Chapter 39: Entering The Hero Academy
The shrill cry of the alarm shattered the silence, but it didn’t last long as Nicholas, who was already awake, silenced it.
Of course, with the nature of his work, he didn’t really need an alarm. And even if he did, it wasn’t for the conventional purpose most people used it for.
For Nicholas, his constant stirring thoughts and vigilance was enough to break him off from sleep, the alarm was only to pull him out of his thoughts.
And what could he possibly be thinking of?
In this new world, he didn’t have enemies constantly trying to take his life. Nor did he have the police breathing down his neck, searching for every trace he left behind.
The system screen staring right back at him was enough to keep him up, because the question lingered in his mind.
’What do I do with 100 charm points?’ Nicholas thought staring at the notification screen.
✦ ݁˖Strength: 12.5
.✦ ݁˖Agility: 13
.✦ ݁˖Stamina: 2.5
.✦ ݁˖Intelligence: 3.5
.✦ ݁˖CP: 101
The thought had always been at the back of his mind, but seeing that much charm points now, he couldn’t help but ponder how he would distribute it among his stats.
’Also, shouldn’t I have 105? How come it’s only 101?’
{Charm points are taken while copied abilities are being used. The stronger the ability, the more charm points that’ll be used during the time duration. Once charm points have been used up the ability usage will come to an end. Also abilities copied can’t be used when Void skill is active. Void skill nullifies all abilities. However, stats gained from charm points still remain}
The system chimed, answering his questions.
Nicholas’s forehead creased as he saw the revealed information, ’I only used Vixen’s abilities for roughly 10 mins and I lost so much points’
4 Charm points didn’t look like much, but considering how tough it was to get.
Even during the broadcast, he’d only managed to earn a little over a hundred Charm Points.
If the villain he’d faced was one with a much more dangerous ability. Their fight would stretch for a longer duration and during that time, he’d probably lose a lot of charm points.
Well there was still Void, thankfully the cooldown time had elapsed and now he could use the skill, ’It’s also good to know that I don’t lose my strength when the skill is active’
"I guess this would be a good chance to balance out my stats" Nicholas thought as he looked at his stats screen.
Agility and strength already had the highest stats, so he had his eyes on the other stats.
’I need to hold out longer in fights, so I don’t burn out quickly’
With that thought, he threw in some of the charm points to the stamina stats, moving it from 2.5 to 20.
Looking at the intelligence stats, Hexi’s image appeared in Nicholas mind, he felt a cold chill remembering those hollow purple eyes, ’... An ability that affects the mind.’
With a stronger mind, Nicholas figured it would be easier to resist mental abilities.
So without much thoughts, he threw extra points into the intelligence stats, moving from 3.5 to 21.
He felt a deep mental calm, a sharp soothing feeling running through his veins, he closed his eyes involuntarily as he allowed the calming feeling to settle.
As he opened his eyes once more, he could feel his eyes had grown sharper, and it felt as though a wall in his mind had been cleared off.
Nicholas returned back to his stats, adding a few more points to Strength and Agility.
✦ ݁˖Strength: 23
.✦ ݁˖Agility: 25
.✦ ݁˖Stamina: 20
.✦ ݁˖Intelligence: 21
.✦ ݁˖CP: 57.5
Nicholas looked at the updated stats with satisfaction, his stats were more balanced than it previously was and he could feel the drastic changes occuring in his body even as he was distributing the stats.
As he finished, he dropped down the system screen, sitting up on the bed.
’Now I have to register Katherine at the academy today. So I guess no work today’ Nichola thought, while stretching.
Nicholas stepped into the bathroom and took a quick warm shower. He picked out his clothes, wore them and walked towards his door.
As he opened the door to step out, he saw two round pairs of brown eyes staring at him.
"Katie, what are you doing here?" Nicholas asked with a slightly surprised voice, it was still quite early in the morning, almost 7, it was rare to see the little girl up by this time, in fact this was the first time.
"I woke up early so big brother won’t have to wake me up! I’ve been waiting for big brother"
Nicholas smiled warmly at the little girl’s words, "You’re really excited for this aren’t you?"
