Samuel Owens

The hologram in front of me displayed the ongoing match between the students. Right now they were engaged in a quick brawl to apprehend the person who had the key in his possession.

One of them lost his footing and crashed into a broken building and his teammate rushed towards the student possessing the key. Soon both of them clashed.

Sparks flew as their weapons clashed, and both of them didn’t give an inch to another.

But after that short exchange, they were able to apprehend him and steal the key. Afterwards they made their way towards their enemies’ fort.

I turned my gaze from the hologram and looked at Mikhail, who was sucking the tip of his thumb like a child.

I rolled my eyes then wryly spoke, “would you stop doing that?”

Mikhail turned his gaze from the hologram and glared at me with squinted eyes, as he kept sucking on his thumb.

“Can’t you be thankful for once, huh Samuel?” He muttered.

With a quick sigh, I leaned back in my seat and with a sarcastic remark, responded, “yeah, yeah, you did a good job.” I cocked my head in his direction and continued. “Is this much praise enough?”

His brows rose in anger as he pointed his thumb—which he was sucking—towards me. The skin on his thumb was ripped and there was a two centimetre bite mark over his thumb.

He snorted. “If it hadn’t been for me, then that mutant would have killed that boy yesterday.” He turned his head to his right and spoke, “good thing I summoned Edward in time.”

I held back a sigh and looked at Mikhail who was acting so childishly.

Well, despite knowing each other for a long time, Mikhail’s childlike impulse was still there. But it wasn’t something I hated. I was kind of glad to have someone such as Mikhail who could keep the mood straight without making it awkward.

“But it’s been a while since I had seen Edward.” Laurena asked.

Mikhail puffed his chest and leaned in his seat. “Well Edward is the strongest summon in my arsenal.”

I almost broke a laugh as I saw Mikhail acting like a proud Father, who just heard something nice about his child.

“But If I remember correctly, doesn’t Edward have a pretty nasty attitude?” I asked.

The smile vanished from Mikhail’s face and I could see a frown flash over his face. “Well, you know, everyone needs time to figure out their feelings.”

With a smirk over my face, I spoke, “Edward was just a small hatchling when you started taking care of him, but now, he has developed quite a personality, huh?”

With a complicated look over his face, Mikhail replied, “he may have changed a bit, but I know, deep down he’s still the same little Edward with that caring and warm heart.”

I scoffed. “A bit, I see...”

Mikhail shot up from his seat, but before he could say something, Laurena intervened and spoke.

“Now, now, don’t start fighting you two...” she turned her gaze from me and looked at Mikhail. “We all know Edward is a good boy.”

I could see her lips tucking upwards as she spoke.

“Okay I get. Edward has been a little rebellious, so what? Every child needs time away from their parents.” He said with an irritated and lonely tone. As if he was reassuring himself.

Awaaaa—!

Soon I heard the boisterous noise of the crowd. I turned my gaze away from Mikhail and towards the hologram and saw the match was over.

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The wide glass window behind the hologram displayed the wide spread area where the fort holding was held. In the distance I could see the tall broken buildings.

Soon I turned my gaze away from the window, towards the hologram.

Knock—!

With a quick knock on the door, soon an individual entered the lounge and greeted all of us.

“Good morning,” Adam respectfully said.

I turned my head to the side and saw Adam, standing a few feet away from me. He was wearing a well-tailored suit with the cuffs of his shirt rolled up. His features were as sharp as I had remembered, and his brunette hair were tied into a ponytail.

All of us greeted him back, and soon with the greeting, Adam handed me a tablet which he held in his left hand.

I took it from him, and tapped over the tablet. A well written report was displayed over the screen of the tablet. In which the events of yesterday and the sudden mutation of the Saber Tiger was described.

“You don’t have to blame yourself for yesterday’s incident, things like that can happen when you least expect them too,” I said as I tapped over the tablet once and placed it on the empty seat beside me.

“But it was due to my negligence that this incident happened, Sir,” Adam said. “...and if I had been more careful, this incident wouldn’t have happened.”

