Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

When Phainon started to gain consciousness he felt that his throat was parched and his hands and feet felt uncomfortable when he tried to move them. He opened his eyes to find himself in what could only be described as the ‘little black room’ from corny mafia novels.

“System, what grudge do you have against me?!” was Phainon’s first coherent thought. He lamented his shitty luck for being bound to such a system who didn’t care about its workers.

A few months ago, Phainon was just a homebody who could stay at home for months on end. But he was conned into bonding with the Befriending the Most Powerful Person System, who stuffed him right into a book called "The Most Powerful Person in the Apocalypse". That was his first world he had to endure.

As for this broken Befriending the Most Powerful Person System, it was really just a system that would cling to the powerful without any regard to their own reputation. You could tell just from the name! This kind of system wouldn't make you happy.

This system would automatically lock onto the most powerful person as the capture target. A daily task would be assigned based on the situation. If it wasn't completed, there would be a terrible punishment, namely electrocution.

Before, he only transmigrated into a world as someone who, despite having some problems, most people generally saw as a straight male (the important part). In any case, it seemed that there weren't any problems.

But now, the system actually had him transmigrate straight into a BL novel. Phainon was already being poisoned to death just looking at the original novel... He didn't need to think about the system's sinister intentions to be clear about them, but he was resolute!

Even if he had slept with a guy in the previous world, even if he had kissed a guy, Phainon still felt that he was a straight... Forget it, he suddenly felt like he couldn't say anything.

There were three genders in this world. They were divided into alphas, betas, and omegas. The difference was roughly that alphas couldn't get pregnant, and betas and omegas both could (._.) and omegas had a heat that was even scarier than a Zerg's.

Although there were males and females in these three genders, from Phainon's understanding, it seemed that there were girls with peepees who were together, and there was no difference from being gay... Female omegas and such were simply the clear springs in this world!

And this was a novel where the main gong had a harem. The protagonist, Khaslana, was an alpha. He was born in the slums, only knowing that his mother died because of the difficult birth. He didn't know who his father was, and grew up in a welfare agency. Naturally, in this kind of novel with an unknown father, the protagonist's background was terrifying. Khaslana's biological father was actually the empire's emperor.

Although he was just an orphan, Khaslana was extremely gifted, and his face was quite attractive. Using schemes and tricks, he made his way up step by step, using countless people and discovering his own background. Finally, he succeeded in the struggle for the throne and became emperor, becoming a winner in life.

As for the harem, in any case it was already a harem. It was totally normal for a male protagonist to be a bit more douchey. Besides, the people he played were all guys (thankfully, they were all male alphas. According to this novel's settings, AA love was gay).

The protagonist would seek revenge for anything. He was a deep schemer. When someone displeased him, he wouldn't say anything, but in secret he would get revenge with ruthless methods.

Who knew how many boys had gone through this. Phainon didn't feel too much about it at first. He wouldn't care at all if it wasn't for the fact that he had actually transmigrated into a cannon fodder, and it was even a male beta cannon fodder who would often sneer with a tone that was just looking for a beating.

Anyone would know that a character who offended so many people couldn't keep going in this kind of novel, okay!! Out of the people who taunted Khaslana, if their reputations weren't utterly ruined, then they were furiously eating their lunchboxes. And Phainon, who had transmigrated into this cannon fodder, was even more miserable.

After this cannon fodder had been wrongly named a peeping tom (and it was a peeping tom who was looking into the men's bathroom), because the situation was too embarrassing, he had been ruthlessly expelled from the school... And when he was on the way home, the protagonist's worshippers had people tie him up and take him away.

Phainon transmigrated right into that moment. He was bound in ropes, laying on the ground, and his clothes were already torn up. At the side, there was someone holding a whip, constantly lashing him. The system suppressed most of the pain, but it was inhumane to feel the pain that came time and time again.

"What the fuck?!" Phainon simply didn't understand why it was such a heavy start. It was whatever to transmigrate into a BL ABO world. Now that he had come somewhere where he was being whipped, could it still be better?

At the side, there was a young man wearing black. He was extremely attractive, so that he could even be called beautiful, but he wasn't feminine. But his handsome face was filled with disgust. He looked down at Phainon, having his lackeys continue to brandish the whips.

[Beep beep beep... Detected a powerful character... Beginning to select capture targets in accordance with the system's regulations... Selection complete. The current capture target is Caelus.]

Caelus was the son of a duke with an honorable status. He was a naturally gifted alpha, and he was one of the original protagonist Khaslana's fanboys... In the future, he would also give Khaslana a lot of help.

Although Khaslana had just entered the military academy, he was already an influential figure in the school. The first time he participated in the mecha tournament on the virtual net, he fought his way into the top hundred. Caelus was one of the fanboys that became a fan of Khaslana after the tournament.

Besides, Caelus's personality was completely that of an arrogant, spoiled young master. After finding out that the person he worshipped had actually been taunted -and by a laze-about beta too- he was extremely unhappy. He grabbed Phainon, who had dared to sneer at Khaslana.

"You actually had the guts to mock Senior Khaslana." Caelus laughed coldly. "But you're just a useless beta. Where did this courage come from?"

Phainon: "!" Hey, this is gender discrimination!! Don't think you're so amazing just because you're an alpha, how is being a gender with pain-in-the-ass heats any better than the convenience of being a beta?

"It seems you're pretty strong-willed." When he saw that Phainon wanted to retort, Caelus snorted. "Whip a bit harder. We'll see how long you can take it."

Wait, he wasn't strong-willed! Stop quickly!

"I..." can't endure any more... Before he finished begging for mercy, because he was hungry and tired and had been whipped for so long, he finally fainted.

Phainon didn't wake up until an unknown amount of time later.

He was, of course, still laying in a little black room. How could someone like Caelus prepare a place to live for someone he dragged here to beat!!

The little black room was clearly used for illegal punishment, but because the duke was rich enough to use his money to shut people up, the floor even had a rug spread over it. It was at least better than sleeping on normal floorboards.

There wasn't even a window on the wall. The door was also shut tightly. There was no way for Phainon, who felt weak all over, to escape.

Normally, what Caelus was doing was illegal, but with his status, even if he beat Phainon to death, nobody would have the courage to set things straight with him.

"This is basically murder." Phainon used his ability to heal his wounds before he was able to recover some energy. But he was still hungry and thirsty and tired, and his clothes were still torn up. There was even some crusted blood on his clothes. He was ready to collapse.

He must have the most rotten luck to have made an enemy of the original protagonist and an entire group of people right after transmigrating!!
This was beginning right at hell level. What in the world was he going to do?

As soon as he thought about the capture target Caelus, Phainon felt that the future was dim. But if the capture target was the original protagonist, the situation would be impossible to look at... He knew what the original protagonist would never be good to someone who had cursed him out just by thinking about it!

The one thing that he was able to rejoice in was that he had transmigrated into a beta. How nice was it to be a beta! Phainon felt very emotional. He had already had enough of things like heats from the last worlds!

[Actually, host, you're an omega pretending to be a beta.]

Phainon: "...Huh?!"

Phainon thought back to the members in the body he had transmigrated into. The original owner's father was a downtrodden noble, and his mother, who had squeezed her way into the upper class, was the daughter of a rich merchant. They sent their only child into the military academy with the help of their family's connections.

Although it wasn't mentioned in the original novel, it was obvious after a bit of thought. The original owner who had offended the original protagonist had definitely caused his entire family to fall into a sorry state.

"Wait, I don't have a reason that makes me have to pretend to be a beta, right?!" Phainon said. "Why not think about how strange it is for a cannon fodder that was here for faceslapping to have such a background!"

[These are all settings patched in by the world consciousness. It's probably because the original host's mother can't have any more children, and omegas can't inherit titles. Being afraid the title would fall into other hands, the original host was forced into pretending to be a beta.]

Phainon: "...Th-then it's already been concealed for ten-some years. There won't be any problems if I keep concealing it, right?"

[The inhibitors on the host have a strong effect. As long as no alphas mark the host, there won't be any problems.]

"System, why do I feel like your words are always some flags." Phainon's face was green. But when he thought about how most of the alphas in this world were gays who liked other alphas (deduced from the original protagonist's harem), he felt he wouldn't have any problems.

Phainon struggled in the little black room for a long time, continuously using his healing ability the system had given him when he first bound to it to replenish his blood before he was able to recover half of his strength and stop laying prone on the ground. Today, Phainon discovered this healing ability really was convenient.

Soon, the sound of footsteps came from outside. Phainon's heart tensed, and he quickly laid back on the ground, pretending to be unconscious. If Caelus saw that he was as lively as a golden retriever and decided to whip him a few more times, it would be no good.

This time, there was only the sound of one person. The door opened, and a voice full of loathing came. "Hmph, you really are trash. Wasn't it just a few whippings? But you're still not awake."

Phainon: "..." You try not eating or drinking after getting beaten up and laying here for an entire day!!

[Daily task refreshed. The current task is [Kiss the capture target once]. Host, please do your best.]

Phainon: "???" System, you... Hey, do all systems have such an immoral setting as soon as it's a BL world??

Well, forget it. He's had sex before, what was a kiss?

After the depressing situation from the last world, Phainon had become very adaptable.

As Caelus looked at the pallid youth laying on the ground, he actually felt that Phainon was a little bit pitiful. Immediately, he was disgusted by his own thoughts.

He remembered his goal in coming. Using hands covered by gloves, Caelus grabbed Phainon by the collar, his eyes flashing with disgust and thinking about how he would throw away the gloves that had touched Phainon when he went out later. He said coldly, "Trash, wake up!"

As an outstanding alpha, Caelus had innate disdain for betas. He even looked down on betas who were the same noble rank as he was. There was no need to talk about Phainon, whose father came from a tiny noble family. As long as Caelus wanted to, he could have Phainon's entire family driven away from the planet the very next day.

Phainon finally pretended to be waking up slowly. He said weakly, "W-what are you doing?"

"You got lucky. I wouldn't let you go so easily if it wasn't for the fact it'd be a bother to clean up after a death." Caelus remembered what his older brother had told him that morning and snorted coldly. "Hmph. Hurry up, get up and get things together. You're going with me to apologize to Senior Khaslana today. Don't think you can get out of it by playing dead. I won't let you go as long as Senior Khaslana doesn't accept your apology."

But Phainon didn't absorb any of the later words that Caelus said. He was thinking about something even more serious.

Did he fail to complete his daily task and get the system's abuse, or did he complete the daily task and get beaten by Caelus? These two situations swirled around in Phainon's head.

It was obvious which one was scarier. Compared to the soul-crushing torture from the system, Caelus wouldn't hurt him much even if he was whipping him for an entire afternoon.
After he made his decision, Phainon heartlessly, firmly grabbed Caelus's hand.

Caelus didn't expect that Phainon actually had the guts to resist. He also didn't expect that Phainon still had the energy to grab him. He was stunned, then furious. He, someone with such a high status, was actually given a sneak attack by a useless beta. This was simply the most embarrassing thing to happen to him in his entire life.

Without waiting for Caelus to move, Phainon suddenly leaned in.

Because he was too rushed, rather than saying Phainon leaned in, it was more accurate to say that he knocked his head towards Caelus. With strength that came out of nowhere, he managed to press Caelus directly to the ground. His teeth even scraped Caelus's lip. The scent of blood dissipated from between them.

Caelus laid on the soft grass in a trance, seeming like he could see a faint fragrance coming from Phainon's body. His lips were unimaginably soft. He was clearly just a beta, so why could he actually...

Phainon was simply acting as though he was about to die. When he heard the system's prompt that the task was completed, he slowly sat back.

"..." Alright, now he could wait for Caelus's temper to erupt.

The room sank into an unusual silence.

"You... B-brazen! Shameless! That was my fir-first..." When Caelus finally reacted, he immediately sat up, wiping off the blood at his mouth quickly. He gritted his teeth. "So you're going to offend me. You're just an insignificant waste beta, but you actually did something like this... I absolutely won't let you off!"

Phainon had already prepared to get whipped. He lowered his head, closing his eyes, but after a long time, nothing happened. He opened his eyes in confusion.

And he was pressed down by Caelus, who kissed him abruptly.

Phainon's heart flew into a panic. "...Mmmm?!" Wait, the revenge Caelus was talking about was this kind?!

Caelus seemed like he was competing with Phainon. He gripped Phainon's jaw stubbornly, opening his mouth and using his tongue to invade his mouth. Although he had never kissed anyone before and his actions were a little unfamiliar, Phainon almost couldn't breathe.

When Phainon was kissed until he was about to faint, Caelus finally leaned back proudly. He reached out to lift Phainon's chin. "Hmph. You're just a waste and you want to compete with me."

Phainon looked at Caelus in shock. "..." Was this something normal people would do?!

Or was this perfectly normal in an ABO world... After all, men could even get pregnant and women could have pee-pees. What was impossible?

"Still, since you made an enemy of me, I won't let you go so randomly." Caelus snorted again. "I have to lock you up. I'll make you understand how things will end when you offend me."

Immediately, Caelus rushed out.

Phainon stayed in the room, trembling in wait of the end Caelus was waiting for. Of course, when he was waiting, he switched rooms.

This was a room in quite decent condition. There was a bed, a bathroom, and a desk. There was even a helmet that could surf the net!

Hey, did Caelus really have the intentions to illegally imprison him?! He even had things that could connect to the outside world set out openly in the room.

But even if he could connect to the outside world, Phainon despairingly discovered that he still had no way to leave... Even his parents had no way to take him away.

It seemed that Caelus didn't have a big heart. He just had absolute faith that Phainon wouldn't escape.

Phainon couldn't understand what Caelus was trying to do either. In any case, it was boring to stay here, so he put on the helmet.

The virtual world was no different from the real world. In the future, there were many people who stayed engrossed in the virtual world all day, because in the virtual world, they didn't need to worry about heats or anything like that. The omegas who could only stay in school and or at a home especially liked to stay in the virtual world. There were even game cabins with nutrient fluids made for these people, which could let them stay in the virtual world for two to three days.

If they were like Phainon and used the helmet to connect to the net, they were forced to disconnect every five or six hours to eat.

After Phainon put on the helmet, his consciousness went straight to a lively street. It was full of people. Nobody noticed Phainon. They were all looking at the fight on the virtual screen at the side in excitement.

Phainon's attention was also drawn by the fight. When he read the novel's introduction, he understood that other than ABO, this world also had a mecha setting, but it was his first time seeing them for real.

On the virtual screen, there were two mechas fighting fiercely. One of them was gorgeous and even had a high-tech weapon, but its opponent was an old, worn-out mecha that looked like it was about to fall apart.

The victor seemed obvious, but in reality the gorgeous mecha was suffering defeat after defeat, and the worn-out mecha was growing more and more valiant. It had an overwhelming advantage.

Everyone was excited. They kept cheering. It was obvious that they were fans of the worn-out mecha.

"How awesome..." Phainon couldn't stop himself from crying out.

Someone next to him said in excitement, "After all, that's the amazing Time! Although he's a newcomer to the competition this time, he's this strong! Even if he's using an outdated mecha, nobody can compete with him! I think he'll definitely get to the finals this time!"

Phainon: "...!"

Wasn't the guy named Time Khaslana from the original novel?!

Chapter Text

According to the rules of the competition, the competitors could choose not to expose their faces or their real names. Khaslana had entered concealing his face and name. But while his identity was hidden from the common people, he couldn't hide it from Caelus and people with a background. In minutes, they guessed who he was.

In the original novel, this competition was also Khaslana's first step on the path of glory. After Caelus saw the competition, he became a fanboy of his technique. Besides Caelus, he also met several friends who were talented and of strong backgrounds. They became the base that he used to seize the throne in the future.

In the end, Khaslana took first place and became famous throughout the entire empire, and he defeated the Zerg spy that had been planted in the capital planet (all kinds of interstellar novels had these overused villains). After that, his reputation spread far and wide. Overnight, the number of have fans he had broke through to several billion. They retaliated against the people who had humiliated him in the past, and they couldn't stay in the capital any longer.

As a cannon fodder who had been expelled from his school not long ago because of such a shameful reason, Phainon's mood was complicated. He just had to think to know that Khaslana's revenge wasn't over. When he gained more power in the future, who knew if Phainon would even be able to continue living.

And he had to capture Khaslana before he could leave!! The favorability score was absolutely in the high negatives already.

Phainon felt a huge mental burden just thinking about it. It would be good if he could follow the original protagonist's path and participate in a mecha competition like this. He wouldn't be shut in a room and beaten because his strength was so trash.

[Host, you can go participate in a virtual mecha competition if you want. Also, because everyone is a projection in the virtual world, you won't bind to a new capture target.]

"The important thing isn't whatever about the capture target. Although that's also very important... If someone who has the strength of a radish like this body goes participate in a mecha competition, I'll get wiped out in the first first round," Phainon instinctively retorted, but his heart was wavering.

Although the original relied on inhibitors to act as a beta for over ten years, his physique was about the same level as other omegas. He was just a little stronger than other omegas, so his grades in school were also at the bottom of the rankings and he would just bully commoner students like the original protagonist.

The reason the original host had taunted Khaslana was probably really because he was secretly jealous that he was an alpha. Although he didn't want to admit it, alphas were just naturally superior in terms of strength.

But as long as it was a boy, who wouldn't be excited by a mecha? When Phainon first became a homebody nerd, he really liked watching mecha war movies. Every time he saw the protagonist start the mecha, he wanted to try it himself. Now, the opportunity was right before his eyes. If he didn't give it a try, he wouldn't be able to explain himself.

Phainon turned to look at the rules screen at the side. As long as he paid sixty empire coins, he could participate. Of course, sixty empire coins only provided the lowest training mecha. If he wanted a better one, he had to pay more.

In some sense, it was possible to net good results from these competitions buy throwing money at it. For the most part, anyone else who broke into the rankings was skilled. Still, someone like Khaslana, who could crush other people using a high-grade mecha that cost several billion empire coins with just practiced ease of an outdated mecha, was someone who came once in a hundred years. That was why he attracted so many fans.

Now, as long as they wanted to, anyone could join the competitions. The competition adopted a point system. The top one hundred people by the end of the competition could rise to the finals. If they won, they would get 2 points. If they lost, they would lose 2 points. A draw was 0 points.

Although it was just a battle in the virtual world, it would use up spiritual energy. When there was less spiritual energy, it would affect their performance, so most people would only fight two or three battles.

"Well, it's just sixty empire coins. It's about the same cost to go see a movie. Besides, I can be anonymous." Phainon walked to the side where he could register automatically, without the slightest burden, swiping his personal terminal. Immediately, his surroundings faded to black, and several virtual screens appeared in front of him.

[Please select the mecha you would like to use.] An emotionless, robotic voice sounded.

Phainon looked at the screen in front of him. There were all kinds of mechas in all kinds of colors and all kinds of weapons. Several were kinds that common people in the outside world had no way to even touch, but in the virtual world, they just needed to pay some empire coins to use it.

Of course, Phainon selected the free older generation mecha without hesitation. As if he would spend a single extra empire coin on a competition he had no chance to win!

Next was whether he wanted to conceal his face, and the name he would use to compete.

Phainon naturally picked to conceal his face, and he barely thought about the name. He typed in the words Prince Latiao (means spicy stick, a type of popular chines snack like jerky) ... Actually, this was the nickname he used to use when he was surfing the internet.

People from the future definitely didn't know what latiao were. This way, he could maintain a sense of mystery as well as allowing him to remember the latiao he liked to eat before he transmigrated... After he thought about it, he suddenly felt this name was simply perfect.

After he finished his selections, the screen glowing in front of Phainon's eyes dimmed completely.

[Selected the old style mecha... Succeeded in registering for the competition... You currently have 0 points... Matching with an opponent...]

After a series of mechanical noises, Phainon's vision turned bright. He discovered that he was currently sitting in an old mecha, and the exterior was the field. It felt unnaturally genuine. There wasn't the slightest difference reality. Phainon felt around the mecha with excitement.

This round of the mecha competition had already been running for several months. It would end in just half a month, and most of the people at the top of the rankings had fans already. Every time they competed, countless people would fight to spend money and buy tickets to watch up close. People like Khaslana had already reached the level where their competitions would be broadcasted outside.

Generally speaking, people wouldn't come to watch the matches of people who were low in the points rankings, and the competition system would match people with similar points, so Phainon's opponent should be someone who was at the end of the ranks.

But the field was full of people, and across from Phainon was a top-grade mecha. The crowd around him was cheering unceasingly.

Phainon had a bad feeling. He looked to see who his opponent was, and he was stunned. "...What the fuck?!"

The opponent that the competition system had matched Phainon with was actually a contestant in the top hundred players whose name was Mydeimos. He was a nouveau riche who had gained fame with the help of a huge sum of money and his extreme skills. He wouldn't hesitate to use several of the weapons that needed several million empire coins to use once. On top of that, Mydei was quite attractive, so his fans were naturally numerous.

Phainon was different from other people, because he understood who this was. Mydeimos's real identity was actually the crown prince's younger cousin. His family was a superpower that could influence the entire empire's trade, and his mother was the descendant of a family with a strong reputation.

In addition to this, he was also Khaslana's close friend. Later, he even betrayed his older cousin, the crown prince, to support Khaslana. This was why the crown prince, the villain boss, lost so quickly.

Phainon didn't expect that as soon as he came out he would meet an opponent like this. He felt like he had been abandoned by the world.

Phainon wasn't the only one who was shocked. When Mydei and the crowd saw the enemy was actually a hopeless lose with 0 points and using an outdated mecha, they were also shocked.

"Did the system run into an error?"

"You can tell right away that someone like this just came to join in on the fun, but he can actually be with Mydeimos?"

"In the case, I can also participate in the competition, right?!"

"And Prince Latiao is a weird name. It just sounds funny."

These people thought the name Prince Latiao was already so far from down-to-earth it was at the level of a punk edgelord.

Mydei, sitting in a high-level mecha, pondered earnestly. He had brilliant blonde and auburn hair, amber eyes eyes, and a handsome face often sporting a calm and determined expression. Just a single smile from him was intoxicating. He hadn't announced his identity, otherwise his fans would be ten times as numerous.

"I heard that even if it's your first time competing, if the system detects a strong spiritual strength, it will still match you up with an opponent with a corresponding strength... Maybe it's that kind of situation." When Mydei thought of it, he immediately turned serious, fixing his gaze on the enemy opposite him.

The match hadn't officially started yet. Using a technique gained from the host's school memories, Phainon began to operate the mecha with difficulty. He fumbled around for the controls, trying to move.

To the crowd outside, this outdated mecha suddenly began to shake like a drunkard. It couldn't even walk properly. Several times, it even fell to the ground for real, then crawling back up with difficulty.

Jeers immediately exploded from the stands. "My god, this is totally a mecha newbie, isn't it? Even my little brother in elementary school can move better than him."

"Where did this kind of guy get the courage to join a mecha competition? What a joke."

"I'm going to record this match and put it on the forum so everyone can have a laugh."

Even Mydei was a bit hesitant. No matter how he looked at it, it was obvious his opponent was a beginner. Was the system matching really wrong?

After a moving his limbs a flurry for a long time, Phainon suddenly remembered that they had also been taught how to use spiritual energy to connect directly to the mecha. Because this method needed formidable spiritual energy, most people couldn't do it.

But if they succeeded in connecting to the mecha, they would feel as though they were the mecha themselves. It was many times better than operating it by hand. If the mecha was injured, the operator would also be wounded, and it was also a more dangerous method.

[Count down. 10, 9, 8, 7... 4, 3, 2, 1-begin!]

Phainon gritted his teeth, closing his eyes and trying to use his spiritual energy to connect to the mecha. In moments, it was as though a blue ocean appeared before his eyes, and he was a tiny speck of light in the sea.

"Is this my spiritual world?" Phainon was frozen.

The original novel said that normal people had spiritual world that was just the size of a well. Even the peerlessly talented main character Khaslana had a spiritual world just the size of a lake.

But the host, as a cannon fodder, didn't even register as a B-grade spiritual energy... In other words, the sea in front of him wasn't the original host's spiritual energy. It was his own spiritual energy.

“…..”

“…”

When the countdown ended, the barrier between the two mechas immediately disappeared.

The crowd in the stands began to shout. "Knock down this newbie who doesn't know the limits of the sky!"

"We bought tickets to see experts, not to a rookie like this."

"A weak chicken has the guts to use an outdated mecha? Do they think they're God Time?"

Mydei just manipulated his mecha to charge in front of his enemy. His mecha was the newest model that had been developed, and it was much faster than a normal mecha. The power of its weapons were also extremely strong. He could cut open his opponent's cockpit with ease.

Unexpectedly the other party's mecha still hadn't begun to move. It was obvious the person in the cockpit had already gave up on opposition.

It seemed as though the system really had an error during matching. Somebody who gave out without even a fight was simply a disgrace on the competition.

Disappointment flashed through Mydei's eyes. He had come to the competition to cross swords with even more strong people, inexperienced trash like this was really not worth his time.

Mydei manipulated the laser scalpel directly to point directly at his opponent's cockpit. At this point, this enemy wasn't worth his serious attention. He just wanted to use the quickest method to deal with him.

The stands rose with cheers. Almost everyone could imagine how the outdated mecha's cockpit would be skewered by the laser scalpel in the next moment.

But Phainon's eyes suddenly snapped open.

In that moment, it was as though he had become the mecha... No, his powerful spiritual energy had nearly encompassed the entire space. He saw everything. He could even see the expressions of the crowd in the stands as clear as day.

And in Phainon's eyes, Mydeimos's nimble laser scalpel was as slow as if it was in a slow motion film. He could avoid it with ease.

Phainon avoided the surprise attack without thinking.

When the anticipated result of slicing open the cockpit didn't happen, Mydei was stunned. He realized that his opponent had actually evaded him at a rapid speed.

The people on the stands were stupefied. Several people thought their vision had gone blurry, reaching up to rub their eyes.

"What just happened?"

"Is it a coincidence...? Just now he couldn't even control his mecha properly, how could he suddenly avoid it?"

"It must be a coincidence. Even a genius couldn't learn how the controls in a second... Unless he connected with his spiritual energy just now. But how could that be?"

Someone unwittingly spoke the truth.

Mydei furrowed his brows, lunging for Phainon with the laser scalpel in his hand. But it was just like it was seconds ago. The opponent easily dodged. Even the mecha's speed was no slower than his own modern mecha.

Generally speaking, if it wasn't superb technique, it was only possible to reach such a level by connecting to the mecha with spiritual energy.

Mydei was also using his spiritual energy to control the mecha, but he hadn't achieved such a complete, seamless connection. Among the people he knew, people who could achieve such a level of connection with an outdated mecha...

In that moment, Mydei unexpectedly thought of the friend he thought of in high esteem, Khaslana.

"How could it be, this guy is just trash." When he realized that he had actually put this newbie and Khaslana on the same level, Mydei felt a wave of fury. Comparing Khaslana with this person was an insult.

Mydei looked up at the outdated mecha, chopping at his opponent. At the same time, he prepared to fire ammunition at the opposing mecha's four limbs to destroy it. "Aren't you good at hiding? You don't have luck on your side this time."

But this time his opponent didn't dodge. He pulled out a worn-out laser weapon to block Mydei's attack.

Naturally, the outdated mecha's weapons couldn't be compared with the latest laser scalpel. In a few breaths, it was destroyed, but in those few breaths, the old mecha had already charged in front of Mydei. It grabbed Mydei's mecha's arms.

In the next moment, Mydei could see several different ways to struggle free, but no matter how he tried to move his body, he couldn't move. The places his mecha was touching his opponent's made him feel very clearly the other party's spiritual strength.

It was a terrifyingly strong spiritual energy. In that moment, Mydei felt as though he was drowning in the sea. He couldn't breathe. His spiritual strength was S-rank, the cream of the crop, but compared to his opponent he had no way to resist. He couldn't even struggle. He just wanted to surrender himself to this powerful person.

Exactly... At that moment, in Mydei's mind, the word "surrender" emerged.

Mydei didn't know how long it took before he returned to his senses. By then, his opponent's weapons were already resting against his cockpit. As long as the mecha used a little bit more strength, it would be able to cut through his cockpit and skewer through him.

[Number 09364 is victorious.]

A mechanical voice like the competition system's rang along with the sound of the crowd sucking in a cold breath. Nobody had expected that a beginner that nobody thought highly of could actually defeat Mydeimos so easily.

The people who had been mocking Phainon now felt that they couldn't face the situation. If it wasn't for the rule that someone could only compete with one identity, they would even suspect if this Prince Latiao was a side entry for the terrifying Time.

There were even people who turned into Phainon's fans on the spot. They completely forgot about Mydeimos, cheering Phainon's name continuously from the side.

"Ahh... I-lost." Mydei finally reacted. He had actually lost to a newbie with 0 points.

If this was spread around, it would be absolutely humiliating, but Mydei didn't feel humiliated at all. Instead, a strange feeling began to bubble in his heart.

"No, if there's someone as strong as this, how could he be a newbie." When he thought about how he had been totally steamrollered by this other peron's strength, his complete inability to fight back, the feeling of being almost suffocated, a red glow appeared on Mydei's pale, handsome face. He was ecstatic.

That was the feeling he was chasing after. Before, Mydei thought that the person who fit these requirements was Khaslana, but now...

"Exactly. This is the person I've always been looking for." Mydei looked at the opposing mecha with shining eyes, but instead discovered that the mecha had already left.

After he won, Phainon rapidly left the competition. He was stupefied.

"What just happened? Why is my spiritual energy so strong?" Phainon felt like he had just been dreaming. After he connected to the mecha with his spiritual energy, it was as though he had been given a cheat. He had defeated his opponent as easily as if he was fighting an elementary schooler.

And that wasn't a normal opponent. It was the most important male character in the original novel, Mydeimos!

Even now, the rush of victory was still left in Phainon's blood, and he couldn't calm himself down. It was as though he could still see everything in the blink of an eye, as though he could still behead his opponent easily.

[Host, it's because after you experienced so many worlds and underwent all different kinds of transmigrations, your soul's strength is already much stronger than the average person's. When you participate in this kind of competition, you naturally would have no problem. Of course, if this was reality, the strong spiritual energy would make host's body fall apart.]

"...Since it's already like this, can't you give me a body that's a bit better?! Something like my original body." Phainon's impassioned heart quickly cooled. He had even thought that he could finally become one of the strong and wouldn't need to get thrown about by a nutjob. He didn't expect that he could only be strong in the virtual world.

[If host is too strong, it will draw the world consciousness's attention. Host's identity was already hidden in the competition this time, otherwise if you're found out by others it will cause unnecessary trouble.]

"Well, that's true." Phainon thought that he wasn't a Gary Stu protagonist anyway, and he didn't have a protagonist halo. If there actually was someone with such incredible strength, he might get his lunchbox in minutes. But it didn’t stop his heart which would still sometimes miss his carefully maintained body from his original world when he was now forced into these bottom roles.

But after resting for a bit, Phainon's mind filled with high aspirations. "Since I can only be strong in the virtual world, I won't let this opportunity get away. I'm going to get into the finals." If he changed worlds in the future, where would he get this kind of chance?

After making his decision, Phainon immediately continued into the competition site.

Meanwhile, the people who had just watched Mydeimos and Phainon's match had put a video up on the forums.

The people of the empire worshipped the strong and often had mecha competitions around the country. Almost everyone paid attention to virtual mecha competitions. There were also always countless people visiting the forums every day.

And a post titled "A newbie with zero points using an outdated mecha actually killed one of the top hundred in seconds, could it be that a second God Time has come up into the clouds?" attracted countless people's eyes. After the people who thought it was some fake rumors and disdained to click in saw the video, they were stunned.

