"If you two have faith in me, you must go," Liam said, as Rocky and Sophia faced a moral dilemma upon hearing his offer.
It wasn't that Rocky did not trust Principal Liam outright, but when Liam began discussing sanity while explaining his offer, it made Rocky very hesitant.
On one hand, he truly wanted to become stronger than he currently was, and the idea of having the strength of a floor 20 climber while only on floor three seemed like a fantastic proposition. However, Rocky still felt a nagging hesitation as he waited to hear what Sophia had to say.
Ever since the first day of university, when Principal Liam slapped the arrogance out of Sophia, she harbored some hatred towards him.
It was one of her ambitions to one day seek revenge upon him for the humiliation he had put her through, however, she was suppressing these desires until the time was right.
At Least until she was a student and much weaker than Liam, she could not actually act upon it, as for now she needed to swallow her grievances like a bitter pill.
"Can you explain a little more about this offer? Principal Liam? It's not that we do not trust you, but it's more like, we want some more information before we decide-" Sophia said as she glanced towards Rocky who nodded at her words.
"Ho-, the champion's are in cahoots, building a bond and understanding amongst each other... nice, nice" Liam commented, noticing the interaction between the couple as he smiled in sarcasm.
"More explanation....." he said, appearing to think deeply about what he was about to say next, as Rocky and Sophia patiently awaited his next words.
"No more explanation..... I've said all I wanted to say, now the choice is yours, inform me what you want to do by the days end, the offer expires tomorrow-" Principal Liam said as he pointed his finger towards Rocky first, holding it there for a while as he made eye contact, and then pointed it towards Sophia as he smiled sarcastically.
"That's it, get out of my office now, shoo, skkrrr, tch, tch" he said, behaving as if he was sending out a stray animal rather than humans.
"Hey, are you coming or not?" Sophia asked after a while, almost shouting from down the hall as Rocky was walking too slowly.
At that moment Rocky looked up, his mind already made as he said "No you carry on, I'll be back in a while-"
Turning, Rocky jogged back to Principal Liam's cabin, as he knocked on the door, much to Sophia's surprise.
At this point she knew Rocky was going to accept the principal's offer, as for a moment she too reconsidered her decision, but then felt that not going was probably the right choice for her.
"Come in-" Liam said, as Rocky opened the door and walked in with his hands behind his back as he looked into the principal's eyes and said "I'm willing to go, wherever you send me".
Liam smiled, but did not say anything as he waited for Sophia to show up as well, but she never did.
After a while, he shook his head and said "Alright, at least one of you both has the guts to challenge the unknown" as he waved Rocky off once more, having already taken note of his choice.
"Be ready, we leave tomorrow morning-" he said as Rocky was about to close the door, as he gave Rocky only a few hours notice to prepare.
Having no clue where he was going or what he should pack, Rocky packed a survival backpack with all his essential items, some food, clothes and two swords, while also informing Erin and Buhara of his future absence.
While both of them did ask Rocky a few questions about where he was going and what exactly was he expecting to learn from this trip, when they realized that Rocky himself had no knowledge about it, they stopped asking.
Wishing him luck, the duo said their goodbyes to Rocky, as they had no idea whether they would have the chance to talk again in the morning or not.