CHAPTER 86: UNEXPECTED CALL

"Thank you," she whispered, lying back on the snow with relief.

When she had suggested riding, she hadn’t realized how wrong that was until they got on the bike, and it had gnawed at her mind.

But after what he said, she was relieved, feeling the guilt lift off her shoulders.

"So... Rosa Deneira."

"Waaah, you still remember my surname?" Rosa screamed in surprise.

Her name, Rosa, was too simple and easy to remember, which made most people quickly forget the more complicated Deneira.

It was a surprise that he still knew that after she had only said it once.

"You seem pretty close to Principal Onelore," He said, as Rosa’s brows faintly creased before she shrugged.

"She’s my mom."

Everlearn’s eyes widened in shock upon hearing those words.

Her mom!?

She was the daughter of X-Guard’s Principal!?

"No wonder," Everlearn mused as she turned to him.

"There’s no way you suspected that before."

She was nothing like her mother.

Even down to appearance, her mom had golden hair and eyes, while hers were a full pink.

Nothing about them both screamed related.

"No, I didn’t exactly think you were the principal’s daughter."

"I just knew it was abnormal for a girl on scholarship to be driving a tron powerbike worth up to 1,000 points in less than a week of arriving at the school."

"Especially since students aren’t allowed to carry any stuff from the outside world in here."

"It’s pretty obvious you must have gotten quite more than the 100 Newcomerpoints, making you quite the anomaly."

He explained, and she hummed, but then grinned.

"I got 3,000 points. Unfair?" she asked, and Everlearn took a rough inhale from shock before nodding.

"Yes, it is unfair."

Everlearn, of course, found it unfair.

He had come into this school on a scholarship and got 100 points.

And she had also come in the same way, only to be given x300 of that!?

What wasn’t unfair about that?

"You! So uncourtly," She said with a huff.

"Wut?"

"You’re supposed to say it wasn’t, or something like ’you deserve it,’ when it’s a girl asking." She said, as Everlearn raised an eyebrow.

"But... that would be a lie, though?"

SCOFF

"It’s a good lie," she said, and he rolled his eyes.

"And I didn’t get those points just because I’m the Principal’s daughter."

"I attended X-Guard Infantry School and X-Guard High School."

"One of the advantages of doing well in classes was the points that we were told would help us greatly when we got to X-Guard Academy."

"That’s how I got mine."

"If you look at my ranking, you’ll see I don’t have that recorded amount of points because it’s not official," she said, and his brows creased.

Indeed, there wasn’t someone with 3,000 points on the ranking.

Even the number one only had 2,670 points.

║That’s an example of a background advantage║

The system blinked in that second.

║You’ll come across such people who are superior to you in every metric simply due to the luck of being born in a good place.║

║The sooner you get used to that ’unfairness,’ the better off you’ll be on your path.║

It said before fading off, and Everlearn hummed silently.

"Speaking of abnormality, I find you to be one too," Rosa said, sitting up.

"I am?" Everlearn asked.

"Yes. My mom rarely asks me for something, not even me doing well in high school or training here."

"It’s been years since she requested anything, and yet she requested to keep an eye on you."

"There are dozens of mysterious geniuses, even in only the Newcomers’ section, with some people having never-before-seen Mecha Modules or unique Core features, yet she asked for me to watch over you specifically."

"That shows how much of an anomaly you are, and while I didn’t see anything special about you at first, save for your weird confidence, I’m starting to witness a couple of anomaly moments..." she said, as Everlearn’s eyes dimmed at the silent poke.

"Anomaly moments?" He noticed.

"Yeah. I later saw the vid of you and that hoverboard Corer."

"No ordinary human could be able to dangle a Corer and send them flying into the ground like that, but you did."

"And after you fused with a Core, you suddenly got so strong, matching the strength of Instructor Dojin {The Weapon Instructor}"

"He even said it himself, that you have surpassed all of us by a step," she said, as he raised an eyebrow.

"He did?"

"Yeah. Most likely, you won’t be in Instructor Dojin’s class for your next Weapon Class based on your assessment."

"You will be raised higher."

"All of that is not ordinary... though, still not really worth my mom going so far as doing that," she mused silently.

Everlearn knew why. It was because of The Boss.

But he couldn’t reveal that, as it pertained to the X Base.

She didn’t fulfill the requirements to know, so he remained silent.

DRIIIIING!

DRIIIIING!

The sound of his phone vibrating rang out after, as Everlearn hummed, bringing out his device.

Rosa watched from the side, seeing his eyes widen in shock as he stared at the device.

"One sec."

"It’s fine," she answered, and he silently rose, taking a few steps away before swiping on the device.

"Hello, Boss Ash!?" Everlearn greeted.

The one who had called him was actually Boss Ash.

"Everlearn. Congratulations on your successful fusion," she said, as he wryly rubbed his head.

"You kept your promise like you did, though you seemed to have also played a bit dirty with Erendel," she said, as a sweat unconsciously glided down his face.

"Well, so far you’re breathing."

"Thank you," he responded.

"I’ve got an urgent request for you..." she said, as Everlearn’s eyes gleamed.

"And what is that?"

"There are a couple of cultist nuisances taking place in the academy."

"Cultist... nuisance!?" Everlearn mused confusedly.

"I’ll send you a marked location on your map. Get there in ten minutes from now," she said before the call was disconnected.

Everlearn turned to the map.

He found a blinking red dot.

"That’s...that’s a forbidden area..."