The Greed of Kronos

A talk with Seniors

Fifty-two: A talk with Seniors

The small room was magical. It was akin to the cabin where Lord Dio lives. Even though it was viewed as very small in size that was being attached to the club room, it was spacious when Kronos entered the room. The room was as big as a studio room, where there was enough space for two couches, a bed on the side, and tables with scattered papers everywhere.

Moreover, the ambiance inside was comfortable, as if the room itself was telling Kronos and Astian to make themselves at home. And so, they did. Kronos took a seat without even waiting for the seniors to invite them to the couch. Astian, on the other hand, was hesitant at first. But then, Senior Tati told him that it was alright and that he could take a seat too while Senior Steffi was preparing for tea.

“I overheard you two talking about wanting to get along with the other kids?” Senior Tatiana opened up a conversation as soon as she settled down on the opposite couch while looking at Kronos.

If anything, Senior Steffi and Senior Tatiana’s remarkable talent of hearing conversations that were being conversed by a whisper was the only thing that concerned Kronos. More importantly, their presence was not noticeable. Kronos suspected one reason. However, when he double-checked by using appraisal, it was still the same, so he could not make any assumptions. Thus, Kronos decided to observe in the meantime. And when he decided to just watch, he really just did observe and ignored Senior Tatiana, who was asking him a question.

With that, Astian felt like Kronos would really not answer but would merely stare at Senior Tatiana, which was why he decided to lean forward with a warm smile on his face and replied in Kronos’ stead. “Yes!”

Hearing this, Senior Tatiana looked at Astian and chuckled. She was actually figuring out what Kronos felt, so she focused on him, but then it seemed like the expressionless kid felt nothing but blankly stared back at her. One more thing that she noticed was that Astian could be called as Kronos’ spokesman, who would save him in any conversation.

Shortly after that, Senior Tatiana looked at Astian as she had the urge to suddenly pat the byo on the head. And so she did even without knowing. When she realized what she had done, Senior Tatiana replied while her hand was still patting Astian on the head as if it was a natural thing to do so.

“Since you two are the only first years, it’s fine we’ll extend help. If you want to obtain their favor, you two just need to do your best.” She explained while hoping that Astian would not take the head pat as an offensive act.

Nevertheless, little did Senior Tatiana know, Astian was used to being patted on the head. At first, it was his parents who would do so. And later on, it was mostly Kronos and occasionally the rest of the Exi class. Hence, it was nothing new to him, and he was even enjoying the head pat.

Hence, when Senior Tatiana saw that Astian was actually enjoying the head pat, she could not help but to chuckle while being uncomfortable with the gazes that Kronos showered her.

‘What’s wrong with this kid, and why is he staring at me intently?’

Seeming to be saved by her long friend, Senior Steffi placed the tea at the table in front of the two couches as she revealed something nonchalantly. “Yeah! You see, Tati and I are also from the Exi class, third-year!”

It was as if that was the answer to Kronos’ unending and uncomfortable stares that it successfully stopped. Kronos shifted his gaze towards Senior Steffi and perked up with his still blank expression.

Kronos knew it. They probably were also a masters of masters like them. Invisible presence and keen senses, who else would have such traits except for great mages? More importantly, Sir Samael mentioned that the Exi class only had two Classes because it’s not every year that the mark would manifest in one’s body. Hence, it was said that the two Exi classes at the Academy were the third year and the first year. So before entering the Academy, there was only one Exi class. Imagine how lonely it was.

Astian, on the other hand, was agape when they confessed. He did not expect it at all. “What?! Woah!”

Seeing this, Senior Tatiana looked at Astian’s expression and then, shortly after, chuckled and replied in an amazed tone of voice. “Yes. It may not look like it, but yes.”

‘Well, it does f*****g look like it.’ To be more precise, it was apparent.

It was then Senior Steffi’s turn to speak that she looked at the tea set in front of them, and it suddenly moved on its own. The teapot lifted in mid-air, and the teacup positioned themselves and was ready to be filled with tea.

