《Between War and Magic》


 Chapter 1: Old village

    In an old village near the city of Reius, at a house that refused to fall after hundreds of seasons, yet it couldn''t refuse for much longer, a twelve year old boy was passing through the pages of an old book. He wasn''t reading it, that would be pointless, he already knew everything on it after the first thousand times. *Crack* He quickly raised his head and stood up.


    "Aaagh..." An old woman wailed as she fell down. She had tried her best to support herself on the table, but failed to do so.


    "Grandma!" He ran toward her. The rotten wood floor broke... again. Her leg seemed fine, at least there was no blood.


    "Who are you?!" She pushed him away. "Are you trying to take my canary away? I will not let you!!" She glared at him.


    "Grandma..." He sighed. It was a waste of time to argue with her. She lived in pain and delusions, after years she grew accustomed to her pain, and he to her delusions. Luckily, she was fine.


    "Wait..." She looked around. "Where is my canary?! What have you done to little Timmy?! Give him back! You monster."


    Well... what could be called fine. He went back and put away the book he was reading. Herbalism Compendium volume 2. One of the two books on the house. The other one being Herbalism Compendium volume 3. He saw the first volume in the city, but it was too expensive for him to buy it. Those two books were found by his father long ago.


    "Grandma, I''m leaving."


    "Go, go. There is no time to lose. Those damn miners believe that they got me, but I''m not going to fall alone, they are going to fall with me!" She was resolved to die so long as she could accomplish her goal. Sadly, there were no miners on the village.


    "Yeah..." He made sure to step on the good parts of the floor. He took his knife and pouch and headed to the forest.


    The street was empty. There was hardly any people left at the village. Anyone with a brain went to the city decades ago, leaving the old and dead behind. Footsteps sounded from his left. He turned, knowing full well who it was.


    "Rayen!" A kid taller than him said. He had a sword on his shoulder and a big smile, almost as big as the scar on his face, yet, not even that smile could hide his sorrow.


    "Hi, Takuya." As expected, it was Takuya, his friend and neighbor. As the only two kids in the village, they were fated to be friends. "Going to hunt?" They walked to the forest together.


    "Of course! Where else will I be going? Do you want to spar with me? Heh heh. I will give you a good beating."


    "Hah. Keep dreaming, I will beat you, just like last time."


    "That was a fluke, this time is going to be different!" Takuya left the sword on a tree and took a thick stick, throwing another to Rayen. "Fight!"


    Rayen readied himself and jumped backwards. *Fuuu* The wind of Takuya''s slash moved his hair up. He closed in to counter-attack, but Takuya sidestepped and evaded it easily.


    "Heh, predictable as always." Takuya sneered.


    "Just like yourself."


    The two of them fought countless times. They already knew each other''s techniques very well.


    ''Now comes a downward cut.'' Rayen thought.


    Takuya approached fast and raised his stick. Rayen attacked to interrupt him, but Takuya smiled and changed his direction.


    ''A feint!'' Rayen staggered.


    Taking advantage of your own predictability was fundamental for feinting. Takuya knew it full well. *Slam slam* He used his advantage to get two hits in, but Rayen evaded the third.


    Rayen stared at Takuya. His breathing slowed. On his mind, the world around him vanished, leaving only Takuya behind.


    "It looks like you are going down this time." Takuya sneered. Seeing that Rayen wasn''t moving, he attacked once more.


    He could clearly see each and every movement that Takuya made. It was as if time had almost stopped, but only for Rayen. From Takuya''s perspective, Rayen just stopped moving. Then, when the stick almost touched him, he slightly moved to the side, evading it completely. He attacked once again... and again, and again. The result was the same. He missed each time, always by the smallest movement necessary.


    "There!" Rayen saw it, an opening. He used all his strength to smash Takuya''s hand, making his stick fly away. Without pause, he continued, smoothly stopping in front of Takuya''s neck.


    A chill passed through Takuya''s body. If this was a real battle, with real swords, he would have lost his head.


    "I win!" Rayen announced, striking a victory pose.


    Takuya took the stick from the ground and pointed it at Rayen. "The best of three!"


    Rayen shook his head. "Sorry, I can''t play around. Grandma is getting worse lately." A single duel wasn''t much, but there was no time for another.


    "Oh." Takuya dropped the stick and put his sword on his shoulder once again, this time his usual smile disappeared. "I will go see her later. I hope she is alright..."


    "Don''t worry about it. It will be fine once I get her a stronger medicine." There was a medicine in Reius that could help her, at least temporarily, but it was too expensive for him.


    "Let''s go. I will protect you. You may have beaten me, but I still have the sword." Takuya smiled once again while pointing at himself.


    Rayen nodded and the two of them went deeper into the forest.


    "Here is fine." Rayen took out a knife and picked up herbs, while Takuya looked for animals to hunt. ''Takuya hasn''t improved in the last two years. He used to beat me all the time. He still must be sad he couldn''t become a mage. With only average talent and no money, no academy will accept him. His only hope is to awaken, and double or triple his capability. Yet, awakening is such a cruel thing. People with a capability of 0 or 1 have a very high chance of awakening, but the result is just their capability increasing to 2 or 3. For someone with a capability of 2 awakening is rare and it is too late by the time they get it, the years missed mean that they will always be behind. Only in legends have people with a 4 or 5 awoke. And for 6 and higher awakening is an absurdity, not even the legends would be that unreal. The only ones for which awakening is useful and possible are those with a capability of 3, just like Takuya, but it is almost impossible for them to get it. The people who need it the most live their lives hoping to see the mysterious red light that appears when you awaken, something that will never occur to them.''Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    "Have you heard?" Takuya said. "The mage initiation test has just started. Are you going?"


