Erik left the room soon after while Professor Mc Allister and Principal Harris stayed behind to talk.
"What's the problem, professor?" Principal Harris asked.
"Can I talk freely?" the teacher asked.
"Yes."
"I think the young man should be punished," the teacher said while looking at the old man.
"That would complicate things..."Principal Harris said.
"Why, because of the militaries?"
"Exactly," the principal replied. "If the kid gets arrested, he would have to spend some time in jail. But you know very well that mandatory recruitment starts soon. Do you think the higher-ups will be pleased if we send an awakener to jail when he could have joined the militaries?"
"But, sir, he used his power to injure a student. If he doesn't learn that there are consequences to his actions he..."
"Enough. This is just a minor setback compared to what will happen if we don't send the kid to the militaries."
Professor Mc Allister didn't reply, but he looked at the older man with concern.
"You can go now, professor," Principal Harris told him.
Erik was still outside the room, waiting for his teacher to tell him he could go and look at the principal's office door.
It was made of brown wood and had two glass windows, allowing light from the hallway into the room. The boy saw the principal's wooden desk in front of one of these windows and the two teachers talking. He couldn't hear them, though; they spoke too softly.
Erik was far from the other classrooms, but multiple offices were near the principal's, including the school psychologists.
As the minutes passed by without any sign of the teacher leaving his office, however, the boy began to become impatient, but it was at that moment that the teacher came out of the office. As he did, he turned to look at the young man.
"What do you usually do before classes end?" the teacher asked.
"I go to work, sir," Erik replied.
Professor Mc Allister sighed, "You are allowed to go to work, but you must come here by eighteen o clock, come to the gym once you are here. Your training starts today."
"All right, sir. Can I go now?" Erik asked.
"Yes, you can, but don't be late. I don't like it."
"Okay, thanks, sir," Erik said; he turned back and left.
Erik then went out of the building, heading to the train station. As he did, he saw the students looking at him as if he was a kind of monster. They whispered among themselves about what had happened in the cafeteria. Some were jealous of him because he awakened another power, the rumor already spread wide.
"Why couldn't I have awakened another power since my birth one is much better than his?" That was what most of the students said.
Many people knew that Erik wasn't bound to be the school trash from that day onward. Having two brain crystal power meant he could get double the neural links.
Even if his new power was trash, he had the potential to become twice as powerful as the strongest of the soldiers, and he was probably bound to become so for people of the same rank.
Erik didn't know, but during his stay at high school, he became a sort of stress relief for the other students. In that society, the competition was high. Knowing that there was someone beneath him or her comforted most of the bottom-tier students.
Bullying wasn't something that only Erik suffered. In fact, many students faced the same problem every day, because students with better brain crystal powers or stronger crystals themselves did bully them.
Erik ignored all the students; his new problem now was to go to mister fox's farm and tell him that from that day onward, he would have to go back to school at eighteen.
The young man left the school's building, and after a short walk, he arrived at the station. He briefly waited while sitting on a bench and then boarded the train.
As he traveled to the farm, multiple thoughts spread inside Erik's mind. He really hoped that what he did at the cafeteria set an example.
He didn't want to spend the rest of the time he had to pass there bullied by Logan or made fun of by other people.
Then he thought about what he was going to do in the following days; in less than a month, high school would end, and he would be forced to go to the military school.
He couldn't be weak when he went there because he would risk people bullying him there too. The young man knew that if the competition was already so bad here at high school, it would be worse on the military school.
After all, better grades meant higher military rank, better retribution, and better living conditions. Moreover, if he stepped on the wrong person's feet, retribution was bound to be ruthless, so he needed strength. This meant he didn't have to miss any daily quests, and he had to find a way to get experience faster.
As he traveled, he saw the city landscape slowly change to that of farms and wheat fields. The golden and green colors made the scene more beautiful than ever. He always enjoyed riding the train to go to his working place since it allowed him to see such beautiful scenes.
After a while, he finally arrived at the city's edges; he took the usual route toward Mister Fox's farm, passing through the fields until he reached the old man's property.
As he arrived, Erik saw Mister fox from afar, sitting near his house window, watching the fields and probably waiting for the young man to arrive.
He wore only a pair of shorts and nothing else, and his body was lean and fit despite his age.
Erik approached the old man, who looked at him with a glare. "You are late, boy," Mister Fox said.
"I'm sorry, sir, I had a problem at school."
"It looks like you are getting in trouble a lot lately."
"Sorry for that," Erik said. He then looked at his employer with anxiousness, and after he gathered the courage to talk, he said to him, "Mister Fox, there is something I must tell you."
"What, boy?" the old man asked.
"The school asked me to get back there at eighteen from today onward. I can't work till late as usual."
"What the hell, Erik?" the old man shouted. This meant he had to do much more work alone.
"I'm sorry, sir!"
"Fuck, this means I will have to collect all the product alone!"
"I'm really sorry, sir," and he was. Erik couldn't afford to lose his job, as his financial situation was already hard. Moreover, that was the only place where he truly felt at peace with himself, and no one judged him for his power.
Tending to the crops was something that gave him peace; it allowed him to be self-sufficient and also to make money. Besides, the farm was one of the few places where he felt safe; even though Mister Fox wasn't the most pleasant person in the world, he treated him like a human being.
The old man looked at Erik; he knew that the young man didn't have any choice. So, he sighed and then said to Erik, "All right, you can go back, but I will lower your pay."
Erik looked at Mister Fox with a grateful look, "Sir, thank you, thank you really much! Don't worry about the pay."
"I don't."