Chapter 51: Joao Martinus, an... acquaintance?
That was when Kael reacted. First, he shot a stern look at his two friends, and then he turned to Lucius. "Big dreams are hard to achieve, but my father has always said that if you work at them and have talent, you’ll be able to make them come true. I wish you luck!" he said without chasing after him.
Lucius slowed down a little and turned around. He smiled at him. "I wish you luck, too, with whatever you’re trying to do. Use blood instead of liquid mana—it’ll be cheaper and easier to control. And don’t use aluminum; it’s better to use a thicker metal. Even though aluminum is good, remember that you’re making a weapon."
After saying that, he continued on his way.
Kael was, once again, left speechless.
His two companions immediately began teasing him.
"Who does this guy think he is? Does he really want to give Lord Kael advice? Blood? What the hell is this? Are we making potions or something? This is toolcrafting, you piece of trash Asturias—not alchemy!"
Slap!
The sound of a slap echoed down the entire hallway.
Even Lucius and Clara glanced over out of the corner of their eyes.
"Will you shut up? You should know there are people you shouldn’t offend. Do you want to die?" Kael growled at him, furious.
"S-Sir Kael, w-why did you hit me?" The man brought a hand to his cheek with a confused expression.
Somehow, that made Kael even angrier, but seeing that the two had already disappeared, he decided to speak up.
"All of you who look down on him are idiots. Complete idiots! You all share a single brain cell—hasn’t he slapped you in the face many times already? Are you going to keep asking for more slaps? I don’t want followers this stupid!"
With his head spinning, Kael walked away from the hallway. However, he carefully tucked Lucius’s words away in his mind.
Those last words were very valuable.
--
In Class F.
Professor Jake Lakeside had spent the entire weekend preparing according to the guidelines set by Lucius and felt he was ready.
What he never expected was that simply studying those guidelines would deepen his understanding of the tools.
In his mind, there was only one question: Who the hell is this guy?
"Today we’ll start working for real. In a group that moves as a single unit." Lucius began the class by dividing the groups just as he had said before.
They were divided evenly, so that, theoretically, no group would be too superior to the others—except for the last group, which was dedicated to theoretical research.
There were two people here besides Clara, and one of them—as Lucius had been told—had a keen eye and a good grasp of theory.
He was a young man who wore glasses because of his severe nearsightedness. He was quite shy, but he was the one who scored the highest on the general theory exam they’d taken last week, out of the 11 students.
His name is Joao Martinus.
As soon as Lucius heard his name, he looked at him.
"You’re not from New Asturias, are you?" he asked.
Joao shook his head. "I was born on Navigating Port Island, sir," he replied respectfully.
"I see, Navigating Port, huh." Lucius nodded. "Who is your father?" he asked.
Joao didn’t answer right away. He remained silent for a moment.
"If the question makes you uncomfortable, you don’t have to answer it," Lucius interjected.
But Joao shook his head again and replied, "My father is Lord Jude Martinus... It’s just that I’m a bastard son and I was cast out."
Lucius’s eyes shone brightly.
’Lord Jude’s son. I see—so that’s the one they said was kidnapped, Joao Martinus... Wow, and to think I’d run into him on a remote island in the opposite direction, in a different body!’ Lucius smiled slightly, a touch of frustration in his expression.
Navigating Port is an astonishingly wealthy island with access to the sea. It’s one of the few islands today that still has some connection to the Kalgarth Plains.
And Jude Martinus, also known as The Son of Mars, is its leader.
Lucius once spent a full year searching for that old man’s son, because the reward on offer was so lucrative that even S-Rankers like him and his friends at the time were drooling over it.
They never found him.
Who would’ve thought he’d find him in another life...?
’The world really does turn.’
"Have you ever thought about going back there?" Lucius asked curiously.
Joao smiled, slightly embarrassed. "What for? I’m the son of the strongest man on the island... but I’m a disgrace. They’ll just do the same thing they did before—kick me out. But I have thought about going there on vacation."
"If you decide to go during your next vacation, take me with you. I’d like to see Navigating Port," Lucius said in a friendly tone.
’And if that bounty is still out...’ Lucius wanted to collect it. He needed it now more than ever.
Joao seemed to perk up suddenly... If he went with Lucius, such a talented man, maybe things would be different.
He immediately nodded. "All right, Mr. Lucius! If I work up the courage and get the money, I’ll let you know when we’re going!"
Lucius liked his spirited nature, so they talked a little more. They exchanged contact information and even followed each other on The Link... where another lively conversation began about the number of followers Lucius had recently gained.
1 million!
And thanks to his title, that number was skyrocketing. He was gaining an average of 150,000 followers a day and consistently remained at the top of the trends on The Wall.
The students started talking about it when the topic came up, and Lucius found out everything that was being said about him on social media.
He had real fans, fake fans, haters, and more.
And then there were the rumors people made up about him, which were completely baseless.
The best part of gaining so many followers was the monthly payment the app gave him—about 5,000 Mana Credits.
For a payment that Lucius had earned without any effort at all, it wasn’t half bad.
And while they were immersed in the chimes, Jake Lakeside appeared behind each of them with a ruler and...
Smack!
Smack!
The blows began to ring behind their ears.
Without a second thought, they got back to work, to studying, and to dedication.
Once again, a busy week began for Lucius, Clara, and Jake.
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