Eternal Freedom's Ascension-Chapter 55: New Month

Since the day before, Kaiser had noticed someone always tailing him. At first, he had thought it was related to the recent attack on him, but he dropped the idea when he saw how unskilled the girl was.

After a bit of observation, he realized she was a student from Class-A. And knowing who had control over Class-A, he had no doubts that she was the main culprit.

"Adela Lincoln..." He smiled thinly. "I wonder why you’d reveal yourself so soon."

Adela’s eyes curved into crescents. "Fufufufu. You’re really interesting. Why don’t we play a game?"

Kaiser tilted his head with an innocent look. "A game? With me?"

"Yes, dear." Adela covered her blush with the fan. "However, it won’t be a simple game. Why don’t we play a bit with Class-C?"

He blinked, a hint of amusement in his eyes. "Play with Class-C? Not bad."

"However..." He suddenly straightened his lax posture. "If you want to play a game, you need a board and a piece. Unfortunately, you can’t make me have a piece in the game if I don’t want to."

His words were soft, but the meaning rang clear. There was no reason for him to play in her so-called game.

’You think you’re a player? No. You’re just a piece too. A piece with little freedom, Kaiser. But I believe you can surely entertain me well enough.’

Adela’s smile turned disdainful as she thought. "Ara~ That’s too bad. I was hoping I could play with you a bit."

Kaiser read her thoughts in a single glance, then shook his head wearily. To him, she was just a pompous little girl toppling sand castles and calling herself genius. People like her were not uncommon. Groomed with high resources, they felt a sense of dissonance from everyone around them, believing themselves to be special.

’Why does that sound like sarcasm towards myself?’

Well, the difference between Kaiser and such people was in the factor called ability. Not in the sense of system-related abilities, but in personal ability to do things.

Kaiser possessed the ability, and therefore possesses the qualification to feel disconnected from the rest of the world.

"You’re ignoring me now?"

Kaiser blinked, then turned to look at her.

"Oh. I didn’t know you were talking. What did you say?"

He hadn’t heard her, as he had unconsciously ignored his surroundings while thinking.

"You need a reason to play, right?" Adela smiled charmingly, "You’ll find out very soon, my dear."

Saying that, she walked out of the library, leaving Kaiser to wonder if she had so much free time to visit him.

"Well, she’s a bit interesting. I wonder if she can truly make me play."

...

After the ruckus caused by the raid cooled, the first day of the next month arrived swiftly.

|Class-E|

"Did you get it too? I got credited with 65,000 credits."

"That means our Class Rank Points is 650, right?"

"Damn, isn’t that too low?"

Early in the morning, as soon as everyone arrived in the classroom, discussions sparked about the income received for the month.

"Settle down and pay attention."

Instructor Rina walked into the class, carrying a folder with her. Her face was as stoic as usual, carrying no hint of friendliness.

Holding the sides of the lectern, she faced the class and asked.

"I believe you’ve received your allowance for this month?"

When they nodded, she produced a satisfied hum, then turned to the notice board. From her folder, she produced a paper and pinned it to the board for everyone to see.

"This is the Class Rank Points results for this month. Unexpectedly, your results aren’t so bad. 650 Rank Points. You’re the first Class-E to retain so much."

While listening to her, everyone automatically looked at the numbers displayed.

Class-A had 950, Class-B had 872, Class-C had 791, Class-D had 779, and Class-E had 650.

"Why is our own so low? I mean, even if everyone bought cameras, it shouldn’t be that far apart. Look at Class-A!"

Eric complained, frowning at the wide gap in results.

"That’s because they’re Class-A, better than you are."

Instructor Rina retorted coldly, showing no special consideration for her own students.

"If I may ask..." Liam slowly raised a hand. "Why does Class-A have so many points? Something doesn’t feel right."

The instructor turned to him, her expression unreadable. "You’re curious? That’s because of the recent evaluation which took place."

"Huh? Special Evaluation?" Logan looked around, confused.

Even the others were equally confused. They understood the meaning of special evaluations, but... when did a special evaluation even take place?

"Instructor... you must be joking right?"

Jose gulped, suddenly feeling sweaty.

"Do I look like I’m joking?" Instructor Rina gave him a dry look. "The first Nirad Raid for first-years is always a hidden Special Evaluation."

Looking at the disbelief colored on their faces, she smiled mockingly.

"Let’s just say it’s an initiation routine for the freshman students."

"Damnit! They didn’t even tell us!" 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

Logan stood up furiously, his red eyes blazing with anger. As someone who was always upfront, he felt irritated by the fact that the academy had deceived them.

"Wait, don’t get agitated." Jose immediately pulled him back, remembering the scene the happened during their first day in the academy.

"I have a question." Hazel stood up, her eyes sharp and focused.

Feeling this intensity of her gaze, Instructor Rina smiled faintly. "Go on."

"Explain to us the rules for this Special Evaluation that happened during the raid. Also, would all the following Special Evaluations be unannounced?"

Her questions silenced the murmurings, and everyone immediately focused on their instructor.

"Hmm, you’re quite sensible." Instructor Rina hummed thoughtfully. She took a glance at Ariel, who remained impassive through everything.

’It seems he’s already influencing her bit by bit.’

The Hazel she initially knew was someone who would instantly grow displeased by the fact that the academy hadn’t disclosed the Special Evaluation during the raid. However, the girl had improved slightly. At least she wasn’t complaining and was actually asking sensible questions.

"Very well, I’ll explain..."