Chapter 481: All That Mattered
(Hydra Star System- Planet Eleron)
(Zrudread University- Principal's Office)
Tap! Tap! Tap!
Principal Malik leaned back against his chair and tapped his claws against the top of his desk. The elderly Mendolesa warrior was in a bad mood.
"At least the students are safe..." Principal Malik muttered quietly as he got up from his chair and took a walk around the room.
As the head of one of the four top universities in the Earth Federation, it was not issue for the principal to decorate his office however he liked.
However, the principal was a simple man.
Only one painting hung on the wall and it was a white canvas with a strange symbol placed in the middle of the picture.
The floor was covered in a thick brown carpet and apart from the desk and chair in the corner of the room, there was only one long couch for guests to sit down.
Principal Malik reached into his storage bag and pulled out an unopened flask.
He twisted off the stopper and poured the greenish liquid into his mouth with one smooth motion.
A familiar burning sensation could be felt in his throat as the principal drank a rare wine brewed using the heart of a flame beast.
For cultivators at his level, it was difficult if not impossible to get drunk, so alcohol was merely consumed for the flavour.
Principal Malik walked around the length of his office multiple times before finally returning to his desk once his head had cleared.
He picked up the communicator tablet on the desk and accessed the reports that had just been sent.
The lead admiral of the space fleets sent to the rescue the students was now leading the operation to escort them back to the university.
They were expected to arrive later together.
According to the report, no one seemed to be seriously injured but one of the students told Instructor Barrett that he wished to drop out of college.
Hmm.... it would be a heavy loss...
Principal Malik frowned slightly since this was bad news.
It was rare to get mech controllers to come to Zrudread University and each one of them was a precious seedling.
But if the student no longer wished to pursue the path of cultivation, then the principal was not going to stop him.
Temperance and willpower were just as important as talent.
The reality was that not everyone was able to become a cultivator.
The constant battles and encounters with death were not issues that could easily be shrugged off.
Even the Mendolesa race known for their savagery in battle knew members of their species that decided to give up life on the battlefield and settle down with a family.
Principal Malik gathered his thoughts and sent the student's profile to the guidance counselor to have a look.
Hopefully Mrs. Kerona would be able to change his mind but somehow the principal doubted that it would happen.
Now on to the more serious matter at hand...
Principal Malik opened the other message in his inbox but this time he had to enter a special password in order to access its contents.
The tablet in his palm vibrated twice and then the message was unlocked.
Principal Malik scanned the report and furrowed his brows in confusion.
This was the joint report written by the two powerful cultivators whom he had dispatched to deal with the enemies threatening the students.
And what they wrote was completely shocking.
The first paragraph mentioned an unknown intruder who was capable of using some kind of blood-based attacker.
The intruder appeared to be human but the possibility of it being a species that could mimic the human form could not be ruled out.
That fact alone should have been the highlight of the report but what the two cultivators discovered next made Principal Malik feel quite alarmed.
The fleet of pirate starships had already been completely annihilated by the third party that one of the students had mentioned.
What was truly peculiar was that not a single trace of the five destroyer class vessels could be found in the region.
The only evidence of their presence were the broken spaceships and a destroyed planet located in the inner region of the asteroid field which the cultivators speculated belonged to the pirates.
Five destroyer class vessels....
Which faction would be foolish enough to show their hand to deal with mere pirates?
Principal Malik placed the tablet back down on the table and stroked the white fur underneath his chin.
The elderly Mendolesa warrior was left in a daze for the rest of the afternoon as he desperately tried to figure out the identity of the mysterious third party.
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(St. John's Main Spaceport- Terminal Four)
"Cleo!" a loud voice called out happily.
Cleo had just walked through the gate when a large body slammed into her. A pair of warm arms wrapped around her body and Cleo's face was pressed against two soft mountains.
Sophie warmly embraced her girlfriend and refused to let go.
For once she did not care about the people watching from the side and simply wanted to hug her lover.
Every day had been a nightmare since seeing that vision inside her mind.
Sophie had barely slept and even with Cleo's constant communication over the Virtual Net she could not help but worry about her safety.
In fact, at one point it had gotten so bad that she was forced to call Doctor Reynolds for an emergency session.
It was fortunate that Moon was able to mostly get through the combat beast exam by himself because Sophie at the time was not in the right frame of mind to perform at her best.
The hybrid girl squeezed the princess even tighter in her arms and pressed her lips against the top of Cleo's head.
A faint pinkish mist began to spread from the corners of Sophie's eyes as she had to resist the urge to let her hands wander downwards.
"Sophie... I... can't... breathe..." Cleo gasped as she felt the air escaping her lungs.
"Oh... I'm sorry!" Sophie exclaimed in shock as she hurriedly loosened her grip. Cleo squirmed out of her arms and stared at her with an expression of mock anger.
"Do you want to choke me to death?!" the princess teased with a mischievous glint in her eyes.
Not to be outdone, Sophie leaned in closer and softly whispered in her ear at a volume that only the princess could hear.
"You didn't mind choking the last time we...."
Cleo suddenly stood on her tiptoes and sealed Sophie's mouth with a kiss.
The hybrid girl's eyes widened in shock, but she immediately stuck out her tongue and explored her lover's mouth.
Cleo was back and that was all that mattered.