Chapter 57: Motivation

After Teo parted with his sister, he immediately headed back to his cave. He had many things he had to do. Despite eventful day he experienced earlier, he didn’t allow himself to relax, and pushed himself harder as he had plenty of motivation to do so.

He needed to figure out a way to fix the mess that he had made. Although he had profited quite a bit in terms of money, the risks were too great. He felt anxious and worried, but he temporarily buried his emotions and calmed himself. He needed to stay clear headed for what's to come.

Though he was being pressured by the worst case scenarios he could think of, he had to focus.

He turned his attention back to his research.

‘My sister needs some sort of protection as well. I should ask mister Deacon about protection wards’

There were too many things for Teo to accomplish. Although his progress with the wind enchanted boots were a success, he still had to create the void array, the concealment array and now some sort of protection array.

Time is of the essence! He could kill two birds with one stone, if he can translate the void necklace inscription into an array form he could gain two things at once. It had both concealment inscriptions as well as the ability to create a pocket of space to store items.

The only problem was the array equivalent to these was not basic ranked array, but from his estimates it should be a top tier medium ranked array, or perhaps even an advance ranked array. Furthermore, the techniques required to complete these arrays could not be accomplished by simple drawing techniques, but through a more advance technique that Teo isn’t able to make use of.

‘Writing world Qi as ink..’, the main reason why he had to resort to such experiments

As for the protection array, his inscription instructor might be able to help.

Due to his current predicament,he was not lacking in motivation, but rather lacking in time.

Initially he thought he had enough time and more to finish his projects, especially with the help of his newly found inscription from Zachery’s ring, but now he had to worry about his sister’s protection as well as fixing the mess he had made.

He looked at the boots again and pondered

With the help of the many symbols he had at his disposal, he gave these experimental boots a unique property. The amount of increase speed was set to increase in proportion of the user’s strength. The stronger the person is, the better the results would be… or at least in theory.

Teo could only use himself to test it out, so he wasn’t sure if the boots could even handle the increased power of the array. If it could, then it would be a great item to help his sister and his friends, allowing them to easily escape an enemy they can’t defeat.

On the other hand, if the boots were to suddenly break down during a critical moment, it would only ensure their capture or in the worst case, their deaths.

Teo sighed quietly; alone in his room.

‘If I had a guinea pig I could experiment more freely. Once the concealment array is finished then I would be able to test it on some unsuspecting victim! HA HA HA HA’

He laughed at his diabolical ideas for the future. After a while he mumbled to himself silently as he hit his own head.

‘Don’t be too overconfident idiot!’, as he scolded himself for today’s mistakes

….

Gina took the two juniors into a tavern, and sat at the corner of the tavern.

Lia and Windle quietly sat with mixed emotions reflected on their faces.

“Lia, what are you thinking of?”, Gina asked, although she already knew, she wanted them to talk it out instead of burying their feelings inside.

They had been quiet the whole time and were thinking deeply about their situation.

“Senior sister… I… Teo… Teo is so STUPID!”, as she took her fist and hit the table.

-BAM-

she slammed all her frustration onto the table.

Tears started forming at the corners of her eyes, and gritted her teeth

“I thought Teo would be smarter than this, but now I know, out of the three of us, he is the most impulsive!”

There was anger in her words, she was angry at Teo who brought them all into this mess. She was also angry at herself for not stopping Teo in time; moreover, she was angry that she was considering breaking ties with Teo.

Windle, on the other hand, stayed quiet. He briefly admired Teo during the incident, but in hindsight, Teo’s actions was truly foolish. He felt the same emotions as Lia but did not reveal them out in the open.

“Do you want to stop being friends with him?”, Gina asked solemnly

This was the most important question of all, but after hearing Gina’s question they became silent and thought deeply

Their heads were spinning with different kinds emotions. In the past year, they had become best of friends. Parting from each other was too cruel, similar to someone having their hands cut off.

They wouldn’t have been so troubled if they were not attached to Teo!

Their heads spoke with reason, but their hearts spoke with compassion.

Lia gritted her teeth and slammed the table once more.

“Of course I don’t want to stop being friends with him!”, she shouted as tears started flowing from her eyes

She tried to wipe them before anyone noticed, but it flooded down her face; like a broken dam that could not be fixed.

“But he.. He..”

Lia could not complete her sentence.. She felt like if she did, then the idea cutting ties with Teo would completely solidify and by then, she would’ve already made a choice.

Gina lend her shoulder to Lia as she wailed and cried.

They’ve drew the attention of several people in the tavern, but they didn’t mind.

Windle was also affected by Lia’s tears. He had resolved himself to not cry, but it was like a contagious disease and tears slowly formed.

His face twisted as he tried hard to hold his tears back but it was no use.

“If you still want to be friends with Teo, then you should stay as his friends. Right now, he needs the both of you more than ever”, Gina softly spoke.

“Although it is easy to make friends, it is hard to find friends who would share both joy and pain with you. You can tell by Teo’s actions today that although they were rash, he protected someone who was important to him without holding regards to anything else. I believed Teo would also do the same for both of you.”

The two became silent, but agreed in their hearts. They knew Teo’s character of putting his friends and family first before himself.

Lia was greatly disappointed that the booksmart Teo was actually just an idiot in disguised. At the risk of protecting someone dear to him, he dragged more people into a greater mess. Instead of protecting all of them, he stupidly made the situation worst. What a true idiot, but unexpectedly, her heart warmed at the thought of Teo’s stupid actions.

