A-rank.
This was a rank that the Adventurers Guild gave to the people who managed to liquefy their mana. From then, most of the people in the Giza Continent called the people who liquefied their mana an A-rank expert. It became a power level for a specific level of strength.
Those people who reached this level can be truly called a powerhouse.
And now, a second-year student showed this level of power. It instantly shocked everyone in the whole event. The A-rank was hard to achieve. Only a few third-year students have reached this level of strength and those people were already in the top 10 rankings.
Yet, this guy named Bryan easily showed his liquefied mana in front of everyone. It was natural that everyone would be stunned at this scene.
It was no ordinary scene after all.
"It's not enough..."
Bryan said as he took back his hand.
No one dared to challenge him once again when they knew that he was an A-rank expert. Of course, everyone already put him as the strongest second-year student in their heart. Why? Because other than Bryan no students showed a power equal to his or showing liquefied mana just like him. In short, the strongest second-year students were just B-rank experts.
Everybody was shocked as their mouths turned into an "O" shape. Silence premised on the whole area. No uttered any sound as if they were afraid of something.
Lumilia and Lynn were the only calm people. They knew that Bryan reached the A-rank level in their training. It's just that they haven't registered his rank in the Adventurers Guild yet so no one knew about it.
"Bryan's an A-rank!!"
Even Alea was shocked that she stood up in her seat and stared at Bryan with wide eyes. Amiel and Erwyn who were with her were shocked too.
The small event continued and most of the team formed a plan. They sent their weaker members to consume Bryan's defense and his team. Most of Bryan's teammates were just C-rank so they didn't rank high in the event.
But then, no one would underestimate Bryan anymore. The other teams also test Lumilia's strength and she showed her power as a B-rank expert. She wasn't as strong as Bryan but her strength place her above the average students of this academy.
Every student realized that they weren't average people. There's a reason why the princess brought them here to this place.
Bryan, Lumilia, and Lynn got the attention of the whole academy in an instant. Their famed spread out and stories about their adventurers were passed to every people.
They became famous and popular.
The teams with the highest scores didn't even get the fame that they should've gotten in the event because of Bryan, Lumilia, and Lynn. Most of the students didn't even care about them as their attention was on the people that the princess brought.
...
On the planet called Astley...
The Liberation White Army has established a new country called Astros. A country that will become a new powerhouse to stabilize the things that happened in this war.
The old country has fallen and a new country has risen. The balance has changed greatly and a lot of people were uncomfortable with it but the leaders of the Liberation White Army didn't care about it. They knew that the people will get used to it sooner or later.
They will realize that the laws of the Astros weren't as strict as the Great Astley Empire. But for the people that were enslaved by the empire were quite comfortable with this new country. After all, they regained their freedom and they could finally work while receiving payment. Unlike before, they work every day without receiving anything as most of them were slaves.
Most of the people on different planets paid attention to the establishment of the new country. It will become the new sovereign.
At this moment, Souta and the rest already prepared themselves to leave this planet and head towards the Eidin World. The establishment of the new country proceeded peacefully and no one dared to confront their arrangement.
Souta became the leader of the planet and Jamine was his representative that will handle every problem. If someone wanted to talk to him, then they should come to Jamine first. After all, her words were his words too.
The Astros swallowed those planets that couldn't support themselves. They became the vassal planet of the Astros Country. While those people who wanted to be independent, Souta let them be. He just let them rooted themselves in other planets.
After a few days of arrangement, the total planet under the name of Astros seventy-two. It was registered in Souta's system as his [Ruler of the Sub-World] skill gain enough stats to boost his strength.
Actually, he wanted to rule every planet that was under the empire but he didn't want to trouble himself anymore. There's a time for that in the future and he didn't want to go to another war. His forces were still recuperating from the casualties that they've suffered against the empire forces.
Souta just wanted to rest for a while before he test his current strength in the living labyrinth.
He was on his chair and his head was resting on his palm while looking at the people in front of him.
Lydia and Jamine were bidding farewell to the core members of the liberation army. Isabella cried when saying goodbye to her friend Lydia. In the past few months, Lydia and Isabella were together so they got closer and they even treated each other as sisters.
Franklin stood beside him and asked, "Are you sure that you don't want to rule those planets that we freed?"
Souta glanced at this old man before he replied, "Yeah, if we force them then there's a chance that they will treat us as the next empire. I don't have a problem with that but most of our soldiers will not follow us anymore. It's outside of our bandwagon, the bandwagon of the liberation army. Well, if we further increase our strength then it won't be a problem anymore. We could simply make them submit to us without even fighting."
"So everything comes to individual strength. A person can do anything with sufficient strength to make anyone shut their mouth." Franklin nodded and a smile formed on his face.
"Yeah, that's why we'll come back here in the future." Souta nodded as he closed his eyes.
On the next day, the group departed. Jamine and Lydia were waving their hands while looking at the floating fortress in the sky.
"Be careful! I will miss you, everyone!" Lydia shouted.
"Me too! Don't forget us here! Come back if you have a time!" Jamine shouted.
After a while, the floating fortress was swallowed by a pillar of light and it disappeared. The transportational gate was used and the group must have safely arrived on the Eidin World, Isabella's homeworld.
"They're gone..." Jamine said as she stared blankly at the place where the floating fortress disappeared. She then turned towards Lydia and asked, "I'm sure that you wanted to come with them but my presence here is holding you back. For that, I'm truly sorry."
"It's fine. I will just train here and see if I could catch up to them. If solidified the country then maybe we will have a time to follow them." Lydia said as she shook her head. "I will never forget about them. I didn't think that Souta will be the one to change the tide of the war. I still recalled back then how I repeatedly ask him to join me to fight the empire."
Jamine patted Lydia's back. She knew that her friend faced countless problems in her journey before they formed the liberation army.
Sob! Sob!
"I-I wanted to go with them."
"I know."
"I... I wanted to continue... our journey..."
"I know."
"It's fun and I wanted it to last longer..."
"I know."
Lydia covered her face with her hands as tears poured out of her eyes. Her voice was trembling and she felt a hole in her heart. She recalled everything that happened in the past few months and couldn't help but cry.
The adventurers that she had with Souta, Isabella, Yuko, and the rest were fun and full of hardship.
"They just left but I already miss them..."
...
Swoosh!
A huge floating fortress appeared in the wilderness of the Eidin World. It was the forest between the three dominant forces of the world.
Souta came out of it and landed on the ground. Soon, several figures came out of the fortress and followed Souta.
Thud!
The ground shook slightly as they landed on the grassy ground.
"We're here..."
Souta said as he raised his head. He didn't plan to let everyone knew that he would arrive in this planet. He didn't want to bother himself meeting those higher-ups of the planet.
He only had one goal on this planet and that was to test the living labyrinth.