Chapter 177: Chapter 177: System's Hard Love

With the city calm and the troublemakers imprisoned, Elio met with his inner circle in a room of the central building.

Lucien and Selene were there, of course, but also Zara, Kriz, Brok, Ren and Micah.

"Well, boss," Kriz began, breaking the tense silence with his usual casual tone, "what do we do with our new 'guests'? Give them the suite and a harem, or send them straight to the towers?"

Zara shot him a warning look, but Elio couldn't help a small smile.

"Actually," Elio said, his expression becoming serious again, "I was thinking of using them to better understand the book's challenges. It could be useful to know more..."

"Oh, great," Kriz interjected again. "Nothing says 'I hate you' like using someone as a test subject for potentially deadly challenges."

This time it was Brok who elbowed Kriz, but Elio noticed that even the always serious Micah seemed to be suppressing a smile.