In just a day, the post had countless replies. Several people questioned it simultaneously, all in shock, asking whether Mydei had made a mistake, or if Mydeimos and that Prince Latiao had some dirty transactions between them.

But Mydei's fans jumped on them like a pack of rabid dogs. Everyone knew Mydeimos was a nouveau riche who had all the money he wanted. How could he ruin his own name for something like this? It was even less likely he would take any bribes.

As the people in the post were fighting endlessly, someone suddenly tossed out a video, saying they had happened to see Prince Latiao at the competition by chance. Because they were too shocked, they had recorded it, and they would also let the people in the post see what the circumstances were really like.

Chapter Text

The contents of the video that was put online was a scene between Prince Latiao and a more well-known contestant in the top ninety.

On the battlefield, Prince Latiao was the same as before. He easily steamrollered his opponent. Even the people on the sidelines could see his skillful maneuvering, while his seasoned opponent seemed like he had gone stupid. He lost without the slightest resistance. He didn't even realize his loss for a long time.

And there were several videos appearing. As long as they had been watching outside, they could see the videos. This person named Prince Latiao participated in tens of matches without stopping, and nearly none of the opponents he met could make it past ten minutes in the battlefield.

Generally speaking, it was already impressive for a participant to compete three or four times, but this Prince Latiao seemed not to know how to get tired. What terrifying level had his spiritual energy reached?

All the recordings were spread around. In moments, most of the people who had been cursing in the forums disappeared. Everyone had a sense of disbelief. Was it possible that there were actually two incredible competitors that appeared this year? Other than God Time, there was actually another person who could use an outdated mecha and reach a level of an immortal.

With such incredible power, it was impossible that this was someone unknown to the public. Was it some influential family's young master who came to participate in secret?

On the side, Mydei expressed in his social accounts that what had happened was absolutely genuine. There wasn't a single bit that was fake. Moreover, he deeply respected Prince Latiao's strength, and he hoped he could get to know him.

Mydei's fervent tone gave his fans a shock. Everyone knew that Mydei didn't have any interest in things outside of the battlefield, and he rarely spoke. They didn't expect that as soon as he opened his mouth today, he would sound just like a devoted fanboy of Prince Latiao.

Mydeimos had several million fans. After they saw his messages, several who didn't know what had happened went to look up this person named Prince Latiao. Immediately, they were stunned by the video of their match.

Overnight, Prince Latiao gained an unknown number of fans. Everyone was on the forums guessing who he was. All of the disbelievers had disappeared without a trace, and the people replacing them were countless worshippers.

"Ahhh, why is he so hot, he's just like my idol God Time! I think I'm falling in love again!"

"Me too, me too. It's obviously just an old, outdated mecha, but why is it so hot? I've licked the videos online tens of times already! It's not nearly enough!"

"Who knows when God Latiao will come back to compete again. I want to see what it'd be like if he competes with the top fifty."

"We'll definitely see it. An expert like this entering the semifinals is certain!"

But Khaslana's fans were considerably unhappy. They felt that this new person was imitating Khaslana, and they sent all kinds of jeers on the forum, saying that the newbie was just trash that couldn't even get in the top fifty. If he met with God Time, he would be beaten down.

But most people were strongly anticipating the clash of the two people using old-style mechas.

During the same time period, there were countless people who wanted to investigate who was behind Prince Latiao, but they had no results no matter how they looked. In the end, they could only drop it.

In a dormitory in the empire's advanced military school, a teenager with off white hair walked out of the bathroom in a bathrobe. He was handsome with a few hints of devilish seduction, a constant, kind smile always on his face. He could make other people trust him unconsciously.

This white-haired teenager was the protagonist of this interstellar ABO mecha novel, Khaslana. Khaslana toweled off his hair and put on his helmet. As soon as he entered the virtual world, he saw several emails.

These emails were basically all about how a competitor like Khaslana who used an outdated mecha had appeared recently. They were asking him if there was any connection between the two of them.

Khaslana's lip curled in a disdainful smile. Immediately, without the slightest hesitation, he cleared all of the emails.

"It's just someone not worth mentioning. He wasn't worth my time from the start."

Khaslana had absolute confidence in his own strength. It was impossible for someone to have spiritual energy stronger than his.

His spiritual energy was SSS grade, and he had maneuvering technique honed from years of diligent practice. How could a random guy who even had such a disgusting name pop up and compete with him so easily?

After tens of matches, even someone with spiritual energy as strong as Phainon couldn't take it anymore. He watched himself climb up to the first couple hundred in exhaustion, then exhaustedly logged out of the virtual world.

When he took off the helmet, Phainon discovered that he was covered in sweat. Since omegas were too physically weak, when they stayed a little too long in the virtual world, it was a huge strain on their bodies.

So Phainon went to the bathroom to shower. He even discovered that there were new clothes in his size in the drawer that he could change into.

The sky outside had already turned dark, but there was actually a meal on the table. It even seemed like it was one of those top-quality meals. Phainon felt a bit emotional, but immediately remembered that even the food that the dogs in Caelus's house ate was better than the meals Phainon normally had... This was probably the worst food they had at his house.

"But what in the world is Caelus thinking?" Phainon sat at the table eating, still puzzled after thinking for a long time. "He beat me up so badly before, but now he's not hitting me, and he even locked me up somewhere with such good conditions... Is he afraid that after I leave I'll destroy his image, so he wants to bribe me...?"

When he remembered Caelus's arrogance, Phainon quickly wiped the unrealistic thoughts from his mind.

Still, Phainon wasn't sure about anything else, but he knew that if Caelus still didn't come, then his daily task [Greet the capture target] couldn't be completed.

Phainon began to think. If Caelus still didn't come by nighttime, he would have to brave the dangers and make some trouble to draw Caelus over... Getting beaten up wasn't nearly as scary as the system's punishment.

Luckily, Caelus didn't forget that there was someone locked inside. When Phainon finished eating, Caelus pushed open the door with a haughty expression and walked inside.

Phainon hurriedly said, "Young Master Caelus, hi." It was wonderful to have the task completed.

"I don't have the leisure to be greeting trash like you. Don't think that if you're a bit more enthusiastic I'll consider you important," Caelus said angrily. "And don't think you can stay here comfortably just because you changed rooms. I won't let you mooch off of me."

He wasn't even the one who wanted to come mooch!!

"T-then can I go home?" Phainon hadn't forgotten that he had a mother and father in this world. Still, he had sent a message home while he was in the virtual world, so they wouldn't worry even if he didn't go home for now.

Of course, their son getting expelled because he peeped in the male bathrooms was extremely embarrassing... Phainon felt that the host's parents really weren't simple.

"No." Caelus crossed his arms across his chest, smiling coldly. "You think you can go as you please after offending me like you did yesterday? Don't joke around."

Didn't you offend me right back yesterday?!

Phainon thought, but of course he couldn't say that out loud, otherwise Caelus would definitely beat him half to death. He could only say, "Then what do you want me to do, Young Master Caelus?"

"To make up for what you did to me, I want you to be my servant," Caelus said arrogantly. "Of course, there are other servants to do those specialized things. You just need to be in charge of waiting on me at school. You know, you're just a beta, and you managed to become my servant. If your parents knew, they would be proud of you."

Although Phainon really wanted to curse Caelus for being too proud, it really was fact. For a family in dire straits like his, a family had the name of a noble but didn't have any true power, they would be honored if even the son of a duke greeted them.

Phainon: "But I was already expelled..." This was so cruel.

"So what? You can keep going to school tomorrow. I already had people settle it with the dean," Caelus said. "Of course, if you don't serve me well, the institute will expel you just as before. So you'd better do it properly. Don't think that you can slack because you're a beta. My expectations are very high."

After sarcastically making things clear, Caelus turned to leave.

Phainon: "!!" Hey, that's so careless. You think you're amazing just because you have power and influence?!... He really was amazing. Phainon could finally go back to school!!

It was lucky Caelus didn't mention the thing from yesterday about apologizing to Khaslana. For the time being, Phainon didn't have the guts to go see Khaslana. He was afraid that as soon as such a disreputable and tormenting thing was publicized, Khaslana's name would be ruined.

Khaslana would seek revenge if someone just glanced at him the wrong way. To reach his goal, even his friends were calculated. It would be better to say that, in his eyes, nobody was his friend. They were just chess pieces that he could use. In the original novel, he had used Mydeimos thoroughly. In the end, his family had been thrown into bankruptcy, and he committed suicide in his guilt over causing his cousin's death.

Although there were plenty of gay alphas who liked Khaslana in the original novel, all of the people who succeeded in joining his harem were omegas. After all, the protagonist's interests were still normal... What kind of danmei novel was this?!

Anyway, even Mydeimos, the crown prince's younger cousin, the young master of a financial magnate, was so miserable. Phainon didn't think he, as a cannon fodder, could protect his life!!

The one thing he could rely on was charging out to suck up when the original protagonist became successful and famous. Then he could have his lunchbox and leave the world immediately. It was fine as long as he avoided seeing Khaslana.

The more he thought, the more Phainon felt that his method was absolutely perfect. He slept peacefully.
-
The next day, Phainon dragged himself out of bed early in the morning and changed into his school uniform. After yesterday's experience, he was full of interest for mechas. He wanted to hurry up and go to school to learn... If he could, it would be best to train his body to be a bit more sturdy. This way, there might be a day where he could succeed in piloting a mecha in the real world.

Although he could surpass most people relying on his spiritual energy alone, if he was matched with someone extremely strong, he probably wouldn't be able to defeat them, particularly because the original host didn't study properly before, and Phainon didn't know a bunch of different things about mechas. How was he supposed to fight like this, huh!

He went downstairs to eat. It was just like yesterday. When Caelus was eating, there were several different people waiting on him. There was no need for Phainon to lift a finger.

Phainon wondered what Caelus was thinking when he made him a servant for no good reason, but it was fine as long as he could benefit.

After finishing breakfast, Phainon got onto the aircar with Caelus.

Phainon sat solemnly, thinking about how he could study well, when he heard Caelus suddenly speak. "By the way, you were on the virtual net yesterday, weren't you? Did you see the virtual mecha competition or not?"

Phainon didn't realize Caelus was actually talking to him for a long time. He immediately let out a noise of surprise, then when he saw Caelus's expression turn much darker, he immediately said, "Of course I did. Is something wrong?"

"Hmph. You really are a useless beta. You don't even know when someone is talking." Caelus continued with his ad hominem. Phainon felt that if Caelus wasn't the son of a duke, the surrounding betas would have jumped him and started beating him up.

"Then you should know about that Prince Latiao who made a huge splash at the competition yesterday." Caelus's gaze filled with disdain. He sneered, "What a horrible name. He even copied Senior Khaslana, using an old mecha. He's just a joke. He just beat a couple of weak chickens and he thinks he's so great."

Phainon didn't expect that he would hear his virtual world's nickname from Caelus. He began to cough violently.

"When someone else is talking, you listen properly." Caelus glared at Phainon with extreme unhappiness, then continued to vent his fury with Prince Latiao.

Although Caelus had the character design of an arrogant young master, he truly admired the strong, which was why he looked up to Khaslana and even became his fanboy.

When he saw a ton of people bringing up Prince Latiao and Khaslana in the same breath, Caelus was extremely unhappy, but he couldn't find anyone to talk to. When he thought about it, Phainon still had some use, but he was embarrassed to have a proper conversation with him. He hesitated for a long time before he finally spoke.

"Ahh, yeah." When Phainon heard Caelus's words, he nodded again and again. Once in a while, he would even say indignantly, "You're exactly right. This Prince Latiao is absolute garbage."

Hearing Phainon speak, Caelus felt that he was getting easier and easier on the eyes. He even nodded amiably at Phainon. "Not bad. Although you're trash, you've still got some taste."

Phainon: "..." Was raising the favorability score ever easy! He even needed to curse himself out this time. It was lucky that after Caelus heard the first bit, his favorability score seemed to skyrocket. When the favorability rises up, he wouldn't need to worry that his future would be so crappy!

"Hmph. I don't know why I can't find Prince Latiao's identity, either. Otherwise, I would grab him and take him for some torture," Caelus said, annoyed.

Phainon: "..." Actually, you already tortured him.

Soon, they arrived at the empire's military school. It was a pretty famous school. Many noble families studied here, and even some underage princes were here.

As a special student, Caelus's aircar could drive straight into the school into the parking lot before stopping. He didn't have to weave through the huge garden before he could get to the school like the normal students.

Although they both made it into the school with their connections, there was a big difference between someone from a rundown family like Phainon and Caelus, the son of a duke. The places they learned were also different. Even the teachers and the study materials were as different as night and day.

Phainon got ready to leave, wanting to go to the other area he remembered from the host's memory to study, but Caelus stopped him. "Hold still. Where are you trying to go?"

"Huh? I-I'm going to the classroom," Phainon said.

"Are you an idiot?" Caelus snorted. "Since you're my servant, you have to stay by my side. You're trying to go somewhere else? Hurry up, come here."

"But won't there be a problem? I'm not a student here..." If he could go somewhere better, Phainon would naturally be happy, but would he really be able to avoid getting kicked out by the teacher?

Caelus shot him an arrogant glance. "There's nobody with the guts to touch my people. Just come here."

Phainon: "!" Ah, he suddenly thought that Caelus was super cool.

Thus, Phainon was forced along with Caelus to go to the higher ranking classrooms.

Who would expect that because he offended the male protagonist he falsely accused of being a pervert who peeped into the male showers, and then after the protagonist's fan brought him home for a whipping... things would actually turn out for the good. He succeeded in coming back to school, and even came straight to a higher ranking area. Was this called profiting from disaster?

Feeling complicated but excited, Phainon and Caelus walked into the classroom. All of the students in this class were alphas. There were probably betas before, but Caelus must have crowded them out.

At first, everyone was sitting at their desks, silently reading. When they saw Phainon had come in with Caelus, their expressions changed immediately.

Actually, based on Phainon's status as a cannon fodder, there was no way these people would remember him. But what had happened was too shocking. Nobody had expected that someone would actually peep in the men's bathroom. He was a pervert among perverts! When everyone in the school thought about how they might have been seen while they were in the bathroom, their entire bodies filled with goosebumps.

It nearly made the news. If it wasn't for the fact that the dean was afraid it would ruin their reputation and he suppressed the news, Phainon might be a well-known pervert throughout the entire empire.

It was easy to tell how terrifying of a person Khaslana was. Because of his framing, the original host had no way to continue living.

Phainon: "..." Although it's not my first time being seen as a gay, I don't know why but this seems especially humiliating.

The thing that was even more surprising was that Phainon actually came with Caelus. Was Caelus possessed?! This guy was a beta, and he was also a pervert who peeped on the men's bathroom!

Even if other people didn't know, they were very clear how much Caelus despised betas. He was even arrogant to his alpha classmates. How the heck did this guy manage to suck up to Caelus?!

Under everyone's peculiar stares, Phainon sat down stiffly.

But Caelus was completely at ease, not feeling like there was any problem at all. He called Phainon to open his books for him.

Class started soon. The teacher just glanced at Phainon for a moment before naturally beginning to lecture.

Phainon could understand most of what was going on. He could even relate the circumstances from when he was connected to the mecha. What he couldn't really figure out were the few more profound topics. Whenever they got to those topics, he would unconsciously begin to take notes.

When Caelus was in class, he was also completely focused. His attitude was completely different from his normal arrogance. After all, he was chasing stubbornly after this goal.

While he was listening earnestly to the lessons, time passed quickly. Soon, it was the end of class. Phainon felt a bit like he hadn't heard enough, but when he saw the notebook full of questions, he didn't have the guts to go and ask.

Because he was just a student who was stuck in as a transfer. How could he go and ask the teacher questions.

The original host just came to school to pass time. His test scores were just okay, and during mecha battle classes, it was painful to watch.

But it was also because of his family. After all, the original host was actually an omega, and his natural physique had its drawbacks. His parents felt some remorse for him, but they didn't ask that he became someone amazing.

"I'll go on the virtual net to look it up later." Phainon sighed, then realized Caelus was looking at the notebook in his hands.

"Hmph, you don't even know something so simple." Caelus jeered at him with disdain first, then leaned over. "Look, it's not like this... You have to do this part like this. You don't even know something like this? Did you even listen properly?"

Like such, Caelus explained all of the questions Phainon had. Although he had an extremely impatient attitude, and he would often add in a few barbs, he explained in great detail. Even Phainon understood in moments.

When Phainon was done listening, he suddenly realized, wasn't Caelus just like the tsunderes in rumors?

Wait, he didn't want to keep thinking about something scary like this!

The next class was about the same. Caelus explained the things Phainon didn't understand. Finally, his expression turned much warmer. "It seems like you're not completely trash. You've got a bit of drive."

Phainon: "..." It seemed that Caelus liked people who loved studying.

Next, it was time to eat lunch. There were several restaurants in the school. There were restaurants with low prices that even the commoners could afford, restaurants with sky-high prices, and restaurants that only allowed noble students to eat there. Although Phainon was technically from a downtrodden noble family, he was broke. He just ate the food from the noble restaurant.

Of course, the restaurant Caelus picked was the most expensive kind. When Phainon thought about how he could eat all kinds of delicacies later, he was incredibly moved.

But what happened next extinguished Phainon's belly of fire.

Weren't the people over there Khaslana and Mydeimos? What the fuck!? Hey, all of the beautiful plans he thought of last night were destroyed!

Chapter Text

It was Phainon's first time seeing their faces. He had to admit that they were extremely attractive, and they both had their own uniqueness.

Although Mydeimos had an illustrious background, he didn't like other people nagging him. When he dealt with things, he was very lowkey, even hiding his own status. Most of the people in the school didn't know about it.

And right now, Khaslana was also a new student who had talent and popularity. Nobody knew he was the renowned God Time in the online mecha competitions.

So both of them looked like normal students strolling around the school. There weren't any crazy fans following after them, either.

Thus they strolled straight into Phainon.

In the next moment, the system began to sound.

[Beep beep beep... Detected a more powerful character... Beginning to change capture targets in accordance with the system's regulations... Change complete. The current capture target is Mydeimos.]

Phainon: "???" Hey, wait, why was it Mydeimos?! He thought it would be Khaslana.

[It's because the capture target Mydeimos's strength is higher, of course.]

Phainon: "..." Well, that was true. Khaslana was technically still in the first stages of his development. It was normal if his power couldn't compare to Mydei's.

When Khaslana saw the two of them, he was different from Phainon, who had been scared out of his wits. Instead, he smiled slightly, greeting them, as though he was seeing a friend. He didn't treat Phainon with the slightest bit of strangeness.

Just seeing Khaslana's attitude, anyone could tell he was the one who had unjustly accused the original host of peeping on the men's bathroom!

The more Khaslana acted like this, the colder Phainon's heart got. He would rather Khaslana come over and whip him a few times to work out the problem. He didn't want Khaslana to keep plotting against him secretly. Still, there was nothing he could do if his character was just like this.

When Caelus saw his adored idol, he became excited and opened his mouth, but because of his nerves he couldn't say anything. After struggling for a long time, in the end he only gave a casual nod, not even saying anything. His attitude was obviously icy... If it wasn't for the fact that he was always praising Khaslana at home, even Phainon couldn't guess that he was Khaslana's fanboy.

No wonder the original novel's Khaslana thought Caelus was his enemy for a long time. He even thought of killing Caelus several times.

When Phainon thought of this, he felt that Caelus was absolutely miserable. He was actually fanboying after someone like this. Sincerity really was difficult.

Mydei was just indifferent. He gave a careless greeting to Caelus, completely ignoring Phainon.

To Mydei, giving a second glance to someone like this was an insult on his own eyes. He was still thinking constantly of the dozens of mails he had sent to Prince Latiao in his excitement yesterday, and whether Prince Latiao would disdain him for being annoying after seeing them. He couldn't help feeling regretful.

But Caelus looked at Mydei coldly. After all, he was just some guy who lost to Prince Latiao and let things progress so far. If he was a little more useful, the circumstances would be different.

Phainon, staying self-aware, said nothing. He wouldn't make things hard for himself.

It was just some greetings, but things actually got so awkward.

Since both parties had things to do, they dispersed quickly. When Khaslana passed by Phainon, he threw out a sentence casually. "I didn't think you still knew some schemes. But you won't be so lucky next time. Just wait and see."

His voice was very quiet. Only Phainon could hear him. His heart tightened, and he whipped his head back, seeing a friendly smile appearing on Khaslana's devilishly handsome face.

Then Khaslana turned away, leaving together with Mydei.

To be honest, when Phainon saw Khaslana's smile, he was so shocked he nearly fell to his knees.

Could things still be okay when the original protagonist set his eyes on him! With his schemes, he could cause Phainon to lose his reputation easily... Although his reputation was already gone. Forget it, why think about him so much? Even if the entire empire thought he was a pervert who peeped on the men's bathroom, so what! He would still live on.

Phainon was simply giving up on a hopeless situation.

Caelus, who had already walked ahead by several steps, turned to glance at Phainon. "What're you looking at? Stop looking, hurry up."

Phainon hurried after him.

Caelus went straight to selecting a private room in the restaurant, then ordered a bunch of expensive food. When the food came, he looked straight at Phainon and said unhappily, "What are you still sitting there for? Hurry up and come to serve me. Don't you have the sense of a servant?"

...Phainon was wondering if Caelus didn't even eat when he was by himself and didn't have someone to serve him.

Well, the capture target had changed. Similarly, Phainon was a lot lazier. He hesitantly said, "Huh? But I'm just a beta. It's not very good if I come in contact with you, right?"

Caelus said haughtily, "Although you're just a beta, you're doing alright, you're much better than other betas. I'll permit you to serve my meal more closely."

Phainon really wanted to say, "So what if you die of starvation", but he had to lower his head under this roof, and he still went over to feed Caelus.

Phainon was very curious about Caelus's favorability score, so he asked the system, even though this laze-about system could only check if the score was negative, zero, or positive.

[The previous capture target's favorability score is zero.]

Phainon: "..." Hey, then why did Caelus even make him feed him.

[It's because the previous capture target's favorability score towards most betas is negative, so the host's 0 is more acceptable.]

Phainon: "..." He actually had no way to retort.

Now that he thought about it, Caelus probably felt very annoyed when he was eating by himself normally. so after he seized Phainon, he made him a butler along the way...

Growing alphas had especially large appetites. Caelus didn't finish eating until Phainon's arms were already numb, then he started to drink tea with the utmost elegance. Phainon had no idea how Caelus, someone who could be called thin could eat so much.

Phainon didn't start eating until he finished feeding Caelus. He quickly sank into the blissful taste of the food, flinging all the unhappy things into the back of his mind.

Was there anyone on the planet as easily satisfied as him.

After Caelus finished eating, his mood improved significantly. He watched Phainon and said, "There's a mecha battle lesson in two days. You'd better practice properly when you go back. I don't want to see you humiliating me."

Phainon immediately remembered how terrible the original host's mecha battle grades were. Immediately, his face turned pale. The reason he could be so amazing on the virtual net was all reliant on his spiritual energy. But in reality, where his body would collapse as long as he used spiritual energy, he could only operate manually.

And his manual mecha operation experience was only from the warm-up during the battle with Mydeimos yesterday. He even fell down several times.

That was even on the virtual net. Falling down didn't hurt much. But in reality, with an omega's frail body, it would probably break his bones, and he would have to lay in bed for several months...

The original host's mother and father had already talked it out with the teachers. Every time they had mecha battle lessons, he just wouldn't attend. But it was obvious that Caelus wasn't someone who could be reasoned with.

...It looked like he would have to go into the virtual net and practice his manual operations properly.

Most of Phainon's good mood dispersed in moments. He picked up the tea on the side, taking a sip.

"There's still that damn Prince Latiao," Caelus snorted. "I'm going to go teach him a lesson today. I'll let him know how high the heavens are."

Phainon nearly spat out the tea he just drank. He began coughing.

"What's wrong?" Caelus immediately frowned. "You don't think I can win?"

"No, no..." Phainon hurriedly said. "How could Prince Latiao win against you? I believe you will definitely succeed!"

"That's just about right," Caelus said. "You did pretty well today. Keep working hard in the future. I'll think about increasing your salary."

Phainon was shocked: "!" He actually had a salary! He even thought he was just working for nothing.

In fact, Caelus was a good person, huh... But when he thought of how he was given a beating as soon as he came, Phainon decided to forget it.

-

Physical education was in the afternoon. Phainon worked hard to toughen himself before he realized exactly how bad omegas' physical strength was.

He only ran for a bit, but he was already panting for breath, while the surrounding alphas were full of energy.

But Phainon felt he was doing pretty good for transmigrating into an omega pretending to be a beta.

Although he would occasionally feel jealous of alphas, he wouldn't go around cursing that life was unfair or anything like that... After all, most omegas were locked up at home, otherwise they went to all-omega schools, and once they came of age they waited to be married off.

If he had transmigrated into that kind of omega, Phainon would just choose death.

When school was over, he returned to the residence. Caelus went fiercely back to his own room.

Phainon went back to his room too, putting on the helmet and entering the virtual world. As soon as he went in, he was stunned by the amount of mail. Before this, the original host only had ten-some letters cursing him out for being a pervert...

These letters were all from people who sent them through the competition, and the competition's system forwarded it to him. There wasn't any problem with keeping his identity secret. Nobody would know Phainon's mailing address.

Yesterday, Phainon just fought a couple dozen rounds and left. He didn't think of going to take a look at other places like the forum. He didn't expect that he would actually become a small celebrity in the competition.

Phainon poked open a few letters to take a look. Shockingly enough, there were a significant number of love letters filled with all kinds of selfies. There were even some from male and female omegas. It really gave Phainon a shock.

And even Mydeimos sent him several dozen letters. When he picked them out, he discovered that they were written in the same tone as a fanboy's. Phainon really couldn't imagine the cold Mydeimos from earlier in the day actually writing something like this... If he knew Phainon was Prince Latiao, who knew how he would react.

And this Mydei guy was actually ecstatic after being beaten. In fact, he was a total masochist, wasn't he! ...But living like this, he wouldn't have any problems doing his daily task. Phainon thought about contacting Mydei to meet up online after this stuff was dealt with.

He could do his daily task in dreams in one of his previous worlds, so it should be possible online too.

Another portion of the letters were related to a collaboration. There were also several strong people who wanted to pull him over onto their side. When Phainon saw the huge number of empire coins, he got emotional, but in reality he was a potato. What use was an expert that could only live in the virtual net? He could only reluctantly ignore these letters.

As for the ones saying how much money he could get by doing a couple random commercials during the competition, Phainon was very interested. It was just doing a few ads, how wonderful it was to earn money so carelessly.

Thus, after Phainon got the system to thoroughly conceal his location, he went to ask the other party about the fees. Finally, he asked around several places and earned a good amount of honest money. In moments, he had tens of thousand of empire coins.

Although the original host's family were nobles, they lived about the same as commoners. A year of their expenses was only a few tens of thousand empires coins.

When Phainon finished settling those things, he arrived at the square with the most people. Shockingly, the most conspicuous advertisement had a declaration of war.

It invited Prince Latiao to go to a certain virtual mecha training site to exchange pointers. If Prince Latiao won, then he could get a million interstellar coins. If he lost, then he would have to withdraw from the virtual mecha competition, and never participate again.

There were a huge number of people competing in the virtual world every day, but there were only a few people who were so arrogant. It quickly drew many people's attention.

People could see the ad as soon as they walked into the district. It cost dozens of thousands of interstellar coins per day.

Phainon understood immediately. No wonder so many advertising companies were looking for him just now. It seemed it was because of this ad's positioning.

Phainon: "..." The damn person who put up this declaration of war was definitely Caelus. Should he go or not... Although Caelus wasn't participating in the competition this time, he was very strong. He had avoided death from Khaslana's schemes several times. After the plot in the original novel finished, he even became a general and Khaslana's capable assistant... So should he go or not?

Wasn't this nonsense? Of course he should go! Phainon had confidence in his spiritual energy. If Caelus was giving away money, why wouldn't he go collect it? That was a million interstellar coins!

Phainon went to an individual-use competition terminal at the side without a sliver of hesitation. These one-on-one matches were also held through the virtual mecha competition's system.

After he entered, a screen to select his mecha appeared just like it did yesterday.

Generally speaking, a contestant would use the mecha he was most familiar with. They usually wouldn't change at will. They were also more personalized, where they would put a special symbol on the mecha. For example, it was easy to identify who it was just by looking at the mecha for the experts in the top fifty.

But Prince Latiao's appearance made Khaslana's outdated mecha look less unique, which was why Khaslana's fans fans were so unhappy.

Yesterday, Phainon only picked randomly because he was poor. Now, he had so much money from down payments that he had become rich in moments. Why would he pick the worn outdated mecha? He immediately picked the latest, most popular mecha. It only cost a few hundred empire coins.

In the real world, he couldn't pilot any of these amazing mechas, so of course he would give it a try online. He wasn't trying to play cool like the original protagonist or anything. And if he was going to shoot ads, then he had to pick a custom appearance and spend a few thousand more empire coins. Still, compared to his ad appearance fee, it was nothing.

Phainon went straight to initiate the new functions, copying the lines the ad companies gave him onto his mecha. The plain white mecha quickly became colorful. It looked absolutely stuck-up. It was obvious the owner's sense of beauty was trash.

Still, Phainon didn't care about these things. Compared to getting cursed out for his sense of beauty, empire coins were obviously more important.

Phainon opened the screen. As expected, he saw Caelus sending out a challenge. There was an attached agreement explaining clearly what would happen if he lost and what would happen if he won. It had been approved by the competition and was legally binding. As long as he signed, he couldn't back out.

It even had Caelus's signature at the bottom.

In the virtual world, Caelus was also hiding his true identity. Here, his name was Stay Away From Me. It really matched his personality...

Phainon signed the agreement at once, then clicked accept. His sight filled with color, and he was sent directly to the battlefield.

It was already filled with spectators. They were people who had just heard the news and quickly bought tickets to come in. These unofficial battle rooms all had to be paid out of pocket, but one percent of the ticket revenue would be split between the two participants.

So when Phainon saw all these people, it was like he was looking at empire coins. He felt very emotional.

Most people had come to see Prince Latiao. They also wanted to know who had challenged him, even wasting his money to buy the ad space in the square. When they saw Phainon's mecha, they were stupefied.

Didn't Prince Latiao use an outdated mecha? Why did he suddenly change now? And it was whatever if he changed, but why did this mecha look so tacky? And it was full of a mess of words... Wait, these were ads!

A perfectly good mecha had been tormented into such a ghastly state. Just how many ads did Prince Latiao take?!

This completely shattered the showiness of Prince Latiao in their hearts!! Although this name was showy to begin with, they really wanted to ask exactly how poor Prince Latiao was...

And Mydei, who had people paying attention to news about Prince Latiao at any moment, was the first person to have bought a ticket. He looked at the battlefield, both anxious and excited. He couldn't calm himself down ever since what happened yesterday. His mind was full of Prince Latiao.

Through the filter of his brain, Mydei thought that even such an ugly mecha had personality. He even thought of making his own mecha similar when he went back.

"Hmph." Caelus sneered when he saw the mecha. "As expected, you're just trash. You're doing something like this to get strong for a moment, and even wanted to be compared with Senior Khaslana. Today, I'm going to make you lose and never think about competing in mecha competitions again."

But Phainon didn't care too much. He just looked at the various buttons inside the mecha, remembering what he had learned in school that day, and excitedly realizing he had remembered them. Now, he pretty much knew the things he hadn't known yesterday.

