“Had it been only Malva Hibiscus, I would have only regained my status as a C-Ranker. But with the compatible stabilizing agent in my hands, I might just be able to create a Master rank potion. You know what that means right?”
Levine looked at her disciple with an amusing expression after she asked the rhetoric question. The latter took some time to digest the words he had heard just now from his teacher. He only expressed his disbelief after some time:
“Master Rank potion!
B-Rank!
Teacher Levine, you were a B-ranker before regression!”
Now it was Eren’s turn to feel utter surprise. Contrary to his limited knowledge from the past timeline, Levine was a B-Ranker!
She was a master potioneer who had regressed two ranks straightaway.
Eren didn’t even want to know about how she was forced to regress so much. He feared asking her about it would give her the impression that he was interested in knowing about her woes.
Eren wanted to stay away from such controversial things as far away as he could, lest they come to bite him in the ass. He already had a terrible experience with being the Osan Woods’ Butcher and potential demi-human. There was no need to add another entry to that list.
“Hehehe! You look shocked, alright. Yes, I was a B-Ranker before my regression. And it is only a possibility that I’d regain my rank back with the help of both the ingredient and stabilizing agent distilled into a Master potion.
As an Adept, however, it will not be easy to create a Master ranked potion. I will need some help.
Anyway. I’ll be a bit busy for some days, Eren. My cure doesn’t lie in me finding the right ingredients. I also need the right resources to get out of my regression for the better.
I’ll post a notice on your Spectral screens soon and halt all my scheduled lectures for a few days. They’ll only get resumed when I am done doing something about my regression.
I’ll take my leave now.”
Said Levine and got up to find her potioneering lab located at a distance from where she was. She knew it might even take weeks on end to get out of the ditch a Master potioneer like her had found herself in.
Eren also took his leave after he heard that. He regretted only one thing in this deal:
‘Damn it. I should have asked for something more. This was a huge opportunity for me to get something from a B-Ranker. But Fu****ck.’
Eren regretted missing out on a potential fortune he didn’t see coming and therefore missed. The scrooge thought that Levine could have been milked for more than just her discipleship had he known about the importance of the stabilizing agent he had provided.
********************
Some days after Eren’s visit to Levine.
Inter-class ranking war. 1C White Raven Crew vs. 1A Stormborns
White Raven Crew this time had a five-member squad that consisted of Eren, Renita, Steve, Becky, and Jake. The butcher was supposed to lead the charge in this match as well with Steve supporting him in his frontal assault. Renita was supposed to provide cover fire to their charge while Becky and Jake were meant to be the cushions they could fall back on.
But Eren’s expressions changed from carelessness to seriousness as soon as he heard the name of their opponent squad. That’s because he had met up with the three members of that team while he was travelling towards the academy.
Jason Storm, Ivor Osan, and Veronica Garcia. They were the same people Eren had met in the city of Laurel outside the grocery shop.
Eren wasn’t worried about Ivor, Veronica or the other two members of the team. But Jason was different. And this wasn’t about winning or losing the match.
Unfortunately for Eren this time, one couldn’t forfeit the compulsory ranking wars without participating first. He had to play this match and be done with it.
‘Just one match. I’ll leave Jason to others and deal with the rest.’
Eren changed his battle tactics slightly. He let his teammates know about it. The other members of White Raven Crew had no reason to argue with Eren so they all agreed.
“Eren Idril. Glad we met again. How have you been? I’m guessing pretty well after looking at your war ranking.”
Jason flashed a mild smile when the teams met up just before the match. He was trying to get Eren into his friend circle. But the guy was more slippery than an eel. Every time he tried meeting him, the guy would just disappear from his last known place as if he knew who was coming to see him.
But this inter-class ranking war gave Jason a chance to finally have a word with this interesting fellow. And he was looking forward to having a long discussion with him after the match gets over as well.
Jason and Ivor had gotten even more famous than Eren as first-year rankers. They were always within the top ranks. Like Eren, they also had progressed much further than their ordinary peers in terms of their ranking journey.
Veronica was also quite impressive in her league. It was just that compared to the rising stars in her team, she appeared to have a dimmer halo.
“Jason Storm. Right back at you. Your and Ivor’s names are all the rage these days among us first years. In the name of our acquaintance from before, I would appreciate it if you could just make it easy on me and my team. Hehe!”
Ivor was standing right behind Jason. He liked Eren’s flattering attitude and didn’t find anything wrong with it. Osan Jr. was used to being treated as someone in charge all the time anyway. So when someone followed that practice in the academy when they didn’t need to, Ivor would feel his ego getting soothed subconsciously.
But there was that girl with an irksome attitude who seemed to always have something against the butcher. She couldn’t help pitching in before any other members of her team had a chance to reply:
“Just get your sorry asses beaten up nicely and quickly. Then you won’t have to suffer much.”
Veronica replied with an uncaring attitude that said she was getting impatient to prove her words right. And she also added another expression, in the end, to show her distaste in everything that was happening around her:
“Hmph!”