《Chaos Cycle: The Eye of Genesis》 Chapter 1 - The Regression |PART ONE: REBORN| Earth, United Nations, Safe Haven, Third Ring, 2037. Elior''s heart pounded as his mind rumbled in memories that had never transpired before. Images of sky-collapsing war played in his mind abruptly out of nowhere as an intense headache blazed his head. He covered his eyes and head with the pillow, wailing as if to deny what had happened. It was distant, in some other dimension, in some other astral plane, yet it came so vivid to him. He sat uptight as quickly as he could, and when he opened his eyes the intense light clouded his vision. Glimmers of sunlight had cast through the window lid, claiming the day has arrived. He focused his gaze by blinking a few times exactly to notice he was in his bedroom. Moreover, he was soaking in a cold sweat. He wiped the sweat from his forehead, and cheek as a rush of intense emotion swirled inside him. He looked at his arms to find out they were thinner than he remembered, and they were trembling. With a bit of effort, he leaned against the wall of the room and tried to calm his nerves by taking a few deep breaths. But that didn''t help at all. Suddenly, a faint memory of the last talk he had with his godmother surged inside his mind with an image of a dying man with a lot of regrets. ''This is . . . Me?'' his breathing got faster as the splitting migraine swept over him. He couldn''t calm his nerves anymore. He saw himself dying on the horrifying battlefield, and finally, the recollection hit him. The regression was successful, but his mind was too cloudy to interpret if he came back at the right time or not. With a lot of effort, Elior carried his body from the bed as he staggered his way towards the washroom. He instinctively opened the door and came straight to the sink. Without a single thought, he jerked his head at the sink before unlocking the tap. Coldwater thumped on his head, giving a faint sense of clarity of mind. He stayed like that for a couple of minutes as his mind cleared. And so came clouds of memory. It swept his mind, giving him a faint reminiscence of his failure. "Ah . . ." He couldn''t help but let out a deep sigh, raising his head. Then he noticed a bit of an unfamiliar face reflecting in the washroom mirror. The one reflecting on the mirror was only a young man of sixteen, still a couple of years away from growing the first facial hair. His complexion was pale and the dark eyes were sunken more than usual. Elior unconsciously touched his cheek. The exterior of the broad-shouldered man who spent over a decade in battle couldn''t be seen¡ªinstead, it was a naive-looking teenager. "So, I have returned!" He murmured as he wiped the water from his face with a towel when he heard a voice outside from the washroom door. "Elior? What''s taking you so long? Don''t you remember what day it is?" "Mom!" A surge of emotion washed over him. He opened the door as quickly as he could to find the figure of a middle-aged woman in her early forties. She had dark hair like him, while her eyes were sky blue. Saying nothing, he lunged towards her with an embrace. Tears flowed out of his eyes as he smelled the familiar scent of his mother. "Elior, what got into you?" His mother whispered as she found out he was crying. "Is it because of your father? About what he said yesterday?" He remained silent, still embracing. "Don''t cry. I have talked to your father. He agreed to your admission." She pulled him from the embrace and looked at his face. "Look, Ileana is here, at least don''t cry in front of her." Elior came back to his senses as he gazed past his mother to notice a young girl of his age standing there, giving him a teasing grin. "El is still a mama''s boy." "You want a hug as well?" Elior said. But before Ileana could answer, he already pulled her into a hug. Ileana gave off the vibe of the next-door girl and apparently, she did live next door. She was not that tall¡ªfive feet and nothing, with a pretty oval exterior and cute nose. Her eyes were bright oceanic blue, while her hair was chestnut colour, left on her both shoulders. She was wearing a white formal dress all the way down to her thigh, a black leather coat above it, with a similar style of black leather pants. It appeared she had someplace to be. "Hey, what are you doing? I don''t want your hug." Ileana protested. After a couple of seconds before calming down, Elior left her from the hug. "Why are you prepared in those clothes?" He asked Ileana. "Are you going somewhere?" "It''s not the matter of why I''m dressed, it''s the question why haven''t you?" Ileana said. "Don''t you know today''s date?" "What''s today?" Elior asked. He was totally clueless. "Today is the 2nd of October," his mother answered. "It''s the day of your admission to the Institution of Earth''s Guardian." "Ahh!" Elior searched for the memories inside his mind as he found out he had regressed exactly to the day of the Trial. He murmured, "The bus will arrive soon." "Exactly." Ileana shot a fist at his shoulder. "Why haven''t you prepared already, we have only half an hour left." To admit into the Institution of Earth''s Guardian, they have to appear in all sorts of tests. Boys and girls all over the world studied their asses off for this opportunity. He recalled he had spent months of sleepless nights to prepare for the exams before succeeding, though his name was not in the forefront, like Ileana, who succeeded in flying colours. "Give me a couple of minutes," saying that he went straight to his room. With little consideration, Elior put on an ash-coloured shirt and found a similar leather coat and trousers to the one Ileana was wearing in his wardrobe. Then he recalled it was the dress the UN government offered after he cleared the exams. Elior put on those thick leather outfits rather quickly before picking up a comb. His hair was rather short, so it didn''t take long to comb it. And for other accessories, he found out that his mother had already prepared for him. He only put his Hollowbook and cellphone into it before checking the clock, which was striking at 9:39 am. "I''m ready," he announced towards the two women still in the corridor. Then he remembered something important, a mistake he made in his past regression. He looked at his mother before asking, "Mom, where''s dad?" He remembered in his previous life; he had a big argument with his dad just the day before the trial, which was yesterday. His father was not in favour of him going to the Institute of Earth''s Guardian. As a doctor himself, his father decided he should be a doctor as well. Well, he had some other reasons as well, but that time he was too green to see them. Elior hadn''t agreed with his father, so he had taken the entrance exam of the institute without his father''s assertion. He had contemplated this decision more than once in his previous life. His life would have been totally different if he hadn''t taken the bus last time. His mother sighed. "Your father is at work," she said. "But I talked with him yesterday. You don''t need to worry. He agreed to your admission to the institute." "But it''s Sunday." So his father agrees. He hadn''t known this in his previous time. "You know your dad." his mother shook her head. "This is his way of showing . . . enough of that, you don''t have much time. "Listen carefully, we only agreed to this after much consideration of the options. You have to take care of yourself. Like you agreed before, you''re forbidden from putting yourself in harm''s way. You would take an auxiliary course at the institution and stay away from all the dangerous things and fighting. Promise me that." ''Huh.'' Elior took in a deep breath of air. If this was his previous life, his answers would be: ''I promise, mom, I''ll pick a course in magic engineering or some other auxiliary department.'' But he couldn''t say that now. And he couldn''t lie either. "I promise, mom, I''ll take care of myself. I won''t put myself in any unnecessary troubles," he said as he kissed his mom on the cheeks. "We''re late, let''s go Ileana." He rushed off from there immediately, catching the left arm of Ileana. "Elior?" His mother yelled from behind. But he didn''t stop, only yelled back: "Goodbye mom, I''ll call you after arriving there." "El, what happened to you?" Ileana gasped for air as she said. "You''re acting weird today." Elior didn''t answer, nor he released the grip from her arm. He finally stopped when they covered a few blocks in the neighbourhood. Elior panted. "Sorry," he said. It would take him a couple of days to get used to his younger self. Ileana was breathing rapidly, too. "So, why haven''t you agreed to your Mom?" she asked. "What are you talking about?" "Don''t play dumb with me," Ileana said. "I know you don''t lie, and you haven''t actually agreed to your mom''s word." Elior blinked at the chestnut-haired girl. It seemed he forgot about the outstanding observation skills and wits of Ileana. "I''ll tell you later." he coughed and walked forward. "And that''s what you say when you don''t want to answer," Ileana said in an annoying tone. The two of them followed side by side on the sidewalk for a quarter of an hour before sighting a bus in red colours. It was almost double the size of a normal bus. A shield with two swords in cross¡ªthe sign of the guardians was imprinted on it in black. Elior was walking straight towards the gate when Ileana nudged his shoulder. "Let''s take a selfie first," the fair girl with chestnut hair opened her as got ready to take a photo. "Couldn''t you wait until the trial ends?" Elior complained but still showed his face in front of the camera. After clicking a good amount of photos, Ileana let out a satisfied grin. "After the trial? What are you talking about?" she asked. He again let out something that he was not supposed to. Fortunately, Ileana didn''t carry on with the topic, as she was still fiddling with her phone. "Let''s go," she said. Elior took a deep breath. "Everything begins here." The two of them entered the bus, which was awfully vacant. Only about a dozen seats were filled. Boys and girls of their age were seated there in formal dresses. They all have been assessed through many tests before being given the opportunity to be here. Few of the fellas had anxious expressions on, few were excited while few were casual. But most of them were still unsure about the thing. Ileana and Elior took seats beside themselves. Surprisingly, Elior was not feeling any of the emotions the others were feeling. Calm was the only word to describe his state. On the other hand, Ileana was more eager than usual. Her blue eyes drifted all over the bus, searching for something supernatural. "Looks like everyone is here," A tall man appeared in front of them. He gazed at everyone present on the bus before continuing. "I''m Roan Fraser, in charge of you all for now. Before moving to the next step, I wanted to remind all of you that you are the best of earth, creams of the crops. Soon you will be at the institution, but before that, an important test is left." "What? what test? Did not we passed all the tests?" A fellow on the frontier seat sounded out. "I can''t say anything about the test, but remember even if you fail you are still welcome at the institute." Roan said, "Kids, don''t be too surprised." Elior smacked his lips at the last statement. Why would they not be surprised? It''s not like they had been here before. Well, he had been here, if you consider the previous timeline. But that''s a special case. Out of all the things the man could have said, he told them not to be surprised. Of course, they wouldn''t be surprised to find out that they were on a dimension travelling vehicle which was hidden as a normal bus. Of course, they wouldn''t be surprised after waking up in some different dimension where they have to appear in another trial to prove themselves. ''Why would we be surprised? It''s like any other Sunday.'' Elior said inwardly. Ileana gripped his palm tightly to the point he felt somewhat pain, but he didn''t complain. His condition was similar to hers in his first time. The bus picked up its pace as straps appeared from the seats¡ªthey were sitting, restricting them from any movements. "El?" Ileana whispered. Elior exchanged a glance with her before giving a slow nod, which seemed to calm her down. The bus, no¡ªthe dimension travelling ship, travelled at lightning speed as all the kids in it passed out, including Elior. "Kids, I wish you success." ________________________ Status window at the next chapter. For those who have skipped the prologue, please check it out in the auxiliary chapters. This is a work of fiction. Our earth and the earth here may not be identical. If you like it, support this work with Power stone and leave a review or comments.. Even the little amount of appreciation counts. Chapter 2 - Where It All Started Elior opened his eyes gently and found himself in an unfamiliar room. His head felt heavier than usual, as if he had slept for a long time. He sat upright as he gazed around the white room. "This is the summoning room," he muttered under his breath. He was about to examine his body when he heard a voice behind him. "It''s about time you wake up." Elior twisted his head behind to notice a cute little Pixie flapping its wing lazily as it hovered in the air. It¡ªno¡ª''it'' was not right. He knew better. This Pixie was not an ''it'' but a she. She may be only a tiny Pixie now, but she had the power to squash his body like a fly. Moreover, he had quite a good relationship with her in the first time. Yemrmix was her name, a Faerie in charge of an otherworlder like himself. Yemrmix was no larger than a dozen centimetres, with milky white skin. Though tiny, she had a humanoid figure with two pairs of white little wings on her back. "Kid, if you''re a few minutes late I would have left you in the trial on your own," Yemrmix said, still flapping lazily. "Kid?" Elior snorted. This was not the only time she called him Kid. Though faeries have long lives as some of the powerful ones could live up to a thousand years, but the one flying around him was by no means aged. As far as he knew, Yemrmix was no older than himself. "Little Pixie, you should look in the mirror before calling someone a kid." Yemrmix frowned. Her complexion twisted into a ghastly, enraged one. It appeared that she was considering the usage of violence. Elior gulped. "No. You can''t hit me. It''s in the rules." He said instantly. It appeared that after waking up twice in headache made him slow. He made a blunder. He should have remembered not to joke with Yemrmix about her age. The ghastly, enraged expression vanished from the Pixie''s exterior, but the frown still remained. She asked. "Rule? How do you know about the rule?" "Well, it''s a wild guess," Elior said, playing dumb. "I guessed there should be some rules and regulations in this . . . whatever game you called." Yemrmix gazed didn''t leave him. She was still suspicious of him, but didn''t continue on with that. "Let''s not waste more time. I have only about a quarter of an hour left to help you as you slept away for hours." "What?" Elior stood up. "Well, I should have said this earlier, but you''re asleep." The Pixie didn''t mind him, flapped her wings around him, and announced. "Welcome to the Mother World. I''m the trial helper that will help you in some cases. You can refer to me as Yemrmix. "You''re one of the many otherworlders that got the chance to enter the Mother World. Listen carefully, the Mother World is bigger than the world you came from. Even though our method is a little autocratic. . ." "A little autocratic?" Elior lifted an eyebrow at that. They have abducted him with thousands of other folks from the different worlds with no prior notice. Is it a little autocratic? At least they could send him an email first. Even a letter would have been fine. Well, the UN government did mention to them there would be another exam. But there were no mentions of dimension travel. And even prior to this, they were never told that there was even a freaking Mother World. "A little to us," the Pixie smiled. "It will be a little easier if you just listen. The planet you live on, Earth is it called? It is connected to the Mother World with thousands of more planets. Mother World is the singularity that keeps the balance of this multiverse . . ." Elior listened to Yemrmix, though all she said was old news to him. The first time they summoned him here, his head almost drove eccentric, hearing all these. He just gave a few mindless nods to the little Pixie, showing he was listening. ". . . so after the trial, you can go back to your little Earth. Yemrmix finished her introduction. "Am I clear?" "As clear as crystal," Elior answered with a smile. "So what now?" The Pixie gave him a peculiar look before opening its mouth again. "You''re a little different from other earthlings that were brought here." "Of course I am." He asked again. "So what now?" "You''re peculiar," Yemrmix said. "If you haven''t slept away most of the time here, I would''ve been able to help you further. Never mind, let''s open your status window first." The Pixie flapped its wings to fly in front of his forehead before placing her tiny palms in the middle of his brows. As a line of golden light came in front of his eye. [Earthling: Elior Vishwas, please choose your Guardian ID name.] "Elior." He chose the same name he chose the first time. The system asked for confirmation, which he affirmed without thinking. Yemrmix flew away from his forehead as his status window appeared virtually in front of his eyes. [You have temporarily given the title of Guardian Apprentice. To make the title permanent, you have to succeed in the Trial.] [Title: Guardian Apprentice (Provisional) With this title, you can access Mother World. It also helps you in understanding other languages of the mother world and other planets. This is only limited to the conversation. You will not be able to read or write any other language you are unfamiliar with. P.S: You cannot converse with any lower or higher-order being with this ability.] [Name: Elior Title: Guardian Apprentice (Provisional) Locked Race: Human Alignment: Neutral, Chaos. Age: 16 Class: None Level: 1 Health: 80 Mana: 120 Strength: 5 Agility: 7 Dexterity: 7 Constitution: 8 Endurance: 4 Intelligence: 12 Perception: 8 Luck: 14 Free stat points: 0 Abilities: Eye of Genesis (Unknown) Skills: None.] Elior grunted, looking at his status window. His attributes might be decent compared to other earthlings, but it was about average in the standard of the Mother World. ''Guess I''ve to grind fast to grow stronger,'' he mused inside. He''s only level 1 now; with his previous life experience, he could cover his weakness in a few weeks. Suddenly, Elior frowned, noticing that there''s something on his abilities tab. In his previous time, he had never come across with this ability, [Eye of Genesis]. With his interest piqued, Elior concentrated on the [Eye of Genesis], and soon the tab expanded. [Eye of Genesis (Unknown): There is no information available for this ability.] Elior''s expression turned sour but remembered he didn''t have much time in hand. So he made a mental note to fret over this later. "Have you done checking your minuscule attributes," Yemrmix said, still hovering lazily in the air. "Now let me give you a few general information about the attributes." Elior shook his head. "No need," he said. "It''s just like the RPG games from Earth." "You would be gravely mistaken if you think like that." The Pixie eyed him. "But I guess that would explain most of the things." Elior nodded. He would have liked to spend more time with this little pixie, but as she had said, he didn''t have much time. "As we have little time in our hands, let''s get to what''s next," Yemrmix continued, noticing his affirmation. "Like any other participant, you will be given four pieces of equipment of your choice. Remember, all the equipment here is the basics of basics. So don''t embarrass yourself by asking for some god slaying weapons that can cause genesis." Of course, Elior knew that. He knew even further than that. He knew what the little pixie was forbidden to mention as well. Four pieces of equipment might sound quite appealing, but apparently, it''s not. Let''s suppose you chose armour as one of your equipment. Here''s the catch, you can''t actually take a full set of armour with only one pick. The breastplate would take one option, the armguards take another, the helmet would take another, and so on. So you can''t actually make a full set of armour with only four choices. The same goes for other equipment. Bow and arrow took two chances. After thinking for a brief moment, Elior came to a decision. His physical attributes were only average, so it would cause many difficulties if he got injured using a blade or knife. But good for him, he''s not only adept in a single weapon. "Give me a spear," Elior said. "A crossbow and bolts." A crossbow is way better than an actual bow with low stats. "Three choices are made," Yemrmix smiled, but seeing no response from Elior continued. "Quick, choose the last." "For the last choice," Elior said, brimming out his whites. "Give me a broom." "Eh? Why a broom?" The little pixie asked. Clearly, she was lost by the humans'' choice. Elior''s exterior was still flashing the smile. "Cause I''m going to sweep the trial empty." "Haha, you?" Yemrmix laughed, mocking him. "You''re joking, right?" "Yes, I was joking about the broom," Elior said. "For my last pick, give me a tool for healing." "A wise choice," the Pixie said. She held her arm as four pieces of equipment fell to the floor. [You have received: Simple Spear. Damage 4-9. Durability 8/8. Item class: Common. Quality: Average. Length: 1.6 metres.] [You have received: Basic Crossbow. Damage: 6-8. Durability: 10/10. Item class: Common. Quality: Average.] [You have received: Basic bolts. Quantity x12. Damage 3-5. Durability 2/2. Item class: Common. Quality: Average.] [You have received: Minor ring of healing. Heals 40 health of wearers. Cooldown: 10 minutes. Can be used twice per day. Durability 8/8. Item class: Common. Quality: good.] Elior slipped the ring of healing on his ring finger instantly. At least they gave him straps and a belt to attach the weapons. He left the crossbow and arrows on his both waist with the spear on his back. The spear was a good head shorter than him, so it didn''t cause any discomfort in moving. "By the way, I was not joking about sweeping the trial," Elior said after he finished equipping. "I planned to do that." "Humans are hilarious," Yemrmix laughed. "Little boy, do you know who you''re competing against? It''s not just humans from your little earth. There will be participants from other planets as well, not to mention the Mother world. You just hope that there won''t be anyone from the Mother world." Elior''s expression didn''t change. "So what?" He asked nonchalantly. The pixie shook her head. "Let''s get this straight. Do you know how far away your earth is from other planets?" Yemrmix softened her voice. Proud as she may be, she was good in heart. "You have no idea what you''re up against. So, throw that fool''s dream into the gutter and pick something you can achieve. Like staying alive for starters." Elior snorted at the pixie. Of course, he knew how far away he was from the scions of the mother world. But that didn''t mean he had no chance. He had experienced countless battles, wars over a decade, and how many of them had that. The answer was simple. None. If he couldn''t even win against a few greenhorns, what''s the point of reversing time? "Did you get it?" The pixie asked, noticing his pondering expression. "Yes. I mean no, I''ll stick with my plan," Elior said. "I''ll come first in the trial." Yemrmix shook her head in annoyance. She was trying to help him, but it looked like the human was headstrong. "You don''t seem to believe me, you don''t think I can win?" "Of course I don''t think so." The Pixie flapped her wings further upwards. "You didn''t have the faintest possibility of winning." "Really?" Elior mused. A mischievous idea came into his head immediately as he spoke. "How about we bet then?" But the Pixie didn''t agree. "No, I don''t want to," Yemrmix said. "There''s no point in betting if I can win it easily." "Little pixie, you seemed to think too soft of me," Elior said. He attacked Yemrmix again, calling her ''little pixie''¡ªwhich was more than enough to irritate her. She''s but an open book to him. "Fine, I was thinking about letting you go, but it seems you''re the type that throws themselves against open arrows." ''Bingo,'' Elior mused inwardly. Yemrmix was too easy to predict. "So what''s the wager?" "I have nothing in mind for now," Elior said. "Let''s discuss that after the trial." "Alright, but the wager would be nothing drastic," Yemrmix agreed. "It will be something the other party can achieve with their capabilities and would not cause any harm to them." "Deal." Elior nodded, then grinned out. "Then I''m off to sweep the trial empty." The little Pixie snorted in response. "You better make sure you''re in one piece after the fourth day." __________________________ If you like it, support this work with Power stone and leave a review or comments. Even the little amount of appreciation counts. Here''s the Bonus chapter goal. 50 power stones = 1 Bonus Chapter. 100 PS = 2 Bonus Chapter. 150 PS = 3 Bonus Chapter. 200 PS = 4 Bonus Chapter. And so on. Chapter 3 - The Trial Looking around, Elior examined the place he was dropped off. It''s a jungle with old, green trees¡ªhundreds of feet tall in the air. Flickering sunlight filtered through the gaps of leaves before coming to the ground; it was midday. After turning around for a moment, he found a pool nearby, quite big to call it a pool, though. It had clear water with no disturbance in it. ''It''s always good to have water,'' his thought was interrupted as lines of messages appeared in his eyes. [User Elior, welcome to the trial zero of the guardians] [Main task: Survive for three nights. You have taken the first step towards becoming a full-fledged guardian. To be successful in the trial you need to collect the tokens hidden in the jungle. The more you collect, the better the result you would have in the trial. We wish you success. Condition of clearing: survive four days in the trial. 100x Tokens. Rewards: The title of Guardian Apprentice. 2 free stat points. And more.] It''s the same task Elior got for the first time. And spoiler alert, even if he died here he wouldn''t actually die; he would be teleported back to earth in full-piece with only the memory related to the trial wiped. His friend Ileana got her memory wiped in the previous time. Elior didn''t know if it was good or bad for her, though. At least she didn''t have to go through all the misery he felt. Moreover, he didn''t even have the slightest idea how she failed. Collecting a hundred tokens was not that difficult of a job. Even on his first try, Elior collected over two hundred tokens and that was even after playing slowly. Ileana was a smart girl, it would not be anything difficult for her, but his memory says otherwise. In this trial, all you have to do was prove that you are worthy to be a guardian. They didn''t just judge your capability in killing monsters, but everything. From your mindset, belief to your inclination. They watch everything. "I need to remember that. Be good Elior," he mumbled, slapping both cheeks with his palms slightly. Elior contemplated over his plan for a moment then he heard his stomach growled. He actually forgot to have breakfast today. With all the thoughts and the limited time he had, the thought of having food totally slipped out of his mind. Elior sighed. "Guess, I''ll hunt now," he muttered. He couldn''t even think straight on an empty stomach, much less get busy with the primary task. Elior took a direction towards the deeper into the wilderness as he walked on nonchalantly. And it seemed like the mother of God was with him as well. Without even moving for a couple of minutes, he felt a slight disturbance around a hedge. Walking forward, with the crossbow in his arm loaded with arrows¡ªElior noticed the cause of the disturbance. A pair of rabbits, playing in the leaves with no care what was about to befall them. "Nice," whispered Elior. He aimed the crossbow at the rabbits, making no sound. His hand was steady with a focused gaze. He pulled the trigger. The bolt shot through the air and hit the rabbit in the head. Instant death. Elior shot again at its companion but this time his aim was a bit off mark hitting it at the little things'' gut. It too died, though rather painfully, than its companion. [You have learned the skill Archery level 1.] [You have learned the skill Focus level 1.] [Rabbit Level 1 (2x) have died. You receive 8 karma points.] A few prompts came in, delivering the news. The prompts were transparent and at the corner of his vision, but it''s only a bit less annoying. Elior made sure to stand by the prompts before another prompt came. [You have levelled up. You have reached level 2.] [You have gained 1 free stat point from levelling up.] "That wasn''t any bit surprising," Elior said. The first few levels up were always easy. "Now what should I do with 1 single point." For the first twenty levels after each level up, a guardian gets a single free stat point. And after the first class, the single free stat point increases to two points. After the second class, the number increases to three and so on. ''So what''s the most vital attribute for me now?'' Elior thought. Examining his status window again, he found out the most he needed right now was strength, agility, dexterity, or mana. One point in strength or another physical attribute wouldn''t do much good for now. So Elior directly appointed the single point to intelligence. One point in intelligence increases 10 points in Mana, like one point in the constitution gives ten points in health. So now Elior had 130 in mana¡ªwhich may sound a lot, but apparently was not. Settling the points, Elior stooped to collect his booty. First, he picked out the two short arrows from the dead rabbits. Without even moping the blood from those, he stacked them in the carrier. Then he picked the bodies of the rabbit; it was still warm, as scarlet blood was dripping from the wound. "Sorry little ones; the world isn''t fair," Wrik said as he carried the small bodies of the rabbit at a distance away from his body¡ªfearing the blood might spill on his clothes. If he died here, all he would get was his memory wiped. It was not the same for two small rabbits. Then Elior flashed a smile. "But who I''m to judge? All I can say is, thank the mother of God for the food." Elior walked in the deep forest. On his back were a tall spear and two dead bodies of small rabbits. Elior had already cleaned the blood from the rabbits in the pond. Now the only thing left for him to do was ¡ª grill them. But to do that he needed dry woods, as for fire he could make by the way his ancestors had made in the stone age. After walking around for half an hour, Elior had collected a few dry branches that he needed. Unsurprisingly, the forest was full of this kind of thing. Suddenly, he came to a halt, sensing some disturbances ahead. Elior slowly stepped forward, side by the trees, making no sound. The crossbow was already in his arm as Elior walked cautiously. After walking for a few moments, he got to see what caused the disturbances. A wolf was tearing hungrily into something small that appeared to be a rabbit with its savage fangs. The wolf would reach Elior''s waist-high if it stood straight. Wolves are the type that gets ferocious the more hungry it gets. And it seemed Elior disturbed it in that most important period. Without waiting for the wolf to finish its meal, Elior shot a couple of bolts at its head, inhaling a deep breath. The wolf left the rabbit immediately, noticing his presence. It howled, teeth bared. One arrow hit the wolf at the sides of its head while it dodged the other one. The wolf wasted no time launching itself at him; its feet ran like hell, covering the distance instantly. Elior dropped the crossbow and equipped the spear from his back. Slowing his breathing, he readied himself for the shits to turn ugly. The teeth of the Wolf were about to rip one of his arms when Elior jerked the spear with all his might. But that wasn''t enough; clearly, the wolf won in the brawl of physical strength. Elior rolled a couple of times behind the wolf; he got up, instantly eyeing the wolf. The Wolf didn''t rest, lunged at him with its claws. Now, the conflict has turned into a brawl. The wolf was at the top while Elior was at the bottom, blocking the claw with the spear as he started to infuse mana into it. The Spear tip grew sharper, and when Wolf was about to sink its teeth into his neck. Elior''s eyes went cold. He pulled every bit of his strength he could manage into his leg and arms and pushed the wolf away. The spear made a horizontal slash at its eye as the wolf howled. Elior didn''t wait for the wolf to catch its breath and pierced the spear right at its neck. The mana infused spear didn''t go like cutting butter as Elior didn''t have that much muscle force, but it did the job. The wolf howled in its last cry before going silent for eternity. But it was not over. As Elior stood up from the corpse of the wolf and saw two more wolves, not any less hungry or savage¡ªwere advancing towards him with their teeth bared. Elior took a deep breath in and circulated the mana thoroughly to the spear. He took his stance and waited for the wolves to jump at him. He jerked the spear at one at the front in its eye while the other one didn''t just stand there, bared its teeth at his thigh. Elior didn''t lose control of his balance but twisted his body after slashing the Wolf at the head before dropping a kick to the other. The kick didn''t have enough force behind it to jerk the wolf metres away, but it''s more than enough to buy a blink of an eye. And that short amount of time was enough for Elior to deal a fatal blow to its neck. Like the first wolf he killed, Elior pierced the neck of his target. And like the first one, this one too howled in agony before resting forever. Now there''s only one left¡ªthe one he injured at the eye first. "You should run away," Elior said as he eyed the remaining one. His breathing was still even though a bit faster than before. "Guess you will not." The wolf howled as it jumped at him again. In response, Elior barely pointed the spear towards it before piercing with force again. The Mana infused spear felt some obstacles as it pierced its head. Elior had to firm his leg more to generate more force to end its life. Elior finally relaxed, finishing the last one of the wolves. "Told you to run away," he said, looking at the dead wolf. "Look what it did to you." Here''s one difference between an RPG game and real life. Monsters or animals dropped nothing after you killed them apart from their corpses, and there was all this blood too. Notifications came after one after another as Elior stood firm. [Forest Wolf Level 4 died. You received 36 karma points.] [You have levelled up. You have reached level 3.]] [You have gained 1 free stat point from levelling.] [You have learned the Skill Spearmanship Level 1.] [You have learned the Skill Mana Application level 1.] [Forest Wolf level 3 died. You received 16 karma points.] [Forest Wolf level 4 died. You received 28 karma points.] [You have levelled up. You have reached level 4.] [You have gained 1 free stat point from levelling.] [Congratulations! The skill Spearmanship levelled up to level 2] [Congratulations! The skill Mana Application levelled up to level 2] Elior spat as he read the notifications. He had levelled twice, killing off the three wolves. But he was not satisfied. The reason was his body. Not to mention the weak constitution, the balance of the body was not ideal. His body couldn''t keep up with his skills. Maybe it''s because he was thinking from the point of view of a veteran warrior. "There''s no shortcut in this," Elior said. "Let''s collect the token now." The place the Tokens could be found was where the beasts were most active. Actually, they wanted the participants to find the Tokens. If it couldn''t be found, then what''s the point of the trial in the first place. After searching around the dead bodies of the wolves, Elior found six parchment papers like tokens. [You have found 6 trial zero tokens.] Elior picked up the crossbow with the dead rabbits and got ready to move from here, but yet another disturbance stopped him from moving. This time it was humans. "Hey kid, don''t move," a voice spoke out from behind. Elior looked back to notice two identical-looking boys of his age standing there with their weapons ready. One with a sword while the other with a middle size bow. They were twins with blonde hair and a medium build. Both of them were quite good looking¡ªit was quite difficult to tell apart who''s better though. But more importantly, Elior recognised these two fellas. They did something more than enough in his previous life that Elior remembered them. They had chased after him for two entire days after Elior had fled from them. If Elior was not wrong, their names should be Sarrat and Sarvat, though he didn''t know which one was which. "Give us the tokens and we might leave you in one piece," said the one with the sword. The other one was aiming the arrow at Elior. Elior Couldn''t help but flash a smile at that. He remembered they said something similar in their previous time as well. _____________________ Another reminder, (MUST READ), Any usage of curse words such as Shit, Fuck, Bastard . . . etc were filtered by the webnovel algorithm. If you use any of those words in comments or reviews, it will be automatically deleted. Other than the curse words, there were a few other words that are filtered. I''ll add below the few I know, Sex, Harem, yaoi, yuri, *******, (any other platform similar to Webnovel), any advertising link and something along with the words. LMFAO, LMAO, these types of short-form were not allowed too. (I know this is stupid, but many minors use this site so give them a justified reason to do this and there were other reasons you can guess what those are.) Please refrain from using those words, and if you could not control yourself, try using any unique characters in them. For instance, H.ar.em Fuki,ng. (Oh shit! What I am teaching, if any minor, reading this refrain from learning these. XD.) THANK YOU. Show some support through Power stones, comment or you can also leave a review behind. I''ll appreciate it. Bonus Chapter Goals For 50 power stones, there will be an extra chapter. ______________________ Chapter 4 - Past Grudge "Ooh! Look at that confidence," Elior said. The spear was still in his arm. He recalled in the previous time in the trial, these two bastards had similarly made this type of demand. "We''re not joking. Give us the Tokens when we''re being nice if not. . ." This time the one with the bow said out loud. Elior smiled. "If not, what?" he asked. They didn''t even succeed in the previous time what''s he have to fear this time? Though in the previous time they were a lot more than just an annoyance. "Take one step further and an arrow would pierce your body," the one with the bow said again. His expression and body language showed that he was not joking around. He would really shoot at Elior. "Shoot then, what you''re waiting for?" Elior didn''t even flinch at the threat. On the other hand, he was infusing mana into the spear. "Kid, you have a death wish?" The one with the sword shouted as he advanced at Elior, brandishing the sword. The one with the bow didn''t shoot, just wait for his brother to finish the conflict. They were not that cruel to finish a human for a few tokens. It was just that the trial needed them to be a bit cruel. Elior didn''t flinch at the incoming sword, barely met it with the mana-infused spear. And in the next moment, the sword broke into two-part. That was the difference between a weapon with mana infused and a weapon with only brute strength. "How?" the swordsman''s eyes widened in shock. Elior didn''t give time to his opponent for recollection, pointed the spearhead at his neck'' threateningly. "Don''t move," Elior said. He looked back at the other one of the twins and said. "Drop the bow?" "How do you become adept in mana in only a couple of hours?" The one at his spear tip asked. While the one with the bow followed without any question, dropped the bow a few metres away. "It''s a secret," Elior laughed out. "So, what are you demanding again? Oh, trial tokens. So how many you guys have?" "You''re making a big mistake," said the one who was pinned down by the spear. "We''ve 32 tokens. If you leave us alone, we''ll give you half of those," said the one standing. He was more docile than his brother. "Only half of 32? Nah, I don''t need your tokens; you can keep your tokens to yourself," Elior said. "So what were you two called again?" The colour of the one standing turned for better after hearing that Elior was not interested in their tokens. "I''m called Sarvat," he said, then pointed at the one Elior was pinning. "And he''s Sarrat. We''re from the Turgeon Kingdom." "Sarvat and Sarrat." Elior nodded. "And that''s every day?" The two of them seemed to not understand what he was saying, so Elior elaborated further. "I mean, don''t you two interchange names to do fishy things? Like doing something immoral and then giving the blame to the other one. I guess you would not tell me even if you do, right?" The facial expression of the twins'' twitched, hearing that. "Hey, can you rest the spear away from my neck?" Sarrat said. "It is really making me uncomfortable." "You should have thought thoroughly about it before attacking me," Elior said as he contemplated over what''s to do with these two brothers. "Last question, do any of you two have a girlfriend?" "What type of question is that?" asked Sarvat. "The most important type," said Elior. "I guess I already got my answer. You two don''t have a girlfriend." Then he muttered to himself. "I guess there''s nobody to mind, what I''m going to do." "How can you say that? No; never mind," Sarvat said again. "Haven''t you said you would let us go?" "Of course, I''ll let you two go. I have no interest in the two of you." Elior pondered for a moment. "But before that, I need to have a little revenge on the two of you for wasting my precious time." ''And chasing after me all day in my first time. Guess you didn''t even know this could happen to you. Heck, I didn''t even know that.'' Elior mused inside, laughing out in glee. ''My name is Elior mother-loving Vishwas, and I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next. . . '' After a couple of minutes, Elior left the two behind with a satisfied grin on his lips. The cursing sound of the two fellows behind seemed to satisfy him even more. "Damn you, bastard. It will not end here," yelled Sarvat who was naked and tied to his brother into a tree. Elior didn''t have a rope with him so he used their own clothes to tie the twin brothers naked. Moreover, they were facing each other in an embracing posture. "I, Sarrat promise to the mother of god. I will end you myself," cursed Sarrat. "If you know better, untie us immediately. It will not end well for you after I got myself free from here." "Brother, he''s leaving," Sarvat¡ªwho could see Elior moving away from them, said. "It seems threat does not work well with him. We should ask him nicely." "You try," yelled Sarat. He had no mind to calm down, moreover to beg that bastard. "Before that move your hand from my butt." "Where should I put it then?" "Put it anywhere you like but not in my butt." "Oh no; he left." Sarvat cried out. "Bastard." "I told you to move your palm away from my butt," Sarrat gritted his teeth and yelled out. "Why are you even squeezing it, saying ''bastard?'''''' . . . Elior moved, whistling down the path. No animal or human had attacked after the three wolves and the twin duo. Now he needed a better place to roast the two rabbits. His stomach was already protesting. But the scene where he left the twins tied improved his mood. He hadn''t tied them properly. If those two spent their brain a bit better they could untie themselves. Their clothes? That was another matter. But in return, Elior left them three corpses of the forest wolves. "I''m sure they can make something out of it," he mused. "They better. It''s going to get chilly after the evening." Elior continued on his whistling as he moved. Then he smelt something burning a few dozen blocks away. He quickened his pace to see what''s going on. Elior didn''t forget to be silent on his track either. After covering a bit further, he could see what was going on here. A boy of his age was hanging upside down from a branch while a female¡ªtall and gorgeous in orange dress, trying to make a fire below. But the problem was Elior recognised the fellow hanging upside-down from the branch. "Isn''t that Shin?" The one hanging upside-down was a fair-skinned boy of sixteen. He was as tall as Elior, with a rather distinctive, handsome appearance. His hair was dyed blonde and pink, with a few piercings at the brows and ears. It would not be wrong to say that this lad looked just like the classic ''fucboi'' from the 20s. And that was Shin. One of the dearest friends, brother of Elior in his previous regressions. Shin might look like a ''fucboi'', but apparently, he was not. Well, he tried his best to be one, and he had his reasons for that, though it was rather stupid. While below was a graceful figure of a girl, and she was only a few inches smaller than him. The girl was dressed in a tight, bright orange full-sleeved clothing. Her exterior was gorgeous as the orange dress hugged her body with all the curves at display. It appeared she was having quite the problem, making the fire ablaze. Elior contemplated over what he was seeing again. Now h was sure Shin definitely did something to the girl. His mind moved fast to find a way to save shin¡ªwho was tied to a silk string in an upside-down posture over a branch. Though the one that caused the problem may be Shin, yet Elior had to help him. Shin was a dear brother to him in his previous regression. He had his faults, mostly when against gorgeous women, but Elior could not leave him in this situation. Moreover, there might be a juicy story here. One that he didn''t know even in his previous time. Elior was about to come up with something when Shin noticed him and yelled pathetically. "Hey big brother, save me from this inhuman Elf. She''s going to eat me alive." _______________________________ How many of you got that reference here? Let me know in the comments. Throw some power stones, comment and review to cheer me up. Goal for bonus chapter. 50 power stones = 1 bonus chapter 100 power stones = 2 bonus chapter 200 power stones = 4 bonus chapter and so on. Chapter 5 - Carrot And The Rabbit "Hey big brother, save me from this inhuman Elf. She''s going to eat me alive." Shin''s yell shocked not only Elior but also alerted the young lady in orange. "Elf?" Elior carefully gazed at the young lady in orange and noticed the rather pointy ear. A frown appeared on Elior''s brows. Elves weren''t allowed to take part in the trials, they had their own inheritances. These trials were mostly for humans, and lower world humans at that. ''She might be one of the halfbreed,'' mused Elior inside. While the elf was also staring at him with a frosty glare, as thin, invisible string appeared in her palms. Moreover, it was infused with mana. "I mean no harm," Elior said instantly while infusing the spear with mana. It was always good to show your capability before it escalated to a fight. It would be a terrible decision to fight this Elf in his current situation. He may be able to win after a long struggle, but it was not worth it. Besides, Shin may be the cause of the problem here. As Elior had known, his good brother could not control himself well in front of beautiful women. "Big Brother save me," yet Shin, who was seeing Elior for the first time, found his big brother in Elior. "As a human, you should help a fellow human in need." "Shut up," said the elf. The gorgeous looking elf turned towards Elior and asked. "What do you want?" Before even Elior could open his mouth, Shin yelled again. "He wants to save this poor little brother here. Be quick brother or else I might be a soup a few minutes later." Shin wiggled in his upside-down position, yelling. "This elf is going to eat me alive." "No, she will not," Elior said. His hands were still gripping the spear. He looked at the elf in question. "Are you?" The Elf gave Elior a peculiar gaze, then shook her head, pointing towards a small animal that appeared to have been a rabbit. "See?" Elior said to the upside-down Shin¡ªwho sighed in relief as well. "You haven''t told me what you want?" the elf repeated her question. "Nothing," Elior said, pointing to the two dead rabbits on his back. "I wanted to have a meal as well." And his stomach agreed as well, growling. "How about I join you guys for breakfast," Elior asked. "No," the elf denied instantly, with no thinking. "What if I say pretty please?" Elior pushed. "No." This time more resolute than before. "Big brother, this elf is cold," said the hanging Shin. It looked like he didn''t mind hanging as long as he was alive. "How about we make our meal? I may not look like it but I am an excellent cook." That was quite true. Shin was great at cooking. "As much as I wanted that, I am afraid we needed the lady''s permission for that," Elior said, resting the rabbits down. He glanced at the elf. "Miss . . . Can we?" The Elf contemplated over a brief moment and looked at the hanging Shin. "Please, Big sister Elf, all I said was a mistake," Shin pleaded, with no tears in his eyes. "I will never say that again." "Fine, but you have to pay for it." "But I don''t have any money," Shin said. "She was not talking about money," Elior said. "If I''m not wrong, she wants the trial tokens." "That? I don''t have those as well," Shin said. "But I can earn it after I am free. Is that alright?" Elior gazed at the elf as well, waiting for her terms. The young lady in orange nodded. "You will give me every single token after you get your hundreds." That was a totally unreasonable deal. It was totally disadvantageous towards Shin. But then again, how could the elf know Shin could manage more than a hundred tokens? He may even have failed to do that. On that thought, the young elf was kinder inside with that cold front. It was not easy to be a half-breed, even for an elf. "And if you could not even manage a hundred, then all the token is mine." Now it was entirely disadvantageous towards Shin. Elior was about to propose another deal but it seemed Shin couldn''t wait anymore. "Deal. Bring me down quickly." Shin said. Elior could only shake his head. The Elf motioned her palms as the string loosened. Shin could not control his body, fell to the ground. After a couple of seconds, he stood up, lunging. "Now I am alright," Shin said, shaking his head a few times heavily. "All that hanging made my stomach empty. Let''s make our meal shall we?" . . . It did not take long for shin to complete the roasting, as both of the boys sat beside each each other to satisfy their stomach. "Thanks for the food," Shin said before gobbling up a sizeable chunk of meat inside. It was over half an hour since Shin got freed from the string and it appeared he already forgot about it. Elior ate with him as well. The meat was roasted adequately by the hand of Shin; though it lacked seasonings and other ingredients, it was still better than anything he could make out. Where the elf was a dozen metres across from them, making her own food. White smoke condensed around her, as she still hadn''t succeeded in making the fire ablaze. "Sister Elf, are you still trying?" Shin yelled, "I don''t think you could succeed today, come here, eat with us." Shin had tried a few times to call the elf before, but they seemed taunts to her. "Are you going to tell me what you did to that little elf?" asked Elior. He had never heard this story from Shin in his previous time. Maybe it was too embarrassing to tell, for shin who pretty much done more than enough petty embarrassing things in his previous time. "I did nothing, Big brother," Shin said. His entire attention was on the meat he was gobbling. "You definitely did something to that elf. I can tell a rotten apple when I see one, and that elf doesn''t look like it." Elior glanced at the young elf who was in the midst of the smoke. She was really terrible at that. He continued. "And don''t call me big brother." "As you say, big brother." Shin crooked his tongue. "I mean, what should I call you?" "Just call me Elior." "Alright, Elior it is," Shin continued. "I''m Chains, by the way." "Chains? I will not call you that," Elior laughed. ''Chains'' was the title Shin play all the games, and he picked that name here too. "Are you not embarrassed to mention such a name?" Shin looked a bit embarrassed after that. "My given name is Shin Olwyn. You can call me Shin." Then Shin looked at the elf and around the jungle before whispering. "By the way, Big bro . . . I mean Elior; this is all real. It is not a game or simulation, right?" Elior knew what Shin was talking about. Unlike Elior, who got the opportunity to enter this world through gruelling tests, Shin got in through gaming. Apparently, the UN coalition didn''t just select candidates from tests and exams. They created a VR game just for selecting promising guardians throughout that earth. In the game, they purposefully research the candidate''s mental ability, problem-solving capabilities, decisions, etc. Apparently, most of the fighters came through this road. And Shin was one of them. "It is real, just like the sun and moon," said Elior. "Shit!" cursed Shin. "They could have mentioned this before. Who abducted kids when they were playing games? I was only a few steps away from soloing the boss and it didn''t even save the play log." "That was you''re worried about?" Elior asked. "You don''t know how much effort I spent in that games," Shin continued. "Besides, they could just send me a mail." "I think they did send some message or notifications, though that was about the chance of admission to join the institute of Earth guardians. Supposedly, they were secretive about this entire business" "Really? The Guardians?" Shin asked out in astonishment. "Am I really that special?" "No, You''re not. They definitely made a mistake." A third voice answered Shin''s inquiry. It was the elf. She came in silently and sat beside Shin. It seemed she had it with making the fire. The Elf continued, "Give me." "Women are really unreasonable," Shin said, but he gave her a few pieces of meat. The elf grunted a ''hmmm'' before gobbling the meat. "So, what was I saying again?" Shin said. Then a frightening thought hovered in his head. "Right. So it isn''t a game. I might really die if I fail!" "No, you won''t," Elior said. He could not tell the catch of the trial that they would only lose the opportunity with the memory related to the trial. He continued in a softer tone. "You won''t die if you stay alert and follow the protocol well. Which you seemed to fail in the very moment." "That was not my fault," Shin protested. He yelled out, pointing at the lady in orange. "It was her. Besides, I thought I was still playing in my VR." "You got less than what you deserve," the elf said. "If it was someone else, they might beat the crap out of you." "Really, Shin What did you do to her?" Elior''s interest was piqued. Shin looked a bit embarrassed now. "I only said a few pickup lines on her, nothing else." "What did you say?" Shin embarrassingly looked at the girl in orange¡ªwho was busy with the meat, before saying. "She would hang me again if I mention that again." "Now you''re making me even more interested," Elior said. "Say it." "He said, by the quote: ''Girl, are you a carrot? I may not be a rabbit, but I don''t mind eating you''," the Elf answered for Shin. ________________________________ Another reminder, (MUST READ), Any usage of curse words such as Shit, Fuck, Bastard . . . etc were filtered by the webnovel algorithm. If you use any of those words in comments or reviews, it will be automatically deleted. Other than the curse words, there were a few other words that are filtered. I''ll add below the few I know, Sex, Harem, yaoi, yuri, *******, (any other platform similar to Webnovel), any advertising link and something along with the words. LMFAO, LMAO, these types of short-form were not allowed too. (I know this is stupid, but many minors use this site so give them a justified reason to do this and there were other reasons you can guess what those are.) Please refrain from using those words, and if you could not control yourself, try using any unique characters in them. For instance, H.ar.em Fuki,ng. (Oh shit! What I am teaching, if any minor, reading this refrain from learning these. XD.) THANK YOU. Like this book? Support this with a few Power stones if you can.. You can go further by leaving a review¡ªI urgently need that. Chapter 6 - Rats Den (1) "He said, by the quote: ''Girl, are you a carrot? I may not be a rabbit, but I don''t mind eating you''," the Elf answered for Shin. "Hahaha," Elior almost cried while laughing. Now that he looked at the elf¡ªshe did look quite like an appealing carrot in her tight orange dress hugging her every curve. He couldn''t stop laughing. "Shin, I''ll give you full marks for your creativity. But a big zero in knowing the environment." Shin''s exterior turned red. He might dig a hole to hide his face. "And he didn''t even rest there. He mentioned even more dirty phrases, I couldn''t even mention. He only stopped his dirty mouth after I hung him upside-down on the tree and threatened him to make a soup out of him for the beasts." The elf said to Elior. "Now tell me, does he deserve what he got?" "I think you give him too much leeway," Elior said, knowing how filthy his friend''s mouth was. "He needs to be hung for a couple of hours more." "Like I said, I was not in my right mind. I was marathoning over twenty hours straight in the game." Shin tried his best to give an explanation. "I thought she was an NPC" "That was not the point," Elior counter-attacked. "Tell me how much of a degenerate you are to actually flirt with an NPC?" Shin became silent. He really needed to find the hole now. While the half-elf asked cluelessly, "What''s an NPC?" "Explain this." Elior gave the floor to Shin to explain what an NPC was to the clueless elf. "An NPC is like artificial intelligence that only exists to help the player in the game . . ." Shin tried his best to explain. But Elf''s response was even more epic. "So it''s like a slave?" Her expression darkened. "You thought I was a slave?" "Oh god, no. NPCs aren''t slaves; they are just helpers who help the player . . ." Shin stopped, noticing his explanation was not doing much good. He called Elior "Elior, help. I don''t think I can explain this to her." Elior took the whole amusement of the topic before trying to help Shin. "Well, it is like this," Elior said. "Shin thought you''re too unreal to be true and thought you might be like the pixie, sent to help the participants . . ." "I get it now," said the Elf. "Though it''s still vague, but I can work with it." "Thanks, Sister Elf," Shin almost cried out in joy. "Don''t call me that," the elf''s expressions turned cold again. It seemed nobody wanted to be related to Shin. "So, what should we call you," Shin continued. "You haven''t given us your name yet." The elf frowned at Shin for a moment before muttering. "Lyra." "Alright, if the introduction and eating are done, let''s go searching for tokens." Elior stood up, finishing his food. He looked at the sun to calculate the time. "There is about four hours left of light. It should be enough to finish the Rat''s den if we all three go together." "Brother, I mean Elior, what are you saying?" Shin asked back. "What Rat''s den?" While the elf, Lyra''s eyes glittered with enthusiasm. "You found a dungeon?" she asked. "You could say that," Elior said. He did find it in his previous time in the trial. "It is a dungeon of big rats and toxic ones too." "And you''re willing to let others enter there?" Lyra could not believe it. "You could get a high score if you got all the tokens from there. Why are you letting us enter?" The elf had a point. Nobody in their right mind would let go of these kinds of chances. Well, you were entirely incompetent, then that''s another matter. Elior was neither of the two. Yes, this dungeon would give him quite a number of tokens, but the number was not enough to come first in the trial. So why not share it with a good brother and a gorgeous elf. "Don''t take this the wrong way." Elior looked Lyra in the eye. "I could finish the dungeon by myself, but it would be too boring and take more time. Besides, it is only the beginning." "I can''t understand you guys." Lyra shook her head, looking back at the two earthlings. "So why are we waiting, then?" "Have I not said those rats are toxic? They had poisonous breath and saliva, we need to prepare something before that." Elior started to get his equipment ready. "Don''t worry, I know just what we need." "I wonder what those rats would taste like," Shin said. "Are they edible?" "They are, but I would not recommend that," Elior answered. "Our metabolism was not strong enough to digest it." Disappointment showed on Shin''s exterior. "It''s good that we still have a few lumps of meat left." Elior took the lead as the group of three left the place. . . . "Brother, how long do we have to search?" asked Shin as he searched through the grass. "Is it really here, whatever we''re looking for?" "Of course, I''m sure," Elior answered. "The whole point of the trial is to see the problem-solving ability of the participants. With every problem here, there should be a solution nearby." "You sound like you know your stuff," said Shin. "Shut up work, it''s already over half an hour," Lyra said while her arms continued to do the job. "Ahh, I think I have found it." "Let me see," Elior came near the elf immediately. She was holding a few strands of grass with long leaves. Elior inspected the grass for a moment. "This should be it," saying that he mouthed a couple of the strands. It tasted dry and bitter but it should be enough against the rats. [You have eaten detoxifying grass. For the next six-hour, you are immune to most lower-level toxins.} "Yes, this is it," Elior confirmed. "Eat a few strands of it and let''s go, we got some rats to kill." They left the place immediately, Elior at the lead again. The land became rockier as they advanced, but there were not any fewer trees. Not many animals greeted them on the path, all they came across were birds, squirrels and rabbits. They walked across the forest for a long hour as the sun moved across the sun. It was about a couple of hours away from approaching the horizon. After moving another ten or so minutes, they heard snuffing screeches ahead. Slowly walking their way through the trees, they discovered a cave opening. "Gentleman, and lady. We have arrived," announced Elior. "Are you guys ready?" The Elf, Lyra nodded. While Shin brandished his sword. "Let''s go, It is grinding time." "Remember, our plan was to finish this within two hours," Elior mentioned as they advanced towards the cave. "It is already dark inside the dungeon and it will only get darker as time progresses." Both of them nodded as the three of them entered the cave. [You have found: Rat''s Den. Class 0 Dungeon.] [You have unlocked the quest: Cleanse the Rat''s den. After a lot of hardships and journeying, you with your other two companions have found the Rat''s den. The dungeon is full of unusual rats. You have been tasked with cleaning out the rats from the dungeon. The numbers of rats present here exceeds over a hundred. Reward: Increase in level by 2. Possibility for more rewards.] _______________________ Vote for more content. 3 Golden tickets for 1 bonus chapters. Chapter 7 - Rats Den (2) Elior had the crossbow in his arms as they entered the cave. Shin was equipped with a long sword, though he had no prior real-life fighting experience, his stances were firm. He played enough VR games to handle a class 0 dungeon. Besides, he was not by himself. Lyra had no weapons equipped other than the strings on her ten fingers. She should be from a higher world. Only lower world participants got the chance to choose four weapons as the Trial bonus while others only got one. Elior made a mental note to ask about that later. "Rats, rats, where are you?" Shin sang as they moved. "Stop that," Lyra said from behind. "Why? You do not want the rats to appear?" Elior suddenly stood by in his lead. "Incoming, more than a dozen. Get ready," he said, aiming the crossbow at the front. Over a dozen gigantic rats came squeaking their way towards the trespassers. Most of their height varies from two-three feet with ugly fat bodies. They brought an awful reek with them as well, making the three of them squint their nose. Elior was in the front, motioned the crossbow and aimed at the incoming rats. Fearing the arrows might be damaged after a few times, he imbued an inconsiderable amount of mana into it. Smoke like aura infused into the arrow as Elior shot one after another at the rats. In a blink of an eye, he killed half a dozen rats while the others did not want to be left alone, joined the assault as well. The orange clothed elf, Lyra motioned her fingers skilfully as a thin string shot out from her arms. She caught a couple of rats by the neck with the string and pulled. The neck of the two rats severed instantly, buzzing in greyish red blood. It appeared the elf had quite the strength in her physic as well. Even though her strings were infused with mana, they still needed a good amount of muscle power behind them to sever the neck of the rats. While Shin finished his first target, as well. He was playing with a sword; even though he had experienced this type of thing in the game, it appeared too real to him. So he moved in cautious steps, with a firm grip on the sword. Elior didn''t shoot further, leaving the few remaining rats to Lyra and Shin. It did not take them long to finish the few rats that were left. Elior went to collect the arrows back as a few transparent notifications came in front of him, which he put no mind. [Big rat level 3 died. You have gained 8 karma.] [Big rat level 4 died. You have gained 11 karma.] [Big rat level 3 died. You have . . .] [ . . .] [Your skill in archery levelled up to Level 3.] [Congratulations! You have learned the skill Imbue arrow level 1.] [You have levelled up. You have reached level 5.] [You have gained 1 free stat point from levelling.] Now he had 3 free stat points counting the previous two he had not invested yet. Elior was contemplating where to put it. After the tussle with the wolves, he learned his physical conditions¡ªbe it muscle power, balance or agility were all terrible. But he was still sceptical in investing numbers in agility or dexterity. He could train the physical conditions easily where the mental attributes were harder to grow¡ªmaking him think twice before investing. Even though 3 points seemed a little number, it would still be a waste to put it in any physical attribute. Elior left the 3 points on that thought¡ªthinking he would invest it according to his needs. Though, there should be nothing in the trial that could make him waste the points. "Ahh! I levelled up," Shin said. "Huh, I only get 1 point for levelling. These people are stingy as hell." "So what do you expect," Lyra glared at Shin. "Be transcendent, killing a few weak rats?" "No; Not that. At least the number should be a bit higher. In the game, we would get 10 free stat points for each level." "This is not a game, Shin," Elior said, walking forwards towards the two of them. "You have to remember that." Shin thought for a moment and nodded. "Ooh, Elior, where should I invest these stat points? Is it the same as the games?" "Pretty much, but there were differences as well," Elior said. He thought for a moment to spill out something that would help Shin understand a few stuff and cause no suspicions as well. "For example, you could train your body and mind to gain points as well, though it would be slower than the stat points from levelling. As for each of the attributes, you should check their details in the Status Window. Remember, different paths need differing attributes but every path requires a specific amount of mana." "Then, intelligence it is," Shin said as he invested the single free stat point into intelligence. He was delighted to find that mana had increased by 10 after he increased his intelligence. Then Shin''s expression darkened, remembering he did not even know how to use mana in the first place. He cried out, "Brother, I can''t wield mana." "Shut up, you idiot," Lyra mocked. "You should have thought that before investing the point. Besides, it''s only one point." Shin calmed down his cry after being mocked by the little elf. "Brother, Elior, how did you become so adept in using mana? Could you use it even before the trial?" Elior sniffed. Shin and Lyra, both were looking at him, waiting for him to answer. "Mana comes naturally to me. Maybe because I''m a genius. "Don''t worry about it as far as I know you would need a couple of days to a couple of weeks to learn the basics of mana wielding." "That is if you''re talented," the orange clothed Elf corrected. "If not, it would take months." "How long did it take for you?" Shin asked Lyra. In response, the Elf said proudly, puffing her chest a bit, "I could sense mana in only after meditating for a couple of hours, but discharge took me four or five days to learn." "So you are a genius," Shin sighed. "Brother Elior is a genius as well. Let''s see how far I can go." Then recalled he knew almost nothing about how to go into this. "How should I start?" "This is not a good time to try now. You could try later after we finish the rats," Elior said. "The first step is to sense the mana and visualisations. I''ll tell you more later. "Let''s move now." Shin and the Elf nodded as the three of them moved further into the dungeon. . . . "I found two more tokens," Shin said as he collected the token quickly. Two Rats were beside him were about to attack when an arrow pierced its eye. "This is taking too long," Elior said, shooting at the eye of a rat. It had already been over an hour since they entered the dungeon, yet they hadn''t even finished a fourth of the rats. They came across a few dozen rats in succession as they moved deeper into the cave. Still, the number was low. If they go at this pace, it would be dawn before they cleared the dungeons. Shin played his sword in the head of the other rat, stealing its life in one slice. "I levelled up again," Shin said. "Isn''t this too easy?" "How about we make it more difficult, then?" Elior smiled. "What do you plan?" Lyra asked, finishing last of her target. "I have a good plan in mind that would make our job faster and more efficient." Elior smiled mysteriously. "But . . ." "But?" Shin and Lyra asked at the same time. "But we needed a bait." _____________________________________ Vote! Chapter 8 - Shin The Bait "Brother, why are you looking at me like that?" Shin asked as he gazed at Elior. He had a bad feeling about this. "Don''t tell me you wanted me to be the bait?" "Doesn''t worry, they are just rats," Elior smiled in response. "I''ll make sure to finish them as soon as possible." "Why me?" Shin asked. "Why do I have to be the bait?" "That''s simple you could not finish up the rats faster than me, and you have better physical stat than me," Elior answered nonchalantly. "And besides, you are the weakest." Shin still looked unwilling, looked at the elf¡ªwho only grunted. "You could not ask a lady for that," Elior continued as he un-equipped the minor ring of healing and tossed it to Shin. "Take it, it might be useful." Shin took the ring with an unwilling expression. His expression brightened a bit when he noticed the information about the ring. He put on the ring and asked, "So what do I have to do?" "Nothing, you only have to run." Elior tapped Shin''s shoulder a few times. "Faster than the rats." . . . After half an hour in the Rat''s den, Shin was running as fast as he could while a pack of rats close to a hundred in numbers were chasing after him. A few metres away, on higher ground, Elior and Lyra were moving as well, keeping an eye on Shin and the rats. "Brother, finish them quickly," Shin yelled while panting. "I can''t run further." For a moment, there was no response. Shin''s face darkened. He yelled again, almost crying, "Brother Elior, Sister elf, I need to pee. Please come quickly. I can not hold back." "Quit yelling. You, idiot," Lyra shouted as she threw her mana-string at Shin. The string bound Shin as Lyra pulled. After a moment Shin, who was in the middle of the pack of Rat, was outside. "Could you just not embarrass us in front of these rats," While on the other hand Elior smiled looking at the crying Shin. He tossed his crossbow and arrow at him before jumping into the rats. "Careful, do not shoot me accidentally." The moment Elior landed in the middle of the rats, he swung the spear horizontally in a circle that almost killed half a dozen rats. Yet none of the crazy rats stepped back, lunged at him in their savagery, but they were still rats. They may have the numbers in tens, but Elior was not just a boy of sixteen either. His spear moves before even the body could follow. With each swing, he took away over one life of the rats, yet none of the rats could not even harm a hair of his. Elior was feeling better. It was much better compared to the tussle with the wolves. He gained better control of his body after testing out his strength and weakness, though it''s still far from adequate. Meanwhile, Lyra was finishing up rats from outside of the circle while Elior was killing in frenzies. She felt a sudden chill seeing the spear dance of Elior. She made the right decision to not fight at their first meeting. Though she would not mind fighting if he was some arrogant lordling. "Hey, why are you mesmerised like that to do your job," Lyra said to Shin as he was watching Elior with an open mouth. "Brother Elior is amazing," Shin said, coming back to his senses. He pulled the crossbow, not even aiming correctly. This place was swarming with rats, barely motioning the bow at them would gain a hit. Elior continued the battle as his heartbeat rose with the panting. He tried his best to make the breathing even as he slowed down his moves. That was not a problem, as not even one-third of the rats were remaining there. [Congratulations. You have reached level 7.] [You gained 1 free point from levelling.] [Congratulations, your Spearmanship skill has reached level 4.] [. . .] Elior sighed in relief as they finished up all the rats there. He moved towards the two, wiping the sweat from his face. "Brother Elior, are you some international champion in spear or something?" Shin asked as he was giving back the crossbow. Elior did not answer, only smiled. "Keep it for now," he said as Shin kept the crossbow without bothering. "Shin rest for a little, we''ll continue in this way again." Shin laughed warily, but recalling how fast Elior dealt the Rats, he did not complain. On the other hand, Lyra was looking peculiarly at him. Elior could guess why that was. The skills he showed just now were not something a newbie could achieve. It would take years of practice to balance it to this level¡ªthat meant Elior practised spearmanship for years, but the unsoundness in this was. He was exhausted barely after a few minutes of battle. It was not convincing with such skill. Well, Elior could not tell her he had the experience of more than a decade of battle while his body was new to allt his. Fortunately, the elf did not ask any questions, respecting each other''s privacy. While Shin was not observant enough to notice anything amiss. The hunting continues like that. Shin played his part in baiting the rats and when the number reached close to a hundred, they finished them all. After rotating twice, they could not find many rats anymore. They probably have killed almost all the rats here. "Why this experience; no, the karma I''m receiving is lessening as we kill the rats?" Shin asked. He could not level up from 4 after all the rats he had killed. Now the karma points he was receiving after each was barely in ones and two. Elior did not answer, though he knew the answer. He was waiting for the elf to answer for him, which she did, noting he was in no mood fanning Shin''s curiosity. "That''s because your body is saturated. After you reach level ten, you may not even gain a single from low-level rats." As a curious child, Shin raised his eyebrow. "Why?" "As far as I know, every living creature of the same species has an identical energy signature, so the more of the fiends in the same species you kill, the less karma you would get as your body became saturated with the energy from the species." Lyra did her best to give a simple answer to Shin, which was far or less true. "So goodbye grinding?" Shin sighed a little. Lyra did not understand the term, and could only shake her head. "Well, you could grind from other fiends, it did not have to be rat all the time," Elior said. "Now let''s go, we''ll finish the boss now. We already wasted too much time here." "There is a boss here?" Shin''s eyes shone brighter, hearing the term ''boss''. "Naturally." "Wait a minute I''m lost again," The orange clothed Elf became confused again hearing the new term. "What''s a boss?" _________________________ Drop power stones if you find Shin funny.. Even if not, vote. Chapter 9 - Boss Rat "Wait a minute I''m lost again," The orange clothed Elf became confused again hearing the new term. "What''s a boss?" ''I guess the language syncing system is not any better than this,'' Elior thought before answering the elf. "Father and mother rat." "So how strong will the mommy rat and daddy rat be?" Shin asked. "Not more than me," Elior snickered. As far as he remembered, those two rats are above level 15, but had not crossed the level 20 mark when those fiends experience a qualitative evolution. Lyra clicked her tongue. "How are you so sure there are two so-called ''bosses'' here?" "How do you think there are so many rats here? Do the math, they are all their offspring," Elior said causally. He was examining the path to see any sign of the boss monster to be found. "So what''s the plan?" Lyra asked further, nodding. "Plan?" Elior laughed. "Do we need a plan to finish up two low-rank fiends?" "It''s better safe than to be sorry." "How about this, I''ll deal with the daddy rat while you two work on the mommy," Elior said, barely giving a thought. "That''s not a plan." Lyra almost yelled out. "It''s the best I got," Elior suddenly stopped in his walk. "Moreover, it appears we don''t have much time to plan. They were coming. Shin, stay with Lyra on the left while I deal with the daddy first." Elior did not look back, bared the spear in front of him as he infused it with a considerable amount of mana. The spearhead lit up a little in the dim light. Elior grounded his legs firm in the ground as he gazed at the approaching fiend. The daddy rat was big, almost seven-eight feet with a similar fat body, and as for the awful reek, it was similarly terrible as its offspring. Maybe even more. Elior''s eyes shone as he shoved the spear into the mouth of the Rat and back-flipped with his full strength. He used the rat''s own strength against it, he had no strength to flip this ugly rat. With a squeaking sound, the humongous rat hit the ground as Elior stood on top of it. The Rat tried to spray poisonous saliva on him, but he dodged, stepping sideways. Even though he had taken the detoxifying grass, he did not want to bathe in the awful reeking mucus of an ugly rat. The mana infused spear thrust into the mouth of the rat, as Elior reached out for his strength. With all his effort, he pierced the head of the father rat through the mouth. He pulled out the spear as it was bathing in purple-grey blood as the rat squeaked for the last. [Congratulations, you have killed the Father at Level 18. You have gained 298 karma points.] [Congratulations. You have reached level 9.] [You have gained one free point to distribute among the attributes.] Meanwhile, Lyra and Shin are faring well too. Even though The Father and mother rat were both the boss monster in the dungeon and of similar level. The mother rat was way weaker than the father, as its main task was to birth offspring. Lyra almost immobilised the fat mother rat with her string binding all over its body. Even with her strength, she was finding it quite difficult to hold the rat. "Finish it quickly," she said to Shin. Shin nodded as he lunged at the immobilised rat baring the sword. Even though he could not use mana yet, he did not find it difficult to pierce the rat as he found the weak spot in the neck. The mother rat was not finished in one thrust, but its strength was almost diminished. Shin had to waste a few more thrusts to finish it up. He sighed in relief, and so did the elf. Shin was looking for Elior to notice he was standing carefreely on top of the father rat. "Looks like our task is done here," Elior said. "Let''s look for the tokens or anything else we find here." Just as Elior finished, a window opened in front of everyone, giving the good news that they had finished the task. [Congratulations to the three participants on the quest: Cleanse of the RAt''s den.] [As a result of the quest, you three will gain karma to reach the next two levels.] [In addition to the outstanding performance, you gained minor recovery portions (3x).] "Not too shabby," Elior said as they found three vials of potion barely a few feet away from the dead rat, and besides that, there were many parchment papers there. That''s all the tokens they gained in the dungeon. "Cool," Shin jumped towards the reward. He first checked up the minor recovery portion before opening his lips. "We each get one, right?" Lyra said nothing and looked at Elior, who nodded, smiling. "Let''s move from here. I can not handle this awful reek here," he said. Shin nodded as he collected all the tokens. . . . "There are two hundred fifty-six tokens here," Shin said, counting the number of tokens he gained from the rats. "How do we divide it?" Elior said nothing. After coming off the cave, he can now breathe freely. Moreover, he always felt it was a bother to divide things. "How about we divided them equally?" he said. "No," Lyra said, without even thinking. "That''s not fair to you. You made the most contribution. In addition, you are the one that found the dungeon in the first place, so you should get the larger portion." "Yes, Brother Elior, Sister Elf is right," Shin added. "I almost did nothing, yet I gained 6 levels there, in addition to the minor healing potion. I''m alright with this much gain." "Wait a second, who said you did nothing," Elior raised his brows at Shin. "You baited the rats, which helped us finish the rats in less than three hours. You may not value time now, but time is most precious to me." Shin laughed warily. "How about this, I and this idiot would take fifty each while you keep the rest," Lyra added as she felt she had not done much in the dungeon. Elior was about to argue, but remembered his wager with Yemrmix, so he took the tokens. He would need about a thousand more to come first in the trial. _________________________ Drop power stones if you find Shin funny.. Even if not, vote. Chapter 10 - Visualisations Elior returned to the place they were camping, carrying a bunch of dry wood. Shin had already made a fire where his cooking was almost finished. He and the elf were both waiting near the fire as the weather grew quite cold here. Elior put the dry woods on the already ablaze fire as the flame rose, giving them more of the warmth in the chilly night. They had returned from finishing the dungeon an hour ago, while the temperature dropped in the surrounding area by a considerate level. It was still far from freezing them, but getting a cold was no problem here. "Are you sure that fire won''t call wild animals towards us?" Lyra asked, even though she was sitting quite close to the fire. "Who cares," Elior said, clicking his tongue. "If they come, we just have to deal with it, better than numbing in the cold." "Aren''t you being dangerously carefree?" The elf could not help but ask. "Don''t worry, there''s nothing in the trial that could be of my worry," Elior scoffed. "Brother Elior, you are almost perfect in every area I have seen," Shin snickered out beside the elf. "But you are not much of a humble guy." Elior sat down beside Shin on a log as he said, "Well, It''s the truth." "Not humble at all," Shin laughed. Elior took a piece of rabbit meat from Shin and started to chew. "What''s good being humble? It''s not like I''m running for president of UN." "Being humble is good, but sometimes people have the bad idea that you are weak, and try to take advantage of you," Lyra added from the side. She suddenly flustered, noticing the two pairs of eyes on her. She scoffed. "What? I''m just speaking my mind." Shin was about to joke about that, but noticed the look on Elior which told him not to. Shin thought for a moment to open his lips. "So what are our plans for tomorrow?" "We will be busier tomorrow," Elior answered. "As our task here is to collect the tokens, we will do that as much as possible." "But don''t we just need 100 tokens to clear out the trial," Shin asked again. "Why do we need more?" "You, Idiot. Didn''t you read the prompt?" Lyra answered for Elior. "The more tokens you have, the higher rating you will get. It was clearly written in the quest prompt." Shin flustered a little. "So 100 is just the minimum number." "Yes, collecting a hundred tokens in four days is nothing spectacular," Elior added. "You should aim higher." "What''s the point for me to aim higher?" Shin muttered. "Even if I get more tokens, Sister Elf would take it away from me." Lyra heard that. She snorted, looking at Shin. "Who told you to use those vulgar lines? You are still in the trial. It is already good enough." "Well, I''m not complaining," Shin said, looking at the fire. "As if I cared about the rating." "Oh, you should care about it," Lyra added. "With higher ratings, you can get more rewards at the end of the test." "Sister Elf, are you trying to make me resent you?" Lyra went silent. She chewed on the meat¡ªShin cooked as she turned away from Shin. "Brother Elior, Is sister Elf blushing? I could not see in the light." Shin snickered, seeing that. "Shut up," Lyra snorted. "Let''s talk about our plans again." Both of them looked at Elior again. "As I said, we''ll be busy starting tomorrow. So have a proper rest today, we''ll start again at dawn." "Did you find any other dungeons?" Lyra asked suspiciously. "No," Elior answered. In his previous time, all he had done was grind rats for two days, and hide for the rest of the time. He really did not know any other dungeon here, but he has an idea on how to get tokens easily. "Don''t worry. As I said, there''s nothing in the trial as of my worry; tokens go to this list as well. It will come our way, eventually." Shin and Lyra did not understand, but they nodded, taking his words. "Brother Elior, you said you would help me on how to wield mana." "Oh that," Elior touched his chin and looked at Shin, then at the elf. "Lyra, why don''t you teach him? I''m not much of a teacher." The elf furrowed her brows, but did not decline. She looked at Shin, who was sitting carefreely on the log, then became alert, noticing her gaze. He was quite enthusiastic about learning mana wielding. Who would not be? Everyone has curiosity towards the guardians. "Before sensing the mana, you need to straighten your posture," Lyra said to Shin. "Sit straight in cross-legged, and calm your breathing first." Shin followed as he was told by the Elf. He sat cross-legged, trying his best in breathing exercises. "When you complete that, close your eyes and try to visualise things. Do that until you find your most peaceful state." Lyra finished saying that. No more explanation. "That''s it? That easy?" Shin could not believe it, frowned. "Easy?" Lyra snorted. "Try it and you will know how easy it is." Shin followed, closing his eyes. After thinking about it, he tried to imagine a spacecraft moving at godly speed. The moment he tried it, he knew it was a bad idea. He could not visualise things he did not have a proper understanding of. He tried a few other things like a dragon, a fish in a bowl, a football, but none of them was of much help. He even tried ants, but of no use either. "Having problems?" Elior said, noticing the uncomfortable Shin. ''''Told you," Lyra snickered. "Tell me what you tried to imagine." Shin told them all his failed visualisations. About the spaceship, the Dragon, and even the ants. He thought it was probably for his poor talent. "You dimwit idiot," Lyra shouted at Shin, hearing all out. "Are you some sage that would succeed in anything? I told you to find peace, yet you tried to visualise a Dragon. A damning Dragon." "So what should I do?" Shin asked warily, not minding the yelling. "How did you start your training?" "Try something easy, like I used to imagine sewing strings when I started. Go like that, easy thing that can make you peaceful." "Sewing? I''ll be bored to death if I imagine that," Shin said as he turned towards Elior. "Brother Elior, what did you imagine to train with?" "I don''t think mine would help you either," Elior said. He thought for a moment about how to help Shin. After thinking for a while, a light bulb lit in his head as he gazed at Shin. "Shin, do you like Air?" Shined tilted his head, not understanding the question. Well, nobody would know how to answer the question. Elior found he used the wrong words. "My bad. I worded it wrongly," he said. "How about you try imagining wind? Like mild wind blew leaves away as birds flying are flying on the winds." Elior tried his best to come up with something that was closely related to Shin''s power. ''''Just give it a try." Shin nodded. There was no harm in trying as he tried, something clicks inside him as waves of high water came into his mind, and so could he feel an inconsiderate amount of energy in his body. Just like that, Shin''s mind hovered into deep meditations. "That was fast," Lyra said, looking at Shin. She could guess Shin succeeded. "Didn''t you say you are bad at teaching?" "I am," Elior nodded. "It''s just, Shin is quite talented." And he knew Shin better than himself. Saying that, Elior tried his hand at meditation as well. Even though he was good at mana application, nothing would develop if he slacked in training. But before he could even try, he opened his eyes, frowning. "What is it?" Lyra asked. "Did I not say tokens would come our way?" Elior laughed as he got up. "It''s sooner than I thought." Lyra frowned. She tried to sense the surroundings and felt a disturbance behind them. "Do you mean other participants are coming this way?" She stood up as well. "No need, stay here with Shin," Elior said, walking off. "It''s just a minor matter." Lyra did not attempt to go with Elior, but her gaze followed him, moving into the darkness. On the other hand Shin felt nothing, he was meditating with all his mind as the warm feeling spread throughout his body. Mana was quite addicting at first. After only a couple of minutes, Elior came back in his hand and there were a few tokens of the trial. "These guys are too sloppy. They only had 26 tokens." __________________________ Vote with power stones to see more of CHAOS CYCLE. You can leave a comment or review too. Power Stone goal for bonus content: 50 Power stones for 1 bonus chapter. 100 for 2; 200 for 4; and 400 for 8. Chapter 11 - Provisional Merit List A void of emptiness. This was what Elior visualised while training his mana. There''s nothing but darkness, only nothingness where his consciousness hovered. In his previous time, he had not started like this. The one that made him feel peace was just a simple candle lighting in the darkness. Yet now, when he tried to imagine the small candle, his mind unconsciously drifted to the emptiness of the void. There''s not even a speck of light there, only darkness and him. Staying here was quite dangerous for Elior. If something went wrong, he might get lost in space and, and that could cause a limbo, yet he tried nothing as the void emptied his worry and anxiousness. He felt nothing in the void. Not any mortal sins or emotion. He did not sleep on his first day after regression, meditating the entire night. The day came again as the temperature rose to a comfortable level. Shin woke up sighing as he saw Lyra was already awake, where Elior was still meditating in cross-leg. "Should we wake him?" he asked Lyra, pointing at Elior. Lyra shook her head. She had done most of the warding after Elior went for meditation. "Let him meditate," she said. "So, how was your experience yesterday?" "I think I can sense mana now," Shin said with a radiant smile as he remembered the elf said those that can sense mana within a day are geniuses. "Sister Elf, I am a genius too." Lyra snorted, but she could not deny that. Even though Shin was a dimwit fool, he had a good head. "How long will it take to get to your sister elf if I train every day?" Shin asked again. Lyra did not answer immediately. She pondered for a while before opening her lips. "If you just meditate normally like that, it would take you 2 years or more to get where I''m at now." "What? That''s so long." The enthusiasm on Shin''s face dampened instantly. "Let me finish, you idiot," Lyra yelled at Shin. "I said you would need 2 years if you train normally, but if you level up in that time to 20, and advance to your first class, it would be much easier. As far as I know, it would not be wrong to say you could master the basics in a month or two." "Class?" Shin''s eyes shone. "You mean like Mage, Warrior, Healer, Swordsman like that?" "Yes," Lyra continued. "When you advance to level 20, you will be given classes which fit you the most. You have to advance in one of them, or you won''t be able to level up further." "Cool, just like the game," Shin nodded. "By the way, Sister Elf, where does this class and other stuff come from?" "From Mother World," Lyra said as if it was general knowledge. "The Deities that look after the entire universe, created this system together." "You mean the gods and stuff are real?" Shin felt a little chill as he was not much of a believer in the theory. "Of course," Elior answered in place of Lyra as he rose from his meditative state. "But they were not the almighty beings that you find in the bible or other religious scripture. Remember, Deities are just as petty as humans." Lyra frowned at Elior''s comment. Elior said it as if he had a personal contract with the deities. "How can you say that?" Elior cursed himself again, could not he just shut up. He was preparing for a convincing answer when the status window appeared in front of everyone, saving Elior from his explanation. [Provisional merit list of Trial Zero will be announced in approximately one minute. Would you like to announce your name there or go anonymous? P.S: Remember, going anonymous will terminate your chances to see the merit list.] [Yes | No] "Brother Elior, should I go anonymous or announce my name?" Shin asked as he could make out what this merit list was. It was probably the list of all the participants according to the progress they made so far in the trial. "Do as you wish," Elior smiled as he tapped on the yes tab. "As long as you are with me you have nothing to fear." "I wanted to see how many tokens the top ten got," Lyra said. "It will help me learn how far away I am from them." "Then ''yes'' it is," Shin said. "I wanted to see as well." After the minute passed, the merit list was announced as another translucent window appeared in front of their eyes. [Merit list of Trial Zero: 1. Renal: 454 tokens. 2. Leroy: 256 tokens 3. Unknown: 195 tokens. 4. Elior: 186 tokens. 5. Unknown: 148 tokens. 6. Unknown: 146 tokens 7. Lara: 112 tokens. 9. Scarlet: 102 tokens 10. Mopher: 101 tokens. . . . 19. Lyra: 84. . . . 79: Chainz: 52. . . . ] Elior found quite a few familiar names on the list, but that did not concern him. He scrolled up the list all the way down to see the name of his friend Ileana, yet he found nothing like the first time. That can only mean three things: Ileana was already eliminated, or chose to go anonymous, or choose a name he did not recognise. Elior eliminated the last option. It should be Ileana already got eliminated or went anonymous. In his previous time, Ileana had failed in completing the quest, and was eliminated. Looks like it would be the same this time as well, unless Elior finds her before that. "Brother Elior, you are fourth," Shin from the side, but seeing no response from Elior, he asked again. "What is it, Brother Elior?" Elior sighed as he could not make a decision on if he should look for Ileana or not. If he was just as ignorant as in his previous regression, it would have been so easy to make his decision. He would search for Ileana heedlessly. Yet knowing what he was up against made his mind waver. "Nothing," Elior said. "Just looking for a friend." "Did you find it?" Shin asked. "No." "Should we search for him?" "Nah," Elior sighed again. "We will do our own job first¡ªwhich is collecting the tickets." ''I''ll give it to fate, let''s see if I come across Ileana or not.'' __________________________ Do I have to ask for Power stones again? Man, I''m tired, so give me power stone I need to cultivate. Chapter 12 - Scarlett And Mopher "Why is the jungle so empty?" Shin complained. "Other than the pack of wolves we found nothing till now." The other two of the group were irritated as well. After seeing the provisional merit list after the first day, they went down to business to look for tokens again. Yet after spending all the morning they only come across a pack of wolves. Though wolves are way more dangerous compared to rats, the numbers were still less, and with Elior there they did not have much problem finishing it. While their sorrow lied that they found no more than 20 tokens till now. "I wonder how the top of the list got so many tokens in just a day," Lyra sounded out. "Is he lucky to find some dungeons or something?" "That may be the case," Elior said as he looked at the sun to measure the time. The sun was over their head, so there would be five or six more hours of light they had. He looked at his two companions again. "Or he has other participants working for him." "You mean, they just gave away their tokens to him?" Shin raised an eyebrow. "What benefit would they have doing this?" "That can happen, actually," Lyra said. She was wearing a tight orange dress even now, as she was not allowed to bring other stuff. "It''s probably some scion of the mother world." "Don''t bother with that for now," Elior said. "Looks like we have to go to Plan B sooner than I have anticipated." "Plan B?" Lyra and Shin asked at the same time as they looked at Elior. There was not even a foreshadow that Elior even has plans. So far he was like: We will see, what we come across. "I actually thought about announcing this plan after the second day is over, but we need to step our game up," he said. "Plan B is very simple. If the tokens did not come our way, we will go to token''s way." ''''Meaning?" "Let''s hunt down participants," Elior said with a laugh. "Is it allowed?" Shin said in his worry. "Would we not be disqualified?" "We are not killing them. Just some harmless robbery." . . . Meanwhile, on the other side of the trial zone, two figures were moving in between trees at impressive speed. The one in the front was a girl with tall built and crimson hair. Even though she was in her teenage years, her legs were long, as there was a clear sign of feminine growth in her figure, but her posture lacked the womanly grace. She was overwhelmingly quick compared to the man following behind her. With her red hair, she wore a matching red dress as well, with a dark scarlet cape around her back. She was just as spectacular and stunning as her name¡ªScarlett. Scarlett did not slow down, in consideration of her companion, moved at her swift speed. The one behind was of a tall build as well, but his face was more humble compared to the girl with red hair. He was about sixteen years old, as the girl. Even though he was having problems running after the red-haired girl, he did not give up on his job. After moving around for half an hour finally, the redhead stopped. There were barely any sweats on the girl''s face, yet the boy behind almost dropped unconscious, panting like a freaking dog. The red-haired girl moved on a branch before resting her bottom there as she looked at the boy below. "Are you having fun, Mopher?" "Your highness," Mopher could barely say that much before he leaned against the tree. "Why did you choose me to be your protector in this trial? There are many impressive fellows in the knight squire, I look like such a failure." The princess smiled at Mopher before opening her rosy red lips. "I choose you for one simple reason," she said. "No, it''s not your honesty or perseverance, or because of your father." Then?" Mopher looked up at the tree where the princess was. "It''s simple, I chose you because you are stupid." "I wish you never said that, your majesty." "You are the one who asked in the first place," Princess Scarlett said. "Besides, my answer won''t change anything. You will still be the fool, running after me." Mopher sighed. He could not deny that. He could not turn away from his duty even though the princess did not need him here. "Don''t worry, I''ll tell Sir Augusto that you obey your role adequately." "You don''t have to do that, your highness," Mopher shook his head. "Father will still be disappointed in me." "You take things too seriously," Scarlet said. "Be like me. Look what my father emperor asked me to do?" "To take the first place of the trial." Mopher answered as he was obliged. "And what am I doing?" "I should not answer that, your highness," Mopher refrained from answering as it would be criticising the princess. Scarlett sighed. "I was asked to take the first place of the trial, and what I will do is entirely the opposite. Just barely succeed in the trial." Mopher could not find any logic behind the princess''s reasoning, but he could not question that either. It would be overstepping his boundary. "Then what are you searching all the while for, your highness?" "I was looking for something interesting, yet found none after running around for hours." Scarlet crooked her lips. "Such a waste of my energy. I thought there would be something interesting in my first trial, yet it''s so boring." "What else you would expect, your highness," Mopher added. "Trial zero is specially meant for lower world participants, you should not even have to take part in it." "You are right," Scarlett sighed. "But it''s still a fresh change from my boring life." "So what should we do next, your highness?" "I don''t know," Scarlett said. "Let''s look at other participants and see what they are doing." . . . The surroundings strangled in darkness as the sun had set. The chilly wind blew the hairs and dresses of the three as they stood among the thick trees. They had almost finished up their task for today. "Brother Elior, why didn''t we start this earlier?" Shin said, brimming with joy as he counted the tokens. Elior sighed. "I really did not want to do this if I had any choice," he said. Robbing from other participants was the simplest way to gather tokens, and the most efficient way too. In just four hours, they gathered just below two hundred tokens, though Elior had let go of a few of the participants. "Why?" Shin asked as he gave fifty percent of the token to him while distributing the remaining between Lyra and him. Elior took it with no words. He was the one that did the most work gathering the tokens. Not to talk about the robbing, the most difficult task was to find other participants, and there his tracking skills came in handy. So it was not wrong to say he deserved it. "Doesn''t it look like we are the bad guys?" Elior said. "I feel so bad to break the dream of these fellas." "Is that why you left some of the participants, even though they have tens of tokens with them?" Lyra asked, giving a peculiar look at Elior. "No, that''s not it," Shin added from beside. "Brother Elior even left most of the female participants as well." Lyra frowned. "You are right," she said. "I only left the ones that have a chance of succeeding in the test," Elior said. "But some girls that you let go have no chance of succeeding," Shin added. "And you did not even charge any of them." "My goddess," Lyra said, looking towards. "Don''t tell me you are trying to be a chivalrous Knight in this day and age?" "Ahem!" Elior gave off an intentional cough. No, he never tried to be a chivalrous guy, much less a knight. He did what seemed right, nothing else. "I am what I am. Hitting a woman or children is some barbaric thing to do. I wanted to stay as far away as possible." But that did not mean he will overlook someone''s crime just because of their gender. To him few might not be considered human, much less woman, by the heinous deed they had committed. "Is it because you think women can''t challenge men?" The orange clothed elf was triggered. "I did not say that," Elior sighed. "It''s just you taking out the meaning from my words." "Then what do you mean?" Lyra scowled. "You think Women need to be protected, is that not right? Well, that''s a barbaric way of thinking as well." "No, that''s not it as well," Elior said again. It was not the first time he had got into an argument with some female with this. "It is just one of my beliefs, and it is what I was taught since childhood, and I should clear out I do not think women are behind men." "In one phrase, Brother Elior is a big softie for girls." Shin slid into the argument between the two, trying to make peace. "It may be what you are taught," Lyra added lastly. "But it would be showing disrespect to women if you did not meet their challenge." Elior did not bother to answer. He had already got himself into many heated arguments with the opposite gender over this. ________________________ Chapter 13 - The Twin Siblings Strike Again The Sun was at the horizon, as the chilly wind rose in the trial zone, blowing the dry leaves of the trees. It was unusually silent in the jungle, nothing but the slow regard of the wind, and the thumping of three pairs of boots. Elior was not in a good mood. Part of the reason was he did not find what he was looking for, and the thing with Ileana was still bugging him. He hated to leave things to fate, but what he could do as he still could not decide. "Brother Elior, why are you sulking all day?" Shin asked as they walked to the empty spot surrounded by trees. It was on a higher ground than the neighbouring regions. "It''s probably because he is not satisfied with the number of tokens he got today," Lyra said. "Even though he is third on the list." Elior was carrying the dry woods as usual, and Shin carried the dead rabbit as they went down in the middle of the spot. It was time to make the meal. Elior made the fire while Shin was cleaning the meat. Lyra wanted to give a hand of assistance as well, but Shin dismissed her without thinking. A small smoke appeared where Elior was making fire. He blew air from his mouth to the smoke to ablaze the flame. The woods burned in crimson flames after a couple of minutes, and Elior finally lifted his head up. ''I need to do something to distract my mind,'' Elior mused inwardly. The thought of Ileana bugging him more than he had thought. "About 18 hours left for the trial to end," he opened his mouth quietly, looking at the other two. "Are you two satisfied with your result?" The two went silent hearing that. The orange clothed elf opened her lips first. "I wanted to enter top 3," she said. "But I guess those three spots are already filled." The top two positions on the merit list were unchanged, while Elior joined the third spot yesterday. The one at the top was some guy named Renal with 1478 tokens. While the second spot was still Leroy, holding not even half the numbers. Leroy held 566 tokens, only a few more than Elior. "What rank are you now?" Elior asked Lyra. "12th," Lyra said, clasping her arms. "I will probably enter the top 10 before the end." Elior''s gaze moved to Shin who was already engaged in cooking while keeping an ear open on the conversation. "What about you Shin?" ''I''m ranked 487th," Shin said, while his hands were busy cleaning the meat. "With the exact 100 tokens." "Oh, I forgot you are still repaying her for your misbehaviour," Elior said unintentionally. "I''m third with 534 tokens, yet about a thousand tokens away from the top." "Why does it sound like you are not satisfied?" Lyra asked, eyeing him. "Because I''m not." Elior rubbed his forehead, remembering the bet he made with Yemrmix. Even though this trial did not mean much to him, he hated to lose. "Well, you are just a dozen or so away from the second rank," Lyra added. ''''Second is not enough." "I thought you would say that," Lyra snickered. She asked jokingly, "Do you have a Plan C?" Elior''s eyes glinted as he laughed. "Yes," he said. "But we have to skip sleep to start the plan." "That was given." Lyra did not laugh as she really thought about what plan Elior had, though all the plans A and B were nothing but a single line of phrases. She asked, anticipating something similar. "So what''s the plan?" "Simple," Elior said, looking somewhere among the trees. "Rob the top ranker." "I imagined you would say something like that. Are you sure? This Renal guy might have a group with him. It will not be a simple task." "Do I look like a guy that would fear someone or some group?" Elior asked as if he did not care a penny for the top scorer of the Trial. ''Trying to be the first is a good distraction.'' Actually, he truly did not. The name of the top scorer¡ªRenal¡ªdid not ring any bells. He''s probably not something big, or Elior would have heard about him in his previous time. Maybe he was just some rich young Lord leeching off his father''s grandeur. While for the 1st runner-up, it was another story. "I''m going for a stroll," Elior said as he stood up in the blowing chilly wind. Something else was in his mind as well, other than Ileana for a few hours. "Shin, how long do you need to prepare the meal?" "Half an hour or less." Nodding, Elior left the spot as he walked into the thick trees again. Gusts of wind hit on his face as his hair and black leather jacket swayed according to it. Elior moved fast and stealthy under the thick canopy of the tree. The surroundings did not have much light, but Elior could see everything if he tried a little. The reason Elior left the other was because he always felt someone was tailing him for a couple of hours, moreover, the one following was through in his or her skill as he found no sign other than a few broken twigs. But when he was conversing with Shin and Lyra, he sensed something, as his mind was always on the surroundings. He heard a small noise that could be some animals or other things. Elior put his ears and mind to work. He was doing the listening, like the sight that you can control what you see or what you wanted to see. He could concentrate on one singular noise as well, while the other turned silent for him. It was the true listening that he learned years ago. A fleeting notice of moving entered his ears for a moment, then it turned silent again. Elior moved towards the direction it came from for a while, but found nothing. He looked for a few minutes more before walking back. ''Maybe I was wrong,'' he thought, then he felt a disturbance coming from where he left off his other two companions. Elior''s leg moved as he left the thick canopies and almost laughed at seeing the scene before him. The one that caused the ruckus here were some folks Elior had already met in the trial. He taught them a lesson as well, yet they never learned. It was Sarrat and Sarvat, the two twins whom Elior left bare on the first day of the trial. They were wearing wolf''s fur now, with the front upper body bare. With the same sword and bow in their hands, they were trying to rob again. Lyra was alert, even before the two newcomers arrived, while Shin joined her, noticing their presence as well. The pair of duos looked warily at each other. None wanted to lose out in eye contact. The newcomer that held the bow, raised and motioned it towards Shin while the other one moved towards the orange clothed half-elf. By the time Elior arrived, they had already exchanged a few moves while Lyra was at the dominant end. Shin did not give the archer any open spot, either. "It seemed the lesson I taught you two was not enough," Elior said as he stomped a kick on the archer. Giving a side look at the fallen figure, he looked at the swordsman. "Sarrat, was it?" he asked. "Bugger off before you two regret coming to the trial." "I am Sarvat," the swordsman yelled as he rushed at Elior, leaving the dumbfounded Lyra. Sarvat motioned his sword at Elior with panically quick slashes, but Elior dodged them all. Elior grew bored soon enough, and thrashed Sarvat to his twin brother in a similar fashion. "Now I''ll make sure you could not show your face to anyone," Elior advanced towards the twin siblings. "No, not even to each other." "What will you do?" Sarrat, who was more docile between the two, opened his lips first. "I won''t do anything." Elior''s smile broadened. "You two will do it yourself. How would you feel if your first time was taken by your brother?" The orange clothed elf blushed hearing that. "Pervert," she muttered, while Shin snickered from behind. The identical duo shuddered, remembering just hugging each other naked in the chilly wind gave them enough goosebumps that those two could not meet one another''s gaze. While what Elior said just now was crueller than the death sentence to them. "Don''t, please let us go," Sarvat cried out loudly this time, recalling the naked experience a couple of days ago. He wanted to delete the memory from his mind. Looking at the exterior of Elior, he found there was no chance that this deviant would let them go. "No, no, keep us. We will call you boss from now, do your dirty work, just don''t make us do that . . ." Sarvat could not complete his sentence and turned silent as his brother joined him. "Yes boss," he said. "Please take us under your wings. I swear I will follow every order to the best of my abilities." Elior thought for barely a few seconds before he agreed. "Alright," he said. Making them do other things would surely be fun, but Elior did not have time to enjoy, as not even a day left for the trial to end. He needed to use them in other tasks, and he definitely needs a few people now to do his errands. "Just don''t be any pathetic from now on," he said. "Get up." The trio got back to business as the two newcomers join them. Shin went over to do his job as the cook, while Lyra gave a suspicious glare to the two newcomers, but their frightened expression told her they would not try anything funny as long as Elior was there. "Huh?" Shin grunted, looking at the meat on the fire. He inspected them carefully with a frown. "What is it, Shin?" "I think some of our meals were stolen?" Shin was still frowning. "Eh?" Elior scrutinised for a while and found what Shin was saying was true, but he had no mind to find some thief for now. "It''s probably some homeless stray, don''t mind it. We''ll have to go busy after eating." ________________________ Next Chapter: Food Thief. For every 50 power stones, there will the 1 extra chapter in the following months. ________________________ Chapter 14 - Food Thief It''s the third day of the trial. Mopher was running hopelessly to find the whimsical Princess. His job would have been so much easier if Princess Scarlett was a little girly. Fortunately, he need not fear for her safety. As eccentric as Princess Scarlett was, she did have the talent and strength to back it up. But that did not make him feel any better, as he was almost useless in his job. He can only put himself of some use making the food. At least that would be of some service to the princess. He was roasting the meat of a deer he hunted, as he was instructed by the princess. The sun was about to set as there was only half a day left for the trial to end. Mopher did not have to worry about anything like other participants though. All he needed to do was complete the main quest¡ªwhich he did on the very first day of the trial. He did not need to run like other lower world participants to gain rewards. The meat was almost roasted. Mopher was trying his best that it could be edible, recalling the other time when the princess threw it away. "Mopher, there you are," a voice said behind him. It was Princess Scarlett. She was not graceful like always, but she was pretty like the princess in the stories. "Where have you been running to, Your highness," Mopher suddenly paused, looking at the Princess. The expression on Scarlett''s showed she was quite interested in something, as her eyes were gleaming a little. "Let''s go, I found someone," Scarlett said. "I think you two would be best friends." "Eh?" Mopher raised an eyebrow. "But what about the food I''m cooking?" "Don''t take it to heart, Mopher, but your cooking is awful." "But your highness, I can not let you go starving," Mopher added more wood to the fire, trying to cook faster. "How about you give me a few more minutes while I finish roasting the deer?" "No need," Scarlett almost turned to drag Mopher from his spot. "I already have eaten." "What? Where did you get it?" Scralett smacked her lips. "I stole it." "Your highness, those words do not look good on your lips." "Ah, sorry," Scarlett apologised. "But I have to tell you, Mopher, that meal was way better than the thing you make." Saying that, Scarlett dragged Mopher out of there. "So where are you taking me?" Mopher asked as he stood up, freeing himself from the princess. Like the princess, this trial does not interest him as much. He was only chosen here to be the protector of the Princess¡ªwho actually did not need his protection. "To meet your new friend," the Redhead princess said as she moved in her fast sprints. "How do you know we will be friends, your highness?" Mother asked, but got no response as the princess was already a hundred metres away. With an unwilling expression on his face, Mopher ran after the princess as well in among the thick trees. There was not much light present, adding that the sun was on the horizon and the thick canopy of the trees blocked most of the light. They moved as the trees thinned out until it reached a spot with higher ground compared to the surroundings. "Where did they go? They were just here a few minutes ago?" Scarlett stood by the burned wood and ashes, which were still warm, and looked around. She did not find the group of three she was looking for. "Did you ask them to stop here, Your Highness?" Mopher asked, panting a little. Even though the distance was not far, to match the princess'' speed, he had to run at his top speed¡ªwhich put a toll on his stamina. Scarlett gave a hollow laugh, as the chilly wind swayed her crimson hair and long red cape. "I did not even talk to them, just came across them. I don''t think they even noticed my presence." "So you are just stalking them from far away, your highness," Mopher sighed. "More or less," Scarlett did not blush, said bluntly. "But I did steal some of their food though." Mopher almost slapped himself. The one he was serving did not look like a princess of the Great Mauhar empire at all. The only thought that gave him some hope was that Princess Scarlett was still young, only fifteen. She has enough time to grow into a lady. "Your highness, tell me one thing?" Mopher looked at the redhead princess, who was still looking around in the surroundings to search. "How do you know I will be friends with someone when you did not even talk to him?" "I know because he is just as stupid as you are." Mopher''s lips twitched, as his expression turned crooked, hearing the Princess''s phrase. "He''s just like you, a chivalrous knight. He could have come top of the trial, but he let go of so many participants even though he could rob them. Moreover, he did not attack girls¡ªjust like you." Scarlett added. "I did not think there would be another piece like you, yet I came across just in the trial." "That''s not like me, your highness," Mopher sighed as he said. "I do not attack the ones that can not defend themselves. Though there are few girls in the knight squire, there''s still a few I had been beaten by." Scarlett was not listening to Mopher. She was hell-bent on her searching. She stopped and looked at Mopher. "Did you say something?" she asked. "Nothing." Mopher shook his head. "So what should we do now, your highness?" "We will look for him," the redhead princess said. "His name is Elior, and on the third of the merit list, I think we could find him if we seared a bit." . . . The sun had not risen yet, and the chilly wind was blowing swiftly in the forest of mists. Mist danced with the chilly wind as it drifted wilfully among the thick forests. Three figures moved below the canopy of the trees, in the mists, and in the nightlight. Elior was in the lead like always, while Shin carried the fire on a stick, and Lyra beside him. All the three of them had carried dry sticks that could work as a torch, but refrained from using them together. So far, they had not found what they were looking for, but they did steal a few more tokens from other participants. Though the number was low, it still helped Elior reach second on the merit list. But Elior was not content with being only the runner-up. Even without the bet he had made with Yemrmix, he always wanted to be the first, and he needed to be the first. Elior had sent out the twin brothers¡ªthe recent addition to his force to search for the top scorer of the trial while the three of them searched in the other direction. "There are only about four or five hours left for the trial zero to end," Elior said as he saw the sun was about to rise. "We need to hurry." The other two did not decline, as both of them had gained many advantages by staying with Elior. Shin was relatively fatigued after running around all day, while Elior too was fatigued with his weak body, but the hunger to be the first kept him moving. The half-elf, Lyra was relatively in better shape than the two boys, which was not that surprising. "I wish the twin idiots were successful in their finding," Lyra said. "We already searched our sites twice. I don''t think we can find what we are looking for here." "Yeah, you are right," Elior said as he stopped in his path. "Let''s move on their path. I''m worried those two have already fled from their duty. Fear is never a good motivation, especially when you can hide from it. Let''s see if two idiots are still doing what I asked them or not." Elior moved to his left as Lyra, and Shin followed, carrying the fire. After moving for a while, they did not need the fire anymore to see, though there were mists. Shin put off the fire before throwing away the stick. The direction they were moving was rockier, as the trees already thinned out. There were few trees here and there but most of them were humongous. They were moving towards the sun. "Boss, there you are," a voice called from ahead as four figures appeared in front of them. Elior eyed the newcomers. The one voiced out first was clearly one between the twin brothers, while the two who came with them stood behind them. They came close and Elior could finally see their appearance. Other than the twins, there was another boy and girl. The boy had the naively handsome feature with tall stature and a little lanky. A sword hung behind his shoulder as he was dressed in a dark cloak. His expression showed he was a little exhausted, but his state was far better than him or Shin. He had the always on-duty look¡ªwhich was hard to come by in among teenagers. While looking at the girl, Elior''s eyes lingered for a while, and that anyone could notice present there. Unusually, the girl was pretty, with milky white skin. A tight red battle gown hugged her body all around. She had a cape on her back of darker scarlet shade and a rapier hung on her waist. The hair of the girl was as red as her dress, left unbound on her back. Her eyes were sapphire blue of the ocean, and they glittered, meeting his own. Elior felt he had seen her somewhere before, but he could not point out where. ___________________________ Vote with power stone if you wanted to see more of the content. The trial will end in a few more chapters, then the story will continue on earth until the next trial. 50 power stones = 1 bonus chapter. 100 for 2 and so on. 10 review (not from the same person) = 4 chapter bonus. Chapter 15 - Curse The Top Runner Elior almost took a back step the moment he met her eyes. A faint recollection appeared on his mind as he found the girl of fifteen in front of him extremely familiar. The features of the girl have quite some familiarity with someone he knew from his previous regression, but the one he knew was a lady, not a teenage girl though that was a few years later when he was recruited to mother world. How could she be here? This place was meant for lower world participants and some other few others, like the half-elf Lyra. ''I need to know her name for confirmation, If she was the one I think she is, I need to run immediately,'' Elior mused inside as he left the gaze from the scarlet-haired girl. ''Wait a minute, why am I so worked up? It''s not like I am afraid of her.'' "Who are these two?" he asked the twin brothers, gesturing at the two newcomers. "They were the friends we met on the task, " Sarvat answered, the elder one of the twins. "Apparently these two were robbed by Renal, so I think they will be of some help." "Robbed? Me? When did I say I was robbed?" the red-haired girl spoke up in mockery. "Even if he has horns like a dragon and fangs like tigers, he would not dare to come across me." Sarvat was about to say something, but Elior stopped him, gesturing with his arm. ''''You are?" he asked, looking at the red-dressed maiden. "It is not I, you should be looking for," the red-dressed maiden tugged the shoulder of the fellow beside him and continued giggling out. "Meet Mopher." Elior frowned as if he could not understand the inside joke or something. As for the Mopher, he had a similarly pained expression on. "What is it?" he asked again impatiently. Mopher glanced at the redhead, and seeing the glittering in her eyes he said, looking at Elior. "Nice to meet you. I''m Mopher Danayal Augusto from the Mauhar Empire, and she is . . . " Mopher pushed for a moment, but Elior heard nothing after the name Mauhar empire, and the surname Augusto. His fear came true, and the name the girl said after that only confirmed his guess. ''''I am Scarlett." There was no mistake now. It was the crazy princess. Elior sighed inwardly. The first thought he had after meeting her was he should move away from her, yet he clearly did not fear her, so why? Elior put his mind to work as he started to recall things about this crazy princess. Surprisingly, Elior could not come up with the right answer. His memory was clouded as it should be he had way more date in his head than a normal teenage boy. But he could recall some of the crazy shit she had pulled in his previous time. In one word, this red-haired girl was nothing but trouble, and annoying too, but he felt a little uneasy as well. In one word Elior did not want anything to do with her. He recalled she was once a rival of sorts, and she was damn crazy in her pursuit. Not many are on the list that could be called his rival after he went to the Mother world, but even among them, Scarlett was the one he felt most uneasy about. ''Well, she''s nothing but a little chick now,'' Elior calmed himself. The girl was even below his age. What type of crazy thing she could do now. Moreover, there are only a few hours left for the trial to end. He just has to endure that time. And thinking about time reminded him he still had the main task to complete. And he did not forget to take a note to clear out his clouded memory after the trial finishes. "So how are you going to help us find the Renal fellow?" Elior asked, coming back to the main topic. "That''s easy actually," Scarlett said. "Even though this Renul guy has most tokens in the trial, he was still looking for other participants to rob. All we needed to do was make a trap for him." "Trap? What type of trap?" Shin asked from beside, all his eyes on the red-haired girl. ''''By the way, my lady, I haven''t introduced myself yet. I''m Chainz. No, Shin. Call me Shin . . ." ''Shin, my brother, don''t go there, you would not like it very much. Even though this girl is extremely attractive, she is twice as crazy.'' Elior cried in his head, seeing the mesmerised look on the exterior of Shin. Well, he did not have to remind Shin as someone else was there. The Orange clothed elf, Lyra glared at Shin, and that made him hide behind Elior. "No, It''s too late to put any trap," Elior continued. "Only a few hours left before the trial ends." Scarlett did not say anything. She only gave a look at her companion. Mopher shrugged helplessly. "So what do you propose?" Mopher asked. "Simple. We will let the top scorer come our way," Elior said. "In total among us, we had about a thousand tokens. It should be attractive enough to that guy." "Are you crazy?" Mopher could not help but raise his voice. If the Princess said it, he could believe, but hearing from a lower world human made him dumbfounded. While the redhead princess only said, "Interesting." "How are you going to do that?" Lyra asked the real question. "Well, that is what I need to figure out," Elior sighed. "So no plan D?" "None as of yet, but don''t worry, my brain works faster in a crisis." Elior closed his eyes and put his brain to work. ''Now how do we invite wolves into our house?'' he thought. It would be really easy if the guy literally was a wolf. He could bait the guy in coming. But so far, the guy had been top of the trial for him and Leroy. Even if he used his underlings doing his dirty works, he should have some brain playing the hunter. "How about we just curse out his name, see if he had the guts to come out?" Shin said in the middle of the pondering. "Why am I surprised at you again?" Lyra eyed Shin. "Only your degenerate brain will think of something like this." Shin flustered hearing that and looked at Scarlett in the corner of her eyes to notice she was looking at Elior. Elior opened his eyes and glanced at Shin. "Actually, that was not a bad idea," he said. "It might work." "Oh no, you too," Lyra shook her head as she gave up on convincing the headstrong Elior. "Lyra, you don''t know the pride most of the teenage boys hold in their heart," Elior said, "and the one we are talking about is a noble son. You don''t need to think twice to recall how prideful and arrogant they are." "Why am I being convinced by you again," Lyra sighed. After hearing the convincing from Elior, she thought this plan was quite achievable. "So how do we start?" Elior pondered for a while before gazing at Shin again. "Shin has the foulest mouth among us, he should start the cursing," Shin almost puffed his chest in pride at hearing that. In the limited time of three day, Elior already had become an idol-like figure to him. He would follow his lead unquestioned. "You know, that was not something you should take pride in." Lyra glared at the boy with red and yellow hair. "Wait, let me prepare for a little," Shin laughed as he started to prepare the curses. After a couple of minutes later, the group moved again. This time Shin at the front yelling curses at the certain number one participants of the trial. "Renal, Young master Renal, you dirty little mouse. Why are you hiding? Come meet your daddy. I promise I won''t do anything, just spank your ass real good. . . ." "He does seem to have some talent in this," Lyra muttered, looking at Shin, who was shouting at the top of his lungs. ". . . You thief, where are you hiding?" After a couple of minutes, Elior stopped Shin, as a light bulb flashed in his head. "Wait a minute, Shin," he said. "I don''t think your voice can reach more than five hundred metres." ''''But that as far as I can yell, Brother Elior." "I know, and I have a solution for it as well," Elior said as he closed his eyes. He made a few hand signs as a translucent magic circle appeared in front of Shin. "You can cast spells too?" Lyra was flabbergasted. It appeared Elior was more unfathomable than she had assumed. Elior smiled, opening his eyes. His perception was not enough to create the spell easily, yet after putting in a little effort, he succeeded. "It''s just a child''s trick," he said. "But what does it do?'''' Shin asked. "It''s an amplifying circle," Scarlett said from behind, recognising the magic circle. "It could help your voice reach a couple of kilometres easily." "Really," Shin said in the circle as the voice reverberated in the surrounding woods. That earned a smack on his head from Lyra as she was standing in front of him and got her ears almost deaf. "Sorry," Shin apologised immediately. ''''Well, Shin put your golden mouth to work," Elior said. Even though this spell was nothing big, it took quite an amount of mana that he did not have plenty in the first place. Shin nodded as he started again, and all of them did not forget to block their ears. "Renal, you thieving bastard, did you hide in your mama''s womb? Come to daddy quickly and get your ass whipped. You cheater, dimwit fool, how dare you to take first place. If you have guts, come to your daddy now." After a moment, the two twins joined in the cursing as well. "Renal, come I''ll make your face even uglier than your ass after the whipping." Sarvat laughed out in the magic circle. Now it''s Sarrat''s time. "Renal, you don''t deserve your place. I will make you dance naked in front of the fiends." "You guys are going overboard," Shin said. "Even if he is a bastard, a dickhead, you can not make him dance naked in front of the monster. Even if you did not think about him, you have to worry a little about the monsters. They did not deserve that." Princess Scarlett laughed from behind. "Mopher, that seems so funny," she said. "I wanted to try it too." Black lines appeared on the forehead of Mopher the moment he heard that. "No, Your Highness, you can''t," he cried. ''''It is way below your dignity." "You are always so boring," Scarlett said. Meanwhile, the cursing continued for a while until an enraged voice came from ahead. This was what they were waiting for. "DO YOU WANT TO DIE?'''' ___________________________ Next Chapter: Bottom Line. Give power stones if you like Shin''s cursing(I tried to stay away from using any Bleeping words, how''s your thought on that?). XD. Bonus chapter Goal: 50PS for 1 Chapter 100 PS for 2 200 PS for 4 400 Ps for 8 and so on. And if you want further, give a good review of the book to satisfy my narcissistic EGO. Chapter 16 - Bottom Line "DO YOU WANT TO DIE?'''' An enraged voice roared through the woods. "It actually worked," said the stunned half-elf. On the other hand, Shin was in no mood for stopping, even though they found what they were looking for. He yelled in the magic circle again. "At last you have shown yourself, Renal, you moron. But is that the way you talk to your daddy? Come quickly, I''ll make sure you learn manners well." "Fu*k you, bastard," the voice roared again. "Just you wait." "Come to daddy and get some spanking. Hehe," Shin finally stopped when the magic circle dissolved in the air. Elior revolved the mana inside him and prepared himself. The spell took away almost half of his 130 mana points. ''Well, it should not be hard,'' he thought. Looking at him, everyone else also prepared themselves except the wilful princess, Scarlett. It did not take long for Renal, the top runner of the trial, to arrive, and as they had expected, he brought a mob of a dozen people with him as well. Boys and girls of their ages stood behind him like obedient soldiers. "Who among you is cursing at my name?" the one standing in the lead asked. It was probably the leader, Renal. He was a boy of respectable height and handsome face. His hair was long and blonde, fair-skinned, but Elior''s attention was not on him. His gaze moved behind Renal, to a girl with chestnut hair. It was none other than Ileana, but now she was standing behind in silence. It appeared she did not even recognise him. And she was not the only one. A few more girls stood with similar lost expressions on. However, the boys were not like that. They had an enthusiastic face discovering so many preys together. "Ileana, can you hear me?" Elior asked, looking at the chestnut-haired girl. Ileana in response, looked at him, but her expression was still lost. It seemed she recognised her name, but now him. "Elior, is that the friend you are looking for?" Lyra asked. Elior nodded, but his entire attention was on Ileana. It seemed she was under some charm spell. The similer lost expression on the other girl made him think that. "Ileana, what happened to you?" he asked again. "Can you recognise me?" "El . . ." the girl under the spell mumbled, confusingly. A faint remembrance was arousing in her mind, but the blonde boy, Renal, stepped in front of her, masking Elior. "So you know her, do you?" Renal said, raising an eyebrow. "No matter, she was not the one you know from before. Now she was nothing but an attendant under me. I have to tell you, though she is from a lower world, she is quite talented," he added, putting his arm on Ileana''s shoulder. "And quite beautiful too." Veins on Elior''s pulse popped. The anger he was containing inside him after the regression was breaking loose. His teeth clashed. "You fu*king bastard," he said in a tone as cold as ice. "I will give you a chance. Break that spell on her and everyone else before I smash that bloody head of yours." There was no stopping it. On the list of the things, he hated the most, capturing someone else''s mind against their will was top of it. And more, this bastard was holding females against their will, not to mention in them was his dearest friend, Ileana. That was his bottom line. He would not go against his belief, and would let no one go against it in front of him. Doesn''t matter who it is. "Say what?" Renal eyed him mockingly. "Do you know what you are up against?" "Doesn''t matter." His jaw throbbed and his eyes narrowed. Renal did not reply to him, but gazed at the half-elf, then to Scarlett. "Two more here to add to my collection. Wait a minute I saw the redhead chick before, she was the only one I failed to capture. No matter, this time I won''t fail." "Bastard," Mopher was about to jump at the guy, disrespecting the princess, but Scarlett stopped him. "Your highness, why?" Scarlett did not answer, just looked at the scene with great interest. "Brother Elior, what should we do?" Shin asked Elior, even Lyra was waiting for the command. "Just delay all the girls to approach me for a while," Elior answered, brandishing the spear with mana. "But can you stop them? There were a lot of them, you know?" Lyra asked hesitantly. "Trust me," Elior said, stepping forward. He said with arrogance and confidence, "They don''t stand a chance." "Look at the arrogance of this ignorant fool," one of the boys behind Renal said. "Let me deal with him, Master Renal. Getting approval from Renal, the boy rushed towards Elior, brandishing his sword. While Shin and Lyra invested in the battle, too. Even the twin siblings helping him deal with all the female contestants. Elior did not standstill. He met the sword of his opponent. Swiftly within a couple of moves, he put the fellow down. Renal seemed to take an interest in the matter. He was still resting his arm on Ileana''s shoulder and gestured to a few others to make a move on Elior. "Your highness, why don''t we help them?" Mopher could not help but ask Scarlett, who was concentrating on the battle with an amused expression. "Not now,'' she said. "If they lose you can help them, let''s see how this goes on," Lyra strangled a couple of girls with her strings, disabling them from any frantic movement. She stayed away from causing any severe injury to them. If she was unlucky, her state might have been like them. While Shin was hugging one and fighting with another one. Even though it appeared he was struggling to keep up with the moves, he was not complaining. It was the closest contact he made with a person of the opposite gender. The twin siblings were not as forgiving as Shin or Lyra, but they still decided to not use any fetal move on those girls. Even with all their effort, a girl wearing a breastplate and an arming sword rushed towards Elior. With her were a few other males encircled Elior. Elior let out a breath, shaking his head. He dodged the swing of the sword from the female and arrived in front of the male. He was not so forgiving to the boy, with only a couple of slashes of his spear blood sprayed in the air. The boy cried in agony. This is what happens when you follow the wrong lord. The female swordsman came again; with her were two other males. Elior tried his best to not harm the female, he dodged her blow while dealing with the other two. Elior had to say, she was far better than some guys he fought here, and he seemed to recognise her as well. If he was not wrong, her name should be Lara, a fellow earthling. She came from the earth just like him to take part in trial zero. He did not have many contacts with Lara in his first time, barely knew her. But as far as his memory goes, he knew she was an outstanding guardian that succeeded in the fifth advancement--quite an achievement for any earthling. No; it was an achievement for anyone. Elior did not linger on the memory of the past. This was quite taxing to his current body. He felt quite exhausted, but it was far from his limit. "Stupid," Scarlett said from behind. "Why are you so hell-bent on protecting girls, just do something to stop her." Her words entered Elior''s ears, but he put no ears to it. He had not taken a single hit from anyone here, and he would keep it that way. Within a dozen more seconds, he was able to bring down the two guys. Now only the female swordsman, Lara, left. Elior looked straight at her in the eyes with cold eyes. She came at him with the lost expression on and made a move on him. Surprising to her, Elior did not dodge this time. He caught the blade with a swift left arm. He did not forget to coat mana or it would splash blood now. "Fight it," he said, eyeing straight at hers. "You are better than this." A faint recollection hit Lara when she heard his voice, though she was still far away from freeing herself from the spell. She bit her lips until blood came out of them. She was fighting against the foreign will that was anaesthetized her mind. "That one is a fighter," Renal said. Now he was not so relaxed. He brought out his silver sword from the sheath. "It was quite a hassle to charm her, and now she fought her way out of it. "No matter, I just need to finish some insects then I will charm her again." ___________________ 5 reviews (from different individual) = 2 bonus chapters. 10 reviews = 4 bonus chapters. 25 reviews = 8 bonus chapters. Chapter 17 - Awakening Elior let go of the sword, noticing Lara regained her will. Her face was pale and blood was dripping from her lips. She wanted to apologise to Elior or thank him, but the person she was looking at had his entire attention on the top runner of the trial. Lara decided to step back and help the others ward off other participants. "Tell me, do you have any strength left to fight me?" Renal asked Elior as he crept towards him. Elior said nothing. He gazed at the silver sword in the arms of renal. His experience as a Mana Engineer told him this was a weapon that could at least be off the third order. Meaning only guardians above level 100 could bring out its full potential. It appeared whoever Renal''s daddy was; he used quite a sum for him to enter the trial with such a weapon. It would be a little harder than he thought. He had exhausted his mana fighting off others, even his body was fatigued. He took advantage of the short time Renal wasted on his dramatic walk to invest all 12 of his free attribute points on intelligence. The 130 points of mana turned into 250 with 120 points to spare at the moment. It should be enough to deal with a trash like this. On that note, Elior infused mana into the tip of his spear. Cold light flickered a little in the two weapons as they met each other. Elior had the experience of a decade, where Renal was swifter, stronger and more mana; not to say about the treasured sword. Even a toothless child could tell who had the upper hand in the battle. But Elior was not of the kind that backed down from a challenge. He used all his skill, swift movement in this battle. "What is it?" Renal tried to taunt. "Can''t go further with your minuscule ability?" "Do I need to use all my ability to deal with a human-faced trash like you?" Elior replied with narrowed eyes. "Tell me actually, what you seemed to achieve playing in a league that was meant for the lower world, and that too with a gang of participants and a weapon way over the league?. Did it feel good to trample over kids¡ªthe ones have no foundation in mana usage?" Coldness flashed in the top runner''s eyes. "It is not something a fool like you could understand," he hissed in malevolence. "You are nothing but a human skinned trash," Elior did not rest there. "Tell me, what do you even amount to on your own without any help from your daddy?" Renal''s face turned red, hearing the abuse. He worked up every bit of his strength and mana in his next attack. The silver sword moved in finesse. Elior blocked it with his spear, but his basic equipment was three leagues lower than Renal''s silver sword. The spearhead broke with the impact of the sword. Renal gave a satisfied grin. "You are nothing but trash from the lower world. Do you see the difference in our strength?" "Just when it was getting exciting," Scarlett complained from behind. She eyed Renal and Elior, then to Mopher. "Mopher, would you give your sword to him for a while." "At you your command, your Highness," Mopher said. He left Scarlett to walk next to Elior. But before he could give his sword to Elior, he was stopped. "Thanks, but no thanks," Elior said. "I don''t need it." "Am I fighting such a retard guy?" Renal laughed loudly. "At least take the sword. It might make me use more of my muscles." Mopher waited there, but Elior put no mind to him. He eyed Renal. "Trash of the Mother world," he said. "Do you have any mana left to continue?" Elior''s question flabbergasted Renal. As the weapon was way over his league, it took all his mana in the last swing. It appeared his opponent taunted him consciously, so that he would use all his mana recklessly. He had to say it was quite a good plan, but not enough to stop him. Renal smiled and looked at Ileana. "Give me your best buff." Ileana nodded, as she was still under the spell. Lights appeared in her palms, then it shot directly towards Renal. Elior frowned. He could notice Ileana had some buffing ability that not only helped strengthen the body, but it also recovered the mana sooner. And that was not all. Renal gave a mocking smile, bringing out a vial of mana recovery potion. It was of the lowest level that he was rewarded in the trial, but it would be able to recover half of his mana in seconds. "How does it feel when you see your friend''s ability is working against you?" Renal mocked. He was waiting for his mana to recover more. Elior tilted his head. His eyes were narrowed and cold. "Looks like I have to convince you further," he said, walking towards Renal. Arrogant as anyone ever was. "Your abilities; whatever ability you have, count shit in my eyes. Didn''t you talk about the difference in ability? "I will let you see a faint bit of my ability." Elior''s eyes glowed with coldness. He walked in leisure towards Renal. Renal did not put any mind to Elior''s blabbering, nor did he need to; he was stronger than before with the Buff. He swung his sword again, but his opponent ducked even before, like Elior knew where he would attack next. Elior did not attack. He even let go of the broken spear. Swings and dodges continued for a short while until Elior caught Renal''s arm¡ªthe one that held the sword. "Watch closely," Elior said with a tilted head. Elior did not let go of his opponent''s palm. Shockwaves and vibrations formed in between the contacts at the very moment. Then a faint light pulsed and in the next moment, Renal''s palm was gone. The top runner howled in pain, dropping to the ground. Fountain of scarlet blood sprayed in the air and the flesh and bone turned into dust. "What just happened?" Lyra asked, confusingly. A moment ago she saw Elior was holding Renal''s palm and in the next moment, his entire arm was gone. It was not just her. Shin, the twin sibling, even the two people from the Mauhar Empire, were stunned. They did not have the faintest idea what just transpired. [Congratulations! You have awakened the Abstraction of Void LVL 1.] Among Guardians, some of them stood apart from the crowd. Those who possess an ability that set them apart from the crowd. Like in his previous time, Shin at his peak could call forth storms, make tornados out of thin air. That was his ability, manipulating the weather. While Elior''s ability was this. It was the power of the void itself. The last time he had awakened it after his third-class advancement, and it was the ability that redefined him and stood him at the peak of the world. That single attack he made on Renal consumed every single bit of his mana. That was not all, his mana circuit was damaged just because he pulled this ability on such a low level. Even the blood in his veins was shaking. Well, the result was just as he had imagined. There was no sign of the arm. It burst into thin air into millions of fragments. Even at just LVL 1, this ability was deadlier than anything, even though all it could do was distort the space. Elior thought he could do it without much problem. He did ward off most of the damage towards his opponent, but drawing the shock waves with his right arm, made it jiggle. It was still trembling. He wasted no more time to bring out the minor recovery potion from his leather coat. Warm energy spread to his right arm where most of the damage was done. His mana circuit that was raging soothed with the warm energy. Even his mana was recovering fast. He finally sighed in relief. Even a minor recovery potion was worth quite large credits, but he did not feel it was a waste. The silver sword was in his arm. His power was not strong enough to destroy an artifact of this level, nor did he try to. When Renel''s arm burst into millions splinter, Elior caught it. He walked nonchalantly towards the poor guy without one arm on the ground, struggling like a fish out of the water. He walked close to him and stooped just before him. Elior stooped towards the poor guy''s face and said, "As I said, a trash like you amount shit to me." "You," Renal said with a tone of crying, agonising, and enraging. "How dare you? Do you know who am I? Do you know who my father is?" Elior shook his head. "Tell me." "You¡ª" "Tell me, " Elior said. "Your father is just as condemned as you for not teaching you well. No matter, I will do it in his place. "Listen up, you piece of trash. If I ever saw or heard you abusing your power to hold anyone, especially women, against their will, I''ll make you a limbless beggar on the street. Even other beggars will feel pity for you." Renal shuddered in fear. The eyes that looked at him like a piece of garbage, nothing else, announced that. And he believed that. Elior nodded at his silence. He stopped further and put his palm inside the armless guy''s cloak. Inside, he found all the tokens he needed. Over two thousand of tokens were bound into bundles of hundred. Elior was not so forgiving, took away all of them with no pity ________________________________ This is the first OP moment. Review the book for bonus chapters. 