CHAPTER 70: DISCIPLE CULTIVATION SYSTEM CH70 THE PLAN PT1.

After Kiara’s departure, Valaria, having made some decisions of her own, shifted slightly to face Kurt with full honesty.

"About the twelve...."

"You manipulated me." He stopped her before she could even finish.

A promise and twelve hours. Linking those words, Kurt had deduced something was supposed to happen, and adding the fact that she herself had stated she might have been eliminated after made everything clear to him.

"You would have fought Trish. The granddaughter of the Sword Saint. You would have lost, denying me of the satisfaction of eliminating you."

Stating her intentions, Kurt couldn’t help but laugh at himself for how easily he had been played. He really was getting attached to her, but it turned out it was all part of her manipulation.

"You have him now..."

Pointing at Kai, who seemed lost in thought, he snarled and turned to leave. Unlike Kiara, who had branched deeper into the store, he made his way toward the shattered door. He was done being used.

He had kept his end of the deal and become a knight, but he was so annoyed he no longer wanted compensation. He just wanted to get away from her.

"Kurt, I..."

"I don’t really care, missy." He stopped her with a sharp glare.

"Just leave me alone."

After that final exchange, he walked out, his figure soon disappearing into the ruined streets.

"Oh God."

Holding her aching head from Kurt’s cold shoulder, Valaria slid down the glass window and sat on the ground with a dejected look. On that day she learned two lessons.

The first being that friendship shouldn’t be built on lies.

The second being never to trust Art’s words ever again.

Saddened at the loss of a potential friend, she sighed, her eyes darting to Kai, who threw her a knowing smile. He seemed less stiff than before, but she could have just been imagining it.

"I will join you."

She was pretty useless, but she had a grudge against Art—one she really wanted to repay.

---

An hour later.

Four individuals were positioned around the store counter, each harboring a different kind of expression.

There was Kai, ever cold and serious, but seemingly lost in thought. As the de facto leader of the current planning, he ran multiple scenarios through his mind, each searching for a possibility of defeating their gatekeeper. He wanted victory—not the kind where he had to flee or outmaneuver, but complete defeat of his opponent. To him, defeating this instructor would be the first step in the achievements of his goals.

There was Valaria, grumpy and dejected after her fallout with Kurt. She didn’t have friends in the academy, and that boy had been the closest she felt she would ever get to having one. Now that chance was lost, all because she lied. She had manipulated him into helping her, even when she knew she wouldn’t offer him what he wanted in exchange. Now he had left, unwilling to communicate with her anymore. It hurt, and the fact that she couldn’t do anything about it pained her greatly. For now, this incoming fight was a way to repay Art for all the trouble he had placed her in over the past few days.

There was Kiara beside Valaria, who tipped her witch hat down to hide her expressive eyes. For her, she was only going along with this group because of Kai. He was an old friend—one she had sworn never to abandon. He might have lost himself in his goals, but in her eyes, he was merely going through a phase, one he would eventually outgrow after reality hit him. For now, she just stayed alongside him so that he would at least have someone to lean on when that day arrived.

Finally, there was Enko, having just awakened from her coma-like state and sitting on the counter with an incomprehensible look. Fear, relief, and rage. A mixture of failure and doubt—all because of the girl known as Trish, who had utterly defeated her and messed her up. Each time she closed her eyes, she remembered the painful bites she sustained, the forceful strangling, and that frightening grin. Her physical scars might have been healed, but psychologically, she was scarred eternally. As for the incoming battle, it didn’t matter whether she won or lost. It wouldn’t impact her nearly as much as Trish did.

"Our opponent is an instructor... relatively new but still an instructor," Kai began, setting the mood of the conversation.

"He’s a fourth-star aura user whose primary mode of weaponry is the sword."

"He’s also proficient in dagger and hand-to-hand," Valaria chimed in, vague memories of Art’s battle against her kidnapper flashing in her mind.

Taking note of her statement, Kai nodded and awaited more information. He had heard of Instructor Art, the teaching assistant of Professor Grim and Villier, but personally, he hadn’t done much research on him yet. He expected Valaria, who had been under said instructor, or Kiara, with her immoral use of magic, to know more about this subject than him.

"He’s an Intent haver. I can’t say much for skills, but in terms of power, he’s slightly below Grim when he goes all out," Kiara added.

For everything Kai overlooked, she was there to fill the gaps. Among those gaps was Art, whom she had been watching closely for a while now.

"He uses the [Snowdance] in combat and regularly visits the mountainsides to train his sword skills every morning. He ends up hunting mana beasts while he’s at it."

"...."

Kai and Enko ignored the latter parts, while Valaria shot Kiara a frightful look.

"He’s possibly a sadist, judging from how he treats some of his students, so I expect he will underestimate us and toy with us."

"We could use that," Kai suggested, forging a plan from his memories. An opponent that would likely toy with them wouldn’t kill them in one hit, preferring instead to savor the satisfaction of looking down on them, but....

"It won’t work!" Valaria intervened.