《The Perfect Specimen》


 Awakened

    The skies are constantly in a state of darkened grey, even at the brightest point of the day it only gets a few shades lighter. Discolored thunderstorms litter the clouds from one end of the earth to the other. The air is perpetually filled with debris and yellow-green fog that could sometimes be so thick, one would fear drowning in it. The Landscape is a cold, desolate wasteland that once was full of vibrancy and life.


    Now however, most flora and fauna have been charred by the ravages of mankind''s conflicts, and the ones that remain have adapted into twisted sinister versions of themselves.


    The rumble of the thunder is a constant hum in the background noise of the world along with a endless sea of groaning from the species that has an overwhelming dominance over any other creature, the zombie.


    Dilapidated buildings and cities remain a constant backdrop through the world. If one were to look at them through a birds-eye view, it would appear as if nests upon nests of ants have taken up residence in these structures.


    Except looking closer would reveal that those are the once proud species of mankind stuck in an eternal struggle between life and death, they are zombies. Unfeeling creatures that have taken over ever since the world war that started over 200 years ago due to mankind''s greed.


    United States of America, Washington D.C., not to far from what used to be the Washington Monument is a row of twigs that were once beautiful cherry blossom trees. Next to each tree is a small empty vial with a cloth taped around the top, except one vial that has a pure white bright liquid in it.


    If one looked very closely they would be able to see a light trace of red swirling in spiral in the center of it. Underneath each of those vials is a mound of dirt with the width of 3 people.


    All of a sudden the vial with liquid begins wobbling and releases the liquid through the cloth cover transforming it into a fog which covers the dried up twig sticking out next to the mound, as it starts shaking as a hallucinatory image of a elegant and beautiful cherry blossom overtakes it, which then dissipates and absorbs into the mound.


    The soil over the mound then releases a deafening explosion as debris and dirt flies everywhere, it reveals a decimated corpse of a young boy who couldn''t have been more than 5 or 6 years old. Completely bald and naked, he is curled up in the fetal position.This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    The child seems to be sickly malnourished and heavily wounded, with chunks of his skin hanging off of his body. There is however, no blood pouring out of the protrusions on his body. Instead, it seems as if the wounds have rotted and closed with pus and dirt.


    -


    Laying perfectly still as a flash of light quickly runs through the top of his head to the bottom of his feet. His eyelids open to reveal a milky white film over his blue eyes. If one looked closely they could see a faint small red spiral deep in his pupil behind the film rotating very slowly.


    The red spiral in his eyes starts to speed up its rotation, faster and faster, drilling its'' way through the clotted blood vessels all throughout his body before making it to his heart. As the red spiral rotates in the heart it breaks off a smaller piece that travels to the stomach which seems to be rotating in rhythm with the main body in the heart.


    the young boy begins to groan from the pain the rotation seems to be causing him as if a suction force is gnawing at his very stomach. Due to the pain he has his very first thought.


    "HUNGRY!"


    This thought permeates his entire being as his body gets up on it''s own out of the shallow grave and starts listlessly walking forward. So encompassed by the driving force of hunger that he isn''t given any sufficient resources to think his own independent thoughts.


    Completely ignoring the fact that he is blind and unable to sense any feeling in any part of his body. He relies on the two senses that have been prevalent all the while, sound and smell.


    As he is meandering, he hears the soft rumble of a vehicle a mile away from him coming to a stop. With people speaking even though he is able to clearly hear what they are saying, he is unable to comprehend what they are saying, not that he would be in the state of mind to be able to try and figure out what they are saying anyway.


    Out of nowhere, a shocking burst of a rich savory aroma pierces his nostrils and causes him to groan softly in pleasure as he shuffles his way towards it as fast as he can. After bumping into objects and falling down numerous times due to the inability to see where he is going, he realizes that the more actions he takes, the more the hunger intensifies in pain.


    He instinctively decides to hold his arms stretched outwards away from his body to prevent obstacles from delaying him from his meal.


    He gets closer and closer all the while he hears the sounds of others making the same groan as he is due to the smell. He ran into one of the many of them that was kneeling down right next to the food. He knew that they are after his food, due to his small body he is unable to force his way through the horde of others feeding on his meal, and if he waits longer it will be all gone.


    The brink of insanity from the hunger pushing him forward, he grabs handfuls of whoever or whatever is in front of him and lifts his small body over top and dives straight into where the smell was coming from face first.


    Without bothering to savor the moment of the meal he immediately takes one gulp of the hot jelly like substance that was closest to his mouth and quickly swallows it, before being tossed away by the other creatures that were interrupted mid meal.


    As he lays there on the ground enjoying the feeling of the hunger fading away, the spiral in his heart and stomach begin to swirl again and the meal he worked so hard for vanished like a drop in the ocean inside his stomach. The hunger was slowly coming back almost immediately after the meal was absorbed, however this time it wasn''t as intense.


    A bright light flashed before him.


    The original darkness that he had grown accustomed to, due to blindness, abruptly vanished and was replaced by a scene of thunderclouds in the sky. Caught by surprise from the unexpected change, he turns his head towards where he had enjoyed his meal and was greeted by a scene that seems to have come straight from hell.

 Monster?

    Going back in time a bit to about twenty minutes ago.


    There are four people in a vehicle, three men and one woman. The two men up front are dressed in very grimy military style uniforms, while the man in the back is an older gentleman who wore a black coat with a bow-tie and wrinkled black dress pants.


    The woman in the back is the most eye-catching, wearing a navy blue sequin dress covered with mud with no shoes on, as if she just ran from a fancy party or a ball.


    They are all in a banged up Jeep that has no doors, no roof, and is painted with a mat Black color over-top the areas that clearly have rust. As they are driving around the downtown Washington area, the man in the passenger seat who would look like a normal large sturdy country bumpkin except for a horrible burn scar on his entire mouth and jaw line turns to the woman in the back seat, he smiles and begins speaking.


    "Hey Beth, I know that you say you need to find this old world medicine for your brothers wounds, but would it still be even any good? Why didn''t you just use the money used for this expedition to buy a nice bodyguard to watch over you? I know that there must be at least some ascended that would be strapped for cash."


    The two men in the front of the Jeep laugh out immediately. Leaving Beth and the man sitting next to her with a cold look in their eyes towards them.


    The man next to Beth grimaces as he speaks up on her behalf, "Sir, we all know that in the entire Utopia, to get an ascended who is not contracted with the military is like finding a needle in a haystack. So many are frauds and hucksters that would sooner slit your throat the moment that we get out of the front gate, than they would follow through with a mission involving the wilds. Yours'' is the most affordable service offered in the entire underground network with a somewhat decent reputation."


    The two men up front laugh heartily at the lukewarm praise given to them. Then the one driving who is very skinny, and has two protruding front teeth shooting from his mouth as if a rodents teeth, cocks his head back towards Beth while keeping his eyes on the road and shouts,


    "Beth, you trained your servant well! You said his name is Rodney? He definitely knows when he is in the presence of greatness! My brother and I are the Crispy Rats! We can handle any danger thrown at us. You are lucky to catch us while we are still starting out, causing us to lower the prices. However, you will be the first stepping stone to our greatness! How lucky are you!?"


    Beth and Rodney both roll their eyes and sit in silence. The only trade off to the very cheap price offered by this "Crispy Rats" was that you had to stroke their ego every chance you get, otherwise they wouldn''t even be able to muster up the courage to do more than household chores around the Utopia common grounds closest to the gates.


    They are not soldiers, only hoodlums who were there as a last minute choice for the man and woman''s emergency to go on a fools errand and find a untouched part of a building containing medication in the wilds.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    Beth says to Rodney in a hushed whisper, " Were they really the only choice we had? They don''t seem that reliable..." Rodney''s face flushed in embarrassment as he gives an excuse, "Every other company was out on actual missions. If not for the fact that your brother was attacked while we were at the Crotvich ball, I would have the time to look for a proper-".


    The Jeep begins to slow down to a stop as a tall building comes into view, the bucktoothed man turns around to look at Beth and Rodney, interrupting their conversation to say, "Here we are! Geo Wash Hospital! Still not sure what you expect to find though, this area has already been picked clean. Unless you are thinking of trying those locked doors in the basement."


    The rodent teethed man chuckles and says in an icy tone as his eyes grows cold," If so then you can leave us out of it! That place is rumored to have poisonous fog so thick that it can even corrode the lungs of ascended! We would need some real motivation to even think of going through the front door of this place."


    Beth becomes outraged and says, "That is not what we agreed on! You promised to-". The rodent teethed man interrupts and continues, " ''-to protect and escort you to your destination.'' I know what was promised. I didn''t state however to protect you after you arrived at your destination, only on the way there." He smiles as he looks at Beth and Rodney, "You wouldn''t want people to think that you can take advantage of the Crispy Rat now can you?"


    Rodney takes out a red bone knife the size of a human fist with silver casing on the sides that was in his pocket. "This is a knife carved from the tooth of a squirrel demon. If you can ensure Lady Beth''s safety throughout her excursion here, then this will belong to you Sir Clem."


    The rodent faced man known as Clem looks at the knife with such fervor as if he already sees it as his own possession. He immediately agrees knowing the value of such a weapon could set him for life. "I knew you had a good head on your shoulders Rodney!"


    Clem gets out of the car and helps down Beth and Rodney out of the Jeep as if he is a valet. He then turns to the scar faced man who has been silent this entire time and says, "Cleetus you moron! Get on down here and help me bring these nice folk to find some medicine!" To which he then whispers to himself softly, "finally we can get the money to start a real company like those celebrities in Utopia!"


    Cleetus gets down off of the Jeep and as if a massive weight was released, the body of the Jeep raises nearly a foot from it''s previous position. Just as Cleetus is about to open his mouth, he notices something wrong. Where is the sounds of zombies and monsters? Why is it so quiet? He turns to look at Clem and says as calmly as he can "Bro, I think we should leave, like right now."


    Clem gets upset at how his over-sensitive brother can not be swayed by the riches in front of them and sternly says, "Fine, if you don''t want to look inside because your not as committed to the company as I am, then just stand out front and guard our exit route! Just like the pros, someone always has to have a exit strategy!"


    He immediately charges inside the building without a second thought knowing that a major area such as a hospital has been scavenged and cleared innumerable times. Beth and Rodney follow soon after.


    Five minutes go by as Cleetus stands in front of the broken glass doors, the uncomfortable feeling growing more and more by the second. He would have left by now if not for his love for his older brother Clem. He tries to calm down and lights a cigarette. He inhales the soothing smoke that seems to momentarily relax frayed his nerves.


    Just as his nerves relax a creatures claws go straight through the mans neck silently and without any resistance. The cigarette flies in the air barely revealing the silhouette of something that looks like it could be human.


    With thin legs, medium waist, an overly bulky chest, a head with two massive horns on both sides, and two arms reaching all the way down to it''s feet with the thickness of tree trunks. In the hand of one of those arms is the head of Cleetus, as it is next to the creatures smiling half opened mouth. The light fades away from the area as a sickening crunch could be heard echoing softly before fading into silence. A moment later the thud of his headless corpse hitting the ground.


    The sounds of it''s heavy footsteps become lighter as it starts to fade away. It seems to have lost interest in the area, to which the reemergence of the growls and groans begin to deafen to surroundings. It was at this time a very tiny zombie began making it''s mad rush over to this body unaware of the horror that took place just minutes before.

 The Naked Boy!

    He sees a mass zombies crowding around on spot trampling over each other trying to get to the meal. Within seconds, the corpse that was once there, has now been picked clean. The zombies then begin attacking each other, trying to get to the fresh flesh that sits in each others stomachs.


    The small zombie sees the carnage happening in front of him and he sees a bundle of dead and fresh meat flying towards him, and falls with a splat on the ground just ten feet away from him. He notices a zombie with only an upper torso and one arm just five feet away from it flailing and struggling its way towards the meat pile. He moves towards it as fast as he can and gets one hand on the food at the same time as the upper torso zombie, the small zombie tries to pull at the food with all his might. However, within seconds it''s apparent that his small frame is unable to match up to an adult zombie even if is only half of a zombie.


    The pile of flesh being pulled more and more out of the little zombies hands, he makes one last ditch effort and gives up trying to pull the food away, as the food pile is now free of the little zombies hands, it hurriedly is being pulled towards the half zombies mouth. Just as it is about to be eaten, the little zombie dives mouth first into it. The half zombie sees this and now that the smaller zombie was closer to it, it could now deal with this nuisance once and for all by trying to grab the little zombies neck and flinging it aside. Just as it was about to though, another zombie was flung away from the main pile of the horde maiming each other, and landed on the back of half zombie, releasing it''s grip on the food pile.


    The little zombie, now free of the other zombies grip, with the food in his mouth, runs a few steps away and begins eating as fast as possible. Unaware of the rotating spiral in his body greedily absorbing all traces of his meal. Just as it finishes absorbing the meat this time, it comes to a complete stop, begins fading away as the spiral in his heart seems to speed up its rotation , pulsating steadily.


    This time a monumental evolution was taking place inside of the little zombie, in his head he unlocked a brand new ability, sentience. He is now overwhelmed by a constant wave of emotions and thoughts. "Where am I? Who am I? What is going on?" anxiety over the unknown, happiness at the feeling of the hunger vanishing, despair at the sudden feeling of loneliness. This is the little undead boys'' very first time experiencing being alive.Stolen story; please report.


    He still has the taste of flesh in his mouth, as he is completely ignorant of the world around him. Unsure of what is happening he hears voices coming from inside the hospital building and decides to maneuver around the zombie bloodbath and move towards the voices for a few reasons. One being curiosity, another because being out in the open and part of that zombie fighting made him fear for his well-being, and the final reason being he remembers that group of people coming together, and figured that they might have more food for him.


    Going back to when the group of 3 people first charged into the hospital for the medicine.


    "So how long do you think you will need to find this medicine?" Clem asks as he is looking out of the doorway into the hallway for any signs of trouble. "My brother may be high-strung, but he was right when he said something felt fishy here. We should just get what we came for and skidaddle as fast as possible!"


    While looking through the empty medicine cabinets, Beth turns to Clem and says, "I thought that we had the brave Crispy Mice! Show some backbone and help us find a bottle that says ''Antibiotic'' on it!"


    Clem slightly puffs up his chest while wearing an arrogant expression on his face, "That''s Crispy RATS, and we ain''t no cowards! Why, I''ll have you know that once, when me and my brother were in this fight with these other punks at school..." Clem continues to regale Beth and Rodney on his childhood exploits as they smile self depreciatingly at themselves for getting him started on his tangent.


    However, after searching room to room they were still unable to find any antibiotics. At her wits end Beth says with a tinge of a frantic tone to her voice, "Where IS IT! We came all the way here, and grandfather wouldn''t lie about something as important as this just to satisfy his own ego!" Rodney was about to say something however he noticed the sound of shuffling footsteps in the hallway. he looks towards Clem who was supposed to be watching the hallway to find out that he is instead looking towards the sky with his eyes closed, continuing to indulge in the exploits of his childhood.


    Rodney interrupts Clems daydreams and hurriedly says to I''m in a hushed shout, "Sir, Clem! Is there anything out there?" Clem snapped back to reality and realized he hadn''t been paying attention to his surroundings as much as he should have and looks into the hall.


    He was shocked to find that in the hall was a naked boy around 5 or 6 years old walking towards the room! Looking as if he could collapse at any moment.

 Like Family

    Clem said to Rodney and Beth, "There''s a small naked zombie out there, shouldn''t be to hard to take him out as long as we don''t get careless. Only, how did he get past Cleetus?"


    Rodney chimed in saying, "Maybe he was already in here here before we came in. It''s a pretty big place, with lot''s of spots to hide."


    Beth said to Clem, "Well then, go take care of it! That''s what we hired you for isn''t it?"


    Clem finds and picks up a hefty metal rod that appears to have broken away from one of the chairs in the in the room. He says with a snort, "I might not be able to take on most zombies, but I can definitely take out this kid! Just you watch!"


    Clem runs out of the room towards the boy still shuffling slowly towards them, and brandishes the rod behind his head, gearing up for a full swing. However, the moment he does so he notices something change about the boy. The boy instinctively looks away towards the ground while closing his eyes and raises his arms above his head in a defensive posture.


    Seeing this, Clem is stupefied and tries to stop his attack, but due to his own momentum, he trips and falls on the ground. The young boy is still petrified in the defensive posture, and Clem is able to see the boy more clearly after sitting still and being closer. He sees the boy has dirt marks, and a mixture of dry and wet blood on his face and chest.


    Still shocked by the boys suspicious appearance though, he raises his finger to point to him and fires off a barrage of questions, "Are you alive? Are you a human kid? Where is your company? What are you doing out here?!"


    Hearing the noise from the hallway, Beth and Rodney hurry out to see the naked boy still in the defensive position, they become just as confused as Clem. It must be understood, that to come out to the wilds from Utopia was something only those in a company have the clearance to do. In each company there is an age limit of 18 that one would have to meet, and any younger than that, they are usually not allowed out of schooling district unless given special permission.


    It is virtually impossible to find a normal unattended child roaming the wilds. Not only that, but survive out in the wilds.


    Beth was about to go over to the little boy to comfort him, however Rodney put his arm out in front of her to block her path while saying, "He may or may not be a zombie but he is definitely not normal to have survived out here without a company." Rodney turns to the young boy and says, "Child, where are you from? What has happened to you?" To which the child lowers his arms, looks at Rodney and puts on a curious expression. After a few seconds of staring, it looks as if the young boy musters up it''s courage and tries to speak.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    However just as he does that, he stops midway and then stares back at Clem, leaving Rodney frustrated as his face takes on a colder expression. Rodney says, "Boy, do not try my patience. Answer my question!"


    .


    .


    .


    Going back to when the young zombie shuffled his way into the hospital, he followed his way towards the voices and kept trying to catch up to them. However as he saw the group of people walking in front of him at a much faster rate and leave him far behind, he notices a man with a long face that has a pointed chin, beady eyes, short brown hair, and two big buck teeth. He saw Clem, and he felt a strange sense of security with him, as if the zombie could trust him, like family.


    The young zombie originally wanted to just find more food, however, it seems that a new feeling has taken hold of him, A sense of security. Having newly gained a consciousness just today, he is unable to communicate or even properly use critical thinking skills. The only reason he has learned how to walk is due to the instincts of being a zombie still controlling the majority of his actions.


    Only understanding the basic instincts and very superficial knowledge, he is able to understand that this feeling of safety is a good thing for him. Thus he keeps walking to catch up to them. Luckily they stopped for moderate periods of time to stop and search for something, giving the young zombie ample time to catch up.


    He turns the corner and takes a few steps into the hallway that the group of people are in, just to see the man that he felt he could be safe with charging at him with some metal rod. The man had the same crazed expression on his face as the half zombie who was fighting him for the piece of meat, as if it was a life and death battle.


    The young zombie was taken by surprise and raised his arms above his head feeling as if he had been betrayed, he felt regretful of his choice to follow that feeling of security. However, at the last second, the man who was charging fell down and pointed at the young zombie and started talking, however, to the young zombie, all that he hears is strange incomprehensible noises.


    As the rest of the group moved in around the zombie, he drew upon his experience with the mob of zombies fighting for meat not to long ago, and remembered that they would team up in groups against zombies that had already eaten. Remembering this, he feels as if this group of people thought he had some meat just like the half corpse did, why else would they surround him?


    It seems as if one of the men in the group of people stood out after blocking one of his comrades from attacking. He begins making weird noises directed at the young zombie as well. The zombie then lowers his arms, seeing them making noises with their mouths. He realizes that they must be expecting him to do the same, like how he and the other zombies make the same groaning noises.


    When thinking of this he tries to make a noise similar to what the man just made, but then he stops. He realizes that he is unable to make any noise with his throat at all even the original moaning or grunting sound that he had been able to do before.


    Unsure why, he feels as if this is a common situation and begins to turn towards Clem, expecting him to answer for him instead. He then hears the other man make more strange noises at him, but he sees no reaction from Clem to speak up for him. Thus the zombie realized that this security blanket that he felt he had, in fact, unreliable.


    He was about to run away realizing that he is in danger from this group having their eyes on him. However he sees the person who was originally blocked in the back step forward, look back at the two others and shout towards them. She then walked toward the zombie, and reached her hand out towards him while making a expression on her face that the zombie has never seen before, but one that infected him and caused him to make the same face. Today, for the first time, a zombie was smiling.

 The Answer To His Prayers

    Beth sees the boy struggling to speak and hears Rodney snap at him. Annoyed by this display she pushes Rodneys arm away and walks towards the zombie while looking back at Rodney over her shoulder and softly shouts, "Rodney! That''s enough!"


    She walks forward to smile at the young boy and then sees a heartbreaking scene of this malnourished youth struggling to smile back at her very slowly.


    Rodney says towards Beth hurriedly, "Lady Beth! We do not know this young man or where he came from. The fact that he''s out here at all is suspicious in and of itself! For all we know, he could be someone your uncle sent as a way to detain us. If you ask me, I believe we should-" Before he could finish his statement, Beth gives Rodney a sharp glare with the silent meaning to be quiet.


    Beth begins softly and then gradually gets louder as she sees the bald naked young boy shivering while looking away from the group. "He''s still a kid! He''s here in this hell hole surviving god knows what, and then this guy just rushes at him with a weapon trying to kill him! Wouldn''t you be in shock at this situation at his age?!" She then walks over to Clem and says, "Give me your jacket."


    Clem looks at her in embarrassment. Realizing that he is the cause for the traumatic event he hurriedly tries to defend himself while giving Beth his grimy Military jacket, revealing a white tank top with stains and hole scattered throughout it. "How was I supposed to know it was just a kid?! There''s plenty of zombies that are kids or smaller! I was just trying to protect us! I''m not someone who would beat up on a youngin!" Afterwards he turns towards the young boy and says, "Look kid, I''m sorry, okay? You don''t need to be afraid of me doing something like that again."


    Then he watches as Beth walks over to the young boy and puts the jacket around him to cover him up. The jacket is ridiculously to big for the boy, looking more like a nightgown with over-sized arms than a actual piece of clothing. He says, "Please try not get that jacket torn up or anything, it''s my only one. My brother and I had to work for three days on odd jobs to be able and buy these two matching sets of outfits." He sighs, and gets up off of the ground to lean against the wall for Beth to finish dressing the little boy.Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    As Beth was wrapping the jacket around the young boy she saw around his neck were deep finger impressions. Seeing this, she reached to touch the marks absentmindedly and sees the boy jerk and look down towards his feet. She asked the little boy, "Is this why you are unable to talk? Did someone do something to you?" To which the boy stood still with his head hung low. Beth took that as confirmation and didn''t pry.


    Just then Rodney was struck with realization, "Lady Beth! This boy could be the answer to our problem!" He said with an excited expression. Which Clem then replied with a puzzled expression, "What? You think this kid knows where the medicine is?"


    Rodney looked at Clem with disdain, realizing he might have solved their problem himself, "No Sir Clem, if this child has been abandoned and does not have any ties to anyone in the Utopia and he was able to stay with us then-" Beth finished the statement in a daze, "-then the government would consider my family a childbearing household..." She then looked at the young zombie in a daze unsure of what to do.


    Clem wore an even more confused expression on his face and said, "so what if ya''ll have a kid? What does that have to do with getting medicine?" Rodney stroked his graying goatee and said with a chuckle, "Sir Clem, each child of an ascended is precious to Utopia right?" Clem answered back like a bird pecking at feed, "Yuh huh." Rodney continued, "And you know that it is incredibly rare for an ascended to be fertile. With little to no ascended having any children. The ones that do, regardless of their battle capability, are given special treatment due to the fact that they are almost guaranteed to produce another ascended!"


    Beth who was off to the side listening, looked at the young boy in front of her who was hurt and practically still naked. She flashed a resolved look on her face and said,"Anywhere would be better than just staying out here for him. I say we take him back with us, just as Rodney suggested. He could be the answer to our prayers, while we might also be the answer to his!"


    Beth put her hands on the boys shoulders while kneeling in front of him and gave a big smile to try and comfort him. The boy jolted his head up and saw the face smiling wide at him as he smiled back very weakly.


    Then still pressing the issue, Clem brought up a valid point, "Why don''t they just take children from an orphanage as their own or ask someone that doesn''t want theirs? If there is such a loophole, why wouldn''t everyone exploit it?"


    Rodney was about to answer his question but then was stopped to see the little boy beginning to shiver again. Rodney said, "Look, I''ll explain everything when we get to someplace better suited for talking. Let''s just get out of here, there is probably nothing here worth value that wasn''t already scavenged let''s get Sir -." Rodney stopped abruptly as he came to a realization.


    "It just occurred to me that we do not even know this young boys name." Rodney looked curiously at the bald headed youth wearing an over-sized military jacket, he leans down and asks the boy. "What is your name young man?"

 May Not Be So Bad

    The small zombie realized that his mouth was moving in a strange and enjoyable way as he was looking at the woman in front of him. He found that this feeling was enjoyable that he wanted more of it. This woman seems to be able to give him this feeling, he wanted her to keep giving him this feeling so he stood still waiting for it to happen again.


    The woman walked towards the man on the ground as they appeared to be communicating with each other. The man takes off what the small zombie thought was his skin. She then walks over and puts it over-top the zombies body and zips up the front.


    The zombie begins wondering of why these people treat him so differently than the mob out front. Just as he thought about that, he feels a pressure on his neck. The moment he feels this, he falls into a trance like state and looks downward.


    The next thing he notices is everything around him goes black, he is still able to see himself though. He feels as if his body is trapped in ice, unable to move. He sees a scene is playing out below him, one of a young boy in a room on a bed dying from some sort of disease, being kidnapped by a dark shadowy figure wearing a lab coat in the middle of the night.


    The figure strapped the young boy on a lab table and waited until he had just died from the disease. However, when he had died, he started showing signs of coming back as a zombie, right as he was beginning to change. The figure then injected a white liquid with a small black swirl in its center, directly into the boys heart with a needle. Afterwards, the boy foamed at the mouth, then went completely still.


    The figure seemed as if he had expected this, and the scene changed to one of the wilds, with sticks stuck in the ground and next to those sticks are mounds of dirt. The figure buried the boy in the mound and then left the vial that he used on top of the boys grave in some sort of ritualistic fashion.


    He then walks away.


    An unknown amount of time had past, until suddenly a bulky arm burst through the grave and the boy, or what seems to be more of a beast covered in scales, little with little bumps on his head shoots up from the ground as if a cat with it''s tail stepped on. He breaths in deep breaths and looks towards the slightly glowing river next to the grave and sees his reflection. A hoarse enraged roar echoes for miles from it''s epicenter of this young boy.


    The scene changes rapidly as it shows the boy growing up, with his struggles and victories, gruesome scene after gruesome scene. All the way until the boy is now a monstrous creature with two huge horns and a bulky frame. The scene is currently showing the creature in front of the very hospital the young zombie is in currently. The young zombie watches the scene of the creature decapitating and eating a man standing outside. The creature then begins walking away with loud thuds, but suddenly stops and does something that causes the young zombie to feel an instinctual fear for his un-life.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    The creature turns towards the young zombie, as if he could see him now when he couldn''t earlier. and smiles a horrible blood and flesh filled smile. The entire scenery changed. This time, the creature was watching from above as he saw a young zombie fighting its way to the center of the pile and to get some food. He immediately charged into the pile after the boy got some food and grabbed his neck to throw him out of the group. Afterwards he looked back at the young zombie who was frozen in the sky watching this all play out and without moving his mouth, he spoke directly into the young zombies mind.


    The voice was as if two rocks were grinding together, with a deep resentment in its voice, "You must grow stronger little one. Otherwise you will not survive this game you have been thrust into. You must eat to survive, and eat to grow. I save you now to savor you later. Grow up well, you''re going to become part of me eventually after all" The monster releases a course chuckle it fades away into the distance, and leaves the young zombie there anxious and unsure of what is going on.


    He suddenly feels two weights on his shoulder and is jolted back to reality. He sees Beth smiling at him again. This time though, it didn''t bring him the comfortable feeling from before. When he saw her smile, he felt as if that monstrosity''s smile was all he could see. He tried to put the smile back on his face but he couldn''t feel as happy as he had been before. He could only feel a terrifying presence as if that monster is watching him from the shadows, and waiting.


    In a constantly uncomfortable state since that vision, he sees the man who held the woman back approaching him and say something. Then the group starts conversing again until the woman speaks up and points to the little zombie.


    In the hallway, Beth, Rodney, and Clem were debating on what to call the little boy. After many rounds of what it should be, Beth finally says, " This young man is going to be a part of an ascended household. He should have the first name of someone befitting the Brightstar name. Someone my brother would be proud to consider his son." Beth then turns the little boy around and points at him saying, "You shall be known as Alistair Brightstar. You will ensure that humanity has a bright future to look forward to." She folds her arms with a content smile and considers the matter settled.


    Clem can''t hold himself back from saying, "Have you two not realized the most important part to all this? Who can say if the boy can even become an ascended? It''s a matter of luck as much as it is hard work!" Rodney then says, "We have our own ways to work around this. You needn''t be concerned with this matter anymore. All we request is to return to the Utopia Sir Clem."


    Clem says, "Fine then, I get paid all the same! Let''s head out! My brother is probably a nervous wreck outside by now anyway." Clem chuckles playfully and the group plus one Alistair begin moving towards the exit. Alistair was unsure of why they were trying to leave suddenly and bring him along, but his mind was to preoccupied with that monstrosity to concern himself with this type of situation.


    All he knew is that he has something out there hunting him, and these people seem to provide a modicum of safety that he is unable to feel by himself. So following them may not be so bad.

 Little Brother

    The group starts heading towards the exit of the hospital.


    Clem shouts out towards the exit in front of them, "Cleetus, we are heading out! You worry wart! I told you everything would be fine!" He laughs loudly, expecting to see a familiar burnt face greeting him by the doorway.


    The group exits the hospital. What greeted them was a scene from hell that Alistair was just a part of.


    Body parts of the undead were scattered all over the ground, some still even groaning out in hunger. There was one spot however that had piles of complete and incomplete undead stacked on one another.


    "What the hell? What is going on?" The group collectively has this thought run through their heads as Alistair begins walking towards a lighter on the ground with blood splattered on it. He picks it up to inspect it due to the smell being mildly enticing, however it has dried and lost most of it''s appeal.


    Alistair feels uncertain about what this smell originated from. All he knows is that he had eaten something that felt slimy and soft. He knows that it is able to curb his hunger when it is fresh. Now it seems to have been a long time, causing it to appear unappealing.


    Clem sees Alistair pick up the lighter that he is very familiar with, "Hey. HEY! That''s Cleetus'' lighter! This is a family heirloom. He wouldn''t leave this behind!" Clem looks around frantically for any sign of his brother until he sees a dead body on the ground that can only be called a pile of bones with rags over them. Those army uniform rags though tell the entire story of what happened.


    Clem sees this and goes limp from shock. He struggles to crawl up to the pile of bones and he sees on the skull is a patch of burnt skin. "It wasn''t supposed to be like this. We were going to make a company so famous that every colony all over the world would quake at our name."


    He picks up the skull on the ground as tears blur his vision and anger distorts his face. "You aren''t supposed to die here! Think of Ma and Pa! Think of me! Cleetus...you big lug....no..." He huddles down hugging the skull and begins sobbing.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    Beth and Rodney see this situation and are shocked and terrified. ''This position was supposed to be cleared numerous times and have a danger level between zero to one. Cleetus was a big man, he could easily take care of a few zombies single handedly.'' This thought passes through their minds as they recall Cleetus'' warning in the beginning.


    Remembering this makes the hair on the back of their neck rise. Not having enough time to let Clem mourn due to this uncomfortable feeling, Beth and Rodney bring Alistair to sit in the Jeep and they help Clem gather his brothers remains and move him into the backseat with Alistair. Beth and Rodney get in the Jeep as Rodney drives off towards the human stronghold known as Utopia.


    A few minutes pass at the spot where the Jeep had just been. Multiple figures emerge simultaneously looking off into the distance. Among them is the beast who saved Alistair from the zombie horde previously.


    A lizard man who appears to be changing color to blend in with the surroundings looks toward the beast and sneers, "Clypto, since when have you taken up a soft spot for fresh meat?" The beast looks at the lizard with gluttonous eyes and remarks, "Since when do I have to explain my motives to an entree?"


    The lizard then chuckles softly as he vanishes completely into the surroundings and leaving the are along with the others. The beast called Clypto looks towards the Jeep driving off as if distance is no obstacle to his sight. He whispers to himself, "I''ll see you in the future, little brother."


    Situated in the middle of a naturally formed barrier of mountains with two ways in and out of the encirclement being two narrow valleys. A city that looks pristine and prosperous with streets abuzz with the day to day life of commoners. Situated in the middle of the city is a tall building that seems to be able to avoid the thunderstorms fury above.


    In the distance, heading towards the valley on the north side of the city is a Jeep with four people inside. They arrive at the checkpoint to gain passage into the valley. While they are pulling up though, they see three other vehicles in front of them with insignia''s of other companies on them.


    Rodney turns towards Beth and says, "Lady Beth, we are about to go through the checkpoint gates. Luckily, we whoever it was who hurt your brother is not interested in us and does not expect us to be able to help him." Beth nods, looks back at Clem holding Cleetus'' skull with a gaze devoid of any emotion. Unsure of what to say to comfort him, she bites back any kind words she was going to try and use.


    She then looks towards Alistair, seeing him look back with a confused look in his eyes. She smiles and tries to stave off the negative atmosphere coming from Clem by saying to Alistair, "Hey Alistair, how would you like something to eat when we get back? We can prepare a big feast just for you!"


    Alistair sees her smile and reflexively smiles back towards her while she speaks to him. Unsure of what she is saying though, he still has no ways to communicate properly. He has been able to pick up a few words that they use repeatedly, but nothing to form a proper understanding. He would be unable to speak either way, due to the wound on his throat.


    It was finally their turn at the checkpoint and the guard notices Beth, he shouts towards his supervisor, "Sir we found her! Lady Bethany Brighstar!" Afterwards the guards and supervisor immediately run out to surround the Jeep with guns pointed towards everyone on it.


    "Everyone release Lady Brightstar and exit the vehicle with your hands up!" The supervisor in charge of the checkpoint shouted at them.

 Youre Not Needed

    Beth speaks up from inside of the Jeep, "Stand down! They are not my captors nor do they mean any malicious intent."


    The guards warily look towards their supervisor for a decision. The supervisor examines the people on the Jeep and lets out a sigh, "Lady Brightstar, you should know how much of a difficult position you put me in. Your family has spent a large sum to look for you."


    He looks toward the group of people in the Jeep with her, " If I were to just let them go, how would the higher ups view me?"


    Beth rolls her eyes at the obvious direction the conversation is headed and just flatly states, "When I get back to my family I will make sure you are properly compensated. Now, I suggest you let us pass through."


    The supervisor was about to continue on with the conversation until Beth immediately said, "And may I remind you that my family may be generous to those who aid us, we are also merciless to those who oppose."


    The supervisor chokes back the words he was about to say. "I''m grateful for the Brightstars generosity." He nods towards the man operating the gate to let them pass through.


    As the group drives through the rocky valley and into Utopia, they come to a stop at the company HQ in charge of handing out missions to each company. Beth walks up to speak with the receptionist at the desk to discuss the mission she set up.


    She comes back to the Jeep and speaks with Clem, "Sir Clem, I have spoken with them to add something extra on to the reward. I truly hope this will help ease the loss of your brother. Thank you Crispy Rats, for being there in my hour of need.This is where we must part ways, good luck in the future and I hope to hear more about your great exploits from the daily gossip."


    Clem looks up from his daze with the same lifeless eyes that he has had during the entire trip. He simply nods mechanically and walks to the desk to speak about the reward. Beth Rodney and Alistair drive off away from the HQ, as they are turning around a corner, they could barely hear the sound of Clem laughing and shouting "Thank you!" over and over again.


    Rodney curiously asks, "Lady Beth, what did you-" Beth immediately cut him off, "The laws of the world are never an absolute after rapture. I just told him of a possible spot to break the old worlds laws. It''s all a matter of if he is lucky and capable enough though."


    Rodney was shocked and then immediately knew what Beth spoke of. "You told him about the Pit? Your brother just found out about it last week. If anyone knew that he had knowledge of such a place..."


    Beth chuckles in response, "First, the Pit is not something ordinary people can go to. Not even most ascended are able to get into it. That''s why no one will believe him if he tries to brag. Also, it gives him hope for seeing his brother again." She smiles gently while watching the buildings and people blur past the Jeep.


    This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.


    "Besides, we have something better than an uncertain hope towards the afterlife. We have a way to keep my brother in this life!" She turns towards Alistair and smiles. "He will be the key the ensuring the government does not just toss aside my brother. They don''t care about anyone that isn''t in their army."


    Rodney forces a smile and says, "It will be a tough battle to get him accepted. Not only by the government, but your family as well Lady Beth."


    As the two are talking to each other, they pull up to a giant metal gate with two guards standing at attention in front. Then Beth speaks towards the guards. "I, Bethany Brightstar have returned!"


    The guards bow slightly and pull the gate open revealing a luxurious manor. A place seemingly untouched by the ravages of the hell outside. Greenery and a eye-catching fountain placed as the focal point of the yard, a scene that would dazzle the regular citizens of the common grounds of Utopia.


