The scarred man although shocked that David appeared, kept his composure.

"Let's cut to the chase, my friend, the True Underworld King, doesn't want to deal with any of these. He woke me up in the middle of the night just to tell you this! Don't touch Zane and I'll turn a blind eye to this, if you don't even your little tactician won't be able to handle my wrath."

The doctor yawned and rubbed his eyes.

"Then, I want to talk to him, face to face. If he tells me that in person, I'll stop."

"Hahahaha! Why should he? So you can just grab him and run away? Even if he appeared right in front of you now, you won't be able to do anything at all."

"We just want his help, we will pay him properly! We'll even give him a platform to stand on, his talents are wasted in this country. Although we may be a small branch, we still do have some authority."

"Not happening."

"Then what about the person teaching Zane? We want to talk to him."

"Again, not happening."

"What can we do to talk to him?"

"Nothing, he doesn't want to meet you and just wants you to not mess with him. Considering his personality, he is being extremely benevolent here, I do believe you realize this."

From the earlier Kiss of Death, the scarred man obviously felt fear from witnessing it live. If not for his mana being so much stronger, he wouldn't have been able to dispel it.

"There has to be something we can do."

"Fine, I'll be right back."

The doctor's figure suddenly disappeared and after a while reappeared. The doctor was holding an illusionary ball of black mana.

"Teleportation?! Just how rich are you?"

"He'd rather spend a million even if it means increasing his plan's chances of even 0.01%. Here."

The doctor appeared in front of the scarred man and inserted a ball of black mana inside him. The scarred man wasn't able to react but he felt a foreboding eerie sense where the black ball of mana was inserted.

"Go back to your tactician, if he can resolve that problem then the True Underworld King will be happy to meet him face to face. Time limit is three years, good luck. I mean it."

"Oh, by the way, Hans. Don't touch Zane and the people around him, we spent a long time setting this up."

The doctor teleported again.

The scarred man didn't feel immediate effects but noticed something.

"This damn thing is chipping away at my life! After I die, it will spread to infect other people. Either I give up now and not let any danger come to the organization or risk the chance of curing it and meeting the True Underworld King."

"It seems that three years isn't how much time I have, it's how long before everyone in the organization dies if I went back."

"If that's how you are going to play, then we will oblige!"

The scarred man immediately ran away leaving Hans speechless.

An entire month passed by with nothing to note in the kingdom.

Adam and Zane were training without any issues anymore. It has been pretty silent until something came up.

It was turf wars, Adam and Zane were forced to participate.

It was a simple match, it was an all-out brawl where the last stand group wins. As usual, Adam fell down after a few hits and Zane fought pretty well. In fact, he was aiding one of the leaders of this group and led the entire fight to victory.

Zane was praised by many and was brought up with cheers surrounding him.

"Nice going Zane!"

"With you here, there won't be any problems at all!"

"If Adam was as half as good as you, we would totally plow through the entire competition!"

For Adam, it was a weird sight. Children ages 12-16 were cheering a 13-year-old kid. Nonetheless, he didn't ruin the mood, Zane did work hard for this so its better to let him enjoy the moment. Motivation is a good factor in how hard one works.

"Hey, Zane! Come to the party later! We will be celebrating and you will be the main attraction!"

Zane looked at Adam with a questioning look. Of course, Adam nodded.

"Don't stay too late now."

"Aren't you going?"

"Not going, too many people. Besides, enjoy the moment when you are still a kid. You won't be as carefree later on."

"You're still a kid too, am I right? Just hang around for the first hour then you can go. That's the least you can do right?"

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"Fine, I've got nothing better to do."

Adam brought up a scroll and called the doctor. He seemed to be experimenting with a new species, Adam canceled their plans and immediately closed it. The doctor could be heard raging but that was it.

They went out of the dorm and decided to walk to the party. It was an entire venue not too far from the dorms, it was decorated in a grand manner. There were lights all around, music played and, some even stole glances at Zane.

"You really are the life of the party, go have some fun. I'll hang around here."

"All right! You have some fun too, you're also a kid like me."

Zane left Adam and went to talk to other people, his charismatic attitude and devilish looks were intoxicating to children in that phase.

Adam hanged around and decided to get some snacks. There was a banquet, it could even be said that it was more than enough to be fit for a king. Adam took some and decided to rest on some chairs on the side.

While minding his own business a voice rang out behind him.

"Would you mind if I sit here?"

Adam didn't look, only preoccupied with what he was eating.

"Sure, I don't mind, Isabelle."

"I, never. Is that how you would speak to a noble?"

"But, you aren't though? Weren't you disowned in favor of your brother?"

"That-"

"Too touchy, huh? What are you doing here?"

Adam bit into a piece of chicken and lazily looked at her.

"Richard told me to meet you. So-"

"Well, first things first! How did you two lovebirds meet?"

"Well, uh, we've been spending each other letters for quite a while now."

"Letters? What's the point? You can meet face to face!"

"It's... romantic, I asked him to send me letters so we write to each other."

"No matter, sit down! Let's have a little chat."

When she was about to sit down, the chair broke and her dress got tattered, showing her bare legs.

"Nice legs."

Isabelle blushed and properly ripped it all off, turning it into a short skirt.

