Chapter 68: An offer

( Principal Liam's Office )

A few weeks after the incident, life had returned to normal for Rocky and Sophia, when the duo received a sudden summon from Principal Liam to his cabin.

Ever since the assassination attempt on Sophia and the subsequent massacre that Principal Liam took part in, his personality had taken a turn for the worse, however, at the same time, his concern for the students still remained paramount.

Increasing the security for Rocky and Sophia when they went out to do floor quests in the tower, Principal Liam either sent a senior professor as their escort or performed the duty himself from time to time.

As of now, both Rocky and Sophia had cleared Floor Three of the tower, progressing steadily as the weeks passed.

Since Sophia had lost both her team members, she was placed in Rocky's team upon her own request, making the initial trio a group of four, however, having a different dormitory, she did not mix as well as the other three within the group but was making an active effort to do so.

She hung out with the three, ate lunch together and sometimes even accompanied Rocky or Erin to the library for group studies, as her relationship with Rocky improved significantly over the weeks.

"Any idea why he's only called the two of us here today?" Sophia asked Rocky, who frowned and shrugged his shoulders.

Rocky had no idea why the two of them were called to his office alone, however, he had an ominous gut feeling about this meeting.

The duo had been waiting for over 10 minutes for Principal Liam to enter his own cabin, however, he seemed to be running late.

"Have you completed the third volume of monster anatomy?" Sophia asked Rocky to kill time, as Rocky nodded in response.

"I have, why?"

"Well, I found something interesting in that book, firstly it's funny how the author classified primordial vampires as no better than monsters driven by bloodlust-

But, what's more funny is how modern vampires are so much weaker but better than primordial vampires at the same time" Sophia said, her eyes shining in excitement as Rocky understood the point she was trying to make.

While primordial vampires were a class above modern vampires in terms of battle IQ, strength, speed and abilities, they were less intelligent, driven by instincts rather than conscious thought and were weak to sunlight.

I've been watching you both closely and have felt that you both wish to improve a lot and fast, but while the facilities at the university are enough for most students to support their growth rates, it's come under my attention that you two are growing abnormally fast-" Principal Liam said, as Rocky could not make out if he was praising them or cursing them.

"Both of you already train in the 3x gravity chamber room which even makes dwarves feel dizzy and I have no doubt that you both shall be training in a 10x gravity chamber in 3 months time.

However, while we respect Professor Maven and his methods, I'm not convinced it's enough for you both" Principal Liam said, as he pulled his legs down and leaned in towards Rocky and Sophia.

" 17... that's how many spies my spectres have caught trying to sneak into the academy.

15 more than I've ever had to deal with in the history of the university-and not even 2 full months have passed!" Principal Liam said, banging his palm on his desk, as both Rocky and Sophia pulled their chairs away from him, together.

" These spies, I know they're interested in only you two, and their persistence tells me all I need to know about how your future is going to look like.

For the first fucking time in my life, I'm feeling like my academy course won't be enough to prepare you two fools for the life that's ahead and hence I've thought of something else.

My gut says, you both will never be safe unless you're strong enough to look after yourselves on your own, and seeing your drive to improve in daily training, I want to offer you both an incredible opportunity to grow stronger, but it won't be easy" Principal Liam said, as Rocky felt intrigued by his offer.

" What is the opportunity?" Sophia asked before he could, as Principal Liam laid back in his chair and stroked his patchy beard.

" There is a certain goddess who owes me some debt.

I can send you both to her abode for three months and if you can make the most of it then you will have strength akin to a floor 20 climber as a newbie.

It's an opportunity that will give you incredible powers that you need, but it will deprive you of your sanity.

You can't go to her with a weak mind, or else it's game over. But it's the only way I see you both getting stronger in a short time.

As for your courses and team activity, I'm sure we can help you both cover up during the rest of the semester, however, I think this is too good of an opportunity to pass.

If you two have faith in me, you must go-" Liam said, as Rocky and Sophia felt a moral dilemma hearing his offer.