Chapter 227: The Academy's Station
(6h45 later)
Stark had trained inside the 'Memories Museum', attempting to defeat the Warden again, as well as combine him with some other bosses, but he would somehow keep dying over and over by their hands.
Was it the security of not putting his life in danger that made it so that he was more careless? Or was it that he just got lucky during his fights…?
No… luck doesn't exist in battle, it was all about skill and power at that very moment, meaning that no matter what anyone would think, it was just that Stark had been stronger than all those bosses, although he did get some help with the guardians of the first trial.
In the end, he managed to take down the Warden for the second time right as the time for Lana to arrive came.
The [Sculk Necklace] actually revealed itself to be quite good, dealing decent damage and able to restrain enemies if they were hit, although it was hard to control the sculk as he wasn't used to it.
~FWISH~
Stark emerged from the black door leading to the [Memories Museum], finding himself in his hotel room again.
Some people would definitely panic at the thought of bringing EVERYTHING they needed as luggage space was limited, but… Stark was pretty calm about it, he was never really the kind of people to stress over traveling.
Not only did he not have much to his name (pretty sad when you think about it), but he also could just use [Spatial Inventory] to store all his items, potions and ingredients, as well as his clothes and food, meaning no reason to burden himself.
And then…
~DING~
[Lana Moonless: I came a bit early, please come down.]
[Stark Heartsouls: Alright.]
This was it, he would have to take the train leading to the capital of Fellarburg.
And then… what then… Stark himself didn't know.
But one thing was for sure: that bad feeling he always got when things were going to go south was omnipresent, always there within him as if to warn him of not only the academy, but the entire capital as a whole.
Wasn't Fellarburg in the top 5 of strongest countries in this world? And if that is true… then the capital, the main point of power, would surely be terrifying, filled with many classifiers that could probably beat him in less than a second.
~DING~
Stark left his room, making sure to keep it clean as he wouldn't be returning there, then arriving in front of his hotel and seeing Lana at the back of a luxurious limousine, her palm against her beautiful chin, and her blue eyes staring at him.
They lightened up as she saw him, then she opened the door, greeting him inside.
"Are you ready," she smiled at Stark, who remained stoic, looking ahead while the driver started up the engine.
"I guess so," in comparison to him, the limousine, which was pretty long and gave them lots of space (although Lana somehow still found herself sitting next to him) was full of luggage, at least a dozen of them, "Is this needed?" he pointed at all of it.
"First time I ever leave the city alone, I am usually with my parents when I travel, and I won't be seeing them for at least a year or two considering the academy and other stuff, so I just wanted to be ready," Lana smiled cutely, and Stark just kept his neutral expression as he sighed.
"Sure," he nodded, not minding that much since it was none of his problems, because as long as he can graduate too, then he didn't mind.
And thus… they drove to the station that would transport them to the powerhouse that is the capital.
Thirty minutes later, they arrived at the train station, and left alongside all of Lana's luggage.
"Be careful, my lady, I have heard rumors about the capital being extremely dangerous," the old man that served as a driver bowed as he warned Lana, he was a very faithful servant of the Moonless family, and he wouldn't want anything to happen to the young lady after all.
"Thank you, but I'll be fine," she smiled, and the driver went back inside the limousine before leaving.
"How are you going to carry that?" Stark asked as all the luggage was on the ground, he had [Spatial Inventory] so he could probably her out by putting all of it inside.
"Hehe~ don't underestimate the Moonless family," but Lana grinned as she pulled out her bow and shot an arrow at each of the bags, the arrows appeared out of nowhere in her hand, probably from her arsenal as she could summon it whenever she wanted.
And suddenly…
~FWISH~
All of them began to fly around Lana, slowly following her.
"I just use a [User Attraction] arrow, and they follow me around, hehe~" she seemed really proud of herself, "Our family was the one to manufacture it after all!"
'There are arrows even for that…?' Stark sighed, it was indeed weird, but she probably had dozens upon dozens of different arrow types in case of battle, so no surprise.
As they made their way to the train platform, Stark couldn't shake off the feeling of unease that had been lingering within him.
It was 15:38, meaning 22 minutes left until the train would arrive.
And yet… the first thing Stark noticed was… that the station was FILLED with young people around his age.
All of them looked extremely powerful, some even letting their auras out to intimidate others, while the rest carried their weapons/items in hand and speaking to the rest.
There was not a single adult on sight, it was only flashy and young classifiers.
"Hey, why are there so many people like us here?" Stark asked, wondering what the hell was happening since this definitely couldn't be normal.
And in response, Lana just laughed and pointed at a giant, colorful sign above the train tracks.
And it read…
[Rift Conqueror Express]
[Only students of the academy are allowed to board this train]
The academy went so far in its research of powerful students that it allowed anyone that got accepted into their school to travel to it extremely easily by having their very own trains and even airports, welcoming classifiers from all over the world.
No wonder it was one of the top 3 strongest schools in Rheria, and also considered to be the hardest to graduate from of all.
Just looking at these people… gave the whole picture Stark needed to realize just what he's plunging himself into.
"Sigh~" Stark was forced to stand up next to Lana as there were no seats or benches.
But suddenly…
"Oy~ if that's not Lana Moonless, I'd never think I would see her in person," a tall gangster-looking man with rock star purple hair and a piercing in his nose appeared, followed by two other people that had the exact same aesthetic as his.
"Piss off," she groaned as she turned and walked behind Stark, hiding behind him as if he was her knight and protector.
'…?' Stark was confused, he was pretty sure she could just shoot one of her weird arrows at them, right?
"Come on, we're going to be classmates, we don't know when any of us will die or leave the academy, why don't we be friends," that guy sounded like a total playboy, "Quit hiding behind that weak-looking punk."
He approached his face to Stark's, sticking out his tongue.
"Oy~ look at you…" he tried to continue, many people all over watching as they wanted to see who was dumb enough to argue not even on their first day.
But, before he could even finish his sentence.
~PUSH~
Stark pushed him out of the way with a single hand then looked at him with a disgusted look, "There's no way a loser like you is hitting on a random girl while the year hasn't even started," Stark truly hated people like that, and he made sure to show it.
"Huh?" the punk couldn't answer, and neither could his friends.
"I mean, look at you, I can pretty much guarantee you're not even surviving the first few months," Stark turned around and walked away, his hands in his pockets, Lana following him closely.
And surprisingly, the "Punk Group" didn't follow after him, only looking at one another and shrugging, a smug look appearing on the leader's face: everyone knew that fighting fellow students right now would be stupid, they would have more than enough time to do that later after all.
"…" Stark contained his laughter, a wide smile appearing on his face.
"Thanks," Lana sighed, "I hate people like this, don't you as well-…?" but before she could finish her sentence, her eyes widened as she looked at Stark's face.
"=)" he was smiling like a maniac.
"I think…" he turned his head toward Lana, "I think I'll enjoy this academy much more than expected…"
There were hundreds of people just like them, and many challenges.
But… Stark felt like he would enjoy it all.
[3:55PM]
[The train is arriving shortly, please be ready!]
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