    Rayen shook his head. "I won''t go, I have to help grandma. I don''t want to abandon her and let her die."


    "This isn''t what she wants, she wants you to be strong and live for yourself, not to waste your life away."


    "All she wants is a canary. And it''s not wasting my life away. She is the only family I have left."


    "What about your uncle?"


    "He disappeared a long time ago. I don''t remember anything about him. He might have died for all I know."


    "You shouldn''t give up your chance. Unlike me, you have a chance. I can only become a knight."


    "You could become a merchant, like your mother wants you to."


    "No way. The world is only for the strong, while the weak die at the hands of the strong. You should know it. We live it day by day." Takuya swung his sword and a rabbit''s head flew. "A rabbit may struggle, but in the end it will die to a hunter. A hunter may struggle, but in the end, he will die to a beast, and a beast may struggle, but it will die to a mage. The only way to escape this, is to become the strongest. That way, no one will ever be able to kill you, and you will be able to protect everybody who is important to you."


    "That''s not true. We are weak, yet we struggle and survive. People at the cities are also weak, yet they join together and fight back. If what you said was true, we will all be dead, but we aren''t."


    "What about our parents? Our family? They are all dead. We are the only survivors, but for how long? If we don''t gain power soon, we will die too."


    "..." Rayen looked at the distance. "My magic capability may be weak anyway. And I''m poor, I don''t have money to spend on an academy."


    "You don''t know it until you try it. Don''t give up so quickly! Also, if your capability is good enough, the academies will lower their prices, sometimes even teach you for free."


    "I''m not giving up. I will go later, when grandma gets better."


    "You know she won''t get any better..."


    "Yes, she will! The medicine will work out, and she will be fine. I won''t lose her."


    "Rayen..."


    "You can go to the test, I will find a way to awaken you. This time for real."


    "It''s too late for me. I missed the best years to practice."


    Rayen was absorbed in his thoughts. "Near dead experiences didn''t work." He pondered about it. "Maybe I can try some herb compounds. Some plants are poisonous if eaten alone, but beneficial when in a compound. I could add some minerals for extra effect. Even if it doesn''t awaken you, it might increase you capability."


    Takuya touched his scar. "Heh heh... I''m fine like this, really..."


    Rayen put another herb in the bag and got up. "My next experiment will succeed, don''t worry!"


    Takuya shivered. "Eh... I think I will just become a knight. Really..."


    "It''s like you said. You don''t know it until you try it. Don''t give up so quickly! You will awaken, then they may teach you for free and all."


    The pair proceeded deeper and deeper into the forest as hours passed.


    "I think this is enough." Takuya took another rabbit. "I can''t carry more."


    "I wanted to gather more, but it''s okay." Rayen nodded, his bag was also full, even if he wanted more.


    *Bzzzt* The air distorted near them. *Crash* A tree fell. Animals ran away in all directions. On the sky, dozens of those distortions appeared. As soon as one ended, another will appear. A buzz resounded across the forest.


    "What''s happening?" Takuya''s breathing accelerated as he looked everywhere.


    "Let''s run back and inform the Elder."


    Takuya nodded, dropping a few rabbits to move faster. He had catched more than enough anyway.


    After running for a couple minutes, the distortions and the sound stopped. Everything went back to normal.


    "I will tell the Elder." Rayen said once they reached the village. "You can go back."


    "Okay, mom must be worried." Takuya went to his home. Rayen was the one that got along better with the Elder and they didn''t need to go together. "See you tomorrow."


    "Bye." Rayen waved at Takuya and walked to a run-down shop. An old man received him.


    "Welcome, Rayen. Let me see what you''ve got today."


    Rayen set aside some of the herbs, then he put the rest on the table, for him to examine. "I got these."


    "Oh, more than usual. Let me see..." He checked the herbs one by one. "I can buy them all for 13 small crystals."


    "Only that?" Rayen was nervous. It wasn''t enough. The medicine he needed was sold at 500 small crystals at the city. So far he had saved around 40 small crystals, but at this rate it will take him forever to get it.


    "That''s the best price I can give. You know I''m not making any money out of it."


    Rayen knew it was true, if he were to sell it at the city, he may not even get 8 small crystals.


    "Fine..."


    The old man smiled and picked a small green bottle. The paper below it said 20. He put it on the table alongside 3 tiny crystals that emitted a green light.


    "I hope your grandma gets better soon."


    ''She won''t with this medicine...'' Rayen thought, but he didn''t say it. It wasn''t the old man''s fault that they were poor, he was too kind already. This medicine helped with the pain and the delusions, but it will never cure her. "Thanks." He picked everything and left.