While doing all of that, Senior Steffi explained with enthusiasm. “Yeah! I can float things using mind control, and my alternate potential is lifting trivial things~.”

“Alternate potential?” Astian asked as he accepted the teacup that was floating in front of him.

With that being said, Senior Steffi and Senior Tatiana looked at each other as if they seemed to missed something. And then shortly after, Senior Tatiana mumbled, ‘First years.’ that seemed to made Senior Steffi realize their mistake.

She then explained it precisely, knowing that they were inconsiderate for a second. “Ah… Since both of you are only first years, you probably have not taken the altering lesson yet.”

Having no knowledge about the altering potential, Astian looked at Kronos as if asking if it would be alright to know something.

And with that, Kronos did not shook not nod. Instead, he held hands with Astian as if saying that it was up to him whether to ask or not.

Funny as it seems, Astian felt like he could understand the gesture and translated it like what Kronos actually wanted to say. “Can we know what an altering lesson is?”

Hearing this, Senior Steffi then snickered as she acted for a moment. “Keke, of course! As a senior, I would not let my junior be unaware of everything that you need to know!”

Even before Senior Steffi could go further with the drama, Senior Tatiana pinched her right cheek ever so hard while containing her outrage towards her dear friend. “You can just say it directly.”

With that, Senior Steffi surrendered while crying in pain. “Ow! Ow! Okay, I will!”

Hearing this, Senior Tatiana released her hand, and Senior Steffi immediately rubbed her cheeks while she continued talking. “Ahem. Altering lesson is where your instructor would teach you how to have alternate potential. The alternate potential is the potential that you can tell the public. We do not want to expose ourselves. Moreover, there were people who could use appraisal and could see our potential without even batting an eye. If you learn how to alter your potential, the alternate potential would be displayed instead of your true potential.”

That explains why when Kronos used appraisal towards Senior Tatiana, he saw that her potential was merely reading people’s emotions. But it was merely to put on a show and deceive the church.

When the two of them replied with a silence, the Seniors mistook it as something like the two of them really did not get how the alternate potential works. Which was why Senior Tatiana looked at them and explained. “Take mine, for example. My alternate potential is the ability to read or see someone’s emotion.”

And there she goes.

“But Tati’s real potential is that she could manipulate someone’s emotions.” Senior Steffi continued what Senior Tatiana was about to say.

Hearing all of their explanations, Kronos was silent as he got it well and that he had no other concerns. But then, Astian was different. He felt like he just got tricked. “Did their reaction to us earlier perhaps because of Senior Tati’s potential too?”

With that being said, Senior Tati understood where Astian was coming from. He seemed to genuinely want to befriend everyone. That was why he reacted that way.

Hence, she replied genuinely. “I have not manipulated their opinions towards the two of you yet.”

‘Yet. I see.’

“Tati’s going to manipulate it so that we would not get caught, so don’t take it to heart, boy. We once were treated badly by the other kids, but we proved ourselves to them, or rather, Tati manipulated the feelings that they felt towards Exi people. That’s why I am the vice president of the club, and Tati is the president!” It was then Senior Steffi’s turn to make Astian good.

All of the talks were informational for Kronos. However, there was one thing that was bugging him. “How.”

When Kronos uttered the word how Astian and the two seniors looked at him. And then, the two seniors looked at Astian as if they knew by instance that Astian was the only one who could understand Kronos.

“Ah. Kronos wanted to ask if how did the two of you knew that we were part of the Exi’s class.” And they were correct with their assumption.

With that being said, the two seniors were amazed by Astian’s ability, but they still managed to answer Kronos’ underlying curiosity. “Right! We recognized you two to be a part of Exi simply because you approached the stall easily and that the resonance of the same species. When Tati was guarding the stall, she used her potential for the people to ignore the stall. And as for the resonance, it would be better to know it from your instructor!”

Hearing this, Kronos was sure that there were a lot of things that they were still unaware about the Exi. And if there’s someone who could stop the ranking system, it would be their Senior Tatiana. However, for some unknown reasons, she did not interfere. Maybe because it did not do her any harm, and if it did, she would just take action against the people around her. Take the club as an example.

