While the country and City were in an uproar of excitement due to the conclusion of the opening Ceremonies and Cynrik's Interview, the online message boards were a storm of chaotic posts.
A large group of people chastised Cynrik for being cocky and way too confident in his abilities. Still, they were the vocal minority, and the massive wave of support swiftly suppressed their posts.
In practically no time, thousands of articles with images and quotes from Cynrik or MyrkLys were posted by reputable Media conglomerates. Many were poorly written tabloids looking to capitalize on the newsworthy story. But overall, some of the largest News Media companies were posting videos and articles and running news segments to garner attention.
However, the general response from the public was overwhelmingly positive. A declaration of certain victory, a sad backstory, a catchy phrase, "One Step, One Punch, One round at a time," the tale had all the correct signifiers to be a huge story worthy of being turned into a movie.
Unfortunately, many higher-ups scoffed at this whole thing because MyrkLys was a MASSIVE underdog due to their lack of experience, age, and the fact they were all newly advanced Tier-3 individuals.
Tens of thousands of betting polls opened in seemingly no time, with highly unfavorable odds against the VSFA Tier-3 Team. Some even had 100000 to 1 odds that MyrkLys would lose in the first round. Mind you, there were multiple events the team was participating in, but all of the betting lines were centered around one event, Team Battles.
While all this was happening, MyrkLys was calmly strolling through the City to figure out the boundaries they weren't allowed to cross. The contract they had signed dictated they could only go a certain distance away from the Arena and Lodgings, so everyone except Cynrik was curious to figure out what there was to do in the confined radius they were allowed to wander.
Their first stop was an expensive restaurant, where everyone took turns swapping out their uniforms and changing into casual clothes. Gabby chose to wear one of the many "pretty" dresses Brance had picked out for her on one of their many dates, while Melody chose a pair of tight jeans and a blue crop top.
Benny, Brance, and Kurza all chose simple outfits consisting of joggers, sneakers, and T-shirts, leaving only Cynrik and Selene as the weirdos.
The crazy duo wore matching black hoodies, of which the hoods covered their heads and black jeans. Lastly, they both had on pairs of functional black high-top canvas shoes, *They're black converse*. Aside from their clear size difference, the only way to tell them apart was that Selene's jeans were stylish and had many rips in all the right places, while Cynrik wore loose-fitting jeans.
After finishing their meal, which Cynrik practically forced Geralt to pay for, they continued walking around and exploring.
As they walked, Cynrik monitored everything on his Watcet and would snort or scoff aloud from time to time. It became so frequent that after repeatedly asking what was wrong and receiving no answer, everyone decided it was better to ignore the frequent weird outburst.
Around an hour later, the group arrived at a lavish hundred-floor condo building, and Geralt waltzed up to the front counter as if he had done it hundreds of times. After checking the team in and transferring the digital keycard to everyone's Watcets, he ushered MyrkLys toward one of the eight elevators and brought them up to floor 83.
'Right, this condo is yours, Lodging 83-4. I got you guys the corner condo, but remember that you have neighbors on either side.' Opening the door and walking into the eight-bedroom condo, Geralt spoke through Gabby's [Psychic Link], so they wouldn't be eavesdropped on.
'Cynrik, whatever your plans are for this Fortification you spoke of, you can do it while I am here.' Then, with a wave of his hand, Geralt created a massive Spatial Cube, isolating the entire condo from the outside world.
'Sigh, troublesome flies. My skill forcefully ejected nearly 28 different pairs of prying eyes.' He grumbled while Cynrik brushed passed him and observed his surroundings.
With seven bedrooms, a training room, a living room, a den, and an island bar in the kitchen, this condo had it all, and it reminded Cynrik of an expensive high-end designer apartment he once saw in a magazine on Earth. It was fully furnished, as apparent by the expensive furniture neatly organized in the living room and conjoining den and kitchen.
Best of all, each bedroom had an attached large bathroom with a jacuzzi-style bathtub and separate shower.
However, none of this mattered to Cynrik, so he took off walking around the lodgings, [Mana Sight] active, following many glowing lines. These lines represented the electronics, and following their path, Cynrik came to stand before a large, tasteless painting of a vase with flowers. Reaching up and stripping the picture off the wall, he revealed a large circuit breaker panel. Then with a flick of his wrist, a click of his Assassins tool, and a few seconds of fiddling with the lock, he pried open the two-meter metal door.
'Right, so that you don't freak out on me, I won't break or damage any of the internals of the security system. I will be hard lining into the computer system, hacking into all the different programs, and rewriting the code so that the only way to access the building's defensive systems is directly from my Watcet.' Cynrik said as his hands began sifting through the wiring spaghetti to uncover the main server box.
'And how long will that take you?' Geralt asked in a hesitant voice expecting an immediate answer he would never receive from Cynrik himself.
Instead, he watched helplessly as MyrkLys abandoned their Headmaster and set about choosing bedrooms so they could unpack. Unlike the adults, the core members of MyrkLys all knew it could take Cynrik 10 minutes or 10 hours to complete all the extensive security protocols he was fond of, so they decided to do their own thing while leaving the adults out of the loop.
Collapsing onto one of the expensive couches and releasing a tired sigh, Geralt had a few moments of silence before he was disturbed by a short chuckle from across the den in the kitchen.
Sitting at the large wooden table drinking coffee, Saylin, Garrison, and Rimsfel watched him as if he were a stage performer.
"Glad you three find this funny." He snorted before rolling over and deciding to take a quick nap.
Three hours later, a loud BANG startled Geralt awake, causing him to jump to his feet, summon his sword and whip his head back and forth, looking for intruders.
But what greeted him after being rudely startled awake was a sneering Cynrik leaning against the wall, a group of snickering students, and three grown-ass men cackling from the kitchen like old fogeys swapping stories of the "good ol days."
"Glad you're awake, Headmaster. I finally finished setting things up, so if you would please direct your attention to the HoloTv, I will show you what I have done." Cynrik said while uncrossing his arms and shaking his head as he pushed off the wall and walked across the room.
"You little asshole, couldn't you wake me up like a normal human? Why must you always go with the theatrics?" Stowing away his weapon and shooting a glare at Cynrik, Geralt, not so happily, slumped back onto the couch.
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