Varian reached the ground floor when he heard the sounds of a man's cheers.
"Yes! Give me! Five Hundred merit points. Haha!" A thin young man danced in front of the betting store.
This guy was one of the many desperate that bet their merit points in hopes of a fortune.
He bet 50 merit points, and they turned to 500 in a few minutes.
The store manager's face twisted, and he grudgingly tapped on his comm to transfer the points.
He couldn't help but mutter, "Who would've thought that Young Master Xander would be defeated by a nobod—"
He nearly bit his tongue as he saw Varian walking to the hover bus.
'Fuck!' His palms sweated, and he prayed he didn't offend Varian.
People like him were dispensable. If it was Narcis at the other end, he'd have already been fired.
Watching Varian leave indifferently, he sighed in relief.
No matter the personal opinion, he couldn't make light of Varian.
He had the strength and the background.
Even though his strength was not high in the larger scale of things, his background was more than enough.
If he really annoyed Varian, he'd likely be over.
The problem was that no one would even stand up for him.
This was the law of the jungle.
The strong were feared. The weak were despised.
A good, but weak person would still be looked down upon. A bad, but strong person would still be revered.
In this era, the most important thing was strength.
…
"Master sent you?" Varian asked the old man in front of him.
"Yes, Young Master. I am Richard Taylor." The old man clad in a butler uniform bowed lightly.
With a kind smile on his wrinkled face, he explained. "Master is very busy, so he wanted me to assist you."
Varian recalled the expressionless, but devilish maid with Sarah. Anna.
'At least you could've sent me a cute maid, master.' Varian had no other intentions, but just for the sake of imagination, being called as master by a cute maid was much better than by an old man.
Boo's voice suddenly sounded. 'Master, I know what you're thinking. You don't need this geezer when you have me, a cute ghost, right?'
'Right…?'
'...yeah.' Varian sighed inwardly.
Forget it. With a System and a ghost, he'd scare away any cute maid.
"Then I'll be in your care." He smiled at the old man.
Richard's smiled heartily. "Master has never taken an apprentice. So I have no experience in this area, but if I cause any inconvenience, do let me know."
'That's weird. Maybe his standards are too high?' Varian couldn't help but recall that usually any Level 9 had many disciples.
After all, they lived long and had seen enough talent to pick the suitable ones.
"This is for you." Richard presented a space ring and a… comm?
The new comm fixed itself onto him and only a small screen was visible on his wrist.
The old comm disintegrated in no time.
Varian accepted the space ring and asked in confusion. "I thought I wasn't getting any monetary support?"
Richard laughed, his long white beard shaking. "That is of course. You will not be given any merit points, even floating points. But Master is still your master, no? What is the difference between being a disciple or not when there is no other support?"
Varian looked at the clever glint in Richard's eyes and shrugged. "So what support can I expect?."
"Hoho. I will take care of things that aren't worth spending your time on. For instance." He swiped his comm, and a hologram popped up.
It was a news reporting website within the academy managed by cadets. It seemed like there were forums, online trading in the campus. He just never used them so far.
Out of the hundreds of news articles, a few were quickly climbing the charts.
A new genius emerges! Varian thrashes Narcis Xander! His history is uncovered!
Varian checked it out of curiosity. There was nothing to uncover.
Knox is fired for abuse of power and bribery. He tried to expel Varian who missed his exam due to bravery. Read to find why he missed the exam!
"I see. So this is what you meant." Varian rubbed his chin.
His efficiency was very high. It was not even half an hour when he sent Evander the message.
The news was ten minutes old. So in twenty minutes, he was fired!
"I pride myself in my efficiency." Richard stroked his beard and was about to close the comm when he noticed Varian was still reading the news.
Varian's rise to power. He is likely the hidden genius nurtured by Military.
'Are you serious now? But this is better to cover up my strength.' Varian rolled his eyes, but liked the excuse.
Varian's relationship with Sarah is actually….
'What?' Varian's face twitched.
"Young Master." Richard lightly coughed and Varian coughed back.
"You never saw the news bulletin?" He asked politely.
"Yes." Varian rubbed his nose lightly and said.
"As expected. You were diligently practicing while others were wasting their time. No wonder your strength is so high." Richard expressed his sincere admiration.
Looking at the sparkling eyes of the old man, Varian had an urge to run.
"Your expulsion is cancelled, of course. Your test is rescheduled. You can take it anytime this month." Richard didn't intend to speak the obvious, but realizing Varian was someone who never even checked the news, he did.
Varian said with a confident expression. "I'll be alright."
Richard nodded, with even more confidence. "Of course, it'd be too easy for you. I believe Master's vision."
'Yes. I have a ghost AI that will let me cheat.' Varian didn't say that out loud, but instead inspected the space ring.
It was a 6 star space ring. He didn't know the price, but it was a few dozen times more than the one he was wearing.
Of course, Varian of today could afford even a 7 star treasure with the materials he looted from the hideouts.
But regardless, "Convey my thanks for his gift." Varian said but the old man signalled for him to go on.
"Potions…? Just how many potions are there?" He couldn't count the piles that laid in the vast empty space.
Healing Potions. Anti-Poison Potions. Fire Resistance Potions. Specific Potions that acted as poisons against Plants and Beasts.
Then there were also star treasures. Full body suits ranging from 4 star to 6 stars.
The best part was that they could be modified and worn as normal clothing.
'Wait, did the reason why Sarah and others survive after all that bombing these treasures?' Varian realized.
At the same time, he recalled a peculiar detail.
Despite the level of explosions in all the battles, neither Sarah nor others' clothes were destroyed.
Unlike Varian.
He always carried multiple sets of uniforms, so he never had to run around naked.
"The merit points for your mission would be awarded soon. Put them to good use." Richard smiled and waved at him.
"Just inform me if there's any problem." His body slowly rose into the air and—
BOOM!
Breaking sonic barrier, he disappeared.
The shock waves spread in all directions, and tremors were sent across the ground.
Varian shielded himself against the gales and clicked his tongue.
'System, what's his level?'
[Level 7. Marco Kinetic.]
'Are high awakeners so easy to find?' He couldn't help but roll his eyes as he entered the dorm.
The cadets strolling in the hallway hurriedly gave way and sneaked a few glances at him.
Varian walked to the elevator indifferently and to his surprise, others immediately evacuated the elevator.
'I am not a monster.' He wanted to say but System replied at this time.
[There are 10 Billion People on Earth, almost all are awakeners. You're in the best academy of Earth. Including staff and even workers, there are only 10,000 people in the academy. So anyone you encounter here is 1 in a million.
What's more, the high awakeners Host encountered here consciously or unconsciously don't even exceed a hundred. That's 1 in a 100 million.]
It was not that they were rare. But he stayed in the place where they gathered.
'Advancing from level 6 to level 7 is what stops most awakeners.' Varian sighed and entered his room.
He wasn't physically tired, but the mental fatigue was too much.
Talking to Evander was not easy. Varian was always ready to escape.
He took the risk and somehow, things worked out.
In just one day, he went from being a nobody to somebody.
"But, I just don't want to be somebody.." He murmured as his eyelids drooped.
