The Greed of Kronos

Group Study

Sixty-one: Group Study

When Astian and Kronos arrived at the library that was on the third floor of the mansion-like dormitory exclusively for exi class, they thought that they would be the only ones around.

However, two silhouettes were already on the long table located at the center of the library.

"Over here!" Mikhail raised his hands and waved at Kronos and Astian, who were marching towards Mikhail and Kallen's direction.

If it was not an exclusive library, then an old and strict librarian might have appeared right in front of Mikhail to refrain him from making noise. Mikhail must have taken advantage of that particular fact.

When Astian and Kronos finally reached the table, they sat near the two who came early and struck up a conversation. "Oh my, what's this? It's usually me and Kronos who would always arrive late." Astian laughed.

It was true. Every time that there's a class gathering, Kronos and Astian tend to be the ones who would always be late. Whether it's in class or during dinner time. Hence, Astian babbled how excited he was to be an early bird for the first time when they were on their way.

But it seemed like they were not the earliest bird.

With that being said, Kallen looked at the wall clock that was plastered on the staircase and replied. "I agree. It's still early. What happened in your club? You two seemed to retire earlier than the club dismissal time like us."

Although it was one of the unused rooms in the dorm, the library was quite vast, and it even had a second floor. Just like the dormitory, the library had a grand staircase with a big wall clock in the center. Below the wall clock was the long table that was obviously for exi only as it was the only table available inside.

The books were even placed on the long table too. Kallen and Mikhail seemed to have some time and took the initiative to search for the books that were needed and got it so that when the others arrived, they could proceed with studying right away.

Kronos snapped back to reality when he heard Astian replying to Kallen with his usual warm tone of voice. "Kronos dragged me here. I guess he was looking forward to the group study."

Hearing this, not just Mikhail but also Kallen was agape. "That's amusing."

"What." Kronos raised a brow.

What's amusing? Even when Kronos would think of it for a long time, he could not possibly find the fun part of Astian's response. Moreover, it sure had something to do with him since the number of gazes that Kallen and Mikhail gave him was uncomfortable. Why are they targeting him this time?

With that being said, Kallen looked at Kronos from head to where her eyes could see him as she replied. "Your face does not seem to be the type who is good at studying."

Hearing this, the side of Kronos' lips abruptly twitched. No matter how much he looked at it from all different angles, that statement was supposed to be an insult, no? How could they just judge a book by its cover?!

The good thing was that Kronos at least had someone by his side. Who else would it be if not the angel Astian? "He's actually good. More importantly, Kronos wanted to take the role as a teacher."

Hearing this, Kallen looked at Kronos with a face that showed how thankful she was. If no one would volunteer as the teacher, it would be all her responsibility. But she's not good at handling a large pack of people. So when Kronos volunteered, Kallen was delighted. "Very well then, that's good to hear. Now, we only need to wait for them."

And with that, they spent for almost an hour doing nothing. And as if Kronos would stay still when he was used to doing something all the time. Hence, he stood up and informed the other three that he would be taking a stroll around the library.

Of course, he had some purpose. He was hoping to find a book related to the greed inside of him. Well, he was not actually the type to care about the greed. Because all he had to do was to have his supplement on time, and the greed would stay still inside of him.

However, the day they had their first epitropi when Kronos made eye contact with the corrupted monster, the greed suddenly wanted to go berserk for some unknown reason.

Kronos already consulted Skia about what happened, but Skia only speculated that it must be because of the corrupted core that was inside the monster.

Since his supplement was only a heart filled with the negative energy of a person, a monster, or an animal, the greed must have sensed a more tremendous negative energy towards the corrupted core and wanted to devour it.

Hence, when it was announced that they would take care of a myriad of corrupted monsters, he was anxious. For Kronos, it was as if getting inside the lion's den. What if the greed would take control over his body, given that there would be a lot of triggers?

With those thoughts in mind, Kronos stepped foot on the hotspot area. And as soon as he entered, he literally felt his heart stop beating for seconds. And his silent battle towards him and the greed began.

