"Hey, Dad! I'm home!"
I crashed through the door of our house excitedly. Even though Dad went for a mission while I was away at training camp, I estimated that he would be back…soon.
As I suspected, Dad was already home, watching an anime series on television. He had a sour look on his face, but it turned into a delighted smile when he raised his head to glance at me.
"Richie! Good to see you! How was the training camp?" he grinned. "The instructor is Feng Hai, right? I've heard a lot about him. Let me guess…he worked you guys hard!"
"Yeah, though nothing we couldn't handle. Seems like there will be another training camp next week, but for this week they let us return home for a break." I grimaced. "We'll still have to attend classes in school, though."
"Of course." Dad gave me a withering stare. "You think they're just going to let you guys slack off for a week?"
"No." I glanced at the television set. "What are you watching, by the way? You don't seem happy with it."
"Oh…it's the anime adaptation of a web novel about some guy who became the world's strongest despite having a commonplace job." He scowled angrily. "They complete butchered it. Random flashbacks instead of having the story take place chronologically, no explanations or anything, and the pacing is all over the place. If I didn't read the original web novel, I would have completely no idea what the fuck the anime was talking about. They completely skipped the summoning sequence and the part that the protagonist was being bullied! Which made the scene where that bastard bully who betrayed and tried to kill him nonsensical!"
"That sucks," I agreed, making a mental note to give the anime a miss. In the end, I still watched it, but I had to agree with Dad's assessment. The anime was terrible and butchered the source material entirely. But for now, I thought it prudent to agree with Dad.
"Anyway, go get some rest. I'm sure you're exhausted after running around in a training camp for two weeks."
"Will do. Thanks."
Waving absent-mindedly, I began to ascend the stairs toward my room while carrying my luggage. After all that physical training, my massive luggage and backpack felt as light as a feather.
*
The next day, I attended school as usual. Looking forward to Teacher Fielding's class, I showed up to learn some new combat magic.
"Vice-president Richard! You're back!"
Harvey waved at me. I nodded as I joined him.
"How was the training camp?" Stan Lee asked. I shrugged.
"Pretty harsh. But…I think we all became stronger."
"That's good!" Harvey's eyes were shining in admiration. "I can't imagine the vice-prez becoming stronger!"
Please, dude. Stop your hero-worshipping. You're putting unnecessary pressure on me.
"I heard quite a few students got eliminated, though," Stan remarked as he placed a finger on his chin. "They seem to have pretty high standards."
"Well, it's concerning who gets to represent the academy in the national tournaments," I pointed out. "And after our pathetic performances in the past few years, the school is desperate for us to improve our ranking this year."
"True." Stan nodded. "I bet only the strongest will get selected!"
"Seems like it's not a matter of pure strength," I explained. "They also take into account the representative's flexibility, intelligence, experience and leadership capabilities. It's no use being the strongest if nobody respects you and listens to you. There is a strategic component this year, especially since they are emphasizing more on team battles, so it's no longer purely about strength alone."
"That sounds complicated," Harvey complained as he held his head.
"Makes a lot of sense, though." despite seemingly agreeing with me, Stan had a bitter expression. "A real battle takes into consideration so many other factors, not just strength."
He was evidently reevaluating his notions of strength and how to best climb the rankings, I was sure. Stan was pretty ambitious, after all. He still hadn't reached the level necessary to compete with the top, but I was sure he would get there eventually.
"Yeah. That's why even someone as strong as Adam Freeman got eliminated." I shook my head with a sigh. "It's unfortunate, but it seems that things aren't going to be as simple this time."
*
Speaking of Adam, there was a scene happening at Holy Saints at the same time.
Harrison Reed was in the president's room, one of the many rooms reserved and set aside for Holy Saints Society. He was brewing some tea and drinking it while working on administrative matters. While he had been away at the training camp, a lot of the documents had piled up, and now he was catching up on them.
Fortunately, most of them were trivial matters. He just needed to read through them, and then signed on the documents to show his approval. There were a few that took up his attention, and he revised them before placing them in a separate tray, to mark them out as documents that were to be returned to the people who submitted them, so that they could finalize the alterations before sending them back to him.
Bang!
Harrison looked up irritably as someone rudely barged into the room without knocking. And of course it just had to be none other than his vice-president, Lin Zhan Long.
"I can't accept this, President Harrison!"
"Huh?" Harrison put down his cup of tea and lifted his gaze from the document he was perusing. "What are you talking about? Can't accept what?"
"The humiliation to our society, of course! We can't keep enduring getting humiliated by Instructor Feng Hai like this! We have to file a protest to the academy!"
"Humiliation? What are you talking about? Can you start from the beginning?"
Harrison scowled, his brow furrowing in bewilderment. Lin Zhan Long had a glib tongue most of the time, but it was clear that he was driven into a frenzy right now.
"How did Ultimate Outcast make it through the selection?! Who is this Dong Fang Yue Chu?! Wasn't he ranked around 1,200 a few months ago?! No matter how you look at it, Adam is much stronger than him, higher in rank, and even his theoretical performance is better! Yet Adam was the one who got eliminated instead!"
After the first round of training, Adam had been eliminated. Upon hearing the news, Lin Zhan Long flew into a rage.
Harrison finally understood why he was so worked up, but he remained silent and listened as Lin Zhan Long continued with his tirade, spittle flying violently from his mouth as he continued yammering away.
"Instructor Feng Hai is obviously biased toward Ultimate Outcast! In the past, it was Holy Saints who get the first priority, who receive the top spots, because we're the strongest! The most recognized in Jing Tian Academy! Yet, this time we're getting overlooked for Ultimate Outcast!"