    This scenery sparks an uneasy feeling inside of Alistair as if this isn''t where he belongs. He begins looking around nervously for anything to reassure him that he is safe. He notices Beth and Rodney smiling while looking around. A sign that Alistair associates with the feeling of ''everything will be ok''.


    They pull to a stop at the entrance of the extravagant abode. As they are getting out of the Jeep the front doors slam open and shows a middle aged man with short black hair peppered with grey from the passage of time. With a face and body that seems as if he was a very heroic figure back in the day. Who now enjoys the pleasures of life to much


    With a furious expression on his face the middle aged man doesn''t say anything as he walks to Beth. "You leave at the most crucial moment of our families history and now you show up out of the blue at our front step. You better have a good explanation."


    Rodney begins to speak up, "Master Brightstar, lady Beth and I were just-". The middle aged man interjects and directs his focus on Rodney, "I believe I was speaking to my daughter. If I have need for your testimony I will speak to you."


    Beth says to her father, " Father, I have left as soon as I heard from Aunt Sherry at the ball about what happened to brother. I believe that I have found a solution to our problem! Brother will be able to get the medical care he needs!" She smiles proudly at her father.


    "Since when did I become so useless that I would need my own daughter to rush out into the wilds on a fools errand?" He snorts in anger. "You truly do not understand the situation Bethany." He shakes his head in disappointment.


    "Your brother is not really hurt. Their are higher powers at play that required him to put on this facade. Your Aunt only has superficial knowledge because she does not need to know more." He says with a pained expression, "You shouldn''t have put yourself at risk like that. What would we do if something happened?"


    Bethany and Rodney are both dumbstruck. Bethany then says in anger, "Then why was I not informed of this?! Why, when I went to brothers room immediately after were there doctors telling me he is incapacitated?!"


    The father lets out a sigh and looks towards her and says, "They were bodyguards and not doctors. They were there to prevent anyone from disturbing your brothers ascension. He was making a breakthrough and I deemed it necessary to keep it hidden even from family due to the fear of prying ears."


    He smiles and says, "Your brother completed his breakthrough. With this, our family can now compete among the rift battles! This is the new era for our Brightstar family!" He becomes more passionate with every sentence.


    Rodney says emphatically, "This is amazing news Master Brightstar! Congratulations are in order!" He smiles towards Beth, "Lady Bethany your brother is already in good health! You must be ecstatic!"


    As soon as Beth hears the news her anger flushed away with excitement and then before she could say anything, she remembers the little boy who they brought along. She smiles awkwardly towards Alistair and turns back towards her father,


    "Father, this boy-" Her father motioned with his hand for her to stop. He says, "I know the situation, from the moment you arrived at the valley I was informed of everyone brought along. I figured out everything after getting the details."


    He turns his sights towards Alistair, "Young man, I know that you were promised a lot of things on behalf of my family name. The contribution you were to make for my family has been noticed. Though I can''t take you in as part of my family, I can give you anything you desire for your generosity."


    Alistair begins drooling and his stomach makes a rumbling sound as the red spiral in his hard begins speeding up its rotation and burying down into the stomach once more. The pain was almost instantaneous, it was bearable but seemed to be growing stronger by the minute.


    "He can not speak father, something traumatic happened to him before we found him." As she finishes she hears the sound of Alistairs'' stomach rumbling. She laughs lightly and says, "I did promise him a meal though, how about we talk about his reward after a feast?"

 Oh! Uh...Yum?

    The moment Beths father hears this, he claps his hands and turns his head to the side, "Prepare a feast. We are welcoming back my daughter and celebrating my son!" He smiles and gestures for the group to follow him.


    The father leads Alistair and the group into the manor which is just as beautiful on the inside as it is on the outside. Marble flooring and columns neatly arranged in the hall leading towards the dining room. Two servants stand in front of the double doors leading into the dining hall.


    Each servant grabs a door handle and opens it in perfect sync revealing a room that could be better described as a greenhouse. Artificial sunlight recreated and foliage abundant at the base of each wall. A massive dinner table in the center of the room grabs the focus, especially with the massive feast adorned on it.


    "You used a power to quickly prepare a feast? Isn''t that a bit to wasteful for brother?" Beth put her hand on her chin in a curious position as she looks at her father.


    "It would have been if it was a few days earlier. Now however, it is as easy as a waive of my hand!" A magnetic voice booms across the room as a dashing man with short spiked blonde hair instantly appears in front of Beth.


    "Beth, why must you always act recklessly like that? What would I do if something happened to you because you were worried for me?" The dashing man smiles magnanimously at Beth as he puts his hand on her head.


    Beths'' face lights up as she sees her brother, she hugs him immediately starting to tear up "Sebastian! I feared the worst when I hear the news! I''m so happy you''re okay!" Sebastian smiles at his sister.


    He then looks towards Rodney, disregarding him as a servant. He turns his sights towards Alistair, however a strange expression forms on his face. He quickly hides it and goes up to Alistair,Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.


    "Boy, Welcome to the Brightstar household. I was informed of your would be position due to my sisters concerns and even though it would have been a lie upon a misunderstanding I would like to express my gratitude to you in the way of this feast!"


    Alistair has been waiting by the side struggling with his hunger. He would have already gave in to his temptation if it had not been for the young man in front of him. When he walked into the dining room, he felt a sense of dread as if that half corpse had its mouth open ready to reap his little life.


    It wasn''t until the young man looked at him and finished his statement that the sense of dread disappeared without a trace. The hunger immediately surfaced and took over.


    "I can see the starvation in your eyes, no need to stand on ceremony. Let us all feast!" He watches everyone begin eating as he pays close attention to Alistair.


    Alistair walks over to table covered with various types of meat and exotic dishes. He picks up the leg of a bird that has been fried and bites ferociously into it. The moment the food touches his tongue, he immediately spits it back out.


    Alistair tries to eat another dish, this time a stack of tender ribs. However, the same result occurs. Alistair understands that it''s not that he doesn''t like it. It''s that the spiral in his heart and stomach that usually spin with a terrifying suction, immediately began rotating the opposite way and released a small gale with enough force to prevent the food from being swallowed.


    Alistair panics as he understands that he can''t eat this food. He begins to look for anything that he might be able to keep down. He comes across a dish that is giving a wonderful aroma and immediately reaches for it.


    Without hesitation he puts the food into his mouth and it goes down without any problem and begins to soothe the spiral inside him, albeit slightly. He sees a pile of this meat and does not control himself.


    The spectators in the room however make strange expressions as if they had just witnessed a horror movie. He tosses aside all of the properly cooked extravagant dishes and decides to go for the the raw monster meat that had been prepared for extras after the food was finished.


    He eats at least three pounds of raw meat before letting out a satisfied,


    "Yum!"


    Beth and Rodney both let out a shocked gasp. The boy who they thought was mute just said "Yum!". Beth gets out of her chair at the dining table and walks to Alistair.


    "Alistair, what did you just say?" She looks at him intensely with expectant eyes.


    "Oh! Uh...yum?" Alistair looks back at Beth, not able to process what just happened.


    When he ate the meat and the spiral became satisfied, Alistair went through a monumental evolution. His throat healed and his mouth became capable of intricate movement. Alistair gained the ability to talk!

 Are You Ready To Go?

    Talking is not the only change that took place within Alistair. He gained understanding as well. When the spiral inside of him was satiated, it then split apart another time and traveled into Alistairs brain, greedily absorbing information. The spiral constantly spun at a rapid pace, with no signs of stopping.


    When Alistair heard Beth ask him a question, he was able to process it due to the new and old information being digested by the spiral connected to his brain. Which caused all the conversations he heard before to be processed and integrated into his repertoire.


    Alistair can now communicate properly with others. Beth and Rodney were amazed by him talking so suddenly that they almost forgot he ate pounds of raw meat.


    "Alistair, are you okay? You just consumed raw meat. That can''t be good for you." Beth comes over and says with a concerned expression on her face.


    "I-I''m okay, I was just hungry. Nothing else tasted good." Alistair says shyly with no concern for the cooks feelings towards the food.


    "Outside, I had to eat food that tasted like that before so I am used to it." Alistair thinking back to the meat he struggled with the half zombie over. The spectators all assume Alistair meant eating raw monster meat whenever he could.


    "Most monster meat would kill a person if not handled carefully, you must have been really lucky to find non-toxic food." Sebastian states while looking carefully at Alistair.


    "Toxic? I don''t know what that means. I like to eat the yummy food though! It stops the pain in my belly!" Alistair states with a big smile to show how satisfied he is with the food.


    "Well I have heard of people with unique constitutions popping up here and there, it''s not to far fetched to believe you can have some resistance to food-born illnesses. Couple that with your extended stay in the wilds and it wouldn''t be weird that you were able to survive." Sebastian smiles softly at Alistair.


    "Now that you have your stomach full young man, do you have any family or friends in Utopia?" The father chimes in from the side after seeing Alistair has eaten his full.


    "Family? Friends? Until meeting with those nice people, there was only me..." Alistair says in a innocent tone which causes the lively atmosphere in the room to come to an awkward pause at the sensitive issue brought up.If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.


    "I''m sorry to hear that. To make sure that you are taken care of, we will take you personally to the orphanage after this event. The people there should take proper care of you until you are old enough to attend school." Sebastian says softly with no room for argument in his voice.


    The party continues on with everyone celebrating Sebastians rise to power. Alistair listens in attentively to the new flood of information that is pouring in from everyone at once.


    "My son Leroy got accepted into the military academy. As long as he becomes ascended from their training my family will be set for life!" a fancily dressed woman having a conversation with another attendee of the party began bragging.


    "Oh yeah, well my Veronica has already been scouted by an ascended in the military for a recommendation! It won''t be long now until that ascended takes her under their wing and gives my family an easy life!" a robust man with a thick mustache bragged back to the lady


    Conversations such as these are happening all around Alistair as he takes in everything. He hears one particular conversation that gives him a sense of urgency.


    "That Alistair boy seems pretty suspicious. He came from the wilds with no family or acquaintances, happens to have been where Lady Beth had been and I heard that right before he showed up one of the bodyguards had just been killed." spoken in a slightly effeminate voice, Alistair is unable to see who it is that is speaking due to the large crowd of people.


    "No worries, the longer he stays at the party the more chances we will have to dig up more information on the situation. After all, it''s only a kid. If we want to get information out of him, how hard can it be? Especially with the Brightstars washing their hands of him." A voice that sounds eerily similar to the previous one continues the conversation.


    Before Alistair is able to hear anymore of the conversation he sees Beth and Sebastian coming over. He takes a quick look around the room and notices that all the guests are leaving at once almost as if coordinated previously.


    Beth and Sebastian reach Alistair and Beth says, "Well Alistair, unfortunately I will have to revoke your last name of Brightstar, however I would like you to continue using Alistair as your given name. It means defender of the people. I hope that you will be there for others as you were there for me when I needed you."


    Sebastian sees Beth getting emotional over a child she had just picked up and sighs at his sisters maternal instincts overpowering her. "Sister, why don''t I take Alistair to the orphanage while you prepare for the meeting with the government?"


    She smiles warmly and then quickly turns and begins walking trying to cover up the tear in her eye. Alistair becomes confused, he understands that crying is a sign of sadness from his time in the car with Clem.


    "Is going to the orphanage a bad thing?" Sebastian looks towards Alistair and says, "Not at all! Over there you will always get food, you will have shelter and be able to make friends! If things go well enough, you could even get adopted into a loving family!" Sebastian smiles and tries to hype up the orphanage as much as possible.


    Sebastian is unsure why, but the moment he laid eyes on Alistair he felt that something was wrong. He needs to get him away from his family before something bad happens. He could just kill Alistair, but that would damage his reputation by picking on the weak.


    The next best thing is to get him far away from his family as possible. Alistair had the eyes of a beast the moment he saw the meat. The unnatural energy given off by him after he ate it also didn''t go unnoticed by Sebastian.


    Sebastian doesn''t care about if he was a danger to anyone else, due to his willingness to help earlier he had to repay his debts. Ascended have to repay their debts or the knots that debt cause in their hearts could hinder them from progressing in the future.


    Sebastian puts his hand on Alistairs shoulder and asks with a smile, "Are you ready to go?"

 Think Of Us As Family

    Alistair looks up at Sebastian and just as he is about to say something, he sees the sky above him turn from a finely decorated ceiling to the thunderclouds that he is all to familiar with.


    Alistair looks back down to in front of him and sees a pristine building with a black iron fence all the way around it that has no weeds or vines growing anywhere near it. The focus in the center of the yard is a statue over 12 feet tall immortalizing an elderly rotund man smiling warmly off into the distance.


    Sebastian suddenly moves his hand and pulls his two fingers apart. As he does this, a slightly blue transparent sphere flickers around both him and Alistair.


    He then says to Alistair as he is sizing up the building, "This is your new home from now on. My family has repaid it''s debt to you as of now, however I will leave you with one piece of information. You are not human. I could tell from the moment that you came to my families estate that the aura you give off is that of the undead."


    Alistair looks up to Sebastian and asks, "Human? Undead? I don''t know what you are talking about...I''m Alistair aren''t I?"


    Sebastians previous jovial mood completely disappeared the moment he left his estate. He does not look down and only continues to stare off into the distance, "I do not know what you are, however you are to stay away from my family in the future. This is the only warning you will get as a courtesy."


    Sebastian releases the sphere around them, he flicks his finger and from seemingly nowhere the rotund man that the statue is depicting shows up in front of Sebastian and Alistair. The man is confused and gets angry,


    "Who has the audacity to pull such a prank on me?! If I find out who it is I''ll-" He quickly shuts his mouth as he gets a better look at the duo in front of him, particularly Sebastian.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    He quickly hides all sorts of indignation away and bows in a 90 degree angle towards Sebastian, in a timid voice he speaks out,


    "L-L-Lord Brightstar! To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?"


    Sebastian looks down at him and says, "Wallace, you are to take this boy into your orphanage. His name is Alistair. After this, I will cut all ties with him. Do I make myself clear?"


    Just as Wallace looks upwards to agree, he notices that Sebastian left immediately after making that statement.


    Wallace looks towards Alistair with a frustrated scowl on his face, "Brat, I don''t know what you did to make one of the top families on the upper side of Utopia make their ascended escort you personally here. I do know however, that he said he cut all ties with you. Meaning you don''t have any fancy backing here."


    Wallace takes out a small medallion and hands it to Alistair and then points his finger towards the entrance of the estate, "So hurry up and get inside. There are caretakers there who will get you situated at the door as soon as you enter."


    After speaking so much, and not paying anymore attention to Alistair, Wallace walks away from the estate towards the market side of the city. All the while grumbling to himself about what just happened.


    Alistair feels perplexed at not having a chance to speak during the entire interaction. He walks towards the front door of the estate and the doors slowly swing open with to reveal a middle-aged woman who was able to retain most of her youthfulness.


    She has a warm smile as she looks at the medallion in Alistairs hand and says, "You must be new here, Please follow me and I''ll get you situated."


    The lady turns around and walks through the estate through the various hallways leading Alistair behind her.


    Alistair could not contain his curiosity and asks, "This is an orphanage? When do I get to eat, make friends and get a family?" He asks with pure innocence and expectation.


    The lady does not stop or even slightly pause. She turns her head slightly to acknowledge Alistair while still walking forward and says,


    "Yes and thank you for choosing our orphanage, I think you will be very pleased with your stay here. Well, food will be provided to you two times a day. One in the morning and one in the evening. You will get the chance to make new friends as soon as we get done with your evaluation. As for that last part... I''d like you to think of us as your family until someone who you really like comes along."


    Her face never changing and never losing the warm smile she continues, "As I said before though, I hope you are able to think of us as your family."


    She abruptly comes to a stop at a bolted metal door with caution signs posted on it and says, "Your evaluation starts the moment you enter this door. I wish you the best of luck and I would like to formally welcome you once more to the Diamond In The Rough Orphanage"

 The Assessment

    Alistair notices the rest of the doors are wooden and seemingly ordinary. Making this door stand out even more.


    "Is this where my friends are going to be?" he looks back at the smiling woman quizically.


    Before he gets a reply though, the door swings open very quickly to reveal a complete darkness.


    A force takes Alistair by surprise and pulls him in abruptly against his will into the darkness.


    As he turns back towards the entrance of the door while he is being pulled farther from it, he sees the lady still smiling warmly as the door quickly shuts in front of her.


    Although he feels surprised at the situation change, he doesn''t feel any blood thirst or threat against his life coming from the darkness. The kind of feeling he had when faced with the half zombie and the beast before. Leaving only pure curiosity on his mind.


    In a room with a moderately large desk sits three men in white lab attire. The one man sitting in the middle seemingly more important than the others.


    In front of them is a monitor which displays a top down view of Alistair being dragged into the darkness. Each of the men have a clip board and one of them says with mild praise in his voice,


    "The boy shows no fear from sudden shock. That''s very promising for someone his age!"


    After which another man says with a gritty voice and slight displeasure, "It could be that the child is frozen stiff and has yet to comprehend the situation. Try not to praise until we can fully assess the subject from every angle. It''s very unprofessional."


    The other man remained silent only jotting down notes onto the clip board.


    Alistair comes to stop and then the darkness vanishes in a flash as the lights in the room turn on. He looks around quickly to assess where he is at. He sees that he is in an empty white room with white walls on three sides around him, the fourth wall in front of him appears to be a mirror.


    For the first time, Alistair is able to see how he looks. He notices the the skinny limbs, sunken in face, and bald head with his pasty white skin. He goes to touch the mirror, curious about what he is seeing.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    Before he is able to touch is though he hears a voice coming through a speaker behind the mirror.


    "Remove your clothing so we can begin." A gritty voice commanded from the speaker.


    Alistair awkwardly undressed. Removing the over-sized jacket that he was wearing. Revealing his dirty malnourished body in front of the mirror. The moment he let go of the jacket though, it fell through the floor as if it was just a projection.


    "Oh...I liked that jacket..." Alistair bends down to touch the floor where his jacket had just been. Slightly sullen at the loss of his first article of clothing.


    "No materials are allowed from the outside onto the premises without explicit permission. You will be given a new set of clothing after the assessment." The gritty voice responded to the boys comment.


    Immediately after the voice finished speaking, a screen of light passed through Alistair going over his entire body. As the screen was going past, it burned off any dirt and grime from the outside. Completely cleaning him from head to toe.


    Alistair watches the dirt burn off with a puzzled expression. He does not feel anything but smells the burning filth. The unpleasant smell causes Alistair to scrunch his nose in discomfort.


    "What is that smell?" He asks towards the mirror.


    "That''s the smell of the filth that has been on your body since before the assessment." The voice responded.


    He looks into the mirror one more time and sees the image of a cleaner him and is shocked by the difference. Alistair''s discomfort turned into amazement at how much filth had been on him the entire time.


    "He barely even winced at the burning purification. The mental fortitude this child has is extraordinary!" The first man once again praised Alistair from behind the mirror.


    "There are plenty of children here who have high pain tolerance. It''s only a simple cleaning magic too. Nothing to jump to conclusions about. We have a few more assessments first." The gritty voiced man retorted.


    After the filth completely burned away, a table rises from the floor with an array of weapons on top.


    "Please pick the one that suits you best." The gritty voice announces over the speaker.


    "Pick one for what? What am I supposed to do with them?" Alistair responds back in pure confusion.


    In the center of the room a faceless wooden mannequin rises from the floor, completely lifeless and unmoving.


    "You will demonstrating your skills and abilities on the practice dummy for the evaluation." The gritty voice responds.


    "Skills? What are skills and abilities? I have no idea what''s going on..." Alistair states towards the mirror in a slight frazzled state.


    All Alistair knows of combat is when he had to try and snatch food from a half wasted opponent. There was no fancy movements or even any strategy involved at all.


    "You have never practiced any form of combat? Undergone any training? Or even so much as wielded a weapon before?" The gritty voice said becoming more and more irritated.


    "I have never done any of those things. Why does that matter? I thought I was going to get free food and friends and a family!" Alistair responds seemingly upset at the sudden task being forced upon him.


    The gritty voice man ignores Alistair and turns to his colleagues. "So Gerald, this was the child you were saying held great promise? He seems like nothing more than a beggar to me. Why should we even accept him into our orphanage?" He snorts.


    Gerald''s face flushes in embarrassment from endorsing someone he thought to be strong. "Sigh...We have to accept him on Lord Wallace''s orders. Apparently there is some very powerful backing for this child to be here without the slightest bit of training."


    The important man who had remained silent this entire time finally spoke up. "This matter involves one of the top families of Utopia. We are to grant this boy entry, but afterwards it is up to him if he can survive our curriculum or not. Pass him through, and set him up with his room and classes."


    The important man takes off his glasses and rubs the bridge of his nose and says, "Sigh...It seems like participants are in such short supply for the military program that we are forced to pad their numbers. Let''s raise him up as much as possible, at worst he can still become decent fodder."

 A Monumental Problem

    A ray of light flashes over Alistair on all sides. After the light dissipates it reveals the boy to be wearing a form fitting full bodied suit.


    He feels slightly constricted in the suit but feels it does not get in the way as much as his jacket once did. He then looks curiously towards the mirror.


    The voice on the speaker says, "Well even if you have not had previous training before, we are required to test you on your battle prowess. Please either pick a weapon or attack bare handed."


    Alistair asks, "All I have to do is hit that thing and then I''m done?"


    There is no response to his question. Alistair assumes that he is correct and walks over to the table littered with various weapons. Swords, maces, spears, shields, guns and everything else one could imagine being considered a standard weapon lays before his eyes.


    He glances over everything, ultimately choosing nothing on the table he goes towards the mannequin and stops in front of it.


    "You may begin combat whenever you are ready." The gritty voice states.


    Gerald pays close attention to Alistairs movements hoping to redeem himself for believing in headmaster choice of sending Alistair to them. However, Alistairs performance does not live up to his expectations.


    Alistair goes on the offensive. Without overthinking things, he imitated what he saw the beast do in the vision he had in the wilds. He held his arms forward and fingers stiffened as if imitating claws.


    Gerald sees Alistair getting into this bizarre position and suspects that maybe this child actually does know something amazing and his face begins to light up in joy.


    After Alistair gets into position, he lunges at the mannequin and begins mauling it. Scratching it with his finger nails and biting any part of it that can fit into his mouth.


    He chose to imitate that as it was the most ferocious and bloody seen he had seen as of yet. Unfortunately for him though, to the spectators, it only looked like a child flailing about in his first confrontation.


    Geralds face fell immediately after watching this scene. "He can''t be serious..." He looks over at his colleague with the gritty voice and sees him smirking at him. Unable to take it anymore Gerald pushes a button on the desk in front of them and says, "I have seen enough."


    A door fades in from nothing onto a wall of the white room. Alistair hears the voice over the speaker


    "We have seen enough, you are in infestation training. Proceed through the door. Your instructor will take you from there to get you settled in."


    Alistair stops in the middle of gnawing on the hand of a mannequin and walks to the door. Eager to be done with the test he opens the door and walks through. In front of him appears a single sized bed and desk in a space that could barely be considered a walk in closet.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.


    After walking through he hears the door close behind him and he turns to look at it in surprise. What he sees though is a fit lean man who couldn''t be more than 30 dressed in a form fitting black top and baggy cargo pants.


    The man immediately begins speaking before allowing Alistair to process the situation.


    "My name is Terell Washington. You may address me as Professor Washington. I will be showing you around the area only once so commit it to memory and ask any questions needed. Please follow me."


    He then turns around and opens the door to the room Alistair had been directed to from the assessment and begins walking away.


    Alistair shuffles to catch up to Professor Washington and begins firing off questions as they come to his mind.


    "What is this place? Why am I taking tests? I thought this was just a place to meet people and get adopted how come I had to fight? What''s infestation training?" The questions fired off in such rapid succession it leaves Professor Washington slightly taken aback.


    However, with the demeanor of a professional, he responds in quick succession.


    "The Diamond In The Rough Orphanage. Orphanages double as academies and this military academy needs to assess your bodies condition. To make sure you can handle the training. You will be finding out the training after the tour."


    After answering all questions in a single breath Professor Washington takes a deep inhale and looks quizzically at Alistair. "From these questions, it''s apparent that you are completely new to this concept..."


    He puts on a stern expression. "I won''t pry into how you were accepted but I will let you know now that I offer no preferential treatment regardless of backing. Now let me show you around."


    Professor Washington gave Alistair a very detailed tour. The cafeteria, gymnasium, library, classrooms, dorms, and more, all of the places he would need to know to get by at the orphanage. Explaining all their uses and how they will affect him.


    After finishing the tour, Professor Washington took Alistair back to his dorm room and hands him a stack of papers and says,


    "Your classes and all other information can be found inside those papers. So with the tour concluded do you have any final questions that you want answered?"


    Alistair thinks for a second and after processing everything he was shown during the tour he nods his head and says,


    "At the cafeteria you said they give you food based on your contribution points. What are contribution points, how do I get them, and does that mean I will go without food until I earn them?"


    After being given the tour, Alistair''s stomach began feeling that familiar pain. This time though it was not as bad as the previous time. "It seems like the pain gets less and less by a small amount after each time I eat." Alistair thought to himself.


    Professor Washington methodically explained, "Contribution points are rewards handed out by the mission hall. They are earned by students who complete tasks assigned by the mission hall. Students are given a free meal voucher every day. It expires at midnight each day but you are granted a new one the moment the old one expires."


    He pulls out a card that is paper-clipped at the top of the stack of papers he handed to Alistair.


    "This is your meal card. You can get one entree and two sides along with one drink per day. If you want more food or more luxurious food you will have to work for it." He gives the card back to Alistair who holds it as if a precious treasure.


    "Okay, that''s all my questions for now. Thank you!" Alistair smiles brightly as he did before with Bethany Brightstar. He finally feels like he will not have to worry about living and about how to satisfy his cravings.


    Professor Washington simply nods his head and turns to leave saying, "I''ll see you in class tomorrow. I would tell you to be prepared for the worst, but I''m sure you already expected that the moment you went through the tests in the assessment."


    He closes the door behind him leaving that statement. Alistair being left in the room notices a pile of clothes on the bed and a note. He goes to pick up the note and looks at it.


    It was at this moment Alistair realized a monumental problem he faces. He cannot read.

 I Cant Eat This

    "Without being able to read, how do I know what I''m supposed to do and where I''m supposed to go? How can I earn more food?"


    Alistair realizes this problem and decides that after making a stop to the cafeteria, it is a must to head towards the library.


    He quickly dons the clothing folded neatly on the bed and takes a look in the mirror. Luckily it isn''t a button up shirt or anything complex. Only a T-shirt with the Diamond In The Rough logo on the left pectoral, and black cargo pants.


    After fully clothing himself he exits his room and darts towards the cafeteria. Upon entering it he notices the long line of students waiting to get a plate of food.


    A few minutes before Alistair arrives, the cafeteria is in complete disarray. Students are piling in at the conveyor belt station where food is distributed and are shouting at each other trying to get to the front.


    Some students even escalated even further to using some of their abilities to move others away or get ahead of them. The counter has a young lady who appears to be new and unable to handle the rowdy behavior.


    One older student even tries to flirt with the young lady in an attempt to get more food.


    Just as the young lady was becoming overwhelmed, an older woman entered the cafeteria wheeling in a long table with a cloth draped over the contents resting on top of it, and walked to behind the counter.


    Completely ignoring the students fighting over lunch, she puts her apron on and begins pointing her finger at each student.


    "1,2,3..." She begins counting each of them, committing their faces to memory. The students completely ignore her, only staying interested in getting to the food first.


    Then the older woman presses a button on the side of the conveyor and halts the production of the food.


    The students immediately quiet down as they noticed the source of their commotion being messed with. They all direct their attention to the older woman and some children who have been students for a while turn ghostly pale as they see her.


    "So...I noticed you all taking very good care of my protege here." She smiles and announces towards the crowd of children. "I would like to thank you all from the bottom of my heart!"You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    One of the newer students who finds this scene bizarre blurts out, "Shut up and just get the food ready! We''re hungry!" Sporadic cheers come from the crowd. Other students begin moving away from the children who cheered making them stand out even more.


    The students who knew the woman the best immediately break away from the group and get into a neat and orderly line waiting for their turn to get food. Trying to play it off as being good students the entire time.


    The older woman turns to look at each of those students and then completely stone faced says, "Your food privileges will be suspended until I say otherwise. Anyone caught giving food to those students will have their food privileges suspended as well."


    The student who spoke up previously retorts, "You can''t do that! I have a meal card with a lot of points on it! I earned my food! If you do this I''ll report you to the headmaster personally!" He smirks thinking that she wouldn''t go to overboard knowing this could get reported.


    "Oh you mean my husband? Please feel free to tell him and if he has any concerns he can bring them to me personally." She smiles the young man with a malicious grin.


    Immediately that young mans face pales at the realization that his complaints would fall on deaf ears about this overbearing woman. His next statement stuck in his throat he decides to retreat and not anger this woman any more.


    Seeing the leader of the uprising backing down, the other new students whose heads blew up from confidence now find themselves deflating from realization.


    The woman then turns to the remaining students who were waiting for her judgement and says, "Now then, I was going to give everyone a reward for working well with my successor here while I was retired. Now however, I see that none of you are worthy of my meals."


    She grabs the cloth on the table she wheeled in and pulls it away in a dramatic fashion to display mouth watering exotic foods.


    The smell from the food on the table suddenly bursts out through the cafeteria leaving the other food that was being brought out one by one on the conveyor belt looking like nothing more than slop.


    One of the students who knew the woman summoned up the courage to speak against her, "Please Mrs. Diamond! You can''t punish us all for getting a bit rowdy over food! You make the best food in the entire school! Some of us save up points for a long time just to get a taste of one of your recipes!"


    Mrs. Diamond looks at him and smiles capriciously. She says, "You know, you''re absolutely right. How about this. Anyone who was not a part the chaos that I walked into right now can have as much food as they want."


    The students become flabbergasted at her shamelessness. Everyone knows that all students rush to the cafeteria as soon as it opens in an attempt to get a meal before they close down for the day. After all, the cafeteria can only stock so much good food and it is first come first serve.


    Not to say that there is not food for those who can not get there in time. The only downside is that they would have to personally go and buy the ingredients with their own points. Which, after enough times can add up to an astronomical sum.


    "What there''s no one coming up to eat? Even after I went through all the trouble to make this?" Mrs. Diamond speaks with schadenfreude written all over her face.


    At this moment the doors to the cafeteria open and a new student who no one has seen before walks in.


    Alistair enters the cafeteria under the watchful eyes of the crowd and Mrs. Diamond who is shocked by the emergence of an unknown child.


    He walks up to the front of the line where the food is. He sees that it is all food that is cooked and, though savory to the normal tongue, is unappealing to him.


    He is immediately filled with dread at the prospect of the situation that happened at the feast happening again. He noticed that anything that is cooked or that is not considered raw meat is forcefully expelled from his body.


    He walks over to the lady serving the food and asks, "Do you have any food that I can eat? This stuff is inedible."


    The students in the line next to him, Mrs. Diamond, and her protege drop their jaws in shock at what they just heard.

 The Rough Special

    The crowd stares in shock at the demands of this new kid. Mrs. Diamond assumes she misheard the child and says,


    "Come now child, this is the best food that we have to offer. Made with the finest ingredients and cooked with special care. No need to be shy. I noticed you were not part of the group that causes a ruckus earlier. You deserve the meal!"


    She sticks her moderately sized chest out proudly assuming the child will recognize to not look a gift horse in the mouth.


    However, Alistair only looks at the food one more time with a cursory glance and says pitifully, "But I can''t eat this stuff, it goes flying out of my mouth the moment it touches my tongue..."


    The esteemed Mrs. Diamond started growing angrier scolding Alistair, "Child you have not even tasted my food and yet you say it will make you vomit. Don''t you think that you are being to unreasonable?"


    Alistair is completely ignorant of the misunderstanding he caused and says, "I don''t need to eat it to know that it will fly out of my mouth. I knew it from the moment I saw it. I need food that I can keep in my stomach. Stuff that is fresher than that."


    Mrs. Diamond then loses her patience and snaps out at Alistair, "What a foul mouthed child. Fine then, you want a fresh meal?" She turns her head towards one of the children in line and points at him.


    "You! Take him to the slaughter house! Give him the ''Rough Special''! If you make sure he finishes it all you can have a plate of anything up here." She smiles maliciously. The boy immediately separates from the crowd with joy all over his face.


    "Thank you Mrs. Diamond! I will go right now!" He smiles happily and then turns his head to glare at Alistair. Before he can do anything though Mrs. Diamond states, "Make a sacred oath first. I''m sure your instructors taught you how."


    If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    The boy stops in his tracks and immediately clenches his hand into a fist. A strange energy gathers around it. He then pounds it against his chest and a bright white hollow circle shines and flickers from underneath the boys clothing.


    "I swear to make this student eat the entire ''Rough Special'' within the hour as per Mrs. Diamonds orders!" After making the proclamation, the circle stops flickering and becomes a solid golden circle.


    Immediately afterwards a similar circle appears on the back of the palm of Mrs. Diamond except this symbol as the face of the child in the circle.


    Mrs. Diamond smiles contentedly, "Good, you may now follow through with the task. Remember that if you break the oath, though you will be unharmed, I will be immediately notified. You do not want to get on my bad side, as I''m sure you know."


    The boy takes one last look at the delicious food, and his face turns solemn while making the vow. He grabs Alistair and begins dragging him through the hall taking pleasure in his schadenfreude.


    "Oh man you really got her mad! Not sure if you are brave or just stupid, kid. Either way, I''m glad you did what you did. If you hadn''t made her so angry I wouldn''t have got the chance to get some good food!" The boy looks off into the distance fantasizing about the famous food that only elite students are able to enjoy.


    Alistair being completely unaware of the situation asks, "So there is another place to get food? How come Professor Washington didn''t mention this to me?"


    The student smirks, "You really don''t get it? It''s a punishment for turning down Mrs. Diamonds cooking. Now she is going to make you eat fresh-". He stops himself mid-sentence appearing to catch himself before exposing a secret.


    "- Well, you''ll see when we get there. Hope you ain''t the squeamish type kid. I got to make sure you eat all of it after all!"


    Alistair becomes bewildered, "Punishment? Why am I in trouble? I told her that I can''t eat her food. Is it bad to not eat that type of food?"


    The boy looks at Alistair exasperatingly, "Are you that stupid? Seeing as I''m a veteran student here, I''ll have to explain things to my misguided junior...How were you even able to get into this school? I had to train the moment my parents found I could speak. I guess they are just letting anyone in."


    He shakes his head and continues, "Not only is it bad, it''s completely weird. You''re very weird. No one tosses up a meal like that. They give us meal cards for one meal a day, but do you know how much food we go through? How much hungrier training makes you? Just one small meal a day is enough to leave you starving but still able to move!"


    Back in the cafeteria, Mrs. Diamond stands waiting. Suddenly her face lights up with realization. She moves her hand closer to her face and speaks to the picture of the boy on the back of her palm.


    "Change of oath, bring him back here and make him eat the ''Rough Special''!" She laughs softly and mercilessly to herself.


    "Deny me in front of others will you? Well, I think it''s time that I made an example for the new students." She thinks to herself quietly while waiting for the moment Alistair falls into despair.


    Inside the slaughter house, the boy is scooping up various "ingredients" into a bowl. Just as he finishes he hears the message from Mrs. Diamond. A look of understanding flashes across his face as he seals the bowl and begins walks back to the hallway from the slaughter house.


    However, he is greeted with a sight that leaves him speechless.

 I Will Want Something In Return

    He walks out of the slaughter house and into the hallway to see Alistair looking up at the ceiling, taking deep sniffs. Looking completely deranged, eyes bloodshot red, skin as pale as snow, drool leaking from his mouth.


    Alistair snaps his head down towards the bowl in the boys hand and pounces at him with no warning. The boy swiftly throws the bowl at Alistair and dodges to the side, ready to counter attack.


    What he sees next though makes him speechless. Alistair is stooped over, with his head in the bowl of ''The Rough Special'' and licking it clean. Seemingly content with this alone, he ignores the student completely.


    The moment Alistair gets to the slaughter house with the student, he is assaulted by a familiar enticing stench. One that causes a new reaction with the spirals inside of his body. The spirals in his head and heart slow to crawl, while the speed of the spiral in his stomach doubles.


    He loses all rationality from the pain once the student walked by him with a bowl oozing with the delicious smell. He is still able to see and process the situation clearly, except his body is moving on its own.


    The spiral in his stomach became such a driving force that he could practically hear it telling him, "You must eat what''s in that bowl!"


    As he eats, he feels as if the spiral inside of him is supplementing his body, causing the sickly pale skin to turn a shade rosier. However, that does not appear to be all that it is capable of. However there is no more food to gain benefits from.


    Thus the spiral inside of his stomach spins furiously in frustration. Causing Alistair to look for more of the food.


    He sees the boy off to the side and decides to dash into the room he just came out of. What he sees leaves him flustered. The scent began assaulting him from every direction as he sees the same type of monster being processed one by one into a machine that gives off the pleasant aroma.


    Right next to him he sees a vat of bloody organs. Without being polite he dunks his head inside of the vat and begins feasting. He sucks down the entire vat worth or Rough Special, leaving a small amount left for a snack later.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    He begins to notice a significant change in his body.


