A Dog Father Cannot Beget a Dragon Son

World 54: Part 4

"I!" Juniper started, suddenly, drawing both of their attention. "I got a 96! But I would have gotten higher if I actually tried!"

Fei Chuan looked at her and didn't know how to react. She was right. As a budding psychic, she would likely master any subject so long she put in just a little effort. In contrast, people like Julian would need to put much more effort and just barely catch up. This was one of the root causes of Julian's intense envy towards Juniper in the trajectory of the original world. Finally, Fei Chuan settled on, "...okay."

Juniper bit her lips sullenly and looked away.

Julian saw her act and snorted. "What's the use of saying this now?" he sneered. "I'm still two points higher. That's not going to change."

Juniper tightened her grips on her arms. "N-next test, I'll get a higher score than you! Definitely!"

"If you can," said Julian carelessly. But Fei Chuan wasn't fooled. He could just see the endless stream of study sessions in the future, likely involving himself.

Well. Just take it as if he was attending school himself, Fei Chuan thought consolingly. More knowledge never hurt.

Lannister arrived just as the two children were swearing themselves to be eternal rivals (as opposed to Julian's one-sided pursuit), and looked faintly embarrassed. "I had to trouble you to look after Juniper again, Ms. Shiko. My deepest apologies."

It wasn't like Fei Chuan was doing it for him. Fei Chuan waited for Julian to stand up before straightening himself up. He nodded shortly at Lannister, and led Julian back to their home.

"M-Mr. Triton, I got a 96 on my tactical!"

"Woah! Juniper, you're really a genius! Tactical was one of my hardest classes..."

Fei Chuan inwardly snorted, and kept walking.

*****

Fei Chuan had just finished knocking out the robbers when a new alert came in through his dispatch. "Ability-holding terrorists at local hero academy! Coordinates: 5.0221, 6.223..." Fei Chuan listened to the information until he abruptly paled.

Those were the coordinates of Berylline Intermediate! But he didn't remember any incidents happening while the [Villain] was still in middle school!

Fei Chuan fled into the shadows of the alleys and used his powers to half-bury the neutralized criminals at a nearby lamppost, where either the police will discover them or someone will call emergency services for them.

Fei Chuan had quickly learned that as long as he can guarantee his own anonymity, the OOC restriction would also be too lazy to react. For that reason, he'd been able to quickly end his scenarios by first attacking brutally from the shadows and then calmly bringing over the downed villains to jail as Earth Lass.

Though Amachi Shiko's base speed stat was low-grade and was one of the reasons she remained a supporting hero, Fei Chuan had been able to use her affinity with the land to speed himself up by rippling the ground beneath his feet and almost surfing on it. It had taken a lot of trial and error to become proficient at this method, but now Fei Chuan could move at several times Amachi Shiko's base running speed.

Fei Chuan had still been halfway across the city, so when he arrived there were already officers sectioning off the school and forming barriers to prevent parents from rushing in. Fei Chuan destabilized the ground underneath them and easily pushed his way to the front.

"Ma'am, you can't go in there! This is the Famiglia, please wait for the heroes to show up!"

The Famiglia. It was a crime syndicate based somewhere in the underbelly of Italy, and rumors had it that one of their sworn missions was to bring down Trident. The attack on the school was almost definitely meant to draw him out or send him a message.