“So, you’re the new lecturer that Senator Alexandre hired, eh?” A teenage boy looked at Gaius, the silver streak in the middle of his scalp obvious, even in the dark. His face had a shrewd touch to it, and his eyes were hiding unfathomable depths.

…Gaius thought that the eyes of his past self probably looked something like that too. Just a bit older.

“You’re the honourable Campmaster’s son, Nalus,” Gaius inclined his head slightly. “Rumours of your exceptionality have reached my ears. I wonder what your purpose is?”

“If I had my way, my father wouldn’t be known as the Campmaster, but the Basemaster instead. But there’s no such title.” His eyes lingered on the small group that was still somewhat near Gaius’ tent, despite having their representatives beaten down a few hours ago. “I’m just here to verify if you were really all that cracked up as the senator said.”

Gaius smiled wanly. “So, satisfied?”

His voice carried out into the night, and tension abruptly filled the night. Without turning his head, Gaius knew that everyone within earshot had turned to hear Nalus’ reply. It was, as the senator had hinted at, a matter of pride. If the Campmaster’s scion really wanted to make trouble for him, his answer would not be in the affirmative — but he would be the target of anger by these people.

“I am.” He lowered his voice. “Fear not. I’m not here to make trouble. Rather, I have some questions I would like to ask your sister.”

“She’s sleeping right now, if you haven’t realised,” Gaius replied drily. “I suggest you come over at lunchtime or something and offer her your meal ticket while you’re at it.”

“I still need to eat, human.”

Gaius shrugged. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you then. And no, before you ask, I was in the middle of cultivating when you disturbed me. If you want to throw down with me, move your ass to Advanced Combat next week. I didn’t see you there today, after all.”

Shaking his head, Gaius went back into the tent. After spending a few minutes smoothing a watermelon-sized crater over, Gaius sat on his bed with his legs crossed again. He had been disturbed by Nalus forty minutes after he started practicing the first step, and had released an attack that did as much damage as a grenade blowing up, minus the effect of shrapnel.

Oddly enough, Nakama hadn't woken up from that incident; when Gaius went to check, she was muttering about chicken wings and delicacies in her sleep.

At any rate, cultivating in such a public place had its own issues. But it wasn’t as though as Gaius had the luxury of privacy ever since he came to Orb. Making a mental note to check if there were any residential areas that were exclusive to lecturers the next day, Gaius took in a deep breath, and closed his eyes once more.

The chilly energy sat docilely in his lungs. As his consciousness retreated inwards, he could sense that the energy had made itself at home within him, a new improvement from yesterday.

Gaius felt a bit foolish just sitting around and looking at the captured energy swim around, but there was nothing he could do about it. After all, it was impossible that these energies actually had memories, and equally impossible that he was breathing in the same energy every time. Something in his body had persuaded the energy to chill out, and until he knew what it was, Gaius wasn’t going to start working out on the spot.

To make things worse, he had the feeling that he shouldn’t mention this fact to anyone else. If it became known that someone wasn’t facing any resistance when cultivating…well, he might end up on a dissection table, lecturer or otherwise.

Wiping off a bead of imaginary sweat on his forehead, Gaius decided to lie down instead and think about the other events of today. Gaius wasn’t sure about what the new war that had broken out between the South and the East-West alliance meant for him.

Now that he thought about it, the fact that the aggressors didn’t even mention anything about Ark City and the beastfolk residing there was a cause for concern. If it had been up to him, Gaius would have used the Second Extermination as a casus belli, to gain support from the beastfolk in their own domains and in the Southern Continent.

But they didn’t.

Gaius could only clench his fist at what seemed to be a missed opportunity. He had reached a roadblock in his reasoning, but if he had the knowledge about how the beastfolk were treated in the Eastern Territories and the Western Holdings, Gaius would have been able to discern more of the truth. As it was, he was nothing more than a person with slightly better vision looking through a street of fog.

Gaius had to assume the worst. If, like the Southern Continent, the East and the West weren’t particularly fond of the beastfolk, they wouldn’t send any armies his way…but nor would they be particularly disposed of negotiating with them during a ceasefire. A fair negotiation was reserved only for entities with equal power and status.

The strong do what they can do and weak suffer what they must, after all. Even if the Southern Continent was defeated…judging from the general state of affairs between the beastfolk and humans, the possibility of a peaceful coexistence between these two races weren’t all that high, unless something short of a miracle happened. If this was the impending danger that his instinct kept screaming about, it was probably right on the money.

Even if he himself had regained his skill in combat, the fact remained that there were mystical powers that still remained unknown to him. Without these powers, in a battlefield, his martial prowess would do nothing more than making a dent into an enemy army.

It was depressing to face reality, but if the future was what Gaius imagined, he would take Nakama and bring her out into uninhabited areas to create their own living space there. But at least, requests to assassinate people of importance would never run out in such a chaotic world.

Gaius’ chest throbbed faintly as the chilly energy partially regained its will to rebel. There was, it seemed, some value in equating his personal method of cultivating and politics. Either someone is strong enough to attempt rebelling, or they make do with what they have.

Blocking out the pain, Gaius continued to cultivate into the night.