It was a special runic circle, and the description of it gave Aric a sense of accomplishment that previous gold coins hadn’t provided. Aric opened the scroll he had taken from the dead men and studied the runic circle closely.
The runic circle was known as the ’speed’ circle. It could be used by anyone below the ’adult’ age. This runic circle had a very interesting ability attached to it: it could make one’s movements of hands and feet faster, unlike the ’sharpen’ runic, which could only be used externally.
This runic circle allowed him to have speed in his arms and legs, giving him an edge. Aric was over the moon when he discovered the runic circle and couldn’t wait to add it to his arsenal.
Just like the previous two times, he was able to absorb the runic circle with ease. He had heard a lot about young children being unable to take three or more runic circles into their consciousness, but Aric didn’t feel any discomfort after adding another one to his inventory.
After learning the runic circle, which took him roughly an hour or so, he went out of his home to try it out and understand its limitations. After running around and throwing stones, he was able to gauge the new runic circle’s effects.
He could now throw stones at least three times faster than before. Of course, the speed of ’stone throwing’ would depend on the size, shape, and weight, but after various experiments, he was able to ascertain that. It was Mira who calculated his speed accurately.
While running, he was twice as fast, but it only lasted for about five seconds. Twice as fast was the highest he could go, and lowering the speed would just make it last longer, being indirectly proportional. Mira came in clutch again to calculate the new changes.
"You should compete in the Olympics after some training. Your name will go down in history as the greatest runner ever," Mira joked. Mira had finally started to bloom and develop a personality, which was not unexpected. The jokes had finally started to come out.
"If I want to be famous, it definitely shouldn’t be from an Olympic career," Aric replied. He didn’t even think of taking advantage of his newfound ability.
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Many days had passed since the incident with Elowen and her team. An adventure team went to the place where Aric had fought before and reported finding remains of an exotic plant, which might have catapulted the Eclipsian Hyena to the Acolyte level. They were able to retrieve the bodies of the dead people and the hyena.
Of course, the team profited from the dead beast’s body, but Aric didn’t care about some gold coins. He was just glad that nobody came to question him. Though he had killed the other team cleanly and used the heavy snow for cover, one couldn’t be too sure. Thankfully, nobody came even after a month of waiting, and Aric lived his life happily in the three worlds. Now it was time for him to go back to school.
Aric hated that part, feeling trapped in that place for hours, but there was nothing he could do. He could only grudgingly show up early in the morning at school like the good student he was.
This time, when he went to school and started classes, he noticed a change around him. The change was very subtle, but he could notice it. The girls in the class now looked at him with more longing eyes than he would admit.
The girls and even some of the boys came to him and asked about their study-related doubts. Aric wasn’t narcissistic enough to believe he was some kind of handsome dude. It was probably due to his extraordinary results. His grades were so off the charts that even the teachers praised him in front of the class.
He felt a bit embarrassed. It had been a long time since he had been praised publicly. The last time he remembered was his professor berating him in front of everyone over his project. But in hindsight, that professor berated everyone, even for using the wrong fonts in presentations.
It was after this that he noticed the changes around him. That wasn’t the only change he saw. His supposed best friend had actually started to avoid him. This came as a boon since Aric no longer had to listen to his friend’s blabbering all day.
But after the first few days, Ishaan, his ex-best friend, came up and whispered into his ear.
"Man, my big brother wants to talk to you after class."
Aric was confused by his words. It had been some time since he had talked with Ishaan, and even longer since he had spoken to Ishaan’s elder brother, who was two years older than him. He didn’t have a great relationship with his brother, so he didn’t know what his brother wanted to talk about.
"Why does he want to talk to me?"
"I don’t know. You’re a celebrity now, and maybe he wants some lessons from you," Ishaan said. This made Aric’s eyes narrow a bit, not because of his words, but his tone. For some reason, he felt a hint of jealousy when Ishaan spoke.
He had experienced a lot in his previous time and could almost always detect jealousy when he saw it. But what was Ishaan jealous about? His results? His results didn’t mean much in the real world, especially school grades.
So what was he envious about? And what did Ishaan’s brother want from him?
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