𝑛𝑶𝚟𝓮𝓵𝐍𝖊xt.𝗇𝓔t
It took him quite a while to calm down after replying to his parents’ message.
He still felt like shouting at them, but he began to wonder whether they were worth his effort or time, in the first place. If they could abandon him and Daniel that easily, why should he even bother about them at this point?
Michael sighed heavily and got up from the ground. He left his room and paved his way slowly to the Bartholomew Shop. He had yet to complete a large transaction after his deal with the Bartholomew Corporation had been completed. It was about time to change that.
Almost a month passed since his deal with the Bartholomew Corporation had been signed, and the EmeraldLeaf Adventurer team gave their utmost to procure as many Agriculture-type blueprints as possible. That was how Michael ended up with nearly 3,000 blueprints, which he spread out in front of the young woman, who had been told to inspect the blueprints in the appraisal room.
Michael didn’t waste any time in chitchat with the shop manager, or the young woman. Instead, he finished his side of the deal in exchange for a small fortune as his base fee. Once the transaction had been completed, Michael reconsidered purchasing a few things. He had yet to sell the valuable body parts procured in the Lord Rift as well. However, Michael chose against blindly purchasing stuff and selling the valuable monster parts in a hurry.
He was not in a good mood, which heavily influenced his train of thought, and his ability to determine whether it would be more useful to use the Underground Forging Hall, and the other Artisans in his territory to turn the monster parts into finished products rather than selling the raw materials in the Bartholomew Shop.
Michael was not in a rush, so he left the shop once his business was completed. He reconsidered returning to the Origin Expanse to avoid the people around him – fearing that they might take pity on him –, but he chose against doing so. Instead of returning to his comfort zone, Michael felt that it was better to push himself out of his comfort zone and feel the discomfort of being around people, who might or might not ask him about his brother.
He was pretty sure Kaleb and a few more people knew about his situation. Even if they didn’t know, it was rare for someone to miss classes for three weeks straight, and to look like him – a zombie with dark circles under his eyes.
Michael lost a lot of weight, and he was not as energetic as before. Nobody saw him eating the amount of food that would feed ten people at the cafeteria either.
No matter how dense one was, it was impossible not to understand that something major must have happened in Michael’s life and that it affected him greatly, wiping the smile away from his face.
Hoping to find distraction in the training hall where Silverian Schild’s Limit Breaker course was held, Michael slowly walked through the enormous academy grounds. His pace was slow and his shoulders sagged a little, but he continued walking onward, even after a few students stared at him, looking slightly surprised.
The students he encountered were fellow freshmen, who had once battled Michael. They knew how he used to carry himself, and that he was quite energetic. Michael looked nothing like his former confident self – though his bald head was the same as ever. It was almost like Michael would never be able to grow his hair again given that his hair had burned several times by now.
Michael took a deep breath after noticing the surprised stares of fellow freshmen weighing down on him. It was uncomfortable, but not as bad as he expected. Maybe, he would be able to learn to live with the haunting memory of having seen his brother die in front of him. Eventually, he had to overcome the trauma, either way. There was no way around it, other than accepting it and moving on.
As he strode past the large forest that was mostly used by Awakened with Plant-type Soultraits, and Agility-type Awakened to train their parkour skills in the ‘wild’, and keep training their Soultraits in the most versatile manner, Michael noticed something from the corner of his eye.
His heightened perception allowed him to sense the gazes lingering on him. That was also why the gazes on him had been uncomfortable.
However, the most uncomfortable were three particular gazes that had been locked onto him since he left the Bartholomew Shop. At first, Michael thought that it might have been Kaleb and others trying to figure out what he was doing in order to find a good opportunity to approach him and strike up a conversation. But his Eagle Eyes allowed Michael to see Kaleb, the Barbaric Couple, and the other members of the Limit Breaker Course standing in front of the training hall’s entrance.
