《The Sigil of Chaos》


 1 Chapter 1: A Difficult Life

    A soft wind blew, brushing against Nadran''s face as he opened his eyes to look around.His surroundings were dark, as though it was night, and his vision was obscured by a thick fog, making it impossible to see more than 10 feet in any direction.Despite his seemingly eerie surroundings, Nadran did not feel nervous or afraid, and he looked around calmly, his shoulder-length black hair blowing gently in the breeze.


    Nadran felt that something strange was happening, and yet, despite not knowing where he was or why he was there, he was somehow certain that he was not in any danger.The fog around him had a strange, ethereal feel to it, and the air itself seemed to contain some unknown mystical quality that was impossible to describe.


    Without warning, the mist in front of him started to part, revealing what lay beyond.A massive shadow took form within the mist, becoming more defined before the mist dissipated completely, revealing the gargantuan creature.


    Nadran stood in muted awe as he stared at the massive dragon before him.The reptilian beast was coated in black scales, and was over 200 feet long, with clawed feet and gigantic wings.Nadran felt that, by all rights, he should be terrified of this creature. Dragons symbolized the peak of fantastic beasts, taking center stage in ancient legends, with even the weakest among them being strong enough to destroy an army of tens of thousands without much effort.Again though, he felt a strange calm, a sort of assurance that he was safe.The dragon appeared to be asleep, with its eyes closed and its tail curled around it, looking almost like a sleeping dog¡­ if dogs were several thousand times bigger and could breathe fire.


    A voice echoed within Nadran''s mind, sounding incredibly ancient and resonating powerfully within him."Greetings, young one.While I''m sure you will have many questions, the connection is tenuous, and I cannot speak for long.I know you have the potential to accomplish great things, and, if all goes well, you may eventually rise up to become even more powerful than me.For now, though, all I can do to help you is to break the shackles that bind you.With that, your future will be limitless."


    Even with the strange state his mind was in, Nadran couldn''t help but wonder what the voice meant.[Break the shackles that bind me?What shackles is he talking about?Is this voice that dragon in front of me?Also, why would he say this to me, as opposed to someone else?I''m not talented, and there are literally millions, if not billions, of people stronger than me.]


    A deep, rumbling chuckle echoed within Nadran''s mind, then the voice spoke again."That inquisitive mind of yours will be your greatest asset.Never forget that, no matter what others may say."At the same time, a globe of liquid formed in the air in front of the dragon''s forehead.It grew in size until it was the size of a human head, then stopped, shimmering despite the lack of any apparent light sources.It was composed of a perfectly clear liquid that had no visible impurities within it.


    The globe drifted slowly toward Nadran before it bumped gently into his forehead.The sphere suddenly shuddered before it became turbulent, forming into a vortex that poured rapidly into Nadran''s head.It passed through with no resistance, as though it was merely an illusion.When it all passed into him, Nadran felt a cool sensation rush through his body, and he seemed to feel a faint sensation of something shattering within him.Then, the feeling disappeared, gone as quickly as it had come.Nadran blinked a couple times before looking down at himself, somehow feeling lighter than before in some intangible way.Other than this vague impression, though, nothing seemed to have changed.


    "It is complete," the voice rumbled."Now go, young Nadran.Go and face your destiny."With that, the dragon''s eyes opened, and the world was consumed in a blinding flash of light.


    ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----


    Nadran woke up in a cold sweat.[What was that dream?I''ve never had such a strange dream before,] he thought to himself in confusion.[It felt so¡­ real.]


    He yawned and rubbed his eyes before looking around and seeing the bright sunlight streaming into his room.He immediately sat up in surprise as he realized how late it was.How did I oversleep so long? Nadran wondered in shock.He was 21 years old at this point, making him legally an adult, and it had been years since he last overslept like this.At this point, he noticed a hastily written note lying next to his bed.He picked it up, recognizing his father''s handwriting.''You weren''t waking up, so we ate breakfast without you.I''ll be back for dinner.''


    Nadran got up, stretching, before he walked out of the small bedroom.A single small biscuit was sitting on the wobbly table, and Nadran sighed as he sat down to eat the hardened bread.The food was quickly eaten before he stood up and prepared for the day.The food wasn''t enough to satisfy his hunger, but at least he wouldn''t starve.Within ten minutes, he was out the door, walking toward the mountain right outside the town.


    Nadran quickly climbed the mountain before he reached a sheer cliff face.He jumped up, grabbing onto a small outcropping in the rock with ease before he dexterously climbed the rocky cliff.


    As he was climbing, he noticed a small green shoot protruding from a crack in the rocks.He stopped next to it, examining it before he reached over and grabbed hold of it, pulling it out of the rock it was embedded in."A two-leaf sillweed, not bad," he muttered to himself before he placed it in his pouch and continued climbing.He quickly reached a ledge and pulled himself up onto the flat stone.This ledge-like outcropping extended along the cliff for over twenty feet, and Nadran looked over to see his mother and sister crouched on the ledge nearby.


    "Hi, sorry I''m late," Nadran called out, getting their attention as he walked over.


    "Oh, there you are," his mother said with a smile."We really could not wake you up no matter what we tried.It''s unusual for you to sleep so deeply."


    "Yeah, I don''t know myself," Nadran replied, shrugging."Other than having a weird dream, nothing special happened last night, so I don''t know what caused it."


    "Well, you''re up now, so it doesn''t really matter.Find anything on the way here?" his mother replied.


    "Yeah, I found a two-leaf sillweed," Nadran responded, taking it out of his pouch and handing it over."So, where are we looking today?"


    "We''ve been looking on the stretch up to that ridge over there, and we will look over there next.How about you start here and work your way toward that boulder?" she suggested, pointing to different areas as she talked.


    "Alright, sounds good." Nadran said as he nodded, then began closely examining the rock face."Hey, Sania, how have you been doing today?" Nadran asked his younger sister as he continued staring intently at the rocks, looking for signs of the elusive medicinal herbs that hid themselves within the rocks.


    "Well, considering you wouldn''t wake up this morning, I would say we got off to a pretty rocky start," Sania replied, patting the rocky cliff for emphasis.Nadran''s mother rolled her eyes as they laughed at the pun.


    After a minute, Nadran spoke up again."Hey Sania, look at this!" Nadran called out, motioning her over.She walked over, and Nadran held up an object for her to see."Look! It''s a ROCK!" Nadran announced dramatically, holding up a perfectly ordinary stone for her to see.


    "Oh man," Sania gasped, playing along."I''ve never seen a rock before.I thought they were just a myth!"They both laughed and kept searching for herbs to pick.


    His mother sighed and shook her head at their antics."He''s an adult now, so why does it feel like he''s still just a kid?"


    ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----


    Nadran placed the final herb on the display stand, then sighed before furrowing his brow.He raised his finger and used it to slowly trace a symbol in the air.A faint purple line formed where the tip of his finger had passed, and it gradually formed into a rather complex shape, with crossing lines and zigzags, straight lines and curves.There seemed to be no apparent rhyme or reason to the shapes that formed, and they all locked together in a strange manner. The entire process took over 10 seconds for Nadran to complete, and his brow was beaded with sweat.[Why do sigils have to be so hard to remember?I can barely even remember how to make the simplest ones.]


    Nadran shook his head and made a releasing motion with his hand.The sigil trembled, then formed into a glowing white light that floated in the air.The light drifted up with a hand motion from Nadran, then slipped into the sign on top of the little roadside stall.The letters lit up, spelling out ''Four Dragons Herbs and Medicine.''Below it was a stylized picture of four dragons flying in a circle around a purple flower.


    Nadran looked out across the busy street, a neutral expression on his face.There were dozens of other stalls along the road, and it seemed that each one was selling something different.There were trinkets and charms, tools and daggers, and everything in between.Occasionally, one of the hundreds of people walking down the street would stop at a stall and peruse their wares, but most passed by indifferently.Many of these stalls were even worse off than Nadran''s, and they didn''t even have a light for their signs, meaning they had an even harder time attracting the attention of potential customers.The people running those stalls looked emaciated, and they were clearly starving.


    Not everyone could cast sigils, and even fewer could afford to attend the classes where they were taught.Nadran only knew how to use them because he snuck into the lectures that discussed them.Sigils meant strength, and in this world, strength meant everything.Strength was the only true law of the land, and those without it would be trod underfoot.


    An arrogant voice interrupted Nadran''s train of thought, causing him to return to the present."Oh hey, it''s purple-eyes!There he is, tending to his little stall."


    Nadran sighed and looked over at the speaker.A stocky young man was staring at him, a self-satisfied smirk on his face.Behind him stood a few cronies, with one being someone Nadran didn''t recognize.


    ''Purple-eyes'' referred to Nadran, of course.Neither he nor his parents knew why, but he had been born with eyes the color of amethyst.Such an abnormal eye color was very attention-grabbing.Of course, not all attention is a good thing.


    "Who is this?" the new crony asked with a twisted smile, knowing their leader had found a target.


    "Oh yeah, you haven''t seen him before.This guy can use sigils, but he is the single most incompetent sigil user I have ever seen.He''s been using them for years, yet he still struggles with even the most basic ones.He is a true piece of human trash, unable even to be a low slate cultivator."


    [Strong words, coming from someone who''s barely even a mid slate cultivator,] Nadran thought dryly.Cultivation in this world was divided into tiers based off precious stones, with slate being the lowest, and each tier was further subdivided into low, mid, high, and peak.Of course, Nadran didn''t even have the ability to be ranked at all, which was practically unheard of among those who could use sigils.


    At this point, Kalio, the ringleader, walked up to the small stall, the very image of self-satisfied arrogance."Your sign seems a bit dim.Maybe I should help make it a bit brighter," he said, insincerity clear in his voice.With a flourish of his hands, a slate-gray sigil began to take shape.In less than 3 seconds, a sigil, more complex than the one Nadran had made previously, had formed in the air.With a wave of his hand, the completed sigil congealed and flew into the sign.The sign flickered before the light within it went completely out.


    "Oops, my bad," Kalio said in mock surprise."I must have accidentally used a darkness sigil.Sorry about that."


    [Yeah right, you just accidentally used a sigil with a completely different composition.Give me a break,] Nadran thought, but externally, he remained silent and stone-faced.Knowing what would make them go away, Nadran suppressed a sigh and began creating a light sigil.They never leave unless they''re satisfied, and while they''re here, I''ll never get any customers¡­ As he concentrated on completing the sigil, he tried his best to ignore the toxic laughter that filled the air.


    "I thought you were exaggerating, but this actually the most pathetic sigil creation I have ever seen," the new lackey crowed in delight.


    "Look how hard he''s trying, too," Kalio replied."And despite all that effort, he takes over 10 seconds when it should take less than 3 at the worst for such a basic sigil.I can''t help but wonder if he''s intentionally making the sigils badly, because if he isn''t, his skills are really too pitiful."


    "Huh, wait, why is his sigil purple?" the lackey asked in confusion.


    "Well, have you ever seen an unranked cultivator before?" Kalio replied dismissively."That must just be the color of unranked sigils."


    "Oh, good point," the lackey replied."I didn''t think of that."


    Nadran finally finished the sigil, and the sign lit up once again.The new minion glanced at the sign and commented "So anyways, why does this tiny stall have such a grandiose name?"


    Kalio responded in a casual yet malicious manner."Oh, I heard that decades ago, this was a full-sized store that was actually quite influential.Unfortunately for them, they offended the wrong person, and not only was the owner killed, all their valuable alchemic recipes and cultivation manuals were also stolen.Purple-eyes'' father had to take over, and since then, it''s declined to the puny stand you see today.His father has really driven it into the ground."


    Nadran''s fa?ade slipped as he glared angrily at Kalio.[This has nothing to do with my father! Leave my family out of this!]He just barely managed to restrain himself from shouting out, but he clenched his fist so hard that his nails drew blood.


    Laughing, the bullies went on their way.Nadran took a deep breath, then reset his expression to neutral and continued tending to the stall.

 2 Chapter 2: A Terrible Day

    "That will be 3 slate pieces," Nadran monotoned, handing the herb to the customer and receiving three flat pieces of slate in return.


    In this world, the currency mirrored the realms of cultivation, with a difference of 1,000 times between each tier.So, one piece of marble, the second tier, was worth 1,000 pieces of slate.


    After the customer left, Nadran held the slate pieces in his hand while slowly tracing lines with the other, making sure to do it behind the stall so it wasn''t visible to passerbys. This was more complicated than even the shadow sigil cast by Kalio earlier, but it was clearly a struggle for Nadran to complete, his fingers faltering over and over as he tried to remember the large number of seemingly random steps.After nearly half a minute, he finally completed the sigil, wiping the sweat off his brow. He let go of the stone coins, and they vanished into the air.


    It had taken him over 2 years of hard work to learn the dimensional storage sigil after he had managed to copy it down on paper when he snuck into a more advanced sigil lecture.But despite its difficulty, it had proven to be an invaluable tool.


    Nadran''s gaze suddenly sharpened as he saw an approaching figure, knowing instinctively that trouble was coming.The man looked to be about as old as Nadran, but he was dressed in fine clothing and had an inherent air of wealth and arrogance to him."Do you have any red fern?" he asked in a tone that was more command than question.


    "Yes, we have a piece of red fern," Nadran replied in a flat tone, picking up one of the more valuable herbs on the stand."It is worth 10 slate pieces."


    "Ha, you think I''m paying you for this?" the man asked mockingly."I don''t think you understand what position you are in."With that, he lifted his hand and began tracing lines in the air, leaving a milky white trail in their wake.This was a hallmark of the marble tier, the second major cultivation tier.All five of his fingers moved in concert, each one tracing its own independent path, looking much like a spider doing a complex dance.Within a second, a complex sigil had formed in the air.Sneering, the man released the sigil, releasing a wave of force that smashed into Nadran, launching him into the air.


    He hit the ground hard, bruising his upper back, but managed to curl his head upwards before it could hit the hard dirt road, avoiding worse injuries.Nadran rolled over, ignoring the excruciating pain, then coughed violently, blood dripping out of his mouth.[This is bad, I must have suffered internal injuries too,] Nadran thought with concern.Bracing himself with his arms, he tried to get up, but instead felt a sharp kick to his ribs, causing him to get sent rolling across the ground.After a second, he stopped rolling, now lying face down in the dirt.


    Next, he felt a heavy weight descend on the back of his head, and his face was shoved heavily into the dirt, his mouth filled with the mixed taste of dirt and blood."You think a weakling like YOU can demand money from ME?You can''t even defend yourself, you should be glad I don''t just kill you now," a voice called out smugly from above him."Lucky for you, I am a considerate and generous person, so I will leave it at this.Hahahaha!"He laughed uproariously as though he had just told an incredible joke.


    Nadran felt the man lift their boot off his head, then heard footsteps as the man walked away.Nadran slowly pulled himself to his feet, shaking his head to try to dispel the ringing in his ears.He blinked his eyes a few times to clear his vision, then looked up at his herb stand, only to find that all of his herbs were gone.He saw the man swaggering away as two attendants walked over, taking flanking positions next to the young noble as they departed.Nadran managed to hear them talking as they slowly and calmly walked down the street.


    "Young master, why waste your time on such a weak cultivator?We need to be at the meeting in fifteen minutes," one of the attendants said disapprovingly.


    "We''ll still make it in plenty of time," the man responded casually."Crushing people underfoot is just so exhilarating, I had to do it.Besides, red fern has a nice smell when burned, so I figured I might as well get a little extra something for tonight''s bath."


    "Alright, just try to avoid more detours please," the attendant pleaded."The master will be unhappy if you are late again."


    "Whatever, it''s not my problem if you get punished by my father again," the man said flippantly, and they moved out of sight around a corner.


    Nadran sighed and moved slowly toward the barren stand, wincing as he moved a particularly injured muscle.He made it back to the stand and looked out over the still-busy street.He got a few sympathetic looks, especially from other stall owners, but nothing else.Nadran wasn''t surprised, though. In a world where strength was everything, cruelty was often rewarded, and compassion punished.Selfless people were truly few and far between.


    Although every part of his body felt like it was on fire with pain, Nadran grimaced, clutching his side, and slowly began to create a sigil behind the stall.The intense pain made it hard to concentrate, and a large jolt of pain from his side caused his hand to tremble, causing the sigil to fail, fizzling into nothing.Nadran grimaced, clenching his teeth, and when the burst of pain subsided, he started again from the beginning. Nearly a minute later, he managed to succeed, and his dimensional storage space opened up.


    Nadran reached into the air in front of him, and his hand disappeared into the space.He pulled out a couple bandages, which he wrapped around some of the openly bleeding wounds.Next, he reached in again and began pulling out herbs, which he began placing on the stand to replace the ones that had been stolen.[This is exactly why dimensional storage spaces are so useful,] Nadran thought dryly.[At least I still have herbs to sell.]


    The dimensional storage space that Nadran had created was the lowest tier of storage space, and there was only one cubic foot of space within it.A surprising number of things can fit in such a small space, though, and Nadran had it packed to the brim with backup herbs, bandages and other daily necessities, and whatever money he managed to earn in that day.After he was done, although there weren''t as many herbs as before, he was able to keep selling herbs, earning more money so that his family could eat as he tried to let his wounds heal.


    ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----


    "This is the diagram for a basic defensive sigil, called the chi shield," the lecturer explained, showing a picture displayed on the wall behind him by using a projection sigil.The picture was complex, being composed of over 30 different line segments, some straight, some curved, all connected end-to-end in a single, very long path."This technique creates a transparent barrier around your body, and it is able to block both physical and energy attacks.Of course, its simplicity means that while it can be created very quickly, it is not very strong, and is generally used as a reaction to lessen the impact of a blow.With a bit of training, you should be able to execute this in less than half of a second.After all, that may be all the time you have to defend yourself in a fight." The lecturer continued to talk about the uses of the technique and its pros and cons as Nadran worked to copy down the picture on a piece of paper.


    Nadran was watching the lecture from up in the rafters, holding a support beam as he drew.Although he was still injured, his internal energy had helped to heal the worst of the injuries, and he wasn''t in any danger, so he decided he would still attend the lecture.[I''m not about to let some random noble stop me from learning more about sigils,] Nadran thought with resolve, ignoring the pain that still coursed throughout his body.


    Getting into the rafters was actually quite easy for Nadran, who had been climbing cliffs to gather herbs ever since he was a young boy.In this way, he could easily avoid having to pay the fee for entering the lecture.After all, there wasn''t anyone to collect the attendance fee at the rear window 30 feet in the air.


    Nadran had secretly attended many of these lectures, and actually knew quite a bit about sigils.The only problem he had was his difficulty in remembering the complex figures needed to create them.Whenever he thought he knew how to do something, it would slip away again, and he would need to strain to remember the next step.


    [Why do sigils have to be so hard to remember?] Nadran thought to himself for the twelfth time that day alone.[Why are they so random, why is there no logic behind their structure?Why¡­]


    At this point, Nadran had a sudden revelation.[What if¡­ they aren''t actually random?What if I can find an underlying logic to them that ties them together?]The more he thought, the more excited he became, and he hastily used a sigil to open his storage space, pulling out a thick folder.This folder had hundreds, if not thousands, of different sigils drawn on different pages, with each of the sigils sorted by type.This folder was the fruits of years of effort of sneaking into lectures daily to record all of the different sigils he could.Out of those, he had chosen the ones that were most useful to helping his family and earning money through their stall, and had spent hundreds of painstaking hours learning them, even when he felt he would never remember it right.This cache of techniques was so comprehensive that even instructors would be impressed with its scope.Of course, this was all useless to Nadran if he couldn''t use them, but he had them nonetheless.


    His work now was paying off as he took out dozens of papers with defensive techniques and placed them side by side, balancing them carefully on a support beam.He scanned through all of the barrier techniques, and after looking for only a few seconds, he saw a repeated section in every single one of them.[It seemed that this shape, only a few lines long, was the core of the barrier.The rest probably creates the unique identity of the barrier, giving it different traits,] he thought.


    Nadran couldn''t help but get more and more excited.[If this is true, maybe I can actually remember how to make sigils, if I''m just able to break it up into pieces I recognize, then put them back together.Why did none of the lecturers ever describe sigils like this?It makes so much sense now!And how did I only just realize this now, after learning about them for so many years?] Nadran wondered, not knowing that before that day, such a revelation had been impossible for him.


    Nadran suddenly came back to the present as he realized everyone was already leaving.It seemed that the lecture was over.Grinning, Nadran packed the papers back into his folder, returning them to his storage space.He jumped up to leave, then froze as the sensation of pain loudly announced that he was still injured.Nadran had totally forgotten about his wounds in his excitement.[I hope I didn''t make anything worse with that,] he thought as he carefully got up and moved toward the window, quickly leaving the building and heading home.


    ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----


    "I''m home," Nadran declared as he stepped into his house, looking around to see his mother and sister working on making dinner, adding ingredients to a pot boiling over the fire.He tried to hide his injury, not wanting to worry his family, but as always, nothing got by his mother.With a quick glance, she noticed his posture and dropped her ingredients, rushing over.


    "What happened?" she asked, looking him over for injuries.His face had visible bruising on it and was slightly swollen, and his posture was slightly bent in an attempt to relieve pressure from his injured side."Did someone attack you again?" she guessed, looking at him in concern.


    "I''m fine," Nadran replied, trying to dodge the question."I just need to rest a bit and I''ll be good as new."Nadran knew that, as someone who could create sigils, he had a larger pool of internal energy, which expediated the healing process, making an injury that would normally take weeks to heal instead heal in a day or two.Of course, he would have almost no internal energy to cast sigils with in the meantime, but at least he would be healthy soon.


    "Let''s get you into bed," his mother said, guiding him over to his bed and laying him down."Just try to sleep for a bit so you can heal faster.I''ll let you know when dinner is ready."


    "Okay," Nadran agreed, then paused and asked, "Oh yeah, is dad still not here yet?"


    "He is still out negotiating with the Floating Pill Garden, but he should be back any minute now," his mother responded."Now get some sleep."


    Nadran nodded and laid back fully, closing his eyes.Every day, his father would take some of the herbs they gathered and bring them to the big herb and alchemy shops of the city, then sell the herbs to them.This resulted in him being able to sell herbs in bulk, but generally at very low prices.It was still better than the herbs going to waste, though, and Nadran was almost never able to sell all of his own share at the roadside stall.It was a constant battle with the larger stores though, as the shopkeepers would always try to rip his father off, and he had very little leverage to work with, especially since he couldn''t even use sigils to defend himself and he didn''t have any powerful friends to defend him.Still though, Nadran''s father was able to earn just as much as Nadran, if not more, despite how difficult it was to sell for good prices.This also lent a layer of security to their lives, as, while they earned very little, they were almost guaranteed to earn enough to survive, even if one of them had a bad day and earned nothing.


    It was relatively quiet in the house, making it easier to relax.The only sounds he could hear were the faint clanking and bubbling from dinner being prepared, and the whistling of the wind through a crack in the wooden roof.Nadran lay on his bed for over an hour, letting his wounds slowly heal.


    He was awoken from his half-asleep state by the sound of the front door opening.He rolled over, looking out the window to see that the sun was just beginning to set over the horizon, giving the sky a faint reddish tinge.He yawned, rubbing his eyes as he prepared to get up.At the sound of the concerned shouts of his family members, though, he quickly sat upright and rushed out of his room, ignoring his muscles that screamed in protest at the sudden movement.


    Nadran dashed out of his room, running at full speed before he abruptly stopped in the doorway, his blood running cold.He saw Pinod, his father''s longtime friend, holding Nadran''s father in his arms.Nadran looked over in horror at his father, who was covered in blood and lying limply in Pinod''s arms, one of his legs twisted at an unnatural angle.Nadran broke out of his trance and rushed over, and looking at his mother, he asked in an unsteady voice "I-is he¡­"


    His mother wiped the tears in her eyes before responding "He''s alive, but only just.What happened to him¡­?"


    With trembling hands, Nadran traced a sigil in the air, taking three attempts before he finally succeeded due to his distress.The sigil drifted across his father''s body, examining the extent of the damage.What he saw made him gasp.


    With numerous broken bones, fractured ribs, torn muscles, extensive internal and external bleeding and damaged organs, it was a miracle that he was still alive.Furthermore, the damage did not seem to be healing at all, but rather was slowly getting worse as his vital organs slowly began to shut down due to the injuries.[At this rate, he can only last a few days at most before dying¡­] Nadran realized, the trembling in his hands intensifying.As Nadran looked at his father''s bloody face, contorted in a grimace of pain despite his lack of consciousness, Nadran clenched his hands tightly into fists in an attempt to control his raging emotions, not even noticing the blood seeping from his palms.

 3 Chapter 3: Lesser Blood Lily

    Nadran walked over to a bookshelf that was stacked to the ceiling with books, scanning over the titles to try to find the book he was looking for.While it pained him to have to spend 10 slate pieces in order to enter the public library, especially when his family barely had enough money to survive as it was, he had no choice.This was the cheapest way to figure out how to heal his father, and this was not a place that was as easy to infiltrate as the lecture halls, especially with a grand total of 0 windows in the entire building, so he had no choice but to pay the fee.


    [There it is!] Nadran mentally exclaimed in delight, grabbing an old and battered book that looked to be thousands of pages thick off a shelf.Despite it''s clear extensive use, the title seemed to have an aura about it that commanded respect.Sacred Elm Herb Compendium was written in a bold font across the cover in an ink that was still pitch black, even after decades of use.This was the single most exhaustive list of herbs that was available to the general public, and although Nadran had spent his entire life picking and selling herbs, he was still unable to recognize 9 out of 10 plants contained within its worn pages.


    [If anywhere speaks of herbs that could save my father, it would be here.Or rather, I''m sure there are many such plants that could help, but I need to find one that I could actually acquire,] Nadran thought, furrowing his brow as he tried to skim through the pages.Thousands of herbs flashed through his eyes as he desperately searched, some looking ordinary, while others looked more like finely crafted treasures than natural herbs.Despite the fact that he likely still had a few days in which to save his father, Nadran could not help but feel rushed, unable to calm himself or slow down at all, not wanting to let his father remain in pain for any longer than was necessary.Nadran was also secretly terrified that something would happen that would make the injuries even worse, so that the herbs he was hoping to find would no longer be sufficient.The sun had already set over the horizon, and yet he didn''t feel tired yet as he tried to hurry and find an herb that met his requirements.


    [I can''t believe that some stuck-up noble would run over my father with his carriage for ''not getting out of the way fast enough¡­'' No, actually, I can easily believe a noble would do that.That doesn''t mean I''ll forgive them, though¡­] Nadran thought, trying to reign in the rage at this noble who had almost killed his father for their own twisted amusement.[Revenge can wait until later, I need to save dad first.Besides, I currently don''t have the strength to make him pay.I can only hope I can grow strong enough to fight him soon.]


    Hours passed as he looked through the list, trying to calm his heart and focus on his task, but it seemed it would never end.All of the herbs were either unable to help his father, were clearly far too rare for him to find, or both at the same time.While Nadran was looking through the book as fast as he possibly could, he could tell that he was less than 1% of the way through the book even after such a long time.[At this rate, it''ll be months by the time I''m finished looking through these,] he lamented, despair beginning to creep into his mind.But then, an idea suddenly occurred to him, causing Nadran to stiffen and almost drop the book.


    [What if I tried to use a sigil to search through the book for a fitting herb?I just found out earlier today that sigils can be broken up into separate parts, so maybe I can learn to use one of the searching sigils I copied down from the lectures.But if this doesn''t work, I could spend hours doing something that doesn''t work¡­ hours that I don''t think I have the freedom to waste right now.]Nadran pursed his lips as he pondered whether it was worth the risk before sighing and muttering "Well, it''s not like continuing to search manually like this is likely to succeed."He used the storage sigil to retrieve his folder of sigil designs.He quickly found a number of sigils he thought could help, then compared them to see what shared properties they had.[It looks like this part near the center is the part that causes the sigil to scan its surroundings, and¡­ ah, this swirl-shaped pattern probably indicates using the air as a medium for the scan.This sigil is used to search for objects inside lakes, so¡­ this symbol indicates water being used as a medium.]


    Nadran found it surprisingly easy to figure out what different parts of the sigil did; all he needed to do was to was find which sigils shared a certain symbol, then figure out what the sigils had in common.In this way, Nadran was able to figure out the sigil that would help him most.He didn''t have any sigils recorded that were specifically designed to scan words on a page; most of them were used to detect danger or treasure in their surroundings.However, one of them had all of the attributes that he would expect from a sigil that could search for certain words.It was actually designed to scan runic traps in order to find the method to disarm them.It seemed that it did this by looking for certain runes within the trap that acted as the source of the trap''s energy, the destruction of which would disable the trap''s mechanisms.


    Nadran studied the sigil diagram, trying to memorize the pattern.Drawing sigils required a large amount of concentration, and it was nearly impossible to create a sigil if you had to constantly be looking at the diagram to figure out what to do next.Because of this, even with the diagram in front of him, Nadran needed to memorize it first before he could use it.Nadran was prepared for this process to take another several hours at bare minimum, and he was in fact hoping for it to be that fast. Previous sigils of this complexity had taken him several months to memorize, but Nadran did not have the time for that, and so he only hoped he could be lucky enough to memorize it quickly.


    To Nadran''s surprise, the process went smoother than he could ever have hoped for.Now that he could identify the different sections of the sigil and what they did, he was able to easily draw those parts.The only difficulty came in the areas he did not recognize; he wasn''t sure what the purpose of certain sections were, as he couldn''t find anything that looked the same in the other sigils.[Maybe these parts have some other meaning that I don''t understand,] Nadran contemplated.Although these unidentified sections took up the majority of the sigil, he was able to use the parts he did recognize as reference points, and within half an hour, he was able to successfully make the full sigil.


    [Incredible,] Nadran thought in shock.[I was able to learn it so quick.It''s almost as if my previous inability to learn sigils was a lie.]Shaking his head to rid it of unnecessary thoughts, Nadran used his internal energy to activate the search function of the sigil.Internal energy was the power source that allowed cultivators to create and use sigils, and the amount of energy used was proportional to the power and complexity of the sigil.Thankfully, the sigil Nadran was working with was just a mid slate sigil, and so Nadran was able to attempt the sigil six times over the course of half an hour, operate the sigil once it was successfully created, and still have a bit of internal energy left over.


    The sigil set to work quickly as Nadran used his internal energy to inscribe the words he was looking for onto the sigil.These words acted as the parameters for which the sigil searched.Nadran flipped through the pages of the book, and the sigil scanned each one.When the sigil found all of the specified words on a single page, it caused glowing auras of light to appear around them, and Nadran stopped to look at the plant that the words were referring to.If it didn''t seem feasible for him to acquire the plant, he moved on.In this way, Nadran was able to look through almost the entire book in just over an hour.


    Nadran got increasingly frustrated as he got farther and farther into the book without finding anything that he could potentially get his hands on.When he reached the halfway point, Nadran started to wonder if there was anything in this book that would work.Soon, he was on the last dozen or so pages of the book and still hadn''t found anything good, and he was beginning to lose hope.


    It was at this point that a certain plant caught his eye, and Nadran stopped to examine it.This flower was deep red in color with a stem that was as white as bone. Above the picture, the words ''Lesser Blood Lily'' were written in a neat font.Looking at the glowing words that were in the description, Nadran began reading, muttering aloud to himself.


    "Let''s see¡­ looks like it can heal even extremely deep wounds, both internal and external, while both mending broken bones and increasing the bones'' strength.It can typically be found¡­ near the nests of crimson hawks."


    Nadran suddenly thought of a reddish nest he had once seen high up on a cliff.Since crimson hawks are extremely aggressive creatures, his family had stayed well away from that cliff face when they were collecting herbs.


    [Could there be a Lesser Blood Lily there?] Nadran wondered, shivering in a mixture of excitement and fear.[Crimson hawks are really dangerous, though¡­ no, no, I need to go there.I don''t have any other options if I want to help heal Dad.]


    Nadran took a deep breath, being sure to memorize the flower''s appearance before hurrying out of the library. Ignoring the pain and fatigue that had slowly been building up in his body, he hurried toward the Pyratha cliffs, the twinkling stars the only thing lighting his way.

 4 Chapter 4: Crimson Hawks

    Nadran climbed quickly up the cliff, his amethyst eyes seeming to glow in the dark of the night as they reflected the determination resolve within him.Nadran had never had much trouble seeing things at night, and he honestly found it a bit amusing to watch other people stumble around in the dark when he could see the obstacles without much trouble."Maybe having purple eyes gives me good eyesight," was something Nadran had jokingly said in the past, but there was no way for him to actually find out if the two unusual attributes of his eyes had anything in common.


    In just a few minutes, he had climbed a significant distance, and he could already see the reddish nest of the crimson hawks above him.[There''s the nest¡­ I really hope that there''s a lesser blood lily nearby, otherwise I don''t know what else I can do.]


    Crimson hawks were terrifying creatures that were nearly as tall as an average adult human, with a wingspan that was easily 10 feet across.They were fearsome predators, attacking and eating anything that entered their territory.Even creatures much larger than them feared these intelligent birds, and if it weren''t for the possibility of the Lesser Blood Lily being here, Nadran would never have come anywhere near their nest.


    Nadran took great care to not make any sounds that could wake and alert the ferocious beasts that were sleeping nearby.[I need to find the lily and get out without waking them,] Nadran thought, trying to stay calm and careful at the same time.Luckily, Nadran had plenty of experience being quiet, as he had attended hundreds of sigil lectures without ever being caught, and so he knew how to conceal his presence when needed.


    Nadran began closely examining the rock around him, looking for the rare herb that could heal his father.He forced himself to move slowly and methodically so as not to miss anything.Nadran was unable to see any Lesser Blood Lilies anywhere on the cliff face with a cursory glance, so his only chance was to hope the lily was hiding in some place that was currently obscured from his view.


    The crescent moon moved slowly across the sky as he searched every nook and cranny of the rock face.Despite the passage of time, Nadran couldn''t find the faintest trace of red, other than the scarlet nest which housed fearsome birds that could tear him to pieces in seconds.[I can''t find it.I''ve already checked all around the nest.I need to get closer to the nest to keep looking.]


    Nadran had been trying to avoid getting too close to the nest, as awakening the birds could easily mean his death, but he didn''t have a choice any more.With more than a little trepidation, Nadran edged closer to the nest and continued his search.


    When he was only a few feet below the nest, Nadran noticed a particularly deep fissure in the rock.Looking inside, he saw a glint of red within, and his pulse involuntarily rose.[Could it be¡­] Nadran thought, trying to keep calm so as not to alert the sleeping birds nearby.With trembling hands, Nadran reached in and pulled out a delicate flower.Its delicate petals shone a deep red that almost seemed to exude its own light, and its stem was a pure white that looked hard and brittle, and yet was surprisingly flexible.


