First Dungeon (1)

The Great Dungeon Crisis. It was the event that turned mana from the blessing humans thought it to be into a calamity and allowed the 9 clans to step into the powerhouses they are today.

With the formation of dungeons, different organizations were formed to handle and conquer them. Some organizations were privatized while others were formed by the respective governments of the country the dungeons were located in. Since dungeons provided a sudden influx of never-seen-before resources that could not be found naturally on Earth, many people became greedy for profits, and a mad scramble to acquire the resource called 'a dungeon' began. A temporary accord was made which gave priority of higher ranked dungeons to higher ranked organizations while those who were weaker got the leftovers. This led to a period of high growth for many organizations but also corruption as those same organizations attempted to maximize their profits. 

Newly discovered dungeons were hidden and unregistered so that the resources could be fully monopolized without scrutiny. Money and benefits changed hands so certain organizations could gain access to dungeons they weren't qualified for, and resource mining expeditions in dungeons became longer and longer with organizations refusing to clear a dungeon until the final moment before a dungeon break would happen. A tenuous balance was maintained for years until it all came to a head on June 6th.

Agra, India. Amazonas, Brazil. Denver, United States. Kinsagani, Democratic Republic of Congo. Sichuan Province, China. Siberia. Antarctica. Greenland. Almost simultaneously, large dungeons in these areas and many smaller ones in different countries exploded, wiping out the human and animal populations, and destroying homes, farmland, and the natural habitat as millions of monsters swarmed out into the real world. Mana from the dungeons burst out in tsunami-like waves, transforming the surrounding land and seas into one enriched with mana that suited the monsters that exited from the dungeons. The death toll rose to millions as civilians did their best to evacuate and hunker down while global organizations like the UN repeatedly met with no decision on how to reclaim the monster-infected areas being made. During that time, air travel, sea travel, in some places even land travel became impossible.

As the death toll continued to rise into the millions, and the monsters continued to rage, finally a task force was created with 10 of the strongest individuals at the helm. They went around destroying the monsters and helping the world regain its order. 9 of the individuals decided to form their own clans while the 10th unnamed individual disappeared.

As the world slowly recovered and order was restored, the 9 clans continued to rise to prominence. They helped establish global rules and governance of dungeons was split between national powers and organizations supported by the 9 clans. Systems were put into place to meticulously handle dungeons that existed and new ones that were formed.

Once a semblance of calm was regained and as people began to forget the past, dissent began to occur once more as different organizations became dissatisfied with the status quo of the 9 clans reigning on top of the pyramid and everyone else below them.

In Heroes Born Again, the main antagonists could be grouped into 3 main groups.

There was a group called The Darwinists who believed that dungeons were a way for the world to purge itself of weak humans with no abilities. Natural Selection if you will. They aimed for the phenomena of dungeon breaks where the mana and monsters inside the dungeon would build up before exploding outward, dealing massive damage to the surroundings and modifying the area around the dungeon to better suit the monsters who emerged. In addition, they also attacked magic academies to either convert up-and-coming heroes or eliminate the upcoming generation before they could come into their full power and feed into the dungeon-clearing machine of the world.

Another group was called The Revolutionaries. They rebelled against the way things were set up, feeling that it was unfair that power was openly concentrated in the hands of a very few people. This group especially hated the 9 clans and felt that they were the reason why there was a huge amount of disparity between gifted and ungifted people as well as those who worked for the 9 clans and those who chose to be mercenaries or individual contractors. It was this group that the original Asani Martin was a part of although it was unknown how he ended up joining them.

Finally, there was a group called The Worshipers. It was unknown who they worshiped or why and their mission was completely unclear. All that was known was that wherever they were spotted, complete chaos would follow. They were thought to be a roaming colony of individuals who lacked morals and were an integral part of the criminal underworld. They committed any crime whether it be assassinations, kidnapping, theft, or acts of terrorism. They would do anything for a price as long as it fit their vision for the future and furthered their goals before leaving their calling card - the symbol of a crescent moon with an eye over it embedded deep into the ground. The last known battle against The Worshipers happened about 16 or 17 years ago. An effort spearheaded by the Lionheart clan and the Raven clan to finally wipe the scourge from the world.

