The difference caused by Mechs.
After leaving the Eagle’s Nest, this was the only thing on Garen’s mind.
The entire atmosphere of the Eagle’s Nest had a very upbeat and crazed feeling to it as the members inside were all extremely passionate, though albeit prone to violence. Garen started to faintly feel that this had something to do with the Crouched Eagle Talon training method.
It was even the same for him; he too was starting to be slightly affected after starting to train this technique.
According to Sofia’s description, other training methods would also bear similar side effects. For example, for the Trails of the Wind technique, regardless of the practitioner’s temper, as they mastered the technique, their attitude would have a certain degree of change. They would become more adaptable, agile, varied and quick-thinking.
Another example would be the Brutal Hammer; its practitioners seemed to develop a certain type of attitude. They would become more inclined to use violence and torture, have bad tempers and were overall maniacal.
In comparison, the practitioners of the Crouched Eagle Talon would only become stronger and be more prideful of their strengths.
In the upcoming days, he went to the Eagle’s Nest daily and trained with the experts there. With the help of the Staff of Absolute Yin, he also managed to accumulate more and more potential points. However, before completely mastering his foundations, Garen decided to hold back from using these potential points. There was no meaning in increasing his strength that way; as someone who had trained in secret techniques before, he fully understood the importance of establishing a strong foundation. If the foundation was not stable, even when facing an opponent at the same level, one’s weak point could be easily exploited into an effortless defeat.
In lethal combat, every flaw could be a fatal one. As such, if one did not have a strong foundation, it would cause one to have numerous flaws.
As the days flew by, half a month had passed in a blink of an eye.
In the canteen, at the noisy dining hall.
“What? Baylon is missing?” Garen exclaimed as he looked at his watch.
“Yeah. We had always thought he was working as a live-in full-time worker at that bakery. He would usually contact us every fortnight. This time, when we called over, they said he had left for home a long time ago. But we haven’t even seen Lon in ages!” from the watch screen, he could see that his mother Amy had a worried look on her face. “We’ve tried everything we could, but there were no results. It’s all up to you now!”
Garen reminisced about his impression on Lon. He was a bashful, gentle, introverted fellow, always had long hair, and was the type who didn’t dare to raise his voice. This type of person wouldn’t intentionally cut off all contact with his family. Judging by his personality, something must have happened that prevented him from contacting home.
“What about dad?”
“He’s still busy working on some stuff at his office, and he also has an urgent meeting this afternoon. He is probably preparing for it now,” Amy looked extremely fatigued. “Recently, your grandma fell sick again and she also has some problems with her leg, so your dad is also busy taking care of her. Furthermore…” at this point, Amy’s face was once again filled with concern.
“Furthermore what?”
“Furthermore, the police came by this morning for some investigation. They say your brother, he’s… somehow related to the terrorist attack case, so they needed to come in to do some investigations.” Within one day, his mother Amy had gone through so much bad news, it was surely extremely taxing on her body.
“Terrorist?” did they mean White Light?
Garen frowned. Ever since he had received Blue Narcissus’ endorsement, his family’s financial status had become much better, but new problems had started to pop up one after another. At first, when he had selected Nonosiva, it was because the Soul Seed felt that he had a different aura from others. However, after such a long time, there still weren’t any major changes. On the contrary, now his brother Baylon had such a problem befalling him…
“Apparently it also had something to do with the younger brother of the bakery owner. Now that the warrants are out, what should we do? Your younger brother had to live a bitter life alone ever since he was young… If something were to happen to him…” as she spoke, his mother Amy started to sob intermittently.
“Don’t worry mom, I’ll try to use my connections over here to do some investigations on the issue,” Garen comforted her. “Alright, I’ll go get some people to help, I’ll report back to you tonight.”
“Okay, try to be as fast as possible! If something were to happen to your brother…”
Hanging up, Garen took a deep breath. The soul seed started to have a slight movement; it seemed like it was possibly something big this time.
After thinking for a bit, he started calling up people from his network.
“Is this Celine? I need a favor, my brother might be in trouble. I’ve no idea of the circumstances, so can you help me dig up some info? Alright alright, I’ll treat you to dinner sometime soon, bye.”
“Vivienne, I have something I’d like you to help me investigate. My brother is in some sort of trouble, he went missing around half a month ago, okay, alright, thanks!”
“Kendall, is the Charm Mercenary Troop available? Can you get them to investigate what’s going on at my brother’s side? Give them the mission to protect my little brother at all costs. Of course, I mean now! Why do you think I pay you guys so much every month? Alright, thanks! Buck up! Alright.”
After countless calls, Garen slumped down while deep in thought. The Nutritious Meal in front of him was only half-finished, but his eating speed became slower and slower and suddenly came to a complete stop.
“What’s up? Is there any trouble? I heard you make a few phone calls earlier,” Sofia walked up to his side. She was carrying a tray with a small portion Nutritious Meal and a glass of apple juice.
“Oh, it’s Sofia,” Garen politely gave her a greeting, though he was still frowning. Baylon had always seen him as his idol and aspiration. He was a kind young lad, giving up his opportunity to go to school to Garen, his older brother. Although Garen wasn’t actually his brother, since he was occupying his brother’s body, he had to at least do his part.
