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Chapter 36 - Folded Damascus steel

Patty and Grammo was enrolled in Chain Education, a prestigious high school that accepted all kinds of regular students. It didn't matter if they wanted to be a famous singer-songwriter in the future or if they wanted to become a professional Mixed-Martial Arts Master in the future–everyone was enrolled in this school.

Everyone was mixed in a classroom all through the first year of high school up to the final fourth year. Patty and Grammo were currently high school seniors. And after they graduate, they would then have to go to college.

However not everyone would be able to enroll in the Chain University. There was one simple requirement that would deter most students: they had to have a Teqx.

It was the reason why Professor Wraithborne was pushing his students to have good grades on their academics or have good scores on their physical exams. Those results would determine whether they get picked up by a group or corporation or not. Those companies would be their only chance to get a Teqx if they weren't an inheritor who had their own Teqx to pass down to their children.

And only in colleges like the Chain University do students learn to master their Teqx powers. This was the place where they learned how to deal with the dangers of the world like Fiends, aliens, and other such monsters. This was where they learned the rules, the do's and dont's, and what distinguishes an amateur to a professional. Only after they graduated from this university were they are able to become full-fledged Dreamers.

Grammo also planned to enter into this university, so acquiring the Voice Box Teqx was more important not just because he wanted to fix his singing, but also because he needed a Teqx to enroll.

Of course, Grammo knew about the famously sharp Felix D'Macchio. Everyone who saw that striking white hair would feel as if they were standing under a guillotine that was held up by a very thin string. He was extremely talented and had a very rare affinity with both gravity and lightning. A very famous Samurai group renowned all over the world gave him an A-class Power Teqx just to recruit him to their side in the future.

Not only that, he was part of the very prestigious crowd inside the university itself: the Student Council Body. They were the best of the best, the students who had the most potential in the school. There was even a standing tradition of having the Student Council President becoming a President, Martial Master, or a Mogul in the future.

So, being a part of the Student Council Body was almost a guarantee that their members would become the masters of their field in the future. But joining this illustrious group was no easy task. 

First and foremost, you had to be nominated by a current Student Body Council officer whereupon the whole council would decide if you were worthy and you had something to provide for the council, like being a blacksmith who could provide weapons for the council. Then, they have to persuade the rest of the college students to let them become the leaders of the University itself by a majority vote. If you complete all that, then you only had to beat a current officer in the Council in a pre-arranged duel to become an officer.

With such strict and stringent rules of becoming an officerAnd being an officer only in his second year of college was a feat in and of itself. Felix D'Macchio was one such monstrous talent, of course Grammo knew him. Everyone and their mothers knew him.

"I don't know him," Patty said.

"He's joking. OF course we know him. He's Felix D'Macchio!" Grammo quickly tried to cover up for him.

The Atlas security nodded as he looked at the bored Felix. 

"Are we done here then? A steaming hot pizza is waiting for me." One-shotting that Fiend was no big deal for someone like him.

"Just one more thing, sir." The security spoke with respect and reverence. If Felix wasn't there to kill the Fiend, then it was more than possible that they would be massacred from a very angry Fiend. "Can we buy the Fiend corpse from you?"

There was one general rule among Dreamers: 'you hunt it, you own it.' 

It didn't matter if someone else discovered it first, it only mattered that they killed it first. In this case, the Fiend's corpse was legally Felix's property. And this was no simple property. Dreamers venture through dangerous untamed lands in order to hunt Fiends for their skin, claws, or even eyes. A Fiend's corpse was a treasure trove.

"Yeah, sure whatever." Felix wasn't all that interested in keeping the corpse to himself.

"We can give you 50,000 Chains for the whole thing or an equivalent high purity Kore."

"I'll take the Chains. Put it on my card."

But just as when they thought it was all over, one of the pillars that supported the basic foundation of the arcade tent finally broke down and fell into the ground. It started a chain reaction and somehow ended up rolling into the electronics that controlled the mechanisms of the cannon that shot out the balls from the reaction game.

