Kai returned to the academy after nearly five hours of continuous travel, his body aching yet his spirit calm.
The weight of combat and exertion had taken its toll on his body, but he had stabalized both of his cores during the journey due to his Rank up. The strange yet euphoric sensation of absorption of death essence was still lingering faintly beneath his skin, like the slow ripple of dark waters under a moonless sky.
Without stopping by his dorm or washing off the scent of dried blood that clung to his academic robe, Kai went straight to the Task Zone.
The reception hall of Task Zone buzzed faintly with apprentice's chatter, but his presence quickly silenced the noise as he stepped toward the counter.
Behind the counter was a pale girl with short hazel coloured hair. Her eyes widened when Kai dropped a heavy sack before her with a dull thud. Her nose twitched with smell of blood reeking from him.
With shaking hands, she opened the sack, revealing thirty thick, jagged orc collar bones, each tagged with their faint residual mana.
She blinked rapidly. "T-thirty? In two days?"
Her gaze darted between the bag and Kai's calm expression. He didn't look haggard or injured just... was cold and silent.
"You're just a Rank 1 Magus," she whispered under her breath, suspicion threading through her words.
Kai met her gaze. "Check their authenticity."
Her lips parted slightly, but she nodded and tapped a crystal tablet, infusing it with a hint of her mana. Light washed over the bones, each flashing briefly as the verification spell confirmed their source and authenticity. They were genuine freshly harvested and rich with wild and unstable mana.
A few onlookers also gasped looking at this scene.
The girl swallowed hard. "T-The academy will pay directly. Orc collar bones are valuable… for magical experimentation."
Kai's expression didn't change, but he was pleased.
Moments later, a small leather pouch was pushed across the counter six hundred gold coins, heavy and satisfying. The village couldn't afford to pay, but the academy could. These orc bones were very precious in necromany magic, and their price was also very high.
He accepted the reward silently and turned to leave, his coins in pouch were clinking softly with every step of his.
He returned to his dorm and shutted the door.
"Sigh." he exhaled. He would have liked to stay in the village for some more days to practice his new rank.
"It is what it is." Kai whisperered.
With this money, he could finally begin learning dark elemental magic.
He counted his total just over seven hundred gold with the one hundred gold from Issac.
A hundred from them would go into the dark elemental class and its foundational books.
Five hundred was earmarked for Rank 3 fire elemental books and some supplemental texts on ritual, monsters and exotic races.
He was very informative about the world due to his time in the Drakkor clan, but even their archives paled in comparison to what the academy possessed.
That left a hundred gold coins which were for emergencies he had no intention of using them.
The academy was a dangerous place, and gold bought more than just books. It bought silence, loyalty and even death.
As he sat at the edge of his bed, lost in thought and then a knock came at the door soft and hesitant.
His eyes sharpened. He flared his Qi, sweeping the hallway.
Only one presence.
It was a girl.
His eyes narrowed.
"Who is it?" he asked coolly.
There was a slight pause. Then a familiar voice came in.
"Um… It's me."
Kai stood up slowly. "Jonna."
'Why is she here?' he thought.
He spread his Qi further, hunting for hidden threads, cloaked auras anything. But the corridor was clear.
He moved to the door and opened it.
Standing there was Jonna Velran.
Her pink hair cascading down her shoulders her soft pink eyes flickering with something unreadable.
She smiled nervously. "I… found something."
Kai's brow furrowed. "A lead?"
She nodded. "Y-Yes. And big one at that." she said stroking both of her hands anxiously.
"Come in," he said. "and tell me everything."
Jonna stepped inside, sitting herself delicately on the edge of his bed. She looked around the dim room, eyes lingering for a moment on the unwashed bloodstains near the window.
Kai shut the door and leaned against the wall. "Speak."
She looked up at him. "Are you… from the Drakkor clan?"
He nodded there was no need to hide it anymore she should have already suspected it by now.
Her smile changed. It was subtle but something beneath the surface twisted.
The fake mosk on her face cracked.
"Oh," she said softly. "So that's why you were searching for them."
His hair stoop spiked with an instinctual warning.
Before he could react, Jonna's expression twisted further. "They were massacred… by a clan under…"
Then he felt it.
A presence which was silent and fast entering his Qi coverage.
Someone was coming and at very fast speed.
His instincts roared.
In a single motion, he leapt toward Jonna, his right hand outstretched to grab her throat.
She gasped, stunned.
But before his fingers could close around her neck, a blur of motion split the air behind him.
A crushing force slammed into his chest.
The world spun violently. His body soared backward like a ragged doll, crashing into the stone wall behind him with a sickening crunch. A hot wave of pain exploded through his ribs.
Blood erupted from his mouth.
He hit the ground slumped, wheezing, and limbs twitching.
Almost all of his ribs were shattered.
Lungs were punctured.
Eyes were bloodshot.
Even as a Rank 2 Warlock, the impact was devastating. His body had absorbed a fraction of the blow through sheer instinct and Qi reinforcement, but it wasn't enough.
"My lady."
He heared a feminine voice.
'A female cultivator at least Rank 3.' he thought.
He opened his blooded eyes.
From the corner of his bleeding vision, he saw her.
Short blue hair. Ice-blue eyes.
She wore a pink cultivator robe with cherry blossoms embroidered across the sleeves. Which did not suit her coldness.
Jonna stood slowly, brushing nonexistent dust from her clothes.
Her eyes gleaming with pride.
"Good job," she said, smiling.
Kai coughed up some blood and tried to stand, but his limbs refused to obey.
Jonna walked toward him, her boots leaving crimson prints on the floor.
"You dared disrespect me," she hissed in anger.
"Me Jonna Velran, future hier of the Great Velran Family."
She stopped in front of him. "Sylvi."
Sylvi stepped forward and handed her something thin, silver, which gave metallic luster.
It was a rod.
Jonna lifted it, admiring its weight.
Then brought it down with speed across Kai's chest.
Crack.
Pain screamed through his body. The blood fled out of his lungs.
Another strike. Then another.
His crimson blood splattered all across the room.
"You imp," she spat. "You worthless insect."
"You have no family."
Crack
"You ahve no honor."
Crack.
"You dared to mess with me."
Crack
CRACK
CRACK!!!!!!
Each strike echoed like a war drum, punctuated by Jonna's venomous curses.
Kai's eyes fluttered his vision blurring.
He clenched his teeth, forcing himself to remain conscious.