"How is it? Have you gotten used to our training rooms yet?"
I turned around to face Jin Hao, who was blasting a training dummy with his spells. Over at a distance, Aoi and Harvey were doing their own training as well. The four of us had a single training room all to ourselves – an extravagance possible only because we belonged to Black Rose.
As a major society, Black Rose had dozens of training rooms, which could be personalized by whoever was using them. While it honestly didn't feel that much different from back when we were in Ultimate Outcast, largely because five of us shared a single training room, the main difference lay in how vast and spacious this Black Rose training room was in comparison to the one I used previously. The one we used during my time at Ultimate Outcast was the size of a small dojo, but the Black Rose training room was as large as an auditorium.
There were even seats surrounding the training space, as if to accommodate an audience. From what I knew, the training rooms served as arenas sometimes, when the academy didn't have enough coliseums for the many duels that occurred weekly, or even daily.
"Yeah." I nodded as I struck the training dummy with a borrowed sword. True to my martial arts training, I was using a wooden shinai instead of an actual Divine Device like everyone else. Noticing my gear, Jin Hao raised an eyebrow.
"If you need a Divine Device, you can apply for it," he informed me. "There should be plenty in the Black Rose repository. Or if you can't find anything you like there, you can apply for funds – we should have more than enough money to buy you something you want."
That was another major difference between Ultimate Outcast and a great society. They were simply so much richer than we were. In the past, Dong Fang Yue Chu and I were struggling – even with my participation in a few missions – to secure funds for our Divine Devices. And now, Black Rose could freely spend the money allocated to them to purchase Divine Devices for their members. Of course, what went unsaid was that because of the severe loss of members suffered during the Crastrate incident (Elliot and Nicholas being among the casualties), there weren't many people left to request for those funds. As a result, the budget was left unused.
However…
"I don't know what sort of Divine Devices I should get," I explained as I hacked at the training dummy, which dodged and retaliated. Parrying the punch from its mechanical fist, I continued. "I'm used to summoning my own Constellation weapons, and I can switch between swordsman and archer. I don't want to buy a sword, and then end up using my Constellation bows and providing long-range support instead. It would be a waste of money."
"It's not our money," Jin Hao pointed out reasonably.
"Yeah, but…it's not fair to the Divine Device. You know how each Divine Device houses its own soul, and how it would get upset if it is neglected and left unused."
"I see…so you believe in the Soul Weapon school of thought." Jin Hao pondered thoughtfully. There were quite a few people who subscribed to that philosophy, of treating our weapons as comrades rather than mere tools. I inherited it from Dad, and chose to respect each and every weapon. It was how I forged my bonds with my Constellation spirits. Jin Hao probably didn't, but he didn't scoff at it either. He nodded. "In that case, I understand why you're refraining from it."
"A Divine Device makes it easier to fight, and increases your combat power." From the other side of the room, Aoi called out. She was wielding a staff type Divine Device, which boosted the attack power of her spells significantly. Jin Hao also used something similar, a scepter with gems encrusted into its head. The jewels glowed with mystical enchantments that increased his casting time. "There probably are Divine Devices for summoners…to cut down the amount of time you need for summoning your soul beasts."
That caught my attention. "There is?" I inquired curiously. I had asked about it before, since it was quite the obvious thing, but no one knew anything about it.
"…I think so." Aoi shrugged. She probably raised the point because of how obvious it was, and didn't know that I had already searched for such Divine Devices earlier and was unable to find them. Apparently summoning spells were different from the usual elemental or combat spells, and thus a device like Jin Hao's that accelerated his casting wouldn't work for my summoning spells.
That made sense. If such a thing existed, I wouldn't have lost a hundred matches in a row throughout my first year here at Jing Tian Academy.
"We couldn't find anything on it," Harvey spoke up from his corner, where he was engaging a smaller training dummy with his sword. He shrugged when we glanced at him. "Wang Fei and I did some research after watching Senior Richard's matches, wondering if he was using any Divine Devices, and we found out that there aren't such devices for summoners."
"That sucks," I muttered, even though I already knew that.
"Well, that makes sense," Jin Hao conceded. "Otherwise you would already be using it."
"Budget allowing," I added cynically. "Ultimate Outcast didn't have as big a budget as Black Rose. We probably couldn't afford it even if it existed."
Jin Hao gave me a disbelieving look. "Even if you couldn't get it through the academy, I'm sure your dad would have obtained it for you. Or you would have borrowed one of your dad's old Divine Devices."
…good point. Speaking of which, Dad used a sword-type Divine Device that enhanced his fire magic. But I had never heard him mention anything about a Divine Device for summoning. Oh well, as I thought.
Just as I thought, I didn't run into any harassment this time, when I joined Black Rose. Now that I had established my reputation and ranking, and even saved a good number of them, I had earned their respect and friendship. I was closer to Jin Hao, Aoi and Troy (who was still absent even after so long) than the rest, which was why I spent more time with them, but I no longer felt uncomfortable hanging out with the other members of Black Rose. Vivian and the rest saw me in a different light, especially after I risked my life stalling the Crastrate for them to escape to safety.
I guess I don't need to say anything about Alicia. Miranda, on the other hand…was one of those who died. She had courageously sacrificed herself to save Alicia. While I wouldn't pretend to be on good terms with her, I respected her memory and wished we could have met under more…normal circumstances.
