Chad laughed at her provocation, this bastard did have a thick face.
He then said "My family, Abelard, will buy a 30% share of your car brand soon, I am looking forward to attending a celebrating ceremony of cooperation between our guilds. Don't forget to introduce me to your dad."
The words Guild alone could send shivers down through a commoner like me as they were even more dangerous than the mafia, they had a direct connection to the world government and could operate on a galactic scale owning multiple brands and big companies that could easily decided to turn one artificial planet's economy upside down.
But this kid before me didn't make me slightly scared of him due to his loud and proud mouth, moreover, everyone knew his family didn't care about him either due to Abelard had so many children which was why nobody in this school was afraid of him but some did and followed him like the four teenagers beside him.
Meanwhile, people would piss their pants off if they even dared to offend Setsuna since the entire guild protect her like a princess. However, the point that today he had the ball to try to provoke her meant he thought that his family began to give him some of their attention now.
Setsuna laughed and replied, "I will tell my dad to cancel the plan of cooperating with your family."
At that moment, everyone fell silent and Chad's face immediately turned red, and snap "Are you out of your mind? This is a billion coins worth of cooperation!"
To think that she likely said that meant her family must had a lot of coins to consider even billions of coins not worth any amount.
Immediately, someone else stepped out from the entrance as she looked around with her blue eyes and said "Why are you guys blocking the entrance?" The voice was cold without any emotion in it.
"Hyun Hee!" Chad seems slightly flinched and moved out from the entrance.
I told her "We are just having a chat."
Hyun Hee walked away as she said "This is a classroom, not a place for argument or dispute."
When Hyun Hee went further away into one corner of the passage, Chad also seemed to calm down a bit while probably holding in his anger.
"I will remember this one!" Chad turned back and walked away in the opposite direction of where Hyun Hee had gone.
Setsuna shrugged for a moment as we looked at her unbelieve at what she just said, even the teacher seemed to glance from inside the classroom to see what happened before turning back to type something on the holographic display before him.
Nonetheless, it wasn't my problem to try to question her decision about her guild matters.
I said, "Let's grab something to eat."
Shan and Setsuna nodded, and then we walked into the same passage that Hyun Hee just gone through and arrived at the hall where many people could be seen sitting on a round table and bench chatting and looking at the scenery of the city from the panoramic glasses wall. We walked through the clean and futuristic hallways of my school with holographic displays about the achievements of the world government, then we entered another passage adorned with sleek white aluminum walls and illuminated by soft, blue ambient lights.
The hallways were bustling with students and staff, with various sounds of music and chatting as well as footsteps echoing in the background. As I approached the entrance to the cafeteria, I could see the glass doors reflecting the vibrant colors of my surroundings. With anticipation, I pushed open the doors, ready to enjoy a meal in the bustling atmosphere of the school's cafeteria.
As I entered the cafeteria, I glanced around to find many people already took the available seats as far as I could see since this was lunch time for everyone on this floor. So it was hard to find a seat.
Fortunately, I noticed an available seat with a square table big enough for 6 people and one person was already there, she had short white hair, and her bag was placed on a nearby seat.
She was none other than Hyun Hee, I wonder why she always did things alone.
"It is full of people in here," Setsuna complained.
"I find us an available seat, follow me," I said and walked forward toward where Hyun Hee was.
Without saying a word, the two of them also followed me from behind until we eventually reached where Hyun Hee was sitting, quietly enjoying her kimbap.
I asked her "Can I sit with you?"
Hyun Hee briefly turned to look at me and nodded, then returned to eat her food.
After her approval, Shan sat down immediately in front of the seat where Hyun Hee placed her bag, meanwhile, I sat next to him faced Hyun Hee, while Setsuna sat beside her. I took my bag pack from my shoulder and placed it near the foot of my seat. My bag pack was lightweight, due to its weight adjustment technology that could reduce the weight of the bag to some degree depending on the item I stored inside.
In this cafeteria, you didn't need to walk up to a vendor machine to order food, all you needed to do was open the app and order the food you like then a robot would bring it to you.
At the same time, Hyun Hee finished her meal and quickly left the table with her backpack without even telling us in advance. We got used to her cold and distant demeanor, so no one mentioned it and focused on ordering the food.
Each one of us opened our tablet display and immediately a notification popped up asking do I wanted to enter the cafeteria website.
Clicked confirm, and immediately a new browser opened revealing a list of available foods. There wasn't much food, but what do you expect from a school cafeteria?
