Just like the previous days, the tranquility of the dorm was shattered by the wake-up alarm. Stare had grown so accustomed to it that he no longer paid attention to how loud and unpleasant it sounded to others. He felt a slight sense of anticipation, knowing he could likely continue his personal fief training today. He had spent the previous evening thinking about new methods for his fief training after exhausting his teleportation ability.
Swiftly rising to his feet, Stare unsurprisingly noticed that both Bobby and Joel were already up. After a brief exchange of pleasantries, they prepared for the day's classes and walked together to the Dispensation Hall for breakfast. The hall was still bustling with students engrossed in various activities, mostly involving bullying those without Supporting Hero Status.
These bullies had become more audacious in their actions, targeting students without powerful benefactors or affiliations with the Elite. Fortunately, Stare and his friends were mostly left alone, likely due to the ongoing cautiousness surrounding him and Raziel's situation.
However, it seemed that Stare's issues with Raziel might have led to another problem. As he glanced over his shoulder while walking with Bobby and Joel, he noticed Riley Equan, the Elite among Elites, looking at him with his usual friendly smile and golden eyes. Stare hoped to avoid any potential encounters with him, as seers or potential seers were a group of people he wasn't prepared to face yet.
Breaking his eye contact with Riley, Stare sat down at an empty table with Bobby and Joel, making an effort to avoid looking in Riley's direction. Breakfast Dispensation began after the deadline to enter the hall had passed, and fifteen minutes later, it was time for their first class.
Similar to the previous day, the class proceeded almost identically. Raziel and Ava seemed unfazed by Stare's presence, while Stare was more focused on his fief training anticipation.
Professor Khan concluded the three-hour class in his usual unenthusiastic manner, allowing students to move on to their respective fief awakening classes. Stare and Bobby joined other students with Supporting Hero Status in Emma's class, where they were met with her welcoming smile.
However, the students were less enthusiastic this time, as Emma had yet to touch on topics related to their fiefs despite the class's purpose. No one voiced their dissatisfaction directly, knowing that Emma, despite her friendly demeanor, was an experienced Prime.
Regrettably, the class delved into the same subjects as the previous class, focusing on safety and emergency measures, neglecting fiefs. Stare grew suspicious of Emma's behavior, as he was sure her counterpart had already started fief-related lessons, evident in Joel's morning exercises and other students' excitement. Stare was no longer willing to dismiss this as a minor mistake although at same time he was having slight doubts as she was the nicest teacher so far here.
The class came to an end, and it was time for combat class. The students swiftly left, not wanting to be late for Lagertha's class, especially after her early appearance in the previous class.
In Lagertha's class, the just entering students quickly selected their weapons from the wall and began practicing with dummies alongside the Main Status Students that could be seen already engrossed in their practice. Stare chose the same daggers as the previous day.
Lagertha's eyes immediately fixed on him the moment he picked the daggers off the wall but also moved on with distaste after seeing him just blandly stab his dagger at the dummy.
This time Stare could feel a couple other gazes on him as well, but he could barely bother about those.
The class concluded without any disruptions or confrontations, and the announcement for dinner in the next fifteen minutes prompted the students to head to the Dispensary hall.
After meeting Bobby and Joel, Stare joined the others heading for the second dispensation, the one of lunch.
The hall quickly filled up, and after fifteen minutes, a variety of foods were served for dinner. Stare, Bobby, and Joel were still engrossed in their meal, enjoying the privacy that the Raziel situation had granted them, when they sensed someone approaching their table.
Joel and Stare were too absorbed in their food to bother, so Bobby was the first to look up. However, he found himself stumbling over incomprehensible words when he saw the person approaching their table. This prompted both Bobby and Stare to look up and see who it was.
Not far from their table stood a familiar teenage boy with golden hair and eyes – Riley. All three of them muttered his name at the same time, each with a different emotion in their tone.
Behind Riley was a group of about twenty students, perhaps more. It was evident that they were likely part of his denomination, and he seemed to be their benefactor and the way they looked at him, especially the girls, suggested they were also his fans.
Stare quickly recovered from his stunned expression and turned to Riley with a somewhat unwelcoming smile while in comparison Riley's smile widened, and he extended his hand for a handshake.
"I believe I haven't formally introduced myself yet... I'm Riley Equan from the prestigious Equan family."
Stare continued to stare at him, leaving Riley's hand hanging. After a while, he responded in a way that left everyone who heard it surprised.
"I don't think your blonde boss over there would be too happy with you being here," Stare casually stated, indirectly pointing at Ares who also had his eyes on their table before returning to his food, no longer paying much attention to Riley, who appeared momentarily taken aback by the response.