    [It really is the Lesser Blood Lily,] Nadran thought, trying to ignore the lump that formed in his throat.[I was worried that I wouldn''t find any, that I was wasting my time looking for something that wasn''t there, but it really is¡­]


    Tears began sliding down Nadran''s cheeks as he looked deeply at the flower that could save his father. Nadran stood frozen in place as though he was in a trance, overwhelmed by emotion.All of his fears and worries, the subconscious feeling of helplessness in the face of his father''s injuries, all of it began fading away as the spark of hope he had been grasping at for the last day ignited into an open flame.[W-with this, dad can be healed,] Nadran thought, smiling as the tears continued streaming down his face.


    As he was lost in his thoughts, Nadran shifted his footing, accidentally dislodging a loose rock that was stuck in the rock face.The sudden sound jolted him out of his thoughts, causing him to look around quickly, only to see the rock bouncing off the cliff below as it fell over 200 feet to the ground.Each time it struck the cliff, the rock made a crashing sound that felt deafening to Nadran''s ears compared to the silence of his surroundings.


    Fearfully, Nadran looked up to see an avian head looking down at him from the nest just above his head, its piercing yellow eyes meeting his.Its vicious beak, capable of piercing rock as though it were made of butter, opened before it let out a thunderous screech.


    [Uh oh, this is really bad!] Nadran thought in alarm as he heard the sound of several flapping wings as the Crimson Hawks took off from their nest.Nadran looked down again before immediately deciding that jumping off a 200-foot cliff was not the best course of action.He quickly put the lily in his pocket, then began climbing down as quickly as he could, sometimes dropping several feet from one set of handholds to another.He hadn''t made it more than 20 feet, though, before the predatory birds had caught up to him.


    With a screech, one of the hawks dove toward him, apparently intent on impaling Nadran against the wall.Nadran threw himself to the side, barely managing to avoid the beak that cracked open the rock where he had just been.Reaching out his arm, he barely managed to grab a small stone outcropping to prevent him from falling to his death.


    Nadran quickly looked around to reorient himself.He saw three different Crimson Hawks flying around, including the one that had just broken part of the cliff face.[I don''t have the time to cast any sigils right now, and I''m not sure what sigil could even help here.I haven''t learned any sigils that could help me break my fall if I jump, and those hawks could easily tear through any defenses I could pull up even if I had the time to cast them.I guess I have to rely on myself for this,] Nadran thought, looking for the next set of handholds he could jump to.


    Unfortunately, while he was distractedly considering the possibility of using sigils, he didn''t notice one of the hawks diving toward him.By the time he saw it, it was already on top of him.Nadran instinctively flattened himself against the cliff as the Crimson Hawk swooped by.Unfortunately, due to a combination of fatigue and previous injuries, he was unable to react fast enough to completely avoid it, and its talons tore into his back.Nadran gritted his teeth as a set of red lines formed on his back, blood spilling out.


    [At this rate, I won''t be able to make it even halfway down without becoming bird food,] Nadran thought grimly.[I need to figure out how to get down some other way¡­ but how¡­]Nadran suddenly stopped and looked at the approaching hawks with a gleam in his eyes.[What if¡­]


    As one of the Crimson Hawks approached, Nadran braced himself, hoping this insane idea would work, then leaped off the cliff face straight at one of the hawks.This caught the Crimson Hawk completely off guard, and it let out a distressed screech as a human landed on top of it. Nadran was heavier than the hawk, which became unable to fly with the extra weight on it and began plunging down toward the ground.


    The hawk was totally panicking at this point, trying to use its wings to slow its descent while simultaneously trying to buck Nadran off, but Nadran clung tenaciously to the bird as the two went down in a semi-controlled fall toward the hard dirt below them.The other Crimson Hawks followed them down, wanting to kill the intruding human but afraid of hurting the hawk he clung to.


    With the wind whistling in his ears, Nadran watched the ground rapidly getting closer.[I was really hoping the hawk would be able to slow our descent by more¡­ this will probably hurt.]


    Right before they hit the ground, Nadran released the hawk and pushed off of it as hard as he could, slowing his own fall by accelerating the hawk''s.The hawk impacted the ground at high speed, sending a small spray of dirt outward, accompanied by the sound of breaking bones.Nadran landed on top of the bird a split second later, driving the hawk deep into the ground.


    Nadran grimaced and attempted to stand.Everything hurt, and his muscles screamed in protest whenever he moved them.If it weren''t for the adrenaline still coursing through him, it would have been almost impossible for him to get up.


    Nadran didn''t have the luxury of taking his time, though, as he heard enraged screeches coming from above him.Nadran''s eyes widened and he leaped out of the way just in time to avoid being torn to shreds by a furious Crimson Hawk, trying to block out the pain as he ran into the forest.


    The hawks attempted to give chase but were unable to get far due to how dense the trees were.The hawks'' 10-foot wingspans prevented them from flying here, and their walking speed was not worthy of note.After a minute that felt like hours to Nadran, the Crimson Hawks gave up the chase, screeching their discontent as Nadran disappeared into the depths of the forest.


    As the adrenaline wore off, Nadran suddenly felt like his body was made of lead.He stumbled and caught himself against a tree, his vision blurring.Nadran shook his head to clear it and looked up at the sky, which was beginning to brighten.It was already dawn, and Nadran, on top of being rather heavily injured, had been awake for almost a full 24 hours, and had been engaged in strenuous physical activity for a good portion of it.It was a challenge just to keep his eyes open, and Nadran was close to falling asleep on the spot.


    [I can''t fall asleep here, I might get attacked by some ferocious beast while I sleep,] Nadran thought, knowing that this forest was not as peaceful as it appeared, especially for someone who lets their guard down.[Besides, I''m almost done.I just need to get home and give dad the flower, and then I can rest.]


    As the sun rose above the horizon, a single figure walked out of the Finasa forest.His clothes were torn and tattered, and he had a set of bandages wrapped around his chest, stained red with blood.He walked slowly, clearly favoring one leg, and his arms dangled by his side, lacking the energy to lift them.His eyes were half-closed due to fatigue, and his head kept drifting downward.And yet despite all this, a smile could be seen on his lips, betraying his happiness and excitement.


    Nadran walked into his home city of Wyvatha, his spirits high, unaware of the fact that his trials were not yet over.

 5 Chapter 5: The Darkest Hour...

    As the sun rose higher into the sky, people started leaving their houses and the streets gradually filled with people.Nadran garnered a bit of attention due to his haggard appearance, but in the end, he only received casual glances before people continued on their way.In this world, seeing someone that was heavily injured was all too common, and sympathy was in short supply.


    Nadran didn''t even notice, though, as he was completely focused on making it home as quickly as possible.In fact, he almost bumped into a couple people simply due to the fact that he didn''t notice them, even when they were right in front of him.


    He was so lost in his thoughts that when a familiar voice sounded in his ears, it was a full second before his brain registered the sound.


    [No¡­] Nadran thought, his hands trembling.[No.No, no no no no NO!!!]


    "Hey, purple-eyes, I''m talking to you.I asked you what you were doing to get beat up so early in the morning."Kalio looked mockingly at Nadran, reveling in the misery of the person he considered inferior.His cronies laughed at Nadran''s discomfort, taking happiness from others'' suffering.


    Nadran turned and looked at Kalio with a dead look in his eyes."Fell down some stairs," Nadran said in a monotone, then turned around and continued walking toward his house.


    "Don''t screw with me!" Kalio shouted, knowing it was a lie.He started moving forward, but a firm hand held him back.


    A voice Nadran did not recognize emerged from behind him."Hold on, Kalio.Perhaps¡­" it began, "your friend here found something good, but got injured in the process and doesn''t feel like sharing what he found."


    The words pierced into his mind like lances and caused Nadran to shudder involuntarily.He tried to hide it, but was unable to escape the notice of the keen eyes that were watching him.


    "I thought so," the voice spoke again."People are so easy to read when they''re controlled by emotions."


    Nadran gritted his teeth and looked back with a venomous glare.He saw a tall figure standing next to Kalio, a smirk on his face.He stood a good half foot taller than Kalio, but Nadran could clearly see resemblance between them.In addition, although it seemed impossible, the tall man looked even more arrogant and self-satisfied than Kalio.[Must be an older brother,] Nadran thought grimly.


    Kalio''s eyes shone with an avaricious glint."Really, Tyval?Hm, sounds like purple-eyes needs to learn how to share."


    "Ah, yes," Nadran muttered under his breath in a caustic voice laced with sarcasm."Kalio Evegart, master of ''sharing.''Such an honorable figure."


    "What was that?!" Kalio shouted, evidently having caught a bit of what was said ¨C or, at the very least, the tone.


    "Oh, nothing much," Nadran replied dryly, examining his fingernails.They actually looked pretty bad, with bits of blood and dirt still caked on them."I was just saying that you''re a terrible human being."[I already know that he''s not letting me get away before he gets his hands on whatever I have.Might as well try to enrage him to the point where he might make a mistake and let me escape.]


    Kalio''s eyes nearly bulged out of his head as he trembled in disbelief and rage.[A pity,] Nadran thought.[It would have been nice if his eyes actually did bulge out of his thick skull.Oh well.]


    "WHAT DID YOU SAY?!?!" Kalio screamed, garnering the attention of the entire street as veins throbbed in his forehead.He had never been insulted like this, and was unable to comprehend the fact that the person he had been bullying for years actually talked back to him.


    "Oh no," Nadran said blandly to no one in particular."I think I broke Kalio.He keeps asking me what I said over and over again.I thought I was speaking pretty clearly there.Oh, maybe he''s going deaf?"


    Kalio let out inhuman scream of rage, his face almost pure red.[You know,] Nadran thought, trying not to grin, [this is oddly cathartic.I should do this more often.]


    Kalio suddenly began charging toward Nadran, raising his fist in preparation for a punch.[Oh wow,] Nadran thought in surprise.[I must have really got to him.He isn''t even trying to use sigils.Does he really think that he can beat me in a hand-to-hand fight without sigils?He hasn''t had to work a day in his life, his physical strength is pretty bad.]


    The corner of Nadran''s mouth curled upwards as he stood still, waiting for Kalio to approach.Despite being injured and exhausted, Nadran was still able to easily sidestep Kalio''s clumsy punch, and he casually extended his leg as Kalio passed, tripping the bully and causing him to faceplant into the hard ground.Nadran smirked and began running off, quickly merging into the crowd of people surrounding the spectacle that had unfolded in the middle of the street.


    Kalio crawled to his feet, looking around to see hundreds of people watching him.He immediately turned an even deeper shade of red at the realization that so many people had seen his humiliation at the hands of someone who was clearly heavily injured."That purple-eyes," Kalio growled, his face betraying the hatred he felt."If I ever get my hands on you, I''m going to rip you to pieces and feed you to the birds."


    Meanwhile, Nadran was weaving his way through the crowd of people, finally making it out into the street.He began hurrying toward his house, worried that Kalio would come after him soon.[While that was immensely satisfying, that Kalio won''t be forgiving me any time soon.He''ll definitely be after me, so I guess I''ll need to quickly grow stronger so that he won''t be able to threaten me.Maybe I shouldn''t have¡­ no, keeping the lily safe is more important than some bully wanting me dead.This was the best outcome I could think of, given the situation.]


    Nadran suddenly felt a hand clamp down on his shoulder and heard a voice speak out from behind him."Well, aren''t you the tricky one," they said calmly."Since it seems my brother is totally incompetent, I guess I''ll need to do this myself."


    Nadran turned to see the face of Kalio''s brother leering down at him."Good night," Tyval said softly, then Nadran saw a fist flying toward his face before everything went black.


    ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- -----


    Kalio suddenly realized his brother had disappeared off to who knows where, then frowned as his lackeys ran up to him and started acting concerned about him now that the confrontation was over.In less than a minute, Tyval returned, calmly walking over to where Kalio was standing.


    "Let''s go," Tyval said, walking slowly past Kalio.


    "W-what about purple-eyes?" Kalio asked almost pleadingly.


    "Don''t worry.I got something good from him, you''ll get to see him again soon," Tyval replied indifferently."Besides, isn''t it better to exact revenge with your own hands, as opposed to getting it handed to you for free?"


    "Whatever," Kalio replied glumly."As long as I get to kill him."


    "Oh, you will.It''s just that there is a much better stage for his end than here.Just wait a bit, and he will come to you."


    ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- -----


    Nadran groaned and opened his eyes to find himself lying in his bed.He looked around to see his mother, who jumped out of her chair and rushed over to his bed, hugging him."Oh thank god, you''re awake.I was so worried, and right after your father was injured¡­"


    Nadran smiled apologetically."Sorry for worrying you," he said."What happened?"


    "We found you lying on the ground in the middle of the street, bruised and bloodied.I should be the one asking YOU what happened," his mother replied, looking at him in concern.


    "Uh, well, some stuff happened," Nadran replied vaguely, then his eyes widened and he sat up abruptly, almost bumping his head into his mother''s.He quickly checked his pockets, only to find them empty.[It''s gone¡­] Nadran thought as his spirits plummeted.[All that, and in the end, I wasn''t able to bring the flower home.]


    Nadran sighed, then froze as he realized something.[Wait, why did I keep the flower in my pocket?Why didn''t I just put it in my storage sigil?!I''m so stupid!Stupid stupid STUPID!!!]Nadran berated himself for forgetting something so crucial in his exhaustion.[This is LITERALLY the reason I spent so much time learning the sigil in the first place.What''s the point in having a storage sigil if I don''t use it for something this important?!This is all my fault¡­ now¡­ now dad will¡­]Nadran buried his head in his hands as tears began spilling down his face.


    His mother looked on in concern as she saw the rapidly changing emotions expressed on his face, leading into him hiding his face in his hands."What''s wrong?" she asked, worry clear in her expression.


    Nadran sniffed, rubbing the tears off his face."It''s nothing," Nadran replied unconvincingly."How''s dad?"


    "He''s still¡­ the same¡­" his mother responded quietly, unconsciously glancing at the next room over.


    Nadran gritted his teeth.[If only I hadn''t messed up, he could be healing by now!]He violently shook his head to clear the negative thoughts that were plaguing him.[No, I shouldn''t think like that, I can''t afford to think like that.I can''t give up.I need to get the Lesser Blood Lily back.I know where it is ¨C it''s at Kalio''s house.I just need to go there and take it back.There''s no way I can fight Kalio''s brother, though, and I''m not even a match for Kalio himself if he actually uses sigils.But that doesn''t matter.If I can''t fight them, I just need to make sure I don''t get caught.I''m used to sneaking around places, I''ll be fine.]


    Nadran got up, stretching.It seemed that his injuries were mostly healed by now.[Internal energy really is helpful,] he thought as he looked out the window to see the sun was already setting.


    [It seems like I''ve been out for the entire day,] Nadran mused.[Oh well, these things are always easier to do at night.]


    At this point, Nadran''s sister Sania walked in, having heard the sounds of conversation."You''re already up?" she asked in surprise."You scared us, you know," she said while leaning against the doorframe, trying to maintain her normal casual demeanor despite her obvious concern.


    "Yeah, I''m fine.Thanks for your worry though," he replied.


    "Who said I was worried?" she retorted, smiling mischievously.


    "Oh, my magical psychic powers said you were worried," Nadran replied with a smile as they both laughed.No matter what, it was always hard for him to stay upset when Sania was around.


    Nadran left the room, grabbing a couple things he thought he might need as he did so."Where you going?" Sania asked as she watched him.


    "Just going to get something.I''ll probably be back in a couple hours at most," Nadran said as he walked toward the door.


    "Be careful," his mother warned as he left.


    "Don''t worry, I will be," Nadran replied as he walked out the door.[I don''t want to cause them any more worry, I''ll take care of this quickly and come back to heal dad!]


    Nadran''s eyes shone with determination as he walked out onto the street.He looked up, where the last light of day was fading from the sky, and smiled.[All right then, it''s time to go!I do believe I have a mansion to rob.]

 6 Chapter 6: Infiltration

    Nadran stopped in front of a large, multi-story manor.Kalio Evegart may just be an arrogant bully, but that was in part due to his background.His strength was nothing special in this world, and he likely wouldn''t have any lackeys at all if he wasn''t the child of the influential Evegart family of merchants.Nadran honestly wouldn''t be concerned with Kalio''s strength at all if it wasn''t for the fact that Nadran himself was an exception ¨C his strength was way weaker than the average sigil user. This fact was incredibly frustrating to him, since he put so much effort into learning sigils, and yet was still inferior to good-for-nothing nobles who couldn''t be bothered to put any real effort in.


    [Well, it''s not like I''m planning to fight him anyways,] Nadran thought.He just wanted to get in and out without anyone noticing, if at all possible.[If I do end up getting discovered, I''ll just run.Kalio shouldn''t be able to keep up with me, but his brother¡­ whatever, I need to do this for dad, I''ll need to take a bit of a risk.]


    With that, Nadran checked to make sure there was nobody watching, then quickly moved toward the fence.He jumped up, grabbing the steel bars of the fence, and flipped over the top, landing in the yard.Nadran looked around, noticing a couple of small sigils engraved on the wall of the manor.[They have security sigils, but either they don''t know how to space them properly, or these are more for peace of mind than anything else.]


    Overall, Nadran was quite knowledgeable about sigils, and, as long as he had seen the sigil before, identifying a sigil was easier than making one. Since he only needed to be able to remember part of the sigil in order to identify it, he was able to easily determine which security sigil it was.[Actually, didn''t I take longer than this to identify sigils in the past?] Nadran thought, but quickly pushed the question out of his mind to focus on the task at hand.


    [These sigils have a detection radius of 20 feet, but they are spaced about 45 feet apart.That gives me a 5-foot gap.Whoever they hired for security should be fired,] Nadran thought as he ran up to the building, taking care to place himself directly between the sigils so as not to trigger them.He quickly reached the wall of the manor, which was made of large, rough stone bricks, and jumped up, slipping his fingertips into the seams between the bricks.For Nadran, who had been climbing vertical cliff faces for over 10 years, climbing the side of the building was not a challenge at all.


    Nadran quickly reached a window and peered in, taking note of what he could see.He then climbed to another window and repeated the process.5 windows later, he found the room he was looking for.It was clearly a bedroom, with a large bed sitting at one end, big enough that it rivalled all of the beds of Nadran''s family combined.In fact, the room itself was almost the size of Nadran''s entire house.Other than that, there were a number of books, a dresser, and other things, but what attracted Nadran''s attention was the small, round table at the end of the bed.There was a crystal vase sitting in the center, and inside was a flower Nadran was able to instantly recognize.


    [So, Kalio places the things he steals from others in the middle of his room like that?What, so he can gloat or something?Is this a trophy to him?Does he value things he steals from others more than things he gets with money or from his parents?]


    Shaking his head in disgust, Nadran moved over to a window one floor down.It was open, so Nadran was able to slip in without any trouble.He found himself in what he assumed was a kitchen.It was huge, and it looked like it was big enough for a dozen cooks to work simultaneously without bumping into each other at all.[I guess when your family has huge amounts of money, you can afford ridiculous things like this,] Nadran thought dryly.


    Since it was night, the kitchen was empty, and Nadran quickly slipped out of the room, wincing at the squeaking of the door, and found himself in a long hallway with a ceiling almost 15 feet above him.At one end, Nadran saw a red-carpeted spiral staircase, and his eyes lit up.He quietly dashed over to the staircase, then suddenly stopped as he heard the sound of soft footsteps coming down the staircase.


    Knowing he only had a few seconds at most, Nadran looked around quickly.All of the nearby doors were closed, and he knew from the previous door he had passed through that these large, heavy doors could easily make loud sounds as they opened unless he was careful.While he could probably open them quietly, he was unable to open them quietly AND quickly, so that wasn''t an option.Besides, if they were locked, he would be out of luck.Nadran''s eyes looked up at the walls, and he saw light fixtures spaced periodically across the wall, but they didn''t look strong enough to support his full weight.Nadran''s eyes then naturally gravitated to a decorative design near the top of the wall that protruded outward, displaying the shapes of different fierce animals in combat.


    Nadran leaped up an incredible distance, grabbing the head of a dragon with his fingertips.It protruded from the wall by less than an inch and was somewhat rounded.It was nearly impossible to hold, and Nadran''s fingers instantly began slipping.Gritting his teeth, Nadran pressed his body against the wall, his fingernails digging into the wood as he managed to swing his legs up and hook his ankle around one of the light fixtures that lined the hall.While the light was unable to support his full body weight, Nadran was only using it to hold up his legs, with his fingers supporting the rest of his weight.Nadran was now parallel to the floor and about 12-13 feet up in the air.Nadran''s fingers had long since dug grooves into the wall design, and he was using those grooves to keep himself from falling back and away from the wall.Despite the fact that his internal energy was passively amplifying his physical abilities, holding this awkward position was incredibly difficult, and sweat began beading down his forehead as he waited, hoping that whoever was coming down the stairs would pass quickly.


    Within a couple seconds, he saw the figure of a servant walking down the stairs.They were walking with purpose and did not look around at all as they moved quickly down the hallway and turned a corner.Nadran involuntarily let out a sigh of relief as they left without noticing him.


    Nadran quickly jumped down from the uncomfortable position he had been in, stretching his fingers.[Maybe I should have just tried to knock them out before they could sound the alarm,] Nadran thought.[No, if it had been Kalio or Tyval, that would have been a disaster.Besides, I''m not that confident in my ability to knock someone out instantly.Whatever, I need to get moving before someone else comes.]Nadran had a very methodical personality, always trying to assess all of his options before he did anything, but he needed to reign that in here, where time was of the essence.[It would be pretty sad if I got caught because I was too busy overanalyzing the merits of a course of action I already took and someone happened to walk by and notice me,] Nadran admonished himself and walked quickly up the staircase.


    By remembering the location of Kalio''s window relative to where he entered, Nadran was able to find the right room without much trouble.He silently eased the door open and looked in.The flower was still sitting in the middle of the room, and Nadran didn''t see Kalio inside.He slipped into the room and moved toward the flower when a surprised, but condescending voice emerged from behind him, causing him to freeze in his tracks.


    "You know, I didn''t believe Tyval when he said you might be able to successfully infiltrate our manor, but I guess he was right.You''ve got guts, I''ll give you that."


    Nadran turned around to see Kalio standing next to the door and pulling it closed.[It''s a trap!] Nadran thought in dismay.He quickly dashed over to the vase, pulling out the Lesser Blood Lily, then ran for the window, attempting to escape the room.When he was only about a foot away from the window, he ran into an invisible barrier and stumbled backwards, nearly falling over.Ripples spread out from where he collided with it, traveling across the ceiling, floor, and walls, revealing that the barrier encompassed the entire room.


    [This¡­ is not good,] Nadran thought as he tried to figure out how to disarm the barrier.


    "It''s useless to try escaping," Kalio laughed condescendingly."My brother made this barrier so that I could have my revenge.Not even I can break through it."


    Nadran cocked his head to the side in confusion."So¡­ you''re stuck in here too until your brother comes to let you out?"


    Kalio paused to consider the question, then laughed."As long as I can get my revenge for the humiliation you gave me, that doesn''t matter.Now prepare to die!"


    Nadran gritted his teeth as Kalio began casting a sigil.It looked like he had no choice but to fight.

 7 Chapter 7: Confrontation

    Nadran looked at the sigil that Kalio was casting, his face extremely serious.[That should be¡­ Earthen Spear, a low slate attack-type sigil.I won''t have the time to approach before it finishes, I''ll need to dodge it,] Nadran thought, recognizing the shape that was being formed.


    In this world, almost everything with any sort of mastery curve had a ranking.From combat strength to the complexity and power of sigils, if it could be ranked, people had found some way to rank it.One major reason, of course, was so that people could compare themselves to others.With these ranking systems in place, those who were higher ranked could feel superior to those below them.Of course, the more commonly accepted reason was to promote competition and growth, but Nadran knew this was not how most people thought about it in their hearts.In a sense, this system was also a self-perpetuating feedback loop, as those who achieved higher ranks naturally tended to compare themselves with others due to the ranking systems that were already in place, making these kinds of comparisons easy for even those who might not have done it otherwise.Thus, arrogance based on comparisons was one of the most common personality traits in this world.


    Some of the ranking systems were incredibly straightforward.The clearest example was the ranking of sigil realms.Sigil realms were indicators of someone''s levels and quality of internal energy.Internal energy was the power source for sigils, and the same sigil cast by someone from a higher sigil realm would almost universally be more powerful than someone at a lower sigil realm.They could also cast it more times or for longer durations without becoming exhausted.In addition, internal energy could be used to enhance and repair the body, and even to extend the lifespan.


    This was something quite easy to rank, since the sigils changed color based on the caster''s sigil realm.Slate ranked cultivators had a gray coloration to their sigils, while marble cultivators had a milky off-white color.These coloration changes caused qualitative changes to the internal energy, as opposed to the purely quantitative changes within a realm.The levels of low, mid, high, and peak within each realm indicated the quantity of internal energy that they contained.These energy levels were easily detectable when a sigil was being cast, to the point where even an amateur could tell the difference.Of course, this was only if you could cast sigils yourself; without sufficient internal energy, you could not detect the energy levels of others.


    Nadran was somewhat of an exception to these rules, though.His sigils were purple in color, which did not match up with any of the known sigil realms, and his internal energy levels were lower than almost all other sigil users, not even being at the low-slate level.In fact, Kalio had often mocked that, among sigil-users, even infants had more internal energy than him.


    The rankings extended beyond just sigil realms, of course, but most of these rankings held less importance to most people than sigil realms.For example, martial arts and other forms of physical combat were ranked, though the ranking systems were much more complex and convoluted, with it being the primary job of some people to create and refine the criteria of rankings like this.It was likely that Nadran was at a decent rank in these areas based almost purely off his strong body, which was stronger than most sigil cultivators due to the hard work he needed to do to help support his family.He had never actually gone through the trouble of actually getting ranked, though.The rankings for these skills, like everything else, was based on precious stones.


    There were even rankings for niche or commonplace activities, like cooking and playing card games.Being skilled enough could still earn you fame, though.Nadran had once heard people talking excitedly about a pearl ranked person visiting the country.Her specialty?Crochet.


    Sigils themselves were ranked according to their complexity and power.Low slate was not the lowest, however; there was the ''basic'' tier below it, containing sigils such as the light sigil Nadran used at the roadside stall.


    Of course, even a low slate sigil like Earthen Spear could easily kill a cultivator if it hit a vital area, and a spear of hardened earth was currently flying toward Nadran''s heart.


    Nadran quickly shifted to the side, and the spear flew harmlessly by him, hitting the barrier and disintegrating.Nadran quickly rushed toward Kalio, trying to close the distance and attack, but he was forced back by another Earthen Spear.[If only I could use sigils in battle,] Nadran lamented.Unfortunately, his incredibly slow casting speed meant that he would be defeated before he could finish even the simplest combat spell.Kalio was able to cast Earthen Spear in less than a second, but Nadran would take almost 10 to cast the same spell.


    "I understand that you dislike me," Nadran said, dodging another spear, "but isn''t it a bit extreme to want to kill me just for that?"He knew that he couldn''t talk Kalio out of anything, but he was hoping to at least distract him.


    "Shut up!" Kalio screamed, conjuring another Earthen Spear sigil."You wouldn''t understand the depths of the humiliation I suffered earlier today.Your vile actions can only be repaid with your life!"


    Nadran gaped in astonishment, almost forgetting to dodge the next spear.[I wouldn''t understand¡­ I''M the one who wouldn''t understand something like that?!?!I can''t believe this level of moron exists in this world.]Nadran looked into Kalio''s eyes and stated in a voice laced with sarcasm and scorn, "Of course, how silly of me.How could I POSSIBLY have ever experienced any humiliation?Nope, I''ve lived a life free of any hardships.I''ve never been injured for others'' amusement, or mocked and laughed at, or robbed in broad daylight.I''ve never had someone I care about enter a comatose state for another''s sick pleasure.I could never relate to other''s hardships¡­ oh wait."Nadran''s eyes became colder."That''s not my life.That''s yours."


    "YOU STILL MOCK ME?!" Kalio screamed in rage, essentially ignoring the truth of Nadran''s words to focus on the emotions behind it.He glared murderously at Nadran, then stopped and smiled sinisterly instead."Well, you''ll be dead soon anyways.You won''t be able to mock me then."


    [Darn, looks like he was able to keep his cool this time,] Nadran thought in disappointment.[I guess I need to do this the hard way.]He cracked his knuckles, determination in his eyes as he faced Kalio, who was already casting another Earthen Spear.


    Nadran jumped to the side to avoid the spear, then rolled under another one as he approached Kalio.Before he could get within striking distance, though, Kalio began creating a more complex sigil, smirking.


    [Not good!] Nadran thought as he recognized the sigil for the mid slate attacking sigil, Shockwave.He quickly crossed his arms in front of his face in a defensive posture as a blast of compressed air and sound radiated out from Kalio, flinging Nadran across the room.He rolled a couple times before he came to a stop, shaking his head to clear the ringing sound from his ears.


    Kalio didn''t give Nadran a moment to rest, and Nadran had to quickly move and dodge yet another Earthen Spear.Nadran charged forward yet again, timing his charge for right when Kalio started making another Earthen Spear.[By the time that spear is finished, he won''t have the time to cast Shockwave before I get to him,] Nadran thought.


    Nadran dodged this newest spear, causing Kalio to get frustrated.He had thought this would be over quickly and easily, and yet he had yet to hit that purple-eyes even once with his Earthen Spears.As Nadran approached, Kalio started casting Shockwave again, but soon realized that he wouldn''t be able to finish in time.Gritting his teeth, he canceled the Shockwave sigil and began a basic defensive sigil, not having the time for anything else.


    A transparent shield flickered into being around Kalio as Nadran reached him, but Nadran ignored it, sending a punch directly toward Kalio''s face.All the barrier was able to do was lessen the force of his blow as his fist passed straight through it, causing it to shatter like glass.Kalio reflexively raised his arms to protect his face, causing Nadran''s blow to land on his arm instead.


    With a cry of pain, Kalio was launched across the room much as Nadran had been earlier, and Kalio swore he could hear something break as pain flashed through his arm.


    After successfully injuring Kalio, Nadran moved forward to finish the fight.To his surprise, however, Kalio was able to suppress his pain and quickly form a complex sigil.A giant fist made of stone suddenly materialized in the air and smashed into Nadran, launching him across the room.He was flung into the inflexible barrier around the room and rebounded off before landing on the ground.He coughed violently, clutching his chest as he looked up at Kalio.


    Kalio was in the middle of casting another sigil, but this one was the most complex one yet.[That¡­ is the high slate sigil, Earthen Spear Barrage,] Nadran realized in dismay.It was a more powerful version of the Earthen Spear sigil that created several spears simultaneously, then launched them all at once, which made avoiding them all almost impossible without a high-level movement technique.


    "Die!" Kalio shouted as seven different spears materialized in front of him.Being injured, Nadran knew there was no way to interrupt the spell, nor to make it out of the way quickly enough.[This¡­ could kill me.]


    Time seemed to slow down as Nadran watched Kalio finish casting the sigil.[Is this the end?Will I die without even being able to save dad, and after promising my family I would be careful?No, I don''t want that!But in order to survive, I need to think of something quick, something that could stop those spears from hurting me.But I can''t make a sigil fast enough¡­]


    Suddenly, a thought struck Nadran like a bolt of lightning, causing his eyes to widen.[What if¡­ I could cast a sigil without including all the parts that I don''t understand.What if I could create a sigil only using the core sections I recognize?There''s no way something that crazy would work¡­ would it?It doesn''t matter, I need to try.I don''t see any other way out of this.]


    As though he was in a trance, Nadran''s hand raised into the air and his index finger began tracing a sigil, a blank expression on his face.


    "Are you really trying to use sigils to protect you?" Kalio laughed uproariously as his sigil finished materializing into spears made of hardened clay and dirt and he noticed Nadran''s actions."Your snail-speed sigils are useless in a battle.Now die by my hand!"


    [Barrier,] Nadran thought, tracing the sigil section for barriers.[Sphere,] he thought next as he added a ''sphere'' section to the end of the barrier section.[Self,] Nadran finished with the ''self'' section, specifying himself as the target for the sigil.As Kalio''s spears began flying toward him, Nadran finished his experimental sigil, releasing it.


    As the spears flew toward him, Nadran felt oddly calm.[This is it,] he thought.[Either I die from the spears, or am saved by the sigil.Now, I can only trust that my theory was correct.]


    The spears finally reached Nadran, but a transparent shield suddenly materialized around Nadran.The spears all struck this barrier, vanishing as though they had never existed.Kalio''s satisfied expression quickly morphed into one of shock and disbelief at the barrier that had appeared before his eyes.


    "Im-impossible," Kalio stuttered in fright as he stared at Nadran as though he was a monster."Y-you couldn''t cast sigils that fast, and certainly not that strong."


    A slight smile adorned Nadran''s expression as he looked at Kalio.Still in the same strange state of enlightenment as before, he didn''t hesitate, but instead raised his hand up to the barrier, causing the sigil that formed the shield to reappear.


    Seeing this, Kalio almost collapsed to the floor in fear and incomprehension."Y-you can''t make the sigil reappear after you''ve already cast it.That''s not p-possible.Nobody can do that!"


    Nadran ignored him.Instead, he tapped the sigil and began tracing lines, adding another section to the already-complete sigil.


    [Explosion.]


    The barrier surrounding Nadran suddenly exploded outward, striking Kalio with incredible force.Tyval''s barrier, which was still surrounding the room, shuddered, then shattered, disappearing.Kalio was flung against the wall with a loud crash, wood splintering with the force of his impact.He then fell forward limply, landing on the hard floor.


    Nadran abruptly woke from the strange state he was in, and he blinked as he realized what had occurred.[Did that really just happen?How did that actually work?]Nadran shook his head, turning to leave, then stopped and turned around, looking at Kalio.He could tell that Kalio was still alive, but was unconscious and badly hurt.


    [Should I¡­ kill him?] Nadran wondered, internally struggling.He had never killed anyone before, and the thought of murdering someone in cold blood was terrifying to him.[Maybe I shouldn''t¡­ while he tried to kill me, he''s never actually killed anyone or done anything of that level, at least intentionally.But still, I feel like he will definitely want me dead, and I should kill him while I have the chance¡­]


    As Nadran was gripped by indecision, he heard the sound of approaching footsteps."Kalio?" Tyval''s voice called out from the other side of the door, causing Nadran to panic.


    Quickly picking up the Lesser Blood Lily he had dropped during the fight, Nadran leaped out the window just as the doorknob began turning.He climbed down the side of the building in record time and vaulted over the fence, rushing home.As he finally reached his house, he felt as though a great weight had been lifted off his heart.Smiling, Nadran walked in, ignoring his mother''s questions, and walked over to his comatose father.


    "I got you something," Nadran said as tears ran down his cheeks."So get well soon."

