Talent Above Humans (3)

Yesterday's chapter...

...

As Arche entered the virtual world, a screen appeared in front of us, showing us his performance.

The virtual world was just as I remembered it, but instead of a small cat, the first enemy that appeared was a 2-foot-tall rat (60 cm).

It was a very weak monster with hardly any mana. In terms of strength, it could be considered a tier-zero monster.

Such a creature was something that even a normal human could defeat, much less an eblor prodigy like Arche. He just snapped his fingers, and the rat caught fire, perishing in seconds.

The monster of the second level was a dog. It was just slightly stronger than the rat, and just like before, it was killed by a snap of his fingers.

Meanwhile, a bit of a crowd had gathered around us.

The students nearby heard that an eblor was challenging the virtual world and came to observe.

Furthermore, the news seemed to be spreading quickly. In less than five minutes, the place was half full, and more people were still coming.

I even saw Andrew and our other classmates in the crowd.

I was briefly worried about them starting a commotion, but fortunately, Professor Sol shot them a warning glare and they behaved.

Arche continued using the same tactic until the thirtieth level. He never needed to do anything else but snap his fingers and the monsters caught fire and died.

"Is that magic?" Ley asked.

I nodded hesitantly. "It must be, but I don't really know how it works."

"It's ignition magic, Arche's specialty. It uses mana to create a spark and spread it with a sudden burst." A voice came from beside us. At some point in time, Lily had approached us. "Hello, Jane, Ley. How have you been?"

"Miss Lily. Do you need something?"

"Can't I just come to talk?" She asked with a hurt expression. "I thought we were friends."

I smiled wryly, while Ley frowned.

Lily did not seem to care, though. She just continued explaining what Arche was doing.

"Arche's mana is very attuned to fire, so his ignition magic is very strong. Such weak monsters are not a challenge to him."

"Can you tell us that?" I asked with a strange look.

"Well, it's not some kind of secret, ignition is one of the most basic magic spells. Oh, look, it looks like Arche is finally showing something else."

Just like Lily said, the monotone combat finally showed a change.

When Arche reached level thirty-five, the monster that appeared was a small hummingbird.

Arche snapped his fingers to kill it just like before, but surprisingly, the hummingbird's body flashed quickly and avoided the attack.

Taken aback, Arche snapped his fingers a couple of times more, but every time, the hummingbird would make a sudden movement, flashing away and avoiding the attack as it quickly approached Arche.

In less than ten seconds, it had closed most of their distance.

Arche's expression finally became serious.

A magic circle appeared behind him. In the next instant, everything five meters around him was ignited.

This time, the hummingbird was not fast enough to avoid the attack.

"Area Ignite, a more advanced application of the spell ignite," Lily explained. "It looks like Arche finally is getting serious."

From this level onwards, Arche's battles became much flashier.

He showcased several different kinds of magic according to the enemy he faced. Every magic was some kind of variation of the initial ignition magic, but the effects were outstanding.

Up to the fiftieth level, he never took more than ten seconds to defeat an enemy.

The difficulty increased drastically after level fifty, so he started taking a bit longer, but even so, anyone could see that he had a lot of leeway.

In fact, I noticed that he had not taken a single step since the challenge started.

Fifty-one, fifty-two, fifty-three, fifty-four.

Finally, he reached level sixty.

Level sixty indicated that the strength of the monsters reached tier six. By this point, Arche finally started to show signs of struggle.

But he still managed to defeat the monster, advancing to level sixty-one.

I put on a complicated expression.

Arche had already surpassed the results I showed during the entrance examination.

And it was taking into account that I used a method akin to cheating at that time.

Of course, I did not reveal all my cards back then, and I have grown stronger after that, but still, I can pretty much confirm something.

Arche is stronger than me.

Not just me, he is probably stronger than any of the Awakened in class one, except Sylvia.

And his results showed it.

After defeating the level sixty's monster, he advanced all the way to level seventy.

The monster at level seventy was some kind of specter. It was a creature from one of the other worlds the dungeons were connected to.

This time, Arche finally seemed to have reached his limit.

He fought fiercely for almost ten minutes, unleashing dozens of different magic spells during that time, but the battle slowly tilted against him.

But when we thought he was finally going to be defeated, he let out a roar. A magic circle appeared around his body, spinning quickly as mana surged out of him.

The next second, his body was covered in flames. Arche roared and charged at the monster, gathering an enormous amount of mana in his fist that took the shape of a new magic circle.

His fist hit the creature, and the magic circle detonated.

*Boom!*

With a loud explosion, the creature exploded into pieces.

He had passed the level seventy.

By this point, all the students observing had fallen silent.

Level seventy was the equivalent of a tier seven monster. Most of the students in Sanctuary's First, including the seniors, could not defeat a monster this strong.

However, an eblor had done it.

Moreover, he should not be the strongest among the eblors that came to Sanctuary's First. Hyacinth and Lily should be stronger than him.

As for the other two, they should not be inferior.

The difference in talent between eblors and humans was painfully clear.

"Why do you look like that? Is this something to be surprised about?" Professor Sol suddenly spoke to the students observing the screen.

"Of the five races, humans, eblor, celers, orcs, and specters, humans are the weakest. Compared to the mastery of magic of the eblors, the technology of the celers, the strong bodies of the orcs, or the mysterious abilities of the specters, humans are much inferior. Our Awakened abilities are strong, but that alone is not enough to face the races who have honed their use of mana during centuries." She stated regardless of the fact that the eblors and celers were listening.

"Humans are weak, we are the weakest. So, if you want to protect what you love from the alien races, you must work hard. I hope that in the future when you inevitably face one of them on the battlefield, you are the one who survives."

The students fell silent, engraving these words in their hearts as they watched Arche battling the next monster.

In the end, Arche was defeated in the level seventy-two.