Class Awakening: Working Hard Can Evolve My Classes

Seeing Zeke’s unfazed appearance, Franz’s heart erupted in alarm. The arrogance in his face diminished, and a trace of solemnness appeared in his eyes. Not letting Zeke get an opportunity to attack, he immediately dashed over once more.

Woosh!

As a Brawler, his physical stats were among the best outside of the Top 10. He didn’t become a class representative just from arrogance alone. If he weren’t even stronger than the average student, he would’ve been long humiliated by other people with his attitude.

Furthermore, Franz’s background was deeper than that of most of the students in the academy. Through his uncle, he’s able to acquire expensive boosters and potions from the Surface every once in a while.

His actual echoforce value was 35, making him a Rank 1.3 Initiate.

An echoforce of 35 was quite strong for a student, especially when one considered that the echoforce requirement for Rank 1.4 was 40, which meant that Franz was more than halfway to that goal.

The weakest member of the Top 10 was a Rank 1.4 Initiate.

Hence, Franz was one of the strongest first years outside of the Top 10. On the first-year leaderboard, he was positioned in the Top 15.

Bam! Bam!

As soon as Franz closed the distance between them, he let out a barrage of attacks. Each of his attacks generated a loud shockwave, similar to the sound of a gun. This time, Zeke didn’t receive it head-on anymore.

"...!"

From the side, Ren’s eyes widened, and Andrei’s eyes were wide open as well.

If they were shocked, Franz was even more in disbelief.

Zeke dodged every single one of his attacks with ease. In each moment, there were plenty of opportunities for him to attack, but instead of doing so, he simply stared down at Franz and let him continue.

Overcome with rage, Franz channeled all of his anger into his fists.

Yet without fail, Zeke kept dodging them with extreme precision, as if he could see where they would land before they were even launched. Throughout all of this, his face remained indifferent, as if what he was doing was natural.

Truth to be told, Zeke could end this match whenever he wants—

But that wouldn’t do anything. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

He wanted to bury Franz’s ego to the ground and step on it like trash.

He wanted Franz himself to realize the disparity between the two of them.

Among the lessons Alexander taught him, one lesson stayed in his mind for a long time. It was so inhumane that Zeke only knew it by theory, and he once swore to never use it unless necessary. This was that necessary time.

To be exact, it was a lesson on how one can destroy a person entirely—mind, body, and soul.

The first step was to let them use everything they have against you, and if necessary, you can even help them.

When a person gets defeated, they usually think that it was merely because they didn’t do their best, or they didn’t try hard enough. Regardless of which, they would create excuses to justify their failure.

Zeke wanted to eliminate all of the possible excuses Franz could conjure.

After showing Franz that he could dodge all of his attacks, Zeke suddenly stopped.

Because at this moment, he could guess what Franz was thinking—

’If only I could hit him once! Just once!’

So Zeke received one of his attacks to verify that.

Truthfully, this was the height of arrogance. But when destroying a man entirely, you must become a nightmare to them that they could never overcome.

Bam!

Zeke steadied his body. Under everyone’s gaze, Franz’s attacks finally broke through, one of them landing on Zeke’s face. Almost immediately, Franz’s eyes widened in shock, as if even he himself couldn’t believe his attack landed.

’This is my chance!’

But for Ren and Andrei observing from a distance, they saw deeper than Franz. When they saw Zeke intentionally let himself get hit, their mouth parted in disbelief as confusion clouded their hearts.

Zeke flinched and spat out blood, showing no special reaction. A large bruise appeared on his face, knuckle marks carving deeply on his cheeks. It looked grotesque, but he didn’t seem to feel it at all, even smiling in spite of it.

"Tch."

Franz no longer cared about Zeke’s reactions. He tightened his fists and attacked once more, wanting to use this momentum to completely overwhelm Zeke with attacks. He didn’t believe that Zeke could turn this match around!

"Die for me, Crimson!"

Woosh!

