Introvert

The anger in Francis's heart continued to rise even as he got off the stage amidst the applause of his fellow students.

One of his lackeys reached out to pat him on the shoulder as a show of congratulations, but Francis shrugged the boy off roughly and glared at him in anger, warning him not to try that ever again!

The boy raised his hands in surrender and took a step back, and Francis went to stand in the line while glaring at the stage!

Francesca continued calling out the names of the students, and after a while, the ceremony came to an end.

The headmaster returned and gave another brief speech before the students were allowed to file out of the hall.

Outside the hall, a large courtyard stretched toward the campus building. There was a hostel a few kilometers away from the campus where the students were allowed to stay during the week for a small fee, but Azrael was so poor that he didn't have the money to even afford to pay for it, and so, he stayed off-campus with other orphans in a government-funded facility.

Once they got out, most of the students formed into groups and chatted about the ceremony while making plans for what they planned to do next.

Parents and guardians waited for their children and congratulated them on their successful ceremony.

Azrael, however, had no one waiting for him. He didn't need to make plans either. It was still late afternoon, so there was time for one more workout session at the gym before he had to go home. Without hesitation, Azrael headed straight for the gym, he moved so quickly that he failed to notice that someone had been trying to get to him from the other side of the courtyard.

Jane Ashton watched as Azrael disappeared into the crowd. She stopped following him and let out a sigh.

Just then, one of her family members called from behind and Jane went toward them as they waved at her with wide smiles.

_____

The Divine Demigod Academy covered a vast expanse of land on the western side of City S. The school boasted the widest variety of high-end facilities and teachers that were available to the students at all times. And among all these facilities, the most popular was the gym.

The gym building was almost as large as the main school building itself and had five floors, each dedicated to various sports and training events. There was a swimming pool, a racetrack, a weightlifting arena, and even a room for meditation.

At the very top of the gym was a large room known as the Simulation Fighting Room, where students were allowed to fight against incorporeal daemons in order to hone their instincts and reaction time.

And the most impressive part was the fact that the school had four fully functional gyms at various parts of the school.

Azrael took off his clothes in the locker room and stepped into the weightlifting room first. He put 300kg [660 pounds] onto the rack and benched three sets of ten reps before steadily increasing the weight by 50kg, completing one set of ten reps each time.

By the time Azrael reached 600kg [1322 pounds], he felt his muscles screaming in protest, forcing him to stop. He then moved on to the deadlift. Walking over to the mirrored wall on the left, he adjusted the weights properly before dusting some powder. With a deep breath, he deadlifted 1000kg [2205 pounds] for two sets of ten reps, then moved on to the leg press machine at 1000kg for two sets of ten reps as well.

[Strength +2]

[Stamina +1]

[The User has reached a bottleneck for his stats. In order to achieve significant growth, the system advises the user to defeat Daemons using his God Aspect.]

Demigods possessed physical abilities far greater than any human, and as one of the more physically gifted demigods, Azrael was able to carry out exercises that most other demigods his age wouldn't even dream of doing.

Azrael's personal record at the bench press was ten reps of 1000kg [2205 pounds] and five reps of 2000kg [4410 pounds] on the leg press, but he had just been doing that to show off last year when he was trying to make friends. Now, he no longer had any reason. Carrying that much weight at his level would only slow him down.

All these exercises didn't even take Azrael an hour, and after he was done, he sat on the bench in his shorts and singlet while wiping the sweat from his neck.

At just sixteen, Azrael already had a perfectly sculpted body from years of relentless workouts. Every time he moved, the muscles on his arm and back rippled with the movement, proof of just how much work he had put in at the gym. When this was coupled with Azrael's tall stature and handsome face, there was no doubt that he was one of the most desirable males in the school.

The only thing preventing Azrael from having the popularity that he should have were his lack of a God Aspect, and more importantly, because of who his Celestial Guardian was.

Azrael turned to look at the stats that increased in his tab, and he nodded while taking a sip from his bottle and looking around at the empty room.

The system was still as sadistic as ever.

Telling him to use a God Aspect to increase his stats while he didn't even have one! If he had a damn God Aspect, did it think he wouldn't have started using it already!?

Every time the system told him to use his God Aspect was just another cruel reminder that he didn't have one, and Azrael felt a sharp, grating irritation every time he saw that fucking tab!

Thankfully, his mortal stats were still growing, even though he had hit a bottleneck. To calculate the mortal rank of a demigod, you would normally add together the three highest stats in the system. For Azrael, those three highest stats were Strength, Stamina, and Agility, so he was always working relentlessly to make sure he improved these three constantly while also raising his durability.

The weightlifting room was empty today because of the ceremony, and Azrael didn't expect anyone to show up until tomorrow. That was why Azrael was surprised when he heard the gym door opening and someone entered.

Turning toward the entrance, he raised a brow when he noticed who it was. It was Maddison, the child of Hades.

Azrael wasn't surprised that she was here since she was also treated as an outcast just like him. Azrael knew that she wouldn't have any friends or family to hang out with after the ceremony either.

But even though they were both treated in the same way, that didn't mean that they were friends. Maddison seemed like a very introverted person, and Azrael wasn't the sort of person to extend his hand for friendship, so they both naturally kept their distance from each other.

Maddison was wearing tight-fitted workout clothes that highlighted her well-developed body with a black jacket. Her dark hair was tied in a ponytail behind her head, making her beautiful face stand out even more, and on her hands, she had on a pair of black workout gloves. She seemed just as surprised to see Azrael, and she paused for a moment before giving him a quiet greeting as she entered.

"Hello."

Azrael gave Maddison a brief nod before he stood and grabbed his belongings to leave.

Maddison watched him go with a small frown on her face and couldn't help but wonder if he was leaving because she had come. That was rude, he hadn't even returned her greeting! It had taken a lot of effort for her to get over her nerves and greet him!

Even though Maddison and Azrael had never really spoken before, Maddison knew that she couldn't get through high school without at least one friend to talk to.

She had become an introvert because of how everyone around her treated her, and she wasn't actually trying to be alone. If there was any chance of Maddison having an actual friendship, then wouldn't it be with someone who understood what she was going through? Azrael was probably the only person whom Maddison could become friends with!

But he had just brushed Maddison's greeting away like it was nothing! 

Maddison felt a small blush of irritation rise on her face at Azrael's action, and she turned away with a huff! Whatever. She didn't care about him anyway, so it didn't matter!