Kronos was still in the midst of remembering what happened at the hotspot area and at the same time looking for books about the greed when he suddenly heard a loud voice. "Yo! We're here!"

Because it was a closed area, even if Kronos was on the second floor and even on the very corner, he still heard the chattering that filled the library.

And with that, Kronos decided to give up on looking for something that may be helpful and decided to come down and greet the others.

"What's the occasion? Why are all of you together?" Kronos heard Kallen asking in a curious tone of voice.

Just as when Artem was about to give Kallen a reply, Kronos already witnessed how chaotic the first floor of the library was. "We bumped into each other in the club building, so we decided to go together."

It has always been that way. If you go inside a silent room and then invite the other kids over, that room won't be quiet anymore. They just could not stop their mouths from blabbering and restrain their curiosity from touching almost everything. With that thoughts, Kronos even wondered how the heck were the guys doing good in their respective clubs.

Kallen, on the other hand, noticed that Kronos was already back on the long table. Hence, she looked at the other kids and asked them. "I see. Then, without further ado, shall we start with assigning roles?"

"I want to be a student!" Asisi raised his hand.

"Us as well." Yohan shyly engaged with the conversation as he was also raising Ajax's hand, which the owner was currently on his lap, sleeping.

"I want to be a teacher," Aeria replied as she rummaged through the books that were placed on the table. If one wants to be a teacher, then they should prepare something to teach. Thus, that was what she was doing.

"My fiancé will be teaching me," Artem replied with a smile on his face. It was not just a usual smile. But an innocent one in just a glance, but when you stare at it, it's actually perverted.

And it seems normal to them because Sarlienne was wearing one too.

And with that, Naouii heaved a loud sigh and retorted. "Seriously, do not flirt!"

Of course, she would act salty. She still had lingering feelings towards her past lover, after all.

Seeing how Naouii reacted, Luca leaned closer and decided to tease her with a smirk on his face. "What? You should get one for you too."

And because of that, Luca received a smack on the head. Who else influenced the smacking on the head? No other than Aeria, who would always smack Inoa on the head.

Shortly after that, Kallen adjusted her glasses and read the contents of the paper aloud. "Alright then, here's the list. The teachers are me, Mikhail, Kronos-"

"What?! Kronos?!" The others cut Kallen off with a shocked expression on their faces.

Seriously, if only Kronos could smack them in the head one by one, he would have done it a long time ago. How could they say that? Was it because of his handsome face? Well, if that's the case, then it could not be helped.

"Yes? Is something the matter?" Kallen tried to feign ignorance even though she knew exactly where the conversation would end up.

And along with the familiar choice of words, the side of Kronos' lips twitched again. "Well, his face does not look like the type who cares for grades."

With that being said, Kallen looked at Kronos and felt like they were bullying him. Hence, she got back to the main topic and immediately got over with it. Somehow, Kallen was hoping that she helped Kronos in a way. "Ahem. I thought so too. Anyway! Kronos, Sarlienne, and Aeria. The rest are students. First, let's get to know your weakness so that we can focus on that subject. And then the teachers will teach the students. Now let's do our very best, guys!"

"Yes!"

And guess what? Kronos felt grateful towards Kallen.

Shortly after that, they immediately reviewed as a group. If the others could not answer a specific question, they would ask someone who could. Even the teachers would sometimes ask their fellow teachers if they didn't know anything.

In that library, no one was making fun if one was slow or one could not get the answer. They would patiently help each other with the goal of having a high score.

"Kronos, how do you solve this one?" Astian asked as he showed off a book with a mathematical question.

It was a theology book. However, it surprisingly had math inside. Well, no wonder math is everywhere.

The good thing was that Kronos found everything easy. Of course, he's a genius, after all.

Hence, he took the book and then tried to answer it slowly by showing off the solution to Astian. "Here."