    His once famished body begins to look healthier. Although from outside of his outfit it would be very difficult to tell, but his stomach is no longer as concaved as it once was. His arms now have a slightly meaty definition to them. He is now at the normal healthy starting line for human children around 7 years old.


    Once done eating, the spirals inside of his body regulate back to their normal speeds and the spiral inside of his stomach thickens in size by the breadth of a hair. He notices that the changes to his body are not as significant as before in comparison to how much he ate.


    The first time he ate a small amount barely even qualifying as a snack. That gave him the gift of sight. The next time at the feast, after eating his full his throat and vocal cords were repaired granting him the gift of speech. Now he ate his fill and it only made him look a small amount healthier.


    He lifts his head from the vat and takes the bowl that he got from the student, scoops up the remaining Rough Special, and keeps it for later. Afterwards, he ponders about the changes to his body and why they vary.


    He also starts to wonder why his diet is unique. After the spiral in his head took the information given by the people at the cafeteria and the feast, he is able to piece together that his diet is anything but normal. He thinks to himself,


    "There is only one place I can go to find out more about why I''m different from everyone else, the library. To do that though I will need to learn to read...but how? At this rate I will have to many situations where I will be constantly in trouble."


    At this moment due to his acute hearing he hears the sound of the student creeping in through the door.


    The student stealthily walks into the slaughter house ready for a fight as he needs to get Alistair to the cafeteria to eat the Rough Special. However, he sees Alistair covered in the processed blood and the vat of Rough Special gone.


    "What the hell man!? How can you stomach that stuff, and where did you put all of it?! it''s double the size of you!" He blurted out, revealing himself from hiding. Alistair turns around lets out a satisfying belch. He smiles to the student and says,


    "That stuff was amazing! How come they don''t serve this at the cafeteria?"


    The student at this point decides to give up on being surprised. He brings the back of his hand to his chest over the golden circle and says, "Mrs. Diamond, there''s no more Rough Special...The new kid ate all of it."


    He hears a reply back instantly only giving one statement, "Fulfill your oath or suffer the consequences." It was at this point he didn''t know whether to laugh or cry. How can he fulfill his oath with the main dish missing.


    He turns to Alistair and asks, "Come on man, you got to have left some of it! There was so much left in there when I got the bowl of-" He looks at Alistair''s hands and sees him holding the bowl. He asks while clinging to his final hope, "Is there anymore left in there?"


    Alistair looks down at the bowl, then back to the boy and smiles coyly, "Oh yeah, there is definitely some in here. I was planning on having it as a snack for later but I can give it to you if you want, but I will want something in return."


    The student looks at Alistair as if he''s stupid and says, "You know I could just beat you up and take the bowl from you right? Why would I need to make a deal with you?"


    Alistair smiles at the boy and says, "Because I can eat this faster than you can get to me."

 You Already Did!

    The boy wants to retort however, when he remembers that Alistair managed to dispose of the vat in the time it took for him to catch up to him, he breaks out into a cold sweat.


    He swallows down a nervous lump in his throat and asks, "What would you want in return?"


    The student heard stories before about how other students would take advantage of each other. Taking their meal cards, making them do their chores, taking rewards from missions. He didn''t think he would be taken advantage of so quickly into his first year.


    "I want you to teach me how to read immediately after you fulfill your oath." Alistair demanded with a solemn expression.


    The student does not believe his ears, "Y-You want me to teach you how to read? How did you pass the literacy test to get in here if you can''t even read? Wait never mind, is that all you really want?"


    Alistair nods his head, "Yes, and I want you to do the oath thing you did with Mrs. Diamond and walk me through each step."


    After saying this much, he tosses the bowl of Rough Special to the student and looking as if he had come across and unexpected windfall, the student snaps to attention and explains.


    "I can definitely do that! The first thing I do is channel the magic energy inside of me into my hand and then think of the person I am making the oath to-. I just realized I don''t know your name. My name is Roger, so now that I gave you my name may I have yours?" The student says


    "Oh! I''m Alistair, nice to meet you, and what do you mean magic energy?" Alistair asks, remembering the term magic coming up a few times before, it manages to peak his interest.


    "You don''t know magic energy either? Wow man... you really are not going to have an easy time here. I can''t explain magic energy all that well considering I''m just a beginner in using it myself. The teachers go over it in class though, so you might want to either study it in the library later or ask to be tutored."


    He puts his hand out to show that it shines with a faint white light,


    "After I gather the magic energy, I form it into a brand in accordance with the ritual they teach us here. I then bring the brand to my chest and think about that person. As I think about the person and hold it against my chest, I am able to state the vow."If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    He stops to give the command, "I swear to teach you to the best of my abilities, how to read after completing my previous vow as per Alistairs orders."


    Roger creates a white circle next to the golden one on his chest. "The moment you finish speaking, the other person will feel your magic and choose whether or not to accept by crushing the power or dropping it."


    After Roger finishes speaking the oath, Alistair feels a sense of power gushing towards him. A strange pressure forms in his hand, he clenches his fist and easily crushes the invisible pressure


    As he speaks through the steps he goes through for the vow he follows them one by one, solidifying the pact with Alistair.


    Roger put his hand on his chin in a thinking pose, then added, "Also if you can, try to not mention you don''t know any magic to anyone other than teachers. Students here will be quick to bully you into leaving the school if they find out. It is a competition here after all."


    They arrive at the doors of the cafeteria, Alistair becomes curious about the competition that Roger mentioned but does not have any time to pry for further information. "I''ll find out from him afterwards."


    They enter the cafeteria and Mrs. Diamond is sitting alone with the tray of food next to her, all other students that were previously filling the room have all dispersed.


    Mrs. Diamond began thinking more about the situation after cooling down while waiting for the two boys return.


    "Maybe that would be a bit harsh to subject him to eating it in front of everyone. I guess it''s better if I don''t hold up every ones studies as well." She thinks to herself.


    "Alright everyone, you can all leave now." She says to the crowd of students in around her.


    The students originally would want to stay and watch such a spectacle, however, Mrs. Diamonds word is law at the academy. Though some students grumbled in dissatisfaction, they immediately disperse.


    The two students walk back into the cafeteria shortly after everyone leaves, ready to fulfill the oath given to Roger. When they walk up to Mrs. Diamond however, she appears more relaxed and holding a softer expression.


    "So, you have seen the slaughter house and what we use to make the Rough Special. Do you find the freshness of those ingredients more to your liking?" Mrs. Diamond starts off the conversation as they walk closer to her.


    Alistair motions to speak, but just as he is about to he has an epiphany. "Maybe it is better not to say that food was better than hers. She became very upset when I wouldn''t eat it."


    He does not know what to say to make up for what he said earlier, so he decides to say what he heard in the feast at the Brightstar household.


    "I''m sure that you''re food is amazing, I just can''t eat it though. Sebastian said that my body has a ''unique constitution''." Alistair says with utmost sincerity towards Mrs. Diamond.


    She is slightly taken aback at the situation. Although it is not uncommon for someone to have a unique physique, none yet have affected their diets. Only physical changes come about from unique physiques such as harder skin, flexible bones, elongated limbs, and many more.


    Thinking back to the situation previously she becomes flushed in the face about how worked up she became.


    "Child, it''s okay, I understand now. In the future just let me know what type of food you like and I will personally prepare one meal of that nature for you!" She pats her chest as reassurance.


    Feeling bad about turning down her food previously, Alistair feels he needs to show that he does like at least one of her meals.


    Alistair then walks over to Roger and takes the bowl from him, opens the lid and shows her the contents.


    "Mrs. Diamond you already did prepare a meal with the food I love!" Alistair smiles widely and pours the bowls contents into his mouth and devours it in one gulp.

 Dont Worry! Im A Fast Leaner

    After giving Mrs. Diamond a surprise that she will try her hardest to forget, Alistair notices the halo on Rogers chest burst into light fragments and fade away.


    She quickly tries to hide her astonishment and says, "You did not have to subject yourself to that since I have already committed to terminating the oath. I hope you know that you will still have to attend classes even if you are sick."


    However, deep down she becomes impressed with his decision to follow through with his punishment even after being let off the hook.


    Alistair gives her an enthusiastic smile and says, "Of course! This type of food is the best for me after all!" quickly turning his attention to Roger, who is packaging a box of beautifully cooked food from the table behind Mrs. Diamond, he says, "Now it''s time to fulfill your oath with me!"


    Without giving Mrs. Diamond anymore time to process the his actions or become upset even further, Alistair grabs Roger by the hand and pulls him out of the cafeteria, barely giving him enough time to stuff the food away into his clothing.


    "W-Wait! Where are we going so suddenly?" Roger questions in a slight befuddled tone.


    "We are going to the library to teach me how to read! You already agreed so you wouldn''t back out now would you?" Alistair slows down in the hall outside of the cafeteria, beckoning for Roger to take the lead to the library.


    "You mean right now? It''s going to take a while to teach you man! I got to get the materials ready and a lesson plan from the teachers and everything." Roger tries to placate Alistair into letting him go so he can enjoy his food while it is still warm.


    "No can do! I need to learn by today to understand what I need to do everyday and where to go! Unless you want to be with me all day, everyday!" Alistair smiles mischievously as he follows behind Roger.


    "By today!? You are asking the impossible man! You are trying to learn how to read and write in a single day! You got to pace yourself! Besides, I haven''t even eaten yet. Let''s just hold off until tomorrow, okay?" Trying his best to reason with Alistair, Roger tries to explain the difficulty of the task while mindlessly walking towards library.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    "Don''t worry! I''m a fast learner and you can eat while you teach me! I''ll even make you a deal, if you have to repeat anything even once for me, then we can stop, sound fair?" Alistair smiles brightly at Roger as the walk into a room filled with books and desks from wall to wall.


    Roger turns his head from one side to the other, realizing that he just led Alistair right to the library due to them talking about it the entire time. He hangs his head in defeat as he looks at Alistair and weakly nods.


    "Fine, then let''s start with these." He walks over to a shelf filled with childrens books that explain lettering and pronunciation.


    One hour later


    Alistair has a plethora of books next to his side while a downcast Roger is sitting across from him eating his food at a very slow pace, seemingly unable to enjoy the taste of the amazing food.


    Two hours later


    Alistair begins going through the dictionary at a breakneck speed memorizing each words definition and pronunciation. Roger left due to being ignored by Alistair for long periods of time, feeling unneeded.


    Three hours later


    Alistair learns a better way to speed read through book with the spiral absorbing information as if a black hole, all he has to do is view the page for a brief second and the contents will be memorized.


    Four hours later


    Alistair begins to realize that the rate at which he is able to retain information is beginning to slow down. To the point where he will actually have to read each page individually. From this, he also feels the spiral in his mind slowing down to a crawl, seemingly satisfied.


    Alistair lifts his head up from the books he had his nose buried in. Satisfied with the progress he made today, he decides to head back to his bedroom to sort through the information he was able to find out.


    He leaves the library and heads towards his dorm. He enters his room and lays on the bed staring at the ceiling, thinking to himself.


    "From what I can gather, I appear to have something very wrong with me. The only mentions in any of the books that I read, regarding my insane hunger are references to zombies, cannibals, and other beasts that roam the wilds."


    He touches his abdomen, feeling the cold skin and a slight movement underneath in the flow of a spiral.


    "I guess I need to keep my appetite a secret from the people around me. Luckily, I managed to get by on everyone assuming I have a special constitution. However, no constitutions affect anyone''s diet. Even if one did though, it would not drive them to the point of insanity."


    He moves his hand up to his neck, remembering the scene with the beast back in the wilds, and it''s message, "You must grow stronger little one...You are going to be part of me eventually, after all."


    What stuck more on his mind however is the beast mentioned that he had been thrust into a "game". One where it is assumed that he will be the one to die. A cold chill runs down Alistair''s back when he thinks of his fate if left up to the beast.


    He shakes his head to snap himself out of that state of mind comes to the decision of, "I do not know why my memory is so good for a while, or why my I lose focus when I''m hungry. I''ll need to learn more about what I am and grow stronger if I want to live without worrying about being prey to another."


    He turns to the schedule he received from Professor Washington previously.


    "It seems that I am not the only new student for tomorrow, meaning I will be in the same starting point as the others." He reads the introductory passage of his classes and sees the start date of the semester as tomorrow.


    "The first class I have tomorrow will be...?" He turns the page to look at his classes.

 Newfound Morals

    ------------------WARNING: Mild Gore------------------


    "Combat Training. Apparently I am in something called the military program..." Alistair recalls information from the schools guide he read at the library.


    He begins to make a mental checklist of what he knows and does not know that he feels is imperative to survival.


    "One: It seems that the majority of my studies are centered around war tactics and training. I wonder how often attacks from the wilds occur that would cause the need for a formalized military. Everything seemed so peaceful when I got here." He recalls the drive through the valley and town.


    "Two: I am not a normal person...at all. Everywhere I read, people start out as tinier versions of themselves called babies, and their ability to learn is nowhere near mine when I was studying. I will need to find out what I am, Sebastian said I am undead but there are no records of an undead like me. Depending on the answer though, I might be in a bad situation."


    "Three: I need to know so much more than I do right now, but for some reason I feel so sluggish... I will have to find a way to get that learning ability back as fast as possible!"


    He decides to ignore the problems that are weighing down on him for now and closes his eyes while laying on the bed. Trying to get the ability to refresh his mind that he read from books called sleep.


    However, when more than a half hour goes by and he does not feel the slightest bit tired, he starts having doubts about whether or not he even can sleep. He decides to take a stroll outside for the night after much deliberation of whether or not to keep trying to sleep.


    As he walks out the dorm area and into the open square with dark thunder clouds hanging above him. Their normal sounds amplified as a signal of a heavier storm than normal descending upon the land. A rare rainfall accompanying it.


    Curious of seeing his first rainfall, Alistair sticks his hand out into it and notices that despite seeing the thick and heavy raindrops pelt his skin, he does not feel anything from it. He decides to walk out in it to help clear his head from the day.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.


    Strolling around the open square the size of two football fields, he sees one person practicing complicated martial arts moves in the rain underneath a few trees, seemingly shadowboxing. From the dead grass and mud underneath of him, it''s apparent that this spot is used a lot for practice.


    "He is really training hard, it almost looks as if there really is an opponent for him to fight." Alistair has this passing thought as he continues on walking around, accidentally stepping in a pile of mud, causing his newfound distaste for dirt to spike up. Just as he takes a few steps away though he smells the familiar scent of blood.


    Due to his meal earlier, even though it does entice him, it does not drive him to the point of insanity. However it does startle him and he turns his head back to look at the man practicing in the rain, only to see the upper half of his body missing from him.


    He looks at the scene in complete horror, because he sees the upper half of his body being played with in the hands of a familiar face. A hulking figure, a figure that is not human, a beast. Smiling in the now torrential downpour, the beast tears off the mans head and tosses it at Alistair.


    He does not move after that, only smiling a sickening smile standing as if a statue in the pouring rain. Alistair looks at the head by his feet and notices the scalp has been removed revealing the brain housed inside.


    He feels his head start to buzz as if a whirling sound threatens to tear his head apart from the inside the moment he sees the brain. He reaches down towards it and mechanically puts the brain towards his mouth. He feels conflicted eating though, his willpower telling him that this is a person.


    The face flashes from the boys face to it being Beths face he has in front of him, to Roger, Mrs. Diamond, and more. He tries to fight against his bodies impulse to eat it, but his instincts are too strong. He takes one bite and as soon as he does, the spiral in his brain recovers to it''s previous speed.


    He knows that if he eats the entire brain that he could very likely experience an evolution in his processing and learning ability. He does not care about that though, all he can think of is something he never knew he would treasure so much until now, his morals.


    After the first bite he is given the ability to control his body slightly better than before and with all of his willpower he tosses the head away to the side, splashing into the mud. It''s face still directed at Alistair.


    Alistair falls to his knees feeling sick to his stomach for the first time. Coming to grips with the hard reality that even if he wanted to stop himself, if his body demanded him too, he would be forced to eat those he cared for.


    He looks up at the beast with a heartbroken look in his eyes, the rain hitting his face starting to let up. He sees the beast standing right in front him looking down at him with disgust, "You can''t even grow with my help. Pathetic, next time I come by, you better have grown or else I''ll just have to eat you before you are ready. I am not known as someone you can keep waiting after all."


    The beast waves his hand in front of Alistair, making the spiral inside of his head to freeze in place, causing Alistair to fall unconscious and fall to the ground.


    Alistair wakes up in his bed the next morning feeling refreshed, the spiral in his mind moving at top speed once again and his stomach barely satiated enough to make it until lunch. He feels that the entire experience from last night to be something he read about called a nightmare.


    He now knows what his top priority is because of it though, gain control of himself. If he can not control his impulses, his life will be one tragedy after another. He jumps up from his bed, puts on his muddy shoes and walks to his first class.

 Oh Yeah! I Can Still Do That!

    "Alright class listen up! You are starting on your journey to be the shield of our city whenever we are expecting any threat to Utopias safety! It is an amazing honor that you should pride yourselves in."


    "However, to be the shield is not so easy that just anyone can do it. I will work you to the bone, I will instill the military values into you, and above all I will turn you into soldiers!"


    A drill instructor shouted to a group of nineteen children standing in a neat and file line, paying close attention to their behaviors and trying to find one he can pick out to make an example of to establish dominance.


    Normally it would not be needed, considering that they are only children. However, due to the inflated ego that children who trained from infancy to now have developed, it has become necessary to instill a sense of equal footing with each child.


    To do so he would either pick the assumed leader of the group or the class clown, as they drew the most attention.


    The children all have an arrogant sneer on their faces as they listen to the instructor. They have already been told many times before by their respective families what positions they should strive for.


    The only people who will need the soldier mentality are those who will be sent out en mass to chip away at enemy numbers with volume. However, only those who lack any discernible traits or fail to stand out among the crowd will be subjected to that position.


    How could they, who have been training through their entire childhood not be someone outstanding? They will separate themselves from the rest and become an ascended that returns to their family in glory!


    The drill instructor continues looking for the odd one out. However, although they are conceited, they are in formation. It''s then that he realized he is missing one person from the line, on their very first day of training.


    Just as he is about to look at the enrollment list for the class and find the perpetrator, he hears someone running from behind him. He turns around to see a bald child running towards him.


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    "Sorry about being late! I was told to come to room R233 but no one was there! I had to ask around to find out where class was at!" Alistair comes to a stop in front of the drill instructor.


    Little does Alistair know that students are supposed to be told in the acceptance letter where to meet for combat training on the first day.


    The drill instructor looks as if a hungry beast meeting it''s prey. Instead of verbally setting Alistair straight though, he decides to give him a higher workload as an example of for the rest.


    He simply nods his head with a stonewalled face and says, "Right, line up with the rest. Don''t worry about being late mistakes happen."


    The moment Alistair passes him, the drill instructor puts on a devilish grin and decides to begin the real portion of the class.


    "Alright! Listen up! I only have two hours with you today as you are going to be meeting with all of your instructors! So, let''s start things off with some basic cardio to warm you up. I need you to run in place for me until I come to you and say stop. Starting....now!"


    He takes the whistle hanging around his neck and blows into it. All of the children start jogging in place feeling that this is to easy to be true! However, the longer they run, the more they feel that not to be the case.


    Five minutes pass and everyone is still fine. Twenty minutes pass, and they start to become out of breath. Thirty minutes in, they realize that something is not right. They should not be so out of breath from just jogging.


    Forty minutes pass and most of the children are out of breath ready to collapse. It is at fifty minutes in that the drill instructor starts walking up to children and allowing them to relax. He goes to each and every child and allows them to rest.


    Just as he gets to Alistair though, he is about to say that he can stop but becomes distracted with something else. His shoe laces became untied, so he bends down to tie them.


    He gets back up to tell Alistair that he can stop, however another distraction comes up. He notices another instructor walking past the entrance to their classroom and decides to go out and speak with him.


    Alistair is consistently jogging in place, completely oblivious to the special treatment he is receiving. He is not paying too much attention to the others around him due to a revelation he has about himself.


    He does not feel the slightest bit out of breath or exhausted no matter how active he is. He knows that everyone should be feeling exhausted because of some unknown pressure being exerted from somewhere.


    However, he does not feel even the slightest form of strain. He notices the pressure as something that feels like a pale imitation of blood lust. A feeling he has experienced numerous times before from the beast and the zombie huddle at the hospital.


    Compared to those, this became nothing more than a parlor trick in front of Alistair. When the drill instructor came back in, of the allotted two hours, only thirty minutes remain.


    He comes back into the class expecting to see Alistair laying on the ground, panting in defeat. After which, he could rebuke him in front of the others and establish the tone for the rest of the classes.


    When he comes in however, he sees Alistair still jogging in place with a bored expression on his face.


    "What the hell?!" Is the first thought on the drill instructors mind. "The pressure exerted should have been multiplying every ten minutes! There''s no way he should be able to hold out against it!"


    He then thinks of something, "Wait a minute... This kid is to relaxed as if he does not feel it at all. He must be from some family that has given him specialized training entirely on how to resist violent pressure. Tch, lucky brat."


    He walks over to him ready to relieve him of jogging seeing as it has no affect, until he is hit with inspiration. "Oh yeah! I can still do that!"

 Youre Not That Special Then?

    The children next to Alistair who were relieved from running begin looking at Alistair as if he is some sort of monster. Unsure of where his stamina and mental perseverance comes from.


    Some console themselves believing that they only faltered because they were caught off guard, and given the opportunity again they could easily last longer.


    However, some of the students who recognized their own limits begin to feel threatened by this bald kid who outperformed them. Knowing that everything is a contest to discern the regular students from the extraordinary, they make a mental note of him.


    The drill instructor decides to implement the method that he was subjected to early on, the plan of "the protruding nail gets hammered down". He consoles himself with the thought of "This will also be beneficial for this young man seeing as his resolve is already so strong."


    He decides that this is no longer about needing to establish who is on top, but more of a punishment for being tardy. Every teacher knows that this school pits it''s students against each other as competitors. So sometimes, they will stoke the flames of jealousy in each student by picking a "favorite".


    This is done entirely on a case by case basis though, some teachers oppose this way of thinking, while others embrace it. This drill instructor just belongs to the latter category.


    As today''s class is almost over. He claps his hands in a slow applause while saying to the children,


    "Congratulations are in order students. You have been subjected to something that is called blood lust! Now while that may seem foreign to some, others have already undergone training for it such as this young man."


    He singles out Alistair with admiration in his eyes, "You can all tell just how serious it is to temper your resolve. If someones will is not strong enough to withstand their opponents blood lust or killing intent, then they will be finished before they are even able to lift a finger."


    He nods in a satisfied manner, "Yes, you can definitely learn a thing or two from this young man. He knows how to properly stand out!"


    Every students eyes immediately switched from pity that the boy was forced to endure the blood lust, to jealousy and shame that he stood out more than them. While some students reflect on their inadequacies, most of the students begin formulating plans on how to force Alistair down to their level.


    After going over a few details about the syllabus the drill instructor allows them to rest for the remaining ten minutes of class, and exits the room to attend to other matters.


    Alistair is standing in place looking out to his surroundings, losing himself in his thinking of his next class and what he is going to do for food today. He remembers the delicious tasting ''Rough Special'' and is unable to contain a giddy smile of anticipation.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.


    Just as he was thinking of going back to the slaughter house or not for more food, he feels a force hit him in the shoulders and he falls on his backside.


    He looks up to see a group of students looking down at him, two boys and one girl. Just as he is about to get up from the ground he hears the girl who stands out as the leader say,


    "Don''t even bother getting up! You think you''re some big shot just because you can last a bit longer than us in some jogging. I''ll have you know that I''m the one who is going to be in the ascended program! I have to be in it! So I don''t care why you are trying to make me look bad but I won''t forgive anyone who gets in my way."


    Alistair looks up at her in pure confusion and after a moment of speechlessness he asks, "Uh...I''ve only been jogging because the drill instructor told me too. Did I do or say something to offend you by any chance?"


    The girls face turns a slight shade redder from anger as she says, "Oh please! Anyone could see that goofy smile showing how proud you are of yourself that you managed to get praised by the director. I''ll tell you now, my family is not something that should be trifled with!" She flashes a majestic three headed lion insignia of her family that is embroidered on her uniform.


    She looks him over a couple of times and then smiles assuredly to herself. "Seeing as how you do not even have an insignia explains why I don''t recognize you. Some no name kid who does not know what''s good for him should really learn. Stick to the military program as all you will ever be is cannon fodder."


    Her scathing tongue that she is feared for by her colleagues goes into full affect as she tries her best to demoralize Alistair into taking a back seat in class. She puts her hands on her hips and puts on an arrogant grin. Alistair scratches his head and asks,


    "Your in the same class as me, doesn''t that mean that you are in the military program as well?"


    Her smug grin is immediately frozen on her face as he stutters to retort with a flushing face, "T-T-That''s just because I am working myself up from the bottom on my own merits! When one is next to people who are worse than them, then they will shine even brighter!"


    She states trying to hold up her image of the victorious person in power. Which immediately comes crashing down as Alistair says, "Oh...So by yourself you''re not that special then?"


    He says as he slowly lifts himself up from the ground. She huffily states, "I am! Just remember to not get in my way!" As she storms off, the two boys by her side glare daggers at Alistair only to follow closely behind her seemingly to console her.


    Alistair notices there are only two classes needed to attend for the basic level of the military program. The first class being combat training, the second class being general education. Going over things like history, mathematics, English and other topics.


    General education passes by uneventfully after combat training, with only awkward glares being given to Alistair from time to time from the students who shared the previous class with him. There are new students in this class that he had not seen in Combat training.


    He later finds out that each class can have people from different programs taking them. They take the classes that pertain to their each individualized fields.


    As class ends Alistair finds himself with free time as it was only orientation today. He notices that his stomach has not given him that awful pain he experienced around this time yesterday. It would seem the gaps in between each fit of hunger grew after each time he consumes.


    Not needing to eat, frees up a major portion of his day. With the free time he finds himself with, he decides that the best way to secure food that he can eat and other necessities would be to earn more points on his card. To do that though would require him to skip days, weeks, or months without food.


    With how unpredictable his eating habits are though he recognizes how fast he needs to solve this issue. Left with no other option he decides that there is one place that he must familiarize himself with if he wants to survive here, the mission hall.

 Im Just An Opportunist

    The mission hall is a room that has one long desk stretching across from one end of the room to the other, with multiple attendants behind the desk assisting students with mission choices.


    Alistair walks into the the room and waits in line to speak with one of the attendants. While waiting in line, he looks to his side and notices the same girl that was speaking to him in combat training.


    He recognized her from her distinctive strawberry blonde hair, tied up in a ponytail that goes down to the middle of her back. Taking a closer look at her now, he notices her showing a sincere smile that causes her to seem much more approachable than before.


    He then sees her walk away after speaking with the representative for a while looking determined, while still having the same two boys from before trailing behind her.


    As she is leaving though she notices Alistair in line, she turns her nose up at him and walks away in a visibly more haughty demeanor. The two boys behind her still following closely, however after looking at them more, it doesn''t appear that they are with her because they like her.


    They are wearing expressions on their faces that seem to scream, "Just let me leave already!" However, Alistair chooses to ignore this and realizes it''s his turn at the desk.


    "Hello and welcome to the mission hall! May I see your Identification badge please?" The male attendant behind the counter puts on a chipper smile and speaks his rehearsed lines.


    "Identification badge? I have my meal card if that''s what you mean..." Alistair answers the attendant with an unsure expression.


    "Oh! You must be a new student then. In that case I''ll just need to link your meal card to a Identification badge for you, and you will be able to accept missions afterwards." The attendant calmly instructs Alistair.


    "How come you can''t just use my meal card? Isn''t having to many identification cards kind of a hassle?" Alistair replies with a unsatisfied look, not sure about the constant new amount of things he will have to keep track of.


    "I assure you sir that this is necessary. The meal card is for your points only, while the Identification badge is used to track your whereabouts so if something happens to you we are able to respond appropriately on our end." The attendant replies matter-of-factly to Alistair, taking his time to make sure he understands.


    After having his doubts cleared up he follows the procedure and is issued his identification badge without a problem.


    He then asks, "Okay, so what missions are available now?" Looking expectantly at the computer screen that is used to show the list of missions.


    The attendant immediately pulls up all of the missions available on the monitor, by order of difficulty.


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


    Move supplies from warehouse to campus. Difficulty Rating: E


    Clean combat training rooms. Difficulty Rating: E


    ....


    Infestation elimination. Difficulty Rating: D


    Instruct new students on harnessing energy and techniques. Difficulty Rating: D


    ...


    Perform sentry duties on city walls. Difficulty Rating: B


    .....


    Destroy arachnid nest to the west of Utopia. Difficulty Rating: A


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


    A monstrously long list generates before Alistairs eyes, generating so fast he is only able to catch small glimpses of certain missions.


    "These are all of the missions available currently, now filtering missions available to military program new recruits." The attendant offhandedly states as he deftly moves his hands across his keyboard.


    The list begins receding at a pace just as fast as it generated, shortening the list from thousands of tasks down to fifteen quests that seems so tedious it is surprising it is a mission at all.


    Repeatable tasks such as cleaning and fetching items fill the majority of the list, however one does catch his eye as he is going through each missions details.


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


    Cleaning equipment in the cafeteria. Difficulty Rating: D


    Description: Whenever the equipment in the cafeteria is turned off, it releases a rattling sound. Please disassemble the equipment to dislodge any rattling pieces and clean off any grime that is causing the sound. Throw away any old or raw food ingredients found left behind equipment as well.


    Time limit: 2 days


    Reward: 100 points


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


    He sees the reward first and thinking that his card comes with 1000 points on it since he was given it. It would seem that the reward could be considered average.


    What really draws his attention to this though is the chance for raw ingredients. Even though it is a stretch that it will be something appetizing for him,he remembers that the Rough Special was considered only raw ingredients.


    He figured it''s the only mission available to me that at least somewhat aligns with his goals. The goals being to get points and a chance at a way to curb his appetite.


    "I''ll take this one then." Alistair points to the screen and conveys his intentions to the attendant.


    "Okay, the kitchen closes down for the day at 1800 every day. It is the issuers request that this be completed outside of work hours. If you would like to add companions to the mission statement at any time after this point onward, they will not receive the reward from the quest. They will only receive the marks of completion."


    The attendant faithfully explains to Alistair, now knowing he is a new student.


    "What are marks of completion? Is it another form of currency from points?" Alistair asks as he figures that each portion of the school must function as if they are separate entities.


    "Not at all. Marks of completion have no tangible purpose such as buying goods and services. Instead, they function as a form of accolades. The more you have, the better your reputation and the more difficult missions you will be allowed to take." The attendant responds.


    Alistair''s questions cleared after the attendants response. After a few more inquiries about the mission, the attendant gives Alistair directions to the supply room for cleaning products he could use for his mission knowing that it is on the opposite side of the campus.


    He says his thanks and after being registered for the mission he takes his identification badge and decides to walk over and prepare for the mission.


    On his way over, he notices the girl with the ponytail and the two boys who have been following behind her staring at each other. The two boys have playful expressions on their face while the girl is trying to hold back a smoldering rage.


    He decides that this isn''t his problem and that if he went up to find out what is going on, she would turn him away with animosity. He instead walks past them as they are in the way to the supply room.


    As he walks by he hears the girl say in a growl, "Did my older brother bribe you, or did you single me out from the start?" She glares daggers into each of them.


    He is walking right past their sides now as he hears the boys say, "Michelle, what do you mean? This is for the best. Just imagine the hardships you would have to endure if not for us doing this. You should be thanking us!" They smile smugly at her with a feeling of victory.


    As Alistair is now past them he feels a tug on his arm and hears a voice coming from his side, "Oh, then thank you so much for saving me the future hardships by tossing you aside now for others more capable!"


    He turns his head to see the girl who was demeaning him not to long ago, holding his arm and acting as if they are best of friends to get back at those boys. His mind quickly spins into action as he thinks of the best course of action in this situation.


    Alistair then sneaks a small evil smile to himself as he thinks of what he did to Roger the other day. "Okay, I can definitely use this. Do not blame me for this, I''m just a opportunist you tried to take advantage of!" He thinks to himself while realizing another fact about himself. He really loves taking advantage of others.

 Ill Take Those!

    The other boys snicker as they remember the boy that Michelle clings to as a saving grace. They realize her futile attempts to get back back at them will immediately blow up in her face when the boy tosses her aside out of anger for her display earlier.


    To their surprise though, the boy sticks his bald head up high, puffs out his chest and walks in strides as if it is only common that others would lean on him for support.


    "That''s right! I am not only the most capable person here, I have withstood the blood lust longer than any student in our class. I have withstood countless tribulations and adversities! My rise to fame is only beginning!" Alistair brags with as much bravado as he possibly can, causing the boys faces to darken.


    All the while, Michelle''s face turns scarlet red from embarrassment at her choice of people to rely on. First the two boys who betray her, and then a boy with so much self confidence that it leaves one speechless.


    "Come! We have many things we must attend to! I promise to protect you from these delinquents so long as you do not get in my way!" He takes his arm from being hooked around hers and swings her into his embrace as if a father protecting his child from the world.


    Alistair all the while is forming a pool of cold sweat on his back as he notices the boys shocked expressions beginning to fade. He tried using a technique he read in a book called acting.


    It was said that a true actor can become so engrossed in his character that he can not only fool his audience, but himself as well. To Alistair, who is looking for a way to curb his hunger, trickery felt like a useful tool to deceive his body.


    However, realizing that he put himself in a precarious position, Alistair begins thinking that it''s time to bring his performance to a close. The two boys are visibly stronger than Alistair, and they have skills from being trained since birth. The danger sensors in Alistair''s brain were going off.


    Hiding her shame, Michelle pulls forcefully on Alistair to take him out of eyesight from the now dumbfounded boys who were so sure of themselves a moment ago. She did admit to herself though that it felt good knocking them down a peg.


    Before the boys could fully recollect themselves and take advantage of the moment, Alistair and Michelle already walked a fair distance away after turning a corner. They look at each other and then nod and decide to tail both of Alistair and Michelle.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.


    After turning the corner, instead of walking farther, Alistair pulls Michelle into an area underneath a staircase leading upwards to hide. Just as Michelle is about to yelp out in surprise, she feels Alistairs hand go over her mouth and sees the two boys from before walk past the staircase just a minute later.


    She peels his hand off her mouth and stares back at him angrily, "Just who do you think you are touching? I could have you thrown in jail for that." She states coldly.


    "Is that the thanks I get for helping you out there? It''s not my fault you decided to drag me into your problems. I will have you know though, my help doesn''t come cheap." Alistair flatly responds.


    "What happened to all of that bravado you were putting on earlier about promising to protect me? You should be honored that I am giving you the honor of being a sacrificial pawn for me!" Michelle harrumphs and turns her head up in disdain.


    Alistair realizes that this time, it''s his turn to feel what it''s like to be speechless. "You really don''t know how to appreciate good will do you? Fine then, I can tell you that I am not honored to be a pawn, nor do I feel I can be considered the most capable person here. It''s all acting, so if you don''t appreciate it then I''ll just go apologize to those boys and hand you over to them."


    Alistair reveals his threat in hopes of getting her to crack. However he soon notices that instead of an angry retort or pleading for mercy, she is just looking down at her feet giggling to herself and then lifting her head to look him in the eyes.


    She chuckles while shaking her head. "You really don''t get what you just did back there do you? This is why I told you earlier that pawns need to know their own place. Those two boys out there aren''t the type who just give a slap on the wrist and let bygones be bygones. Even if you give me over to them, they will do everything in their power to kill you."


    She looks at him as if he is dancing on the palm of her hand and laughs softly.


    Alistair''s heart drops at this revelation, however he holds a bit of hope that she is bluffing by saying, "Oh please, why would they want to kill me just because I pretended to help you? Especially when I could just turn you back over to them."


    "Because you spoke to me in private, anyone who is alone with me must be eliminated. That is how strict my family is. Those two boys pretended to be friends with me when class started, however they said that...No, that''s all you need to know."


    She reveals a pained expression as she recalls the conversation with them earlier and then wears an aloof expression.


    Alistair''s hope is dashed as he curses himself for trying out a skill due to his curiosity. As his he kicks himself for past mistakes he then looks at her and says, "Okay fine, you officially took advantage of me. Now if you don''t mind, I must make preparations in the case of them coming after me. I''ll leave you to your family troubles. Bye."


    He starts to walk around while looking around the corner only to feel the hem of his shirt being tugged on, he turns and sees it''s Michelle holding onto him.


    "Please don''t leave me behind...I know that you might be afraid of them now, but what if I gave you a way to go against them? I am considered the magical genius of my family you know. It''s why they value me so highly as to be so strict." Michelle says with a half pitiful, half prideful look on her face.


    "Not interested. I can''t use magic. Got anything else to offer?" Alistair flat out refuses.


    Taken aback by the embarrassing revelation Alistair confesses to her she staggers a bit before saying, "I-I don''t know much other than magic though... The only other thing I have to offer is some trash-tier martial techniques that the mission hall gave me as a reward..."


    Before she could continue that line of thinking, Alistair''s eyes brighten up. He had read of martial techniques back in the library and remembers the stories of warriors who trained up a punching technique to it''s pinnacle and was able to punch through iron with only his physical body.


    "I''ll take those!" Alistair excitedly exclaims.

