BXBX NOVEL Chapter 104 The Choice
Jake walked through the steel door of the Lockheed student mansion with a light smile.
"Jake! What's up, my man?" Brad, the calm-minded blonde athlete from Kaze's microbiology class, said with a warm smile.
"Jake!"
"What's up Scrawn Minor?"
"I'm so glad you're here. I made progress yesterday!"
"Me too. Do you want to see it before practice?"
"Uh, sure. Just give me a minute." Jake replied awkwardly, cringing inwardly.
The future Director of Faction Affairs wasn't accustomed to popularity. Now, he was rushed by a dozen people the second he walked through the door.
After getting everyone set up for practice, he started with an announcement.
"Tomorrow's your last day of exclusive training before you're free to roam the campus." He announced, triggering excited cheers.
"So let's get cultivation down perfectly. Once you have power, learning techniques becomes effortless."
Excitement spread through the room, and people voiced their enthusiasm.
"Let's get started. Today, we'll start with your tracing allowance. Partner up with someone you're comfortable with and trust." Jake announced.
"We're tracing all of the meridian points on the arms, below the knees, and above the shoulders.
The training will last for thirty minutes. As always, while I encourage partners mingling, if you don't get a partner, that's life.
Once you leave this room, you can practice all you want. This period is an allowance of practice time and not training."
Every member of the Kaze Kills College Students faction gritted their teeth in resentment.
Jake had wisely ignored them unless they addressed him, and they didn't. So he ignored him and didn't force cooperation. However窶能
"Hey, Jake. Can窶ｦ you please help me today?" Haiden, a brunette from the anti-Kaze faction, asked nervously, looking like an abandoned puppy.
The students froze and looked at him to see what he would do.
"Why today, Haiden?" Jake swallowed nervously, trying to keep up a brave front, "You didn't practice Minor Vision until yesterday, nor did you ask anyone for help in two days or contribute."
She froze for a moment before putting on her mask again. "I've been afraid to. Everyone has isolated me, so it wasn't a choice."
"Have I ever turned down a person for learning?" He asked, unwavering.
Haiden's eyes trembled, and she glanced at everyone else's faces. "... No. But you're窶ｦ."
She planned to say [loyal to Kaze], but that was the problem.
"If you haven't turned down anyone, does that mean you'll help us today?" Regina, the co-leader of the group, asked.
He scanned everyone's expressions before reconnecting his gaze.
"Are you looking to start trouble, Regina? Haiden?" Jake asked bluntly. There wasn't a person that wasn't surprised by the man's boldness.
However, he had an unofficial relationship, a new title, and popularity. Naturally, he would gain more confidence.
"Trouble?" Regina scoffed, "Whatever, never mind. Everyone's treating us like we're monsters on a quest to ruin the Emperor's reputation."
"It's absurd. We just want to know what's happening outside these walls." Haiden laughed breathlessly.
"Considering military members bagged our heads and locked us in an area with a steel door, I think asking about faction life here shouldn't be a problem."
The room fell silent again.
"Or, you know, that time where we were at a party and people started savagely beating each other, but somehow we're all fine?" Another said.
"Not knowing about that is important for being a faction member, right?"
All the students turned to the previously-geeky teen with wry smiles. Everyone wanted to know.
"So you're creating trouble?" Jake laughed, closing his eyes, "There's one more day until you're out of here.
How do you think we'll suppress what's happening outside this room窶琶f you're outside this room?"
The three women quieted down and glared at him while the students sighed. It was a sensitive topic, and they were glad that Jake had something to counter it with as Kaze did.
"It's funny." Haiden laughed breathlessly, "You're acting like walking outside, being in a faction, or a timeline changes the death party or the steel door."
Everyone turned to Jake again, waiting to hear his reply.
The regent dry-swallowed nervously. He kept stopping himself from saying dozens of things.
[I don't have the answers]. Implying secrecy.
[You can ask Kaze later]. Implying ignorance.
[I wasn't at the party]. Opening the floor to discussion.
In truth, something serious was happening outside the faction's walls, and he also wanted to know.
However, he wouldn't threaten his potential savior to find out if he needed saving.
"Everything you're saying implies Kaze, and I are guilty." Jake said tactfully.
"You're trampling upon the opportunity Kaze has given you, and you'll regret that the day after tomorrow.
I made the rules of my teaching here clear on the first day.
Now leave the room; I'll never teach you again, inside or outside this room."
