23 Chapter 23: Training

The moment school was over, I headed for the training room that Alicia promised me. The email had indicated the location, and as I said, it was secluded, located in a dark, dinghy corner at one of the campus buildings at the back. Inevitably it took me some time to find it, given how my sense of direction was not the best.

"Here it is."

I stood in front of the door, staring at a holographic panel that projected a blue-tinted keypad into the air, and then punched in the access codes that I was given. While waiting for the system to assess my codes, I looked around.

The area was pretty…sad, to be honest. The room was right at the furthest end of the corridor, tucked in right behind a set of staircases. The lights here seemed dimmer than the more accessible segments of the academy, and the atmosphere felt gloomy. There wasn't a single student in the corridor – not many people came to this building, evidently.

No wonder the Black Roses Society was willing to let this training room go. None of their members were willing to make the trek through such a sorry part of the campus to train here, not when they clearly had many better rooms to choose from. Keeping this on their roster would be a continued drain of resources and allocations, and they would rather get something in return.

Alicia, realizing that I could use this room, kindly requested for the ownership to be transferred to me. That didn't mean I was an owner in the technical sense of the word, but that I was just assigned responsibility over making sure this room was being used, or it would be demolished by the academy, or used for some other things such as storage.

While I was brooding, there was a click, and the door slowly swung inward. I stepped into the training room, and blinked as my eyes tried to adjust to the sudden brightness.

To my surprise, the training room was not as dank and gloomy as the corridor outside. It was the same hi-tech, state-of-the-art training room as every other training room under Jing Tian Academy's jurisdiction. There was a boundary field to ensure that sparring partners did not get accidentally killed, and also to restore the room's interior after our techniques and spells inevitably damaged the surroundings.

In other words, it had everything I could ask for, and more.

"All right then." Grinning, I rolled up my sleeves and got ready for my training session. "Let's begin."

*

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And just like that, a week passed since my infamous victory over the Crowley Academy students. I hadn't really checked social media and all that, focusing on my training instead. There were a lot of things I wanted to experiment with and try out, and I had no time to deal with gossip, forums and all the other stuff.

To be sure, there were people who challenged me, but because I practically received hundreds of challenges from not just students in the academy, but also from students from other cities and academies, I ignored them all. Many of my challengers were aware of my atrocious record and my glaring weakness, and wished to exploit that so they could climb upon my fame and boast about how they were better than me, who was supposedly better than the Crowley Academy students. More so, they could boost their own reputation and fame with what they perceived would be an easy win.

There were also rumors about me and Alicia, but neither of us paid any attention to those. Even more so, because I hadn't had a chance to meet Alicia again over the past week. I made sure to send her an email of gratitude, though, and she responded to that, but that was the only contact we had. If people were expecting something juicy, they wouldn't get anything from watching us.

Even better, I had to use my skills to dodge people as best as I could. Because of my newfound fame, people tended to swarm me. I wanted to avoid challenges and awkward questions, so I immediately escaped right after class, making good use of cover or taking alternative routes, going the long way to keep my distance from my stalkers.

Fortunately, after a week, when I hadn't participated in any new duels or matches, the furor over me died out. Social media was moving on to the next big news, people were gradually losing interest in me as they found new things to gossip about.

Great.

After avoiding a group of bulky-looking schoolmates who were screaming threats and bellowing challenges after I left the classroom, I made my way toward my personal training room. Alicia might not have done it on purpose, but the location was perfect for my purposes. Nobody would think to find me here. Not in one of the most remote campus buildings at the back of the academy, hidden away in some dark, obscure corridor.

I had essentially lucked out.

"Okay, this is good…"

Over the next few hours, I had managed to polish my new summoning skills and combined them with the combat lessons I had learned from both Dad and Teacher Fielding. They still weren't perfect, but given what I started with, I had gone a long way in the space of a week.

"Maybe now I can begin accepting some of the challenges."

Not that I was a glutton for punishment, but simply because I needed to test out my new skills in an actual match. There was no point improving and developing new techniques if I wasn't going to use them in actual combat.

"I'll look into that tomorrow, though."

For today, I was tired and just wanted to go home. Perhaps I would spar with my Dad, but other than that I was done for the day. Developing and improving magic techniques took quite a lot from me.

