Pedro's woes

Pedro Leon was sulking in his room.

The past few weeks had been hard on him.

Screw that; this whole start of the second year had been hard on him!

Nothing seemed to be going his way.

First, his girlfriend dumped him for someone who was ranked 87th on the second year ranking list. Poor Pedro hadn't even been able to make that list in first year so he was at a heavy disadvantage.

Next, he got scammed of his CP.

It was an extremely embarrassing event he hoped he would never recall.

Any time that scene flashed in his mind, his face contorted in fury and regret.

His own friend too was the cause of the deception!

Morales, his friend, had convinced him to place a bet on a certain event which had taken place about a week ago.

The odds were certain and everything was solid.

If everything had gone according to plan, he would have made a killing!

Hastily, he had bet all his CP in hopes of making quadruple the amount he had at the time which was 1,500 CP.

To his shock, not only did it fail, he learnt that his friend was part of those who had staged the event and had scammed him of his hard earned CP!

Morales now avoided him like a plague and those he now walked with were quite strong so Pedro had no hopes of beating him up to get his CP back.

He had been such a fool!

Alas there was no medicine for regret.

If he had even used that huge sum to buy mana stones and focused on absorbing it, he would have reached the Advanced realm by now!

In a week, the ranking battles for both the second and third years would be open and challenges could be issued to claim spots on the list!

Pedro wasn't confident of his chances of making the top 100.

He would only regain his confidence to make the list if he reached the Advanced realm or was able to get himself a solid 3-star technique!

Reaching the Advanced realm was unfortunately impossible for him at the moment.

Not only was he broke, he had also used up all his mana stones!

His only hope was buying a powerful 3-star technique.

That would at least increase his chances.

And that was his current dilemma.

He needed CP.

Not just any CP, but rather a shitload of CP!

Excluding even the 3-star technique, he needed a new weapon as the old one he had bought when he was back in first year was already reaching the limits of its usefulness!

If he truly wanted to make the ranking list and hold a solid spot, he needed to make more preparations as he was ill prepared.

At the very least, he needed a 3-star technique, a new weapon, some mana stones and a red pill!

If all these were summed up, it would reach an astounding sum of 1,700 CP!

That 1,500 CP he had previously was what he had been painstakingly saving to meet this sum.

Unfortunately, greed had gotten the better of him and now he was in a serious dilemma. 

All his CP was gone!

And the only one he could blame was himself.

Pedro sighed wistfully, laying spread-eagled on his bed.

He had even lost appetite.

He needed to find an extremely quick solution to his dilemma.

Once he was able to get his hands on the technique and stones and weapon and pill, he was going to first teach Morales and his friends a lesson then he would deal with his ex-girlfriend.

If he reached the Advanced level and got enough CP again, like the gold digger she was, she would come running back to him.

All that was an impossibility at the moment.

Unless he was able to make at least 1,300 CP in two days!

Two days!

He would be able to make that amount if he went on a mission spree but by the time he returned, he would have the CP but he wouldn't be able to elevate his strength to make the ranking list.

But where was he going to get that much CP in such a short period of time??

He had to undertake most profitable business of all time…

Robbery!

Yes!

If he wanted that amount in two days, he had to go on a robbing and extortion spree!

No two ways about it.

The problem was whom was he going to rob?

The third years had the most amount of CP among all the students. Some were walking around with as much as 10,000 CP!

Unfortunately, they were way out of his league.

The moment he attempted to rob any third year, he won't even realize how he got beaten up!

They were ridiculously strong!

Very soon, they would even be taken to the Moon Base to experience the frontlines and real life fighting.

By the time they would return, they would be in a league of their own.

Robbing them was asking to be beaten up!

What about the second years, his own mates?

Another problem.

Everyone knew the Ranking battles were close so they guarded their CP jealously.

Pedro had been like that too until his friend's forked tongue and deception plus his own greed made him lose everything, bringing him to square one!

His own mates would never give anyone the chance to rob them. 

Not when the ranking battles were mere days away!

They walked in groups of threes and fives with close friends to deter any potential robber urgently seeking to rob them of their CP!

Sure, if he put his mind to it, he would be able to rob some of his mates. The thing is, he would end up injured.

No one was kind to a robber.

They would rather fight it out with him to the death than give him the CP he wanted.

This meant that even if he made the amount, they would call their friends to beat him up and take the CP back.

The vicious ones might even injure him to the point that he wouldn't be able to take part in the ranking battles!

Pedro was fast running out of options.

Should he borrow?

Some third years loaned CP to the juniors sometimes but the interest placed on the amount borrowed was enough to give people heart attacks.

Well, the pretty and beautiful ladies were those who often went for the loans in exchange for their bodies.

Yes!

Some of the girls in the school sold themselves for CP!

It wasn't surprising.

CP was the lifeline here. Anything was possible with CP!

Besides, awakened could control whether they got pregnant or not so there was little to no harm done in case they decided to give their bodies.

Pedro Leon wasn't exactly the best looking of people.

Hell, he wasn't even a pretty girl!

Standing at 6 foot 5, a normal build, black hair and an easily forgettable face, there was no chance in hell that he would receive a loan.

After all, they preferred pretty girls.

What was he going to do?

Whom was he going to rob?

The first years?

Come on, they had barely been in the Imperial Institute for a month. How the hell would they have enough CP to satisfy his needs?

Besides, most of them would have probably bought a technique or two, bringing their CP to the low tens.

This meant that if he went after them, he would have to rob close to sixty first years to make 1,700 CP.

That was if they had 30 credits remaining!

The problem was he had to isolate them or prevent himself from being caught.

The school turned a blind eye on scamming and robbing but if he was caught in the act, he was going to be royally screwed

  Besides, he was still in the Enlightenment realm. If the first years truly put their mind to it and ganged up on him, they would even be able to injure him!

All that trouble just for a few scraps of CP here and there wasn't really worth it.

But he needed the CP and they were the weakest around so they would be his targets. 

He had to make it quick.

If he wanted to make that amount in two days, it meant he had to rob about 25 first year students each day.

He wouldn't have time to choose his targets; he would have to do it blindly and hope whomever he robbed didn't have a formidable background but had at least 50 CP.

"I guess I have no choice," Pedro smiled wryly.

That was when his comm rang.

"Hm?"

Pedro furrowed his brows to check what it was.

A few seconds later, his eyes went wide in excitement.

"This is a god sent opportunity!" he exclaimed, sitting up abruptly.

He couldn't believe his eyes.

An anonymous person had leaked crucial info to a second year platform!

Some of the first years had received quite a lot of CP today!

One was even walking about with at least 500CP!

By now, they would be headed to the store to buy techniques and other stuff.

He couldn't let that happen!

All he had to do was lie in wait to intercept them before they went to the store to buy techniques!

He quickly checked the time on his watch.

It couldn't wait!

He had to go after them now!

Especially that kid walking about with at least 500 CP!

He knew he wasn't the only one who had seen the message. Countless others in similar situations as his would be rushing to intercept them before they could use up that precious CP!

Many would even be specifically after the kid with more than 500 CP! A certain kid called Damien. 

The poor guy had now become the main target of desperate second year students turned robbers!

Such was life.

Pedro had to reach Damien first though.

He had to beat the other second years to it.

It was a race against time!

Scrambling to his feet, Pedro Leon rushed out of his room with urgency.

He wasn't the only one.

Countless others like him stealthily left their rooms to intercept the first years walking about with such sums of CP!

They wouldn't be walking about with it for much longer!