    ''I need to find rare herbs, with common herbs I will never make more than a dozen crystals.'' Just when Rayen was about to knock on the Elder''s hut. A muscular man that appeared to be in his late thirties opened the door. It was the Elder. Rumors said that he was the oldest person on the village, but it was hard to believe, he looked the youngest aside from the kids.


    "Hello Rayen. Enter."


    The hut was small, one of the smallest buildings on the whole village. It wasn''t fit for someone holding the title of Elder. It was filled with piles of books and random items, with barely enough space for one person to sleep.


    "What are you looking for?"


    "Elder, today in the forest, there was a strange sound and the sky twisted. Hundreds of those spirals appeared. That twisting broke a tree too."


    The Elder sighed. "I know, I have noticed it too."


    "Do you know what it is?" Rayen stared attentively at the Elder.


    "...Yes."


    If he had said no, Rayen would''ve known that he was lying.


    "Is it... the Rakuyas?" Rayen heard of them before, but never saw one. They were a race that rarely appeared outside, but they were common enough that people will sometimes see one of them. What no ordinary person saw, though, was their home, the Rakuya Forest. Hearsay was that one of those mythical forests was on the village''s forest protecting the village.


    "Who else will it be?"


    Rayen grew excited. "Can I look at the books?"


    "Planning to enter?" The Elder smiled. "How to enter is not in the books. The books only have a general description of their race. You shouldn''t disturb them."


    "Please, tell me how to enter. I only want to check and grab a few herbs. They must have rare herbs... They won''t even notice."


    "It''s too dangerous, Rayen. The distortions from today must mean something bad happened there."


    "That''s a reason to go. We must check it to see if everything is alright. If something happens to them, it will affect us."


    "It''s something for adults to handle, you are just a kid, you don''t need to be concerned about it. The mage initiation test started, go there and become a mage."


    "Takuya said the same. I cannot leave my grandma alone. If I were to find some good herbs there, I may save her, or I could sell them and then buy the medicine. Once she is fine, I can go there. So please, tell me how to enter the forest."


    "There is no point in begging me. You know I cannot tell you."


    "Fine." Rayen left.


    After that, Rayen appeared in front of Takuya''s house.


    "Takuya!"


    The door opened, it was Takuya''s mother, Lena. "What do you want?" She looked with scorn at Rayen.


    "I need to talk with Takuya."


    "He doesn''t have the time to waste with you." She slammed the door.


    "Tsk." Takuya said from a nearby window. "What happened Rayen? What did the Elder say?"


    "Meet me up first thing in the morning, we will go to the Rakuya Forest. Get ready."

 Chapter 2: Rakuya Forest

    On the table there was a cold stew, it was the only food left from yesterday. Rayen took the big pot outside to heat it up.


    "Hey." Takuya was waiting for him with a rabbit in hand.


    "Good morning. Do you want some?" He burned the firewood he had prepared.


    "Yeah, I''m hungry. I was going to cook a rabbit, we can add it to the stew." He cut the rabbit into pieces and put them into the pot.


    Rayen added some herbs and mixed it all.


    "So, how are we going to enter the Rakuya Forest?" Takuya asked.


    "I don''t know yet. The Elder is going for sure, we just need to follow him and do what he does." Rayen filled two bowls with stew and gave one to Takuya.


    "I wonder if eating the guardian beast will give me its power. I heard people who get stronger by eating beast meat."


    "No way you can beat it. The guardian beast is far stronger than a normal beast."


    "But who knows what those disturbances were. He may be dead."


    "I hope not. If the rakuyas fall, the village will fall after them."


    "I don''t care what happens to the village. It''s dying already."


    "We still have family left..."


    "If the Elder thinks the village is in danger, we will evacuate. Nothing will happen to them."


    "I will check on my grandma and prepare myself. We will leave afterward." Rayen took the rest of the stew and poured the green medicine on it. His grandma was still sleeping, but since this was the only food in the house, she will eat it. He opened a chest covered in dust. It was his father''s. It has been years since the last time he opened it. It had a hardened leather vest and gloves. Since the forest will be dangerous, he needed all the protection he could get. He put them on and took his knife and the herbs left from yesterday. He had prepared them for today. When he left the house, Takuya was outside with a wooden shield and his sword. They were ready.


    "There is no sign of him..." Takuya said after looking for him for half an hour. "The forest is too big, what will we do if we don''t find him?"


    "I will figure it out when that happens... Shh." Rayen ducked. "He is over there." He pointed deeper into the forest.


    "Uh? I don''t see anything."


    "Look at the sky. The birds flew away from that place. Someone is over there, it can only be him."


    Takuya wasn''t sure, but he followed Rayen nonetheless. It was better than blindly looking around the forest. After walking a couple hundred meters, they saw him. They stayed away, not daring to get too close, but they were near enough to see what he was doing. He touched a tree, his hand seemed to vanish by how fast it moved. On the tree a carving appeared. It was a strange symbol that Rayen didn''t recognize. There were three of those carvings on other trees, forming a perfect square.


    "Come out." Seeing that no one answered, the Elder looked at the direction where they were. "I know you are there, Rayen and Takuya."


    "Ehmmm... Hi, Elder." They came out from their hideout. "What a coincidence to meet here, isn''t it?"


    "I didn''t want you to come, but it seems like there is no way out." The Elder sighed. "You are capable of burning the forest just to find a way in..."


