Chapter 8: Can I Stay At Your Dorm Tonight

Morales swiped his white ceramic card against the electronic lock of his assigned dorm room, letting the heavy door slide open with a soft hiss.

The room was situated inside the Freshman Sector, a massive, self-contained district within Aurelius Academy specifically designed to house, feed, and test the incoming class before they were ever allowed into the senior sectors of the main academy city.

Everything a student needed was inside this sector, provided they had the Aureus Credits to pay for it.

Morales tossed his small bag onto the narrow bed and sat down on the edge of the mattress, staring at his white credit card with the 1,000,000 $AC that’s their real exam tip.

Every single freshman had been given the exact same starting balance. Now, the objective of the First Exam was simple, survive, pay for daily necessities, and grow that capital.

There was just one glaring problem.

’I don’t know a single fucking thing about high-level corporate finance,’ Morales thought, rubbing the back of his neck as he let out a dry laugh.

In his past life as Zach Quinn, his entire expertise revolved around charm, bed talk, and extracting cash from wealthy women.

During the Vice Dean’s elaborate speech about market leverage, equity trading, and syndicate acquisitions, Morales had been completely lost. He had the street-smart instincts of a degenerate, but zero formal business knowledge.

"If I want to grow this million without losing it all, I need information," Morales muttered, sliding the white card into his pocket. "And first, I need to buy some real food."

He left his dorm building and walked out into the central commercial plaza of the Freshman Sector.

The plaza looked like a high-end luxury shopping district, lined with gourmet restaurants, private lounges, and supply stores, all charging exorbitant amounts of $AC and they were all expensive, lowest thing there worth a thousand Ac.

Wealthy students were already walking around casually tossing around tens of thousands of credits like pocket change, showing off their customized outfits and dining at five-star establishments.

Morales kept his head down, heading toward a basic supply shop near the edge of the district, still expensive but more cheaper than the other one....well the academy was prepared for scholarship students that were rich but not wealthy.

As he turned down a narrow, quiet corridor between two grand stone buildings, a frantic, hushed voice caught his attention.

"Please... stop! Just take my card!" Morales paused, stepping behind the shadow of a pillar.

At the dead end of the secluded brick alley, three heavy-set male freshmen had backed a girl against the wall.

She was petite, stunningly hot, with silky blonde hair falling over her shoulders and wide, emerald-green eyes brimming with terror.

Sweat glistened on her pale skin as she held out her credit card with trembling hands.

"Take all my one million credits!" she begged, her voice shaking. "Just let me go!"

"One million credits?" The leader of the group, a fat, greasy heir wearing a silk-trimmed jacket, let out a disgusting laugh, stepping closer to press her against the wall.

"Nah, sweetheart. Credits are easy to come by. First, I’m going to fuck you right here in this empty alley. Then I’ll take every single credit on your card. So let’s move somewhere even quieter."

"No! Please—!"

Morales leaned against the stone pillar, letting out a quiet sigh. He had explicitly wanted to keep a low profile in this academy, but these arrogant bastards had a habit of forcing his hand.

Besides, looking at the girl, her flawless body, her gorgeous face, her striking green eyes, she was an absolute ten out of ten.

"Hey, fat boy," Morales called out, his smooth voice echoing down the quiet alley. "Isn’t it a bit early in the term to be acting like a animal?"

The three thugs snapped their heads toward the entrance of the alleyway.

"Who the fuck asked you—?" The fat leader growled, but as Morales stepped out of the shadows into the light, his eyes narrowed. "Wait a minute... I know that face."

One of his lackeys gasped. "That’s that god-damned motherfucking poor kid! The one with the white card from the assembly! Morales Brown!"

Morales raised an eyebrow. ’Great. My name is already spreading through the freshman gossip mill.’

The fat leader sneered, taking a step forward and cracking his knuckles. "You’ve got a lot of nerve sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong, trash. Do you have any idea who the fuck I am?!"

Morales looked him up and down with complete indifference.

"Yeah," Morales said calmly. "A douchebag."

BOOM!

Before the fat thug could even react, Morales closed the distance in the blink of an eye. His right fist exploded forward, driving straight into the center of the guy’s face.

A sickening crunch echoed off the brick walls as the fat leader’s nose caved in. Blood sprayed everywhere as the heavy brute was lifted clean off his feet, crashing violently onto the hard stone pavement, clutching his shattered face and screaming in agony.

