There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL) novel Chapter 111

Chapter 111: Chapter 107. Sounds of Affection

"So you drive me even here?" Zein looked at the man who had been chauffeuring him to and from Mortix all this time, wearing the usual black suit. Only, this time Jock also had tinted glasses like a proper bodyguard.

The man smirked casually like always, just replying with "That’s what I do," while opening the car door for him.

From the fact that he had deep access to Mortix’s lab, and the way he was the only one to show his face to the guide, Zein assumed the man was the leader of the squad tasked to protect him from the shadow.

"Why didn’t you drive us yesterday, then?"

"Because Sir Vaski kidnapped you," the man said casually, to Bassena’s chuckle.

The esper shrugged at Zein’s narrowed eyes, responding without any feelings of guilt. "You don’t need guards when I’m around, so what’s the point of having them yesterday?"

"So I need them now?" Zein asked as they climbed inside the car.

"Well, I can’t keep an eye on you during the shoot," Bassena replied with a smile, "And I won’t be with you during the journey back."

Zein raised his brows in surprise, staring wordlessly at Bassena to wait for an explanation.

"It’s time I get back to the tower," the esper simply said.

"Ah, it’s five years already?"

Unlike guides, whose classes were determined by vessels, they didn’t change class because vessels were unchanging. That being said, officially, guides had ratings given by the espers regarding their performance in cleansing.

Espers, however, were ranked based on their ability to climb the towers. Over time, they could either grow stronger or waned, depending on their efforts. In the past, espers only needed to climb the tower to determine their rank once, or when they wanted to rank up. But it led to a problem when some espers became lazy and had decreased performance rates, resulting in the ability that didn’t match the rank.

So a rule was established in which every esper had to re-enter the tower once every five years to maintain their rank. Failing to do so would get their license suspended until they complied with the rule.

Of course, it didn’t come without an advantage. The first generation of espers that re-entered the towers found that they would be able to raise their skill or even gain a new one if they performed better than their previous trial. They also got another artifact from the effort, so there was even an artifact hunter that would specialize in doing the trial over and over again to gain artifacts and sell them in the auctions.

This possibility of additional skills and upgrades was what made people wary of Bassena, as the youngest saint-class esper. He was about to gain his first saint-class upgrade when he was just merely twenty-six.

Of course, there was no guarantee that espers would surpass themselves in this trial. There were also cases where espers failed and had to get demoted to a lower rank.

But the Serpent Lord was still young and had many years of peak conditions in front of him.

Most saint classes reached that stage when they have already hit the ceiling, and failed to receive any upgrade because they couldn’t surpass themselves. Bassena, however, hadn’t reached that stage yet.

So how much more power-ups he could get in the future? The thought was scary and envy-inducing.

Which was probably why his cousins tried to kill him inside an irregular red dungeon.

"I finished my last trial shortly before I met you, so..." Bassena shrugged. "It’s high time that I go."

Zein nodded. It would be a bad reputation if the youngest saint class failed to renew his license on time, especially because it would be his first. The press and association wouldn’t let it die down quickly enough.

"Hmm..." Zein thought about something suddenly. "Is that why you take me here?"

Bassena chuckled--or rather, he giggled like a child. Leaning his head on the guide’s shoulder, he replied truthfully. "I’m charging my energy before the trial."

Bassena had become more brazen ever since the night they got drunk in Radia’s mansion. Zein let out a sigh in response, but didn’t make any move to shove the esper away. It was his fault anyway, by making things permissible.

He had also heard about how hard the tower’s trial was, and even though Bassena never showed it, there was a lot of pressure hanging on his shoulder about the upcoming trial. People were waiting for him to fall, to prove that him becoming a saint-class was nothing but luck. So he needed to perform well--well enough to surpass his past self.

"But how long would it take? Don’t you need to be at the annual meeting for the bid in new years?" Zein tilted his head, counting the months left in the year.

If he recalled correctly, didn’t it take Bassena half a year to finish that last trial?

"I took so long before because I gotta climb from the first floor all over again--that damn snake!" Bassena grumbled. "Also, I was still a greenhorn at that time. I’m stronger now, so I should be able to do it faster."