5 reviews for 4 bonus chapters. 10 reviews for 8 Bonus chapters. Chapter 18 - End Of Trial Zero . "El," Ileana said, bursting into tears. She was finally out of the spell, but she remembered what transpired in between when she was charmed. Elior sighed, walking up to her and hugged her softly. "It''s alright," he whispered into her ears. Rubbing her hair softly he said, "You are alright." Elior could feel Ileana was extremely traumatised by what happened to her. In this four days, she was just like a slave under the spell, and there''s no need to mention how something like that damaged a person. On the contrary, Lara was in better state than Ileana or maybe she was hiding it. "Elior, what did you do to that guy?" Shin asked. "I don''t know what, but it was really cool." They all come closer to him after the fighting was done. While the other girls that were under control before were still panicked. They are all traumatised and worse, they did not have anyone to reassure them. "The trial is about to end," Elior said, looking at all of them. "Let''s distribute the tokens first." "Elior, we don''t need it," Lyra said. "We already have plenty after we took all from the males." The twin siblings agreed with that as well, nodded their heads heavily. The girls under the spell did not have a single token with them, while Renal''s underlings¡ªeach had a hundred tokens with them. "Yes, brother, you don''t have to give me any," Shin still addressed him as a brother. "Well, even if you give me, this greedy elf would take away everything from me." Lyra snorted. "I don''t need any more, I''m already satisfied with the result." "Shut up and just take it," Elior handed four bundles of tokens, each holding a hundred to Shin, bringing his ranking within the top 10. Shin was a little embarrassed, but he took it, poking it towards the half-elf. But Lyra was good at her words, she did not take any more. Elior moved in front of the traumatised females. There were six of them, leaving Lara and Ileana. "I can give each one of you a bundle. It would be enough for you to pass the trial," he said. "Do you want to be a guardian?" In the end, these are all teenagers, who only know of the glory of the Guardians, not the struggle behind it. They still stood or sat like stone statues. Some were even crying. "I can''t lie to you," Elior continued. "Being a Guardian is hard. You might face this type of situation more, but you will get a chance to grow as well. And you will live a life not just for yourself but for the entire humanity. Just take it, you can always give up if you want." Elior gave each of the six girls a bundle of tokens then moved to his two other girls. He still had 13 more bundles of tokens. He did not need all of them to be first, it''s better to distribute them to everyone. "Ileana, do you want to be a guardian?" He asked. Ileana was still lost. She stopped crying a moment ago, but her expression was still among dark clouds. "I don''t know," she said. "But give me one." "You can have more," said Elior. He nodded, giving her 4 of them, then moved towards Lara, who was sitting on the ground, and seemed like she was reflecting on her performance. "You are from the earth as well," Elior said. He need about 6 bundles or less to be the first of the trial so he gave the other three to her. "Here, take it." Lara shook her head. "Just give me one, I don''t deserve more." "It''s good to reflect on your fault, but here it isn''t yours. That guy was well above his league to take part in this trial. You could do nothing to stop him." Lara nodded, though she still looked unconvinced. In the end, she only took one bundle from him. Elior did not push further. Looking at the rising sun, he muttered, "It''s about the time it ends." [Trial zero will end in two minutes. Advising all the candidates to be prepared. The final evaluation will take place in the summoning room.] As Elior guessed it, the notification came, announcing the end of the trial. "So this is goodbye," Lyra said. She was not from Earth, so they would not be able to meet each other. "Seems so," Shin replied. "I will really miss you, Sister Elf." "But I will not," Lyra snorted at Shin. "Still so cold," Shin joked. Then the final merit list appeared in front of everyone''s eye. [Congratulations to every candidate who passed the Trial. You all will be Guardian Apprentice from now on.] [Final Merit List: 1. Elior - 1178 tokens. 2. Leroy - 791 tokens. 3. Lyra - 612 Tokens. 4. Chainz- 500 tokens. 5. Unknown - 425 tokens. 6. Ileana - 400 tokens. . . . 23. Sarrat: 289 tokens. 23. Sarvat - 289 tokens . . . 177. Scarlett - 100 tokens 177. Mopher - 100 tokens 177. Lara - 100 tokens.] "Wow, I came in last," Scarlett chuckled. "But, why do you look so happy being last?" Shin asked, confused. "Maybe because she is a little crazy in her head," Elior added from the side. Scarlett snorted at Elior. "Do you think if I tried, you would be able to come first?" she said. "If I wanted, I could win it the very first day, but this trial is below me. It''s would only be me bullying the poor contestant if I do that." "You can try it if you want." Elior put no ear to her words. Even though it was not bragging, especially coming from the Princess herself. "Did not you see what happened to the other guy?" "Are you challenging me?" Scarlett asked, eyes glued to Elior. "N,, I''m not. I did not challenge you, and do not want to do anything with you," Elior said, and it was the truth. "Funny," just as Scarlett said that, her legs moved like a bolt of lightning. The next moment, she appeared just before Elior, only a couple of inches before his face. Scarlett was quite tall for a fifteen years old girl, almost reaching shoulder to shoulder with Elior. She did not do a thing, just stared at him. "Then why do I see fear in your eyes?" "Fear? You are mistaken," Elior answered with a deadpan expression. "This is the expression I made when I''m annoyed." "Pfft," Scarlett laughed, removing the eye contact with him. "You are funny." "I get that a lot." Scarlet eyed him again, smiling. "See you at the next trial. I won''t be lenient then." "No, I won''t see you in the next trial.." before Elior could finish his sentence, flickering light emerged from everyone as they teleported from the wilderness of the trial. Chapter 19 - Rewards (1) Elior blinked twice, shaking his head. Teleportation causes some nausea at low levels. At the end of four days of trial, he felt quite tired. He had exhausted his poor body more than twice in the test. Now he was more relaxed and lay down on the floor, exhaling a deep breath. The silver sword that he took from Renal was with him as well. It was a delightful addition, though he did not prefer sword as his weapon. He was in the summoning room again and found the little pixie hovering in the air lazily. But this time she was looking at a piercing gaze as if wanted to see his very being. "Oh right, I won the bet," Elior laughed with all his teeth. "Congratulate me please." Yemrmix''s lips hung open like she was having a problem conversing. "I think you may have broken the all-time record of the trial zero." "No big deal," Elior smiled nonchalantly. Trial zero was nothing compared to the actual test where your life was on the line. "No big deal?" the little pixie''s lips twitched hearing the human''s word. "You just beat the previous highest record holder by a few dozen times, and you are saying it is no big deal." "How so?" he asked. He became quite curious. Even if he beat all the previous record holders, it should not be enough to beat them by even a dozen times, much less a few dozen. "Are they that incompetent?" "They are not incompetent, you are just strange," Yemrmix glared at him. "Check your status window first. I''ll calculate the credits you would be rewarded. It''s a fu*king mess." Elior nodded and opened his status window. There was quite some progress, but nothing alarmed him. ___________________________ [Name: Elior Title: Guardian Apprentice. Locked. Race: Human Alignment: Neutral, Chaos. Age: 16 Class: None Level: 13 Health: 80 Mana: 250 Strength: 6 Agility: 10 Dexterity: 11 Constitution: 8 Endurance: 5 Intelligence: 25 Perception: 10 Luck: 19 Free stat points: 0 Abilities: -Eye of Genesis (Unknown) -Abstraction of Void (Unique) LVL 1. Skills: -Spearmanship LVL 7. -Mana Application LVL 6 -Focus LVL 9. -Archery LVL 4. -Spell Mastery above LVL 3 (Need more evaluation) -Meditation LVL 9. - Guardian Credits: 0] __________________ He saw some growth in all the attributes, physical or mental. Elior had not wasted much time in the trial. It was plausible that his attributes grew. When his eyes moved to the tab where skills were mentioned figured out how he beat all the previous record holders by dozens of margin. In the trial, they get rewards for every possible thing that helps a guardian in their way that include levelling up and growth of skills too. There was no possible way for anyone to level up his skills in this short time of four days. In that short time, be it spearmanship, Mana applications, focus or anything, had levelled up more than it was possible. Elior had turned off the translucent massage because it was annoying to look at every time new information came. He left it like only the important message would be delivered to him. And the growth of skills was not important to him, so he did not know his skill grew this much. Any average person would take at least a decade to grow this much skill. Any average person would take at least a decade to grow this much skill. But not Elior. He was not your average person, not to say his rich battle experience of his past life. "Finally, I am done calculating rewards for you," Yemrmix finally stopped with her calculation. And then notification after notification showered in front of Elior. [Congratulations to Guardian Apprentice Elior for coming first in the trial.] [You are awarded the title: Sweeper of the Trial zero. With this title you will get some benefit in the next trial.] "Sweeper of the Trial Zero," Elior could not but laugh out. "There was such a thing." He recalled he just joked about it with Yemrmix, and now it turned into a title. No matter, at least it would give something¡ªhe would accept it all. [2 free attribute points are awarded. [Additional 2 free attribute points are awarded as the top performer of the trial.] [100 credits are awarded for learning Archery LVL 1.] [200 credits are awarded for learning Archery LVL 2.] [. . . ] [800 credits are awarded for learning Archery LVL 4.] [100 credits are awarded for learning Spearmanship LVL 1.] [12800 credits are awarded for learning Spearmanship LVL 7.] [500 credits are awarded for learning Mana Application LVL 1.] [32000 credits are awarded for learning Mana Application LVL 6.] [4000 credits are awarded for learning Spell mastery LVL 3.] [. . .] Elior almost bored himself reading all the text appearing in his retina. Each credit for a skill doubled for the next level, while not all skills begin with the same number of credits. It was based on the importance of skills. For Spearmanship LVL 1 he was awarded 200 credits, but for Mana Application Level 1 he got 500. It was clearly biased towards certain contestants, but it was quite fair to all contestants. Like why would you not want a contestant that has performed exceptionally well? This was the system the 7 deities made together that heavily rewarded exceptional guardian candidates. Though humans did not forget to take advantage of anything or any loophole. Like how Renal, Scarlett and Mopher appeared in the test. Awards for learning skills finally finished. Then he was awarded for the ability and Elior became quite dumbfounded seeing that. [0 credits are awarded for awakening the Eye of Genesis.] [1000000 credits are awarded for awakening the unique ability: Abstraction of Void.] "Hey, Yemrmix, why were there no points for the Eye of Genesis?" Elior asked curiously. He had no recollection of an ability like that. He never even heard about it in his previous life, but now he was the owner of it. There seemed to be a mystery behind it. "I have no idea," Yemrmix answered flatly. "The system has no information on it, so you get nothing." "Sweet," Elior mocked. And he couldn''t do anything other than mocking. The notification started again. [8000 credits for breaking the charm spell on 8 females.] [8000 credits are awarded for helping other contestants.] "You know, I don''t really like gaining money for this kind of thing," he said. "But I will take it." It was the way the system tells the guardian to do good to others, but Elior really did not like being credited for doing what his heart desires. But he would accept that. But the next notification was hard for him to accept. There were few things wrong in the system. [1000 credits are withheld for severely injuring fellow participants.] Elior snorted, but did not complain, not because it was only a small sum, but because it would achieve nothing. [117800 credits are awarded for collecting 1178 trial tokens.] [Guardian Apprentice Elior had earned In total 1298400 credits for the trial.] [Adding a multiplier of 10 to the credits for coming in first in the trial.] [Total Guardian Credits: 12984000] "Over Twelve million credit," Yemrmix flew closer to him and said. "Even most contestants of trial one or two did not earn this much." Elior''s interest was somewhere else. "So I get 10 multipliers for coming in first," Elior frowned. He did not know this before. "Is it only for the first trial or more?" "It is only for Trial Zero, One and Two. Moreover, not just the first percipant gets the multiplier; all in the top 5 get multiplier. But it is not as much as being first. For example, the second place gets 6 times, and third place 4 times, and the last two-three times and two times, respectively." Yemrmix answered. Elior nodded in understanding. He never even came closer to the top ten in the first three trials. All the trials heavily depended on combat strength, while in the first part of his previous time, he was only a Mana Engineer, specialised in crafting. His legend only grew after his third-class advancement when he chose something other than an auxiliary class. In this time he won''t make that mistake again. "So give me the other prize if left," Elior commented. "I still need to buy a few things." "The credits are just some money to use on yourself. The real awards are now," the Pixie said. "The top ten of the trial are given a chance to choose one item from this list." As Yemrmix finished her sentence, a list appeared in a translucent window. [1. Box of Luck 2. Unknown Treasure Chest 3. Ability according to the contestant''s choosing (Below Unique) 4. Water of Beginning - Five Droplets 5. Rosechar''s Ring 6. Body Cleansing Potions 5x 7. Skills according to the contestant''s choosing (Below Unique) 8. 0.5 sq. metre block of dimension pocket. 9. 1 million guardian credits. 10. A Third Order Mana Stone.] Elior gasped. The rewards were better than he had expected. He knew most of them apart from the Rosechar''s Ring. "I can only choose one," Elior felt a little pity. The Box of luck depended on luck and so was the treasure chest, though it was guaranteed to have some treasure in it. Then came the Ability¡ªit was quite tempting even though it was below Unique level. There was some very useful ability even in the normal and special tag. Compared to that, skills held little regard to Elior. Probably because he already had the skills, he needs and for stuff, he won''t be satisfied under Unique. Water of beginning was another useful thing as important as the ability. It was a key ingredient for some important potions. Body cleansing potion, Dimension Poket and mana stone are things that could be easily found with enough credits. So Elior looked at the Ring. "Can I see the details about the ring?" "You can not." Elior sighed.. "Then give me the Water of beginning." Chapter 20 - Rewards (2) "Then give me the Water of beginning." In the end, Elior chose the Water of Beginning. The Ability was good, but he had to wait for the future, and besides, he had his hands full with the Abstraction of Void. Mastering the ability would not be easy even if he had the experience of past life. Getting more ability would only delay his progress further. The water of Beginning was the key ingredient for a potion that would be extremely beneficial to him. All he needed now was to find a few other key ingredients and make a connection to a dear friend who was also a brilliant alchemist. "The item would be delivered to you in two days," Yemrmix said. "And now for the last reward. It is the best reward I have seen in such a low-level trial." "What?" Elior was a little startle. Why he was getting such great rewards from the lowest level of trial? Though he was not complaining. "There is still more." "If it was a usual case, there should not be more, but this time it was a special case." the pixie flew around his head and continued. "For coming first in the trial zero, Guardian Apprentice Elior is awarded a legendary Class, Knight of Faith." Just as Yemrmix finished her phrase, the information about the class Knight of Faith appeared before his eyes. Elior frowned at the instance. [Class: Knight of Faith. Grade: Legendary In ancient times there was an order of Knights called Knight of Faith. They were like the apostle of the Deities. The champion of the seven Deities. Even then, very few could be chosen as knights of Faith. There are many legends about the Knight of Faith, and in all of them, they fight for the good. They are the arch-enemy of Chaos Fiend and the Father of Chaos. Abilities: -The Knight of Faith is a class closely related to the deities and faith. The further the faith and belief, the faster the guardian will grow. - Transcendence level resistance against any unholy attribute, curse, poison. - Light of Faith: Knight of Faith has the attribute of Light. They grow twice as fast as any other light attribute class. - Faith sacrifice: Knight of Faith could use some of the Deities'' faith power in the battle against evil. - After each advancement, the guardian could not change their class. The abilities grow further after each advancement.] "Why did you go silent?" the pixie said with a smirk. "You did not think there would be such a reward, right?" "Is this the reason why Renal and the princess of the Mauhar Empire entered the trial?" Elior asked, exhaling a deep breath. "Probably," Yemrmix said. "I think they don''t know the exact reward but should have gotten leaked news from somewhere." "Well, it doesn''t matter anymore," Elior said. "I don''t want this class. Can you compensate me with something else?" "What?" the pixie cried. "Are you out of your mind? Didn''t you read? It is a legendary class. Even people would go crazy if it was a unique class, much less it was a legendary class. Do you know the growth of a guardian depends on the level of Class, like a legendary class like this would grow at least 3 times if not more than a normal class?" "I know," Elior said in annoyance. Who could know better than himself about this legendary class other than him? It was his sixth class, after all. None knows better about it than him. That was the reason also he was reluctant to advance to a knight of Faith. Yes, it was a legendary class that would give him the power he needed, but he had to sacrifice a lot for this. He thought this class as a trap that would bind him again with the Deities again. He would lose his freedom with too many things that needed to be done, and being a Knight of Faith would only shackle him more. ''I won''t make the same mistake again,'' he thought, ''I won''t bound myself with the deities, even if it was my Godmother.'' "People would go crazy if they know about this," the Pixie muttered. "They would even laugh at you." "Let them laugh," Elior said. "But I won''t be shackled by anything." Elior might have chosen for this class if not for those shackles, as he was extremely familiar with its abilities. But he could not let himself bind again. "So is it possible to get a refund for this class?" Elior asked again. "No," Yemrmix said, shaking her head. "This is a reward for the trial. If you reject this, you get nothing." "I guessed that much," Elior nodded, having no second thoughts or regrets about the class. "Fine, then." "I don''t get you human," the Pixie frowned at him again. "Now tell me what you want?''" Elior was lost for a moment, then recalled about the bet. "Oh, about the wager," he said, with a wondering expression. "To be honest, I haven''t thought about it." "I guess you would not be satisfied with anything of low level. A human who rejects legendary class," Yemrmix said with a snort. "Think fast, your time here will end soon." "Right." Elior put his mind to work and came up with some options like asking Yemrmix to create a meeting with his godmother, but decided it was not time for it. He could ask for other things like wealth, artefacts but do not hold much appreciation from him. "Let''s just delay it further." In the end, he chose nothing. He made the bet with her on a whim. He had no idea what he needed the most at the moment. Elior made a mental note to think about that when he returned to earth. "Fine then," the little pixie agreed. "Did not you say you wanted to buy something?" "Yes," Elior nodded. "I needed a Mana Engineer''s kit. How does it cost again?" "The basic one?" Yemrmix asked. Seeing the nod from Elior, she continued, "It''s about 6 million credits. Should I make the purchase?" "Wait a minute," Elior said. He had close to 13 million credits and could earn more with his ability. There was no need to buy just the basic level kit. "How about you cancel all the basic helping items, and purchase the only important things," he said. "And change the rune handler to an advanced one." "Are you sure? Using advanced equipment with your lower level was quite tricky." "Just tell me the price." Elior asked with annoyance. How could he not know how difficult it would be? Even though he had not reached the level of Grandmaster in Mana engineering in his past life, he was not far from there. All he lacked was time to cultivate it. "I was just asking out of my goodwill," Yemrmix snorted cutely. She calculated the price within the translucent window again. "It''s nine million and seven hundred thousand credits. The Advance Rune Handler itself cost 8 million credits." "Make the purchase." "It will also be delivered within two working days," the pixie added in a business-like voice. "Anything else you need?" Elior thought for a moment and said, "Body Cleansing potion. Give me three of them." One for him, and the other two for Ileana and Shin. His only worry was that those two are stupid enough to choose the body cleansing potion through the rewards for coming in the top ten. "Three body cleansing potion worth one and a half million credits. Should I confirm the purchase?" "Yes," Elior nodded. With this, He could clean the path of mana, blood vessels and his entire body clean of impurity. Though it was far from the perfect thing, it was better than nothing. With the help of this potion, he could skip at least two months of practice. "Anything else? Elior shook his head and looked at the sword in his arm, the one he took from Renal. He could not take it with him by teleportation. "Deliver this with the items as well," he said, pointing towards the sword. "Five thousand is the charge for the delivery." The pixie nodded. "Your time here is almost over. Goodbye, strange Human." "Good bye, Yemrmix," Elior said. "Be seeing you." Light emerged after that, and Elior was transported back to the earth. __________________ The opening act ends here, and back to Earth again. If you did not like the story till now, you probably won''t like it in the future. This is not an antihero, edgelord story, but about a boy (or man should I say, considering his mental age) overcoming his fear, fighting for others. His personality is flawed, but that was a given nobody''s perfect. But you can still stick around because there will be more comedy, character growth, stupid romance and good fight scenes. Power stone goal for bonus chapter: 50 power stones for one bonus chapter. 100 for 2; 200 for 4 and so on. And 5 reviews for 4 bonus chapters, 10 for 8. thank you for reading. Chapter 21 - The Institute (1) Elior opened his eyes with nauseousness again. Shaking his head a couple of times heavily, he found he was still inside the bus. Ileana had not awakened yet, not anyone else. Roan, the man who entertained them first, could be seen conversing with someone else. He seemed to notice Elior''s awakening, looked at him and asked, "How did your Trial go?" It appeared they have not received the result of the trial yet. Well, it had not been long since the trial ended. "I passed," Elior answered nonchalantly, rubbing his forehead. All the tiredness of the four-day trial washed over him. "Good job," Roan said. "It appears you are quite tired. We will be arriving at the Institute soon. You will have a proper room to rest." Elior nodded and leaned back in the seat, closing his eyes. He did not sleep, knowing they would reach the institute in a few minutes. Other folks woke up one by one. Some of them were in quite a good mood, conversing with themselves about their success. While some stayed silent with a lost expression. Those were the ones that failed the test and got their memory wiped. They could feel that they had lost something but could not pinpoint what. "El," Ileana whispered in his ears. Elior opened his eyes and saw the chestnut-haired girl was looking at him, biting her lips. It appeared she was better than before. ''Probably hiding it,'' he thought, knowing Ileana''s nature. But he did not question that topic now. It was time for that yet. "Are you feeling well?" He asked. Ileana nodded in response. "You looked quite weary, though," he said in a joking tone. "Even your makeup got faded." Ileana smiled a little, pouting. The Bus stooped after a few minutes and they were asked to leave. A lady of middle age and a man in his early thirties welcomed them. The middle-aged lady with a fairly good-looking face took the girls, and the man took the boys and moved in the same direction. They collected more boys and girls from other buses as well. It appeared all the buses has not arrived yet. Only three so far, holding about sixty people. Gaining the attention of everyone, the lady opened her mouth. "I know, all of you are quite tired, so I will make it quick," she said, looking not only to the girl but also to the boys. "Some of you passed the trial, congratulations to them, and those that failed might think, it''s unfortunate or unfair or may not have any idea. . . ." Elior did not put his ears to what the lady was saying. His eyes gazed around and found the familiar buildings ahead. It was the Guardian Institution of earth. One of the most secure places on earth, though Elior put away that thought. It was the centermost part of the Safe Haven, on the first ring. The Safe Haven was created after the tremendous attack of Chaos Fiends two decades ago. It was divided into six rings, the centre most ring as the most secure, and the outer sixth ring being the vanguard. The allocation of homes is depended on the citizenship level. And citizenship level is dependent on the primary source of income of the family. So it was mostly by profession. How much the person was important to the society¡ªwas the scale to measure the citizenship level. Like the guardians, politicians, entrepreneurs, singers and superstars get home on the first ring. Then the normal people were divided into the other five rings by their rank of citizenship. Elior''s family lived on the third ring. With his father being a doctor, his family was quite well off, able to maintain a home of the third ring. With him being an apprentice Guardian, they will get a chance to raise their citizenship and moved to the first ring. But knowing his father, Elior had no hopes. All the stubbornness he got was from his father, after all. His father had not moved to the first ring in the previous regression, and if Elior did not overcome the disagreement with his father, then this time would be the same. Just thinking about it made him depressed. A huge fountain could be seen in the middle of the garden in front of the institute. Flowers of different colours bloomed in green trees. Not many presents there on the outside. His eyes followed the symbol with the huge words written in the front of the main building. The Institute of Earth''s Guardian. Elior felt quite nostalgic seeing that. It was the place he had to protect again, and this time he would succeed. ". . . Rules and regulations are everything here," the woman continued. "Even if you are the elite of the elite, you have to follow them. I won''t waste any of your time for now. Girls come with me, and boys follow Ford over there. You will be given your personal dormitory now. And remember there will be a debriefing on the evening. Remember to present at the main podium before six." With that, the lady finished his sentence. Her name was Murphy something¡ªElior forgot. All he remembered was that she was known as Aunt Murphy by all the student. With the other man, Ford, the two of them are in charge of the dormitory. They were not just regular people, but Guardians and that too, with a quite respectable level. With being in charge of the Dormitory, their other job was to protect the students from any unforeseen accident. Elior gave a wave of a hand to Ileana, and she nodded before he noticed another girl quite close to Ileana was looking at him. It was Lara. Elior gave her a smile, and she too nodded in acknowledgement as the group of boys and girls parted away in the opposite direction. Ford brought them inside the administrative office and distributed keys to their dormitory to everyone with a rule book and map of the institute. Each one of the students will get their own quarter with no room service. They were quite nice and big, with its own toilet and washroom, but taking care of it was their duty as well. There would not get any housekeepers or anything. Cleaning their own dress, dishes after meals, even cleaning their own toilet was their duty. The main idea behind this was, if you can''t even take care of yourself, how would take care of the earth. Ford was instructing the new students a few more things, but Elior left the group with no one noticing. Finding room number 17¡ªthe room he was allocated, he went inside it. Fortunately, the room was well cleaned, probably done a day before. Elior left his belonging in the side and started to strip until he got entirely naked. After that, he went straight to the bathroom. He sat in the bathtub and poured cold water into it. When the tub was half full, he closed the tap. Then he closed his eyes and slept in the bathtub. He did not intend to sleep for long, just an hour or two. . . . ______________________ Vote with power stones for more chapters. Chapter 22 - The Institute (2) Elior''s stomach growled in hunger, and he woke up. He sat straight on the bed and looked at the analytic clock, hitting just above four. He had slept for quite long. After resting in the bathtub for a couple of hours, he cleaned out his room even though it was already mostly cleaned. He arranged all his stuff¡ªthe ones he took from home, from clothes to accessories like phone and hollowbook. After that, he turned on the air conditional to a preferable temperature and slept again. ''I should eat something,'' Elior thought. He changed into a white shirt and trousers, combed his hair a little, and was about to leave his quarter. "Oh, crap, I forget to call mom." Rubbing his forehead, he collected the cellphone and saw 11 missed calls on them. Most of them from his mom, and a couple of them from Ileana. "I will be yelled at again." Just as he imagined, after his mother picked up the call, she started yelling at him after, confirming his health. The staff from the institute already mentioned to her that he was in a four-day long test, so Elior did not have to explain that. Moreover, she already learned about him from Ileana. After making sure he was okay, Elior cut off the call, saying he was going to eat. After that, he messaged Ileana that he was going to the cafeteria, and asked her to come if she had not had her meal yet. Elior did not wait for the reply to come, left his quarter. He did not look or take the map with him, having good confidence in his memory. But he was proven wrong; finding the cafeteria turned out to be a hassle. With an empty stomach, he moved out of the male dormitory, towards the auxiliary buildings of the institute, and recalled he was moving to the opposite sides. The cafeteria was just at the adjacent point of the male and female dormitory. It was a four-storeyed building, recorded well in materialistic fashion. The ground floor was for the casual meal of freshmen; wasting no more time, he walked inside of it. Not many were present in the cafeteria at this time of the day, but Elior found a familiar face there, arguing with the staff. A boy with dyed blond and red hair with half a dozen piercings all over his face. Shin. "How many times I have to tell you I don''t need so many vegetables," Shin asked, "And where is the meat?" He seemed to argue with the cafeteria staff about his food. Probably did not get what he wanted. Another good or bad thing about the institute was that you could not find junk food here¡ªall the meals here are heavily nutritious and had been made for the future Guardians. They would not get the pizza, hot dog, hamburgers etc here. "Ai, Shin," Elior said, waving his hand at him. "You have arrived." "Ah Brother," Shin looked back at him with a cheerful smile. "I arrived later than you guys. I was thinking about looking for you, but thought you are resting." "Why are you arguing with the staff on your first day here?" he asked, walking close to him. "Look at this," Shin complained, gesturing his eyes to his plate. "So many vegetables and salad, who even eats them and I did not even get any meat. Is this really the institution of Earth''s Guardian?" "I already told you this is the standard meal," the staff repeated her phrase. "As for the meat, you will get it for dinner." Shin whined loudly. Even though there were few presents there, it was embarrassing enough, but Shin had little of the shame. He only stopped when Elior joined the conversation. "Arguing won''t solve anything," he said. "Let''s just eat what we got. I''m starving." "Should I make your plate too?" the staff asked Elior. Elior nodded. "Bring me two plates of what you have," he said, measuring his hunger. The female staff raised her eyebrow at Elior, but nodded. Elior was quite skinny to eat two plates of food which was stuffed with a lot of things, but his hunger ran quite deep after eating like savages for four days. The two of them took seats at an empty table. Shin waited for his plate to arrive and then another familiar person appeared in the cafeteria. "Ileana, here," Elior called, noticing the familiar face. The chestnut-haired girl''s expression brightened noticing him. She thought she had to eat alone in an unfamiliar place at this time of the day, but after getting the message from Elior, she moved immediately. Ileana sat beside him. Her appearance was well-dressed, hair bound behind, but she looked quite tired. Her eyes were sunken more than usual, probably crying in her room. "Ileana, you have met Shin," Elior introduced. "And Shin this is Ileana. We are friends for many years." Shin waved his hand at Ileana, who nodded curtly in response. Elior''s two plates of food arrived, but he left one to Ileana, ordering another one. He did not like the taste of most vegetables like Shin, but he did not complain on empty stomach. He chewed and swallowed everything. "I heard there will be some briefing," Shin said. "All the students were supposed to attend that." "Yes," Ileana answered. "The dean will be there with other teachers and staff. I don''t know what it will be about, but it''s probably related to our lesson and class." "Oh well, it is just after a couple of hours. We will see what it was about." "It will mostly be about the allocation of class," Elior opened his mouth, swallowing down the food. "There are various types of Guardians, from Healer, Warrior to Mage, Artisan, Magic Engineer, etc. Not everyone can learn everything, so we have to choose what we want to learn with other auxiliary classes. "Elior, you already seemed to adept in many things. I saw your wizardry, archery, and spearmanship in the trial." Shin asked, eyeing him. "Are you thinking about choosing all of them?" Elior chuckled. "If only it was that easy," he said. Then his eyes narrowed, recalling what he forgot. "Shin, do not mention about the skills I showed in the trial, especially how I burst Renal''s arm," he said sternly. "Do not ask any question why, I can''t answer you that now." _________________ Vote power stones to motivate me to write more. 50 power stones for 1 bonus chapter. 100 for 2 and so on. Chapter 23 - The Hole In the dean''s office now, it was in quite a festive mood. "Looks like I was worried about nothing," said the dean. An aged figure, with worn-out white hair and shaved face. "Who would have expected we would get four in the top ten this year?" "Aren''t you are the one showing off your grandson, that he would take a spot there, Rathel," the middle-aged looking lady Murphy asked. She was in a good mood too. "Of course, Of course," Rathel, the dean of institute, laughed, not minding Murphy. "I have high expectations for Leroy and he did not betray my expectation. But the other three was a pleasant addition. Who could have thought we would get another top runner just after a couple of years?" "It''s a time for celebration then," Murphy said. "Bring out some good wine from your collection." "Don''t worry, I won''t cheap out now," the dean said. "Roan would be arriving soon." Just as he said it, a knocking came at the door. "Come in." Roan came holding two good glass bottles of wine. Beside him were two other men¡ªFord and another male. His name was Aleister, a man in his forties. Fair-skinned, and short dark hair. He was in charge of the teaching department. "Just in time." Rathel laughed. "I expected the old woman to be here," Aleister said, looking at Murphy. "There was no way she would miss the chance of ripping off the dean." "Shut up," Murphy snorted. Aleister laughed. The three of them sat as Roan prepared the glass for them. "Ford, did you see the boy?" the dean asked the Ford¡ªthe only young man in the group with Roan. "Elior, our Top runner." "I saw, '''' Ford said, "but then I did not know the result, and the boy was quite nonchalant, did not say a thing about it." "Right," Roan joined. "I asked him on the bus how was his trial, and he only answered by saying, I passed. He did not seem to think of this as an accomplishment." "Maybe he was tired," Murphy added, taking her glass of wine. "I should ask Leroy about his experience in the trial," the dean said. "There is finally someone he could compete with." "We should all go now," Aleister said. "It is almost the time of the debriefing." . . . "Good evening to all the students present here," said the Dean, Rathel said from the high podium looking down at the hundred-something freshmen below. "And congratulations on getting your admission here. The Institute of Earth''s Guardian¡ªthe finest place that every youth desires to be. But not all could get an admission. "Only you, the most excellent of the elites, get a seat here. You had gone through countless sleepless nights preparing and succeeded in the hellish test and trial and finally here. But I''m saddened to tell you, your suffering has just started." The students who were feeling proud after the first part of the dean''s speech turned speechless. Some even shivered in fear, recalling the creatures they fought in the trial. Elior stood with his friends, Shin and Ileana. Shin was not even a single bit impressed or frightened by the speech and gave a sigh of sleepiness. While Ileana was listening with her entire focus. She had always been an excellent student in this regard. Elior had never seen anyone work harder than her in school. The dean continued. "You are all diamonds that needed carving, us the teacher, and staff are the carver. We will do our best to carve out your greatest potential that even you are unaware of. I won''t waste much of your time now. The head of the Teaching department, Aleister Scriber, will take it from here." The dean left the stage as another man of younger age appeared before the student. He wore a white shirt and a black overcoat over it, spine straight as a spear and eyes narrowed as if always focused. This was Aleister Scribe, the one in charge of the teachings. "Students," he said in a stern tone that made many nervous. "I won''t congratulate you again as the dean already. But what I will do is make sure you are all on the right path. This year''s seeds are more talented than the previous year. I expect great things from you. " Elior looked at the tall man on the podium and recalled how he had taught him many nights, rejecting sleep. He had three great teachers in his previous life, and Aleister was one of them. He may not be a high levelled guardian, but he was the best teacher earth could offer. That was why he was in charge of teaching all the students, be it freshmen or upper class. "The institute runs on a very strict reward and punishment policy. The better you perform, the more facilities you will enjoy. While the poorer your performance becomes, the fewer facilities will be there for you," the head of the teaching department continued. "And we very much adore the law and regulations here. No one is exempt from it. Not any students or staff." Aleister licked his lips and continued. "Here in the institute, you will learn many things from compulsory subjects such as History, geography, Applied science, Mana training and Theory, Spell Theory and Practice, weapon training to auxiliary classes Artifacting, Smithing, mana engineering, Healing, Alchemy, Research and many more. "You will get to choose some of the classes according to your path. Suppose you are a mage or want to be a mage, then you can get exempt from some classes such as weapon training or other class regarding Warriors. You will get a better idea about it from the pamphlet." Alester gestured towards where a few staffs were, with their uniforms, books and study guide. "Remember, you need to return the form after deciding what class you want to take." Aleister left, saying a few more things. Then other staff told them to collect their stuff one by one in line. Elior and the other two waited at the last of the lines, conversing among themselves. Shin was already complaining just hearing about studying, while Ileana had the exact opposite mood. "Elior, are you one of the studious people?" Shin asked. "No," Elior said, but his eyes were somewhere else. "But I never had a problem passing." Shin followed his gaze and saw a boy of their age approaching them. The newcomer was tall like them, but he was way more handsome than Shin or Elior. Seeing him, one had to admit, genes do matter. "Do you know him?" Shin asked in a softer tone. Elior did not answer, waited for the newcomer to approach them. Many kinds of different emotions swirled inside him, just looking at him. "Hello, I did not meet you in the trial," the newcomer said with a pleasant smile on his good-looking face. "Nice to meet you, I''m Leroy." "You are that Leroy from the trial?" Shin was surprised to hear the name. He already knew the name from the Trial. The first runner-up in the trial, but Shin did not know he was an earthling, just like them. While Ileana seemed a little overwhelmed by the handsomeness of the newcomer. She flushed a little and looked down, shaking her head. "Yes," Leroy said sincerely, "Congratulations on your achievement on the Trial." "Thank you," Shin said civility. He gestured at Elior and continued. "It was all because of brother Elior here." Even when Shin finished the Phrase, Elior was looking straight at Leroy with an expression of regret, sorrow, disappointment, pity and, most importantly, Hatred. Leroy was no enemy, yet an unknown hatred swept over him. ''I do not want to kill him, yet why do I hate him so much?'' Elior questioned in his mind. As far as he recalled, Leroy had saved his life more than once and even sacrificed himself at the last war, yet Elior felt a deep-rooted hatred the moment he laid eyes on him. ''Why? Why?'' Elior questioned as his mind drifted on those clouds of memory. He went deeper and deeper, standing still. He could not hear Shin calling him, Ileana nudging him. He was drowned by the overwhelming amount of memory, but what alarmed him was that all the memory he saw was not his. There was something he could not make sense of. Elior did not find the answer he was looking for, instead, his mind flooded with strangling memories of the past. His spine shivered in chills and he had problems breathing. Quick gasps of breath escaped from his mind while the insanity drove him. Then he returned and felt his head spinning. [Eye of Genesis restricts Apprentice Elior from accessing the memories.] That was the first time the [Eye of Insights] activated and it was on its own. "Brother, are you alright?" Shin asked. "El, El, can you hear me?" Ileana cried, rubbing his chicks. "I''m alright," Elior said, exhaling a deep breath. "What happened to you?" the two of them asked at the same time. "I am . . . tired." He said and noticed Leroy was not present in the group. "Where did the fellow go?" "He went to call for help, noticing your ailment." Chapter 24 - The Plan Elior gritted his teeth and clasped his palm into a fist. He still could not make sense of these clouded memories in his mind. ''Why do I have the memories of others?'' h questioned in his mind, but found no answer. Nothing like what happened in the evening when he first saw Leroy happened again. But he did feel a splitting pain in his mind the more he dug deeper into those memories. The [Eye of Genesis] did not cause any problem either other than restricting him once when he was almost drowning in the memories of the past. "I need more answers," he muttered. His godmother would know about this ability and could make clear why his memory was like this. But by the time he will be able to converse with her again, it will be quite long. Moreover, he had a bad feeling about this. What if his godmother intentionally bestowed this ability on him so that he would not do something drastic without her consent. "No, she would not do that," he thought out loud. "Would she?" What about the other deities? They could do it. Elior sighed. Other than that, he had two hypotheses. First was simple, his young mind or soul could not reserve all the memories of a person who had seen so much, heard so much, experienced so much. That was quite right, as far as he was concerned. That means the further he grows, the more memories would untangle themselves little by little. He just needed to strengthen his mind and soul. If this hypothesis was true, then he had to make the potion faster. Not only would it make him grow faster, but it would also make his soul far stronger, too. The other hypothesis was based on the faint memory he could still remember. He was not so sure about that. In the universe, there are some things, some beings of so much higher order that only thinking about them would corrupt one''s mind. Like one of the scariest things he had learned was never to name the Chained One. The Darkone could sense someone uttering his name in the farthest corner of the universe, even if he was bound in the depth of the Abyss, the pit of Sha''eol. He had some faint memory of the last battle in the pit of Sheol. Even the faintest aura from the Father of Hatred there would make low-level guardians mad and question their sanity. Elior shuddered at the thought. He emptied his mind immediately. Both of the hypotheses might be true, but it did not give any answer to why he had the memory of someone else''s in his brain. There''s something more to it than he knows. Fortunately, he had time to grow. "No, the time I have is not enough," he muttered. "I need to make a plan. Let''s make a plan first." With that thought, Elior opened his hollowbook. The device was as hollow as the name suggests. You can see through the screen. It was a computer, but way expensive than a common laptop and easier to use too. A hologram appeared on the wall and on his desk. The monitor on the wall, and the keyboard on the desk. Elior already set it up with his quarter, so now he only opened a document and started to write. He was writing partly to organise stuff and partly in fear. He feared he might lose these memories again if something goes wrong¡ªthe chances of that were close to nothing¡ªbut he knew better than to take chances. He wrote everything he remembered, from his start to the death, everything he remembered and refrained from writing the name of the Father of Hatred. Abruptly, Elior found it quite startling. He had memory clear for the next two years like crystal, and then it was all clouded, but he still recalled some memories. The horrifying attack on earth that destroyed the vanguard, wreaked havoc and utterly destroyed the first three rings¡ªthe securest place on earth. Elior felt chills just remembering it. "I have to stop it," he muttered, making a fist. In the past, when this happened, he was powerless, could only help from the sidelines, but this time, it would be different. This time, he would stop it even before it began. Other Than that, he had the memories of the Motherland. The Tower of Wisdom, the destruction of the Archangel, the empires, the Devarians, and her. Fortunately, he did not forget her. He still remembered her face, her scent. She was like the soothing dream in his despair, only the light in his void of emptiness. Elior sighed, remembering her. He had to wait a year or more to see her again. It did not take long to write out all the important occurrences, only about an hour. Now it''s time to make the plan. The day of the doom was still two years away. In this time, he had to grow well. Not just him. All of them have to grow as fast as they can. Leroy was not a problem. He always works the hardest and does his best to help. The problem was Shin. In his previous time, even after Shin entered the academy, he still acted like a black sheep. Even now his way of presenting himself, the dyed hair and piercing, asked for attention from others. He gets attention, good or bad, but not from the ones he likes. His parents. All this drama was just to get the attention of his Mom and Dad. Apparently. The Olwyn family was well off. Both of Shin''s parents were Guardians¡ªthey had little time to spare for their only child. Even when Shin was admitted to the Guardians academy, that did not change. Shin was talented, but never tried his best until he lost something. Until he lost his parents. "I have to change that," he said, writing the task on the hollowbook. He could tell how difficult it was going to be just by thinking about it. He was never a good relationship consultant. He preferred fighting Chaos Fiend rather than that. Next was Ileana. Remembering the Buff she played on Renal in the trial, he could see his friend have the potential¡ªbut he did not know too well yet. He left the spot for her empty, thinking he would help her however he can. The next plan was to grow some Guardians and help them with his ability. Alone he could solve nothing¡ªthat was the reason he helped anyone he could in the trial. He needed to make an elite team that could stand against the doom two years later. Lara and a few others from freshmen and upper-year come to his mind. He had to get help as much as he could from already established Guardians to the apprentice. And the last of his plans were for him. How could he grow faster and stronger? The answer was simple: he needed to use all his experience of the previous incarnation and devise an ultimate training plan. Other than that, he had to prepare weapons to arm guardians. His experience in Mana Engineering would be helpful there. And last but not least, he had to find a way of sneaking out from the Academy now and then. Chapter 25 - First Class "El, here," Ileana called the moment she saw Elior entering the classroom. Elior entered the not so forgotten classroom. With him was the prodigal son shin¡ªstill in his get-up that asked for attention from the crowd. He heard Ileana and saw her in one of the front seats. He walked on the fine marble towards the desk and Shin followed. The classroom was unusually big for only fifty students. Apparently, the freshmen were divided into three sections, the first two with fifty students each, while the last contained the leftover with the students from last year who failed to pass the exam. Few of the students started talking about them the moment they entered. Shin put no ears to it, and Elior was too old for it. "I do not like to sit at the front desk," Shin complained. "How about we go behind?" "I''m alright anywhere," Elior laughed. "But you have to convince Ileana here to move first¡ªWhich I reckon will be close to impossible." Before Shin could utter a word to Ileana, the chestnut-haired young lady glared at him curtly and Shin turned silent. "I didn''t even say a thing," he muttered. "And you will stay like that," Ileana said. "I already got a bad reputation just being with you the other day." "What did I do?" Shin asked, having no clue about the thing. "Open your eyes and ears a little, you dimwit. Listen closely to what the other students are talking about." Shin listened to Ileana and found there really was some talking about him, and their way of gossiping did not seem to be anything good for him. But Shin shrugged and glared at a few of them. The other students did not meet his eyes, but they were still talking about him, but rather quietly now. In the end, Shin sat next to Elior. "So what''s today''s class about?" he asked. Clearly, Shin did not bother to read the pamphlet where details about the courses were written. "Basic mana application," Ileana answered. "By the way, why didn''t you two bring in your hollowbook? Where would you take notes?" "I did not bring mine because I do not need it," Elior answered, shrugging. It was quite true, if he liked, he might be able to teach others, though he did not know he could explain properly to them. "So you are going to leach off my notes again?" Ileana glared curtly at him. Elior smiled. In all these years, he had been studying off the notes made by her. Though he had no need for notes now, he did not clear out the misunderstanding. "And what about you?" the chestnut-haired girl then asked Shin who just smiled embarrassedly. "He probably forgot," just as Elior said that the instructor of the class entered. Behind him were a couple of upperclassmen carrying a piece of equipment. A crystal orb as large as a human head. "Good morning class," Aleister said. A hollowbook and a few papers on his arm. "Is everyone here?" The instructor checked his hollowbook and said, "Two missing out of fifty. Minus ten points to them." He left the papers and his hollow book on the desk and looked at all the students. "One thing you should all remember, I hate lousiness. I will cut point in any way that displeases me." The students complained in a low voice among themselves. "Silence," Aleister said. The upperclassmen left, giving a curt bow to the teacher. "If you want to ask something, stand up and ask." The class turned into pin-drop silence. Elior smiled. His teacher was really good at this. He had his temper, but he never compromised with his teachings. "No questions? Good," the tall instructor nodded. "Today''s class is on basic mana application. But before that, let''s finish some business." The teacher took the papers from the desk and said, "These are the forms that were given yesterday. Supposedly, the students were given a week of time to decide their courses, yet some of you already submitted it." He paused for a while. "I know some of you have some background with Guardians, while some do not, but I still advise you to take your time. "Some of you may have been pressured by your parents, but do not decide just thinking about your parents. This is your career. In the end, the one who would suffer is you. So you should make the call so that you can''t blame others for your failure. "If your parents have some problem or you are too afraid to discuss this with them. You can ask them to meet me." The class opened in another low voice, but by just raising one arm, Aleister stopped the students. He checked the formed one by one. After skimming through some, a frown appeared on his brows. "Elior Vishwas," Aleister said. "Please stand up." Ileana and Shin were a little startled hearing that, but remembering their friends'' performance in the trial, they were relieved. The teacher probably would advise him or praise him. But their expectation was short-lived. As Elior stood, Aleister did not praise him nor advised him. "Are you an arrogant brat?" the teacher asked Elior, eyeing straight at him. "Or just another fool?" The entire class was stunned. They might not have seen Elior during the trial, but the rumours already spread throughout the school. They know Elior was the top runner of the trial, and yet he was getting scolded by the teacher. Some seemed to take pleasure in his misfortune, while most were silent, waiting for the drama to unfold. Elior was not one of the students who was startled by the scolding. He already expected some of it. "Arrogant? Maybe a little," he said flatly. His voice was clear and quiet, but it reached everyone''s ears. "Fool? Definitely not." "I see nothing little in your behaviour," the teacher said back. "Did you think through completely when you submitted the form?" "Yes," Elior gave a short answer. "Are you sure you can keep up with all the courses you took?" That was the main question here. In the form that Elior submitted, the number of classes he chose was not something a normal student could complete. From general classes of weapons mastery, such as Spear, Blade, knives, he also chose classes on the path of the mage. Spell casting, theory of Magical formula and all the various courses. Not to say there was still Mana Engineering. Alone, Elior took almost a class of three students together. It was not unfounded. The teacher questioned him. "I think I can keep up," he said humbly. While his mind sang, ''It is not a matter of me keeping up, I just fear I''ll get bored in just a week or two.'' Elior did not just take so many classes for learning. If there was anything left to learn, then it should be about spell casting, but the real reason he chose these many classes was that he needed to scout some elite students and make a good connection with them. Other than that, he needed access to all the training grounds. The institute did not allow all its students to access all the other training grounds. For instance, a warrior could not train on the training grounds of the mages. Aleister frowned for a second. Noticing no fear or weaver in Elior''s mindset, he moved to the other students. "If the other students are not as arrogant as our top scorer, you can cancel your form and resubmit it." _________________ Vote power stones and golden tickets for bonus chapter. 50 Ps / 3 GT = 1 Bonus chapter 100PS / 3 GT = 2 Bonus chapter. and so on. Chapter 26 - Spirit And Affinity Most of the students stood from their seats and one by one took the forms that they had submitted before. Surprisingly, the number was almost half the students, while few were still thinking about their choices. "My god, how many of them are forced?" Shin muttered under his breath. Elior smiled, shaking his head. In a way, he was forced too. He was told to choose some auxiliary courses that do not have to fight on the battlefield. "And now for the ones who are still clueless about their choices," Aleister spoke, gesturing towards the orb. "This device will help you know your potential and affinity. It is especially made to measure the spirit of the apprentice and their affinity towards the elements of the universe." The students'' eyes widened, and some even cursed themselves for choosing without having any clue. "There are two things that determine the path for a Guardian. Spirit and Attribute. Spirit tells about the guardian''s potential while attribute tells which of the elements he could manipulate." Aleister''s voice reverberated in the classroom. "Other than Spirit, the universe is formed of five fundamental elements: Earth, Air, Water, Fire, and Space. But apart from these five, there are other elements as well, such as Shadow, Plant, but all of them were connected to one or more of the five fundamental elements. "The orb here will measure that. It will tell you which element you have the highest affinity with. There are nine grades in the device, one being the lowest, nine being the highest." "An example would explain better," Aleister said, and eyed Elior again. "Elior, come in. Give it a try." Elior did not need to take the test to know his affinity, he already knew it was space and Fire and in other attributes it was so low that training them would only be wasting time. But he followed the teacher''s order, stood up and went before the device nonchalantly. "Put a palm on it and infuse mana into it," the teacher said. "The device will measure the potential of your spirit and your affinity." Elior nodded and infused mana into it at a considerable level. The orb lit up instantly with formless light and it was as bright as the orb gets. "It seemed you have quite the talent to be arrogant," Aleister said nonchalantly, but his lips were curved up. "Highest level in Spirit. Let''s see what attribute you have." Lights of different colours appeared inside the orb. Each representing one element. Blue for Water, Green for Plant, Gold for Air, Red for Fire, Yellow for Earth and so on. The orb was filled with different lights, but none of them stood apart from each other. Grade-2 in water, Grade-4 in earth, Grade-1 in Air and similar. At last, the red light turned brighter, reaching over half the orb consuming the other lights. Elior furrowed his brows, seeing something he was not expecting. Aleister frowned. He seemed to be disappointed. "Six grade in Fire element and all the others too low to mention," he said unconsciously, as if he could not believe it. "How is this possible? With the highest grade of Spirit potential, you should have at least one element with high affinity.'' The teacher came closer to the orb and scrutinised it further. It was a given that the growth of a Guardian heavily depends on the spirit and spirit affects the elements as well. There was no way someone with highest level of Spirit potential has such a low affinity. After scrutinising for a while, Aliester finally noticed an anomaly in the orb. In some parts, the red light representing Fire was flickering and vibrating. With his experience, Aliester finally could tell what''s happening here. "Space," he whispered, and looked at Elior again. With the space inside of the orb vibrating, he could not measure which grade it was, but he could tell it was quite high. "You have the affinity to one of the hardest elements to master. Go back to your seat." Elior nodded and went back to his seat, still frowning. The reason he was confused was not because of the space attribute, but the fire. In the previous time, his affinity towards fire was grade-8, not grade-6. ''Is it because I awakened the [Abstraction of Void] earlier than before?'' he question in his mind but found no answer. Fortunately, there were ways to raise the affinity of an element to some degree. "Students, come one by one according to your seatings." Ileana went after giving a thumb up to Elior. Even though the girl was calm on the outside, she was quite excited inside to know her potential. Like Elior, she followed the procedure, put her palm on the orb and infused her mana. The formless light flickered almost as bright as when Elior first tried, but it did not reach the highest level of the orb. "Eighth grade in Spirit, another promising seed," Aleister said and recorded the result in his Hollowbook. Ileana continued on the test. Lights appeared one after another, each reaching just over the midpoint of the orb. Ileana frowned. She did not know she would be happy or sad to have an affinity with all the five universal elements. In the end, she looked at the words of the teacher. Aleister felt her gaze and said. "Another anomaly. You have grade-6 affinity towards all the five elements." Ileana did not find the answer she was looking for from the teacher, but she did not ask if it was good or bad. When she went back to her seat, Elior was smiling and congratulated her. Clearly, he did not expect such a result from her. The next person to take the test was Shin. He followed the procedure, and like Elior, he got the highest potential in Spirit. The teacher gave him a look with the corner of his eyes. "Now it''s three." After Shin''s test ended, he got affinity towards two elements. Grade-8 on Air and Grade-7 in Water. One by one, the test continued. Some students gritted their teeth, clasped their fists, seeing low results while some were content with their result, but they could not but felt envious of Elior''s group. The highest potential in Spirit after the three of them was Grade-7 and that two only two people have it. They did not seem to understand how much potential a Grade-7 spirit has, but Elior knew it. If nothing goes wrong, any person having above grade-6 sport would be able to be a Guardian and anything after that would depend on their hard work. Elior memorised their faces and made a mental note to help them in some way. As the test continued, some students even were not able to use their mana. In such cases, the teacher helped such students. Mostly they were the ones that failed in their trial, and it was not unfounded that they were not used to mana. After the test ended, Aleister stood again before the students and opened his lips. "Even though the growth of a guardian depends on spirit and attributes, it is an undying fact that, without hard work, you will go nowhere. Even someone with the highest affinity might turn astray without perseverance and passion." When the teacher said that, he looked at Elior and his eyes lingered further on Shin. "I would advise anyone with the low cognitive abilities refrain from choosing the path of Spells, Mana engineering or Alchemy," Aleister said. "A mage needs high perception, intelligence, and precision. And it is true for the Mana Engineer and Alchemists too. It needs more discipline compared to any other path. The best thing you could do is take a couple of demo classes to know if you''re meant for that path." _________________________ Vote if you like the book so far. Drop power stones if you like the book. Chapter 27 - Elements The professor explained what types of hardship they will face in the different kinds of classes. In brief, the class of Mage needed the most mental strength and Spirit affinity. Though spirit affinity was only the benchmark for the potential, it does show the strength of one spirit which was extremely important for higher-level Guardian irrespective of the classes. Be it, Warrier, Mage, Healer or an Artificer, all need a certain level of spirit force to reach Fifth order or higher. "Now that all the testing is done, let''s get to the class." Aleister rose from the seat and came forward before the students again."Basic mana application. During the test, I saw some of you have no idea about welding mana. I don''t blame you for that. It was not even a week for you, and I won''t blame you either if it takes months for you to learn. . . ." "Is there really someone so dumb that took a month to learn mana applications?" Shin asked under his breath. ''You would be surprised, Shin.'' Elior shook his head in thought. Not everyone was blessed with talent like them. While the teacher was talking about mana application, Elior was already training his mana with open eyes. The mana swirled inside his circulation system as Elior divided some of his perception on it. For an experiment, he tried to imagine, light. A candle burning and illumining the surroundings. For some time, he succeeded, but only after a few moments, his mind drift off to the emptiness again. The fire shook and then it was engulfed by a hole of emptiness. ''Is this the reason my affinity with fire decreases?'' Elior questioned. He sighed and continued revolving the mana, taking a mental note to experiment on it more later. Meanwhile, Aleister was explaining the basics of mana applications to the students. "There are two primary factors that influence the mana application. First is the revolution speed, and the second is proficiency; how well you could manipulate it. "Both are equally important. Without a decent speed, any release would not have the desired effect even if you are articulate in the usage. And in the other way around is true as well. If you are not very well at manipulating the strands of mana, but have a decent pace, it would only be a little more useful compared to the other case. It will be like forcing everything with raw strength. "Without the mastery in both of them, you could not show the full potential of the mana." "Sir, how would we be able to learn both?" a student stood up and asked. "That is what I''ll be teaching you today," Aleister said, gesturing to the student to sit down. "The most novice and accurate way are to start with visualisations and meditation. It helps not only in the speed of revolution but in your mastery of wielding the mana as well." The instructor told them how the visualisation works. He told them to imagine something simple related to their element. For the wind element, imagine a slow breeze carrying leaves. For Fire, imagine a candle flame, illumining. For Earth, it was simple at the start, but it was quite difficult after that. It was a lot harder to manipulate earth compared to wind or water. For earth elements, the students were asked to visualise some small land distinctive from others. "For the students with an earth element, you have to be more patient than others. Perseverance is the key. Be as persistent as a mountain." Aleister then looked towards Elior, and contemplated in his mind for a brief moment. "Space is even trickier compared to earth. Even some guardians could not touch on the concept of it. For now, you should refrain from touching the element, and train the fire element for now." Elior said nothing, nor did he nod. What his teacher told was applicable to normal people, but not to him. Yes, he did have many problems manipulating space even when he was over level-100 in the previous time, but with all the experience of the previous time, he found no restriction in learning. Moreover, he found it even easier than before, though he still needed to work to get used to it. "Even though space is a rare element to get by, our institute has a few users," Aleister added, noticing the flat face of Elior. "They will teach you when you are ready." Elior did not come clean about his ability. It was not time yet. He needed to do a couple more things. ''I need to level up the [Abstraction of Void] as soon as possible.'' Aleister moved to the other students when Ileana, who was beside Elior, stood up. "Professor, can you advise me a little on the ways?" Ileana asked hesitantly. "In the test, I have an affinity with all the five fundamental elements." "I know," Aleister said, nodding. "As I said, you are one of the anomalies. With proper passion and perseverance, you could be a true diamond, but you need to work hardest among all the students here. Having an affinity for more elements is a blessing and a curse at the same time. The more element you have an affinity with, the slower your progress will be. But if you can hold on to it for long, you will go a long way. "What you need is to balance out the element for now. Do not try to connect them with each other. You are still decades away from there. You need to find the equilibrium between all the elements." Ileana frowned. "So I have to train all the five elements one by one?" she asked, finding it quite stressful. ''Would it not be slow to train one element after another rather than just training one?'' "Not five. It''s four: Air, Water, Earth, and Fire. Leave the element of space for now," Aleister said, raising an eyebrow at her. "Train the four elements equally now. If you have a problem, ask me or any other instructor." Aleister then moved to his seat and sat, letting one leg above another. "There are special training chambers here in the institute that are just meant for training mana application. But the allocation to such a chamber depends on your academic progress. All depends on the academic points, so strive to gain as many as possible. "Now that I explained the basics, get down to work." ______________________________ Chapter 28 - Career Decision "Gosh! These classes could get so boring," Shin exclaimed the moment the teacher left. "I am hungry again." "We have learned so much today and all you can think about is food," Ileana said, squinting her nose at the fellow. "I even wonder how long you will last here." It was the first history class where the teacher mentioned a few things about how mana came into the world, how devastating the first decades were, and how humans adapted to the changing environment. It was fascinating to anyone in the class, but all Shin could think was that it was boring. And he was not the only one. Elior was on the list of people as well. But he was different from Shin as he knew about this stuff before. Fortunately, his mental age was higher than a teenager like Shin, so he endured class after class. "Let''s go, I''m hungry too," Elior said. He had been revolving mana in his body nonstop during the classes, so it was not unfounded he was hungry. At least, he had not wasted his time picking his nose. The three of them left the classroom on the way towards the freshmen cafeteria. And the other students did the same. It was their first day here. It''s natural they would get hungry and teenagers felt hunger most of the time than any other emotions. The first floor of the cafeteria was quite vacant in this time as they came before anyone else. Walking down the white marble, the three of them went to collect the snacks. There were various snacks available for the evening. Even though it was still a couple of hours before it would be evening, but the cafeteria staff fulfilled their wish. Probably because it was only their second day. Elior took chocolate with almonds and all other types of nuts. Shin took the chocolate but not the nuts, while Ileana, who could not handle chocolate, took cheese and celery sticks with cinnamon. But all of them had to take a large glass of green-looking weird juice. It was compulsory, as the classes. You could take a few things to your likings, but you have to still take the other things. They easily found an empty table, as other people were yet to come. They ate without making any noise until Shin opened his mouth. "Elior, do you have any advice for me?" "Yes, I do, and it''s more than one," Elior nodded, putting a couple of nuts inside his mouth. He looked at the teenage boy who was trying his hardest to be a playboy and a delinquent. He continued in a serious tone. "Get a haircut, knock off all the piercings and conduct yourself like any normal teenage kid." "Huh? Why does it sound like you are a lot older than me?" Shin asked, tilting his head sideways. "That was because I''m older than you. At least, I''m a decade older than you in mental age." Elior cursed himself the moment he finished the phrase. He could not keep his big mouth shut. He had to say something like this. "You are right, El. This fellow acts like a nine-year-old kid." Ileana said in a joking manner. "Even my cat behaves well comparing to him." Fortunately, the joke from Ileana saved him in time. Shin glared slightly at Ileana, then looked towards Elior, completely forgetting the advice he was given. "That''s not it, I need advice on choosing the courses." "Oh that," Elior pondered for a couple of seconds while his arm did the work of dipping the nuts into chocolate and stuffing them into his mouth. "What do your parents say?" "Do what your heart desires," Shin said with a brimming smile. ''That sounded like a lie,'' Elior thought, but his mouth said something else entirely. "Wow, you are lucky." "No, I''m not," Shin denied with no thoughts. "I wish, my parents said things like that," Ileana added. "Don''t get me wrong, they were supportive, but they think I will not be able to handle things." "Let''s don''t talk about our parents," Shin changed the topic. "Any advice on my career path?" He asked, looking mostly at Elior. Elior nodded. "You have the highest grade in Spirit, so you have the aptitude to become a mage, but I think you should not go in the direction of Spells. Even though your two elements would be devastating if you learn it well, but I think you lack too much mental fortitude to learn spells." "Brother, are you giving me advice on making fun of me?" "But it''s true," Ileana added from the side. "Even though I do not know you for not even a couple of days, I can tell you are just another lazy teenager who was fighting for attention." "Well, at least he gets the attention, irrespective of good or bad." Elior joined the fun as well. "Did you see the look Professor Aleister gave him when he said that without perseverance and hard work, the students would go nowhere?" Ileana chuckled, saying that. "It''s as if he was literally meant it for Shin." "Brother Elior don''t. I don''t think my fragile heart could endure more." Shin stopped before Elior could mock him more. And his way was quite comedic. "Seriously, are you two practise dissing people at home?" "We never practised, but I think we insulted a couple of our classmates together," Elior added, refreshing his memory. "It was quite fun, actually." "It built up the syncrasy over the years," Ileana chuckled. "My god, you two should have been really popular in your high school," Shin said and his voice did not hide the sarcasm. "I was not actually popular, but she was," Elior said, pointing towards Ileana. He laughed and continued. "She got all the stares from boys, and Ileana''s conduct in school was near perfect. If our life was like a high school-musical, then she would have been known as the Highschool queen." Ileana flustered a little, hearing Elior. "But you stole the show here, Brother Elior," Shin added, gesturing towards the crowd looking at their table. "Oh that," Elior sighed. "Well, the popularity will be for a few weeks, but I guess I would not be free from the stares even then." While in his high school, Ileana was the most famous for her perfection, he was infamous for his conduct. Letting out a deep breath, Elior unconsciously sipped in the green juice. His mouth twisted in an ugly way in the taste¡ªhe nearly forgot how awful this juice was, even though it had more benefit than he could name it. "Is it that bitter?" Ileana could not help but ask. "Try it and you will know it." Ileana made a fearful expression. "Even if it tastes as you made it out to be, I still need to finish it or else I''ll get a minus five points to my tally of o points." "What? we get a penalty for wasting food?" Shin was flabbergasted. "So you do not even read the rule book," Ileana said. "Seriously, what did you do after coming here?" "I slept mostly." "I think you will be nothing but a walking disaster if you continue in this way." Elior nodded. Even though Ileana said that as a joke, it was quite true. Shin was really a walking disaster in the previous time. To get the attention from his parents, he broke so many rules that he was on the point of failing. "Let''s not talk about this," Shin changed the topic. "Brother Elior, you are saying I''ll be bad at spells. What else?" "I said, you will be devastating if you could master the spells with your two elements, but you can choose not to learn if it is not appealing and goes over your head," Elior said. He knew Shin was not very good at spells, but that did not stop him in the path. Elior''s only worry was that his intervention might make Shin''s path harder. And there was a chance of failure too. "I''m learning Mana engineering, so you should not have to go in that direction as well," Wrik added. "You don''t look the type to have any interest in alchemy. So it was eliminated as well. My advice is you should practise with your sword and try to learn spells if you can. And there were all the compulsory classes. You will get your hands full with only these many things." "I guess, it is a good choice," Shin added. "Let''s see how I work for this week." Elior nodded and looked towards the chestnut-haired girl. "Ileana, did you decide about your career?" "No, but I think my path is already decided," Ileana said, shaking her head. "I don''t think I have much time after practising all the four elements." "You are right there." "I wished to learn about alchemy, but it seemed I have to say goodbye to it," she added. "By the way, are you serious about continued pursuing all the paths you have chosen? Did you forget what aunty told you? You are supposed to only chose auxiliary courses that stay away from the battlefield." Elior turned silent. Sighing a little, he said, "It''s time I should decide about my life." _______________________ Hello readers, I took a break for four or five days, and it cleared out a few things. First of all, I decided to make all the chapters between 1.5K to 2K words long. And if it goes further than that, then I''ll cut them into pieces. You can expect regular release from now on.. Thank you for reading. Chapter 29 - Body Cleansing It was evening, and most of the students had finished their first day of school. Elior and Shin were among them. The two of them were leaving for their room after saying goodbye to Ileana when they were called to the administrative office of the dormitory. "I wonder what they were called for?" Shin thought out loud. "I think it''s the stuff I ordered after the end of the trial," Elior said. "Did you order anything Shin?" "I did," Shin said and his face brightened. "Let''s go quickly." Shin was about to run off in the hallway of the dormitory, but Elior reminded him one of the rules. "Running in the dormitory and institution building is prohibited." But Shin ran anyway. With the purpose of being a delinquent and the glee of his stuff arriving, he ran with top of his speed. Elior shook his head and followed. He went at a good enough pace, but Shin outran him in seconds. When he reached the administrative office, the scene he saw was what he imagined. Ford was not present in the office, but other staffs were. Now, one of them took the duty of yelling at Shin, who was turning small with each second. He got what he was looking for. "It is not easy to be a delinquent," Elior said and went inside. After the shouting, the staff deducted five points from Shin and told both of them. "You two are the students who are at the top. Id this how you behave. What will the other students learn from you?" In the end, Elior got some of the yellings being with Shin. He shook his head and asked, "Has my package arrived yet?" Fortunately, he was not yelled for nothing. Their stuff had arrived. The general delivery from the guardian stores takes two days, but it arrived half a day earlier. The staff pointed towards where a few boxes were kept in various volumes. After signing on the form that they had received their stuff, both of them left towards their dormitory, carrying a huge package. "What did you buy, Shin?" Elior asked. Finding the package in the arms of Shin was by no means smaller than his. Moreover, the look on Shin''s face told him it was heavier than his, too. "Some kitchen appliances," Shin said. "And a lot of fruits, vegetables and meat from other world. I know you think it is a waste of points, but cooking is the only hobby I have and might be the only thing I am good at. I can not resist the impulse to buy the cooking stuff from the otherworld." "I did not say it was a waste," Elior said, laughing. "It is not a waste as long as you give me delicious food to eat." "Of course. Now that I think about it, I think these things will be more useful because of the food policy here." The two of them reached their dormitory, talking. Shin was assigned to the quarter just next to Elior. Shin was about to leave to his room when Elior said, "Shin, I bought something for you, come into my room after finding your business." "Alright," Shin nodded and entered his room. Elior did not linger there and entered his room too, unlocking with the key. Entering the room. He did not waste any moment, and got into opening the huge package. After cutting out the package, he found more packages of various sizes inside. One of large length but small width held the sword he took from Renal. While two more packages held the equipment for Mana Engineering. Then there were the three vials of medicine¡ªbody cleansing potion, he bought for himself, Shin and Ileana. Fortunately, Shin did not say anything about buying or chosing the same thing as rewards. Then there was a small package. It held the most expensive thing of all the items here. Elior opened it immediately and found a small vial containing five drops of [Water of Beginning]. [Item: Water of Beginning. Grade: Lengendary. Quantity: 5 Drops. A type of water that was rarer even compared to the Water of Life. The water of the Beginning has many qualities. Only a single drop of the water of the beginning could cleanse one person''s body, strengthened the mana circuit and Spirit. It has the effect of strengthening the body as well. But the actual use of this item is in making some rare potion.] Then he checked the Sword he got from Renal. [Item: Inconiclier''s Sword Item Class: Special. Quality: Good. Damage: 120. Durability: 79/90. The most gratifying thing about this sword was that there was no condition of binding and the sword was of no attribute. Anyone could use this item irrespective of their level. - 8% increase in mana revolution. - 20% increase in attack force.] As it was written, the only good thing about this sword was that there was no level limit or other restriction in it. Or else, how could renal use it. With all that it was quite good weapon with 120 attack power and 20% increase. And the 8% increase in mana revolution was better than nothing. By the time Elior sorted out all the stuff, Shin knocked on the door. "Come in," Elior said. "What are these stuff?" Shin asked immediately when all the stuff Elior had unpacked on the floor. It looked like a tool kit of a mechanic, but the items inside looked more expensive and smaller. Other than that, there was a book made of paper¡ªthat was conventional for the last decade on earth. "It''s a mana Engineer Kit," Elior said as he packed the kit. He could use this stuff in his room, but it might cause a few problems and he could get punishment for doing it too. Leaving the tools, Elior took one of the three vials from the desk and gave it to Shin. "This is for you." "What is this?" Shin asked, frowning at the vial. "It is a Body cleansing Potion," Elior answered. "If you drink this vial and revolve your mana throughout your body, then your mana circuit will be strengthened and pollution, and other dirty things from your blood will be purified. Though it will be a little painful, it''s still worth it." "I see," Shin nodded. "Should I use this today or wait for more?" "The mana in our body did the same thing as well, but it''s a lot slower. To practise mana properly, you need to clean the path, so using it now will be more useful than leaving it for later." Shin nodded. "How much does this thing cost you?" "Just a little amount of points, you don''t need to worry about it." "How can I not?" Shin said. "I recalled there was a prize of five body cleansing potions in the trial rewards, but I didn''t choose. According to the other stuff there, this potion is not a little amount if I''m not wrong." Elior clicked his tongue. It was five hundred thousand guardian points¡ªan amount he could earn back easily. But it was quite a lot for any other apprentice. "Don''t worry about it. If you wanted to pay back, then you could use your cooking for it." "Really?" Shin''s eyes lit up. "Fine then, if I make something good, you will be the one to taste it first." Elior smiled. "By the way, Shin, what reward did you choose for being in the top ten?" Shin smiled in response. Then the vial he was holding disappeared. Then Shin willed it and the vial appeared in his arm again. "Inventory?" Elior said. "A good choice on the account that the ability was already taken." According to the rules, the chance of choosing an item from the list was given according to the merit list. Elior choose first, then Leroy got the chance. Shin was fourth, so inventory was not bad of a choice. Though it appeared Shin chose it to look cool. After talking furthermore, Shin left his room. And Elior picked up one vial of Body Cleansing Potion. He intended to use it now. With the vial, Elior entered the washroom. Stripping all his clothing, he sat on the bathtub, but did not unlock the water. Elior prepared his mind, breathing evenly a couple of times. Wasting no moment, he drank the potion. The liquid was as cold as ice but it went like fire through his vascular organs and he started revolving mana inside his body vigorously. He was feeling pain, but it was minuscule to stop him. He felt hundreds of times of more pain before. He revolved the mana throughout his body as the fiery feeling spread every nook and corner of his body slowly. Elior was through in the process. He would not leave any place behind. He cleaned all the paths of his mana and the blood vessel. The process continued for hours, and Elior revolved the mana in the same intent thoroughly for that much time. ______________________________ Vote if you like the story. Chapter 30 - Training (1) It was just before dawn when Elior finished cleansing his body with the potion. He stood up from the bathtub, which now held awful, reeking water. His body also reeked of the awful reek¡ªfrom the impurities that he cleaned. He needed a good bath now, but before that, he needed to dump. Not all impurities had found the path through his skin. Those needed to be cleansed manually. Yes, through dumping. It did not take him to finish that as well, and the awful reek was there too. Elior squinted his nose all the time as he flushed the toilet and cleaned the bathtub. His entire body was oily with the impurities, though it was not like the wuxia master. Cleaning all that, Elior opened the status window while taking in a cold shower. _________________ [Name: Elior Title: Guardian Apprentice. Sweeper of the Trial-zero Locked. Race: Human Alignment: Neutral, Chaos. Age: 16 Class: None Level: 13 Health: 94 Mana: 274 Strength: 6 Agility: 10 Dexterity: 11 Constitution: 9 Endurance: 6 Intelligence: 25 Perception: 10 Luck: 19 Free stat points: 4 Abilities: -Eye of Genesis (Unknown) -Abstraction of Void (Unique) LVL 1. Skills: -Spearmanship LVL 7. -Mana Application LVL 9 -Focus LVL 9. -Archery LVL 4. -Spell Mastery above LVL 3 (Need more evaluation) -Meditation LVL 9. -. Guardian Credits: 1279000] ___________________ There was some improvement in the body and mana, but the most significant improvement was that his [Mana Application] had risen to level 9. In just one night it had risen three levels. Well, it was not unconvincing. The first ten levels were the basic. A clear circulation path and some mastery was enough to level up into level 9 Now he only need to rise it once more to reach the intermediate level where he could use his attribute a little more freely, though he felt a wall between that. He needed to train a little more to break the wall before he could start cultivate the [Abstraction of Void]. Elior let the cold water clear his thoughts. After returning to his room, he found the clock was striking at four o''clock. The sun had not risen yet¡ªa good time to do morning workout, though there were hours before it would be morning. Elior slid a vest over his upper body and a track-suit and then put on his sneakers. It was his old shoe, though it was of fair quality now. He could tell it would not even survive a week now. He could only blame himself now to not have the foresight to buy some clothing and shoe from the guardian store after the trial. He could have got the things cheaper than here on earth. There were guardian stores on earth too, but they were not run by the pixie. The price here was about twenty to fifty percent higher than the trial store. Not just because of human greed, but the stuff at the trial store was cheaper. And last, Elior put two earbuds in his ears and left the room. The playlist was not foreign to him. Most of them were the pop songs he liked, though he did not know if he still like it or not. Elior did not bother with it now, let it sang in his ear as he walked down the hallway. After walking for a while, he came back again and stopped before the quarter of Shin. He knocked on the door loudly, which may not only disturb Shin''s sleep but everyone else''s too. And few of them should have woken up before Shin could open the door. Only after two minutes of constant knocking did the wannabe delinquent, open the door. "What''s the matter at this time of the night?" the poor fellow who was interpreted from his sleep asked. "Change the pajamas now, we are going for a walk." Elior said, pausing the music in his ear. "Now at night?" Shin was flabbergasted. It was not his fault. Anyone would be startled if they heard someone going to walk in this hour. Elior nodded. "Don''t make excuses now. If you sleep again, you might get a penalty again." Shin did not seem to be fearful of the penalty. Well of course, he had read the rule book yesterday where it was written that students have to rise before six apart from the weekends. "Brother Elior, do I have to?" Shin asked pitifully. Elior only smiled. "Prepare quickly. You are not only delaying yourself but me too." "Brother Elior, at least have some pity for this poor soul." "Get ready quickly," Elior said. "Or else I won''t let you sleep in peace." In the end, Elior had to threaten Shin before he joined in the walk. Shin complained the entire way to the ground. But seeing his words were not reaching Elior, who was listening to music the entire time, he finally rested his swearing. The ground was quite big; it was at least half mile in square metre with green grass trimmed well. Surrounding the field was the track where they would be running now. There was no soul present here now apart from the two of them. Even they could not see things clearly now. "Let''s stretch a little before starting running." Elior proposed. "Do I have any say in this?" Shin asked, gritting his teeth. Elior smiled. "You understood it quite quickly," he said. Shin was too pessimistic and half-hearted about the workout, so Elior pondered for a moment to think about how to motivate him. Even if Shin was trying to be a delinquent to piss off his parents for attention, in the end, this guy was quite the pervert type. Even in his half-dead state, this guy would start running if he heard about girls. "You know Shin, this is the ground where everyone works out at dawn." Elior said, coming with something. "All the students, irrespective of their class." "So?" "So," Elior smiled. "All the students included the girls, too. Do you not want to see girls working out here?" Shin''s eyes brightened in the darkness. "Are you telling the truth?" "Do I ever lie to you?" "You should have said that to me earlier." Shin complained, but he started stretching. With the thought of impressing girls, Shin started working out with Elior. They started running just after the stretching. None of the two had a good constitution, barely better than the average. One lap on the track was as long as four miles. Elior motivated Shin with all sorts of words such as "If you at least complete five laps on the tracks, you might be able to leave an impression on the girls." Shin was powered up by the words. The two of them started running as the sun peeked from the east. One by one a few people started to appear on the field and by the time the girls appeared Shin was half dead on the ground and he was not the only one. Elior was in similar condition, only a little better. He did not think twenty miles would be this difficult for him. Girls laughed at the two of them when they passed by them. Some of them were of the same year, while most of them were upperclassmen, but all of them laughed at them. "Brother," Shin opened up his mouth in between the gasps. "You said they would be impressed by me if I completed five laps. But it seems they are just joking about me. You lied." "I did not," Elior said, sitting up. "I said you will be able to leave an impression on the girls. I did not say good or bad." "Brother, you are cruel." Shin cried. ______________________ Bonus chapter goal 50 power stones = 1 bonus chapter. 100 power stones = 2 bonus chapter. 150 power stones = 3 bonus chapter. 200 power stones = 4 bonus chapter. and so on. And leave a review behind if you have time and appreciate the work so far. Chapter 31 - Training (2) The Mana engineering department was as barren as Elior remembered. That might be good for him now as he could work alone, but in the long run, it''s another disadvantage for humanity. In the end, very few chose to be a mana engineer and amount them very few were good at it. After all, mana engineering was not anything easy to learn. The department held an entire floor of its own on the third floor of the main academy building. Well it was not mana engineer, but the smithing department was here too as both of them were closely related to artifacing. Elior arched his eyebrow and looked at the main hall of the department where the class was supposed to be taken. Shaking his head at the resolute hall, Elior went inside one of room. Equipment of various sizes and needs was there on the table surrounding the wide room, but there was not even a single student present. Most of them were the equipment was of smithing, rather than engineering, as both of the departments were under the same professor and quite related to each other. He already knew all this, but he could not help but feel disappointed seeing the desolate room here. He waited there for a while, took a seat in the corner of the room and left his toolkit and the other heavy baggage on the floor. The Toolkit was bought at the trial store while for the other box was brought from the academy city. He knew the teacher may not even come today, but he was here for another reason. He needed to craft something that would specialise in his training and he had something in mind. Without wasting a moment, Elior unpacked the other baggage and various metal bars and other materials such as hard silk-like materials, jewels unfolded from it. He had to hassle a lot to buy this stuff from the academy. Apparently, the staff who was in charge of the stores here was not convinced Elior as a freshman could pay for it all and more, knew any usage of the materials. Clicking his tongue once, Elior took five bars of tungsten and two bars of titanium. Each of the bars held five kgs, so in total it was thirty-five kgs. 35 kgs were more than enough for the current him. And if he needed more he could always make more. Putting the metals on the forge to melt, he moved to the other corner of the room. He put on a thick apron, footwear and gloves that were available for the students. Then it was time to choose a hammer. Elior chose a long sledgehammer and went to the forge again. The melting did not take long, and he started hammering the metals. His physical strength was not much, so he infused mana into the hammer even to work with normal metals like tungsten and titanium. The red metal from the head bounced once after each hammering as he purified the alloy. But to make the thing he needed, only the alloy of Tungsten and Titanium was not enough. In between, he put all the blue and green looking pearl into the forge. There was the material used to make handcuffs and other mana isolation artifacts, and their key attribute was that it could negate the usage of mana. Even Though those tiny pearls were of inferior quality, only one of them cost him tens of time compared to the metals. It cost him 700000 credits just to buy 200 gram of inferior grade Mana Nullifying stone. Elior made the alloy hammering hundreds of times. Sweat dripped from his face as he pulled the mana nullifying stone from the forge. It had melted into a liquid and made into an oceanic blue colour. He added the liquid to the red metal as colourful vapour rose when the liquid touched the hot alloy. Elior felt the mana was weakening in his body just by breathing a little in the air. He nodded in affirmation. Elior started hammering again. What he was doing so far was not Mana engineering, but smithing. Engineering comes after he prepared the materials for it. He made flat bars out of the alloy, each holding 200 grams or more. Now only the hardest part is left, but it won''t be for him. All he needed to do now was inscribed the runes onto the bars and then make a training vest and trousers out of it. Wiping his face with a towel, Elior was about to bring out his engineering toolkit when he noticed there was not only him in the room now. "Since when did the freshman learn to smith so well?" said a man sitting in the middle of the room. The man was in the late of his prime, had a beard of black and white mixed and fairly good hair in solid black. His skin was oily but fair, and he was wearing trousers that did not reach his knee and a grey vest. "Good afternoon, Professor Neldor," Elior greeted, trying to hide the melancholy in his voice. Professor Neldor nodded in approval. Issac Neldor, the one in charge of the institute''s mana engineering and Smithing department. His reputation in the academy did not lose out to the dean, even though he was lower in the position. The reason for that was not only that Issac Neldor was the best Blacksmith and Mana engineer on earth, but he also held a great reputation in the Mother world too. If any guardians want an artifact from him, they have to strictly meet his requirement and wait for months, not because he was damn busy with his work, but because he had no motivation for work. But even without motivation, he was a damn good artificer that Elior never hoped to be. "I thought about sending an upper-class man today to instruct the only student I got this year, but the dean was hell-bent on me to look at the only student," Professor Neldor said flatly. "Kid, what are you trying to make?" "Something that will help me with my training." Elior did not lie, but he did not tell the truth either. "I can see that," Professor Issac said. Just by smelling, he could tell what materials were put into the forge. "You seemed to have a clear idea about what you are trying to make." Elior''s expression did not change, but he said nothing. He could not lie if Professor Neldor asked about how he learned all this, not only because Professor Neldor was once his teacher, he just could not lie. But he was not that worried. The teacher he knew was not someone who was interested in anything, even if he showed god-giving talent. "Ha ha," Professor Neldor chuckled. "I like self-established people the most. You can just work here, no need to give any answer to me or any other person as long as you abide by the rule." Elior nodded. Just as he expected. "You seemed to not need my instruction, so I''ll be going then," his teacher stood up from the seat and left the room. "Leave before the department closes." Elior sighed, looking at the leaving man. His eyes did not hide the melancholy and pity now. Issac Neldor once had been his teacher in mana engineering and blacksmithing, but he could not teach him for a long time. Unconsciously, his palm was made into a fist. Elior noticed and softened it before continuing his task again. Elior took the Rune handler which had the shape of a thick pen and started inscribing into those flat bars. Elior started slowly, even though he had the knowledge of a grandmaster in mana engineering. His current state could not allow him to inscribe even the simplest runes easily, much less what he needed to inscribe now was just below the intermediate level. Elior put his will and mana into the rune handler and felt the viscous liquid inside it. The ink. It was made out primarily of mana stones and various other elements. The one in his hand now was of no attribute. To complete a training vest and trousers, he needed to at least inscribe 1200 complete runes. There was no way he could finish it before the department closes. _______________________ This is done by professional, do not try this at home.. He he. Chapter 32 - Training (3) It was midnight when Elior finished inscribing all the runes and bound them into articles of clothing. It took over six hours to do something he could do with just a flick of his pinky in his prime. He let out a victory smile and wiped out the sweat from his face. 1256 complete runes counting the 12 intermediate ones he had put in an hour just to connect the rest of the runes. After the artifacing department closed at six, Elior had a meal with Ileana and Shin at the cafeteria, and joined in the work after that. If only he had the equipment of forging in his room, and allowed to forge in his room, he could have made more things in his room, hiding from the watching eyes of others. Not everyone was like Issac Nelson. They might not have bad intentions, but his skills at artifacing could make them more than fascinating. And that not something Elior could answer if they asked some question. With a concentrated gaze, he looked at the specification of the items. It was even slimmer than a bullet-proof vest, but it was way heavier than that. After all, it was mostly made of tungsten and titanium. [Items: Customised Training suit. Class: rare. Quality: Decent. Defence: 8~11. Durability: 18/18. Weight: 39.4kgs - Customised Training suit made by Elior, a Budding Artificer. - The Suit can jam the mana inside the wearer''s body from 5% to 99%, and doing so it would cast a spell on the wearer and he would feel the weight of the clothes of the multipliers from 1X to 10x.] Elior chuckled, reading the Budding Artificer after his name. The thing that he made was as he had expected. If he wanted to buy something like this, it would cost him about 12 to 15 millions guardians credit, even though the material cost him less than 1 million. That''s how profiting from artifacing was if you were good at it. The training suit worked in a quite simple way. The runes he had put inside it would enlarge the effect of the mana nullifying stones and it would restrict him, or the right way to say would create problems whenever he tried to use mana. He needed to put more effort into using the mana, while it would exhaust him more. It would also help him grow, too. And there was that weight for his physical training. Elior would kill two birds with one stone, but the toll on his body will be twice as much too, if not more. Without much thinking, He removed his clothes and wore the training suit. Even though the silk was thicker than most, it was not uncomfortable; he paid a good price for it to not be uncomfortable. But the moment he revolved the mana inside his body, he started to feel uncomfortable. With his current level and body, he will be able to only train with about 10 percent restriction on mana while the weight of the thing will turn double. If he rose the restriction on man more than the weight would multify furthermore. Elior was quite tired after all the work he had done today, so he put the suit in the lowest restriction¡ª5% with 1.5x multiplying weight and sat crossless on the bed. It did not take long for his mind to imagine the void. The Nothingness came straight the moment he tried it. Elior still was surprised at that. Even when he first awaked the space attribute in his previous time, he was not so adept in it. He was well over LVL 100 back then, yet he had to try hours before he succeeded. Was it because of his experience? Perhaps, but that was not the entire truth. Elior still had to train in the dawn, so he did not mediate the entire night. About two hours of meditation with the suit on, he jerked the heavy things off his body and slept. And the alarm rang just after two minutes he had slept. Elior had the urge to destroy his hollow book now, but he still woke up. It had not been only two minutes that he had slept, but two and half hours. The clock was striking at 04:30. With an ugly scowl on his face, Elior walked up to the washroom. He took a cold shower, and it surprisingly helped him refresh. He then put on the customised training suit again and above it he wore the tracksuit. His body turned heavier and slower. He did not forget the earbuds and when he was checking his phone to connect to the Bluetooth, he saw there were a few messages from shin. Shin: Bro, I don''t think I can join in today''s run. I have used the cleansing potion you gave me and I''m almost dead now. Skull emoji 3x. Shin: Please pardon this poor soul for today. Crying emoji 10X. I promise I''ll join you tomorrow. Shin: For the third time. Please don''t today. Praying emoji. Elior clicked his tongue and massaged, "Drama queen." "I''ll meet you at the cafeteria at Eight." No reply came, as Shin was probably sleeping now. Elior did not bother, left for the tracks. The sun just rose when Elior appeared on the field. Today there were fewer people present there on the tracks compared to yesterday, probably because he came more than half an hour later. Minding his own business, Elior started running. His body was heavier today, so he started even slower than yesterday and he started the restriction at 5%. The heaviness rose further, and he gasped for heavy breaths only after running for five minutes. The only consolation he had in between the running was the soft music playing in his ears and the soft morning breeze hitting his face. He ran alone for a while and then felt someone''s presence behind him. He turned the music off to hear a female voice greeting him. "Good morning. Mind if I join you?" Elior focused his gaze to notice it was Lara. Lara was a tall girl when compared to other girls. She was wearing a tracksuit like his and sneakers, while her hairs were bound to a bun. She was a freshman like Elior, but they were not in the same section. "It has not been morning yet," Elior said, taking in a deep breath. This was not the first time he was talking to her after he had helped her in the trial. She had thanked him once in the academy. "I know," Lara said curtly, and started running side by side with him. "I did not say you can join me," Elior said then. Lara flustered a little. Her face was about to go pale, and she was about to leave when Elior said again. "I''m just joking. Yes, you can run with me. Apparently my friend today was too tired to join me, and I would appreciate someone else''s company." Lara nodded and jogged with him. Strangely enough, she felt the speed at which they were jogging was not even half of her usual speed and saw Elior taking large gasps on that. "Why are you running like a . . .'''' Lara stopped her phrase. "Like a girl?" But Elior completed it. She squinted her nose a little, but nodded. "The reason is simple, because my body is weak and I can''t handle more speed than this," he said. "I understand if it is not preferable to you. If you like, you can run at your usual speed." "I''m good," Lara said and kept the slow pace with him. Elior looked at her one last time, before turning on the music again. He finished his laps on the fifth, and rested on the grass while Lara completed a couple more with her usual pace before joining him again. "Is there something you would like to tell me?" Elior asked, looking straight at her. Lara hesitated a little, then said, looking down at the grass. "I was thinking if you would like to train with me?" Elior blinked at the girl, whose face was red like a tomato. ''My god, why is she so embarrassed just asking for training? It''s not like she was asking for a date." Then he recalled the one before him was barely a teenage girl, while he was an oldman in the body of his younger self. Lara was flustered even more than hearing no answer from him. She licked her lips to say something more when she heard him say: "I don''t know if you are aware, but I have quite a busy schedule. So I won''t be able to agree with your proposal, but I could manage a little combat training in the morning or evening twice or thrice a week." ________________________ Vote power stones or golden stones in the book if you like the content. Leave a review behind to let me know what your thoughts about the story. t Chapter 33 - Dungeon (1) Today''s class was more exciting than any other, and the only reason for that was the subject today was none other than the dungeon travel. Aleister Scriber was explaining the things they needed to concern themselves with and the things they should refrain themselves from doing. Number one on that list was, don''t run off on your own. After all, a dungeon was an alternate dimension on its own. Most of the rules there might be the same, but it did not take long for something bad to happen. Students were told to ask the instructor for anything in the dungeon. It had been a week since they were admitted to the institute and it was the time for their first dungeon travel. Most of the students were excited by the notion, while some were worried, as they still could not wield mana. Their only consolation was that the institute would look over their absolute safety. It might seem bringing the students to a dungeon who could not even wield mana was a poor decision, but apparently not. As the higher an apprentice level grows the things like wielding mana became a little easier¡ªit was the main reason the institute let all the students enter the dungeon once a week under the supervision of the instructor and upperclassmen.. "Finally, we get some action," Shin said to Elior and Ileana. "I was getting quite bored through all the class and training." "You are not the only one Shin," Elior hissed from the side. Compared to Shin, he had done at least thrice, if not more, hard work. He was wearing the training suit for at least twenty hours a day, and even now. He only left the heavy suit only when he was resting. Though there was some progress in his body, his mana application still did not rise to the intermediate level. Maybe the dungeon would be able to break the wall for him. Moreover. Elior was still far from used to using the suit, but he still held on. Apart from his training, the other thing he was bored by was the sheer number of lectures he had attended. The artifacing department was easy. Professor Issac just sent upperclassmen to teach the only student and Elior could just find a way out of it. But the mage department was still boring as hell. They were still on the elementary level and might have stayed there for half a year for the sake of all the students. He should have thought through that before choosing the mage department after all earth was limited there as well. "Today I will get a class for sure," Shin said with enthusiasm. "Hold on to your horses, Shin," Elior watered his excitement. "You need to wait a little more to get there." "Elior, you said, after reaching level 20, we can get a profession," Shin said, raising an eyebrow. "Yes, but what level are you at now?" "9," Shin said. "But I don''t think it will be that hard to level up to level 20 though." "You are right, but I don''t think the institute would let you do things as you like on your own," Elior said from his experience. "You may not be able to fight with the chaos fiends today." "What¡ª" Before Shin could finish his sentence, something hit him on the forehead, and it hurt quite painfully. "Ouch!" Shin looked to find it was a blunt ice projectile, and he was not the only one who was hit by one. Precisely speaking, he was not the only one who was thrown an ice projectile at. The other person who was sitting next to him, Elior. But contrary to him, who could only grunt in pain, Elior caught the projectile before it could hit his forehead. "Nice reflex," Aleister commented. "Now get your attention to the lecture." The Ice projectile in Elior''s palm evaporated into a mist and he focused on the lecture. "Sadly to those who were hoping to beat monsters and be a hero, it will not be what you think it is. As it will be your first dungeon travel, it will mostly be about exploring. Though, there will be chances to fight if your instructor thinks you are capable of it." Aleister continued sitting in his chair. "Unfortunately, I won''t be there, but there will be other instructors and many of your upperclassmen to take care of you." The professor lifted his leg above the other and said, "On another note, some of you still have not submitted the form yet. If you have some problem, you can discuss it with me or any other professor and be sure to submit it before six." As Aleister finished his lecture, Ford came into the classroom with two other instructors. One was a man in the middle of his prime, black-trimmed hair, fair skin, but not so handsome appearance. Professor William, the instructor of the weapon mastery class. The other one was a woman who seemed not too old. Probably she did not have even a couple of years of experience in her profession. Professor Sarah, who was specialised in the mage department. Ford let the other teacher and the students through the academy after a brief explanation. Elior took the Spear from the classroom and followed. It was among the general weapons he had chosen during the weapon mastery class. Similarly, Shin had chosen a sword and Ileana a wand. These kinds of equipment were not too luxurious, but better than the thing they were given at the trial. Ford led them outside the institute grounds to where the school bus or the right way to be called the dimension travelling vehicle were kept. It was still masked as a school bus. Apart from all that, there were a couple dozen more people waiting. Their dresses indicated they were upperclassmen who would be travelling with them. "We will divide into three groups and travel with three separate vehicles," Ford said. With him, the other two professors divided the students. Elior, Shin and Ileana were in the same group, as they were standing close together. Ford took them under his group with 14 more freshmen and 8 upperclassmen. Finally when they were seated properly in the vehicle, Ford appeared again in front of them. "I can assume you all learned about dungeons?" he asked. His question was towards the freshmen who only had a week of education. "As you have learned, the grade of dungeons was divided into six grades from grade 0 to grade 5. The one where we are going now is a Grade 1 with a mana density level of 0.678 Axis standard. Can anyone tell me what level of monster we will expect there?" Ileana raised her hand before anyone could. Gaining the approval from the instructor, she said, "A grade One Dungeon can hold chaos Fiend of below level 50 or the second evolution as we were told, but the mana density there is 0.678, so we might not even get to see monster close to the limit of the second evolution. So all in all most 80% of the fiends should be below first evolution and the rest should be of first evolution." "Correct. Five points to," Ford said and paused. "Ileana." Ford nodded and said again. "As I have learned, most of the students here are not so adapt to mana, but you need to level up by a few levels to at least get used to the hang of mana. In that case, your upperclassmen will help you in dealing with the monster and looking after your safety." Faint sounds of whispering appeared, and Ford smiled. "I expect everyone to reach level 10 by today." "Only level 10," Shin complained in mutters. "I was thinking about getting a class today." Ford explained few other things as the vehicle sped up in the sky from the academy ground. This time the students were not put to sleep. _____________________________ Powerstones or Golden tickets for bonus chapter. 50 Power stones or 3 Golden tickets for 1 bonus chapter. 100 Power stones / 6 golden tickets for 2 bonus chapters. 200 Power stones / 9 Golden tickets for 4 Bonus chapters. And so on. Chapter 34 - Dungeon (2) One by one, the students left the vehicle and found themselves out of nowhere. Above was a strikingly blue sky with no sign of clouds. The yellow sun was in the middle of the sky, beaming with splendour. On the earth, there were green trees all over, with rocky mountains on the far horizon with red cliffs. A volcanic mountain range, but it was far away from there. "What is this place?" Shin asked, looking all over. He couldn''t even figure out if it was the part of earth or some other place like the trial. "Kilimanjaro," Elior muttered under breath, recognising the place. "What?" Shin asked a little loudly. Then he saw more students were looking at him, so he asked in a lower tone. "Isn''t this place abandoned a couple of decades ago?" "It is," Ford answered in place of Elior. He came before the students and continued. "Even though this place is among the land that was abandoned decades ago, it is not that dangerous. Specifically, because of the reason, it was then established as the training ground for budding guardians and apprentices. Here are many dungeons that were preserved by the government for the same reason." "Isn''t it not dangerous?" a student asked with worry. "It could have been, but there were many people placed here to look into it and the dungeons were blocked with any outside intervention, meaning the grade of the dungeon will only decay, not rise. . . ." "Less talking now, follow me, and stay close to your seniors," Ford said and looked at the leading fellow of the upperclassmen. "Gaivan, take care of them." Gaivan, the leading student, nodded, and Ford started to walk again. The students followed, and Gaivan took the lead while all the other upperclassmen got busy. Now the upperclassmen were not as nonchalant as before. The eight upperclassmen moved and surrounded the freshmen, baring their weapons. They moved, giving the freshmen more safety. Clearly, they had experience in this type of dealings. "Everyone will stay in this formation," Gaivan added. It did not take long for them to reach the spot where the dungeon was. Even a student who was not adept in mana application could tell something was wrong in this place. While an elite like Elior could tell he was only half a mile away from a dungeon, though he might have a problem showing their way of it. After all, they could not just enter a dungeon by jumping in; there was a lot of nerdy stuff before the guardians could make a safe gate into it. Another man appeared before them as they came close to the dungeon. Middle-aged with whiskers. He was in official code holding, which appeared to be a big cup of coffee. "Students, this is Guardian Silva who was in charge of taking care of the dungeons here with a few other guardians." Ford introduced the man as the students bowed their heads a little. "Alright. Let''s go." Finally, after all the travel, they stood before an enormous gate that was radiating different kinds of light. Mostly faint blue and purple. It was not like that before, only after Guardian Silva did something with the equipment there and the thick barrier thinned out to only faint light. "Good day hunting," Guardian Silva said. "You guys have two hours. Make the most of it." "Aye," Ford nodded and led the students to enter. He had already instructed them on how it was not anything difficult. All they had to do was not messing around, jump in straight. But he again instructed them to do so. An upperclassman showed them the way, by jumping into it and all the following. "I felt a little dizzy there," Shin said, shaking his head a couple of times. While most of the freshmen were the same. Inside the dungeon was not so different from the outside. Even though it was an individual realm, it was of a lower level. The sun was still there in the sky. It was the very sun, but now it appeared a little different. The students could not tell what was so different about it apart from that something was restricting it. "Did I tell you what type of monster we will see here?" Ford asked. "Ants. Not your average ones by huge ones. They could go as big as a metre to two. Fortunately, the one here has no poison, but that doesn''t make them easy. They are carnivorous and would eat anything of nutrients, humans too." The freshmen shook hearing that. Shin was not in them, the wannabe delinquent was still looking all over the place as if searching for the monster. While Ileana was not as brave. With a little step, she got close to Elior, gripping her equipment hard. "Don''t worry, there are the upperclassmen and the Instructor with us," Elior said. "And me too." "Who said I was worried?" Ileana showed him her tongue, acting tough, but she did keep only a hand length distance from him. "Instructor Ford," Shin asked among all the students. "Are we allowed to fight the monster here?" Ford looked back and pondered. He looked at all the students and especially Elior Ileana and Shin before saying. "You are allowed, but it would be under the protection of your upperclassmen and me. If we see any harm in your safety, you will be put into safety immediately." "I see," Shin said with a little brightened expression. "Freshmen were allowed to fight in groups or in one by one," Ford said, scanning the surroundings. "Your seniors are preparing the monster for you. So, prepare now." After that, Ford told them about the weakness of the ant and how to fight. They were taught all these in their very first class about monsters. But it did not take long for the humans to forget things, especially in such dangerous and alien circumstances. The first ones who had the privilege of fighting the ants were Shin, Ileana, and Elior. Since the dungeon was not anything big and they were only here for the first experience, they went in a group. Under the watchful gazes of the crowd, Elior with his two companions advanced. There were two ants they were up against, both had a height of about a metre, six legs and an antlike appearance. Only in size they differ. "Brother Elior, let me deal with this insect," Shin proposed, and Elior let him. After all, there will be more ants. The seniors were restricting more of them from coming at once. Shin brandished his sword with mana as the blade grew sharper. Ford with approval as Shin attack one in the head. He twisted his sword as green juice came out of it and the ant laid dead there. "Eww," Shin uttered in disgust as the other one of the ants advanced towards him. With a swing of his blade, it died easily as well. "Why is this so easy?" some of the students wondered, and even Shin was wondering. "These things are filthy," Shin said, jerking his sword. "They did not give me many Karma points too." "Be steady and continue." Ford''s voice came from behind. This time, the seniors let three ants advance towards them. Ileana was not convinced of letting the boys do all the work. Golden halo of light beamed in her arm and she cast it to Elior and Shin. [Your attack power has risen by 10%.] Elior nodded to the chestnut-haired girl. It was not the limit of her ability. She could do furthermore, but against the ants, even the boast of 10% attack power was unrequired. The two of them hack and swing their sword and spear respectively as the three corpses of the ants lay on the ground. It took even less time than before. [You have killed a Kilar Ants level 7] [You have gained 46 karma points.] The Karma points divided among the three of them according to the contributions, but none of them had any enthusiastic face. These ants were no challenge. Not to say, ants were never a predator, these monsters were even less than level ten. They held no dangers to them. "Can we get more ants, please?" Shin said. "And it would be better if they were a little stronger." The upperclassmen looked at Ford, who nodded.. In the next term, they were against five ants, but they looked similarly weak from before. Chapter 35 - Aanya After the little fighting, Elior only levelled up once. He had expected as much and was not so vocal about it, unlike his friend Shin, who complained half a dozen times about not getting what he wanted. In the end, the stare from Ford silent him. They were on the sideline now. Before them was Ford, watching over all the students. Their time of two hours was almost finished here, and now the upperclassmen were showing their skills with the ants that had their first evolutions. Ford considered this as a good experience, so he let the freshmen watch their upperclassmen at play. Most of the students were impressed and dumbfounded on the showcase of eight students just a year older than them rampaging against two metres tall ants. "They seemed to be having fun," Shin said with envy at the upperclassmen. "Yeah," Elior muttered. He had to beat down the impulse to sneak some attack in between with his [Abstraction of Void] and gain enough karma points to reach level 20. But he chose not to, as Ford was standing before everyone. Even though he was confident that he could hide his play from the upperclassmen, he was not so for the instructor. After all, Ford was a Guardian of the fourth-order with the expertise to reach the fifth order in a few years. Elior sighed inwardly. He had to reach fifth-order as soon as possible. Although third-order or above Level 100 was the criterion to be a guardian, Fifth Order was the true benchmark that sets the Guardian from the rest of the others. "I hope I can get more fighting next week," Shin said. Elior shook his head. The institution would not let them. They were very strict in protecting their cubs. After all, they were the future of the earth. Even a single unfortunate event would hurt them badly. "You can only wait for the next trial," he added. Shin turned his head towards Elior as the words interested him. "And when is that, by the way?" "Two months from now one, if we are lucky and work hard," Elior said, smilingly. He knew Shin would be interested in the trial and hoped it would motivate the wannabe delinquent to be more diligent. The Trial was the only place they were given free reins to showcase their skills and abilities. It was organised by the denizens of the motherworld and the fairies overlooked it so that there was no death, too. At least that was true for the first three trials. Who else would not be interested in it? They would get rich rewards and will level up at the same time. A win-win situation for everyone. "I got the hard part, but what luck had to do in there?" Shin asked, arching his brows. "Other than the criteria, there were other things you need to worry about," Elior said. "You have no say in this if the institute thinks you are not ready for this. In the next trial, you will not only be facing people of the lower world, but the apprentice of the Motherworld will be there, and you have seen how arrogant and autocratic they were before. So it was not unfounded that the institute would delay your participation for the next trial or more." "How do you know all this?" Ileana asked on the other hand, as she had got none of the news through the classes. "You guys need to do some digging," Elior said, not mentioning where he knew all this. "That''s not important now," Shin said. "So what are the criteria for entering the next trial?" "Succeed in the first Class change and above level 6 in mana application, and there are a few more that I forgot." The upperclassmen almost finished up the battle with only the cleaning left now. Ford again led the students back from the grade 1 dungeon at a steady pace. "That seemed easy enough," Shin said in a lower tone. "If only the institute let me fight more freely." "There is still about two months of time. Getting to level 20 would be easy even with all the watch over, but it is not enough for you," Elior whispered. "Like I mentioned, you need to show the institute you can take care of yourself against the apprentice of the mother world." Shin nodded with a bitter expression as they walked. They left the dungeon behind and Guardian Silva closed it. The sun was still scorching on the outside, though with the wintery weather it was more on the pleasanter side. Other than Guardian Silva there was another person waiting there. It was a female who may only be a year or two older than the students there. "Ah, Aanya, what are you doing here?" Ford asked immediately when she noticed the girl. Elior stopped on his track when he noticed the female. Head full of silver hair, stunning as the sunrise and a long, almost perfect oval face, and the eyes that sparkle in the sapphirine-green glitter. The girl was not short, almost as tall as him, with long legs. She wore the suit of a warrior now, leather jerkins and a similarly white breastplate complimenting her white hair. Elior knew this girl. And he was not the only one. She was like a celebrity among the students. Everyone knows her. But the way Elior knew her was different from the rest. She was the daughter of his teacher. Not Aleister, but Issac Neldor. On his previous timeline, he had talked with her a few times and could be considered as friends, though not that close, like he was with Shin or Ileana. Unfortunately, their friendship was not for long, not because one of them broke it, but because she died. Well, every single one of his friends did die at the end, but her death was premature even compared to the rest. Aanya Neldor was considered to have even higher talent than he or Leroy or anyone on the entire earth. She had inherited the best of qualities of her parents in looks or in talents. Unfortunately for her, she died two years from now in the horrifying calamity, protecting the earth. Elior palms were made into fists unconsciously when he recalled the memories. Meanwhile, the silver-haired girl in warrior costume came closer toward Ford. "Uncle Ford, I was waiting for you here." She said with a pleasant smile. "I just finished my training and heard you are here, so I waited for you." "Right, I forgot you are training here," Ford nodded. "Are you coming back to the academy? I can give you a lift if you want and in the meantime, you can talk to your former classmate the juniors." Aanya thought for only a moment and nodded, giving a side look to all the students. "Let''s go then. I was training here alone for a weak, and bored to death, finding nobody to talk to." Ford nodded and led the students again while Aanya talked with the upperclassmen. After all, she was the current student president and held the most authority among all the students. "El, stop staring at her like that," Ileana said, nudging Elior on the shoulder. Only then Elior found out he was thinking about all that staring at Aanya. He shook a couple of times and heard Ileana''s voice again. "Are you smitten by her looks or something? Or it is the bad habit you picked up from a certain someone?" "Hey, why are you pulling me into this?" Shin grunted from the side. "I did not call your name, but it appears you know how El got this bad habit," Ileana said and looked towards the silver-haired maiden and all the other boys in the pack staring at the same person. "Well, I can''t blame you for this. Her looks are satisfactory for all the admiration." "On another note, I recall, she was your idol to be a guardian, is it not?" Elior asked the chestnut-haired girl who was still stealing looks with all the boys. "You should talk to her." "No," Ileana said immediately. She feared if her idol was not like she had imagined, then she would only be heart broken. ____________________ The book might go premium from 28th of this month. Meaning the chapter will get locked soon, but all not is bad about it. From then on the chapter will be scheduled well and there will be more chapters.. Thankyou. Chapter 36 - Aanya (2) The students entered the bus as it changed its shape to almost like a paper plane. Fortunately, it was not as fragile as paper. Though it was not of the best of the quality¡ªthe earth could afford, it was still secure enough to fall against the attack of third-order chaos fiends. Ford left the students to have free reins inside the carrier after their first dungeon travel. Boys and girls talked unrestrained with such convenience, but most of the talk was not about the ants they had encountered or how scared they were. It was about their senior Aanya, who still held the utmost importance of the crowd even after five minutes of her appearance. Now she was not just dealing with the upperclassmen, but the juniors were surrounding her as well. Some take in autographs or selfies. Kids were always full of spirit. Elior could not help but recall those days. ''Wait, I''m still a teenage boy,'' he thought. ''Physically, at least.'' Though he looked like another boy here, his mental age was a dozen years older. Moreover, through all the battle and heartbreaks he experienced, left him incapable of enjoying the splendour of his youth again. Unknowingly, he felt some emotion swirling inside him. Envy? Sadness? Maybe a little. Shaking his head, he focused on Ileana again. "How long are you gonna stand there and peek?" he asked her. "You should go and join the other kids." "Why are you acting like my father?" Ileana asked, arching her brow. "Should I call her for you?" Shin said next to her. "You would not dare." Ileana glared at the delinquent-looking boy. "Why wouldn''t I?" Shin laughed and was about to shout. But before he could do that, Ileana had sealed his mouth with her arm. He only made noises that were unrecognisable by any intelligence species. "Kids." Elior shook his head. In place of Shin, he shouted for Ileana. "Senior Aanya, here is one of your biggest fans." His voice was not that loud, but it was enough to enter anyone''s ear who was not that distracted in the circle. Aanya was one of them. She heard the call and looked to the owner, who was standing outside the circle of the crowd. "El," Ileana glared at Elior and said. "Why did you do that?" Elior gave her a smile and gestured with his eyes to look behind. Ileana did, and found Aanya standing just a yard away. Frightened, Ileana almost hid behind Elior. "She is not a monster," Elior whispered, pulling Ileana forward, who was not in her usual self in front of her idol. "Talk to her and you will be fine." "Hello," Aanya said with her pleasant smile, which was like a warm sunrise for all the boys. Her eyes gazed at Ileana first, and then it paused on Eilor, who was forcing Ileana. "Hel-hello," Ileana greeted hesitantly. Abruptly, the expression on Aanya''s face paled. Beads of sweat formed instantly on her forehead and her expression hollowed. She unconsciously extended her palm to her head, covering a good portion of her sight. She looked down, covering her head in a sudden panic. "Senior? Senior?" Ileana called, seeing the expression on her idol. Something is wrong with her. "Are you alright?" Elior frowned. Something happened to Aanya just now, and it was the moment she laid eyes on him. A cloud of memory untangled inside his mind and he became even more confused and worried. He opened his bag and extended a water bottle to Aanya. Ileana helped her sit in one of the seat. "Here," he said. Aanya looked at him carefully again with her big, sapphire-green eyes. She blinked once and said, "Thank you." Aanya took the bottle and drank two mouthfuls of water. She found dozens or more worried gazes resting on her. "I''m fine," she said and gave Elior back the water bottle. Then she turned to her usual self. "So, what are your names again?" she asked with a smile. Ileana was looking at her with worry, and introduced herself and the others. "I''m Ileana, a freshman majoring in the magic department," she said and moved to Elior. "This is El. I mean Elior, he''s all over the place and last is this stupid guy. He is called Shin." Shin glared at Ileana, who only ignored him like he never existed there. "I see," Aanya said, and gestured to them to take their seats as the aircraft was about to take flight. "Nice to meet you, Ileana, Elior and Shin. I hope you all will become a promising Guardian and protect the earth with me." Ileana blushed at hearing that. After a few exchanges of words, she found her fear was for nothing. Her Idol was really friendly. Maybe a little too friendly, but she did not find it awkward. The two girls talked about many things in just a few minutes. From how difficult the exam was, how they performed in the trial and how stressful the institute is. Aanya found out through the talks that Elior came first in the trial. She gave a smile with a belated congratulations. Elior nodded and accepted it, but the little frown on his brows did not leave him. Aanya was as friendly as he remembered her, and he recalled her weirdness. He recalled she told him some weird things on more than one occasion in the other timeline. Elior did not recall exactly what she said, but he did recall some extent of it. She said his life would be hard. He has to walk through the path of light and dark together and something along the line. At the time, he thought she was just a little chuunibyou in the head. But now, things were making a little sense to him. It appeared Aanya had some peculiar ability. Maybe she could see a portion of the forthcoming or somewhat alike, but it should not be something big. After all, she died quite early in her career. Elior did not know anything about her abilities. He did not have many interactions with her. She went to Motherworld some time after he was admitted to the institute and only came back before the great calamity and died. Sighing, Elior rest those thoughts. He could not ask her about all this. She only met him for ten minutes. Asking weird questions was not the way. "So Earth''s future is in good hands," Aanya said to the three of them with a beaming smile. "I can finally leave for Motherworld with that thought." "You are leaving?" Ileana asked with a rueful expression. "Not now," Aanya said, shaking her head. "I still have three months of time here." "But as far as I know, you only admitted to the institute for a year and you will leave?" "That''s true, but I completed most of what I could learn from the institute, and I have a maternal relationship with the motherworld, so it was easier for me to leave." Aanya pressed her lips and pondered. "Your mother from Motherworld?" Ileana asked with big eyes. She had not known that. Aanya nodded and did not go into the topics. "Even though I leave for the mother world, I''ll still come back from time to time. After all, my father is still here," she said. "And you guys have a future there too if you work hard. That reminded me, I have to give my post as the student president to someone else before I go. Does any of you interested?" She looked at Elior more when she said that. _____________ Vote power stones and GOLDEN TICKET if you appreciate the work.. Comment and leave a review if you have time. Chapter 37 - Sneak Out [Mana Application has reached LVL 10.] "Finally," Elior said, rising from his bed. It was about ten days since Mana Application had been stuck to level 9 and Elior had tried everything indoors to raise it. He looked at his analogue clock and found it was just past nine. He knew today was the day. It would finally rise to the intermediate control level. Now he could use mana more freely and using the [Abstraction of Void] would be a little easier. Well, at least it won''t injure him in the process¡ªthat was a big win itself. Elior had a sudden impulse as he walked in a circle in the room. His arms were shaking in sudden excitement. He had been bored since he was admitted to the institute and finally when his mana control rose to an intermediate level; he had the impulse to sneak out of the institute ground. ''No, it''s too risky to sneak out now. I''m still not adapt enough to hide myself," his mind rang. And that thought lasted only for a few moments before he eliminated it. His reasoning: It''s the weekend today. He will have free time tomorrow, and if he needs to save everything he needed to take risks like this. Elior rushed towards his hollow book. He checked if he was able to find any low-grade dungeon nearby. Only going to his impulses was idiocy. If he could not find any dungeon in the end, then it would only be wasting his precious time. He had written all the things small to big that he remembered from the previous timeline in a document. It took quite some time; he invested an hour every day for this job and writing has not finished yet. After all, old memories were untangling little by little every day while most of them were useless. He did find some useful things. After searching in the documents for a while, he found four such locations close to here. Two in the fourth ring, one at the third and one at the fifth. If he used the metro now, he would be able to get there in two to four hours, depending on if he remembers correctly enough. He noted down the location in the map application on his cell phone before preparing. First, he removed the heavy training suit and packed a bag with spare clothes and things he needed. He could not take a spear with him there, so he put the sword he had taken from Renal inside the bag, wrapping it with clothes. Other than that, he took daggers¡ªa lot of them. Lastly, he then changed into a hoodie and put with a mask on his mouth. It hid most of his features, but that was not enough to sneak out from the secure grounds of the academy. Elior had just the thing for that. Breathing even and smoothly a few times, he focused on a certain ability he would need. He triggered the [Abstraction of void], but not in a way to attack. The spatial waves did not vibrate, but they shook for a while. The shaking smoothed little by little too. And after two minutes the shaking completely stopped. The spatial wave made it into a layer and Elior put it against his body. [Congratulations! You have learned the sub-ability Spatial Stealth LVL 1.] "Ooh, it isn''t easy." Elior released the ability. [Spatial Steal] was a sub ability of [Abstraction of Void]. It takes careful mastery of the space element to employ the stealth. And it was a dozen times harder than to kill someone distorting the partial waves. After all, destroying a thing was a lot easier than building it. Elior considered his movement for a while and practised the ability for some time. After ten or so minutes, he was good to go, but he did not leave immediately. Even practising the ability for ten minutes took almost all of his mana. He needed to wait for half an hour for it to recover. In the meantime, he messaged Shin and Ileana to tell them to not bother him tomorrow morning. Half an hour later, a ''Do not disturb'' sign was added to Elior''s door and the person who added it successfully left the dormitory. Elior was extra focused on the usage of the stealth ability now. Partly because even a simple gust of wind could reduce his effort useless if he did not focus carefully. Space was after all a fragile element. Don''t think it was wrong, spatial waves could be horrifyingly deadly if used properly, but a misled hand could destroy the person using it, too. Elior was using the spatial waves as a layer of stealth, and it was not free from friction as well. A strong gust of wind over eighty km/hr could crush his stealth in mere seconds and that was true to the breeze as well, if he was not careful. The spatial waves took the colour of the night as Elior moved through the institute''s main gate. He had met a few watchmen, and fortunately, they were not so good with their ability to find something amiss. Abruptly, he came to a sudden halt. Elior noticed a movement beside him. It was faint and fleeting, but it did not escape his ears. Elior enabled the Listening. He eliminated all the sounds, such as crickets or the other insects, the watchmen moving and focused on the single fleeting sound. After a moment, he found that sound. It was a faint thumping noise. If anyone did not master Listening, they would not be able to notice it. Elior looked carefully towards the sound and found nothing, but he was not so sure about his sight. There were many things in the world that could fake the eye. With a thought, Elior threw a few strands of mana towards the location and found he was right. There really was something, or rather someone. Someone else was trying to sneak out of the institute as well, but he or she was doing it with an artifact or something else. Without a thought, Elior followed after the faint sound. Who knew what he would come across and if it was something or someone trying to harm the institute, he could as well do something about it. The person Elior was following jumped off the institute wall, but still, he did not unveil himself, and so did Elior. Even if they had safely sneaked out of the academy building, it did not mean they were safely out. The academy ground ran further than that. For about three-mile in radius belongs to the academy, and many things were forbidden here. Such as Spatial travel. And the forbade just did not apply as the institute gave a vocal order here, but there were many runes in formations placed surrounding the institute that reject any type of spatial travel. The Person moved faster, leaving the main wall. There were other watchdogs there too, but failed to notice the two people sneaking out. Only after the person reached the street, he waited in a lonely alley to unveil himself. Elior looked carefully at the person who was wearing a hoodie just like him and a mask on the mouth, but more importantly, he knew the person. It was none other than Leroy. One of the freshmen and one of his dear friends in the previous timeline. ''Looks like I don''t have to play justice today,'' Elior thought, but a curiosity rose in his mind. What was Leroy going after in the middle of the night? Is he going for a hunt as well? Elior dismissed that question. Even if Leroy had balls of steel, he would not do something so crazy. Alone in a dungeon, if something went wrong, even his grandpa won''t be able to save him. Even though Leroy was one of the strongest humans in the previous timeline, the one before him was nothing compared to the man¡ªhe knew. Elior shook his head and chose a different direction towards the metro station. Even if he was curious, he had to wait further to find out what this guy was doing. Gaining a Class takes priority first. ___________________________ The Book won''t go premium tomorrow. I delayed it for next month. It will probably go in the middle of next month. Vote Power stones and Golden Stones if you appreciate the work. Chapter 38 - Shadowblood Elior left the metro, reaching the fourth ring of the Safe Haven, at the station of Rambar. It was half an hour past midnight and there were still few people in the station. People could only do so and travel all the time in the Safe Haven without fear of any attack. In other places where the security was not so firm, the cities were sealed only after eight and kept under the surveillance of guardians. Resting in the metro helped him regain all the lost mana. Now all he had to do was find the Rambar park¡ªwhere a grade-1 dungeon was supposed to have formed without any of the guardian''s notice. Following the map, finding the park proved to be easy and there was not much traffic on the road. All he had to do was walk steadily, follow the map. After finding the park, came identifying the dungeon. The guardians who were employed in this part could not find it, so clearly it was hidden well. According to his memory, the dungeon will break out in a couple of months, and would have a few casualties before the guardian deals with it. He only had heard it in the news, so he had no idea where the dungeon was supposed to be. Elior entered the empty park and moved silently. The bag was still on his back and so was the mask on his mouth. He put his mana sense to use, searching for any signature of the dungeon. His ability was inconsiderate, so he had to walk all over to search for the sign. Ordinarily, most of the dungeon has a similar signature. The higher the grade, the more prominent the signature. That was the reason finding the dungeon with less than 0.5 mana density was so hard. And as for the signature, it was something of decaying. Chaos was an attribute that could decay anything within a certain time, and those dungeons were formed with chaos throughout the universe. Elior had the experience of more than a decade dealing with chaos finds and chaos element, so he could recognise with the faintest sign, but today, searching all over the park, he found nothing. ''Was I wrong?'' he thought. A dungeon needs a certain amount of time to form and grow. A grade-one on earth took half a year to two years to form as the mana density here was less. The dungeon would outbreak in two months¡ªthat meant he needed to search more. A dungeon could not form out of nowhere. Technically it could, but it needed help from outside¡ªbut here seemed to be not a case like that. Or was it? After searching for half an hour, he finally came across something unusual. Elior moved towards the backside where the abandoned slides for skateboards or bi-cycle were. In the far corner of it was a small concrete building or a podium for no reason. It was at the far end of the park and restricted by chains¡ªno wonder it took so long to find it. Even after Elior trespassed the chains, he searched for a while to find the right concrete wall. He tilted his head at the wall, arching his eyebrow. Did they build the wall after the dungeon formed, or did the dungeon formed after it? He did not know, but he did not ponder to find the answer. He raised an arm and put it against the wall. In the next moment, the wall started to shake as it broke until a hole appeared in it. He threw the bag inside it first and then jumped into the wall. He opened a flashlight from his bag and started inspecting the inside. A frown appeared almost instantly, the moment he found out, while it was so difficult to find the dungeon till now. It was hidden through some means. Some means he recognised. The wall he just broke had a foil of stealth tech wrapped around it. Clearly, someone tried to hide the dungeon here until it caused havoc in the safe haven. Anger flashed in his eyes, and his palms were made into fist. Elior recognised this type of stealth tech. It was highly used by the dark organization who called themselves Shadow Blood. Technically, Shadow Blood could not be called a dark organisation. They were like any other organisation with thier own agenda though most of it was evil. Shadow Blood was not just a simple organization, and among many others, they were not the servant of the Lord of Chaos. They seemed to do things on their whim, researching about the dungeons, chaos wall, Chaos Fiends and all other types of dangerous things. They do not care if thousands of innocent die in the process as long as they get their result. Elior had a few encounters with them in the previous timeline, but he still didn''t know what their end goal was. But Earth was only a lower world among many worlds. When did Shadow Blood take an interest in it. ''I will never get what those lunatics want,'' Elior shook his head, thinking. But the deed here was probably done by some of their agent who were imposing as an Earth Guardian or a guardian trash who sold himself for some unknown needs that might never fulfil Even though there were countless privileges a Guardian gets their hands on, there were still few who were not satisfied with it. There were few who put on the mask of the saviour in the day and do this kind of heinous crime during the night. There were some fools, garbage, who things being the dog of some higher order being would get them somewhere in life. Elior imagined the void in his mind and emptied all his anger. With that, most of his emotion left as well. He could do nothing about those garbage or Shadow-Blood now, and finding it today was a reckoning of a kind. It was a good decision that he chose to sneak out today and found out some schemes of Shadowblood. He needed to find out what their deal was, but before that, he needed to destroy the dungeon here. Elior came to the end wall, and found the chaos wall of the dungeon. It was not stable enough for anyone to enter, but he had other options. He put his arm against the chaos wall as a flicker of dark-light gleamed in it. Elior did not distort the space like how he did when breaking the concrete wall, but did the opposite. He interpreted the distortion of the spatial element in the chaos wall and tried to smooth it, strengthened it. Anyone without the affinity for spatial elements could do it too, but it would be ten times more difficult. If the chaos wall was any more powerful than a Grade-1 Dungeon, he would not be able to do that. Maybe he would not do it if the mana density was a little higher here. [Abstraction of Void has reached LVL 2. Your mastery in the space element has grown. Now you need 2% less focus and mana to employ the ability.] A transparent massage greeted him when he was successful in interpreting the chaos wall. After considering the wall for ten more minutes, it was good to go. Sweat formed in beads and dripped down from his forehead to cheek. Elior did not mop it, but opened half a dozen daggers and the sword from his bag. He entered the dungeon, sheathing the weapons all over the body. [You have entered Grade-1 Dungeon, Lizard''s cave.] ____________________ Donate Power stones and Golden tickets for Bonus chapter. 