--
A week passed since the incident, and things had been strangely quiet.
TJ understood that this was beyond his control. He was involved, yes, but only in a very small incident. His involvement was nowhere near enough for him to know what's actually happening behind the scenes.
It would've been nice to know what actions were being done to truly eliminate the cult, but in all honesty, this has nothing to do with him anymore.
That's why, instead of being too concerned about what's happening in the shadows, TJ might as well focus on what he could do to become stronger instead.
Strength still speaks the loudest. The higher his professional rank was, the stronger he was and the more qualified he was to know more things.
He still hasn't forgotten his close call against that deranged vampire. Had he not trained hard enough and gotten lucky with his boons, he couldn't have possibly survived that encounter.
TJ would've been forced to watch as his friends died before him before he himself was killed. He would've died with a belly full of regrets and misery.
As much as possible, TJ didn't want to be in that situation again. He didn't want to be pushed into a miserable state by his enemies; he didn't want to be the reason why his friends died. He didn't want to remain weak.
That's why the grind continues.
TJ has long recovered by now. He already went back to his usual training routine, the same high-intensity routine that pushes him to his absolute limits. So much so that by the time he was done for the day, every limb and muscle he had felt like jelly.
He'd go back home in this state, dragging his exhausted body and staying up until he finishes his night routine. And when his back made contact with the bed, he'd fall asleep within a minute. He'd enter the Dream Echo Battlefield then, bully the poor Fusion Class holder, and reap the benefits.
Rinse and repeat.
Because of the new skills he learned, namely, mana control, barrier, and detection, defeating the fusion class dream echo became much easier compared to before.
TJ only needs to do the bare minimum, and he'd be able to reap the rewards.
Sure, the rewards he received from defeating the same enemy over and over again had been diminishing each time, but so long as there were still some, TJ would continue extracting as much as there was left in there.
Only after it's completely empty would he choose another target.
As for his older skills, well, they're chugging along. TJ already accepted that his progress in these skills will eventually become slower over time because of the increasing requirement for mastery points. But that doesn't mean that he'd stop using them or be lazy in training.
Progress is progress, no matter how small.
It wasn't just TJ who was working hard.
Lily and Sieg were in a similar state as he was. Having been exposed to the darker side of the professional world, especially this early, ignited their desire to become stronger.
They felt useless in that fight. If it weren't for TJ, who could somehow follow the movement of that man, they would've died in that encounter.
Lily felt bad. She was supposed to be the stronger one here. She was a Fusion Class holder and also the disciple of the dean. She knows she hits harder and faster compared to her friends, yet instead of helping, she just cowered behind TJ in that fight.
She blames herself that he got injured. He was protecting her after all.
Sieg felt the same. He was supposed to be their frontline. If anybody should've been injured in that fight, it should've been him. At least, that's what he thinks.
He couldn't forget how many times his heart dropped whenever that deranged man tried to go for Lily, and that's in addition to the verbal harassment she repeatedly endured.
Most importantly, he could never forget how TJ almost died to protect them. It was through sheer dumb luck that TJ was only grazed from that attack.
He was too slow. Too painfully slow. That's what he realized in that encounter. He was utterly helpless against people who could move much faster than him.
What stings more is that this was something that TJ had been showing him all this time. Each time they sparred, TJ would, most of the time, defeat him through speed. And it's not just speed too; his reaction speed was also slow.
Sieg thought that he was already doing his best. He also thought that he took TJ's suggestions and all their spars seriously. Yet that encounter proved otherwise.
He didn't take anything seriously at all. Because if he really did, then at the very least, even once, he should've been able to react to that man's speed.
And he didn't. He couldn't. It was only TJ who could.
That's what hurts the most. Had he listened, had he tried even harder, trained a little bit more, and taken TJ's suggestion to heart, he could've been more helpful in that situation.
That's why Sieg now mostly spends his time occupying the speed training machines. He's already strong enough, especially for someone of his rank. He now needs to focus on increasing his speed and reaction speed.
The changes in them were somewhat obvious to the class. Yet nobody dared to question them about it. Their other classmates were already used to seeing them go nuts in training; it's only slightly more intense now compared to before.
But to the eyes of those who knew what they went through, their actions made perfect sense. It's expected, even.
Anybody who survived a near-death encounter would change in some way.
They wouldn't stop them, though. Why would they when this was good for them?
Of course, had they seen these children forcing themselves above what they could handle, they would've stepped in. But it was clear that these children knew what they were doing.
They're not going beyond what they're capable of, and they weren't slacking off either. They're doing just enough to exceed their limits and know when to stop.
The ones watching behind the scenes were already impressed. If they continued like this, then the likelihood of them passing the final semester was almost guaranteed.
**
Things have gone silent, indeed, as TJ thought.
Life in District 13 continued as usual. There were no surprises, no changes, and no sudden developments. Nothing.
It's as if the citizens just accepted that the raid that happened a couple of days ago was the last time they'd hear about the cult.
But the truth was far from that.
Things were calm, indeed, on the surface. But that doesn't mean that the authorities had been slacking off.
They have more material to work with now, especially since they were able to capture one of the cultists.
This allowed them to learn more about the cult and their operations. The information they extracted from the deranged vampire wasn't much. Most of his memories were about his struggles as a vampire, which didn't contain enough valuable intel. But they did manage to learn a few important things thanks to him.
Through reading the vampire's memories, the police learned of at least three more hidden bases of the cult within District 13.
According to what this guy knew, there used to be five; one was the one that they just raided, three more were scattered across the district, and the final one was abandoned because there had been an accident there.
He also knew about some of their plans. Not enough to actually matter but good enough to start, the detectives were able to fill in the blanks.
After they drained all remaining use they had for the man, he was kept in a secret facility under strict observation. The authorities even found someone to play as his double to use as bait for the cultists.
As much as they wanted to kill the man directly, they couldn't just yet. Nobody could tell how many times he could still use the [Dark Revival], so it's better for him to be kept alive. He's in extreme isolation, though, to make sure he'd never hurt anybody again.
The investigation and tracking kept going, in secret, of course.
Now that they have leads, of course the authorities wouldn't be careless enough to alert the cult of their movement. The cultists are extremely cunning and dangerous. The only way to inflict real damage to them was by catching them by surprise.
The operation must be fast, ruthless, and accurate when it happens. They can't afford to give them any room to breathe or adjust because they'd just slip away again and come back stronger.
To further sell the facade, the City Lordess herself appeared in her office, seemingly returning to her usual work, governing the district. This was done to lower down the guard of the cult so that the ambush will be more effective.
So, yes. Things were indeed silent, but it doesn't mean that nothing was happening.
If anything, this was just the calm before the storm.