also fantasizing about our life together after the academy days and how many babies we will have and what I should name each of our kids.” Genesis smiled, while a speechless Ken could only shake his head in disbelief.

Bowls of steaming hot soup and noodles with thinly sliced beef, pork and vegetables, Ken and the girls got a nice spot at a noodle stall as the group reached the stadium grounds to enjoy a hearty breakfast before the final day of tournament starts.

It was no surprise to anyone that Clare maintained her overall number 1 rank after the midterm and has now achieved expert level on all the basic subjects, spells and enhancements and is at a point where she is so overwhelmed with school work that other than joining the group of meals and on Sundays, Clare spends most of her days either in class, on her way to another class or getting ready for another class.

While Clare improved greatly on all areas, Luke Darrumburgh not only managed to keep up but somehow closed the distance between the two slightly and with Lovetta getting above expert level on all three physical enhancement and keeping her lead over Clare, even after finishing first and second once again on the showcase and winning the tournament for the third time in a row for their class, Clare was pouting the whole week.

Just like Genesis, Alice spends every waking minute with Ken, helping him with general knowledge at the library, his training at the training facility and overall the two are inseparable except for the tournament week where she begrudgingly stays with her family instead of by his side.

Since Alice had focused all of her energy on helping Ken improve, she had done nothing for her own studies and had now fallen out of the top 20 from simply not taking a single exam since the entrance test. Even with her mastery on everything below advanced level since day one, Ken is starting to get worried that Alice might not care if she never reaches expert level or beyond as long as she gets to be with him.

With her introducing her family to the Yelwraek during the banquet half a year ago, Alice’s father had since allowed her to do as she pleased. For nobles and royals, the biggest reason for their children to come to this academy is to build those connections with the powerful and with the introduction to the Yelwraek, it’s more than any arrangement marriage could ever bring for the family and as such, her uncle, king Draven was more than happy to overrule any restrictions her father might have had and allowed Alice to do as she pleased.

Alice had become so relaxed that she didn’t even bother signing up for the tournament this semester and simply watched the show with her family while hoping and sweet talking to her dad and uncle so they would recognize her love for Ken and remove her protection spell and eventually allow the two to get married.

For Lovetta, the semester was spent mostly in the training facility when she was not in class to work on her overall enhancement, her endurance, her stamina, her basic physical strength, power and speed and improving her ability to switch from different forms of enhancement as quickly and automatically as possible.

With her only focusing on her physical aspect, all of the lessons Lovetta is attending took place at the official training ground where she has been attending the expert level enhancement classes while still attending the second level martial arts and weapon mastery classes that Ken was also attending.

Whenever she was not in class and tired of training or misses Ken, she would join them at the library and just like Genesis, she was there just to be near Ken and had no interest in learning any of the subjects Ken and Alice would be discussing.

For the tournament, Lovetta once again showed the world that her ability to enhance physically is without a doubt top tier for her year and in the tournament, she once again lost to Clare in the semi-final match and ended up taking home a nice sum of points.

Emma and Indra became very good friends over the course of almost a year and while Ken had been too busy with his own studies to help Emma much with hers. After she gets done with her work, she would spend most of her time with Ken but Indra would be the one helping Emma if she had any questions and Emma is on course to pass beginner level on all the written and practical parts by the end of the year while also putting in the extra hours like this week to get paid so she could take the money home for the family.

With her own lessons in all of the expert subjects, Indra had been very busy this semester with studying, helping Emma whenever she could and while she still hasn't gotten the courage to confess her feelings for Ken, she did start talking to him more regularly and the two are definitely getting closer but it’s still nowhere near what he’s relationship is with the other girls.

With encouragement from Ken, Indra ended up signing up for the showcase and the tournament. With language no longer a barrier and her already having great scores, Indra ended up 5th in overall ranking after the midterm to the surprise of many including Ken and put up impressive scores in both the elemental and physical showcase.

While her knowledge and ability to enhance was top tier compared to most in the same year, her lack of actual combat training hindered her greatly in the tournament. Finally, Ken was able to see the difference between someone who’s just got high scores, versus someone who’s actually a good fighter. The lack of keywords was definitely Indra’s downfall as it took her way too long to use a spell or enhance her body and she ended up getting knocked out rather quickly when she ended up against a competent opponent who’s able to quickly end the match.

Seraphina was middle of the pack on pretty much everything on her midterm, and during the first year showcase, due to the uniqueness in her looks and her actual raw speed and power, even when her scores were average at best, she caught the attention of Lucia quickly and Lucia made sure she added some extra commentary while Seraphina performed.

With Lucia’s intuition and ability to quickly realize that Seraphina was different, she was able to hype up the dragon girl during the tournament portion where actual combat ability and not a random number on a scoreboard is what mattered. Like Lucia saw what Ken did at the entrance exam, Seraphina was simply way too strong, fast and powerful from her innate gift for any other first year to come close and wiped the tournament without breaking a sweat for the first year students.

Too large to fit into the seats, Seraphina sat on the staircase next to Ken and the rest as they watched the last day of the tournament together.

Just like the previous two tournaments Ken had now watched live, nothing much happened when it came to a disruption to the top of the hierarchy. The matches were for sure of the highest level, and Ken was able to grasp the power gap between him and the top more clearly after each tournament due to his own growth. What he can also clearly see now is that each of the tournaments is more of a show, an entertainment event for the everyday people, rather than an actual battle for supremacy simply due to the way the bracket is set up and the difference in ability.

