Arthur was both stunned and nervous, so the words he chose as a response to Miko's confession were far from appropriate.
"How would I know if you were different from Hazel?" He blurted out, realizing immediately that he screwed up.
"How would you..." Miko looked at him with wide eyes. "Hah," She gave a helpless laugh. "Has Hazel contacted you since the trial ended? Has she ran around trying to protect you, warning you about anything that might happen?"
"I didn't mean..."
"You meant exactly what you said," Miko said before standing up. "Jerano is going to be thrown into something by Tanera. I'm sure that before that, you'll meet your beloved Hazel. I'll talk to you later."
Before Arthur could say anything, Miko disappeared to leave him sitting alone. He had his hand raised and lowered with a clench.
'Why did I say that? Even if I thought of it, Miko is different.' Arthur sighed as he stood up as well. 'She was the only one who kept helping me all this time. Now, I treated her the same as someone she hates.'
He left the tower and returned to the campus. He got to see Oliver running around the field alone, class over.
"What's taking you so long?" Arthur started running beside him. "Just use mana to finish early."
"The professor said I can't use mana," Oliver answered with his fat jiggling. "I need to... run ten laps... and I'm hardly at my... 7th."
"Oh, alright." Arthur ran beside him. "Oliver, what would you tell a girl if she told you that she likes you?"
"What?!" Oliver turned to him with, what Arthur assumed to be, wide-eyes. "Did someone confess to you? Is it Nera? It can't be, right?"
"Relax, there's no way that would happen." Arthur laughed. "I thought you didn't feel anything for her."
"Oh, of course not. It's just that I need to protect my friends. That's all."
"Nera would be happy to hear that people need protection from her," Arthur said sarcastically.
"I meant to protect her from you."
"What?" It was Arthur's turn to look at him with shock. "What's wrong with me?"
"Well," Oliver stopped running and tried to catch his breath. "You're not a dating material, simply."
"Why is that?" Arthur frowned.
"Alexie, you're a good friend of mine. That's why I'm saying this."
"Just spit it." Arthur felt like smacking him in the head.
"You're not the most emotional guy on earth," Oliver said as he wiped his sweat. "The only time I saw you happy or at least excited was when you are fighting."
"When did you see me fight?"
"When Nera caught us, we watched you guys take down that giant knight. That's not the point. It feels like you're always holding back, not willing to interact with people. As if you're scared that by being happy around people, you'd give them the chance to rob that happiness."
"That's not true." Arthur shook his head. "I just..." He didn't know what to say. He had never thought of this before. Was he incapable of making any real relationships with the people around him before he had awakened because he was busy?
"I'm not saying that you're a robot, I saw you get angry. I just never saw you try to get to know others. It's always as if you're just going with the flow." Oliver had a sympathetic expression. "I still consider you as a brother, you're a good person."
"You still haven't answered my question." Arthur deflected the subject.
"Well, it depends on how you feel," Oliver answered. "If you like her back, you'll know what to say. If you don't, you'll be confused like you are now."
"What if I have never seen her like that?"
"Then you need to spend time together," Oliver said with a wink before resuming his running. Arthur left with a sigh.
He returned to his room where he found Reece asleep. As soon as he closed the door, Reece woke up. 'It' yawned before jumping on Arthur after he sat down.
"I want some food."
"Make your own."
"Sure, I'll have a reality show called Cat Chef." Reece smacked his leg with his paw. "Make me some food."
"Fine, what do you want." Arthur gave in and went into the kitchen.
"Fishes!"
"... Do you like them or is it because you're a cat right now?"
"I don't know." Reece entered the kitchen. "Where were you?"
"I investigated Jason's disappearance; I think I found something. I still need to look into the others. I might be able to find a pattern."
"You're helpless." Reece sighed. "I just told you to live your life. Why are you so hellbent on uncovering this on your first three days? Whatever is going to happen, it's not going to be now."
"Would Si think the same?" Arthur asked as he took out some fishes from his subspace. He took out the chopping board to start preparing them. "He sent me here on a mission."
"I know, but look at me. I'm here with you and I just laze around and use this body to look under girls' skirts."
"I thought you were into boys?"
"I'm into both," Reece said. "Beauty needs to be appreciated."
"And you think I should also appreciate beauty by peeking at girls' underwear?" Arthur laughed as he lit the fire under the pan.
"Forget it, you do you," Reece said. Arthur was tired of hearing this, so he hurried to make Reece his food and left him to eat it.
Once he was in his room, he took out the artifact and laid it in front of him. He then took a high-mid-tier core and tried to inscribe on the artifact.
[Insufficient Materials.]
Arthur frowned. He took out one of the materials he got at the competition since this was the time for him to use them. This material was called the Phoenix's Tears, a bottle of clear fluid that would enhance runes' inscription.
Arthur dripped on a droplet on a leaf and brought the ethereal core closer to it. The two mixed and the inscription was complete.
'Always feels like a cheat.' Arthur sighed at how easy it was for him to create genuine artifacts.
He spent the hour inscribing runes on the wrist protector. By the time the material was over, he had created over twenty runes.
Arthur slipped the wrist protector one and used the runes on it. The wrist protector unfolded and extended to cover all of Arthur's body like a one-piece armor. The armor turned from the golden color to green, following after the wrist protector it was inscribed on.
This would allow Arthur to use it without the fear of being recognized. His mobility wasn't hindered by the slightest but he felt dizzy at the sudden loss of mana.
'Always a greedy bastard.'
"Where are my artifacts?!" Reece shouted as soon as he saw Arthur.
"I don't have them yet, what kind of artifacts do you want?" Arthur asked with a smile as he made the armor disappear.
"Mm, something that would compensate for my lacking physical qualities."
"So, an offensive artifact?" Arthur held his chin.
"What? I mean my appearance. I want an artifact that would keep my skin healthy and my hair styled." Reece said with a serious cat's face. Arthur looked at him with amusement.
This talk with Reece gave him another idea. He opened the community and looked up some guidelines.
He only had 100 points left in his bracelet, making him a miser. He wanted to buy accessories to amplify his stats too, but he couldn't spend all his money.
Looking through the community, he found a guideline about making money. He skimmed through it and realized he had two routes to take.
A virtual store and a real store. He can either open one in the community and allow students from all departments to buy his items or open a shop in the city and sell his items there.
Both ways, he would generate money while keeping his identity a secret. Of course, privacy was questionable if it was a real-life shop. However, he could open a virtual store and sell artifacts at the moment.
To open a virtual store, he would have to sign up at CC, the Community Committee. He would also need to pay a fee of a hundred points per year, which was astronomical to the current him.
He found many shops that were run by students. Some of them sold items that couldn't be found easily in the world because their origins vary. There were Tamers Equipment from Thiria and even Magic Guns from Orlan.
As he was idly browsing through the stores, he heard some noise from below. It was coming from Emma's room, so he was worried. He closed the store and went to the balcony.
Under the moonlight, he saw Emma's hair sprawled over the balcony's railing. Her body was trembling as she tried to stifle her sobs, but she was incapable of it. She was crying.