The training hall’s entrance was more than a kilometer away from Michael’s current location, but he could easily tell that neither Kaleb nor the Barbaric Couple were looking in his direction. In fact, they had yet to take note of his arrival.
Something was off.
Sensing that, Michael halted in his tracks. He took a look to his left where a small building was located. It was a watch tower replica that was used by archers to use and practice upon as an ordinary archer tower in the Origin Expanse. He tilted his head and changed his direction to walk straight to the watchtower while the three gazes were still lingering on him.
“Seems like you’re not as useless as the rumors say. You could even sense our presence,” A youthful voice rang out from behind the watchtower when Michael stopped in front of it.
A young man, roughly the same age as Michael, stepped out from behind the watchtower. He threw a condescending look at Michael and began to smile mockingly.
“But your perception is the only impressive thing about you…and the fact that you can just skip lessons for three weeks straight without receiving a Mark,” The young man continued to speak, his jarring voice growing colder by the second, “…Or is that the benefit of having a dead brother?”
Michael narrowed his eyes. His anger flared up and he was about to manifest the Wyverntooth Spear when another young man stepped out from behind the watchtower.
They were twins, both with vibrant golden hair and large ocean-blue eyes. The twins had smooth skin and beautiful facial features – something the young men were definitely aware of. They wore silky clothes that enhanced their appearance even more, creating a beautiful picture to look at.
Sadly, the gibberish leaving their mouths was a stark contrast to their pleasing appearance.
“I never expected her student to look like… this? It has been a while since I saw someone looking more like the Undead,” The taller twin said. He chuckled lightly at his own thoughts and voiced them out a moment later, “Maybe he wants to look like his brother!”
The shorter twin joined his brother’s laughter while Michael stared at them with a deadpan expression.
“What do you want?” Michael asked coldly.
He clenched his fists in an attempt to control his emotions, but that was increasingly difficult as the twins continued to make fun of him, and his brother.
However, Michael didn’t hear their voices anymore. His sight had already turned red in anger, and he barely managed to hold back due to two particular facts. First, the taller twin asked if he was really ‘her’ student. That may not sound like anything special, but Michael could immediately tell that the taller twin was referring to Alice Zenovia with ‘her’.
Not many knew that Michael was receiving personal training from Alice. Kaleb should be one of the only students of the Saphirelake Military Academy to know about the Individual training since he became part of the training regime after manifesting his War Rune. Other than that, only teachers and Professors should be able to look at his timetable.
But that was not the crucial point that made Michael feel wary of the wannabe bullies. The biggest factor was that the twin followed him while being fully aware that his brother had recently passed away.
Michael was sure that Alice wouldn’t tell anyone about his brother’s death other than Kaleb. Kaleb might tell the Barbaric Couple and his other friends to make sure that they wouldn’t say something wrong in front of Michael, but that was already it.
So how did these twins – fellow freshmen whom Michael never met before – learn about his brother and his death?
“What do we want? Quite a lot actually. Much more than you can imagine,” The taller twin drawled, laughing lightly. He strode forward and walked toward Michael.
His steps were eerily slow as he stopped directly in front of Michael. The twin moved in a slow circle around him and whispered quietly.
“But what do you want?” He asked before lightly adding, “You probably want your brother back. Is that not it?”
Michael continued to clench his fists. He grit his teeth and took a deep breath.
Even though Michael didn’t really know what was happening right now, he could tell that the twins were here to provoke him. They were probably waiting for him to attack them. At least, that was what Michael guessed.
He didn’t want to give them that satisfaction, so he endured their words.
“It’s quite funny don’t you think?” The shorter twin asked the taller twin, “First, his sister died, then his parents abandoned him, only for his brother to die miserably as well. It’s hilarious!!”
The twins laughed and the taller twin said something else. However, the taller twin’s words were barely audible to Michael.
The words rang through his ears, words of humiliation and disaster, causing Michael to lose his cool and look them in the eye.
Then, he snapped.