“Why can’t I follow their actions after studying and training for all this time! Why do I have to keep on watching this battle on the mirror!” Ken complained as he was still not able to follow the action live during the finale where it was of course Zishell facing off against Julius once again.

Paying close attention to the mirrors that’s displaying the fight at a much slowed down speed with some sort of space magic that Ken could not understand at his current level, he paid attention to every move he could follow to see if he could understand how and when Zishell gets the advantage in the fight but even with the mirrors slowing down the fight. The action was too fast for Ken to catch the moments when either would land a hit and once again, the match ended without Ken able to learn anything.

“Did any of you see how Zishell was able to win?” Ken asked, frustrated that he was still not good enough to even follow the action at reduced speed.

“They were landing the same number of hits in between every 10 or so blocks but Zishell was somehow able to do more damage per hit so I am guessing he is just overall slightly stronger.” Lovetta offered.

“You were able to see them damaging each other? I was able to see them blocking!” Knowing he still had a long way to go, Ken chatted about the fights with Lovetta and Seraphina while the other girls just sat and listened.

As the tournament came to an end, naturally, it was time once again time for Lucia to wander around the stadium and chat with those standouts and crowd favorites.

“Hello Seraphina! I did some quick research and I believe you are part of the dragoon race. Is that correct?” Lucia suddenly showed up out of nowhere and asked Seraphina excitedly.

“You got it!” Not startled at all, Seraphina happily started chatting with Lucia.

“Is it true that your race is born five times stronger, faster and more powerful than the average? If that’s true then what do you think your ceiling is after making such a strong first impression.”

“Not only am I five times stronger, we also have special affinity to certain elements and for me personally, I have little doubt I would eventually get to holy level on fire magic. As a proud dragoon, one of my two goals is to eventually become the number 1 hero and let the world see the strength of my clan.” Seraphina replied confidently while smiling for the world to see.

“You heard it here first! With such natural born advantages, I can definitely say that Seraphina here is someone everyone needs to keep an eye on for the future! If you don’t mind me asking, I am curious as to what your other goal is.” Lucia asked while the whole world watched Seraphina.

“Second goal is to eventually marry Ken.” Seraphina declared without any hesitation and a big smile on her face.

“What sort of spell is he using to make all the girls fall for him? Why are there so many girls so interested in him when he is so weak! He literally can’t even be a proper spar partner for me!” Zeev shouted as he watched the tournament at his dad’s home with the family.

“He is handsome, polite, great with chores, and great with children. I can see why girls would want a man like him.” Lovetta’s mom added.

“I like Ken too! He tells the best stories!” Tina jumped in to add her thoughts.

“You better not let your guard down my son. That boy’s got talent and if you don’t train hard, you might be surprised the next time he visits.” Boris advised as the family chatted about the interview and laughed about how much Lovetta would complain when she gets home tomorrow.

“Ken! Nice to talk to you again! You are like a regular now without even joining the tournament! Can we expect you to participate in the next tournament?” Lucia said excitedly.

“Yea, I think I will join the next one and see where I stand amongst my peers. I am sure I won’t be good enough to win anytime soon but should at least put up a decent fight.” Ken answered calmly as Lucia turned her attention to him after hearing Seraphina’s declaration.

“We will definitely be looking forward to seeing your grand entrance to the tournament and I will be sure to pay special attention to your matches.”

“If I end up getting knocked out in the first round, I will be holding you responsible for putting too much pressure on me.” Ken joked as the pair chatted a while longer before Lucia moved on to other interviews.

With another semester down in the books, the banquet that night tasted as great as it always had. With many acquaintances from the first year and second year students, Ken and the girls had another great experience chatting and laughing the whole night.

While Clare told Ken that Cecilla was just joking about what she said to him half a year ago, even though the two had only met twice, Ken couldn’t stop thinking about the elf girl and was a little disappointed when he couldn’t locate her amongst the crowd gathered today and she also never approached him if she was present at the event.

Luckily for Ken, Clare managed to get him cleared for teleportation access and he will be going home with her later tonight and will be staying with the Yelwraek for 2 weeks until Clare’s birthday on Sunday before heading home on Monday for the final 2 weeks of break.

When the banquet eventually ended, Ken and the girls got back to his dorm room with Alice and Clare already waiting outside and Clare with her suitcases packed and ready to go.

“Hurry Ken, give the vampire her blood and let's get out of here.” Clare said impatiently ready to have Ken to herself and not having to share him with the rest.

“Ken, you have to come to Vespera next break! I will get you permission for sure!” Alice begged as Ken went and got her the blood he had drained.

“What if I ended up being the soulmate to a whole bunch of vampires and they end up draining me of my blood.” Ken asked playfully.

Giving Ken a quick kiss and hug, Alice left him a sack of gold and said her goodbye and left quickly so she doesn’t have time to miss him even more than she already does. Lovett followed suit with a hug and kiss and wished Ken a safe break.

Not willing to lose out on showing Ken affection, Genesis jumped into Ken’s arms and kissed him passionately and told him she will be waiting for him to return home in two weeks.

Less aggressive with their approach, Emma and Seraphina each gave Ken a hug and wished him a great break while Indra also gathered up enough courage to give Ken a quick hug before running off with the others while Clare watched in annoyance.

“Let’s go Clare! Show this country bumpkin what one of the biggest cities in the world is like!” Ken said excitedly as Clare wasted no time activating her teleport artifact as the two disappeared from the dorm hall immediately.