The first day of Leox's weekend was spent researching the various poisonous substances known to the Fourth World and heading to the Academy Laboratory to see if he could gain access to them. To no surprise, he was handed what he was looking for, as the academy encouraged the students to actively study everything they could.

  He returned to his room with two natural ingredients: White Mourning Bloom and Black Grass Resin. When consumed at the same time, the concoction would break down muscle tissues painlessly, leaving the heart too weakened to sustain its rhythm.

  After lying on his bed, he consumed a large enough dosage to kill him, still leaving plenty to spare. As he lay on his back, he could feel the plants taking effect immediately. It felt like a liquid was travelling through his body, and wherever it went, it left behind a wave of numbness.

  Leox used Purity of Body, slowly controlling the flow of the poison, just enough so that it wouldn't stop his heart from bleeding. As he did this, he felt the toxins constantly fighting against him, begging to take his life. As the plants wore off, he would take more, in larger doses, until eventually the amount he consumed was too large and he would need to use his life force to fight against it. His death arrived at night.

  This was the most painless death he had ever faced. When he felt himself becoming numb and drifting away from his body, he felt more at peace with death than he ever had. At that moment, he truly believed that if he did not come back to life, he would accept his true death. Of course, Deathless Rebirth didn't allow this, and he found his consciousness back in his body very soon, tired but alive.

  His body was hungry and thirsty, and he had focused on nothing but filtering the poison through his body and preparing himself for death.

  Through all this and the numerous deaths he has faced during his journeys, Leox must have embodied the concept of Monkhood even further, as for the first time, he had reached the adept level of a class. The Adept Monk.

  Immediately, his Overview changed. True Counterstance was upgraded to Perfect Counterstance. Now, not only could the skill deflect attacks against him that struck him, but even physical strikes that missed him could have their energy turned against them, aslong as they came within a meter radius, and had the intention of causing harm to him, but failed.

  Next was the new, third skill that he had awakened for the Monk Class, bringing him to his skill capacity for the class. This new skill was called Realm Expansion, and Leox's first thought was that it seemed very confusing. Realm Expansion allowed him to create a bubble around himself in a ten-meter radius expanding in all directions, and inside, his mana flowed freely and externally from his body, covering every inch of the realm, but also leaving his body at a fast rate.

  This left him with the question, what effect would his mana have if flowing around him? How would it be any different from keeping the mana inside of himself? He supposed that he might be able to control the mana, but then what would he do with it afterwards?

  ...

  There was only one way to test this. He activated the skill, and in a mere second, felt a large amount of mana flood from out of his body and create a thick bubble around him. He felt drained as the world fell silent, taking on a faint blue hue. However, as Leox sat there, expecting to remain in the state of being drained, he realised something. He could see the mana floating around him in faint fluorescent waves, as though they were winds. He could breathe them in and manipulate them to his will, though harmlessly.

  As he interacted with the essence, he felt a strange calm wash over him. It was like whatever was in that bubble was owned by him, and as long as he remained inside of there, he and the world were connected on a deeper level.

  But what did it mean? He felt like the realm carried such potential, but had no idea how to tap into it. His body also started to feel lighter the longer time he spent in it, and his vision became slightly blurred.

  Leox swiftly deactivated the skill, and the mana was drawn back into his body, spreading throughout his veins and filling him with life once again. He was left feeling confused and satisfied at the same time.

  I'll have to learn more about this soon. Maybe I can ask Gutaru, since he has a realm-like ability too? Until then, I'll ignore the skill. It seems dangerous.

  The final area of his Overview that had changed after consuming the poison was his progression towards the next stage. He had reached 21%, which he deemed a success. He decided that he would head back to the laboratory to gather a different set of plants before trying again.

  The rest of his weekend was spent in death and revival, eventually reaching 23% by the time the week had started again. But having seen no other changes to his Overview regarding new stats and skills, and also the fact that progress seemed to be halted after repeating unvaried methods, he decided that he would need to try something new.

  ---

  As Leox made his way towards the cafeteria to get breakfast, before tackling his first lesson for the day, he noticed his friend, Laughter, talking to a larger man in the academy corridors.

  Laughter, as always, was wearing his face of clown makeup, and the larger, also orange-haired, black-suited, moustache man seemed to be mocking him for this fact. Even though he was too far to hear the conversation, Leox could tell that whatever was being said to him by this man, the boy didn't seem to be liking it.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  Later on, when Laughter joined him in the cafeteria, the boy didn't bring up anything about the man, and didn't seem to carry his usual joyful spirit, so Leox avoided the topic.

  ---

  Finally, class arrived. With all the students now filtered into the classroom hall, sitting in front of the unbothered Professor Gutaru, they waited to hear what the man would be teaching them today.

  At first, Leox and the others had been sceptical about the man's teaching. After all, their first week had simply been focused on hunting demons that they didn't know existed. However overtime, the professor had diligently trained them, whilst also informing them on the importance of physical combat, and how they could sharpen their techniques.

  With the arrival of a new week, they suspected that they might finally learn more about their skills and classes. They soon figured out that they were wrong.

