"I miss the school's atmosphere," Zane thought as he approached his studio apartment. Back in school, he had a few options for his morning run: he could use the track field, the gym, or just around campus. But back on Earth, he could only use the park where there were a lot of people. It felt strange not having so many options.
Zane paused and immediately entered guarded mode as he saw two men wearing hoodies waiting in front of his apartment. He recognized them: the two goons from the Lion Pride who tracked him down. After frowning for a moment, Zane calmly approached. They glanced at him for a moment and frowned. Then, the man on the right began to speak:
"Boss Mike is very —"
"I don't have time to waste with you. Give me the burner."
"Oh, it looks like we have a tough man," the man on the right side said, standing in front of Zane's face as if he did not understand the concept of personal space. Unfortunately for him, this was the wrong move. Zane did not hesitate to headbutt him so hard that his nose broke. The other companion saw this and wanted to intervene, but he received a punch so hard on his face that he was instantly knocked out.
"You're the one who threatened my family last time," Zane uttered, glancing at the man with the broken nose.
"I —" The man didn't finish his sentence as he lost consciousness. As he looked at these two on the floor, Zane couldn't help but frown: he had acted rashly. With how hard he hit them, they had probably suffered from brain hemorrhaging or trauma. Of course, the greater trouble was the Lion Pride.
"There is still room to salvage this," Zane thought. Placing his hand on their heads, Zane channeled his mana into their brains to damage enough neurons that they won't remember anything that had happened in the past few hours; he wasn't exact, so the damage might be more severe, but that didn't matter. What matters is that they forget their interaction with him.
The one with a broken nose held the flip phone, and Zane retrieved it from the inner pocket of his jacket. He then covered his head with his hoodie to hide his face. By now, every Earthling had finally understood why mages loved hoods: they're the perfect way to block enhanced perception. That's why Zane wore one even though it was summer and he was running. Although now he had high control over his perception, there were moments when he still felt overwhelmed in large crowds.
After hiding his face, he carried these two to an alley a few minutes from his apartment. This place was already isolated, and with his senses, Zane knew the location of all the cameras in the surrounding neighborhood. Finally, he rushed home to use his laptop. There were ways to generate random, untraceable numbers; Zane used their service to anonymously call 911 and send an ambulance for those two. After that, all that was left was to pretend he knew nothing about what had happened to these two.
"I'm still too weak to oppose the Lion Pride," Zane sighed. For now, it was in his best interest to continue working for them. "It's no different from my work in the dark web. And as long as they don't ask me to do any jobs like moving products, I'll be fine for a while. The only issue is these guys know my activities on the dark web and what I'm capable of."
Zane sighed as he glanced at the flip-phone. For now, there was nothing he could do about his identity. However, once he's a powerful mage, the Lion Pride will not dare to reveal it; on the contrary, they will go out of their way to hide it for him. And by then, it may not even be a serious issue if it's revealed.
Zane continued his leisurely vacation; he didn't even listen to his audiotapes filled with magic theory books. And as he expected, someone called him on the flip phone about an hour later. He pretended that he knew nothing about what had happened to these two, and the caller didn't question him too much. Anyway, what they cared about was Zane's hacking ability, nothing else. As for those two in the hospitals? They were the lowest foot soldiers in the entire gang, meaning they were replaceable. The Lion Pride has its fair share of enemies, so it's normal for its people to be killed or missing.
At seven o'clock, Zane entered the plaza to gather information, primarily on item prices, and compared them with those at the school. Zane was surprised to discover that the school was at least 25% more expensive for most items. However, the primary reason is that the plaza offered lower-quality services. Plus, some resources are only available through the school.
"Next month, Earthlings will begin to learn professions, meaning the price of goods will be even lower, but the quality will also be worse," Zane thought. A competition between Earthlings and the plaza will start next month for the lower-end market.
"The plaza people have the tower backing, which prevents them from selling shoddy products. With customers' trust, they can still compete, but the advantage of Earthlings will be how cheap it will be and the possibility of selling their product on Earth."
Zane was prepared to register for Alchemist Lessons next month, so he needed to prepare for the market. "I should have asked Ali to make a business plan for me. Well, it's not too late." He already had a list of services and prices, so after the next departure day, he'd hand it over to her to see if she could do something.