    ''I haven''t thought of burning the forest...'' Rayen thought. ''That may work though, the rakuyas hide on the forest, so without a forest, they cannot hide anymore.''


    A drop of blood flew from his finger into the carving. "Come, stay close to me. I will try my best to protect you..."


    Rayen and Takuya stood behind the Elder. A light emanated from all the carvings which joined together at the middle. The space around it ripped forming a portal. The Elder shouldn''t have been able to use a portal, he wasn''t powerful enough. So it must had come from the forest itself. Rayen paid close attention to all the carvings, trying his best to memorize them. If it failed or the Elder tricked them, he would have to make them again on his own.


    "I learned this from the last Elder. It''s my first time going there. If you come with me, you will be responsible for yourselves. If you are afraid, this is the moment to leave."


    Rayen nodded. "Let''s go."


    "From Takuya''s Forest to Rakuya''s Forest." Takuya said.


    "I don''t know what to expect, so don''t leave my side."


    The three stepped inside the portal at the same time. Everything distorted as the portal closed and the three disappeared.


    When Rayen opened his eyes again, everything became blood red. It was a completely different forest. He looked around. There were neither birds on the red sky, nor bugs on the red ground. There weren''t any herbs here either. This pained him the most, no rare herbs to collect. There were only red trees with red leaves. He touched one and it felt different than any tree he had ever touched before.


    ''Uh? Where is everyone?'' There was no one else here, he was completely alone.


    "Takuya! Elder!" He shouted, but there was no response.


    ''I guess I must keep going alone then.'' He walked for what must had been half an hour, the only thing he saw were the red trees. The forest was like an infinite red labyrinth. ''I guess rakuyas must love red.'' He took out an herb from his pouch and put it on a tree. An ominous feeling invaded him. ''I need to get out of here fast.''


    He kept walking for ten minutes more. The path never ended. He noticed something green contrasting with the red of the forest, it was the herb from earlier.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    "I see it now." He took it out, as to not leave evidence behind. "This path is just a trap to catch outsiders. Something dangerous seems to be lurking here. It guards the forest without leaving a trace of its existence behind, it must be the guardian beast. If I linger long enough, I will be its food.


    "The path may be a trap, but there has to be a way in." He touched tree after tree. "This one." The tree appeared to be there, but it wasn''t really there. It was an illusion. He jumped into it. The trees around him scratched him, leaving small cuts on his arms, but he passed them all. A rotten smell inundated him, like when his grandma didn''t bathe for a week. Along with the smell came a sensation that his head was going to explode.


    *Paf* He fell to the ground, still conscious. "Ugh..." He tried to get up, just to fell once again. He couldn''t see where he was at. He reached for his pouch and took out a couple of herbs. He had prepared them for these kind of things. He knew which ones they were by how they felt. He chew on them, enduring their sour taste.


    He sat for a few minutes, the worst had passed. He looked around. This new area had the same trees as before, but there were grass and bushes on the ground. Green grass. There was something big and red fusing with the sky at the distance, he couldn''t make out what it was. The trees formed three paths. He choose to follow the middle one, simply because that''s where the smell came from.


    Rotten wood populated the ground. Along with a green and orange liquid. Looking closer, they seemed to be small arms and legs, entirely made of wood. There were also bigger chunks, which should be the torso. If he were to put them back together, they would become statues of little girls. Like human sized wood dolls.


    "They must be statues of rakuyas." Rayen nodded.


    "Those aren''t statues." It was the Elder''s voice. Rayen looked back at him. "Those are real rakuyas."


    "I thought rakuyas looked human."


    "When alive, they look like human girls, but when dead they revert to their true appearances, closer to trees than to humans."


    "They are all... dead. What happened?"


    "They were attacked, they died fighting. Who were they fighting? I don''t know. I don''t see any trace of their attackers."


    "And the liquid?"


    "That is blood from beasts. The blood of different beasts joined together."


    "But I don''t see any beast corpse."


    "Yes. They disappeared, or worse, they were desintegrated... Anyway, it''s good to see that you are safe. Where is Takuya?"


    "I don''t know either. I just got here."


    "This might by more dangerous than I thought. We should find him."


    Rayen nodded.


    "Stay close." The Elder said. "Their village is up ahead."


    The bushes ahead rustled. The Elder stepped forward. "Move back. There is a beast there."


    Two beasts similar to ferrets jumped out of the bushes. They were covered with a red aura. *Hsss* Their eyes were filled with hate. They got in the middle of the path and did weird little jumps.


    "Strange... Those are the weakest monsters on the forest. Normally they aren''t aggressive like the other beasts. Be careful." The Elder walked toward them, his hand shined with a green light. One of the ferrets jumped at him followed by the other, he slapped it, then backslapped the other. They flew one meter in each direction, then ran away wailing.


    "That was easy." Rayen went to the Elder''s side.


    "They barely have any mana, so they aren''t much different than normal animals. But you shouldn''t grow overconfident, it was only easy for me because I can use magic." The Elder was the only person left that knew how to use mana at the village, but he hadn''t reached a level to be considered a mage.


    They didn''t encounter any other beasts all the way to the village. It''s not that there weren''t, but after seeing the Elder''s performance, they were too afraid to appear.