I snuck out of the campus building, still making sure to avoid the stray groups of students wandering around for me. Their numbers had lessened considerably over the week, but there still remained a few persistent enough to use me as a stepping block to boost their own statuses. They would be in for a surprise tomorrow, but I just didn't want to deal with them today.

Reaching the road, I began to take my usual route home. While watching out for my zealous schoolmate, I carefully made my way toward the bus stop.

Perhaps it was this caution that saved me.

"…who?"

Before I reached the bus stop, I caught sight of an unfamiliar group of people. Initially they didn't seem out of place, dressed casually and all that, but their movements raised my hackles. Intuitively, I could tell that they were moving in a familiar pattern.

A pattern that Dad warned me about.

Not this bullshit again…

As I said before, there were quite a huge number of people who resented my Dad or held a grudge against him, or just wanted stuff from him, and one of the ways they tried to get back at him was by targeting me. No doubt they intended to kidnap me, probably to ransom my Dad, or to blackmail him. This wasn't the first time, but it had been a while since the last one.

Good thing I was on the alert for my schoolmates, or I might have missed them. Damn, I had let down my guard and become a little sloppy.

While keeping an eye on them, I immediately altered my route and turned down a corner. As I suspected, the people tailing me immediately hastened their pace a notch, trying to ensure that I stayed within their sight.

Unfortunately for them, I had way too much experience dealing with them.

The moment they lost sight of me, I slipped into a crowd heading toward the bus stop and simply disappeared amongst them. My pursuers cursed when they could no longer locate me, and wasted precious seconds gathering to discuss among themselves what to do.

While they did so, my bus arrived and I joined the throng of students in boarding it. One good thing about uniforms – while many claimed that it destroyed individuality and should not be forced upon students, it allowed me to blend in with my fellow schoolmates and escape the suspicious group of people trying to shadow me.

Unfortunately, they were intelligent enough to realize that something was amiss. When one of them spotted the bus at the bus stop, and having known my route well enough because they evidently did their homework, they realized that I had just taken them for a ride.

"Follow that bus!" their leader snarled. Turning to another couple of members, he singled them out. "You, you, and you! Stick around here and continue to search, just in case he isn't on that bus and is hiding somewhere around here."

"Yes, sir!"

They split up immediately, the majority of them filing into a car.

By then, the bus had already launched off. I took a seat by the window and took note of the car that zoomed after us. The stalkers, whoever they were, were professionals. They didn't tail the bus too closely, remaining just a few cars behind. Otherwise they might have alerted the bus driver.

There were a few times they actually disappeared from sight, only to reappear again just when I thought I had successfully shaken them off. They were good…I had to give them that.

I considered not alighting at my stop, but they would just follow the bus a bit further, all the way until the terminal. Then I would be in trouble as I would be too far from anywhere for help. On the other hand, if I got off, I could sprint toward my house and get under the barrier before they reached me. Furthermore, I had other countermeasures in place…

Additionally, their car was quite some distance away, so I chose to gamble on the chance that I would make it before they catch me.

With that decided, I got off my stop. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the car suddenly accelerating. Trying not to glance at them, I began sprinting toward my house. A good thing Dad trained me daily, or I wouldn't have the stamina or speed.

"Huff…"

Normally, it was just a three to four minutes' walk from the bus stop to my house. A minute if I ran. But right now it seemed like forever. My house, which was normally just a stone's throw away, felt like it was kilometers away.

I could hear the tires screaming as the car behind sped after me. But I was almost there. I could see my house coming into view now. Another minute…no, thirty seconds…!

Then a second car cut in right in front of me, almost running me over. The doors banged open, and a group of adults emerged quickly, moving toward me.

"Grab him!" the leader commanded, a cold smile curling across his face. "Once we get him, we'll be able to threaten Huang Shun Yin! We'll finally be able to kill him!"

"Let's see if he prizes his own son more, or his own life more!"

"That boy should be his weakness!"

I knew it. These bastards were trying to abduct me to get back at my Dad, to blackmail him. As fucking usual.

However, I was far from helpless. I hadn't spent all that time sitting in the bus waiting for them to abduct me. Having finished the casting of my spell long ago, I then unleashed it.

Boom!

Within a few moments, the entire space was engulfed in an inferno. My would-be kidnappers sprang back cautiously as they sought to avoid being burned.

With a shrill cry, Vermillion Phoenix emerged from the blazing earth and flapped its massive wings before fixing its eyes on the puny humans before it.