BIOLOGICAL SUPERCOMPUTER SYSTEM

The following day Erik woke up early. This was going to be a very important day, with most of the students having their first inner-ranking fight, and the young man was one of them.

He still didn't know whom he had to fight. However, since this person was going to be part of the Red Palace, he didn't dare underestimate him or her by any means.

So, Erik decided to go to the cafeteria for his first daily quest and then head to the Yellow Palace to start his training. Of course, he couldn't go without Benedict, so Erik knocked on the young man's door and woke him up.

"Benedict, wake up!" Erik said.

"Hmm...? What...? Who...?"

"It's me! Get your ass out of bed, and let's have breakfast."

"What time is it?" Benedict asked with a foggy mind; he was basically half asleep.

"It's 6:30 in the morning."

"Why did you wake me up so early...?" Benedict lamented, throwing his pillow at Erik.

"Man, I will leave you here unless you get your ass up!" Erik replied in annoyance. Then Benedict stood up from the bed, grumbling something unintelligible under his breath. He quickly dressed and followed Erik out of the room.

"Finally," Erik said. "Let's go..."

"Yeah... yeah..."

After that, the two went to eat together as usual. It seemed like they were becoming more comfortable around each other, which made Benedict particularly happy. As for Erik, he was still a little bit awkward around others, so he didn't know what to do. After arriving at the cafeteria, the two began eating.

Later, after finishing off the last piece of bread and completing his quest, Erik stood up, quickly followed by Benedict.

"So, today we are going to fight, eh?" Benedict said.

"Yes..." Since Benedict had much more knowledge than him about fighting, Erik asked him a question, "What do you think about my chances of winning?" Erik replied with an anxious tone.

"Well, I don't really know how you will perform. Judging by your stats, you shouldn't have particular problems with people around your rank, but it will be difficult on higher ones. However, don't worry too much about it. The people we are going to fight will be around our rank," Benedict replied, trying to ease the young man's anxiousness. The boy smiled weakly at his roommate, relieved that he thought so.

After walking through the corridors, the pair arrived at the elevator. They quickly left the floor and headed to the main entrance, where the usual bus was waiting for the students to come. After that, the day went fast; with Erik completing his daily training and quest, it was time to fight.

The place Erik and the others were currently headed was called the Blue Palace, maintaining the establishment's sense of naming. This was essentially a place with multiple rooms where the students could fight without repercussion. They were built with durable materials that could sustain even the strongest of the powers, making it so that the students didn't have to worry about their surroundings.

The blue palace was very similar to the yellow one. It was a huge rectangular building at least 20 floors high with no windows and just one door on one of the short sides. The building was probably made of metal and was entirely painted blue. To reach this place, the students had to take the bus, meaning that hundreds of such vehicles were traveling there, with occasionally some heading there by foot.

Once the students arrived, a huge crowd of people was amassed by the door, but they quickly entered it. As soon as they did, a notification appeared on their phones, Erik included.

__________________________________________

ERIK ROMANO (RANK 3543-FIRST YEAR) VERSUS ALISSA KERR (RANK 3492-FIRST YEAR)

ROOM 764, SEVENTH FLOOR.

HEALER: DACRE HOLLAND

__________________________________________

"It looks like my opponent will be a girl, uh?" Erik said to himself. He then turned to look at his friends as he was curious about whom they would fight.

"Who is your opponent?" the young man asked.

"It's a third-year guy in my case, Christopher House," Amber said.

"Maddie Nash, second year," Gwen replied.

Soon all of their friends told them whom they would fight; Amber and Anderson got third-year students, while the others were second-year ones. Only Erik got to fight with someone in the same year. It was a little bit depressing, but to be honest, Erik was starting to care less and less about these things, so he wasn't that bothered. Besides, every time he had to fight, a thrilling excitement filled his body. He was anticipating his next fight a little bit.

Then Erik observed his surroundings. At first glance, the interior looked quite normal. There were doors leading into different areas inside a large hall. Several benches lined the wall over the room, and couches were scattered here and there. In addition, there were vending machines lined along the walls near the entrance, selling drinks and snacks.

"Better get going," Floyd said.

"Yeah!" Benedict replied. "I can't wait to fight!" he added, with all the others rolling their eyes back. During this week in the Red Palace, they started to know Benedict, and saying he was a battle junkie was an understatement.

Like that, the students entered one of the many doors leading to different corridors, and each took an elevator to go to their respective floors. Once on the seventh, Erik quickly found room 764, and once there, he saw that there was already a person inside.

"You should be Erik Romano," the man in front of him said; he looked around his thirties.

"And you should be Mister Holland," Erik replied.

"Indeed, I am."

As the two men bowed respectfully toward each other, Alissa Kerr walked inside the room and looked at her surroundings.

"The last one came, finally. Shall we start?" the healer said.

"That's good for me," Erik said.

"Me too," Alissa Ker replied.

Suddenly the metallic door behind the young woman closed, and the three remained inside the room. To be honest, the healer went inside another door and disappeared behind it, probably to avoid getting injured during the two students' confrontation.

At that, the healer's voice came out from some speakers into the wall. "Ok, guys, just a couple of things before we start. No Fatal moves, you can use your powers and weapons, and you can even set rules to win this competition differently, such as restricting fighting with only martial arts or weapons and the like. If you want to quit, say that you surrender or tap the ground five times. Is Everything clear?"

"YES."

"YES."

"Good. If there is nothing more, then start the match."

As soon as the healer said this, a sort of barrier appeared all around the walls, it was transparent with a slightly yellow tint, and Erik immediately recognized it as the same kind of barrier surrounding the city. The barrier acted as a protection for the building and for the people in the other rooms.

The two students were immediately surprised by the technology, but after that, they turned to look at their opponent.

"Good luck, then..." Alissa said.

"Likewise..." Erik replied, going into a fighting stance.

The young man was slightly surprised by his opponent's politeness, though not enough to make him think she might have been a nice girl. People were fundamentally pieces of shit floating in a toilet full of piss.

After a couple of seconds, both the students started channeling mana. Erik didn't pick up his weapon and simply started circulating mana through his arm, creating the usual thin coat of mana that made it possible to cut through anything.

However, Alissa summoned a huge claymore sword. It had an ethereal blue tint, at least 140 centimeters long, and a slightly bent forward guard that made the sword look like a cross.