Chapter 34: Getting in Trouble with the 2nd Years

"Well... there goes my sleep on the first day."

Declan murmured with a sigh.

There was no point going to bed now.

He only had an hour left, and according to the academy’s rules, arriving even a minute late would cost him points.

The last thing he wanted was to fall asleep, wake up after class had already started, and lose even more of his precious points.

So Declan gave up on sleep entirely.

He returned to the bedroom, cleaned himself up, and twenty minutes later, he was ready to leave, leaving him with roughly forty minutes before class.

That was enough time to do one more thing.

"The cafeteria."

Declan had expected the academy to be relatively quiet this early in the morning, but he couldn’t have been more wrong.

The moment he stepped outside, he found the entire place already bustling with activity, with students everywhere, walking between buildings, talking in groups, and even riding hoverboards through the air.

It looked less like early morning and more like the middle of the afternoon.

Declan could only stare for a moment before pulling out his device and checking the map as he walked.

Thankfully, the cafeteria wasn’t far from the dormitories, only about five minutes away at most.

[You could’ve just gotten one of those hoverboards.]

Declan raised an eyebrow as he glanced upward at the students gliding through the air before shrugging.

"I’m not a child."

The moment he said that, however, a deafening engine suddenly roared past him.

VROOOOOOOOOOM!

Declan’s head snapped toward the sound as a streak of pitch-black flashed past at an absurd speed, disappearing so quickly that even his enhanced senses had barely managed to register it.

[What the hell was that!?]

The system’s panel flashed before him.

Declan watched the black blur vanish into the distance before answering.

"A Tron powerbike."

[Is that one for children too?]

It mocked, and Declan rolled his eyes.

"Those things cost tens of thousands of Nollars back in Frit City. Only those rich-ass dudes ever get to ride one."

Still, curiosity got the better of him, so he opened the academy’s shopping app and searched for Tron powerbikes.

The price appeared almost immediately, and Declan nearly choked.

"800 to 1,200 points!?"

His eyes bulged as he stared at the screen.

"Who the fuck spends eight hundred points on a bike!?"

He continued staring at the price for another second before angrily shutting the app.

"Absolutely insane."

Yet as he continued walking, Declan noticed something else, and he wasn’t the only one noticing it, either.

Every student he had encountered so far was a Nexian.

They had already undergone Core Fusion, which was obvious from the faint energy buzzing around their bodies, a natural result of having an energy Core integrated within them.

Declan had not fused with one yet, making him the only ordinary human among them, and they had of course noticed.

"He’s still an ordinary human? How did someone with that level of physical strength even pass the test to get admitted?"

"Maybe his talent is extremely high, but he couldn’t afford a fusion. Probably one of those scholarship students."

"But doesn’t the Academy give newcomers a Core for free?"

"Yeah, but I heard the fusion doesn’t become available until three days after enrollment."

"That’s some shitty luck. Hopefully, he doesn’t die before then."

"Hell nah. He’ll run into some psycho before that."

"I’m betting ten points he dies within twenty-four hours."

"I’ll put twenty on it."

"I’ll bet a hundred."

Declan listened without saying a word.

They weren’t even trying to hide their conversation, apparently caring so little about whether he could hear them that they simply continued talking openly.

Still, they had answered one of his questions.

’Looks like I really do need to fuse as soon as possible.’

A few minutes later, Declan finally arrived at the cafeteria.

It was a three-story building with large revolving glass doors, but the interior surprised him the moment he stepped inside because it looked more like a bar than a school cafeteria.

Small, circular tables filled the floor, with each one seemingly designed to accommodate only two students.

The first floor itself was divided into two sections by a thin white glass partition, and while the section Declan entered was already fairly crowded, he could see several empty tables through the glass on the other side.

He continued forward, only to discover that there was no cafeteria staff at all.

Instead, the entire place operated like a buffet, with food arranged across several stations and serving utensils placed beside each dish.

Students simply picked up a plate, served themselves whatever they wanted, and found somewhere to sit.

Surprisingly, it was quite orderly.

Aside from the occasional conversation, the cafeteria remained relatively peaceful, allowing Declan to grab a plate and choose a couple of dishes without any trouble.