 8 Chapter 8: Decisions

    There were a number of different ways to prepare the Lesser Blood Lily for consumption.The most complex methods Nadran saw in the Sacred Elm Herb Compendium had involved using alchemy to craft the flower into a high-quality pill that helped to extract the maximum medicinal efficacy of the lily, but Nadran didn''t have the time or skill to make something of that level.Instead, he chose the most simple and straightforward approach: he ground up the flower into a paste, and added water, making it into a soup.


    Seeing his mother''s confused expression, Nadran explained."It''s a healing herb; it should be able to heal dad."


    His mother''s eyes widened, hope warring with disbelief within her mind.Finally, she spoke in a quiet voice, "You really mean that?Are you sure?"


    "Yes, this flower is quite effective at healing internal injuries and broken bones," Nadran explained as he began pouring the soup into a bowl for his father.


    His mother smiled, then looked at him suspiciously."How did you get your hands on such a valuable herb?" she asked.


    Nadran avoided eye contact and said "Oh, I just found it¡­ in the wild."


    Nadran''s mother shook her head, knowing he wasn''t telling the whole truth, but didn''t press him on it."As long as you''re safe," she said.


    Nadran nodded and brought the soup into his father''s room.


    His father, Fyral, was lying in bed, eyes closed.He was covered in numerous bandages, each tinged with the red of blood.His arm and one of his legs were crooked, bent in a way that limbs were not supposed to be bent, his face contorted in a grimace of pain.The only clues he was still alive were the beads of sweat that covered his face and his chest, which was shallowly rising and falling.


    It pained Nadran to see his kind and stalwart father in such a state.He quickly hurried over to his father''s side, and, cupping his hand behind his father''s head and lifting it up, he slipped a spoonful of soup into his father''s mouth.Thankfully, whether his father still had a strand of consciousness within him or it was just instinct, he quickly swallowed the soup.


    For a minute, nothing happened.Then, his father began coughing violently.Nadran nearly panicked, thinking that his father was dying.But then, Fyral''s eyes opened and he looked at Nadran."Nadran?" he asked, his voice hoarse.


    "Dad!" Nadran shouted, starting to move forward to hug his father, then stopping, remembering his father''s injuries."Here, have some more soup."


    His father nodded, looking a bit confused, but he accepted the spoonful of soup and drank it.After a bit, he felt a warm sensation from his stomach as the medicinal properties of the soup took effect."This is some good soup!" he said in surprise as he felt his body slowly healing from its effects, the pain gradually lessening.Nadran smiled happily, finally able to relax now that the danger his father faced had passed.


    His mother and sister ran into the room upon hearing a voice they were afraid they would never hear again, joy evident on their faces.


    Fyral laughed heartily, wincing in pain at the sudden movement, but quickly began smiling again."It looks like I made you guys worry.Don''t worry, I''ll be alright soon."


    ------ ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- -----


    Nadran traced a sigil as he sat in his bed, his fingers more sure than they had been a few days ago.While he still traced them noticeably slower than the average sigil user, he at least didn''t need to hesitate every two seconds to try to remember the pattern that came next.The sigil finished, and a purple sphere of energy formed above his hand, floating silently as he stared at it.This was Energy Sphere, a low slate attacking sigil.He had learned it earlier on in the day, taking far shorter than it had taken him to learn sigils in the past.


    Nadran tilted his hand back and forth, causing the sphere to move with it.He was in a pensive mood, not so much staring at the orb as through it.[This change is so drastic, it seems ridiculous that this was the kind of sigil that would have taken me over a month to learn just a few days ago.Now it''s not even 5 minutes.This seems kind of unbelievable.What changed?It couldn''t just be my understanding of the sigil components¡­ could it?]


    Nadran shook his head to regain his train of thought.[My primary concern should be Kalio, or, more specifically, his brother Tyval.Tyval is much more talented than Kalio, and I''m afraid that he won''t just let this matter go after all this.From what little I''ve seen, it''s clear that I am completely incapable of fighting him, at least for now.If I want to survive, at least in the short term, I will need some sort of protection.]Nadran thought for a moment before his eyes brightened.[What about Mirror Dragon Academy?] he thought, considering the possibility.


    Mirror Dragon Academy was a school that was able to teach cultivators about using sigils for many different purposes, especially combat.While the public lectures Nadran ''attended'' described a large variety of sigils and their main uses, this was far from enough to become a master in the art of battle, or any other specialized discipline, for that matter.For one, tactics and strategies for using sigils optimally were not something that could be so easily learned without discovering them through extensive research and years of intense battles with your life on the line.That is, unless you attended the academy.The teachers had vast amounts of knowledge about these matters, and would teach the students what they knew, causing the graduates of the academy to be far superior to those of the same rank.


    Perhaps even more importantly, though, Mirror Dragon Academy had high-level sigils that would never be revealed in the public lectures Nadran had learned from.While Nadran knew of a great variety of low-level sigils, the higher level ones were only available to the richest, most powerful families and the students of academies.It is said that a single low marble combat sigil could compete against dozens of mid slate sigils and come out on top.Whether it was true or not, higher grade sigils were truly powerful.


    Cultivation manuals were another major upside for students.These manuals contained techniques that were used to improve a person''s all-important pool of internal energy.Without a manual, internal energy could only be naturally absorbed from the air.This, of course, was a slow process that was hundreds or even thousands of times slower than using a cultivation manual, making these manuals incredibly valuable.The higher level manuals had even been the source of wars between rival clans in the past.The word cultivator itself most directly meant ''one who uses a cultivation technique to increase their internal energy.''By this definition, Nadran was not even a cultivator, since he knew no cultivation techniques, but most people simply referred to anyone who could use sigils as a cultivator.Possibly even more frustrating than his lack of cultivation technique, though, was the fact that Nadran found himself completely unable to increase his internal energy pool with the energy that naturally flowed through the air.He never gained more internal energy, and he was only able to replenish his energy to the levels it was at before when he expended it.For this reason, he was still unable to even be ranked as a low slate cultivator.


    Academies still had more to them, of course.For example, most academies had branches that specialized in different disciplines other than sigil creation, such as alchemy and forging.Right now, though, what Nadran cared about the most was a single aspect of the academy: safety.


    Well, relative safety at least.People who became students of a prestigious academy were offered some degree of protection.Students were forbidden from killing each other under almost any circumstances, and the academy would also work to protect their students from external threats.After all, the academies valued their students greatly, especially those with great talent.Alumni of these academies would increase the academy''s prestige, and would often return to protect it and its honor if it were ever threatened by powerful forces.Thus, students were relatively safe from external dangers, at least as long as they remained within the academy''s walls.While students would certainly face danger, it was almost never at the level where they would be powerless to survive.To Nadran, this seemed to be the path with the best chances of survival.There was, however, one problem: becoming a student in the first place.


    Academies like Mirror Dragon Academy were where the best of the best would gather, the greatest geniuses of the land.With their reputation, the academy would not just let in anyone who wanted to join.Without ability, even money could not buy you a spot.The base requirements for attending the academy were rather harsh: you had to either reach the mid slate sigil realm by the age of 12, the high slate realm by the age of 13, the peak slate realm by the age of 15, or the low marble realm by 18.This was irrelevant to Nadran, though, who was already 21 years of age and was at an unranked sigil realm.It was essentially impossible for him to get into the academy with this method.Besides, without a cultivation technique or even the ability to naturally increase internal energy, Nadran had no way to improve his realm in the first place.


    Nadran frowned, trying to remember if there was any other way to attend the academy.If there wasn''t, he needed to think of some other method to ensure his safety.Then, a thought crossed his head.[What about the specialized branches within the academy?Maybe I could get into one of those.After all, due to the relative rarity of these specialists, there is no age restriction on admission.This is usually considered far harder than getting admitted normally, since these disciplines are very difficult to train in, but at this point this seems to be the only way left for me to make it in.]


    Nadran hesitated once more as he considered the next step: choosing one of the disciplines to learn, and being able to self-teach himself the basics in a short amount of time so that he could be accepted into the academy.This seemed to be an impossible task, but Nadran wouldn''t let that discourage him.


    [Wait, what about alchemy?] Nadran thought with some excitement.[I am already familiar with a ton of herbs due to my experience in picking and selling them.Maybe this will help me learn it easier than most people.While I lack the resources to get decent equipment, I could still learn how to make some of the more basic pills.Oh yeah, alchemy is also very profitable from what I''ve heard.Maybe that will let me hire guards to protect my family, or even make it so that they don''t need to work at all!]


    Nadran got incredibly excited at this thought, and his resolve to learn alchemy strengthened even more.He looked outside, gauging that he had enough time to visit the library again and consult the basic alchemy books.He wasn''t sure if just the knowledge contained there would be enough, but at least it was something.


    Nadran stepped out of his house and headed toward the library, taking another stride toward his future¡­ and his destiny.

 9 Chapter 9: Alchemy

    Nadran looked at the ingredients he had collected, satisfied.A day had passed, and he had kept the leftover herbs he was unable to sell, planning to use them to practice alchemy.His father was still quite weak and unable to work, so they had more herbs left over than usual.


    Using his family''s cooking pot, Nadran filled it halfway with water, then lit a small fire underneath it with a fire sigil.He increased the temperature of the water until it was close to boiling, then began picking up the herbs.[3 grams of Silver-root Ivy roots, 5 grams of crushed Fire Grass, 2 petals of a Rock Daisy.I don''t have any measuring tools, so I guess I''ll just need to eyeball it.Well, here goes nothing.]


    Nadran took a piece of Silver-root Ivy, using a knife to cut off the silvery roots that contained the magical properties he needed.He placed a couple of the thin, web-like roots into the pot then frowned.[I feel like that wasn''t enough.Maybe a bit more,] he thought, and carefully cut off another small piece of root before adding it to the pot as well.He then began crushing the Fire Grass, turning the reddish grass into a paste. He scooped up some of this paste with a spoon, glancing at the amount he had collected before, satisfied, he flicked the spoon, causing the Fire Grass paste to fall into the pot.


    Nadran''s mother, Melia, walked into the room, smelling the pungent aroma of crushed herbs."Are you sure about this?" she asked uncertainly as she watched him plucking the petals off of a rock daisy.He had explained his situation to his mother, at least to an extent.He didn''t describe the situation with Tyval further than saying he had angered someone strong in the process of getting the Lesser Blood Lily, since he wanted to keep the dangers he had gone through a secret.[My family has enough worries.I don''t need to add to them by telling them about the dangers that have already passed.]


    Nadran nodded his head, a determined expression on his face."It''s the best option I can think of.Unless a better opportunity presents itself, I will just have to do this and hope I can make it work."


    Melia frowned, but nodded her head.Despite Nadran''s attempts to downplay or gloss over the past events, she was still worried about him.At the same time, though, she wanted to believe that he would be alright and that his plan would pan out.


    As Nadran added the flower petals to the pot, a large wave of steam flew out of the pot, causing Nadran to take a step back in order to avoid being scalded by the hot water.When he stepped back forward to look into the pot, he noticed three light brown pills sitting in the center of the pot, which was now devoid of water.Extinguishing the flame, Nadran carefully removed the rapidly cooling pills from the pot, looking closely at them.


    "It looks like these body strengthening pills were made successfully.Seems I got one middle grade pill and two low grade pills.Usually, this amount of materials should make more than three pills.Seems like alchemy isn''t that simple," Nadran said, sighing, but he still had a small smile on his face.


    Thankfully, no alchemy masters were watching Nadran at this time, or they might just have strangled him to death in exasperation.[You, a total amateur, just tried to make a pill for the first time, and not only succeeded, but did so without even having proper measuring equipment.And yet, you still aren''t satisfied with this?!] would likely be their train of thought.Alas, this was all purely hypothetical.


    Of course, Nadran had no sense of how fast progression in alchemy was supposed to be, and had nobody to compare to.Instead, he just looked at the pills in his hand, thinking about what he could improve.


    His thoughts were interrupted by his mother."How do you know what grade these pills are?" she asked in surprise."I thought you needed a bunch of experience and a high cultivation in order to see a pill''s grade like that."


    Nadran raised his eyebrows in confusion."I don''t know, I just looked at them.It seems self-explanatory if you look closely.See, this one has a couple hairline cracks running across it and had a dull, dark color to it.It''s pretty clear that this is a low grade pill.This one is a shade brighter and is more uniform in composition, so it''s definitely a middle grade pill."


    Melia looked blankly at her son, feeling as though she didn''t know him.Was he really just starting out alchemy?He seemed so sure of himself and was speaking as though this was all easy.Was he just pretending to know what he was doing?She quickly dismissed the thought.She trusted her son, and knew he wouldn''t be giving her false hope.She was just so surprised that she automatically began questioning whether this was an elaborate trick or prank, despite knowing it wasn''t.


    Melia smiled and complimented "Good job!If you can keep this up, maybe you really can make it into Mirror Dragon Academy.If there''s anything I can help with, just let me know."


    "Thank you," Nadran responded, appreciating the gesture.He then looked at the pills he was still holding, and said "Well, I guess I might as well eat one."With that, he popped the middle grade Body Strengthening pill into his mouth.


    It tasted slightly bitter, but he quickly swallowed it, trusting that it would not hurt him.Within a minute, he could feel the pill''s effects.His muscles were strengthened slightly, and his bone density was also increased, making them harder and more durable.[Wow, these seem really good, and this is one of the most basic pills out there.No wonder alchemy is such a lucrative profession.]Of course, Body Strengthening pills were more effective the better your physique was.For someone who sat around all day and didn''t train their body, there would be almost no effect.For this reason, pills like this were more a supplement than a replacement for real training, but Nadran was certainly in good shape, and thus got some decent results from the pill.


    Nadran nodded in satisfaction and handed the other two pills over to his mother."Here, you guys can use the other two.Sorry, I didn''t end up making enough for everyone, but I''ll fix that soon."With that, Nadran began creating another batch of pills, not giving himself more than a moment to rest.


    His mother looked on at Nadran in admiration as he continued making more pills, not spending more than a minute between each batch.Alchemy required great concentration and precision, and would quickly wear on the mind of those attempting it.Yet Nadran persevered on, fully focused on his task.


    "Maybe¡­ he really will succeed¡­" Melia whispered with a smile as she left the room to let Nadran concentrate on his task.


    ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- -----


    5 Days Later


    "Please write your name here," an old man said, bored, as yet another young noble walked up to the desk.[They think that just because they have a bit of money and status, that automatically makes them talented at alchemy.Give me a break.This discipline isn''t for weaklings like you,] the elder thought in disdain as he watched the smug young master sign on the sheet of paper.[Let''s see if you can still look so smug after dropping out in the first round.]


    Another person walked forward, and the elder blinked, looking up at this person.He was certainly not a noble, judging by his clothes and temperament.He was clearly trying to hide his nervousness behind a calm fa?ade, but the elder could see the nervousness and determination warring within his eyes.What really attracted the man''s attention, though, was something else.


    He couldn''t put his finger on it, but, whether it was this young man''s bearing, the way he moved, or something else, he felt different.It was almost as though there were an intangible aura surrounding him, attracting the elder''s attention.Being quite advanced in both sigil realms and alchemy, he was able to detect this sensation while others couldn''t.[There''s something different about this boy.]


    The elder''s expression did not change, though, and he blandly said, "Please write your name here," gesturing to the paper that was half filled with names.Nadran nodded and wrote his name on the piece of paper before moving into the next room.There were about 300 people sitting in this large room, waiting for the test to start.The room was filled with chairs, with a desk in front of each one.


    Before sitting down, Nadran walked over to one of the teachers, who was standing at the edge of the room."Excuse me?" he asked quietly.


    "What is it?" the teacher responded with a disinterested expression.


    "Do you have any alchemy books I could look at before the test?It looks like it''ll be a while before the test starts."Nadran asked casually, looking around.


    Internally, the teacher sneered, but kept it from showing on her face.[You realized you aren''t prepared and are trying to study at the last moment?That won''t save you from this test.]


    Outwardly, though, she said, "There''s a couple you can read, but most of the books are unavailable until you become an alchemy apprentice."


    Nadran nodded in acknowledgement and responded, "Alright, could you show me to the ones I can read?I would appreciate it."


    A few minutes later, Nadran walked back into the test room, carrying a thick book.He sat down in a random seat, and opened the book to the first page.He began silently reading through it, the flipping of the pages the only sound coming from his desk.He wore a thoughtful expression as he read, his eyes occasionally widening as though he had realized something important, leading to him quickly jotting something down in his notebook before he turned back to the book.


    Nadran continued on, oblivious to the attention he was receiving.While he was older than most of the other participants, that wasn''t the main reason for the attention.After all, there were many people here who had studied alchemy for decades and still had yet to meet the qualifications of alchemy apprentice.This was not an easy profession by any means, and nearly everyone who attempted to become an alchemist failed with no real accomplishments.


    His worn clothes stood out when compared to the rest of the people in the room.After all, alchemy was a very expensive profession due to all of the herbs and materials that were required.Most people assumed he was just overconfidently attempting the test without the ability to back it up.


    As he was reading, Nadran heard footsteps walking toward him, and his eyes quickly flicked up to see who was approaching before he returned his gaze to the book.[No way!Someone''s seriously coming to pick a fight with me?I''m literally just sitting here reading, I''ve never even met this guy before!]


    While he protested in his mind, he was actually not that surprised.In this world, many peoples'' favorite hobby was, simply put, bullying.These people enjoyed searching out for people who seemed weaker than themselves, then putting them down, whether verbally or physically, in order to make themselves feel more powerful and talented.This would very occasionally backfire due to them misjudging others'' strength and getting beat up themselves, but this was rare.Even if it did happen more, Nadran was pretty sure their arrogance and (at least in his opinion) stupidity would ensure they would keep doing it until the ends of time if they didn''t run their face into a wall first.


    On this topic, there were some sigil masters who would deliberately pretend to be weak specifically to attract these bullies.They apparently enjoyed suddenly turning the tables on these bullies and enjoying their expressions of horror when they realized their target was far stronger than them.Nadran felt that, even if he did have the strength to do such a thing, it would probably just be a waste of time.After all, what is the point in messing around like that when you could be getting stronger instead?But this didn''t mean that people wouldn''t target him anyways, since his talents (and status) truly seemed too poor.


    "Haha, did you only just realize you''re in over your head and decide to try to learn everything last minute?" the young man spoke arrogantly, smiling as though he was watching a circus act.


    Trying to suppress a sigh that Nadran knew would only encourage the bully, Nadran continued reading for a few seconds before blinking and looking up innocently."Oh wait, were you talking to me just now?" Nadran asked as though he had just realized that.


    The man didn''t know whether he should be amused or angry at this blas¨¦ response."Of course I''m talking about you!Who else is reading here right before the test?"


    Nadran tilted his head to the side and looked around before responding in feigned surprise, "Oh, you''re right.Huh, that''s strange."


    "What''s strange?" the man asked with a confused expression on his face.


    [Your face is what''s strange.]"I was just a little surprised that everyone else was so confident in their ability to pass that they would go around and socialize rather than studying more," Nadran said calmly, a blank expression on his face."Personally, I know that I still have lots to learn about alchemy, so I figured that if I have to wait around doing nothing for a while anyways, I might as well study so that I''ll be more knowledgeable about alchemy in the future."


    [Is he¡­ making fun of me?] the man, Zosal, thought uncertainly as he looked at Nadran''s deadpan expression.He looked at the title of the book Nadran was reading and smirked.[Never mind, he''s just an idiot.]"So, you''re studying hard to learn the contents of Basic Alchemy Herbs, Volume 1?What herb are you reading about right now?" The man smiled as he spoke, happily noticing the attention their conversation was getting.Humiliating others was always more satisfying with witnesses.A couple snickers could be heard as people noticed that Nadran was reading one of the simplest and most basic books in all of alchemy.Nearly everyone in the room had read it years ago.


    Nadran nodded seriously and replied."I was just reading about the properties of the hundred-petal tulip.I saw that it was earth attributed, and I was trying to figure out why that was."


    Zosal looked at him incredulously."All tulips are earth-attributed, what are you talking about?"[Is he actually THIS dumb?!]


    "Not necessarily," Nadran replied, staring off into space as he thought."Tulips do tend to favor environments rich in earth energy, but the hundred-petal tulip is formed by the aggregation of 100 tulip seeds floating through the air.While it does eventually land, it has already begun to grow by then, and should have absorbed air energy as its main attribute before it even landed.So why is it earth attributed and not air attributed?"


    Zosal narrowed his eyes, feeling even more sure that Nadran was making fun of him.Fury burned in his eyes as he prepared to speak.


    Nadran wasn''t actually trying to mock Zosal with his previous statement.In truth, he wanted to ignore this posturing idiot and get back to reading.So, he just started speaking his thoughts aloud so that he could keep reading without seeming like he was ignoring the person who was talking down to him.Of course, seeing Zosal''s dumbfounded expression was just an added bonus.


    "Oh wait," Nadran suddenly said, cutting off Zosal before he had a chance to speak."The catalyst for the tulip seeds combining is the presence of an Obsidian Eagle.The earth-attributed energy that swirls around the eagle must be infused into the seeds as they are pulled together, causing the seeds to gain an earth attribute."He quickly pulled out his notebook and began writing in it.


    Zosal glared at Nadran, clearly furious."Stop making up whatever you want just to make yourself sound smart!Regardless, it''s still earth attributed in the end, so your silly story wouldn''t matter, even if it was true."


    Nadran looked at Zosal in surprise.[Wait, is he being serious?]"Um¡­ yeah, actually, the way an herb gains an attribute is very important.For example, the purity of the energy.Since the flower''s formation energy comes from the powerful Obsidian Eagles, it is naturally very pure.This affects, among other things, the amount of the herb that is required to forge a pill, or its compatibility with other herbs."


    In truth, Nadran didn''t think he was being condescending when he said this.To him, the idea was so self-explanatory that he understood it almost intuitively.The idea of not understanding it hadn''t even crossed his mind until Zosal had spoken out against it.


    "You¡­" Zosal growled, looking like he was about to attack Nadran in the middle of the exam room.At this point, however, a voice cut in, ending their conversation.


    "The exam will begin in 5 minutes, please return to your seats."The voice was not loud, and yet it seemed to ring in everyone''s ears as though the speaker was right next to them.Zosal was clearly unhappy, but had no choice to return to his seat, glaring at Nadran the whole way.


    The instructor who had spoken was also looking at Nadran, but with a different expression.[Who is he?Why have I never heard about him before?How could someone with his level of comprehension have gone unnoticed until now?Does he have a powerful teacher who has kept him hidden until now?]He shook his head, dismissing his thoughts.He would see soon enough what this young man was capable of.


    Meanwhile, Nadran was internally laughing at himself in ridicule.[I was just thinking earlier about how silly it is for those powerful masters to spend their time messing with bullies for fun, then I go and do something similar right afterwards.I''m such a hypocrite.Well, at least I didn''t go intentionally looking for a fight, and I didn''t intentionally mock him¡­ at least at the end.Honestly though¡­ that was kind of amusing.I should be careful, or I might get addicted to trolling young masters and waste time I could be spending to improve myself.]


    At this point, a thin stack of papers was placed on his desk.Nadran looked over to see that it was the first part of the test, the written portion.[Well,] Nadran thought, [I guess I better get started.]

 10 Chapter 10: The First Tes

    Nadran looked through the test.The questions were relatively straightforward, but difficult to answer perfectly.Each question contained nothing but a picture of a particular herb.The goal was to name the herb, then describe everything you can about the herb: Its distinguishing characteristics, attribute, its most common uses, whether the picture was of a mutant variety of the herb, its natural habitat and prerequisites for formation.The more you can describe about it and what it does, the better your score.Of course, this excludes obvious things that aren''t unique to the herb, like ''it''s a plant'' or ''you can make pills with it.''


    To Nadran, this was not that challenging.He had previously struggled with creating sigils, but that was largely due to an incomprehension of how the sigil''s patterns were formed and linked together.Alchemy, on the other hand, seemed to make perfect sense.He could easily understand how different herbs formed, and how they interacted with each other when combined made perfect sense to him.Thus, he had been able to memorize a huge quantity of information on herbs in a very short amount of time.It helped that he already had a baseline familiarity with a lot of them due to having picked them himself in the past.


    Nadran was still concerned though.Some of the herbs were somewhat unfamiliar to him, and he was unable to immediately remember all of their properties.He quickly did the ones he knew well, then focused on the less familiar ones.[Purple-leaf Fern.Let''s see, it is found in swamps with a large amount of void energy.So, its attribute is obviously void.Its maturation time¡­ hm, most fern-type herbs take approximately 3 months to mature.Void energy should slow down its pace of growth though¡­ it''s probably 4 months.Based off the picture, I can assume that the edges of the fern are sharp, like a blade.This kind of herb should be most useful in¡­]


    In this manner, Nadran went through all of the questions, writing down vast amounts of information.Half an hour later, almost everyone had finished writing and had finished their tests in.There was one exception, though.A young man wearing commoner clothing was still diligently working on his test, writing down page after page of information.


    Naturally, this attracted a fair amount of attention.The last person to hand in their test had handed in their test nearly 5 minutes ago before immediately falling asleep, but Nadran was still writing.Zosal looked over at him, thinking that Nadran was trying to show off again.[Just because you write a lot doesn''t mean you will get a higher score.What could you possibly be doing?Writing a treatise on your favorite type of sandwich?Hurry up and finish so that I can laugh at you when you fail.]


    As if on cue, Nadran placed down his pen at this moment and picked up his papers, stacking them neatly before bringing them to the instructor.He then returned to his desk, took out the book he had been reading before the exam, and continued reading.


    Nadran ignored the strange glances that were being sent his way as the teachers went into a back room to begin scoring the tests.He couldn''t be bothered to try to interact with other people, and he would much rather be reading a book.After all, books were less likely to hurt him than people.


    Nadran read for about half an hour while he was waiting, trying to block out Zosal''s loud voice as he bragged about how he would definitely be in the top 3 for the test, and that the test was actually incredibly easy for someone as talented as him.Nadran couldn''t care less what nonsense he was spouting, but it was making it harder for him to read with all the noise.[Sure, sure, you''re a super special talented noble who''s perfect in every way.Can you shut up now?]Nadran didn''t say this aloud, but the idea of doing so was rather tempting.


    Soon, the lead instructor walked out of the back room, a piece of paper held in his hand."I will now list the names of those who passed the exam.If your name is on the list, you are eligible to participate in the second phase of the alchemy apprentice test."


    Having reached the point they were waiting, for, everyone reacted differently.Some watched on nervously, others smiled carelessly as though they were already assured of their success, some looked on intently.Nadran glanced up from the book he was reading and began paying attention.


    "A total of 117 people have passed.They are, in ascending order¡­"The instructor said as he began listing names.The looks of relief of those whose names were listed was evident; it was incredibly difficult to join Mirror Dragon Academy through attainments in alchemy, and doing so resulted in you becoming an alchemy apprentice.Thus, even passing the first round was something worthy of praise.


    Meanwhile, Zosal calmly listened to the list of names with a smile.He couldn''t be bothered to learn the name of the young man he had been disparaging, but he was well connected in the world of alchemy, and he knew the names of almost everyone in the room.While there were over 500 people in the room, any one of them had some degree of fame for themselves, or at the very least, from their family name.Zosal knew the names of all the people who had been listed so far, and that was all he needed to know to be sure that the person who had insulted him had not passed.[If such a poor figure without backing could ever pass, it would only be in the bottom rankings.The bottom 30 rankings have already been listed, there is no way he passed.]Zosal turned and smirked victoriously toward Nadran, who completely ignored him.This made Zosal even more unhappy.[Let''s see if you can keep that attitude when you realize you didn''t pass,] he thought vindictively.


    Zosal, like so many sigil users, was one to very easily hold a grudge.In this world, where status and ranking were everything, anything that could be considered a sleight to one''s perceived status or ranking was a grave offense that could not be easily forgiven.While not everyone thinks like this, it is still prevalent enough that 3 out of every 4 people will act this way.This was not a wholesome or harmonious attitude, but it was also a reason that so many of these people succeeded and became strong.After all, they were often willing to put in the work to make the offending party suffer, even if they had to train hard and become strong enough to crush the other underfoot.


    Nadran calmly waited, drumming his fingers against the desk.Zosal took this as a sign of nervousness, but in truth, Nadran simply had a song stuck in his head, and was tapping the desk to the beat of the song.[Meloden isn''t an obsidian-ranked musician for nothing.I''m still hearing his music in my head weeks after his performance,] Nadran thought with a smile, listening for the sound of his name being called by the instructor.


    Recognizing several last names, Nadran gave a wry smile.[It''s actually kind of ridiculous how many nobles there are in this city alone,] he thought.In truth, there were dozens of noble families, and each one was incredibly extensive, with hundreds of people in each family.Even if you were the son of the brother of the cousin twice removed of the grandson of the family head, you were still considered a noble.It also seemed, at least to Nadran, that being insufferable was a genetic trait of nobles.


    [I wonder how well I''ll rank,] Nadran thought idly, his thoughts shifting as the list entered the top 30.[Probably not that well; I wasn''t able to figure much out about the fifth herb that they showed.I had never even heard of it, and I had to make inferences on its properties from the picture alone, which isn''t the best way of judging an herb.Well, I guess this just shows that I still have a lot of work to do to become a proper alchemist.Plus, I still plan on becoming a powerful sigil user.If I can''t defend myself properly, being an alchemist won''t save me from a powerful cultivator, and in the end, sigils are still the core metric of power within this world.Both take a lot of time to improve, though¡­ It seems I really don''t have any time to waste with pointless endeavors, I still have so much I still need to do.]


    The list reached the top ten, then the top 5.At this point, the instructor began adding the score that each participant had earned for the final 5 names, showing the difference between the top places.The exam scoring was based on a point system with no hard limit, and a student needed to earn at least 20 points to pass.The person in fifth place had earned a total of 68 points, though, clearly showing the distance between those at the bottom and those at the top.


    "Next, in fourth place, with 74 points, is Zosal Kyverious," the instructor said calmly.Zosal smiled, but it appeared somewhat forced.He had expected to place at least in the top 3, but it seemed that he had only placed fourth.[Now that I think about it, I also expected Wendith to place in the top 3, but he only placed fifth.What''s going on?]


    "In third place, with 87 points, is Rychavel Deuterial."The instructor continued on, ignoring the frowns of confusion among the top-ranking students.Almost all of them accepted Rychavel as the most talented among all the examinees in attendance, but he had only placed third?Who performed better than him?


    "In second place, with 157 points, is Noctear Piloac."The instructor''s tone did not change, but his declaration caused a commotion among the examinees.


    "How is there such a huge difference between second and third place?" someone asked their friend in surprise and shock.


    "Don''t forget that third place is that genius Rychavel," his friend replied in a hushed tone filled with disbelief."Who is this Noctear?I''ve never even heard of him before."


    "Yeah¡­" the first speaker responded."Wait!" They suddenly froze, their eyes widening."This Noctis beat Rychavel by 80 points, and still got second place.Doesn''t that mean that the person in first place has an even higher score?"


    "You''re right!It seems like this year''s alchemy apprentice exam has some hidden geniuses," the other replied.


    Nadran was actually quite lucky with regards to the timing of the exam.The exam was annual, but when he decided he would learn alchemy, this exam was only five days away.This was not entirely coincidental, though.He took into account the proximity of the exam date when he was considering how he could get into the academy, after all.If it had been too long a time before the exam, he may have chosen to do something different, instead.He needed protection as quick as possible, since he didn''t know when Tyval would strike.


    "Finally," the instructor spoke up once more, instantly silencing the crowd."In first place, with 158 points, is Nadran Drasnor."


    Even more agitated discussion broke out at this announcement.The top two places were occupied by people they had never heard of before, and there was a score difference between them of a single point, compared to the 80-point gap with third place.


    As this announcement was made, Nadran instinctively looked over at a seat a few rows away from him.He was the last one to finish before Nadran, and he had fallen asleep right after handing in his exam.At this point, though, he woke up, looking over at Nadran.Neither had ever heard about the other before, but they each instinctively knew the other''s identity.Their eyes met, and they looked at each other for a second before nodding slightly.The other boy went back to sleep, and Nadran continued reading his book.


    "Alright, everyone who passed, you may follow me into the next room for the second exam.Those who did not pass, you may either leave or watch the second exam from the spectators'' seats.After all, you may learn something there that could aid you in the future."The instructor explained the next step, and everyone began moving.Some began to leave, but most decided to stay.After all, the second stage was the true test, while the first test acted more as a screening process.Even if they didn''t gain much knowledge from watching, it was still worthwhile for many.Some looked to see what they were lacking in to improve themselves. Some looked to see who they should be careful of or be nice to in the future, ensuring they did not hurt themselves with their own arrogance.Others just watched due to curiosity, wanting to see how these people would fare in one of the strictest entrance examinations in the city.


    Nadran walked calmly toward the instructor, ignoring the attention he attracted as he did so.He didn''t have time to waste on others'' opinions.In fact, he was still reading the book as he was walking toward the next exam.He tried to suppress the nervousness within him as he walked.He couldn''t afford to fail at this point, he likely wouldn''t have the time to find an alternative if he didn''t succeed.There was no chance that the Evegart family would let him go after he humiliated and heavily injured Kalio, so he needed to be quick to ensure he would survive.[As long as I pass this test, I should be safe, at least for now.The Evegart family is wealthy and powerful, but they can''t go up against the Mirror Dragon Academy.]


    Nadran''s eyes filled with determination as he walked forward, ready to face the second test.

 11 Chapter 11: Pill Forging

    As Nadran walked with the rest of the successful applicants toward the instructor, Zosal looked at him in derision.[Does he think he can just waltz in here without actually passing?There''s no way the teachers would overlook that.Are you trying to get in trouble?]


    Zosal''s expression changed, however, when that commoner successfully entered the next room without being stopped or called out.[How could the instructors miss that he came in too? Unless¡­]He suddenly stopped, almost causing the person behind him to bump into his back.


    [No way, he couldn''t be¡­] Zosal thought in disbelief.[He was one of the people who placed in the top two?One of the dark horses that nobody recognized?How is that possible?!]


    He looked over at Nadran again, who was calmly reading as he walked over to one of the benches in the second room before sitting down, only sparing a cursory glance at his surroundings.[He''s just reading nonstop, ignoring everything else.Wait, maybe he always spends all of his time reading, and so that''s why he knows a ton of information about all sorts of herbs.In that case, he must have chosen that book to mess with us, to make us underestimate him.Yeah, that makes sense.In that case though, he likely spent all of his time on theory in order to be able to score that high, and thus he has very little practical experience due to a lack of time or money.]Zosal smiled, regaining his lost confidence.[Well, the second test will reveal your incompetence.After all, it is a practical test, and is not just theory like the first test.I can''t wait to see your despairing expression¡­]


    Nadran continued reading, unaware of Zosal''s speculations and malicious thoughts.He hadn''t had a chance to read this book before coming to the test, having been too busy reading other books and trying out what he learned.Thus, he decided that he should read through it now, while he had the free time to do so.