For lunch, I selected chicken curry and orange juice. Then I put my tablet back into my jacket's pocket to immerse myself in the surroundings. People were chatting, and laughing and some had their meal alone, I couldn't believe I could see this scenery again even though I almost became brain-dead in this morning.
I stared at the wall built from UV protection glass window, most of the sector 1 and 2 domes landscape could be seen.
A flying car hovered above the skyscrapers that almost touched the edge of the dome shield, on the surface connected with multiple bridges and vehicles that drove on wheels while at the same time, one could spot a giant park across the dome even on skyscrapers to promote green energy.
A few minutes later, three delivery robots move on wheels, and they can follow a set path or be controlled remotely. The robots had sensors to avoid bumping into things and could even navigate through obstacles. they had compartments to hold the items and dishes they delivered which also had a feature to eliminate bacteria and dirt to keep the dishes fresh.
Once they arrived at our table, the compartments split open and the platform that supported the dishes levitated, then they proceeded to gently yet cautiously carry the dishes to placed before us.
Setsuna smiled as she saw her favorite dish, chicken breast with carrot and tomato placed before her. While Shan had just eaten a normal chicken sandwich with a cup of coffee, meanwhile before the delivery robots left, Setsuna patted them causing them to emit a beep beep sound similar to a happy noise.
After a few minutes, we finished our meals and drinks, it was then news that caught everyone's attention began to broadcast through multiple displays at once in the cafeteria or perhaps an entire school and skyscraper.
A sweet yet smooth female voice could be heard, and when I turned to look at the holographic display I saw a woman in her mid-20s who wore a beautiful dress, with strict posture, and had a professional aura to her.
The news report said "The world government has concluded temporarily shutting down all VR games throughout the Solar system, however, the AR version of TWOD could be still played as a way for professional rankers to compete."
She continued "Regarding the victims of the explosion in TWOD, the world government will offer them permanent hospital healthcare at no cost and provide 500,000 coins as compensation to the families of the victims."
"I guess we won't be able to hunt down dimensional creatures for a while," Shan exclaimed.
However, Setsuna looked slightly pale and opened her tablet to look at the stock market and it seemed like the value of her father's company had slightly fallen. It didn't fall much compared to other companies since his main company income relies on vehicle production.
With a long deep sigh of relief, Setsuna put her tablet back in her jacket pocket.
I told her "Don't worry, your family owns multiple companies outside of TWOD."
With a slight nod, she replied "I was afraid that my father would have no choice but to sign the contract with that bastard family, but now all good, I will convince him to not sign the contract."
That bastard she mentioned must be Chad, I wonder what happened to his family after the temporary shutdown of the server since his family owned a big share in a trading company in TWOD and they also funded small guilds to hunt down rare dimensional creatures for them.
But it was not my problem, and honestly, I had a lot of things going on in my head right now. I was still surprised that I was still able to come to school and act normally despite facing all the challenges and difficulties, just to show how strong I had come on my own.
All around us, people began to chat about the situation regarding what happened to TWOD and reality. But Shan immediately stood up and signaled me and Setsuna to leave the cafeteria. We followed him to the outside and stood before the cafeteria.
"Let's meet each other in front of our school," Shan said, he added to me "Do you tell anyone about what happened this morning?"
He brought up the topic out of nowhere, I just shook my head to him and he smiled. As Setsuna looked at me and Shan with narrow eyes filled with curiosity.
To divert her attention, I asked.
"What do we drive to the vibrant city? It is outside the sector 1 and 2 domes,"
Setsuna smiled, and with an energetic voice she said "My car of course!"
To be honest, I didn't want us to stand out much and Setsuna's car collection was just too impressive that people couldn't help but pay attention.
I facepalm and shook my head "Give me a break, we are not going there to show off."
Setsuna got closer to me with a poker face, then I felt a heavy slap on my back. I was used to her violent demeanor, so I just frowned and said "What is it all of a sudden?"
"Just how often do you think you can drive a sport-flying car?" She stated and repeatedly pinched my cheek.
Shan sighed and tried to convince her "We are not hip-hop artists, what is the point of driving a flashy car? Our whole band idea is that we start from the beginning, with nothing but our combined talent and authenticity."
Sometimes, I just wanted him to be a leader. More importantly, Setsuna nodded without arguing which was rare for her, most of the time she would talk back and direct everyone like she owned the band.
With this decision, everyone split up since there were four hours left until 4 pm. Setsuna mentioned she was going to drum class and Shan would stay in the nearby library. Additionally, I also had a sparring session with my mentor so I couldn't stick with them until 4 pm. As soon as they left, I also headed to meet my mentor.
