The following day, the day of the holiday, Athar remained holed up in his room. As Angelica had suggested, he kept Sarpinash out in the room but did not really do anything else to strengthen the bond between them.
He could tell that he already possessed a fairly strong bond with Sarpinash, figuring he could focus more on deepening it in the future. Sarpinash, on the other hand, was happy to simply enjoy his time in the outside world, slithering over whatever he could find.
The main thing Athar worked on was the two Yellow grade techniques he had selected. Although both techniques were of the Yellow rank, Sword Slash was easier to learn than the Phase of Illusion.
Thus, he decided that his first step would be to learn Sword Slash, while the turn of the Phase of Illusion would come later.
He left his room only in the evening for a brief period of time, which was for his scheduled spar with Ryler. Having another intense session with him, Athar could feel that these spars were truly helping him a lot.
Although Athar was still holding back slightly, he could not deny Ryler's brilliance. Ryler was a genius in his own right, far from an average nobody.
With his Silver grade beast taken into consideration, he was a top notch talent. Ryler was incredibly agile, and although Athar held the upper hand overall, Ryler's agility easily rivaled his own.
After the spar, he headed to the dining hall. As Ryler had warned, he half expected some drama to unfold again, but nothing of the sort occurred.
This was likely because the number of students in the dining hall was much smaller, as most of those who had gone out of the academy for the holiday had already eaten elsewhere.
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Athar had just returned to his room after dinner when a knock sounded at his door. A frown creased his forehead. He did not think that he knew someone so close who could come knocking at his door.
He had a very good idea of who it might be. He guessed that it had to be related to the thirty percent quota he was supposed to submit to Dervin today.
Straightening his back, he unlocked the door, cracked it open, and peered through the small gap. Standing in front of him was a slightly burly man of average height with curly hair. Athar did not recognize him.
"Athar VonCruz?" The man outside questioned with a raised eyebrow.
"Yes," Athar replied, with a tint of hesitation in his voice.
"I want to have a word with you," the man said, attempting to push the door open.
But Athar was quicker. He stepped out of the room before the man could react and pulled the door shut behind himself.
"We can talk out here," Athar remarked smoothly.
The man stared at him briefly, as if considering the suggestion. He finally nodded in agreement.
"Fine," he said. "Follow me."
As previously mentioned, all the student dormitories were located in D Block, which spanned four floors. Athar lived on the fourth floor. The fourth floor was designated for first year students, the third for second years, the second for third-years, and the first for fourth years. The ground floor served as a sort of common area and also had the dining hall. Though it was far too massive to be called a simple common room.
To house nearly six hundred students admitted each year in private rooms, one could easily imagine the gargantuan scale of a single floor.
Each floor resembled a honeycomb of intertwined corridors and rooms.
Athar followed the man toward an isolated section of the floor, which contained empty rooms waiting for students who would be enrolling in the coming months. They eventually arrived at a quiet, deserted corridor.
"Athar VonCruz," the man said. "Let me introduce myself first."
"My name is Trux, and I am a second year student," he added.
Athar simply nodded in response, giving Trux his silent cue to continue.
"Athar," Trux continued, "I believe you were supposed to be somewhere today."
Athar narrowed his eyes, maintaining a look of confusion to convey that he had no idea what Trux was talking about.
Trux sighed, as if seeing right through the act.
"Dervin," he stated. "Does that name ring a bell?"
At the mention of the name, a flicker of feigned and fake nervousness crept onto Athar's face as he gave a hesitant, frightened nod.
"Good, you remember," Trux remarked. "In that case, may I ask why you did not show up to deliver the thirty percent share of the resources you received?"
"That..." Athar stammered, playing along.
"What?" Trux snapped, clearly losing his patience.
"After I got my resources last week, I got too excited and spent all of them," Athar said, sheepishly lowering his gaze. "I had nothing left to contribute for my share. I used it all."
A condescending smirk played on Trux's face as he stared down at Athar.
"You know, Athar VonCruz," Trux said. "Usually when a student misses their quota, we deal with them in a very different manner."
"We do not approach them nicely, and we certainly do not ask why they missed their payment," he continued with a cruel grin. "We give them swift punishment and make them understand their place. We are not in the business of playing the benevolent savior."
"But you know what? Dervin put in a good word for you. He said you have an impeccable record of always paying on time."
"He asked me to find out why you missed it this time and decide accordingly," he remarked.
"So, you should consider yourself incredibly lucky," Trux grinned. "Considering your clean record and Dervin's recommendation, I am going to give you a single pass this time."
"I... I must thank you, and Dervin, for this," Athar added, sounding suitably awkward.
"Haha!" Trux chuckled softly. "But there has to be a penalty."
"Next week, you will submit all five of your beast cores as your quota to cover both weeks," Trux announced. "After that, you can resume your usual thirty percent."
"But... that is more than sixty percent of two weeks combined," Athar tried to protest.
Trux narrowed his eyes, glaring menacingly at Athar.
"When you are given an inch, do not try to take a mile! Escaping a physical beatdown is already a miracle," Trux snapped in sudden anger. "Be grateful for that."
"Next week, five beast cores," he commanded, leaving no room for argument.
An aura, probably E Rank, burst from Trux's body as he gave Athar one last warning glare before turning and walking away.
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[Thank you for reading. Rate, Review and Comment on my novel. Also send the power stones]