“Sit.”
Zeke approached the Principal’s desk and quietly sat down. After his brief and unexpected meeting with Frederic, he directly headed to Erys, specifically to Solas.
It was only natural Zeke came here to discuss what happened last time as well as thank the old man for sending Erva and Christopher to escort him.
“Just so you know, your clamorous show on my campus didn’t go unnoticed. Not only did you fail to kill Olivia Vyrsan, but you also alerted the Department of Defense of your secrets. I had plan… so if you had trusted in my judgment, things wouldn’t have escalated so quickly.”
“Thank you for your help.” Zeke paused ever-so-slightly before adding, “However, were you in my situation, you would have trusted no one either.”
“I suppose you’re right. Much of your skepticism and ignorance stems from your young age, Zeke. You can’t just do whatever you want and pay no heed to the consequences. As a student of Erys, it falls to me to deal with any troubles you concoct. I really hope you will not act recklessly again.”
“It shall not happen, sir.”
Solas gave him a glance before letting out a low grunt. “Eh! Who am I kidding? I’d be surprised if nothing happens. Remember that you are no more valuable than any other student. This is the last time I’ll go to such lengths.”
“Yes, sir.”
Zeke bowed and left the cozy office only to run into Maxine and Celestia in the hallway.
The second she saw him, his older sister gave him a hug and, as was her wont, inspected him from head to toe.
“Sorry, Zeke! I tried to help you but…”
“It’s okay, Max. Nothing serious happened.”
“What are you… ugh… nevermind. Please don’t leave the school alone. Moth-...emm, I mean Olivia will be going after you.”
“Sure.”
Zeke faintly smiled and offered no objections. Maxine wasn’t as involved in his affairs as Edward, therefore, Zeke refrained from divulging anything to her. Yes, she was a caring and loving sibling, but she was still a student and got much to learn.
Ironically, though, he was younger than her and, admittedly, he made a lot of mistakes. However, after coming this far, there was no way he would pull back and be content with a peaceful life as if nothing had happened.
“I need to talk to the Principal. Take a good rest and we’ll talk more tomorrow.”
Maxine dashed away while Celestia stared at him for a bit before silently walking away.
…
Once he returned to his dorm room, which had been repaired after the incident with Maxwell Lepard, Zeke found all three of his roommates deep asleep.
He sighed and sat on his bed, meticulously removing the bandages around his left arm and putting on new ones.
He clenched and unclenched his hand but he could only feel an uncomfortable numbness. Were it not for the bandages, people would see his charred skin, which didn’t look human.
It was like a burned piece of wood, all black and lacking any healthy color.
‘I need to find a way to fix this.’
The Ink Fire truly lived up to its notorious reputation. Even with the help of Doctor Xavier and the resources of a prestigious institution like Erys, there was no definitive way to revert the supposedly irreversible damage.
Although the Pain-Junkie Path subsided a great deal of the pain, Zeke sometimes would suffer from agonizing tingling that left him sweating and short of breath. It wasn’t particularly detrimental to his daily activities or fighting, but leaving it like this wasn’t an option either.
Zeke was lost in thought for a good while before he fell asleep, dreaming about nothingness, as usual.
“Zeke! You’re back!”
“Ugh!”
Early in the morning, someone shouted out loud and leapt at Zeke, startling him awake.
“Can you get off me first?”
“Hahahaha!”
His friend stepped back while cackling joyfully. Alan and Azmer also seemed surprised to see Zeke return.
“I thought they got to you.”
“They wish.” Retorted Zeke while sitting up and tightening the bandages. He was still feeling exhausted, but it was time for classes.
After almost three weeks of intense fighting and accumulating stress and anxiousness, Zeke thought he would be offered a moment of respite.
“You’re back just in time to help me and Alan. That damn Christopher chose the hardest Theoretical topics for the Final Exams.”
Just as Samuel was excitedly celebrating his friend’s return, Azmer subtly nodded at Zeke before leaving the room.
Neither of the two young men forgot about their fight atop that valley. Azmer’s attitude more or less remained the same, and from the looks of it, he didn’t stop training.
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They weren’t considered friends, but much of the animosity between them had been extinguished, which turned them from enemies into simple roommates.
“Also so arrogant and gloomy, tsk tsk!” Samuel clicked his tongue and cursed under his breath before wrapping his arm around Zeke and enthusiastically praising his show of strength.
Almost everyone in the school had heard or seen how Zeke had dared to attack Olivia and her father, as well as how conjured a devastating bolt of lightning that resounded across the whole school.
“Next time, you have to take me with you, okay?”
Zeke looked at the happy Samuel and just shrugged in disinterest.
Soon enough, the two were in the hallway, heading to their respective classrooms.
“Ah! I’ve no doubts that you’ve grown stronger. I think you should get a better rank before the end of the Finals.”
“I’ll think about it.” Perfunctorily replied Zeke as he waved his hand and entered the classroom.
Excluding a warranted reproaching from Christopher due to Zeke’s absence for the past couple of days, the class proceeded uneventfully.
It was just revising old stuff to prepare for the upcoming exams. Zeke, who had confidence in acing the Theoretical stuff, wasn’t particularly interested as he could study on his own.
