"Class, we have a celebrity among us," the sensei announced upon spotting Silas. "I heard what you did to my son, Griswold," he added, his face flushing with visible anger.
All heads immediately turned to face Silas at the sensei's words, and all of them glared at him with unhidden disdain.
The sensei, a towering man with bulky muscles and short blonde hair, walked with purposeful strides toward Silas and came to a stop directly in front of him.
"I heard about what happened in the cafeteria, Silas. What you did to my son and his friends—I heard every detail." Sensei Josh's voice was filled with suppressed fury.
Silas remained standing in silence, maintaining a calm and unflinching expression on his face.
"What exactly did you hope to achieve by consuming illegal Energy Pills? Tell me, are you so tired of being worthless trash that you thought the pills could magically make you important?" Sensei Josh sneered, his face bright red with barely contained rage.
Since taking Energy Pills makes a person dangerously aggressive, the government had placed an outright ban on them, making them an illegal substance. Anyone caught using them would face a hefty fine of a million Tokens or be thrown into the notorious Jingling Bars.
Silas could have easily been sent to the Jingling Bars since everyone suspected him of using the energy pills, but with no solid evidence, there was nothing they could do to him.
"You're fortunate that I've been instructed not to lay a hand on you, Silas. And you're doubly fortunate we couldn't find any evidence that you took an energy pill this morning," Sensei Josh continued, his eyes narrowing with suspicion.
Silas, who had remained silent throughout the entire ordeal, decided to respond, "What makes you so certain I consumed an energy pill, sensei?" His tone was calm, yet carried a weight of seriousness.
Sensei Josh nearly burst out laughing at Silas's question. "There's no possible way that a piece of trash like you could take on three Grade 3 mutant ability users without some sort of illegal steroid. Everyone knows what an energy pill does to someone as useless as you, so it's obvious you took one."
"Or maybe your son and his minions were just too weak and lost to a piece of trash like me?" Silas remarked, a mischievous smirk forming on his lips, which only caused Sensei Josh's blood to boil in anger.
What the sensei wanted more than anything at that moment was to grab Silas and beat him into a pulp, but he had received strict orders from Kara just moments ago not to lay a hand on Silas.
Sensei Josh was left baffled by Kara's command. He couldn't fathom why she suddenly seemed to care about Silas, but he had no choice but to obey without question. After all, disobeying her would result in disastrous consequences.
Glaring at Silas for a few moments, he finally turned and walked back toward the raised platform in the center of the dojo.
He climbed onto the platform, casting a glance at the faces of the students gathered before speaking. "We're done with warm-ups, so it's time for the sparring matches."
"Choose your opponent and begin a one-on-one sparring match!" Sensei Josh ordered, his voice booming across the room.
The students began to select their opponents. Most of those with higher-grade abilities picked someone of a similar power level, while those with lower grades paired off with others at their level.
Silas stood there, watching the other students choose their opponents. Not a single one approached him.
They were all too afraid that Silas might still be high on the energy pill, and if they sparred with him, the match might end badly for them.
Silas glanced around the dojo until he noticed a stunning female student walking toward him. At first, he paid her little attention, assuming she wasn't heading his way, but as she drew closer, his heart skipped a beat.
She had long blue hair that cascaded down to her waist, piercing blue eyes, and a delicate, doll-like face. Her beauty was captivating, leaving Silas and several others momentarily mesmerized.
She came from a powerful family, well-known for their Ice mutant abilities, with both her parents being high-ranking Grade 5 users. But when she awakened, to everyone's shock, she manifested a lightning mutant ability instead of ice.
Her family, seeing her as a disgrace, had disowned her. Since then, she had lost all the popularity and honor she once held in the academy.
Even though she no longer had the prestigious status of her family, she was still as stunning as ever, and Silas couldn't help but stare at her.
Finally, the girl stopped directly in front of him, her expression blank as she spoke in a soft voice, "Would you like to spar with me?"
Silas was taken aback by her offer. "Err? Spar with you?" he blurted out in surprise.
"I know I'm a Grade Four and you don't have an active skill slot, but since no one else is available, we have no other choice but to spar together," Angelica said softly, her eyes unwavering.
Silas glanced around and realized she was right. All the other students had already chosen their opponents, and the only ones left were him and Angelica.
"Are you sure you want to fight me, even after all the rumors?" Silas asked, scratching his spiky hair.
"What rumors?" Angelica responded, her expression unchanged.
"Rumors about me using energy pills and all that," Silas clarified.
"Are the rumors true?" Angelica asked, her expression still neutral.
"What? No, of course not!" Silas shook his head vigorously, denying the claim.
"Then there's nothing to worry about," Angelica replied matter-of-factly.
Silas nodded in agreement, and the two of them walked closer to the raised platform.
On the platform, two students were already facing off. One wielded a Grade 3 katana, while the other, a scrawny boy, held two short mutant daggers.
As Silas watched the fight from the side, a notification screen suddenly appeared in front of him:
[Consume a soul to restore soul points.]
[5 soul points will be deducted every hour until a soul is consumed.]
[Soul points: 20/100]
"""
A/n: Your Golden Tickets and power stones will be appreciated.
Thanks for reading my book!