 Associate With The Weak

    Michelle is brought back by the sudden interest in the techniques. Growing up, her family told her that no matter how one trained in body techniques it would hit a ceiling eventually. Magic on the other hand gets stronger with magic energy accumulation and experience.


    She then remembers Alistair saying that he can''t use magic and after casting him a pitiful glance she accepts the trade and gives him the techniques. After losing the two boys she thought were her friends, she desperately needs to strengthen as many relationships as possible to gain freedom from her family.


    Most of the children here hope to either be adopted into the top families or return to their own families with the glory of being an ascended. Michelle though, only hopes that she can be so outstanding that it allows her to break away from her families power struggle.


    As she thinks of her need of more relationships and the outstanding performance Alistair displayed in the face of blood lust, her mind wanders back to before she left for the orphanage.


    ...


    A man and woman stand in a lavish garden, they see a young girl standing in the center in a stance that makes her seem as if she were a piece of the scenery, barely distinguishable at first glance. She has a faint blue glow forming around her, almost as if a film enveloping her body.


    Ordinary people would not be able to notice her without actively looking for her, except the man and woman were staring straight at her the entire time.


    "She is able to attune herself to the magical energy in the area so soon after her baptism. She is a prodigy that has a chance to surpass even the protector of Utopia." This statement came from the woman standing next to the man.


    She looks at the man with an expectant expression as she says, "Your daughter will be the leading figure of Utopia if she trains diligently with the best of instructors and resources."


    Despite the praise that his child is receiving and the proof in front of him, he remains unmoved with a slightly disappointed expression.


    "She is still far from her brother though, how unfortunate for her to be born with such an outstanding older brother. I can not invest in someone who is weak, send her to an orphanage after her training and we will see her progress after she ascends." He casually remarks before turning around and walking away.


    Other than when his daughter was born, this was the second time he saw her in person and he decided that she was not worthy of his attention.


    The woman became visibly upset at the outcome of the young girls performance not impressing the man. She bites her lip and while frustration builds inside of her, she slightly bows in acknowledgement, "Yes husband, it will be as you wish."Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.


    This woman is one of the mans many brides and their daughter is a young girl with strawberry blonde hair. "Michelle, that''s enough come inside now and tend to your studies. You failed the test and will go to an orphanage after the instructions are finished so pack your things as well."


    The woman did not disguise her disappointment with her daughter, she was already an outcast in the harem before and now her daughter had to be sent away for adoption. Her status will only drop from here.


    Michelle is in the garden focusing on the magic power that is flowing through her body at this moment as it is her first time since the baptism, feeling the wonderful sensation of magic energy. She gets the feeling that it is a muscle in her body that she is able to move at will.


    Just as she is about to try directing it outside of her body she feels a repulsive force which is blocking it from exiting. Almost as if a dam holding back a flood. She tries attacking it with her magic force and sees it beginning to show signs of breaking. Just as she is on the verge of letting her magic energy escape from her body, she hears her mothers call which snaps her out of her trance.


    She completely forgot about the test that she was given while in the trance, she was excited to see her father for the first time and show him what she can do.


    When she opened her eyes, she saw her mother standing there alone, with a sour look on her face. She then processed the words that her mother just said to her. "What? Where''s father? Didn''t he want to see my magic?" She asked her mother in disbelief of the situation.


    "Your father doesn''t associate with the weak. If you want to see him, become stronger than your brother. Don''t be weak." Her mother looked at her with a dead look in her as if what she was saying was the norm. Michelle''s legs give out from under her and she falls to her knees.


    She is a child that was told her father doesn''t even want to associate with her and she is to be given away until she can become stronger. All because her brother is stronger than her, a hatred takes root in her heart as she feels unjustly punished for something she has no control over.


    She looks up at her mother with tears in her eyes and sees her face. She knows her mother isn''t lying or joking. Her mother never spoke with her about anything other than results in training her mind before the baptism.


    She goes in to get her final lessons from the instructors, as she has finished most of her private tutoring before this day. This day was supposed to be a grand graduation for her, instead she is re-instructed on the basics of her education before packing her things.


    Each child''s brain is matured from the moment they can walk to allow the magic to gather around them faster as magic energy favors the young and the dying. The stronger you become in magic, the longer you are able to live.


    Adversely, magic energy gathering becomes more and more difficult as you age. Which is why most people in the world fight over resources gained from the Wilds. It''s due to people who have luck on their side finding resources that increase their magic energy gathering speeds by astronomical amounts for a limited time.


    The next day she set off with bodyguards as she is still part of an illustrious family. Except no close family member was there, not even the instructors who she spent the majority of her early childhood with. Only one person saw her off, her brother. He stood waiving by the manor as she was leaving wearing a charismatic smile while telling her he wishes her the best of luck.


    She later found out by asking a physician about this, that her magic energy was blocked by an outside force. The only things that could do this are really expensive items or really powerful individuals suppressing the weak.


    Her mind turns to find anyone who would have a motive to suppress her magic energy and only one person comes to mind, her brother.

 Stuck In A Loop

    Michelle shakes her head as she snaps herself out of her memories and she looks towards Alistair who is standing completely still while looking at the martial skill books. Well, looking isn''t the right word. He is pressing the book against his forehead with both eyes completely closed.


    She tugs on his shirt again in an attempt to get his attention.


    He jolts his head back at her with with a slightly dazed expression and then puts on an act of aloofness and says, "Ah...Yes, these will have to do for now. I will help you with missions and partner with you in class. I look forward to our cooperation in the future." Alistair reaches out his hand in an attempt to shake hands with her.


    She is taken aback slightly as she shakes his hand, unsure of why the atmosphere around them changed so drastically. She nods, "Uh, sure. Then I will meet up with you tomorrow at combat practice...I don''t really need help with missions though, but if I do I''ll let you know."


    She ducks out of the stairwell and makes sure the coast is clear as she heads back to her dorm to prepare for the mission she received at the mission hall earlier.


    Alistair is left alone after she leaves. He lets out a breath of air he had been holding in to keep himself steady. He thinks back to when he first opened the martial skill books and gets shivers running through his body.


    He was handed two books, [Living Iron] and [Knuckle Burst]. He decided to open [Living Iron] first, as it was the most bizarre title of the two and that piqued his interest. He opened the book and read it as if it was any other book in the library, however to his surprise he was unable to retain the information.


    He knew that his learning ability was at it''s peak after resting through the night, so this is a new discovery to him. As he is about to read it again for good measure, he feels the spiral in his mind speeding up it''s rotation rapidly as if trying to break away from his skull.


    He reaches for his head to stop the pain the spiral is causing, the book still in his hand as he reaches his head and closes his eyes in pain. The moment the book touched his head, in the darkness he saw with his eyes closed, a loop of him using the technique playing in his mind over and over.


    He saw himself moving in strange ways, one moment he would move very fluidly and then stop very suddenly as if time around him froze in place. Then he would break out of that frozen state and move fluidly once more until the next time he would be frozen again.


    Every time the frozen state would occur, the loop would reset and freeze at another moment. The gap in between the frozen stiffness and fluid movement kept decreasing after each use. The frozen parts that were there previously, would instead be slightly altered.


    The the loop played faster and faster, until it finally got to the point where the frozen stiffness never occurred, and in it''s place the user would move fluidly all the time while attacks bounce off of him as he were made of metal. This loop showed how to eliminate the errors in the technique!Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.


    After Alistair realized this fact, he was eager to try and start practicing this technique on his own. Then he remembered he had another technique he could try and use. Just as he was ready to open his eyes, he realized he could not exit this space, he was trapped.


    He spent what felt like hours in the blank space watching the same scene over and over, unable to move or feel anything. All of his senses became completely cut off from the world. It was until he suddenly felt a tug on his back that he was released from the loop and he saw Michelle looking at him.


    He felt as if he was released from an endless abyss. What he managed to bring back from that abyss though was the perfected version of [Living Iron].


    Though he would still have to practice it in his own time, he would be able to fully show off the capabilities of a technique everyone thought to be trash. He thinks about doing the same thing with the other book but is apprehensive about that loop he fell into.


    He decides to save that for another time and goes to the supply closet for cleaning equipment. When he gets to the closet he sees the equipment, a bucket, wash cloth, a bottle of soap, and a toolbox. He takes it and goes to the cafeteria arriving just as they are about finish their work.


    He sits to the side in the cafeteria and watches the students eating their food. Savoring each bite and looking content. ''One wants what what can''t have.'' Alistair feels his stomach beginning to tighten as he starts thinking back to the food he had the day before.


    He figures that he will have to go looking for the slaughterhouse after finishing up with his mission.


    Time passes and the students leave along with the staff. As they close up everything and leave, they stop to inform Alistair of the problem areas in the kitchen so he knows where to look when he goes back.


    After being informed Alistair nods in understanding and waits until everyone finishes leaving until he finally makes his way into the kitchen. The staff turned the lights and all machines off as they were leaving. They informed Alistair that the machines could take a few minutes to cool down so to wait.


    As he is making his way back into the dark room he starts to hear a faint clicking noise coming from the darkness. The closer he gets to it, the louder it gets.


    He goes over to the light switch and turns it on. The moment the light turns on, the clicking noise stops. Everything seems completely normal in the kitchen so Alistair goes over to check the machines. He assumes that they must be making this sound while they cool off.


    So he waits for a while longer until a few minutes pass and then goes over to the stove and opens it to check the magical rune laying at the bottom of it. The rune is dim and unassuming meaning that it''s completely deactivated.


    He knows that the task of disassembling is fairly easy since magic has been able to replace intricate parts for technology. So many appliances are shaped in a way to make them easier for humans to understand and process them, when in fact it takes very little to functionally use them.


    He looks back up and then starts with disassembling the stove piece by piece. He makes sure to clean each part thoroughly. After cleaning he reassembles it and moves on to the next appliance.


    After doing this for the better part of a few hours, he finishes for the night and makes his way to the the exit after finishing everything. He turns off the light and makes his way to the door.


    He stops in his tracks because as he is walking, he starts to hear the clicking noise. This time though, the sound is coming from all around him.


    He becomes confused at the situation until a strong sense of blood lust locks on to him from the back. He dives forward and hears the air being cut behind him.


    He looks back, and sees a huge shiny black carapace with disgusting long mandibles in the spot he was just at. He realized the rattling wasn''t coming from the machines. Whatever that thing is, it''s the thing that is making the sound.

 Maybe I Can Eat This?

    Alistair can''t believe his eyes as he sees the creature before him. "What are you?!" He shouts towards it, but all he receives is a series of clicking sounds coming from it''s mouth.


    The creature senses that it''s surprise attack failed and scurries away behind a giant food freezer, out of view of it''s prey to set up another attack.


    Alistair thinks about what he has seen so far to understand his situation. The beast that just attacked him comes up to the height of his shoulders. However, it was was at least five feet long, with three legs on each side of it.


    He immediately recognizes it from one of the books he read on monsters as a cockroach. The only thing he doesn''t understand is it''s size. A cockroach is only supposed to be no bigger than an inch. They are also known to colonize with each other, but there is only one here.


    He thinks this as he hears the clicking noise moving all around him in the darkness, sometimes appearing faintly and others as if it''s about to burst his ear drums. He looks as hard as he can at where the sounds coming from but sees nothing out of place.


    He decides to turn the light on as he notices that for some reason, the monster is not active in the light. Just as he makes a move towards the light, he feels something slick brush up against his arm. He snaps his attention over to his arm and sees the monster''s mandibles slowly closing in around him arm.


    He quickly pulls his arm to his chest as fast possible. However, he was not fast enough as the mandibles clipped his pinkie finger off.


    Normally people would notice that there was a missing digit on their hand. Alistair does not feel any physical pain though, he only noticed that there was a space on his hand when he clenched his fist that should not be there.


    The monster somehow senses Alistair''s intention as he makes his way towards the light switch and scurries as fast as it can to catch up to him, disregarding the finger-food it just received from Alistair.


    Alistair gets to the switch just as the monster gets to him, it had adjusted it''s mandibles while running at him to as wide as they could go. They fit around Alistair''s waist just as it got to him, but when it was about to close it''s mouth down on him a blinding light filled the room.


    A cacophony of clicking noises burst from the monster as the eyes that covered the better portion of its head turn bright red and start bubbling as if they are boiling. Then the monster completely collapsed and a pool of white blood started to form underneath of it.


    Alistair does not even have time to process the situation as he finds himself going dizzy at the sight of the blood on the floor. He finds that he is slightly able to retain control of his body this time as he realizes his stomach is trying to take over.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    He decides that instead of immediately dining on the monster, he needs to make sure there is no one around watching. "I did make a lot of noise after all, it wouldn''t be strange if someone walking by stopped to look." Alistair thought.


    He looks out the door into the cafeteria and see''s it completely empty, "Well it''s also really late so most people are probably sleeping." he concludes. He walks over to the light getting ready to turn it off.


    Before he does though, he goes back to pick up his pinkie finger and feels a bizarre ghost feeling in his hand, as if he can still move his pinkie even though it''s not connected. He tries to act on this feeling and see''s no response from the pinkie finger.


    He tries to put the finger back on his hand in a crude attempt at reattachment. He notices that the moment it touches his hand, although it does not reconnect it really does move according to his will!


    Shocked by this revelation, he holds his pinkie in his hand and walks back to the light switch and turns off the light as a just in case measure if anyone walks in to see him.


    He waits in the darkness for anymore movement from the beast with his finger on the switch if it makes even the slightest move. After making sure no other monster jumped out in a surprise attack at him, he gives up on the self control that has been driving him to the brink of insanity.


    He reaches for the corpse and realizes that the legs and back are as hard as iron, unable to even be moved by him. He could not even light the wing off of it''s back. What he decides to do after realizing this is to go in from the eyes.


    As he enjoys his meal, the spiral inside of his stomach begin it''s usual process of absorbing the food, allowing it to satiate Alistair''s hunger. Instead of improving his muscles like each other feast had done before, a new development took place.


    He could see the changes the monster did immediately. The reason he could see them, is because the changes happened to his vision! He realizes that the darkest corners of the room are now completely visible, even though he had not been in the dark long enough for his eyes to adjust.


    After getting this new addition to his eyesight, he decides to test it out immediately. He runs to the light switch in the room and flicks it on. The light ended up blinding him momentarily.


    A feeling of being uncomfortable comes from within him as he basks in the light and after making sure he is adjusted to it, he turns them off. Within a second, he is completely acclimated to the dark.


    Unbeknownst to himself, he finds that the pinkie finger which had been severed is now completely reattached. Alistair begins making mental notes of everything that is changing and occurring for future reference.


    "It seems if a intact body part is taken from my body, it can be put back on as long as I am consuming. My eyesight no longer needs a long delay to adjust to the dark, however the light bothers me slightly. It seems I not only pick up stronger abilities from my food, but there weaknesses too. I will have to find out what other weaknesses I have when I have more time."


    These thoughts are not said allowed, only to be a mental note for the future. He looks over at the corpse of the monster and realizes that there is a big problem now.


    If the monster is dead, then he can just report that there was a monster making the noise for his mission. However, they are going to see the bite marks left on it''s insides. If they do, then it will only be a matter of time before it comes back to Alistair.


    After thinking all of this, he goes back to the monster and remembering he can''t even lift a part of it he can only think of one thing as he strokes his hand on the slick back exoskeleton of the creature.


    "Maybe I can eat this?"

 If You Dont Believe Me, Then Just Look!

    Alistair tries biting down on the shell of the creature and realizes that his teeth will break before the exoskeleton will. Thinking this, he looks around for something to break the shell small enough to fit inside of his mouth.


    He looks into the toolbox he brought with him and finds a nail hammer. He takes its and swings down on the back with as much force as he could muster. He doesn''t know why, but something inside him is telling him to try and eat it.


    After multiple blows with the hammer, the shell broke apart almost as cleanly as glass. Without much hesitation, Alistair throws the small piece he chipped off into his mouth and swallows it.


    After it passes through his throat he feels his body start itching. He feels a gnawing itch throughout his entire body, a feeling he has never experienced before. Driven by how uncomfortable he is, he flails his arms about and slightly feels the pain subsiding.


    He realizes that the more he moves the easier it becomes to endure. He starts jogging in place as he did in the combat training hoping to alleviate his dilemma.


    Although it is slightly effective, he feels there could be something more he could be doing. Since running in place does not give any immediate results, he decides to try another method.


    He thinks back to the movements he saw of [Living Iron], and decides to try practicing the body improvement technique. He starts to feel the substance that sat at the pit of his stomach slowly being dissolved, disintegrate immediately after practicing one movement of the technique.


    He is shocked and excited that the itching feeling inside of his stomach stopped completely. What he is excited about even more is that he can feel the changes in his skin. Everything felt as if it were hardening and becoming tougher.


    He keeps trying to finish the move set, but when the substance in his stomach dissolved, he no longer received any gains from practicing.


    If his skin was notebook paper before, it now felt like construction paper. Even though the change is not that big of a leap, he realizes how beneficial it is to practice the move set.


    He notices that the biggest component to strengthening his skin with this technique is the monsters shell. So after much deliberation, he puts a cleaning tarp down that was in the toolbox and starts whacking away at the shell.


    Almost an hour later, medium and small pieces of the shell lay scattered all around on the tarp. Alistair grabs the edges and wraps it up into a bag. Happy that the cafeteria is fairly close to his dorm, he tries his best to pull it but notices he is barely able to budge it.


    He keeps thinking of ways to move it but nothing is coming to mind. The only option he has left is to try and use as many of the big pieces as possible to lighten the load. Noticing how long he has been at the cafeteria though, it would not be a surprise if someone were to go looking for him since he has not shown at the dorms.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    So without a thought, he takes a few of the biggest pieces he could find and shoves them in his mouth. Without waiting for the itch to start to take affect, he begins practicing his move set. As he is practicing, he feels the familiar itch rise up from within him and become stronger than before.


    Alistair begins to speed up the routine he is doing in an attempt to catch up with the feeling and starts going faster and faster. Eventually his movements that became a blur, come to a stop. He feels his body caked in sweat but noticeably is tougher than before.


    If his body was construction paper, it is now like soft leather. After making sure the bag is light enough to lift, Alistair finishes cleaning up the final parts of the kitchen, turns off the light and makes his way back to his dorm.


    As Alistair is cleaning up, a shadowy figure the size of a normal adult man appears at the doorway to the kitchen looking in at him. As he leaves, the shadowy figure vanishes from the doorway of the cafeteria before Alistair could see him.


    After getting back to his dorm room with nothing eventful happening, Alistair realizes that the exhaustion felt from practicing the move set took more out of him than he thought. He hurriedly stuffs the bag underneath of his bed and is about to go to sleep as he realizes all of the sweat on his body.


    He remembers from the assessment the cleaning spell they used to clean him. Unable to stand the filth on his body, he runs to the room he has never used before in his dorm. He goes into the bathroom and remembers vaguely how to use a shower.


    After disrobing himself and a few failed attempts at keeping his footing in the wet bathtub connected to the shower, he struggles to make his way back to bed.


    "Luckily there are self cleaning enhancements on the school uniforms so I do not need to figure out how to do laundry." He thinks to himself as he lays in bed and thinks back to the monster that attacked him in the kitchen. Since he decided to use the corpse himself, he can not tell the school the monster was the actual problem.


    He will have to let them think it was only the machines. However, the monster itself could have killed Alistair if he had reacted a little slower or if the monster gave up on sneak attacks and just fought with him outright. It seems even at the school, his life is in danger.


    He drifts to sleep from the exhaustion of the day and wakes up the next day feeling refreshed. He is surprised that he is not feeling even hungry in the slightest. He figures it must be from the meat he ate last night.


    After happily accepting that he is finally able to curb his appetite more now, he puts his clothes on and heads to his Combat Training class. He makes a mental note to himself the he must use those monster pieces sparingly as they can improve his strength, but for the time being they are also his source of nourishment.


    "Alright class listen up! We have to get each of you into pairs and start practicing your hand to hand combat. I know some you think that it''s pointless to work on your body as you are striving to become ascended using magic. However, striving for magic on its own is foolishness!"


    The students who are standing in line put on guarded expressions as they hear the drill instructor say that their choice of fully focusing on magic is foolish. Growing up in powerful families, they have been told all along that training the body is a waste of time and will max out eventually, but magic will continuously get stronger with a time.


    "If you don''t believe me then just look!" The drill instructor says as he points to Alistair.

 3...2...1... Fight!

    Alistair is taken by surprise at the sudden attention being drawn to him. He puts on an awkward smile towards everyone looking at him as he is not sure what else to do.


    The drill instructor walks over to Alistair and then grabs his arm while talking to the class. The moment he feels the muscle on his arm though he becomes slightly shocked and then smiles slightly reassuring himself of his choice.


    "This boy has no magic energy to speak of, he is completely inept when it comes to magic and may never even know the joy of casting even the simplest spells." He says, while acting as if he is not insulting Alistair in the least.


    He continues, "However, if you all were told to fight to the death right now without the use of magic, he would win." Saying this in a deadpan manner. While this was his plan to scold Alistair by singling him out from his peers. It is also a reality check for students who think magic is all powerful.


    The students in the class, including Michelle and the two boys who were chasing him earlier, put on a face of complete disbelief. This scrawny, bald, pasty white kid who looks like he could topple over from a stiff breeze would be able to kill them all? No one there took it seriously.


    The drill instructor notices their reservations and smiles, "Don''t worry, you all will get the chance to see what I mean during hand to hand combat. I''m sure you have all been given at least a sprinkling of training on it before coming here, so as the saying goes ''Seeing is believing''."


    "Magical energy runs out very fast due to higher tiered spells requiring more magical energy. This being said, if you were to find yourself out of magical energy then you would be at the mercy of whoever is stronger than you. Some people that train their bodies to the peak are even able to contest multiple ascended of the same level due to not relying on magical energy, but their own physical stamina."


    The drill instructor goes off on a lecture about the fundamentals of building up the body as a container for magical energy and it''s practical uses outside of magical energy.


    After finishing the lecture, he divides everyone into two groups and then gives them the instructions for the first combat training class. "Since today is the combat training''s first class, you will each battle everyone else in the class one time to understand each others fighting style better. Don''t worry about hurting each other, as long as you aren''t dead then the nursing staff on standby will heal you."


    After explaining more rules and regulations each student is given three minutes fights with the rest of class analyzing their movements and offering constructive criticism. This is how this academy has done it''s training in the past and what it is famous for.


    The first student up is the very person the drill instructor bragged about in the beginning, Alistair. His opponent is a student who never made much of an impression in the class yesterday. A quiet plain looking boy with walnut brown hair and green eyes.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    The drill instructor decided that each student should state their name and fighting style as a way to introduce themselves to the class. This will help him decide on how to tailor their physical improvement to each of them.


    The plain boy and Alistair walk into the center of the room and stand about ten feet apart from each other. The plain boy takes the initiative to start of the introductions.


    "I am Taylor! Fighting style: Judo" The plain boy announces as he takes a proper stance ready to engage.


    "I am Alistair! Fighting style: ... uhh" He turns to the drill instructor who is standing against the wall of the room observing the match and shout, "Teacher! What if you don''t have a fighting style?"


    "...." The entire room went silent as they watched the boy who was hyped up by the teacher as the strongest, state he didn''t have any training on how to fight.


    The students let out an uproar of laughter as Michelle starts blushing in embarrassment for getting her expectations of her new partner too high.


    After regaining his composure, the drill instructor replies, "Ah-Ahem...yes, well... If you have never been formerly taught any style, then you may be referred to as free style fighting."


    Then one of the boys who Alistair provoked the other day spoke up while laughing, "Teacher, I heard the senior students have another name for free style fighting. How about we call it zombie style, since all free style can do is get beaten around while they flail about aimlessly!"


    Another uproar of laughter spreads through the students. Just as the drill instructor is about to reply to that comment, Alistair is taken aback and then shouts, "Thank you!"


    "I am Alistair! Fighting style: Zombie Style!" He spreads his arms and legs a bit wider to prepare himself for any sudden surprises. The few fights he has experienced, managed to temper his fighting instincts by a good amount. The moment he heard Zombie style, he immediately felt as if fate decided to play a joke on him.


    Taylor on the other hand, did not laugh at all. He has taken Alistair seriously from the moment he went into his stance. After hearing Alistair''s fighting style, he nods and says, "Understood! Teacher may we begin?"


    After realizing that he let himself be swept up by the ridiculousness of the events, he feels ashamed that he has to be brought back to his senses by one of his students. As if trying to regain face and ignore the previous matter he declares, "The fight will begin in 3...2...1... Fight!"


    Alistair moves swiftly towards Taylor in an attempt to catch him off guard. Although, he has no training, he has overcome life and death fights before. Believing that his experience will prevail, he takes the initiative to strike at Taylor''s face.


    He was only taught the basics of Judo, he actually really enjoyed practicing it. It was a way for him and his grandfather to bond as his grandfather was his teacher.


    However, his parents forbid him from focusing on it as they deemed it to be a waste of time. They told him to practice with magical energy more and more, as they believe that is how one truly becomes strong.


    After getting told to stop practicing, he felt as if a piece of himself was slowly being lost. The moment he came to the training class and was told that the physical body has importance too, he felt a kindle deep inside of him turn into a roaring flame of passion.


    He is once again allowed to practice Judo along with magic. He can return to his home one day and practice with his grandfather again in the cozy little dojo.


    His first opponent is said to be the strongest, so he is determined to give it his all and improve himself. He see''s Alistair rushing at him with obvious movements, wildly swinging a right hook towards his face.


    Re-imagining the scene of his grandfathers fights and what he was most proud of, he uses the move he spent most of his time learning. The over the shoulder throw.

 Winner!

    Alistair is unable to comprehend the situation. He has always relied on his instincts to avoid danger, but his instincts fail him when he prepares himself in advance.


    A sickening thud permeates through the room, sounding as if leather were to be slammed on concrete. Alistair is laying down on his back with his face staring at the ceiling, not moving in the slightest.


    Due to this being a match to knock down the opponent fastest, Alistair loses his first match in class against Taylor.


    "Winner: Taylor!" The drill instructor states.


    Silently fist pumping himself for his actions, Taylor makes his way back to the line. The way it is set up in the matches is that the loser would continue fighting until they achieve a victory, as long as the loser is still capable of continuing.


    The drill instructor begins to make his way to Alistair in an attempt to ascertain his if he could fight. When he walks towards Alistair though, the boy who heckled Alistair previously could not miss the chance to rub salt on the wound.


    "Teacher, don''t waste your time. This kid smacked the ground harder than a sack of potatoes, it''s best to call one of the nurses now or else he will sustain serious injuries." The boy next to him chuckled when he heard this.


    Taylor speaks up to agree with the sentiment with no animosity in his voice, "Teacher, he is right. Alistair threw his entire body weight behind that attack. Adding my weight to it and the force of the strike, I feel I went overboard."


    The drill instructor pays no heed to them and continues walking over to Alistair, much to the confusion of everyone else.


    "Alright kid, get up. I know you are fine so it''s time for your next match." He slightly kicks Alistair on the side to nudge him.


    Immediately after, Alistair snaps up to his feet and turns to ask the drill instructor, "Teacher, how come I couldn''t sense him coming at me? Usually my body moves on it''s own and I am able to dodge strikes I can''t even see."


    The drill instructor shows surprise in his eyes. When he first met Alistair, he wanted to set an example to the other students and use the most popular kid as a means to do so. He figured Alistair to be the most spoiled child of the bunch due to showing up late his first day.


    He soon realized this class that Alistair is not as popular as he thought, and everyone seems to be congregating towards the heckling student.


    Although that was enough to take Alistair off of his radar, it caused him to look at Alistair objectively and see his capabilities. He confirmed this when he went to feel Alistairs muscles at the start of class.


    He knew exactly how tough this little bald child is. After hearing his question though, he feels that his opinion of him might have been a tad too high as the answer should be obvious to a body practitioner such as Alistair.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!


    He instructs Alistair sincerely, "What you are used to when you are fighting should be the reaction to blood lust. It is an effective sense to have when in life threatening situations. Here however, it will be fairly useless to you. Let me ask you this Alistair, what would happen if a person attacked you without the intention to kill you? Would you still feel like your life is in danger?"


    As if a fog is cleared, Alistair realizes his mistake and sincerely reflects on his actions. "Thank you teacher! I will do my best to improve!" After saying this, he sees the drill instructor smile slightly and walk back to the corner of the room for a better view.


    "Next contestant!" The drill instructor shouts at the class. After seeing the poor display Alistair put on in his first match, the students figure him to be an easy target to help them stand out.


    Another student walks over to Alistair and says, "Timothy! Fighting style: Boxing!" He quickly takes his stance and hopes to secure an easy victory. Along the way he can please the popular boy in the class and try to solidify himself with the cool kids, making his school life here a lot easier.


    Alistair reflects on his actions the entire time since he finished his thanks to the teacher. Not even paying attention to the students introduction. He thinks back to the move he experience from the Taylor earlier.


    He focuses his mind inward and blocks out the outside world while imagining himself in Taylor''s position, with himself charging at him. The way he felt and what occurred during the move all the way through. He decides to try and imitate the move in the darkness of his mind.


    He see''s himself as a fuzzy figure that charges at him ready to attack. This time though, the attack that the fuzzy figure is using is coming from a slightly different angle than he remembers. He pays it no heed and reenacts the scene from memory.


    The fuzzy figure shoots it''s fist straight into his face. He moves his head to the side while grabbing the extended arm and kicking the figures leg as he is turning around. The next thing he notices is the fuzzy figure slamming against the ground.


    The darkness around him blasts away along with the impact, and the fuzzy figure turns into a unconscious student on the ground.


    A minute earlier, after Timothy announced his name. The class waits for Alistair''s response but do not hear anything. After a few seconds pass by, the Timothy says, "You can at least say your name before I beat you." However, he receives no response.


    Believing himself to be ignored, he gets agitated and asks the teacher "May we start already? We don''t have time to wait for him to shake off any brain damage from the last fight." He chuckles and looks over at the two boys who were heckling before and sees them being amused by the comment.


    After seeing his humor worked, he felt emboldened and after the drill instructor gave his permission the match began. First, he waited for Alistair to come charging at him like he did with the previous student but still sees no movement.


    "Fine! If you won''t come to me, I''ll come to you!" He dashes straight at him with his fists guarding his face. After getting within arms reach, he sees Alistair staring out into space with his eyes looking unfocused. Instead of feeling something amiss, he decides to try and end the fight as flashily as he can to impress the teacher.


    He throws a right lunging jab with all his might towards Alistairs face. What awaited him though, was something that startled the entire class, but completely shocked one person in particular Taylor.


    Alistair quickly reacts to the punch and successfully completes the move that he lost to in the previous match. After Timothy hits the ground, he loses consciousness from the sudden impact.


    It is then that everyone hears the drill instructors voice and brings them to reality, "Winner: Alistair!"

 Well, Youre Surprisingly Sturdy

    Alistair recovers from the shock of what happened and looks down at the student who he just used the over the shoulder throw on.


    He did feel that the fuzzy figure was acting strangely, but he didn''t think the situation was happening in real life. He wanted to try using the shadow boxing that he had seen before and see if he could better understand the fundamentals of the move.


    He tosses the situation into the back of his mind as he takes a rest over with the other students in line. One by one, each student goes up to do sparring. Alistair decides to try and pay close attention to each students fights in an attempt to learn something.


    To his dismay however, he finds that watching from the sidelines causes him to be unable to see the moves as anything other than basic grappling and throwing moves. He figures that the only real way for him to learn from this is to experience their combat styles first hand.


    As the drill instructor stated before, each student will face off against everyone else in the class. Winning only provided a brief rest and he would have to fight again soon.


    The rotation came back around and Alistair went up to fight once more. Hoping to learn more moves to add to his repertoire, he excitedly struts his way to the middle of the room. He realizes that the moves he thought to be nothing special from the side, turned out to be just that.


    Most students run up to their opponents and try to land the first blow. They initially keep to their training but eventually devolve into pushing, pulling and punching to knock each other down.


    He learns very little from this. He is not able to use the over the shoulder throw move he learned. It seems the children have decided that the best way to secure victory is a pushing or tackling match.


    Alistair is still very scrawny so although he is able to win a few matches due to better placement, he is unable to win everything against the children who are bigger than him and can push him back with ease.


    However, what truly causes shock to spread through the class is not Alistair''s win record or dominating performance. He causes each child to realize that when it comes to endurance and resilience, Alistair stands at the top of the class.


    The drill instructor figured this much when he felt Alistair''s body and recognized the hardness of his skin and attributed it to the tough training he must of endured for years. While [Living Iron] is a factor to Alistair''s endurance, his biggest asset is being undead. He can not feel his bodies fatigue or pain so he is able to push through the limits of many of his peers.


    Alistair has been thrown, tackled, slammed, punched, kicked, and even choked but kept pushing through without aid from the nursing staff. Almost every student needed the nursing staff and the ones that didn''t show obvious signs of fatigue.


    At the end of class, Alistair is standing in line along with the rest of his classmates. The only difference being that he looks completely relaxed and rested while everyone else is haggard. To make matters worse, the teacher never called anyone out on their outstanding performance so a lot of children felt it to be a wasted effort.This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    The drill instructor begins instructing them on the homework routine they must do each night. A workout designed around their fighting styles. As he gets to Alistair, he comes across a slight dilemma that he has been mulling over all class.


    "Alistair, why don''t you go to the library and sort through the fighting styles available? Pick one and I will begin instructing you on the basics." The drill instructor explained.


    Alistair is taken aback by this, as he figured that he will just need to focus on improving his zombie style as everyone else is doing their own styles.


    "Sure, but I''m not sure what I should be training in..." Alistair wears a puzzled expression.


    "Well, I can tell that you definitely know how to take a hit. How about..." The drill instructor takes out a note from his pocket and writes down a few different styles and hands it to Alistair.


    "I''ll take a look, thank you teacher!" Alistair smiles and looks over the list while getting ready to leave class.


    The few fights that he had been in made him realize that fighting styles can be of some use when fighting other people. What he didn''t tell his teacher is that he is not entirely sold on the idea of practicing a fighting style though, since what he wants is to fight monsters with his bare hands.


    The teacher dismisses the class and they all begin to head towards their next class.


    General Education did not leave much of an impact on Alistair the last time he went. It mainly involved class introductions and structuring of the course. He felt that the influx of information could be great but also burdensome at the same time.


    He needs to plan out what information he needs to retain as the spiral in his mind speeds up his hunger. The more information he retains the hungrier and more sluggish he becomes. Added on top of that, whenever he does any critical thinking it speeds it up further.


    Right now, he does have the insects crushed up exoskeleton to eat but that does not abate his hunger. It only aids in his body cultivation.


    The insanity of the hunger is slightly gnawing at the back of his mind due to the physical excursion of the previous class. Only a little though, he has been feeling that the hunger is becoming easier to manage after each feast so he decides to put off going to the slaughterhouse until after this class.


    As they are walking, he sees Michelle appear out of nowhere right beside him and keep pace. He feels a spike of bloodlust appear from behind him and he turns to see the two boys from before.


    Michelle leans in and whispers, "You''re going to need to hold your end of the bargain. They will be following me after class, so I need you to figure out a way to shake them off my trail. I already switched living quarters so they don''t know where I sleep. I don''t want them finding out after all the work to make that happen."


    Alistair''s sighs to himself and decides that he will have to put off eating for a bit longer until he helps her. He begins thinking that doing this everyday may not have been worth just two body training techniques.


    "Okay, but how do you suppose I do that? During the sparring matches, they mopped the floor with me."


    He remembers during their fight, they treated him as their own personal punching bag and stopped him from falling so they could keep going. Luckily he dove to the ground pretty early on or he really would have come away from that with some damage.


    "Well, you''re surprisingly sturdy. I''m sure you''ll figure something out, even if you have to sacrifice your body to rescue the princess!" Michelle smiles coyly at him.


    He begins to feel a slight sense of dread at the thought of her calling herself a princess. He is about to reply until he hears an ear-piercing scream come from the classroom right in front him.


    He sees the crowd of students split and a girl running out of the door towards them. At the other end of the split, he sees his teacher for general education standing over a still body covered in blood.

 Was This Planned?

    The teacher sighs and hangs his head down, "This happens every year... You would think they would prepare these kids for this." He looks back up at the students standing at the entrance of his class.


    "Okay kids, come on in. Class is starting soon." He says with a smile as he is covered in blood. All of the students start to slowly back away from the teacher due to the sight, leaving him feeling slightly exasperated.


    Alistair on the other hand is confused as he doesn''t get any urges or desires towards the blood. Feeling this to be a unique situation, and not feeling any blood lust from the teacher, he strides in next to the body to take a closer look.


    The teacher feels grateful that one student seems to have the common sense to know that a teacher wouldn''t randomly slaughter anyone on school grounds. The teacher smiles at Alistair and says,


    "At least someone understands, this is fake blood. We are using a substitute for today since we are focusing on Anatomy class and finishing with History class today. We will be exploring the inner workings of the human body with this test dummy."


    The students hear then and then get embarrassed at their squeamish nature. No one has seen actual bloodshed while preparing before coming to the school. All the students take their seats and the lesson proceeds naturally.


    This is a class that Alistair felt most comfortable in. The talk of the blood, tissues, bones and more. The teacher even went so far in depth as to give a cursory description of the parts of the body magical energy is stored and how it came to be.