Anyway, there was still a bit of time before the warm-up time ended. He would use this time to practice a bit.

Phainon began to attempt to operate the mecha manually. After his experience yesterday, his maneuvering was much better today. Although it couldn't compare to the feeling that he and the mecha were one when he was using spiritual energy, at least he could walk without falling over.

The surrounding spectators watched the mecha take extremely stiff steps, just a tiny bit better than a beginner, and their expressions turned shocked. They had only seen videos of Prince Latiao's heroic displays. They had no idea that at the beginning of the first match, Prince Latiao had gotten plenty of ridicule because of his terrible operations.

"Maybe he's not used to the new mecha?"

"Gosh, he should be using a mecha he's used to for a match as important as this. Why did he have to change?"

"Will he really lose because of this? Then I bought this ticket for nothing."

Only Mydei was excited. His gaze fixed on the field, remembering the first time he met Prince Latiao. Through his mental filter, even if Phainon fell over, Mydei would probably still think it was a skillful, beautiful fall...

Soon, the warm-up time ended. Caelus also got serious, despite how he hadn't considered his opponent a true threat before. Caelus had seen all of Prince Latiao's videos before, and even he had to admit that his opponent had some skills. But if he wanted to be compared with Khaslana, he still fell short.

Although he was very strong, Prince Latiao's techniques were very unpracticed, and he didn't seem to have any understanding of strategy. He often seemed like a mecha operating beginner.

"Based on the video from yesterday, this Prince Latiao is going to try and sneak attack me as quickly as possible. For many people, their cockpits will be skewered before they can react," Caelus thought. "As long as I block this first strike, then take the opportunity to attack, I can defeat him easily."

Caelus sat calmly in the same spot, connecting to the mecha with his spiritual energy, waiting for his opponent to move.

People on his level typically use spiritual energy to maneuver the mecha. Otherwise, their hand speed wasn't fast enough.

In this world, spiritual energy was decided at birth, but their physiques could be improved. Many things were set at the beginning. Even if Khaslana was the original protagonist who climbed up from the slums, his biggest cheat was his powerful spiritual energy.

In the moment the match began, Prince Latiao's clumsy bearing disappeared. His mecha began to move quickly, attacking immediately.

"Just as I expected. If I hadn't prepared, I might really have lost." Caelus caught the blow as he had planned, his mind at ease but moving quickly. He seized the opportunity to attack his opponent in return.

It was reasonable to think that at such a high speed, according to his plans, Prince Latiao couldn't possibly avoid him, but in that moment, his opponent disappeared in a flash, quicker than he had in the video.

"How could it be." Caelus's eyes widened, then he realized that yesterday Prince Latiao was using the most worn, outdated mecha, but today he had changed into a new mecha. It was normal for him to be faster.

So Caelus missed his best opportunity. Prince Latiao had already flashed away to a safe place.

"Shit, I actually made this kind a mistake. Forget it, I'll use Plan B." Caelus's expression turned ugly. He pulled out a laser scalpel, rushing towards his opponent.

After watching the videos, Caelus deduced that his opponent wasn't very good in combat. Since his first plan failed, then he would go with the normal method. In any case, he was confident in his strength.

Caelus's guess was correct. Phainon really wasn't good in combat. He hadn't learned many skills to begin with. Yesterday, he had relied on his speed and the element of surprise to win. Now that he was faced with Caelus, who had investigated him thoroughly, it quickly exposed his shortcomings.

But with his powerful spiritual energy controlling the entire arena, Phainon could practically see anything Caelus was trying to do. He could avoid any blow. He could even avoid sneak attacks like he had eyes on the back of his head. If he wanted to lose, it was hard, but it wouldn't be easy if he wanted to win, either.

As they exchanged blows, Phainon's spiritual energy recorded all of Caelus's movements in his memory. In the next exchange, it unconsciously exerted itself.
Phainon didn't even realize it himself, but when he unconsciously used such a movement to attack, Caelus was stunned.

"He actually learned my moves. He learned so quickly. It's even a move that not many people in the school learned," Caelus thought back to the strange movements from the warm-up, and a terrifying thought surfaced in his mind.

"Could it be that this guy is a mecha piloting beginner? So when he wasn't connected to the system, he was like that... In this case, then how terrifying is his spiritual energy?

"If this is the case, then he wasn't purposefully imitating Senior Khaslana yesterday. It was because it was his first time, and he didn't know what mecha to use, so he used the outdated mecha. But he won so easily..."

After thinking of this, Caelus couldn't stay calm. He looked towards Prince Latiao's mecha, his original disdain gone. Instead, it was filled with strong curiosity.

He wanted to know exactly how strong this person's spiritual energy was.

Before that, the person with the strongest spiritual energy that he had seen was Khaslana. He could tell at a glance that even though Khaslana was much stronger because of his experience and all kinds of reasons, if it was just based on spiritual energy, this person would, without a doubt, be the strongest person in the future.

Besides, Khaslana still had terrifying skill, and he had an aura of infinite possibilities. It was exactly because of this that Caelus became Khaslana's fanboy without the slightest hesitation.

But now, it seemed that he had found someone even more amazing.

In fact, from a certain viewpoint, Caelus and Mydei very alike. Both of them sought the strong, and their attitudes were close to being twisted. It was related to the original protagonist's setting, to make it easy for him to collect followers, but now it had made it easy for Phainon.

Caelus's eyes flashed with fanaticism. Without the slightest hesitation, he approached his opponent, even using the most dangerous method, reaching out with his spiritual energy to probe the other mecha.

It was an extremely dangerous method. Only people who were very confident in their spiritual energy would do it. When they had the upper hand, they could make their opponent fall into a trance so they had no way to operate their mecha, seizing victory for themselves.

If their opponent's spiritual energy was stronger, as long as they were careless, the initiator could even fall into a coma. It was also likely for them to lose themselves in their opponent's spiritual world due to the disparity in energy. It was a gamble.

It wasn't that Caelus didn't know the risks. But in that moment, all he wanted was to know was exactly how strong this person's spiritual energy was, so much that his own safety was secondary.

The people in the stands thought they were about to see an intense battle. Nobody expected that Stay Away From Me would actually fling himself over to embrace Prince Latiao's mecha. What the heck Weren't they fighting perfectly well before?!

When Mydei saw what was happening, he nearly crushed the arm of the chair he was sitting on. His expression turned ugly. "What the heck is this guy doing? Is he trying to use tricks because he can't beat Prince Latiao?"

The noise of the outside was distant. As his spiritual energy touched his opponent's spiritual energy, Caelus sank into the middle.

In moments, this powerful spiritual energy dispersed most of his willpower. It was as though he was soaking in an ocean spiritual energy. There was a faint fragrance in the air.

No, this fragrance... Caelus jolted suddenly from his stupor, waking up from his daze.

Although Caelus felt like a long time had passed, it had only been a moment in the outside world.

Phainon felt awful. Someone invading his spiritual energy was just like someone peeling off his clothes. Since Caelus had sent himself to his door, then Phainon would move directly.

Just as Phainon picked up his weapon and aimed at his opponent's cockpit, Caelus opened his eyes. His pale cheeks were flushed a faint red, and he looked towards the opposing mecha in shock. In the moment before he lost, his voice tore from his throat.

"You're actually... an omega?"

Chapter Text

Of course, Phainon couldn't hear what Caelus was saying. After his victory, he simply exited.

After he left the competition venue, Phainon received a notification of a million empire coin deposit into his account. He still felt like it was a little unreal, but he didn't think... in just a moment, he had become a millionaire.

Suddenly, he really wanted to have a few more dumb rich people like Caelus come challenge him.

When the competition ended, the video also went up on several forums and social media sites. It quickly caused everyone to gasp in shock.

Although everyone had wondered about Prince Latiao's sense of artistry when they watched the first video, now that they were watching the second video they automatically overlooked it.

In the empire, as long as you were strong, nothing else was important. Even if Phainon's mecha was filled with advertisements and looked ridiculously flashy, in that moment there were several people copying him and spray-painting a mess of things on their own mechas.

But Phainon just received even more letters about advertisements. Now that he wasn't poor, he set them aside, beginning to think about his daily task.

Thus Mydei, who had become incredibly excited after watching the match, received Prince Latiao's letter of reply.

There were all kinds of facilities in the virtual world. Whether someone wanted to enjoy delicious foods or go on a leisure tour, they could do anything. Moreover, these experiences were almost the same as reality, but the prices were significantly lower, and it was also safer.

For example, in the past, to see the beautiful sunrise on the legendary and extremely dangerous Planet A, they would have to brave fatal dangers in order to see it. Now, they could experience it in the simulation facilities, and the price was only a few hundred empire coins.

Because there was heavy human traffic, there were also many people who did their everyday work in the virtual world. The virtual world and the real world didn't have that much of a difference. It could almost be called a second world.

But simulation facilities were still pretty expensive. For example, if the richest magnate in the empire constructed a high-end restaurant in the virtual world, though the food was simulated, it had a considerably high price. If a commoner went in to eat once, they could keep showing off for a long time after.

And at that moment Mydei was sitting at a table in the highest balcony garden, restlessly staring out at the scenery outside the glass.

Today, he was wearing an expensive custom suit. In the real world, it would cost at least a million empire coins to buy. He had went specially to get his blonde and auburn hair styled and make him look more lively. He was even more handsome than he was normally.

Like this, Mydei could make people shriek just by sitting there. Of course, there wasn't anyone else there at the moment. He had booked the entire balcony. In any case, it was his family's business.

There was a simulated aurora from Planet Mofei, said to be the most beautiful and most romantic view in the universe, outside the window. Numerous light pink flowers were in full bloom in the garden, their faint fragrance dispersing into the air.

To couples, this was the holy land for a date and the best place to propose, but when Mydei was making his choice, he didn't think of it. He just thought that only such a nice place would match his male god.

"I wonder if he'll be dissatisfied with this place?" Mydei was very anxious. After he got Prince Latiao's letter, he hesitated for a long time before he finally settled on meeting at this restaurant. Still, he worried that Prince Latiao would dislike it.

The door opened. Someone with a mosaic over their face walked in, waving over at him.

That's right. This person with a mosaic over their face was Phainon. He had to give a big thank you to the virtual world's privacy protection. As long as he didn't want others to see his real appearance, he could adjust his privacy settings... After that, people wouldn't be able to make out your face no matter what happened.

Otherwise, Phainon wouldn't come out to meet Mydei so casually. If his identity was exposed, it would be a bother.

At the moment, only Prince Latiao, who had received his invitation, could come in. Mydei immediately stood up in excitement.

Even though Phainon's face was covered with a mosaic, and he was wearing a very casual outfit, Mydei didn't have any complaints. He even felt that his male god managed to be good-looking even with a mosaic over his face. He awkwardly cleared his throat as he got up “Ah..Greetings, I..” Mydei tried to contain regulate his emotions in accordance with his regal bearing.

Because he was too excited, Mydei nearly stumbled. You could tell he was out of his element. Luckily, Phainon was close, and he hurried to catch him. "Are you okay?"

Of course, Phainon's voice was also being processed by the privacy protections. It sounded very distorted, but in Mydei's ears it was just like a sound of nature. His typically icy face immediately turned red. "I-I'm fine. I-it's truly an honor to have you here."

Phainon: "..." Hey, was this the same Mydei he met yesterday? How come his aura was totally different!

They sat down at the table. Mydei despite being very nevous managed to hide it well, the only tell being the slight bobbing of his leg under the table. "What would you like to eat? You can order anything you'd like. Please, don't be polite."

Phainon knew this restaurant was owned by Mydei's family, so wasn't polite and ordered several dishes. Mydei also ordered a few dishes.

Because it was just simulated food, they could only experience the food's taste, but they wouldn't feel full. As a result, many people who wanted to keep their figures but also wanted to taste fine food were interested.

After the simulated foods were selected, they automatically appeared on the table, and the two of them began to eat. In fact, only Phainon was eating. Mydei was just staring at him with adoration. Fine food or whatever else was nothing to him.

Mydei summoned his courage to speak. “I- I have come to respect your prowess immensely… In the moment that you defeated me, I was already deeply interested by your bearing. Since you possess a strength that I have been looking for please allow me to follow at your side. If I ever have the luck to meet you in reality…”

At his words, Phainon's entire body erupted with goosebumps. "!" Hey! There's too many things you can pick apart in these words! And why is it so boastful? People out of the loop might even think he was reading prose or something.

In fact, these words were something that Mydei had paid a good sum of money to have someone write for him before he met Phainon. He had spent a long time memorizing them before Phainon arrived.

Phainon sighed. "Sorry. Right now, I can't reveal my identity, so I can't meet you."

"I see... I've been rude." Mydei was a bit disappointed, then he hurriedly added, "It doesn't matter. It'll be good as long as you can think of me when you have time. If you don't dislike it, I would like to compete once more and have you instruct me on how to pilot a mecha. No, there's no need to instruct me, it's fine as long as you defeat me ruthlessly... I will, of course, pay for the expenses. The price doesn't matter."

If someone could get paid to fight, who wouldn't agree! But Mydeimos really was a super masochist, huh!

Phainon said, "... Of course we can do that."

Since he was just getting some money in exchange for beating up Mydeimos, it wasn't good for Phainon to take too much money so he went by the price of the mecha trainers online, about five hundred thousand empire coins per session. When Mydei heard the number, he felt it was a little low, and doubled it.

Phainon: "..." Sure enough, he was being too polite, wasn't he? He was actually thinking of helping the son of the richest person in the empire save some money...

After they finished eating, Mydei took Phainon directly to his residence in the virtual world. Inside, there was even a designated mecha training field. The average person wouldn't specially purchase a residence in the virtual world. Only Mydei was so leisurely.

The facilities were incredibly luxurious. It could even compare with the mecha competition's facilities... Even though it was just simulated, he had to spend a lot of money to get things to such a level.

"If we battle each other, isn't it even better to do it outside?" Phainon said. Furthermore, competing outside would have an extra entrance fee. He might even earn a profit after giving a beating.

"But you came especially for me. I don't want other people to see." Mydei's voice was low, a dissatisfied tone in it. "Only I need to see this. I'll fully enjoy my time alone with you."

Phainon: "...As long as you're happy."

Although he could pick anything he wanted for free, Phainon naturally picked the best, most gorgeous mecha, while Mydei only selected the one he used the most often, the newest model.

Mydei had already anticipated today's match for a long time. He had dreamed of that day's events so many times. In the daytime, other than when he was practicing, he was always absentminded. Several times, Khaslana even asked what was going on with him.

But Mydei was embarrassed to tell this to his friend, so he just found a random excuse to cover it up.

Today, just sitting in the cockpit, Mydei's heart was already beating in anticipation. He looked at the opposite mecha, his energy in a stage of high excitement, looking very fierce... If Phainon saw what he looked like, he would be given a shock and think that Mydei was about to kill him or something.

On the other side, Phainon quickly realized the benefit of these high-level mechas. When he was using the old mecha or regular mechas, there was a pause before he could completely connect with his spiritual energy. For these high-level mechas, he only needed the blink of an eye before he was connected.

When he was using other mechas before, he couldn't tell. Now that he was using a high-level mecha, he discovered exactly how awkward it was to pilot the lower-grade mechas from before.

Phainon suddenly realized something bad. "..." Crap, now that he had used such a high-level mecha, how was he supposed to go back to those lousy mechas?

But he was a millionaire now. Even in the real world, he would be able to buy a mecha. In the insignificant virtual net, those several hundred thousand empire coins were nothing.

After warming up with the mecha controls for a bit, Phainon nodded. The two of them began to fight.

In these few days, because Mydei had trained properly when he wasn't daydreaming, his skills were a decent amount better than they were before. And because he had watched Prince Latiao's videos an uncountable number of times, he had ways to counter most of Phainon's moves.

But he didn't want to beat Phainon. He just wanted to elevate himself to a position where he could overtake his opponent naturally. Besides, he thought that as long as he was stronger, the excitement he would feel after being defeated would also feel stronger.

Although he had lost several times before, only the utterly crushing feeling when he lost to Prince Latiao had made him so excited. When he lost to other people, he would only feel uncomfortable.

Mydei's combat ability had been strong to begin with. The reason he had lost to Phainon so quickly was because he hadn't been prepared.

But Phainon was no longer the same old Phainon who didn't even know how to maneuver a mecha. After his fight with Caelus, he had learned several cunning moves.

In a rapid exchange of a dozen blows, Phainon found an opportunity to press Mydeimos into a corner. He ruthlessly pushed down on the ground. The match should have ended in that moment. Yet simultaneously, Phainon suddenly remembered what Caelus had done.

The current Phainon was full of curiosity towards spiritual energy. Now that he knew this method, how could he not want to try it out?

"Only people with strong spiritual energy can do it. If I'm doing it, it shouldn't be a problem," Phainon thought, sending his spiritual energy probing outwards and enveloping Mydei's mecha directly.

The sensation of spiritual energy touching spiritual energy was very unique. It was just like the deepest part of two people's consciousness crashing into each other until they were one and the same.

Apparently, if he could adjust properly, sometimes the intersection of spiritual energy could actually produce a pleasure even stronger than horizontal tango.

Because the people in the virtual world had all sent their consciousness inside, their reactions regarding spiritual energy were exponentially stronger than in the real life.

In the moment Phainon's spiritual energy touched Mydei's, a sharp spike of excitement passed through to him. In moments, it infected Phainon. He felt his body heat up in moments. He wanted to do something to drain away this feeling.

If Phainon's spiritual energy and Mydei's spiritual energy were about the same level, he might momentarily have no way to control himself. Luckily, Phainon's spiritual energy was much stronger than Mydei's. He quickly suppressed the emotion.

"Haaa..." Phainon let out a breath, wiping the sweat on his forehead. Sure enough, he couldn't try these things so randomly.

And at that moment, Mydei had completely given up on fighting back. After a long time, his voice finally sounded. "...I lost."

Phainon couldn't tell if he was mistaking it, but he felt that Mydei's voice was a little strange.

After Phainon got down from the mecha, a few moments passed. Just as Phainon was thinking whether he should go up and take a look, Mydei finally climbed out. His clothes were soaked in sweat, his amber eyes shining. He was panting lowly. His cheeks and even his ears and neck were all red.

Phainon: "...!" Fuck, you're really a super masochist! Didn't you just lose a match? Is that enough to become like this!!

Mydei looked at Phainon, his face completely flushed, then walked over. Phainon was nearly shocked into retreating a step.

It was too scary. Although he knew there were an especially large number of gays in this world, someone like Mydeimos was even scarier than a normal gay, okay.

Shockingly enough, when Mydei walked in front of Phainon, he kneeled down, taking Phainon's hand devoutly. With a warrior’s respect, he said, "Although you aren't willing to let me follow at your side, if there's anything you need to deal with in the future, you must think of me first. I’ll help with most anything."

Phainon was already shocked silly. "Oh, yeah, okay. Don't be like this... Quick, get up..."

How was he supposed to look straight at Mydei in reality! Well, in any case he probably wasn't going to see Mydeimos often... This shouldn't be too much of a problem.

Today's random task was to praise the capture target once. Although Phainon felt that this was a very inopportune moment, if he didn't say it soon he'd be late. He accepted Mydei's hands. "Yeah, you're really good too. Today, being with you, I was also really happy..."

Although he was scared by Mydei's super masochism, in the future he could complete his task and even get some empire coins. How wonderful! So what about those little things.

Mydei had barely calmed down. Hearing Phainon, his felt immensely satisfied and a handsome smirk made it’s way onto his face. "I will hold you to that, ….Deliverer.”

Phainon had no idea how Mydei could stay so excited with the entire face before him mosaiced.

Phainon hoped Mydei could keep his calm when he found out exactly who Prince Latiao was.

-

Soon, it was the next day.

Phainon was a little tired after all the fighting from yesterday. In the morning, he almost couldn't get himself out of bed. He went downstairs still bleary, but when he saw Caelus he was scared into full consciousness.

Today, Caelus, who had been full of pride, was unexpectedly absentminded. He ate the breakfast that the servants brought over sluggishly, occasionally thinking of something and flushing pink.

Normally, if the servants did something a little bit wrong, Caelus would lecture them. Today, however, he was completely unlike himself. When someone made a mistake, he acted just like he hadn't seen it. Occasionally, he would look stunned, then smile a little.

What the heck was going on? Was this the same arrogant, headstrong Caelus who always looked angry no matter the time of day? Why did he look just like a young maiden in love?

Phainon's own imagination gave him a huge shock. Who was so unlucky to have Caelus fall in love with them?

When they got on the aircar, Caelus captured Phainon in conversation again. After all, with Caelus's lousy temper, he didn't have any friends. He could only chat with Phainon.

"Listen to me properly. In the past, I always thought of omegas as annoying living beings." As soon as he opened his mouth, Caelus began to discriminate. "They're fragile and delicate and start crying if you just say some stuff. They make me annoyed just looking at them. I was prepared to never get married in my lifetime."

Phainon: "..." Dang, this Caelus didn't just look down on betas, he even looked down on omegas. Still, this was normal! After all, in the original novel he was a gay who liked alphas. With him like this, he could probably only like gays...

"But yesterday, my thinking changed." Caelus said, "I met an omega, and I finally understood. He's my destined companion..."

Phainon: "...Ah, this is great news."

Still, thinking about it, who did Caelus meet yesterday? Wasn't he always in school? There were only alphas and omegas. Or could it be in the virtual net? Did he meet someone after he lost?

Just as Phainon was racking his brains, Caelus said, "If I say it, you'll probably laugh at me. You can't laugh. The person I'm talking about is that Prince Latiao."

Phainon choked. "...!?"

What the heck?!

Phainon wanted to grab Caelus by the collar and make things clear. How the fuck did he know Phainon was an omega! This was just unscientific! Or did something happen to his inhibitors?!

"But," Phainon said, organizing his thoughts with difficulty, "That Prince Latiao is an alpha, isn't he? How can an omega have such strength? Besides, it's not likely for omegas or whatever to join virtual mecha competitions, right? Haha hahaha..."

Because of the restraints of their constitutions, omegas typically wouldn't study mechas. Even if they had high-grade spiritual energy, they wouldn't consider it.

"No, he's definitely an omega," Caelus said confidently. "When I was in his spiritual energy, I sensed the scent of an omega's pheromones. I didn't expect that there were actually omegas who could make it so far. It seems that I've been too narrow-minded. It's not just alphas who are strong."

You know it yourself, too?!

Although Caelus began self-introspection from this, Phainon couldn't get happy at all.

That poor soul that Caelus had fucking fallen for was actually himself.

Why were these inhibitors so garbage?! He had been seen through in seconds, but maybe this was a problem with spiritual energy... Damn it, Phainon felt that he should be more careful about using his spiritual energy.

Now, the only thing that was worth celebrating was that he had chosen to be anonymous when he first entered the competition. Phainon was even more afraid to expose his identity. If it was exposed, Caelus and Mydeimos might rip him thoroughly into shreds.

"Thank goodness I didn't show my real appearance during the fight yesterday. I just need change to a new name and he probably won't know who I am." Caelus looked as though he was letting out a breath of relief.

Phainon: "..." In fact, the other party knows everything.

"By the way, how do you think I should pursue him." Caelus looked towards Phainon, his attitude much better than before and completely sincere. "After all, I don't have any experience with courting someone. It'll be no good if I do it badly and scare him off."

Phainon': "...About that." You think I've got experience with courting someone?!

If Caelus was interested in someone else, Phainon would say some random things, but the someone was him. He couldn't go through the motions casually. If he did one thing wrong, it would get annoying. Not responding was even worse. Who would Caelus go ask next?

Phainon just blabbered, "Most omegas should like gentle and soft alphas, especially these kinds of awesome omegas. They definitely hate forceful alphas, so you just have to show him your gentle side and be more soft. Don't do anything too fierce. If you do things like this, he'll probably think more highly of you."

Exactly, don't do anything too fierce! As long as you do this, nothing will happen!!

"Yeah, you're right." Caelus nodded pensively, then returning to his normal appearance. He looked towards Phainon loftily. "If I succeed in courting him, you'll be my best advisor. I won't treat you unfairly."

Phainon faked happiness, but inside his emotions didn't fluctuate in the slightest. Anyway, he knew that Caelus would never succeed in this life.

After he got off the aircar, the two of them unexpectedly met Mydeimos, who was alone. Caelus didn't want to greet him at all. Phainon remembered what happened yesterday and was afraid of being recognized, so he didn't want to speak.

Mydei glanced at them coldly, sweeping over Phainon like he was looking at trash, and left even more icily.

Phainon: "..." Looks like he had thought too much. With Mydei's attitude, it would be weirder if he could recognize Phainon was Prince Latiao.

Caelus sneered. "...Being so arrogant all the time as if he's so amazing, but he couldn't even defeat my companion."

When Phainon heard Caelus's term of address, he was shocked enough that he started hacking.

"By the way, did you catch a cold recently? You're coughing a lot." Caelus turned to look over.

"No, no," Phainon said quickly. "My throat just hurt a bit from the air conditioning just now."

Caelus said calmly, "If you're sick, just go straight to the doctor. You can find me for reimbursements for the cost."

The news about Prince Latiao drew even more attention from the powerful. After all, he wasn't just strong. At a glance, it was obvious that he needed money... It was obvious that he was easy to win over.

If it wasn't for the fact that Phainon was more lazy, he might really agree, but now he was ruthless.

At that moment, in the most expensive sky-suspended restaurant in the capital planet, it was rumored that His Highness the Crown Prince Nanook was sitting inside, looking at the scenery outside. From there, he could see most of the capital, and the scenery was beautiful.

As the final boss in the original novel, Nanook was extremely cunning. He had silver hair like the moon and eyes that resembled molten gold. He was incredibly beautiful. After all, compared to His Majesty the Emperor, who looked steadfast, he resembled the empress, once the most beautiful face in the empire, more.

This empress was most well-known for her beauty. Most people had even forgotten that she had married into the imperial family thanks to her illustrious family background.

Along with her beauty, the empress had a very extreme personality. She was terrifyingly possessive of her companions, and had thusly killed an innumerable number of maids who had tried to seduce the emperor. She couldn't even stand a few concubines.

Just as he had inherited the empress's beauty, Nanook had also inherited her bigotry. He was scarily possessive of the things he liked. In his youth, he wouldn't let anyone else even touch his toys.

The most dramatic part of the novel was that the person His Majesty the Emperor really loved was Khaslana's mother. She was an innocent sweetheart who was born into low status, but because of the empress's possessiveness, he didn't have the nerve to bring her back. This was why Khaslana was born in the slums...

And later, when the empress found out about what had happened, she poisoned drinks right in front of the emperor, wanting to drag him down with her. In the end the emperor was saved. If it wasn't for the fact that he needed the help of the empress's family, he would have gone directly for the empress's corpse to vent his anger.

It was exactly for this reason that the emperor didn't like Nanook, who looked just like the empress. He felt guilt towards the son of his lover, Khaslana, and did his utmost to pave the way for him to move forward. He didn't spare the slightest thought for the eldest son from his political marriage. It was why Nanook had withered so thoroughly.

But at that moment, Nanook was still His Highness the Crown Prince with boundless paths in his future, and Khaslana's past as an illegitimate child was still a secret.

"By the way, I saw someone interesting on the virtual net yesterday," Nanook said with a slight smile.

"Oh? What kind of person managed to draw Your Highness's attention?" The young man at Nanook's side was extremely handsome. If Phainon was there, he would notice that he looked around seventy percent similar to Caelus, but he looked much more mature.

He was Caelus's elder brother, the heir to the dukedom, Anaxagoras.

In the original novel, Anaxa had always stood on Nanook's side. Later, because he couldn't steel his heart and kill his younger brother, he let Caelus go. Consequently, he had indirectly caused Khaslana's victory. Finally, thanks to Caelus's reputation, he was able to survive, but the rest of his life was spent in suffering.

As Anaxa spoke, he silently said a prayer for that person. He couldn't say whether that person was fortunate or unfortunate to have drawn His Highness's attention.

"Look at this." Nanook brought his smart computer in front of Anaxa, his voice calm. "The most interesting thing is that I actually can't find out his identity. In the recording I got, his face is still blurry. How did he do it?"

For competitions like this, although they said it was anonymous, in fact those with influence could easily discover who it was. For example, plenty of people had discovered who Khaslana was.

But to have someone that even the crown prince Nanook couldn't find was a shock.

Anaxa looked at the screen. It was a contestant fighting with an old-fashioned mecha, but he still beat Mydeimos easily.

After all, Mydeimos was the crown prince's younger cousin. Anaxa had some understanding of his strength. He immediately gained some interest towards the person on the screen. "There's actually someone who can be as good as that time. He even defeated Mydeimos. I'll have people go investigate..."

When it first happened, Anaxa had also been excited by the commotion and had interest in drawing that person in, but the other party tactfully rejected him. Anaxa only felt it was a pity, and didn't think too much about it. He hadn't thought that he was actually someone who could overturn the empire.

"By the way, I heard your younger brother brought an impoverished young noble home to torture recently?" Nanook looked over with a raised eyebrow, his golden eyes cold.

Anaxagoras's heart tensed, but his expression was calm as if nothing had happened. He sighed helplessly. "Caelus was spoiled by our entire family ever since he was young, and now it turns out that he's grown unafraid of anything. I already told him many times. He should have let that person go already. Although those impoverished nobles aren't anything much, it wouldn't be very good if someone insisted on investigating."

"Yes," Nanook said calmly. "After all, things are more bothersome these day. It's best not to let anyone else get any information that could be used against you."

"Right." Anaxa relaxed. As His Highness the Crown Prince's right-hand man, he understood what Nanook's true personality was like very well.

The perfect, gentle person everyone else saw was an act. His Highness the Crown Prince's real personality was extreme and distrustful.

When he thought about how the empress was so extreme that she had tried to bring the emperor to death with her, Anaxa thought that the person His Highness the Crown Prince would like in the future was a bit miserable.

After they finished discussing the topic, Nanook looked at the mecha on his screen again, his eyes filled with interest. He said, his voice low, "It really is interesting... After so many years, it's the first time that someone has drawn my interest. Who in the world are you?"

-

At that moment, Phainon had no idea he had drawn the attention of the main villain in the original novel. He was looking at the old-fashioned practice mecha in front of his eyes with trepidation.

The scary mecha combat class wasn't until tomorrow, so Phainon came to school without any worries. He didn't expect that there would be a mecha training class today.

Although Phainon enjoyed the feeling of operating mechas in the virtual world, it was his first time touching a mecha in the real world. He was very worried about what might happen.

At his side, Caelus said calmly, "You'd better practice properly today. If you lose tomorrow, it won't be as simple as getting humiliated. You might even be putting your life on your line. Everyone has to participate in the combat class tomorrow, don't put blame on me for not reminding you."

Caelus walked towards his mecha. During the mecha training lesson, most people were practicing their movements. Some people had arranged to learn from each other.

Out of the entire training field, only Phainon was still standing in place and idling his time away.

The sound of jeers began to erupt around him.

"Isn't this that pervert beta who peeped in the men's bathrooms? I heard he got expelled ages ago. Why is he still staying here so brazenly?"

"Didn't he manage to come back to study by clinging onto Caelus? Or which school would want this student, huh?"

"Look at him. Even if he came back thanks to sucking up, he doesn't even know how to turn on the mecha. What a joke."

How were these chatting alphas so bored? If they had time to gossip, they could go and practice properly!

Though Phainon didn't care about what they said, it wasn't good of him to keep standing here either. He had to face the things he had to face, so be gritted his teeth and climbed onto the mecha.

