Chapter 284: The Tower

Without even looking back at them or the explosion, Moby continued to eat his food, surprised at the low amount of XP he received despite his opponents' considerable strength. 

"What is that? Like 2000 XP? I guess killing is the only good way to level up these days huh..."

He mumbled to himself mellowly, looking all around him to see if anyone was in the area.

Lunch had just started yet he had already finished consuming his food. 

It was finally time to train… Jayden and the others were all doing their proper things for today as to not attract attention and of course, he was doing the same. 

He headed to the forest and made sure no one was watching him before he did so. Lunch did not last very long so he had to make the most of it which he decided on doing a combination of air steps and demon flashes to boost his speed in battle.

Before he even knew it, the bell suddenly rang and he was forced back into listening to another boring lecture about the nuances of the flow of mana which he knew all about and even felt like he was being fed lies at times, like how it was the energy of the universe and such.

Now, the time was around 3:00 pm and Moby was casually walking down the hallway, grabbing various low profile eyes in his direction.

To his surprise, he found there to be far fewer people when he came in after lunch and he expected to see the same on his way out of school. And, indeed, so was the case; his speech must have actually somewhat worked.

Still, there were always exceptions who tried to start a conversation and friendship with him which he of course kindly declined as he recognized many of them from his days of being weak, giving him the ugly stare or sometimes even worse… 

At times like those, he was extremely glad for Jayden's protection yet part of him still wondered how bad things would have been without it…

And, there, near the exit of the school, he saw a short, navy-haired student intimidating a brown-haired student almost twice his height. 

"I heard you joined this Moby Dick fan club or whatever! Do you worship him or something?! He's just an annoying, pretentious, fake show-off who can't do shit in reality! Things will never change around here! Got it!?"

"I-I I'm sorry… I promise it will never happen again…"

"Don't skip out on me like that or it won't be pretty! Where is he to save you now huh!?"

That was when he felt a slight tap on his shoulder. 

"Who the hell d—"

" I did…"

As if he saw death itself stare him in the face, he turned around to meet the fiercest eyes he had ever seen, cold as ice and glowing a deep purple glow. 

Before he could even react, his fist was thrust directly to his face, hitting an extremely sensitive area since he was caught off guard, breaking several of his bones in the process and slamming him against the nearby locker to form a massive dent. 

"Hey kid, are you okay?"

Moby took a deep breath and slightly smiled at the boy he saved, other people looking at him— some with admiration, some with fear, and some with disgust.

"Y-yes sir… I'm fine… I'm truly forever in your debt!"

Moby's smile grew wider hearing his speech as he gave him his final words before he left out of the school doors. 

"I'll hold you up to that! I'll be starting a guild when I graduate and I expect you to join it!"

"Y-yes, sir! It would be an honour!"

There, as he left the school, he immediately went to the gate to meet up with Jayden, Ray, and Nags who were all waiting for him in a more low-key, undercover black car than the usual limousine. 

The ride was awfully quiet at first so Moby decided to retell events of what happened to him that day which made the others follow suit. 

In the back of his head, Moby's brain was brewing thinking about the future… 

Not only the far future such as about all the possible people hunting him down, going to the Nether Realm and his meeting with the supreme general, but the very, very near future too. 

They were all headed to a certain military base that was used by various guilds and was available to the public as well. It was like a warp and teleporter hub for people to explore other planets, some of course safer than others. There were many reasons why people would want to go there which ranged of anything from money to training; Moby was part of the latter. 

He needed strength… He needed some way to gain XP no matter what, not only to reach level 100, but to more importantly protect himself and fight against possible alien threats and even against his own fellow schoolmates. 

He became one of, if not the most recognized face in the school possibly behind Jayden. And, by keeping his nice guy act, he had already made enemies out of various people in the second year, some possibly even stronger than him. The only reason he managed to win his fights today so easily was because he caught them off guard but there was no guarantee that it would be the case every time.

Right now, killing students for XP no longer seemed like the best idea… Even if they were true degenerates who deserved to die, the fact that he needed someone comparably strong to gain any amount of actual XP was the problem. 

