272 Chapter 272: Training Room (1/2)

”…er…where am I again?”

As it turned out, it was a bad idea to leave my dormitory room and wander around Vermillion Academy. Even though I roughly knew how it looked like after watching the entire flashback arc of Dad, that didn't necessarily meant I knew the school like the back of my hand. My poor sense of direction was my undoing again, and I found myself utterly lost.

”Hey, you over there!”

I caught sight of a couple of students in the Vermilion Academy uniforms approaching me. One of them was a huge guy with a really buff stature and closely cropped hair, while the other was a carefree, skinny guy with a bandanna wrapped around his head for some reason.

”Why are you loitering around here? Aren't you from one of the other schools? You're here for the exchange session, aren't you?”

”That's right,” I affirmed, scratching my head sheepishly. The burly guy was quite imposing, and his tone was just as intimidating as his huge figure. ”Sorry. I didn't mean to loiter around. I was just searching for the training room.”

”Relax,” the skinny guy told his friend before he turned to smile at me. ”Don't mind Brutus. He's always quite…”

”…brutal?” I offered. The skinny guy with the bandanna burst out laughing, even as Brutus's expression grew more severe.

”That's certainly one way of putting it. Anyway, if you're looking for the training room, it's in that building over there.” He pointed in the opposite direction. ”You're a long way from it.”

”Holy f! Thanks! No wonder I couldn't find it!”

”No problem. I'm Riley.” The skinny guy with the bandanna offered his hand and I took it. His handshake was strong and firm but warm and friendly. ”I think I recognize you. Aren't you the guy from Jing Tian Academy who helped our captain out when she was in a pinch?”

”Your captain?”

”Lilith Porter. You should know her. You took really good care of our captain in the Spiritual Road, from what I heard anyway.”

Brutus grimaced and looked away in embarrassment. ”I should thank you. You succeeded where we all failed…we got wiped out by Ji Xuan's forces right from the beginning. We are really grateful to you for saving our captain.”

”Honestly, I didn't do much.” I raised both of my hands quickly. ”Your captain is perfectly capable of taking care of herself.”

”You're just as modest as we've heard.” Riley chuckled and patted my shoulder. ”I'm glad that, of all the people in the Spiritual Road, she ran into you.”

”You saved her from Ji Xuan and his cronies,” Brutus agreed.

”The authorities would have intervened if things got too far,” I argued. Actually, they couldn't. The Spiritual Road was completely separate from the real world. No matter what transpired within that artificial reality, the instructors and teachers in charge were not allowed to intervene. Or they couldn't. Once they sent students into the space, there was no way for them to enter the Spiritual Road. Having known that fact, Ji Xuan exploited it to his advantage, but he never thought he would be defeated and have his blood token seized from him.

He clearly intended to stay in the Spiritual Road forever and create his own little kingdom within that little, isolated pocket of reality. Too bad he failed. The moment he was forcibly teleported out into the real world, he was apprehended.

Despite him breaking the rules, the Spiritual Road training camp was counted as a success. The higher-ups viewed this as a good experience in teaching us students how to deal with the unexpected, and they really admired how we coped with Ji Xuan's unscrupulous attempts to conquer the Spiritual Road. They declared that we had emerged from the experience a lot stronger and wiser. Furthermore, even though Ji Xuan broke the rules, it wasn't as if anyone died. The Assassins trainees were still pretty green, and they refrained from murdering because it wasn't part of their contract. Also, they knew that crossing that line would bring about a tremendous backlash and force the surviving students to resort to much more desperate measures.

They didn't want to deal with those sort of measures inside the forest, where they were unfamiliar with the terrain.

”Isn't Captain training there too?” Brutus suddenly remembered. ”She wanted to go over a few of her new techniques, if I recall correctly.”

”She probably is. The captain loves to train.” Riley grinned at his own remark as he glanced at me. ”She's kind of similar to you in that regard.”

”…why do you know what kind of person I am?” I frowned in both annoyance and puzzlement. This was the first time I've met these guys, and Riley was acting overly familiar with me. He chuckled in a placating manner.

”You don't realize how famous you are online, are you? Quite a few of your schoolmates posted about you on forums when the other schools were asking for your information…ever since you defeated the Invincible Goddess of War.”

”…right.”

”We should get going,” Brutus reminded Riley. ”We still have several errands to run.”

”Oh, right. Anyway, don't get lost again. Just keep going straight toward that building.” Riley gave me a slight push and I nodded before I made my way. Waving back at them, I plastered on what I hoped would look like a friendly smile.

”Thanks again!”

It didn't take more than a few minutes to reach the building. There was a huge gymnasium in the first floor, which doubled as an arena. No sooner had I stepped through the huge door and into the premises when a familiar voice called out to me.

”Oh, hey! Richard!”

Lilith waved to me, a sheen of perspiration clinging to her skin as she breathed heavily. The ground around her was scorched and the air was shimmering from the heat. Evidently she had been practicing her fire spells.

”Hello, Lilith. It's been a while.”

”It has indeed.” Lilith beamed dazzlingly. ”I'm so glad you could make it to the exchange session my school is holding.”

”Well, it was too good a chance to pass up on…”

Lilith giggled. ”Yeah, I suppose. By the way, you came here to train as well?”

”That's right.” I nodded as I swung my arms in preparation for training. Some kind of weird warmup to loosen my muscles and relax the tension in my body. ”I hope you don't mind.”

”Of course not! In fact, I welcome it!”

Lilith was grinning, and for some reason I felt a sense of foreboding.

”On one condition, though.” for some reason, I knew she was going to say that, and I suppressed a groan. ”Spar with me!”