Capítulo 37: Ryan's First Assignment
While Ryan was reading, he felt his wristband vibrate, and a message came into view.
[Anthony Dire: Please proceed to enhancer room 7 to complete your assigned task.]
Seeing the message, Ryan remembered Valery telling him something about enhancers being assigned partners once a week. He guessed that this message was pertaining to that.
He winked at Suzy and Leah and got up from his chair, then left the library.
Opening up his map, he saw that inside the enhancer district, a building called "Enhancer Rooms" had a red dot on it.
Curious, he tapped the red dot, and the view enhanced, showing a room with a door labeled 7.
'Guess it's like a minimap.'
Turning off the map, he headed towards his destination.
===
Grace made her way toward the enhancer room with a gloomy face.
This wasn't her first time going to this particular room. In fact, it was her 4th time this month.
She had received the same message after getting first place in all three of her weekly exams.
But he never came every time she would go to the room to wait for the enhancer to show up.
She had thought about going to complain to Lieutenant Valeria but was too afraid of upsetting her and getting kicked out of the academy.
Grace came from a poor village where her mother was the town's chief.
When the villagers discovered she could cultivate, they spent every dime they could to prepare Grace for the academy.
Her classmates knew her as the strong and confident girl that finished first place in every exam she took.
But on the inside, she wasn't confident or strong. All she was, was scared.
She had the hopes of her whole village riding on her. If she failed, she wouldn't only fail her dreams but fail the ones who depended on her.
While the villagers told her not to worry about paying them back, she could see the desperate situation of the village. She knew this had been a calculated gamble that would lead to either the destruction or resurrection of the village.
When she first came to the academy, she learned that paying for pills was the most common way of cultivating.
But since she didn't have any money, she was desperate for another solution, and that's when the prize for getting first place in the weekly exam was brought up.
After learning that, she knew this was a big opportunity for her.
The ratio of cultivators to enhancers at the academy was 1000:1. If she could get first place in an exam and form some sort of deal with the enhancer, that could be her golden ticket.
The only problem was what could she offer?
As she was entering the enhancer district, lost in her thoughts, she suddenly bumped into a solid figure, falling to the ground.
Rubbing her back, she heard, "Sorry, I wasn't paying attention."
Looking up, she saw a handsome man with raven black hair, his face glowing from the sun behind his back.
Seeing his hand being offered, she graciously took it and said, "I was lost in my thoughts. It was my mistake too."
Dusting off her clothes, she eyed the man, "Are you a student here?"
"Do I not look like a student?" Ryan asked with his brow raised.
Grace said, smiling, "I was just wondering if you mind answering a question."
"If I can. But can we do it while we walk? I have an urgent appointment that I cannot be late for."
Grace looked surprised and muttered, "If only you were assigned to me."
"I was wondering if you would know why an enhancer would not show up to his assigned time."
Ryan looked at the girl quizzically, "If it is with you?" bowing, he said, "It could only mean his death, my lady."
"Haha!" Grace burst out laughing, drawing a few odd stares from the people around them.
"Oh, my," Grace said while wiping off her tears of laughter.
"Thank you. I really needed that." Grace said, looking into Ryan's eyes before turning to run off.
Seeing the girl speed away, Ryan muttered to himself, "Why are girls always running away from me?"
At first, it felt like every girl was attached at the hip to him. Valery kept staring at him before the exam, Mara melted for him in mere moments, and the demon sisters practically begged him to take them in… why did everything suddenly change?
Sighing, Ryan opened back up his map and continued navigating the winding streets to his destination.
===
Mara opened the door to her old room, memories she wished to forget flooding her mind.
Looking around the big room, she came to the middle of the room and said, "I know you're here. You can come out now."
Two figures peeked their heads out from either side of the bed, glancing at each other before walking toward their young master.
Bowing their heads, they giggled at each other, "We'd thought we would surprise you. Looks like you know us too well."
Seeing her two housemaids, Mara couldn't help but feel tears come into her eyes.
Soon the tears became sobs, tears starting pouring down her cheeks as she began to wail.
She had never been able to convey how truly grateful she was for them. Growing up, Mara had always felt in her heart that these two were the mother she never had.
Having such a cold mother, waking up to two warm faces in the morning gave her hope that things wouldn't be bad forever.
They had been the flame on her cold winter nights that kept her from freezing.
Even when they were met with her ice-cold stare every morning, they never once took off their happy smiles.
She had said Ryan was the first person to see her true self, but in a way, she was wrong. These women, for whatever reason, never gave up on her.
Seeing Mara start crying, the housemaids fell into a stupor.
Was this their Mara? The one who never showed an ounce of emotion?
But soon, they recovered and rushed to hug and whisper comforting thoughts into Mara's ear.
After Mara stopped crying, the three climbed onto Mara's bed to talk.
"Mara, I have to say, I'm stunned that you've been able to overcome the negative side of your constitution. How did you do it?" Heather asked.
Blowing her nose, Mara shook her head, "I didn't do anything."
"What do you mean?"
"He did everything." She answered.
Heather and Ruth looked at each other, seeing both of their eyes wide in alarm and amazement.
Quickly the two of them sprang up and concocted a sound barrier.
Seeing Ruth nod, Heather asked, "Who exactly is he?"
Mara looked at the two's odd movements and asked, "Why did you erect a sound barrier?"
Ruth sat down beside Mara, wrapping her arm around her.
"We think it's best if this conversation doesn't leak out," Ruth said.
Tilting her head, Mara asked, "What does that mean? And why was I called back here all of a sudden?"
Biting her lip, Ruth looked at Heather.
Nodding, Heather said, "She deserves to know. She'll know about it tomorrow, anyway."
Ruth looked at Mara, hesitating for a second before saying, "You were called back for your . . . engagement ceremony."
Presentes
-- Presente
recebido Status de energia semanal
-- Ranking de
Poder 
-- Pedra de
Poder