Phainon had touched mechas who-knows-how-many times in the virtual net, but feeling them in the real world was a completely novel experience. There was even a wonderful feeling where his fingers were touching the buttons.

"It would be all good if I could connect to the mecha with my spiritual energy in the real world." Phainon sighed, thinking about his lousy body again. He could only throw this way of thinking to the back of his mind, beginning to maneuver the mecha.

Because he had practice from the virtual net, he didn't have any problems making the mecha walk. He could also do a few simple moves. Phainon let out a breath of relief. "Still, this is really far from a real fight. Tomorrow, I'll just surrender and end it quickly."

But on the other side of the training field, three people had gathered sneakily. "That's right, isn't it? That guy's the useless beta, right?"

"Exactly, I saw him." Another person nodded. "He's just a beta, but he's actually so arrogant. He even has the guts to come back to class. Let's teach him a lesson."

"Still, it'll be bad if the teachers catch us," someone said with worry.

"Don't worry. I checked, the teachers are busy right now. It'll be at least half an hour before they come back. There's enough time for us to teach that guy a lesson."

After they finished discussing, they got into their mechas and moved secretly towards Phainon.

Phainon was in the middle of practicing his movements. Suddenly, something banged next to him, and his mecha immediately unbalanced. After flailing for a long time, he managed to return to his center of gravity. He looked to his side with irritation.

But he found that there wasn't just one mecha next to him. There were three. They were surrounding him on all sides.

"Fuck." Phainon had a bad feeling. "They've come to pick a fight." After all, the original host's foul mouth had offended many people. Besides, Khaslana had so many friends. It was normal for them to come to pick a fight.

Against three mechas' attacks, Phainon's response was all over the place. His mecha operation technique was simply unpracticed, and he was forced to keep retreating. He couldn't even fight back.

When he had retreated until he couldn't keep retreating, the three of them shockingly began to attack his mecha's limbs. It was obvious they wanted to destroy the mecha to humiliate Phainon.

Phainon: "!!" Humiliation was just some bullying, but if they destroyed the training mecha he would have to pay for the damages, okay!!

Even Phainon's anger was building. He questioned the system gloomily, "Will my body collapse as soon as I use my spiritual energy? There's not any buffer time? Can I heal my body with my healing ability?"

[There is indeed a process to your body's collapse after you use your spiritual energy. Based on the current circumstances of the host's body, it can probably endure for three minutes. After three minutes, your body will quickly deteriorate, and even your healing ability won't be able to save you.]

"To face these people, three minutes is enough." Phainon's expression turned cold. He began to connect his spiritual energy to the mecha.

Khaslana was standing in a tall building at the side, observing the training field with calm amidst the chaos. When he saw Phainon being cornered, his voice was indifferent. "If you need to blame something, blame yourself for not practicing well normally. That's why people are bullying you now."

"What? Is there something interesting down there?" Mydei walked out, looking downwards with interest.

"Nothing. I was just taking a look. I'm going back first," Khaslana said as if nothing had happened. He turned back towards the classroom. Things were about done with. He had no interest in continuing to watch and see how a good-for-nothing was getting taught a lesson.

Mydei was about to go back, but suddenly something flashed in the corner of his eye.

"That's...."

Chapter Text

In a remote area of the training field, there were several mechas in battle. It was very normal for fights in the training field, but what was unusual was the mecha in the center being attacked.

It was obviously just a normal, outdated mecha, but it fought back against the other three mechas easily, as though it saw their every move. When blocking blows, it could simultaneously attack with skill. Moreover, each of its attacks landed directly on the other mecha's vitals.

After all, the outdated mechas in the training field were mechas that had fallen out of use for many years. Their weak points were obvious. With a few blows at the weak connections between the limbs, they would fall apart. Still, it was clear that these students couldn't do it.

Mydei stared fixedly at the scene, not even daring to blink, afraid of missing even the smallest detail of the fight. His hands began to tremble in excitement. "Yes, exactly, that's... That has to be... I wouldn't make a mistake!"

The person down there was Prince Latiao!

The fight ended quickly. It didn't even last three minutes in total. The other three mechas had been attacked until they had no ability to fight back. The mechas were even falling apart. The cockpit had protective installations, so the people inside should be okay.

And the mecha Mydei thought was being piloted by Prince Latiao unexpectedly rushed to a hidden corner.

"...Crap." Mydei jolted awake from his battle-induced daze. He gritted his teeth, spinning around and moving to rush down the stairs. He didn't even hear when Khaslana called for him to come back.

Seeing Mydei hurry away, Khaslana's gaze darkened slightly.

Recently, Mydei's behavior was a bit strange. Khaslana hated being unable to control everything in the palm of his hands.

"It looks like I need to investigate a bit."

After his momentary explosion of power just now, Phainon quickly left the scene.

In fact, he had been a little panicky. In his agitation, he had actually broken the three mechas facing him. If he had to pay it back, even a million empire coins wasn't enough! Though it was those three provoking him to begin with, anyway.

...Even if the school rules said that if a mecha was damaged, the pilot would have to pay for the expenses, Phainon started worrying whether his sudden explosive strength would draw anyone's attention.

Luckily, the area was relatively hidden. According to the system, the security cameras didn't record that area, and the system also blurred Phainon's appearance when he was leaving.

Everything started quickly and ended quickly. Nobody had noticed anything. Even if the three people said what had happened, nobody would believe a beta was actually able to attain such a level.

When Phainon thought about it, he finally let out a breath of relief.

During the period of Phainon's explosive power, his body was slowly beginning to collapse. At first, when he used his healing ability to heal himself, he felt significantly better. Now, the effect had passed, and he felt weak and limp all over. He had no energy left in his limbs, and his head was spinning.

Phainon climbed out of the cockpit with difficulty, and met Mydeimos, who was walking over quickly, head-on.

Mydei glanced at Phainon coldly, then walked rapidly ahead.

"Huh? Isn't that where I just came from?" Phainon felt a little suspicious, but he really had no energy and he felt exhausted. He didn't feel like thinking about what Mydeimos was doing.

Mydei rushed to where the fight had been happening, but only saw the three fallen mechas. "As expected, he already left... I was too slow."

Disappointment settled into Mydei's heart, but he clung to a tiny sliver of hope, stepping forward to open the cockpit of the mecha on the ground, hoping to interrogate the person inside and ask if he knew who his opponent was.

But Mydei's hopes were dashed. The person inside the cockpit seemed to have been given a huge shock. He huddled in his mecha, trembling. It was obvious that being defeated in just three minute had been too much of a blow. Mydei couldn't get the slightest bit of information out from them.

"Useless guy." Mydei gave up on the interrogation, looking at the person inside the mecha coldly. "You don't have enough strength yourself, but you went to provoke someone else in vain. You were asking to sink this low..."

Mydei went off to investigate the security cameras.

But out of some kind of coincidence, there were no security cameras aimed at that area, and for some reason the image of the outside area was blurry. It was impossible to tell who it was.

He could only give up on it.

"Still, in this case, the scope of my search can be narrowed down." Mydei thought of something, his face beginning to faintly flush red.

"I didn't expect us to be so close. I can't believe I never realized there was someone so skilled at the institute. Could there be some reason that he has to stay lowkey?"

Phainon waited for class to end in the lounge, completely exhausted, then went home with Caelus. Caelus seemed to be thinking something, and didn't notice Phainon's weary appearance at all.

Well, Phainon didn't really want to hear his romance worries anyway. Instead, he was able to relax.

But before long he would regret it and ask himself why he didn't ask. In the end, it led to something terrifying.

When he returned to his room, although he was tired, Phainon still had to log on to the virtual world. After all, he didn't finish his daily task yet... Besides, it was almost the last day of the competition. If he didn't hurry to participate in some matches, he wouldn't have enough points to enter the finals.

As soon as he logged online, Phainon's inbox was stuffed full again.

Phainon skimmed them. They were all about the same as the emails from yesterday, with a dozen more from Caelus. He didn't even need to think to guess what was inside. Phainon didn't look at them at all, deleting them immediately (._.)

As for the ads, Phainon was famous now. He picked a few with higher prices, then wrote an email to Mydeimos, asking him to reply when he had landed. It would make it easy for Phainon to do his daily task.

And then Phainon strode out of the room, appearing at the virtual square. As soon as he arrived, he was stunned by the sight.

Every possible location for ad placement, whether it was big or small, had been bought. The same picture was in all of them, and the picture was a video from when Prince Latiao was fighting.

Rather than calling it a video, it was more accurate to call it a montage. It spliced pretty much every cool movement from Prince Latiao's fights. It looked extremely exciting. Even Phainon was feeling affected. He didn't think that he was actually so heroic.

The montage finished quickly, then a youth with black hair appeared on the screen, holding a bouquet of roses in one hand. It was Caelus.

The memory of what Caelus had said in the morning suddenly surfaced in Phainon's mind. A bolt of lightning jolted through his mind. Fuck, Caelus wasn't getting up to some crap again, was he?

To be honest, although Caelus's personality and brains were a little off, he was extremely handsome. When he appeared, the people in the virtual square began to shriek. Several of them began to ask other people if he was some new celebrity.

Phainon felt very complicated, but people were always face-cons. He was too. He didn't have any right to judge someone else.

The Caelus on the screen wasn't as vexing as he usually was. Instead, he looked out of the screen with a serious expression, beginning to introduce himself. He started from his family background, then to his height and his body measurements, the food he liked to eat, the color he liked... He also recited his grades from elementary school.

It was just like a dating app bio. No, a normal person's bio wouldn't have so much unnecessary information!

Still, as long as he had that face and the status of a duke's son, as long as he said he was looking for romance, the people interested would probably break down the duke's doors.

Phainon had a bad feeling. It was as though something bad was about to happen.

As expected, in the next moment, Caelus began to speak adoringly. "Prince Latiao, when I saw you, I knew that you were my destined partner. I really wish to understand you well... In fact, I'm not someone with a forceful personality. I just wanted your attention, which is why I did those things..."

Phainon: "..." Hey! Do you think you're not forceful as long as you say you're not forceful?! Like this you might as well never have a wife in your fucking life, okay!

Everyone watching the advertisements was shocked. Although they didn't know Prince Latiao's gender, if he was so amazing, he had to be an alpha. The son of the duke had actually come out of the closet in front of a whole crowd! This was breaking news!!

But the omegas that had been full of excitement immediately turned cold. In any case, a gay alpha who was interested in alphas didn't have anything to do with them.

Phainon could pretty much imagine how the breaking news would spread through the entire empire by tomorrow. He didn't even want to become famous like this, okay.

Now, the only thing worth celebrating was that now this brainless guy Caelus didn't announce Phainon's gender. Otherwise, even if Phainon had to put his life on the line, he would have charged over to have them die together.

Even if Phainon was completely unwilling, because of Caelus, talks about the name Prince Latiao went crazy again. His popularity was competing with the top fifty competitors... Although this popularity was super weird too.

To vent some of his anger, Phainon went straight to compete in the virtual mecha competition.

This time, Phainon used the mecha full of advertisements just like last time, and started to begin the selections.

The opponent that the system randomly selected for System this time was a competitor in the top fifty. Those in the top fifty were all incredible people. To keep them with the competition, the competition organizers would even give them one percent of the ticket prices.

In other words, every time someone in the top fifty competed, there were heaps of empire coins to collect. Phainon envied it a lot. He also wanted to be in the top fifty and make money.

The current Prince Latiao wasn't the same as the confused, nameless newbie he was a few days ago. There were many of his fans in the stands, calling his name continuously.

Phainon's heart burst in pride, but when he looked towards the stands, he immediately noticed that all of the screens in the stands were playing Caelus's image.

Is having money so great, huh?! Just how much money did Caelus spend?! Did he think the other person had accepted him after a bombardment of brainwashing?!

Phainon's heart filled with grief and indignation. He attacked the other person with an almost furious blow. Before they could react, Phainon's momentum bowled them over. Luckily, they had experience, and wouldn't lose immediately like other people. After they dodged the blow, they began to fight back, but in the end they still couldn't resist Phainon.

---

At the other side.

In a dormitory that was almost like a small mansion in the Empire Military Institute, Mydei took a deep breath, then sank into his nutrient cabinet impatiently.

In order to attain the best conditions, Mydei had bought the most expensive nutrient cabin in the beginning. He wouldn't even think about using a helmet.

In the past, Mydei had logged into the virtual net only for mecha competitions, but now he had a new goal. He wanted to see the person he thought almost…. longingly about, Prince Latiao.

As soon as he logged on, he received Prince Latiao's email. Mydei's heart skipped a beat. It was just a few dozen words, just asking him to respond when he went online, but Mydei felt like every word was precious. This was the email that his male god had taken the initiative to send! He couldn't stop himself from reading it a few more times

before he calmed down to write a reply. His hands were shaking. He thought over every word for a long time before he finally hit send.

Mydei couldn't calm himself from his excitement. When he looked up, he spotted Caelus's ridiculously expensive ads. When he saw Prince Latiao's familiar bearing, he paused, unable to move.

After seeing half of the advertisement, Mydei's joy immediately turned to fury.

This Caelus was nothing. Other than his background and his face, he didn't have the slightest redeeming quality. He even had some beta clinging onto him for influence. He must be confessing just to play around... Damn it, he used such an attitude to Mydei's male god? He couldn't be forgiven!

What would he do if his male god was seduced by Caelus? Mydei couldn't help beginning to worry. "No, it won't happen. He wouldn't be so easily seduced."

And where did Mydei get the right to interfere with his decision?

Mydei couldn't stop himself from beginning to ponder. If someday Prince Latiao really wanted to be with someone else, then what would he do... Just thinking about it made Mydei's chest ache like it was about to split apart. He felt strangely uncomfortable.

He was too greedy, wasn't he? Before, he could easily watch from afar, but now he wanted to take another step forward even if they were close together.

Mydei began to feel perturbed. He could only cheer himself up when he saw Prince Latiao.

Phainon also noticed that Mydeimos seemed a little off today. After he finished his daily task, he blurted, "You seem a little gloomy today? What's wrong?"

"It's nothing, I'm fine. You don't need to worry about someone like me," Mydei said gruffly, feeling a bit shy from the sudden attention. "But... if you don't find it offensive, I have something I'd like to ask you. If you would rather not hear it, don't need to say it."

Phainon was curious about what Mydeimos wanted to ask him. "Go ahead."

"You must have seen the advertisements today, right?" Mydei said carefully.

Phainon nearly vomited a mouthful of old blood. He began to choke. "Yeah, I saw them."

Phainon began to feel embarrassed now that someone had actually brought it up.

"What do you think about it, then..." After he finished speaking, Mydei hurried to explain, "I don't mean to interrogate you, I just think... well, someone like that doesn't seem very reliable..."

He was absolutely right! Phainon practically wanted to shake Mydeimos's hand.

"I don't have any particular thoughts about that video," Phainon said calmly, trying to revive his awesomeness. "To me, the most important thing is the competition. I won't think about anything else. Besides, those kinds of people are just talk. They'll probably forget it quickly."

"That's true..." Mydei let out a breath of relief. He said, "After all, you're an alpha. You naturally don't have any interest to other alphas like you, right?"

When he finished speaking, Mydei, who realized he was also an alpha, felt his chest begin to ache.

"I don't have any interest in alphas," Phainon said absently. "I like omegas... But right now I won't think about those kinds of things anyways."

Something like two omegas being together was simply impossible, but Phainon had only come to do a daily task. He didn't think anything about romance.

"By the way, it's not that convenient to send emails every time we want to meet. How about we exchange contacts?" Phainon said without thinking.

Mydei was stunned. His depression instantly dissipated. Excited, he said, "Of course we can. That would be my honor."

Mecha combat classes were that night.

It was a ten minute class that they only had once a month. All the first and second years would participate. Nobody could ask for leave.

Generally, they would draw two random students to fight. Because they were using armed mechas, they were much more dangerous than the outdated mechas. Thus, this time of year was also the time that students had the most injuries.

Phainon was incredibly anxious. He looked up at the people on the podium, completely unable to calm himself down.

Although he could use his spiritual energy for three minutes, if he suddenly became skilled, it wouldn't be easy for him to end things. If someone overestimated his skills in the future and assigned him to some more difficult classes or duties, Phainon would have no way to complete them.

Actually, it didn't matter if his opponent was someone else, but Phainon was most worried that he would be unlucky enough to draw Khaslana as his opponent. What would he do then?

Compared to this, even all of the news he saw this morning about Caelus coming out was nothing.

Like Phainon, Caelus was extremely anxious, but he wasn't worried about the mecha combat class. Instead, he was worried about what he had done yesterday. "Was I too much yesterday? I didn't want to go so far, but if I didn't do that, then how would I express my sincerity? Should I apologize?"

Phainon didn't have the guts to believe that the apology Caelus was talking about would be a normal apology. He said hurriedly, "He definitely understood you already. He probably didn't reply yet because he was too shocked."

...Although he really didn't want to answer Caelus, with things like this he didn't have a choice.

"I hope you're right," Caelus sighed.

Phainon wondered why the duke and duchess didn't care a bit more about their son. Don't ignore your younger son just because you have an outstanding eldest son as the heir! Was coming out so openly really not a problem... Would the dukedom really stay unaffected!

After he finished spitting curses in his head, Phainon forgot about his nerves. Anyway, he'd just do his worst. It was fine.

At the same time, in the luxurious private box at the other side, Mydei was staring fixedly at the image on the broadcasting screen that filled up the entire wall. It was displaying the fifth or sixth match that was currently ongoing.

After Mydei investigated, he found that there were only first and second year students in the training field yesterday. They were certain to appear in the combat class, and Prince Latiao was certain to be in their midst.

Prince Latiao had such strength. If he wanted to appear to the public, he could, but instead he was quiet and unknown. He must have been hiding his true strength all this time.

So in the combat class, he would definitely behave very discreetly. He might even lose on purpose. Mydei was prepared to survey the details. He watched Prince Latiao's videos countless times, and he had already engraved the subtleties of his movements in his mind.

Mydei was both excited and nervous.

Khaslana sat at the side, looking at the screen expressionlessly. He had already cleared up the investigation. Mydei's abnormal behavior was actually because of that Prince Latiao.

"He's just someone who failed at imitating me, and he can only pick such a sensationalist name to capture people's attention," Khaslana thought. "Even if there's someone even stronger, so what? I'll let him be proud for a few days."

Khaslana's favorite thing to do was letting his enemies crawl upwards, then, right when they were at the height of their pride, knocking them off of their throne and enjoying their grief.

By that time, Mydei would understand that the real person deserving of his loyalty was Khaslana, not that lowly copycat.

"Ah, it's my turn." Khaslana stood up, smiling slightly at Mydei. "I'll be back soon."

Match after match passed. Soon, it was Phainon's turn.

Phainon gritted his teeth, getting up from his seat, his steps heavy.

He had already decided. He would use his normal ability to fight. The competition rules dictated that he couldn't surrender until five minutes had passed. It would be fine as long as he managed to endure five minutes and then surrender. In any case, he wouldn't get expelled if he surrendered... Normal people should stop fighting after the other party surrender.

But Phainon saw his opponent-Khaslana.

Phainon was so shocked he nearly buckled and fell to his knees. "...???" Wait? What kind of luck was this? Out of all the people in the school, he really ended up matching with Khaslana? Holy fuck.

Khaslana gave Phainon a friendly smile. "What a coincidence. I didn't expect that my opponent would actually be you."

Phainon: "Ah, hello..." No, this had to be one of Khaslana's plots. How else could it be so coincidental?

"I still remember the circumstances when we first met," Khaslana chuckled. "In the blink of an eye, so much time has passed. I really miss it."

If someone out of the loop heard Khaslana, they would think he and Phainon were friends or something.

But Phainon knew that the first time they met was when Khaslana had just started school, but he had been utterly humiliated by the original soul of the body Phainon was currently inhabiting... Khaslana's words were totally a threat!

Phainon gritted his teeth. "Um, Khaslana, don't you think classmates should exchange our views... There's no need to be too serious? It should be okay as long as we don't overdo it."

"Oh?" Khaslana raised an eyebrow. "I'm very sorry. I'm very serious about everything relating to mechas. Still, I'm confident in your strength. It'll be fine as long as we both do our best. I think it's certain that no accidents will happen. Right?"

Right your foot! This is already a complete threat!

Phainon already knew that it would be no use if he surrendered. For someone like Khaslana, even if his opponent surrendered, he would definitely pretend he didn't hear it and continue beating his opponent even more fiercely.

Feeling a huge amount of pressure, Phainon climbed into the cockpit of the mecha.

It was his first time using a standard mecha in the real life. If he wasn't facing Khaslana, everything would be wonderful.

Soon, the competition began. Khaslana was calm despite the situation, maneuvering the mecha to attack with ease.

Like a cat playing with a mouse, Khaslana didn't prepare to take Phainon out in one blow. Instead, he wanted to thoroughly play around with him, waiting until he didn't have anymore patience before he acted.

Phainon continuously evaded Khaslana's attacks, only feeling that every second was taking longer than the last. He didn't know when Khaslana began to move, and he didn't know what he would do in the next second. Sweat trickled down his face.

If he could use his spiritual energy, he could observe his opponent's movements, and he wouldn't be in such a miserable situation. Dammit.

At the side, Mydei sat in the private box, examining for a long time. He hadn't found anyone who moved like Prince Latiao. He looked towards his friend's match, feeling disappointed.

He knew very clearly that there was probably nobody in their grade that could compete with Khaslana. The opponent today looked especially weak. Even with Khaslana deliberately going easy on him, he was barely able to evade.

"How could someone like this be him." Mydei sighed. He didn't know whether he would be able to find Prince Latiao today.

--

Fierce attacks flew towards Phainon. He swayed in place, discovering that one of the mecha's legs was no longer stable.

When Khaslana had attacked just now, the mecha's left leg had been disconnected.

"Crap." Phainon bit his lip, understanding immediately. Khaslana was preparing to use the method he had used on the three guys from yesterday to deal with him.

And with Khaslana's personality, he might pretend that he had accidentally hit the cockpit. If he got Phainon injured, Phainon wouldn't let him off.

"If things keep going like this, I'll be a sitting duck." Phainon's gaze turned cold. "Even if my opponent is the original protagonist, there's nothing I can do. If I don't fight back..."

Since the beginning, Phainon never wanted to fight the protagonist head-on. After all, the other party was the blessed son of the world consciousness. If he fought back, it would always be him on the short end of the stick.

But he understood now. There were some things he couldn't avoid no matter how much he wanted to. If he didn't face them, the other person would just get more intense.

Phainon closed his eyes, connecting his spiritual energy with the mecha.

On the other side of the field, Khaslana was leisurely operating the mecha. With his SSS-grade spiritual energy, his mecha was just like part of his body. Sometimes, it could even react faster than his own body. Nobody was his opponent, no matter who it was.

Khaslana thought of himself as a natural mecha operating genius. It was the gift the heavens had bestowed on him. Nobody could defeat him. Even if he was born in the slums, he had incredible luck. He had anything he wanted, and he had barely met any setbacks.

Because of this, Khaslana had grown into a warped personality. For example, he could easily kill off this beta, someone who didn't understand his own limits. But what he enjoyed the most was a weakling's last struggle before death.

The weakling was obviously destined to defeat, but because he had the slightest hope of succeeding, he continued to endure. Finally, in his despair, he discovered that there was only one road forward to defeat.

Every time he saw the painful despair in his opponent's eyes, Khaslana would feel joy. When he attacked, he specially left his opponent an opportunity to escape. Sometimes, he would let them escape. Sometimes, he would shoot them in their vitals.

When he thought about what expression this beta had on at that moment, Khaslana couldn't hold back his glee.

In the next moment, Khaslana suddenly froze.

His opponent suddenly evaded the blow that should have landed.

No. According to his plans, he would certainly land his blow. With the strength of a beta, how could he avoid it? And the left leg of his opponent's mecha was malfunctioning.

Again, Khaslana felt the anxiety of the situation slipping out of his hands. His eyes turned cold. "I'm done playing... Now, you should get ready to lose."

Chapter Text

Phainon could feel very clearly that Khaslana's attacks were no longer as sluggish as before, but swift and fierce. Each blow was aimed at his vitals.

If he was still operating manually, Phainon would definitely have lost already. But with his spiritual energy connected to his mecha, his sense of his surroundings was incomparably clear, and he could see everything on the field. No matter how cunning Khaslana's attacks were, he could dodge them all.

Of course, in order to avoid exposing his true strength, when Phainon dodged, he purposely faked panic, making it look like he was able to dodge thanks to luck. He was successful at looking like a useless potato.

"But this is no good..." Phainon racked his brains. "There's not much time less. I have to finish things in three minutes, but I can't just win against Khaslana... If that happens, it'll draw people's attention."

And Mydei, watching the scene from the private room, was nearly standing up.

To an outsider watching the two people fighting, it looked like Phainon was dodging blindly, as though he didn't have the slightest ability to resist, and even like he was in a sorry state. But Mydei could sense the peculiarity clearly.

Based on his understanding of Khaslana, Khaslana was already using all of his strength. This was no longer a level that normal people could compare with. After all, Khaslana was someone at the top in the virtual world.

But if that Phainon was really useless, then he wouldn't get lucky enough to dodge so many times. Moreover, Mydei saw each and every one of the details in the movements Phainon made when he was dodging.

He was very familiar with the particulars of those movements. They were just like the movements he saw countless of times in videos. They were the same as Prince Latiao's movements in the arena. They were the movements that Mydei had been searching for in the arena all morning.

Mydei couldn't believe his eyes. "How? It couldn't be..." A completely implausible theory began to take shape in his mind. "...No. No, it's too early to come to a conclusion." Mydei stood up. "I have to go see it personally."

Mydei rushed out the door without hesitation, running to the region Khaslana and Phainon were fighting in.

He was fairly close to the arena, and he was in a position high above. It was easy to see everything in the arena.

Mydei looked straight at the mecha that seemed like it was being piloted with an unpracticed hand, his molten amber eyes filled with struggle.

"Come on, let me see... Are you truly that person?"

On the other hand, Khaslana was getting more and more annoyed. Now, the opponent that he should have been able to handle with ease was actually able to avoid his blows again and again and wearing his little bit of patience down to nothing.

Khaslana liked toying with the weak, but if these weaklings began acting out of his control, he would fall into hysteria.

"It looks like I've only got one choice." Khaslana's gaze turned cold. He aimed at Phainon's weak point and thrust forward.

As long as he hit that spot, Phainon's mecha would immediately get out of control. Even the mecha's safety mechanisms would be affected. Even if he suffered injuries, it wouldn't be unusual. Every year, students would get hurt because of that spot.

But Phainon maneuvered his mecha into a twist just enough to dodge that blow.

"It's just as I thought... What should I do then?" Things played out just as Khaslana had anticipated. His attack from just now had been to test the waters. When Phainon dodged, Khaslana controlled the other arm of his mecha to pull out its weapon, aiming a blow at the place Phainon had dodged towards.

"Can you still dodge this?"

Khaslana had never shown this trump card. In fact, he could fight with weapons in both hands, and he could bring out the highest level of power from each of them.

In the original novel, Khaslana didn't reveal himself until later. At first, he hadn't wanted to reveal his hand in the combat lessons, but faced with a situation no longer in his control, he finally made up his mind.

But what Khaslana didn't know was that his opponent knew his each and every move even more clearly then he himself did.

Khaslana's mecha was completely blocking off Phainon's escape route with one weapon in each hand. There was nowhere Phainon could run. If he dodged, he would be skewered by one of the weapons.

Khaslana was sure that as long as Phainon's mecha was skewered, then he could seize the chance to batter his opponent's mecha into scrap metal.

Phainon's mecha stayed stiffly in place, as though he was at a loss because he had nowhere to run.

The crowd cried out in shock. "He's incredible, he can actually fight at such a level!"

"I know Khaslana's pretty good with mechas, but I didn't expect that he was actually so skilled."

Khaslana didn't hear any of their amazed gasps. He was thinking only of Phainon's mecha broken into pieces. He couldn't control his glee, maneuvering his mecha to attack. "It's time. Where will you run now? There's already nowhere to run, hmm?"

Then, as if Phainon was too nervous and couldn't control his mecha, his mecha slid backwards drunkenly, just in time to avoid Khaslana's blow.

"How..." Khaslana was stunned.

But it wasn't done yet. Before Khaslana's disbelieving eyes, Phainon's mecha just happened to crash towards him, even sending his weapons crashing straight towards Khaslana's cockpit, causing it to sway. The connection between Khaslana's spiritual energy and the mecha snapped.

The cockpit was the most critical region of the mecha. As long as his opponent touched his mecha, the victory was practically set in stone.

The combat lessons didn't require their students to really go into close combat, so when Phainon's mecha crashed into Khaslana's cockpit, an earsplitting bell rang into the air. It meant the victor had been decided.

All the surrounding students were stunned. "Fuck, you can even win like this?"

"Isn't this guy's luck crazy? I expected him to get taught a lesson. I didn't expect..."

"Poor Khaslana. He was sure to win, but he lost because of something like this."

The fragments of the conversations around Khaslana drifted into his ears.

He... had lost?

He, who had never lost since he started school, had lost to a beta?!

When Khaslana realized what had happened, his alluringly handsome face sank. He looked towards the opposing mecha with a death stare.

"At first, I was thinking of having you back out and leave the school after getting some heavy injuries. Now it looks like I was being too kind," Khaslana said lowly, his spiritual energy sinking into the air in the blink of an eye.

He knew his spiritual energy was stronger than most people's. As long as he wanted to, he could even use his spiritual energy to make anyone under A-grade go crazy.

When he was in a low-level school, he would have anyone who got on his bad side take spiritual damage in the battlefield. They couldn't even stay in school. They would be forced to stay in the sanatorium for life, not knowing what had happened to their own spiritual energy.

Khaslana was planning to use the same tactic to counter Phainon. After all, spiritual problems were difficult to detect. Even the best military institute in the empire had no way to find out what was wrong.

But in the next moment, Khaslana felt an indescribable dread from his spiritual energy. Other than his luck, the reason Khaslana could climb so high was because of his occasional, strong intuition that allowed him to evade danger at a critical moment several times.

It was his first time sensing this fear. Khaslana unconsciously stopped diffusing spiritual energy.

Just as Khaslana stopped, Phainon maneuvered his mecha into a standing position, retreating from the training field rapidly, unwilling to stay near Khaslana for even a second longer.

Khaslana looked over coldly, hammering his mecha with both fists. "Phainon... I'll remember you."

It was his second time moving against Phainon, but he hadn't succeeded. He wouldn't let himself face defeat a third time.

Everyone watching the fight to the death was thoroughly shocked. In their ten-odd years of life, it was their first time seeing someone win from sheer dumb luck. None of them realized anything strange.

But Mydei stood at the side, his hands balled tightly into fists, staring fixedly at the replays on the screen. His eyes were filled with disbelief.

When he hurried over, he had examined Phainon's every move closely. The more he looked, the more he felt that Phainon's movements were exactly like Prince Latiao's.

"Still, he could be imitating Prince Latiao..." Mydei thought, "If he's really imitating, it's not impossible to copy the details."

But when Phainon dodged Khaslana's attack and crashed into him, a sliver of spiritual energy unconsciously dissipated into the air.

Because Phainon was focused on Khaslana, he couldn't keep hold on his spiritual energy. He reasoned that there was nobody above who had their spiritual energy saturating the air, but he didn't expect that his energy would run into Mydei upstairs.

When he felt the strong, familiar spiritual energy, Mydei's handsome but always cold face flushed red. He clutched onto the wall to keep his cool, almost causing It to crack from the force.

