By the time the sun rose over the horizon, Liam finished his training. He collected the hundreds of Black Tarthear Needles that he had thrown into the wooden benches during his short practice session before they broke apart.
The wooden benches had been riddled with holes due to numerous needles that had been thrown by Liam with tremendous force.
'At least they were somewhat useful,' Liam thought while looking at the wooden benches. He was sweating buckets but he was still feeling fine and vigorous. His condition was certainly better than it had been during the entirety of the previous day, that was for sure!
His shirt was wet again due to all the sweat but other than that he had dried. Moving around with dried pants and shoes was certainly more comfortable than wet clothes clinging to his body.
Looking at the current situation in the hall, Liam nodded his head subtly. It was time for him to leave the gymnasium since he wanted to find more survivors. Bringing them over to the gymnasium would be the easiest way to make sure that he could increase the number of natives he protected actively and passively, thereby improving his mission score.
That was what he had planned to achieve before using up his entire Arcanium to buy the Black Tarthear needles, the Casket of Trickery and the Blanchal Silk Gloves. If not for his plan, he wouldn't have chosen to fight with his claws. Sooner or later someone would suspect his origin even if he were to use some excuses to convince others that he was actually human, which was simply not true, not entirely at least.
One way or another, he was one of the many infiltrators since he came from a different Realm. It didn't even matter whether he wanted to obliterate all native humans from Haltan or not.
Because Liam understood his situation pretty well, he chose not to give a fuck about his secret anymore. Wearing the Devil Mask was merely something he needed to gain more trust from the natives until his mission was completed. As for protecting his secret identity in any other way, Liam didn't think that it was necessary, not anymore.
He was not afraid of the natives since they acted similarly to the humans in the Overworld. The only difference Liam had perceived until now was that the natives were weaker. Their physical strength might not be necessarily weaker but their hearts were too soft.
None of them seems to have gone through the same hardships most beings in the Overworld had gone through. Being born and raised in lands filled with war was different than being born in a peaceful area where death seemed to be something foreign and distant.
That was clearly visible right now as well. It hadn't been a full day since the Arcane Apocalypse started and almost everyone was still shell-shocked. The natives required some more time to digest everything that had happened and was paralyzed with fear, but it was not as if the infiltrators would give them that much time.
It was already a great fortune that the night had passed without any big incidents. The gymnasium was still standing strong, which was great.
When his gaze landed on the students around him, Liam halted in his tracks. He squinted his eyes and looked at the faces of every student around him. There weren't all students whom he had saved the day before but more than fifteen students between the age of 16 and 19 were staring straight back at him, looking at Liam as if he was their master, lord, and savior.
'I don't want to raise kids yet…'
Liam was trying hard to maintain his pokerface as he analyzed their current mental condition. They seemed to be overly reliant on him, but other than that, their condition and overall responsiveness had improved quite decently. At least, some of them were doing a lot better now.
"What are you guys planning to do after the rain stops?" He asked them without even realizing it. His expression changed a bit when he noticed what he had just asked but he tried to hide his surprise as well as possible.
The students continued to stare at him and nobody muttered a word for the time being until Olivia stepped forward.
"I will follow you until I have repaid my debt. If I return to my family while I'm still indebted to you, I will tarnish the reputation of my family!" She declared with a stern expression.
Liam could tell that Olivia was strong-willed but he didn't really feel like raising someone like Olivia. He had other things to take care of, not some natives who were rookies to the ways of the Nine Realms.
"As long as you don't reject me, I would like to follow you as well. I will give my utmost to become a valuable asset to your team!" Kian said with a considerable amount of confidence in his voice. He had made a few mistakes the day before, mistakes that shattered his pride and confidence a little, but after some sleep, he was ready to make up for the mess he created.
"Me too!"
"I feel the same…"
…
…
Liam was trying hard to keep a composed expression but he could only shake his head at that. It was quite obvious that most, if not all of them were trying to ride his coattail. They figured that he was strong and that his pieces of advice had proven correct and saved them a lot of trouble, increasing their confidence in him tremendously.
It was quite obvious that the students believed that everything would be fine as long as they were near him, the only person who could keep everyone together and safe the day before.
"Does that mean everyone is ready to fight with their life on the line, every single day?" Liam asked rather calmly. He didn't think that it would be helpful to intimidate anyone by using a sharp or dominating voice. On the contrary, his calm voice turned the situation even more serious because they feared that was exactly what may happen while fighting by Liam's side.
Most students stared blankly at him for several seconds, which was enough for Liam to understand that he had driven the point home.
"Either way…I will bring in a few more survivors. Think about what I asked, and make your decision," Liam said as if he was giving them a choice before he turned away, while quietly muttering to himself,
"...and stay away from me!"