When Kronos was done demonstrating on how to answer the equation, Astian tried to do it himself with another question but the same formula. And when he got it right by following Kronos' instructions, Astian beamed and gave Kronos a hug. "Wow, thank you!"

And when Astian hugged Kronos, he spotted Luca looking at Kronos as if he was hesitating whether to talk to him or not.

Hence, Astian instead asked him. "Luca? Do you have something to ask Kronos with?"

Hearing this, Luca flinched as he answered in a shy tone of voice. "Huh? Well, yeah. But I don't think I could understand."

Aside from Kronos being bad with talking, Luca admits that he was a slow child. He might only take Kronos' time, and he still could not get how it would work. That was the reason why he was hesitating whether to strike up a conversation or not.

Astian seemed to know what Luca was thinking about, so he pulled away from the hug and looked at Luca with a warm smile on his face. "What do you mean? Kronos could explain really well!"

Kronos shifted his gaze towards Luca as well and asked in a tone of voice that was neither arrogant nor cold. "What?"

Hearing this, Luca mustered up his courage and decided to work his brain well so that he could keep up in times when Kronos would explain how it would be done. "Oh well. This one... How do you get this?"

When Luca showed him the equation, Kronos stared at the book for a moment. No wonder Luca was struggling. It was a difficult equation that Kronos even took his time to know how to solve it.

But because he was a self-proclaimed genius, Kronos remembered how to solve it and picked up a scratch paper before looking at Luca. "Look."

"Oh, okay," Luca replied as he scooted closer towards Kronos.

Here comes nothing. Whether he could not understand it or he could not understand it. It has always been like that.

"This. This. This. This. Here. This. Here."

Contrary to his worries, the longer Kronos explained, the clearer his mind was. Every step that Kronos taught him was as if stuck on his brain, and he felt like he could answer the equation quickly.

'Wow, did I just understand what he explained very well?'

To confirm it, Luca answered another equation with the same formula, and he surprisingly answered it without having difficulties in understanding. It was as if Kronos made the question an easy one.

Now he knew why Astian hugged Kronos when the latter taught the former earlier.

He also hugged Kronos and was as if about to cry. "Wow. Kronos, you are really a lifesaver!"

Seeing this, Astian laughed nonchalantly and teased Luca. "See? I told you!"

The group study lasted for a moment, and they lost track of time. Hence, when a maid knocked on the door to call for dinner, they got down and then decided to continue the next day. Therefore, the following day, their usual routine happened. However, Kronos and Astian did not leave the club early at that time.

Because they did not have the chance to rehearse in the dorms because the group study was exhausting enough, Astian and Kronos decided to join the others that were rehearsing.

Several moments after that, Senior Tatiana and Senior Steffi dismissed the members and announced that the actors and actresses would continue where they left off the next day.

And because they exited the club room right at the club dismissal time, the exi was gathered at the lobby and decided to go together.

The routine painstakingly was kept for days up until the day of the examination finally had come.

Everyone seemed to be nervous that they planned beforehand to go to the class together. If it was the ordinary days, they would exit the dorm at separate times since they had different body clocks. But the examination day was an exemption. They planned to gather outside the dorm at the same time and go to the class together.

Of course, the ones who were the very last to come were Astian and Kronos. And when the two finally arrived, Mikhail faced everyone and smiled as he cheered at them. "Good luck, everyone!"

With that being said, Kallen also stepped forward and conveyed what she wanted to say while adjusting her glasses. "I am expecting that you all are going to have good scores."

"Yes. The group study is very helpful in many ways." Luca snickered as if confident that he could pass every subject.

It was truly helpful. Everyone shared what they knew and what they didn't understand. The camaraderie at the group study was more robust than those times where they would fight corrupted monsters. It was as if everyone wanted to prove their worth by having good scores after the examination.

"Then, we should get going. Papa might be bored, waiting alone in the classroom." Aeria smiled as she started to walk.

"Yes!"

With that, the exi started to march their way towards the class with their body and mind prepared for the questions and possible events that would happen along the way.