SHHTOOOOO

One of the red balls shot out from the cannon and headed straight for Felix. The Atlas security ducked down and reacted instinctively, thinking that the Fiend was somehow still alive and was able to have a final attack.

Felix, on the other hand, didn't even have to look at the ball as he caught it with one hand. It looked like he didn't even notice that he caught the ball. His actions were mostly instinctive where his body moved even before his brain told him what to do.

He then looked at the ball in his hands and saw that it had a number 10 written on it. "Is this made out of Damascus steel?"

Then, he did something that surprised the Atlas security guards, Grammo, and the arcade owner. He took the ball and started to crush it with his own hands by the mere pressure of his physical strength. They all saw as the ball started to dent and fold within itself as it buckled under the pressure. In the end, the spherical ball was nothing more than a crumpled piece of metal.

"Oh my Supremes. Did he just do that to Damascus steel?" The arcade owner was the one most surprised of all.

Everyone knew about Damascus steel. People always used Damascus steel to measure their own strength because it was a kind of material that changed its strength and integrity with each time it was folded during production. For example, if it was folded once, it was as strong as a normal human's physical strength. If it was folded twice, then you would need twice the normal human's strength to destroy the Damascus steel.

The best thing about Damascus was that it could be folded infinitely, which meant it could theoretically become the hardest material in the universe. Of course, the more folds it had, the harder it was to fold it again.

"That was a 10 fold Damascus steel!" the Arcade owner exclaimed.

The five balls that he had for the reaction game were a 1 fold, 5 fold, 10 fold, 15 fold, and a 20 fold. He used Damascus steel so that it wouldn't be destroyed easily, but somehow Felix easily crumpled a 10 fold Damascus steel. That meant he was 10 times stronger than a normal human!

"Hmmm. Looks like I got stronger," commended Felix as he threw away the crumpled ball. "Well, my job here is done. I'm out."

Just like that, Felix walked away from the arcade like he had just taken a walk. He even disregarded the praise and thanks that the victims of the Fiend gave him because he felt like he didn't even do that much; in his opinion, there was no honor in killing a small fry Fiend.

[Mission Completed]

• Survive the Fiend encounter

[Reward]

• 40 Yi Power

• 60 Minion Growth Crystal

[12/15 Missions Completed: 1x summon scroll]

Patty remembered that before the Fiend rudely interrupted them, he was in the middle of winning the bet he had with the arcade owner. The owner bet him 10,000 Chains that he wouldn't be able to catch all five balls from the cannon. Well, before the Fiend appeared, he was able to catch that last ball without any problems.

"Hey man! Don't forget about our bet! You owe me 10,000 Chains!"

The arcade owner looked back at him. "No I don't. You didn't catch the fifth ball!"

Patty started to get angry. How could he try and renege on their deal?! Patty needed 10,000 Chains in order to buy his own massage chair! And he won that bet fair and square! "I won that bet and you know it!"

The arcade owner just shrugged. "No evidence, no win."

And then Patty remembered something good. He remembered that he stored the fifth ball in his pockets just as the Fiend attacked him. And luckily enough, when he patted his pocket, there was something in there.

"Aha! I still have the ball with me!"

In his excitement, Patty grabbed the ball in his pocket with intensity and a little bit of anger. He clutched the ball as hard as he could, afraid that it would slip out of his hands. He didn't want the arcade owner to have a reason to say that he didn't actually catch that last ball.

But when he showed the ball to the arcade owner, both of them noticed something weird. The ball had curves and indents that perfectly fit the shape of Patty's fingers. The ball now looked like a wet clay that was marked with Patty's hands. 

But that didn't make sense. After all, this was the last ball that had the number 20 marked on it. This meant that this ball was made out of a 20 fold Damascus steel. You would need the strength of twenty men to even make a scratch on this material. How could it be dented like this?