The Cheat Seed

Chapter 42

"Woah, nice punch," Marcus said with a chuckle.

He held Dave's lightning-charged fist with just his pinky, the energy crackling harmlessly around his finger. With casual ease, Marcus shifted his grip to capture Dave's entire fist within his palm, giving it a warm squeeze.

Dave's eyes widened in disbelief. The punch he'd thrown contained enough power to level a small building—force that had earned him his rank as the third most powerful Revoker in the world. Yet Marcus had stopped it with minimal effort, as casually as catching a tossed apple.

"There he goes again," Marcus announced loudly, clearly meant for their watching parents. "Dave, why'd you go easy on me?"

The words were a kindness—a way to preserve Dave's dignity and prevent Aaron and Meya from panicking at the display of their son's full strength. But inside his mind, Dave could only repeat one thought over and over: *That was my full power.*

Marcus's smile had a calming effect on Dave, despite the turmoil in his friend's thoughts. Their eyes met in mutual understanding—this wasn't a conversation they could have with an audience.

With a casual snap of his fingers, Marcus activated a Domain Expansion. The broken curb, the damaged house, and their concerned families vanished in an instant. Only Dave and Marcus remained, each standing on a small island of earth floating in an endless abyss.

The Domain Expansion—a technique that only the most talented Seed users could master by extending their Soul energy over an area, transforming it into their personal realm. Most exceptional users could maintain a single domain, but Cheat Seed users like the Flame Emperor were granted an extra Domain slot.

Marcus hadn't yet discovered what his primary domain might be, but he had managed to recreate this one—the Abyss Hole—from his experiences in the dungeons. Those six thousand years hadn't been wasted; they had prepared him for moments like this, allowing him to casually block a full-power attack from the third-ranked Revoker in the world.

Dave looked around in amazement at the endless void surrounding them. Their floating islands hovered just ten meters apart, suspended in nothingness.

"Isn't this a Domain?" Dave finally managed to ask, his voice echoing strangely in the vast emptiness.

"Yes, it is," Marcus confirmed.

"How'd you..." Dave's voice trailed off, unable to form a coherent question from his jumbled thoughts.

Marcus seemed to read his mind, calling across the gap between them. "I have a Seed now, and it's not a Legendary one."

The words struck Dave like a physical blow. His eyes widened as memory pulled him back to their academy days, two years ago but still vivid in his mind. He could see Marcus as he had been—skinny, bespectacled, his burgundy hair hanging in bangs across his forehead.

"Dave, why don't we create some cool dialogue to say when we Awake our Seed?" Marcus had suggested back then, his face alight with enthusiasm.

"I know a perfect line when I come out of the test with a Cheat Seed," he had declared confidently. "I have a Seed now, and it's not a Legendary one."

Dave remembered how he'd slapped Marcus for that—partly out of disbelief, partly from jealousy that Marcus had thought of such a cool line first. The memory was still playing in his mind when a real slap connected with his cheek, hard enough to make him spit.

"And that's for the slap you gave me for no reason back then," Marcus said, grinning as he hung upside down in the air, defying gravity with casual ease.

His loose hair dangled down, tickling Dave's nose. Dave sneezed violently, and Marcus anticipated it, landing gracefully on the island beside his friend.

"You have a Cheat Seed now?...Bro?" Dave asked, his eyes gradually brightening with understanding and excitement.

Marcus grinned at his friend's expression. The old Dave—the one who had been his brother in all but blood—was finally resurfacing after years of darkness.

For what felt like hours, they talked freely in the privacy of Marcus's domain. Marcus described his dungeon trials but deliberately omitted any mention of Crayalus or his Guardian duties. In turn, Dave recounted his two years without Marcus—how he'd channeled his grief into conquering dungeon after dungeon, earning the nickname "The DaveDevil" and securing his place as a second-year student at the Unreal Academy.

"Now that I am 'capable enough' to be a student in the Unreal Academy," Marcus said sarcastically, "will I get admission there, Sir Third-Most-Powerful-Person?"

"Stop it," Dave chuckled, feeling like they were back in high school. "Of course you will. I'll pass a personal request to the Headmaster myself."

His expression grew more serious. "And by the way, I want to fight you again, Marcus."

"Yeah? Well, I'm ready. You tell me the place and time."

"No, no, not like a street brawl," Dave shook his head.

"Then?" Marcus raised an eyebrow.

"There's this Annual Battle Competition happening in three months' time." Dave's brown eyes fixed on Marcus's turquoise green ones. "I want you to rank up to second year within that time and battle me...with your own team."

"Wait, my own team?" Marcus asked in confusion.

"Yes. You can choose anyone within the Academy—students from first to third years. That's the only rule. This isn't going to be an individual battle. Instead, it's a Five versus Five match."

Dave glanced at the ground momentarily before meeting his friend's gaze again. "That back there, was not my full power."

Of course it was, but he couldn't admit that. "Nah, it was my full power, but...just because it's going to be a team battle, my team has hope against you. That is, if you succeed in fulfilling the conditions first."

"And why is that?" Marcus asked, a smirk of interest playing on his lips.

"Because one of my teammates is..." Dave's expression turned ferocious, eyes locked on Marcus with predatory confidence. "RAKA...RILES."

'DOOOOOOM'

Marcus's eyes widened at the name. *Riles*, he thought. Wasn't that the family name of The Flame Emperor?