    "Magical energy is believed to be introduced into society when the cataclysm happened. The generally accepted theory of the cause of the cataclysm is a giant asteroid colliding with the planet and terraforming the exterior. As of right now, humanity is confined to small settlements as ninety-nine percent of life was wiped out from the blast."


    A student raised his hand and asked, "But teacher, I heard that the cataclysm was the result of the devil coming to earth and going on a rampage before suddenly disappearing. I never heard about an asteroid." He asked with a puzzled expression and from the expressions of a few other students it would appear that they have the same notion.


    The teacher smiles and nods, "Yes you are talking about the belief that the devil tore open the boundaries separating hell from the mortal plane and the two merged. Though that is all just superstition since there is no actual proof of the devil being here."


    The teacher continues on, "That is just an exaggerated rumor that people spread due to the huge changes in the lay out of the planet. The planet as a whole is roughly still the same, with the only exception being the portals being opened by the asteroid."


    "However, that is purely speculation. We have no way to tell what the rest of the planet looks like outside of the safe zones that our cities stay in. Monsters are not only blocking the areas around us but also the skies every time we try to launch satellites. The satellites we had previously were all wiped out by the previous asteroid. Humanity can at least take solace in the fact that we were not exterminated and given a chance to live on."This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    Alistair raises his hand and asks a question on a topic that caught his attention. "Teacher you said cities. Does that mean that there are other cities besides Utopia out there? Also, how do we designate these areas as safe zones?"


    "Excellent questions Alistair! As of now, we have four minor cities located within two hundred miles of each other forming a circle around the major city in the center. Utopia to the east, Shangri-la to the west, Eden to the north, and Paradise to the south. These four cities form the perimeter around the major metropolis of Heaven."


    The teacher takes out a very old antique globe and points to a land mass.


    "Before the cataclysm that happened a few hundred years ago, where we are at used to be call The United States of America. They used to be surrounded by oceans on the east and west, however now there is no traces of any oceans in sight. The impact from the cataclysm is said to have caused massive tsunamis and fissures in the planet so now we are just surround by nothing but land."


    "As for how we are able to find out which spots are safe to set up? If you could figure that out then you would have a easy life ahead of you in the future. People still have no idea what causes these spots to be virtually free of monsters. After much speculation turned up no results, humanity decided to mark it up as one of the natural wonders of the new world after the cataclysm."


    After looking at the clock, the teacher noticed that the lecture went on to long and that class had to end.


    "Alright class, we will pick up on where we left off next class. Your homework assignments will be to study the old geography of the planet and the maps that companies have confirmed for us. There will be a quiz next class on it."


    After digesting the information with a satisfied look on his face, Alistair then looks over at Michelle and sees her looking back at him. She nudges her head towards the two boys who were following her before.


    He decides that although his body is tougher from before and that he would feel no pain from fighting them. The injuries he would sustain during the fight would be to severe to pass off after healing himself the next day. He also can not afford to miss out on classes while recuperating due to the vital information he would miss out on.


    As he racks his brains on the issue of how to get away from them for now, at least until he is able to practice more with his techniques. In the middle of brainstorming, a man comes walking into the classroom and walks up to Alistair.


    Alistair recognizes the man as the attendant from the mission hall who gave him his mission. The attendant smiles softly at Alistair and after looking at him hard for a few seconds he finally speaks up.


    "Young man, are you okay? The mission hall has recently raised the difficulty rating of the mission we gave you as we suspect that it might risk physical harm. This is an oversight on our part so we will do what we can to correct this mistake."


    He asks seriously. Alistair is taken slightly aback and is about to reply until he remembers his earlier dilemma and looks at Michelle, then back at the attendant.


    "I..Uh.. I''m fine, but I would not like to discuss about this here. Can we speak somewhere else about this? Also my partner helped me in the quest so can she tag along?"


    "Of course! Let''s go back to the mission hall and discuss things properly!" The attendant lets out a sigh of relief as he realizes the mistake of giving a rookie a high class mission did not cause any trouble.


    Alistair looks back at Michelle and smiles victoriously. She looks back at him slightly shocked thinking, "Did he just get lucky or was this planned?"

 Rise To The Top

    The attendant escorts Alistair and Michelle to the mission hall. Behind them, the two boys following at a distance making it obvious that they are stalking them.


    Alistair sees their commitment to following them and the frustration at their persistence peaks. He turns and asks Michelle in a soft voice,


    "If you aren''t going to tell me why they are so hung up on you, could you at least tell me how strong they are? I saw them during the spar and they are surprisingly weaker than I originally thought."


    Michelle looks at Alistair weirdly, "They aren''t strong at all. The only reason I hide from them is because if I show them that I am stronger than them, my brother will know that I am getting stronger...Ah! I didn''t mean to say that..."


    She puts her face in her palm as she reflects on her words. Alistair slowly grasps the reason for her reluctance to fight. He turns to her and says,


    "I may not be able to say that I can beat them straight up, but I can at least endure fighting against them. As long as they don''t have any weapons or abilities I''m not aware of."


    "Yeah sure you could endure against them, if you are only relying on fighting techniques. Alistair, these are students who are being groomed to be ascended. We are the chosen of humanity, we are at least somewhat dangerous with or without weapons."


    The attendant who has been listening in on the side chimes in,


    "Also student, Diamond In The Rough Orphanage does not allow weapons in non-mission designated areas. It is also against students caught fighting outside of combat designated zones."


    Michelle nods her head in agreement.


    Alistair''s ear prick up at that statement, "Then what if they are not caught?"


    The attendant smirks at the quick thinking of the student, "Unless caught in the act, then it could be said to have never of happened."


    Alistair sighs at the realization that unless he is able to stay within eyesight of instructors at all time, he would be subjected to attacks at any time.


    He turns to Michelle again and asks, "Then what type of abilities do they have?"


    "Well the tall one is only adept at using light spells. He is pretty much useless otherwise, only relying on his physical stature to overpower others while blinded. The other slightly chubby one is adept at boosting spells. He is able to give small enhancements to himself for very short periods of time."


    "Boosting spells? Light spells? I really need to read more into the different kinds in the future... But for now, what enhancements and how long..."


    Alistair and Michelle converse about their stalkers all the way until they reach the mission hall. The attendant leads them behind the counter and into the back room. The two boys try and follow them through but are stopped by the attendants cold stare and grudgingly wait at the entrance of the hall.This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.


    "Okay, so now that we have gotten rid of the pests, what did you wish to talk to me about?" Alistair asks the attendant as he takes a seat by the table in what appears to be the break room of the mission hall staff.


    "Of course. Before I go into detail on the reason though, I would like to confirm with you a few things." The attendant sits down next to him in a relaxed professional manner.


    "No problem, ask away." Alistair secretly clenches his fists as he realizes that he will need to use a skill that he previously deemed too dangerous to use. He mentally prepares himself for acting.


    "On the night of the mission in question, did you go to the kitchen and perform the duty assigned to you?"


    "I did, yes."


    "While there, did you determine the cause of the noise in question?"


    "Yes."


    The attendant slightly narrows his eyes and appears less relaxed as he asks his next question.


    "What did you determine the cause to be?"


    Alistair tries his best not to change his bodies posture or facial expression as he says,


    "I took apart the machines and put them back together as instructed by the manual, while cleaning each part. It appeared that nothing was wrong until I turned off the lights and then the clicking sound came back.


    After double checking and not finding anything wrong with the machinery, I put my ear up against the wall and heard the clicking sound clearly being louder on the other side. If I''m not mistaken, I believe the outside to be on the other side of the wall.


    I''m not to sure of the creature, but it would appear there is something out in the darkness making that sound. After thinking that, I chalked it up to creatures outside and was going to report my findings after class."


    Alistair looks at the attendant in a calm manner betraying the frantic state of mind he is in. Hoping his performance passed the test, he looks at the attendant expectantly.


    "Ah, is that so? Well, there has actually been a report of creatures lurking around that area. As a result the rating was upgraded from the difficulty rating of D to D+. As a result the reward went up as well to 150 points and a extra meal voucher. Congratulations young man."


    The attendant lets loose a small sigh and a content smile returns to his face as he informs Alistair about the mission and processes the completion for him.


    "I must apologize though, since this young lady was not registered on the mission at any point she will not receive a mark of completion."


    Michelle chimes in and grandiosely states, "That''s fine. In the future though, we would like to register for missions as a team though."


    The attendant flatly says, "You can only add more people if they are present at the time of signing for the mission or added after the fact by the mission holder. There are no ''teams''."


    She takes a shot to her pride as she feels embarrassed. "Ah, of course. That''s what I meant..." she tries to awkwardly laugh it off but the dead silence in the room snuffs her chance at recovering.


    "Anyway, I am thankful for the reward. I have a request though, I am aware that the points can be used for more than just food. Could I get a list of all the items the points are useful for?"


    "Of course. However, the list would require 25 points. Are you okay with this?"


    Alistair guffaws at the shamelessness of requiring one to spend reward points on the list of possible rewards.


    "This is highway robbery! I have never even heard of a list of rewards. We are told that it is mainly used for food upon entering." Michelle adds in on the side.


    "Really? Everyone else is told the same thing, and yet you see some students who have been here longer than you wearing special gear or granted certain privileges that others are not giving them an advantage over others. So tell me, is this not something someone would consider highway robbery?


    Students could get things from magical materials, to extra perks during missions and even one on one training with instructors. Students, you need to realize that there are many ways to the top of the pyramid at this school."


    Both Michelle and Alistair quickly catch on and figure out then and there that standing out is not the only way to get stronger in this school. Rewards, points, marks, recognition and who knows what else. Both of them begin subconsciously planning their rise to the top.

 Thats Not Fair...

    In the kingdom of Shangri-La, inside of a room where many people in power are gathered around a table with a map on it.


    The map has many red marks over it. While in the center of it is the human civilizations, outside of the fleshed out civilization parts of the map is complete emptiness. The red marks become more and more clustered the farther away from the cities the map gets.


    The people around the table are in a heated debate, forming two main sides.


    A heavyset noblewoman speaks up, "As I said before, we need to focus on expansion of the territories now while we still have a chance! There are resource deposits just outside of our walls and yet we hold ourselves up in our turtle shells waiting for some disaster to come for our throats!"


    She slams her fist down on the the table with her face turning red from anger. The group of people on her side speak up in agreement with her.


    "Yeah!"


    "That''s right!"


    "Don''t be naive!"


    As the people on her side are just about to increase their fervor, a very regal woman who is the epitome of grace and class raises her hand to quiet them. The rabble immediately silence themselves.


    She looks towards the other party who is leaded by a lean middle aged man with gray peppering his black hair.


    "Reginald, speak." The classy woman commands the man.


    "Yes your grace. The fact of the matter is that if we expand now, we are solidifying our own destruction."


    He starts slowly, while the rotund noblewoman was just about to interject she receives a sharp glare from the classy woman and recedes back into silence.


    He looks thankfully at her and continues, "If it were a days before, I would agree with Lady Margaret s'' view on expansion. However," He points his finger at the red marks on the map that are clustered the most at the border of their city.


    "A few days ago, an ascended company was sent into action to implement expansion procedures on our borders but have not all returned....alive." He swallows slightly recalling the scene.


    "A monster that can blend into the environment so flawlessly that even magic can not detect it, appeared out of nowhere. It toyed with the group in plain view for me to see... It kept it''s eyes on me the entire time while they fought and after killing one it just laughed and faded into darkness. That was the last we saw of it."


    He shivers and wears a slightly frantic expression, "I kept hearing it''s laugh next to me as the company and I ran back to safety. We were completely outmatched."Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.


    The rotund noble lady speaks under her breath, "Just a monster that can conceal itself. That''s no reason to get so hung up on it. Who knows if it''s even still out there? Probably got bored and left"


    But that doesn''t escape Reginald''s ears as he snaps back in a yell with ferocity.


    "If it was just some monster that could conceal itself then I would be enough to handle it myself! That monster...is not something our city can handle. We need to request help from Heaven!"


    The rotund woman does not shy away and yells back,


    "How dare you suggest that! Do you know what kind of position that would put her grace in?! There are countless unimaginably strong monsters that we haven''t even seen yet! Just because a strong one shows up out of the blue doesn''t mean a thing! If it was really persistent it would have finished you off or followed you here and cause a havoc in the city!"


    The classy woman raises both her hands to each party and speaks up softly saying, "Thank you for the report Reginald. We will take caution while expanding and I will formerly request aid from Heaven for reinforcements."


    Reginald''s face lights up as Margaret''s falls. However, The classy woman''s next statement causes their smiles to swap.


    "In the meantime, you will be an adviser for preventative measures in case that monster returns. While you set them up, Margaret will be heading the expansion project. Expect reinforcements within the week."


    The two of them along with their parties bow as the classy woman finishes her statement and then leaves the room. As she is leaving they all shout in unison,


    "Yes, your Grace!"


    ...


    Back at the Mission Hall, Alistair snaps out of the the sudden realization of new possible ways to get stronger and asks, "How many points do I have in total right now?"


    The attendant asks him to wait a moment while he checks and returns shortly afterwards, "In total you have 250 points and one mark of completion."


    Alistair then states, "I''ll take the list!"


    The attendant hands over a book to Alistair while subtracting the points from his account. Alistair looks over the book as Michelle asks for the same. Sharing materials gained on school grounds is forbidden.


    [Clothing], [Techniques], [Materials], [Food], [Accessories], and more sections are labeled in the books index.


    The first thing Alistair looks at when he sees this, is the food section. He searches each selection but does not see any fresh meat. His eyes light up suddenly when he comes across sushi. He despairs a moment later when he sees the price of it at 700 points.


    He read that fish are able to be eaten raw so he had his hopes up for seeing that on the food menu. However, due to the difficulty of sustaining marine life in an area with no water, fish is a luxury even among ascended.


    Failing to be able to afford his main objective, he sighs as he tosses the book into his bag and decides to peruse the full contents of it some other time. He realizes that points are things to be treasured if one wants to survive here.


    Michelle on the other hand, "I would like to get this, this, this, a few of these, and one of those but make sure to tailor it precisely."


    The attendant nods and says, "Ah, no problem student. That will bring your total to....1,450 points. May I see your card to process this?"


    She hands him her card and after fulfilling the order he hands it back to her. "Thank you for your business!"


    Alistair''s jaw drops at the astronomical sum she just paid and remembers that they started at the same time. He imagines that she must have done an amazingly crazy quest to get so many points.


    He walks over to her and asks, "How did you get so many points? Just how strong are you to earn that many in so little time?"


    Michelle hears this and is slightly taken aback before she catches herself and does not miss the opportunity to show off.


    "Well I am very powerful! That''s not how I got the points though, that would take too long. I just have them because my family is rich and they bought them for me."


    Alistair''s eyes resemble a dead fish as he hangs his head and mumbles repeatedly.


    "...That''s not fair..."

 Youre Dead Meat!

    Alistair and Michelle say their goodbyes to the attendant and make their way out of the mission hall only to be stopped by the two boys from before. There are still attendants within view of the group so Alistair was not that perturbed.


    The boys looked to be coming from the postal office of the school which is right next door to the mission hall.


    The two boys have a look of anger and reluctance to their faces and they glare at Alistair in silence.


    Alistair looks at them and says, "What''s wrong? Not going to say anything about how we have nowhere to hide or that we are ''Dead meat''? I''m right here so you can throw your punches at me now if you want."


    Feeling a sense of guaranteed safety, Alistair does not mind saying some provoking statements to them.


    However, after a few more moments of intense silence and glaring, the boys completely ignore Alistair and turn to Michelle.


    The chunkier boy says, "Your brother told us to hand you this. The families contract is up."


    Michelle stiffens at the mention of her brother. She never expected them to come right out and say they were working for him. She took the letter and nodded at them before opening and reading the letter.


    A moment later, her face goes pale and she slowly falls to her knees.


    The two boys who knew the contents of the letter only look at her with a cold uncaring look before turning and walking away.


    Alistair is flustered at the sudden change of events. He thought that a simple exchange of words and maybe a fight would break out. However, with just a simple sentence and a letter, Michelle was brought to her knees.


    Her shaking fingers let go of the letter and it falls to the ground. Alistair picks it up and looks at her slightly worried before reading the contents.


    The contents state that her father has been summoned to the front lines of Shangri-La''s expansion project because of some insanely strong monster. On top of that, her mother has been deemed a traitor to the family for stealing from the families treasury to assist with her daughters growth.


    Her mothers power plummeted and she is being held in prison for her fathers judgement when he returns along with her helpers right after Michelle left. In the meantime, her brother''s mother has been appointed as the head of the family.


    Michelle is not stupid, she knows that her mother never stole items from the treasury for her. She loved her father more than she did her.


    With the fact that her brother''s mother has been appointed as the family head at the convenient time that her mother and helpers are imprisoned solidified her hatred towards him. Right now, she doesn''t have time to despair. She knows she will need to make preparations for the future struggles she will endure.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    Due to her mother being imprisoned, and the uncertainty of her fathers life. She does not even know if after she graduates, if her family will take her back. She needs to fight for her own legitimacy and her mothers innocence.


    The two boys left earlier due to not being able to touch them while in front of the attendants. Alistair knows that they aren''t completely gone though. They just left to find a better spot to ambush them.


    Michelle thinks about things for a moment, wipes her moist eyes and stands up firmly. She looks over at Alistair and says,


    "I need to take care of a few things, I''ll need privacy. Those two laptops of my brother don''t really seem like to type to give a lady her space though..."


    Alistair catches her meaning and says,


    "I can try my best to provoke them and get them off of your trail but what are you going to be doing?"


    Michelle''s eyes flash with a fierce light as she says, "Going to give the new head of my family a bit of a headache."


    Not knowing what she is talking about, he just nods in agreement. He promised her at the start of their partnership to help her with any problems that come up.


    "When do you need me to distract them?"


    "As soon as we meet up with them. We need to verify that they are both together. I will run the moment we see them. All I need is one minute, I''m sure you could keep them busy for that long."


    "Okay, but I will want something else for potentially getting myself killed."


    "I''m sorry, but those body training manuals were all I had."


    "That''s fine. I''m not looking for stuff like that. What I want is knowledge. I want you to show me everything you know about magic when you get back."


    She looks at him with a pitiful gaze.


    "I don''t mind teaching you...But you have passed the incubation period that people need to take full advantage of for future growth. The chance that you could actually learn magic at this point is..."


    Looking deep in thought at her statement he says,


    "That''s fine. I still want to know as much as possible. That way I''ll be able to understand the differences between them and prepare myself for the future."


    "But how do you plan to get away? I''m pretty sure they won''t just let you leave."


    "Don''t worry, I''ll be fine. Just try not to be to surprised."


    He reaches his hand out and smiles reassuringly at her.


    "Good luck."


    She shakes his hand and smiles back.


    "You too."


    They head off towards the end of the hallway outside of the mission halls view and see the two boys standing around the corner, waiting.


    "Well, now you have nowhere to hide." The tall boy sarcastically remarks as he looks over Alistair and Michelle.


    Michelle smiles in contempt at them and says, "That''s where you''re wrong."


    She runs a few feet away from Alistair and begins mumbling strange sounds to herself.


    The two boys look confusingly at her before they suddenly feel a swirl of magical energy surround her. The rotund boy shouts,


    "Ha! You think you can get away with just a rudimentary camouflage spell? We can easily see where you are if we look hard enough."


    Just as he says this though, he hears the sound of footsteps running at high speed. Both him and his partner were paying close attention to Michelle''s display that they forgot about one other person.


    Alistair''s fist cracks into the tall boys face, sending him falling to the ground. The chubbier kid looks at this then at Alistair and takes a moment to process the situation. He did not expect to be ambushed by the prey he was supposed to be ambushing.


    Seeing his partner getting sucker punched and fall unconscious without getting to actually fight set him on edge, the fight is now two vs one.


    Just then he realizes that he took his eye off of Michelle. If he is unable to find her, he could be in more danger than he thought. He was told that she was not powerful at all so he did not think she could even use magic in combat.


    He looks back to where she was, and sees that she is gone. He lost sight of his main target.


    "You''re dead meat!" He shouts at Alistair while making strange signs with his hands, causing a strange veil to appear over top of his skin.

 I Havent Given Up On You

    Seeing that his provocation worked and the multicolored veil appearing on the kids skin, Alistair thinks to himself while backing up to put space between them, "That veil is definitely something that enhances him like Michelle said... She didn''t know what it enhanced though so I need to be careful- Whoa!"


    Mid-thought, the kid moves a pace that betrays his looks. He quickly springs forth, covering a ten feet distance almost instantly and punches Alistair right in the nose. Sending him tumbling a few feet away.


    "What the hell was that?! Michelle said you can only increase your abilities by a small amount!" Alistair shouts with indignation.


    "Tch, so that''s why you got so confident. Do you think that all information is reliable? I am much more powerful than I was a while ago!"


    He flashes another gesture with his other hand and another veil merges into the one already over his skin, turning the veils color on his arms a darker color than before.


    "Great... Michelle is going to owe me big time for this." Alistair complains to himself as he gets up off of the ground and then gets into a fighting stance he saw one of the students use in combat training.


    "You really think you can beat magic with your body? Combat training is a joke in these situations! The one with magic always beats the one without!" The rotund kid says as he starts moving towards Alistair again with his fist shrouded in darkness.


    "I know you can''t be hurt by normal blows. You are a sturdy bastard. So lets see how you like this!" He grabs Alistairs hand and twists it behind his back and pulls up to get him in a chicken wing lock.


    Alistair goes on the tip of his toes and looks up in pain. "Ah! Damnit! Let go!"


    The rotund kid smiles darkly as he starts slowly wrenching Alistairs arm up higher and higher.


    "You shouldn''t have gotten involved. I may not be able to kill you on school grounds, but getting crippled in fights like these are a common occurrence around here."


    Alistair drops to his feet and crouches down before jumping up as fast and hard as he can. This was a move he had seen a girl use in combat training when she was subdued. However, if she saw how Alistair is using it she would be horrified.


    The moment his feet go flat on the ground a sickening crack comes from his shoulder. With the opposing force of the hold disappearing, the chubby kid fell forward from his own force. Only for his chin to be met with the top of Alistairs head.


    The chubby kid flies up off his feet a few inches before falling flat on his back unconscious.


    "Thanks for the heads up. Now I don''t need to worry about people asking me what happened here since it''s such a common occurrence."The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    Alistair lands back down and holds his hand over his shoulder. He says his peace before running off as fast as possible. He needed to look in pain because he knows someone is watching. The moment his headbutt connected he felt a terrifying blood lust lock on to him from somewhere.


    He holds his shoulder and runs out of the hallway to his room in the dorm. He sits down looks at his arm in the mirror opposite of his bed.


    He sees a bald boy with a calm face and a bone shaped outlining of skin protruding from his right shoulder.


    He touches the protrusion and feels nothing as he pushes it back down to where he presumes is it''s proper place. He looks back to the fight he was just in and hopes that Michelle got away safe.


    He realizes how lucky he was that he had been able to see the combat training spars and reactions of everyone. If he did not know how he was supposed to "feel" at the moment he was put in the arm lock then things could have ended a lot worse for him.


    He sighs and hangs his head thinking about how much more he needs to learn to truly feel safe. While he is looking downward though, he sees a black hand print on his right forearm and thinks back to the black veil that appeared over the boys hands.


    Just as he wanted to reflect on everything in more details, the pain that he does not need to pretend to feel once again reemerges in his stomach. With a torrent of pain assaulting him from the inside, he notices it get stronger and stronger.


    As it gets stronger, he notices the black mark on his arm start peeling away and incinerating into nothing. He can''t control himself much longer as the black mark on his arm is fading faster and faster the hunger grows stronger to the point of consuming his sanity.


    Eventually Alistair is unable to bear the pain anymore. He falls to the ground in his room and blacks out. Moments later he springs to his feet, he is met with his reflection as he stands back up. What he sees however is not himself.


    He sees a bald pale creature with jet black eyes and instead of pupils, there are two swirling spirals in the center. His fingers become elongated and his teeth become sharper. He jumps out of the window of his room into the darkness of night.


    ...


    Just outside of Utopia, there is a known zombie nest in one of the suburban areas. It has been a mission that companies have been charged with since they found out about it. However, the only ones who would throw themselves into the face of death without a care are the truly strong or the truly suicidal.


    There have been rumors about a specific herb growing due to the massive amounts of undead that can help boost the inherent strength of someone who properly consumes it.


    A lone man walks up to the front of the building that has the most zombies crowding it. As carefully as possible, he proceeds to make his way past the zombies. They are reported to not attack as long as one is able to mask the smell of their blood or do not make enough noise to be considered a threat.


    He walks past them into a room with a skulls shaped herb in it''s center. A hole in the roof accentuates it''s majesty as thunder cracks loudly in the sky illuminating the herb in brief flashes.


    He walks up to it after confirming the window on the opposite side of the wall. He walks up to window and slowly opens it to avoid noise. Then he walks to the herb and takes out the tool that changed his life, his knife carved from the tooth of a squirrel demon.


    In one swift motion, he grabs the herb with his gloved hand and deftly cuts at the roots of the herb before making a mad dash to the window and leaping out of it. Shortly after the shrieks of the zombies come rushing at him from behind.


    He does not look behind as he runs to his beat up jeep as fast as possible and drives off. After driving, he pulls out a map that has multiple X''s and O''s on it. He puts an X through the spot where he was just at and begins heading to the next closest O on the map.


    He throws the herb into a pack of assorted herbs and minerals in the passenger seat before whispering to himself.


    "Just wait for me you big oaf... I haven''t given up on you..."

 I Did It!

    Underneath of the schools compound, inside of a sewer system tunnel. A small bald headed boy stands upon a mangled pile of flesh and blood. The sound of moist flesh tearing apart and smacking inside of his mouth echoes through the tunnels of the sewer.


    The darkness of the sewer would enshroud him if not for the spirals giving off a deadly glow from his eyes. After swallowing a final mouthful, the spirals slowly start to dim and the darkness in his eyes recede. The moment his eyes return to normal, his entire body collapses like a puppet getting it''s strings cut.


    He falls face first into the pile making a disgusting squish. A few minutes pass before the boys eyes regain their natural clarity. He snaps his head up while still laying down. After a few panicked glances to find out where he is, looks down at what he is laying on.


    He is shocked to find the flesh and blood clinging to him. What perplexes him even more though is that his senses had not caused him to start devouring it instantly. This was a common occurrence whenever a bloody scene appears before him. The young boy is Alistair returning to his natural self.


    "What the hell is going on?! How did I get here and why am I covered in blood?" Many questions flash through his mind. He tries to remember what happened to him last. He felt a serious pain deep in his stomach after the black hand print burned off of his skin.


    After that, he remembered his vision going red and then black. The next thing he remembers is waking up here. After taking a quick analysis of his body he realizes that he is completely fine. The only exception is that he is not enticed by the food in front of him.


    "It would appear that whatever that hand print was, my body did everything in it''s power to eliminate it. Causing it to burn up more and more energy. I seemed to have blacked out and my body acted on it''s own accord..."


    He suddenly freezes up at the realization that if he acted against a person while he was in that states, he could be in serious trouble. Not to mention that people could have seen him while he was going around killing and eating things like a zombie.


    He looks over to his right and sees a pile of torn and bloody giant rat pelts. He lets out a breath of relief that it would seem that he was able to fill up on rat meat. Although he does find it odd that pile of rat meat could be so big he decides it is best to hurry back and prepare for class. He has no idea how long he has been unconscious.


    "But coming to the sewers for hunting is a great strategy for when I need food. I''ll need to remember the route to here for later in case something goes wrong with the slaughterhouse."


    Thinking this, he begins to wonder why his unconscious self didn''t just go to the slaughterhouse and raise hell. He tosses it to the back of his mind as a strange miracle and tries stepping down off of the pile of meat.Stolen novel; please report.


    He slips and barely manages to catch himself before running off, following the signs to the surface. As he is leaving, the pile of meat shifts from the impact Alistair slipping down the side. A few pieces of meat fall to the side at the bottom of the pile, revealing a human hand resting lifelessly against the sewer floor.


    ...


    Making his way back to the surface, Alistair recognizes where he is at. It is at the basement level of the dormitories that Professor Washington showed him on his first day. As he reaches his hand to open the door leading to the exit of the basement, he notices blood stains littering the area around the door.


    Getting closer to the door as quietly as he can, he peeks around to see if anyone is outside that could see him. After noticing that the coast was clear, he quickly runs past the entrance of the basement to the staircase. On the way, the blood stains get more and more concentrated.


    When he finally reaches the staircase, he notices a giant bloodstain on the steps and that is where it cuts off. Feeling completely unsettled by this scene, Alistair runs faster and faster to his floor and finally to his room.


    Looking out of his open window, he sees it''s still dawn. Meaning that the classes have not started yet. He throws off the clothes and jumps into the shower as fast as he can to wash off all of the traces of him being in the sewer or anywhere near those blood stains.


    After getting out of the shower and his clothes going through the self cleaning process, he prepares for the day as he would normally. The only difference this time is that since he still has time before his first class, he should focus on improving his body as fast as possible.


    The whole cause of this situation was because he was not fast or strong enough and allowed that black mark to appear on his arm.


    "Maybe I should make use of the fact that they were tougher to deal with and try to get some speed based martial techniques from her. With someone who has as deep of pockets as she does, it should not be too much to expect from her."


    He takes a piece of the shell from the pile he has stored away and is just about to take it before he stops himself.


    "This is only going to make my body tougher... It won''t do anything to increase my actual power."


    He then puts down the shell piece and reaches in the desks drawer for a technique he nearly forgot about due to all of the recent events.


    [Knuckle Burst]


    Due to habit he opens it and tries to commit it to memory like the other books in the library. Just like [Living Iron] though, he is unable to truly understand it even if he can remember it.


    Unless he knows how to break the infinite loop his mind held him in before, he can not use the method he used for [Living Iron].


    "Looks like I will have to do things the old fashioned way."


    He cracks open the book again and turns to page one before following the basic movements listed out for him to follow. Unsure if he is doing it right or wrong, he decides to keep practicing until it is time for class.


    "The technique is supposed to be used for medium range fighting styles. The force behind the burst of my muscles snapping onto the bones of my fist is supposed to send out a small shock wave in multiple directions. This technique is a double edged sword for those who have not mastered it.


    The shock wave could end up hitting the user before it even hits the target. Luckily it''s not that big of a deal for me since I can''t feel pain, but if my body gets damaged too obviously I can''t just fake it in front of others."


    After a couple of hours, a soft popping sound is heard just outside of Alistair''s door. Inside his room, Alistair is standing in the pose of his fist clenched and arm half extended. Smiling at himself for the small achievement he just achieved.


    "I did it!"

 Warning Of Death

    After praising himself, he looks at his fist and sees a small flap of skin overturned on the back of his fist.


    "This must be the backlash from the shock wave. I guess I can understand why Michelle considers this trash tier. Most people can''t use it unless they are prepared to inflict more damage on themselves than they are their opponent."


    He puts his hand in his pocket to look for some bandages that he usually carries in case a normally severe wound appears on his body so he can avoid attention while it heals.


    After rooting around in his pockets which are large enough to hold a small watermelon, he suddenly feels something mildly moist and squishy rolling around.


    Reaching down and grabbing it, he pulls it out and sees that it is an odd eyeball. There are no muscles attached to it or even any blood to signify it was extracted from a living being.


    The eyeball seems completely normal other than the fact that their are no veins on the surface. It looks like a completely pure marble of an eye.


    He stares at it momentarily while thinking that it must have fallen in his pocket when he was on the pile of meat from last night. Knowing that there are no other reliable ways of getting rid of it and that it would be a waste to just do away with a free meal, he tosses it into his mouth and swallows.


    What happens afterwards though, causes Alistair to fall onto his back in surprise. When he swallowed the eyeball, it did not get absorbed into the vortex inside his stomach like normal.


    Instead, it hovered above the spiral inside his stomach and focused it''s pupil on the spiral before rocketing to the brain. It leaves as soon as it sees the spiral in the stomach as if it has seen it''s natural enemy. The spiral slowly starts shifting upwards after it.


    It phases through the lining of his organs and muscles before it comes to a stop after getting to the brain. It just barely avoids the spiral inside the brain as it speeds down outside of his head. The spiral slowly starts shifting downwards after it.


    Seemingly going mad with frustration, the eyeball makes a last ditch effort as it feels the impending encroachment of the spirals. It rushes into the heart and is about to relax before it sees a vortex appear on all sides of it. The spiral slowly starts shifting inwards after it.


    After the spiral fully absorbs the eyeball at the center of his heart is when Alistair falls onto his back in shock. This process takes a long time to explain, but in actuality it happens almost instantly.


    The reason he reels in shock is because when looking down at his body, he is able to see through his skin and down to his bones. He is able to clearly see every part of his body inside and out.


    "What the hell!?" He looks down and at his hands which only show bones and translucent flesh, then he scrambles towards a mirror and he is able to see his normal self clear as day. He sighs in relief at the thought of him just seeing things.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.


    He looks at the mirror again with reinvigorated confidence and sees his reflection staring back at him. Until slowly, he is able to see his skin on his face becoming translucent and he can see into his skull.


    He falls back onto his bed and decides to close his eyes and regain his composure.


    "Okay, calm down and think this through." he mumbles to himself.


    "Everything was completely normal until I ate that eyeball. It stands to reason that whatever is going on is because of that eye." In the middle of his thoughts he realizes that the darkness he should be seeing is turning brighter as he sees the view of his room with what seems to be a blue filter over it.


    He opens his eyes quickly and the blue filter disappears. He tests it a couple of more times and realizes that he can see through his eyelids.


    "Do I have the ability to see through everything?!" He thinks to himself as directs his eyes towards his door hoping to see the other side.


    No matter how hard he focuses though, nothing changes. He only notices the nicely carved mahogany door standing heroically in-between him and trespassers.


    He looks at other objects hoping to see through them as well but with no luck he finally gives up and turns his attention back onto himself.


    Having always been curious about the suction force that comes from his stomach, he looks at his abdomen intently to see through it. His vision passes his skin, his muscle, and finally gets to the organs.


    As he is focusing his attention into his stomach though, he feels a tingling sensation run through his body. The ability to see through his own body starts flickering on and off as he is able to see into his stomach briefly.


    As he is looking he faintly hears something like an announcement outside of his door but he is unable to hear it as he fixates on the spiral.


    "What the hell is thaaa~" He listlessly drones on with his sentence as he is gazing at the spiral. After what feels like hours but in actuality was the briefest of moments, he regains his senses as the x-ray vision he was making use of flickered off.


    Breaking out into a cold sweat Alistair starts hyperventilating as he associates the feeling just now with the same feeling he was in when he was stuck in the infinite loop.


    Kicking himself for not being more careful, Alistair decides that he will need to experiment more with his body later on after more preparations.


    Looking down at his hand again and seeing the gash is still plainly visible from the training he goes into his bathroom.


    He roots around in his bathroom and pulls out some bandage wraps and wraps over abrasion on his hand. He makes his way towards his class after preparing for the day.


    On his way, he notices less children than usual in the hallways. Usually, in the transition between classes the hallways are always packed like canned sardines. Now, on the other hand, children were so sparse that you would think all classes are already in session.


    Something that really sticks out to him though is no matter how hard he tries, he is unable to look through them as he did himself.


    "It would seem I''m only able to look inside of my body... But why would that strange eye allow someone to look inside themselves?"


    Thinking that maybe he is running late because of the earlier accident he rushes to his class.


    "I better hurry, I thought I left on time. I hope I''m not late again." Alistair thought to himself.


    He gets to his classroom and sees only four people there.


    He recognizes them as his coach, the judo using boy Taylor, the tall boy from the fight he was in earlier, and another boy Alistair vaguely remembers fighting against.


    The are all standing in the usual positions they would during normal class sessions. The coach looks over at Alistair coming through the door and says,


    "Ah, another student who decides to ignore the warning for self-improvement. We seem to have a really good batch here! You wouldn''t be elites if you let a little bit of death scare you!"


    Alistair stops in his tracks and puts on a shocked expression, "Warning of death?" He asks his coach.


    He looks confusingly at Alistair, "Yeah, about the assassination of a group of students. Bodies were littered in the sewer last night. The faculty are on full alert while we search for the murderer."

 Monster Style

    "A-Assassins?! What were they after? Why kill a few students?" Alistair stutters while trying to keep his composure in front of his teacher.


    The teacher sighs at the realization that it wasn''t his student being brave, only stupid. He says,


    "Who knows why anyone does anything these day. Most likely a student who thinks his family is above the hardships of the school or something else. Hell, at this point it could even be a monster from the markings we found."


    Alistair''s ears perk up at the mention of a monster. Realizing this could go down a very bad road if the conversation continues he says,


    "Are you sure it''s okay to tell students this information? It could cause a panic."


    The teacher looks at him and says flatly,


    "Oh it''s fine, students need to be exposed to these situations as much as possible. Cradling you all won''t provide any benefit to your growth. Besides, if you do cause a panic or become a blubbering mess, then you will be expelled immediately. It''s a way to weed out the weak in it''s own way."


    He pauses before reaching into his back pocket to pull out a piece of paper.


    "Here''s the warning. It''s up to you if you would like to stay for class or go back to your dorm for the day. The investigators are currently questioning and everyone so they recommended everyone to stay in there rooms to get to them. But they will come to the classrooms eventually."