As the professor for the world history class droned on and on, I could feel my eyes begin to close from boredom. Since I had preemptively read all the books for the class and used knowledge on top of it, nothing he was sharing was new to me. Rather, I wondered how he could turn a topic as interesting as the history of the world into something so dull and unimaginative. His voice was so monotone and soothing, that it felt like a white noise machine, lulling me to sleep.

"Psst. Pssst." A voice hissed to my left. I turned sleepily, noticing the short redhead seated beside me who kept on trying to get my attention.

 At my sleepily raised brow, she glared at me.

"Why did you lie about getting permission for the student depot? I went to ask Professor Art and he said he had no idea what I was talking about and called me an entitled brat. Do you know how foolish I looked being lectured for hours? How much money I spent getting your homemade cocktails certified for sale? Also, how did you make those? Where did those mana crystals come from? There's nothing like them on the market right now. Answer me, Asani Martin!" Lina hissed.

"You tried to proceed behind my back? Tsk tsk. Until we sign a contract, there will be no more information for you and of course no more product. Plus, you now owe me. If not, I will go contact another Meraki at school and propose the same deal to them since you tried to backstab me." I mocked her before looking away.

"Asani!" Lina hissed. I ignored her, placing my head on the desk before dozing off.

"Hey, Asani!" She hissed once more.

Feeling the air stir beside me, I preemptively made a small barrier, smiling to myself as Lina's fist recoiled against it and she was thrown back, her seat screeching across the floor.

"Miss Meraki, do you have something to share with the class?" The professor turned to glare at her.

"…No professor. I apologize for the disturbance." Lina shot a glare at me before adjusting her seat and facing forward.

"That's what you get for associating with low-lives Meraki. But you would know since all your family does is chase money." Evelynn commented snidely to the side.

"And yet an icehead like you is sitting on furniture we made, using weapons we made, drinking potions we made, in a building we made. What exactly has your family created hmmm? Check your privilege before speaking nonsense to me Evelynn. I'm not in the mood to deal with your crap today." Lina retorted just as snidely.

"You want to take this to the arena Meraki?" Evelynn slammed her hands on her desk as she stood up. The room immediately felt colder and a cold mist could be seen emanating from her body.

"You mean in the arena made by my family? Or in the training center rooms made by my family? Or could you be talking about the training fields, also made by family?" Lina snorted causing several people to snicker and Evelynn to glare even harder.

"Lina, I'm going to beat the hell out of you."

"Shut the fuck up Evelynn. All you do is repeat the same lines. Grow up." Lina laughed in annoyance as her hand gripped her staff.

"Both of you. Enough!" The professor slammed his hands on the board, causing the room to shake. It immediately became silent, "Since class has been disrupted enough today, you can leave early. However, you have to read the next 3 chapters as we will have a quiz on it next time. Dismissed."

Without waiting, I quickly got up, grabbed my bag, and began leaving.

"Asani. Wait! I said wait dammit!" Lina yelled before beginning to run to keep up with my pace as I sped out the door.

I calmly headed to the library, slowing my pace until she caught up.

"Ready to make a proper deal Lina?"

"…. I'm willing to listen to terms." She replied. "And I brought the contract just in case."

"Good girl." I reached out to pat her head but she smacked it away.

"What the hell are you doing?" her red eyes glared furiously at me.

"Sorry. Habit. You're the same height as Blue."

"The dog?? Keep your hands to yourself Asani."

"Yeah yeah, my bad." I shrugged. As I walked into the library, I inadvertently made eye contact with Rachel since I wasn't wearing a hoodie or hat to cover my face.

