Chapter 16 - A new opportunity

My school life had started with a bang. Everywhere I went, I could hear people murmuring around me. The first few days, people avoided me like the plague, but once they realised I mostly minded my own business, they started to greet me when I passed through the hallways. Sometimes, I even got invited to play a game similar to volleyball, but I was ultimately excluded due to my tendency to hit the ball with too much strength and make it explode.

Nevertheless, not every day was peaceful. There were many episodes where archuman schoolmates came to me looking for trouble. Rumours of the "new king" had flown far and wide. Each time I heard people talking about this, I noticed the presence of the young girl who had asked me to become the new king. Once she had seen me, she smiled mischievously and ran off in the distance.

I knew she was purposefully spreading the rumour in order to send my way the most pigheaded archs of the school, but I left her to her own devices. After all, she had correctly interpreted my final addendum, "... but I'll make sure to have a peaceful school life". My words meant I would without a doubt deal with every single disturbance ailing my day-to-day life, including stuck-up schoolmates. After all, even if they wouldn't directly disturb me, they still would intoxicate the environment I lived in.

Anyway, this translated into being regularly assaulted by middle school and high school students alike, looking for a way to make a name for themselves. I was now almost certain I had slapped basically every single younger archuman of the academy. Marnie started suffering from a headache due to the frequency of the attacks, but she couldn't say anything. After all, I dealt with everything remarkably well, without seriously injuring anyone. Moreover, she didn't know about the secret silent agreement between the young girl and me.

During this period, I tried to approach Faye, but I was never able to find her. Marnie told me she had distinguished herself with her teachers and had almost instantly been admitted to higher education courses and as a consequence she had barely any free time. The news she was doing well made me glad and hopeful for the future success of our plan.

The only classmate with whom I had established a friendly relationship was my roommate, Erik. While in the beginning he had approached me like I was some kind of bloodthirsty beast, in the next few days of our cohabitation he seemed to realise I was normally pretty chill. We sometimes even played ball together. The rest of my classmates kept their distance from me and behaved in my presence, going so far as to finally pay attention to Mrs. Poole's lessons, who had made it a habit to offer me biscuits every time she saw me, as a way to thank me.

While in the past my classmates had prided themselves on their power and had behaved like VIPs, my arrival had dealt a strong blow to their self-esteem. The final hit was delivered by the words I had uttered two days after the incident: "You are weak. At least strive to not be stupid too". This had finally pushed them to commit to their education.

The only subject I didn't participate in together with my classmates was Physical Education, due to it being useless to my enhanced physique. Instead, during PE hours, I retired myself to the academy underground gym, where I spent time lifting weights or hitting the sack. Although this didn't make me stronger, it helped me build muscles on top of my undernourished physique.

The real problems began when even the undergraduates started to get involved with what I did. Being more mature than their younger counterparts, they didn't participate in the strange game of the "king", but after some time they probably decided my presence had become an eyesore and felt it their duty to intervene, with the excuse of disciplining their junior.

Things degenerated when I got jumped and overpowered by a fairly well known sophomore with cryogenic abilities. Thankfully Marnie was able to intervene and put a stop to the attack before things took a turn for the worst, but I still suffered quite the serious frostbites during the confrontation. The event caused a great stir around the academy: after all, I had been attacked on campus in front of the whole school, but unfortunately nothing came out of it. While I had Marnie looking out for me, the sophomore had backings in the form of another influential archuman of the Gamma Perimeter, so we were basically left at our own devices. The attacker was slightly reprimanded, but didn't suffer any real consequence. In the meantime, my seniors' hostility had been growing by the day.

Nevertheless, every cloud has a silver lining. I gained three positive things from this whole ordeal. First, now I knew where I stood: I had been humbled before I tried to chew more than I could swallow. Second, I had become more proficient with my aura, becoming able to expel alien aura remnants from inside my body, thus accelerating my healing time. I had used this technique to cure my frostbites, which for the first few days refused to disappear. Third, infuriated by the lukewarm response of the academy, Marnie had made up her mind to personally train me.

<<If they come to you once again, you have my blessing: f**k them up. They think they are hot s**t. Show them they are simply s**t>> she had told me, gnashing her teeth.

It was the first and last time I saw Marnie that furious or heard her utter such profanities. From what I could gather inquiring around the academy, her anger mostly originated from the intervention of her equals, who had directly moved to hush up everything. Between all the prominent figures, Marnie seemed to be the only one with a developed sense of justice. The rest of them were only interested in spreading their influence on the surface, which was closely tied to the amount and quality of archumans under their command. After all, those who controlled the surface also controlled the supply flow going to the underground, where all the production facilities were concentrated.

Grossed out by this kind of politics, Marnie Bridges had never sided with any faction and had simply concerned herself with maintaining public safety, collaborating with normal law enforcement and participating in expeditions outside of the Perimeter. Her accomplishments had made her a figure no one could easily ignore, so she could easily shield Faye and me from possible retaliations from the higher ups.

All of this went to my advantage: one of the most important people of the Perimeter had resolved herself to make sure no one could trample on me. I gladly welcomed Marnie's special training. I would soon come to regret my decision.