Chapter 179: Determination

"Remember, tell everyone that it's just a test."

"Of course. I will tell my friends that it's just a test." Theo nodded while thinking, 'I won't tell anything to Nart Eilric though, since he is not my teammate.'

Radvils snorted and waved his hand, opening the door. "You may go. I won't see you off."

Theo closed his eyes and calmly rose from his chair, heading to the outside.

As soon as he was outside, Radvils quickly slammed the door with his Magic Power as if he was angry.

Theo took a deep breath and smiled over his small victory, but little did he know, anger might be the last thing that Radvils would think of.

Behind that door, Radvils was actually smiling in excitement, seeing Theo's character. He had been watching Theo this whole time to see whether he had the potential to bring his team to victory.

However, there was indeed one thing that Theo forgot due to his lack of experience in this area. He forgot to add the fact that the missions were impossible to succeed because of the first assignment alone, let alone the other two.

If he added it into their negotiation, Radvils might end up giving him more.

He muttered with a smile, "But I guess it's enough for his level. He is still rough around the edge, but he has potential. I wanted to give that card to him, albeit I had no good opportunity. I need to thank him for standing up and making my job easier."

That conversation turned out to be not a simple negotiation. Theo and Radvils were trying to outwit each other, but Theo ended up making the situation a win-win for both of them.

Radvils smiled and said, "I guess this year's students have the potential to reach the grand stage. There are two other groups that may become their rival in this small competition, but we will see.

Meanwhile, Theo left the building immediately while looking at the skill he just received.

Skill: Illusion Manipulation (C)

Effect: Manipulate one's perception to make one get a sense of touch and vision of an illusion along with the ability to manipulate a certain level of reality.

"Ho?!" Theo widened his eyes as he didn't expect such a haul. "A C Rank Skill? Isn't this Hero Rank Skill?"

Theo fell silent when he read the skill effect and realized this might be more useful than he thought. He had one month to master this C Rank Skill and two other E Rank Skills and just thinking about it made him feel excited.

After taking another deep breath, he went to the third building, where he got intercepted by someone on the way. That person pulled him to the side of the building where no one was watching.

And that person was none other than another Theo. Yes, the reason Theo dared to talk back and negotiate with Radvils was due to him sending his clone instead of his real body.

If Radvils sliced his throat at that time, Theo would simply disappear since it was just a clone. Meanwhile, the real him would know Radvils' evil plan and simply redirect Nart Eilric to Radvils. Those two could fight against each other at that time.

Even if Radvils realized it, he still had the pocket watch his brother gave him.

While grabbing the pocket watch, he looked at the sky while smiling, "I wonder what kind of secret this pocket watch has. Anyway, I will trust my brother and use it only when I can't do anything, like if Radvils wants to kill me."

Thinking about all this somehow made him excited as he smiled with an ecstatic expression, muttering, "I see… I now can see what kind of people I will face in the future. I really need to grasp human psychology better like earlier to gain upper hands in future negotiations or problems.

"Those who are at the top are sly, smart, cunning, and ruthless… If I can't outsmart them, I will be doomed in the future. Still…" Theo tightened his grip on the pocket watch while staring at the sky, smiling. "Brother, watch me… I shall cower no longer."

He was determined to search for his brother and walked on this path. His goal was to become someone strong and influential enough to affect the entire world. At the same time, he realized since the God of Mischief wanted him to mess the world up, he could simply kill the bad guys.

After all, the bad guy surely had some sort of deals and influence in the underground world. The moment they were destroyed, those around them would start creating chaos, trying to become the new leader. It might also affect the people around it and probably someone influential that had been cooperating with them and killed those bad guys altogether.

This way, he could fulfill both his goal and God of Mischief's wish simultaneously.

Feeling satisfied with this new determination, Theo made his way to the building and entered a certain room with Alea inside. Yeah, his training partner today was Alea and since he had a better grasp of her than anyone else, he better explained it to her first so she could help him convince the others later.

It was a perfect scenario for the day. Theo and Radvils believed that everything would go well and there wouldn't be any more interruption for the rest of the competition since the government had gotten involved.

However, both of them miscalculated one thing. They would never expect that someone would go from the other gate all the way to Art Beats City.

Inside the other gate, Ben stood together with ten people that seemed to be Lange Family's elites. He smiled and said, "I have only one mission. It's to kill. Since you all are at least Level 251, I'm sure we can reach our destination within a week. After that, it's going to be a free kill as we will split up. Okay?"

The guys nodded and started leaving the city right after. With them already on this side, there was no way for Radvils to block them anymore and the future investigation would surely lead to nothing… Or that was what was supposed to happen.