Zero to Hero (Prequel/prototype)

Chapter 75. Ceiling

"Morning Ken. We need to get ready. Headmaster Nelson wanted us to give a final speech for the students before we leave today." Clare said gently as she shook the young man awake.

"That headmaster Nelson is really treating us like some motivational speaker. Never expected to have to give the entire student body weekly morning speeches." Ken replied as the pair got ready.

After a fulfilling breakfast where the pair chatted happily with some of the students and Ken turned down more girls, the pair joined headmaster Nelson at the assembly hall one final time to give the students one final pep talk before they thanked the headmaster and teleported back to Dragonspire.

"Were you able to get Thallan to train you? I heard he had never done a private lesson before." Cecilla asked, as she greeted the pair in the common room after their teleportation.

"Sure did! Turns out, he and Valentina are actually husband and wife but have been separated for the past 20 years due to some of the things Thallan did to get the pair the opportunity to become heroes. Anyways, I will tell you the story later since I need your help to see if we can get them back together." Ken replied as he greeted the rest of the girls.

"How close are you to holy level?" Lovetta asked as the group headed back to their suite to catch up after spending the month apart.

"About a 1/5th way there. My progress hasn't slowed at all and I definitely haven't hit any wall, but the jump from divine to holy is so large that unless I somehow figure out a way to get 4 years worth of growth in half a year, I won't be able to get there and we would need to go find a remote corner of the world and go into hiding." Ken replied as he slumped into the sofa in their living area.

"Everyone's welcome to come to Atlantica. It might take a while to get used to living underwater, but my father will no doubt be able to protect Ken." Indra offered.

"Thanks Indra! if it comes down to it and we don't have a place to escape to, we will go live under the ocean and be one with the merman!" Ken replied happily.

"So now that we have given up on reaching holy level, you don't have to do any more exchanges and will stay with me all day every day right?" Genesis asked, her voice full of hope.

"Genesis. You know I'm not giving up. I don't know how I'm going to get there but I'm not giving up until the very end. I will try to talk with Zishell, Julius and Osmar during the tournament and see if I can get them to train me." Ken replied as Genesis sat on his lap and complained some more.

After catching up with the girls, Ken settled back into his daily school life at dragonspire. Spending most of his time studying and training, doing what he could to get as strong as possible as the school semester approached its end.

"Time to get up!" Seraphina said happily as she grabbed the sleeping Ken and picked him up and out of bed.

"Seraphina! Just because you can, doesn't mean you should always pick me up for fun!" Ken complained as he got startled awake by the happy dragoon girl. After getting dressed, the young man headed for the stadium ground with the girls to enjoy some stall food before the tournament started.

"Congratulations on winning your matches yesterday Ken." Ryo said as the young vampire boy arrived at the stadium with his friends nice and early.

"Great job on winning the tournament for the first years! Obviously I know what you are capable of doing but to put on a show for your first big stage appearance, be careful not to attract too many girls and end up in a dire situation like me." Ken said jokingly as he chatted with the first years for a bit before heading to the backstage of the stadium to get ready for the second day of the open tournament.