Chapter 49:Special level! Increased!
"Well! You have the face of someone who committed a great sin!"
Simon was back at the special advising zone, and somehow it felt even more oppressive than his first visit. However, nothing about it changed, with shelves of books lining the left and right walls. On the far side is a shelf of numerous trophies and accolades. Works of art are tastefully strewn about the room. A collection of chairs for visitors to seat on.
The cushioned man was also being very genial and nice. However, apprehension about what he had done had robbed him of any comfort he might have felt.
"I messed up... Didn't I?"
He was as quiet as a mouse when he said this.
Now. There were two other companions in the room with him. Namely, Amy and Stella.
Stella was being incredibly respectful and equally as apologetic when he said this, her ears flattening to her head.
Amy, however, had different ideas as a growl escaped her lips as she stared down at the gentleman.
He neatly combed his hair as he also gave her a dead look before turning his attention to Simon his expression turning to an amused smirk.
"Well. Yes, my boy, you did mess up but you might be surprised to know that it is not that uncommon for some of our students to miss a couple of classes. It might be a misdemeanor but hardly one to get me involved. I might not look it but I am a busy man."
Simon's shoulders relaxed a little at the revelation though his mind was still apprehensive about what was going on. Usually, when he was at home it was because he was in trouble.
As his shoulders relaxed so did Amy's silent growl as she planted her but right next to his sitting feet. She was still staring right at Michael. Stella also inched closer trying to suppress the urge to massage his shoulders which still looked very rigid.
"Oh. Then why?"
*Sigh*
"I forget that despite your intelligence you are woefully under-informed about the world."
There was bitterness with the way he said it but the moment was brief and he was back to calm and kind so fast that it was hard to latch on to it.
"No matter! I will tell you why! You my, boy, have caught lightning in a bottle twice!"
Michael spread his arms wide as he said this.
Simon's head did not compute what had just been told to him.
"What do you mean?"
The man deflated quite quickly at his question.
"...Right. You lack basic information, otherwise, you would be more excited. My boy, do you know what a miracle bond is?"
Simon nodded as he replied.
"Kind of. It is a special bond that can happen when taming a monster girl and is supposed to accelerate the process."
The middle-aged gave him a gentle nod as he raised his fist with three fingers pointing up.
"Yes, but you are either glossing over three important details that are very relevant to this situation. First, it is incredibly rare for this to happen, the base odds are 1 in 8192 and when it is your first time it is still 1 in 512. So the chance of having you get it twice in a row is 1 in roughly 4 million. Second, the miracle bond has another often overlooked feature because of how rare it is, the fact that like the first bond, it decreases the cost of maintaining your monster girl to a fifth. And finally and perhaps most importantly you tamed an epic monster as your second tame that costs as much as a normal tame."
He took one chubby finger down for each point he made and with every point Simon's eyes widened more and more.
The realization had dawned on him as the words were spelled out. He had already had an idea of his 'special' existence mostly because of the talk with the annoying Daiki.
Putting two and two together, he just became that much more special. And based on what Daiki told him, his 'desirability' also skyrocketed.
"Ah! There is the intelligence I like to see! So how do you realize why you were called here?"
Simon was about to instinctively nod his head only to shake it from side to side.
He understood that he was important but not why it was the headache of the man in front of him.
"I get that I am very special but not why this demanded an immediate calling to your room?"
"Hmm. Oh! Right! Rules and politics, you are not privy to either. See, if this information ever gets out you will become the hottest thing at this university. That by itself is no problem. What is a problem is that you might not be equipped to handle the attention."
There was venom when he uttered the word nobles, but similar to the bitterness, it was gone so quickly that he could not make sense of the emotional spike.
"For reasons I do not wish to get into, we have found that most of our students who exhibited similar levels of greatness would rather stay under the radar before they are ready, and as an institution to nurture tamers, we believe it is our duty to guide them. Now. I will not enforce it on you, but you should take my offer."
"Oh..." Simon was about to answer in the affirmative but something happened that prevented him from speaking.
His bands let out an imperceptible glow as he fell compelled to say his next few words.
"I would rather the Planar University not get involved. This is both a challenge and an opportunity given to me. I wish to pass it with my own merit."
Simon could not believe what was coming out of his mouth. But at the same time, it felt like these were his innermost thoughts.
