CHAPTER 159: GRATEFUL MALLOW.

(A/N Big thanks to everyone for the Power stones and Golden tickets, they mean a lot. As usual, please don’t hesitate to comment or drop a review. ENJOY)

(Don’t forget to join my discord. https://discord.gg/gwRQnjbQDK)

Power stones people, Gimme it.

---------------------------------

The rest of the day moved with a slow, dragging heaviness. Orion left the training floor with his mind still locked on the stubborn wall he kept smashing into. Every failed attempt replayed in the back of his head—collapsed distortions, frequency clashes, the sting of backlash numbing parts of his arm.

He understood the theory.

He understood the execution.

He understood the objective.

But the transition between each part remained a chasm he hadn’t bridged.

He stepped out of the academy building, letting the cool evening air brush lightly across his face—only for four silhouettes to immediately approach him from the walkway ahead.

His enclave.

His juniors.

They had clearly been waiting a while.

All four straightened at once the moment they saw him. One of them—Riven—opened his mouth, instinctively ready to ask how the session had gone. But when he caught the expression Orion wore—flat, distracted, edged with mild frustration—he hesitated and shut his mouth.

Orion blinked, noticing it.

"...Speak," he said with a small sigh. "I’m not upset with any of you. Just wrestling with a project."

The subtle tension among the four eased immediately.

Riven nodded sheepishly. "Understood, young master."

Orion exhaled and gestured for them to walk with him as they left the academy’s main courtyard. "Report. How did your previous assignments go?"

The enclave shifted into formation around him—two at his sides, two behind—an unconscious habit they’d developed over the years.

Selran spoke first. "My part of the mana-thread stitching is complete. No problems."

"Good," Orion said.

Jace followed. "I handled the archival requests. All three instructors signed off."

"Hmm." Orion nodded.

Tallis was the last. "The perimeter sweep had no abnormalities. The anomaly detected last week didn’t reappear."

Orion nodded, processing their updates with minimal delay. "No issues, then. Good. What’s next on my schedule?"

Tallis checked a thin slip of aether-paper. "You have a meeting with Senior Margaret. Outer dorms. In twenty minutes."

Orion paused.

Ah. Margaret.

A troublemaker since the trial years ago. And still a troublemaker now, if the rumors were accurate. She was nineteen, sharp-tongued, brilliant, insufferably bold—a storm wrapped in a girl’s body.

He rubbed a hand lightly against his temple. "I see..."

He considered heading back to his dorm to change, but after a moment of weighing the pointless extra step, he discarded the idea.

"Never mind," he muttered. "I’ll go like this."

The four exchanged brief glances but didn’t comment.

Their stomachs, however, spoke for them—three low rumbles overlapping.

Orion snorted softly. "You haven’t eaten."

A synchronized silence followed.

Responsibility always came first for them, which meant meals were usually second.

"...Late lunch?" Orion asked.

All four nodded instantly.

"Good. Let’s go."

Before any of them could react, space folded neatly around the five of them. A ripple of displacement swept outward, and in an instant, the academy grounds vanished.

They reappeared at the front of a restaurant carved between two tall ivy-covered buildings in the bustling lower district. Orion recognized it immediately—the place he and the boys had eaten on their first day of class at the academy. The place where those two girls had almost torn the restaurant apart in their fight before the owner chased them out.

Back then, the restaurant had been a modest establishment. Now...

It had grown.

A new signboard hung over polished doors, light crystals lining the entrance. The interior stretched wider than before—expanded with some kind of spatial enhancement. Students from all magnums crowded the seating areas visible through the windows.

Orion didn’t need to ask why.

A restaurant that fed Orion the Undefeated would draw half the academy by reputation alone. But the growth wasn’t because of him alone.

Mallow had her own charm—and Arlen’s constant visits had practically turned the place into an unofficial hangout spot for their group years ago.

Orion pushed the door open, and the chatter inside softened as several eyes flicked toward him. Whispers rose but quickly faded when he ignored them.

A waiter hurried over almost immediately.

"This way, sir. A private room upstairs has been prepared."

Of course it had.

They followed the waiter up a spiral staircase into a quiet space separated from the noise below. The room had a single long table, a floating illumination orb, and a window overlooking the courtyard fountain.

Orion and the four juniors took their seats, made their orders, and settled briefly into silence.

After some minutes, the door slid open again—revealing the food, and the woman behind it.

Mallow.

Her apron was still tied tightly around her waist. Her hair was pinned up in a messy bundle. Despite running one of the busiest restaurants around, she still insisted on cooking personally.

Orion shook his head faintly. "How many times do I have to tell you? There’s no need to come all the way up just because I visited."

Mallow shrugged, unimpressed. "And how many times do I have to tell you I’ll keep visiting my money maker?"

Orion’s mouth twitched.

Behind him, his juniors tried—and failed—to suppress their laughter.

She set the dishes on the table, giving him an approving look. "Graduation’s almost here, isn’t it? Four years already... I still remember dragging Kaela to meet you boys."

Orion remembered it clearly.

Kaela—the shy girl Mallow had introduced them to. One year older. Quiet as a whisper.

She’d wanted the girl to have connections she couldn’t normally reach, and Orion didn’t mind as long as the girl wasn’t troublesome.

She never was.

Instead, she worked hard, listened well, and asked questions politely. Orion and the boys helped her whenever they could, and she graduated last year with honors.

Mallow had never forgotten that.

"You’ve helped my Kaela more than you think," she said warmly. "I’ll always be grateful, Orion."

He waved her off gently. "She did all the work. We were just... supports."

Mallow smiled, shook her head at him, and excused herself before the kitchen burned down without her.

The door closed, and Orion and his enclave fell into easy conversation over the food.

He ate slowly, mind still drifting occasionally to the project he’d abandoned hours earlier. That stubborn technique. That maddening frequency mismatch. That impossible concept becoming more possible by the day.

Phasing.

He suppressed the thought before it spiraled again.

The group finished their meals, paid their respects to Mallow downstairs, and stepped out into the street once more.

The sun had dipped low, turning the cobblestones orange.

Orion rolled his shoulders once, letting the last remnants of irritation fade.

Margaret was waiting.

He exhaled.

"Let’s go meet that troublemaker."