"I can"t accept this!"As expected, the moment he learned about his quota being taken away, Lin Zhan Long refused to take it lying down. He immediately approached Feng Hai to lodge a protest, complaining that the instructor had no right to take away his slot for the training camp.
"You had no right! I never made any such deal!"
"Deal? What deal?" Feng Hai glared at Lin Zhan Long in an intimidating manner that caused the big guy to shut up. "I made the decision based on your performance. First guy to get taken out, failed to contribute anything meaningful to the match, not performing your role as the captain of the team during the battle…" he was raising his fingers one by one, counting the problems with Lin Zhan Long"s display. "Anything else?"
"…"
Lin Zhan Long lowered his head. "But…"
As the vice-president of Holy Saints Society, Lin Zhan Long was normally guaranteed a slot for the training camp. If I wasn"t mistaken, Holy Saints had about twenty slots, but now it was down to nineteen. Feng Hai had specified that it was Lin Zhan Long"s slot that was given to Ultimate Outcast, not anyone else, unless they personally informed him that they thought Lin Zhan Long was more suitable and worthier than them.
None of them were willing to do so, and Harrison Reed quickly stepped in to ensure that his errant vice-president didn"t bully or intimidate the other members into giving him their slot. As such, Lin Zhan Long was left with this final resort.
"I…I didn"t mind surrendering my slot." Lin Zhan Long finally ended up lying. He resented it, and wanted his slot back at any cost. "But…I can"t accept that it was given to Ultimate Outcast of all societies! They are just a bunch of tras.h.!.+"
"If Ultimate Outcast is trash, then what does that make you, who lost so pathetically to them?" Feng Hai retorted. Then he smiled. "But if you"re still unconvinced that they deserve it more than you, then I can arrange another match. Perhaps you would like to challenge Richard Huang again?"
Lin Zhan Long immediately turned pale when he heard that. He still had traumatic memories of what happened when I blew him up with my Alnasl. He might be an arrogant b.a.s.t.a.r.d, but he wasn"t stupid. He was unlikely to go down the route where he would end up getting humiliated again. Of course, it wasn"t a hundred percent chance of defeat, but he was now too keenly aware of the gaps between our strengths to recognize that his chances of winning were under ten percent.
He didn"t want to get blown up by my arrows again. As a side note, Harrison Reed showed him the video of my battle against Hades alongside Alicia and Cecilia, and how I ended up nuking the graveyard with Rigel.
Lin Zhan Long didn"t want to be on the receiving end of that attack.
"If you focused more on training than wasting your time scheming and politicking, perhaps you would be on par with Richard. But you didn"t." Feng Hai shrugged unsympathetically. "So now even I can"t help you."
"…"
Lin Zhan Long lowered his head, but Feng Hai continued.
"The national tournament means a lot to our academy, and I really want to raise our ranking to the highest possible. To that end, I don"t care if I ruffle your feathers or alienate the old guard. I don"t intend to play favorites and make deals with rich, spoilt children who think their connections are worth more than s.h.i.+t. I only care about results. If you prove yourself and show the potential and ability, then I"ll train you. If you would rather hide behind a wall of politics and scheme around instead of focusing on becoming stronger, then don"t waste my f.u.c.king time."
Feng Hai dropped his voice to a conspiratorial whisper and placed a hand on Lin Zhan Long"s shoulder, causing the latter to shudder.
"But the deal is still on. If you succeed in defeating Richard, depending on your performance, I can return your slot to you. I"ll grant you special permission to join the training camp."
By now, Lin Zhan Long couldn"t care less about the training camp. He realized just how outmatched he was compared to all the other monsters and high-ranking students who would be partic.i.p.ating. Instead, he shook his head and tried one last time.
"It"s not me, sir. As I said, I don"t care if I lose my quota."
"Yeah, you said that already," Feng Hai nodded uncaringly. "And I"ll be honest. I don"t care what you think either."
"No, I mean….are you sure Richard and Ultimate Outcast deserve the slot? Their victory is just a fluke. They won against someone like me, sir." Lin Zhan Long smirked as he pounded his chest. "As you said, I"m just a n.o.body…a weakling who spent too much time politicking instead of training. If that"s the case, then how impressive can their victory be, if it was achieved against the likes of me?"
The guy was really a shrewd politician. I didn"t know how he ended up in Jing Tian Magic Academy. He should have gone and studied political science or something more appropriate than combat and military magic.
"If you really want to ensure that they are worthy of the slots for your training camp, sir…you should give them a sterner challenge. A proper one, to make sure they really deserve it more than all the other talented students in school."
Lin Zhan Long no longer cared about his quota. Now he just wanted to get back at us in Ultimate Outcast. Mutual destruction, in other words. If he couldn"t get into the training camp, he wanted to ensure that we couldn"t either.
Feng Hai smiled, recognizing Lin Zhan Long"s intent, but he didn"t object because he agreed partially with his logic.
"You"re right. I should give Ultimate Outcast another test…to ensure they really have the potential." He thought for a while, and then nodded. "If they put on an impressive display even against an opponent of a high caliber, then yeah, they will definitely be worthy of training. Even you will have to be convinced."
"Uh…that is, if they do perform well…" Lin Zhan Long stammered, caught off guard. Inwardly, he was delighted. He didn"t think it would be this easy to persuade Feng Hai into carrying out his scheme!
