----


    The moment Apollo entered his residence, he was swarmed by the madman Vc. He brandished his spear and stabbed it straight towards Apollo, making him narrow his eyes.


    ''Tch, this fool.'' Apollo inwardly thought, his expression turning unamused.


    Before Vc''s strike couldnd on his body, Apollo held up his hand with a tiny grin, "Ah, truly a fool. Fuhrer is right when he says that you are one to never learn." Immediately after clicking his tongue in disappointment, Apollo continued, "Absolute Order: Halt!"


    In an instant, Vc''s expression contorted, "Argghhh! Release me, you uncultured swine. How dare you be a pussy?! Take one of my strikes, don''t wimp out. I am ashamed of you. My Lord is scared to receive my attack? HAH! Laughable," Vc snorted and chortled, trying to rile up Apollo as quickly as possible.


    Unfortunately, his actions were inadequate. In actuality, all they did was make Apollo chuckle at his behavior. Additionally, he looked towards Fuhrer and gave him a signal. This prompted him to reveal an eerie grin. One that caused Vc''s spine to tremble.


    "W-what are you nning? You scheming heathens, don''t you dare. Release me, RELEASE ME!" Vc shrieked. At the same time, he began thrashing about in an attempt to break free of the Absolute Order''s restraints. Unfortunately, as an ability created from the system, achieving this was easier said than done.


    "Hoh? Calm down, all you need to do is receive my strike. Is that not what you just said to the Lord?" Fuhrer rebutted, mocking Vc''s earlier words. Consequently, he ced his hand on his sword hilt and shifted the weapon ever so slightly, allowing a thin stream of tenebrous aura to leak out.


    Upon feeling that aura, Vc''s body stiffened, and all his attempts at breaking free ceased. Be that as it may, his mouth was still traveling at a mile a minute. "Shameful! No, you are shameless. This is tant bullying. Y-you..! Okay, okay! I''m sorry!"


    As Fuhrer revealed arger portion of his de, the aura surrounding Vc sharpened into minuscule des that presented cut after cut. As a result, Vc soon found it infuriating to deal with as well as cumtively hurtful.


    "Hmph, that''s what I thought. Practice your own words before ndering that Lord. A mere tease and you''re already ready to crumble. Tsk tsk, it''s indeed best that I put those chains around you earlier before leaving," Fuhrermented, shaking his head at Vc.


    In return, Vc could only shoot res, but when Fuhrer threatened him with his palm on his sheath, Vc was left to relent. Unless he wanted another collection of small wounds, then it wasn''t ideal for him to continue talking.


    On the other hand, Apollo didn''t pay much mind to this matter. Now that he was back, his utmost priority was to try and understand his current power, and figure out a way to maximize his output, while minimizing his energy consumption. Usually, aplishing this was aborious task.


    It required one to have supetive control over the flow of their energies. Hence, why Destrys urged Apollo to continue refining his mind under the staggering pressure of the orb. Continued usage of that type of control would put an immense strain on the mind, draining mental energy at astonishing rates.


    However, if one perfected their mental energy, that would allow for a different situation. By refining mental energy, it opened the window to taking care of the issue with ease. First and foremost, since they went hand in hand, even if control wasn''t trained exclusively, it''d still experience an increase as a result of the refinement.


    In light of this, Apollo sat down in a corner of his room and started meditating. While meditating, hepartmentalized his thoughts. This allowed his focus to be utilized much more efficiently. Rather than wasting arge portion by inspecting the inside one by one, sectioning the focus and using it simultaneously yielded increased results.


    Although the consumption was increased and each portion was hit with a smaller amount of focus, it still allowed Apollo to get an initial grasp of how things worked. It was simr to the intricacies of a car''s engine. His thoughts were akin to numerous pistons firing with the same intention—elerating as quickly as possible.


    As a result, this allowed Apollo to circumvent a good amount of waste. While some wastage was inevitable, a reduction was beneficial nheless. Meanwhile, as Fuhrer noticed his actions, he spared Vc a meaningful nce.


    Afterward, Vc shut his mouth and didn''t act up for the remainder of the day. During this time, since there was nothing conflicting with Apollo''s actions, he made great strides. In fact, his understanding of the Dark Element had advanced and teetered on the edge of breaking through a binding threshold.


