[Body Refinement Pool]
—> All 100 Body Refinement Pools can elevate your body up to A-rank. The speed and progress depend on your endurance and ability to absorb the benefits.
—> Once entered, you can stay in the pool for up to 1 hour. No more than that. Your time will be tracked.
—> One person per pool. You will have to use your mana to guide the liquid through your pores and absorb it, which will spread across your body and refine it. There will be pain, so adjust accordingly.
Both of them read the board and headed towards the pools.
They stopped at the two pools that were empty next to each other and dipped in.
Rudrean and Aelira began absorbing the liquid.
As they absorbed roughly one liter of liquid, their bodies began to feel annoying pricks all over.
But they continued.
And soon those annoying pricks turned into pain akin to a needle in every cell of their bodies.
The liquid had started working as it rolled through their entire bodies and started strengthening them from the foundation.
Both of them had to focus just to not lose their consciousness.
But their hunger for power was the same.
One was cursed with a family that was now trying to make her life hell.
And the bastard was coming to this academy tomorrow.
She wanted to get strong fast so that she could fight for her future.
'Darling, we will become stronger!'
On the other hand, Rudrean wanted to help Aelira because she had flipped his fate upside down and given him a new life.
She made him feel what bliss truly meant.
So he wanted to get strong for her, and for himself, for this new future.
'This pain is nothing. I will endure even worse for the warm light that I have in my life now.'
Rudrean and Aelira absorbed more liquid, enduring the pain and acquiring power.
And before they realized it, one hour had passed.
The liquid began to retract from the pool and vanished in three seconds.
Aelira and Rudrean opened their eyes.
Their clothes were wet, but their skin was shining from the lights of the lamps.
Climbing up, both of them walked towards each other.
Aelira took out both of their cards from her storage ring and scanned their bodies.
"We both absorbed a lot of liquid. I am still feeling phantom pain." Aelira wryly smiled. "But I am feeling quite strong."
"Me too." Rudrean grinned. "We got stronger again."
The cards finished scanning, and both of them looked at their status.
[Rudrean Zen]
[Age: 18]
— Stats —
Constitution: A
Agility: A
Strength: A
Magic: S+
---
[Aelira Vinz]
[Age: 19]
— Stats —
Constitution: A
Agility: A
Strength: A
Magic: A
"I reached A! And you, too!" Aelira's eyes sparkled.
"Soon, your Magic will reach S+ if we continue." Rudrean chuckled.
"You naughty boy~ I am feeling quite energetic now. Should we head back once and have passionate training before heading out for missions?" Aelira pressed herself on Rudrean's chest as her hand went inside his trousers, grabbing his awakened dragon.
…
After heading back home, they had a passionate battle with each other for two hours.
That two-hour battle pushed their Love Points to 74,382.
And then they arrived at the nearest Mission Hall.
After talking with the receptionist there, they learned about the mission system of the academy.
To their shock, most of the missions were not even on Earth.
"This is unexpected." Aelira blinked.
"So we will travel interstellar." Rudrean was amazed. "Sounds amazing."
[Mission: Green Lumin Dew]
— Collect the Green Lumin Dew from the uninhabited Planet B13J.
— Hazard level: D to C
— Student Requirement: C+ stats, Tier-6 rank or higher.
Reward:
—> 100 low-grade Mana Stones per vial of Green Lumin Dew.
"Look…" Aelira pointed at the bottom of the board. "Survival is not guaranteed in missions. Please be cautious."
"I see. But some of those missions look entirely harmless." Rudrean pointed at a mission and expanded it. "A mission named Magic Assistance shouldn't be difficult."
[Mission: Magic Assistance]
— Assist Teacher Leona in Magic Experiments.
— Student Requirement: Passing mark in Teacher Leona's magic test. Tier-3 or higher student.
Reward:
— Anything you want from the academy.
"That mission is a bit strange." Aelira raised her eyebrows.
"Yeah."
Suddenly, a melodious voice chuckled behind them.
"Don't bother taking that mission. Even if you pass the test, you won't succeed in assisting Teacher Leona. No one has succeeded yet."
Rudrean and Aelira turned around and saw a girl in her early twenties with wavy dark violet hair. She wore a short skirt and a wavy, caped purple dress, with pink lipstick.
"Are you two the new students who directly became Tier-5 students?" she asked with a curious smile.
"That'd be us." Rudrean nodded.
"I don't know if you've found out about this already, but there are three factions in this academy. River Tale faction, Blazing March faction, and Storm Flow faction. They are based on the three strongest Arcane Paths of this academy."
The girl smiled and added, "I am from the Storm Flow faction. The name is Fanny. Nice to meet you."
"Arcane Paths…" Aelira's eyes glinted. "I've heard about them. My family is selling me because they want business back, but most importantly, they want to practice the Dredon family's Arcane Path, which would become possible once I marry into their family."
"Oh, I'm sorry." Fanny ruefully smiled. "The fights within established magic families are indeed a bit ugly ever since people went to Exceed Shrines and brought back Arcane Arts."
"This is not even a fight." Rudrean's fists clenched tightly. "They are just bullying her and using her as a tool. We won't let it happen."
"Well, if you join the Storm Flow faction, I can guarantee you nothing would happen." Fanny smiled. "The academy is the strongest institute on Earth, and the three factions, which consist of both students and teachers, are the main force behind it."
Rudrean's face lit up as he turned to Aelira. "That's great, right?"
"Indeed, darling. But I wonder what's the catch here?" Aelira blinked. "What do we do after entering a faction?"
Fanny chuckled. "Firstly, let me clarify that being able to enter a faction is a privilege. Students can only be invited, either based on potential or shown talent. For you two, it's both."
"Second, factions are your best ticket to the vast world out there, to see more wonderful horizons and become stronger. You see, our planet is under the Riglight Galactic Alliance's territory, but this planet is lower than the lowest-ranked habitable planet in their charts, so they don't bother with it. But we gained a passive ticket to go into their territory after they included us three decades ago. So from here, we can go to some of the 1-star and 2-star planets. Being a part of a faction means you can get support from the faction branches that have been established in the main cities of those planets."
"Oh…"
Rudrean and Aelira nodded as they digested the information.
To think this planet was considered lower than the lowest rank…
And the academy already had some roots on other planets.
"Wait, so people must be very powerful there, right?" Aelira blinked. "I've never seen anyone with stats above S-rank. Especially the physical parameters."
Fanny laughed. "Oh girl, you have no idea. Humans on some of those planets have far stronger biological structures than ours because they've been attuned to arcane for way longer and have had access to Exceed Shrines for who knows how long. Their kids are born with S-grade physical parameters, but there, it's considered Foundation-rank. The starting rank."
Rudrean rubbed his chin. "From what I heard so far, I take it that you can get Arcane Arts from Exceed Shrines, right? What are those?"
Fanny chuckled. "Follow me. I'll fill you in on the general knowledge of interstellar people."
But just as she turned around, a man with spiky orange hair and a lean figure walked in and appeared right before her like a gust of wind.
He was wearing a white sleeveless T-shirt and black track pants.
"Fanny, have some shame. You used the academy's card tracking array system to track them, right?"
"What are you talking about?" Fanny innocently blinked twice. "I was just here to take a mission and saw those two."
The guy looked at Rudrean and Aelira. "Don't listen to her. She is here to recruit you, and so am I."
"…"
"…"