Everyone was stunned by the swift and decisive punishment.
"Wait, how is that fair!?" Haiden yelled.
"Now, I'm telling Kaze about your behavior." Jake warned, "If you keep this up, I'll recommend you receive expulsion effective immediately."
The room fell silent, and everyone present became shocked in disbelief.
"You pretended to ask for help so you could try to squeeze information out of me before Kaze comes back, because you think I'm weak." He continued calmly.
"So you're insulting and attacking me for helping people. Kaze has given free food, housing, recreation, priceless techniques, and training.
Yet you turned it all down, seeded doubt, spread fear, broke my one ask, insulted me, and made yourself an enemy of Kaze, and for what? Tell me, you three, what have you gained?"
Every student looked at the three women with complex expressions, primarily negative.
An unexpected voice spoke up.
"Jake, tell us there's nothing bad happening outside these walls." Veronica requested earnestly, "I'm sure saying that is all it would take to ease everyone's minds."
Everyone turned to her in shock. The two were inseparable and an unofficial couple, so hearing her speak up in defense of the troublemakers was shocking.
Jake's eyes trembled. His rule clearly stated that he wouldn't help anyone that asked him about what happened outside the room.
So if he wanted to enforce the rule, he'd also have to exclude his love interest from training.
Moreover, he'd have to turn her down publicly and not answer her question.
The second he said the words [I don't know], it was game over.
Ultimately, it came down to two things: Kaze or Veronica.
Jake made eye contact with her, took a deep breath, and spoke.
窶ｦ
Kaze sat outside the training ground on a boulder, amused by Evalyn and Crux's battle.
Whiiiiish, boom! Whiiiiish, craaaaaaack! Whiiish! Boom! whiiiish, craaack! whiiiiiiish! BOOM!
Over four hundred ice daggers shot at the divine beast, who flew through the sky gracefully.
Unlike previous days, Evalyn [loaded] her daggers in the air and in the forest instead of shooting them out.
As a result, the shadow cat knew where the daggers were, but they weren't shooting at her. They attacked randomly.
Naturally, Crux could easily destroy all of them. However, that would require her to destroy the entire forest, as the blonde hid hundreds under the trees.
Evalyn wasn't a fool. She intentionally used the tactic because it was one of her teacher's few weaknesses.
That said窶能
BOOM! Boom, boom, rubble, rubble, boom! Boom! Boom, boom, rubble, boom! Boom!
Crux frowned in annoyance, finding it difficult to deal with the main daggers attacking her, crushing loaded blades surrounding her, and looking for random daggers shooting out of the forest.
So she sighed, found the blonde, and waved her hand a dozen times, sending small attacks through the trees to cut off the blonde's escape route and attack her simultaneously.
Evalyn created an ice shield attached to a tree. Creating it with the tree reinforced the ice and made it far more robust. Nevertheless窶能
CrrrRaaCCK! BOOM!
The ice shattered, sending shards blasting through the area. It only held up for a second, but it told Evalyn where the invisible attack hit.
As a result, she was able to escape.
She waved her hand above and sent a dozen loaded blades at Crux at once.
When the shadow cat dodged them, Evalyn waved her hand, and a massive shield of ice attached to the treetops.
"When will she learn that I can see through it?" Crux scoffed in annoyance.
The entire shield abruptly exploded, catching the shadow cat off guard.
Blades shot at Crux's side, pushing her to the left. The shield fragments shot at her from the front, and, finally窶能"Razor Flurry."
Tens of thousands of ice shards shot at the shadow cat like a homing blizzard.
"Survivable." Crux growled with a twitching eyebrow, waving her hand, "Shield of Darkness."
Evalyn's eyes widened in shock when the world darkened. The sun disappeared from a massive purple miasmic ball in the sky.
"Pay attention, you fool." Kaze smiled from a distance, "That woman's pettiness could slay a monarch."
On the inside of the swirling purple ball was a natural shield of warping Qi blocking the flurry of attacks. Crux gave the blonde a sadistic grin and waved her hand.
"KAZE!" Jake yelled, panicking from the other side of the wall. There was true desperate desperation in his voice.
The blonde's eyes widened in horror when a thousand black daggers randomly shot out of the ball.
"WE NEED HELP!" The regent screamed, "VERONICA IS SERIOUSLY HURT!"
BOOOOOM! BOOM, boom! CRRAAACK! BOOM! CraaaACK! BOOM! CRaaaaaCK! BOOOOM!