“Well either way, nothing terrible happened, and that boy, Seo Jiwoo was saved, thanks to Mikhail.”

“Yes...” Adam replied.

“Adam dear, how have you been?” Laurena asked from the side.

Adam turned towards her and replied, “I have been well, Madam Laurena.”

But Laurena didn’t respond to Adam, and just kept looking at him. As if she was waiting for something.

He awkwardly looked at Laurena for a few seconds, before opening his mouth and muttering in a low voice.

“—ma laurena—!

Laurena eyed Adam mischievously as he spoke with more vigour.

“Grandma Laurena.”

With a satisfied smile over her face, Laurena responded. “Good!”

My lips curled upwards as I saw Laurena teasing Adam.

Laurena and I had known Adam since he was a toddler, as we both have an old relation with the Griffin family. So going in and out of their house, she became familiar with Adam, and we both had frequently spent some time with him.

Adam was more like a grandson to the both of us. I had taught him from time to time in the past, and since young he was a genius, one even whom I was surprised to see.

His sensitivity towards mana, and control over it was nonetheless surprising and leagues above the others, since a young age.

“Either way, we won’t take more of your time, you must be busy,” I said as I handed him the tablet back and smiled softly at him.

With a single nod he turned to the side and soon left the lounge.

I once again turned my gaze towards the hologram and saw another match about to begin.

***

The green tea I was drinking was pleasantly well made. The temperature, sweetness and aroma was perfectly maintained.

Right now I was looking through the shop section of the system. And I have to be honest, there was some pretty good stuff in here.

I looked at the interface without looking suspicious. I mean if I started moving my finger in the air, I would look like a lunatic. So I did without catching anyone’s attention.

But on the downside, I don’t have enough points to buy the items which I wanted to.

My eyes darted back on the window which displayed my stats, beside the shop window. I only had a little bit over five hundred points.

‘It’s all because of that Acausality skill. If I hadn’t bought it then I would have stockpiled a good amount of points.' I held back a sigh as I inwardly spoke. 'But I can’t just fret over the past. That skill does have a huge backlash and makes me feel unimaginable pain...,’ I thought. ‘...but without that skill I wouldn’t have been able to defeat that demon.’

I leaned back in my seat and closed both of the system windows.

At this point I was just killing time as I waited for my match being announced.

Yeah, the fort holding was a team collaborative event. So you wouldn’t know who your teammates are until you receive the email before the start of the match.

This event was made by the Lock to allow students to adapt to an environment where they have to work with complete strangers.

For cooperation with strangers, creating strategies, judging each others strengths and weaknesses and giving each person a role to act as. This is the real reason of the fort holding.

To see how much a team of strangers can cooperate, whilst seizing their opponents’ fort.

I placed the cup down on the table and looked at Jiyoung who was sitting on the seat opposite to me. She sat crossed legged and kept her gaze on the hologram which displayed the match which was almost over.

But after a minute or two, my watch vibrated and I tapped over it.

I received an email which displayed the information about the match and my team.

I looked through the information and saw the people I had been paired with.

I got up from my seat and so did Jiyoung.

“I guess we are destined to be together, huh Jiyoung?” I sarcastically said.

But she didn’t say anything and stepped out of the waiting room. I followed her from behind and soon caught up with her.

Me and Jiyoung walked through the wide corridors, and soon reached the exit from where we could enter the fort area.

My eyes landed on the three individuals who stood at the end of the corridor.

‘Okay, so these guys are my teammates,’ I inwardly said as I reached the end of the corridor along Jiyoung.

‘Han Shu-hui, Felix Blúte, and Derek Maer.'

Seriously, I was glad to see that these guys were my teammates. Jiyoung was someone I already knew, and I was also familiar with Han, and his personality. But I didn’t know shit about Felix nor Derek.

Well, I had met Felix, but it was kind of awkward. And Derek was someone I hadn't even heard of. But the name sounded familiar to me.

Then all of us stepped forward and made our way out of corridor.