Summer camp, Area C.
“Finally done…”
Mike had an ice pack wrapped a his wrist, looking utterly exhausted.
After everything was settled, the group gathered in the cafeteria for a late-night snack.
“Mike, you earned ,000 points for your outstanding performance during the observation!”
Kaelum exclaimed, surprised at the gerosity of the organizers.
“One summer camp point can be exchanged for Truth Coins, so that’s 0,000 coins.”
Kaelum took a sharp breath.
It wasn’t the points that shocked him but the realization.
Mike’s summer camp points had already reached the top tier!
“Mike got ,000 points for taking first place in the combat test in Area C, and now he has a total of 4,000 points.”
Moreover, Mike hadn’t ev submitted his weekly tasks yet!
Despite not registering any bonus items, Mike had gone from 0 to 4,000 points in just two days!
Kaelum had a bad feeling.
“Big guy, do you think Mike is aiming to take first place in the summer camp?”
Kaelum had be counting on Mike to help him repeat a grade. But now it seems increasingly hopeless.
“Unlikely.”
Anderson stuffed half a chick into his mouth, chewed a few times, and swallowed,
“The overall ranking for the summer camp includes those with SS-grade talts. Mike is strong, but he can’t possibly be first.”
“So you think Mike is strong too?”
Kaelum scratched his head, troubled,
“But it’s strange. Mike seems ordinary in every way except for his looks, yet….”
“He’s very confidt.”
Anderson finished Kaelum’s thought.
“Mike never seems afraid.”
Ela nodded, agreeing with Anderson.
“That’s right. Ev during the exercise, facing demon cult followers, Jessica was nervous, but Mike acted like it was nothing.”
“Hey, hey, hey.” fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓
Mike tapped the table, emphasizing, “I’m right here. Can’t you talk about this behind my back?”
Kaelum messed up his hair, making it look like a bird’s nest, and stared at Mike suspiciously, asking, “Mike, be honest with me. Did you have a second talt awaking?”
Mike answered straightforwardly,
“No!”
“I swear on Cain’s life, I hav’t had a second talt awaking.”
Cain: ???
Why am I getting dragged into this?
“By the way, Cain, how many points do you have now?” Mike asked, curious.
Cain’s progress was average, placing him in the lower tier of the summer camp.
With his D-grade talt, getting this far was quite an achievemt.
“648 points!”
Cain had just passed a tier Battle Soldier test yesterday, earning an extra 0 points,
“Mike, I was going to talk to you about this. These points are worth quite a bit in dollars. About that IOU I gave you…”
Without the Windstride Slash skill books, Cain wouldn’t have made it into the summer camp.
Those 648 points wouldn’t be in his hands either.
Cain’s inttion was clear: he wanted to start repaying Mike, at least partially.
“Keep it for yourself. Didn’t you hear Kaelum just say I have 4,000 points? I don’t ev know how to spd them.”
Mike was very candid.
4,000 points were just 40,000 coins, or 0.04 Battle Lord merits.
Besides these 40,000 coins, Mike still had over ,000 Battle Lord merits unused.
He couldn’t spd all his money.
Of course, besides Mike’s ability to earn money, another important reason was his frugality. Why spd his own money wh he could get things for free?
Cain wanted to say more, but Mike cut him off,
“Keep those points to invest in yourself. You owe me ,000 points. Stay in the summer camp, and you’ll earn plty of points. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Do you really expect another pottial Supreme Being to emerge? It’s settled.”
Mike patted Cain’s shoulder,
“If you repay me later, I can charge more interest. I know how to do the math.”
Cain: ???
Is something wrong here?
After their late-night snack, the group headed back to the dorms, noticing people hurrying along the way.
“Sior, what’s going on?”
Kaelum was the most well-informed among them.
Having a Battle Lord nephew was quite impressive.
Kaelum whispered, “They’re catching traitors. It’s surprising. They’ve caught over a thousand human traitors today.”
“Wow, really?” Mike feigned ignorance.
“Looks like there’s a mastermind behind this!” Kaelum sighed, th said, “Let’s head back. Something big might happ tomorrow. Get a good night’s rest and be ready!”
Kaelum didn’t know much about what would happ tomorrow.
The large-scale corps movemts, material transports, personnel transfers, and increasing secrecy levels…
Anyone with a bit of sse could see something big was coming.
