“I’ll go if I need to.” Arin still feigned his expression up to now. He truly did feel Barlot’s crushing strength in its entirety causing him to be injured this entire time. That cracking sound that everyone heard when Barlot held Arin’s body with his hands did quite a number on Arin.
“Suit yourself.” Professor Ferial shook her head and let him be. Although there was a slight regenerative feature while one was inside the room, it was a lot less impactful as its effects were altered in its nature. Instead of fully healing, it focused on saving, making sure that no one goes past the point of death.
“I see a few agitated eyes, let me give you a bit of advice. If you don’t like it then do something about it. You want to beat him up? Go ahead. You can’t do anything? Get stronger. Looking won’t get you anything.” Professor Ferial lazily sat back on her chair as she gave everyone a piece of her mind.
A few people exchanged words, speaking their minds to their seatmates. Discussion was quickly brought up from within the sixty students inside the room. Even the most prominent group had their own thoughts to share.
“So, Elliot, what do we do with Arin?” Alclair asked from the side, tapping his fingers on the table as he glanced at Arin’s nonchalant expression.
Elliot took a peek at Arin and quickly placed his attention back on Professor Ferial, “Nothing, we can’t do a single thing.” Elliot then gripped a piece of metal in his hands, having quite the detailed carvings within it. “We can’t do anything at all for now at least.”
This piece of metal within Elliot’s hands was actually an Insignia of Excellence. This came from Fiona’s personal collection, using this to help out Elliot in whatever situation he might find himself in.
Such a power item could quite easily change the current pace of everything. The only thing stopping Elliot was the fact that this particular design was something he had already seen before.
Back when Professor Ferial gave Arin something, it was actually an Insignia of Excellence as well. If Elliot used his and Arin chose to counteract it then it would be a waste of such a game-changing tool.
“You said you were going to help me… I’m waiting…” Sefi eerily appeared right behind Elliot without another soul noticing her. By the time she spoke, she was already right behind Elliot, in a position where she could fatally injure him with but a single motion.
“I didn’t lie. It’s just that it isn’t the time yet.” Elliot took the Insignia of Excellence in his hand and hid it in his clothes.
“Then when?” Sefi scratched her head in confusion. As her head was already in an unnaturally shifted position, it made her moves show her in a much more creepy light.
“In the near future.” Elliot was trying to pry himself off this unstable factor. He couldn’t fight against her at all.
“I wasn’t born yesterday, Vice President.” Sefi’s voice turned cold and monotone which sent shivers down Alclair’s spine. He immediately tried to get rid of Sefi as early as he could yet she just giggled and tapped on his forehead. This caused Alclair to fall down unconscious on his desk, causing a slight thud. “If you won’t make a move now then when will you?”
Elliot saw Professor Ferial glance in his general direction and smirked, enjoying the show. He tried to pry Sefi’s grip on his shoulders to no avail. “Sefi, can you at least tell me why you’re so keen on this?”
“No particular reason, I just like winning.” Sefi giggled right after except rather than the soft tone of a maiden, it sounded like nails on a chalkboard, ear-piercing.
“Winning, huh?” Elliot rapidly thought of how he should answer her. “What makes you think we won’t win? As Professor Ferial said, we have both the smartest and the strongest in our team, right Barlot?”
“I’m only here for the time being.” Barlot calmly said from right behind Sefi, completely stationary. He didn’t seem to be that bothered despite Sefi being so threatening.
“Strongest? Kekeke, the strongest is the one who survives. Barlot already died once and you, Elliot, I doubt you can even protect yourself.” Sefi shamelessly rubbed in at the fact that Arin did win his battle against them. “Can you even call yourself the strongest, Barlot?” Sefi leaned back, staring provocatively at Barlot who was eying her down.
“We’ll see soon enough.” Barlot closed his eyes, not bothering to talk to the mad woman in front of him. She had a screw loose and he didn’t feel like dealing with her right now, especially when he was still weak from healing from the clinic.
