"Hey, you're pretty strong."
Tomoe changed the subject to dispel the mood. She's serious when she complimented Noah.
"Usa-sensei said Daisuke-sensei is a Rank III Exceed. He graduated from this school after 3 years of combat training. He's nothing Rank I Exceeds like us can compare to. You beat him with a normal human's physical capabilities, that's so unbelievable."
Miyabi lifted her head, she also looked at Noah with awe and respect.
Tomoe and Miyabi had good reasons to say that.
Anyone who is familiar with Exceeds, especially a Rank III Exceed would know just how unlikely it is for a human to do that.
The Astar Mark granted different degrees of enhancement based on the Rank of the Astar Mark.
To put it generally, Astar Marks multiplied the base stats of their hosts.
If a Rank I Astar Mark granted a 10x boost, a Rank II granted a 20x boost with Rank III granting a 30x boost.
If a human started out at the power unit of 1, Astar Mark Rank I will grant them a power unit of 10.
20 at Rank II, 30 at Rank III, and so forth...
What Noah did was equivalent to beating a monster who raised his power unit to 4 or 5 and then multiplying it through Rank III Astar Marks to power units of 120 or 150 with just Noah's power unit 1 status.
Exceeds have to train themselves mentally and physically in order to make Sublimations successful.
Daisuke's base stat should have been 4 or 5. 1 is just a bad estimate.
To beat someone with more than 100 times better reflex, strength, speed, and agility, isn't that a mind-blowing feat?
"Your martial prowess and combat experience must be incredible to take down an opponent like that."
Tomoe honestly exclaimed.
"I did train for years. I thought I was pretty strong among our peers before I met you. Now, I feel like a kid when benchmarking against you."
Noah expressed intrigue.
"Tomoe is also a fighter?"
"My family operates a dojo."
"My Tachibana Style has 18 different moves. The move set is made up of an amalgamation of other famous schools of combat art. I can't help but notice the skill you displayed that day, it was eye-opening, to say the least. If possible, I would like to spar with you."
Tomoe floated a competitive look. She's not saying it for kicks, she's actually in the mood for a duel.
"Tomoe-chan?"
Miyabi gasped.
Noah chuckled after looking at Tomoe's feisty look.
"This school cultivates its students in the art of combat. I believe we will get many chances to spar with each other."
"True."
Tomoe giggled.
"I am looking forward to those sessions."
Noah defeated a Rank III exceed with mortal capabilities. At Rank I, what kind of realm has Noah touched?
Tomoe seriously wanted to know the answer to this question.
It's not just her, everyone who knew about Noah's achievement wanted to know too.
Too bad, if only they knew what Noah's true limits were when he removed his Limitation, what kind of reaction would they have?
Noah chuckled.
Astar Marks had a limit. It looked like stats multiplication to humans.
However, Noah knew better.
The Astar Mark Rank I only boosted Noah slightly. Where was the x10 boost?
From this, if the Exceed trains himself to a point where the Astar Mark couldn't boost any further, this apparent stat multiplication hypothesis would fall apart on its own.
Granted, humans would never be able to reach that point.
Noah is just an outlier.
After that, Tomoe and Noah exchanged their views and tips on combat techniques.
Miyabi obediently sat on the side as she listened to the lively conversation between Noah and Tomoe. She furtively glanced at Noah's resolute mien. Her moist eyes glistened slightly.
Clack
Noah opened the door as quietly as he could. He peered into the room.
It's an hour past light's out. The room's dark like the night outside.
Noah listened intently before sighing in relief when he heard the rhythmic breathing of multiple individuals. He sneaked into the room like a thief. The irony of sneaking into his own room wasn't lost on his aching head.
Noah endured the pointlessness of this ordeal while heading for his own bed.
The bunk bed had two girls sleeping on the bottom part.
Julie's wearing a white shirt as her sleepwear, her porcelain white legs are exposed. She's soundly asleep.
Imari slept at her side, she's wearing a floral-patterned pajama. It's not immediately clear if she wore these clothes because she had a male roommate. Anyway, she's sleeping while hugging Julie.
Noah couldn't help but grin when he saw their sleeping faces. He took off his coat.
When he was about to climb onto the top bed, a cold voice entered his ears.
"Aren't you going to say something?"
Noah stopped.
Imari used her gem-like eyes to stare into Noah's eyes. Her face is slightly red with anger, not embarrassment.
"I thought you were going to sleep outside."
"Ahaha..."
Noah gave up as he sighed.
"If saying sorry could solve the problem then I wouldn't mind doing just that."
"I am not asking for an apology."
Imari sighed too. She started chastizing Noah with a look of slight displeasure.
"It's not your fault so I won't hold it against you. But..."
Imari blushed before continuing her sentence.
"I don't care what you saw, erase it from your mind."
Erase it?
If only it was that easy, would I still be so stressed out?
Noah wanted to retort. He raised his arms.
"I should be saying that. I would be very grateful if Imari can forget what happened today, I hope we can still hang out as we did before today."
"I guess that's fine."
Imari turned her head the other way.
"Good night."
Imari started emitting soothing sleeping noises.
Imari slept like she wasn't afraid Noah could see her sleeping posture. Julie is also sleeping like a beautiful doll. Noah chortled after looking at them briefly.
"Sweet dreams, you two."