Published at 7th of September 2026 8:01 am

Chapter 1081: Stupid

This chapter is updated by JustRead.pl

As the End of the Year Exam came to an end, students began to walk back to their rooms. Some people walked with smiles on their faces, some walked with downcast expressions, while some cried silently.

Asher walked with his friends as they had all decided to gather at William’s room.

"So, Mr. Good Samaritan, what made you forfeit the hand-to-hand combat?" William asked as he walked, his black eyes turning to Asher. "I thought you weren’t exactly the selfless and heroic type," he asked with a playful tone.

Asher sighed as he walked and spoke, "Well, the Principal approved my early graduation, so there was no need to make everyone fail when I know their future hangs on it and mine doesn’t," he answered honestly.

’This is the first time I’m failing an exam or test,’ he thought to himself as he walked.

Although he had failed purposely, a fail was still a fail.

"But how were you able to do it in eleven seconds? That’s what I want to know," Finch’s voice came from the side as he walked. "Are you already that fast?"

Although their classmates believed that Asher was teleporting, they didn’t think of that. After all, they had seen him teleport through Virelass, and it was usually a white, faint flash, not purple, which made William and the rest believe it was just pure speed.

Asher snapped out of his thoughts as he answered, "Indeed I am," he answered honestly.

Even if he hadn’t used the teleportation ability of his Soul-bound rapier, his speed, which had touched the domain of a Voidstar Life Ranker, would allow him to reach every student within a minute, but not in under eleven seconds. But still, it would be within the same timeframe nonetheless.

He had only used his Position Markers simply because using them in training and using them in true action were vastly different. Although he had just bullied his classmates, it was still fun nonetheless.

Ryaen arched an eyebrow as she asked, "Are Dust Firmstar Life Rankers that fast?" She paused for a moment, then continued, "Well, I know you can fight above your Life Rank, but it’s still hard to believe," she said.

Asher didn’t hide his combat prowess. He gained or lost nothing from hiding it or telling the truth, so he simply told the truth.

"Although I’m at the Dust Firmstar Life Rank, my base speed and strength put me at the Dust Voidstar Life Rank," he answered honestly. "It’s the reason I’m that fast."

Hearing Asher’s words, the entire group of friends were speechless. Vaelric, who was walking beside them, couldn’t help but raise his hands to count how many Life Ranks and sub-Life Ranks Asher was skipping here like it was regular high school grades.

’Sigh... maybe I should have just met him and asked him to, like, turn off his soul protection ability or something,’ Finch thought to himself with a sigh.

’Well, it’s not like his physical talent would be transferred to my body anyway,’ he told himself. ’So even if I linked to him, I wouldn’t possess his body... But the amount of insane talents I would possess would be...’ He shook his head as he chose to drop the matter.

The speed of his Astra veins strengthening was already fast, and his Astra control talent had spiked as well. It was best to be satisfied.

But because of the Aptitude Link ability, Finch and Lior couldn’t help but look forward to next year. Maybe... just maybe, next year, the Yearbound ability would awaken something that would give them enough strength to match Asher.

"It must feel good being you, huh?" Vaelric finally spoke as he finished counting.

Hearing Vaelric’s words, Asher turned to him as he replied with a smirk, "Says the one who was born a prince." He shook his head as he continued, "How greedy can you even be? You want to be a Prince, be handsome, and as talented as me. You are probably the most greedy person I know," he added.

The moment Asher said that, the system chimed.

[The system knows a more greedy person]

Asher stared at the text and ignored the system. He had nothing to say to it at the moment.

Vaelric shook his head with an exasperated tone. Although he loved being the Prince of the Zarethorne Empire, it was exhausting, hosting Nobles and all that, always trying to keep everyone together to avoid the Empire from boiling over from within. Then there was also having to attend balls and gala events almost every week. Just because he was used to it and had adjusted didn’t mean it wasn’t draining.

The group continued walking until they arrived at William’s room, their conversation flowing smoothly. Nobody talked about Finch failing the Information Infiltration Exam; that exam had been simply too hard for most.

"So, Asher," Ryaen called out as he sat, "since the Principal has allowed for early graduation, is there anything else you have to do?" She asked, as Asher hadn’t really told them about his conversation with the Principal.

Asher nodded as he opened a bottle of water he had taken out of his space ring, as he explained, "She said I should pass the normal End of the Year Exam first." He paused as he began to drink, then stopped and continued, "I’m supposed to meet her again today as I’m supposed to complete some sort of mission of her own choosing to graduate," he explained as the water vanished into his space ring.

William, who was seated at the side, replied, "I think that is stupid." He wasn’t insulting the Principal; he just felt like the test was useless. "What is there to test with a mission? We’ve seen your combat prowess at the Inter-Empire Tournament, we’ve seen your Astra Control, you literally aren’t lacking in any area that requires some test or delay." He shook his head as he added in finality, "She should just approve it so it can be done with."

Finch, who was silent, spoke up too, "I totally agree."

Vaelric crossed his leg over the other as he replied, "Unfortunately, the Principal doesn’t need anyone’s opinion to do anything, so our opinion doesn’t matter at the end of the day." His tone was flat, although he too was of the same opinion as everyone.

The others simply shrugged their shoulders.

"It doesn’t matter," Asher said with calm indifference. "The strength I showed at the final battle between me and Arianna and the strength I possess now isn’t the same." He shook his head as he continued, "So if she assigns me a mission based on that previous information, then I can just complete the mission with a single attack and be back on that same day," he stated.

Even if he was given a new mission, he wouldn’t spend days or weeks using carriages and horses as he didn’t know the way. Such things were now obsolete with the World Map in his mind.

"Sometimes I can’t tell if you are bragging or not," William spoke from the side with a small smile.

He couldn’t help but reminisce how he had approached Asher out of sheer curiosity and to also see the ability the Dim and untalented Sun possessed. He hadn’t expected things to develop like this.

’Well... it isn’t like genuine friendship could be planned like a vacation or something,’ he mused to himself.

"It’s called humble bragging," Finch replied from the side.

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