Solo Cultivating in Superhero Academy
Chapter 54: Admiration

Chapter 54: Admiration

Elius stepped onto the familiar yet also unfamiliar phasing bus with a steady breath.

His boots thudded softly against the semi-transparent steps as the door hissed shut behind him.

The shimmering metal floor beneath him pulsed faintly with arcane currents, lighting up with each step.

A low hum vibrated through the frame as the vehicle prepared to cross another plane.

He paused—because something was off.

It wasn’t the same driver.

Yesterday, the toothpick man with weathered eyes had grunted at him like he was chewing coal.

Today, a sharp-dressed figure in a dark red blazer and shimmering hat turned toward him with an enormous grin plastered across his old but lively face.

His hair was a bushy gray with white lightning streaks, combed like a cloud crown. His mustache twitched like it had its own sentience.

The driver raised a gloved hand in a theatrical gesture. "Lo and behold!"

Elius blinked.

"The acknowledged hero of Radiant Man himself!" the driver bellowed, voice ringing across the length of the bus. "The slayer of a Peak Ranked-F villain in his very first test! The breaker of trials! The sword esper—nay—the sword immortal!"

Elius’s heart dropped.

A hundred eyes turned toward him at once.

The bus wasn’t like yesterday.

It was packed.

Every seat taken.

Not by recruits like before—this wasn’t the sidekick bus.

These were full-fledged student-heroes, all of them already recognized and labeled.

Their outfits were more distinct—sleek battle suits, personalized gear, glowing cores embedded in chest plates.

Some wore visors.

Others had armor plates.

A few floated inches above their seats, while talking to each other like they were friends.

The atmosphere felt... charged.

And they were all staring at him.

Some with open jaws.

Others with narrowed eyes.

A few with grins, feral and wide.

One guy in a blue jacket leaned forward. "For real, is that him?"

"Elius, right?" another said, her left eye glowing orange, scanning him. "Confirmed match. Hair, vitals, height—yeah. That’s him."

"The one who killed Lava Scissor? Are you for real?"

"No way, he’s just a rookie!"

"You mean the rookie."

"He didn’t even run like the rest of them yesterday. The other ’newbies’ bolted as soon as the dungeon went wild, but this guy—he fought."

"Didn’t just fight. Won."

More voices overlapped like a wave crashing.

"Hey man, respect!"

"Can I get a picture? You’re all over the news!"

"Yo, just so you know, I’m gunning for that top spot. Don’t get too comfy!"

"I’m not impressed," a blonde boy scoffed. "He probably had a cheat item. Let’s see him do it again in a higher rank."

"I saw the surveillance clip. His sword flew on its own. What kind of Esper does that?!"

"Dude, I heard he melted half the cave just from his superpower alone."

"No, no! He cracked the dungeon boss’s skull with one strike, like WHAM!"

Elius stepped further in, eyes scanning. He didn’t recognize any of them, but that made sense.

These weren’t sidekick applicants or unranked newbies like yesterday.

These were already categorized Superheroes. Upper batch.

No wonder the atmosphere was so different.

He exhaled slowly.

"Whew... okay," he muttered under his breath, "this might be worse than the fight."

Despite the praise, he wasn’t smiling.

He was being watched.

Measured.

For some of them, this wasn’t admiration. It was a challenge. A few looked at him like he was already marked on their mental hit list. Like he had stolen the spotlight they were born for.

But others?

Others looked... hopeful.

"Hey," a boy with a cybernetic arm waved. "You’re amazing, man! You actually faced Lava Scissor?! All of us newbies saw the alert and ran. We were told to. No one expected the rift to go that bad."

"Seriously," a girl in white flamesuit said, twirling her ponytail. "The fact you stayed inside while we bailed... That’s nuts."

"Dude," another leaned in. "What rank are you even at? F-ranked peak? No way someone at F ranked eight stars should’ve done what you did."

Elius would watch them, he could notice some are newbies and some are not, but he could only scratch the back of his neck.

"I just... got lucky," he said, not really lying. "He underestimated me."

From behind the wheel, Sir Bush chuckled.

"Underestimated?! My boy, he didn’t just underestimate you! He got his molten head caved in!"

The students burst into more chatter, some laughing, some muttering, some visibly recalibrating their opinions.

Sir Bush turned slightly in his seat, his thick mustache dancing again.

"Allow me to properly welcome you to the hero circuit, Mr. Elius," he said, tipping his hat dramatically. "You’re no longer just a participant in the trials. You’re a piece on the board now. And let me tell you..."

His voice dropped slightly, gaining weight.

"...the board just changed."

Elius tilted his head. "What do you mean?"

Sir Bush leaned back, hands still on the wheel.

"You see... yesterday’s rift test? It wasn’t just a test gone wrong. It was a breach. A bad one. Something none of us expected."

The temperature in the bus dropped.

Every student listened now. Even the ones pretending not to care.

Sir Bush continued, voice low and grim. "The Peak Ranked-F dungeon you entered was sealed, monitored, and cleared three times before. What happened inside should’ve stayed there. But somehow... somehow, villains got in."

Elius’s brow furrowed. "Got in? You mean they were already inside?"

Sir Bush shook his head slowly.

"No, my boy. They entered after the rift was stabilized. From the outside."

Elius froze. "Wait—what?"

"I know. It doesn’t make sense. But that’s the report from the Internal Rift Management Bureau. We didn’t just lose sensor connection for a few seconds. We saw spikes—power signatures from villain cells previously tracked and tagged. They entered the rift. On their own."

"But how?" a student asked. "That’s supposed to be impossible! Dimensional rifts are one-way unless you have an authority-grade passcode or are classified as anomaly-tolerant!"

Sir Bush nodded. "Exactly. That’s why this is a crisis."

He gripped the steering wheel tighter.

"It means the villains have found a way in. And that means they’re not just hiding on Earth anymore. They’re infiltrating rift zones. Training there. Hunting. Sabotaging dungeon integrity. We’ve had similar rumors in S-Class fields. But now we have confirmation."

Elius’s breath caught in his throat.

So... the rift was no longer just a test?

Eh?

Suddenly, there was a headache. He understood now.

What the hell.

He knew who put those villains inside, causing the misunderstanding that they had been infiltrated.

Yes, he does.

Elius didn’t expect that his father would put villains in other dimensional rifts too; maybe his father didn’t really want to alert the people of Earth.

Oh well, he can’t do much about it anyway.

He’s just glad he survived, and his father probably thinks he’s truly of Solarion bloodline for hurting an elemental being.

That means... he’s safe.

It means his mother is safe.

That’s fine for him.

As for others? He didn’t really care much.

Sir Bush looked at Elius again, eyes sharper now. "And you? You killed the only villain who was still inside before the lockdown. That makes you the only one who’s fought someone that crossed the barrier. That means you’ve seen something the rest of us haven’t."

Elius suddenly felt very cold.

Cough. He wanted to cough.

He felt eyes on him again. The admiration had shifted into something more wary. Some of them weren’t looking at him as a student anymore—but as a witness. Maybe even a threat. Or a target.

Elius sighed and rubbed his forehead. "I’m... still just figuring things out myself."

He took a step toward the back of the bus, mind swirling.

And then—

A familiar voice called out from the row ahead.

"Hey! Elius!"

He looked up.

A small black kid with innocent eyes and circular glasses, a familiar smile leaned out from a seat halfway back.

Elius blinked, his brain catching up.

"Rockson?!" he blurted.

The weight on his shoulders lifted just a little.

A familiar face at last.