Professor Lance left the office, laughing loudly.
Before he walked out, he shot me a sharp glare.
"Arghhh..."
I jumped at the sound of Professor Costine's frustrated groan.
Did she forget I was still here?
"Professor Costine, is everything okay?"
I asked cautiously.
"Huh?"
She quickly straightened up, her expression shifting into her usual professional demeanor.
"Why are you still here?"
she asked, almost accusingly.
"I was waiting for Professor Lance to leave. Anyway, why do you look so upset?"
"Didn't you hear what we were talking about? If I lose the bet, I have to go out with him,"
she said, crossing her arms.
"What's the big deal?"
"The problem is... I don't have a partner," she admitted with a pout.
"Wait, didn't you just tell him you have one?"
"I lied,"
she said flatly.
"Why lie? You could have just told him you didn't want to go,"
I said, confused.
"Hmph! What do you know? It's embarrassing to admit I don't have anyone to go with,"
she muttered.
"Embarrassing?"
I repeated.
I didn't understand what was so bad about it.
Was it about going alone to the party or not having a boyfriend at her age?
"Anyway, how do you plan to solve this?"
"I don't know,"
she said, clearly frustrated.
"Don't you have any male friends?"
Her silence said it all.
I thought back to her nickname, "Ice Queen."
She was known for being distant and cold, especially towards men.
I'd never even seen her act friendly with other female teachers, let alone with male ones.
-Clap!
The sudden sound of her hands clapping broke my train of thought.
She looked at me with a wide smile, her eyes sparkling with excitement.
"Wait, don't we have this option?"
she said, grabbing my hands.
Her grip was firm yet oddly gentle.
She looked straight at me with an intensity that made me nervous.
"Eh?"
(Oh no, I've got a bad feeling about this...)
"That's right! I shouldn't have any problem going with you,"
Professor Costine said with confidence.
"Ahhh..." I let out a nervous sigh.
"You're already my student. If we go together, no one will think twice about it,"
she added.
(That's exactly the problem. How can a teacher and student go to a party as partners?)
"I respectfully decline,"
I said firmly.
"It's not appropriate for a teacher and student to attend a party while pretending to be a couple."
"How about helping me just this once? Didn't you say you owe me?"
she asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Huh?"
Oh. Right.
I did owe her for saving me.
I had almost forgotten about that.
She wanted me to help her with this problem?
Compared to her saving my life, pretending to be her partner didn't seem like a big deal.
"Though, if you really don't want to, it's fine,"
she added, looking unsure.
"It's okay. I'll be your partner,"
I said with a resigned sigh.
"Really? Then I don't have to worry anymore! The party is next Friday. I'll pick you up,"
she said, sounding relieved.
As I reached the door to leave, I heard her voice behind me.
"Thank you!"
I nodded and left.
Afterward, I grabbed lunch in the cafeteria and headed to the training field.
My focus this time was to work on my Shadow Style.
The training ground was much busier than the Magic Skills area.
Most of the students here practiced swordsmanship.
My training went well.
I managed to improve my ability to condense mana while practicing Shadow Style.
Afterward, I returned to my dorm and checked my phone for news.
I was specifically looking for any auctions featuring the Malus Fruit.
In the story, the Malus Fruit didn't gain attention until much later, but it eventually became one of the most sought-after items.
If eaten alone, the fruit only increases mana.
However, that's not why it's so valuable.
When mixed with the Lilium Flower, a Rank-5 item, at a specific ratio of 3:4, the result is incredible.
If someone at the peak of Rank-5+ consumes the mixture, they can break through to Rank-6.
Because the Malus Fruit is rare, only the wealthy could afford to rank up this way in the future.
Right now, this method hasn't been discovered, so the fruit is much cheaper than it will be later.
I don't need it immediately, but it could be useful for money or for reaching Rank-10 someday.
Even with its limited use now, it's still expensive because it's a Rank-5 item and very rare.
The current price is more than 100,000 coins.
While I was searching for auction news, I came across something interesting.
A Gold-grade federation was attempting to clear the 30th floor of the Obelisk.
