"You sure that f**ker is here? If I don't see him here, I'll bash your heads against each other."
Bruce raised his brows, looking at the five people who were following him earlier. They were bruised and one even had a black eye.
Their backs were hunched, as though depressed.
"'He's definitely here!" One of them replied with an audible gulp. They looked at the large symbol on top of the massive tower in front of them.
"Magic Tower"
The reason why Bruce was confused was because he didn't remember that spoiled piece of shit being interested in magic.
But seeing as the group of idiots had no reason to lie to him, he trusted them and went inside the Magic Tower casually.
'Besides, this is also convenient for me. One of my stops is the Magic Tower... I'll try and check for any hidden gifts after having a nice talk with that idiot.'
The group of followers looked at his back, with a bit of fear flashing in their eyes. They were beaten so cruelly and one-sidedly...
"Why did we fight him? Are we stupid?"
"The boss told us, remember? My head hurts. I should've known that the infamous illegitimate son of the Ryker family would be so strong..."
"He might've been low-key at the start, but he's probably as strong as the other geniuses in the Ryker Family..."
The Rykers were a high-class evolutionary family in Blue Star.
Like most evolutionary families, the Rykers trained their young generation as early as six years old to prepare them for their future.
They taught them basic combat, knowledge, and practical skills.
Even Bruce was not exempted from this training. And compared to some of his peers, his training was even more extreme than others.
His instructors threw around excuses such as "the son of the head should be able to bear this level" to increase the difficulty of his training.
Although he was able to bear it, his confidence was always at an all-time low due to the scorn he received from his instructors after the training.
For him, it always felt like he had never done enough in his life.
Maybe his instructors realized that he was talented, and thus tried to suppress his confidence. If so, it certainly worked.
The old Bruce Ryker would've not fought back, and if he had noticed the group of idiots following him, he would've ignored them and gone on about his day.
But unfortunately for the group of idiots... that person wasn't the old Bruce Ryker anymore.
***
Seeing the spacious floor, Bruce walked up to the receptionist. He looked around him and couldn't help but be impressed.
There were all kinds of artifacts kept behind a thick layer of glass, situated near the white, quartz walls of the Tower.
Besides the glass, there was a floating holographic image that displayed the three dimensions of the artifact.
One of them, Bruce noted was a ship as small as a child's pinky finger. It supposedly could change its size at will.
Apparently, it could grow to the size of a galactic spaceship given enough energy.
And that was just one of the many technological and mystical wonders kept sealed in the Magic Tower.
Bruce stopped in front of the receptionist.
"Hi, can I ask you a question?"
The receptionist glanced at him and realized that he was a student. Technically, not realized—her personal artificial intelligence assistant notified her.
'Name: Bruce Ryker, Age: 17, Status: Single'
She bowed slightly before giving a charming smile.
"Ask away, sir. Since you're a student of the academy, you are allowed to stay indefinitely and have access to certain privileges in the tower."
"Is that so? Then did a child that looks like a piece of sh*t walk in this place? He had red hair and a very punchable face. His name is Alexander Ryker."
The receptionist was baffled. "...I'm sorry, but sir, I don't think I can reveal that to you..."
Bruce raised his brows. "I thought I was entitled to certain privileges?"
"If you have a P-AI (personal artificial intelligence) then I can send you the list of the Tower's student privileges," The receptionist calmly explained. "But otherwise, you can check it on the universal website. I'm afraid, I can't tell you such information."
P-AI...? Bruce was surprised. He hasn't applied for one yet, he'll put it on his list of things to do for the week.
Since the dawn of artificial intelligence, everyone can have their artificial intelligence tool to assist them in their work.
"Forget it then," Bruce shook his head. He gave a knowing glance at the receptionist; his question wasn't private at all.
Most likely, the receptionist recognized the name and thought it was for the best to not offend such a figure.
Going to the second floor, he tried searching for a familiar face.
"Oh... Huh? There you are, you bastard."
Bruce found the man quicker than he had thought. The man was as conspicuous as a goat in a sheep herd.
As of right now, the man was talking to a beautiful woman wearing a lab coat.
Alexander gave a small smile as he held the hand of the woman in front of him. "I wonder if we can discuss more about this project at my place, Ms. Illya?"
"I'm busy." The woman coldly replied, evidently not entertained by his flimsy flirting at the slightest. "I told you, stop bothering me. You don't even know the slightest thing about sorcery, and you're asking me to discuss it with you? It would be like talking to a space monkey."
But Alexander was not deterred in the slightest. His mouth twitched. "Well, you wouldn't know if you don't try, right?"
Illya rolled her eyes, not the least bit believing him. She was about to open her mouth—but something happened that made her eyes widen in shock.
Alexander saw her surprised eyes. He thought that he successfully changed her preconceived notion of him.
'Did she finally realize how great I am? It's about ti...'
Before he could celebrate, a familiar voice, one he could not recall suddenly resounded behind his back.
"Look who we have here. If it isn't Alexander. It's been a while since we met, you've changed so much. It's only been a few days ago, isn't it? I almost didn't recognize you."
Alex felt an ominous sensation erupt in him. He saw the man walk over from his back and put their hand over his right shoulder.
The man smiled.
"Oh, what's this...? Nice to meet you, miss. I didn't know my dear brother had grown up and started flirting with girls out of his league, color me surprised."
Illya gave a short nod, raising her brows in curiosity.
'...Bruce?'
Alex thought in a mix of confusion and disbelief. He remembers now, the voice was eerily similar to the voice of his half-brother.
Before he could turn around, the man suddenly put their hand over his shoulder, acting as if the two of them were very close with each other.
Turning his eyes beside him, he confirmed that it was indeed his half-brother—Bruce Ryker, or the illegitimate son of his father.
"I'll get straight to the point, Alex." Bruce patted the man's shoulder, flashing him a small smile. He whispered. "If I see any of your followers tailing me again, I'll kill you. I don't care if the family treasures you or protects you like a golden child. I'll kill you."
"And it won't be the quick kind of death. It'll be slow, methodological, and careful. We all make mistakes. I acknowledge that. But if you go too far, there'll be consequences, y'know?"
"Such consequences aren't pretty. I'm not scaring you for the sake of it. I'm being completely honest, human-to-human talk. Sometimes... there are fates worse than death. Consider this my first and only warning, Mr. Alex. I don't want to kill my brother."