Seed of Titan-Chapter 131: Another Believer Joins the Club

The fight ended just as it started. Drai didn’t even wait for his transformation to finish before clapping his hands at the spider, squishing it into mush between his palms.

When Drai finally returned to his original size, Max was already standing there, giving him a weird look.

At this point, Drai had already grown accustomed to this sort of reaction, so he didn’t think much of it and wiped the green goo off his palms instead.

There was a long silence. Eventually, Drai asked, "How did I do? Did I pass the test?"

Instead of answering, Max asked back with an astonished look, "What the hell are you?"

Drai looked down, focusing on his palms. "Some students called me a monster. The Crimson Order named me ’the Anomaly’. My friend called me a cheater. But truthfully..."

Max waited with bated breath.

"...I’m just a seed."

Max’s face twisted in puzzlement, as he didn’t get what Drai was saying. But Drai refused to elaborate and left it at that.

’If you’re a seed, what does that make other first-stagers? Dust?’ Max silently remarked.

Lowering his hands, Drai asked, "So, do you believe me now?" 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

"Oh—hahaha! Yes, I definitely believe you after your demonstration. No wonder Lightning King failed to kill you," Max replied, patting Drai’s back a bit too eagerly. "So, disregarding that enlarging skill that looks so overpowered, what level are you actually?"

"I just got to level five yesterday."

Max was so baffled that a disgusted look was plastered on his face.

"You just awakened this year, right?" he asked.

"Yeah, around four months ago."

"Four months..." Max muttered. "That means your leveling rate is around one level per month. Holy shit... That’s insane!"

Max’s gaze locked onto Drai, staring at him with zeal as if he were looking at the most precious thing in the world.

Being stared at so intensely like that, Drai automatically shuddered.

"Ahem. Sorry, I was too excited," Max said as he straightened his back, slightly embarrassed.

Tilting his head, Drai asked, "Why are you so excited?"

Once again, Max didn’t reply but questioned back, "What level do you think I am?"

Drai deliberated aloud, "Hmm... You’re thirty years my senior, so that makes you around forty-eight years old. I think at this age you’d normally be around the mid to late fourth stage, so around level thirty seven?"

"Not even close. I’m at late fifth stage, level 48 to be precise."

"Really?! Then wouldn’t you be one of the strongest people in Rivideria?"

Max shook his head. "That’s not guaranteed. First, levels don’t necessarily translate into power level, such as in your case. There are a lot of high-level administrative people who can’t fight for shit. And second, not everyone likes attention. We don’t know how many powerhouses have been living quietly, well-hidden from public eyes."

Drai thought about Max’s words and nodded in agreement. It really wasn’t wise to judge a person’s prowess using levels, which was something Drai had exploited during the Crimson Order’s invasion. And it was true that Drai had made his statement based on his knowledge of the renowned fighters in the nation.

"But on the other hand," Max continued, "imagine how strong you would be when you’re at my level. I bet you could make the Lightning King your pet ape."

Drai chuckled, imagining himself strolling through the jungle with the golden ape on a leash.

"But how long will it even take for me to get to your level?" Drai asked.

"It doesn’t have to be exactly my level, just until you’re a lot stronger than my current self," Max explained. "Then we’ll have a much higher chance to break through the guards. We could always try escaping, but I’d rather not get injured needlessly. Unlike you, I don’t have a miraculous healing ability."

Drai clenched his fist, feeling a surge of motivation. He had always strived to get stronger, but with a clear goal in mind, his determination reached new heights.

"I don’t know how much your leveling rate will slow down," Max continued, "but I think it’s safe to assume that you’ll get your second class under a year. And if we consider the worst case and double the time required for each evolution, you’d be a fourth-stager in just seven years!"

Drai was astonished. He had never done the math before, so he had never imagined himself reaching the fourth stage in less than ten years. Even his father had only recently become a third-stager.

"Damn, that’s fast!" Max exclaimed, looking impressed by his own calculations. "No wonder your friend called you a cheater. I’d also rather not have someone like you by my side during my academy days. It would just make me look and feel bad."

Hearing this, Drai smiled ruefully. Max’s sentiments were exactly the same as Jian’s, which made Drai felt bad for his roommate. At the same time, his respect for Christo also grew a lot higher—the guy was so considerate that he never uttered so much as a single complaint about Drai’s absurd progress rate or his own slower development.

Noticing Drai’s expression, Max quickly moved the discussion forward.

"So, what you need to do from now is to get stronger, Drai. Go level up, get new skills, learn new techniques... Do whatever you need so you don’t end up like me, stranded for decades."

"I will," Drai replied, resolving himself for years of training while clearing the circumstances of the outside world out of his mind, including his parents’ situation, as these thoughts would only bog him down and delay his return.

"Now," Max continued, "I’d love to share you some tips for leveling quickly, but the thing is, I don’t actually have any. I’m quite sure that it’s the environment here that hastened my progress, including the food and the fighting."

"There’s also the substances," Drai added.

Max furrowed his brows. "What substances?"

Drai then told Max about his assimilation and how it was made possible here due to these substances that weren’t found outside.

"This... I didn’t know there was such a thing," Max muttered. Right now, he was thinking that all the things he had eaten and drunk might’ve also contained other mysterious substances, which probably contributed to his relatively fast development.

"And this essence assimilation thing... Will it speed up your leveling?" Max asked.

"Maybe, but I’m not sure since I only did it once. I’ll have to wait and see if it’s really the case."

Hearing this, Max’s eyes gleamed.

"Why wait? Let’s do it now!"