10 Evangeline.

After I cleared the dungeon and got myself the Meteor Ring, I returned straight back to the school.

Its now Sunday. The school is still on holiday. I don't really know how I should spend holidays in this world other than just relentless training. Well, today, I had plans on how I could spend my holiday.

Oh and also, my Concentration skill leveled up once, so its now level 2. The perks were just that it was stronger than before. It can help me withstand stronger pressures and solve more difficult problems.

After training for 3 hours, I got tired and bored of it, so I left my dorm room. I wore the same old black shirt and black trousers to go outside. I didn't really have any other pieces of clothing.

Todays plans were 'Investment'. Of course, its not stocks or anything like that, but investment in some businesses. I planned to invest some of the vast amount of money I've saved up from the novels, manga and anime, to make myself even richer. You can never have enough money in this world. Another thing was connections. If I make a good connection with the future powerhouses, I'll become even stronger.

Today's target is a Magical Mechanic. His name is Jhon Martin. He is currently a timid 24 year old guy, with no backing and no money. In the future, however, he, along with some other bright minds, will provide the human territories with something called the 'Dungeon Sealer'. It was a machine that could seal the power of a dungeon core and make an artificial dungeon, which was clean, pure and a very safe place to live inside of. Yeah, that's right. You could live inside the artificial dungeon.

If I make a good impression with him and help him in his time of need, it only makes sense that he will give me a discount on the Dungeon Sealer for when I decide to buy one of my own.

I know which other 'bright minds' helped Jhon to make the Dungeon Sealer. There were 4 of them. Michelle Burtons, a quantum scientist and she is also Jhon's future girlfriend; Louis Adams, an exceptional Wizard who solved the mysteries of the dungeon core himself; Anatoli Petrov, a particle physicist; and Advik Patel, a grandmaster alchemist.

I plan to reach out to only Jhon for the time being, since if I contact all of them and sponsor them, and they conveniently create the Dungeon sealer and then I conveniently appear to buy it from them at a discounted price... It all sounds too good to be true. In other words, it would be super suspicious.

...

As I left the school building, I started to get this weird feeling, like I was being followed and watched. I didn't pay attention to it at first, however I soon realized that my feeling about that was true.

I activated Concentration and slipped into a dark alleyway. I lowered my weight 2 fold with gravity magic spell 'Dark Lift' and jumped up in the air to land on a small sunshade.

Sure enough, I saw someone hurriedly run into the alleyway, looking all confused and dazed.

'A woman? who is she?', I thought as my attention went to her chest area.

From what it looked like, she couldn't determine where I was, so most likely, her power was probably equal to my own, if not weaker.

After carefully assessing the situation, I casted 'Dark Press' on the woman. A dark purple magic circle appeared beneath the woman and-

*UGH!*

She immediately fell to the ground, and was struggling to get up. It was futile though, she was now at least 5 times her normal weight.

She looked around frantically and decided not to shout or call for help. Which was a good call, or otherwise, I would have had to knock her out.

I jumped down from the sunshade and landed in front of her. I kneeled down and took off the hood she was wearing.

What revealed could have been one of the most shocking things I have ever seen, but thanks to concentration being active, I was able to keep my composure.

It was Evangeline. She still looked like a Vampire, especially now in the dark, it seemed like her crimson red eyes were glowing.

"What the fuck are you doing?", I asked while maintaining a deep and cold voice.

"Ugh... Release me first... then I'll tell you...", she managed to fumble out.

"Sure. But if you try anything funny, I'll end you.", I was only kidding of course. There was no way I would kill Evangeline, one of the main cast, so early. Yeah, the time to kill her off was of course there, but just not today...

I released the spell, and she coughed while struggling to get up.

I extended my hand to her, but she slapped it away. Typical Villainess...

After standing up, she looked up at me, and with a fierce look on her face, asked me, "What was that? what did you do?!"

"I ask the questions.", I interrupted her, which made her frown even more intense, but she quickly breathed out a sigh and looked away from my direction.

"I already know who you are, so I don't need to ask your identity. So let me ask you this- Why were you following me?", I asked.

"... I... I thought I could learn some things from you... if I followed you...", she asked while turning her head away from me so much that I couldn't see her face.

"what...?"

A few moments of silence later-

"Pfft... hehehe.... HHAHAHAAHAHA!", I burst out laughing, as I finally deactivated Concentration. My head hurt like hell, but I had to pretend to be unfazed.

"WH-WHY ARE YOU LAUGHING?!", she yelled.

"Hahahaha... Its just so funny to me... A big-shot like you, following a nobody like me, to 'Learn Something'... HAHAHAHAHAHA, THAT'S HILARIOUS!!!", I continued laughing. It truly was hilarious though, and I don't even know why...

"WH-What's so funny about trying to learn from a person who is better than you?! It doesn't matter what you are! You beat me in the written exams, and I want to know how!", she looked like she was more embarrassed than she was angry.

"Hahaha... Phew! I haven't laughed that hard in a while! thanks, Evangeline!"

"Sh-Shut up!"

"No can do, miss. I have somewhere to be. Could you now kindly go away?"

"No! I already followed you until here! I might as well see where you are going to!!"

'what the fuck? why is she so obsessed with following me? did someone ask her to do this?'

My tone suddenly changed to a serious one, "So... basically, you want to know when I am going, right?"

"...yeah..."

"*Sigh...", I knew she wasn't gonna give up at any cost. The only choices I had left were to either go back to the school, or take her with me.

I hate wasting time, and I know for a fact that Evangeline can keep secrets very well, since she will keep the most horrendous things she will do in the future a secret from everyone.

"Fine, come with me, if you wish."

"Hmph! You should be grateful this great lady is showing so much interest in a nobody like you!"

"If you don't like nobodies like me, then you are welcome to leave."

"N-no! I didn't mean it like that..."

"Then shut up and follow me."

After the little exchange, we both started walking towards the Skyrail Station.

The current Evangeline is desperate for strength. She is still stuck in the illusion that if she gets strong enough, her family will recognize her. That was probably the reason why she followed me like that. Normally, no one would follow some stranger they only knew the name of and saw once before.

Evangeline is using every card she has in her arsenal. She is vulnerable right now. As I was thinking, a sudden realization came to my mind, 'what if its possible to change her fate? its already altered a lot...'

That's right. Evangeline was originally supposed to become an enemy of Sophia and Julain, as she had no other way of overtaking them, other than getting in their way. She thought that if she couldn't stand up that high, she would make others stand lower than her. A truly villainous mindset, right?

But now, she is following me, Samuel Francis, a completely new character. Maybe its curiosity? of how a total nobody like me got the first place? I don't know for sure. But what I do know, is that her future may have changed drastically, thanks to my interference. Well, not that I care much about it, though.