"Utilize your mid sem break properly. Your tests are right after the break. You can stay on campus if you wish. Honor to Humanity." A woman, apparently in her fifties with auburn hair and yellow pupils, addressed the audience.
Cadets of the three years were all seated in the spacious auditorium which could easily accommodate thrice their current number.
After Valery, their vice dean and a veritable Level 9 finished her speech, the cadets stood up and shouted. "Honor to Humanity."
Soon, in an orderly fashion, the third year cadets seated in the front began to exit.
Varian stood up and was about to ask "What are you going to do in this break?" before he realized he was sitting with the first years and not with Sarah.
Worse, the entire row he was seated in was empty as if he was a bane.
After seeing the notification about mid-sem meeting, he rushed to the auditorium.
The noisy first years went silent at his arrival.
Both Narcis and Ryan silently vacated their seats and sat in the back.
The first years looked at him with a complicated expression. The last time they saw him was in the mission hall.
Then Varian simply vanished for a month. Everyone gradually forgot him. He went on from the cheating first ranker to a forgotten nobody.
His return, however, was nothing short of legendary.
Right after entry, he was responsible for the firing of first year Supervisor, Knox. He became the disciple of their dean, Evander.
That very day, he beat the crap out of Narcis. Then he went onto grab a spot in the Honor List.
There were also rumors about his stellar performance in a recent mission on a planetoid.
If the rumors were to believed, his contribution was on par with Charles Xander, the strongest cadet!
Any of these accomplishments were enough for a first year to brag. But as all these converged onto a single person, they sadly realized that they and Varian did not belong to the same world.
With his strength and merit points, he could even graduate and enlist into the military already.
And they…most of the first years only reached the peak of level 2 and were preparing to advance to Level 3.
If nothing unexpected happened, they would take a year and advance to Level 4 in their fourth semester.
Then with continuous struggle for resources, practice and experience, they would reach Level 5 in their final semester and graduate.
That was their finishing line.
However, Varian's starting point was at their finishing line.
To put this into perspective, there were around two thousand cadets for each year, give or take a hundred.
Varian's strength reached top 100 according to the rumors. Even discounting the rumors, he stood at top 400.
It essentially meant, he was stronger than—most of the third years, almost all the second years and definitely all the first years.
Every first year had one regret. If they treated him normally in the early days, they'd have had a chance to be associated with the greatest genius in the academy.
But alas, opportunities waited for none.
Now, in fear of retaliation, they didn't even dare to talk to him.
"Whatever. It's not like I'm going to attend the classes or anything." Varian looked at his peers that were still avoiding him and shook his head.
In the beginning, they avoided him to avoid angering Charles.
Now, they avoided him out of fear of angering him.
'It's not like I asked for it, but being feared is totally fine with me.' Varian smiled as he exited the auditorium.
His presence attracted the attention of second and third years, not to mention the teachers.
Varian was growing accustomed to being a center of attention, and didn't shy away from any gazes.
He walked along the wide roads of the academy and soon reached a park.
Richard was waiting in a pavilion beside a pond.
After learning about the mid-sem break, Varian asked Richard for a small favor.
Seeing him, the old man let out a smile and appeared in front of him in an instant.
"Greetings, Young Master." Richard said with an enthusiastic smile and tapped his comm. "Your work is done. Please check if there are any omissions."
A hologram appeared in front of him showing a small building. With sleek white walls and shiny black roof, it was a modest house.
Forget about Sarah's mansion, even his residence in Silver Community was far, far luxurious.
But this small house with no special qualities whatsoever made his heart skip a beat.
Varian gulped down and clicked on the hologram.
With a pop, it showed the interior.
A small but lovely kitchen, a living room with two couches, two bedrooms and a guest room.
Varian zoomed in on one bedroom and spotted many hologram posters on its white walls.
They were stripes of news articles, interviews of Sovereigns, reports of Pluto War and so on.
As he looked at those scrambled yet carefully picked pieces, a smile broke out on his face as he recalled the memory of each and every piece.
"Young Master. Young Master?"
"Huh?" Richard's voice snapped him out of his thoughts.
Varian composed himself and said calmly. "I'm fine. Just…I feel nostalgic."
Richard nodded with an understanding smile. "It's your home for seventeen years after all. Thankfully, the housing department server had a scan of the home. Otherwise, it'd have been much harder to replicate it 100%."
Varian's home was destroyed under the attack of the Fire Wolf. With the insurance money, he had the option to build it back.
But he chose to run away and sold the house.
It was only now that he managed to gather the courage to live between those same walls.
Richard helped him out with the procedures and used his influence to perfect replicate the house.
"Thank you. If I did everything by myself, It'd have taken at least a week." Varian expressed his gratitude.
Richard just smiled and transferred the ownership virtually. "I just added some security measures, Young Master. I hope you like them."
Varian nodded and bid his goodbye.
Richard flew off with a mysterious smile as he his words lingered in the air. "I'll see you soon."
'Is it necessary to maintain a sense of mystery?' Varian clicked his tongue and answered Sarah's call.
The hologram popped up showing Sarah in her black sports bra and leggings—her uniform to meditate.
Covering her mouth, she said with an exaggerated expression "Am I hallucinating? Are you really willing to stop your practice?"
Varian said with a serious expression. "I'm not the one sitting in training room. You are. Besides, you look good in black clothes. Never put on white again."
White clothes…she wore them for combat. To be precise, when she wanted to beat him, ahem, for combat practice.
Sarah rolled her eyes. As if she thought of something, her gaze towards him turned weird.
"Don't give me that look. Ask whatever is on your mind." Varian hurriedly said.
If there was one thing he learnt from Boo's lectures on social interactions these days, it was that he needed to observe the other party's expression and decide how they were feeling.
"Are you really taking six month's worth of food with you?"
Varian puffed out his chest and said. "I just asked Anna for a month's food. Who knew she would cook extra? But I can't let her hard work be wasted. Even if I have to sacrifice myself, I will devour, I mean, I will finish everything."
At this moment, Anna's face appeared in the hologram. She said with a pitiful smile. "They're all made of precious things. Wuu, If you don't bring me something good, I'll protest that you are bullying me."
'Bully you? A level 8 maid?'
Varian's face twitched but he said with an unwavering expression. "Worry not. When I ascend to the throne, you shall be the head maid of my palace."
Anna almost cursed him on the spot. 'So even if I grew old, you'd still want me to cook?! Hmph!'
Perceiving the maid's cold smile, Varian hurriedly closed the call and boarded the hover cab.
As the warm suns' rays permeated the windows and shone on him, the AI asked.
"Sir, your destination?"
Varian thought for a moment before replying. "Academy of Sciences."
Kyle and Maya, here I come.