Chapter 171: a setup

"This looks fun to you?" Emma's reply threw Alex off. "You know what, forget I asked."

The four of them on the ground sighed in unison.

"How's your hand?" Katherine voiced her concern, but with the tone, she spoke with it sounded like she wasn't concerned at all.

"Oh, I had forgotten about that. I think it's fully healed now." He touched the hand that was swollen to see if it was alright.

"Lucky you, if I get that kind of injury, without healing pills or healing a talisman, that type of injury will take at least a week to heal. But yours healed within a day." Drake muttered.

"Have you taken the miracle fruit?" Emma asked.

"Yeah," Alex sighed.

"What rank did you level up to?" Drake questioned.

"The 1st rank of the disaster realm" He replied.

"Wait? Weren't you in the 9th rank of the nascent realm when you took it?" Katherine wanted to confirm.

"I was, apparently, I need more QI than the average person for a breakthrough. It's a very frustrating thing." Alex commented.

Alex shook his head and faced Camron.

"Why are you smiling that way?" He asked when he saw the expression on Camron's face.

"I got a martial skill," Camron revealed.

"Huh?!" The four members of the seraphim team that were laid on the ground with a deadpan expression quickly sat up and exclaimed at the same time.

"Sh*t!" Alex facepalmed himself.

['I forgot to ask Andrea for the pass to get the martial skills. I was lost in the excitement of killing Duna and his boys.'] He facepalmed himself again.

['Where did Camron get his from?'] Al wondered.

"Where did you get yours from?" Alex asked Camron.

"The principal gave it to me." He replied truthfully.

"Why!?"Katherine asked. "Is the principal related to you in some kind of way?"

"Hahaha, no, does he have to be related to me before he's allowed to give me a martial skill?" Katherine's question was funny to him.

"Then why? I've been in this school longer than you but I haven't seen the principal before nor do I know where his office is located." She questioned.

"Because he is a darkness elemental user." Alex guessed. "And this martial skill should be something that is beneficial to you and the element you use, right?" He asked.

"Yes, it is. I don't know what the skill is called yet, I still haven't taken a look at it."

"Lucky you. Adrian has some special bond with sounds, Emma with nature, and you, with darkness while I'm cursed with this flimsy fire element." Katherine waved her hand and flames followed behind her movement.

"What about me? Why am I not on that list?" Drake uttered.

"I can't possibly compare myself with the needy and unfortunate, you are clearly below me so why bother adding you to the list."

Drake clicked his tongue at her reply.

"Everyone in this team, apart from the two of us, are special in one way or another. If Alex is added to the equation, it takes the specialness to a whole other level." Katherine stated dejectedly.

"No need to put yourself down like that, Alex also uses the fire element." Adrian to comfort Katherine.

"Don't tell me that you couldn't tell the difference between my flames and Alex's. What I just did now is nowhere near what Alex's flames would have done, the temperature of this living room would have increased if he waved the same way that I did.

Although we both use the fire element, his affinity and control of the element are a large margin away from mine." Kathrine explained.

"Then increase your affinity with the element and then make your control better," Alex interjected.

"How?" She inquired.

"I don't know… maybe bathe in fire, sleep in fire, and eat in fire. If Adrian could awaken his element by being surrounded by sound waves, you should be able to increase your affinity that way. You find out on your own."

"What about me, what do I do to increase mine?" Drake asked. Since Alex was able to find out about those overpowered abilities of Emma and Adrian, Drake knew not to take some of Alex's words for a joke, even if it was one that he wasn't sure of.

"I don't know, eat rocks maybe?" Alex replied.

"Hahaha." Everyone laughed at his reply.

"Camron, you know how to contact your sister right?" Alex changed the subject.

"Yeah, why?" Camron smirked.

"Good, contact her and ask her to get the pass for the martial skills from Andrea for us." Alex directed.

The smirk on Camron's face turned into a disappointed one and he hissed at Alex. 'Here I was, thinking he was going to tell me to set them up for the dinner.' Camron thought in disappointment.

"No, you do it yourself when you go for dinner with her." Camron rejected.

"What!?" Katherine exclaimed.

Alex stared and kept on blinking at Camron with his mouth open. "Why you? You were waiting for me to ask first. This is all part of your plan to set me up with your sister. This is a setup."

"A good one." Camron chirped in.

['Hahaha! A very good one. It's your fault for forgetting.'] Al was happy with what Camron did.

Camron smirked at Alex again, waiting to hear his answer.

"Why don't I go-" Katherine started and was interrupted by Drake's hand that covered her mouth. She was about to use her elbow to hit his ribs but her hands were caught by Adrian.

"I'm sorry, but we can't let you spoil this." Adrian apologized.

Katherine looked at Emma for help, but Emma pretended not to notice her gaze.

Alex was surprised to see that the rest of his teammates were in this together.

['I can't deal with this now,'] Alex thought.

"You know what, we can wait a few more days. I will think about the dinner and tell you after I have made my decision. Now, if you will excuse me, I have things to do." Alex announced and left for the exit.

['Where are you going?'] Xander asked.

['To find out if Duna's underlings are staying in the inn too. If they are, then it will almost be impossible to kill them without it being traced back to me.'] Alex answered.

Alex made his way to the reception.

"What do you want now, kid?" Xiao En had her head laid on the counter. She had been sleeping but sensed Alex when he was heading her way and woke up. Xiao En raised her head and adjusted her bed hair.

"I have a question for you, I hope that you can give me an answer that I will like," Alex said.

Xiao looked at him suspiciously, "No, you can't sleep with me." She stated.

Alex looked at her like she was crazy. He resisted the urge to gag. "I wasn't going to ask for anything like that." He cleared his throat and cleared her doubt.

"What is your question then?"

"Do you know if Duna's friends are staying with him in the room that he paid for?"

"Oh, no. He paid for a single bedroom. His place is not half as big as yours. His friends left the inn a while ago. Why do you want to know that?" Xiao En wondered.

"No particular reason. And also, do you know what will happen if I… hypothetically speaking, if I killed someone in the school and I'm caught?"

"Nothing much, if you are found guilty but still want to walk as a free man, you can choose to spend 5 days in the forbidden area of the forest behind the snow-covered mountain or become a mindless slave of the academy for 100 years. If your body is still alright after 100 years, then you might still be able to live as you used to." She answered.

"Just 5 days in the forbidden forest, that doesn't sound bad," Alex muttered.

His comment made Xiao En scoff. "Even I doubt if I would survive there for an hour, and you with such weak cultivation think you can last for 5 days… if you are going to do anything as stupid as your question, wait till Nana is back. With her present, most likely you'll be free from any life-threatening punishments." Xiao En advised.

['I don't need to rely on Nana, I won't be caught.'] Alex thought proudly to himself.

He flashed a smile at her and said; "Don't worry, I don't have plans to do anything like that. I was just curious." He waved at her and left for the exit of the guest inn.

['Do have a plan on ground now, Al?'] Alex questioned.

['Yeah. Pretty basic one. Find out what they like to do, their hobbies, and habits. Once that has been done, I can make a much better plan.']

['Even I already had that in mind. I was expecting to hear something that I didn't think of.'] Alex complained.

['I'm surprised that you know the basics.'] Al mocked.

['I… forget it. Time to visit the dormitory.'] Alex thought.