"Hey Anita, I''m out of elemental stones. I''m close to breaking through, lend me some money please...", a bald head guy said while pleading towards the girl beside him with puppy eyes.


    The bald head guy has red eyes and a muscr build, his bearing is full of confidence and he emits pressure to the students around him. From the looks of it, He is certainly a high-ranking Awakened.


    Anita nces at the bald guy helplessly, "Elemental stone even if it''s a low-quality one is roughly $2000. Noah, are you trying to rip me off?"


    "You know that you''re the best girl I know right?", Compliment Noah trying to make Anita agree.


    Anita has violet long hair that falls to her waist, although her face can be considered normal, the branded clothing makes up for it which makes her at least above average in terms of looks.


    Anita''s face blushed red, she threw her red face away and said, "Fine just this once"


    "Yes! Thank you!", Noah said before hugging her excitedly.


    Anita held her breath in surprise, her face turns redder than a tomato as Noah hugs her tightly.


    They dwell in the romantic moment, when suddenly


    "WHERE DID HE GO?"


    "THERE! I SAW HIM"


    "I AM GOING TO CHOKE HIM TO DEATH!"


    Amotion was suddenly heard, dozens of students are running around looking for something or someone.


    Noah grabs one of the students and asks, "What is all thismotion?"


    The guy who got grabbed by Noah nce at him and widened his eyes, "NOAH! It''s about Rosie''s boyfriend"


    Hearing this Noah frown, "Lucas finally got her huh?"


    "No, It''s not Lucas but someone else bes Rosie''s boyfriend. He even purposely act all lovey-dovey to rub it on our faces", the guy said with a hint of anger in his tone.


    "What?! Where is he?", Noah asks with bulging veins on his forehead. Although he didn''t see it, he can already imagine how annoying that will be.


    The guy pointed in a direction before they both run towards it while sending curses to Rex.


    Anita was speechless, she just got into a good moment when suddenly all of that copses in the blink of an eye.


    ''That bitch Rosie'', she thought while clenching her fists.


    Meanwhile, Rex was running tirelessly.


    There are still three people on his tail, Rex nces at his back and looks at their stats.


    ''1 rank two awakened and 2 ranks one awakened, Should I try?'', Rex thought while running. He is hesitating whether he can beat the three of them fast enough to not get caught up with the other.


    After decided to try, Rex suddenly makes a sharp right to a hall heading to the library.


    He gets inside the library and headed upstairs,


    The library interior is mostly made of wood, it bringsfort to the students who are reading peacefully. Rows of books are assigned neatly on each cab with the name of the section on top of it.


    After he looks around the third floor, he saw that not many students are reading here.


    He chooses a random cab and hid there, waiting for the three students to find him.


    "Where is he? I saw him go to this floor"


    "You, go to the library entrance and tell the other that he''s here"


    Rex can hear them talking, he cursed the guy that ordered one of them to tell the others.


    ''I''m going to get surrounded if I don''t move now, let''s do that trick'', Rex thought before he crouches beside the next cab where the two guys are searching.


    Rex pushes the book to make them fall near the guys,


    Thud!


    "What was that?!"


    "It''s just a book falling"


    Thud!


    "Is there any ghost story here?"


    "Based on what I know, there''s a bully victim student whomits suicide here"


    Thud!


    "This is not right! Something is making this book fall"


    The guys started to get scared, although they are an Awakened they are still human who''s afraid of a ghost.


    They both look towards their back where the three-book has fallen from the cab, just as they scaredly look around, a whisper seeps into their ears.


    "Bo!"


    The both of them jumped in fright before their neck got hit and their vision started to get hazy as they both fall unconscious.


    <Defeat a Late Rank One Awakened, Obtained 100 Exp>


    <Defeat an Early Rank Two Awakened, Obtained 150 Exp>


    "HAHA, works every time", Rex murmurs when suddenly he senses someone approaching him,


    BAM!


    Before Rex can react, a punchnded right on his face making him stumbling before regaining his bnce,


    He rubs his hurting face as he looks at the one who punches him in annoyance,


    In front of him, he saw a bald head guy with two other guys behind him.


    The bald guy has a fire burning in his eyes, his red eyes seem to lit up brighter because of the fire and his hands are scorching with fire, he is Noah.


    "You, How dare a non-awakened like you date Rosie. I will not ept this!", he dered loudly.


    Rex smirked, "Who are you to order Rosie like that? Are you her father?"


    Hearing this, Noah''s face was red in embarrassment, "Nonsense, Just know I will beat you up today"


    "Let me see you try", Rex said while waving his hand to taunt Noah.


    <Noah Farcrest>


    Race: Human


    Power: Rank Three Awakened(Mid) - Fire Elementalist


    Mental: 19


    Strength: 28


    Agility: 18


    Endurance: 15


    Intelligence: 45


    Seeing Noah''s stats, Rex was surprised. Noah beat him in every stat!


    ''How will I fight him? Should I just run? but that is so not my style'', Rex thought while hawking Noah up and down.


    While Rex was thinking, Noah''s zing hand burns brighter.


    He shot a fire sh towards Rex who is still thinking,


    The heating from the fire sh seems to burn through everything, the temperature rises when Noah releases the skill.


    Rex snapped out of his daze when he saw a fire shing at him, he rolls to the right to avoid it but still got scratched on his elbow.


    "Argh!", Rex looks at his elbow and found it a little bit burnt but it already started to heal.