Even if he could get away with it using his mind skills, If various strings of unknown murders suddenly shot up in the school, it would bring into question if the previous murders were even caused by the shalkers. 

Not to mention that since they were high ranking, strong students murdered, and not weak nobodies the school could not care less for, they would probably up the security again and possibly even introduce real-time tracking on the watches which was something Moby did not want at all costs.

Going after strong students would be just as good as shooting himself in the leg, and going after weaker students was no better than pissing in a lake.

So, his only option left was to gain XP some other way in his pursuit for even greater strength, and that was where the teleporter and warp hub came into play.

"We're finally here!"

Jayden announced, exiting the car wearing something disguising much of her appearance, Moby and the others following suit-wearing similar clothing which made them all look like they were on the same team. 

The building was magnificent: a tall, wide tower made out of mostly opaque glass and lined with supporting white marble stood in front of them. The tip of the tower was particularly pointy and shot out a minuscule stream of green light, parking lots for flying cars on every few levels of the futuristic tower. 

Without any hesitation, they all entered the massive doors, even alongside the butler, and were even more amazed by the interior. 

They witnessed lights flashing everywhere; the middle of the tower showed that same green light shooting out from under the ground and into the sky that they were able to gaze upon from the ground floor. Robots were flying in the sky due to the rather high ceilings, moving things from point A to point B. Various teleport pads used to reach the and lower and higher levels of the tower were scattered everywhere in an organized manner, that along with reception desks and people that spanned as far as the eye could see.

That was when their gazes of awe were interrupted by a certain voice coming from behind.

"My Lady, I shall be waiting in the lobby for your arrival. I was given explicit permission from your father that if your health goes below a certain point, I am allowed to come in and intervene since you do not allow me to join you on your hunt."

"Yes, thank you so much! That will be fine! I will be counting on you!" Jayden turned and nodded only to receive a small smile from her butler who disappeared in the blink of an eye. 

The Various stages of the tower were all there for a reason; the higher one went, the harder the planet will become. That was why the top levels of the tower were exclusive to the top guilds. 

So, they decided to take the teleporter to a slightly higher level than the one they were on. 

Currently, Moby's power level was hovering around 45,000, Nags at 38,000, Jayden at 30,000, and finally Ray at 16,000, all with their armour on. 

So, as a collective, they decided to go to the floor that had planets where beasts would range from 7,000 - 25,000, which was far more dangerous than the planet they went to during their exams. 

So, after an initial scan at the entrance, they took a teleporter up and decided on an open, barren planet that did not have many people going there so they could have more freedom, which probably meant that the beasts on that planet did not give much money, money that they did not care much for right now. 

As they were walking to the empty reception desk for the planet, out of the corner of their heightened hearing, they managed to pick up on another voice coming from their left, turning around to see a tall, black-haired man with a particularly handsome appearance and attire and who they could only assume to be his servant that dawned an all-black suit— a blond female who looked no older than 20 years old, arguing in a low voice, both of them headed in their same direction. 

"You fucking bitch! Why are you so late!? I was waiting here for over 15 minutes now! What the hell does my father pay you for? Putting a thumb up your ass?"

With an elegant bow, his female servant replied. 

"I am truly sorry for this, I came across issues coming here… These are the items you requested my lord… Your set of armour and weapons should also be in here as well,"

She handed him a ring that he immediately snatched from her open palm, raising his hands up, his servant calm and unmoving as she slightly squinted and looked at the ground.

"I swear to god! If we weren't in public I would have beat the shit out of you!"

He whispered with clear hate in his eyes. 

"Thank you so much for your kindness, my lord! It's truly more than I ever deserve…" 

He scoffed as he walked away from his servant who looked up at him with disgust and a cold gaze as she watched him walk away

"Yeah! You better be! My father really wants to throw me out of the house due to my weak strength and "awful conduct,"! Does he really think testing me by throwing me to this planet will actually be a challenge??"

Moby, Ray, and Nags could not help but take small glances at the man while Jayden did not pay him any heed. He was an arrogant man on the verge of being disowned by his family— she had been around enough rich and nobles to know that the person behind them was not an uncommon sight...