"You! You you You! You liar! You thief! Where have you been?" she pointed at me as she screamed causing everyone to turn to look at me.

"Hi, big sis. I came to pay you back. You recognize Lina Meraki, don't you? Rich young miss extraordinaire? She has your money. We just need a quiet private room so I can explain the details to her." I smiled gently as I slung my arms around Lina's shoulder.

Rachel looked back and forth between Lina and me, her green hair whipping from side to side before she gave Lina an angelic smile.

"Of course Miss Meraki. Please follow me, I'll take you to one of our private rooms. I assure you the enchantment for silence is the best, but you should know as it's the handiwork of your family ohoho.

As Rachel led us forward, almost skipping with joy, Lina threw me off.

"What the hell are you planning?"

"Secret."

As we sat down in the small meeting room, Rachel kept hovering by the door without leaving.

"Oi, Rachel. Get out. I promise I won't leave without paying you."

"I can't trust you, thief! Your name isn't even Chester Warren!"

"Ah yeah, I forgot that was the name I gave you. Just consider it an alias I guess. But why are you mad? I always returned everything, right?" I rolled my eyes.

"That's not the problem! It's still theft! And besides, my money! I've eaten so many peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, sob."

"Which I'm trying to get from Lina Meraki so hurry up and get out Rachel. Besides, I want to hire you for a job as well so I'll need to talk to you regardless. If you don't trust me, you can wait outside the door." I shooed her away

"Oh well then have a good conversation. I'll be outside." Her demeanor suddenly switched and she went out before carefully shutting the door.

"…Theft? Are you engaged in illegal activities? If so let me know so I can do a risk assessment and prepare a lawyer."

"Nah. Rachel is just dramatic. Anyway, let's talk. You said everything got certified for sale? That was quick. Good job." I honestly complimented her. It had only been two days since we talked so she must have done a lot to expedite the process.

"Of course, who do you think I am? However, I can't agree to your terms of a 70-30 split. Although the quality of what you gave me was good, especially the potions and it seems you have some talent, considering the fact that I will be sourcing materials to aid you in creating the items that's too much of an ask. I am willing to give you 4%"

"Congratulations, it's now a 50-50 deal," I told her with a blank expression and hers turned cold.

"That's not how negotiations work Asani Martin."

"I don't think you're listening to me. I don't need you to provide me with raw materials, labs, or tools to make the items. Actually, if I wanted to just focus on selling things at school before slowly expanding, I don't need you at all. What I want I simple, you have sales channels in the open market, use them. All I need is for you to sell the items when I give them to you, tell me when you need more, give me my cut, and procure some things for me every once in a while. 

I think giving you the opportunity to sell whatever you want in addition to whatever I give you at the academy is a good enough deal especially since I know you weren't able to do so yourself. If you truly don't want to make a fair deal, then let's not. You dragging your feet and spitting out low percentages each time is pissing me off." I glared at her.

"Let's not be hasty. How about we sign a year contract for 6%. "

"Are you fucking kidding me?"

"Look, I'll be completely honest with you, the maximum I can do for now is 15%. I don't have a lot of liquidity right now since most of my money is sunk into R & D for my company."

"Oh? Are you broke too? Heh."

"Please," she snorted, "I'm rich in assets. And before you give me the nonsense about not needing me, you do. Managing the store, paying salaries and taxes, contacting buyers, etc are things I already have people in place for. Do you really think you have time between schoolwork and training to do it?"

"Fair point. Continue."

"And even if you reach out to Illia Meraki, his specialty is not in selling products. He strictly does research and will toss you through the regular Meraki business pipeline and give you a so-called shitty contract to boot. So that angle doesn't work either."

Lina paused, before continuing, "However, if you are truly providing all your own materials and tools, and I just need to market and distribute, I am willing to go up to 20% as long as I can make up for the 10% you want in items. I believe you mentioned that you wanted some items as well. You know what my family specializes in right? I can get you any items you want within reason." 