    The cab, shelves, and books that are made of wood are protected from the fire by a transparent barrier, it is a defensive mechanism so it will not be destroyed easily.


    Noah looks at the guys behind him and ordered, "You two wait here, let me fight this guy"


    The guys nodded their heads in understanding, they are only rank one Awakened so naturally, they will listen to what Noah said.


    Noah stretches his body while hopping, his calm demeanor makes Rex felt insulted.


    Rex and Noah gaze into each other, their eyes burnt with fighting intent.


    Noah makes the first move, he dashes from his ce and reappears beside Rex.


    "me Strike!"


    Noah''s hands enveloped by me as he punches Rex,


    The me threatened Rex with its high temperature, Rex doesn''t have any magic so he can''t fight it head-on.


    Rex dodges the fist in the nick of time but he was still burnt by the heating from Noah''s hand,


    ''Shit, I can''t let this go on'', Rex thought while holding his burned arm.


    Rex bolted in a zig-zag manner heading towards Noah, he tries to sweep Noah''s legs but Noah predicted his intention and jumped backward.


    Rex who knew that Noah will jump backward dash forward again, Rex musters all his strength and punch at Noah.


    Noah doesn''t want to take the punch head-on, he waves his hands and forms a barrier made of fire in front of him.


    "zing Barrier!"


    Rex''s fist is alreadyunched and he doesn''t have enough momentum to pull it back so he decisively adds more power to the punch.


    "Ground Splinter!"


    BAM!


    Rex''s fist and Noah''s fire barrier sh with each other, fire sshed everywhere because of the impact.


    Noah was shocked by the power behind Rex''s punch, his fire barrier was cracking but it eventually able to block Rex''s attack.


    On the contrary, Rex was retrieving his fist with a pained expression. His fist is burned because of the intense fire emitted by the barrier.


    ''I can''t win, the gap in strength is too much'', Rex thought after assessing Noah''s power from the sh.


    Then suddenly, he remembered something.


    ''System uses the shell of defense to leveled up my fist defense'', Rex said to the system.


    <Obtained 100 Arms Exp>


    <Your Arms have Leveled Up!>


    <Increase Endurance by 3>


    The shell of defense that he got frompleting the quest is still not used, He just remembered in the heat of a fight.


    As he talks to the system, the battles between him and Noah didn''t stop.


    They both exchange blows after blows, one can see that Rex is pushed while Noah is on the offensive side. Rex dodge and steps back while talking to the system to stall for time.


    ''System, Upgrade the Ground Splinter skill'', Rex thought.


    <Three choices are avable for upgrading Ground Splinter skill>


    <Earth Shatter>


    A higher form of Ground Splinter, this skill focuses on destructive capabilities. This skill will shatter the surrounding ground making it crack to make the enemy off bnce, this skill is a strength-based skill that will be more powerful depending on the user''s strength stat.


    <sh Punch>


    A higher form of Ground Splinter, this skill focuses on speed capabilities. This skill will make the user perform a fast punch that targets one point of the enemy, this skill is an agility-based skill that will be faster depending on the user''s agility stat.


    <Force Beam>


    A higher form of Ground Splinter, this skill fire a force beam towards a target. This skill is a range skill, it is a strength-based skill that will be more powerful depending on the user''s strength stat. The skill can be fired from any part of your body and the closer the target of the attack, the more damage it will do.


    Rex doesn''t have the time to read it all, so he decided to go with Force Beam because it can be used as a long-range attack.


    Just as he was thinking of upgrading Ground Splinter into Force Beam,


    "Dragon''s Breath!"


    Noah inhales a deep breath, his mouth can be seen lit up in fire as he exhales a fire breath out of his mouth.


    Rex brought his battle gloves out of his inventory, the battle gloves immediately wrap onto his hands.


    Rex found this feature when he is looking at the systemst night, he can store items from the real world into his inventory making it very convenient.


    Whoosh!!


    The fire breath ising closer towards Rex,


    Rex inhales a deep breath and exhales slowly, his body emitted a faint white hue as if it''s steaming.


    His eyes sh with a white hue, he brought his fist backward and thrust it forward forcefully.


    Crack!!


    The tip of Rex''s fist sent out a translucent force beam that makes the fire breath disperse into two ways, the force from Rex''s skill is still heading towards Noah.


    Noah steps back deliberately in shock, ''What?! He is a non-Awakened, how can he make my fire breath disperse like that?''


    He looks at Rex in terror, Rex''s body emits a white hue that makes him look ferocious.


    Looking at the white hue, Noah''s body trembled, ''FORCE! He actuallyprehended Force!


    Noah makes a fire barrier in hurry, "zing Barrier!"


    A fire barrier envelopes his body like a bubble, Noah looks at theing force beam with sweat.


    BAM!!


    The fire barrier copse instantly and hit Noah''s chest,


    Splurt!


    Bloodes out of Noah''s mouth as he staggered back weakly, He holds his chest and turns his back when suddenly he saw a shadow approaching him from the sides.


    Rex uses his new skill Force Beam again but this time it''s from his leg,


    Just as his leg is a couple of inches away from Noah''s face, a water wall deflects his kicks stopping it instantly.


    Rex furrowed his brows in shock when suddenly, a pressuring aura that makes his legs tremble appears out of nowhere. He can''t even sense the presence of the person who emits this strong aura.


    "What are you two doing?", A domineering voice questioned from behind Rex.