    In front of them stood a breathtaking giant tree. Even without clouds to hide it, it didn''t matter how far back you threw your head, you could never see its end. Not only it was high, it could fit the entire village inside. It had innumerable branches, some of which had treehouses. There were no other buildings in sight, so those must be the houses of the rakuyas. The majestic tree had patches of gray. If you paid close attention, you could saw the patches growing bigger each second. It was slowly withering. Because of its size, it would take months or even years for it to completely wither.


    The smell of death wasn''t as strong here, but it still lingered on the air. The floor was also covered by pieces of dead rakuyas. Unlike before, there were no beast''s corpses here.


    "That''s Dokenra," the Elder said, "the holy tree of the forest. Ra means tree of life. Their lives depend on the tree, but it doesn''t seem that any of them is alive."


    "Can we stop its withering?"


    "I don''t know, the only way is to ask a rakuya. We must look for survivors. There may be some at the houses."


    "Uh? What''s that?" Rayen pointed at the corpses. It was hard to notice, but a flame was moving.


    The Elder looked carefully and ran there. Rayen followed him.


    "A spirit!" The Elder shouted. "Spirit, I''m the Elder of the human village vowed with this forest."


    "I''m... Senku." The flame flickered. It was becoming dimmer and dimmer.


    Rayen barraged it with questions. "What happened here? Who attacked? How can we stop the withering?"


    "Attackers... different... from... us... They... shouldn''t... exist... They... must be... defeated... Danger... for... world."


    "Who are they?"


    The flame went to the tree and disappeared. The withering seemed to slightly retreat and stop for a second, but then it continued like before.


    "What a way to not say anything..."


    "Let''s look at the houses."


    "I will look on my own, that way, we will search quicker."


    The Elder nodded and left to a nearby house. Rayen acted as if he was going to a house, then went to the Dokenra tree.


    "A part of the tree must be valuable, it''s a holy tree after all. And they won''t notice, they are all dead anyway..." He took his knife and used all his force to stab it. The knife flew out, the tree was harder than steel. There wasn''t even a scratch. "All that for nothing..." He climbed to a house.


    The house was simple, without any decorations. It was completely empty, it didn''t have a bed, only a small table. He went to another house and it was the same. Then another. There were some vases, but they were empty. Rayen looked at the distance, farther away from the tree there were some bigger houses. He went to one of them. The house had sealed vases on the floor, a table and empty racks on the walls.


    "It must be some type of storehouse." He tried to open the vases, but couldn''t. "Well, there is always a way to open them." He lifted and dropped them. *Crash crash* One after another, until all were broke. He searched the remains. There were beans, herbs, roots, dust, lots of dust. They were all common. He recognized most of them, he had seen them in the forest before, and even the ones that weren''t, he knew them from the books. They didn''t even have the complete plants, only the roots. The dust seemed worthless as well, although he couldn''t tell what it was. He still took everything he could. Once he finished, there was a noise from the entrance.


    A small pair of eyes observed Rayen. Rayen readied himself for an attack and took out his knife. It was one of the ferrets from before.


    "It should be easy, I saw the Elder do it before."


    It did the little jumps and pounced at him. Rayen punched him, it was hard and heavy, he could barely move it. It struck his shoulder and made him fall. He quickly got up, he will be at a disadvantage on the ground. He slashed at it with his knife, but the ferret evaded all his attacks. The ferret scratched him and moved back.


    "Calm down." Rayen breathed out. He concentrated and carefully looked at the ferret. It was fast, but he could follow it. When it was about to scratch him, he slashed.


    The ferret cried and jumped back, blood covered its face. It hissed at him. It moved in circles around Rayen. It jumped to the table, then the rack. It jumped again to the wall, making the rack fall on Rayen. When Rayen was busy with the rack, it jumped at his body. Rayen fell to the ground, he couldn''t get up. The ferret scratched his body, breaking his shirt and his leather vest. It kept scratching, stuck on Rayen''s body.


    "Argh..." He couldn''t move it away. He rolled, but the ferret didn''t leave. He hugged it and stabbed it with his knife. The ferret kept bitting and scratching until it stopped. Rayen stabbed it more. He had to be sure.


    "Ufff... I never saw a ferret being so vicious. The Elder made it look so easy." He took his things and left the house.


    A ferret appeared in front of him. "Another one? Heh heh I can take another one."


    Followed by a second one. "Two?... A worthy challenge."


    Then a third one. "..."


    And a fourth one. "Waaaaaaaaaaaaaah Elder!!"

 Chapter 3: Takuya

    "Elder!!" Rayen ran through the branches. They were big enough that he didn''t need to pay attention to where he was stepping. But he had to be careful, if he were to fall from such height it could be fatal. Even if he ran, he couldn''t outrun the four beasts, and they won''t let him escape. They climbed the nearby branches, then pounced and scratched him.


    It would be his end if this continued. ''I need to attack as well.'' He saw a ferret climbing up. He paid close attention to his every movement. As soon as it jumped of the branch. He stepped back. The ferret passed in front of him, missing him completely. This was his chance. Rayen quickly took it and threw it away using its own force against it. Yet, the seconds he stood there gave a chance to the other ferrets to catch up. They all scratched and bit him. He went on a frenzy of punches and slashes, until, finally, they let go. This wasn''t the end though, the three beasts kept chasing him, waiting for a better chance.


