Chapter 68: The Sudden Request

Declan’s brows creased.

Indeed, there wasn’t anyone with 3,000 points on the ranking, and even the current number one had only 2,670.

[That’s an example of a background advantage.]

The system suddenly blinked into existence.

[You’ll come across people who are superior to you in every metric simply because they were fortunate enough to be born into a better environment.]

[The sooner you become accustomed to that unfairness, the better off you’ll be on your path.]

The panel faded, leaving Declan humming silently as he stared into the distance for a moment.

_____________

"Speaking of abnormality, I find you to be one too," Evie said as she sat up.

"I am?" Declan asked.

"Yeah. My mom rarely asks me for anything, not even when I was doing well in high school or training here."

"It’s been years since she requested anything from me, and yet she specifically asked me to keep an eye on you."

"There are dozens of mysterious geniuses, even among the Newcomers with some having never-before-seen Mecha Modules or unique Core features, yet she specifically asked me to watch over you."

"That alone shows how much of an anomaly you are, and while I didn’t see anything special about you at first, aside from your weird confidence, I’m starting to witness a couple of anomaly moments..." she said.

Declan’s eyes dimmed at the subtle poke.

"Anomaly moments?"

"Yeah. I later saw the video of you and that hoverboard Corer. No ordinary human should have been able to grab a Corer and send them flying into the ground like that, but you did."

"And after you fused with a Core, you suddenly became strong enough to match Instructor Roja. He even said i] himself. You’ve surpassed all of us by a step."

Declan raised an eyebrow. "He did?"

"Yeah. Most likely, you won’t be in Instructor Roja’s class for your next Weapon Class based on your assessment. You’ll be moved to a higher class."

Evie paused, her expression becoming thoughtful.

"All of that is abnormal... though, it’s still not really enough to explain why my mom would go so far as to ask me to watch you."

Declan knew exactly why.

It was because of The Boss.

But he couldn’t reveal that. It involved the X Base, and Evie hadn’t fulfilled the requirements to know about it, so he remained silent.

DRIIIIING!

DRIIIIING!

His device suddenly began vibrating, prompting Declan to hum as he pulled it out.

Evie glanced over and immediately noticed the change in his expression, his eyes widening as he stared at the screen.

"One sec."

"It’s fine," she answered.

Declan quietly stood and walked a few steps away before swiping across the screen.

"Hello, Boss Morg?"

The person calling him was indeed Boss Morg.

"Declan. Congratulations on your successful fusion."

Declan wryly rubbed the back of his head.

"You kept your promise, just as you said you would, but you also seemed to have played a little dirty with Blythe."

A bead of sweat slid down Declan’s face.

"Well, so far, you’re still breathing."

"Thank you," Declan replied.

"I’ve got an urgent request for you."

Declan’s eyes gleamed. "And what is that?"

"There are a couple of cultist nuisances taking place within the academy."

"Cultist... nuisances?"

Declan frowned in confusion.

"I’ll send a marked location to your map. Get there within ten minutes."

The call disconnected, and Declan immediately looked at his map, where a blinking red dot had appeared.

His expression changed.

"That’s... a forbidden area."

Declan slowly lowered his device and turned around, only to immediately flinch backward when he found a face suddenly right behind him.

"Hey!"

A giggle followed and it was Evie, whose pink eyes stared directly into his. Declan had no idea when she had sneaked up on him.

"Your girlfriend calling for the night?" she teased and Declan scoffed and rolled his eyes.

"Girlfriend calling for... Yeah, right."

"What?" Evie tilted her head. "You’re no longer the weakest human in the school, therefore undeserving of love?"

She was clearly referring to the excuse he had given her previously.

"She’s not my girlfriend, and she ain’t calling for the night. Whatever that’s supposed to mean," he answered.

Then he noticed Evie staring at him before she winked.

"Ewwww! Pervert!"

Declan gave her a deadpan look, and Evie stared back for a moment before her lips slowly curled into an evil grin.

"What are you planning?"

"Nothing."

It was obviously a lie, but Declan had somewhere to be, and time was already running out.

"Night’s closing in. Can you give me a ride back to the dorm?"

VROOOOOOM!

The engine suddenly roared as Evie tapped something on her device, causing the powerbike to immediately drive itself over and stop right in front of them.

She climbed onto it and put on her helmet, while Declan did the same before taking the seat behind her.

"Hold tight... pervert!"

Evie teased.

Declan’s face turned red beneath his helmet.

