Chapter 238.2 – Striving to be First and Fearing to be Last
As the host, Laura sat beside them.
Laura’s status in the Potter Clan was extremely high and wasn’t of the same level as those of her generation. Her father, Cartier Potter, was the eldest son of the Potter Clan’s main branch and was a powerful contender for the next Potter Clan head.
In his youth Cartier led Copperfield Academy to burst out with glory in the CHF Competition finals. After graduating, rather than enter a high level military posting arranged by his clan’s elders, he instead started as the lowest ranking soldier on the Federation’s frontlines. In the short span of two dozen years, he achieved the position of major general and was one of the youngest generals in the Federation’s military.
Although one of the reasons he could achieve such success was still in part due to his status, it had merely brought him a couple more opportunities within the military. Every step he took was built upon the accumulation of military accomplishments, to the point where he could be rated as a legendary figure of his era.
Other than Laura’s father, there was also her elder brother, Molton Potter. He was considered one of the leading figures inside the Federation’s younger generation, and was the only expert from Copperfield City to reach the sanctuary division before the age of 25. The only gripe one would have was his personality. Simply speaking, he was wanton and unrestrained and loved his freedom, causing much headache for his family members.
Although her current accomplishments weren’t as high as her brother’s, Laura still held the alternate identity of a soul beast master with her Explosive Bear. This lent much credit to her name. Everyone was quite new to the boundless future prospects of a soul beast master, an occupation that seemed to have no limit. Looking at in the long term, Laura’s status seemed to exceed her elder brother’s in the eyes of the majority. She seemed to possess an extremely high possibility of becoming one of the top-class, ultra-strong future experts of the Federation.
So while she was still of the later generation, she wasn’t someone the likes of Calderon, Socrates, or Bern could treat as a little kid.
“Austin Academy’s Student Leo.” Calderon’s laughing voice sounded exceedingly candid, and the faint hint of amusement in his tone didn’t seem to have any ire in it. “The members participating in the Federation’s greatest defensive formation of last year are indeed young and promising.”
“Calderon, Little Friend Paul from Saxon is also pretty good you know. Although their results a few years ago was only 10th place in the Eastern Area, they still managed to storm their way to the top three last year. Haha! I recently heard you had thoughts of helping a number of other squadrons, right? Saxon would be a pretty good choice.”
Paul was different from Leo.
Although he could be considered a member of an aristocratic clan, a clan from such a third-rate city like Saxon was definitely unable to reach the genuine stage these bigwigs stayed at. Generally, the majority of those born with such a background would head off to the military after graduation and end up in teams like the Elite Raiding Force.
But Paul just so happened to be an assassin. Although assassins were still very popular in the army, they were basically relegated roles such as reconnaissance and scouting. They did the most menial and dangerous of work, the death rate being the highest in their divisions. The majority wouldn’t be able to see light their entire lives.
Such an arrangement wasn’t something Paul was willing to do. Rather than choosing the military after graduation and becoming a reconnaissance soldier, or being holed up in a small city like Saxon to slowly rot away, he would rather take this opportunity to make friends with some bigwigs!
He of course didn’t dare to have thoughts on a clan like the Potter Clan, which was too big of a boat for him. Rather, even if he were to make it with them, he wouldn’t be able to obtain that high of a position. Instead it would be the new aristocracy, the ones with wealth and power like Calderon that would be most suited for Paul. It didn’t matter how much support Saxon Academy provided him. Since the Saxon Squadron didn’t lack any funds or supporting merchants, the most important thing for him was to increase his level of connections with the higher-ups.
Suppressing the ecstasy in his heart, Paul tried his best not to appear too servile or overbearing as he replied, “Thank Mr. Calderon and Mr. Socrates for your praises. This is simply the result of every member of Saxon working hard together. This Paul doesn’t dare take credit for it all.”
“Haha.” Calderon gave a hearty chuckle as he said, “Not arrogant nor impatient. Neither servile or overbearing. There are very few youths with this level of culture temperament!”
Other than Leo and Paul, the other squadron captains went up one by one and excitedly gave a self-introduction to Calderon and the others. Although their results the year before weren’t comparable to Austin or Saxon’s, they were still veteran squadrons of the Eastern Area and possessed a certain level of competency and strength. All of them were heaven-favoured ones and as long as they spoke they would garner a round or two of praise and applause.
As Laura listened, she would decorate the already perfect words with some flowers from time to time. Regardless of whether it was Austin’s Leo or Saxon’s Paul, the two of them were undoubtedly the main characters here in the eyes of the majority. Even so, they weren’t the ones to truly interest Laura. Searching into the crowd, she quickly spotted the figure of her target.
Tianjing Academy’s Wang Zhong.
When she noticed his current situation, she almost burst out into laughter.
This fellow appeared a little too calm. Those few vice-captains that had tagged along were desperately trying to head toward the front of the queue and vie for the chance to show their faces to these great figures at the front. If they did manage to get a chance, they would begin to shoot their mouths off. All of this commotion had shoved the genuine captain of Tianjing Academy to the back of the line. If it were any other captain then they would have already erupted with fury. Only this fellow appeared unworried about all this. In fact, he just stood there at the back with an unhurried and content expression.
Laura had already instructed Arnold to get a hold of Wang Zhong’s background information. This fella was really just a normal person from Tianjing, without any clan or influence to rely upon. Such a person should be displaying a yearning or desire to stand out in this scenario, yet none of this was present on Wang Zhong.
To be frank, it was extremely hard for an unambitious person to become strong, especially if they were a captain. With his current age he shouldn’t be able to hide his ambition and thoughts so deeply. As such, his current display simply showed his disregard for everyone present.
But the information given also detailed Wang Zhong’s expertise in commanding and providing support. He had become captain due to his theoretical knowledge and eye for the situation rather than his personal combat strength. All of this was information displayed without omission from the data taken of Tianjing’s match with Adolf.
If it hadn’t been for the incident on the third floor, Laura would’ve believed such a person wouldn’t be able to evade her Bear Rules The World… especially after being stunned by her good looks!
Could it be that she lacked charm? This was something Laura wasn’t willing to believe!
So, luck?
Frankly speaking, Laura didn’t know what to believe in.
If Wang Zhong really was that ‘King invincible beneath the heavens’ within the OP, then there would be no meaning for him to get close to Calderon. If he wished, he simply needed to show a bit of his identity within the OP and at least half the Ten Great Clans of the Federation might immediately extend olive branches to him. Therefore, such a display by him now fell within logical boundaries.
Regardless of how deep he hid, so long as Wang Zhong was in Copperfield she would be able to break this mystery!
After the other eight captains more or less finished their self-introductions, Wang Zhong walked forward and planned to give his self-introduction to everyone. From the looks of it he just appeared to move with the flor. Before he could open his mouth and speak, however, from right behind him appeared Sully who suddenly shoved his head forward to interrupt, “Excuse me, excuse me!”