Eternal Freedom's Ascension-Chapter 64: Meetings

Immediately after classes ended for the day, the five of them headed to the dormitory. Taking the elevator, they arrived at Liam’s room quickly.

The small space was well cleaned, with just a few decorations like a football player frame hanging around.

’A female scent? Smells like... Kiera.’

Hazel turned her head, her nose twitching. After awakening, she had gained quite a sensitive nose.

’So it’s true they’re dating, huh? Stupid.’

Her evaluation of the two dropped slightly, but she didn’t let it affect her judgement. In her view, dating was something only unserious people would do.

’Wastes time, consumes attention, and causes emotional complication.’

"Hazel, you seem distracted." Ysabella gently tapped her, making the girl realize she was the only one still standing. The others had already sat on the ground, while Kaiser sat comfortably on the chair.

"Okay. Thank you all for coming, I really appreciate and look forward to the growth of our class." 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Liam smiled, looking at every single one of them. Hazel, Ysabella, Astron, Kaiser, and himself.

’We can do it.’

He told himself, then started. "Firstly, we need to understand our objective in this evaluation."

Immediately, Astron’s eyes lit up. "I think I have a conjecture."

"A conjecture? Please share, Astron."

Ysabella smiled sweetly, her green eyes radiating a soft light.

The guy nodded. "I think the main focus of this evaluation is to close the gate and not clear the dungeon."

Hazel raised a brow. "Do you mean that would be enough to rank us first as long as we’re fast enough?"

"Yes of course." Astron nodded. "It isn’t easy to clear a dungeon, and I don’t think our class has the ability to truly clear one on time."

His reasoning was very logical, and the class was just a mix of weird defective individuals.

"So you think this might be possible..." Hazel hummed. "However, what if clearing the dungeon is also important?"

"That’s true." Ysabella frowned worriedly. "Instructor Rina mentioned ’clearing the dungeon’ and ’closing the gate’, if I’m right. We can’t ignore the fact that these two elements are looking important."

Hazel nodded in agreement. "Although your suggestion of closing the gate is quite brilliant, I don’t think it can secure us a true win."

At this moment, someone who had remained silent spoke. "Well said. However, have you considered your class’s ability to clear the dungeon?"

Hearing as he spoke with an indifferent tone, Hazel’s expression darkened. But before she could talk, Ysabella spoke up.

"Why do you think so, Kaiser? I believe we can coordinate ourselves to clear the dungeon."

Kaiser sighed tiredly, "Your ability to coordinate is not even solid. That aside, apart from an odd few, how many people have the confidence of fighting an Awakened Beast one-on-one? Thinking you lot can clear a dungeon is a pipe dream."

Hazel finally spoke. "So? Suggest a solution. You can’t just point out problems and walk away."

Kaiser gave her an unimpressed look. "Of course, I can."

Saying that, he packed up his bags and stood up.

"Wait! Kaiser, wait a minute!" Liam quickly stood up. "We still haven’t concluded the meeting. We seriously need a solution. Let’s just think together."

Kaiser glanced at him, then facepalmed. "How annoying... I’d rather sleep than brainstorm with you lot."

Still, he sat down and remained silent, playing the role of an observer.

Liam sighed in relief, and turned to the rest.

"Okay. Kaiser already pointed it out that we aren’t strong enough to clear the dungeon as a whole. Anyone with any ideas?"

"Since we have some strong people among us..." Astron’s brows furrowed. "Isn’t there like a military formation or something we can adopt? There should be one, right?"

Everyone immediately turned to look at Hazel. Among them, she was the only one with military experience, having lived in the Pegasus Empire’s Military Barracks since birth.

Hazel felt their expectant gazes, then fell into contemplation. The formations she knew belonged to the Pegasus Empire—not to be disclosed at all. However, she needed it to ensure that her class had a high chance of securing a win.

"Alright. Let’s go with these simple formations—Spearhead and Hunter-Kill."

Very quickly, she explained to them. The Spearhead formation focused all their strong members on frontal assault, allowing the weaker ones to stay protected and feel less pressure. However, this would surely drain the stronger students, therefore they had to change formation.

The second formation she suggested was a perfect fit. Hunter-Kill formation was based on the local habit of a normal hunter. Here, the main elements are the baits—the weaker students.

They’d lure the beasts into the middle of the formation after slowly wearing them out, then allow the stronger ones to finish them off. It was a simple plan, but it risked many getting injured.

