As the conversation continued, Erik struggled to engage with others due to his prejudice. Years of abuse had transformed him from a cheerful person into someone distant, guarded. Though he tried his best to maintain politeness to avoid seeming weird.
He remained silent through most of their discussions, but found it refreshing just to listen. The group chatted freely, unaware of the hostile stares from other students.
"Look at them," Karl said. "They are treating him as one of their buddies."
"Why do you care?" Natasha asked.
"Are you joking? He had a trashy power until a couple of days ago, and now Amber is sharing a meal with him, and for what? Just because he can do some small cuts?"
"Yeah, that's one of the perks of being an awakener, I guess," Natasha said. "But why do you care about what Amber does?"
Natasha gave him a weird look.
"It's not about Amber; it could have been everyone! He still is the usual trash! Didn't you see he couldn't follow Professor McAllister's explanations properly?"
"So what? He is an awakener."
Karl looked exasperated. He turned to Nathaniel.
"Say something!"
Nathaniel wasn't even listening. He never liked Amber and didn't care about what she did.
"About what?"
"Weren't you listening?"
"I don't usually listen to your bullshit, Karl."
"OOOOH!" Natasha started laughing.
"I was talking about that guy, the plant hugger."
"Why do you care about him?"
"See?" Karl said while looking at Natasha.
"Amber is eating with him..."
"You know well I don't give a shit about what that bitch does." Nathaniel turned to look at Erik from a distance.
"Besides, trash is still trash..."
"See? He agrees with me!"
"Whatever..."
—***—
After lunch, the students resumed training with a sparring session. Since Erik lacked the skills to take part, he continued practicing the Kyokar fighting style separately while observing his peers from time to time.
He noticed something unusual about Nathaniel. Despite his typically aggressive behavior toward the other kids at school, here he showed a more reserved demeanor.
Erik realized this was because, although Nathaniel was the strongest student due to his power, his martial abilities weren't superior to the other top students, and since using powers here was secondary, as Professor McAllister made them focus on hand-to-hand combat, he toned down his behavior a lot.
Erik's thoughts turned to Anderson, whose Bπ1B power matched Nathaniel's in mana capacity. Though Anderson's abilities were highly unstable and difficult to control—earning him only a B rank on the Jorm scale, while it was as powerful as an A-ranked brain crystal power—the destructive potential far exceeded Nathaniel's brain crystal power, but the lack of control created problems. This kept Nathaniel from confronting him openly.
Even he feared what he might do if he cornered the guy. Besides, Mickey and Aaron wouldn't stay idle.
Nathaniel's poor reputation stemmed from his superiority complex, which translated into him treating everyone like shit, except Amber and Anderson. His inability to dominate them, or everyone for that matter, in unarmed combat frustrated him, especially in Amber's case.
Her abilities alone made her dangerous, and her status as Caiden Joyce's daughter meant even Nathaniel knew better than to provoke her. He didn't like that she was better than him at fighting.
"Focus, Erik!" Professor McAllister said, bashing him on the leg.
"Yes, sir!"
When the training session ended, Amber approached Erik after winning her sparring match.
"How did it go today?" She smiled.
"Uh… Good…"
He was uncertain how to respond to her friendliness. His mind was in turmoil—he knew she was only being nice because of his Awakener status, or so he thought.
Yet he couldn't deny this could benefit him; having someone watch his back, even for selfish reasons, was better than having no allies at all.
Besides, given her high status and apparent willingness to be friendly, Erik realized he could use this connection to his own advantage as well.
"Good, I'm glad," she said.
"By the way, how come I haven't seen you using your power?" She asked after a brief pause. She considered if asking that question would be too much, but in the end, she asked regardless.
"Oh, uh... Well, Professor McAllister told me I should focus on learning martial arts first."
"That makes sense. You're pretty weak."
"Yeah... I know..." That annoyed him.
"Don't worry; with Professor McAllister's help, you will improve soon."
"Is he that good?" Erik asked.
"He is. See that guy over there? He couldn't even throw a punch at the start of the year," Amber said while pointing at another top student.
"But I don't have a year to learn. Military school starts in September."
However, while he knew he couldn't get to great levels in such a short amount of time, it was also true he could get powerful through the system. The problem was that his improvement depended on when it gave him quests.
"That's why you should focus on your martial arts," Amber said. "Leave everything else aside."
…
…
…
Later, in front of the school, several flying cars waited for the students. Erik stared at the floating vehicles, which had been sent by Floyd's, Gwen's, and Amber's parents.
Amber caught Erik's admiring gaze. "Is there a problem?"
"Not at all. I just need to hurry to catch my train at the station."
"Do you need a ride?" Amber drew incredulous looks from Gwen and Floyd—she had never extended such an invitation to anyone before.
"Oh... no... thank you, I don't want to bother you..." Erik said, though he secretly hoped to see the car's interior.
"Oh, come on, it's no problem at all, Erik."
She insisted for a while.
"Um... well, if you say so..."
"Come on, hop in!"
After saying goodbye to Gwen and Floyd, they climbed into the car. The driver silently accepted Amber's directions to Erik's house.
Erik marveled at the interior—it was far more luxurious than Benjamin's car. Though he felt uneasy sitting with the girl. For many reasons, in truth. She was the school goddess; she was from a prominent family, and the reasons for her approach were unclear.
His prejudices flared.
During the ride, they chatted about school life. Despite his discomfort sharing details about his situation, Erik took part in the conversation.
When they reached his house, the car pulled up to the entrance, and they exchanged quick goodbyes before Erik headed inside.
Erik prepared dinner and then took a shower. After that, he relaxed a little before training to make new neural links.
He concentrated on the task for several hours. Manipulating mana to create neural links was far from simple—he now understood why it took people months to develop them and why many eventually gave up. The process was more complex than he'd ever imagined.
Erik felt the mana circulating inside his body, creating a feeling that was both strange and somehow natural. As he focused, he discovered he already had a new neural link, likely related to his sharpening power.
The system must have created it when unlocking the unknown thaid's power, which explained why he hadn't noticed it before.
As he continued practicing, he directed his attention to the mana within his brain crystal. When he did, he detected something new—an odd feeling that grew stronger as he channeled mana from the crystal to his brain.