Katy bent her knees slightly, her twin ponytails bouncing as a faint pink aura shimmered around her arms. "Don't hold back just because I'm a girl," she said with a teasing smirk.
Zed chuckled, his fists tightening as frost gathered around them. "I won't. You asked for it."
The ground cracked beneath Zed's feet as he dashed forward, his movement sharp and clean. Katy moved too—swift, controlled, but less refined. She swung her leg in a roundhouse kick, the pink aura flaring like a whip of energy.
Zed tilted his upper body just enough for the kick to graze past him, his right fist shooting forward.
Bam!
Katy blocked with her forearm, but the force pushed her a few steps back, the frost from Zed's glove biting into her aura.
'His control is ridiculous!' she thought, eyes wide. 'His Vigor is lower than mine, but he has more power in his strike.'
Zed didn't pause. He spun, lowering his body before driving an uppercut straight into her guard.
Icicle Fist—Icicle Spear.
A burst of freezing spear exploded as blue mist spiraled up his arm, coating his fist in a crystalline glow. The impact sent Katy flying several meters before she skidded to a stop, panting hard.
"You… exploded the spear before it could pierce me." Katy's eyes widened.
"Yeah. You could be seriously injured otherwise." Zed smiled.
"But you just learned it now, right?"
"Yeah. It's not that hard to control Ki flow in a launched skill. It's connected to you, after all."
Everyone was speechless.
It was true, but it wasn't as easy as how he said it. Not for a beginner, at least.
"You have a pretty good knack for Ki. That's called natural aptitude. It's not that rare," Jason spoke up. "He's like those of the Elite class."
"It looks like we'll have to catch up to you now with your speed." Katy wryly smiled.
"Good luck with that." Zed chuckled and started walking towards Lina.
Lina blinked as she saw Zed looking at her. 'He's coming for me. Is he related to us?'
"Hi." Zed stretched his hand with a smile.
Lina shook his hand, her eyes curious.
"I'm your stepbrother."
"…"
The class was dumbfounded.
"So he is related, but a stepbrother?"
"Damn."
"Wait, that means he was adopted by Lina's father?"
"It looks like the Vaylith family is serious about entering the world of Players."
"You what?" Lina was stunned.
"I'm your stepbrother. I was adopted by your father yesterday. Let's take care of each other from now on." Zed smiled.
"Sure." Lina nodded, returning the smile. She felt both weird and curious about how her father found such a talented young guy.
Katy clapped her hands twice. "It's training time, so enough chit-chat. Let's continue our training."
…
An hour passed by in the blink of an eye. Zed sparred with multiple students and defeated each of them with ease.
The students were dumbfounded at his martial arts foundation.
Alas, Zed simply remembered all the muscle memories that automatically infused into his body as he recalled his battles from the past 668 million lives.
This one hour was well spent since it helped him remember combat because of all the sparring he did.
And during this hour, Zed also triggered a quest change as his desires hit the threshold. It was his youthful blood acting up with sexual attraction toward the girls—mainly Katy and Lina, since both of them were his age, nineteen years old, and the most beautiful in the class.
"Zed. Come with me." Mr. Liu arrived and promptly took Zed away while telling the other students they were free to roam the campus.
Jason and three other boys went to the cafeteria, and their topic of discussion while eating was none other than Zed.
"Jason, it looks like you'll no longer be the most popular among girls in our class, haha."
"Seriously, what is with that Zed? How can he be such a fast learner?"
"His martial arts are also crazy good."
As they were talking, three guys of similar ages—eighteen to nineteen—approached them.
"Hey, shitheads."
Jason and the others flinched as they heard a familiar voice in a familiar tone.
These three new guys were of similar age, around eighteen and nineteen, but they were from another class—a special class. A class consisting of students who were from the families of Players. In short, these three had Player parents, and they'd been training longer, so their martial arts and energy control were higher.
Moreover, all of them were close to hitting the peak of Novice-rank because they could get resources from their parents to increase their stats.
"What do you want, Alen?" Jason asked, his brows slightly furrowed.
Jason's friends instantly adopted smiling faces.
"The fuck are you looking at me for, frowning? Did I do something to you?" Alen arrived at the table and narrowed his eyes coldly at Jason.