Julia, who sat relatively close to him, kept giving him curious looks but he ignored her.
However, when the bell rang, Zeke unexpectedly approached her and asked,
“Do you mind if we talk? Privately.”
“Oh?”
The girl furrowed her brows and giggled, “It’s not a confession… is it?”
“...”
Seeing his expressionless face, which didn’t seem to get her joke, she faked a cough and complied.
Zeke took her outside the First-Year Building, in a secluded spot away from the crowds of students flooding the campus.
“You’re not going to tell me why you’ve been absent, right? I mean, I do have a guess or two.”
“That’s why I brought you here.”
“Hm? I’m listening.” She leaned against the wall and crossed her arms, her ears perked as she inquisitive stared back at him.
“Are you good friends with Rebecca?”
“Huh?” Julia was momentarily stupefied. When she collected herself, she hesitated before nodding twice.
“How long have you been friends?”
“Almost ten years. Are you interested in her? Because she hates your guts.”
“Do you know where she lives? If so, will you tell me?”
Julia’s expression turned serious as her eyes narrowed, “Zeke… you’re not going to do something stupid, are you? I get that you don’t like her, but after what happened, it would be wise to lay low.”
“Are you going to tell me or not?”
“Hmpf! Only if you tell me why.”
Zeke let out a sigh of exasperation and said, “Then forget it.”
He turned around and walked away thereafter, leaving a confused Julia behind.
…
‘Signora told me that the spies in Erys were lower-ranked, which means they most likely don’t know about me. I don’t she lied to me, but it’s better to make sure of their identity then remove them from the board. Let’s see… two are First Year, one Second Year, and one Third Year. Except one, all are easily manageable…”
Zeke looked to the side, focusing his gaze on three students walking together.
‘Beatrice Brand, a member of the Student Council.’
The problematic target was Beatrice, who was part of the Ascetic Blasphemers and the ‘leader’ of the little group dispatched to Erys.
She had long hair dyed pink and piercing in her lips and nostrils. Zeke barely knew anything about her, but he had come up with a plan to disturb her.
With hastened steps, he approached Beatrice and her two colleagues.
“What do you want?”
The stalwart Francois, the exchange student from the Empire, creased his brows and looked down at the youth blocking their path.
A smirk plastered itself on Zeke’s face as he fixated his eyes on Beatrice. Out of the blue, and without any care for the listeners, he stated,
“Red Mask Signora issues an order for you.”
Apart from those knowledgeable about the Ascetic Blasphemers, normal people didn’t know about the hierarchy of the titles of the higher-ups, therefore, Zeke wasn’t worried that Francois and the cold-faced Elise would notice anything.
However, when he uttered those words, there was a reaction from Beatrice. She was surprised for half a breath before regaining her composure.
“What?”
“I said Signora has to need of you. It’s time to report.”
“What the hell are you on about? You’re already on the watch list of the council, so how about you scram?”
In response, Zeke chuckled and obediently stepped to the side. His gaze kept following Beatrice, who kept resumed chatting with the other two as if nothing had happened.
…
As it was a period of revision and self-study, all classes ended relatively early.
Zeke expected to be called by Celestia and the rest but it seemed they were just as busy with the Exams.
The Third-years especially, paid great attention to their evaluation and spent most, if not all of their time training. The Finals for the Third-years were the deciding factor for their future, so there was no room for entertainment and rest. In fact, it was rare to see students spend all nights buried in the library or tirelessly practicing in the facilities.
“Huff… huff…”
Zeke was jogging around the calm forest, sweat dripping from his clothes as he pushed through his limits. The Fatigue Abstinence Survival Skill allowed him to recover from exhaustion and train for a longer period of time.
Even after completing the simple and easy Daily Tasks, Zeke kept doing physical exercises before sitting down and trying to hone his other skills.
Electric currents were dancing around him as he maintained ‘Aether Control’, which absorbed the Ambient Aether and sustained his body.
[Voltage Body Main Path has gained 5 Points.]
‘I knew it!’
Ever since the Aether Voltage has been upgraded into Voltage Body, Zeke had begun suspecting that there was an alternative way of increasing the ‘level’ of the unlocked paths without using PE.
While it was hard to determine the hidden requirements for all the paths, he still felt pleased with himself now that his assumption had been ascertained once and for all.
“Katrina?”
As he wiped his sweaty forehead and sat up, Zeke called for the invisible agent but only silence was the answer.
“I know you’re here. Let’s not pretend I’m alone.”
“What do you want?”
The black-haired woman appeared from thin air, standing with her back straight and wearing a black military uniform.
“I want a bit of assistance.”
“My job is to protect you. Nothing else.”
“As long as I’m in Erys, there’s no danger. How about doing productive? I guarantee you won’t regret it.”
“...”
Seeing her solemnly look down at him, neither objecting nor agreeing, Zeke continued,
“I want you to stealthily follow a student. Rebecca, she’s a classmate of mine.”
“Does this have to do with what you did earlier? Is she a spy?”
“I don’t know… is she?” He playfully winked at the stone-faced agent, but she snorted and disappeared seconds later.