50 Power stones / 3 Golden Tickets = 1 Bonus Chapter. 100 Power stones / 6 Golden Tickets = 2 Bonus Chapters. 150 Power stones / 9 Golden Tickets = 3 Bonus Chapters. 200 Power stones / 12 Golden Tickets = 4 Bonus Chapters. and so on. Chapter 39 - Slaughter The inside of the dungeon was pitch dark. There was no tree or open sky above. After all, it was said to be a cave. There was a murky feeling inside it and Elior could not see a thing. But he was not worried. With a thought, a few dozen strands of mana were released from his body in the surroundings of a five-metre radius. If something moved close to him, he would know immediately as it would disrupt the mana flow. It was a simple skill of mana application called mana sense, but profoundly effective. No monster came as he walked for a while. Bored, he could only make loud noises with his foot on the ground in the hope the lizards would take the bait and come to eat him. Elior was ready with two daggers in his arm and heard the lizards advance towards him. There were four, maybe five, that came towards him together. The lezards were quite large¡ªthe ones coming at him were one to two metres long, and were not bipedal, but they could jump a lot with their swift speed. They were naturally had no fur as a cold-blooded creatures. He infused mana into his daggers and threw himself at the lizards. Technically, lizards were the ones that threw themselves at him. He welcomed them not in an open hand, but in the reverse-gripped daggers in arms. With the mana sense in play, he could clearly sense their advancement instantly. His right arm jerked below with a slash dealing a blow. In the returning slash, he claimed the life of his first target. [You have killed the Underground Lahar Lizards LVL 14.] [You have gained 312 karma points.] These lizards were not as tall as the Killer Ants he had faced in the dungeon class, but they were profoundly swift compared with ants and more predatory. But Elior was swifter and the predator here. He killed his second target and then the third easily when he sensed a lot of the lizards coming towards him. He intentionally was quite loud when he killed the lizards. He could not see them all, but the number would very well be a few dozen. Elior squinted his nose and coated with a mana defence all over his body, and continued the battle immediately. Hack. Kill. Hack. Kill. [You have killed the Underground Lahar Lizards LVL 17.] [You have gained 442 karma points.] [You have killed the Underground Lahar Lizards LVL 15.] [You have gained 342 karma points.] [You have . . .] [Congratulations! You have reached level 15.] [You have gained 1 free attribute point.] A dozen of translucent notifications came, until Elior silenced it again with a mental command and got himself invested in the slaughter. Now only the important notification will come. Elior had not killed all the lizards he was dealing with yet, when a loud noise approached from a far corner. "It appeared the ones of the first order roused," he thought out loud. He looked at the few that were still remaining surrounding him. He smiled at them in a sadistic way and said, "Sorry kiddos, I have no time to waste now." Elior turned agiler than before. His arms moved all over the place, swinging the dagger. He had been saving his mana for most of the time and had not yet used the [Abstraction of Void] any way in the battle. With only his skills that he was doing the killing. Finishing the small one, he gave a satisfied grin. All the training he had done with the suit on was not for nothing. He had more control over his body now and had more endurance. He had levelled thrice, killing the fifty-something low-grade lizards, and it only took him over a couple of minutes. The lizards that have reached first order in their advancement were twice the size of the ones he had killed now and they were swifter, too. Six of them came together at him, baring the savage teeth. Now was the time to use his ability. Elior imagined the void inside and all the emotions left him, leaving only the coldness and scorn. One of the bigger lizards jumped at him in a bolt. Elior only swiped his once, and the knife did not even have a contract with the head of the lizards, yet it laid dead on the ground staking his clothes. What happened was simple. Elior used his dagger as a direction tool to give guide the spatial distortion and screw the head of the damn lizard. And he did not even burst it entirely, like when he had burst Renal''s arm into almost nothingness. The dead lizard had only a slight wound in its brain, but fetal enough to kill it. Even though the blood was filthy and tainted his clothes, even his face, Elior had not hindered. There were five, just as savage things were approaching him. And maybe more were in their way. Elior slit one''s neck in a similar fashion, only using the energy that was needed. Elior was killing them in such a fashion for two certain reasons. First, the prominent reason was that the [Abstraction of Void] takes too much mana in its usage. Even though he only used it twice just now, it took one-tenth of his mana already, and adding the other usage of mana, he only has about one-third of his mana left. The second reason was a little masochistic. While killing the lizards with such precision, he was training his instinct and body, too. It did take more of his mental intensity, but that he has in abundance. Now only one-third of his mana left, and if he used his spatial distortion a few times, it would run out, too. Even so, there was the boss monster. "Guess, I have to finish these four swiftly with the least amount of mana," Elior thought and hacked his dagger, killing them with the motto, ''Save energy, save the planet.'' Three of them came at him together, two from the front and one from the side. He swiped his daggers in the opposite direction to each other horizontally and blood oozed out from the soon-to-be-dead creatures. The lizards struggled on the ground for a second and died before giving karma to Elior. Elior moved to the one on the side when his mind rang. Another one of the lizards appeared behind him, stealthy or, he did not notice, and was about to eat his leg. His legs moved instinctively, with a jerk, space distorted just when the lizard was about to swallow his food. Its jaw blasted off, with a good portion of the head as it blasted off a few metres away. If he was even a fraction of a section late, his leg would have been gone. He jerked his head swiftly towards the only one left and at the very moment; it hit him violently on the chest, lunging in. He had tried to distort spatial waves even at the time, but failed as there was on mana left. The last shot he took instinctively to save his leg took all of it. Elior flew three metres away and dropped into the corpses of lizards. He finally caught a breath and saw the lizards approach. With a jerk of his arm, he threw away the dagger, and it hit right at one of its eyes. Even though the dagger did not kill it, it bought enough time for him to stand up. Even with no mana killing, the thing did not prove to be hard as it was the only one remaining. He left the spot immediately before more of the lizards could come. He checked his level to find he had reached level 19 only a level away from his Class advancement. He would only need a few more monsters to get his first class ________________________________ Thanks, everyone for donating power stones and golden tickets. The bonus chapters will be awarded in the following week. Vote more if you want more bonus chapters. Chapter 40 - Lizard Boss (1) Elior hacked the sword silently to kill the last one lizard that came after him. The sword had no mana infused into it, but it was a weapon for a third order guardian, so with its amazing cutting power and his skill, it was not that difficult. It only took more time than usual. After his mana ran out, he had killed a few lizards in a small group while waiting for his mana to recover, and finally then a message appeared, brightening his mood. [Congratulations! Guardian apprentice Elior, you have reached the limit of your being. You can not level up further without choosing a path.] [All the karma points will be stored temporarily until you succeed in a Class.] [The system will calculate the most probable class according to your expertise and talent. You can choose one among them.] "Finally," he muttered under breath. The system would need only a few minutes to calculate the most suitable classes for him and he would get to choose one among them. He had thought about it before on which way to go, but that thing had to wait, as he had to make way for a hidden reward. If he chose the class now, then the rewards he would get from cleaning the dungeon will be far less. According to his past experience, he found out that killing a boss chaosfiend of higher order than you alone will get you a hidden rewards than the usual time when you do it with others or in the same order. And the rewards will only be given once per order. Elior had got this reward probably twice on his third and fourth order, and anything above that he was not so sure. But that was not important at the moment. Now, he wanted to take advantage of every order to get the hidden rewards, and that would start today. To get the hidden rewards here, all he needed to do was kill the boss monster that was higher than him in order and clear the dungeon alone. Quite simple and easy enough for him, if only he had his all mana reserve. Elior moved to the spot where he killed the lizards first, and found a few smaller ones were eating the corpse of their own kind. They were cold-blooded creature after all. But the moment they sense him, they charge right at him, baring their teeth. Sighing, Elior finished them without using any amount of mana. Only one-third of it had recovered in the meantime and he could suspect the boss lizard would come at any moment, as he had been killing without restraints. Even though he had been silent most of the time and hid his tracks, he could not hide the blood and its smell and more, even though the lizards were not the noisy bunch, they did make some noise while dying. So it was about time the boss roused itself and there were still the other ones remaining. He most probably had killed two third of the lizards and the rest probably will come with their leader. Elior was now regretting not buying any mana recovery portion. Even though he did not have much guardian points left, it was still enough to buy a dozen of the minor mana recovery portion. He made a mental note on that, though he forgot most of his mental notes. While there was still another way to have mana, but he was saving it for the boss lizards. He had 10 free attribute points stored up¡ª6 from levelling up from 13 to 19 and 4 as a reward from the trial. That''s 100 odd mana points if he invests all of it in intelligence. Abruptly, he felt the earth shake a little and sensed discomfort in the far corner of his eyes. "So it is time," He said grimacing. Without a second thought, he invested the 10 odd points to intelligence with a mental command. [Mana: 96/305 ¡ú 196/405] It was still not enough, and Elior knew it. The thing that he has to face now was probably double his level and not to say it was a boss monster. It will have harder skin than any other lizards and probably could use its chaotic mana in some inherited ability, or else how could it be the leader of all the lizards here. Other than heredity, a monster had to stand out from the norm to be the boss. There was no small talk between the chaos fiends, they were violent by nature. Who ever had the strength rules the pack. "Guess I have to tussle with the lizards for a little more," Elior thought out loud and readied himself for the abominations to come. When the boss lizard was about twenty metres away from him, he could see it a little, though not too clearly in the dark. It was tall to reach his neck and about four and half metres long. The appearance was like the other lizards, though it had an extended tail that went further, raising its length to a couple of metres more. Other than that came a dozen or so first order lizards from the rear. The beasts made contorted noises, finding the trespasser who had wreaked havoc in their home, killed a bunch of the leader''s offspring and its kind. "Aye, aye, I get it. You don''t have to be so courteous." Elior smiled, raising the one-handed sword. He did not infuse mana into it as it would empty his stock only slower than his spatial ability, but he did coated his body with enough mana. He was facing an animal that was double his level. It was given that he would protect his body, adding that he could not use his ability freely. He did not fight head on like he did with the others, but dodged the dash of the boss monster, rolling sideways. When the lizards found it hit nothing and came at him again with similar pace. It squeaked with all its might at him as a cold air spread towards him. Elior did not have to get in contact with it to know it was poisonous. Most of the Chaos Fiend has natural poison that decays all things, some slow, some fast. The cold breath here could get into his system through breathing and even from his skin. His mana coating could put a resistance against it, but it would pull more mana than usual, and he dangerously would not want that. He tried to move away from the chilly breath, not breathing. ''Guess, I can''t wait for my mana to recover,'' he thought and ran not only from the lizard leader but its lesser counterparts as well. Now there were about a dozen chasing after him and worse, a few of them had that icy breath of poison ability as well. They were not that stupid either. The taint from chaos made them advance faster, and give violent nature, but with that came a faint bit of intelligence as well. Even though the cold-blooded creatures eat even their own kinds, they knew how to hunt together too. _______________________ Bonus chapter tomorrow.. Thank you for voting. Chapter 41 - Lizard Boss (2) Elior rushed with his top speed, keeping his senses busy on the following lizards. The Leader of the lizards was clearly faster than him, but he''s agile in short manoeuvre. He lunged here and there, judging its attack while looking for an opportunity to deal a blow that will be fatal enough. In between, he had finished a couple of its followers. The Sword was in this shape do not suit him, but it had the cutting power he needed. Pulling all his physical strength to kill was not that hard, but while keeping himself safe was. In just a short fraction of seconds, he was twisting the sword before pulling it out when the tail of the lizard hit him hard in a tail swing. The tail was already thicker than his own waist. It hit like a log of hard wood hit him mercilessly. Fortunately, it hit him on the back, so it could not break any of his ribs, but he did cough out a couple of mouthfuls of blood and destroyed his mana defence. [Health: 94/165] [Mana: 157/405] Elior coated his body in a protective layer again and stood up with a flip. He imagined the void in his mind and it helped him ignore the pain. Most emotion left him. As he ran again, the lizard boss followed. Elior moved in between uneven earth and found rocky ridge here and there. His legs moved faster as he bolted towards a high ridge. The lizards followed from behind and sides. He lunged a few that came in dashing while his target, the biggest one of them, was still in the back. He climbed the ridge before him with his top speed. And with the first jump and three odd steps, he was about five-metre high on the ridge. He could not go further with the momentum, and he did not need to go further. He jerked his head backwards, twisting his leg in a backflip while he was still climbing. In between, he threw away the sword above. Gravity claimed him as he was falling head before the other parts because of the way he used the point of mass of his body. If he fell on the ground and did not try anything, his neck would break and he would die. Fortunately, none of that happened. He did not fall. At least he did not fall on the ground. He fell right at the back of the enormous lizard leader. He succeeded in his attempt; this was what he wanted from the beginning. The body of the lizard was smooth and slippery and the huge thing was moving, jerking its body to get rid of him. Elior had to use extra mana to have a good grip on the back. He did not waste a fraction of moment, rushed at the top of his speed and reached its head. Mana surged inside him, swirling in a mad, frantic way that he never used before. He pulled more usage of the mana that he could handle himself now, but it was only for a blink of an eye. He worked his two palms closer to the middle of its head and pulled the spatial distortion in a single needle. Roaring, he released every bit of his mana into the needle¡ªmade of spatial waves. It pierced the hard skin of the dungeon master, reaching the skull, then to the brown goo of the brain. If it was any other lizards, then it would not have a moment to flinch before its death, but a dungeon master was something special. They had harder skin and higher resistance and more, the further level one reaches, the more real they become. Dungeon Master was one such existence that was more real than any of its lesser counterparts. The lizard leader hit its head madly against the ridge, squeaking in madness. Elior blown away from the head, but the damage was done. He was expecting to be blown away, so getting a safe fall was not difficult. With a roll on the ground, he stood up again, eyeing above. He could not see clearly, but his instinct told him, the sword was still falling. Elior collected it just when it was about to reach the ground. His inside was jolting with a fiery revolt for pulling more than what he was capable of, but worrying about that came later as the boss of the dungeon was not dead yet. The enormous lizard was hitting its head hard against the ridge, breaking the rocky highland while squeaking in madness. The other lizards dashed in madness too, hearing the loud shriek and they were not the only ones who were revolting against the piercing squeak. Elior felt some discomfort in his head. The piercing squeaks were disharmonious to his spirit, but he could not put resistance against it now as he ran out of mana. The only way to stop it now was to kill it, and he was trying to do just that. With the sword in his arm, he advanced towards the lizards in the back. He first took care of the mad little ones until the mad boss found him again. It had broken the rocky ridge by the time, with its head bloody with darkish purple blood buzzing out. It dashed towards him, thumping a couple of its kind by the foot. It had no mind of its own, could only destroy the things. Even if Elior left the dungeon, this thing would destroy its home on its own, but he could not do that. Partly because his rewards will be lessened and most importantly, who could tell if this thing will die after destroying the dungeon. It could wreak havoc outside after destroying the dungeon and cause civilian casualties. It would make all his efforts useless. Elior sucked in a deep breath and dashed at the approaching mad lizards. He jumped the moment the lizard was about to pin him down. The sword swung in a swift arc on the side of its body. Purplish filthy blood oozed out of the wound as he withdrew immediately. The lizard boss squeaked and turned around towards him in the same mad manner. It squeaked its way towards him, releasing the chilly poisonous breath. Elior had no way to fight with head-on physical strength, nor could he restrict the poisonous breath now. He could only battle it out smartly, dealing sneak attacks here and there. Fortunately, its mad strength and devastating spirit would not last forever. It had already lost its mind, losing its strength would come next. Elior ran, and the mad lizard followed. The two of them moved all over the dungeon. Elior fled while the mad lizard chased like it was its lost love. Only about a couple of minutes later, the lizards slowed down and Elior stopped in his dash. He turned around and welcomed the boss, who had stopped venting its pain and agony. He clicked his tongue at the sluggish reptile and pierced his sword into its head. It only flinched for a little before giving up. Elior pulled back the sword as blood oozed out, spraying. He moved out of its way and waited for the congratulatory message to come. [You have killed the Dungeon Master of the Lizard''s Cave, Lahar Lizard King LVL 38.] [You have gained 11028 karma points. The excessive karma point is temporarily stored until you advance to the first order.] [Achievement Unlocked! You have killed a dungeon master higher than your own order alone. For such a display of strength and bravery was not seen in many guardians. For such courage, you have gained 50 points in Health and Mana.] [Congratulations you have gained the title: Lizards killer (Normal) If you encounter any reptiles related to the lizards, you can handle them easier and those fiends will feel a dangerous aura from you.] __________________________ Please tell me if you find the action is not descriptive enough, I''ll put more effort into it. Bonus chapter in a couple of hours. Another reminder, (MUST READ), Any usage of curse words such as Shit, Fuck, Bastard . . . etc were filtered by the webnovel algorithm. If you use any of those words in comments or reviews, it will be automatically deleted. Other than the curse words, there were a few other words that are filtered. I''ll add below the few I know, Sex, Harem, yaoi, yuri, P.a.t.r.e.o.n, (any other platform similar to Webnovel), any advertising link and something along with the words. LMFAO, LMAO, these types of short-form were not allowed too. (I know this is stupid, but many minors use this site so give them a justified reason to do this and there were other reasons you can guess what those are.) Please refrain from using those words, and if you could not control yourself, try using any unique characters in them. For instance, H.ar.em Fuki,ng. (Oh shit! What I am teaching, if any minor, reading this refrain from learning these. XD.) THANK YOU. Chapter 42 - Class Advancement Elior sighed in relief. He was right. There really was a hidden reward for killing a higher-order boss alone. Though he got this type of reward before in the previous timeline, he was not sure if there was a reward for an apprentice who has not reached the first order yet. Turns out there was. +50 Mana and +50 Health. That was 10 free attribute points if he used in intelligence and constitution. Though it was little compared to the rewards of higher-order dungeon master, it was still generous enough. Elior welcomed all the rewards; after all, every little drop of water made the sea. As for the title, Lizards Killer¡ªit was almost useless at the moment. He already found it easy to kill what this Title could do. Now there were a few things left. First, Elior moved to the dead dungeon boss and cut its head with the sword. Blood sprayed in large amounts and he did his best to avoid it. He cut further until he found what he was looking for. It was a small black ruby, even smaller than his nails, glittering a little in the dark. [Chaotic Mana Core: Grade: 1. Mana Condensation: 2.78~3 After a chaos fiend had their first evolution, a mana core started to form inside their body, but as the Chaos fiends were tainted by Chaos, their core turned into a Chaotic mana core¡ªthough very few had a working mana core.] This thing would sell for about fifty thousand guardian credits, though he had no intention of selling it. Even though the mana core was tainted with Chaotic aura, it was still useful in many ways such as artifacing or alchemy. But its most important usage was in the Chaotic arc reactor. That was a revolutionary thing that still had not been properly invented yet. After that, Elior dealt with the other lizards that were remaining. He had found a couple more chaotic mana cores inside the other lizards¡ªthose who were capable of using the poisonous breath, but their mana condensation was even less than 1. The bodies of these lizards would have been useful in some way and could have sold for some price, but he had no way of carrying it out¡ªnot to mention what he would say when selling. He could only abandon them. The fever was rising inside his body. The poison was causing its effect. He needed to leave the dungeon soon, but before that, he needed to destroy it. There were few ways to destroy a dungeon. The brute way to do it, was just to destroy it with raw mana force though, very few used this way. The other way was to kill all the monsters inside the dungeon, including the dungeon master, and the dungeon would dissolve by itself. But in some cases, if there was some candidate left who could succeed in being the dungeon master, then the dungeon, the chaos wall would not dissolve. The dungeon would have weakened for a while, but it should still be a threat. Elior had no plan on finding every lizard that was living inside it and may even be the eggs. And it''s a little peculiar here. Considering some outsider tweaked the dungeon, both the way might not work. So he would go the third way. Find the core of the dungeon and destroy it. Finding the core was not a hard job, usually. It was the place where the dungeon master stays most of the time. Only after moving to the centre of the region did he find a cave inside the cave. He went inside the murky and slimy cave and found a few lizards inside those who were mostly small and incapable of fighting, but still came at him squeaking. Elior clicked his tongue and moved to the centre. The chaotic mana density raised the further he walked. After reaching the end of it, he found what he was looking for. There was a small stele glittering with blacking red and purple runes. Without considering, he slashed his sword and destroyed the pillar. Abruptly, the chaotic mana inside the dungeon twisted in a swirl as it was emptied into a black hole, though it was quite slow. It would take a couple of hours to dissolve the dungeon entirely. The little thing he just destroyed was the dungeon initiator. It was a cryptic rune device that could transform any region into a dungeon over time. Someone must have hidden this dungeon initiator here. Probably some lackeys of Shadowblood. He rested the thoughts there; he was too tired to contemplate that even though it was an important business Elior focused on something that would help him in brightening the mood.He walked out of the soon-to-be dissolved dungeon and found his bag on the ground outside. And finally opened the status window. [You have cleared the grade-1 Dungeon, Lizards Cave.] [You have gained 2 Million guardian credits.] [Hidden rewards Unlocked! You have cleared a grade-1 Dungeon on your own. You will have the privilege to choose a Normal grade ability.] [THe list of suitable classes is available now. Please make advance to the first order.] Now, it was time to choose a class, but before that, he needed to choose an ability. Fortunately, he did not have to ponder over what he needed. He scrolled to the window of the ability and searched in the tab with the keywords, Poison resistance. A few options opened and only one among them was normal Grade Poison resistance. Elior chose it with no second thought because there was no better ability he currently needed other than the poison resistance. [Congratulations! You have gained Minor poison resistance LVL 1.] Elior revolved the mana inside his body as the poison resistance worked against the chilly poison that infected him in faint proportion. He would probably be cured in a couple of hours. Dealing with the poison, Elior then examined himself. Other than the pain in the back, there was no injury, but he was smearing in filthy, tainted blood of the lizards. Before, he had no time to clean it. He stirred the mana inside his body and forced out the filthy blood from his skin. It worked like a charm, though he was still reeking of the stench of blood and his clothing was still stained with blood. Fortunately, he had the foresight to bring spare clothing with him. He opened the bag and looked at the cell phone to find it was about 3 a.m. It took him a little less than two hours to clean the dungeon. A good productive night. Now all that was left was changing into better clothing and choosing a class. Elior stripped down and collected the blood-soaked clothing in the bag in a plastic container. It was not good to leave evidence at the crime scene, though it was not a crime scene. At least not his. After changing into another hoodie and trousers, he finally opened the window where the list of classes was shown. His lips curved up into a sneer the moment the text appeared in his eyes. [Most suitable class for Guardian Apprentice Elior: - Knight of Faith - Magic Lancer - Magic Swordsman - Mage - Swordmaster - Berserker - Magic Engineer - Rampager - Rune master . . . - Apprentice Mage (Beginner) - Artificer Apprentice (Beginner) . . . ] On the top of the list was the class ''Knight of Faith'' written in golden lines. Below a few of the classes were silver-coloured, and the rest were the yellow or normal white test. Golden implied it was a legendary class, silver for Unique ones and yellow for the special ones and the rest were for the normal. For the first class advancement, there was more path than he had ever seen. And the first few were not beginner classes. Fortunately, the system calculated well or he would have to make way for a beginner class like the previous timeline. The class he had chosen for the first was Artificer Apprentice¡ªa beginner level auxiliary class, but this time he needed something else. He eliminated the first golden lined class without considering it as it was not the first time he was offered that class. It was the same class that he had chosen for his fifth class in the previous timeline, and he knew it was just a trap to bind him to the deities. They had tried it at the end of the trial and now again. Though that was entirely a bad thing, it was still something he would rather not do. There were few things that he needed to do and being the apostle of the deities will disrupt it. After considering for a moment, he came between three options, Magic lancer, Rampager and Berserker. Magic lancer because he cultivated Spear the most in his previous timeline, while Berserker was his third class. And lastly, Rampager went along with Berserker, though it was more violent and wild. His eyes narrowed, and in the end, he chose Berserker. Magic Lancer would give him more mastery in the way of the spear, but he was more familiar with the Berserker class. It gave him only one ability, but it was worth it compared to the lancer class. After all, a Berserker was known for its overwhelming power. [You have chosen the Berserker Class. Please be still and calm for a few moments. The succession process will start immediately.] _______________________ First Bonus chapter of the week. Thank you for the votes. The Bonus chapter goal is the same for now. Please vote for extra chapters. (BTW The limit of the bonus chapter other than the regular chapter is 10, and it is the limit I can go, considering there was an average of 1.5k odd words in a chapter) Chapter 43 - Offer (1) The cloak hit 8:00, and the alarm rang. Elior woke up after struggling for two whole minutes. He blinked his eyes a couple of times as a transparent notification in the corner of his eyes greeted him. [Minor Poison Resistant has reached LVL 2.] Good. The poison has been detoxified. From clearing the dungeon last night, he came to his quarter only before the sunrise. After dealing with the rest of the business, such as destroying the blood-stained clothes and flushing in the toilet, and eating, Elior had less than three hours of sleep¡ªonly a little less than he normally sleeps. But he was feeling unusually tired today. After all, he cleared a dungeon alone when he did not even reach the first-class advancement. That reminded him he still had not checked out what changes the Class¡ªBerserker¡ªbrought in, though he knew all about this class from his experience. It''s better to check again. Walking his way to the washroom, he opened the attribute window. ____________________ [Name: Elior Class: Berserker (First-Order) Title: Guardian Apprentice. Sweeper of Trial-Zero Lizards Killer Locked. Race: Human Alignment: Neutral, Chaos. Age: 16. Level: 24 Health: 215 Mana: 455 Strength: 10 Agility: 14 Dexterity: 18 Constitution: 14 Endurance: 9 Intelligence: 35 Perception: 19 Luck: 19 Free stat points: 8 Abilities: -Eye of Genesis (Unknown) -Abstraction of Void (Unique) LVL 2.: +2% proficiency, -2% mana cost. -Void Stealth (Sub) LVL 2. - Berserk (Class Ability - Unique) LVL 1.: With this ability, one can control one''s rage to get higher attack power than usual. Berserk holds the power of accumulating attack force. With each hit, the next one gets a 2% increase in the attack force of the previous one and it costs 4% more mana and decreases the body''s defence by 1% on each attack. The attack force could accommodate infinitely, providing there was enough mana and defence. Getting hit during the calculation will return the accumulated attack force to the original. - Guardian abilities: Inspection. - Minor poison Resistance LVL 2. Skills: -Spearmanship LVL 9. -Mana Application LVL 10. -Focus LVL 10. -Archery LVL 4. -Spell Mastery above LVL 3 (Need more evaluation) -Meditation LVL 10. -.Blademanship LVL 4. - Mana Engineering LVL 7. - Smithing LVL 4. Guardian Credits: 2240800] ________________________ It was as he had expected. There were no changes to the ability, ''Berserk''. It was a unique grade ability and, like most other unique level abilities, it was pretty hard to master. Fortunately, his mastery from the previous timeline would come in handy¡ªafter all, he only chose the class for this ability alone. Coldwater showered on him as he lost in his thoughts. Other than the class, advancing to the first-order gives a few more privileges, such as the inspection ability, that could help in identifying components and chaos fiends. And he had reached level 24, four times with the stored karma points. He had 8 free attribute points now¡ªafter the first class, each level give two free attribute points and it increased once again for the next order. Elior considered for a while and invested all 8 points to intelligence reaching to 43 and his mana was raised to 535. Physical attributes still could be trained further, and mana was what he mostly needed in the training of the [Abstraction of Void] and the [Berserk] as both needed more mana than any other attributes. The cold shower finished, and he was hungry again. Wiping his body and putting on clothing, he checked his phone to find if anyone had called him yet. None had called him as he left a message for Shin and Ileana to not bother him. There were a few messages there, though; mostly from Shin and one from Ileana. He messaged back that he was going out to eat. Shin replied immediately, [I''m coming.] while there was no reply from his female friend. Elior went out of his room to find Shin was waiting outside as their room was across from one another. With a brief exchange of greetings, both of them went to the cafeteria. It was Sunday, but the first floor of the cafeteria was as crowded as any other day. Elior was about to enter when he noticed someone else was entering the cafeteria too. It was a good-looking boy, more than Shin and Elior put together, but the good-looking face was covered with some injuries, though most of them had healed, leaving only a few bruises. Other than that, there were other indications of slight injuries too, though mostly hidden. "Good morning," greeted the handsome-looking boy, Leroy. "We will meet again." His face had a smile while he said that and gestured for them to enter first. Elior entered with Shin who asked, "What happened to your face?" "Oh, that''s a slight injury from training," Leroy answered, rubbing his face a little. "Are you training all night?" Elior could not help but ask. Clearly, he could guess that the injury was not from training¡ªhe had seen this fellow sneaking out of the academy with help from a foreign artifact last night. "You can say that," Leroy answered clumsily. "You better be careful then," he sneered at the good-looking boy. "Refrain from training at night, especially alone." Leroy gazed at him particularly, but Elior neglected the stare and found his friend Ileana at a table. She was with someone else¡ªsomeone he knew, but had not thought will be seeing here. "Good morning," he greeted Ileana and the silver-haired senior. "It appears you have bonded well with your idol, Ileana. Mind if I seat?" Ileana looked at the silver-haired Aanya, who did not oppose, and said, "what are you waiting for then. Sit. We were just talking about you." "Really?" he said and then moved to gaze at Shin, who came in next. "Shin, will you please bring me my meal?" Shin grimaced and said, "I''m only doing this because it''s you." The wanna-be delinquent moved immediately, fearing the two females would ask for more errands. "So," Elior said, and focused on the two maidens. He asked Ileana, "Are you badmouthing me on my back?" "Of course not," the girl gave an innocent smile and continued. "Senior Aanya was just about you for some purpose and I answered truthfully." "So you are selling your decade-long friend after only two days of introduction with your idol," Elior said, shaking his head as if he was disappointed in her. "I did not expect this from you." Ileana did not even put his words to ears and said to Aanya, "Don''t mind him, Senior Aanya, he''s just acting." "I can see that you two are very close," Aanya said with a pleasant smile. "Of course, other than me he has no friend." Ileana spilt the beans again. "Hey, I have friends," Elior protested immediately. "Maybe not many, but there are few." "Really, tell me about it." Elior went silent for a second and saw Shin coming back with his food. "Look, Shin," Elior said, pointing at the wannabe delinquent. "You only know him for a couple of weeks only, El," Ileana reminded. "Yet, we are best friends now," Elior said and took the tray of his meal holding an egg sandwich with salads and the bitter green juice. He gave a curt thank you to Shin and returned to Ileana. "See, I told you I have a friend. He even remembers what I usually eat." "That''s just one person," Ileana said, squinting her nose. "You want more?" Elior eyed her in a joking way. "Do you think, one Shin is not enough?" "Fine, you win," Ileana in the end gave up. "Now eat your food already." "I''m so awesome that I don''t need more friends," Elior said, giving a victory smile to Ileana, mouthing the sandwich. "He''s not joking there," Ileana added to Aanya, who was watching all this with wide eyes. "He really thinks that he''s awesome and does not need more friends." _____________________________ Bonus chapter Tomorrow. Vote Power stones and Golden tickets more for next week''s bonus content.. The goal is the same, 3 GT / 50 PS for one bonus chapter. Chapter 44 - Offer (2) "So what were you talking about?" Elior asked, savouring in the bitter juice in one full swoop. "How do you do that?" Shin could not help but ask, seeing him drinking all the weird and bitter juice in a single swoop. "The trick is to ignore the taste and finish it as quickly as you can," he said, and focused on the topic. "Did you see the news?" Ileana asked and opened an article on her phone. She gave it to him, saying, "Apparently a dungeon was cleared in the fourth ring last night, but there is something fishy about it." Elior only needed to look once to know the article was about the dungeon he had cleared last night, but a frown formed his brows immediately. The title of the article was: Hero or Rogue, the mysterious man who was seen before the dungeon was destroyed. It was probably written by some fanatic about the guardians. After clearing the dungeon last night, he had left the sign of stealth tech unmoved to give a sign to the federations and Guardian Associations, but none of that made the news. Well, on that note, even the news of the dungeon should not be on the news. Even the rumours of something like that would cause a panic in the civilians, nothing good will come of this other than the unrest of people. "Apparently this footage was leaked," Ileana said and opened a clip, which showed someone entering the public park alone at midnight. The video was not clear. It was some security footage with the satellite image. The time being midnight, and the one in the video being cautious, other than the body heat signature, they could not find a thing in it. Elior raised an eyebrow. The one in the heat map was clearly him. He was so busy finding the dungeon last night that he totally forgot about the Real-time satellite tracking. Fortunately, he was not discovered other than the sign that someone was there. "There were many of these types of articles," Ileana said. "It had not even been long and dozens of articles were coming out about this mysterious person." "Fortunately, the federation has blocked most of them that could cause panic in the Safe Haven," Aanya added from the side. "Though they were a little late in this case." "Is there anything else?" Elior could not help but ask. "Did someone claim to be the person in the clip?" "The federation will probably announce it was someone of the guardian that dealt with the dungeon and even if there was some mysterious man, it would only be a rumour. While they will secretly investigate the identity of the person," Aanya hypothesised. "It isn''t wrong for them to do it. After all, it would look bad for their reputation and would cause panic among the normal citizen." "Wow, there are so many complications within these simple things," Shin joined the conversation. "I still don''t understand why the person still has not shown himself. After all, what he did was not a crime and probably should be rewarded for it." "Technically, it is a crime," Elior said, squinting his nose. "At least, according to the law enforced to all the guardians by the federation and Guardian association." Even though he said it, Elior had no guilty conscience for what he did. If something went wrong, then he would have it, but not this time, as he had handled the situation like a profession. "Yes, it is a crime." Aanya agreed as well. "According to the law, if a Guardian finds a dungeon or similar space or item in his duty¡ªthey were instructed to report it directly to the association, and then they would seal the surrounding area, move all the people to safety. Then destroying the dungeon comes. It is not the same as the person did. What if something went wrong and the monsters were released from the dungeon? "The one that did it was probably some greedy, corrupted and depraved Guardian that wanted to earn credits." Elior''s lips almost twitched, but he smoothened it before anyone could notice. "Well, at least, Everything went alright." "Yes," Aanya said sternly. "It went smoothly this time, but what if this corrupt person tries this again and fails? He would probably die in the process, but what if he released the chaos fiends outside for his own safety?" "Wow, Senior Aanya," Ileana said with widened eyes. "I did not know you were so serious about it." "Because it is a serious matter. The Guardians are all not about glory and display, if some of them screw up, people will die," Aanya added with her most serious tone. "You guys have been admitted here for a couple of weeks only, so you would not understand it now, but I hope none of you will become someone like this person." Elior''s guilty conscience was raised to another level and to hide his twisted expression, he gobbled up everything that was left on his plate. Now, after considering everything she said, he clearly found out he had been a little conceited. The dungeon that he had decided somehow has a link to Shadowblood¡ªan organisation that does good or evil on their own agenda, and most of them were things that only meant to benefit them. They were not some small rogues that look for small opportunities. It is an organisation that most of the time hides behind something while bidding their task on someone else. They have significant dealings in the Mother world and, most importantly, he had no idea what they were planning. They had researched about the dungeon and the Chaos Field for hundreds of years. What if they had built a mechanism that would release the chaos fiend outside of the dungeon? His face darkened instantly on those thoughts and the food he was chewing turned heavy to stomach. "Oh, my free time here is almost up," Aanya said. "And I had not even mentioned the main reason, I''m here." Elior raided a brow, and Shin kept his ears open, though he was not mostly interested. "Do you remember what I talked about the other day?" Aanya continued. "I''ll leave in a couple of months, so my post as president will be empty. I''ll be looking for someone else to fill the place." "That''s why she asked me about you," Ileana said to Elior, with a cheerful face. "She thinks you are the best candidate to be the next Student President. Aren''t you excited?" Elior squinted his nose and looked at the silver-haired senior. "Is there no suitable candidate in the upperclassmen?" He asked while his mind drifted off to the past memories. "El, why do you not look excited about it?" Ileana asked, nudging him. "Do you know what important the role is? So many students are even dreaming of becoming the student council member, yet you have a chance to be the head." "That''s because I''m not interested in this post," Elior said not only to Ileana, but to the silver-haired senior as well. "Well, I had the same mindset before I became the president." Aanya took it easier than his friend. "I just wanted you to consider it for a while and there is still time." _____________________________ Second Bonus Chapter. The regular chapter is coming in after the reset time. You guys have met the PS goal of the first bonus chapter for the next week. Vote for more and thank you.. Your votes will give this book more exposure and motivate me to write more. Chapter 45 - Sensei Elior (1) The gymnasium was now packed with all the freshmen. Most of them were somewhat excited about today''s class. After all, it is the first battle training class with all the students from all three sections. And today not just the people who were in the path of the warrior were here, all the ones who had the potential to be mage or healer were here as well. Even though, to get the initial success in the path of the mage was way harder compared to a warrior as learning only the first elementary spell could take a month. But gaining experience only by examining others'' duels was only limited compared to duel themselves. Elior was leaning against the wall while the spear is rested on the side. Even though he looked comfortable drowsing off, he was training inside. The customised training suit was hidden under the dress. Within just two weeks, he could train in 20% restriction though his physic was not as good to hold on to about 140 kgs on his body. In the end, most of the time, he trained with 10% restriction¡ªit was safer for his body. The training had shown effect as his mana application rose further and the physical attribute had grown too. There was still room for improvement. There is always room for improvement through training until your attribute reaches 60 points. After that, most training is a lost cause in growing the physical attribute, though there were other masochistic ways other than using the free attribute points all the time. Professor William, Sarah and a few other instructors came into the gymnasium, catching all the attention of the students. They came before the students but said nothing. Probably waiting for something. Only after a little while, the department head of the teaching, Aleister entered with his iconic straight walk. He did not look at any of the students particularly, but his stare made all of them feel he was staring at them. He came forward to all the other instructors and talked in a low voice for a while, then came before the students again. "You all learned the basics of combats," he said, resting his arm on the chest. "But that was only theory. There is no better teacher than experiencing yourself. Though you all will train in duels, I want you to do your best. On another note, the entire class will be recorded, and the other instructor with me will examine it to find the optimal way of solving all your problems. So do your best." Elior looked above and found a few floating sausages like things in the air. These were the devices that would record all the combat. "You can pick an opponent for yourself or choose with a draw. Either way, you have 2 minutes." The teacher then gestured behind them. "Some of you have not learned to coat mana to protect your body. There were the suits for them. It will protect your body throughout the duel." Elior still stood leaning against the wall. Next to him, Ileana was looking all around to search for an opponent. With her training and study, she did not have time to make friends with others. "Should I draw the lots?" he pondered out loud. "Do what you want to do, but do it fast," Elior said, gazing at a boy with a handsome feature coming towards them. "The professor will cut your points if you waste time." "As if I cared about the points," Shin said and strolled towards the lots to draw. Ileana was about to go too, but noticing the handsome boy come in towards them, she waited with a little flush face. "Ileana, are you blushing?" Elior asked with a tease in his voice. "Shut up." The chestnut-haired girl glared at him. "And don''t give me that look." "What look?" "The look you have on now." Ileana kept on glaring at him. "The one that implies you know all things." "But I do know something," Elior said, raising an eyebrow. "It''s not all, but more than anyone here." Ileana grunted, and Leroy appeared in front of the two of them. He was in the unusual school uniform with the leather jacket over it. Other than that, he had a sword on his shoulder, strapped like a real swordsman. "We are just talking about you," Elior said, even before Leroy could greet them. "Ileana thinks you are the most handsome person here, but I think that pretty face of your was wasted with that deadpan expression." That joke brought Elior a punch in the shoulder, though the one that was hurt by it was Ileana. While the one the joke was for still had the deadpan expression on. Leroy was stern and polite most of the time. If not for his young-looking face, nobody could tell he was a teenager. "I can here to ask a duel with you," Leroy said to him. "I can see that," Elior said. "But Sorry, I don''t duel with blocks of stone." This time, the handsome boy''s lips twitched a little. "And besides, I already have a partner," Elior said and gestured towards a girl that was still hesitating to approach or not. "There is no time yet. You two should partner up if you do not want to lose points." Saying those words, Elior moved towards the female classmate who did not have the courage to approach. Lara flinched a little, noting his approach, and she tried her best to stand still. It has not been the first or second time they were meeting. They had met half a dozen times in the morning jogging, though she never really conversed with him. Part of the reason, Elior was nonchalant in his behaviour. Most of the time, he was not the first one to start a conversation, and most of the time, his ears were closed with earbuds. That made him hard to approach. Even though Lara had once asked him to train together and exchange numbers, the teenage girl was shier than she looked. She had not messaged or called him once, and Elior was too busy with his own training. "Yo," Elior said, raising an arm above his head. "Do you have a partner for the duel?" "No¡ª" "Good." Elior removed the wrapping from his spear. "Get in position, we will start now." "Ah, okay," Lara said and brought out her slick sword. She gripped the hilt with both of her arms, more tight than needed. "Your shoulder is too tense," Elior said, finishing up wrapping the spear. "You would have problems with the manoeuvre. Try to loosen it a bit." Lara did as told, like a good student. Elior considered her for a while. Her posture showed she had trained in sword before and knew at least better than Shin, who only learned from tutorial and games. "Let''s start then," Elior said and showed his spear to her. Lara knew the basic, very well, and did not assault him running in. Elior took the first attempt, swiped the spear upwards. The speed was not his best, but it was not slow either. Lara blocked it easily with the sword and she even twisted the blade after blocking and pierced it towards Elior. Elior saw it coming. He jerked his spear a little to block it easily. Lara tried to withdraw, but he then twisted his spear in an almost arc of full circle. The spear ran against the sword and it fell from her arm. In just a couple of exchanges of moves, Elior won the duel. "Pick it up," Elior said, and gave Lara to pick the sword. "Let''s go again." The sword and spear met in the air again, making metallic noises. They had to refrain from infusing mana into it, as it was barely training. Elior did not out matched her in a few moves this time, but checked out what capability she had. Lara was an elite Guardian in the previous timeline, one that had reached the fifth order in her prime. The reason he wanted to help her was because she has the potential and he saw her strong mindset in the trial as well. The duel went for a couple of minutes this time. Sweat beads formed in Lara''s forehead. She was doing her best, but it appeared her trying was not going anywhere. Elior defeated her again. "Do you see what''s wrong here?" he said. Lara grasped for a breath. "It''s as if you know all my moves," she said. "That''s because you let me know of it before you attack," he said in a stern tone, almost like his teacher. "I just guided you after that and waited for you to get into the trap." Lara flinched, gripping the sword hard. "How long have you been training the sword?" "From childhood," she said, standing up. "My family runs a dojo." "I see no problem with your techniques, but it needs more refining," Elior said. "And you need more experience. Clearly, you have no idea about the advantage of using a sword and nor you have experience, fighting against other weapons." ________________________ Apologies for the delay. Vote for the bonus chapter. Chapter 46 - Sensei Elior (2) The combat training ended, but the gymnasium was still open. Few students were still practising in the duels while few laid dormant on the floor. After the class ended, the teachers told them, they could use it as long as the academy was open, which was until six in the evening. Elior and the others were still there. Now the ones that practised were Shin and Lara. Even though the delinquent looking boy had never had proper training in the basics, he was faring quite well, though he lost most of the time. But the boy was quick to learn¡ªonly after Elior showed them the way a couple of times, he was coping it well, and he also kept his eyes on the posture of his opponent all the time instinctively and learned through the duel. Lara was not as good as Shin, who could learn to think unconsciously in this way. That was her limitation, but contrasting with Shin, she was multiple times hardworking. And according to the tale of turtle and rabbit, steady and hardworking turtle or people always win. He had to find a way to make Shin similarly hardworking. Ileana was sitting, looking closely at the battle, but it appeared her mind was elsewhere. Leroy had moved away hours ago after Elior disappointed him about the duel. She did not have as much fun in the duel as others. After all, she only learned the elementary spell of fire, and if she did not keep her concentration on, the spell would not even be able to light a candle. "Why is it so difficult?" she complained, lighting a small flame above her arm. "You only had a couple of weeks practising," Elior said. "The way of the mage is all about patience. Work hard like you are doing and success will follow you." "You are again talking like the teachers," Ileana said, arching her eyebrow at him. "I remember you are drowsing in the classes about casting and spells, and now you are talking about the patience of all things." "That was another matter. Those classes were too boring," Elior said, clicking his tongue. ''Not to say, all those things were below my level.'' Ileana only grunted a little and kept her attention on the spell. The little flame warped up for a while into a somewhat large weave before vanishing entirely. "You are doing that wrong," Elior said. "I can see you have memorised the formula, and executed it right, but your usage of mana application is not on a par with it." Ileana frowned and transferred her attention to Elior again. "Look at this," he said and formed the elementary formula of the flame spell. "All you have to do is release the man uniformly in all directions. Stay within your mana application limit. If you try harder than your limit, it will always be hard to control. . . ." As Elior finished saying that, and a head size ball of flame appeared above his arm. Elior did it and the ball spun and in the next moment, it turned into a cube of flame. He showed it to Ileana with a smile. "How can you do that so easily?" Ileana was startled. "If I recall correctly, your affinity towards the fire element is not higher than mine." "Affinity has little to do with it," Elior answered. "It''s only an elementary spell anyone with a grade-1 affinity could do if he has sufficient mana, though it will take more mana and concentration than usual. The thing that matters here is mana application. The only way I could do it so easily was because my mana application is higher than yours." "I see," Ileana said, her eyes glittering a little. She closed her eyes at the next moment and formed the magic formula into a circle. She put the mana into it uniformly as a ball of flame formed with her mana sense, though it was not as constructive as Elior''s and only half of its size. "You did it," Elior said. "How did you spin it and turn it into a cube?" "I just twisted the magic circle and improvised according to my will. It''s just a minor trick, but quite useful. You can do it too with a little practice." Elior pondered for a while. "Even though these spells were elementary, it has an unimaginable level of quality to improve that the other spells do not have." "Huh," Ileana rested her spell, and it dissolved into air. "Why did this spell disappear immediately after I stopped releasing mana into it?" "That''s natural, you need fuel to let it burn." "That''s not what I was saying," Ileana said. "Look at this." This time, water rushed out from her spell and dropped onto the ground and flowed like normal water, but the moment she stopped supplying mana into the spell, the water started to vanish away. It turned into vapour and vanished as if it was never before. "See," she said. "I can assume fire needs some fuel to burn, but for water or other elements, it''s almost the same. It only takes a little more time to vanish entirely. It''s almost like a . . ." "Illusion?" Elior answered for her. "Right. I can feel the elements were real when I made them, but the moment I stop, I feel like it was an illusion." Elior knew the answer to it, but he could not answer it truthfully. After all, what would he say if she asked how he knew all these. "You are quite wrong there, Ileana," he said hesitantly. "I don''t think you made the flame or water. Well, you did create something, but it''s more about manipulation. The flame, water, or air are already there; we just manipulate it with our spells." Ileana arched her eyebrows and thought. "Your explanation does make sense, but I''m still confused," she said and sighed. "Wow, you are really helpful in this. Why didn''t I ask you before this?" "I''m not really good at these," Elior said, and he was not being humble. Abruptly, Shin called him. "Sensei, I won." Shin came towards them with a bright smile. Behind him was Lara. Both of them were soaked in sweat all over their bodies, but both of them seemed to be complied with their effort. "Don''t call me that," Elior said. "So, what''s the score?" "8-4," Shin answered, a little embarrassed. Elior nodded and saw someone entering the gymnasium. The other followed his gaze and noticed the arrival of the silver-haired senior. "Oh, crap!" cursed Ileana. "I totally forgot, I had an appointment with Senior Aanya and kept her waiting for half an hour." The silver-haired maiden looked all over the gymnasium and noticed them. Her appearance caught the attention of most of the freshmen and all the upperclassmen practising there, though her atmosphere kept them away from approaching her. "Girl, at least you tell me if you can not come," she said, coming before them. She was not wearing the uniform of the institute now. A pair of black jeans with a blue shirt and overcoat¡ªcasual clothing. Not a graceful dress for a maiden, but she looked stunning in it. "I''m sorry, senior; I totally forgot about it." __________________ Thank you for the votes. There are still two bonus chapters remaining of this week, I''ll try to update it quickly. Vote for the next week''s bonus content. I take all power stones or Golden tickets.. XD. Chapter 47 - Shins Family "Alright, alright. Stop apologising," Aanya said to Ileana. "Thank you, senior Aanya," Ileana said, sighing inwardly. She was the one that asked Aanya, and yet she was the one that forgot about it. "It appeared you all worked hard in your training today," Aanya said, looking at the sweaty appearance of Shin and Lara. Finding a new face among them she said, "I don''t know you, but nice to meet you. I''m Aanya, your senior." "Good evening," Lara said hesitantly. She was a little overwhelmed. "I''m Lara. Lara Marsh." "So you two planned to go out?" Elior asked with interest. "Yes," Ileana answered. "But we will stay in the academy city and buy a few things. Do you want to come with us?" "Oh please no," Elior denied instantly. "I don''t want to die of boredom while you two go shopping." "Really," Ileana said, rolling her eyes. "As if you have better things to do. You will probably waste time with another idiot after returning from here." "I will not." "Is by the term ''Idiot'' are you referring to me?" Shin cut in. "Wow! I never feel offended by girls, but you are the first to succeed there." Ileana did not put Shin''s rambling into ears and asked Elior again. "Then what will you do?" Elior pondered, as he had no plans for today. "I''ll take a bath first and probably the shower would give me some ideas about what to do for the rest of the evening. Maybe I should concentrate on my project to save the world first. And to my conscience, saving the world comes way on the top of the list rather than getting bored in a mall." Aanya giggled a little, but Ileana only snorted. "Fine, you go save the world, while we will go shopping," Ileana said, and then asked Lara if she wanted to come with them. The girl who was soaked in sweat was about to deny it when she heard Aanya. "We''ll be out for a couple of hours, and I''m sure you need to buy a few things. Come with us please or we two would be bored." In the end, Lara could only agree. "Hey, Am I the only one that would be ignored by everything?" Shin yelled, frustrated. "Let them go, I know you would not enjoy going shopping with them," Elior said. "Why not help me with something else?" The three of the females were about to leave when Senior Aanya stopped on her track. She looked back at Elior and said, "I heard you are in the artifacing department. If you have anything you need, you can ask me. I might be not the best forger in the academy, but I can help you somewhere. After all, I''m the daughter of the best forger on earth." She only left after she saw him nod. The three girls left the gymnasium and the two of them got up to move on. "Brother Elior, how are you able to do these kinds of things?" Shin asked. "What are you talking about?" Elior raised his eyebrows. "Don''t give me that look, I know you know what I''m talking about," Shin continued. "How are you able to get girls on your back without doing anything in particular?" "Huh?" Elior gave a startled look to Shin. "That? It''s probably because she wanted to set me up with the position of student president. That was why she was so bent on helping me." His hypothesis was quite right. The Aanya, he knew, was always serious about this sort of thing. She would not leave it to someone unworthy. Moreover, they were not friends in this timeline, so there was no point in her helping him other than that. "That might be true," Shin said, considering. "Then what about the other girl? Lara? And I saw many girls were looking at you during class or anywhere." Shin turned silent for a while and looked around and found a few girls looking in their direction. "See?" "Common, I don''t even know them," Elior complained and hit the way. "And as for Lara, she was totally focused on her path. All are not like you who think about this kind of thing all the time." "You are diverting the topic, bro," Shin said and followed on the way to their dorms. "I think you are not considering your charisma entirely, Sensei." "Shut up," he cut Shin short. "And don''t call me sensei. It made me feel like a grumpy old man." "But you can not deny it, you have some kind of aura that attracts the opposite genders towards you." Elior did not even consider Shin''s degenerate mouth talking and arrived before their dormitory building. "You remembered the redhead princess, Scarlett." Shin was not in the mood to stop now. "That girl was crazy. I don''t want anything to do with her," Elior said firmly. "That''s not important, Brother," Shin came before him and said. "The important thing is you know how to attract the interest of females knowingly or unknowingly." Shin then examined him head to toe properly, as if trying to find the hidden organ that attracted women toward him. "You are scaring me, Shin." "Brother Elior, are you a vampire?" Shin asked, his eyes still searching. "What load of crap are you talking about?" "You know, vampires in the old movies seemed to attract women towards them. So I was considering the chances of you being a vampire. After all, you are quite secretive sometimes." "Shin, I am not a Vampire, but if you do not stop your degenerate talks, I''ll really bite you and suck all your blood out." Elior gave him a glare and walked towards his quarters. "Brother Elior, all I''m saying is you have to help me. How about you¡ª" Shin stopped his mouth and stood by on his walk. Elior looked at the reason and found a middle-aged woman standing before the door of Shin''s quarter. She had plain but luxurious clothes on from head to toe, and looked quite attractive in her age. Moreover, her face held some resemblances to Shin. "Mom," Shin called. "Why are you here?" "Can''t I come to see my boy?" the woman said. "You didn''t come when I was almost kidnapped here," Shin said grudgingly. "Now you have time to come." "You know, I was busy," Shin''s mom said, sighing. She shrugged uncomfortably and looked at Elior. "Is this your new friend?" "Right," Shin then introduced. "Mom, this is Elior. Elior, this is my mom." "Good evening," Elior said. He hesitated for a second and asked. "Can I call you Aunty?" Shin''s mom raised an eyebrow and nodded. "Yes, you can. Nice to meet you, I''m so grateful to you for taking care of Shin. I know how bothering this boy can be." "No.'' Elior shook his head and said genuinely. "Shin was mischievous at times, but he is never bothering." "Really?" Shin''s mom looked at her son to see if there were some changes in him after he got into the academy. "No, there is nothing new," Shin said. "It''s just that Elior is nice." "Well, you two should talk between mother and son now. I''ll go to my room then," Elior said and left after bidding goodbye for now. _______________________ Vote for the bonus chapter. 50 power stones / 3 Golden tickets = 1 bonus chapter next week. Chapter 48 - Night Adventure Went Wrong Elior walked down the empty road at midnight. Today, his destination was the third ring where a dungeon was supposed to be. Today, he was not planning to clear the dungeon, and the reason for that was what Aanya said the other day. He had thought through everything and, in the end, decided to not try anything without restraint. The chances of something going wrong were not big, but Elior would not just depend on those chances. Among the things he had learned in the previous timeline, was that things could turn ugly at any moment. So in the end, he decided to play safe. Locate the dungeon and inform the Guardian association. Other than that, he had other things he needed to take care of that could not be dealt with by the guardians. Today he was a little extra busy. Tomorrow was not a holiday, so he had to finish the business and return to rest for a few hours before he would get busy with training and class. Elior opened the public school building and entered silently. He was not so callous today, and with the extra mana to spare, he went on entirely with the [Void Stealth] on. The ability would be super useful on many occasions, so he did not cheap out now as more usage would make him more proficient in it. Today there seemed to be someone present in the area, unlike the other time at the park. Elior thought it should be the Nightwatch, and he was proven to be right. A man with heavy clothing on raised his torch all around the surroundings. Finding nothing, he moved away from there, making noises with his boots. Elior put his senses to work and raised his mana sense to 20 metres in the radius. Even with his current ability, it was quite hard to remain like this, but he had made many hard things possible in his life. All he had to do was imagine the void and all his concentration was put into the stealth and mana sense. Today, or more accurately tonight, he had to work a little extra hard to find the dungeon. After an hour of walking around and inside the school building, he found what he was looking for. This time it was hidden in the girl''s toilets. Elior clicked his tongue and broke the stealth tech that hid the dungeon. Dim, dark light glittered immediately, and it was denser than the Lizard''s Cave. Elior looked at it particularly and tried to guess the Chaotic mana density in the chaos wall. Clearly, it was not higher than 1 Axis unit, but it was quite dangerous for something like that to appear in a school building where thousands of kids come and go. Well, dungeons were dangerous most of the time, but it was another matter if it was in a barren jungle or inside the safest place on earth. ''Are these the sign of the great calamity that will come two years from now on?'' Elior thought, but could not come to a conclusion. The involvement of Shadowblood said something else, but he could be wrong. ''I need to dig further.'' Now that he had found the dungeon, all that left was to inform the Guardians. Elior thought about using the Guardian helpline, but on another note, he left it for someone else. He raised his arm against a few more walls and broke it with his spatial distortion. He did not make it into dust, but left it to drop in chunks of concrete, making a noise on the ground. That was the plan¡ªhe wanted the watchman to come quickly and discover this dungeon here and then report it to the guardian helplines. He walked back and hid himself in a corner with the shadow stealth on and waited for the guardians to come. He did not forget to take some remaining of the stealth though, leaving enough for the guardians to frown upon. The material was alike aluminium foil, metallic and light, but it was quite harder to break than normal metal. He opened his bag and stuff it inside. Like he had thought, the watchman came in running with the flashlight. But unlike what Elior thought, the watchman did not report immediately when he found the dungeon here. He rushed back immediately twice the speed he had come here with clear horror in his eyes. Clicking his tongue silently, Elior followed after him. He had to make sure the watchman called the guardians or else he had to do it in his stead. Fortunately, it came to show the watchman was not an entirely cowardly piece of coward. He called immediately, returning to his small desk. Elior heard the entire conversation before departing from there. The Guardians would come in any minute¡ªit was not good to linger there for further. . . . Elior left the metro station before the academy city and checked his cellphone. It was 03:25 and he would have a couple of hours of resting time if he went to his quarters immediately. He went inside the academy grounds without much problem, but something caught his attention. Like the other day, someone else was there and even though he could not see the appearance, his could guess it was Leroy who finished whatever business he had outside. Elior followed to make sure it was him and his guess was spot on. Leroy entered the dormitory building silently and walked inside his quarter. ''I have to spy on this guy to find out what he''s doing on our side.'' Elior made a mental note and entered his room. Abruptly, cold sweat appeared on his back because the door was not locked when he entered. "Shit!" he cursed and found the one that was sitting at his door. "You left me waiting for hours, brother," Shin said. _______________________________ Vote for more content. For every 50 power stones or 3 golden tickets, there will be an extra chapter. Chapter 49 - Night Adventure Went Wrong (2) Shin remained sitting at his desk with a complacent expression, looking at Elior coming in. Elior''s face turned ugly, but he turned to his regular expression immediately. "What are you doing here, Shin?" he asked. "Wait, that is not important. Why did you break into my room? You do know, it is prohibited by the academy?" "There are many rules in the academy," Shin answered. "And one of them is not to wander off after eight outside the academy ground." Elior squinted his nose. "You know what, let''s fu*k the rule, you should have a moral ground to not break into someone else''s room." "Especially when that person is hiding something fishy," Shin said, snickering out. Elior sighed and shook his head. He went to his bed and dropped his bag there, and removed the hood from his head. He was blaming himself for not thinking about hiding his track. If only he had made some cryptic locks with runes, he would not have to confront Shin this early. Now he was considering if the hormones in his teenage body were affecting him as he took few radical decisions on impulses. ''That''s probably it,'' he thought. ''Or was I an impulsive person all along?'' "How did you secretly sneak out of the academy?" Shin asked with a somewhat curious and excited expression. If it was someone else, they might have been yelling or scared still, but Shin was not like that, fortunately. "It is one of my abilities," he answered. It appeared his Shin was not satisfied with his answer, so he used the [Void Stealth] in his arm and made it invisible to the normal vision. Shin''s eyes widened as if popped out. He stood up from his seat and came closer to inspect it. But before he could test it properly, Elior eliminated the stealth. "Brother, you have the ability I have dreamt to have," Shin said with an envious gaze. "So that you can go into the girl''s washroom?" Elior snorted. "You know me too well," Shin gave a little perverted laugh. Then his eyes regained his excitement again. "By the way, Brother, did you ever sneak into the ladies'' washroom?" "I''m not a pervert like you." Elior paused suddenly. "Wait, technically, I sneaked into the ladies'' washroom a few hours ago, though my purpose was something else." "We all say that," Shin laughed lewdly. "I can''t believe, bro, you unravel one of the top ten mysteries since ancient time without me." Elior shook his head. There was no way he could make Shin understand what he was doing without spilling the beans. "So how did you find out I was away?" he asked, curious. "Well, it was a coincidence, actually," he said. "After my mom left, it was quite late. I was quite bored and after hearing all her blabbering, and when I''m like that i make food. I made one for you and checked on you, but you did not answer my calls or messages. "So then I knocked on your door for a few minutes and that''s when I felt something wrong. I knew you were secretive about some of your business and I could not break my impulse, so I broke into your room with my profound skill." Shin finished,n showing his fingers as if it held magic. "You hacked into the academy''s system?" Elior asked, raising his eyebrow. Other than hacking the door, there was no other way to open it other than breaking and then it would alert many in the institute. He cursed himself again for forgetting how skilled Shin was at this kind of thing. "Hehe," Shin only laughed. "So where did you go? What did you do?" "Do I have to answer you?" "You would not answer your only brother?" Shin pouted his lips. "I was . . ." Elior considered for a moment if he came clean about it now or not. Shin was really like a brother to him, but it did not seem good to talk about all the things. ''Shin is not prepared, Heck! I''m not prepared as well,'' he thought and answered, "I was spying." "About what?" Shin asked, raising an eyebrow. "I can''t tell you that now." "And you will sneak out again?" Shin seemed to have half a dozen questions ready. "If the situation appears, then I have to," he answered, sighing. "Can you sneak another person with you?" Elior''s lips twitched. "I can''t," he said. "Pity," Shin said. "I wish I could come along with you to the spying." "Shin, I''m not really sneaking around the girl''s washroom," Elior said in a serious tone. "And as for your interest in sneaking out. I could help you there as well, but it''s not possible with my ability." "I guess that counts," Shin said. "And you want me to keep this secret too, right?" "Yes," he said. "And I need your help somewhere else as well. And you have to keep that secret as well." "The secrets seemed to intensify," Shin replied. "And it appears I''m weaving into the web as well." "Of course you will," Elior said unconsciously. "Either you want to or not. That''s the path of a guardian." "What?" "Nothing," Elior said, shaking his head. "Now, the task I''m about to give you should not leave this room or between us. I need you to find a few people for me." "People? What type of people?" he asked. "Dangerous people, corrupt people," Elior said. "You should hide your best ability to hide your track as well. Can you make it as none have found your location?" "I''m not sure, but I''ve to see what I can do," Shin said, arching eyebrows. "By the way, what you will do with these people?" "Secret," Elior said. "I''ll tell you when you''re ready." "Well, I can say you are not up to something bad, so I''ll help you." "Thanks, Shin." "Brother, one thanks is not enough." Shin gave a knowing smile, as if Elior knew what he wanted. "What are you talking about?" Elior asked, bewildered. And now he could guess what his dear brother would ask of him. . . . Only after an hour after the conversation ended between Shin and Elior, the two of them rushed to the training field again. Well, technically it was Elior who rushed and on his back was Shin, who was shouting and crying. "Brother, why are you so cruel?" he cried pitifully. "I even gave you my exclusive dish, yet you did not let me rest for an hour." "Stop yelling, people are sleeping." "That''s what I''m saying, let me sleep." Elior did not listen to the plea of Shin and brought him to the field. Only when he reached there did, he put the guy down from his back. "Now let''s start our training," Elior said and found some people were coming towards them. He recognised one of them with just the silhouette in the mist and the others appeared to be familiar as well. "My juniors are harder working than I have imagined," said the maiden with silver hair. "What are you two doing here?" Elior asked, looking at Ileana and Aanya. Both of them were wearing tracksuits like him and appeared to be in for morning-jogging. Their hair was bound in a braid with running sneakers on. "Well, Lara said yesterday, you guys train together in the morning and I''m not going to miss out on that chance," Ileana answered. "And besides, Senior Aanya said, she has time in the morning and would help me in my training." Elior frowned and looked at the female with silver hair who had a little excited expression on. His eyes asked her what''s the matter with her. "I don''t have . . ." Aanya seemed to struggle in completing her sentence. "I don''t have many friends." Elior''s frown softened as he recalled, all Aanya had were fans or worshippers, what she had said was somewhat true. Heck! She might not even have a single friend and his heart softened even further, recalling the situation about her family. "What happened to this guy?" Ileana said, coming closer to Shin. "Is he sleeping on the ground?" Elior rubbed his forehead looking at the future Storm Summoner. ___________________________ You guys have made 3 bonus chapter goal so far, 1 day remaining vote for more. Thank you for the votes. Chapter 50 - Liar (1) "Apologies for being late," Elior said, peeking his head inside the classroom. Beside him, Shin did not look a bit apologetic, even though the reason for their late arrival was none other than him. But Elior did not blame him¡ªafter all, he had nothing to learn from the Elementary magic class. Professor Sarah looked at the two of them and then looked at the clock. Her eyebrow was raised instantly. "You two are fifteen minutes late," she said. "If it was professor Aleister, he would have cut 10 points from you, but I''m more lenient for today. But if you came late any other day, I''ll cut double the points. Now sit down in your seats." Elior nodded and went straight to his seat. Ileana was already present, taking notes on her Hollowbook. Shin followed, though he took as much time as he could. "Why are you late?" Ileana hissed at him. "We were just busy getting yelled at by an instructor," Elior said. "I reckon your best friend did something stupid again?" Ileana whispered. "What is it this time? Did he run around, yelling? Waste food? Or get into a fight?" "None," Elior said, laughing. "Apparently, a few girls reported him for harassment though he did nothing other than verbal." "Did he fall that low?" Ileana said, giving a judging look to the boy with piercings and red and blond dyed hair. "It was not my fault," Shin said and saw the look of Elior. "Well, it was not entirely my fault. Elior was similarly condemned for this." "Come on, it is your fault for not taking the hints," Elior gawked at him. "And who told you to go after so many girls on the first day?" Ileana raised her eyebrow at them, asking for more. Their talking did not explain the situation entirely. But her wish was not fulfilled. "You three there stand up," Professor Sarah said with an angry scowl. In every class, she found a few disobedient students like that¡ªit was probably because of her low experience or she was not imposing enough. Ileana squinted her nose and gave a slight glare to Shin¡ªas if it was entirely his fault. She stood up and was followed by Elior and Shin. "Tell me what you need to look after if you want to cast an elementary spell?" she asked. "It depends actually," Ileana started. "First is the focus and¡ª" "I did not ask you," the young teacher asked. "I asked the boy with the stupid expression on. Tell me what you need to look after while casting a spell?" "You need to look after your focus," Shin said. He did not know if it was unconsciously or he was so used to others calling him stupid. "And?" Professor Sarah raised one of her brows. "Concentration," Shin said. "And mana." The teacher clicked her and moved to Elior. "You tell me the boy with an annoyed expression." "I''m not annoyed," Elior said. It was his bored look. "And for the answer, it needed some focus and precision while casting the formula and uniform mana flow. You can do it with nonuniform mana flow as well, but it would create problems with the spell, and learning higher-order spells will be close to impossible with that." "At least some of you studied," Sarah said. "But this was a simple question. Tell me, if a person has 40 units of mana left, and the place he is in a place that has the mana density of 0.44 standard Axis unit, with fire the density of fire element is 0.87 in it, then how many elementary fireballs can he cast?" The teacher had a rather smug face when she finished her question. Clearly, she knew there was no way for Elior to answer this correctly. "This question is rather vague," Elior said with a straight face. "You did not mention many important elements that would be useful in calculating the problem. Such as that person''s affinity towards fire element, the level of mana application, the level of focus, and most importantly the level of spell mastery. There are other factors too, but those have marginal effects." "Take yourself as the standard and answer my question," she asked. Her brows were arched. "That would be a little tricky," Elior said and found Ileana had already started calculating. He shook his head and took her hollowbook and pen from her. "Thank you." Only after a few seconds, he answer, "Assuming my mana would not recover during the process, the least number of elementary fireballs I could cast would be 9 and the highest would be 14." "That doesn''t make sense," the young professor said. "Even the higher I could go is around 10, considering I do not have a high affinity to fire element. Give me the hollowbook, I would like to look at what type of calculation you have made." "You can, though I don''t know if you understand my handwriting." Elior gave the device and remained standing. The blonde professor frowned instantly as she gazed into the device. "This is the most terrible handwriting I have ever seen in my career." "My father is a doctor," Elior said. "I guess that could explain a little about it." The young professor glared at him for justifying his terrible handwriting. She even thought he had purposefully done it, so that she could not judge it. Other than the marginally readable handwriting, she could not make sense out of the calculation. She thought it was because she could not read entirely, but the far she could understand the calculation did make sense, assuming the high level of mastery in the level this boy had put in intentionally. "You have Level 12 in mana application?" she asked, as bewildered as a moth to the fire. "You don''t have to praise me in front of everyone. At least think about the poor kids." "You are getting on my nerves now," she said, her glare piercing him entirely. "How can I assume you reached level 12 in mana application in just three weeks? Even some of the upperclassmen have not reached that level." "There are a few factors into it," Elior said seriously. "Coupled with me being a genius, and more hardworking than anyone here." "Or you could be a liar," Sarah said. "I have seen many during my learning years and teaching years. Students who show off their ability on the basis of lies." Many students snickered in the class with a few laughter breaks as well. Most of them were taking pleasure in others'' misfortune. Elior put no mind to them and even if he did, he did not blame them. They were just teenage kids¡ªhigh on hormones and low in intelligence. "Oh, boy," Ileana hissed, waiting for the drama to unfold. She could vividly imagine what Elior would say in the next moment. Elior released a deep breath self consciously. "Professor Sarah," he said. "Remember, there are many things about me that can turn out to be false, but Liar is not one of them. "The sun may not rise tomorrow, but know this, I Do Not, Can Not, Will Not, Lie." ____________________________ Hey fellas, a big thank you for the votes.. I really appreciate it. Chapter 51 - Liar (2) Professor Sarah was flabbergasted, and so was the entire class. In her experience as a teacher and a student, she had seen no student be so cocky and glib-tongued. She knew the one before her was the most extraordinary seed of this year, but this type of arrogance would turn any good seed to rotten. Taking into consideration that she was the teacher, and it was her duty to straight cocky kids, she was about to yell at Elior when another student stopped her. "Professor Sarah," Ileana said with a little uncomfortable expression. "I don''t think you should continue with him. El, I mean, Elior is speaking the truth. He might have a cocky tongue, but he never lies." "Huh? Since when did I have a cocky tongue?" Elior questioned nonchalantly. "I just speak the truth and it might appear a little cocky to someone, but it is not my fault." "So you''re telling me all of this is the truth?" the blonde professor asked, showing the calculation in the hollowbook. "You have level 12 in mana application, level 14 in Focus, Level 4 in spell mastery?" Elior nodded. "Everything is correct there except the spell mastery¡ªit is a little tricky," he said, considering he had not practised his spell more than half an hour in the entire three weeks. The professor turned to Ileana. "You want me to believe that?" she asked. "You are the most capable student in my class, yet you might not have reached level 3 in spell mastery till now. How can I believe his deception¡ªhe did not even try to look convincing?" "Ow, it has reached level 4," Ileana said. "I have some help from El and Senior Aanya." "Really?" Professor Sarah raised an eyebrow at her, then shook her head. "That is not the important point. Even if he has level 4 in spell mastery, what about the other skills? How can I believe that?" "Well, it sounded ludicrous to me as well." Ileana sighed. "But I can reassure you that El does not lie. He already got into so many trouble for this." Ileana''s firm response seemed to waver the young professor a little. She looked particularly at Elior, as if trying to find what was wrong with this boy. He was seven or eight years younger than her, and she was at the respectable post of a teacher. So many students feared her after only one yell from her, yet this boy barely responded. He didn''t even flinch. And his eyes were a little peculiar as well. She saw no fear in them or any reverence, and when he focused, it was as if he was already in a higher realm of understanding than her. She had seen a similar type of gaze in a few people. Professor Aleister was one example¡ªthat man had experienced and fought in the great battle a couple of decades ago and sacrificed so much. It was convincing, she found him to have such eyes and air. But it was entirely unconvincing for a teenage kid to have such a look. "Don''t think too hard," Elior opened his mouth again. "Even though I reached that level in the skills, all my hard work and excellence are not enough. I had some help." "I guess there is only one way to prove that," the blonde professor said. "Why don''t you show your skills and cast a few elementary fireballs? I can access them and will be able to tell what level of mastery your skills have reached." "Do I have to?" Elior asked as if it was a bother. "El, follow her instruction quietly," Ileana hissed at him with a glare. "If you don''t want others to call you a liar." "Fine," he said and raised his palm. A fireball condensed instantly in his palm. "Is this enough or should I make more?" He did it anyway. He made another fireball on the other palm. And in the next moment, he cast two at the same time. "Double casting?" Professor Sarah was bewildered. "Oh, my spell mastery just reached level 5," Elior added, and he mashed all the fireballs into one, then dissolved it entirely. "Can I sit down now?" "How can you double cast so easily?" the professor asked instead of answering. "Isn''t that easy? All you had to do was divide the focus into two places and cast. And there no need to be bewildered, it is after all elementary spells." "El, I think you should stop talking now, or everyone will think you are just cocky," Ileana said, squinting her nose. "Well, I even think you are cocky, and I have been your friend since childhood." "It is what it is," Elior sighed and sat down, seeing the gesture from the teacher. ''I am what I am." "This type of talent could only be considered monstrous," Professor Sarah said, unconsciously looking at Elior. "A born prodigy." ''I wish that was true.'' he did not say it out loud this time. He might be considered a prodigy in duels or battles, but he''s not one in casting. All of this he had learned in the previous timeline. "Professor, the double casting you talked about is about casting two spells at once?" Ileana asked, with the thought of learning and helping him, turning the focus of the class from him. "If so, how hard is it to learn?" "According to your friend, it is super easy," the teacher said, and she moved back to her seat, giving back the hollow book. "For some, it comes naturally after they become adept in the spells, but be mindful the double casting is always different with different spells. So the easiest way to learn that is to train those spells so hard that you could cast it on instinct." "I see," Ileana said. "Professor, how long did it take you to learn double casting?" "I don''t think it''s a good question to ask here," the teacher said. "But I''ll answer, consider many others wanted to learn it as well. The average time is about half a year when the student with above-average talent learns to double cast an elementary spell, but it is different for a prodigy like him who can already do it. It took me about three months to learn that and butt your senior Aanya has learned it even before a month, though I''m not so sure about the case. "If you just wanted to learn double-casting elementary spells, that would not be that difficult. All you have to do is relentless practice with the spell all the time, but I advise you not to do that. As he mentioned, it is only an elementary spell¡ªbarely usable against a low-grade monster¡ªand other than lighting candle it would have no use." Elior did not agree with her last statement, though it was somewhat true for most students. He did not ponder for long, and raised his arm to ask a question. "Yes?" Elior stood up. "Professor, can I get exempt from your class until you finish teaching elementary magic? Don''t get me wrong, your teaching is fairly good for everyone here, but it would be a waste of time for me. As you have seen, I don''t need any education on elementary magic." Sarah did her best to not flare up her anger at those cocky words. She reminded herself twice the one before here was her student. She sighed and calmed down. "I can''t approve of that," she said. "If you really want an extempt you have to get a written from the head professor, though I would not recommend that. There are more things about learning the spells. I might even teach you the advance spells." Elior nodded and sat down. "Alright then, the time is almost up," she stood up again. "We did not get the things done today, but I''m glad to find out two prodigies in our class¡ªif any student has a problem in understanding they can discuss with the two of Elior and Ileana. and work hard there might be an announcement for students who performed excellently. They might get a chance to advance to the next level." ____________________ Thanks for that power stones and Golden tickets. Chapter 52 - Gift Elior hammered the red, hot metal with all of his strength. The hammering sound resounded in the empty artifacing department in arithmetic intermission. To use his full capability today, he had put off the heavy training suit. The thing he was trying to make today will not be like the other time when he made the heavy training suit. That was a thing that was used in training. It had no attack power and as a good defence as any bullet-proof vest, which was not a lot considering the monster he would be facing. Other than scribing the runes, everything was easy¡ªwell, the scribing was only difficult because he did not have enough mana, but the thing he was trying to make now would need more input than he was capable of outputting now. He was trying to make a weapon, and the weapon took more effort in making than a terrible load that would make things difficult at every moment. Weapons were not like that. In a sense, it needed to be perfect. A penny of off-balance could fault the mana application in them, not to mention it might even be problematic to use. He was making rapier today. Technically, he was making a twin rapier. Why make a rapier than a spear which he was most adept at? Well, there were two reasons for that. The prominent one was that spear was not a weapon applicable for all situations. It was godly when facing a single enemy at a time. Even a sword had limitations while facing someone with a spear, but dealing with a pack at the same time became tricky as with a spear. It was quite hard to injure over one enemy with just one swing of a spear. Sword or a blade was better there, with just one full sweep, it could injure whoever came in the way. That was why he was making twin-rapiers that would come in handy whenever he was outnumbered. And the second reason was more economical. To make a good weapon, he needed good metal and to get good metal; he needed credits. Even though Elior''s pocket was heavier than any student in his years, it was not enough to make a good spear that would need almost ten times the credits he had. So he chose rapiers; with it, he would get more freedom in movement as a rapier would barely weigh any and he would be able to use it in short and fast motion with his ability. The metal he chose for that was the top tier steel and heavy silver. Heavy silver was the finest metal that had a high conductivity of mana and would also give a certain weight to the weapon. And as for the runes, he needed to scribe hundreds of small connecting runes on it¡ªand it would not be easier compared to the heavy training suit. The weapon will have the opposite runes of the heavy suit. The most important attribute he wanted with this weapon is that high mana revolution speed and then attack power. To make that, he needed at least a week of time. He hammered in one mind, ignoring if there was anyone in the room or not. His old mentor from the previous timeline did not even bother to come most of the day, while he did throw a few upperclassmen at him for teaching. Elior had successfully tackled them, showing his basic skills. The upperclassmen were good at finding that, as they would not have to teach any bothersome thing to the only student, so it was a win-win for everyone. But thinking about his old mentor always makes him depressed. There was nothing he could do for him now, as the man was a closed book. Elior sighed in relief looking at the alloy that blended well together. There were not many impurities left that could hinder him, so his job was almost done here. "Wow," a voice said beside him. It was not from Professor Neldor, but his daughter, who was sitting in her father''s seat with widened eyes. "I thought I could help you in the matters of artifacing with my knowledge, but it appeared there isn''t much I could help you with." Elior released tired air from his nostrils and mouth and sat in a seat. He removed the apron and found himself seething in sweat all over. He wiped from his face to neck nonchalantly from the staring gaze of the senior. She wore a white dress with a darker overcoat above it¡ªnot the code of the institute, but rather a casual one. "Why are you here?" he asked at once. "I came to give you these," she said, pointing to a dozen more books on the table. "I have written all my insights in artifacing in them with many other knowledge my father had imparted to me, though I don''t know if it will be useful to you after seeing you hammering. You reminded me of my father when he is motivated." "Professor Neldor could make things like this even if he is not motivated," Elior added, and he was not being humble. He could never manage to touch the level of talent of his old mentor in his lifetime. "So will you take these?" she asked again. "I had already taken permission from my father. He will not mind." "If you are thinking of making me the student president, then I''ll not take it," Elior said straightly to the silver-haired girl. "No, I''m not scheming to make you the next president with these bribes." Elior looked carefully at her smug expression and said, "You are lying." "Am I? Maybe." Aanya did not mind her trick to be found out. Her expression became curious even further. "That reminded me, I heard from Ileana you pulled quite a show the other day in the class." "What are you talking about?" Aanya looked straight into his eyes. "Tell me, you really do not lie?" "If I was given a penny for every time someone, ask that question, I would have money to take you to lunch," Elior said with an annoyed expression. "Yes, I have never lied in my life." Aanya''s eyes widened, and they shone. Elior knew what this meant. It meant he had become an exciting puzzle to this senior, who might be considered a little weird. "Do you look down on people who lie?" she asked again. "I used to," he answered, standing up. He sighed and looked at the clock. It was just past five. "But not anymore." "That''s good to know," she said. "Are you leaving?" "Yes, my business is done here," he said and collected his stuff with the purified alloy. "And I have other things to do." "I see." Aanya nodded slowly. She gestured at the books and said. "Please take all these, other than the notes on artifacing, there are other notes on magic application, spells¡ªit would be useful to you, Ileana, and others. You don''t owe me anything, just take it as a gesture of friendship if you consider me as a friend." Elior''s face hardened. "You played the card of friendship that I won''t be able to avoid," he said with a problematic expression. He considered Aanya to be his friend not to say about the other timeline, his senior was a good-hearted person he had ever met and more she had sacrificed herself in great calamity in that tender age that made him revere her with a respect that he did not give to make. "I''ll take it then," he said, "but that still leaves me a little uncomfortable at heart. I should give you something as well, though I have nothing with me now that would be useful to you." "Well, it does not have to be now. You have your time, but be sure to not give me something petty¡ªI hate those," she said comically. "Look, I can be truthful too." ______________________________ Thanks for the votes. Chapter 53 - Shin, The Wannabe Playboy "How about that chick over on that table?" Shin asked, pointing at a girl. "I think you have already wasted your chances on that girl," Elior said, sighing. "Really?" Shin squinted his nose and shoved the roasted pork into his mouth. "I already told you not to go after everyone you see and keep your concentration on only one." "I wanted to do that as well," Shin said while chewing. "But you know, none take any interest in me." "It''s probably the fault of your vulgar mouth," he added. "No, it''s not," Shin denied. "Whatever it is, you have to help me." "Well, I did promise you to help you with that, but I have not found a way," Elior said, filling his stomach. Then he lowered his voice and continued. "By the way, how far have you gone with the work I have given?" "It''s quite hard," Shin hissed. "Though I found two of them easily, but they do not look dangerous as you mentioned. Heck, they did not appear anything at all. Bland people living their boring life." "That''s good then, send me their details when we get back." A couple of days ago, when Shin had found out he had sneaked out of the academy during the night, they made a friendly pact between them. Shin would help him locate a few people while he would help the wannabe delinquent to get a chick, which came as far more difficult than finding the location of a few rogue guardians or apprentices. "What''s happening here?" Aanya said, and sat on the empty seat beside her. Ileana was not with her, but someone else was accompanying her. Lara took the other seat across from them and beside Aanya. The moment she came, all the attention in the freshmen criteria transferred to their table. Elior sighed as he could not stop that. "We are trying to do one of the almost impossible things in the universe," he said and pointed at Shin. "We are looking for someone who will be willing to be the girlfriend of Shin. If you have someone in mind, please help us." "Really?" she said, "But I don''t get why it is nearly impossible. If he tries a little hard, it would be easy as a cake." "You wish," Elior snickered. "Did you know the story about when Shin was trying to be a rabbit to eat a carrot?" "No; but it did sound quite interesting." "Brother, please don''t," Shin cried in between. Then he whispered, "Please don''t, I won''t be able to show my face if rumours get out from here." "That makes me even more interested." Aanya''s eyes lit up. "I promise there won''t be any gossip about it, Shin." "Senior, please rest for now," Shin said, begging with his palm. "I promise to tell you in some other time when there are no other people." "I don''t know why you do these kinds of things that would get you into trouble. Shin," Elior said. "Well, it is one of my quirks. I can''t help it, just like how you attract attention from the ladies without doing a thing." "I said there is no such thing," he said half-heartedly, knowing there was no way he could convince his friend here. "Almost everything is trainable. You only need to stop your vulgar mind from running wild to get a girlfriend." "Wait a minute, I''m lost," Aanya said, raising her brows. "Is Elior a lady-killer?" "No, I''m not," he said before Shin could utter a word. "Apparently, this guy thought I''m a vampire that attracts women like in the old movies and books." "But, it is true," Shin complained. "Let''s take senior Aanya for an example. Did you not notice she is spending more time with us than the students in her class? No offense, Senior Aanya." "None taken," Aanya said, and her eyes shone a little. "But that makes me wonder, I do spend most of my free time with you guys now." She looked straight at Elior in the eyes. "Tell me honestly, junior, did you use your charm on me or something?" "Gosh! At least, don''t play along with Shin," Elior said, annoyingly. "And you used most of your time with Ileana. Maybe she used something on you. Look for her." Aanya chuckled. "It''s so fun," she said. "That reminded me where that girl is?" "Ileana? She is probably training or studying the notes you gave her all day long." "Is she trying to get the chance to advance to the first order?" Lara opened her mouth for the first time. "I heard they will announce a shortlist of students who are ready for their fast advancement after this week." "If you have said nothing till now, I would have thought you lost your voice, Lara," Elior said with sarcasm. The little statement was enough for the girl to shy out. Though. Lara was a little introverted like Aanya, she was not so good at talking like their senior, who joked with them like they were friends for a long time. "Yes, she was probably doing that," Elior said. "She would probably get the chance, unlike this guy here who is only looking for a girlfriend." "Getting that chance is easy," Shin snorted. "There are only a few students that could go against me." Shin was not half wrong. Even though he only trained for a few hours other than the classes, his talent is far stronger than most of the students. He could get the spot easily as he told, but how far would he go like that? Elior hardly believed Shin would succeed like that all time. Even in the previous timeline, he was like that. He only became focused after he lost his parents. "The talent you are born with is minuscule compared to the accomplishments you can make," he said quietly. His words were directed at Shin, but the other two people nodded as well. "But, I really work hard, brother," Shin complained again. "You woke me up every day before the sunrise and pull me towards the ground for those heavy training." "Is that a lot?" Elior asked, raising an eyebrow. "Lara, please tell this guy about your routine." "Do I have to?" Lara asked with an uncomfortable expression. Seeing the heavy nod from Elior, she continued, "Other than the morning workout, I train in the evening as well in the gymnasium. I mostly work on swordsmanship then and other abilities connected to mana. Then, till midnight, I meditate, visualize, or study. This is not a lot, actually." "She said this is not a lot, brother." Shin picked up his palm to his head. "Girl, do you even have a life?" "I guess I can''t convince you through the examples of others." Elior bit his lips and paused. "Looks like I have to go with another approach. How about this, if you double your output in the training, I''ll make a thorough outlined plan on how to get you a girl?" "That doesn''t sound bad apart from the part where I have to work twice as hard as now," Shin said. "By the way, Elior, didn''t you have a meeting with the head professor?" "Oh, crap!" Elior looked at the clock and found he was already ten minutes late. He stood up, collecting his stuff. He already had a bad feeling about the meeting. After he applied to get an exemption in the class, the professor straightly asked to test out his ability. He had no fear in that, but knowing his old mentor, if he thought Elior was not ready, there was no way he could pass. "I''m leaving then." ____________________ Ah, this chapter is dialogue-heavy. Chapter 54 - Professor Aleistors Test "Why are you following me?" Elior asked. He was on the way to Professor Aleister''s office room, but before he could even walk there, he found the silver-haired senior was following him. "I have something to report to Professor Aleister, thought it would be good going along with you," she said with a start. Elior did not converse further with her on the way to prepare and calm his mind. He was not nervous about what the test was going to be, but he needed to pass with whatever question his old mentor would ask him. Knowing him, Elior knew the question would not be tough, but rather a simple question with a complicated answer. They arrived before the door of the professor, and he let Aanya knock on the door. A curt ''Come in'' sounded as she opened the door. The two of them went inside. Professor Aleister was reading some reports in his Hollowbook, while dressing the neat and clean. Elior stood even straighter than he usually was, sharpening his uniform. "You are late," Aleister said, looking through the transparent screen of the hollow book. His eyes moved to Aanya for a moment and asked her, "Are you the reason he''s late?" Aanya tilted her head for a moment and thought. "No," she said with a laugh. "He was just looking at girls." "Ahem!" Elior coughed self-consciously. "Minus 10 points," Professor Aleister did not seem to care about what business he had; he only knew Elior was late. He told them to sit in the chair before her desk. He rested the device on the desk and sat upright and looked at Aanya first. "Aanya, I thought you already finished your schooling here. What business do you have to delay me during the important time?" His voice was not rude, but affectionate, either. It was the typical voice of Aleister Scribe when he got what he did not ask for. "Well, Uncle, why are you so formerly all the time?" She asked, though she knew the answer. "I heard you need a few volunteers for the few freshmen. I wanted to join it." Aleister raised an eyebrow. "That''s it?" he said. "You could just send a message for it." "Other than that, I would like to watch my junior''s test," she said, gesturing her eyes at Elior. "After all, I gave him my notes on magic and won''t want him to go on the wrong path." "You did that, huh?" Alister frowned for a while. "Professor, could you send her away?" Elior joined the conversation. "I would like the test to be alone." "Uncle, he''s late for the test. He should not have any say in the matter," Aanya protested within a second. "Besides, I gave him my notes. I would like to see if he wasted the opportunity or learned something." "I see, you two become quite friendly during these few days," the professor sighed. He saw Elior grunting in protest. He said to Aanya, "I can let you be here on the account he learned from your notes, but you are not allowed to utter a single phrase during the process. Did I make it clear?" Aanya did not answer, but made a gesture with her fingers on her lips as if she was closing a zip. Aleister focused on Elior then. "You want to be exempt from the Magic spell mastery classes," he said. "The reason being, you already mastered all things about elementary magics. Is that correct?" "Yes," Elior voiced out clearly, knowing a little indifference would disappoint his old mentor. "I heard a few things from Professor Sarah, but I would like to look at it with my eyes," Aleister said. "Show me whatever tricks you have under your arms." Elior did not shy away and stood up. He formed the formula of elementary fireball and released enough mana into it. A small sun-like fireball formed, radiating yellow light. He formed another one similarly and customised the formula according to his will. The ball turned into other shapes. First a cube of fire, then a helm and a few other things. At last, he stopped it while combining the two formulas and made a fireball that could not be said to be elementary magic. Aanya''s eyes were widened, and she was not the only one; Aliestor too was startled, though he hid it well. Both of them could do this type of wizardly with a flick of their finger, but they were surprised to see Elior, who was only here for three weeks, could manage that. "I guess that performance proved your mastery," Aleister said, and Elior sat down again. "Now, I need to see if you are that good in theory as well." Elior nodded. "Tell me, the spell you cast just now, what higher domain do they belong to?" That''s a tricky question. If it was asked to any other freshmen, they would only say, it was Creation. Fortunately, Elior knew better. "Creation and Destruction," Elior answered. "Creation when I created the fireball and destruction when I stopped the fire." "You say creation. How can you say it is Creation when you didn''t even know how the fire formed entirely?" the professor asked again. That was not an elementary level question. "You don''t have to know entirely how you do it. Even if something is complicated, in the beginning, it is just the simple part combining together," Elior answered not entirely, leaving a few parts behind. "I don''t understand it properly," the teacher said with a frown. In his mind, Elior''s words were repeating. He knew where this little guy was going to¡ªbut he was not sure. It just could be an excuse or it could be what he thinks it is. If that was true, then he had truly found a gem. "You just manipulate the formula, and fire element with mana. How can it touch the law of creation?" the teacher asked, still frowning. Elior took in a deep breath and recalled his teachings. "As I said a moment ago, even though creation is complicated, it is made of simple pieces of a puzzle. For instance, a potter creates a piece of a pot with mud. He did not need to know about how hydrogen and oxygen formed together to make water, nor did he need to know how the earth came to form. He just needs to know the way around to make his pots. That is the simple form of creation in its core." A still silence flew in the room, until the professor leaned on the chair more, raising his arm. "Wow, I did not know. A student would be so philosophical about the law of magic," Alister said with a smile on his lips. "You take an example of a mundane thing and use it as a way to explain a complicated law of magic. I have one more question for you: after that, you are good to go. "Let''s take one of the most normal things in the universe, Reproduction. A woman conceives a child¡ªexplain it through the law of magic." Elior sucked in a deeper breath again. He could talk about this topic for hours, but that was not needed now. He had to give a simple and concise answer here that would satisfy the examiner. "Reproduction is one of the most normal things, but it is quite magical in its way," he started. "And it will not be wrong to say it is a complicated magic spell that can be performed quite easily." Aanya chuckled in between his answers. That earned her wide-eyed stare from the professor and Elior. She closed her mouth with an arm, showing she would not disrupt them again. "Even though it was easy," Elior continued. "It touched the four high domains of magic. Life, Death, Creation, and Destruction. Like the creation of fire, it creates a new life, though the process is far more complicated, but it did not form out of nothing. I''m sure the professor is well-learnt in biology to know this. As for the spirit, soul, or whatever, that proves it''s a life, and it could be something far above our understanding, or it could be a part from the parents'' cells. . . ." Elior stopped and waited for the teacher to give the evaluation. "Wow, now I have a new perspective on magic," Aanya added from the side. Aleister released a deep breath. "You passed the test and you can get exempt from the elementary class," he announced. "But?" Elior asked with a raised brow. Knowing his old mentor, there was definitely a but. The professor raised his eyebrow too. "But, from now on, I''ll check your progress on spells, and I will only want to see progress from here," he said. "You can ask me relevant questions in my free time or other professors such as Sarah. All have to do is to make progress from now on. You will have a lot harder time from now on." "Hardship does not frighten me," Elior said. "That''s good to here and I would like to see it with action as well," the professor added. "The next Monday you will be one among the ones who will get to advance to first order. Be Prepared." _________________________________ Thank you for the votes. A week more until, I''m free. Chapter 55 - First Dungeon Test (1) "So, what type of class would you like to get, Ileana?" Aanya asked as she securely brought the seven juniors with her into the dungeon. "Honestly, I don''t know," Ileana said, releasing a breath. "I guess I will be happy with a good enough apprentice class." There were seven of the freshmen who got the chance to reach the first order on this occasion. And other than them, there were a few more upperclassmen, but no teacher with them today. The institute was on short staff. And the one who was responsible for it¡ªElior¡ªwalked nonchalantly into the grade one dungeon. What happened was technically not his fault, but he was the one that cause this. After he discovered the few dungeons, he did not clear his own, but destroyed the stealth that protected it and left it for the guardians to handle. A couple of days before, he had found two grade-2 dungeons in the fourth rings in barely a distance of a kilometre away. The staff were now busy dealing with it, as Head Professor gave all the duty to Aanya to handle the seven freshmen. "Senior Aanya," Peter, one of the seven freshmen who got the opportunity, asked hesitantly. "Are you sure we are safe here?" Peter was not the only one with the question. Other than Elior, Leroy, and a few of the upperclassmen, most of them were worried. Even though Ileana and Lara became quite intimate friends with Aanya, they could not help but feel nervous. Aanya, who was oblivious to it until now, saw the nervousness of the juniors. "No need to fear. all the suits you guys wore had a safety net in it, and more importantly," she paused with a little fluster. "It might be a little arrogant to say, but I''m far stronger than a few of the instructors or professors. Even if something bad happens, I can easily teleport everyone out of the dungeon. Why do you think the institute would let everyone in?" That comment calmed everyone in the dungeon. "Alright," Aanya said again, stopping in her tracks. "Even though your safety is guaranteed here, you still have to work yourself to reach the first order. It would take a couple of days, if not more, for every one of you to reach the first order, so think of it as a practical test, and you seven are together in it as a team. Hunt the chaos fiends and reach the first order in the safest way possible. "I will look after it personally and score it, and do your best. There might be some rewards after this." As Aanya finished, the other upperclassmen left then and so did their senior Aanya. They went about twenty metres away, giving them free reins until they could not handle it themselves. Elior thought for a moment to clear out that he had already reached the first order, but then again he would have to answer many more questions for it that he rather not. So, he decided to go with the flow. If nothing goes wrong, he might even have to utter a single word related to it. Peculiarly, his gaze then transferred to Leroy, who appeared to be looking at him as well. The expression on his face told that he was thinking something peculiar too, though he hid it even better than him. "Alright, let''s go and kill some monster," Shin said, raising his sword from the scabbard. "Don''t run on your own," Ileana said. "I don''t want to spend my energy on finding you. And besides, we are here so we should stay together." Leroy seemed to not think that, though he did not complain. The others did not complain as well. This was an unfamiliar place to them and a dungeon above all. They would be staying here for a couple of days in the slightest, so forming the group first should be natural. "El, what should we do first?" Ileana said, and looked at him with expectation. And she was not the only one. Shin and Lara joined, and then the other three. Though the last three had little expectation of him. "Why are you asking me?" Elior asked. "I''m not the leader here, and more importantly, you should know what is the first thing to do in the dungeon." "We know, but you seemed to be best at practical things," Lara added. "I don''t think anyone would complain if you were the leader though, Brother," Shin said. Elior said nothing about being the leader. "Let''s just follow the basic protocol we were taught to do in a dungeon," he said. "Which would be searching for a safer spot and finding out the chaos fiends here." They walked after that and after a couple of minutes; they noticed the seniors were nowhere to be seen. They should have hidden themselves and should be closer than they think. The dungeon they were in was a Grade-1, and it''s not any disadvantageous place. The not so bright sun was above them behind the almost transparent chaos wall. There was some wind, and it was chiller outside. Screeches of insects came into their ears with the surge of a river. It should be close to them. After discussing among themselves, they decided to move towards the river while they divided the roles. Elior became the eye and led everyone with his tracking skills. Lara and Leroy were the protector, always ready for any unexpected attack. Ileana and Peter were for collecting and examining stuff that appeared peculiar and might come in handy. That left Shin and Hasan. Nobody expected anything from Shin, who caused problems most of the time. But the wannabe delinquent voluntarily took the duty of food. Hasan joined Elior. His ability to listen to the faintest sound wave would come in handy. No monster came on their way to the river, which seemed to bore most of them. After all, they expected to find a few monsters attacking them after a few moments. "In the other times, the seniors brought the monster to us," Elior added, finding disappointed Shin. "Most chaos fiends do not have the supernatural ability to find the trespassers in the dungeon, but if you make some discomfort here, they could feel it clearly and would come to attack us." "That being said, do not try anything yet," Ileana reminded Shin again, afraid this maniac would try something. Though Shin was impulsive most of the time, he did not try anything. He had some responsibilities, after all. He would not cause problems knowing that other people''s lives depend on it. "There are about four hours of light," Leroy added, coming before everyone. "We should prepare for the camp." They had reached the river and found it quite narrow, though the water was flowing with quite a surge along with the wind. Even for the Grade-1 dungeon, this was quite large and the scene before them was quite breath-taking. There was no murky feeling to it. The water appeared to be clean while a lot of fish were swimming in it, flashing over the water, giving them a clear look. This dungeon should have been cleaned by the guardians and made out as a training ground for the apprentice. About a hundred meters away from them, Aanya was seated on a tall tree, hiding under a veil while keeping an eye on the freshmen. "Yes, uncle I brought them inside a few minutes ago," she said. In her palm was a peculiar crystal item. "Juniors are doing well so far." "I expect nothing less," the voice of professor Aleister drifted out from the crustal device. It was an artifact that could be used as a commutation through the dungeon¡ªthough it was not perfected yet, it was still useful in many scenarios. "But I would like to see more of them. I am optimistic about this group. You remember the instructions, I assumed?" "Yes," Aanya said, eyes at the seven freshmen. "But uncle, isn''t it too early for them to test out? They were only taught for less than a month. This ordeal might come as . . ." "Was it too early for you?" Aleister said. "No, right? Or do you think they could not match you in talent?" Aanya turned silent. She did not know the answer correctly, but two among the freshmen before her had inconceivable depth. "They are the elite of the institute. If they do not go through hardship, they might turn complacent about the situation. I have seen many cases like that, Aanya." The professor seemed to sigh after that. "But there were a few that should not be ready for this test," she still added. "I know," Aleister said. "That''s why I wanted to see how they can continue while keeping everyone safe. Follow the instructions according to the situations and update me each hour after nightfall. Keep them safe, Girl." ____________________________ There will be regular updates from Monday with the bonus chapter I owed. Thank you all for the votes and waiting. Chapter 56 - First Dungeon Test (2) And it''s nightfall now in the dungeon. The freshmen already cramped up most of the work, though they still had an uncertain expression on their faces. Perhaps it was something to do with being their first test in a dungeon, while the more certain reason should be that they had not come across any monsters in it yet. Ileana still researched the signs they had found in the ways and found through searching. Peter was with her, helping in whatever way he could and so far, he helped more than she ever imagined. She guessed the nerd-looking face with the thick spectacle was not for a show. They had found some direct sign of chaos fiends here, though they were far from knowing what the main types of monsters they would have to fight. Though she came up with a good enough answer. That frustrated her, and the laugher that entered her ears added up to it. She put her head up from the hollowbook she was scribing and found Elior was teaching something to Hasan, while Shin was making the food. They cracked out laughter now and then through the time. Are they on a picnic or something? She thought. Other than the nervousness and anxiety, she only felt the frustration. Why were they having fun here? Was this sun a place? All the answers she got through the month of learning told her it''s not. Releasing a deep breath, she stood up and made her way towards the three while gesturing to the other two protectors to come closer. Peter followed her, picking up the stuff they left. "Ahem!" she coughed consciously, catching everyone''s attention. "You two finished your research?" Elior asked. "Did you find something?" She nodded and looked at her childhood friend. In the few days, she already picked up a few changes in him. He appeared to have grown a couple of years in barely a month. Well, he was not the only one who appeared mature for his age. She looked at Leroy from the corner of her eyes. He looked the most distant in the group and quite unapproachable, even though he was clearly the nicest person with his behaviour. She looked away the very moment and glanced at everyone else. Shin seemed to be in a good mood, though she never saw him in a bad mood other than the time he whined about stupid things. He must really enjoy cooking. Lara appeared a little rigid with her duty. She sighed in relief that she was not the only one nervous. "So, what did you find?" Elior asked her again. "I assumed everyone noticed the holes in the earth before?" She started with an obvious question. "We have tested the soil that we collected from there and found out in about 63% of the sample, there is a certain level of toxicity in it." "What does that prove?" Shin asked the obvious question. "That means the monster we will be facing lives under our foot," she said, knowing Shin had no clue. "It could be some evolved rat, insects, or snakes. God, thinking about it makes my face twitch. I wish it would be nothing terrifying like snakes or . . ." "Ground Moles," Elior and Leroy said at the same time. Elior stood up abruptly while Leroy brought out his sword the instance. "They were below us," Hasan said, and prepared as well. "Get ready, everyone," Elior said, giving Leroy a second look. "Moles may be low-level chaos fiends, but they are hell-a-hard to deal with." Ileana pondered how the two were so sure. The description of a mole type monster came to her head, and she found it quite convincing. Moles are too good at creating holes and moving underground, and as El had told, dealing with them was hard. Not because they were powerful, but because they were too good at escaping. "Ileana, don''t stand there blankly," Elior shouted at her. "Get behind." "Sorry," she said automatically and rushed behind the warriors. Peter was with her, similarly out of breath. Even though she knew their lives were guaranteed here, she could not help but feel anxious. Elior picked up the bow before her and pulled an arrow, and Hasan beside him did the same. Lara stood closer to her¡ªfilling her job as the protector, and Shin joined her, brandishing his sword. The stupid boy now had a stupid grin on his face. In between, he did not forget to collect back the meal, though. Ileana wished she had this type of fool''s courage of Shin. At least, then she would not fear it so much. "Nobody leaves the formation," Leroy said. He was at the forefront of everyone with a focused gaze, watching the surroundings. He was not alone in that, Elior and Hasan were the same, and it appeared the trio could feel the monster coming. Ileana tried to look for the incoming monster as well, but had failed to find a single sign of mana undulations, much less a monster. If it was not for Elior and Leroy, she would not even believe it. The other three with her were the same. Guess, the picnic is over now, she thought. At the very moment, Elior pulled the string of his bow and released it, aiming at nothing, but then a big rat-like creature popped out of the earth. The arrow pierced the monster easily, and it died easily. "They are moles alright," Elior muttered. "A lot of them are coming now, from every direction." As Elior finished, something popped out from the earth for her. Ileana yelped in the suddenness. She saw it jump at her, but a sword sliced it before it could reach. She exchanges a short glance with Lara and nodded. Calming her head with an extra bit of effort, she tried forming a fireball. The spell did form, but she had it harder than usual when she practised in the security of the institute. Elior was killing the moles easily with the bow, while Hasan was in good condition as well. She always knew her friend was quite capable, but after admitting to the academy, he bloomed far better than anyone. And she had no idea how he could see so clearly in the dark. Even though mana sense helps, it was in no way a perfect substitution of sight. Or was his mana application high enough for it? Ileana shook her head heavily and transferred her focus from the amazement of others'' skill to her own. The fireball was already formed. She only needed a monster to throw at. Two or three came towards them at the same time this time. She shot the fireball at one of them, but it did not turn into charcoal as she had thought. The mole flew a couple of metres away, squeaking horrendously. Its skin was burned, but it was far from dying. Strengthening the spell formula again, she released the fire into the mole again, but not like the way of a fireball. All the crimson, yellow flames released at the mole in a prolonged manner. The cast lasted a couple of seconds, and this time it really turned into charcoal. This little trick to overwrite the elementary spell she had learned from Aanya, though it used more mana than it needed to kill a mole. At the same time, Lara had killed two of the moles with only a tenth of the mana. She clasped her arm in frustration. Even though she knew the path of a mage is slow in the beginning, that did not leave her from the frustrations. Especially when she saw Shin, who did not listen to most of the lecture, doing better than her. On the other side, Leroy was clearing one side by himself like Elior, though he was not as fast as Elior. He had a sword with him, while Elior shot at the moles even before they could pop out entirely from the ground. She wondered since when El had such skill at Archery. As to her knowledge, he never trained in archery and as for combat, both only took the compulsory self-defence class in high school. Even then, Elior showed his exceptional skill at it, but that did not explain everything. On one side had Lara who trained in the sword from her childhood, and Leroy, who was the grandson of one of the most powerful individuals on earth, yet her best friend showed more adaptability than them. It was not that she felt envy. She was truly happy for him, but that put him under a mysterious veil that she did not like. Abruptly, she heard a cry and saw Shin fly off a couple of metres away. _______________________ I''ll get back to the usual schedule from tomorrow and will try to release the bonus chapter as soon as I can. Chapter 57 - First Dungeon Test (3) Shin swung his sword and killed his first target, slicing its head up. He was only able to succeed so easily because the one that came first jumped at him, and he was ready for it. With a grin on his lips, he waited for the next target to arrive. He killed another one easily too and could not get why Elior said dealing with them would be so difficult. If they just jump at him heedlessly, then it would be as easy as eating a pie. Lara was closer to Ileana, making sure she was alright, so he went towards Peter, who was not having any fun with the monster. Abruptly, a couple of moles appeared in front of the nerd. Without thinking, the boy stepped back and was about to leave the formation. Shin stepped before him and was about to confront the two moles when a strong gust of wind hit his back. It appeared Peter was not as weak as he had thought. Shin yelped and flew off a few metres away with the moles. Before he could even drop on the ground, the two moles attacked him with their head and bare claws. The thick leather armour saved him from any terrible injuries, but he could not help but curse in pain. He tried to roll on the ground and stood up and in that time, the two moles had disappeared from his sight. "Shin," Elior yelled. "Sorry," Peter yelled, sweat dripping from his forehead to cheeks. A new one appeared from behind him and tried to