Seed of Titan-Chapter 229: Bad News Blaise

When Drai finally returned to his squad’s residence, the others didn’t bombard him with questions like they did the last time he was released from detention. Although Drai preferred this, he still wondered whether his squadmates were treating him differently because of what he had done during their mission or even due to his recent physical transformation.

And what happened in the following days seemed to prove his suspicion, as outside of squad training, the others barely talked to him. If that was all, Drai wouldn’t have minded much—he didn’t care for meaningless conversations either. But his squadmates had become unusually awkward around him, lowering their voices or dispersing whenever he passed or stopped by. Frost was the only one who didn’t seem to change much, but that was mainly because he had always been significantly quieter than the others in the first place, barring Ghost.

Due to this, Drai ended up spending most of his free time in his training room to escape the weird, unwelcoming atmosphere. And today he finally proved the effectiveness of his new skill by perfecting a set of evasive maneuvers in just three days, which was less than half the time he had spent to perfect his finger strike.

As Drai waited for his body to recover from the countless twisting and bending, he opened his status screen and admired his new figure, something he had been doing often lately.

"My current form isn’t as bulky as it was before my awakening, but it’s acceptable. I don’t know how my agility only got better after I turned bigger though. Was my previous form really that inefficient despite it being pretty slim?" he mused while sipping a can of energy drink that he got from the nearby fridge.

After getting enough of his chiseled muscles, he turned to his attributes.

[Name: Drai Varz]

[Class: Seedling of Titan – Scion of Gaia]

[Level: 15]

[Strength: 103.8]

[Constitution: 107.8]

[Agility: 50.1]

[Dexterity: 44.9]

[Intelligence: 27]

[Transcendence: 20.1]

[Skills:]

{Titan’s Fortitude} {Nexus Augmentation} {Titanic Physique} {Training Freak} {Bio Drain} {Basic Combat Sense} {Storm Formication} {Arachno-Sense} {Valley Dweller} {Basic Magic Resistance} {Ranged Fister} {Intimidation Aura} {Universal Grandson} {Aspiring Grabber} {Nova Flux} {Grassland Dweller} {Wilderness Cooking} {Radiant Bolt} {Improved Pain Tolerance} {Infringement Rebound} {Humanity’s Finest – Initial Integration}

[SP: 20]

Although his main attributes had finally passed the 100-point mark, Drai couldn’t really celebrate since his gains had been severely diminished by his latest assimilation.

When Drai first opened his status page a few days ago and tallied his gains across his four new levels, he became really upset upon finding out that on average, he merely gained 2 points per level for strength and constitution, and 1 point for agility and dexterity. On the other hand, his intelligence growth had somehow remained the same, merely gaining 0.1 points per level, but Drai couldn’t care less. To him, it was the only stat that had no clear use apart from reducing his headaches whenever he pondered over something complicated. If he could transfer its growth to another stat, he would do it in a heartbeat.

The most notable change was of course his transcendence, which had risen by nearly fifty percent from what it previously was. However, this wasn’t mainly due to his recent level-ups but something else entirely that he still couldn’t figure out. In fact, 6 out of the 6.4 points that he received had been from a separate notification that popped up after his slaughter, which also mentioned 10 added skill points.

Although this had been rather baffling, in the end, Drai didn’t dwell on it for too long and simply accepted the unforeseen boon, as he was certain it had something to do with his enigmatic class. He also recalled having a similar experience right after his awakening, particularly after he was rejected by the scouts. At that time, his transcendence and SP also went up seemingly out of nowhere.

Another unfortunate outcome of his instant leveling was the lack of newly available skills. Even though Drai wasn’t in urgent need of more skills, he wouldn’t say no to them, especially if they could help with his training. Thus, Drai’s relatively abundant SP could only sit there unused.

Closing the screen, Drai stood up and chucked his empty can into the nearby bin. There were still a couple hours until midnight, so he planned to try out his new moves with the evasion machine. But just as he put away his wiping cloth, the door suddenly opened.

Drai half-expected Frost to appear, but to his surprise, the newcomer was someone he last expected or wanted to see in his personal haven.

"Training hard, aren’t we?" the slim man in glasses who was still in his officer’s uniform immediately remarked, slightly smirking.

"Lieutenant Blaise," Drai greeted with a small nod. "I wonder what brings you here."

"Why? Can’t I visit my own training room?" Blaise replied before making his way to the fridge. After grabbing a few cans, he walked to the table that Drai had just rested at and sat there.