  "Students," Gutaru cleared his throat and addressed the class. "It's time for your second assignment. In a moment, you will be given five minutes to put yourself into groups of six. These groups are important and will determine who you interact with over the next few weeks, so choose wisely."

  The words caught the entire class off guard. Everyone looked around cluelessly, knowing that up until then, they only interacted with those they had known since before joining the academy. To Leox's knowledge, no one had yet made friends with that many different students.

  He looked to his side and saw Laughter. The boy flashed him a wink, which confirmed that they would at least be staying with each other, but who else?

  Gutaru announced that the five minutes had started, yet everyone remained in their seats.

  A minute passed before the first person spoke.

  "A-Astra," a blonde-haired girl started to stutter. "If you would like, we can—"

  Astra Helios rose to his feet, keeping the sweet smile on his face. He looked at the girl who had bravely approached him and bowed slightly.

  "I'm sorry, Asmarelda, but I have already decided on my partners. I'm sure there will be others who want to be with you."

  Astra's biggest fan had her heart crushed and looked down at her desktop. Afterwards, the boy rose to his feet and started making his way towards Leox. As he stood in front of him, glaring down at Leox with his star-shaped pupils, everyone watched with fascination. Astra was not famous, but he had earned a name for himself as the supposed strongest first-year student.

  "Leox Lether, would you have me as a part of your team?" He asked with his smile.

  Leox sat there, stunned for a moment. He hadn't expected a boy who had beaten him in sparring so many times to request to join his team. Of course, if Leox were to make a team, Astra would have been his first choice, too.

  "Sure, as long as you don't mind being with Laughter?" He responded, holding out his hand for Astra to take.

  Astra looked at Laughter, and both of their smiles grew wider. "Of course I don't."

  Afterwards, the trio sat down together. Astra's advance seemed to make others kick into motion, as they finally started to rise to their feet and head towards those they wanted to partner with. A few made their way over to Leox's group, but we're ultimately pushed away by a more intimidating figure.

  It was Samson, the boy with the purple crown tattoo on his face. The boy crossed his arms as he stood over the trio. It was Laughter that rose to his feet and spoke to him.

  "Samson! I was just going to come over and ask you to join us. We could do with a strong fighter like yourself."

  "Tsk. Strong? I am weak if I can't dominate a simple jester in sparring. This team is where the strong belong, but although I am weak, I still humbly ask that you accept me." Samson responded.

  As he spoke, Leox looked down at the way the boy's arms bulged through their sleeves.

  Weak? I think you're a bit confused.

  Still, Laughter smiled and took the boy's hand, inviting him to join them. They now had four people in their seats, and since they were all students who stood out as being powerful, any other students seemed to be hesitant to step forward and ask to join them. Except for one.

  It was a girl whom Leox had seen many times before, but never interacted with. He only knew her name because he often heard the other boys in the class whispering about how cute she was. Her name was Trinity, a taller girl with brown hair tied into a high bun, and strange mismatched eye colours, one green, and one silver. She approached the group with confidence, head raised high and a smirk on her face. Once she arrived, she didn't address Leox, but rather Astra, the boy whom the other students had recognised as the strongest.

  "I was planning on creating a strong group myself, but I realised everyone else doesn't quite cut it." The girl said, glancing around at the other students in the class as though they were beneath her. "I guess I'll be joining you guys."

  Without waiting for a response, she sat in their row next to Samson, who didn't even spare her a glance. Astra looked at Leox, as if asking whether this was okay, but Leox only shrugged his shoulders. I'm not the leader here.

  Besides, he wasn't even paying much attention himself. By that point, most of the students had hesitantly found a group of others to join; there was one person who remained sitting in their row of seats, not moving a muscle. It was Marybetha, the green-haired girl with the knight-like demeanour to herself. The others in the class seemed to be ignoring her, and Leox had no idea why.

  He rose from his seat, and his new teammates watched as he made his way over to her. Marybetha looked up at him, her face as straight as ever, especially as he held out her hand for her to take.

  "Marybetha, right? Will you join our team? We need strong people like you."

  For a moment, she hesitated. It seemed that she didn't expect to be asked by someone else to join, especially Leox, who she might have recognised as one of the colder students of the class. Still, she nodded her head and shook his hand.

  "Your group is where the strong are, so sure. Except for Trinity." She said, before silently making her way over to the row of seats.

  Once everyone was seated back down, Gutaru looked around the class at the five groups of six that had been created. He nodded his head, pleased with what he had seen.

  "I'm sure you are wondering why I've asked you to put yourselves into groups, and the answer could be simple: an Awakened is often stronger when fighting alongside others. But the real reason I've asked you to group yourselves is that your next task cannot be completed alone."

  A task that can't be completed alone?

  Leox looked around at his fellow team members sitting beside him in the row. Only Laughter looked back and shrugged his shoulders before Gutaru continued.

  "I planned to have you all deal with a grade-one demon raid, as I expected there to be many of these around the country. But at this point, it turns out that my plans were wrong, and there have barely been any grade ones at all, so now that's changed. Instead, you will hunt a grade-three demon, also known as a Death Beast, and bring me back its heart."