Transporting so many ores to the front lines wasn’t for throwing a party for the demon race.
They were preparing for a major battle with the Abyssal Plane!
The front lines had be pulling back, and the demon race had unusually slowed their attacks.
Both sides were gathering strgth, brewing a storm, siltly waiting for the battle to erupt.
And most people, including Mike, were still in the dark about how the spark would ignite.
…
“Shadow Nine, I might have a work injury.”
Sitting in his dorm chair, Mike rubbed his wrist, wondering how to get compsation.
“Where does it hurt?”
The irritable version of Shadow Nine was blunt,
“Cut it off, and it won’t hurt.”
Clearly a seasoned doctor.
Practicing for decades, never losing a patit to illness.
The secret was simple: if Shadow Nine killed the patit first, the patit didn’t die from the illness!
“I’m just kidding.”
Mike hid his hand behind his back, continuing,
“Shadow Nine, is the battle starting tomorrow?”
“Yes.”
“Can’t we be a bit more flexible with timing? The sooner we finish, the sooner we can clock out!”
Mike thought they should launch a surprise attack wh the time was right.
In war, who follows the rules? You don’t wait for orders to move machine guns.
And from what Mike knew about the Supreme Beings, they seemed like Shadow Nine’s kind of people.
Wh it’s time to be shameless, don’t hold back.
“The time isn’t right.”
Shadow Nine, perhaps feeling the need for more persuasion, added, “Acting now would yield fewer results.”
“Got it.”
Mike glanced at the time, 4:00,
“Shadow Nine, I’m heading to the Tower of Truth. Wish me luck.”
“Get lost.”
…
Core City of Truth.
Mike didn’t go straight to the Tower of Truth.
He wasn’t sure if he could ter now and needed to confirm with Max Stoneheart.
Arriving at the Wolf’s D, Mike was surprised.
“Why are there so many people?”
Usually, the Wolf’s D was only packed during celebrations.
But today, over t thousand people were gathered, and more were coming!
“New here, kid?”
A chubby man wearing a Lone Wolf mask stood next to Mike, pointing at the sign above the Wolf’s D.
“Notice anything differt?”
“The shadow is gone?”
Mike immediately spotted the issue.
The chubby man boasted,
“Lone Wolves walk alone, but shadows follow.
Wh the Shadow disappears, it means the battle is immint. Guardian Shadows can’t continue protecting Lone Wolves; they have to go to the battlefield.”
From the man’s tone, it was clear this wasn’t his first rodeo.
“With the Guardian Shadows gone, how can we sit still? We’re here to find suitable positions to qualify for the battlefield.”
In large-scale corps battles, Lone Wolves wer’t allowed.
So before a major battle, the corps command cter would form temporary corps, integrating Lone Wolves and consolidating all forces.
As they chatted, a person wearing a Hurricane Corps badge walked into the Wolf’s D, holding a stack of application forms, shouting,
“Hurricane Corps, 300 people, starting at four-tier Battle Geral, Wind elemt classes preferred!”
A call to action.
Ev the chubby man next to Mike squeezed into the crowd.
While pushing through, he called back to Mike,
“Bro, I’m off to handle business. If you need help, ask a!”
“Thanks! Wh you get back, drinks are on me!”
“Ha, you, a Battle Soldier, can… Holy fuck, you’re a Star Lone Wolf?”
The chubby man let out a strange cry, “A Star Lone Wolf wants to buy me a drink!”
His shout drew everyone’s atttion to Mike, while the chubby man took the opportunity to grab an application form and quickly filled it out.
After completing the form, the chubby man turned back and smiled apologetically at Mike.
Normally, being stared at by so many people would make anyone uncomfortable.
But the chubby man never expected Mike to not only be unbothered but also further trigger his social prowess.
Star Lone Wolf, ninth-tier Battle Soldier, newcomer.
Anyone with a bit of sse could guess Mike’s true idtity.
The real idtity hidd under the mask: Lone Wolf Thor.
Also known as… the future Wolf King.
Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, Mike waved, acknowledging their atttion, and said with a smile,
“Wh you all return, drinks are on me.”
The crowd erupted in cheers.
Thor offering to buy them drinks?
“Alright, it’s a deal.”
“A deal!”