chew away his leg. Shin was too oblivious to notice and by the time he noticed it, his right leg was already bare. It had dismantled his fine boot from below in only a moment. He ran his leg in a violent kick, but it only hit the ground. It escaped again. On the other side, another one jumped at him again. No more than one, at least three, came into his vision. An arrow flew and killed one of it while Shin blocked another one, and the last one escaped easily. "These things are annoying," he said and swung his sword, but his target had already escaped with swift speed. "Can we deal with them like this?" Ileana said with worry. "If more of them came, this situation might get harder to deal with." Her worry was not unfounded. Elior and Leroy might be fine with their capability and Hasan had an advantage over the moles as well with his listening, but for the rest of them, it would turn out to be a more difficult hassle than they ever imagined. Peter already messed up his attack and hit Shin. If the number of moles rose, the disorder would only rise. "We can escape from them by going to rockier areas where they won''t be as capable of fast drilling," Elior said. "But you all should remember the goal of this drill. You are all here to reach the first order. The faster one of you reaches the first order, the easier this test turns out to be." Ileana pondered for a second. "Let''s go to higher ground for now," she said. "We need to make a plan and get used to battling together, then we should try again." Nobody said a word. They were busy dealing with the moles and we''re not sure about her proposal. "I see no problem in it," Leroy said. Not even a drop of sweat in his body. "I would like to leave as well," Peter said. Beside him was Lara. After Shin flew off, she came to his rescue after finding Ileana was good on her own. "Fine," Elior said nonchalantly. "Stay in the group and watch where you attack," he continued, giving a look to Peter. "Follow me." Elior rushed out the moment he finished his phrase, picking up the spear. His speed was not the fastest, the same as when he ran in the morning, enabling the heavy training suit. On another note, he was wearing the suit even now, though it was not enabled. The load on his body now was about 40kg, though it was quite restrictive, he did not have any problem yet. As they ran, the moles did not stop coming at them. He was at the forefront and behind him were Hasan and Shin. Leroy, being considerate to the others, stayed in the back and in the middle were the other three. After gaining momentum over the moles, they rushed at top speed towards the rockier hills. Across the narrow river. Aanya appeared out of nowhere in the middle they had camped before and looked at the seven of them rush out. She tilted her head and pondered. The little conflict went as she had expected though, there were a couple of anomalies in it. Leroy and Elior. Both did not show their true capability here. Were they saving up their strength for something unexpected? Perhaps, but she was not sure. She held out the crystal communication device out again and called the other upperclassmen. "After they reach a safer ground, give them an hour or two to catch their breaths." "Aye." The voice returned from the communicator device, and Aanya left toward the hills as well. "Are you sure none are coming our way?" Ileana asked Hasan for the second time. The gale wind shifted in the dungeon and the sound of surging water came into their ears, though they were too busy catching their breath. They had reached the rocky ground a couple of minutes ago and the attacks or the moles stopped, but they were not sure if they would not come again. "I''m not sure, but I cannot hear them," Hasan said, keeping his ears to the ground. "We are safe for a while," Elior added. "I suppose," Ileana said and finally had the time to breathe properly. "We should prepare some counter-attack against them. Does anyone have any plans?" She looked at Elior first to provide the plan. "Why are you looking at me?" Elior said and sat beside Shin. "I''m hungry, Shin. You brought the meal with you, right?" "We were assaulted a moment ago and all you care about is stuffing your stomach?" Ileana shouted, glaring at him. "What can I do? The stomach of a teenage boy is quite rebellious," he said. Shin chuckled and brought out the carrier. He gave water and a purifying sanitiser first and when Elior finished cleaning his hands; he gave a big chunk of meat to Elior while waiting if anyone else needed it now. "And here I thought, you have matured," just as Ileana finished her phrase, her stomach growled, watering everything she said just now. Shin''s laughter rose and Elior joined. Even her friend Lara smiled at her. "Sit down and fill your stomach first," Elior said. "How can you think with an empty stomach?" "I think with my brain, not stomach," she said, but saw Hasan and Peter joining the two. "Don''t need to be shy, Ileana," Elior said again. "Come and take a breather first. I saw you are quite tense today." In the end, she joined them and sat on a rock the others were ready to join except for Leroy. "Even though it''s good to eat together," Elior continued, biting the chunk of meat. "Someone must take note of the surrounding, considering we were attacked not long ago." "I''m on it," Leroy said and left as if he could not wait to leave the group. "Such a gentleman, you are," Elior snorted and continued to stuff his stomach. Chapter 58 - [Bonus ]Introduction "Now that you filled your stomach," Ileana asked. "Care to share if you have something in your mind?" Elior acted as if he had heard nothing and emptied the bottle of water. Seeing the others were waiting for him to say something, he complied with them. "Let''s get to know each other first," he said. "In a team effort, we need synchronisation between all the members, so knowing each other should be the first step. "I''ll go first. I am Elior. Like you all, a freshman in the path of becoming a Guardian." He peeked at Ileana, asking for her to continue. While he stood up, the other needed food as well. "I''m Ileana, you all should know, I am majoring in Magic," she said and sighed. "I''m still hesitant about the fighting and killing, but I''ll do my best from now on." Lara joined in. "I don''t have experience in this like the others, but I want to go further in the path," she said with fluster. "I will do everything to make the earth a better place." "I''m Shin," the boy with the funky hair joined. And that was it. Not that he did not want to go further, but that was all he found about himself. He had no goal that could be considered as an ambition of his life. After thinking he added, "I like to cook and eat." Hasan joined. "I''m not like all of you who lived in the safety of the haven throughout your life. It was only after I was chosen as a guardian candidate that my life got better, and I would like to stay that way with all my effort." "I did not know that," Shin said, recalling the six rings were not a broad place after all. It did not even hold 3% of the population. "So, where are you from?" "India," Hasan sighed. "When I got this chance, my family was given a chance to move too. But you know, we were quite sentimental about our birthplace, so only I moved to the Safe Haven. I wish to become a guardian and protect the place I was born." "Quite a noble cause," Shin added and turned silent. Elior nodded and waited for the last two of the group to finish. Leroy was about twenty metres away from them, but with his sense, he could hear it, but the handsome boy did not join. "You know my name," Peter said. "My father is a Guardian, and I was taught to be one from the beginning. I thought it would be easy with all the teachings I had, but when the real thing arrived, I was worked up so much that I accidentally attacked one of our comrades. I apologise again for that." "Don''t worry about it," Shin said, accepting the apology again. "Just make sure it does not happen again." Now everyone looked towards Leroy, who stood in the chilly wind like a statue of stone. He noticed their gaze and gave them a look, asking if he really must do it or not. "I''m Leroy," he said and thought about what to say next. "Earth is not my birthplace, but I''ll do everything to defend it." "What, you are not from earth?" Shin could not help but ask. "I heard the dean is your grandfather." "Adopted." Leroy sighed. "I¡ª" He had to cut short his phrase as he felt an undulation again, and with that came bellowing howls. "Again?" Ileana stood up and prepared her mindset again. Good thing, she had taken a breather. "Are those coming from wolves?" Peter asked, and came closer to everyone else. "It''s not wolves," Hasan said and crouched. He put his ears against the ground and said, "They were a couple of kilometres away and approaching us." "If not a wolf, then what?" Shin asked and brandished his sword. "Hyena, perhaps," Elior said. "It will be harder than the moles. Moles are not predators, but the ones that are approaching us are. Stay calm and within the group." They went to the formation again. Elior and Leroy took one side on their own. Shin and Lara stayed with the two casters while Hasan climbed in a tree, taking high ground to have a full view for his archery. "If you need help, do not shy out in asking," Elior said, and picked up his spear. "It will solve the problem of jumbling up your attacks and don''t hesitate." The howl rose, and the wind turned a lot colder. The surging water rushed in its course, and finally, the hyena appeared before them. The pack held about a dozen of them. Not as large as wolves, but they were quite the same in savagery. It rushed towards the seven of them in glee that they had found a meal. None of them had gone through the first order, but they all had the capacities for it. Savage predators usually were the fastest to evolve. All they had to do was eat. It did not matter if it was chaos fiends or humans. And they were far stronger than moles as well. In the same level, a hyena would be a couple of times or more, harder to deal with. Elior could have killed all of them easily within a minute, but he did not. He even left a few to reach the others in the middle. He had already reached the first order. These few animals would give him barely any karma to reach the next level, and most importantly, the others need to advance. Shin was doing fine and was able to handle one on his own. Though he would not be able to finish it in one or two swings, he should have no problem finishing it. Not that he considered it, Shin was working quite hard these days, after he promised to help him get a chick¡ªthinking that, his stomach swirled. He had no idea how to achieve that. On the side, Ileana ablaze one of the hyenas while Lara helped her finish it. Even though Ileana had affinities towards the five-universal element, only in fire attribute her skill had improved. Considering she was getting help from Senior Aanya, he did not need to help her improve. His eyes moved to Lara, who showed her excellent form in swordsmanship. She needed more experience and more adaptability to mana. Even though she and Shin both were introduced at the same time with mana, Shin developed faster in it, than her, though he lacked experience in form and skill. Hasan was doing fine. No hyena came to him in the tree. He helped the ones in the middle if they were having any problems. He had helped them to kill three till now. And lastly, Peter, who was the worst of all, though he did not make any mistake this time. And as for Leroy, he had nothing to say. He easily held onto his side with no sign of fatigue or pressure. He did not appear to be using full of his capability though. After watching all of them, Elior learned all they need was time and experience. ___________________ Vote for bonus content.. The goals are same. Chapter 59 - Sleepless Night Elior watched the water flowing in the narrow river and the leaves blowing along with the wind from the high branch of a tall tree. There were only a couple more hours of the night remains, and the few finally had time to take breathers. They sat surrounding a bonfire, leaning against one another. Only he and Leroy were not present in the group. The gentleman was doing his part as the watcher and he was also watching as well, though he was watching the river, current and wind more. He was not fatigued like them, though he felt a little tired. Well, it was his daily routine, as his current body still had not blended in with his training¡ªmost of the days he felt like that. But after a few hours of sleep all went away, but today he did not have the luxury to sleep though he had taken a rest. He had considered taking off the heavy suit he wore under the leather jerkins, but did not have the chance yet. To take off the heavy suit, he had to take off everything, and if anyone notices that thing, he would be bombarded with questions that he rather not answer. In the night, they already dealt with a few packs of hyenas that came in the order not together. To his knowledge, this was the general way of teaching the students about hardship and the dangers of dungeons. The drill would continue till the students could handle it, and by the looks of the few, they could handle another pack before sunrise. Looking at the weary lots surrounding the fire, he thought they had learnt well. Other than some slight injury, a few claw marks, and a few noob mistakes, they had done everything well, though their goal of reaching the first order had not succeeded yet. It will take another half day if they are lucky. He looked up and saw the full moon. Even through the layer of chaos wall, it looked picturesque. Another gust of wind blew and the branch he was on shook a little as another person appeared beside him. He had not expected her to appear at this time. The girl was wearing a white battle gown, though she looked graceful as ever. As a weapon, she had nothing with her other than the thick bracelet in her arm. Aanya looked at him with her clear, crystal eyes before her lips parted. "Junior, why don''t you be with the others below?" she asked. "What are you worried about, me?" he asked with a smile. "Do I reek of the aura that tells others I need help?" Aanya chuckled and did not progress on that topic. She looked at the picturesque moon as the wind swayed her silvery hair. She was like a goddess, but he had no interest in it. Part of him was tired¡ªand most particularly, he did not know if he ever could go back to those days again. The two of them did not speak, sat there under the moon in the dungeon, each in their own world. "El, what are you doing there alone?" Ileana called after a few minutes. "Come down." "Yes, brother, come down." Elior felt the figure sitting on the same branch had vanished. He looked and saw no one there. This time, the branch did not even shake a little when she disappeared. "See you later, Senior," he said and jumped off the branch. "There you are," Ileana said, finding him coming. "We have rested enough; you should rest now." As she said that, her eyes drifted off towards where a line silhouette stood, guarding. "You should go and call him," Elior said and saw Shin brewing coffee. He moved towards the fire and sat quite close to it. Ileana was hesitating when Hasan voiced out. "I should take his job as a guard now." Seeing no one dismissing, the boy stood up and moved to where Leroy was guarding. Shin gave him a cup of coffee, and he took it, waiting for others to start their discussion. "I''m still four levels away from the first advancement," Shin started. "Looks like it would take another day." "Or more, I am barely at level thirteen," Ileana added. "Who among you is the closest to advance?" Elior asked, sipping on the hard coffee. It was quite refreshing. "Isn''t that you, brother?" Shin asked, as if it was natural. He only smiled at that. "El, don''t tell me you already succeeded?" Ileana, who knew him better, understood immediately what that smile meant. "What? You succeeded already?" Shin joined. "Congratulations! When was it? What is your class name? What can you do now? Did it give any relevant things? . . ." Shin bombarded him with half a dozen questions and the others congratulated him. Though they did not ask like Shin, they could not hide their curiosity. Leroy came in by the time and heard what was going on. "Congratulations," he said. Elior gave him a glance and nodded. Even if this guy did something outrageous in the previous timeline that he could not recall, Leroy still was his friend and saved his life a couple of times. For the last month, he was avoiding him, but now he knew that was a wrong decision. If he wanted to do what he wants, make everything right, then he would very much need Leroy''s help. "Thanks, everyone," Elior said. "I know everyone will get to the first order today or tomorrow. It''s not a big deal. I think, I''m not the only one who reached the First Order." His eyes were at Leroy when he said it. The other followed his gaze and looked at Leroy with the eyes, asking what he said was true. "Yes," Leroy added curtly and took the cup of coffee Shin offered. "I thought it was not a big deal, so did not mention it like him." "I can''t believe the two of you," Ileana shook her head, saying that. "At least tell us if you have advanced, it''s not like other people will steal it from you. With your power scale levelling up, our progress will rise up again." It appeared they all thing the two of them advanced today, which was not true for his case, and it should be the same for Leroy as well. He would never believe Leroy wasted his night in some other place other than dungeons to level up. "Well, now that you two come clean, we should make a better plan now." Just as Ileana finished that the howl of hyenas came again. "Looks like we don''t have time to update our plan." _______________________ Another chapter in few hours. Chapter 60 - Advancement (1) The sun was in the mid-sky and was not glaring enough through the chaos wall, but far better than the nights. The seven freshmen with sunken eyes stood in each one''s designated places, waiting for the moles to arrive. Dealing with moles in the day turned out to be much easier than night when they had to rest all their hope in mana sense that had not even reached the required level yet. For most of them, that was true. None spoke, only exchanged glances among them and waited for the damn moles to appear. The first one appeared in the middle assaulting where the four stood quite closely. But the mole did not get what it wanted, but a sweep of a sword. Lara swung her long sword in a half arc and almost sliced the moles entirely. Though her aim was a little off, the result was just the same. Darkish purple blood sprayed in the air as the lifeless corpse of the mole fell to the ground. "They are here," Shin added with a grin on his face. The land beside him undulated in a couple of places, and two moles popped out of it. He swung his sword at the one that he had the advantage of on his right while the left one lunged at him with its bare claws. Shin twisted his body sideways and dodged it. The mole had escaped after the failed attempt, but he picked up another undulation in his back, which was wide open. Other moles popped up digging the earth and when it was about to deal a blow to his back, a wave of fire consumed it as it flew away in a half-dead state. Ileana looked at Shin with a thin grin. She arched one of her brows and got back to her job instantly. What changed the most after the last day was the two-caster improved by quite a lot. They were not clumsy like the other time and did not need all-time protection against close quarters. At least, it was true against moles. If it was a hyena in place of the moles, the fire would not have succeeded in consuming it entirely and would still have strength for the last attack or more, but that''s another story. Elior or Leroy did not work their best and this time not enough, either. They just protected their sides from more moles to appear that would be impossible for the few to deal with. The five others needed to have their advancement, so they need to do the most work from now. Throughout the course in the dungeon, Elior only advanced once and reached level 25. Chaos fiends less than your level give fewer karma points than before and his body was already saturated from their karma. He needed something other¡ªat least in the same order to get more karma. Abruptly, he felt a bigger undulation under his foot. "A big one is coming," Hasan could not finish his phrase from the tree when the land under Elior''s foot collapsed and a one and half meter large mole appeared with its fat body. Elior had already moved away before the mole could do anything to him. It looked at him once and pulled its body underground again. It was moving towards him again. "Brother," Shin shouted with shining eyes. "Let me deal with it. I only need one more level to reach 20." "Again," Ileana complained. "It had not been an hour, and you left the formation again. Can you even deal with it?" Elior looked at Shin''s bright eyes and left the big one in his care. Shin should not have much problem finishing the first-order mole alone. While another bigger one appeared where the trio of Ileana, Peter, and Lara were. Elior did not move to help them either and saw Leroy hesitating. The gentleman guessed his reason and did not help them. The trio did not ask for help either, and the two moved to solve the little ones that would create problems for them. Lara appeared before Ileana and Peter and blocked the evolved mole. She got it where she wanted and then she rushed away from the spot when a whirlwind appeared and cut the big mole in a couple of places. That was not the end. An arrow shot from a nearby tree and pierced the moles in its right eye when a scarlet flame weaved at it. The arrow and fire were not enough to kill it¡ªafter all, it was a first-order chaos fiend and was far more capable than its counterparts. That was when Lara appeared again. She pulled her sword and snarled. The sword pierced from the back of its head and found its way out through its blistered head with purple blood. Finished. The four of them together had dealt with a first-order monster and that too within a few seconds. It was all planned before, but they still could not help but feel pride¡ªafter all, they were still a few steps away from reaching the first order. Meanwhile, Shin flew off in the air and it appeared to have been his plan. After a couple of exchanges with the huge mole, it was about to attack his leg again when Shin twisted his legs above its head in a way that the mole''s attack tossed his body in the air. The boy with the funky hair still had the grin on his lips as a little gale formed in his sword. He jerked the sword when the mole was about to make another attack into its bloody mouth. His entire body weight dropped into it and Shin got the extra elevation he wanted. The sword pierced the monster''s mouth and reached its thought as it tried to squeak, jerking its huge body here and there. "Good boy, good boy, don''t struggle anymore," Shin said and filthy blood sprayed over his body. The mole rested its struggle and died, giving its karma to Shin. "Don''t worry, I will use your power to finish them all. Now sleep in peace. In the afterlife, you all will be together." Shin rose and found everyone else was looking at him, some with a twisted expression while some were smiling. "Did you see me?" Shin said with a bright smile. "Nicely done," Elior said smilingly. "And congratulations." "Right, I need to choose a class now," Shin said and started to read the options before him. "I see nothing as good as your ''Berserker''." "Choose something that is close to your style," Elior advised. "Something that would be advantageous to your Air and Water element affinity." "Hmm." Shin continued to read, narrowing his eyes. "Most of them were in the apprentice class. I guess this is it. I chose WaveRunner Apprentice." _________________________________ Chapter 61 - Advancement (2) The wind swirled and howled, and the evening had approached, but the group of seven were as busy as ever. They were only one or a couple of levels away from reaching their goal. Even though the storm was gathering inside the dungeon as the cloud inside the chaos wall stretched all over, they kept on killing the moles. killing moles had turned out to be quite easy, if they did not choose to escape. They had dealt with moles throughout the day, though the smaller ones came most of the time. After Shin chose his class, he did not linger with the other group of Leroy and Elior, whose duties were now only taking care of the monster in the sides that would create a problem for others. They had given the other four free rein to claim most of the karma points. The new Waverunner apprentice was as excited as he ever was with the class. In the institute, they were given a proper discussion about the class, and that was among the many classes¡ªShin had taken note of it properly, so that he did not choose shit out of all the options. Even though it was an apprentice class, it was a special class and when Shin would become a proper Wave Runner, the class would become a Unique one. To his knowledge, Shin got the WaveRunner class in the third advancement, but now he had a chance to turn the apprentice into the main class in the second advancement. But now it was for the others to get their chances. Lara should be the next one to advance. The girl had sweat dripping from her forehead to cheek with sunken eyes¡ªwell, everyone was in the same state other than Elior and Leroy. But none of them complained as everything was smooth sailing after the small disaster the previous day. Now was their last turn to deal with the moles and would leave soon, as dealing with moles in the night was quite a hassle. The four of the freshmen together could kill one mole in the first order, sometimes easily, while sometimes putting more effort. And if more than one mole appeared at a time, then Shin, Elior, and Leroy would keep it busy¡ªlike now. Even though they could kill it easily, they have kept two of them busy as the other four finished one. "Lara, want to do a solo like Shin?" Elior asked Lara, knowing soloing a higher-grade monster would give her a better chance at getting a better class. Like Shin got a Special class. Lara thought for a moment and nodded. "Here you go then," Elior said and brought one towards the tall sword girl. While the other three got to deal with the other one. Hasan was not in the tree now as all his arrows had finished. Even without an arrow, the boy was quite good with a machete and shield. Lara sucked in a cold breath and saw Elior leaving her with the one and half metre large fat mole. She had no fear against it now, even though it had more strength than her. Her breathing turned slow, and her eyes narrowed¡ªeven Elior was surprised at her concentration. She was not far away from the unity realm. Her eyes were only at the fat mole. In normal situations, it was quite dangerous to do this as another monster might appear out of nowhere and attack her, but she had other companions looking after her. There was no chance for any of that to happen. She pulled the sword high on her left and swung the moment the mole tried to assault her. It blocked with its claw, but she pulled it back and attacked again. The mole was busy escaping, but she did not leave. Her sword turned colder, and she attacked its back when its head was inside the earth. She was quite fast with her manoeuvre through the mole escaped with an injury on its back. Her concentration was still on and now she could feel the little undulation beside her. A small mole appeared, but she did not go after it and she did not have to. Elior, who had changed into a bow and arrow, claimed its life with a shot. The fat monster came again, and it popped from her back, trying to bite her back. She blocked with a backhand jab and twisted her body. She could not contest it with physical strength. A cold aura formed in her sword and froze the mouth of the monster a little. Her ice element mastery had not reached the level yet. She twisted her sword with her body on its left side, jabbing its face in an arc. The monster squeaked and came at her in madness. She was overwhelmed a little and pulled her sword from the left to right in a faint. It was fast enough to deal a blow to the mad mole. She continued like that. Her moves showed the test book class and nobility of a sword. It took her over a couple of minutes to finish the monster alone, and she had almost no strength left in her body. Shin had also soloed a mole, and he did not go on like her. It was not that Lara was wrong with her moves, but Shin was lucky and far better at instinct than her. Well, finally she had dealt with it. "Congrats!" Elior said. On the other side, the trio had finished with the other one as well. "Congratulations." Ileana came beside Lara. She had beads of sweat on her forehead and cheeks as well. The other came as well and congratulated Lara. "Thanks," Lara said and was about to check the prompt about class when the howl of hyenas came. It was far more than anything they had heard before. "Choose your class or wait for later," Elior said and picked up his spear. The howl indicated over forty of them were coming at them together. "Everyone, stay closer than before. This is going to be a little harder." "I don''t need to wait for long," Lara said. "I got what I''m looking for. I''ll choose Swordman as the first-class even." Hasan picked up the arrows from the dead bodies while Ileana, and Peter drank a mana recovery potion. Elior and Leroy stood before everyone and, about a little distance, Shin stood in the middle. Black clouds collided together and a bellowing thunder roared with the lightning. the wind swirled, and the clouds showered heavily. ''This brings back memories,'' Elior sighed inwardly, gazing at Shin and Leroy. Chapter 62 - Advancement (3) The cloud showered in a heavy rain as it collided against one another to discharge, bellowing roar of thunder and lightning that light up the entire dungeon for a moment. The gale of the wind swirled the entire land, caring about nothing. "Uncle, it should be a good time to end this test," Aanya said in the communication device on her arm. After a while, the voice of professor Aleister came, "Did the students choose to give up yet?" "No, but this was a situation far beyond their capability," Aanya said, releasing a breath. "That is why you are there," the teacher said again. "The call will be cut off any moment on the occurrence of the storm, so listen carefully, Aanya. All you have to do is protect the kids until they succeed or give up, and if the situation worsens, then teleport everyone out of there." "Yes," she said and cut the call. Instantly, she moved her gaze to where the seven freshmen were battling against the hyenas. The other upperclassmen were already there hiding under a veil, and she too moved without attempting to release the veil. They could handle the situation for now, and as professor Aleister said, if anything went wrong, all she could do was teleport them away. The seven freshmen were now surrounded by at least three dozen hyenas, while a few of the hyenas stood out from the pack. It had a far larger body with bare, savage fangs and claws. The seven were now in close proximity, while Elior and Leroy were keeping an eye open so that nothing went wrong. Four of them here had reached the first order, and those four were in the forefront of the battle. Elior had not used his spatial ability yet, not that he did not want to, but because he still needed to hide it for a while more. His spear moved along with the wind and he fractured the skull of one of the large hyenas. It laid dead on the ground as the rain moved the blood that sprayed on his body and spear. A ray of golden light hit him and the others. [Your attack power has been raised by 6.66%.] That''s an odd number, probably because Ileana divided her ability into more people now. And there was no mana recovery boost in it. Even without Ileana''s boast, Elior had the ability to raise his attack power. He had not tried it yet after his class advancement and now was as good as any moment to use it. He imagined the vacuum of space in his mind and a void of nothingness appeared and stole all his emotions. Elior triggered [Berserk]¡ªthe class ability he got after the first class advancement. He jerked his spear and attacked one of the smaller hyenas. The attack was successful and his attack power increased by 2%. He made another assault on the same target and killed it, now the attack power had been raised to 4%. Even though it took more mana to use this ability, the extra force it gave makes it more than just handy. The trick of thick ability was to control the emotion like a pro or give in to rage while keeping yourself safe from any attack. If any attack hits you, the stacking of the attack power will turn to zero. Elior used the former way, while the latter way gave strength as well, but the risk there was furthermore. There was a chance of him getting mad and assaulting his friends, though the chances of that were low, as he was not angry enough to need that path. Within a few seconds, his attack power had been raised 20% while his mana went away at 40% more speed. Everything has a price. He pulled mana in his leg and released it at once to leap off in the wind, giving a slash to the evolved hyena before him. Meanwhile, Shin was still trying to make sense of the ability he got after the class advancement. To his knowledge, a class like Wave Runner dealt with waves and his affinity to air and water was the best attribute for the waves, yet he could not figure out how to release the wave yet. Lara was the same. She did not have proper time to get the benefit of the class yet when the pack of hyenas attacked them. Her new class was Swordsman, and it gave them a more profound truth about swordsmanship, but she did not have enough time to digest it yet. But in the battle, she seemed to be far better than before, though she was struggling far more than before. The trio of Elior, Leroy and Shin were causing all the damage while she was keeping the two casters safe with Hasan. "I got it," Shin shouted suddenly and breathed in a deep breath. The mana surrounding him seemed to have stopped, and it was not just mana; even the rain droplets seemed to have slowed down, but not the hyenas coming at him. The still air calmed down and when Shin swung his sword horizontally, a violent wave of gale released from his sword and blew away all the hyenas coming at him. "Still not good enough," he muttered as he saw the hyenas were not dead. The two casters in the most terrible state. Even though Ileana was getting karma points as others slaughtered the hyenas, she could only hide now. Her boast was the only thing she could help with, and only because of that, she was getting a little portion of karma from each kill. Peter got nothing. The two of them together only dealt with the hyenas that could come at them. The numbers were low, as the five before them stopped most of the numbers. The heavy rain was not making anything easy for them, nor the wind. The battle continued for a while and finally, with the small accumulation of karma, Ileana had enough points to reach level 20. She searched for a class that was close to her elements and found it at the top of the list. She chose the class immediately, without any second thought. And after a few seconds, she had become the Elementalist Apprentice. The boast she gave to everyone rose to 10% present and she could give the boast of mana recovery now as well, but she chose not to for now. This ability took her mana as well, and she needed some amount of it to protect herself. Fire spells were of no use now in the heavy rain, so she tried water that should be easy now. She clasped her palm together and formed the symbol. The water from the rain drifted to the magic circle and a heavy chunk of water formed in the air. It was hovering in the air until she released it towards the few hyenas before Lara. Now only two of them left to get their class, and Hasan was quite close to it. He was at the lowest level when he arrived in the dungeon yesterday, but now he has overtaken Peter by a couple of levels. He only needed to kill a couple of hyenas to get to level 20. the boy could not help but feel a rush of excitement in his heart. But abruptly, he heard the ground shaking as the muddy earth divided and a few of the large moles popped out of it. He was in danger, but he still tried to beware the others. "They are coming," he yelled. "The moles are coming. Be careful." Fortunately, he was not the only one to notice it. Aanya released herself from the veil and appeared a dozen metres away from them. "This should be enough for today," she said and lifted her right arm. The silver bracelet in her arm changed its form as a half a foot long futuristic revolver appeared in her palm. She did not need to fill any bullet in it and shot, not at the monster, but at the students. Her first target was Hasan, who was about to be eaten by a mole. A white ray of light shot out from the gun and pierced Hasan. Well, pierce was not the right word. The white light spread through his body as it vanished from the dungeon. Then it shot towards Ileana, and Peter, and one by one, she had shot everyone one as all the freshmen vanished from the dungeon. _____________________ Bonus chapter in a few more hours. Chapter 63 - Evaluation "Where am I?" Ileana said and saw the others appearing around her. Even though it was dark, she could guess they were her companions. They were oblivious as she was and then she saw someone standing up. It was Elior. "We are outside," he said, pointing towards the gate they had entered into the dungeon. "What happened?" Lara asked. "All I saw was some light hitting me, then I''m here." The others agreed as well. A moment ago they were battling with the hyenas and then the moles came and the situation was supposed to turn bad, but here they are now. "It was probably Senior Aanya," Elior said, and he was unsure. Mostly because he had never seen Aanya using her power, and the way she teleported them out was not the way he knew. This was something else, and the time was so short that he could not figure it out. Abruptly, a hole with glittering light appeared beside them before the gate, and a few figures moved out of it. They were the students that came with them for security purposes and lastly came Aanya, wearing her white dress. There was no water or dirt in her appearance. She smiled at them brilliantly and the hole behind her collapsed. "How many of you succeed in advancing?" she asked and found out only two of them failed. "Well, everyone performed splendidly. Even if the two of you failed, you can take a turn tomorrow." "Senior, what happened there?" Hasan asked. His blood was still cold a moment ago, his leg was about to be eaten by a huge mole and here he was now. "Chaos Fiends are hard to control and most of the time they could not even control themselves," she said. "As the storm hit inside the dungeon, the monster went berserk and we were unable to keep it at the level for all of you to reach the first advancement." "You mean all that was planned?" Ileana asked, and disappointment held her face. She thought they had done a great job after the initial problem, but it turned out the upperclassmen were protecting them all the time. The thought was comforting, but she could not help but feel disappointed. "Girl, it isn''t what you think it is," Aanya said as she came before Ileana. "If we were not there, then you would have even fewer monsters to fight against. We especially give you more chaos fiends to deal with to test you. Though the last attack was not in our plan. So you should not be disappointed. After all, you all performed splendidly together." "Senior, how often do things go wrong inside a dungeon?" Peter asked. "I don''t have an exact number, but you should prepare for it all the time," Aanya answered. "You have seen today. It was a customised dungeon for training, yet the gathering clouds and storm changed everything." Peter sucked in a cold breath, and he was not the only one. They did not know why they were not told this at the institute. "All of it was practical. You can not get the experience through the indoor class," Aanya added. "And besides, if you guys were told about all those dangers before, you all will be too frightened to perform your skills." "So what do we do now?" Shin asked. There was no storm outside, though the wind was blowing¡ªit was just dark. "Two of you have failed so, we will wait for tomorrow," Aanya said. "Until then, we will camp here. So everyone got to work while I made a call with the professor and made your final evaluation of this test." The others were a little hearing about the evaluation, even though they did quite fine. Aanya left, leaving the others while everyone readied themselves to get to work again. "I need a bath," Elior said among everyone and ran his mana all over his body to get rid of the rain from it. From his soaked body, he turned dry in one second. "How did you do that?" Shin asked as his eyes shone. A similar scene appeared as Leroy cleared and dried himself. "How are you guys doing it?" Shin shouted. "I wanted to learn it too." "You are still a few steps away," Elior said and started to strip off his leather jerkins and armour. "Do it the old way for now and get to work." Saying that, he went away on his own. "El, where are you going on your own? You know this is a dangerous area even though it is a training ground?" Ileana shouted from behind. "I''ll be back soon," Elior said, holding his arm up. As he had said, he needed a bath, he was looking for the river here. If he was not wrong, there should be a river there. "I really don''t like when he goes on alone like he fears nothing," Ileana muttered and they all readied the camp. Shin went to make the meal, and a couple of upperclassmen helped him. Leroy and others put up the tents one by one, while Ileana and Lara made a fire in the middle, carrying in dry woods. By the time Senior Aanya arrived before them. "Where is Elior?" she asked, counting everyone. Nobody had a certain answer, so they mentioned he went for fresh air, ditching work. Just as they were talking about him, the actual person arrived behind them. "Oh, you guys finished the work?" he said. Everyone could see he looked more refreshed than before, but none asked. It was their time for evaluation. Aanya clapped her palm, and the freshmen stood in line. Even the unwilling Shin joined and stood along with everyone. "I personally think you all performed splendidly together," she said again. "But individually, not so except for Elior and Leroy. For your performance together I give you A, congratulations on that. You will get 200 academic points with that. Now let''s start with the individual evaluation." Her eyes moved to the right corner where Hasan stood Hasan. He did not know if it was the wind or the anticipation that caused him to feel a little chill. "Hasan, you did well, but there are many ways for you to do better," Aanya said. "You get a B from me. Your listening ability was helpful with your archery, but if there was no Elior or Leroy, you could not have been that free with your archery. But as your first performance, you did well." Hasan nodded as Aanya moved to the person next to him, Peter, who grunted a little uncomfortably. "Peter, you get B-," Aanya said. "You did great with the research on the first day, but after the first mistake where your attack hit Shin, you did not perform well. You need to have more awareness of the situation and should reflect on it after we return to the institute. "Ileana, you held onto your good quirks, though you are the most frightened in the situation. If not for the others, you would not have it so easily." Ileana sucked in a cold breath. Was the test easy, as Aanya mentioned now? "You get a B as well, just because you did not make any big error and congratulations on your success. You need to work a lot harder," Aanya said, and moved to the next person. "Lara, A-. you were a little frightened at the start, but you pulled yourself together far better than Ileana and showed your skill. Congratulations on your first class, I expect great things from you." Lara sighed in relief and Aanya moved to Shin, who was not frightened in the slightest. Well, he was grinning inside the dungeon most of the time, but now he had a silly smile on his lips. "Shin," Aanya said, and tilted her head a little. "How would you evaluate yourself?" "Me?" Shin thought for a moment and looked to his left where Leroy and Elior stood. "Other than these two, I performed the best, no?" "I could not help but agree with you," Aanya said with a faint smile. "Your performance showed exactly that, but there is something you lack. You seemed to think causally of the chaos fields?" "Yes?" Shin became confused. "You get A- as well," Aanya said. "Your performance showed what you could be, but you need more hard work to get there. Congratulations on the success. I expect you to shoulder the responsibility with your utmost effort. "Now, you two. I have no idea how to evaluate you two." Aanya looked at the two of Elior and Leroy, both were as rigid as a stone and something about them told her they would not open their mouths now. "You two did not show your full strength from the start and even at the last moment in the storm, you were still hiding it. I will leave your evaluation to professor Aleister." _____________________________ Thanks for the votes so far. Chapter 64 - Harmful A chilly wind blew over the great wall that gave a little chill to Elior''s spine. Yes, he was standing above the great wall and it was nightfall. He had been here for an hour now and was waiting for his target to arrive. Today he was more prepared than usual. He was wearing a custom armour that he did not make himself, but tuned a little according to his needs. In addition, there was a mask on his face that hid him from the natural or supernatural senses. There was no spear today as well, but he had the new twin rapier with him on his waists. It was completed only today, and the result had been just what he needed. There was only one feature of the weapon other than being super sharp. It could raise the mana revolution speed by a whopping 32%. To a weapon of this caliber it was quite a lot, though there was no stacking. In the cold night and wind, he walked silently above the wall, watching. It was actually the seventh wall that had not been completed yet¡ªthat was why he had the audacity to climb above it. It was barely twenty metres high now, only about a third compared to its other six, and the runes and formation were far from being completed. After all, all these were not just for show. The other six walls could put on a barrier against a mass attack and the first two could do a lot more thing than just defence. This place was called the Safe Haven for a reason. Yet even a place like this was broken in the previous timeline, well there was surely a reason for that. Other than the massive dungeon attacks, there was an internal attack, and today, he was just doing just that. To seek the internal problem and solve it through brain or brawl. His target had appeared, and he put on his coating of [Void Stealth]. A man in his mid prime walked below towards the gate. He had a thick and long overcoat on and a hat on his head. He looked like a traveller that came a long way, but his identity was a failed Guardian that failed to get his third advancement in a couple of decades. Miserable, right? But what could they do if they did not have talent and a head full of excuses for not working hard? There were a few options, starting from working hard even though you had failed, and doing your best for all humanity. The world would have been such a better place if a person like Albert Iker thought like that. Elior saw Albert Iker entering the gate showing his id of the federation. The guards saluted him and he nodded, advancing inside. Elior sneered inside, seeing the scene. It always gets on his nerves if he sees someone getting the respect they did not deserve. He had not planned to do anything drastic to this guy¡ªafter all, he''s not even a scale of the tail he was after. As for the snake itself, it has to wait for him to solve the problem with his planet first. All he wanted to do was see what this garbage did today. It was supposed to be his duty to watch over a region now. Let''s see what he does. He followed the garbage till he entered the not so high watchtower. Elior first gave a full circle of the building and looked for anything fishy. Though it was built by the federation, it did not put much to be safe. After all, he was after a two-faced bastard. Finding everything within his expectation and his knowledge, he got inside, keeping under the veil. His [Abstraction of Void] had reached level 3 and the stealth ability level 4. If there was no guardian who specializes in this area, and he kept his veil under control, he had no fear of being discovered. The inside of the watchtower as he had expected. There was not much security in place as it was built new and there were far fewer guardians than needed. After searching for a couple of minutes, he saw the person he was looking for and there were a few others with him now. They were laughing while drinking during their hour of duty. "God, I''m jealous of you, Albert," said a colleague with a glass of alcohol on his arm. "We have graduated at the same time from the institute, and had almost the same capability, and now look at you. You are finally on your way to becoming a full-fledge guardian." "Yes, man. At least tell us your secret," another one who''s far drunker than the other two said in a joking manner. "We are, after all, your friends since the college years." "The secret is, there is no secret," Albert the garbage said with a faint smile on his lips. He was entirely enjoying the drink and the reverence these two were showing to him. "You have to work hard and success will follow you. Look at me, I barely graduated after five years in the academy and had almost no hopes to become a guardian, yet I still pull through after a long decade. Sure, it has been long and quite exhaustive, but I will surely be there." "Cheers to that." The others cheered. Elior had the impulse to pull the rapier out and shove it into this garbage''s laughing face, but he had to calm down. Patience, he''s barely a small fry. There were dozens like him. The three colleagues laughed and enjoyed their night, ditching their unimportant work of looking out for any supernatural activities or phenomena. Really, what could be more important than drinking and telling how the world was unfair to them?! Abruptly, something inside the pocket of the garbage vibrated. The two drunk friends were too dull to pick that, but not Elior, as his entire attention was on the fella. Albert Iker put his palm into his pocket and stopped the vibration. A single line appeared on his forehead. Seeing his friends were already on the verge of passing out, he bid them goodbye, saying he needed to go to the toilet. He ran the mana inside his body to detoxify the dullness¡ªalcohol brought. He had not drank much, so it only took him the time to get to the toilet. In his business or incapability, he never saw someone was following him for a while now. Getting back to his usual state of mind, he chose a closed-door toilet and opened a couple of devices from his pocket. A small device that was used for communication, and it was ringing, while the other crystal device could make a soundless and sightless barrier that could hide anything from the outsider''s eyes. Before moving to the communication device, he fidgetted with the other one to create a barrier. The transparent barrier started to form around him and the moment he was about to answer the call, a cold blade with raging mana current pulled towards his neck. "Not a single word until I said to, blink once if you understand what I''m saying," a person wearing a white mask appeared in front of him out of thin air. The blade was still against his neck even a little moment to turn his life upside down. He looked at the cold eyes of the masked man and saw the deep abyss of emptiness inside. He could not help but gulp an uncomfortable breath. For how long this man following him? If not for the barrier he might never would have to show himself and threaten him, and he would not like this either. "Blink if you understand," the masked man said in his emotionless voice again. He blinked. "Good," the masked man said and rubbed his head as if he was a good puppy. "Now answer the call and don''t even try to be smart. A single moment of hesitation will be enough to end everything." Albert Iker blinked and picked up the call. "Hello," he said in an uncomfortable voice. "This is Apprentice Iker." For a while, there was no response, then a voice said in a monotonic tone. "Advance project B1047." The face of Albert, which was darkened till now, devastated hearing that. He looked at the masked man and did not utter a word. Sweat beads were forming on his face like it was the hottest day of the dry summer. He could very well see he was dead today, and his busy mind could not come up with a single solution. He had nightmares many times that some guardian would catch him someday, and he would be put into trials, but what appeared before him was death itself. "Asking for confirmation." The monotonic voice came from the device, vibrating in the air. Albert cut the call and tears dripped down from his eyes. "Why?" he shouted at the top of his lungs. "WHY?" No voice left the barrier and the masked man before him ignored it as if his entire existence was nothing but a speck of dust to him. The tear never stopped running as a short quake of light appeared from the blade in his neck. The blade had not pierced him, but he was dead or will be. Scarlet blood sprayed out like it was a watering flower and the corpse lay on the cold floor with tears in his eyes. Surprisingly, none of the blood had even strained a little on the mask. It was as if there was a thin, invisible wall before him. "Because your existence was harmful to mankind," the masked man said in his emotionless voice and stooped to collect the corpse. ________________________ Apologies for the delay these past few days and thank you for the votes. The updates may delay again for the next couple of weeks. Chapter 65 - Emotion A large hammer struck against the metal in the anvil heavily in the empty room of the Artificer department. The rhythm of the strikes was bland and heavy, as if the one with the hammer was trying to make something forcefully. There was no pattern, it was just mindless striking. Elinor was in a bad mood since last night. Since he had to kill the man. He had not shown even flinched a little during the encounter, yet now he was striking the metal with all his strength. His emotions were undulated, and he was not trying anything to calm it down. He could easily visualise the emptiness and soothe all the uncomfortable feelings for some time, but that was not a solution. If those uncomfortable emotions are bottled up, it could even break the void. He did not know why, but he did not want to do that. Maybe he had gone through that in the previous timeline that he can''t remember now, yet the fear still remains. But what he was doing was not a solution, either. He knew it too. It was just venting it to the metal he was stoking. He had killed a man, and it was nothing new to him since he had killed countless things in the previous timeline. But it was his first, and he did not know if it was his teenage emotions that were working up again or his inability to do a thing. He had killed the traitor, yet it achieved nothing. He knew it pretty well. They will just send another one to do his job, and as for the loss of one man. That could be easily solved too; all they got to do was give a couple more bait and wait for the fish to catch themselves into it. The face of the man tearing came into his vision, and he started hammering even harder and rougher. He hustled and bustled while grunting. All his emotion swept over the large hammer and to the red hot metal. The hot metal could not contain the force he was hammering with and blew some of its content in liquid form around it. Some part of it had even gone to his foot. Fortunately, he was wearing the thick apron with the leather boots, or else he might be screaming in pain now. Elior left the hammer and sucked in a deep breath. He was not doing this for a long time, yet his entire face and body were sweat ridden. And yet he still had not stopped venting. He was about to pick up the hammer again when he heard a voice. "You have learned Emotion," professor Neldor said from his seat. Elior had not noticed when his old mentor came inside as he was venting wholeheartedly. "But that was not a correct way to do it." Elior checked the packed up notifications and saw there really was a notification telling him he learned Emotion. And no, it was not what you think it was. It was a sub blacksmithing ability where the forger used his emotion and will to mold the metal. It could do wonders if metal was molded well with the specific will. Even in the previous timeline, he had to work thousands of times harder than now until he learned this ability. Yet now he learned it even when he was not trying, though it was not the usual way. Professor Neldor came towards him and stood. His entire focus was on the metal he was hammering. Even a glimmer of astonishment appeared in his eyes for a second. "Look at that ominous thing you have created," he said. "Full of insecurities, fears and other emotions that I could not understand. How could a boy of teenage years like you have worries like this?" Elior did not know how to answer and knew his old mentor will not push him to answer. He only stood there like a block of stone. "Dispose of these emotions from the metal," he said again. "Anything you made out of it will turn into something ominous that will harm the opponent as well as the person who is using it." That could really happen. After all, the Force of mana, the spirit is deeply related to emotion. If it was not controlled well, it would be harmful to everyone. Even knowing all these, he did not move. The reason being he did not know how to dispose of the emotions in the metal. Hammering more with the opposite or positive emotion could do it, but he had no idea how to bring up positive emotion from within himself. "Right, I forgot you are a novice," the teacher said, and took the hammer. He gave a few half-hearted strokes on the metal and all things turned normal in it. "Let me teach you a few things now, or else that girl of mine will bug me again," professor Neldor said, bringing the hammer on his shoulder. "Now that you have touched Emotions, you need to learn how to control them. Your mind needs to be like water. Water that flew along with the nature." The hammer stoke the metal and a sound of brilliance came. Elior''s eyes shone as he wholeheartedly watched his old mentor practice. "Water is life, water is soft." The hammering continued in a rhythmic way. "Yet it could destroy the stones, boulders after collective tryouts. Be like water, flow like water, drift your emotion like water. The water does not fight with nature, it lets nature take its course. After all, everything is a part of nature. . . ." And the teaching stopped within a couple of minutes and so did the brilliance of Professor Neldor. "You try now." Then he gave away the hammer to Elior. Elior took it and did not like the water his mentor told him to. From his experience, he knew this way will not work for him. He visualized the void as a hole of nothingness formed in his mind. All emotion left him and he started stroking the metal. He tried to bring in a little of his courage from the void and infused it with the metal. The void shook, and he limited himself to even less. The hammering continued as his eyes were on the metal only. It was not as easy as his mentor told him, at least not for him. Sweats beads formed again on his forehead as he was trying to bring in his courage from the void of emptiness. "Truly genius," Issac Neldor said, rubbing his beard. The tall man took his seat again, though his entire focus was on the kid before him.. "Maybe because it was of my teachings." Chapter 66 - Conflict The class did not progress for long. Only after mentoring him for a few minutes, the professor was gone. But Elior stayed in there for an hour more, hammering and trying his best to adapt with the newfound [Emotion]. On that note, blacksmithing did not just help him build weapons and equipment, but buildup his stamina and strength as well. Though he had not found the perfect ratio for all the physical attributes, he was arriving there with the hard work. he reckoned only his body was limiting from reaching the Unity Realm. Leaving the thick apron, Elior picked up his stuff and left the Aftifacing department. His face and body were all sweaty, and he did not like that. He might not be a clean freak, but he was not far away from there. On average, he showered at least three times a day. Well, he did get sweaty a lot with all the training and stuff. He was walking nonchalantly on the corridor of the second floor when a few students appeared before him. The uniform indicated they were second-year students¡ªat least most of them, but a few third-year students were there as well. "Look at him, thinks he''s the best after coming first in the stupid test," one of them shouted as they all walked towards him. "Did you hear?" another one of them yelled, laughing. "He wants to be the student president. Do you ever see such arrogance in some freshmen who did not even come one month to have such greed?" "He''s probably shooting with the good relationship he had with Senior Aanya, or do you think, he stands a chance?" Those phrases came into his ears, but Elior ignored them. Not that he could not do anything about them, it was just he was giving them another chance. He walked, not giving them even a single spare of a gaze. But that seemed to piss them off even more. One of them came from his side and pulled him by the collar of his shirt. It appears they were truly trying to cause trouble. "I''ll give you one chance to walk away," Elior said, not even looking at them. With the talk he had with his old mentor, he finally managed to put away the terrible feeling he felt after killing the man, but their appearance pissed him off again. "Say what?" the one that pulled his collar laughed and so did the others, as if they could not comprehend what they just heard. Elior shook his head and the next moment the guy who was pulling his collar was on the ground, bellowing with pain. Elior moved so fast that none of them noticed a thing at first and when they noticed it was too late. All Elior did was twist the arm of the guy while using his leg to slam him on the floor. But things did not stop just with that. They were upperclassmen. How could he get beaten up by a freshman who was not even here for a month? The one on the floor ran his leg towards Elior while the others came at him with the intention of ganging up on a freshman. Elior was already pissed with all these, and it appeared he could not avoid it anymore. He left his bags on the floor before bringing his arms up, welcoming all of them. These upperclassmen were quite cocky. Only two of them came at a time while the others surrounded him, thinking two were more than enough. No way in their imagination they would have imagined, all of them would not be enough. Elior did not use mana, nor did the upperclassmen. They were here to show him his place, and he was about to show them their place. The more ruckus they made, the more they would be punished for. Elior slapped his bare palm at the side of the neck of one while his leg kicked the knees of the other one. They grunted in pain while Elior threw one of them with the elbow and the other one got on his four limbs just after another kick. "There is still a chance to walk away," he said again. After all, they would be punished for the mess they make here with the penalty of the points. Though Elior did not care about them, it would be a good waste of his precious time. "Bastard." Yelled one on the ground and the others came at him. They did not seem to get it. Having more time to progress on abilities did not make them smart, but just conceited. Elior wondered if it was better to break the conceited mindset of his upperclassmen. If he did not help them, then who would. He threw slaps, knuckles, punches and kicks all over as the students grunted in pain. Some even went as far as bellowing. There were less than a dozen of them and they were in no way part of the elite of the academy, so they could barely warm up Elior with their attacks. "What''s happening here?" a voice called. Elior looked back to see it was professor Aleister with a couple more upperclassmen. It appeared they had staged this incident to make him look bad, but it did not matter much to him. After all, he was never trying to run for president in the first place. "Professor," one of the guys, whose arms were wrapped around his stomach, said as if he had rehearsed it a couple of times. "We were just conversing with this junior. He did not seem to like what we said and attacked outright out of the blue. When the others tried to stop him, he beat them all. We have not used any of our skills so that we would not accidentally injure him." Professor Aleister looked carefully at the handful of figures on the floor and then looked towards Elior. He recalled what Aanya told him when she asked why Elior did not show all of his power: ''If I was to show my full strength then others would not be able to show their ability at all.'' At that time he thought his student was a bit cocky, but seeing these scenes he had a headache. There had been other students like this who were drunk on his strength and got into trouble with the upperclassmen. He recalled another student who had an upfront personality like Elior. His talent was just below Aanya and could have been a tremendous asset for the association and Earth, but alas! He got into such trouble that a few upperclassmen had to gang up on him and beat him so badly that he had to be hospitalized for months. In the end, he decided to pull out of the academy. At that time, Aleister regretted it very much, and seeing the scene before his eyes, that flashback played in his mind. Talented students with the upfront personality suffer most at the academy. After all, politics were everywhere, even he or the dean were not free from it. The last thing he would like to see was such a talented seed to get wasted again. "In my office now," he said, eyeing everyone. ________________________ AUTHOR NOTE: I have two pieces of news to make. First apologies for the break I took without any warning. But in no way I''m dropping this. I already planned the next two arcs of the book and from January, I''ll be back with regular updates. And the next news may not be good for everyone. This book will go premium in a few days (I don''t know the actual date, a couple of days probably), meaning all the chapters after 50 will be locked. you need to use coins or free pass to read it. Thank you. Chapter 67 - Punishment Elior and the dozen upperclassmen were standing while Professor Aleister was watching all of them from his chair, arching his brow, trying to find an optimal way to punish everyone. "Elior," he called. "Have you completed the homework I have given you?" Elior nodded and heard the professor say: "Show me." After he got the exemption from the elementary magic classes, Professor Aleister himself looked over his progress in spell casting. He had explained to him the theory of many spells and how to customize them together, and his homework was to make progress on them. "Here?" Elior asked as there were a dozen upperclassmen present. Perhaps the professor wanted them to see his might, so they would not bother him anymore. Well, if that happened, it would be for the best. Elior completed three elementary spell formulas, but before forming the three fireballs, he actually connected the three and a much larger fireball appeared. In no way, it could be called an elementary spell, yet the formulas it took were just the simple elementary formulae. "It will take me 10 hours or more practice to succeed in connecting four elementary spells," he said, among the startled gazes of the upperclassmen. Even though most of them were of the warrior department, some of them took classes in elementary spells and knew how difficult it was for them. "So you are not ignoring the task I''m giving you," Aleister said. "Some words came to my ears that you are trying to precipitate in the next Trial-I, which will be held in next month?" Elior nodded silently. "We''ll look into that later," the professor said. "First let''s see what''s your senior has to say." His eyes drifted towards the students one by one. A couple of them actually had their arms twisted, while mostly they had light wounds that would not even need any medicine. He asked them what the matter was about. One of the upperclassmen started with his general lying that they were trying to help their junior, but the junior was too cocky and attacked one of them just because he had crossed words with him. When the others tried to stop him, Elior beat them up as well. Professor Aleister nodded and looked at Elior. "Do you agree with their claim?" he asked. "That you did not take their advice, but instead use your strength to bully them?" Elior thought for a second. "No," he said, bringing out the truth into the light. "They probably came with the agenda to make me look bad in the eyes of the academy staff so that I won''t have many chances to be the student president. I reckon there is someone else behind them who just used these fools to do their own bidding." "Professor, I swear it is not like that. We were just there just to converse," the upperclassmen yelled out. Many joined in the swearing. "Silence." Professor Aleister raised a finger and looked at Elior. "What you just said was your hypothesis. Tell me what happened from your perspective." "I was returning from the Artificers department," Elior started, "and when I arrived on the second floor, I heard the upperclassmen yelling all sorts of nonsense about me. I did not put my ears at first, but these loving seniors are so good that they surrounded me to listen to their nonsense. All of these were alright, but then one of them pulled my collar. The result you have seen." The teacher frowned. He could guess the upperclassmen were there to make a mess with Elior and someone else of the Elite students put them to do it, but the way Elior presented the situation showed he was at fault as well. "The second floor where the incident took place was the department of alchemy," Professor said, looking at the upperclassmen. "I wondered how the dozen of you were doing there? Not even a single of you look students of the Alchemy department to me." The upperclassmen turned silent, and after a few seconds, only one of them opened his lips. "We were there to look for a friend in the alchemic department." "That sounds convincing," the teacher said. "I would like to meet that friend of yours." His eyes drifted towards Elior. "You beat all of them up just because one of them pulled your collar?" Elior shook his head. "I have beaten the one that pulled my collar, and given them chances to walk away, twice," he said as if it was generous of him. "But they came at me trying to defend their friend." "Professor, he''s lying. We have not defended ourselves in case we, unfortunately, injure a newly admitted student." The upperclassmen barked out again. "Do you have anything to say against them?" Aleister asked. "I do not attack one who does not defend themselves." He only said that as if it explained everything. Professor Aleister rubbed his forehead. He was very sure with Elior''s inflexible personality, it would not end here. "Let''s start with apologizing," he said, and eyed the students before them. "Elior, you start first." Elior sighed and eyed the upperclassmen. "I apologized for using a little heavier hand," he apologized, though it only looked like he was doing it for using more force. Well, in truth, he could have let them go, but his mood was quite bad then, and he thought showing how conceited they were was a better thing to do. Professor Aleister''s lips twitched a little, but he did not say anything. The upperclassmen apologized halfheartedly as well. "Now for the points of penalty and punishment," the teacher said from his seat. "You dozen, with the experience of a year or more, could not even stand up against a student of the freshman year. Do you know what this tells?" The students were silent and still. None of them muttered a word or even looked at the professor. "It means we teachers have failed. We have not managed to pull the potential out of you," Aleister announced. "For your punishment, all of you have to run 100 laps of the field wearing 2nd-grade training suits." The exterior of the upperclassmen darkened, but they knew very well what would happen if they complained at this moment. It would only make their punishment worse. "Points will be taken according to how many laps you fail to accomplish." Aleister''s eyes drifted off the only freshmen then. "You have single-handedly beaten a dozen upperclassmen, though the situation is not something I''m aware of. Are you proud of your accomplishment?" Elior shook his head. What''s there to be proud of? They were just the bottom feeder of the pyramid. "You will be responsible for cleaning all the toilets of the freshmen year for a week." The professor added. "And you are not allowed to use any ability related to the usage of mana." The moment Elior heard his punishment, his lips twitched. Not to say who dislikes the job, it will waste a good amount of his time. The precious time he can''t have enough off. "Professor, can''t I just run the laps?" he asked. "You want to run?" Aleister said. "Fine, you would do both cleaning the toilet and running on the tracks." Elior almost slapped himself. He should have known his old mentor would in no way compromise with the punishment he was already given.. At least not until he knew him better. Chapter 68 - Trap The cloud raged in lightning, and the wind rose swirling above. It was one of those days that civilians fear to even staying out of their homes. The gathering clouds showed it would shower any time with a heavy showered and with the help of the mad wind, a storm was not far away. Even though it was just afternoon, the path was vacant, with all the vehicles, trains, shops and everything else being stopped. The federation announced a curfew until the storm stops, though there was no break for the guardians. This was one of the times when most of the chaos fiends got mad and attack the rings. A man wearing leather jerkins and breastplates stormed onto the vacant path. The wind did not stop him, nor the raging lightning or thunder that lit up the surrounding now and then. He was running for his life, his legs were almost numbed as he was rushing away for half an hour, yet the foreboding feeling did not leave him. Like few guardians or apprentices, he has an innate ability. Though that ability did not help in any combat, it does help him in knowing danger before its arrival. His ability has been giving him goosebumps for about an hour now. From the time he got to work, he felt that someone was watching him. There was a rumour that some rogue guardian in the black and white mask was murdering guardian apprentice for the last two weeks, but he was too deep in the mud to know this was not just a rumour. This masked vigilante only after the men of the secret group he was in, and just when he felt the gazes, he reported to the others. The higher up of the secret organization already found a way to deal with the killer, but they needed someone to play as bait to bring him in. It turned out he was the bait. He thought he would be safe with the artifact they had given him, but then he saw the grim reaper mask of the killer, he thought otherwise. He barely got to run away, using the illusionary artifact. Now he had to bring this man to the trap before he could kill him. That was why he was storming for half an hour, and it appeared the vigilante had swallowed the bait. He just had to move a kilometre more and he would be safe, yet his legs were cramping up and his mana was almost at the limit of exhaustion. His mind was ringing with the thunder and his own heartbeat. He could still feel the foreboding feeling behind him, watching him, waiting for him to stop. Mana burned inside his body as he barely made it to the closed gate of an abandoned factory. Gasping heaving, he knocked on the entrance in a rhythmic way. He waited and looked on his back. In the dark, he could not see much and with the heartbeat rising after he stopped, it became even harder for him to see anything fast. Abruptly, a flash of long lightning fell on earth and with came a horrifying thunder. But the thunder or lightning was not as frightening as the masked figure he saw twenty yards away, walking towards him. The clouds showered just then. A small window opened in the front gate, and he got inside immediately. There were a couple of masked men there with large rifles, but he sighed in relief at seeing them. They were with him and they were here to keep him safe. At least their job was to take care of the masked killer behind him. "He''s here," he said with a large gasp. The masked figure exchanged glances with each other as one of them said, "Let''s go." The masked men took him even further inside. On the walk, they heard the gate breaking and with the explosives they put it bombarded instantly, yet none of them sigh in relief. They knew the killer they were up against would not go down so easily. He had easily invaded so many of the fortress, watchtowers to kill the men of their secret organization. All the news they got on him was that it was a man wearing a mask, a master at stealth, and using rapiers and knives as his weapons. Other than that, he was super fast at his job. Nobody knows when he will appear and disappear. It was like the wind. You could feel it coming, yet you could not stop it. Knowing all this, they had not planned to assassinate this person with their own hands, but their superior gave them a special item with a plan. All they had to do was bring in the vigilante in the designated place and the superior will take care of him. The path was dark and only after some distance there was the dim bulb for the direction. They were about to arrive before the spot when they felt an upheaval. The earth moved in a quake and they found a masked man waiting for them below a dim bulb. "Fu*k!" cursed the man and the two masked men bombarded the vigilante with the bullets. They looked back and wanted to run away when he heard the voice of the man. Nothing happened to the man as if a formless barrier before him, stopping all the bullets to pierce him. "I want a few answers," the masked vigilante said with a filtered out voice. "You want an answer?" one of the mask figures asked. "Suck my balls." The masked vigilante stood straight and looked at them. That phrase only earned that. "Do you think I was running just to save my life?" the other man said maniacally, as if he had lost it. "You are fucked. So, what''s good if you kill us? Hahaha, you fell into our fucking trap! You will die here." The masked vigilante was about to say something, but then felt another upheaval. It was not the natural one, but a supernatural one. The mana density in this place just rose by at least thrice, and it was still climbing. A dungeon break. The masked vigilante looked at the three before him with a vacant, empty look. "You won''t talk?" he said and lifted his right arm and aimed with his right index finger. The two masked figures fired their rifles again, screaming again until there was nothing left. The smoke cleared and the masked figure was still standing there. One Shockwave after another shot from his finger and pierced right at the forehead of the three men as they fell on the cold floor, lifeless. But the damage was already done. They had brought in the vigilante right where they wanted. For their sacrifice, their family would get a better life than even the security of the Safe Haven. Elior shook his head. He thought this was a trap, but still walked in as it could be a lead to his findings. Now he had to stop a dungeon break before the guardian came. He brought out a mobile phone and dialled 111¡ªthe guardian helpline. The call rang as he moved swiftly towards the centre of the upheaval. With the storm, the service seemed to be jammed, as his call did not connect. He called again as he approached the huge dungeon gate that could explode out at any moment. There were actually a couple of men with similar masks as the men he had just killed. They were pumping the dungeon with extra mana with some mana reserve equipment, so that it would explode even earlier. They did not attack Elior the moment they saw him, but collected their items and ran away. Elior did throw a few attacks at them, though it was not helpful, as he was a long-distance away. He did not go after them as even a bigger problem before him. It would not take even a quarter of an hour to the explosion. [Hello, this Guardian helpline. How could we help you?] The call finally connected. "Hello, I want to report a dungeon break. The sign it was showing it would explode within ten minutes, or so, and the mana density was just below a third-grade dungeon," Elior said at once with the monotonic voice and left the phone on the floor, not cutting off the call. It was a few of the disposable goods he made Shin buy from the dark web. They would be able to find this location soon with the help of the call, but before that, he had to stop the monster from attacking the surrounding areas. It was going to be a difficult task to hold on to the thousands of chaos fiends swarming inside the dungeon, but Elior still went in, bringing out his twin rapiers. _______________ Hello, readers. This book will have regular updates from the next month.. Thank you for the support. Chapter 69 - Dungeon Break (1) In the office, Aanya, Professor Aleister, and a few others were conversing on an important topic. Usually, Aanya has no place here, but considering her position as the student president and once an elite student, others thought her input would be required to make the decision. "I know what you fear, uncle," Aanya said to Aleister. "In the past, when you stopped me from going to the trial, I think it helped me a lot in the time to prepare my strength, but that does not mean I did not resent you for wasting my time. I know you are looking out for the freshmen, but you have to consider their position as well. "I reckon there are two students in the freshmen year who could go against anyone in the second year." "I have considered all this," Aleister said. "But you of all people know in the second trial, they will not just contest against people of the lower planet, but the people of the mother world as well." A few of the other teachers joined him on that topic. Their claim was the same, if their students go against the elite of the mother world, there will be one outcome. They will lose miserably. They all have gone through all this and know how miserable a feeling that was. It was so easy for him if the students of each year were mostly normal, but unfortunately for him this year there were more than two students with the highest level of talent, and more they were not people who like to take a breather much. He even has complaints about the dungeon travels, some were actually wanted to try the dungeons without the help from the teachers. "We know that a few of the students of this year are special," Professor Sarah added. "But if we give in to their complaint and send them to the trial this time around, it would only be wasting their potential. I''m sure with just training them for half a year more, they could surprise even the people of the mother world." The others agreed with it as well, while Aleister looked at Aanya to see if she had anything else to say. "I don''t know if all of you know about the stories that were going on in the circle," Aanya started. "Supposedly, in the trial zero, a few of the scions of the mother world got in and tried to monopolize the trial for some unknown gain. It would have gone all according to their plan, but unfortunately, a youth from the lower planet not only stopped them, but did something so embarrassing to one that he actually lost the will to become a guardian. "I''m not sure how much of the story is true, but I''m sure none of you can deny that someone from the lower world went to the trial with zero experience and got the first spot even with the involvement of the mother world." The room turned silent, and Aleister knitted his brows. He was about to open his mouth when the door of the room opened as well as a transparent screen opened in front of many of them. Roan came into the door, dressed in a breastplate and other armours. "We have a situation now," he said. His eyes drifted off towards Aleister and then saw Aanya standing up. "I will need help from Head Professor Aleister and Aanya to teleport out a good number of people to the location." "What happened?" Aanya asked, knitting her brows. Unlike the others, she did not get the notification in the status window, as she was still away from becoming an actual guardian, as well as she was not entirely affiliated with the Federation or the Academy association. "A Grade-3 dungeon break in the fourth ring," Aleister said, and his brows were knitted as well. "The Dean is away and so is Murphy. How many men do you have?" "We have about fifty guardians, including the academic staff available," Roan said and eyed the others in the room¡ªa few of them nodded in understanding. "The Federation sent the help request just now. They could not send the people within 30 minutes, so requested immediate help from the academy . . ." In the academy only three people are known to be able to use mass teleportation to faraway places. It was the dean, head professor Aleister and the student president Aanya. Since the dean was away, they could only work with the other two, though Aanya, as not being an actual guardian, was not supposed to be there. A glittering white light rose from Aanya''s silver bracelet and immediately her body was covered by thick white mystic robes¡ªeven the professors looked at it in awe. Not everyone''s father was the best artificer of earth, nor was everyone born with a silver spoon like her. The equipment and robes she was wearing were even unique in the mother world, and it would not be wrong to say there was another piece like this there. "I''m ready," she said among the gazes. "Where should I teleport to?" Roan gave her a look and nodded to Aleister. "Come with me," he said, and brought Aanya with her. The others have to prepare first before leaving with Aleister while he chose to go with Aanya and the guardian who were already prepared. The sky was showering with heavy rain and the deafening roars of lightning. It was an awful time for a dungeon break in anywhere, much less in the third ring, with common people living everywhere. "Supposedly, the dungeon would break at any moment," Roan continued to fill her in about the situation as they walked. A window appeared before his eyes, and he tapped it a couple of times to deliver the location to Aanya. Aanya looked like it was about one thousand and five hundred miles from here. If it was any general situation, it would really be difficult for her, but any natural situation like this storm has another effect as well. It creates a rift between the space nodes more than usual, making it easy for her to use the loophole. They could say not everything was bad about the storm. They approached the field where a dozen more figures were waiting, dressing in combat form. There were even a couple of air carriers as well though it would take more time to start up and reach the space they were leaving for. "Aanya," Roan said and the silver-haired girl nodded. She stood before everyone and sucked in a cold breath in the rain. The academy ground eliminated any time of long-range teleportation from outside to inside, but the opposite was not true. She put her palm together and white rays of light formed slowly. The vibration rose as she enlarged the space with warping noise and shock wave. She stepped away a couple of metres away as a circular teleportation gate appeared. Roan nodded to her and led the men inside. Aanya was the last of the ones to go before the circle collapsed. The dozen men appeared before the abandoned building in the fourth circle. And with the overflow, even the worst of them could guess there was something wrong with her. Other than them, there were other people there, though they did not appear to have come that much earlier. People like Aanya, or Professor Aleister, who could mass teleport were hard to find. These people were preparing for the safety of the civilians. They had already brought in dozens of pillars to build a mana barrier outside the building so the monster could not run amok in the safe haven though they did not know it they could prepare it within the time. They even took the safety measure to evacuate people close to the reason even though it was storming heavily. "It''s inside," Aanya muttered, and Roan nodded¡ªhe could feel it, too. Though the dungeon had not broken, they could feel the momentum of mana was rising. Perhaps because of the storm, but it could lead to an even more difficult situation if this goes on. Roan commanded half of the men to help set up the barrier, and with the rest, he went towards the inside. He saw Aanya was not leaving and; she had a white futuristic handgun in her arm, glittering a little. "My abilities will be useful," she said before Roan could ask her to go. "You will listen to every one of my commands like them," Roan said, thinking what type of problem he will be in if something happens to this girl. "Yes sir," Aanya said and left with the other men. They moved straight towards the centre of the disturbance, and when they were in the middle of the path, a building shook. Most of them knew what this meant, the dungeon broke. "We have to stop as many of those chaos beasts from approaching the people making the barrier," Roan shouted. "Let''s go." It took them another ten seconds or so to reach the place where monsters were coming from, and the sight that welcomed them made all of them shiver. It was not because the monster that was coming from the gate was huge, nor because they were high levelled, but just the fact that they were like flies¡ªmoving swiftly in the air. It would be even difficult to finish the monster that could flight than a monster of huge sizes. That was not all, there was actually a human figure in the chaos of flies, killing them from the ground with blood all over his body. It was the masked figure, the masked vigilante and he seemed to notice their arrival as well. "I did what I could, now it''s yours turn." Chapter 70 - Dungeon Break (2) Elior walked into the quaking dungeon, bearing the two sleek rapiers in arms. He was not sure what type of monster he would see inside. Whatever it was, he had to stop it before the guardians took the safety measure and could handle with the least amount of civilian casualty. Considering that this dungeon was barely a third grade one, he should be able to hold on here for a couple of minutes. Will a couple of minutes be enough for the guardian to reach here? Yes, if they had taken the protocol seriously, but that time was no way for them to take the safety protocol for the civilian. So, he has to bring them as much time as he could. But the moment he went inside the dungeon, his expression stiffened. There was a storm raging inside the dungeon, trying everything it could do to break the dungeon. He did not know if this dungeon could even hold on for five minutes now. Inside the dungeon was as dark as it could get, and the chaotic mana storm swirling and rising, a tornado of force was flying dust and ashes everywhere. After the first bad news, he got another one. The very moment he laid his eyes on the monster of the dungeon, he knew he got himself in the worst possible shit there was possible. Elior''s brows knitted together the moment he saw the monster of the dungeon. It was flying, and moreover, the sight of them told him it wouldn''t be easy for him nor would it be for the guardians. It was the freaking corpse flies. With the help of the guardian system, he ran the general inspection ability and easily a window appeared before him, telling him about familiar flies. It was exactly what he thought it was. [Target: Corpse Flies. Corpse flies are undead creatures that live corpses or rotten flesh. They have deadly poison in their breath and could easily infect a guardian or apprentice of the same level. They came in various sizes, from only a foot large to several feet according to the order. To kill a corpse fly, one has to blast its head or sever its head from the body. They can regenerate very easily, providing humans or the flesh of other creatures. Strength: Poison in their breath, Can create or manipulate wind to attack. Regenerative ability. Weakness: Fire attribute, Light Attribute, Spirit attack.] It really was the corpse flies, he thought, looking at a couple of foot-long heinous looking flies flying in the air. They have big, hived-like eyes and an awful stretch to them. They instantly located him and rushed at him, making warping noises. In his previous timeline, he dealt with a lot of the flies like creatures, but the worse of them was already these corpse birds other than the soul-devouring flies. it might not be wrong to say flies are the monster he hates the most. Elior eyes vacated all the emotion but the coldness, and the rapier blazed in flame. He stood there, waiting for the monster to approach him. The ones that were coming first were of the lower level of the dungeon, and he knew it would still be difficult for him to hold on for more than a couple of minutes. This was a grade three dungeon after all, where the limit of chaos fiends level was Level 200. Though it''s unlikely for a corpse fly reaching the limit of the level appearing here, it was, after all, it was barely on the level of a third-grade dungeon. Not to talk about a level 200 corpse fly, even a couple of level 100 corpse flies could make his life hell here. He might be barely stopped on at the third order, and if the number rose by only one, it''s dead-end for him. Elior enabled the berserker''s ability and started massacring the flies that came in his way. With each successful move, his attack force rose by 2% though it cost extra mana, he ignored it for now. A couple of notifications came, telling him he had levelled up. These flies he was killing were at least of level 40 or higher. There was no surprise that he would level up. Within a few seconds, his attack got the boost of 40% and it was only rising, though his mana was emptying easier as well. But reaching the next order here was a lost cause. It might have been possible if this was a general dungeon, where most of the flies did not want to get out as soon as possible. Even with him doing his best to stop the flies, a few of them had already escaped away from the gate. He could do nothing there, there were hundreds of flies there and more were approaching. He barely killed a couple of dozen so far, stopping as much as he could. Abruptly, he felt a large discomfort on his back and a blade of wind moved towards him. Elior did not need to look to notice there was a corpse fly of higher-order incoming. His legs worked in creating as he flew away from the spot, but he did not have free time there as well as there were not only one flies of that size and order. Another one assaulted him with a high force of wind blade. He guessed he was no match for the flies with a level of 100. As he did not have his attention on them, he did not even notice them coming at him. Looking like keeping even two minutes will turn into a deadly challenge. Elior collapsed on the ground as dozens of the smallest one of the flies came at him to eat him. Grounding his teeth, Elior''s eyes looked at the hideous flies coming to feed on him. Without considering for a second, he loudly clapped his palm once. The space surrounding him shook and the flies that were close to him blasted all over the place. The ones at the back only felt the tremor and moved away. Elior stood up with his rapier and brought out a couple of mana recovering portions from the pouch, running in. The bigger ones of the corpse flies were on him. The poison has already infected his system, and his abilities were barely keeping up with it. If he got more poison from the higher-order corpse flies, then it''s game over for him. Barely managing to drink the mana recovering portions, he moved towards the chaotic mana tornado through two large corpse flies caught onto him. He could barely do anything other than run. He checked his status system to find that he had reached level 34 in between. He knew it was a terrible choice to jump into the tornado, but it was the only choice he had between life and death. the berserking currents of the tornado would tear his body, but the ones behind him will eat him alive. His choices were clear, getting torn or getting eaten. in the next hundred tries, he would always choose to get torn rather than choose to get eaten.. Well, anyone in their right mind would choose that, though anyone with a right mind would ever get into this trouble in the first place. Chapter 71 - Dungeon Break (3) The poison resistance in his system was working on eliminating the poison, though the meagre amount of mana made it quite difficult of a task. Without considering another second, Wrik invested ten points that he gained through levelling up into intelligence. Even though he was investing in such a situation, he did not feel it was a waste. After all, raising mental ability was the hardest through training. Moreover, there was something else he got from there. [Your intelligence has reached 50 points, you have awakened Mana perception LVL 1.] [Mana Perception LVL 1: Mana perception makes it twice as easy to handle mana than without this ability, and the recovery speed of mana rose by marginal speed as well. All your abilities will cost 20% less mana as your sense of mana in the surrounding rose by another level.] It was a general ability that everyone got, but it was still a great thing to have. He really could feel the presence of the flies better than before, and that did make a difference. Moreover, his mana was recovering faster as well. He would need ten seconds to get half of his mana back, though he did not know if he could have these ten seconds without putting his life on the line. only investing the ten points gave him the chance. The huge corpse fly was only a couple of yards away from eating his head when Elior pushed his leg, using the void abstraction to jump at the tornado before him. Even though he did not get what he intended, he still got over the monster and closer towards the berserking chaotic mana currents. The flies came at him in the tornado as well, and instantly his body was forced to the direction that he did not want. He could not do anything there, only working so that the berserk tornado did not tear his body apart. Elior was feeling an overwhelming amount of berserking pressure on his body and even his armor was barely keeping up. The flies were in a better state¡ªat least, the bigger ones. Elior felt the pain and agony of his body breaking but he actually managed to get the ten seconds he would need to get his mana back to a level where he could still fight. Working on his leg, he managed to climb on the tornado. His armour was only havoc now, with blood dripping all over. He really made a bad decision to move to the tornado, though he had no other option than this. At least it killed dozens of the flies while only the bigger ones were coming for him. Though he did not get the credits for the dead flies, he felt satisfied with their doom. The tornado will collapse the moment the dungeon would break and he was attempting to keep busy the monster for that much time. A foolish and suicide plan if anyone else thought of it, and it was the same for him as well. Luckily, he had some experience in this. He could faintly remember doing something like this, though that was when he was in the third order. There were five huge flies that were after him now, and they climbed the top of the tornado as well. Elior''s eyes narrowed at them as they approached him. Elior formed a formless space plate on his legs to stand properly on the tornado while the Monster approached him. He might be able to deal with one if he had the chance, and he was working for all that as well. Has anyone ever succeeded in killing a monster of third-order when they were only in the first order? There had been a few, and Elior was trying to do just that. Not just because it will give him better rewards, but because he had no other option. His eyes looked for the weakest of one of the flies, but he could not decide on it. In the end, he chose the first one that came at him. He let the surge of chaotic force in the tornado carry him, as he rushed at the ones that were coming at him. When the corpse fly was only a couple of yards away, Elior rose, lunging. He was not trying to dodge the monster this time. What he did was climb on top of the three meters long tedious fly and work his rapier on its back. He did not end it there, and it was far from being ending there. It was a lot harder to kill a third-order monster, much less an undead. What he did after that was even more outrageous. The corpse fly was doing its best to throw him away, but how could Elior let it¡ªafter all, he get through so much pain to reach there. Even the armour was in tattered condition. Elior concentrated his spatial ability on his less to shoot himself in the middle of the tornado with the monster where there was a less surge of wind of chaotic mana current. Elior ignored the current damaging his body and fell with the fly into the middle of the tornado where a deep silence reigned with the chaotic mana current surrounding it. Elior managed to get a safe fall as he was above the fly when the two of them fall though it jerked him away immediately reaching the ground. Even though it fell from two hundred metres high, the fly was far from being dead, though fairly injured. Elior guessed it would still take him a lot of him to kill it. He stood up again, coughing out blood. His sense of direction was a mess, and the poison was consuming his mana, but still, he stood straight with the twin rapiers in arms, narrowing his eyes at the three metres long corpse fly that was screeching at him. He had managed to get alone with this one, and there was only one option for him currently. Kill it, level up, and get the rewards to kill more flies. ___________________________ Elior is quite suicidal in my opinion, what do you guys think. Chapter 72 - Dungeon Break (4) Elior drank another mana recovering potion, not that it helped to stack up recovery potion, but because he would need to recover his mana more as the number he had recovered would be used up quickly. The huge corpse fly got back to its savagery nature quickly and came at him in the middle of the vortex. One of his rapiers was still stuck to its body while the other one in hand, Elior welcomed the incoming monster. The corpse fly attacked with the gale of wind before coming at him, but luckily, he had already guessed it. Elior worked his leg again and released a short vibration of the shock wave to lung himself up above the blades of the gale. In the warping of the chaotic mana current, he could not hear a thing, though his attention was only at the copse flying before him. The sleek rapier in his arm lit up in flame and he condensed his void abstraction ability on the very sharp end of the blade to throw it at the huge fly. The hot rapper pierced right at its eye with the help from the point of space he created on its sharp end. That did not end there, as Elior shot again his body above the fly in a somersault to free his other rapper from its back. [Mana: 267/712] Elior withdrew successfully immediately. He was already bringing more force than he was capable of¡ªnot to mention the poison in his system, making it harder for him to revolve around the mana. Moreover, every tissue, muscle, and bone in his body was crying with pain. Only by imaging the void could he stand straight, ignoring the pain. Then he turned on the void stealth and turned invisible, creating a thin layer coating his body. Though he dealt a great blow to the fly by giving it a fall from two hundred meters high to a hot rapper in its eye socket, it was still far from dying. Third-order actually stands apart from the other lower two orders. There was actually no contest between the two if they did not have any unique ability like him. Not only third-order creatures get higher regenerative abilities and more mana regeneration expertise, but they also had a sturdy body as well. With barely the strength of a first-order, if he really could manage to kill this monster, then it would be nothing less than a miracle. He had no records of doing such outrageous things in the previous timeline, nor had he seen anyone do it. The fly looked around, trying to find his presence and fearing it could find his presence. Elior moved fast. He did not infuse fire this time, but came with the shock wave. Every amount of shock wave he could create, he made it into a thin line in the blade of the rapier before taking the void breaking stance. This was actually a spear move that he had created in later periods of the previous timeline, but with a little customization, he could use it with anything. His legs bolted towards the head of the fly as he made a slash in the full arc of a circle at the other eye of the corpse fly. If it was really the void breaking stance that he had the memory off, then it could actually cut the fly in half and then actually destroy the chaotic mana vortex easily. But what it did was not even one of the thousands of his memories. It could barely blind the other hived-like eyes as grey, black liquid came out of it, spraying. The corpse fly screeched in a frenzy, as it could not use both of its sockets of eyes properly. It tried to fly madly all over the direction. Elior got more poison from the tainted blood, though he tried his best to avoid it. Elior put off the coating of void stealth. There was not much mana left, and it was barely recovering one point in each second. He has to finish it using mostly physical strength now. Elior imbued his rapier with barely any amount of mana and raged out to bring more out of the ability [Berserk]. There were two ways of using berserk. Elior usually used his imagination to turn his mind into emptiness with only coldness. It was the way that gave him a rational mind over all his actions, but when he eliminated the void from his mind, the pain that he was ignoring assaulted his brain at once, giving more than enough reason to rage for. A savagery expression appeared in his eyes and face and that could be seen through the broken face that was barely doing its work. All the veins in his body popped up, bringing out more strength and madness in him. With the glaring eyes, the berserk Elior moved towards the mad corpse fly that was rushing all over the place. Elior dashed and twisted his body above the head of the fly to make a swing in its neck. The attack was successful, but unfortunately, in the next moment, the fly struck him with its huge head. Elior flew off a few meters away, but he actually managed to stand on his both feet in his current savagery state. Pain has no meaning in his brain, nor did he care about the wounds he had accumulated. All he cared about was massacring the corpse fly before him. He dashed at the fly again and climbed on top of it. The fly made a warping sound with its wings, trying to throw him off, while Elior pierced his thin rapier on its neck again, before twisting it. Even though he was berserk, he still has a faint bit of intelligence remaining, and knows where to attack. The fly tried to fly away, screeching in pain. It could not see with his eye sockets damaged and fly towards the chaotic mana current of the vortex. Elior pushed his last amount of mana into a shock wave through the raper into its neck before jumping off from its back. if he really went into the vortex now then, he would definitely die. So, with the faint intelligence present in his mind, he chose to jump off, though he could not land safely as there was nothing on his physical body. Not even a single strand of mana, or physical force. His body fell from the dozen meters like a dead body, though he still felt pain. Elior worked his immense willpower to not pass out. Not to mention the guardian who will come shortly. Even a small corpse fly could kill him if he passed out. After putting in a lot of effort, he brought out a few healing potions as well as antivenom¡ªeven though the poison resistance was working, it could not even trickle the amount of point he had been in presence of. He opened the vial with his mouth before drinking one. But one was not enough, but one was not enough, so he drank a few more before spreading a few all over his body.. A soothing warm energy surged through his body, but it was far from healing his wound. Chapter 73 - Dungeon Break (5) Elior might be able to stand up if he tried, but moving was another thing. After healing all wounds, it would take at least a week with no physical training. That''s why he needed something else to help him in the process. [Congratulations! You have gained enlightenment. You have touched the realm of one with the universe.] [You have killed a Corpse Fly LVL 107.] [You have gained 1700234 karma points.] [You have killed a chaosfiend two levels higher than your order. You have gained 150% more karma points.] [You have levelled up.] [You have levelled up.] [ . . . ] Within the second, Elior levelled up eight times for killing a third-order beast, but he was waiting for something more. The reward for creating this miracle. [Congratulations! You have become the seventh person in the history of the Mother Universe to kill a monster two levels higher than yours alone. Such a feat is no less than a miracle.] To think there were seven more people who did something like this. But considering he was not the only one with such an overpowered ability, it did make sense. He looked at the vortex and could tell it would collapse any moment now. In between, he has to take the reward and prepare to escape from here. [You have gained the title: Predetor Predator: Unique You will not fear in the presence of higher-order chaosfiends or entities. The unique grade ability also gives resistance to mental corrosion as well as you will have a savagery aura when enabled even entity of the same level will turn still in fear.] [With the showcase of such a feat, the Guardian system will reward you with any ability of your choosing limited to the unique grade.] Elior knew what he wanted, but choosing that did not seem a viable option in his current state. So he scrolled in the tab of only the unique ability. Fortunately, unique grade abilities were not a lot in number, barely a couple hundred, and finding what he needed did not seem to be a problem. [You have chosen Progression.] [Please confirm your choice.] Elior did, gritting his teeth, yet another notification came stopping him from getting his hands on the ability. [Apprentice Elior, your body has reached the limit to take another ability. If you merged with another foreign ability in your current state, there might be serious backlashes.] [Saving the choice of Apprentice Elior as a safety protocol. You can take this ability anytime when you have reached the second order.] ''Right, I really forgot about this,'' he thought. There was clearly a limitation to one''s body on how much foreign power one could take in. If he was in a perfect situation, he would surely wait to reach the second-order before thinking about marching with a foreign ability. Moreover, the higher the grade of ability, the larger space it took in the soul, he would seriously have some backlashes if he took this now. But he had no other option. "Overwrite," he commanded at the system. [Apprentice Elior attempted to overwrite the system protocol . . .] "Overwrite," he commanded again, not having time to read the entire thing. [Please stay calm. The ability ''Progression'' will be infused with the body and spirit shortly.] Then a piercing pain came. It was nothing like the normal grade poison resistance that only infused with his body and slowly merged with the soul over time. Unique grade ability was entirely different. The body could not actually hold on to everything of its ability, as it needs space in the soul to work properly. The piercing pain continued for a few seconds as his soul and body fused with the ability. Elior kind of felt a glitch in his soul and body as the backlash of fusing with something he over his limit, but he ignored it for now. Healing was something he needed the most in his current situation. Abruptly, the vortex started to clear out and it would be there for a dozen seconds before the dungeon would break and those huge things would come at him. [Congratulations! You have gained Progression.] Elior swirled the familiar yet foreign ability immediately with the small amount of mana he had. The little amount was not enough for now, so he invested eight more points into his intelligence and used more mana on the ability. All the wounds on the exterior of his body, from the small cuts to the torn flesh that he got from the vortex, started to close off. It was healing in the naked eye. Technically, it was not authentically healing. Progression is an ability that uses mana to age the cells of the body. So currently, all his wounds were taking nature''s course and healing on their own. Though it takes a lot of mana, with the already healing potion he added, it was working fine. He left the cracked bones for now, as it would be a problem if he messed up the spots. Elior stood up and saw the vortex breaking the chaos wall of the dungeon. All his external organs would have been patched up, though he still felt pain. Picking up the only rapier that remained close to him, Elior steadied the mask, though one of his eyes and nose could be seen from outside. Still, it was unrecognizable with the dried blood on his face. He heard the screeches of the corpse fly again and barely prepared to battle again, though now his entire goal was to flee. A huge corpse fly came at him again, and Elior started to move fast on his legs. The dungeon shook for the last time then and the chaos wall turned non-existence. Fortunately, he saw half a dozen figures incoming as well¡ªmoreover, he knew a couple of them. The one leading was none other than Roan while a white clad slender figure was standing just beside him. So he thought his job was somewhat successful. "I have done my part, now it''s your turn," Elior said, running out, ignoring the huge fly behind him as it would probably have more people to eat now. ________________________ The book will have regular update from now on. Chapter 74 - Reaper Just as Elior was preparing to leave, a glitch struck his soul and body again as he fell on his four limbs. Moreover, a couple of flies just behind him. Though not the big ones, they were still deadly to him. Elior was preparing to deal with them, getting control of his body when one of the corpses flying just a yard behind him blasted into incineration. The other one got the same treatment as his eyes drifted off towards the whistle slender figure holding the revolver. Aanya was looking exactly at him at his bloody mask and face. To his knowledge, she did not like this type of vigilante business, but she still blasted all the flies that came in his way, keeping an eye on him. Others have noticed him too, but they were too busy dealing with the flies. Now Elior needs to find an opening to escape from the gaze of his senior. And with an exchange of glances, Roan left him in care of Aanya as he had to take care of the corpse files. Elior stood up and with the only rapier in his arm, he fought the corpse and wandered to the sides, where no guardians were protecting. "If you want to live, don''t wander around on your own," Aanya said in between her shooting. She was even moving towards him, and he was not sure if she was trying to protect him or uncover his identity. Probably both. "I can take care of myself," Elior answered with a gruff voice as the voice tuning runes got destroyed in the mask. "How come a dungeon appeared here out of nowhere?" Aanya shouted, working with her gun to blast the corpse flies. Even with her ability, she was finding it hard to shoot them. "And out of all people, a suspicious person like you appeared here. I would like to take you in for questioning." Elior gritted his teeth and moved faster, ignoring the flies as if he could. Like Aanya mentioned, she won''t let him be on his own. She was too far on the righteous sides and with her values, she would never leave a suspicious figure like him. Not to mention he was suspected of killing so many garbage apprentices and appearance in many siting of dungeons. The only way for him to escape from here was to turn on his void stealth, but to do that, he would need to be alone so that Aanya won''t have a particular place to look for. His order was still lower, and even though he had overpowered ability, he still could not hide it from her as she seemed to have even more overpowering ability that he was not sure of. Like how she had teleported him and the others on the advancement mission by shooting a ray of light out of her gun, and yet killing these flies with the same gun. He had been suspicious about her power from the times he had seen her using in both of the timelines, but he was not concrete about how far she could reach with it. A huge amount of the flies were coming at them now, and Elior thought this should be the chance. He was similarly not worried for his senior, not because he was too invested in fleeing, but he knew Aanya was far more powerful than she looked. Even though she had not reached the ranks of guardian, she was not far from it. Like how he had killed a chaos fiend two orders higher than his level, putting his life on the line. She could do something like that too, though it was overly limited. Killing two levels higher than would be impossible for her, but she could deal with monsters easily that were close to her level. As he had thought, Aanya did not run after him, seeing the incoming three meters large corpse fly. Light shimmered from her gun as it transformed into a sleek long-sword in white, matching her dress. She looked no less than the knights of the light of the mother world. "Don''t you run off!" Aanya shouted at him, battling the fly with her sword. The smaller ones were all over the place, making it harder for her to battle alone with the huge one. Elior would be an idiot if he listened to her. The corpse fly was only around level 100, so it would not take her much time to deal with it, so in between, he had to flee from her as well as the other guardians in the path. Turning away from there, he immediately turned on his void stealth to hide, but it was not over yet. It would only end when he escapes safely from the environment. The guardians surely would not be able to create the barrier so quickly, but they surely could do it in the direction where most civilians should be. Keeping that in mind, he ran. Yet he did not even move a couple of hundred meters away when his senses picked up some danger. Elior moved away immediately and a ray of light hit where he was standing. It was none other than Aanya, who had a darker expression. She actually finished the corpse fly and was able to find him while he was using void stealth. Elior did not want any conversation with her or even a contact as he started to run, but that glitch in his soul appeared again, leaving him on his four limbs again. Aanya knitted her brows and walked slowly towards him. "Tell me," she asked in a cold tone. "Did you kill those apprentices?" Blood rushed out of Elior''s mouth as he stood looking at her. In any confrontation, he would surely lose in his current situation. So, he has to do something to misdirect her attention for a few seconds. "Yes," the masked vigilante said as his eyes turned vacant and cold. "And I will kill more." Aanya''s eyes turned even colder as she transformed her revolver into a sword. "Why?" she asked. "Why do you ask?" the masked vigilante laughed. "Because they deserve it. They are the very reason something like this happened today." Aanya arched her brows. She was surely not buying this entirely, though she had some suspicions. "Even if they did something wrong, who are you to punish them? Who gave you rein to punish them? There are guardians in place to stop them, court for trials, yet you are killing them as if you are the judge and you are the punisher." "Someone had to do it," the masked vigilante said and prepared his rapier to battle her. "And it''s the fastest way. If I leave it to the legal services, then the earth is left to be doomed. They would destroy the earth from its very core when you are still preparing to put a few small fish behind the bar." His words seemed to anger Aanya even more, and it was what he was attempting. She came at him, bearing the light sword. The masked vigilante was barely able to keep her sword at bay when she said to him, gritting her teeth. "Only you think that way." "You still have not learned, seeing your mother dying?" The masked vigilante said in the cold vacant voice, eyeing her. Those cold eyes saw her shaking, and he continued. "Aanya Neldor Daylight, you surely are your mother''s daughter. Like your mother, you also think everyone fights for the same goal. "If that was true, then Emperor Ashoka already should have won against the dark force thousands of years ago, yet he was betrayed by his own people." He twisted his body below her sword next and moved behind her to deal a blow, though she stopped it with a shaking sword. "WHO ARE YOU?" she shouted with a shaking voice. Many people of the mother world did not know how her mother had died, yet hearing it from someone here made her shake. "I truly respect people like your mother. People like your mother fought for the good of mankind with their all¡ªthey surely deserve my most heartfelt respect. But i felt unfortunate for them as well. You will surely go in that direction as well, give your all in protecting mankind until dying." Elior felt awful using her trauma against her, but he had no other option. "They say, in each generation among the maidens of the Daylight clan, there is a seer. Your mother was the previous seer. Did she see her doom?" "YOU KNOW NOTHING," Aanya screamed with her legs shaking. Elior exploited that opportunity and broke the space around her sword. The sword flew away from her arm. "Yes, I know nothing," Elior admitted. "But I know something that you can''t deny. "You will surely follow your mother if you do not let me do what I''m doing." Elior then damaged the earth below her with a shockwave, helping her shaking legs to fall. Aanya fell to the ground as if all the power left her body, shaking. Elior stood straight and looked at her pitiful state on the ground. Even though the words he used are cruel, someone really needed to tell her that. Sadly, he had to do it now when she was not that prepared for it. "There are people I respect wholeheartedly," the vigilante said, walking away. "Yet there are few people I could not help but murder. Even though the way I was using is sinful, and it pains me to kill a few people, I will surely do it. "I will surely do it, in the hope of the brightest dawn. I will surely become the reaper in the hope of the brightest day." ____________________________ END OF PART ONE: REBORN Chapter 75 - When You Are Ready (1) |PART TWO: THE SHADOWS EMERGING| "Brother, what are you doing?" Shin asked, knitting his brows at the figure cleaning the toilet seat. "I''m cleaning shit," Elior said with his mind elsewhere. "And reflecting on the shit I have spread." "That seat is already cleaned," Shin added, pointing to the clean toilet seat. "Right," Elior said and moved to the next one. It was the last of the days of his punishment that he got after he had beaten a bunch of upperclassmen. In between this time, things had been silent in the institute, though his mind was always some place else. His worries had no bound, and only by keeping his mind busy could he let go of those worries. But cleaning the toilet did not need much of the brain and his body was not in so much better state to practise mana revolution simultaneously, wearing the heavy customised suit as well. So he lost himself in those worries. It had been a week since he had last seen Aanya, after he attacked her trauma so badly. All the news he got from Ileana was that she was busy. Probably Ileana knew even less than him. He was really regretting doing that to her. Perhaps there was another way, like revealing his identity to her and asking for her help. But he could not take the risk, and in the end, he broke the girl. He hated himself for doing it. He could not even trust someone who had given away her life protecting the earth in the previous timeline. Other than that, there was still no progress in his vigilante business. Moreover, the federation and institute association put a warrant against him to put him on trial. They even risen the security as well as the warding. The small fries affiliated with Shadow Blood turned silent for the time as well, but he knew a storm was brewing. "Brother, what are you thinking for so many days?" Shin asked, seeing him lost in the pondering again. "Since last week you are like this, did something happen?" "Yes," Elior said and did not continue. "Elior," Shin said after a good minute and his voice was hesitant. "I don''t think I can help you any longer if you do not explain things clearly to me." Elior stopped with his pondering as well as in the cleaning. He looked at Shin, frowning. "Albert Iker, Donovan Killian, Ava Ruth," Shin said a few names. "All of these people are the names that you asked me to find out. I have checked the news on them every day and among the people you told me to look for, almost half of them disappeared without a trace. Moreover, in a few of those places, there seemed to be the sign of the vigilante." Elior sighed. "This is not a good place to discuss all this," he asked, knowing this day would come sooner or later. Even though Shin trusted him, it was far from the blind trust they had between each other in the previous timeline. "Brother, are you really related to the vigilante?" Shin did not stop. "Are you helping him with all this?" "I said this place is not good for discussing all these," Elior repeated the words. "Come to my room later. I will reveal a few things to you, then." Shin nodded and kept on standing there. He seemed to have a lot on his plate. He likely wanted to believe Elior that his brother was not doing something sinful and unlawful, but with all the connections he tied up, he could not deny everything. Moreover, after he heard their senior Aanya confronted the vigilante alone and got no news about her, his trust in Elior was shaking. He was only silent about all this because he never saw any misconduct in Elior''s behaviour, and Elior did tell him a few things before asking for the information. Moreover, Elior helped him and everyone in the academy whichever way he could. He helped anyone that came to him for advice. He shared how he became so strong, as well as his understanding of mana usage and spells. If all of this turned out to be just a play, then Shin would be more devastated than he was aware of. As both of them were lost in their thoughts, a person in a long shirt and overcoat appeared in the toilet. "How is the cleaning going on?" Professor Aleister asked, looking at Elior cleaning, who was in a thick mask and gloves, as well as the cleaner in his arms. Elior stood up and said, "I will finish for the day in a few minutes." "No need," Aleister said. "I am satisfied with your conduct in these few days, so you can take the last day off." Elior nodded and still stood there, finding professor Aleister had something more to say. "Have you learned anything doing this type of work? The professor asked. "Yes," Elior said. "Teenagers shit a lot." Seeing the glare from his old mentor, he corrected, "I mean, teenagers use toilets a lot." Aleister could not help but shake his head. "Do you know why I give you such punishment?" "Sir, with all due respect," Elior started. "If you want to teach me humbleness or want me to act low-key, then you have failed. I won''t change a single bit, if I have my way." He was already low-key, how grounded his old mentor wanted him to be. Though his old mentor fears his arrogance would top his head and get him in trouble with the upperclassmen, he had no fear in that area. "There was a student like you four years ago," Aleister said, sighing. "Though he was not arrogant, he was surely a gem, but unfortunately, he was too uptight in his nature, and found himself in trouble that led him to waste three whole years of his youth and something more. "I know he was not in the wrong, and you are not entirely in the wrong as well. But you have to learn to take steps considering a lot of things. I would not like to see another of my students in such situations again." "You have nothing to worry about," Elior said, with eye contact. "I''m sure not getting through to you," Professor Aleister said, shaking his head. "What level are you two now?" "23," Shin added, picking his eyebrows. "Not high enough," Elior answered. "Are you confident in beating the upperclassmen who are preparing for the second trial?" the teacher asked again, knowing he would not get an answer, nor could he force. Shin did not open his lips, but looked at Elior. "They don''t stand a chance," Elior said. Shin snickered¡ªthis was not the first time he was hearing this and surely not the last. "Sir, why do you ask?" he asked. "After a couple of conferences with the dean and the assistant professors, we came to a decision to let the freshmen enter the next trial." "Really?" Shin asked out loud and was about to jump in glee. "But, there''s a catch," Aleister watered Shin''s glee with the next words. "The academy will hold a tournament just a week before the trial date. The students who are interested in the trial will be chosen through the tournament. This will be announced tomorrow, but since you two are in the forefront of all the complaints, I gave you two a head start." "Can it really be called a head start?" Shin complained. "So we have to battle out with the upperclassmen to get the chance?" "What? You are not confident?" the teacher asked Shin with a smile. "I do not need to mention, but a few of the upperclassmen have reached the second order. So if you do not want to get beaten badly, practice well." "I will," Shin said with a confident laugh, though his face was not so good. He was surely not confident against even the elite of the second years. Surely, he was talented, but time was another important factor. "By the way, the academy will invite your guardians as well," Aleister said on his way. "So, don''t rush if you don''t want your parents to see your sorry state." Shin watched the head professor and wondered why the world was so cruel to him. "Are you confident, Shin?" Elior asked him. "Brother, what do you think?" Shin instead asked him. "Do I stand a chance?" Elior looked at Shin carefully as if seeing through him. "With your special class, you might stand a chance against a few upperclassmen, but it won''t take a second order appearance to defeat you. At your current state, you don''t stand a chance." "Wow," Shin said pitifully. "At least give me some false hope." "You know I don''t lie." Elior left the cleaning stuff and moved towards the washroom to clean. "But don''t worry, if you really want to go into the trial seriously, I can train you for the next three weeks. But be aware, the current training you do will not hold a candle against the things I will make you do." Shin walked along with him to the washroom. "Brother, how hard will your demonic training be?" he asked, considering. Surely, Elior already put him through enough hardship in the morning, dogging to the weight lifting, meditation as well as duelling. What was harder than all that? "If you agree, prepare to lose sleep for the next three weeks." _____________________________ This volume will contain 150k words to 200k and it would mostly about expanding the world and characters. Chapter 76 - When You Are Ready (2) Elior heard the knocking on the door. He was expecting Shin as he had already practised what he would say to him to get his trust. Walking up to open the door of his room, Elior found it was not Shin, but a maiden in white. Aanya had a thin smile on her face, with her burning white hair left unbound on her shoulder and back. From the outside, there seemed to be nothing wrong with her, just in her usual mood. A loose white gown was on her body, and in her arms were a lot of notebooks, as well as a few books. "Mind if I come in?" Aanya asked with twinkling eyes. "Yes," Elior said, and led her into his room. He gave her a seat before the desk where all his stuff from the hollow book, phone, coffee, as well as a few instruments of magic engineering were in disarray. Elior did not start and was trying to come up with something while Aanya was looking around his room to see anything interesting. There were not actually many things in the room and was mostly cleaned apart from a couple of regular things in disarray. "Senior," Elior called, pouring her a cup of coffee as well. The aromatic scent of the coffee drifted all over the room as it was not a regular coffee. Elior had brought many good things to relieve his usual headache after all the hard work he put through every day. Although he had not done much physical training in the last few days, he kept his mind always busy with magic engineering, mana application or spell casting. A few like this coffee were necessary to keep a cool head. "Are you alright?" he asked hesitantly, gazing at her face carefully. It was so hard to see depression and trauma in a few people with the cheerful face they put in. Like her father, Aanya was too good at hiding their inner pain. Perhaps she unconsciously learned it from seeing how her father acts. Perhaps he had learned it from him as well. "Yes," Aanya said, smiling. "Why do you ask?" "Well, I have not seen you for sometimes and heard that¡ª" "So, you are worried about me?" Aanya kept the curl on her lips and sipped in the aromatic coffee. "I guess there is another person who is worried about me. I feel happy." The guilt in his heart rose, seeing her like this, but he pushed away the guilt deep inside his heart. He would feel even more guilty if he failed in his mission and all the wrongs he did would be for nothing. "I am going away for some time," Aanya said, and gestured towards the notes and books. "These are the notes that I had with me. They did not just contain my understanding of spells, but my father''s in the artificing too. I did not know how useful it would be for you, but surely you can put them to use how you like. And give a copy to Ileana when she''s ready." "Are you leaving earth?" Elior asked, ignoring everything about the stuff. An uncomfortable, unknown emotion rose in his heart. This was surely related to his doing, but he had no idea if it was good or bad for her. "Yes," Aanya said. "I don''t know how long it will take me, but I will surely come back." "I think a change of pace would be good for you," Elior said. "Oh, no, I am not going there for a change of pace." Aanya rested her palms on the desk and eyed him. "I am going there to inherit what belongs to me." Elior''s brows knitted together immediately. "You know, junior," Aanya continued and her body shook a little. "In every generation of my maternal clan, a female was born with the brightest eyes, as well as unreal power that could not be comprehended through common knowledge of the universe. My ancestor, Silverett Daylight, fought together along with the great emperor Ashoka thousands of years ago and sacrificed her life to give this power to the maiden of the clan. Though she did her best, all the people that came after her did not have even a tenth of her potential. Usually, the possessor of the eyes takes the reign of the house and nobody usually utters a word in denial. "That seemed like a dream to many people, but only the possessor of the eyes knew this was more of a curse, a burden than anything else. Yet they could not abandon it, knowing everything. Even if the possessor of the ability did not want the burden, they still have to shoulder it. My mother . . . she . . ." Elior said nothing, just kept his eyes on the emotional senior. He bit his lips and clasped her palms together. Aanya looked at him with two crystal drops of tears in her eyes. "When I was little, I asked my mother why she was always so tired and did not have the time to play with me. She only answered cryptically, saying I will know when I get older. "Nobody has an idea what the possessor of the brightest eyes sees, and nobody could have any idea what was going on in their head. Even my father did not have the faintest clue why my mother did what she did. Why she did not tell him everything. My father beats him even now for not understanding a thing. "I did not understand a thing back then, but I learned why she was silent to the person she loved the most." Aanya became silent and clasped his palm tighter. "Senior," Elior called after a few seconds. His voice was slow and hesitant. "When you first saw me about a month ago, you were in a trance for a few seconds. A vision perhaps. What did you see?" "You don''t want to know," Aanya said, wiping her eyes with her left palm. "You would be surprised to know if I want to know or not." Elior did not push her to open up about her vision. Aanya looked at him for a couple of seconds. "Emptiness. The emptiness was what I saw, and pain," she said. "No matter how hard you try, they would not leave you. You just have to learn to accept it no matter what happens. It''s the only way for you." Elior nodded with only a little arch in his brows, nothing else. "You don''t look surprised?" Aanya asked. Elior shook his head. "I have a theory," he said. "Do you know where all these abilities we have come from? Like Brightest Eyes of your clan, Emperor Ashoka''s Everlasting Flames?" Aanya said nothing, though she heard many hypotheses about the origin of the powers. "I think the Mother gives it to us," Elior said. "And it is not free. The stronger the power the Universe gives us, the more things the universe wants from us. What we want does not mean a single penny to Mother. Mother is heartless, she''s cruel. All she wanted was to root out the cancer growing in her heart. "It doesn''t matter how many of her children she sacrifices, all she wants is for the cycle to end." Elior stopped suddenly, and an impaling pain appeared in his head. He could not help but clasped his forehead with his cold palm. He did not understand what he just said in the last phrase. "Cycle?" Aanya asked, picking her brows. "What Cycle?" "I don''t know," Elior said truthfully and tried to not go deep into pondering, knowing nothing good would come if he draws the Eye now. "I don''t know why I said that." Aanya believed him, and they soon heard a knocking at the door. "Brother, open the door. It''s me," Shin called from outside of the door. "In a minute," Elior said, and saw Aanya standing up. "I will see you in the tournament, then," Aanya said. "Work hard. I have to argue a lot to get you the chance." "Thank you," Elior said, standing up as well. "And I am sorry." "Why are you sorry?" Aanya stopped just before the door. She looked back at him and pondered before a sleek rapier appeared in her arms. "You have nothing to be sorry for." Elior''s heart shook. It was exactly the other of the twin rapier that he had lost in the dungeon in the night of the high storm. "I think this belongs to you," Aanya said, giving him the rapier. Elior took it and looked at her eyes intensely, as he did not understand what to say to her. He surely had encrypted the artifact well and nobody could tell who made it, which means she had found it out the other way around. Possibly, see through the disguise. "Don''t worry," she said. "You don''t lie, but I won''t ask anything now. "Just tell me everything when you are ready." _________________________________ Chapter 77 - Trust (1) "Brother, what was that about?" Shin asked, watching Aanya leave. Elior said nothing and brought him into the bedroom, taking in the notes Aanya left him. Surely the notes on spell casting and artificing would be useful. Even if she was not a guardian yet, her understanding of spells will always be better than him¡ªeven though he knows more about the laws. There was something like talent, and potential¡ªthat could not be just mended with hard work alone. Though he never wanted to learn spell casting through the traditional way. He only wanted to learn how to use his abilities more proficiently with the spells. Basically, the spells that could be used in battle and in sync with his other abilities. He also wanted Shin to learn those things as he would be needing it far more than him, but that turned out to be a lost cause for now. Even though Shin had taken a few classes in the magic department, he never took it seriously. It is not the delinquent was not talented; he was just too lazy. After all the stuff Elior put him through from the morning training to the evening practising, duelling, he can''t work his brain for more. Moreover, to Shin, the thrills of close quarter battle held more than the nerdy spells, though that guy was the biggest nerd in the academy. Elior kept all the stuff on the small table beside the bed and sat. "There is a box under the bed," he said to Shin. "Bring it up." Shin followed and found a considerably big box under the bed though it did not weigh that much. What was interesting was that there were no locks on the outside, not any things that could be done to open it. thinking there probably are secrets within, Shin pushed it towards Elior. Elior did not open the box immediately and looked at the dyed haired youth with a thoughtful look. "Shin," he said, "Do you know why I helped you from the first time we met in the trial?" "Because we are fellow humans?" Shin asked, knitting his brows. Even though he said it he was not buying it. "Because you are special," Elior said. "Even though all the earthlings that go to the trial are somewhat special, only a few of them could hold a candle against you. Your potential is even more fiercer than the scions of the mother world." Shin looked at him dumbly. Even though he had not thought it through, he still had seen peculiar things in the limited time he was in the trial with Elior and the others. Surely, he boasted himself as a genius, but the display of a few people that he had seen in the trial made him awed. He still remembered how effortlessly Elior blasted an arm of a guy into non-existence, and how the redhead princess moved like the wind. Even though he came from a background of guardians, Shin knew almost nothing of those sorts, but the further he learned in the academy, the more he understood the gap between him and those people like Elior, Scarlett. Yet here he was hearing something that he seriously could not believe. He might be a genius, but surely not that much. Right? Seeing the serious look on Elior''s face, he became unsure. Elior shook his head. "You seriously don''t know how much power you can hold," he said. "There are very few people in this universe that are unique. Their potential, abilities are almost unmatched in the universe. You have met a few of them already. Aanya, Leroy, Professor Neldor, that crazy redhead princess, me, but you surely ignored the oddity in you." "Wow," that was all Shin said. "I''m not blaming you for that though, as you are surely a long way away from your awakening," Elior said. "But you should always remember, with great power comes great responsibilities." "Yes, uncle Ben," Shin snickered. And Elior could not help but laugh as well. "I''m not joking," Elior said and infused mana into the big box as it lit up in blue runic patterns. He moved the mana through a specific path to open the box. this box was not created by him, he was the person who input the runic formation. any wrong path in the veins of the ruins and the contents of the box will turn to incinerate. "All the power and potential you take from the universe, there is a certain price for it." Elior opened the box slowly while Shin was peeking into it as he could not wait for the secrets to unfold before his eyes. "Now, I owe you a few answers," As Elior finished, the box was entirely opened. Shin''s eyes widened the very moment he laid the contents in the box. In the box, the first thing that came into vision was a broken white mask¡ªthe same one as the masked vigilante. Moreover, there was another rapier as well as broken pieces of metal that once was a fine piece of armour. There were surely other things like disposable phones that he helped Elior buy, about a dozen knives, potions, and a few contents hidden even deeper into the box. "Brother, you?" Shin asked with a shuddering voice. "Yes," Elior answered. "I am." Elior kept the other rapier that he got from Aanya into the box, and brought out a fist-size orb from the box. "Do you know what this is?" Elior asked, showing him the orb. Seeing him shaking his head, he continued, "It''s a device that could read spirit signatures, meaning it could tell apart negatives from positives. Basically, a lie detector." "What do you want to do with it?" Shin asked, even though he guessed what Elior was trying. "As I said, I owe you a few answers," Elior said. "Though I could not answer all of your questions, nor did I know everything, I could give you some idea about what I''m doing. Even though I said, I never lie, I don''t want you to take my words for it.. I want you to trust me better." Chapter 78 - [Bonus ] Truth (2) "Let''s test out the orb shall we?" Shin nodded, and Elior showed how to use the orb. Elior infused mana into the orb and said, "I am a girl." The orb turned black instantly. "I have never spoken a word that is not true. Sarcasm aside." The orb turned entirely white then. "So for the positive fluctuations in the spirit, it would turn white while for the negative, its black. Got it?" Shin nodded. "Brother, you just said, you are a girl," he said, raising an eyebrow. "Surely, it is a lie." "Of course, but did you buy it?" Elior smiled. "If you could not manipulate the other person with your lies, then you are not lying." "It''s kind of twisted philosophy," Shin said. "It is," Elior agreed. He gave the orb to him, continuing, "You try as well." Shin took the orb like a baby and found some new interesting toys. He infused mana into the orb before yelling, "Girls can''t stop themselves from falling for me." The orb turned black instantly, and Shin raised an eyebrow at Elior. "Don''t look at me. I''m not judging you." Elior smiled. "And remember, it is not a mirror of truth, it just reflects your spirit fluctuations." Shin nodded and said whatever came into his mind. "I want to feel some boobs badly." The orb turned white just as fast, and Shin pouted. "The speed of the chance showed the eagerness of your spirit to that specific task," Elior added. "Alright, you have enough testing. NOw we will both connect our mana into the orb so that you know I am not doing anything fishy," Elior said and took the orb from him. He left it above the closed box and infused mana without touching it; Shin did the same. "You can ask me a few questions, but be sure I can choose to not answer as well." "Alright," Shin said and sat straight in the chair. "Then tell me, what did you do to me? The men you asked me to find out?" Elior sighed. "I give them what they deserve," he said. "These few men were working for a secret organization that runs very deep in the universe. They are deliberately hiding the dungeons in earth and even catalyzing the process of dungeon break in the earth." Shin released a breath slowly. "How do you know all these?" Ellior