Atlan walked through the steps of HeadQuarters. It was livelier than he thought given that the Training Hall Remedium was closed for the time being. The steps were so crowded he had to zigzag through the crowd.He heard their conversations as he passed them. There was anxiousness in their voice, along with panic and uneasiness.
It only took one day for the incident with the Pocket Dimension to be spread far and wide in Genesis City. It was like a wildfire; the more it spread, the faster and more intense the after effects became.
"God…that's two incidents in less than a week. What's happening?"
"The Quills have started sabotaging us, that's what!"
"Now that's a lie."
"Wait, he might be onto something. After all, who created the Pseudo Canzers? The Operators! They could make it do whatever they want, including spawning a horde and going rampage in a Pocket Remedium!"
There was a group of Vanguards sitting and lounging right next to the wide doors of the Savior HeadQuarters. They didn't care if everybody heard their conversation. In fact, they made their voices even bigger to make sure that the Quills inside the HeadQuarters heard them loud and clear.
The dissent among Vanguards and Operators, Knives and Quills, became more and more intense. A few gibes and snide remarks was normal for the two factions, but they never accused each other of being traitors!
And while the Vanguards were blaming the Operators for all the disasters that kept happening in the City, the Operators blamed the Vanguards for their ignorance and stupidity. They couldn't sabotage the Pocket Remedium as easily as the Vanguards were suggesting!
The fact that the Knives thought that the Quills could do that showed their shallow knowledge on the intricacies of creating a Pocket Remedium.
Atlan had a more unbiased view of the whole situation. He knew that the Operators were not to blame for the incidents. Even though he was the recipient of both disastrous events, he knew that it was the absence of Angels that threw the balance of power askew toward the Canzers.
Without anyone to keep them in check, the Canzers would keep invading Remedium and the Operators had no way to deal with it yet.
Instead of complaining, Atlan focused on getting stronger. Getting another Genus would bump his power to another level.
He approached the group hoping that they would point him to the direction of the Vineyard.
"Excuse me."
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Atlan raised his voice to the group of men, but they ignored him. They kept talking to themselves as if he didn't even exist.
He looked at the epaulet in their shoulders and saw that they were all in the 4th stage Student realm!
"I say we fight the Quills once and for all. Show them how much a punch in the liver hurts, and I'm sure they'll fall in line."
"As much as it's amusing to think about, we can't do that. They'll just label us as mere brutes!"
"They can't get away with this. My cousin lost all his SoulTime from that party. He's recuperating in the ICU now, but we can't even give him a visit. My hands are itching to do something."
The men turned solemn when they heard that. Losing SoulTime was tragic. Even if they hadn't experienced it themselves, they couldn't even imagine the pain regenerating from a single blood cell.
"He's not the only one. The Quills' mistake cost the SoulTime of twenty of our finest youths in the City. And I heard that even those geniuses from Mount Olympus got killed."
"Why were they even here?"
"They had a friendly competition with our geniuses. And guess what I heard. You know Razer Wrekton, right?"
They nodded their heads. Of course they knew the genius favored by the All-Father Zeus Himself.
"I heard that someone went toe to toe against him and triumphed! And he came from our City!"
"No way. I don't believe that."
"He? It's not Yasmine?"
Atlan coughed and tapped the shoulders of one of the guys in front of him.
The man looked annoyed as he turned around and glared at Atlan.
His eyes were filled with judgment and prejudice, and from what he saw, Atlan wasn't that much. The youth had no overbearing pressure around him, and if it weren't for his battle suit, the man would have thought that the youth was a civilian.
The man didn't think that Atlan deserved his attention. His focus was much better served to contribute to the important conversation they having about the current troubling situation in the City.
He was going to ignore him, but he noticed that Atlan wasn't wearing a proper battle suit. Instead of a verdant green, it was a sleek black color.
"Hey kid. Don't you know that modifying your battle suit before you've advanced a realm is punishable with a blacklist?"
The rest of the men stopped their conversation and looked at Atlan. They clicked their tongues thinking that he was just another hooligan who didn't care about the rules.
One of them waved at the soldier stationed inside the HeadQuarters. Sёarᴄh the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.
"Sir, please lecture the young man about proper uniforms. We can't have novice Students going around customizing their battle suits. It's unprofessional."
The soldier saw Atlan's black battle suit and walked over toward him. He took out a tablet from his toolbelt and questioned the youth.
"According to Article 2 section III of Genesis City standards, unlawful dyeing of the green battle suit can be punishable with 1 to 5 weeks of blacklist and 1 month of probation.
Tell me your name, your job, and your power realm."
The group of men took their focus out of Atlan and continued their discussion. But one of them suddenly made the connection between Atlan's face and the rumors that he'd been hearing everywhere.
"Wait…isn't he…"
Atlan didn't feel worried at all as he answered the soldier's questions.
"My name is Atlan, and I am a porter in the 2nd stage Student realm."
The rambunctious conversation soon turned silent. The group of men slowly turned their head towards Atlan with shock written all over their faces. Even some of the passersby couldn't help but stop in their tracks as they heard his name and his job.
"...Star Porter…"