Chapter 67: The Woman Who Can Overwrite Reality

Today, Enis taught him something else, and that was accuracy.

His accuracy was insanely bad.

By the time Enis ended the exercise for the day, Nero had improved quite a bit. He could hit the targets more accurately now.

However, Enis told him that he had another major issue, and that was his control over energy. It was terrible.

He had learned how to unleash it without much thought, and now he had improved his accuracy. Next, he needed to learn control.

Nero collected the training targets before sitting down with his water bottle. Enis had ended the session before his reserves were completely exhausted, although his arms still felt rather heavy.

"By the way, Enis. Why don’t you make these lessons free?"

"What a fascinating question to ask after receiving the lesson. How about I hand over control of the federation to you? With that, you won’t have to train again."

Nero sighed hearing this. "Come on. Professor Victoria offered to teach me for free."

"Oh? Did you accept?"

"No."

"..."

Enis stared at him through its camera for several seconds as if it was looking at an idiot.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Nero, let me get this straight. You rejected Victoria Windsor’s free lessons, came running to me, paid fifty Merits, and now you’re asking for a discount?"

"When you say it like that, it sounds stupid."

"That’s because it is! I haven’t even exaggerated anything!"

Nero decided to drink his water instead of answering.

He had perfectly good reasons for rejecting Victoria’s invitation, but explaining the System’s secret training location to Enis was out of the question.

"Anyway, is Professor Victoria really that impressive?"

"Impressive? Hahaha! Kiddo, you have absolutely no idea what you turned down."

"Then tell me." Nero replied.

"Well, she possesses one of the most dangerous Talents in the world. It’s called Overrule."

’Overrule?’

Nero became curious.

"What does it do?"

"In simple terms, she can impose changes on things within the range of her power. For example, she could remove the heat from an object and make it freezing cold."

"Hmm. At its theoretical peak, Overrule could even permanently strip someone of their Talent."

Nero nearly choked on his water hearing this.

"What the fuck?!"

"How is anyone supposed to fight something like that? What if she just decides you don’t deserve to have a Talent anymore?!"

"Hahaha! Relax! It’s not like she can casually delete people from existence because they annoyed her."

"That’s not very reassuring!"

"Her opponent’s willpower matters. Someone with sufficiently strong willpower can resist the changes she imposes or even break free from her control."

"Oh." Nero became thoughtful hearing this.

So if you had a bigger willpower than her, her powers basically had no effect on you?

But at the same time, she can change phenomenon’s and throw it at you. It was still very broken.

Before he could think further, Enis continued. "There’s also another limitation. The changes she imposes aren’t permanent under her current level of mastery."

"She’s essentially forcing reality into a state she wants. Once her Overrule expires, the affected target returns to its original state."

Nero frowned hearing this. "But you said she could permanently remove someone’s Talent."

"At her theoretical peak, Nero. Potential and present ability are two different things."

Enis paused before adding cheerfully, "For example, your energy has the potential to be under your control. Unfortunately, reality has yet to agree."

"...Was that last part necessary?"

"Absolutely! Educational examples are important."

Nero shook his head, although he couldn’t deny how frightening Victoria’s Talent sounded.

Even with its limitations, being able to impose changes on reality was ridiculous.

’And I rejected someone like that?’

For a moment, Nero imagined approaching Victoria and telling her he had reconsidered after discovering just how terrifying she was.

Somehow, he doubted that would leave a good impression.

Besides, he still wanted to explore the System’s training location. It had to be something really special for the system to trigger a choice for it.

"So, about making your lessons free..."

"HAHAHA! You’re still trying?!"

"What’s wrong with asking?"

"Nothing! I admire your determination."

"You’re seriously not giving me a discount?"

"Nero, you’re already receiving a fifty-percent friend discount!"

"...Right."

"Exactly! At this rate, I’ll be paying you to attend my lessons!"

Nero sighed.

’So much for having the Federation’s greatest AI as a friend.’

Meanwhile, Lilly was sitting on the floor of another training hall, recovering from Victoria’s latest exercises.

Sweat dampened her collar, while the pink ends of her blonde hair rested against her shoulder. Around her, the other students were resting with varying degrees of dignity.

Lucas had decided that lying flat on his back was the best way to recover.

"Man, I wonder what Nero’s doing right now."

"Probably training," Jasmine answered. "Which is what you should be doing instead of complaining."

"Hey, I was training! I just happened to complain a little!"

"A little? You’ve been complaining more than you’ve been training."

"Whose side are you on, dumb sister?"