Watching Blaise put his boots on the table and chug a cold drink, Drai eventually said, "I wasn’t aware you’re one of the lieutenants who has a slot here."

Blaise let out a loud burp before replying, "In my case, I know that you’ve been training here, Drai. Our training hours don’t intersect, so we’ve never encountered each other. I find that rather unfortunate—you look like you could use some pointers since you clearly have no control over your strength."

"What do you mean? My strength control is perfectly fine."

"Is it really? Then does it mean your recent massacre was truly intentional? Oh my, that’s completely different from what I’ve been hearing these days. Thanks for the clarification!"

Drai didn’t need to see the smug grin across the table to realize he had fallen into Blaise’s verbal ploy. Thus, after silently cursing himself and the lieutenant, he headed toward the lockers.

"Hm? Are you leaving already?" Blaise asked.

"I’m tired," Drai curtly replied before putting on his clothes.

"And here I thought I would finally get to see how our special recruit trains and maybe glean an insight. What a shame..."

Drai ignored the dubious remark, worried that he would carelessly give away more sensitive info. And after he was done changing, he headed straight toward the exit without excusing himself.

"So how’s your squad these days?" Blaise suddenly asked, which instantly stopped Drai from opening the door.

Seeing Drai’s expression, Blaise added, "I guess Frost hasn’t told you, has he?"

"Hasn’t told me what?"

Blaise chuckled. "You see, due to their worrisome results in the past year, especially with how their latest mission ended, the notorious Seventh Squad is finally getting disbanded."

With his hand frozen on the doorknob, Drai mumbled in disbelief, "Disbanded?"

"Yes—a truly welcome news for those sick of your squadmates’ shenanigans. And if my intel is accurate, most of them will end up getting transferred to another army. You know what? My friends and I are already planning to hold a celebration since that son of a bitch Menace is supposed to be among these poor sods."

Drai was silent as he gave the gleeful lieutenant an icy stare. Shortly after, he finally left the room, slamming the door behind. Ignoring Blaise’s muffled laughter, Drai darted out of the building and headed back as fast as he was allowed.

Upon entering the house, Drai headed straight to Frost’s room on the second floor, not even thinking of showering first. And after several knocks, the door opened.

"Come in," Frost prompted after seeing who it was.

Drai unceremoniously entered and turned to the sergeant who had just closed the door. "Is it true? Is our squad getting disbanded?"

"So you’ve found out," Frost muttered before pulling a chair for Drai and conjuring an ice stool for himself. He then asked after he was seated, "Who told you?"

"Blai—Lieutenant Blaise. I met him in the training room just now. Why didn’t you tell me that he’s also using the room?"

"Why should I? Would it affect you in any way? Would you have rejected the room had you known?"

"Well, no—"

"Then there’s no reason for you to know. If you actually abhor him so much that you’re unwilling to breathe the same air as him, then it might’ve been worth mentioning, but I’m sure that’s not the case. Anyway, what did he tell you?"

"That we’re getting disbanded because of our bad results in the past year, but especially because of our recent mission. He also mentioned that most of us will get transferred away."

Raising an eyebrow, Frost said, "The latter is just a baseless rumor that has been circulating this past week. Don’t worry, none of us are going anywhere any time soon."

"And the disbandment?"

Frost sighed. "That, unfortunately, is in the talks. Just so you don’t get surprised, my father, Colonel Lugos, is actually a foremost proponent of this motion. And before you ask, I’ve already tried talking him down, but it didn’t work. As you might have witnessed during your trial, my old man is particularly stubborn when it comes to his family, or in this case, me."

"You?"

"Yes. You see, he considers you a threat to my life, an agent of terrible misfortune."

"What?!"

"I’m sorry, Drai, I know he’s being unfair to you. He couldn’t help but feel that way after the incident with our mock-mission and the explosion that nearly killed me shortly after you joined. I’ve been told that he snapped the moment he found out what you did during our mission, namely your killing spree and your assault on me. And it doesn’t help that he knows you nearly killed your peer during what was supposed to be a friendly spar back in Soluna Academy."

"Eh? Did I do something like that?"

"You did—the lucky survivor was a boy named James, a member of Valiant Ventures’ first-year venture party."

"Oh, him. Yeah, I did accidentally hurt him pretty bad that time. But how does your father, and even you, know about this? Was it in the local news or something?"

"No, but my sister was there when it happened. You probably don’t know her well since she’s quite shy. Her name is Irene, a fellow party member of this James."