Chapter 8: This Guy Is Too Friendly

She was standing beside Richard, accompanied by the other members of the student council. They were chatting among themselves, laughing at something Richard had said.

Seeing them together, Nero felt his chest tighten slightly.

However, he quickly shook his head.

He had already decided to move on, and after nearly losing his life last night, he understood just how foolish he had been.

There was no point in continuing to dwell on something that would never happen.

With that thought, Nero continued walking without bothering them.

By the time he passed, Richard and the others were already heading toward the upper floors.

Throughout the entire encounter, Lyris hadn’t looked in his direction even once.

Perhaps she hadn’t noticed him, or maybe she had deliberately ignored him.

Either way, Nero didn’t particularly care anymore.

He approached the reception desk, where a young woman was busy typing on a holographic screen.

Noticing someone approaching, she raised her head and examined him briefly.

"Are you new here?" she asked. "Did you recently awaken?"

"Well, something like that." Nero scratched the back of his head. "I recently awakened, but it wasn’t a full awakening. More like a half awakening."

"I see."

A hint of pity appeared in the receptionist’s eyes, although she maintained her professional smile.

"We do have classes for half-awakened students. Would you like to enroll?"

She opened another window on her screen before continuing.

"The classes are conducted by Professor Hendricks, who specializes in guiding unawakened and half-awakened students."

"However, we currently have only three half-awakened students in the entire university, including you. Because there are so few participants, the class is held only once a week."

Nero considered her offer.

He waited for a moment, wondering whether the System would present him with another choice.

Unfortunately, no notification appeared.

’Well, I guess I can’t expect the System to make every decision for me.’

"I’ll pass for now," Nero replied after some thought.

The receptionist nodded.

"Alright. Is there anything else I can help you with?"

"Can I get a private training room?"

"Of course, but you’ll need merits to rent one."

She tapped her screen a few times.

"You can earn merits by completing quests, participating in university events, or achieving high rankings in assessments. Although, I’m sure you already know that."

Nero nodded.

Naturally, he was familiar with how Pride University operated.

Unlike ordinary universities, there were no mandatory classes that students had to attend every day.

Instead, the entire institution operated on a merit system.

Students earned merits through various activities and used them to access training facilities, receive guidance from professors, and obtain other resources.

Even the professors followed the same system, providing their services in exchange for merits.

For Awakeners, earning merits was relatively straightforward. They could participate in combat assessments, dungeon simulations, and Talent demonstrations.

The stronger they were, the more opportunities they had to earn merits.

Unfortunately, the same couldn’t be said for unawakened and half-awakened students.

Without supernatural abilities, their options were mostly limited to written examinations and academic achievements.

They could still earn enough merits to get by, but accumulating large amounts was extremely difficult.

And Nero had another problem.

His academic performance was terrible.

He had barely managed to earn any merits since enrolling at the university, so renting a private training room wasn’t something he could easily afford.

Looks like I’ll have to find somewhere else to train.

He was about to thank the receptionist and leave when someone suddenly called out from behind him.

"Huh? Aren’t you Nero?"

Nero turned toward the voice.

"Dude, I almost didn’t recognize you! What happened to all your pimples?"

A young man with messy blonde hair and bright golden eyes approached him, wearing a friendly grin.

"It’s been a while since I last saw you, but I didn’t expect you to change this much!"

Nero examined the young man for a moment.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t remember ever meeting him.

"Do I know you?" he asked.

The blonde-haired young man laughed before pointing at himself.

"I’m Lucas Ashford! We’re in the same year, remember?"

He extended his hand toward Nero.

"I’m an Awakener, and my Talent is Thunder Spark!"

As if to demonstrate, Lucas raised his other hand.

Small blue sparks of electricity immediately appeared around his fingertips, crackling as they jumped between them.

"Hey!"

The receptionist’s sharp voice interrupted him.

"No using your powers here! If you want to demonstrate your Talent, do it inside the training facility!"

Lucas flinched and quickly withdrew his Mana, causing the sparks to disappear.

"Alright, alright! Sorry about that."

He turned back toward Nero with an apologetic grin.

"Anyway, I couldn’t help overhearing your conversation. You don’t have enough merits for a private training room, right?"

"Yeah, unfortunately."

"Then why don’t you train with me?"

Nero blinked. "Huh?"

"I’ve got a private room booked for today. Well, I was about to book one anyway, so you might as well join me."

Before Nero could respond, Lucas turned toward the receptionist.

"Can I get a training room for two people, please?"

"Certainly."

Lucas took out his student card and swiped it across the scanner.

[Ding! 20 Merits Deducted]

Nero’s eyes widened when he saw the amount.

Twenty merits!

For someone like him, that was quite a lot.

"Wait, you don’t have to do that," Nero quickly said. "Twenty merits is too much."

Lucas waved his hand dismissively.

"Don’t worry about it. I’ve got plenty saved up."

He grinned before continuing.

"Besides, you’re half-awakened, right? Training alongside an Awakener will probably help you more than training alone."

Nero tilted his head.

"How so?"

"Well, when an Awakener actively uses their Talent, the surrounding Ambient Mana becomes more activate. That can be pretty helpful for people who haven’t fully awakened yet."

"Oh..."

Nero hadn’t known about that.

Although he was familiar with the university’s merit system, his knowledge of actual combat training was almost nonexistent.

Still, what surprised him more was how casually Lucas had offered to help.

They barely knew each other, yet he had already spent twenty merits just so they could train together.

So there are people like this in the university too, huh?

"Thanks," Nero said, feeling a little awkward. "I really appreciate it."

"No need to thank me!"

Lucas threw an arm around Nero’s shoulder as though they had been friends for years.

"Come on, let’s get going!"

He began leading Nero toward the private training rooms.

"And if there’s anything you don’t understand, just ask me. I’m pretty good at teaching people, you know!"

Nero wasn’t entirely convinced by that last statement.

However, considering Lucas had just paid for his training room, he decided to keep his doubts to himself.

A few minutes later, they arrived at their assigned room.

It was quite spacious, with reinforced walls designed to withstand attacks from Awakeners. Several training dummies stood along one side, while various pieces of exercise equipment were arranged around the room.

Lucas walked toward the center and stretched his arms above his head before cracking his neck.

"Alright!"

He turned toward Nero with an excited grin.

"Let’s start training!"