Windle and Lia both asked themselves a similar question.

‘Would I be able to do the same for Teo?’

But before they could ask their hearts, Gina interrupted their thoughts and said

“As for the danger that might come in the future, if you plan on being a cultivator or a fighter within this world, you cannot avoid them entirely. What you need is strength and a little bit of danger will naturally help you grow much faster!”

Lia and Windle was also aware of this fact. Why would Lia train so hard to improve her fighting ability? Why did Windle secretly practice to improve on his battling capability?

After some reflection, the dangers that they feared were not as terrifying as they had thought.Their worst fear was being maimed or killed but if they stayed within the limits of the academy, at worst they would have to endure some bullies.

But who were they? They were members of the top 4 factions within the the academy, who would dare harass them? Only people within these top 4 factions would be able to do so, and with the headmaster’s promise, the Rizon faction should not be able to openly harass them.

After thinking about the situation in a different light, the two wiped their tears and made a decision.

They looked at each other’s eyes and had a sense of unity and knew what they both had decided.

“Tomorrow, let’s teach Teo not to be so impulsive!”, Lia said

The both of them knew that if Teo could not mend his ways, he would bring both of them more trouble in the future.

….

Within the Rizon faction headquarters, the headmaster within a room watched the many youths of the Rizon faction currently tortured through intense training.

Only two youths were spared, one was the already injured Kristofer, and the other Zachery.

The headmaster had just came back from Mirth city. After he retrieved the ring, he came back to the party and dismissed any rumors that might have flown out. After the party, the Rizon branch family returned to their territory and the headmaster and the Rizon faction returned to the academy.

Instead of heading to his quarters he decided to relieve some of his frustrations onto the youths.

He sat down onto the couch and sipped some warm tea to help him relax.

-Knock Knock Knock-

Suddenly, the head master heard a knock on the door.

“Headmaster, an elder wishes to see you”, a member of the faction politely announced his reason for disturbing the headmaster

‘An elder? It must be him’, he thought.

“Show him in”, he placed his teacup down and stood to welcome the elder

The headmaster was well acquainted with this elder as he was the leader of the Red guards, and he was not surprised of his visit.

“Elder Shard, what brings you here?”

The elder smiled and said “Headmaster Elon, just a small matter”, then looked at the faction member who was still nearby.

Elon knew that the elder wanted to speak in private and sent the faction member away.

“Please sit”, Elon said as he gestured towards to one of the chairs

“-Cough-, I had heard about the incident today”, Shard said as he sat down; directly to the business he had.

Elon did not show too much of a reaction as he had already guessed Shard’s purpose for coming.

“I am embarrassed by my actions”, Elon humbly said

“Elon, we’ve known each other a long time now. It isn’t like you to be acting like this.”, Shard spoke informally

These two worked with each other often for a long time and eventually started treating each other as friends. Despite being friends, Shard placed the order of the Imperial family before himself, so there was still a layer of professionalism in between them.

“-Sigh- Shard, I don’t know what to tell you. My desperation had momentarily blinded me”

Elon was the headmaster for the academy for many years, although this position had some level of power, it was a minor role within the Rizon family.

“Still hoping to reach to reach the Imperial city? You know, if you just accepted my offer I could’ve helped you join the royal guards”, Shard said in concern

Shard knew about Elon’s desperation for the Imperial city, but Elon had always rejected his offer.

“Bah! At my age? At my talent? Besides, a Royal guard has no status within the Imperial city”

“Old fool! at least you might be able to see her. She has probably forgotten about you long ago!”

A tinge of loneliness could be seen in Elon’s posture.

His plans to impress that visitor from the main family failed, and now the only chance he had to be invited to live in the Imperial city was in his grandchild’s hand.

He even brought Zachery during today’s chase to impress him; to create a sense of gratitude toward him, but his plans were ruined. Due to his impatience he could not control his emotion that he even leaked it out towards his ticket out of this place.

All he could do now was try to continually promote Zachery’s good feelings towards him. He even gave his father’s precious ring to this grandchild of his. Although it was not as precious as a void jewelry, it was should’ve sufficed.

‘Ella, have you really forgotten me?’, he said softly within his mind.

Ella was Elon’s love interest that was invited to the Imperial city after they graduated. She was talented and beautiful and Elon tried to chase after her but with his mediocre abilities, he was unable to do so.

Elon sat there quietly, and stared at the cup of tea on the table, reminiscing about his youth.

“-Cough-, In any case, I am here to remind you of your promise”

Shard interrupted Elon’s thoughts, as he pledged absolute loyalty to the Imperial family, Elon’s oath was not light. He came to confirm of Elon’s motives.

“Bah, those kids. They probably think of me as ruthless and shameless. Shard, I intend to keep my word, but that is only the promise to not harm them. There are still many things I can do to make them miserable without harming them”, Elon replied.

‘But for that, I need to wait another year for it’s full effect’

Since Teo was still a second year student, he was still within the protection of the academy so he could not do much against him. As for the others, once he learned the exact details of incident, he did not hold the others responsible. As far as he was concerned, only by making Teo miserable could he make his grandchild satisfied.

‘Even if everyone thinks badly of me, as long as I can reach my goal, I don’t care’, he inwardly thought.

He did not hide his plans for the kids from Shard, because it was a small matter. As long as he did not break his oath then Shard would not care what he does.

Shard nodded as he confirmed Elon’s general plans