The deadline for returning to school was approaching, so Zane rushed to the bank. After deducting the money spent on the dark web, groceries, and the mini-fridge, he bought 31 magic crystals. He then found a service to sell one crystal for 180 gold coins before returning to school. At exactly 8 PM, the barrier around the school closed, and anyone who did not return in time would probably have to wait 12 hours.
As soon as Zane returned, he checked his student profile — to be precise, he checked the calendar. It was still Monday, Day 24, except it was night. For a moment, he felt a waste that he had missed two class sessions. However, he soon realized how much more relaxed he felt after resting for the past 36 hours, and that thought was immediately eliminated from his mind.
"Hmm? You're the only one here?"
"What? You don't want to see me?" Tom Nguyen — who was reading a book on the dining table — asked without raising his head.
"It's late, so I thought everybody would have arrived already," Zane explained as he put his bag on the floor and sat down.
"Well, I'm the only one here," Tom Nguyen said, slowly closing his book.
"How was it returning to Earth?"
"Strange."
"How?"
"I don't know. It felt weird knowing I spent an entire month, but only a day had passed."
"Really?" Zane nodded. He didn't feel much difference; in fact, he acted as if not much time had passed. "Did you do anything interesting?"
"Besides talking to my professor about some of the interesting ideas I've learned here, nothing much. You?"
"I treated it like a vacation and just relaxed."
"You probably needed it," Tom Nguyen nodded. He was aware of Zane's schedule, and he found it absurd. He was a very competitive individual, but even he couldn't take the two training sessions on top of the elite and practical classes. And even with his mental energy, he needed at least 5 hours of sleep to function every day.
"Have you —" Zane stopped what he was saying as the entrance door opened. He glanced over, hoping it would be Evans, but it was James instead. He was prepared to continue their conversation when something unexpected occurred: James stopped, stared at them for a moment, and nodded before walking directly to his room.
"What was that about?" Tom Nguyen asked.
"I don't know," Zane shook his head. In fact, this wasn't the complete truth. One of the skills he was forced to learn in prison was to read people's body language and facial expressions to determine their mood and how likely they would become volatile. As such, he could tell James didn't want to greet them but was forced to.
"What could force him?" Zane thought. He pondered for less than ten seconds before he had an answer: his parents. The only people who have any influence on someone like James are the ones who control his money, i.e., his parents. As for why his parents would force him to play nice with his roommate? The answer is also obvious: connection.
Anyone concerned about the future of the world understands that a new force was slowly being born on Earth: the transcendents. So, whether it's government agencies or the 1%, it's in their best interest to invest in or control this new power. James' parents have obviously figured out how he treats his roommate — probably from Evans — and told him to make connections with everybody else, or he'll be cut off.
"Don't worry about him," Zane said. "I was just going to ask you —"
"Oh, you guys are already here, good," Evans said as he entered the room. He approached and, without wasting a moment, tapped his inter-dimensional bag, and two mini-fridges appeared on the ground.
"I brought the fridge. Tom, I know you didn't ask, but I still brought you one. You can pay me later."
Tom Nguyen hesitated, but after thinking of the advantages, he nodded.
"How much?" Zane asked.
"It was only 305, but you can give me 300."
"$300 for a mini-fridge?" Tom asked.
"Yeah, Zane told me not to buy an expensive one," Evans said. As he looked at Tom's expression, he asked, "Is it not cheap?"
"I could buy one for less than $40."
"Oh," Evans replied. "I-I —"
"It's fine," Zane said. He was not surprised that Evans' version of cheap was different than theirs. After getting a taste of the rich people's world through Cindy, he came to understand how they think and operate. He once saw one of Cindy's friends buy a pair of gold-trimmed chopsticks for $27,000. So, without arguing much about the issue, Zane reached for his bag and retrieved 3 gold coins.
"You accept gold coins, right?"
"Hmm, no problem." Evans felt relieved due to Zane's reaction, but another issue arose: Tom's fridge. A moment of quiet descended in the room as everybody glanced at the other fridge. "How about I bring you a cheaper model after the next departure day?"
"Just take it," Zane suggested. " $300 won't mean much to you once you start hunting. And if you don't want to wait that long, you can still use your Academy Points." It wasn't possible to exchange gold for Academy Points, but the magic crystal was still on the list.
"…Alright," Tom Nguyen answered after weighing the pros and cons.