As Ryan walked back to his dorm, he went over his conversation with Valery in his mind.
After they talked about the faction party, Valery said he didn't miss much. Aside from the weekly classes, enhancer recruits were required to complete one mission per week that would be transmitted to their bracelets, but that was waved for the first month. Most of the time on campus for enhancers was spent looking for cultivators to "connect" with and then waiting for their bodies to recover enough to do it again.
He was thankful that he was in the enhancer class and not cultivators, as they had rigorous daily classes and a much more strict training regiment enforced on them.
But the most important thing he learned was about his bracelet. It let him access the academy shop, check out library books, and have a map of the campus he was currently looking at.
Ryan was about to turn into the "enhancer district", but when he looked up, he saw a familiar face approaching at rapid speed.
===
Emily was merrily strolling along with a group of three other classmates. She had met Rebecca, Jasmine, and Tiff (short for Tiffany) in her Advanced Mana Manipulation class which was for students who naturally excelled at controlling mana or were guided since their 18th birthday by private tutors.
Naturally, this class was mostly made up of nobles which made mingling in the class much more formal. Still, she had somehow made three friends who seemed to be genuinely nice.
Emily didn't have a lot of experience with friends, so when these three girls approached her on the first day of class, she felt extremely delighted. The four of them usually just hung out in their class and talked about cultivation, but today they invited her to the training arena with them.
"Jasmine, do you see that swine over there?" Tiff exclaimed, "His clothes are wet. Perhaps the swine just got done drinking with its snout."
Jasmine and Rebecca both looked where Tiff was pointing and saw an enhancer in uniform with his shirt soaked. freewebn ovel.c om
"Perhaps he was trying to take a bath but forgot to remove his shirt." Rebecca chortled, trying to stroke Tiff's enlarged ego.
It seemed to work as she and Rebecca responded with laughter that sounded like two pieces of sandpaper rubbing together.
Rebecca wished she didn't have to be friends with those two spoiled brats, but her father said that daughters of a Marquess couldn't be denied the friendship they offered to a daughter of an Earl. freewebn ovel.c om
But the true thing she regretted was that the fourth girl with them was even more powerful than these two but was about as shrewd as a newborn kitten, allowing her to fall prey to the two she-devils.
Jasmine and Tiffany had come up with a plan to befriend Emily and exploit their friendship with a Duke's daughter into acquiring a high position within the faction all four of them had joined, The Golden Tridents.
At first, Rebecca had just known about the befriending part, and she was happy she might have someone in the group who wasn't a total asshat. But after their first few interactions, she could tell that this girl was very na?ve and soon found out that Emily was the daughter of a Duke.
Upon this revelation, she confronted Jasmine and Tiffany, and they didn't even hide their plans from her, telling her if she blabbed, her family wouldn't survive the day.
Emily heard the words of the three girls, but after hearing what she thought was them ridiculing someone, she just assumed she misunderstood them again.
These three often talked like that with inferences in ways she thought were mocking, but they had kindly explained that they weren't mocking people. They were doing their noble duty of correcting the commoner's mistakes.
She remembered that Tiffany had explained that others might want to be her friend to use the fact she was a Duke's daughter for their benefit.
Emily smiled as she once again felt how lucky she was that she had come across such nice and considerate people.
'I'm lucky that I met the kindest people on campus,' She thought, 'Well, actually, second kindest people.' Blushing as she remembered her first day on campus.
Coming out of her thoughts, she took a look at the person the trio was talking about. She couldn't be the only noble present to not partake in the nobility of helping commoners correct themselves.
But as she looked at the face... "My Prince!"
Running past the three girls, she jumped and launched herself into Ryan's arms.
===
Catching Emily, Ryan chuckled, "How's my princess doing?"
Holding Emily in his arms, he gently sat her down and apologized, "Sorry, I'm so wet. That pet Valery keeps practically drenched me in water."
Ryan had been leaving Valery's office when that aquatic fish monster flung virtually half the river water at him. He had expected the little guy to strike, so he was prepared, but when the guy summoned Poseidon to blast him with water, he could only dodge so much.
"I don't mind," Emily giggled while being set down, "But that's strange that Aria would blast you with water. She only does it to those upperclassmen close to breaking through to the F-Rank in their cultivation. Even then, she only does it to the geniuses."
Emily appraised his face with a scrunched-up nose, "You aren't a girl, right?"
"You told me you'd be willing to be my prince before you left. That meant you're a man!"
As Emily cried, she realized what she said and blushed, turning her head towards the ground in embarrassment.
"I'm about as man as you can get," Ryan said, chuckling. Although he did have his fingers crossed, thinking, 'At least in every area but that.'
Seeing three figures approach them, Ryan looked at Emily and asked, "Are these your friends?"
Still holding on to Ryan's damp shirt, Emily let go and looked up to see her three "friends."
Blushing, she said, "These are my classmates, Rebecca, Jasmine, and Tif-"
Interrupting her, Tiffany walked over to Emily and said, "What are you doing, Emily?" Grabbing her arm, she started to drag her away, "You can't get too close to those swine."
Emily winced in pain as she was dragged away by Tiffany's vice-like grip.
"Stop it, Tiffany!" Emily cried as she tried to struggle out of her grip.
Tiffany ignored her cries and continued hauling her away. "You're not to get close to those filthy beasts, Emily. That's an order."
As she was being dragged away, Emily turned towards Ryan, her eyes looking into his with a plea.
Seeing Emily in pain, Ryan felt a burning rage ignite inside him. He oozed malice from his very being, his aura turning blood red.
Tiffany, who was carrying Emily away, shuttered as she felt the aura of a blood-sucking beast fixate on her.
Turning around, she looked at Ryan with wide eyes, but the next second, he disappeared, only to reappear in front of her clamping down with the force of a freight train onto her arm.
As Ryan gripped down with his right hand, he felt the arm holding Emily snap as her bone split in two.
Tiffany shrieked in pain and let go of Emily's hand as she felt her bone snap clean in half. Seeing her let go, Ryan's rage abated, and he turned to Emily and asked, "Are you alright, my princess?"
Emily was frightened when Tiffany came over and suddenly seized her hand. She had tried to pull away, but when she couldn't, she was overcome with fear. She was so afraid that she couldn't think straight enough to activate her powers. All she could do was look to Ryan with a plea.
Ryan said he would be her prince. Princes in the novels saved their princesses, but she knew it was only a fantasy; Ryan wasn't a cultivator. She closed her eyes as she felt a bruise starting to form on her delicate skin where Tiffany was clutching.
She started to cry when she felt the grip loosen and a voice like an angel sound in her ear, "Are you alright, my princess?"
Crying, Emily leaped into Ryan's arms as she couldn't control the sobs that came shuttering through her body.
Ryan turned to glare at the three girls and engraved the face of Tiffany into his mind before walking away with Emily safe in his embrace.
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