"…uh, no?" Harrison tilted his head as he gave Lin Zhan Long a strange stare. "What are you talking about? Instructor Feng Hai is no less biased toward Ultimate Outcast than he is toward the other societies. Why aren't you complaining about Black Roses? Or Crimson Spear? Or Thunder Hammer? None of their members got eliminated either, so why are you complaining about Ultimate Outcast alone?"
"Black Roses is a major society just like ours! And Craig Carlson and Theodore Hammond are established high-rankers! It's not weird that they passed through the first round of training!"
"Both Richard and Dong Fang Yue Chu have also risen up the rankings at quite the astronomical pace, if I recall. I'm not surprised that they made it. If anything…" Harrison frowned. "I was quite disappointed with Adam's performance. He had gotten complacent and didn't put in any effort during the training camp. Instead of concentrating on becoming stronger, he wasted time trying to ambush others and play pranks. His disqualification rests solely on his shoulders. Frankly, I agree with Instructor Feng's decision to eliminate him. Given the nonsense he pulled during the training camp, even I couldn't defend him."
Lin Zhan Long gaped at Harrison. "Adam is one of our people, you know?! He's a member of Holy Saints!"
"So?" Harrison replied lightly. "That doesn't mean he's above criticism. In fact, as president, I have already reprimanded and told him to buck up. If he doesn't improve his performances, then he'll end up disgracing our society further."
Lin Zhan Long didn't seem convinced. He slammed his palms against Harrison's desk, heedless of the documents that ended up scattering because of his impudence.
"Calm down." Harrison looked grave. He took a second cup and poured tea into it before offering it to Lin Zhan Long. "Have a cup of tea. Hopefully you'll calm down and look at this whole matter more rationally."
"Rationally?!" Lin Zhan Long was in no mood to appreciate the tea. Instead, he gulped down the entire contents of the cup without savoring the fragrant liquid. Wiping his mouth, he then glowered at Harrison. "Look, President, I know you're magnanimous and don't look down on those of lower status and rank, did you know that while you were away at the training camp for a couple of weeks, we have been receiving a rising number of complaints in the society? Everyone is complaining that Holy Saints is going downhill. At least a dozen members also tried to quit the society…I managed to talk some sense into them, but a few of them are still determined to leave."
"This is a society, not a prison. Everyone has the right to leave for another society if they wish." Harrison gave Lin Zhan Long a hard look. "Other than our core members, who have been benefiting from the society's resources and thus are obligated to represent our society, the others can go if they want to. There is no need to force them to stay, or you'll only increase their resentment."
"But…!"
Lin Zhan Long was growing increasingly worried. During the previous battle between societies, he had been humiliated by me, which completely destroyed his prestige and standing in the academy. He ended up being a laughing stock, and this led him to harbor a grudge against me and Ultimate Outcast. Ever since then, he had been plotting revenge against us.
However, Harrison refused to be on his side. Lin Zhan Long was aware of Harrison's upright character, which was why he was president in the first place, but he was hoping to appeal to Harrison's attachment to their society to sway him.
"I was actually impressed by both Richard and Dong Fang Yue Chu's performance during the first phase of the training camp." Harrison sighed. "It was a great mistake not to recruit them into Holy Saints. They would have constituted our core force."
"Are you kidding me?!"
"Have you forgotten? They are on par with even our first team members. Dong Fang Yue Chu defeated Lily. And you lost to Richard. Richard even defeated Alicia shortly after. Are you still not convinced by their strength?" Harrison narrowed his eyes. "Maybe one or two victories would be considered a fluke, but they have been winning consistently. I won't say their record is perfect, but other than Troy, who in this academy can claim that they have a 100% win record?"
"That's…"
"Don't worry. We still have a healthy number of candidates in the training camp. I'm still in, so are Cody, Lily and Terence. As long as we continue to work hard and perform well, we'll surely get selected for the representatives." Harrison nodded, as if to himself. "I look forward to fighting beside Richard, especially. His summoning spells bring a lot to the table, especially in group battles. If we can cover him while he casts his spells, we might just make it into the top ranks this year…"
"Are you kidding me?!" Lin Zhan Long roared. "Are you seriously considering fighting alongside him as fellow representatives?"
"Why wouldn't I?" Harrison sipped some of his tea calmly. "He has proven his strength time and time again. Actually, I'm more puzzled about your behavior. What do you have against Richard? Is it because you lost to him? Put aside your personal feelings. What is important is that we all work together as a team and elevate our academy's rankings. Don't let your pride get in the way of that. Look at the bigger picture."
Lin Zhan Long gawked at Harrison for a moment, and then he spun away and stomped out of the room. Harrison glared after him.
"Don't you dare try and do anything stupid!" he called out after the departing vice-president. "This is bigger than you and your ego!"
While Lin Zhan Long was stomping away, an idea suddenly occurred to him. He still had the bitter aftertaste of tea leaves in his mouth…and leaves brought to mind a vision of a forest.
"Sen Lin Forest…"
He began to smile cruelly.
"If I'm not mistaken, the next phase of the training involves a group mission to the forest and gaining experience fighting against monsters…"
Hammering a fist into his palm, a light went off in his head. Lin Zhan Long began chuckling to himself as he began to draw up a plan.
"Since it takes place in Sen Lin Forest…since it involves combat against monsters…it won't be strange if 'accidents' happen, right?"
Lin Zhan Long's laughter grew louder as he left the Holy Saints building, his confidence swelling up with every step.