    "Then how come they don''t expel the students for not attending class if they will stop by anyway?"


    "That''s a damn good question that would be better asked to the Principal of the school. Not that he would ever entertain a conversation with you."


    Alistair looks down at the paper and sees the warning giving a vague outlining of what happened last night.


    ----------


    Warning!


    There were, and could still be, assassins that attacked last night. They infiltrated through the sewer systems and we have confirmed the existence of three bodies dismembered throughout the tunnels.


    The slaughterhouse has also been destroyed with claw marks and raw meat all over the floor. We are currently investigating the cause of this, but at this moment in time we are postponing the self production of meat in our facility. We will double vegetable availability to make up for this.


    If anyone has any information, they are required to comply with the investigative staff and comply with scrying runes. Any signs of resistance will be met with severe punishment and forced scrying measures.


    Students are allowed a temporary reprieve from classes while investigators scour the entire facility for traces of the intruders. Please either stay in your dorm or in your class. If the investigators have to go looking for you, you will be punished harshly.


    ----------


    He feels a deep uneasiness at the pit of his stomach. "I have already seen the effects of magic interacting with my body... I have to find out some way to avoid them using runes which are containers of vast amounts of magical energy."


    He asks, "Teacher, will they be coming during this class or next class?"If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    "Oh, I''m not sure. They need to get through all the children in their dorms first and then they will begin coming to the classes.


    In the middle of his thoughts he hears his teacher,


    "Alright everyone! No time like the present to start focusing on class!" He claps his hands together and says with an enthusiastic smile.


    "Todays lesson will give you a major head start over the rest of the class so do well to make full use of it!"


    He begins instructing them on proper muscle training and fighting techniques. Each student is either doing bizarre workout exercises or performing a unique move set that the instructor has taught them.


    He makes his way over to Alistair who is effortlessly holding a very difficult pose that the teacher described as a way to strengthen every muscle in torso and arms at once. To Alistair however, he is unable to gain any of the amazing benefits from the repetition of working out.


    While he is in this position he is calmly looking all over his body to see his muscles that are supposed to be improving from the routine. He sees however that the muscles he is stretching out are actually becoming damaged and a thin strand of mist originating from his abdomen is repairing it to it''s previous state.


    "I guess working out my body, it will try to heal itself naturally as it absorbs energy from whatever that spiral in my stomach is. Then I guess that means, my body is actually already dead and whatever is needed to be kept in working condition is absorbed from the food I ingest.


    I guess it''s not that different from a normal living body... But why do I need to eat raw ingredients and nothing else? Either way I need to limit damaging actions to my body as much as possible unless I can establish a food source." He thinks of the slaughter house and


    Seeing that the workout routine is not as difficult for Alistair as he thought it would be, the teacher raises his opinion of his student further. He stops walking in front of Alistair and says,


    "I can see that you are having an easy time with muscle building exercises. I apologize for not assessing you properly at first. In all my years as an instructor this is the first time a student has truly shown such physical discipline. How about we focus on something a little more suited to someone with your foundations?"


    Alistair, while still in his awkward position, casually carries on the conversation, impressing the teacher even more. "What did you have in mind teacher?"


    "I was thinking about working on your fighting style. You seem to just be using moves you learned from your opponents in battle. That will not work when you are up against monsters. Did you get a chance to take a look at any of the books I recommended to you?"


    Alistair feels a deep sense of shame as he realizes he never had a chance to go to the library and study. He shakes his head,


    "No teacher. I had many things that I-" His teacher raises his hand in a gesture to stop Alistair from speaking.


    "No need to worry. We will just have to find out what works best with you. Go ahead and copy the stance and each subsequent movement after it."


    He tosses out a small straw doll that has a purple rune on it. After it lands on the ground it takes the form of a faceless generic male with a lean build and grows to the size of the teacher.


    The teacher positions his legs so his body is almost perpendicular to the faceless male and puts his clenched fists up in front of his face. His front foot is raised just slightly off of its heel and his hips are pushed towards the faceless male.


    Seeing this pose, Alistair is reminded of one of the students who he sparred with. Vaguely remembering that the student did nothing more than flail about, the fighting style did not leave a good impression on him.


    Keeping these thoughts to himself, Alistair does as he told and copies the stance. He then sees his teacher swing his fists from side to side in very fast and succinct motions before swiftly bringing his knee shooting straight upwards.


    The wind rips and makes a loud smacking sound as his knee hits his palms that stopped it. Just imagining if a person were on the receiving end of that combo is enough to understand its power.


    After watching Alistair attempt to copy his movements and try them out on the training dummy, the teacher says,


    "I can tell you have a good grasp on the basics of some fighting styles. So what we are going to do, is give you broad knowledge of every fighting style and see what works best for you."


    Alistair looks at the impact marks that he managed to make on the training dummy and says,


    "I''ll try to incorporate everything I learn into my zombie style." He smiles at his teacher while thinking to himself,


    "Adding all the styles I can find with the natural evolution my body goes through when I eat my food could generate a style completely unique to me... My very on ''Monster Style''".

 I Wasnt The Only One

    An hour passes with everyone being guided into their preferred styles of fighting. Some showing more drive to improve than others. In the middle of educating the students in the importance of facilitating magic with a strong body, the doors to classroom open to reveal a group of men and women in business attire.


    The teacher claps his hands to get everyone''s attention. "Alright class, we will end today''s lesson here. Please line up for the investigators to ask you some questions."


    The students all hear this and line up while looking at the investigators. The group consists of four investigators with two of them being women and two being men. One of the women walk up to the first student,


    "I am going to use scrying runes to judge the validity of your responses. Are you ready to being?"


    The student nods stiffly before the women puts on a glove with strange markings over it and presses her palm against his head. She then goes into a tirade of questions.


    "What is your name?"


    "What school do you attend?"


    .


    .


    .


    "Do you have any knowledge on the murderers?"


    "Where were you between these times?"


    The student answers each question immediately while the woman stares intently at the runes on her glove. The runes have been shining with a grey color to it from the beginning. It never changes color through the entire process.


    She does this with each student before getting to the tall boy who ambushed Alistair with the chubbier student before. She runs through the same questions. This time though, the normally grey colored runes turn a bright red.


    Her and the rest of her group focus their eyes on the boy immediately before the woman speaks,


    "You''re lying. You were not in your room during the night of the attack. You are given one more chance to tell the truth. Failure to comply will result in detainment and further interrogation."


    The tall boy who had a brave front up in front of the questions, immediately pales upon the though of what their interrogation methods could be. He hurriedly speaks up,


    "I can not tell you exactly what I was doing last night due to certain implications, but I can refer you to this person who can tell you everything you need to know." He hands her a small green rune stone.


    "You will be held in detainment until your whereabouts can be verified. We will postpone interrogative methods until that moment." She motions for one of the investigators to take the boy away and he does.


    Finally they get to Alistair at the end of the line. He has been trying his best to maintain a calm and collected appearance despite his thoughts that were running a mile a minute.This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    The woman introduces herself like normal before she takes her glove and moves it towards Alistairs head. He winces his eyes in frustration at himself for not being able to come up with any way to escape. He knows how weak he is compared to everyone so fighting his way out is futile.


    The best he can hope for is that his blacked out state last night and foggy memories will be unclear enough to trick the scrying magic. What worries him more than anything though, is the moment it touches his skin if his skin will burst into flames while trying to dispel the magic.


    "Well, it may not be all bad... Maybe they will think it''s part of my body condition like Beths family did."


    Tossing caution to the wind he allows her to touch him. What happened next shocks him to his core, nothing happens. They grey rune lights up on her glove and she begins her line of questioning with Alistair answering each of them as fast as possible to avoid contact with the rune.


    "Alistair"


    "Diamond In The Rough Orphanage"


    .


    .


    .


    When it came time to answer the questions about the attacks though Alistair tried the best tactic he could come up with while preparing for this.


    "Do you have any knowledge on the murderers?"


    "I don''t know anything about the murderers."


    "Where were you between these times?"


    "I passed out in my dorm last night at this time and woke up in my dorm at this."


    The glove maintained it''s grey shine all the way through the line of questioning. Reaching the end of her questions, she removes her hand and then goes over to the teacher.


    Alistair breaths a sigh of relief before quickly feeling the spot where her hand had touched his head and feels no abnormalities or pain.


    "I tried very hard to think of very vague answers for each of her questions that could expose me. Luckily it worked, and it seems like magic is not as all powerful as I originally thought it was."


    He thinks back to the situation while still rubbing his head, finding it oddly soothing while thinking through complicated matters.


    "But what on earth happened there? I was sure my body could not process magic. Maybe the spell the chubby kid used before was supposed to have an affect that burns away at the skin? That doesn''t make any sense... From what Michelle told me, he should only know body enhancement magic.


    Not to mention that most people who use magic do not try to learn different types of magic before reaching ascension as it can delay their advancement."


    Thinking about the problems he just faced, he realizes that he will need to ask Michelle to help him with these problems. He has done a big enough favor for her in his last fight that she shouldn''t be able to refuse.


    Tossing these ideas to the back of his mind, Alistair waits for the investigators to finish their business and the teacher lets them go from class. Before they leave however, one of the men stand out from the group and say to the class,


    "The murderers are still out there. Judging from the horrific way they left their victims, we can only assume them to be the most sick and twisted of people. Please be extra cautious and report anything or anyone strange or out of place to us."


    He then turns and walks out of the class with the rest of the group. The teacher then rubs the back of his head while looking at his students and says,


    "So i know that I praised you all for showing the courage to come to class despite the scare but, all classes are cancelled from this point on and you are all to return to your dorms. Apparently there has been another murder since last night."


    Alistair''s mind goes reeling, he was sure that he was the culprit behind the murders last night. How can there be another murder if he hasn''t killed anyone since he woke up? Unless, "I wasn''t the only one in that sewer last night..."

 Waste Removal

    Down inside of the sewers, underneath the Diamond In The Rough Orphanage.


    At roughly the same time that Alistair left the sewer to head towards his dorm room. In a corner in the sewer that is pitch black due to a faulty light source. A shadow suddenly stirs as if it had been asleep this entire time.


    It moves around in the darkness very leisurely for a brief moment before it becomes visibly agitated.


    It jumps out of the corner of darkness and splashes its body against the solid ground, as if it were made entirely of liquid. It spills itself across the cement flooring of the sewer before almost instantly reforming into the shape of a shadowy adult male.


    It looks around for a couple of seconds as if it is looking for something before splashing back into the ground at a breakneck pace as it makes its way through the sewer tunnels.


    These tunnels are wide enough that it could fit five people standing shoulder to shoulder and tall enough it could fit two standing on an others shoulders. The shadow glides through it, going down to a certain passage that has been blocked off because of condemned tunnels caving in.


    It slips into the cracks between the rubble of a cave-in and sees an empty chair fallen over on the ground with blood dripping off of it and a trail of it leading to a hole in the rubble.


    It reforms into a human shape upon entry of the cave-in and upon seeing the seen its arms grasps its head as it lets loose an inaudible scream.


    Just before it can chase into the hole in the rubble, it hears the voices of multiple people and sees light sources being waved around on the other side of it. After a moment of deliberation, it splashes back into the ground and dives into the hole towards the people.


    The last thing the group of three men see is a darkness expand from the hole they were looking into and engulf them. The shadow reforms into a human persona and checks every crevice of each person looking for something. It tosses their corpses aside into the sewage stream that runs in the center of each tunnel.


    It roars inaudibly once again before diving back into the ground and making its way towards the nearest exit of the sewer, leading into the slaughterhouse.


    ...


    Alistair and the other students return to their dorms and are ordered to stay there until provided guidance by a staff member. Older students who have been training for longer are allowed to go to certain areas but not all.


    Murder is handled on a case by case basis in each territory of each city. This orphanage is the territory of the Headmaster Wallace, and disobeying his rule is a direct attack on him. The people who are able to get into his orphanage do have notable backgrounds but none worthy of challenging a headmaster.


    Seeing this as an opportunity to focus on improving his ability, Alistair does not mind shutting himself inside for a period of time. His only constant worry is when his hunger will act up. Students are given a reprieve from the battle of the cafeteria during this time and are given small meals delivered to their dorms.


    The downside is that none of the food is edible for Alistair. Luckily he had his fill from that night in the sewers and so his body should take longer to get hungry, but the longer they take to return the schedule to normal, the longer he would have to go without food.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.


    "And the slaughterhouse is out of commission so I can''t even request raw meat even if I want to..." He thinks to himself while in the middle of practicing [Knuckle Burst]


    While he practices though, he realizes that he won''t be able to continue this sort of trial and error practicing for long as the constant healing of his body from the backlash of his skill is consuming to much of the energy he got from eating.


    He sighs in frustration, "I''m not even making any proper progress in it anymore! I understand the problems that come with the technique but to improve in it, I must have muscles that I can contract and expand at will for directional control of the burst.


    The problem is that my muscles are actually all dead and I can''t train my muscles to move how I want if they will just revert to their natural state after healing."


    He looks at the shell fragments he got while cleaning the kitchen and shakes his head at the realization that training his body with those will just consume energy just as fast as his other skill.


    He sits in his room thinking about solutions to the problem.


    The tense atmosphere has permeated throughout the orphanage during the continued investigations taken place each day. One day, when the person bringing food to the students stopped at his door, Alistair asked him a question that has been on his mind.


    "Are we still allowed to go on missions?"


    "Oh yes, most of the students have been using this time to temper themselves on missions outside of the academy. Would you like to apply for one?"


    Dumbstruck at the information that he was wasting his time indoors while everyone else was already getting stronger, he kicks himself with regret.


    "Yeah, but we aren''t allowed out on the campus. So why would they let us leave school grounds during an investigation? Wouldn''t that offer the killers a chance to escape?"


    "Oh! This must be your first time going outside of the campus since you have come here. I''m guessing you are fairly new then. The reasoning is quite simple. When you are outside of the wall on a mission from us, you are not allowed back in under any circumstances unless we give you permission.


    This includes going to other cities as well. So unless the person wants try and survive out in the wastes for their entire life while being shunned by every society known to man, he will not leave the campus to go outside the walls."


    "Surely their must be ways to work around that for people who are smart enough though?"


    "Oh of course there is. The only way around this method though is to use the power of an ascended king though. The only ones at that level though are so strong that they would only need to ask the principal to kill the students himself, instead of sneaking around to do it."


    Alistair took a bit of important information away from that conversation, ascended king.


    "So there are different levels to the ascended?"


    "Oh yes, you will learn all about them in your classes and it''s not my place to teach you about them. As for applying for a mission, we are required to carry interfaces to allow students to sign up for missions remotely."


    The man who brings food to the children takes out a tablet shaped device and hands it to Alistair. After taking the tablet, Alistair peruses the missions listed for outside activity.


    After seeing a few ridiculous requests that involve fighting hordes of beasts or really strong monsters that only the most advanced students are capable of taking on, he sees a lower ranked mission that catches his eye.


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


    Mission: Waste removal


    Difficulty Rating: D+


    Description: Close to the outside of the wall, low ranked monsters attack and are killed on a daily basis. The corpses are to be collected for dissection and processing before they rot and turn into their zombie or skeletal counterparts.


    Time Limit: None


    Reward: Varies on amount of materials gathered for processing.


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


    "I''ll take this one." Alistair says while giving the tablet back to the man.


    "Oh? Not many people would do such menial labor for uncertain rewards." The man says before going through the process of offering and accepting a mission.


    After everything finished, Alistair was curious about how he would get to the mission site from the orphanage. As he was about to ask, he saw the man close Alistairs front door which led to the hallway of the dorm.


    Immediately after closing it, he reopens it to show an office space and an woman sitting behind a desk.


    "Hurry up and close the portal already! You are letting out all of the air conditioning!" She yells from her seated position.

 Interlude: Is It Wrong?

    In a dead forest outside of a towering wall, a mob of people scour everywhere, killing and butchering anything that does not look like them. After they murder these creatures and laugh to themselves and each other in accomplishment, they toss their trophies into an enormous pile behind them.


    In that veritable mountain of corpses, a young creature stirs itself awake near the center. It is visibly shaken by the gruesome scene around it. It resembles the creatures that it is piled with. An abomination that was created along with the cataclysm.


    It originally had the form of an average rabbit. After the change though, the creatures grew to twice their original size. Their hair turned into tightly packed black scales.


    Their body did not retain the same plump shape it had prior to its change, instead its limbs grew to be lanky and formed into spear shaped appendages. Their eyes have grown smaller and turned dark red while their trademark ears have roughly retained their original shaped.


    Most creatures have gained a form of sentience after that event which did little to change their predator nature causing peace with humans and other creatures to be near impossible. The same goes for creatures with a peaceful nature, but humans are too cautious to trust anything that is not their own kind due to the changes in creatures.


    Humans have been tricked before by creatures pretending to be nice, only to devour them or abuse them in later situations. The young creature among the pile currently is still very young. When the creatures are still children, they look almost identical to rabbits post-cataclysm with the only exception being pitch black scales instead of fur.


    "I am alone. I am scared."


    It thinks to itself as it feels the blood of its family running down its face.


    "Everyone I knew is gone."


    It tells itself as it stares into the lifeless eyes of its mother resting on top of it. It remembers that its family was looking through the forest for any vegetation they could survive off of. After they realized that the forest had been stripped clean of their food source, they prepared to make a journey to find another home with more food.


    As they were preparing for the journey though, the young creature who had been starving for days had seen a head of lettuce growing out of the ground not to far away. It gave off a nice leafy smell that tickled its nose. It wanted to tell its mother and family but the group of beasts is unable to communicate intricate messages to each other when they are young.


    "Those close to me are unable to understand me..."


    Instead, it decides that the best way to help and show its family is to bring the food back for them. The head of lettuce is big enough to sustain them for at least a few days. It wonders why no one has noticed it yet since it was so obvious.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    Thinking little of its families negligence towards providing for themselves, it hops over to the head of lettuce and after verifying that no predator is around, it bites into it and tries to pull it out of the ground. Immediately afterwards though, it hears a group of people coming at it towards the horizon. It hurriedly pulls as hard and as fast as it can to take the lettuce.


    It finally succeeds and scurries off towards its family with its spoils. Eager to receive their praise. What it is met with though, is shock and horror from the eyes of each and every beast. Its mother stabs into the lettuce with its appendage and flings it as hard as it can.


    "I just wanted to help. I wanted praise for helping, instead I made you all hate me."


    It remembers back to other times when similar situations happened to it before. It tried to find clean water to drink, but was scolded for traveling to far from the pack. It wanted to go help find a new forest to live off of, but it was punished for tagging along because it''s too young.


    "Why do they hate me? What did I do to them?"


    Not too long after the vegetable was flung away, a group of humans surround the rabbits and begin to slaughter. The mother rabbit clutched the young rabbit close to it as it had been struck down. Not noticing the little black rabbit attached to its dead mother, the humans threw both into an ever growing pile of corpses.


    "I just wanted to survive and have a little bit of happiness..."


    It watched through the gaps of the pile as the humans get further and further away as they chase after the rabbits. It contemplates why they all had to die. Why did its family turn away his good will time and time again. Why does everything bad always happen to it?


    "Is there something wrong with them?"


    It thinks of everyone and how they all just don''t know how to get along and have a nice life together and live happily. This is its first time seeing humans and thinking that each human must be insane to want to kill a peaceful family for no reason, it comes to the conclusion that humans are insane.


    That line of thinking is understandable for it. What causes it to look further in itself though is how its family acted. When the humans attacked, they all prioritized protecting itself. Afterwards, they put up less resistance towards the humans.


    "Is there something wrong with... me?"


    Why else would they hate it so much, and why else would the humans want to kill them so much. It remembers its mothers actions and realize that bringing the lettuce back brought the humans along with them.


    "So there is something wrong with me?"


    If it didn''t keep trying to gain the praise of others. It would have been able to live quietly with its family. They would have moved on to the next forest and it would have been just like any ordinary day.


    "Why did it have to end like this?"


    Why did he have to try to impress everyone? Why did he have to take that stupid vegetable? Why did the humans have to kill them? Why did his family die to protect him?


    Every other member of his family contributed so much more to their survival. They should have been the ones to be protected, not it.


    "Was I wrong to want to survive?"


    If surviving meant the pain and death of everyone it knows and loves, what was the point of surviving? It would have been better if it had never done anything to try and stand out in the first place. Its very existence causes everyone it loves pain and suffering.


    "Was I wrong to exist?"


    It wonders to itself as tears start mixing from its eyes and the blood running down its face. It suddenly hears the sound of more humans approaching and they appear to be here to look through the piles for something.


    "Maybe if I don''t exist anymore, everyone will be happier."


    It silently waits for the humans to find it and put it out of its misery. It sees its mother getting lifted up off of it. The stormy thunderclouds coming into full view, with only one human standing above it with its mothers corpse in hand.


    A bald young boy in a school uniform and pasty white skin.

 Scralebits

    After stepping through the doorway into the room with the lady, the attendant closes it and leaves the two alone.


    The woman stares at Alistair with a scrutinizing gaze, while Alistair looks around the room to find out where he is at.


    After seeing all she needs to see, she returns her attention to the papers on her desk. The silence in the room lasts for a few seconds before the woman speaks up.


    "Name." She says while organizing a stack of papers on her desk.


    "What?"


    "Did I stutter?"


    "No... But what d-"


    "Then don''t make me repeat myself."


    "Alistair." He says grudgingly.


    "Okay Alistair lets see here.... Ah okay. Take these and meet up with the group on the outside of the building entrance. You are to follow them and process everything they leave behind. I''m sure you already understand the missions contents from the mission prompt shown to you. Get moving."


    She tosses him a sack with an assortment of materials such as ropes and saws and other equipment needed for processing. After the sack slams into Alistair, he is taken aback by the force of the toss coming from such a petite woman that it puts him off balance as he stumbles backwards.


    The door he just walked through opens on its own as Alistair comes to a stop just in front of the doorway. As he collects himself he looks up to the woman at the desk and quickly asks,


    "Okay but-"


    He sees her move her finger towards him and the door slams shut.


    "Hmph, fine then." He walks his way towards the entrance and after exiting the building he sees a group of men and students with more seniority than him waiting. Alistair notices that he is the only one with the sack of tools and figures that he is the only one on this specific mission.


    They all look over at Alistair and one of the men speak up, "Okay that''s fifteen. We can move out now. Everyone remember to travel in five man cells to cover each others backs. This is usually an easy job, but we were informed that monsters have been spotted not too far from the wall and destroying the vegetation in the area."


    He notices that the place that he has been teleported to is the gate that he entered through not too long ago. It would seem the guard captain has been replaced for some reason. The place that they are heading towards is a forested part of the valley that he passed through.


    Alistair makes his way towards the group and hears them discussing the mission on his way over. Aware that the mission has started with his arrival, he hurries up to get closer to them so he doesn''t get left behind.


    No one bothers to take a second glance at him as they all start walking towards the forested area. It made sense to Alistair why they didn''t take a vehicle. He heard it from a long distance away when he was still outside. If they are trying to hunt monsters, then being as quiet as possible is a good call.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    He just does not remember how long of a walk it takes to get there. After what feels like hours of walking, they finally reach their destination. When they do, a few people dig some dirt with their hands and plant a small seed with some runic carvings on it.


    Moments later, it sprouts into a full head of cabbage and even continues to grow bigger before stopping at two times the size of normal cabbages.


    Unaware of what the strange tactics being implemented could be useful for in killing monsters, Alistair silently follows along hoping to find a method to their madness. The group does this consistently every few hundred feet.


    After they walk in a complete circle while planting these strange cabbages, those in charge of the group stop and form an encampment to rest momentarily. Not that Alistair needed to rest, but everyone else is more worse for wear than he is.


    As the group sits to relax on broken logs used as chairs and against dead trees for back support, some of the adults refuse to relax and consistently patrol their perimeter. One of the relaxing adults stands up after having a conversation with a student and projects his voice so everyone can hear him.


    "We rest for thirty minutes. Afterwards we will need to go back to each bait placed down and maintain upkeep on them." He goes further on to explain that the cabbages are used for tracking monsters that are primarily herbivores and how some Scralebits have been spotted in the area.


    Having some questions for the man, Alistair raises his hand in a school like manner. Caught off-guard at first that someone has a question, he sees that it is only a child and realizes that some questions are unavoidable.


    "Yes, the shiny headed boy. What is your question?"


    "Why are we hunting herbivores if they don''t attack us? Also what are Scralebits?"


    "Herbivores can destroy the delicate ecosystem we have here. A lot of the wealth that humanity has, is in the form of special herbs and plants. Think of it as if you let someone else eat your food after you already cooked it, when you are struggling to find anything to eat yourself.


    As for Scralebits, they are beasts that are said to have limbs that can stab through a man as if a hot knife through butter and their breeding abilities are terrifying. It was said that a long time ago, these beasts are cause of the deforestation around human kingdoms for some reason due to their reproduction rates being so monstrous.


    Not to mention, if they are left to reproduce long enough there is a chance that an ascended beast could be born."


    After explaining this, the man directed his attention away from Alistair and towards the group again,


    "As stated, these beasts can be dangerous. Once we catch them, show no mercy. I''m sure I don''t have to remind you that bleeding hearts in the wilds result in bleeding hearts."


    After saying this he sits back down and pulls out a map to look over their location and discusses things with the student next to him. Alistair recognizes this student from the hallways of his school. He wonders why he would choose such a low difficulty mission considering his seniority.


    To his surprise though, the student stops speaking with the man and walks over to Alistair. He looks at Alistair before plopping down next to him.


    "Hey man, you didn''t have to interrupt the leader of the mission. Next time you have a question in these missions just remember to ask one of the students. It''s a lot safer since being off campus means if you offend the wrong person, no one would be able to protect you. Not that our weak principal could protect anyone in the first place."


    He chuckles to his own joke while waiting for Alistairs response.


    "Oh thank you for the advice!" He says before struggling to find the right words to ask his question.


    "If you don''t mind me asking, how come someone who seems to be thirteen or older is taking such a low ranked mission? Wouldn''t it be faster to get recognized by doing more dangerous missions?"


    "Of course its faster. The problem isn''t wanting to take more dangerous missions. The problem is the highest ranked students usually have a monopoly on those missions. The mission points can do a lot of things in this school, one of them being given first pick at certain mission types.


    Besides this missions not as low grade as you might think. It''s still a C+ ranked mission after all."


    Alistair is given another look at how advantageous being rich can be. He silently murmurs to himself "I need to find a way to secure mission points much faster than I am doing now. I''ll just have to ask a rich person how to become rich when I get back!" He remembers the leisurely look on Michelle''s face as she bought items without a care in front of him.

 Are We The Monsters?

    With the rest break over, the group packs up and begins making their rounds to maintain their traps. Some of the younger people in the group begin to show signs of fatigue, not too long after their resting break. The veterans continue on without acknowledging the sullen atmosphere that is surround the group.


    Usually, they would have spotted the monsters by now since they are so close to their own city. That would have been the case this time as well if not for the ever changing thought patterns of beings other than humans.


    Humans regard themselves as the smartest creatures and top of the food chain due to their history and newfound abilities. They have slowly begun to realize that although the major events of the cataclysm are over, the aftereffects are still occurring.


    The world and every creature inside of it are still constantly evolving, leaving humanity to update their notes for the same creatures repeatedly.


    The group is currently in that situation now. Realizing this, the veterans are unable to rest easy and why they told everyone else to kill on sight.


    Most of the time, a group could try and capture creatures from the wilds and bring them back to places to be raised as a form of cattle. That is only for the situations when one believes everything to be under their control.


    "Huh?"


    While walking towards the next cabbage to verify and maintain its runes, the person who planted that cabbage feels his trap activate. After running up to the cabbage that was not so far away, he sees a purplish trail of fog starting from where he had planted it.


    He turns to the other veterans and nods his head. Afterwards, he speaks up to the group and says, "Alright everyone! I know that you all must be exhausted, but we have found our target now. We don''t know exactly what we are getting ourselves into, so show extreme caution until we give you the ''Okay'' to attack."


    He informs the rest of the group and they all follow the scralebits trail back to its nest. After following it''s trail, the group arrives at the edge of a dying forest.


    The man who planted had been leading the way walks towards the cabbage head and sees the markings that it was handled very roughly.


    "It seems that we are dealing with some smart beasts here. Luckily they aren''t smart enough if one of them brought us right to their doorstep." The man chuckles and looks in the direction that the cabbage was thrown from.


    Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    The group follows his lead as he signals them to get into position of the nest of the scralebits. After making sure they are ready to move, they attack fast and efficiently. Veterans and students alike chasing after each scralebit with weapons and magic.


    The scralebits put up very little resistance after a few of them had been slain. Alistair notices this and thinks, "Weird... For monsters that we should be so worried about, how come they are just lining up to be killed? It''s almost as if we are the monsters."


    Alistair pulls out a bundle of tarps from his backpack that are uses for processing and sorting materials. He lays them down on the ground and gets them ready for use.


    The amount of corpses keep piling up. He had heard stories of their reproduction capabilities, but he felt that they had been greatly exaggerated. At most, there could have only been thirty or so beasts he thinks.


    His team members begin throwing the corpses into a pile on top of one of his tarps. With nothing else to really do, he busies himself in his work. Dismantling corpses on each tarp and chipping away at the pile.


    The dismembering process that he is used to is a very crude process. It does not involve anything more complicated than chopping up the body parts into small enough parts so that they can be easily transported and to let the blood drain from them during the process.


    Doing this over and over, Alistair realizes that he still does not find any uneasy feeling in the excessive amounts of blood and gore. Usually on these missions, the newbies would be made fun of by the veterans for their weak stomachs. Alistair maintains a stoic expression the entire time he processes the bodies though.


    What he feels while performing this butchery is not disgust, but hunger. So much that every other tiny piece he cut off would go into his own mouth when he knew that no one was looking at him.


    He mentally prepared himself for a new power up of some sort, what awaited him though was disappointment. He realizes that no changes other than a more satisfied stomach occurs after eating. Upset at the turn of events, he grumpily decides to take it out on the next corpse he processes.


    He thinks that maybe he just did not eat enough and after consuming more will reward him with the new abilities he is looking for. After the fifth body, he finishes with his first pile and makes his way to the next pile closest to him.


    As he starts walking towards it though, he sees strange undulations pulsating off of it. The distortions are semi-transparent black ripples with small white dots flecked throughout it. Although the distortions are very faint, if one looked closely, they would notice it originating from the center of the pile of corpses.


    Although the ripples are very unsettling, Alistair does not feel any blood lust coming from it so he decides to proceed with caution and investigates. The closer he gets though, the more intense the undulations become.


    He decides to look through the pile of corpses personally instead of asking for help due to hearing about how lucky encounters are only lucky for the ones who are strong enough to keep them.


    Wise words by his teacher that he fundamentally understands the importance of after realizing how important wealth is for those truly looking to improve themselves.


    He takes the scralebits off of the pile from the top of it, one by one. He finally sees a scralebit hunched over in a peculiar position, as if it were protecting something. He reaches for it and lifts it up to reveal a young scralebit.


    The scralebit would look like any other except for the flecks of shining white specks on its pitch black scales. If it were only that though, Alistair would not feel as in awe of the scene as he currently is. The young scralebit is currently floating in the center of the corpses with a small purple-bluish swirl forming around it.


    It looks up at Alistair and meets with his eyes. The moment their eyes lock though, Alistair notices the look of despair on its face, the beast is crying. Something that was never in any book he read or talked about by his teachers. Seeing the beautifully tragic scene, Alistair revisits his earlier thoughts.


    "Are we the monsters?"


    After thinking this thought though, the spiral forming around the scralebit slows to a crawl before stopping and then fracturing. Seeing this, Alistair gets a dreadfully clear feeling of deaths scythe resting at his neck.


    He is not even given a chance to move though before the fractured swirl completely cracks and from that crack a silent explosion engulfs the entire forested area. The area that was once covered with trees and the shouting of fighters and beasts disappears in an instant. What is left, is an area with only a young naked boy sitting at deaths door, a young unconscious scralebit, and the pile of corpses under it.

 Hey Brother

    Alistairs'' consciousness is barely hanging on from the sudden traumatic force he sustained. When he opens his eyes to see his surroundings, he is met with dark blurry blotches instead of his usual clear vision.


    "W-What is going on? What was that? Why can''t I see anything? Ugh... My legs aren''t responding properly. "


    He takes a few quick looks around to see if he can make out his surroundings with his impaired vision, but to no avail. What he notices though is that his stomach is fiercely ravaging his insides.


    He tries to call out for help but when he opens his mouth, the suction force from his stomach is so strong that it begins pulling in debris from the area around him. The dirt and dust clog his throat as he struggles to make sense of the situation.


    A few moments after opening his mouth though, the suction from his mouth pulls along with the debris, a few bits of monster flesh into his stomach. Afterwards, he sees the distorted images in his vision clear up and provide a clear picture.


    A picture of desolation. The trees and dead patches of grass that was surrounding him previously is all gone. What shocked him the most though is that, there are no traces of explosions or damage at all. The layout looks as if someone were to just delete the objects from existence.


    Even the holes for the grass and trees are still left gaping in the ground. It is only until looking around for a few seconds that he suddenly realizes that the drab grey lighting and occasional flashing of light are missing. What replaces them is a warm and delightful brightness shining on the area.


    He looks up into the sky slowly and sees a hole perfectly cut open in the thick blanket of thunderclouds that rest above them. With the hole being ripped open, nothing blocks the sun from proudly displaying itself before him.


    "AH! Dammit!"


    Unfortunately for him though, his increased weakness to sudden intakes of massive amounts of light damages his eyes once more. He throws his head back down to the ground in an attempt to recover himself.


    Luckily only one of his eyes got damaged from the sun. The damage became so bad though that the edges around his eyes started to bubble and caused his eye to pop out of his skull.


    It is only now that he realizes the serious implications of what he was subjected to. He looks towards the pile of the corpses that the baby scralebit was floating in. After verifying that no more fluctuations or movements are coming from the pile, he stands up unsteadily.


    He quickly disregards the sun above him without getting the chance to bask in its glory and instead quickly walks back towards the piles of meat he prepared earlier, and stuffs as much into his mouth as possible.


    After a minute of gorging himself, his body begins repairing itself at a visible speed. He thinks to himself that he needs to hurry out of that area as fast as he can before the adorable ball of destruction wakes up and decides to use that strange power again.


    As he is beginning to run for his life, he hears a tender and tortured voice worm its way into his ear.


    "Please help me brother... I don''t want to be be alone. I don''t want to be a disappointment."This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.


    He looks over at the pile of corpses and sees the small scralebit peeking over a body and looking at him. Shocked by the sudden dialogue coming from a species he thought to be unintelligent, he asks "Are you talking... to me?"


    It jumps out from the pile and walks up to the front of Alistairs feet and cranes its neck to look at him in the face.


    "Yes, I seem to have gone through our maturation. We can finally talk to each other now."


    It is only now that Alistair realizes that adult scralebits are known to have a communications networks within themselves. What he doesn''t understand though, is how he is able to hear and more importantly, understand this scralebit.


    "Okay, but what do you mean by brother? I''m not-"


    He is cut off before can finish by the small scralebits panicking voice.


    "B-Brother! What is going on?! Help! I''m scared!"


    With a stomach full of apprehension, he sees that the scralebit has a crystal like shell forming over top of its scales. It looks at Alistair with hopeful eyes that he can save it.


    Unfortunately though, it is destined to be disappointed. Alistair still apprehensively looks at the small scralebit and can not believe the situation he is in. After a couple of seconds though, he notices the scralebits hopeful eyes for salvation and remembers himself when he met Beth.


    Back when he needed a security blanket to help make sense of his situation. He figures the best thing he can do in this situation is to try and do the same for the scralebit. He knows that logically, he should just turn around and run away while the scralebit is confused.


    But instead, he is met with another unexpected emotion that he never knew he had, empathy. This internal struggle only takes place within him for a couple of seconds. After battling himself, he puts on the best smile he can and says,


    "Rest easy, everything will be okay. This is probably part of your maturation process." Alistair states while vaguely remembering the notes about scralebits saying that they go into a type of hibernation during their puberty period. Although, they never mentioned anything about a creeping crystal forming.


    "Oh, okay... Thank you for helping me brother. Thank you for saving me too. If only you were here sooner to stop them, maybe my other family would have been saved..."


    Realizing that the scralebit thinks that he is the one that saved them, Alistair does not know if now is the right time to tell it the truth. The crystal shell is reaching up from its feet and is almost up to its shoulders now.


    The crystal shell was spreading faster though and only allowed the scralebit one more chance to speak. When it starts speaking this time though, the emotions it has been holding back burst forth at the mention of its family as it begins to choke on it''s sobs.


    "It''s so nice to be able to talk now... Hey brother, I have always been curious. What did my mothers voice sound like? What did she say"


    Before Alistair is able to respond, the crystal seals around its head and completely encases it. He Watches it for a moment to see if there are any further developments before realizing the entire process is over.


    He reaches down quickly and taps the scralebit very gently to make sure its safe and after verifying, he picks up the small scralebit and looks at its lifeless eyes in pity for its situation.


    Upon holding it though, he does feel a faint heartbeat underneath the crystal. Relieved that his prediction was correct, he carefully rests the scralebit inside of his backpack after safety proofing it.