"I don't like vague terms, what does within reason mean?"

"What kind of items are you looking for?" She pulled out a notepad and glanced attentively at me.

"Tell me what you can offer me."

"I have a storehouse, with mainly B-rank items and below you may browse. It has anything from weapons, armor, books, and items. I also have connections that can be used to procure specific things. Let's limit it to 30 B rank items or the equivalent monetary value within a year."

"Do you have more mana contracts? S-rank ones."

"….why?"

"I'm looking to chain up some dogs." I gave her a slight smile causing her to shudder.

"…I don't even want to know what you mean by that. I can get them, but you wouldn't get 30 of them."

"That's fine, get me five for now. As for the other items, I'll take a look at the warehouse first."

"Okay. Moving on to the type of goods we'll be selling…."

.....

We spent the next 3 hours deciding the sale strategy, and drafting what ended up being a 20-page contract.

"Okay, we've signed, do you happen to have any more products? In a warehouse somewhere?"

"Actually it's in my room right now. If you have a magic bag, I can load it up and bring it to you. We can talk to Professor Art and then head out this evening."

"Okay, this bag can hold 4000 sq ft of product. Consider it a gift.

"Okay." I gratefully took it before slipping it into my bag.

"How are you making these things? I wouldn't mind getting in contact with your mana crystal source."

"Do you really want to know? It will cost you a pretty penny." I gave her a gentle smile.

"…Not anymore. As long as no laws are broken, I don't care." She stood up, putting on her pack, "I'll head out now and see you in front of Professor Art's office."

"Sure. See you soon. As soon as she left, Rachel slipped into the room as if she had been waiting.

"Sit." I pointed to the seat recently vacated by Lina.

"Where's my money?" 

"Here. New product from Lina Meraki. Right before it's about to launch." I slid the backpack full of potions to her.

She opened the bag, eyes gleaming at my words, and held the potion up to the light. 

"Good good good. Now you said something about hiring me?"

"Yes. Miss library magician, and research specialist Rachel Lovelace. How good are you at digging into history and how discreet can you be?" I gave her a cold smile, watching as the smiling expression disappeared from her face.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing. I want to hire you for a job and I want to ensure you don't go blabbing or leaking things."

"I can assure you that I'm always discreet. I'm constantly researching things for hire so I have access to quite a few information sources. Legal or otherwise. The only thing is if you can afford me and afford a mana-contract to keep my lips sealed." She replied happily as she winked.

"Okay," I pulled out a mana contract and wrote my terms over before sliding it over to her.

"Contract to become Asani's Research Dog?" she asked incredulously.

"Consider it as you being on my retainer. I have limited time and resources yet I need a lot of information. Naturally, you'll still work here, but when I ask you to, you'll be digging up information for me.

"I don't like the name."

"Look at the terms."

"3 daily meals at the academy. A rare book from a Meraki warehouse every quarter. And this…. A massive research fee for each request?!! This is more than my combined salary for the year!!!"

"So, what do you think? Don't you like the benefits?"

"I'll do it! You can call me your dog or cat or whatever!"

"Good good, sign away. Look forward to your first academy meal tomorrow big sis." I gave her a gentle smile. I had to make sure I fed her properly so that she could work until she dropped.

"Done! What do you want me to research."

"I told you. I'm curious about some history and heard something interesting about a 10th member during the Dungeon Crisis. Get me some concrete details about that time and get me some information about the Revolutionaries and the Worshippers. The more recent the better. I'm in the mood to hunt some villains."

"Okay."

"And remember don't speak on it to anyone but me and leave no evidence behind."

"Of course. That's why we have a contract and my gift. Anyways I'll contact you when I find something concrete."

"Okay. I'm leaving now."

"Wait! Return your library books and properly check them out!"

