Class Awakening: Working Hard Can Evolve My Classes

Ren furrowed his brows, but he didn’t dwell on it. Instead, he looked at Andrei and felt inexplicably irritated. While he was taking this match seriously, Andrei acted as if he couldn’t care less about him.

’Tch.’

But this was also fine.

The less Andrei took this match seriously, the higher his chances of winning.

’As long as he hasn’t discovered that...’

Ren stared at Andrei deeply, but at that moment, his train of thought was cut off by Andrei’s next words.

"There’s a mark in me. Is this your doing?"

"...!"

Ren’s eyes widened in disbelief. But then, he quickly realized his mistake. For an assassin, a moment of distraction was all they needed to decide a match. At that moment, Andrei took his distraction as an opportunity and teleported behind him, attacking in an instant.

Woosh!

But through the mark he left behind in Andrei, Ren barely managed to block in time.

Clang!

"How did you know?"

Ren gritted his teeth, looking at Andrei as if he were a monster. Even if Andrei’s class was also an assassin-class, he shouldn’t have been able to discover that mark he left behind, unless... they had the same exact class.

Ren’s class was called [Phantom Assassin], a Blue-quality variant of the assassin class.

This class had five skills in total, two were passive skills, and three were active skills. The passive skills were [Assassination Knowledge] and [Killing Instinct (True)], forming the fundamental abilities of an assassin. The active skills were what made it Blue-quality. They were [Cross Slash], [Phantom Step], and [Phantom Mark].

The mark Andrei was talking about was the skill [Phantom Mark].

Ren could leave behind a mark on one target, and he’ll be able to follow all of their movements with extreme precision. Through this mark, he could perfectly react to his opponents’ moves, as if he could read their thoughts.

’Same class? Impossible!’

When this thought appeared in his mind, Ren quickly denied it.

When two people with the same class encountered each other, they’ll feel a certain gravitation towards one another. He didn’t feel that with Andrei. But setting aside that inexplicable feeling, Andrei’s skills didn’t match the skills of a Phantom Assassin.

Ren could tell that Andrei’s ability to appear behind him wasn’t a footwork skill like his Phantom Step, but a genuine blink skill. Being able to run fast was significantly different from being able to teleport.

Andrei’s class remained a hot topic in the academy ever since the first class exam. While everyone was certain that he had a variant of the assassin class, Ren was also sure that it wasn’t the Phantom Assassin class.

"Interessante."

Andrei smiled, then brandished his daggers. Without wasting another breath, he dashed towards Ren.

Woosh!

Ren quickly reacted, using the mark as a way to react to Andrei’s advances perfectly.

Their figures fluttered along the wind. To someone weaker, they would appear like two shifting blurs, appearing in one position before quickly vanishing to another position. Blades collided every second, leaving behind sparks every time they reappeared.

Unlike his sparring match with Zeke, Andrei was fully showcasing his abilities in this fight.

Their agile attacks blew the winds, and every few seconds, a tree would fall from the effect of one of their attacks. It looked as if they were evenly matched, each of them responding to each other’s advances perfectly.

Being the Top 6, Andrei’s echoforce was superior to Ren’s, meaning he was stronger than the latter. But the true extent of his superiority wasn’t certain. The fact that Ren was still able to keep up with Andrei’s speed showed that while the latter was stronger, there wasn’t a huge gap between them.

Andrei left behind a trail of darkness on his attacks, while Ren cut through them with precision.

--Through the mark he left behind, Ren was able to match Andrei’s abilities.

... Or so he thought.

’Something is wrong.’

At first, it was just a suspicion. But the longer the fight lasted, the more certain he became. When Andrei’s blade had somehow gotten through him, grazing his left cheek, he realized something terrifying.

Woosh!

Ren leapt away, creating a wide distance between them. Andrei didn’t follow, looking at him with a small smile.

"It’s over already? I’m just getting started."

"... You."

Ren gritted his teeth, feeling a chill crawl down his spine. He hesitated for a moment, then brought up his suspicion.

"You’re getting stronger the longer the fight lasts."

"Oh? You noticed?"

Andrei raised a brow, seemingly impressed. He nodded slightly.

"Well, it’s pretty rare for someone to last this long in a fight against me, so it’s not easy to notice."

"... Monster."

Ren didn’t know what to say to that. He simply clicked his tongue and shook his head. Now that it came from Andrei’s mouth directly, he lost interest in continuing this battle.

What was the point if Andrei was going to be stronger than him in a couple of minutes anyway?

’It’s a pity, but I’ll have to give up that deal...’

Ren sighed inwardly. While he was interested in the rewards offered by Franz, he wasn’t narrow-minded. The reason he survived this long was that he knew how to weigh his choices perfectly.

Now that he had an understanding of Andrei’s abilities, he quickly realized that the two of them weren’t a match at all. It was better to give up early and hide some of his abilities than to show everything he has only to lose in the end.

"Looks like you give up. Well, that was anti-climactic..."

Andrei chuckled, amused.

Ren shrugged.

"Let’s call it a tie."

"..."

Andrei blinked, dumbfounded by his shamelessness.

"It’s not a tie..."

He quickly corrected.

"I’m leaving, Nurvech."

But before he could finish his words, Ren turned around decisively.

"Oi, wait a minute."

At that moment, Andrei appeared beside Ren like a ghost. He looked at Ren with a small smile and patted his shoulders.

"You don’t get to follow me around and provoke me just to end it like that. Speak. Did Gene order you to do this?"

"... Tch."

Ren clicked his tongue and gave up. But contrary to Andrei’s expectations, it wasn’t Gene who ordered Ren to fight him.

"It’s not Gene. It’s Franz. We met a couple of days ago, and he asked me to put you down for a good price. He knows who I am outside the academy, so he was confident in my abilities."

"Huh? Franz?"

Andrei was startled. He couldn’t help but fall deep in thought.

’Why? The only thing I said to him so far is to not touch Zeke... then, is it because I’m protecting Zeke? Then, that means...’

If Franz asked Ren to hunt him down, then Franz was probably thinking of humiliating Zeke again. It was just that... Andrei’s expression turned strange. Recalling his spar with Zeke, he wasn’t sure who was going to humiliate whom.

The more he thought about it, the more excited he felt.

... He cannot miss seeing that match no matter what!

But he also took note of Ren’s mention of a ’good price’. Andrei’s eyes lit up, forming a devious plan in his mind. Feeling Andrei’s shoulder pats becoming heavier and heavier, Ren shifted uncomfortably. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

"... Can I go now?"

He asked, sighing tiredly.

"No, wait."

Andrei smiled widely, giving Ren a chill.

"Didn’t you mention a deal between you and Franz? Tell me more about it..."