Felix bit the inside of his lip hard enough to draw blood. He did his best to keep his temper under control. Their barrage of snide remarks didn’t slow down just because he stayed silent. Eventually, he’d had enough. If he let them continue, they’d probably go on until lunchtime.

  So just as Irene was in the middle of another quip, he cut her off.

  “I didn’t say anything about quitting. I have my reasons for doing this. Now, are you going to order something or are you going to keep wasting my time?”

  A wave of fury hit him. Individually, their power was nothing to write home about, but they were so in sync with their response that he’d have been forced back at the sudden crash of power if it weren’t for his experience with his gate.

  He’d faced far greater pressure from creatures that made it clear just how weak the three of them were. Their intimidation had the opposite effect, as Felix had a hard time not looking down on them for their little display. Sure, Felix wasn’t able to emanate any sort of aura. He didn’t even understand why some aspirants could.

  But he’d felt enough to compare them. When he felt these, his first thought was of children playing dress-up with their parents’ clothes. Pretending they were great when they might as well be newborns.

  He stared down at them, unable to hold back a little smirk, which only infuriated them more. Eugene was about to jump up, but Marvin quickly realised what was going on and stopped him.

  “That’s no way to treat your customers, number one. No need to be shy, like Eugene said, this suits you. Now, why don’t you go fetch me my breakfast like the good little doggy you are?”

  The three of them quickly turned his morning into a game for their amusement. They constantly tried to change their orders, spoke over each other, and did everything in their power to be difficult. It was a blatant attempt to embarrass him when he inevitably made a mistake.

  Unfortunately for them, one of Felix’s affinities was for mind mana. While at first he only felt a little sharper and his thoughts a little clearer, it had grown over the course of his training into one of his favourite aspects.

  Even without a spell to work on, his affinity had grown. Constantly pushing himself over the past month had honed his mind to a point that was possibly more frightening than his body. He easily kept track of all their conversations and changes, even noting every change they made to their order. While he’d surely forget it in a few hours, remembering it perfectly for a short time wouldn’t be an issue.

  When he turned to go to the kitchen, he could see them huddling up and snickering. Clearly, they’d be taking full advantage of the situation. While Felix hoped they would try spilling something intentionally, it seemed it wasn’t to be. Word had spread about what happened to the first guy who tried it, and while he helped other tables, they’d learned of it too.

  While they enjoyed every moment of bossing him around, they stayed within the realm of barely acceptable behaviour. Felix had to constantly restrain himself as he followed their demands.

  When he got to the point where he felt like he was going to strangle one of them, Agrona pulled him aside and forced him to take a little break.

  Handing him some tea to cool down, it soothed his frustration just enough to get him through the rest of breakfast.

  Over the next week, Felix split his time between training with the staff and the obstacle course, helping Agrona and learning from her.

  Eugene and his group took it upon themselves to make his life hell. By the end of the first week, they’d synced their meal times with seemingly every other asshole in the Crossroad. When they showed up, the dining hall would be filled with people trying to make his job as difficult as possible.

  Even Agrona became concerned as she never expected things to escalate to that level.

  Things eventually got to the point where something had to give. When Felix realised that either he was going to snap or the tension was going to boil over into something even nastier, he realised he had to do something.

  Instead of seeing the situation as something to be endured, his mindset changed. He needed to succeed to progress on his path, and Eugene had become an obstacle. It didn’t matter that he wasn’t on the Ways. The Ways wasn’t his path. It was just a tool to help him see his path. To grow familiar enough to see it without the help of the Ways.

  The very fact that the Ways helped set the condition for Agrona to teach him was proof, and perhaps this was what he was meant to learn from the experience. The second he started looking at his current situation the same way he looked at the raging river, or hoard of slicers, he felt a shift in his mana.

  None of the other aspirants in the hall could feel it, but Agrona's glowing smile told him she definitely noticed.

  By the next morning, Felix had a plan, it was risky, and if it backfired, it could go horrendously wrong. Still, it was probably his best shot. If he didn’t try, he’d get nowhere.

  Over the next few days, his goal changed. His mornings were no longer about enduring. They were about observing. He cut back on his time in the gym and library and spent as much time as he could learning everything he could about Eugene and his group.

  He even went so far as to recruit Henry and the girls to help him keep an eye out. He didn’t explain his intentions, but they still helped him. Patiently, he built up an image of them in his mind. He predicted their patterns and tested his theories.

  When the next week rolled around, Felix was ready. The next time Eugene and his gang started their normal charade, Felix didn’t bite his tongue. He allowed them to build just enough momentum to think things were going to go the way they did every morning before he struck.

  He could no longer concern himself with how his actions would affect them. They were an obstacle on his path. He would remove them so he could move forward.

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  “Don’t you think you’re pathetic?”

  Felix didn’t raise his voice, but he spoke clearly. He looked Eugene in the eye, casting his voice so everyone could hear.

  “Here you are, day after day, playing these little games. Going so far as to gather together a little band of losers, and for what? What’s your goal here? I’m progressing my path, while you? You’re so intimidated by me that you spend half your day trying to hold me back. When's the last time you made any progress?”

  Eugene looked like a deer caught in headlights. He’d grown so used to putting himself above Felix that when the tables suddenly turned, he had no idea how to respond.

