Did you get hurt?

But, Axle didn't come as a mere 'low-end' pushover today. With his luxury blazer, confident steps, and a smile that he considered charming, Axle stepped into the villa.

Although things didn't go according to his expectations. Axle had initially expected a couple of pushovers to storm towards him, compliment him, and give him lots of attention causing a small commotion and attracting Rex's attention. Considering Rex's personality, Rex would have definitely called Axle towards himself.

Even if Axle would have been made to pour wine and behave like a docile dog, he still could have successfully entered into close proximity of his target… Rex. This was the first step to his plans.

But little did he know, his plan flopped worse than the latest Bollywood films. 

No classmate, schoolmate, pushover, hell even the robots didn't notice him. Except for the guarding robot that recorded Axle's information and confirmed him being a green citizen, no one paid any heed to the poor Axle who had borrowed a 500 Styr suit just for a party.

But thinking about it, it wasn't really strange. Many students and youngsters were coming in and out as we spoke. Not paying any heed to a fat, average, short dude was quite common. As once said, without the talent of a good swordsman, the sword can only serve as decoration.

And our dear Axle wasn't even worthy of being a servant that polishes the sword, forget wielding it.

'Fuck-' Axle cursed and looked around, spotting a few of his pushover classmates who were standing in the corner of the hall, stuffing their mouths with good food and fine wine. After all, that's all they came here for.

'This wouldn't work. I need to attract Rex's attention. I need his fingerprints and retinal scan for stage one of my plan to complete.' Axle hummed with a thought while taking a glass of wine from an AI robot.

Of course, using any scanning tools such as details capture glasses, perfect trace lenses, and such was prohibited unless permission was granted. So how could Axle get the fingerprints and retinal scans so easily?

In the next stage of his plan, Axle would be actually using his superpowers. He would ask his system to match the fingerprints and exact retina of Rex. And yes, he had already tested this method once by asking the system to copy the fingerprints of his barber.

It had cost him 5 MP to request the scan, and then 1 MP to implement the changes. So, Axle currently had only 24 MP left in his stocks.

'System said the scanning cost increases with the distance and approachability.' Axle sipped the wine, 'Even when the barber was so close to me, it took me 5 points to copy it.' 

Axle then sighed while enjoying the wine, 'I just hope my 24 MP will be enough for the task. If I had known earlier, I would have saved more! But oh well, no point crying over spilled tea. How can I get to Rex fast…?'

He had a few ideas, but half of them were just plain idiotic thoughts.

Such as, Axle thought about chugging down his wine and then throwing up. That would make him a laughing stock, appear boorish, throw his reputation down the drain, and mainly, Rex might not even call him over after his pathetic display. So naturally, this idea was a hard pass.

Another was to simply carry himself with confidence, walk to Rex, and slap his hand on Rex's shoulders, behaving like a close friend. But as expected, this would also end with some rough smacks, kicks, and getting thrown out. Not to mention, Axle might be stopped by the guarding AI if he tried to enter the inner area without permission.

After two incredibly stupid ideas, Axle's third idea was quite practical. He would walk as close to Rex as he could, shove someone in the way, and then also 'by chance' end up falling. This would cause a little mockery, but nothing unbearable.

Although a little humiliating and unsatisfactory, this was the easiest method. 

He couldn't just shout 'REX!' after all, because that would be dumb. At a luxury high-end party, people pay a lot of attention to 'manners'. And shouting like a barbarian definitely counted as a no-manner move.

In the end, Axle decided to follow the 3rd plan with a little change. He would purposefully bump into a little push-over and then assert some dominance to look 'cool'. To the teenagers of his age, appearing strong and cool was the most important thing. 

Bullying the weak to appear 'cool' is wrong? Yes, it is. But did Axle give a fuck? No, not really. 

He himself has been bullied and shoved around before. Although that doesn't justify him bullying others, Axle doesn't care. He just wants to complete his task today, and he doesn't mind doing some shameful things to accomplish it.

***

In the wide hall of Rex's villa, people bustled and chatted with each other. Each of them held a glass of wine, sipping it slowly and interacting with each other. Calling this a banquet would be more appropriate than calling a party.

But due to it being filled with only hot-blooded youngsters and robots, Rex decided to call it a party instead. There was a dance floor arranged too for later.

In the high-class party, a short young fat man walked with a few wobbly steps. He was currently in the middle section of the hall that was mostly occupied by the richer schoolmates. It was the biggest and most populated area since the inner area was a plush sofa, occupied by Rex and his close friends.

The outer area was mostly some pushovers who thought they were worthy of being there. But proven wrong, they were shoved into the corner to rot alone. Under normal conditions, Axle would have also been shoved into the outer area, but not today.

He was dressed in a classy and designer suit, and with his steps being more confident than usual, Axle barely managed to keep himself in the middle area.

But, the current Axle was showing some signs of obvious intoxication. He resembled a drunk young man, drowned in pain and sadness walking alone under the bright moonlit sky.

His steps were wobbly and unsteady while his gaze was unfocused. Anyone who looked at Axle, merely ignored him since he wasn't the only one who came to party to drink his sorrows away. No one can say no to free food and wine.

But suddenly, Axle's steps faltered for a second and he roughly pushed a slim, dainty man out of his way. 

The girls who were sitting with the dainty man were surprised, while the man who was thrown off his seat was angry. Everything happened too quickly, and before the man knew it, he was roughly thrown off his seat and pushed down.

'Heh, we meet again, Larry.' Axle who was pretending to be drunk scoffed, kicked the chair away and looked at the man speaking in a sarcastically apologetic tone, "Did you get hurt, Larry?"