Sarah was taken aback when she felt her hand gripped by his.
She shot a quick glance at her teammates. Their eyes widened as they stared at their hands.
Olivia had a look of realization and said. "I understand. We won't disturb you any longer."
Crimson nodded. Luca was confused as ever. Ivy dragged him out and they all literally ran.
"N-No! You're misunderstanding something!" Sarah tried to argue.
"Eh? What misunderstanding?" Varian fell into deep thought.
Sarah glared at him and raised her hands, that were still held together. "This!"
"Oh! I had to stop you from speaking. " Varian let go of her hand and said with an innocent smile.
Then his face twitched, and he asked. "Why bring up my tomb?"
"You know?" Sarah was surprised. According to her, Varian just returned from the dungeon and then entered Tower of Trials.
She thought he was unaware of his own tomb.
She also planned to take everyone to his tomb for sight seeing, bah, for visiting. Maybe a selfie or two would be good?
'No. No.' Sarah thought to herself. ' I'm not a child anymore.'
But it was a lie to say she wasn't tempted. She wanted to see Varian's expression at her selfie on his tomb.
'Sarah! Why are you getting these thoughts?!' She tried to argue with herself.
Varian didn't know that he escaped a catastrophe by asking Boo to destroy his tomb.
Looking at the dazed Sarah, he said with a helpless expression. "Don't believe anything the tomb says."
Recalling the epitaph, Sarah couldn't help but smile. She felt sad visiting the tomb when he was gone, but now that the man himself was alive, it felt like a prank on him.
Especially that line. It was truly the best one she read.
She snickered. "So, you are not a virgin?"
"...Sarah, what about you?" Varian shot back.
"W-What about m-me?!" Sarah flinched and took a step back.
Her reaction said it all.
'Tsk. A virgin yourself and you are teasing me?'
Varian rolled his eyes and spread his arms. "Welcome to the club!"
Sarah's face flushed uncontrollably, and she raised her fist.
"N-No! Ok, you're not a virgin." Varian tried to pacify the embarrassed Sarah.
Sarah's gaze turned dangerous.
"Ok, you are."
Her fist was approaching him.
"...What should I say, honestly?" Varian racked his brains but couldn't an answer.
Worse comes to worst, he'd run away.
"...looks like you are having fun." A soft voice rang beside them, prompting Sarah to stop.
Anna appeared behind them.
Sarah quickly composed herself and said with grievance. "You have the most fun by scaring me every time."
Anna nodded. "Yes." leaving Sarah dumbfounded.
Then she turned to Varian and said in surprise. "I didn't expect you to reach level 5 so soon. I'm sure your master would be ecstatic."
'Well, I'm sure he'd be more shocked. When I met him, I was still some distance from breakthrough and he knew it.' Varian thought.
"I think he'll be the most happy once the war ends." Varian said casually.
Sarah fell silent. She glanced at the ground and bit her lower lip.
With a short goodbye, she left with Anna.
"I, did I say something wrong?" Varian wondered as he boarded a hover bus and reached his new dorm.
Silver Community.
Unlike normal dorms, Silver community was exclusive for the ten silver rankers.
There was a security check around the perimeter. If one wanted to enter, they had to take permission from the residents.
Including teachers!
Varian only understood why after stepping into the community.
He couldn't mistake the heavy feeling in the air.
The Aura!
It was 50% higher than outside.
"Then what about Golden Community, Diamond Community and… Amethyst Community?" Varian gulped.
His conventional training speed was actually monstrous. The reason it appeared slow was because fighting gave him too much Xp.
For instance, just to advance from high Level 4 to Level 5, a normal cadet would take around 3 to 4 months—the entire year only has 8 months.
In Old Earth terms, it took around 6 months!
Even a genius would take 1 month!
Varian did it in a mere day. To be precise, in a few hours!
So Aura wasn't as enticing to him as others. But still, if sufficient aura was present, it could speed up his progress.
"This is luxury." Varian arrived in front of a small villa residence named Silver 1.
A barrier blocked the vision from the outside. It also served as the automated security check.
After scanning his comm, Varian entered his new residence.
After checking it out, he realized it wasn't actually small.
There was a garden to grow special herbs if one wanted.
There was a swimming pool with dense liquids that could be used to train body under various conditions.
There was also a room with Aura concentration Formation.
He only needed to put in aura crystals and the concentration of aura in the room would rise.
There was a kitchen, a large living room, a storeroom and a few others on the ground floor.
On the first floor, there were two bedrooms.
A resident could invite one person to stay with them, but not indefinitely. There were certain rules and procedures Varian wasn't going to bother with.
Speaking of Aura, there was one more thing.
"There is also Aura Well." Varian recalled the information about the other Sovereign Treasure.
It was the 'holy ground' for practice.
Apparently, there was a large aura crystal mine under the aura well. With the help of Aura well Treasure, a holy ground was created.
The deeper one went into the well, the denser the aura. There would be no sudden fluctuations in aura and it was extremely safe to practice.
Usually, whenever a cadet wanted to advance to the next level, they'd visit the Aura Well.
As he was considering whether to check it out now, Boo reported. "Master, your tomb is bombed. No traces of it exist on Earth."
It was as if a huge burden was lifted off his chest. Varian let out the brightest smile ever.
"Your friends Kyle and Maya are engrossed in a project. Do you want me to contact them through other means?"
Varian thought for a while before shaking his head. "They hate to be disturbed. I'll visit them when they're done."
"Mr.Gareth proposed you meet him if you go on a mission."
"Sure thing." Varian nodded.
"Mr.Seth's comm is broken. But there is no news of his death or disappearance."
Only Seth was still missing, but since no one knew about it, the mission must be important.
After sorting out, Varian started the dreaded exam.
His comm started recording everything around him, ensuring no cheating.
But—
'Option C!'
'2.33313!'
Through their mental communication, Boo helped him a bit. But it was mostly Varian's diligent answering. Yep! He was a model student.
'Sovereign is not a realm, it is a state.'
'There are eight Sovereigns, but only six artifacts. One is lost in the Pluto War. It is speculated that the artifact is lost or captured by Abyssals.'
'It is impossible to win a war without planetoids.'
After a gruesome hour, it ended.
"Good job!" Varian patted Boo for its contribution.
Then he checked out his combat test.
[Combat Test: Take the tower of trials!
Stay inside for 1 hour!]
[You passed the test.
Congratulations on passing the tests of first month.]
"Phew." Varian sighed in relief.
That was quick. Now he had time in hands.
He had only goal. Merit points.
"After I check out the aura well, I'll just take a mission. With my strength, and Boo's assistance, I'd be able to earn a lot of merit points." Varian decided.
After washing up, he entered the training room.
After entering the aura crystals, aura concentration increased by 33%.
Compared to the normal dorm, it was double!
Varian sat down cross-legged and descended into meditation.