Chapter 42: New allies

"The empire encourages Teamwork and for that reason, students are forced to form groups of there at the beginning of the session… In this academy, there are no personal grades or achievements… When a teammate is not doing well, the team suffers… When your teammates perform excellently, the entire team enjoys the special privileges … Choosing your teammate is a very important task, so I suggest you all take your time and avoid making impulsive decisions that you may regret in the future… Remember, these people you call your teammates will stick with you after you graduate and serve the empire… You are expected to register your teams by the ending of this week so there is no reason to rush anything" Dean Xio said while gazing at Hex, Brian, and Lucien, making them feel like those words were directed at them.

Dean Xio shot a glance across the entire hall before he finally dismissed the meeting and walked away. Sure enough, his words left a lot of people worried, anxious, and some excited. While the strong were determined to remain with strong teammates, the weak tried to find ways of wooing the strong over to their side. But one thing which they all had in common was that they all avoided Lucien like a plague. Even if the royal family offered him protection, they cannot always be with him!

Struggles and battles between powerful families or clans are not always upfront and direct. A lot is done in the background to indirectly cripple their target and make life unbearable for them, so these people were of the opinion that for the sake of avoiding issues with one of the major beast-man clans in the empire, it is best to avoid Lucien with the best of their abilities.

"I already told you… I have a team already… Ask one more time and I hurt you" Hex said with an annoyed look on his face.

A large group of students clustered around him and Brian, trying to recruit them but none dared to look Lucien in the eye.

"I will be leaving now…. Good luck with your team hunting" Lucien seemed to be annoyed so he just walked away, leaving the group behind and heading straight to his room.

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"What a bunch of kids" Lucien grumbled as he walked out of the bathroom with a white towel wrapped around his waist and his upper half left bare for the artificial intelligence to gaze at.

"Did you just get a tattoo recently? Why get an incomplete tattoo in the first place?" The Crux asked catching Lucien's attention.

"What tattoo are you talking about… I don't have any…" Lucien's voice trailed off as the crux used water magic to create what looked like two mirrors behind him and one by his side, allowing him to see what's on his back.

"What the hell?" Lucien muttered as he tried to think back on how the black ink was applied to his body and he failed to understand.

At first, he wanted to write it off the shapeless black ink as a birthmark since he has but then a strange thought came to mind and he decided to check with the system face.

'Personal Information' Lucien muttered in his mind.

[Host: Lucien Raizen]

[Race: Beast-man]

[Level: 6]

[Hp: 10/10]

[Strength: 7]

[Agility: 10]

[Stamina: 6]

[Charisma: 20]

[Mana: 10]

[Exp: 370/800]

[Condition: Dire]

[Host's strength is been suppressed by some godly power. Until this power is dispelled, hosts stats will be halved]

His fear of this system vanishing anytime soon was still there so he couldn't help but request for his personal information once in a while. After confirming the system was still there, Lucien went on with the main question.

'Does the system have anything to do with the painting on my back?' Lucien asked in his mind

[This is one of the many negative effects of the beast assimilation ability… The higher your assimilation rate with God beast, the more tattoos will appear on your body]

Reading this, Lucien couldn't help but frown. This meant that the more magic beasts he kills, the more magic beasts or beast-men he kills the more tattoos he would gain. Soon his entire body may be covered, ruining his looks.

"This is something I had them draw on me before returning… Yes I know it's incomplete" Lucien replied the Crux in the most casual tone he could force.

Before coming here, the emperor and Instructor Han warned him about revealing the existence of the system to other people. The Crux is an artificial intelligence created through the use of creation magic to help aid students in the best way possible. It can relay important information on students so he came to the conclusion that's it's safe not to talk about the system in the room.

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

'Hex and Brian are here… They probably came here to discuss terms of creating a prosperous team with them" The Crux said.

"Have them wait outside till I dress up… I fail to see why they would want to work with me even though they know that my magic abilities are close to crap now" Lucien grumbled as he walked into the small room filled with various clothes.

After putting on a plain white shirt and trousers, Lucien let the Crux unlock the door for them. He could only sit in silence for at least two minutes while these two companies about how he left them waiting for a long time. He knew talking back or any attempt to defend himself will only escalate the whole issue so he chose to remain silent and wait for them to finish.

"Now you are done… Can you please tell me why you all are here" Lucien asked with a hint of annoyance in his tone.

He was created on the only cushion visible in the room while letting the other two sit on the bed.

"Don't act dumb with us… we are here to form a team with you" Hex said

"And we know you I don't have my magic" Lucien said so casually that these people began to suspect he's completely okay with his condition.

"Not true… news of your fight with Raziel and Layla has already reached the academy… apparently you can still use magic, just at a slower speed… " Brain said.

"It means you are recovering... And since you were once a prodigy I don't think lacking magic will stop you from getting stronger… Magic or not we still want you on our team… The three of us will be invincible!" Hex added.

Listening to them speak, Lucien couldn't help but consider his options. Not is he lacking magic, making him a liability to the team but no one else would want to form a team with him. He appreciated the effort these two are making to get him to join them and this made him realize he was someone they valued.

"Thank you…" Lucien said slowly causing the jaws of Hex and Brian to drop.

Did he just thank them?

"What happened to you?" Brian asked with a hint of disbelief in his eyes.

He has known Lucien for over a decade now and all through that time he was well aware of how Lucien thinks and acts, that's why he always knows the perfect thing to say to piss him off. Never did he think a day would come when Lucien Raizen would actually thank someone for something! Anything! Even Hex kept gazing at him in disbelief since he found it hard to accept that someone can change drastically in just a few weeks.

"Well, I fought alongside a human and a beast-man and realized that the race doesn't really matter… We are all fighting the same foe and that makes us comrades… who cares about your race?" Lucien ignored their annoying facial expressions as he spoke.

...…..

His words left everyone dumbfounded up to the point where they remained silent for minutes. The thought of Lucien not looking down on humans anymore was just too shocking and hard to believe.

"I… I think we should proceed with the other plans now" Hex finally broke the silence and spoke up first.

"As a three-man team it is necessary we have a support, fighter, and mage… but based on our upbringing and mindset, we are all the protagonists of our story, making us believe we must all be fighters or war mages" Hex said with a reddened face. It was obvious he was embarrassed by the truth.

Hearing Hex speak about believing they are all the protagonists of their story and judging based on their reddened faces, it was clear that Hex was right. They have all been living in an illusion where they are all the main characters of this lite and that's why all of them chose to follow paths that focus on offense. As a team, their firepower may be amazing and even terrifying but they will be lacking badly when it comes to defense.