CHAPTER 60: DISCIPLE CULTIVATION SYSTEM CH60 HOMESICK.

As the echoes of her explosion rang in the vicinity, Ellie—her smile fading, giving way to tiredness—collapsed to the ground.

Cheshire moved in the nick of time and caught her descending body in her arms.

"Thanks."

Ellie responded with a yawn while Cheshire laid her down like a delicate child.

"Your sleeping disease..." Cheshire began, resting Ellie’s back against the truck.

"...You have to cure it."

"I would have if I could."

Ellie sighed, struggling to keep her eyes open.

She had a rare condition that put her body to sleep if she used too much of her aura.

She tried to refrain from using it, but in the Battle Royale, it was impossible.

Cheshire was mentally fragile, but Ellie was physically so. She claimed to want to look after Cheshire, but she was the one who actually needed to be looked after.

She hated herself for this.

"You know, I was surprised the first time you told me this."

It was the night after Cheshire had suffered a humiliating defeat against Instructor Art. Ellie had spent the whole night trying to convince and console her that everything would be alright.

She hadn’t listened at first, but Ellie, unwilling to accept defeat, told her this secret of hers.

And they had stuck together ever since.

"It’s surprising, but compared to Valaria, I have it easy. At least I can use aura."

Ellie wasn’t the only vulnerable individual in this assessment. There was another classmate of theirs, Valaria, whose inability to fully harness her aura gave her a disadvantage against others in the game.

"She’ll be fine." Cheshire said, causing Ellie to knit her brows.

"How can you be so sure?"

"Well, for starters, she’s a member of the Seven. They excel a lot when put under pressure. Also, she survived that man’s training without breaking."

"That man, huh?" Ellie gazed at her sharply.

"What?" Cheshire, flustered by her intense stare, exclaimed.

"Nothing much. It’s just, almost a week ago, you used to call him ’the detestable man."

"I said I’m pulling a truce!"

"Sure... sure." Ellie muttered suspiciously.

She didn’t want to jump to conclusions, but Cheshire wasn’t giving her any reason not to.

Last she checked, one didn’t suddenly learn to compromise against the man who had tried to mentally break her.

To her, Art was dangerous, and she didn’t want her friend to get hurt because of said danger.

"Cheshire, I’ll keep it simple—don’t warm up to that des... teacher."

"...I won’t." She pouted and crossed her arms.

Cheshire’s hesitation didn’t sit right with Ellie, but she didn’t continue the matter. She was a friend. She gave advice, not enforced it.

"Sup, ladies?"

The truck she leaned against shook violently as a familiar individual looked down on them with their crimson eyes.

---

"Still no students."

Art dangled his feet across the empty space below.

He sat on the rooftop of the mall, a canned beer in one hand and a package of chips in the other.

Carrying with him an air of boredom, he tossed a chip in his mouth, munched on it, and swallowed it down with a gulp of beer.

The artificial world came stocked with real supplies so students wouldn’t have to fight on empty stomachs.

Of course, depending on the family they belonged to and how intense their upbringing had been, Art was sure many of them could go a day or two... heck, almost a week without food.

For aura users, all they would need to do was meditate and circulate aura throughout their body.

As for mages, just suck in the mana in the surroundings until they eventually drowned in it and got mana sickness.

"I know the spotlight isn’t on me now, and I shouldn’t act, but I’m so bored."

A few weeks in the academy had already warped his mentality enough that going less than an hour without a fight was beginning to make him dull.

If he had been allowed to bring his phone, he would have played a game or watched those funny compilations on ITube, but alas—no phone.

"The best I got is canned beer and chips... heh, a classic."

He wasn’t much of a drinker, even back in his previous world. His colleagues would often invite him out for drinking parties, but he never really participated.

Not because he was a good kid or anything—he just couldn’t hold his liquor.

He had a low tolerance for alcoholic beverages.

If not for aura, which was boosting his immune system, he would have already been drunk by now.

"The perks of being superhuman, I guess."

Raising the canned beer high, he cracked a delighted smile and tilted the can.

Flowing down like a waterfall, he opened his mouth and swallowed it like there was no tomorrow.

When alone at times like this, he remembered how unfortunate his life was.

Sure, he didn’t have any tragic past—no dead parents or friends—but his situation wasn’t inferior either.

One day, out of nowhere, his soul had been snatched from his previous world and planted into the body of another individual in a whole different world.

He could no longer see his biological parents, his siblings... heck, he never made it to his brother’s celebration.

"Lucas... I’m so sorry."

Tossing the can aside, he brought his empty hand to his eyes and began to sob.

"I really hated your guts, but you were my brother. Now I can’t even see you... nor Pa... nor Ma... not even Evelyn. Sob... I didn’t want this... heck, I no longer even know what to do.... Sob... I just want to get this over with and go home."

In tears, he tossed his body back and laid flat on the rooftop.

He stared at the sun, obscured by the grey clouds, while his chest rose and fell from his sorrow.

"...I just want to go home."

Whispering in sorrow, he cried himself into a temporary sleep.

---

A/N:

By the time I’m writing this, my book’s collection might have already passed 500. I want to say thank you to all those who managed to reach this Chapter.

I’ve read some of the reviews.

Regarding my grammatical errors—I want to say I am still working on them.

As for Art’s personality, I won’t deny he does some unnecessary things that make him come off as cruel at times, but he will change along the story.

All the characters will change—it might take a while for that to happen but that is what character development is for.

So with that out of the way: Thank you all again, and I hope you continue to read my book and review it as well.