<h4>Chapter 211 Why are you asking me for that?</h4>


    After Ashtel left, Rio shook his head and finally left the training room after half a month of seclusion.


    Rio checked his phone and saw that there were indeed quite a few messages from the principal.


    ''She would have been so angry at me if not for the circumstances...'' (Rio)


    Raji is a short-tempered person.


    If not for the fact that she knew that all of the students were currently recovering from their previous fight, she would havee to his door herself if he had ignored her messages like this on usual days.


    Rio read through all the messages and remembered the information in his mind. Only one thing caught his eye.


    ''Spaceship? Hmm, that''s interesting... they are going to use the military''s tactical weapons for transport?'' (Rio)


    Humanity in this world is extremely advanced, and thus, the existence of spaceships is no big deal.


    While reading the messages, Rio also saw a message from a certain junior of his.


    [Message from: Qi Meng.]


    [Senpai! It''s been a while! I have recently gotten two discount tickets for a famous caf??! Would you like toe with me?]


    Seeing the message a strange look appeared on Rio''s face.


    ''Aren''t you supposed to be taking a girl with you on these types of events, why are you asking me to go there with you?...'' (Rio)


    Then Rio noticed that the date and time of the supposed meeting was today, and there were only two hours left.


    ''Well, I don''t really have anything to do right now... I guess I should go...'' (Rio)


    Rio had just finished an extreme training session whichsted 15 days, so this was the perfect opportunity to rx his nerves a bit.


    After deciding in his mind, he went to take a quick shower.


    While changing his clothes in front of the mirror, Rio stared at his own well-defined body for a few seconds.


    ''The ''me'' in my previous life would have never been able to achieve this physique... my current capabilities would be like a dream for him...'' (Rio)


    ''I havee a long way now...'' (Rio)


    Rio''s dead fish eyes seemed to be shining brightly with a great sense of aplishment at the moment.


    ''If one day I am able to feel my emotions properly again... will I still be able to keep fighting?...'' (Rio)


    The answer to that question was silence, Rio had no answer for it.


    The original him from the previous life was a person who didn''t really like to fight and he was not that good at remaining calm all the time.


    If the current Rio regained those emotions back, he will likely be overwhelmed by emotions in critical situations, which will be quite a bad thing.


    ''But yeah... the original me was indeed such a weak-hearted person...'' (Rio)


    If Rio had his original emotions, he would have likely been a lot more depressed at Zach''s death, but now he didn''t even shed a single tear at the unfortunate death of Zach.


    Moreover, Rio is now surrounded by amazing friends, who don''t judge him for his mistakes, otherwise, Rio would have been criticized a lot for not showing any sympathy at Zach''s funeral.


    ''As they say, emotions are like a double-edged sword... they can be beneficial but also dangerous at the same time...'' (Rio)


    ...


    Academy, principal''s office.


    Raji stared at the person sitting on the opposite side of the table with a cold look on her face.


    "Was it really necessary to interfere with my student?" (Raji)


    At Raji''s question, the other party nodded his head solemnly.


    "Yes, if I hadn''t solved this matter in the bud, he might have gone astray, you know..." (Ashtel)


    "I don''t think Rio is the type of kid who will be affected that much... he has survived a massacre in his childhood, he is certainly more mature than his other team members..." (Raji)


    At Raji''s words, Ashtel shook his head and said in a solemn tone.


    "It''s not about being mature... without the support of elders, I don''t think anyone will be able to grow without stress... too much stress can cause a lot of problems in battle..." (Ashtel)


    "I nearly lost my life once in the war due to the umtion of stress... this is my personal experience you are still too young to understand it..." (Ashtel)


    Raji squinted her eyes at that statement, but she didn''t refuse it either.


    Ashtel is much olderpared to her. He was already an SS-ranker before she was even born. (Ashtel is even older than Raji''s father Damian...)


    "But to think someone brought you to a near-death situation... does such a person even exist in this world?" (Raji)


    Raji herself is an SS-ranker, but she has no confidence in going against Ashtel at all.


    She knows just how ridiculously strong this guy is, he can definitely defeat five of her at the same time.


    At Raji''s words, Ashtel shook his head and replied in his usual calm and collected tone.


    "The world is filled with various mysteries, no one knows what may happen to an individual''s life the very next day..." (Ashtel)


    "Moreover, there are already two individuals who are showing the potential to rival me..." (Ashtel)


    Ashtel''s voice turned serious all of a sudden and his aura condensed as he said with absolute certainty.


    "Link and Rio, they both will surpass me in the future, I can already feel it in my bones... such a time is not too far away..." (Ashtel)


    "I can understand saying this about Link, but Rio too?" (Raji)


    "Yeah... ording to records, when his maximum potential was measured for the first time, it was only at C-rank... but now he has already reached A-rank..." (Ashtel)


    "This shows that his talent has been wrongly judged for some reason, he likely has the same amount of talent that Link has..." (Ashtel)


    Raji went silent for a while after hearing those words from Ashtel''s mouth.


