The Anomaly Beyond The System

While Lucian was completely lost in his own thoughts, trying his best not to get consumed by them...

"Lucian Foster..."

Isaac’s voice interrupted, his gaze calm, yet a trace of disbelief lingered in it, as if even he was surprised by the kind of person he was looking at.

Ava had already told them a bit about his character before they came here, but none of that had prepared them for what they had just witnessed.

The first impression that they had of him was...

That he was a troublemaker.

And a really crazy one at that.

Slowly, Lucian turned towards Isaac, along with a couple of people standing behind him, all of whom looked at Lucian with curious... or weary looks.

But... Lucian didn’t give any reply.

Instead...

He silently turned around before walking towards the receptionist counter.

Just like that, he simply ignored them—without even glancing towards them for more than a second.

Selene briefly looked towards them for a moment, shifting her gaze to Ava for an instant before following Lucian, keeping a close distance behind him—remaining slightly closer than before.

Silence remained throughout the whole hall, and people slowly began whispering again among themselves, still stunned by the actions of the suited man just now, and especially by the strange respect he seemed to be getting from the Association members for some unknown reason.

The moment Lucian turned around, Isaac’s expression froze, and seeing this—

"Pft... hahaha...!"

Another man laughed, slapping Isaac’s back while laughing loudly, amused by Lucian’s actions.

"He... he just ignored you... hahaha!!"

The other members also chuckled slightly, some turning their faces away as they tried to stifle their laughs.

Isaac’s lips pressed into a thin line, trying to hold himself back from hitting the laughing Jake.

"He must be stressed right now," Ava muttered from the side, trying to lighten the mood.

The two women beside her raised a brow at her words before a faint, amused smile appeared on their faces.

"Seems like you care about him... shouldn’t you introduce us too?" one of them spoke, closing the distance between her and Ava.

Isaac, meanwhile, reached out and slapped Jake’s hand away from his shoulder before glaring at him.

"Let’s talk to the troublemaker first... and stop slapping my back!"

His last words were directed entirely at Jake, who immediately raised his hands in surrender, yet the smile on his face didn’t disappear.

"He ignored our leader... pft," he muttered again, despite the death threat visible in Isaac’s eyes.

...

The moment Lily saw Lucian walking towards the counter, she immediately ran back to her place behind the desk, her steps slightly hesitant as she thought about what he had just done.

She... she hadn’t expected him to behave like that, not even remotely—especially after how he had acted yesterday.

He seemed like a kind, genuine person—perhaps even hot—

But now...

What she had seen today was completely different.

"Lily..."

Lucian’s voice echoed softly, making her shoulders flinch.

Lily immediately snapped out of her thoughts and slowly raised her head, only to notice that Lucian was already standing before her.

"Hey..." she muttered, feeling slightly nervous about the expression on his face.

She swallowed, suddenly feeling way too nervous compared to yesterday—though the reasons for her nervousness were entirely different.

Lucian gave a small nod, and a barely noticeable smile appeared on his face.

"The ID... can we have it now?" he asked quietly.

"Y-Yes, it’s ready..."

Lily immediately sat on her chair, her hands moving quickly across the desk as she brought up two cards that had been prepared earlier.

She placed them beside the computer before beginning to type, registering the two cards into the Association system.

Seeing that, Lucian didn’t speak, silently staring at her for a long moment before he gradually turned around, feeling a faint tug at his arm.

"Take a breath, dear... and calm down," Selene said in a quiet, gentle tone.

His reaction was getting a bit too unsettling right now, and knowing the worries hidden behind her mask, Lucian gave a small smile.

"Don’t worry, I’m just thinking about... something."

Seraphina tilted her head, feeling something was wrong with his last words, but before she could query any further—

"Mr Foster... can we speak to you now?"

The same voice came again, and Lucian’s attention finally shifted towards Isaac.

This time, he looked at the group a bit more properly.

"You’re from the Association, right? The ones the Old Man talked about...?"

The moment those words left his mouth, Isaac’s brows rose.

"Old Man...?"

Confusion appeared on his face.

"He means the Association Director." A feminine voice chimed in from the side.

"Oh... Huh, wait, what?!"

Isaac and all the others’ eyes widened as they turned towards Ava, who simply shrugged.

The others turned their attention towards Lucian, who didn’t even seem to care about their reactions, silently observing them.

"Ava," Selene silently muttered.

Ava’s eyes widened slightly as she immediately turned towards the masked woman.

"You remember me?" she asked in a visibly surprised tone.

Seeing Selene tilt her head briefly before nodding, she instantly felt a bit happy and also slightly confused, since she had expected the masked woman to be cold... and perhaps even more arrogant than Lucian, especially after how she had humiliated her before the Director.

But it seemed she was wrong in her judgement.

"Sir...?"

Lily turned towards Isaac, her eyes widening in surprise as she recognised the people standing before her.

The Dungeon Suppression Squad.

A squad created by the Association for the purpose of reducing the number of dungeons appearing around populated areas and clearing those that had become dangerous to nearby cities.

This wasn’t the first Dungeon Suppression Squad to be formed.

