Chapter 94: Since when did I become the babysitter for every main character around here?
Rising from the Awakened Tier to Luminous wasn’t as simple as filling one’s Soul Core and immediately moving up to the next tier. If it really were that easy, anyone with plenty of resources would breeze through it without effort. But reality wasn’t nearly that forgiving.
Because after the absorption, meditation, and various methods used to fill the soul core, a person also needed to make sure their soul essence had reached the proper level of control and purity before even attempting the breakthrough.
If someone forced a breakthrough while their control and purity still weren’t high enough, the consequences could be fatal. Failing the breakthrough was only one bad outcome among far worse ones.
Because a person could actually die from a failed breakthrough. Sometimes their soul core would shatter entirely, leaving them permanently crippled.
That was why Eiros, having absorbed so many Soul Stones, genuinely needed to spend his time honing his Soul Essence. Improving its control and purity through practice and meditation.
As one of the students currently drawing a lot of attention, the professors were, of course, willing to give him leeway when it came to his own personal growth. For the past several days, Eiros had devoted himself entirely to sharpening the control and purity of his soul essence.
He had no intention of failing his ascension to the next tier over something so preventable.
That was how he spent three peaceful days. Just as Eiros started thinking he’d get to enjoy a few more quiet days ahead, something unexpected happened instead.
That was because the original novel’s plot had started moving again. Eiros couldn’t be sure, but he could guess.
"Seriously? A first-year student is going to duel a second-year student?"
"Wow, who’s the unlucky kid?"
"Unlucky?! Hey, man! That student’s one of the strongest in the first year! It’s Alen Hazelia!"
"Alen?! Wait! How? Isn’t Alen the type who avoids trouble like the plague?"
On his way back from the library, heading toward the cafeteria, Eiros caught snatches of whispers spreading through the air.
That made him stop in his tracks. He hugged his book a little tighter, then turned to face the three gossiping students.
"Mind telling me more about that?" Eiros approached with a small smile as he greeted them.
Each of them looked startled for a moment, but smiles quickly spread across their faces.
"Oh! Eiros, you want to know?"
Eiros wasn’t entirely sure why, but his reputation seemed to have been improving lately. He’d been growing popular, not for anything negative, but in a genuinely positive direction, with more and more first-years greeting him whenever they passed him in the corridors.
Either way, it wasn’t a bad development. Eiros welcomed it happily.
"You might not believe this, but apparently Alen’s fallen for a second-year girl!"
That sentence made Eiros’s expression stumble. He was so caught off guard his lips twitched in an unnatural way.
"Alen? Seriously?"
The student who seemed to know the rumor best nodded.
"Yeah, and that’s exactly the problem! Alen and another second-year student both like the same girl, so now they’re fighting over her. I heard they’re duking it out in the arena this evening."
"Ah."
Was the romance arc finally about to kick off?
In the middle of a world that looked like it was about to fall apart at any moment?
Seriously?
Eiros didn’t know what to say. He thanked the student briefly, then quickly walked off. He crossed through the corridor and headed straight for the combat class.
He opened the door and immediately spotted Alen talking to a visibly stunned Lovia.
"Wait...! Are you actually going to do that? Seriously? Oh, wow, turns out you’re even crazier than I thought!"
Across from them, Valkas himself looked just as shocked. Along with Godon, who was eating fried chicken with his eyes bulging out.
Alen went quiet for a moment, then an awkward smile crept onto his face. He was about to say something, but stopped when Eiros walked over and asked,
"Alen... you’re seriously in love with a second-year student?"
Everything froze at that. Alen, Lovia, Godon, Valkas, all of them went stone-still, and then Alen’s face drained of color.
"Who told you that?"
"Eh, isn’t that what’s going on?" Eiros hesitated for a moment, seeing their expressions. Well, maybe he’d jumped to conclusions a little too fast.
"The rumor’s already spreading, you know. That you fell in love and started fighting over a second-year girl, brave enough to challenge a second-year student over it. What a heroic little tale."
"Damn, I could never in a million years picture this bastard’s face falling in love..." Valkas muttered, clearly assuming it had all just been a false rumor.
"That’s not true," Alen finally joined in, taking a deep breath and slamming his hand down on the table.
Bam!
"So can all of you just shut up for a second and let me explain?! None of you are letting me get a word in!"
After that outburst, Alen finally got his chance to explain the actual situation.
To make sense of it, Alen started by laying out his background. That he came from a farming family, not by blood, but he’d been adopted into the family after his own village had been destroyed in some incident.
The gist of it: in that family, Alen had an older sister. And the second-year student he was currently protecting was that very sister, who was now being pressured by a noble student.
"I figured I’d be an uncle soon," Godon let out a small sigh, staring at the bare bone of his finished fried chicken before popping it into his mouth.
Alen looked like he had no idea how to react. Meanwhile, Lovia and Valkas nodded, as though they’d finally understood the whole situation.
And Alen genuinely had a valid reason for why he had to bravely stand against a second-year student.
Even Eiros found himself thinking the same thing. After all, this was about the family that had raised him after his own family died in some tragic incident.
"So, who’s the student you’re up against?" Eiros decided to ask.
At that, Alen suddenly gave a nervous smile, as though he were forcing himself to swallow something foul.
"...This... I’m fighting the youngest son of a Count."
And just like Alen, everyone else’s expressions turned just as sour, all of them suddenly looking like they were choking down something disgusting too.
Alen felt a hand land on his shoulder, Valkas gently patting him.
"Good luck to you."
Alen’s body tensed for a moment, then his gaze landed on Eiros, the only noble among them, the only one who wasn’t a commoner.
"Do you know him? Caeril Midgard."
Caeril Midgard.
Eiros didn’t need any webtoon knowledge to recognize that name. After all, it wasn’t some obscure name, quite the opposite, it was fairly well known.
Caeril, the second-year student, wasn’t just one of the best in his generation. He was also said to possess a stigmata with tremendous potential.
His talent was undeniably immense, predicted to reach the Luminous Tier as early as the beginning of his third year.
And that was the opponent Alen had to face?
Eiros had no idea how much of his strength Alen was actually holding back. But he was fairly confident Alen would refuse to use it fully. For whatever unknown reason, the webtoon had always painted Alen as someone afraid of his own power.
He hesitated for a moment, then arrived at a simple conclusion.
’If this is really dangerous, the system would definitely hand me a quest,’ but the system stayed silent, showing no reaction whatsoever.
Could Eiros take that as a sign that he didn’t need to do anything here?
Besides, Alen was a protagonist. Fate wouldn’t have chosen him without reason. And since this was a fight, that didn’t necessarily mean Alen’s odds were slim even if he held back.
Alen was naturally gifted. His biggest problem probably came down to the difference in their social status.
Eiros let out a small sigh.
’Since when did I become the babysitter for every main character around here? They can handle themselves.’
Besides, Alen genuinely hadn’t gone through much of anything lately. He needed to reach a certain point of conflict, at the very least, so his growth wouldn’t stall out.
So, after a moment, Eiros shook his head.
He decided not to get involved and chose to simply watch instead.
"I don’t know him."
Alen’s face looked like it had been completely drained.
And after that, he stared listlessly at the ticking clock.
Time kept moving forward, and evening finally arrived.
***