    In the past, Nadran had not been as dedicated and studious as he was now.While he had still worked hard, it was not to this extent.With his father''s injury and the incidents with the Evegarts, though, his outlook had undergone a radical change.He realized that unless he put in more effort than anyone else, him and his family would surely be hurt or killed by others who were so strong that he could not oppose them.It is one thing to understand this concept, but it is another thing altogether to experience this happening to his family personally, to almost lose someone he loved because he lacked the strength to protect them.This motivation had caused Nadran to devote every waking moment to getting stronger and more knowledgeable.


    Nadran''s reading was soon interrupted by the lead instructor, who began speaking once more."The second test is to create a pill through alchemy.It must be at least at the mid slate tier, but any pill is acceptable, as long as you make it yourself with no help.After you make the pill, the instructors will judge your pill, taking into consideration quality, quantity, grade, and difficulty of creation.Those who meet the standards of the examiners will pass the test and be admitted into Mirror Dragon Academy."


    It could be seen from this just how difficult it was to become an alchemist at this prestigious academy.The baseline was the ability to craft a mid slate pill, and even accomplishing that was not sufficient to pass if the quality of the pill was not noteworthy.It must be said, the difficulty of crafting a mid slate pill was substantially higher than casting a mid slate sigil.Sigils could generally be executed with a few seconds of concentration, and while learning them was no simple feat, it was still generally considered less demanding than alchemy.Alchemy was an art where a high level of concentration had to be maintained for minutes, or even hours at a time.One mistake resulted in failure.This concentration requirement, in addition to the vast knowledge and experience that was needed, meant that even the simplest pills were no joke to create.


    Nadran heard the details of the task set before him and frowned.He had mostly been practicing with low slate pills, so this could prove to be a bit troublesome.[I hope I don''t make a mistake due to my unfamiliarity with the process,] Nadran thought as he decided on what pill to create.He only had access to the absolute basic pill formulas, since, as with powerful sigil diagrams and cultivation manuals, the more uncommon pill formulas were often closely guarded by their owners.Nonetheless, the public library still had a few mid slate pill formulas, which was sufficient for Nadran''s needs at this point.[Once I get accepted, I hope I''ll be able to get some higher quality pill recipes to use.I can''t proceed very far in alchemy without more complex and valuable formulas.]


    "Since pill forging requires more space than a written exam, we will divide everyone into several groups," the head teacher explained."Each group will enter the pill forge room together, and each person will create their own pill for us to inspect.There is enough space for everyone in a given group to work at the same time without any interruptions.Also, I don''t think I need to say this, but we will be watching you as you forge your pills.Any attempts to aid or sabotage the other examinees will result in immediate disqualification."


    Nadran waited calmly as the groups were decided by the instructors.Nadran ended up in group 6, the final group.After hearing this, Nadran began reading once more, not wanting to waste a moment.


    In the meantime, the first group of 20 people entered the pill forge room.They spread out to the different pill forges, most examining their equipment before they began.They then moved over to the sets of herbs that lined one side of the room, moving among them as they picked out the ones that they needed.The herbs were carefully weighed, then carried over to the pill forges.


    The academy had provided the most common type of pill forge, the cauldron.These charcoal-black cauldrons were more than 4 feet in diameter, standing on a small set of legs to elevate their bottoms off the tables.These high slate grade cauldrons were incomparable to the mundane cooking pot Nadran had been using.They had strong insulation effects, sides that trapped the herbs'' energy inside without letting it seep out, and they were resistant to corrosion from powerful herbs.Just the fact that 20 high slate cauldrons could be casually produced by the academy for an entrance examination showed just how strong Mirror Dragon Academy was, or perhaps how highly they valued talented new alchemists.


    Nadran looked up from his book to watch the examinees preparing, and decided to see if he could identify any of the pills that were being created.It seemed that most of the pills were being made from private recipes that nobles or powerful figures had access to, but there were a couple Nadran recognized.


    [Based on the herbs he''s collecting, that guy is most likely making a 3-Bell Unsealing Pill.It serves to aid those who have impaired muscle movement, whether it is from a low-level curse, tissue damage, or simply from old age.It loosens and repairs the muscles, unsealing their movement options.It can also be used when uninjured to further increase someone''s movement options beyond the norm, but the effects are less pronounced.Upon consumption, the one who eats it hears the sound of bells tolling within their ears, hence the name.Let''s see, it also¡­ wait, what is he doing?]


    Nadran interrupted his little self-testing session when he noticed something was amiss.[That guy took way too many String Berries.The 3-Bell Unsealing Pill only calls for 4.5 grams, but he took just under 5 grams by the looks of it.Looking at the ingredients and the amounts he gathered, my prediction of what he''s making should be right, but if that''s the case¡­ this could result in an explosive failure.]


    Alchemy relied heavily on exact proportions between the herbs.Alchemical herbs often had strong, strange, or unique effects, and these traits needed to be properly balanced out when someone is combining these different herbs into a single pill.If this delicate equilibrium is not achieved, the pill will almost always fail to form, sometimes with explosive results.


    Realizing that there was not much for him to gain by watching further, Nadran went back to reading, keeping a mental countdown in the back of his head.People who made mistakes like this were not worth his time.


    Meanwhile, hundreds of people sat in the spectator stands, watching excitedly as the pill forging processes began."Look how quickly they''re able to measure the ingredients," one spectator exclaimed, looking on in admiration.He always took nearly half an hour to measure out the right amounts, but the people in the second phase of the exam almost all finished the measuring of ingredients in less than ten minutes.


    "Yeah. Within the participants of the second phase of the exam are some of the most alchemically talented people in the city who have yet to join an academy or similar force," his friend replied."Many are still so young, but they are still able to forge at this level.They will surely be influential figures in the future, even if they don''t pass."


    Most of the examinees who were waiting for their turn were also watching, but their responses were more muted than the spectators.After all, they had their pride and at least some degree of confidence in their own abilities.Besides, almost nobody felt that they were inferior to everyone who was currently taking the test.Of course, Nadran and Noctis were exceptions, completely ignoring the happenings as they read and slept, respectively.


    [9, 8, 7, 6,] Nadran continued his mental countdown.[5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0.]As he reached zero, he put down the book he was reading, covering his ears with an irritated expression.


    This action got the attention of numerous other examinees, who were confused by Nadran''s inexplicable actions.They listened carefully, but didn''t hear any noise that they felt would warrant such an action."What is he doin-" someone began to speak, when suddenly a loud bang stopped him short.


    The sound was deafening, and everyone clutched their ears, wincing as they looked over to see the source.One of the test-takers was lying flat on his back, face covered in ash.He started to stand up, wincing, and looked at the cauldron he had been forging in.Black smoke was billowing from the top, and it was clear that the pills he had been working on were completely ruined.


    One of the instructors looked at the young man, clearly unimpressed, before informing him that he had failed.He walked dejectedly out of the room, avoiding eye contact as he quickly left the building.


    "Wow, that scared me," the person who had been interrupted by the explosion commented, looking over as one of the instructors called over a helper to clean out the cauldron before the next person would need to use it.


    "Yeah, alchemy really isn''t something to be taken lightly.If you mess up, it could end in disaster," his friend commented."I heard that mistakes for higher level pills are even more dangerous.If you''re not careful, you could lose your life or be crippled."


    "Scary stuff.Wait!" the boy suddenly gasped and looked over at Nadran, who was reading the alchemy book once again."Could he have known¡­?"


    "What?How could he have known that someone''s pill would explode right then?" the friend protested."He must have just gotten lucky."


    The first boy did not look convinced, but didn''t respond, instead looking around to see that Noctis was still asleep, not having been woken by the sound of the explosion.[How could he have possibly slept through such a loud sound?]He sighed, shaking his head."This exam has a couple weird people in it."


    Meanwhile, the first round of pills were just finishing, and the examiners inspected the finished products.To the dismay and surprise of many, none of the 20 participants in the first round passed.


    "It truly is difficult to become an alchemist of Mirror Dragon Academy," one of the examinees said despondently.They had been so confident in their ability to pass, and yet they could not pass the final hurdle.It was incredibly frustrating, which was only partially mitigated by the fact that none of the other first-round participants had passed, either.


    The exam continued on, with only a single person passing in the second round.1 pass out of 40 candidates, this success rate was truly too low, especially since this was after the written test, which had already screened out 80% of the participants.


    Zosal did not lose his confidence from these success rates, though.He walked smugly over to Nadran and spoke loudly."It seems like you aren''t aware of how far behind you are and think we aren''t worth your time, but I will show you the truth.Watch my performance; I will show you how a true alchemist works."


    As Zosal sauntered away toward the door to join the third round of the test, Nadran blinked, feeling wronged.[Does he think I''m picking a fight or something?I''ve literally just been sitting here and reading!]

 12 Chapter 12: Is That Impressive?

    Although Nadran was annoyed by Zosal''s attitude, Nadran still paid attention to his actions.[Just because someone is mean and abrasive doesn''t mean they don''t have real skill.Maybe I actually can learn some things from him.]He wasn''t the kind of person to hold a grudge against everyone who wronged him.If he did, he would have a list reaching the skies, and he would spend all his time on revenge and repaying petty grievances.While he certainly didn''t like people like Zosal, he didn''t want blow it out of proportion and lose chances to learn and improve himself.


    Of course, this was only true if they didn''t cross his bottom line.While he was still weak now, he would certainly seek justice against those who had wronged him and his family when he was able.First on this list was the person who had nearly killed his father!Compared to this, someone like Zosal was no more than a minor nuisance.


    Under Nadran''s attentive gaze, the third round of the exam began.Nadran focused on Zosal''s actions as he collected and measured the herbs, seeing if he was doing anything noteworthy.[He seems to be well-connected and has chatted with a bunch of the other participants, and he seems confident in his own abilities despite knowing the strength of others.That probably means he has at least some skill, right?]


    Zosal began measuring out herbs, and Nadran tried to figure out what pill he was making.[Hm, that particular combination of herbs¡­ is that the Breath Enhancing Pill?I''m surprised he is making a pill I actually know about.I expected him to make some fancy high-tier pill.I guess not.]


    Meanwhile, two other examinees were discussing the same subject."So, do you know what pill Zosal is making?" one of them asked.


    "It''s probably the Breath Enhancing Pill," the other replied after looking for a little while.


    "Isn''t that a really common pill?Why would he make that one as opposed to some more complex pill?" they replied, confused.


    "You didn''t know?Zosal comes from a respected family of alchemists, and they focus on polishing the basics above all else.They would rather make a common pill at a high level than a rare pill at a lower level."


    "Oh, I see.I guess Zosal is pretty skilled with such a background."


    "Indeed he is.I''d say he''s probably one of the most skilled people taking this test.In addition, he has reached the high slate sigil realm at the age of 17.He''s got some talent in that field, as well."


    Nadran didn''t hear this conversation, though, focused as he was on Zosal''s actions.After a little while, though, he began to get skeptical.[Why is he leaving the fire on for so long?The Breath Enhancing Pill only needs brief applications of fire between each step, but he''s leaving it on the entire time.The fusion between the ingredients is a delicate process, and it is easy to burn the ingredients, lowering the grade or just directly ruining the pill if the heat is not properly managed.]


    Nadran criticized Zosal''s performance in his mind, feeling that any concept he had understood so easily should be common knowledge.After all, he was using publicly available books.What he didn''t realize was that a lot of his knowledge was inferred from his knowledge of how the pill forms and the ingredients interact.It was not written explicitly in the books, and so most other beginner alchemists would not even consider these aspects unless they read a more advanced book that spoke about those matters directly.


    [What, why is he already adding in the Violet Star Stalks already?The Jade Ivy hasn''t had time to integrate into the mixture yet.The ingredients are going to clash and lower the quality.Does he even know the basics of alchemy?!]Nadran sighed in exasperation as he watched the walking train wreck that was Zosal''s performance.He couldn''t bring himself to watch the rest of the pill refinement, and instead resumed reading.


    Within half an hour, Zosal finished his pill forging, and triumphantly brought out 2 light gray pills.He handed them to an instructor, who nodded approvingly."One of them is even a mid-grade pill with a quality of 27%.Not bad, you pass."


    Zosal smirked in satisfaction at this remark.The grade of pill determined the base efficacy of the pill, while the quality increased the concentration and speed of the pill''s effects.For example, the Breath Enhancing Pill refined by Zosal was of the mid-grade.The Breath Enhancing Pill was designed to restore a person''s stamina, allowing them to act for extended amounts of time without the need for rest.The grade affected the amount of energy restored, while the quality affected how fast the energy flowed into the body of the one who consumed it, as well as controlling the energy''s purity.Low and high quality pills were like the difference between throwing a large rock and a spear.If both objects had the same momentum, the spear would do more damage.This is because the force of the spear is concentrated in one point, while the rock''s impact is spread out, unable to have the same effect.In this analogy, grade would simply be the amount of momentum each object had, with a higher grade meaning more momentum.The exact effect of quality varied from pill to pill, but this general concept always held true.


    Quality was a result of the precision of the steps taken in the forging process.The exact proportions of the pill''s ingredients, the level of control over the temperature, the amount of time between adding the ingredients.These were the types of factors that affected quality.Percentages were used to quantify this, with 100% being the theoretical maximum.The effects increased exponentially with the percentage though, as did the difficulty in achieving such a result.50% was far more than twice the effectiveness of 25%, and also more than twice as hard to achieve.Furthermore, the difference between 75% and 80% was greater than the difference between 10% and 50%.


    Zosal was quite happy to get a quality of 27%, which was better than everyone else who had taken the test so far.He was also proud that he had managed to forge a mid-tier pill.A pill''s tier was affected by the process used to forge the pill.The level and suitability of the method of forging impacted a pill''s grade.Rather than relying on precision like for quality, it required planning and flexibility.While pill formulas existed, allowing the method of refining a particular pill to be read, this was not sufficient to create a pill by itself.Slight variations in the purity and age of the ingredients, the temperature of the air, the grade of the fire and forge, all of these and more could affect the process of forging a pill.When refining a pill, one needed to be able to react to the effects of this on a pill and keep the pill stable so that it would not bleed energy or fail.This was not something that could easily be written down due to the pure number of potential combinations of factors.Thus, unless someone was able to perfectly control all external conditions, they would need to be able to judge the best way to resolve any problems that arose during the forging.


    Zosal walked over to Nadran, smiling smugly, and said "Did you see my skills?I forged a mid-tier pill with 27% quality."


    Nadran blinked and looked blankly at Zosal."Is that impressive?" he asked mildly.


    Zosal looked surprised, then nearly exploded with anger."Keep posing like that.You think you''re impressive because you did well in the first round?!Let''s see if you can keep calm when you fail the second test!"He stormed off, clearly frustrated by Nadran''s blas¨¦ attitude.


    [I was being serious though¡­] Nadran thought dejectedly.He honestly did not know if the pill Zosal had made was considered impressive.All he knew was that he was able to make better pills than that after only learning for 5 days.By comparison, Zosal couldn''t be too skilled, could he?


    Nadran shook his head and closed the book, walking into the pill forge room.Noctis walked in alongside him, giving him a slight nod before he turned to go to a pill forge.Nadran returned the nod and did the same.While Noctis seemed to be asleep all of the time, Nadran felt that he wasn''t a bad person, and he seemed to be someone with at least some level of ability.At the very least, Nadran had a much better impression of Noctis than Zosal.


    [Alright, time for me to take on the second test.I hope I''ll be able to pass,] Nadran thought as he stretched, looking to the hundreds of shelves of herbs as he searched for the ones he needed.


    "You may now begin," the head instructor stated, and everyone began their preparations.The instructor then began watching Nadran out of the corner of his eye, unable to contain his curiosity.[I wonder how he will perform.With answers like he gave in the first test, I''m sure this will be worth watching.]

 13 Chapter 13: Did I Pass?

    Nadran did not waste any time and immediately got to work.The pill he was planning on forging was called the Dust Gathering Pill.Its primary purpose was to temporarily boost a person''s cultivation speed, allowing them to grow their internal energy pool faster than they could otherwise.This was one of the only mid-slate pills he knew.


    Nadran reached the ingredient shelves and began collecting the ingredients he needed.This pill required a total of 8 separate ingredients, and he was quickly able to identify them and bring them over to his station.He looked at the measuring tools he had been provided and frowned.Up until now, he had been forging pills without any measuring implements, so changing to using these devices felt a little strange to him.He measured out the necessary amount of azure grass, then looked at it, feeling something was off.


    [Oh, since the grass is of a slightly lower quality, I probably need a bit more of it to compensate,] Nadran thought, adding a tiny amount of grass before placing it aside and starting with the next ingredient.His gut feeling was telling him this was right, and up until now, this feeling had only helped him in refining pills, never leading him astray.Thus, he tended to prioritize these feelings over the exact words that were written, even though he didn''t know the source of the feelings in the first place.


    Meanwhile, a few of the instructors were watching Nadran from a back room as he worked.They were curious as to the skills of the one who had such incredible results in the first exam.When they saw him measuring the ingredients, they were impressed."He was able to gather the exact amount of herbs required so easily," one of the exam assistants commented."That is pretty impressive for an examinee¡­ wait, what is he doing?"


    The assistant blinked in confusion as Nadran frowned before adding a tiny amount of additional herbs to the measuring container, causing the level to raise just above the line that was marked on the side."He had it perfect, then he added more.Why did he mess it up like that?" he asked, not understanding Nadran''s actions.


    Suddenly, a voice spoke out from behind him, catching him by surprise."No, what he did was correct."The voice was quiet, but seemed to contain boundless force and conviction within it.


    Sweat began dripping down the assistant''s forehead as he turned and looked over at the head examiner."Professor Berylin, uh, why is what he did correct?"


    Berylin smiled faintly and replied, "He was able to assess the quality of the herb, and adjusted the amount of herb he added to account for its strength.This level of ability¡­ I wonder who his master is?"


    The assistant looked back at Nadran in shock.To get such praise from Professor Berylin, it seemed he was more than met the eye.


    Meanwhile, Nadran continued measuring out the ingredients.However, he quickly became frustrated after he measured out a specific amount, felt it was incorrect, then adjusted it every single time.Due to this, he completely gave up on using the measuring devices and began measuring without them, nearly giving the assistant who was watching a stroke.


    [You know, it''s strange,] Nadran thought, not for the first time.[It seems like I inherently know the exact amounts of herbs needed for all of these pills.I mean, I have a pretty good sense for the weights of herbs after having sold so many in the past, but that still doesn''t explain this.Isn''t this the kind of thing that would be acquired through countless hours of practice?I feel like it should be, but if so, how am I able to do it with almost no past experience?Well, I guess I can wonder more about this later.For now, let''s just get this pill done with and stop getting distracted.]


    Nadran used a sigil to light a fire beneath the cauldron, causing it to heat up.[If only I had a higher sigil realm, I would be able to control this fire better.I can barely manipulate the heat at all.I really need to find a cultivation manual I can use once I enter the academy, or I won''t even be able to improve in alchemy.]Nevertheless, Nadran tried his best to manipulate the flame, but the minute control quickly caused his internal energy reserves to deplete, and his brow became beaded with droplets of sweat.


    As time passed, Nadran''s concentration began to waver.After all, the exhaustion of internal energy caused mental fatigue, and if the energy was completely expended, he would pass out.[Oh no!The two grasses have started to separate into layers!How did I not notice that was happening!] Nadran reprimanded himself, angry about his lapse in concentration.Since this was the exam he had been preparing for, he was pushing himself harder than he normally would.This resulted, however, in a large amount of strain being put on his mind, leading to a mistake.While he quickly fixed it, his face looked grim.[That mistake may have been enough to drop the pill by a grade,] he thought in frustration, but he tried to push it to the back of his mind and finish the pill forging.


    Zosal, who had been watching Nadran the entire time, broke out into a smile at the sight of Nadran''s distressed expression."Hah, looks like he finally realized he can''t succeed in the second exam.He thought that pure knowledge would allow him to enter Mirror Dragon Academy?He''s too na?ve!In the end, if you can''t make the pill, having all the knowledge in the world won''t help you!"Zosal exclaimed and laughed at Nadran''s misfortune.


    Nadran finally finished refining, and he pulled three pills out of the cauldron.They were spherical, glimmering like pearls, but he looked at them in dissatisfaction before bringing them over to the examiners.


    One of the examiners began speaking as Nadran approached."Looks like he''s not too happy with the results.It seems like he might not pass after all.That''s unfortu¡­" He trailed off as he picked up the pills, his expression changing to disbelief, and quickly walked into the back room.Upon reaching the back room where several teachers were relaxing as they waited for the test result, the examiner exclaimed, "Someone just refined two mid-grade pills!And he even made a high-grade pill!"His voice raised half an octave in shock.


    The other examiners rushed over to look."Your right!" a teacher exclaimed as she picked up the high-grade pill, examining it with her internal energy.She suddenly gasped."This pill has a quality of 68%!"


    "This was forged by one of the examinees?" another teacher asked in confusion."Who has such precision among the examinees?I thought I knew their capabilities, but to be able to accomplish this before even entering the academy?This person is incredible!So, who made this?"


    At the same time, Nadran was standing awkwardly outside the room, not sure what to do.[What is he doing?] Nadran wondered as he stared at the closed door.Most of the other examinees had been judged on the spot, and this was the first time Nadran had seen an examiner rush into the back room upon seeing a pill.[Is my pill so bad that he needed to bring it over to the other instructors so that they could all laugh at it?I wasn''t happy with how it turned out, but I didn''t think it was THAT bad.I guess I still have a lot to learn about alchemy.]


    At this point, several instructors walked out of the back room and looked over at him.After a few seconds of silence, Nadran asked shyly, "Uh, so, did I pass?"


    The instructors'' gazes immediately became strange at this question.They looked at the young man standing before them, incredulity clear in their expressions.


    "I understand," Nadran sighed, misunderstanding the cause of their expressions and looking visibly deflated."I guess I''ll see myself out then."He then began walking toward the exit.


    This action sent one of the instructors into an uncontrollable coughing fit, and the others looked on, unsure whether they should laugh or cry at this preposterous situation.Why did this incredibly talented boy automatically assume he had failed?Was he just messing with them?They stood there like stone statues, unsure how to deal with what had just occurred, when one of them regained their wits and spoke up."Please wait, Mr. Drasnor."


    Nadran turned around, surprised."Yes?"he asked, unsure of what the instructor''s intent was.


    "Um, there is no need to leave like that.Actually, you passed," the teacher explained with an awkward expression.


    "Oh, really?" Nadran asked, growing excited.


    "Yes, really," the instructor replied with a wry expression."If you couldn''t even pass with a high-grade pill at 68% quality, who could pass this test?"


    Nadran tilted his head with a thoughtful expression."Huh, I guess so."[Now that I think about it, wasn''t Zosal bragging about refining a mid-tier pill or something?I was mostly ignoring him, so I almost forgot, but I''m pretty sure he said something like that.I guess I''m still tired from using up almost all of my internal energy on that pill refinement.I jumped to conclusions too quickly.]


    "So, take this jade slip," the instructor said."Bind your internal energy to it, and this will allow you to enter Mirror Dragon Academy tomorrow.The entrance ceremony and orientation will take place at noon tomorrow, and I encourage you to be there.It will help you understand the inner workings and structure of the academy."


    "Alright, got it.I''ll be going, then."Nadran nodded and turned around, then quickly stopped and turned back around before running over and placing the book he had been reading on a table."Thanks for letting me read this, by the way," he said, smiling, then walked out of the building.


    Curious, one of the instructors walked over, wondering what book he had borrowed.The instructor''s eyes widened once more upon reading the title, ''Basic Alchemy Herbs, Volume 1.''He then looked at Nadran''s departing back, a complicated expression on his face.He could not understand this strange young man, who seemed to be a walking pile of contradictions.


    Meanwhile, Zosal was watching Nadran''s departing figure, even more confused than the instructor.[Did he really pass?And he even made a high-tier pill with a quality of almost 70%?I can''t believe it¡­]Upon remembering the condescending words he had thrown at Nadran earlier and his boasting about his own results, he lowered his head, cheeks flushed red in embarrassment, and wanted to find a hole to bury his head in to avoid the mocking gazes of his peers.Unfortunately, he could not escape their gazes until he rushed out of the building, wishing he had never provoked that young, poor-looking man.

 14 Chapter 14: Mirror Dragon Academy

    Upon seeing the gates to Mirror Dragon Academy, Nadran''s pulse involuntarily sped up.This famous academy was home to the best of the best, and they had many alumni that became powerful, earth-shaking experts.Even the city''s ruler had once attended this prestigious school.Nadran had primarily come here for protection, but that did not mean he had never desired to go here.This was the dream of many but the reality of few, and Nadran would soon join their elite ranks.


    [If only I had learned that I was this good at alchemy earlier,] Nadran lamented, unaware that before the last week, such success would have been impossible for him.He knew that, while he had managed to learn some alchemy, he was still too old compared to most of the geniuses here, especially in the field of sigils.He was 21 years old and had yet to even reach the slate realm, and yet it was not rare to see students reaching the marble realm by 16 or 17.He was truly too far behind in this field.


    After reminiscing about his past wishes that had so unexpectedly come true, Nadran stepped through the grand gates and entered the academy.The gates were massive, and the only entry point to the academy.The gates stood almost fifty feet tall, connecting to a wall that surrounded the entire academy.The imposing gates looked as though they were made of obsidian, being a glossy black with gold highlights that seemed to command attention and respect.A set of double doors as tall as the gate stood ajar, allowing entrance to the interior of this school that almost resembled a fortress.


    Inscribed on the door in gold was a set of words.They seemed to glow with a fierce light, appearing grand and imposing.


    "With the tranquility of a mirror, we reflect on our true selves.


    With the might of a dragon, we crush our enemies."


    A slight smile emerged on Nadran''s face as he felt the power and conviction behind those words.[As expected, even the entrance to the academy is so incredible.I''m sure I''ll be able to find what I want here.]


    Nadran soon reached a gigantic courtyard where hundreds of people sat, chatting and relaxing.At the front of the courtyard stood a podium that seemed to be made of jade.It was currently empty, and Nadran glanced around before finding an empty space and sitting down.


    There was still another 15 minutes until noon, so Nadran lay on his back, staring at the puffy white clouds drifting across the sky.[It feels weird to actually be at Mirror Dragon Academy,] Nadran thought idly.[It hasn''t really sunk in yet.This almost doesn''t feel real.]


    Nadran glanced around to see what the other students were doing.Some were talking to each other, others appeared to be cultivating.Nadran also noticed Noctis, who was, unsurprisingly, asleep.While only seven people had passed the alchemy exam, most of these students had gotten here through the normal entrance exam due to having a high sigil realm.


    [That means that most likely¡­ I am the person with the lowest sigil realm out of everyone here¡­] Nadran thought, sighing, and once again hoped that he would be able to actually raise his sigil realm while here.


    [There''s nothing to do¡­] Nadran thought, bored.[I wish I had a book to read.]Unfortunately, his family did not have the money to buy many books, and the only books they had were story books that Nadran had already read through nearly a dozen times.He had only managed to read about alchemy by sitting inside the library and reading for hours on end, without even having the money to borrow them from the library and take them home.


    "Hey there!What are you doing?"A loud voice suddenly broke Nadran out of his thoughts, and he looked over to see two people approaching.The one who spoke was a brawny looking boy with wild-looking black hair, probably around 15 years old.Following behind him was a girl who looked to be a few years older, her appearance looking much more tidy, her long black hair well-combed.She looked visibly uncomfortable, trying to stop the boy from moving forward, but he continued onward regardless.


    "Firen, please don''t disturb this random person for no reason," she said quietly, tugging ineffectually at his sleeve in an attempt to stop him."He looked like he was relaxing comfortably on the ground, why not just let him be?"


    "Don''t worry, I''m sure that he''d love to have a nice talk with me," the boy named Firen replied confidently before turning back to Nadran."So, what''s your favorite color?"


    Nadran stared blankly at Firen for a second."What?"


    Firen did not seem perturbed in the slightest by Nadran''s obvious confusion."Your favorite color.Mine''s yellow, by the way."


    Nadran blinked before hesitantly speaking."Uh, I guess¡­ purple?"


    "Purple, huh?A nice choice," Firen responded happily."I like you.Let''s be friends!"


    Nadran''s brain nearly short-circuited while trying to follow this strange boy''s obscure train of thought.[He is willing to be friends with me¡­ because I like the color purple?I can''t even¡­]


    Seemingly oblivious to Nadran''s questioning gaze and the strange stares he was receiving from the nearby students, Firen beamed and spoke up once again."I''m Firen, by the way, and this is my sister, Icina.What''s your name?"


    "¡­Nadran," Nadran responded, still unable to regain his footing in this ridiculously fast-paced conversation.


    "Sorry about this," Icina spoke up nervously, clasping her hands together."My little brother can be a bit¡­"


    "Awesome?" Firen interjected, smiling brightly."I know, right?I''m really awesome."Firen suddenly seemed to realize something and his eyes lit up."Oh yeah!Why didn''t I see you in the entrance examination?"


    Nadran took a deep breath, trying to compose himself."I didn''t take the normal entrance examination, I took the alchemist entrance examination."


    "Ooh, you''re an alchemist?" Firen asked excitedly."Can you make me a pill that will make me 50 feet tall?"


    Nadran stared blankly at Firen, feeling exhausted despite the fact that he was barely moving.Before he could respond, though, he noticed a figure walking up to the jade podium.


    This man was wearing long, flowing green robes that covered everything below his head, almost resembling a monk.He had a serious expression on his face and sported a neatly trimmed triangular goatee.His hair was light gray in color, and the faint wrinkles on his face seemed to speak of vast experience.As he stepped up onto the podium, all of the conversations stopped and everyone''s eyes involuntarily moved over to look at him.


    "Welcome to Mirror Dragon Academy," the man declared, his gaze passing over the crowd seated before him.Despite his age, his voice sounded powerful and resonant, and it was clear that he was an expert."You are here because you are the most talented of your generation, and this academy has the capacity to raise you to become warriors and leaders.You must learn the rules before you proceed, however.While this is a great opportunity for you, you cannot act freely, and your actions have consequences.Even if you have powerful backing, you must follow the rules like everyone else.If your actions are drastic enough, your punishment may be death."


    A solemn atmosphere filled the courtyard at these words.Only an academy as strong as Mirror Dragon Academy could say such strong words and back them up without fear of retribution.


    "First: you must not kill or cripple other students," the man continued, looking around gravely."While conflicts are inevitable, there are a number of ways to solve conflicts that don''t result in death.I encourage you to use these routes instead."


    "Second: you must not attempt to steal another student''s identity slip.If it is discovered that you did this, the consequences will be severe."


    "Third, as students of Mirror Dragon Academy, you must not do things that reflect badly on the academy."


    The man''s expression relaxed slightly."Now, I will explain what your stay here will entail.This academy has a number of buildings and facilities, and what you can access and use depends on your own accomplishments.Your identity card that you were handed at the exam is very important, so be sure not to lose it.It contains not only your identity, but also records your strength, accomplishments, and permissions.Without this card, you cannot even walk through the front door and enter the academy.With this card, you can access useful places and purchase valuable goods and services to assist you."


    "This academy has its own special currency called Contribution Points.You can use these points to exchange for a number of different purposes, from advantageous cultivation rooms to valuable pills, weapons, or cultivation manuals.You can earn them by doing deeds to help the academy, by, for example, doing missions from the mission hall or by succeeding in difficult challenges or setting records.If you are ever unsure how to get more points, the mission hall is always a good place to start.The attendants can also inform you of other opportunities."


    "I will not describe every building in the academy, but I will explain the most important and popular ones.First of all, there are the classrooms, where teachers will explain concepts and aid in your understanding of sigils and other fields.There are lectures at all levels, but the higher-level ones usually have a contribution point fee to attend."


    "There is also a section devoted to places you can acquire valuable resources.These include the weapon hall, sigil hall, pill hall, array hall, cultivation manual hall, and many others.If you have points to spend, this is a popular destination.You can also go to these buildings to learn and practice the arts they involve.For example, many alchemists spend much of their time in the pill hall."


    "There are the cultivation rooms.These rooms contain a high amount of natural energy, and cultivating within one is very beneficial.Of course, points are required to stay in these rooms."


    "There is also the challenge pavilion.This building has a number of different challenges that can test your limits and help you improve.Getting good results can even get you rewards."


    "The Mirror Library is a building that contains a vast wealth of knowledge.As long as you have the permission or points to enter, you can read about a wide range of topics."


    "There is the arena, where students go to settle disputes or watch tournaments.Fighting is one of the fastest ways to improve, and even watching others fight can be very beneficial."


    "Finally, there are the living quarters.These include rooms, food, and other daily necessities.You will likely spend a large amount of time here."


    "If you have any questions, you can feel free to ask other students or visit the information booth at the mission hall.Everyone will start with 100 contribution points and basic-level accommodations, and will have an opportunity to learn a cultivation manual from the first level of the cultivation manual hall as well as a sigil from the first level of the sigil hall.This concludes the academy orientation.Thank you for your time."The man finished speaking and turned around, walking out of the courtyard.


    Gradually, the students began speaking amongst themselves once more, and Nadran looked forward, an excited expression on his face.It was finally time for him to get a cultivation manual!

 15 Chapter 15: Cultivation Manual

    Upon walking into the cultivation manual hall, Nadran''s eyes immediately lit up.The first floor of the hall was massive, nearly 60 feet in length and width, and it was filled with thousands of intricately decorated scrolls, each one representing a cultivation manual.To Nadran, this represented the future, the path that could make him stronger and bring him up in the world.He began looking around, reading the descriptions of the manuals one by one, looking for something that could catch his eye.


    He wasn''t the only one in the cultivation manual hall.In fact, the hall quickly became incredibly busy.A large portion of the new students had the same thoughts as Nadran and immediately ran here, and within a few minutes it became hard to navigate the room due to all of the people.


    [Flickering Wind Manual: When cultivated, one''s movements will become like the wind, and wind-type sigils will become stronger.Interesting, but there''s so many manuals like this on this floor.Maybe I''ll find one I like more than this.Wait, when did so many people get here?]Nadran suddenly realized that the floor was packed, and he was unable to easily move about.He had been so absorbed in reading the descriptions that he hadn''t even noticed other people entering.


    Nadran struggled to move around the room, nearly bumping into people multiple times.[Wow,] he thought.[These manuals must be pretty valuable.I''m pretty sure everyone here already has a cultivation manual, yet they still rushed here at the first opportunity.These manuals must be a level above the manuals most people have access to.In that case, I wonder what the manuals in the higher floors must be like¡­]


    Nadran abruptly found himself in an area devoid of people.There were manuals in this area, but compared to the flashy appearances of the other manuals, they looked very plain.Occasionally, someone would end up in this area, but after quickly looking at one of the manuals, they would turn around and walk back into the crowd of people.