    ''There. If I go there I should be able to lose them for some time.'' He ran to an area were branches crossed over like a labyrinth. The ferret who fell went back up and joined the party once again, or maybe it was a new ferret, he couldn''t tell. Once he had reached the labyrinth, Rayen changed his trajectory from left to right, up and down. The ferrets couldn''t keep up and lost sight of him, but a few seconds later, they saw him and pursued him once again. He kept doing it, but it didn''t matter how many times he did it, the ferrets always found him. He couldn''t escape from them.


    He reached for his pouch and took out an herb. He hated this herb. It was an herb that, when crushed, emitted a terrible smell. ''With this they should leave.'' He crushed it and threw it at them. The results weren''t what he had expected. The ferrets kept attacking him. Not only that, but now he couldn''t lose them for even a second. They could always get his position because of the strong stink.


    "Cough cough" It was hard for him to breathe. "This is disgusting." He wiped his hand with his clothes, but that only made the smell stick to his clothes.


    *Baam* A ferret''s hard head collided with his back. The leather vest greatly reduced the impact, but he lost his balance. He was falling. He pressed his knife into the branch and thrust with both hands. He slowly stopped to a halt. The four ferrets went to his hands and started bitting. Thankfully, he was wearing leather gloves, so he didn''t felt a thing. He swung and dropped onto another branch. "That was close. Staying on the branches is too dangerous." He saw a place without trees and ran there.


    ''I can''t beat them, the only way is to find the Elder.'' Rayen kept running until he was at the barren land. There were no buildings here, nor grass, nor trees. The ground was orange instead of the usual red. The four beasts were still behind him. A person appeared in front of him. It wasn''t the Elder, it was Takuya.


    "Hello Rayen." He looked at the beasts that followed Rayen. Once they saw his eyes, their bodies shook, their instincts told them that if they didn''t leave now, they wouldn''t survive. They scattered. Rayen saw his eyes as well. His eyes were strange. They had something in them. Rayen couldn''t tell what it was. They looked just like usual, yet, somehow, different.


    "Takuya? Where had you been?" Rayen sat down, he was tired and finally safe.


    "In the forest, just like you." Takuya had a strange smile.


    "How did you did that?"


    "Hahahaha. Those beasts are the weakest, it''s understandable that they will cover in the presence of someone strong."


    "Uh? Are you okay? Did you find something to awaken?"


    "I''m okay, Rayen, don''t worry about me. Actually, I''m better than ever. And no, but I won''t need to awaken anymore."


    "Eh? Why not?"


    "I have found my path. My own path that will lead to unparalleled strength. Now any of those little beasts won''t dare to oppose me."


    "Your path?"


    "Yes, my path. What I should follow. The things I have to do to become strong. Now I know them. There is no reason to awaken. It is impossible for me anyway."


    "Why is it impossible? Were the tales wrong? I''ve heard of it happening a lot of times to people with a capability of 0 or 1. Even if you''re a 3, it should still be possible."


    "They weren''t wrong, now I understand it. Those who awoke had power sleeping in them. That''s why they could awaken. But I''m different. I don''t have a sleeping power. I have to look for power in... a different way."


    "Power isn''t everything. But if you are happy with the path you found, then it''s okay. I still need to find something to help my grandma. Did you encounter anything like that?"


    "No, Rayen. I don''t think something like that can be found here. Yet this place holds many secrets. Keep looking, you may find it."


    "I see..."


    Takuya looked at the sky and opened his arms. "Ahh... I will be leaving first. Goodbye, Rayen. It was nice meeting you."


    "Uh? Wait!"


    Takuya''s body flashed and he disappeared.


    "Strange..." Rayen looked around. Takuya was nowhere to be seen. He saw a strange building at the distance. He hadn''t noticed it before, since it was inside Dokenra. The building was too strange. That tree was harder than steel. So how could a building be built inside it? Unlike the other buildings that were simple, this one had some weird decorations carved on it. Decorations which didn''t made sense unless you were a rakuya. And that wasn''t the only difference with the other buildings. It had a stone door, while he hadn''t seen anything made of stone here before.


    He got closer to look at it. There were no ferrets nearby. The strange building was closed. There were markings on the stone door. They didn''t looked like the ones in the decorations. He couldn''t tell what they were. When Rayen touched it, the door collapsed. "Hum..." He went inside. It looked like a temple. He had never been in one before, there were no temples on the village or the city, but he did read about them.This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    Inside the temple there were stone statues, a rakuya corpse on a throne and paintings. The statues were of rakuyas with their spirits. When alive, rakuyas always had their spirits with them. Only after dead will the spirits leave them, like Senku did. The paintings formed a story that Rayen knew. On the top was the Dokenra, from which a piece of wood fell, the wood morphed into a girl, a doll. The doll wasn''t alive, it couldn''t move, until the spirits came and fused with it. Then it came to life, as a rakuya.


    "I understand that the rakuyas come from the holy tree and need spirits to live. But where do the spirits come from? A rakuya needs her spirit to live, but they aren''t their spirits. Their spirits have a live of their own. They are one yet separate." But the paintings didn''t provide any answers.


