The message covered the entire holographic screen and held an enormous amount of information.
Alice must have been using her speed as a Tier-5 powerhouse for ten minutes straight to write an essay with several thousand words. It was pretty insane.
Nonetheless, Michael was glad. The long message made him feel like Alice didn't want to hide her reasoning from him, so he began to read quietly.
Half an hour later, his understanding of Alice's actions had improved considerably. Combining the information written in Alice's long message with the secrets Kaleb exposed earlier, Michael could finally see the big picture.
"To think that the government will give Professors more funds if they find unpolished diamonds among ordinary people. It makes sense... but why does it leave a bitter aftertaste?" Michael mumbled quietly.
One of the reasons Alice picked him was her KPI. The better he performed in the Saphirelake Military Academy the higher the funds Alice could receive. She recommended him to the Saphirelake Military Academy, so he was her golden goose.
Apparently, Alice watched his final exam when she was supposed to be watching Kaleb's ex fiancè's final exam the first time she came to his school in Elyra. He attracted her attention even though he was still unawakened at that time. Alice used a consumable Artifact called, Karmatic Compass, to make sure that her intuition was right.
Michael didn't know what the Karmatic Compass was, but he didn't ask either because he was too distracted with Kaleb's canceled engagement. Their terminated engagement was a good thing since Jasmine had never been a good person. Michael was glad that Kaleb escaped this red flag.
Alice also revealed that he had exceeded her expectations by advancing to Tier-1 this quickly, and his great archery skill during the archery competition at the afterparty of the graduation ceremony was phenomenal.
She also thanked him for staying by Kaleb's side. Kaleb's attitude improved by leaps and bounds ever since he became friends with Michael. He stopped nagging whenever Alice wanted to teach him. On the contrary, Kaleb began to show his desire to train harder than before. At that point, Alice repeated herself quite often, saying that Michael motivated Kaleb to work harder and that she was thankful for him being there.
Then, she began to explain her reasoning as to why she wanted to teach him individually.
She was grateful for his help to Kaleb where she failed miserably and felt that Michael was the perfect support for her little brother because he was not too formal and that Lords with three Soultraits were rare to find – especially talented Lords without any noteworthy connections. Not teaching him individually meant that she neglected her duty after recommending him to the military academy.
By the time Michael finished reading the huge essay, he was a little overwhelmed. It took him quite a while to organize his thoughts. Yet even after he was done organizing, Michael didn't want to stop confronting Alice. In the first place, her explanation made him have even more questions.
Michael felt that Alice wouldn't always be willing to message him openly about her actions like she did today. He had to seize the chance while he still could.
Alice told him about her parents' mission to create a squadron, but she left out the information Kaleb had told him. She told him a lot, possibly everything that mattered, but Michael was getting greedy. He wanted to know 100% of the truth, not only 99%!
[Michael Fang: Basically, the Zenovia family wants you to build a squadron under your name and prepare them to enter the Battle Exchange. Your parents planned to use you as the head of a 'squadron', and Kaleb as the Leader in the Battle Exchange – once he awakens. That way, your family earns the honor and respect of the Berserker race, and the Warlock Centaur race. By then, you can start building connections to start trading goods inside the Origin Expanse and outside.]
Michael knew that Kaleb had asked him to keep his mouth shut, but he typed everything in a hurry and hit the enter button. Too late did he realize that he had pushed Kaleb into the blazing fire.
For a while, Michael felt apologetic. Fortunately, Alice didn't seem to care too much. Her response arrived a few minutes later.
[Alice Zenovia(fierce beauty): Did Kaleb tell you about our parents' plan? Well, it doesn't matter. Yes, you're right. We hope to further strengthen the Tritan Alliance and make sure that the Zenovias will be one of the alliance's pillars. Trading is just the start. After all, war is awaiting us in the extraterrestrial.]
Michael had heard about the war from various Lord forums and his brother. However, he didn't know any details.
He was curious about the extraterrestrial war, but he didn't ask more about it. That was something he could do later.
Instead, he focused on Individual Teaching and his chat with Alice Zenovia.
[Michael Fang: Is it possible to reject your Individual Teaching, if I don't want it?]
Michael was interested in Alice's teaching. In fact, he desired her tutelage simply because she was the strongest person he had gotten to know until now. He knew that he could learn a lot from her.
But there was one important point he had to make sure of; whether or not he could really trust her in the long run.
