Seed of Titan-Chapter 75: A Tiger Would Do

Jordy, Halo, and Enda looked at Natalia with confusion.

"Private lessons? You mean like tutoring sessions for your classes?" Jordy asked.

Natalia shook her head. "Not that, but training lessons like combat theory and sparring."

A look of realization dawned upon Enda. He recalled Natalia’s reaction earlier today after her spar with Muzie and felt that she must still be frustrated with her instant defeat.

Enda tapped Jordy’s arm and nodded at him.

"Well, I think we can arrange that," Jordy said to Natalia after seeing Enda’s approval. "Do you want a particular trainer or is anyone okay?" 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

"I don’t need anyone specific for the training, but at least let me occasionally spar with Muzie," Natalia replied.

"Hm, okay. I’ll let Halo deal with this since it’s under Ops’ jurisdiction," Jordy said, gesturing at Halo.

Halo nodded and said, "Send me your schedule and we’ll arrange the sessions accordingly."

"Thank you," Natalia replied. She then sat back down and opened her comm.

"I thought we’d be here for a while, but looks like most of you already know what you want," Jordy mentioned while glancing at Flo and Natalia who were busy writing stuff down.

"Seniors, I have something in mind. But can I ask it privately?" Christo suddenly said.

Jordy stared at Christo for a few seconds before saying, "Sure. Just stay behind after the we’re done here."

"Thank you."

Drai and the others couldn’t help but gave Christo a weird look, wondering why he had to hide his request from them.

Christo didn’t heed the attention as he busied himself with his comm.

Natalia shook her head and returned to her comm too, finalizing her schedule that she had to send to Halo.

Meanwhile, Auri turned to Drai and asked, "Have you decided on your reward, Drai?"

Hearing the question, Drai smiled helplessly.

"No. Honestly, I don’t know what I want. Maybe I should ask for some training sessions like Natalia too, but I don’t know if it will mess with her schedule so I’m a bit hesitant too ask for it."

Hearing this, Auri felt slightly relieved.

"Yeah, I don’t know what to ask too," she said. "I’m not in need of any equipment or materials, and I don’t think private training sessions would be that useful since I don’t have much spare time nowadays. We have a lot of presentations, and I think it won’t be long before the professors arrange our groups for the end of semester projects."

"Hmm... then what do we do?"

Noticing the duo’s predicament, Jordy said, "If you’re unsure, you can just ask for money you know?"

"Money huh... Sure, why not?" Drai said. He was out of ideas so he thought money’s perhaps the safest bet.

"Are you sure, Drai?" Auri asked, looking worried. For her, money was nothing as she could just ask her parents if she really needed to buy something.

"Yeah, there’s nothing else I—wait..."

Drai was suddenly reminded of one of his encounters in the jungle.

"We have beast enclosures in the campus, right?" Drai asked Auri.

"Yeah. The beast tamers from the Nature Faculty usually keep their beasts there. Why?"

Drai grinned as he turned to the seniors.

"I want the big tiger!"

Upon hearing Drai’s request, Jordy was perplexed. He turned to Halo and asked, "Do you know what he’s asking for?"

Halo scratched her head helplessly. "I think he’s referring to the tiger that attacked him back in the jungle."

Jordy was stunned. He looked at Drai who was beaming and thought, ’Who the hell would request such a thing? This guy isn’t even a beast tamer...’

Jordy pondered over Drai’s request briefly and decided to consult his superior through his comm.

A minute later, he turned to Drai, looking slightly dazed.

"Amelia has approved your request. We’ll inform you if this tiger has been secured by the team on the site."

"Thanks!" Drai replied, obviously elated.

"I think taming it on your own will be really difficult, Drai. You may have to ask a senior beast tamer to help you," Auri remarked.

"Who’s taming it? I just want to beat it up," Drai said while rubbing his fist.

"..."

Ignoring Drai’s words, Auri turned to Jordy.

"Senior, I don’t have anything I want at the moment. Can I perhaps postpone my reward?"

"Hmm... If I may suggest, you should visit our storage room and see if there’s anything you like. And if you still can’t find anything there, we’ll think about it more."

"Okay then. Should I go now while Jian’s there?"

"Sure. I’ll notify Sandy so just go straight to the storage room."