    Other paintings pictured different types of spirits, flame spirits, leaf spirits, wood spirits, among many others, all dancing around a group of rakuyas at a forest.


    He looked at the throne. The corpse there was different than the others he saw. Not only was it complete, but the rakuya itself had a body different than the rest. It was taller, dressed with a robe of plants. It looked more human than the others, yet you could see she was made of wood as well.


    Rayen got closer to the corpse and touched her. Its skin was rough. He grabbed the robe. "It looks like no human should be able to use it. But I may be able to sell it." He pulled it, but he couldn''t take it away. When he moved it, the corpse moved as well. It was fixed to her, as if it was a part of her. Anyway, he couldn''t use it. So he left it there.


    He noticed an object on her arm. Rayen grabbed her arm to see what it was. The arm was unexpectedly weak and it crumbled when touched. The object fell to the ground. It was a badge. A badge with a symbol of a giant tree, which looked exactly like Dokenra would look if it wasn''t withering. There was a small circle inside a bigger circle in the middle of the tree.


    "I may be able to sell it." Rayen took it. It felt like lava entering his hand. The badge shined and started crawling into him. Sinking inside his hand. "Wagh." Rayen fell back. He took his arm, his hand hurt, he wanted to stop it, but he had no way of doing it. The sight frightened him. The badge slowly entering his hand, as if it was made of water. Burning its way through until it finally disappeared. "What... just..." He wanted to puke, but he couldn''t think straight. His head moved from side to side until it fell and he passed out.


    When he woke up, he was all alone in the familiar forest. He stood up. It all felt like a dream, like he never went to the Rakuya Forest. But the scratches on his arms and clothes showed that it hadn''t been a dream. He looked at his hand, the badge wasn''t there, neither was any scar.


    "Takuya!" He shouted, but there was no answer. ''Did he went home? He should be fine anyway. He said he found his power or whatever.'' He could get some herbs, but he decided not to. He was exhausted and had a headache, so he went back home. Sadly, he couldn''t find any rare herb on the forest. It seems that this trip was a lost.


    His grandma was outside, sweeping the floor.


    "Grandma, I''m back."


    "You are back?! It doesn''t matter how much money do you offer me, I will never sell it!" She pointed at him with the broom. "Shoo shoo." She hit him with it.


    "Grandma, I will sleep a bit. I''m really tired..."


    She nodded twice. "You want to steal it? It doesn''t matter how much you look for it, you will never find it!" She keep sweeping.


    He jumped on the bed and fell asleep.


    At the afternoon, he woke up at the sound of someone slamming the door and a woman''s screams.


    "Ugh?" He went to see what was happening.


    "The pizza I ordered is here." His grandma smiled and opened the door. Lena, Takuya''s mother, was there.


    ''What''s a pizza?'' This was the first time he heard that word. Grandma liked to invent words.


    "Where is my pizza?"


    "Rayen? Are you there?!" She seemed nervous and angry at the same time. She completely ignored grandma, it was pointless to talk to her.


    "Uh? What happened?" Rayen said.


    "Don''t tell me you don''t know? Takuya is missing! He went with you to the forest, and now he is nowhere to be seen. Where is he?! What have you done to him?!"


    She tried to enter the house, but grandma blocked her. "You didn''t have enough today? You already searched the entire house! I told you. No matter how much you look for it, you will never find it."


    ''That was me though...'' Rayen thought.


    "Get away, you crazy woman." She pushed grandma to the side, making her fall to the ground.


    Rayen ran to her side. "Grandma! Are you okay?"


    "Grandma? I''m not that old yet!" She stood up as if nothing happened.


    Rayen stared at Lena. "I went to the forest with him, but then he shined and disappeared! I don''t know where he is. I thought he came back on his own."


    "Pff... Bullshit, do you want me to believe that he was kidnapped by aliens? If you are gonna make up a story, at least make it more believable."


    "That''s the truth!"


    "You... Fine, let''s see the Elder. If you did anything to Takuya, I will make you pay for it."


    When they approached the simple hut, a deep voice from the inside said "Enter".


    They went inside and saw the Elder with his eyes closed sitting crosslegged. There were incenses at his side, on top the books.


    He opened his eyes. "What happened?"


    "That woman tried to steal my canary!" Grandma pointed at Lena. "But I will never let her! She won''t take it away."


    "Takuya disappeared!" Lena shouted interrupting grandma. "He went to the forest together with him." She pointed at Rayen. "Now he came back alone saying that my son mysteriously disappeared in front of his eyes."


    "I see... Tell me what happened in the forest, young man."


    Rayen nodded and recounted a slightly modified version of what had really happened, from the morning until he came back. He omitted the medicine, meeting the Elder and getting the badge obviously.


    "Hum... A red forest... That must be the Rakuya Forest." He nodded.


    "You will believe his lies?" Lena said. "The Rakuya Forest is just a fairytale. It doesn''t exist."


    "He isn''t lying. It truly exists. The last Elder told me stories about the Rakuya Forest before. I saw it in person as well."


    "Then where is Takuya? We need to find him!"


    "Once you leave the Rakuya''s Forest, you always end up in the forest. Let''s go to the forest, Takuya must be there, somewhere. The sooner we find him, the better. It''s already late." He took out a lantern and gave it to Lena.


