Chapter 86: Auditorium

Social anxiety...

This was probably a problem that most introverts had. They were cooped up in their room or house all day long and rarely went out to meet people.

Over time, they would develop a sense of uncertainty and loss of confidence.

Of course, the same introverted logic could not be applied to Ray.

He was an extrovert type, alright. But the accident and his amputation of the leg essentially cut him off from doing most activities.

Depressed and feeling like he had been cut off from society, Ray chose to become a shut-in.

Unlike the other shut-ins, he at least had a crap ton of money to last until his death anyway.

He doesn’t drink alcohol, smoke, or gamble. All he needed to do was leave the money in the bank and gradually earn interest. Needless to say, he also purchased some shares from stable top companies to accumulate.

He was set for life.

There was no lack of entertainment available for him with technologies and AI.

Why should he need to interact with others in the real world?

It could all just be done through texts, emails, and occasionally voice, because some games required communication.

And now that he was forced to repeatedly interact with others, even if he knew they were supposedly novel characters, Ray felt suffocated.

The suffocation and pressure were so bad that he literally needed a different outlet to free himself.

The outlet he found was thanks to the system’s first mission.

He realized that as long as he just kept to himself and ignored his surroundings while doing his villain roleplay, his mind wouldn’t be able to think too much.

His eyes would also not be able to focus too much on the crowd and would simply picture them as background.

Yet that coping mechanism was now shattered by Belva, who had called him out directly for having social anxiety.

He wasn’t mad or enraged, only dissatisfied.

Nobody liked to be called out for their flaws, especially when that person was supposed to be lower than him in status.

Moreover, he wasn’t avoiding the social anxiety aspect this time. He was actually trying to search for clues and prevent his life from turning into a mess.

"If you wish to silence me, I can’t stop you. I am under your contract, but so long as you still appoint me as your maid, it’s my duty to monitor you." Belva wasn’t frightened by the response.

Instead, she doubled down and told him that she would still be blunt with him.

Social anxiety was no laughing matter. She had also experienced it and learned how to cope with it.

"I’m not having social anxiety right now. I’m trying to look for something." Ray exhaled softly and explained the background scene he saw.

Of course, his description was very brief because he wasn’t an expert in describing things.

"So you’re searching for someplace discreet within the campus but also not inside any building." Belva furrowed her brows.

She reckoned it must have been another important thing that she wouldn’t be able to comprehend.

"It could only be alleyways or some pillar in the vicinity that covers them from surveillance." She explained.

The campus was simply too vast, so there were bound to be numerous blindsides. Unless the place was small, it was almost impossible to cover a large area with surveillance.

"Yes, and there’s a ton of them." Ray already felt a massive headache. The floating island itself was like a country. The space was huge, and there were even other commercial stores outside the campus area.

So one could easily imagine just how big the main campus area would be.

"Should we split up and find it?" She inquired.

"Nah, we can search for it together." He shook his head and rejected the idea.

He was so familiar with this kind of plotline.

The two of them go to investigate, and then one of them is kidnapped.

And obviously, it wouldn’t be him, but Belva in this case.

Why was that?

He could easily just teleport away and summon Lancelot in the blink of an eye.

Of course, the same was true for Belva.

’Good thing the Young Master didn’t insist on separating. Who knows what other trouble he would make if left alone?’ She heaved a sigh of relief and agreed with the arrangement.

Sometime later, the two began to search for the scene depicted in Ray’s Foresight.

In the meantime, many students had gathered in the auditorium.

The auditorium was extremely vast, and could fit more than 150,000 people at once.

It was basically a huge stadium.

As for how that was possible, the use of magic, runes, and formation enabled such a possibility.

Students all gathered in their seats, but it was clear that some got a better view than others due to differences in status.

At the center of the platform were the numerous professors and distinguished people who continuously sponsored the Crestellan Academy.

Needless to say, these distinguished guests were polite and didn’t dare to behave like any high horses.

Of course, that usually wasn’t the case.

The only reason they acted very politely was because of one person.

The Principal of Crestellan Academy, Leonard Lawson.

"I thought you said you wouldn’t attend." Elsa approached him and mused.

"Well, that was the plan initially." Leon cleared his throat and whispered. "But then if the person I’m looking for is present here, it’s probably best I show myself."

"Wow, look at that. Almost every sponsor is eager to shake hands with you now." She teased and subtly glanced at these wealthy people.

Not all of them were snobby, but they sure as hell believed themselves to be important.

After all, the money they sponsored was no small amount.

Of course, by sponsoring the Crestellan Academy, they also benefited from this relationship alone.

Who would dare to touch a sponsor of Crestellan Academy?

Wasn’t that the equivalent of trying to make an enemy of the academy?

Needless to say, the academy also rejected sponsors from those with nefarious intentions or whose source of money came from unclean businesses.