"That's right... Everything can be faked except for this spiritual energy... This strong spiritual energy..." Mydei mumbled. "It must be him. Ah... I managed to find out now..."

Mydei thought of when he had rushed to the mecha training field and ran into Phainon. Back then, he thought he was just a useless beta hiding there to slack off, and hadn't bothered to spare him a single glance.

But things seemed different now. Phainon must have rushed to leave as soon as the action ended, and ran into him. Mydei clenched his fists. He should have noticed something was off back then, but because of his innate prejudice he hadn't even though about it.

No wonder he hadn't been able to find Prince Latiao in the school by looking for an alpha. It was because the person he looked up to the most was actually a beta.

Mydei's opinion didn't change because Prince Latiao wasn’t an alpha. Instead, his admiration deepened.

His idol was really worth his title. He could even attain such a level as a beta.

Phainon's victory absolutely wasn't just luck. Mydei thought back to the scene from just now. It was clear that it was a result that had been carefully planned and crafted for the outsider. He had the skill to defeat Khaslana as he wished, but he went for a roundabout way to achieve his goal.

Now that he thought about it, Phainon's uselessness in the past was an act he had put up. In fact, to cover up his true power, Phainon had always kept himself hidden. Even if others insulted him, he didn't care.

That's right. Mydei thought of what Prince Latiao had said to him in the virtual net. Phainon doesn't care about this at all. He thinks wholeheartedly of mechas and becoming stronger.

Mydei sat back at his seat, disappointed. The things that had happened to Phainon flashed through his mind one by one. Now, the things that he had practically forgotten were as clear as day.

Before, every time they met, he would always pretend not to see him. He had even thought that looking at Phainon was an offense to his eyes... But the other person hadn't said anything when they met in the virtual net. He had even been so friendly.

But even if Phainon didn't care, Mydei couldn't forgive himself for looking down on him in the past. He wished he could turn back time and give himself a slap across the face.

Back when people accused Phainon of being a pervert peeping on the men's bathrooms, Mydei had known very clearly that he was an innocent, but he had thought that such a person was getting his just desserts, so he didn't come out to say anything. It had even forced Phainon to leave the school.

After that, Phainon only came back with the help of Caelus's power. Otherwise... wait.

Mydei was suddenly shocked. He thought back to when Caelus had confessed to Prince Latiao in broad daylight on the virtual net yesterday.

He had thought it was weird. Caelus and Prince Latiao didn't have many chances to meet, so why would Caelus start wooing him so quickly? It was as though they already knew each other for a long time.

Now he understood. So they had already gotten acquainted with each other then... In the end, it was all his, the cold bystander's, fault.

When he thought about how he had caused Phainon to get to know Caelus, Mydei felt incredibly bitter. He didn't come back to his senses for a long time.

The second Phainon entered the mecha prep station, he disconnected his spiritual energy from the mecha, wiping off the sweat on his forehead. His entire body was soaked with sweat.

After all, he wasn't just using his spiritual energy to control the mecha. He also had to face Khaslana, who had a protagonist halo, and pretend to be weak, then gain victory by chance...

Still, Phainon hadn't expected to win so easily. It seemed that Khaslana took him too lightly and was too relaxed.

Another factor was that it was only a combat lesson, and it couldn't influence the real story. Otherwise, even if the world consciousness had to give Phainon a heart attack and give him a lunch box, it wouldn't let Khaslana lose. It wasn't so easy to face the original protagonist.

"Even Khaslana won't realize anything is wrong. He'll just think I won by chance." Phainon was ready to admire his own resourcefulness.

Phainon didn't know what would happen when he met Khaslana in the future either... Anyway, things had already gotten to this state.

After being sprawled out in the cockpit for a while, Phainon finally clambered up, feeling absolutely exhausted. He felt like he was walking on air, completely unlike he was on real ground, but like he was walking on clouds.

"As I thought, I should work on doing some more exercise." Phainon began panting after a few steps, supporting himself on the wall. He couldn't help beginning to complain, "This omega body's just too garbage. I'm so tired after just a bit of spiritual energy. I won't be able to find a job once I graduate, will I?"

As soon as he walked out of the mecha prep station, everyone's attention focused on Phainon. Their gazes were filled with awe. After all, it was rare to see someone as lucky as Phainon. It made them want to come and touch Phainon and let some of his luck rub off on them, but they weren't close enough for that.

If someone put this online, Phainon would most certainly become one of those "repost for luck" posts that had been reposted several hundred thousand times.

Then the main entrance opened. Mydei stood in the doorway. He looked as though he was in a rush. His blonde hair was a mess, but it made him look more approachable and not as though he was a thousand miles away.

After seeing Mydei, everyone's expressions changed.

Someone had spread the word about how Mydeimos had requested surveillance footage yesterday. Most people in the school were aware that someone who could get the footage couldn't have an ordinary background. A few people discovered Mydei's true background through their own means.

Thus, overnight, Mydeimos's true identity had had spread through the entire school, and he didn't have any intention to cover it up either.

Only someone who didn't pay attention to the school sites like Phainon wouldn't know.

Now, everyone wanted to get close to Mydeimos. They hated themselves for not noticing someone so amazing in their school and envied Khaslana's luck.

But Mydeimos was so hard to approach that nobody was daring enough to talk to him. In the past, there were people who wanted to get close to him because of his looks, but he didn't even spare them a glance.

When Mydei saw Phainon, his expression changed. He walked over quickly.

Phainon unconsciously stopped in his footsteps, looking at him alertly. "...!" What did Mydeimos want to do?! Did he come get revenge because he was upset with the method Phainon used to win over Khaslana?!

When the crowd thought about Mydeimos and Khaslana's relationship, they thought of the same thing as Phainon and thought Mydei came to settle the score with him... Fuck, this must be the best chance for them to get on Mydeimos's good side.

Because Phainon usually stuck to Caelus, nobody had the guts to say anything. Now that Caelus was gone, each of them began to rack their brains to jeer at Phainon and curry favor with Mydeimos.

"Is this the guy who just beat Khaslana? Why does he look like a weak chicken? He doesn't look like he can beat Khaslana at all. I think there's something fishy about him."

"Heh, look, that guy just won by luck. How else would a pervert who got expelled then came back with no shame win against Khaslana? Everyone knows how amazing Khaslana is."

To curry favor with Mydeimos, these people began praising Khaslana shamelessly.

"Poor Khaslana, I bet this will even affect his grades for the year... This kind of trash shouldn't have been at our school in the first place. If he can't stand it, that's whatever, but he even affected someone else. He's absolutely shameless."

"Exactly. Someone as amazing as Khaslana actually lost to a beta. If this gets around, even his reputation will get affected."

"And he's so tired after just getting on a mecha. If he really goes and participates in some mecha competition, won't he just be vomiting blood? If you're as weak as an omega, don't come to study at our military institute. If I was him, I would have left school ages ago."

…….

…

Phainon didn't know how to react. "..." Hey, do you guys have to act like this just to suck up! These jeers are so awkward, okay, and that last one accidentally came a bit too close to home...

But Mydei's expression turned uglier and uglier. Everyone thought they had gotten the main point and got even more excited, beginning to let out curse after curse.

Although their personalities looked bad, as long as they could get the favor of the crown prince's younger cousin, the heir of the richest tycoon in the empire, so what if they had bad personalities? Wouldn't their futures be limitless?! Everyone had the same thing in mind.

Phainon was pretty sure that Mydeimos wouldn't hit him in front of so many people, so he kept walking forward, pretending it had nothing to do with him.

He didn't expect that because he had been standing for so long, Phainon's legs suddenly went numb. He lost control and fell forward.

When he saw that Phainon was about to fall, Mydei flew over, grabbing ahold of Phainon. He asked anxiously, "Are you alright? Do you feel any discomfort?"

Phainon was given a huge shock. "??!" So polite?!

The surrounding crowd: "...???!!" The fuck?!

The people who were talking cheerfully shut up immediately.

Hey, why were things going different from what was agreed on! Where was the "picking a fight for my good friend" that they were promised? Why were things suddenly going like this? How were they supposed to bear it!

"I-I'm fine..." Phainon couldn't figure out if Mydeimos had recognized him. He could only ask, "Do you need me for something?"

"I truly apologize. I came too late, I couldn't bring you away before those people started talking." Mydei's eyes were filled with guilt. He got on one knee in front of Phainon, putting himself in a most humble position.

Mydei's behavior shocked Phainon. He began to panic. "T-t-th... Wait, don't be like this..."

How did Mydeimos have the mental strength to kneel down in front of so many people!

The crowd was also so shocked they nearly peed their pants. Was this still the always-cold Mydei who looked like everyone owed him money?! And the person he was facing was just a beta with no strength, was someone impersonating him?! Or did they have a collective hallucination? Or did Phainon actually have a deeply hidden history?!

Because it was too shocking, everybody was beginning to doubt their eyes.

But Mydei didn't care about them at all. His sunset-like eyes drilled into Phainon, his voice steely.

"I apologize for the things I did in the past. I hope you would be wiling to forgive me... I understand that my actions cannot be brushed over in a few sentences. I can accept any punishment you give me, but I ask that you do not push me away."

Phainon: "...!" Fuck, such grand lines, Mydeimos must know his identity, right? Although he had no idea where he got this information... In any case, the most important thing right now was to keep it from anyone else.

The crowd: "???" What kind of development was this! Did something happen that they didn't know about? They obviously came to school every day, but it seemed like they had missed out on some shocking news.

The people who had been mocking Phainon earlier wished they could rip their own mouths off. They wanted to run away, but they were afraid of being to obvious and being noticed by Mydeimos. They could only stay in the crowd, suffering.

What exactly was up with this Phainon guy? He was just a beta, and he was even expelled from the school. A normal person couldn't make a comeback, but he actually befriended two amazing people in one go. How the heck did he do it?!

Their stares were about to poke through Phainon. He hurriedly grabbed Mydei's hand. "Okay, I forgive you. You should stand up quickly... There's some stuff that isn't good to say here, let's find somewhere more private."

When Phainon grabbed Mydei's hand, his eyes glimmered. He immediately stood up, nodding. "Alright, I'll leave all the decisions to you."

Then he turned his head, giving the crowd a cold stare. He said coldly, "I won't pretend I didn't hear what you said earlier. By the end of the day, you'd better make a public apology on the school's website, or you can prepare to face the Kremnoan family's fury."

Mydei's words showed he had no intention of keeping his background a secret any longer. The crowd was stunned. Bringing out the Kremnoan name so directly meant that Mydei had decided to stand against those people.

The people who had cursed at Phainon before had no choice but to start thinking about how they would apologize to Phainon online no matter how bitter they felt. Although it was humiliating, compared to the consequences of facing the Kremnoan family's suppression, humiliation was just humiliation.

They hadn't forgotten when a celebrity from a noble family mocked the head of the Kremnoan family. In the end, they were blocked and suppressed, and their entire family was pressured into bankruptcy. The emperor even took away their title of nobility.

Immediately, Mydei pulled Phainon's hand, rushing to a lounge nearby. When he noticed how hard Phainon was panting, he questioned in concern, "What's wrong? You seem to be in poor condition."

"It's nothing, I'm fine." Phainon waved a hand, looking at him seriously. "You figured out my identity?"

Mydei blurted, "I truly apologize, I didn't do it intentionally. I just happened to notice."

"As I thought, you found out..." Phainon could feel the terrifying power of a fanboy acutely. He even found out something kept so secret. "I'm begging you, please never say anything about this, especially to Khaslana. Please?"

Mydei was shocked. He nearly got back on his knees. He gritted his teeth. "Of course I will do as you say, but there's no need to use 'please' with me..."

Although Khaslana was his friend, he was nothing compared to Phainon. If Mydei had to choose between the two, he would abandon Khaslana without hesitation.

In the original novel, Mydei could betray his own cousin for Khaslana. He could betray anyone for Phainon.

"Alright." Phainon let out a breath of relief. He continued, "You saw it too. Although I'm really strong online, I'm just a normal student in real life. If you can't accept it, just pretend like nothing happened at all."

"You're truly too kind. You're still so kind to someone like me." Mydei was ready to cry. His voice hoarse, he said, "Even if you are different in reality, I already decided that I would follow after you for a lifetime. I absolutely won't change because of such a reason."

Fuck, Mydeimos's basically already been possessed by the devil.

Phainon: "...As long as you're happy." If Mydeimos wanted to stick to him for no reward, he couldn't do anything about it.

"Then, when we're in school in the future, you don't have to talk to me like this. You can just say my name normally." Phainon felt this was a very serious matter. "Okay?"

"Of course, it's no problem," Mydei said. "Then in the future, I'll address you... address you as Ph-Phainon..." His face was turning more impassive by the second but there was an almost happy glow emanating from him and Phainon swears he could see a lion’s tail swishing behind him.

Phainon felt embarrassed by Mydeimos's reaction. "..." Isn't it just a name? There's absolutely no need to be so excited!!

"Oh, right, it's getting late. I'll leave first," Phainon said. If Caelus couldn't find him and ran over it would be annoying.

Mydei suddenly remembered, and probed, "Right, your relationship with Caelus..."

But before Phainon could leave, the door burst open.

Caelus's silhouette appeared in the doorway. His impatient voice rang out. "You're just a servant, don't always make trouble for me. When you're done fighting, just go and sit back down properly. Now you even had me come find you personally."

Phainon: "!" Hey, coming as soon as he finished talking makes it just seem like it was on purpose, okay?

Chapter Text

When he saw that there were unexpectedly two people inside, and one of them was Mydeimos, Caelus paused and frowned, but he promptly ignored Mydeimos, looking towards Phainon. He said coldly, "What are you standing there for? Hurry up or you might as well just sleep here tonight."

Without the slightest hesitation, he turned and left.

When Mydei saw Caelus's attitude towards Phainon, he wanted to say something, but Phainon stopped him.

After Phainon rested for a bit, his energy was pretty much recovered to normal levels. He gave Mydei an apologetic glance. "Let's talk another time." He scurried out the door.

Mydei swallowed his half-asked question, watching their fading silhouettes. His gaze was several times colder than usual, and his hands were clenched tightly.

"Someone like this... How is someone like this good enough to stay by his side..."

---

In the aircar, Phainon suddenly remembered Caelus was Khaslana's fanboy. He didn't make Caelus angry by accidentally winning, did he? He felt a bit panicked.

"Congratulations on your victory." Caelus glanced at him and said, "Although I was hoping Senior Khaslana would win, I wouldn't do anything to you because of something like this. After all, your victory was genuine too."

Phainon: "....!" Liar, you're obviously the kind of guy that could even lay a trap for your biological brother! You even secretly plotted against a few of Khaslana's enemies.

Still, when he thought about it, in the original novel Caelus was already head over heels for Khaslana, so it was normal that he was so lovesick. Now, he just worshipped Khaslana... so it was understandable that he wasn't so crazy.

Phainon immediately let out a breath of relief. He decided to completely ignore that the person Caelus currently liked was Prince Latiao.

"By the way, how come you and that Mydeimos guy were together?" Caelus said casually. "He was always scowling at you until just a while ago, wasn't he?"

You talk like you're not always scowling yourself.

Phainon's heart skipped a beat. "Oh, yeah, we just happened to met in the lounge..." Though the news about how Mydeimos got down on one knee would be spreading by tomorrow... Phainon guessed that with Caelus being how he was, he had probably never listened to gossip around the school, so he didn't bother to explain (._.)

"Oh? I see." Caelus snorted. "In any case, it doesn't have anything to do with me. Still, that Mydeimos guy really doesn't know his own limits. He actually went and confessed to my companion online. It's just wishful thinking. If I'm wooing ahead of time, nobody will fall in love with someone like him."

Phainon: "..." Hey, you and him are two of a kind, okay! And who was your companion, huh? Don't be so confident.

"By the way, tonight, you don't have to stay in that little room upstairs anymore. Just come down to eat," Caelus said calmly. "With your performance these days, I think I should give you a bit of a promotion."

Phainon: "..." Did Caelus's favorability score rise a bit because they talked a bit about love problems?

He hoped Caelus would never find out the truth.

Dinner in the dining room was, as he expected, more delicious than the meals he had in his room. Phainon ate so happily that he was ready to cry. As he ate, he began to think about how to reply to Caelus on the virtual net.

After logging in, Phainon went to the school site to take a look first. Contrary to his expectations, there wasn't a single thread about what Mydeimos did that day. There weren't even any threads about Phainon. There were only a few threads about how unlucky Khaslana was.

After searching a bit, Phainon discovered that the keywords had actually been blocked.

Phainon: "..." He nearly forgot that Mydeimos was the crown prince's younger cousin. Blocking out news like this was no problem at all.

After letting go of the burden in his heart, Phainon scurried over to fight a few rounds in the competition before going to find Mydei. This was pretty much his everyday activity by now.

After accumulating points over the last period of time, Prince Latiao's points had climbed up to the top two hundred. With another hundred-some points, he could squeeze his way into the top hundred.

Other people could fight two or three rounds a day. They would need at least two months before they could collect a hundred-some points. But to Phainon, who wanted to fight in the arena every day, a hundred-some points was about what he could accumulate in a day. There were many people who both envied and admired him.

Because Mydeimos knew Phainon's true identity now, he didn't bother distorting his face and voice. He went directly to look for Mydei with his real face.

After he saw Phainon, Mydei just about sank into his happy place. He felt like he was a step closer to Phainon. Now, they could meet in both the real world and the virtual world every day. It was another step closer to his dreams.

If that damned hindrance Caelus didn't exist, things would be perfect.

After they finished practicing together, Mydei and Phainon sat in the room together drinking tea, resting leisurely and taking the chance to chat.

"Why do you conceal your strength?" Mydei asked uncertainly. "With your strength, it's clear that even at school you could be one of the strongest people, but why do you hide your identity? Those ignorant people even shame you for it."

As soon as Mydei remembered how those people had jeered at Phainon, gloom began to swirl in his heart again. He wished he could get all of those people expelled. In truth, Mydei searched up news about Prince Latiao every day. Every time he saw something bad, he would find the person who posted it and bring them out for a beating.

"Oh, that." Phainon sighed, putting on a desolate expression of a worldly gentleman. "I don't want those people to know my identity... Because I just want to live my school life peacefully without any disturbances as a normal person, not as a prodigy."

If someone else was saying something so pompous to Phainon, Phainon would definitely slap them, but when Mydei heard these words, his eyes sparkled. He sighed with emotion. "Indeed, someone like you naturally has different goals than someone as lowly as us."

Phainon thought about what he had turned his entire mecha into for the sake of advertisement fees. It was totally super lowly, but Mydei was still lavishing praise in a frenzy... Phainon suddenly felt a little embarrassed. Even if he was more shameless he would feel embarrassed, okay.

"Um, I also hoped to ask, what kind of relationship do you have with Caelus?" Mydei asked carefully. "I apologize; I must be terribly annoying. I already asked yesterday... but I still don't understand why someone as beautiful and strong as you would stay by someone like him."

Fuck, what was up with that sentence! The word "strong" was obviously enough! Mydei's words nearly made Phainon spit out a mouthful of blood... It was his first time hearing someone use the word "beautiful" to describe him in all his years of living. The power of a fan's rose-tinted glasses was simply terrifying.

"It's nothing." Phainon had just managed to get over the shock of those words. He absolutely wouldn't say anything about how he was acting as a servant at the moment, so he explained, "You know too. Back then, I was expelled because of that thing. Caelus was the one who saved me, so to repay him, I stayed by his side to help him out."

"Then you don't have any way to leave?" Mydei said quickly. "If it's about money, I can provide assistance, no matter how much money, it's..."

"That's not necessary, Phainon said. "Life is pretty good like this. There's no need for a change at the moment."

The important thing was that if he didn't stay and keep an eye on Caelus, who knew if he might go crazy and expose the truth that he was an omega.

"I see..." Mydei's face fell.

Sure enough, he hadn't done well enough. If he did enough, why wouldn't Phainon pick him, and instead pick that Caelus guy?

It must be because that Caelus found out Phainon's online identity and used it to force Phainon to stay with him. He was even shameless enough to put up ads to express his love. He obviously wanted to use it to pressure Phainon.

As Mydei went on an imagining spree, Phainon took the rest time to send Caelus a letter under Prince Latiao's name.

In the letter, Phainon said that he liked people who were lowkey and strong. If Caelus could make it to the finals of the empire's real-life mecha competition held every few years, then Phainon would consider dating him.

If Phainon remembered correctly, the real-life mecha competition would begin soon. It could also draw Caelus's attention.

As for the stuff about the finals, Phainon knew very clearly that while Caelus was pretty strong, he wasn't fully grown yet. It was impossible for him to make it to the finals.

After pressing the key to send the letter, Phainon couldn't help feeling very clever.

He had spent enough time online. Phainon said a quick good-bye to Mydei and logged off.

Mydei stayed in his seat, looking at the cup Phainon had drank from. Unconsciously, he picked up the cup, pressing his lips to the edge of the cup gently.

Like this, it was as though he could touch the other person just as closely.

After some time, Mydei returned suddenly to his senses. The hand holding the cup trembled. "What did I just do..."

---

Everything that happened later went without a hitch.

The next day, when Phainon was still asleep in bed, Caelus dragged him up.

Phainon, still bleary, was pulled to the garden of the duke's residence and began to train with Caelus.

"What's with this?" Phainon yawned, looking dazedly at Caelus.

"I need to make it into the finals of the mecha tournament. To achieve that goal, I have to start training now." Caelus gritted his teeth. "I'll become an alpha worthy of him."

Phainon: "!" Fuck, Caelus was really going all out for the sake of a letter. It looked like he was really serious...

Although Phainon felt complicated, things progressed smoothly. As expected, Caelus forgot about those lousy online confessions and switched his focus to training for the real-life mecha competition. He even took any time he could get during break time at school to practice with mechas.

Because Phainon had told Mydei not to look for him and be a little more lowkey, Mydei had no choice but to keep himself hidden upstairs.

Seeing Phainon pressed to close to Caelus, Mydei's heart filled with envy, but he couldn't tell Phainon how he felt. He could only use his terminal to take pictures of Phainon training.

Though nobody could talk about how Mydei got down on one knee online, everyone pretty much understood what had happened, and their attitudes towards Phainon changed greatly. Instead of their previous disdain, they would avoid him if they saw him from a distance, like he was a landmine that would explode with the slightest touch.

Although Phainon found it a bit weird, it was fine as long as it was convenient for him. In any case, their attitudes wouldn't affect him at all.

Phainon attended classes in the morning and trained in his free time. At night, he fought in the virtual mecha competition. A dozen days passed as such, and his body was finally much stronger than before... Still, "much stronger" was only relative to his previous strength. After all, omegas were born with limited physical strength. Even if he was impressive, he couldn't train himself up to an alpha's level.

Phainon's goal was to achieve the strength of a beta.

And in the virtual world, Prince Latiao had finally succeeded in making it to the top hundred in the virtual mecha competition. It was enough to enter the finals that would be beginning soon.

Phainon didn't know how many matches he had fought. He encountered terrifying opponents several times.

But they were only terrifying to other people. To Phainon, they weren't very strong, and after several days of combat, Phainon's strength increased rapidly. He was solidly undefeated.

Unwittingly, the number of Prince Latiao's fans skyrocketed. There were many crazy fanboys and fangirls who would praise Prince Latiao madly at all kinds of different places. There were even people who claimed that Prince Latiao's strength was already in the top ten, and that as long as he was given time, he would certainly be able to take first prize.

Because of his fans' words, fans of other competitors were indignant. They would begin to argue time and time again. But even if they slandered Prince Latiao, they could only attack his name and the ads on his mecha. They didn't have the nerve to slander Prince Latiao's strength. After all, Prince Latiao's strength was obvious to anyone with eyes.

Everyone asked Prince Latiao to get a social account for publicity, but Phainon felt that it would expose his identity, so he didn't show any signs of making one.

During this period of time, Prince Latiao's ad-filled mecha actually became a new trend. Many young people stamped a mess of words on their own mechas, feeling very stylish.

The first person to imitate him was actually Mydeimos.

Once, Phainon went to watch one of Mydei's matches. When he sat into the stands and saw Mydei's mecha, he nearly spat out a mouthful of blood.

The kinds of mechas that Mydei piloted were all stylish and bougie. They all made him seem extremely rich and cool.

But now, although he was still using expensive mechas, his coolness was completely gone. There were a bunch of words printed on his mecha, and looking carefully they were all, shockingly enough, Prince Latiao's name... Mydei even had a design of Phainon's mecha stamped on his mecha...

This was no longer at the level of someone without a sense of beauty. It was simply offending the eye. It was terrible to look at. It was as hair-raising as a brainless fan's work.

No... Mydeimos was a crazy fanboy to begin with.

It was the first time, Phainon, as the person printed on Mydei's mecha, felt so ashamed of his nickname...

And he finally realized how hideous his own mecha was when he piloted it out. Even so, Phainon wouldn't change!

The surrounding crowd was actually used to the terrible style of Mydei's mecha. Phainon had to ask around a bit before he found out that Mydeimos was actually the president of Prince Latiao's fanclub. He was the one who started many trends.

Phainon: "..." In some ways, Mydei was really terrifying.

Because Mydei didn't choose to hide his identity, the view of the inside of his cockpit was projected directly onto the screen in the middle of the arena.

Everyone could see clearly that Mydei was wearing a school uniform. His handsome face was cold and he looked at his opponent carelessly, as though he didn't take his opponent seriously at all.

His opponent was infuriated by Mydei's gaze instantly. He pulled out his weapon, rushing him furiously.

"Too weak." Mydei shook his head, but he thought of Phainon. "If it was that person, his movements wouldn't be so slow." After fighting with Phainon, these people's strength was nothing to him. "If it was that person, he would already be in front of me..."

Mydei's mind was filled with the scene of Phainon teaching him. He didn't have any patience for the fight before his eyes and stabbed through his opponent's cockpit without the slightest hesitation.

"Fighting with people like this is simply a waste of my time," Mydei thought coldly.

Phainon almost felt like he couldn't recognize that this was the same Mydei that had been following him recently. After all, the way Mydei acted with him was too different from the way he acted with other people.

When the match ended, the two of them met up in front of Mydei's house.

"I saw your match just now," Phainon said.

Mydei was stunned. His turned his face shyly. He said gruffly, "I... Just now I didn't even perform very well. You actually saw such a failure..."

"It's okay, I think you're great," Phainon said. "You were really cool when you were fighting, your opponent couldn't match up to you at all."

Phainon really felt that way. Besides, in the original novel, Mydei was truly strong. Moreover, he was currently even more powerful than Khaslana... He rescued Phainon who nearly had to go have Khaslana as his capture target.

Mydei froze. He felt like something had struck him right in the heart.

He had been praised by Phainon. Mydei felt like there would never be another moment so happy again. He didn't react for a long time, his deep green eyes filled with joy. He looked at Phainon earnestly. "Thank you very much. That you approve of me... I'm incredibly happy."

He was so happy that he would rather this moment never ended.

After he logged off, Mydei opened his eyes within the nutrient cabin.

The room that was once bare and plain, now had pictures pasted all over the walls. The person in every one of the pictures was, naturally, Phainon.

The pictures were all pictures that Mydei had taken of Phainon behind his back recently. He had taken so many, but he couldn't bear to delete any of them.

Mydei crawled out of the nutrient cabin and walked over to the wall. There was a live-size picture of Phainon. It was as though he was really there.

Mydei reached out and pressed his hand to where Phainon's hand was. He rested his forehead against the wall, his eyes full of infatuation.

In the next moment, he caught sight of Caelus in the corner of the picture.

"There's always some people in the way who shouldn't exist..." His eyes turned as cold as ice. "It's obvious that having me alone at his side is enough. There's no need for anyone extra."

---

A few days later, the finals of the virtual mecha competition began.

The finals were different from the preliminary competitions. It was no longer a point system. Instead, everyone was divided into ten groups, and within the groups everyone would fight with each other to select the best results. In the end, the ten remaining people would enter the real finals.

At this point, every contestant would earn five percent of the earnings from ticket to their matches. Though the people at this ranking typically didn't value that little bit of money, it was still a symbol of glory.

Phainon felt great emotion for the officials' sense. Although he was already a wealthy man with a million empire coins, this little bit of money was nothing on the capital planet.

If he didn't have this many opponents, Phainon would wish that he could fight a dozen matches every day.

But Mydei gave up on the chance to participate in the finals. Recently, he had less and less interest in fighting with these people. He might as well say that other than fighting with Phainon, everything was dull.

Mydei felt that rather than wasting his time on the competition, he should just take the time to watch Phainon compete and let himself get a bit more excited.

Of course, it would be worth celebrating if he got to fight Phainon in the finals, but Mydei didn't want to become an obstacle in Phainon's path forward. Even if it was unlikely to be in the same group was small, he wasn't willing to take that chance.

All contestants were required to attend the opening ceremony of the finals. Normally, many contestants who never appeared in public would show their true faces. After all, this was something honorable.

Of course, if they didn't want to reveal themselves they could put on a mosaic.

Phainon really, really wanted to show off in front of so many people, but he absolutely couldn't reveal his identity, so he had to reluctantly put on a mosaic, feeling like the entire world had turned gloomy.

Everyone was disappointed. They had thought that they could see Prince Latiao's real face. They started guessing why Prince Latiao was hiding his identity.

What the people of the empire prized the most was strength. Even if someone was ugly, everyone would accept it. Out of the people who entered the finals, there were several unattractive contestants, but they still had plenty of fans.

So there weren't many people who guessed that Prince Latiao had a mosaic to hide his face. Most people thought that he had an identity that he couldn't publicize, like being a noble or a member of the imperial family or something.

But Khaslana felt that it was about time, and revealed his own face at the finals.

Immediately, the crowd began to stir. Nobody had expected God Time to be such a handsome man. His every smile had an effect on their hearts.

If he was strong, fine, but being strong and being so attractive, and being so attractive while still being so young, this was hard to come by! Khaslana quickly gained a sizable number of fans.

At the empire's military institute, the students were also stupefied. The people at the school would naturally pay attention to the virtual mecha competition, and they all had their own favored contestants. Because of his broken techniques, God Time had naturally gained many of them as fans.

Now that everyone knew Khaslana was actually the legendary God Time, they were completely and utterly stunned.

Those who didn't get how Khaslana became close friends with Mydeimos suddenly understood. They must have met at a match... Damn it! They wanted to be God Time's bro too!

When Phainon went to school the next day, he spotted Khaslana in the middle of a crowd. Everyone was staring at him with admiration, asking for autographs one after another and lavishing praise on him.

But Khaslana's expression was as calm as always. He looked at everyone with a slight smile. "Guys, there's no need to hurry. Let's take it slow. I'll sign an autograph for everyone. I just got lucky, I'm not that strong. There's no need to care so much about me either."

His gentle manner allowed many of them to sink into the trap. With the addition of Khaslana's protagonist halo, he gained several people who were willing to act as his underlings in seconds.

But when Phainon walked over, everyone's gazes turned strange. Everyone knew that after Phainon first jeered at Khaslana there was no way for him to come back out with his head held high, but Phainon went straight to give them a slap in their faces.

But in the few days before at the combat training lesson, Phainon won over Khaslana with sheer dumb luck. Although the process was amusing, it wouldn't change the result of the victory.

When they thought about how this useless beta had managed to use such a reason to be victorious over their amazing God Time, everyone's mood turned complicated.

Someone who could enter the finals of the virtual mecha competition wasn't a normal person. There were numerous strong people vying for a spot. Moreover, Khaslana was just a student. It was easy to imagine his bright future.

After a short internal struggle, nobody could be bothered to pay attention to Phainon. They continued to praise Khaslana. Who had the time to care about a passerby? It was more important to build a good relationship with Khaslana, who seemed easy to talk to.

