Goldman’s Gym [1]

Looking at the blatant disbelief etched on her fiance's face, Stella softly chuckled.

"Everyone has the same reaction when they first see the Musclers for the first time."

Raising an eyebrow, Lucian turned to face her.

"Musclers? What kind of name is that?"

"They're an enthusiastic group of people who come here solely to get jacked. While they aren't weak, most are ordinary salarymen, so it's just for their taste. They often even have special 'muscle days' where they compete to see who has the best muscles."

"Oh, so that's why. If that's their hobby, they can do what they want."

With the introduction of abilities, one's physical fitness was often disproportionate to their actual body frame, so building excess muscle mass was often not as rewarding and hardly worth the effort.

Since cases of children with overpowered abilities being able to take down grown men twice their size wasn't too uncommon, society's views were also affected significantly.

While maintaining a certain level of physical fitness was required to properly exert one's full strength, building excess muscle mass wasn't the best option.

A bulky muscular frame would often only result in the person being unable to be as flexible or fast as before, possibly even serving as a crutch in life/death battles.

However, it wasn't like they were utterly useless.

If between two evenly matched people ability-wise, the physically stronger one would generally have more muscle mass, but they would suffer in the speed and flexibility departments.

Other than those who need a muscular build to efficiently use their ability, people only pursue a bulky frame consisting of pure muscle mass for aesthetic purposes.

Following Stella, Lucian threw the group of flexing, half-naked men one final look before entering through the automatic sliding doors.

As soon as he stepped through the entrance, Lucian was greeted by countless people in sportswear frantically dashing up a flight of stairs.

"Come on, we need to hurry! The match is about to start!"

"I can't believe Adrian challenged Ian to a duel!"

"Shit! The best spots are probably all occupied by now…."

"Don't give up. We can probably watch it from the above floor."

"That's right! Everyone, let's go to the top floor!"

Lucian threw Stella a sideways glance.

"Is there something going on? I assume these 'Adrian' and 'Ian' people must be fairly important."

Stella tilted her head with a conflicted look.

"Well… I wouldn't say they're good, but those two would probably be around average amongst the 2nd years in our school."

"What's all the hype for then?"

"Well, those two have been known to but heads with anything that breaths. They're the type to fly into a rage within a moment's notice. Frankly, their characters leave much to be desired," Stella sighed.

Lucian nodded in understanding.

"So basically, all the people frantically running over there are only going there to see which idiot ultimately gets beaten down in the end."

Stella nodded her head.

"That's one way to put it."

"So you aren't going?"

"Please, I have more important things to do. For one, I need to contact my family about what happened on the way here."

Lucian nodded in understanding.

"Telling them would be the better idea. But… Knowing them…"

Understanding the tone behind Lucian's voice, Stella hung her head down with a downcast look.

"Don't worry. I'll try to make him realize it wasn't your fault."

Lucian smiled faintly but shook his head.

"It's fine. No matter what you say, that old geezer won't change his mind. Old people are known to be stubborn for a reason. At least auntie and uncle will probably keep him from doing anything to me."

Wanting to change the subject, Lucian looked around the room, only to quickly notice the locker rooms.

"You go make your phone call while I go change. I'll meet you in a bit."

Stella opened her mouth to say something but held herself back.

"I understand. I'll see you in a bit then."

As Stella walked over to a secluded corner to make her phone call, Lucian took his bag full of gym clothes and entered the changerooms.

Fortunately, it seemed relatively empty since everyone had gone to see the spectacle in one of the arenas.

After verifying that he was alone, the light-yet-playful look in his eyes vanished as if it was a lie.

"Alecia, were you able to figure out the identities of the people who tried to attack us?"

"The cc-tv cameras were tampered with, and the faces of the people after you were blurred. Furthermore, by the time the police arrived at the car crash, there was nobody there."

"Whoever sent these people is thorough, but not nearly thorough enough. You still managed to get ahold of their IDs, right?"

"Yes. I was able to unblur the images and was able to get a list of the people who attacked you. Here are their names, faces and other useful information about them."

A holographic projection appeared from his smartwatch, displaying the faces of 10 people.

From what Lucian could tell, they were clearly mercenaries or criminals.

The multitude of scars etched onto their faces like artwork spoke volumes.

"Since some of them are missing an eye or have pretty grotesque scars, it can be assumed that they lack the funds for proper medical help. They shouldn't belong to any large organization. They're probably small-time crooks blinded by the potential wealth they could receive from kidnapping us."

Usually, despite his own life in danger, Lucian's judgments would be calm and level-headed. He knew the value of keeping cool under pressure and valued it greatly.

However, now there was an unmistakable tinge of anger in his voice.

If targeting him wasn't enough, they dared to lay their grubby hands on Stella?

"Unforgivable."

Lucian's eyes were frosty and devoid of light, and his words were like the verdict of a death god.

"Alecia, I want you to compile a new list of people that have connections to the people on this list. Then, I need to slowly pick off everyone who dared bare their teeth at Stella one by one."

"Understood. I will begin preparations immediately."

Lucian looked up at his reflection in a nearby mirror. His eyes were tinged blood red.

"Hah… It seems that I won't be getting much sleep tonight either."