76 Chapter 76: Squad Selection (2/2)

”You got that right! Fine! Bring it on! Tell your dad to prepare his worst training! This grandfather will definitely endure whatever is thrown at him!”

For non-Chinese speakers, basically Dong Fang Yue Chu was literally referring to himself as ”this grandfather.” Don't ask me why. It was probably some slang to make yourself seem like someone important and deserving of respect from the other party…or something like that.

”All right. You guys train for a bit first. I'll settle the stuff with Black Roses, and when I come back, we'll head to the dojo.”

”Yes, Vice-Prez!”

Everyone snapped to attention. I nodded, threw a mock salute, and then hastily strode out of the room. Retrieving my smartphone, I began to type a text message to the ever elusive Troy, who was probably working out in one of Black Roses' exclusive gyms at the moment.

Knowing him and his aversion to people, he would have booked the entire gym for himself. And he was so key to Black Roses' strength that Alicia allowed it. No one had any complaints against the ace of the Black Roses.

That was how terrifying he was.

As I expected, Troy sent a message back informing me that he was indeed working out in his exclusive gym, so I hurried over. Once there, I found myself barred by a hi-tech door. I had to stop at the security pad beside it, tap it to activate the intercom and wait for Troy to respond.

The doors automatically slid open after a few seconds. Troy had evidently been waiting for me. Stepping through, I waved at him as he sat up on one of the benches, wiping his perspiration away from his dark skin with a towel.

”Yo, Richie.” He held up a hand in a friendly wave and grinned. ”I suspect this visit is with regards to this Saturday's team match.”

”Yeah. Do you mind…?”

”Of course!” he brightened up…only for his smartphone to buzz. Frowning, he checked its glowing screen and grew pale. ”Aw…shit, man!”

”W…what? What is it?” I blinked, worried at his vehemence.

Troy grimaced as he turned toward me. ”I'm sorry, bro. I really hate to do this to you, but I just got an emergency call.” He lowered his voice. ”It involves my brother.”

I immediately went still at that. Troy had been tracking down his missing brother for years, and I couldn't just tell him to give up that one clue he had and stay to help me out. It was also the reason why Troy took so many missions. Many of them were in one form or another related to his missing brother, and he was searching for clues.

Tyrant King was the only family Troy had, and he would do anything to find him. I wasn't very sure because Troy kept details of his brother close to his chest, but I heard that Tyrant was responsible for genocide and a host of other crimes. I wasn't sure if Troy was tracking him down to atone for his brother's crimes, and vowed to kill him with his very own hands, or if he just wanted to find out the truth. Either way, I had no right to ask him to dismiss the clue and stay in Jing Tian Academy just for my sake alone.

”I'm really sorry, bro.”

”No.” I shook my head and patted his shoulder. ”Go take care of your family matters. I can handle this.”

”Thanks.” Troy scanned through his phone with a sigh, then turned to me seriously. ”But if I'm not going to be around, who can you rely on? I heard from President Alicia that she would be loaning you some of our members.”

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”Yeah.” I nodded. Unlike a certain Wang Zhong, I wasn't going to be pretentious and declare that we wouldn't lose or that we didn't need any help from Black Roses. It wasn't as if we had a pair of talented first year students or something. Of course it would be mighty convenient if the two most talented first year students joined our society for some stupid reason (probably protagonist power), but reality never went the way you wanted it to. ”I'll probably ask Elliot, Nicholas or Jin Hao for help. I've worked with the three of them before, so I'm familiar with their techniques and magic.”

Troy gawked at me. ”Seriously? I mean, Elliot, Nick and Jin Hao are pretty great guys, and I mean no disrespect, but…they're not the top Black Roses members, you know? They're among…well, the bottom. Since you have the chance, couldn't you just ask for higher-ranked Black Roses?”

”The fact that they're in Black Roses means that they're pretty skilled, doesn't it?” I pointed out. ”Black Roses just don't accept anybody. If they're in, then they definitely have a certain caliber. Besides, the most important thing is that we've worked together before. Since this is a team match and we don't have a lot of time to practice together, I think having synergy and a rapport is more important than looking for members with high individual strength, but aren't able to work well in a team.”

”That is certainly true.” Troy nodded, and then he smiled broadly. ”Good luck, Richie. I'm sure you'll do fine, but I wish you luck all the same.”

I returned the grin. My friend was right, well…partly. I definitely needed the luck. I doubted I would do fine, but I wasn't going to just roll over and hand the victory to those Holy Saint bastards. ”I can't guarantee anything, but we'll definitely do our best. Holy Saints might think they have this one in the bag, but we'll give them a good fight.”