Golden Eyes

The students looked at each other. Alexander couldn't tell what was going on in their heads, so while they were thinking, he began to inspect the corpses of the monsters he had slain. There were quite a lot of them, but since most of them were level one, he ignored them and went straight for the stronger ones.

He approached the corpse of the only level four demon he encountered here. It was missing its legs and half of its head. Alexander quickly slashed at its chest and cut it open. He was greeted by another sparkling crystal. He took the crystal and inspected it.

It looked similar to the one he got before. The sparkles inside were of different color, but otherwise, it was the same. He quickly went over the level three corpses and checked them. Out of five level three monsters, only one had a crystal in it. Next were the level two ones. They were nine in number, however, they only yielded one crystal and it was noticeably smaller and looked a little lackluster. Alexander looked toward the level one monster remains.

'If I understand it correctly, the higher the soul force, the higher the chance of the crystal appearing. Level four monster gave me the biggest one. Level three looks almost the same, but level two one is really tiny.' He carefully examined the crystals. 'I guess there is no need to check the level one monsters, even if they have one, it would probably be so tiny I could easily miss it.'

At that moment the discussion among students became a little heated. Alexander quickly turned his head towards the group.

"It is our best bet to survive!" The cute girl in glasses exclaimed.

"Best bet my ass! The obelisk also promised us safety, and what happened? I think we should leave the city and go as far away as possible. The countryside is sparsely populated, so even if everyone there has turned into demons, there will still be a lot less of them!" The rather handsome guy with a sturdy physique retorted.

Indeed there was some sense in his words. After all, the countryside could have less than a dozen people living within a square kilometer. With automated agricultural farms, it was not necessary to have a lot of farmers.

Alexander made his way to the group. The debate was getting more and more heated.

"Stop bickering already. It is time to move. First, we go to the gymnasium and clear the area. Then you guys barricade inside while I check out the situation with the military department. As for what's next, we'll see later." Alexander said coldly and walked past the arguing crowd.

As soon as he finished speaking, several students retorted.

"Why are you making a decision for us?" One of the girls shouted angrily.

"Because you don't seem capable of doing that yourselves!" Alexander snapped back immediately. The students looked discontent but didn't say anything back.

"Furthermore, none of you left. If you want to follow me, then you do what I say. But I will warn you now, I have saved you, and doing that to just abandon you the next moment would be against my upbringing. So I will help you reach the military department if it is possible. But don't think of me as a free bodyguard." Alexander felt a little bit annoyed. His sense of duty was telling him that he needed to help them. After all, if not him, who else? On the other hand, it was way easier to just leave and try sneaking into the military department by himself.

There was silence for a moment until finally, one brave girl stepped forward. It was the first girl he saved.

"Okay. We'll follow you." She said timidly.

Then another followed suit. And then another. Soon, all the students decided to follow him. He nodded slightly and led the rest of them toward the gymnasium.

***

High in the sky, on one of the floating islands, a man stood on a balcony and looked somewhere far away. This man had long, flowing golden hair covering his shoulders and piercing golden eyes. He wore an elegant black robe with a silver lining. All his clothes seemed to be crafted with care, but nothing about him screamed pretentious arrogance. In fact, despite his aura making most people experience pressure in his presence, there was a certain quality of etherealness to it.

"Please listen to me, father! Didn't you always say that family is most important?" A melodic voice called out to him from behind. A woman, in her late twenties, as it seemed, was standing there.

This man did not turn around. He answered with a tinge of anger in his voice.

"Now you remember about family? When you ran-" He stopped himself and took a breath. "When you run off without saying goodbye, or when you decide to take your own life because you lost interest in everything..."

His daughter was silent for a few seconds. Then she responded with a sigh:

"Father... I know I was wrong..." Her tone sounded apologetic.

"I already told you my decision. If he can survive and prove his worth, I'll think about it. Both of you are not allowed to intervene."

She continued staring at the ground below the balcony, apparently unwilling to meet his gaze. That was fine. He knew why she wanted to speak again; he understood that part perfectly. Even though he had forbidden her to interfere, deep down he knew that she will try to do it sneakily. His daughter was like that ever since she was a little girl.

After a while, the girl lifted her head and stared at him intently.

"...But father, please reconsider. After all, he is your grandson. Your blood flows through his veins."

"If it is true, then he will manage by himself. That's why I'm giving him a chance. Enough."

They both remained silent for a couple of minutes. Finally, the young woman sighed deeply once more and spoke up:

"Very well. Father, I am sorry for troubling you."

And with that, the conversation ended. The girl turned around and silently left his room.