    Unfortunately, a dayter, Apollo was wrested awake from his contemtive state. The security system going haywire caught his attention. As he craned his neck towards the supportive device by the door, a message shed continuously.


    [Warning: The security measures in ce have identified numerous foreign individuals. Caution, the number is increasing gradually.]


    After reading this message, Apollo didn''t even need to question the situation. He was already aware of the reason behind this small gathering. In response, he turned towards Fuhrer. "How long has it been since I sat down?"


    "Approximately one day," Fuhrer sinctly replied. In addition to that, there seemed to be a displeased expression on his face as he looked at the supporting device. If it weren''t for Apollo''s sake, he would have already chopped the annoying box in half, or at the very least, used his energy to disintegrate the thing.


    "I see. All it took was a day for them to be restless. Very well, all you are doing is acting in my favor," Apollo chuckled. Without hesitation, he walked towards the door. This situation didn''t strike the slightest morsel of fear into his body.


    Conversely, he weed this situation. If they increased his Demonic Conduct, and the system deemed him ready, then all of the limitations holding him back from advancing vanish. Granted, even if that happened, there was still a small issue he wished to settle before evolving further.


    Once the door flung open, the mass of students was surprising at first, but Apollo quickly normalized to the situation. Quickly, he performed a headcount… "Mm, about 50 individuals and each of them is from the Outer Barracks."


    A momentter, Apollo lifted his head and looked in another direction. After doing so, his expression changed, ''No, that''s wrong. There''s far more than 50. They are just barred from entering. That means there are also upperssmen who are intrigued by the rumors. No, it may even be safe to say they are the source.''


    Unlike freshman, upperssmen of the Vermillion Night Academy had been subject to contact with the Origin Rooms for quite some time. Thus, when it came to iming, or at least obtaining hints of the inheritance in those rooms, they were extremely interested.


    Hence, the easier way to act was by sending vessels. It was public knowledge that some talented freshmen joined thepany of upperssmen. Not only did they offer additional resources for doing so, but they also imparted their own knowledge on some matters.


    In some cases, peer guidance could be extremely useful. After all, the instructors of the Academy didn''t spoon-feed anyone. They left arge portion of their matters up to the student''sprehension. Because of this, joining a faction could also be seen asprehending priorities and convenience.


    Nevertheless, Apollo pushed this to the back of his mind. To be their target, it would require him to leave the confines of the Outer Barracks. As of right now, that wasn''t on his agenda.


    Not only was it inefficient, but it would also require too much effort to make them hostile. Unlike freshmen, the consequences of an upperssman interfering with the happenings of freshmen were severely punishable.


    If it were a simple mediation, then the administration weed that. But, if they used force and weren''t impartial, then the victim would receive a substantial portion of the reacting upperssmen''s Academic Credits.


    "So, why have youe here?" Apollo questioned with a light chuckle. His attitude towards the gathering of students made them all frown. Based on his nonchnt attitude, it was as if he was treating them like air.


    "You know why. We have heard the rumors, now we''re here to check whether it is true or not!" One of the neers eximed. Due to their actions, Apollo was intrigued. His eyes shed with an obscure light before gazing upon all of them.


    ''All of them possess a Dark Affinity,'' Apollo mused silently. Hisck of response riled up the individuals further. After all, all the freshmen were on a schedule. There was only a matter of days before they had to embark on their excursion.


    "Don''t bite your tongue, reveal it to us now. Are the rumors true or not? Are you the reason that we were kicked out of the Tethered Shadow Origin Room? I''ll have you know, this inhibited our progress greatly! If we were free toprehend more, we''d be much better off!" Another one eximed. This time, his aura was much sturdier than thest.


    As he took notice of this, Apollo smirked, ''So that''s why they are infuriated. The orb interfered with their progress.''


    Right after a short pause, Apollo voiced a sentence that made them seethe with indignation. "Unfortunately, this isn''t my dilemma, it is yours. You should take that up with the administrators. I have no say in this matter, but if that answer doesn''t suffice, I''m more than willing to use another tactic."