Chapter 836: Dangerous Nemesis
Asher yawned as he woke from yet another deep slumber. He rolled onto his back, his eyes fixed on the ceiling as he remained motionless. He yawned again before rising from the bed and heading to the bathroom for a quick shower and change of clothes. Stepping out of the bathroom, Asher glanced at the time. It was already 3 p.m. in the afternoon, meaning tomorrow would soon arrive, bringing with it the next round of the Inter-Empire Competition.
After putting on his clothes, Asher sat on a couch and lazily placed his legs on a table as he picked up his phone and scrolled through various social media platforms. And just as Azaron had said, these people barely got any sleep. Various discussions were still buzzing online, and Asher welcomed all the gossip.
His phone occasionally chimed from time to time as people continued sending him text messages to his leaked phone number. His social media accounts across all platforms had already exploded with followers, each boasting a minimum of fifty million followers. The number wasn’t too large compared to the population of the world, but one had to remember that only the Thalvorn Empire possessed such technology. Meaning these millions of people were all citizens of the Thalvorn Empire.
’Should I post a picture?’ Asher thought to himself.
He had social media accounts but basically hadn’t posted anything. And he had a lot of pictures he had taken, both personal ones and those with his friends. After thinking about it for a moment, Asher simply decided to upload a bunch of pictures. After all, why not?
He wasn’t internet famous back on Earth; he might as well be now.
With that, he uploaded a bunch of pictures and simply sat back and watched. He didn’t have to wait long; the internet literally ate them up as likes poured in, comments flooded the posts, and reposts skyrocketed by the thousands before climbing into the millions. Seeing this, Asher simply smiled and uploaded photos with Ryaen and the rest while tagging them, so their own social media pages would grow too. Although, when they went back to the Zarethorne Empire, all of this would become obsolete.
Asher had often wondered why there was no technology of any kind back in the Zarethorne Empire. Nobles should at least have phones, no? He had asked FatelessPen about it, and the man replied that only the Thalvorn Empire seemed to possess the internet connection, signal, and infrastructure needed for any online activity to even remotely function. As if anyone took their phones back to their respective Empires, they would be no different from carrying around a useless rock.
Asher could only sigh at that information. He was tempted to leave a Position Marker within the Thalvorn Empire. After all, he had lived within Crymora for two years without technology, and now that he had finally gotten a taste of it, he was being told to simply go back because of the internet connection.
Although he could just go back with a gaming console, controllers, a television, and everything else needed to get the games running. But alas, gaming was always at its best when played online with unemployed people.
Asher suddenly had an idea. What if Arianna Haellight had an account? He immediately searched up her name but came up empty-handed... which he had almost expected. Asher simply went back to his own account page and watched the numbers continue to rise as he gained new followers.
’No wonder these celebrities loved being online and tried so hard to maintain a positive image when it came to social media,’ Asher mused to himself as being famous online seemed to hold a peculiar kind of influence over people.
’What if I get FatelessPen to draw me a phone, or basically any gadget that can function within the Zarethorne Empire regardless of the internet connection issue?’ Asher thought as he played around with the idea.
After a moment, he nodded to himself as he decided he would simply ask FatelessPen when he saw him in a few hours, confident the man would agree. After all, he was quite generous.
As Asher was lost in thought about technology functioning within the Zarethorne Empire, a knocking sound came from the door. He rose from the couch and walked towards it before opening the door. William and the rest stood there waiting. Without any form of greeting, they stepped inside with wide smiles on their faces.
"What are you guys doing here? I’m supposed to be resting for the next round tomorrow," Asher spoke as he closed the door.
"If you still need rest, then I’m concerned about betting my ten thousand platinum coins on you. Maybe it isn’t too late to bet on your dangerous nemesis," William joked as he turned on Asher’s game.
Asher shook his head, wondering when Arianna Haellight had earned the nickname ’Dangerous Nemesis.’ Although it sounded rather amusing.
"What do you think the next round will be about, teams?" Ryaen asked as he posed for a selfie.
"I hope not," Asher replied. "I don’t want to spend my time working with people I don’t know and end up babysitting them. I hope it’ll be a single-man round like the Qualifier Round," he stated.
Asher was sure that if the next round was team-based, then there was a high chance he would be paired with someone from another Empire and Academy. What if his foreign teammate decided to betray and sabotage him just to increase the chances of their own genius winning?
For example, Zis Zaitsu attacking so that Arianna Haellight would win after he had eliminated Arianna’s supposed biggest competition.
Although it was just a thought, Asher wasn’t naive enough to believe that such a thing wouldn’t happen. After all, someone like Zis Zaitsu wasn’t going to be naive enough to believe they could win the competition with both Asher and Arianna participating. Hence, the sabotage. So even if he didn’t win, the victory would still go to his own Empire.
Besides, the same could be said even if your teammate was from your own Academy. After all, this Inter-Empire Competition recognised only one winner and not a group of winners. Someone like Teo Swig could simply decide to betray Asher, after which he would find ways to deal with the other geniuses. Although this had very little chance of happening... if Teo Swig didn’t want to die in his hotel room that very night.
After all, crossing a Wargrave had never ended well for anyone. Not even the Emperor of the Zarethorne Empire, let alone a third-year student.
"I totally agree. A team-based round would work against the stronger students and in favour of the weaker ones," Vaelric replied as he sat beside William while they prepared to play a game.
"And judging from Finch’s absurd Luck, I won’t be surprised if he’s paired with Asher or his dangerous nemesis... in fact, getting paired with any of the top ten is practically a guaranteed advancement to the final round for Finch," Ryaen replied as he opened his social media account to post a picture.
Finch smiled as he replied, "I won’t deny it. I hope I get paired with Asher or Arianna."
Asher simply shook his head as he spoke, "I don’t know why you and your luck are doing this to yourselves. Even if you qualify for the final round, you’ll get eaten alive."
"Like you said yesterday, when we get to that bridge, we’ll cross it. After all, at least I made it to the finals. It’s not like everyone who made it to the finals was going to win anyway. I’m simply going to be one of those who lost, along with all the big-shot names on the rankings," Finch replied, his words carrying undeniable truth.