“And you… are really the smartest, Elliot?” Sefi placed her attention back at Elliot who was still brainstorming on how to move forward. She placed her finger on his scalp, slowly exerting more and more pressure until his skin was on the verge of breaking.
After bearing through with it for an extended period of time, he finally figured out a way to deal with her. “Sefi, is Arin the only person who you’ll be willing to work with? Anyone else who has the skills you’ll be satisfied with?”
“There’s only two other people I have my eye on but they’re too boring.” Sefi glanced at the twins and the extremely moody scholar, as soon as she glanced at one of the twins, she felt a slight urge to laugh and cry at the same time.
“Then what about you? Have you proven yourself?” Elliot was guiding her thought process into something that would make sense in her mind. “If you want to have good teammates then doesn’t that mean that you should also show off what you’re capable of? So far, all you’ve done is cause trouble for Arin so I doubt he’ll want to take you in this early.”
Sefi stopped her assault on him as she meekly placed her hand back. “I get it…” She grabbed Alclair’s collar and threw him aside, sitting right beside Elliot as she leaned on his shoulder.
Here came the crucial part, “As far as I could tell, Arin’s trying to take over the 1st years. If you formed a group that has enough influence then he might take you under his wing.” Elliot laid out his bait for Sefi to take. She thought for quite a while, time she normally wouldn’t have but due to Professor Ferial giving notice to this little exchange, she let them be for a little while longer.
Elliot’s barefaced plan was obviously for Sefi to create a group that would sooner or later fall under Arin’s hands. At first, this would be contradictory to what he believed in, having everyone help and guide each other as everyone pulled each other up. As Arin would oppress everyone, his whims would essentially be followed, and with such a sadistic person on top, it could only spell disaster for everyone else.
He would be growing Arin’s forces for him, something that no normal person would ever do yet Elliot wasn’t just any normal person, he was the Student Body Vice President, a title that’s only below Fiona’s. The next few steps of his plan would require care and detail, causing Sefi’s group to be filled with people who would sooner or later cause Arin’s downfall.
He already had people at his disposal, wealth, and resources, all he needed now was time to grow his strength. As far as he could tell, Arin was strong, extremely so and his methods even more so, it was despair-inducing. Yet he firmly believed that he could overcome this obstacle and help Fiona achieve her goal.
The first part of his just-developed plan was to create a mole that doesn’t know they are a mole, in this case, Sefi was the perfect candidate. He would mix in true and false followers, around Sefi’s group helping her gain influence. She would slowly gather up enough strength so that she would be noticed by Arin, letting her come under him as she wanted while at the same time, introducing small variables into the mix.
The second part of the plan was to initiate a lockdown, at this point, it would be safe to say that the school would be ruled by Arin and that mysterious woman. According to Elliot’s calculations, Arin would still retain his vigilance and strength, making any normal betrayal completely predictable to him. This made him opt for another option, war. By causing insiders within the faction under Arin to initiate a battle with the mysterious woman, Arin would be forced, no, he would be delighted to engage in bloodshed. This would cause him to lower his guard as he enjoyed the scene before him, letting Barlot have the chance to bring Arin down after the huge battle.
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This was essentially an extremely easy way of bringing down the tyrant that he wanted to become. By abusing his desires, Elliot would be able to place himself into a favorable position that would let him strike Arin down as he wished.
“Wait…” After Elliot thought of this plan, he immediately came back to his senses. This kind of plan was too brutal, it was completely against what he was initially standing for. He was going to sacrifice too many students just to bring Arin down, it was something that he shouldn’t have even dared think of.
He didn’t understand why he suddenly thought of this. Such a cruel plan relied on betrayal, something that wasn’t to his beliefs.
All of a sudden, Professor Ferial showed a menacing glare at Sefi. Elliot felt his breath quicken as if trying to suppress something within himself. Something prevented this train of thought.
Elliot scrapped the entire plan, he didn’t know what came over him. After thinking up this plan, he physically felt nauseous as if he had done something he shouldn’t have, completely going against what he believed in. Even Sefi saw Elliot feeling unwell and gave him time to recompose himself.
