A Prelude to the Gathering

Drai turned toward the voice and saw a group of people sitting at a table that was longer than the other ones. These people were facing toward the other students, and it was only now that Drai realized Christo and the others must have been paying attention at direction of these people, as there was also Big Bob who was standing beside the long table.

Drai and Natalia looked at each other before heading toward the aforementioned group. It was apparent that an upperclassmen had noticed them and decided to call them there.

As the two arrived at the table, the group of upperclassmen sitting there looked at them curiously. Other than Big Bob, Drai only recognized Gemma and Ross, who were currently sitting at the far end of the table next to each other.

"Hello," Drai greeted the group noddingly. He wondered why someone had called for him.

Instead of greeting him back, the group merely looked at the man sitting in the center seat. The man had a well-built body with a wide torso. His hair was fiery red, long, and slightly unkempt, which reminded Drai of a beast's mane.

"Drai, right?" the man said as he examined Drai. "Big Bob told us that you were just outside preoccupied with something, so we decided to wait for you a bit. After all, your name is already quite known among the students because of some rumors, and I think none of the people here would want to miss the chance to meet such a celebrity. But I didn't think you would come with a plus one. Didn't you say that all the new members are here already, Gemma?"

"It's true; the registry checks out. Maybe she's the same as the stacked girl earlier who arrived late and hadn't registered for VV," Gemma said from her seat.

"Wow, looks like we're quite popular this year. I remember that our last year's first gathering only had five newcomers, tops," a lady with pink hair remarked, to which most of the group nodded agreeingly.

"Is that right, Drai?" the man with red hair asked.

"Yeah, Natalia isn't a member yet. When I told her about the gathering, Natalia asked to come with me. Is it still okay for her to join?" Drai inquired.

Before the man could respond, the person sitting beside him whispered something to his ear, which made the man glance at Natalia intriguedly. Drai looked at the cloaked person curiously, as the person was surrounded by faint dark smoke that slowly twirled with every movement.

"Of course it's okay," the man finally answered. "But before that, do you mind if I test you a bit?"

"Test me? Sure," Drai replied mindlessly. He was slightly surprised that the new members would have to undergo a test, but he assumed that it was just the way the group operated. He thought that perhaps the other new members had already been tested earlier when he was still outside.

"Hahaha! Great!" the man exclaimed before standing up and coming over to Drai. As he stood up, Drai was slightly astonished upon seeing the towering stature of the man. He seemed to be more than two meters (6'6") tall. With his height and bulky frame, along with his wild demeanor, the man should be rather intimidating. But Drai only smiled appreciatively upon observing the man's body, which slightly stunned the group at the table. Perhaps this would spark a new rumor about Drai in the near future.

Meanwhile, the other first-years watched this scene curiously. Most of them had also heard about Drai, and those who hadn't would have learned about him by now, since they all heard the words that the man had spoken earlier.

"Is Drai being hazed or what?" Jian asked the others at his table. Interestingly, the busty lady that Drai and Natalia saw earlier was also sitting here. Flo was also there, looking slightly dazed.

"I don't think so. I think they're just curious," Auri said.

"Yeah. I think they just want to clarify the rumors. We might not have thought much about it, but this might not be the case for other people," Christo added.

"So that's Drai from the rumors? You never told me he's your friend, Jian," the busty girl remarked.

"You never asked. I didn't think you would be interested," Jian replied shruggingly.

"Tell me more about Drai later, okay?" the girl said while wrapping her hands around Jian's arm, which made Jian blush.

Seeing this, Auri opened her mouth, but before she could say anything, she felt a nudge on her feet that made her stop. Auri looked down to find out it was Christo's foot that was nudging her. When Auri turned to look at Christo, he responded by subtly shaking his head with a look that implied, "We'll talk about it later."

"What's with you two? Are you guys dating?" the busty girl suddenly asked. Apparently she had noticed the duo's short interaction.

"No," Christo and Auri flatly replied, almost at the same time.

"No?? But I think you two are quite a good match. Don't you think so, Jian?"

Hearing the girl's question, Jian had wanted to agree, but he felt a sense of danger and glanced at the two to find that Auri was staring daggers at him.

"Uhm… maybe? I don't know," Jian replied, feigning ignorance due to Auri's stare.

"Hmph! You're no fun, Jian," the girl sulkily said and pouted.

Jian merely sighed as he wondered why girls were such troublesome creatures.

Back at the front table, the towering man was standing in front of Drai smilingly. He offered his hand and said, "The test is simple. We'll shake hands."

Although Drai was a bit confused by this, he nevertheless nodded. He thought that perhaps the man had a skill that could reveal someone's character or the like by shaking hands. Drai then raised his arm and shook the man's hand.

The man's smile turned into a sly grin as he immediately strengthened his grip. However, he was instantly shocked as he felt that Drai's hand was hard as rock. The man then gripped with all his strength, exerting pressure that would've pulverized any other student's hand.

However, Drai was only feeling a moderate amount of pressure. He looked at the man curiously, as the man's arm was now so tense that veins were bulging all over it.

'Is the skill difficult to use? Why does he look like he's in agony? I think he's even starting to sweat. Although I hadn't registered with ulterior motives, I'm not totally sure that I'll pass the test, since I don't actually know what he's looking for. I hope the test results aren't related to intelligence, otherwise I'll probably fail,' Drai thought.

Shortly after, Drai felt the pressure on his hand subside as the man relaxed his grip and took a few deep breaths. Soon, the man seemed to have recovered and looked at Drai with excitement.