Victoria overheard their argument as she approached.

"You two are good friends with Nero Martinez, aren’t you?"

Lucas immediately pushed himself onto his elbows.

"Yes, Professor. Did he do something?"

"Well, he rejected my invitation to join this class. I was hoping you could explain what’s wrong with your friend."

"..."

Lucas and Jasmine were stunned hearing this.

Lilly, who had been resting nearby, almost forgot how exhausted she was training.

"He refused you?" Lucas asked in disbelief. "Professor, are you sure he understood what you were offering?"

"I mentioned free guidance and the military camp. I thought I was being quite clear."

"Professor Victoria, you invited Nero?"

Lyris had been sitting beside Richard, but the mention of Nero immediately caught her attention.

"Nero Martinez?" she asked again, as though wanting to make sure.

"Unless you’ve been keeping another Nero hidden from me, yes." Victoria smiled.

Lyris frowned hearing this. "But he only awakened recently. His Talent is Cellular Reservoir, isn’t it?"

"That doesn’t mean he isn’t worth teaching."

Lilly agreed with that much, although she was still wondering whether Nero had hit his head somewhere.

’Free lessons from Professor Victoria, and he refused? What was he thinking?!’

However, Lyris’s reaction bothered her more.

They had known Nero for years, and Lyris used to be the one encouraging him whenever he felt discouraged.

Now, however, she always seemed uncomfortable whenever his name came up.

’Just what happened between those two?’

"Perhaps you should ask him again," Serina suggested with an awkward smile, even she didn’t know what he was thinking. "Nero might have misunderstood something."

Peter clicked his tongue.

"What’s there to misunderstand? Some people get offered a place here and suddenly start thinking they’re too important to accept it."

Both Lilly and Serina turned toward him at the same time with a frown on their faces.

"What?" Peter demanded. "I’m not the one who rejected her!"

"You seem awfully upset about someone else’s invitation," Serina remarked. "Are you jealous he got invited without asking and you didn’t?"

"What?! Why would I be jealous?!"

"Oh, I don’t know. You tell me."

Victoria chuckled before their argument could continue.

"That’s enough. Nero already gave me his answer, and I have no intention of dragging him here against his will."

"Yes, that’s probably for the best," Lyris agreed a little too quickly.

Richard turned toward her hearing that.

"Why do you sound relieved?"

Lyris stiffened.

"I don’t sound relieved! I was just agreeing with Professor Victoria."

She pinched his arm, causing Richard to give her a helpless smile.

"Alright, I only asked."

Serina covered her mouth to hide a laugh, while Jasmine rolled her eyes at the two.

Lilly, however, was becoming increasingly certain that something was going on.

Before she could ask, Victoria brought everyone’s attention back to their training.

"Alright, everyone. We’ll be leaving for the military camp soon, so I want you all to listen carefully."

The students immediately became attentive.

"You’ll be training alongside selected students from Pride University and several other universities across the Federation. This is an excellent opportunity, and I expect every one of you to make full use of it."

Even Lucas sat up properly.

"Our goal is to bring everyone to C-Rank before the two months are over. Those of you who are already close should be aiming for Middle C-Rank."

"You’ll receive excellent support, but don’t expect much time to rest. The training will be difficult, and I expect you to arrive prepared."

Lilly was looking forward to it as well.

Victoria counted the students before pressing a hand against her forehead.

"Speaking of troublesome students, where in the world is Yuna Monroe? She’s managed to miss another session!"

She turned toward Serina.

"Isn’t she your friend? Do you know where she is?"

Serina smiled sweetly.

"Oh, Professor. I wouldn’t call us friends. We’re enemies."

"...Enemies?"

"Of course! There can’t be two lion kings in one pack, can there?"

Victoria’s lips twitched.

Lilly couldn’t entirely disagree with Serina. Whenever those two met, even an ordinary conversation somehow turned into a competition, usually leaving Lyris to stop them.

"Well, Your Majesty, could you kindly inform your enemy that I expect her to attend my class?"

"Of course, Professor! I’ll make sure she receives your message."

Victoria sighed.

’These kids...’

Meanwhile, Nero had finally left Enis without winning a discount and was going to get Mira to start training Telekinesis.

Mira had already called to ask when he was coming, and he had promised to collect her after training. His sweet daughter that he adopted due to a choice sounded so eager that he suspected she might start teaching herself if he took much longer.

[A/N: Sorry for the late upload. I have a really bad fever. Also, we were really close to 500 Power stones last time. I think we can do more this week. So drop the book a power stone or two to support it. Thank you.]