“That’s enough chitchat! Let’s move on to our second lesson!” Professor Ferial lost interest as soon as Elliot showed how susceptible he was to others’ influence.
“Tell me later,” Sefi whispered into Elliot’s ear. She stood up and went to the side where she usually sat, quite the distance from anyone else around her.
“The mock trial was your first lesson. Initiative gets either rewarded or punished, you should know more about that, Brian.” She pointed at the bravest person in the room, the man who went without any hesitation and examined the fog that was closing in on them. Brain shamelessly smiled and took a bow, ignoring how much pain he was in the entire time.
“Regardless, on to the next lesson, strength. I’m not going to even bother going into detail since all if not most of you have already taken one.” Professor Ferial took out a pill from a bottle in her pocket. It was pure white and had a glossy look to it. “This is an Essence Capsule, as you should know, is categorized into different tiers. The one in my hand right now is a Maze-level Essence Capsule, the weakest of its kind. Catch.”
Professor Ferial threw this pill at one of the students, “Eat it.” The student felt a little off but he immediately did as he was ordered. As soon as he ate one, he could feel his body get stronger as his muscles with imbued with a whole other kind of power.
“As you can see, earlier he was nothing but a little pipsqueak now he’s a little mouse. Improvements. Yada, yada, you all know this by now, here’s everyone’s share.” Professor Ferial threw the already-opened bottle at the student who ate the pill. She took out even more bottles out of nowhere and distributed them to the rest of the students with each getting ten pills. “Mandatory warning, don’t eat too many at a time or you’ll lose yourself. Of course, if you want to test it you be my guest, that’s one less deadweight in my class.”
No one was amused by Professor Ferial’s joke, they very well knew just how valuable these pills were. They were so valuable that only academies could give them out and a few other channels, most of which are through the black market. Even Seal Solvers would have trouble getting some pills for their own use if they don’t know an insider. Of course with a Labyrinth Solver’s status, he would easily procure countless of these pills at his convenience.
These Maze-level Essence Capsules were derived from a purer substance, as for the method, one could say there is and there isn’t. At low densities, at most they could strengthen the human body, letting their skin be as impenetrable as iron and their bones be as tough as steel. At higher densities, however, some humans start showing off unique properties.
Looking at the class, it was obvious who had taken an Essence Capsule before, they were the ones who were exceedingly strong to the point that they seemed unstoppable. People like Barlot could toss people away like paper figurines. A lot of eyes immediately pointed at one person who didn’t even seem thrilled at getting some.
“Tch, like we expected.” A male student popped a pill and felt the effects of it immediately start on him. He could feel his entire body strengthen, even the weakness from earlier was slightly alleviated as he felt like he could wreck his previous self one-sidedly.
The sheer difference between his old and new self was night and day, it was overwhelmingly clear to everyone just how much of a difference they all truly had. They all finally understood just why they were oppressed to such a degree, they weren’t even children in their eyes, just walking bags of meat.
As Barlot took his Maze-level Essence Capsule, the surging energy that came from within warmed his body up, not adding much strength to his body. Apparently, he had already been blessed by such an improvement, meaning that he wouldn’t gain as much strength anymore.
“When do we get something stronger?” Barlot raised his hand in curiosity, these were the real deal. The Essence Capsules he had been consuming were nothing but dregs compared to the one he just had. Of course, he had consumed so much that even though the dregs were only a tenth of the effects, he just needed to eat ten more to fill in for the gap.
“Depends on your performance. You thought you get stuff like this for free? Hahaha!” Professor Ferial laughed out so hard that it even made Barlot feel bad.
Barlot looked at Arin who was still unimpressed by the pill bottle in his hand and gritted his teeth, “This is more than enough.” Barlot glared at Arin and felt that Arin had already taken even better capsules than this making him uninterested. This brought forward Barlot’s confidence greatly, he was already stronger than Arin even though he only took Maze-level Essence Capsules, this meant that overall he had greater talent than him.
