Chapter 17: Arrival
Pride was feeling very depressed today; to say nothing of the bunch of naggers back at home who wouldn’t stop breathing down his collar over and over again. He was just attending school, but they actually sent five starships to escort him and, even after he boarded the station, there was a huge crowd of men that had surrounded him as protection, causing him to be blocked at the bridge. The moment Pride recalled the gazes of those people on the space station, “Tsk, what a baby, look at the number of nannies he brought with ‘em’” he couldn’t help but gnash his teeth in anger.
He finally escaped those people outside, but he ran right into one such case again the moment he entered the cabin. Nothing was going well today. Pride angrily walked over and sat down. Without even glancing at Kang Man beside him, he glared at Allen once before he opened the display, adjusted the angle and checked if those escort ships his family sent over had left the station yet.
Pride’s alienating-don’t-come-near-me attitude was obvious to everyone’s eyes, and yet it just so happened someone was able to ignore it completely.
“Pride Zweig, it is a great pleasure to meet you. I am called Allen Chev, and I am also enrolled in Seven Lights this term. Ya can say we’re classmates now.” Allen extended a hand in greeting with a very happy smile.
Pride did not even lift his eyes as he answered in a very furious tone, “Like I give a damn which shallot (T/N: Or for better understanding, piece of shit) you are!”
But Allen did not have the slightest self-conscious that he was called a ‘shallot’; his thick skin and ability to filter words automatically amazed Cillin.
He had heard long ago from Dias that there were a lot of weirdos in institutions of higher learning. Today he had certainly learned his lesson.
“I always watch your fighter battle videos. You’re so amazing; I can’t believe you can pull off such amazing maneuvers…”
Praise poured out of Allen’s mouth continuously. Although Pride did not lift his head, Cillin realized that the corner of the brat’s lips widened a bit. He then immediately strived to maintain his serious outlook from before, but his ears were lifted completely straight. In Cillin’s opinion, if Pride had a tail, it would definitely be pointed towards the sky. Why else would he have allowed Allen to rattle off the whole time like a machine gun without appearing to have any intentions of stopping him.
A difficult child, he is. This was the conclusion Cillin had come to about Pride.
Kang Man humphed softly again before staring at the display before him. There was no telling if it was directed at Allen or Pride. Pride was drowning in Allen’s praise anyway so he probably didn’t notice it.
Besides that, there were also a few people sitting around them that had been paying attention to this area for a while. When they heard Allen’s words, they too joined into the conversation. Pride lifted his chin at the surrounding people’s praises, “I’ve learned them a long time ago.”
If someone said that Kang Man’s pride was hidden inside him, then Pride’s was as obvious as his name.
Still, Pride did have the qualification to be proud of himself. Excluding status, background and other similar factors, if someone said that the Twin Star of Seven Light’s Kang Man was leaned towards research, then Pride would fall under the combat type. His fighter piloting skills were top-notch among his peers, not to mention that his shooting, mech piloting skills and other aspects were also outstanding.
Allen was very sad that it wasn’t allowed to carry photographic equipment inside the cabin. Otherwise he would definitely take a picture with the two Twin Stars of Seven Lights. It would definitely give his dad a pleasant surprise.
Although Allen had also brought up the other person of the Twin Stars of Seven Lights – Kang Man, it was obvious that people around them weren’t too interested in this genius with an ordinary background. Part of the reason they had come to Seven Lights was because it provided a platform, and hence some of these children of big families and forces could network with more people here in order to pave their paths towards the future. It was obvious that these young people born to speak with a golden spoon did not categorize Kang Man as part of their social circle. Kang Man might be one of the Twin Star of Seven Lights this term, but his speciality was leaned towards academics. Naturally the group of youngsters had even less common topics to share with Kang Man. Of course, Allen was an exception.
Kang Man did not express too much emotions towards the other’s cold shoulders. He seemed to be used to them.
