Class Awakening: Working Hard Can Evolve My Classes

In the training facility, Andrei led Zeke to the fifth floor. He suggested sparring in a private room to keep away from prying eyes. Zeke had no problem with that, but he wasn’t sure if he could go upstairs with his current personal value.

Doubtful, he shared his thoughts with Andrei.

Andrei was surprised, but then shook his head. As it so happens, the academy made an exception for cases like this. As long as he was accompanied by someone who fulfilled the requirement, they could bypass it. Andrei had more than enough personal value, which didn’t surprise Zeke at all.

When they set foot on the fifth floor, Zeke looked around and made a quick comparison in his mind.

Unlike the lower floors, the fifth floor only had one public sparring area that was currently empty. Countless purple doors made up most of the fifth floor, stretching along the walls. The upper floors only consisted of private rooms that could be rented with merit points.

Andrei chose a door randomly and flashed his Herta ID.

[Private Room: 1 hour, 60 merit points. 2 hours, 120...]

He pressed the 1-hour option, and the merit points were immediately deducted from his Herta ID.

A moment later, the door opened.

"Let’s go."

Andrei walked inside first, followed by Zeke. As soon as they walked inside, the door behind them closed. Zeke swept a gaze through the room, seeing a variety of weapons lined up beside the walls.

In the center, an empty area waited for the two of them.

"You can get a weapon, and we can start immediately."

Andrei smiled, walking onto the center casually.

Zeke raised a brow. "You’re not going to get a weapon?"

Instead of responding, Andrei raised a hand while he walked, showing two ordinary daggers.

’Showy...’

Zeke stared at him for a moment before walking to the weapon area, taking the first sword he saw. He grabbed it and made a couple of casual swings to test its quality. After a couple of tests, he nodded slightly.

’Good enough.’

Turning around, he saw Andrei in the center of the sparring area.

Andrei didn’t seem to be worried at all. He yawned carelessly.

Zeke was unamused. But not wanting to waste any more time, he walked to the sparring area and stood on the opposite side.

’It’s been a while since I held a sword...’

He brandished the sword, taking a deep breath.

The last time he held a sword was a day before the awakening ceremony. A week might not be long to others, but not to him. He was used to practicing with a sword every day. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

At first, he was worried his skills might have degraded... but once he made contact with its hilt, those worries disappeared. His lips curled up involuntarily. Zeke was trained in all kinds of weapons, but among all of them, the sword was his favorite, and it was also the one he was most proficient in using.

The Starlight family was a lineage of swordsmen. They were at the top in the world when it came to swordsmanship, only slightly inferior to the Sword Sect in Western Liberty.

Andrei noticed his expression, surprised. It was the first time he saw Zeke smile genuinely... to a sword at that. He couldn’t help but look at Zeke strangely, but then he realized that the man was already staring at him.

’Ohoh?’

Seeing the solemn expression on Zeke’s face, Andrei smiled casually.

"You ready?"

Zeke stared at him silently.

Andrei raised a brow. But before he could speak, Zeke replied unhurriedly. "You should take this seriously."

’Hm?’

Andrei paused, feeling awkward. Seriously? He didn’t know if that was possible. The difference between the two of them was not something that could be described in numbers, surely Zeke knew that. But knowing Zeke’s personality, he was about to nod and give a shallow reply, yet...

Suddenly, a chill crawled down his spine.

"...!"

Andrei raised his head and sensed a dangerous feeling emanating from Zeke.

"Let’s start. I’d like to see the strength of a first-year student in the top ten." Zeke pointed the sword at Andrei. "Come at me."

"That’s... interesting."

Andrei narrowed his eyes, smiling playfully. I wouldn’t hurt to be a little serious. Without wasting a breath, he stepped sideways and turned into a blur, vanishing from Zeke’s sight.

Woosh!

However, Zeke merely stared ahead, holding his sword tightly. He knew he couldn’t follow Andrei’s movements—Andrei was far faster than him. Instead, he was going to predict where Andrei would attack him.

Judging from Andrei’s choice of weapon and approach, Zeke guessed he might have an assassin class. There was a high chance it was a variant of an assassin class, perhaps even a blue-quality assassin class.

He wasn’t guessing randomly, but rather it just made sense, considering Andrei’s personal value.

’120 Personal Value.’

Zeke thought quietly, concentrating his senses around him. He already checked the so-called academy leaderboards, and they listed every student’s personal value.

In the first year leaderboard, he was at the very bottom.

While Andrei... he was among the top ten.

As such, when Zeke had said to take this spar seriously, Andrei was startled. It was like asking a lion to take a mouse seriously. If Andrei really fought seriously, then it wouldn’t be a sparring match at all, but a one-sided beatdown.

But Zeke was serious about it.

He wanted to confirm something.

The reason he became the heir of the Starlight family was because of two reasons: incredible knowledge acquisition and terrifying combat intuition.

Pair those two together, Zeke was touted as a genius above geniuses.

But how true was that statement?

The only way to verify that was to fight someone far stronger than him.

A genius wasn’t a genius if they couldn’t hold their own against people above their level.

’Right.’

At that moment, a silhouette appeared on his left. But Zeke didn’t defend there, instead he turned to the right and raised his sword.

Clang!

Twin daggers suddenly clashed against his blade, making a loud ringing sound. A blurry silhouette appeared, showing Andrei, whose smirk had faded. Andrei was startled, not expecting Zeke to be able to react, much less block it.

The first thing any combat instructor would teach is to never get distracted in a fight.

Andrei’s brief surprise was enough for Zeke to counterattack.

[Soul Sword Manifestation].

[Lethal Strike].

Zeke’s eyes were indifferent. He raised his sword once more, its edges glowing softly, and he effortlessly swung it.

Clang!

Andrei’s eyes squinted, immediately blocking with his daggers.

But reinforced with a skill, Zeke’s sword broke through Andrei’s block with ease, blowing the latter away.

Woosh!

While flying in mid-air, Andrei suddenly felt a shooting pain in his mind. Dizziness shot through him, making him lose his focus. By the time he snapped out of his shock, he was already crashed against the wall.

He couldn’t help but wince, feeling shocked.

"...!"

’Is this... a mental attack?!’

Zeke looked at him, his lips curving slightly.

Andrei blinked, looking at Zeke from a distance.

"You..."

Zeke mused. "I told you to take this seriously, didn’t I?"

Andrei was speechless. But he was confused about one thing...

"But if you had this power all along, why..."

Knowing what he was going to ask, Zeke shook his head.

"Focus on the spar. Stand up."

"..."

Andrei stared at Zeke for a moment, then nodded deeply. He stood up and took a deep breath. Regardless, he had to take this seriously now. Mental attacks were dangerous by themselves, but paired with Zeke’s insane combat ability, it wasn’t an exaggeration to say that there was a chance he could lose here.

A moment later, Andrei’s entire vibe suddenly changed, turning deadly.

"I’m getting serious now. Don’t die."

"...!"

Zeke furrowed his brows, his smile fading.

At that moment, Andrei vanished.

He immediately reappeared at Zeke’s back.

This time, he put all of his strength.

Woosh!

’Back.’

Zeke quickly blocked with his sword, but this time, he was overpowered by Andrei’s strength. Zeke wasn’t surprised at all. He retracted his sword and slammed it on the ground, stopping himself from being blown away.

Bam!

Andrei immediately reappeared behind him.

Seemingly expecting it, Zeke ducked down, sweeping his foot behind. Andrei jumped slightly, but when he landed, Zeke had already rolled away, standing at a distance.

The two of them looked at each other quietly, brandishing their weapons.