100 Chapter 100: Before the Campfire Party (1/2)

”Huff…huff…!”

I was swinging both my swords, following the pattern that Dad taught me. After so many years of practicing, by now the moves had been so ingrained in my body that they felt like natural reflexes. My wooden blades knocked against the wooden training dummy, again and again, sending splintered chips out.

After my swordsmanship training, I moved on to summoning. Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes and gathered my mana about me. The training camp had helped me a lot, and it seemed that I could summon my Constellation spirits slightly faster now. My Celestial Guardians still required quite a lot of time to summon, thanks to their greater power, but that was only logical.

However, lately I had begun experimenting with my Constellation spirits to see if I could summon much stronger ones that were on par with, or even stronger than my Celestial Guardians. I had been working on conceptualizing and manifesting a few that might possess firepower of a magnitude several times that of say, Vermillion Phoenix or White Tiger.

So far, I had only succeeded in conceptualizing one. He was still a work in progress, and required a tremendous amount of time to set up, but again, that was only natural. I never expected to succeed in such a short period of time.

For now, I decided to go through my summoning spells, from the fastest toward the slowest. First, I started off with Gemini, and then practiced a few swings with them. Then Aquarius. Then Sagittarius. Then Orion. Then Canis Minor. Then Ursa Minor. Then Corvus. Followed by Canis Major, and then Ursa Major. Then Taurus. Capricorn. Aries. Just as I was about to summon a few new Constellation spirits that I had recently conceived, Dad walked into the dojo.

”What are you still doing here?” he did a double take when he saw all of my Constellation spirits glowering down on him, but rather than fear, he felt impressed. ”Whoa…that's quite a lot of summoned beasts you have there.”

Then he cleared his throat, especially as I began to dismiss them from our dimension and returned them to whatever soul dimension they resided in when I didn't summon them.

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”Never mind that. What are you still doing here?”

”Training,” I replied as I suppressed the urge to add, ”Obviously.” Dad wasn't going to take too kindly to me mouthing off.

Dad sighed as he slapped his forehead. ”I know that. What I mean is, why are you still training?! Shouldn't you be leaving now?”

”Leaving? Where am I supposed to go?”

”The campfire party.” Dad glared at me, not sure if I was pretending, or if I really forgot. ”Don't tell me you don't remember. Today's Saturday, isn't it? It's already six. If you don't move out soon, you'll be late.”

”Ah…that campfire party.” Honestly, I didn't forget about it. I just didn't want to attend that gathering of normies. The atmosphere was too stifling for me, and I was certain the damned disco music or whatever music they played would be too loud. Those kind of events weren't for me. I didn't really like parties.

”Yeah, your friend Yue Chu knew you would try to give it a slip, so he told me about it. Asked me to ensure you go.” Dad glared at me. Inwardly, I seethed. Damn that Dong Fang Yue Chu. He really went through such lengths to ensure I participated. ”So go. Don't stay cooped up at home all day. You need to go out and socialize more often. What are you, a hikkikomori? Hang out with your friends. Live a little. You're still young, you know? If you don't take this chance to enjoy your youth, it'll be over soon. Then it would be too late.”

I honestly didn't care. I had better things to do with my life than to enjoy my youth.

”Don't give me that, and just go.” Dad grabbed my shoulder and began herding me out of the dojo. ”What are you, some kind of edge lord?”

”I didn't go that far and say dumb, nihilistic things. I just have…priorities.” Which was to get stronger before the university exams…next year. Okay, maybe I was rushing too much. But even so, I was impatient to get strong, otherwise readers would complain about what a weakling I was and drop the story. Okay, if that's the reason why they dropped this stupid story, then so be it. I wasn't going to pander to their tastes and suddenly become a godlike, overpowered protagonist who could curb-stomp any opponent stupid enough to cross my path.

”Yeah, yeah. Anyway, just go. That cute girl…Alicia, was it? She's waiting for you in the party. I'm sure of it.”

I raised an eyebrow. ”You're thinking too much about it. Alicia and I are just friends…”

…I trailed off when I realized that wasn't exactly true. Didn't she kiss me right in front of everyone after I defeated her in a ranking match? After that, we had the training camp, so we didn't have many opportunities to meet and talk it out. Consequently, our relationship was still in some kind of limbo. I wasn't sure what exactly our relationship was any longer. And since Alicia didn't bring it up, I found it too awkward to approach her to ask her about it.

There was some sort of fear inside my heart, that Alicia would just laugh it off and say she did it in the heat of the moment. Or an impulse. Then I would back off, embarrassed. Oh, well.

Eventually, we were going to have to talk about this, but…not yet. I guess.

”Whatever. I don't care what sort of relationship you have with her, as long as it's nothing unhealthy. Just don't get her pregnant…”

”Oi!” I snapped.

”Sorry. I know you're not the type to give in to your desires. Anyway, just go already.” Dad glanced at the clock hanging high on a wall of the dojo. ”Have fun.”

”…yeah, yeah.”

Resigned to my fate, I reluctantly headed to my room to change and get ready to depart for the campfire party.

*

While I was busily preparing to leave for the campfire party, a trio of students were making preparations of their own. They were seated around a table at a café, their cups of coffee left untouched as they schemed and argued in low voices, trying their best not to be overheard by the waitresses in maid uniforms, or other customers.

”Are you sure this is a good idea, boss?”

Terence looked around nervously before turning back to Lin Zhan Long. The vice-president of Holy Saints glowered at his lackey.

”What, don't tell me you've gotten cold feet now?”