"We have to make such sacrifices." Liam spotted the worry in Ysabella’s eyes and promptly reassured her. "The Instructors wouldn’t watch us get grievous injuries. So you can be rest assured."

The blonde girl sighed in relief, her smile returning.

"Does that mean we have a conclusion?"

Astron asked, blinking in surprise. He had expected the meeting to take hours, but surprisingly, they were done in less than half an hour.

"Yup! I’m glad we could really come up with a winning strategy."

Liam stood, prompting the others to stand too.

"I’ll discuss this with the class tomorrow, and I’ll see if I can fix trainings to perform and perfect that formation."

Bending his back, he bowed deeply. "Thank you all for coming."

Astron nudged him, chuckling. "Come on, it’s for our own good too."

"He’s right. I’m mainly doing this just for myself." Hazel added bluntly.

"Anything to help our class!" Ysabella smiled brightly, her hands clasped.

"Wait, where’s that guy?"

Astron’s eyes widened, and they all realized Kaiser had already disappeared from the room.

"Did he... did he teleport or phase through walls?" Ysabella asked, stunned. She couldn’t believe it at all.

"But we have our limiters on. We can’t even use any ability." Liam pointed to the silver bracelet around his wrist.

"The door is slightly opened..."

Hazel said, pointing at the door. Finally, they realized he had really bypassed their senses and left the room.

’Is he an assassin? That level of stealth...’ Hazel felt a chill run down her spine.

The others didn’t dwell much on it, and soon dispersed from Liam’s dorm room.

...

The atmosphere surrounding the first-year students once again became serious, and each class seriously invested in improving themselves. The most serious classes were Class-A; led by Mina, and Class-C; led by Austin.

They basically trained every free period, with some even training overnight.

A day to the evaluation, Adela promptly invited Kaiser to a coffee shop for their little talk. Today, she was accompanied by Tamara, who stood behind her like some bodyguard.

Kaiser threw her a glance, then hummed softly.

"You came with your lackey. I’m not surprised."

He said as he took a sip from the cup. Tamara’s gloomy expression further darkened, while Adela’s smile turned coy.

"Ara~ You shouldn’t speak badly about other people. Tamara is my very good friend."

Kaiser gave her a look that claimed he wasn’t convinced. "Is it? Whatever makes her comfortable."

The lilac-haired girl shifted slightly, "I’m glad that you came. You haven’t forgotten our game, have you?"

Kaiser blew a breath on the cup, then took another sip.

"Hm. Anything to get rid of an annoyance."

Tamara grunted in annoyance, her fists clenched from holding back. Although Kaiser looked so handsome that she almost had a nosebleed, his dismissive attitude was unpleasant.

’I want to punch him...’

However, Adela had already warned her otherwise not to try anything funny with the guy.

"Fufufufu~" Adela blushed slightly. "I do hope you can achieve your goal."

Inwardly though, her thoughts were scornful. ’I? An annoyance? You’re too arrogant, Kaiser. And that will be your downfall.’

She took a sip of her coffee, then said. "Now that you’ve heard about the evaluation, I believe our game is ready."

"Spill it."

With a faint smile on his face, Kaiser flicked the glass cup, allowing a little coffee to spill on the table.

Adela calmly retracted her hand from the table, her smile dimming. "Why don’t we compete over my class?"

"Your class?" Kaiser was a little surprised, not expecting her to gamble on one of her pieces.

"Ara~ It’s nice seeing you surprised." She closed her fan, her eyes turning serious. "The game is simple. Bring my class down to Class-B by the end of the evaluation. If you can do that, you’ll win, and I wouldn’t bother you any longer."

Kaiser fell silent, quietly sipping the coffee for about a minute or two.

’Shouldn’t he say something?’ Tamara was getting increasingly annoyed, but she restrained herself.

Finally, Kaiser looked at Adela calmly.

"You intend to use me to knock a competitor down the peg? Amusing gameplay."

Adela’s eyes widened, then she burst into laughter. "You actually figured it out? You’re really smart! Care to tell me how you realized?"

He nodded. "It’s strange for you to want me to attack your class. Just now, as you spoke, your eyes revealed no desire to resist anything I do against your class."

"You definitely aren’t someone like that. You are power-hungry, always craving for those to defeat. The position of Class-A’s leader makes you face more challenges. Why would you want to give it up?"

"Also, I heard that Class-A is being led around by some other girl, which I presume is your competitor. If my conjecture is right, then you want to totally destroy her fighting spirit against you so there is no rebellion in the long run."

"Adela Lincoln... am I right?"