    Nadran looked at one of the manuals himself and realized the reason why: these manuals were far too simple and basic.They were easy to cultivate with, but they were incredibly limited in their scope and their speed of cultivation.It would be incredibly difficult to have any real achievements with such a weak manual.


    Nadran was about to leave as well when he felt a small tugging sensation in his mind, causing him to turn back around.He felt his eyes get involuntarily drawn toward one of the cultivation manuals.It was a dull purple in color and did not stand out at all in this room of manuals.After all, some of the other manuals flashed gaudily, glittering in the light and promising great things.This manual looked far too plain, and Nadran was not likely to have even noticed it if he hadn''t felt his gaze get magnetically drawn to it.


    He slowly walked over to the manual and read the description.''Dragon''s Eye Manual'' was written in a plain font.Nadran looked down to see the description, but, to his surprise, the area where the description should be was completely blank.There was no description at all.


    Despite this, Nadran could not shake the feeling that this was the right manual for him.He frowned, but decided to go with this feeling, and brought the manual to the front desk.


    The man sitting at the front desk was quite busy, constantly registering the manuals people were taking out while the line only seemed to be getting longer.Nadran had to wait almost five minutes to reach the front of the line, despite the fact that it took less than ten seconds to process each person.


    Soon, Nadran reached the front, and handed the Dragon Eye Manual to the man, whose eyes widened in surprise at seeing Nadran''s choice."This¡­ are you sure about this?" the man asked, clearly concerned."Not only is this manual extremely basic, it doesn''t even work.A few people have tried to use it in the past, but when they used it to cultivate, nothing happened.I don''t even know if this is a real cultivation manual.Just in case you aren''t aware, your first manual is free upon entry, but every subsequent time you come, you will need to spend points to even get these first-floor manuals.Are you sure you don''t want to reconsider and find a different one?"


    Nadran smiled, appreciating the concern, but responded, "Sorry, but I decided I want this manual.I have a good feeling about it."


    "But-" the man began to protest, only to be interrupted by complaints from other people who were waiting in line.


    "Hurry up!I want to try out this new manual!"


    "If he wants to waste his opportunity like this, let him!Just hurry up and let him pick that one!"


    Nadran smiled awkwardly and shrugged, and the man sighed before saying "Fine, but don''t say I didn''t warn you."He reluctantly registered the manual under Nadran''s name, and Nadran left the cultivation manual hall.


    ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- -----


    Nadran soon found his room in the residential area of the academy and walked inside.It was the lowest level of accommodation in the academy, and the room was not large, only about 10 by 15 feet in dimensions.To Nadran, however, this room was borderline luxurious, and he could not help but sigh at the differences in status brought upon by talent and strength.If you weren''t strong or talented, you could only struggle along the lowest rungs of society, doomed to live in poverty for the rest of your life.Nadran had managed to rise up from poverty to relative comfort in a single step, and it was all from being able to pass a single exam.


    Nadran lay down in the soft bed, which felt much more comfortable than his bed at home, and let out a contented sigh as he opened up the dull purple scroll he had been holding this entire time.He would not be lying if he did not have any reservations about this supposedly useless manual, but if there was one thing Nadran had learned in the past week, it was to trust his instincts.It almost felt as though someone, or something, was guiding his actions, but that didn''t seem quite right.It was more like¡­ he sensed something different about certain things, but he didn''t know what it was.To Nadran, it seemed more like a sixth sense than anything else, and this sense seemed to be telling him that this Dragon''s Eye manual was something good.


    The first thing Nadran saw upon opening the scroll was a set of diagrams showing certain poses.This was the first aspect of cultivation: mimicry of movement.A cultivator needed to move their body through very complex and difficult movements, imitating the movements of their energy source.Every manual had a basis for its energy; wind techniques used wind as a base, sword techniques used swords, star techniques used stars.It was said that energy of every type permeated the air, water, and earth, and cultivation was simply pulling energy of a particular attribute out of the air and into the body.This energy would expand and strengthen the dantian, which was the container for internal energy within the body.Doing this served two purposes: One, increasing the amount of internal energy that could be stored in the body.Two, changing the attribute of one''s internal energy to match that of the cultivation manual.Attributed energy was generally stronger than non-attributed energy, and would be even more powerful than normal when executing a sigil of that attribute.Thus, while in theory, someone could learn sigils of all types, people would usually focus on learning those of their own attribute.


    [Thinking about it, isn''t this technique¡­ dragon-attributed?] Nadran realized suddenly.[Dragons are incredibly powerful, but that could make visualization hard due to their extreme rarity¡­]


    The second component of cultivation was visualization.One needed to be able to visualize the energy source, and work to comprehend its essence.The goal was to attain a state of ''oneness'' with their energy source, becoming closer to the source to better hold and use its power.


    Of course, this goal was still far away for someone like Nadran, who had yet to even begin to tread this long and arduous road of cultivation.But today, he would take his first steps on this road, the road to becoming a legend.


    Nadran slowly began to adjust his body to match the first pose, crouching on the balls of his feet, his left hand lightly touching the ground as his right hand was held at his side, his fingers curled like claws.He didn''t move; he needed to be able to master the still poses before he could even consider moving.


    [Visualization of a dragon, how can I accomplish that?] Nadran wondered.[This might be one of the reasons nobody else could succeed.]Suddenly, a thought struck him.[What about¡­ that dragon I saw in my dream?]Although it was a week ago, the strange dream had stuck in his mind.[But, thinking about it, a dragon in my dream should be produced by my own imagination, and thus doesn''t represent an actual dragon.I can''t possibly use that as a basis for my visualization¡­ can I?]


    Nadran thought about it, but, partially due to the strangeness of his dream and partially because he couldn''t think of anything else that could work, he decided to at least give it a try.


    Holding the same position, he pictured the dragon, trying to remember every detail, from its shimmering scales to its deep, enigmatic eyes.He painted a picture in his mind, trying to encapsulate its strength and grandeur.The better the visualization, the more effective the technique, so Nadran strained to picture every aspect, from it''s deep breathing to the way light reflected off its scales.


    A faint image of a dragon seemed to appear in the air in front of him as Nadran concentrated, eyebrows furrowed.But soon, his face broke into a smile as he felt energy flowing into his body.He had spent so much time trying to cultivate in the past, only for it to result in failure each time.But now, he had finally succeeded, and he would be able to progress.


    Within a few seconds, he felt the sensation of the dragon-attributed energy entering his dantian, forming a small cloud of energy within.This was the hallmark of the slate realm: the energy cloud.Before, Nadran did not have anything other than some scattered energy within his dantian, but now, the energy was multiple times denser than before.While it was a small accomplishment that wasn''t even worth mentioning to most cultivators, it held enormous significance to Nadran.After all, a journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step, and that step had finally been taken.

 16 Chapter 16: Mission Hall

    The next day, Nadran approached the mission hall.He knew that the points provided upon being accepted into the academy were insufficient for anyone who wanted to progress with any kind of speed, and Nadran naturally wanted to get stronger.


    The building was several stories tall and decorated with a stylized depiction of a bulletin board, with ''Mission Hall'' written just below.Nadran walked into the building, finding himself in a large, open room.The entire wall opposite the entrance was covered in slips of paper.The wall was broken up into different areas, with large letters written above each section.From left to right, they read D, C, B, A, and S.These seemed to be the rankings for the tasks, and the higher the ranking, the fewer the number of paper slips.To the sides of the room were information booths and mission registration desks, while the center of the room was wide open, allowing people to walk freely.


    Nadran walked over toward the D grade missions and began to check their contents.He quickly realized that these requests were organized internally, as well, with the martial requests separate from the alchemy requests, which were separate from the general requests.Overall, there were almost a dozen separate categories contained within the section.


    Nadran looked through the D grade missions for a few minutes, then shook his head.Most of these missions were incredibly easy, but monotonous tasks, and the alchemy requests were trivial, asking for unranked or low-slate pills that were substantially easier than the entrance examination.He quickly decided to move to the C-ranked requests, hoping for something a bit more interesting that also had better rewards.


    The C grade missions indeed seemed to be a step up in difficulty, and Nadran decided to once again check the alchemy section.After all, he had gotten into the academy through alchemy, and thus it was likely his strongest field for now.


    [Maybe I should just stick with alchemy instead of focusing on improving my combat strength,] Nadran mused, considering the idea.It seemed he had some degree of talent in it, and it could be quite profitable.In addition, he could enlist the aid of powerful cultivators to protect him and his family.


    In the end, however, Nadran decided against it.He had also had some insights regarding sigil realms, and if possible, he didn''t want to tell rely on others for protection.While here could potentially attract powerful figures with alchemy, they could betray him for larger benefits, and Nadran strongly disliked the concept of his life being in the hands of someone else.He could only feel safe if he could protect himself, and that meant improving his comprehension of sigils.


    Despite thinking this, Nadran still decided to take an alchemy mission.After all, he wanted to complete the easiest task with the best reward, and since Nadran''s sigil realm was still low, that meant alchemy was his best option.


    There appeared to be 3 different kinds of alchemy tasks.First were requests from the pill hall, where the hall requested the refinement of pills, usually in large quantities.There were not many alchemists in the academy, especially compared to the number of pure sigil cultivators, and so the pill hall would always have requests for large numbers of pills due to limited manpower.These requests were posted both here and within the pill hall itself, and the rewards were pretty good.


    The second kind were individual requests; cultivators who needed a particular pill that the pill hall did not currently have in stock.The pill hall could accommodate for some of these, but the disparity in the number of requests and the number of alchemists resulted in many requests ending up in the mission hall until they were answered.


    The final type were informational requests, from tutoring to help in diagnosing a unique injury and what type of pill would be suitable for fixing it.These were questions elders and instructors could answer easily, but their time was much more valuable and limited than fellow students.While there was no guarantee that a peer could fix your problems, a specialist could still help.Besides, if you ended up hurting another due to bad diagnosis or false information, it would be investigated and punishment would be distributed to those in the wrong, so many people would still be willing to give these kinds of requests, despite the risks.


    In the end, Nadran decided to take a forging request from the pill hall.The pills they were asking for were common enough, and the only catch was that they wanted a lot of them.Of course, the price they would pay for them was not set.The better the quality of the pill, the higher the price.The pill hall would buy the pills, mark them up slightly, and then sell them to the students.While it was technically possible for people to request alchemists to refine them these kinds of pills directly via the mission hall, it was rarely done.First, it was inconvenient to submit a request and wait an indeterminate amount of time when they could just buy them directly.In addition, most alchemists weren''t willing to go through the effort of forging a single low-level pill for one person, considering the paltry reward.It was much more efficient to make 10 pills at once and get a single reward as opposed to making 10 pills one at a time and getting 10 different rewards that added to the same amount.This is all not to mention the fact that most people were unwilling to offend the pill hall by deliberately trying to bypass them over such a minute price difference.


    Nadran took down the slip he wanted and brought it over to the registration booth, quickly registering his intent to take this mission on.Before he could leave however, he heard footsteps behind him and felt an inexplicable foreboding feeling.


    He turned around to see a boy, probably only 12 years old, walking toward him.His face was adorned with the kind of smirk Nadran had become all too familiar with.[Who is he, Kalio Version 2?While his appearance is pretty different, his insufferable air totally reminds me of Kalio, except this guy is younger and somehow seems even more overconfident.]


    Unaware that he had just earned a strange nickname from Nadran, the boy walked up to him and began speaking."I feel that someone as weak-looking as you shouldn''t be taking on C grade missions.How about-"


    "Hello, Random Person I Have Never Met Before In My Life," Nadran interrupted blandly, his expression neutral."Here, I''ll save you the trouble of coming up with an excuse.What do you want?"


    The boy''s eyebrow twitched as he stared at Nadran, taken aback.He quickly managed to regain his composure, though."I was just curious about the skills of the person Tyval mentioned.A freshman who could get Tyval''s attention couldn''t be too unskilled, could he?So I was just hoping I could see their abilities for myself."


    "So you want to fight," Nadran said calmly, but his eyes narrowed.It seems that Tyval was behind this.[He works fast,] Nadran thought.[I know Tyval attends this academy too, but I haven''t even been here for more than a day and he''s already sent someone after me.]


    Kalio Version 2 maintained his cool better this time."Are you scared?" he sneered, looking arrogantly at Nadran.


    "Not really," Nadran responded casually, "But I just got here yesterday, and I haven''t even had a chance to pick up a sigil from the sigil hall.How about instead, we fight¡­"


    Meanwhile, the boy (whose name was not actually Kalio Version 2) was looking on in amusement.[What, does he think he can catch up to me with a bit of time?I''m sure I could still destroy him a month or two from now, or a year, or a decade from now, but I won''t wait that long to show him his inferiority.Maybe if it''s only a couple weeks he wants to set the fight back by, that might be fine, but any longer would be a total waste of time-]


    "¡­tomorrow," Nadran finished his sentence, causing the boy to nearly fall over in shock.


    "What do you think you could possibly do in a single day?You think too highly of yourself!I''m a high slate cultivator, and what are you, are you even a low slate cultivator?" the boy shouted, unaware that the pitch of his voice had raised by nearly half an octave.


    "Yes, I reached the low slate sigil realm yesterday," Nadran said with a faint smile."Now if you''ll excuse me, I would like to go and pick out a sigil to learn."With that, Nadran turned and walked toward the entrance, leaving a half-surprised, half-enraged boy in his wake.


    [Oh yeah, I forgot to ask for his name,] Nadran thought as he walked toward the sigil hall.[Oh well, I''m sure he''ll come and find me regardless.]He was not particularly looking for a fight, but he knew that when it came to people with that type of arrogant personality, there was no way of trying to talk them out of anything, and so Nadran couldn''t be bothered to try.


    The sigil hall was even larger than the other halls Nadran had been to, and it stood a full 5 stories tall.Nadran quickly walked in and began browsing through the sigils.Like the other halls, it was busy, but it was not quite as busy as the cultivation manual hall.[A lot of people have probably already gotten their sigils before I got here,] Nadran thought as he browsed through the sigils.[Let''s see, the ideal combat sigils for me would probably be dragon-attributed so that they match with my cultivation manual, but there don''t seem to be that many of them.]


    Nadran looked around for almost half an hour, but only found a few dragon-attributed sigils.He also wanted a movement sigil to increase his evasiveness, but he decided a real attacking sigil took priority.[I can dodge all I want, but I won''t win if I can''t damage them,] he thought as he finally decided on the sigil he wanted.It was called ''Wyvern Claws,'' and was a technique that strengthened the power of his melee attacks, enabling his hands to slice into an enemy like claws.It was fairly straightforward, and Nadran felt that he could make good use of it.


    [Now that I have this sigil, it''s time for me to get busy.I need to refine a bunch of mid-grade pills for the alchemy mission, and I also want to learn the basics of the Wyvern Claws by tomorrow.Based on my recent sigil learning speed, that shouldn''t be impossible.So much to do, so little time¡­]


    Nadran soon left the sigil hall, ready to improve his strength in order to survive the trials that lay ahead.

 17 Chapter 17: Training

    Nadran wiped his brow, displacing the sweat that had accumulated there as he trained.He took a deep breath, then began drawing a sigil in the air.This sigil was substantially more complex than the ones he had ''acquired'' in the past from lectures, and was not easy by any means.Thankfully, ever since he had become able to break down sigils in his mind and learn the individual components, he had been able to learn sigils much faster.His tracing speed still left a bit to be desired, however.


    Nadran took 5 seconds to trace the sigil, forming a 2-dimensional shape in the air with his purple energy, the lines being sometimes curved, sometimes straight, and crisscrossing over each other dozens of times.He then gestured with his hand, activating the sigil.His arms and hands began glowing faintly, ethereal claws extending from his fingertips as the sigil took effect.Nadran crouched down before lunging forward, slashing his claws against a rock, leaving inch-deep scars on the rock''s surface.


    Nadran continued to run around, leaping and slashing as he experimented to find the ideal fighting style for using his claws.After nearly half an hour of continuous exertion, Nadran stopped, breathing heavily.He then entered a pose and began cultivating the Dragon''s Eye Technique, restoring his depleted internal energy.


    [This sigil seems quite powerful, but it requires a continuous stream of internal energy to maintain.Until I reach the mid-slate sigil realm, I''ll be pretty limited in the duration.If I learn the sigil to a higher level, the energy expenditure could increase even more.]


    While sigils could be cast as long as someone had the energy and correctly traced the sigil, the effects could vary wildly.Higher amounts of internal energy could be put into a sigil to make it more powerful, but this was generally the crudest method of increasing a sigil''s strength.It would work, but the added energy was not very efficient, and a large amount of energy could equate to a small increase in the sigil''s strength.By gaining greater understanding of the sigil and tracing it more accurately, though, the sigil would naturally become more powerful.While it may seem that as long as the sigil is traced and activates properly, the exact shape traced doesn''t matter, this is not the case.The better and more perfect the traced sigil is, the better the energy can flow through the sigil and take effect.Even the amount of energy imbued in each part of the sigil is important, and if the balance is correct, the power of the sigil can increase dramatically.While this increases the power, however, it becomes increasingly difficult to form a sigil quickly the higher the sigil''s quality is.In general, the faster a sigil is formed, the less power it will have, even for the same sigil.


    As Nadran maintained his pose, feeling the energy flowing into him and nourishing his tired body, he had a thought.[I''m starting to get the hang of combat with this sigil, but I think it would help if I had something a bit more challenging to hit than a rock.Wasn''t there a challenge hall or something at this academy?Maybe I should go there and see if there''s something there I can use to train.]


    Nadran finished restoring his internal energy, then walked into the center of the academy before reaching the Challenge Pavilion.This building was more like a plaza than a normal building, and was made up of a large number of rooms surrounding a central square.These rooms contained different challenges within them, and there were leaderboards above each room, displaying the records set by each of the top students who had entered.Some of the rooms were currently occupied by students who were currently taking on the challenges, while others stood with their doors open.There were a lot of students standing around, waiting for rooms, watching others'' performances, or just chatting amongst themselves.


    Nadran stood in the center of the pavilion, looking around at the different rooms and trying to decide what room would be the most beneficial for him to train in.There were a surprising amount of options, and he was having a hard time deciding between them.


    Suddenly, a voice spoke out from behind him."Trying to decide on a room?"


    Nadran whirled around to face the sudden voice, seeing a girl looking toward him.She looked to be around his age, maybe a bit younger, and had long, black hair and bright green eyes.She had a slight smile on her face, looking very relaxed.


    Nadran, by comparison, was like a tightly wound spring.[Is she with Tyval, too?What could she gain by asking me this?The question seems innocent enough, but she must stand to gain something from this.Nobody ever approaches me without some selfish motive¡­ well, other than my family, that is.But I still can''t figure out what her goal is.]


    Nadran forced down his apprehensions, trying to remain calm.After being unable to discern her motives for a few seconds, he finally answered."¡­Yes."


    "Cool, what are you looking for?Maybe I can help."


    Nadran stared at her in silence for a few seconds before he responded."Training¡­ melee combat training."


    "Hm, interesting.Maybe one of the survival type rooms could work?That one over there throws increasing amounts of enemies at you as time goes on, and you have to last as long as you can before you get kicked out.I feel like that could be helpful."


    Nadran looked over and slowly nodded.It did indeed seem like it could serve to aid his training.[Maybe she has some vested interest in getting people to use that particular room¡­ whatever, it doesn''t matter.Let''s go with that room.]"Alright," Nadran finally said before beginning to walk toward the room.After walking almost five feet, he remembered his manners and quickly turned back to the girl."Thanks," he said briefly before turning back toward the room and continuing to walk toward it.[Ugh, I''m so bad at dealing with people who conceal their motives like that.It''s much easier to deal with people who don''t hide their hostility.]


    Meanwhile, the girl was watching him walk away, an interested expression on her face.[That guy isn''t very easy to talk to,] she thought.[Is he always that cold?I was just trying to help him out, since he looked like he was having a hard time deciding.I don''t know if I''ve ever seen someone so opposed to casual conversation before, to be honest.Despite that, though, he doesn''t seem like a bad person.]


    Nadran walked into the room, closing the door behind him.The room was not too large, being around a 20-foot cube in size.It was currently empty, with a stone floor and walls.Attached to one wall was a clock that showed the current time, and a light sigil floated by the ceiling, bathing the room in a soft light.He walked into the center of the room, then heard a monotone voice speak.


    "Welcome to the fighter combat survival challenge.Please choose your settings."


    Nadran was not surprised by the voice; someone had to oversee the challenges and update the records, after all."Uh, default," Nadran replied, unsure what options there were and wanting to get started quickly.He could look more into the settings when he wasn''t on such a short timetable, and while it probably wouldn''t take that long, he still felt like every second was valuable.Just because he believed he could beat someone in a day didn''t mean he thought it was feasible without putting all of his effort into preparing.


    "Alright.Get ready, the trial will begin in 3, 2, 1, begin."


    A timer sigil appeared next to the clock, and began counting the amount of time since the start of the trial.At the same time, a dark figure materialized out of thin air, taking a humanoid form.


    Nadran did not waste any time, immediately casting the wyvern claws sigil.Before he finished, however, the dark figure finished their own sigil and began charging toward him.Nadran grimaced and focused on completing the sigil, finishing just before the shadow reached him.Upon finishing the sigil, Nadran immediately leaped backward, dodging the fist that flew through the spot he had been just half a second prior.


    [I really need to work on my sigil casting speed, or I may face an opponent who can stop me from even completing one.In that case, the fight would be over before it even began.]Nadran attempted to calm his nerves after the close call, and analyzed his opponent.


    The shadowy figure had strength of the low slate sigil realm, matching Nadran''s.They charged forward, attacking once in range, but did not seem to be employing any real tactics.Nadran waited for them to approach, then dodged to the side, raking his ethereal claws across their side as they passed.The shadowy figure stumbled, then turned around and lunged forward again, not seeming to care about the large wound in its side.


    Nadran frowned, then dodged again, this time striking at the figure''s heart.The shadow fell to the ground and dissipated in a puff of smoke.The room fell silent as he looked around the room that was once again empty.30 seconds had already passed, and now, Nadran stood in the center of the room, watching the timer tick up.[Um, that was easier than expected.So, do I just wait here for now?]


    Right as the timer hit one minute, more shadowy figures formed.Except, this time, there were two of them.Nadran''s eyes lit up as he saw this.[So that''s how this is,] he thought, readying himself for the second round of combat.


    Outside the room, the girl glanced over at the screen in front of the room to see Nadran appear."Oh, he left the visual feed on.Considering how he was acting, I figured he would probably turn it off," she muttered.She glanced over at another room, where the door was firmly shut with no indication as to what was happening inside.[She''ll probably be a while, might as well watch this feed to pass the time.]


    As she watched, a few people noticed her, and stopped what they were doing before walking toward her."Fancy meeting you here, Miss Ivelus.How are you today?"One of the boys stepped forward and greeted her.


    Lilia Ivelus turned to glance at the approaching group, suppressing the urge to roll her eyes."I''m doing fine, thank you," she replied politely.


    The man who had spoken before looked at the screen, then began to laugh."Who is this loser?He looks like he''s already 20, maybe older, and yet he is still only in the low slate sigil realm.How is he even in this academy?"He turned toward Lilia and asked, "Why are you watching that guy, anyways?"


    Lilia shrugged and responded, "He seems interesting.I''m just passing the time."


    The man frowned and resplied, "Why watch some random nobody fail at a survival challenge?He''ll probably fail in less than a minute. If you want to pass the time watching someone complete a challenge, why not watch me instead?I was just planning to enter one of the challenge rooms, and I''m much better than that guy."


    Lilia looked at him and smiled coldly."I believe that I can decide for myself what I want to do with my time.Besides, if he is indeed going to fail so quickly, then there''s no problem with me staying here, is there?"


    The man smiled awkwardly, then straightened out his face."We''ll see, I guess.I bet he will be defeated within two minutes."


    "I have a feeling there''s more to him than meets the eye.I think he will last at least ten minutes," Lilia replied with a smile."Why not make this more interesting?I''ll bet 3,000 points that he lasts until the ten minute mark.If he doesn''t make it that long, you win."


    The man looked shocked, then smiled and agreed."In that case, I guess I''ll have to accept."[Even I can only last 6 minutes in there, there''s no way that guy can last 10.The people who can last that long are few and far between, and with his talent, I''m sure he''s not one of them.This is literally free points, and quite a few of them, at that.]


    Lilia nodded and looked back toward the screen displaying Nadran.In truth, she didn''t have any real expectations for this bet.She just thought that Nadran may actually have some skill, and betting made everything more interesting.Some may call her impulsive, but she tended to win more often than not, and she had the money and status to afford to make a few mistakes.Of course, it must be stated that, had she been a more cautious person, it is likely she would not have the status she did today.


    Meanwhile in the challenge room, Nadran was completely unaware of the fact that people were currently betting on how long he would last.What he did know was that fighting two enemies was substantially harder than fighting one.He was still able to defeat both enemies without much trouble, but it took longer, and he needed to be more careful than before.


    When three opponents appeared at minute three, Nadran began to concentrate more.This was getting to be a good scenario for him to train his combat prowess, and he didn''t want to miss this opportunity.While the challenge of the room steadily rose, he could feel himself improving at the same time.[It seems like this room is very useful for developing combat instincts and offensive tactics.Even just becoming familiar with the flow of melee combat is helpful.I should definitely do this kind of thing more often.]


    Soon, seven minutes had passed from the start of the challenge. While Nadran was able to dispatch each enemy with a single strike, the increased number of enemies made it harder to get any hits in.He had to spend an increased amount of time dodging, and while the shadows were not particularly fast or smart, he didn''t dare to underestimate their power and risk getting hit.


    Dodging two attacks and leaping over a third, Nadran ran up to one of the shadows and slashed his claws across its neck, destroying it instantly. As he turned to deal with the remaining two figures, another eight figures began to form.


    [Uh oh, it''s already been a full 7 minutes.I still need to finish round 7, and round 8 is already starting.This could get tough.]Nadran dashed over and finished off one of the two remaining enemies, then looked over to see that the 8 shadow figures had already finished forming.A couple of them were even shaped like vicious beasts, on all fours with shadowy teeth that seemed razor sharp.In addition, there was still the enemy Nadran had not managed to finish off in the last round.


    [This is starting to become a real challenge,] Nadran thought, grinning as he braced himself for the coming onslaught.

 18 Chapter 18: Survival Challenge

    Nadran wasted no time and immediately attacked one of the shadows, dispersing it before the others could close in.Sweat was beginning to form on his brow, and while he was very physically fit due to climbing mountains to make a living, he could still feel the first onsets of fatigue.He rarely needed to undergo exercise this strenuous for extended periods.He was pushing himself to his limits of speed and strength, and this would obviously affect his stamina consumption.


    Nadran wasn''t worried about this, though ¨C at least not yet.He knew that he could maintain this pace for at least another 10 or 15 minutes before collapsing.This hinged on his stamina expenditure not increasing over time, however, and it likely would increase with the growing number of enemies.


    Nadran stayed calm and analyzed the situation, figuring out what he could do to optimize his killing speed.Otherwise, he would be quickly overwhelmed by the growing number of enemies, and could end up facing upwards of 20 enemies by round 10 if things went badly.[Let''s see, the reason my killing speed is slowing down is mostly because¡­ I have less opportunities to attack, since I need to spend so much time dodging.Thinking about it, it''s actually pretty impressive that I haven''t gotten hit yet with so many attacks coming toward me.Hm¡­ wait! What if I try to incorporate my attacks into the same movements as my dodges?That way I can dodge and attack at the same time.If I manage to succeed, I can avoid being forced to be on the defensive, and have opportunities to attack even while surrounded.]


    With this thought, Nadran avoided an attack by jumping toward an enemy, but the movement was somewhat rushed, and he only managed to lightly injure his opponent without landing a decisive blow.Nadran frowned and leaped backward, avoiding four separate attacks that would have pierced him through had he stayed in place.[It looks like this will take some time to perfect,] Nadran thought as he tracked the locations of the shadows, taking a deep breath.[At least I have plenty of targets to practice on,] he grinned and leaped back into the fray.


    Meanwhile, the man who had taken Lilia''s bet was looking rather uncomfortable.His record for this particular room was 6 minutes and 7 seconds, but this low-slate cultivator had already been fighting for 7 minutes and 20 seconds, beating his record by a full minute ¨C and he was still going strong.It must be stated that every additional minute was a substantial increase in difficulty.He could easily fight 10 weak enemies one at a time, but fighting those 10 enemies at the same time was impossible for him.Every additional enemy essentially multiplied the difficulty, and all it would take was a single injury for the difficulty to skyrocket.While the individual enemies were not that strong, this was not an easy challenge by any means, and most people couldn''t even last as long as Nadran had up to this point.


    "How is he still fighting?" the man asked in shock."He''s just some low-slate cultivator who still hasn''t reached mid-slate after being alive for more than 20 years."


    Lilia smirked and replied, "What does his sigil realm have to do with it?The room always matches the strength of the enemies to your own sigil realm, so he''s not inherently at a disadvantage here."


    The man grimaced and tried to stay calm.There was still plenty of time until the ten-minute mark, he hadn''t lost yet.But he could not suppress the sinking feeling in his stomach as he started to subconsciously wonder if he was going to lose this bet.


    At the same time, Nadran was dodging around, gradually improving his abilities.[If I use the momentum from my dodge in order to increase the strength of my blow, I can get a lot more power.When I''m in the middle of dodging, I don''t have the ability to wind up for an attack, since I don''t have a solid stance.Using momentum can compensate for this, however.]


    Nadran weaved through the shadows, destroying them one by one.This challenge tested not only his dodging and counterattacking abilities, but also his peripheral awareness.He needed to constantly be aware of attacks coming from behind, and while he tried to keep them all in front of him as much as possible, this was easier said than done.


    Despite this, Nadran found that he was enjoying himself as he jumped around constantly in an evasive dance.His feet moved him nimbly back and forth, avoiding every attack that came toward him.To someone who had spent nearly half of his waking life climbing cliffs, moving on flat ground was a breeze by comparison, even the more complex footwork required for these unusual dodges.He was very physically fit, and with the aid of his internal energy, he felt that his body could execute any action he asked of it.


    Nadran found himself getting immersed in the rhythm, barely even noticing when another 9 shadows appeared.In this odd state, he felt his movements getting more and more quick and solid, allowing his exerted strength to increase.He only stopped when he suddenly noticed that there were no more shadows to destroy.He looked at the timer to see that 8 minutes and 53 seconds had passed.He still had seven seconds until the tenth wave began.


    Nadran took a deep breath before resuming his combat stance.[I''ve already used over half of my internal energy maintaining the wyvern claws technique.It seems this will end fairly soon, one way or another.]


    Right as the clock hit nine minutes, ten shadows formed, lunging toward him.Nadran smiled, running forward to meet them.He slashed with his ghostly claws, jumping about.While the wyvern claws technique had impressive offensive power, it did not provide much in the realm of defense other than protecting his hands.While he could block the shadows'' attacks with his claws, he felt that doing so would delay him, allowing the shadows to all hit him at once.Nadran did not want to clash in terms of strength with so many enemies, and he had not learned any defensive sigils other than that basic barrier he had used while fighting Kalio.If he could avoid the attacks altogether, that seemed to be the best way to survive while conserving his energy.


    As he fought, Nadran noticed that one of the shadows was standing back, tracing a sigil.It soon finished, and a blade of wind came hurtling toward him at high speeds.Nadran was in the middle of avoiding seven other simultaneous attacks, and thus was unable to react in time.The blade sliced across his left arm, causing him to gasp and grit his teeth in pain.


    These shadows could cause no true harm to the challengers, but that did not extend to preventing pain.The injury hurt just as much as if it were real, making it almost impossible to move the injured arm.Since his body thought that it was injured, it reacted as though it really was, restricting Nadran''s movements.


    [I guess this room also tests your pain tolerance,] Nadran thought, smiling grimly.[Well, I guess this is an important quality.After all, if you stop fighting due to a superficial injury, that could mean your death.]


    This pain did not pose a major threat to Nadran, however, since he had been beaten up many a time by bullies while manning the shop.He was unsure whether he should feel lucky or unlucky for this inadvertent training, but it was helping him persevere now.


    The pain was more acute than most of his bully-inflicted injuries, but Nadran was able to grit his teeth and keep fighting.Due to the distracting pain and inability to use one of his arms, however, his killing speed slowed down.He immediately dealt with the shadow who had injured him, and was glad that he did, for that shadow had already been preparing another strong sigil.Soon enough, though, the timer hit ten minutes, and another eleven shadows appeared, while there were still five shadows Nadran had yet to kill from the previous round.


    Nadran became incredibly focused as he faced 16 enemies at once.He noticed that two shadows were now casting longer sigils, and Nadran dashed over to stop them.He immediately downed one, then finished off the second one just as the other shadows caught up to him, striking him hard.Nadran winced and dove into a roll, trying to mitigate the force from the blow that had struck his back.He ran to a corner and turned around, facing toward the approaching shadows.


    [This will cause my energy to deplete even quicker, but¡­ it seems like I don''t have much of a choice.]With that thought, Nadran began fleeing from the shadows as best as he could, trying to quickly draw a sigil at the same time.


    Outside the room, Lilia stood composedly, while several boys stood a respectful distance away.Lilia had an amused expression on her face, and continued to watch Nadran''s movements calmly.The boy nearest to her, however, had an expression that seemed to be a mixture of shock and despair.3,000 points was not an insignificant amount, especially to him, and he had just lost that many in a bet due to his hotheadedness.


    [Less than one in a thousand can last over ten minutes in this challenge room.How could this random guy succeed with such low cultivation?It took me months to save up this many points, and now they''re all gone¡­]


    Lilia, meanwhile, was watching Nadran''s performance with interest."At this point, he''s already reached the leaderboards.He''s lasted this long by relying on a single offensive-type sigil," she mused aloud."It seems that his combat instincts are not to be underestimated.And yet, his cultivation is so low for his age.It''s been a while since I''ve come across someone this interesting¡­"


    Nadran was not in the mood to listen to the thoughts of others, though, and couldn''t hear her words, anyways.He finally finished the sigil he was casting, which had been slowed down by his need to split his concentration to avoid being hit.With the barrier sigil casted, Nadran became surrounded by a small transparent shield.Being such a basic defense, it could not stop much, but it should be able to at least block some weaker, indirect blows.With so many enemies, Nadran was no longer confident in his ability to avoid them all without sustaining any injuries.


    Nadran quickly turned around and dispatched the shadow that was closest to him before running away once more.Like this, he tried to slowly chip away at the enemy forces, but still spent most of his time fleeing.Dodging through this many enemies was a fool''s errand, at least with his current strength.Despite these tactics, however, he still received a few glancing blows, causing his barrier to dim significantly.