"Hahaha! He's the real deal guys! The rumors weren't exaggerated!" the man loudly exclaimed, which surprised everyone there except for Drai's friends.

"I told you he's strong. He crumpled one of our chairs during the expo with only one hand. If you check the storage room, you can probably find that chair with his handprint on it," Big Bob remarked.

"He isn't the boastful type either. You know what he said during the interview? 'I'm a bit strong and tough.' Who knew that he could withstand Bismar's grip so easily?" Ross chimed in.

"If he's only 'a bit strong', then everyone else here are weaklings," Gemma said wryly.

"What a shame… And here I thought he was a cutie. Turns out he's an even worse musclehead than Bismar," the girl with short pink hair regretfully said.

The senior members of VV weren't the only ones astonished by Drai, as even the students sitting at the small tables were muttering among themselves, including those at Christo and co.'s table.

"Why are the seniors so surprised? Is Drai really that strong?" Flo couldn't help but ask. Her curiosity seemed to have overcome her shyness.

"Yeah. He's quite abnormal, at least by the academy's standards," Auri said.

"So the rumors were true? He really punched a deep hole in a trablite slab?" the busty girl asked.

"I don't know about that; he never told us. But since he easily lifted the dorm bed with one hand above his head, it's probably true," Jian replied.

"When did he do that?" Auri asked curiously. Although Drai had told her about his confrontation with Jian, he didn't include the details.

"On the first day here," Jian said, slightly rueful upon recalling the incident. "And that's before he leveled up. His strength should've increased slightly by now."

"He leveled up already!?" the busty girl blurted. She was so shocked that she unknowingly stood up from her seat.

"Yeah. We saw him level up during the expo. We were quite shocked too at that time, Tamara," Jian explained, unsurprised by her shock.

"So he's really an anomaly, huh?" Tamara muttered as she sat back down.

"I didn't think he would be that strong…" Flo also muttered from her seat. Recalling what Drai had said to her earlier, she blushed and buried her head under her arms on the table.

Auri giggled upon seeing Flo's antics. She then glanced at Christo, only to find him staring into the distance. He seemed to be caught up in his thoughts again.

'This guy has been acting really weird tonight. I wonder what's the whole deal between him and Natalia,' Auri pondered. When asked about it earlier, Christo refused to reveal anything, which irked Auri. She planned to get to the bottom of this matter, even if she would have to interrogate Natalia herself. The only thing she was worried about was whether Drai would allow her to do so, since he seemed to care a lot about the girl.

Meanwhile, Drai was standing awkwardly at the front. He had been constantly questioned about various things by the upperclassmen, from his training regime and diet to his parents' classes and occupations. It was only when he answered the question about his ideal woman that the whole table went silent for quite a while.

Big Bob was the first one to recover as he quickly said, "Guys, we can talk to Drai later. We still have a gathering to do if we don't want to end up with Drai as our only member."

The others on the long table were stunned as they seemed to have only realized now that they had forgotten about the other new members. They looked at one another awkwardly, as it had been quite irresponsible on their part for being this neglectful.

"Ah, my bad. You can go back and sit with the others, Drai. We'll begin the meeting right after," Bismar, the man with the red mane, said with an apologetic look.

"What about Natalia? Don't you need to test her too?" Drai asked.

"Huh? Oh, the handshake? There's no need for it. We only wanted to test you because of the rumors. Natalia only needs to register after the gathering, and perhaps interviewed a little," Bismar replied.

Drai was speechless, since he had thought that all the new members had to undergo the test. Apparently, it was specially prepared for him.

'I hope the rumors won't bring me anymore trouble…' Drai thought wryly. He was now quite sure that his newfound fame wouldn't do him any good. He couldn't even attend a gathering without being scrutinized by the senior members.

"Sorry you had to stand and wait," Drai apologized to Natalia as they were heading toward Christo and co.'s table.

"It's fine. I actually quite enjoyed watching you being interviewed by presumably the whole staff of VV. You're such a celebrity now, Drai," Natalia replied teasingly.

"I just want to be treated normally," Drai said with a helpless look.

Natalia quickly ceased her teasing upon seeing the apparent regret on Drai's face. She wanted to pat his back but stopped herself as she realized that most of the other students were currently watching them.

'I think I understand a bit how Drai feels about this…' Natalia thought to herself as she bitterly smiled. She then shrugged off her hesitation and proceeded to pat Drai's back, which caused Drai to glance at her and slightly smiled, silently gesturing that he's fine.

Arriving at the table, Drai looked at Christo, wondering how he would respond to Natalia's presence. However, Christo merely nodded and went back to staring into the distance. Drai could tell that Christo was currently preoccupied with something, as he had seen this expression several times already. Drai hoped that whatever Christo was thinking about would help him forget about his problem with Natalia, at least momentarily.

Drai then glanced at Natalia and saw that she was eyeing Christo warily, which made him sigh. He proceeded to pull a chair beside Flo, as it was a spot that was not too close from Christo and he expected Natalia to sit beside him. But before he could sit down, he felt someone grab his hand, followed by a soft and warm sensation smothering his arm.

Looking at his right, Drai saw his arm buried between two round peaks. Looking at the familiar friendly face of their owner who was currently smiling cheerfully at him, Drai's face became horrified as he immediately blurted words that shocked his immediate surroundings.

"Begone, thot! I have a wife back home!"