CHAPTER 222: -WORLDWIDE COMMOTION -

After heated rounds of a heartfelt session and warm bath. Both Instructors were just stepping out with placid looks when they noticed the gathering of both Elites and Paragons, appearing to be in the midst of a discussion.

Nothing of such had happened before.

Miss May looked even more dismayed upon seeing Max meticulously performing a set of dragon push-ups.

Under the lead of Instructor Ren, they queried the Elites.

"What’s going on here?"

Just as the latter’s voice caused the Elites to turn towards him, Miss May motioned they speak up.

An awkward silence fell, after exchanging glances, Blake spoke up.

"Max has completed all fifty sets of Martial Discipline..." taking a brief pause after noticing the Instructors’ expression become startled, Blake shook his head before continuing.

"... Three times."

Both Instructors looked to have been struck by lightning, especially Miss May. Her face paled, looking drained as she processed the words.

’Hehehe.’ A subtle grin spread across the lips of the Elites as they noticed this.

"It isn’t possible."

Before them, she quickly brought up her tab and tapped on it.

She appeared to type in a series of words on it, waited a moment with a tense expression before her pupils dilated in shock.

Because appearing on the screen of her tab was a valid "No." In response to her query.

A series of videos with Max captioned in it was also being uploaded on the screen at a rapid pace.

It was no secret that they were all under surveillance, monitored by an artificial intelligence.

In case they slacked off or failed to fulfill their quota of exercises, evidence would be processed by it and notify the Instructor through the tab.

Guessing what she had asked it was easy. Max had been training nonstop.

Gazing at Max’s figure, Instructor Ren’s expression turned complicated after realizing the gravity of what these meant.

"Everyone dismiss and do not disturb him." Instructor Ren coldly ordered and the Paragons didn’t dare refute.

Beholding Miss May’s complicated eyes fixated on Max, the Elites took the cue and also turned to leave.

"Is that little bastard really that talented?" Miss May muttered after the Elites left.

Beside her, Instructor Ren solemnly nodded.

"I’m sorry Mei. But I’m going to have to report this." He said, his words causing the former’s heart to ache.

"... But he’s just a brat. If we both stay silent about this then we can surely bury his potential and..."

Seeing she was filled with hateful vengeance, Instructor Ren quickly cut her short.

"You don’t have to take it too far Mei. You can also see this as an opportunity. You know what this is all about. The future."

"No. He disrespected me and he needs to pay. He must."

...

Thirty minutes passed, embraced in a world of silence and tuning with nature. Max’s body finally gave in to fatigue. Though he wasn’t feeling it per se, he knew better than to push further.

Savoring the keen sense of being able to control his strength at will, Max took off the earmuffs.

"I should have completed the quota."

Casting his gaze across the courtyard, he saw no one but he could hear sounds from activities inside the buildings close to the pagoda.

"Damn. I need a bath." With one look at his drenched clothes, Max remembered Miles’ words about using the seething pond to bathe.

"He said it was in the next courtyard. The next courtyard."

Max glanced between the several archways spotted between the walls that led to other courtyards. There were two in sight, making it quite a guess.

Eventually Max decided on the left archway and walked through.

’A garden?’

His brows furrowed at the sight of lush green plants, some purposefully trimmed and the rest scattered about. From the look of it they were mostly medicinal plants.

However, as he was about to turn back, he noticed there was a broad path in between the plants that seemed stamped from frequent use.

Pausing in his tracks, Max listened in silence and heard the gentle rushing sound.

"Was I right?"

Walking quietly through the steep path for the next ten seconds, Max soon spotted swirls of vapor.

Hidden by a circle of thick bushes, a shallow hot spring of fifteen meters nestled between.

Too transfixed by the natural wonder to notice a pair of clothes placed on the dry stones, Max took a deep breath and then began to take off his clothes.

’I’ve never felt this alive before.’

To think after a gruesome set of exercises he would enjoy a natural hot spring bath, Max inwardly cursed his lack of creativity on spending money then leaped high without a second thought.

’A mermaid?’

Mid-air, Max spotted a graceful figure swimming underneath the shallow water like a fish.

Splash!

Before he could complete these thoughts, he slammed hard against the surface of the still water, reaching its depth the next moment with a strong rippling wave in wake.

"Ahh!"

A startled yelp sounded as a female silhouette revealed herself from the waters.

’Fuck!’ Max cursed inwardly.

...

Meanwhile in faraway places, within secret offices of prominent powers, calls were being placed and received regarding a certain somebody who had no single clue about it.

"You say he’s an unsupervised candidate?"

"Quick! Call the Rider family and confirm if the boy has ever taken the Serum."

"Unfortunately sir, none of their lines are going through. Including all four heiresses."

"Those crafty bitches!"

Also, under a private line beyond the monitor of the government, the Riders had gathered their upper echelons.

"Alright, spill it. Which of you was aware of this all along?"

"Sebastian?"

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