He wasn’t particularly picky when it came to food, so he settled on mostly soup and meat before finding an empty table and sitting down.

But he had barely taken a few bites when something changed.

The conversations around him gradually died down, one after another, until the murmurs that had filled the cafeteria moments earlier had almost completely disappeared.

Declan raised his head and found five men standing at the entrance to the glass partition.

The shortest among them was already around 1.8 meters tall, and all five were staring toward the newcomers on the other side.

Declan’s brows drew together.

There was nothing particularly extraordinary about their appearances. The only obvious difference was their age, as they looked noticeably older than the students surrounding Declan.

"Are those...?"

"Second-years..."

The whispered exchange carried through the suddenly silent cafeteria.

Declan raised an eyebrow and immediately opened his device to check the academy information.

The cafeteria had three floors.

The first belonged to newcomers.

The second belonged to second-years.

The third belonged to third-years.

So why were second-years here?

Declan barely had time to wonder before one of the men stepped forward.

He had crimson hair, a muscular build, and a grin that immediately made him look unpleasant.

"Everyone in this section."

His voice carried throughout the cafeteria.

"Get out."

The newcomers looked at one another, but nobody moved.

Eventually, one smaller student nervously stood and attempted to walk toward the exit, only to find the five second-years still standing directly in his path.

"S-Sorry..."

The student tried squeezing between them, but one of the men suddenly grabbed the back of his shirt.

Then,

BAAAAAAM!

The student was violently thrown backward, slamming into a nearby table and sending both himself and the student who had been eating there tumbling across the floor.

The cafeteria fell completely silent.

"The other side of this glass belongs to us second-years."

The crimson-haired man cracked his knuckles as he looked around.

"You newcomers think you can just walk in here and eat without permission?"

Another second-year sneered.

"Y’all really have some balls."

A student finally found the courage to respond.

"The second floor is for second-years."

He pointed toward the cafeteria around them.

"This is the first-year area. Both sides of the glass belong to us."

"That’s what the Academy’s rules say."

Several newcomers quietly murmured their agreement, but the five second-years simply laughed before stepping completely into the newcomers’ section.

One of them reached back and closed the glass door behind them.

The crimson-haired man looked around at the increasingly frightened faces, his grin widening as he spread his arms.

"Well..."

His eyes swept across the entire room.

"There’s no Mr. Academy Rules here, is there?"

"There’s only us here, and you fucking newbies just broke one of our rules," the crimson-haired guy said.

"So you have two choices. Pay us 50 points, and maybe we’ll let you crawl out of here. Or you can get your ass beaten into a pulp."

He leaned back slightly.

"Your choice."

"Great. Just when I thought things couldn’t get worse," Declan muttered under his breath.

He had only come to the cafeteria for a quick breakfast before class, yet somehow, that simple plan had turned into a situation he couldn’t escape from even if he wanted to.

Pay 50 points to avoid a beating?

Declan had exactly 40.

So, getting beaten into a pulp was practically guaranteed.

Not that he would have handed over the 50 points even if he had them.

The newcomers hadn’t done anything wrong. The second-years were simply throwing their weight around and using their seniority to bully them, and Declan had no intention of submitting to that kind of tyranny.

So, rather than argue, he simply continued eating as though none of this had anything to do with him.

"Well, fuck you then!"

One of the newcomers suddenly grabbed a chair from the side and swung it without hesitation.

BAAAAAANG!

The chair flew diagonally through the air toward one of the second-years.

The second-year casually raised his fist.

BOOOOM!

His punch smashed into the chair, blasting it apart and sending wooden fragments flying in every direction.

Before the newcomer could even react, a hand clamped around his neck and yanked him off the ground, leaving his feet dangling helplessly in the air.

"You’re the bold hero, huh? Hehehe..."

The second-year grinned mockingly, but his laughter lasted only a moment.

BAAANG!

Something metallic whipped across his face.

Blood sprayed through the air as the second-year staggered backward, instinctively releasing the newcomer from his grip.

A deep diagonal wound had been carved across his face.

Behind the newcomer, something metallic slowly emerged from his spine, taking the shape of a scorpion-like tail.

The sight of it made a gleam cross through Declan’s eyes.

’He already fused with a Mecha Module.’