W.V. pharmaceuticals.

It's been a while since I heard of that name.

Because at that time I was in desperate need of cash, I practically sold most of my stocks. Should I have saved it? Yes, most likely. Do I regret it?

...not really.

After all, it's not like their value shot up by that much.. I would've probably have made a couple of million more U.

Either way, the fact that Gerrard was the son of the current chairman of W.V. pharmaceuticals was a pleasant surprise.

...and when I mean pleasant, I mean it in a very interesting way.

If I played my cards right, I could probably kill multiple birds with one stone.

"Thank you for gathering everyone

"

Talk of the devil. Walking up the stairs followed by Noah and two other burly individuals, Gerrard calmly walked towards the middle of the room. There were approximately fifty people gathered here on the second floor, and all of them seemed to be first years as they all had an azure blue blazer.

Calmly observing everyone present, raising his hand, Gerrard tried to gather everyone's attention towards himself.

As soon as his hand raised in the air, the room instantly became quiet. With his three lackeys glaring at everyone present, everyone immediately shut up. Noticing this, smiling at everyone, Gerrard calmly started speaking

"Once again, thank you all for coming this weekend to the weekly meetings I have established. I hope that it doesn't bother any of you as...

"

As Gerrard was speaking, every word that came out of his mouth went from one of my ears to the other. The reason why I wasn't paying attention wasn't because I wasn't interested in what he said...well, I wasn't interested but the main reason was because of a particular person in the room.

More precisely a young girl who quietly standing in the corner by herself.

She had a rather petite figure with semi-long hair and bangs that gently covered her eyes. She looked extremely shy as she avoided eye making contact with everyone.

'Ava Leafz...'

...It seems like my trip here wasn't in vain.

Although I was initially put off by Gerrard's forceful show of power, now that I found Ava, my anger subsided a little.

Calmly observing Ava from the side, I thought back at the files that Smallsnake sent me.

According to the files he sent me, Ava Lefaz came from a pretty well-off family. She was the sixth child of the family and the only one with the monster tamer profession. Although she wasn't neglected at home, because of her profession, she developed a sort of inferiority complex over her siblings who in their own rights, were quite talented.

...although the files had a bit more information, those were the key points I took notice of...and observing her from the side, I could tell that the information was accurate.

...from the way she avoided everyone and seemed very shy, it was apparent that she didn't have a lot of confidence in herself.

This was definitely something I could work with.

-Clap!

Clapping his hands once, snapping me out of my thoughts, Gerrard smiled brightly as he got to the main point of this meeting.

"Alright, I will keep it short. I'm sure you guys know why I called you here right?

"

As soon as Gerrard posed the question, instantly silence enveloped the room.

Raising my brow and noticing the strange tension in the room, I soon spotted every student in the room helplessly looking at the ground.

...what's going on?

Staring at everyone before him, Gerrard once again spoke. This time his voice was colder and more authoritative.

"Did you guys hear what I said? Please hand me a timestamp. One per person please

"

Hearing the word 'time stamp' I couldn't help but tilt my head in confusion as I glanced next to me where Leo and Ram were. Lowering my head a little, I quietly whispered.

"...what's going on?

"

Glancing at me, understanding something, Leo pulled me closer to him and quietly whispered.

"...ah right, since you're new here you don't know much about what happens here...essentially, each week, same time today, we are gathered here by Gerrard and we are to give him one of the two time-stamps that we are given each week

"

Frowning as I was listening, I glanced towards Leo and quietly asked

"What's a time stamp?

"

As I asked, I couldn't help but curse at my own lack of preparations.

Honestly...I should've probably have done more research on this place and the people living here.

Although there were over a thousand people staying in this building, I should've taken note of all the important people beforehand so that I could've been more prepared.

For example, considering the fact that there were only fifty people gathered here, I figured that this wasn't the only group that coerced students into doing something that they didn't want.

There were probably many others with a similar group of students, blackmailing them into handing them something important...which in this case seemed to be the so-called 'time stamp'

Placing my hand on my chin, I made a mental note to myself

'Find everything about this place, from the leaders to the rules and anything that with regards to how this place operated...'

Only when I had enough information would I be able to quickly come up with countermeasures...or at least be prepared for what was to come.

