Chapter 2

It was evening when Icarus stepped out of the train station in the city of Hindale in Riverton. He dropped by the supermarket to get himself some chicken and two cans of beer before slowly walking home. He lived in a small house with a front yard in an undeveloped neighborhood. Rent was cheap—only 500 dollars a month. Each floor of the two-story house was rented out separately. He took the second while a mother and her daughter lived on the first. Once he got back, he set up the barbecue pit out in the front yard and started roasting the chicken. Just as he was basting his chicken, a teenage girl with a backpack on her shoulders came scampering into the yard. "It smells wonderful, Russ! I could smell it from miles away," said Luna Upton, the teenage girl. She walked up to Icarus and stared at the chicken with widened eyes. "Calm down. I'll set aside some for you," Icarus assured her. "You're the best, Russ!" Luna squealed before heading into her house. Luna was a 10th grader who lived on the first floor with her mother. Moments later, she came back out and brought a stool over to sit beside Icarus. "Where have you been the last few days, Russ? Mom went back to her hometown, so I'm here all alone. I've been so bored," Luna said as she cupped her face with her hands. "An old friend of mine passed away. I went to see him," Icarus replied truthfully. After a pause, Luna said contritely, "I'm sorry. My condolences." She figured Icarus' old friend had to be around his age. They had to have been close too. It was such a tragedy for that friend to die so young. Yet, she soon realized that Icarus showed no trace of sadness in his expression. On the contrary, he was salivating as he stared at the juicy chicken on the barbecue pit. A few minutes later, Icarus declared, "It's done!" He grabbed it by hand as if unafraid that it could burn him. After breaking off a drumstick for Luna, he started munching on the rest. It was delicious! Generally speaking, cultivators shouldn't have to rely on food for sustenance any longer. It was kind of absurd that someone who had been cultivating for nearly five thousand years still relied on food for satiation without achieving the state of no longer requiring food. Alas, Icarus had no choice. While he could avoid eating, he'd feel the hunger pangs. A long time ago, he had been so depressed and tired of living that he wanted to end his own life. Yet, even after starving himself of food and water for two months, he was still alive and well. But of course, while he was physically fine, he felt desperately hungry and thirsty. As long as he could still feel those pangs, he had to eat like a regular person. It'd be torture otherwise. Later that night, Icarus sat on his bed and slowly looked through the medicinal formulas that Salazar had written over the span of almost two decades. Every single formula was the result of his extensive research, his labor of love. They were all priceless beyond comparison. The release of any single one would've shocked the entire medical industry. "My, my. He'd studied areas such as the improvement of virility quite extensively too. The disciple surpassed his mentor," Icarus murmured to himself. All of a sudden, he heard someone pounding on the door below. A rough, unpleasant voice hollered, "Come out here, Carl, you bastard! You owe us 50 thousand! You think you can just hide from us to avoid paying your gambling debts?" With Icarus' keen sense of hearing, he heard Luna crying inside the house below. If he recalled correctly, she'd said that her mother had gone back to her hometown, and she'd been staying alone the past few days. "Open up right this instant! If you don't, we'll break the door down! Just you wait. Once I get my hands on you, I'll fuck you up!" another voice shouted. Immediately, the men started knocking the door down. "C-Carl Upton and my mom have already gotten divorced. He has nothing to do with us. He's not here either…" Luna cried out tearily. "Am I supposed to trust you just because you say he's not here? You're his daughter! I bet you'd lie to protect him!" The two men continued their attempt to barge into the house. "I-If you don't stop, I'm calling the police!" Luna shouted. "As if you'd dare! Once this door comes down, I'll deal with you first!" one of the men threatened. Within seconds, the door flew open, and the two ferocious men stormed into the house. They immediately saw Luna slumped on the floor, weak from fear. After looking around, they realized she was all alone. "How did that bastard Carl get himself such a pretty daughter?" one of the men remarked as he eyed Luna greedily. "That gives me an idea. Since we can't find that fucker, let's just sell her off. That'll cover his debt," the other man suggested. "There's no rush. Before that, we can get a taste first—" But before he could even touch Luna, he felt himself being lifted up by some powerful force. "Who are you?" the other man yelled as he tried to attack Icarus. But at the very next second, he let out a piercing howl as Icarus kicked him, sending him back out into the yard. Meanwhile, the guy Icarus had caught didn't even get a chance to speak. Icarus gave him a few slaps before tossing him out as well. "If you want money, find the person who owes you. I give you three seconds to get the hell out of here," Icarus said coolly. Still reeling from Icarus' earlier attacks, the two men knew how terrifying