"I'm back!" Nathan opened the door, finding Selena teaching Serafina.
"Oh!" Selena turned to Nathan. "Are you done with your matter?"
"Yep! Look. I have a souvenir for you." Nathan showed a bag.
"Souvenir?" Selena raised her eyebrows. She grabbed the bag while asking, "What did you buy?"
When she opened the bag, she was startled to see several mature class cores.
"I got them from the new principal. You should use those cores to get stronger, Selena. With your absorption rate, you should get more than 10,000 Ena from four mature class cores, right?"
"Y-Yeah." Selena nodded.
"Are you sure about this? You need cores more than me."
"Don't worry. I have gotten my share. Besides, this vacation is my idea, so I'm responsible for the time we spend here, which can be spent on a mission."
Selena looked at the bag for a moment before nodding her head. "Alright. I will take this then. Thanks."
"No problem. My teacher will come soon, so I'm planning to swallow the cores at that time so that she will know if something goes wrong."
"Alright." Selena agreed with the schedule.
"Do I get a souvenir as well?" Sera raised her hand, asking.
Nathan looked at Sera and said, "Do your best first. Maybe you will get it next time."
Sera pouted. "Come on! I have been doing my best," or so she thought, until two days later.
"Aaarrggghhh!" Nathan was screaming in pain. His body was writhing on the bed as his eyes rolled back.
Vivian sat in front of the bed while crossing her arms. "What's wrong? Aren't you going to swallow all those mature class cores? Just do it and keep your mouth shut."
"Aahhhh!" Nathan couldn't stop. It was simply too painful. After all, he swallowed two cores at once under the suggestion of Vivian. She said it would be painful, but the process would be much faster.
Vivian remained calm, as though the sight didn't affect her in the slightest.
She only took out her note and started writing. "His current limit is two mature class cores. I guess this is still too bad.
"I should change the dose of his medicine to strengthen his body. Or should I go for a medicinal bath? I think I have the herbs ready.
"I need to increase his sturdiness. He needs to be able to swallow 5 mature class cores at once within two months.
"Only at that point is he strong enough to swallow a warrior class core.
"In that case, this should be the plan." Vivian was staring at her disciples as if he were a research subject.
Selena and Sera were worried when they observed him from afar. Even Selena had to sleep alone because of Nathan's grueling hours.
Still, since they were on vacation, Vivian didn't hold back on anything.
She put medicinal herbs in their food and drink. After that, she prepared a medicinal bath for Nathan.
It could be said she spent more money in these few days compared to the four months Nathan had been in the academy.
Of course, Selena and Sera were allowed to take advantage of them as well, but only after Nathan was done.
While relaxing in the hot bath, Sera let out a moan. "This feels good. I feel rejuvenated. This medicine bath is so awesome. Still, she is a demon, isn't she? She is probably the only one who can make Nathan suffer like that."
Selena closed her eyes while leaning against the wall. "Ena can be quantified right now. I'm sure you know about her recent work, right?"
"Yes. It's going to be popular soon."
"I can get 10 Ena or even more from a single proto-class Ena. Do you know how much Ena Nathan gets from a single core?"
"Considering you are a genius, and Nathan is also one of a kind. I guess 7-8 Ena?"
"Not even close." Selena shook her head. "He gets 1-2 Ena from a single core."
"What?!" Sera widened her eyes in shock. "I'm not as talented as you, but I still get 9 Ena from one core. He…"
"Yes. He only gets that amount. And soon, he will be categorized as the less talented. He needs 5-10x times the amount of cores we need.
"Yet he is able to keep up with us. Why? It's because he has been working hard this whole time… much harder than any of us."
Sera suddenly looked down, thinking about it.
Selena continued, "Although it makes me physically sick by saying this, I just want you to know about the resource and work distribution. I'm planning to give most of the resources to him. And make sure that he doesn't need to do as many things as possible.
"Right now, my vampire is the one cooking for us and I'm dealing with all the administration problems as a part of the student council. If you want to join the group, I hope you can help with the work as well.
"Anyway, that's the last thing I want to say about you joining the group." Selena stood up. "I'm done."
While Nathan was doing his best to get stronger, there was a high-level meeting held in a storehouse.
The storehouse looked like it had been abandoned for a while. There was dust and boxes scattered around.
A person walked into the storehouse, his footsteps breaking the eerie silence with their echo.
He grabbed one of the boxes, which hid a secret entrance to the basement. Inside was like a different world. Wooden floor and wall, warm orange light, and tidy room.
A lot of people had been seated according to their respective ranks as the person who had just come walked to a grand throne located at the edge of the rectangular table.
The atmosphere soon became tense as his body was naturally emitting a huge amount of Ena.
With his head resting on his hand, he asked, "So, what actually happened in the past thirty days? How did three of our people get caught?"