Shadow Author

After the bell rang signaling the end of the dungeon safety course many of the students beelined it toward the training room.

Only a few students would have one last class but the overwhelming majority were done for the day.

Thus with classes out and free time available practically everyone wanted to train to become stronger. Some slackers went straight back to their dorms but they wouldn't contribute anything anyways.

As the wave of students pushed open the doors to enter the room that was full of equipment the anarchy became organized.

Everyone seemed to move with determination toward their spot. Some went to the bench, some went to do cardio, some began stretching, others grabbed weapons, and the last entered a private room.

No one was paying too much attention to each other as they all had their own goals and worries.

However, the small group that consisted of the best of the best was dumbfounded as they stared at one boy.

The training room went from the highest number to the lowest. This meant that the lowest would have to walk past every room in order to reach theirs.

So when all eighty-two students who planned on using individual rooms came up to the first room they would all have to pass it.

But none of the students were moving because a miracle was occurring.

Sitting in the very first room was a young boy who many didn't recognize.

This wouldn't be too out of the ordinary as some lower-ranking people might buy out a room for a day.

However, the individual training rooms had something special about them that the school designed them. To have the students challenge themselves the rank of the person who was currently in the room would be displayed outside. This was done so that people could challenge that person to take the room.

Unfortunately for the school, this plan didn't work too well as it seemed to deter people from being challenged because seeing a higher-ranked person and trying to challenge them would lead to a beating.

Plus the strong wanted to keep the hierarchy and they abused the system to keep rooms for themselves. The strong would get stronger while the weak were forced to watch in envy.

At least that's what was supposed to happen. Instead, the number that was shining out brightly for all to see outside of the room was 993.

The people who got their training rooms all agreed and set a couple of terms to make sure that they weren't overturned.

One of these such terms was that no one under rank 500 would be able to use the training room no matter how much they were willing to pay.

The reason this rule was set in place was that if there was a rich kid in lower ranks who could buy out a room he or she would be able to become strong fast.

If this happened the person that the rich kid was buying from the south eventually became stronger than the one who was renting it out.

This would affect the lineup of how the rooms worked.

The reason individual training rooms were so important and sought after was that they had a high concentration of mana. The lower the number in the training room the higher amount of mana.

So the number one training room had the most mana out of all the rooms. If this room was rented out then the person buying would slowly become the strongest person in the school.

Thus the strongest people decided to keep themselves in the lead and make sure that never happened.

So some of their rules were no that no one under rank 500 could rent a room and a room could only be rented out once a week.

This would give them some extra pocket change and the ones who rented wouldn't get too strong.

This plan worked perfectly so long as everyone followed the rules. Yet in front of them was not only someone below 500 but even one of the weakest in the class.

Just by spending one day in the room the kid who was ranked 993rd might be able to go as far as raise one hundred ranks.

Everyone there knew that which was why they were so stunned. Who would dare to break the rules and challenge the authorities of the other higher rankers?

The only reason the rules were still in place was that the first-placed person didn't break them.

The first-place ranker is the strongest and therefore if someone were to break the rules they would be in charge of the punishment.

But if the first place tanker decided to rent out his room every day because he was so strong no one would be able to stop him and the organization could come crumbling down.

So everything rested on the shoulders of the person who ranked first, Elijah.

The student surrounding the individual room turned to look at Elijah to see what he would do in front of such blatant disrespect.

But unexpectedly he just stood there carefully examining the person who was inside the room.

Confused by this, some students began to ask him what he was going to do.

"Elijah, someone broke the rules and let a ranker under 500 train, what are you going to do about it?"

The others began to agree.

"Yeah, this goes against everything we stand for, you can't allow this to continue!"

More and more began to voice their concerns when it came to the boy inside.

"Can't you just go in there and forcefully remove him? We can ask him who he bought the room from and make sure they never get access again!"

Nearly everyone agreed with this idea. If someone broke the rules they should get banned from ever being able to use an individual room.

But even with all the shouting, Elijah kept his eyes locked on the boy without saying or doing anything.

Getting fed up, someone eventually straight up asked Elijah for his plan.

"Elijah what are you going to do?!"

Breaking his contact off the face of the one ranked 993rd Elijah turned to the person who just asked him a question.

"What am I going to do? Nothing."

"Huh?"

Everyone was shocked at this revelation. If Elijah wasn't going to do anything, what could they do?

Worries went through their minds as they imagined the order they worked so hard to create would come crashing down.

Seeing the looks on everyone's faces Elijah felt like he had to clarify.

"You misunderstand, the person inside the room was the one who left the dungeon safety class early. He didn't rent out the room. Rather he came here before anyone else could."

Silence. No one imagined that a student might skip a class just to get some extra time in the trading room.

With this unexpected detail, the rankers were left with more worries. What if others began to do the same thing? The ranking would be completely messed up.

As if reading everyone's mind Elijah ended everyone's worries.

"Don't worry I'll make sure nothing like this happens again. But what I don't understand is why 993 did it."

Everyone let out a breath they were holding but hearing Elijah's question they couldn't help but become curious.

"What do you mean?"

"993, he is purposefully letting us see him. That's what I don't understand."

Still not getting an answer, another voiced out their confusion.

"I don't follow, what do you mean he is purposefully letting us see him?"

Letting out a sigh Elijah explained the unusual behavior.

"He purposefully disabled the one-way glass. He quite literally is telling us without words to look at him. 993 has to have some hidden agenda. Otherwise, he would have left it one way and taken advantage of this loophole of ours, and constantly skipped classes to get stronger. We would have been none the wiser. But instead of doing that he is openly revealing himself. But that's not even the most confusing part!"

"Then what is?"

"Look at him, he's not even training!"

Now that Elijah pointed it out they only realized the obvious, 993 wasn't training, in fact, he hadn't moved a muscle since they arrived.

"Why would someone with a plan that could get them stronger without others realizing it, reveal that ability? On top of that, why would they not take advantage of the chance they had and make use of the room? There's only one explanation that I can come up with, he is taunting us."