Gaining her confidence back, "Anyways, as I was saying, he wants to talk to you about something."

"On what grounds does he have the right? We had a truce, I don't mess with him, he doesn't mess with me."

"It's something about his subordinates not being able to keep up with him. He wants you to help him."

"Train them? Find someone else with free time."

"You are mistaken, he just wants you to help them out when they finish school. The gap between them is already massive, it would even be greater in later years. He was sure that you have something that could help them."

"His subordinates, his problems."

"You all came from the same village, he hopes that you could possibly grow a heart."

"Same village but different lives. It changes nothing."

"Then, what do you want in exchange?"

"Finally, what I was waiting for. It's quite simple, I need some resources from a few rare beasts and-"

"I am sorry but due to certain reasons, Richard doesn't want to use his trait until he has finished training."

Adam was making idle talk, he was just waiting for time to pass, "Well, interesting, learning how to hide a trump card. Say, how many people know?"

Isabelle started to see a slim chance so she shouted with hope in her voice, "If I answer, will you help?"

Adam's eyes had an ominous glint, "Aren't you being too presumptuous? Learn your place. Other than your trait, you're nothing special. There are only five people in this school who have any worth in my eyes."

"I am still talking to you because I value Richard, not you. You're his lackey, so tell him this. Tell me to my face he wants my help. Then I'll accept it. Now go away, you're ruining the festive mood for Zane."

When Isabelle looked around she now noticed how much of a commotion she is causing. Although it wasn't much, she was still a noble and she shouted at someone with torn clothes.

Isabelle walked away feeling quite bad, she thought to herself, he really is scary. He's two-faced, one for his enemies and one for his allies. Richard wasn't lying when he said Adam is someone you would never want as an enemy.

Right outside, Richard was waiting while leaning on a wall.

"So, how did it go?"

"Just as you expected, he told me to tell you that you need to tell him yourself. He was also quite mean in his words, he's also a kid like us so why would he be that mean?"

"He doesn't treat you well because he doesn't think of you as an equal. He has a self-indulging pride of being superior yet he controls himself and doesn't show it. That's a dangerous personality. He hides his own skills and towards those who know it, he would either make them understand he is superior or they disappear."

"So does that mean he is stronger than you? You are already improving at a scary speed! Your raw strength is increasing at an exponential rate. Just how strong is he?"

"He isn't magically nor physically strong, he has his wits. See that Zane character, Adam is grooming him to be his bodyguard."

Richard points to Zane in the middle of everyone doing some dumb stuff.

"So what? Zane isn't stronger than you though he's only in the top 200 right now. Based on rankings, you should be stronger! Besides, you have so many resources being poured into you when they have nothing."

"That's where you are wrong, everyone here's too sheltered. Resources? Adam has tasted what the wasteland could give, based on what the school is giving us its not worth anything, even I go venture forth to get my own resources. Strength? Do you really think someone like Adam would expose all of his cards? Now tell me, how many people did Adam say he saw that had any value?"

Richard dropped a ton of information on Isabelle.

Isabelle seemed to blank out and spoke out, "Five students, just five."

"Considering me, there's Rance Gulden, Kandis O'well, Zane and... that's odd, I don't know who the last one was."

Isabelle trying to reason out said, "But to me, it seems that you are equal to him in the knowledge!"

Richard once again gave Isabelle more information.

"Where do you think I learned this? Adam's been grooming me as well since the beginning, although he had been making fun of me, he taught me more practical stuff than what they teach here."

Richard left Isabelle there to think and went inside. He looked around and spotted Adam.

"Hey, Adam, you know why I am here right?"

"Yeah, why didn't you go here in the first place?"

"I just wanted to see if you held her in any light."

"Go on, speak up."

"I need your help, they can't follow up and they are starting to lose motivation. At the end of school, I want your help to live their lives in peace."

"Simple as that, it's done. Now for your payment, I want some rare beast parts, the fangs of a Diamond Serpent, the hide of the Star-Plated Salamander and, the backbone of the King of the Birds."

"Although I can't use my trait, I'll get this done."

"Good, here. A map of all these beasts, though I know you already knew this. By the way, how many people know your trait?"

"Just Isabelle, everyone else just assumes that's my title due to how I fight."

"Good, the less the better. If you want, I can make them drop out now, I can buy them land, housing, maids and, even give them enough gold to spend it on ten lifetimes."

"Thanks but I'll only let them go after school. I am asking you this but you don't have to answer. Is the last person who caught your eye the Black Plague?"

Adam playfully made an X-shape with his fingers, "Bzzt! Wrong, although that chap was quite amusing, she was too timid and kept crying on how she didn't want to hurt people. If she lost that attitude and gained a cold attitude, she would be lovely. Also, she isn't in school technically so it wouldn't have even counted. Hey, if you are interested, I can give you her home address and how to avoid dying from her trait."

"I would appreciate it."

"Hahahaha! You sure are a playboy, getting girls into your group here and there. Still, I don't mind. Goodbye now!"

Adam waved Richard goodbye as he was walking away.

With an inaudible voice that only Richard could hear, "In the end, if you don't change your attitude, it will come back to bite you, True Underworld King."