“Can you tell me about that electronic cryptography that Allen had mentioned earlier? Electronic cryptography has magnetic trimming, correct? How do you ensure that the geomagnetic field and other factors would not cause a distortion. According to the formula…” Cillin did hold some interest in the electronic cipher Kang Man had researched. When he was discussing with Eudy, the subject had been brought up before, although they did not delve deep into it. But now Cillin’s curiosity was actually piqued.
Kang Man looked at Cillin with surprise. Someone who could cite those formulas correctly must have a certain degree of understanding in this subject, which was why Kang Man did not ignore Cillin. He turned off the display, pressed another button on the armrest, took out an electronic board and began slowly explaining things for Cillin.
The duo had talked from the most basic acoustic cryptography, to optical cryptography, and finally magnetic cryptography. Cillin had even written down a few simplified formulas that came up when he was discussing with Eudy. This caused Kang Man to view Cillin in a new light, and when the matter of academic research was brought up, Kang Man had grown even more excited. Kang Man’s attitude towards a genuinely knowledgeable person was completely different from norm.
Pride’s attention was also shifted by Cillin and Kang Man’s discussion. Although his eyes were still staring at the display before him, his focus was actually somewhere else entirely. He might not know the things that Kang Man was talking about, but he could understand some parts of it.
Allen, who was originally deep in conversation with the surrounding, saw that Cillin and Kang Man were ‘whispering’ with each other and glanced at their direction. When he saw that Kang Man’s board was written full with formulas, his gaze at Cillin became filled with admiration. To Allen, formulas or whatever was no different than the bible of gibberish.
After the transport had landed on Seven Lights, according to the newcomer’s guidelines written in the ‘Seven Lights Handbook’, they must acquire the all purpose card on Planet Seven Lights. This was because the exclusive card was needed to purchase items, catch a ride and so on. Once you got out of this port, outer worlds debit cards would become completely useless.
After he had made a Seven Lights card with his identity card and admission notice, Cillin then transferred the credits on the card Aiflon gave him to the Seven Lights card. Since he was a new student, Cillin’s Seven Lights card was crimson in color. When classes officially started, then he would be able to apply to upgrade his Seven Lights card if his academic credits reached a certain target. The Seven Lights card’s ranks could be divided into seven ranks: Crimson, Orange, Yellow, Green, Cyan, Blue and Purple. Different ranks had different authority on Planet Seven Lights, and the students would have to depend on themselves to rank up their cards.
Seven Lights was a relatively independent place, and they weren’t the only one. There were a few academies in Sector B and military academies in Sector C that had similar systems.
Kang Man was going to visit an old professor, and he had wanted to bring Cillin along at first – the old prof was pretty friendly to those who were engaged in academic studies. But Cillin had turned him down. He had his own plans, and he wasn’t a pure academic researcher either.
After also turning down Allen’s invitation to complete their registration together, Cillin carried his rather light travel bag from the luggage compartment on his back and left the port. The moment he got out, he saw two high class flying cars stopped at the entrance waiting for someone. With a lifted chin, Pride walked over, threw the small bag in his hands at one of the escorts and entered the flying car.
He didn’t think the boy’s background was deep enough that he could enjoy special privileges openly even on Seven Lights. No wonder those people had fawned all over Pride back inside the cabin. Although Pride’s identity was not revealed outright, they most likely had an idea who he was when Allen revealed some of his accomplishments.
Cillin turned his head and put the trivial matter away. He arrived at a shop selling communication equipment around the port and purchased a bracelet type communicator. Seven Lights had their own exclusive communication network and signal reception equipment, so the communication equipment that was brought over from outside the planet could not be used here. He could only buy a new one.
Cillin did not plan to register immediately; the registration session would continue for another six or seven days anyway. Complying to a Hunter’s habit, Cillin would first visit a few important locations on Planet Seven Lights personally. After purchasing a world map, Cillin then hopped onto a maglev train that travels around the planet.