"Bye big sis!" giving her a wave I slammed the door shut and ran off.

After leaving Rachel, I quickly went back to my apartment, and packed away all the crates crowding the entire living space, before heading to Professor Arts' office.

Lina was seated to the right of the door with a bored expression on her face.

"You took your time."

"I was busy. I'm here now." I replied with a yawn as I tossed her the bag full of products.

"So how are we doing this? Did you create a presentation? Can I see it briefly to memorize?"

"Presentation? Why would I need that? Either way, just stay quiet and let me do the talking." I ordered her before knocking loudly on the door.

"Come inside."

I walked inside and saw a familiar old man who looked about 50 years old. Despite the wrinkles on his face and white hair, he was fit with a strong muscular body. As he looked up from his desk, his full mustache twitched and he adjusted his glasses.

"Miss Meraki I thought I already told you no. Why are you here."

"Gramps it's Asani."

"Ah, Asani, how are you doing?" Professor Art smiled happily.

"Good sir. Please tell Miss Gillian that dinner yesterday was divine. I had to go back for seconds."

"She'll be happy to hear that. Now why are you here?"

"Professor Lee gave me permission to sell things in the student depot as well as her class so I came to clear it with you."

"Rebecca did?"

"Yes sir, it's an initiative in collaboration with the disciplinary committee along with Lina Meraki to help raise money to help the school deal with destruction that happens when we handle incidents as well as treat the professors for all the hard work that they do. Of course, we will pay or portion of the fees to have our things in the depot"

"Hmmmm. I see I see. And who came up with the idea?"

"I did sir."

"I like you. You're a good young man. It's good to see youngsters like you take initiative and learn the importance of giving back."

"I'm an orphan sir. I was only able to make it here due to those who did the same for me." I smoothly lied.

"Hmm Hmmm. Good child. Here are the keys and the paperwork. Just talk to whoever is on duty there now. If they give you problems just give me a call."

"Of course professor. Thank you again for your kindness."

"I told you to call me Grandpa when we're not in class."

As I walked out, keys and paper in my hand, I could feel a certain gaze burning into my head.

"What?"

"Did you bewitch him? He was so nice to you when all he does is scold other people!"

"Who gramps? He's gruff and won't hurt a fly. His wife is one of the cafe ladies. I asked her to put in a good word for me. Anyway, here you go." I tossed her the keys and paperwork, having already analyzed them. "You have the goods, the brains, and the permission so go set that shit up properly. Make it look good, Undercut the competitors, and let's make some money. Take some products to Professor Lee if you have time."

 "How will I get more from you? I want to begin selling it online and at the different marketplaces"

"Do you have a storage spot on campus I can use to drop them off?"

As she shook her head I clicked my tongue. "Give me some holding bags then. I'll figure something out with one of the professors."

"Okay."

I could see she wanted to say something else but I just walked away. Even though things had been set in motion, I still had so much stuff to do.

***

When I showed up to combat class the next morning, there was a sense of tension and excitement in the air. We had gotten the message to show up in training clothes and to specifically not forget our weapons.

Standing in front of the room was an excited Professor Lee with a bright smile on her face.

"Hello, brats. I hope you're ready. Today is our first official outing into the field. It will involve the 200 Class A students. The goal today is to see how the skills you've been learning transfer as after today this course will be a mix of sparring and dungeon outings. Questions?"

"What exactly will we be doing at the outing?" A boy with brown hair asked.

"Excellent question. You'll be forming teams today and we've put Rank E, F, and a few D puppet monsters throughout the forest. Your job as a team is to find your assigned monsters and defeat them to receive group and individual scores. Naturally, if you kill off your assigned monsters, you can steal from other teams. The top three teams with the most points get to go home early. The losers get to run."

"Also, while the professors on the watch will be making sure you don't actually die or get lost, if you get injured that's on you. A certain level of friendly fire is acceptable so make sure you save enough energy and retreat safely, there will be no medic on hand. If you all understand, let's go."

