Cleaver Of Sin

Chapter 471: Snorty Brat

Asher decided to check his system interface. It had been a while since he last looked at his stats; the previous time had been when he climbed to the Spark sub–Life Rank. When he had broken through his physical limitations after his battle with Blue, under normal circumstances, he would have reviewed his system immediately after that breakthrough, but he simply hadn’t had the time, given the deadly situations he had found himself thrown into one after another.

With a single thought, he called forth the system interface, and it responded without delay.

[Name: Asher Wargrave

Age: Eighteen

Bloodline: The Wargrave Lineage

Physique: Absolute Physique

Titles: [Youngest Heir] [Tenth Sun] [Disgrace of the Wargrave] [Unique Body Holder] [The Star’s Heir] [Monster] [Most Loved Wargrave]

Life Rank: Blazestar

Sub-Life Rank: Radiant

Affinity: Lightning, Star, Space, Gravity, Light

Strength: 213 → 275

Agility: 224 → 291

Vitality: 351 → 379

Perception: 232 → 321

Inventory: Platinum coins, assorted cuisine, liters of purified water, triangular wooden talisman, armors]

Asher’s eyes slowly moved across the interface, lingering on each statistic. A faint smile formed on his face as he took in the increases one by one. The changes were substantial, far more than he had anticipated, and yet none of them felt undeserved. As usual, vitality remained his highest stat, which did not surprise him in the slightest. He was confident that the Star Core Fragment alone would allow him to live for more than a thousand years, assuming nothing catastrophic happened along the way.

With another thought, Asher expanded his Omni Perception to its limits. In that instant, the world around him unfolded with startling clarity. Everything within a full three hundred meters came into his awareness. He could see, hear, and feel it all with nothing more than his mind, every detail presented to him as if it were an extension of his own body.

His smile deepened as the realization settled in. He still vividly remembered the moment he had first awakened his abilities, when his Omni Perception had barely stretched a few meters in every direction. Back then, it had felt impressive. Now, it felt laughable in comparison to the staggering three hundred meters he commanded.

Asher had long since come to the conclusion that every single digit increase in his perception stat translated directly into an additional meter added to the range of his Omni Perception. At the same time, he understood why his perception had jumped so dramatically. His battle with Blue had pushed him to the brink, forcing his senses beyond what they had ever endured before. In that fight, his awareness had been driven to its absolute limits, sharpened by survival itself, and the system had clearly rewarded him for it.

He glanced briefly at his strength and agility next, noting their increases as well. With a small nod to himself, he closed the system interface, thoroughly satisfied. For the few minutes he had left, he simply stood there, idly playing around with his Perfect Astra Control ability. He experimented with minute adjustments, refining his control even further, knowing full well that he would soon be told to leave the chamber.

Six minutes passed in silence before the chamber door clicked open, the sound sharp and unmistakable, as if reminding him not to take advantage of even a single second more than he was allowed. Without a word, Asher stepped out. As always, he concealed his presence before leaving, his movements calm and unhurried as he headed toward the receptionist’s desk. He had used his two hours to their fullest extent. Now, it was time to move on to the next aspect of his training.

A smile lingered on his face as he walked. In just a little over a month since he had entered the Star Academy, he had nearly broken through an entire Life Rank, leaving others far behind him. It was an achievement that would have stunned most people, though Asher himself treated it as nothing more than a natural progression.

When he arrived at the receptionist’s desk, he found the woman seated there with a thoughtful expression, her gaze unfocused as if she were lost in her own thoughts. Asher spoke calmly, "My two-hour time period is over." His voice seemed to snap her back to reality.

Her eyes immediately locked onto him, scanning him from head to toe as though she were trying to discern something hidden beneath the surface. And indeed, she was. She wanted to understand how Asher had survived inside the advanced training chamber. The curiosity gnawed at her tightly, to the point where a disturbing thought crossed her mind, she half wanted to tie him up, chain him to a table, and slowly cut him open just to see what made him different.

"How did you do it?" she finally asked, never taking her eyes off him as a subtle tension filled the air between them.

"Do what?" Asher replied, feigning obliviousness. His tone and demeanor remained calm, indifferent to the pressure steadily building around them.

"You know exactly what I mean, Asher Wargrave," the receptionist said flatly. When she had told him to use another chamber, she had not been joking. She had fully expected him to run out within seconds, which would have been quite the spectacle. At one point, she had even suspected he might have died inside. However, the chamber had never automatically ejected him, which meant he was still very much alive. That alone defied her expectations.

And yet, she couldn’t understand it.

Asher remained silent, acting as though he hadn’t heard her at all. From the very first moment he had met this receptionist, he had known she wasn’t just some ordinary woman. She was probably one of those absurdly powerful individuals who had a strange habit of appearing normal, or even weak, when they weren’t. Even so, Asher felt no fear. He knew she couldn’t threaten a student, let alone kill one. And even if she somehow could, she would never dare kill a Wargrave.

More than that, Asher fully intended to take advantage of the Wargrave name, squeezing every last benefit out of it while he could.

"Tsk." She clicked her tongue in frustration before speaking again. "A family of monsters... who would have thought you were even more monstrous than that snorty brat, Malrik." Her words carried a faint edge, though the tension in the air eased slightly as she continued. "Don’t take after him, okay? You should listen to your elders." A small smile appeared on her lips as she said it.

Asher didn’t respond verbally. He simply nodded. This was the first time he had ever heard someone refer to his overpowered elder brother as a "snorty brat." Most people wouldn’t even dare speak about a Wargrave like that in their absence, let alone in the presence of one.

"So," she said after a moment, leaning back slightly, "what’s next? Are you leaving already?" After all, ten thousand points wasn’t something most first-year students could afford so casually.