Lucius was walking toward the Garrans, but he was worried as he looked at Luna's current condition. She was still trembling while hiding behind Liora.
Luna had tried to calm herself down, but it was not easy as her fear was still rooted deep, an emotional anchor from her past that held her back.
Lucius thought that this would be troublesome later on, so he decided to fix it immediately. There was no need to wait for her to take a few days to calm down.
Lucius turned towards the system and said with his mind. "Hack her. I want her fear to turn into confidence, but keep it first and release it after a day to instantly replace her fear with confidence."
---
[Hack Initiation: Fear Conversion to Confidence Over Time]
[Trigger: Fear Accumulation Transformed into Confidence After 1 Day]
[Cost Required: 20 Hack Points]
[Execute?]
[YES] [NO]
---
Lucius was satisfied after seeing the prompt and let the system execute the hack. The system then reduced 20 points for the cost.
The hack was quite simple, as it was designed to transform Luna's fear into a huge mass of confidence, but it will be kept by the system and would not be released to her.
The system would only keep it for a day and would release it after her fear peaked and collapsed under the weight of her huge mass of confidence, leaving her bolder than ever.
Lucius turned back to Luna and smiled as he murmured, "You'll thank me for this later." He then turned back to the Garrans and was ready to meet them.
---
Lucius walked toward the patriarch of the Garran family, Dorrian Garran. He looked at the young man that had entered the main hall.
Dorian scanned him for a moment before saying, "So, you are the Golden Class student from Astra Academy for this mission."
Lucius nodded, gesturing toward the two women behind him and said, "I am and also these are my maids and assistants, Liora and Luna."
Dorian only glanced at them for a bit before turning back to Lucius. "I see, then let me explain your mission. Your task is to evolve my son's 2-Star Thunder Hawk into a 3-Star Storm Hawk."
Lucius nodded and was interested. "I see. A straightforward task, but can I assume that you've prepared the necessary materials?"
Dorian frowned a bit after Lucius mentioned the materials. "Unfortunately, I have not. We have prepared most of the materials, but we're missing a key component—the 3-Star Storm Bear Core."
Lucius, who remained calm, immediately frowned after hearing it. He then firmly reminded him. "I am here to evolve your beast, Patriarch Garran, not to hunt for materials."
Dorian frowned and irritatedly replied, "Young master, you must have missed the details in your mission. It clearly states that should any materials be incomplete, you are also tasked with acquiring them."
Lucius was surprised to hear that and immediately turned to Liora and asked, "Liora, check the mission details now."
Liora nodded and took the mission letter from her spatial ring. She scanned the document quickly and frowned after finishing reading it.
She then turned to Lucius with a nod. "It's true, Master. The requirement is stated here that you need to hunt for the necessary materials too."
Lucius let out a low sigh and frowned. "Damn it. It's hard to believe that they intentionally designed my mission to be this way. They really wanted to cause me some trouble."
Lucius then turned to Dorian and glanced at him, asking, "Patriarch Dorian, where can I find this 3-Star Storm Bear Core?"
Dorian smirked after hearing it and explained, "The Storm Bears reside in Wind Valley, not far from here. It's a dangerous place, but I'm sure someone of your caliber will manage."
Lucius ignored most of his words and turned around. "Fine. I'll retrieve the core and complete the evolution, so I can get out from here fast."
Lucius left the hall, but suddenly, Dorian looked at Luna more clearly and said, "Sadrina... is that you?"
Lucius was a bit surprised after hearing Luna's real name and turned to face the patriarch. He also looked at Luna, who was now trembling while clutching at her dress.
Kalidorn was also surprised after hearing that name again. He immediately turned to Luna and after looking at her more, "It is really Sadrina."
Luna, who was trembling, stepped forward and tried to talk to his family after a long time. "Father..."
But the truth was different. Dorian frowned and scolded, "Who is your father? I have no daughter. Not one who is talentless and worthless."
The words hit Luna, making her shoulder slump and her body tremble even more. She wanted to say something but she could not. She could only go and hide behind Liora again.
Kalidorn also chuckled after seeing his sister. He crossed his arms and smirked. "So, this is what you've become—a slave to some young master. How fitting for someone as useless as you."
Kalidorn then stepped forward and laughed while looking at the trembling Luna. "Tell me, Sadrina, are you good at groveling? I bet you've gotten really good at playing the obedient little dog."
Luna flinched after hearing what her brother said to her. She clenched her fists at her sides, trying to calm down as the weight of their ridicule was threatening to crush her little resolve.
Lucius, who had been silent up to this point, took a slow step forward. He began to smirk after hearing all of that and suddenly raised his hand to stop them.
Lucius turned to Kalidorn, then Dorian. "It seems the Garran family has a hobby for wasting words on matters that no longer concern them."
Kalidorn frowned as he turned to Lucius and mocked. "What's this? Are you offended, young master? I was merely pointing out the truth about your... 'maid.' Surely, even you can see she's not worth—"
Before he could finish, Lucius took another step forward and smirked. "Be careful, Kalidorn. You're stepping on a narrow path between arrogance and stupidity, which can be dangerous."
Kalidorn frowned after hearing what Lucius had just said. He was the young master of the Garran family, and he didn't want to be mocked by a measly student. Enjoy exclusive chapters from empire