BXBX NOVEL Chapter 108: Respite
"I was constantly updated on his progress since it was the procedure. And since he was doing well on his own, it\'s only a matter of time until he receives a clean bill of health. And I was correct. After that, I kind of stopped paying attention to him since he\'s out of my influence already."
"Simply put, if there were to be some strange or toxic behavioral patterns, I would\'ve known it already since Dr. Vega wouldn\'t hesitate to inform me. However, what I received were praises instead of problems so I don\'t think that the boy will act like a rogue towards this situation."
Lucas ended his analysis there, allowing both Arishem and Reiner to think.
Since his analysis was backed up by real data, it\'s difficult to refute it. Moreover, both of them had interactions with Cedric, and even though they were brief, they could tell that the kid was nice and polite.
All of these men are old and experienced. At this point in their lives, they could discern a person\'s characteristics even with only a few interactions due to their tenure at their specific jobs, and all of them could tell that Cedric shouldn\'t be a bad person based on what they\'ve gathered so far.
The fact that they thought that Cedric would raise some unreasonable demands towards them made them feel guilty even more, though. The kid brought nothing but pleasant surprises to them yet here they were, raising their guards against him.
This reaction was brought forth by an unpleasant memory, though. Arishem and the City Lord encountered a similar situation before, only the previous person didn\'t perform as great as Cedric did, and the person they trusted and raised betrayed them. That person even switched guarantors at the last minute, causing the City Lord to lose credibility and face humiliation.
It could be said that this was a defense mechanism of some sort, and they truly felt guilty for thinking that Cedric was the same as that previous guy.
"...still, is it too late for us to do something for him?" Arishem asked, "We owe him a lot because of this."
"Oh, trust me, I know." Reiner grumbled, "I even outright admitted that I didn\'t do a damn thing to help the kid for the exams. Even got cursed because of that. I also know that some opportunistic City Lords out there are trying to make a move on him right now. They\'re only hesitating since they know I\'m here."
Reiner already sensed the strange gazes of his fellow City Lords even before they left the exam venue. He could tell that they were harboring the thought of poaching Cedric to their side, promising him all manner of resources and wealth just to ride on his coattails.
If he wasn\'t here to act as a wall, they\'d probably be banging on Cedric\'s door right now.
"Do you need me there?" Arishem asked.
"No. It\'s fine, I can handle them." Reiner shook his head, "What I need is ideas. I don\'t want to send him to the Academy without even providing him some help."
"...I couldn\'t think of something right now." Arishem sighed.
"Information should help him greatly." Lucas offered. Hearing that caused Reiner and Arishem\'s eyes to light up.
"Elaborate," Reiner asked.
"Well, I was just thinking...since he\'s about to enter the Academy, we might as well give him all the information we have to help gain an edge compared to the rest."
"You should know this better, City Lord. After all, you were once a student of the Starlight Royal Academy." Lucas added in the end.
That caused Reiner to feel some nostalgia. Indeed, he was once a proud student of the Starlight Royal Academy. He dropped out though because of his injuries. He, of all people, knows how tough the competition is inside the academy.
"I\'ve already compiled everything I know, though. I was already planning on giving it to him, plus his credentials obviously, once he has rested enough." Reiner stated, "I just think that that\'s far from enough."
"Maybe you can donate your remaining Academy Points (AP) to him?" Arishem suggested, "I mean, you no longer have any uses for those right? You might as well give to him so he could have some capital."
"Alright, I\'ll do that too." Reiner decisively agreed. "But still, this doesn\'t feel enough."
This was really turning into a dilemma for them. While some might say that they\'re making a big deal out of this, well...that\'s because it is, indeed, a big deal.
It was already mentioned that as Cedric\'s guarantor, Reiner, and his City will be heavily rewarded by the Academy and the Royal Family for raising a genius of his caliber.
Even though the reward has yet to be given, Reiner could already predict what it\'s going to be...
First, a City Expansion reward. The Black Thread City is considered a medium-sized city and it\'s fine on its own, but because of Cedric\'s existence, it will be expanded in the hopes of producing more talented in the future.
Then, all sorts of resources and opportunities will elevate the city\'s overall strength and quality of life. Neither the Academy nor the Royal Family will be stingy with this.
And finally, a unique opportunity for Reiner himself, something that is huge enough for him to, hopefully, reach Tier 9. A dream for any Superhuman out there.
All of this will be given to them just because Cedric graced them with their presence. Of course, this also comes with the responsibility of raising more talent but that\'s only natural.
These rewards were more or less confirmed already since Reiner has seen it happen before. Only previously, he could only feel envious, now he\'s the one experiencing it.
So the fact that they\'d be receiving too many rewards with barely an effort on their part, really makes him feel guilty. He certainly feels like he didn\'t deserve any of it.
****
A few hours later, Cedric woke up from his sleep feeling we rested.
It felt like he had been asleep for more than 24 hours at this point but that\'s just because of his absurd recovery brought by his Unique Physique.
Scanning his surroundings with his senses, he didn\'t sense anything strange so he shrugged and made his way to the bathroom to clean himself.
Once he was refreshed, he changed into a fresh set of clothes and called for room service. He then spent some time in silence and relaxation.
\'I\'m about to be really busy once the school year starts.\' He mused inwardly, \'I should relish this remaining idle time.\'
Cedric has already seen it once. The Academy has some things that could give him pressure. The pressure that he could use to accelerate his growth to even more absurd levels.
With those tools available to him, it\'d be a sin if he didn\'t take advantage of them to propel his growth as a Superhuman.
\'Moreover, I should be safe under the protection of the Academy. The Demons would hesitate to make a move on me so long as I\'m under their banner. This gives me even more time to broaden my horizons and accumulate my advantages.\'
There\'s still so much to learn and room for improvement ahead of him. Cedric feels giddy at the thought of it. And all of it begins tomorrow.
He continues daydreaming about his future. He thought of both realistic and unrealistic things. It was random or nonsense but he didn\'t hate it. He was bored anyway.
Then, he decided to surf online and found his face plastered on the local news. He smiled wryly as he thought that this was inevitable. It\'s like this every year, the Starlight Royal Academy\'s Entrance Exam has always been a big deal for everybody.
Thankfully his socials are private and he didn\'t upload any pictures of himself or else his inbox would\'ve exploded from all the notifications he\'s bound to receive.
He chuckled when he saw some comments about his masked face. Some people thought he was hiding half of his face because he was insecure or ugly. Others were berating the reporters for not working hard enough to capture what he actually looked like.
This was all amusing to see this, and he briefly debated if he should fan the fire, even just for a little bit. However, he ultimately decides not to.
\'The commotion this brought will fade pretty quickly anyway. People\'s attention spans are pretty short nowadays, especially netizens. Besides, they\'d just pester me endlessly if I make an online debut now so I might as well ignore this for now.\'
Closing the tabs, he planned on zoning out for some more but he was interrupted by the knock on his door.