Awakening The Only SSS-Rank Class! Now Even Dragons Obey Me

Chapter 148: The Benefits Of Connections

”If you stay among the top three for a whole month, youʼll get a reward from the National Awakened Federation. I donʼt know what the reward is, though, since they keep changing it every month,” August explained.

”Thatʼs a thing? Did you bring that in this month?” Daniel asked, sounding intrigued.

”This system already existed and has been active in more developed cities for a long time. Luckily, three weeks ago we managed to implement it here too. What do you think? Want to give it a shot?”

”Of course, why not,” Daniel said without hesitation. He wanted to test his current limits by fighting Zargort and Nariok.

But if a system like this existed, there was no harm in trying it—especially if there was a reward involved.

”Alright, then letʼs go,” August said with a smile and started walking ahead.

His goal in introducing this program was to raise the cityʼs reputation. He had no doubt Daniel could easily become one of the top three.

After all, this program had nothing to do with ranking. Everything was based on raw power and talent. Opponents were generated according to each participantʼs strength.

It didnʼt take long for them to arrive at another building. Daniel noticed it was extremely crowded—strangely crowded, even.

”So crowded...”

”Yeah, well, most of them are here to get their names into the rankings,” August nodded.

Daniel looked at the long line. Clearly, you had to register first to get in—but luckily, he didnʼt have to deal with that.

As soon as he entered with the president of the Awakened Association, they walked over to the registration desk. The person at the desk, seeing the president had personally brought an Awakened, immediately gave them the next slot, ignoring the others waiting.

Everyone noticed and threw Daniel dirty looks.

”What a lucky bastard. We all have to wait forever, but he just knows someone powerful and walks right in,” some people in the crowd muttered.

”Wait a second… him? Isnʼt that the guy who cleared the Colosseum Dungeon?”

”Now that you mention it, he does look exactly like him!”

”Damn, Iʼm seeing the genius who pulled off something even the capitalʼs best couldnʼt do!”

As people recognized him, chatter quickly spread through the crowd. But Daniel and August ignored it and passed through the gate.

As they stepped through the threshold, they entered a large hall. Below them were five glass rooms, and above was a massive monitor displaying the names of the top 200 across the country.

”You can go in once one of them opens up,” August said, glancing at him.

Daniel nodded and turned his attention to the leaderboard. He scanned the names to see if he recognized anyone.

And he did—not just one, but three familiar names. The last names Rhaegar, Everlight, and another, each with an eight-digit score next to them.

Rhaegar was ranked 7th, and Everlight was 9th.

ʼIf Iʼm not mistaken, she should be Nayaʼs older sister, and the other guy is the oldest son of the Syronblade Guild leader. I saw him here just last month,ʼ Daniel thought as he gave them a brief glance and shifted his focus to rank four.

Rank four was very familiar—James, an old acquaintance.

ʼDidnʼt expect that bastard to be fourth. Looks like heʼs way better than I thought,ʼ Daniel mused.

But on second thought, it made sense. After all, James managed to join the strongest guild in the country, and apparently they were treating him quite well.

That alone showed how talented he must be to earn that kind of treatment from the top guild in the nation.

”Whatʼs the ranking based on?” Daniel asked, turning to August.

”Itʼs not just based on one thing. It takes into account your average time to defeat each opponent, the number of opponents youʼve beaten, and the amount of damage you did to defeat them. All of that gets added together to form the number you see next to the names,” August replied after a short pause.

”I see. So the more damage we do, the better,” Daniel muttered.

”Basically. Itʼs set up that way to evaluate your combat power compared to your level. Because when you go in, your first opponent is exactly your level, and they gradually get stronger—depends on how many levels above you youʼre able to beat.”

”Then shouldnʼt people with higher ranks get more privileges?” Daniel asked with a bit of doubt.

Because if thatʼs how it worked, then a rank A defeating another rank A would get way more damage points than Daniel, even if he defeated someone stronger than himself.

”No, the damage is measured based on the difference between your strength and your opponentʼs. It doesnʼt matter that much. Just go in and beat your opponents—the system will handle the scoring,” August said with a smile.

The scoring system really could be confusing. Even when he first learned about it, it took him a while to fully understand how it worked. But after reviewing the systemʼs performance, he got the hang of it.

In the meantime, to kill time, he messaged Joe to check in on him. He was pretty sure Joe had already returned to the capital by now.

But it wouldnʼt hurt to check in, especially since Joe had sent him a bunch of messages that Daniel hadnʼt responded to—mainly because heʼd been inside the Celestial Domain.

Luckily, it didnʼt take long for Joe to reply. His message simply said:

”What the hell were you doing for the past month?”

”....”

Daniel wanted to reply, but just then, one of the rooms became available, and without wasting a second, he stepped in.

”Hope you break the record,” August said, eyes fixed on the scoreboard. He couldnʼt wait to see Danielʼs name in the top ten.

He had no doubt a monster like Daniel could easily make it.

”Oh? Hoping someone breaks the record?” A beautiful feminine voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

”What are you doing here?”