kept his silence for a second before saying, "Because I am the chosen one." "Chosen one, what?" "Next question," Elior said. "Fine," Shin said and pondered, touching his chin. "Have you harmed any innocents?" "Possible," Elior said, knitting his brows. Shin''s brows arched immediately and his lips quivered. Elior continued, "I have never abused or killed any innocent, to my knowledge, but I fought a lot in high school and beat up a lot of common kids." Shin sighed in relief. "You almost gave me a heart attack." "Do you have any more questions?" Elior asked as all the important stuff was over. Shin nodded, and his eyes narrowed again. "Have you killed any person?" Elior released a breath. "What do you think?" "I think you have not," Shin asked, and the orb turned dark slowly. it actually worked both ways, and now it was reflecting Shin''s spirit It was not that Shin did not know it, he just did not want to believe Elior was a killer. "But you surely have not killed anyone innocent, right?" "No, never," Elior said, though in his mind it was another thing. Even though he did not understand him clearly, he could tell there was not much between killing sinners or innocents. Either way, you are a killer. Once your arms tasted the blood for the first time, it doesn''t matter if it was a sinner or an innocent; you are a killer¡ªa sinner. And to a sinner, it is not difficult to cross the line and kill innocent people. Even if it was accidentally, he never would like to do that. He sighed again. "I think you got your answers," he said to Shin. Today turned out to be a very eventful day though he managed to got better at a few of the problematic tasks. Aanya was in a better state than he had assumed, though the trauma was far from gone; then his participation in the next trial was almost fixed and so was the trust of Shin in him. "No, I have a couple more," Shin said immediately. "But I can trust you now." Elior did not need to look at the orb to see it white, though there was a very thin smoke of blackness in it. Well, Shin could not be blamed, after all, he had not come clean entirely. He held too many secrets that he himself was not aware of. Surely, he did not expect the blind trust now. "Brother, this is a very serious question," Shin said, locking eyes with him. "Tell me, what is your secret in attracting girls?" Elior slapped his forehead. This was surely not the first time he heard this question from Shin. "I am telling you for the last time," Elior said, still infusing mana into the orb. "I have no secret ability to attract girls." The Orb turned white, and Shin furrowed his brows. "That means you don''t know all about your abilities," Shin said. "Fine, one last question. Brother, have you come up with your master plan to get me a girl?" Elior laughed awkwardly and was about to stop the infusing of mana into the orb, but Shin caught his arm, glaringly. "So you did not," Shin yelled with an ugly face. "All the miserable training I went through for nothing?" "Come down, come down, it''s not a big thing." "For you, it''s not. You can have all the women you want to have. Only the poor sidekick like me suffers." "Stop being dramatic," Elior said. "You will really have someone special. Just gotta wait and work for it." "YOu have said that long ago." "DId I?" Elior said and gestured at the white orb. "Look, it''s still the truth." "I don''t truth, I don''t want to wait, I want to have--" "Fine, I will do something within the tournament, but you got to promise to succeed in the tournament as well.. If you fail, I can not guarantee anything for you." Chapter 79 - Teen Romantic Comedy Shin waited with Lara and Ileana in the private training hall for Elior. The announcement of the tournament was made today, and Shin told them that Elior had agreed to train him to prepare for the tournament. The other two had the tournament in their mind as well, so both of them asked Elior if he could help them. Elior was more than happy to help them, and it even appeared like he was waiting for them to ask him. "What''s taking him so long?" Ileana asked, knitting her brows. Elior was one of the people who uses time the best as far as she knew, and even after he was admitted to the academy, he seemed always busy with all sorts of things going on, but he was barely late for anything once or twice. "Brother said, he was preparing something for us," Shin asked. "I thought I would ask Aanya to help me, but she already left, leaving a message to me," Ileana said, sighing. "I didn''t get to see how she''s doing." "Brother said, Senior Aanya will be fine," Shin added and remembered the scene when he saw Aanya leaving from Elior''s quarter. "I think something is going on between Elior and her." Ileana raised her eyebrows instantly, as it was hot news to her. "Tell me everything about it." "Well, I know nothing much," Shin said. "I saw Senior Aanya leaving with emotional eyes. She might have cried before that." "That''s not much?" Ileana glared at him, but her anger soon transferred towards Elior. "I will not let him off if he had done something indecent to Aanya." "Have you thought of it the other way around?" Shin asked, touching his chin. "What if there is more to it than what both of them let us know?" "You mean they are dating?" Lara asked for the first time. Shin did not answer while Ileana''s brow knitted together tightly. Other than Shin, who was closest to Elior, she was the person who was closest to Ileana, though both of them didn''t have the slightest idea what monsters they were hiding. "That might be possible," Ileana said. "Now that you mentioned it, Aanya asked me more about Elior than any other person. I thought she was only looking out for a promising student, it seemed something else. "I know Elior seemed hot stuff from outside, and a lot of the girls had their head over heels for him, but I never knew Aanya . . ." "Why do you seem more angry than happy for them?" Shin asked. "Of course, I would be angry. They did not even say a word about it to me," Ileana said. one was her best friend since childhood, while the other was her idol and became so good friend that she still could not believe it. "At least let the people know, or girls like Lara will keep on hoping." "What are you talking about?" the tallest girl in the group asked instantly. "Don''t lie to yourself, girl. I have seen how you look at him," Ileana said, shaking her head. "I have seen many others like you in high school. Don''t get me wrong, from outside Elior appears perfect in almost every portion, but it''s really not and definitely not dating material." "You seemed to know a lot about him?" Lara asked. Honestly, she herself did not know how she looked at him, and what another saw, though she could not deny she was never interested in anyone like that. "Well, we lived next door," Ileana said. "I never mentioned this before, but we actually dated for a couple of months." Lara''s eyes widened instantly and Shin looked interested as well. They wanted to know how the perfect boy was as a boyfriend. "Don''t look at me like that," Ileana said, laughing. "It''s really was not something serious. I just asked him and all he said was a simple ''okay'', and there was nothing much. It took me a few dates to know, I learned I did not see him in the eyes. And do you know what the funny thing is, when I told him it was not working, he said the same thing again, ''okay.'' "But because it was him, we still remained best friends till now." Lara could not grasp the whole thing and Shin was laughing, thinking it just sounded like Elior when the door of the chamber opened and Elior came in holding a big bag on his back. "Sorry, it took me more time than I thought," he said and saw the others were looking at him peculiarly. "What''s going on?" "Ileana was saying you two used to date," Shin said it without considering. "Oh, that," Elior said, acting as if he was reminiscing. "Such blissful days those were until Ileana broke my heart." "Yes, I got the sarcasm, but I''m seriously angry with you," Ileana said and came before him. "Why didn''t either of you two told me a thing about it?" "Me and who?" Elior asked, arching his eyebrows. "Of course, you and Aanya," Ileana could not help but shout at Elior, who was playing it dumb from her perspective. "Oh, I thought Aanya mentioned it to you before leaving," Elior answered, thinking Ileana was talking about why he or Aanya did not mention her leaving. He did not have the slightest idea what type of misunderstanding the three of them would be left with. "Seriously, I can''t believe you. I thought we are besties." "I get it''s a big deal to you, but you have to consider Aanya was going through a lot," Elior said, dropping the bag from his back. "Let''s not waste any more moment. I was already late." "Brother, what''s inside the bag?" "Special training gears for the three of you," Elior said, opening the zip of the bag. "Especially made by yours truly." The three of them came closer and found there were two heavy looking training vests as well as an inner thick robe. All the credits he got for killing the corpse flies in that dungeon break all wasted making these, and he was poor again, though he did not mind it. Money was barely a number to him. If he wanted money, all he had to do was create a couple of artifacts and sell them, and there were other ways to do it as well. The only reason he was not after money now was simple, because he did not need a lot portion of it, and his investment might cause some suspicions from the look of outsides. Even now, all the money he spent was with extreme consciousness. Certainly, no normal apprentice would have that many credits. But all of it would change after the second trial. He would need billions of credits then for preparing the third trial, which would be a thousand times more important than the other two. He had to make a journey to the mother world to steal a few things as well as collect a few things as well, though he did not know how to do it. As for time, he certainly could not wait for more after the second trial. One-month time all he had, before he had to start preparing for the third trial. His eyes drifted off towards the three before him. Certainly, he has to prepare them as well because on the third trial he would need everyone''s strength. The second trial or trial-one was barely the preparation for the third where all the shits would go crazy. A lot of things depend on his success there. "Brother." "Elior." "What are you thinking so deeply?" Elior came back from his trance and stood up. "Before I distribute your training vest, I want to tell you a few things," Elior started. "The trial-one won''t be like Trial-zero, but there are a few things certain. If you fail there, you will lose the opportunity to participate in the other trials." The three of them exchanged with one another and then looked at Elior. "You all seemed to have second thoughts, but it''s only natural," Elior said again. "Actually, from what I knew, Trial-one was not that difficult. It''s a trial more about training and growth. So, if you cross a certain threshold there, you will pass." "I am expecting a big but here," Shin said. "But," Elior agreed. "I don''t want any of you to just barely pass or get to the threshold. I want you to get to the very end and see more of the monsters you would compete against. I don''t know if you guys know, but the people of the Mother world are certainly not humble. "Almost all of them looked down upon people of the lower world and thought of them as lesser humans. And humans were barely any lower species than them." ______________________________ AUTHOR NOTES: The bonus chapters that I owed would come slowly and please throw golden tickets for this book to get more promotion from the site. It would be a lot easier for me to continue the story if a lot of people like it. I can''t give a certain number about the bonus chapters, but I''ll try 1 bonus chapter for every 10 golden tickets. Chapter 80 - Demonic Training (1) Shin held the sword tight before swinging it right at the tall girl before her. Sweat beads were apparent on both their face and body, and they seemed like they were barely holding in the practice. There were a couple of reasons for that. They were at it for at least four hours by now, taking a short break every half an hour, but even with that, they would not be at this stage when their legs were barely moving. All of this was because of the training suit Elior made for them. Though the one Elior made for the two was a slightly downgraded version compared to the one he was using, he still inputted a couple of things, keeping in mind what they needed the most. It even cost him more credits than his own suit. For Shin, who had the worst posture and form in the battle, he put the runes just like that, if he bent or even motioned his body even a little wrongly, the 100 kgs of weight would pull him downwards, not only that, the mana manipulation would turn 10 times more difficult. This was surely cruel to Shin, but considering how awfully he moves If he sees an opportunity in the duel, Elior had to do it. Shin might get better off his opponents now, but not all of them would be like that. Not all the people they would face would be inexperienced in battle. In the four hours, he had made the move wrongly over six hundred times and more than half of that time, he dropped onto the ground. As for Lara, it was not easier either. Well, it might be even crueller. Elior even considered asking Lara if she would be fine in it or not. But Elior knew, in talent, she could not compare to Shin, so hard work was the only way for her. So he just made the suit and gave it to her, saying the decision was on her how she uses it. Her suit was exactly opposite to Elior. In Elior''s suit, the weight of the suit will rise, along with the collectability of the mana manipulations. While in Lara''s suit, she had to manipulate mana all the time, or over a hundred kilograms of weight would always crush her. Depending on the level of her mana manipulations, the weight of the suit would hover around. Certainly, she had it the cruellest in the trio. Elior knew she was not that good at mana manipulations, so he input this. She had to keep on using some amount of mana all the time to keep the weight of the suit at a minimal level, and that was true even when he was duelling. A dozen yards from them, the chestnut-haired girl was sitting in meditations. She was similarly sweat-ridden. Spells of different kinds were forming and collapsing around her, like she was a failure of a mage. For Ileana, Elior chose to augment her spellcasting ability. He wanted her to at least have a few spells at instinct. Among the three, she was surely the weakest and if she could not even cast a spell instinctively before an attack arrives, she would not be the only one to suffer, but her companions would suffer too. Her magic robe actually stops her from creating spells, if it was not made in a certain amount of time, and that certain amount of time always lessens the better she became. Her training was surely not the cruellest, but most frustrating. And worst of all, they could not stop the training. Other than their ambition to succeed in the tournament, Elior actually blackmailed them somehow. They all learned it took Elior a sleepless night as well as over ten million credits to make their suits. He had turned a surely rich student into a peasant because of them. Moreover, when they said they would pay all the money slowly when they have that much credit, his reply was really epic. ''You want to buy my blood and sweets with credits?'' he had said. ''You call yourself my friends to offer me credits? If I want credits, I could earn millions of guardian credits easily each day, but do you think everyone deserves a piece of my work?'' Certainly, Elior does not lie. And he surely would not sell his stuff to just anyone. In the previous timeline, he had made that mistake, and evil was done from the weapon he had made. Certainly, he will only sell or give his pieces to the people he could trust. For the payment of the suits, all Elior asked of them to train at their best of ability. If they succeed in the test, it would be the best outcome for him. Frustrations rose in Ileana''s face as she opened her senses. Only then did she hear the yelp for help, coming from the other two. Both Shin and Lara were currently stuck to the ground, with pale faces and wet armours. They were so tired that they could not even move a muscle, much less manipulate mana to disable the training suit. "Oh god," Ileana said and stood up immediately. She was not certainly in good condition. Even though her body was in a fair state, her mind was on the way to collapse. Dizziness hit her and she was about to collapse on the cold floor. She barely stopped it in her four limbs. She breathed out a couple of times and disable her suit first. With a swirl of refreshing mana, she stood up and walked slowly towards the collapsed figure. "Do me first," Shin mumbled pitifully, he was actually crying. Well, it was not the first day they were crying in that training and if everything goes according to Elior''s plan, it won''t be the last day of crying for them as well. But Ileana went to Lara first. She was similarly crying and in a far more awful state than Shin. Shin''s suit works on his posture and physical body, mostly; Ileana''s on spell casting¡ªmostly mental energy and mana manipulation, but for Lara, she had it worst at both ends, physical or mental ability. After she disable the training suit, they could finally breathe freely. The heaviness in their body dropped, but they still lay there, crying. "I want to die," Shin whispered, laying properly on his back. While Lara was on Ileana''s lap. The poor girl actually passed out when Ileana helped her take care of the suit. All the effort she was putting in was subdued with the weight of her body. Ileana was even wondering how Elior put up with his training after everything he went through in a day. Though she didn''t have the slightest idea what her best friend went through. She only thinks of him as a student¡ªthe best, but still a student. While to Shin, who knew a little better, Elior was something else. He once heard Elior coming safely from a grade three dungeon, though rather pitifully. Surely, he worked no less hard than what they were doing now. As they were laying on the ground, the door of the private chamber opened, and Elior came in. He was actually fresh, like he had taken a shower before coming here. He did, actually. After working in the workshop, he went directly to his room showered like always before making way here, thinking he would look at their progress and assist them any way he could. "Looks like you guys still could not adapt with the suits even after four days," he said and crouched down near the three corpse-like figures. "I hate you, El," Ileana muttered, peeking at him. "No, you don''t," Elior chuckled and unzipped the bag he brought. From within, he brought out three flasks and helped them drink it one by one, though he could not help it in Lara''s case. He looked at the pale-faced girl from head to toe, and shook his head. He left the other flask to Ileana before sitting there. The flash contains some catalytic energy potions that augment training to about 50% as well as heal it, though they need to use it in certain routines to get the best effect. "Any progress?" Elior asked Shin, finding he was in the state to converse. "My swordsmanship reached level 7," the wannabe dead Shin said. "And strength and agility rose by a fair margin." "Quite some progress," Elior said, nodding. "You invested points in intelligence again?" "It''s only 4 points," Shin said pitifully so that Elior would not yell at him. "As you told us, I only invested in intelligence. The amount of mana I have is not enough for my training." Through training, all the stats could be raised to 50, but it was rather slow in the case of Intelligence. Intelligence actually doesn''t rise even if you practice mana or spells all day, what rose was mana and that too in a pitiful amount. ________________________ Chapter 81 - Demonic Training (2) One point in intelligence gives exactly 10 points in mana, whereas an entire day''s training in mana manipulations and meditation will get you or two points at best. Where''s the other physical stat such as Strength, agility, constitution, endurance or resistance¡ªevery one of them grows at least four or five times faster with proper training, though it needs to be considered after all of them reach 50 mark, it would be far harder to train physical stat than mental stat. Another magical thing about physical attributes was that they were connected. Surely if your constitution rose, it would be followed by your strength, agility, and vice versa. Similar things happen in between perception, intelligence, though it was on a marginal level. "The best way to train after your physical body is saturated is to invest most points in one single stat at a time and train," Elior said to his three friends, though one of them was still unconscious. "Though it could create a little problem in the transition of the body, with a proper training schedule, it could be mended. "For example, if you invest 10 points in the constitution, and then train a couple of weeks vigorously to raise your strength, agility, and resistance, then by that time, you will have 2 to 4 points in all the three stats. "But if you chose to invest in two or more stats together, the boast would not be that apparent. I think the most important attributes are Intelligence, Strength, Agility, and Perception. You can ignore strength if you are a mage, and agility too to a level, but mage needs to have as high intelligence as their perception." Elior was looking at the pale-faced chestnut-haired girl when he said that. "Ileana, you are not a typical mage. Since you can play with all the five universal elements, your training speed would be the slowest. If you want to raise your training speed, there are two ways for you. The first is to abandon one of two elements of the five. It will surely rise up your speed in training as well as spell casting, but I won''t recommend it." Ileana nodded slowly. "And the other way?" she asked. "You are the only one in our group who does not need physical attributes, so you can invest your points in either Perception, or intelligence." "Why not both?" Ileana asked, frowning. "You can do that, but it would not increase your training speed. If you invest in perception, the speed at which you differentiate magic attributes will rise, as well as the mastery in spell formula. It will not surely raise the power of the spell, but your spell will become more concise," Elior said. "As for Intelligence, it will raise your power in the spells, but creating the spell will take more time, and surely your training speed will drop. "I''m telling you to choose one at a time. I think you have about 20 free attribute points saved up right? Put everything in one of the two, to have a boast either in training and casting, or in the raw power." Ileana nodded, still knitting her brows. She did have over 20 points stacked up. Even without Elior mentioning, she had not invested the points before, knowing anything. At level 24, she has exactly 23 points saved. Now all he has to choose is between raw power, or concise spell casting as well as a boast in training. Unconsciously, her eyes drifted towards the three before her. Unconditionally, she was the weakest in the team, and investing that point in intelligence seemed the only choice for her as she liked to go hand in hand with them. But . . . "What do you propose?" She asked her best friend for advice in the end. Elior shook his head. "I will not answer that for you," he said. "I don''t want you to be influenced by my answer, but choose what you think is right for you." The knit in her brows tightened, and she sighed after a good minute. "I will go for perception," she said. "The training is already frustrating enough, and I don''t want to abandon any elements for now." "Wise decision," Elior commented. "The points you got after this, you can invest them in intelligence. Surely we have two dungeon travel classes left before the weekend, and let me know if I could manage a couple of extra days from professor Aleister." In the two dungeon classes, Ileana could level up two to five times, depending on her performance. So the point she would get will be 4 to 10, and if Elior managed to get the consent from Professor Aleister for any extra dungeon classes, that number might even double. Elior was about to explain to Shin about his matter then, but found Lara already waking up, blinking at them. Ileana helped her hold the flask in her mouth as she slowly gulped down the contents. Her body cooled down even further as she sighed. "Are you taking a rest properly after leaving here?" he asked, eyeing her. "Yes," Lara answered, sitting straight. "Doesn''t look like it," Elior said, furrowing his brows. "Listen, Lara. Resting the body is an important part of the training. Out of all people, you should know it better than anyone. You have trained yourself in swordsmanship since you are little. Your moves are already polished, all you need is more physical and mana power. But that doesn''t mean you have to train all the time. "From what I can see, you are sleep deprived," he said, though he was the one to talk. "You meditate all night?" "Not all night," Lara muttered, flustering. Elior shook his head. "Ileana, I will give the duty to look after her. See if she takes proper rest every night." "Yes, sir," the chestnut-haired girl shouted, saluting. She was tired, so could not stand up in her salutation, though the others still broke a couple of chuckles. "Lara, I think you should not just practice with Shin," Elior continued. "As I said, you lack experience and so does Shin, so both of you should go and ask to practice with anyone in our grade." "Brother, I don''t think there''s many that could match us, in our year," Shin said. "Surely, it''s Leroy, Hasan and a couple of others." "That''s why you two will go wearing those beautiful suits I made with my angelic arms," Elior said, chuckling. "Brother, you are the devil," Shin cursed. "Thank you," Elior laughed. "But seriously, other than the stats, experience is greatly important for you. Though the tournament will help, it''s still far away, so you should do with what you currently have. Ileana, you can join them too." "I wish, someday, I can make you go through all of these as well," his best friend muttered. "Shin and Lara, both mainly fight close quarters and their class also is similar, but both of your paths are entirely different. For a swordsman, close-quarter is the only option, but that was not true for Shin," Elior said, moving his eyes to Shin. "Lara, you need to have Strength, Agility at sync, and a good number in the constitution as well¡ªyou cannot let the constitution of a female ruin your career. "For you, I recommend the golden ratio of 2:2:1.5:1:1:1 in Strength, Agility, Constitution, Resistance, Perception, and Intelligence respectively." Lara first furrowed her brows at the number first, but knowing her speciality that was not her mana, she nodded. Elior moved to his good brother. "Shin, you would need intelligence the highest¡ªnot just because you lacked basic intelligence, but your future development will go that way as well." Ileana snickered out and Shin snorted, saying, "Haha, good jokes." Elior continued. "You will need strength, perception and agility in sync. Your Wave Runner class can deal with both close or long-distance attacks, so you can guess why I told you that." In the previous timeline, Shin ignored Intelligence for many years¡ªlimiting him in his ability. Obviously, the would-be Storm Summoner would need a good amount of mana to call up the storm. "I recommend the ratio of, 1.5:1.5:1.5:1:1.5:2 in the same order. Meaning you got to work on both the hardest in both, physically and mentally all the time." "Brother, I''ll die," Shin muttered. "Think of the promise I made to you," Elior said, trying to bring up his motivation, and surely it worked. Shin made a fist, with slight resolution in his weary eyes. "For me future girlfriend," he muttered. "I guess, I can suffer a little more." "That''s that spirit," Elior chuckled. he looked at the two females of the group, and told them, "You two go back now. it''s already dark. Take a rest first, then eat." The two maidens nodded and were about to leave shouldering each other. While Shin stood up as well, wanting to leave with them. "Shin, I did not tell leave," Elior said and stood up as well. "You will be here with me for a couple more hours." "Brother, why me?" Shin screamed. "What I did wrong? I wanted to rest as much as them." "Stop yelling and think about your future girlfriend." Shin''s expression turned ugly, but he did remain in the training chamber. He looked pitifully at his brother, asking for not anything difficult for today. "Don''t worry, I won''t make you do anything today. To be specific, it''s anything difficult.. I just wanted to teach you a couple of things about your class that you have not considered yet." Chapter 82 - How To Pick Up Gals "Brother, how about we do this later?" Shin asked hesitantly. "You know, after the training, I''m quite tired of picking up gals." Elior just ended the extra training for Shin, and it was already eight in the clock. The cafeteria was still lit in the luminescent, with the smell of delicious food drifting to their noses. Surely, it smelt far more tempting after those vigorous training, but today they have another purpose than just stuffing their stomach. It had been about a week since Elior was training Shin in the way of Shin''s class and so far, it has not been that productive. Surely, Elior knew better than Shin about the class and what types of things he could do with it. He tried to train Shin in those things for a few days only to know he was hoping too far. The Shin of the past timeline, and this one has a difference between sky and earth. Surely the potential was there, but Elior was not much of a teacher, as all his attempts were failures to show any progress. In the end, he could only choose to motivate Shin with the promise he had made. Which was to help this poor boy pick up a girlfriend. Surely, it would not succeed within a day, considering Shin was probably more terrible in it than he knew anyone else. Luckily, he recalled helping Shin in this sort of matter in the previous timeline as well. Maybe he would succeed with his advanced knowledge, though the chances were low. "Brother, I think we should wait for a day or two," Shin said, trying to back away. "The tournament is only five days away. I better put more effort into training for that." Elior tilted his head. This guy sure was not hesitant about picking up a girl before, but after all the things Elior entrusted him to present himself to the girl, he was seriously becoming hesitant. Shin could do shit-talk easily with anyone, but it was talking sensibly that stooped him. if he goes freely with an empty mind, he won''t be this hesitant now. Surely, that would destroy the chances with the girl they were attempting to pick today. That was why the wannabe delinquent was so hesitant today. After refreshing themselves, they came right to the cafeteria after Elior reminded him of how to talk and present himself. "We are not planning to go all out today," he said to the hesitant boy. "All you have to do is talk properly, like a normal person. You see that girl?" Elior pointed at a girl of five feet five, sitting in with an empty tray. She was not particularly beautiful, like Aanya or the half-elf they met in the trial, but she surely has good looks. Her aura was in the league with Ileana, but she was far more enchanting than, and compared to the chestnut-haired girl, she was half a head taller, and certainly has the things Shin likes. "Her name is Enna, in our same year, but in the other section. She''s majoring in healing, and particularly better at it than any others in this year," Elior introduced as he had already investigated with a little assistant from Lara who knew this girl. "Just go and try to converse with her. Should I go again about the pitfalls?" Shin considered, looking at the girl. She was not particularly beautiful like a few people he had seen, but the attractiveness was there. Her eyes were enchanting, as well as she was more of his type. He wondered why he had not seen her before. Well, he did stop after he almost offended all the girls from their class. "Shin?" Elior called. He already had a bad feeling about this. "Yes," Shin answered, swallowing a breath. "I will go again seeing your current state," Elior laughed. "First of all, your goal for today is only to give a good impression. The first pitfall for you, say goodbye to your terrible pickup girls¡ªwith your experience so far you should know, none of your pickup lines would work on any girl. It might even give them the wrong vibe. "Second, but it is just as important. Don''t look around her, or anything other than her face and eyes, and especially not below her neck. Got it?" Shin nodded and looked at Enna again. He swallowed again , "I''ll try." Elior shook his head in disapproval. "Make sure you don''t only talk about yourself," he said again. "Give her chances to talk, and show that you are listening. Another good thing will be talking about the same thing, sharing your experience in the academy and asking for her." Shin sucked in a cold breath and counted what he needed to keep in mind. He mumbled those things, and Elior tugged his shoulder. "Go, you got this," Elior said, pushing Shin a little. "Remember the goal. You only have to give her a good impression." Shin strode first but his speed decreased the more he came further towards her. While Elior stood there, keeping his eyes and ears at the event. Even with all the coaching, he did not know how much Shin could do here. If it was less, it wouldn''t be a problem, but his good brother always goes overboard with anything. Shin approached Enna, who turned her head to look at the delinquent looking boy with an innocent face. Surely, an odd combination, but people rarely aren''t odd. Enna raised her eyebrow to know why this guy was standing before her like this. "Is this seat free?" Shin asked, showing the seat across from her. He took more time than it was natural. Cursing himself, he opened his lips again, keeping his eyes directly at her. "Mind if I sit?" "It took you so much to ask that?" Enna asked, tilting her head. "I even saw you''re hesitating before standing with the cool boy over there." She eyed where Elior was standing alone. "Am I that unapproachable?" Shin swallowed his breath. This girl was surely not making it easy for him, but she sure was beautiful. He saw her big round eyes blinking at him with a little knit in her brows. There was even a slight curve in her lips. "Mind if I sit here?" Shin repeated the phrase again, ignoring whatever she had asked. "You perhaps are slow," she said, sipping the juice from the straw. A bitter expression appeared on her lips and she said, "Yes, you can sit." ''Lame!'' Shin screamed in his head and took the seat immediately. "By the way, I''m Shin, Same year, majoring as a Close Quarter combatant." "I know," Enna said. "Very few don''t know you in our year. If I take the liberty of words, then you can be called famous, though most of the people seemed to have no good feeling knowing you." "I''ll just take the famous part then," Shin said and this time he did not wait. "And you?" "Sadly, I''m not famous like someone here," Enna commented with a smile¡ªan unconventional sort. "Enna, by the way, though you probably knew it before you approached." Shin had the urge to break the eye contact, but he gritted his teeth and kept at it. Surely, this girl was not just beautiful and attractive to only him, surely she had many other suitors, or else how could she see through his intentions so easily. Was he seen through? Perhaps, but it doesn''t matter for now. ''Luckily, she did not look annoyed,'' Shin thought and saw her enchanting eyes at him, smiling. An odd smile that gives him some uneasy feeling. Like she knows some jokes that he didn''t. Then Shin thought if he had something on his face, though he urged him to mop his face. ''This girl is not annoyed. No, she''s far from being annoyed, her eyes clearly showing interest and playfulness.'' ''Brother, I need help,'' she said inwardly. He wanted at least a simple girl at the start. Though the one before him was far more attractive, he would still like to get some experience with someone less attractive like her, and more importantly, less witty than her. Just with her smile, all the coaching he got from Elior emptied away from his brain. She even had the way of biting her lips, sipping in the bitter juice that strayed his all thoughts. Is she doing it on purpose? "I hear you are a healer. I have one of those terrible illnesses that only a particular person could heal. That could very might be you," Shin asked with his usual smile. He put his arm on the table slightly towards her. All the coaching from Elior already started to stray away from his head. "Can you heal me?" The smile on Enna''s lips stiffened, though she forced another of her enchanting smile.. "I hear you have some problem in the head, but didn''t consider it this bad," she said with the curve in her lips. Chapter 83 - How To Pick Up Gals (2) "I hear you are a healer. I have one of those terrible illnesses that only a particular person could heal. That could very might be you," Shin asked. "Can you heal me?" "I hear you have some problem in the head, but didn''t consider it this bad," Enna replied wittingly to Shin''s cheap pickup line. "Unfortunately, my healing spell cannot cure your head," Elior, who was keeping his ears on the two, standing a few metres away, rubbed his forehead. He had not expected Shin to abandon everything so early, and it appeared his good brother was struggling to even look straight at her eyes. "Shin, pull yourself together," Elior mumbled, knowing Shin had the highest chances with this girl. After Shin made a scene with him the other day for not doing anything, Elior invested a couple of hours organizing on what to do with Shin. Surely, his horny brother would not stand by if scammed him after all the hard words Shin pulled through. Don''t get him wrong, two hours may seem little, but to him, in these two hours, he could earn a couple million easily if he likes. In that two hours, what Elior did was surf a few blows about dating and take notes. Surely, he knew a thing or two about women, but one can''t be sure. Women were, after all, undoubtedly the mysterious creature. Two hours was a bare minimum for him to get something out of the web. He had cross-reference many blogs with a similar topic and only took the common things. After that, he had to coach Shin for some time, though it appeared whatever he did, failed miserably. Then he put his mind to recall who Shin had the most chances with and Enna came to his mind first. In the previous timeline, the two of them had a good friendship, which could have led to something more. Unfortunately, like many others, Enna was not with them for longer. Other than Shin''s potential girlfriend, Enna was also an excellent Healer, the rarest class in the universe. If there were 200 warriors, 20 mages, then there would only be a few handful of healers and that number won''t reach 5. Elior already had planned to approach Enna and a few others, but the time was not sound so he delayed till now. Now, Shin presented himself with just the opportunity that they might be able to kill two birds with one stone. If Shin was able to get a grip on himself, then perhaps the two goals would not be far away. "Was it that terrible?" Shin asked, finding some sense. Now he was looking mostly on the clear glass table, though occasionally he was peeking at her face. ''Brother, I have failed,'' he sighed inwardly. Perhaps it would have been better if he had more time to practice. "Terrible?" Enna raised her eyebrow. "Don''t know, but it sure was cringe. Do you have any more?" "I do, actually," Shin said hesitantly. "But I am afraid you will throw that green juice at my face after listening to a couple of them." "Ooh, that makes me even more interested," Enna said with a glitter in her eyes. She brought her palms on the table and looked at him with bright eyes. "Try me." "I can," Shin said, peeking at the bitter green juice. "But you got to finish that first." Enna raised an eyebrow. "You sure seemed confident about your terrible pick-up lines," she said and drew out the straw before drinking directly. With a bitter face on, she closed her eyes and started to gulp down the drink first. Undoubtedly, it was one of the cutest things Shin had seen in his life. It took her a couple of seconds to finish the bitter juice as she eyed him. She licked the green juice from her lips, not knowing how enchanting she looked. "Done," she said with a curve in her lips. "You got no excuses now." "Fine," Shin said and tilted his head to look at her. "You know, I am actually a cook," he said and took a slight breath. "I don''t know who made you, but when I first saw you, I was sure you were hot and spicy." "Shin, no more pick up lines related to food," Elior mumbled, taking a mental note to remind Shin what happened last time when he made a pickup line along the line of eating carrots. Though Shin seemed to take a little notice and did not utter anything about eating. Enna blinked at the weird boy before her. She didn''t know what to reply to. "That wasn''t throwing juice worthy," Shin said. "It would have been," Elior muttered from away. "If Shin spoke about that hot and spicy meal." "What''s happening?" A voice called from behind. A feminine and familiar one. Elior first thought he was hearing things, but turning his head he found a maiden with burning silver hair, approaching him. It was none other than Aanya who had gone to mother world a couple of weeks before. He had thought it would take her close to a month to return, yet she came back even before the completion of the two weeks. "Aanya," Elior called. She was wearing as usual an easy dress and jeans, with that familiar smile on her lips that hides many things. She did not appear to be in depression or anything, did her business go well? He was not sure. "What was happening?" she asked him, taking a stand just next to him. "Just watching, Shin embarrassed himself," he answered and gestured to where Shin was sitting. "I thought you would take a few more days to come back." "Well, the business didn''t go as well as I had planned," Aanya answered, looking at the two individuals at a table. "So I returned without wasting my precious time." She then looked around to find no one else familiar. "I called Ileana before coming here. That girl sure taking her time." "She was probably tired after her training." "You got any more?" Enna asked even after hearing a few trash pickup lines. All of them sure was amusing to her, though she could tell Shin was holding back. Shin thought, and those lines came to his mind one after one. He didn''t know why, but today most of his lines weren''t dirty as they used to be. "Other than healing my soul with just a gaze, what do you do for a living?" "Cringe!" Enna replied. "Another one." "I didn''t know Shin was such a lady-killer," Aanya said from Beside Elior. "Did you teach him all that, Junior?" Elior shook his head. "I wish I could teach him a thing or two." "Out of all the food served here, you are the hottest." Shin continued in his job in amusing the girl before him. "Am I really that hot?" Enna could not help but ask. She sure heard more than a couple of times that she was the hottest thing. "Perhaps I have a fever." ''Girl, you have no idea,'''' Shin mumbled inside. With all the things he put through today, he did not have the energy for more and was about to leave. "Are you leaving?" Enna asked and looked at where Elior and Aanya were standing. "You guys came here for food, right? This table still has space. Call them." "That didn''t seem a bad idea," Shin thought, as he would have less time talking and embarrassing himself. "Brother, oh, Senior Aanya came back." Elior and Aanya exchanged glances and nodded. They went straight to the table and Elior took a seat beside Shin while Aanya was across from him, beside Enna. "Brother," Shin muttered in his ears. "How did I do?" "You have not embarrassed yourself all the way," Elior muttered back. "Though it would have been best if you keep it at the normal talk." "What are you two mumbling about?" Enna asked after addressing their senior Aanya. "Nothing," Shin said. "Something about the training." "So you guys are preparing for the tournament?" she asked, raising her eyebrow at both of them. "Well, it''s me and a few more," Shin answered. "Elior is only torturing us. Even my handsome face suffered through a lot." "I was only doing it so that you won''t get your ass kicked," Elior said, clicking his tongue. He gulped down the juice in one go, like he usually does. As they were talking, another person from their group appeared with a fast stride. "Aanya," Ileana said quite loudly and strode first towards their table. "How could you do that to me? Why didn''t you say anything before you went?" "Ileana?" Aanya called and stood up. She looked at the girl before her and found Ileana was a little unfamiliar. Seemed like a lot of things had happened within a couple of weeks she was away. "Are you on a special diet or something? Why do you look so thin?" "It''s all because of the demonic training," Shin answered. "Senior, wait until you see Lara.. She sometimes walks like a zombie during school time." Chapter 84 - Wager "It looks like you guys have your hands full with the training," Aanya said, hearing most of their peril. "Looks like Elior already held you few with an iron hand. I won''t have to be cruel now. All the training seemed practical and was to work on your weakness. Still, if you need my help, feel free to call." Shin and Ileana both nodded at once. Perhaps their senior would not be cruel like Elior, and would teach them with care. "Seriously, I did not know there are students who work this hard," Enna asked with an empty plate. She had already finished her food, but the conversation seemed more interesting than her usual business, so she stayed there thinking it would be only a few minutes more. Her eyes peeked towards the boy with dyed blond and red hair. "He didn''t look like the type to work that hard." "You have no idea," Shin muttered at her, before whispering into Elior''s ears. "Would you look at that? She already knows me so well." Shin moved to Enna again and said in a more audible voice, "Even with all the temptation, we still got to work hard. We are the guardian apprentice for god''s sake. If we don''t work hard, who would?" Now with everyone else, Shin seemed to find his natural voice, though he was trying hard to impress her. Anyone could tell it easily what he was trying. "That''s rich," Enna said. "Though I heard, you sleep during the classes." Shin coughed uncomfortably a couple of times. "That''s a lie," he barked instantly. "Whoever told you that, they are a liar." "Oh my sources are valid," Enna said, with her usual smile. Then her eyes drifted towards the entrance of the cafeteria, where a female a decade older entered. "Looks like I have to go. I have to train as well, though not masochistic like you guys. Good night to you all. I had fun talking." She carried her body with the tray, as the other on the table looked at the newcomer. It was a familiar figure to them as well. "Professor Sarah," Shin muttered, looking at the newcomer. He had a bad feeling about this. "I see. Everyone is well-acquainted with Professor Sarah," Enna said, introducing. "She''s my elder sister." Shin swallowed a breath, remembering he had been a waste mostly in the classes of spell casting¡ªthe ones that were taken by none other than Sarah. A curve appeared in Elior''s lips as he nudged Shin''s shoulder, telling him it''s alright. Though Shin only glared at him, asking with the eyes, why Elior had not mentioned it to him if he knew it before? The two sisters had some resemblance on the outside. Undoubtedly, Enna was the better looking one, while Sarah presented her stern self most of the time. "You are late, girl," Sarah said immediately to her sister, exchanging glances with everyone at the table. Her eyebrows arched a little at seeing Aanya here. Though she had seen the usual trio together on many occasions. That was an odd group indeed. A boy who was trying to piss everyone off, and another pissing everyone off without even trying. And then there were the girls, one born with so much wealth that even this academy held nothing to her, and the other. Her thoughts stopped for a moment. Ileana could be the most normal kid in the group in her mind, while the other three were monsters of their own nature. There was not anyone in the academy that could hold a candle to Aanya''s talent and background, while Elior was the new big thing in the academy. Every teacher has high hopes for things as he was solely of earth, unlike Aanya or Leroy, whom have backgrounds in the mother world. Shin could have been normal in her opinions, but looking at that, she could not say that. He was in the mess most of the time and from his presence, she could tell he had no idea what he was doing. Why he was trying to be a guardian? Perhaps it seems cool to him, but she could not deny his talent either. That leaves with Ileana. Sarah had considered taking this girl as an apprentice, but that thought did not progress as she could only help her in one element. Undoubtedly, this group will be the future of the earth and more if nothing goes wrong. "I see you were in their company," she said to her sister. "Yes," Enna said, peeking at them and her eyes lingered on Shin for a little more. "They are fun and interesting." "I know. If only not this troublesome to handle," Sarah muttered, hearing her sister. Her eyes darted towards the three of the freshmen at the table before at Elior. "Professor Aleister agreed with your plea for a couple of dungeons travel before the tournament. Be ready. It will be within a couple of days." "That''s good to hear," Elior answered, and Shin jumped up in glee, though he sat back again. "Thank you, professor Sarah." "You don''t need to thank me," Sarah said while her sister went to deliver the trays. "All the freshmen who will be participating in the tournament will be there. Make most of it before the tournament." "If you guys are in need of a healer after the tournament, feel free to call me," Enna said to the three of them, though it looked like she was only telling that to Shin. "One less thing to worry about," Elior muttered, though he did not know which matter he was talking about. The dungeon business, or the matter of Shin. They watched the two sisters leave, when Shin said, "Looks like my magic has worked." "I''ll be damned if that is true," Ileana scoffed. "You and her? Do you think she will go with someone like you? At least look at yourself. You look like the cheap playboys from the 20s movies." Shin was about to argue with her. Aanya mended it before he could even open his lips. "Now, now, Ileana, don''t say that," Aanya said, gesturing at Shin."Ignoring all his faults, Shin is a sweet boy. You haven''t seen his sweet talks a moment ago. I can see the two of them together in the future." Elior arched his eyebrow at her. Does that mean she had a vision just now? If it may, then it doesn''t look that bad. Unlike him, the other did not know their senior was a seer herself, and get these visions now and then. Elior did not ask anything about that topic though, knowing it would not be any good if Shin learns it. "That would have been, if he''s not such a dolt." Ileana sneered. "You''re just jealous," Shin snorted back. Ileana was about to argue, but looking at everyone''s knowing smugness, she looked down. "It''s nothing," she said. "I would tread the water carefully if I were you," Aanya said. "Though it wouldn''t help in much sense. Strings always found their way to untangle itself, even if you hide from it." she sighed after that. Ileana knitted her brows at her white-haired friend. She did not know what Aanya meant but it, but it sure sounded profound. Was it directed at her? But she seemed to be talking about herself. "How confident are you guys about the tournament?" Aanya asked next, looking at the three of them. "I don''t want to think about it," Ileana said. Even after all her progress, she was not sure about the tournament. Contesting with her classmates was a thing, but when it comes to the upperclassmen, it was another story. On the other hand, Shin smiled hesitantly. "I might be able to get better of a few upperclassmen," he said in a low tone. "You have no excuses now," Elior said. "I kept my end of the bargain. Now it''s your turn to give everything to the training and tournament." "But, I am already doing my best," Shin complained. "Really, now?" Elior snorted. "Have you ever started training on your own? Have you counted how many times I have to drag you to the training ground?" Shin flustered though he came to normal immediately. If Enna was here, he might be embarrassed for longer, but the two females here were not new to him. Senior Aanya was already a friend, much like a caring big sister, and his brother''s girlfriend. And Ileana was the annoying younger sister he always liked to have when he was younger. "I know these types of words don''t work on you, so I have another tactic," Elior said, pondering a little. "If you could perform well, I will give you a big surprise that you will never forget in your life." "How big of a surprise?" Shin asked, arching his eyebrows. "And how well do I have to perform?" "You will at least have to satisfy me," Elior answered.. "Let''s just say you have to stay in the tournament until you meet me." Chapter 85 - Wasteland (1) The Mana engineered aircraft stopped after covering the last ring of the Safe Haven into a wasteland almost devoid of any living beings in the regions. A couple of men in thick clothing, as well as a gas mask in their face, saw the carrier arrive and nodded at each other before moving in the direction. The air carrier landed on the other side of the wasteland, quite far away from them, and by the time they reached there, the people from the carrier were already coming down. The one leading them was a tall man in a black and blue suit, walking as straight as any man possibly could, and from behind appeared a group of teenagers holding in the numbers of about a dozen. The kids seemed to have smiles and excitement in their eyes, but just as they appeared in the middle of the wasteland, their noses squinted, and they covered their noses, looking at each other as if asking if they were at the right place. "Are only you two here currently?" the tall man leading the group shouted, finding the two approaching them. His eyes drifted all over the wasteland, trying to see if the journey would be worthwhile or not. "Professor," the older one of the duos addressed and bowed his head with his utmost respect and gestured to his younger partner to do the same as well. "Welcome to the junkyard. There were a few others, inside, but they were busy with their business. Should I take you to the place of operation or . . ." "We will go directly to the dungeon," the professor said, and looked at the sun in the middle of the sky. "Show us the way, will you? I haven''t been here since my days when I used to attend the academy." "At your service, sir," the older one of the gas-masked duos said again and gestured with his arm towards the direction on their left. "Sir, do you need a mask for yourself or the students?" Aleister looked at the group of students behind him and shook his head. "No need. The air is not that harmful, only disgusting. It will be a nice lesson for them." The students behind the professor grunted, though none complained out with words. The older resident of the junkyard nodded and led the way towards their place of operation. The junkyard was not actually that big, perhaps only a few square miles, though the murky and waste was high in number. Even there were many heavy types of machinery working to compress those things. Other than the heavy stench, there was nothing unnatural there. There were supposed to be going to a dungeon from here out, but looking still now the students have not found a single sign of a dungeon. They walked for a quarter of an hour until coming before a huge crater, surrounded by an invisible force field. Even though a few of the students knew the aura of a chaos wall, this one looked something different. Aleister bowed to the resident of the junkyard as the duo took a stand a few meters away. "You see boys and girls," he said, gesturing all over the place. "This entire wasteland is a dungeon, and it is one of the top secrets of the association. This is not just a dungeon, but a farming ground as well." The students exchanged glances with each other, as what they heard went over their heads. Well, it was almost everyone, but Elior who was looking right at the invisible force-field with a glitter in his eyes. In his mind, he already came up with what type of upgrade he would do with the things he will get from here. "Usually, freshmen are not allowed to enter here and even among the upperclassmen only the elites get to enter here," the professor said and brought out a cubelike key out of his inventory. "So, you should try to get everything out of this chance." He put the key right at the forcefield as it flickers with different rays of light from the seven colors. It continued for a few seconds until a gate opened in the forcefield. "Follow me," Aleister said, knowing that the upperclassmen were in place he did not care much for their safety. "This huge wasteland dungeon is divided into many layers, and we are about to enter the second layer." The two with the gas mask watched the professor leaving into the second layer, before the younger one of the duo spoke up. "Aren''t you a bit too respectful to the professor today, oldman?" "He deserves every bit of it," the elderly junkyardkeeper said, sighing. "A couple of decades have past, I see why no one remembers the past, though I cant blame anyone. The chaotic history of our ages are mostly covered and shrouded in fog of mystery, so you don''t know much, but oldman like me who have seen the history unfold could not help but show our utmost respect." . . . Elior entered the gate with Shin, Ileana and Lara, while Aanya smiled at them from beside. She was doing her job as a guide as well, and even most of the upperclassmen did not know why she was doing this sort of boring stuff in her time. The second layer of the dungeon was not much of a shocker compared to the first. Other than a little density in mana, it was just the same wasteland. Even the students were wondering if this was really a dungeon. Their teacher said, only the elites managed to get access here, but the scenes before them did not appear to be that interesting. It was a disgusting wasteland and nothing else. Was the association farming waste here? These sorts of thoughts were running on most of them. To the other student who knew nothing, it was just a wasteland, but to Elior who is a artificer it was no less than a treasure trove. "Organize," Aleister said and turned to his student. Other than the upperclassmen who stood on the sides, the freshmen all stood straight in line. "Now who here knows about Metal Fiends?" A silence flowed in the dungeon until a small arm was raised in the watchful gaze of the professor. Aleister arched his eyebrow to show he gave permission for the student to speak up. "Metal fiends are one of the least violent chaos fiends," Ileana started, recalling what she read about them. "They came in various shapes of a small badger to a couple of meters large. They usually eat metal and build heavy carapaces hard enough to need a good weapon to deal with any damages. Even though these metal fiends have the best defences, but they grow only till the third or the fourth-order before their growth diminishes. Mostly because they did not find higher-order metal to digest. "Even though metal fiends were not as violent compared to other chaos fiends, they are like walking bombs. Upon their death, those beasts could self-destruct, which was quite potent to kill or heavily injure any apprentice nearby. Apprentices or even Guardians are advised to use long-range attacks on them." "You give a fine description, 10 points for it," Aleister said, and sucked in a breath. "But you missed one important thing, perhaps because it was not mentioned in the book. You said metal fiends were walking bombs, but they are known as walking treasure troves as well. "As the metal fiends eat and digest different metals, in their body, a new kind of alloy formed. Through the alloy''s nature was mostly the same, the quality depends on what kinds of metal the fiend ate, and what order it is. And this allows is not just famous on the earth but throughout the motherland. Though it had the taint of chaos in the alloy, a good blacksmith could purify that, and the metal would be finest to make any weapons." Few of the students swallowed their breath, hearing that. That means they could scavenge rare alloy from here, and make good weapons for themselves, though they were not sure if they were allowed to take anything from here. "Yes, you can take your winnings from here, but it is limited to the ones you yourself hunted. You can look for a blacksmith in the academy or sell it to get credits and buy the stuff you like. The academy hadn''t been this generous since ages, so prepare to scam everything you can. No need to hold back, kill as many metal beasts you can and take everything." The students burst into cheers and excitement, be it the mages who did not have much use of the alloy or the warrior candidates. Even if they could not make an excellent weapon, or magical artifact, they could sell it to get a good price. If it was a class one metal, then it would go for millions of credits. Algester let the student have their fun for exactly five seconds before lifting his arm to silence them all. "Aanya," he called, and looked at the silver-haired maiden. "Since you like to waste your time on the freshman, you are in charge of all of them. Take care of them and don''t let anything happen, and most importantly, don''t cheat with them just because you are friends with a few of them." Aanya nodded and came before. "YOu have nothing to worry about, uncle." Aleister shook his head as if he was disapproved of her presence here.. "Everyone, make most of your chances, and Elior, come with me." Chapter 86 - Wasteland (2) Elior followed Professor Aleister without even considering where his old mentor was talking to him. He surely wanted to hunt some metal fiends to build a few weapons. Even though the second trial will not be that difficult for me, weapons always had their use. And it''s always better to have more of them. They walked deeper into the junkyard, both keeping their noses filtered with mana, still, the sight was not anything good. The sun was still in the mid-sky, and they were supposed to be here until the sunset. Not a lot of time, considering there were after metal fiends, it was not a lot of time. Those things were not savage, but they were best at hiding. "Your progress in spells has dwindled in the last couple of months," Aleister said, still taking large strides in the junks. That was, of course, the truth. First Elior was recuperating from his injuries. And even though his external wounds healed within the day, even the cracked bones and twisted muscles with the help from Progression, his mana path was another story. There was still the glitch for fusing with more things than his body and soul could handle. Whenever he got worked up in any mana related skills or ability, the glitch appeared with the pain and as well as the frizzing up. That was the reason why he had not gone hunting in the meantime in the deep of the night. Those things were already dangerous enough, going with a half-injured mana channel and the glitching soul will do nothing more than courting his own death. He will let the lackeys of Shadowblood run rampant a little more, though they have been silent like the masked reaper after the event. And yes, they were calling him the Reaper now, though it''s an image of a killer, nothing else. The federation or even association will never leak news of something cleaning up their shit. And Elior had no problem with it. It was the most reasonable thing to do. If he wanted glory, he would have brought daylight without the mask. But something was better to be dealt in the deepest of the night and by some heinous killer. At least, those weak-willed would think more than twice before selling themselves. His warning was clear. Become a lackey of Shadowblood or even any ghost organization. The next head might as well be thiers. Coming back to the topic, Elior could still practice, but it was not with wearing the training suit. Moreover, his attention was elsewhere. In the battle against the third-order corpse fly, he had touched the realm of unity. One with the universe. He barely just touched and with his current state, it was a damn miracle. The unity realm gave him more peace of mind whenever he was doing anything concentratedly. Meaning everything turned easy if he did one thing wholeheartedly. He did not have to imagine the void all the time in his concentration, as this was something superior and else. With just touching the realm, his mana recovers as well as stamina recovery doubled, though he had some trouble keeping with the touch all the time. There were some other benefits, but he was far from claiming them at his current level. Other than the training to stabilize the realm of unity, he was also practising his Abstraction of Void, as well as stealth ability. There was one movement skill he would like to try, but the glitch from the mismatch of his body and soul made it even impossible to even try it. A football-size metal ball-like thing suddenly rolled towards his leg, wailing as if it was alive. Seriously, there was no way for one to tell this was a chaos fiend. Other than some hideous robotics, it appeared nothing different. Yes, that was a metal fiend alright, and this one seemed to have heated more than what it was capable of digesting. If not taken care of it, this thing could blast here, though the slow bomb was far less compared to the self-destructing one. This one did not appear that high level. Elior inspected the thing and found it was barely level 24, though this very thing could go for about a couple million credits if not more. Just the corpse, without purifying the alloy it was growing. Though a live one would possibly get better. "A small, weak one," Aleister said and finally stopped. He turned towards Elior after looking at the fiend. "I reckon you do not fancy this?" Elior shook his head once. Surely he could make something out of it, but it would not even reach the level of his twin rapiers. Well, that is if he did not mix in other materials. "Can I ask you a question considering I''m almost your mentor in spells?" the teacher asked, moving fast on his legs. "Sure." Elior was equally fast. "Why are you so hurried about everything?" his old mentor asked. "You don''t strike me as the snobby, power-hungry type, nor the one after glory. Would it hurt you to slow down a little, and take your time in your carrier? After all, it''s only been a couple of months." "Is it about the trial?" Elior asked. "Yes and no," Aleister said. "It''s even more than just a trial. The trial is only to show the wretched humans of the lower realm where they stand. Though it gives them some recognition, but all that only for recruitment. The nobles from motherland only look to recruit a few promising players, nothing else. They don''t care about our struggle, nor do most of them have the luxury to do that. their situation was no better than us, and in some place, it''s worse. "I''m not against working for such people or even working in the mother world. I myself was there for some time, but one still has to take care of his home first." Elior looked at his old mentor, biting his lips. No, he was not feeling guilty or anything. He was just recalling the old days. Old days where this man trained me to be the man he was now. "I heard what you face in your other trial, but I am not sure what it did to your mind, that you become so hasty." The professor''s voice became stern. "Haste is not the way. You need to learn. It is not a competition, nor don''t need to prove yourself to them or anyone. At least not now." "I understand," Elior said and pulled the football-sized metal beast in his arm. The wailing turned heavier and the metal beast started to shake. "But you need not worry, professor. I''m not looking for a competition, nor I want the glory or to prove myself." The wailing turned stiff, and now it was only the shaking and warping of mana surrounding it. "Elior, what are you doing?" Aleister asked instantly, looking right at the small metal beast. "Put that away, quickly." Even though it was small, with such close distance, it''s more than enough to make a mess of Elior''s mess. "You need not worry, Professor," Elior repeated his word, and the professor was unsure if he was talking about the bomb in his arms or about their conversation. Either way, he moved fast towards Elior as the warping sharpened. "I''m doing this only because of necessity. The shadows were moving under our noses, they were preparing something. A storm perhaps, something that may collapse the very core of our heart." The metallic carapace on the body of the metal beast started to tear, emitting hot air and steam as well as the explosive mana. It was only a single second way, blasting apart Elior''s body. Aleister ground his teeth and made a seal with his arm to create an invisible spell of the spatial type. Sweat beads formed instantly on his forehead and his face reddened. If it was his peak, it wouldn''t be so difficult, would it? But he had to do it. After the injury, he got a couple of decades ago. wielding more than what he was capable was just like the bombing of his mana core, identical to what the metal beast was doing, though he was trying his best to incinerate his body in the process. Invisible chains of spatial force surrounded him in the instant and he threw them towards the bomb Elior was holding. He was not sure if he could stop all the damage, but he might be able to save the life of this poor boy. Unbeknownst to him, before even his chains reached the metal bomb, it stopped on its own. No, the stop was not the right word. It did blast in incinerate, but everything was still in Elior''s palm. Elior''s face turned no better than his old mentor as an invisible force put a powerful barrier surrounding the explosion, limiting it within the range of his palm. "You need not worry, Sir.. I''m barely doing what I think necessary." Chapter 87 - Scepter Of Dream Aleister looked at Elior with widened eyes like saucers, while Elior calmed the bomb within the barrier slowly. The sweats never stopped forming and this little stunt depleted half of his mana easily, still it was the best way for him to show such control to his old mentor. Actually, Elior wanted to showcase his spatial talent after returning from the second trial, but thinking it was his old mentor, he chose to show it now. "How?" Aleister asked, returning to his normal appearance. He dissolved the invisible, runic chains slowly. He knew Elior had Spatial element affinity, but that could not answer any of the question. Off all people he knew best the difficulty cultivating spatial element, and it was almost impossible to even touch the frame of the element before reaching level 100, yet here he found a boy of first order, not only controlling spatial element, but stopped a raging bomb with it. "I have a talent," Elior said and finally stopped. Scraps of hot alloy dropped on the ground¡ªsome portion in liquid while some still solid. "Though I''m far from being able to utilize all of it." Elior had no fear towards Aleister¡ªafter all, this tall man was once his old mentor, and helped him master his spatial ability in the first place. "Professor, you need not worry," he started again. "Even though it had not been more than a couple of months, I have confidence to win against the scions of the mother world." "So, what else can you do with your talent?" Aleister asked, raising his eyebrow. Affinity and talent were to other things. Elior seemed so adept in the spatial element just because he had ability in with special element. Meaning his mastery in special element will be far easier than anyone else with just the affinity. And that was not all. Any type of ability related to spatial element were of the highest regard, and it also gave a couple of other abilities. "I will be able to touch teleportation, reaching the second order," Elior answered, hiding anything about Void Stealth. "No, I am learning to coat the spatial barrier as armament around my body. It isn''t perfected yet, but very few, even in the second year, will be able to make a scratch on it." Surely, he had not awakened the Void Armament yet, which will give him far more capability with the element, still he could use the coating to some portion. Aleister released a self-conscious breath. "We will talk about this later," he said. "Now follow me." "Where are we going?" Aleister turned and said, "Since you have such capability, you should need a good weapon to top the trial. Let''s go look for a bigger Metal Fiend." . . . "Relax, I got this," Ileana said, preparing a football sized fireball before her. "This one was only around level 20, so this won''t be a problem." "Be careful," Lara said from the side, while Shin was ready to run away, seeing Ileana attempting to fire at the small metal beast. Ileana shoots everything of the spell right at the round metal fiend. Though the little round thing tried to run away, its speed was not even faster than a normal human, giving an easy target to Ileana. The scarlet flame blazed on the body of the small metal fiend as it coloured in red. Mana warped around it, as Ileana wiped the sweat from her forehead. "Stupid girl, quit stand there like an idiot," Shin shouted as he was the first one to notice the warping mana surrounding the fire and metal fiend. Without considering further, he pulled the short girl, while Lara, who was close to them, withdrew just at the same time. That was not all, Shin placed his arm as a shield as a weave of air waved towards the fire in order to eliminate any effect of the bombing towards them. One instance later, the bombardment came as the football sized metal beast incinerated to nothingness, warping the air and mana in the surrounding areas. Even for a thing at that level, they could not look down upon the terror it caused in the surrounding. They were the ones that first found the metal beast, and they were the one that got the first blast of the beast. "And you call me an idiot, huh," Shin sneered. Ileana did not seem to hear what Shin said, as her eyes were towards where the metal fiend was supposed to be. She did get the karma points, but she lost all the fortune she could have gotten from the metal beast. There was not a sign of even a scrap of the fiend. In the blast, all incinerated to nothing. "Are you guys alright?" Aanya asked. She was ready by the side with her weird shotgun in arms. Ileana nodded with others. "I suppose it won''t be easy," she muttered. "I thought my attack could kill it at once." "Usually, any type of weave or wave of attack gave the metal beast time to self-destruct," Aanya added. "Though even if you got the better of the fiend, the metal will be in poor condition. The most optimal way to get the best result is to have killed it with just a single attack." "I don''t think it will be easy for any of us," Lara added, and the other nodded. Even though they were the very best of the freshmen, their attack was still far away from going to the level where they could ignore the high defence of the metal beast. Shin raised an eyebrow and his eyes drifted towards the white shotgun in Aanya''s arm. "Senior, I have a request," he said. "Can you lend me your gun for some time?" "You have a neat eye," Aanya said with a smile, "but unfortunately, other than me, no one can wield it." Shin''s brows furrowed, as he did not understand. He remembered how she teleported them with a shot from the gun. Surely the gun looked uncanny, and the effects were more uncanny, but at least someone else could use it. They might not be able to teleport others, but using a couple of its abilities to blast off the metal beast should come easy. It was not just Shin who was interested in it, even the other two girls, as it was not their first time seeing the weapon. Seriously, they have seen no one else other than Aanya using a gun as her weapon. Surely, modern weaponry had advanced, and guns and other explosives also evolved, but it''s very dangerous to make it at a mobile device. They had produce guns that could kill second order beasts if used properly, but they were still unstable as there was even a chance for the gun to explode. In the end, they mostly focus on the invention of large cannons. "You see, this is not just a gun," Aanya said, jerking the shotgun. Light emerged all over the shotgun and it transformed into a sleek white sword. The others watched with widened eyes. Then she put it against her chest as it formed into a white breastplate. "This is once known as the Scepter of Dream, a Mystic Artifact that has a history of more than 3000 years, and only mana is not enough to run it.'''' The breast plate moved out of her chest and turned into a small hairpin in her silver hair. "I can confirm you, there is not a single piece like this in the universe and not something like this could be created without the intervention of the deities." "Wow, that was cool," Shin said, with sparkling eyes while the other two were no less startled. "With my current ability, I can only do these very few things with it," Aanya added, and turned the scepter of Dream to the shotgun again. "But I heard it could transform into hundreds of other weapons." "Could these be the legendary cheat artifact?" Shin asked with his knowledge of RPG games. Aanya only smiled as her reply. "Alright, now get to your business. Metal Fiends were not so easy to find." . . . On the other side, Elior was looking at a couple metre large metal worm from a distance away. Unlike the other one that he just took care of, this one was far faster, and had a good instinct to know their appearance of humans. It was, after all, a third-order beast. "Sir, are you sure about this?" Elior asked for confirmation. Surely, it will be a big scene with the association if such a treasure trove disappeared without any sign. "The students can take the things they hunt on their own," Aleister repeated his words. "If our dean knows, one of our students was so courageous to hunt down such a beast on his own, he will surely not make a fuzz." "Really, I thought that was only true for the lower order fiends," Elior said with a smile. "Moreover, you brought me to the fifth level. Without your intervention, I will never be able to get here." "What are you talking about?" Aleister asked, feigning ignorance. "I didn''t know you are so stupid to make small talk with an old man when a walking treasure trove is before you." "I guess, there is only one choice for me now," Elior said, releasing a breath. He brought out his spear and took a breathed in and out. "Can you do it?" his old mentor asked.. "Or should I help you? You should not if this thing blast, it will be far more problematic." Chapter 88 - Troubles Elior stood ready, bearing his spear on one arm, breathing in and out. Waves were warping from the spearhead, as he took the throwing form, while a couple of meters away, professor Aleister was ready with his spells. He was only waiting for Elior to fail or for any mischief to happen. From the teleportation gate to flee, if the metal beast chose to self-destruct itself, to the chains to collect the pieces as well as control the detonation. Surely, if the professor wanted, he could kill the metal beast with ease, and give it to Elior. Either way, it was the same thing other than the fact that Elior would not gain any karma points from it. His soul and body already had a glitch, and he had to advance to the second-order as soon as possible, in order to expel it. Certainly, he had contained it pretty well than most others in his shoes would, but it was still not enough. ''Nothing was enough,'' he thought and sighed. He was 6 levels away from it and killing these beasts will get him quite close to it. Surely it won''t be enough for him, but still, a couple of levels or more were always welcome. Levels did not just bring free points, it evolved his body and soul as well to some degree. "Are you ready?" Aleister asked in a low tone, flashing with his invisible chains all around. Elior nodded and increased the shock wave to the limit. He even condensed it into the voidbreaking move. Narrowing his eyes, he looked at the metal fiend eating waste metals in one mind. His Abstraction of Void had reached Level 4, and surely, he had gained a lot more expertise in the ability. Only if he could use the Berserk without the initial limitation, but that has to wait now. His leg rose in the air, as Elior moved exactly five steps when his front leg turned almost perpendicular to the sky, and bending his back, Elior flung the Spear aiming right at the head of the beast. Alister is already prepared with a teleportation gate, as well as the chains. He threw it right after Elior in case anything unthinkable occurred, but it appeared the Professor was trying too hard. The spear went like a bolt of lightning, warping the surrounding waves, and pierced right at the head of the metal fiend. Only then did the warping sound of the air come, once the spear already pierced the head of the metal fiend. That was not all. The fiend only happened to squeak for once when the spear combusted on its head, leaving a lifeless corpse on the waist. If one did not look carefully, one would not find any difference between the corpse or the metal wastes. "There goes my good spear," Elior said, though a smile held his lips. The head of the spear was entirely gone, and even the body was in the way of crumbling. Undoubtedly, it was not just his Abstraction of Void. [You have killed a Metal fiend, LVL 118] [You have gained 7803280 karma points.] [You have gained 150% extra points for killing a fiend two orders higher than you.] [Congratulations, you have levelled up. You have reached Level 46.] [You have gained 2 free attribute points.] [Congratulations! . . .] [You have reached Level 48] ''Still a couple of levels away,'' Elior thought. but the metal fiend gave far better than he had assumed. Well, it should be because of 150% boast for killing the higher-order beast. if it was just a second-order, he would get 50% boast, but another level doubled the number again. Still, it was only this easy because it was a metal fiend, and he eliminated it in a sneak attack. Aleister raised an eyebrow and dissolved the chains as well as the spatial gate. "That spear had explosives?" he asked. "I thought it would be useful in someday," Elior said with a nod. "I was not wrong." "You made that yourself?" The arch in the Professor''s brows never left. Elior nodded. "Not one of the finest, still useful," he said. "Don''t worry though, I left the trigger only with myself." Elior knew what his old mentor was worried about. If something sour happened with the item. He just saw the head of a third-order beast crumped into bits from the detonation. What would have if someone detonated it mistakenly inside the academy? It could kill the students easily. that''s why Elior always put a safety net in his equipment. Without his signature of mana, none could contact the explosives inside the spear. Certainly, the higher-order guardian could access the explosives, but they should have better toys than his stuff. "Looks like you are not just growing with your skills in combat," Aleister said and checked the old golden watch on his wrist. "Let''s collect the stuff and leave first. The caretaker of this dungeon will come soon, running in." Elior nodded and Aleister helped Elior smuggle the huge corpse within his inventory before leaving without any expression on their face. In the path, they had seen a couple of caretakers of the dungeon running in, but they avoided the path entirely. Surely, this thing would not go unnoticed, but within that time, Aleister would mend it with the dean. Metal beasts detonates themselves all the time, eating too much or trying to eat one another. It will take a few days for them to find out what really occurred in the farm, in that time, Aleister could take care of it. That was one way of doing things. Do the unthinkable first, before telling the one in charge that they have accidentally killed it. When Elior returned, Shin, Ileana, and Lara were still struggling. Though they have collected a couple of the metal beasts, it was crumbled into pieces and off low grade. Still, better than most of the other students. The only consolation for them was that they have gained a couple of levels in their failed tries. Aanya did not have the luxury to babysit them all the time, as there were far more babies there for her to handle. Undoubtedly, this trio had become the most sensible of the group after their initial failure. Still, she left one of the upperclassmen with them all the time. She would not like to see any unthinkable. When she returned, she found the lost big baby of the pack had already joined the trio, but her uncle was nowhere to be seen. "Junior," She asked, taking a stand in the sides. She was already the first name termed with Ileana and Lara, but she still felt a little funny in her stomach when it came to Elior. Certainly, it was not what she thought it was. The things were far more complicated than a teenager like herself should handle. ''If only I did not have the eyes, perhaps things would go better,'' she thought and shook her head immediately. "Senior," Elior said, looking at her, still with the expression as if he knows something others don''t. "How does your hunt go?" she asked, limiting the conversation to the hunt. "Better than I had hoped for." Elior looked at the three babies before him, taking care of the metal beast on their own. "Good to hear," Aanya said, and looked at the trio as well. Her eyes drifted on the exterior of Elior again, as a curve appeared on her lips. "You look like a proud mother hen now, looking after her chicks." "Ahem!" Elior coughed out, clearing finding her jokes more of an embarrassment than funny, but she liked it still. "Have you thought about the position I talked about?" "Student president?" Elior raised an eyebrow, eyes on her again. "Senior, I am really not fit for those kinds of jobs." "It''s not about fitting," Aanya continued, thinking Elior was not understanding what she was saying. It sure was difficult for her, not trying to tell about the other business Elior does occasionally. "Surely, you should know how much help it will be for your standing in the association and federation. If you like to free the earth from its poison, you certainly need a high position in these two. Undoubtedly, there are other ways, but none of them will be as fast as this one." "I have not actually thought about it." he gave a little embarrassed smile to her, though not in many occasions she had seen him embarrassed about anything. "Still, I reckoned it is not as easy as you make it out to be. Time is most important to me, and wasting even a little anything other than productive will may cause terrible consequences." Aanya turned silent, though she knew a few things and guess a little, she was not blind in most situations even with her eyes. If only she knew the whole truth, but how many in the universe knew about it? Probably a few, less than ten. "I''ll think about it," Elior finally said.. "But nothing before the trial." Chapter 89 - Hiro The morning sun shimmered on the yards of the Takeda Dojo while dozens of youths practised their sword, spreading throughout in rows. It was just the same for the kids, four-hour-long morning practice from mediation, the morning run to the sword practising. Hiro practised the kata for the thousandth time for today, before sheathing his Katana. Sweat dripped from all over his body, wetting his white robes entirely on his back. A dozen more kids half a decade younger than him practised their kata in the yards, making a shout in unison chorus. "Sensei," a voice called as a boy of twelve brought a white towel to wipe his sweat. He had a glass of water as well. Hiro took it without a word, looking at the kids practising. "Tanaka, set your shoulder straight," he yelled towards the youth on the side. "So do you, Maki. Sasaki put more strength into it. If you cannot, you can go back home. There is no place for slackers." The kids that Hiro named had not uttered a word and strengthened up, practising harder. Only then Hiro notice the boy that brought her towels had not left yet. "Is something the matter?" Hiro asked, knitting his brows. His mood never been good in the morning. "Master Mori has shown up," the boy said. "He wanted to talk to you." Hiro raised his eyebrow. "Tell the old man to wait and give him tea or something," Hiro said. "Say, I will be there." The boy left instantly, with the curt bowing, While Hiro sat on the wooden barricade, looking at his students. A few of them had managed to become Guardian Apprentice, but for none, he had high hopes for. Hoping will only get him disappointed, so Hiro stopped hoping, wishing, and expecting from the last four years. If hopes and wishes work, the world will be a better place already. He will not have to waste a couple of years in bed, nor will he have to see his countryman dying in the hands of the chaos fiends. Unlike the people who stayed in the rings, the rest of the world was not so secure. Death and destruction were every day''s business, and if there was some news of dungeon break, it would only put them into far more misery. A settlement of a few thousand people got destroyed just a couple of days ago, and the things that did that were only some low graded chaos fiends of first-order or below. It happened so quickly and abruptly that they had no way of sending the men to deal with it, though considering the fact, they barely have a few men free. Even people who have no support for the mother system put their life on the line for the sake of humanity. Hiro had not turned twenty, yet he had seen so far. From the death of his family to the close friends¡ªhe had suffered too many scars in these few years. He had a chance of giving up, a couple of years ago, when he got into some trouble, but he did not. All he took was a big long break. Well, even if he stops, what would it be for? It''s not like he would have his family, or anything to look after. Apart from this dojo, he has nothing. Hiro could not help but sigh, looking at the ever glory of the morning sun. "I thought you would be here," an elderly voice said and a man in a black suit appeared in the corridor of the room. Hiro looked back at the elderly man. Master Mori in his sixties and one of the few pillars of the country. For a guardian of fourth-order, keeping some part of his youth was not difficult, but seeing Old man Mori''s face, Hiro could only guess of the fine lines of youth this man once was. Even standing straight was difficult with the things Master Mori have to take care of, yet he was here. Perhaps something important occurred. "I had some important business back," Master Mori said and threw an envelope on his lap. He took a stand beside him, leaning against the barricade. "What is this?" Hiro asked, taking the envelope letter. Master Mori took a seat beside him and looked at the youth practising. He could not help but sigh, too. In a few years, he had to send these kids to battle, with barely any experience in actual combat. A few might live through a decade if they were lucky, while all turned to earth within a couple of years of their appointment. "It''s an invitation letter," Master Mori said, looking to find Hiro reading through the letter. "From the association. They are holding a small tournament before the incoming trial and invited people from all over the earth, including you and a few others of our ranks." "Have you sent them a reply yet?" Hiro asked sceptically. He threw away the envelope as if it was just another piece of junk, and looked at the elderly man. "I am actually flabbergasted again at their intelligence. They actually think the few people we have, actually have time to attend this circus." Master Mori let out a breath. "It''s not just for the tournament," he said. "If they want to attract their facilities to attract the few we have, they have taken a separate direction. Seems like they were holding a conference, and the representative of all over the earth was invited." "Then why me?" Hiro asked. "I am not a representative." "Perhaps because of what happened. After all, you were once a student of the institute." Master Mori turned silent after that. "Tanaka if you cannot move anymore, go back home. This place has no space for lazy muggers," Hiro yelled at his student again. Few of them were actually listening to them rather than practising their kata. "If you get distracted by only this, go home. Swordsmanship is not for you." The youths shouted in unison again, practising their kata. Hiro looked at Master Mori again. "Do they really think I will go there ever again?" he said, narrowing his eyes. "Or are they showing their grandeur to a cripple? Or perhaps they were feeling pity for me? Yes, that is it. Other than pity what else would it be?" Master Mori shook his head. Perhaps it was something entirely different, but how could he explain it to Hiro? "Either way, you will leave for the rings for the trials. It would not matter if you go a week in advance." "It wouldn''t matter?" Hiro snorted. "Do you think it''s easy for me to go there? Every second there is like hell. I''d rather spend time in a dungeon full of chaos fiends than in the ring. I had the nagging to vomit the moment I saw the faces of those self-important imbeciles. If it''s not for the trial, I''ll never even think about going there." "Hiro," Master Mori said in a loud tone, eyes shimmering with anger. But the anger left immediately and the old man sighed. The kid before him was his old friend, his dead friend. He had high hopes for him. Out of many, Hiro was the only one who could have broken their curse of misery, if only he was . . . Master Mori did not know what to say. He could not even blame the kid, as it was not his fault, but he could not help but be disappointed, either. If only Hiro was a bit more cautious. "It had been two years since I left the place, and you still can''t get over it," Hiro said, looking at the ants on the earth, carrying a dead fly joining together. "How can I get over it?" Master Mori sighed again for the third time. "Let''s not talk about it," he said. "If you don''t want to go, fine. Looks like I have to go alone." He paused again and looked at the kids practising. "They asked about any seeds that like to attend the institute. I have given no answer yet." Master Mori looked at Hori again, as if asking for his thoughts. "Why are you looking at me?" Hori said and stood up, bringing his Katana. "If any of them wants to go, you can send them." Mori shook his head. "Do you think any of them will agree to go?" he asked, standing up as well. "They look at you as their hero, and knowing what happened to their hero, will any one of them agree to go?" Hiro frowned. "Does it matter, though?" he asked, unsheathing his sword and readying to practice again. "Maybe not agreeing the best choice they ever made in their lives." "You don''t think that," Master Mori said, but got no reply. In the end, he can only leave. There were a lot of works left at the office.. "Call me if you change your mind, and for the trial, if you need any help, don''t forget to mention it to me." Chapter 90 - Before The Tournament (1) Shin was never good at listening to others, even if the person he was listening to was his mother. The tournament will start in an hour, and his mother finally found time to talk about how he will be wasting his potential if he went to the trial this time around. "I can''t take it anymore," Shin shouted at his mother. "Mom, I appreciate you have managed to find some time in your busy schedule to watch me in the tournament, but I would appreciate it if you only do the watching part, rather than making my decision for me." "Shin, why don''t you listen to me?" his mother said. "All am I doing is for your best." "I know," Shin said, gritting his teeth, turning around. ''But I don''t want best.'' Shin ran away after that, leaving his mother, who held her hand in high, calling him, with a thick frown on her brows. Shin did not look back or even answer her call and rushed towards the outwards of the dormitory. The tournament still had about an hour to start, but Shin already could not endure the talks his mother was giving him. He knew she thinks the best for him, but perhaps the best was not what he wanted. No, he never wanted what was best for him. He just wanted enough, like any other boys and girls of his age. From childhood, he had everything in his hand''s distance. He had everything a child would want. Everything but one thing. And to get that thing, he had done a lot of mischievous things. pulled pranks and behaved like total shit in public, but . . . Perhaps his way was ineffective. Perhaps someone in his place could have done better. He moved out of the dormitory, eyes drifting everywhere to find Elior, or even anyone else he recognised. The tournament was supposed to be held in the ground, but he reckoned Elior or others won''t be there this early. Knowing Elior, he was probably training or doing something productive. Sometimes Shin even wondered how could a boy of his same age do all those things and still walk straight. ''Perhaps because he was the chosen one,'' he thought, though he fully did not understand the meaning of it. Chosen by who? The gods? The deities? And to do what? Through all the conversation Shin had with Elior, he got the thing his brother was doing was top secret, and he was doing it for some reason. It was like someone of the higher up was commending him, and perhaps his brother did not know the whole truth, either. Either way, Shin was happy to know, it was not something reprehensible¡ªthough Elior had thought otherwise. From Elior''s perspective, what he was doing was no less than sinful, but he was doing what''s necessary. He knew none know about it that the two of them. Not even Elior''s parents knew about it, and from him, Shin had even heard Elior''s parents were not even happy about him being a Guardian. Both of their cages were different, but a little similar in some sense. Shin first moved toward the cafeteria to find someone. There are usually more crowds in the cafeteria than on other days. Perhaps because of the tournament. Not all the students were participating. Well, to be exact, barely a couple dozen of the freshmen were taking part, though only a few of them were in the attempt to get the chance to join the trial. His argument with his mom was because of the trial, too. She thinks he was wasting his potential on marching so early to the trial when he barely knew anything about the combat and other things. Shin knew she was thinking about him, but she never even seeks to understand how much hard work he had put in for this. "Oi, Shin," a gentle female voice called from one of the tables where a young woman sitting alone, with two full plates before him, filled with healthy food. Shin felt a sudden hunger as the aroma of the food entered his nose, but he brought it down. He was in no mood for stuffing his mouth now. "Enna," Shin called, trying to distract himself with her beauty. Sadly, it failed. He was not in the mood for that either. "Have you seen Elior?" "No," Enna answered. "But I heard Ileana talking about giving him a visit to the artificers'' department. That was a quarter of an hour ago." Shin''s face brightened, and he shot outwards again, yelling, "Thank you, Enna." "Hey, good luck with your match," Enna yelled too, but by the time Shin already left the cafeteria. "I wondered why he looked so pressed." Perhaps because of the tournament, thinking that she focused back on her eating. Shin ran straight towards the artificers'' department on the second floor. He had been here once, and finding the familiar room did not turn out to be a difficult job. The building was as vacant as he had remembered. The making of these rooms was far bigger and taller than the other rooms in the institute, as they had to install large instruments, and he had heard this building was supplying the power source of many things in the entire academy. Supposedly, Professor Neldor, who had built and planned most of the things here, left the heart of all the things right here in this building, though very few knew where exactly it was. Shin went to the exact room he came to with Elior once and found it was locked from the inside. Most likely, Elior was creating something. He did say he would prepare the things for the trial, as if the tournament held no interest in his regards. That was probably true. Shin knocked on the door a couple of times, hoping Ileana or someone else was there, or he was not bothering Elior with his production. As he had thought, a short chest-nut haired girl opened the door and let him in. Ileana was sweating, though considering the temperature of the room, he would not be in a better state in a couple of minutes. Shin got the answer for the temperature instantly. The large burner burns nonstop in a red glow, raising the temperature of the room by a couple of dozen degrees. Now two blacksmiths were working on the metal, purifying them. Shin knew both of them. One was none other than Elior, while the other was Aanya, both of them were currently in the thick apron, with Aanya''s hair tied in a bun behind her head. Both of their clothes were wet with sweat, and it was still dripping from their faces, back and front everywhere. If it weren''t the fault of the burner, it should be the huge sledgehammers both of them were holding. "They have been at it since I came here," Ileana said from beside him. "I tried to dissolve him telling about the tournament, he would need his strength to win, but do you know what he said?" "Is the tournament irrelevant?" Shin said, trying to mimic Elior''s voice. "Something similar," Ileana said, shaking her head, though it looked like it was for her childhood friend. "He said preparing the alloy is far more important." Shin nodded and saw bricks of metal decorated in the sides. He knew what these metals were. They were recovered from the metal beast, and now they held nothing of the taint. The ones he owned were in them as well. He had asked Elior to build him a sword out of it, though the answer he got was it would take time. Like Shin had thought, he would not be able to use that in the tournament, but he could not blame Elior either. Since he had heard how hard it was to purify the damn tainted metal. And now even senior Aanya was helping him. "I didn''t know senior Aanya knew to smite," Shin muttered. "She knows artifacting too, though she said it was barely good." Ileana laughed. "She is the daughter of a Smith and magic engineer after all." Shin watched the two hammering the metal. Contrary to what he had believed, it appeared Aanya was really the crude one. Yes, her stammer had more power than Elior, but her rhythm was not so refined as Elior. Though Shin could be mistaken, after all, he knew nothing about metal or blacksmithing. But seeing such and feeling the mana undulation in the metal, he could feel Elior was doing the part of refining the metal more, while Aanya was supplying her strength to him, making it easier for him. Those two work in such good sync¡ªalready knowing what they would be better at. "I wondered if they talk about metals on their dates," Ileana said from the sides. "I smell something burning," Shin laughed and suddenly found his mood was better than when he ran off, too. "And it''s not the burner or the metal." Ileana snorted, but she still had to admit.. "They look good together." Chapter 91 - Before The Tournament (2) "Shin, why the long face?" Elior asked, finally finishing most of the work for today. There were still alloys to be purified, but that won''t be today. Other than the tournament, he had other things to do. He removed the thick apron from his body while Aanya turned off the burner, bringing the temperature of the hall to normal. "It''s nothing," Shin lied. "Whatever it is, you got to perform your best," Elior said, checking the sweat as well as the wet dress. His eyes drifted off towards the clock to find there was still time to take a shower. "Show the world what you are made of." Shin nodded. The thought of his mother watching him perform his best was not bad. Not bad at all. She should see how much effort he had pulled into it. Abruptly, Ileana''s cell phone rang, and she opened it to say, "My mom, they should be here." She moved away, picking up the call after that. Elior raised his eyebrow to recall he had left his cell phone in his room, and his mother probably called him too. He looked at Aanya, who was wiping the sweat from her body on the side. "Senior, thanks for your help," he said, looking at her. "We should go now." "Don''t mention it." Aanya looked at the clock. "Good luck for your match, and you too Shin, Ileana." Elior and Shin nodded while Ileana was still on the phone. They left the artificers'' department with large strides. "Elior, your parents are already here," Ileana said, hanging up the phone. "My dad too?" Elior asked, knitting his brows. "Yes," Ileana said. "They were at the ground, where the tournament was held. My mom was there too, asking for us." "I need to take a shower," Elior said as they approached the stairs of the second floor. "Tell them I''ll be there in ten minutes." . . . It did not take longer than 10 minutes for Elior to prepare. He would have liked to bathe for longer as the hammering was quite exhaustive, but with everything about the tournament and his family, he had to eliminate that thought. Putting on the leather jacket of the institute and the similarly black leather pants, he left the dormitory. Most buildings have been vacated by now. All the students were currently on the ground. Without much thought, Elior strode there as well. The venue currently held a few thousand people. Other than the students, almost all the guardians of their family were invited on this occasion. There was no shortage of press as well¡ªafter all, only on an occasion like these very few, the academy takes in the press. In other cases, the academy was sealed like a fortress. Only a very few influential people other than the academic stuff could enter. ``If I am not wrong, the matches today will be telecasted throughout the world," he thought. The academy most was covert in their operation about teaching the student, but the situations in the rings were at unrest, with multiple dungeon breakouts in the last most. In the end, the association decided that it will be a good thing to bring down the global panic. "Brother," Shin called instantly as Elior appeared close to the gate of the stadium. By the way, the delinquent looking boy did not run towards him immediately, but looked around to find something. Sighing in relief that he had not found what he was looking for, Shin joined Elior. "What was that about?" Elior asked. "Press," Shin answered with a stiff expression. "They are everywhere." He pointed in one direction where a dozen journalists, as well as their cameramen, were encircled by a few of the students. "I thought you would like the limelight," Elior said with a laugh. "I thought that too," Shin answered. "But in the last ten minutes, I have answered the same question again and again and again. In the end, only with the help of an instructor I safely evacuated from that place." "Let''s go quickly then," Elior said. "I don''t want to get into the mess so soon." "By the way, your parents should be at the first tier, on the right of the staff''s lounge." The two of them moved into the stadium sneakily. It''s almost weird, this place they used every morning for the jogging was so filled with cacophony and packed with people. The stadium was not actually big, barely had the seats to hold ten thousand people. The institute was never a place for too many. A high barricade was installed surrounding the tiers of seats so that the supernaturalists of the match would not affect too much of the crowds. Compared to the outside, the inside was currently full of reporters and press. The tournament will start in a few minutes, but before that, they were given full reins. It was not every day they got into the institute after all. "Look, Leroy," Shin called, pointing to his right where a single boy was held captive by dozens of journalists. It was not actually that far. If they put their ears into use, they could hear what they were questioning their fellow student about. Well, the question is mostly related to the tournament. As far as their reports go, Leroy held the most chance to top for the freshmen, but they still were asking how much he had prepared to face the upperclassmen. But contrary to their belief, Leroy was answering their questions calmly one at a time. "Let''s flee quickly from here," Elior said, as he was already on the run. "Shit!" he cursed. Unfortunately, there were already a few journalists approaching from left and right. Elior could have run away if he had wanted, but it would appear as him running away from the camera''s, using his supernatural abilities, even if he did not use them. "Good luck, brother," Shin said his sides as his voice drifted away. That guy actually ran away, leaving him alone in front of the journalists. Elior released a self-conscious breath and let the journalist come. A few of the cameras flashed with the lights as they held small mikes before him. "Make it quick," Elior told them. "I have not met with my parents yet." The journalist seemed to hold some unspoken rules between them as they did not showered him with dozens of questions at once, but one at a time. "Apprentice Elior, how much confidence do you hold as you go into the tournament? How far are you expecting to go?" "Confidence?" Elior picked up his eyebrow. "I had some, and it should be enough to let me go as far as I want." The reporter that asked the question became silent at once. Perhaps stunned by his answer or left the others to do the asking. Another one in the middle of the group asked, "What are your thoughts on the performance of your classmates? Could they stand apart from the upperclassmen who have more time to prepare and hone their skills better?" "Stand apart? That could be done very easily," Elior answered truthfully. "You might be surprised to find that there may even be a few freshmen who beat the upperclassmen." The reporter raised an eyebrow while the next one asked his question, "Are there really students who can beat their upperclassmen who spent over a year honing their skills?" He really was not believing this crap, and most others were in the same state. "You few seem to have some misconceptions about guardians," Elior said. "Yes, time is important, but not everyone prepares for the sets of skills. Like there were students who had expertise in defence, some in spells, some even held their expertise in crafting and had no redeeming battle qualities. All of them will appear in the tournament. What do you think will happen when a first-class battle oriented freshmen battles against an upperclassman who is learning the art of alchemy? "Moreover, it was not just about their expertise. There are freshmen who can come as victorious even if they fight battle oriented upperclassmen." The reporter turned silent and nodded, half-believing everything. They were, after all, normal folks, and not much about the guardian business was leaked to normal folks. They mostly think every student prepared in combat-oriented classes or similar that would help the combat-related classes in the battle. After all, it was the most needed class. "Your classmate Leroy told us that there was only him and you who could top for the freshmen. What are your thoughts on that?" "Did he?" Elior''s eyes drifted towards where Leroy stood with the journalists. He seemed to fit Elior''s gaze and looked back. Leroy gave him a smile and carried on with the journalists. The same journalist continued. "Leroy expected to battle you in the tournament more than the other upperclassmen. It sounded like a challenge. What is your reply to him?" "I have the same thing in mind," Elior said with a smile.. "Though we are unlikely to go against one another in the tournament, unless we carry ourselves to the finals." Chapter 92 - Before The Tournament (3) "I see. My boy is quite popular in the academy," Elior''s mother said, giving him a hug. The press got more of his time than Elior had intended, but still, he was here. The matchup will be announced within a few minutes, and Elior only has that much time to get together with family. His father was stoic as he had remembered, watching the things with a curious gaze, but silent nonetheless. On that note, it was the first time he was seeing his father after the regression. After he lost so many, after he fought in so many skirmishes, so many battles, deaths and his own death. His regression was more like the memory of the future of the other timeline blending with his sixteen years old self, so he could not say he missed them really like who the failed Elior would have appeared, but in some sense, he could not help turned sentimental seeing them. His father had not asked him anything other than just looking at him carefully. Well, his father was not at fault. After all, Elior was supposed to only take crafting courses. Though he did take the crafting classes, he had taken two main lines that expertise in the forefront of the battlefield as well. That was something unacceptable to his father, and to his mother too, but she chose to be the cheerful one, with his father being the cold, stoic one. If both of them started to give cold shoulder to their teenage boy, it might even turn the situation worse. Really, it would have happened if Elior was not so understanding. His father had not asked him any question about that yet, but that does not mean it was easy. It meant it was screwed up big times, actually. But he can''t do anything to mend it now. Not to mention the few minutes he had before the tournament, he might not even be able to bring everything to normal in his life. All he could do was ask for their forgiveness, but it wasn''t time for that yet. "Mom, the others are watching," Elior muttered, not that it embarrassed him, anyway. He was that kind of person who wouldn''t get embarrassed by a lot of things, much less embarrassed by a little embrace. "So what?" His mother said, though she let go of him. On the side, Ileana''s mother was embracing her as well. Both the mother-daughter pair were not that tall. Her mother was barely five feet five while she was a few inches lower. They looked more like a pair of sisters than mother-daughter. Her father had not found time to come today, which made her a little sad, but with her mother giving her courage, she was doing fine. "Mom, I told you," Ileana said to her mother''s worry. "I''ll be fine. This is just a tournament. The instructor will look over our safety." "I''m sure they will, dear," her mother replied. "Still, don''t fret too much when throwing the towel." "Thanks for your cheers, mom." Elior could not help but laugh at seeing the mother-daughter pair. His aunt had not left a second of her daughter. While his mother even joined her to tell both of them how lean, they were becoming. Well, in the case of Ileana lean was not the right word, but it should be frail. Ileana was really turning frail after all the training she had been put through. While in the case of him, Elior did become lean, but it was more one of the ideal site. He had grown fine in these two months. His muscles had grown where they needed to be, and the fat burned almost altogether. Still, to his mother, he was thin and lean. He reckoned his father would be better to judge his body, but Dr Viswas had not even said a word to him till he was here. A couple of minutes later, Shin came in, dressed in his leather armour with the sword sheathed on his back like a seasoned adventurer, and he was not alone. With him came Aanya, wearing the dress of a volunteer student who was working for the welfare of the audience, to see if nothing goes wrong or anyone gets hurt during the match. "Brother, we are asked to join the dressing room now," Shin said. Elior nodded. "Mom, this is Shin, I talked to you about," he introduced, showing the delinquent looking boy. "Don''t judge him by the looks. He may appear like some stupid delinquent, but he''s not actually. Well, he can be stupid at times, but he''s my best friend." "He certainly did not look the type you said he is." His mother greeted and so did Shin. "But appearances can be worn. Good luck to you Shin in your upcoming matches." "Thank you, auntie," Shin said with a flustered face. He clearly did not like how Elior introduced himself, but other than the glaring, he could do nothing. "We have to go soon." Elior''s mother moved to the next person in the volunteer clothing. She first thought it like the other volunteer students she had seen that she came across, but the smiling face of this silver-haired female made her think otherwise. Even though Aanya was in the jersey of volunteers with her hair bound behind her back and with a cap on her head, none could dismiss the fact that she stood out even in those clothes. "Who is this?" His mother asked with a smile on her face. Elior did not have to introduce Aanya, Ileana did it in his stead. "Aunt, Mom, this is Aanya," Ileana said. "You know¡ª" "Really?" Ileana''s mother lit up, and she came closer, peering at the volunteer carefully from head to toe. "Ileana has a big poster of you in her room. I even thought my daughter was not normal, with the adoration she had towards you. But seeing you, I have no complaints whatsoever. Well, her father might have grumbled for a few weeks if you two got together, but it will be fine." "Mom," Ileana screamed, stopping her mother from letting out anything more. Her face was flustered a bit red, and so was Aanya''s, though a lot less. "Stop spouting nonsense." Her mother burst into a chuckle. "Well, don''t mind me, dear," she said to Aanya. "I was just joking, though I will really don''t mind if you two get together." She burst out with another chuckle. "We might not be together as a partner, but we are still good friends," Aanya said with a pressed smile. "And I did not mind. I even envy Ileana that she has such a loving mother." "Thank you, dear," Ileana''s mother said again. "Thank you for taking care of my daughter here. I heard almost everything from Ileana, how much you took care of her and pampered her." They were about to converse more when the announcement was made, telling the tournament will start soon. "We got to go," Elior said and let his mom kiss him on the cheek. He eyed his father once, who looked at him only. "Bye, Mom, Dad. I''ll come during the break." "Ileana, don''t forget to throw a towel, if you cannot win," Ileana''s mother yelled from behind, and Ileana strode away as well, leaving Aanya there. The dressing room for the freshmen was the same and quite close to where they were. It did not take them even a minute to get there. Finally, there they got some silence contrary to the cacophony on the outsides. There was a big screen on the side of the big dressing room, displaying who will be participating in the matchups. There were not many in the big room though, barely a dozen students and half of those did not even want to participate in the trial, only here to get the experience. On one of the benches, Lara was seated alone, eyelids tightly closed. Elior even saw Leroy in another one, not his closed eyes, but he was alone. Then there were Hasan, Peter, and a few others he knew. They did not have time to greet them as on the screen it was about to announce who will be the first contestants that would duel. "Nervous?" Elior asked, sitting next to Lara. Lara released a deep breath and opened her eyes. She nodded, looking at him. "That''s better," Elior laughed. "But I figured you will forget to be nervous when you battle. Don''t worry too much. You have prepared enough. Just try to give it your all." "By the way, brother, where are your spear and armour?" Ileana asked. Elior finally recalled he had forgotten to take them when he came out of his room. With his parents coming, he totally forgot about the lesser important things. "I forgot." He laughed. "Don''t worry, I might not even need it today.." Or even in the finals, he won''t mind going bare of no weapon, considering if he was ready to show his full strength. Chapter 93 - Freshmen (1) The first face appeared on the screen and it was someone named Richard of the upperclassmen, a sturdy-looking youth a couple of years older than them, while in the other space another face appeared. A face all of them recognised, dyed red and blond hair with piercing in his ears, and marking on his eyebrows were once other piercings were. It was none other than Shin. Shin''s face brightened the moment he saw his face appearing on the screen. Unlike most others, he was not full up in fear. Even though he did have the fear of failure, his confidence was further. After all, this was the opportunity he was waiting for. "Shin, you won''t need any advice, will you?" Elior asked with a smile. "No, I''m good," Shin said and started to warm up his body, stretching. "I am fortunately in time." Abruptly, a feminine voice came at him, wasting his effort in warming up. Shin peeked to find it was none other than Enna, currently in the institute''s uniform, with a badge on her chest. She came right before him with her sneaky smile on her lips. "Don''t worry about getting beaten. I am here, I will heal everything." "You got a cheerleader there, Shin," Elior joined in, laughing. "Now you have nothing to hold back now." Shin gave a pressed chuckle at their jokes. The way Enna said it seemed she had no confidence in him. Well, that was the way it should be. After all, no one of the students in their right mind would think the freshmen could make things hard for upperclassmen who had everything prepared. "What are you doing here?" Shin asked Enna, knowing she was certainly not here to participate in the battle. "Of course to heal you lots," Enna answered, showing her badge, which she had after a long nagging with her elder sister. "I got permission to come here. I was worried you guys would get beaten up too badly, and have no one to heal." "Well, I can only thank you for your worry," Shin said, squinting his nose. "But your worry might be unfounded. At least for me, it is unfounded." "Someone seems confident." Enna pointed at Shin''s opponent in the screen. "Have you seen him? He''s almost twice of your size. he will blow you like a worn out autumn leave, still good luck. Don''t get beaten too badly that even i would have trouble healing." Just then, the speaker in the dressing room called, asking Shin to enter the stadium. "Just watch me," Shin said and went out, jumping his way. "Good luck," Elior, Ileana, Lara, Hasan and many others said in unison. "Does he really have a chance?" Enna asked, knitting her brows. "Just watch the match," Elior said, gesturing at the screen. Shin and the other upperclassmen came on the screen within a few seconds. They stopped ten yards away from each other as the audience cheered loudly. Shin had his low-quality armour on, with the basic sword that he got in the academy, while the sturdy upperclassmen had a heavy axe on his arm, with thick plates of armory. "Doesn''t seem like Shin has a chance," Enna muttered looking at both the figures. "The upperclassman was such a sturdy figure and almost two feet tall, while Shin is only a little better than a skeleton. How could he compete with him?" That seemed to be in the mind of many of the audience, and so was in Richards. "Junior," Richard said to Shin, knowing voice was not telecasted. "This is the first match, let''s entertain the audience first then I will defeat you." Shin squinted his nose. The smiling upperclassmen did not seem to say that out of arrogance, but thinking about him. Still, Shin could not help but sneered. ''Do you think this is going to be an easy win for you, senior?'' he muttered. ''Then you are gravely mistaken.'' The one who was currently referring the match was none other than Ford, wearing white costume of the referee. Seeing the both of the participants ready, he blew the whistle. The first match of the tournament started and the crowd cheered with cacophony. Both the participants rushed out at once. The sturdy upperclassmen holding his high axe and Shin his regular sword¡ªit was actually nothing special. He could have got a better one if he asked his parents, but he was waiting for Elior to make one though that would unlikely come in the tournament. Still, Shin had enough confidence in himself. Shin started with measuring the upperclassmen first. Both of them exchanged their first blow, the ax against the sword, clanging nose reverberated a little with the discharge of mana. "You are good, junior," Richard said again with a smile. "You too, senior," Shin said and his sword moved into a basic arch of a cut. He had word so hard to polish his basic skills, of course he would like to see his progress on the big platform. Shin had heard Elior single handedly beat up a dozen of upperclassmen within a minute or two. Hearing that would make one think the upperclassmen were weak, but the catch was that Shin never actually succeeded in dealing a blow to Elior if they fought seriously, much less defeat him. And who knows how much strength, Elior was holding back that time. Taking Elior as an Unit was wrong, and Shin knew it. Even though he had heard Elior say he could deal with a few upperclassmen easily, Shin was not sure. He needed to measure it himself. In the dressing room, Enna''s eyes sparkled as she watched the match. Though she had seen the training of others in the hall, the match was nothing like that. she thought Shin would get defeated immediately, but that was not the case. The wannabe delinquenti was holding himself far better than she had thought. Though she still thinks, he would be defeated in the end. "What''s he doing?" Ileana asked, knitting her brows. "I have seen him move faster than this when he duels with Lara. And why was he so low today, other time, he lunged and jumped every way possible." "He''s measuring his opponent," Lara answered, eyes still on the screen. She seemed to get some confidence seeing the match. Before this, they seriously had no idea how tough the upperclassmen would be, as they never fought one. "As for his frantic movement," Elior answered for the rest of the question. "He was in the suit for three week, and it solved most of his bad habits. I even told him as far as he could with the basic skills, but I reckoned if he gets his chances he will certainly take it." "What are you talking about?" Enna asked, not knowing the full story. "You guys think he can win the match?" "Watch the match." In the match, both of the participants had become quite sweaty, though their speed only rose as well as the caliber of their strength and mana. Richard was already at his top speed though he was holding back in his speed, while it was the opposite in the case of Shin. though only they what kinds of tricks they were hiding. "I certainly did not think a junior would keep up with me," Richard said and gasped. He rose the man in his axe and hammered it towards him. Shin dodged. His lips held a curve, but the eyes were narrowed in concentration. "Trust me senior, you have seen nothing." In the next moment, a gale of wind came, rising Shin in the air. He twisted his body sideways dodging before moving right at the sides of his opponent''s blindspot. Shin''s sword was already brandished with mana and it only need to be swung now. Shin did right that, a strong thrashing of his sword on the back of his opponent. Richard could not balance himself well and flung a couple of meters away, head dropping towards earth. Shin did not let him go then though. Why would he let go such an opportunity to finish his opponent? Nobody in the audience had seen it coming, and certainly not Richard, or else he would not be in such a state. Before Richard could get hold of his body, a cold blade trusted towards his neck and only stopped before his neck. Richard drooped onto the ground in defeat and a smiling face of a youth greeted him. "It''s your lost, senior," Shin said with a smile and the crowd burst into an uproar. Certainly, none of them knew it would go like this before the match, but that did not stop them from cheering for Shin. Ford whistled and announced in his mic, "The Victory goes to Shin Olwyn." A huge image of Shin held the screen, and all the crowds cheered for him.. certainly, they had not understand how he did it, but who doesn''t like to see a underdog win? Though they were not sure if the freshmen that won just now was the underdog or not. Chapter 94 - Freshmen (2) Shin returned to the dressing room with a bright smile hung on his lips, and when everyone was congratulating him, the next participants of the next match were already announced. It was Leroy from the freshmen and someone of the upperclassmen will duel together. All the students cheered for Leroy as he left. Well, everyone except Elior that was. Leroy unlikely needs any good luck to win his matches. "Sorry," Shin apologized to Enna. "You didn''t get to heal me. Maybe next time." Enna snorted through a curve and held her lips. "So, you are not here to get beaten after all." "Well, of course," Shin replied, eyeing the screen where Leroy and his opponent had arrived already. "Truth be told, none of us here get beaten." Lara, Ileana and others nodded with Shin. The match started and most of them concentrated on it. Leroy was up against another one of the upperclassmen who specializes in battle, right after Shin. Possible coincidence, but Elior thought otherwise. There were two things that could possibly be the reason behind such choosing. First, the one in charge of the draws wanted to lift the gloom that held many in the world that new talented guardians were at making, but that could be done if they fight against those who were not expertises on. And the other reason was most likely. It was to stop the freshmen from going to the trial, though the first match was not so difficult. Elior reckoned the matches will only be started to get tougher from here on out, though there was no surprise in that. How could his stubborn old mentor let them go so easily? Though he had shown him some of his power, the others did not. And Professor likely wanted to see the depth of his strength. On the screen, Leroy was battling against his opponent vigorously, none having an easy time at the match. The crowds were cheering in uproar as this second match was already this close. But Elior knew this was nothing but a sham. Leroy was likely hiding his strength, or more likely, he did not need to show his strength here. He was always the sneaky type after all, though none could find anything bad in his appearance. Ileana was biting her lower lip, eyes glued to the screen. She seriously could not make out who had the upper hand and if Leroy even had a chance of winning. A couple of months ago, she had no interest in battles, and that leaves her almost oblivious to these things. "Enna, you and Leroy are of the same section," Shin said to the girl next to him. "How much strength does Leroy have, do you think?" Enna looked at Shin and then towards Ileana and others as they were interested in the question as well. "Honestly," she said and her eyes drifted towards the screen again. "I have no idea. Before this, I seriously had not thought any of you stood a chance. As for Leroy, even though he and I are in the same section, he rarely came to classes other than the training classes." "That''s unfair," Shin shouted. Why does he have to get bored in all those classes then? He can endure the ones related to mana and fighting, but why does he have to learn science, match. History, geography? "Well, you can get the temptation if your grandpa is the president," Elior chuckled, though his brows were knitted. This was news to him. He had not known Leroy did not attend classes even from his knowledge of the last timeline. But why though? ''I know Leroy had good relation in mother world, but he was not that of a bigshot now. Does he not need those classes? Or it could be, he was already schooled about those before. Leroy was after all not your regular human being.'' "Or if you have a big mouth like Elior," Ileana added. "Bigmouth is not enough, if you asked me," Elior said, snorting softly at Ileana and his eyes moved towards Shin. "If it was true, then Shin won''t have to attend any of the classes. Then again, exemption from the classes might put you into more troublesome stuff. Do you think Leroy waste his time just because he did not attend the classes?" Shin said nothing, and eyed back to the screen, while Ileana gave a "Huh." "What?" Elior picked his brows. "Well, you have to acknowledge that I knew you better than anyone here," his childhood friend started. "But I don''t understand what''s going on between you two? Did something happen between you two? All the time I have seen you two together, you always tried to avoid dealing with him, and did not even converse as you do with anyone." Elior raised an eyebrow. "Did I?" he feigned ignorance. "Maybe we are playing a game, where I use my everything to hide from him, while he tries to uncover me. And you know the interesting part he doesn''t even know we are playing a game, much less the rules." Ileana snorted, not even considering he gave an enigmatic answer. It was not her fault, Elior was a little weird, to begin with, and that was even before the last timeline¡ªnot that he knows how much it affects him. The match continued for five more minutes while the upperclassmen actually could not go on for more. His mana already was exhausted, and he was barely keeping up with his physical stamina as it will look quite terrible to lose out to a junior. But in the end, the unthinkable happened. Yet again. Leroy got a good opportunity and made his opponent give up the battle, holding his sword on his neck, but unlike Shin, Leroy was behind his opponent so he could not have a chance. He was more thorough even though he wasted more time. In the high stand of the stadium, an old man and professor Aleister were watching the match. The head professor heard Ford announcing the winner as he looked at the elderly man beside him. "Dean," Aleister asked. "What do you think about the freshmen?" "The freshmen?" the elderly dean repeated, his eyes were still at his grandson who was walking away towards the dressing room. "It''s only two matches, let me see more of them." "You know what I am talking about," Aleister grumbled. "Let me rephrase it for you. Do you want your grandson to be on trial a week from now?" The old dean sighed. "You are forgetting something, Aleister," he said. "You can''t actually put Leroy together with everyone else of the freshmen. Sometimes, I did even know what was going through his head. It would have been so easy if he was a little less perfect and be more normal. He never has broken into a fit of anger or indignation since I took him here, can you even imagine it? It had been almost ten years, I brought him here, and I have seen nothing but respect and gratefulness in his eyes." The dean sighed again. "I went deep in my worries, didn''t I? Yes, he will likely go to the trial next month, and I am unlikely to stop him." Aleister nodded slowly. "Looks like I can''t stop my student either," he muttered. ''Not after the show, he showed me.'' "That''s interesting, ye," the dean laughed and looked at his head professor. "Of all the people I know, other than Old Neldor, you are the most stubborn person I knew. And here you are allowing a couple of months old chicks to the trial? Surely, time did not have that much effect on you, Aleister?" "It''s not the time," Aleister said and saw the face appearing on the large screen. A girl of the freshmen bearing a long sword and an upperclassman with a longsword as well. A contest between two swordsmen. "The situations in the earth is changing. Unknown dungeon of higher-order appearing everywhere on the earth, and even our ring is not safe from it. My student actually put an argument, telling me, they needed to grow and that too quickly." "But surely, you won''t be swayed by that?" Dean asked. "I know about the changes. It is threatening, but unlikely what happened eighteen years ago." "That''s why the tournament," Aleister said. "If they cannot even get to the threshold, I will not let them go. Still, I am surprised to see their growth." "Unfortunately, some grumbling students were least of our worry," the dean said. "How is it going on with our guest?" "They are here, almost all of them," Aleister said, gesturing toward a closed stand where a group over a couple of dozen seated--all with different standing, and looks. these were the spokesperson from all over the world, here for the conference. "Most of theme was not good with the words, but still they were here.. I reckoned they would be really mad, if you don''t show yourself to them soon." Chapter 95 - Freshmen (3) "What just happened?" Enna asked, bewildered still, eyes glued to the screen where a tall female was standing with knitted brows while unsheathing her sword. A few metres away from him was another swordsman, though he did not have the bearing of one. Currently on laid pathetically with broken light armour on his body, losing his sword. "They are just class apart," Elior answered the question. It was not just Enna who was drumstickened, even most of the others were in the same position as him. The audience did not understand what happened at first, but as they watch the replay in the big, all of them thundered in cheers. Lara''s match actually ended with just one move. Her sword thrashed her opponent in a full swing, while her opponent could not even connect his blow. Be it his agility, skills, all were lower compared to Lara, coupling with the fact that he took Lara lightly as she was only a freshman even after two defeats of his classmates, Lara managed to defeat her opponent with just one single blow. She would be an idiot, or someone like Leroy, if she did not capitalise on the advantage. "Still, the opponent was weak, right?" Enna asked, still could not believe it. "Perhaps," Elior answered and watched Lara come in with a knit on her brows. She could not help the curve in her lips as she saw her friends, but still, the thoughts about the match were on her mind. It had not gone down like she had assumed it would be. "They are still cheering for you," Ileana said, pointing towards the screen. "I did not know you were so powerful." "I did not know either." Lara smiled, sighing lightly. "All I see during the match was a huge hap in his defence and he was too slow. All I did was swing my sword before he could." "And here you are," Elior completed. "Don''t expect the other matches to go like this. After this, the upperclassmen will be far more alert, not just you but every one of us." "Looks like you are the one who needs to worry about that first," Ileana said. "El, you are next." "Really?" Elior looked at the screen and really it was him on the screen. Another person appeared on the display, and it was someone Elior was familiar with. It was none other than the leading fellow who staged the little play a month ago. He was the one along with a few more Elior beat up for messing with him. "Ethan," Shin muttered. "Brother, isn''t that the guy, you had some problem with?" "Looks like it," Elior said and stood up, walking towards the door of the dressing room. "Are you not going to take any weapons?" Ileana shouted as the thought itself was outrageous. Though Elior had beaten this guy before, at that time both of them were barehanded and they had not used mana. Though she knew Elior was stronger than anyone here and probably had the strength to defeat this fellow again, she did not know why he was taking about chances. "I forgot to bring my spear." Elior did not look back. "Just have to make it with a bare fist, that''s all. Elior slowly appeared in the ring while his opponent was already ready with his sword. "Long time no see, Ethan," Elior greeted, raising his arm. Ethan frowned, seeing no weapon on his opponent, and it was not only him that appeared like that. Many of the audience were bewildered with Elior, presenting no weapon. In one particular area of the stand where Elior''s family were staying, Aanya raised her eyebrow looking at Elior. "Is Elior a magician?" Mrs Viswas asked, not seeing anything threatening with her son. Though mages could cast spells without the help of any weapon, they were likely to come with a wand, staff or other magical instruments. Perhaps because they were poor, she thought. Many of the studnets come from second generations or highly influential family of guardians who could decorate their sons and daughters with good weapons and artifacts, but not them. "The institute would not let anyone barehanded here." Her husband knew better than her. He was, after all, a reputable sergeant and many low-level apprentices came in his hospital for check-ups and whatnot. He already collected all news he could get hold on to about his son¡ªnot that he said a word to his wife or anyone else. "It''s likely your son wants to show his power without using any weapon." "Dear, at least don''t grumble today," Mrs Viswas said, knowing why her husband was like this. "Perhaps he forgot to bring in his stuff." "Ileana told me Elior is trained by the finest Mage of the academy," Ileana''s mother said from the side. "Aleister Scribe himself. Perhaps he really did not find any useful artefact¡ªafter all, those things were quite costly. We are also looking to buy something for Ileana, and you would be surprised to know, nothing comes under a couple of million credits." She sighed heavily after that, focusing on the screen. "Perhaps Ileana will come in empty-handed as well." Mrs Viswas was bewildered, but not her husband. Aanya, who was working as the volunteer, kept her eyes on the ring, and ears at them. She could not help but smile¡ªafter all, she knew there might not be any students richer than Elior himself. The metal they purified today alone will go for a couple of hundred million guardian credits. Meanwhile, in the match, Ford was looking at Elior, with the whistle in his mouth, arching his eyebrows. He was implying if Elior needed to get his weapon or not. Elior nodded, telling Ford to start the match. Ford did, whistling, but none of the contestants came at each other. "You think you can compete against me without anything like the other time?" Ethan yelled at him with narrowed eyes, arched eyebrows, unsheathing the sword. "You will be disappointed to know it won''t go easy like that time." "How about you make it fair for me?" Elior smiled and saw his opponent''s sword glittering out. "How about you drop your sword, and we fight in bare fist? At least you can do that for an old friend, right?" "You are no friend of mine," Ethan shouted as his legs moved towards Elior, as his sword bared threateningly. "Aree, aree." Elior watched his opponent come at him with swift speed only a few strides away. He swirled the mana inside his channelling path and lowered it further into his legs. "You broke my heart." Ethan was only a couple of strides away from him when Elior flung up into a summersault. His body arched up above the swordsman as Elior moved like a master gymnastic, jerking his leg to deal a hard kick on the back of the swordsman, before having a landing gently. Ethan blew away a couple of metres, but the upperclassman was able to control himself, yet the crowd burst into an uproar. He came at Elior again, with a high swing towards Elior''s chest, releasing his amount of mana. Elior ducked and saw through the feint. Ethan''s sword turned into stony as well as his body. Soon, the sword changed its direction and jerked toward his neck. ''Stone reinforcement,'' Elior thought and raised an arm in the path of the sword. The stony sword connected with his palm, as a clang sounded out in the ring. Ethan looked bewildered and saw the shock wave warping from the clash. Elior did not actually stop the blow barehanded, he had raised a counterfeit of void armament to block the attack. Even when the void armament had not reached its threshold of initial success¡ªmeaning not appearing at his status window, it was still better than Stone reinforcement. That means it takes a lot more mana as well. Elior twisted his arm surrounding the sword, trying to free the sword form his opponent''s palm. Sadly, Ethan was not that big of an imbecile, he twisted it along with Elior''s palm, before pulling it back. But he could not do anything for the kick that came afterwards. Elior dealt another kick¡ªthis time on the chest, jerking the fellow with the sudden release of a shock wave. He did not let Ethan go then either, shot at him, before he could stumble himself. Elior went for the arm that held the sword again, and broke the grip with his two fists, working against one another. Elior could have done this easily, just shooting enough disturbance of spatial element at that, Ethan would have no other way, but to drop it. Then again, why bother? Using physical strength looked far more troublesome, but it was far less than using the abstraction of the void¡ªit takes a lot of precision, perception, mana, and most importantly, his mental energy. So why bother then, when the result is the same? ________________________________ Believe me, I wanted to make this tournament small, but it appear it will take about 15 chapters. Chapter 96 - Freshmen (4) Elior came back to the dressing room, whistling his way in. in the dressing room, there were still that few people, looking at the replay of his match. It had not lasted long after Ethan let go of his sword. ELior twisted his leg around the arm, and then put him into a lock, twisting his arm, until Ethan gave up in the test. Only when he appeared in the room did they glance at him, congratulating him. Even his old friend Leroy congratulated him. "It was certainly a show, brother," Shin said in envy. Probably thinking if he could do that as well. Elior had been training him in those things for a couple of weeks. Not the way he helped him and Lara, but another special training, only to bring out his best. So far he had failed in the main thing, though he could actually move around a little freely using the waves. "Still, Lara''s one swing had more impact on the audience," Elior said and took a seat next to them. "So who''s next?" "None of us," Ileana answered, biting her lower lips. As she watched all her friends win in such a fashion, her mood had stiffened the future. She was really happy for them, but fear for her own match could not be hidden. It only heightened the further she watched them win. "It''s a match between two upperclassmen." "It''s that senior who volunteered for our dungeon travels. What was his name again?" Shin added fumbling for the name and then saw the name on the screen. "Gaivan. Yes, that''s right. It''s him and someone I don''t know." Elior nodded and raised an eyebrow. He was certainly familiar with Gaivan¡ªbut he can''t be called friend. This timeline or the other. This youth certainly has potential, and as far as his memory goes, Gaivan held a certain important position in the association when he was at his peak. Then again, he was possible of some Guardian heritage family and had an easy way in the climb. ''Could he possibly have had something to do with those lots coming at me?'' Elior wondered, looking at the handsome youth coming into the stadium. ''Who was the next president after Aanya in the other timeline? Gaivan? No, it was Leroy.'' He wondered further. In the previous timeline, he was nowhere near what he was now currently. All he did in his first year in the institute