It was now the fourth of August, the year 3040. Many things happened in the past few days, some good, some bad. The bad one was related to some news shared by the military.
Apparently, a vast horde was headed toward New Alexandria, and the city was setting up defenses all around and inside the barrier to avoid a breach in the eastern gate. The horde was so strong that General Becker had been forced to ask all the citizens under 60 years old and over 16 to join the defenses; they called every person available, and that received some training.
Despite the effort to prepare for the horde, rumors about the military's inability to effectively protect the city only added to the anxiety and uncertainty among the citizens. The military's announcement about the impending horde invasion of New Alexandria was disturbing, especially as they had already called in every available person for defense, leaving no room for additional reinforcements.
Luckily, Erik and his friends were underage and did not have enough experience to join the city's defenses, regardless. On the one hand, he was happy he didn't have to risk his life against the horde. On the other hand, he was sad due to the large amount of experience he would lose.
To be honest, Erik did expect a situation like this to happen, as it was all coherent with what was happening around the city and that he had the opportunity to see when he went hunting for thaids.
He didn't know the reason for this phenomenon, but it was clear that the military would release this information as soon as things calmed down. Erik thought about hacking into some military device to find this out, but he did nothing since he didn't care about it. Instead, he tried to focus on the positive aspect, which was that he had gained a lot of knowledge and skills during his time at the Red Palace that he could use in the future. He reflected on the fact that he had come a long way and was now capable of handling himself in situations that he would have found overwhelming before. He hoped this confident attitude would lead him to even greater success in the future, regardless of the challenges that may come his way.
The positive news, instead, was about Nathaniel. It had to be said that during these weeks, Erik had extensively used the power to connect to any device to make the young man's life hell. Erik discovered that his father, Matthew, was the leader of the Mambas, a local gang under the influence of the Crystal Cross gang since the little prick kept information regarding the matter on his phone. He actually wondered how idiotic Nathaniel could be to do something like that, but he guessed that he wasn't too bright after all.
Actually, he found out that Nathaniel had a pretty intense life, as his father owned several establishments inside the city, even clubs where prostitution and drugs were freely available. Nathaniel spent the past few days having casual sex with many women and indulging in alcohol, and Erik felt disgusted by the lifestyle he had been living.
This had all been seen through text messages that Nathaniel sent to some people Erik didn't know. Still, obviously, the young man took his opportunity and sent these conversations to Natasha, further destroying the two's previous relationship.
The only thing Erik needed now was to beat the prick, and at that point, he planned to share the information about Nathaniel's father with all the Red Palace students, the police, and the military. If he managed to get Nathaniel kicked out, that would be surplus. Erik was aware that, to do so, he needed more proof than just texts.
Time flew like that, and Erik managed to go high enough in the inner ranks to challenge Nathaniel. There was only one problem. The prick had gained another neural link, making him jump to PI1 on the Idor scale. He was the only one able to do this during the first year, even setting a record.
This meant that his stats increased, and if they did so evenly, then he would have Erik's exact level of strength, implying that Nathaniel was, without using his power, as strong and fast as him. However, Nathaniel's sudden surge in strength and speed didn't necessarily make him invincible, as other factors could still affect the outcome of a battle. It was up to Erik to find a way to bypass this problem.
The awakener initially thought that the strength disparity would help him even in the field, despite Nathaniel's crystal brain power, but that was not true anymore. Besides, Nathaniel's comrades during the hunt told how he had been able to kill a Wiangrine alone.
That alone spoke volumes about Nathaniel's BCP since Wiangrines were powerful for RHO-ranked students. If he could do that while still having six neural links, he didn't want to imagine what he could do with seven.
For this reason, it became clear to Erik that he needed to improve his strength again by using his spare attribute points, something he didn't want to do. He had originally intended to use them the following month to boost his energy after the military school had tested him, but it appears that he could not do so.
Luckily, the system told him that there was no level cap, so he could still increase his energy in the future, but during the fight he had against the thaids inside the forest, he understood how meager his amount of mana was. Compared to his comrades and friends, he could battle for much shorter periods, and he had to rest a lot between the fights, or he would have dragged his teammates down. He needed mana ASAP.
As soon as he realized what was happening, he put all his unassigned stat points into strength, bringing his total to 51. Needless to say, this made him insanely powerful for his rank; he was actually so strong as to be comparable to an OMICRON-1 ranked fighter, and that was too much for his current number of neural links, even considering that people knew he had double the amount. This meant that he had to be careful when he fought against Nathaniel and when he did things in the future.
<Fuck... This will significantly slow me down,> Erik thought. Increasing his physical stats was easy with all the neural links he could establish, but that wasn't true for energy. The only way to increase it was through the system.
"Remember me why you are doing all this..." Floyd asked Erik. Previously, Erik's friend thought he only wanted to climb the ranks, but now that he has openly challenged Nathaniel, it was clear why he was doing all that.
"I'm simply tired of that prick," Erik lied. "He's always belittling people, and I want to teach him a lesson," he added. However, he knew he was doing it only to make him suffer.
"I'm not buying it, Erik," his friend replied.
"I don't know what you expect to hear, Floyd. The truth is that I'm sick of that psycho. Besides, haven't you heard of what he does outside the Red Palace? Don't you know how he treats and what he thinks about other people? If it weren't me trying to put him in his place, someone else would." Floyd sighed deeply.
"It's just that I don't think doing this was necessary at all. Your level of obsession is too much. This is not sane..." he added. "But you're right; someone would have taught him a lesson before, sooner or later."
Erik shook his head. "I don't think I'm taking this too far. I only want to teach him a lesson, Floyd." The young man continued, giving several reasons for wanting to do this. He actually used as an excuse the fact that Nathaniel was mean to the others and that he didn't want other people to suffer as he did in the past, but it was clear Erik didn't really care about the others; he was only using them to convince Floyd nothing was really happening.
"If you say so..." Floyd added. Erik looked at his phone and noticed it was almost time to head to the Blue Palace to fight against Nathaniel.
His mind returned to the day he had been defeated and humiliated in front of everyone at the school's tournament. How Nathaniel insulted him and what he did during the Red Palace's hunt. With those thoughts in mind and a need for vengeance, the young man set for the Blue Palace.
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