Chapter 186: Chapter 185:Back to the academy.

The silence didn’t just fall.

It collapsed.

Like the air itself had been handed a bill it couldn’t afford and decided to stop existing for a moment.

Behind us, someone actually dropped their weapon.

Clang!

That single sound echoed too loudly in the suddenly hollow space.

Malachi’s grin didn’t fade.

If anything, it widened.

"...Yeah," he murmured, pleased. "That’s the reaction I was hoping for."

My grin matched his as I rolled my shoulder once, casually.

Malachi seemed pleased, the crowd seemed surprised, but.

If they thought that was it, then they’d be sorely mistaken.

The space above me rippled.

Not violently.

Not explosively.

Just... opening.

And then they came flooding out.

Not one.

Not ten.

But enough that the ground immediately stopped looking like ground.

The space expanding continuously as the space expansion runes were put to serious work.

I’d told my clone before leaving to make the place void of any abominations, and it turned out, he might have listened to me a bit too much and had gotten quite excited.

Because, they didn’t stop coming.

Corpses layered out in controlled stacks of impossible density, each one still carrying the distorted imprint of the creatures they once were.

Abominations twisted in shape, and size, spilled onto the carved space like a refused nightmare finally being catalogued.

A few students stepped back instinctively.

Someone whispering, "That’s... not possible."

Voren’s eyes narrowed slightly for the first time.

Not surprise.

Merely, Assessment and a bit of intrigue, seems I’d finally caught the man’s attention. Good!

Malachi tilted his head toward me.

"...you only won this time because you cheated." He scowled.

"Now, don’t do that. You’ll sound like a sore loser. HAHAHAHA!!!" I laughed.

"Humph, I’ll get you the next time."

"Sure buddy, sure!".

The silence stretched again.

Thicker this time.

Heavier.

I looked around slowly, eyes taking in The expressions of the youths around me, my "competition".

The shock, the disbelief, the doubt, hell, even the ones with challenging looks, I took it all in.

Because now it wasn’t just competition anymore.

It was comparison.

And comparison... is where rankings are born.

"Alright, Aeternum, let’s see what you’ve got!" I grinned internally...

...

"Ahem..." Voren’s cough finally snapped the tense atmosphere..

"Well then, it seems we have a winner to this little contest of mine no?" The man smiled as he looked at me.

"Young man, Dante, was it?" The old man called out.

"Yes sir." I answered.

"Say, do you mind if I have these things? I have a friend that’s quite interested in them, especially those ones with rare abilities, of course I’ll be paying you for them." The old man pointed at the sea of corpses behind me.

"Sure, I’m not using them for anything anyway, and they’re just taking up space." I shrugged.

It didn’t matter either way, I was already planning to sell them off at the academy, but if there was a chance to get them off my back early, then all the better..

"Good!" The instructor smiled as he flicked his hand, an object flying towards me.

"What’s this?" I asked quietly, looking at the transparent hexagonal crystal in my hands.

Yet, before the old man could answer, my system did.

[Ding!]

[Host has acquired a lawless law fragment].

"Hmm? Lawless law fragment? What’s that?"

[A lawless law fragment, unlike normal law fragments is one with no defined laws attributed to it, thus allowing for one to gain, initial comprehension into any law(s) of their choosing, they’re incredibly rare and nigh impossible to come across by normal means.]

My eyes widened at that explanation, as the old man’s voice finally reached me, confirming the system’s earlier statement.

"It’s what we call a Lawless fragment, it’s something I’d gotten quite a while ago from the tower of ascension, but haven’t had any use for, I’d just now remembered it and decided to use it as a reward for whoever won my little contest, so, it’s yours now." The old man explained, pausing for a second before dropping the real bomb.

"As for its purpose? Well it lets you gain initial comprehension of any law of your choosing, of course provided you have the talent to actually comprehend the complexities of such a law." The moment he said that, I could feel the heated and greedy gazes of the surrounding students land on the object I was holding..

I could understand them, because this thing wasn’t just a mere prize, no, it was a gateway to beginning comprehension of a law at such an early stage.

As for why they were so agitated? This thing could grant you initial access into comprehending ANY law of your choosing, even a Supreme Law, of course it was still dependent on your actual comprehensive abilities, but nobody here thought their comprehension was worse that the next guy’s...

I placed the thing in my inventory, mind already spinning on how I was going to use it to achieve the best results possible..

I could feel two persistent gazes still locked onto me, but I wasn’t about to start getting into fights, not now, I had bigger fish to fry.

"Thank you, instructor." No truly, this man had just saved me a butt load of time and trouble and he probably didn’t even know it.

"I’m merely keeping my word." He waved his hands and the sea of corpses behind me vanished, my card buzzing softly as a huge amount of over thirty million academy points were deposited..

"I really need to learn how this guy keeps doing this." No really, the man was too efficient, everything just seemed to be happening around him with him putting in the least amount of effort if any at all.

I was jealous, it was the ultimate cheat to being lazy.. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

"Alright then, if anyone else wishes to sell me their catch, I’m willing to pay twice the amount the academy would give." The old man smiled at the rest of the students.

"Consider it my way of appreciating your hard work, a form of encouragement if you will."

Naturally, nobody was dumb enough to deny such a good offer, I was sure the old man had just jumped into becoming everyone’s favorite in the entire academy, because, barring his concerning level of indifference to death, he was a very nice man to be around.

Once everything was done and the old man had settled everyone, we got ready to leave.

"Alright everyone, it’s time!"

Snap!

And just like that, we were back at the academy, the curtains finally falling on a very fruitful expedition.

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A/N: is this the legendary, protagonist luck? Cause why tf did bro just receive a bypass to comprehending another supreme law?

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Thanks for reading...