Auri nodded and left the room after saying goodbye.

"So that’s all for today. I hope you’re satisfied with your rewards and continue working hard in the future. You can go now—aside from Christo, of course," Jordy concluded the meeting.

Drai then left the room with the others while glancing at Christo who was staying behind.

As they made their way to the lower floor, Flo suddenly asked, "What do you guys think he’s asking?"

"No clue. Like I said, the guy likes to act all mysterious. Maybe it’s some kind of fetish," Natalia replied, making Flo and Drai chuckle.

Upon stepping onto the ground floor, the trio stopped in their tracks.

Standing before them were the members of Swift Squad with James at the front. Judging by their messy hair and clothes, it looked like they had just finished their training.

James then stepped forward, gritting his teeth as he looked at Drai.

Seeing this, Natalia wanted to interfere. But before she could say anything, James suddenly bowed.

"Forgive me for my impudence earlier, boss Drai!"

Natalia stared at James speechlessly. She thought the guy was coming for revenge, who knew his attitude would turn 180 degrees?

Meanwhile, Drai scratched his head awkwardly while saying, "Uh, okay..."

James straightened himself and smiled brightly. He then took Drai’s hand and shook it hard.

"Hahaha! You’re even more impressive than the rumors, boss! No first-year in our faculty would be able to beat me to death in one hit like that! You should move faculties and beat up all the Drai deniers there, boss!" James excitedly suggested.

"No thanks. I like my faculty," Drai quickly refused, thinking that his days would be a lot more exhausting if he were surrounded by people like James and Jian.

"Ah, what a shame! But it’s fine, boss. I’ll make sure to beat them up until they become Drai believers! Anyway, let me take a selfie..."

James immediately turned around and raised his comm, projecting a screen. He focused the screen on Drai and him, pushing Natalia to the side as he wiggled to insert himself between Drai and Natalia.

After taking ten shots with different poses, James was finally satisfied. He shook Drai’s hand once more before running off to the exit, leaving his team members who had been waiting for him.

"Uh... Sorry for that," Klaus quickly apologized before leaving with the rest of his party members who were still looking baffled.

After all of them had left, Drai finally let out a sigh.

"Looks like you knocked a bit too much sense into him," Flo remarked. She felt like she had just witnessed a scene from a sitcom.

"Looking at the other Combat Faculty students, I feel rather thankful that we ended up with Jian instead," Natalia commented.

"Yeah... Looks like Jian wasn’t kidding when he said his class was filled with crazy dudes," Drai said, smiling helplessly.

"Anyway, are we gonna wait for the others?" Flo asked.

"Nah, I need to go back and study. I’ve got two quizzes on Wednesday," Natalia said. "You should study too, Drai. I bet you’ve already forgotten about last week’s material."

Drai thought about it for a second before replying, "I need to train first since I’ve got a lot left for today’s quota. It’s a waste of my regeneration skill if I don’t meet my target."

Natalia didn’t object to this. After the venture, she had been holding herself back from objecting to Drai’s routines. She thought that she didn’t have the right to comment about Drai’s choices when she’s way weaker than him.

"Well, see you tomorrow then. Let’s go, Flo," Natalia said as she pulled Flo toward the exit.

As Drai watched the two figures disappear beyond the door, Drai suddenly realized, ’Aren’t we heading to the same direction? Why did Nat leave without me?’

Drai stood there for a while, feeling that Natalia was a bit distant ever since they returned from the venture.

A few minutes later, Drai finally left the headquarters, heading back to the dorm.

***

Several days later...

Drai was currently studying in his room. He had to do a presentation next week due to his bad result for the Flora 1 quiz.

"How can I memorize all these plants when they look so similar?" Drai grumbled while lying on his bed, reading the materials projected from his comm.

"I don’t know. Try asking Flo. She’s the expert," Jian remarked. He was currently oiling his sword, a part of his daily maintenance.

Drai didn’t respond since he was just asking a rhetorical question.

The bathroom door opened and Christo came out, holding a towel and completely dressed as usual.

Upon seeing his fresh roommate, Jian suddenly said, "Hey, Christo. I’ve been meaning to ask this for a while now... Are you gay or what?"

Christo and Drai looked at Jian—both were speechless.