Friendship With Ulterior Motives

Liam POV

Four Weeks Ago

Liam stared at the handgun parts lying on the table. He took a deep breath, then moved. 

His hands blurred as he assembled the parts as quickly as possible.

2.01 second

He built a pistol. 

Liam disassembled the pistol and assembled it again.

6.52 second

A shotgun.

He reassembled the shotgun.

8.13 second

A sniper.

Liam stopped the timer.

"8 seconds. It's too slow." 

He had created the muzzle, barrel and other parts himself. By rearranging them, he could create three weapons with the same parts.

Liam's Talent [Armed Brutality] increased his knowledge and comprehension in anything related to weapons. His stats rose when he used self-created weapons.

He stared at his hands with a cold face.

His Talent did not give him knowledge about nanotechnology. If it did, he would not have to resort to cheap tricks like creating three different guns using the same parts. 

Suddenly, alarms went off in his mind.

'No! Why am I trying to get stronger!? Did I finally get affected by that idiot's mindset!?'

He stood up, opened the fridge and took out the strawberry ice cream. His cold expression melted ever so slightly at its taste.

"This is much better," He said. 'I almost became a training idiot myself.'

Liam's dream was to live on a backward planet, away from violence. He wanted to become a farmer and live a slow life. 

Action and adventure? No, his life goal was Slice Of Life!

Since his childhood, he had been planning to run away from his house. Liam didn't want to inherit his family business.

He followed the mafia ideology of his clan, saved tons of money and maintained the perfect facade of the eldest son of the Valenti Family.

All for his future laid-back life. 

He even brought the Gergo Space Pirates! 

It was a perfect plan. While his escorts were thinnest on their way to the academy, the pirates would attack his spaceship and kidnap him.

He would escape from there!

But no!

Those greedy pirates betrayed him. Liam planned to give them his more money as a bribe and escape.

The result?

Just thinking about what happened later made Liam want to murder someone. 

Knock! Knock!

"Young master, can I come in?" Ezio, his butler, asked from the other side.

"Come in."

Ezio opened the door.

Watching the blindingly handsome guy, Liam cursed his ancestors down to the 9th generation.

This guy was Liam's archenemy.

He was the only reason Liam couldn't escape until now! 

Sometimes, Liam would wonder if Ezio was a demon spawn. Why would he spoil all of Liam's plans!!

Even the space pirates. Ezio pulled a motherfucking shounen power-up from his ass and defeated the pirates.

A Grade 3 metahuman defeated an OuterGrade? The f*ck was that possible.

What was next, a metahuman who could stop Time? 

"Um, I'm having difficulty with the mind-shielding technique you gave me." Ezio squirmed under Liam's cold gaze.

Liam had learned to block mind-reading abilities in his childhood. 

Now, he subconsciously blocks the mind-reading abilities, given he wasn't tired.

On the first day of the Academy, Liam sensed someone probing his mind. 

Usually, that would have been impossible. He was in an exhausted state and shouldn't have known that his mind was being read.

It was possible only because he somehow blocked the mind reading attempt.

As his mental defense was weak, yet the mind reader couldn't break in, Liam was able to sense the intrusion.

'But how did I block the mind reader?' 

Liam ordered Ezio to learn the mental defense technique after the incident. 

If his mind was open to others, who knows what secret would leak about Liam?

"Let's go." 

Liam locked his room and followed Ezio. 

They entered Ezio's room.

Just as Liam stepped inside, his eyes went to the stash of letters around the dustbin.

"Your popularity is increasing," said Liam.

Ezio scratched his head with an embarrassed expression.

'Should I just stab him when he is sleeping?' Liam thought while helping Ezio train.

…

Present

The students split apart like a sea when they saw Liam. They lowered their heads and spoke in hushed whispers.

It was a daily occurrence for Liam. His family's infamy preceded everything. He was used to being treated like a zoo animal.

The class gathered near the spaceship that brought them to Plant Palvos. 

"We've reached the Planet Palvos. I won't explain everything again. Just remember that your actions here will represent our academy and your grades in the report card." Professor James said.

Mr. Walker couldn't come. He said it was for personal reasons. Professor James replaced him as the invigilator. 

A second-year class came with the first-years. 

Their total numbers were two professors and one hundred fifty-eight students.

"You will get the team list shortly," announced Professor James.

Buzz!

Everyone's intercom rang.

Liam checked his own.

[Team Members: Liam Valenti, Ezio Solaris, Doll Moore, Zain Pierrot, Sean Jenkins]

[Task(1): Catch the villain Mr. Invisible. Last known location - Street 16, Sabit City, Teran Country, Plant Palvos.]

[Task(2): Subjugate one Evolved Goldhorn Bull]

Liam's brows creased, "My teammates are…" 

"Are?"

Liam's soul nearly jumped out of his mouth when someone suddenly spoke to him. 

He maintained his cold expression and turned around.

"Sean and… Zain?" asked Liam.

Zain had become infamous. He hovered around Alice during the Interstellar travel, doing his best to annoy her.

