After arriving at the cottage, Mr. White opened up a room for Raven and went straight to bed on the couch in the living room. He couldn’t be bothered to do anything else as he was completely drunk.
Enzo, however, could not sleep; he lay in bed awake that night thinking of the things that transpired that day.
Great star.
He had no idea it was special, and from the murmurs, it seed like he had already garnered a reputation because of it that he didn’t work for. Now whether that was a good thing or an extrely bad one, he didn’t know.
One thing he did know, however, was that he needed to keep a very low profile, at least for now, until he was certain he could face a Weavetech assassination and survive.
"There’s also that." His eyes panning to the corner of the room, Enzo caught a glimpse of the Void Coffin standing inconspicuously in the dark.
Mr. Inkous was very interested in the origins of the void coffin, and unlike others, he already had clues linking it to Galafray.
This was definitely not a good thing, being linked back to Victoria or even the fact that his void coffin was divine rank was absolutely crazy .
They had to remain hidden.
He trusted Mr. White to an extent, but Grand Regent Inkous... he didn’t know him that well. He had to remain guarded around all these people.
"Strength, that’s all it takes to survive."
The scenes of Victoria storming into a horde of monsters with nothing but her sword still echoed in his mind. If he could achieve such a feat, would he need to be afraid of Weavetech? No!
He could just stroll in there and start ripping off so heads.
So Enzo made a decision that day—as from a good life off this planet for himself and his family, he needed to attain a crazy amount of strength.
He soon closed his eyes with determination, and the next morning went straight to Mr. White.
"I want you to train for a week. I hope that won’t be an inconvenience?" Enzo bowed deeply in front of the knackered Mr. White, who was currently just waking up.
"Ahh? Train? Aren’t you supposed to be resting for a week?" Mr. White asked, a bit disoriented.
"Yes, but... you’re forgetting where I’m from, Mr. White. I don’t know anything about this place, hell I only know how to kill massive beasts, how to survive the slums, and very little about rankings and knowledge... these are important," Enzo explained.
Right now, he was walking into the institute blind. He could probably wing it, but it would put him at a slight disadvantage.
"Ahh, that’s true." Mr. White smiled bitterly.
Enzo really couldn’t know a lot about surviving institution life, and almost everyone did. It was best to show him a few things.
"Okay, let’s go." Mr. White stood up and, with only a white wifebeater on, walked to the door and into the blistering cold.
The sun hadn’t completely risen yet, so everywhere was much colder than proper dayti.
"Take off your shirt. You’ll be in the institute for a while—getting used to the weather is paramount," Mr. White said, pointing at the layered clothing Enzo had on.
He was going to live amongst northerners. The best he could do was dress up and act like them. He just needed to get used to the cold.
With a press of a button on his HUD, Mr. White summoned a pair of dummies and placed them in front of Enzo.
"I saw your fight with that Kegan boy... it’s lethal. You are very good at cutting down your enemy to size. However, in most cases, you will need to subdue the enemy—or even your classmates—without actually killing them. They are kids; most of them will struggle. So wouldn’t take the humiliation and could plunge themselves into your dagger.
Learning how to subdue is paramount. So today, I’ll teach you the art of subduing your enemy."
Mr. White started as Enzo took off his clothes, remaining bare-chested in the blistering cold.
As for Raven, she too had woken up and was observing them from the window, her hand tightly gripping a pendant that looked all too familiar...
Enzo had sothing quite similar on his neck even now.
Days passed, and Enzo and Mr. White went through days and nights of rigorous training and knowledge transfers until finally...
It was the day before resumption.
"I’ve investigated the Orion’s Belt Incident and concluded that there were no survivors."
Inside the house, Mr. White spoke with a tempered tone as he looked over to Enzo and the rest of his family, and then right back to Raven.
This young girl had been dropped off on Earth by her mother, who had taken off to Orion’s Belt to party. They assud she would be back in a few days, but unfortunately...
She didn’t.
Mr. White was then forced to weave to the Orion complex, only to find report ships surrounding the place and several other spots.
Sothing had happened there, and he didn’t have the clearance to peer into it nor investigate, but the level of destruction clearly was out of control.
"Yeah... sothing like that." Raven smiled bitterly. Actually, she was quite sure her mother was still alive, and that destruction Mr. White was talking about was probably caused by her.
She was a massive bad luck carrier; things always ended up this way wherever she went.
"Don’t be worried. I’ll take care of you for the ti being. I’m sure soone will co looking," Mr. White added.
Of course, he didn’t know the exact situation—or whether or not Raven even wanted to go back.
"For now, prepare for your resumption tomorrow in the institute," Mr. White said, panning his gaze until it landed on Enzo.
"Both of you," he added with a confident yet concerned look.
The Dual Moon Institute was very much different from an actual school—it was much more intensive, and survival wasn’t guaranteed.
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