Lance reached his study after a short while. He was greeted by his daughter as soon as he entered.
Isis sat on his chair and played with an ink brush.
"If I am not mistaken, I think Rocky refused your offer once more," Isis said with a faint smile, seeing
the vivid anger on Lance's face.
"That little bastard is so arrogant that he had the audacity to refuse me in public! He is as cocky as he
is talented! I really wanted to kill him right there in public. That contemptuous genius," Lance roared
angrily. It was only Marin's words that stayed his anger when Rocky refused him once more. He wanted
so much to punish Rocky out of fury.
"I did tell you before father. You can't bribe him through a well-paid job as an officer," Isis said calmly,
as if she already knew what would happen.
"Then why did he work so hard in the contest? If he did not reveal his true power, then I probably
wouldn't be so depressed and angry." Lance hadn't figured out why Rocky fought with such intensity
during the competition.
"Simple, he wanted to raise your expectations of him first. So that you will become more irritated of him
when he refuses you. He wants you to be so irritated that you'd give up on trying to recruit him. And his
plan worked. It was a genius plan, really," Isis explained plainly as she transfixed her charming eyes on
her father.
"You mean to say that getting me this mad was all part of his plan?" Lance's eyes lit up as if he finally
understood what Isis explained. Rocky had planned to refuse from the start and yet he fought hard in
order to increase his chances of throwing Lance off and completely discouraging him in trying to recruit
Rocky. Lance nodded slightly as he saw the plan.
"I actually told him that you held the contest for him on purpose after his first round," Isis admitted.
"Why did you do that?" Lance was caught by surprise. He could not believe that his daughter would sell
him out to Rocky.
"Because you wanted to see his true power and potential. I told him that in order to force him into
action. If he found out that you organized the competition for him, he would defy you further and fight at
his best to make you angrier once the competition has been concluded," Isis explained cleverly.
"Now I understand. Telling him the truth made him want to go against me even further. He then wanted
to win the competition in order to make me angrier at his refusal." Lance was a clever man. It did not
take long before he understood the trick that his daughter played on Rocky. He then laughed out loud
uncontrollably. He shook his head as he laughed. "You even got your father this time, daughter! Good
girl!"
"The truth of the matter is that Rocky is so much stronger and much better than his peers in every
aspect. However, it is really hard to recruit a genius like him. He is like a wild thoroughbred stallion. If
you really want to recruit him, you cannot resort to a forceful approach." After a brief pause, Isis added,
"You should play smart to win his allegiance. Convince him using a different strategy! He can easily see
through a military strategy. Use an approach that he will not see coming."
"And it sounds to me like you already have an idea," Lance remarked. He knew his daughter so well.
"I will deal with him. Don't worry about it, father. I can convince him to join, but I'm not sure whether he
will agree to work at the headquarters," Isis said confidently.
Lance gave it some thought and then nodded. Although Rocky did embarrass him, his aim to recruit
Rocky had barely waned. He was a master in observing people, so he knew that Rocky's potential was
beyond what he allowed other people to see. He wanted to give Rocky one more chance.
Isis left her father's study and went back to her place. She immediately saw Marin as soon as she
entered the Isis Pavilion. Marin anxiously waited for her.
"Isis! At last you're back! Rocky just refused the Commander in Chief in public. What should we do
now?" Marin asked Isis.
"Really?! That man is so reckless!" Isis said, pretending to be surprised at Marin's news. Isis pretended
that she didn't know anything when she saw Marin in a nervous state.
"I begged the Commander in Chief for a chance to convince Rocky and he agreed to give me three
days to convince Rocky. But even with three days, is that even possible? I know Rocky so well. He will
never agree. What if he still said no after three days? What punishment would Rocky receive from the
Commander in Chief then?" Marin said in a worried tone. Concern filled her watery eyes.
"The worse of course! What else would you expect? He will probably be banished to the front lines of
the battlefield," Isis said seriously.
"What!? Isis, could you help me to convince Rocky?" Marin pleaded, as her eyebrows approached
each other and her eyes started to moisten even more.
Isis burst into a loud laughter when she saw Marin in that distressed state.
"Isis, why are you laughing?" Marin asked with a confused expression.
"Ha-ha-ha! Oh, nothing, nothing. I have never seen you worry about a man that much, Marin. Are you
in love with Rocky?" Isis asked, teasing her cousin.
"Come on! That is not funny, Isis! That is not possible!" Marin said blushing after she heard Isis'
question. She forced herself not to freeze in place and not to look too awkward.
"Oh, really? Then tell me why do you care about him so much?" Isis continued to bombard Marin with
questions about her concern over Rocky.
"Well... Errmmm... That's because..." Marin stammered. After a while, something suddenly occurred to
her and she immediately yelled out, "That's because he saved Verdanim! That's it! I owe him for that!"
"Just because of that?" Isis questioned, squinting her left eye at Marin with a faint smile.
Marin nodded firmly.
Isis' expression changed without warning. A hint of coldness flashed in her eyes. "I will be truly happy
for you once you've found your true love; and I will never oppose whoever that is as long as it's not
Rocky. And you know why, right? Rocky has so many secrets, even his identity is a top secret at the
headquarters. He is just too darn complicated! Don't get involved with him. He could jeopardize your
future." Isis warned Marin sincerely.
"Oh, come on, Isis! You are too serious! You are just overthinking things. Relax!" Marin replied with a
smile.
"Actually, my father told me about Rocky's refusal. And he agreed to let me take over changing his
mind," Isis said as she smiled evilly at Marin.
Marin was agape in surprise after she realized that Isis had fooled her.
"What do you plan to do, Isis? What if Rocky still won't say yes?" Marin could not help but ask.
"Don't worry about it! I already have an idea. I am sure that I can convince him." Her lips curved
upwards into a creepy smile.
A true problem awaited Rocky and he didn't even realize it.
Rocky said goodbye to Sue before leaving. He took Uriah and Rubygon and walked out of the
headquarters unnoticed. He then took his carriage and his luggage from the Super Beast Farm and
then drove the carriage back to his place.
When Rocky arrived, the Rainbow Glow Unicorn jumped out in front of Rocky before he even got off
the carriage. It whimpered sadly at Rocky as he got down from the carriage. It was because it hadn't
had the magical saliva for days. It yearned to have a drop of that delicious liquid so badly.
"Holy molly! You really like the magical saliva, do you? How about this, buddy? You let me be your
master, and I will feed you the magical saliva every day!" Rocky said to tempt the Rainbow Glow
Unicorn to be his spiritual beast. But he knew that it was too soon for it to agree. It was never easy to
tame spiritual beasts. Even though the Rainbow Glow Unicorn craved for the magical saliva, it still
couldn't accept to trade that with allowing Rocky to be its master. Spiritual beasts were naturally proud,
so they couldn't be tamed easily.
Rocky expected the Rainbow Glow Unicorn to refuse. It changed its stance immediately. It raised its
head up in the air that signified that it refused Rocky's offer. A short moment later, it left without a
warning and disappeared.
Rocky did not mind that the unicorn refused his offer and left. He knew well enough that the Rainbow
Glow Unicorn would return on its own.
After he unpacked everything, Rocky went to his lab and started his study on Uriah's upgrade.
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