Compared to the veterans who handled the more dangerous dungeons, however, this particular squad was still relatively inexperienced.

Their members were mostly young awakened who were still growing.

Each of them was either F Rank, or E Rank at most.

Even so, they were still stronger than ordinary people and had enough experience to deal with the lower-ranked dungeons that appeared around cities.

And now...

They were standing here because of Lucian and Selene.

"We are going to another clearing, so we wanted to take these two along with us, you see..."

Jeniffer, another member of the squad, replied with an amused smile, noticing the surprised reaction from the receptionist.

Hearing her words, all of the receptionists and the people nearby... everyone who heard it nearly stopped doing their work.

Their eyes widened, and along with Lily, everyone who had heard her words looked towards Lucian and Selene, seeing them in a seemingly new light and wondering if both of them were really that special.

Lily wasn’t really that surprised. After what she had witnessed yesterday, she already knew that Lucian wasn’t an ordinary person.

To the others, it was really surprising to get into a dungeon alongside the Association team for the first time... and for common people, it was almost like getting a golden spoon.

"Will you stop looking at me like that?" Lucian muttered in irritation, seeing the stunned looks on most of their faces.

"No... It’s just..." Isaac tried to speak, but before he could—

"Fuck, you’re awesome," Jake replied, his eyes widening as he stared at Lucian.

"I’ve never heard anyone call the Director that manner... dayumm!"

He almost seemed impressed by Lucian’s actions—perhaps too impressed, making Isaac’s and Lucian’s lips twitch at his words.

Everyone else in the squad rolled their eyes, seemingly already used to Jake’s antics.

"Anyways... we wanted to talk to you before we decide on going into the dungeon," Isaac said, not wanting to waste too much time on useless banter.

But instead of complying...

"I’m waiting for my ID right now. Let’s speak later after that."

Without waiting for any reply, Lucian simply turned back towards Lily, completely dismissing Isaac and the entire squad.

Lily, noticing the faint sharpness that appeared in his eyes, immediately returned her attention to the computer in front of her, completing the final steps of the registration process.

Behind Lucian, Isaac stared at his back for a few seconds.

"Suit yourself," he grumbled before turning around and walking away, along with the rest of his squad who followed him, while dragging Jake, who seemed to want to speak to Lucian.

But they didn’t let him be alone with that man for even a minute, especially when they weren’t sure if Lucian—the person who was about to kill someone just for touching his partner’s wrist—could snap at Jake as well... and considering Jake’s personality, they were absolutely sure he would, since even they did—regularly.

Selene silently remained beside him, her presence like an anchor that was controlling and keeping his emotions from slipping completely out of control, stopping him from doing something that he would regret.

"Did he hurt you...?" Lucian asked in an unusually quiet tone, his gaze shifting towards her wrist for a long moment.

"He didn’t," Selene sighed, not knowing how to feel about his unnatural protectiveness... yet it didn’t feel bad.

Though...

It would have felt very different to the man who had tried touching her.

Hopefully, that person wouldn’t ever get in front of her son ever again—hopefully.

Again, silence fell inside the hall.

Well... not complete silence.

People still continued speaking among themselves, their gazes repeatedly shifting towards Lucian and the masked woman beside him, still talking about the incident that had just happened before their eyes.

And although they were genuinely curious about Lucian, especially the women... yet no one tried to go towards him.

Even the counter beside them seemed slightly emptier than before, almost as if they were unconsciously avoiding getting too close.

Nobody wanted to get their throats grabbed by Lucian too—unless there was someone with strange interests.

After a few minutes passed in silence, while Akasha also did her best to calm the fuming man...

"It’s done."

Lily’s voice finally came from behind the counter as she stood up from her chair, holding the two cards in her hand.

"Your registration has been completed."

She smiled politely, though there was still a trace of nervousness hidden beneath it.

"Welcome as the new awakened,

Lucian Foster, and..."

She paused briefly before shifting her gaze towards the masked woman standing beside him.

"...and Selene Frost."

There was a faint confusion on her face, since she was almost certain that this was the same woman from two days before.

But if she remembered correctly...

’Wasn’t her name Seraphile or something...?’

She wasn’t exactly sure—as she had been more interested in her companion’s presence at that time—but she knew one thing.

It wasn’t Selene.

Yet, seeing the information displayed on the registration system, she didn’t question it.

Both Selene and Lucian noticed the faint change in her expression, but neither commented on it.

"Thank you, Lily," Lucian said quietly.

A soft smile appeared on his face, the sudden change in his expression so drastic that almost all the women’s—mainly the other receptionists before him—hearts skipped a beat for a brief moment.

’Why is he so handsome!’

Almost every woman at the counter squealed in their minds, momentarily forgetting the horror this same handsome man had been about to commit just a few moments ago.

Lily’s face flushed slightly, and her body jolted as she felt his touch the moment Lucian grabbed the IDs from her hand.

"He isn’t thinking about making his harem in the Association, right?"

Jake’s voice suddenly echoed from the corner of the hall as he looked at Lucian, feeling even more impressed by the man, while almost everyone looked at him with deadpan expressions.

This fucker was talking way too loudly!