"Huh... Well, this is unexpected..."
His advisor was equally as flabbergasted, but Amy looked incredibly proud as she rubbed his feet with her soft furry puppy form.
Chapter 50: A heated debate
"Why, my boy?"
Michael was dumbfounded at his revelation and wished to understand additional reasoning behind it, hoping that it would be something ludicrous so he could talk him down. To want to walk his own path was a very valid answer but not in this context, the entire reason he came to school was to learn and be guided. To shun it when it was so clearly offered was dumbfounding.
Simon himself was not sure exactly why. The following few words coming out of his mouth did not feel like his own, but the more he spoke the more he understood his stance.
"Be wary of gifts. Ones that are given freely are often the hardest to accept. I do not know what the future holds, but the one aspect I will always do my best to maintain is my freedom. This might be a childish pride and a mistake, but it will be mine to make."
"How will our university trying to protect you from danger, be a threat to your freedom?"
Michael was giving off the front of a teacher who could not believe the nonsense spouted by such a young adult barely stepping on his second year of existence.
Inwardly, he was astonished at the boy's reasoning ability. While no one in the Planar Council or any of the powers would outright say it, one of the underlying reasons they helped the students with such impunity was to tie them to the university in some way. There were even some nefarious tactics at play to ensure the world's future would always have Planar University in it.
That being said, he genuinely believed that tying him to the university would be beneficial for both parties. In fact, the benefits were probably skewed more towards Simon, at least, for the foreseeable future.
"Will you not dictate what I can or cannot do for the sake of my safety? Let us say, I find a noble someone I wish to be friends with..."
The pleasant expression on the portly gentleman broke as he let out a derisive snort but managed to recover, giving him an apologetic.
"Pardon my fall in decorum. Please, Continue."
Simon nodded as he did just that.
"Will you or will you not stop me from becoming friends with said person? Will you not have the power to incite this agreement as a form of contract to bind me from something as simple as making a friend?"
Michael was about to argue something only to stop and have a thoughtful expression on his face. The question proposed was not the fact that he would be able to make a friend but the idea his actions would be restricted. Most teachers might not have seen past this and the conversation would end.
But he understood and he also knew that these restrictions were not something that could be lifted or removed. It went against the whole idea of what they were trying to do.
Lying here would not end well, the intelligence shown by this boy was staggering especially with so little experience. Forcing him down this path, even if it was for his benefit would imbitter him to the university, possibly for as long as he existed which in all likelihood was going to be a very long time. That was the opposite of what they were trying to achieve.
So he switched tactics.
"Would that be so bad? Sure, we will apply restrictions but we do so for your benefit and can even give you solid reasoning as to why we do it."
"Can you account for every scenario? Here is an example, say I make a noble friend and it does end badly but shapes me in such a way that I become a much better tamer in the future."
"That argument is very contrived! We give this benefit because we know that nobles wish to take control over tamers. As impressionable young adults, our tamers are easily susceptible to their machinations and we step in to shield them."
He found a chink in the boy's argument and took full advantage of it. At that moment, he forgot that he was advising a student and instead focused on winning the debate.
Simon's next few words gave Michael goosebumps.
"So you wish for me to accept another gilded cage, one of your design, so you may protect me another."
Michael was a scholar who won arguments with objective reasoning and when that failed twisted truths. But for all it to be unraveled and seen through by a tamer that was not even past his second year or tames that empowered his intellect, was terrifying indeed.
Stella was looking at this exchange, her eyes transfixed. Amy was filled with pride as she puffed her chest out. Her alpha was besting another alpha in combat of intellect. Even when she knew that this alpha was far more powerful than him.
Such a thing was worthy of a howling celebration but she would wait, this was neither the time nor place. It was her master's moment after all.
He started chuckling and soon it exploded into a full-blown laugh. He did not know what the future held but one thing was for sure, the little boy in front of him would shape it greatly like the [great heroes].
That was his belief. So he changed his plans once more, to personally nurture a prodigy of this caliber was the joy of every teacher.
He raised his arms in surrender as he said.
"Very well, you win we lose. This school shall respect your choice. However, there is something else I wish to ask. Would you allow me to advise you, at least, so that you know what you are getting into? I swear not to enforce anything. I will only give you answers should you have questions and a few opinions or thoughts I wish to share.
