The Author's POV

"You sorted everything out?"

"Yeah"

Returning back to the treasury, I stared at the portal that stood before Kevin. Just like the first time I saw it, the black portal in front of Kevin emitted fine adulations of magic resulting in a whirlpool of different colors circling around the portal.

"Hurry, up the portal is ready, lets go back to earth"

"Alright, I'm coming"

Having achieved my goal in coming here, and having sorted Silug's situation, I knew that it was about time we returned back to earth.

Glancing at the walls of the castle, I could hear the faint sounds of fighting coming from both the insides and the outsides of the castle. The insides coming from the orcs in the prison, and the outside coming from the war that was happening in Immorra.

Although I would've loved to watch the war that was happening, I knew that it wasn't the time.

The war was merely a means to achieve my goals.

Perhaps once I returned to Immorra in the future to see how Silug was doing, I could see another war with the two other Marquess ranked demons, but that was for another time.

Staring at me who was slowly walking towards the portal, Kevin impatiently said.

"You going?"

Keeping the portal open actually took quite a toll on his body. The more Ren delayed, the bigger the toll his body faced.

He was understandably getting anooyed.

"Yup, coming, hold on a sec"

…and as I also understood this, I hurried up my footsteps and prepared myself to enter the portal.

"Ah wait..."

However, right before stepping into the portal, recalling something and glancing at my watch, I quickly tapped on it.

-Booom! -Booom! -Booom!

Shortly after, explosions rang all over the castle as the whole structure shook.

Startled, Kevin looked at me in shock as he exclaimed.

"Ren, what are you doing!?"

Glancing at Kevin, I said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Hm? I'm just hiding our traces"

Like I said before, I didn't want anyone to find out that we've infiltrated the building through the back entrance, therefore, I installed explosives everywhere.

This way once they investigated, chances of them finding Silug were ever lower.

Although once he signed a contract the chances of him getting discovered were already low, with this, his chances of being discovered were going to be even lower allowing him to gain strength without too much trouble.

I admit, that my plan was not the most perfect one as there were a couple of more loopholes in my plan that could expose Silug, however, given that the demons were currently in the middle of a war, he shouldn't be able to get exposed for now.

Which was good enough for me, and so I could more or less now be satisfied with the outcome.

Opening his mouth, Kevin wanted to say a lot of things, but given that this was a building that housed demons, he shut his mouth.

...why should he care if the demons suffered?

In fact, he wanted nothing more for them to burn in hell.

"...I see, anyhow hurry up I can't hold on for too long"

"Aye, aye"

Taking one last look at the treasury before me, shaking my head I stepped into the portal

It was really a pity that I couldn't loot everything.

-Fwa!

As I stepped into the portal, just like before, the world around me turned dark and I lost all of my senses.

It was about time I returned back to earth.

...

-Fwa!

-Pamf

"Gah, fuck!"

Passing through the portal, the first thing I felt when I felt my senses return was something heavy landing on my back.

Turning around I found Kevin's body slumped on top of me.

"Can you get off?"

Opening his eyes slightly and seeing the position he was in, Kevin scratched the back of his head and embarrassingly said.

"Sorry, opening the portal took a lot of energy"

Trying to stand up, I instantly felt my back go numb as I glared at Kevin.

Usually, he wouldn't have passed out like this, but given the fact that he used most of his energy keeping the portal open, Kevin found himself passing out for a bit.

"Ghhaa, my god, are you some kind of whale?"

"Sorry"

Holding onto my back, my face scrunched up from the pain as I sat up straight. Just when I was about to scratch my cheek, I suddenly found my hand smacking me on my cheek.

-Smack!

"The hell!"

Cursing out loud, I suddenly remembered that the gravity here was three times lighter than that of Immora's resulting in me suddenly slapping my face because my every movement was now lighter.

"pfftt..."

As I was caressing my cheek due to the pain, I suddenly heard the faint sound of laughter coming from my left hand side. Turning around I soon spotted Kevin covering his mouth as his cheeks puffed up.

Gritting my teeth, I glared at Kevin.

"You think this is funny?"

Shaking his head, Kevin tried to refuse, but the trembling of his body immediately sold him out.

"Pffftt...No"

"Ah, I see. I'll remember this"

Finally, after hearing my statement, Kevin couldn't hold it anymore and burst out laughing as he held onto his stomach

"Pfttt, hahahahah...I can't believe you slapped your own face, you should've seen the look on your face"

Smiling, but not smiling at the same time, I nodded my head as I imprinted Kevin's laughing image inside of my mind.

"Okay, okay, keep laughing. Just keep in mind that I will remember this moment"

...Oh, Kevin, Kevin, Kevin.

Had you known you messed with your own creator you wouldn't be laughing would yah?

Very well, I will definitely remember this moment.

*Sigh*

Carefully standing up, I slowly made my way towards my sofa and slumped on it. Sighing out loud I softly mumbled.

"Ah...talk about a great return"

The first thing that happened when I returned to earth was having Kevin fall on top of my back and me slapping myself.

...just great.

"huh?"

As I was slumped on the sofa, frowning, I suddenly noticed something weird happening inside of my body.

Closing my eyes to understand what it was, my eyes soon lit up.