Moreover, Senior Tatiana seemed to have quite a handful of potential, knowing that she had the upper hand in changing one’s opinion with just a snap. Senior Steffi, on the other hand, had a very interesting potential. If she were to be enrolled at the same time as Kronos and became his classmate, surely the time they spent at the hotspot area would be shorter with Senior Steffi’s help. She could just steal the core using her mind, and all is well. Overall, their potentials were some cheat codes as expected from a masters of masters.

Having lost in his thoughts, Kronos was snapped back to reality when Astian stood up and bowed deeply as he was facing both Senior Tatiana and Steffi. “There’s still a lot that we don’t know, so thank you ever so much, seniors, for telling us.”

It was indeed true that they were still at the beginning of knowing everything. They still have a lot to learn and much room for improvement. But having a heads up of what would happen in their journey was already a blessing in disguise for them, considering that they were already in a dangerous situation.

That was why, at that time, Kronos also stood up and bowed deeply to express his gratitude. He may not look like it, but he does know how to lower his head.

Seeing this, the two Seniors felt pressured and abruptly pleased them to settle down and not to bow. They merely taught them things that would be beneficial for survival. What was there to get so formal with?

Hence, Senior Steffi chuckled nervously, not nonchalantly, as she coaxed the two of them. “You know that it’s only us who can help each other, don’t be so stiff!”

With that being said, Kronos then abruptly took a seat while Astian looked at them and smiled warmly as he opened up another topic. “Okay, then I won’t! Hmm. By the way, about the kids. I guess that we could only prove ourselves to them in the upcoming play.”

Those were the two biggest concerns Astian had in mind. First was the kids, and second, was the play.

Hearing the word play made Senior Tatiana remember that they actually called the boys over to see who was who. Thus, she emptied her cup of tea before asking for their individual script. “So it seems like you two already picked your roles. May I check for a while?”

With that being said, Kronos nodded as he handed his script while Astian replied with a warm smile on his face while giving his script to the seniors. “Of course, Senior~.”

Senior Tatiana checked Astian’s role with two scripts on their hands, while Senior Steffi checked Kronos’ role. It would take a long time if they would check it one by one, and that would hold the two boys longer than expected. That was why they decided to divide the work and do their jobs correctly. After all, they were a part of the drama club because they have a talent. If anything, Senior Tatiana merely manipulated their opinion on them so that they could have a peaceful club life while enjoying what they wanted to do the most.

After a short moment of checking, the first one to react was Senior Steffi, together with her nonchalant tone of voice.

“Wow, Kronos picked the script that I was expecting!” She beamed as she waved the script in front of the others.

With that being said, Senior Tatiana scowled as she placed down Astian’s script. “What do you mean by that?”

“Well, the first time I saw him, he’s like the teen version of the male lead. You know what I’m saying?! That’s why I picked him! Me, myself!” Senior Steffi then exclaimed as she was pointing at Kronos and then continuously pointed at herself.

It was true. Senior Steffi did not first meet Kronos at the stall when he was smiling. She saw him first when they were entering the open space for stalls together with the other kids in Exi. At first, she was intrigued to see the newly built Exi class for the first years, which was why she left Tatiana at the stall all by herself. And then, when Kronos and Astian separated ways with the others, Senior Steffi used her potential to bring them to their stall by changing the direction and the stalls on the way without everyone knowing.

Because she believed that Kronos was fit for the role of the teen version of the male lead.

However, contrary to Senior Steffi’s imagination, where Senior Tatiana would smile and say thanks, she instead showed off a bored look and replied in a cold manner. “Yeah, whatever. Shut up, you’re so loud.”

Hearing this, Senior Steffi started to have her eyebrows knitted together and pouted at Senior Tatiana. “Hmph!”

With the show in front of them, Kronos and Astian sure knew that they had some special relationship that only Senior Tatiana and Steffi were aware of.