The Author's POV

W.V. pharmaceuticals.

It's been a while since I heard of that name.

Because at that time I was in desperate need of cash, I practically sold most of my stocks. Should I have saved it? Yes, most likely. Do I regret it?

...not really.

After all, it's not like their value shot up by that much.. I would've probably have made a couple of million more U.

Either way, the fact that Gerrard was the son of the current chairman of W.V. pharmaceuticals was a pleasant surprise.

...and when I mean pleasant, I mean it in a very interesting way.

If I played my cards right, I could probably kill multiple birds with one stone.

"Thank you for gathering everyone"

Talk of the devil. Walking up the stairs followed by Noah and two other burly individuals, Gerrard calmly walked towards the middle of the room. There were approximately fifty people gathered here on the second floor, and all of them seemed to be first years as they all had an azure blue blazer.

Calmly observing everyone present, raising his hand, Gerrard tried to gather everyone's attention towards himself.

As soon as his hand raised in the air, the room instantly became quiet. With his three lackeys glaring at everyone present, everyone immediately shut up. Noticing this, smiling at everyone, Gerrard calmly started speaking

"Once again, thank you all for coming this weekend to the weekly meetings I have established. I hope that it doesn't bother any of you as..."

As Gerrard was speaking, every word that came out of his mouth went from one of my ears to the other. The reason why I wasn't paying attention wasn't because I wasn't interested in what he said...well, I wasn't interested but the main reason was because of a particular person in the room.

More precisely a young girl who quietly standing in the corner by herself.

She had a rather petite figure with semi-long hair and bangs that gently covered her eyes. She looked extremely shy as she avoided eye making contact with everyone.

'Ava Leafz...'

...It seems like my trip here wasn't in vain.

Although I was initially put off by Gerrard's forceful show of power, now that I found Ava, my anger subsided a little.

Calmly observing Ava from the side, I thought back at the files that Smallsnake sent me.

According to the files he sent me, Ava Lefaz came from a pretty well-off family. She was the sixth child of the family and the only one with the monster tamer profession. Although she wasn't neglected at home, because of her profession, she developed a sort of inferiority complex over her siblings who in their own rights, were quite talented.

...although the files had a bit more information, those were the key points I took notice of...and observing her from the side, I could tell that the information was accurate.

...from the way she avoided everyone and seemed very shy, it was apparent that she didn't have a lot of confidence in herself.

This was definitely something I could work with.

-Clap!

of my thoughts, Gerrard smiled brightly as he got to the

short. I'm sure you guys know why I called you

posed the question, instantly silence

in the room, I soon spotted every student in

...what's going on?

spoke.

you guys hear what I said? Please hand me a timestamp.

the word 'time stamp' I couldn't help but tilt my head in confusion as I glanced next to me where Leo and Ram were. Lowering my

"...what's going on?"

me, understanding something, Leo pulled me closer to him and quietly

we are gathered here by Gerrard and we are to give him one of the two time-stamps

I was listening, I glanced towards Leo and

"What's a time stamp?"

I asked, I couldn't help but curse at my

have done more research on this place

people staying in this building, I should've taken note of all

example, considering the fact that there were only fifty people gathered here, I figured that this wasn't the only group that coerced students into doing something that they

were probably many others with a similar group of students, blackmailing them into handing them something important...which

on my chin, I made

from the leaders to the rules and anything that with

be able to quickly come up with countermeasures...or at least be prepared for what

how busy Smallsnake was these past few days, asking him to research all of the people here would be basically asking for

do

is a

a green-colored card from his pocket,

the same size as a

eyes, I managed to spot students taking out a similar colored card and handing it

back to Leo, we quickly lined up. As I lined up with them, Leo quietly

hand them a timestamp, but from next week you must give

and seeing the confusion on my face, he calmly

what a time-stamp does, it basically is an access card that enables people to gain access to

in Leo's

"Time regressive machine?"

Frowning slightly, Leo asked

don't know what

placed my hand on

just surprised by the fact that this building

A time regressive machine

course, I knew what it was...a virtual machine that slowed time

degree of realism and through the neuron enhancing liquid provided in the capsule of the time regressive machine, humans were able

their strength in a short time. However, there were obvious downsides to

One, they were expensive.