Strength was absolute in this world. Even then, women were looked down upon for their lacking physical strength. Most women had a higher affinity to mana than men. However, if their abilities didn't showcase this advantage, they would lag due to their lack of physical strength.
That was the reason her father married someone else, forcing her mother to run to this city. He wanted boys, he said. She wasn't worthy of inheriting his legacy, he decided. No matter how cold her personality was, Amelia still felt a stabbing pain every time she remembered those words. If even her father didn't accept her, who would? Thankfully, her mother was there to answer that.
Even still, Amelia sought strength. She wanted to prove her father to be a fool for disregarding her and her mother. For that, she would try anyway to grow stronger. Her lacking physical strength would be nothing but a stepping stone in proving who cared about her in the end.
One such person was Markus, her childhood friend. She glanced at him trying to coax the transfer student into giving them his training method. It was for her sake that he stooped so low to try and deceive others. However, he was terribly inexperienced at scheming that the transfer student simply rejected them flatly.
"Don't worry, we'll get you to Jerano."
Markus said, making Amelia feel slightly pathetic. With his scores in theory classes, Markus was destined to earn a scholarship in any field he liked. However, she had to compete with other monsters to get admitted through the power channel.
"I'll find a way by myself," Amelia said before leaving Markus in the library. Her favorite strawberry milk tasted a bit bland for some reason.
"There's no time left. Don't you wish to prove your father otherwise what he claimed?"
Markus's words made her halt her steps. She crushed the empty milk back in her hand away from his view. In the end, she gritted her teeth and left.
After a few days, they had a power assessment. It was the perfect chance to peek at the strength of the transfer student. In the beginning, she didn't care about him much since she saw his abilities to be average.
However, in a matter of a few days, he came back looking like a different person. His aura changed so much that even Markus agreed with her, that Arthur Silvera has gotten a lot stronger in a few days.
The power assessment was simple. They would measure your strength, speed, reflex, and power output. For other academies that focused on theory, power assessments represented your GPA for awakeners' colleges.
Amelia got 812 Kg in the punching machine, sprinted 100 meters in 5.3 seconds, and evaded 26 out 30 poles in the reflex assessments for neo-rankers.
The power output was the final test. It was set to measure how much damage one can cause to an object. There was a black pillar in the middle of the gymnasium for that purpose. They could attack it however they wanted to get the score relevant for their rank. It was set for the neo-rank for now, so the scores would determine how close you are to the rei-rank.
Lighting crackled around the training sword; she felt the gaze of Arthur in her way. She dashed like the wind toward the pillar and struck it with all of her might. A booming sound echoed as if thunder followed the lightning, arcs of electricity flying everywhere.
After the lightning disappeared, the score appeared on the screen. 95/100. She was that close to becoming a rei-ranker. Unknowingly, she glanced at Arthur in a challenging way, earning a 'what did I do?' head tilt from him.
Students from her class showcased their powers, but no one was that special. They were average at most. She felt slight indignation for not being able to study in the capital, where the real monsters were, but College was the real stage.
It was Arthur's turn at last. 707 Kg in the punching machine, 7.4 seconds in the 100 meters dash, and 20 evasions out of 30. It was what you call average. However, Amelia didn't miss that he held back on purpose. He was too leisure that he didn't even break a sweat. Why would anyone take the risk of lowering their scores? Was it to deceive others that he was a genius? It wasn't worth it as a low power assessment score meant the person was slacking off.
When Arthur walked to the black pillar in the middle, Amelia's attention was fully on him.
'Just how did you grow so strong in a few days?' She wondered to herself.
She saw Arthur's mana surround his fist; he didn't even use a training sword. With light steps, he expressionlessly punched the pillar. It showed a score of 71/100. Amelia, for the first time since she came to this academy, felt suffocating anger. He was not taking this seriously. She would train until she bleeds every day, yet, here he was treating this as a joke and belittling what she achieved.
Their day ended, and she felt obliged to take it out of her chest. When the day was over, she followed him when he left school.
"Why did you hide your strength today?" Her voice was a bit louder than she would have liked, but it couldn't be helped since she was not used to talking in the first place.
"What?" He asked, frowning. How she would have loved it if he had the same easy-going personality as Markus, but she wasn't any better.
"You held back today. These grades are important, you know?" She shot back.
Unlike what she expected, Arthur simply looked at her blankly as if he had no idea why she would say such a thing. Her fist unnoticeably trembled, making her hope he didn't see it.
"You see…" His voice trailed and lingered in the air, taking resident there for a moment before he continued. "Jerano is the real stage for me." He said, leaving her standing there dumbfounded.
When only an obscure outline was left of his figure, she followed after him. She needed to find out how he got stronger. Even if she became a lowly sneaky rat, she must do this for herself and her mother.
Unlike what she had expected, he took a train instead of going home. Amelia purchased the same ticket and sat in the last carriage, away from his view. With a lot of people coming and going, it was no wonder that he was unable to find her.
When the train for the first time, Amelia peeked from the door. Arthur didn't get off the train at this station.
She kept doing this until she found herself outside of Kera city, away in the wilderness. It was then that Arthur got off the train and headed off somewhere.
Amelia followed him through crowds of foreigners and awakeners who earned a penny or two in the dungeons around these parts. After they left the train station and the market, Arthur headed into the wilderness. The blazing sun was on her back, but the cool spring breeze cooled her off. And that's how she kept following him, landing herself in a mess.
***
Arthur stepped into the goblin's village, welcomed by the goblins as their leader. He walked into the largest hut where Dimon was to check on him, but he was nowhere to be seen.
"Where is the boy?" Arthur asked from behind the mask.
"Karu, ka." Nero pointed somewhere and Arthur followed its finger. In the distance, he could see Dimon helping the goblins fortify the wall. Arthur nodded his head and issued his next instruction.
"Bring every middle-mid-tier monster and follow me." Arthur then began to walk toward Dimon and Nero went off to gather their strongest forces. Even though the middle-mid-tier goblins were not that strong, Arthur wanted to use them as free labor when he helped Dimon.
"How is your body?" Dimon was startled by the question, and he turned around to face Arthur before bowing.
"Thanks to brother, I am well." His fierce features mellowed considerably since Arthur first met him, a sign of his gratitude.
"So, are you ready to lead us to your village?"
Dimon's body trembled as he heard this. With long and deep breaths, he calmed himself down. He then met Arthur's eyes and nodded his head.
Arthur could feel his determination to go back, and he nodded his head in approval. The goblins gathered around them and Arthur felt it was the time to help this kid bury his family.
They left the village following the directions of Dimon. The treaded through the periphery of the mountain range toward a valley, per Dimon's words. On the way, they met a few monsters that they took out easily. It was truly a miracle that Dimon wasn't killed off after he ran.
Arthur attributed this luck to Dimon's ability, Resistance. His body could negate the mental and physical attacks it received. A useful ability for a tanker. It seems this was also the reason why he wasn't killed like his parents.
"The village!" They were on the mountain's high grounds when Dimon suddenly called out pointing somewhere. Arthur followed his gaze toward a hollow ground in the middle of a grove, several huts mottling the circular terrain.