The Return Of The Exiled Villain

After exactly two seconds, Gray averted his gaze from her and focused on the power levels of the group.

’...All of them are at the Early Greatmaster realm... except for Seraph, huh?’ His eyes flicked back to her for a brief moment, his thoughts immediately assessing her.

’...Peak of the Master realm.’

Although Seraph’s cultivation was weaker than theirs, Gray knew that she was much stronger than all of them combined.

After all, Sword Qi is no joke, and given the prodigious talent she had displayed at such a young age, Gray was certain that she had already reached that level.

’...Speaking of Sword Qi, I still need to acquire another Sword Art. But... all the public ones, even those sold in auction houses, are far too basic. Low-level, nothing special.’

He narrowed his eyes slightly, frowning deeply.

’...Maybe I should perform a ritual and offer something to Divika, the Goddess of War. If she’s generous, she might grant me a stronger sword art.’

Gray briefly considered this.

After all, Divika’s character was said to be detached, emotionless even, only swayed by logic and calculation.

If she could weigh the benefits and drawbacks of giving him a powerful technique, perhaps she’d offer it willingly.

’...But then again, there’s the matter of another option.’

Gray’s thoughts turned back to Jasmine.

’Jasmine, do you have any Sword Technique you could pass down to me?’

[A Sword Technique...? I believe so... but to transmit it properly, I’d need to materialize my body, and unfortunately, I don’t have enough divinity left to do that.]

’...Right. You’ll have to warn me if there’s anyone with divinity nearby. If not, I’ll need to sacrifice the Saint Qi Orb to the Demon Converging Gourd.’

[Alright... if anything, you can also save up blood for me, as when I materialize, I can also recover by absorbing blood.]

’Blood? Noted.’

”Welcome to the Academy of Sword & Magic!”

A young man, bearing the title of Vice-President, was the first to speak. He wore a small, polite smile as he addressed the group.

”I trust you all had a pleasant stay at the finest hotel our dear city has to offer,” he said, giving a respectful bow toward them, acknowledging the privilege of their accommodations.

”Before we proceed with the tour of the academy, however, I must ask...” He paused, his eyes scanning each individual in the group.

”Who would be considered... the ’Leader’ of this group?”

His voice sounded quite casual, but there was an obvious curiosity in it.

Everyone easily knew that the group in front of them had already measured their power, but it seemed that they were still a bit cautious.

At his words, everyone’s eyes turned to Gray slighly, even Leon’s.

”I wouldn’t say leader... but Gray is definitely the strongest between us,” Adrian, always the straightforward one, answered without hesitation.

Although he never fought Gray, there was a confirmation that he had beaten Cassandra, the strongest student of their year, and that, of course, makes him the strongest.

However, he was always thinking that maybe Maelis was hiding her power, as the killing intent she had shown towards him made him extremely scared.

”Yeah, the strongest between us is indeed Gray,” the others murmured in agreement.

This affirmation only deepened the vice-president’s curiosity, and soon his eyes were locked on Gray.

...They didn’t seem to find anything unusual except that... he looked a bit too handsome for their liking.

”...Sarah, you’re drooling.” The voice came from the man standing next to the short-haired girl, poking the girl’s cheek in a teasing manner.

Sarah, who had been silently gazing at Gray with a mix of admiration and curiosity, snapped out of her daze immediately.

Her eyes widened in embarrassment.

”Ah, sorry! I just couldn’t help myself after looking at him!” she exclaimed earnestly, clearly flustered.

The sincerity of her words only seemed to make her blush more, but they also caused Lyra’s eyes to narrow coldly.

And then, unexpectedly, Seraph was the first one to approach Gray.

”Nice to see you again, Gray,” she extended her hand towards him, causing the others behind her to widen their eyes in shock.

Gray didn’t seem to bother and shook her hand.

Rustle...

But then he frowned, as he felt the tip of her fingers caressing the back of his hand, in a way that the people behind or in front of him couldn’t see.

”...You guys know each other?” said the vice-president from behind him.

”Yeah... we’ve met before,” she slowly spoke, gazing deeply into his eyes.

Gray retracted his hand and turned his attention back to the vice-president, offering a polite smile.

”The name’s Gray,” he said, extending his hand toward him.

”Henrich,” the vice-president replied, shaking his hand. ”Nice to meet you. I’m sure we’ll get along just fine.”

Gray nodded, then glanced over at the others. Henrich took the chance to continue introducing the rest.

”And this is Sarah, our secretary,” Henrich continued with a slight chuckle, ”the one who was drooling over Gray earlier.”

”That’s me~,” Sarah chimed in with a bright smile, lifting both hands in a playful gesture, her embarrassment now gone.

Henrich turned to the next person.

”This is Zach, our treasurer.”

”Yo,” Zach greeted casually, giving a small wave.

”And of course, our President. You’ve already met her,” Henrich spoke with a small smile, referring to Seraph.

Gray nodded at the mention of her, then turned his focus to his own group.