But Mydei was hidden away, watching them ignore Phainon as such. His fingers were practically digging into the post. When the surroundings cleared of people, he finally rushed down to Phainon. "Don't bother with those people. They don't have an eye for talent. To me, you're the most amazing."

"I don't care, but shouldn't you go congratulate Khaslana a little?" Phainon said. "Recently I think you and Khaslana haven't been spending as much time together."

Mydei looked as though he had just realized something. "Oh, I've always been paying attention to you recently. I forgot about communicating with him for a while."

Mydei spent most of his time salivating over Phainon's videos and pictures. Where would he find the time to go talk with Khaslana?

Phainon was stunned. "!" Hey, is this really no big deal?

---

In the most central region of the capital planet, Anaxagoras was sitting next to the window, his head lowered and his eyes focused on the papers on Prince Latiao that he was holding.

After an investigation by his subordinates, while the materials on Prince Latiao were significantly greater than before, there was still nothing on his true identity. They could only get reports about his mecha piloting habits, what kind of ads he liked (...), and all kinds of completely useless things.

When he thought about how his little brother had actually come out of the closet on the virtual net a few days ago, and that the person he had come out of the closet for was Prince Latiao, Anaxa felt his head ache.

The duke and duchess were both travelling on other planets, but Anaxa couldn't go back home because of business. He didn't expect that just leaving his little brother alone for a month would give him the chance to make such a big mess. Anaxagoras had no idea how he would face his parents.

Why would his little brother, who didn't take a second glance at anyone lower than him, suddenly fall in love with an alpha of unknown identity? What in the world happened when Anaxa was gone?

Even His Highness the Crown Prince was focused on news about that person... Anaxas suddenly had a thought. His own little brother wouldn't become His Highness the Crown Prince's enemy by accident, would he?

No, it was impossible. Even if His Highness the Crown Prince paid more attention to Prince Latiao recently, how could anyone like someone who didn't even show his face? He must be thinking too much.

After he finished thinking, Anaxa furrowed his eyebrows and looked down at his hands. "You can only find this much? Who in the world is this Prince Latiao? There are even such open permissions. It can't be that even the central computer can't find him?"

"We have no way to search the central computer or find the details of his location," the subordinate bent on one knee at the side said hurriedly. "But we finally did everything possible and locked onto his approximate location. This shouldn't be wrong."

"Oh? Go ahead and say it." Anaxa raised an eyebrow, looking over.

"Prince Latiao's location is exactly in the direction of the capital planet's academic district. But we couldn't find any more details," the subordinate said.

"Very good, he's actually over there... That Prince Latiao must be a student here." Anaxagoras glanced in the direction of the academic district. "There are only a few schools there. Finding one person is still so difficult?"

When he thought about his little brother, who was still in the academic district, Anaxagoras suddenly realized that Prince Latiao might have connections with his little brother in reality.

"It looks like I need to make a trip personally."

Chapter Text

After Khaslana's identity was revealed, the way he was treated at school changed immediately. He had many more followers and there were even several retired teachers who came looking for Khaslana to give him extra lessons.

Back in the day, these teachers were heroes of the battlefield. They would treat even princes with cool attitudes, but the way Khaslana made his way into the finals using an outdated mecha spurred them into action. And when the school learned of Khaslana's family circumstances, they immediately exempted him from the high tuition fees and even gave Khaslana the highest scholarship... Although Khaslana wasn't impoverished anymore.

Though Phainon changed the plot quite a bit after arriving and caused two of the important people in the original novel to be less fervent around Khaslana compared to the original plotline, the story still continued to develop along its original path.

On website in the virtual world, the hottest topic was how the real face behind God Time was a shockingly handsome man. Khaslana was basically the man of the hour in both reality and in the virtual world.

Under these circumstances, as someone who had never been close to Khaslana, Phainon's situation was getting dangerous.

Phainon even thought that Khaslana would target him on purpose. He didn't expect that Khaslana would act as though he had forgotten the enmity between them. When they met, he would say a proper hello. He didn't mock Phainon for what had happened in the past, either.

Thus everyone applauded Khaslana for his benevolence. He could even forgive someone who had mocked him so easily.

In contrast, Phainon felt even more uneasy. "..." Khaslana just wasn't the kind of guy who could forget grievances so easily, okay? He was definitely brewing up some big move.

And there was another thing that made Phainon feel a bit conflicted. Recently, whenever he was training, he would suddenly get dizzy. Several times, he had nearly fallen down because of his vertigo. The nape of his neck would often start feeling hot.

Phainon hadn't thought much about it at first. But once when Mydei sat at his side, he leaned in unconsciously, his voice casual and low. "Your scent smells so fragrant..." Phainon was suddenly shocked to his senses. He was so shocked that he shot to his feet.

With what he remembered of this scary ABO novel's setting, the nape was where an omega's scent gland was, fuck! And Mydeimos was an alpha. This was very bad, very very bad.

Mydei realized what was happening. He immediately apologized. "I truly apologize; I've been offensive to you."

"It's nothing." Phainon waved a hand, but he felt a bit uncomfortable Could it be that his omega inhibitors were starting to lose effect...

Although he hadn't been bitten by an alpha or anything, pushing his limits with training every day might have affected his inhibitors...

[Host is exactly right. The omega inhibitors you've been using have indeed been slowly losing efficacy. At most, after a week, the effect will completely disappear.]

This time the problem is terrible, okay!!

As soon as he imagined what it would be like if his status as an omega was revealed to the school, Phainon felt uncomfortable all over. Being expelled from school was just a small thing. Being discovered by Caelus was the scariest thing. Caelus would definitely feel like he got cheated and retaliate against him in fury.

Phainon immediately got ready to ask for leave and go home for a few days to ask the original host's mother and father how he should fix it.

Meanwhile, Anaxagoras pretty much understood what his little brother had been doing these last few days.

"The teenager he captured has been staying at our house as a servant? Anaxa said disbelievingly. He really couldn't understand what Caelus was thinking. Based on his understanding of Caelus, it was already pretty good if he didn't beat someone he didn't like half to death. He had actually let the other person stay at home for days?

Although he was called a servant, with the other party's background, it was something good, not a punishment.

"No... I have to investigate this person." Anaxa felt there must be something he hadn't noticed.

His subordinate quickly sent Phainon's information over.

The first half of the files were very standard. In summary, he was a beta from an impoverished noble family and managed to get in the institute with the help of some connections. He drifted through his school days, and even taunted Khaslana.

But in the second half, things suddenly began to change. This male beta had shockingly been expelled because he peeped in the male baths (in all his years of life, it was Anaxa's first time hearing of such a reason for being expelled), but he later returned to school with the help of Caelus. After that, he sucked up to the crown prince's younger cousin Mydeimos, and even defeated Khaslana in the mecha battlefield.

"He was able to defeat the Khaslana? He's just a beta. How in the world did he do it?" Anaxa was stunned. He immediately began to think about whether Phainon might be Prince Latiao in the virtual world.

Anaxa pulled up the video from the mecha combat lesson to take a look.

Back then, all of the people in the crowd were just students. They didn't notice the details of the battle. On top of that, they didn't have much of an eye for things, so naturally they couldn't see the truth. But Anaxa saw the issue acutely.

"In the first half, his performance was absolutely disappointing, but in the middle he suddenly changed. Even his dodging became smoother, and he managed to win like this... Could it be that this Phainon person and Prince Latiao have some relation?"

After he returned home, Caelus and Phainon spotted Anaxagoras sitting in the living room. Caelus's expression changed immediately. When he thought about the dumb shit he had been doing recently, he obediently called, "Gege."

Anaxa clearly looked like he wanted to teach his brother a lesson. "So you still remember I'm your brother?"

Phainon was shocked. He didn't expect he would be able to see Anaxa. He thought that this house was just Caelus's. Phainon started thinking about how to explain being a manservant to Anaxa. Finally, he decided it was too much of a hassle. He stood behind Caelus, playing dead.

"You must be Phainon?" Anaxa turned to look at him.

Phainon was given a shock. He nodded quickly. "Yes, I'm Phainon."

In the original novel, although Anaxagoras was good-tempered and didn't have as much attack power as the other characters, for better or worse he was still the heir of the duke's title, and he absolutely wasn't as easy to get along with as he seemed on the surface. In fact, he was incredibly two-faced.

In comparison, while Caelus was a bit more cocky and would curse someone out at the drop of a hat or capture someone to give them a whipping over a disagreement, for better or worse he was easy to understand. Phainon could feel more at ease with him.

"It's really been hard on you to take care of our family’s Caelus so far," Anaxa said. "I'll have to trouble you to continue taking care of him in the future."

"I don't need anyone to take care of me," Caelus said.

Phainon hurriedly nodded. He saw that they both looked like they wanted to say something. "If there's nothing else, I'll leave first."

Caelus snorted. "If you're going, go quickly. Don't forget to come back down for dinner."

Phainon rushed upstairs. The two brothers went to the study to converse.

"Ge, how come you came back so quickly?" Caelus said uncertainly. "Didn't you say you'd be gone for a year?"

"I came back because something happened. It's lucky I came back, or who knows what kind of mess you'd kick up." Anaxa said coolly. "What's between you and Phainon? Why did you decide to let him stay?"

Caelus's expression didn't change. He said, "He offended me, so to compensate I had him stay for a bit as a servant."

Anaxa said, "Then how long will he work?"

"I haven't decided," Caelus said very calmly.

"..." Anaxa rested his forehead in his hands. He said, "Don't you hate betas? What is it about this beta that makes you see him in a different light?"

Caelus thought for a long time, then said, "Maybe it's because he's got more sense. I feel like he's better than other betas."

Anaxa was also wondering why his little brother didn't get beaten to death. "...Why did you confess to Prince Latiao online? Do you know how much of a hassle this brought our family?"

Because of it, there weren't many people who would get close to Anaxagoras recently. After all, everyone thought that since the younger brother was a gay who liked alphas, the older brother might just have the same problem. It made things indescribably difficult for Anaxa.

"Because I like him," Caelus said without the slightest hesitation. Although he secretly knew Prince Latiao was an omega, he wouldn't say it.

"Alright. In fact, I don't want to bother with managing you." Anaxa's head was beginning to ache. "But do you know what he really looks like? Does it matter if he's a big, tall, muscular man or if he's an old man?"

"Of course he won't look like that!" Caelus said huffily. "My future partner's very normal!"

"Are you saying you've already met him in reality?" Anaxa's voice suddenly turned cold. "Like Phainon from just now. What's his relationship with Prince Latiao?"

"Impossible." Caelus was stunned for a moment. "Ge, don't joke around. How could Phainon have any relationship with Prince Latiao? They probably haven't even met."

"Then how did he win against Khaslana? You're Khaslana's fan, you should be very clear about his strength, right?" Anaxa looked straight at Caelus. He said, "Are you hiding something from me?"

"No, of course not," Caelus said. "Phainon just got lucky. Normally, he isn't that strong..."

Despite what he said, Caelus felt a bit strange. Things really were like that. Even if Phainon got even luckier, it was too much of a coincidence...

"You've realized yourself that there's something strange, haven't you?" Anaxa studied Caelus's expression. He said slowly, "In that case, use your own eyes and take a look. I'm not saying that Phainon and Prince Latiao definitely have some relationship, but he definitely isn't as useless as he seems. Don't have too much faith in other people."

Caelus couldn't even retort. He thought back to the things that he had discovered, and it seemed that he really had overlooked some things. And the thing that confused him the most was that stuff with Mydeimos. Something he didn't know about must have happened between them.

Caelus gritted his teeth. "I'll look over it carefully. I'll see what exactly he's hiding from me."

Phainon took leave easily. After all, he was just a manservant, not selling his body. Of course there would be no problem going back home to see his parents. And Phainon didn't even need to pack his luggage. He went straight to the port to take an airship back home.

As an impoverished noble family, Phainon's family naturally didn't live in the capital planet. They lived in another planet in the same galaxy. There was an airship that left for that planet at the same time every day. It only took a few hours there and back, and it was incredibly convenient.

When he arrived at the gate, Phainon ran into Mydei, who had been waiting inside for a long time.

"Why would you be here?" Phainon was given a shock. How did Mydei know he was leaving? He didn't say a thing.

"I was worried about letting you leave alone," Mydei said, "so I bought my own ticket and came. I truly apologize."

Phainon said, "But don't you still need to go to class?"

"There's no need for something like that. I already took leave," Mydei said calmly. "Compared to being in class, I would rather go with you. If something happens, I'll be able to help immediately."

Phainon didn't feel any need to turn him down, so he said, "Okay then. You can just come along..." It was nice for Mydei to be with him. If something happened and he couldn't go online, he could still accomplish his daily task."

Before Mydei arrived, he bought a ticket for the best room in the highest grade airship. Phainon was originally planning to squeeze into some random airship. Now that he saw there was such a good seat, he went straight to get his original ticket refunded.

After getting on the airship, the two of them waited in the room. After all, Mydei had spent a good sum of money. It was incredibly comfortable and there was even a view out the window and a meal provided.

When the flight was half over, Phainon needed to use the bathroom. When he walked out and opened the door to the hallway, he crashed straight into a teenager.

The teenager had blonde hair pale enough to be white and a delicate, pretty face. His looks could put anyone at ease, but his current expression was horrible. When he ran into Phainon, he fell straight down.

Phainon: "!" He just wanted to use the bathroom, why did he encounter this kind of situation?

And he didn't look like a normal person either. Of course... how could someone who could afford a VIP seat in an airship be a normal person. If he was some amazing noble, if something happened he wouldn't be able to pay for it even if he sold himself.

Phainon panicked. He bent over to see how he was doing.

But he saw the teenager frown. His forehead was full of cold sweat. He looked like he in a rough state.

"Crap, his situation looks really serious." Phainon didn't think he was doing very well, and remembered the ability he hadn't used for a long time. He gritted his teeth. "Well, we're all humans here. Nothing will happen if I use it."

The Zerg from the last world had really set him up.

Phainon grabbed the teenager's hand, sending his ability into his body.

The teenager who had been frowning immediately relaxed. His bloodless face slowly regained its color-but it didn't stop there. His cheeks gradually flushed red, and his body began to grow hot. He unconsciously nuzzled Phainon from inside his arms.

Phainon: "...?!" The fuck, why did this person get so excited after a little bit of healing?!

[The answer is simple. It's because the other person isn't human, or rather he isn't fully human.]

It was just a moment, but Phainon remembered that this novel still had Zerg as the villains in the middle.

The Zerg in this novel were much more dangerous than the Zerg in the previous world. There were many Zerg who pretended to be humans and mixed into society, and they had masked themselves for several years already. There were many who even married humans and had children. Plenty of Zerg hid even on the capital planet.

In the original novel, these Zerg were the same people who began to attack humans madly. Khaslana fought his hardest and was finally able to rescue everyone. His reputation rose another level. But the crown prince Nanook did nothing, so he lost much of the people's support.

It was totally unrealistic. Even if Nanooks really didn't do anything, he would find a couple of people to come and praise himself, alright? In any case, there wouldn't be anyone who would go investigate whether the crown prince really didn't do anything.

At first, Phainon felt that the villain was very far from him, but now he had discovered that the Zerg was right at his side.

But Phainon couldn't say anything about the Zerg, because with the progression of the original novel, humans hadn't discovered anything about it. If he said it aloud, it would be a spoiler. The world consciousness would obliterate him.

He spotted the Zerg teenager stirring on the ground. Phainon propped him right against the wall, running back to his room.

Anyway, he would just pretend nothing had happened.

As for what the Zerg in heat would do, Phainon wouldn't bother with it.

After a few hours on the airship, they finally arrived.

Now that Phainon thought about it, it was his first time going home after transmigrating into this world for so long.

Although his family was already poor, for better or worse they were a noble family. They still had their ancestral home located in a planet in the outskirts of the capital. Housing was much cheaper too.

Mydei had no idea what had happened during the flight. He followed after Phainon like an obedient daughter-in-law, looking shy.

When Phainon pushed open the door, he finally saw his body's parents.

People of the future had long lifespans, and they aged slowly. The original host's parents looked quite young. It actually felt very strange. These two people looked very different from Phainon's real parents, but when he first saw them he felt very close to them.

It was probably the original body's pre-installed feelings.

Hieronymus and Audata were both people who doted on their child. Since their child had been away for so long, when they saw Phainon they pulled him over to look over him carefully, insisting that Phainon had gotten too thin. In fact, after eating well and drinking well and training for several days, Phainon's body was in much better condition than before.

Then Hieronymus saw Mydeimos behind him. "And this is...?"

Because he was meeting Phainon's parents today, Mydei was wearing extremely formal clothes. Combined with his bearing and his incredibly attractive face, it was obvious at a glance that he wasn't a normal person.

"Hello, Aunt, Uncle, I-I'm..." Mydei was extremely nervous. When he was facing His Majesty the Emperor he was completely calm, but in front of Phainon's parents, he couldn't even speak.

"This is my friend Mydeimos. He goes to the same school as me. Since he was worried about me traveling by myself, he came along." Phainon didn't mention Mydei's status at all, feeling it would be bothersome to mention.

"Oh, our child has such a good friend! It's such a surprise." Audata looked at Mydei with great emotion. She had a maidservant bring him to put his things down in the guest room. Although they weren't wealthy, there were still several maidservants. For the most part, they were beta girls from some poor families in the area.

At night, the four of them ate together at a restaurant.

Audata asked Mydei about how Phainon was doing at school. As soon as they started talking about Phainon, the shy Mydei turned fervent. Although his face was calm, anyone could tell how excited he was almost as if there was a glow surrounding him. He kept praising Phainon, making Phainon seem like the most amazing student in the school.

Phainon listened to their conversation, feeling embarrassed. He didn't know what exactly Mydei was saying.

But which parent didn't like hearing their child being praised? They liked Mydei more and more, so much that Phainon suspected they were looking at their daughter-in-law... Phainon quickly banished the thought from his mind.

Soon, Audata asked Phainon about what had happened recently. She had been horrified to find out that he had been expelled, then he had gone back. What exactly had happened?

Phainon remembered how awkward the situation was when he had been expelled and avoided the topic, turning the subject onto a better direction and completely skipping over how Caelus had him whipped. He said that he had been rescued by the kind-hearted Caelus.

Mydei's mood sank as he listened.

"Oh, that's the child of the duke. He has so much compassion." Audata was moved. "We have to make sure to go thank him."

Phainon said hastily, "There's no need, I'm still at Caelus's house as a servant..."

Normally being a servant was embarrassing, but it was being a duke's servant. Someone could even brag about it. Audata and Hieronymus looked honored. Mydei felt even more uncomfortable. A scumbag like Caelus was able to make Phainon's parents regard him so highly. Mydei had to work hard too. But he had already promised Phainon not to reveal his identity. Mydei prepared to fight from a different front.

Late at night, after Mydei went to sleep, Audata and Hieronymus called Phainon in and they began to discuss serious matters in another room. Phainon went straight to the main topic, his expression ugly. The omega inhibitors he was using seemed like they were about to be ineffective.

Hieronymus's expression sank. "God, these inhibitors are technically banned. When we bought them, they told us they weren't stable. It's already lucky that you could use them for so many years."

Audata sighed, wiping her tears. "If I wasn't so useless, you wouldn't have to endure such hardships. You could be just like other omegas, growing up well at home and marrying and having children. It wouldn't be like this, acting like a beta all the time."

Phainon said quickly, "You guys don't need to be sad. I think it's great this way." If he really married and had children like a normal omega he would be peeing his pants in fear, okay?

"We were too paranoid in the past. Thinking about it now, the title of duke isn't worth anything much. Why don't you quit school and come back?" Hieronymus muttered to himself. "Other omegas around your age are already starting to look at partners. It's not too late for you. It just so happens that I've been paying attention to unmarried alphas."

"Right, and that Mydeimos who came with you this time is pretty good. He looks like he cares about our little Phainon a lot."

Wait, the reason he came back was to continue suppressing it, not to get hurried into a marriage! It absolutely wasn't to let his parents take a look at Mydei!

If they really had Phainon go on arranged blind dates, he might as well kill himself.

"I've grown up as a beta, I don't want to be an omega anymore either." Phainon gritted his teeth. "And I always helped out at the duke's house as a beta. If Caelus discovers that I was deceiving him, he definitely won't spare me."

If the first part could be considered a child not seeing eye-to-eye with his parents and ignoring their words, the second half was a critical blow. After all, that was the duke.

Hieronymus and Audata were confronted with reality. They quickly abandoned the idea of having Phainon come home for blind dates and went to inquire about how they could continue using the inhibitors.

Phainon let out a breath of relief. He didn't expect that he would use Caelus as an excuse one day.

After he returned to his room, Phainon got in bed and went to sleep. There was only one match a day in the virtual mecha competition. There were still several days before it was his turn to fight, so he would just take the chance to rest up and recharge.

When he woke up the next day, Phainon crawled out of bed lazily, yawning as he went downstairs. He spotted Mydei wearing an apron, a plate in his hands. His face was impassive but the faint blush on his ear gave away his embarrassment.

Phainon was so shocked his jaw nearly fell off. "....?!"

Audata beamed, coming to Phainon to say, "What a good kid. He woke up early to help out and even asked about what you like to eat and made a big breakfast... This is my very first time seeing an alpha that knows how to cook."

Mydei looked embarrassment. "This isn't anything much, I made too little."

"Oh, child, you're too modest. Our Little Phainon's only ever known how to play around. I don't even know if he studied properly at school."

As soon as she mentioned Phainon, Mydei turned serious. Unexpectedly, he began to explain to Audata how Phainon hadn't been playing around and just how serious and inspiring he was. All the praises he sang yesterday were being repeated.

The more Audata listened, the happier she got. If it wasn't for what Phainon had said yesterday, she would have promised Phainon to Mydei then and there.

Phainon sank into a sea of fear. "..." Fuck, how did he not know that Mydei was so good at sucking up to people's parents.

The way Audata and Hieronymus looked at Mydei was already like the gaze they would use to look at a son-in-law. Luckily Mydei didn't know that Phainon was an omega, so he didn't notice there was anything wrong. He just thought that Phainon's parents were very kind.

After they finished eating, Mydei dashed to the kitchen to deliberate what to make for lunch... Such kindness was terrifying.

Besides, based on what was in the original novel, Mydei was still a young master who had never even touched impure water, these skills came late in life. Could it be that he had practiced these skills out of his own will, wanting to be Phainon's follower? ...Phainon suddenly felt a bit confused, still feeling that there was something weird about how Mydei was working hard.

Phainon simply came back to his room. The three of them continued to discuss yesterday's topic, their expressions serious.

Hieronymus sighed. "I went and asked. The inhibitors we bought back then can only be used once. If they're used a second time, it will cause severe harm to the body. It might cause you to be infertile for the rest of your life, so we can't use it a second time."

Phainon: "..." Fuck, that's awesome, that harm is great!

But Phainon thought it over some more and realized that it might cause his physical ability to be even worse. If he took it, he might not be able to pilot a mecha for even three minutes. He quickly tossed this method aside.

"And if we want to buy it, we might not even be able to get it." As he spoke, Hieronymus pulled out a bottle. "Luckily, in the beginning I thought there might be an accident, so I bought a bottle of medicine. This medicine can temporarily suppress an omega's scent. One pill can probably last for a week..."

Phainon took the bottle, relaxing. It would be enough to last for a few months. If the plot went ahead as it should, his identity wouldn't be revealed before he left this world.

Immediately, Audata sighed, putting a hand on Phainon's shoulder. "When you finish this medicine, why don't you come home like a good child? We'll just leave this galaxy. Even a duke won't know anything's wrong... Let's start anew."

"Okay..." Phainon nodded, feeling a bit sorrowful. They didn't know that the original host had already died a long time ago, and when he finished his task he would leave this world.

Luckily Phainon still had his healing ability. He planned to use it to heal Audata and let them have another child. In the future, they would slowly forget the pain of their first child.

At that moment, there was a sudden noise from the door.

Phainon's heart turned to ice. He rushed forward to push open the door, but he crashed into Mydei, who was in a trance. The tray he was holding fell to the ground, the snacks on it flying everywhere. He must have been about to bring in the snacks, but by coincidence he heard what they were saying.

While he was in side, Phainon had thought of plenty of dramatic soap opera plotlines that were always burst to pieces by other people, he didn't expect that something like this would really happen to him.

"Did you hear everything we just said?"

Chapter Text

If he didn't still have his task to do, Phainon would have gone straight for the throat to silence him.

Mydei said, "Yes, I heard everything."

After his shock, Mydei went calm. He finally understood why Phainon had always hidden his identity. It was because Phainon was actually an omega. He couldn't be too flamboyant or he would draw all kinds of troubles.

After he understood, Mydei admired Phainon even more. As an omega, he could actually make it so far. He was even more amazing than an alpha.

Only someone like his idol could achieve a level that even alphas couldn't attain as an omega.

As a fanboy, he had to be biased towards his idol no matter what.

Mydei immediately said, "No matter what happens, my way of thinking won't change. I absolutely won't say anything about this."

Phainon sighed. He said, "The reason I never told you this isn't because I didn't trust you. It's just that if this gets out it'll be big trouble... Do you really not care? An alpha being the one to woo an omega... It's just ridiculous, isn't it?"

In this world, there were a ton of alphas who looked down on omegas. They thought omegas could only stay at home, taking care of children... For some people, as soon as they knew their genders, even if they were close before, their attitudes would change.

Of course, Phainon didn't have any prior experience with something like that. Everything he said was just based on his impression of the original novel. After all, in the original novel, omegas were really just pretty, useless flower vases.

"No, you are you. Even if you're an omega, my desire to woo you hasn't changed at all." As though he was afraid Phainon wouldn't believe him, he got down on one knee, looking into Phainon's eyes. "Gender or anything like that wouldn't affect anything. My intentions will never change."

The first time Phainon saw Mydei get on one knee, he was scared silly, but now he felt a bit used to it. But the previous two times were both when Mydei didn't know his gender. Now that he knew his real gender, it was obvious what Mydei thought about the situation.

When he saw Phainon hesitate, Mydei bit his lip. Internally, he knew that if he answered wrong, Phainon might not have the same faith in him anymore. His mind flew into a panic. He grabbed Phainon's hand.

"I'm willing to sign a contract. If I say anything about this, I'll never fight with a mecha again... If I do this, might you be able to believe me?"

Phainon was stunned. After all, Mydei had such a high status. Phainon himself had suspected that he had simply been humiliating Mydei... But Mydei was even willing to make such a concession. If Phainon was Mydei, he would have walked away without looking back.

He knew very clearly what mechas meant to Mydei. Being, shockingly enough, willing to write such a contract... It was enough to see how resolute Mydei was.

In that moment, Phainon felt a bit emotional, though his emotion was worth absolutely nothing.

Mydei was perfectly happy to do it. Ever since he met Phainon, he felt more and more like he had found the goal he was chasing after. If he couldn't stay at Phainon's side anymore, he would feel terror in the depths of his heart.

Compared to Phainon, even if he used to like mechas, they were incredibly boring now... If his opponent wasn't Phainon, even if he could continue piloting mechas, he couldn't feel happy at all.

"I believe you." Phainon inhaled deeply. "Let's pretend nothing happened at all and just go about our lives normally when we go back to school."

In any case, even if Phainon was still a bit skeptical, he couldn't really beat Mydei to death... It was really a hopeless situation.

"Alright." Mydei's eyes gleamed. He said, "Then I'll continue preparing snacks for you."

Phainon: "...!" Hey, is it really okay to have such wifely virtue!

---

And so things were resolved as such. After all, education was very important. That afternoon, the two of them got on the airship, returning to the capital planet. On their trip, there weren't any accidents like what had happened on the way out of the capital.

Phainon felt he had been a bit mean. He just tossed a Zerg in heat outside. If that person was really crazy in heat, he might have even been seized by police.

Still, Phainon hadn't heard anything about a youth assaulting someone on an airship. It should be all fine.

Soon, Phainon and Mydei separated. Mydei's worry was obvious, but he didn't say anything.

When Phainon went back to Caelus's house, he discovered that Anaxagoras had already left. Phainon let out a breath of relief. He wasn't really used to a character like Anaxagoras. He always felt like he was being seen through.

Although he hadn't done anything to feel guilty about, either.

Caelus was reclining on the sofa, his ash gray hair like a Grey Catbird's feathers, his almond-shaped eyes fixed on Phainon. His elegant facial features were full of arrogance.

Phainon sighed emotionally. Despite his terrible temper, Caelus was extremely attractive.

"You were gone for a long time. Weren't you just going home for a bit? There was nothing big happening." Caelus was fuming. "Do you know how much trouble you caused me being away these days?"

Wasn't the only thing missing someone to feed you at lunch! Can't you get used to eating by yourself!

"It was all my fault, I'm truly sorry." Phainon knew how to deal with Caelus. Anyway, he could think about whether it was really his fault after he apologized... And with the system's plug-in, Phainon's apology sounded extremely sincere.

"Hmph." As expected, Caelus didn't spit out anymore venom. He just said, "I've been training hard recently, I think I've gotten much stronger. Do you think if I participate in the upcoming mecha competition I can make it to the finals?"

The mecha competition in reality was much more of a hassle than the mecha competition in the virtual world. Registering alone had many procedures, and it was impossible to completely hide identities like on the virtual net.

Similarly, getting hurt in the competition was a real injury. Of course, these competitions were more prestigious than competitions on the virtual net.

Obviously, Caelus wasn't asking to hear Phainon's opinion. He was looking to hear praise first.

Even more falsely, Phainon praised, "I'm sure that with your abilities you'll definitely be able to make it to the finals. Nobody else can compete with you!"

"Well, of course." Caelus looked satisfied. Suddenly, he added, "Say, aren't you curious about why I'm participating in the mecha competition?"

"Huh?" Phainon was confused. "You need some other reason to participate?"

Though he was very clear about why Caelus wanted to participate, he definitely wouldn't act like he knew

"It's got nothing to do with you. Go away." Caelus looked annoyed.

Phainon: "..." Why the heck did Caelus seem even more bothersome to deal with? Was it because he had fallen in love... Well, it didn't have anything to do with him.

Phainon turned away, making to head up the stairs. Tonight was Prince Latiao's first match in the finals. He still had to get ready properly.

"Wait." Caelus suddenly spoke again. "I'm going to go train today, so don't do anything, just go with me. You look too weak to stand a gust of wind. If you don't train properly, I'll be embarrassed to take you to school."

Phainon: "Oh, um..." Wait, he had an important competition tonight! And Caelus wasn't watching, but was instead going to train? Phainon had the feeling that he might be scheming something bad.

"Don't tell me that you have something tonight and you can't come?" Caelus looked casual.

"Oh, um, I want to watch the mecha competition finals. Isn't Prince Latiao fighting tonight?" Phainon didn't think there was anything worth covering up, so he didn't beat around the bush. "Isn't he the contestant you're cheering for? Aren't you going to watch tonight?"

"Now that I think about it, is there something about Prince Latiao that you know and I don't know?" Caelus said. "After all, I don't really like interacting with people. I'm not very clear about what happens on the virtual net."

I already know you don't have friends...

Phainon bolstered his shamelessness and boasted, "Oh, if it's about that, I'm not too clear about it either, I just think he's amazing. He must be a formidable alpha in reality."

"Mm, exactly. You're right." Caelus thought back to what his brother had said, feeling like he had read into it too much.

Prince Latiao was an omega, and he could tell that Phainon was someone who hadn't met very many omegas before... As for Mydeimos, after he confessed online and became the president of Prince Latiao's fanclub, he must have met Phainon in the fanclub.

