Ascenders Rift

Evan and the others soon returned to the academy; their mood somewhat different now that they've seen such a strange thing. On the way back, both Emilia and Layla were a bit silent as only Fatty Joe, Rick and Breya were in the mood for conversation, it seemed that both were still a bit shaken up by the previous phenomenon.

Evan looked at Layla whose trembling arm grabbed his shirt corner. He sighed before he leaned over and teased, "Hmm, what's wrong? Is my attractive Layla frightened for the future? I thought that you were going to bully me; while I'm not one to brag, you'll need to be a lot stronger to tyrannize me, you know?"

Layla, hearing his words blushed slightly, she glanced at him from the corner of her eyes as she spoke with a slight pout, "I'm not your charming anything..."

"Eh? Then I suppose you don't need to tug my shirt anymore," Evan said in an understanding manner as he slowly began to draw away from her figure.

Layla was a bit panicked as she saw this, she quickly walked forwards and tightened her grip on his shirt's lower corners.

Evan laughed at this as he saw her face turned even redder; he no longer teased her and spoke with an earnest tone as he looked at the starry sky. "Don't worry, even if the world turns upside down, you can count on me to hold the skies."

His face now carried a lonely but firm feeling, as if he'd seen the ups and downs the world, Layla hearing this felt her heart shake, her arm that tugged his shirt corners grew even tighter as she glanced at his profile.

The scene seemed as if it was only a moment away from advancing to a new level, but it was at this moment, a voice sounded from nearby.

"God damn, Evan, I didn't think you had such pick-up lines... I should learn from you. Hmm, wait, maybe I can try it now." As Fatty Joe said this, he cast a look at the calm and silent Breya that was now observing her surroundings.

Fatty quickly drew near to Breya's side as he leaned in and whispered in her ear, "Beautiful Breya, I know we got off on the wrong foot, but let me fix it with the right leg. I want you to know that even if our future is filled with chaos, I will always be..."

Slap! Breya didn't let Fatty Joe finish his words, she slapped him and glared at him when she spoke, "Hmph! You should first learn to protect yourself, not even capable of preventing a woman's slap. Che! At this rate, it seems I'm going to be the one protecting you."

"Ouch! Can't you be a little nicer?" Fatty cursed in anger as he looked at Breya while rubbing the back of his head.

Breya looked at fatty with a mean look before turning her eyes away from him; she picked up her pace as she walked faster.

Fatty Joe didn't want to lose out; he began to work out a sweat in trying to catch up to her. Breya glanced at this with the corner of her eyes and made a slight smile as she said in a soft tone, "Truly a big dummy..."

Emilia was a bit red-faced she glanced to the side and saw that Rick was looking at her, she quickly turned her sights forward not daring to make a sound.

Rick seeing this, shook slightly, quickly he turned forward as he didn't know how to proceed further. He began feeling that doing palace duties were far easier compared to now.

The awkward mood between the two seemed as if it would last forever, but soon, Evan and the others had reached the cross-section for both the girl's and boy's hostels.

Evan looked at everyone before he spoke, "Everyone, I've done what I can, the rest is up to you. Remember, the effort you put in from now is not only linked to yourself but also the lives of those around you."

Layla and the others remained silent at these words, but after a short while, their eyes began to glow in a steady light as an intense amount of determination could be seen.

Evan gave each of them a deep look before he spoke again, "Good, before you each head off to the Training Zone, there's one more thing I'd like to say to you all."

"Hmm, what could it be?" Breya said as he looked at Evan deeply.

"Must be something quite important..." Layla thought as she looked at Evan.

Rick, Emilia, and Fatty Joe remained silent as they watched him intently. Evan, who saw that they were focused again, looked at Breya while he thought, "Hmm, if I'm correct, both her and her sister should have already awakened. With her innate gifts, she should be no inferior to a top talent, but I suppose I can always clarify that later. Plus, it would do good to have someone that pushes both Emilia and Layla to take action and be decisive..."

Having thought to here, Evan then spoke, "We have only 16 days until the arrival of the 1st Calamity's Rift. To fully prepare you guys for this, I want to take you all to a special place, but before that, you must each use five days to practice in the Training Zone. Ideally, I want everyone to develop enough to handle one or a few creatures on your own, or at least survive against them while being able to injure them by a bit."

As they heard this, both Rick and Breya's eyes flashed as they thought to themselves.

"Now that I think of it, he did mention something like this the other day on that paper. It seems that he'd been planning this from the start..." Rick thought to himself.