    [Oh yeah, when I was fighting Kalio¡­ didn''t I cause my barrier to explode or something?]Nadran attempted to recall what exactly had happened at the end of that fight, but the memory seemed fuzzy.He had been in a special state of comprehension at that time, and regaining that state was not something that could be done at will.


    Nadran shook his head to clear it, focusing back at the task on hand.He downed another enemy, lowering their numbers to drop to eight.At this point, the timer reached 11 minutes, causing 12 reinforcements to appear.Nadran now had to contend with 20 enemies.


    Nadran had already reached the top 25 in the slate leaderboard, causing the boy who had previously insulted him to stare blankly at the video feed, feeling as though he was trapped in some horrible dream without being able to wake up.


    There were separate leaderboards for slate, marble, and quartz ranked cultivators.This was because, while the enemies matched the sigil realm of the participant, students with higher sigil realms would generally have more means with which to survive the waves of enemies.For this reason, the leaderboards were divided into three.The slate leaderboard was the most popular, since most of the students were within the slate realm.The highest time on this leaderboard was just over 15 minutes.


    The marble leaderboard was the next step up.Since this was a very prestigious academy, the number of students who reached the marble sigil realm were not few.The times were noticeably higher than the slate records, with the highest one being more than 25 minutes.


    The quartz leaderboard was incredibly sparse by comparison, with less than 50 total names being listed.Each one of these names, however, commanded respect.The lowest times listed were more than half an hour, while the highest was an astonishing time of over three hours.This implied fighting more than 180 enemies at the same sigil realm simultaneously.It was said that the room needed to grow in size just to accommodate all of the enemies, but that was just a legend, and nobody knew if the room was even capable of increasing its size.


    In sixth place on this quartz leaderboard was the name of the current dean of Mirror Dragon Academy, Merelius.The fact that the current leader of the academy had only ranked sixth on this leaderboard during his time as a student showed just how difficult it was to achieve any high rankings.These leaderboards had existed for over a thousand years, and most of the names were hundreds of years old.


    None of this mattered to Nadran, however.He was struggling to maintain his barrier, and eliminating enemies had become nearly impossible.The barrier finally flickered and vanished, allowing a spear of ice to leave a gash along Nadran''s side.The timer hit 12 minutes, and an the number of enemies rose to 29.


    Nadran backed up, his back hitting the corner of the room as he faced the overwhelming number of enemies that stood before him.He took a deep breath, trying to steady his mind and push back the rapidly encroaching fatigue, then muttered, "I''m not defeated yet.Let''s see just how much longer I can last!"

 19 Chapter 19: Leaderboard

    Nadran waited patiently as the shadows closed the distance between them, waiting until he was almost in their range.Then, he jumped up into the air and kicked off the walls, leaping in a large arc over the shadows'' heads and escaping the corner.As he passed overhead, he slashed his claws, destroying one of the shadows at the same time.


    Having gotten past all of the melee shadows, he ran straight toward the more dangerous ranged shadows.One of them finished casting a sigil and sent a spear of fire in his direction.Nadran did not stop running, but instead, ducked down, sliding under the attack and reaching the shadow who had cast it.He pierced his claws through the shadow, then whirled around, carrying them with him.He flung the shade through the air, causing them to collide with the group of pursuing enemies before dissipating.


    The melee shadows were bowled over by their companion, causing almost all of them to fall to the ground due to how densely packed they were.Nadran made sure not to miss out on this opportunity as he charged toward the other ranged attackers.


    [This challenge really shows the areas that I need to work on,] Nadran thought as he dodged two different ranged attacks before decapitating a shadow.[While the wyvern claws technique is very useful, it is insufficient by itself.I need a defensive sigil pretty badly, and the barrier sigil is unable to block much damage.In addition, a movement sigil could help me avoid attacks and approach enemies more easily, allowing me to land more of my own attacks.A sigil with a wide area of effect could also be helpful against many foes¡­ though that would lower the strength of the attack due to how spread out the energy would need to be.The wyvern claws can do so much damage because all of the energy is focused in one location.Oh, and of course being a higher sigil realm could give me more stamina and allow me to last longer and hit harder.]


    Nadran managed to kill off 4 of the 7 ranged shadows before the melee shadows recovered and caught up to him.Then, he needed to run once more.He could feel his lungs burning from the continuous exertion, and he felt like his body weighed twice as much as normal due to fatigue.His body wanted him to close his eyes and give up, but he kept going anyways.[Let''s just keep going for another 15 seconds¡­ alright, now another 15 seconds¡­]


    He pushed his protesting body to the limits, evading, striking, retreating, and mentally pumping himself up to maintain consciousness.It would be so much easier to stop fighting and let the challenge end, but the best gains were always when one was pushed to their limits.Nadran knew that he lacked strength in this cruel world, and he would never be able to live a safe and happy life if he took the easy road out.


    The timer hit 13 minutes, and the number of enemies became overwhelming.Nadran was unable to get any more hits in, and instead had to spend all of his time dodging and running.He could not keep this up forever, however.An icy bolt struck him in his shoulder, causing his footsteps to stagger and halt for half a second.Instantly, he found himself being launched through the air as a barrage of attacks landed on his back.He landed heavily on the ground, gasping in pain.


    Nadran lifted his head and turned to look at the shadows approaching, ready to crush him into the ground.He gritted his teeth and stood up with great effort, hand clutching his side.As he watched the shadows come forward to land the killing blow, his eyes looked around for anything that could help him last even a second longer.


    Suddenly, a gleam appeared in his eyes, and Nadran leaped high up into the air, pushing his leg muscles past their limits.He reached out for the clock that sat overhead, grasping its edges and suspending himself in the air, causing the shadows'' attacks to miss.His arms trembled, knuckles whitening as he held on.


    The ranged shadows launched several attacks toward Nadran, and spears and bolts of all colors flew toward his suspended form.At this point, Nadran let go of the clock, leaping into the middle of the crowd of melee shadows.He spun as he fell, arms outstretched, slicing his claws across multiple shadows and launching them outwards.He landed heavily on all fours in an area now cleared of shadows, his wyvern claws fading as the last of his internal energy was depleted.


    The clock hit 14 minutes, and the number of shadows increased once more.Dozens of attacks flew toward him, and Nadran could no longer dodge.


    The world went black.


    ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- -----


    Nadran opened his eyes to find himself in an empty room.A time of 14:06 was flashing on the timer.Nadran pushed himself up to his feet with a great amount of effort, looking around.[That really is a rather unpleasant experience,] he thought, smiling wryly.At that time, he almost felt as though he had really died, and it slightly unnerved him.


    Nadran walked out of the room, stretching his tired muscles.Once outside, he turned and looked at the slate leaderboard.He found his name sitting in 6th place and smiled.[Not bad, considering my extremely limited pool of sigils and lack of extensive combat experience.]


    He then turned back to see the girl who had talked to him earlier, who now sported a faintly excited smile on her face.Next to her was a group of boys, the frontmost one looking like the world was collapsing around him.


    "Thanks," the girl said with a smile."You won me a nice bet, so I appreciate that."


    Nadran blinked and tilted his head.[Was she¡­ betting on how long I would last in that challenge?But¡­ why though?]


    "You seem pretty relaxed about getting 6th on the slate leaderboard," she commented."You won even more points than I did in my bet."


    "Oh, I did?" Nadran asked, surprised.[Oh yeah, weren''t there rewards for setting records?]


    "Yes, getting 6th place on this room gets you a full 4,000 points.Were you not aware of this?"Lilia chuckled, amused by this young man who didn''t even seem aware of how impressive his record was.


    "I¡­ was not," Nadran replied in a careful manner.[Why is she still being so friendly?Is she just happy because I won her a bet?If the bet''s already over, why is she still interacting with me?What is she hoping to gain?]


    "Hm, interesting," she replied."You probably don''t even know how impressive getting 6th place is.This academy has existed for hundreds of years, and almost everyone who ranked highly on these leaderboards went on to become a powerful figure.Well, if they didn''t die before they could accomplish that.It''s been seventy years since someone placed in the top ten on this leaderboard."


    [Oh, I guess what I did was pretty impressive, then,] Nadran thought with faint surprise."Cool," he responded calmly.Even if it was something difficult to accomplish, he knew that he was just at the beginning of his journey.No matter how striking his performance was in a nonlethal challenge, it was meaningless if he was killed by someone stronger.Potential was just that; potential.In this cruel world, countless geniuses were crushed before they could truly shine.To Nadran, this challenge was just a method to improve his strength.If he were to truly compare himself to others, it would only distract and discourage him.After all, there were countless cultivators that were far stronger than him, and simultaneously several years younger.Even if he progressed twice as fast as others, it would still be nearly a decade before he could catch up with the real geniuses.


    Nadran suddenly felt his stomach rumble.[It seems like all that exercise made me hungry.]"I''m going to go eat," Nadran mentioned, then turned and walked away.[That girl didn''t ask anything of me.Maybe she really didn''t have an ulterior motive¡­ no, impossible.I must just not be able to understand it right now.]


    In about ten minutes, Nadran had reached the academy''s dining hall.This large building was filled with row after row of tables, with food available at one end, displayed buffet-style.Of course, this was just the basic level food that did not cost any points.Students could also use their points to acquire higher quality fare.These foods had nourishing effects and could strengthen the body simply by consuming it.Some of the more valuable foods had incredible effects, such raising the consumer''s sigil realm.


    Nadran hesitated as he looked at the prices for the higher quality food.He knew that this food could be valuable to him.After all, he had never been able to eat this food due to his family''s financial situation.While he was quite athletic and dexterous from his work in maneuvering across vertical cliffs, he was rather lacking compared to other cultivators in the fields of pure strength and speed.While he didn''t want to waste his points before he knew the costs of everything, he had just earned 4,000 points, and these prices didn''t seem that expensive.


    Nadran spent 10 points to purchase a meal made from Iron-tusk Boar meat.The smell alone caused Nadran to salivate, having never had the chance to eat such high-quality meat before.He found an empty table and sat down, beginning to eat the delicious food.


    After a few minutes, he noticed someone sitting down at his table.Nadran glanced up from his food to see Firen, the boy who had talked to him at the entrance ceremony.[Oh no, it''s that loud guy.I just wanted to eat in peace, and I can''t deal with his ridiculous logical leaps and nonsensical questions.]


    "Hey there, Nadran," Firen said happily, seemingly unaware of Nadran''s annoyance."How have you been doing?Enjoying your first day here?Do you like sunny or cloudy days more?"


    Completely ignoring Firen''s final question, Nadran quietly replied, "I''ve been fine, I guess."


    "Oh, that''s good, that''s good," Firen mumbled around a bite of fish, then swallowed the food."Oh yeah, I heard some nobles found a hidden treasure trove just a few dozen miles away from the city.It''s pretty crazy that there can still be hidden treasures so close by that are only now being discovered!"


    "Hm, good for them, I guess," Nadran replied, uninterested, as he took a sip of water.[Wow, even the water here is so pure and nourishing¡­]


    "Yeah, the person who found the room is still pretty young.He''s rather impressive, having such accomplishments at that age.I think I heard his name is Exion."


    Firen jumped in surprise at the sudden sound of breaking glass, and looked at Nadran''s clenched hand. Glass shards fell down onto the table, which was now covered in the water from Nadran''s cup.His hands were trembling as he stared at his hand, an intense look in his eyes.Slowly, blood began seeping out from his tightly clenched fist, and with an apparent struggle, he opened his hand and lightly shook it, shaking the worst of the embedded glass shards out of his hand, while several streams of blood began to drip on the table.


    Firen''s eyes widened at the unexpected scene."A-are you alright?" he asked hesitantly, looking clearly worried.


    "I''m fine," Nadran replied through gritted teeth, then pushed his chair back and stood up, walking out of the dining hall.


    "You sure you''re not going to finish this meat?It''s not cheap," Firen called out, but Nadran completely ignored him and continued walking away, soon disappearing from his view.


    Firen, looking confused and uncertain, asked no one in particular, "Was it something I said?"

 20 Chapter 20: Duel

    As the sun rose above the horizon, Nadran walked out toward the arena, a dark look on his face. Catching himself, he shook his head and inhaled deeply, trying to calm his emotions. [There''s no use in thinking more about it. It''s already happened, and I can''t change that.] He looked up into the sky, but his mind formed a smirking face out of the clouds. Nadran trembled, then shakily took a breath. [It''s been years, but¡­ I guess I still can''t handle thinking about HIM.]


    Before he knew it, Nadran had arrived at the arena. The person he had challenged was standing smugly on the stage, acting as though victory was already in his grasp. Meanwhile, a small crowd of people was waiting for the duel to start, talking amongst themselves. They seemed to be on friendly terms with his opponent, and their looks were filled with mockery and disdain as they glanced his way.


    Nadran didn''t care about these glances, and calmly walked up onto the stage, before jumping up to his starting position. This arena was a flat circle, about 50 feet in diameter, and the participants started standing opposite each other.


    "So, you actually showed up," his opponent said arrogantly. I was worried you would run off after challenging me. After all, you chose to challenge the mighty Selek, and-"


    Nadran turned to the third person who had walked onto the stage, who was presumably some kind of referee, and asked in a monotone voice, "Can we start the fight now?"


    The referee looked surprised, but nodded her head, replying "You may begin on the count of three."


    Nadran''s challenger, who was apparently named Selek, froze with a grimace on his face as he was simultaneously ignored and interrupted by the opponent he was looking down on, causing his anger to flare up. He didn''t say any more, but instead entered a ready state, waiting for the match to begin.


    Nadran prepared himself for the coming duel as well, calming his breathing and readying his stance. [I''m glad that guy shut up, he was getting annoying real fast. Anyways, this should be helpful for my combat experience. While there is only one opponent, he should be more powerful and flexible than the individual shadows I was fighting yesterday. It''s one thing to deal with a horde of weaker enemies, but another thing altogether to fight a single, stronger enemy. The tactics and approach are totally different.]


    Nadran''s internal monologue was interrupted by the beginning of a countdown from the referee. Nadran shook his head to dispel his lingering thoughts and mentally readied his wyvern claws sigil, going over its arrangement so he wouldn''t forget halfway through.


    "3, 2, 1, Begin!"


    With that, 2 different sigils simultaneously began taking shape in the arena, one gray, one purple. The gray sigil was completed much faster, but not because of a large difference in complexity between the sigils. It was simply due to the fact that Selek was much faster in tracing his sigil. He was finished in a few seconds, and drew a sword, which now had bolts of pale-yellow lightning flickering across the blade.


    [It seems like he is the kind that relies on his own combat skills, with his sigils being a complementary force. Actually, that''s not that different from me. This could be interesting.] Nadran maintained his blank expression, but was internally assessing the situation all the while.


    Selek rushed forward before Nadran could finish his sigil. "Such slow casting speed, who are you going to defeat with that?" he ridiculed, slashing his sword toward Nadran.


    Nadran didn''t respond to the provocation, merely continuing to trace his sigil. He was nearing the end of his cast, but he would not get to finish it uninterrupted. Still continuing to trace the sigil, he ducked under the blade, sweeping out one of his legs in an attempt to throw his foe off balance.


    Selek stumbled back, caught completely off guard by Nadran''s counterattack. He quickly regained his balance, but by then Nadran had already completed his incantation. A faint purple glow encased Nadran''s hands and forearms, forming a pair of translucent, clawed gauntlets.


    Selek''s annoyance at failing to interrupt the incantation was quickly replaced by ridicule as he saw Nadran''s weapons of choice. "You''re going to fight me with those claws? There''s no way those puny things can compare to the reach of my sword! How do you expect to beat me with that?"


    Nadran slightly cocked his head to the side upon hearing this before replying in a flat tone. "If you think reach is the only valuable trait of a weapon, then why aren''t you using a lance?"


    Selek''s mouth twitched violently at these sarcastic words. He had never been the calm and collected type, and was quickly incensed by his opponent''s jab. Letting out a roar, he charged at Nadran.


    [I wonder what his combat style is?] Nadran contemplated as he watched Selek approach. Despite having no real teacher, Nadran had learned a surprising amount from the lectures he had snuck into. While the lectures were focused on sigils, many sigils were intrinsically tied to certain fighting styles and techniques which needed to be discussed alongside the sigils, causing his theoretical knowledge to be quite extensive.


    In terms of experience, Nadran was not a master of martial arts or anything of the sort, having spent so much time slowly and arduously training in sigils. This did not mean he could not fight, however. He just knew that without sigils to complement ones'' strength, it would be difficult to even pierce a simple barrier sigil. This was widely accepted to be true, and most people focused almost exclusively on sigil training, seeing combat techniques as purely supplementary.


    Nadran did not completely buy into this philosophy, but his first goal was to support his family, and thus he hadn''t spent as much time on combat as he would have liked. Despite this, Nadran had at least found his preferred fighting style; one focused largely on evasion and precise strikes. He found that he was most successful when he focused on exploiting openings and weaknesses, but he was still trying to develop a true fighting style to call his own.


    [Maybe he''s the type to overwhelm his enemy with a barrage of attacks, pressing the offensive until his opponent slips up? That seems likely based off his posture¡­ In that case, I should be ready to disrupt his rhythm.] Nadran steadied his breathing, his violet eyes staring forward, trying to read Selek''s every movement.


    Selek wildly swung his sword down in an overhead slash, prompting Nadran to dodge to one side. [That first attack was too telegraphed, he is surely planning to chain it into an upward slash toward my new position, thinking I''ll be caught off guard. If I preempt that attack, I may have the room for a counter.]


    Nadran quickly positioned one of his claws to block the expected trajectory of the follow-up. However, no attack came. Nadran quickly realized that, rather than continuing his assault, Selek was stumbling past him due to his forward momentum, clearly off-balance. [What is he doing? Is he trying to bait me into letting my guard down? How would he even pull off an attack in that position?]


    Nadran watched intently as Selek began to regain his balance, then sent out a probing roundhouse kick toward Selek''s back. To Nadran''s surprise, Selek was cleanly hit by the kick, and fell forward, landing hard on his elbows and knees. Nadran slowly walked toward his downed foe, trying to control his confusion. [Does this guy¡­ actually know how to fight? It seems like he doesn''t even know the basic sword forms. But in that case, why would he act so arrogantly and sure of himself? I haven''t even actually used my claws yet, other than to block an attack that never came¡­]


    Selek knelt on the ground, panting heavily due to frustration. His knuckles whitened as his grip on his sword tightened. As he heard the footsteps approaching from behind him, he let out an incoherent scream of rage before pushing himself off the ground, swinging his sword in a wide arc around his body.


    Nadran quickly determined the path of the blade, and did not stop his movement. He allowed the tip of the sword to sweep harmlessly by him, missing by almost half a foot. After this, Nadran reached out his clawed arm, bringing it to rest against Selek''s exposed neck. The tip of the claws lightly brushed against Selek''s Adam''s Apple, causing him to flinch back in fear.


    The anger in Selek''s eyes now replaced by terror, he nervously squeaked "I-I concede." With that, the claws were drawn away from his neck. With a vaguely disappointed look on his face, Nadran turned away and began walking off the stage.


    "It seems¡­ I overestimated him," Nadran muttered, wishing he could have had a closer fight to improve his combat experience. This comment was overheard by Selek, who began trembling in humiliation. Nadran did not heed his downed foe, however, and calmly walked off the stage.


    "The-the victor is Nadran Drasnor." The referee quickly recovered from her surprise before announcing the results. This sentence also snapped the spectators out of their shock, causing a ripple of murmurs to spread throughout the crowd.


    "What just happened? It''s over just like that?"


    "Yeah, Selek asked me to come watch him destroy someone, but he was the one who got destroyed. Did he have any idea how strong his opponent was? It seems like he went in totally unprepared."


    "Haha, that''s what he gets for underestimating his opponent. Still, though, who is that guy? I''ve never seen him before."


    "I''m not sure either. I''m going to ask around, there''s no way someone that strong doesn''t have a reputation."


    "Wait, now that I think about it, although his sigil color was weird, weren''t the energy fluctuations only at the level of a low slate cultivator? Selek is a high slate cultivator, but he still didn''t stand a chance. I guess he made up for this deficit with his superior fighting skills."


    Nadran didn''t care about all the things that were being said, however. Without another word, he walked off the stage, then continued toward his room. With the duel out of the way, the next item on his to-do list was the alchemy mission he''d taken. [I hope this pill refinement request is more interesting than that fight was. Seriously, though, I hope I can find a sparring partner or something similar to practice against. Without opponents to try things out against, most of my theories and strategies will remain untested. The last thing I want is to end up dying due to a lack of combat experience if someone strong attacks me. Hm, the challenge pavilion will be useful, but the artificial foes there likely won''t be able to respond with the insight and creativity of an actual person. Well, I''ll just keep this in the back of mind and hope I come across someone suitable. Right now, though, I need to get ready to do some pill refining.]


    ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- -----


    Selek stalked angrily down the road as dusk arrived, trying to contain the rage in his heart. He had never been humiliated like this before, and even his ''friends'' laughed at his crushing defeat. Unable to take it, he ran off, stewing in his embarrassment turned anger. At this point, he had already walked for miles, no destination in mind, and found himself on an otherwise empty road that passed through a nearby forest.


    "This is all his fault¡­ if he hadn''t gotten lucky and knocked me over, I never would have lost, I never would have been laughed at by everyone¡­ I''m going to kill him, I swear I''ll kill him, I''m going to make him suffer even more than I did!"


    Selek suddenly felt a piercing pain in the back of his neck. Before he realized what had happened, his eyes bulged out as he let out a soundless scream, his limbs convulsing as he fell to the ground. As his face warped into an expression of shock and disbelief, the light slowly faded from his eyes.


    Quiet footsteps approached the fallen figure. A figure cloaked in a long, black, hooded robe knelt beside Selek''s body, and one delicate hand was placed on his back, while the other pulled a crimson needle out of his neck.


    As the sun dipped below the horizon, a breeze fluttered through the forest, blowing back the hood. In the dying light, the face of a young woman was revealed. While she appeared beautiful, there was something unnerving and unnatural about her appearance that set people on edge. She closed her black eyes, dipping her head toward Selek''s corpse.


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    "It seems¡­ you have lingering resentments," a quiet voice calmly stated. "Worry not, for you will have your revenge. Then, you will be able to find true peace."


    As she looked at the body before her, a faint smile played across her lips.

 21 Chapter 21: Batch Refinemen

    Nadran sat down in his room in front of a newly acquired pill cauldron, setting an open book down next to him. The cauldron was of the high-slate rank, the same as the ones used during the alchemy entrance examination. Between the cauldron, alchemy book he was borrowing from the library, and large quantities of herbs, he had spent quite a few contribution points. Despite the fact that he had recently received a large windfall of 4,000 contribution points thanks to his performance in the challenge room, he still had to use over a quarter of his points to acquire all of these materials. [Alchemy really isn''t cheap,] Nadran wryly thought.


    His objective was to create a large number of mid-slate grade pills known as the Body Purification Pill. This was a very useful pill in the realm of alchemy which helped to cleanse the body of impurities. Over a person''s lifespan, their body will collect numerous impurities and imperfections, which affect not only their external appearance but also their muscle strength and bone density. Once consumed, this pill''s medicinal effects would spread throughout the body, removing impurities as it went. While a single pill was far from enough to remove all of the impurities by itself, the results were far from insubstantial. This was one of the most commonly used pills by cultivators. After all, they simply had to spend some money, and in exchange they would obtain a stronger, more resilient body (that also looked more appealing), and the improved hand-eye coordination provided by the removal of impurities even made the tracing of sigils slightly faster and easier. After all, nerves were also areas that accumulated impurities.


    This pill was practically miraculous in its effects, and while it could not remove any of the deeper-rooted impurities, it was still highly sought after due to its effects for the price it cost. For this reason, there were almost always requests from the pill hall to refine more of these pills, since their stock was always being depleted.


    Nadran was familiar with this pill, but had never taken one before. After all, his family barely had the money to feed themselves, and while these Body Purification Pills were not considered very expensive, that was only by the standards of pills. For the price of a single pill, Nadran''s family could eat comfortably for weeks.


    [Since I need to make a lot of pills, I''m going to have to put a larger amount of materials into the cauldron, otherwise it will take me forever to make enough pills. Hm, I need to be careful, though. In general, the more pills you make at once, the lower the quality of the individual pills. Maybe I should try to make them in multiple batches? If I use a liquid manipulation sigil, I think I could keep the batches isolated from each other so that the material ratios won''t be messed up. That way, I could make multiple batches in the same cauldron simultaneously, and that would hopefully cause them to be a higher quality than if I made one giant batch. Well, it''s worth a shot, at the very least.]


    Nadran picked up a batch of herbs, then carefully divided each component into two groups of equal size. [Let''s just start with 2 groups, then work our way up to more groups if this goes well.] A sigil was traced under the cauldron, lighting a small fire that flickered softly, heating the dark gray cauldron and the purified water contained within. Next, Nadran dropped the cut and dried herbs into the cauldron, keeping his hands apart to prevent the mixing of the batches. After doing this, he quickly began casting a sigil, causing the now brackish-looking water to split into two different sections. A rift of air formed across the liquid, resulting in the two halves of the cauldron being isolated from each other.


    [It would probably be simpler to just refine these pills in two separate cauldrons, but at my current level, I am incapable of creating and sustaining two different fires simultaneously.]


    In truth, the reason for this was quite simple. The flame he used to heat the cauldron was not an ordinary fire. It was ''his'' flame. This flame had a special connection to him, and he could only control the flame because of this special trait. Rather than creating fire, it was more that he was summoning fire from its home in the elemental plane of fire. It was said that every person alive had their own fire that burned on that mystical plane, and this sigil was just a method of pulling it over to this plane of existence and manipulating it. Nadran still wasn''t completely sure as to when and how this connection was formed, though, and the instructors he had seen never gave an answer that satisfied him. Of course, he couldn''t ask the instructor himself since he was sneaking into the classes in the first place, so he had no choice but to reign in his curiosity.


    [I should see if I can find a book or something on the subject when I have the time¡­ woah, the batches are sliding closer together. I don''t want them to end up mixing after all this effort, I need to focus more.]


    Nadran put more mental energy into the separation of the batches, then watched the slowly bubbling liquid as dark shapes began taking form in the murky liquid. He carefully continued the process of pill refinement, making sure to closely follow each step. It was not long, however, before the bubbling liquid showed signs of instability, the contents of the cauldron swirling about chaotically. Nadran quickly tried to calm the liquid, but it was already too late. The partially formed pills trembled before crumbling into pieces, leaving Nadran with nothing but a useless pool of liquid that no longer contained any medicinal properties.


    [What happened?] Nadran wondered in confusion, staring into the cauldron as he released the sigils he had been maintaining. [I thought I had been following the instructions correctly, so why did this happen?]


    Frowning, Nadran emptied out the cauldron before preparing a new set of ingredients and starting anew. This second batch ended the same way as the first. This time, though, Nadran was able to identify the problem.


    [With the liquid separated like this, it cannot follow the flow path it wants to. This wasn''t mentioned in the condensing instructions, but it seems that the path of the liquid is important in shaping and holding together the pill. While following the directions, the fluid will naturally flow in a path that holds the pill together while pulling the necessary ingredients closer and pulling away the unwanted parts. Thinking about it, this recipe is rather impressive to allow all of these things to happen simultaneously without needing to be directly controlled. But if I want to be able to make multiple batches at a time, I won''t be able to let the liquid flow as it wants to. What should I¡­]


    [Oh, wait! Maybe I can control each of these processes manually. They are normally done automatically, but that doesn''t mean they NEED to be done automatically. It will probably be difficult to control them all at once, but it should solve the problem if I can pull it off. Besides, practicing my control shouldn''t be a bad thing, and success means I can take less time refining large amounts of pills in the future. It might even make it easier for me to pull off more difficult refinements in the future that have more considerations and moving parts.]


    With his course of action set, Nadran began his third attempted batch refinement. This time, Nadran controlled the liquid manipulation sigil to the limits of his abilities. He was unable to control all of the required aspects properly, however, and was soon left with another failure. Undeterred, he tried again, but this time, he didn''t pay enough attention to managing the flame, causing the pills to become burnt, effectively destroying them. Suppressing a grimace, Nadran took a deep breath to calm himself, then started again from the beginning.


    ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- -----


    Nadran scraped the charred remains of his latest attempt out of the bottom of the cauldron, then leaned back with a sigh, wiping the beaded sweat off his brow. It had been several hours since he had started, and night had long since fallen. He was starting to feel the effects of fatigue, despite the fact that he was used to long periods of constant exertion while climbing the mountain face looking for herbs. This type of fatigue, however, was not physical, but mental. He had been exerting his mind and concentrating intently for hours, and it had taken its toll on him. Despite this, he still decided to go for one more attempt.


    He had a simple reason for wanting to continue. In his last refinement, he had been mere seconds away from success, and had failed in the final step. He knew he could complete the refinement, he just needed to make it to the finish line.


    Nadran breathed deeply, adjusting his mental state in preparation for the refinement. He popped an internal energy replenishment pill into his mouth, then began the process. Tracing his fingers through the air in a complex pattern, he relit the fire below the cauldron, the faintly purple fire flickering and casting a pale light on Nadran''s face. He poured the medicinal liquid into the cauldron, then began casting a second sigil while maintaining the control over the fire. In his mind, two different tendrils of internal energy flowed out of him, one connecting to the fire he had summoned, the other being imbued into the second sigil. His internal energy swirled inside the sigil before traveling into the liquid once the sigil was complete.


    In a sense, sigils are conduits for internal energy. Internal energy is otherwise formless and cannot affect the outside world, but through sigils, this energy can be given shape and used to manipulate the world around him. Sustained sigils like the ones he was using functioned by creating a constant stream of internal energy that connected him with an external object or group of objects, allowing him to control the connected object based on the use of the sigil. The flame sigil actually had two parts; the creation part and the manipulation one. First, a burst of internal energy was channeled through the sigil, pulling his fire into this plane from the elemental plane of fire. After this, a stream of internal energy attached to the fire, allowing Nadran to control its intensity and location.


    Nadran carefully controlled both streams of internal energy, keeping the liquid and fire at the proper levels. Then, he placed the first ingredient, a green, stringy plant, into the cauldron, neatly divided into two equal portions. He slightly increased the intensity of the fire, simultaneously forming a small current in the liquid that pulled apart the stringy plant, evenly heating each part and causing them to take on a faint orange tinge.


    Immediately upon seeing this, Nadran threw in the next herb, the petals of a bright blue flower, and lowered the heat of the fire. The currents of liquid changed into a small whirlpool at Nadran''s command, pulling the materials together and causing them to show signs of fusing. He then added two more materials at the same time, leaving one to the side to simmer in the hot liquid while the other acted as a bonding agent, connecting the fusing materials into a single mass. The other material, which was a powder that had not yet dissolved into the liquid, was then pulled over. As soon as the powder came in contact with the irregularly shaped mass, the partially formed pill reacted, changing into an appealing cyan color. This happened in parallel in the other side of the cauldron.


    With this step complete, Nadran added the next material.


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    And the next.


    And the next¡­


    Nearly half an hour later, Nadran began the final step of the refinement, turning up the heat of the fire while delicately controlling the liquid surrounding the pills to maintain their shape and keep the essence of the pills from escaping through the cracks. At the same time, he worked to repair the cracks that had formed, his eyes darting back and forth as he carefully micromanaged the formation of each pill. He squinted, resisting the urge to wipe the sweat off his face, and worked to finish his task.


    Finally, he let out a sigh of relief as a muted flash of light was released from the cauldron, indicating the success of the refinement. The finished pills floated to the top of the liquid, which had now become nothing but water. With lightly trembling arms due to the fatigue, Nadran pulled the pills out of the cauldron. Two batches of ten pills sat in his hands, totaling twenty pills altogether. A smile spread across his tired face as he carefully placed the pills in a bottle he had prepared earlier.


    [I finally succeeded¡­ making two batches at once is no joke. It was way harder than I thought it would be, but the satisfaction of succeeding makes it worth it. Really though, I should get some sleep now. I almost messed up multiple different times during the refinement due to exhaustion. Besides,] he thought dryly as he glanced at the now empty space that had once held a small mountain of herbs and other materials, [I need to get some more herbs before I can refine any more pills.]


    Nadran crawled into his bed and quickly fell asleep, a smile on his face.

 22 Chapter 22: An Exciting Battle

    "What are these?! Are these supposed to be pills? They look like something I would feed my dog!" From within the Pill Hall, an irate voice screamed out in anger and frustration.


    The owner of this voice was the obsidian-ranked alchemy grandmaster, Master Flameil. Before him stood an embarrassed-looking student with their head hung low.


    "You know how important good Body Purification pills are, don''t you?! They''re one of the most popular low-level pills in the Pill Hall, and people have an expectation of quality when they''re made. Sure, you made a bunch of them, but they aren''t worth anything. You think making a lot of low-grade pills that don''t even have a quality of 10% will be acceptable? Don''t you know that for these kinds of pills, the efficacy decreases each time someone consumes one? You could feed all fifty of these pills to one person, and it still wouldn''t match up to the effects of a single high-grade pill, not to mention it would immunize them against the effects of this pill, making it useless for them to eat even a high-grade pill afterwards. Giving this to our customers would actively hurt their future prospects, now get these out of my sight!"


    The student, his face flushed red with embarrassment, quickly grabbed the pills and fled the room. Flameil was silent for a moment, then sighed, pulling a paper out of his pocket. On it was a list of the names of students who had accepted alchemy requests. He skimmed down the line of names before settling on the header ''Body Purification Pill.''


    The section contained a total of three names, and Flameil decisively crossed out the second name on the list, before settling on the first name. "It''s been over a week, and this guy still hasn''t given me anything. If you accept a request, you should actually follow through and finish it, not just abandon it without even letting me know," he muttered to himself, his face sour. "With yesterday''s unexpected rush, we are almost completely out of Body Purification Pills. Not having one of our main pills in stock is completely unacceptable, but it seems like there is only one person who might be able to provide more in the short term," he mused, his eyes drifting down to the last person on the list.


    "Unfortunately, I''ve never heard of this person, and he accepted this request less than two days ago. Honestly, I''d rather he take another day or two to make some actually good pills rather than rushing it and making a bunch of trash. Even then, though, we might completely run out of Body Purification pills before they''re actually delivered, and if they aren''t any good, then who knows when we''ll get more. Don''t tell me I''m going to have to rope one of the higher-rank alchemists to make some for me¡­ it''ll be a real pain to convince them to ''lower themselves'' to make such low-level pills, but I don''t know if I have a choice."


    Flameil''s thoughts were interrupted by a soft knocking on his door. "Come in," he said, trying to keep the irritation out of his voice. The door quickly opened, and in walked a young man.


    Flameil scrutinized this newcomer''s appearance, gauging that he was about 20 or 21 years old, but he was completely unfamiliar to him. Flameil was certain on this point, since there was no way he would forget such piercing purple eyes.


    "Greetings, my name is Nadran Drasnor," the young man replied. "I am here to turn in my results for the Body Refinement pill request."


