Arkas stood in front of me, listening as I explained my plan.
He remained silent for a few seconds before speaking.
"How confident are you?"
I shrugged.
"Maybe… like 20%."
He nodded.
"The number is low, but I can work with that."
I nodded back, feeling too restless to stand still. My mind was buzzing with excitement, and I found myself asking,
"When do we start?"
Arkas chuckled.
"It's been four days since you started training here. Don't you want to take a little break?"
That reminded me, I was still part of a unit. But was I, really?
Not in the traditional sense.
Steve was training somewhere else and hadn't answered any of my messages.
North, on the other hand, I talked to every day.
At first, we only exchanged messages at night, but the next day, she was the one to text me first. She asked if I had eaten breakfast. When I said no, she asked what I would like. I didn't know what to say, so I asked her what she would suggest.
Later, Vice Commander June delivered my breakfast. It was from North.
I still had no idea where I was. This strange white training room, isolated from everything, was a mystery.
Arkas was keeping it a secret.
I couldn't find anything special about it, except that it was bright and hurt my eyes.
That day, North and I chatted some more. During lunch, then dinner, then at night.
After that, it became routine.
Every day, she picked my meals, had them sent through June, and I would describe what I thought of them.
That itself turned into training, I had to come up with adjectives to describe the flavors.
The only things I could confidently tell apart were sweet, spicy, salty, or not salty. Beyond that, all I could really say was whether I liked it or not and it turned out I liked everything.
She also kept me updated on what was going on with their training.
That's how I found out Steve had fought King and his gang on the second night, right outside the cafeteria.
I chuckled at that. Looked like Commander Arkas let Steve go and bully King a little.
Other than that, their training was just as grueling as mine.
A lot of physical activity, daily fights with puppets and Abominations for leveling up. Each member got a personal training session with Vice Commander June, who, from the sound of it, beat them black and blue every time.
Then there were foundational knowledge lessons, readings on different types of Abominations, Phantoms, and how the military functioned.
Everyone was required to pick a class before the end of the month. If they didn't, they could say goodbye to Unit 02.
North herself had reached level 21. She was focusing on training a few of her skills before rushing toward Level 25.
I stared into Arkas' eyes, wondering what the old man thought about his granddaughter bringing me food every day.
I was sure he knew about it.
His sharp gaze narrowed.
"Kid, what are you thinking?"
I blinked.
"Nothing, Commander."
He scoffed.
"Then why is there a silly smile on your face?"
I acted surprised.
"What smile?"
He didn't say anything, just raised an eyebrow.
I coughed awkwardly and looked away.
Arkas shook his head.
"Alright then. I understand your plan. I'll need some time to make the necessary arrangements. You have a couple of hours to yourself. It's five in the evening, I'll pick you up at nine."
I nodded, about to say something, but before I could open my mouth, the world blurred.
The next thing I knew, I was standing in my room.
My staff was in my hand, my shirt was missing, and Arkas was nowhere in sight.
I looked around, scowling.
"Damn old men. There's no such thing as privacy with them."
Shaking my head, I decided to clean myself up.
I went to the bathroom and took a long, refreshing shower. The warm water washed away the stiffness from my muscles, and I let out a sigh, feeling much better.
After drying off, I put on a t-shirt, then layered an open button-up shirt over it. I pulled on a pair of jeans and, after some thought, sprayed my best perfume.
Feeling a little more like myself, I grabbed my phone and sent a text to North.
[Me]: I just got out of training. Wanna meet up?
Then I waited. And waited. And waited some more.
I checked the time, fifteen seconds had passed.
No response.
I frowned, tapping my fingers against my phone.
Deciding to check if she was in her room, I stepped out of my room and into the hallway.
Just as I was walking toward her room, the door to Room 03 swung open, and Sarah Gibson walked out.
I stopped.
She turned around after closing the door.
My eyes locked onto the girl in front of me.
Tall, red hair, black eyes, and a great sword strapped to her back. Sarah Gibson.
She stared back, her gaze sharp and unreadable, as if she was searching for something in my expression.
I decided to break the awkward silence.
"Hey, Sarah. How's training going?"
She looked me up and down, her eyes scanning every inch of me before she finally spoke.
"Why aren't you coming to training?"
'Wow. She just completely ignored my greeting.'
I wasn't sure how to answer her.
Should I tell her I was getting my own private training? Arkas never said I had to keep it a secret. Maybe I had to hide it from King, but not from anyone else.
Before I could respond, she spoke again.
"Also, you haven't leveled up at all."
I tilted my head slightly and focused on her.
[Level 22]
'Damn. She had been putting in work.'
I opened my mouth to explain that I had put leveling on hold to focus on my skills, but again, she cut me off, her eyes narrowing just a little.
"Why are you distracting North from her training?"
'What the hell.'
I blinked multiple times, trying to process what I just heard.
Why would this girl care about North's training? As far as I knew, they were rivals.
'Oh… maybe because they are rivals.'
Finally, I exhaled and crossed my arms.
"Well, all your questions are way too personal, lady. I don't think we're close enough for me to answer them comfortably."
She stared into my eyes, her expression unreadable.
Then, without warning, she took two slow steps toward me.
She stopped right in front of me, her face just an inch away from mine.
She didn't break eye contact.
"Would you like to get close then, Billion?" she asked, her voice low.
She leaned in even further. I could smell her perfume, something sharp and floral, almost intoxicating.
'Why is every woman around here so damn crazy?'
I forced myself to stay still, resisting the urge to step back.
I also resisted the very real urge to say something stupid, because I swear I wanted to.
But I controlled myself. Instead, I kept my voice steady and replied,
"I didn't mean closer physically, Sarah."
She tilted her head slightly, her black eyes still locked onto mine.
"But that is what you want with North, right?" she said. "You two are texting now, aren't you?"
My eyes widened slightly.
'How did she know? Did North tell her?'
She stepped back, then pulled out her sword in one smooth motion. Her black eyes gleamed with challenge.
"Do you want to fight, Billion?" she asked.
I tilted my head.
'What is with this crazy woman?'
I sighed and shook my head.
"No. There's no need."
She chuckled.
"Why? Did my sword scare you?"
I narrowed my eyes.
"No, Sarah. You are not strong enough yet to challenge me."
Her expression didn't change, but I could tell from her eyes, she didn't believe me.
And for some reason, that fact irritated me.
I wasn't sure why, but something about her presence was rubbing me the wrong way. My instincts were warning me, though I couldn't tell what the danger was.
So I simply said.
"Okay. Come at me. We'll settle this in two moves. One each."