Vile Evil Hides Under The Veil

Soon Eren's test became known to every student in class 1/C.

[ Elemental Affinity- Time (ether + remaining great elements in differing quantities)

Lightning (wind + water + fire)

Inherent Nature- Devour, Speed, XX

Aptitude- Close combat expert, potioneer, weapon specialist, berserker… ]

Everyone including Eren was tongue-tied!

The students and Lin's panel were shocked because elements like Time were extremely rare. There were not many suitable ranking techniques and spells available for this derived element.

There was even an ongoing theory that time and space shouldn't be considered as derived elements at all. They should be counted in the list of great elements if not above them.

But having a rare derived element like time wasn't the end. Eren had another derived element affinity.

It seldom happens that a ranker has two derived elements. And the fact that one of the derived elements was time made it even more unbelievable.

Eren was surprised as well. He thought he already knew about what element he was going to have even before the aptitude test. Turned out he was wrong.

Eren had a lightning element in his previous timeline as well. So the test showing that element wasn't surprising to him.

But the element of time was something Eren wasn't expecting. He quickly thought of the gem he was integrated with, in this timeline. The gem had to be the root cause behind his newfound time affinity, an additional trait of devouring in his default inherent nature of speed, and malleable aptitude that was compatible with so many professions.

Eren thought he had his path figured out because he already knew about his affinity, nature, and aptitude. But now he needed to rethink his approach.

Lin's panel or the available academy staff were unable to give Eren an optimal consultation because of his time element. The element of lightning was rare and powerful. But it wasn't so out of the ordinary that the staff of LA would get stumped over.

But the concept of time was elusive. It had special ranking techniques and spells. And since these techniques and spells were limited in number, they can only accommodate rankers with certain types of aptitude.

Lin's panel and the academy staff neither had anyone with the element of time in their lot nor they studied or read anything about the techniques related to time. Frankly, they were not qualified to guide Eren. He needed special consultation.

Therefore, Lin declared that Eren will be provided with his consultation later on by the academy after finding the right personnel to do so. Eren agreed and went back to his place. This time his return was traced by a lot of eyeballs.

The aptitude test continued!

There were a fair amount of students with derived element affinities. But nobody could shock the crowd as much as Eren did.

Eren didn't mind the attention he was getting. He knew that soon this attention would shift to other pieces of information Lin was going to give them regarding how the academy works.

Then the rat race would begin. And his existence would soon get overlooked. If he acted the same way as his past self that is.

****************

Lin continued his explanation after the aptitude test and the consultation for all the students except Eren's were finished:

"Now that you have an idea about your element affinity, inherent nature, and aptitude, you can think about the path you want to pursue based on the given consultation and your preferences.

Make sure you take your time to choose the right path for yourself. Don't rush into anything. Taking your time, in the beginning, is always better than regretting your choice later on. You'll have to regress in your ranking journey to restart with a better path if that happens.

Now let's talk about lectures, merit points, and more!

If you think your entry into the academy was all that was required to gain any type of knowledge LA has in store for its students, then you are wrong. LA is not a utopia from your dreams.

Remember sir Rufus' speech. You'll have to pay for gaining knowledge and everything related to it here.

Of course, the academy won't suffocate the students from all sides. You have something called homeroom lectures.

Whatever the homeroom professor panel teaches, it will be free of charge for that respective class. That means you don't have to pay with merit points when attending lectures conducted by me or my panel. This is only applicable for students belonging to the 1/C class.

You need to find professors or assistant professors that belong to your element, class, subject of interest, or skill level yourself if the homeroom lectures are not enough for you. You'll have to pay with merit points to attend their lectures or be part of various programs organized by them.

Apart from lectures, the students will have to pay for lending books from the library, various ranking techniques, spells, and everything else that is worth your merit points.

The merit points can be obtained through completing training schedules, completing assignments, performing exceptionally in ranking wars and various other means you'll come to know later on.

There's no scope for cheating in any form. Your blood-bound ID stone will keep track of your every progress. It will also display the number of merit points you have.

Oh, right? Most of you still don't know the various functions of your new ID stones, right? Let me first list them quickly before proceeding any further."

Lin started explaining ID stones' functions to the students. Most of them were surprised. They started firing their mana senses in all the directions at once after finding out about the importance of knowing the BTP of those around them.

Eren had already told Jake about keeping his BTP visibility private. And the latter understood its seriousness and quickly learned how to save his hide for the time being.

Most weren't so lucky. The students were going to act as both hunters and prey among themselves after knowing about each other's BTPs. Only then did Lin tell them about how to keep their BTPs private.

Everyone understood LA wanted them to fight among themselves. That's why they released information about BTP visibility after highlighting the importance of that particular body stat.

Every student had been accredited with 1000 monthly merit points after Lin's panel finished explaining the functions of the ID stones and how to use merit points.

Merit point was the official currency inside LA. It didn't have any physical manifestation. It would only get recorded on students' ID stones. And students would be able to carry out their transactions with each other or with LA and academy staff using these merit points.

Merit points suddenly became more important for students than the money and Extol they had.

But it wasn't like the Eddies and Extols were completely useless. A fixed amount of them could be converted into merit points. The exchange rate was subject to change on various factors.

Converting real money to merit points was practically wasting money, from a layman's perspective. Oftentimes one wouldn't get their money's worth. And merit points couldn't be officially converted back into real money.

But this exchange was worth it for students with heavy wallets. It had the potential of giving them the edge they were missing.

