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nJason looked at Scorpio for a long time with a delighted expression.

nEven if it was not completely sure that his second soulbond could reach the awakened rank with the holy white bacuri fruit, there was at least some progress he was able to perceive.

nIt was enough for him to say that his experiment was a success.

nYet, he was still shocked about the pain transmitted by Scorpio.

nNevertheless, Jason could sense Scorpio's desire to get stronger and break out of its shell n order to reach a higher rank.

nMaybe this desire was inspired by Jason who wanted to become stronger by all means without backing down against anyone.

nAnother reason could have been its innate desire to walk an individual path to the pinnacle without being held down from its racial limits.

nJason wouldn't know but it was definitely something good as he would rather nurture such an attitude than a lazy bun.

nScorpio was only five days old but he already reached the middle realms of a one-star wild beast and Jason asked himself how long it would take it to reach three-stars.

nFortunately, it was not only Scorpio that got stronger over the last five days since it was born but also Jason´s strength increased.

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nBecause of the vast efforts he took, Jason was already halfway through towards the 7th Novice rank.

nIt would probably only take a week until he would be able to break through once again, which was exceptionally fast, adding the common hurdle between the 6th and 7th level.

nA day before, his whole body began to ache and Scorpio´s share was slowly converted towards Jason.

nThis indicated that his mana core grew in size, his physique increased slightly while his soul energy also increased.

nScorpio was more of a physical beast than a beast with a high amount of mana or an affinity, except its natural poison.

nAs such Jason´s physique or rather the toughness of his skin, bones, flesh and so were tempered and refined.

nWhile his rank was at the 6th Novice stage, his mana core size which was already at the 7th level was getting closer to the 8th level while his physique reached the 7th level.

nOnce Scorpio matured, his physique and mana core would be roughly at the same stage because Artemis gave him more mana than a physical enhancement while Scorpio was the complete opposite.

nWhile both his physique and Mana core size were at the 7th level, the biggest change came from his soul energy.

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nScorpio was still at the one-star rank and used up one soul energy while it provided ⅓ point, which would increase with his soulbond maturing. As such, Jason´s soul energy was constantly increasing thanks to his soulbonds and his own efforts to refine his soul energy daily.

nCompared to the time he had only one soul energy, Jason´s daily increase in soul energy already surpassed his expectations by a lot due to him practicing the Heaven's Hell technique three times.

nFrom Artemis, he obtains around 1.32 soul energy while Scorpio provides 0.33 right now, and only five days ago, Jason´s innate soul energy was around 5.38, altogether 6.7 without considering Scorpio.

nBut now, Jason´s overall soul energy crossed already 7 units or more exactly 7.2 units.

nFor most soul-awakenings, this would be a bad start but comparing 7.2 to his past, almost non-existent soul energy, it was a vast difference and delighted Jason.

nIt was Sunday and Greg was at home, looking at the exercises they had to do.

nJason wasn't interested in Greg´s homework because he had already done his own homework.

nFurthermore, the exercises Greg had to do were not really worth his attention because he knew the answers.

nEven though Jason liked to obtain more knowledge, the information provided by his school were not really worth mentioning.

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nJason already knew most things as he had already read through most books before.

nScorpio was playing inside Jason´s hair while Artemis was still evolving inside his soul world.

nNormally Scorpio would also be in the soul world but he was like Artemis and liked being physically close with Jason, which was slightly weird for a Scorpion with a venom-injecting barb, but Jason didn't mind it.

nHe had already been accidentally stung by Scorpio previously and noticed that he was immune to his poison.

nThe sting itself wasn't that deep because it was only playing with Jason and didn´t hurt much.

nTime passed and Jason helped out Greg with his homework only to become a sparring partner with Jason as he wanted to practice the foundational martial arts techniques.

nGreg suppressed his strength to one of 6th Novice rank and they began practicing all kinds of basic techniques.

nWhile Jason was nimble and used many different technique sequences, Greg was rather crude and rough as he used his tough physique to crush Jason in the past.

nBut Jason knew all of that and was using that brute force to practice quick and lethal attacks with a wooden dagger, while Greg could use all kinds of weapons.

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nAnd like Leo Heart, Greg used gloves.

nSomehow, Jason felt that gloves were popular weapons used by physical fighters.

nThis however was really good for Jason who wanted to find out his flaws as they fought for 30 minutes until Jason had to give up with many bruises covering his whole body.

nEven if Greg suppressed his strength, he was still overwhelmed by his physique and innate battle strength.

nGreg learned better martial art techniques, furthermore, he was more proficient in fighting due to his few years more battle experience.

nJason instead only began to see anything slightly over two months ago, which was his real starting point for the real world.

nHe was able to perceive each of Greg´s moves but after some time he wasn´t able to evade the attacks anymore, and counterattacking wasn't an option for him at the moment.

nHe was still not experienced enough but he felt that he was getting closer and closer to Greg at the same rank and level.

nIf Jason would learn some more techniques instead of the basics all the time, he might be able to evade Greg´s fast and lethal Tier-1 first martial art technique.