Jason's lips twitched. He really didn't want to smile at this asshole, so he adopted a flat expression.
But suddenly, Alen slapped Jason's head—not strong in power, but pushy enough that Jason's head slammed into the table.
"Where's Lina from your class? She isn't in the cafeteria."
Jason's face turned red with anger, but he could only suppress himself. He wasn't strong enough, and even if he was, neither he nor his family was influential enough. All he could do was work hard and get stronger faster than others while surviving.
"Sh-She's still at the training ground with some other students," the black-haired Taron from Jason's group quickly answered.
"Then say it quickly."
One of Alen's friends slapped him with Ki-infused force, leaving a fine red print on his cheek before Alen and his friends left.
"It fucking hurts!" Taron's eyes turned red and teary. "Why does he have to hurt us like that?"
His cheek was swelling.
"Let's eat and continue training," Jason said as he started eating.
Five minutes later, Zed arrived at the cafeteria since he wanted to eat.
'Well, I got the resources, so I guess I'll form my Ki Core after eating.'
[ Yes, my lord. But are you sure you don't want to act on your desire now? This area is pretty chill and quiet. There aren't many students since it's isolated from the general ones. ]
'That's true. How many students are there? Can you check?' Zed took his big sandwich and swiftly ate it in a few seconds before putting the dish in the dustbin.
[ There are 343 Players present in this area. 94 are Novice-rank, 228 are Elite-rank, 19 Master-rank, and 2 Grandmaster-rank. ]
'I see.'
Zed approached Jason and the group. "Hey, buddies. Do you know where Lina is?"
[ My lord, are you finally going to complete the quest? She isn't blood-related, so it's fine to make some moves. ]
"She's at the training ground. But you better not go this time. You won't like it, and you'll get hurt," Taron said.
Zed frowned. 'What the fuck?'
[ Let us hurry to the training ground. ]
Zed vanished with quick, large steps.
Jason and the others looked at each other.
"Let's go."
The four of them stood up and moved.
…
At the training ground, four girls were talking to each other—Lina, Katy, Amelia, and Izara.
Naturally, the topic of discussion was none other than Zed.
"Lina, you don't have to reject like that," Katy pouted. "Just come with him to my friend's birthday party tonight. The helicopter is ready once we're done with today's activities."
"But I only met him today!" Lina rolled her eyes. "How can I just tell him to come with me to your friend's birthday party?"
"Are you feeling shy, Lina? Of course, you can tell him that," Izara chuckled. "We're all around the same age, so wouldn't you want to expand his circle now that he's here?"
"Yep. That's perfectly reasonable." Amelia grinned.
Suddenly, the wind blew unnaturally and a whistle echoed.
"What are you talking about, girls? Include us, too."
Katy and the others stiffened before quickly backing into a group like scared kittens.
"Why are you acting like this?" Alen frowned as he strode forward.
"Run!"
However, the other two guys quickly blocked the way.
Amelia tried to get past the blond-haired bulky guy, but he slammed her stomach and pushed her back.
She gasped for breath and couldn't get up.
"W-What are you doing?!" Katy shouted, anger and fear mixing together.
The girls had heard about the ragging that sometimes happened. One girl had been subjected to it by these same guys half a month ago, and she'd dropped out.
"Calm down. Why are you scared? We're just here to help you." Alen smiled and gestured to them with his hand. "Come with us for special training. Of course, you'll also get a reward."
Alen took out a small glass bottle with two pills inside. "Do you know what these are? Eat one, and your Lumen and Spirit will increase by ten!"
One of the guys spoke next. "You girls remember Ivira? She trained with us for two days and got pills. That's why she got stronger."
The girls trembled. These guys had roped in Ivira by fooling her and did horrible things to her after taking her to a place for two days before she couldn't take it anymore.
"What's going on?"
Zed dashed out of the bamboo as he arrived and raised his voice, attracting everyone's attention.
"Huh? Haven't seen you here before." Alen raised his eyebrows. But then he looked back to Lina and waved his hand dismissively at Zed. "Whoever you are, get lost. We're busy here."
Zed chuckled as he walked toward Alen and stood before him.
"I asked, what is going on?"