As I got up to follow the crowd, Lina sidled up beside me, swinging the staff in her hands "Form a team with me."

"Not forming it with your purple-haired friend?"

As I commented, I watched in amusement as Cassandra Mirage flinched before she pulled her face mask up even tighter and speed walked away.

"What's her deal?"

"She's embarrassed Professor Lee caught her. Professional dignity and all that." Lina shrugged.

"Professor Lee is a monster. It would be weird if she didn't get caught."

"That's what I said but she's been training hard to compensate."

"…You're being surprisingly friendly." I looked at her curiously.

"Since we've signed a contract, we're on the same boat, at least for the year. It never hurts to build a good working relationship outside of business."

"Is that so?"

"Yes. Now that we're partnered, do you want me to do anything about the losers bothering you? Sooner or later, a professor will notice and report you for beating them and it must be annoying."

"Nah. I don't mind it. I find it quite therapeutic to beat bricks of people. Plus it's good practice for my skills."

As she took a step away from me, I laughed before grabbing her staff and using it to drag her closer.

"No need for you to worry, I won't attack you as long as you don't betray me. After all, you're my money-making partner."

"I told you hands off." She yanked it out of my hands before collapsing it and tucking it away in a holster on her thigh.

"My bad, my bad. It looked interesting so I wanted to take a closer look."

"Not as interesting as that sword there." Her eyes flashed red as she looked over my shortsword.

"Touche."

"Custom built?"

"Something like that," I murmured with a small smile.

"Interesting. I have a feeling you and I will get along just fine." She replied with a smile of her own.

"To making money." I held my fist out to her.

"To getting richer" She bumped it while smiling brightly.

It was a very scary smile.

****

I stood at the back of the field and looked around curiously. Since the first years numbered 1000, we were divided into 5 different classes of 200 students. The entirety of the Class A students stood on the field and I marveled at all the new faces I hadn't seen before focusing on the ones I could recognize. 

The tall blue-haired boy with brown skin and a physique that rivaled Lionel Lionheart stood to one side was rank 5 Julius Crimson.

The slim boy who seemed to fade into the background and had a streak of white in his jet-black hair was Rank 10 Killian Raven.

The tall slender girl with mint green hair in two twin tails and a giant lance attached to her back was Rank 12, Silvia Lancia.

Everywhere I looked I could pick out major characters from the novel by their description.

"Alright everybody gather around!" Professor Lee began yelling, "We're assigning teams based on the evaluation we've done for the past couple of weeks. You'll have these teams until your midterms when you'll have to opportunity to keep them or shuffle them around. When I call your name, group together with your team members since we'll be starting the exercise soon. To keep things fair, we've tried to adjust the teams based rank and strive to make sure each time has a good mix for roles."

As the professor began calling out teams, I began wishing with all of my heart. I didn't want to be grouped with Evelynn Isolde and I didn't want to be grouped with Solomon Nova. Evelynn because she was annoying and Solomon because of the annoying skill he had.

Team 1:

Lionel Lionheart (close combat)

Gray Wilson (all-rounder)

Salem Park (close combat)

Stephanie Glover (range)

Jason Maxwell (range)

Team 10:

Solomon Nova (all-rounder)

Whitney Moore(close combat)

David Branch (close combat)

Asani Martin (all-rounder)

Jacob Arin (ranged combat)

Team 13:

Evelynn Isolde (close-combat)

…

Team 14:

Sylvia Lancia (close combat)

…

Team 20:

Julius Crimson (close combat)

Lina Meraki (all-rounder)

….

Fuck.

Hearing my name placed along Solomon's, I wanted to curse my fucking luck. It would have honestly been better to end up with Evelynn.

****

Lionel Lionheart looked around the field with inquisitive eyes as the professor continued calling out teams. He wasn't searching for his teammates, rather his eyes were looking for a certain rainbow-colored head.

