Fyeinem hospital, 3rd floor corridor.
The corridor was filled with the sanitizer's fragrance. The walls and floor appeared to be shining, as it was maintained regularly.
Just entering the reception of the Fyeinem hospital was the limit for normal citizens.
To be treated on the first floor meant you were from a first class family.
In the second floor, only families with talented individuals of S-rank and above were treated. Third floor was truly for people titled VIP, it would be hard to even enter without going through multiple verification.
This world followed a strength based hierarchy. Multiple races lived in this world. Giving rise to a complicated society filled with dangerous undercurrent.
At the surface, it may appear that everyone lived in harmony, but no one was stupid enough to believe that this would continue forever.
Humans were currently the ruling race of this world and they did everything to maintain such status. Fostering human talent was one of the long term plans to accomplish that.
On the third floor, a cube around a metre square in size floated through the corridor. A round grey crystal was placed on its top, which pulled any dust around the atmosphere.
Another cleaning machine shaped in the sphere with three cores followed behind. Mainly spreading sanitizer around the area.
The cube shaped mech came to a stop before a girl, who appeared around 18 years old similar to Zick.
Aster, a mysterious figure who popped out of thin air a month ago and was allowed to join the academy in the middle of a semester.
Recently, she sparred with Zick in equal terms and 'mistakenly' hurt him. Such news was spread across the social content platforms.
This incident moved Zick's image as an undefeatable talent of the century. And was still under verification as no concrete video was published.
The academy was quite strict in this aspect. Hiding any private information of the cadets faithfully.
With the cube and sphere levitating quietly in the air, dead silence spread across the corridor.
Aster stood before the door with '24' mark, and seemed emotionless like a puppet. Whereas, her pale face and unkempt hair told another story.
This was her first mission given by Ethereal. At first, it was just to get along with a boy of high status. Unexpectedly, it went quite well and she even considered the other party as a friend in her heart. But it all changed when she received the next series of orders.
Poison the other party and take over the first rank in the academy just after, and expose the other party's inability to use mana, at the next test.
A cruel order, nevertheless carried out perfectly.
'....I will help him in the future.' Aster tried her best to bury the guilt in her heart.
It was Zick, who broke the wall between Aster and other classmates. Allowing Aster to experience a normal student's life.
It took a lot of her strength to knock on the door. Her weary eyes grew clear as she heard the calm voice on the other side of the door.
Click~
As she opened the door, fresh air brushed past her. Beside the window, she saw Zick, who might be her first and last friend throughout her life.
On the other hand, Zick held back the sneer rising up within him.
'She appears quite guilty for someone who stabbed me again in a few years.' He mocked internally.
Zick could look past Aster's cold facade in a glance. Just by her not so well maintained appearance, it was apparent that she was filled with conflict internally.
Even Zick's face grew extra frostier as he held in his emotions. His eyes gazed at Aster indifferently.
[Ding!...]
Ignoring the notification, Zick flashed a smile towards Aster.
"Why are you here?" He spoke in a neutral voice.
Zick didn't want to see Aster anymore after getting her stats in the system. Instead of seeing her guilty, he wanted to see a suffering Aster, who had fallen to the depth of despair.
Aster hesitated before speaking: "I...came to apologise."
Zick raised a brow and shook his head: "It's not your fault. The academy's staff members are at fault for not doing their work properly."
These words were the same as how he responded before regression.
'She has yet to grow into the monster she was in the future. I remember she once said that her facial expression was frozen due to some traumatic experience....' Zick dug-out some old memories.
To Zick's reply, Aster just looked down blankly. She walked beside him and looked outside the window, trying hard to find some words to speak.
Zick turned towards the garden, while his eyes shone sharply, 'I won't allow her to apologise. It's better if she just bottles up all the emotions regarding me internally. That way, my plan will go more smoothly.'
"I am grateful that you decided to visit me like this. But I have a full body checkup soon, so you should leave." Zick kindly pointed towards the door, feeling revolting in his guts.
'Just get out before I take out a sword and cut you in half!'
Only the stagnant air flowed as Aster froze in place. Till the end, she couldn't bring herself to look into Zick's eyes.
After being glued in a place for a while, Aster nodded her head and headed towards the door.
Seeing her exit the room, Zick moved towards the bed and threw himself on it.
"Sigh..... Don't get restless, she is useful and...I haven't forgotten the promise yet..." A person's face flew by in his head.
Aster wasn't very talkative, whether now or in the future. So her current awkward behaviour didn't bother Zick in any way.
Taking in a long breath, Zick called out in his head: "System."
[Ding! An individual with destiny has been detected!]
[Name: Aster Khe'verper
Destiny grade: Mythic
Destiny: The destroyer of Ethereal, the Annihilator and the one that commands the realm of chaos.
Favourability: 30 (Very friendly)]
[Host's favourability with Aster has been detected. Reward: Host's destiny has been strengthened slightly and obtained 2,000 destiny points.]
Zick's eyes glowed at once: 'At last, I have some destiny points. Why didn't I get any from my father though, system?'
[The target's destiny is already reaching its end.]
"Hmm, so it's because his destiny is already completed..." Touching his chin, Zick mused.
Anyway, seeing Aster's top-tier destiny, Zick wasn't very surprised. It was possible to carry out the plan without a hitch now.
'It seems like destroying Ethereal is a big deal, seeing it could be considered a mythic-grade feat.' A smile naturally formed on Zick's face, the smile appeared crooked but it was still a real smile unlike the one he showed to Aster.