    He looks back at the area of desolation and nothingness before turning back and walking towards his school. While he does, he engraves the lesson that sometimes humans can be more monstrous than actual monsters.


    In the end though, it didn''t matter what they felt or their duty. All that mattered was the absolute power that the small scralebit displayed, cementing the need for power in Alistairs'' mind. Although he feels unsure about taking this monster with him, he can''t deny how useful its power can be.


    With its dependency on him and his need for its power, he thinks of ways that he can make it submit to himself when it awakens from its hibernation. He walks out of the sunlit area caused by the hole in the clouds and makes his way back towards his school.


    As he is walking, the clouds begin to reform in the sky. While reforming though, a long snake like underbelly completely blocks out the sun above the clouds. Before its end can be seen, the clouds completely reform as if nothing ever happened.

 Just A Myth

    Alistair makes it back to the checkpoint gate that he and his group left out of. Upon going entering the front door, he is greeted with loud yelling and cursing. He sees that everyone who was in his group made it back to the base somehow.


    The people are all yelling and cursing at each other about the missions outcome. "How the hell did I get sent back to the city?!"


    A man covered in leaves and scratches scoffs and says,"You''re luck! I got sent right into a tree and got smacked by every branch on the way down."


    A man who is standing alone in the corner of a room speaks up. "Yeah? Well I got sent to the gas swamps."


    The rest of the people went silent in admittance to the unfair treatment that man went through.


    After a few seconds, one of the boys spoke up to the veterans and asked, "So does this count as us finishing the mission? I mean we managed to slay the beasts."


    The veterans all wore bitter expressions as one of them spoke up, "Kid, you really don''t get the point to us going out there. No one is truly scared of those scralebits. They are generally peaceful. The main purpose of the mission was to secure their bodies for provisions. Without bringing that back, the missions a failure."


    It was at this moment that someone suddenly notices Alistair and excitedly says, "Wait a minute! All hope may not be lost! This kid was in charge of collecting and processing the bodies!"


    "Yeah but his backpack is way to thin to amount to anything. Don''t get your hopes up for no reason. Sometimes stupid things like what happened to us just happens in the wilds. One time a young man walked through a doorway in a building and came out as a feeble old man on the other side before turning to dust. Just count yourself lucky that all that happened is us getting teleported."


    The young man suddenly lost all color in his face at the thought of losing his youth from just walking through a door. Another veteran chuckled bitterly and chided the veteran who spoke,


    "Come on, don''t scare the boy. Time magic is just a myth, no one has ever even seen it."


    "You mean, no one has ever seen it and lived to tell about it."


    The topic in the room changed from failure to urban legends, with everyone chipping in a story they have heard from time to time. Alistair is a little downtrodden at the failure of his mission but decides that it''s best for him to get back to his dorm as fast as possible to train and prepare for the reawakening of the scralebit.


    He turns to the man next to him who just so happened to be the boy who warned Alistair about speaking to the leader of the mission. He taps on his shoulder to get his attention and asks,Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.


    "Hey, when are we allowed to return to the dorms?"


    "Oh! That''s right you still are confined to the campus dorms. Well don''t worry, someone most likely is already here from the mission hall. After the leader reported the missions failure it was already marked and sent to the academy. Tough luck on the bad mark so early into your stay here."


    As if he heard the man talking. A man comes up to Alistair and signals him to follow him away from the crowd of people. After following him, they arrive at the doorway to the entrance of building again. They enter through the doorway as per the usual proceeding and they are safely back at Alistairs dorm now.


    "The mission hall is already informed of your failure. There is no need to report it, but you are required to return any materials provided to you. The investigations are over, you are allowed to return to your classes beginning tomorrow." The attendant states.


    Alistair turns to thank the attendant but notices the cold expression on his face as he turns to leave.


    "Wow... I guess bad marks on your record really do affect your status here." Alistair mumbles to himself. After realizing the serious treatment differences that come with failure, he makes a mental note to find out how to erase bad marks.


    For now though, his top priority is to wash up and rest. After that, he needs to find a location with a lot of information on monsters so he can prepare for the scralebits reawakening. Then figure out a way to properly assess the situation going on with his body, attend classes and missions to get his status up and much more.


    Feeling exhausted just thinking about all that needs to be done, he washes up and sits down on his bed with his backpack. He flips open the top of it and sees the scralebit statue looking up at him. With a slight pang in his heart, he takes it out to study the small monster.


    He tries to find anything that could explain that horrifying blast earlier or anything that would set him apart from normal young scralebits. After a good hour of analyzing it though, he comes up with no results. It looks just like every picture that he has seen of scralebit children.


    If he had to pick anything out, it would be that this one is a bit fatter than the others he had seen in the pictures but he didn''t pay any attention to that.


    He puts it away and decides to try and sleep. Not for his body, but because he is spiritually exhausted.


    The night passes by while Alistair sleeps, he would wake up every now and then in a fright by a nightmare of him being engulfed in darkness. The night finally passes and it is time for Alistair to head to class.


    Looking rather haggard from the rough night of sleep, he makes his way to his first class and performs the routine workouts instructed for him. As the class is ending, the teacher makes an announcement about the next sparring session coming up.


    Looking around at the students, Alistair can see that many of them are looking invigorated at the chance to show their improvement. While looking he notices that Michelle is still not in class. After class ends, he goes up to his teacher and asks out of concern,


    "Teacher, Michelle has been missing the last couple of classes, is she okay?"


    "Hm? Yeah, she is fine. She will be back next class, her family is a special case. They are sometimes called on for special reasons. Don''t mind her and focus on your own studies."


    After being shrugged off by his coach, he figures that it will be better to ask Michelle tomorrow personally. He feels a slight bit of relief in knowing that she is coming back at least. Otherwise, he would not be able to cash in for his selfless sacrifice while she ran away.


    He has been thinking of what he should ask for when she returns, the entire way to his other class. Upon hearing about the material for the class today though, his mind completely forgets about Michelle.


    On the whiteboard behind the teacher, "Magical structure overview" are written in big letters.


    "I''ll finally be able to figure out what to be on guard for!"

 Ascension Process

    The class settles down into their seats as the teacher is about to begin his lecture. Some students who see the topic of discussion role their eyes.


    "Aw man, we already know about the basics of magic. We have been taught since we were young. When can we learn advanced spells and cool tricks to use?" Was the thought process of many.


    All except for one boy, Alistair waited on with bated breath at the teachers every word as he begins his lecture.


    "Okay class. I am sure you all think you know everything about the fundamental levels of magic and it''s uses right?"


    Murmurs and nods of agreement circulate the classroom. The teacher then smirks and then goes into a line of questioning.


    "I''m sure you all know about the two top trees of magic that break down into more trees of magic."


    After noticing the atmosphere in the room from the other kids, the class speaks in unison.


    "Yeah!"


    "Well, then you must know all about magics pivotal role in the ascension process right?"


    This time, everyone remains quiet. Everyone understands that magic is important in ascending. As for how, it is a closely guarded secret for reasons they don''t understand.


    "Well, it would seem that I have something to teach you all after all. So we need to start at the beginning to explain it all."


    The teacher throws a rune into the air and it sticks to the ceiling in the center of the class. Moments later, it projects a hologram that covers the entire class. Particles and masses of multicolored lights hang in the air.


    "Okay class, as I stated before, we have two main branches of magic that we know of. Tangible magic and Intangible magic."


    As he speaks, the lights in the air follow along with his words. It demonstrates two different masses of multicolored lights.


    One that looks like a barely visible outline of a cloud, the only way to see its shape is from the twinkling lights in its center. The other is a cube with crisp edges and a metallic multicolored shine.


    "Both of these branches of magic contain everything that we currently know about magic. Even the most powerful of ascended are bound to at least one of these trees. First, let''s look at Intangible magic."


    The mystical solid cube is pushed out of the hologram and the cloud of lights becomes the center.


    "Inside this tree of magic, we have multiple different specialties. To name a few; Spacial, Augment, Light, Impairments, Healing, and many more. Even after all this time, we are still discovering new specialties. Just last year, the specialty of death was found."


    A small dark purple light inside of the cloud gets magnified and brought into focus. In the hologram, a sketchy looking skull appears in the lights depths. Immediately after, the teacher waves his hand and the cloud of lights comes back into focus.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.


    "Based on each specialties intricacies, it''s depths of mastery could take days, months, years, even multiple lifetimes to see any progress in. Many ascended have sought ways to extend their life in the pursuit of diving deeper into their respective specialties."


    One of the green lights in the cloud lights shines brighter before being magnified and focused on.


    "The specialties should not be thought of as just a static concept. This is how all ascended need to think of they want to improve in their respective fields. Let''s take the healing specialty for instance. What is the best way you can think of using healing to benefit you in a fight?"


    He spreads his hands while looking at the students in a manner that offers free discourse. One of the students speaks up and says,


    "Using hit and run tactics and healing yourself while running away?"


    The green light flashes a looping scene of the tactic the boy stated. Seeing this, more students join in and say their thoughts and watch it play out before the teacher finally takes back control.


    "You could do all of those but it wouldn''t be a proper development for healing magic, only your fighting style."


    He takes a thinking pose for a few seconds and then says, "Why not use the healing magic to over heal someone? Causing abnormal growths and tumors before completely killing them? Why not use the healing magic to augment your own personal abilities?


    The point I am trying to make is that specialties that are thought to be used for specific purposes have multiple instead. Fire magic can be used for personal cleaning if toned down enough, healing magic can be used for offense and more. It all relies on your own imagination."


    Over top of each light, multiple faces appear briefly.


    "These are some of the most famous ascended who have blazed a trail for future generations. However, that trail still needs to be properly comprehended by each individual that chooses to walk it. It is also not recommended to get fixated on an already existing path."


    He waits a moment for everyone to digest this. Alistair takes advantage of this time to raise his hand for a question. The teacher notices and calls on him.


    "Yes, what is your question?"


    "Why should we not try to pursue an existing path? Didn''t you just say that these people blazed a trail for us?"


    "Yes I did. These predecessors have walked a path of trial and error for future generations, as we all must do. You will need to find a unique path all your own as the path that they chose ultimately lead to their demise."


    "D-demise? Isn''t that just a part of life though?" Another student in the class speaks up in disbelief.


    "It is for the average person. Ascended however, do not need to be subjected to the evolutionary flaw known as death. That will lead us into the topic that everyone is waiting for, how magic is vital for ascension."


    The metallic cube comes back into focus before the outline of a person appears over each of the shapes.


    "You all have been struggling to increase the reserves of your magic and trying to grasp the basics of your own paths already. The reason for this is because of your foundation. You will need to strengthen your foundation as much as possible to survive ascension."


    It takes a few moments for the children to realize that he said survive. One of the students speaks up,


    "You mean we can die just from trying to ascend? Isn''t that a bit much? My father taught me that there can be backlash that will damage your future chances of advancing but nothing about death."


    "Really? You think humanities first step towards breaking away from the cycle of death has so little consequences? If it was only that, then humanity would have so many ascended that we would have taken back the world by now.


    Your foundation is important because of what the backlash consists of. You are to condense your magic and form your own specialty seed. The more magic you have, the larger that seed will grow. If you do not have enough magic, that seed will rupture inside of you and kill you."


    The class goes silent as the devastating truth is revealed. They now understood why the method to ascension is a secret. If everyone knew about this from the beginning, how many people would willingly risk their life for such an unsure reward?


    After a brief moment, the teacher resumes his lecture on the current branches of magic that they have knowledge of.

 Ascension Process (2)

    "So, we now know the basic trees of magic. We know about the correct method of finding your own magic. We know how magic is linked to ascension, but what we need to do now is figure out your own specialties and work on your foundation."


    The hologram disappears and the teacher walks over to the whiteboard and begins writing down the names of each student. After finishing, he pulls out a box of metallic looking sand and puts it on a scale on his desk.


    "Okay, now come up here and put your hand in this box. The sand in here is made up of the recently discovered material ''magicite''. You will need to hover your hand slightly above the sand and hold it there. You do not need to channel your magic as it will sense it for you."


    Some of the students who already knew of magicites existence walk up first and nonchalantly take turns to get evaluated. The scale on the bottom of the box was reading a weight of exactly 5.00 pounds.


    After the first student put his hand close enough to the sand without touching it, the magicite sand began faintly moving. After waiting for one full minute, the teacher looks at the number on the scale and sees the number at 3.46 pounds.


    The teacher marks this number before putting his hand underneath the table, causing the magicite sand to plummet back down into the box.


    "Alright thank you, next student please."


    "3.20, next please"


    "3.01, next please"


    "3.87, next please"


    ...


    The students take turns and are given a number evaluation to go with their magical power. The tall boy who was fighting Alistair earlier with his friend takes his turn and causes a small wave of shock to proceed through the class.


    "2.75, nice job Thomas! Next student please"


    Some murmurs sprout up from this shock,


    "Wow, he''s the first student to lift more than two pounds of sand."


    "He must be very talented and strong."


    "Wow, he''s so cool."


    The murmurs die down a little though as the next students take their turn. Alistair tries his best to hold his curiosity back. He knows that his encounters with magic have been nothing but dangerous since the beginning.


    Many thoughts run through his mind of blacking out and turning into a blood thirsty creature, or his body spontaneously trying to expel the magic. After much deliberation though, he comes to the conclusion that learning in class would be the best way to find out exactly what his condition is.


    He remembers his teacher talking about all the unknowns of magic and how well they blaze trails for others. Maybe someone else has a similar experience to his.


    He walks up to the box of magic and nervously hovers his hand over the sand. the mild chatter in the back of the room continues as no one is really paying to much attention to what is happening with Alistair.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    There is however, one person paying attention. The teachers eyes go wide at the scene in front of him. He had heard of really special cases where someone will attract no magicite sand, he had even heard of rarer cases where young students would pull the entire box of sand into the air.


    What he has not heard of and is experiencing right now, is the magicite sand being repelled by his hand. In the box of sand, a clear hand print is displayed without Alistair ever touching it.


    The teacher goads Alistair into pressing his hand further in. When Alistair listens though, the hand print goes deeper into the sand until the bottom of the box is clearly visible. Unsure of the unique situation given to him, the teacher looks at Alistairs face in disbelief.


    When Alistair first saw the print of his hand in the sand, his mind reeled in shock.


    "I know my body doesn''t like magic, but now magic doesn''t even like me?!"


    He nervously looks up to see his teacher staring at him and gulps down dry spit in his throat. He could tell by the look on the teachers face that something wasn''t right. This thought was confirmed by the teachers next statement.


    "Alright class, we will end class early. Please study further into the respective trees of magic and be prepared to delve deeper into your specialties tomorrow."


    Though abrupt, not many students gave it much thought. They packed their supplies and went off to do other activities while leaving the professor alone. Alistair waited by the side of the teacher for everyone to leave.


    Not by choice, but because he felt an incredible pressure weighing down on him from the teacher that no other student could even tell was happening.


    After everyone left, the teacher locked the door behind them and turned to Alistair.


    "Okay, speak."


    The pressure disappeared the moment the teacher finished his statement. Alistair gasps for a quick breath and then replies,


    "Speak about what? I don''t know why the sand doesn''t like me."


    He looks around the room, trying to think of ways to get out of this situation. The teacher sees this though and cuts off any hope Alistair has.


    "If you are thinking of getting out of this, you should make it a lot less noticeable. Not that it would have made a difference, even most of the faculty can''t get away from me when I get serious."


    "What do you want with me?"


    "Alistair, you are an unknown. You have a unique magic all your own."


    The teacher says this while looking at Alistair with a expectant gleam in his eye. Alistair cocks an eyebrow in confusion,


    "Magic all my own? I don''t even have magic, how can I have developed my own specialty?"


    The teacher chuckles,


    "Alistair, it''s not that you don''t have magic. It''s that your body completely rejects magic. You are a rarity among rarities. Even people have never study magic has some form of magic reservoir inside of them. Think of it as magic residue that sticks to us as we live in this world.


    You however, have no reservoir at all. Your body is untainted with magic, a clean slate."


    "Okay, but doesn''t that mean that I''m virtually useless? I will never be able to gather magic and grow stronger."


    "That''s not true Alistair, all unknowns have unique cases with them developing their own magic. Magic turning into another material all together, it being drained at a rapid pace and more. Humans can only use the amount of magic that we can store in our body for whatever purposes we desire.


    But you... You can control magic outside of your own body. If you are able to harness it, you could potentially always have an unlimited amount of magic available to you."


    This bombshell leaves Alistair speechless. He figured that the only way for him to grow would be to consume and evolve, could he really master his own form of magic? He asks his teacher with hopeful eyes.


    "Teacher, can I really learn to use unlimited amounts of magic? Do I truly have such great powers?"


    His teacher replies with a magnanimous look in an attempt to enlighten Alistair to his own brilliance.


    "Of course! It''s just like building muscles in your body. You just need to train your body to properly make use of and strengthen your gifts."


    ....


    "Train my gift? You mean figuratively right? Like training my mind."


    "Nope, your body will need to remember the ways you use your magic. To do so will require a lot of restructuring to your current body that can only be done with constant practice of your gift. It is painful and hard work but the results are well worth it."


    ...


    Contrary to the look of joy he expected on the students face though, he sees Alistair fall to his knees and start banging his fist against the ground while mumbling to himself.


    "B...B..but...my body can''t....change..."

 You Will Pay For This Humiliation

    "Now Alistair, you should be very careful. Students don''t like to feel like their chance at getting noticed by an ascended has gone down in any way. With an unknown cropping up in their class, it won''t be long before you are targeted."


    "But how will they know I''m an unknown? Aren''t we the only ones that know right now?"


    "No, there are students here more powerful than some teachers. It would not surprise me if one is listening in right now."


    "But if they are that powerful, they wouldn''t mind a weakling unknown like me right?"


    "If you are at the top waiting for recognition and you see a potential threat to your throne, do you just ignore it as trivial? That''s how some think."


    Alistair feels a chill run down his spine at this realization and then looks around nervously for signs of someone ease dropping. His teacher sees this and tries to put him at ease.


    "Don''t worry, no one is here in the room. They would be listening in through some other means. However, it''s very unlikely that anyone knows this. They would have to be on guard against you in the first place enough to track your every move. I think you should be fine for now."


    Hearing this, Alistair gets flashbacks to standing out in his other class and the scary figure who saw the fight with him and the two boys in the hallway. He gulps down a mouthful of dry spit and tries to think of ways to protect himself as fast as possible.


    He gets the idea of going out on missions that take longer to complete and to come back when he is stronger. Without being able to think of anything better, he commits to that idea and sullenly waits for the conversation to be over so he can leave.


    After a few motivational speeches falling on deaf ears, Alistair says his goodbyes and heads to the mission hall to attempt to gain more points for materials. He knows the materials he needs to use to strengthen his body are hard to find and expensive, so he is hopeful for a mission that satisfies both of those criteria.


    On his way to the mission hall though, he feels a sudden force pushing on his shoulders. He sees a group of kids that have ganged up on him with the tall boy who he fought with being one of them.


    They push him into an empty classroom and all surround him. there are so many that Alistair gives up all hope of winning in a straight fight. He silently puts himself on guard for the first sign of attack.


    Suddenly, a young man walks in from outside of the group. He walks in front of Alistair before taking a seat at one of the desk chairs around him. After a few discerning glances from the young man, he flatly says two words.


    "Join me."


    Unprepared for the sudden request, Alistair takes a moment to process it. Before he collects his thoughts though the tall boy from the crowd shouts,The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    "Don''t keep Ahmed waiting, and thank him for taking you in! He''s one of the top students of the--"


    The young man then looks at the tall boy who spoke and mumbles a few syllables that a human should not be able to make before a dark see through box materializes around the tall boy. Inside that box, the boys body starts quivering and then he lets out a high pitched scream before falling to the floor foaming at the mouth.


    "I did not ask for the help of someone else''s lackey to handle my own affairs."


    The Ahmed then looks back at Alistair and says,


    "He is right though. Don''t keep me waiting. Either join me or be destroyed. Choose."


    Alistair looks over at the boy left in a quivering mess in the see through box before turning back to Ahmed. He remembers what the teacher said about his power. His body rejects magic.


    He thinks back to the magic that his body ate away at and comes up with a hypothesis that he decides to risk his safety on.


    "If I join you, will I be required to do anything I don''t want to do?"


    "You ask too many questions. I will make you swear a sacred oath to me and if I find that you do not follow my commands, there will be consequences."


    "What kind of consequences."


    Ahmed smirks and points to the tall boy still foaming at the mouth unconscious.


    "No more questions, decide now or ''that'' will be you every time I see you."


    "Ah.... Could you give me some time to think about it? It''s a very big decision."


    A familiar transparent dark box starts to appear over top of Alistair as Ahmed leads the students in his group out of the room. Alistair starts shaking and then falls to floor yelling. Ahmed leaves a few words behind as he is walking away.


    "Take some time to think about it. I''ll ask you again whenever you regain your sanity. Better hurry though, I heard a strong girl appeared in your class that I''m ready to give your position to. Hopefully she will be quicker in her response."


    "I''ll be back for you later so in the meantime,"


    He signals for a girl with a buzzed Mohawk to cast a spell on the door.


    "Learn to be a good lackey and memorize my first command, ''Stay''."


    They close the door and leave Alistair and the tall boy in the room alone. What Ahmed did not realize due to his own confidence in his abilities though was that Alistair remains unaffected by his magic.


    If Alistair''s heart could beat faster, then it would be going at a mile a minute by now. His gamble paid off. He didn''t think that Ahmed would leave right after casting it though. He was prepared to act as long as needed.


    With the source material right next to him, he would know the proper ways to react whenever needed. With Ahmed leaving though, he just stood up and looked at the box around him.


    "It seems like magic that is outside of my body is repelled, while magic inside of my body is purged. I would much rather not risk my own well-being to discover these traits, but beggars can''t be choosers."


    With as much effort of walking through a wall of mushy oatmeal, Alistair effortlessly escapes the box and looks at the door for any sign of them coming back. After making sure that they were gone, he slightly relaxes himself.


    "Gurgle gurgle"


    He looks over at the tall boy still foaming at the mouth. Although he feels pity for the state he wound up in, he does not feel enough to free him of his torment.


    "I''m not nice enough of a guy to be the bigger man... However..."


    He walks over to the tall boy and pulls him out of the box. After getting out, the tall boys mind regains a form of hazy clarity of his situation. He sees Alistair helping him out of the box and walks him to the door and thinks to himself,


    "He''s willing to help me even after what I did to him? Heh... What a fool... This doesn''t change a thing. I still have to-"


    He is interrupted by Alistair suddenly chucking him into the door. The moment his body touches the door, an electric current runs through his body.


    The impact of the throw was enough to break the door open though, allowing Alistair to walk right over the charred, once more unconscious, tall boy.


    Alistair steps on the boys body, afraid that the door is still electrified. While standing on his body, he swears to himself to get revenge on Ahmed for trying to control him.

 Revenge

    Making his way out of the room and on his way the mission hall, he mentally jots down the best ways to get his revenge.


    "...I could trip him in the hall one day when he isn''t looking.... I could make a silly nickname and spread it around as fact!"


    He giggles to himself at his silly ideas. As he was not really harmed, he did not truly harbor vengeance towards Ahmed. What he did gain, was vigilance.


    "He will realize that his magic can''t be used to threaten me when he looks for me later in the day. Who''s to say if he has other methods to try and force me into submission."


    He arrives at the mission hall and requests a mission as per the usual routine. Scrolling through them, it is all simple cleaning jobs around the orphanage.


    Thinking that he needs missions that can get him away from the school while he focuses on getting stronger, he decides to ask the attendant personally.


    After hearing his plight, the attendant smiles warmly and advises him,


    "We do have missions that are available to students that are not listed publicly. To gain access to them though, requires at least one mark of completion for the lowest tier of off the books missions. If they require anything else it will be stated on the briefing."


    "How come they don''t just add these to the normal missions? Is it a way to make money or something?"


    "Not all missions are formed with that purpose. These missions are not requested of you by the school so the school does not offer the materials needed for completion. That is the reason the school does not actively show these.


    They are instead offered by the students and others in the city who do not need the full force of a company to solve their issues, and do not have the funds to do so."


    Understanding a bit more, Alistair nods and hands his identification badge back to the attendant.


    "What missions can I look at with the amount of marks of completion I currently have?"


    The attendant takes back the card and after looking on the monitor and inputting a few commands, he replies,


    "It would seem you have three marks of completion. These are the current missions that are available to you."


    The list in front of Alistair refreshes and he sees three more missions show up on his monitor.


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


    harvest at least twenty rat bladders. Marks: 3


    ...


    Come to the training room as a test subject for spell training. Mark: 1


    ...The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    Fix personal broken automobile. Mark: 1


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


    Alistair immediately notices that he can cross off the mission about the automobile as he has no knowledge in that field. Before looking into the other two quests further, he asks,


    "How did I get three marks of completion? I only completed two missions."


    This time it was the attendants turn to be confused, he said,


    "It says that your team has completed three missions right here. ''Cleaning equipment in the cafeteria'', ''Waste disposal'', and ''Illumination needed''."


    Alistair suddenly remembers that Michelle and him formed a team. He thought that it only lasted until the mission was over, but apparently not. She also managed to complete a mission without him knowing.


    "I''ll have to thank her later. Weird though, that she hasn''t talked to me about a quest or even attended class... I''ll have to ask her later I guess."


    Tossing another chore onto his future self, he looks through the two mission choices. After seeing the details of the spell training mission, he immediately turned it down for fear of going out of control if something goes wrong.


    "It would be a good environment to stress test the limits of my body though... Maybe I''ll ask for


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


    harvest at least 20 rat bladders. Marks: 3


    Description: Novice runecrafter needs rat bladder ingredients for crafting training. The more, the better. There has been a shortage of rats in the sewer recently, so someone specialized in tracking is preferable.


    Time limit: (Repeatable)


    Rewards: 1 point per rat bladder


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


    Alistair notices a few differences immediately from this mission and the schools given missions.


    "Why is the marks so high? Also, where is the difficulty rating at?"


    "The marks represent the difficulty rating the mission giver puts to each mission. Also, I should warn you that repeatable quests do not give marks of completion.


    As for why the mission giver has given this mission a higher mark level could be related to the recent incident and rumors revolving around the assassins and the sewer system. The sewers are also the best place to search for rats in the city."


    Beginning to understand the missions system in the school, Alistair decides to accept the mission and seclude himself in the sewer while under the pretext of searching for rats. Since it is repeatable, he can stay in there during the time he is not training or in class and no one would look for him.


    "What I need right now isn''t a way to move up through the rankings just yet. I need to find a way to amass some wealth to my name so I can properly prepare and strengthen myself for tougher challenges in the future and ultimately...."


    The face of the beast that he remembered from the nightmare flashed in his mind, before shaking his head and looking to the attendant.


    "Do you know if the library has maps of the sewers underneath the school?"


    The attendant smiles and shakes his head,


    "No, but I can sell one to you at the price of 10 points per level of the sewer system. The farther down you go, the more rats you are likely to run into, as well as many more dead ends and cave-ins."


    Alistair looks at the attendant with mouth agape and stunned.


    "..."


    The attendant maintains the plastered smile across his face in response.


    "..."


    "But I don''t have that many points left..." Alistair says with a heartbreaking face.


    "But you do have enough." The attendants plastered smile never moves.


    "..."


    "..."


    Moments later, Alistair leaves the mission hall with a map in hand and a scowl on his face. After being subjected to Ahmed''s threats, he merely was put on guard. After being subjected to multiple attendants sales pitches, he truly became vengeful.


    "...I could trip him in the hall one day when he isn''t looking.... I could make a terrible nickname and spread it around as fact!"


    He laughs to himself viciously as he heads off towards the the sewer system. He does not feel the need to prepare for any unexpected events as he feels that he should be significantly strong enough to handle anything thrown at him.


    "It''s totally not because I can''t afford anything else but the freaking map... Definitely not..."


    He despondently slinks to the entrance of the stairwell to the sewers. After getting to the place where he remembers blood caking the steps, he sees a white outline in the shape of a person painted on the steps and caution tape placed around it.

 Sewer Rats

    Seeing the white outline shakes him from his despondent stupor. One woman is bent down looking closely at each step very closely. She hears Alistairs footsteps and looks up at him before quickly disregarding him and going back to inspecting.


    Alistair sucks in a breath of air at the scene of murder that occurred. He notices her inspecting and tries to look as inconspicuous as possible as he heads towards the sewers. In his mind, he is taking pride in his acting skills.


    When in reality the woman is to busy to even notice him robotically walking by her while darting his eyes back and forth between her and the outline. He walks into the sewers and is greeted by the familiar dank and dingy atmosphere.


    What he didn''t remember though was the terrible stench the dominates the air. After taking a moment to adjust to his surroundings, he opens the map to find the spots where the attendant marked rat nest sightings.


    He walks forth into the tunnel and notices that no one is in the sewers with him. At least not on the level that he is currently on. The attendant gave him a map that covered three floors, there are rumors about dangerous beasts making homes deep in the earth.


    He figures that three floors should be enough for simple rats and paid an extra 20 points for the rat nest locations. Although there are only five rat nests that are found, he remembers that each rat nest is said to have hundreds of rats in them.


    He sees a rat run in front of him and he throws his fist down lightly at it. He clenches his fist and hears a crisp popping sound while feeling a small blast of wind blowing out from it. The rat becomes flattened and dies on impact from the blast.


    Before heading to classes today, he managed to improve his [Knuckle Burst] yet again. "Luckily I have been practicing fighting unarmed, so these rats should be pretty easy."


    It now releases a stronger blast outwards, with the main problem of it damaging his body with each use though still prevalent he will have to use it sparingly.


    "I will have to use it only once I can confirm that I will kill a rat. After using it, I will extract the bladder and then eat the rest. I''m hoping that amount of of flesh will be able to repair my arm."


    He thinks to himself as he already sees the skin around his wrist looking stretched and strained. He picks up the rat and sifts through its body for the bladder. He then extracts it and devours the rat whole. After doing so, the damage to his wrist heals instantly.


    Throwing the rat bladder in an empty glass jar, he walks to towards the first rats nest that is on the first level on the opposite side of the entrance. Upon getting closer to the tunnel that the nest is located in, he starts seeing rats skittering around sparsely.


    When he sees them though, he becomes both terrified and excited. The first rat that he sees his the size of a small dog. It comes up to his knee and is about a foot and a half wide. It notices Alistair and does not follow the description Alistair remembers about rats.If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.


    It charges at him with its mouth agape and buckteeth bared. Startled, Alistair quickly takes his stance with one fist in front of the other and legs bent. He knows that trying to dodge will give the rodent more follow time than he will have, so he decides to wait until the rat gets close enough to him.


    When it gets to just in front of him, he has a quick flash back to the time he did something similar and was defeated by an over the shoulder throw. He bends down more and throws his fist at the charging rats nose with all his might.


    A loud popping sound reverberates off of the walls and the top of the rats head explodes into small pieces. It wobbles forward due to its momentum before collapsing and tumbling once. Alistair smiles bitterly and looks at his fist.


    Three fingers are barely still connected to his hand and his wrist has his hand bent in a sickening way. He looks over at the rat carcass that is laying still on the floor and starts to dissect it. He stops though, to see a sight that he never considered.


    From around the corner that the first rat appeared, several more appear. They all look at Alistair at the same time before running at him with the same intensity as the first one.


    Seeing the small horde of ferocious rodents charging at him, Alistair stops all thoughts of dissecting the rat in front of him and runs in a frantic sprint back the way he came from. Luckily, the rodents seem more interested in cannibalism than him right now. They all race to devour the rodent he put so much effort into killing.


    After putting enough distance between the two of them, Alistair lets loose the frustration in his heart.


    "Damnit! I shouldn''t have taken so long to extract it''s bladder! Where the hell did they all come from?! I wasn''t even close to the center of the nest so they shouldn''t have been patrolling the area just yet!"


    He thinks back to the situation and then remembers the loud popping that came from his ability. The echo could have startled the rodents and caused them to find out its source.


    "Of course... The only offensive move in my arsenal is worse than useless down here. It''s actually counter-productive..." He frowns bitterly at the realization.


    Looking down at his still mangled hand, he sighs and looks back towards where the rats nest is and decides to go back.


    "I have to find a way to get fresh meat to repair my hand before anything else... I might find more small rats along the way. Hopefully there will be enough to restore my hand completely."


    To his misfortune though, not a single small rat appeared no matter how much he searched. He then gets an idea while thinking back through the fight earlier while searching.


    "The rats kept chasing until they found something to eat... I wonder how far they will chase. If I can lure one of them far enough from the nest, maybe I can separate it enough that the others won''t come looking."


    He sets out to put his plan into motion and walks back towards the nest location. Along the way, he sees the remains of the giant rat he killed. All that is left is a few scraps of fur. He walks slowly up to each turn in the sewer halls and slowly peaks around the corner.


    He does not see any rodents, so he continues walking in deeper towards their nest. He feels a sense of uneasiness the further he travels in though. He can not shake the feeling as if something is not right about the situation.


    "Why would the rats that I saw earlier be so far from the nest if there wasn''t any others close by? Were they sent out from the nest for some reason? Or were they-".


    His train of thought is interrupted when he is bitten on the leg and is forcefully brought to the ground and dragged closer to the nest at a fast pace.

 Thats Inconvenient

    Fighting and flailing, he tries to break free from the rats bite. While looking around, he sees the rats that were once nowhere to be seen, crawl down from the ceiling. They had been hiding in the darkness at the top of the sewer the entire time.


    The darkness did not matter much to Alistair due to his night vision improving after eating the cockroach. While being dragged though, he notices that instead of directly eating him like they did with one of their own kind, they seem to be taking him somewhere.


    He could still use [Knuckle Burst] with his remaining hand, but he would immediately be surrounded by the horde of rats resting on the ceiling. Deciding that the best time to break away would be when he is able to find an escape route, he focuses on reducing the damage to his leg as much as possible.


    After being brought around three corners, the rat that was dragging him comes to a stop and releases its death grip on his leg. Alistair unfortunately was unable to find a way to escape.


    While looking around at the area that they have taken him to though, he is unsure of their plan. They brought him into a small crevice in the ground that is covered with a material that resembles hay.


    After releasing its death grip though, it then chomps Alistairs leg completely off. It does so with his other leg as well. Alistair would have stopped it, but he immediately picked up on its intention and was secretly delighted.


    After getting a better look at the ground covered in hay, he sees a pile of slightly smaller but still bigger than normal rats huddled up.


    "They must want to weaken me for their young to finish me off and eat me. I don''t mind dismembering when they provide a nice meal to heal me back up. I should thank them!" Is what he was thinking.


    The young rats looked nowhere near as ferocious as their older counterparts. They appear to be eating a lizard about the same size as Alistair, he sees it''s limbs scattered around being picked clean.


    "Apparently, that lizard suffered the same fate as me. Poor bastard." He thinks to himself.


    The rat finishes dismembering his legs it squeaks in the direction of its young and then scurries out of the crevice. When Alistair sees he has been left alone, he grabs his legs and pulls them back to his body.


    After seeing no reaction when putting them back together at the cutoff put, he looks inside his stomach. He sees the spiral moving very slowly and trying to send its tendrils throughout his body to heal but unable to properly move too far.


    This caused Alistair to realize "It would seem I need a large amount of energy in that spiral to reattach body parts. I guess it won''t do any incomplete repairs on my body in the meantime."This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.


    Not much time passed by before the young giant rats finished off the large lizard and made their way towards Alistair.


    He notices that the crevice seems to be made from concrete that caved in and made a pocket sized area while looking around. He could see pieces of rubble and debris stacked in a very slipshod manner. All the rubble and debris is resting against a steel beam.


    He would normally feel afraid in this situation, but he noticed these details on his way into this crevice and started formulating his plan upon seeing the young rats.


    The rats nests are fortified from the foundation up, and their young are kept in the center around their foundation. In hopes of getting out of there alive, he decides to place his bets on the rats being afraid of the sudden collapse of their home and leaving.


    "With my body I should be fine... My skin is tougher than most and I can heal from the aftermath of the damage. I''m not sure what will happen if my whole body gets crushed though... I need to get to an area in here that has a more stable roof."


    To do this though, he needs to get his legs back. He holds one of his legs like a club with his good hand and waits for the young rats to get closer. Three of them start moving in close to Alistair, they were the ones that decided to give up first on the large lizard and attack the fresh meat.


    One of the three rats makes a dash for his exposed leg wound and is greeted with a strong stomp on the head from Alistairs dismembered leg. It is slightly stunned and hurt from the force of Alistairs swing.


    This gives Alistair all the time needed to swiftly grab the dazed rat and sink his own teeth into it. He takes large bites without chewing and keeps pressing the other leg against his wound. Shortly afterwards, his leg begins healing at a rapid pace.


    Not fast enough though, the other two rats dash at him hissing at the sudden resistance from their food. Normally, a dismembered and bleeding creature would be too preoccupied to put up a meaningful resistance.


    That would be the case for any other creature besides Alistair though. He still clings to his leg and uses it as a club to bash one of the rats on the head. After doing so, he lets go of his leg and grabs the other charging rat with his hand.


    Upon being grabbed, it bites at his hand with its fangs in an attempt to release itself. Alistair feels no pain though and instead chomps down on the rats extended nose and then the rest of its skull.