was a struggle in the artificer department, as the professor was not ready to teach him, and the upperclassmen were too busy for that. Aanya had helped him some, but that was after he got approval from her father. in the other time, she had not asked him to be the president--that caught the attention of many upperclassmen now. the person she asked was none other than his old friend Leroy. There was no memory of any conflict between Leroy and Gaivan in the other timeline, though he reckoned only a few morons went after Leroy, with his grandpa sitting at the very top of the association. "Maybe I am an easy target," Elior muttered looking at the match. "What are you mumbling about?" Ileana asked, her borrowed wand in her arm, prepared. "Something stupid." The match actually did not go for more. It was the second shortest match after Lara''s. It was Gaivan''s victory, and his opponent actually gave up after exchanging a few blows. "I was wondering when I will have to face him." "Do you have the confidence to win against him?" "What do you think?" Elior smiled and his eyes drifted off towards Leroy. Yes, he could beat Gaivan, though it would be troublesome if he wanted to hide most of his spatial ability, but when it comes to Leroy, he was not sure if he would be able to win if both of them went with their full power. Elior actually had no idea how powerful Leroy was, but he was damn sure, it would be nothing to scoff off. Elior might be able to kill him, if he released his force in a suddenness, catching Leroy off guard. But if both of them have nothing to hide, then perhaps it would be both evenly matched. ''Nah, I would have the edge,'' Elior thought, shaking his head. ''Though it''s most likely, my old friend gave up after fighting for some time. Unfortunately, I can''t say anything about his sneaky behaviour.'' Well, he could, but most of them will be useless. So why finger something when he was not prepared. After all, he had a lot more to worry about. The matches continued one after another, and now currently more of the upperclassmen are going on. By the way, the freshmen finally had one defeat, it was someone named Robert of their section who went against someone who was not actually especially on combat, but still lost. Well both of them were not combatants, so it was not so surprising. What surprised him was how Hasan managed to draw with an upperclassmen archer. Both archers in the end had lost all their arrows and in hand to hand combat, nothing came straight, both agreed with a draw. Then Shin went on to another victory though this time it came far harder, still, he got the better of his opponent, keeping his real ability secret. The others of the freshmen went to battle as well, and most of them actually came in defeat, but certainly, a few of them showed some resolve. Peter was one of them who performed well, though still lost. they were certainly not with the intention of going for the trial, just here to get the experience, and they certainly got good experience. They had learned how far away from their upperclassmen as well as their own classmates. Shin and Elior could not wait for the lunch break and went outside to buy something for everyone. "Did they forget about me?" Ileana muttered, as Shin and Leroy had their second match and yet she had none. This was scarier than anyone had assumed. She was certainly not the type that takes thrill in these. Though she always wanted to get better at many many things than males, the battle was never one of them. Now here she was, biting her nails. "Can''t wait for your match, can you?" Enna asked her as the boys vacated a few moments ago. "I reckon you will get a victory like them." Ileana laughed, not sure how to reply. Then she saw her image appearing on the screen with another girl of the upperclassmen. Someone named Katherine. Ileana cursed her luck at the very moment. Not to mention the wand she borrowed from Aanya, she would not even be able to win if Aanya gave her the sceptre of dream. It was all about how much she could wield, and that was not a lot. she could not even use most of the functions of the borrowed wand. "Not an easy target I reckoned," Lara muttered, seeing Ileana like that. "Not easy at all," Ileana muttered and stood up. Katherine was one of the best when it comes to magic. her talent in spell could be called second only to professor Aleister, though she was far way from achieving that level. Still, it would take a dozen of Ileana to defeat someone like Katherine. At that very moment, Shin and Elior came back, with a packed meal with them and it appeared they were already eating. "Hungry?" Shin called looking at them. Ileana swallowed her worry and reckoned she did feel hunger, but there was no time to stuff her stomach. "You are the last one of us?" Elior said, finding her on the screen. His eyes glinted out, still chewing his food. "Give that girl hell." "Yes, yes, you can do it," Shin said too. "Make our Sensei proud." "Yes, if you lose to someone like this, I might decide to throw you out of my tutelage." "You guys," Lara shouted, did not understand why they were so mean to Ileana, but the girl in question laughed out. Ileana burst into laughter and breathed in to finally calm her mind. "I will make you proud, sensei," she said dramatically, bowing. Elior nodded. "Try to look dauntless and if you can surprise her, go with it." he advised, knowing Katherine will most likely finish the match if Ileana appear like a lamb. Ileana nodded and walked out of the room. "Ileana got it hard on her very first match," Elior muttered. "So, it wouldn''t be an easy win?" Enna asked knitting her brows. "Let''s see in the match," Elior only said, knowing the win was far away from Ileana. As he had mentioned before, spell casting needs time to progress. It''s very slow compared to physical arts. Though Ileana had trained a lot in these few weeks, Elior was not sure about her chances. Not against Katherine. Ileana will lose for sure, all it mattered now was how badly it would. Let''s hope she won''t cry after the match, Elior thought. _______________ Chapter 97 - Katherine It was lunch break, and Shin could not find his mother. He had searched in a few places where she should have been as an honorary guardian. As a guardian, she should be with others with similar identities. But all his searches were for nothing. In the end, he opened his phone to call her, but found there were already a couple of missed calls and messages from his mother. Shin tried to call again, but it did not connect, meaning she was busy again. Shin sighed and checked out the messages. It was from his mom alright, saying she had something important to do--like always and said she watched his match. It was not a long massage, a couple of good words and then ''good luck and love you'' and an end. ''At least, she came,'' Shin thought. Unlike his father. He typed a message telling her he will be alright and thank you, before looking around. Shin thought about what other options he had now to do during the lunch break. He had already eaten earlier, and running around was out of options, as there were dozens of reporters lurking around to find them. After the matches and the display of a few freshmen including him, they would very much like to annoy him with those questions again. Flirting with Enna seemed a feasible option¡ªif you can call what he does flirting, but he shivered at the thought that she was probably with her family. He did not know when that girl will utter something ludicrous in front of them if he was there, so it was better not he go there, not to mention his deep-rooted fear to converse with the parents of the girl he likes. Not that he had any experience in this area. Then he was left with one option: find Elior and others. He remembered where Elior''s family had been on the stand, so it would not be difficult for him to find them. They were probably consoling Ileana now after her traumatic match. When he got there, he found some matter of seriousness was going on, and it did not look like consoling to him. It was Elior and his father conversing through his mother. None of them seemed to hold any aggressive view of one another, despite that, that place was still with their conversation. Even the miserably defeated Ileana was resting on her mother''s lap, trying to ignore their conversation. She should have been the centre of attention of their family after her miserable defeat, but Elior and his father took the spotlight from her. Well, Ileana was delighted about that¡ªafter all, she didn''t have to hear their consolation over and over. Then again, their conversation became freaking annoying to her. "Mom, do you know? There are other ways to save a life than just being a doctor," Elior told his mom, chewing the food his mother brought him "Ersina," Mr Viswas said sternly. "The other way of saving your son is talking about the sword and weapons himself and jumping at horrifying monsters." "Mom, shouldn''t I protect the people if I had the ability to do it?" Elior was not ready to let go now. Despite knowing it wasn''t the optimal path to go into things, he still went on the path. At least he could make his father talk to him, though, with the help of a third person. "There are many other ways to protect," his father attacked his own words. "Ersina told your son, other than jumping into battles, there are many other ways. He can just work at the workshop and make equipment is for others. Or does he think making equipment is lower than fighting in the frontline as well, just like the job of a doctor is lower than fighting in the frontline." Elior swallowed the words. "I''m not comparing any of them. Each of them held significance in their own field," he said slowly. "And I have not stopped learning to make equipment either." "Neither has he stopped learning how to throw his life on the battlefield," snapped his father. Shin did not know if his choice of coming here was good or bad, but he sure was regretting it. Perhaps, being with Enna and her family was the better option. Then he felt a nudge on his shoulder and found two maidens a couple of years older than him behind him. "What''s going on?" Aanya asked, knitting her brows. Shin''s eyes unconsciously drifted off to the other person¡ªit was the same girl who defeated Ileana mercilessly. Katherina was tall of a girl like Aanya, and fine-looking, but something about her present herself as unapproachable. it was not that she was cold and aloof, but something else. Her eyes were drifting off all over from Elior to his father, then to Ileana, before resting on Aanya again with a bewildered expression. She did not know why she was here. "What does it look like?" Shin sighed. "Elior is arguing with his father indirectly. I reckoned they are already too good at that. Possibly had previous experience in it." Aanya looked at them warily. And so did Elior''s mother. She nodded their arrival as well, and decided it should be the right time to end the argument here. "Alright, stop now," Ersina said, rubbing her forehead in acting. "I can''t take it. You both are in the right, but I can''t take it anymore. Let''s rest for now, at least before them." Or delay it for later. "Hello," Aanya greeted everyone and if her one is stiff, then Katherine''s was not a greeting in the slightest. She struggled to even greet properly, finding so many unfamiliar faces. "Why is she here?" Ileana asked, trying not to be aggressive. She sat straight from her mother''s lap to eye the newcomer. Well, glare would be the right word here. "She came here to enliven your mood," Aanya said with a smile. "And apologise for what happened during the match." "There is nothing to apologise for," Ileana said slowly through her eyes, never leaving Katherine, who looked like a lamb and was at fault. "It was just a match, and all just did was defeat me with the easiest possible way she could come up with." "Thank you," Katherine said, fidgeting with her fingers. She gave Aanya a curt lower look, saying there was no need for an apology. "And, it isn''t the easiest possible way I came up with. I could have done it even easier." Ileana''s stare dagger at the newcomer. Was this bitch clumsy with her mouth or deliberately here to embrace her more? That was what she was thinking. But only Katherine herself, Aanya, and Elior knew it was exactly the opposite. Elior sighed looking at her. Things were just the same with Katherine. She had had some serious psychological issues since childhood, and those traumatic issues could not be solved just by having a superpower. Inside this grownup girl, there was still a child living it, who thought saying words like she could do better in such a situation would earn her praise. "How about you two sit and talk it out," Elior proposed and found Ileana was glaring at him. The afterthoughts of her traumatic match were still present in her mind, and it would be there for much longer. That was the same with Elior when he first tasted Katherine''s power. Maybe it will be the same if he faced her again, or far more troublesome. After all, he held far more scar than the other time. Well, Elior was at fault there, too. He told Ileana to be dauntless so that Katherine would take Ileana cautiously with her nature and leave her to show some of her power. But Katerine became too much cautious with Ileana''s dauntless and chose to end the match the moment it started. It least, it ended for in a second or so for everyone, but not for Ileana. "Well, it''s not like you are knocked out of the tournament," Elior muttered, and moved to the two newcomers. "Senior''s please sit." Aanya was about to but Katherine was not so sure. The glares Ileana was giving told her it was not her place to stay. "Kat," Aanya said in her ears. "Remember what I told you?" "That nobody will be my friend if I don''t apologise to them?" Katherine asked. "Even if it is my fault." "Right," Aanya whispered back, sighing. "You see, Ileana there. She''s a dear friend of mine. If you like to be her friend as well, you should apologise to her." "I don''t know," Katherine muttered and looked at the chestnut-haired girl. She looked at Aanya again."Will she be my friend if I apologise?" "You wouldn''t know if you don''t apologise." "Then I will do it," Katherine said, and came out from Aanya''s back. By the time everyone got there was something psychologically wrong with this girl. Even Ileana''s mother, though Ileana had a frown on her brows. "I am sorry for what happened in the match," Katherine said, looking at Ileana''s feet.. "I apologised. Will you be my friend?" Chapter 98 - Glitch Elior felt the hard punch on his mouth and his body flung away a couple of metres away. His opponent did not let him go that easily, and went straight at his staggering body to deal punches right at his gut, one after another. The crowd was still screaming¡ªcheering for whoever was winning. They had no favourite so far, after all. At least that was what appeared to Elior as he got all the beatings. Elior grounded his teeth and tried to put back his armament defence, but it was far more difficult to do it while getting a beating. The match had been going well for him, and was almost on the way to securing victory, but only in one blink of an eye. It turned one-eighty degrees from him giving the thrashing to getting the thrashing. It was all because of the glitch between his soul and body¡ªthis thing was getting super annoyed to him. In the middle of his battle, he was about to end the match, raising some large moves necessary for the ending, but the glitch hit him right at that very moment, rendering all his defence as well as offence useless. He even dropped on the ground at the very instance. How could his opponent, who was on the verge of losing, let this godsend chance go? He came to Elior with everything that was left in his body. Fortunately, Elior already disarmed him before, or else this could have turned a lot uglier for him. Ford, on the other hand, was about to end the match as all he was seeing was the upper-class man beating the freshman while the freshman pulled his arm around his face as a defence. The crowds had turned mostly silent by now. "That''s enough," Elior said finally, and the punches did not hurt him anymore. His opponent seemed to have not heard him, kept on punching through after a couple more punches. His arm could not even reach Elior''s body as some invisible wall was protecting Elior. "I said," Elior repeated as a surge of force rushed out of his body, flinging away the one above him. "That''s enough." The upperclassman flung away, and Elior stood up automatically like an invisible man pulling him to stand. The crowd did not understand what happened, but cheered in the uproar again. Elior spat the blood from his mouth and his empty eyes stared at the upperclassman on the ground. In the end, he had to access the void to get faster hands on his abilities. The upperclassman stared at his empty eyes and tried to stand up. Then he saw Elior lift his right arm slowly. "It''s my win here." Next, a surge of tension hammered against the upperclassman''s body, unearthing the surrounding ground a little. Elior''s control was so precise that he limited most of it to his opponent and only left a little amount of tension just to frighten the upperclassman as well as others to let them see what he was doing. The upperclassman gritted his teeth. The veins on his temple pulsed and snapped as he tried to stand up, but the tension above his body forced more than the sides of the earth cursed. "I . . . I concede," he was able to mutter that and heard the whistle blowing and then found the force free from him. Unconsciously, his eyes drifted towards the horrifying junior again and saw the distant empty eyes turning to normal again. The junior wiped the blood off his face with his palm as well as the dirt from his jacket before looking at him. "Good day." Elior walked out of the stadium among the cheers towards the freshmen dressing room. his opponent had not pulled back a lot when punching his face. Even his bones rattled a little and it still hurt now, with the red-purplish marks. On the special longue where many guardians of different countries were staying, the old dean peeked his eyebrows looking at the leaving young man. While Aleister was frowning. "A fine kid you have trained, Aleister," the dean said. "I would have liked to take the credits, but I have not taught him that yet," Alister answered, though his mind was wondering what happened in the middle of the match. Why did Elior turn into a helpless lamb at that time? It was most likely a mana seizure or falter, but why happened now? "You are telling me he learned to manipulate spatial tensions on his own?" The Dean laughed again. "That''s even more brilliant. I wondered what height he would reach after your guidance in it." "The most promising lad indeed," a dark man said from the side. Rews Carter, one of the three heads of the federation, is currently here to attend the gathering as well as the tournament of young promising apprentices. His eyes drifted off towards the head professor. "But I wondered what happened in the middle? Was that a mana seizure? Then again, how could he get hold of himself that quickly?" "It''s likely because Elior is working too hard," Aleister gave an excuse, though it was not random. "Working hard is good, but Scribe, take good care of your students," Rews said in a pressed voice. "I know I don''t need to lecture you on your ways. Still, don''t press more than the students could take." Aleister raised an eyebrow, but nodded, thinking since when this man started caring about students. "They are the future of our planet. Can''t let anything happen to them, after all," Rews added, seeing the look on Aleister''s face. "By the way, where''s Master Issac? I have been here for a couple of hours and yet have not found a wind of him. ''Most likely, hiding from people like you,'' Aleister mused inwardly and left it for the dean to answer. "Issac is doing something important," the dean answered, wishing the master crafter really was doing something worthwhile, though little did that wish bear fruit. "He should be here during the conference." ''I very much doubt that,'' Aleister thought. ''And even if he was there, he won''t be of much use. Perhaps his daughter will be better suited for the job..'' The head professor sighed at that thought. Chapter 99 - The Elementalist And The Waverunner (1) "Brother, were you trying to spice up the match?" Shin laughed out loud the moment Elior came into the dressing room. The others were looking at him too, not at least worried, but interested in what went through. "Did it look that way?" Elior asked and touched the bruises on his face. "Well, if I planned, I wouldn''t take those punches in my face." "Still you looked cool there," Shin said in envy. "In the end I mean." "You could look cool too if only you took my classes seriously," Elior snorted and looked around for the healer. "Where''s Enna?" "But I take the training seriously," complained Shin. "And Enna, she was probably with the other girls. Still, brother, your injury is like a pinch compared to what the others have been through." Elior acknowledged that. After the end of the lunch break, things had not been easy for the freshmen. They did claim victory, at least the ones that were running for the trial, but defeat was not far away either. Other than Shin, Leroy and Lara, everyone else got defeated at least once or twice. Still, their victories have not come easily. The upperclassmen were far more aggressive than they were in the morning. Losing to a freshman was the most disgraceful thing of all. They did not just come aggressively, but planned through their matches on how to handle their juniors. At least, Enna was happy doing her healing for everyone. Yes, she got her hands on everyone by now. Everyone but Elior, but that will change soon enough. Shin was royally lucky in his matches, but that luck won''t last that long. "Five match five wins. Maybe I need to win one or two more to get me to the next round." Elior eyed Shin again. "Can you get to the next round? Even though you have not lost yet, two of your later opponents were not battle oriented." "To the top sixteen?" Shin swallowed a little. "Perhaps, if my plan went well." "Well, you better be there. I already prepared the surprise for you. If you fail to get there, all of it will be nothing." "That warmed my heart knowing it," Shin said, acting as if he was really touched. Perhaps he will be after he saw the surprize. Well, as far as Elior was concern, there were no better prize for SHin currently than what he had planned. "But I would have appreciated if you just made me a sword instead. Do you know how hard it''s to fight with this junk?" Elior took the sword from Shin and checked its blade. This was really on the verge of turning into junk. It had not been taken care of in the slightest. The blade will turn blunt in a few more matches easily. "I can''t believe you." Elior shook his head and gave the sword back. "You have not taken care of, nor have you sharpened it before the match?" "I did not know how to, and I was looking out for you to make me a new one." "You could have asked me. I could have taught you that at least. It is not that hard if you try it once or twice." Elior sighed. "You got to know, weapons are the most external thing for a guardian. Without it, you are half the man. So learn to take care of it." "Still," Shin whined, showing the dull blade. "This is barely usable. Can''t you work through something fast?" "I could." Elior raised an eyebrow and saw the girls coming back. "But I won''t do it. It will only be a waste of my effort and those good alloys. Don''t forget those things were for trial." ''Though, I reckoned they won''t be useful before the trial, most likely, I have other plans for the metal. Rather than just having a good weapon, it''s better to have a great weapon.'' Then he remembered about the sword that was rotting in his room for over a month¡ªthe sword that he took away from Renal in the last trial. It was a fine weapon, though rather bland. "Shin, come to my room after this ends for today. I''ll solve your problem with weapons, then." "Really, brother, you are the best." "I know," Elior realised. And found the girls staring at his face as if he was the hottest piece in the market. Or not. "Ahh, Enna, would you mind working on my bruises a little?" "What happened to your face?" Ileana asked, knitting her brows at once. "The matches did not come easy, I reckon." "You can say that," Elior muttered and saw Enna coming before him. She touched his bruises slowly as a golden light released from her palm, healing the bruises in the naked eye. In a few seconds, his wound all were gone and so did the slight pain in his muscles when conversing. "Better?" Enna smiled, as she finally healed the one that she had not so far. Currently, her work had progressed on everyone of the freshmen. Even Leroy, who came with a few cuts with his acting in the match. "Much better, thanks." Elior nodded and saw the match between two upperclassmen end as well. Then he chuckled. "Take care of yourself though. We will need you tomorrow for more." "Maybe not," Enna chuckled back. "I don''t see many of you going to the next round. Perhaps two or three." Shin''s eyes glinted as he heard her, but her next words disappointed him again. "Other than Leroy and Elior, I meant for Lara." Shin grumbled a little that he had been wronged. "Ileana, you are next," Elior said, pointing at the screen where the players were showing. She had only been duelled once, and that was a disaster against Katherine. Fortunately, this time her opponent was not a combatant, but a auxiliary class of the upperclassmen. "Good luck," all the students present there said one after another as if she needed luck the most. "Don''t worry, I will at least cast a few spells here." Chapter 100 - The Elementalist And The Waverunner (2) Ileana pulled out an invisible shield to block the fires shot at her, while in between she was working to make another spell to offend her opponent. Her opponent could not be called as an elite of the combat courses, but he still had good abilities to play against juniors who were not even here for a couple of months. Even though he was not elite in the combat class, he was good at making stuff, disposable or non disposable stuff. The fire he just attacked with was a disposable stuff he made, and so was the other gun he pulled out from his back. It was a long airgun that shot bolts of air, compressing it. He did not stop for a moment and fired without delay at the shield Ileana had put together. Ileana gritted her teeth as soon as the cracks started to appear in her shield. She supplied more mana and worked on steading the formula again. Beads of sweat dripped from her forehead as she saw her opponent coming towards him. Her eyes narrowed and gripped the borrowed wand harder. It was finally time to use this thing. Other than the shield, she was preparing other spells, though she hid it well with the usage of the wand, but it''s time to unfold her spells now. Her opponent was coming at her shooting, but when he was just about four strides away from her, his legs stopped. It was not an intentional stop, but he was stopped. The earth below his foot turned muddy, strangling on the very spot, and that was not all. It was almost like the quicksand, trying to sink him the harder he tried. Then the flames came, weaving all over him, surrounding him in a ring. He was about to shoot again, then a sharp blade of gale came, flinging away his airgun. "Admit defeat," Ileana snarled. The beads of sweat never stopped dripping. Other than the spell that made the quicksand, all her other spells were elementary, still, it was exhaustive for her. More than physical, her mental energy was all drained and so was four-fifth of her mana. The upperclassmen seemed to have a second thought about his choices and then saw the ring of flames rushing at him, threateningly. "I concede," he said, sighing. Ford whistled and announced the end of the march as Ileana collected her first victory. Ileana had dealt more spells than needed here to defeat this opponent, but she did not want to take chances. Especially after her first miserable defeat. Luckily, knowing Katherine did not cause her all that misery intentionally helped a little, making her mood brightened. And Aanya also helped regaining her lost confidence. "Much better than her first match," Shin said in the dressing room. "You don''t say." Elior saw Ileana returning to the dressing room with an exhaustive look. The match had drained a lot from her, and it was unlikely she would get to the next round. Then again, many of the upperclassmen will not be there. Luckily, for them, they did not need to get to the second round to get the opportunity of the trial. Though it will still be hard for Ileana. Lara and Shin will get to the trial easily, but he could not say same for them go to the next round. "Congratulations!" Along with Elior, every one of them congratulated Ileana on her first victory. "Thanks," Ileana said, letting out the steam. "Shin, it appears you are up," Enna said as Shin''s face appeared on the screen with another swordsman named Carlos. She checked details about Carlos in Shin''s hollow book. "Looks like it is going to be difficult for you." "Let me see," Shin said and took his hollow book for her. What they were seeing in the hollow book was something illegal. Shin had hacked into the system of the institute and brought the details about all the students. Though the context there was not overly detailed, it was still better than going blind. "He''s not actually an upperclassman," Shin muttered first when he read the details. "On our year, though, he was in the institute for over two years. It is said here that Carlos is bad at mana usage and could not even put together simple armament at the end of the first year." "But his swordsmanship was top of the class," Enna continued, peeking from the sides. "He was already a true swordsman, just his deficiency in mana stopping him." "It said, he intentionally did not advance to the next classes," Shin continued. "Well, he might be a true swordsman; I still had the edge with my mana application." Elior knitted his brows from the sides. He actually remembered this Carlos¡ªa kid who sold himself during the great calamity. But his mana deficiency reminded him of an old friend. Unlike Carlos, he had not sold himself but died in the cause. ''I will meet him soon,'' he thought. ''Perhaps in the trial.'' "Looks like I have to go full force this time," Shin muttered and stood up on the way to leave. Elior only bid good luck, knowing Shin knew what to do in the match. Shin found his opponent already ready when he arrived in the arena. Carlos was a hardened face young man, hair trimmed from the sides and he had thick armour on his body, giving him a vibe that he was a heavy warrior rather than a swift swordsman. ''He was in the institute for over two years, and even with his mana deficiency, he should have reached the second order, or at least closer,'' Shin thought. ''Most likely, the former.'' Since this guy is a true swordsman, he likely had reached second order. The whistle was blown and the two contestants approached one another slowly, knowing it won''t be anytime soon this will end. Rather than what Shin thought, Carlos was better prepared. He had placed the mana armament surrounding his body, while for his weapon it was a strange one that was running currents of electricity over the blade, and it was not coming from Carlos. Most likely, a weapon with an inbuilt charge, but that does not mean it was that appealing. These types of weapons had a lot of limitations¡ªstill, it was far better than the junk Shin was holding. Shin stepped cautiously and since his opponent was not dealing the first blow, Shin did it. His sword cut towards his opponent in the right thigh, but he had to jerk it the other way instantly as soon a lightning sword drifted towards his heart in a swift blow, far faster than Shin had assumed. Shin barely blocked and withdrew. He gave his opponent a second glance and thought a true swordsman was not just a title. His friend Lara was reaching the realm as well, though he had not seen her move so abrupt and fast. He rushed the mana more, remembering there were more than 20 levels of difference between them. He had certainly worked hard, and that should be enough to narrow down the difference, but who could tell how much this swordsman worked? Shin''s legs moved, faster than before, swirling mana emitting from his lower body. His sword moved, and he saw his opponent coming with a block, but Carlos did not actually block. He twisted his body sideways, dodging Shin''s sword, and at the same time, his lightning sword feinted to deal a blow on the side of the thighs of Shin. The armament on his thigh broke, and Shin felt a rush of electricity on his thighs. He gritted his teeth and worked on dissolving the lightning. Before he could do that, his opponent came again with the sword. A weave of wind formed along with Shin''s sword and he swung forward at the sword approaching sword. The electricity in his opponent''s sword warped fuhrer, and his blade of wind was not light either. They clashed for an instant, brimming with warping noise as well as discharging colourful mana. Both of the duellists withdrew as the audience cheered in an uproar. Finally, they got a neck-in-neck contest. ''Looks like there was no time to learn in the match,'' Shin thought and wind warped around his sword, prepared to discharge at any moment. And such preparations were happening in his legs as well. Shin was condensing the wind, the wave of air surrounding his legs to release for a sharp speed to catch his opponent off guard. This type of condensing was something Elior taught him, and he had learned it easily, though he had failed royally in the other thing. In the move, he was mostly using the wind, and manipulating it with his mana, unlike creating it. Still, it would be one heck of a useful move if he could use it at the right time. Carlos came at him again, bearing his long-sword threateningly, the lightning discharging as large as his winds. ___________________ I would like to give two chapters each to bring out details about Elementalist and Waverunner apprentice classes, but I can''t help but jumbled them together.. SO, you will get four chapters together with all that. Chapter 101 - The Elementalist And The Waverunner (3) Swords met in the air as the clanging of metal resounded with the discharge of lightning and air. The crowds cheered like crazy as the two contestants went on again. Shin moved half striding, half floating, releasing the waves of steam from his lower body. His opponent was not that fast on the foot, but his sword was faster. The electric charge elongated further and turned more like a whip as it came towards Shin. Shin twisted his lower body sideways to dodge, but that was not enough. The electric whip of a sword moved along with his body coming straight towards his thigh. He could only block the whip swing air towards it. Air was so resistant that it appeared to damage the current of the whip as it lessened a little. Carlos frowned and thought if he should bring out his secret abilities now. Those things were what he had prepared for the elites of the upperclassmen, the ones that bullied him when they were his classmen. He would like to show them what he was made of, but he could not find a path to victory without unfolding his secrets, either. His opponent looked like one of those stupid kids, but he had some skills. Ignoring his swordsmanship, only his mana application made it harder to deal with. He was so quick to dodge and run away that all his moves went futile. A lightbulb lit in Shin''s head as he moved towards his opponent. Carlos deepened his stance and welcomed his opponent, the electric sword turning into a whip again. This time, however, Shin did not stop with air, but shot water showering towards his opponent, with a smirk on his face. But it did not go as he had thought it would. The charge of current from the sword did not assault Carlos, at least not as much as Shin would have wanted. Then the enlightenment hit him. "Pure water is not a good conductor of electricity, huh," he muttered and the whip of electricity charged at him, warping the water into vapour. "Shit!" cursed Shin, and dodged, but that was not over yet. He tried to withdraw but the electric whip strangled his ankle, damaging the armament defence and before Shin could feel the burn, the whip pulled him towards his opponents. Shin grounded his teeth and sighed. ''Looks like I have to go all out now.'' Not only did the whip pull him closer to his opponent, burning his ankle, but his opponent was also coming at him as well. Carlos jerked his arm in a sharp pull, as Shin fling towards him, as he prepared one of his big moves. The sword snorted to its normal length and it turned blue with the charge, far higher than any time. He was preparing to swing again when some mishap happened again. A large weave of wind rushed at him and tossed him at the sky, before he could even do a thing about it. His opponent was gritting his teeth as his body rose as well, releasing waves of air from his legs. Carlos had a bad feeling about this. He pulled his sword as a block as he watched the freshmen coming at him, flying all the way. His opponent''s sword moved in a full arc as it came directly at his chest. Carlos steadied his sword as a block, but the freshman twisted the sword as well as the inertia of his body to make a feint in the air. Shin''s body hovered above his opponent, as a smirk appeared on his lips. He dealt a sharp blow at the back of Carlos as both of them started to fall, though Shin kept on swinging his sword on the back of Carlos. The armament defence had broken like a scrap of paper on the very first blow, and currently, Shin made a mess of his armour. Carlos got his sword as a block, but then another gale came from shit, flinging him away far harder to the ground. Shin dropped only a couple of strides away from his opponent and the first thing he did was take advantage of the situation was to disarm his opponent before pointing the sword before the eyes of his opponent, gasping for breathing. He looked far better on the outside, but on the inside, it was entirely different. He was barely level 29 after all, and pulling stunts like there was enough to leave him staggering for breath. Fortunately, it went far easier as he had not shown any of his speciality so far. His class, WaveRunner Apprentice, let him manipulate far easier than anyone would have it. He could manipulate waves of air far easier than just the waves of mana, that was why it was far harder for him. According to Elior, if he could control the waves of force better, floating in the air would be effortless and he only needed to release far less steam of air. But that''s another story. "He actually won," Enna muttered, eyes sticking to the figure with his sword raised. Ignoring the playboy look, Shin appeared quite heroic with all the sweats and dirt over his body. "And that was as high as Shin could go," Elior added. "Maybe a little higher." He could not hope for more, since their time was limited. Still, this much strength was enough to get success from the trial, though he can''t say a thing about acting. Shin came to the dressing room looking far less heroic than he had appeared on the screen. Currently, he had cleaned the dirt already, though his face was pale, and the ankle was burned to such a good extent that he had to limp on one leg. Enna came to his rescue without even asking. "You have to remove the boot or I won''t be able to heal properly," she said and before Shin could remove his boot, she helped him do it. Shin grunted a little, resting his butt in one of the chairs, keeping his eyes on the enchanting healer working on his ankle. ''Where would I be if she was not here,'' he thought. "Lara, you are next," Elior called and saw the tall female already ready, with a scowl. Her opponent was none other than Gaivan, the best of the upperclassmen if you ignore Katherine. "Good luck," Shin said to his training partner, while Enna seemed to have heard nothing as her mind was busy healing the burning. Lara looked at Elior for once as if wanted some advice from him, but Elior said the same words as well. He really has no advice to give her. Advice can do little to a person who is twice the level you are. Lara nodded and went on her way towards the match, steadily. She was really better than anyone at calming herself down. Even against the adversary, she could not win. "Done," Enna said and stood up from her knees. She looked at Shin carefully, trying to peer if there was any wound left. "Do you have any more injuries?" "Yes," Shin said seriously. "It''s my heart, and it''s only you who can heal it." "Then there is no hope for you." Enna snorted and saw it was Lara on the screen. Shin grinned a little and sat comfortably on the seat. "By the way, where is Ileana?" he asked, not finding the chestnut-haired girl there. "Aanya came and took her away," Enna answered. "Last-minute preparation, most likely." "Little good that would do," Shin muttered. ''Unless senior gave her the Sceptre of Dream, but that was a lost cause.'' Then again, the situation was no better either. He unsheathed his sword and found it was already dull enough. He coughed out a couple of times before starting to whine, "Brother!" Elior, who was watching Lara''s match, peeked at Shin and then towards the weapon he was holding. "Not today," he told Shin. "If you can get to the next round, then I will give you a better weapon to contest." Abruptly, Enna shouted out in designation. "She lost," she said. "Lara lost, and it''s only the beginning." "Her luck was bad to face someone like that," Elior muttered. Still, she has few chances to advance to the next round. "Shin could have done only a little better against such an opponent." "Or if I have a better weapon," Shin said, peaking his brows. "I might stand a chance." "Then you probably need a legendary sword," sneered Elior. "The opponents you faced are no joke from now on. Even against Carlos, if you go against him again, you could possibly lose, and Carlos terribly at mana application." "Brother, don''t point that out so terrible," Shin muttered. "I was just stating." Lara came back to her room, with her head and shoulder down. "Well, remember, they have more time than any of us. So there is no need to beat yourself up for that. You know what your purpose is? "To get to the trial." Chapter 102 - The Elementalist And The Waverunner (4) "Nothing better than a winning streak," Elior said with a smile as he came back to the dressing room finishing his match. "And that too using no weapon or armour," Shin said jokingly. "Brother, I have trouble keeping the girls away from you, please lose your next match." Elior snickered. "Unfortunately, I am done for today," Elior said, resting his but on the bench. He unzipped his leather jacket, sitting comfortably. He looked around and found Ileana had not returned yet. She even missed one of her matches before, what kinds of last-minute preparation she was doing with Aanya. "But, I am really bored with all the winnings." "It''s Ileana''s match again," Lara said. Her mood had gotten a lot better in the meantime. Well, what else could she do? Sulk all day in misery just because she lost to the strongest upperclassman? No, Lara was not like that. Yes, she was discluded a little, but her mindset strengthened more. "Where is that girl now? Is she giving up on the tournament now?" Elior thought out loud. "I better check." Saying that he brought out his cell phone, and left it on the other way of the dressing room that leads to the academic faculties. He called Ileana first and like before, got no reply. He got out in the open and looked around where she could be now. In her room? Possibly. The training hall? He was not sure. Then he called Aanya who brought Ileana away. The call rang like it had with Ileana and nobody answered there as well. Then he saw two females coming out of a teleportation gate just before the entrance of the dressing room. It was none other than the duo of Ileana and Aanya. Currently, the short girl was seething in sweat¡ªwhatever last-minute preparation she did, appeared as she had been through hell. Aanya was in her usual state as well, though she was not in the volunteer''s dress. She was the one to notice him first, and Ileana rushed into the dressing room to get to her match. "Senior," Elior called and watched her coming towards him. "Where did you go?" "Not that far," Aanya said mysteriously with her smile. "Are you not going to watch her match?" "Yes." He nodded as he would like to see what kind of difference the last minute preparation makes. "Let''s go to the stadium then? It is very lively there," Aanya proposed. "Your match probably ended right?" Elior nodded and the two of them moved the other way towards the stadium. They moved to the familiar stadium again where his parents were. His mother gave him another hug just the moment she noticed his smell. "My little boy, I was so worried then you know," His mother said, keeping him in her embrace. "For a second you are winning and then you fall so abruptly." She was talking about the glitch. "Well, mom, you can let me go now. Look I am alright," Elior muttered. "Others are watching." Even the reporters were watching. What if in the next, it was revealed the infamous masked vigilante, the Reaper, was such a mama''s boy? His mother finally let him out as they heard the match starting. "By the way, your teacher is here." Elior knitted his eyebrow and saw there was a tall man at the end of his prime, sitting next to his father, watching the match together. "You performed quite a show there," Head professor Aleister said. "I hope you can go like that tomorrow." He could, but here he only nodded. Aleister looked at the white-haired maiden next to him. "Where were you girl?" he scowled at her. "The match schedule was all ruined just for you." "I will speak to you after this match, uncle," Aanya said smilingly. Ileana would have missed more than one match if not for her. She had called the head professor before the time to reschedule Ileana''s match. Back in the duelling ground. This time Ileana''s opponent was a spellcaster like herself. A Mage named Naeli, perhaps reached the second order, but more importantly, combat was her speciality. Without bothering with her opponent, Ileana ran her boast on herself, bringing about 12% more in mana application and mana recovery. As the match started, her opponent shot weaves of sharp wind blade at her from long range. It was sharp, forceful and dangerous, almost twice more powerful than her own. Ileana erected a transfluent shield in front of her, but it broke only from the second blade, but in the meantime, Ileana got to safety. Safety for a couple more seconds that was. Magic circles formed on both ends of the contestant, one was an air spell, while the other was of earth. Ileana formed a dozen fist-sized balls of earth and shot towards Naeli. The upper-class man got the better of half of them just with the wind she created and the wind formed into a tornado then, swirling in the middle of the duelling ground. It was about to rush towards Ileana when something unforeseen happened. The mudball Ileana shot the first burst in the middle of the tornado and even the ones that were not close to the tornado burst. The burst of the mudball was not enough to do a thing to the tornado, but Ileana never wanted to do a thing to the tornado. What the dozens of mudballs did was create dust all over the duelling ground, and the tornado even helped in its path. The dust moved along the wind and it turned so thick that even watching the match turned difficult. Naeli felt something was wrong and tried to clear out the dust with her winds, though her tornado still went after Ileana threateningly. A smirk appeared on Ileana''s lips, she created a magic seal as something moved under the earth towards her opponent. She heard a shriek. The dust cleared as Naeli had wanted, but it had not gone her way as she wanted. Currently, the poor girl was waist-deep into the earth and she felt something was pulling her even further. She created a couple of wind blades but dissolved them quickly as she might get hurt if she attacked the earth surrounding her. Even without the attack, she was having trouble breathing. The pulling never stopped and she could feel it was not any mud spell or the quicksand spell. She ground her teeth and saw the short freshmen girl grinning at her. She cursed under the breath and tried to find a way out of that. She tried to lift her body with a levitation spell, but barely helped, only leaving her at the same spot. Was this girl trying to bury her here? Ileana fidgeted her finger skilfully and created some other seal. Seal of command? Naeli thought, but she hardly had time to think as when the seal was broken. The pulling stopped, but she felt the earth was trying to press far too heavily. She felt like she was crushing against a hydraulic press. In the end, a mage''s far inferior compared with a close combatant. She could only concede from there even when she had four-fifths of the mana left. she did not even get to show her other skills--it''s all for her blind confidence. Like she has never seen any upperclassmen getting thrashed today. "Good match," Ileana said finally sighing in relief. She created another seal and Naeli came out of the earth, dirt all over her body. The upper-class girl snorted. This was an utter disgrace from her. If only she started with the Levitation from the beginning. But what''s done is done. It was her last match, and didn''t matter much as she was already in the second round. The crowd was cheering for Ileana recently, not understanding what happened in the match. They have seen Naeli defeating her opponent before, and currently getting her first defeat was a great feast to their eyes. Moreover, it was from a freshman. But not all in the audience held the expression of dumbfoundedness in the match. "You got Ileana an Earth Spirit?" Elior asked, raising his eyebrow at the silver-haired girl. And it was not only him that was frowning, even the head professor was looking at her with evidently startled eyes. But not the others, they clearly have no clue what happened in the match, much less about earth spirit. All Ileana''s mother saw was her daughter, not getting another trauma and that was it. "You are surprised?" Aanya giggled, watching the smiling face of Ileana in the match. "I thought Ileana deserved to have some fun, after all, she been through a lot in her match against Kat." "Still a spirit?" Aleister scowled at her. "Are you not ruining her too much so early?" "Ileana is a smart girl, she knows how to train herself, and you need not worry, uncle." "I am lost," Ileana''s mother asked in the middle after making sure her baby was alright. "What''s an earth Spirit? How much does it cost? Aanya looked at Elior and then at the head professor. With the exchange of noddings, they decided it is not best to talk to their parents. ___________________________ I added an epigraph in the first chapter. Check it out if you can. There is not much tension in these few months as I have to explain a few things. And I can only say only two of the following match will be exciting. Keep in mind that It''s all for the preparation of the trial. Thanks for the stones and golden tickets. Chapter 103 - Last Match Of Round One A stiff wind blew in the stadium as the last match of day one was about to converse. All the lights were already lit, and the audience was far silent compared to before. They were mostly tired from all the cheering. Like the contestants, they did not have it easy either. It was not every day, normal citizens came across supernaturalism after all. But the last match held importance too, and they could be preparing for their last cheering as no one other than the academic staff was allowed to be there. It won''t be telecasted in the television as well. After all, it''s better to hide the abilities of their elites. "I am kind of getting goosebumps for this match," Ileana said. She had already finished her matches and with her new earth spirit¡ªshe performed far better, though she lost once again. In the end, in her six matches, she lost twice, in one she did not show up and in the other three, she won quite effortlessly. There was no hope for her to go to the next round¡ªnot that she ever hoped. ''If only I have Evnele with me from the beginning, then perhaps there was a chance.'' She was talking about the earth spirit, that Aanya got her. AS an Elementalist apprentice, she could bond with only one elemental currently, though the numbers could be raised as her order advances. Even though Evnele cost quite the sum of credits, it was still a baby spirit barely two hundred years old. Yes, two hundred years is not that much for spirits who actually never die. Moreover, it was only her first day with the earth spirit, so she could not show what could have in a couple more weeks. anyways, she was not heartbroken at her loss. All hope to get to the next round for her was lost, but it wasn''t the same for the two in the duelling ground currently. "I wondered which one of them will win today," Ileana muttered and her eyes moved from the stern face of Lara in the stadium to Shin, who was smiling, looking at his opponent. "Mmm," Aanya said while her eyes were somewhere else. Lara only lost once in her matches, and Shin still held onto his winning streak, but what matters for both of them was that whoever wins this match will go to the next round. Certainly, none of them wanted to give up such chances, even if the opponent was their training partner. Lara''s mindset and values will never let her give up, and Shin was going for the big surprise, Elior will give him. Ford blew his whistle as the match started, though none of the duellists started the assault. The two training partners only stared at each other, bearing their swords. The smile from Shin''s exterior had vanished, while Lara had her eyes locked with him. Mana was churning in both of their charging paths, waiting for the assault to unfold. "Aanya," Ileana finally noticed her idol was not interested in the match, staring elsewhere. Her eyes drifted off to where she was staring, as a grin appeared on her lips immediately. "Ah, yes?" Aanya got back to Ileana, knitting her brows. "The match? It started?" "It sure did," Ileana said with a knowing smile. "But you are busy elsewhere." "So you are saying who''s going to win?" Aanya ignored whatever Ileana was implying, and concentrated on watching the match. "Are you jealous, Aanya?" Ileana asked as if her entire interest in the game shifted elsewhere. Well, she sees both of them duel every day. Her eyes moved towards another stand, to a certain someone, talking to a few of the female students. "Jealous? Why?" Aanya asked bewilderedly. "You surely don''t mean?" ''Wow, I did not know she was so good at feigning ignorance,'' she thought. ''Does she not know, Elior already told me about the game they were playing?'' she looked at Aanya, trying to peer. ''Oh, she really did not know.'' Then a grin appeared on her lips. Let''s just play along with her for now. "Are you jealous that Elior is moving around from girls to girls since our parents moved to visit the academic facilities?" she asked again. It had been about an hour when the Head professor brought their parents to the academy to show them how the teaching and training were done. Since then, Elior was moving around from girls to girls, as if searching for his ideal partner. If Ileana was not aware of the relationship between Aanya and Elior, she might really have thought that. Taking her childhood friend to concern, he might really do something outrageous like that. "No," Aanya asked as her eyes drifted off towards Elior, who was currently, shaking hands with a couple of students, gleefully. "I am just curious what he was doing there? I never saw him doing nothing-worthwhile, in the two months I knew him. However, now that I see it, he seemed to be messing around." ''A sound excuse,'' Ileana mused inwardly, and found Elior looking back at them. Noticing their gazes, he waved his arms towards them before looking at the match. ''What is he really doing there?'' she could not help but think. ''Trying to make Aanya jealous, but that is not like Elior.'' Ileana found no sound reason behind Elior''s weirdness. It was better to ask him after all, and it appeared he was coming in their direction. Aanya held onto the knit in her brows till came to them. "What were you doing with them?" she asked at once. ''Possessive, aren''t we?'' Ileana mused from the sides. Learning her idol is more possessive than she looks. ''Let''s see how my dull best friend reply to this." "It''s a surprise," Elior answered with a smile, intensifying the mystery. He peered at the duel on the match and sat beside them. "It seemed my effort won''t go to waste.'' Currently, Lara holds the advantage there, coming at Shin found whatever gap she could find. She has not let him use his fast manoeuvre even once after the initial contact. "Huh, I never knew this gentle, silent girl could be violent like this," Aanya commented, as eyes stuck to the match. ''Huh, so they were avoiding to bicker in front of me?'' Ileana concentrated on the match too. "Well, Lara had no other option," Elior explained. "She chose to be violent from the beginning, which I will approve of. Even though Shin had learned the basics of forms, his style was always freestyle. If you give him space, he will use it to bite you back. Of course, Lara would know that, she''s his training partner after all." It was just the same in the match. Shin was blocking moves after moves, trying to find empty space. Even his weave of air was neutralised by Lara. Even though she used her metal attribute, she seemed to cut through his weave. She was getting far close to the realm of a true swordsman, and it was already far more dangerous than the other swordsman he faced. Well, Carlos barely had anything in him other than his swordsmanship and the electric sword. "But who do you think will win?" Aanya asked. She had seen them duel a couple of times, and they were matched well together. Anyone could hold the upper hand with the other''s negligence. "Well, in the duels, they have found Lara won more times than Shin," Elior muttered. "With the current ratio of 6:4 in Lara''s favour." Though it needed to be added before it was almost 2:1, but Shin got better in everything even with his mistrust in training. "And she''s holding the upper hand too," Ileana added. "I would like to see her giving that delinquent boy a good thrashing." "Well, she could," Elior smiled, "But if Shin loses, it would mean, all the effort I pull will be for nothing.'' ''''You seemed to be rooting for your favourite student," Aanya chuckled. "Not an impartial student, after all." "Well, I''m partial when it comes to Shin," Elior admitted. ''Why wouldn''t I be? Shin had given his life for me, after all.'' Currently, in the match, Shin gasped for breath though his opponent was in similar condition. This was their sixth match and not all of their matches went smoothly. Contesting against someone of the upper level was always challenging. Even if they won most of the contest, they have exhausted their body and spirit. "Lara, why so serious?" Shin muttered in his painting. His sword moved to her right side of the ribs, but Lara twisted her sword already to a block and shoved it towards him violently. She was not hearing him at all. Her sword was not anything extravagant, but it appeared far colder and almost perfect with the Steel reinforcement. While his one was already worn out from all the fights. This might be its last match. ''I never knew you were this strong..'' he was regretting coming to the match heedless with and that too with an opponent who knows him the best. Chapter 104 - Last Match Of Round One (2) "Hey, Lara, you have your speech ready," Shin spoke, trying to find a way through Lara''s defence. He could not find it with his sword, he better try with his mouth. "Inside, you are already celebrating, heh? Defeating me should be easy for you, right?" Shin got no reply from her mouth, but the sword in her arm came sharp at his nose, piercing. Shin released some steam and tried to get back with this swift speed, but Lara followed closely¡ªnot letting him free. Once Shin had succeeded to go aerial, but that did not go for long. Though Lara could not fight for even a second, she never left a chance for him to deal an easy blow either. He had tried to toss her onto the air and take some chances there, but that plan turned out to be futile. Lara was already ready for it and cut through his weave of air blade. ''I should have tried to master one thing first,'' he thought regretting. Unlike Lara who only had her sword going on for her, SHin had other things. in these few weeks, he mostly tried to use how to move swiftly, along with the weave of wind blades. That did come more than enough daunting, still, Lara held the upper hand with her swordsmanship. there was only one reason for that, Shin failed to even reach in any one of this stuff like Lara to challenge her sword. His fast movement using the waves of air steam was only used for backing away, so were his wind blade. Lara cut through his wind effortlessly. "Look at you, still daunting even though you have the match in your hand," Shin muttered as he moved backwards with the steam. Lara was not far away either, still with her plan to not give him space. Narrowing his eye, Shin changed to water as he made a sharp sweep with his sword, shooting a large arc of water blade Lara. Lara''s sword glinted colder as she jerked it to cut through the arc of water. She did it with some effort, but soon found out there was no one before her. Her eyes were about to move upwards when she had to jerk her sword as a block before her head, as soon Shin came from above. Before Shin could try anything next, she pulled her sword and twisted it towards his gut. Shin blocked as he came down again. The frown never left Shin as he scowled at Lara. They were really evenly matched. Shin could not connect any attack, while Lara could not contest with his speed. ''If only I could do the two things together,'' Shin thought. His plan with all the nonsense came with no result, Lara was as stoic as a log of wood, only replying with her sword. ''Can I make way for the type of wave Elior wanted me to learn?'' Shin bit his lower lips, knowing she never succeeded in making those, and the ones he made were far weaker compared to his weave of air. ''Let''s make her wet first.'' She thought, returning to his original plan. ''That sounded dirty.'' His initial plan was to make her wet with all the water so that she would get heavy and slow. A feasible plan, but he had to capitalize fast as the water made through mana evaporated quite fast. Breathing out, Shin forced the blades of water again. this kind of water blade was not actually sharper than wind. It should have been, but Shin lacked training. The cheers of the audience already got numbed in his head, and he was feeling far tired. Now he knew what kind of state he would have been in if Elior did not make him do all those demonic training. Lara should be far more exhausted than him¡ªafter all, unlike her first match, her other opponents were far harder to deal with. Moreover, she had less health compared with him. Perhaps, there was a chance for him to succeed. Shin shot the blades of water, but it was not even a bit threatening, unlike the other time. Well, his plan was to get her wet, in the first place. Lara ran her sword and dodged from the way, though some portion of her arms got wet. Shin shot again, knowing it was far from enough. He could not make any more air to float¡ªwell, he could, but he was leaving for any unforeseen during the match. Through Lara had no catchy moves, her sword was fetal enough. It was the only thing she have trained in, sharpened it far better than anyone he met so far in the tournament. Shin had many things compared with her. His control in the two attributes of air and water, he could manipulate waves of air to float for some seconds as well. And his brother said there were many other cool things he could make. Lara''s sweat got washed over by his water cannon, and currently, she did not have to cut it with her sword. The water cannon had barely had any power other than to stop her at a spot. Shin was grinning that he got her wet, but a sharp sword came at him again just after the water cannon finished. Shin released the air and withdrew, he knew Lara would try something like those, when he was busy with the other attack. Shin noticed he already wasted most of his mana, and here was the opportunity for him. He got back to his feet, and shot at Lara again, bearing his sword. There was no pressure of wind on his sword currently nor the water, though it was still releasing some steam. Lara tilted her head and ignored her exhaustion and finally noticed what Shin was planning. Her body was far heavier. If it were before when she was in her ideal state, it would not have any problem, but currently, that was not. Narrowing her eyes, she came with the block. Metal clanged in the air, releasing soft warping of mana. They withdrew again, eyes glued to one another. This was the opponent she knew the best. They have duelled hundreds of times and in most of them, Shin would always try to find a way to swift victory, while she would try the opposite. Make it worse for shin to make an attack and she would make a mistake, she would make him pay. She raged the man inside her channelling path, and got again. her sword made a swiss sound through the air, and came at the right shoulder of Shin, Shin came too, but her sword feinted to attack his lower body. It succeeded actually. She thought Shin would use his air steam to get back. ''Can''t he use them more?'' That thought was relieving, but Shin could be playing her too. She saw him grunting in pain, but his stance steadied again, and he attacked, sword still realizing the steam, eyes narrowing. Sweats dripped down from his forehead and face, as the smoke warped from his sword. She tried to freight after a couple of exchanges, but Shin caught her earlier, though he could not take any advantage over her. A frown appeared on her brows. Currently, Shin was not playing, as usual, he seemed to be trying something else out of her expectancy. Either way, she would be happy if he fails now. She could not block something unexpected now. She knew Elior trained Shin separately. So he should have something else to show her as well. As she was thinking, a sword came at her again, warping smoke like waves. Her sword was blocked, but something weird happened. Her sword actually could not touch Shin''s sword, something restricted him, but she had no time to ponder as Shin was coming with a late feint. His sword dropped down and was going from her lower body. "Focus." She heard her opponent muttering. "Concentrate." She closed his eyes after than, as if forgetting there was an opponent before him with her sword ready. Her sword moved to block his and she barely succeeded. The blind shin actually went for another attack, shove it to her chest currently. "One a line," Shin muttered and got a better over her this time, leaving a bad scar on her breastplate, breaking the armament defence in a large portion on her upper body. Lara cursed and saw no smoke was warping like before. It was far sharper and condensed. It was cold like the weapon Elior used though it had not reached his level. Her mind rang with that thought. If Shin really learn to use those weird kinds of moves that she have no idea how to progress, how could she block him? And then Shin opened his eyes, with a grin on his lips, looking at his dull blade. "Looks like SHin is not going to disappoint me today," Elior muttered from the high seat in the stand. Chapter 105 - Last Match Of Round One (3) "Brother, I can''t hold on any longer?" Shin muttered, sweat formed and evaporated in the warping of waves surrounding his body. It was how Elior was training him, though most of the time, Shin would be torn and throb with the surrounding waves of tension around his body. It was what Elior created to train him through to prepare for the tournament, not that he had any way out of it. "Hold on?" Elior eyed him, glaring. "Did I tell you to hold on? Or do you think it is a contest of how much you can hold on? What I want you be to break through the waves of tension I surrounded you with. The faster you can do that, the faster we will move to the next thing." That did not relieve Shin in the slightest. It only meant it was the beginning, so what good it will be even if he manages to break the waves of tension. Well, if Elior put away the restriction of the usage of air or water attribute, then it would be many times easier. But he had to break through the surface tension Elior specially created by condensing his own waves. Let alone condensing, Shin could feel nothing but the waves of mana, slow and soft. How could the slow and soft mana break the tension wall surrounding his body? "Brother, are you sure you are not wrong?" Shin asked pitifully. His face was pale red from all the tension against his skin and muscle. Elior had not been injured in these few days even once. Well, to be exact, Elior had not been injured unintentionally. But even when it did not leave any injuries, it was damn painful. And that was not the end of it. His muscle turned sore within a couple of minutes. If he did not protect it with mana, it was stressful for his mind and body both. And there were two ways for him to get out of it. In the first and practical way was to learn the wave control Elior wanted to teach him; There Shin had progressed only a little, but he was a master in the other way. The other way was faint. Shin had succeeded there dozens of times already. Yet Elior was still putting him through the training far harder every day, even if there was not even a slight improvement. "Brother, what if you are wrong about all this?" he asked again. "What if my class is really not for this? This kind of creating tension and condensing it are not for me. I am only a little boy of 16, after all." The tension in his body surged with the very mention that it was not for him. ''It''s going to leave some marks,'' Shin thought and heard Elior say: "What is the name of your class?" Elior asked coldly in his training mode. There was not even a speck of brotherly love or even a friendly vibe in his empty eyes. It was quite frightening to think this was actually Elior. "Wave Runner Apprentice," Shin muttered and expected what would be coming for him. "So," Elior paused for a second and the tension surrounding his body started to change, swirling and revolving like a damning tornado, wrestling, twisting, turning, pulling, and rumbling over Shin''s body. "You telling me a Wave Runner is not meant to run waves? What is the good of the class then? Did you ever think for even a second what kind of power you can control on this path? "Almost every kind of ability related to mana moves in the medium of waves, be it light, sound, air, fire. . . You might not be able to control a lot of them, but you can stop them if you learn well. Do you know what ability I''m using to create that tension surrounding your body? Yes it is my spatial force, but can you say how I am doing this?" "I don''t know," Shin muttered, panting. "You are manipulating spatial nodes?" "That''s the basics of it," Elior muttered, showing a disappointed look. "What I''m doing is disrupting the natural flow of the spatial nodes, and in response, they create the shock wave ripples. Meaning, I was not meant to have this power to manipulate shock waves, yet I am doing it doing something else. Think of it as how every transformation occurs. If you burn something, with the fire, there is light too. There is no way to destroy energy, it only transforms from one to another. "What I am doing is breaking the natural fundamentals of waves using my spatial ability, and what you are supposed to do is exactly the opposite. You, the Waverunner apprentice, you are better handled to have this ability than me, and yet here you are struggling, not even finding a way of the pesky tension I created." "This is pesky?" Shin muttered in protest. Yet his pesky was enough to kill him if he did not put any defence with his mana. "I can crush your heart without even lifting a finger. Tell me what you are going through is pesky or not?" Shin swallowed coldly. That thought itself was threatening enough. ''can I do all these too?'' he wondered. At first he believed he could with his boundless belief in Elior, but after days of mindless torturous training, he thought otherwise. "Brother, you win," he said, biting his lips. "But can''t you just use another way?" "There were other ways, but they were all slow and inefficient. It will take you months to even condense waves. You can learn faster through the way we were doing if only you are a little more prudent in your thought process. Feel the flow from the little ripples to the very amount of it. Close your eyes and feel it. Start from the bottom, start from the tiniest ripples you can manage to get hold of, and take another one. Connect the two, and take another, slow and steady that is the way." . . . And now. ''One at a time,'' Shin thought as ripples of waves formed surrounding his sword. His eyes were still closed as the warping of the ripples heightened. ''I can do better.'' His sword moved, still condensing the sharp ripples of waves along the blade of his sword. It struck in a cross in Lara''s breastplate, collapsing her armament defence as well as damaging her breastplate. she was flung away a couple of meters, eyes stark with naked panic at the attack. Shin opened his eyes and looked at his sword that was glowing colder, with smoke like cold aura radiating, but there was something more along the line of the dull blade. No, it was not dull. Not dull at all. Lifting his eyes from the blade, Shin swung violently at his opponent. Lara pulled back her sword in time. But it was futile. Just with the contract, it broke into two pieces. Even Shin''s dull blade was not in good shape, it was damaged further from the impact, though still in one piece. He still could not use it if it was not mended well. There was a thin crack in the spot of impact, and it will broke with a few more swings. But that was not of his worries currently. Shin did not attack and saw his training partner collapsing on her four knees. She had lost. Ford looked at the situation and blew the whistle, ending the final match of today. The crowds that were bewildered a moment ago cheered uproar. This was probably the most entertaining match for them. A duel of equals. Shin was not further away from collapsing, but he steadied himself to sit down next to Lara. "I actually made it," Shin muttered. Other than the joy of winning, he was celebrating because his pain was not for nothing. He had made it just in time. Then again, could he do it again? Perhaps he concentrated like crazy. "Brother will be so proud of me." Then a congratulatory message appeared with the 16 of the students who went to the next round. There were a total of three freshmen on the list with whom they will be facing in the next round. Shin, Elior, and Leroy. All three with the winning streak. "Leroy will face Naeli," Shin muttered, looking at the screen. Naeli was the one Ileana defeated craftily, hiding her earth spirit, though that did not mean Naeli was an easy opponent. ''Brother got it hard. Gaivan of all people, but I should not be worried about brother of all people.'' he thought and found his picture next to lines of Elior''s meaning if he won, he will face Elior, but he has to win first. His opponent was someone named Rjakkar, a heavy shield user. "Then there was the surprise." On the high seat, Elior gave a look at the screen and made his way towards the two resting in the duelling ground. The first round finally ended, not that it mattered. At least for Elior, and nor will the second round will matter for him.. What matters is after the tournament. Chapter 106 - Predator The next morning in the tournament was far in moderation than yesterday¡ªafter all, all the audience as well as the guardians of the students were sent away, nor were the press here today. The matches of today will not be telecasted throughout the world. Only the students of the institute, with a handful of people from all over the world, will be seeing the matches. They couldn''t just announce the secret abilities of the elite students to the world after all. The second round started with the 16 participants coming on the stage while the dean congratulated them. After completing a couple of other stuff, the tournament was about to begin. And in the first match, it was between Elior and Gaivan. The two contestants came on the stage amongst the watchful gazes of the students. The students cheered, especially the freshmen, seeing one of their own on the large stage, but it still could not challenge the cacophony created by all the audience yesterday. "I must say, I am getting excited even before my matches," Shin commented, eyes glued to the screen. The figure of Elior was shown in it as well as the proud upperclassman he would be facing. Unlike yesterday, Elior currently had light armours on his body, and a spear created by him¡ªnot anything special. They were currently in the dressing room, and it was not only the two of shin or Leroy. Other participants who had failed to get into the second round were there too with the additional of Enna, who was currently checking all her healing ingredients as well. And then there was Aanya. "Should I make the bed ready?" Enna said and found the match was about to start. "Bed for whom?" Shin snorted. "Brother won''t need it, and I think the upperclassmen have their own healer." "I was talking about you," Enna said with a hint of a smile on her lips and it only broadened. Shin should have been angry at the response, yet he was smiling too. There were three of us, and she only prepared a bed for me¡ªsomething like this was going through his head currently. "So nice of you," he said to her. "Already thinking for me before even . . ." "That''s because you will be in the direst need of bed than the other two," Enna snorted, and Shin heard a couple of giggles around him. Shin snorted at them too. Could they not just let him live with his dilutions? "But seriously, I don''t expect any miracle today," Enna said. "I heard from my sis that Gaivan advanced to the second-order over a year ago, and he should be close to level 80 now. How can anyone of the freshmen compete against him?" "With a spear and boundless awesomeness?" Shin could not help but say. And the match began. Level 80 was surely not anything to scruff off as many of the academy staff were of that level, but Gaivan is an elite of the academy and has boundless prospects about him. As for Elior, Shin did not know what level his brother was. Elior never answered as he never lies. But what Shin knew was Elior could crush his heart without even lifting his fingers. That was not something any level 80 apprentice could do, not many actual guardians either. "Aanya, what do you think?" Ileana asked, knitting her brows at the match. Even though the match started, the two of the contestants had not started moving, and seemed to converse among themselves. Elior had a smile on his lips, while his opponent was not so merry, stiff and cold. "Hmm, what?" Aanya asked, out of her trance. Ileana raised an eyebrow at her. "What do you think about the match?" she elaborated. "Does El have a chance?" "Didn''t he say he will be back soon?" Aanya replied. "Yes, El did say that, but that doesn''t mean he will come back winning," Ileana, the best friend who was the most oblivious of Elior''s power, asked. "Are you joking?" Shin laughed out. "There was no way Elior would lose this match. He promised me a big surprise if I made it here and faced him. I''m sure he will not back out of his word." Ileana frowned and carried on with the match. The two contestants did not converse for longer. Soon, the temperature of the dulling ground decreased by a large margin and snowflakes started to drift in the air. It looked just beautiful to watch, but what happened next became the focal point of everyone''s attention. This was the contest between the best. Gaivan charged at Elior with his giant icy sword, wherever his feet went, leaving a path of ice behind. It was kind of weird, as he was doing both. The icy was moving along with his feet, giving him a swift speed and he was moving with his feet just the same. Without considering for a second, Gaivan made a large lump of ice before him to charge at his opponent, swinging the huge sword. All the emotions from Elior''s eyes were vacated by then, and the spearhead was blazing with a slow flow of shockwave. Elior blocked the swing of the sword just as easily, but the duel was just starting. All the icy components from Gaivan''s sword rose further and just when Elior''s spearhead made a contract, it broke into hundreds of smaller sharp projectiles to move towards Elior. It was only at hand''s distance, and Elior was open wide. Even if the attack could not deal that much damage, it could disable him of the armament defence and leave a few marks. But none of that happened. The icy projectiles could not even come in contract with Elior before it turned into thin waves of mana. Gaivan raised an eyebrow and the icy below their feet moved up in an arc. He was trying to out-balance Elior and take advantage of him, but it was only an old trick. Elior rose to one foot and stepped on the icy violently. A sharp force of spatial waves undulated there, breaking all ice before it turned into thin mana again. There was no water or vapour in between. His spear moved in a high arc, releasing shape warping of shock into he thin air. Gaivan blocked with his sword, but the spear made a sharp turn in its path, feinting a heavy swing on the side of Gaivan''s chest. The upperclassmen were thrown away a couple of meters, though he balanced himself using his icy control. There was no stopping of the cheering from the freshmen, and not stopping for Elior either. He had the advantage here, and he had no intention of losing it. Elior shot from his spot directly toward Gaivan who tried to intercept it with the swing of his huge icy sword that regained its shape and form. Elior had not gone to Gaivan''s interception. He shoved the blunt end of his spear on the high icy, as it turned to thin mana yet again. That was not the end. Carrying his weight on the spear shaft, Elior pushed down a heavy dropkick on his opponent, who was still in the midst of losing his balance. Gaivan could not dodge the kick as he felt a hammering foot strike his chest, and there was something else too that broke all the armament defence all over his body. The dropkick connected as anyone had imagined it from the audience box, as the upperclassman was flung dozens of metres away, but that was not the end of it either. Before Gaivan could shoot himself up, a spear came for him, shooting in with sharp speed. Gaivan barely stopped it through his sword, but Elior followed closely behind. Currently, he has two sleek daggers in his arm. He shot one at the thigh of his opponent, piercing right where he had wanted before swiping another move in the reverse grip. In his dilemma, Gaivan could only throw away large projectiles of ice, one big enough to crush any normal human. Even many first-order apprentices will have problems keeping themselves safe. Amazingly, Elior was none of those. All of the projectiles of icy that came his way became thin mana, as if there was no contest. Elior''s eyes were narrowed, and it became even more vacant, as if there was no pain that could touch him. With a swift turn, he jerked his dagger on the shoulder of his opponent. It went straight as elior twisted it to pull it, and with that he also pulled back the other knife from Gaivan''s knife thigh before starting his berserking dagger skills. The blade rose all over the place and within a blink of an eye, Gaivan felt a sharp impaling pain on his shoulder¡ªthe very one Elior destroyed the armament first. Gaivan tried to withdraw, condensing a large portion of icy under his feet, but that hardly mattered. With a swift manoeuvre of his dagger, sharp horizontal spatial waves broke the rising icy. It had not succeeded in turning all the icy to mana, but it did succeed, bringing Gaivan back to the earth again. Gaivan stumbled and tried to put back his armament defence, but it wasn''t as easy as he had thought. Other than the shoulder where Elior already made it worse with repeated assault, he felt more restriction on his mana as well. As if something was stopping him from getting hold of it. Then he saw Elior''s eyes, and he froze. If before it was without emotion, vacant of any earthly emotions, then currently it was filled with only one thing. A murderous intention. Gaivan felt his spirit collapse as he looked at the savage predatory eyes. An unknown fear that he was never meant to feel against an underclassman got its root into his spirit and he only managed to fall on his back, trying to flee in every way he could. But before then came Elior''s dagger, one stuck right in the middle of his chest, piercing the light armor to give a sharp tingle of pain. "I concede," Gaivan screamed loudly, swallowing. Elior stopped and eliminated all the effects of the title of Predator. It was only the second time he was using it in this timeline, and in both times, it made things easy for him. The first time he had used it more subtly, only to sip a little fear into Aanya''s mind to flee away from her chase. But here he brought out everything. Every savagery thought turned into emotion and assaulted Gaivan''s spirit, and so far the result was more than what he had hoped for. Ford announced the result, but for a couple of seconds, there was no cheering. It was a pin drop silence. Chapter 107 - Devarians "So, where is my surprise?" Shin asked the moment Elior came into the dressing room. Elior smiled slightly, sweat beads dripping down his face. "You will get to see it after you win the next match," he said, resting his butt onto the bench, still breathing a little rigidly. "It won''t be difficult after the sword I gave you right?" Shin laughed stiffly, and held the new sword¡ªnot the one Elior gave him, but another of the basics ones provided by the academy. Ileana looked at him peculiarly. In the match, she just saw him outclassing an upperclassman so easily, like it was nothing to him. Including the students of other grades, they were also shocked to see such an outcome and that too in such a fashion. He had not let his opponent make even a single move threatening to him. From the outside, it looked like it was a contest between two classes apart and Elior being on the higher end. But looking closely, she found it was not what it looks like. Surprisingly, she was relieved to see that. Perhaps because Elior was straying away further from her, or she felt she was not as talented as the others. "That''s the last stressful thing for today," he muttered and saw Leroy getting ready for his match. The overly handsome looking boy with golden hair stood up stretching a little. He looked at the door to the arena and then towards Elior as his eyes glinted a little. "I never knew you had such skills," he said, walking towards them. "What?" Elior sneered with a thin curve in his lips. "Are you scared?" Leroy tilted his head a little, stopping on his way. "Maybe. Then again, I got more excited as well, seeing there will be someone to exchange pointers with. I am looking forward to our match." "That is only if you can win your next two matches," Elior snorted. The tournament was grouped so that only one of the freshmen could go till the end. In his next match, Elior would be seeing Shin if the wannabe delinquent wins that were, and after that, it was Leroy, considering he will win his matches too. So in the finals, only one of the freshmen could enter. Elior had no problems knowing that, and so it seemed to Leroy. "I am looking forward to our match," Leroy repeated his words as if it was already set in stone before leaving for his current match. Elior snorted and wondered why he was so conservative about this fellow. ''Really, what the fuck did this guy have done to me?'' he wondered. "Could you not just behave normally when conversing with him?" Ileana asked him. "Could you not just take the side of your friend?" Elior smiled at her. "He might be moody, but he can also have profound reasons behind it." "Really?" Ileana glared at him. "What are your reasons, then?" "Hmm, perhaps I am jealous of his otherworldly handsomeness." Elior paused. "Well, he is from another world. " "That is your reason?" Ileana continued on her glares. "And you want me to believe that?" "If I wanted, would you believe it?" Elior laughed as all the glares from her was nothing but normal to him. "Never," Ileana snorted. "The problem is with you. Since you never lie, you always need your sarcasm to draw the topic elsewhere. It might work on fools." She paused and looked at Shin. "But that won''t work on me. And I also know you only do this on the topic that you are uncomfortable with." Elior was startled, but the curves in his lips or the wrinkles in the corner of his eyes never left. "A rewarding hypothesis, but I don''t have a cookie with me." "I don''t want your cookie," Ileana yelled at him. "Just tell me a sound reason." "If you say so." Elior paused and looked at the screen where Leroy was fighting against Naeli in his usual way. There was no tension or stress on him, though he was going slow, nor it seemed he would be in trouble. He just seemed perfect, and Elior remembered why he hates this guy. "I don''t like how perfect he appears," he said. "I don''t like how effortless he makes it seem. It always reminded me that all I have been training for is for nothing. All I have worked for is not even a prickle compared to him." "Huh?" Ileana''s eyes were wide open as if she could not believe what she just heard. And it was not just his comment startled her, Shin, Lara, and Aanya, who have the most contact with him. Was this really Elior, the guy who just defeated the one who held the most chances to win the match effortlessly? Was it really Elior who appeared as if nothing fazes him? Elior frowned and found he spoke more than he intended. He looked at others to find they have eyes like saucers, looking at him as if they can''t believe him. "Well, Leroy may appear he''s perfect, nothing compared to some of the devarians I''ve seen," Aanya started. "Even though that race is almost perfect, they are far arrogant like they can never be wrong, in that sense, Leroy is humbler. Perhaps because of his birth." "Exactly, you proved my points," Elior said. "Devarians?" Shin asked confusingly. "What are you guys talking about?" "You don''t know about Devarians?" Aanya asked him, knitting her brows. "I guess they were not lying when they say, you are lazy. Devarians are a race of Motherworld, and a leading one at that. They have a low birthrate, but a high natural lifespan. A normal devarian can like a couple of hundred years easily, but that is the least significant feature of the race. They are all tall, white, lean, handsome, and you can add Arrogant there too. But arrogance does not come with nothing. All the devarians are born with his affinity for spirit and mana. A high grade affinity to spirit is nothing but cabbage to them. Moreover, their blood possesses unique powers." "That did somewhat perfect," Shin muttered, but Ileana faced Aanya with her brows knitted tightly. "Aanya, you mean," she asked, "Leroy is a Devarian?" "Yes," Aanya nodded, and saw the trouble in Ileana''s face. "A half-bred most likely." "But he appears so humane?" "Well, all the devarians do appear humane, and he''s more because of the impurity in his blood."Aanya paused, as she did not know how to console her friend. "There is a humanoid race like elves, dwarves, but devarians are not exactly human." "You said he''s a half-breed. Does that make it easy?" "Easy for what?" Aanya frowned. "I am not very sure, but Devarians are not so good to the ones that sully their blood." "He won," Shin said in the middle. On the screen, the proud face of Leroy was shown, and it looked all indifferent, even though he shook his hand and talked nicely to his defeated opponents. "As my brother said, he does appear perfect. Is it because of the blood?" ''It is not,'' Elior thought. ''Even if Leroy has the blood of devarians, I have no problem with it. After all, I love a woman with the same blood as well. There is something else, something else hidden in my mind, in that void.'' The clouds had shrouded, but Elior had never recovered all his memories. He did get many useful things that will help him to prepare for the Trial-2, but not the important part he''s looking for. Elior rubbed his forehead and stopped those thoughts as it ached quite a bit in his head just thinking about it, and if he went further, he might drown there, going unconscious. He looked at the figure showing on the screen. Handsome he might be, Elior never had a problem with that, but he was jealous, envious of this fellow the most in the other timeline. Unlike those who see his friends dying, Leroy fights to protect everything, even though he strays away from most people. In the first part of the other timeline, Elior only had his hammer to help¡ªa hammer that created many weapons that helped many guardians, but that stopped nothing. In a sense, he hated himself back then. A memory assaulted him abruptly. There was once a time he and a few other students, including Shin, were on the verge of death, and he could not do anything that day. That was the darkest days before his reckoning, when he saw Leroy fight to protect them. Leroy had failed to protect all, but he did save him. The half-bred devarian had saved his life back then. Just knowing Elior can create good weapons which will be helpful to earthlings. Yet, he still hates Leroy for some other reason. He remembered fighting together with him, running away together with him, yet he still hates him. he hates him so much that he might never get to trust him again. ''What did yo do, Roy?'' ____________________ I know the quality of the writing has decreased. Apologies for that. I am pressed with time, and might do a mass edit of all the chapters had done half-assed edits with the extension. Thank you for reading, and a big thankyou to them who are paying for it even though the quality has lessened. Chapter 108 - The Winner Is . . . "So, there are no races more perfect compared with Devarians?" Shin couldn''t help but ask. "Are they even better than Elves?" "More than you think," Aanya answered, "But if we talk about the race with the most affinity to the spirit and mental ability, then Dragons came top¡ªnot that there were many true dragons in the universe. But the few Old Dragons that still live held great power and intelligence." "There are dragons?" Shin''s eyes glittered instantly. "There are, but it''s almost impossible to see them," Aanya answered. "Even though they held great power, they are a crafty bunch, you cannot find them even if you seek them out for decades." "Enough talk about dragons and whatnot," Elior sighed, hitting Shin on the shoulder. "Your match is coming in. Get ready." "Oh, shit." Shin stood up immediately and saw on the screen that his match was up next. He slapped his cheeks twice and saw Leroy came in and got back to his seat nonchalantly. He did not have time to congratulate others when he was not ready for his match. Even yesterday against Lara, he was already on the verge of losing. He might have pulled through from there with the last-minute miracle. It would be immensely harder to do that today. Moreover, he still did not have full control over his waves¡ªlike how Elior taught him to use it, like how he used it against Lara. "Brother, any last-minute advice?" "Don''t lose," was all Elior said and saw Shin, squinting his nose. "Think about the surprise. It is only a onetime offer. Moreover, I have already paid for it, but if you failed to deliver, I would not mind backing out. So, if you lose, you will never get to see it in your life." "What kind of surprise you organised for me, that I''ll never be able to see it if I lose this time?" "The kind you will like the most." Elior smiled. And Shin believed him. "Then, I guess, I have to do my best." The wannabe delinquent left fast, while the screen showed the performance of the two participants from the other day. The one Shin was up against is called Feldan, a swordsman like Shin. Feldan had not reached the realm of true swordsman yet, but he''s master at controlling flames. He even earned the nickname of Firesword from the press after his performance the other day. Well, he was not the only one that got a nickname. Shin got one too, though not as good as Firesword. Shin narrowed his eyes at his opponent, who was already prepared with his bastard sword ready, reflecting Shin slightly on the shiny blade. Feldan curved his lips upwards, looking at his opponent, and Shin smiled in replay, not trying to lose out. "For a moment, I thought my opponent would be tougher than this," Shin said with a lovely smile on his lips. Many goods can come from a nice trash talk. "But you don''t seem to have even the half of a bearing the Firesword in the news." "Funny," Feldan snorted. "You are exactly what is told in the news, Swordpunk." "I prefer the swordcrusher," Shin snorted back. Unlike many who only got one nickname, Shin got two. Swordpunk was what the reporters that did not like his answer or behaviour in the press conference the other day, while the other name was given by the internet after his video of breaking the sword got viral. Feldan was about to prepare for replay when Ford''s stoic voice came in their ears. "If the participants ready, we can start the match." Ford gave both of them another look, before blowing the whistle. Shin unsheathed his new sword¡ªthe basic one that he had with him, because the other one got almost unusable yesterday. Though Elior had given him a far better sword than this, he had other plans for that. Then again, this sword was not a total waste either. For sealing the victory, it will play a vital role there. As the match started, Shin dashed towards his opponent without any pretence. Feldan brought up his sword as it blazed in crimson glory, enlarging another half a metre. Shin''s sword forced out water and met the firesword head-on. In general, sense, if fire and water met it was an easy victory for water as it would put off the fire, but there the water could only dim the intensity of the fire, much less putting off the fire in the sword. Shin raised an eyebrow as the steam cleared, within that time he withdrew from the incoming firesword. Even though Shin had an edge on the speed with manipulating waves and air, Feldan was not slow either. The upperclassman chased out Shin, bearing the firesword, shooting flames in his direction. Shin rose in the air, but the flames did not leave his way. Without bothering Shin swung his sword, releasing a large wave of air, scattering away from the fire. But he did not have free time there, as Feldan lunged at him in the air, his sword had reached two metres in length currently, but it did not appear like he was having any trouble. Gritting his teeth, Shin rose further in the air, trying to escape from the fiery sword. "Are you going to run all the time?" Feldan yelled at him, not finding any way to chase after Shin. "Not at all," Shin said and rose further in the air. He started to rise further and when he was a dozen metres in the air did he stop. Shin closed his eyes then and focused on condensing the waves again, like he did against Lara the other day. It was not coming after his success the other day. Well, he did not perfect it currently. Before even his waves condense that could even threaten an ant, he started to fall, and he was falling towards Feldan. There was nothing to worry about, Shin did not stay closed-eyed for longer. As the wind hit his cheek, he narrowed his eyes, falling towards Feldan with a ready sword. Feldan did not know what his opponent was trying. What appeared to him was nothing but Shin falling right into his sword. Still, he kept his mind busy with any potential moves. Never take any opponent lightly, or he might turn like Gaivan. Both of the opponents had their eyes locked, sword in their arms. One with condensed fire, the other with air. Shin was only about two meters away from his opponent when he swung his sword in a high arc, shooting all the condensed air from it. Feldan found it easier to dodge than block, so he took the easy road and withdrew sideways. Shin knew something like this would have happened. That was why he was condensing the waves in his palms¡ªnot that it was ready yet. He got safely on the earth, and condensed air on it again, still preparing the condensation of thin, invisible waves. Feldan came at him aggressively again; feinting his sword, he got a good move on his thigh. The two of them got busy in close quarters, disabling any way out for Shin¡ªnot that he was looking for. All he was looking for was an opportunity. Feldan was not stupid to give him that opportunity he needed. The firesword pressed him harder, and a high curve appeared on Feldan''s lips. "Swordcrusher, eh?" he laughed. "It looks like it''s only your sword that will get crushed today." "Looks like it." Saying that, Shin let one of his palms form the sword as the two swords pressed hard against one another, pressed harder against his shoulder, crushing in. it broke his armament defence and made way towards his flesh, but Shin did not care. On the other hand, the wave condensation was ready, but Shin did not shoot, even though his opponent''s sword had almost reached his bone. He did nothing, until another sword appeared on the other arm, as shin infused all the thin invisible waves at the newly sleek blade, shoving it directly towards his opponent''s gut. Feldan had no idea where the sword came from, but he had no time to ponder either, he tried to twist his body sideways to dodge, and almost succeeded when a sharp piercing force invade him through the gut, disabling a large amount of armament defence, and then came to the sword, following his direction. Shin knew he could not keep up the waves to his sword for longer, so he assaulted his opponent immediately after his sword come out from his inventory. It went just he had planned, but he lost his last cards here. There was no surprise elements in his hands, but he would not need any more for this match either. He pulled his body down from the fiery sword swiftly, and shoved it directly at the guts. Before it could reach a threatening level, he heard the whistle as Ford ended the match. "The winner is Shin Olwyn." Chapter 109 - Why? "I must say, I expected nothing less from you," Elior said with a laugh, watching the incoming Delinquent-looking boy. "Thank you." Shin laughed as well. He had worked so hard for the last month, and he finally achieved what he aimed for. He did use some underhanded tricks, but none can deny his hard work. He rested his butt on the seat and felt a large load off his back. "How did you do that?" Enna asked, and the others appeared curious as well. "Like this?" Shin continued to laugh as his phone appeared on his palm out of thin air. "It''s magic." Ileana snorted. "We all know it''s magic. Just tell us how you can do that?" "It''s most likely the guardian''s inventory," Aanya, who had better knowledge, answered. "Though I must admit that was really a useful tactic you have used. Who would believe that a first-order apprentice has guardian''s inventory and uses it during a confrontation." "It''s a prize from Trial-zero," Shin added with a nod. Ileana looked at her ring unconsciously when she heard that. It was a prize from trial-zero as well, though she never used its feature, nor did she understand it clearly. The matches continued. It was Katherine''s match next and she will most likely win without lifting her fingers. That one scary ability she got. Elior did not wait in the dressing room to enjoy the matches, though. He stood up and made his way out of there. "You guys enjoy the show. I have something to do." He left saying that. "Where are you going?" Ileana yelled from behind, but Elior was already gone. "He''s most likely going to bring my big surprise," Shin added, resting almost limp on the seat. Though the match was not tense, he had done a lot of hard work. A lot more than what he usually does, and it all is bearing fruits now. ''I will go to the next trial.'' He thought and paused. ''Why though?'' After he accomplished his goal, why does he feel so . . . empty? Why does it appear like it was for nothing? He remembered practising all that hard because the academy did not fight on their own, even in those test dungeons. At that time, Elior had mentioned that only in the trial would they be able to train freely without any fear of death. At that time, that was all Shin had hoped for. But why? To prove to my parents? But he could do that going slowly as well, as his mother had wished for him. At that time, he thought it would be great defiance to his parents. He worked far harder than his parents were able to make him do. All that for what? Just to kill some monster and level up? Yes, to hold the power of mana is far more tempting than it appears on the outside, but is there only that? He can''t say he did not like to get drunk in the power of mana, but is there really nothing else? His eyes unconsciously drifted towards Enna. He thought if he became a guardian, girls would fawn over him like flies fawn over shit. That was somewhat true, but it was not for the ones he would like to fawn over him. But he can''t say he dislikes that. All of that was cool and all, but that was not why he had worked so hard. He said yes to the one that brought him to the academy on a whim after the trial, but why did he work so hard? He did like fighting, he did like how others revere an apprentice on the outside, he did like to hold to mana, but he can get all that without working this hard. Shin never considered himself an ambitious person, nor did he work for anything worthwhile other than some comfort. ''Why did I work so hard?'' the question was appearing in his mind now just after he had succeeded. He could figure out Elior had a large influence on him. A friend he met when he was hanging upside down on a tree. He never knew they would be this great friend, but was he doing all that for friendship? He had done many other things for friendship. Did many illegal things that involved the disappearances of a few people. ''Perhaps, I thought, my parents will give me more affection if I become guardians like them and that too without their help,'' he thought. That actually happened. His parents noticed him more often now, though his father asked nothing other than how his studies were going on, how his training was achieved. His mother, however, made time to see him twice, though he got into arguments both of the times. "Shin?" ''Will I work this hard still, knowing I will most likely not get their affection?'' he wondered. ''Well, I am not a child anymore. Will I still do all these just to annoy them so that they will notice me more?'' "Shin?" said Enna again and this time nudging his shoulder. "Where are you lost at?" "Eh." Shin got out of his trance and found the others were giving him looks. "I was thinking something." "Well, it must be something very profound that you have not heard all my yelling," Enna joked. "I have a question," Shin said, cracking a little smile at her jokes. "Why do you guys fight? Why work so hard when you can do something else too?" Enna knitted her brows at once, hearing the question, and it was not only her. The others were similarly startled by his sudden questions. "It is an odd time you have chosen to ask something so philosophical," Ileana commented. "Just answer the question, will you?" ''Perhaps I''ll get some motivation that I lost so suddenly.'' Ileana turned silent. She blinked twice and looked at others. Pondering for a few seconds more, she opened her mouth. "Curiosity," she muttered. "Yes, Curiosity. It all started with my curiosity. I wanted to learn as much about this supernaturalism as I can. If I have to learn to fight, I''ll do that steadily as well." Shin frowned. It seemed like a sound reason, but he did not like it. He moved to the person next to her. Lara, who was more silent of the bunch, still held on to her frown. Why does she try so hard? The answer was easy for her. "My father taught me that life is short, so we should make the most of it when we can." She paused. "I try to abide by the rule." That was another sound argument, but was there just a fight in life? "But you can do other things?" he asked. "Other things than playing sword?" Lara went to her natural silence for a moment. "Well, sword is the only thing I am good at." Shin did not like that answer as well. His eyes moved to the next person. "Don''t look at me like that," Enna murmured. "I am a healer, and of all things, I like to cure people the most. I like to work to the best of my abilities and heal as many people as I can. As for reason? I don''t have one. I just do it as it fits me the most." "That sounded like the stupidest reason," Shin muttered. "But I''ll give you a pass for your cuteness." Enna snorted at his words, and he moved to the next person. Aanya. He had great expectations from her since she had seen more parts of the universe and held more experience. "Senior, why do you try so hard?" Aanya paused, licking her lips. "Because I was chosen for this," she said and stopped, evidently not wanting to talk more about it. Shin recalled he heard something like this before. "That is another stupid reason," Shin wondered and looked around. He wanted to ask Elior next, but he was not here currently. So he chose to ask the few others that were here. Leroy was not here, so he could not get his answer, but he got others. Hassan said he worked hard to make a better world for his family¡ªno lofty goals of freeing the world. Peter said it was to make his parents proud. Shin asked a couple more, but none of their answers satisfied his needs. The matches continued on the other end, and even though the matches were meant to be lengthy, they did not actually. Some matches did not even take half a minute¡ªthat was the difference between the students. After all the 16 had their matches, 8 of them were eliminated. Fortunately, the three freshmen are still there in the tournament, but not for long. "Shin, it is your match again," Enna said. "You already showed your trick, but fortunately, it is against Elior. So you will unlikely need the bed." Shin cracked a smile and stood up. He was not even sure of the meaning of his hard work, but he tried to excite his mind, thinking about the surprise Elior had promised him. __________________ The book seemed to be straying away from my outline for a bit.. We will get to the trial in a couple more chapters. Chapter 110 - The Surprise Shin waited in the duelling ground¡ªthe sword he got from Elior last night in his arms¡ªnot that he hoped to use it in this match. He had duelled with Elior on many occasions, and although, in most of them, Elior used an easy hand, it did not limit him to feel the strength and control Elior had over his ability. Shin had seen him burst one''s arm into nothingness¡ªlike popping a balloon. He himself had been through his demonic training, all the tension he put him through. However, back then Shin was not sure how difficult it was for Elior, but later when he learned to control waves a little, he could guess even a guardian might fail to such subtle control like his brother. There was no chance for him to win here, however, he did not mind contesting another time to see how much strength his brother held. Shin shook his head immediately. Just a moment ago he was pondering over the reasons why he tried so hard¡ªas all appear nothing to him. And here he was, just getting a little excited about fighting Elior again. [Freshman Elior Viswas, please enter the duelling ground.] The announcement was made for the second time, and Shin frowned. ''What took him so long?'' he wondered. Surely, the tournament held no attraction to Elior after he defeated the candidate who should have won the grand prize. Still, Elior should be here. After all, he made a promise to Shin. He promised to give Shin a big surprise, and it appeared he was just preparing that. Time passed slowly, and Shin kept on waiting, standing with the support of his new sword. He had no complaints that Elior was so late, but Ford seemed to get bored with no action. He looked at his wristwatch and was about to blow his whistle to announce Shin as the winner when the door opened again and appeared a young man panting. Sweat beads dripped down from Elior''s face, and his back was already wet. "Sorry for the delay," Elior said, controlling his breathing evenly. Seriously, with just a self-command he appeared far more in control than Shin ever will be. "Were you smithing again?" Shin could not help but ask, though the answer was rather easy to him. "Sorry," Elior apologised, eyeing him. "I needed some peace of mind, and hammering works best for me." Shin nodded. ''Why does Elior work so hard?'' the question appeared in his mind again. It is surely not like Lara, whose philosophy was that life is too short, nor was it like Ileana who was curious about all things related to supernaturalism. Elior did not appear like a person who would do things like Enna¡ªwhatever seemed fit for him, but it is far more complicated. Elior appeared as someone who did many things unwillingly. ''Because I was chosen for this.'' Aanya''s words resounded in his head and he knitted his brows, looking at Elior. He remembered the one who said something like that was Elior as well. When he asked him about why he did what he did for, he said he was chosen and nothing else. Shin thought it was some secret related to the pixie, or someone else. ''But that doesn''t make sense,'' Shin thought, ''Elior never seemed like a person who will do anything if someone stronger said he''s the chosen one.'' There''s something more. "I am actually surprised," Elior said, staring at him, smiling. "I thought you would ask me for the surprise reward the moment I appear here.'' "Brother," Shin called as if he did not hear him. "I have a question. Why do you work so hard? Why do you ignore your self-interest many times and work like a madman?" Elior eyes locked with his, and he frowned. Did he see the changes in his eyes? Or understood why he was asking those questions? Perhaps it was Elior after all. He had the knack of being mysterious and knows many things. "Why do I do it?" Elior said and sighed. He looked at Shin again and answered. "I do it because there is no other option." Shin''s frown deepened, but he did not have long to ponder as both of them already took much time from Ford and the students in the audience. "If both students are prepared, we can start the match." Ford''s loud voice entered both of their ears and he saw Elior nod. Ford whistled, announcing the beginning of the match, but none of the two moved even an inch. Shin sighed, moving every one of those thoughts into the corner of his mind. A smile appeared on his lips immediately as he lifted his sword. "So, where is my reward?" "For a moment, I thought you are not interested in it." Elior laughed, though he did not bring out any weapon. "Shall we play a little before we get to that?" Seeing Shin nod, he continued, "We will exchange one move and decide everything in that one move." Shin raised an eyebrow. "I have no complaints," he said, "but I have one condition, however." "Let''s hear it then," Elior said with a rather amused voice¡ªprobably guessing what kind of condition he would want. "I don''t want you to hold back," Shin declared and saw Elior''s smile widening. "I want to feel all of your raw power." "I thought you would ask for that, still, are you certain?" Shin nodded, and he started to prepare his strongest moves¡ªthe move he barely learned yesterday. He closed his eyes and first condensed air into his lower body, and then started to condense waves around his sword. Smoke like waves condensed around the sword that could only be felt by someone with a good understanding of mana. It rushed around the sword, and went faster and faster, as the chilliness rose in the sword. "Are you ready?" Elior asked, still in his laid back position. Shin opened his eyes and shot directly at Elior, sword raised high, attempting to swing in a full arc. The air around his legs released, giving him a sudden surge of speed, the highest speed he could have gathered with his current strength. The students gasped, looking at the scene¡ªcertainly, none of the upperclassmen was this fast even for a second. Shin arrived before Elior and before he could even control his sight his sword fell from high towards Elior''s left shoulder, warping the air around, as well as the waves fluctuating. Then he felt a restriction on the path of the sword. Did I hit him? He wondered, and finally saw the scene before his eyes. His eyes met with Elior and there was no smile or amusement there. It was empty like the darkest night. There was no emotion, affection, or friendliness. It was not mad either, nor was it serene like a lake. Still, there was a calmness in those eyes, a calmness within the nothingness. Shin did not need to look at his sword to find what had happened. Still, he looked to see, the waves fluctuating like mad around his sword and the arm that restricted it. Elior had stopped his sword with bare arm. Shin swallowed at the sight and found all the waves he had condensed fluctuating away from the sword and it went away towards him, assaulting his body. He felt a sharp cut on his cheek as blood rushed out from it. It was not anything serious, and the other fluctuations of the sharp blades like waves did not hit him any longer. The waves created through his own power harmed him. The sign was real. He may have created the waves¡ªa threatening weapon, but at the hand of a more powerful enemy, it can turn against him easily. Elior''s eyes turned to normal. Well, they were the same eyes, calm and collected, but it lost the deepness in them. "Still need some practice. You don''t rest the waves after you are assaulted with it. You manipulate it to hit your opponent further." Shin repeated those words and drew back the swords, eyeing the palm where it made contact. The palm was unharmed, but he did feel some spatial crack there. "Is that your full power?" he asked, gasping. "Yes," Elior said and paused for a second. "Though I can raise it to some degree and it will hurt me in the process." "I see," Shin said, swallowing. He released a deep breath and felt a little freedom. "So, where are my rewards?" "It is in its place, but before that," Elior said and looked at Ford. The referee was hesitant to conclude the match, even knowing the two students promised to finish in one move. He was about to ask for their confirmation when he heard one of them say, "I concede." "What?" Shin and Ford asked in unison. "Shin will go to the next round," Elior said again. "I concede." "Brother, what are you saying?" Elior only shook his head at Shin''s inquiry. Ford frowned, but blew the whistle to announce the winner as Shin Olwyn. "As for your reward?" Elior said as the amusing smile returned to his lips. He held out his arm and clapped his finger together to make a loud noise in the air. Then a firework burst into the air, and Shin heard cheers of his name. "Shin . . . Shin ., . . Shin . . ." It all came from a certain stand on the stadium, quite close to the duelling grounds. There danced over a couple of dozen cheerleaders dancing yelling his name. They were not just freshmen, but many upperclassmen were there too. They even seemed to have been singing some song in the chorus about him. Shin felt a little weird inside, but a huge grin appeared on his lips. Chapter 111 - Conclusion To The Tournament (1) The cheering never stopped, even when Shin was losing. Moreover, the number of cheerleaders has only risen. Even Elior was there, cheering for Shin, though he knew there was not much of a chance for Shin to win. Leroy''s body burned in white as he rushed at Shin, who used all he had to withdraw. Certainly, the half-devarian had to use some of his secret abilities against Shin''s concentrated waves that could cut through metal like mud. And it appeared like he was learning from Shin on how to concentrate his light. Light flows in the forms of waves, after all. Like all the devarians, Leroy was blessed with the power of Light. Well, he might rather be far better at that compared with many pure-blooded devarians. This was the power he once hated to use, but it had become his closest ally over the years. And now he was learning another trick to use from a fellow classmate. ''Why have I not thought about this?'' Leroy questioned himself. He never saw anyone use his ability in this form¡ªanyone but Shin. But he could tell there were likely other people who have used their abilities in this kind of form. Mana had been there for thousands of years and there was no shortage of prodigy who came up with something new, while others started to figure out the trick behind it. There is no shame in it. Well, even if there was, Leroy did not care. Certainly, concentrating light was far harder compared to simple waves, but Leroy had the highest affinity with mana, and the blessing of their immortal god. His sword burned in white, emitting light, illuminating even in the open sun. Narrowing his eyes, he swung his sword towards Shin, who never stopped in his movement. His opponent felt the incoming charge of light, and he tried to block it. It happened as the other time. The flash of light collided against his new sword, though he could not stop it. It broke into two bars of flash and assaulted his armament defence. It broke the defence where it hit it, but other than leaving a thin line on his light armour, it did nothing. Moreover, Leroy seemed to have not figured out how to make a mess of the armament defence. It only troubled his defence in a thin, straight line and with only a little more effort, Shin solidified the defence again. Perhaps it was harder to control light waves than just to attribute normal waves. Even though Shin was no master of it, he could manipulate the waves to have a larger effect on the opponent''s body, but the light did not seem to have that advantage. Still, the way it could ignore his sword was already overpowered enough. Even if it only attacked in a straight line, Shin had suffered too many blows of it, while never succeeding in dealing anything to his opponent. Actually, Shin did get better at Leroy a couple of times, but his attacks did not seem to have much of an effect, with how he was emitting white rays of lights. The light has an innate healing factor as well. ''I can very well guess why seniors said they were the perfect race,'' Shin wondered, checking another blow. Even with his high speed, if he deals a blow with these concentrated waves, all it could draw were rays of light. There was no blood on the edge of his sword. "Shin . . . Shin . . . Shin. . . ." The cheering of the girls came into his ears and poured him with more vigour to win the match. Or at least give it his all. On the high stadium. Elior finally settled with his cheering. He rested the flag on one of the cheerleaders before coming down to sit with his friends just on the stand next to it. They all looked at him quite eccentrically¡ªnever knew he would do something like this. "So how did you manage to get so many girls to cheer for Shin?" Ileana could not help but ask. She and the others finally figured out what he was doing the other day, meeting with so many girls. He was preparing this for Shin. There were currently close to 40 girls. Cheering for that fool as if he was their knight in shining armour. Shin certainly liked this surprise, as it was one on his bucket lists though he was currently in no position to enjoy it. "There are many ways to get the consent of someone to do something stupid," Elior smiled, "Here, I bribed them with the right thing." "And the bribe is?" "I will listen to their commands when I become the next president," Elior laughed. Ileana snorted, knowing he was only joking. "You joke as if the role is already yours." "Well, I already have the current president on my back," Elior said, looking at Aanya. "What I do have to fear." Aanya perked up her legs¡ªnot knowing if Elior was only joking about the offer she gave him or if he''s serious about it. "Really, how did you get them to do something like this?" Ileana asked. "Well, I only promised to deliver some resources that will help them in their growth, and that includes some of the things Aanya gave us," Elior said. ''Though I was intending to give it to all the students, getting something out of the first did not look bad.'' Yes, he did exploit them. Shin and the girls both, but it was necessary. ''Humans do not appreciate free things very much.'' He thought and confirmed he was doing the right thing. Though nothing was free in the first place, they have to pay it with blood and sweat one day, and he has to do the same. They all have to do the same. "What?" Ileana reacted far more violently than Aanya, whose content he had distributed. "How could do that just simply to make this stupid wish come true? You could just make something else for Shin? A new artifact, perhaps." "Ileana, you''re still too young to understand my grand scheme of things," Elior said, sitting more comfortably, tucking her shoulder. Ileana snorted, throwing his arms and got her interest back into the match. The match did not turn bloody, even though it was going on for a quarter of an hour. The one who wins in this game will go to the finals, which means one spot of the freshmen was secure in the finals, though she was not sure if they could win it. On the other end, the other finalist very well is Katherine, who could defeat the opponent within a blink of her eye. Ileana had mended her misinterpretation of Katherine, but she still felt chills remembering what she felt in that blink of an eye. It was certainly not a power to kill, but something that would leave a trauma for the years to come. Though Aanya had told Katherine to not use that ability on any of the students, Katherine''s mindset was nothing but of a child of half a dozen years. There was a very good chance she would do the same again if she felt a little threatened. She wondered which one of the two would go against her. Shin went to the attacking currently while Leroy on the other hand blocked, narrowing his eyes. From the sides, she heard Elior say, Leroy was attempting to learn the moves from Shin. That''s why the match progressed for so long. That means Leroy already had control over the match, but Shin, on the other hand, was lucky as hell, and unknowingly came up with things at the last minute. Ileana did not know who to cheer for. Even though she detest Shin, and argued with him for a long, he was a friend. She hated to admit it, but she felt some security with him when she was inside dungeons, like how she felt under Elior. Lara did not give her that feeling, though. Lara was a good friend and a damn good apprentice, she was mostly stern when dealing in the dungeon, while Elior stood like a wall, as if no monster could stand a chance against him. While Shin joked about his insecurities, cheering the mood of others. She hated to admit it, but it helped a lot. Then there was Leroy. Her eyes drifted towards the figure, emitting golden light, looking quite divine. His face reddened without her noticing it. Was it just because he was handsome? She wondered. She had never talked to him in longer terms, only some greetings, nor had she seen him talking with someone for longer than a minute or two and even in them he was mostly the listener. So, in one sentence, she knew nothing about him. ''I really know nothing about him,'' Ileana thought, though her heartbeat was a little faster. "Nothing other than, he''s a loner . . . handsome, focused . . .. and afraid? It was as if he''s hiding something." Chapter 112 - Conclusion To The Tournament (2) Leroy moved in with such confidence that others will hesitate in their own ability. As the match progressed for a long time, his ability grew more. Well, growth was not the right term here. Leroy only knew better to manipulate his light here. The golden light had not risen, but diminished actually. Concentrate would be the right word. Leroy understood he could not make his light work like normal waves, just because Light was faster and moves linearly. That was why he had to start concentrating on it before even releasing it. Like any other element, it was far easier to control any element in the forming than release it. And he understood it very well. He had put his mind to work, after getting hit by Shin a few times. Although it hurt him badly, it did not actually cause that much damage¡ªhis innate healing factor was able to take care of it all. It was simple just that Shin''s degree of power has not out-mastered his healing factor. Leroy could handle this kind of pain, considering the fact he will get to learn new things from it. Leroy thought this opponent of his would be nothing worthwhile, unlike the other person he should be fighting now, but that person seemed to have some indignation with him. Does he fear him? No, that look only made him see annoyance and detest within themselves. So much so that he would even give up on the tournament. Surprisingly, he got hold of something in this match he thought would be boring, and nothing worthwhile. ''I will certainly thank him later," he thought, dodging Shin''s sword. It was not that he entirely copied Shin''s method, but it gave him the inspiration to come up with his own way. Certainly, it was easy for him as many other things, but without the little hint, he might not have learned it so early. ''Let''s finish the match now,'' he thought and found himself and Shin seething in sweats with weary eyes. They were going at each other for half an hour already. A few half an hour with their abilities hyperactive, there was no rest, his opponent searching for a way to pierce his defence, while he was searching for the way to learn a new art. In the end, one of them succeeded. Leroy released a deep breath, and the bars of golden light from his body stopped glittering before his sword turned a burning gold¡ªit almost appeared like a golden Lightsaber, and Leroy swung it from high above his head to a full arc of a circle violently towards his opponent. Shin felt a chill seeing the sword and was already prepared to withdraw when he saw the sword arching in a full swing. Even with his early attempt, he could only barely manage to get away, but he already had his back against the wall. Metaphorically. How will he block or dodge the second move? Then the third one? Will there be a need for the fourth one? He saw his opponent smiling at him as he swung again, as the arc of golden rays surged at him. Shin was sure, if it touched¡ªit may not cut him into two pieces, but it will leave a certain horizontal mark for him to remember in his lifetime. Was Leroy more powerful? Shin wondered and dodged the second one of the swing coming at him. The rays of violent burning gold hit the wall on the back, leaving dozens of deep marks on the wall. What was this power? He wondered, swallowing. Even he would not be able to leave such marks even with his new sword and condensing mist. It was not that Elior was weaker compared to Leroy, but all he faced from Elior was subtle. Elior never used a heavy hand on him, only showing that with great control, you can even do great things with little things. Little things like harmless waves, but in Leroy''s hand, that was a devastating force. Shin tried to rise in the air, as the burning gold chased after him. The charge of light was too fast, and fortunately linear or else, he would be on the ground now. The cheering had gone numb in his ears long ago, and Shin found no way out of it. ''Was that what a devarian is?'' he wondered, and shot at his opponent for the last try, bearing his sword in its coldest move. The warm air hit his face, and Shin felt a bit feverish in his head. Eyes narrowing, he looked at Leroy, who was preparing another of the swings. If he could arrive before the sword, then perhaps. That was what Shin was attempting, in the few swings that he had dodged he could make out Leroy needed a couple of seconds to prepare his moves, and that a couple of seconds were actually a lot, considering Shin already had his last move prepared. Leroy''s sword was only on his back when Shin released the blade of the wave at his opponent, not even considering how much damage it could cause if it hit Leroy directly when he was not emitting that golden light. A glitter of surprise appeared in Leroy''s eyes, and then all things turned Golden in Shin''s vision, before dark. A couple of seconds later, Shin could finally see again, and the first thing he saw was the striking blue sky, next to the cold blade inch away from his head. "I was surprised there," a handsome male who held the sword said, and he heard cheers. His mind was buzzing still with the light, and he could not make out what the cheers were saying. But he could tell they were not for him. Why would they cheer for him when he was on the ground, while such a devastatingly handsome male claimed victory over him? "But I must thank you," Leroy said again and drew back his sword. Withdrawing the sword, he drew an arm towards Shin and Shin took it before he pulled him up. "Good match." Shin said nothing and finally heard the cheers. They were not all cheering for Leroy after all. The majority were for Leroy, but Elior had already secured a certain number for him, though he saw his friends clapping their arms standing up. Shin waved at them telling them he was alright before staring at the boy who defeated him. "Leroy," he asked, eying the boy, who was partially not human. "Why do you fight? What motivates you?" The half-devarian regarded him carefully and found the dilemma he was going through, perhaps. "If it were a few months before, before I have touched mana, I would have said, respect," he said and shook his head. "But I don''t know it anymore." Shin blinked and was about to ask him further, but Leroy was already on his way to leave. "Don''t ask me for an explanation or how it feels, I clearly don''t understand it myself." Shin regarded those words for a second and left as well. . . . "Did you like my surprise?" Elior asked as the defeated Shin approached their stand after removing all his battlegears. He felt somewhat lifted after the match, though he did not get his answer. His worry was postponed for later. Shin looked at the cheerleaders at once and saw they were resting currently. "I love it," he said with a bright smile. "I should get some pictures before the end." "You fought well today," Elior said, though his eyes were at the duelling ground for the last match. The final match: Leroy of the Freshmen vs Katherine of the upperclassmen. Shin nodded and rested on the other end of the seats. Enna had checked him for injuries but found nothing serious other than the bruises and fatigue, but she still used a healing spell on her, helping lessen his fatigue. He smiled at her, and she snorted like usual, before sitting next to Ileana. Katherine was the last one to arrive for the match. Even though the sun had not reached the mid sky the tournament was on the way to end. They could see silhouettes of the higher-ups appearing behind the hazy glass, looking at the end of matches, while the few others preparing the stage for the ending ceremony. "Worried?" Aanya asked Ileana with a slight, knowing smile on her lips. Ileana was too invested in the match to notice that. "It will be better for him to give up on the match," she said. "But he will not," Elior said from the sides with certainty. The Leroy he knew will not give up on experiencing something new¡ªthough the thing he will experience will be too tormenting for even him. "By the way, Ileana, you never mentioned how she defeated you?" Lara asked with hesitation. "It was only a blink of an eye, before you passed out with. . ." Ileana makes her palms into fists, looking Katherine in the face. She would have liked to blame her for all the things, but she knew she could not do that. She even did not know if Katherine understood what she did to her. "Ileana?" Aanya nudged her. "It was not a blink of an eye," She said and saw the match start. Leroy''s body glittered with bars of golden light, as he brought out the sword¡ªthat was a wrong decision¡ªfar wrong compared to hers. "It may appear a blink of an eye from outside, but it was over an hour for me." The golden lights stopped within a blink of an eye, and Leroy stood there for a couple of seconds, tears running from his blank eyes like a river before his body fell on the ground. "A torturous, ruining, damning hour." Ford blew his whistle, and the tournament came to an end. ___________________ There was an inconsistency in the previous chapter.. Leroy''s light was golden, not white. Chapter 113 - Kidnapped? Shin yelped in pain as the second fist struck his gut. He was about to get better of the assailant when the third one followed right after. Shin tried to creep away, struggling, but he felt an overwhelming pressure over his body. The assailant mugged against his body, hammering, jabbing, hacking at his fist like professional boxing. The fists dug into his stomach, bringing out the painful whimper as well as the food he had eaten before sleeping. Grasping, panting, coughing, and crying, he finds a little lucidity of mind. Last time, he remembered he slept early last night, as he had to be in top form for the incoming trial in two days. Like a few of his friends and classmates, even in his first year he got the chance to take part in the trial and was looking forward to it. He was supposed to be going to the trial, what was happening now? Was it the upperclassmen Elior, and he made fun of a few days back? Taking revenge when they still can? Do they have the gall to do something like this in the academy? Beating their own junior within the academy? Whoever it was, he was not a bit merciful. ''What''s happening?'' he questioned. Shin tried to shield his head with his arms protectively, though the hammering punches never stopped. ''This is a drill, right?'' his mind rang in pain and alert. He is finally tried to draw in mana from his system and found out all of his mana were sealed and with the little physical strength, he had cultivated overpowering this man who was beating him almost impossible. But he still tried. Taking in quick deep breaths, Shin caught one of the arms that came towards his face, curling it around his body. He ran his other knuckle in a jab against the jaw of the assailant. At least that''s what he intended, but the results were entirely different. Shin felt a hard knee against his stomach, as a sharp cry ran out of his mouth. His jab missed where he intended to strike and an arm caught it instantly, still assaulting with the knees. The legs were too violent to be off any upperclassmen, certainly, they would not use heavy-handed for just some insult. Or will they be? It was all dark inside the room, and with the repeated strike Shin''s sight became pitch dark, as he started into a fit of coughing. ''Was the academy under attack?'' he thought, and let the man beat him. ''That all seems too easy. What I am supposed to do? And what is this assailant trying to do, keeping on beating me? If he wants to kill me, he can do it easily, or make me unconscious. There were easier ways that won''t need me getting beaten.'' That was all directed to one thing. This is a lesson. A damn agonizing one at that. Whenever he resisted, the hammering knee got harder, so Shin only let him do as he pleased. It all seemed too convenient for him, so why beat him if they wanted to make him unconscious? Just use a fucking sedative, mother¡ª Just then Shin felt a numbing sensation on his head, and the beating stopped. That did not mean his pain stopped, though. All the fists and knees he got assaulted his mind together, and he felt something thrown over his head. A sack perhaps. Shin tried to take advantage of the situations, and stark uptightly, but the pains and the paranoia in his head did not let him. He felt another kick in his gut, as the assailant packed him into the sack. "Know your place," A cold stoic voice said to his head and Shin felt like he saw a masked face just before him, but with the looming darkness, and his mind busy registering the pain, he could not even make out what the mask appeared to be. "Slave." The taunting voice stopped and tightened the mouth of the sack before dragging it against the floor. At that time, his face was already blood enough, throbbing with teh aching pain all over. Shin almost vomited inside the sack, but kept it all inside as it would dirty only himself there. Not only was this sack small, curling his body with little air, but it also had a crazy smell like rotten potatoes were carried with that. Or something worse. A rotten corpse? His mind wailed, and he felt he was dragged against the cold floor. ''Brother, save me,'' he tried to yell, but no voice came out of his mouth. All his muscles, even the ones needed for the vocal, throbbed in aches. Without considering anything, this was the worst treatment of his life. The throbbing pain never ceased but after some time, his mind came to a somewhat harmony with it. His mind was still a mess, all reasonably thought strayed away from his mind, and a deep-rooted survival instinct loomed a fear inside his brain. His mind froze, and so did his body¡ªnot that he had any ways to bring out strength that was. Shin felt the sack was lifted up and then it was lurched away towards somewhere. He cursed in his head again, but when he came down, he only felt a little pain. He hit something soft. No, it was not something, but someone. He heard a little moaning under him, as he heard the engine of a regular van crept to start. Shin started struggling again, and the one he was over moaned further. "Bastard." There seemed no way out of it. Was he really kidnapped and made into slaves? That was the last complete thought he could come up with before his mind went unconscious. . . . After an unknown time, Shin woke up in between his agonizing pain, and found he was bound with a bag covering his head, disabling him of sight, smell. They started struggling the very instant. The mana was still sealed, but that did not stop him from using everything he had. He bellowed and wrestled everything with the pole he was bound to, but it did not budge even a little. "Anyone here?" he shouted. "Please." There was no reply for a few seconds and Shin yelled again, crying for help. "Shin?" a voice cried out from the right side of his. He was not listening, but he could tell it was no longer than a couple of strides away. "Ileana, is that you?" he asked instantly, finding a little hope inside him. "Shin," the voice cried again. He could make out it was Ileana''s voicem, but it did not have her sunny personality, it was an agonizing, pitiful voice. Well, Considering what he had been through if Ileana was beaten even one-tenth of that, she would be broken like this. "Ileana, are you alright?" Shin asked, biting his lips. "I . . ." the pitiful girl said. "They beat me, Shin. They slapped me dozens of times, punched me . . . I tried to stop them . . . but . . ." "But your mana is sealed." "Yes," Ileana cried in her pitiful voice. "They said they will be sold me as slave, before dragging me away pulling my hair." Shin gritted his teeth, hearing all these. The treatment Ileana was through seemed no less than his, and she was a girl. Was this really a drill? His mind already eliminated most hope in that, and her experience only made him sure about it. "Shin?" he heard the cry again. Ileana cried again, hearing no reply. "Shin." "Yes." "I am frightened," she wailed. "I don''t want to be slave, I don''t want to be a slave." "You don''t have to be one, Ileana," Shin said, his fingernails drugged into his palm. He felt weak inside with his mana¡ªthe primal energy of life sealed away. Even mustering the courage came hard. "We don''t have to be slaves. I''ll find a way." Even though he did not know what he was promising, it was better to linger with hope. "I will find a way." He whispered. "We are together. We will find a way." Ileana replied nothing, and then another voice came. "Thank god, I am saved." It was a mocking voice, with evident scorn overflowing from it. "This happens when you make a fresh chick ride on the violent current. You two never should have attempted to take part in the first place. Look at your state now." "What?" Shin yelled. He found this voice familiar, but he could not make out who it was. Not a friendly person, he reckoned. "Who? Who are you?" "I can answer you if you start begging now," the voice said again. "I can even save both of you if you find some time to kneel and¡ª" "Stop," a fourth voice said. These words were spoken in general English, but the accent was rather difficult to understand. Shin reckoned it was not a native speaker. But the other person did not seem to put his words in mind, kept on with his arrogant blabbering. Then they heard a heavy metal door opening. Chapter 114 - Kidnapped (2) Shin finally saw the first light of the day, as the newcomer lifted off the bag covering his head. There were no bars of bright sunlight to hit his eyes. It only appeared like a small cellar room made of thick metals all around. Even if he had his full ability with mana, he will not be able to penetrate it within an hour or so. "Ileana?" His eyes moved frantically at the surroundings, trying to find out Ileana, but before that, another fist dug into his face. Shin wailed in pain, as the assailant left him, muttering something in some other language he did not understand. Shin did not yell again, and turned around to find Ileana, still with the bag covering her face, and bound with a metallic pole like him. Moreover, it seemed he was in some kind of vehicle¡ªnot a small one at that. And it was running slowly. There was no sound and no shaking as well, but with his senses, he could feel it was moving. Shin got to see the assailant''s face next, as he was uncovering the bag from the other two captives. There were exactly four captives in the room, each one of them bound so that they could not even budge from their places. And only Ileana being the female captive here. His eyes drifted off to Ileana again and found what kind of state she was in. She was currently in her nightgown, ragged in places, showing bits of skin with dirt and dust everywhere. When the assailant uncovered her face, he got to see how pale she appeared. Her face was red and purple with all the beating, even dried blood on her lips. Her eyes were wary, but she still looked hatefully at her capturer. That got her another smack on the cheek from the kidnapper. She wailed, tearing up "Bastard," Shin bellowed, anger rising in his head. Beating men is alright, but watching a female get beaten was damn hard for him. "Let her alone." The kidnapper turned and looked at him. They did let go of Ileana as he had demanded, but Shin''s bellowing seemed to do nothing to it. The eyes showed he understood what Shin said. Wait. Shin stopped. ''Why I could not understand what he just said?'' he mused. ''The title Guardian Apprentice gives the privilege to understand all intelligible language. Why did it not work this time?'' "You few can resist," the kidnapper said in their language, clear and crisp. He was a tall man in the middle of his prime with brown skin, a thick moustache and a prim beard. He had a hard scowl on his face that told you would not want to mess with him. "But it won''t do any good. The earlier you acknowledge your new role of a Slave, the better it will be for you." Shin ground his teeth and was about to reply, but another one of the captives beat him to it. "Do you know what you have caused?" it was the arrogant voice that asked Shin to beg a few moments ago. Shin was right to think he recognised the voice, but he actually did know this boy. Even with all the bruises and dark patches on his face, Feldan''s face was quite recognisable. "Do you know what the consequences will be? I know you have orders, but you actually have the audacity to beat someone like me so badly. Trial or not, I won''t let you go. I will not let you go. My father will hunt for you and make sure you never see the light of the days for the rest of your life." ''That is one arrogant prick,'' Shin thought, even though Feldan was badmouthing their kidnapper. But the kidnapper had nothing, but an amused expression on. "So you are still in denial of your current roles?" he said slowly and made his way towards Feldan. The grin only broaden as he approached. Even an idiot will understand what he was about to do, but Feldan was too big of an arrogant prick to notice that. Basically, he was high on his arrogance. "Yes, so what?" Feldan bellowed. ''His daddy must be some bigshot for him to get so arrogant.'' Shin thought, knowing only an idiot will aggravate their assailant without any proper plan. "Since you brought me here, does that mean the trial started already?" Feldan demanded an answer. ''If so, what are you doing? Unchained and ask for forgiveness and bugger off.