Caelus relaxed completely, waving a hand casually. "Then we won't train tonight. Go ahead and leave."

Phainon: "!" Although he didn't know why, he felt like he had missed a very big problem by a hair.

---

The arena for the finals was different than the previous ones. It was several times larger, and the entirety of the match would be broadcasted live. They even had people to commentate.

The seats were filled with onlookers, and there was a clear demarcation between the two sides' fans, seeming diametrically opposed.

Phainon's opponent this time was a contestant who ranked in the top forty. He was a middle-aged man named Rex.

"The contestant on this side is Rex. He's only thirty-seven this year," the host introduced. "This is already his fifth time participating in the mecha competition. I'm sure everyone feels like he's very familiar. In the past, he was only able to advance a single round. Will he achieve victory this time?"

The camera changed to Phainon's side. A big, bulky mecha plastered with all kinds of ads appeared on the screen.

Exactly-in order to get more ads, Phainon had changed to the biggest mecha.

The people who had heard only about Prince Latiao and never seen him in real life were shocked, but Prince Latiao's fans were proud. In their words, "An ordinary person couldn't get so many ads even if they wanted to. This is the symbol of our idol's strength."

"Um..." The hosts had never seen such an impoverished contestant. They were stunned for a moment before they explained, "This is the newcomer, Prince Latiao. Although it's his first time competing, he's shockingly strong. In a short timespan, he fought his way into the finals. Who knows how he'll perform?"

The host had another bout of boasting about the contestants' performances before starting the competition.

Rex looked towards Phainon with disdain. "Though this Prince Latiao's pretty strong, he's just too young. He doesn't have much combat experience, and his movements are choppy... He's far from my level."

Because he didn't have the privacy protection up, his words made it straight onto the screen. In seconds, Prince Latiao's fans were unhappy.

"Hmph." Rex continued, "And who knows what kind of person has so little confidence in their appearance. If you're still hiding your face at this point, I bet you've got some kind of problem."

Of course, he wasn't suddenly taunting him for no reason. He just wanted to rile up his opponent. If his opponent lost his reason, it would be easy to get at his weak points.

Phainon was thinking along the same lines as Rex. As soon as the match started, he maneuvered his mecha to charge forward.

"You can't keep your cool now, huh?" Rex moved to fight back gleefully, but reality was different from what he expected. Although Prince Latiao's movements were choppy, he was faster than he expected. Before his every attack, Prince Latiao had already disappeared.

Forget about aiming for a weak point to seize victory. If it wasn't for Rex's rich experience, he might have been humiliated in a loss right off the bat.

"Dammit, you're just a little brat." Rex gritted his teeth.

They engaged in combat a few more minutes. From Rex's perspective, their strength was about equal, and they were in in a deadlock. For the moment, there was no way to seize victory.

"I didn't expect this brat to be so strong..." Rex was a bit shocked, but he felt even more unhappy. He had worked so hard for years to climb up to his spot. How could he give in to this brat so easily? "But you just got unlucky facing me. You should just come back next year."

Rex had been hiding his true strength from the beginning just so he could erupt now. He attacked fiercely, but Phainon dodged it stubbornly. It looked like Phainon was completely disadvantaged.

But Phainon had done pretty much the same thing. Exactly-he had also hidden his strength from the beginning.

Although Phainon had always stuck to fighting a quick battle, this time there was something unexpected.

When an advertising company was negotiating with Phainon, they said that as long as his match lasted for longer than ten minutes, the compensation would be tripled.

Under the seduction of money, Phainon had been going easy in the beginning without any moral integrity... If Rex knew he might choke on his anger.

To outsiders, their match looked like a thrilling struggle. In fact, Phainon was only using a portion of his spirit to face Rex. He hadn't brought out most of his strength.

Still, it was more strenuous than how he normally fought as he pleased. If it wasn't for the fact that he wanted to maximize the time the audience saw the ads on him in order to get even more ads in the future, Phainon wouldn't do such a thankless job.

If this was the real world, it would be hard to say, but in the virtual world, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that there were few people who could be Phainon's match... After all, based on spiritual strength, these people were who-knows-how-many leagues away from Phainon. The opponent he feared the most was the person with the protagonist halo, Khaslana.

Prince Latiao's fans looked towards the battlefield anxiously. Ever since they had become Prince Latiao's fans, there had never been a battle that took more than ten minutes.

"Why is today's match dragging on for so long? I guess the opponents in the finals really are different," someone said nervously.

"Hmph, I think your Prince Latiao's done for," one of Rex's fans jeered rudely. "That Prince Latiao of yours has just been crushing weaklings. When he's facing an expert as skilled and experienced as Rex, he certainly won't last long before he fails. Hmph."

Many people at the match thought the same. After all, it was more realistic. Some of Prince Latiao's fans were losing hope. They liked the Prince Latiao who could sweep his enemies in one go, but now they had to face with the harsh reality that their idol wasn't the strongest."

Mydei was also watching, but he worried even more. He was afraid that Phainon wasn't at his normal standards because the omega inhibitors had lost their effect.

"It looks like Prince Latiao has really met his match this time," one of the commentators narrated, watching Phainon continuing to dodge. "Although Prince Latiao's strong, Rex has experience with five years of competitors. I don't think Prince Latiao's situation is looking too good."

Just as everyone thought the winner was pretty much decided, the situation suddenly changed.

"Time's up." When Phainon thought of the huge sum of money that would be entering his bank account later, a smile appeared on his face, and he looked up at his opponent. "I'm really sorry, but let's end this now."

Just as Rex was attacking in glee, he discovered Prince Latiao had begun to fight back.

"It's too late. If you fight back now, all you'll do is work yourself up into a frenzy," Rex sneered, thinking that his attacks had upset Prince Latiao's rhythm. He seized the opportunity, raising his weapon to stab at Phainon's vitals and getting ready to finish their match then and there.

But in the next moment, Prince Latiao's mecha avoided the blow in an incredibly difficult maneuver. From a tricky angle, he thrust forward.

Before Rex could react, the cockpit of his mecha had been skewered cleanly. If this was reality, the pilot would be dead, but in this virtual world, the contestant was just forcibly ejected from the competition.

At the same time, Rex and his mecha both faded away from the battlefield.

Everyone looked on in shock. It had only been a few dozen seconds since they thought Prince Latiao was sure to lose. In those few dozen seconds, Prince Latiao had suddenly triumphed, just as if the heavens were on his side.

Prince Latiao's fans began to shout in excitement, and the people who had said Prince Latiao was going to lose wished they could bury themselves in a hole.

The commentators were also stunned, then hurried to explain, "It looks like this was Prince Latiao's tactic. First, he fakes weakness to confuse his enemy, then he seizes the opportunity to fight back. Based on his counterattacks, we can see how amazing his operation skills are."

After Phainon finished his task, he planned to ignore the ruckus and leave the field.

Just as he was checking whether the money had been deposited into his bank account, Phainon suddenly received a message.

The message was pretty much the same as the letter of challenge that Caelus had sent in the beginning. The letter expressed a desire to battle Phainon one-on-one, and there was no worry of being seen by other people. He had purposely chosen somewhere without a crowd. Moreover, regardless of whether Phainon won or not, he would receive two million empire coins.

Phainon: "!" If it wasn't for the fact that the letter's tone was totally different from Caelus's, he would have thought Caelus had come to pick a fight again. But this person was even richer than Caelus!

The empire's so big, so there are so many rich tyrants_(:3」∠)_

Although Phainon felt there might be something wrong, under the seduction of money, his soul was stirred and completely unsteady. He agreed without another thought.

When Phainon arrived at the arena the other party had mentioned, it was just like it was described in the mail, empty without a single spectator... For a moment, Phainon felt a little unaccustomed to it.

A mecha was standing in the opposite corner. His opponent had also screened their personal information, and it was impossible to tell who it was. Similarly, the mecha was extremely ordinary. It was the most widely used mecha, and it didn't have any individuality at all.

Was another opponent doing this to test his strength? Despite his thoughts, Phainon didn't care about these things. In any case, it was fine as long as he had money. If every one of his opponents came this way, he would make a fortune instantly.

Of course, not everyone was as much of a spendthrift as Caelus...

The competition system beeped, and the match began.

Phainon focused his attention, but the opposing mecha suddenly rushed at him.

Phainon was stunned. His opponent was lightning quick, and they reacted speedily when they dodged. They were completely unlike any opponents he had faced before.

If it wasn't for the fact that Phainon's spiritual energy could keep track of the entire field, he might have lost already. Yet it was also precisely because of his spiritual energy that he could pay attention to all kinds of details, and it was how Phainon noticed exactly how terrifying his opponent was.

"Who the heck is this?" Phainon's mind flew through thousands of possibilities. He kept feeling that the most likely person was Khaslana, but Khaslana wouldn't bring out two million empire coins to give to his enemy.

After a flurried exchange of blows, the two of them fell into an impasse.

Phainon could use his spiritual energy to crush his enemy, but he typically didn't want to do it. Just as he was hesitating, his opponent's spiritual energy suddenly reached over.

Because spiritual energy was a very mysterious thing, it was practically impossible to prevent someone else from coming into contact with him while he was operating a mecha. Still, everyone would pay more attention to their own spiritual energy. After all, if something happened, they would be left in a vegetative state.

But, shockingly enough, he had met someone who was so careless. The last time he met someone like this, it was that arrogant, bold, carefree guy, Caelus.

In the next moment, their spiritual energies touched.

Phainon froze. He felt that his opponent's spiritual energy was a somewhat different from an ordinary person's. Still, he had only felt Mydei's and Caelus's spiritual energy before. He might be feeling it wrong.

A typical person's spiritual energy was bright like the sun, but this person's felt gloomy and clammy. Being squeezed close to a spiritual energy like this made Phainon feel incredibly uncomfortable.

Soon, the spiritual energy began to probe deeper. Last time, when Caelus did the same thing, he had discovered Phainon was actually an omega. This time, Phainon wouldn't let this person do the same thing. He immediately hardened his heart, banishing the other person's spiritual energy and abruptly crashing into their spiritual world.

Phainon felt like he had arrived in a sinister world. His limbs were slowly going cold. He was starting to feel like he shouldn't have used his spiritual energy so rashly.

"Ahh, this is exactly the feeling... I finally found you." A low voice rang out, sounding like it was right by Phainon's side. The voice chuckled slightly.

"?!" Phainon jumped in shock, withdrawing his spiritual energy almost unconsciously. He maneuvered his mecha to retreat rapidly.

What was up with this person? Why were they so scary... He felt like he had transmigrated into a horror movie.

His opponent's mecha didn't look like it would chase after him. It was as though this fight was just to feel him out. In the next moment, it faded away from where it was standing. His opponent had actually withdrawn.

"Wait, system, what was that just now? How come he could talk?" Even if he was going to get two million empire coins, Phainon couldn't forget what had just happened. He had been scared to death.

[When spiritual energy is high enough to be at a certain level, it's possible to use spiritual energy for interrogation. It's a similar principle with the spiritual transmission in cultivation novels.]

"I see... Well, as long as it's not some mysterious magic." Phainon let out a breath of relief.

But what the heck did that person mean? "Found you"? Who was it? Who was looking for him? He just felt really uncomfortable hearing it.

Forget it... The other person was completely anonymous. Even if Phainon wanted to find him, he would be able to. Rather than getting tangled up in something he didn't know about, he might as well be realistic about it.

So Phainon left this alone temporarily and logged off.

After coming out, Phainon felt a sudden wave of vertigo. His body was beginning to feel hot, and he felt incredibly ill. His limbs were weak, and he fell over immediately.

"Crap, i-is this an oncoming heat like I've heard about?" In the dry heat of his body, Phainon was dumbfounded. He attempted to reach for his bag to get the medicine inside.

Based on this ABO novel's settings, a typical omega would start heats after they finished maturing. Phainon had been fully matured for a long time, but he had been constrained because of the inhibitors.

He had heard that heats would be even more strong like this. If he didn't roll around in the sheets for a few days and nights, he wouldn't be able to calm it down.

If Phainon was a gay, he would die of happiness, but he thought of himself as a straight guy! He had no choice but to reach for his medicine with difficulty, hating his past self for not keeping it on him.

There was a knock on the door. Caelus's voice came from behind it. "Have you slept yet? I want to talk with you a bit."

"Fuck!" Caelus's sudden visit made Phainon break out in cold sweat. He had barely managed to prop himself up, but he nearly fell back down.

When he thought about it, shouldn't someone like Caelus just kick open the door and burst in? He had become so polite. It was really unscientific.

No, this wasn't the time to be thinking about how Caelus became so polite.

Perhaps because Caelus had shocked him into his senses, Phainon suddenly regained a bit of energy. He scrambled to grab the inhibitor in his bag, managing to twist it open with trembling hands. He grabbed a pill and swallowed it.

The medicine was extremely effective. Within a minute, the heat in Phainon's body settled, and his heat was pushed back down. He was now clearheaded, as if what had just happened was a dream. He didn't feel so weak anymore either.

Phainon quickly put away the medicine and aired out the room, getting rid of the omega pheromones that might have overflowed into the room.

Although Phainon couldn't feel it himself, alphas were extremely sensitive to omega scents. If he was discovered, he would be done for, so he pulled out a bottle of perfume that he had never used before, spraying it all around the room. The fragrances intermingled. Even an alpha with the keenest senses couldn't smell any omega scent anymore.

When he finished, Phainon went to the bathroom to take a quick shower, putting his sweat-soaked clothes to the side and changing into a new set of clothes.

When he finished, Phainon went to open the door, freshly showered.

Phainon said uncertainly, "What happened? What do you need me for?"

"You let me wait so long? You've really got some guts." Caelus looked over, arms crossed across his chest and looking unhappy. "My time is precious, you know."

Who's fault was it for coming over to look for someone so late!

"I truly apologize." Phainon was already well-practiced. Even if he was roasting Caelus silently, he kept a remorseful expression up on his face. He said quietly, "I was just taking a shower, so I didn't hear you... So, what did you need?"

"Nothing much. I just wanted to ask how you're feeling recently. After all, as the master I need to pay some more attention to our servants' situations." Caelus looked haughty. These kinds of action were the ones that made people want to give him a beating the most.

"It's great," Phainon said. "The room and board are both great." And all he had to do was keep Caelus company. It was super relaxed. At least it was better than keeping Anaxagoras company.

Although he had only exchanged a few sentences with Anaxagoras, Phainon felt guarded against him.

"Well, of course. Nobody would dare to look down on the dukedom. Still," Caelus said, frowning, "why does your room smell so weird? It's disgusting. Your sense of smell's got some problem..."

In order to cover it up, Phainon had no choice but to make himself look bad. "...Well, actually I like it like this. I can't sleep well unless it smells like this."

"I really don't know what to do with you. Don't do something like this outside. Alright, go and rest." Caelus humphed and left quickly.

Phainon guessed that Caelus hadn't noticed anything and let out a breath of relief. When he closed the door, he realized he had broken out into cold sweat, but he didn't have the energy to go shower again. He gave up and got in bed.

The day had been full of too much excitement. He had nearly been discovered by Caelus. Still, he couldn't keep going like this. He might be able to fudge it once, but next time might not be so easy.

It looked like he needed to find a way to move out.

And in the hallway, Caelus, who had turned to leave, had a somber expression on his face, and his hands were clenched tightly.

---

In the heart of the capital planet.

Anaxa looked uncertainly at the inhumanly beautiful teenager on the screen. "Your Highness, why did you suddenly call me back again?"

Recently, he had found many interesting things in the empire's military institute, though he hadn't found Prince Latiao's true identity. But Anaxa had looked into Khaslana's matters.

"You don't need to keep looking." Nanook had a slight smile on his face. "I've already found part of it on my own... In comparison, there are other things that need you more. Having you investigate is really a waste of your talent."

"It's as you say. I'll defer to your instructions." Anaxa knew that even if they had grown up together, Nanook had never believed in him. Chances were that this was also a decision made based on other factors.

In any case, he would stop looking into this.

"By the way, I've been a bit tired lately. Arrange a few rest days for me next month. I'm going to take a vacation," Nanook said.

Anaxa was stunned. In all his years of knowing Nanook, it was his first time hearing him say he wanted to take a vacation... Before this, he thought His Highness the Crown Prince was a working machine.

"Understood. I'll arrange it for you."

---

The next day, Phainon discovered that Caelus had practically become a new person.

Although Caelus was hard-working before, now he was training like he had no other purpose in life. He was using up almost all of his free time. Every night, he would be exhausted to the point that he could barely move.

Phainon didn't expect he would work so hard just for the mecha competition. He felt a bit surprised.

Though Phainon thought about leaving, he could never find a time to tell Caelus. He could only put it on hold for the time being.

In any case, with Caelus so exhausted, he wouldn't be able to see anything wrong.

And during that time, the inhibitors that had already been losing efficacy finally stopped working completely.

Phainon finally understood how great it was to have an inhibitor that could work for ten-odd years in one go. Now, he had to take an inhibitor every day in order to control himself, or his omega pheromones would start to diffuse.

Mydei seemed like he didn't know that Phainon was an omega. He acted exactly the same as he did before, and didn't change because Phainon's gender changed.

If it wasn't for what had happened before and how exciting it was, Phainon would wonder if he was dreaming...

Phainon thought that being a fan on the level of Mydei was amazing. Still, thinking about how much the novel's Mydei liked Khaslana, even if he didn’t get to be with Khaslana. Phainon probably didn't need to worry about it.

The next few competitors in the mecha competition couldn't match up to Phainon at all. He rose directly to first place of their group. By this stage, even more people Prince Latiao's strength.

Before, there were people who said that he was just a low-grade Khaslana copycat. If anyone said that now, his fans would rip into them. Besides, it was obvious that Prince Latiao's strength wasn't that much different from Khaslana's. Slowly, there was nobody who would say it anymore.

Khaslana had also succeeded in becoming number one. Of course, his success was more of a journey. There were several times that he had nearly lost, but in the end he was victorious.

As Khaslana watched videos of Prince Latiao, who he expected to be his opponent, his expression turned unhappy.

In the beginning, he thought Prince Latiao was just trash copying him. He didn't expect that the other person would climb step by step up to this level and even be equally matched with him.

Khaslana had always been the one above everyone else. There had never been anyone who stepped into his position.

Still, for now, Khaslana just didn't like Prince Latiao. The person he hated the most was still the evil, ever-present person who had taunted him several times and managed to win over him somehow, Phainon.

"For some reason, whenever I see Prince Latiao, I think of that guy." Despite his thoughts, Khaslana didn't think too much of it.

Although Prince Latiao had always kept his identity hidden, everyone knew he had to be an alpha. On the other hand, Phainon was just a weak, potato-level beta. Even if Khaslana didn't like Prince Latiao, he wouldn't bring Phainon into the conversation.

"Even like this, won't he become my subordinate anyways?" Khaslana smirked.

---

After the small group competition ended, the last ten people were basically the strongest people in the competition. Of course, there was an element of luck involved.

By now, their popularity had pretty much reached the peak. The person who received the most attention was the undefeated Prince Latiao, but it was different from the beginning. Now, most people thought that Prince Latiao must be a seasoned veteran who had dozens of years of experience.

Compared to a middle-aged person, a student like Khaslana had more future prospects.

Phainon wasn't happy about being stuffed into the box of a middle-aged person at all.

Besides, there was still half a month before the ultimate finals would take place. During that time, there would be all kinds of publicity and even merch of the competitors (when Phainon saw it, he was really shocked).

Still, even if this was happening, Phainon didn't know why exactly it had been dragged out for so long... When he thought about the original novel's plotline, Phainon felt that everything was secondary. The most important thing was to let Khaslana be promoted.

Exactly. The next thing that would happen was the most important event in original novel.

And in this plotline, Khaslana's strength would surpass Mydei's.

Chapter Text

In the original novel, the five major military institutes of the empire would soon join to hold a competition on a remote planet.

In the original novel, Khaslana had, of course, also gone.

The planet was quite dangerous. The surface was filled by an ancient, towering forest, and within the forest, there were all kinds of alien beasts and poisonous plants.

These alien beasts were unintelligent, and they couldn't leave the planet. They couldn't compare to the danger level of a Zerg, but it was difficult for these students, who only had weapons and couldn't use mechas to face them.

But with the help of his strength and his physique, Khaslana took to the situation like a duck to water. Later, he found an ore in a hidden cavern that could strengthen his physique, and his strength rose up another level. It even stimulated the imperial blood in his body, and thus he discovered that his father was actually the emperor.

Basically, this plot point was an important turning point in the original novel.

Generally speaking, someone couldn't go and snatch the original protagonist's opportunities. If it went poorly, the world consciousness would lock onto them and kill them straightaway. But when Phainon remembered how the ore could increase his strength, he was intrigued.

Still, these were all things that happened later. Right now, what he had to worry about was how he would complete his daily task after binding to Khaslana!

Phainon felt that compared to Khaslana, all of his previous capture targets were angels (._.)

Regardless of how much Phainon was dreading it, that day was coming up soon.

Every new student had to go to the competition, even if they were the kind that just came over to the academy hang out. Phainon didn't know whether or not the original host had thought about the competition when he came to hang out. After all, in the original novel, he had been expelled.

Everyone got on the airship with excitement. The empire's military institute was the wealthiest of all the five major institutes, and it had the most students from noble and imperial families. Naturally, the airship was very comfortable. It could compare with a luxury tour airship. Even the rooms were double rooms.

Then problems began to occur.

Phainon and Caelus were assigned into one room.

When Phainon found out, he was ready to curse up a storm. The more he didn't want something to happen, the more likely it would happen. He was getting more and more unlucky these days... But it was no big deal as long as he didn't get put in a room with Khaslana.

A spoiled rich kid like Caelus would naturally prepare a ton of luggage when he traveled. After all, how could someone of his status make do in the wilderness?

Phainon grabbed a few clothes at random and some things that he thought he might need in the wilderness, then went to help Caelus with carrying his luggage.

"There's no need." Caelus turned to look at him and said, "With the way you look like a gust of wind would blow you over, if you help me with my luggage people will think I'm treating you poorly. Besides, I have a space button that I can put them in."

Phainon let out a breath of relief. If he had to carry the luggage for such a long time, he really wouldn't be able to last... He had also forgotten that there was something like a space button. Still, in the future, a space button was extremely expensive. It was usually used to store a mecha. Only someone like Caelus would use it to store luggage.

Phainon carried his own luggage and got ready to leave, but Caelus stopped him in his footsteps, looking cold. "Give your luggage here too."

"Huh???" Phainon was stupefied.

How could someone who disdained betas as much as Caelus be willing to put someone else's things with his own things? And this "someone else" was even his family's servant. Caelus's favorability score for Phainon was still at zero, too.

Still, people changed. Phainon didn't read into it too deeply and handed his luggage to Caelus.

After the students gathered, they began to board the airship one by one, and the people everyone paid attention to the most, Khaslana and Mydeimos, were assigned to the same room.

After the airship took off, nobody could calm down. They assembled in the airship's training room and began to temper themselves.

Caelus was, of course, not an exception, but when he was preparing to go train, he received a message. He frowned, heading towards a hallway in the airship that was relatively more isolated.

Mydei had already been waiting there for a long time. In front of outsiders, he looked aloof and like he kept people at a distance. Even if he was standing in the most bustling place on earth, nobody would have the courage to approach him.

"What did you want me for?" Caelus said impatiently, looking over with a frown. "My time is precious, you know."

"Let's change rooms," Mydei said coolly, looking like he was disgusted but had no choice to speak.

Caelus snorted. "And what if I don't want to? If I change rooms just because you said to change rooms, what should I do with my reputation?"

"Don't you admire Khaslana a lot?" Mydei was about to lose his patience. "You're still not happy when you've been given a chance to get in close contact with him?"

When Mydei mentioned Khaslana, Caelus froze.

For a while, ever since he had fought with Prince Latiao, he had unconsciously pushed Khaslana to the back of his mind. Even during the finals of the virtual mecha competition, he hadn't paid attention to Khaslana's matches.

Now, the overflowing admiration he had held for Khaslana had disappeared completely. When he thought of Khaslana, he didn't even think of him more than he would of a passerby.

Yes, because he had found someone even better now. Khaslana was no longer important.

"That's in the past. Now, I already..." Caelus looked like he had thought of someone. His expression was complicated. Immediately, he continued, "Anyway, I don't have any interest in Khaslana anymore. Isn't he your close friend? You want to avoid living with him that much?"

If Khaslana knew that he had been shunned by these two people, and was even being thrown around like a hot potato, he would be furious.

"You know what my goal is," Mydei said frankly. "If you have any conditions, name them."

"Hmph. I really don't know what it is about a beta that has drawn your attention," Caelus said. "No matter what else happens, don't think about changing rooms. I absolutely won't agree... I've got stuff to do, so I won't keep wasting my time with a guy like you."

When he finished speaking, Caelus turned to leave without the slightest hesitation.

Mydei watched Caelus leave. His deep green eyes iced over, killing intent seething in his gaze.

---

Meanwhile, Phainon laid down to rest in his room as soon as he finished his meal. How could he have the heart to go train when he thought of the situation he was faced with? He should take the chance to enjoy himself a bit while he still had the chance.

And now he was staying in the same room as Caelus. If his inhibitors expired, he was done for. As Phainon thought, he took out a bottle of medicine and swallowed a pill, finally feeling more at ease.

Dammit, who thought of a terrifying ABO setting? He felt like he really couldn't endure until the end, alright!

Although Phainon didn't want Khaslana to level up, he also wanted him to level up. This way, he could leave the world quickly.

After he finished his medicine, Phainon felt himself getting sleepy. He laid down in bed and fell asleep.

At some point, the door opened. Caelus's silhouette appeared in the doorway.

When he saw that Phainon was sleeping, Caelus kept even more quiet. He closed the door tightly, walking slowly to the side of his bed.

Phainon was sleeping fitfully. His brow was slightly furrowed, as though he was dreaming of something bad.

Caelus extended a hand, caressing Phainon's forehead. His movements were a little stiff. He had never tried to touch someone so gently.

Phainon's eyelashes suddenly quivered. Caelus froze, but he didn't pull his hand back.

After a moment, Phainon didn't show any signs of waking. He continued to sleep soundly.

"...Rest well," Caelus said in a low voice. He lowered his head, planting a soft kiss on Phainon's cheeks.

"Mm..." Phainon mumbled.

Caelus's pale cheeks flushed completely red instantly and he raised his head in alarm. He looked back at Phainon, who didn't stir, feeling a sense of defeat.

"Dammit, you cheat, being so cunning... You clearly knew all along, but you never said a word to me. Do think of me as a joke?"

As Caelus spoke, he thought back to how he had people whip Phainon the night they first met. His mood sank.

"So what exactly do you think about me..."

Caelus looked at Phainon, lowering his head helplessly. He kissed Phainon on the lips. He could only feel how soft those lips were, becoming intoxicated in moments. He used his tongue to probe between Phainon's teeth.

A sticky, liquid noise sounded in the room.

After a long time, Caelus finally lifted his head, his face scarlet, and wiped his mouth of silvery threads of saliva. He unconsciously moving to undo Phainon's buttons, reaching out to press Phainon down and lowering his head to nip at Phainon's fair, slender neck.

Though it was already weak, he could smell the faint fragrance at such a close distance. It made him recall the day that he had fought with Prince Latiao, as well as that night.

He had never told Phainon that even with all kinds of fragrances around the room, that faint omega scent was so clear that there wasn't any smell that could cover it up. Even a slight sniff would make someone sink into an inescapable trance.

And now, if he bit down, Phainon would be marked by him. Phainon could be his.

But Caelus let out a breath, looking at Phainon who was sleeping calmly. As though he was venting, he reached out to pinch Phainon's cheek. "You dummy."

---

The airship arrived at its destination by the second day. It was a planet that looked beautiful from a distance. From its appearance, it was impossible to tell what kind of dangers were hiding within.

Normally, there was nobody who would come to this planet. After all, it was dangerous and had no resources worth mining. There was simply nobody who would come besides for thrill seekers.

Phainon yawned, disembarking from the airship. He had slept so early yesterday, so why was he so tired today?

And he didn't know why, but his neck hurt a bit. Maybe he had slept wrong... Phainon had no idea what had happened yesterday. He even felt that yesterday had been peaceful.

The only problem was Caelus's temper early that morning. Of course, Phainon was already used to this.

The planet's air quality was excellent, and just smelling it made him feel refreshed. When he tilted his head back, there was a never-ending forest before his eyes.

It was pretty good to look at it from a distance, but as soon as he thought about how his future days would be spent inside, he wasn't happy anymore.

Most of the students from other had already arrived. Everyone gathered at a simple and crude base. Despite the short time, there were already several students disputing with students from other institutes.

Phainon noticed that there was a group of students from the neighboring military institute clustered around a youth. He looked familiar, and Phainon unconsciously looked back at him several times.

Next to him, Caelus became unhappy. "What's there to look at?" He followed Phainon's gaze and discovered a beautiful teenager. He immediately snorted. "That guy's not even as handsome as I am."

Phainon: "..." Hey, why are you competing over something like this!

The teenager noticed Phainon. He turned towards him, smiling slightly.

Caelus's fury washed over him again. He stepped in front of Phainon. "You can't look."

Phainon had no idea how looking at the students from the neighboring institute had got on Caelus's nerves, but he finally remembered. Wasn't this teenager the Zerg he had met on the airship the other time?!

Fuck, he didn't expect to meet him again somewhere like this. He didn't expect a planted Zerg agent would actually sneak into one of the five major military institutes... Still, this was pretty normal, huh.

The Zerg in this world were fairly different from the Zerg in the previous world. Most importantly, the lower class Zerg in this world couldn't change into human form, but higher class Zerg could change their form at will. Moreover, their spiritual energy and strength was innately strong.

It was perfectly normal that a higher class Zerg coming over to act as a sleeper agent could simply join one of the five major military institutes... It was under such grave circumstances that Khaslana could drive these Zerg away. It was all thanks to his plot armor.

In any case, he was walking fast last time and the other person hadn't seen his face. Phainon turned away like nothing had happened. He didn't want this Zerg villain to drag him in.

Although the empire's military institute was famous and had the support of the imperial family, it wasn't the most impressive academy. The other academies had their own strengths.

Students didn't get along with those at other academies. Every few years, they would compete, and the victorious academy would become the number one institute for those few years.

This competition would be based on the students' wilderness survival skills. They would have to make it through the primeval forest to their destination, and they couldn't use their mechas or weapons with high destructive power. They could only use cold weapons.

When the competition was mentioned outside, everyone said the purpose was to train their unity and cooperation, but everyone secretly knew that if they could take the lead in this competition, they could say they were winning glory for their school and get even more opportunities in the future. Thus, everyone fought like their lives depended on it.

Of course, they were ensured safety in such a dangerous place. Every student received an emergency alarm. If anything that was serious enough to threaten their life and safety, they could press the alarm, and a teacher would come to their rescue immediately.

But pressing the alarm was an automatic forfeit. It was a more embarrassing method of action.

Phainon didn't care about being embarrassed. Going through the forest with his trash omega body? It was obviously impossible. He might as well just forfeit. The only thing was that forfeiting right at the start was a bit embarrassing, so he would endure for two or three days and then forfeit.

The teachers told everyone a few things to take note of, then divided everyone into groups by drawing lots. There were two people per group, and they would have to stay together for these few days. If one party forfeited, the other person would also lose their opportunity.

Khaslana's student ID was earlier in the numbers. He walked directly up on stage and tapped on the screen casually. The numbers stopped immediately.