Spotting it, he walked over slowly, not noticing the crowd of students making way for him.

"Nova." 

"Yo. Oh, it's you, Lionel. What do you want?" Watching the laid-back expression on Solomon's face as he yawned, Lionel kept his temper in check.

"Take the exam seriously. I want to take the opportunity here at the academy to go all out against you and finally decide between us who is the strongest." Lionel told him in a firm tone.

"First Evelynn, now you? Why don't you two tell this nonsense to each other." Solomon replied with a bored expression.

"I've told it to her too, but you're my main target. I want you to stop holding back and show me your full strength."

"Why do you care? You're number one. Isn't that good enough for you?"

"I want to be an undisputed number one. I came here to temper myself against the best of the best and to show that I will be the one to come out on top even if my opponents use everything they have."

Clap. Clap. Clap. 

Solomon slowly clapped while responding in a monotone voice. "How admirable. What a great goal. I'm sure you can reach it. I believe in you. Fighting."

"…Are you mocking me?"

Solomon simply rolled his eyes as he responded, "Not at all. Being number one or number two is not something I care about. The only reason I'm at the academy is because my clan head forced me to be here and as soon as she permits me to leave, I'm gone. I have better things to do with my time than play who's the strongest with you and Evelynn. The two of you can battle out who is the king of the hill. And besides,"

Solomon paused before giving Lionel a wide smile, his crystal-like eyes flashing with amusement, "You and I are on entirely different levels. If I use my full strength, you would feel suffocated, and that declaration you made at the opening ceremony would become null and void. Since I don't want you running and crying to Daddy, Just comfortably accept that you're number one and don't bother me too much. Okay?" He patted Lionel's back causing the other boy to fling his arm away.

"Don't you dare patronize me, Nova. And isn't it you that will run crying to your aunt for protection?"

"Hah, you must not know my aunt if you think she'll protect me if I run back complaining because I lost. I'll be lucky if she doesn't beat me on top of it." Lionel watched as Solomon scratched his head before sighing.

"Lionel listen well, I have no plans to try too hard while I'm here. I told you I came because of my clan head. My only goal is to remain within the top ten. Being number two is completely coincidental since the rest of the students here are so weak. I don't mind dropping further down in rank if it will make you and Evelynn leave me the hell alone. But if you really want me to show my strength, I don't mind showing you the difference between us."

"I think you overestimate yourself, Nova," Lionel growled out, his hand reaching for his sword.

"Heh. I can say the same to you. All I can say is not to bother me too much. After all, I'm certainly not as kind as my clan head and you're nowhere as strong as your father. If you keep bothering me, don't blame me for publicly teaching you your place."

"You've always been cocky, yet ever since we were kids you've never won against me and you never will." 

"Didn't you hear the news from daddy dearest? Times are changing and I suggest you get with the program. In fact, keep your eyes open later. I'll show you something good during this test."

"I look forward to seeing what you have to show Nova. Look forward to my performance as well." Lionel confidentially responded.

"I doubt you'll even have the chance to act," Solomon replied as his crystal-like eyes flashed. Lionel felt as if his body was sanded raw and shot a glare at Solomon. Compared to the feeling of being analyzed, it felt like an invasion of his entire being as invisible claws tried to shred him.

"One of these days, I'll rip those disgusting eyes of yours out." He growled.

"Not with those skills you're not." 

Intentionally, Solomon scanned him again causing Lionel's red eyes to begin glowing and a thin layer of golden aura to surround him, stopping the discomforting feeling.

"We'll see about that Nova. Watch yourself."

As Lionel walked away with restrained fury, Solomon smiled to himself. 

Although he was supposed to restrain himself as he had promised his clan head, it shouldn't matter too much if he pulled the plan forward a bit. It was bad enough that he already had to play school, he wasn't in the mood to be provoked by someone who wanted to play hero.