Beyond the cafeteria, there were two other passages, and one of the passages led to an open park that had a sports facility located on it. I was walking on this passage, and on the wall, there was a painting of various athletes and sports competitions as well as a holographic display about sports news.
I walked for several minutes until I encountered another entrance with another hologram barrier and two security guards stood near the entrance guarding the scanning device.
Located the scanning device situated at the center before the entrance, I stepped forward and scanned it, the hologram entrance deactivated revealing a park stretching for many hundred matters with basketball, tennis, and football courts. The security guard glanced at my way briefly after I scanned and was about to walk through the entrance.
One of them asked "Hey, brother. Have you noticed that more people with black hoods and angel masks soaked in blood mask appear more frequently in this school?"
I replied, "Well, they have been more active these past few days."
This security guard always strikes a conversation with me whenever I went through the entrance to the kickboxing facility, he was very friendly and would strike up a conversation with people on and off during his duty.
He looked like he was in deep contemplation, the school guard didn't have a helmet on like other security guards so it was not scary to spend time with them since they were also approachable.
He finally said, "I have a bad feeling about this but since the school principal said as long as it didn't affect the school security, I should overlook this matter."
"I see," I replied.
The other guard said "There you go again, we are currently on duty. Focus on our job!"
The friendly guard nodded and smiled while saying to me "Ahh sorry, please continue and have a nice day."
With a smile and a pat on his back, I continued to proceed beyond the entrance. Fresh air could be felt, and numerous people engaging in sports activities like traditional basketball and tennis could also be seen. Some people sprinted and jogged back and forth around the park. It seemed lively, and the building that I was heading to right now was a small enclosed facility that only student train under Geralt could enter with his permission.
After several minutes of walking past many people, I eventually arrived at a small building. I opened the metal door and was greeted with a view of many people wearing boxing gloves punching a robotic mannequin that always moved left and right to dodge their punch. In the center of the hall was a mid-size round fighting ring.
As soon as I entered the building, some of the old guys looked at me. Then they walked to one of the people who repeatedly punched a lifeless dummy.
He was tall and bulky, he had a white beard and red hair. He was wearing a sleeveless t-shirt and short pants, his green eyes were fresh to look at thought despite his intimidating aura.
The old man stopped punching the dummy and turned to look at me with his green eyes, without hesitation I made my toward him. After all this red-haired old man was my mentor, Geralt.
He looked very calm and quiet, as I arrived before him. He didn't say anything and just nodded at me, this was a sign of approval for today's training. Afterward, he turned to walk toward one of the doors in the building, I followed him closely from behind.
As we entered through the door, we were greeted by a staircase illuminated by a radiant stream of light pouring in from the panoramic window, given by the artificial sun of the holographic sky. descending the stairs, we eventually reached one of the training rooms. However, it resembled more of a basement than a traditional training space, as it was cluttered with boxes and electrical equipment. Despite the disarray, the room boasted a breathtaking view of the city through a massive glass wall that spanned the entire length of one side.
At the center was a robotic dummy, it didn't have a hand or leg and was rooted in one place however it could dodge left and right and even use electromagnetic force to lightly punch back, if I didn't block the force, it would be counted as the punch landed.
As I glanced upward, I noticed a familiar girl who often frequented appeared on the ground floor above us. Several individuals were engaged in training on that level, while our room was separated by a transparent glass wall.
This arrangement allowed those on the ground floor to have a clear view of our basement. Curiously, the girl never initiated conversation or indicated any interest in me or Geralt. Instead, she simply observed our training sessions. Whenever our eyes met, she quickly averted her gaze.
The girl possessed short, brown hair and brown skin. She leaned against the handlebar in front of the glass wall, attentively observing the basement. It was unclear whether she was fixated on the view within the basement or peering through the panoramic window on the ground floor.
With a deep yet relaxed voice, he said "Put your backpack somewhere, let's start our training."
"I understand."
After I put my backpack in one of the stacked boxes in the corner of this room, I also removed my jacket and then walked toward the dummy.
He gave me the boxing gloves and asked me to extend both of my palms. Then he used a Nedro spray on my hand to kill the bacteria before I wore it.
After I equipped the boxing gloves, Geralt said "Today just learn to dodge and block the dummy electromagnet attack. After that, you will have to have a spar with me."
With shock, I replied "But I am not yet ready!"
He replied "The world is getting chaotic nowadays, it won't wait for you to get ready. So from now on you will have to endure real pain with a real fight."
I nodded, even though I knew I wouldn't stand a chance against him. However, I was also aware that I must improve myself and take this chance to improve myself.