( A few hourster )


    Buhara was the first one to wake up after the incident amongst him, Sophia and Erin, and he felt absolutely confused on what was going on after regaining consciousness.


    All he remembered was cutting trees on floor one and then passing out as he had neither seen the assassin''s, nor did he have any idea about what happened after.


    " Where am I? Why is puny Erin and stinky Sophia on the bed beside me?" Buhara said after waking up, as he felt thoroughly confused about his situation.


    " Buhara''s neck hurts-" he said, cing a hand over his neck from where the venom had been extracted.


    Rocky had already been moved out of the infirmary once he made some recovery and was isted from Buhara and Erin, because Professor Maven instructed the medical staff to do so.


    The first thing that Buhara underwent after waking up was a round of questioning as Professor Maven inquired him about the incident and his memory, trying to match it with Rocky''s story.


    Thankfully, their stories matched up perfectly since it was the truth, as only then did Professor Maven believe that it wasn''t Rocky who had called the hit on Sophia.


    While nobody wanted to doubt Rocky, the fact that both thepanions of the Champion of Poseidon were dead, while he was the sole witness of the event involving Sophia''s stabbing, made him look like the chief suspect.


    The animosity between the two parties was no secret and hence it would not be weird if Rocky was indeed the mastermind behind this incident.


    Although Principal Liam had verified that Rocky was indeed telling the truth with his lie detection skill, Professor Maven still did his own due diligence of the situation as well, only to realize that Rocky was indeed innocent in this incident.


    " Stay here for a while. After you recover enough, you can meet Rocky who will exin what all happened-" professor Maven said, leaving the room once more as he left Buhara alone with Erin and Sophia in the infirmary.


    **********


    A full day after the incident, the news about the death of two students and the Champion of Poseidon battling for her life inside the infirmary spread far and wide within the university.


    Since nobody had a clear idea of what happened, wild conspiracy theories began to develop, with most assuming it was one of Gemini''s schemes, however, when Instructor Forum revealed that it was Rocky who had saved Sophia''s life, things became even more convoluted.


    The conspiracy theories became even wilder, suggesting a possible coboration between Olympus and Gemini, while some even went as far as to ship Rocky and Sophia as secret lovers.


    There were a few who still believed that this was one of Gemini''s ys because of the notorious reputation of Shakuni as being a mastermind fate maniptor, however, such people were few in number, as trying to predict the strategies of Shakuni was a futile affair.


    Overall, the atmosphere of the university took a tense turn as it was revealed that Principal Liam had lost his mind over the incident and was now out in the tower for revenge.


    ************


    Two days after the incident, Rocky and Buhara returned to normal sses, with Rocky having already narrated the full tale of what happened to Buhara.


    Wherever the duo went, eyes and questions followed, as the more hopeful the gazes of ssmates were, the more Rocky felt as a fraud, as instead of his supporters, he began to levitate towards his haters more as at least they saw him for the fraud that he was.


    Rocky''s self esteem at this point was at an all time low, as the only thought revolving in his head 24X7 was about how to improve, as for thest two days, Rocky had stopped resting/ sleeping for more than 4 hours, as he was either training his physical body, at the library seeking knowledge, or honing his sword art.


    He trained like a possessed maniac, as he resolved to get the first position in the university by the end of the year on his own merits and was ready to give this dream his all to achieve it.


    ********


    Four days after the incident, news broke out throughout the university that Principal Liam had started an indiscriminate ughter in one of the Olympian Assassin strongholds, having single handedly killed over 25,000 men and had imed the souls of over 200 of their leaders! Turning them into his specters.


    The incident took ce on floor 21 of the tower, right under the nose of Perseus, Sophia''s brother, however, he did not dare interfere in the business of Liam the mad Ghostmancer, as he feared for his own soul while facing him.


    While Liam did return to the university after this ughter, burying his secret weapon once more, his behavior had became even more erratic after the incident, as in his next lecture he seemed more unstable than ever before.


    If before he pulled at his tangled beard hair as if it was an itch, he now pulled them out by the bunch, often bleeding through the brutal pulling of his hair, as despite the pain he seemed to be unfazed.


    He stuttered more while speaking, his narcissisticplex had gotten worse and there was an aura of death around him that made it hard for an average student to breathe should hee and stand near them.


    Nobody dared to take their eyes off him when he spoke and nobody tried to do anything funny as his lectures went on in pin-drop silence with every student absorbing every wording out of his mouth.


    After the death of two ssmates on floor zero, everyone took the survival ss extremely seriously as even without Principal Liam''s intimidating presence, the importance of the course itself seemed to be instilled within all students.


    *********


    A full seven dayster, Erin regained consciousness feeling severely weakened as his body felt sore everywhere.


    He too was interrogated after regaining consciousness by Professor Maven and narrated the same tale as Buhara which confirmed Rocky''s story.


    Asked to rest, he was kept under observation for a full day more as he was fed several potions to regain his usual strength.


    While not back to 100%, Erin was discharged upon his request as after he learnt that he had already missed a weeks worth of lectures, Erin no longer wanted to miss anything anymore.


    Reunited with Rocky and Buhara, Erin hugged Rocky tightly upon their reunion as he profusely thanked Rocky for saving his life.


    Rocky tried to exin how all this was actually his fault and that he was sorry, however, the way Erin saw this incident was that if Rocky had not called for instructor Forum in time and carried him to the infirmary, he could have died on floor one.


    He did not me Rocky for the incident, neither did he hold any animosity towards Sophia, instead he too realized how weak he was to drop unconscious without even realizing it and resolved to grow stronger.


    Joining Rocky in his physical training during early mornings, Erin tried to ovee his biggest weakness of having a weak body as well, as the atmosphere within the dorm of the three friends shifted significantly on week two of universitypared to week one, as after the incident all three seemed to have understood the importance of life and power, and how to stay alive they needed to grow stronger fast.


    —----


    /// A/N - Bonus chapter for hitting the PS target, good job everyone!


    We definitely need more PS, so this support is much much appreciated! ///