NOVEL WEB Chapter 164: Coven’s First Day
After writing a note, Liora left, allowing Hal, who had been pretending to sleep, to finally breathe a sigh of relief.
This was a bit uncharacteristic, as she had always been a sleepyhead, though her efforts still allowed her to stay somewhat punctual in her daily classes.
In any case, Hal could finally get some sleep, if only for an hour or two.
Two and a half hours later, the sun's rays touched his eyelids.
'Aihh…'
Hal stood up with a groan, preparing himself for another day.
He ate a nice breakfast with Loki, took a bath, donned a fresh set of uniform, and cast the spell card [Mental Refresh] on himself twice to feel a bit better.
Still, it was impossible to hide the mild black circles under his eyes.
He usually had the option to sleep for as long as he wanted.
Unfortunately, today wasn't one of those days.
The new members would be coming to the Union Chamber, and as president, he had to make sure everything went smoothly and the union's operations ran without a hitch.
Once he was ready, Hal left his suite and headed to the union chamber.
He arrived around the seventh hour, slightly disappointed to find only the two mundane staff members, Luddy and Sheila, inside.
The coven wasn't as lively as he had expected…
The two employees greeted him nervously, knowing he was the union's big boss and that they were only employed with a generous monthly salary thanks to his support.
Hal amiably greeted them in return and asked, "Have any new members arrived to check out the union chamber yet?"
They opened early at the sixth hour, after all, and would close at the eighteenth.
There was a chance that a few members arrived early and had already checked out the request board.
"No, Sir Hal. Sir Vyse said that all the members we accepted have classes in the morning."
"I see… then I'll be back later. I'll leave things here to the two of you."
And so, Hal went back to sleep, returning five hours later after an early lunch.
Another hour later, a group of three people knocked on the door, excitement on their faces.
They were all second-year students like Vyse, but they were mere three-star commoner students with small backgrounds.
Being selected by such a promising new union was an honor for them.
They saw Hal smiling at them from the lobby, and before they knew it, they were bowing to him. Thank you for reading. This was brought to you by M|V|L*EMPYR.
He was the union president, after all.
"Welcome, welcome." Hal began. "Please finalize your membership with Sheila over there. After that, I suggest you look at the request board, then the rewards exchange room."
The three students bowed once more, then immediately set off to carry out Hal's instructions, whispering among themselves as they left.
"W-Wait, that's the union president, right?"
"Did we bow to the wrong person, or is that Hal Fennec?"
The sophomores hadn't met him in person, so although they had seen him on television, they couldn't be entirely sure it was him.
Regardless, Hal was quite pleased.
Peron soon arrived, and Hal quickly delegated the task of welcoming the newcomers to him.
It would have been a bit inappropriate for the union president to handle it himself, after all, as doing so might damage his and the union's prestige.
Hal was only there to ensure people were enticed to complete the crafting material requests posted on the request board.
Another hour quickly passed.
Hal stayed inside the president's partition, observing everything through the vision of his sparrow perched atop the chandelier hung in the center of the spacious lobby.
He was pretty satisfied with the reactions of the fifteen-plus members who arrived the earliest as they read through the requests posted on the request board.
In fact, a few of them looked as if they couldn't believe that there was such a good deal in front of them.
All of them seemed glad that they joined, especially after checking out the list of rewards in the rewards exchange room.
From the way they left, Hal was sure they had wasted no time and had already begun gathering the materials.
It was only a matter of time before his artifact crafting grind would begin.
More hours passed.
Soon, Liora also arrived, and as much as Hal was tempted to show himself, he chose to hold back.
What had happened the previous night also weighed on his decision.
Fortunately, Peron personally assisted her, making her registration process smooth.
Liora soon left with a slightly disappointed look, making Hal feel a bit guilty.
But he felt even more guilty about the soft sensation he felt from the night before.
The day passed just like that, with more and more members coming to check out the Union Chamber before leaving in utter excitement.
Hal's plan was a resounding success.
Of course, this was only possible because he was Joker.
As long as he crafted the artifacts well, he would make more than he had invested.
The cold night soon took over.
Hal couldn't explain why, but he felt a bit nervous, unsure how to respond if someone knocked again.
Luckily, no one did that night, and he was able to sleep well.
He didn't rush back to the Union Chamber the next day. Instead, he trained his physique at the fitness center for an hour before heading out to complete two missions in the nearby mountains, inching his wizard rank closer to D.
He returned to the Union Chamber in the afternoon, greeted eagerly by a few members and the two staff workers.
The Chaosbringers Coven seemed to be coming along quite nicely.
However, whether it was functioning as intended depended on the storage room.
He quickly headed over to check.
Sure enough, there were now several batches of crafting materials, bringing a smile to Hal's face.
His decision to rely on Vyse and establish a union for a more stable and faster supply of materials had clearly been the right call.
And so, after informing Luddy that he would be taking everything in the storage to make money for the coven, Hal left and began the artifact crafting grind.