208 Chapter 208: Schoolmates

The moment Shun Yin stepped out of the office, he caught sight of a familiar figure leaning against the wall. That golden blond hair, that handsome face and that dignified posture…Shun Yin immediately recognized him as Glen Porter.

He lowered his head in greeting and made to step around him, but Glen stopped him with a single sentence.

"It seems my father has some expectations of you."

"Principal Porter requested my assistance with a research project," Shun Yin responded neutrally. He wasn't sure if Glen was jealous that the one his father chose to speak to was some random outsider student instead of his own son.

"Oh, yeah. I know. Dad has some stuff he wants to try out. If it works, it'll revolutionize combat. I look forward to seeing him succeed."

Shun Yin stared at him, surprised. He had expected some measure of hostility, and definitely resentment, but Glen didn't seem that bothered by the meeting he had with his father. Glen must have seen the expression on his face, for he chuckled.

"Don't worry, I'm not my mother. She might disapprove…hell, most of the Porter dudes disapprove of what Dad is doing, but I'm pretty sure he'll prove them all wrong. Already his work is bearing fruit."

"…I see." Shun Yin felt a little relieved, but he was certain Glen didn't wait out here just to tell him that.

"Ha ha! There's no need to be on your guard. I'm not my mom. I don't care about your family lineage or bloodline. I only care about results." Glen nodded approvingly. "You've earned my respect. Not many mages in our generation can block my Titanic Tempest spell, yet you merely cut it down with your sword. You're pretty strong!"

"Thank you." Shun Yin was taken aback. This was certainly not what he was expecting, especially after speaking to Henry Porter and hearing about his son earlier. "Your spell was incredibly powerful. I almost couldn't withstand it."

"There's no need to be humble." Glen leaned in. "Let's be friends."

"…eh?"

Glen guffawed when he saw Shun Yin's shock. "What? I'm not such a snob that I wouldn't befriend anyone not from my clan." He dropped his voice to a whisper. "I'll be honest…among the Porter family, my dad and I are considered…outcasts of sorts. Disgrace to the family. Why do you think my dad was posted as a principal of a high school instead of…you know, fighting on the frontlines and earning prestige? He studies too much instead of fight."

He then scratched his head sheepishly.

"And I'm considered a black sheep in the Porter family because I insisted on learning lightning magic instead of fire magic. Dad was the only one who supported me. Even Mom was pretty upset when she learned of my decision." He shrugged. "She's pretty old-school. I'm lucky I have my dad, or I would have been disowned and kicked out of the Porter family." He laughed. "Actually, they're thinking of kicking out my dad and my entire immediate family out of the clan, but Dad has been impressing the elders with his educational reforms and research."

Glen grinned.

"Not that we would have cared. Dad would just resume his old family name…ah, yeah. Dad married into the Porter family. That's why he's a lot more flexible than Mom, who descended directly from the Porters. But because my dad is considered somewhat of an outsider who married into the family, you can imagine the kind of discrimination he faces from the Porter clan. As his son, I sort of receive the same treatment. That's kind of why I learn lightning magic…but also because everyone else learned fire magic, and that was the only way for me to stand out. Speaking of which…"

Glen glanced around, and then lowered his voice again.

"…she's here. The princess of the Porter family, one of the most powerful fire mages of our generation."

Glen sighed and shrugged.

"As long as she and her brother are around, I'll never be able to match them if I focus on fire magic. I'll always be overshadowed by them, unable to come out on my own. The same goes for all the other Porter and affiliated clan children enrolling in this school."

"Right." Shun Yin wasn't sure what to make of that. He had a feeling he knew who this Porter princess was. Glen leaned over and threw an arm over his shoulder.

"That's why I'm searching for strong comrades…I don't care where you're from, or what kind of family you're born in. We've to stick together if we want to survive in this cutthroat academy. Even with Dad here to help and reform the school, a lot of the students in the combat division still believe in that survival of the fittest or strong eat the weak nonsense. Sad to say…they are probably right for now. If you lack the strength, you'll get bullied. If you're weak, you'll get trampled upon."

