Given Up

"A dog eat dog?" Raaji looked to Lotus in confusion and a little shaken.

"A fierce battle of power to reach the top." Huo Wei responded bluntly without hesitation, "They don't care if you are still young or not. If you're weak, they're going to treat you as fodder. One year, there can be over three thousand deaths around the world. If you want to live, you need power or a strong support behind you. You are more fortunate to die of old age and illness than to die from poison."

"But- But, nothing has happened to the students-!"

"Of course not." He responded with a frown, "The infiltrators here, aside from me, are being very careful. We didn't realize that there'd be another inhabited world here. We don't know anything about magicians and, so, we are very careful observing your capabilities. the members of the twin needle sect treats their people as limited resources. If their people are gone, they are more likely to perish as well. So, one wrong move here and we won't know if we will live or not."

"So there's been no movement because of that..." Raaji shuddered at the thought of being watched constantly like eyes of a predator stalking them.

"Not exactly." Lotus responded with a frown, "That tarantula incident occurred recently was released by someone watching the Savanaclaw dorm."

"What?!" Raaji looked to her in bewilderment, "But, weren't they from the South?"

"The South region of our world." A-Cong scowled at the thought of those spiders, "Those things killed a couple of my people!"

Hei Hui turned to Lotus in bewilderment, "But, I believe the plant spirit Niersi Lily was watching over that dorm."

"The Niersi Lily?" Raaji looked to Lotus in confusion.

"The guardian of Savanaclaw dorm." She clarified with a frown, "She's already waiting for the right moment to pounce on the intruders that came into her dorm when I met her. The Black Coral spirit of Octavinelle dorm was watching as well. That is the guardian of the dorm. They're waiting for the right moment to strike..."

Raaji shuddered nervously when he heard this. She's basically mobilized the guardians of each of the dorms she's been to already!

"Are all guardians in the dorms spirits and cultivators?" Raaji said nervously.

He looked to Lotus, but she shrugged! How could she just dive into the unknown without a plan?! What if they were stronger than her and attack her?!

Seeing her look of bewilderment, she misunderstood and thought that he probably assumed she knew them. She said, "The Heatslabyul dorm was the first time I've heard about the guardians. How could I have known about them without having met them?"

"That's not it." Raaji said with a grimace, "What if they tried to attack?"

"They'd die." Hei Hui muttered with a scowl, "In case you've forgotten, we can't harm students."

"But, Lotus is a woman, right? Maybe the mirror made a mistake-!" Raaji turned to them in confusion but was instantly cut off by A-Cong's voice.

"Rather the mirror made a mistake or not, the fact was that he had her stay here despite not being able to see her soul. So, what are the chances that he would reject her now?" A-Cong said quickly noticing the glare coming from his companion.

If he had known this guy would be this talkative or forgetful, he'd have taken him away from here.

Seeing her companion cover for the student, Hei Hui shrugged it off and turned to Lotus who spoke up boldly, "Now, that that's out of the way for Jamil and the rest of the dorm students. There's something else now."

Hei Hui looked to her curiously wondering what her next move was. A-Cong wanted her to just leave already with this guy, while Raaji just wanted her to shut up before they anger their in-a-sense supervisor of their dorm!

"That large bird guardian and that hound. They're not guardian, correct?" Lotus clarified with a huff of dismay.

"They aren't." Hei Hui nodded, "The young roc is the child we were tasked to care for. He only began working with us as of late. The other seemed to have been an exile from the guardian's pack in the Ignihyde dorm."

"An exile..." Raaji repeated in bewilderment.

A-Cong nodded with a sigh, "The guardian of the Ignihyde dorm is a descendant of the Heavenly Hound."

"Heavenly Hound?!" Lotus's eyes lit up in surprise and she yelped in surprise.

Seeing her excitement, Raaji had a bad feeling in his guts. However, before he could ask, Huo Wei whispered to him quietly, "I'll explain to you later. Just see it that the large dog that attacked you two is descended from a long line of a legendary figure."

Hearing this, Raaji quickly shut up his mouth uncertain of why it was necessary for his silence.

"So, the guardian of the Ignihyde dorm wasn't a pack of wolves, but hounds..." Lotus breathed a sigh of relief when she heard this.

"You've been to the dorm?" A-Cong looked to her in surprise.

Lotus nodded, "I have a friend in that dorm, so I've seen the tracks every so often. probably due to the fact that I'm a guest in the dorm."

"For such a reason," A-Cong breathed a sigh of dismay, "Could it be that the dorm is still as introverted as they were in the past?"

"That's right." The two responded bluntly.

Huo Wei gave them a look of confusion as Lotus responded, "The majority of the students dislike interaction with the other students and are mesmerized by the entertainment feats that high technology has to offer while also studying and creating their own at their own pace. As a result, those who share the same interests create groups and share their interests together. Some refuse to socialize with others outside due to ideas that others aren't capable of understanding their interests and excitement while other students of the dorm are afraid of being looked down upon and isolate themselves in order to fit in with the antisocial, but hi-tech group. The main point is, since it's been so long since they allowed someone to enter their dorm as a guest, that their guardian are now on guard by the sudden change. It's possible that it's been a long time since a student of another dorm have been invited over to their dorm as often as I have been."

"So, you're being watched." Hei Hui muttered in dismay.

Lotus nodded, "Aside from this matter, Kalim and his dormmates will have the antidotes to your venom that they can reproduce on their own. However, I am not a part of the dorm and I was attacked and Raaji was attacked despite being a member of the Scarabia dorms. If it weren't for the circumstances, I would not have been forced to trespass the boundaries in search of help."

Hei Hui nodded as well, "So, you want to be reimbursed in a manner."

"What?!" A-Cong scowled in disbelief when he heard this.

Was having the antidote to their poisons not enough for her and now she shamelessly want more? This isn't a deal! It's robbery in plain daylight!

However, Hei Hui was not interested in the matter in such a manner and thought carefully, "Since it's like this, how do you plan to even out the balance here? Perhaps, we can hold some negotiations?"

"That's fine too." She nodded without complaint, "Naturally, since the attack had occurred, it would be more fitting to have protection to make up for the mistake."

Huo Wei looked up in bewilderment, "You want them to offer their protection for you and follow you around. But, they are the guardians of the dorm, can you contract them despite this?"

"Without a contract, of course." Lotus added in response bluntly, "I don't form contracts without complete consent from the other parties. Can I really trust they will give their all to protect me in dire situations, otherwise?"

At this point, Raaji had given up asking and decided to just remember everything he was told in the hut instead. If he remembered correctly, contracts were like chains, right? However, the two are very powerful, so why wouldn't she want to contract them and make them protect her inside this dorm instead? This was just too complicated!

"Moreover," Lotus huffed in dismay and folded her arms with a pout, "there are the intruders from our realm, so we obviously need the protection."

A-Cong grimaced and turned to Hei Hui, "Lady Hei, we... we can't go along with this! Please! Our vows-!"

"Calm yourself, A-Cong." Hei Hui responded softly in thought before turning to her, "It is true that we owe you and your friend for the mistake of our people..."

Hei Hui pondered to herself a little more before her eyes glistened and turned to Lotus with a small smile as she responded, "Since our people was the one who started this mistake... Let them be the one to decide how to make it up to you!"

"What?!"