Chapter 728 The Circle Grows
Far away from this all, in a tall building in downtown New York City, another group was having a meeting. But the ambience of this one was a lot more formal.
"Mr. Grimm. I'm afraid your guild has been performing under its promised parameters. You had promised us that once you established the guild and started the guild wars, you would shoot to the top again.
"Yet, it has been a few months since you established Aces High, and the guild wars were last month. And you still haven't reached the position you promised. I'm afraid you can't be relied on anymore."
"You can't blame me for that, sir. It's that fucking kid and his Paragon guild! He's been cutting the grass under my feet since the tournament! His fucking base turned into a city during the update. How was I supposed to know that would happen?! What can I even do about it?!" Damien shouted, the veins on his face bulging.
"Please, Mr. Grimm. Have some self-control. This isn't your game, where you can expect everyone to bend to you because you yell louder than them. The shareholders have spoken.
"You have until the end of this month, which gives you two and a half weeks to attain your promised position. If you haven't reached it by then, it will force us to withdraw our sponsorship.
"We won't force you to fork over the money back and consider it a loss. But you will no longer have our backing, be it financial or legal."
Finishing his piece, the man got up and left the room, not even glancing at the angry young man at the meeting table.
Damien waited for the door to shut behind his liaison in the company, fuming internally before exploding and throwing the mother of all tantrums.
"FUUUUUUUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!" he shouted, throwing chairs around and punching everything before him.
***
Back in Montreal, Alexander was having a hell of a morning. After getting out of the game, showering, and sleeping properly, he had to get about his day.
And that started with going to the gym, where Clark was ready to run him down.
After eating a quick breakfast, he and Kary made a bee-line toward the gym, rushing through the streets of downtown Montreal. If he at least arrived on time, this time, Clark would be a little more lenient, he thought.
Their speed was much faster than regular people, and many of the people they passed looked at them with bewildered expressions.
"Who are these two?! Sprint racers?!" one man even asked as they flew past him like wind gusts.
They made record time to their destination and were barely even panting or sweating, making the two of them realize how much their constitution was changing.
"I hope he isn't too mad. I keep missing days with him."
Kary chuckled at his words.
"Hey, that's on you. Maybe if you were more disciplined with your gaming time," she joked, knowing Alex wasn't doing it on purpose.
Shit just kept happening to him, and he was the type to roll with the punches instead of avoiding them altogether. But she had a feeling Clark would be more lenient today.
The last few times she had come alone, she'd noticed something different about him. His air had changed a bit.
Alexander had told her that Clark had started playing New Eden, but at first, she had thought he would only dip into it a few times and give up. But with his countenance changing, she felt like he had been enjoying his escapades a bit more than that.
Rushing into the gym, Alex and Kary split up and went to the changing rooms. It didn't take long for the two of them to get back out and head to the boxing part of the gym.
They knew Clark would be there, as that was where he hung out when he wasn't guiding the individual training.
And lo-and-behold, they found him in a boxing ring, alone, doing some basic shadowboxing.
That was when Alex noticed the change as well.
Every punch, every bob and weave. Every move Clark performed seemed… sharper than usual.
It wasn't that Clark wasn't an excellent fighter before, but there was a reason he taught it and didn't compete. Clark was no boxing champion.
But, the moves right before his eyes… They seemed way faster and more precise than before.
The speed. The power.
A punch like that, with no protective equipment, might even be dangerous for regular people.
Blinking his eyes, Alex used something he rarely used on this side of the veil: his mana vision.
And it confirmed his thoughts.
Most likely unconsciously, Clark was using mana. The amount was minuscule, negligible even, but it was definitely there.
But something was different about it.
Instead of going from his brain to the rest of his body, the mana seemed to originate from his abdomen, circulating throughout his body from that central point and always coming back there.
Unlike when Alex or Kary used magic, it felt like Clark was not wasting the mana. It was only circulating inside him, nourishing his body slowly and steadily. It was like they were sending power outward, whereas his was in a closed circuit, only powering himself.
He wasn't sure how he learned to do this, but he did know where he learned it from.
Clark was absorbed in his shadowboxing and didn't hear them coming towards him, so Alex decided to announce himself.
"I see you've taken a liking to New Eden. How has it been treating you?"
Clark finished his combination before stretching and grabbing a towel from the ropes around the ring.
"Look at you, being on time today. Hell, you're even a little early. Good. Also, how did you know?"
Alex smiled at him.
"Just a feeling, I guess? Something about you screams that you're more relaxed. Gaming will do that to a guy."
Clark scoffed, grabbing his water bottle and taking a long swig.
"Whatever, kid. Get in here. We aren't starting on the bags today. I want to keep exercising, and you'll be my bitch—Ahem—I mean sparring partner."
Alex's face dropped, realizing he had poked at him wrong and was now about to suffer for it. But it was too late now.
'Well, if he's using mana, then so will I. I guess it can be a good training for control,' Alex thought, climbing on the ring.
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