[ Administrator Profile ]
[ Rank-0 Lifeform ]
[ Physique: 1.12 ]
[ Special Attribute: - ]
[ Familiars: Scout Dog, Brawler Rat, Scavenger Rat, Dread Spider, Saw Serpent ]
[ Administration Skill: Shepherding ]
In one week, Euri's strength had soared to a distinctive height. He could lift the heavy desk in his bedroom with much more ease than before. His sense of balance was also leagues better now.
As for the other physical attributes like speed and stamina, Euri had no way to test them accurately. But he was already preparing to keep records of his current capabilities, using the alleyway behind his home for full-speed sprints and lifting stone slabs as weights.
Had he not started exercising daily, he would have never realized how far his body had actually improved. Although the increase wasn't drastic, he was already as good as his peak form back when he used to accompany a fat friend in the local gym regularly.
He wasn't the only one improving at a ridiculous pace. Inside the game, four of his five beast familiars were cultivating more than 20 hours a day. Except for Scavenger Rat, all of them had reached their second checkpoint in cultivation.
Any day now, the most dedicated of the five, Scout Dog, would break through to the third checkpoint. Euri was eager to see if that would lead to a significant change, but he didn't hold much hope.
After discovering the time reduction mechanism of the vitality gas well, Euri was in a jubilant mood. He spent that entire morning throwing around a bucket-sized concrete slab in the alley. He even had an audience here—the elderly neighbors who had nothing else to do in their empty homes.
"Young men these days aren't as tough as they used to be... But keep that up, grandson!" One old man shouted while smoking through a homemade pipe.
"I remember when I used to lift fifty-kilo boxes like they weighed nothing. You're almost ten percent as good as I was back then," another grandpa said from a wheelchair. His wife showed up behind him with a displeased face.
"How come you could never lift me then?"
With a scowl, the grandpa answered, "When I said fifty-kilo boxes, I was talking about your lunchboxes-Ow! Oooh!"
Euri averted his eyes from the tragic scene of domestic abuse and skipped out of the alley.
While leaving for school, he noticed a message from Mekyle in his comcell. His heartbeat immediacy skyrocketed upon opening the full text.
[ Bennet has their identities. Don't skip school today. Take it from me, personally; think about how exactly you plan to get back at them. Don't waste Bennet's time. ]
Euri stared out of his window at the distant cityscape, his gaze vacant. He knew exactly how he planned to get back at them. But first, he had to interrogate those three fuckers about Sol-Wa's lookalike. Now, it depended on how Bennet arranged the whole thing.
"I just need their identity and location. It'd be best if no one else was involved in our encounter."
Quickly downing his breakfast, Euri jogged to the metro circuit with a preoccupied mind. His introspection was only broken after reaching the campus and noticing the highly unusual atmosphere around the main entrance.
More than a dozen expensive-looking cars were parked in front of the gateway. Several uniformed men were walking around them, stony faces scowling at the students who stopped by to stare in wonder.
Inside the campus, the noise of a large gathering could be heard from the administration building. Hesitating for a moment, Euri decided to go in to see what was going on.
Just as he had suspected, the source of the trouble turned out to be the principal himself. His luxurious office, taking up an entire floor of the building, was filled to the brim with both insiders and outsiders.
Among the outsiders, there was a group that was bound to leave an impression. Semi-formal clothing made with top-notch material and design, confident posture and gestures that spoke of experience, and the focus everyone else in the room gave to them—these made it clear that they were the center of this ruckus.
Facing them at the other end of the desk, Principal Serique's oily face projected nothing but rejection.
"Come on, Serique, you're no fool! You understand what made the old master change his mind so abruptly. So why are you escalating the matter into something even bigger and worse?"
They seemed wary of revealing too much, speaking with vague terms. It was evident that had it been up to them, this meeting would have taken place in a private chamber.
Their bodyguards were repeatedly trying to push the audience out of the room. But the faculty members weren't willing to give in, not on their own campus.
"Don't think I don't know who voted against me in secret, Mr. Esenel," the Principal said quite loudly. His words had an immediate effect on not just the one he had replied to, but the entire cohort of visitors. Their troubled, but patient looks turned unsightly.
The middle-aged man, who Euri assumed was Mr. Esenel, spoke after a long pause.
"Since you know, I won't hide my intentions. You can still save yourself if you switch sides. The boss isn't asking for much; just cut off your contract with the Helios Clan."
Serique laughed, face full of ridicule. "Cut off that contract? What then? Who gets to explore Golden Bull Gateway after that happens? Just say you want to force me to sell that favor to your people, hahaha!"
"Yeah, keep laughing while you can." Mr. Esenel stood up slowly. "You should investigate a little and learn who our backer is. Don't crawl back to us after you understand who the Helios Clan has offended."
The bodyguards pushed off a dozen people to create enough space for the group to leave. But-
"Oh, I know!" Principal Serique's reply paused the entire group on their momentum-filled departure. As they turned around, incredulity showing on their faces, Serique brought up a name even Euri had heard of.
"The Bloodfly Clan, ranked third on the global assessment panel this year, rulers of eleven districts, carrying the legacy of Imperator Visius Bloodfly."
The more titles Serique added, the more complex the visitors' countenances became. It was as if they could not believe that despite knowing his opponent, Serique was adamant in his stance.
Mr. Esenel opened his mouth to say something a couple of times, but in the end, he flashed the principal a twisted smile and left with his partners in tow.
Soon after, Euri and his fellow students, who had come to witness the drama, were kicked out of the office by the grumpy faculty members. While most students headed to the classroom, Euri hung around the entryway, looking for Bennet's toadies. He knew he wouldn't find them in classes.
About fifteen minutes later, just as he was about to give up, he saw another group of vehicles approaching the gateway. These cars weren't as flashy as the previous batch, but the uniformity and discipline they moved with was striking.
Euri watched the cars enter the campus uninterrupted, which was even more unusual. Not even the Principal himself had been given the luxury of driving inside the small campus. The group that had just left hadn't been able to violate the rule either.
Yet the guards looked totally unconcerned, as if they had been ordered to not block them. Curious, Euri followed the trail of the cars and found himself back at the administration building. The number of bodyguards who poured out of these cars was three times as many as the previous group.
Together, they pretty much blocked anyone from peeking at their employer. Euri only managed to catch a brief glimpse of a woman dressed in a white suit walking up the staircase leading to the principal's office.
Hesitating for a while, he approached the least menacing bodyguard among those blocking the building's entrance and said, "Hey, big brother, can I ask who you guys are?"
Smiling down at him kindly, the guard replied, "I'm Oboi, triple star protection specialist! I studied at Eon Star Academy! This right here is my best buddy Donny! He studied..."
Dumbstruck, Euri listened on for a full minute before realizing that he wasn't about to get the answer he wanted.
"Er, I mean, who do you represent? Who's your employer?"
The bodyguards nearby, who had been hiding their smiles until now, burst out with uproarious laughter. Euri had to spend a lot of effort to not let the embarrassment show on his face.
"Hahaha, you have quite an innocent face, boy," Oboi said, still grinning. "But are you just as stupid inside? Did you think I didn't realize what you were asking for? I'm not allowed to say these things!"
Annoyed, Euri shed the harmless, ingratiating look. "Big brother, how about this? I'll take a guess, and if I'm correct, you can just nod."
Raising an eyebrow, the jovial guard agreed to the challenge, and immediately, Euri voiced his suspicion.
"Bloodfly Clan."
Oboi's grin disappeared.