"Hey, I’m not a "

VROOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The Tron powerbike suddenly launched forward, and the acceleration was so violent that Declan was almost thrown from the bike, forcing him to barely stay seated by wrapping an arm tightly around Evie’s waist.

"Awwwn."

The moan rang through his helmet, causing Declan to freeze.

"What was that?"

"You’re holding tight..." Evie’s voice came softly through the helmet.

Declan immediately loosened his grip, but then,

VROOOOOOOOOM!

Another burst of acceleration nearly sent him flying again, and his arm instinctively wrapped around her waist.

"Awwwn... so tight."

She moaned again, and Declan finally lost it.

"STOP MESSING WITH ME, EVIEEEEE!"

"Hehehehehehe."

VROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

____________

"I didn’t think we would have so much fun this evening, Declan," Evie said.

She said it as Declan handed her the helmet.

"Stop making it sound so weird, you pervert," he cursed.

Evie giggled coyly.

"You’re not innocent as you look, Declan. I just know it. Still, thanks for the time. See you in class tomorrow..."

She swiped her green card against the scanner and disappeared into her dorm room.

Once she was inside, Declan brought out his own green card and swiped it against his door.

BEEP!

The door opened, but Declan didn’t enter; instead, he waited for roughly the amount of time it would have taken him to walk inside before allowing the door to close.

Once it shut, he immediately looked down at his device, where the blinking location was still displayed.

Declan silently climbed onto the railing and jumped, his body descending rapidly before landing in a crouch on the ground below, where his figure immediately merged with the surrounding shadows before disappearing from the dorm building.

The location Boss Morg had sent him was dangerous.

It sat right at the periphery of the second-year area, and in fact, one could almost consider it part of the second-year area itself.

Declan continued forward, merging with the shadows to conceal his movements until he eventually reached the top of one of the skyscrapers, where he crouched near the edge and looked down.

The area marked on his map was... bizarre.

It wasn’t another building. Instead, there was what appeared to be an incredibly wide corridor between two massive structures, with the long passage drenched in darkness.

Yet from within that darkness, Declan could faintly hear something.

A low hum, like a steady vibration of energy.

"An invisibility barrier?" he muttered in confusion.

He couldn’t see anything, but his enhanced senses could clearly detect the humming energy below.

Whatever was down there...Something definitely existed.

Declan remained pressed against the side of the skyscraper, high enough that nobody below could notice him, while he switched his device to silent mode and continued observing.

Soon, his suspicion was confirmed.

A second-year student walked into the dark alley after carefully checking both directions, remaining there for several seconds before checking again.

Only after making absolutely certain nobody was watching did he stretch out his hand, revealing a small button in his palm.

He dropped it into the empty space ahead.

The button should have fallen onto the green grass, but it didn’t.

It simply vanished.

Then,

FWOOSH!

A ripple appeared in the air, and the distortion quickly formed the shape of a doorway before the second-year student stepped through it and disappeared.

’Just as I suspected.’

Declan continued watching as the same thing happened again and again, but to his surprise, it wasn’t only second-years entering.

Several Newcomers also arrived, each carrying the same strange buttons.

FLICKER.

Declan’s device suddenly vibrated in his pocket, prompting him to pull it out and answer the call.

"Boss Morg."

"You there?"

Her voice came from the other side.

"Yes."

Declan glanced toward the dark alley.

"Something is going on. There’s a dark alleyway with what appears to be an invisibility barrier, and the students use some kind of button to access it."

"Second-years?"

"Not only them. I’ve counted three second-years and seven first-year Newcomers."

"Think you can get in?"

Declan’s spine stiffened.

"Get... get in?"

"Yes. I want you to tell me the state of things from inside."

Declan’s brow furrowed.

Get inside?

First, he didn’t have the button required to enter. Second, he had no idea what was waiting beyond that invisible barrier. Was it merely a hidden gathering, or did the barrier conceal some kind of teleportation device?

Whatever the group was doing, they had clearly gone to great lengths to hide it from outsiders. People like him.

"That... that’ll be quite difficult."

"Sounds like a yes. You’ve got three minutes."

The call disconnected.

"What the—!" Declan stared at the device. "I said—"

He stopped himself and clicked his tongue.

"Tch."

Now he had to get inside.

The first thing he needed was one of those buttons.

Thirty seconds later, he noticed a student walking down the stairs and branching toward the hallway, causing his eyes to narrow.

’Here’s my chance.’