The festivities soon came to an end.

Mika took the opportunity and walked around alone one last time after Sylvia and he split up.

"System."

[Yes?]

"There’s something I wanted to ask concerning my future self."

[...]

"I always seem to miss the opportunity to ask you but how much time has to pass in order for me to be that version of myself?"

[I cannot give you an answer.]

"Why? Is it again one of those things you can’t tell me yet but only later?"

Mika sounded slightly annoyed.

[No, this time, I cannot give you an answer because I do not know it myself. In fact, no one knows.]

"I see..." Mika replied dejectedly.

He glanced at the rusty sword on his hip.

"I vaguely remember that I used some kind of technique with Excalibur in my fight against Vira. Can you tell me more about it?"

Mika referred to the moment when Vira was completely unable to manipulate gravity even though Excalibur did not touch her.

[It is a secret technique. I planned on handing that technique to you soon.]

Mika raised his eyebrows.

"Didn’t expect that honest answer."

[You are at a stage where I do not have to hide many things anymore from you.]

"Finally... I was starting to wonder how much longer I had to hear your excuses..." Mika remarked tiredly.

[Excuses? Do not be cheeky-]

"?"

Mika shifted his focus from the system to a familiar person in the crowd.

Not too far away from Mika was Cail who left his table with local students.

Usually, Mika would have suspected that he was scheming something again but this time, Cail was genuinely laughing with those students who seemed like his friends.

"So he really turned over a new leaf, huh...?" Mika muttered relieved.

Then, another person approached Mika.

"Heh, you sound like an old man."

It was Ophelia.

"If there’s someone who changed, then it would be you. By far." she remarked relaxed.

"..."

Mika stared blankly at her.

"I already know." he stated.

However, he sounded sad.

Mika noticed the changes outside and inside of him a while ago, starting with his eyes during fights when he did not even use his power to transform.

And since the fifth installment, it was impossible to not notice the drastic challenge in his personality.

Mika knew what changed and when it happened and yet, he could not do anything against it. Despite knowing that, he appeared colder and detached from others, he could not muster up the emotions he once showed. Internally, it felt like he was missing the desire and motivation to express himself. Even a smile turned into something for which Mika had to strain himself.

"So you knew, huh?" Ophelia sighed.

"!"

She flicked his forehead with a finger.

"No need to be so sad. It’s normal for a person to change. As long as you don’t turn into some kind of villain, it’s fine."

Ophelia wore a wide and bright smile as she turned her back on him.

"And don’t worry, we won’t come to hate you just because you have changed. We will always be on your side and if you actually stray from your path, I will come to lecture you." she left those words behind as she walked away.

"..."

[Feel like she read your mind?]

"Mhm." Mika nodded.

He had a faint smile on his face.

Roughly two months later.

Youra was rebuilt a while ago and the exchange program between Youra and Loogam officially came to an end soon.

The students of both academies used the little time they had left to earnestly learn from each other, setting aside their cultural histories and original hostility towards foreigners.

After lessons ended, many students would still linger around at the academy as the students of Loogam and other top students in Youra held sparring sessions.

During that time, everyone improved a lot.

Belian, who struggled against Sara at the beginning, was now holding his ground against her for a long time. He would still lose against her but Sara could not deny that Belian was a problematic opponent for her.

Sara, in turn, slowly cheered up after the battle against Tija. Obviously, she was still affected by that incident but luckily, she had friends and her family who were there for her.

Sylvia and Lily were sparring often against each other or against random students. Compared with the entire student body of both Youra and Loogam, those two held the most sparring matches. And the results were seen as they reached new heights. Especially, Lily appeared to have caught up to the upper students of the white class which also partly thanks to her relic with which she could now summon roughly over twenty fire creatures.

And outside of fighting, those two made progress with their individual goals as both of them grew closer to Mika by spending time with him alone.

Initially, Mika did not think much about it but he, too, realized soon their intentions.

He already knew about Lily from the start but he was surprised that even Sylvia had feelings for him, although she was not really realizing it yet. In contrast to Lily, she just acted instinctively as she felt that Lily could pose a threat to her.

Obviously, Rachel would not sit there and watch them so she often would take Mika for herself or get into small fights with them.

Aside from them, Mika’s relationship with the others also improved and he got closer to them. Lisa opened up more to him and the rest of the class. Harik and Belian often trained with Mika, creating some sense of deep friendship between them as they did not need words to communicate.

People, who were at odds with Mika at first, like Cail and Asak, put their pride aside and also joined their training from time to time. Mika was mostly impressed by Asak who was talking with Harik occasionally, repairing the once-destroyed relationship they had.

Sometimes, Mika would also visit the palace and the Tiam family just to hang out. He did the same with the shelter where the northern people still resided. They, too, moved on soon so Mika wanted to check up on them regularly. There he would naturally meet up with the Pyril family, including Elsa and Dura, and also talk with them.

And at night, he would occasionally join Ophelia during dinner or whenever she felt like drinking a little.

These were the peaceful days which Mika always wished for and which the royal family promised him.

They continued until the last remaining days.

Mika hoped that those days could continue once they were back in Loogam.

But like so often, reality had different plans for him.

It was a normal morning in the village where Mika grew up.

Liam Elbar sat at the dining table and read the newspaper.

"Seems like the repairs in Loogam are done."

"Oh, really? What a great timing for Mika and his friends." Eli Elbar replied as she drank her tea across from Liam.

His parents learned about the invasion there at a late time as it took a while for the news to reach their remote village.

At first, they were utterly shocked by the news and were worried sick about Mika but the article about the invasion also enlisted the people who survived and who died. Including that, there was also an article later which talked about Lucio Graymen’s move to spread the classes across the world for an exchange program.

Knowing that their child was well was enough for the couple.

Now, they just waited for Mika to visit the village so that they could embrace their son.

Meanwhile, the Sacra siblings were taking a stroll in the village.

"Just three months and I can say goodbye to this village!" Eric said as he yawned.

"Don’t pretend to be tough. In the end, you will be the one who will bail his eyes out once we leave." Ain retorted.

"Haha, you sure that you’re not mistaking me for yourself- Ow!"

Ain poutingly kicked her brother’s shin.

It was a day like any other in the village.

"Are we really going to do this...?" Xander asked sternly.

"What? Are you already pissing your pants?" Beatra scoffed.

"..."

Martha sighed.

The trio was near the village and scouted the surroundings.

They were hiding in a thick forest where corpses of monsters were scattered everywhere.

"We will proceed with the plan. There are only a few villages left so we should be done in a day or two." Martha said calmly.

The three made a camp in the middle of the forest after slaughtering all the monsters who tried to attack them. And not far away from their camp was a vast spot where a circle was engraved in the ground. It had foreign symbols in it and appeared rather ominous, even for Xander.

Beatra gazed at the circle.

"How are we even going to do the summon? Don’t we need that relic of that person?" she wondered. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

"Were you not listening, you idiot? Relics can be borrowed under certain circumstances." Martha replied.

"..."

Xander’s eyes shifted to his backpack which was emitting an equally ominous pressure.

Martha stood up.

"Let’s go now. The faster we clear up the other villages, the faster we can do the summon."

A wide smirk crept onto her face.

"The day when the human realm will witness an S-rank’s power is near."