Chapter 138 - Ben the pyromancer

5 days left in the competition…

Ben walked into the strategic marketing classroom and felt grateful that he could start his morning with such a view; Professor Tremblay was organizing some papers at the front desk, bending over and displaying her cleavage...

Swallowing, Ben stood still in the middle of the walking lane. He'd be interrupting traffic if all the other males in the room weren't also frozen in place oggling…

Observing this, the girls in the class showed looks of disgust...

When the professor brushed her hand on the desk, knocking over a pen that rolled behind her, a collective gasp ensued...

She turned around and bent down, exposing her backside that filled out her black skirt.

Knowing he was acting like a silly child, Ben rebuked himself… 'I was staring at her tits like a fool. One can never get too complacent. Now that I see that ass, I realize there's always a mountain behind every mountain…'

…

*Cough* Miyuki entered the classroom behind Ben, clearing her throat and putting her hand on his shoulder. "Good morning, Benjamin-san."

Realizing the jiggle was up…Ben greeted her back, then walked over to his seat, complaining about how happiness in this world was too short-lived...

He spotted little Charlotte already there and greeted her with a friendly tap on her arm. "Hey, Charlo—"

His words got caught in his throat when she lurched to the side in fear! Her eyes bulged out as her face turned pale! She stared at him in terror.

Ben blinked, not understanding what happened. "What's the matter?"

Charlotte didn't answer him as she struggled to catch her breath. Only after a dozen seconds did she manage to mutter, "Nothing…I'm fine…please don't touch me."

He knitted his brows but didn't probe her any further, not when they only met two days ago. It wasn't his place. Instead, Ben sat down as the class began.

A short while later, the professor once again escorted all the students to the computer lab, where they'd begin their third day for the competition.

Entering the lab, dozens of noisy students gathered into their groups at workstations. As Ben and Charlotte sat down at a computer, he manipulated the mouse and keyboard to check their standings in the game. The results…were a mixed bag.

The good news was that no other team jumped into their corporate segment as Ben expected. However, they were still in 10th, only having made a slight improvement in score.

He wasn't too depressed though. Ben didn't expect to make big gains the first day. Otherwise, the textbooks wouldn't have called corporate a slow-development sector. Instead, he was glad no one else was trying to share-suck on his tit…though he had no idea if he'd make it in time to get enough milk to grow his company's bones...

At that moment, a grating voice emerged from nearby. "Hey, Ben! How's your new group doing? Do you remember saying you'd win the competition? Then why is it that from where I'm sitting, it looks like you're dead last?" Lawrence's face oozed a teasing grin as he and his two teammates chuckled from nearby seats. The other two teammates also threw in small verbal digs at the 10th place standing.

Ben narrowed his eyes. 'Peasants randomly insulting the nobles. Do they think this is Jojo?'

…

He smirked as Lawrence's male sidekick finished another snide remark. "The dog sure barks loudly when the master is around…"

…

Ben glanced at the "dog" and then to Lawrence.

The "dog" frowned... "What are you talking about?!? Lawrence isn't my master!"

Ben's eyebrows elevated in surprise. "Oh, forgive me. I misread the situation." He then addressed Lawrence. "Then, is he YOUR master?" Ben pointed to the former wrongfully alleged "dog…"

Ben needed to know who the dog was so he could punt it like Dio…

…

Lawrence snorted. "You've sure got a lot of jokes. It must be easy to be funny when all you need for inspiration is to look in the mirror and see a personified fart…"

Ben gasped. 'He almost knocked me off my feet with a blast of pure hate!'

…

Ben almost forgot that Lawrence possessed some abilities as a titled villain: C.o.c.kroach Boss number one…

'I was going to leave them their lives, but since they're courting death…' Ben's eyes thinned as he gazed at Lawrence. "Show some respect boy. The only reason I'm not your dad is your mom didn't have change for a 20!"

…

The computer room turned silent, before everyone nearby exploded!

"Ohhhhhhhh!"

"Damn!"

"Savage!"

Lawrence's face turned as red as a baboon's buttcheeks!

His two group mates turned their heads to hide their chuckling!

Miyuki in the corner covered her face with papers!

Even Charlotte spun in her chair 360!