Everyone in the audience was worked up. They all knew how strong Khaslana was. How wonderful would it be if they could be paired up with Khaslana! They might be able to achieve a grade they had never obtained before.

Phainon completely ignored the scene. According to the original plot, Khaslana would be paired up with Caelus. It had nothing to do with him.

Khaslana spoke. "Number 154."

Wait, why did this number sound familiar?

Afraid to face reality, Phainon lowered his head to look at his student ID. Number 154.

"Classmate Phainon, what a coincidence! It's truly a blessing." Khaslana walked over, a slight curve on his lips. He stood before Phainon, extending a hand. "I'll be in your care."

Blessing? This is just a curse, okay!!

Why was he the one who got Caelus's chance from the original novel... Phainon had thought that the competition would be a bit more difficult. Now, he felt like he was sending himself to his death.

Though competition had as many safety measures as possible, there had been several students who had died in accidents in the past since it was hard to predict what situations might arise in the forest. In the original novel, Khaslana had offed several of students from other academies who had come to provoke him. It was easy to imagine what was in his future!

The surrounding crowd had complicated expressions. Phainon reached out a hand, almost completely stiff, and shook hands with Khaslana. He could only feel his cold sweat. "I'll be in your care..."

Meanwhile, Mydei and Caelus had been paired together. It was obvious they hadn't expected this situation.

Taking the circumstances into consideration, Mydei walked over, suggesting that his and Khaslana's group advance together. He reasoned, "Two people is too few, and we have better chances with four people. At night, we can take turns keeping watch. It'll be much safer."

Mydei sounded very reasonable. Plenty of people moved as a group of four because of their relationships. There even some who proceeded as groups of six or eight.

Khaslana naturally had no objections. If people as strong as Mydei and Caelus joined his team, it would benefit him.

As for Phainon... Khaslana chuckled. Ever since they had come to this planet, he had no plans to let Phainon leave alive.

Caelus just sneered, giving Phainon a sidelong glance. "I'm only agreeing to come and take on this task because of how weak you are."

Phainon grabbed Caelus's hand in excitement. He said, moved, "Thank you so much, you're amazing!"

Caelus had basically saved his life! Although he knew Caelus probably came for Khaslana, and his words just now were just acting cool to hide his soft spot for Khaslana, Phainon was very emotional.

Caelus froze. His face immediately turned red. He blurted, "What are you doing? Who gave you the right to hold my hand?"

Despite his words, he didn't make any move to throw him off.

Mydei noticed his movements. His eyes focused on where their hands were touching, his gaze turning cold.

---

The four of them headed towards the forest as planned. Though they didn't meet any other academy students, everyone had silently agreed to separate. Nobody would take the same road as someone they saw as their opponent. They were too afraid of being plotted against.

Although their group was strong, Phainon didn't have high hopes... He felt that it was already pretty good as long as these guys didn't mess around. Khaslana in particular had to seize the opportunity. It would be good if everyone could reach the end point.

The beginning of their journey went smoothly. As they went on, the road got more and more difficult to travel. There were all kinds of shrubs all over. While the other three alphas were still full of energy, Phainon couldn't keep going. He was panting in exhaustion.

It was lucky that the other three people were all alphas. Phainon could muddle through with the excuse that he was a beta. If their squad had another beta to compare Phainon to, then he wouldn't have any self-respect left.

"I knew you'd be like this." Caelus turned to look at him, looking disdainful. "As soon as I saw you, I knew you'd drag down our squad. If you really can't keep going, it's not impossible for me to piggyback you."

Phainon was given a huge shock. The first half of Caelus's words were fine, he was used to it anyway... but what was with the second half?!

Was Caelus always such a good person? He was even willing to carry a beta classmate from his team during a competition. Phainon had even expected that he would sarcastically suggest their two teams go their separate ways.

Even if Caelus was affected by what happened with Prince Latiao and no longer discriminated against betas, he wouldn't be so intimate, right? This was already OOC, okay!

"Or do you not want it?" Caelus narrowed his eyes. "Even I don't mind, but you mind?"

"N-no, I just..." Phainon hurried to explain, "I think I can keep going for a bit, I won't impose on you."

Rather than letting Caelus piggyback him, he would be better off gritting his teeth and enduring a bit longer.

"Hmph," Caelus said. "Then let's keep going. If you can't keep up, don't come running to me for help."

Phainon gritted his teeth and endured for part of the way, but he really couldn't manage any longer. He nearly tripped over a tree root. Just as he was about to fall to the ground, Mydei, who had been silently paying attention to him, caught him.

Because of Phainon's instructions, Mydei still kept a delicate distance between them. Now that there were only four of them, he didn't care so much. He said, "It won't work if you keep going like this. I'm stronger than Caelus. I can defend myself better. Let me carry you on my back."

While putting himself forward, Mydei casually stepped on Caelus's reputation.

Phainon approved greatly, because Mydei's words were too true. It was easy to tell based on the system's choice of the capture target who was the stronger one.

"What do you mean by that?" Caelus immediately got into a bad mood. He glared at Mydei. "You're saying I'm not as good as you?"

"That's not what I mean," Mydei said calmly. "I'm just telling the truth."

Caelus's expression turned ugly, but most importantly, he had no way to retort. He just grabbed Phainon's hand. "Say it, who do you want to carry you?"

Phainon: "???" Fuck, why would something like this happen now?! Khaslana is still on the sidelines watching, okay!

Forget about Mydei, but what the heck was Caelus getting in on the action for? But if Phainon didn't let Caelus piggyback him this time, he would definitely kick up a big fuss. After all, he was that kind of person.

One the other hand, Phainon wasn't worried about Mydei. After all, he had always been very reliable, and his personality was much better than Caelus's. He should be able to understand his choice this time.

So Phainon gave Mydei an apologetic look and chose Caelus.

"See? As expected, he chose me." Caelus gave Mydei a smug glance, then put Phainon onto his back. He said, "You'd better hold on tight. I won't be paying attention to you while I walk."

Despite his words, Caelus was very attentive, afraid that Phainon would get scratched by any branches.

Mydei froze. For a long time, he didn't move, and he quickly fell behind the two of them.

Khaslana walked over. Calmly, he said, "Although you want to be kind to someone, they don't seem to want to accept your feelings."

"This has nothing to do with you," Mydei said. "I'm very clear about what he's thinking, and I can understand his actions." He did understand what Phainon was thinking, but he still couldn't really accept it.

But Mydei blamed himself. How could he think Phainon was doing the wrong thing? Phainon couldn't do anything wrong. Everything was Caelus's fault... Exactly, everything was because of Caelus.

"Oh?" Khaslana's lips curled up. "But you don't look very happy... Is it so hard to accept what you think? Do you think you'll be repaid what you have been given? Sometimes, even if you give, you won't get what you want."

Although Khaslana wasn't completely clear on what had happened between Mydeimos and Phainon, he was happy to drive a wedge between them. It would be best to make that damn Phainon learn what it was like to be completely isolated and alone.

"No, I've never thought that way. I'll be happy as long as I can stay by his side..." Mydei suddenly gritted his teeth, looking at the people ahead of him. But he had no choice but to admit that in that moment his heart was filled with a raging fire of envy that almost consumed half of his rationale.

He had never felt such envy since he was born, but ever since he began to stay at Phainon's side, he had almost always felt these kinds of feelings. It was insufferable agony, but he endured it as he had before.

At the beginning, he had just wanted to stay at Phainon's side, but human desires were without an end. As long as they got one thing, they would want even more.

If he was the only one at Phainon's side... it would be wonderful.

Mydei had thought the same thing many times, but now he couldn't restrain himself anymore.

Mydei's expression iced over. He stared at the people up ahead, but he felt relaxed in a way that he hadn't felt in a long time. He finally understood what he had to do.

Extraneous people like this shouldn't have existed in the first place.

Khaslana watched Mydei's expression change and left, smiling.

But he didn't know that Mydei wasn't thinking about betraying Phainon because of his words. Instead, he was filled with killing intent for Caelus.

---

After entering the forest, a few alien beasts began to appear. These beasts looked similar to normal animals, but they were even more horrible.

When he first saw an alien beast scurry out into the open, Phainon was given a terrible shock. He was able to relax after he saw Khaslana kill it easily using a pocket knife.

Even though they looked so terrifying, since they could be killed with an ordinary weapon like that, it seemed that they weren't so hard to deal with. In comparison, those Zerg who could shift into human shape and blend into society were even more scary.

The sky was turning dark. They decided to find a place in the forest to rest.

Caelus had brought a tent specially designed for leisure. It was very convenient, and could pitch itself with the press of a button. He also took out some delicacies and water out of his space button. Who knew if he had come to compete or to vacation.

The tent that Caelus had prepared was quite large. It could fit two people.

Although Caelus wasn't exactly willing, they collectively decided to let two people keep watch and the other two rest. They would switch every two hours.

When they drew lots, Phainon and Mydei were paired up, and Caelus and Khaslana were paired up.

Although Caelus wasn't happy, when he thought of his victory from earlier and how he had carried Phainon the entire way, it was no big deal if he just stepped back for the night watch. This way, he wouldn't make trouble.

Khaslana laid in the tent soundlessly. Even though they were so close, Caelus had completely forgotten his admiration for Khaslana. His mind was full of Phainon, and he couldn't sleep at all.

Though something like that had happened the first time they met, Phainon forced a kiss on him the second day, and he even stayed after that. Phainon always stayed by Caelus's side, and this time he had chosen him over Mydeimos... Could he believe that Phainon had some feelings for him?

When he thought back to the first kiss, Caelus felt a bit embarrassed, but his heart filled with sweetness.

Outside the tent, Phainon was resting against a tree listlessly, looking at the bonfire. He nearly fell asleep several times. He couldn't stop himself from yawning, and his eyelids were closing involuntarily.

Mydei watched him, his heart pained, and said, "If you're truly to tired, go rest first. There will be no problem with me here."

Phainon shook his head, struggling to speak. "No, I can't sleep right now..." If he slept at this kind of time, he had a feeling that something bad would happen.

At some point, the time ticked past midnight. The system's voice suddenly rang in Phainon's mind.

[Daily task refreshed. The current task is [Force a kiss on the capture target once]. Host, please do your best.]

Phainon was immediately jolted awake.

Chapter Text

Phainon had thought that the system had gotten more restrained recently. He didn't expect that it had been brewing up a big move! It even issued a task like this at such a time. Phainon suspected that it had an ulterior motive... No, there was no need to suspect. This system had dedicated itself to fostering gays.

If he didn't finish up this damn task now, it would be even harder to do it tomorrow when everyone was moving together. Phainon absolutely couldn't imagine what it would be like if he forced a kiss on one of the three men.

But it wouldn't be very good if he forced a kiss on Mydei now. Mydei would certainly think of him as gay, and with his personality, there was an 80 or 90 percent chance that he would give himself over to Phainon... The scene was too stunning for Phainon to have the nerve to keep imagining it.

The only method was to take the chance to complete his task when Mydei was sleeping. That way, nobody could see him, and Phainon would be fine, Mydei would be fine, and everybody would be fine.

Phainon relaxed, sitting back to wait at the fireside.

Soon, it was time. Caelus came out from the tent with dark undereye circles, fixing his eyes straight on Phainon and Mydei. He didn't relax until he saw that they weren't even sitting very close to each other.

Caelus didn't sleep at all in the last two hours. Instead, he had been thinking up all kinds of possibilities, worrying that Mydeimos would take the chance to seduce Phainon outside... Exactly. At that moment, in Caelus's mind, Mydei had already become the mistress trying to wedge between him and Phainon.

On the other hand, Khaslana had a good sleep and woke up well-rested, as though he didn't care about whatever problems there were between the other three people.

"Well, we'll go and rest now." Phainon stumbled towards the tent, practically falling asleep on his feet. He could barely keep his eyes open.

Phainon had to admit that Caelus knew how to treat himself well. The tent was well-soundproofed, and as soon as he walked inside, all the noise outside was silenced. There was a mat on the ground made of some kind of unknown material, and it was extremely comfortable. It was almost like he had gone back to his own room... No, his own room wasn't even as comfortable.

But Mydei sat down at a spot closest to the outside. He was extremely vigilant, looking as though he wasn't planning to sleep.

If Mydei didn't sleep, how was he supposed to complete his task! Phainon hurriedly said, "It's already so late, you should come rest too. We'll still have to keep watch in another two hours."

"How could I sleep by your side?" Mydei said quickly. "I'm alright just sitting here. I don't trust the others. At a dangerous time like this, I should be here to protect you."

Phainon said, "...You don't need to think so much, at least for now. You should come and rest."

Mydei: "But I..."

"You already worked hard during the daytime, didn't you? If you don't sleep at night, how will you manage to keep going?" Phainon racked his brains for an excuse. "If you don't rest now, you'll have even less energy tomorrow. Even if you're an alpha, you're not made of stone, right?"

Mydei thought the same. "I suppose you're right. Please excuse the offense." With a little embarrassment, he sat down by Phainon's side, laying down.

They were close to each other, so close that Mydei unconsciously slowed his breathing and pressed his hands unconsciously to his chest, afraid that Phainon would hear his rapid heartbeat.

If Phainon didn't have a task to do, he would have fallen asleep in ten seconds. Now, in order to complete his task, he had no choice but to keep himself lively and keep a constant eye on Mydei.

When he noticed that Mydei was pretty much asleep, Phainon sat up, soundlessly inching towards Mydei's side.

Mydei was sleeping peacefully, his soft blonde hair mussed. In his sleep, his expression was cool and his features looked as though they had been carved by a master sculptor.

When Phainon first met him, he couldn't imagine that there would ever be a day that Mydei would stay by his side with such an attitude.

"Sorry... I..." Phainon felt a hint of guilt. He sighed, reaching out to brush Mydei's hair away. He bent over, aiming his pale lips for a kiss.

In his nervousness, Phainon didn't notice that Mydei, who should have been in deep sleep, had his hands clenched, and his ears had turned unnaturally flushed.

Exactly. Mydei wasn't asleep. How could he fall peacefully into slumber when he was next to his Deliverer? When Phainon leaned in sneakily, he thought that Phainon was about to do something and he got nervous. He didn't expect that Phainon would actually kiss him.

Mydei's heart pounded. He had never thought he would get so close to Phainon. He was happy as long as he was by Phainon's side. Although he would occasionally have thoughts about getting closer to Phainon, he had never thought of something like this.

Rather than saying that he didn't want to think about it, he didn't have the nerve to think about it. Mydei had placed Phainon on a pedestal in his mind. It would only blaspheme Phainon if he was together with Mydei.

Just as their lips touched, the system's task completion notification went off. At the same time, the tent was suddenly flung open.

Caelus, who had found an excuse to come because he wasn't at ease, saw the kiss as soon as he looked in.

The tent tore with a sharp sound. Caelus almost couldn't believe his eyes. He clutched a piece of the ripped tent in a death grip.

Phainon whipped his head up to look over in shock. "?!"

Fuck, what kind of drama was this, huh! Why did this storyline, where he got caught trying to steal a kiss, feature the three of them, who didn't have any feelings above friendship?

He might as well just say that they didn't even have friendship.

Luckily, Caelus didn't have any romantic intentions towards him. Phainon thought for a moment. He could only use gay methods to muddle his way through (besides, it was very normal for betas to like alphas in this world!). Although it was humiliating, it was better than being a pervert who attacked in secret.

"...I didn't expect you to spot me." Phainon was alarmed, then said, "Um, actually- actually, the person I've always liked is..."

"Stop." Caelus cut Phainon off.

Phainon: "Huh?" Was there some reason he couldn't say it?

"How could you... How could you be like this?" Caelus's expression was incredibly ugly. He strode over, grabbing Phainon's hand. "Aren't I the one you like? How could you do something like this with someone else? You even want to try and confess to someone else right in front of me."

Phainon: "Huh???"

Wait, at some point in time Caelus had dreamt up something crazy?

"No... Have you made some mistake...?" Phainon fumbled with his words.

"A mistake?" Caelus was nearly exploding in anger. He gritted his teeth. "Fine then, tell me, if it's a mistake, if you don't like me, then why would you kiss me?”

Phainon: "Huh? T-that was actually because..." Why was something that should have already passed soundlessly coming back out for interrogation?

He had already forgotten this dark past. He didn't expect that Caelus would still remember.

"Actually, I lost my sense of reason after being whipped, so that's why I did something like that." Phainon finally thought of an excuse. "I'm really sorry..." Still, Caelus had already retaliated, though it was with that kind of method.

"What do you mean? You want to deny the things you did yourself? You just seduced me to throw me away... Yes, you just want to toy with me, don't you?" Caelus gritted his teeth. "You want to retaliate against me because of how I treated you at first."

He was just getting a few lashings at the beginning, it didn't have anything to do with seduction! Did he not understand ABO worldviews or something?!

Phainon felt that his and Caelus's understanding had deviated at some point. "No, I don't mean anything like that, if I wanted to get revenge against you, I would have done it ages ago. Besides, don't you like Prince La-ahem..."

Caelus looked furious. He pressed Phainon down under him, lowering his head, and pressing towards Phainon's lips.

Phainon: "!!?"

At that moment, Phainon was stupefied. How in the world did things turn out like this? These shocking lines were something that would only appear in an overdramatic soap opera. Why did someone who had zero favorability towards him do something so absolutely terrifying after catching him kissing another person?!

He must be dreaming... If Caelus was like this when he didn't look down on betas, why didn't he just go and pretend that he was a gay who liked alphas!

Caelus raised his head, looking much calmer, but his eyes were unusually serene. He reached out to cup Phainon's face. He spoke as though he was asking Phainon, but in fact it was to comfort himself. "I know that you actually like me. In the past, we were just at odds with each other. The things you did with Mydeimos were also just to provoke me. It's fine... I can understand it all."

Phainon: "...You know my real identity?" This was the only possibility.

"Yes. I've known for a long time," Caelus said. "Nothing you said to me before was random, right? When you said you wanted me to enter the mecha competition, it was just to encourage me, am I right?"

Caelus's tone didn't sound like he was asking a question. It sounded like a forceful statement.

Phainon: "...Y-yes." If Phainon said that he was actually fooling him, Caelus would definitely beat him to death.

Still, it was hard to figure out how exactly Caelus thought. It was simply unrealistic that he had known about this and kept it hidden for so long.

"I knew it... You did it all for me. It's fine. I won't be mad," Caelus smiled slightly, leaning down to hug Phainon.

But Phainon was nearly shocked out of his skin by the way Caelus treated him so well.

Caelus look at the space at the side, his voice cold. "Alright, now a certain someone can stop faking sleep, can't they?"

Next to them, Mydei jerked into a sitting position, his sunset eyes cold enough to freeze over. He gazed back at Caelus with a death stare.

Phainon: "You're awake?" Wait, faking sleep? Was Mydei not asleep just now? Phainon suddenly felt like he couldn't live to the next day.

"Yes," Mydei said, "I'm awake, and I know what you have done."

"..." Phainon was ready to choke on his blood. "Nonono, it's not what you think... Actually, it's..."

"I don't mind," Mydei said. "I just want to know why exactly you acted like this... I can accept it regardless of your reason."

"What reason do you still need?" Caelus snorted. "Wasn't he just toying with you a bit?"

"You..." Mydei looked at Caelus, gritting his teeth. He couldn't control the gloom he was feeling, and he aimed at Caelus's face with a swing of his fist.

Caelus didn't expect him to lash out. The attack sent him crashing to the ground. He coughed, covering the swelling red mark on his cheek. He looked towards Mydei with a smirk. "I hit the nail on the head, didn't I? It looks like you know a bit about yourself. In this case, why don't you just take the chance to step out early?"

"Watch your mouth." Mydei looked at Caelus coldly. "Everything was said under threat. I really have no idea where you're getting the courage to gloat."

"Hmph. So what if I gloat?" Caelus looked at Mydei with fury. "You bastard. You act so lofty on the surface, but behind you shamelessly seduce someone else's partner in secret? Do you think that you're so great because you're the crown prince's cousin?"

"What did you say?" Mydei sneered. "You know for yourself what exactly happened. I'm sure you're also very clear about who's the shameless person using threats."

Phainon, who was still laying on the ground: "???" Huh, wait, why were these people suddenly catfighting? And Caelus's lines were really too awful.

Forget it. With these kind of circumstances, saving himself was probably more important.

Phainon scurried towards a safe spot. When he was hiding behind the trees, he saw that the two of them had already got their weapons ready to begin to fight. Each and every blow was aimed to kill.

It was lucky that the competition had said they couldn't bring mechas. Otherwise, if they had brought out their mechas to fight... then this would stir up the entire institute-no, even more than the entire institute. It would stir up the five major military institutes.

Just as the fight was growing intense, a hand suddenly set itself on Phainon's shoulder, and a voice rang out. "Don't you think that rather than paying attention to other people right now, you should pay a bit more attention to your surroundings?"

Phainon whipped his head back around and saw Khaslana with a face full of a smile. His heart stuttered.

Khaslana said, "I really didn't expect that a beta would manage to get those two to reach this stage. Still, everything is going to end now."

Phainon said hastily, "Wait, if I die, won't you fail the assignment?! Didn't you want to get first place in the competition?"

"You're right. In this case, I'm in a bit of a tight spot," Khaslana said. "Still, the rules said that if one party forfeits, then the other person loses their opportunity, but they don't say anything about what happens when one party dies, hmm?"

Fuck, this goes too?!

Phainon unconsciously stepped back, but suddenly he stepped into the air, and his body fell backwards.

Was there a slope here before? Phainon couldn't remember. After all, Caelus had carried him the entire way. He didn't notice any of the surrounding terrain at all.

In his moment of peril, Phainon suddenly grabbed onto Khaslana's clothing, but he didn't expect that Khaslana didn't have a steady stance either, and both of them fell.

The slope was incredibly steep, and the two of them went tumbling down. Phainon only felt that his entire body ached, he was sprawled completely on the ground and unable to move.

On the other hand, Khaslana was alright. After he dusted himself off, he looked perfectly normal. After all, he was an alpha, and his physique was significantly better than Phainon's.

"I didn't expect that you would be so calculating, but I underestimated you. This is a great place to kill someone, and there's no need to worry about being found out, don't you think?" Khaslana looked at Phainon with an eyebrow raised, He had a smile on his face, like he was certain that Phainon had no way to escape. He strolled over at an extremely relaxed pace.

Phainon, sprawled out on the ground, quickly used his healing ability to heal himself. Luckily the system's cheat really was strong. In moments, it healed the injuries in moments. At the same time, he played dead so Khaslana wouldn't notice anything.

"You really are an eyesore." Khaslana walked in front of Phainon, taking out a dagger and using the other to prop up his cheek. He said softly, "I can still remember your arrogant expression from the first time I met you in the institute as clear as day. Back then, you spoke like I couldn't hold my head high in public because I came from the slums. I really miss it."

Phainon: "..." Actually, he wasn't the one who did that, ahhh!

"The people who mocked me back then already learned their place and left the school. You're the only one who's been hobbling around in front of me." Khaslana sneered. "The ghost truly does linger. If it wasn't for the fact that I wasn't able to kill you, I wouldn't let you live until now."

Phainon: "!" He didn't want to stay in the institute and keep bumping into Khaslana! The fright was wrecking his emotions, okay!

But with the current circumstances, he had no choice. Phainon gritted his teeth. "Do you still not know my feelings? In fact, when I first taunted you, it wasn't because I looked down on you. It was to attract your attention!"

He was basically powerwashing himself clean. Phainon was just throwing words out. The chance of success should be close to zero.

"Shut up." Khaslana's expression sank. He thrust the dagger into Phainon's wrist, pinning his hands to the ground.

Phainon's forehead beaded with cold sweat, but with the system's pain blocker, the pain was about the same level as being bitten by a kitten or a puppy, and didn't hurt too much.

"Are you joking? Do you think I'll believe you?" Khaslana said. "Ever since you won against me, there was no chance I would let you live in this world."

Dammit, if you have the guts then go kill everyone who wins against you!

Phainon was ready to die from his anger, but he thought about how the original Khaslana seemed to have really killed the brats who had won against him when he was young and in the welfare institution... He really was a cruel person you couldn't cross, but what could Phainon do if he had already crossed him!

"Where should I go for?" Khaslana wrenched the dagger back out, looking at Phainon with a slight smile. "If I kill you so easily, it would be too easy, wouldn't it?"

Phainon's hand shrank back, afraid that Khaslana would go crazy and stab him a few more times.

"Since we're already at this point, then I'll cripple your limbs first, then give you half an hour to run for your life. What do you think?" Khaslana said uncaringly. "If you can escape, then I'll let you live."

Phainon's expression turned ugly. "No..."

This was just a damn villain in a horror movie! He had actually thought of something so disgusting. Phainon knew that Khaslana was a male lead who would seek revenge for a single look, but he didn't expect him to be so twisted.

"Yes, that's good. I bet that you're happy to die this way, aren't you?" Khaslana said, grabbing Phainon's other hand with even more strength and stabbing down at Phainon's wrist.

That was the right moment!

Phainon took a deep breath, letting his spiritual energy surge towards Khaslana.

After being attacked by the spiritual energy, Khaslana fell into a daze.

That was his chance! Phainon suddenly sat up, pushing Khaslana down and wresting away the dagger in his hand.

When Khaslana reacted, he looked at Phainon in shock. "You have such strong spiritual energy?"

Ever since he was born, Khaslana had never met someone with stronger spiritual energy than him. After he achieved SSS-rank spiritual energy on the assessment, he finally realized that his spiritual energy might be the strongest in the empire. But now there was someone stronger than him... And that someone was Phainon, who had always performed poorly.

"Right, so what? You should be worrying about yourself." Phainon threw Khaslana's own words back at him.

Just now, Phainon's spiritual energy had rushed over Khaslana's spiritual energy, stifling it in moments and making him unable to move. He was as pathetic as he had been arrogant, but Khaslana still chuckled and said, "Since I wasn't skilled enough, then you can deal with me however you want. Don't use something useless like a fist. Why don't you use the knife you're holding?"

"..." Phainon sank into silence.

"You can't do it, can you?" Khaslana spoke as though he knew Phainon wouldn't do anything to him. "After all, you're just an ordinary person, so ordinary it's sickening. There are enough people like you on this planet. It doesn't matter how many of you die."

"How do you know I won't do anything?" Phainon lifted his wrist. In moments, the cut that Khaslana's dagger had dug in his arm healed, but the mental trauma Khaslana caused wouldn't heal so easily.

Although he wouldn't be able to complete his task if he killed Khaslana, would it be fine as long as Phainon injured him?

Phainon looked at Khaslana's long fingers, his mind unnaturally calm. Coolly, he said, "Your hands are quite elegant." Then, without the slightest hesitation, he stabbed the dagger deep into Khaslana's hand, splattering blood everywhere.

Phainon didn't expect anything too scary. He just wanted to do as Khaslana said, that's all. Khaslana could experience what he said for himself. He should be quite happy.

"Ngh...!" Khaslana had to grit his teeth before he could endure the pain. He didn't have the same pain blocker cheat as Phainon, but he forced a mocking smile onto his face. "Just this little bit? This isn't nearly enough for me."

"It's just what you said. There's still your other hand, or..." Despite his hesitance in the beginning, when Phainon saw Khaslana's face, his hesitance mostly disappeared.

Again, he stabbed deeply into the other wrist. Khaslana immediately groaned, cold sweat dripping from his face. He panted heavily, but he still provoked Phainon. "You want to torture me with something like this?"

Phainon would see things through to the end. Khaslana was ready to kill him anyways. It was no use no matter how he tried to suck up. He might as well take the chance to vent his anger... Although he would be trading his future peace.

But he had already caused Mydei and Caelus to fight. Phainon felt that he probably had no destiny with the word "peace".

After a few rounds of suffering, Khaslana's clothes looked like he had been scooped out of the water. There were bloodstains all over, and he was almost passed out where he was laying.

Phainon could get tired out from just using spiritual energy alone. Now that he had tortured Khaslana, he was even more exhausted. He wished he could crawl into bed, but if he went to sleep in front of Khaslana he would definitely wake up to something terrifying.

What was scarier was that Phainon's body was suddenly turning hot... Fuck, he suddenly realized that the terrifying heat had come again!

But his heat suppressant medication was still in the tent. He didn't know if Mydei and Caelus's fight had destroyed the medicine at the tent either... But even if it wasn't destroyed, there was nothing he could do. With his condition, there was no way he could go back and get it.

Why did all the messes come in together? This was indeed the fate of a cannon fodder.

Phainon lowered his head to look at the unconscious Khaslana. He gritted his teeth, searching for somewhere close by. He knew not to stay close by an alpha during his heat. He would just let this Khaslana fellow off this time. As for heat or whatever, it should pass if he endured a bit. He would go back at dawn.

Phainon staggered to his feet, struggling towards a more concealed location. The better locations were all full of all kinds of trees. He thought to himself, If I meet some kind of alien beast, I'm done for.

Then, as if the world had abandoned him after he beat up the original protagonist, an alien beast suddenly scurried out from the side.

It was a giant insect that was the height of a man. It looked terrifying enough that it could act as a villain in a horror movie without the slightest photoshop. Of course, it still fell a bit short of being the final boss.

Phainon: "!" Fuck, did you have to come so quickly? Didn't he just beat up the original protagonist! Fine, beating up the original protagonist was pretty serious.

Some time had already passed since he used his spiritual energy... But if he used it now, his body might not be able to hold on.

Phainon gritted his teeth, wanting to use his spiritual energy as the only weapon he had, but because his energy had been exhausted, he collapsed toe the ground. Naturally, his spiritual energy didn't exert itself either.

At that moment, the large insect walked closer again. Phainon could practically see the insect's pincers. His heart pounded. Was he going to get his lunchbox like this!

Just as his life was hanging by a thread, the large insect hesitated, then quickly retreated several steps. Finally, as though it had encountered its natural enemy, it fled speedily.

Phainon let out a breath of relief. Wait, this wasn't the time to sigh in relief! He did his utmost to sit upright and look over, and he spotted a head with pale blonde hair and golden eyes in the distance. It was a teenager with a friendly smile.

"What a coincidence... We meet again." The youth greeted him cheerily.

Phainon was stunned. "Thank you so much for this... I-it really is a coincidence. I didn't expect that you would remember me." Wasn't this guy the Zerg! No wonder this large insect was scared off! It had probably scented the Zerg's pheromones. Still, why did it happen right at such a time...

"Of course I remember you." The teenager walked over to him slowly, extending a hand to lift his chin. "After all, you were the one who saved me on the airship. I could never forget my savior."

Phainon was way more than a savior. He was also the guy who worked him up into a heat and ran away.

Phainon felt like the way he managed to avoid getting beaten up was lucky enough to win the lottery. "..."

He had completely miscalculated. Sure enough, if they weren't noticed, Zerg could blend into other living beings. They could distinguish other people by scent alone.

It seemed like meeting this youth here wasn't an accident. The other party had followed his scent to seek him out.

Phainon couldn't expose that he knew the other person was a Zerg, or he would be silenced.

"Your body is so hot. It looks like you're not doing too well," the youth said, noticing the other parts of Phainon. "Your clothes are all torn, and your skin is exposed... By the way, you came alone, too. Something must have happened, right?"

Phainon hurriedly said, "It's nothing, I'm fine. I just lost contact with my teammate when I ran into that alien beast just now. I just need to rest for a moment and I'll be fine."

He shouldn't mention the enmity between him and Khaslana. Besides, he didn't need anyone else to help him right now. What would he do if they discovered he was an omega?

"Also, I was wondering about this ever since earlier. Why do you smell like an omega's pheromones?"