`` The kidnapper answered his question with the violent kick on Feldan''s gut, as the arrogant boy yelped. It did not stop with just one kick. With a maniac grin on his face, the assailant jabbed his fist in the face one after another. Feldan''s face turned bloody with only a couple of the first¡ªapprentice or not¡ªthis assailant was not some easy criminal. And it appeared he likes to abuse his captive. The punches, jabs, and knuckles continued, and Feldan wailed. Shin found himself looking away, and saw Ileana was already biting her bloody lips, horror was evident in her eyes. Finding his gaze, she looked at him pitifully. Was it really the trial? Shin found himself to ponder. Ileana''s face did not strike it as one of such, nor the treatment he has been through and Feldan was currently ongoing. The first trial was so easy. Why would they change the way so early? If it was really a trial, then they seemed to have skipped a few steps in between. "Dog," the kidnaper yelled at Feldan as he held him by the blond hair fiercely. "You are nothing but a dog, boy." Feldan moaned, grunting and shaking heavily. "And I like my dog to be loyal and docile," the kidnapper continued. "Say it. Say, you are a dog." Feldan barely managed to look at his assailant''s face. He had not even a bit of arrogance in his eyes, but the beating had not managed to sip out all the defiance from him. Moreover, it seemed to have made him more headstrong. Without considering anything, Feldan spat on the kidnapper''s face. The face became ugly, and the grin turned to a dangerous smile. He lifted his leg up again and dropped violently on the face that spat at him. His legs worked there, and within the third kick, Feldan turned unconscious, though he had to endure a few more kicks before the assailant let him go. Being bound only does good for the assailant to beat him. Shin closed his eyes and heard Ileana''s whimper in horror. The assailant stood up, clapping his hand to clear the dirt. "Deny it if you like, but I will make sure you will be a little less to deny next time." He looked at the four teenage kids, with no sympathy or pity. Not to mention pity. He has a grin on his lips. "We care not what your status has been in your safe paradise, but here you are nothing more than a slave, though many other things will not change. Before you learn to fight against fiends, and you will do the same with us as well. The only change will be you will only learn it through the battles. "There are no lavish beds or training equipment, nor is there good food, but if you satisfy your quota you will get to eat three full meals every day, and will be safe from the beating," he paused to check the horror on the faces of the apprentice. The face of the only girl satisfied him and so did the other boy, who was biting his lips, with closed-eyes. Then there was the other person who held a deep frown on his brows¡ªtrying to come with a sense of all this. Maybe some beating would do good for his understanding, but that time is not now. "You all are dogs. Be docile like them. When we asked you to bark, bark, when we asked you to sit, sit. And remember, there are far worse than being a dog." The assailant turned around and make way to leave after the brief greeting. "I can assure you the first few days will be the toughest," he said again, turning around as if he were a totally different person. "But the more you become docile, the better you will adapt. You bunch do not look the type to listen to just words. Then again, we barely use words against our dogs. I will come later, and in that time, think everything through. Who knows? You might not have time to think after I come back." The assailant had his foot out of the door when he looked back at them again. "YOu have a couple of hours." A bring winning smile appeared on his face. "In that two hours, try to access your guardian system if you can." _________________________ The next few chapters will be a little dark, though I will limit it to my conscious. Chapter 115 - System Crash "At least, we get to eat three meals a day as dogs," Shin muttered as he watched the assailant go. His joke could not get a reaction from any of them, though he knew it would barely have any impact on such a situation. "My status window," cried Ileana in horror. "It''s not working." Shin frowned and saw the other person knitting his brows as well. Shin checked, but none of his mental commands worked. There were no status windows, as if there were no guardian system in the first place here. "What do we do?" Ileana wailed, eyes moving around in frenzy. The calmness she presented all time was nowhere to be seen. Currently, she was only a sixteen years old girl, with no idea what was going on with her life. "Calm down," Shin called, ignoring his own worries. "Take a deep breath and remember your training. You are better than this, Ileana. Breathe in and out." Shin''s words had some clarity in her mind and with inhaling-exhaling, she got a little better. Though she looked no less wrecked than before. Bruises all over the face with dark, purple red path marks. Her brows were united in an arch, as if it still hurt her. Her nightgown was in terrible condition, showing a good portion of her skin in her navel area, and moreover, she was in her panties, leaving her legs bare with dirt and bruises. She breathed out long for the last before looking at him, trying to hide her legs and bare skin as much as she could. "Shin," she called. Though the voice regained a little of the clarity, it was still haggard and weary. "What will happen to us?" Shin had no answer. "Everything will be alright," he said, trying to believe his own words. He tried on the mental commands again, but nothing happened. How could they eliminate the connection between them and the guardian system? Then another thought hit him, and he wanted to check if he still could access his inventory. Inside his inventory, there were many useful things that would be of immense help if he wanted to escape from here. But alas! That was impossible for him to check now. Triggering inventory needs mana, and he was currently sealed from accessing his mana. Shin wailed inside in defeat. No, this was not the end. I needed to check it out later when they unbound the sealing. He looked around. Thinking there was probably something watching, or a hidden camera put in, he said nothing about it, even to Ileana. His eyes moved towards the other person he did not recognise. Feldan was someone he knew, as he had somehow defeated him in the tournament, but the other person was someone he never saw. Moreover, he appeared to be older than them by a few years. Probably entered in his twenties, though the scowl on his face makes him look older. He had closed eyes, but still with the scowl and it appeared he was meditating. Abruptly he opened his eyes and looked at Shin as if noticed his gaze. The scowling face made a frown at him, asking if he had anything to say or not. "You don''t seem worried about our situation?" Shin asked. Somehow, he thought this guy was unapproachable. "I am," the scowling guy said and became silent. "Are you a student of the institution?" Shin asked again. "No." His voice seemed to have some scorn in it, or it could be the normal way he spoke. Either way, shin guaranteed he heard some scorn in his voice. Shin raised an eyebrow. "That means it is not just from the institute they have kidnapped," he hypothesized. "That might not be the truth," the scowling face said again. "I may not be from the academy, but I was there to get to the trial." Shin frowned. That means this scowling guy was with them at the academy too, and got kidnapped with them here. He was possibly coming from a long way¡ªfrom another corner of earth waiting to get to the trial, yet something like this happened. Then again, this could be their trial, too. What if, like, the first time when he was kidnapped from a VR to some unknown space, this time was something similar as well? The more he thought about this, the more similarities he found. In Trial-zero, it was a surprise test, but they could not make it as surprising for the next one. Does that mean they will fall so cruelly to give them a lesson? Holy hell, he was beaten into crap like never before. Even in the demonic training, he did not feel such aching. The thought of no assistance from the system was even more horrifying. But how could they break the connection? He had heard only in a few places in the universe could the guardian system fail to work. Was there somewhere like that? Then again, it could be a test as well, to see how they react in such a situation. Either way, they could not take risks. "What do you think about this?" he asked the scowling guy. "Could they really capture us from one of the most secure fortresses on earth? Or is it just a plea to teach us a lesson?" "I don''t know," the scowling guy said, and tried to get as comfy as he could get with his hands bound behind him. "It could be both. Corruption is nothing new to humanity. I won''t be surprised if I hear someone from the institute had sold us to these mongers, and I won''t be surprised if it turned out to be a trial as well. The trial seems to work in mysterious ways, and all guardians who know about it are bound to speak nothing related to it to others." "So it could be both of the options," Shin acknowledged, though he had a hard time believing someone from the academy would sell them so easily. "What do we do now?" Ileana asked, biting her lips. "We plan and wait," Shin answered. It was all that they could do. Wait for an opportunity to present itself. "I am Shin, by the way," Shin introduced himself to the scowling guy. "And this is Ileana." "I know," the scowling fellow said, giving both of them a look. "I watched your match." Shin raised an eyebrow, noticing this guy was not saying much nor introducing himself. "And you are?" "A guy who would do anything to get out of here," he said and got back to his meditation. Something changed, it seemed. The air surrounding him seemed to change, telling the others that he was unapproachable now. His eyes drifted off towards Feldan, who was still unconscious, with a mess of a face and body. "We cannot make changes," Shin muttered and looked towards Ileana. ''Could she contact her earth spirit? He wondered, but did not ask, knowing someone might be listening. He also gestures with his lips to tell her to refrain from speaking freely. Ileana was smarter than him, and even in her state, she got what he was trying to say. She nodded as much as she could with her arms bound tightly that moving even an inch was difficult. In trial-one, their life was secure even if they die, but there was no way of knowing if it was trial or not. If they die, then their game is over. Either for the trial, or for their entire life. The kidnapper said they have 2 hours to prepare their mind, but 2 hours appeared like a lot of time. He could not waste time speaking with Ileana in fear of others hearing whatever was on his mind. So in the end he got busy in mediation as well, and so did Ileana. In meditation, he got to visualise the mana easily. The small droplets of water were easy to imagine, but moving them turned immensely harder. Even more so was the releasing¡ªit turned far difficult, if not impossible. The seal will break if he was at it for a few more hours. But the kidnappers will not likely give such chances. The only consolation was that the mana was working on healing the wounds slowly. It might not be anything immediate, but within a couple of days, he will be better. He will be better, considering the fact he will not be beaten again. "Bastard." A loud bellowing awakened him from his meditations. It appeared their friend Feldan woke up from his sleep and was cursing the kidnappers. "Let me go, bastards. I can make your life full of misery. . ." It does not look anything more than Feldan begging for more beating. The scowling guy woke up as well and gave a scornful look to Feldan. he did not seem to have a good impression of any one of them, and even more so for Feldan. "Can you shut your traps?" _______________________ This arc will be more on the other characters like Shin, Leroy, Ileana, Lara, and a few more I''ll introduce next. Still, Elior will have his part.. An interesting part. Chapter 116 - System Crash (2) "Mother*** Let me go," Feldan continued to curse at the fellows as if the ones that kidnapped him were actually his blood brother. The scowling guy grunted. He turned towards Shin and said, "Can you stop your retard friend?" "He''s not my friend," Shin said eerily. "Not that it matters." He looked at Feldan with a bark, "Did they beat you so rough that your brain is not working properly? Or do you really have the same wit as a brick?" Feldan did not seem to hear him, proving he had no more wit than a brick. "Honestly, man, think about it," Shin grunted, sighing. "Even if these fellows are playing, do you think they will give in to your cursing? You will end up getting it once again. Honestly, I see no problem with that, but it could implicate us. You might be an arrogant sadist, but not us. Just check if you can access the system or not." Feldan finally stopped¡ªit was either the yelling from Shin, or he was just too damn tired. It was most likely the latter. With indignation, he looked down in defeat, though the damage was already done. Then again, no one came to beat them up or anything. Hmm, Shin thought. Perhaps they did not have as many men than he had assumed. Either way they did not have that much time left. The promised 2 hours will be over by the time. They should discuss something by that time. At least make an amendment between themselves before they were thrown into something else. "This could be a trial or real," Shin said in the silence room. "Whatever it is, we can''t take chances." He turned silent again, cursing himself for finding nothing to say. Useless, he cursed. If Elior was here, he would surely know what to say, even though he would grunt about taking the responsibilities. Moreover, Elior had the subtle touch that made him appear he was always in control, even if he was facing such a situation. ''I wondered what my brother would do in such a situation.'' He coughed a couple of times and opened his mouth again, speaking truthfully what''s in his mind. "I don''t know about anyone, but I don''t want to die here or become a slave. I am sure everyone can agree with me on that." Ileana nodded to him and the scowling fellow gave him a look, pointing he was listening. And about Feldan? That guy was still in indignation, weeping. Shin wondered how one can become so arrogant and braindead at the same time. Yes, Feldan had the ability as an Apprentice, as Shin only managed to defeat him using a trick¡ªthat could acknowledge the arrogant part, but what about his halfwit brain? Evidently, Feldan comes from a guardian background, and possibly more than Shin''s family, but do such families leave their heir in such a state that he had failed to comprehend common sense? For god''s sake, Shin''s parents were guardians, and though they did not give him the least affection needed for a child to grow up, he had not grown into such a fellow. Maybe there were other problems. "Feldan," Shin called. "Feldan, hey Feldan?" The upperclassman finally lifted his eyes and looked at Shin miserably. "This is not something you can win by your family''s influence, nor can it be solved by yelling curses," he said and could not help but nod in his mind. He wondered when he became such a talker. "Alone could not make it happen. We have to work together. We need everyone''s strength to get out of here. Are you with us in this?" Feldan looked at him blankly for a couple of seconds, giving Shin the feeling that he wasted his for nothing, then he nodded. "Us?" the scowling guy said next. "I do not know if you counted me into your US, but know this, I will run away if presented with chances. There is no me in that US of yours." Shin frowned. "Alright, Mr Who would do anything to survive." Shin tried to mimic his usual voice and found he was better at that than those speeches. "But before you run away, we''ll be together. I don''t see why you isolate yourselves. Let''s just work together to survive, alright?" Shin got no answer from his Mr who would do anything to survive, though he did not scoff at that as well. Shin already feeling pain in his temple¡ªsomething other than the already impaling pain from the beating. "So what do we do?" Ileana asked. Shin bit his lips. ''You are asking me that?'' he thought. ''This is what abuse does to someone. Ileana is the smartest person to figure out any problem on her own, and yet here she was, leaving the thinking part to me. Me, of all people.'' He sighed inwardly, not showing his uncertainty to her. "We will start with gaining information," Shin started. "Good lord, we don''t even know where we are. The best course of option we could take from here was to learn more about the place we were in and what type of treatment we will get from the kidnappers." Just then, Shin heard the door being unlocked. He cursed inwardly. "Even though we would not have much choices¡ªbeing slaves and all¡ªstill, watch everything closely, even the tiniest clues might help us." The door opened, and the smiling face of the assailant that came before greeted the four of them. Feldan shook, eyes drifting around, and it was not only him that was shaking. Ileana, who did not get the second round of the beating, was not in much of a better state. Even Shin himself was feeling some fear inside him. This was not true for the scowling guy, though. Though he had a frown on his brows, he did not seem frightened a bit. Then Shin noticed another thing. Unlike he, Feldan, or Ileana, whose wounds on the exterior were closed, it was not the same for him. The scowling guy healed better than any normal person would, but it was never in the league of a mana user. What''s his deal? Could he somehow disrupt his healing to find an opportunity? Mana has some innate healing power that works on its own¡ªeven when it was sealed and the user was sleeping. It was something like breathing, but one can stop breathing, but could one stop the healing? Either way, he won''t know it before something happens. More importantly, he had other problems at hand. Problems are far direr than someone else''s healing factor. It was not just the Assailant that came, but with him came two more people, covering their whole body in thick bodysuits. They seemed to be in charge of something else than just beating, but Shin doubts that it will be something favouring them. From the suit and the eager eyes he saw through their masks, he could tell they were no better than some crooked scientist looking at their next test subject. "Someone told me, there was someone cursing here?" the assailant said, giving a piercing look at Feldan. In response, the upperclassman gives the madman a level look, fist-clenching, teeth-gritting. It appeared not all his arrogance was diminished in that beating, or it was the last fire before dying out. Either way, the madman will like to beat him again. he was about to go towards Feldan for another round, while Shin disapproved in his mind. "Sir Loke, I don''t think we have time for this now," one of the scientist fellows said with some hesitation. The madman, Loke looked at the one who spoke that and gave Feldan another look. A grin appeared on his white teeth. Even though he looked like he had not bathed for months, he does have clean teeth. "Alright, I will have plenty of time to beat them later," he said last. "Take them, treat them as the best you can. Leave some lucidity in them when you finish though, I want to check them out later." "Yes sir," the two of them said in unison and moved towards them. One got at Ileana first, and put cuffs on her legs, before unlocking her from bound, then cuffed her arms as well. The situation was no better, but she could move now. While the other one did the same to the Scowling guy¡ªhe caused no problem as well, gave in to them. Well, it was the sensible thing to do here. and shin let them bound him in the cuffs as well, though Feldan grunted, struggling, a good jab on his back, broke his struggle at once. Unfortunately, that was not the end. Shin gritted his teeth seeing the next item they brought out. The two then brought out collars¡ªmetallic ones and bound them on the neck. It all finished when they connected chains to the collars. Even though it was all metal and seemed to have other functions, all in all it looked no better than dogs. "Like I said, dogs." Chapter 117 - Cruelty And Devarian (1) Leroy lifted his head, hearing the noise. The door opened after the 2 hours the assailant promised, and upon that time, entered the same assailant with him, another person more in a full bodysuit. His eyes narrowed at the two of them. Perhaps this will be the chance to be freed. He had been working on freeing his mana from the ceiling for the time he was here. And he would have succeeded if only he had an hour more. But it seemed his free time was over, though he would not give in without a fight. He had used his good fist a dozen times, before did she managed to immobilise him? Either way, it didn''t matter; he was still captured. What''s mattered was what he will do from here on out. "Such a waste to make a dog out of you," the female kidnapper said in her condescending voice. Her face had some pity looking at his haggard face, but Leroy would be a fool to believe it. His wounds are clear of it. Even though this woman before him was no more than five feet tall, had no muscles to be shown off, she abuse like no other. One would be gravely mistaken if one judge her by the frame. Then again, he did not just stand still when she beat him. "Don''t worry though, I will take extra care of you," she said again. "What do you want now?" Leroy glared at her intensely. "Why, of course, to meet your friends," the lady beamed and gestured at the man in a full bodysuit. The scientist fella nodded and brought out chains and cuffs to bind him. "Don''t resist, dear," the female said again, as the man approached. "I really don''t want to abuse you now." Leroy grunted at her words and watched the man approach with the chains and cuffs. He stooped to chain his leg first, though Leroy did not make his jobs easy. His hands were on the back¡ªstill in that uncomfortable position with the pool. Legs were only something he could move freely, and he used to stick both of them together so that the man could not cuff him. "Really, dear?" the barely five feet lady said with a pained expression, though with the vertical scar on her cheek, could only make like she was scowling. "Why are you making it hard for yourself? Didn''t I say I will take care of you? If I had my ways, I would have freed you long ago, but you know, we all are slaves to something. How about you make it easy for both of us?" The frown on Leroy''s face softened as he looked at the female, who was talking to him as if he was really her brother. There was something wrong with her¡ªsome mental problem, most likely. "Alright, I will make it easy," Leroy said, and grinned. "For me." Next, his legs¡ªthe two god-given legs moved like a bolt of lightning, twisting around the neck of the guy who was trying to cuff him. The man in the suit struggled, but he was never a combat type. More, Leroy worked his muscle to jerk further. The lady with the scar shook her head as if she was disappointed in him. "You leave me with no choice," she mumbled and crept towards him. But just as she was a stride away from him, Leroy let go of his legs, lurching towards the give feet tall female. Yes, he lurched, and moreover, he had freed himself hours ago for this. The kidnapper lady started, but Leroy half her neck by his good hand by that time, squeezing hard. Their eyes met for once and he saw the horrifying look on her face that was asking: How? Leroy did not answer and jerked her against the sidewall violently. The lady crashed against the metallic wall, but Leroy did not get back on her. This was him taking advantage of surprise. He would not like to test his strength now with her. Especially when his mana was sealed and one of his arms was of no use. He took advantage of the bilwilderment of the suited man, and dashed out of the small room. "Stop him," the kidnapper lady said, but by the time, he was already out. Leroy breathed out, pushing the hard metal door with his back. Before him was a narrow corridor went further for a couple of metres. He breathed in and out, twisting the lever to lock the room. Then did he look at his other arm. Blood had already dried there, with him having the blood of Devarians. Still, he could not help but sigh looking at it. The throbbing pain was still there in place of where his palm should have been. There was no palm in his left arm¡ªhe had used his everything to tear it from the bound to free himself. Just as he was signing in relief, he felt a short tremor on the metal door he was leaned against it with some voices, though they were too faint for him to recognise. The two inside would not be able to free themselves so easily¡ªif it were so easy, he would have fled hours ago, and did not have to wait for this stunt. Either way, he was free. Then he heard some disturbance on his left side, and then a yell. "Shit," he cursed, finding a group of the men there, coming out of a similar chamber like the one he was imprisoned. Moreover, there were four other students with them chained in all four limbs, as well as the collar chained in the neck. He was free, but for how long? Looks like he had sighed in relief too early. Without considering for a second, he crept in the other direction. He had torn his arm just for the sake of freeing himself. In hell, would he give in so easily! . . . Ileana''s cry finally went numb in Shin''s ears, but he was gritting his teeth so hard that his mouth was already bloody. Though the few fist he got in his chin were also reasons for him to get bloody in his mouth. His mind was full of fury, stomach beaming with indignation, but he could not do a thing. Currently, he was against the ground with a heavy leg, storming on his back again and again. He could not hear Ileana''s cry, so he tried to lurch his head right to watch her go¡ªnot that he could see it clearly. Just an hour ago, he was telling Feldan that cursing will do no good than just getting beaten, but here he was getting beaten nonetheless. He had cursed them, alright, but it''s more because of how he jumped at them when they were trying to bring Ileana somewhere else. He would have done none of the things. He would have given in to their slavery like a good boy and planned for something later. He knew messing here was a bad choice¡ªother than being beaten with getting himself left of no strength, it would do little good. But he could not stop himself. He could not stop himself from hearing Ileana''s cry. They might only be taking her for other examination in another place than him, but hearing her cry of horror he could not stop himself and lurched at the suited men who were taking her. Stupid. All that for nothing. Nothing but getting another round of beating. He did not struggle anymore as he could not stop them for taking Ileana. The man in charge named Loke give him a couple more kicks before leaving him in care for the suited man. "Dogs. You are all dogs," Loke said again, giving him and the other two another look. Feldan and the scowling guy were only bystanders in this stunt. "Dogs bark, but you will only bark when it is asked of you." Shin did not hear whatever he said clearly, but he could make out it was not something gentle. Then he felt a lurch at the collar he was wearing. "No time to rest here," said the man with the chains, lurching his one to stand him up¡ªthis kind of treatment was no less than treating animals. Feldan or the scowling guy did not help him to stand up, though, and Shin had to muster all of his willpower to stand up between the cracks of his back bones. It hurts, he screamed inwardly, gritting his teeth. Even simple walking became a challenge. Loke had abused him well and seemed to have given Feldan''s portion of beating as well. The slaver gave him no time, pulled the three of the chains in the narrow corridor. Shin limped the whole way, forgetting everything about collecting information about the place they were in. After all, he have to watch where his foot was going or else he might crash by himself to fall down. Was this really a trial? ____________________ Chapter 118 - Cruelty And Devarians (2) Inari stumbled against her foot, but managed to keep herself steady. Still, that did not stop them from gaining a sharp pull in the chain from the guy who was taking her. The fury in her heart had not extinguished yet, and hearing the grunt from him, it only rose again. ''How dare you?'' That was what she would have said if she had kept in her steady mind. But her mind was broken now¡ªnot that it was any better before. They had beaten them up without caring she was a female. She was only a dog to them, no need to care if it''s a male or female. Something that worried her was that they told her they were in the process of making her slaves and making her fight against chaos fiends. She was not surprised hearing that. Slavery was nothing new¡ªit had been going on for millennias, and she even heard of using guardians as slaves. Azkaish men practised such slavery¡ªshe had read. Azkah was a large barren wasteland where the guardian system did not work well. The monster runs amok every day. Law was just something put up by the strong, and it could change every day on the whims of the few outlaws who claimed to be the emperor of that land. Those azkaish outlaws captured young guardian apprentices from the mainland and smuggled them through the ocean to another corner of the mother world. What did not understand was how they had captured her? Did someone sell her to them? Yes, there were not many people she had any good relationship with, and many who wanted to see her and her sister to get deserted, but how could they have done it so easily? She limped on her way as the capturer strode the way. If only she was unbounded and could use her mana. She would have beheaded him at once. The one that was taking her was only better than a normal first-order guardian, and she would not even need to bring out a tenth of her strength to do that. Curse that bastard who had captured her. Then it was not a fair fight, either. By the time she could manage something, her mana was already sealed, and could only get herself harassed by that bastard. The one taking her suddenly stopped, and she lifted her head to see another one coming their way, holding three male dogs. Their state was no better, and one of them seemed to be barely limping with a nose broken, whistling softly every time he breathed. While another gave her a look, knitting his brows. Did this youth pity her? She wondered. Most likely. Her golden hair was messy with dirt all over. Her clothing was torn and ragged, barely keeping her private areas hidden¡ªshe did not have a problem with that, actually, but that gaze of pity unnerved her. ''what are you looking at?'' she wanted to snarl at him. ''You are no better than me.'' Funny, only because she was a girl, she was getting pity from them. Screw you, I don''t want your pity. The captive avoided her gaze. Perhaps her glasses work, or he remembered his state was no better. "Oi, Aslan," her slave said to the other person. "What happened to the one in the middle? Can he even function as a dog?" Aslan grunted, shaking his head. "He made a scene before superior Loke, and you can guess what went wrong after that," he said and his gaze moved to the girl. "Well, I can''t see that the one you are bringing is any better." "This one?" her slaver said, pulling her chains to bring her forwards. He rubbed her head roughly and said, "Superior Han brought her." "That explains why she was in such a state that a madman cannot stop when he sees a pretty thing," Aslan said, eyeing her. A gleam seemed to appear in his eyes as he looked her up and down. "That one is a pretty thing. Such a waste." "Bah, don''t worry. This one is special. Sir told me to take extra care of her. She was one of the false-immortals." Aslan''s eyes glittered further. "Seems like this time''s dogs are far better at pedigree than the last few years." The two slavers talked a little more before he went on their every way. Why were they taken in different places? They were all dogs? Was there something different about them? Then she understood. It was not them, but her. She was, after all, special. And being special will only make her endure more torment. Perhaps they will make her docile than the others, beat her more knowing the arrogance in her blood. Perhaps they will use her blood for experiments and become nothing but a living blood bank for them. Inari continued to limp on her way, keeping an eye on anything that will be useful later. So far she could make out she was in some ship of sorts. A large one at that. She and many thousands more were smuggled in this ship to some far place like Azkah. "I will take it from here," a voice said from the side and she lifted her head to look at the source of the voice. It was another man in a similar suit and mask, though his facial muscle told her he was not in a good mood. Well, none of the people she saw after being taken here seemed to have any better than this, but his face told her something was wrong here. Moreover, with him were half a dozen more captives like her with him. Not all of them were so badly beaten, like her. Somehow, these lots are too heavy-handed at her, as if they did not want her as a slave at all. Perhaps it has something to do with the part of devarian blood in her veins. People feared devarians. They were born with an innate talent like no other races. That''s why they hate her. But for a half-blood like her, it was hate on both ends for her. Half-blooded devarians were treated with scorn in their clans, and even outside, she got no better treatment. Inside the clan, she was treated with scorn and frowns just because her father sullied their blood. With their laws, they could not kill her either, and that makes it even more difficult for them. People fear her for having such innate talent as devarians. They hate her for having just the blood of devarians. If only she was a little like her elder sister. Well, nobody can be like her sister. "What''s the matter?" the one holding her chain asked, though he abided by the other person''s command to let her with him. "Some problem with one of the captive," the one with half a dozen slaves said. "One actually tore his own arm to flee. I only thought our superiors were crazy folks, but it seemed there are some in the dogs as well." Inari knitted her brows. Tore his own arm to flee? She did not know what to think about it. "Well, they all have to be daring to fight those monsters," the one that brought her here said. "So, what is my order?" "We need men in the surveillance room," her new captive asked in a weary voice. It seemed being a slaver was not some easy job, either. "We will arrive in two days, and it''s the superior''s order to make sure nothing goes wrong in that time." Her slaver left nodding, leaving her in care of the new slaver with half a dozen more. Then she noticed something odd¡ªor she should have picked it up at first glance. The half a dozen captives were just like her¡ªdevarians¡ªhalf-blooded like her. So, it appeared they will be getting some special treatment after all. Perhaps a living blood bank? Still better than being beaten like dogs every day. But they will not waste so many devarians as a blood bank, would they? They were so useful in the battle, after all. Then she noticed the silver, who was looking at her straight with a stern gaze. Moreover, he was holding the chains on his one arm¡ªtoo much number in one arm if you asked her, considering these suited men were no better at combat. Could she flee away from him if she tried? She thought, but she did not flee noticing something odd. The look in the eyes of her new slavers¡ªit was as if he was something different. And she finally understood why. ''Someone tore his arm trying to flee away,'' she thought and looked at the familiar eyes and everything kind of made sense now. "Roy?" ______ Elior is still a few chapters away, but he will come in an interesting way. Still, This arc will be on most of the side characters and their ordeal. If you find it boring, feel free to let me know in the comment.. I''ll make sure to review that. Chapter 119 - Madness And Devarians (1) "Roy?" The suited man did not answer, but Inari was almost sure it was none other than Leroy. "Hey?" she called again, but got no reply either. Instead, the male pulled her chains roughly enough that she almost fell to the floor. Was she mistaken? Did in her dilemma she was seeing things? "Wait for a second," a voice called from behind, and she lifted her head to find it was the same man who went away a moment ago. It appeared he found something wrong in the situation as well. "What''s the matter?" the suited man asked in a condescending voice, rather than how friendly he was before. "Why are you going in that direction?" the man asked. "We are supposed to take them to the third lounge." "Hmm," the ones with the dogs said. "You should have just left for the surveillance room." As his voice faded, he lurched at the newcomer, bringing the chain holding Inari in a proficient way to strangle the newcomer wrestling him on the ground. Inari felt a sharp pull and fell over them¡ªand moreover, it was extremely straining to her neck, but the man kept on strangling the other man, uncaring if it hurt him or Inari. Inari yelped in pain, but the man kept on strangling as the other man kept on struggling on the ground. After a few moments, the strangling finally stopped as the man laid dead on the ground. The one that was strangling the dead guy led out a breath through the gas mask, before eyeing her. Inari breathed freely a couple of times and exchanged glances with the dead man and the one that killed him. "Roy?" "Yeah," Leroy said and pulled his mask free. His face was not in a good condition; still, it got better with his mana being freed. One of his arms was still unusable, but he managed to keep himself hidden for an hour in this heavily guarded ship. Though that may change after this little stunt. Leroy covered his face again and stood up. "We don''t have time," he said, gesturing towards the corner where the surveillance cameras were hidden. Without considering anything else, he broke the cuffs on Inari''s leg and arms. "It''s a little difficult for the neck," he said. "If I try to tear it like other cuffs, it will blast, killing us both." Inari sucked a dry breath and found other half-blooded devarians were looking at them with stultified expressions. Even among half-blooded people, the two of them were quite famous. Well, it was mostly because of their parents, that is. "How do you know all this?" she could not help but ask, standing up. "I asked the original owner of this suit," Leroy said and started to tear the cuffs off others. "Can you help me unseal my mana?" she asked, biting her lip. Leroy looked at her, at her state and nodded. "Let''s get away from here first," he said, and showed a path where he was taking them first. "This way." Without considering if others were following or not, Leroy crept in that direction. Leroy''s speed was quite fast even though he was injured, fast enough that the others will have problems keeping up. Inari barely managed with the throbbing pain all over her body. Something struck her head as she looked around. "Why was no one following us?" she asked, finding it odd. Since Leroy''s stunts were captured on the camera, they should already be ready to intercept them, but why was there nobody? "The people here," Leroy said with gasping. "They are not normal. I think their minds were corrupted. Or how do you think I will get away so easily?" If the one that caught him did not think he was her long-lost brother, and he take advantage of that like that, his condition would have been no better. "Corrupted?" "Yes," Leroy said slowly. "I cannot help but think the place we were in is close to where the chained one is imprisoned." Inari sucked an icy breath. "How do you know that?" "I just know." He paused for a second, still in the run. "I can be wrong, and this place could be someplace else with the same effect as the corruption. Either way, it''s bad for us." Inari agreed. Their minds could break the longer they stay in contact with such foul air. They found themselves in the middle of sideways, and Leroy looked at it once before leading them carefully. Leroy was through with his questioning and asked about everything related he could before killing the man from whom he got the suit. He lifted his mask again. "There is no surveillance in here, and we will be safe here for some time," he said, leading them even down. Until they reached the storage rooms. He covered half a dozen of them before choosing one numbered, A105. Then he brought out a key from his pocket to unlock the heavy metal door. "Get inside," he said. Nobody complained, and why would they? After everyone got in, Leroy locked the door, before signing in relief and laying on the ground, leaning against the door. The others were no better, as most of them laid on the ground, heaving their chest heavily. After a couple of minutes, Inari winced at her cousin. After considering her words for a second, she said, "Thank you." If it were anyplace else, Leroy would only get curse from her. Leroy winced at her words, eyeing her straight. Was he surprise hearing it from her or just thinks he doesn''t deserve it? Perhaps both. "I will leave by myself soon enough," he said with some difficulty. "Why?" Inari demanded. He had accomplished so much in just an hour or so, yet he was still headstrong about leaving their numbers. "If you leave, why did you free us in the first place?" "I owe it to Ellora," Leroy said. "And your job is done here." Inari could not help but fume. Leroy did not answer. "What about them?" Inari asked again, showing the others on the ground, panting like defeated dogs. He owes her sister, but he owes nothing to these lots. And them being devarians had little to do with it. There might not be another individual who hates the davarians more than Leroy. half-blood or full, he hated them all with passion. The Leroy of now seemed to have changed a lot since the last time she had seen him. He did not have that, only hate in his eyes, and looked more . . . focus? Leroy gave them a look. "I did not specifically look for them," he said. "I came across them just so easily after I fled. I thought making numbers would help me in some ways." "And you did not think so now?" Leroy stared at her for a while and stood up. "I am better alone," he said, coming closer. He put off his suit slowly before throwing it towards her. "This suit could help in some form of resistance in the corrupt air." Inari found herself glaring at Leroy. "I don''t want your suit," she said irrationally. She knew she was being irrational, but she could not help it. "Still angry at everything," Leroy sighed, looking at her. "I don''t care about you keep it or not. Perhaps you like showing your skin. Just take a look at yourself. You are no better than naked." Inari glared at him, eyes blazing with fury. It appeared his words never reached her ears. "Its already taking effect," Leroy muttered and stooped near her with a hollow face, as if it meant nothing to him if she took it or not. Inari always hated this face. Hated that she could not make it and show she cares for nothing in the world like him. "I am not Ellora," he said and laid his good arm on her chest to slowly run his mana to free her from the seal. "And never will be." "But you can be," Inari said, gritting her teeth. She was keeping herself sane from throwing away his arm that was helping her. A few cracks appeared on her channelling system as she felt a little vigour of her mana releasing from the crack. Leroy put more pressure on those cracks to break away everything. "Keep the suit," he said. "You already have anger issues. The corrupt air is a natural bane for you. Who knows what your irrational mind would do getting high on the corrupt air?" Leroy stood up and did not help the others in freeing their mana, but went to check out what was stored here. "What are you doing?" she said, breathing in and out to release her anger. "Looking for a weapon," Leroy answered, not looking back. He found a lot of useless stuff here. Broken levers, heavy chains, cables, strings, scrap, splinters, a lot of stuff. "Forgot to mention, there are trackers in your collars. They will find us soon enough. So better prepare for them in the meantime." Inari cursed and got near the others to help them unseal their mana. Couldn''t this bastard say that earlier? She felt drunk on her mana after being sealed away from it for hours. Though it was problematic, she managed to free one within a minute. Telling that boy to help another, she moved to another one. She heard clanging on metals as Leroy was still in his search of a weapon that he could use better. Perhaps she would have looked for one too, as she could not leave her safety to others. But by the time she freed the third of the youth, she heard thumping on the door. They have finally come. Chapter 120 - Madness And Devarian (2) The lock on the entrance rolled, and Inari heard more than a couple of swallows. Inari stood straight, clasping her palms together, lights forming into an orb. The others of the devarians were in a similar posture, though none were able to form the lights so quickly. Inari withdrew half step, even though her innate spell was so quick to form, she could not release it. It won''t have the effect she needed. The metal door opened, and the sight of a dozen horrified her. Her spell was not complete, but she threw it anyway. But before her spell could even reach a dozen men, something lurched at them like a bolt of lightning. A bolt of golden light, and after the light, followed another golden figure. Leroy. There was someone faster after all. The bolt of golden lightning exhausted from the things Leroy threw and Inari finally saw it was huge chains as thick as her waist. She did not have time to wonder how powerful her cousin was, as half a dozen men were lurched away from the impact. Some wincing, coughing out blood, some from the impact from the first ones who got their bones broken. Either way, none of them were in good condition. A couple of them might die if they were not cared for immediately, and the others need at least a dozen breaths of time to free themselves of the chains. Then her light spell hit her, blinding first, then burning, running their costume and skin. Even though it was of no use killing, she got a good amount of cry from them. Then she saw Leroy with his body leaking golden light, tearing the arm of one of the chasers swiping his arm like it was the toughest knives. His knees struck towards another, and he spun when another one blocked him. Leroy''s path was blocked by one of the superiors. Inari signed in relief to find it was only a five feet tall woman, but her initial thoughts were gravely mistaken as she was the short woman jerking Leroy away in a horrifying kick on the chest. Her speed was no way less compared to her cousin. "God Immortal above," she prayed as the other half of dozen collared men came at her and the ones behind her. "Brother, brother, why must you do this?" the crazy woman said, staring at Leroy standing up. "Didn''t I say I will help you? Why must you make me use my hands and legs against you? You must know how painful it is for me, don''t you not?" Leroy grunted and stood up. He slapped his chest a couple of times as his body radiated again, looking at the short woman gritting his teeth. She was thoroughly corrupted to think someone like him, who was well over six feet, was related to him. She must know he was one of the devarians from his golden hair, and the lights leaking, not to mention the audacity to fight when one of his arms was no good. "Don''t you know how much it pains me?" she asked, with a painful expression. "Must we fight again?" "I see no other option," Leroy said, taking a stance with his good arm forward, protecting the one that he had torn. "Be it then," the woman said, gritting his teeth. "I will not let you go this time, brother." The lady lurched at Leroy again, as swift as the desolate wind of fall. She was barehanded just like him and threw a merciless jab of punch at him. Funny, she thinks of him as her brother, yet her mind was so corrupted that she did not know to hold back. Well, Leroy was damn happy that she had not taken the dagger from her waist to attack. He withdrew half step, intercepting her punch with his good hand before smacking the knuckle the other arm to her jaw, mustering everything he had. The superior coughed, crying, but her legs moved next to his legs to knock him on the ground. Leroy rolled on the ground immediately, as her merciless kicks hit empty space. It would have broken more than just a couple of his bones if he stayed there still. Taking in another frantic breath, he tried to muster a blade of light on his good arms. It fluctuates for a little before turning dim. He gritted his teeth. There was one way he could master the light, but he had to turn off the immortal blessing of his body, which would leave him fragile with dozens of wounds all over his body. "Guess I have to do it in the old ways," he muttered and threw himself at her again. Meanwhile, one of the devarian was already captured, while Inari had triggered her immortal blessing, challenging the men in brute strength. She was not very good at this, though she had training. Devarian were not just blessed with horrifying talent in the department of mana, but their body had the blood of immortal, and only less sturdy than the old dragons that left the realm long ago. Even with her un-proficient ways, she pinned down one of the dogs in dogfighting. Yes, other than the superior Leroy was fighting, all the others were dogs. Slaves that perhaps took a couple of years before them, but seeing their horrifying state, she was breathless. She did not think twice to trigger her blessing, knowing her state will be less horrifying than theirs if they caught her back again. Her tiny fist dug on the face of the collared man again and again, relentless as the dog growled in misery. Another one of the dogs came, trying to strangle her from behind, but she spun before he could approach, drawing a heavy kick in his gut. The dog lurched a couple of meters away, and Inari looked at the one she was punching. ''Oh, Immortal Lord above,'' she could not help but mutter. In her stupor, she had punched him dozens of times, and he was already dead, with his face just a paste of bone, blood, muscles and brown goo. She never used her strength in such a violent way that she had a sudden urge of vomiting, but the other dogs did not give her time. With her body glowing with golden light, it was not that she was strong; all her six senses were heightened. Though the power drew everything from her and she could not keep up after a few seconds, she had to do it. She lurched up, and in the corner of his eyes to see Leroy on his back foot against his opponent. Gritting her teeth, she saw two of the devarians already captured, pinned on the ground as the dogs safekeeping them, standing on top of them, eyeing at her wryly. What? She wondered and got the answer easily. These collars men were slaves, enthralled most likely. They do things on command, and currently, their command should be taken captive, not killing them. That''s why she was still standing against about a dozen men. Her mind worked quickly as she spun towards where the others were fighting. Without considering a thing, she threw herself on another of the dogs, screaming like she was no better. She already had it after all the beating. After all the pains she was suffering, and fighting at the same time. Leroy felt throbbing agony on the left side of his chest as the third punch knocked again. He could not protect there with his bad arm, which was already dull with all the attack he had he blocked with it. This mad woman did not use her dagger, but arms and legs were no less than any weapon. "Brother, why must you do this?" she asked as an arm struck her arm which restricted Leroy on the ground. She ignored it, though pain appeared in her eyes. Her other arm stuck into his guts, as it dug with him, lurching up in pain. She was beating the living light out of him. Literally. "Why must I have to do this again?" she asked again. "Why?" Leroy struck again. She ignored, digging her fight into his gut again. All golden light was gone from his body now, and Leroy was feeling every one of the punches, kicks, jabs, cuts, wounds, injuries¡ªevery one of them tenfold. "Why?" she struck again. Leroy coughed, tears broke into his eyes. "I am. . . I am sorry," he muttered, looking at her pained eyes. She froze, eyes horrifying at his words. Then she felt something on the side of her neck. Her horrifying eyes burst into tears, still stuck to Leroy, as her palm searched for what struck her neck. She found a palm without a problem¡ªit was her brother''s palm. A warm palm that she clasped together, ignoring the dagger on her neck, blood dripping as she fell over her brother, eyes still glued to him. "I am sorry, brother," she whispered, clasping his palm. Dead. __________________ This whole arc will be full of madmen! Chapter 121 - A Masked Man And A Pixie "Please, let me go," Ileana begged in a sobbing voice. Her face had turned disgusting enough with all the tears, snot, and blood, but the man appeared as if he did not listen to her. Ileana screams never stopped even though her throat was sore, facial muscles were throbbing in agony. Her scream could only manage to bring a frown or two from the one that was taking her. Surprisingly, he did not do anything like lay a hand on her to make her silent, but by the way, he was taking her; she was becoming restless with each moment. He had not laid a hand on her, as of yet, but it won''t be far away. In those vacant eyes of her captive, she could see no emotion; only coldness and pain as he led her downwards where not many were present. She already got a shock from the collar a couple of times as she tried to resist the man from taking her. Alas! All went in vain. It seemed like her destiny as a slave was sealed, and perhaps soothing more tormenting will happen next. "Please," she screamed, clinging towards the leg of the man. "Let me go. I''ll do anything . . . anything but that . . . please. I will do as you say, please . . . Please . . ." The man stopped in his strides and looked at her clinging to his foot. A sorrowful expression appeared in his eyes, but Ileana was in too bad of a condition to notice that through the helmet and mask he wore. "Fine," the slaver said. "You will do as I say." He continued to walk again, pulling her by how she was clinging to the foot. "Please . . ." Ileana continued to cry as if she did not hear a word of the suited slaver. The slaver walked, ignoring her cries on the staircase. A couple of workers came and looked at them with peculiar expressions, but with one empty gaze from the man, they laughed off on their way. Ileana heard nothing in her cries. Her mind was already on the path of breaking. The man finally stopped coming down the stairs. He sighed, looking at the condition of the girl before crouching down near her. His gloved palm caught her chin as his empty eyes stared at her eyes. "You will do as I say, and I will let you go from here," he said in a clear, crisp voice. "Nod or blink if you can." Ileana looked at his eyes, the weird mask for a time, before doing both of them blinking or nodding, heavily. "Good," the man said, "come with me." Even though he said that, he pulled her up by the shoulder, taking her towards a near glass window. "Can you see anything?" he asked. Ileana stared four times. "Water," she said blankly. "Ocean." "Anything in the water?" she heard him say. Ileana looked and tried to frown, though she stopped midway as it hurt. In the ocean, she could see some tiny beads like light, but that could be her misinterpretation as well. As her mind was almost on the verge of breaking and coupling with all the fatigue and beatings, she was in no condition to have any analysis thoughts. "Did you see any island?" she heard him say again. Ileana looked very carefully through the small glass window before shaking her head. "Perhaps I should have brought a binocular," the man whispered. "Either way, there is islands on the sea, and what I want off you is to get to the island as quickly as you can." Ileana did not understand and looked at him blankly. "You said you will do as I say," the man repeated. "I want you to go to that island for now." "But¡ª" Her voice was cut off as soon she found a palm on her forehead as a surge of energy rushed at her head. She had a sudden urge to struggle away, but her body gave in paralysing on the spot. "Arrive at the island as soon as you can. That is your first task." The voices echoed in her head. "Trust no one." And then she passed out. The masked man sighed again and this time rather more compassionately before taking Ileana carefully on his back. He was about to leave there when a ripple of light appeared before him as soon a small figure manifested, hovering in the air with an odd expression on her face. Yes, the figure was feminine and appeared as a little pixie with light white wings behind her. "Honesty, I''ll never understand humans," she said, hovering past him towards the face of the girl on his back. She checked her face and body, with her hands on her chin for a moment, saying, "She does have a pretty face, but I have seen many far prettier women than her. Her talent is commendable, but nothing otherworldly as well, and yet you wasted such a chance for her." "What''s there to understand?" the male said, taking in large strides. "Humans are creatures of emotions. Even though I came here with an iron will, there are things I can''t let happen with my eyes." "That''s alright," the pixie replied. "But are you really going to throw her into the water?" "Yes," the male answered. "Not directly, of course. I''ll give her a boat." "A boat? A freaking boat? I guess that solves everything." The little pixie hovered past him before his eyes and continued in a loud voice, not fearing others might hear her. "You wasted such an opportunity to do this thing, and now thinking of giving up after doing all this. Don''t you know the water is far more dangerous than inside the ship? Are you certain you are not one of them? The ones with corrupted minds?" "I know," the man said, coming before a hall room. The door was locked, and he looked at the pixie for once as she gestured with her palm to open it. "But what she will get from the ship will be far more dangerous for her fragile mind. I am certain she will give in within a couple of days on the ship." "And not in the sea?" "The sea challenges in some other area," the man said. "Slavery, for even a day, does bad things for one. She was only like this for a few hours and looked at her. She had already forgotten to use her brain. I know being young had to do with it, and how mercilessly she was beaten. Still, this ship will be the hardest test for her. A test that would most likely break her. Perhaps the outside is far more dangerous, but it is where she can use her brain properly. "Perhaps she will succeed or perhaps she will fail. Either way, I can''t see her breaking. I don''t want her to become even a little like me." The pixie turned silent, hovering still in the air. "Why don''t you help her all the way, then?" The man did not answer for some time and looked around the hall to find a usable boat. There were dozens of them, smaller ones that could only take two to the ones that could hold a dozen. He looked at one with medium size, easily holding six men. "That one," he said to the pixie, walking towards it, the girl on his shoulder. "And what about the others?" the pixie asked another question. "They have to find their own way, for now, I guess," the man said, lunging into the deck of the boat. The boat was in the best condition, all new probably never been sailed. He checked it with his mana senses for a couple of minutes before dropping her on the deck. "You could have saved them all," the pixie said slowly. "It might be a little hard, but if you work efficiently, you could have saved most of them, at least with my help. Why are you leaving them and only saving this one girl?" "If I save them all, assuming I can actually save all of them, then what will be the point of all this? " Something clicked inside the little pixie as glitter appeared in her eyes. "Now please help me with this boat," the man said. "I actually forgot to bring another suit for her. Looks like I have to give mine. Well, not that I need one." He jumped off the boat immediately, leaving the pixie and unconscious girl towards another small board. He checked it carefully before pulling it towards the bigger one. Just then, he felt disturbance from the outside. Someone must have found out his doings. "It''s time," he said and brought the boat over to the bigger one. "Let''s go." The entrance of the hall shook before blasting away. And then appeared the sight of dozen men, charging. "My lady, are you ready?" he asked the pixie again. "How about we make a bet again?" the pixie asked, ignoring the dozen men charging at them. They had their weapons prepared, already charging with their violent moves. The ones that came first were the slaves where the superiors were testing the water behind. The marked man frowned and looked at the group. He turned toward the little pixie. "Sure," he said, similarly ignoring the crowd of violent slaves as well as their masters. "But what do you want to bet against me?" The pixie clasped her palm together as rays of darklight surrounded the boat.. The violent charges were just a moment away from arriving at the boat, before it disappeared as if it were never been there before. Chapter 122 - The Knight And His Princess Mopher crept through the narrow way, sneaking in wearing the identical suit that he borrowed from one of the men that brought him here. Using his mana sense efficiently, he checked every chamber in a narrow way. Though his mana sense could not let him see the faces inside, he could make it do with most of them being empty. It was already a couple of hours since the designated time. The tainted are at least efficient in their times with all their flaws. Mopher could close his eyes before the entrance of one of the chambers. If there was no one inside, he did not have any problem, but if there were anyone, he needed to concentrate more to find out if it was his highness or not. Then there was his highness, erratic behaviour at times. He might not even be able to find her with his senses if she tries. Mopher wished it was not the case now. After all, getting into the ship was her plan in the first place. If she really gets captured and gets herself into a helpless situation, it will be a failure on his part as well. A frown appeared on Mopher''s brows, as he felt two men inside. Yes, men, unconscious most likely. Shaking his head, he crept away to the next one. There was no one. He moved to the next one after that. There were close to two hundred chambers like this in this ship, and he had already finished checking a quarter of it in half an hour. It looked like he had to search for a little more. Perhaps his highness already left, getting bored here. Since he managed to free himself, why wouldn''t she do it? Mopher shook his head at once. He can''t just give up even if his highness was gone, it was his duty nonetheless. "Hey, what are you doing there?" a shout came abruptly, halting Mopher in his steps. He cursed himself, thinking he was never the sneaky type. Princess Scarlett was too good at it, but he could not leave it to her. Mopher turned and found a couple of men wearing the same suit as himself. ''Wouldn''t be that difficult,'' he reckoned, though he did not want to mess up with them if could. "What is it?" he asked them at once, standing wide open with hands on his back. "What are you doing here?'''' The one who yelled first repeated his question, reading the nameplate on Mopher''s chest which says, Pitt Noah, 305. "Pitt Noah, shouldn''t you be below with the others, checking for what went wrong?" "I was," Mopher answered. "They had already found out what went wrong, so I was excused." "Really?" the other one asked with curious eyes. "What happened? Can''t be the slaves, can it? After all, we are already in the zone. What kind of mischief could they do?" "I don''t the entire thing, but I think we found a few corpses in the bunker," Mopher said, walking along with them slowly. "And they were not the corpse of slaves." "Ahh," the curious one nodded as his eyes gleamed. "Something interesting did happen, huh? So who are the corpses belongs to?" "I don''t know," Mopher said slowly. "You should know we are not of high rank to know all things." "Bah," the first one, who had the broader shape, grimaced. "Don''t worry, you will find out soon enough." As he finished his sentence, his leg shot towards Mopher into a violent kick, but unfortunately, it found empty space, as Mopher was ready for anything to go wrong. The curious one of the group spun, two sleek daggers in his arm, coming straight at the weaponless Mopher. Mopher shook his head and lurched at the sidewall, kicking it to get an elevation before he got back at the broad-shouldered male, pinning him down in one simple move. His fist dug immediately into the stomach, as the man lurched up in agony. Mopher was about to punch again, but he spun instead, disappearing from there as soon as a dagger swung just where his neck was. "What the . . ." before the one with the dagger could finish his sentences, a dropkick connected on his back, pinning him against the other one. Both of them grunted in pain as Mopher came into vision before them. They were about to make a move to attack or flee again when Moper said, "No need." The shorter curious one blinked, not understanding, while the one below seemed to have no intention of listening, jerked up, to come up with a violent fist, as mana started to condense in the fist, it if connects the way he wanted, it could crack the bone of his opponent easily. But there was a big fat If. Mopher''s figure disappeared from there to appear barely a couple of steps in the left. "You two are participants, right?" he said next, with the interest of not wasting his time of effort on the two. Though the two seemed to have quite the strength and expertise in their areas, Mopher had dominated them entirely and could do even further. The only reason he was not doing it was that these two were like him, a participant in the trial. Since their goal was the same, why bother fighting among themselves? "So it really is a trial," the one with the dagger muttered from the floor, with no intention of getting up like the other one did. Mopher did not answer. These two should come here in the attempt to get the suit from him, or since it will be the most important thing here for them, to ward off against the corruption. But they had chosen a wrong target, thinking him of one of the slavers. Mopher considered them for a second, before leaving, since others will appear hearing the disturbance soon enough even though they barely wrestled. "Hey," the short one of the group said, finally standing up. Mopher heard him, but went on to do his job. "Hey, do you want to team up?" the short fella said again. "We two might not be strong enough to beat you, but you are not the strongest either. Join up with us, we have¡ª" "Not interested," Mopher said, continuing on his strides. Ten minutes later, Mopher finally found the chamber he was looking for, but his brows knitted together immediately, feeling there were actually half a dozen people inside the room yet it was still silent. Moreover, it appeared the entrance of the chamber was unlocked. Revolving his mana inside, Mopher pushed the heavy metal door with cautions. "You are finally here," a female voice said instantly. "I was getting bored and perhaps would have left you late by even a minute more." "Your highness," Mopher muttered as his eyes checked the eccentric redhead princess Scarlett first. Finding no harm, even a scratch was done to her. His eyes drifted off towards others. Four guards laid unconscious on the four. No, perhaps they were dead, though from outside it did not look like they had been through anything. Moreover, one of them was superior. Currently, only a corpse.`` His eyes then found the other person in the room. a youth of sixteen years with his arms bound behind him, eyed the two of them with horror. In contrast, Scarlett was free as the wind, though resting leaning against the wall, one leg above another, hands on the chest. There was no mistake that she had done all this. But why didn''t she run away? Mopher could very well guess why. If he asks, she will probably give silly reasons like running away does not align with her personality, or she was in control of why bothered to run away. "Your highness, I apologise for being late," he said immediately, on one knee. Scarlett shook her head in annoyance, while the other person''s horror turned to sheer bewilderment. "At ease," Scarlett said, and stood up. "I think we are finished here. Let''s go." "But," Mopher said, standing straight. "What about him?" the two of them looked at the stultified fella at once. "Him?" an odd expression appeared on her face. "I almost forgot about him. Free him if you must, just don''t take too much time." Mopher nodded, striding towards the fella. He did not need to do a lot, just cut the cuffs from behind, which was not that difficult a job for him. He turned to find Scarlett was already only one step away from getting out. "Your highness, you will need one of those suits to ward against the corruption," Mopher said, gesturing at the dead men immediately, finding out the princess forgot about the suit. "I am well aware of that, but do you think I''ll wear those sweaty bastards'' suits?" Mopher cursed internally. He should have seen it coming. Even if the air was far foul and corrupt here, he will never manage to get her into one of those used suits. It was as if someone else''s sweat and scent was far more terrible than the corruption that could break her mind. "I can protect my mind very easily inside the ship," Scarlett said, finding his dilemma. "But you are tasked with getting me a new one before this ship sinks." "Yes, your highness, I''ll look into," Mopher paused immediately. "The ship sinks, your Highness?" "Oh, come on, Mopher," the princess grimaced at him. "Do you think we came here just for a picnic? Since I had free time to think after I take care of the few, I came up with a brilliant idea." "Brilliant idea? To sink the ship?" Chapter 123 - Crisis (1) Inari sighed in relief after all the men were taken care of, though unfortunately, a couple of their numbers were heavily injured in the process. Blood and gore stained the floor as she saw Leroy sitting, leaning against the wall. "Others will come," he said, "Get ready to sneak out as soon as you can. There is a vacuum just below this floor which will release you directly to the sea. Though it will be a difficult order to follow, it is better than staying on the ship." Inari frowned. "You are not coming?" she asked and got a shake of the head from him. She then looked at the other few of the group. Four of them could come with her if she wants them to come, but the other two would need time to heal. Moreover, she could not determine if she could save them against the current of water, nor did they have more suits to ward off corruption from their mana system and mind. Noticing her gaze, a couple of the few nodded, getting a non-verbal agreement. Inari did not know what to think of it, so gave Leroy a look who recuperated his mana leaning against the wall. Her attention got to the suit Leroy gave her before. It was currently bloodstained, though in fair state to use. She did not have time to wear it before and since her state of mind was already getting corrupt; she did not delay this time. Without cleaning the blood dirt off her body, she covered herself with the suit, leaving her head open. Devarians have magical healing effects, and could regrow part of their body, but it was not immediate. Leroy had torn off his arm to free himself, not because he was a lunatic, but he knew it would regrow in time. Perhaps in a week or two he could do basic things with it. As for the others, her eyes drifted off towards the two with a bitter expression on. They have not lost any part of their body, but one''s things were too badly injured to even walk, and the others'' were injured in the side of the stomach. Inari did not know what to make of the two of them, though she had something on her mind. It was not just her that knew what to do from here, but for some selfish reasons and survival instinct, they were not opening their mouths. In the end, Inari shook her head and stood up. "Let''s pool our Blessing of Recovery," she said, striding towards the wounded. All devarians had this blessing of recovery which lets them heal all kinds of wounds, and moreover, they can share it within themselves, though it would leave them weak for times, considering what kind of wound they would be healing. If Inari used all her blessing on even one of them, she would be barely left to walk for a couple of hours, and would not be able to heal even herself within the next week, that was why she proposed to pool their blessing together. Since they all have Devarians blood, the process will be smooth as well. Now all she needs to know is how many of them will give their blessing to heal the two. Even she was feeling uncomfortable on that part. "Is this the right thing to do in our situation?" one of the fellows said, "considering we are still in the enemy ship, what if something goes wrong and we will have to fight again?" "There is no what if in it, something will go wrong, I am sure of it," another one who regained their voice spoke up. These two have resemblances and could be related. well, they all are related, but these two could be siblings. Then again, that was another outreigeous things to do. Breaking their code once was already punished with the death penalty, and even if one gets away with it, they would surely executed him on the spot, if found about such cases. "We won''t be safe until we free ourselves from their clutches." Great, she said inwardly. "So we should abandon the two?" she asked them, glaring daggers with her eyes." The two fellows who spoke looked away before one of them came back. "I am not saying that," he said. "What if we leave them somewhere safe for time and rescue later?" his eyes wandered off towards Leroy, who was recovering his mana. Since they all will flee from the ship and Leroy will not, he was the only one who was capable of that feat. "Out of option," Inari said, and pointed at their collar. "I don''t know if you are just dumb or forget in crisis. We won''t get away from the clutches of the slavers if we don''t free ourselves from these collars. We might get the time to remove it if we fled far away from them, but they won''t have it if we leave them behind." The two squinted their noses together, as she continued, "What I am asking is not to heal them entirely, just leave it so that they could walk on their own. Like all of you, I fear for my survival as well." The two exchanged glances with each other before nodding reluctantly. "Alright, let''s finish this quick," Inari said and crouched down near the two wounded. Exchanging glances with the other two, she found the ones that argued with her were looking at Leroy. "Rest it. He already lost his palm. He will need every bit of his strength and blessing after how much effort he invested in freeing us." "No, I was thinking something else," one of the two whispered. "He''s that Leroy right? The one abandoned by the clan a couple of years ago?" As his words completed, the others stared at Leroy, meditating closed-eyed with reverence. Even Ellora¡ªher half-sister did not have this much effect on half-blooded devarians than Leroy. Well, that very well be because Leroy was a half-blood like themselves, and infamous for the deed he had done. Inari frowned at his design, but nodded. Leroy was not just disowned by the clan, he was actually meant to be dead if Ellora and a few others did not get involved to save him, but not many knew about, especially those of the half-blood. "What are you designing?" "Just think for a second," the one continued in a whisper. "What if we pool our blessing to recover his palm first? He will be able to fight with his full strength and perhaps will reconsider to come with us. As we all know, we won''t be free until we free ourselves of these collars. Gaining his companionship should be the best of our options." Inari raised an eyebrow. She had to admit, this plan was far more tempting for everyone here, but unfortunately, she knew it wouldn''t bear any fruit. "What do you think, Lady Inari?" They all looked at her, asking for her approval. And she could only shake her head. "If you heard any rumours about him, you should all know. He will never consider leading us. Much less leading, he will do everything to stay away from us." They all became silent, hearing her, and Inari nudged her with one''s hand to start the process of pooling their blessing. They all crouched, besides the two wounded and kept in contact with hand-holding. Exchanging a nod to all of them, they focused on pooling their blessing to heal the two wounded. Golden lights glitter from their arms and drift towards the two wounded. Among the four who were donating their blessing to the two, Inari''s palms were beaming the most, noting she was one with the most potent blessing among the few. Well, why wouldn''t it be? Ignoring the diluted human blood that she got from her father, her mother''s position was once top of the clan. That was, until she was born. After they find out her mother had broken the rule, many things changed in the clan. She could proudly say, there were not more than a couple of hundred devarian who had a more potent blessing in their blood than her. Tainted or not, she was one of the very best their clan had to offer. But she hated it. Why wouldn''t she? For this blessing, her mother had to die. The wound on the thigh and the side of the other fellow closed up in naked eyes, and they stopped the blessing curtly. After all, they will be needing it for themselves. The healing was not fully, but the two could walk freely and run with a little discomfort. "Incoming," Leroy said abruptly as he lurched up. Inari frowned and found even she was feeling the disturbance approaching towards them. On the first assault, it was already difficult for them to get away safely, and in the second assault, they should be sending more men. "Get ready.. I''ll stop them while you all getaway." Chapter 124 - Betrayal (1) Inari lurched at the sidewall, ignoring the bloody leg. She had just worn the suit, and it was damaged already from the assault from the dogs. The next waves of attack after the initial were far more dangerous for them. Her innate healing factor was working, as she ran even in the situation where she used it to help two others. Funny, one of the two was already captured in the assault, while the other one was making things difficult for one of them. She was on the forefront of the group, while Leroy was at the back, engaging in dogfighting with the others. Fortunately, they have managed to get some weapons from the other party that attacked them. Leroy lurched his dagger on the shoulder of one of the dogs, as his body spun to deliver a knuckle of elbow at the other one on his side; he collected back the dagger with his good hand, delivering a swift slash at the face of the dogs. His legs crept towards the young Devarian running, shouldering the injured one, while another was protecting from any potential attacks. They were barely making it. Well, making it will be an overstatement. With the terrible beating, they went through an injury-ridden body. It was only natural they would like this even if they have the blood of the immortals. Leroy threw his dagger, as it bolted in a golden flash to piercing the chest of one of the dogs. His body followed quickly like a storming wind, zipping back the dagger to pin it down a couple more than he assaulted the next one of the dogs. Leroy was terribly fast, even faster than he had appeared in the tournament a few days ago, and he was fast because there was no other option. He spun to dodge to approaching blade, legs undermining the slaves'' knees. But the collared slave did not fall. Even though their mind had broken long ago, and could not think like normal people, they were really good at one thing. Fight. Fight like dogs. Fight like there was no tomorrow. And there was no tomorrow for them. There are two reasons why Leroy was so anxious about this ordeal. First, he wanted Inari to get out of the ship as soon as possible, and the other one was similarly connected. Unlike the other time when he''s supposed elder sister came to take him back, this time, no superior came. Perhaps they had better things to do, but Leroy would be damned to believe that. Even a single one of the world more than all these saves trained dogs together. Yes, it would hurt them, but not dearly. The superior should be somewhere near, perhaps watching for them to get exhausted, or trapping them here. Inari was the first one to the chamber they were searching for, but only getting to open the door. She learned Leroy had the keys. "The door is locked," she bellowed. Leroy peeked a glance at her, and his expression twisted instantly. "Look behind you." He roared. But it was too late. A rough arm strangled her neck like she was nothing but a plaything, pressing further. Inari grunted and winced, and struggled with her legs to get out. In her horror, she saw the face of the dark figure. A man of height and shape, but she doesn''t have time to shock in horror. Working her arms around the sturdy palm, she lurched her body high to come up with a dropkick at the face of her opponent. She got the elevation she needed and her leg was only a couple of inches away to get what was intended when the huge assailant threw her body off. Her splendorous body struck the door frame. The door did not break, but a few of her bones did. Inari felt strength leaving her. She used her everything to linger on the little mana left on her body and let the remaining of her blessing to be activated. The golden light did not even start to condense when a violent kick came to her stomach. Cursing her bad luck, she got away, rolling on the ground. The superior came again with a cruel smile on his lips. Just looking at that cruel smile, she felt sick and could not tell if this man was capturing her or was about to kill her instead. She barely managed to stand back again. When trying to dodge another punch, she had to duck and get back to the floor. The cruel smile never left the lips of the slaver, as he came with a violent kick again, only this time, Inari had no time to dodge. She still tried, but a golden figure came to his rescue. Leroy, glowing in the golden light, blocked the foot, jerking his dagger towards the huge man. The superior withdrew, as Leroy dropped the keys towards her. "Go. Fast. I will take care of him." Inari collected the keys and noticed the corpses on the floor. The floor was bloody with the dead, and even one of their companion had died. Yes, it seemed the situation went so overboard that the dogs killed one of them. It was the one that was shouldering the injured one, while the others were still fighting, though Leroy left them with some leeway that they could manage to keep their lives for some time. She had no idea how Leroy grew so fast in a lower world¡ªspecial it may be. It could never be better than the resource their clan held. No, it was not just level. It appeared Leroy got better at killing, even though he was always the most proficient of their younger generation of the clan. Inari cursed herself for losing in those thoughts. Collecting the keys, she pulled herself against the door frame, trying to open the door with uneven breathing. Lord, her back was throbbing like it went through a storm. On the third try of the keys, did she manage to open it. Without looking back at Leroy, she pushed it to get inside. The metal clanging told everyone else that she managed to open the door. "Get in," bellowing that, she got her head around the equipment of the room. What captured her sight was half a dozen huge levers that would open the path of water. Breathing heavily in a failed attempt to steady her breath, she started to push one of the levers down. The lever did not just need huge physical force; it needs enough mana to be opened as well. Unfortunately, she did not have abundant off any of them, and with screaming, pulling everything, she managed to drop one to its midrange. After that it got easy. As the first lever went down, she heard the red light popping in the high wall of the chamber, with the beeping, indicating the danger. Good, she thought. That means it was working. She moved to the next one of the levers and one of their companions joined her to pull another one of the levers. Unfortunately, it was not Leroy. Her cousin was still busy dealing with the superior. Inari had no time to worry about him. Her breathing stopped, bringing all her strength. The beeping rose, as slowly a canal opened further below. Water surged in mad instantly, as it skied to the roof. Such force of the current, there was no chance of swimming away in such a current. Fortunately, she did not have to. The other one of her companions managed to open another one, though no new path opened. Two levers open one path, so she got to another one as the entrance they entered was locked as a safety protocol. Now if they could not get away from here, and would die drowning. She did not manage to pull her third lever when the water was already on her knees. Leroy was fighting on the water with his opponent, still not gaining an advantage. "Go, go, go," he bellowed at her. "I will be fine." Inari hated herself for believing that. After finishing her third lever, she found there were only two others of her companion remaining, except Leroy. She did not even look back at the situation again, and when all the levers done, exchanging a nod with others, she dived into the open water. Swimming against the surge of the current was as difficult as she had expected, but pulling extra effort with her mana, she bared managed that, and so did the other two, though one of them was pulling the other. But once they managed to get away from its path, it turned fur easy. Now they have two tasks here and both need to finish before they could die of no air. First, they have to close the path they opened for the water so that it won''t cause the death of Leroy. She gestured the two of them to finish the job, while she tried to find the thing that they would need to get away from here. She found it rather quickly. It was a dozen metre long submarine, capable of running against the surge easily. It was not only she who was looking at the submarine, even the other two devarians¡ªthe two who were reluctant to help the injured first was looking at it. And it appeared they have no plan to close the lever for Leroy now. Inari shot a blow of mana to swirl the water towards her. Getting their interest, she gestured with her arms to ask what they were doing? The two of them looked at each other, and gave an apologetic look, before swinging toward the submarine. Betrayal. Chapter 125 - Betrayal (2) Betrayal. ''I should not have thought better of half-blooded devarians, just because I am the same,'' she thought, gritting her teeth. Life was already hard for them. Why would they still stick to the ideals. Well, as if the pure devarians stick to it. These two actually did not betray her, but Leroy. If she wanted, she could join them easily to get away in the submarine, but that would leave a deadly threat to Leroy if he did not manage to win against his opponent quickly. Perhaps her mind was already corrupted with all the exhaustion and the foul air. Anyway, all that would hardly matter if she didn''t make it. If she was in her right mind, then perhaps she would go for the submarine as well, thinking Leroy could make out alone¡ªas he had done before. no harms there, yet here she finding herself, drawn towards the levers. The water would flood the chamber with all the doors being closed. Gritting her teeth at the two fellows moving towards the submarine, she crept towards the lever. There were similarly six of them here to close the water from flooding the other chamber. Unfortunately, with the violent current of water being flooding, it was far more difficult for her to close it. Yet she still tried, revolving her mana like crazy. Lord, it is hard, she screamed, pushing the latch of the lever. The current of water weighed over thousands of kilograms. It would have been difficult when she was in a fair state, much less now, when her state was just better than collapsing. Her bloody leg was throbbing with agony, her palms were no good. The latch stuck without moving. Inari coughed out, struggling in the middle. In her dilemma, she had breathed in mid-water, making it even more difficult for her. She cursed herself and the two that betrayed. The lever did not budge, and Inari pushed it like crazy, using it all. Veins in her temple popped, her face turned, blood rose as golden light flickered, surging with strength again. The latch moved, and Inari pushed further. Giving her all, she finally managed to close one of the levers. Unfortunately, it took away all her sudden impulse of strength, and when she got to the next one, all the strength sipped out of her body, like water sipped out in a canal. Yet she did not give up. The two already reached the submarine though had to find a way to enter it. Though that won''t be that far away, water was also an issue for them. Opening the lid will be problematic, but those two were together. They would most likely succeed before she closes the latch¡ªif she ever manages that. All sorts of depressing thoughts swirled in her head, telling her to give up, but she was still on the latch, pushing it, gritting her teeth, screaming like crazy in her head. Suddenly, the lever she was pushing became a little easy to push. No, it was a lot easy. Inari did not even have the right mind to think about it, and pushed with whatever she had. As the lever was done, one of the slid was closed, and only then did she figure out what was going on. In one of the slid she found a figure, barely keeping up against the current of water. Leroy, gesturing to tell her something, not that she could make out anything. Perhaps he was telling her to move to the next lever, thinking that Inari moved towards the next one. It was not easy at first, but after exerting some of her strength it turned easily, and so does the next one of them. It appeared she was barely doing anything, and the levers were closing on its own. She was finding a little hope in her heart and at that very moment, that hope was crushed, feeling the disturbance made by the starting of the submarine. Perhaps she might still make it if she rushed now, but could she give up just before succeeding? Inari cursed, and moved toward the last two levers, pushing the two with both of her arms. Now she really was mad. Well, she was mad to even on her brightest days, but it was outright madness. A madness where she cared nothing for her life. The submarine was on its path of leaving and perhaps she could cling onto it to leave as well, or ask the other two to let her in. They did not abandon out of jealousy, after all, it appeared as a necessity to them. Yet she did not let go of the levers The last two were the most difficult, as all the pressure was on the last two of them. The disturbance behind them increased, and she found herself blaming Leroy. ''Fool. Fool. If that bastard came with me, everything would have been fine.'' In her state, she even forgot that Leroy had to fight against the superior. He actually managed to beat his opponent, which she never could in such a state, and helped to close the lid. But now her, his, their situation was dire to the point of impossible. The door barely budged with both of their efforts. Inari revolved her mana for the last time like crazy, as well as triggered the blessing of potency when she had no fuel left. She had already gone over getting herself left bedridden for weeks, and if she pulled from the blessing of potency again, she did not know what her state would be. Well, on the fair site, she only has to care about it if she manages to keep herself alive. Not a bright thought to have in such situations, but it was all she made out. The golden light flickered again, and this time it was far brighter. The light rose until all her skin was glittering in the luminescence of the light. Inari found herself drunk in strength. This was really overwhelming. What happened? What did I do? All sorts of questions appeared in her head as she pushed the levers. Even in her fair state, when there was no injury, she was never this powerful. But that did not matter for now. For the first time, she got the better of Leroy in pushing the levers, and finishing that, she finally noticed she was actually able to sense all things within her surroundings. The water had calmed down mostly, and a new pressure was coming from the submarine. Right, submarine, she thought and shot towards the submarine, which was about to leave. Inari did not think more. With newfound strength, she shot like a bolt of lightning. The friction of water did restrict her, but the light never gave in. She got the back of the submarine in time as it shot out of a hole. Inari clung to it and found herself held onto it like with all her body, as if her life depended on it. Actually, it did. Fortunately, with her newfound strength, perhaps she will manage to cling onto it. And then the golden light dimmed, and all strength sipped out of her body again. Before, if it was slipping out in a canal, then currently, it went out like breaking the dam. Even keeping her mind awake was difficult and air. She finally remembered she needed to have air to live. Even cursing in her head turned difficult, as the friction of water hit her. The weakness, the heavy water, strangled her. This was not really normal water. Perhaps she managed to ignore its effect with her blessing, but currently, she had nothing against it. She felt extremely foolish for her deed. What she could have done there was what she regretted believing the two devarians. She regretted herself closing the holes. Those that lead to her death. Well, at least she did not hate doing all that. A good thought to have before her death. Strength left her as the submarine rose up, leaving her. Her eyes closed as her body floated down slowly. All that effort for nothing. ''Perhaps Ellora finally hates me for leaving her.'' Just when all hopes were lost, a voice with her head and lights appeared into some massage, that she could not make out anything with her state. [Apprentice Inari, would you like to give up on Trial-1?] So, it was a trial. Of course, it was, and she failed. At least she will not die. At least there was some silver lining. However, she was so exhausted that she could not even give a mental command. Fortunately, the system would take her silence as an affirmation. [Apprentice Inari, would you like to give up on Trial-1?] The message repeated in her head, though she could not hear it clearly. It was perhaps repeated more than twice. Well, it doesn''t matter anymore. Finally, she felt her body surging upwards of the water. ______________ These last two chapters turned out to be not what I intended.. Still, it had the result I wanted. Chapter 126 - Strangeness (1) Shin eyed eerily at the suited man from the bed where he was cuffed against it so terribly that he could not even budge a little. The other two Feldan and the scowling youth were moved away to a similar bed as well, though their beds were closed by partition. Shin has been worried about them just like he was for Ileana, but seeing the syringe the suited doctors were preparing, you can say he did not have the luxury to be worried about someone else. His mouth was blocked with duct tape, and with his four limbs being bound, he could not even up a struggle against it. He did not know what those injections were for exactly, but he heard those crazy men say, it will make them docile like a dog. If that were it, then he was in a serious problem¡ªnot just him, but every one of them. Even though Shin barely studies and listens to the lectures, he knows a few things about the mind-controlling spells and ingredients. Yes, it could not make first-class slaves who would do everything asked, but it''s seriously terrifying. That was why anything related to psychosis was banned by the mother system. Shin grunted heavily watching the man approach, still with the gas mask and everything on his body. He showed the injections in his arms with a wicked smile. Though Shin could not see it, he could guess it through the wrinkles in the corner of his eyes. "Boy, do you know what it is?" the man asked, though he did need his answer. "Originally, you aren''t supposed to get this dose now, but your defiance made me think twice about it. Don''t worry though, it is not the main course. It will just numb your mind, and slowly you will find it hard to even have thoughts. Rational thoughts, that is." Shin swallowed. "You will still keep some part of your reasoning. Don''t get us wrong, we do want slaves, but what''s good to have slaves who can''t even have the minimal mental capacity? It would really be better to raise dogs, wouldn''t it? That''s why we will start with the mind-numbing drugs to slowly collapse your rational mind. "We will not break it through drugs. We will do it another way. The old way. Since the drugs breaks the mind too violently, we will just do it the old way of beating." The doctor paused, frowning. "Tell me, boy, do you want to flee? Yes, that''s right. Actually, you will have to flee a dozen times after we reach the island, but all those will be orchestrated by us. We will give you a chance to flee and make sure to catch you again, and again," the wicked smile appeared again. "And again. Even the most brilliant mind will break after failing half a dozen times, and we will let you do it at least a dozen times. Each time you get caught, you will get a hard beating for a week, and each time you flee, the punishment will get higher." Shin let out a horrified whimper, though it did not transfer the duct tape. The suited man seemed to like his expression and came closer just before his head. "Now you would ask me why am I telling you all these, wouldn''t it be safer if you don''t know anything about behind the picture?" the man broke into laughter as Shin''s eyes widened, as a frown appeared on his brows. "Tell me now, boy. If you ever got the chance to flee, even after knowing it could be a trap, will you not be tempted?" "I have to agree that is really a sick scheme." "Right?" the doctor agreed and when he found it was not Shin who spoke with his mouth being covered, it was already too late. Just as he turned his head, a syringe shoved into his forehead so easily that he did not even have a blink of an eye to let out a whimper as his life fled away. Dead. The body of the doctor turned weak as the youth let go. Shin was still with widened eyes, staring at the scowling youth, who pulled out the syringe to look at him. It was the same guy who was bound in the chamber at that time, but if he appeared like a harmless kid, then it was horrifying, like a killer. Wiping his hands off the foul blood, he stared at Shin for a couple of seconds, before leaving as if there was nothing left to be done here. Shin grunted loudly, struggling to let the youth know to free himself. After all his effort, he got the attention of the youth who just killed the suited man without flinching. "Don''t worry, I''ll come back in a minute." Shin struggled again, but the youth was already gone. Could he not just free him before leaving? He was wondering. Like it would only like half a minute, at best to a minute. Perhaps he did not have the intention of freeing him. Then again, why did he kill the man? One minute passed slowly and Shin waited, hearing his breathing loud and clear. The scowling youth did not appear. Another minute passed, and nobody came. Unconsciously, Shin found himself staring at the dead body, cold on the floor. It was laid so on his fast first, that nobody could see he was dead with his head being pierced and all. It was only a small wound from the syringe, but with a good hand, a small syringe could do wonders like this. Shin wondered how the scowling fella had managed to free himself. And if he could do it, why not earlier? But more importantly, why the fuck he did not come back yet to free him? Shin was getting anxious and then he found the corpse on the floor moving. His eyes narrowed as he did not know if he was seeing right or not. Was he not dead? He wondered and found the man standing up, no wound on his forehead. He looked at Shin with confusion and then his eyes gleamed with wisdom. He looked around to find the syringe with the mind-numbing drug, as a wicked smile appeared on his lips. "Boy, do you know what it is?" That sounded very familiar to him, and Shin considered if his mind was playing tricks on him. Was he so broken that he fantasies a rescue and had this dream with open eyes? Seriously, that explanation was far believable compared with the dead returning to life again. But acknowledging that will acknowledge that he was growing mad. "Originally, you aren''t supposed to get this dose now, but your defiance made me think twice about it. Don''t worry though, it is not the main course. It will just numb your mind, and slowly you will find it hard to even have thoughts. Rational thoughts, that is." Shin swallowed those words, and they were exactly identical. Surely, his mind could not come up with this course of dialogues. Could this mean he was still in his dream? Or something strange. The man continued with the same conversation, though it was slightly difficult. Still, it all meant the same thing. Good lord, then the scowling guy came, right when he came before. ''I am growing mad. I am growing mad,'' Shin thought and found the scowling guy''s eyes gleaming with new light. It was worrying, but there was curiosity too. "That''s new," he said, not directly attacking the doctor this time. "Now I would like to know how the dead come back to life. . . . The little pixie flew easy and careless over his face, as Elior opened his eyes. The sun was still glaring, but the soft wind got him a bit better. If only there was no foul corruption in the air. Well, he wore the suit to ward off the corruption alright, and leaned against the deck of his boat, contemplating about something. "Yemr," he called. "So, what do you want to bet up with?" Yemrmix flung to a still before his eyes. "First, I thought about challenging you to come first again in this trial," she said. "And you changed your mind?" Elior asked, eyes at the strikingly blue sky. The enormous ship was just beside him. With no collar to track him down, Elior had not bothered to move away from there. Moreover, he feels there was something left for him to do here. "I got curious about your faith with your companion," she said, coming right before his eyes so that he could not ignore her tiny figure. "Since you have not helped them even when you can, we''ll bet on them. About their survival, what do you say?" A faint smile appeared on Elior''s lips, but it was released by a frown on his brows, as he looked towards the back of the ship. Something was going on there, but he was not too high level to notice it. Heck, he did not even know how he got that feeling. With his current level, it was close to impossible. "A submarine," Yemrmix answered for him as her eyes pierced through the heavy water. "Someone actually succeeded in fleeing with a submarine this early. It seems you will have your hands full on this occasion." The frown never left Elior''s brows as he stared at the water as if something was wrong with it, or with him. "So about the bet¡ª" Before the fairly complete phrase, Elior jumped into the water to find what was making him uncomfortable. __________ Chapter 127 - Ronin (1) "I would really like to see the whole thing with my own eyes, but I don''t have the luxury of time in hand," the scowling guy said as his eyes left the doctor he killed twice before coming closer to Shin. He considered for a couple of seconds and opened his mouth. "Shin, was it? I have an offer for you. The offer is simple, I will free you while you will listen to me for an uncertain amount of time. The terms are non-negotiable. What do you say?" Shin frowned and grunted to let him know that his mouth was blocked by duct tape. "Right," the scowling guy said and removed the tape from his mouth. Shin released a deep breath first and stared at the guy, still with the frown. "So you agree?" the guy asked again. "Tell me quickly, I have better things to do." "Do I have to abide by everything you say?" Shin asked, eyes glued to the guy. "Pretty much everything is reasonable," the guy said, "If you don''t want to stay here, I think you will like the company of these crazy fellows." Shin grunted, and calculated. If he really stay here, and what that doctor told him twice were true he will get chances to flee but those will be orchestrated by them, to break his mind and make him a fine slave. But what this youth wants to form him seemed to be only better than being a slave. Well, he will not be treated like a dog, and would have some say, but all in all, it''s far better. Moreover, Shin could get away from this dude as well, if given chances. It was really immoral to do that, but perhaps he could get in terms of some opportunities with better circumstances. The scowling fellow did not seem to have much time in his hand, shook his head at him. "It seems you like staying here," he said, "I wondered if that girl feels the same." "Fine," Shin said, gritting his teeth. "But I certainly want some in your offer. I can''t just work for you for my lifetime. Give me a certain time or goal." "Oh ho," the youth in his early twenty whistled. "Look at you, do you really think you are in a position to negotiate terms with me?" Shin snorted, ignoring the uncertainty in his head. "Do you think, I will become a dog as that guy told me? Or do you think there is no one else who would come to save me other than you? Even if they did not come, I''ll find a way to get out even if I have to kill everyone one of them. All I need to do was access my mana for a time. I''ll fucking kill them all." The scowling guy raised an eyebrow, and Shin was considering his acting, when a smile appeared on his opponent. "Alright, we will get to a middle ground then," the guy said still with a smile as if his words about the terms being non-negotiable was only a trick. "I will save you from here and until when we get to safety you will listen to my every reasonable command." "And?" "And I will owe one which may escalate to asking for your help or your parents''." Shin''s eyes widened. "You know my parents?" "There are only a few people on earth who do not know you, after the tournament," the youth said, and got ready to unlock his cuffs, and paused again. "State that you agree to my terms three times at once, exclaiming the system as the eye." Shin raised an eyebrow. "I don''t think the system has any access here," he said, and seeing no backing down from the guy, he uttered his agreement three times one after another. "I, Chainz, agree with . . ." he looked at him again, asking for the name. "Ronin." "Ronin to listen to his reasonable commands, till we got to safety Also, I promised to assist him in anything within my limits." "Again." Shin did it for the third time, but no words of confirmation came from the system, but he seemed to feel something wrong as if he was restricted by something. "It actually worked?" Does that mean that the system works here and it was only the trial? Or it could just be the spirit of oath works here. Why was that? Even on earth, not everywhere the spirit of oath works. Only some selected place like their institute, the rings, the spirit of oath works to make an agreement between guardians so that they could come to terms and fight without any betrayal. Whatever it was, shin would not get a answer now. "How do you know it will work?" he asked this Ronin. "I have done some great things a few years ago," ronin said and finally got to unlock his cuffs as if that was enough of an explanation. Shin did not ask for more as he felt good after getting his freedom. No, there was something more. "Can you loosen you the seal?" he asked. "We all be of better off if I can use my mana." Ronin listened to him and ignored it to give a look at the dead guy on the floor. Without answering Shin, he got to strip off the suit. Shin grunted. Was this guy still thinking I will betray him or I will boss him if I get hold of my mana? He wondered. Either way, it was not that far away. He will need to work for an hour or two to get his mana release. Still, it would have been better if he got the helping hand. Shaking his head, Shin looked around the desk to find anything useful that could be used as a weapon. There was not really anything useful. All he could find were the syringe, meds, liquid drugs. Shaking his head. He actually broke one good leg of the metal desk. Even with his reinforced strength, it was difficult, which made him feel better. Even though it was blunt, it will be useful later. "Let''s go," Ronin said, now wearing the suit over his body. Shin nodded and got out of partition to find, Feldan there, guarding, like a good foot soldier. The once arrogant guy finally seemed to have found some sanity and it appeared Ronin got on terms with Feldan before him. Either way, it won''t be problematic if there was some agreement between the group. Still, there was something else in this guy with pale eyes, a haggard expression. Was Feldan someone to become so docile after being saved by some unknown guy who actually asks for rewards in return? "This way," Ronin said as the three of them crept away on his lead. "According to whatever info I got, this ship will dock in two days, so that means we have to keep ourselves free for that time." ''I don''t think that will be easy, considering the collar," Shin paused and found no collar on Ronin. Really what was this guy? How the heck did he manage to free himself of that? On the contrary, Feldan was still with the collar. "How did you free yourself from the collar?" "I have my ways." "You won''t mind using your ways on mine to free me, will you?" Shin asked almost in a pleading voice. "I can, but it will take time," Ronin said, not looking back. "and time is not something we will get so easily here." "Like it will take time to make a crack in my seal?" Shin snorted. If this ronin really seemed like the person he is, then why is he becoming so paranoid? Why did he still need to let them remember they would need him for those two. The collar was alright for now, but he could have broken the seal. "Let''s find a safe spot first," Ronin said and just then Shin''s danger alarm rang. His head turned and without considering anything he shot at Ronin lurching their body on the floor. At that very moment, an arrow flung away from where Ronin was standing before. It would have hit him right in the chest. Perhaps it will not kill him, but it would leave him weak if not immobilized. Shin lurched up protectively, the metal leg of the desk in his arm. Half a dozen fella appeared before their eyes at the very moment, each commanding their skills while the archer was still shooting with arrows. Ronin released a breath, and shot up. Without telling the two anything, he got in the middle of the dogs. "What is this guy doing?" Shin was just about to curse himself when his eyes widened. Blood sprayed in the air all over, tainting the floor, walls, as stary limbs, body parts, heads rolled on the floor, as the guy massacred the few as if he was currently vegetables. And he was doing all that with a small hand knife. His knife moved swiftly with masterful skill, and when it got in contact with anything, it cut like it was cutting a cake. This was really something else. Shin has never seen this kind of butchery. Even he did not know if Elior could achieve the same result. It was not just the skill, but how the knife was cutting whatever comes it''s away, ignoring almost all kinds of difference. Even his condition of waves into fine blades will not be able to do it. Seriously, who is this guy? Unfortunately, Shin did not have the time to ponder as he had crept after the archer behind the few. Chapter 128 - Strangeness (2) Elior lurched out of the heavy water, carrying a frail, thin body on his back. Only a couple of minutes ago, his senses picked up something underwater, and diving into the ocean, he found this body, sinking deep into the heavy water on the verge of being summoned out of the trial. There was no threat to this female''s life, not anyone else''s. anyone, in particular, can''t actually die here, it was created just so that the participants could adapt to it even after failing again and again. It was not an impossible test, to begin with, even with the hard, rocky start that leaves most of the participants in disarray. Getting onto the deck, Elior breathed in and out freely first. The water was just too heavy and jarring, even for him. How awful it had been for these young Devarians. Yes, the body he found seemed to be off some devarians¡ªof course¡ªhalf-blooded ones. The pure devarians are just too arrogant to come to low-level trials like this, and they were not allowed to come as well. Somehow, Elior felt something was wrong with the entire event. How did he find out something wrong underwater, and why did this frail Devarian seem so familiar to him? Yemrmix hovered lazily in the air, like always as if all of it was none of her concern. Grunting, Elior laid the body on the deck, getting ready to remove the mask from the body. A pale angular face of a blond young woman greeted his sight, with blood patches in red and purple all over the face. Elior''s heart skipped a beat at once. ''Ellora?'' he wondered, clearing out the heavy strangle of hair from her face. Confusion appeared on his face as he looked at the figure. The face seemed to be familiar to him, but he could not remember it clearly. ''This is not Ellora,'' he told himself. Pure-blooded devarians are not allowed in this test. Could this be her sister? Elior wondered hard and found his head throbbing with the impaling familiar pain. ''What is her name again? Why can''t I remember?'' "What happened?" Yemrmix''s call gets him out of his trance. "Why are you with the face like the sky has broken?" Elior shook his head. In his wondering, he actually forgot the sensible thing to be done here. Without considering more, pressed his arm against her chest and pushed slowly. The figure was already in a rundown state, and any more push could even break her rib cage apart. Godmother! How much of the essence did she pull? Elior infused a little strand of his mana into her body. Initially, it was not something I was advised to do. Other than privacy, and if something goes wrong, it could even kill someone if handled callously. Elior''s eyes narrowed as he pushed the mana into her lungs, trying to push the water out. Slowly, water blobbed out of her mouth, though her figure was still unconscious and not breathing. If it were an ordinary human or a human on the part of a guardian, they would be dead for sure. Only the potency in her blood kept her alive. Runes of magical scripts formed before her head in invisible, hollow shells. Soon it turned into three-layer magic circles, revolving against one another to call the air. Slow air came in swiftly as well as pure mana in smoke, creeping into her mouth and nose. Elior managed to bring out all the water he could, but the breathing had not come again. He pushed her chest again, trying to get a little shock. After continuing the process for the whole two minutes did, she started breathing. It was slow and timid, and Elior left the spell intact for the time. "That is some dashingly heroic exploit," Yemrmix said with a grin on her lips. "Mhh." Elior sighed to catch his breath. "Oh, don''t give me the mhh," she snorted. "This is what heroes do." "Rescue damsels from their distress?" Elior laughed, trying hard to forget the cloud in his memory. "But I must say, the feeling of rescuing a damsel in distress was far better than anything else." "I would be wry if I am you," the pixie said, giving the unconscious girl another look. "Devarian bites." . . . Shin felt a cold sensation in his plan as his eye shook at the dead body of the archer. Yes, he had killed him, and that too with a lot of violence. With his mana being sealed, Shin had to breathe everything out with the metal leg. The result left him shaking. The corpse before him was staining the floor with blood, head and face broken with dozens of blows from the metal leg. This was a sight that could give him goosebumps, but Shin knew this man was not entirely dead, and most likely will come back to life like that doctor for all the good that did him. "Don''t stand blackly like an idiot," Ronin called from. His entire body was blood ridden and almost all of it comes from the corpses on the ground. If Shin just used violence to kill the archer just now, then this is something else entirely. Stray limbs, head spread on the ground, stained in red blood, so did the headless, armless corpses. Ronin looked far more tired than before and even than the two of Shin and Feldan, but the youth tried to hide it as much as he could. "Collect any weapon of your liking and move," he said. "We won''t have the luxury of being free of any time soon." Shin nodded and was about to pick up a long sword from the ground when his face twisted again, finding another pack of dogs coming their way. Moreover, they were led by that fellow that beat the crap out of him before. "Shit!" he cursed. "What do we do?" Feldan screamed, considering running away on his own. Honestly, they cannot blame him. Their minds were barely working with all the things they had been through. "For starters," Ronin said slowly, walking towards Feldan. "Shut your damn mouth for now." Feldan did turn silent, while Shin readied himself with the sword. Even if he had mana and to the best of his ability, he could not get better off these groups. Fortunately, there was this mysterious Ronin with him, who could cut humans like cakes. Perhaps they will get an opportunity. "Flee the other direction at my signal," Ronin said, strangling Feldan so violently that he could not move. "What signal?" Shin asked and confusion appeared in his eyes, finding the two embracing tightly like that in front of danger. "What the . . ." Just then, Ronin''s right arm moved toward the collar on Feldan''s neck as the dagger made a swift hack, cutting it entirely. That was not all. Just as the cutting was done, Ronin threw it towards the incoming party. BOOM! The collar blasted into a bombardment, right before the party of the dogs. It should not manage to do anything to the superior who got away in time, but a lot of the dogs got bombarded away in the explosion. "That''s the signal." . . . Inari woke up feeling dead. Her eyes blinked more than a couple of times to make out it was the bright, strikingly blue sky she was seeing. She is currently in a boat, a small one at that, above the ocean. Images of how she became so wounded and haggard came to her head as she tried to sit upright. Her back hurts. NO, it was the entire body. In the boat, there were only ropes, a handbag that appeared to be a spatial item, and a suit, currently in tattered condition, like her own. Wait, the one she was wearing was in good condition. Far better than the time she remembered. What was going on? She could not think very clearly with that fuzzy brain and throbbing pain all over her body. So, she tried slowly. First Leroy tried to get her out through the submarine, but then the two betrayed them. Inari barely managed to remember what happened after that. She did not give up on Leroy and pulled the lever and some managed to do with, even with all the pressure. All things were resolving when the submarine started without taking her in. She somehow managed to cling onto the submarine before passing out into the water. Wait, there were those notifications, telling her to give up on the trial. Yes, all of it was a trial? All the crappy struggle was actually a test, a false one. But didn''t she give up on the trial to save herself? Why was she here? The sight of the enormous ship before her eyes told her she was still inside the trial. Inari sighed. "Perhaps the fairy will come to break the bad news here." There was no collar on her neck, which told some tale as well. Just as she finished in her pessimistic rumbling, she heard someone. . . someone was approaching, and it appeared he was . . . singing. _______________ Chapter 129 - Strangeness (3) "I walk on water, but I ain''t no Jesus." Inari raised her eyebrow, making out what she was hearing and seeing. It was clearly a figure walking on water, with a fishing rod in hand. Even with the torrent of the water, the figure did not seem to sway even a little. "I walk on water, but only when my mana releases." A knit appeared in her eyes, as the figure kept on wandering with the fishing rod, as if really fishing on this water. Inari could make out the figure was no older than her, about her height, and human. As for how he was walking on water, the song says a little about it. There seemed to be some ability at his foot that glued him to the water as if it was not a solution, but solid. What intrigued her was why was this person here. More importantly, why was she here? Shouldn''t she be on her way home after giving up? "Why, are expectations so high? Is it the bar I set? My arms, I stretch, but I can''t reach¡ª" The figure did stretch his arms as if he really caught something on the water. Though he still kept on singing, positioning to lurch back the rod. Other than the weird song which changed its rhythm rapidly, she can''t help but think if this guy was a retarded. "¡ªA far cry from it, or it''s in my grasp, but as/ Soon as I grab, I squeeze¡ª" The figure jerked back the rod violently as if struggling against something on the other end of the rod. "¡ªI lose my grip like the flying trapeze/ Into the dark, I plummet¡ª" The rod lurched hard as a silhouette of a huge lump of a figure crept out of the water, with a horrifying jaw, full of chainsaw-like teeth in rows. The other person who was singing the song seemed to have been expecting its arrival, he lurched the rod again and this time, a violent force awakened from it, piercing the jaw of the horrifying fish into two pieces. Blood sprayed all around, tainting the water. Some part of it sprayed at the fisher, but surprisingly somehow there was not even a single drop staining his figure. It was as if there was an invisible barrier stopping it. "Now the sky''s blackening¡ª" The figure stopped in his weird song and turned. Only then did the figure notice she was looking at him, knitting his brows. "Excuse me," Inari said, getting his attention. The youth gave her a look that told her to wait for a moment as he wandered off to collect the corpse. Inari looked at the scene carefully to see the youth bringing out a gem core from the head of the fish before dropping it on the ground. Of course, it was for the gem core, she thought, Or else why would someone bother to even fish here. With the heavy current, this way of collecting the gem core was horrifyingly inefficient, but the guy did not seem to care. Collecting the gem core, the figure washed it with water, before walking towards her. "You seem to be in fine shape after sleep," the youth said to her as he came towards her. Her frown deepened. The one before here was actually younger than her, though it could be just how normal humans grow. What was odd was the eyes. Those eyes seemed to have experienced eternity, yet still remained the same with their innocence. Odd. "Ahem!" Only hearing the cough, Inari learned she was staring at the face for a longer time than its adequate. "Are you the one who saved me?" she asked. "Am I still in the trial?" "Yes you are," the youth said and jumped into the deck. Resting the rod along with the paddle, he unlocked the spatial storage bag to throw in the gem core he collected just now. "You saved me?" she asked again, and her voice had suspicions. "How? Why?" The youth lifted his head and smiled. "Saving young ladies from trouble is one of my side hustle," he said with a laugh. "I can''t help it at times." The frown returned on her brows. She could not make out if this youth was joking or not, but she did get the confirmation, though she did not know how he saved her. She was at least two hundred metres underwater. Even an actual guardian would not have the thin sense about it if she drowned like that. She was about to thank him, then her eyes wandered off the other suit on the boat, it was torn in places and blood stained in places. wait, isn''t that her? That should be the one Leroy gave her, but the one she was wearing was a different one in fine condition. "Wouldn''t you happen to have to change my suit when I was unconscious?" she asked incredulously. her voice was dry and lost all the gratefulness it should have. "As a matter of fact, I did," the youth said. "Your condition was quite severe and the foul stain would have a dire effect on you than any other on such state." The youth paused and looked at her eyes for a moment to notice the wrongness in them. A grin appeared on his lips. "Don''t worry, I did not do anything funny when you are unconscious. In my defence, a rather naughty pixie would vouch for me." [No, I will not.] just then a voice transmitted on their head as well as a notification appeared. Inari continued with her short glare. "Yermrmix is not good when she''s at the losing end, that means, my companions are in the better state already?" the youth laughed at the notification. [Hmph, It''s only the beginning.] The voice faded and a silence hovered between them as Inari stared dagger at him. "Seriously, do I look like a sick maggot to take advantage of wounded ladies?" he scoffed. he looked at her, with clear eyes that seemed to have no falsehood in them. "I have changed your suit, and tended your wounds, but my actions were all honest." Inari stared at those innocent, but deep eyes, and could not help but believe him. "Wait, you tended my wound?" she asked and touched her left thigh to find no open wound there. moreover, other than a little uncomfortable there, she found no problem there. "Are you a healer?" she asked. or else how could he heal so easily with her such state when she had already overdraft her blessing. "No, but I have my ways." the youth paused and looked at her as if he wanted something. "Well, I think I deserve at least a thank you." Inari frowned. Why was this youth so odd. Well, he did save her. She should be grateful for that. at least she did not have to die falsely and give up on the trial. "Thank you. I don''t know how you did it, but I''ll try to return the favour when¡ª" "Welcome," the youth said easily. "Now wouldn''t you happen to have a name, would you?" Inari raised her eyebrow at this peculiar youth but answered. "Inari." "Ahh," the youth said as if it all made sense. Really this person was peculiar. "Nice to meet you, Inari. You can call me Elior if you like." Inari nodded and found lost with words. Should she greet again? "Thank you for saving me earlier." "You would be fine even without it, as far as I know." "Still, thank you for saving me even if it''s not saving me. That sounded weird. What I meant was¡ª" "That you are grateful," Elior said, lifting his head from checking the suit in his hand. "Curious, can you tell me what happened to you on the ship?" Inari let out a self-conscious sigh. "It''s not that dramatic," she said. "Yesterday, someone attacked me in my sleep and after waking up I found myself bound in a ragged position with my clothes torn, muscles throbbing and mana sealed . . ." she explained how she thought this was all real as nothing was working for her. In response, she heard from him that, something like that happened to him and almost most of the participants. "Almost?