Staring at Livia, Logan slowly nodded.
’’I’m aware, yes,’’ he said, giving a small careful nod.
’’Then you should also know why I brought it up,’’ she said, changing the projector screen. "With a couple of SSS-ranks as our competition, we’ll fall behind unless we go up the mountain."
Logan narrowed his eyes.
’’How are you so sure we have SSS-rank competitors?’’
Although Logan had already heard from the SSS-rank instructor that a few SSS-ranks usually attended the school each year, he still probed Livia for her source.
Livia tilted her head slightly, giving a small nod.
’’I’ve heard a few things here and there,’’ she said.
Giving a small nod, Logan gestured for her to continue.
’’If I’m right, there are at least two in the Asia groups alone,’’ she said softly. ’’The other classes are completely unknown to me.’’
Logan’s expression changed, turning serious.
’Two in the Asia class, and with Livia and me, that makes two in the North America group,’ he thought. ’I expect there to be at least one from each other continent, bringing the total to eight.’
Logan felt pressure weighing down on him.
’If I can’t put up a proper fight soon, I might actually not get taught by the SSS-rank,’ he thought, seriously. ’I can’t let that happen since that was one of the only reasons I even went here.’
’’Alright, I agree to your plan,’’ Logan said, giving a small nod with a serious expression.
’’Great,’’ Livia said, brightening up. ’’We should start planning our approach now then.’’
As Livia adjusted the map again, Logan spoke up.
"Before we start," he said, staring straight into Livia’s veil, "You’re an SSS-rank yourself, aren’t you?"
Livia paused for a second, her finger still in the air.
’’Yeah?’’ she said, looking at him questioningly. ’’I thought I made that obvious already.’’
’’You did,’’ Logan nodded. ’’That still leaves me with one question.’’
’’What is your second affinity?’’
Livia narrowed her eyes beneath her veil, a small smile spreading across her face as she stared at Logan.
’’That’s awfully personal, you know,’’ she said, leaning slightly forward. ’’Not really something you should ask a person.’’
Logan didn’t back down despite knowing he’d overstepped.
’’I am supposed to trust you with my life,’’ Logan said, serious. ’’It would be nice knowing if I was actually safe.’’
Livia smirked, shaking her head slightly.
"Even I want to keep some things to myself."
Somewhat expecting this result, he gave a small nod and gestured for her to continue.
Livia looked back at the map, pointing out a few things and explaining a plan in great detail.
As Logan listened, he couldn’t help but get the feeling that something wasn’t adding up.
’’This is our ticket to victory,’’ he heard Livia say as she pointed to the snow panther area. "We can easily take one down if we separate it from the group..."
She continued, but Logan had already begun piecing things together.
’Win,’ he thought, frowning. ’Why does she want to win so badly?’
It didn’t make sense to him.
The rewards announced by Professor Li were nice, but nowhere near enough to interest her as an SSS-rank.
’She’s probably already being trained by one of the SSS-ranks here,’ Logan thought. ’So there should be no reason she’d want to expose her rank to the other students.’
Logan could easily tell that, if they succeeded, the gap in scores between them and the average S-rank students would be massive.
’From that point on, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out how that happened.’
Glancing at Livia suspiciously, he interrupted her in the middle of her explanation.
’’Why are you so interested in winning this?’’ he asked, looking at her suspiciously.
Livia raised an eyebrow, clearly surprised by his question.
"Same reason everyone else does," she said, watching him closely. ’’For the special reward.’’
’’Special reward?’’ Logan asked, confused.
Livia frowned, not understanding.
’’You weren’t told?’’ she asked. ’’The number one team gets access to one of the university’s locked dungeons.’’
’’A locked dungeon?’’ Logan repeated, his eyes widening slightly.
’Most locked dungeons either contain extremely rare resources or mysterious sealed objects,’ he thought.
He’d looked into this more than once in the past, especially after the Imperial Church had offered access to their locked dungeons as an add-on to trade for the manual.
’Why didn’t I know about this?’ Logan wondered, shaking his head.
’I guess I might’ve just not heard it.’
Logan pushed the thought aside and focused on finalizing the plan for tomorrow.
Together, they reviewed the final details, refining the plan until there was nothing left to adjust.
’’Well then,’’ Logan said, standing up to leave. ’’I’ll see you tomorrow.’’
’’Are you sure you don’t wish to stay the night?’’ Livia teased, also standing up.
Shaking his head, Logan smiled slightly before responding. "You wouldn’t be able to handle it."
Livia let out a soft laugh behind her veil. ’’Confident, aren’t you?’’
’’Always,’’ Logan said, closing the door behind him.
Heading back to his room in silence, he thought about the plan they’d created.
’Snow panthers, huh,’ he thought as he closed the door to his room behind him. ’It should all be fine.’
He was confident the Flaming Body technique could temporarily boost him to an average Silver Core’s strength, giving him a great chance to survive if things were to go south.
After a recent class on mana control, he’d also gotten a strange idea on how to improve the first stage of his technique.
’The dungeon will be the perfect place to test it,’ Logan thought, sitting down on his bed.
Taking out a fire stone from his space ring, Logan closed his eyes and started cultivating.
A few hours later, the fire stone in his hand slowly crumbled to dust as he opened his eyes.
’Another one gone,’ he thought, shaking his head. ’That brings the total down to nine.’
’’It was time for me to head to bed anyway,’’ Logan mumbled, staring at his watch. ’’I need to be well rested for tomorrow.’’
As he laid down, a strange unease settled in his chest.
’Something feels off,’ he thought, staring at the ceiling. ’Let’s just hope everything goes well.’