After recalling the memories of what his teacher said, Austin truly thought he was going to have a tough time, but to find out he had just knocked out the top fighter of a school in a tier-4 city with a single blow, it was starting to seem extremely disappointing.
"Am I too strong... since I became an Altered? Can I really now just go against other Altereds if I want to challenge myself? If I'm having a problem trying to find someone worthwhile to fight, then I wonder how Gary is going to be doing in this place."
Shaking his head, he could see the others starting to whisper, wondering who Austin was.
"Is it a new student, or a student from another school?"
"Since he took out Carvey, no doubt there are going to be others looking for him. What do we tell them? Some big guy with a mask took him out."
"Yeah, we'll just have to say Big Mask took him out. Sh*t, Carvey's going to kill us for not going after this guy when he wakes up, but I don't want to go up against Big Mask."
Austin, trying to calm the situation down, walked up to the broken window. Some thought he was going to jump in there and then start beating on the rest of the kids, so they flinched and moved back a bit, including the teacher.
"You guys suck at fighting," Austin suddenly said. "And I mean really suck at fighting. You won't get anywhere in life with your fighting skills. So you should drop all that c.r.a.p and start listening to your teacher and studying; otherwise, you'll never get somewhere.
"Because if you guys just leave this school and go into some sort of gang, all that's going to happen to you guys is getting your a.s.s beat every day, and that's the best-case scenario. Worst case, you end up dead. So study, unless you want to get beat up."
Those were the last words of Austin as he started to walk away, and the kids in the cla.s.s were left confused. It was often that the strong kids beat up the ones who were trying to study, for whatever reason, but here they had the man they named 'Big Mask' telling them to study.
As Vlad was coming to a realisation of everything that had happened, he took in what Austin said.
"Someone strong... wants us to study..." Vlad thought.
Looking at Austin's back, he could see something. He felt something. Admiration for one of those who were strong.
Vlad shook his head, which still hurt somewhat.
"I have to warn him... he could be in serious trouble."
Vlad took off running straight after Austin. He hadn't gone far; Austin had just gone around the corner of the school, where there was a type of street filled with trees and benches.
It was just another side of the school, and just like the rest of it, there were crude words and drawings written on the side of the walls. His pacing was low, due to the disappointment he felt so far.
"Wait!" Vlad called out.
Austin turned around to see the bruised kid's face catching up to him. He stopped and was breathing heavily. It was clear he wanted to speak, but he was unable to until he got his breath back.
"Finally," Vlad said, taking in a deep breath. "I wanted to thank you for beating Carvey back there. I know you didn't hit him because of me, but still, it helped me regardless. You did what I wanted to do for so long, and it was so satisfying to see."
"Anyway, I know you're not from around here, so I wanted to warn you."
"Warn me?" Austin repeated back.
If he had just defeated the top school's fighter, then what did he have to worry about?
"Man, how long have you been in this city? Did you just come up from a tier-5 or something?" Vlad asked.
"Something like that," Austin mumbled.
"Anyway, there are two things that you need to worry about. The first one, although Carvey isn't that strong, he has connections to the local gangs. He is still the strongest in our school, but that's why even other schools don't decide to mess with him."
Inwardly, Austin was smiling. Without realising it, he was probably quickly now going the route of what Gary wished for.
"Not only that, but word around this city spreads fast. Since you beat the top guy, now all the other schools are going to know about you. They might start to come after you, trying to challenge you since you beat him. But there's also the fact that the Phantom Brawl is coming up."
"The Phantom Brawl?" Austin replied.
"It's this event that the gangs host. They pit the strongest against each other, and I have a feeling that Carvey was meant to enter, so the gang might definitely be looking for you. Because you beat up one guy, now there will be a whole heap of people after you."
This time, Austin was unable to hold the smile on his face. An underground fighting tournament, gangs after him, it was exactly what he was after. The excitement in a tier-4 town might be better than he originally thought.
"Thanks for the information and your concern. You're a good person caring for a stranger like me," Austin said, as he was ready to walk off again.
"If you need anything, let me know. I owe you!" Vlad shouted.
Later that day, Austin tried to text Gary a few times. He thought the two could meet up again and go over what they thought. Besides, Gary was the one with all the money and would be paying for everything. Eventually, he had a reply.
"Sorry, I'm busy working tonight. I'm guessing this is Austin. I think it's best if we don't stay together tonight. Will explain later!"
In some ways, Austin felt like he had just been abandoned. With no money, he would have to ask Kai to cover him, send him some cash over. But Kai always seemed to keep a tab on these things and would ask for big favours in return, which was something he didn't want hanging over him.
Austin waited outside the school gate that he was at before, and as expected, when cla.s.ses ended, one of the first people out of the doors was Vlad. He stepped in front of him, blocking his path, and startled Vlad a bit, but it soon turned into a smile when he saw who it was.
"I think I'm going to have to ask for that favour. Do you have a place I can stay?" Austin asked.
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