CHAPTER 110: WHY ARE YOU STILL AWAKE?

After Laura’s fight with Glen, more students were called to the ring to fight.

The remaining participants were all at the Adept mage rank so Alex didn’t find their fights as interesting as Laura’s and Glen’s. However, he agreed that they were already strong enough for their level and were above most students in the academy.

Alex’s turn came after six matches, and without surprise, his opponent surrendered immediately, and the fight started. Seems like what happened to Fabio had left a lasting impression on them.

Alex felt this was fine as well; he wasn’t really interested in fighting these kids anyway; it was just too boring.

Meanwhile, in the office of the vice dean of the academy.

Laura’s father sat across from the vice dean, who was in a long green robe.

"We can’t let the both of them face each other in the selection competition. We’ve already decided to have them represent the academy in the tournament, and it’ll be a loss if either of them gets eliminated before the tournament." The voice dean said seriously, her gaze showed that she didn’t plan to change her stand on the matter.

Bam!

"What do you mean it will be a loss? Do you think my daughter would lose to that trash who was stuck at the apprentice rank for four years?" Laura’s father slammed his palms on the vice Dean’s desk and snapped angrily.

"Mr Malcolm, every student of the academy is under our protection and I will not tolerate outsiders calling them names." The vice dean retorted with a cold gaze.

Laura’s father, Mr Malcolm, gritted his teeth.

"So what? It’s not like I’m lying, that brat hasn’t made any progress during his four years in the academy and you’re now protecting him just because he reached the Adept rank? Which student isn’t at the Adept rank?"

He hissed.

"That’s for the academy to worry about, I still won’t have them compete against each other. I do not know for what reason you would pay attention to matters between the younger generation but I would advise you not to interfere in matters of the academy." the vice dean said strongly.

Mr Malcolm’s expression was cold as he suppressed his anger.

Ever since the news about Laura getting humiliated by the popular trash of the academy reached him, members of the other big families in Balon City had often brought it up whenever they were at a gathering; this matter irritated him so much that he even scolded Laura and told her to get back at the brat.

But even after a week, he didn’t receive any news and after questioning Laura, he realized that she probably wasn’t going to get that chance.

The brat had shown how strong the space element was, and Laura was the most talented student in the academy, so it was common sense to have both of them team up and represent the academy in the upcoming tournament.

But what of Laura’s humiliation? It would forever remain a stain in his name that his daughter lost to someone who wasn’t able to leave the apprentice mage rank for four years.

Still unwilling to give up, Laura’s father suggested that the academy set Laura and Alex as opponents for the finals of the selection competition and regardless of who won, the academy can still put both of them on the team for the tournament.

He just wanted Laura to face that kid and defeat him.

But the vice dean still refused. How was she possibly going to explain to the other students if they gave one of the five spots to either of the two after one was eliminated?

And how was she going to explain to the Dean when he returned that she had one of the two most promising students eliminated during the selection competition because Mr Malcolm requested it?

"Hmph, since you won’t listen to me, then you can forget about having my daughter represent your trashy academy. Do you know how many academies wanted her? I made her come here because of my friendship with the Dean of this academy, but you clearly don’t know your place. Since you don’t want to have them face each other, I’ll look for another way!" Mr Malcolm snorted disdainfully before storming out of the office.

The vice dean stared in silence as she watched the other party leave, a sigh left her lips after he exited the office and slammed the door shut.

Back at the field, the last match had just finished and the ten students who would be competing in the finals tomorrow had emerged. They were Alex, Laura, and eight other students.

Shocking enough, one of the eight students who had made it to this round was a third-year student! A young girl with the plant element.

With ten students left, there were going to be five matches tomorrow and the winners would be the ones who would represent the academy in the tournament.

Two people were already guaranteed to win tomorrow, they were Alex and Laura. The remaining three spots were what the rest of the students were going to be competing for; they were most likely praying not to get either Alex or Laura as their opponents for that final.

Alex left right after the end of the last fight; the fights today were few and quick, so they had closed very early. He managed to reach Emily’s school just a few minutes after they closed.

Emily was surprised to see him and was also happy, the two of them walked home together.

Nothing happened on their way home; the officers sent by the Union were still patrolling, and Alex could still detect the mages who were guarding his home when he spread out his senses.

The siblings soon got him, Alex prepared to go out again and farm some exp points but he got a message from Mia.

The message stated that he was to go on a mission with some members of the group and that someone would come pick him up soon.

Alex frowned slightly, he didn’t want to go on any missions for now because he wanted to farm exp to craft the spell for the kidnapping case.

He wrote back, saying that he had something important to take care of and if he could do the mission some other time.

Mia’s response came quickly, the woman was very understanding and agreed to Alex’s request.

A smile formed on Alex’s face after reading Mia’s response, and he kept his phone in his pocket.

"I’m going now, Mom!" Alex called out as he walked through the door.

"Alright dear, come back early." His mother’s voice came from inside but Alex was already gone.

He didn’t use void walk immediately after leaving his home area since he could feel someone was following him, it was one of the people who was guarding their house.

He walked until he left the outskirts but the person was still following him while keeping a good distance.

Alex "..."

Maybe it wasn’t a good thing to have asked Emily’s principal to have people guard his family all the time, he was starting to get annoyed.

While Alex was thinking of how he should leave without appearing suspicious, he noticed someone walking toward him.

Alex raised an eyebrow. There were quite a few people around but this person was walking in a way that would allow him to bump into Alex.

Alex shifted a few times as if he was moving randomly and noticed that the other party was adjusting to his movements.

"Interesting," Alex mumbled under his breath and kept walking forward.

After a few seconds, the two of them bumped into each other as if it were a coincidence. Both of them took several steps backwards after hitting each other.

"Oh, sorry about that, kid. Are you alright?" The other figure, who was a man in his thirties, asked with a small smile on his face.

Alex was about to respond when a strange scent suddenly entered his nose.

Alex’s body stiffened for a moment before returning to normal. His eyes moved and he noticed a small tube in the left hand of the man in front of him.

Both of them stood still as they looked at each other, the man smiled softly as he gazed at Alex as if waiting for something to happen.

’Was I supposed...to pass out or something?’ Alex wondered when he saw the way the man was looking at him.

After a few seconds, the man soon realised that something was wrong and his expression changed to one of shock.

"Y-you, why are you still awake?!" The man exclaimed as he took a few steps backwards.

The few people around them looked over but didn’t pay much attention as they continued on their way.

"Shouldn’t I be awake?" Alex asked curiously, he observed the other party and saw that he was a Core mage.

The man "..."

He was in disbelief. The substance that he had released was a mind-numbing drug that could knock even Core mage unconscious and cause those at the Expert mage rank to be paralyzed for a few minutes.

How was this brat still all right?!