Shun Yin could sense some sort of disgust in Glen's voice, probably partially directed at his father for being so naïve.

"But looking from another way, there's strength in numbers…as long as the so-called weak band together and cooperate, there's nothing we can't do. They can try to attack us, but as long as we team up and work together, they won't be able to break us!" Glen raised a hand. "Just like Dad said, united we stand, divided we fall. A single stick will snap easily on its own, but a bunch of sticks tied together will be more difficult to break."

"That's right," Shun Yin agreed, having heard of the old Chinese fable. "But surely you don't intend to look into the combat division alone, do you?"

"I might not be my mom, but I'm not my dad either." Glen let go of Shun Yin and began striding away. "Strength is what matters the most to me. Of course Dad is correct in that warriors can't do everything on their own, that we must rely on support personnel and researchers to survive against monsters, but…in this school…that kind of mentality is too naïve. Accepting that fact will not make us immune to bullying and abuse. Power will."

Shun Yin began to understand the difference between Glen and Henry. The son was practical while the father was idealistic. It was an interesting combination, to say the least. Nonetheless, he was relieved that Glen didn't turn out to be a bully. He had almost thought he was in trouble when he caught sight of Glen standing outside, especially since the guy had attacked him right before the entrance ceremony, but he didn't turn out to be such a bad guy.

Even so, Shun Yin wasn't gullible enough to trust him completely. He would play along for now and see what Glen's real motives were. As long as the Porter guy didn't intend to hurt him, then he wouldn't take action against him.

After watching Glen disappear into his father's office, Shun Yin turned away and headed home.

*

The next day, Shun Yin caught sight of Glen entering the classroom he was inside. Glen grinned when he caught sight of Shun Yin and strode over before taking the desk behind him.

"So we're in the same class, eh?"

"So it seems," Shun Yin responded dryly. Glen laughed and shook his head.

"Well, I hope to learn from you over the next year, at least."

"Same."

Even as the two conversed, Shun Yin noticed that the rest of the students were giving the two of them a wide berth. At first, he found that normal. After all, he was an outsider, somebody who wasn't from the Porter clan or any of their affiliates. There was some resentment and hostility toward him from his new classmates.

What surprised him was that they were also treating Glen with the same amount of distance. A few of them were whispering as they regarded Glen. In fact, the moment Glen walked into the classroom, the attention had shifted from Shun Yin and toward the blond guy. There was no small amount of scorn in their gazes.

"They…" Shun Yin began, but Glen shook his head and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm used to it. Don't worry." He then grinned. "And they won't dare to do anything to me because I'm from one of the main families of the Porter clan. They might not like me much, but unless they're also from the main family, they haven't got the balls to do anything about it."

"…I see." Shun Yin nodded, but he couldn't help but feel a little sympathetic. Not that Glen needed his sympathy.

"Well, to do the usual greetings again, I look forward to learning from you this year!"

"Same here." Shun Yin didn't wince when Glen slapped him on the back, and merely nodded somberly. Perhaps he was meant to be a shield for Glen, which was why the other guy approached him under the pretense of befriending him. Shun Yin still didn't entirely trust Glen, but for now it appeared that the handsome blond guy had been telling the truth.

That didn't mean he was going to let his guard down.

After classes, Shun Yin found himself summoned to the principal's office. Glen merely smiled knowingly and wished him luck, as if he was privy to what his father had summoned Shun Yin for. After yesterday's meeting, Shun Yin was already aware of what Henry requested of him, and so he went without complaint.

"Ah, Student Shun Yin. There you are. How was your first day?"

Henry Porter beamed when he walked into the office. Shun Yin bowed his head politely.

"It was fine."

"Good, good. If there are any problems, don't hesitate to let me know. For now, allow me to bring you to the research department."

