He has only received negative impacts from the outcome of this regional sect examination. First it was Skylar coming to his dojo to die and his mother telling him that she would come to his house in the evening to drag him for the party.
He thought she would come to his house in the evening, and he was already prepared to escape. But he can already see her waiting some distance from the field.
So she had lied to him. Now he can't escape from her.
Of course, his situation is not as bad as those of parents whose children died in the sect examination. The Dyson family is just throwing a welcoming party for their children who have returned from the sect examination, and his mother wants him to attend that party by force.
It is not a matter of life and death for him, but it is already bad because what he wanted to do was train with the force diagram, not go to some party.
This was why he was in a bad mood when Skylar came to challenge him. There was a high chance that he would have decided to beat Skylar up himself.
He didn't beat Skylar, but he was sullen about it. As he was teaching his class, he was thinking about how to avoid his mother.
But all of his plans went up in smoke when she appeared beside him as soon as his class ended.
She looked over at the crowd of students and said, "You're a food teacher. It is no wonder why your students are so protective of you. They will even beat deranged dogs for you."
He said, "Good morning, mother. I would like to chat with you, but I have a busy day. I need to hunt and then prepare for the party in the evening."
He turned away from her to leave. But he felt a hand grip his shoulders and hold him in place. The hand was as hard as steel. It was clear to Arthur that she was about to use force.
She was indeed about to use force. Her plan is to grab him and drag him away here and now. But she changed her mind when he gripped his body and realized that his flesh failed to deform under the pressure of her grip. It was as if she was holding stone, not flesh.
She was already using force to enhance her strength. She went all out right from the start because she knows that Arthur won't succumb unless he is coerced with violence.
But while she was already using force, she couldn't sense any burning life force from him. It meant that this was the natural power of his body. The strength of his body wasn't gained from burning life force, yet it was impressive.
This feeling made her surprised. The power wasn't nearly enough to rival hers since she was at the third transformation of the second mortal coil with a power of 40. But it was still impressive to see this kind of power in someone at the first mortal coil.
What's more, she didn't expect this kind of power from him despite knowing that he was special.
It made her chuckle and think to herself, "This brat. He has been keeping a big secret from me."
She had noticed that Arthur was always avoiding contact with her. She didn't think much of it and was also willing to respect his privacy because he was a grown man now. But now that she had realized that he was far stronger than her greatest expectation, she understood that she had been fooled.
She also understood that she couldn't be rash like she planned before. She still intends to use force, but not right from the start anymore.
She decided to give him a choice, so she said, "Young man, we can do this the easy way, where you follow me willingly and I give you some carcasses for the hunting you will miss, or we can do this the hard way, where we fight in front of your students and I drag you over to my house."
Arthur grumbled under his breath. Then he turned to her and said, "Let's go."
She smiled and ruffled his head. "Good choice."
Arthur dispersed his students and went with her to her carriage. The carriage went off immediately after they settled in.
Arthur said, "You lied to me. You said you would come over this evening. I still have a lot of things to do today."
She chuckled and said smugly, "If I hadn't lied, you would have escaped. I know you. You're devious. But I also know that you care about distributing bread and teaching in your dojo a lot. So I was sure that you would be here."
He snorted and asked, "Why do you want me to go so badly? What is there for you to gain?"
She sighed and said, "It is not about what I will gain. It is about what you will gain."
"Your father will be at the party today. It is a rare chance to see him. You haven't seen him since you were three years old, and you have never spoken to him. I want you guys to chat before you leave for a sect."
Arthur cocked an eyebrow and asked, "Is that all?"
She rolled her eyes. "I know that you don't care about your father. I also planned for you two to become familiar so that you can chat. That way, he might be able to help you gain some of the support of the family in whichever sect you get into."
He said, "But I am a bastard."
She shook her head. "Your identity as a bastard only matters in the family. In the sect, where you were born and who gave birth to you don't matter. It won't matter if you were a beggar before or the prince of a kingdom. All that matters is strength and whether you are a friend or a foe."