General POV

  Peter woke up screaming.

  His hands flew to his throat, clawing at skin that was whole and unmarked, searching for the fingers that had been crushing his windpipe moments ago. His surroundings materialized around him in fragments and it took him three full seconds to remember that the virtual space wasn't real, that he hadn't actually died, and that Theodore fucking Lockheart had dragged him into the heart of an explosion and held him there while they both burned.

  Peter started laughing.

  The people nearby exchanged nervous glances, clearly wondering if he'd lost it, but Peter didn't care. He threw his head back and laughed until his ribs ached, until tears streamed down his face and other competitors were staring at him like he'd lost his mind. Maybe he had.

  "That crazy bastard," Peter wheezed, wiping his eyes. He cursed out loud. He knew he couldn't beat all of us. He knew he was going to die. So he decided if he was going down, he was taking as many of us with him as he could. Peter's delighted grin stretched wider. "I have to fight him again. I have to."

  Victoria didn't share his enthusiasm. Dragged into death by a competitor from Instance Seven like she was nothing, her hands trembled with rage she refused to let show on her face.

  At least their point-carrier was in safety… much to her relief when she found out about that hidden victory condition. Wondering why the organizers hid it in the first place, she couldn't help but scowl, but her expression melted into one of understanding the moment she understood the reasoning behind it.

  They didn't want the teams to put the point-carrier in some safe place, they wanted them all the play.

  Regardless, however, she'd suffered a great loss at the hands of someone, and she'd make him pay.

  Similar thoughts were going through others' heads. And more so, a singular question:

  Who the hell was Theodore Lockheart?

  His image had been cemented in everyone's brain prior to the tournament, something about a wastrel. No one really paid him much heed other than the few times his scandals made some rounds around the capital. Some minor gossip here and there, but it'd been enough to cement his image. But now… that image had been shattered into oblivion.

  The news hit the capital like a tidal wave.

  Simon had gotten recording crystals from multiple sources, and the story wrote itself. Headlines blazed across every Chronicles crystal in the city within the hour. The taverns erupted.

  "He did WHAT?"

  "Says here he grabbed Peter and Victoria—Peter and Victoria!—and dragged them into the explosion with him!"

  "That's suicide! How hot would that have been?"

  "But look at the points! Look at what his team ended up with! They're first place!"

  Indeed, they were first place. They'd won, domineeringly, one might say, and thus the gambling halls went insane. The nobles received the news over dinner, and for once, the great houses were united in their confusion.

  Maybe they needed to update their opinion on the man.

  ***

  Theodore POV

  People's reaction as expected had been absolutely crazy. That Theodore cared little was another matter, it'd been four days since the second event ended and Theodore had not wasted a single one of them.

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  He trained when he felt like it, and he stopped when he got bored, and that alone told him how far ahead he was compared to where he used to be.

  He sparred with Freya more than once, which meant broken egos on both sides and a running tally neither of them bothered keeping straight given that Theodore had gotten a lot stronger now and so had she so unless they went all out these spars weren't really conclusive or that satisfying, thus he went out with her afterward.

  He ate well, slept well, and life had been pretty chill these days. His clones had been busy but that was for another day, what he was more interested in was that he'd noticed Leona watching him more, which was new and better he supposed than what used to be.

  Curiosity beat contempt any day. He did not push, because pushing Leona would be bad to be honest and he was not that stupid anymore. He let her observe. She wanted to talk to him. He knew that. She knew that he knew that. But none of them were speaking about it. She was too shy or something like that.

  And he found it adorable.

  What did she even want to talk to him about? Did she want him to train her? Did she just want to ask something from him? Or was she just looking for ways to get into contact with him more often?

  Whatever it was, she was quite adorable when she snuck around trying to pretend otherwise when he noticed her. Freya had teased her about it a lot.

  The capital itself had been entertaining. Nobles who used to look through him now remembered his name, and merchants and noble houses who had never answered his letters suddenly wanted meetings.

  They were interested in his products because after he won the second event, people started looking more into his background and him. After all, he was a far cry from what he used to be, so they were interested.

  And lo and behold, what they found was surprising because not only he changed, but he had also brought with him a lot of changes to the world itself.

  He had made some interesting products as well as some other things and they were interested in that. The smarter ones knew how much profit awaited them if they could just get a contract with him. And so he was getting a lot of letters these days, some from noble houses, some from their patriarchs or matriarchs, some from noble women suggesting things he rather not even talk about in exchange for his time.

  Of course, he had declined most of them because he could. That alone felt like progress. They dared not force him because one, he was a fucking prince and two, he was strong. Other than that, he wanted to focus more on quality rather than quantity. So he just accepted meetings with those he deemed worthy.

  The tournament had done wonders for him, and not just in reputation. Levels had piled up fast, skills had grown, and one of them had outright evolved. He had chosen evolution that made sense to him and ignored what did not, and he did not regret his decision.

  The notifications had come in waves, but to sum up the progress:

  [Heal] has leveled up! – Lvl 6 > Lvl 17!

  [Mana Convergence] has leveled up! – Lvl 20 > Lvl 27!

  [Parallel Processing] has leveled up! – Lvl 18 > Lvl 25!

  [Parallel Processing] has leveled up! – Lvl 25 > Lvl MAX!

  Congratulations! You have gained skill: [Mind Division]!

  [Mind Division] has leveled up! – Lvl 0 > Lvl 1!

  [Severing Aura] has leveled up! – Lvl 20 > Lvl 22!

  [Mana Manipulation] has leveled up! – Lvl 3 > Lvl 8!

  [Mana Reinforcement] has leveled up! – Lvl 14 > Lvl 20!

  [Basic Armament] has leveled up! – Lvl 5 > Lvl 11!

  [Arcane Sight] has leveled up! – Lvl 12 > Lvl 14!

  [Slime Manipulation] has leveled up! – Lvl 3 > Lvl 5!

  [Basic Dimensional Magic] has leveled up! – Lvl 4 > Lvl 7!

  Your class, [Runic Mage], has leveled up – Lvl 17 > Lvl 20!

  Your race, [Human(E)], has leveled up – Lvl 8 > Lvl 10!

  [Heal] leveling up as much as it did was kind of obvious given how much use he got out of it during the ending of the second event. [Mana Convergence] was also kind of expected and the other skills as well. [Parallel Processing] evolving was a welcome surprise and he'd selected an evolution that made sense to him: [Mind Division]. Because other options hadn't been what he wanted.

  [Mind Division] was just what it seemed like.

  Dividing his mind into multiple ways, multiple minds, where before he splintered his single mind into threads now he could utilize multiple brains, so to say. Other than that, his race leveling up hadn't been that surprising, but what had been surprising was his class leveling up.

  He didn't know why it'd leveled up.

  He had also noticed one very conspicuous absence.

  Max had vanished.

  He'd expected to see a smug face, but no smug face hovered nearby when he returned from the virtual space, which meant Max absolutely knew Theodore would be looking for him.

  That, more than anything, confirmed it.

  Max had pulled the prank, Max had enjoyed it, and Max had fled the scene like a coward with good instincts.

  He would find him.

  He would take his time, and he would be creative, and the revenge would be proportionate in the exact way that would annoy Max the most. Theodore was in no rush, because vengeance aged like fine wine, and Max had made the mistake of giving him time.

  Other than that, life was good.

  !

  On another note got my catto spayed yesterday, it has not been fun seeing her the way she is after surgery :(

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