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nBut during the whole week, Jason went to school, there didn´t seem to be any signs of martial art training or new techniques for the students to learn which disappointed him somewhat, even if he was able to improve his mana absorbing speed by a lot.

nWhat was the use of having a high mana core rank when one couldn´t use the received strength to the fullest potential?

nWith this thought, Jason continued with his daily workout just like that, before he continued reading the herb and magical plants books until Jason fully memorized them.

nJason never forgot to practice the Heaven's Hell technique three times a day as it was already imprinted in his bones.

n**

nEntering the classroom the next day, there were already many of his classmates gossiping with each other as Jason heard one of the students saying something about an assignment.

nThis attracted Jason´s curiosity but he couldn´t ask anyone, as the front door opened.

nMr. Greil entered the room when he dropped the information everyone was waiting for, immediately after they greeted each other.

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"Some of you have already heard the news and the first school-assignment is out. Because I could decide which one to take, there will be some fun for everyone.

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nBecause I know everyone is longing to learn a new and mighty martial arts technique, I´ll teach everyone that passes the assignment a martial arts technique for the remaining week.

nIf someone can't fulfill my demand, there will be no reward and he or she will be punished.

nThat means the faster one submits the assignment the longer he or she can learn the chosen martial art technique from me.

nAfter this week is over, I´ll never explain anything about the chosen technique again, except another assignment I gave out was finished and submitted on time

" Mr. Greil said

nSomehow this sounded a little bit wishy-washy for everyone and it was difficult to understand their own teacher but the meaning was somewhat understandable.

nSubmitting the given assignment as fast as possible would give one the chance to learn a new martial art technique from their teacher until this week was over.

n`Isn't it the job of our teacher to teach us martial art techniques?!?` That was the thought in almost everyone's mind but the next words struck everyone like a bolt of lightning.

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"If someone is wondering, I´m not talking about peak tierless or common tier 1 martial art techniques… You´ll be able to choose any technique I learned during my whole life, which includes some tier-3 techniques, special and unique techniques, also called skills by many.

nI think that should be encouraging enough, right?

"

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nThe whole classroom was silent until a thunderstorm of roars and cheers resounded through the whole room, while Jason was only silently looking at his teacher

n`Tier-3 skills?? Who the f*** are you?? I don´t believe you're a normal teacher…. `

nTier-3 techniques were considered the treasures from Astrix and they were even considered rare on Canir, causing Jason to suspect his teacher.

n`Talking about unique or special techniques?? Please... What are you doing on the Archipelagos.. Shouldn´t you be on Canir, leading some sect or staying inside a castle as a prince of one of the kingdoms?`

nJason was more than dumbfounded and he wanted to question his teacher about it but he remained silent.

nThe other students were all way too happy to hear something like that, to notice anything amiss.

nThere were always exceptions, as a few smarter youths understood the meaning of a tier-3 technique.

nBut their teacher wouldn't just give them such a technique and the next sentence instantly soured the mood.

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"The first assignment for everyone will be to kill 10 beasts that are two stages above your rank.

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nMy requirements are simple. You have to do it with your own strength without the usage of mana guns, mana-, soul weapons, other instant killing weapons, or something similar I didn´t name.

nSoulbeats are not allowed for this assignment, so don't use them.

nTeaming with other classmates is also forbidden.

nYou have to hunt these beasts alone!

nOther than that you may use everything you want. You can trap beasts or try to assassinate them. I don't care about that.

nAnother requirement is that you have to record everything with the video braces I´ll hand out.

nThere is a button on the side and once it starts blinking, it will start recording.

nThe device is already filled with mana and the battery can hold out for more than a week.

nFor the first assignment, there won't be a punishment but it will never as easy to receive bountiful rewards like today, EVER again.

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nAs such, give your best!

"

nWhile video braces came flying to all students with the help of their teacher's mana, everyone's face looked sour.

nDefeating ten beasts two stages higher than oneself without a team or one's soulbonds?

nWas their teacher kidding them?

nEach rank was divided into three stages and the levels 1st to 3rd counted as the beginner stage while 4th to 6th was the intermediate stage and the 7th to 9th was the advanced stage.

nThat means if one was at the 3rd Adept rank like most students in this class, they would have to defeat a late awakened beast which was a vast difference in strength.

nIf one could use their soulbond, this wouldn't be considered problematic because most students that were accepted at this school had a late awakened beast as the worst soulbond, without considering Jason´s situation.

nLeo Heart for example was at the 5th Adept rank and he would have to defeat a low-Evolved beast… how should he do that.

nIt was definitely a huge challenge but even after getting to know that it was extremely difficult, the benefits one could receive were huge enough to give it a try.

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nWithout further ado, everyone began to rush out of the classroom after Mr.Greil finished his explanations.

nOnly Jason was left behind in an empty classroom with his teacher.

nMr.Greil noticed Jason looking at him when Jason asked.

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"Is it really okay for me to use everything except the weapons described, and a team?

"

nHe had a rough idea of what he should do but he wanted to ask before implementing them in his actions.

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"Do as you wish

" He only said and Jason recorded it as evidence because he didn´t trust his own teacher before he walked out of the school with a faint smile on his face when he entered the online shop.

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