Ereshida

Adam looked up at the sky with visible distaste.

A red streak flashed through the sky that even pierced through clouds. Even here, on the ground, he could feel a heavy pressure coming from the streak. If he didn't have Qi, Adam knew he'd already be dead along with the rest of them.

Which meant he wouldn't be able to manipulate Aria into teleporting him to Japan. Not only would she vehemently disagree herself, but Adam wouldn't want to anyway. Even though he wanted to kill Enjiro more than almost anything else, he wasn't about to sacrifice millions for such a frivolous goal.

Realizing it was very likely he wouldn't be able to kill Enjiro until after he was Exalted, Adam resigned himself to the current task. They had come here to recover some artifact for Aria and her organization.

[Special Quest created: Activate the beacons of Ereshida]

'A system quest too?' Adam wondered, noting that the message had appeared in his mind instead of his hand. He was supposed to be discreet about this.

Looking at Aria, who was already preparing to establish her ultimate authority, he knew that would be quite difficult, to say the least.

Placing a hand on her hip and holding a sword over her shoulder with the other, Aria said, "Welcome to Ereshida. As promised, there will be numerous Kaiju roaming around. Therefore, I need everyone to follow each of my directions down to the most minute detail."

She paused for just a second to look over each of her students before continuing.

"Understand? If you do not follow my orders, a Kaiju will kill you. This is not a combat training simulation, and this is not a field test. You will die."

With the last word said, she let the effect linger as she walked through the small circle of students, checking each of their artifacts. She placed her hand on the ring that the girl who had sat next to Adam wore, which instantly brought up a screen much like Adam's.

'Thea Carmin; Alchemist.' He thought, noting that her stats were fairly low.

Aria did this with each of them, revealing everyone's stats to everybody else.

'Mark Spector; Enhancer. Ok stats.'

'Evan Smith; Mage. Stats aren't too bad, shadow boy.'

'Natalie McClure; Projection. Ok stats.'

'Henry Avan; Enhancer. 900 Qi?' Adam murmured in soft admiration. He hadn't expected anyone besides Red Hair to be close, yet this seemingly harmless man was almost as strong as him.

Speaking of Red Hair, Aria was about to press his artifact. Adam watched with bated breath, wondering who would end up being stronger.

Aria went to tap his necklace, but Red Hair stopped her with a simple raise of his arm. Then he touched it himself, bringing up a stat screen that everybody else could only marvel at.

'Varek Raken; Enhancer... but...'

Even as Adam looked at the stats, he couldn't believe them. He wasn't alone in this, as all the other kids marveled at his prowess, even remarking that they were going to stay behind him.

Adam's eyebrows furrowed the more he looked at them, wondering how Varek Red Hair could have such high stats already. Was he really just that much more proficient?

Because 4,280 Qi was almost four times greater than what Adam had, even after he diligently performed every quest available to him. Even after upgrading his artifact, Adam was so far behind him it didn't make sense.

As Aria approached Adam, Varek flashed him a wide grin—the first emotion this bastard Red Hair had shown since his arrival. Adam turned to Aria and, just the same as Varek, activated his own status screen.

Even if Varek was stronger now, he was going to work hard to—

'What the fuck?' Adam thought as Varek said the same thing out loud, his smile dropping.

'When... when did I get such a big stat boost? When I killed Thomas?' Adam thought, unable to fathom how much stronger he had gotten without even noticing.

Those same kids who murmured about hiding behind Varek now scooched their way over to Adam. Aria herself hummed in content, surprised that her class would have two powerful students. Usually, Inheritors like Evan would be the best they had.

Now... well, the stats speak for themselves.

[Inheritor 1] 

–[ General ]– 

- Name: Adam Haeschutt 

- Age: 18 

- Rank: First Spawn 

- Type: Enhancer 

–[ Stats ]– 

- Qi: 5,475 

– Focus: 1,240 

– Conservation: 1,215 

– Application: 1,190 

– Defense: 1,265 

– Creation: 1,215 

–[ Artifact ]– 

- Name: The Mantle 

- Level: 2 

– Quantum Cores until next level-up: 50 

– Quantum Cores owned: 10 

- Modifications: 0/5 

– Empty 

- Gadgets: 0/3 

– Empty 

–[ Stats ]– 

- Quantum Energy: 1,170 

– Imaging: 1,290 

– Efficiency: 1,190 

– Kinetics: 1,265 

– Shielding: 1,190 

– Mech: 1,215 

...

It appeared that he had earned 6 Quantum Cores and a 5x blanket stat boost from simply killing Thomas. He didn't really understand how, but the evidence was right in front of him.

Looking around, Adam realized that 2 people—Mr. Shadow and Nerd, or better known as Evan Smith and Thea Carmin—walked behind him, as if using him as a shield.

Adam let out a small imperceptible sigh, knowing that completing his quest had become much harder now. He didn't exactly know what the beacons were, and having some sort of paparazzi following him wouldn't help.

Especially since even Aria seemed to be fucking foaming at the mouth. 'Aren't you supposed to be some strict teacher? Have some dignity,' Adam lamented.

Though, he couldn't be too mad. After all, he had gone from the weakest Wasted to the strongest Inheritor.

Of this batch, anyway.