  He looked around for support, finding it in Marvin.

  “Ha, what? Did you finally crack under the pressure? You think we care about you?”

  ‘Huh, guess the plan is working better than expected. That was a pretty weak response. Marvin’s been thrown off his game as well.’

  “What, going to let your lackey respond for you once again? Aren’t you man enough to stand up for yourself?”

  Felix inwardly cringed at his choice of words. He couldn’t get hung up on it, though. He needed to goad Eugene. He couldn’t let him regain his footing.

  Fortunately, his plan worked flawlessly. Marvin couldn’t take being called a lackey. He jumped up to respond. Eugene was sharp enough to realise that he couldn’t let that happen or he’d look even worse.

  Felix doubted it was a conscious choice on his part. It was merely instinct guiding his interactions. Fear was driving his responses. They weren’t ready to play this game, but Felix was.

  He’d analysed every conversation he’d had with Eugene’s group in as much detail as he could remember from the day he first met them. He probably understood their behaviour better than they did at this point, letting him map out this conversation and every variation it could take.

  He’d dedicated so much effort to his plan that he’d needed to use invigorating rest multiple times just to let his mind recover.

  His challenge had taught him to observe the obstacles in his way, find a weakness, and then strike with confidence. He'd observed them enough. This was the start of his strike. He replayed every prediction he made for how this conversation could go.

  People weren’t as predictable as he’d like. At least he was nowhere near good enough to map out their responses perfectly. He knew there was no way this would go exactly as he envisioned, but that didn’t matter.

  He’d developed plans upon plans upon plans. From the second he’d spoken, the game had begun. He’d slowly drive them to the end he wanted while they didn’t even know they were playing.

  Eugene jumped up from his seat, cutting off Marvin, who’d just begun to speak. That was the best result he could have hoped for. If he stayed passive, Felix would need to draw him into the conversation, but he’d taken the bait.

  “You!– I–”

  Felix smirked, perfect.

  “Yes, me, what? C’mon, you’ve put together this grand show, day after day. Tell me then, what’s it for? Isn’t it just because you feel threatened by me? Or… is it because you can’t get a girl to be interested in you?”

  Felix channeled the most condescending attitude he could muster. With everything he had experienced over the last week, he had a lot to work with.

  He could see Eugene growing furious. He could actually feel the air around them heating up a little.

  “Threatened? Me? By you? Don’t make me laugh, why would I feel threatened by a talentless hack like you!”

  “Oh! So it’s because you can’t get a girl to like you? I see, I see, truly pathetic.”

  “That’s not it!”

  “Oh, so it is because you feel threatened, make up your mind, would you?”

  “I don’t feel threatened!” Eugene looked ready to jump over the table. His face was beet-red, and veins stood out on his forehead. Any second now, he was going to lunge at Felix.

  From the corner of his eye, he could see Agrona moving closer, about to intervene. Felix gave her a sneaky thumbs-up behind his back, hoping she trusted him enough to hold off a little longer. By all rights, she should have already intervened. If Felix hadn’t told her about his plan, she would have.

  Felix clapped in front of him, right in Eugene’s line of sight.

  “Great!” He injected that one word with so much false cheer that it shifted the entire tone of the conversation. It left Eugene too stunned to react for a moment.

  Everything hinged on this moment. If he’d gone too far, it wouldn’t be enough to shake Eugene, and he’d attack. If he hadn’t gone far enough, then Eugene might not fall for the next part.

  “Then prove it,” Felix said in a deadpan voice.

  The sudden shift in tone left the room so quiet that you could hear a fairy fart.

  “What?”

  “Prove it, you keep saying that I’m nothing, you’re not threatened by me, you’re so much more talented than me. Prove it.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Felix smiled. It wasn’t a humorous smile. It was the smile a predator gave its prey before pouncing.

  “Fight me.”

  Eugene was silent.

  “Two days from now, after breakfast, the arena has been booked. I’ll see you there.”

  Eugene sputtered for a moment. Felix could see doubt creeping in. He focused on Eugene with every ounce of concentration he had. If this didn’t go the way he wanted it to, he’d only have a moment to respond.

  He could see the moment Eugene made his decision, a flash of fear before he covered it up and pushed out his chest with pride.

  ‘Shit, not good. He’s going to pretend the challenge is beneath him.’

  “Why wou–”

  “Unless you’d rather have your lackey fight me in your place.” Felix looked him up and down like he was sizing up a particularly smelly sack of manure.

  “After all, we both know you’re not actually man enough to face me yourself. That’s why you put on this charade every morning, isn’t it?”

  A perfectly timed snicker from across the room tipped the scale. Eugene quickly scanned the room. Whatever he saw, he didn’t like it.

  He kept his chest puffed out like this was his plan all along.

  “Why would I be scared of you? I wouldn’t mind putting down someone like you once and for all.”

  That was it, Felix had him right where he wanted him. There was no way he was going to give Eugene time to turn the game in his favour. He’d worked far too hard to set the trap and lead him into it. Why would he risk giving him a chance to worm out of it?

  Felix promptly turned on his heels and walked to the kitchen, back straight with an easy smile on his face, as if everything that just happened was a minor inconvenience instead of a carefully orchestrated performance.

  “Great, in two days, after breakfast. You should bring your little gang, I’m sure they’d enjoy the show.”

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