Chapter 199: Homeless

After a short moment of answering questions, Alex realized that they were only being cautious and wanted to investigate if he was a part of the Dark Union.Their base of suspicion was that Alex had used a Core rank spell to block Malcolm back then when everyone believed that he was an Adept rank mage. After all, he had only shown the strength of an Adept mage until then.

According to them, only the Dark Union was able to suddenly increase the strength of mages and make them very powerful; although there was a dangerous side effect to this, many people were willing to do it when they found themselves in critical situations where they didn’t have any other choice.

But Alex clarified that he wasn’t a member of the Dark Union and even allowed them to check him for any marks that might link him to the Dark Union.

After they were sure that he wasn’t a part of the Dark Union, they asked how he had suddenly gotten to the Core mage rank and was even capable of using Core rank spells so quickly.

Alex blamed it on his history as someone who had been stuck in the Apprentice mage rank for four years, claimed that his mana had long accumulated to a massive amount which promoted his breakthrough speed to skyrocket after he finally passed the Apprentice rank.

Although this sounded shocking, Julius and the others felt that it made sense since they could easily imagine such a case happening; Alex just happened to be the first one that they had encountered.

Besides, there was nothing they could do since they had confirmed that he wasn’t a member of the Dark Union. Mr Chen had a favourable impression of him and it was very likely that Mr Chen might start to pay attention to Alex and even take him as his personal student.

If anything, they should build a good relationship with this kid.

After answering their questions, Clint apologized to Alex if he felt discomfort because of their actions. He said that they were just being cautious and didn’t mean to target him.

Alex understood this and didn’t hold a grudge, he wasn’t a petty person.

Clint then moved to the reason why they had called Alex to the Union building.

"I believe you must have heard of Mr Chen, he’s a powerful expert who has helped the city many times. He was impressed by your actions back then and wanted to give you a gift." Clint said, he then waved his hand over the long table and the corpse of the Void demon appeared on it.

All of the expected Alex to show surprise after seeing a beast’s corpse but were the ones surprised instead when he didn’t show any reaction.

They realized that he was also present during the fight and must have seen enough to become numb. They also recalled Mia saying that he was a member of her explorer group so this wasn’t his first time seeing a magic beast.

"Hmm, nevermind. This here, is the corpse of a Void demon. It was the creature that was creating the beasts that we fought earlier and its corpse is very valuable, especially its heart." Clint explained, making sure that Alex knew the value of the gift he was receiving.

But again, Alex didn’t show much reaction and just said that he was grateful to Mr Chen’s gift.

Julius and the others were not impressed with his gratitude but there was nothing that they could do, Alex was the one who Mr Chen was interested in.

They watched as Alex stored the corpse of the beast and was about to leave when Clint called him back.

"Alex, about Malcolm. You don’t have to worry about that, the Union will issue a warning to him to not disturb you." After saying that, he threw something toward Alex and he caught it; it was Clint’s contact card.

"Call me if you need anything or encounter any form of trouble in the city." Clint said.

Alex looked at the card, he already had one that was given to him as Mr Chen but couldn’t say it.

"Mm, thank you." He said before finally leaving the meeting room.

Clint smiled as he watched Alex leave. The others already had some sort of connection with Alex, this was his only way to form one.

After Alex left, it was now time for them to talk about different matters.

Meanwhile, Alex met with Zoran in the reception hall and was asked why he was summoned to the Union.

Alex didn’t hide the reason and told him that Mr Chen had given him a gift through the Union, he then proceeded to explain what the gift was to his father.

Zoran was shocked after he learned this and asked why Mr Chen had given Alex a gift. Alex said that he it was because Mr Chen was impressed by his actions at the stadium.

"Where’s the beast corpse then?" Zoran asked.

"It’s in my storage ring."

"When did you get a storage ring? Isn’t that very expensive?"

"...They gave it to me as well."

"I see, that’s very generous of them."

"..."

The father and son pair returned to the hospital together, the day continued.

Everyone was busy in Balon City doing one thing or the day and night soon arrived.

Alex’s family finally left the hospital and wanted to return home but were met with Union officers who told them that this part of Balon City was off limit no workers for the time being.

Apparently, all of the houses in this area had been destroyed. Alex’s home was in this area as well so they were literally now homeless.

This news shocked Freda and Emily, Alex was already aware of this, Alicia was indifferent, while Zoran had a serious expression on his face.

However, he quickly came up with a plan.

They would buy a new home! They still had a lot of money left from what Mr Chen gave them previously and could afford a good home.

Zoran already had this thought in mind before but wasn’t in a rush, he wanted to wait till the end of the tournament before moving his family to a better place.

But now that the appearance of the crack had rendered them homeless, the thought had become an urgent one.

When the topic of buying a house came up, Alex immediately said that he knew someone who could help them arrange that and then brought out the contact card that Clint had given him.

He already knew that Clint was trying to form a connection with him because of Mr Chen so he knew that the man would be willing to help them look for a good home.

Zoran didn’t reject the idea and called Clint’s number, they were called back to the Union building and Clint appointed someone to them.

Some time later, Zoran and Alex were sitting facing a middle aged woman who was telling them the price range of different houses.

"The Union branch leader has asked me to get you the best available house in the city, the price range is 40 million Zen to 200 million Zen for a mansion."

Zoran and Alex "..."