Surprisingly, Alice never reacted to his provocations. 

The students could not help but notice Zain, he attracted attention with every move. 

Before Liam could speak further, Zain raised his palm. He pointed at Ezio and Doll who were standing away from them. 

'Let's get them together.' Zain mouthed.

Liam's eyes widened as if he understood everything. 

Since the day they boarded the spaceship, Doll had been hanging with Ezio more often. Liam thought it was just two training maniacs sharing their training methods.

He realized what was happening now.

'Why should I help them… wait a second,' Liam felt as if he had chanced upon a momentous discovery.

If Ezio fell in love, wouldn't he get busy with his girlfriend? 

He wouldn't have time for Liam!

The possibility nearly moved Liam to tears.

He nodded, then shook hands with Zain.

Today Liam vowed that if the operation 'Get Ezio and Doll together' succeeded, he would treat Zain as his brother.

…

Zain POV

"No" "No" Doll and Ezio refused our idea of splitting the group.

My plan was simple. 

Me, Liam, and Sean = Group 1 = Deal with Evolved rank monster

Doll and Ezio = Group 2 = Deal with the Villain Mr. Invisible.

I felt a headache incoming.

The method of saving Doll was very fantasy-like. It required them to deepen their bond.

Surprisingly, I didn't feel anything about it. Doll was an acquaintance at best, not even a friend.

She had been with Ezio during the Interstellar travel. I was happy. Doll seemed to be following my advice. They only needed a push. 

Or so I thought.

"Why not?" Liam questioned. This guy was more eager than me to keep the two together. Of course, his reason differed from mine.

"If we are splitting the group. There is a better way to do it." Doll spoke. 

"Yes, I should be in the Young master's group and Zain should be with Doll." Ezio nodded and said his piece.

Liam tried to convince them.

I waited with Sean, hoping for Ezio and Doll to change their mind.

"No." Ezio remained adamant.

Should I slap this b*tch?

Why was he teaming me with Doll? Do your job as the protagonist and woo the heroine!

"I knew Master was a shameless person, but he has hit the lowest of lows and started to dig underground." Nutless jabbed from the side.

Only I could see and hear him, and he was using this fact to the fullest.

I shrugged. I wasn't forcing them to make love.

Doll's mind would be slowly influenced by the parasite. Her emotions were being amplified. In the upcoming days, she would jump the guy who had the highest affinity with her. 

Point to be noted: It wasn't my doing.

Ezio? He was the protagonist. The sacrificial lamb. He was born to be used for the greater good!

Nutless, perhaps predicting what I would say in defense, questioned, "Why doesn't Master do it himself?"

Good question. Two reasons, honestly.

I preferred my partner to be sane, not obsessed with me. 

Only a 5-star Talent guy could do it with her and live through it. Anyone else would die. 

I wasn't the sacrificial la… err, the protagonist. 

Hmm… that's three reasons.

"Hehe, I think the original way was correct." I decided to speak up. "Liam is the only long-range combatant in our group. If we want both groups to be even, Liam should be teamed with Sean."

I continued, "If Ezio joins the group with Liam and Sean, the second group will be weakened."

Doll and Ezio couldn't refute.

They reluctantly agreed.

I was relieved. Part of the reason I chose the monster task was due to Mr. Invisible. That guy was very troublesome.

He didn't have invisibility. Instead, he could access a variant mirror dimension. His ability was to remain in the other dimension and affect the real dimension through it. 

Worse, he could pull and trap others in his dimension. 

Now that I think about it, I hope he traps Doll and Ezio together. 

"Stay safe," Doll said to me and left with Ezio.

Wow, she didn't hate me at all. It was completely different from the game. I guess, not being a bad guy automatically made me the good guy in her eyes.

Sean left after them. He was going home. 

His sister, Sarah, had gone radio silent a few weeks ago. It wasn't the first time that this happened, but Sean said he had a bad feeling. He left to check on her.

I told him to contact me if he needed help. Sarah was my money printer. I couldn't let her be harmed. 

However, given my smile, I doubt my sincerity was conveyed.

Liam left too. The guy agreed as soon as I said I could handle the Evolved rank monster task myself. 

Evolved-rank monsters were out of my league. But Liam didn't want to let go of this chance. For freedom, in his words.

He left his credit card with me, saying I should buy anything I needed for the mission. Lovely guy, I could kiss him. No homo.

"I'm on my own now," I muttered.

Doll was with the safest person at this moment. If Mr. Invisible trapped them in a mirror dimension, the Mythos cult wouldn't be able to find them.

That should give me a few weeks. 

This planet was Mythos Cult's base. But they couldn't move recklessly either. Or they risked losing the power struggle against the Yenner Church.

A dozen days were short, nonetheless. Shorter when you had to take down a 200-year-old Cult. 

"Senior!" I waved at Charlotte, who was across the street.

I asked her to help me. And the second-year class that came with us was hers. Her Talent was busted, dammit.

"Why did you call me?" Charlotte asked as we strolled around the city.