"How are we going to do that?"
Ace asked the question and looked at the wall where they could see Hugh. Hugh did not seem irritated for being enclosed into a space wiring for his release.
"I do not care. Get him to solitary confinement or whatever. No student can go near him until we find Veer."
Ace nodded and thought up of a plan on where to detain Hugh. There were many jail cells underground the Student Council Headquarters, which detained some of the most dangerous students in the school.
"We cannot hold him for longer than a week, or else the students are going to ask questions."
With Felix's order, Ace headed out towards the door. He went to the next room where Hugh was detained.
Hugh saw Ace with a serious face. His irritated demeanor seemed to have disappeared once he showed his face to Hugh. This gave Hugh the creeps as he felt a bad omen coming towards him.
"Get up."
Ace gestured for Hugh to stand up from his seat. Hugh did not follow his orders and just looked at the handcuffs restraining his hands.
If Ace were not going to release him from the cuffs, he would not release him back to school. Hugh could only think of the worst-case scenario that might happen to him.
With the Student Council's bad reputation, Hugh would not be surprised if they resorted to torture as a way to force confessions on detainees.
Cold sweat poured down Hugh's back as he thought about what would happen if he got tortured. If they were to torture him for days on end, he would get injured beyond belief.
With his injuries, his Fat God System would regenerate it as fast as possible, which would cost food as fuel. He knew that tortures included forced fasting, which meant they would starve him to death.
He could only imagine what would happen to him if he was forced to that point. He might be forced to activate his transformation just to survive. That would not be a good thing because he was inside their headquarters.
Hugh needed to avoid getting tortured at all costs. He did not get up and protested to Ace.
"Are you not going to release me?"
Ace did not answer his question and just crossed his arms while he waited for Hugh to stand up.
"You do not have any evidence to convict me. You cannot hold me here any longer."
Ace furrowed his eyebrows as he heard Hugh start to get agitated. He calmed Hugh down with a disarming voice.
"We just need you to stay here for a couple of days."
Hugh did not believe his words. There must have been something going on if they were to detain him inside their headquarters for a few days.
The most important reason why he could not stay inside their headquarters is his daily missions. He had not even completed his daily missions yet, and he did not want to miss the rewards it would give.
He has not yet missed a single day, and he was not about to break that streak. He needed to talk his way out of this situation.
"Why?"
Ace sighed and sat on the chair opposite Hugh. He was not planning to tell Hugh everything in their plans, but he would tell him a valid reason for him to behave well.
"You said you did not know Veer, correct? We cannot allow you outside while we still haven't caught the mysterious reporter."
Hugh stopped and looked at Ace's face. It seemed like Ace was telling the truth, but Hugh knew there was always a catch in this situation.
Ace tilted his head and asked a question to Hugh.
"You do not want to be hunted down by the students, right? We'll offer you a safe haven right here."
Ace tried to entice Hugh with the offer. Hugh did want a safe place away from the students aiming for him, but he did not want to stay in the Student Council Headquarters.
Hugh tried to digest the information given to him until he thought up an idea.
"You just want me to stay low-key for a while, right?"
Ace furrowed his eyebrows as he tried to decipher Hugh's words. It seemed like there was a compromise that Hugh wanted. He did not want Hugh to cause any trouble, so he listened to Hugh's proposition.
"Yes, we do not want you in front of the students."
"Then, can I go to the dungeons? I can stay there while you guys catch Veer."
Hugh thought up a win-win situation for him and the Student Council. He needed to go to the dungeons to improve his Desire, and the Student Council wanted Hugh to disappear for a little while.
Ace raised one of his eyebrows as he listened to Hugh's suggestion. It would solve the problem, but he did not know why Hugh wanted to go to the dungeons.
He could permit a student to go to the dungeons, but this was an abnormal situation. He needed Felix's permission to give Hugh this leeway.
Felix had many plans in his mind, and Ace did not want to disturb that by nonchalantly permitting Hugh to go to the dungeons.
Ace looked towards the wall where they were being monitored and waited for Felix's signal.
Inside the monitor room, Felix was in deep thought. He had heard Hugh's proposition, and he had to guess the reason why Hugh wanted to go to the dungeons.
Usually, only second years go to the dungeons. If the first years were to go to the dungeons, they would plan it at the end of the school year.
As a first-year, they only had to improve their Desire and bring up their Desire Intensity. Fighting techniques were not given that much priority until the later months of the first years.
Dungeons were an excellent place to sharpen your fighting skills because of the risk involved whenever someone goes inside them. If you did not have a good Desire Intensity, you would not survive long inside a dungeon.
Felix could accept first-year students that had, at the very least, a B-level talent and above to test their strengths at a dungeon. He found it weird that the F-level talent Hugh wanted to go to the dungeons.
The only reason he could think of was the hidden power that Veer was talking about. Felix smiled as Hugh became more and more interesting in his eyes.
Felix nodded upwards as he gave the confirmation that Hugh could go to the dungeons.
*knock*
Ace heard a knock from the wall that signaled the verification. He turned towards Hugh and nodded his head as he spoke.
"We'll allow it."
With this plan, Hugh was able to complete one of his objectives. He could find materials that he could eat inside a dungeon to give him a better improvement on his armor.
"Do you have a preference on your dungeon?"
Hugh thought about it deeply. He needed to have a place where he could get metals or wood that he could eat. His daily mission also required him to eat ten types of rocks and gems.
With all these materials that he needed to eat, there was only one dungeon that could accommodate him, the underground dungeon.
"Get me to the underground dungeon."
Ace nodded as he took Hugh's suggestion in mind. Since Felix gave permission, he did not worry about what kind of dungeon Hugh would go to.
Hugh raised his hands, and the handcuffs made a clacking sound. He looked at Ace and spoke of another request.
"Can you take out my bonds?"
Ace looked at Hugh for a few seconds and did not respond to him.
"We're working together, right? Don't we need a bit of trust?"
Ace took a deep breath and took out a key from his pockets. He unlocked Hugh's cuffs and set him free from the restraints that prevented him from using his Desire.
Hugh was not planning to escape because he would be immediately caught. There must be security measures in place that prevented anyone from escaping.
Ace stood up and walked towards the door. He gestured for Hugh to come along with him.
Ace led Hugh towards a shifting room in their headquarters. With Felix's permission, this shifting room can go to the dungeons.
Hugh stepped onto the shifting room as he waited for it to transfer him to the dungeons. Once he arrived, he stepped foot inside the dungeon.
Hugh went wide-eyed as he looked at the dungeon he was currently in. Instead of the dark interior of the underground dungeon, a bright blue sky greeted him. Not only that, the floor here was made of clouds.