"So…who do you think would be a good enough opponent to test Ultimate Outcast"s worth?" Feng Hai asked casually.
Lin Zhan Long"s grin grew wider when he thought about the other major rival to his great society. He had already thought of them and was ready to suggest them as a rival, but he couldn"t believe his luck. Feng Hai actually asked him for his opinion.
"Black Roses," he said.
Feng Hai grinned as well.
"Great idea," he agreed.
*
"And there you have it."
Feng Hai was grinning at me. I tilted my head to the side, not at all offended or p.i.s.sed off. It was a valid reason, after all, and I welcomed the opportunity to test myself in combat. I viewed this as a practice match more than anything.
And if I ended up falling here and losing my quota, then…that was that. It simply meant I could only reach up to this level. Furthermore, from what Feng Hai said, it wasn"t necessary to win. However, I wasn"t gullible enough to think that anything other than a winning performance was enough to convince him.
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Not only that. If I went in with the mentality that it was okay to lose, then what did it mean for the future, when I was called upon to represent Jing Tian Magic Academy? If my goal was to improve my school"s ranking – which would contribute to my goal of getting into a prestigious university, then I should aim for nothing less than a win.
So I nodded.
"I understand. So we"re having another team battle…this time against Black Roses?"
"Oh. You already had the team battle. This time it would be an individual battle." Feng Hai paused to think. "After all, even with the emphasis on team battles this year, there still a very large individual battle component. I would like to a.s.sess both Ultimate Outcast and Black Roses on this area." He grinned. "And I"ll eventually evaluate Holy Saints and the rest as well…after all, I don"t play favorites. It"s only fair to do so."
"…I understand." I nodded again. "I"ll get ready for it then."
Turning to my society, I shrugged. Dong Fang Yue Chu and the three first year students were looking a little concerned.
"Are we really doing this?"
"Sure. Why not?" seeing their worry, I took a deep breath. "I"ll take responsibility. I need the practice anyway. I"ll represent the society. And if I end up losing the quota, then I"ll be the one who misses out the training camp."
The rest of the members nodded slowly, accepting my proposal. After all, the whole reason why we were able to secure an extra slot from Holy Saints was largely due to me in the first place. Of course, I was aware that it was a team effort, but n.o.body complained about me making the decision on my own.
"You"ll win, Vice-President!" Harvey declared, his eyes s.h.i.+ning. Ugh, his indomitable faith in me was really weighing down heavily on my shoulders. I dreaded the day when I finally disappointed him. I was only human, after all.
"Good. I"ve already informed Black Roses, and they"ll contact you to make the necessary arrangements." Feng Hai turned away with a grin.
As it turned out, we didn"t have to wait long. The very next day, Alicia approached me.
"Richard!" she called out, waving at me. Looking up, I crossed over to meet up with her in the middle. If you were expecting jealous male students to glare murderously at me, then be disappointed. Such stupid clichés didn"t happen in reality. Normal people knew they had no right to decide who Alicia gets to socialize with.
And if they weren"t happy about it, they could always challenge me, but fewer people were bold enough to do it these days, especially when my ranking shot through the roof. Now I was among the 200s after beating Holy Saints and taking so many missions. I would welcome the challenge, actually.
Which was why I was looking forward to this match against someone from Black Roses.
"Brother Hai probably already told you about the match, right?" Alicia asked when we reached each other. I nodded and fell into step beside her as we headed toward cla.s.s. "Have you decided who will fight?"
"Me," I replied succinctly. Alicia giggled.
"I kind of expected that."
"What about Black Roses?" I asked. "Who"s going to fight?" a thrill ran through me. "Troy?"
"No, Troy hasn"t returned yet." Alicia shook her head. "He"s still out there somewhere, searching for his brother." She smiled. "I"ll be challenging you in his stead."
"Oh?" that was a surprise. Alicia was hardly the type to fight in individual matches, but she did prove her strength in many missions and the few matches she partic.i.p.ated in. There was a reason why she was known as the G.o.ddess of our school. She was one of our top mages…not as powerful as the top ten, but she combined her superlative combat skills with excellent leaders.h.i.+p. The very same leaders.h.i.+p capabilities that allowed her to stand at the top of Black Roses as its president. This would be a fun match. "Great. I look forward to it."
Alicia laughed slyly. "I know you will. But be careful. I"ll do my best to win!" She then turned a little serious. "…and this is a great opportunity for me."
"Opportunity? For what?"
"You"ll see." Alicia giggled again, concealing half of her pretty face. She then took a deep breath and squared her shoulders. "How about we make a little bet between ourselves?"
"A…little bet? What do you have in mind?" I pushed my gla.s.ses up to study her. Alicia squirmed a little, but maintained her smile.
"If I win, do you mind if I request a favor from you?"
"Sure," I consented. Knowing Alicia, she would never make an unreasonable request.
Alicia watched me for a few seconds, and then she pouted slightly, clasping her hands behind her waist. "What about you? Aren"t you going to ask a favor from me if you win?"
"I have to win first," I pointed out pragmatically. Alicia laughed at that.
"Always the practical one, Richard. Sure! But I don"t intend to lose!"
"I plan to do my best to win too," I promised. Inwardly, I wanted to impress a beautiful G.o.ddess like Alicia, and one of the best ways to do so was to show off my strength.
This was going to be an exciting match.