Most people were unwilling to show their real faces in front of others. At the end of the day, their true self surfaced only when they couldn't get from you what they wanted. This might be sad, but it was the bitter truth that many had to learn the hard way.
Thus, Michael chose to give Alice a little push to see how she would react.
[Alice Zenovia(fierce beauty): ...You can… do that…]
Alice clearly hesitated in replying. However, that was only obvious. She hadn't expected him to ask such a question, in the first place.
Alice Zenovia was a Tier-5 powerhouse, and a descendant of a Supreme Family. She was – quite literally – one of the best connections Michael could get at this point. Not many would dare to offend Michael as long as the opposite party knew that Alice was his teacher. Furthermore, Michael would get to learn things most ordinary people and people on par with Minor Nobles wouldn't learn their whole life!
"Why would he even think about rejecting my tutelage? Is my personality that rotten to ignore the connections and resources I can give him?" Alice cursed loudly, attracting the attention of the people around her.
"Is he drunk or what?" She blurted out, not bothered about the attention her words attracted.
[As long as I'm not restricted, it should be quite useful to have the Frozen Duchess as my personal teacher, so I should agree, I guess.] Michael typed before halting in his tracks for a moment. He didn't immediately send the message but wondered how Alice would respond.
A moment later, Michael shuddered. It was fine to tease Alice a little bit, but he shouldn't go too far. He had to pay attention to certain boundaries.
Michael knew that getting taught by Alice would help him a lot. However, he felt weird talking formally to her. He liked talking to her like he did with Danny. Thus, turning into her disciple would take away the opportunity to talk informally to her. In fact, calling her Professor Alice was already quite annoying.
It irked him a lot.
Instead of pressing send, Michael deleted his message.
He asked something else instead of immediately agreeing to become her student.
[Michael Fang: Do I have to call you Professor Zenovia?]
[Alice Zenovia(fierce beauty): What kind of question is that? Do whatever you want.]
Michael's eyes lit up, and a sly smile blossomed on his face as he typed the next message.
[Michael Fang: Alright then. Thanks for teaching me, fierce beauty Alice!]
[Alice Zenovia(fierce beauty): ...]
Michael could tell that Alice regretted having given him permission to be informal with her, but he could have some fun.
Being serious all day drained him too much. It felt great to act a little childish every now and then.
'If you hate my behavior, don't give me permission to do whatever I want!' Michael lectured Alice in his mind.
Finally, he knew why Alice decided to recommend him to the Saphirelake Military Academy, and why she acted like this. It was her curiosity that led her to use the consumable Artifact, which increased her trust in him, and his rapid growth – and encounter with Kaleb – that lead to the turn of events.
Whether all of this was some grand scheming of fate, or merely multiple coincidences didn't matter. Michael was quite happy, and relieved. He had expected her true intentions to be much worse.
Thus,now that he was not worried about her hidden intentions, Michael's interest in her teaching began to surface in his mind. Her individual teaching wouldn't consume too much of his time either.
Individual teaching was certain to provide exceptional benefits. It was a golden opportunity for Michael, and for Alice as well.
As long as she taught him properly, her chances to complete the mission she'd been given by her family would be much higher. In turn, Kaleb and Michael could use each other as grindstones.
The way Alice looked at the relationship between Kaleb and Michael, she was certain that the two could become rivals as well as friends. Their rivalry would fuel their friendship and competition simultaneously. That way both would grow stronger much faster than they would without each other's company.
Alice never had a rival like this, but she could tell that her growth would have been even faster with a rival as prodigious as she was.
Michael might be lacking a lot compared to Kaleb, but he had the advantage of time. Kaleb would turn 18 in two months. Until then, Michael had to grow much stronger. That way, Kaleb would have a harder time catching up.
Once he caught up, Michael would feel a sense of inferiority. Michael would work even harder, and his hidden potential would slowly be unraveled.
By then, the two would be great friends and even greater rivals.
That was the plan forming in Alice's mind, and she loved it much more than she wanted to acknowledge.
'Maybe, I'm getting too invested in this?' She thought just to shrug it off.
'Well….whatever. Who cares?'
[A/N: Do you like the last two chapters, or do you think I should shorten them? Please keep in mind that important information will go missing if I shorten chapters like the last two. The story may feel incomplete at times. Nonetheless, please feel free to share your opinion. I'm more than willing to listen!
P.S Unreasonable comments will receive a face-slap!]