”Maelis, Lyra, Katia, Selene, Selina, Lira, Cassandra, Adrian, Leon, and Ronan,” Gray uttered, gesturing to each person in turn.

Almost everyone just offered a casual smile, especially Maelis and Cassandra, who just nodded lightly.

But yeah... almost everyone, as Ronan waved his hands excitedly.

”Hey! Glad to meet you all!”

They all nodded lightly at his excited words.

”Now that introductions are done, let’s take you on a tour of the academy,” he smiled, clasping his hands together.

The group started walking, with Gray right beside Henrich as the others followed behind.

”First off, there are three key rules in this academy. Killing is allowed, but I’m sure you’ve already gotten used to that from your own academy. That said, the atmosphere here is quite peaceful overall, with most students more focused on self-improvement than mindless violence.”

Gray nodded at his words.

”Secondly, you cannot kill someone in a duel. It’s a bit of... a dumb rule, if I must say, but here we consider duels something sacred, where no one shall die. It’s simply a way to improve your power by fighting others.”

”...And finally, every single week, there’s a mandatory demon-hunting session, where we enter the lower ground of the Netherworld to kill demons. Based on your hunts, you’ll be granted rewards fitted, whether that is money or any artifact.”

”Netherworld?”

Lyra suddenly questioned from behind, causing Henrich to stop.

”You have a portal to enter?” she pressed.

”Indeed,” Henrich nodded.

”Indeed,” Henrich replied, his expression slightly amused.

”Our headmistress is a bit... well, let’s say, she’s very eccentric.” He hummed for a moment, struggling to find the right words.

”Crazy?” Sarah piped in, finally stepping forward to approach Gray.

”She’s a bit of a crazy genius,” Sarah continued with a wink, ”She loves experimenting, especially with demon bodies. So, she created her own portal to the Netherworld to let us hunt demons for her. If she finds any interesting bodies, she rewards us. Simple as that.”

Lyra puffed up her cheeks in annoyance before grabbing Gray’s arm and glaring at Sarah.

”Ohhhh, so you have a girlfriend?” Sarah exclaimed, her voice dripping with disappointment as she turned toward Gray.

Gray simply nodded, poking at Lyra’s puffed-up cheeks, making them pop.

”A very loving one,” he added with a faint smile.

Lyra smiled at his words, snuggling against his shoulder in happiness.

”Anyway...” Henrich cleared his throat, drawing attention back to him.

”This is our academy’s main ground. It’s a non-killable zone, mainly for relaxation. It’s also a popular spot for couples,” he said, eyeing the pair of them with a slight, teasing smile.

Lyra nodded happily in response.

As they walked, Henrich continued his tour, pointing out various buildings.

”Over there is the battleground, another non-killable area. It’s where our sacred duels happen. And beyond that, the dorms are our first kill zone. We train our students to stay alert, even at night.”

Henrich paused briefly, looking at the group with a little chuckle. ”Most students end up building expensive barriers around their rooms.”

”That building over there is the Colosseum,” Henrich continued.

”It’s where big events like the Academy Interchange Duels and the Winter Festival happen. You’ll probably see the Hunger Games soon.”

”Hunger Games?” Gray muttered.

”Yeah... It’s basically a battlefield game, where the last student standing wins. You’ll be thrown onto a deserted island with no food or anything, and you need to be the last one to survive. Most of the students choose to kill the others... There are even a few cases of them... eating other students, but well...”

Gray nodded.

”And finally... there’s our classes building, where you guys will be divided into four classes. Our Student Council President will decide which class you belong to.” He turned to Seraph, who gave a slight nod.

Phew~

A sudden, strange light emanated from Seraph’s eyes as she started scanning everyone.

”Don’t worry, this is a unique ability from our President that allows her to measure... your combat power.” his smile turned a little cold.

Hearing his words, Gray turned to Seraph, and as the light fell over him, his eyes narrowed slighly as he started sensing the flow of mana from her eyes.

Slowly, he started understanding the process behind that so-called special ability.

[Ding! The skill ”Spirit Eyes” has been acquired!]

[Current Proficiency: Elementary.]

[-120 Permanent Points of Nullification]

’...It worked.’

[...What did you just do? How could you copy her ability?!]

Jasmine was entirely shocked by the actions.

’I reversed the Nullification ability that I gained from Dante. It can nullify any kind of skills, but to do that, it needs to understand the process behind it, to successfully erase it.’

’I just reversed, and instead of trying to nullify, I tried to... copy it. And it worked...’

[Doesn’t that mean that you can now copy any kind of skill?]

’Yes... however, I’ll lose permanent points to use Nullification, which isn’t a bother since I can meditate to get more. However, if there’s a very strong skill... that can take quite a dump in my soul energy.’

After the light coming from her eyes faded, Seraph nodded lightly.

”Gray, Cassandra, and Maelis will be entering the Phoenix Class. Lyra, Adrian, and Katia will enter the Black Turtle Class. Selene, Selina, and Lira will be entering the White Tiger Class, and the rest will be entering the Azure Dragon Class.”

The classes were decided instantly.