Arin expectedly made a move. He pointed at a few students, specifically choosing those that showed off some skill.
“Everyone else, give it up.” Arin suddenly made a questionable move. He was ordering the weak to submit their Maze-level Essence Capsules while letting the strong keep theirs. But then again, thinking about how Seal Academy operated, this was par for the course.
Everyone knew that was bound to happen but for it to happen this early was something that no one expected. As everyone was apprehensive about how demanding Arin was, one specific girl took the initiative and gave it to Arin.
“Here.” She gave it up as if it didn’t mean anything at all. She was a nobody, with nothing important to her character. If she hadn’t acted out first then no one would’ve realized she was there.
Arin was also surprised at how easily threatened she was. The odd thing was that despite acting as such, he noticed how calculated her moves were. Seeing that she did as she was told, Arin had no reason to stop her from leaving.
This time, another person came up but this was a much more interesting character than the last. It was Sefi, bringing out her own resources of her own volition. She did so despite Arin clearly stating that she didn’t need to.
“I don’t want it.” Arin shoved her away. Sefi had presented it so freely yet he didn’t accept it. He was more interested in seeing much more terrifying opponents for him to struggle against. Using them as stepping stones to expedite his growth.
“Why not?” Sefi curiously asked.
“You’re not strong enough. As simple as that.” Arin said with such a deadpan tone that everyone felt that something was wrong here. Even if Arin was stronger than them, there was no reason for him to view them that lowly.
Hearing this, Sefi’s twisted mind conjured up something, interpreting it in her own way. Taking put all the pills in her bottle and gulped it all down. Initially, she showed no signs of change but once it started taking effect, it hit hard.
Sefi fell down on the ground, convulsing as the Maze-level Essence Capsule converted her body into a more pristine form.
Sefi turned her head in an unnatural way, making it seem as if she didn’t have a neckbone. This eerily movement made everyone turn away in shock, except for the few that were already quite used to her odd and erratic movements.
Professor Ferial suddenly interrupted, “As much as I would like for someone to disappear, Sefi’s pretty special. That won’t kill her.”
Hearing Professor Ferial’s words, Arin took out his own bottle and threw the contents down her throat. She writhed on the ground, spasaming uncontrollably. He did so for no other reason than to see just what would happen.
Everyone else started looking at Arin warily. This situation was getting out of control. Elliot considered the situation carefully and tried to think of a way out of it.
Elliot didn’t have the answers right now. He was still wary of Arin, so wary that he begged for Fiona to make a move yet she only made him stand by. Even Fiona judged that it was better if she personally made a move. Unfortunately, she couldn’t breach the academy’s rules without paying a price.
Now that there was a way to create someone that could possibly force him to grow even higher, Arin wouldn’t waste this opportunity.
“No way!” One of the students voiced their displeasure. “I’m not handing you anything!”
“That’s fine. I wasn’t expecting it to be this easy at all.” Arin moved so quickly that it seemed as if he had teleported. “Otherwise, I wouldn’t have my fun.” Arin’s face turned devilish, staring at every single student here as if they were his prey.
“My oh my, oh rowdy.” Professor Ferial looked at her watch, seeing that they were still a few hours early, and nodded. “That’s time, see you all tomorrow.” This was would be an interesting time to end it off.
As Professor Ferial chose to opt for an early dismissal, she left everyone to their devices, especially Sefi who was currently giving out a blood-curdling scream. As Sefi consumed all those pills, she kept and retained her body, changing nothing from her dried features and pale skin. The only thing that occurred was that there was power boiling within her, fermenting using the capsules as the energy source.
With no other foe that would be willing to battle Arin, Barlot took his stance. Even if he was weakened to an unbelievable degree, he should still be able to deal with Arin if he took it seriously.
“You’re still hurt aren’t you?” Barlot stood up, actively facing Arin as he went forward to directly confront him. “So, what do you say to a rematch?”
Arin stretched out his fist into a claw grabbing onto the guy that had just screamed, “Ready when you are.” He dragged his entire body and slammed down, shattering his face.