"5 Awakening slots!?"

White almost couldn’t believe his eyes.

The last time, which also happened to be his first time, his awakening slots were just a single one, and now he’s got five.

"Perfect. There couldn’t have been any more perfect timing."

He had been able to get new slots just when he returned to the academy, and there was an influx of new geniuses.

And to add to that, the limitation of the awakener having to be a newly awakened one was gone.

That meant he could easily copy the awakening powers of any of the students, and even the Instructors were copyable too.

Having only Limitless Awakening, even back then, had been enough for him to be number 1 on the ranking.

Now with this new body and Aether Pulse soul, along with 5 more bloodlines, he would be completely unstoppable.

DRIIIIIING!

The alarm blared from his watch and White hummed, looking at the notification. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

{All four of your Challenges have been Accepted.}

"Let’s get the ball rolling then,"

White appeared in the arena, as quietly as ever, eyes taking in the sight.

For one, there were quite some upgrades to this place compared to the last time he remembered, and that majorly had to do with the Arena.

What used to be a wide open ground had now been architectured to resemble some sort of simulation dome.

In fact, right now, there was a fight taking place between two opponents, and all around them was snow instead of hard ground.

Yes, they were fighting in a snow-world simulation, one that could barely be differentiated from reality.

One could take it as some sort of little new design, but White could see deeper than that.

This simulated world seemed to benefit one of the fighters who controlled ice, and in the end—

"WINNER! Nik Silas!"

The announcer declared as the students, the bettors to be more precise, cheered wildly.

The ice-awakener student had won the challenge.

"Next Fight!"

"Vyachslav Kvestslav Vs White Deadclaw!"

The announcer announced.

"Vyachslav Kvestslav."

He was the Number 24 Genius on the Cyberpoints ranking and possessed quite the reputation.

One loud enough to quiet down most of the students as two people rose from the seats and walked calmly to the arena.

"The Challenger is free to choose the simulation world of the challenge!"

The announcer said, and White turned, finding a couple panels manifest in front of his opponent.

A hand, which had three of its fingers hidden behind a purple-coloured glove, stretched out, tapping one of the panels.

The change was almost instantaneous.

It was a throne room of purple.

Purple stairs stretched down beneath White, and he found himself at the bottom while standing above him, at the end of the stairs, was a large purple-coloured throne, where Vyachslav slowly sat down.

Both of his hands, one gloved, one ungloved, came together and rested on the purple cane he had in his hand, as he looked down at White from above.

Looked down might be a weird phrase, as the young man had yet to open his eyes at all ever since White had seen him.

"READY!"

"BEGIN!"

"You know,"

White said as he folded his right arm to the shoulder of his left, shoulder bones cracking.

"This is the first time I’ve ever faced a person as corny as you."

White commented.

"Choosing a simulation that puts me down on the ground and puts you on a throne. And you’re even on your butt when this is supposed to be a fighting challenge? Hahaha."

White asked with laughter, but in response, the boy leaned forward from his throne, one of his hands moving forward and signalling for White to come.

"At least the Devil knows I warned you."

White mused beneath his breath, ordering,

’Hey system.’

[Yes.]

[Try keeping all of my stats at 300 max.]

If he used all of his power in this fight, it would be overkill and an unfair battle, so he’ll put it into what he had before he gained this body at all.

[Stats Minimized to 300.]

[Note: You may unconsciously force yourself out of it under immense pressure.]

The system added, as White turned back to look at the boy who still had his eyes closed, sitting relaxed on his throne.

"I pray he pushes me that far."

A quiet ripple surged beneath White’s feet in that moment, and in the next, he became a blur that raced up the stairs.

The distance of about 40 meters high should have been covered in just about 7 seconds by him, yet when he reached close to the top—

FLICCCKER!

A blinding flicker of purple came as the boy opened his eyes.

White didn’t care for it, speeding up, while his fist clenched hard yet.

"King’s Verdict: Unwanted!"

The words cut through the blinding light, as White felt himself take the second-to-last step, yet when he took the last one—

The world around him blurred, and all of a sudden,

STEP!

STEP!

STEP!

His legs stepped down twice, yet he still wasn’t before the boy.

"Huh?"

Raising his head up, he found him, the boy with eyes burning like purple flames, sitting on the throne, both hands still on his staff, and White looked back beneath him, finding himself at the first stair that he had moved off from 8 seconds ago.

"I got teleported back?"

White asked,

’No.’

VROOOOOOOM!

The air flapped once more as White flashed forward, appearing before the boy only for the world to blur just one step away from him, and he found himself back to the fourth step from the ground.

"Interesting."

White mused, eyes narrowing at the step before the boy.

There, his eyes were finally able to pick it up, purple-coloured, almost invisible runes covered the step before him.

White couldn’t read runes, but based on what had happened to him twice now, those runes meant one thing:

Anything that steps on them gets reversed back to the distance where it had been sent back... or so it seemed.