"Huh? You mean this guy is in my team?" Betty put her hands on her hips and groaned in frustration.
"Yes. You, Liluh and Edgar are teammates." The Teaching Assistant Edwina informed keeping her gaze locked on the silver haired young man.
Varian kept an expressionless face. But internally, he was cursing with all his heart. 'Until Enigma responds, Edwina won't stop. She almost followed me into the washroom. This girl is crazy.'
"I don't mind." Liluh said lightly.
Betty glared at him and Liluh gave her an apologetic smile.
"Good. Then you can start practicing." Edwina said and sat on a nearby bench.
"We just got dropped off from the military region and you tell us we're a team and you even want us to practice right now." Betty muttered and looked at Edwina with a disdainful expression.
"You bet on my team, right? Pathetic."
"I'm rich. I wouldn't resort to such things." Edwina lied with a straight face.
"Heh. You don't even wear top brands. Who are you kidding?" Betty continued to mock her.
Edwina wanted to bitch slap her, but held back.
'Mission is important. Mission is important.'
"We can train at my private house, Betty." Liluh proposed. "I wanted to show you the white bear I raised. After practice, you can play with it."
"Really? There are only three such bears in entire cluster. You really want to show me that bear?" Betty looked at him with intense eyes.
"Really." Liluh nodded with a kind smile.
"Then let's go!" She cheered and held his hand.
Liluh turned to Varian. "Edgar, if we can practice and strengthen our teamwork, beating the other academies is easy."
Then he turned to Edwina. "Of course, since miss Edwina is so concerned, you can come and guide our practice."
"No."
"Yes. Yes, whaat?" Edwina nodded before turning to Varian with wide eyes.
"I have stuff to do. You guys can go." Varian said and under the incredulous gaze of Edwina, walked out of the gate.
"Arrogant bastard." Betty cursed and got into her hover car. Three women in gray clothes followed her closely.
Three level 7 Bodyguards!
As his butler opened the door, Liluh also got into the car and left.
Varian and Edwina went to Edwina's home.
Kaa!
The space around Varian suddenly stiffened.
"Edgar, give me one reason to not think you're a traitor whose goal is to fail this mission?" Edwina said in a low voice filled with killing intent.
"…." Varian tried to destroy the space with his body, but it was too durable. After all, he was only a mid level 6 Enhanced while Edwina was a peak level 6 Space Awakener.
Of course, she wasn't doing her best, but it was still the attack of a peak level 6.
"Why do you come up with such random excuses and expect me to believe them? Do I look like a fool?"
'You look furious.' Varian thought and channeled the lightning mana in his body.
Zap!
Zap!
Kacha!
Under the combined might of his lightning and body powers, the frozen space was cracked open and Varian stepped out, dumbfounding Edwina.
"T-Three paths Level 6? Not even 20? If you're so talented, why are you playing such cheap tricks? Just say you don't want to do the mission." Edwina was first shocked, but then said to him with an angered face.
"I…" Varian didn't know how to explain.
He didn't trust Edwina to give her the information about the Grant family. If someone learned that Grant family's database was hacked, then they might link it to Dreamer.
From then, things might turn for the worse.
—Cling!
His comm buzzed right then and the message made him sigh in relief.
{You are free to do what you deem right, but if you don't show the results, you will be penalized.
The original mission still stands. You are no longer part of it.
Just one rule.
Don't die.
It'll be too much of a headache for me.
Protect yourself at all costs. Even the mission.
Enigma.}
—Cling!
The next second, Edwina's comm rang and she read the mission.
"F-Fuck!" The redhead angrily cursed and looked at Varian.
"Are you the son of Blue flash or what? They made a new mission for you. Who the fuck are you?"
"…I'm a newbie." Varian shrugged.
"Like I'll believe it." Edwina rolled her eyes and clutched her forehead. "Anyway, you're out of the mission. I'll need to think of another solution. Goddamn!"
Varian coughed lightly and slipped out after an insincere apology.
*** *** ***
"So, this is the site?" Shortly after, Varian looked at the ruins below the ghost ship and frowned.
A few miles of land was completely covered in ice along with occasional burns here and there.
There were obvious traces of fire and ice mana in the air. The ice mana, however, was much heavier than the fire.
This was the site for where the Gnuc gang and Soprana gang fought.
Gnuc gang was wiped out by Soprana gang. The ice guys won over the fire ones.
"Master, according to Grant family, the leaders of both gangs reached the peak of level 7 last year. They were roughly of equal strengths."
"Then…" Varian felt the obvious difference in the mana. Even though it's been a whole day, there were still obvious traces in the air.
One thing was certain.
It was only two auras clashing with each other and the ice mana was far more dominant the fire.
In fact, there were only a few traces of scorched ground at some places. The land was literally covered in ice.
It didn't look a fight between equals.
"Master, one of them is certainly a level 8." Boo said after a while.
"I think so too, but how…" Varian rubbed his chin and wondered.
Going from peak level 7 to level 8 in one year? That's too fast even for geniuses.
These gangster leaders were no geniuses. They reached peak level 7 in their 60s.
It's impossible for either of them to reach level 8 in a mere year.
Varian thought back to everything—the new item in black market, the increased kidnappings and the frenzy of gangs—and it finally hit him.. "Abyssals are playing with fire."