    "Strange natural phenomena happened at the birth of Link, But those strange rebellious phenomena didn''t happen at Rio''s birth if they had happened, you would have certainly noticed them right?" (Raji)


    "Yeah, that''s what I am most confused about actually, so many strange things happened when Link was born, it seemed that the world itself was revolting against his birth..." (Ashtel)


    "But if Rio has the same talent as Link, then why didn''t something simr happen at his birth..." (Ashtel)


    Although both Ashtel and Raji were quite confused about this strange situation, they both had no ill intentions against Rio.


    SS-rankers knew about this ''world'' better than anyone else, they also knew how messed up the ''Outer Space'' is right now, thus they knew the importance of young talents.


    They hoped that Link and Rio would grow up soon and support the human race when the need arose for it.


    The more talent the young ones have, the happier they will be.


    "Forget it, we will understand it as time goes by, or we can ask him directly after he grows up to the same level as us… everyone has their secrets, it''s not good to pry into them too much…" (Ashtel)


    Raji also nodded her head at Ashtel''s words.


    …


    Academy, Market Area, Café Star Shine.


    Rio slowly walked towards the café with Meng beside him.


    A happy look hung over Meng''s face, he seemed to be quite happy to be able to walk beside Rio.


    "Shouldn''t you have taken a girl with you today, why are you asking me for this?" (Rio)


    At Rio''s question, Meng replied in a depressed voice.


    "None of the girls in my ss talk to me... they lose interest after seeing my face... I feel like I have no charm at all... ugh..." (Meng)


    "It takes time I guess, you will find someone eventually... even someone like me was able to get a girlfriend, you are much more handsome than me, you have the chance..." (Rio)


    Rio just gave a simplepliment to keep him from getting depressed from loneliness.


    "it''s different... you are so strong and powerful, any girl will like you senpai, and I am weak and useless, my scores in written exams are average..." (Meng)


    "Aside from ''Sword Intent'' I don''t think I have anything that special in me..." (Meng)


    Rio just shook his head at Meng''s words.


    "Self-doubt is what pushes you forward to achieve perfection, you are able to assess yourself so thoroughly, that''s already a great sign of progress..." (Rio)


    "But don''t doubt yourself too much, you have a bright path ahead... don''t cut it off due to anxiety and fear..." (Rio)


    Meng was really impressed by Rio''s words, he finally let go of his depression and cheered up instantly.


    "By the way Senpai, you usually hang out with Lia Senpai, but she is not with you today?" (Meng)


    Rio shook his head and replied in his usual emotionless tone.


    "Well, Lia, Link, and Riya, all three of them have gone back to their homes to spend some time with their family, they are not in the academy right now…" (Rio)


    "As for that guy Liam, I think he must be busy cooking for his pet dragon…" (Rio)


    Meng suddenly looked a bit distressed at the mention of Liam''s pet dragon.


    "I was buying myself two ice-creams yesterday, then suddenly that dragon girl appeared out of nowhere and ran away with my ice-creams… she didn''t even pay…" (Meng)


    "Liam Senpai gave me these discount coupons as an apology for that event…" (Meng)


    Rio nodded his head at Meng and said:


    "Ellie has been like that since the start, it useless to argue with her, but she certainly didn''t have any bad thoughts against you I think, don''t take it too seriously…" (Rio)


    "But don''t get fooled by her childish behavior, she is a genuine S-ranker, even the professors will have a hard time dealing with her if she went all out…" (Rio)


    "Understood.." (Meng)


    Meng secretly made a mental note to not get involved with Ellie in the future for his own safety.


    After a few seconds of walking, they both entered the café and ordered some tasty food for themselves.


    "By the way, how is your progress in ''Sword intent'' now? Last time I saw it was several months ago…" (Rio)


    At Rio''s question, Meng scratched the back of his head in embarrassment.


    "Uh, well, I have tried to train it a lot, but the progress is very slow, it''s as slow as a snail! In the past months, I have not even reached 1/100th of your level senpai…" (Meng)


    "I-I am such a useless guy… ugh…" (Meng)


    "Hmm, well you need to focus more on your rank right now, improve your rank first, and then try to work on it further…" (Rio)


    "Aside from that just remember to not go against its ''flow'' and you can advance…" (Rio)


    "Yes…" (Meng)


    Rio didn''t mention the fact that he has already advanced to rank A and his sword intent has been strengthened more than ten times by now.


    Moreover, Rio uses ''Sword Intent'' as an air conditioner nowadays.


    If Meng knew about this, he would certainly be hit by a serious blow to his mind and faint from shock on the spot.


    …


    …


    Author''s Notes.


    Yo! It''s your beloved author here! Writing these filler chapters is really the best thing in my opinion.


    I get to tell more about ''behind-the-scenes'' things and you get to see what our characters do usually in their free time.


    Question of the day.


    If given the chance, which SS-ranker would you choose as your teacher?


    1. Ashtel Rex (Strict training, but a beneficial guidance…)


    2. Raji Croft (She will beat the sh*t out of you in every training session unless you win over Riya''s friendship, only then will she be a bit lenient on you…)


    3. Neo Aldif (Training? What''s that? We don''t do that here… we wander around the whole continent all day long!)


    4. Jin Walt (Hell-level training that won''t stop unless you faint…)


    By the way, don''t forget to use those power stones and also leave a review if you like the story. Comment your opinion about the chapter. Your support is my motivation.