Cause and Effect

"So, every time Horton humiliates me, and I don't fight back—I feel shame, even pain—that makes him happy and comfortable. That happiness and comfort is the reward for 'bullying me.' The more rewards he gets, the more he wants to bully me."

"That's a really good analogy!" Hote's eyes went wide as he carefully studied Suye, never expecting him to say something so reasonable.

Suye continued, "But when you eat honey, don't you sometimes get sick of it after a while?"

"Yeah!" Hote said.

"Then you might put the honey down, but before long, you'll want something better, or you'll want to try some more expensive honey, like magic bee honey."

"Exactly!" Hote replied.

Suye said, "So it's the same with Horton. If he keeps humiliating me and I always show the same pain, after a while, he'll feel like the reward is too small. Then he'll inevitably want a bigger reward. Or, when something makes him unhappy, he'll want more rewards to cheer himself up. What do you think he'll do?"

"Escalate the humiliation, even hurt you!" Hote answered with a grave expression.

"Correct. So I have to break his reward cycle at all costs, to stop him from forming a habit of humiliating me. When he realizes that humiliating me doesn't bring a reward, but pain, he'll have to back off," Suye said.

"I get it now. You've gotten stronger," Hote said, staring intently at Suye.

Suye smiled and said, "No, you don't."

"What do you mean? I know I'm dumb." Hote looked helpless. His slowness had been mocked since childhood. He joined Plato Academy at twenty, and after five years still hadn't advanced to Warrior Apprentice, breaking every record a worst student could break at the academy. So even being called a big dummy or the second biggest fool didn't bother him at all.

"There are many reasons he bullies me. The reward I mentioned is just one. Knowing the reason alone would make me fight back, but not this quickly."

"Then why did you act so fast?"

Suye laughed and said, "I was thinking about what would happen to me if I didn't fight back."

"What would happen?"

"At first, I'd feel pain. Then I'd get scared, fearful, depressed. I'd doubt myself, deny myself. Eventually, I'd go numb. I'd let them bully me without ever resisting. I'd become his childhood toy, and all of it would become a scar on my heart—a penetrating, shattering one. Even when I grew up and thought about it, I'd be terrified, have nightmares. Even if I gained status, wealth, power later on, that scar would still be on my heart—penetrating, shattering."

Hote looked at Suye and felt a chill creep into his own heart.

The Blue-Eyed Girl, eavesdropping on their conversation, clenched her Right Fist softly.

Suye continued, "If I give in now, if I kneel now, then I'll live in the shadow of humiliation for my whole life. I asked myself then: do I want to live like that? Do I want to cover my wounds and wail every day? Do I want to wake up from nightmares and sob every time? I don't! So even if I have to risk death right now, I'll stop him from destroying my future!"

"But what if he really goes crazy and kills you..." Hote's face showed worry.

Suye smiled faintly, pointed to his heart, and said, "Compared to death, I'm more afraid of living inside that scar."

"I think I get it, but I still don't really get it." Hote scratched his head awkwardly.

Suye smiled and said, "Looking forward, I understood the cause. Looking back, I understood the meaning. Knowing both the cause and the effect, I had no choice but to act."

Hote stared blankly at Suye for a long time before saying, "You really have changed."

"Life forced my hand." Suye had deeper thoughts he didn't share. He reached out to pat Hote's shoulder, but couldn't quite reach, so he patted his Upper Arm instead and walked back to his seat.

The Blue-Eyed Girl's Magic Book lay before her, but her gaze was distant.

"No wonder Plato Academy is said to be full of hidden dragons and crouching tigers. No wonder the mages here are stronger than those at the Aristocratic Academy. Even the third-from-last student has this kind of wisdom, this kind of strategy, this kind of knowledge. How extraordinary must the top students be? It seems that even as a Black Iron Warrior, I need to set aside my pride and arrogance and study seriously."

The Blue-Eyed Girl thought this, gently clenched her fist, straightened her back, and lifted her head with Fighting Spirit blazing in her eyes.

At that moment, Suye realized he had neglected his new classmate. He lowered his voice and said, "Hello, I'm Suye. What's your name?"

The Blue-Eyed Girl turned slightly, her pale neck graceful like a swan's. Her gaze shifted, like a sweep of Azure light across the classroom.

She pushed the Magic Book between them, her finger landing on the lower right corner of the cover.

"Pallas?" Suye read aloud.

Pallas nodded, pulled the Magic Book back, and continued studying seriously.

"Not a single word. Really aloof. Or maybe she can't speak? Poor thing..." Suye thought.

Suye remembered the letter he had received earlier and opened it to read.

It was from his other deskmate, Jimmy, sent when Suye had first sat down.

"Friendly reminder: stay away from the Blue-Eyed Girl. Word is she's a big shot. Even Rolon treats her with special politeness and keeps his distance."

Suye glanced at Pallas from the corner of his eye, then at Rolon, and noticed that Rolon was indeed quieter than usual today.

Rolon was different from the other students.

He always wore black leather armor and carried a war spear and Short Sword with him.

Rolon was something of a big deal in the class. He had transferred in halfway through last semester, yet still topped the final exams, beating out the original first-place student, Lake.

And Lake had a talent for photographic memory, which made many people find it hard to believe.

There were plenty of rumors about Rolon. Some said his family was at least a Holy Domain count family, or even a legendary marquis family.

Ever since he entered this class, he had kept a standoffish demeanor, only associating with a few nobles in the academy.

Whether it was his aloofness or the faint melancholy in his eyes, he was especially popular with the girls.

This Blue-Eyed Girl, Pallas, actually made Rolon keep his distance—clearly, her status was even more extraordinary.

Suye replied to Jimmy with thanks, then opened last year's Mathematics textbook in his Magic Book.

When he flipped through the textbook earlier, Suye had breathed a sigh of relief.

The First Year math at Plato Academy was very basic. The hardest level was only about Fourth or Fifth Year elementary school on Blue Star.

However, Suye's memory of many basic mathematical concepts was unclear, and since the vocabulary of this world differed, he didn't take any chances. Instead, he directly used his most common Learning Method to study.

He first took careful notes, recording every mathematical concept, term, and Knowledge Point. For each one, he explained it in his own words, then provided examples under the explanation. When encountering something particularly abstract, he even used everyday metaphors.

By noon, he had extracted all the Knowledge Points from the book and was about to proceed to the next step when the bell rang.

"Let's eat together!" A shadow descended.

Suye smiled helplessly. This Hote was too tall. When others played hide-and-seek, he could only play hide-the-elephant.

Suye nodded, closed his Magic Book, and stood up.

"Nice work just now!" The deskmate sitting on the other side of Hote patted Suye's Upper Arm, shot him an encouraging look, then turned and left.

Suye watched the back of the "top student" Lake and smiled. Ever since the first-place spot was taken by Rolon, Lake had studied even harder and grown even thinner.