This attack was too strong! They expected prolonged land and naval battles, then Ben dropped a nuke!

Lawrence gnashed his teeth. However, he couldn't speak. The fire was so hot that opening his mouth would only scorch his lungs!

...

He knew he needed to fall back, the first priority being to deal with his third-degree burns...

He didn't expect to bathe in the flames of Mordor...

...

Lawrence glared at Ben but soon returned to working on the computer, along with everyone else. After things quieted down, a boy in the group next to Lawrence's, who noticed the commotion, asked Lawrence's partner what was going on. When he heard the story of the conflict from the first day and how Ben declared he would win the competition, he couldn't help widen his eyes in surprise.

Soon, he returned to his group and reported everything he'd learned about Ben. Everyone in that group sat in silence, waiting, all gazing towards one person in their center—a girl with an icy face.

Even though she was sitting down, from her extremely long athletic legs under her short white skirt, anyone could tell her height was remarkable for a girl. At 5"11, she was fit to be a model, and possessed a face of matching quality, which was framed under long dark brown hair. Although her curves weren't extreme like the professor's, her toned athletic body accentuated her C-cup and developed butt so that she turned heads just the same…

"This Ben appears quite surefooted…" the girl said with an upper-class British accent.

A man in her team snorted. "He's a fool is what he is…' He smirked and looked around at his teammates. "We have the student council president on our side. With Olivia, we can't lose!" He smiled while flattering the British beauty, Olivia.

However, her expression remained unimpressed. "Correction. We must not lose…and we also must not fail to analyze all possible threats, no matter how miniscule." Her tone carried the natural confidence of a leader. "Act like you're in first, but prepare like you're in second. That's how we'll become victorious. You must never belittle the opponent…"

Her group members nodded as their expressions became serious.

She continued. "Good. Now, organize all the data from the preceding round. Don't miss any detail."

As Olivia's team followed her commands, Ben was at his computer. He made small adjustments to his strategy but followed the same tactics. 'We need to pick up momentum tomorrow. If we can, then we might have a chance. If not…'

He sighed, but he'd done all he could: planned, plotted, and set up a faceslap…the three key steps of any great web novel arc... 'Now, I'll leave it and see the results tomorrow, using them to determine if we'll rise...or fall into Bolivia...'

***

4 days left…

Surrounded by the chatter of dozens of students from the strategic marketing class, Ben and Charlotte were back in the computer room checking their results. As the software loaded, they leaned forward, eyes staring at the screen with intensity and concern…

The night before, they'd checked their standings from home for the 2nd round of the day, and were still in 10th. It wasn't a good sign...

So, today's results would determine if their group had any chance of winning the contest…

Clicking on the mouse to check their position, Ben's mouth was dry. He needed a good result here…otherwise...

Soon, their standings were visible…

8th place...

They moved up by two spots. Charlotte tilted her head, unsure if this was good or not, but received clarification when she glanced at Ben.

"Yes!" He smiled and squeezed his fists in joy. "I-I did it! It activated!"

...

When he glanced at Charlotte though, Ben realized she wasn't aware of what was happening, so he explained. Corporate was a niche with a slow start, but that also meant that when growth began, it would become exponential! A rise of two spots might not seem like much now but it was only the beginning. If they could go up by 2 today, then when the genuine growth ramped up, they could go up by 3, or more!

Like the best ninjas and criminals, Ben planned to come from behind!

…

This was where the real problem started though…

Now that the growth of corporate was visible, some competitors in the class would see its appeal. Although that didn't guarantee a group would try to jump onto Ben's gravy train, there was a definite threat, and it would become a disaster if that risk became reality.

He was right to worry. At this moment, several teams were discussing the potential profitability of corporate, only hesitating because it had been a few days already. That made it tough to say how large their gains would be if they dipped their toes into it now.

Anticipating their movements, Ben knew he needed to do everything in his power to minimize the chances of them following through in joining corporate. The good thing was...he'd already thought of the perfect method.

He spread a sinister troll-smile, angling his head down as he looked at Charlotte. "It's time for stage 2 of the plan…"

She backed her chair up. 'Why is he smiling at me like Jack Nicholson?'

It was fortunate that Ben knew the best approach to keep people away from him and his segment, one he learned from gaming—make the environment as toxic as possible!

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