The research department was located in a separate building, a couple of blocks away from the main campus. Even so, it seemed new and was pristine looking, equipped with all sorts of hi-tech equipment and state-of-the-art facilities. As it turned out, it was a shared building with Vermillion University, which explained why the laboratories were so advanced. As they passed through the corridors, Shun Yin could see both university and high school students working together, though the former outnumbered the latter by a lot.

"We have a lot of research students in the university department," Henry Porter explained jovially as he gazed through the transparent windows with pride. "Many students immediately join the military or become mercenaries the moment they graduate from high school, but increasingly there are more students willing to enroll in universities as the next step. I hope you will consider applying for university too when you graduate."

"I'll think about it," Shun Yin said, but inwardly he was reluctant to do so. He was never a good student, and wasn't the type to be studious. He would rather be moving his body and practicing than reading. The only exception being manga and light novels, of course.

"Please do."

Henry Porter than stopped in front of one of the laboratories. Scanning his ID card, he waited for the door to open before he gestured for Shun Yin to enter. Following after the principal, Shun Yin strode right into the lab.

"Principal Porter!"

The research students residing inside the laboratory immediately stood up to greet him, but Henry raised a hand and bade for them to resume whatever they were doing.

"Don't stand on ceremony. I'm just here to help. Speaking of help, I've brought someone who might be able to assist in your research to establish a contract with the spirits you've discovered." Henry then signaled for Shun Yin to step forward. "This is Huang Shun Yin. He's from the high school combat division, and he's a very promising fire mage. He should be the perfect candidate for becoming a contractor or the new type of spirit summoner you guys have been espousing about."

"Combat division?"

"Fire mage?!"

"That's great!"

The three members of the research team crowded around him excitedly. Henry beamed indulgently, and then turned back to Shun Yin.

"And these are the research team for the spirit summoning project…Seraph of the End that I told you about yesterday. The leader of the research, Seinagi Tenshi."

A girl with long, golden hair that was tied into a ponytail immediately bowed.

"Nice to meet you!"

"And this is Rebecca Chambers. She might only be eighteen, but she is already working on getting a degree on biochemistry and medicine."

"Well met." A short girl with her red hair tied into twin tails bowed, a white lab coat draped over her vermillion and brown uniform.

"The last member of the team, Gabriel Gallagher. He has some knowledge of spirit magic and mythology, which has greatly helped in advancing the project."

A young man with brown hair nodded, smiling as he stared at Shun Yin with his warm, honey-brown eyes.

"I look forward to working with you."

"Same here." Shun Yin bowed somewhat awkwardly. He didn't recognize any of them even though they all wore the same uniforms as him (well, Gabriel anyway – the girls were wearing the Vermillion High uniforms). He didn't see any of them in his classroom earlier that day, which meant that none of them were his classmates.

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It was only natural. He was in the combat division while the three of them were in the research division. The two streams divided the students into different classes. As such, Shun Yin would rarely get to interact with the research students outside of this.

"You really saved us!" Tenshi was telling him, moving forward to clasp his hands. "You have no idea how hard it is to convince someone from the combat division to help us with our project!"

"I was going to have to volunteer to make the contract and do the summoning myself, but I don't have the mana required or the strength to cast such powerful magic." Gabriel looked a little sheepish. "Even though this contract-based spirit summoning theoretically reduces the casting duration to almost zero, it still consumes a lot of mana. Unless you're from the combat division, it'll be very hard for us research students to pull it off."

"But it's not impossible," Rebecca chimed in thoughtfully. "After all, healer-type mages always manage to get enough mana to cast multiple healing spells. It's all a matter of training."

"Yeah, but you're not going to wait months for me to build up my magic fitness before we can finally start the experiments, right?"

"You've got a point…"

"Well, anyway…" Henry cleared his throat. "I'll leave you younglings to continue conducting your research. I don't want to get in your way, so I'll take my leave first."

"Thank you, Principal!"

After Henry left, Tenshi turned back to the rest of the group with a dazzling smile.

"All right…shall we continue where we left off? Don't worry, Shun Yin. We'll explain to you as we go along, but basically this is what we have so far…"