The Mech Lord

"This is the Emperor\'s palace," Amelia said, pointing at the large mansion from a distance.

Leo was a bit surprised.

The place was really huge. It was almost the same size as the Academy. He couldn\'t help, but wonder what the Emperor and his family did in such a place all alone.

This was really ridiculous in his opinion.

The two continued their tour, visiting different places. Amelia told Leo about the importance of the places, and explained a bit of history behind them.

This made Leo see her in a different light. The girl wasn\'t a fool it seemed. She was extremely smart. And, even if she was kicked out of the house someday, she could probably make it off as a tour guide.

Vanessa was currently missing in the group.

The two had tried to make her leave, but she and Semantha had totally lost themselves in the game.

Amelia didn\'t want to spend the entire day there. She didn\'t want any more trouble on her side. It seemed she was really scared of Viona. Hence, she just got out of the place with Leo.

The two had been roaming around since then.

The streets around the city were very free, as all the traffic was up in the sky. It was a pretty different experience for Leo. And, it definitely was refreshing.

"This is the biggest gym in the city." Amelia pointed to the large dome shaped building, which had a signboard saying \'Level Up!\'. "You had a membership too. If you don\'t want to use it anymore, then you better cancel it."

"It\'s fine, I might come out here sometime," Leo just shook his head. Even though he had [Virtual Projection], it was fine to do some real work out someday. And, he wanted to try the gravity room too.

"Hahaha!!! Can\'t believe I would find you here!" A voice filled with laughter, and malicious intent suddenly rang out in the surrounding.

Leo immediately turned his head with a frown, and his fear had indeed come true.

It was that guy, whom he had kicked in the Academy.

"You coward! I can\'t believe it. Not only did you sneakily attack me, but even ran away after it." The person\'s voice was loud, and he quickly grabbed the attention of people around.

"Let\'s go," Leo knew that staying here would only lead to more trouble. Hence, he immediately grabbed Amelia\'s hand and tried to get out of the place.

"Run! You coward! This is all that you can possibly do!" The person shouted from behind and let out a mocking laughter. "It seems this is what you have been taught! I wonder if such people could be left in charge of the security of our people."

Amelia immediately stopped on hearing that remark, and it in turn stopped Leo. After all, he was grabbing her hand.

"You really gonna let that person mock us like that?" She asked with a frown. Even though she wasn\'t a fan of previous Aiden, today she felt that he was way better. At least, he didn\'t allow people to mock him or his family.

Leo wanted to say that he couldn\'t do anything. But when he saw that utmost serious look in her eyes, he couldn\'t bring himself to tell her that. She seemed to be looking for her dependable brother, but Aiden wasn\'t here.

People around already seemed to have recognized Leo and Amelia. He was sure that there would be videos of the event leaking online very soon.

\'Do I still have the miniscule chance of winning, Arthur?\' Leo asked inwardly.

[You will have no chance of winning in your current state. He is prepared this time around.] Arthur replied.

"Run, if you don\'t want to fight. Why do you keep standing there?" The person mocked Leo as he stood there without a word. "Or you can accompany me inside, and we settle this right now." He pointed towards the gym behind.

"It seems that the Graylocks have really forgotten to put a leash on their pets." A voice sounded through the crowd. And, people immediately parted ways to allow a figure to emerge from within.

The person had baby pink hair, and seemed to stand just as tall as Leo. He was a bit on the slim side, but Leo could tell that under his loose T-Shirt was a firmly built body. He seemed to be shaking in some kind of rhythm while listening to music through the air pods in his ears.

He was carrying a white towel over his shoulder. And, it was clear from the sweat on his face, that he had just come out of the gym after hearing the commotion outside.

"Ronnie!" Amelia smiled seeing the person. It seemed she knew him very well.

Ronnie smiled looking at her, and then turned his gaze towards Leo. "You have changed a lot."

There was definitely a bit of mockery and unhappiness in his tone. Ronnie had just returned from the field trip only to find out what happened with Aiden.

It seemed that the rumors were true, Aiden had changed now. Even though he was weak, he was worthy of respect earlier. But now, Ronnie wasn\'t sure anymore.

Leo could feel those eyes which contained a bit of mockery in them. But, there was nothing he could do about it.

He wasn\'t a Glorian, he never lived in a Monarchical Aristocratic society. So, he couldn\'t relate much to their way of thinking. It was true that what was happening was infuriating. But, a normal human would go to the police and file a complaint if it was out in public or complain to the teacher if it was in school.

But, these people just straight on challenged one another to a fight. This was the polar opposite of humans. At least, this didn\'t happen in Leo\'s locality. Any kind of feud was settled there through a peaceful method. Hence, he was not used to this. Even if people said something he would try to keep his calm in most situations. This was something that humans looked favorably upon, but not here apparently.

And, to be honest, Leo too wouldn\'t have backed down from a fight if the difference wasn\'t this huge. After all, he didn\'t like the guy insulting Aiden\'s family. Furthermore, he could level up faster using this method.

He wanted to be strong.

But, one learns to crawl first before walking.

Yet these people were just expecting him to participate in the Olympics here!

There was a difference of almost 10 levels between them! This was foolishness! He wasn\'t being cowardly, but just smart. One shouldn\'t fight a losing battle, unless there was no choice.

And, it wasn\'t like he wasn\'t trying to get strong. Just how many days had it been since he arrived here. He really had been doing his best.

"This is between me and him, Ronnie. So, stay out of it." The person initially seemed to have been terrified by Ronnie\'s presence. But, he still gathered up his courage to speak once again.

"Who the hell are you? And, where is the person holding your leash? Ask him to come out and talk," Ronnied smiled as he looked behind the guy, trying to see if there was anyone behind him.

"Y-You!" The person gritted his teeth in anger. But, he still didn\'t dare to do anything.

In the end, he just turned towards Leo and glared at him, "Are you going to hide behind these people? Do you dare to accept my challenge or not?!"

Amelia couldn\'t take it any longer. She couldn\'t believe her brother, who once didn\'t even blink his eyes to accept challenges, was hesitating now. This too when the guy just went ahead insulted her family.

Until now, she had never been in this situation as her two brothers had always defended the family\'s honor. After all, she was beautiful, and had a lot of pursuers. Only an idiot would try to go against her.

"It seems the Silvers have lost their shine.." The person further mocked.

"I will accept your challenge!" Amelia finally couldn\'t hold it back any longer, and jumped in the conversation. And, as she was about to take a step ahead, Leo grabbed her hand.

Amelia turned her head only to see him shake his head with a sigh. He then pulled her back, and took a step forward. Finally, standing in front of the guy.

\'Go easy on me..\' Leo muttered inwardly.. He just hoped that he would be able to walk back on his two feet.