Chaos Cycle: The Eye of Genesis

"How about that chick over on that table?" Shin asked, pointing at a girl.

"I think you have already wasted your chances on that girl," Elior said, sighing.

"Really?" Shin squinted his nose and shoved the roasted pork into his mouth.

"I already told you not to go after everyone you see and keep your concentration on only one."

"I wanted to do that as well," Shin said while chewing. "But you know, none take any interest in me."

"It's probably the fault of your vulgar mouth," he added.

"No, it's not," Shin denied. "Whatever it is, you have to help me."

"Well, I did promise you to help you with that, but I have not found a way," Elior said, filling his stomach. Then he lowered his voice and continued. "By the way, how far have you gone with the work I have given?"

"It's quite hard," Shin hissed. "Though I found two of them easily, but they do not look dangerous as you mentioned. Heck, they did not appear anything at all. Bland people living their boring life."

"That's good then, send me their details when we get back."

A couple of days ago, when Shin had found out he had sneaked out of the academy during the night, they made a friendly pact between them. Shin would help him locate a few people while he would help the wannabe delinquent to get a chick, which came as far more difficult than finding the location of a few rogue guardians or apprentices.

"What's happening here?" Aanya said, and sat on the empty seat beside her. Ileana was not with her, but someone else was accompanying her. Lara took the other seat across from them and beside Aanya.

The moment she came, all the attention in the freshmen criteria transferred to their table. Elior sighed as he could not stop that.

"We are trying to do one of the almost impossible things in the universe," he said and pointed at Shin. "We are looking for someone who will be willing to be the girlfriend of Shin. If you have someone in mind, please help us."

"Really?" she said, "But I don't get why it is nearly impossible. If he tries a little hard, it would be easy as a cake."

"You wish," Elior snickered. "Did you know the story about when Shin was trying to be a rabbit to eat a carrot?"

"No; but it did sound quite interesting."

"Brother, please don't," Shin cried in between. Then he whispered, "Please don't, I won't be able to show my face if rumours get out from here."

"That makes me even more interested." Aanya's eyes lit up. "I promise there won't be any gossip about it, Shin."

"Senior, please rest for now," Shin said, begging with his palm. "I promise to tell you in some other time when there are no other people."

"I don't know why you do these kinds of things that would get you into trouble. Shin," Elior said.

"Well, it is one of my quirks. I can't help it, just like how you attract attention from the ladies without doing a thing."

"I said there is no such thing," he said half-heartedly, knowing there was no way he could convince his friend here. "Almost everything is trainable. You only need to stop your vulgar mind from running wild to get a girlfriend."

"Wait a minute, I'm lost," Aanya said, raising her brows. "Is Elior a lady-killer?"

"No, I'm not," he said before Shin could utter a word. "Apparently, this guy thought I'm a vampire that attracts women like in the old movies and books."

"But, it is true," Shin complained. "Let's take senior Aanya for an example. Did you not notice she is spending more time with us than the students in her class? No offense, Senior Aanya."

"None taken," Aanya said, and her eyes shone a little. "But that makes me wonder, I do spend most of my free time with you guys now."

She looked straight at Elior in the eyes. "Tell me honestly, junior, did you use your charm on me or something?"

"Gosh! At least, don't play along with Shin," Elior said, annoyingly. "And you used most of your time with Ileana. Maybe she used something on you. Look for her."

Aanya chuckled. "It's so fun," she said. "That reminded me where that girl is?"

"Ileana? She is probably training or studying the notes you gave her all day long."

"Is she trying to get the chance to advance to the first order?" Lara opened her mouth for the first time. "I heard they will announce a shortlist of students who are ready for their fast advancement after this week."

"If you have said nothing till now, I would have thought you lost your voice, Lara," Elior said with sarcasm.

The little statement was enough for the girl to shy out. Though. Lara was a little introverted like Aanya, she was not so good at talking like their senior, who joked with them like they were friends for a long time.

"Yes, she was probably doing that," Elior said. "She would probably get the chance, unlike this guy here who is only looking for a girlfriend."

"Getting that chance is easy," Shin snorted. "There are only a few students that could go against me."

Shin was not half wrong. Even though he only trained for a few hours other than the classes, his talent is far stronger than most of the students. He could get the spot easily as he told, but how far would he go like that? Elior hardly believed Shin would succeed like that all time. Even in the previous timeline, he was like that. He only became focused after he lost his parents.

"The talent you are born with is minuscule compared to the accomplishments you can make," he said quietly. His words were directed at Shin, but the other two people nodded as well.

"But, I really work hard, brother," Shin complained again. "You woke me up every day before the sunrise and pull me towards the ground for those heavy training."

"Is that a lot?" Elior asked, raising an eyebrow. "Lara, please tell this guy about your routine."

"Do I have to?" Lara asked with an uncomfortable expression. Seeing the heavy nod from Elior, she continued, "Other than the morning workout, I train in the evening as well in the gymnasium. I mostly work on swordsmanship then and other abilities connected to mana. Then, till midnight, I meditate, visualize, or study. This is not a lot, actually."

"She said this is not a lot, brother." Shin picked up his palm to his head. "Girl, do you even have a life?"

"I guess I can't convince you through the examples of others." Elior bit his lips and paused. "Looks like I have to go with another approach. How about this, if you double your output in the training, I'll make a thorough outlined plan on how to get you a girl?"

"That doesn't sound bad apart from the part where I have to work twice as hard as now," Shin said. "By the way, Elior, didn't you have a meeting with the head professor?"

"Oh, crap!" Elior looked at the clock and found he was already ten minutes late. He stood up, collecting his stuff.

He already had a bad feeling about the meeting. After he applied to get an exemption in the class, the professor straightly asked to test out his ability. He had no fear in that, but knowing his old mentor, if he thought Elior was not ready, there was no way he could pass. "I'm leaving then."

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Ah, this chapter is dialogue-heavy.