“I—”
Neo was an extra.
If he tried to take high rank, he would affect the plot of the novel.
But.
This world was heading for a destined doom.
Neo would die if the future was not changed.
He wanted to live.
He never had any intention of not interfering.
“—want Rank 1.”
“What!?”
The receptionist looked at him as if he was crazy.
“S-sir, maybe you misspoke.”
She noticed the students glaring at her desk.
Her eyes watered at the pressure of the children of God Clans.
‘This crazy bastard! He looks good but his head is empty!’
The receptionist wanted to cry when Neo did not budge
‘If he wants to die, die alone! Why is he trying to get me killed along with him!?’
“Can you give me the rank token?” Neo asked.
“S-sir—”
“Is it not allowed?”
“No… tha-that’s not the problem.”
She bit her lips and gave him the Rank 1 badge with trembling hands.
Any student who wanted to become rank 1 needed to take the batch from him.
Neo could hide it inside his clothes, but it must remain on his body at all times.
He ignored the stares and sat on the benches at the back of the hall.
The hall was enveloped in murmurs.
Some laughed at Neo, some mocked him, and some pitied someone as handsome as him wanted to do a suicide.
Neo blinked.
Suddenly, the seat next to him became occupied.
The girl with black hair that were golden underneath, and had golden eyes appeared like a ghost.
Neo didn’t notice her until she sat on the seat.
She held a sheathed sword and sat with crossed arms.
Her gaze was fixed at the hologram.
“Do you know the consequences of your actions?” She spoke without looking at him.
“Maybe, maybe not. Why should I tell you?”
Neo wasn’t startled.
He expected someone to approach him when he chose the rank 1 token.
Though, he didn’t expect it to be her.
“Because that rank belongs to me,” she said. “You took what is mine.”
Her face remained as calm as a lake.
“If you don’t want to die a dog’s death, give up now.”
“That’s quite a threat,” Neo said.
He noticed other member of Zeus Clan slowly circling them.
“Will your siblings attack me if I say no?”
“They aren’t my siblings and I don’t need help to take care of someone who can’t even control his Divine Energy.”
Neo could only smile when she poked where it hurt.
His Spells were strong because his Divine Energy Purity was Grade 1 Awakened rank and the Spells themselves were Terror-ranked.
He improved drastically after he started training, but he had a long path ahead.
Silence descended between the two.
They stared at the activities in the hall.
“Morrigan di Montaigne,” she suddenly said.
“Neo Hargraves.”
They stopped talking.
Morrigan stood up after a few minutes.
“Your brother won’t be able to protect you every time you act out of the line.”
She added,
“You should’ve understood your limits after the incident in the Mermaid Country.”
The members of Zeus clan tried to approach Neo until she told them to let him go.
“I will deal with him myself when the tournament starts.”
She left with them.
Neo was not surprised she knew about the Mermaid Country incident.
Even though his brother tried to suppress his involvement, the important members of Great God and High God Clans would know the news with their connections.
Neo exhaled.
He closed his eyes and sank back into the chair.
Seven days and hundreds of demigods who bore grudge against him.
It wasn’t going to be easy.
“Attention, students!” The announcer gathered them. “All rank tokens have been distributed!
“We will now explain the rules and rewards!”
The rules were as Neo remembered.
He focused on the rewards.
“Rank 1 will be awarded with Starplum Divine Fruit!”
“Rank 2~10 will be awarded…”
“Rank 11~100…”
“Ra…”
Starplum Divine fruit increased the purity of divine energy by directly one grade.
Since Neo’s purity was Grade 1 Awakened, he would rank up and reach Grade 5 Mythic rank Purity after consuming the fruit.
The rank increase would give his Spells a major boost.
“I must get my hands on it.”
It was the only method for Neo to survive the Underworld.
He had to win the Starplum fruit.
“The tournament will start tomorrow. You can do anything you want until then.”
The students were sent to the dormitories.
There were five dormitories.
First one was for rank 1~10, second for rank 11~100, third for rank 101~500, fourth for rank 501~1000, and the last building for rank 1001~2000.
These dormitories were cheap knock off of the real dormitories.
The students had to use them until the tournament ended.
Neo entered his allotted dorm.
It was big and luxurious with four rooms, a kitchen, a hall, and a private gym.
He had to share it with three more students.
Instead of waiting, he decided to eat and pump his blood with Divine Energy.
He ordered the food to his room.
“I’d rather not go eat with everyone in the cafeteria. There is no need to go there and get harassed.”
Neo wasn’t afraid of bullying.
He just didn’t want to waste Divine Energy on useless battles.
While he ate the ordered food, a member of the dorm entered.
The girl had unkempt pale blue hair that covered her sapphire eyes.
She walked while looking at the ground, wore long-sleeved clothes and repeatedly pulled down the hood to hide her face.
She noticed Neo in the hall.
There gazes intersected.
“C-can you stop looking at me? It makes me f-feel dirty.”
She clicked her tongue and entered her room.
Neo was left stunned.
‘What did I even do to her?’
Actually, he knew what he did.
Leonora was supposed to take rank 19 token.
But perhaps due to Neo’s action, the original top 10 students all took lower rank token.
It forced students like Leonora, who were late to the registration hall, to take a top 10 tokens.
She was in deep waters. At least according to her.