Before the attack could graze him again, Zeke stepped sideways and grabbed Franz’s wrist. He pulled Franz close to him and struck the man’s face with his elbow, causing Franz’s face to explode.

"Ughk!"

Proceeding to the next step, destroying his body.

Franz choked from the sudden elbow strike, but Zeke didn’t give him a chance. He grabbed his hair and threw him to the tree. When he felt the cold surface of the trunk, he quickly regained his senses. But then, a sword pierced through his shoulders, attacking him both physically and spiritually.

A shooting pain shot up to his mind. His body urged him to remove the sword from his shoulders, but how could Zeke let him do so? The longer the sword remained on his body, the more spiritual attacks were directly injected into his mind, stacking up continuously, reaching a level of pain that could only be described as hell.

From the sideline, Andrei flinched, an audible gulp escaping his throat.

The senses Franz regained were quickly overwhelmed by the pain.

Bam! Bam! Bam!

Zeke let out a barrage of kicks, hitting him left and right. When he got bored, he raised him back up and struck his stomach, causing him to gag. By now, Franz’s face was full of bruises, blood trickling down his cheeks.

Franz raised his gaze, looking at Zeke with eyes begging for mercy.

But Zeke remained indifferent. He crouched down and met Franz’s eyes up close, seeing fear taking root in the man’s eyes.

"Last time, didn’t you tell me that you won’t ever stop?"

This was the second time Zeke spoke since he arrived.

Yet Franz felt more terrified instead, knowing that Zeke still remembered their sparring match vividly, like him.

"You said... there’s no reason that you’re doing this and that. You’re just doing it because you’re stronger and I’m weaker, hence you have the right to decide my fate."

Zeke continued calmly.

"How about now? You can’t even land your attacks. And I even received two of your attacks directly, but you couldn’t capitalize on that to turn the match around. I’m barely even using my sword yet, but..."

He looked at Franz’s bruised face.

"You look more pitiful than a corpse."

For some reason, when Franz had heard the word ’pitiful’, his expression turned savage. Zeke was surprised. Even in a moment like this, the man still couldn’t stand being pitied.

But even though he was surprised, he somehow understood.

No... to be exact, the old Zeke Starlight knew this feeling.

"On one specific day of your life, you realized that you’re different from other people. You hold a certain advantage in life that nobody else around you has. You’re a winner in life. As such, this gave you a sense of superiority."

Zeke stared deeply into Franz’s eyes.

"Superiority planted arrogance in your soul. When it grew enough, it bloomed, spreading to every inch of your bone. By the end of it, you believe that you’re destined for greater things. You’re a chosen one. A winner... and everyone else? They’re nothing."

"But on one random day. A day that should be like any other day. That fantasy broke apart. Whether it’s by your own failure or another person’s excellence, you realize that you weren’t the winner you thought yourself to be. You’re not a chosen one. You were just lucky, and luck happened to run out—it’s no longer your turn."

He continued.

"That arrogance? It turned into insecurity. When you become something for so long, attempting to remove it is like killing a part of your soul. But the death of identity doesn’t scare you as much as the idea of admitting that you’re wrong."

"After all, how could you be wrong? You’re the superior human."

After saying that, Zeke stopped.

The forest was utterly silent, and only the sound of heavy breathing could be heard. Franz’s expression had long changed into horror, as if Zeke had hit all the marks about him.

Confusion, terror, and rage—

It was as if Franz couldn’t decide anymore what he should feel.

How could Zeke not understand Franz?

They were practically the same in the past, except for one thing.

He was punished for his weakness, but Franz was never punished for his.

This small difference was enough to decide the trajectory of their paths.

Zeke had escaped a sixteen-year-old illusion conjured by his mind, while Franz trapped himself in his own delusions.

"But you’re not really a superior human, Franz. I’ll show you—"

Zeke grabbed his sword from the ground. Activating Sword Soul Manifestation, he grazed Franz’s cheek. A moment later, a painful, gutwrenching wail resounded in the forest.

"—I’ll be your punishment."