Edwina showed around the city to Varian and by the time they returned to her residence, it was already late night.
He entered the guest room and sat on his bed. The cold breeze of the night swayed gently in the room, rustling the papers on the study table.
Those papers were the hardcopy files of Betty. Passing them onto him, Edwina reminded him in a serious tone.
"Study everything you can. Tomorrow, you will join the university."
Of course, Varian diligently put them on table and asked Boo to study them.
Rule 1: Never do the work you can delegate.
"Boo, while you're at it, give me the information about Valos' gangs and other dark organizations." Varian sat cross legged on the bed and leaned against the wall.
"Just a minute, master."
"Also, investigate all important recent happenings in Valos City."
"Well...there's a problem."
"Hm?"
"A lot of things are kept under the rugs. Unlike Earth or other planets, Valos doesn't even have cameras covering the majority of the city.
For example, today's murder you witnessed. It's written off as a fighting due to personal grievances. Valos' database stores their identities, but not the reasons for their fights. There is little to no data on why they fought."
"Haa~" Varian sighed and waved his hand. "Find what you can."
Then he tapped on his comm and studied the powers of the city.
Even though his mission was only to prevent a kidnapping case, Varian wanted to do more. That motive was only intensified after what he saw today.
Billy's answer really made him think. If he wanted to the change situation, he needed more information.
First, he started with the history of Valos City.
It was prosperous before the war but was always under the harassment of Shadow Order.
Shortly after the war, with the weakening of local governing bodies, and crumbling economy, Shadow Order lured people and trained gangs.
This was the beginning of the nightmare that became a reality.
Then there were Chaos families, black market,....
As Varian moved from topic to topic, time passed and he was immersed in the study.
Knock. Knock.
Until he was interrupted by Edwina.
"Time to go."
"I guess." Varian got up from the bed.
*** *** ***
Miracle Academy was the top institution of Valos City. Despite its crime and poverty, Valos had talented people.
Talented and hardworking teens from normal backgrounds sought to join in this academy and secure a bright future.
To them, a bright future meant serving in the army and escaping this hell of a city.
Of course, most of them didn't know how bad they had it here.
Valos had a weird, but all encompassing censorship enforced by an array of powerful groups. As a result, most citizens don't know much about the federation's living conditions.
But of course, the stronger you are, the easier it is to break the censorship and learn about the real world.
The ones who saw bits and pieces of life in the federation or even heard of those too good to be true tales of life in federation worked their asses off for the one shot to change their lives.
But that's not all.
Miracle academy was also attended by the children of all major powers of Valos.
With factions, violence, agendas, and networks, Miracle academy was in a sense a microcosm of the city itself.
And today, the academy is opening after a mid-semester break.
"Seriously, how did you do it?" Edwina asked Varian with wide eyes. She was dressed in a professional attire'”black shirt and professional black skirt. Even black heels.
'Is every member of Shadow Guardians obsessed with black dress code?' Varian asked her in the morning.
'You're the one to talk.' She immediately countered, pointing to his all white dress.
"Are there others who are helping you? I am the captain for this mission, why didn't I know?" Edwina tapped on the window of the hover car and kept looking at the virtual ID in front of her every five seconds.
Finally, she turned to Varian and asked again. "Just how did you do it?"
The ID was just ridiculous.
[Edgar Blanc.
Illegitimate son of mayor Andrew Blanc in Uranus' Umbriel City.
Conditions: Forced to leave the house as the mayor's legal wife threatened to divorce him otherwise. Without her family's support, he'd lose his post.
The fierce mayor loves his post but also his son. So, he sent his son to Valos so that his mistress Edwina can take care of him.
If questioned about it, he'd deny having such son adamantly. But should harm befall his son, he'll be enraged and will do everything for revenge.]
Edwina gave him the ID she prepared.
But not even in her dreams did she think that he'd change the ID into a completely new one in a matter of minutes.
The scariest part?
Even after she used her best connections and had the ID checked, no flaws were found.
She almost believed it was his real identity and that he was the mayor's son who was just playing pranks on her.
She even called the customer care of Shadow Guardians to complain.
'Why are you guys teasing me like this?'
Only after they reassured her he was from Earth did she accept the reality.
"How...?" Varian tapped his chin and looked at the curious redhead. Her eyes were sparkling with curiosity.
Perhaps if it was a normal man, he would've revealed everything.
But Varian simply shrugged and got off the hover car. "Secret."
"W-Wait!" Edwina followed, without realizing the dynamic between them had changed. She was no longer the one leading the conversations.
"Not bad, I guess." Varian commented as he looked at the academy.
It was much better than the shabby building he expected it to be. It was a large campus spanning a few hundred acres.
There was a large red wall enclosing the perimeter and armed forces every few miles across the red wall.
Not only that, Varian could sense some dangerous auras.
Level 7s!
Even though they were only a couple of them, in a city like Valos, it was enough to prove that security was taken extremely seriously.
"Don't be surprised. In this city of depravity, if there is a public place with luxury and safety, it's the academy." Edwina said as they walked towards one of the huge gates.
To enter, you must undergo a security check.
It was a five layered check: three with bots, two with level 5 awakeners.
After the customary check, the guards saluted Edwina. "Welcome, Mam."
"Hm." She nodded apathetically.
Edwina was a Teaching Assistant (TA) at the Miracle Academy and also its alumni. At the age of 22, she reached the peak of level 6. After a year of intense training, she's closer to hitting the bottleneck.
At the age of 23, her strength was comparable to the top 10 geniuses in the Solar Trial.
But talent wise, she was far from the likes of Ashtarh and Xavier.
However, in any planet, she'd be one of the top geniuses. If things went as planned, she'd reach level 7 by the age of 28 at least and 29 at most.
Owing to her genius, she had certain privileges within the academy. After graduating as a cadet, she chose to join the academy as TA right away. Thus, her network only strengthened since.
That was the reason she was able to bring Varian into the academy without much hassle.
Of course, if he was just a level 2 or level 3, she wouldn't be able to do it.
Varian showed his college ID.
[Edgar Blacn.
Second Year Cadet. (Second Year Cadet)
Mid Level 5]
The guard looked at Varian's level once again for confirmation and took a deep breath. 'Genius.'
"Just remember, no killings in the academy." He said cordially and let him in.
"Kill? Me? No way?" Varian laughed it off as he walked in.