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. "For some, the treatment as a slave would not be adequate, and some are too good to be in this trial. Don''t worry, you will have them soon enough." His voice seemed to have the natural tone that told her that he knows many things that she never wanted to learn, and he was only teasing her. "You didn''t say how you manage to get free?" she asked with evident curiosity in her eyes. "For me it was complicated," he said, trying to avoid the topic. "Basically, I have some shortcuts, and played them well." "I guess that explains how you are in better shape," she said, sighing. "Leroy, a cousin of mine, the one who freed me, had torn off his arm to free himself." "Wait, Leroy?" A gleam of surprise appeared on the mysterious youth. "He saved you?" "You know Leroy?" "Tall dude, blond head with not-so-handsome looking face, and a sneaky personality as if always hiding something shady underneath?" Inari almost laughed out loud, hearing the description. "I don''t know about the not-so-handsome part, but yeah that''s him," she said. Clearly, Leroy was probably far better looking than the youth before her eyes, and not that just. "You know him?" "Unfortunately, yes." The boy made a face as if it was really unfortunate on his part. _________ Courtesy: Walk on water - Eminem. Chapter 130 - Strangeness (4) "So, you and Leroy go to the same school," Inari assessed. "I heard Leroy was taken to a lower world, but it seems the lower world is not all that bad." Even though she said it, she could not help but think of the oddities. "But through the tone, it seems you did not like Leroy all too much? School rivalry?" "If only it is that simple," Elior smiled, and brought instruments out of the storage bag. First were a couple of rune inscriber pens, then concentrated spirit liquid, a head size box, and some smaller things she did not recognise. Still, seeing all that she could make out, it was all a maker''s instrument. And it appears her saviour was about to work on the suit. "You are a healer. A maker also?" she asked, furrowing her brows. Then the scene of him cutting off a two metres large fish with just one slash played in her mind. "I''m not a healer," Elior said, cocking his head at her. "I do have my means to heal in an emergency, but it leaves me vulnerable at times. So, you better be careful to not get any more injuries from now on. Even though the ocean appears safe now, it won''t be anything but that in a few hours." The frown on her brows deepened. "What are you talking about?" she asked. "You will know soon enough," he said, tossing his stuff around. "You are telling me your story just now." Inari nodded. "It''s not really anything big after that," she said, watching him work. "We seven make our way down and got assaulted midway. Leroy protected all the way he could, still, not many of us could make it till the last chamber. In the end, there were only the four of us. Leroy had no intention of leaving, so he chose to stop one of the superiors, while we three make our ways into the water after opening the path." Inari paused for a second. The youth had his eyes on the work he was doing, his sleek fingers working with very high dexterity as he scribed the pen to fix the runes on the suit. She had no clue if he could even fix it. Even though I did not have any relation with these sorts of things, she knew the making of these kinds of items was very complicated. Even old artificers or rune masters suffer. "And then?" the youth asked, keeping an eye on his work. "And then I was betrayed," Inari said, sighing. The youth lifted his head as his dexterous fingers stopped working. "I feel awful just thinking about it. And worst, I can''t blame them too much for what they did. I am not much better than they were. But still, the feeling of getting betrayed does not make it better." "It would be so easy if we could purely hate someone, isn''t that right?" Inari raised an eyebrow and found herself nodding. "I could have gone after them, and left with them in the same submarine, leaving Leroy with everything to deal with. Perhaps, he would have succeeded in seeing how much he has grown, but unfortunately, I can''t help myself to do that." "So you went back and locked the path?" Elior said, a slight smile on his corner. "Yes." She looked into his eyes and continued slowly. "I thought I would die there, but somehow . . . here I am. Thank you, I shouldn''t have suspected all that. . ." "It''s alright. Just as I said, you would not die even if I did not save you," he said with a smile, taking her flustered expression normally. "I even contemplate if anyone could even die here." "Hmm?" "Opps, I should not have said that." "I don''t think you are the type that will let out anything if you don''t want the listener to hear," Inari said with her general assessment. She got no reply from him other than the gawking look, as if considering the truth behind her statement. For a moment she thought of him to be like any confused teenager, but the confusion got lost in time by the intriguing intelligence in those eyes. "So, what are you saying?" "You know each trial space is special?" Elior said again. "Yes, it''s common knowledge," she answered. "It was ten thousand years. All of it was designed, though time had its effect on it, still they are in use. There are other spaces later introduced, but none all the things that needed." "Yes, but this trial, and the next one, is very different and special," Elior continued. "It''s actually the space which is important. You see this great ocean? You can''t actually use most mana abilities in it. The more you get closer to our goal, the further the restriction will be placed on our abilities. There is foulness in the mana. Surely you have noticed it." "Yes," Inari said and felt guilty for wearing the suit. "Are you alright? Sorry, will you be alright? You don''t seem to care all that much about corruption." "Yes," Elior answered. "I have my ways to keep myself sane for some time. Besides, we can''t actually die here, so no problem." "It sure helps to see someone so carefree," Inari muttered. Elior smiled at hearing her. "So you can fix that suit?" she asked. "You can take back the one you gave me when I''m unconscious. Then I might have taken in the corruption in my dire state, but I''m better now. I can manage to block it for some time. Perhaps better than any normal human." Elior''s lips parted into a smile. "You seemed to hold on to some misconception," he said slowly so that she could understand it well. "You are just as vulnerable to corruption as any human and other races. The Father of Chaos hates your Immortal god, just like another." Inari''s eyes widened upon hearing it out. She was about to question when he cut in again. "Besides, you are better, but you are far from your full strength. As I said, I am no healer. I barely managed to close those wounds, and with you used up all your reserved blessings, you are no better than a lamb." Inari glared at him for pointing it out, but looked down instantly. She was far worse than he said. Not only had she drawn her reserved blessing, at the end, she triggered some lost power. Something unknown blended together in her blood. It was like her blessing, but not like that as well. It was a euphoric feeling that she could not describe with words. She breathed out and checked her body again. Seriously, this guy told her he was no healer, but she felt no wound outside with many problems inside, which should heal within a couple of times with her potent blessing. "You seem to know a lot about Devarians?" she asked finally. She was really curious about it. Their clan did not have more than 20 thousand individuals, as she ignored the lesser blooded ones, and they lived in some place in seclusion. Not many humans were allowed in the barricade of their clan, but hearing it so much from a youth, and a youth from a lower world nonetheless, was odd. Perhaps he heard it from Leroy, but the relationship between the two seemed to be not that good¡ªnot that Leroy was a big talker. "I know bits," he answered. "Either way, you should rest easy for now. Things will get a little troublesome at night." Inari looked at him suspiciously. He seemed to have figured everything out already, but did not want to tell her about it, as it would waste the fun. ''Goal, he said something about our goal,'' she thought. The youth before her turned busy with his work and she did not want to annoy him with her question since he was in such a state because of her. ''What''s our goal exactly?'' Since she found out it was a trial, there was no other notification. Yes, she could access her system windows and other features, but none of it told anything about the objective of the trial yet. If there was a trial, there was supposed to be a goal. Her elder sister said, every stroke from a Deity, even those whimsical ones, has some hidden objective behind it, and it was the trial she was talking about. Although Inari was not very bright, she got the general senses, and her sister trained her well. She wondered about all the things that happened here. She got kidnapped, got beaten, harassed one way or another, got a chance to flee, and faced the helplessness she never faced, and here now. All did not even take 24 hours to take place. And according to the knowledge she has, this test should go for months. Her spine turned cold just thinking about it, what she has to face next. "Curious," Elior said after finishing one portion of his work. "You don''t seem to have the arrogance of many devarians." "I''m not a pure-blooded devarians," she answered unconsciously. "That''s not a valid explanation. Perhaps you find indebted to me or your mind already taking effect from the corruption." "Shut up." "Well, I am just joking." Elior laughed. "But you got to acknowledge, what are the chances to come across one with devarians blood and not arrogant? I even wondered if arrogance is one of devarian''s blessings." "Haha, very funny," Inari said stiffly. "Enough about me and the Devarians. why are you here then? You saved me, then healed and even given me your suit freely.. What is your goal? Can''t be just benevolent for no reason." Chapter 131 - Ronin (2) "What are they?" Feldan asked, collapsing on his four limbs. "They are not human, are they?" "No, they are not," Shin agreed and found Ronin approaching him. Without a word, the youth came for the collar in his neck, and Shin unconsciously withdrew a couple of steps. He had seen what the next course of action could do. The other time, Ronin freed Feldan off his collar, half a dozen men blasted off with half of them being dead with the self destruct feature. So there is a very good chance that the collar would turn his head into brown and red goo, before Ronin could remove it. "Don''t worry, I know what I''m doing," Ronin said and approached with his arm. Shin caught it, glaring with his eyes. "At least wait till I unseal my mana," he said. "We can''t wait till that. You have seen what those men are capable of. Basically, they are unkillable. I''m barely holding on, and there''s a very good chance I will not be able to go against any one of them, not to mention even if I manage to kill even one of them, they will come back to life." "That''s why I told you to help me unseal my mana," Shin said coldly. "We don''t have time," Ronin said again. "You are bound by the contract to abide by anything reasonable." "What I''m saying is far more reasonable." "Yes," Ronin agreed. "But I can''t help you there. You have to do it yourself." "What are you talking about?" Shin''s voice was cut off as the arm caught his collar. "Don''t move." "Let it go," Shin said, eyes dagger at Ronin. Then Ronin jerked his arm violently, as the collar broke away from Shin''s neck before flinging ten mere away. Shin was about to shout with anger when the blast occurred. "For a moment I thought I was dead," Shin said, glaring at the guy. "We need to move quickly, those creatures will likely come after the explosion." Saying that Ronin moved. Feldman gave him a look and followed. Shin gritted his teeth and rubbed his neck. Then he found in the moment of shock he actually created a hole in the sealing. And now a warm sure of mana rushing out of it to his entire body, relieving some amount of his pain. He released a breath and stood up to follow behind. Ten minutes later, Shin shut the door pressing his back hard, panting heavily from his nostrils and mouth. Blood dried on his body, while he''s already rag of clothes was wet and pressed against his skin with all that. It was seriously uncomfortable to stay like that, but freeing his mana he was far better now. Sadly, the injuries would need more time to heal. Moreover, He was not the only one with such an injury. Ronin, the mysterious guy and Feldan are no better with their injuries. While Feldan was the least contributing of the trio, his injuries were the ugliest. Ronin was a little better in that case, though he took fewer injuries, he had a bloody wound on the boy''s chest. Still, without him, they would not be able to get away. Other than his commanding, and reckless behaviour this guy was quite decent, but Shin could not bring himself to like him. Well, it was not his fault. First, Ronin haggled with the promise to save him. Shin had no problem with that. He might even overdo with the promises if he could just go away from the madman. Then when he asked to unreal his mana, this guy denied him easily, and not to mention the last act. Signing, Shin got to his next course of action. First, he calmed his mind and tried to access the spatial inventory bonded with his spirit. A bright smile appeared on his lips immediately, as soon a vial of medicine appeared on his arm, then other meds. "Finally," Shin muttered and found the other two looking at him, blinking. Shin ignored it for now and gulped down the potion first and then a couple of painkillers. "How?" Ronin asked. Shin snorted and considered for a moment. ''No, I have to be better than that,'' he told himself. Though squabbling with them came as quite tempting, it was not the right thing to do since they are far from free. Clicking his tongue at them, Shin brought out another two vials of portion before tossing it towards the two of them. Ronin caught it easily, but Feldan fumbled a couple of times before dropping to the ground. Fortunately, the vial was made of far better crystal to be broken so easily. "I have a spatial inventory," Shin said, as more items were brought out before him. "That is how I defeat you, Feldan." The upper-class man did not seem to hear him gulping down the healing potion, even when there was nothing left. While Ronin was staring at him, with a knit on his brow. "A thank you would be adequate," Shin snorted and got busy stripping his rags and cleaning himself, creating a little water with his wave control. Under the watchful gazes of the two, he stripped naked and turned. After cleaning all the blood stains and checking his wounds, he changed into new clothes. Though his Inventory holds a set of light armour sets, he did not change into them, but the simple leather dress of the institute. He needed to rest a bit to even wear those. His body still hurts and wearing those still would not be an efficient way to close his wounds. Even though healing potion helps, it was still lesser ones, and would need at least an hour or two to close the wounds. As Shin wore his dress, he found himself thinking of Enna. That healer girl would have been more helpful here. But he shook her head. It''s better that she was not here. After all, he saw Ileana went through. Finished changing, Shin got back to the floor and eyed the two. Some of their colour has returned though, like him, they would need time to heal up. Shin thought for a second and stood up to walk towards Feldan. With a shared look, Shin got Feldan''s acknowledgement and pressed his arm against the chest of him, peeking a look at their saviour. Ronin did not voice out any issue, so Shin worked on unsealing the mana. "Thank you," Feldan said with a more reserved voice. All the beating and experience he went through had brought down his arrogance a lot. SHin nodded and did not get back to where he was before, but chose a better spot to sit. Breathing evenly for a while to get back to his natural breathing, he gave Ronin a look. "Any idea on our next steps?" "We got the better of the trackers, and since you two freed yourself from the mana sealing, we will have more power on our hands. Still, we are injured, first, we need to secure some stamina and health first before taking the next steps." "Have you considered, if you unsealed our mana, we would be in a much better state?" Shin asked grudgingly, and Feldan was the same. Ronin ignored the complaints and continued. "As we found out, those slavers are unkillable. That means there is something serious going on. It would be nice to investigate that, but since they were coming for our lives, and we three will not do a thing about them, our best course of action will be to flee from here at the first chance." "I won''t leave without securing Ileana," Shin said incredulously. ''And others for the care.'' He did not know who else would be here, but since Feldan was here, that means others could be here. Ronin frowned at him for once, but did not say anything. Shin said nothing and got his mind into meditation. Though he freed his mana, his aura and channelling system was rather shaky currently, he needed to care for that first. Perhaps, a couple of hours will be enough, though he very much doubts he would get a couple of hours of free time here. Still, it''s better to stay ahead as much as possible. Closing his eyes, his mind works on the visualisation that he first learned from ELiro and Lyra. a small bowl of water appeared on his mind, within a couple of minutes the bowl increased in its size before turning into a small pool with waves of wind hovering in slow ripples of waves. Shin found serenity easier than he had assumed, and taking advantage of that serenity he thought about all the options he had. If it was a month before, he would have to give all his effort to the visualisation, but not so anymore, currently, he could think as he pleases after getting done with the visualisation. His brother, Elior told him, it''s the basic idea of breaking one''s mind, to focus on two things at the same time. When the skill Focus reaches level 6, it can be achieved to do little things like thinking and meditation at the same time. Like Ronin had said, Shin ignored those immortal creatures that he saw with his own eyes come back to life. He can''t do very much there. His main intention was to save Ileana first.. He thought about the items he had on his inventory, the sword and armour would be useful, but it could not give him an edge over those creatures. Chapter 132 - Ronin (3) This was a time when Shin would have gone headstrong into the lineup to free up Ileana or anyone else, but that time isn''t now. That time was not that long ago, of course, it was just before he got kidnapped, and getting beaten into rags. Not after what he has seen. If it was just a week ago, Shin might have gone rashly after those slavers, since he had freed his mana, and recovered somewhat, but going rashly won''t save anything. Unfortunately, no. He or they have to find out a way to kill those slavers first. Yes, they killed more than a dozen of them just half an hour ago, but all of them were resurrected to their former state within two minutes to five minutes. Shin does not know why some take more time while some take less. It should be something to do with their strength, perhaps. The madman who was about to inject him with the potion took as long as five minutes, and then those slaves¡ªdogs took two minutes mostly. For the superiors, it''s mostly between the two. The dogs were basically in the middlebrow of the stretch level, yet they resurrected first. That told him it was more complicated than the rank. Sadly, the bad news did not end there. Even though the system was not in its place, Shin could feel growing strong from killing, though rather slowly. That should be the only good news, but there was a catch¡ªa big one at that. As Shin was in deep meditation, he found out how big it was. There was something foul in his system, invading his reasonings, clouding his memory, though it was at a minimum level as he did not kill many. The story will be different if he did it. Moreover, the air seemed to be malevolent, heavy, looming like thin shadows of the night. Things are far more complicated and dire than he could imagine¡ªthat was what he agreed. Perhaps fleeing away from here, as Ronin suggested, seems the best course of option, but Shin could not take it, knowing he would have to leave Ileana and who knows who others were kidnapped like him? Since they did not stop, knowing his parents were powerful people, they would probably take in large steps at once. Shin woke up from his meditation and looked around to find it was darkening. Perhaps more than half an hour has passed, they would need to change areas soon. Flexing his stiff finger and muscle, He found out the healing worked far better than he had assumed. Though he was not on top of his form, he would not have problem-fighting. His eyes drifted off two of the tow then, both of them were meditating silently. Like him, Feldan''s would have healed far better, even though he was wounded just as badly. Perhaps being at a higher level than him was the reason. Yeah, most likely, Shin did not know the actual rank of Feldan, but the aura, the mana signature he felt from all their contact, told him he was off second order. Though the battle they shared, he could make out, Feldan was close to the level 60 margin. Then Shin''s eyes stared at the oldest of their group. Ronin seemed like in his early twenties, with a hard face that seemed to always hold a scowl even when he was meditating. He had short black hair, though bloody currently, a lanky body that should have been well taken care of if not for the ordeal they have faced. As for the level, Shin focused on the person to feel the aura, the signature left unconsciously from one''s body even when they were not using mana. It was something Shin took interest in the class. He had learned every mana user had a somewhat aura around their body that could fluctuate with any of their behavior. From a simple smile to killing someone, it fluctuates like that. The tool, the lie detector orb, Elior introduced to Shin was something that could respond to that aura, and more. The lie detector orb could potentially respond to the fluctuation of the soul. While Shin might be no good on it, he could make out a little from someone else''s aura. He only learned it because it could actually be the people surrounding them. Theoretically, a mana user could unknowingly affect a normal person if his mana was high enough, and he was less talented in control. Even with control, it was not possible to control it all. Though Shin had not tested it on his own, he heard some old news about it. There was a regulation placed on it, telling mana users to not directly or indirectly affect any normal person. Yes, it was a little casual on the indirect part, but there were some individuals who used their aura knowingly to get what they wanted¡ªin those things did not just limit to sleeping with famous actresses. Theoretically, a high-level user could affect level users, and it was why Shin was interested in this area. Though he did not have anything interest in doing something illegal, getting better at the end of some maidan did not seem bad. Unfortunately, he was not that higher level than Enna, so he only got cold stares from her if he got close to her. Coming back to the topic, the moment Shin got in contact with the aura, he felt his spine grow cold. Something was very wrong with their person. Shin didn''t even feel this kind of reaction when he went in contact with some of the powerful people. His mother was a third-order guardian for over ten years, but Shin felt something hidden in it, but this person looked like a bare dagger. Even when he was in such a vulnerable position, he appeared like a weapon itself. The images of how Ronin cut, hacked the assailant came into his mind, and he felt something was off. Something doesn''t add up. Among the people he contracted with, Elior was best at controlling his aura. Most of the time it was only thicker than any normal person, but when he went serious, it swirled a little chaotically, but that was not the end. In some happenstance, Shin had come across when Elior''s aura was all serene, there was no fluctuation of it at all. It was when Elior blasted off an arm of Renal¡ªthe dude who wanted to monopolise their first trial. What alerted him here was that, Ronin was exactly the opposite of that serenity, moreover, there was something else. The aura he was feeling did not seem like a mana signature, but something else. Then all kinds of things make sense to him. Why Ronin was still in such a state, why he did not help him break the seal of his mana, and most likely why the scowling face all the time? "You can''t use mana, can you?" Shin asked and found his voice was a bit louder than usual. Perhaps his new finding was the reason for it. Ronin opened his eyes and gave him a look, the usual scowl in its place. "Congratulations, you have found out something half of the world already knows." Shin frowned. "You seriously don''t have mana," he said again. "How did you fight? NO, how did you even manage to kill so many of them without the help of mana?" Ronin left his eyes off him, in no mood to answer, ever. "You are him, aren''t you?" Feldan asked next, waking up from his meditation after hearing Shin''s shout. Like Shin, he had also checked the aura of the individual before him, and found it was true. That flashed a memory in his head. Something he only heard from his parents, and in news nothing, never thought to meet with his own eyes. Perhaps he heard it wrong, or the person Ronin was somebody else. As Shin thought, Ronin did not answer his or Feldan''s question, so he eyed the upperclassman. "What are you talking about? He asked Feldan. Feldan acted as if he did not hear him, still staring at Ronin as if it was some kind of ghost he was seeing. In response to their curious gazes, Ronin lifted his head with a thin line between his brows. "I don''t want to hear anything about it," he said with a voice far stiff and colder than his usual to reinforce his order. "Well, of course," Shin snorted, "why would you want to hear about it or make sure no complications come to our team? Would not it be best to act all mysterious and--" Just then, the ground shook and Shin''s shouts were cut off, as he stumbled on the floor. It was only him who felt it, as he stood upright, he felt more clearly of the shaking. With a shared a look with everyone else, they planned it was not a sure plan to stay here anymore, even though the shaking appeared far abnormal than any enforcement coming their way. Chapter 133 - Nightmare Sea (1) Ileana opened her eyes to find an open blue sky above her head. The dizziness was not gone, but her physical body was far better than she remembered. That reminded her of what happened. That masked man that got her and . . . "Where am I?" she muttered and sat upright to find she was in a body, swaying along the hard ripples on the water. The sun was on the horizon, the cold stiff wind drifting swiftly, giving shivers to her even though she wore the suit. This suit?'' She wondered about checking it. She did not remember wearing it, and then she clasped her neck to find no collar on her neck. Ileana felt a little discomfort breathing through the mask, so with a little effort, she unmasked it, to find it was much better. "I am . . . free?" even that thought seemed she was just expecting after what happened in the last few years. Just then a horned bellowed from behind, returning her from reality. Ileana spun unconsciously to find a scene playing before her eyes that was very much identical to the old classic Titanic, though there was no loss of smoke and ash in the air, with a huge portion of the deck on the sides blasted off into a hole. As far as Ileana was concerned, the ship was made of metal almost entirely, not just steel, even reinforced with magic formation, but seeing such a scene before her eyes made her shiver. Shouldn''t she be celebrating seeing the slaver''s ship sinking? But with getting her freedom back, her curious mind came up with a question she found no answer to. Who made that huge hole? That too, with all the mana users working? Was it some infighting? She remembered every one of the people handling them in the ship being rash and with mental problems. Then there was the masked man with scary eyes. Did he have something to do with it? Why did he free her? What does he want? She thought and remembered some talk about an island. Yes, there was an island on the horizon of her vision, but the sinking ship interested her more recently. What would happen to the ones still in the ship? She thought. Perhaps some will have time to get away, but most would still be with the collar and cuffs. Shin. And the others. Her heart ached just thinking about it. Just then, Ileana found something flying out of the ship. It was far away so she could not make out what it was at first, but it appeared it was coming at her, and it was first, but when she could make out, she had to rub her eyes twice to make sure she was not seeing things. It appeared to be a man carrying a burning body. Scarlet flames blazed on the figure of the female, with hair dishevelled, it had not burned in the flames, but blazing and swaying in crimson. It appears she was watching the sinking ship. Ileana did not have time to think about the two-newcomer coming her way. She stood upright and was about to conjure anything, but too late they were already here. Fortunately, when the two figures dropped on the boat, she found both of them familiar. "Your Highness, you really outdid yourself this time around," the male said, slowly dropping the body of the young girl, supporting the boat wall. "That''s high praise," the princess said between her panting. "You two," Ileana shouted and found her voice shaking. "You are that princess Scarlet, and . . ." Ileana paused, looking at the face of the youth. She can''t seem to remember his name. Well, it was not her fault. Even though this youth had good features, his behaviour was always like fading into the background. Scarlett raised an eyebrow. Her blazing hair dimmed as well as her burning body came back to normal. There was actually not even a single scratch at her growing skin other than with the still reddish glow. "That''s surprising," she said, eyeing Ileana. "Never knew I was famous in the lower world as well." Mopher on her side frowned at Ileana. "Sorry to intrude," he said. "We would like to take refuge in your boat for some time." "Mopher, you sound like we have lost and are fleeing with tails between our legs," Scarlett said, and her skin almost turned normal. Though her condition was no better without the flames she looked less otherworldly and more humane. "Well, I suppose, let''s call it a tactical withdrawal then," he said. "How are you feeling by the way, Your Highness?" "All good," Scarlett said, giving a look at the sinking ship. A grin appeared on her lips. "I may be limb like this for the next few hours, though." "That''s a given; you have sunk an A-IX ship for that matter, Your highness," Mopher said slowly. "Ignoring the idiocy to waste your strength, this does come as a rather obnoxious move. Please told me you have plan and did not do it on whims." "Well, of course, I always do things with a clear plan in my head." "That''s rich coming from you, your highness." Mopher sighed. "Of course, I have," Scarlett said resolutely, as if she really had a plan. "Sinking the ship?" Ileana cut in with evident bewilderment in her eyes. "You two done that?" "Technically, I did the hard part, which is to make that big hole in the ship," Scarlett said proudly, looking at the deed. The metal was still burning abnormally. "I would have taken the whole credit, but my good knight deserves some applause for getting me a few free seconds to make the move." Ileana ground her teeth and felt her blood fuming looking at that smug, proud face. "Are you nuts?" she almost screamed. "Have you thought about what would happen to the others in the ship?" Scarlett stopped and gave Mopher a look, who nodded. "Young lady, you should cover your head entirely with the suit," he said, "I don''t know if you have the capability to ignore the corruption, but I won''t stand idle having the item." Ileana frowned and did not do as she was told. Her sanity and corruption could just go to hell. Her head was fuming with anger, blood churning unnaturally. "That reminded me, Mopher," Scarlett said. "You have not secured me another suit, did you?" "Oh, flames," Mopher cursed. "I gave it to that boy and totally forgot about it. What was his name again?" "Who are you talking about?" Scarlett cut in, having no clue. "Of course, the one you were bound with," Mopher said and looked at the ship. Should he make another trip? Though he had not used his trump card, he had wasted a lot of fuel. He could have gone with ease, but that was a wrong decision to make since the nighttime was coming and it would be a lot more more dangerous than the day, and with her current state, he would very much need his protection. "I am sorry, your highness," Mopher apologised and got ready to unzip his suit. Since he lost the suit, he has to make it do with his own, until he found another one. Though he very much hope his highest would not make a scene and it his suit easily. Scarlett grunted in disapproval. "Surely, you don''t want me to wear the smelly, sweaty suit, do you?" she asked, though now there was a less restriction on her voice than before when Mopher offered her the one from one of the slavers. "I can''t believe you two," Ileana screamed at them again after being ignored by the two of them. "I know, right?" Scarlett said, pessimistically. "Even though Mopher is a good boy, he forgets things when he is pressed hard. Well, I wouldn''t hold it against him. Though-" "I am not talking about that," Ileana could not stop herself from bellowing. "How can you sink a ship without caring about so many inside it? Does it never occur to you just now you have given the death sentence to thousands of people? You have no conscious do you?" The boat stilled into a deep silence at the very moment. Mopher was about to do something which was starting with a good explanation when his highness laughed like crazy. "''It''s not really a big deal," she said, "Though I have no clue about the conscious part, you don''t need to worry about the passenger. Those that have the courage, the heart, will surely survive, while the dregs would get filtered rather quickly." "What?" Ileana fumed, fidgeting her fingers as they dug into her palms. "Don''t worry, his highness may have a blunt way of saying," Mopher finally came to rescue. "I don''t know if you know how much or even anything coming from a lower world, but this space is somewhat special. You can''t actually die here.. I have seen with my own eyes people resurrecting within minutes." Chapter 134 - Nightmare Sea (2) "Come now, Mopher, you are just making it difficult for her to understand," Scarlett said from her spot. Even though her state was like any limp, helpless person, her aura, arrogance told others differently. "This is just a trial, and anything here is as real as it gets. You can''t die, and even if you die you will be resurrected." Mopher rubbed his forehead in contemplation. "Your highness, you aren''t supposed to say that," he said. "And you don''t know for sure that this is a trial." "Oops," Scarlett grinned and a light clicked on her head as she finally found some sanity. "I finally remember why I sank the ship just now." "So you are coming up with reason after doing the deed, Your Highness?" Mopher said as he finished removing his suit entirely. "Either way, let''s hear it, it shouldn''t be anything outrageous than what you just did." "Well, my reasoning is very, very simple," Scarlett said. "All your reasons are, your highness." "Oh, shut up, Mopher," Scarlett snorted and gave Ileana a look. The girl had not covered her face yet, still fuming with a fury not knowing what to say. Then she looked at the burning, sinking ship. "I don''t like how this trial is held." "Again, this may not really be a trial." "Oh, really, Mopher," Scarlett said, eyeing the escort knight. "Then how do you propose I was taken here then? Who would have the gall to kidnap me if they are clear about my last name?" "Your highness, nobody kidnapped you, you just kidnapped yourself." Mopher brought out a crystal orb and was about to run mana to clean the suit for his highness to use. "No need, Mopher," Scarlett said. "But you will need it more than me in your current state," Mopher said. Scarlett clicked her tongue. "Do whatever you want," she said, keeping eye contact, "for your information. I won''t mind if it''s yours." Mopher looked and got to clean everything off the suit. The crystal orb could clean almost anything from simple lingering mana stench to higher-order contaminations. Scarlett grinned and looked at Ileana, who was looking at her incredulously. "Did I break you?" she asked, "For real, don''t worry about anyone on the ship. Even though I don''t like the way these trials are held, it is an opportunity. Only the courageous will strive here. If they have some courage to go through pain and failure, again and again, they will succeed. And if they give up, then nothing changes. You will see them back when you return to your world." Ileana frowned, and her body stabled from quivering. "How can you be so sure?" she asked in a pressed voice. "Well, it seems you don''t know me that too well," Scarlett said. "That reminded me, how do you know me again?" "I have met you in the other trial," Ileana said. "Really?" Scarlett said with a thoughtful expression. "Right, I remember. You are with that stupid boy with cool power. How is he? Is he here?" "I am not sure," Ileana said. "How can you be so sure this is a trial?" "Again, with the same question?" Scarlett shook her head and cursed herself for doing it in her such a state. She looked at Ileana and continued. "My grandfather is possibly the strongest man alive. Even gods have to listen to him. Now, who would have the gall to take me out of here silently?" "There could possibly be many reasons, infighting and schemes in the royal family, for example," Ileana said as her anger receded. Scarlett thought for a second and nodded. "That''s a valid reason," she said. "But it is a very poor choice to leave me alive, considering the fact that I am the star in the eyes of my grandfather. Even Mopher here with limited intelligence would not do that." Mopher grunted in return and crouched down near her. "It''s ready," he said and gave it to her. Scarlett looked at him blankly, as if he forgot the obvious thing. "Mopher dear, I think you are well aware of the side effects of using that power." Mopher still looked reluctant and gave Ileana a look. "Oh common, I know you for what, a dozen years? All my life. I have literally seen you peeing in your pants. You don''t have to be that conservative." Mopher did not listen and looked at Ileana. "My lady, will you mind helping here?" he asked Ileana. Ileana looked at the duo suspiciously. Mopher had the look as he was begging her, while Scarlett had the eyes that told her one word: no. "Is that really a trial?" she asked Mopher. Even though the princess gave valid reasons, she can''t seem to trust all, witnessing her eccentric behaviour. Mopher sighed. "Yes," he told, "There is no threat to life, but things can get too bloody here." Ileana looked carefully at those eyes and nodded. She stood up and walked carefully towards them. "Let me help." "Thank you," Mopher said and stood up before Scarlett could say anything. "I will look into the boat first. The sun would set in half an hour. I got to prepare." Mopher vanished into the control room, leaving two of them behind. "You have disappointed me, Mopher," Scarlett yelled from behind. "You have turned your back on your duty and left me in the hand of some unknown girl of the lower world. I''ll tell everything to Sir Augustus when we return." "I think you might scare him away," Ileana said and got to suit the limp princess up. She started with the legs, of course, holding it up not too roughly, but not too carefully either. "Nah, I''m tired," Scarlett said and let out a sigh, looking at the magnificent deed she had done. "Well, I did make it easy for the contestant. There is that." . . . In a horrifying tempest, looming behind her, Lara ran her mana to the best of her ability, in hope of not drowning in the water. She had lost her boat already and was barely holding on. She did not know much about the place, other than it was a damning ocean with extreme weather. It was her fourth day here, and in these four days, she had learned anything could happen in the nighttime. After sundown every day, something supernatural occurred surrounding her. Being a guardian apprentice, she had her fair share of supernatural happenstance. The few she encountered here were entirely of another class. For all that matter, she had died 4 times already. First, it was when she stood up against those slavers and got herself murdered. She could tell it was an accident, and she had very much had to with it as the slavers would very much want her alive. In such circumstances, she got herself killed with a chest full of regret, only to find herself waking up in the middle of the ocean with nothing but a boat under her back. She had lost that on the second day and died. With all the ability she had, it shouldn''t have been a problem to keep herself in a fair state as she was closing off to second order. Unfortunately, the water here was not normal, and she could faintly feel something claiming her sanity slowly. The more mana she used and fatigued she got, the more desperate the situation got. A high wave of heavy water loomed behind her and Lara ducked in time underwater. Still the rush of force got clothing torn. Well, for all that mattered, she was already in rags, and now being naked would not be anything more. Heavy saltwater got its way into her nose and mouth, giving burning pulses on her head. She got up out of the water and started coughing. Perhaps dying would have been better in her current circumstances, as it would rebirth her with a better state and at a better position where she could plan everything again. But all that does not mean it would be better since she would find herself in such trouble again and again. Moreover, she did not know how many times she would be resurrected. There did not seem to be any limit, but who could tell there isn''t another restriction? After her first death, she had learned that this was the trial she was preparing for and, as Elior had told them; it hit where she never even thought. For her current dilemma, she could not give up, even knowing she would likely die. From drowning or perhaps from something else. Abruptly, Lara felt a sharp agony in her leg and felt something pulling her underwater. It was coming again. Gritting her teeth enduring the pain, Lara forced a wave of mana out of her leg, but the dagger-like teeth dug into her bones, tearing it entirely like a piece of scrap paper. Lara cursed, working her other leg into a violent kick when another one of those huge sea creatures came and took a bite on her head. Pain clouded her head, and she found utterly herself helpless like the other fourth time. [You have died for the fifth time.] Chapter 135 - Nightmare Sea (3) The sky cracked, swirling clouds clashed, releasing a deafening roar of thunder and lighting. Darkness loomed the very moment and wind rose into a tempest as high waves started to form in the great sea. Each roar of the thunder seemed to rupture the sky, disrupting the natural flow of things, and shudder the heart of men. Inari shuddered, crouching on her knees, looking around. Her eyes drifted from the sudden changes to the youth who finally stopped working with no indication of surprise in his eyes. It was as if he was waiting for it to start. Elior exchanged a glance with her and that seemed to surprisingly comfort her. The suit had not been repaired yet, but Elior did not seem to be discontent about it. As the sky roared, he opened his storage equipment to store the suit first, and then brought out a Sleek spear a couple of heads taller than him. "Do you have anything I can use?" Inari asked, not knowing what kind of threat she would be in other than the tempest and storm. But since Elior brought out a spear, there will likely be something to fight. It had been about four hours since she was up, and in that time with the external help, her external wounds were taken care of. She could use her superhuman strength to some extent, which was somewhat weird. Inari did not know what happened but after that incident, something changed and she was healing quicker. Perhaps accessing her status window would be off help, but that could not seem to be an option for this ordeal. Though she was incapable of using any mana for any few days, she could use the strength. "Must be good to have such a resilient body," he commented. "You have no idea," Inari said and found him tossing an orb first, and then a sleek sword. "Stay here like a good girl, and protect my bag," he said and gave her a smile to walk out in a storm. Inari oddly found herself staring at him for a longer time, ignoring the two items he had just given her. [ Item: Orb of Protection Grade: Rare. Defence: 120. Durability: 50/50 - Orb of protection can create a sphere of the protective barrier within a 2-metre radius for 30 minutes. - The item needs to be charged again for next use.] [Item: Elior''s Sword B07 Grade: Rare. Attack: 42. Durability: 12/20 - Can augment mana usage by 27% - Can self-destruct by triggering a certain safety net input, releasing attack power over 500 degrees.] Inari was genuinely surprised to find the specification of the orb. Though the sword was good, creating something like the orb was almost ten times more difficult. ''Did he create these himself?'' she wondered and the swirling cloud showered in heavy rain. The sword actually had his name in it and was a good item, not anything fancy she had seen or used, but she could use that here. Unfortunately, she would not be able to use any of the two abilities of the sword without her mana. She wished she didn''t have to use it now. Elior did not move far after telling her to sit like a good girl. She did not know why, but she felt this uncanny youth had some hero complex. He was standing in the water currently in his shorts and casual vest, but by the way, he was standing, looking around with the tall spear in his right, he looked unfazed. "Can you fight a storm with a spear?" Inari could not help but yell, standing up balancing on the staggering boat. "The storm will not be the only ordeal," Elior said and a lightning bolt loomed behind along came the deafening roar of thunder. Water burst into upheaval, wind churned strangling them. "Stay alert of the water. If you need help, give me a signal." Abruptly something moved underwater and struck her boat, raising it above water to almost drowning her. Elior moved first, charging with his spear, lurching right at the sea creature. A sharp shockwave passed right there, moving through the water to cut the flesh of the sea monster. The sea monster was about two metres in size, and seemingly carnivorous with the sharp set of chainsaw teeth, unfortunately, with just a single move, ELior pieced it into two halves, before it dropped into water. ''That monster was at least level 40,'' she thought. she could have killed it with one move if she was in a fair state, but she have to use a heavy attack for that, but Elior seemed to do it effortlessly. ''Or he makes it seem effortless.'' "Not going to collect the core?" she asked, as in all the time she spent here, ELior seemed to have only a few particular interests. Such as, acting mysterious, fixing the suit, and collecting origin cores. She have to give it to him he had aced the first two best, but for the last, it did not seem that urgent. [Side quest: Survivor of Nightmare Sea I Objective: Survive your tribulation in the nightmare sea until the storm recedes. Rewards: Origin cores, Recover potions, Mysterious tiffin box.] Inari let out a breath, reading the quest. There was seriously no information on it other than telling them to survive the storm. "The storm will not be for long," Elior yelled at her. "Half an hour to a couple of hours at best." "I don''t think the boat can last that long," Inari replied, climbing back on the boat. Even though the small boat was made of fine wood it would not be able to handle more than a few more attacks. Perhaps she could reinforce it with her mana, and keep it still usable for the next day, but that was not an option currently. "Perhaps you should come back to the boat, and protect it." "That would not be possible," Elior said though he still walked towards the boat, ten feet high waves building behind them. "But I can help it withstand more than just a few blows." Mana swirled out of Elior''s body, forming a simple circle of runic pattern, before turning complicated. It did not stop with just one circle. Four complicated magic circles out of her understanding formed and infused with the infrastructure of the boat. Inari was never good at this kind of magic stuff, but she could tell all those four spells were intermediate level, though, on the lower end, it could very well protect the boat easily. "Feel free to use the orb, while I go hunt some fishes," Elior said as his body loomed into the water. "And don''t lose my bad, all my fortune is in it." Before Inari could utter a word, the figure was gone. Lightning bolted again, as the wind swirled, creeping her mind. Calming her mind, She stood still on the body reinforced by the spells, the sleek sword in one hand while the crystal orb on the other. The boat swayed, twisted and turned along with the waves but with two spells especially balancing its potion, it did not sink. With all the disturbances around her, she could not make out anything under. Elior went underwater to hunt, seriously how much she thinks she could not make it out to be a good idea. Ignoring the negating effect and heavy water which crushed the body any better than a block of stone, he could not breathe underwater. They were still low-level apprentices, until the third rank, there was no good change in their body. Even with the body of a Devarian, she would not be able to stay underwater more than like this for five minutes. Shaking her head, Inari turned vigilant, looking around for any discomfort. Seriously other than the storm, lightning and high waves, no monster came. Perhaps Elior was doing his job adequately. Just then something shot out of the ocean with a three-meter body with a huge mouth holding chainsaw-like teeth, looming at her. Inari''s heart skipped but balance studied. The sword forms integrated into the body for years of rigorous training awoke as she waited for it, narrowing her eyes. Holding the back foot back, she shot at the abomination, lurching her sword at its head. Raindrops head harder on her face, and blood sprayed on her body like a freaking fountain. What was surprising was that it did not spray from where her sword stuck. Inari''s move was to pierce the head of the sea monster, which it should have done, but before it the three metres tall sea monster halved into two, dropping into the water. Inari wiped the blood from her face as a silhouette lurched out of the water again, though not closer to her. Elior looked at her strangely at her with a smile on his lips. "Sorry," he said, seeing her bathing in filthy blood. Perhaps as a devarian she was never disgusted like this. "We should form a team." - - - Chapter 136 - Nightmare Sea (4) [Apprentice Elior sends you a Party Invitation. Y | N?] Inari affirmed with the prompt as another message greeted their sight. [You have formed a party with Apprentice Elior. Party member: Elior, Planet Earth, Level 49. Inari, Mother World, First order (High). Features: Mapping, Karmic link, Chat window (Sealed).] Soon a connection passed between them as they got a general sense of each other''s presence, even though both of them were staring at each other. "Not all options available, but it''s more than enough for now," Elior said and dived into the water again. Inari still could feel his presence through the link as she balanced herself. She had the first look at what she had to protect herself from, and she could tell it would be tough. She would need everything out of her for that. [Your party member Elior has killed a Barbiola Sea monster LVL 42.] [You have gained 45 karma points through the karmic link.] [Your party member Elior has killed a Barbiola Sea monster LVL 47.] [You have gained 67 karma points through the karmic link.] [Your party member Elior has killed a Fithar Sea monster LVL 72.] [You have gained 112 karma points through the karmic link.] [Your party member Elior has killed a Nigd Sea monster LVL 32.] [Your party member Elior has killed a Gakth, Sea monster LVL 57.] [Your party . . .] [ . . .] Notifications after notifications came as Elior killed efficiently. Inari had no idea how Elior was killing these monsters so easily with only being at level 49, his and her level should be similar, and she would never be able to do that even with her blessing and every other advantage she got being a Devarian. Devarians do not level up like humans or some other races. To the elder of her clan, this is just a loathsome system where it makes it easier for lowly humans who do not understand how mana and the universe works. Devarians only have the order system like the humans, and it was the same as any other race. Unlike Humans, Devarian does not do job advancement on advancing each order. That seems like a big disadvantage, but in truth, it was not without any perks, like humans they do not have to break the restriction of every order to advance. Advancement of order comes naturally to them like breathing. You train, learn mana applications, you advance. Simple. While humans had to do some rituals with rare expensive ingredients, before meeting that class''s specs. Inari could feel her next advancement was not far away, but with those injuries, she would need to have a little time before she could think about it. Messages of Elior killing sea monsters came one after another. It was as if he was not leaving anything for her, which she had no problem with. Another thing she noticed was the names of those monsters, it seemed there were a lot of variants and all of them were named something weird. Inari might not be the best of the studious type, but with the perk of being the sister of Ellora, she had to learn a lot of stuff and heard a lot of stuff, but she had no clue about these monsters. ''Well, the devarians had a little hand on the trial system, there is that,'' she thought. ''Why does Elior seem to know more about it, though? Isn''t the whole point of the trial that it''s a surprise? Then the fairy joined our conversation in the middle. Does the fairy do that?'' These fairies were the creatures of divinity, created by the seven gods to act as an arbiter on many occasions. As far as she knows, their behaviour was erratic; some of them were playful, while they were heavily instructed to not be impartial to any of the partial. ''Could these two be cheating?'' she wondered. No monster came, and the spells were doing its job, though she still had to use the orb to protect herself and the boat from sinking. ''There was something about a wager they were talking about.'' Inari shook her head amidst. This was not the time to have these thoughts. Through the link she felt the presence of her party member. Elior was not that far into the water about twenty metres deep. As for the monster, she felt nothing. The link only let her feel the presence of her party members, nothing else. . . . On the same sea, but not on the same water, a steamer boat surged through the storm, as if denying its mere presence. High waves rose but soon as they came closer to even five-metre radius of the boat all fell dramatically. A lone figure was hovering above the boat, eyes vigilant, watching the waves approaching, trying its best to collapse the boat, though it would be unlikely to be the case with his presence. "Wow," Ileana mumbled, impressed. "He doesn''t look this powerful." "Mopher has some serious power-up since last time," Scarlett said, watching the Youth in the murky strangling storm. "Though flaunting his strength is the last of the things he likes to do." "So he''s your exact opposite?" Ileana asked. Scarlett looked away from Mopher from Ileana with a startlement. She did not say anything as her mind was working on something. "Stupid, stupid, stupid," she said in frustration. "How can I be so stupid?!" Ileana looked at the youth hovering in mid-air, making things easy for her, as the lightning flashed around. "I am sure I don''t know a lot of things, but it looks like he was assigned as your knight for certain reasons." Scarlett was smart enough to understand what Ileana was implying. "And here I thought they were angry at me for choosing one of the weakest candidates," she said, sighing. There were mainly two reasons why Scarlett chose Mopher over other knights, even though they appear far better on the outside. Other than the fact that she knew Mopher since her childhood, she just wanted to piss off her parents for restraining her in the magnificent palace. "Weakest?" Ileana asked, eyes glued to the figure disrupting the waves. "I don''t know the definition of what is strong, but he does not seem weak to me." "Because he''s not," Scarlett said, still seemingly in a bad mood for what happened years ago. "He used to whine a lot before, but he was never weak, and after he was handed responsibilities such as this, he had put humongous extra effort." "So, why are you with that face?" "I just hate being manipulated," Scarlett said in frustration, showing through her nostrils and eyes. "I thought I chose him on my own will¡ª" "Just to figure out, he was prepared for you all along." Ileana completed her sentence. "When I get back, I will have a nice little chat with grandfather," Scarlett shouted, unseemingly like any princess. Then her eyes lit up as she found a new challenge. Mopher came down on the ship to take a breather to find Scarlett with a conflicted expression. "Something wrong, your highness?" he asked, looking at the two of them. "I just realized I have been played," Scarlett sneered, not at Mopher but at the space. "Don''t worry though, I found a very my original way to outplay it." "I''m not sure if I follow what you''re saying, but good luck," Mopher said that and flew in the air again. . . . Inari felt Elior swimming up. The lower world human popped his head out of the water, black hair pressed against his forehead, eyes still vigilant looking at her. The vigilance dropped as he approached the boat, breathing mechanically as if it was drilled in his body though through practice. "You are faring well," he said first. Inari snorted. "You didn''t let out a single monster. Of course, I would be fine." "You seem the type to be like to be fine doing nothing." "Curious," she said, "What type do you think I am?" "The type who would dive into the water to do something productive," Elior answered with his usual smile. "Huh, so am I like a looking glass, eh?" she snorted again. "Yet I did not jump into the water." A monster lurched out of the water at the very moment, coming to take a bite of Elior''s head. Inari became alert, but before she could even move, a sharp force forced out from a swipe of palm, severing the monster''s head effortlessly. [Your party member Elior has killed a Kaht Sea monster LVL 47.] [You have gained 44 karma points through the karmic link.] "No worry, princess," Elior said with a smile. "Until I''m here." The colour from Inari''s face faded, and she looked at Elior with a serious expression. "Don''t call me that," she said, finger digging into her palm. Elior looked at her eyes through the mask with a conflicted expression. "Yes," he said, "Sorry." "Thank you," Inari said and saw Elior getting back to his hunt again, seeming apologetic of that. Chapter 137 - Nightmare Sea (5) "It finally ended," Inari said, letting out a breath of relief. The swirling clouds unfolded as the starry sky appeared above their head as if the storm they survived was nothing but an illusion. Elior came up onto the boat with his wet shorts and t-shirt. The shorts were in good condition, but the casual t-shirt was torn to the point of unrecognisable. Seriously, it was a terrible choice of wardrobe in this place. "It was my third favourite t-shirt," Elior grumbled as the gust of wind hit his body and swayed the torn shirt off his body as he let it. "You should have thought about it before going to battle wearing those," Inari commented. The sea had turned silent, and it was far more timid than even it appeared during the day. She found that she could not see the surrounding ship, though they did not seem to have covered that much distance. All of their destinations were the same, the egg-shaped island in the north. If the ship covered that distance already, shouldn''t she at least see it? "I actually forgot about that," he said and released a slow wave of mana out of his body, releasing all the water from his skin and shorts. Though there was no indication of serious injuries in his body, he looked terribly exhausted. The skin somehow looked discoloured, but it could just be the light. Well, he did not look terrible, still with the niceties. He came directly to the storage equipment, while transparent windows appeared before their eyes, congratulating them on the completion of the quest. [Congratulations Apprentice Elior and Apprentice Inari on surviving the first ordeal of nightmare sea.] [Contribution: Elior: 96%, Inari: 4%] [You have been rewarded with 47 monster origin cores, 2 grade-2 recovery potions, and a mysterious tiffin box.] Inari frowned, looking at the rewards dropping on the boat. She found Elior was already in another t-shirt with the same design from before, a weird masked man in a black cape, flying. He didn''t even bat an eye on the rewards as wore a leather jacket above it, before sitting down. "Why was the reward not assigned according to the contribution?" she asked, trying to read his expression. Elior sat freely, leg over the side of the boat, leaning against the other end. He gave the rewards a glance and shook his head. "What do you think is the reason?" he asked, genuinely wanting to know what she thought. "Why do I feel like you already know the answer?" Inari asked. "Well, it was not that hard to understand, is it?" he said, checking the context. "What do you suppose the reason is?" Inari frowned. Though she did not have much experience in teaming up and fighting in partying, she knew the basics. Other than some specific rewards like that mysterious box, everything else was supposed to be awarded according to the contribution. Now, why would it be different here? Was it because it was a trial? The chat room doesn''t work, could this mean the rewards system was broken too? Elior had reached the items after checking once while he was to bring some beverages out of his storage equipment one after another. "How did you manage to get your spatial bag here?" she asked with curiosity. "It is one of the privileges I got from the other Trial," Elior answered, sucking the straw of the energy drink. "Want one?" "Another trial?" Inari asked while Elior tossed her an energy drink can. She caught it and looked at it curiously. It was not actually any product of alchemy or anything, but appeared like a drink. More importantly, she does not know what to do with it. "Well, otherworlders got to take another trial before the actual thing," Elior said and looked at her with a smug face, trying to figure out what to do with the can. He chuckled, "You have no idea how to open it, do you?" "I have never seen something like this before," Inari said, flustering a bit. Elior continued to laugh, and she felt like shoving it into his mouth. After a bit, he stopped laughing and leaned forward to ask for the can. She gave it to him and he looked at her seriously. "Keep your attention focused," he said and touched the key like a thing. "Only do it in presence of an adult." Then he turned it over as a small hole opened up. Inari snorted and took the can. She removed her mask and smelt it first, but did not get a clear idea about its taste even with her enhanced perception organs. Sucking in a breath, she poured some of it on her mouth, though some amount of it got its way off her lips. She ignored that and found it to be something odd. It was not all sweat, sour, bitter, but all of them. It was neither an intoxication drink nor was it something she would like to drink again. "It tasted . . . odd," she said. "You will get used to it. I have dozens of them stored up," Elior said and finished his drink first. "So you got an answer to my question?" "I don''t know," Inari said as her eyes drifted towards the rewards again. "It does not seem like a mistake, so it''s intentional. And why would they be sent all like that?" Their eyes met at the same moment and Elior grinned at her, finding she found the answer. "To sow discord," she said, sucking in a breath. "The trial is not just a trial of our battle power or anything related to mana," Elior said. "It''s a trial of our character as well. They filter out anyone petty through these kinds of processes. After all, petty people do not go very far in the long run." Inari nodded. "Since you did all the things, you can keep all the things," she said with no hesitation. "Good," Elior laughed jokingly. "It seemed my speech about petty people worked." Inari gave him a flat look. Sometimes she just wants to know if he was joking or serious. "Sometimes I just wanted to hit you." "Well, you can just not face." He continued to laugh. Inari clicked her tongue and thought about other things. "You are on the verge of advancing to the next order, right?" she asked. "Well, I met the requirement for the class I wanted, only need to collect the ingredients for the ritual now," Elior said as he picked up the tiffin carrier. "I think you will probably advance before me." Inari said nothing as Elior opened the mysterious box. What he brought out of the box was actually appeared to be some kind of mushroom. "Good stuff," he said and tossed her a couple of pieces. Inari failed to catch it as it fell on her lap. She held it up to find some mysterious mushrooms with blue patches in them. More importantly, the shape of the mushrooms is weird, and that was why she failed to catch it in the first place. [Mysterious Mushroom: Consumable. -each one of the mushrooms will have increased the training speed in mana application by 200% under advance level for the next 12 hours.] "It''s a really useful thing," Inari said, "but I can''t use it for some days, so you should use it all." She tossed it towards him. "Well, I am keeping the origin core. It was one of the reasons I have not gone off to the island yet," Eliior said and tossed it back. "We can share the other things since you are not a petty person. Besides, it would look bad if I did not give you anything after my dashing exploit of rescuing you." "DIdn''t you hear about the part of me being injured," she said again, tossing it back. "You should still keep it." Elior gave it back to her again as if it was a hot potato. There was no way Inari will ever eat this mushroom in presence of someone else, much less this strange, weird guy who seemed to take every fun at what he got. Even though the boast the mushroom gave was surprisingly good, she will never consider eating it, just for the way it shaped it. "Why are you being persistence?" she said and gave it back. "And what did you mention about not going to the island?" "I think you are in much need of this item." Elior tossed back the weirdly shaped mushroom again, trying very hard to burst into laughter. Inari gritted her teeth and threw it back. "Slow down lady, there was no need to be worked up just for these mushrooms," Elior said, and burst into laughter. Inari blushed hard and tried to hide it. "I really want to hit you," she said. "Anywhere but my handsome face." before Elior finished his phrase, she hit him hard on the chest. "Aww, that hurts." Elior rubbed his chest slowly looking at the weirdly shaped mushroom. "Fine, you don''t have to eat it.. I thought you would train a little with this so that you need to sleep. Right sleep, if you can, please try to not feel asleep before the sunrise if you can, alright?" Chapter 138 - For Five Minutes (1) "Is this bad bad, or is there some opportunity for us?" Shin asked, running along with Feldan on the narrow path, as loud sounds of cacophony, chaos came into his ears. It appears to be shipwrecked. He had not found how it happened, but in the half an hour he was running around with others he got that there was a huge hole in the other sides of the huge ships and other than just causing water to overload it, it off-balanced the ship, and will probably sink with an hour or two. From his experience of watching the old classic about ship-sinking movie, he decided that much was the minimum time. He only hope he did not have to die in cold water after going through all struggling like in the movie. "Well, at least we have to worry less about those dogs and the superiors," Ronin muttered, joining them. "I searched for the girl, found nowhere." Shin bit his lips. Since the ship started shaking, he has been looking out for an opportunity to find Ileana or anyone he knew, but so far, it has been pointless. He did release about a dozen students, but he did not release a single one of them. Though a couple of them seemed to be from earth, but none who he knew. It appeared the operation was far bigger than he had assumed. "Then we will move on with our initial plan," Ronin added as they approached the upper floor. "No," shouted Shin. Their initial plan was to secure some boats and flee out of the ship''s wreckage. "I won''t go if I don''t find her." As they approached the upper floor, the very first thing that they saw was a bunch of dogs under not one but two superior. "Crap!" Feldan cursed, but he turned steadied with the sword in his arm. It was something they consecrated from the dogs on their other encounter. It appeared unsealing his mana brought back Feldan''s arrogance to some degree, or at least, to the portion they would need to battle against this mana opponent. He was reading to fight when Ronin shouted with impedance. "Don''t engage, go." Before he could finish, Shin shot from the left among the slaves, lurching his sword violently without care. With just a single smack he severed the head of one, but there was no hesitation on his end, partly knowing he was not really killing them, and most likely, death will be the only escape for these poor things. Ronin rubbed his forehead and took a stance with a blade, while Feldan got busy with his flame sword. Unlike these two, he did not have flashy moves, but when he moves, he moves for the kill. He crept fast, lurching the blade at the speed that eyes could not follow into the chest of one target. The sword felt no restriction like it was against mud, as he soon moved to his next opponent. Even though Ronin had no mana, his aura had something dangerous, so dangerous he could only make it do crude things. Crude things like killing, cutting limbs, piercing hearts, head, even metal was nothing but mud to him, all he needed was to draw in more of that aura. His old mentor had mentioned it was something like Qi, but after awakening, it, did only he learned it was not Qi, it was something far sharper than qi force. As qi force could be manipulated to do another thing than just killing, his aura could be only used to cut, kill, and destroy, its very nature was to destroy things. The system calls it point force. Point force was invisible when he was only using it marginally, but on occasions like these, he needed a lot more than that. a faint, transparent smoke warp and resonates with his blade as he moves fast and swift among the crowds. Pierce there, swing there. Other than the point force there was another thing that was going on for him. It was his swordsmanship. Robin was a master swordsman at the age of 21. The superior moved along with a huge ax, swinging fiercely in a sneak attack. After losing his mana, Ronin lost his supernatural senses that come along, but with years of practice and actual fighting in dungeons, his senses were like a superhuman. He made a last-minute duck as his sword twisted in its path to pierce the gut of the superior. That was not enough. Ronin smacked his right foot on the knees of the superior as he crouched down painfully, but just when he pulled back his blade, another one of the dogs attacked him. A huge hammer-like fist smacked against his back and he felt like his back-breaking, falling over the superior. Grunting painfully, Ronin gave a back leg kick to throw off the slave, as a knuckle punched his jaw. It throbbed in pain as the superior came again with another move. Ronin spat and rolled on the ground to dodge. Both of them stood up at the same time as the superior looked at him with a grin, blood gushing out from his gut. Ronin spat the blood out of his mouth, eyes glued to his opponent. A slave came with a huge mace from behind, but Ronin only smacked his blade behind without looking. The body dropped as the two-shot for each other. Ronin twisted his head on the back as the axe missed his head. He made a swift movement to run his blade on the lower body of the superior. ''Too shallow,'' he thought, as they moved at each other again. He blocked the axe with his blade, but the sheer strength behind the axe was something he could only handle with an outburst of strength, and that outburst will only stay for a blink of an eye to a second. Ronin moved before that, twisted his body sideways to take a step, blade running upwards. His blade met the arm of the man, but there the armament defence was too thick to have any points. Ronin withdrew. On the sides, Shin was handling another one of the superiors. Even though this boy was hot-headed and stupid, he had a knack for battling, Ronin had to give him that though he was not sure if she could finish off the superior on his own. "Your opponent is here," the mad superior said, smashing his axe at his head again. He was so thoroughly broken and corrupted that he forgot the purpose while battling. Ronin felt weak on his legs, but he lurched. His previous wound had not closed all with the help from the potion, a good portion of his body was throbbing with pain, adding with the broken back, but he twisted, turned, lurched, crept at every move of his opponent. Whatever his opponent threw at him, he dodged, blocked and rendered it useless. A devilish smile appeared on his lips, as he eyed the man, grinning. He''s getting there. A bolt of lightning burst in his head, and his surroundings grew silent, and he was there. "It has . . . been . . . long . . ." he shouted, jerking his head. The axe came at him, and so did another sword from the right. Ronin lurched upwards and feinted a move to move towards the dog first. He pierced his blade right at the forehead of the slave. As he pulled back the sword, the slave fell on the floor, lifeless for some time. When Ronin was in a trance, he did not need to think all he needed was a target, and there were half a dozen of them. He moved against, smacked again, but did not get the elevation he wanted so he had to withdraw, but the battle wouldn''t last long. Withdrawing from the superior, he assaulted another one of the slaves, abruptly, he came up with a burst of strength as shot for the man, his target, his hunt. He feinted his sword again, and the superior did not fall for it, but no good it did, as another sharp dagger appeared on his other arm as he pierced onto the shoulder of the man. Ronin twisted his body, spun to run his blade in a high, full swing as it severed the head of the superior. He laughed and eyed the others. Shin was still tussling with the other superior, which means, wasting mana flying around the superior, waiting for an opportunity. He clicked his tongue and took a half step to lurch back his blade before aiming at the target. With a sharp jerk, he shot the blade at the superior as it went straight to the back of the man, piercing without any problem. The blade held onto some form of point force. Of course, it won''t feel any restriction after all the tussling Shin did with his opponent. But the superior was still not dead. Shin followed up with a silent outburst of waves, and now he''s dead. For five minutes at least. Chapter 139 - Cognitive Realm Ronin did not pick up the blade from the dead body. Once a sword holds too much of point force, it turns out to be a scrap. The blade was nothing much, but it''s still usable, but Ronin picked up another sword from one of the dead slaves. It could be made in two or three battles. Other than that, he had his dagger, which had a self-repairing feature in it which it repaired by itself, not that he could damage it in any way. "Let''s go," he said to the other two. "They will only stay dead for five minutes." He did not argue with Shin to get into a fight without his permission, as they needed to use their time appropriately, so they moved fast. Shin like before, checked every one of the chambers to find Ileana or anyone he recognised, though that turned out to be a lost cause. Though he did free a few, he did not find anyone he recognised, and soon their team of three turned into a team of a dozen as the boys and girls started to follow them. Ronin grumbled a little, but did not bark them away. As long as they don''t slow them down, it won''t be a problem. Moreover, the people will be a big asset after all, they were not at a safe spot yet, and anything could lead to fighting at any moment. Shin found no one he recognised until he opened a door to a large cabin where he found two men bound with thick chains with their mouths stuffed with clothes while a youth tended his wound. "Leroy," Shin called. Leroy lifted up his weary head and looked at Shin, and found the people behind him. His body was full of wounds with his left palm missing. Really what he had been through. Shin felt like he had been lucky all this time, just looking at his state. "Ah, Shin," Leroy said with a weary smile. "I thought, I would find someone here." "What happened to you, man?" Shin got inside and held out his hand to bring out a recovery potion. "Thanks, I owe you one," Leroy said and gulped down the content with a single breath. "I see you have freed some force already, so are you planning to go silently or with a bang?" Shin raised an eyebrow. "I am fine with anything, but I have to find Ileana first, or anyone else." He gritted his teeth in frustration. Leroy thought for a second and stood up, looking at the two captive. "It would really be problematic," he said. "You see, both of them are madmen and something more. I have killed them twice, yet they always found their way around it." "Yeah, we know," Shin said, "We found it the hard way as well. There is really something off about this place." "Not just something," Feldan joined, recognising the grandson of the dean. "I think everything is wrong in this place." "I don''t think we can find any easy way to kill them for good," Leroy added, "Chaining them up works too, but with the ship sinking we don''t have much time. You have dozens of folks already, no need to stop, tell make a team and free as many participants as you can. We need to secure some boats to get away before they sink." Shin nodded and got to work. He found Ronin sitting in one corner with an exhausted face. This man does not have mana, yet he contributed most in the battle, so it was not wrong to see him like this. Still, Shin always felt odd looking at him. . . . Inari''s body convulsed as her eyes shot open as she found herself in a cold sweat, huffing and puffing. "Told you to not sleep if you can," a voice said in a meditative posture. "Still, it''s not that dangerous, other than the fatigue it builds in your mind." Inari collected her thoughts, breathing in and out. She recalled what had happened. Just a moment ago she was reliving the moment underwater, betrayed, and losing all hope of life , drowning with a broken body. Yes, all that happened, but not for the second time. "It was a nightmare?" she muttered, face still pale. Without any delay, she uncovered the mask to take in the fresh air. It was a nice change, ignoring the heaviness, the murky feeling in the air. "Of course it was, and there will be more," Elior said again. "I don''t know how intelligent you are, but the name Nightmare sea is a big giveaway." "So we have to stay awake all the time?" she couldn''t help but ask, taking no offence at the comment. "The day is alright, I think," Elior continued, "But for the night, we have to be extra careful. I could have helped you with the nightmare just now, but thought otherwise. Since we will be staying here for a while and you have no other way safe on your own, I reckoned, it would be a good exercise for a couple of times." "You knew this would happen?" "Now, I am really considering if you are stupid or not," Elior gawked at her, bringing out the weirdly shaped mushroom. "You should have taken the mushroom and meditated." "Not again with the mushroom," Inari begged. The boat drifted nice and slow as a swift frigid wind blew, a little on the colder side. There was no sign of the ship, nor could she see the island in the dark. Even seeing two metres across from her was a challenge. "Where do you suppose the ship is now?" she could not help but ask. Since this weird mysterious youth from the lower world knew about a lot of stuff she was oblivious about, perhaps he could answer that as well. "As the name suggests, the sea is weird. I don''t think it''s entirely a physical place," Elior started. "I don''t understand it entirely. Wait, I don''t really understand it all. I had a friend who might have to understood it better. The cognitive realm is kind of her thing, but she already passed this trial, so I can only wait when we were in the next trial." "What are you talking about?" Inari asked. "I found this is a trial, but what else is there? You can''t die in a trial and it''s my first time here, so it''s more like an illusionary realm?" "Yes and not," Elior said with a frown. "I am not very good at this kind of explanation. Well, since you are a Devarian, you should have some understanding of the Cognitive realm, right?" "I know some parts," Inari acknowledged. "Like it was a thought realm, made out of people''s thoughts, dreams, and magic. Rules are different there, so was time and space. But this place doesn''t give me that sense, though." "That''s because you are too weak." "And you are not?" "I have some understanding of it." Elior sucked in a breath. He really is not good at this. "As I mentioned, this place is not purely a cognitive realm. The deities have cultivated it to be a training place, so the rules of space are almost the same, as for time, it should be slow here. But that does not end there. You are talking about the boat a moment ago, right?" "Yes," Inari said, raising an eyebrow. "What about it?" "You see, this realm is likely layered with the similar construct for thousands of times," Elior said. "We are currently in one layer while the ship is in another. When you left the ship you abandoned that layer and got into this layer." "Interesting," Inari said, "Is there a way back to the other layer?" "I don''t know." Inari gave him a flat look. "What?" "I kind of thought, you know all things," she said, "So not all omniscient after all." "Even those deities are not all omniscient, so you can cut some slack there," Elior snorted. "So, all the participants are in different layers of the realm?" Inari started returning to the topic. "Each going through their different trial and you mentioned about not dying or something like that?" "Yes, participants could not die as long as they will it," Elior said. "The first part is about the survival and courage to stand against the odds even though it''s overwhelming." "Wait a second," Inari shouted out. "You are wrong. When I was doing, I was nothing like that. I don''t remember it clearly, but the notification said something like, I will get to safety and it would mean giving up the trial." "That only meant you gave up on your will to live then," Elior said, and his eyes became serious looking at her. Inari flinched from the stare. She looked away, biting her lips. "I had no strength left. What do you expect of me?" Inari said. "You really thought you will die, didn''t you?" Inari stopped in her fidgeting and picked at his serious eyes and nodded slowly. Chapter 140 - New Trouble Shin could not find Ileana anywhere, but Feldan found a couple more of his classmate, and it appeared that was not all there was someone else who managed to free himself before they did and unlike them, he did not just flee and hide, but put together a team against the slavers. And that person was none other than Gaivan, the first among the upperclassmen, who lost to Elior pretty badly in the tournament, but that does not mean he was any less amazing. In this short time, not only did he free himself, Gaivan actually managed to put together an elite team of a couple of dozen and not just that, half of the group were not even from Earth. Currently, they were waiting with the boats they collected for their arrival. Shin''s face was full of frustrations. Though he managed to save himself, he failed to do it for Ileana miserably. "Don''t worry about it," Leroy said. "You did what you could." "And it''s not enough," Shin said, fingers digging into his palm. They were sitting side by sides, leaning against the wall. A few others were on the sides, while the others were sent to alert others, while they took a rest for a bit. They went through the battle for more than half an hour, catching and chaining half a dozen more superiors, though their job was not finished yet. "Well, perhaps Ileana got away on her own, or someone else helped her," Leroy added. "You know someone fired that hole into the ship. Perhaps they helped her on the way, or someone else did." Shin nodded. That was only his hope now. Perhaps Ileana was fully well. Then, abruptly, something clicked in his head as he looked at Leroy, blinking. "The other time," he said, "You did not mention people or students, but participants." Leroy looked at him for once and then looked away, letting out a breath. "Yes," he acknowledged. "Just keep it to yourself for now. We are here in this way for a reason." Shin let out a cold breath. If it was a couple of days ago, he would have jumped up in madness, shouting to tell everyone, but this experience had changed him. Or he was just too damn tired. "So this is really . . ." he asked and trailed off. "Yes," Leroy said, getting up. "Don''t ask me how I know and don''t gossip about it if you can. Even if it''s all fake, we have a lot of problems ahead of us." Shin was about to say something when a new group entered the chamber, brought in by Feldan. It was the group of Gaivan, even in these places, they seemed to be in better condition, with properly clothed and with each one with their weapons. Gaivan scanned the chamber, first disapprovingly at the state of the participants, and then looked at the superiors in the bound in chains as his eyes flicker in surprize. His scanning stopped as he approached them. Well, most likely, for Leroy. As Shin thought, Gaivan did not even give him a glance to greet Leroy. "Looks like you have been doing well, Leroy," he said, and only then did he notice Leroy''s left palm was missing. He continued as if did not see it at first and then gave it a profound look. "Good to see you here, but it appears you have taken some serious blows. Truly, unfortunate." "This?" Leroy held up his left arm, which was bound in red bandages. "It is a trade-off for my freedom." Gaivan raised an eyebrow but nodded. "Well, we will have more time to chat," he said slowly, "but first, withdrawing from the ship takes priority. I am really disappointed on how you have governed these people, each doing their own thing. Do you need some help there." Shin raised an eyebrow, eyes flashing from Gaivan to Leroy. "I don''t think I can say anything about it," Leroy said, looking at the men. "I am not their leader." Gaivan''s eyes flashed for a short blink, but he hid it instantly. "You are not?" he asked with confusion. "Then who is?" Leroy looked at Shin at first. "Well, Shin freed most of them," he said, "But there was another youth. I don''t know where he''s currently, though." Gaivan looked at Shin for once and nodded as if in enough acknowledgement. Shin said nothing as well. "I think you should prepare you men," Leroy told Gaivan, "while we prepare ourselves as well." Leroy did not wait for Gaivan to finish, leaving, taking Shin to the sides. "You don''t want to be the leader?" This was the first question Leroy asked as they came to a corner. "You are the same too," Shin muttered, looking him in the eye. For a couple of seconds, Leroy kept his eye contact before looking away. "Gaivan is a fine youth," he said, looking at the handsome youth talking with his underlings. "But he''s very ambitious." "Why are you telling me all this?" "Don''t act dumb," Leroy said. "I don''t know why you don''t want to lead, but if you are reluctant for even a little, you will only be giving them to Gaivan, which may or may not help you in the long run." Shin looked around at the group of Gaivan. all his men looked like elite as if he had prepared them from before. Well, he very well might be, but that does not mean all of them, since half of his group were from different galaxies, yet they were listening to him now. Perhaps giving all to Gaivan was not a bad idea. Shin was not much of a leader and never will be. Even Feldan seemed to have joined the group. "I will talk to Ronin about it, and let him decide," Shin said. Since he was not alone in this, why would he take all the difficult decisions? At that very second, a horn bellowed, catching everyone''s attention, off-guard. Even Leroy, who knew the truth of the situation, looked surprised, much less Gaivan and his group. "What is this?" Gaivan asked as they came towards the entrance. Shin and Leroy were closest to the gate, so the two of them were first to get out. As the horn bellowed, they soon found out, it was not coming, not coming out of the same ship they were inhibiting but a new one. "Looks like we have new enemies to fight and more innocents to save," Shin said wearily as they climbed the stair. Soon they found a couple of bodies bound nearby as a youth came down with a frigid, scowling face, as if the world hated him. Ronin said nothing, gestured them to come up as they could understand from the horn. There really was another ship, and it was coming towards their sinking one. Whatever this indicates, it does not mean they were coming to save them. Most likely to put back the collars to be freed themselves from. "I don''t feel anything good about this," Shin muttered as Renal''s sword appeared in his arm. "Prepare everyone, we are under attack," a voice bellowed from behind. Shin thought it was probably Gaivan, or who else has such commanding voice. . . . Lara panted with her newly formed boat, eyes at the dark sky, twinkling stars with no moon. The boat drifted nice and slow towards the island, but she could not stop the frustrations growing in her heart. It was five times already. Five times she would have failed in the daily quest. The only time she succeed was on the first occasion when her situation was a little easy. But now she did not know how to save herself from the storm, the tempest, or the monster that finished her off most of the time. And of all places, she was alone in this sea. Since it was a trial, shouldn''t there be other competitors with who she could team up and make it easy for her? But it did not seem to be the case. These nightmares'' quest appears like an individual trial where no one but herself could help her. Sighing, she resolved herself again to bring one of the weirdly shaped mushrooms she was good in her initial success of the quest. Initially, she had already finished her share of mushrooms and even the boat was broken in the second quest, but with each time she dies, the time reset and she found herself with the mushrooms and boat, alone in the idea. Lara breathed in and out for several times to steady her heart before gulping the weirdly shaped mushroom in her mouth. It was the only way for her success. [You have eaten one Mysterious Mushroom. All mana training meditation will have 200% more effect] All she can hope to do was train her mana like crazy so that she could protect herself against everything.. The storm as well as the monster that bit off her head a few moments ago. Chapter 141 - New Trouble (2) Shin fought like crazy. His sword lurched, twisting among many opponents to find its way to pierce in the chest of one. Sweats formed and evaporated as mana colour warped as his sword moved. He withdrew half a step as two more slaves approached him, one with a mace, one with a huge hammer. Their eyes were vacant and docile as they charged, commanding their mana powered weapon. Shin cursed inside and released the waves he was condensing to lurch up a few metres in the air. Shin swallowed a breath, jerking his sword back, still hanging in the air. He swung violently as he came down, throwing the two slaves dozens of metres away as they collided against the barricade of the ship. This is really not a standoff. Even though he had already killed half a dozen of the slaves already, they were at a disadvantage. These slaves take 2 to 5 minutes to resurrect, while if one of them die he only vanishes after a minute or so. Probably failure in the test, he reckoned, but the important part was that it can''t go on like this. Many of the participants already noticed that, but they still fight like crazy. Like who would give up their life on some half-assed guesses? Even if he killed a dozen of the slaves, they were losing. Shin did not like how easy it felt when he was killing. Even though these slaves will resurrect, he can''t rest the feeling that he was killing them and that is too callously. A thorn-like sword shoved on his back, and Shin yelped in pain. Before he could finish the one with the thorn, a few invocation spells charged at him, fireball, wind cutter, and some acid spell. Shin cursed again, as his mind rushed into a fast manoeuvre to dodge. He swept his sword downwards as a sharp force of waves ran, severing the lower limbs of the thorn wielder. ''The isn''t going anywhere,'' he thought and found were still over fifty of the slaves fighting and moreover, the superiors were yet to come. While he came to find Gaivan and his team were nowhere to be found, most likely ran away finding a path. Well, Shin can''t blame them. They just took the opportunity presented to them. Even though Gaivan charged his men first, he was the first to withdraw to, probably changed ship, taking most of his force. Shin lurched in the air again, to have a proper look at the fight. Leroy was barely keeping up, but he was fighting fast and swift. As for Ronin, that guy was nowhere to be seen, probably running away. Or hiding somewhere. That dude could not use Mana, yet he was damn frightening at times. Shin knew nothing about how he does it, but he was happy as long as they were on the same team. Moreover, since they were bound by the spirit of the oath, he will not likely run away without getting what he wanted from him. "Shin," Leroy called from the sides. "We have to withdraw. There are only a dozen remains." Shin gritted his teeth, but agreed. "Where should we go then?" Leroy pointed at the water. "We should withdraw for some time while preparing for the next plan," he said again. The ones which were killed in the beginning were starting to wake up again, while many bodies already vanished. There is really no option to win here. Right, it is only a Trial, he thought, and that thought seemed to relieve him to some portion. He did not know why the trial was so damn hard from the beginning, but that thought comforted him. Perhaps Ileana was alright. Even being eliminated from the trial was a good choice for her, rather than suffer all this. Ignoring the wounds on his body, the blood seething from his back, the weak limbs that just wanted to rest, Shin make way to jump into the water. Leroy was the first one to jump as he was close by. He dived fifty metres easily into the deep sea. Shin took a deep breath and looked at the battlefield again. Few of the participants were still fighting, encircled by the slaves. There was no way for them to run away. Perhaps he could help them, but that would mean he would have chances to get collared again. Shin very much dreaded that. Gritting his teeth, thinking it is only a trial, He rose in the air to jump into the water. . . . The sun seemed to rise quicker, as Inari awoke herself from the meditation to look at the brilliant light rising slowly. This was nothing like the night. Who would imagine this place was like a nightmare in the dark, yet like nothing during the day? It was like all was only an illusion. But unfortunately, according to this mysterious boy, that kind of event will continue to happen every night, and it was only the beginning. She opened her eyes to find Elior was in the same position as before. He had eaten that weird shaped mushroom last night and his training varied from three kinds. The most were the mundane meditation and visualisation which he wasted most time on. While the least was on how he revolved his armament defence around the body, it was more of an instinct training. She has done that in her clan as well. It was the most efficient way to get rudimentary control over your armament defence while doing something else, like fighting someone. Armament defence may look hard on the surface, but it''s a very delicate thing. With just a single blow, it could render all the defence useless or deficient in another place if not learned correctly. Whereas the third kind was not something easy either. He actually uses the heavy water and its mana negating features to train his mana. Of course, it''s an available option as the more he uses mana in the water, the sharper his techniques will get. But it was damn hard, and she even saw him struggling. It seemed one of the reasons why he was not running for the island in the first place. He wanted to train in that water, hunt those weirdly shaped sea monsters for their core, and sleep. Such one minded fellow, she thought, looking at him. Though he found him weird on more occasions. Sighing, she looked in the direction of the island again. It was still as small as she remembered. The Island was the singularity in the thousands layer of the realm ¨C according to Elior. It was the place where the Trial will end, but he did not seem even a bit interested in the trial, or he knows it won''t end anytime soon. Inari let out a frustrated grunt. She has too little information. These trials were not a ground for the devarians and pure-blooded devarians could not even participate in these trials. Only because of the human blood she had, did she get to enter here. Initially, she thought it would be a good break from her everyday things. She did not have to get all the frowns of her clansmen, nor did she have to worry about the loathing look they gave her. And most importantly, her sister. Ellora was a damn good sister, a type of elder sister she did not deserve. But sometimes, she just wanted to run away. The trial came like that. Even Ellora agreed it would be a good opportunity for her, and she could tell stories about it to her later. But by no means, did Inari think it would come as a disaster. ''Perhaps, it is the way for the humans,'' she thought, looking at the youth in meditations. She remembers how much he trained just in a day. Yes, she does train, but she did not have to do that much with her blessing in mana and body. ''Humans do not have that luxury, so they have to take every opportunity they have,'' she thought. ''Perhaps that''s how Roy became so powerful. He stays among humans. Perhaps the disownment was a good thing for him.'' She still remembers that day like a vivid dream. She would have died, if Leroy just left her to her fate, but instead, he saved her, and in the process accidentally killed a pure-blooded devarians. That was his crime, and her too. In such cases, she should not have any way to live, nor was Leroy. If went as the regulations of the clans, then the two of them would have been executed, but her elder sister intervened. Even though Ellora was not in the high seats of the clan, her blood was one of the most potent and with some other prospect, she was not aware of Ellora managed to keep her alive, and Leroy was only banished from the clan for his lifetime. Inari knows nothing about how he went to the lower world, only heard it from her sister before dragging her into the trial. The two of them were two tragic cases of the string of fate. Chapter 142 - Race To The Island "Good Morning, miss," Elior woke up from his meditation to give her a bright greeting. He looked around the sun, the strikingly blue sky, and water everywhere, to mutter, "Sometimes nature wants to question your sanity, isn''t that right?!" Inari lifted her head to look at him. Her depressing thoughts were broken as he heard the radiating greeting. He certainly had uncanny ways to greet. "I am feeling very sane today," he said again to stretch his body as cranking noise came out. Inari a head the feeling that this youth has unlimited energy to keep on with things. "Is it otherwise, any other day?" Inari could not help but ask. "Oh, no, I am sane most of the time, but I am always prone to bad decisions," Elior continued, "but here in the trial, most of my decisions will not have any drastic effect. I can kill around as I please without any repercussions." "All sounded right, except the last phrase," Inari said, raising her eyebrow. "Correction: I can kill monsters as I please without repercussions," he added and got to his storage equipment. Inari was damn jealous of this lower-worlder with the storage equipment. He also had all sorts of things in it. Some were super useful, like the weapons, and there were also those weird drinks and snacks. But this time, Elior brought out another thing. It looked like some device. She examined it with her eye very carefully to figure out it was likely something to make some drink. "So, killing monsters has repercussions?" she asked. "Isn''t that the most important thing all guardians had to do?" "It is," Elior agreed, "unfortunately, the monster comes in different sizes and shapes. The worst of them all are those who wear human skins and act like one to do as they please." "Shapeshifter?" she asked, but he only gave her a smile. "Ever had a nice hot aromatic tea after a maddening night?" Elior asked as he readied to prepare tea. He did not lift his head to look at her, prepare the tea leaves, the milk, or some weird alchemic solution into the flask-like device to warm. He took her silence as an affirmation to continue. "Well, I have. Actually, I always have. What I miss is a cold shower." "We have no shortage of water here," Inari added, looking around. "That we don''t," Elior acknowledged. "Unfortunately, this water was not a bit refreshing as it looked from outside ¨C you should have some experience in it while drowning. How does it feel then?" "Helpless," she muttered as Elior finished brewing the tea. He opened the slid as a refreshing aroma drifted towards her nostrils. Really, what does he miss? Inari was never a tea person, but when offered, she did not decline. At least, it would be better than that weird drink he acclaimed as an energy drink. Inari sipped in a slow sip of the hot tea, and her eyes sparkled. It was not just better than the energy drink, but a lot better. Moreover, it seemed to refresh her mind a lot. "What did you put in those?" she asked, knowing should be the alchemic solution that he dropped a couple of drops to make it so refreshing. "Something very valuable," Elior muttered, "I never cheap out in living. We are given one life, if I want to live; I want to live like a king. Wait, that is not a good explanation. Usually, kings are not very good examples. They indulge in . . ." "I got it," Inari said. "What happened to the suit you were repairing, are you not going to continue?" "oh, that? It finished yesterday." "What?" she shouted, "Then why don''t you wear it? You don''t feel the corruption?" "Oh, I am feeling it, but I want to see it through," he said and stood up with the bag. "I like to challenge myself. Let''s see if the insanity consumes me before I can end this trial." "So much for saying, you''re sane." She could keep herself sane for a couple of hours before the corruption invades her mind, she will start to have drastic effects from the second day. She looked at the whistling youth walking on the water, the storage bag on his back with no care. Does he not fear corruption? Or was he already insane enough? Inari felt early staying with such an irresponsible man with that thought, but what she could do? At least he does not look insane, not fully, other than the bits of weird vibes she got. . . . Scarlett had the urge to do something outrageous again as the side effect of using her bloodline ability wore off. She was jumping around the boat just after waking up, sadly, to find there was actually nothing surrounding them other than the vast sea. "Where did the ship go?" she asked out loud to figure out what was wrong with her question. "Right, I sink that, didn''t I?" While from the sides, Ileana gave her a wary look, dark patches under her eyes, face pale as she did not have any sleep last night. Mopher was similar, but a tad better. "Mopher, I am bored," Scarlett called instantly, getting the wind of her knight. "Your highness, you just woke up," Mopher said with exhaustion. Just looking at her energetic face made him feel that. "So, I can''t feel bored after waking up?" she snorted, removing the mask of her head to take in the fresh air. What she got was murky, heavy air, making her stomach churn. "By the way, how''s your sleep, your highness?" Mopher inquired hesitantly, "Did you feel any discomfort?" Scarlett looked at him peculiarly at first, then scoffed off. "Well, under your protection, I slept like a baby," she said, "good job there, Mopher." "Thank you, your highness." Mopher looked at her oddly. On the other hand, Ileana was staring at the egg-shaped island, keeping an ear open for the duo. "What is on the island?" she could not help but ask. The slaver that captured her told her to get there first and wait for the next instructions. While she had no intention of getting into that slaver again, she knows her intention hardly matters in the grand scheme of themes. There was no collar on her neck, the slaver that let her go probably freed herself from it, but that did not mean she was free. Perhaps he was watching her now, with those cold vacant eyes. She shuddered at that thought. "What''s on the island?" she repeated the question, this time looking at the duo. "That," Mopher said, gazing in that direction, "that should be our destination. It is where the next phase of the trial will continue." "Next phase of the trial," Scarlett muttered and looked at her knight. "Mopher, how long do you think will take us there?" The innocent-looking youth calculated. "Two or three days if nothing goes wrong," he said, "but we can''t expect that we can. We are likely to get ourselves into some form of danger like last night, so it''s four or five days." "So, I will get bored here for five days," Scarlett scowled, glaring at her knight as if it was all his fault. "Well, do something." "I am sorry, your highness." Scarlett clicked her tongue. "Since it''s a trial, why I can''t see no participants with us?" "Perhaps because you sunk them all with the ship," Ileana cut in. "No," Scarlett shook her head. "You can''t die here. Mopher, was there something else?" "I am not sure, your highness," Mopher said and sighed, looking at the vast sea, the blue sky, and the egg-shaped island. "I suppose everyone who succeeds in the initial quests will get there." "Or did they already leave there? Was that why I didn''t see anyone?" "You can''t explain with normal logic here, your highness," Mopher continued, "This realm is created with the power of deities, we mortal could not only understand what we see with out own eyes." "There goes your self-esteem," Scarlett snorted. "Gods might have built this realm, but they are not all powerful. Perhaps we just drifted off in a different direction." "But the island is still there," Ileana added. "Yes, Leanie is right," Scarlett said, as if constipated. "So the others could drift off to different directions too, but that''s too far-fetched." "Who''s Leanie?" Ileana asked with a glare. "Of course, it''s my new friend from the lower world," Scarlett said with a laugh, wrapping her hand around her shoulder. Ileana grunted as she did not like that idea of acting free with someone who had sunk a ship, knowing thousands of people in it. Even if it was a trial, it is not something easy to digest. "Or it could be some illusions," Ileana continued. "Some mirage of sorts." A frown appeared on her brows as she looked around the vast sea.. "This is not a desert, but places like this can create optical illusions, moreover, this is not in any way a normal place." Chapter 143 - Nightmare Lara''s frustrations have not stopped even after her fifth death. Even though she saw improvement in her ability in this short time, she knew it would never be enough if she kept on going like this. Her goal was that island, and it appeared there was something restricting her from other participants to approach one another. This was most likely a test to prosper on her own. The last time she was on her own, all that followed was a disaster, that may follow this time also, but at least she won''t be a slave. Not again. She stood upright from her mediation, looking at the setting sun. The effect of the weirdly mushroom was almost gone, and it was time again. Her mana application finally reached Level 9, and she finally found the wall that was stopping her from getting to the intermediate realm. Intermediate realm will be a great help to her in the current circumstances. She will be able to protect and attack at the same time more freely. It was time for the nightmare to approach again. Lara checked her sword and calmed herself by breathing evenly, waiting for the nightmare to approach. ''What is it going to be this time?'' she wondered. If it''s the tempest with the wild sea monster, then she has no chance of succeeding, but if it''s the nightmare, perhaps she will succeed. Even though Lara was prepared for it, when the wind swirled, she insides churned, as all her efforts on keeping her breathing steady rendered useless. Her vision darkened and the murky gloom loomed her vision entirely, before she woke up, and found herself running. Half a dozen fellows followed her into the thick wood. Lara knew very clearly where she was and what she had to do. Probably. [Individual Quest: Stand tall You found yourself in the land of your past failure, which may hold you back in later parts of your life. Do everything in your power to get out of here. Condition of clearance: Unknown. Reward: Mysterious Artifact box, Mysterious Lunch box.] The vision she was experiencing was nothing foreign to her. It was something she had lived through once and something she did not like in the slightest. As a matter of fact, she hated it, she hated almost everything about it, and most importantly, she hated the guy. The guy who will intercept her in a few seconds. Lara stopped running and took a stance against the men who were chasing after her. Last time she had tried to run away and failed both in the quest and trying to flee. "She has some fight in her," one of her chasers said, laughing. Lara''s eyes narrowed as she shot at him. In this vision, her all stats were limited, but that is only limited to her stats. The mystery over her swordsmanship was still there. The ones that were laughing at her, stopped and came into the challenge. Lara snorted and feinted her move to shove into the gut of one, before withdrawing a step to dodge a mace from another one of the chasers. Another tried to grapple her, but she lurched her sword in that direction as he withdrew. The few others already got busy encircling her. Lara looked at them with narrowed eyes. Her sword churned with mana, as it turned shaper, deadlier. Lara crept towards one with her best speed, swinging her sword in a devastating blow. Her sword was blocked, but she followed it with another, twisting it upwards towards his mouth. In that time, the ones in the sides and back made their way towards her, Lara cursed, and followed up with that swing. Two withdrew, but the other two did not. One shoved his sword at the sides of her ribcage. Even though it was a vision, Lara felt every bit of the pain. Her eyes blazed as they darted towards the one that wounded her and with a single swing she severed his head. Blood sprayed on the air, coming on her face, as he moved towards her next opponent. She had no second thought. Even if the killing felt real, it was only a vision. She could feel it was changing her, but that hardly matters. She had enough of being a lamb, waiting for others to save her. Her sword moved like an extension of her body. The unity realm. Her opponent could not even see it coming before a sword was shoved into his jaw, piercing through his head. Lara severed it ruthlessly, panting. Abruptly, the sound of clapping came as she heard the sounds of footsteps. "Bravo! Bravo!" a voice said, and she recognised it easily. It was a handsome man with blonde hair, a sharp look, but the moment she gave him a look, her stomach churned. This was the first man she started hating with her heart and probably hated the most. Renal. The bastard who captured her and make her into a slave. "Fierce," he said, laughing brightly at her. "I like it. I want you." Behind him were a couple more females, and one of them knew it was very friendly. It was Ileana, currently like a docile lamb, eyes so adrift that she did not recognise it. It was this bastard''s charm ability. The three of the underlings who still could fight were about to come at her, when Renal gestured at them to stand by. "I will deal with myself," he said and brought out his sword. Lara''s eyes narrowed. Yes. This was what she wanted. She will shove her sword into his stomach and twist it slowly to have fun at his suffering. She will not kill him like the others. She will do it slowly, taking every bit of fun she could. Lara knew these kinds of thoughts were not natural for her, and something else was causing it with her hate overflowing, but she did not care. "I will kill you and clear the quest," she snarled and shot at him, swinging violently. Renal intercepted her with his treasured sword, eyes still smiling, bringing her hate to the point that it was unnatural. "Girls should never be this fierce," he said again, shoving his sword towards her. "Even though I like fierce girls, I like docile ones better." Lara snarled at the comment, sidestepping to avoid the blow. Then something hit on her head, not literally, it was those eyes. Renal was using his cheap tricks on her again. But her mind was already crazy. She swirled every bit of her mana, which was not actually lot, considering she skilled three men and fight another three with the body that had just been introduced to mana. This was probably going to be her last attack with mana, and she would very much want to make it count. But she still swung with everything she got, sword twisting to find its way towards Renal''s lower body, shoving it onto his balls. A sword came and blocked her move, then a hard punch hammered onto her head as she fell onto the ground, a figure climbing on top of her. "Look at me," Renal said, eyes glued to her palms, choking her neck and cheek. Lara twisted her head in a struggle, and even tried to move her leg, but her initial body was poor. With not even a single bit of mana in her body, she was like a helpless lamb. A helpless, defiant lamb. The charm had no effect on her. Lara spat in her mouth, screaming. "I will kill you the next time I meet you," she bellowed eyes dagger at the bastard. "I will cut you into pieces ever so slowly. First will be the fingers, then your limbs, then will . . ." Renal''s eyes darkened as he choked harder, so hard that Lara found it hard to say a word. She coughed and deliberately coughed at his face. [Congratulations! You have cleared the quest!] The darkness came again before she found herself back on the boat, on her back lying, devoid of all mental strength. She passed the quest, but she did not know why. Was it because she did not give in to his charm ability? But the other time, well, the other time, she got herself captured without a fight. [You are rewarded with Mysterious Artifact box, Mysterious Lunch Box.] [Congratulations! you have gained a level.] [You have reached Level 36. 2 free stat points are added to your system.] [Congratulations! you have gained a level.] [You have reached Level 37. 2 free stat points are added to your system.] Lara sighed and found two boxes next to her. Looks like it wasn''t so bad, even though she had to see that face again. It''s better than dying again. She sat upright to find her rewards. She can probably guess what was inside the lunch box and it was what she had feared. [Mysterious Mushroom] Well, it will help her in mana control ignoring the weird shape. She opened the other box as what came out was actually a round shield. Chapter 144 - Coward Inari woke up in a dark world. Thunder boomed as lightning loomed into deafening roars, lighting the world for one instance. Then it was dark again. The wind swirled with the gathering clouds creating tempest that any normal man could not bear. Even for mana users who were lower rankers, it was hard to stay not affected. Some creatures were flying in the sky, like debris, ruins of tall skyscrapers spread everywhere her vision went. She was certainly not regular to these kinds of building structures, but she had seen them before. It was not the way of Mother world¡ªat least not the places she had gone¡ªwhich was tragically not many. She was wondering why she was here. A moment ago, she was preparing with Elior for the second day''s quest, and when the wind and darkness hit her, she found herself here. [Secret Quest: Nightmare! You are in a strange land with a strange environment, finding out whatever is causing all these dilemmas. Conditions for clearance: Unknown. Rewards: Unknown.] Inari sighed in relief. This was certainly not like the nightmare of the other day. Yes, that was certainly a good thing for her. At least she did not have to face her true nightmare again. How hard this could be than her original fear. Inari gazed at the sky again and found those creatures again, flying screeching. They were certainly not birds, more like bats, with the size of her head to double her size. "Flies," she muttered, and her heart turned cold. Not just anyone kind of flies, there were plenty of common undead flies, to the corpse flies, as well as the legendary soul-sucking flies. Oh, Immortal lord, where am I? she wondered, keeping an eye on the creatures, terrorising over the place that was once a city. For some reason, the flies did not attack her, as if they could not see her. They kept on going, flying after humans, fighting with some guardians in their weapons and armour. It appeared they did not notice her as well. It was as if nobody could see her." "Right, this is a test," she muttered. Though there was no description of what she had to do to pass or what the rewards will be, she would not mind clearing it, since it was the trial in the first place. Completing the task was the only way to move further. What she had to do was search for the source of the chaos. Well, that would be nice and easy, since nobody seemed to see her. Abruptly, she felt a tremor and her heart skipped a beat unconsciously. The whole world was shaking for a blink of an eye and then it was the same again. Inari narrowed her eyes and looked around. Just then, the tremor came again and her heart skipped a beat again. It was as if something was beating after her chest. Inari was waiting for the third time and it came again. And again, and again. It was coming down in a nice rhythm, and that brought a frown to her brows. Shouldn''t that be the source of something? The source she was looking for? With that in mind, she crept on the way as the earth continued to tremble in the rhythm. As she went, she came before more people fighting against those flies and dying. They struggled and led the civilians, scarifying their lives for the common people. Such a scene brought down an upheaval in her heart, but she crushed it, keeping the quest in her mind. But whatever she tried, it was all crushed down by the tremors. The scene before her seemed to be a staged play, as she was only witnessing it, not living through it. Some kind of illusion, perhaps. Inari ignored the guardians, battling against the huge flies, the flies sucking their blood, soul, crushing their skull with their horrifying teeth. She ignored the common people who tried to flee, but in the end, a good number of them turned food for those undead flies. Inari felt like fighting against them. But then again, she felt like fighting against a lot of things, her own clan for all the contempt, the trouble they gave her, but she never did. Of all things, Inari considered herself a coward. She would not do anything that would be troubling to her, not something for someone else in the slightest. ''I tried to help Roy, didn''t I?'' she told herself and got the answer at the very moment. It wasn''t that she helped Roy, she didn''t just betray him, like the other two. If she truly was the selfless type, then she will be fighting together alongside him, not running away. The only reason she did not go after the submarine, at first sight, was that she might get to hate herself to the core if she did that. She already hated herself quite a lot. She did not want it to reach the limit, where she could not even look at her reflection. That was why she did not betray her saviour. It was not for him, but because she was selfish. Inari gritted her teeth. This realisation did not make it anything easy. On the contrary, she fucking hated it to realise that now. Without anything in mind, she started running towards the source of all the tremors, ignoring everything. Even if it was the end of a world. The path becomes busy as she runs, but nothing obstructs her, as she fazes through everything. The flies could not see her, not even touch her. She ran for a good quarter of an hour to finally reach the source of the tremors and, seeing the scene before her eyes, it was as if her mind had been struck with lightning. The tremors, the earth-shaking tremors were not some earthquake or other natural disaster, but someone beating his hammer in the middle of all things, and she knew that certain someone. It was a youth of her age, maybe younger. He did not see him in the mysterious light as usual, but it all looked like a broken man doing what he could to get by. Elior lurched the hammer like there was no tomorrow, eyes vacant and empty, ignoring the sky collapse before him. The battle against the flies kept on going, but Elior kept on hammering, creating horrifying tremors onto the earth, but that tremor was something he and Inari could feel, for the ones fighting in against the flies, it was nothing. Men died, devoured, but Elior kept on hammering, not even giving them a single glance. Civilian collapsed, but Elior kept on hammering. Children cried, But Elior kept on hammering. Thunder roared, lightning charged, but Elior kept on hammering. Again and again and again. And again. "ELior," she called, bellowing, running towards him. He did not seem to hear her and kept on beating the hammer in the hot anvil, as it produced flickers of flames. Just like the world did not affect her, it did not seem to affect Elior in the slightest, but she would be damned to believe that. This nightmare was certainly not something her mind has created. Neither was she that similar with that kind of set-up nor was she having any encounter with undead flies, all she knows were from books that her sister made her memorize. The trial partly could produce something like that, but she has heard, they don''t do anything unnecessary. Well, their necessity and her or Elior''s were entirely different things. If they were the same, they wouldn''t start with slavery from the beginning. For all she cared, they think slavery was necessary for this trial, so why not play with some youth''s trauma? Could Elior possibly go through all this? She wondered as she run. Shouldn''t the lower world be safer than Mother world? Whatever it was, it was something related to Elior''s trauma. He was so full of life and comical when he talks to her, but here he was like a machine, doing what he was told, which was beating the hammer. "Elior," she called, coming before him, "Can you hear me?" No answer. It was as if he was like the others, the flies, the guardian who were fighting, and illusions. Without considering, she tried to touch him, to feel if he was like she was just a record. Not an illusion, she could very much feel him. She touched him on the back and felt it very humane, but Elior did not seem to feel her, he kept on hammering. "Elior, can you hear me?" she said again. NO answer. She screamed in the next turn, shaking him hard with all her might. The dark sky showered with rain, and the cloud seemed to break into oblivion. And Elior finally noticed her. He looked at her, blinking as if he did not know him. Then the sky broke, and her vision cleared. [You have failed the quest.] Chapter 145 - Nightmare (2) [You have failed the quest.] Ileana''s eyes shot open, as her chest heaved up and down in high panting. A moment ago she was in the last place she would have wanted to be, and reliving her moments of enslavement once again. The moments she would never want to recall, but the harder she tried the more, it draws her back in the end. First, it was in the tournament against Katherine, when she had to live far worse of the actual enslavement for hours before giving away, and then one night she woke up founding someone on top of her, beating her senseless, before turning her into a slave. That treatment was not any better either. Through some luck, she got herself free again, only to get troubled by these awful nightmares. For one thing, they were in quest now, unfortunately, she failed royally to even do something. Breathing deep and slow, she tried to calm her breathing, which was not so difficult, but calming the burning indignation in her stomach was another case. She shot up off the blanket and crept out on the deck. The night was still deep; the ocean was calm, contrasting the other day that brought in a storming upheaval. She paced forth to notice, Mopher was doing his usual business of night watch, silently, watching over the Redhead princess who was pacing around the deck, sometimes raging, sometimes whimpering in annoyance. They felt her presence as the redhead princess was the first to open his mouth. "Leanie," she said, "So you had those too. I am telling you, I won''t suffer any more than this. How dare they put me through all that?!" So, it was something about her again. Ileana sighed inwardly as she stood leaning against the metal wall. Scarlett never listened to anything if she thinks otherwise, well, she was not a terrible person, and quite likeable, but she had terrible flaws. For something, Scarlett was no less than a child. Well, she does a little more wit than Katherine and that''s it. She reckoned it was what happens when you are grown up with too much pampering like a princess. Well, as a matter of fact, she was a princess, and from what she heard, she was quite a big deal. "Are you alright?" Mopher asked. As much as Scarlett was inconsiderate of others, Mopher was the exact opposite. Ileana nodded. "Did you go through those as well?" she asked. "Yes," Mopher said pessimistically, "unfortunately, I failed." "I, as well," Ileana said as her finger dug into her palms. "Looks like none of us passed today," Mopher added, giving a look at Scarlett. "Perhaps next time." "There will be no next time," Scarlett yelled at the very moment. "If there was, I will burn this place down." "Your highness, you can''t do that," Mopher added passively as it was his duty, not that it would be off any help. And he knows it too. "It''s ocean everywhere. Fire will do little to it." "Then I will boil and vaporise the entire ocean of its water," Scarlett yelled back, not admitting defeat. "You are not Emperor Ashoka, your highness," Mopher added again. It appeared he was not in that bad of a mood failing like her, and seemingly making fun of his highness'' trouble. ''Well that was odd,'' Ileana thought. "I am with Scarlett in this," she said. "I don''t actually want to be there, much less pass it. All I wanted to be is free of that." "It must have been a pretty bad memory for you to say that," Mopher said, eyeing her sympathetically. "Yes," she said, "As a matter of fact, you two probably saw it." Mopher and Scarlett looked at her as if they had no idea what she was talking about. "It was the other trial," Ileana said slowly, sighing. "The first time when I was introduced to this broader world. Well, I always wanted to be in the broader world, that''s why I took the entrance test to the Guardian school, but who knew it would be this broad? "On the very first day of my introduction to the broader world, my dream shattered. I got captured and worked like a slave for more than 3 days. I know it was not that much, but was enough to crush all my dreams . . ." "You are talking about that guy capturing you and using you against your friend?" Scarlett asked, eyes blinking. Ileana nodded, and Scarlett laughed off instantly. "Leanie, seriously, that was your nightmare?" she asked, still scoffing. "That mentally challenged fellow was your nightmare. Seriously, you can do better." "Still, it is better than your nightmare, your highness," Mopher added as a side comment. "Huh!" Scarlett snorted at the knight. "Tell that to on her face if you will, Mopher, then I will acknowledge you." "I wouldn''t dare," Mopher said instantly. "Besides, your highness, I don''t think she''s your nightmare, but it''s the studies." "Oh please, do you think I would not know what my task is, and you would know it better?" she snorted again. "I know my mother, Mopher. She''s really frightening, though I must reckon the nightmare did some justice to her image." "What are you talking about?" Ileana joined, not getting the point of their conversation. "It''s about her nightmare," Mopher could not stop from grinding this time. "Do you know what it is? It''s studying, she''s an utter disgrace at that, and her mother was too strict about it, though she failed to do anything about it." "Huh, huh, very funny," snapped Scarlett. "Now stop it." "Seriously, your nightmare is studying?" Ileana''s eyes widened at the revelation. "You don''t know those things. History, geography and literature are alright, but those math, sciences, those weird shapes were no less than a nightmare, then there was my mother," Scarlett said in indignation. "Really," Ileana said, "I really envy you there. I would have passed in no time if it were just simple studying." "You wouldn''t have said that if you knew my mother," the princess said wryly. "Sometimes I thought she came straight from the abyss." "As I said, your highness, your mother was not your nightmare, even if it were, it wouldn''t come so early," Mopher said. "Do you fear studying more, or your mother more?" "You know the answer pretty well, Mopher." "Then you should get what your task was this time," Mopher smiled and, seeing the contemplating face of his highness, his smile widened. He finally convinced Scarlett of something, or at least nudged her head in another direction. He knows her for over a decade and he was pretty sure if she held onto something for once it would be damning hard to push it to something else. Even if he made her contemplate her choices, she would still have her mother in the way of the task. "Wait, I have an idea," Mopher said suddenly. "Your highness, why don''t you get help from your new friend Leanie? Well, she came from a different world, but science and math is all same all over the mother universe, she doesn''t look like she will have any trouble with her understanding and that is she is willing to help you, who might fail in the multiplication of three-digit numbers." "Ha ha," sneered the redhead princess, "For your information, I know multiplication." "So, you are willing to learn from your new friend?" "I am considering it," Scarlett said, and looked at Ileana. "Perhaps I should give it a try, and if it turns out my nightmare was my mother all along, then you will pay Mopher." "Sure," Mopher said, muttering under his breath; ''As if I am not already paying enough.'' He coughed to say again, "But first you have to consider your new friend too, see if she wants to teach you or not." "Why wouldn''t she?" Scarlett said, ignoring Ileana''s standpoint. "But since she''s Leanie, I will help her in return as well. You are having trouble standing against that mentally challenged fellow, right?" She did not give Ileana enough time to nod as she continued, "Then I will help you learn to stand up against an adversary that is far stronger than you." Ileana looked at her with utter bewilderment, but Scarlett pulled her arm next. "Common now, we will start with you. Let''s see if you have grown any balls so far. Opps, silly me, we don''t have those. Let''s start with your spirit." Ileana sighed in acceptance. Since Mopher was helping her so much on the survival, he being here for Scarlet, she wouldn''t mind helping someone study. "By the way, please don''t tell me your studies only go till the debit multiplication," Ileana asked as they got inside the room. "Ahh, I can do more digits too, but it had to be simple digits, like the ones with zeroes or less than 3," Scarlett laughed warily.. "don''t tell Mopher, but I might fell to do some third digit multiplications too. Chapter 146 - Nightmare (3) Inari did not feel any disappointment in failing the quest. As a matter of fact, she could not even guess what the quest wanted her to do? She looked at the silent figure of Elior, who was still unconscious on the boat. He probably woke up from the nightmare, but did not want to face her now, or he could just want to keep his mind empty for something and get his head around things. Inari''s mind worked while she kept her eyes on the youth. In the nightmare, she could not affect anything. She could not touch anything; anything but Elior, so her quest might be something to do with him. He was hammering all the time she saw him with those dark, distant eyes. It was something he probably went through in the past, and still haunts him today, like her nightmare, though she at least could do other things than just doing one thing again and again. She wondered what it felt like to keep on doing that, while everyone dying before your eyes, and you can''t do anything about it, as it all were some visions. At least she could touch her nightmare. Then another question came into her head. If Elior could not touch anything, then why was he there? Was it just some kind of torment? She can''t possibly know with all her guessing power, which is limited as she did not know much about Elior or the lower world he came from. Elior opened his eyes just then, letting out a big sigh to sit upright. The eyes were not in the slightest distance or dark, it was the usual, eyes hiding something big. Inari was fumbling with words on how to start the conversation when she heard his voice. "You have no idea how you appear there, right?" Inari was about to open her mouth, but nodded to answer. There was a brief silence flowing in the boat before she opened her lips. "What was that, though? Something you faced on the p. . ." "Just some sick plan to remind me, I am not giving enough," he said, and Inari''s eyes did not fail to notice his fist clenching. "Why do you think I was there?" she asked again. She hesitated, but seeing no change in Elior''s expression, she continued, "I mean, I don''t know anything about it. Is it just because we are on the same quest together? Wait, will similar things happen next? Will you appear in my nightmare?" She very much dreaded that thought. It was not that nobody knew about her past, but it was exactly opposite. Almost everyone in her clan knows about it, but that does not mean she was ready to open her secret to everyone. If she can, she would never let anyone see her nightmare, not Elior who she knew for only three days, not Leroy, who saved her life, not her Sister for whom she was still alive. "That''s very much a possibility," Elior said, and his face showed a somewhat interesting expression. "I am looking forward to it." "NO," Inari said instantly and hid her face. "I mean, no. It''s not something I would like others to watch." "Well, that''s why it makes me more interested," Elior chuckled, as if forgetting everything that happened five minutes ago, but Inari knew very well what those lively laughs hide. "Don''t get me wrong, I have no intention of prying on someone else''s privacy, but I don''t see I have anything to say here. Things are pretty much random here, which is a kind of odd." A frown appeared in his brows as he looked at the starless empty sky. Inari''s fingers dug into her palm at his words. It seemed he was pretty much sure that it would happen. Is there something she could do to stop that? She wondered. "Perhaps if we are in different layers, it is possible," Elior added, reading her mind, with a smug smile on his lips. "But I will not help you get away from this layer, nor will I leave this layer for you." Inari glared at him. Even if that were true, she could never ask him to do any of that, but hearing it from his mouth, and making fun of it reduced some amount of goodwill she had of him. "Why are you interested in someone else''s private thing?" she asked with a glare. "It''s private things. How can I not," Elior chuckled, "though I would never do anything to break the line, if someone else did it for me, I will not mind keeping an eye on what was going on. "Besides, it''s your fear, your worst nightmares, so another perspective might help. You probably don''t look the type to have any friend, nor do you have seem to have discussed or talked about it with someone else." Inari snorted. "As if you are different?" she said. "Oh, I have a friend." Elior smiled again and started counting. "I have two, three; no, four good friends, and will have a couple more at the end of this trial." "And with how many of your friends you have talked about your fear, your nightmare?" she asked again and which made Elior entirely silent. "What? None?" she snorted again. "You don''t know anything about it," Elior said, gritting his teeth. Inari felt a little accomplished at least at making him grit his teeth. "You don''t know how much I wanted to tell them all this, but I can''t, I . . ." "Protecting them?" Inari snorted. "Are you sure you are not just uncomfortable with discussing with them? Or what they will think about learning about your fear?" Elior said nothing, but just stared at her with anger. But the anger did not affect her entirely, there was something more, from the looks of it. Elior sucked in a deep breath. "I am sorry," he said, "I, of all people, should know how hard it is to talk about it." Inari nodded slowly, lifting her head up. She thought about it and began hesitantly. "You are not ready to talk about what the nightmare is about, right?" she said and seeing him now, she continued. "I have the same intention as mine. So, if by happenstance, you find yourself in my nightmare . . ." she paused, looking at him. "We will not ask or talk about it with anyone," he said slowly and got up, with his storage bag. "Well, I would have wanted you not to pry on my privacy, but since I already been to your Nightmare," she gave him her most pitiful glance, which she was not good at. She sighed in frustration. "Let''s just not tell anyone." Elior nodded and jumped on the water, and like most of the time, he did not get into it but started walking. "Where are you going?" She asked. It was two hours over midnight. Since the nightmare was over, they could rest in peace if they wanted. "I need to empty my mind, going to hunt some sea monster to do that," he said, not looking back, "do you want to form a team?" - - - Renal''s body jerked up as his chest heaved up and down as his breathing broke into a panting, as he woke up screaming, sweat dripping down on his face, as he tried to calm down. Calming his mind or at least trying his hardest. He looked at his arms. They were there. Not gone like what happened in the nightmare. It was over two months since the incident when he lost almost everything, and he still can''t beat that bastard who was responsible for it. He lost his standing in the house and his little brother, who was an actual nobody, rose to take his place like he was always waiting for that chance to appear. and Renal easily gave him that chance, failing to complete even a simple task. He clenched his fist and saw the door of his cabin opening. "Not having a pleasant dream, good brother?" a voice said and then a youth appear into the room. He was nothing like Renal, who had a good height and handsome face, but there was some resemblance, faint, but not anything that stands out too much. Moreover, he was always sneaky like as much as Renal stand out, his little brother, Pith, stays as normal as possible. Well, all of that changed after his failure two months back. "Well, brother," Pith said, once again coming into the cabin, "Looks like we have to change the ship. those slavers aren''t killable for now, and your tricks barely helpful against some dogs. Prepare yourself, we will leave in half an hour." Pith did not give Renal a second glance to go back and only when Renal clenched his fist his head peeked through the door again to say: "Also, I would like to meet that person that came into your nightmare, If you can manage to arrange a meeting between us, this little brother will be immensely apprehensive of you." Chapter 147 - Sea King (1) It was the fifth day, and Inari''s wounds have all healed up. She could use her mana freely, and more importantly, she felt the new vigour of her body. Whatever happened underwater that day, it has changed her, improved her constitution by a lot, and even her mana pool was increased by half a notch. But what was most important was that her Blessings have almost doubled in their potency. Inari did not know if it''s natural, but she would have to ask her sister to know better. "I guess what they say is right," she muttered. "What doesn''t kill you makes you stronger." "The quote is certainly true," Elior''s voice loomed behind her, "but it''s incomplete." She looked back to notice the youth walking on the air to walk up towards her, the storage equipment on his shoulder as well as the fishing rod. The sea monsters did not just attack all the time it only surged during an event that mostly happened during the night with the storm and tempest. These few days, Elior killed almost every one of their prey, but it was still not enough for him. It appeared he was collecting their core for some reason. Sure, the cores are one of the expensive things, but could one just kill around monsters all the time, and train the other time? He was certainly odd and somewhat crazy in his pursuit. Then again, how can he be so strong without being a little crazy? Talking about crazy, was he growing crazy without the suit for all five days? He certainly did not look like it, still wore the mask of the pretentious youth. "So, what''s the complete version?" she asked, raising her eyebrow. "What doesn''t kill you makes you stronger," Elior said, "But it leaves you scarred as well." The ocean turned silent, and she could hear the slow wind blowing. She could not refute his words, but she did not want any light on that matter any time soon. "For how long are you going to keep on going like this?" she asked and seeing the obliviousness on his exterior, she continued, "It''s five days, and how many sea monsters have you hunted, thousand? I think it was time to move towards the island now." She was not just saying it for her sake. In the five days, fortunately, she did not have to face her traumatic experience again, but she went into his nightmare once more, and that time also, she failed to do anything. She was sure Elior does not like it, and it makes him unstable as all the time after the end of the trial, he will go hunting without caring about his life. He sure has not died, but he came back with scars and blood all over his body. He even pressed himself harder in the training, not sleeping enough or entirely not sleeping. And most of all, he was not wearing the suit, that makes everything twice as difficult. "The island," Elior muttered, giving the egg-shaped island a look, "I will go there, eventually." Inari bit her lips. It looks like she has to make the decision now. Elior certainly helped her immensely in these few days, but she can''t go on like this. She would have wanted to help him get through his trauma, but it was almost impossible not knowing everything. She has to give up on that reluctantly. "I will leave on my own tomorrow," she said, looking away in the setting sun. The test will come soon, so she won''t have much time to leave. Elior nodded as if it held no surprise about it. "I am sure you can get to the island easily," he said, "Moreover, you will get to second order soon." Inari bit her lips and looked at him, which held his usual face. Moreover, the wisdom behind his face told her he understood why she was leaving. "It is related to your nightmare, isn''t it?" he asked, and it was a rhetorical question as he did not need an answer from her. Inari still nodded. She just did not want to face her trauma again, nor did she want anyone to see it. She would probably kill herself instantly if she found herself in that dream again. "Running away from your nightmare is not the way," he said slowly, "but you already know that." "So you will get tormented in those memories?" She asked, "I am not strong enough to do that." Just then the storm hit and fortunately, it did not turn up as a nightmare challenge, but one of the survival of one. The heavy water surged, and the sky darkened instantly, roaring in deafening thunders. Lightning burst just a few hundred meters away, heaving the surge into a new order of chaos. Darkness and the heaviness in the air loomed heavier. Inari wore the mask back without thinking while Elior looked at the sky nonchalantly. [Chain Quest: Survivor of the Nightmare Sea III With each day, surviving in the nightmare sea becomes difficult. Only the brave, the persistent one strives in the nightmare sea. Survive your third ordeal in the nightmare sea and claim the prize. Clearance requirement: Survive 30 minutes. Reward: Mysterious Lunch Box, Mysterious Item Box, Mysterious Fortune Box, Unknown.] "Huh," Inari muttered, "it''s only 30 minutes today." "That will mean the quest will be immensely difficult," Elior added, though there was no trouble on his face. He stored the fishing rod into the storage equipment and brought out the tall spear. A new one, he already destroyed two in these five days. Inari sent him the party request first this time and equipped the sword that he gave her the first day. She had not used it in these few days, but today will be a different case. "Getting excited about the battle, are we?" Elior said, and then opened the storage bag as it turned into a huge bag over two metres long and stored the boat first while Inari ran around to stay above the water. She did not have uncanny abilities like Elior, who stayed up in the water as if nothing was going on. Actually, she was surprised it was the first time she tried to stand up on water, but her mana was not enough to keep her like that, as the very water negated all mana function slowly. She has to run around with swift speed to keep up on the water. "What ability do you used to stand up on water?" Inari asked, with curiosity, and looked carefully at his legs and only then did she find his tricks. She never actually looked at it carefully. "You are not walking on water. There is some space between the water layer and your legs, but it doesn''t look like some levitation spell." "Spatial manipulation," Elior answered with a smile. "I know I am special." Inari snorted, but she could not deny it. More importantly, that was one particular way to use Spatial abilities. So for what she saw, most always learn to travel if they have a spatial affinity. Maybe that was what makes him special. Inari formed an orb and charged it with enough mana as if beamed in light to brighten the surrounding by a notch. "I am going down," Elior said as his body went down slowly. "It''s going to be thirty minutes, will make the most of it." Inari had no problem with that, but she stayed above the water, as fighting in the water was immensely difficult. Other than the heaviness, it also negates any kind of mana ability. though she will have access to her blessing, most of her light attributed ability will be inefficient in the water. Then again, will Elior leave anything behind for her if she does not go into the water? Her question was answered immediately as she felt two sudden surges surrounding her. Her mind rang as mana churned in her channelling system, in a blink of an eye she was elsewhere as two sea beasts came lurched up where she was a moment ago. Inari raised an eyebrow, and a golden glint appear in her eyes, as her blade beamed and enlarged into a golden light saber. Inari crept on the water and made her move at the head of the monster. Blood sprayed on the air as she killed both of the monsters easily, but it was not so easy as soon she felt more surge in the water. More of the monster was coming, and they were coming in large numbers. ''Thirty minutes, huh,'' she muttered and shot from one place to another. Her body beamed in a golden aura, flickering as she stopped to rush out more power. The golden lightsaber charged in smooth, skill full motion as it drew the blood of the beast. There was no shortage of sea monsters, all came again and again, as her sword moved swiftly slicing, piercing, hacking, and severing them. [You have met the condition to advance to the next order.] Chapter 148 - Sea King (2) Karma points stored in her body, trying to break apart the wall to the next order. The system helped the humans store their excessive karma points if they have restrictions in their path of advancement. Usually, humans always have restrictions, they need to collect items of their path, and go through the ritual, while Devarians had to do none of that, at least none before order five. Then again, order five is the line between an Elite and the rest. The problem here was that she was currently in a battle, while the surge of energy kept on overflowing, rushing her towards the next level. It would have no problem if it was any normal time, but she has to wait, about thirty minutes for now. Her body beamed in golden light as the bite marks from her leg closed up, though it had damaged her suit. She should have stored that suit for the battle at least. That was a silly mistake. Wait, perhaps she could go through her advancement with the help from the Orb, Elior had given her. In the specs, it mentioned it could restrict most attacks below 500 degrees of force. While these best does not have much mastery over mana, all they could do was use their physical force against her. That wouldn''t be much of a problem for her would it? absolutely now. She kind of felt it was a big cheat item. Elior shouldn''t have been allowed to bring something like that into the trial in the first place, then again, he has some mysterious means, and who could tell if all the danger in the trial will be the same as this sea monster who has a brain the same size of a peanut. Without bothering with the monsters that were lunging at her, she dived into the water. The chat was not available for some reason, but she could feel Elior''s presence in the water. The water was dark and murky, she could not even see a could metre away from her, and even with embedding the light orb there, she could barely see a dozen metres away. That too with a lot of trouble, as the water was negating her mana abilities. Unfortunately, the sea monster did not let her go that easily. The sea was their domain, even though they had a little brain--the size of a peanut, they knew how to hunt, it was the only primal instinct that they got and kept them alive in this nightmarish, maddening sea. These monsters mostly evolved through corruption. Well, all chaos fiend advanced through after being corrupted, but these lives in with the very core of the corruption or at least that was the idea. Their brain did not develop before they hunt each other to stay alive. Moreover, nine-tenth of the number died within a few days of their birth, notwithstanding the corruption. Even though these monsters were born through battling, they were not very good at it. At least, not on their standard. They were savage, but they barely had any mana abilities. Inari twisted into a sharp turn as a horrifying maw missed her head just by a fraction of time. She groaned inwardly, as her body shot towards the monster. In the water, her speed certainly was slower, but it was not so that she would not be able to use her flash step, nor was she helpless like the last time she was underwater. The water negated the mana outside of her body and troubled her mana manipulation even in the body, but it was not that huge that she would be at a disadvantage against these brainless sea monsters. Sure their number was huge, but that''s it. She could finish them all. All she needed was time. Ignoring the imminent advance she was having trouble with, she felt no rush of danger. In her battle she was so focused on the killing she forgot she dived into the water, derailing from the advantage in the first place. She wanted to find Elior first and tell him that she was on the verge of advancement, but she was not sure how long she could keep up. Her mana score was swelling and surging and it would break the more she battled. Breaking was not a problem. With each advancement, she was supposed to break her core and reform one with purer and bigger mana. So shattering her mana core was inevitable, but the problem was that she was not sure if she could perform it soundly after breaking it on its own. Then again it was a trial, she should have had another chance on that, but that would take another couple of weeks to months. The trial could last for the next half of the year according to Elior, but one month was enough to get her to the bottom as if she was not already was. It was less than a week she was into the trial, and there was no list as of yet, but she could tell she may not be at near the end, she would not be at the top too. She is likely in the middle feeder, which might have been alright for others, but not for others. If she became complacent with that kind of result, she would be failing her sister, and she would have those elders another chance to poke at her sister because of her failure. Moreover, she wanted to repay the ones that helped her here. Leroy, Elior ¨C she could not do that if she remained in the middle or goes down even lower. She was very sure, Elior and Leroy were on the top of the trial, but there were other factions, the real ones from the mother world, the ones they needed to compete against. It sure wouldn''t be easy with their strength. As she continued to fight, she felt Elior rushing towards her, feeling her dive down. Unlike always, his eyes were focused as he blasted off two monsters on the way with a jerk of his fist. Without wasting time, he gestured with his finger to tell her to get up. Saying that he got up first, seemed like he was not just telling her to get up. Inari sucked in a deep breath the moment she got up from the water and so did Elior. Certainly, the mana could help them in their respiratory abilities, it was still not an alternate for them. Inari was about to tell Elior about her condition when he opened his mouth first. "A sea king is coming." "What?!" Inari was flabbergasted. "How strong is it?" "Not much, but it wants to flee I wouldn''t be able to stop it," Elior answered though he is panting and finally notice the surge in her. "You are restricting your advancement." "It came really at a bad time, didn''t it?" "It did," Elior nodded and looked on the sides where the waves swelled, heaving up then breaking into a huge snakelike monster. "That is the thing?" Inari asked, sucking in a deep breath. "That looked close to fourth-order." "It is," Elior nodded, "but no need to be worried, it''s only a king in name. It could barely use mana in some ability to manipulate the water. Other than that it was just a huge fish with fangs." "But it''s still a monster close to fourth order," Inari tried to remind him of the danger, but Elior was already calculating the profit. "Yes," he said, "I wonder what those mystery boxes give us." He paused looking at the sea king which had not found them as off yet. "If I can kill it, I think it will be something related to my advancement." "Elior," Inari reminded him again, nudging him. "Are you sure your mind is alright?" She was having trouble believing he was alright even on the sixth day without the suit. Moreover, there was that torment and inhuman training. "I am fine," Elior said and stopped, "Well, I do have some headache, but it should be fine." Inari rubbed her forehead. This kind of talk troubled her the most. "Seriously," she said, "Look at the scale and the size of that monster. Even though it did not have much skill in mana manipulation, it still had the defence one got after advancing to the third order." "You are only saying that because you didn''t see me fight," Elior said and Inari shook her head and grunted. "I really need to advance fast," he said slowly, eyeing her. "And I can kill it, but I can''t do it without you. It will flee into the sea if I press it a little hard." Inari looked carefully into those eyes and only saw the sincerity in them. She sighed and nodded, "What do you want me to do?" "Nothing for now," Elior said with a smile. "I will keep this busy for some time, in that time you will advance using the orb of protection.. Then seal its way to escape." Chapter 149 - Sea King (3) Golden light flashed in her body, but her eyes still stared at the sea monsters assaulting the orb through which she was inside. They could do nothing but push her orb of protection a little. It would hold more time than the time she needed. That thought relieved her, as her eyes were drawn towards Elior who was messing with the sea king. The sea king was enormous¡ªsnake-shaped, and scaled, as she had reminded Elior about its defence. Every fiend that goes past the third order had its strength. Defence augmented to the point that any attack from a mana user lesser than the third grade was futile. But there were many complications to play. Elior was not faster than Inari. He could go faster, but it would be troublesome for his human body which is barely taking the tears from as he moves at the speed of sound. The spear lurched, drawing a shallow cut on the sides of the head of the sea king, but he did not follow it up with some piercing, fearing the monster would flee. And to show that the monster was winning, he also went as far as being flung away by the breath attack of the sea king. The attack was a storming vortex of wind, if his body went through all that, his body would be torn into a thousand pieces, not to mention he would die before that. Fortunately, he faked being flung away. The sea king followed by another attack. This time it was water. Waves of water surged in the ocean as it surrounded Elior, trying to drown him. Even the smaller counterparts of the sea monster went after him. Inari was cross-legged, not closed eyes, as her sight was glued to the figure, running around, cutting off the beasts. He had barely dealt with anything to the sea king. She did not know where his confidence came from. Well, so far, he was not in any crisis. That was a good thing. She would need ten more minutes. The primal energy was surging in throughout her body. Every cell of her very being was beaming with the golden light. It was changing her, keeping her guessing how strong she will be. However, it shouldn''t be enough to deal with this sea king. Though it did not have many abilities in mana manipulations, it still held the advantage in the water. Her gaze was still at Elior, who was currently holding two spears in his arms, deflecting every attack from the monsters while dealing his blow. The sea king was shooting its breath attack again and again while trying to drown him with the surges. Elior was not as fast as her in linear moments, but his body was agiler, flexible as he dodged every attack dealing slow or swift blows, carefully missing nothing. In the middle of all this, he shoved one of his spears on the belly of the sea king as it squeaked, heaving and terrorising. It was the first time he dealt with something that was useful, though after the initial squeak the sea king ignored it all around, lashing with its tail. Elior ducked into the water and came out a little afar. He mouthed two potions, bringing out of his storage equipment, as more than half of his mana was already wasted and the sea monster has a lot to say. Drinking all the context of the potions, he snarled at the monster, attacking it head-on. Inari bit her lips, battling head-on was a seriously bad idea since the monster was so level higher than them, but Elior did have some sense, as just he was before the monster, his lower body lurched, as he shot up above it, twisting and circling to shoot out an invisible sharp arch of blades. The attack did not just break the defence of the sea king, it also made it squeal. The sea king shot its breath attack without considering anywhere, and on a happenstance, some of its after effect came at her orb too. Fortunately, the barrier was sturdy enough, though she could not say the same if it had to take its attack head-on. The barrier shook for a couple of seconds as her vision disturbed, before turning to normal. When she could see everything again, she saw Elior was on the top of the sea king, lurching his spear before shoving it directly into the back of its head. The monster squealed as it jerked its head, flinging at Elior in the air. It did give him any extra time, and shoot another of its wind breath attacks. Vortex of maddening wind swirled towards Elior, who appeared helpless in the air. Inari''s mind rang, but she could do nothing from afar. Elior lurched his lower body as his body twisted, but he would not be able to get away by doing that. If the vortex of wind hit him directly, it will crush his defence like crumpling paper, and tear apart his body, no better than scrap papers. Fortunately, none of that happened. On the brink of the impact, a sharp swirl of shock wave crept from his body, crumbling the vortex to nothingness instead. Though it all did not go as Elior had wished, Inari had blood on his face as well as the other cut wounds on his body. Elior did not seem to care about any of that, and moreover, he did not fall on the water after he neutralised the breath attack, instead; he stood nonchalant in the air as if there was an invisible floor under his foot, narrowing his eyes at the sea king. Then he dashed down, walking towards the monster. It shot breaths of wind vertex again and again, but Elior dodged every one of them skilfully, while his other hand brought another spear out of the storage equipment. How many of these spears does he have? She did not know the answer, but she was taught that there were never too many weapons. Elior did not attack the sea king again, but went after its counterparts, killing one after another skilfully, and it appeared his fighting intensity, power, mana revolution all were rising with it. Inari checked the quest interface and found about 17 minutes remaining. While Elior prepared to throw his spear again while he was standing in the head of one of the monsters. The sea king shoots its breath attack, not very caring a bit about its counterpart. This time Elior did not withdraw, took a stance, front leg high in the air, and lurched his spear back, before shooting it with all his strength. The spear warped in space, ignoring all the wind vortex, digging right into the eye of the sea king. Inari shuddered, looking at the scene. This was just sheer might. Elior actually won in the contest of attack power. Well, in truth, Elior most likely used his spatial ability to his advantage, though she could not deny him of his glory. It was never easy to win in an attack force against a monster that was 100 levels above you. The monster wailed and squeaked, and as Elior feared it tried to flee seeing that it was at a disadvantage. Inari panicked, it was her job to stop that, but she would need two more minutes to complete her advancement. Moreover, Elior strayed away from the plan as well, he told her he will just mess around with it to give her time, but he went to a direct attack, then again, taking his mental health into consideration, she could guess how much frustration he felt. But that did not change the fact that the sea king will flee from just under the nose. All his hard work will be for nought. "You are not going anywhere," Elior snarled at the very moment and shot his other spear again. The seeking was almost underwater when the spear pierced its back. It did not appear it would do anything and Inari sighed in frustration, knowing all Elior''s hard work went to water. Abruptly then, bombardment came from where the sea king went, and not just one, but four similar bombings, one after another, only a couple metres away from one another. ''What happened?'' a question appeared in her head and her head came with an answer soon enough as she looked at the sword Elior had given her. "Right, they came with a Destruction key input." Even in such a state, Elior was working with a plan. Though it wasted a good amount of his fortune, since, he was so serious about hunting this beast, it will probably be worth it. Inari was waiting for the congratulations message to come, but none came. Elior shook his head and gave her a look. Gesturing her that he was going after the monster, he vanished into the water as well, bringing out a sleek sword this time around. Looks like she would have to get herself involved as well, and she was just on the brink of finishing her advancement.