After the initial shock, Lucas attempted to calm himself down. He reasoned that if his true identity had been discovered, he would have been dead by now. He was currently extremely weak, with little difference between him and a mortal, and he could be crushed as easily as an ant.

But, he didn’t die yet. This meant that either the people didn’t care about his identity, or the people had ulterior motives or some use for him, therefore, didn’t expose or kill him yet. Whatever was the case, Lucas was safe for now and there was no need to panic.

Even if someone wanted to use him, he had no choice but to comply with their demands. He was simply too weak! As they say, beggars can’t be choosers and he would lose his life if he tried to deny anything.

Lucas took a deep breath after thinking so much and finally calmed down. There really was no point worrying over such things which weren’t in his control. He sighed and said to himself,

“Sigh. I can only try my best and while doing so, If I die, I die. No regrets. There’s nothing else I can do.”

Lucas, after consoling himself a bit, became determined to carry out the tasks he had. He walked towards the shelves and, one by one, took everything he could and shoved them inside his system’s subspace. He would sort it out later if he didn’t want something and throw it out. For now, he took almost everything there was.

Lucas took out the teleportation token he got from Eric and, holding it in his hand, he looked at it with a determined gaze and said,

“There’s a month left until the maid from Senzal Clan visits the Shadow River sect and there’s also the survival tournaments coming up in the academy. If I am not wrong, the Vampire Prince would take part in it along with two of his friends and, like always, the three will win it.

Good, it’s good that he will attend it. Last time I was somewhere in the middle ranks in the tournament and was so average, I didn’t even get noticed. I was killed during the middle of the game by him due to a vast disparity in strength. However, now it is different.

I may still not be on his level because he’s the son of that person, but I pretty much know everything he would do in the tournament and I’ve got the system too this time. All I need to do now is to make the Affinity Enhancer potion before the tournament and I would surely be on par with his strength.

I know I can’t kill him right now. It’s not possible at all. However, I can still test his strength and see the difference from the previous time and this time to know where I need to work on improving myself.

Sigh… I need to do so much just for the sake of that one event. Whatever, no point complaining. I’ll go prepare for the tournament now.”

Lucas, after this small talk with his own self, activated the token in his hand and vanished from the spot, leaving the cave empty and lifeless once again.

…

Lith’s dorm, sky island.

“Hmm? There’s a tournament again?” Lith asked Arya and put a spoonful of rice in his mouth.

“That’s right. There’s a survival tournament coming up. It will be held a week from tomorrow and the announcement for the same will be made tomorrow itself. Participation is mandatory for every student and you have no choice either. So do your best, okay?”

Arya explained to Lith with a smile and sipped tea.

Lith nodded his head in understanding and gulping down the rice in his mouth, he said to his teacher once again,

“Teacher, don’t you think there are just too many tests and tournaments going on in the academy? We don’t even get time to catch a breather. Won’t students burn out if they do so many activities every day?”

Arya took a sip of tea and, putting down the cup, she said to Lith, “yes, there are too many tests and tournaments. But, tell me this, what makes you raise your magic rank?”

“Meditation and comprehension of laws of the world. The more we understand the world and meditate, the more our magic rank would be raised. Even a slight comprehension of the laws of the world would make someone’s magic core to start changing colors towards the next rank’s colour. Thus, these two are the things that help raise one’s magic rank.”

Lith calmly responded to Arya’s question. This was common knowledge, and everyone was aware of it. He was perplexed at first as to why she was asking such a simple question, but he reasoned she must have something to say and thus had asked him, so he answered her seriously, without questioning her back.

“That’s correct. And to understand the world better, one should start from understanding their own self first. The repeated tests and tournaments keep the students occupied as well as tests their will power and don’t allow them to slack off.

This would lead to them having a better understanding of themselves and their peers, and their magic rank would be raised as a result.

Before rank 6, each and everyone is a mortal and before Saint rank, they can’t be called as immortals at all. Rank 7 to 9 are just mortals, but a tad bit stronger and nothing else. The academy wants every child attending to raise their magic ranks as quickly as possible and survive and fare off better in this cruel world wherein it’s either kill or be killed.

The academy wants each and every child of theirs to survive in this world and make it big. They want a better future for the kids and the coming generations. The academy was built by the eight main races in the Neutral Continent, just for this one reason.

Thus, giving them too much free time and having them slack off to waste their time would simply be a waste for both the academy as well as the students. That’s the reason why we have so many tests and tournaments going on.”

Arya calmly answered to Lith and he, in return, listened to her attentively and focused more on her explanation than the food in front of him. He took a sip of water and then said to her,

“I understand now. Thank you for the explanation, teacher.”

“No worries.” Arya said with a smile, and extended her hand forward and ruffled his hair.

Looking at this gesture from her, Lith said, “teacher, you really don’t leave any opportunity to touch me, huh? Tch, tch, teacher, your shotacon fetish is showing, you should control yourself.”