"Yes, I am! I’ll be hanging out with cool kids and make hero friends!" Katie said pumping her fist into the air in excitement.
"Alright let’s go, my partner will be here to pick us up" Nicholas said as he held her by the hand and they walked to the door.
He opened the door and to his surprise, Selena’s car was already parked right outside their porch, a cigarette in her mouth as she stared daggers at him.
"Do you even check your messages?! I’ve been here for almost 20 minutes!"
"Your voice is loud, you’ll wake the neighbours." Nicholas replied as he walked up to the car with Katie.
Selena was just about to scold Nicholas but seeing the little pretty girl, all the annoyance she’d felt towards him minutes ago faded in an instant
Katie flashed her a large smile, "Good morning! Big brother is that your girlfriend?"
Selena’s face turned red as she heard the word, ’He told her I’m his girlfriend?! What’s wrong with this brat?!’ Selena panicked, turning her face away as she tried to calm herself.
"No, she’s my work partner" Nicholas replied casually as he tucked Katie beneath the seat belt in the back of the car and moved to the front seat where he sat with Selena.
"What does that mean? I thought partners is another word for couples? What’s a work partner" Katie asked staring at him with her big round eyes.
Selena let out a calm sigh, ’She probably mistook what he meant’ she let out a small chuckle as she started the car, moving on the calm road.
"You are right, but not exactly correct. A partner is someone who shares similar interests with you and helps you work on it. So a partner doesn’t always mean a couple"
Nicholas who was about to reply paused, staring at Selena as she replied to the little kid, seeing the way her behaviour changed around Katie, the warm smile on her face and even the casual chuckle while she explained.
"You act differently around me" Nicholas suddenly said.
"Huh?" Selena raised a brow startled at his words.
"You always seem different around other people, and annoyed whenever you see me" Nicholas said.
Selena paused for a moment surprised, ’Well, asshole, that’s what you get for grabbing my boobs the first day we met!’ that thought obviously wasn’t the best response with the kid, "cause you’re a brat and you’re always annoying"
"That’s good to know." Nicholas said bluntly, his voice without care.
Selena glanced at him from the side of her eyes, "You—" Selena took a deep calming breath, at this point she’d come to slowly get used to Nicholas unpredictability.
She’d thought that him asking her why she always acted differently towards him was because he wanted to change or something. But apparently that didn’t seem to be the case.
’But I think I’ve held the grudge on him long enough.’ she thought remembering the scene where they first met, her brows twitching from the memory. But so far, he had a way out of every situation they’d found themselves in so far, that much needed her acknowledgement, ’It’s high time I forgave him.’ she thought letting out a sigh.
"You’re sure you want to take the kid to the hero academy"
Nicholas glanced at Selena, "Well, it’s her wish and she’ll get what she wants"
"Getting her in would be tough, but with the amount of popularity you’ve garnered over the past few days. I’m sure the association will be able to bend a few rules for you." Selena said her eyes solely fixed on the road, but her mind was elsewhere.
’Which brings me back to the question concerning his abilities... How come he used Vixen’s abilities? Didn’t Eric say his ability was canceling others abilities? I’ll have to get him to talk about his ability one way or the other so I can report back to HA after this week and finally be free from him’ Selena turned her gaze to Nicholas.
"And also, I thought I should let you know that the Hero Academy is separated from the rest of the world and their curriculum isn’t shared public, even I don’t know what goes on inside and to be honest this is the first time I’ll be going there myself."
Nicholas glanced at her in surprise, "You’ve never been there before?"
"Yes, I had to get a permit from the council, they own the Academy, honestly I didn’t expect them to accept the request. Since they’ve always denied requests from outsiders. I even stated the reason and they still chose to let me in, so I believe you’ll probably have no issues enrolling her in the academy."
"Is that so?" Nicholas asked, his forehead creasing, ’A council that I’m only just hearing of in charge of the academy. And suddenly allowing Selena to enter the academy which they usually deny others from entering?’
"We’re almost there" Selena said alerting him.
"Something smells fishy," Nicholas muttered under his breath as the academy came into view.