The Obelisk is a mysterious tower with an unknown number of floors.
The higher the floor, the stronger the monsters.
Only ten people can enter as a team.
If more join, they're considered a separate team and sent to a different area.
Raiding the Obelisk takes months, so teams need a lot of supplies, including food and potions.
The cost is huge, but the rewards are worth it.
Clearing every 10th floor has a high chance of rewarding an artifact.
The report said that the Rank-5 team had been inside the Obelisk for over a month, aiming to conquer the 30th floor.
The federation behind the Obelisk raid was called NightShade.
It was a strong federation with three members at the peak of Rank-5+.
After reading the news, I went back to searching for auction items.
Finally, I found what I was looking for—the Malus Fruit.
It was listed as one of the items to be auctioned this Friday.
I quickly noted the location and time of the auction.
It was going to take place in the auction house owned by a Gold-grade federation.
Feeling satisfied, I casually checked the game's status and was shocked by what I saw.
The game had received a flood of negative reviews, and its downloads had dropped drastically since yesterday.
Many comments warned others not to download it:
"Scam! Waste of money."
"Contains a virus. My phone broke after installing this app."
"Malicious content! Do not download!"
"What the hell happened?"
I muttered to myself.
There were at least a thousand bad reviews.
Something was clearly wrong.
I quickly called Ekapal.
"Hello, boss!"
"Ekapal, what's going on? Is the game broken? We're losing a lot of users."
"Sir, the game is working fine. I think someone hired people to post fake reviews. It might be one of the federations we refused to work with before."
"Can you find out who's behind this?"
"Yes, sir. I know someone who can get that information, but… it will cost some money."
"Use company funds if needed. Just find out who's doing this."
"Understood, sir!"
I ended the call, frustrated.
Someone was definitely trying to cause trouble for me.
Maybe they found out my company doesn't work with federations and decided to mess with us.
"Fine,"
I muttered,
"If they want trouble, they'll get it."
The next day, I attended class as usual.
As always, the students stared at me.
Over the last two months, I had gotten used to it.
At first, their looks were mocking, but now they seemed more curious.
While I could ignore them in class, it was hard to do so during training.
To avoid distractions, I went to the Ice Room, where I could train in peace.
Later, I decided to visit my company.
Over the past month, Tech Genesis has grown a lot.
We now had software engineers, a management team, and even a legal team.
This meant I didn't have to handle everything myself.
Hiring new employees had also become easier, especially since I paid better than most companies.
In this world, people who weren't fighters or high-ranked often earned very little.
Most made only 5,000 to 7,000 coins a month.
I paid my employees at least 10,000, and Ekapal, my senior employee, earned 20,000 plus bonuses.
Because of this, employees often recommended their friends, which helped me find more talent.
Since we were still understaffed, I appreciated their efforts.
As the company's boss, I made it a point to visit occasionally.
I also treated my employees to dinner sometimes.
They worked hard to make the company successful, so I treated them well.
Despite being made up of low-ranked humans, my company earned over 5 million coins in its first month.
That was more than most Gold-grade federations made.
When I entered the office, the receptionist greeted me.
"Good evening, sir!"
she said with a polite bow.
"Good evening. Please call Ekalpa to my office."
"Right away!"
I nodded and went inside.
A few minutes later, there was a knock on the door.
"Come in,"
I said.
Ekalpa entered, looking a bit nervous.
"Sir, I'm sorry. I couldn't handle the issue properly. It looks like five Silver-grade federations are targeting us."
"Five Silver-grade federations? How is that possible?"
"According to the information I received, someone from a Gold-grade federation instructed them. Otherwise, there's no way they'd team up against a small company like ours."
"A Gold-grade federation?"
"Yes, sir. My source also suspects that the Gold-grade federation might be a Dark Federation."
A Dark Federation…
Dark Federations were notorious for illegal activities like murder and robbery.
Even though they didn't make contracts with Devils, they were just as bad.
"Do you know the name of the guild?"
I asked.
"It's DevilFuckers."