This was Stare's strategy for deterring Riley's sudden interest in him. He knew that if the potential seer initiated contact, it mostly meant something about Stare interested him, it also meant he would most likely stick his nose in most of his matters from now, there was also the chance he could get a revelation related to him and the Oracle Path the more closer they were to each other, totally messing up everything and as such Stare hoped to dissuade him from pursuing further involvement.
Riley, after briefly glancing at Ares, who was also watching with suspicion, withdrew his outstretched hand and regained his amiable smile.
"Are you purposely trying to antagonize me?" Riley asked calmly, still smiling.
"Shit," Stare couldn't help but curse under his breath.
How could he have forgotten, dealing with seers had always been a complicated endeavor.
Stare didn't provide a direct response to Riley's question, but his silence seemed to answer it. Riley continued, "You act like we've met before now and had an unsettled disagreement despite this being our first meeting…that's quite peculiar and interesting." He said, still maintaining his amiable and smooth tone, he then turned around and without waiting for a response began walking away, together with his entourage.
However, after a few steps, Riley paused for a moment, turned back to Stare, and mentioned, "Speaking of 'my boss,' a friendly piece of advice for later on: he dislikes it when someone appears to be a threat to him or his goals."
With that, Riley walked away with his group, leaving everyone who had witnessed the situation in a state of confusion. Stare, in particular, was grappling with his thoughts after Riley's words.
"Was that a prophecy, or was he just speaking casually?" Stare wondered.
It was very odd for seer related individuals to casually make statements and close to every word they spewed were in a way related to a vision they had seen but then again Riley was just a new prime and shouldn't exactly be able to use his fief at this point to that extent.
Stare's dilemma continued to grow as part of him wanted to call Riley back for clarification, but another part was hesitant, fearing it might play into Riley's hands.
This was why Stare had reservations about seers; they were just too perplexing and off-putting.
After confirming that Riley had returned to his table and Ares was no longer paying them much attention, the trio attempted to refocus on their food. However, they found it hard to regain their appetites due to the occasional glances from other students. As a result, they left the hall earlier than planned and headed back to their dorm.
Stare had left the hall after dinner, but he didn't return to their dorm. Instead, he provided an excuse for not joining Bobby and Joel, who were visibly suspicious and not entirely convinced by his explanation, although they didn't question him directly.
Despite still being somewhat bothered by Riley's words, Stare's primary focus remained on his fief training. He hurried to the empty Combat Class Hall and securely locked the door to engage in his fief training.
With the restriction of only three teleportations per day, he was limited in the number of training and experimentations he could conduct. Stare had a clear plan for his first experiment, which involved testing his ability to teleport with weapons, particularly heavier ones.
Approaching a wall, he struggled to lift a large metal object resembling a sledgehammer, then teleported with it. Fortunately, the weight of the object didn't appear to affect the speed or distance of his teleportation.
Stare decided to attempt something different. This time, he envisioned himself levitating in mid-air and promptly teleported to that position.
The force of gravity came into play immediately, causing his body to descend rapidly. Just a few meters away from an inevitable crash to the ground, Stare quickly imagined himself standing securely and teleported back to the floor.
As he landed safely, a slight smile graced his face, pleased that this experiment had succeeded. However, before he could relish the feeling, an expected headache washed over him, even more intense than the previous two.
After enduring the pain for a couple of seconds and gradually regaining his composure, Stare decided it was time to return to the dorm. Realizing that he had reached his daily limit for teleportation, he saw no reason to continue his training.
With some time remaining before lights-out, Stare noticed a few students who were still outside their dorms, mostly engaged in acts of bullying and as expected, none of these bullies paid him any attention.
As much as he felt tempted to intervene and help the victims, he chose to look the other way, at least for now. He understood that directly confronting the Elite bullies or Main Hero Status students could lead to reports to the Academy's management and unjust punishment, as had occurred in Raziel's case. Additionally, it would draw more attention to him, potentially disrupting his current privacy, plans, and personal fief training.
With all these considerations in mind, Stare had no choice but to ignore the incidents of bullying for the time being.
Continuing his walk toward the dorm, he noticed something that immediately captured his interest. In a corner, he discovered a crumpled and discarded piece of paper.
This might seem insignificant, but it was quite unusual. The academy was known for its immaculate grounds, and paper was a rarity in this era. Paper production had ceased, and such an artifact was typically found in historical museums or the private collections of wealthy individuals.
Seeing this exceptionally rare and valued item carelessly discarded intrigued Stare. He approached it, picked it up, and carefully unfolded it to check for any writing.
To his surprise, the paper was covered in peculiar symbols, arranged in a cryptic pattern. What further surprised Stare was the familiarity he felt towards these symbols. It was as if he had encountered a similar method of communication in a previous cycle, even though most of the symbols had faded and were barely visible.
As Stare meticulously examined the paper with growing curiosity and caution, he noticed another set of symbols that remained clear and decipherable, positioned at the very end of the paper.
They appeared to read, "For... Lord Zod?"