    Flameil tried to contain his disappointment, and responded stiffly, "Well, let''s see what you have for me."


    Nadran slightly cocked his head at Flameil''s strange tone, but quickly nodded before setting a number of glass bottles onto the desk in front of Flameil.


    Flameil''s eyes instantly brightened as he saw the well-formed pills that were contained within the bottles. [Compared to that other guy, these pills look leagues better in appearance alone. I wonder how their effects are¡­] Flameil pondered thoughtfully, opening one of the bottles and pulling out a random pill before inspecting it closely.


    Suddenly, he froze as though struck by a bolt of lightning. [This is¡­ a high-grade pill with a quality of 71%! This is way better than I was expecting¡­ and this one was randomly selected. Are they all this good? He made all of these in less than 2 days?]


    Flameil swiftly examined over a dozen different pills across all of the different bottles, and the worst ones were mid-grade with a quality of around 60%, while the best ones were approaching 75% quality. A smile involuntarily formed on his face as he confirmed that the first pill was indeed not an outlier.


    "Well done," Flameil praised. "These will do nicely. Once the total worth of these pills has been assessed, an equivalent amount of contribution points will be automatically transferred to your identification card."


    Nadran nodded in acknowledgement before leaving the pill hall.


    ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- -----


    After delivering the pills, Nadran headed in the direction of the arena. This is not because he wanted to fight someone, but rather because there was free training equipment nearby. You could go there to train, and perhaps watch an arena match or two while you''re there if one catches your interest.


    Nadran soon reached the arena. In a sense, it would be more accurate to call it the arenas, since there were a number of different platforms of different sizes scattered about, with a huge central one that had stadium-style seating around it. The one Nadran had fought Selek on was one of the smallest ones on the outskirts of the area. Larger arenas would require the challenger to pay a fee in order to use it. After all, the number of arenas was not infinite, and the number of challenges that occurred was not small. Additionally, all arenas could use a referee, and the referee would need to be compensated for their work. In general, the larger the arena, the more qualified the referee would be, so as to ensure that both parties abided by the rules decided upon and the winner could be determined in a close match. This fee could be waived, however. This could happen if you got the express permission of the arena master, or simply if your status was high enough within the academy.


    Nadran walked up to a training dummy made of a type of soft stone. This type of dummy had a self-repair formation within it, which caused it to repair itself every time it was damaged, making it appear good as new.


    Formations are a unique type of sigil. Once inscribed, they do not use the internal energy of the caster. Instead, they draw in the natural energy of their surroundings to produce various effects. These sigils, however, take much longer to create, and usually can''t compare in power to what the caster could do with an offensive sigil.


    A purple sigil formed in the air, which formed a set of translucent purple claws that coated Nadran''s hands. He entered a fighting stance, then swiped his hand across the dummy''s torso. A thin set of parallel lines were carved into the stone body, but they disappeared before even a second had passed.


    Nadran stretched to loosen his muscles as he opened and closed his hand, contemplating. [These claws put a lot of pressure on my fingers. I''ll need to be careful when striking hard objects that are able to resist the force of my strike. Hmm, I should keep my fingers partially curved when striking to maximize the strength I can apply without hurting myself. I should also try to use jabs when trying to pierce thicker armor, since I can safely apply more force that way.]


    Nadran then proceeded to practice sets of different simple attack moves such as slashes, jabs, and punches. Between each set, he would stop to contemplate his movements, assessing the strain applied to his body as well as the effectiveness of the attack. He was not too familiar with such a unique weapon, and while he had used his claws a couple times since he got them two days ago, there were still a lot of things for him to consider. Nadran''s approach to combat was very methodical, and he could fight at his best when he was aware of the full set of moves available to him.


    As he trained, Nadran suddenly heard a voice speak up from behind him. "It looks like you have some interesting technique there."


    Nadran paused his actions and turned to see a girl standing before him. She looked to be around 20 years of age, her long black hair flowing behind her due to the slight wind. She looked very calm, almost expressionless, but Nadran saw a shimmer in her eyes that seemed to indicate she wasn''t completely without emotion. Her clothes consisted of a simple, yet elegant silver robe. At first glance she looked almost delicate, but Nadran could tell she was not weak from her posture and faintly visible muscle tone. Nadran got the feeling that she was assessing him, just as he was inspecting her. [I wonder what her perception of me is,] Nadran thought idly as a brief silence filled the air. [What could her goal be in approaching me like this? I swear, if she is just showing up to make trouble like that last guy that fought me¡­]


    Before the silence could drag out for too long, Nadran shrugged and said, "Well, it''s a pretty unique weapon. Using something like a sword or spear technique with these claws would not work out too well. I''ve mostly just been figuring out how I could make effective use of their upsides."


    "Interesting," she responded, a faint smile touching her lips. "It seems like you already have a better approach to melee combat than most of the students here. You know, it''s often easiest to improve your skills by sparring against a skilled opponent. I am interested in having a small sparring match with you, if you''re up for it." Her tone was extremely calm and emotionless, but it didn''t quite seem like apathy. It almost sounded like¡­ boredom?


    Nadran instantly became on guard, and cautiously replied, "¡­And why would you want to spar against me?"


    "Hm, how should I put this. I feel that out of everyone at the arena, you could give me the most exciting match."


    Nadran raised his eyebrows at the word ''exciting'' being uttered in such a monotone voice. "Well, as long as we don''t go overboard and get injured, I suppose it couldn''t hurt," Nadran responded after a brief deliberation. Her dull tone notwithstanding, this girl''s words about the effectiveness of training through sparring seemed reasonable. [Maybe I can practice my responses to an intelligent opponent. At the very least, I feel like she is a competent fighter. Even if she has some ulterior motives, I think I can just back out before something bad happens. Besides, I don''t really feel like she wants to hurt me, though it''s kind of hard to tell with that expressionless face.]


    Nadran shook his head to clear his wandering thoughts before following her to one of the platforms. It was notably larger than the one he had last fought on, being about 75 feet across, but this one currently did not have any spectators surrounding it, save a small group of people that was a distance away, looking in their direction curiously while talking amongst themselves.


    "Hey, isn''t that Rethara? It looks like she''s found someone else to spar against. Poor guy."


    "Rethara? Who''s that?" someone asked curiously.


    "You haven''t heard of her yet? She''s become rather famous recently. As of about 5 days ago, she was so low-profile that almost nobody even knew who she was. Then suddenly, she started challenging people to duels while only being at the mid-slate stage herself. The thing is, she absolutely demolished every opponent she went against. Once she started crushing marble stage opponents without even giving them a chance to fight back, people stopped accepting her challenges."


    "Do you think she did this for the fame and publicity? Maybe she is making waves in order to get noticed by the masters of the academy so that they might take her as a personal disciple."


    "That''s certainly possible. Hm, I wonder what level her opponent''s at. He should have at least some level of strength, or there would be no point in her challenging him. However, I''ve never seen him before. Do you guys know who he is?"


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    His friends shook their heads in response, prompting him to shrug in helplessness. "Well, whatever. Let''s watch this match. Maybe we can get some insight into her technique."


    Nadran managed to catch most of their conversation as he walked up onto the platform. [Hm, this sounds like it could be a tough opponent. But that could be just what I need to improve my combat ability.]


    As he was considering his opponent, Rethara turned away the referee that approached. "There''s no need to make this an official match, this will just be a bit of friendly sparring," she stated calmly.


    Then, she turned toward Nadran, saying "Prepare your weapons, then let us begin."


    Nadran quickly recited the wyvern claws sigil, causing his hands to once more be encased in translucent purple energy. As he prepared, Rethara drew a slim rapier from her waist, then stood quietly, waiting for Nadran''s approach. Nadran decided to oblige her, and the fight began.


    Nadran began with a swift strike to her front, wanting to test her response. To his surprise, she turned her rapier to the side and blocked his attack directly. Nadran felt as though rather than striking a rapier, he was hitting a heavy iron block, and he stumbled back, off balance.


    Nadran didn''t get a chance to recover, however, as Rethara immediately swung her rapier in an overhead attack toward him. Nadran hurriedly dodged to the side, narrowly avoiding the strike, which struck the ground with such force that the rapier sank almost an inch into the stone of the arena.


    [What kind of rapier style is this??? She''s clearly using pure strength in her attacks, rather than the agility and skill that a rapier lends itself to.] Nadran contemplated his opponent''s strange weapon choice, but did not back off from the battle, choosing to move forward once again. He made a rapid series of attacks, but she calmly blocked every one directly, not once even moving her feet.


    As he avoided another powerful rapier swing, Nadran started feeling a swirling excitement forming within him. This woman was clearly a very skilled fighter, and he could practically feel his blood boiling as he faced such a powerful foe. He attempted a feint, trying to throw her off balance, but she didn''t even flinch. Instead, she swung her rapier down, clashing directly with his claws.


    Nadran was flung backward by the heavy blow, rolling across the ground before quickly springing back to his feet. Not wanting to give her an opportunity to capitalize, he rushed back in. [I need to take advantage of when she swings to counterattack.]


    Rethara swung her rapier with a heaviness that belied its size, forming a horizontal arc through the air. Nadran leaned back at the last moment, narrowly dodging the attack, then lunged forward with an attack before Rethara''s swing had finished.


    To Nadran''s shock, his opponent seemed to have predicted his move, and had already moved her rapier back in front of her, canceling her swing early. Nadran''s attack was easily blocked, his claws struck backward with significant force.


    As he was pushed back, Nadran instinctively shifted the force of her counter to his right side, using his left foot as a pivot in combination with the strike''s force to spin around. This spin, amplified by the force of the attack he received, transformed into a spinning kick that struck Rethara in the stomach, pushing her back several feet.


    Rethara paused in place for several seconds, looking first surprised, then contemplative, before finally a large smile crossed her face. "It looks like you are even more interesting than I expected," she commented, clear traces of excitement tinging her voice. "Well then, I guess it''s time for the real fun to begin."


    Rethara carelessly tossed her rapier to the side before stroking a silvery ring on her finger. She then made a grabbing motion, and a huge greatsword appeared in her hands. Effortlessly lifting the greatsword up with a single arm and pointing it at Nadran, her smile broadened even more. "Let''s see just how exciting this battle can become."

 23 Chapter 23: Battle Maniac

    Nadran took a deep breath to steady himself as he watched the woman in front of him brandishing a giant greatsword as though it were made of paper. [Yeah, I think that kind of weapon suits her fighting style a bit better,] he thought dryly as he watched her closely, waiting for her to make a move.


    Rethara suddenly leaped into the air as she raised her sword above her head, swinging it down as she descended. Nadran quickly slid out of the way as her sword came crashing down on the spot where he had been standing, and with a loud crash, the ground caved in, forming a small pile of rubble where she struck.


    Nadran''s eyes widened at this absurd scene. [I feel like this is slightly more dangerous than what I signed up for,] he thought sarcastically, shielding his face from flying pieces of rock and continuing to watch her carefully. However, even though he felt like he should be terrified at this new turn of events, he somehow only felt a gradually building excitement. He could feel the blood pumping through his veins at an elevated rate, supplying his body with the necessary nutrients to maintain a high level of concentration and exertion. Rather than backing down, he ran forward, continuing the fight.


    Seeing Nadran approach once more, Rethara smiled in approval, then swung her sword toward him. In response, Nadran read the path of the attack, moving just enough to avoid the attack. He swiped his claws toward her, but she leaped several feet into the air before coming down with a falling kick.


    Nadran blocked the kick with his claws raised above his head, bending his knees to absorb the force of the impact. Then, he pushed back, launching her back into the air. As she landed, Nadran launched another attack, forcing her to block before she had the ground to stabilize herself. As a result, she was pushed backward.


    "What¡­ is going on?" one of the spectators asked in confusion. "Is this really a fight between a low and mid-slate cultivator? Sure, they''re mostly just using melee combat techniques rather than sigils, but almost nobody can move that fast or with that much force without some type of amplification sigil, which I''m not seeing any of. I can see how Rethara was able to crush opponents at a higher sigil realm than her."


    "What about that other guy, though?" his friend asked. "Rethara is throwing out attacks that are literally damaging the arena, but he is able to go toe-to-toe with her. He''s still at a disadvantage, but I''ve never even seen this guy before. Is he some martial arts master or something?"


    Unaware of the comments of the spectators, Nadran was also trying to figure out what was happening. As he fought, he was feeling an unfamiliar excitement boiling within him, and his body seemed to move without him even giving it commands. In the back of his mind, he couldn''t help but wonder what was causing this to occur.


    [My mind can''t even keep up with what''s happening. Rethara has sped up her attacks and they''ve gotten even stronger with the help of that broadsword, but I''m also fighting better than before. By the time I''ve processed that an attack is coming and thought of a response, my body has already moved, often in a completely different direction than my thought.]


    This movement caused some problems as well, however. When he thought to go right, but actually went left, it left him off balance as he tried to complete contradictory actions. This led to small moments of vulnerability between movements that Rethara capitalized on, continuously pushing him back.


    Despite all this, the fight dragged on for several minutes without pause. Nadran''s breathing was getting ragged as the extreme exertion took a toll on his stamina. Opposite him, Rethara looked ecstatic, fighting with a wide smile on her face, looking almost nothing like the earlier bored-looking Rethara he had first met. She appeared to be having the time of her life, and kept pushing the tempo of the fight higher and higher.


    After a period of time had passed, Rethara jumped back, then flicked her fingers through the air, tracing an intricate sigil in the air. Almost instantly, the sigil finished, imbuing her sword with a black energy.


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    [What was that? I''ve never even seen a sigil that complex before, and she finished it in an instant. Wait, never mind that, how was she even able to cast such a clearly high-level sigil with the energy pool of a mid-slate cultivator? That doesn''t seem possible. ¡­Who is she?]


    "Get ready, here I come!" Rethara shouted excitedly as she charged forward. Once again, she began with an overhead swing, but this time seemed different, and Nadran flung himself out of the way before he had even processed it, the hairs on his body standing on end.


    Nadran landed on the ground, rolling to break his fall, when he heard a sound like a crack of thunder roar out behind him. He slowly turned his head to look behind him, and when he did, his mouth fell open in shock.


    A massive crater had appeared in the arena platform. It looked as though a meteor had struck the stage, and there was stone debris raining down from dozens of feet in the air. Rethara stood in the middle of the crater with a cheeky grin, looking over in his direction. "That was a nice dodge there."


    Nadran sputtered, trying to put his panic-stricken thoughts into words. "We-were you trying to kill me there?" he asked.


    "Nah, I was pretty sure you''d survive," Rethara responded nonchalantly. "After all¡­" she trailed off, shaking her head. "Never mind. Well, let''s wrap this up with one last strike."


    "¡­How about we don''t, and say we did?" Nadran suggested nervously. [This person is an absolute battle maniac. Am I going to survive this?] He looked over at the referee who was watching from a distance, but got a face in return that seemed to say, ''This is way above my pay grade.''


    Rethara suddenly flicked her greatsword in Nadran''s direction, and a piece of the glowing black light that surrounded her sword flew off, striking Nadran. There was no sensation of impact when it struck him, but his body suddenly felt as though it weighed thousands of pounds, and Nadran fell to his hands and knees. It almost felt like a giant hand was crushing him into the ground.


    Rethara smiled, then leaped into the air. Her sword swirled with black energy, though it was a lesser amount than the last strike, since almost half of the energy had already been tossed at Nadran.


    Nadran gritted his teeth as he stared up at Rethara''s airborne form. He was physically incapable of moving out of the way in time, and it seemed like this last strike could only result in his death. Despite this, he still felt an inexplicable excitement pouring out from deep inside him. It was as though this moment, at the line between life and death, was when he felt the most alive.


    The fear that should have paralyzed him was pushed out of the way, allowing his mind to think freely. Time seemed to slow down as Nadran tried to figure out a way to escape this predicament. Thoughts passed rapidly through his head as Rethara''s figure slowly descended.


    [With the amount of force behind that strike, a normal barrier would shatter like glass. I need a different way to stop the strike from hitting me. What about¡­ redirecting it? For that, I could use some type of ''push'' type sigil. But all the sigils I know of that type would take too long to form, I wouldn''t be able to finish it before I turn into meat paste. Let''s see, what could I do? Wait, what about the ''core'' of the push sigils? What pattern is shared between all the ''push'' type sigils that I know? Maybe I could cast that part in time.]


    Dozens of sigils flashed through his mind as he compared them to each other, quickly finding a pattern. He immediately began tracing a shape as rapidly as he could, purple lines of light appearing in the air. The shape was simple enough that he didn''t need to pause to remember the next part of the sigil, allowing him to finish it in one go. He poured all of his remaining internal energy into the ''push'' sigil as Rethara swung her sword down toward his head. He then directed the energy into the approaching sword, which was now close enough to target with the sigil.


    At the last split second, the sword was pushed toward the left, slightly altering its path and causing it to strike the ground less than an inch away from his kneeling form. The shockwave from the strike launched him into the air, causing him to roll for several feet before coming to a stop lying on his side. He winced in pain, but was too exhausted to do much more.


    "Wow, very impressive," Rethara commented, spinning her sword around before tapping it against her ring, causing it to disappear in a flash of light. She casually walked over toward Nadran, talking as she went. "Thanks for giving me such a fun fight. I haven''t had a fight that exciting in¡­ ever? Six days? Well, something like that."


    [Do you even understand the difference in time scale between forever and six days?] Nadran complained mentally as Rethara stopped in front of him.


    "Sorry, I went a bit overboard, didn''t I? Here, take this," Rethara said, her tone already becoming more calm and measured than before. She kneeled down, handing Nadran a healing pill.


    [You call that a BIT?] Nadran thought with a groan, but managed to accept the pill. He could immediately feel the effects of the pill alleviating his pain; it appeared that this pill was of a very high quality.


    "I really need to work on my¡­ overexcitement during battle," Rethara calmly stated. "I did not originally intend to continue to this extent. Do you want me to help you back to your room so you can rest?"


    Nadran hesitated for a second, then nodded his head. While he was bitter about her almost killing him, she seemed apologetic now, and he really didn''t want to rest on this broken stone stage. [What is up with her, though? It feels like now that the battle is over, she''s a totally different person. She is so calm and collected now, while she seemed like an excited child during the fight. Strange¡­]


    "So, where is your room?" Rethara asked as she picked him up off the ground.


    "¡­A-314," Nadran managed to reply weakly.


    Rethara paused upon hearing the ''A'' prefix in the room number. "You''re an alchemist?" she asked, surprise creeping into her voice.


    Nadran nodded in affirmation, causing Rethara to stop and contemplate for a few seconds before a faint smile emerged on her face. "Alright then," she replied, walking toward the alchemy dorms while carrying Nadran on her back.

 24 Chapter 24: Another Perspective

    Rethara Gravien was very bored.


    As she walked aimlessly around the arena, looking for a good opponent, Rethara reflected on the occurrences of the past week, and how everything had changed so suddenly.


    A week ago, she had been powerful. She had spent decades trying to reach the peak of this world, but just before reaching it, she encountered a wall she could not pass, a foe so powerful she could not help but despair. Despite her extensive knowledge, combat experience, and her slew of magical artifacts, she was like a helpless child in front of this incredible power. Her diamond-rank sigil realm could not help her against this foe, and she had no choice but to accept her death.


    When she breathed her last, she thought it was the end. Rethara was plunged into darkness, her consciousness floating in a black void. But then came an indistinct whisper, and Rethara''s memory became hazy.


    Suddenly, Rethara awoke in a bed, sweat dripping down her forehead, confused and disoriented. After a moment, she was able to gain her bearings and figure out what had happened.


    She was alive again, and her consciousness had returned to her body. That is¡­ her past body. She had returned to her past self, when she was only 20 years old. Back before she had become one of the most powerful beings in this world. Back before she found the ancient tomb that changed her destiny. Back before¡­ the Empress had destroyed everything she loved and cared about.


    Rethara stood up and walked around, but her body felt clumsy. After having trained past her limits, she found herself back in a body that had barely undergone any training at all. Her body did not feel responsive, and her supply of internal energy felt pitifully lacking.


    This did not make Rethara feel dispirited, however. [I have been given another chance, an opportunity to do what I could not last time. I cannot let such a wonderful gift be wasted.] Her naturally calm demeanor broke into a smile of excitement and anticipation.


    She swiftly set out to move around in a more open space, and soon arrived at the arena. She had not used this arena much in her past life, due to her weak ability at the time. She was still at the mid-slate sigil realm at 20 years old, indicating just how slow her progress had been before that incident. Now, though, she went to the arena for an opportunity to stretch her muscles and refamiliarize herself with her body.


    Rethara was no longer the shy introvert she had once been. After experiencing countless bloody battles and life-and-death encounters, joys and sorrows, the quiet, friendless girl that was often overlooked by the people of the academy had become someone unafraid, confident, and with a thirst for the excitement of combat. She had been in many battles, and she had come to truly enjoy them. The rush of adrenaline, the feeling of her muscles being pushed to their limits, the sweetness of victory, the thrill of narrowly avoiding death or defeat, it had become something she could not live without.


    So Rethara challenged some random students to a friendly match¡­ and ended up very disappointed. The students she fought against were complete novices, at least from her perspective, and she didn''t even need to use her favored weapon, the broadsword, to annihilate whoever she faced. Even as she was still acclimating to her current abilities, nobody could even touch her. She started using a rapier to face her opponents, hoping that this handicap would make the matches more interesting, but it made no difference. The people near her sigil realm were too weak, and those far enough above her realm were unwilling to fight. After all, there was no benefit to beating a mid-slate realm cultivator, even if they were a strong one. On the other hand, losing to someone at that realm would be pure humiliation for them, and they would surely be mocked mercilessly by their peers if that happened.


    Unable to find a good match, Rethara spent some time practicing her favorite sigil, the gravity sigil and its variations. One of the main limitations in this world was knowledge. In theory, even someone at the lowest slate realm could create a high-level sigil if they were aware of how to cast it. The main constraints were casting time and sigil realm. A slow casting speed made complex, higher-level sigils impractical in a combat scenario, and a low sigil realm limited the amount of internal energy that could be used to make a sigil. This meant that, even with ample time, someone with a low sigil realm would likely be unable to complete a high-level sigil without running out of energy before they finished.


    Rethara was still able to cast the gravity sigil, however. This is because of the efficiency of her sigil creation. When a sigil is formed, most of the internal energy poured into it is actually lost into the surroundings. With decades of experience, Rethara was able to prevent nearly all of this leakage, allowing her to create sigils with a much smaller pool of energy than others.


    Rethara snapped back to the present, then sighed. Five days after her ''reincarnation,'' Rethara found herself walking through the arena once more, hoping to find an opponent who could challenge her. She had accrued a bit of a reputation among the lower level cultivators, and few people were willing to face her once they heard of her track record.


    She was truly quite bored. She had never been one to sit around and quietly train, preferring to temper herself against strong opponents, but she couldn''t find anyone to face, frustrating her. [Maybe I should find some wild beasts or something to fight,] she thought, but she was hesitant about the idea. After all, she preferred to fight humans, who could be more creative and flexible in their thinking than most low-level beasts.


    Hearing a repeated striking sound, Rethara lazily shifted her gaze over to look at the source¡­ and froze.


    A distance away, a young man was striking a training dummy repeatedly with a pair of ethereal claws, occasionally pausing with a contemplative look on his face. Rethara felt her hands trembling as she looked at his distinctive purple eyes, unable to contain her emotions.


    [Is that¡­ Nadran?]


    Rethara''s breathing grew heavier as she saw his face for the first time in years. She managed to calm herself physically, but was unable to calm her emotions internally. [Let''s think this through. He looks younger than when we first met, but he looks exactly like what I''d expect a younger Nadran to look like. He looks the right age, too. But, what is he doing at the academy? He never attended the academy, he was too slow in his casting speed, and his sigil realm was too low for him to be accepted. How could he be here?]


    Rethara thought back to the Nadran in her memories, and could not reconcile it with the man she saw before her. This man had clearly casted a sigil he had never learned in her memories, and she could not wrap her head around what was happening. Also, there was something different about him, a sort of aura that made her ponder its cause.


    Determined, she walked forward, hoping to greet him and find answers. She had yet to take a single step, however, before she paused again. [Wait¡­ at this point in time, we''ve never met before. He won''t recognize me, and I''ll just be a random stranger to him.] She thought for a moment, then came up with an idea. [If that really is Nadran, if I challenge him to a duel, he should accept. I''ve been challenging people all this time, so this could be considered ''in character'' for what people see me as. It shouldn''t seem strange to approach him for that reason.]


    Having made up her mind, Rethara approached Nadran once again, who had been so focused on his training that he hadn''t noticed her watching him all that time. "It looks like you have some interesting technique there," she commented as she walked toward him. [An interesting technique I''ve never seen you use before,] she added in her mind.


    Nadran looked surprised as he turned to face her, and he looked at her with a hint of suspicion. He stared hard at her, as though he was trying to figure out why she had approached him. Finally, he shrugged. "Well, it''s a pretty unique weapon. Using something like a sword or spear technique with these claws would not work out too well. I''ve mostly just been figuring out how I could make effective use of their upsides."


    Hearing this methodical response made her even more sure that this really was Nadran, and she smiled in response. [Well, he never was one to go with traditional weapons, anyways.] "Interesting," she replied. "It seems like you already have a better approach to melee combat than most of the students here. You know, it''s often easiest to improve your skills by sparring against a skilled opponent. I am interested in having a small sparring match with you, if you''re up for it."


    Rethara tried to keep her voice as even as possible, trying to keep the bubbling excitement contained within her. [I hope I didn''t overdo it there with the monotone,] she worried, but quickly pushed the thought away.


    She could see Nadran''s guard go up, and he cautiously replied, "¡­And why would you want to spar against me?"


    "Hm, how should I put this," she replied. "I feel that out of everyone at the arena, you could give me the most exciting match." [That''s technically true,] Rethara thought, trying to rationalize her response to herself. If he was anywhere near the level he was at when she first met him, he would be a better opponent than almost anyone else in the arena in terms of pure non-sigil combat ability.


    Nadran paused to consider for a moment, then replied, "Well, as long as we don''t go overboard and get injured, I suppose it couldn''t hurt."


    Nodding in satisfaction, Rethara led him to one of the arena platforms. [Let''s see what level he''s at right now,] she thought as she stopped across from him on the platform. She impatiently shooed away the referee who approached, not wanting any interference in this match. "There''s no need to make this an official match, this will just be a bit of friendly sparring." She then turned back to Nadran, and, trying to conceal her rising excitement, said "Prepare your weapons, then let us begin."


    She drew her rapier, then watched as Nadran traced a sigil in the air. The purple lines, that slow, hesitating manner of tracing a sigil, it was all too familiar to her. The sigil soon finished, and the translucent claws she had seen earlier materialized once again.


    She stood still, rapier at the ready, waiting for Nadran to make the first move. He ran up to her and launched a direct attack, likely probing her defenses. She blocked with her rapier, pushing him back easily. She had always been focused on training her strength, even before her ''return,'' and so even though she felt weak, that was only in comparison to her ''future'' self. She was far stronger than her peers, and had spent the last few days training her strength even more in between her disappointing arena duels. After all, with enough strength, she could push through anything.


    Nadran was clearly caught off guard by her unexpected strength, and stumbled backwards, off balance. She followed up with a swift overhead strike that was hurriedly dodged by Nadran. Rather than backing off, however, Nadran pushed forward once again, launching a barrage of attacks with his claws.


    She blocked every strike easily, but her outer calm belied her inner excitement. [He is already much more capable than the others I fought at this academy. I wonder where his current limits are.]


    They exchanged more blows, and Rethara could see the excitement growing in his eyes. He attempted a feint, but it was too obvious for her to fall for it. Instead, she swung her sword down, clashing against his claws directly. Nadran was pushed back several feet, rolling across the ground to absorb the impact before springing back to his feet. He rushed back in once again, continuing the fight.


    Nadran dodged a horizontal sweeping attack of Rethara''s, then attempted to strike before her attack had ended. [Good counterattack timing,] Rethara thought in praise as she saw his move. She instantly canceled her swing in response and brought back her rapier to block.


    Nadran was pushed backward by the block, but he shifted his weight at the last second, using the force of her counter to spin himself around. He lashed out with a kick that was aided by his added momentum, and Rethara, who was not expecting him to pull off such a move, was kicked in the stomach. The kick pushed her back several feet, where she paused in surprise.


    [It seems like his combat instincts are even better than when I first met him,] she thought. [How could his combat abilities have already reached this stage? It doesn''t line up¡­ Wait, maybe it has something to do with that strange aura he has? Has he had some encounter that strengthened him, something that didn''t happen in my memories? This is exciting. Maybe he can follow a different path from last time, and become stronger than he was in my memories. In that case, maybe¡­]


    "It looks like you are even more interesting than I expected," she commented aloud, unable to keep the excitement out of her voice. "Well then, I guess it''s time for the real fun to begin."


    Rethara casually tossed her rapier to the side and rubbed her storage ring. She had won it three days ago in a bet with a very wealthy (but stupid) young marble-rank noble student, and had been using it to store her greatsword ever since. Now, wanting to test just how much Nadran had changed, she drew her sword, feeling its reassuring weight in her hands.


    She lifted her greatsword up with one arm, pointing it at Nadran, then spoke up. "Let''s see just how exciting this battle can become."

 25 Chapter 25: Another Perspective II

    Rethara smiled, then leaped into the air, using momentum and gravity to increase the strength of her overhead strike. Nadran slid out of the way at the last moment, and her sword struck the ground instead, caving in a small part of the stage. [Good, I would have been concerned if he hadn''t even been able to deal with that,] she thought with a grin.


    Nadran''s eyes slightly widened at the sight of her empowered attack, but he quickly regained his composure and rushed back into the fray. Rethara''s smile widened at this scene. [Despite the apparent danger, he is still willing to continue the fight. That is a valuable trait for anyone who wishes to reach the pinnacle of this world, and one he certainly shares with the Nadran I know.]


    She swung her sword, aiming to hit him as soon as he entered her range, but he shifted his body just enough to avoid the attack. He quickly launched a claw attack of his own, prompting Rethara to leap up into the air to avoid it. As she descended, she lashed out with a gravity-enhanced kick.


    Nadran blocked the kick with his claws, then pushed her back, launching her back into the air, then attacked again before she could stabilize herself, pushing her back several feet. [Yes, this is the feeling I was looking for!] Rethara exclaimed in her mind as they fought back and forth. [I''ve been trying to find a good opponent to push myself with for days. Who would have thought that it would be Nadran that mysteriously appeared at the academy and was able to give me the fight I needed?]


    Rethara felt herself acclimating better and better to her younger body as the fight went on, the pressure and intensity of the battle allowing her to familiarize herself with her current limits, testing the strength and responsiveness of her muscles under pressure. This feeling, in conjunction with her natural love of battle, caused her excitement to grow even more, to the point where it took her a moment to realize just how well Nadran was fighting.


    [Wow, he''s actually able to keep up with me right now. He''s fighting even better than he did years in the future, but there''s something strange about his movements. He seems surprised at his own reactions, and looking more closely, it seems like his movements are more instinctual than anything else. He keeps losing his balance for a split second after each move, probably because he didn''t expect it in the first place. He also seems to have a stronger aura around him, as well. Wait, instinctive reactions, that type of aura¡­ don''t tell me he has a partially awakened bloodline?!]


    Rethara froze at this insane thought, and almost got hit by Nadran because of it. She continued to fight, and closely inspected Nadran''s movements and reactions. [There shouldn''t be any mistake¡­ this looks like a true bloodline, and a pretty powerful one at that. Bloodlines are already incredibly rare among even the most powerful of beasts, never mind a human inheriting one. With a bloodline aiding him, his future is basically unlimited. Let''s see just how much his bloodline can handle right now.]


    Rethara suddenly jumped back, creating distance between them, before rapidly inscribing the gravity sigil in the air. The sigil took effect, imbuing her sword with a dark energy. She leaped into the air once more, and when she had reached the apex of her jump, she gave a mental command, inducing the energy to activate. Suddenly, her sword tripled in weight, and she used this heavy sword to strike towards Nadran, who promptly dodged out of the way.


    Seeing Nadran evade, Rethara allowed her strike to continue down, blasting a massive hole in the ground from the force of the impact. She watched Nadran''s face pale at the destructive power of the attack, and couldn''t help but cheekily grin. "That was a nice dodge there," she commented casually.


    "We-were you trying to kill me there?" Nadran asked with a mixture of fear and anger.


    "Nah, I was pretty sure you''d survive," Rethara responded nonchalantly. "After all¡­" [¡­I know how you fight, and an attack like that wouldn''t be able to do you in. Besides, with that level of bloodline, you should have some defensive capabilities, whether you''re aware of them or not.] Rethara''s mind processed all these thoughts, but she didn''t say them aloud, unsure how she could explain how she knew these things without coming across as crazy. Instead she said, "Never mind. Well, let''s wrap this up with one last strike." [Let''s push you to your limits and see what we can find.]


    Nadran grimaced upon hearing her proposal. "¡­How about we don''t, and say we did?" Nadran asked wryly, looking toward the referee for help, but receiving none.


    Rethara flicked her greatsword in Nadran''s direction, controlling a part of the gravity-type energy to get flung off her sword and strike him. [Interesting, despite the fact that he was able to dodge faster attacks earlier, he was still struck by this one. I wonder why? Well, he''s locked in place now, let''s see how he deals with a direct attack.]


    Rethara leaped into the air once again, preparing to launch a final attack. The remaining gravity-type energy on her sword activated once more, and she began her descent. As she fell, however, doubts started to creep into her mind.


    [Can Nadran really stop this attack? I think I got a little too overeager with having such a refreshing battle and wanting to test his limits. I''m used to fighting high-level opponents who always have numerous trump cards at their disposal, but Nadran isn''t even a mid-slate cultivator, never mind a diamond-rank cultivator like the people I was accustomed to fighting before I died. He probably doesn''t have a way to stop this attack, and he appears to be unaware of his bloodline, meaning he can''t rely on it for aid. I''ll probably have to stop my attack short so I don''t actually kill him.]


    Rethara prepared to halt her attack, but then she noticed that Nadran''s eyes contained no fear. Instead, his violet irises displayed calmness as he traced a sigil in the air.


    [What sigil is he making? With his sigil casting speed, he won''t be able to finish a sigil in time, and even if he does, it likely won''t be strong enough to stop my attack.] Rethara reached her conclusion, and was once again about to stop her attack when Nadran finished his sigil.


    [Wait, how did he finish it in time?] Rethara thought in surprise. [What is that sigil, anyways? Wait, is that-]


    A sudden, piercing pain lanced through Rethara''s head, disrupting her train of thought and causing her to black out for a split second. By the time she had recovered, it was already too late to stop her swing. Her sword swung down, then suddenly was intercepted by a force that pushed it to the side, causing it to narrowly miss striking Nadran. It collided with the ground at a high speed, the shockwave from the strike launching Nadran through the air. He hit the ground hard before rolling to a stop on his side.


