BXBX NOVEL Chapter 122 Core Stealers
Seeing odd stares from people around him, Rylan quickly jumped back in line, "Dude, you\'re a celebrity at this point. Thank god I made friends with you when I did." He latched onto Alten\'s arm while crying tears of joy.
"I know... muhaha!" Alten let out a villainous laugh, "So... how about you tell me what happened with your side of the story now. How did your plan fail?" Alten said, genuinely interested.
Hearing this, Rylan\'s tone turned a bit gloomier, but not as much as before since he just heard some good news, "Well, to keep it short, there are pieces of shit here. Selfish ones. Since they\'re more powerful, they will just take your cores." Rylan explained, catching confused glimpses of both Leon\'s and Alten\'s faces.
"Let\'s say many people support you, even though you are weak. If you are well known, for example. They will still find a way to take your cores, as long as you are weaker than them. If they can\'t take your cores in the center when you are protected by other kids, they will take it while hunting and sometimes even eliminate you. Sometimes they don\'t, since people either don\'t believe you or don\'t want to, since they will be targeted next if they speak out." Rylan\'s expression darkened.
"They eliminated every single one of my friends out there in the woods. That\'s because they were all weaker. But, I was even weaker than them, so I didn\'t need to be eliminated out there. They just stole the cores from me right here."
On hearing this, Leon and Alten felt pretty bad for Rylan, but they didn\'t speak to let him continue. There wasn\'t really something they could even say anyways.
"So... yea. I mean, you\'re lucky that you have these big dogs on your side, but then again, that will make you guys an even bigger target. There\'s one big faction that runs that core stealing projects here. They came here somewhat early as well, 15 days in, but they didn\'t come because they were cowards, like the rest of us. They came because they knew they could take advantage of us and get all of our cores."
Hearing this, Alten got an unexplained thought, "Are you sure this faction just takes cores from anyone? I mean, isn\'t there even one other faction or group or something that they can\'t take the cores from?" He asked.
Rylan didn\'t hesitate to answer, "Oh no, of course there are. There are plenty of more powerful groups that the core stealing faction doesn\'t mess with, but of course, these stronger groups don\'t consist of the majority of the people in the center. Most are here with small groups of 3 or 4, and many with no group members at all," Rylan paused, looking around him to make sure no one dangerous was there before exclaiming, "I hate those bastards man!" down towards the ground.
Hearing this, Alten and Leon were silent, "I\'m sorry guys... I don\'t want to bare you down with my complaining but... you gotta understand, I can\'t take this exam again." He said to them.
"Yea... I get you, dude..." Alten said, inwardly wanting to somehow find a way to allow Rylan to pass.
ραΠdαsΝοvel.cοm Alten was one of Rylan\'s best friends back home. They lived close together, by Rylan\'s family was far worse off than he was. Rylan was born with two other siblings around his age, but they, unfortunately, passed away at a younger age, and his parents were too ill to work.
Their nobility carried them through their older years, but soon the streets were going to be their only options after selling everything they had. Rylan was their only hope of getting out of deep water, and Alten knew this.
Rylan suddenly changed his tone, "I swear..." He angrily said, "Even if I have to seclude myself in a jungle for the rest of my life to gain power, I will come back and get revenge on these bastards."
Leon and Alten were silent as he said this, creating a slightly awkward atmosphere for a few moments before an unfamiliar voice suddenly sounded from behind.
"Huh? What did you say you were going to do?" A fat, tall boy behind the three said, as Alten noticed Rylan\'s eyes widen. Rylan\'s heart sunk into his chest at that moment.
He quickly turned around to face the fat boy in front of him who had a malicious smile on his face, and two other mugs behind him with the same smiles.
The kid to the right said, "Who the hell is this loser even talking to? All by himself."
People behind and in front of the three in line looked away, focusing on their food and own conversations to avoid sticking out. People who were walking by also did the same, shielding their gazes from the situation.
A few whispered as they walked by, "Look, it\'s that scrawny kid again."
"Poor guy, he always gets picked on."
Rylan lowered his gaze to the floor, "I... I didn\'t mea-" He suddenly got smacked on the face before he could finish, his glasses falling to the floor.
Alten was shocked, his eyes expanding and his eyebrows scrunching in as he just witnessed what happened.
"Huh? What do you mean didn\'t mean it? I didn\'t hear wrong did I?" The fat bully who smacked him asked.
"You\'re right... I\'m sorry." Rylan submitted.
Suddenly, the fat bully grabbed him by his hair and lifted his head up as he exclaimed slightly in pain.
Alten couldn\'t bare it anymore, seeing a childhood friend be assaulted like this. Before he could grab his bow, Leon\'s hand stopped him. Alten looked up, \'Why is he stopping me?\' He thought to himself, only to see that Leon too looked to be slightly angered.
Although he was awkward, Leon still liked Rylan slightly since he was pretty funny. Leon stepped forward but suddenly stopped as another unfamiliar voice sounded out of nowhere.
"Oi... I\'m trying to eat here." The voice came from behind the bullies. Hearing this, the fat one that grabbed Rylan\'s hair quickly let go and backed up, his face similar to Rylan\'s in terms of fear as he heard the voice.
The three bullies quickly stepped to the side and made way for a boy to get in line, cutting in between the people in the back and getting behind Rylan.