"Yawnnnn…"
Lucian stared out the window of his car with a tired look.
He'd been losing a lot of sleep over his nightly escapades, so he was getting more tired.
Lucian had heard that vampires were fairly slothful beings, but as much as he'd like to blame it on his new constitution, sleep deprivation still affected him, even as a human.
Of course, he debated whether or not to call in sick today, but knowing Stella's tendencies, Lucian was forced to think twice about his decision.
After all…
What was stopping her from haphazardly entering his home?
Most habituated places used specific devices known as void locks, which essentially 'lock' the space to prevent gates from opening.
After all, opening a gate in the middle of a densely populated area would lead to countless casualties.
In fact, this discovery was one of the key driving factors in humanity's efforts to fight back the invading monsters.
Shortly after the first humans awoke to their abilities and began to combat the various monsters, the surviving scientists across humanity banded together to find a way to prevent gates from opening.
Even if they could reclaim their lost territory, if gates kept opening in densely populated areas, it was only a matter of time before humanity perished.
After nearly two years of dedicated research, they'd finally managed to create it.
A device capable of completely locking space, so no portals or gates could be opened.
The Void Lock.
Void locks were quickly mass-produced and distributed across the surviving human settlements, allowing humans to finally reclaim their territory for good.
However, Void Locks began to cause problems for certain kinds of ability users, namely those with the rare talent of being able to manipulate space.
While these ability users were scarce in number, their power was one of the strongest.
After all, being able to manipulate one of the fundamental laws of physics was nothing short of awe-inspiring.
However, with the introduction of void locks, these individuals lost the ability to practice and use their powers.
Considering how revolutionary space-attribute abilities were to the war effort, scientists had to devise a way to selectively allow these ability users to manipulate space while preventing gates from forming haphazardly.
After running countless trials, they were able to make a groundbreaking discovery.
Energy Tracing.
Each person had their own energy signature, which could be used to identify them, like fingerprints or DNA.
Every time an ability user uses an ability, a small, almost minute amount of energy will be left behind.
While this energy dispersed only moments after being released, simply giving off the energy signature was enough for the void locks to recognize users' spatial ability and allow them to manipulate space.
Essentially 'whitelisting' them.
However, this only applied to public places.
To prevent theft and robbery by the spacial ability users, private institutions such as schools and houses each came equipped with their own void locks, which the owners prevent space users from entering.
Sadly even though his house came equipped with its own personal void lock, he still wasn't free of his fiance.
All because of his dad… Whitelisting her.
Stella had the ability to drop into his house unannounced for years, so suddenly revoking her privileges would irk her, to say the least.
Which, needless to say, would result in a 1-on-1 training that would be more 'intense' than usual.
Furthermore, Stella was one of the few people Lucian still cared about, so straining their relationship was the last thing he wanted.
If anything, he already saw Stella as a part of his family.
After all… Stella was all Lucian had left.
Stella didn't know about the underground facility, so Lucian was able to at least install a stable void lock there.
He was okay if she didn't find out about Alecia and his laboratory.
Lost in thought, Lucian continued to stare out his window until the academy slowly entered his field of view.
It wasn't long before he got out of his car and strode over to the entrance doors.
"Wait."
Hearing a familiar voice call out from behind him, Lucian sighed.
However, he still decided to at least look at the person who called out to him.
Before seeing his face, he quickly changed his deadpan expression into a bright smile.
Almost as if he was a seasoned actor.
Lucian saw Andrew glaring at him with visible malice, but he still decided to greet him either way.
"Hey, Andrew! How are you?"
"Tch," Seeing Lucian's overly amiable expression, Andrew felt like a vein burst in his forehead.
'How dare that b*stard act like yesterday didn't happen! After what he did to me….'
Andrew winced when he remembered the pain he had been subjected to the previous day.
It would no doubt haunt him for the rest of his life.
After all… No man's family jewels should ever be making popping noises like that.
As he thought back to how badly his plans to torture Lucian went wrong, the intensity of Andrew's glare increased several magnitudes.
Lucian looked at Andrew's reddening face with a scrutinizing look.
"Ah… Could it be that your jewels didn't grow back?"
Andrew visibly shuddered, reaffirming Lucian's suspicions.
'I guess they're beyond help at this point.' Lucian internally shrugged.
Unlike Lucian's apparently calm demeanour, Andrew was positively seething at this point.
'I'll make this bastard pay! Even if it is the last thing, I do!'
Andrew clenched his fist so hard that his nails began biting into his flesh.
Lucian threw Andrew one last glance before turning away.
"Nice chat! I'll see you at homeroom."
As much as Andrew wanted to run and rip that detestable pretty boy to shreds, the reality was that he wouldn't be able to as long as they were still within the academy parameters.
If he was going to make a move, he'd need to do it when Lucian wasn't on school grounds.
Seeing Lucian walk through the school doors, Andrew pulled out his phone and dialed a number.
"Hey… This is me. I need a favour."