Well...In my defense though, with everything going on with Angelica, things just passed my mind. Moreover, with how busy Smallsnake was these past few days, asking him to research all of the people here would be basically asking for him to die.

...this time, I had to do it without relying on Smallsnake.

"Here, this is a timestamp

"

Taking out a green-colored card from his pocket, Leo showed it to me.

Taking the time stamp from Leo's hand, I calmly observed it. The card seemed to be the same size as a credit card and apart from a few patterns on it, it didn't look anything special. Just like a regular card.

As I was observing the card, from the corner of my eyes, I managed to spot students taking out a similar colored card and handing it to Gerrard and his Lackeys.

Staring at the students lining up in front of each Lackey, handing the card back to Leo, we quickly lined up. As I lined up with them, Leo quietly pointed towards the students who were handing in their cards

"Right now just observe what is happening. Since you're new, you don't have to hand them a timestamp, but from next week you must give them one of the two time-stamps you receive each week

"

Pausing slightly, and seeing the confusion on my face, he calmly explained

"Regarding time stamps. to summarize what a time-stamp does, it basically is an access card that enables people to gain access to the time regressive machine

"

Abruptly turning my head in Leo's direction, I repeated

"Time regressive machine?

"

Frowning slightly, Leo asked

"You don't know what that is either?

"

Shaking my head, I placed my hand on my chin as I fell into deep thought.

"No, I do know. I'm just surprised by the fact that this building has it...

"

A time regressive machine

Of course, I knew what it was...a virtual machine that slowed time down.

It had a high degree of realism and through the neuron enhancing liquid provided in the capsule of the time regressive machine, humans were able to develop a machine that made time flow much slower compared to real life.

It was the perfect machine for students looking to increase their strength in a short time. However, there were obvious downsides to this machine.

One, they were expensive.

The neuron-enhancing liquid required rare ingredients to make and was difficult to mass-produce.

Two, low supply and high maintenance cost. Moreover, they couldn't be used for prolonged periods of time as that would put heavy strain on the brain.

I knew about the time regressive machine as there were a couple of them in the Leviathan building where Kevin was. However, what I didn't know, was that this building had one too.

...a machine that allowed someone to train inside of a virtual world where time was slower.

The benefits were immense.

Although it wasn't useful for helping students improve their rank, as only the brain was functioning faster whilst the body was flowing at a normal time...it was very useful for students who were looking to improve the mastery of their arts.

...it was understandable as to why Gerrard was willing to go this far just to collect the timestamps. I mean, for untalented students like him, this was like a lifeline for them.

"Alright we are done

"

It didn't take long for Gerrard and the others to collect all of the timestamps from everybody present in the room. In fact, it only took a couple of minutes. With no one protesting as they just handed their cards to him and his lackeys, everything went smoothly.

...Moreover, from what I observed, this seemed to be happening everywhere as everyone present accepted this situation like it was normal.

"1...2...4...7...37...and 51, perfect!

"

Counting the timestamps in his hands, a big smile appeared on Gerrard's face. Thereafter, looking at everyone in the room, he casually dismissed everyone present

"Thank you very much for giving me your time-stamps, I won't take any more of your time so you may go now

"

...and just like that, everyone that was present in the room quietly descended the stairs and made their way out of the penthouse apartment.

"Let's go

"

Tapping me on the shoulder, Ram and Leo quietly followed everyone out of the apartment. Looking back at Gerrard for a brief moment, turning my attention back to Leo and Ram, I couldn't help but ask.

"That's it?

"

Glancing at me from the side of my eyes, Leo shot back

"What more do you want there to be?

"

Opening my mouth, I tried to say something, but I eventually relented and followed them out of the building.

"...ah nevermind, I guess this gathering of his is only for the time passes

"

"Pretty much

"

As I got out of the apartment with Leo and Ram, my attention was once again drawn towards Ava who was not far from where I was. However, although she wasn't far from me, I refrained from talking to her.

...it wasn't the right time to approach Ava just yet.

With all of the information that I had gathered from this meeting, a plan had already started formulating inside of my head.

...one that, if executed properly, could solve a lot of the issues I was currently facing.

Although it wasn't a short-term plan, the wait was going to be worth it. After all, you can't topple a king in one move. Right?