"…"
Felix smiled silently.
It made Arthur's imagination run wild.
'Why wouldn't she be happy? She earned credits without lifting a finger,' Neo thought.
He chastised Arthur for overreacting.
As if he wasn't the one whose brain stopped braining when he was with Elizabeth inside the water cave.
Felix didn't say it, but Neo knew he must've borrowed credits from other students to pay the professor.
'He went ahead and did it even after I told him to not borrow credits from others or he won't be able to take on SS-rank missions.'
'Well, whatever. It's his choice.'
Arthur's flushed face wasn't coming down.
Neo decided to change the topic.
"What's the news you wanted to tell us?"
"Are you curious about it?"
Felix grabbed Neo's shoulder and gave him an unamused stare.
"First, tell me, how did you get Mars in your team?"
"He came to me himself."
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"Yeah."
Felix scoffed.
"I don't believe it. Mars might be ranked only 100th, but he is on par with Morrigan.
"Everyone knows Mars only acknowledges those who are stronger than him. Why would he approach you first?"
"I don't know about it myself. If you don't believe me ask anyone who saw Mars when he met me in the Mission hall."
Felix pursed his lips.
He had questioned around.
The information he got roughly matched Neo's answer.
Felix thought Neo might've moved behind the scene, but talking to him now made Felix realize that was not the case.
"Sigh, I get it. Also, sorry about calling you weak."
"Don't worry about it.
"I don't care about the opinions of a guy who sells his body for benefits," Neo smirked.
"Hey, I told you we did nothing!" Felix also laughed.
Looking at the two, Arthur wondered if he was the one had outdated believes.
The three chatted and entered the cafeteria.
They joined the line.
"I wanted to tell you two about an S-rank mission that would be posted tomorrow."
Felix lowered his voice.
"Sphinx is the one who assigned the mission."
"…!"
Arthur's eyes shot wide open.
It took him a second to realize they were in a cafeteria.
He coughed and looked around to see if someone was looking at them.
"The Sphinx?" Arthur whispered.
"Yeah, that one."
Sphinx was one of the four guardians of the academy and an administrator of Akashic Record.
Missions provided by Sphinx were rare.
Completing gave them an 'answer' as a reward.
The Sphinx's knowledge was vast.
It was almost omniscient.
There was nothing it couldn't answer.
If there was someone who could tell Neo what emotions were, it would be the Sphinx.
"Neo, why aren't you shocked? You knew about the mission beforehand, didn't you?"
"I didn't."
Felix's brows creased.
He stared at Neo's face as if he was searching for something.
"Did our homeroom teacher tell you about the mission?"
…!
Suddenly bringing Elizabeth's name into the conversation made Neo react.
He quickly returned to his expressionless face, however, it was useless.
"Why did she tell you about the mission?"
Neo pursed his lips.
It was clear Felix wouldn't let go of the matter until he got a proper answer.
"I brought the information from her with credits."
Neo gave the first excuse that came to his mind.
"Yeah? Where did you get the credits from?"
"From friends."
"Friends?
"You, the person who eats in cafeteria only because we drag him out of his room and the one who pissed of half of the students with his speech, has friends?
"Don't lie. Say it. Why did the professor reveal such sensitive information to you?"
Neo was exasperated at the blatant insult.
He wasn't a loner.
He wasn't… right?
"If you are calling me that, then how did you borrow credits from others? I doubt you have more friends than me."
Arthur nodded from the side.
All three of them were equally hated by the students.
Or so he thought.
"Hey, that's insulting.
"I'm might be infamous in the God Clans, but I'm pretty well received by the students from outside of God Clans.
"You two are the only ones who don't have friends."
Arthur, on the side, didn't say the words he was about to say.
The stray shots from the conversation between Felix and Neo hit him hard.
"That's impossible," Neo retorted.
"It's not. Unlike you two, I have social skills. Besides, I'm handsome."
Everyone from Aphrodite Clan was handsome.
Felix's appearance was cut above the rest even there.
Neo wasn't jealous.
He was handsome himself.
He definitely didn't plan to devour some monsters to see if he could absorb secondary stats related to appearances.
The three ate lunch and returned to the dorm.
In the end, Neo never gave a reason as to how he found the information.
It made Felix's imagination go above and beyond.
The next day, Neo arrived at the mission hall.
He met up with his teammates.
"The team registration is done. Our team is now officially formed," Neo said.
Mars, Christian, and Jack nodded.
As for Leonora, she was nowhere to be seen.
While they were waiting for the S-rank mission to be put up, Arthur and Felix arrived with their team.
"Guys, how is everyone doing?" Felix asked.
They greeted each other.
Felix introduced the twins, Clara and Sean, to Neo and his teammates.
Neo did the same for his team.
"Well, what's the name of your team?" Felix asked.
"Umbra."
"Oh."
Felix turned to Arthur.
"It's quite a coincidence, right?"
"Yeah," Arthur nodded. He told Neo, "Our team is called Lumen. It means light and yours…."
"Umbra. It's another word for shadow."
"I thought you would choose a name related to your Death element."
Neo shrugged.
He liked the name because it was antithesis of Arthur's team name.
The S-rank mission was put up while the group chatted.
There were a lot of teams ready to take the S-rank mission.
Felix wasn't the only one who brought the information.
Neo and Arthur were ready to take the mission when…