    He tosses it to the ground and focuses on the young rat that was dazed at the earlier blow and tries to grab that one before it can regain its sense. He miscalculated though, the rat was not stunned for long and hurriedly scurried back to the other young rats.


    Alistair knew that his best chance had been lost. If he could take out all three of them, then maybe the other young rats would not have noticed and he could have had more time to heal his injury and carry out his plan.


    He shrugs to himself internally and decides to move on regardless. He picks up his other leg and looks down at the leg that is still healing and at his hand. His hand has been healing at a slow rate as well as his leg.


    "It would seem that when more areas of the body needs to be restored, it will take longer for the body to heal... That''s inconvenient."


    He holds off on putting his other leg down to reattach as he needs at least one working leg as soon as possible right now. Instead, he looks around for a place with a sturdier foundation and sees a steel beam protruding horizontally from the dirt around him and seems completely lodged into both sides of the tunnel.


    "It has just enough width for me to try and hide under. I just hope it''s really as sturdy as it looks."

 Hungry!

    "I should be able to make it to cover now."


    He sees that his leg is still in the process of healing but it''s connected enough that it will give him the desired movement. He then hears a deafening scuttling of small feet against asphalt.


    He looks up from his leg to see the rest of the young rats all charging over towards him. Without a chance to think anymore on his plan he smashes his remaining fist into the support beam while using [Knuckle Burst] and then he springboards himself with his only leg towards the stable cover.


    He is able to get the desired affect, with the only downside being that the leg tore off completely again after propelling himself. He rolls from the inertia and stops underneath the beam. While he does all this, chunks of debris and concrete are falling down all around him.


    The adult rats that were watching on the roof and the infant rats that were charging at him were all taken by surprise at the sudden situation and tried to scurry to safety.


    Alistair did not expect the magnitude of the damage he causes though. The support beam was not only holding up the rats base, it was holding up that section of the sewer tunnel. On top of that, the flooring that the heavy concrete has smashed down on became more fragile with age.


    The floor fell right out from under Alistair and the rat nest causing a domino effect, creating a deeper and deeper hole down into the sewer and even below that. Alistair''s cover for the debris became useless as it, along with himself, kept falling and crashing into random objects.


    He finally gets down to the bottom of the tunnel and is surprised that his head isn''t completely destroyed. His jaw was torn off halfway down and his eye is hanging out of the socket. His head got off light though since he was consciously trying to protect it.


    His body, on the other hand, would be better described as a popped water balloon. His legs were lost in the fall, his arms are completely shattered and a deep gash starting from his right armpit to the right shoulder has his shoulder almost completely cut off and bones sticking out all over.


    Contrary to the gory scene though, Alistair does not portray the look of death that would accompany his condition. He instead is resting impaled from the middle of his back to his chest on another metal pipe that was a piece of debris that dropped faster than him.


    When he sees the state his body is in, he immediately starts to feel the hunger in his stomach recede like a tidal wave before it crashes with intense force. Knowing that he could end up losing control of himself at any moment he looks around to try and find any dead rats that could have fallen down with him.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    All he is able to see though is the light pouring down from the top of the hole. The damage from the fall damaged his spine, preventing him from moving at all. All he is able to do is stare at the light coming from the top of the tunnel, the cave in caused the top of the sewer to collapse in that area as well.


    Alistair thinks of this and hopes that someone will come find him and help save him from his situation, until he remembers that the rats nest was located outside of the city boundaries in the sewer. It was never a cause of concern to anyone before because there were no entryways from the outside in to the sewer that weren''t already destroyed.


    He becomes frustrated with himself as he sees his vision take on a more dark red tint.


    He thinks about the chance of someone actually finding him down here and if they might be people he knows. They will see him as a zombie and then what''s the chances of them killing him on site or even worse, trying to help him and only getting eaten by him.


    He felt an indescribable terror to falling into the state once again as if he would lose something important to himself. He suddenly heard a strange whisper that seemed to emanate from within himself.


    "Hungry..."


    He quickly tries to look into himself with the ability he got from the eye and he sees the swirl in his stomach reaching out towards his brain with two dark spiraling clawed hands.


    "Hungry!"


    He feels a chill run throughout what''s left of his body and he shouts in a panic at himself.


    "No, I can''t go ''ack into that state! I don''t ''ant to kill anyone again! ''lease, there has to ''e so''ething I can do, anything!"


    He screams and does not care that his words don''t sound right without his jaw. The claws wrap around Alistair''s neck multiple times seeming to be strangling him.


    "HUNGRY."


    "I won''t gi'' in! You''re the one who ''akes ''e do all those horri''le things! I''ll never su''''it to you!"


    He moves his good eye around frantically in search of anything he could try to heal himself with. He then sees a string of flesh hanging just out of reach from a giant rat corpse. He struggles with all of his might to try and move any part of his body to inch him closer towards it.


    His vision grows darker red with each passing moment and he does not make much progress towards the flesh.


    His body stops shaking from him trying to inch closer. The eyes that were once looking so desperately towards the piece of meat for salvation now show a blank look, similar to a dead fish instead.


    He opens his mouth and a suction force drags the meat that was hanging just out of reach directly into his mouth. Without chewing or making anymore movements, Alistair sits and waits for his body to recover enough.


    His spine recovers at a fast pace and is the only thing that does recover on his body. He easily shimmies his way off of the metal spike and falls to the floor. He then sees the rest of the giant rat and devours it whole with the same suction power it used previously.


    With a body full of fresh energy, the spiral sends tendrils out from inside of his body and squeezes between nooks and crannies to attack to the severed parts of Alistair''s body. Then, as if the spiral inside of him were a fishing rod, it reels the limbs back to his body and begins repairing them.


    He looks up and lets out a groan that creatures all over the world are familiar with. A groan that indicates a zombie is about to go searching for its next victim.

 Adventures of Clem

    A man lays gasping for breath next to the carcass of a bird the size of a small car. All around him is a dense cluster of trees and foliage. Broken branches directly above him and blotches of blood adorned on them and the grass around him indicating a serious fall.


    The man removes his hand from his pelvis and looks down to see his condition. He sees three deep claw marks as large as the birds talons. He reaches down into his pocket and takes out a first aid kit that should be to large to fit inside in the first place. Dressing his wounds though he can not help but grumble and complain.


    "That damned bird dragged me to who the hell knows where... Shit that fucking stings... Dammit stupid merchant, you could have been more specific in your notes. How the hell am I supposed to know that ''The herb is of the feather'' meant ''A giant fucking Condor is guarding the herb''!"


    After griping enough his situation he reaches down into his pocket and takes out another item, this time it is a plant in the shape of an egg. He smiles to himself and after looking at it for a short time, he properly stores it back into his pocket.


    After dressing his wounds with the antibiotics and sloppy stitching. He wraps up his wound with fresh bandages and reaches towards the bird carcass. He grabs the handle of a dagger that is plunged deep into the birds stomach.


    He pulls out the dagger, shakes off most of the excess blood on it, and puts it in the scabbard on his waist. He takes a few looks around before pulling out a piece of paper and pen. He writes a line through the words ''The herb is of the feather'' which is below many other words that are crossed out.


    The man is Clem who has come out into the wilds in search of a way of bringing back his brother from the grave. He has devoted all of his time to procuring the items and methods needed for the resurrection process. He knows that he is following a rumor, but is willing to risk everything on it.


    After doing so he looks at the remaining list of items. He knows his limitations and started with the easiest tasks first. Buying the simplest items in town with his meager savings. Afterwards he has braved many difficult trials to procure the items needed. He was not successful in most of his attempts.


    Leaving him to mark it down as something to come back to later. He tries pleading with ascended households and stronger companies for help on the most difficult tasks, but was turned away due to his lack of capital to trade for their services.


    Knowing that he could not rely on anyone else, he has decided to try and handle the problems himself. The first difficult task that he needed to complete was to find the herb known as ''New Life''. It is the least dangerous of his most dangerous tasks.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    ''New Life'' is generally found in the old nesting grounds of monsters. If enough embryonic fluid is absorbed into the soil from the mutated monsters, the ground becomes fertilized enough to support vegetation, in specific ''New Life''.


    After gaining some information from a trade broker at the company HQ, he traveled to the old nesting grown of a flock of bird monsters. What he wasn''t aware of though was that this nesting spot has been recently reused by a new breed of birds.


    After getting to the nest, he saw the egg growing on top of a giant statue sitting down in a chair. It was growing on the statues lap and was in plain view for him to see. There were no birds in the empty nests on the steps leading up to the statue so he ran right up to the statue and tore off the plant from its lap.


    What he failed to notice was the nests had fresh eggs in them. He thought they were just egg shells. The moment he took the herb off the statues lap, he felt a piercing pain on his side. A bird the size of a small car lifted him off the ground at such a fast speed that he lost consciousnesses momentarily.


    After feeling a deep pain from his abdomen, he is jostled awake and sees the underside of a bird with its talons hooked inside of him. He panics and pulls out his trusty dagger and stabs as deep into the birds underbelly as possible.


    A ear piercing shriek fills the skies for a few moments. Afterwards, he feels the sudden pull of gravity and begins falling along with the bird. With it''s claw still stuck in his side, the wind from the fall caused them to start spinning in the air.


    When he felt the impact from the crash, the bird was underneath of him taking the brunt of the damage. From the impact, its talon became dislodged and they continued plummeting towards the ground. After hitting the ground, Clem was barely able to retain his consciousness as he bounced off the top of the bird and smashed into the ground beside it.


    He looks at the next item on the list of riddles he procured from a merchant and sees it mentions ''The belly of the worm''. Already aware of how dangerous these cryptic messages are, he starts having second thoughts about whether or not he can really go though with doing these difficult tasks.


    He then reaches into his pocket again and pulls out his brothers lighter. After rubbing it slowly a few times he makes an oath to himself, "As long as I am breathing I will bring you back Cleetus... I promise."


    He puts the lighter back in his pocket and slowly gets up from the ground holding onto his damaged side and limping towards where he presumes civilization to be.


    A few hours after Clem leaves, a small bald zombie comes running in full speed at the birds carcass. The zombie is covered in many different types of blood, all ranging from fresh to completely stale and crusty. The school uniforms self cleaning feature manages to burn away everything on the clothes, but not on his actual skin.


    It kneels down in front of the bird and begins taking bite after bite. Consuming the overly large carcass and without even a sign of stopping. After biting off the last big mouthfuls of the birds meat, the small zombie then looks up with milky white dead eyes.


    It then notices a small trail of blood going away from the now picked clean bird skeleton and begins making its way along the trail.

 Ask The Real Questions

    Vague flashes of red and black lights flash through Alistair''s eyes. A vision of dead animals, pieces of meat, dead people. He is subjected to many gruesome scenes.


    He watches these scenes from inside the room that he felt so much fear towards. The room that he was able to properly understand and practice [Living Iron]. He looks around with a muddleheaded look, unsure of where he is or what he should be doing.


    Looking back at the scenes playing in front of him like a broken recording that keeps playing the same loop over and over, he sees a figure start to appear in the looping scenes. A copy of himself walks out from the scenes, looking almost exactly like him.


    However, there are differences between them. His copy is a bit taller, it actually has hair on the top of its hair, and it has a vicious smile on it''s face as opposed to Alistair''s befuddled expression. It looks almost as if it has finally found its long awaited prey after a long hunt.


    "Who are you?" The befuddled Alistair asks absentmindedly.


    "I''m the real you. The one that you strive to be, NEED to be."


    It''s voice is magnetically haunting, almost as if it were the sweet whispers of the reaper towards the recently deceased.


    "I need to be you? Why can''t I be me?"


    "You can be you, but you will also be me. We are monsters, we must evolve or suffer the ultimate penalty. You have been running from your hunger and only eating enough to hold you over until the next pangs of hunger attack you."


    "But I need to go to class and learn more techniques, I finally feel like I made a friend just like-"


    "-Just like Beth said you would? Well congratulations, you made friends with a random human girl and are learning techniques that are useless to you. While you are wasting away your time learning things you don''t need to, the real questions are getting pushed further and further to the back of your mind."


    "The real questions? About the swirl in my body?"


    The copy of himself splits off into multiple different copies of itself. Each of them varying slightly in appearance, and taking turns to speak a question back at Alistair.


    "That''s only one question! What about who you really are? Where did you actually come from? If you are a zombie, what was your life like prior to changing? How did you change? What happened to your family? You have a way to grow stronger right in front you with evolution, why not take it and find your answers?"


    The copies voices starts trembling with frustration in the middle of their speech.


    Being barraged by all of the questions that he has been trying to keep in check all this time causes him to snap out of his dazed state and become panicked.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    "We are the next possible steps you need to reach before you can attain any of these answers. Not only that, if you do not reach us soon then you won''t have anymore time to indulge in these make believe fantasies of being a normal human."


    Are specific part stood out towards Alistair and caused a sense of uneasiness in him.


    "What do you mean I won''t have time?"


    All of the forms merge back into the original copy of himself as it looks at Alistair as if it wanted to give its pity but felt too much contempt to.


    "You are dying Alistair. Actually dying. A zombies body does not last long before the rot and decay of time takes them. The swirl in your body is mitigating the affect as of right now, but it won''t last forever. The more you consume, the stronger your body becomes. The stronger your body becomes, the more food you will need to consume to supply proper energy to it."


    Hearing this, Alistair takes a breath of relief as he finally believes he has a grip on the conversation and has a way to retort.


    "I know that, but I have been getting by fine."


    "Your last meal that you needed to satiate yourself with took an entire tribe of scralebits, the time before that was a small nest of rats in the sewer. If you keep upgrading your body with such trash materials in the future then the amount you will need to consume to stay alive would encompass the entire city of Utopia before the end of the year!"


    Finally able to gain some useful information for his path forward, Alistair pushes for more concise information.


    "Trash materials? What should I eat?"


    "You need to eat those with actual power, not weaklings. Creatures with magical energy inside of them are perfect for expanding the swirl inside of you. The spiral inside of you causes magic inside of you to expand outwards.


    It''s not being rejected by the spiral. It''s needed to make your spiral stronger. The stronger the spiral is, the less amount of food you will need to eat overall."


    Suddenly, all of the information in Alistair''s head clicks together. Everything that his copy has said to him has been nothing that he did not already think of. The only difference being that he was unable to put all of the pieces together on his own.


    The copy of himself sees the light of realization in Alistair''s eyes and knows that its mission is accomplished.


    "This is the last time that you will be able to wrest control back from the spiral inside of you. The fact that you have consciousness at all unlike other zombies is a miracle in itself that needs to be figured out."


    Unable to resist the morbid curiosity, Alistair asks a question that he already knows the answer to, wishing that he was wrong.


    "What will happen to me if I lose myself to the spiral inside of me again?"


    "I only have as much knowledge as you do to work with. If I had to guess though, your consciousness will be completely absorbed by the spiral inside of you and your body will act only on the instincts of the spiral which is to consume. Essentially, you will just be another zombie.


    Either that or the spiral inside of you will grow out of proportion and begin devouring everything around it like a black hole, including you."


    He knew it, he still hoped for a different outcome but knows that everything comes with a price.


    After answering Alistair''s last question though, his copy grabs him by the hand and begins walking towards the broken loop of images that have been playing in the background.


    Just before it pulls Alistair through the projection, it stops him and says one final speech.


    "After you walk through there, you must go on the hunt. If you want any chance of living a normal life happily with friends and a family, if you want to answer all of your questions, then you need to evolve.


    If you don''t want to die by lack of a proper diet, or a terrifying creature stalking you and waiting to eat consume you so it can evolve, you need to hunt and evolve."

 I Think You Dropped This

    After walking a decent distance away from the crash site, Clem suddenly starts to feel woozy. He looks at his wound on his abdomen and sees that the bleeding is stopped which can only mean to him that he has an infection and has a fever as a result.


    He has tried to apply proper first aid but there is only so much help that cheap emergency materials can provide. Noticing that his fever can get very bad if left untreated out here, he hurriedly continues to limp towards civilization.


    He starts seeing his vision go blurry and even starts to hear voices. The voices of his dead brother, his parents, his old girlfriend. Everyone of them talking to him as if it is just another day and he is back relaxing with them.


    He feels so hot from the fever raising his body temperature. He takes out a object from his pocket the size of a small fist and a hangs it over his head. A steady stream of water comes pouring down from it into his mouth.


    After he gets done drinking the cold water, he feels the drastic change in temperature and gets woozy once more before falling to the ground and passing out for a short amount of time. Luckily, he had made it pretty far back to Utopia and is only a few more minutes away by foot.


    He dreams about him running in place as a pus and maggot covered bird swoops down to devour him whole. Just before it does, he wakes up in a cold sweat and starts making his way back towards Utopia again.


    Although he still could hear the voices and some of them became louder than others. He knew that they were not real, so to keep himself sane, he tried yelling to drown them out before making a mad dash to the city.


    The voices stopped speaking as loudly as he is able to make the trip back to Utopia and ask for medical aid with relative ease.


    ---


    Alistair wakes up from his hunger induced state and is taken aback by what he sees in front of him. One of the very first young men he has ever met before is passed out on the ground a few feet away from him.


    Seeing that the blood trail he was following was leading up to Clem, Alistair put two and two together to understand that he was hunting him.


    "It doesn''t look like I attacked him or anything while unconscious. It seems like he just fainted from the pain of his wounds."


    He figured that it was not due to blood loss since the tiny blood drops that he sees on the ground a very sparse and the smell of his wound is of stale blood which means that he is healing.


    "Ugh...."


    Alistair hears the muffled groans coming from Clem as he is lying face down on the ground in pain. After collecting himself though, he struggles to get back to his feet and continues walking without even looking back or noticing that someone was next to him the entire time.


    "Uh... Hey Clem, how''s it going?"Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.


    Alistair tries to make his presence known through friendly dialogue but gets a reaction he didn''t expect. Clem keeps walking as if he never heard him in the first place. Remembering back to how quiet Clem was on the car ride back to town though he didn''t think much of it.


    Before he could ask another question though, he sees something stuck in some mud on the ground that Clem left behind, a small fist shaped object. Thinking of trying to return it, Alistair speaks up to Clem,


    "I think you dropped this."


    Still no response though. Getting slightly irritated at having his goodwill being ignored, he speaks up louder,


    "Hey! You dropped this! Do you want it back or what?"


    This time Clem puts his hands over his ears and shouts before running off into the distance.


    "You all aren''t real, I won''t die here!"


    Not sure of what that was about, Alistair looks down at the object that Clem left behind and sees that it looks like a weird purple gemstone. He is about to put it away to return it to Clem at a later date when he stops being so weird, but he starts to feel as if there are objects floating around inside of it.


    He tries looking inside of it but is unable to see anything. Then he tries shaking it, to his surprise, he feels slight vibrations on the inside of the stone and he tries shaking it harder again. With one shake, a full sized shovel flies out of the stone.


    Taken aback by the situation, Alistair drops the stone in a panic. He then remembers the lectures about magical items from his classes and how some of them are able to be used for storage. Each storage item has strict requirements for its use though.


    For example, some storage items can only store objects at a certain temperature. Others, can only store objects at a specific time of day. Most of them are able to contain as many items as the user wants to store with the only exception of no living creatures are able to be stored.


    These storage items are only available to companies and ascended though and very few are in circulation for the mass public. The cheapest and most efficient method that most companies use though is limited storage. You can generally keep a small amount of whatever you need in these items with no other conditions needed.


    The downside being that these items are shoddily made and can break easily if not handled properly. If the item breaks, then everything inside that item will be lost to the owner which is why only new small companies generally use these types of items.


    "Whoa... That''s really cool. I don''t think he will mind me borrowing this for the time being. Besides, he is in a company and these are the cheapest ones available, I''m pretty sure he has plenty more."


    What Alistair doesn''t realize though, is that though these items are cheaper than the infinite storage stones, they are not cheap by any stretch of the imagination. Clem only had two of these stones, one for his important items, and the other for supplies and tools.


    Alistair walks towards Utopia while looking closely at the storage item in hopes of figuring out how to store objects.


    Ever since he came back to his senses, the only thing that he can keep thinking to himself over and over is, "I need to get stronger." and thinking of the uses for the storage item, he has a few ideas in mind how to do so.


    He first needs to grab everything of his in his room and store it away while he comes back out to the forest through the sewer system and hunt. This is his plan going forward, to hunt like mad and try to evolve as fast as possible so he can gain as much knowledge as he can.


    He has looked through most of the books in the library and after he gets strong enough, he will be able to retain more information and gain access to more complex books. He might even find information regarding creatures like himself.


    He walks back to Utopia with hopeful ideals about his future completely unaware of the shadowy figure that is hiding between the trees staring at him. It looks deep into Alistairs body and sees traces of the eye that it had been searching for.


    It has attacked humans before and knows that every night at some point humans will ultimately let their guard down to sleep, that is the most opportune time to prey upon them.


    It slowly slinks down to the ground and hides inside of Alistairs shadow, following him back to Utopia, waiting for the best moment to strike.

 Wato Yammi

    Alistair returns to his dorm room after making his way back to Utopia. The gaurds stationed on the borders of the city had questions of why he left the orphanage, but were satisfied upon his answer of completing a quest.


    When he returns to his dorm room, he packs up the remaining shell pieces that he stored under his bed and the crystallized scralebit.


    "Even though I''m not leaving forever, I feel like I''m saying goodbye for some reason... I will return though. After gaining enough power to defend myself I will come back for answers, no matter how long it takes."


    He then thinks about if he is even able to age and die like normal human. Shaking his head to push those thoughts aside he decides to find that answer out at another time. As he heads towards his door though, he hears a commotion out in the hallway.


    Listening closely, he is able to hear the voice of Ahmed and another group of students arguing. From what he can make out, it seems that Alistair is what they are arguing over. He cracks open the door to take a peak out and see the situation.


    To his surprise though, he finally sees Michelle. She is part of the group that is arguing with Ahmed. Ahmed brought his underlings with him though which makes Michelle look like she is about to be overtaken at any second.


    Weirdly enough though, Ahmeds group is not doing anything to shut her down other than talking to her.


    "That brat needs to learn how to respect his betters! I don''t know what he did to break out of my spell, but as long as he is in this school he can''t get away from me that easily."


    Ahmed points towards Alistairs room causing Alistair to duck his head back in to avoid being detected.


    "Really Ahmed? You think that you can control everyone and everything in this school just because you are up on the student rankings chart? What would you do if Wato heard you ranting and raving?"


    Michelle gives off a cool composed atmosphere as she crosses her arms waiting for Ahmeds response.


    "You think I''m afraid of that cheating bastard? I-"


    "Cheating bastard huh? Oh Ahmed, I thought that you had truly reformed from our last ''conversation''."


    A young man materializes next to Michelle out of thin air as he looks at Ahmed with clear contempt


    "Wato! I knew she had someone with her, figures it would be you. I''m not afraid of you though, you just managed to get in a few lucky shots last time. I have improved since we last met so you won''t be so lucky this time."


    Ahmed readies himself by starting to murmur a few incomprehensible syllables, causing a dark purple shroud to start to form. Before he is able to finish though, Wato disappears from his spot and re-materializes behind Ahmed.


    Completely shocked by this situation Ahmed stumbles in his pronunciation for his spell causing the purple fog to dissipate. Before he could say anything else though, Wato sends a roundhouse kick into Ahmeds side causing him to fall and slide on the ground clutching his side.This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    "Ahmed, you know its against the rules to use magic on other students unless you are in a combat allowed zone of the school. The dorms are not those zones."


    Michelle and Ahmeds underlings all think to themselves, "Didn''t you just break those rules yourself just now?"


    Ahmed coughs while gasping to regain his breathing. He points at Wato and asks unbelieving,


    "How did you use a teleportation spell?! You need a conduit for that to work!"


    Wato chuckles and responds patiently to Ahmed, "Simple Ahmed, while you were focusing on gaining followers, I proceeded to the next step of ascension. I have stepped onto my own path of magic. I could explain it to you, but you would not understand the complexities involved in spatial magic."


    The hairs on the back of Ahmeds neck begin to rise as he understands the implications of challenging a person who starts their own branch of magic. That person is someone who truly contributed to mankind by pushing the boundaries of magical knowledge that humans possess.


    He merely has been trying to understand the fundamentals of his own branch of magic this entire time. He is almost finished with the fundamentals and was about to begin researching into his own advancements pretty soon. After his first loss to Wato though, he decided to focus his attention elsewhere for advancing his status in society.


    He decided to gain a following and become a major force, instead of focusing on his own personal growth. Upset at himself, Ahmed marks this event in his heart as he vows to correct his actions in the future to even the score between him and Wato.


    "Come on everyone, our business here is finished."


    Seeing that the conflict is dying down and things are coming to a resolution, Michelle breathes a sigh of relief before looking towards Alistairs door and seeing him looking at them all. Surprised she just winks at him and puts her finger to her lips signalling him to be quiet and wait for her.


    After seeing this Alistair knows he has been spotted and nods his head before retreating back into his room. Before he does though, he sees Michelle and Wato whispering about something before parting ways.


    Moments later, he hears a knock on his door. Opening it, he sees Michelle standing there looking at him with a proud smile on her face that practically begged for praise.


    "Thank you... What was that all about?"


    After getting her praise, Michelle contentedly begins to explain.


    "A ranking tournament is coming up pretty soon that will decide the new rankings of the students. The higher the rankings, the more points you get allotted each month and the better recognition you achieve.


    Ahmed felt himself hitting a wall with his own research into magic recently and has been recruiting students with the promise of protecting them from other bullies in school and guaranteeing them an adequate amount of food and resources. I''m told that you managed to break out of his spell that is supposed to be impossible to escape from without outside assistance.


    He has been looking for you so he could perform tests on your body so he can figure out how to perfect his spells. After realizing the danger that would put you in, I immediately came to your aid. Can''t have my friend turn into a lab rat can I?"


    After getting the full rundown of the situation Alistair thanks his lucky stars that Michelle was there to save him. If Ahmed managed to capture him and perform tests, who could say if Alistair would survive?


    "I am curious though, who is Wato? He seems even stronger than Ahmed, how did you get a guy like that to help you? Did you pay him or something?"


    Alistairs curiosity becomes piqued when he recalls the fantastical movements of Wato in that fight. Michelle realizes that Alistair is amazed by Wato and offhandedly says,


    "Oh, he''s from the Yammi family. They are good friends of my family, money would not interest them in the least. The reason he helped is because I asked him too. He doesn''t mind any requests from me because our families arranged a marriage between us long ago."


    "Marriage?" Alistair feels he just learned something really crazy but does not understand what marriage is or why it could compel the strong to fight for the weak.

 No Time Like The Present!

    Michelle sees the bags Alistair has packed by the door.


    "Are you going somewhere?"


    Realizing that it would be best to come clean with his friend sooner rather than later, Alistair replies as truthfully as he can be.


    "Yeah... I am taking some time out of studying to go train myself outside of the wall."


    "Outside of the wall? By yourself? I know that you went on a mission outside recently, but you shouldn''t let it get to your head that you came back alive from that. You had experienced veterans with you on the front lines.


    Not only that, but you all went after one of the most peaceful creatures outside of the walls. I know that we are training to be ascended Alistair, but we are still kids! If you are worried about Ahmed or other students, don''t worry I will ask Wato to look out for you."


    She wanted to continue with her plea to dissuade Alistair, but he put his hand up asking her to stop.


    "Michelle, we can be considered friends right? I understand that the smart choice would be to ask for help while I train myself up, but I don''t want to live that way.


    We are told everyday that we are supposed to be the best and brightest humanity has to offer. If I keep having to get bailed out of these types of situations, then I will never truly grow. Besides, don''t think that I am going outside to die, I have been outside the walls on my own before multiple times and came back just fine."


    Michelle had plenty of points to counter Alistair but saw in his face, his seriousness.


    "Fine, if you won''t let me talk you out of it, then at least promise me that you will come back if things get to dangerous."


    Alistair nods and Michelle gives a content smile. Breathing a sigh of relief, Michelle then asks


    "When are you leaving?"


    "No time like the present, right?"


    "You are leaving now? Did you inform anyone?"


    "I didn''t know I was supposed to. Who am I supposed to talk to?"


    "Geez, you don''t even know this? Fine, I''ll talk to the faculty for you. There shouldn''t be to much fuss since you don''t have a family behind you tracking your movements...." She gives a hollow look as if her mind were elsewhere while she mentions a family.


    "Don''t worry to much though, you helped me when I needed to leave the school and didn''t ask too many questions. Just remember to not travel too far out. We don''t know what''s outside of the perimeter zone of the wilds."Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    Michelle hands Alistair a map of everything they know about the wilds. It stretches as far as fifty miles out.


    (My poor attempt at map drawing skills here https://imgur.com/a/1XsDf76</a> )


    Alistair thanks her and they say a few more words before saying their goodbyes. Michelle leaves and Alistair is left in his room alone with his bags packed. He picks up his bags and begins heading towards the wilds.


    Due to Michelle''s help, no one stops Alistair from leaving the campus. He makes his way back towards the edge of the town limits and rushes off into the explored wilds. The people in power in Utopia have deemed it unnecessary to heavily fortify the opening of the city to the explored wilds as companies usually take care of securing safety.


    The real defenses are on the perimeter between the explored and unexplored wilds. Thick walls and military armed to the teeth. Alistairs plan is to conquer every creature in the explored wilds as much as possible.


    "I need to get as strong as I can within the next month before the ranking tournament starts. If I can get a higher ranking and more points, then I can get information a lot easier by just purchasing it."


    Although he took to heart the words of his inner self when he was being consumed by hunger, that did not mean he wanted to go on a full brutal slaughter to find out everything.


    "I''m not really angry or even that upset with what happened to me because I don''t really know what I forgot. I will get stronger and smarter, but I will do it without hurting any of the people who helped me."


    The people watching him run off into the forest become shocked that a child would have such a death wish. Some of them ran and reported it to the nearby guards, but the guards are always vigilant, they have seen Alistair''s clothing and informed everyone that it was probably a mission from his school.


    "There are not that many dangerous creatures left in the explored wilds due to constant hunting missions for lower ranking companies." the guard explains, " He will most likely be fine as long as he doesn''t go looking for any pointless battles."


    This calmed the concerned citizens and caused them to dismiss it as just another occurrence for gifted children.


    Alistair is running and jumping over obstacles in his way. The explored wilds is filled with clusters of dead plants and trees, causing a maze of roots, vines, and twigs to form naturally. Alistair loses his focus while he is running momentarily and then sees he is about to hit a small branch when he refocuses.


    Thinking that he can just smash through it though, he pays it no thought. He then sees the world spinning and he slams on his back. He ran headfirst into the branch and instead of it breaking like he thought, it did not budge an inch.


    He gets up with a dent on his forehead healing visibly but slowly. He looks up at the small branch and tries to break it out of frustration for needing to use up energy on something so trivial. It still does not budge though.


    At this point, Alistair realizes something weird and looks at the other roots and branches around him. He tries to break multiple different ones before realizing that everything is too hard and solid to even move.


    He keeps going after finding this out for almost an hour, until he reaches an area where he thinks would be suitable to set up his base.


    "Wow, the roots here are so freaking tall! I can''t break away any of them because they are as hard as metal!"


    The roots and branches act as a canopy for Alistair as he sits down and pulls out his map to find out where he might be.


    "It really is not that detailed of a map... I guess it makes sense that she would just have a generic map. It''s not like she knew I would be heading out." Sighing, Alistair puts the map back inside his backpack.


    He then starts to hear a sound that is very similar to someone kicking their foot against metal.


    *Clang! Clang! Clang*


    It was getting closer to him for a while, before it starts to fade away.


    "Someone or something, just passed me by... No time like the present! I hope its strong enough that I get a decent power boost from it!"

 Echo-Eater

    Inside of Alistairs shadow, the shadowy creature saw that Alistair was just about to relax before being interrupted. The outline of his shadow vibrates in frustration, unknown to Alistair.


    Alistair follows in pursuit of the creature making the loud noises, being careful not to hurt himself on the overly hard branches again. The chase does not last that long as he is able to see what is causing the noise moving ahead of him.


    A furry creature with abnormally large feet about four feet tall is seen jumping in place repeatedly. With each hop, the branches and roots make a deep metallic sound.


    *Clang Clang*


    It is jumping up and down while biting at some slightly off colored yellowish branches above it. Getting a better look at it, Alistair sees that it has no arms, no eyes, and a fleshy vibrating ring just under where its mouth is.


    It gives none of its attention to Alistair as he stares at it.


    "Wow... an Echo-Eater... Why is it above ground though? These guys usually stay underground eating minerals."


    Alistair recalls reading about these creatures in one of the textbooks about known wild creatures.


    ''It is generally considered a peaceful creature unless provoked. It feasts only on metals and other minerals. When provoked though, it is almost impossible to escape from within a twenty mile radius.


    It uses the fleshy ring under its mouth for locating resources and prey through amplified echo-location.''


    Realizing that maybe this might be more than he can handle right now, Alistair tries to slowly back away and regroup. Before he can though, he sees a weirdly shaped rock come flying from behind him and hurtle towards the Echo-Eater.


    He hurriedly looks behind him to see who can be so stupid to provoke this creature, but he sees no one. Without giving it a second thought though, he looks back towards the Echo-Eater and sees that it is facing its entire body in Alistairs direction, no longer jumping.


    "You got to be kidding me..." Alistair grumbles in his heart before seeing the Echo-Eater jump towards him. Alistair tries to think as best he can on how to get out of this situation. The Echo-Eater does not jump in a fast manner, almost as if it is scoping Alistair out.


    ''These creatures are known to be very cautious towards any hostility shown towards them. They will stalk their aggressor until they are completely sure they can take down their target. One creature alone is not much of a threat, but these creatures live in large packs, aggravate one and they will all chase you down.''


    Alistair thanks his lucky starts that this Echo-Eater is all alone. He remembers that their hearing is very powerful and gets an idea as it creeps up closer to him.


    He slowly moves his hand next to a metal-like branch next to his face. He looks behind him and sees that there is a small hole that he crawled through to peek at the creature prior to this. After making sure that all of his options are covered, he makes a sudden motion causing the Echo-Eater to lunge at him.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.


    It''s jaws open wide to reveal rows of sharp tiny teeth and it lunges its face towards Alistairs neck in one swift motion. Before it could sink its teeth into his flesh though, Alistair uses [Knuckle Burst] while punching on the hard tree branch without focusing the blast. Afterwards he dives backwards immediately into the small hole for safety.


    This causes a loud sound akin to a metal hammer smacking down on an anvil. Overloaded with this loud unexpected sound right next to its face, the creature falls to the ground screeching in pain.


    Not missing this opportunity, Alistair grabs the now broken tree branch and begins stabbing its chipped and rigid end into the fleshy ring on its face. After a long bout of repeated stabbings, Alistair sees the creatures body go limp.


    Without any hesitation, he begins devouring the Echo-Eater in large bites. As if afraid of his meal being taken away from him, he starts biting faster and faster. It does not take long before all that is left are two overly large feet.


    He tried eating them too, but they are so big that he could not fit them in his mouth, and they are too hard to break off into pieces.


    "It''s as if these things are made of a harder material than the roots around here." He knocks his fist against the feet and hears a crisp *Ting* noise.


    The noise does not stop though, not for Alistair. It keeps ringing louder and louder before it starts to die down. Shocked by this phenomenon, Alistair moves his hand to inspect the feet closer thinking they must have something unique about them.


    *Whoosh*


    He hears his hand ripping against the wind. It occurs to Alistair that it''s not the feet that are special, he must have extracted a trait from this creature like he did with the Cockroach. He then slowly reaches towards his ears after feeling the vibration from the noise still lingering in his ears.


    He feels a fleshy ring on the inside of his ears. Shocked that he acquired a watered down version of the Echo-Eaters hearing, he realizes how troublesome acute hearing can be if he is able to hear too many things at once. He feels the energy inside his body being pulled towards his ear drums as they are constantly rupturing.


    "I''m going to need to find a way to reliably use this for my benefit." Luckily, the amount of energy needed to repair his ears is not a large amount. But it does leave him with momentary losses of hearing.


    Refocusing on the feet in his hands, he realizes just how solid they are and begins thinking of ways to properly use them.


    "Maybe I can use this to improve my [Living Metal] technique along with the other creatures shell? I''ll need to find some way to break it down into smaller pieces though..."


    He reaches into his backpack and is about to try and put the feet inside before he notices that one of the biggest pieces of Cockroach shell is missing.


    "Huh?" He begins looking around him on the ground in the off chance that it could have fallen out. He then looks back towards where the Echo-Eater was originally standing before it noticed him and sees the shell piece lying on the ground over there.


    Walking up to it, he becomes perplexed at how it could have ended up here. He then remembers the incident that started all this was the thing that was thrown from behind him. He reaches down to look at the shell piece and sees that everything is the same as it always was with it.


    "What the...?" He turns it over to look at it and can see a faint hand print on it. He starts looking all around him in a panic realizing that someone could be following him.


    "But if they had enough time to steal this from me and throw it at the Echo-Eater, how come they didn''t just take that opportunity to kill me themselves? Unless.... Was it some really powerful person stopping by to mess with a kid for the fun of it?"


    Although unlikely, it does have precedent. Veterans have been known to play pranks on rookies many times before just out of sheer boredom. Thinking things through, this is the best conclusion he can come to at the moment.


    "Still, it''s better to be safe than sorry. I need to be more vigilant and scout out the area to know who is here with me."