“There’s some trouble that popped up back home. My younger brother went missing.”
“Looking for people is my specialty,” Sofia nodded. “If you don’t mind, let me help you out.”
“Then I’ll have no choice but to trouble you, senior,” Garen didn’t hold back; it was only natural to help each other with favors, this was a part of human communication.
“It’s nothing much. Wait for my update, I’ll have a report sent to you latest by tonight,” Sofia smiled.
“Alright, enjoy your meal, I’ll take my leave first. I have to settle some issues at the academy,” Garen stood up.
“The Eagle’s Nest is currently giving out investigation missions, it’s all high-level missions given in the name of the military. All pilots who are Level One and above can take up the missions. Coincidentally, there were a few missions regarding the rumors of terrorist activity within the city. If you don’t mind, you can take those up. Maybe you can get some more information from the military side regarding this situation,” Sofia suggested.
“Oh? I’ll take a look in a bit, thanks for the info,” Garen nodded
Without even slowing down, Garen headed directly towards the Eagle’s Nest. After asking for directions from a few members, he arrived at a small room. One of the walls inside was replaced by a huge display screen. The screen listed the missions given by various parts of the military from all over the region to the Eagle’s Nest and the associated rewards.
Amongst these, were things like investigating the mysterious Mech outside the city, night time security patrol, training accompaniment, fire department support, Mech beta testing, and more.
Tens of missions were listed on the screen, with the list being refreshed every few seconds. Sometimes, new missions would appear, while at other times a mission would be displayed as cleared as the entry slowly faded away.
There were a lot of students here picking their missions. As Garen walked in, he was recognized by many people. Ever since his battle at the training hall last time, he had gained a small amount of fame. For someone at his age to have already attained Level Three Willpower, within the Eagle’s Nest, he was easily ranked within the top three hundred. Furthermore, he had even joined the Blue Narcissus as an elite chosen by Britney. Although he did not become an elite student, if not for his bout with Celine, both of them would have undoubtedly entered the ranks of the elite students without a hitch. In addition, he had managed to improve his Willpower from Level One to Level Three just within the short timespan of half a year. His potential was unmeasurable.
Hence, no one dared to underestimate him. Upon his entrance, they unconsciously parted like the red sea, all greeting him with smiles on their faces.
Garen nodded to them in thanks. This group of people looked to be at least Level One or Two, and those who dared to come view the missions weren’t average students. He proceeded to the spot they created for him and started to look at the missions.
Soon, he found the mission given out by the military, which was a mission of investigating and patrolling around Blackboard City. He immediately called the listed contact number and left his name and student number in the voicemail as identification.
As he was about to leave the room, a muscular man with short blue hair walked in. The two looked at each other face-to-face, noticing the force of the Level Three Willpower engulfing each other.
“Nonosiva?” the guy smiled. “Big Bro Anjay Terin told me all about you, he said you were awesome! I’m Kembe, I guess I’m in luck, to think I would meet the Freshmen’s First Seat in the flesh.”
“I was only lucky, Level Three Willpower is something quite common in the Eagles Nest,” Garen humbly replied.
“This isn’t something you can chalk up to luck,” Kembe shook his head. “Why the rush, did you get an urgent mission? Need any help?”
“Thanks for the offer, but there’s no need. Let’s talk more next time, it’s almost time for my mission to start,” Garen motioned at his watch.
“Ah alright, let’s chat next time, I’m also planning on taking up a mission for fun,” Kembe casually said. “Why don’t we swap our contact info? If you’re free, we can even go grab a drink or two. I heard that even Barry couldn’t defeat you that day at the training hall! That’s awesome!”
“Alright, let’s see when both of us free then,” Garen nodded.
As the two walked past each other, Garen looked at the time once more. While awaiting the confirmation of the mission, he still had a bit of time. After pondering for a moment, he decided to head to class.
The number of familiar faces in the class had decreased by quite a bit. A lot of people had failed to reach the required grades for certain subjects and were forced to retain a year. There were also a few people from other classes that were transferred here to make up the numbers. This was a normal occurrence in Blackboard Academy. Every year, there would be some students dropping out, some students being retained, some successfully being promoted to the next year, and some classes would be merged if they didn’t have enough students left.
Walking into the noisy classroom, he was just in time for the next class. Other than a few elite aces in the class, most of the students went to class as usual, as it was the best way for them to earn academic points. Aces like Garen or Fervale, on the other hand, managed to earn their academic points through attaining the top ranks in various competitions. Even accepting missions from the Eagle’s Nest or taking assessments could grant him academic points, which, needless to say, was completely effortless for Garen.
As Garen walked into the classroom, many students’ gazes shifted towards him. Some went over and gave him a passionate greeting, while others seem to be silently observing him and gossiping about him. Fervale was also not here; his seat was empty.
Vera and Kell were at their seats busy revising for their test, so they haven’t been together with Garen recently. However, upon noticing Garen’s arrival they stood up and walked towards him.
“Nono, what brings you to class today?” Kell asked while holding up her long wavy bangs.
“I came to talk to Vera about some stuff,” Garen’s sight shifted towards Vera, and his calm yet sharp gaze upon her made her shrink away. “C’mon, let’s talk outside.”