Reborn as an Extra

Chapter 484: The Graduation Ceremony. Part-7.

The party kept going until late at night, and Rio met many S-rankers and other people one after another.

As the main star of the banquet, Rio obviously couldn’t stay silently in a corner and pass like he usually does most of the time.

Many S-rankers and even some A-rankers came over to talk to him from time to time.

He was even invited by many guilds to join them, but Rio declined them all and said that he has already decided that he will join the guild that’s led by Lia’s father.

Originally, Rio was planning to join Link’s guild during his early days in the academy, but after he got involved with Lia, he stopped caring about that and decided to join Lia instead.

Lia will surely join this guild too in the future, and the two of them can work together and spend a lot of time together if they work in the same guild.

Rio is already an S-ranker; money and resources are not that big of a deal to him anymore. He doesn’t have to join Ashtel’s guild just for money and resources.

He can just raid a random S-rank dungeon and get a lot of money by selling its products.

With money and resources out of the list, he can focus on a more easygoing lifestyle.

Aside from the S-rankers who were inviting him to their guild, there were S-rankers from the military too.

They also asked Rio whether he will officially join the military someday or will choose to stay a ’lieutenant general’ for now.

Joining the military officially will make Rio a ’General’ directly, and he will have the authority to control a massive army and lead troops in battle, but that will confine him to one place, and he will have too many shackles.

He will have to obey orders from the government and will have to work with his army; he will be too burdened with work and protecting the front lines to even spend a day with Lia.

Thus, Rio declined this offer too, as he didn’t want to be shackled this much.

The main reason why Rio even decided to take the job of helping in dealing with the criminals was to build merits and make up for his name as a ’Hero.’

Rio has no interest in being an actual ’soldier.’

He respects ’soldiers’ who are always ready to protect the nation and can even lay down their lives for this cause, but he himself is not able to do things like that.

Rio is no ’hero’ after all; he’s just a regular guy who’s only trying to build a peaceful and happy future for himself where he will have enough freedom to do whatever he wants.

Moreover, if Rio entered the military, he won’t be able to go on international trips, as members of the military entering other nations’ borders can escalate international tensions.

Going to other nations as an S-ranker is already a difficult thing, and you rarely ever get permission for it, and if he becomes an army member on top of that, he will never get the permission to enter the borders of other nations so easily.

Rio has to go to various places in the world to get many cheat items and steal a lot of things that the protagonist got in the novel.

To do that, he has to go to various nations and go on many adventures.

The people from the military were disappointed by Rio’s rejection, but they didn’t escalate the matter and left immediately.

Rio just shook his head at that and didn’t mind it much.

Everyone has different goals in life; there’s nothing to be ashamed of in that. Only he himself can fight for his own ’path’ in life; others will not understand his struggles, just as he can’t understand others.

Why do all SS-rankers, S-rankers, and all strong people decide to serve their nation or their race despite being so strong and so powerful?

The main reason for that is that they have to ’follow’ their ’path.’

SS-rankers are so powerful that they can literally shatter planets with just a single attack, and some of them can even destroy the solar system.

But despite being so powerful, most of them are humble, honest, and hardworking kind people with a broad mind.

The main reason is that they are all afraid of corruption and miasma.

If they behave like they are ’king,’ they are ’supreme,’ they are above all, and they stop following the direction of their own ’path,’ they will get affected by corruption and miasma.

All powerful people know this; that’s why they never go against their ’path’ and try to be as strong as possible.

Rio is the same; his ’path’ is to achieve a better future for himself. He does not want to go against his own ’ambition’ and destroy it.

As they say, ’Those who walk on ’Paths’ are the most prone to getting ’Lost’ compared to those who never walk at all...’

Awakeners that are below rank A and don’t even have a ’Path’ of their own yet never get affected by such things, but the stronger you become, the more prone to distraction you become.

All SS-rankers work hard for their hometown and their nation to keep their mind steady and preserve their ’humanity.’

Power corrupts people, and increases in strength can bring you closer and closer to embracing evil.

But if you walk on a ’Path’ that keeps you in touch with your ’Humanity,’ you can preserve yourself even against the severe temptation of corruption and miasma.

The ’Law’ of ’Miasma and Corruption’ is extremely strong; its effects can easily destroy anyone who doesn’t have a path, and those who have a path constantly have to face temptation and corruption.

This is the misery of being an awakener; not all are capable of walking this harsh path, and that’s also the reason why most people never ’awaken.’

...

Rio chatted with many people, and time passed very fast.

By the time the party ended, it was already midnight. Rio boarded the same car as Lia and went over to the silver mansion with her to rest.

Lia was soon going to head on a training trip with her father, and Rio wanted to spend the remaining time with her.

"Ugh, I am never going to a party that goes on for an entire day again..."

Rio leaned his head against Lia’s shoulder and complained.

"So many people kept coming to me to talk that I couldn’t even get time to breathe..."

Lia played with Rio’s dark black hair as she smiled at Rio’s words.

"Well, you were the star of today’s party; obviously people will not leave you alone..."

Rio also smiled at Lia’s words as he enjoyed Lia massaging his head with her cute small hands.

"Is my hair really that fascinating? you are always messing with them for some reason..."

Hearing Rio’s words, Lia shrugged her shoulders.

"Well, I have never seen anyone with dark black hair like yours... in fact, even in news or on internet, it’s very rare to see anyone with pitch-black hair like yours..."

"So I like them as they are so rare and amazing..."

Rio smirked at Lia’s words and said,

"Well, I am indeed rare and unique; I won’t mind if you touch my hair for as long as you won’t if you pay me with a kiss..."

Lia blushed a bit at Rio’s bold words, but she didn’t hesitate at all and gave Rio a kiss on the forehead as she kept playing with his hair.

Time passed as the two of them stayed together in that same happy atmosphere until they finally reached the Silver Mansion.

The two of them stayed together for a while before going to rest.