"Since then, I''ve fallen in love with the pain and even shed a few pounds in the training room."
"That''s how I even managed to break through to the Heavenly Disciple stage."
"Unbelievable, isn''t it? I guess I owe you some thanks after all." He said to Nn, who whispered back, "Whatever."
But soon, Nn''s eyes furrowed in irritation as he directed his gaze toward the academy entrance, noticing a figure—a figure that had the entire crowd parting away from him.
It was none other than Nn''s most hated enemy at the moment, Quinn Vampiro.
The dark-scaled guy''s face was emotionless, but he stopped upon entering the Neer Hall as his gaze instantly met Nn''s from further back.
Quinn shed a sickening, evil smile, revealing his blood-red fangs, before walking toward his seat at the absolute front.
[He has grown stronger.]
The system notification shed to Nn, whose forehead tightened with veins of frustration.
But they soon receded.
''Whatever,'' Nn thought.
"Seems like you and Quinn still haven''t buried the hatchet yet?" Wiro asked, noticing the tense exchange between them. Nn raised an eyebrow at him.
"Bury the hatchet?" Nn repeated.
"Yeah. It meansing to a truce on your..."
"I understand your idiom, Wiro. What I don''t understand is why you''d think we would ever bury our hatchet."
"Our hatchet will never be buried," Nn said tly.
"I guess so," Wiro shrugged. "Unless, of course, one of your heads gets buried with the hatchet, right?" he added, to which Nn merely hummed in response.
The conflict between him and Quinn would never end unless both or one of them died—and even then, Nn would still aim to kill him.
The only reason Quinn was still alive was because Nn wasn''t strong enough to fight the death guardian protecting him.
Once he reached a sufficient level of strength, he would bring an end to Quinn and rip apart his guardian in pieces.
Only then would their hatchet be buried.
"I''ll just warn you to be careful, though. Right now, it seems like you have the upper hand, and Quinn has the lower hand."
"But when you both get to the Ascendant area of the academy, things might change drastically," Wiro whispered, and Nn''s furrowed gaze turned toward him.
"What do you mean?" Nn asked, somehow sensing that Wiro had an unusually deep knowledge of how the academy worked—deeper than him or anyone Nn knew.
That was the reason he could tolerate Wiro''s presence around him sometimes.
"Do you remember that I told you Quinn is a prodigy of a powerful dark bloodline?" Wiro whispered, and Nn nodded.
"What you might not know is that Quinn isn''t the only prodigy from his family in the academy."
"Actually, Quinn''s family—the Vampiro n—is a family with deep heritage within the academy itself."
"They''ve had various geniuses learning from this ce for years."
"Right now, in the Neers area, the only Vampiro is Quinn himself. But that won''t be the case once we all enter the Ascendant hierarchy."
"There, it will be like Quinn arriving within his own castle."
"Many of his n members are Ascendants in the academy, and once Quinn enters that hierarchy, he will have the support of his brothers and sisters who will undoubtedly look out for him."
"Even if they don''t like him, they would still fight for him because he''s one of their own."
"But what about you, Nn?"
"Who do you have in the Ascendants area that will support you if Quinn decides to use the power of his n members against you?"
"I''ve also heard that thepetition and deaths in the Ascendants area are even more intense than what we''ve faced here in the Neers area."
"Neers like us will spend the first few yearsying low and avoiding the gazes of the older Ascendants, or we''ll be screwed."
"You''ve already gotten yourself in trouble with one of the most powerful pirs of the Ascendant hierarchy due to your skirmish with Quinn."
"So, do you understand why you need to be careful?" Wiro asked, and Nn''s eyes gleamed with an otherworldly brightness before he frowned.
''Tch, howe I didn''t consider that before?'' He thought, irritated by his own oversight.
"So, for now, I''d advise you to avoid confrontation with Quinn."
"He''ll have more power in the Ascendant hierarchy than you will."
"Better to focus on improving your strength."
"And if you want to be perfectly safe, I''d suggest joining a faction—one that could protect you from the wrath of Quinn''s n."
"Now that you''ve ranked first among all the Neer students, at least a few factions won''t mind taking you in as one of their own, so you''ll be fine," Wiro suggested, offering a reasonable solution.
Nn hummed in acknowledgment but turned silent.
"Also, someone told me to—" Wiro started, but suddenly both of them, along with the multitude of students, snapped their gazes upwards to the roof of the stadium.
There, they saw three figures descending from the sky.
But the students instantly recognized that these figures weren''t Ascendants.
BAAANG!
BAAANG!
BAAANG!
BAAANG!
What followed were the consecutive sounds of knees dropping to the ground.
Nn didn''t understand why the sudden knee reaction buy he soon felt a hand grabbed onto his hands and slid him down to the ground as Nn''s finally got down on a knee like the rest.
His eyes turned to Wiro who was responsible, but he saw his head bowed, respect an reverance shing in his eyes and turning to the rest of the crowd, they were also in the same position with the same reverance.
Even the prideful Quinn was like that.
"We the Neers pay respect the Mighty Protectors of the Celestial Academy!!"
The greetings boomed throughout the entire area exactly at the same time and Nn''s eyes finally widened in shock as he realized who the figures were.
They were the Protectors!
The Authority State above even the Instructors themselves.
They were one of the higher powers of the Academy itself!!