"Kevin, quick, give me the sky grass"

Wiping a tear from the corner of his eyes, suddenly sensing something and noticing the solemness in my voice, Kevin sobered up and asked.

"Huh? The sky grass?"

Nodding my, I extended my hand and urgently said.

"Yup, I'm about to rank up"

"Oh, here"

Hearing that I was about to rank up, without hesitation, taking out a stalk of sky grass from his dimensional space, Kevin quickly handed it to me.

"Thanks!"

Without hesitation, I took the sky grass from his hands and placed it in my mouth not caring for the least about how I looked.

I could feel it.

...I was on the verge of breaking through to <E> rank.

Honestly, I had expected this to happen in another month, but given that I had spent a month in Immorra where the gravity was three times that of earth, every moment I spent there was like training.

It came as to no surprise as to why I was now on the verge of breaking through as soon as I came to earth.

Staring at me who was about to rank up, Kevin asked.

"Should I go?"

Supressing my rank, I looked at Kevin and nodded my head.

"Yeah"

I needed to be fully focused when I was ranking as any distraction could prove to be extremely detrimental.

With Kevin understanding this, he naturally proposed to leave so that I wouldn't get distracted.

Naturally, I didn't refuse his intentions.

Staring at me solemnly, Kevin nodded his head and proceeded to make his way out of the room.

"Alright, I'll see you at the academy"

"Yeah, see you"

Once again waving goodbye to me, Kevin directly left my room leaving me alone.

-Clank!

-Shua!

As soon as Kevin left, a white hue shrouded my body as veins bulged out of my body.

"Khh...this is more painful than I expected"

Chewing on the Sky grass, I slowly felt my body burn up due to how potent the effects of the grass were.

Honestly, using the Sky grass was a bit of a waste as it could help still work on higher ranks, but I needed to get stronger faster, moreover, there were many other opportunities out there for me to find a similar herb like the sky grass, therefore, persevering through the pain, I kept on chewing on the grass that was in my mouth.

"Haa...haa...haaa"

Panting heavily, I kept on chewing as the pain on my body intensified with every chew of the grass. Multiple times I wanted to stop chewing, but gritting my teeth and enduring the pain I kept on chewing.

Saliva slowly dripped down from my mouth.

-Fwua!

Finally, after an unknown period of time, the white hue around my body shrouded the whole room as I suddenly felt my body become a lot stronger and sturdier.

Just like my previous experiences, all of my senses sharpened as everything around me become more clear.

Staring at my muscles for a couple of seconds, I opened my status window and checked out my stats.

===Status===

Name : Ren Dover

Rank : E +

Strength : E +

Agility : E -

Stamina : E +

Intelligence : E +

Mana capacity : E

Luck : D

Charm : F

--> Profession :

[Swordsmanship lvl. 3]

The degree of understanding of the sword has evolved to the next level. User will find it easier to understand concepts that were previously harder to understand.

--> Martial Manual :

[★★★★★ Keiki style] - Greater realm of mastery

Sword art created by Grandmaster Toshimoto Keiki. A five-star module that focused primarily on reaching the apex of swordsmanship and speed. Upon mastery, the sword art becomes so fast that before an opponent could even think about their next move, their heads would already be rolling on the ground.

[★★★ Ring of vindication] - Minor realm of mastery

Highly advanced sword art that creates a perfect ring of defense around the user. Upon mastery, the ring can create a three-dimensional sphere that protects the user from all sides. Because of the lack of offensive capabilities, the manual was graded three-stars.

[★★★ Drifting steps] - Greater realm of mastery

Movement art that progresses with each step. With every step taken, user speed will increase. Unless user stops, speed will continuously increase until the user either runs out of mana or due to injury.

--> Skills :

[[G] Monarch's indifference]

A skill that enables users to erase all emotions, and act as a supreme monarch that only calculates the best option regardless of circumstance.

[[D] The one]

A skill that enables the user to instill fear into the opponents' minds resulting in them feeling like they were standing before a sovereign that overlooked everything. The skill may work on individuals who are one rank higher than them, however, if the difference between the two parties is greater than two ranks, the skill effect diminishes.

"Yes, I ranked up twice!"

Staring at my status screen a large smile appeared on my face as I noticed my rank go from <E-> rank all the way to <E+> rank.

A two rank increase.

This was a phenomenal boost in my strength as I was now caught up with Jin.

...Aside from Kevin, I was pretty much the strongest first year in the academy alongside Jin.

In fact, since I knew Jin like the back of my hand, I was probably stronger than him.

"huh...my charm"

As I was rejoicing about my rank increase, staring at my charm I suddenly noticed that it also ranked up.

Not once but twice.

With my mouth trembling, I suddenly found small tear trace down from my cheek all the way down to my chin as I closed my eyes and secretly thanked the gods.

'Thou shall reward the diligent'

After months of constant cuckblocks, I was finally rewarded for my diligence.

My one cursed stat finally improved!

I honestly wasn't sure whether to be happier about my rank increase or my charm increase.

...what a tough decision.

That aside...

[Monday, 16:37]

Glancing at my watch and staring at the time and date, I knew that the day was not over.

Squinting my eyes as my demenour became incomparably serious, interlocking my fingers together, I softly mumbled.

"...it is about time I resolved something that has been plaguing me since coming here"

It was about time I dealt with Matthew and cured my parents.