Chapter 2: A sore loser
Erik hadn’t wanted to bother with Nathan, but this guy had gone out of his way to plant himself right in front of him, making it hard to ignore even if he wanted to.
Seeing Erik stay silent, Nathan assumed his words had struck the man’s weak point, and the corner of his mouth curled up even more distinctly.
"Actually, you don’t need to be too disappointed." Nathan sighed, his voice as though sympathizing, yet his volume was just loud enough for everyone nearby to hear: "Saraya is a rank S Succubus, her background isn’t low, and in the future she’ll surely become a powerful Awakened. As for you..."
He deliberately paused, his gaze running over Erik from head to toe, then shook his head.
"No parents, no clan to back you, and even the money you used to connect had to be scraped together over several years of work. Even if the pairing System brought the two of you together, the gap between the two sides is still too large."
The people waiting to process their procedures nearby turned their heads to look over upon hearing that.
A few recognized Nathan, curiosity immediately surfacing in their eyes, and some began discussing Erik in low voices.
Nathan was very satisfied with that reaction.
He didn’t just want to mock Erik, he also wanted everyone to know that Erik was nothing more than someone with no background, no money, and certainly not worthy of a rank S Succubus like Saraya.
The black-haired Succubus being held in Nathan’s arms frowned slightly.
She didn’t care that Nathan had one more Succubus. In this world, for a man with high talent and enough capacity to maintain multiple contracts, having multiple partners was a very normal thing.
She herself had already prepared for that mentally before signing the contract with Nathan.
However, what he had just said still made her feel uncomfortable.
Nathan hadn’t asked for her opinion, and was even holding her in his arms while openly talking about another Succubus in front of many people. The way he was behaving gave her the feeling that she wasn’t a partner, but merely an object he was carrying around to show off.
The black-haired Succubus wriggled slightly out of Nathan’s arm, but he was focused on Erik and didn’t notice her reaction at all.
Erik of course saw everything.
However, he had no interest in reminding Nathan, and even less desire to get involved in the two of their romantic affairs.
In his past life, Erik had lived to thirty-five years old. He had worked for others, had run a small business, had dealt with all kinds of people in society, and in the end was even killed in an arson set by his own fiancée in collusion with her lover, all for insurance money.
Compared to the things he had been through, a few provocations from a young man like Nathan who hadn’t even fully grown his feathers really weren’t worth mentioning.
Erik gave him a glance, then turned to the female staff member behind the counter.
"How long will the procedure take?"
The smile on Nathan’s face stiffened slightly.
He had deliberately spoken so loudly, yet unexpectedly Erik wasn’t angry at all, and didn’t even want to respond to him.
The feeling was like he had thrown a punch with all his strength, only to land it on a pile of soft cotton, not only failing to injure the opponent but also making himself look stupid.
Nathan clicked his tongue, feeling even more annoyed inside.
"Pretending to be calm won’t do you any good either." He sneered coldly: "Rejected by a Succubus for three whole months, and now having to come here in person to process a rebate. If it were me, I probably wouldn’t have the face to show up in front of everyone."
Erik still didn’t look at him.
The female staff member also sensed that the atmosphere was off, and hurriedly said: "Mr. Erik, the records are being reviewed. Please wait a little longer, we’ll try to handle it as fast as possible."
"Alright."
Erik nodded and was about to head over to the waiting area.
Nathan watched his retreating back, and a strange thought suddenly popped into his head. He broke into a smile and loudly asked: "Erik, when will the rebate procedure be finished?"
Erik’s footsteps came to a stop.
Nathan continued, his tone brimming with provocation: "Saraya doesn’t accept you anyway, and letting her keep being paired with an incapable guy like you is just a waste of time. Once the Center reclaims her, I could try to connect with her."
Saying this, Nathan even gave a light squeeze to the arm holding the black-haired Succubus, as if deliberately wanting to show Erik just how much appeal he had.
"Maybe the problem doesn’t lie with Saraya, but with the fact that the one paired with her wasn’t good enough."
Hearing that, the black-haired Succubus’s expression immediately turned ugly.
She lifted her head to look at Nathan, displeasure surfacing in her eyes, but Nathan didn’t look at her at all. His entire attention was fixed on Erik.
Erik finally turned around.
He looked at Nathan for a few seconds, his brows knitting slightly, feeling that this young man really was so obsessed with one-upping him that he’d gone a little crazy.
There was no great enmity between the two of them to begin with.
From beginning to end, Nathan just wanted to prove that he was stronger than him, held a higher status than him, and was loved by more Succubi than him.
Erik didn’t know where this strange mentality came from, and had no desire to waste time figuring it out.
He said in a soft voice: "If you like picking up what others have returned, go right ahead. I’m not a garbage collection center either."
The surroundings instantly went quiet.
The smile on Nathan’s face vanished.
His face first flushed red, then gradually became contorted, his eyes glaring at Erik brimming with fury.
"What did you say?"
Erik looked at him and calmly asked back: "Didn’t you hear clearly?"
"Damn it!"
Nathan instinctively took a step forward, the mana in his body immediately fluctuating, his hand also clenching tight into a fist.
However, an enormous magic symbol on the ceiling of the Connection Center suddenly lit up. An invisible pressure quickly enveloped Nathan’s body, making him instantly sober up.
This place was the Connection Center.
Any act of aggression would be suppressed by the defensive system. Whoever made the first move would not only be detained but could also be stripped of the right to enter the Trial Gate for a long time.
Nathan gritted his teeth, and in the end still didn’t dare throw that punch.
"Fine." He pointed at Erik, his voice icy: "I’ll remember the words you just said."
Erik didn’t answer.
The calmer Nathan saw him, the angrier he felt, but there was nothing else he could do. In the end, he could only give a cold snort, then wrap his arm around the black-haired Succubus and leave.
The black-haired Succubus didn’t immediately follow along.
She gave Erik a glance, then looked at Nathan’s retreating back, her eyes carrying a trace of disappointment. It wasn’t until Nathan irritably called her name that she silently followed after him.
Erik watched the two of them leave the Center, only sighing inwardly.
He had known Nathan since three years ago.
Back then Erik had just finished his aptitude test, confirmed to have awakened and to be qualified to become an Awakened. However, because he hadn’t connected with a Succubus, his talent and rank still couldn’t be determined. Even so, he and the others who met the requirements were still brought into a simulated Trial Space to get familiar with danger.
That wasn’t the real Trial Gate.
The monsters inside were all projections, but the sensations of pain, the exhaustion, and the mental pressure weren’t too different from reality.
In the very first trial, a great many people panicked the moment they saw the monsters. Some fled, some forgot everything they had been instructed, and some even shoved and jostled, throwing the whole formation into chaos.
Erik was not like that.
He had died once, had been trapped in a sea of flames and watched with his own eyes the person he trusted most wanting him dead. A few simulated monsters, while frightening, weren’t enough to make him lose his composure.
He quickly observed the terrain, made use of the surrounding obstacles, then directed a few people to cooperate and clear the trial.
Nathan had been in the group back then too.
He came from a well-off family, had been trained from a young age, and his aptitude wasn’t low either, so he had originally assumed he would be the most outstanding one.
But in the end, the one the examiners praised the most turned out to be Erik.
From that day on, Nathan started treating him as a rival.
Even though Erik had never once intended to compete with him.
"So childish."
Erik shook his head, walked to the waiting area, and sat down.
Sometimes he felt that if everyone could just live and let live, not going out of their way to find others to cause trouble for, then perhaps this world would be a great deal more peaceful.
A pity that, whether on Earth or in this world, there were always people who couldn’t stand seeing others live better than themselves.