Chapter 79 - Gabbys Luck (1/2)

Going back in time, to when Brance finished his test, like his brother several minutes later, he was teleported to an empty classroom. Unlike his brother's experience, though, since Brance had finished the test so quickly, he was actually the first person to enter the room.

Standing in place, he observed the room silently for a few moments before walking up to the wall-sized Tv and looking for some way to turn it on. After several minutes of searching and coming up empty-handed, Brance was startled by the appearance of the first person, an athletic-looking teenage boy with blond hair and dark skin. When the boy saw he wasn't the first to pass the exam, he scoffed and walked up to Brance while radiating an air of superiority.

”You there, kid, what luck you have to be in the presence of me, Talio Freel. You are now one of my underlings, and since you were smart enough to even best me, the Heir of the Freel Merchant Group, in the Written Exam, I shall grace you with a position in my father's company.” Then, stopping a couple of feet from Brance, he struck a haughty pose while looking down on the boy who was clearly younger than him.

But unlike what he had expected, Brance didn't seem overjoyed at his declaration. Instead, the younger boy was staring at him with a strange look that seemed to say, ”are you insane?”

”Um…no, thank you, Talio Freel, I'm sorry, but my family wouldn't agree with me working at such a young age.” Brance tried to speak with a friendly tone, but seeing Talio's reaction, it seemed he had verbally bitchslapped him from the way he responded.

”WHAT, how dare you? I went out of my way to show you the kindness people would kill for, and you…you…you use a dumb excuse like that.” Talio's face turned bright red like a tomato, and the veins in his temple started poking out.

'Please don't do the thing, please don't do the thing, please don't do the thing.' Since important things should be said three times, Brance begged Talio internally not to do what he was expecting would come after his rejection. But his expectations were shattered.

”How dare you, it looks like I'll have to teach you just how badly you've screwed up, kid. I didn't want to have to do this since you look so frail.” Rolling up his sleeves, Talio stepped forward and tried to look as menacing as possible before drawing back his left arm and slapping Brance across the face.

Squinting his eyes, Brance watched as the older boy seemed to move in slow motion to him and reached out to catch the incoming palm. Using literally zero effort, he easily caught the boy's palm and gave it a slight squeeze, forcing the bones in Talio's hand to pop loudly.

”AHHHH,” Talio screamed in pain and fell to his knees as Brance stood in place, looking at the older boy sympathetically but not releasing his grip on the still popping hand. Brance, unlike Cynrik, didn't actually like hurting people. He would rather just show them kindness and use his words, but by no means did this mean he was a pushover. So while Cynrik was savage and would have beat Talio to a pulp, Brance stood there looking down at Talio, and after squeezing two more times, he released his grip on his hand.

”You shouldn't resort to violence; it's not good to just up and hit someone over a disagreement.” Then, while sighing, Brance stepped away from Talio, who remained on the ground cradling his hand, which in the best case was now fractured in several places.

”You little jerk, you just broke my hand, My father will hear of this, and I will watch him destr…

BANG

Before he could finish his sentence, a large tear-drop-shaped shield slammed into the ground, inches away from his face, with enough force to cause cracks in the linoleum tile.

”Finish that statement, and your father will have a daughter instead of a son after the exams finish.” Recalling his CS Tear MK1, Brance chose to walk away and treat Talio as if he was an insect.

Coming from a Merchant family, and not one who was centered around combat, the sudden situation struck Talio with so much fear that he pissed himself. He had assumed that the small boy was harmless, only to find out he was, in fact, a wolf in sheep's clothing. The throbbing pain in his hand brought him back to reality as his eyes drifted to the cracked linoleum inches in front of him. But, he was intelligent enough to realize he had just escaped with his life, and he very quickly made the decision to never mess with Brance, or even speak to him, for that matter, again.

With the room falling back to silence once more, Brance continued his investigation of the room. Since arriving, he felt something was strange about this place. Although it appeared to be a simple classroom, the fact that it was both windowless and doorless made him see it as something other than a holding place.

Eventually, he ended up in front of the large TV again when he saw a flash of light out the corner of his eye, and a breathless Gabby appeared.

”BRANCIE!” Bouncing like a small bunny, Gabby swiftly made her way to Brance before jumping at him and hugging him tightly.