    Rethara spun her sword around before returning it to her spatial ring. "Wow, very impressive," she commented, impressed that he was able to divert her final attack. She began to walk over toward Nadran. "Thanks for giving me such a fun fight. I haven''t had a fight that exciting in¡­" [¡­Wait, how long has it been? This is the most exciting fight my current body has ever been in, but from my consciousness''s perspective, I had an even more intense fight six days ago¡­ or decades in the future, depending on your perspective¡­] "¡­Ever? Six days? Well, something like that."


    Then, a thought slipped through her endorphin-filled brain, and the full implications of what just happened hit her. [Oh my god, I almost just killed Nadran. If he hadn''t managed to divert my attack at the last second, that could have cleaved him in two.]


    Before panic could set in, Rethara hastily channeled a calming art, causing her expression to return to neutral. "Sorry, I went a bit overboard, didn''t I? Here, take this," she said, kneeling down and handing Nadran a healing pill she had retrieved from her spatial ring.


    Ignoring his incredulous look, she continued. "I really need to work on my¡­ overexcitement during battle," Rethara calmly stated. [Especially if it leads to this kind of outcome¡­ he looks pretty beat up. Maybe I can carry him back to his room?] "I did not originally intend to continue to this extent. Do you want me to help you back to your room so you can rest?"


    Nadran hesitated, clearly wary of her, but soon nodded. Rethara walked over and picked him up off the ground. [Wow, this brings back memories¡­] Rethara thought nostalgically as she adjusted his weight on her back. "So, where is your room?" Rethara asked, realizing she did not know where to bring him.


    "A-314," Nadran responded in a weak tone.


    This unexpected piece of information disrupted Rethara''s thoughts, causing surprise to faintly display on her face. "You''re an alchemist?" she asked, taken aback.


    Nadran nodded in affirmation, causing Rethara to pause and think. [Since when was Nadran an alchemist? In all the years I knew him, he never showed the slightest hint of knowing about alchemy, but now he''s entered the academy by the merit of his alchemy abilities. What''s going on? Well, regardless, him knowing alchemy can only be a good thing.]


    "Alright then," she finally said with a smile before heading toward the alchemy dorms. Her face quickly returned to neutral, but her thoughts did not. [He was able to divert my final attack to the side with a hastily drawn sigil. What was it?] She attempted to remember the appearance of the sigil, but a sudden, piercing pain erupted in her head. Rethara stopped in place, grimacing and clutching her head with her free hand, prompting a questioning look from Nadran.


    Rethara took a deep breath before letting go of her head and continuing onward, ignoring Nadran''s questioning look. [That was the same type of pain that caused me to lose control of my attack at the end of the fight. That pain can be really dangerous; I need to be careful. It almost seems like some sort of mental attack, but who could launch such a mental attack in this academy? Even the principal doesn''t have the ability to do that.]


    Rethara looked around suspiciously, but did not notice anyone suspicious in the vicinity. Inwardly shrugging, Rethara brought Nadran back to his room before placing him on his bed.


    After setting him down, Rethara began pondering once more. [¡­Now what? I feel like directly telling him we become friends in the future wouldn''t be the best choice, but I certainly don''t want to just leave and let us go our separate ways after we were finally reunited¡­ What to do¡­]


    Unsure what she wanted to do, Rethara silently stood near the foot of the bed as Nadran rested, slowly recovering from his injuries as the day came to an end.

 26 Chapter 26: A New Sigil

    Nadran groggily opened his eyes as rays of morning light streamed across his face. Squinting, Nadran stretched his limbs, then sat up¡­ and froze.


    He looked across the room toward his chair, blinked, rubbed his eyes, then confirmed there was indeed a girl sitting in the chair. After some of the remnant haze of sleep was cleared from his mind, Nadran finally managed to recall who this girl was, and why she was there.


    [Actually, wait, why is she still here? I appreciate her helping me to my room, but did she actually just stay here after I fell asleep? Leaving aside for now the fact that a virtual stranger spent the night sitting in my room while I slept (which I probably shouldn''t), doesn''t she have anything better to do?]


    Nadran had been injured and exhausted upon being brought back to his room, so he had quickly fallen asleep upon reaching his bed, but now that he was awake again, he learned that Rethara had never actually left. This revelation was perplexing, to say the least.


    "''Morning," Rethara said casually, glancing up at him as he sat up.


    "Good morni- wait, no, why are you still here?"


    Rethara paused, looking confused, then began to speak. "Why ca¡­" She quickly trailed off, however. Rather than finish her thought, she instead gave him a slight smile and said, "It''s a secret."


    Seeing that he wasn''t going to get a straight answer out of her, Nadran sighed before climbing out of bed. He began getting ready for the day ahead, trying his best to ignore the uninvited guest.


    Not long after, he left his room, walking out into the morning sunlight. Rethara followed a distance behind him, looking about randomly and pretending she wasn''t blatantly following him. [Have I¡­ gained a stalker?] Nadran thought as he glanced at Rethara out of the corner of his eyes. She was now humming an upbeat tune as she walked down the street, which formed a strange contrast from her seemingly calm and emotionless exterior. [Why does that melody sound familiar¡­]


    Nadran cleared his thoughts as he arrived at his destination: the sigil hall. Despite the impressive repertoire of sigils he had accrued over the years of sneaking into lectures, he felt that none of the sigils he had learned were perfectly compatible with his fighting style. They would function well as auxiliary sigils that aided his overall combat prowess, but for core combat sigils, he was currently only relying on the wyvern claws sigil to fight. He felt that he needed another primary sigil to complement the abilities of his claws, preferably shoring up any weaknesses that they have. Since he had a substantial amount of contribution points from the survival challenge room and the alchemy request he had completed, he figured that he could spend some of them on a new sigil.


    Nadran walked into the building, which was much emptier than the last time he was there, and began browsing through the sigils. After spending some time looking around, though, he began to get frustrated. There seemed to be nothing wrong with the sigils he was looking at, but just like the sigils he had previously ''acquired,'' they didn''t feel right. It was a strange feeling that he couldn''t describe, but whenever he imagined using the sigils as a core part of his battle strength, it seemed¡­ wrong. The feeling was as though he was watching someone else using the techniques rather than himself, and this disconcerting feeling was stopping him from actually choosing a sigil.


    "So, you''re looking for a sigil?" a calm voice spoke out from behind him, causing him to jump in surprise, spinning around to face the speaker. Nadran had gotten so immersed in examining the sigils that he had forgotten Rethara was following him.


    "No, I just felt like staring at sigil descriptions for half an hour," Nadran responded sarcastically. [You ask a silly question, you get a silly answer.]


    Rethara rolled her eyes at his response, then began speaking again. "I might have some sigils you''d be interested in. You want to see them?"


    [When did Rethara turn into a shady shopkeeper?] Nadran questioned in his head upon seeing her strange behavior. "What, are you saying that you have a better selection than the sigil hall?" Nadran asked in exasperation.


    "Yep," Rethara replied without missing a beat, causing Nadran to stumble on his way to the next sigil pedestal.


    Nadran turned around, looked straight into her eyes, and said in a monotone, "You''re saying that you, by yourself, have a better assortment of sigils than the entire sigil hall of a major cultivation academy?"


    "Mhm," Rethara nodded in agreement. "Let''s go back to your room so I can show them to you."


    "Wait, your sigils are in MY room? How did they even get there?" Nadran asked, feeling like his head was spinning. He had so many questions, but he felt like he would go insane if he asked them all. [Someone who was a stranger before yesterday stayed in my room overnight, followed me around, and claims to have some incredible sigils that she is willing to show me for some reason¡­ and the sigil manuals are in my room?!]


    "No, the sigils aren''t in your room, they''re in here," Rethara responded calmly, tapping her forehead with her finger. "I just don''t want to be showing them off in public."


    [But you''re willing to show them to me?] "Whatever, let''s go," Nadran sighed, feeling the start of a headache forming. [Is this all some kind of weird fever dream? Well, under the assumption this IS real, I don''t see the harm. She''s stronger than me, and if she had some ulterior motive, she probably wouldn''t use such a strange and complicated method to achieve it. Why would she wait until I''m recovered rather than forcing me to do something when I was injured and unable to fight back? She is probably being sincere, and I''m overthinking it because of how odd this situation is.]


    Having finally convinced himself to go along with Rethara''s suggestion, he began walking back toward his room.


    A short while later, Nadran was back at his room, looking at Rethara with a skeptical expression on his face. "Alright, now what?"


    "Hm, let''s see," Rethara began. "What type of sigil are you looking for, exactly?"


    Nadran began explaining the specifics of what he was looking for. "Oh yeah," he added after describing his ideal sigil for a moment. "Maybe something with some sort of¡­ dragon-type attribute would help, to complement my cultivation technique and claws."


    Rethara''s eyes shone unexpectedly upon hearing this last part, and she remarked "Dragon, huh?" She smiled, and a look of contemplation crossed her face.


    "¡­Yes?" Nadran responded, confused. [Why did she only focus on that?]


    After a brief moment of silence, Rethara nodded and said "Alright, I think I have a good sigil that meets your requirements. Let me show you its layout."


    "Wait," Nadran spoke up uncertainly. "Are you really just¡­ giving it to me?"


    "Yeah, I am." She responded. "Do you not want it?"


    "It''s not that I don''t want it. It''s just that¡­" [Didn''t we just meet for the first time yesterday? Unless¡­] "¡­Have we¡­ met before? Before yesterday, I mean."


    Rethara''s eyes widened upon hearing this, and he saw her eyes fill with pain and sadness before she smiled self-deprecatingly and responded, "No. Yesterday was the first time you ever met me."


    Nadran was confused upon seeing such strong emotions flashing across Rethara''s normally calm face, but he tried to ignore it and continued on. "Then¡­ are you hoping to get something from me in return? I can''t imagine you would give something valuable to a virtual stranger for free."


    Rethara looked surprised, then responded with a faint smile, "Well, there are a couple things I was hoping you could help with in the future. If you want, you could think of it as a sort of repayment for the sigil. Of course, it''s up to you to decide what you want to do. It''s not like giving you this sigil costs me anything, in the first place."


    [A favor, then? Well, she basically said I can turn down any requests that seem excessive, so I guess it''s fine.] "Sure, that can work, but I reserve the right to refuse anything I think is overboard."


    "Alright," Rethara responded. "This is a sigil that is centered around mobility. It is called the wyvern wings sigil, and I believe it is part of a set alongside the wyvern claw sigil you use. While it is called wyvern wings, it does not actually allow you to fly. Its applications are more limited to gliding and enhancing your jumping ability, but it is still very useful¡­ well, as long as you can use it properly."


    Nadran nodded seriously, then began tracing the sigil in the air, looking back to the example Rethara had made for reference. After about twenty seconds, he completed the sigil, causing a pair of translucent purple wings to form behind his back. They felt real, like they were a part of his body, and he could even feel the cool breeze blowing against them.


    "This is a sigil that most people are unable to properly utilize. It basically requires learning to control a new set of limbs in tandem, and it can take years to learn to move them as well as your arms and legs, so it usually isn''t worth the time investment. For you, however¡­" Rethara trailed off with a mysterious smile.


    Nadran, however, was too focused on his new wings, and didn''t catch what Rethara said. The wings felt familiar, like he had always had them, and he quickly flapped them, causing the surrounding air to get blown around. He leaped up into the air, then fully extended his wings before slowly drifting back down to the ground. The sensation of near weightlessness was exhilarating for him, and he couldn''t help but smile as he touched down once again. While it wasn''t true flight, it was still something exciting and fun to experience, and it almost made Nadran feel like he was a kid again.


    He resisted the urge to mess around with the wings more and turned back to Rethara. "Thanks, this seems great. This should help me deal with the range disadvantage of my claws."


    "I''m glad you like it," Rethara responded lightly. "Oh yeah, have you ever considered using any other weapons, aside from your claws?" Rethara leaned forward and spoke with a slight smile. "For example¡­ a chain scythe?"


    "That¡­ is a very specific example," Nadran commented, giving Rethara a strange look. "Well, I''m still not completely decided on what weapons I''ll use in the future. I honestly only started using the wyvern claws because it synergizes with my cultivation manual. As for a chain scythe specifically¡­ I don''t know, I''ve never even seen one in person before. Maybe it could be a good weapon for me, but I''d have to try it out first."


    "Interesting," Rethara replied calmly. "Well, unfortunately, I have some things that I need to do, so I''m going to head out for now. I''ll see you later."


    And with that, she left, leaving behind a speechless Nadran. [I really cannot understand her thought process,] he complained in his mind with a sigh. After a short period, however, Nadran managed to get his thoughts back in order and continued training his new wings.


    Nadran activated his wyvern claws alongside his wyvern wings, then began leaping into the air before plummeting down to the ground while swiping the air with his claws. After spending hours familiarizing himself with the things his wings allowed him to do, he finally stopped, wiping the sweat off his forehead and taking a long sip of water to cool his throat.


    After his training session, he spent some time cultivating, trying to advance toward the mid slate sigil realm. While he did not reach it in the hours he spent on the task, he still felt that he had made significant progress, and his internal energy pool was notably larger than before.


    [I spent the last 21 years of my life unable to even reach the low slate sigil realm, but now I''ve made such incredible progress in just a few days. Having a good, compatible cultivation manual really does make a world of difference.]


    Suddenly, Nadran felt his stomach growling, and he realized that the sun was already beginning to set. He hadn''t eaten for the whole day, and had instead spent hours training. He quickly got up and began heading toward the dining hall, quietly humming a tune despite the fact that he couldn''t quite remember where he''d heard it before.

 27 Chapter 27: Déjà vu

    Nadran walked into the dining hall and looked at the menu. He had just grabbed a 10-point meal the previous time, but there was a large range of prices for the food. There was food that was free, and also food that costed thousands of contribution points for a single meal. He wanted the nourishing effects of the more expensive foods, but also didn''t want to waste all his points on a single meal. After hesitating for a moment, he decided to spend 50 points on his meal.


    He found an empty table to sit at with his azure hawk stew and began eating. The taste was even better than the meal he had last time, and he was thoroughly enjoying his meal. After a few minutes, though, a pair of figures approached, and Nadran experienced a sudden bout of d¨¦j¨¤ vu.


    "Hey Nadran, mind if we join you?" Firen asked happily. Nadran, suppressing a sigh, shrugged, indicating his ambivalence on the matter. Firen, of course, took this as a yes, and sat down across the table from him. Icina followed suit, sitting down next to her brother.


    "So, what''s your favorite animal today?" Firen asked, puzzling Nadran and drawing a glare from Icina. "What?" he asked innocently as he noticed her angry gaze.


    Icina turned toward Nadran and began speaking in a solemn tone. "We came here to apologize for what happened a few days ago. We didn''t mean to upset you with what we said, and we wanted to let you know that it wasn''t on purpose. RIGHT?" She turned to Firen as she emphasized the last word, glaring daggers at him.


    "Oh yeah, sorry about that," Firen said sheepishly. "I didn''t realize that it wasn''t good to talk to you about-OW!" He turned to look at his sister with an aggrieved expression.


    "You have no idea how close I am to punching you in the face right now," Icina growled through gritted teeth.


    "Well, you already stomped on my¡­ uh, my bad," Firen said, changing track as Icina began raising her fist threateningly.


    Icina took a deep breath, then turned back to Nadran and continued talking. "I also wish to apologize for how insensitive my brother is."


    Nadran gave an awkward smile at the siblings'' antics, then responded. "It''s fine, I knew you didn''t mean anything by it. It just¡­ reminded me of a memory I would rather forget." [And I person I wish I''d never met.]


    Firen trembled and looked down at the table. "A memory I would rather forget¡­" he mumbled to himself, seemingly downcast. Icina quickly reached out and shook his shoulder, snapping him out of his daze. Despite this, he did not speak up again, and the table descended into an awkward silence.


    The meal continued this way for another twenty minutes, and the only notable sound they produced was the scraping of their utensils against their plates and bowls. As Nadran finished eating, he picked up his bowl and stood up. "Well, I appreciate that you were worried about upsetting me. I suppose I should apologize as well for accidentally making you upset," Nadran said seriously.


    "Nah, don''t worry about it, I''m fine," Firen responded with a large smile. Despite this, however, Nadran got the feeling that Firen''s smile didn''t portray his true feelings.


    ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- -----


    By the time Nadran was heading back to his room, darkness was already beginning to cover the land, shadows morphing into a dark blanket that would cover the land until the sun rose once more. Nadran walked absentmindedly down the now-empty road, thinking about all of the events that had transpired that day. [I''m still not sure what to think about Rethara, but she seems to have good intentions. At the very least, her gifting me the wyvern wings sigil was very helpful, even if she expects me to help her out later. Oh yeah, and Firen and Icina seem to be pretty nice people. I mean, Firen can get pretty annoying at times, but they went out of their way to apologize for something that wasn''t really even their fault. It''s rare to see people who will do that.]


    Suddenly, Nadran heard a whistling sound approaching from behind, and instinctively dove into a roll, turning around once he had gotten back onto his feet. What he saw was Selek standing where Nadran had just been, his sword sweeping through the air. Nadran was caught off guard by this surprise attack, but thankfully he had managed to dodge at the last second, or he might have already been dead.


    [Despite the fact that he used a surprise attack, I''m still surprised he managed to make such a threatening attack. In our arena match, he didn''t show nearly that much speed and ability.]


    Nadran began casting his wyvern claws sigil, but had to quickly dodge out of the way as another attack came flying in. Nadran tried to continue the sigil, but Selek released a flurry of attacks, preventing Nadran from concentrating. Selek''s attacks weren''t precise or efficient, but rather resembled a wild animal continuously leaping toward its prey.


    [This is bad, I can''t summon my weapon like this. I need to find something I can use as a substitute,] Nadran thought grimly. Thankfully, they were near the edge of the arena, and Nadran quickly ran over and picked up a training weapon to defend himself with. Holding a light metal staff in his hands, Nadran faced the oncoming attack, waiting for an opportunity to counter.


    Unfortunately, Nadran misjudged the strength with which the attacks were coming. With a single strike, Selek launched Nadran into the air, causing him to land heavily on the ground next to the training weapons. Wincing in pain, Nadran staggered to his feet and grabbed a throwing knife out of the weapon stand. Clenching his teeth, Nadran threw it with all of his might.


    Miraculously, the knife struck Selek in the shoulder despite Nadran''s lack in proficiency in using throwing knives. Selek did not even flinch in response, however. Instead, he continued running toward Nadran with a blank expression on his face. His movement worsened the injury, causing blood to seep out around the edges of the blade, but Selek continued to move as though he felt no pain.


    Nadran hurriedly began casting the wyvern wings sigil before Selek reached him. [Fighting him up close seems to be a recipe for disaster. My best shot should be to get some distance between us.]


    Nadran just barely managed to cast the sigil in time, and immediately jumped into the air, beating his wings to increase the height of his jump. He then outstretched his wings fully, dramatically slowing his descent and allowing him to stay out of Selek''s reach for a short period of time. Nadran quickly tried to think of a long range attacking sigil, then began casting the Icy Spear sigil. A lance of ice condensed from the water in the air, and Nadran immediately launched it toward Selek the second it was done.


    The spear flew straight toward Selek, who made no motion to block or dodge it. It struck him directly in the chest, piercing through his heart. Nadran let out a sigh of relief at this sight. [What happened to Selek, though? He was a complete novice at fighting a couple days ago, and now he suddenly tried to kill me with far more speed and strength than he had before. At least-]


    Halfway through his thought, Nadran''s eyes widened as he saw Selek leap toward him, spear still protruding from his chest. Nadran had almost reached the ground at this point, and he wasn''t able to do anything to defend other than wrap his translucent wings around himself in a protective cocoon.


    Selek smashed into Nadran, sending him flying through the air once more. He crashed into the weapon stand, causing halberds, swords, shields, and other weapons to get flung in every direction. He hit the ground hard, and his damaged wings dissipated into nothing.


    His vision blurred and his body screamed out in pain, but he gritted his teeth and forced himself back to his feet. If it hadn''t been for Nadran''s experiences repeatedly getting beaten up while manning his family''s herb stall, he might not have been able to recover quickly enough. Although those experiences were horrible at the time, now they helped him stay alive, causing Nadran to feel a strange sense of gratefulness for having to endure those beatings. As he stood up, he picked up the nearest weapon, a scythe, and tried to get back into a fighting stance.


    His battered muscles screamed in protest at the movement, but Nadran stood firm. He didn''t have time to consider how Selek didn''t die when his heart was pierced or how Selek had grown so powerful. All he could do was wait for Selek to dash in and strike.


    Selek swung down at Nadran in an overhead attack, and Nadran inclined the snath (staff part) of the scythe to redirect the attack to the side. Selek struck the scythe, jarring Nadran''s arms and almost causing them to give out. Nevertheless, Nadran managed to absorb the blow, redirecting it down the snath and away from his body. This action caused the scythe to rotate as it took the hit, resulting in the blade coming to rest behind Selek''s head.


    With a grim expression, Nadran pulled backward with all of his might, separating Selek''s head from his body. Selek''s weapon fell out of his hands, and he fell down onto the ground, unmoving.


    Nadran stood still, breathing heavily, then dropped the bloody scythe to the ground. Exhaustion and pain swept over his body, and he collapsed to the ground, unable to move.


    "NADRAN!" a distraught voice called out, and Nadran managed to turn his head just enough to see a panicked Rethara running toward him. Then, everything went black.


    ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- -----


    For the second time in as many days, Nadran woke up to find Rethara in his room as he awoke. The scenes of the night before flashed through his mind, and he quickly sat up in his bed, only to find that he seemed totally uninjured. There was no pain at all when he moved, even the muscles in his back that took the brunt of the damage.


    As he moved around in confusion, Rethara began speaking. "How are you feeling?" she asked with a trace of concern in her voice.


    "I''m¡­ fine," Nadran replied in a voice tinged with uncertainty.


    "That''s a relief," Rethara responded. "You were pretty beat up when I got to you."


    "Yeah, about that¡­" Nadran replied. "How am I already healed? How long was I out?"


    "It''s just been one night since it happened," Rethara replied. "I gave you a healing pill to help you recover."


    [Wait, in order for a healing pill to have effects this drastic, it would likely need to be a tier 2 healing pill. That''s pretty far outside my current alchemy abilities, and they are pretty expensive to buy. How did she get one, and why did she give it to me?]


    Seeing the question in Nadran''s eyes, Rethara preempted his inquiry. "I won it in a bet with someone who had too much faith in their fighting abilities. I''ve gotten a bunch of similar stuff in that manner, so giving you one isn''t that big a deal for me."


    Nadran looked at her skeptically, but didn''t press the issue. "Well, uh, thanks for the healing pill."


    "No problem," Rethara calmly replied. "Oh yeah, what was going on with your opponent? That clearly wasn''t a normal fight."


    Nadran explained the events that transpired, causing Rethara''s face to darken into a solemn and uncertain expression. "It can''t be¡­" Rethara murmured in a troubled voice that Nadran could barely hear. "Why would she be here?"


    "Huh?" Nadran asked inquisitively.


    Rethara''s thoughts returned to the present upon hearing Nadran. "Oh, it''s nothing. You should be careful though. He might not be the only one like that, and enemies that don''t die or feel pain are very problematic to fight."


    "Don''t die?" Nadran asked, concerned.


    "Yeah, because, at least if my thoughts are correct, he was already dead before he attacked you. That''s why impaling his heart didn''t do anything. He was probably being controlled by something on his head, which caused him to stop moving when you separated it from his body."


    Nadran''s eyes slightly widened at this revelation. He''d read fantastic stories about the so-called ''undead,'' but he didn''t think they were real. He had never even heard of a real sigil that could return the dead to life, but it seemed that, if Rethara was telling the truth, there was indeed some way to accomplish it.


    "That seems¡­ problematic," Nadran commented dryly.


    They talked for a bit longer before Rethara left to attend to some other matters. Nadran got ready for the day ahead, then left to grab some food from the dining hall.


    On his way, however, Nadran heard a conversation that stopped him dead in his tracks.


    "Hey, did you hear about Kalio getting injured a few days ago?" a young man in noble''s clothing spoke to his friend.


    "Yeah, didn''t he get beat up in his own house or something? Haha, I''ve never liked that guy. He was so arrogant despite the fact that he''s super weak. Without his family''s backing, he would have never been able to pose like that without getting killed by some random cultivator he offended. Kudos to whoever did that."


    "I know, right? But I just heard that he''s finally recovered and is out of his house. He looks so mad, you should see the look on his face. He''s been walking around the city the entire day."


    "Wait, can he not even find the guy who beat him up? That''s hilarious! Actually, on second thought, if he really is going after that guy, that''d be insane. That would just be asking to get beat up again."


    Nadran suddenly felt a sinking feeling in his stomach as a thought crossed his mind. He immediately broke out into a sprint, rushing out of the academy as fast as his legs could carry him.

 28 Endless Troubles

    The rising sun was obscured by heavy clouds as rain descended upon the city. Despite this, the city was as busy and bustling as ever. Merchants hawked their wares, and some people walked from place to place without a care in the world. Those who were better off walked casually, surrounded by protective barriers that kept the rain at bay, while the commoners made do with small umbrellas that shielded them from the falling water. The city continued life as usual, unwilling to let a little bit of rain stop their plans.


    Sania was in a good mood, and a smile adorned her face. After all, her father had almost completely recovered, and her brother had been admitted to a prestigious Academy in order to learn more about sigils and alchemy.


    A peal of thunder streaked across the sky, but Sania was unconcerned as she sat safely in her home. As she looked toward the door, however, she noticed the silhouette of a menacing figure standing within the doorway. Frowning, she asked, "Who are you?"


    Standing within the doorway was a young man wearing elaborate clothing, his face drawn into a scowl. "Who am I?" he asked, anger clear in his voice. "I am someone who should not be offended."


    Hearing the commotion, Sania''s parents rushed in from their room, stepping up to stand beside her as Kalio looked menacingly toward them. Kalio''s emotions were overflowing, and he needed to vent all of the anger within his heart. He was not about to finish this without giving voice to his grievances. Besides, he wanted them to know that this was all brought about by someone in their own family. He felt that just killing them was too good for them. He needed to make sure they suffered both physically and psychologically first.


    "You peasants are all only here for my enjoyment. You are weak in both power and status, and I am above you. It is impermissible for you to raise your hand against me. And yet, that purple-eyes¡­ he dared to strike me. This is a crime worthy of death. However, that coward ran to hide in the academy, which he thinks will keep him safe. But, even if it does keep him safe, that''s only as long as he stays within the academy walls. It should be easy enough to draw him out, though." Kalio''s expression turned into a wicked and sadistic grin as continued. "I wonder what expression he will have on his face when he realizes what happened to his precious family¡­"


    With that, he began tracing a Sigil in the air, causing a spear made out of earth and rock to form. Sania''s eyes widened as she realized what was happening, and she and her parents quickly ran for cover. They pushed over their cable to act as a shield against the incoming Earthen Spears. The wooden table did block the attack, but also shattered into dozens of pieces, leaving them exposed.


    Kalio smirked victoriously, then began tracing the Earthen Spear sigil once more. Before he could finish, however, a translucent purple claw suddenly protruded from his chest. Body stiffening, Kalio turned his head to look over his shoulder in shock. There, he saw the person the person who had humiliated him, the person who had injured him so badly that it took him several days to recover, even with his family''s expensive medicine. He saw the person who had left him with a mental scar after he was bested by someone he viewed as useless. Kalio''s eyes showed resentment, unwillingness, and anger as he looked into Nadran''s eyes, before he ultimately collapsed to the ground, breathing his last.


    Nadran dismissed his wyvern Claws sigil, then looked toward his family, guilt showing on face. He smiled awkwardly, then said "I''m back."


    "Nadran!" Sania exclaimed, rushing toward him alongside their parents.


    "I''m glad you''re okay," Nadran''s mother said with a mixture of relief and worry.


    "Yeah," Sania chimed in. "Thanks for helping us deal with that guy. You really saved us."


    "This was my fault to begin with," Nadran responded guiltily. "If it wasn''t for me, he never would have attacked you in the first place."


    "Don''t blame yourself for this," his father said. "This is due to that guy attacking by himself, and you didn''t know he would do something so drastic."


    "But¡­ I should have," Nadran muttered. "I should have seen this coming, I should have predicted this might happen." Having come so close to losing his family, the only people left in this world he truly cared about, he found that he could not calm down, and that his hands would not stop trembling. [If I had been even 20 seconds later¡­]


    Nadran shivered, trying to get his mind off the subject. [I need to find a way to keep them safe, to prevent anything like this from ever happening again.] Taking a deep breath, Nadran gathered his thoughts before raising his eyes to look at his family. "I think staying here is dangerous," he said seriously. "I was thinking that maybe I could find a way for you to come with me to the academy. If we can stay there, you should be much safer than you are here."


    "Is that possible?" his mother asked cautiously. "I don''t know if they would allow family to stay at the academy long-term."


    "I don''t know either," Nadran replied. "But I need to at least try. I feel like this¡­ won''t be the end of it. Your safety is the most important right now."


    "What about your safety?" Sania rebuked. "You''re the one that guy really wanted to kill. You need to be careful, too."


    "Yeah, I know," Nadran replied. "I need to become strong enough to protect all of us. I can''t rely on others when it comes to your safety."


    "You still need to be sure not to overexert yourself, though," his father cautioned. "If you try to improve too fast, you might not only leave your foundation weak, but also get hurt from challenging something before you''re ready for it."


    Nadran managed to calm himself down upon hearing the concerns of his family. [That''s right,] he thought, [If I end up hurting myself, I won''t be able to protect anyone. I should never allow myself to forget why I want to grow stronger. I should not pursue power for the sake of power, or I may lose sight of what is most important.]


    "Don''t worry," Nadran smiled as he replied. "I''ll be careful. Now, let''s get going."


    ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- -----


    "So, you wish to allow your family to reside within the academy''s living quarters long-term due to safety concerns?" asked Falla Ritens, head of internal affairs at Mirror Dragon Academy.


    "Yes," Nadran replied, trying to hide his nervousness in front of the strict-looking woman. "Is it possible to do so?"


    Falla placed down the ledger she had been writing on, then reached into her desk for something. "Short-term residency is not a problem at this time. If they wish to stay for longer than a week, however, then you must meet certain criteria," she stated, speaking quickly while she traced a sigil in the air.


    "¡­And what might those criteria be?" Nadran asked cautiously.


    "You need to be deemed to have made contributions to the academy," she said, pulling out Nadran''s file. "Hm, it looks like you have already made some pills of adequate quality, so you have met the basic criteria for internal contributions. As long as you make some external contributions as well, they should be able to stay for 3 months without issue."


    "What type of external contribution do I need to make?" Nadran asked.


    "You must complete one major mission outside the academy. If you begin the mission, your family will be allowed to stay in the living quarters in your absence for up to one month. Once you return, this time will be extended to three months. You may increase this time later with further contributions. After all, if you wish for the help of the academy, you must help the academy in turn."


    "¡­Alright," Nadran nodded resolutely.


    "Based off your current sigil level, a group mission would be the best way for you to complete the mission safely and effectively," she continued to speak, never seeming to stop to take a breath. Pulling out a stack of papers, she flipped through them before pulling one out. "I would recommend this one. Seven hours ago, an unusual atmospheric disturbance was detected in the nearby kingdom of Asden. Some concerns have been raised as to its source, and a request has been made to investigate its cause. This is an information gathering mission; once you have discovered the source, return immediately, preferably with proof of your claim. Does this sound acceptable?"


    Nadran blinked at the high-speed word barrage, then slowly nodded. "That should be fine."


    "Alright, the group will be departing at 10:00 tomorrow morning. Be sure to be at the front gates by then," she said, putting the file and mission papers back in her desk, tracing a sealing sigil to lock it, then picking up the ledger she had been working on before. Nadran left the room at this clear dismissal, before walking over to his family to explain the situation.


    ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- -----


    Nadran walked toward the academy gates, wind rustling through his hair. Squinting due to the sun, he used one hand to shield his eyes from the unforgiving rays while the other slowly traced a sigil in the air. After he finished, a series of violet numbers materialized before him, reading out 9:57 AM. He glanced at the numbers before swiping his hand through them, dismissing the sigil. With his casting speed, he always found it inconvenient to check the time, but at least he was able to find it out without searching for a clocktower. After all, most people in this world could not cast sigils at all. Of course, he had heard that most nobles and wealthy people had personal timekeeping devices called watches that they used to tell time, but Nadran''s family did not have enough money to afford such luxuries.


    After a couple minutes, Nadran reached the gates and looked at the small group of people that were standing there. His eyes quickly widened as he realized he recognized almost all of them.


    "Hey, how are you doing?" Firen asked as he walked over to him, Icina in tow. "Surprised to see us?"


    "Uh, yeah, a bit," Nadran responded disconcertedly.


    "Well, you see, when we heard you were going on a mission to Asden, we thought it would be fun if we tagged along," Firen said, smiling.


    "You mean YOU thought it would be fun, then dragged me along with you," grumbled Icina, though she did not actually seem to be too upset.


    Next, Nadran glanced over at Rethara, who did not say anything, but he was able to intuit her reasoning with from her expression. After he had been attacked in such a strange manner by Selek a couple nights ago, she likely wanted to make sure nothing happened to him on this expedition.


    He then turned to Lilia. "And what about you?"


    "I have family in Asden," she responded. "It''s been a while since I''ve seen them, so I figured this was a nice excuse to go say hi. Besides, my brother still owes me 300 slate pieces from a bet."


    [I feel like she has a bit of a gambling problem,] Nadran thought. [Is she even capable of interacting with people without turning it into a bet?]


    Shaking his head, Nadran glanced over at the last person he knew, Noctis, who appeared to be peacefully sleeping on the hard ground. Seeming to sense his gaze, Noctis half-opened one eye before stating "Serrated aurafern, one of the main ingredients in the enlightened rest pill, is predominantly found in the Avaren forest in Asden." After stating this in a matter-of-fact tone, he promptly closed his eyes again, clearly judging this to be sufficient explanation.


    The one remaining person standing nearby spoke up next. "It seems like you know almost everyone else here, what a coincidence! My name is Torif, nice to meet you. Now, we should just be waiting for five more people, then we will be ready to go."


    At this moment, Nadran heard a voice sound out from behind him. "Well, fancy meeting you here," spoke a familiar voice. Suppressing his sudden sense of dread, Nadran turned to see Tyval Evegart walking toward him, a smile on his face. Walking alongside him were four other cultivators. "What a coincidence that we happened to have the same mission."


    Nadran looked coldly at Tyval, all too clear on what this meant. [I killed his brother yesterday, and I''m taking on this mission specifically to keep my family safe from him and anyone else who might seek revenge. This mission¡­ just got a lot more complicated.]