It still felt very strange, though. Just a few months ago, I never imagined that my image would transform so greatly in the eyes of my schoolmates, never mind the members of the revered Black Rose. To think I was so afraid of them just a few months ago, aware that they would bully, isolate and alienate me if I accepted Alicia's offer to join them back them.
Now, instead of scorn and resentment, I received friendship and respect. I didn't know if that made them fair-weather, but I didn't care. The important point lay not in the fickleness of human nature, but that if you really wanted to, you could change how other people perceive you through hard work and perseverance. Even though I had been mocked, looked down on, and abused, I didn't care and didn't give up. I continued to work hard, and eventually I overturned everyone's perception of me.
As long as one didn't give up, anything was possible. That was the main lesson here, and one I was humbled to learn. I didn't even think about it that much, to be honest. It just occurred to me while I was relaxing and thinking about how different people's attitudes were toward me, when compared to before.
We continued to train for a few more minutes until evening, then we broke up to leave. Harvey didn't follow me to the dojo at my home because Dad had gone on a mission to track down the culprits behind the Transdimensional Key, and wasn't around at the moment. I didn't know how long he would take this time.
Anyone who could create something as dangerous as a Transdimensional Key was not a foe that we could afford to underestimate.
However, before I could leave the Black Rose building, Alicia popped her head out of one of the president's office while the four of us were passing by. She smiled when she caught sight of us traversing the corridor, relief plastered across her pretty face.
"Good. You haven't left yet, Richard. Do you have a moment?"
"Yeah. What's up?"
"I need to ask you something. Come on in." she stepped aside and waved me inside her office. I nodded and then glanced at my friends.
"Please go on ahead without me."
"Okay!" Harvey said, as hyper as always. The other two nodded in compliance, and then I stepped through the door.
"What's up, Alicia?" I asked. She had returned to sit behind her desk, and was scanning through the holographic screen projected upward after gesturing for me to take a seat in the chair just opposite her huge table.
"I received an email from Cecilia." She turned the holographic screen around to show an image recording of the Stuart heiress. Instead of playing it, Alicia summed up the message for me. "Basically Cecilia's father has invited us to attend her engagement ceremony."
"…engagement ceremony?" I blanched at that. That was totally unexpected. I wasn't sure how I should feel about that. Maybe amusement and the desire to offer my congratulations. "That's great news. So she finally found a guy good enough to be her fiancé?"
"Something like that." Cecilia flipped the screen around, opened a text message and read through it. "Shawn Franklin. He is the second guy in our generation to defeat her in combat, after you. And he isn't committed to a relationship at the moment, so Cecilia decided that he's the one for her. He's understandably delighted, or so I hear."
I could see photographs of the handsome but smug-looking guy in social media. He had wavy, blond hair and a face that would put a supermodel to shame. Underneath his luxurious clothes was a sturdy build and lithe figure that was coiled with power, as if he was about to lunge at a target at any time. Reminded me of a predator.
"He seems strong." I nodded. Alicia made a face.
"That's all you have to say?"
"Well…isn't Cecilia looking for a strong person to be her fiancé in the first place?" I shrugged. "He does look the type."
Alicia studied me, half relieved and half astonished, and then she nodded.
"Yeah…he's not too bad. A bit on the arrogant and snobbish side, but he has the looks, strength and skills to back it up. He's also from a wealthy background too. The Franklin family owns a corporation that sells fashion products globally, and are associated with the universal movie industry."
"That's quite the catch," I remarked. Then I frowned. "So what does that have to do with me? Why are they inviting me along too?"
"…well…it's because you nuked the three Crastrates and became the center of attention of the media for the last month or so." Alicia giggled. "Cecilia's father is curious about you, and wants to personally meet you. He regrets not being able to personally talk to you when we first went to Southampton City all those months ago."
Personally, I preferred if it stayed that way. I wasn't fond of meeting a middle-aged man I had never seen before. Sure, Cecilia's father was probably some big shot and extremely famous figure known throughout the Global Federation, but all the more reason I wanted to stay away from him. Thomas Whitmore was intimidating enough, but for someone of his exalted rank, he wasn't too bad. Especially since he was ex-military.
I wasn't sure I could say the same about Stuart…
"He was very impressed by your display, and wonders what could have been if you were the fiancé instead of Shawn Franklin." Alicia scowled. "But he's aware of your relationship with me, which is why he invited me along as well."
Now was a good time as any to approach that topic.
"…what exactly is our relationship?" I asked uncertainly, hoping that Alicia wouldn't blow up in my face. Even if it sounded like a perfectly reasonable question to me…you know how women are. Men just couldn't understand them.
Alicia stopped abruptly, staring at me for a moment. Then she smiled sweetly.
"…that's a good question." she shrugged. "To everyone else, we are a couple."
I felt more confused. "…are we?"
"What do you think?"
Fuck. I hated playing these games. "Probably not officially. I mean, we never really discussed what exactly we should do. After our match…"
"Then, shall we make it official?"
"Uh…okay?" I wondered if I was giving the right answer. Alicia seemed pretty pleased with my reply, though. She nodded.
"Then I guess our first official date will begin this Saturday. We'll meet at Jing Tian station in the morning. Don't train too hard on Friday night – it'll be a long trip to Southampton City."