Of course, there was a monthly cap involved to prevent rich kids from gaining too much advantage. But the money still played a huge part in nurturing students to their fullest.

LA was an academic institute. But it needed money to run and function properly. The Kingdom's grants would only cover the academy's bare necessities. It gained a huge sum from keeping the merit points system ongoing.

Students got to know about the ranking wars that would start a week from now.

Ranking wars had many types. There were intraclass, interclass, and inter-year ranking wars on one vs. one level. Then there were party-based ranking wars of the same types.

So there were six types of ranking wars in total. Each came with its set of rules.

Winning in the ranking wars would grant you war points. These war points would be tallied each month to declare top students in each category. These top placeholders would receive additional merit points based on their position in ranking wars.

Intraclass wars would take place between two individuals or two parties belonging to the same class. A student needed to participate in at least one intraclass war every week, either personal or party-based.

The individuals or parties involved in the intraclass war need to bet a minimum of 100 merit points on the battle. Therefore, the winner would receive 200 merit points and the loser would gain nothing.

Students needed to participate in at least one inter-class war every month, either individual or party-based. It would take place between individuals or parties belonging to different classes within the same year.

The individual or parties needed to bet a minimum of 200 merit points for inter-class wars. The winner of the match would get 400 and the loser would gain nothing.

And finally, the students needed to participate in inter-year wars at least once every three months, either on an individual level or party-based. The betting amount would be 500 merit points.

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Apart from merit points, the students would also receive war points. War points would be granted by the match referee. And the amount was depended on students' battle performance.

Unlike merit points, the loser of the match would also receive war points based on their performance. If the match was neck to neck, there'd be practically no difference between war points allocated to both sides.

The merit points would be divided among the party members equally if a party has won the game. But the same would not be the case with war points. The number of war points would only be dictated by the students' involvement and their performance in the match.

In short, there was no easy way to gain war points. The students needed to actively participate in every battle and beat their opponents effortlessly to gain maximum war points for themselves.

The war points would decide the placeholders in various categories. Every set of top players from these categories would receive additional merit points by LA.

Intraclass war rankings would be updated every week. Only the top 20 students (out of 100) would be considered as placeholders in this category.

Inter class war rankings would be updated every month. Only the top 100 students (out of 500) would be considered as placeholders in the category.

Inter year war rankings would be updated every three months. Only the top 100 students would be considered as placeholders in the category.

Inter year wars would usually take place between the individuals or parties belonging to classes that had only one year of academic difference. For example, battles between first-year individuals and second-year individuals. Or third-year individuals and fourth-year individuals.

Therefore to gain maximum benefits, students would participate in all the categories and score a win in most of them. They could practically double or triple the number of merit points they receive monthly by participating and winning in ranking wars.

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There was no such thing as ties in these matches. Either the students need to force each other to give up or make them unable to battle.

If both sides are unable to continue the battle for some reason, then the result of the battle would be decided by the match referee based on their performance.

*******

The students would also receive various passes randomly after winning the matches. There were various types of passes one can gain and make use of during battles.

For example, the Right to Battle pass would force someone to accept their opponent's challenge even if they have already participated in a similar battle. Then there was the Right to Skip Battle pass that would allow someone to counter the Right to Battle pass or skip the minimum participation requirement.

Then there were opponent-restricting or self-strengthening passes. These passes were also individual-based or party-based.

Just like merit points and war points, these passes were issued on ID stones. The spectral screen would show the number of merit points, war points, and passes available to the students.

Normally these passes would only be issued by the match referee if and when the individual or a party showed overwhelming performance and won their matches spectacularly against equally tough opponents.

Students were allowed to exchange these passes among themselves unless they were user-bound. These passes could be stacked depending upon their types and situations.

These passes had the power to give the advantage to a weaker side to face a stronger opponent with equal footing. The students would normally store and use them only when they needed to participate in inter-year matches.

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The benefits of a junior side winning against a senior side were huge in terms of merit points and war points. The prestige that came with it was also incomparable.

Intraclass battles were usually fought between individuals. And students preferred meeting the minimum requirements in inter-class and inter-year battles by being in a party.

Intraclass battles would require students to place a minimum wager of 100 merit points. Even if they were to lose the battle, it wouldn't hurt them much.

But the merit point amount of 200 and 500, for inter-class and inter-year battles respectively, was too much for an individual to wager on. The chances of losing the match were higher in these battles. So losing meant losing a hefty amount of merit points.

Participating in these matches by forming a party would allow the students to share the burden. Even if they lose the match, the impact won't be that high. The only downside of party-based battles was the winning amount would be divided among the party members.

In short, ranking wars had created a certain ecosystem. There would be a steady supply of merit points if students were to participate and win in these battles consistently. They just needed to choose their opponents in such a way that it would always ensure their win.

That's why knowing the BTPs of your opponents was a crucial piece of information. Most students regretted not knowing how to use the ID stone's functions beforehand. They could have used that information to quickly score loads of merit points for themselves.

The ranking wars were going to start next week. First to start would be intraclass wars. Eren was going to use the BTP information he gained that day to wreak havoc on the students.

Jason was regarded as the newbie killer in Eren's previous life. He had dried the merit points of so many students that they had given him this name.

Just like Eren, Jason had also collected the BTP information about all the first-year students. Eren was the one who copied Jason's idea in this timeline.

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Author's Note: Hi. VEH touches the milestone of +100K word count with this release. We have achieved this while retaining the average chapter length of around +1.5K words. ;) gm