he was and dared not stick around. They fled without even having the guts to threaten him. Luna was still sobbing, her body trembling. Icarus crouched down and said, "Everything's fine now. I've chased them away." She threw her arms around him and started wailing even harder. After consoling her for a while and fixing the door, he finally went back upstairs. Having lived for nearly five millennia, Icarus had experienced far too many things. As a result, he developed a rather cold and detached personality. Even when confronted with the misfortunes of others, such as Jeremiah's situation, he chose not to get involved. He would only help those who were connected to him in some way or people he found interesting. … Late at night, Icarus got in bed to sleep. Just like food, sleep was something he could avoid if he wanted to, but he would feel drowsy, so he had to sleep anyway. However, he'd only closed his eyes for a minute or two when he heard a knock on the door. Once he opened it, he saw Luna standing outside in her nightgown. "R-Russ, I'm too scared to sleep alone at home… Can you let me sleep here instead?" Luna asked. Her pretty eyes were puffy from all her crying. Even her nose was red. She looked rather pitiful. Apart from her mother, the person she trusted the most was Icarus. Her request startled Icarus. He only had one bed. Nevertheless, when he noticed how she was still trembling, he agreed to her request. "You can take my bed tonight," Icarus said. "I-I'll sleep on the floor. You can keep your bed," Luna replied. "It's fine. I napped on the train today, so I'm not that tired." Thus, Luna stopped protesting and carefully got into Icarus' bed. "So, this is what Russ' bed feels like," she thought to herself. "It's warm. He must've been lying here just now…" Luna looked over at Icarus, who was sitting at his desk and looking through the large pile of medicinal formulas again. She felt her cheeks burning. She couldn't believe she was lying in his bed right now. How was he such a good fighter anyway? Those two men had been so scary, but he'd thrown them out of the house within seconds. He looked so cool doing it too! Soon, Luna's mind stopped wandering as she fell into slumber. … The next day, Icarus headed over to Hindale High. Over the years, he'd attended school countless times already. Still, he had no choice but to continue doing so. As long as he was still alive, he had to live like an ordinary person. After working in various professions, Icarus concluded that attending school was still the most fun and relaxing part of life. He walked to the Class 2 classroom for seniors and sat down in the corner. In school, he was a loner who kept a low profile. He had no friends and went unnoticeable in class. In fact, he was willing to bet that at least half the class didn't know his full name. "I heard that Ruth Talbot, the school beauty from the honors class next door, wants to transfer to our class! Is that true?" "It is! The class representative overheard her talking to our homeroom teacher in the staffroom, and she'd asked to transfer here." "What's going on? Why would a goddess like her want to transfer to our class? Could it be that she likes one of the guys here?" Icarus heard his classmates gossiping among themselves, but it was all noise to him. Donovan Lane, Icarus' plump deskmate, poked him in the arm and asked, "Hey, Icarus. Ruth Talbot wants to transfer to our class! Why aren't you excited?" "I don't even know who she is. Why should I be excited?" Icarus responded. "What the hell? Haven't you heard of Ruth before? She's a daughter of the Talbots of Riverton! Not only does she come from a prominent family background, but she looks as beautiful as an angel too! Everyone agrees that she's the most beautiful girl in Hindale High. She's our goddess!" Donovan cried out enthusiastically. The Talbots of Riverton? That sounded familiar, but Icarus merely hummed in acknowledgment before resting his head on his desk to take a nap. He was sleepy after having stayed up all night. Since Icarus seemed uninterested, Donovan didn't bother keeping the conversation going. After a while, the class bell rang, and everyone took their seats, eagerly awaiting the arrival of the school beauty. True enough, Hank Yarra, the homeroom teacher, came in with a female student. She was dressed in the school uniform and wore her hair in a braid. Although she didn't have any makeup on, her skin looked bright and flawless. Even though she was dressed like a student, her striking features, including her shining eyes, elegant nose, and ruby-red lips all made her seem like an angel. Ruth was undeniably the school beauty. She looked like a goddess to everyone in class, who sighed in awe when they saw her. "From today onward, Ruth will be joining us here in Class 2. Please give her a warm welcome!" Hank said respectfully. Everyone in class started clapping, the noise making Icarus look up. As soon as he did, he saw Ruth standing at the head of the class. Immediately, he recognized her and figured out why she asked to transfer to this class. He cursed under his breath, knowing that trouble had come looking for him. Ruth had also been scanning the class to look for Icarus, and once she spotted him in the corner, her eyes lit up. "I knew you'd be here, Icarus!" she thought gleefully. "Mr. Yarra, I'd like him to be my deskmate," Ruth piped up as she stared fixedly in Icarus' direction.