"Boss!" the two lackeys yelled in shock.

"I’ll kill you, you poor bastard!" the second thug roared, lunging forward with a wild, heavy right hook aimed directly at Morales jaw.

Morales didn’t even bother dodging. He stood his ground, letting the punch land squarely against his chest.

THUD!

It sounded like hitting a solid wall of iron. The thug gasped, his knuckles shattering on impact as a wave of sheer agony shot up his arm. "Argh! My hand!"

"My turn," Morales whispered.

Morales grabbed the thug by his throat, lifted him effortlessly with one arm, and slammed him spine-first into the brick wall.

The guy’s eyes rolled back into his head as he slumped onto the floor, completely unconscious.

The third lackey froze, his face turning ghostly white as he looked at his two broken friends, then up at Morales’ glowing blue eyes.

He turned around to run, but Morales casually stuck his leg out, sweeping the guy’s feet out from under him. The thug hit the ground face-first with a loud smack, groaning in a pool of his own blood.

Morales looked around the empty alley. Not a single person had seen the fight.

’Thank God it was just them in this corner,’ Morales thought, shaking out his knuckles.

He walked over to the fat leader, who was squirming on the ground, desperately trying to stop the bleeding from his face.

Morales knelt down, grabbing a handful of the guy’s greasy hair and yanking his head up until their eyes met.

"Listen to me very carefully," Morales growled, his voice dropping into a chilling, lethal whisper. "If word gets out that I did this... I won’t just beat you next time. I will personally bury the three of you underneath her dorm building. Do you understand me?"

The fat leader nodded frantically, tears mixing with the blood on his cheeks. "Y-Yes! I understand! I won’t say anything! Please!"

"Get the fuck out of my sight."

Morales let go of his hair, and the fat thug scrambled to his feet, frantically dragging his two battered, half-conscious lackeys out of the alleyway as fast as their legs could carry them.

Morales turned back toward the girl.

She was still pressed against the brick wall, sweat glistening on her forehead, her chest heaving as she drew in deep, ragged breaths.

She looked at Morales with wide emerald eyes, completely stunned by the absolute violence she had just witnessed in less than two minutes.

"A-Are you okay?" she stammered, wiping a strand of blonde hair from her wet cheek. "Thank you... thank you so much..."

"You’re welcome," Morales replied smoothly, stepping closer and offering her a hand. "You should be more careful around here. The rich kids act like animals when they think nobody is watching."

She took his hand, her small, soft fingers trembling in his grip as he pulled her up. She looked up into his striking blue eyes, her cheeks instantly flushing a deep shade of pink.

Up close, his sharp, flawless face and vivid red hair were overwhelmingly handsome.

She swallowed hard, looking around the empty alleyway nervously.

"Um..." she whispered, her voice laced with genuine fear. "Can... can I stay at your dorm tonight?"

Morales raised an eyebrow. "My dorm?"

"They... they found out which room is mine before they cornered me," she explained frantically, clutching her credit card tightly to her chest. "I’m terrified they’ll come back with more people once it gets dark. I have nowhere else to go..."

Morales tilted his head, a subtle glint entering his eyes. "Isn’t there a strict no-female rule in the men’s dormitories?"

The blonde girl blinked, looking up at him innocently. "There’s no rule like that for the Freshman Sector... or at least, the administrators haven’t mentioned one yet."

A slow, dark, mischievous smirk spread across Morales’ face as he looked down at her petite, trembling figure.

"Well then," Morales purred, extending his arm toward her. "Lets go get some food first."

"But this is not the way to the plaza?" She said.

"Well..I...." Before he could complete his words the system said in his head.

"Don’t think the system is only about sex. There’s another way to make money: CASHBACK.

Whenever you spend money on a woman, whether it’s on clothes, jewelry, gifts, or anything else, the system gives you back twice the amount you spent. So if you spend $1,000, you get $2,000 back. The more you spend, the more you earn, but only If her Corruption Level is more than 50."

’well what’s her level??’

[Corruption Level: 6/100]

Well that corruption Level was because of his charm, now he has to make a new mission for himself to make her Corruption Level higher than 50, but how when she just only like his looks.

"I saw the commotion down here and I had to help, let’s go back to the plaza."