"So that's how it is, sister was right, this Evan is truly different. I even tried to inspect him, but his stats merely show as normal, not to mention the prince..." Breya thought as she looked at both Evan and Rick, alternatively.

Rick seemed to have sensed Breya's gaze; he glanced at her before returning to normal as he thought, "Alan was right, those from MSS are quite haggling..."

"B-Brother Evan, what kind of place is this?" Emilia asked with a bit of hesitancy in her voice.

Layla and Fatty Joe looked curious as well. Evan smiled as he spoke, "It's nothing you don't know of, I am planning on taking you all to a Lesser Space."

Fatty Joe, Emilia, and Layla were surprised; their expression soon changed to one of horror as they spoke.

"Evan, are you mad? You want us to venture into one of those things? They had already warned us of their dangers!" Fatty Joe shouted.

Evan looked at Fatty Joe and spoke, "Shh... not so loud,"

As Fatty Joe heard that, he covered his mouth and looked around, before he spoke, "You aren't serious, are you?"

"Yes, brother Evan, it's too dangerous to go there, we are far from strong enough..." Emilia said while trembling,

Layla looked at Evan and spoke with a fearful look, "E-Evan... must we do this so soon? Are there no other places or ways to grow stronger?"

Evan looked at them and replied with a firm look in his eyes, "Yes, I am serious, and no, there is no other way but these spaces. I had said at the observatory that where there are dangers, there are similar opportunities. Plus, I naturally won't be taking you there without prior preparation; that's why I will be using the next five days to train you all properly, both on the inside and the outside of the Training Zone. You can be certain that this training will be tough, so prepare yourselves as we'll be starting in the Training Zone for tonight."

As Fatty Joe, Layla and Emilia saw his expression; their faces turned grave as they knew that this wasn't going to be an easy bout. Rick and Breya, on the other hand, had looks of calmness on their faces.

Evan smiled as he saw their looks, he then turned around and spoke, "Well, let's get started shall we... the night will be a long one. Also, don't forget to text me your current coordinates…"

As Evan said this, he took a step forward towards the opposing male hostel as everyone else looked at his back that grew distant in silence.

After a short while, Fatty Joe, whose eyes shone with determination looked at the girls and spoke, "Emmy, I'll be seeing you later, don't forget the take your pills before you use the headgear."

Emilia, having been woken up by Fatty Joe's words, replied, "Yes brother."

Fatty Joe smiled as he then glanced at Breya, as he saw her indifferent look, he snorted and quickly turned and headed off.

Breya seeing this snickered silently, Layla was in a bit of a daze, but she soon snapped out of it and spoke, "Breya, Emmy, I think we should also get going..."

Breya nodded and replied, "Right, we can't have these men be more organized than us, especially a certain fat one."

Fatty Joe wasn't too far off, he turned to curse Breya at her words, but as he did this, the girls had already quickly walked off.

"Che!" He clicked his tongue and no longer said anything.

Rick looked at this and shook his head, not saying a word. Soon, their group had already headed back to the separate resting areas.

***

Within the private lab, Alton was now seated around a pile of documents filled with complex data. A few thick lists were neatly arranged at the corners, occasionally he would update them after viewing the datasheets.

Soon, a knock was heard from the door as Marcus walked inside the room with a small chip. As this happened, Alton lifted his head and spoke, "Oh, whose report is this?"

Marcus then replied, "It's that agent you sent to monitor that prince..."

Alton's eyes flashed as he took the chip and placed it into a small tablet. As this happened, a series of text appeared on the screen in an organized manner.

After a short while, Alton had thoroughly inspected the details, his face now filled with a frown as he thought. "Nothing out of the ordinary... it seems that I'm wasting time and resources by having him observed."

Marcus hearing his words asked, "What shall you do about him?"

Alton frowned for a little while before he spoke again, "Keep at it, we only want to see when he'll meet up with that Alan, even if he's only hanging around those useless ones with no talent."

"I will pass on the message," Marcus said as he left the room and closed the door.

Alton nodded at this, he was about to do some more research, but it was at this moment his phone rang. He shifted his eyes on the number and saw that it was bold red.

Not wasting any time, Alton picked it up and replied, "Section Head greets the Chief."

"Begin your report..." The cold voice said impatiently.

A stifling coldness filled the room as Alton fixed his glasses and swallowed his spit. He then gathered a stack of paper and spoke, "Right away."