    "Let''s go." She ran to the forest.


    As they got near the forest, the Elder moved his hand and a ball of green light appeared. It illuminated even more than the lantern. "Sorry, I only got one lantern." Rayen and his grandma grouped together with him, while Lena went in another direction.


    "Takuya!!! Takuya!!!" They all shouted while looking for him.


    Rayen got close to the Elder and spoke so that only he could listen. "What could have happened to Takuya?"


    "I don''t know. I don''t know how could he leave without my assistance. But I also don''t know how you did it."


    "I told you, I lost my consciousness and woke up at the forest. I also don''t know how it happened."


    "But Takuya did it while awake and in front of you. Did he do something special?"


    "He looked at the sky and opened his hands. Only that. But he was strange all the time."


    "Hum..."


    A long time passed, yet he still didn''t appear.


    Grandma got in the way and stopped Rayen and the Elder. "It''s enough." She said almost crying. "I''m thankful that you looked him for me. But it''s enough. He is a grown up rabbit anyway. I''m sure he will live a happy life in the forest and find a rabbit wife with whom he will make little rabbits."


    "What we are looking for it''s not a rabbit, it''s..."


    "Takuya!!!" Lena screamed. They all ran to where the shout came. There, near a small river, Lena had Takuya in her arms and was continuously shaking him while calling. "Takuya, Takuya." There was no blood or visible injury. His sword and shield were on the ground. When she heard them closing, she stared at Rayen as if wanting to tear him apart. "It was you..."

 Chapter 4: Death

    "So it was you..." Lena said.


    "It wasn''t me! Why would I do that? Takuya was my friend."


    "Friend? You always took him to dangerous places. And now look, you took him to that forest, and he is dead!"


    "Dangerous places?" Grandma said. "If a canary stays trapped at home, it will forget how to fly. You need to let him outside, to let him fly. The only dangerous place is with those damn miners!"


    "Look at his body," the Elder said. "It has no injuries. If they fought, he would have some injuries. The forest holds many mysteries, but what happened isn''t Rayen''s fault."


    "It doesn''t matter anymore. Leave. Just let me be with him alone." Lena hugged Takuya''s body.


    As they left, grandma got closer. "Hey, hey. Are you going to let her have the whole rabbit? We hunted it together, we should get a piece each."


    "We will prepare for the funeral tomorrow." The Elder said.


    Rayen went to bed without eating. He didn''t have time to buy food. He was tired, the whole search took many hours, but he couldn''t sleep thinking about Takuya.


    "Aiii..." Grandma complained on the other room. "We should''ve brought the rabbit. It was a big one. Now I''m hungry."


    "Takuya is... dead? How is this possible? Maybe he is just unconscious... But the Elder spoke about the funeral. Takuya was so excited talking about finding his path. Now he is dead. He can''t just die like that..."


    Rayen stared at his hand, trying to stop thinking about Takuya. It was pointless to think about it. "I''m sure I saw a badge back then..." He tried to remember it. It was a badge of a tree with circles in the middle, it looked like an eye. He kept staring at his hand, but nothing happened.


    "Hmm..." He remembered the burning sensation, how it melted into him. He closed his eyes and did his best to recall everything that happened. His hand felt hot. When he opened them, he saw his hand shining. Once the light stopped, the badge was on his hand. "I knew it!"


    The badge was hard to see in the darkness of the room. He opened the window to let some moonlight on it. He observed it on detail. There was something strange about it, but he couldn''t tell what it was. He closed his hand and thought about it disappearing. When he opened it, the badge was still there.


    "I should be able to make it fuse with me again." He imagined it fusing with him. It took him a few tries before he could succeed. He made it appear again. It was a bit easier this time. He closed his hand and the badge disappeared once again. "I think I get the gist of it." He imagined it appearing on his hand. And the badge once again appeared. Then he imagined it becoming part of him, and the badge disappeared. It was hard and exhausting, but it distracted him from Takuya''s death. He spent hours making it appear and disappear until he felt asleep.


    Morning came. He didn''t notice the moment he fell asleep. He looked at his hand, the badge appeared and disappeared in less than a second. Now he could control it at will.


    "This shouldn''t be all there is to it. Disappearing and appearing is a nice trick, but it has to have another use. If I discover it, I may be able to get a good price for it on the city." He didn''t want to sell it, it felt like a part of him now, but getting the medicine was more important. He struggled, then nodded. "I''ve decided, after the funeral I will go to the city and sell it. Even if I can''t find another use, I can still get some money from it."


    Today was the day of the funeral. He had to see the Elder later. It still felt unreal how Takuya died, but death was something common and inevitable. He took his things and the herbs he got from the forest.


    "Goodbye Grandma."


    "Remember." Grandma said. "Hold B to run, and press A to attack."


    Rayen nodded and left. As he was walking, the sound of footsteps came from his left. ''Footsteps? Takuya?'' Rayen looked back, but there was no one there. ''I must be imagining things.''


    He arrived at the store.


    "Hi, Rayen. I heard what happen. At least you came back safely."


    "It''s hard to believe. How could he die like that? He didn''t have any wounds."


    "The Rakuya Forest is too mysterious, you shouldn''t go to places like that. But since you already done it, did you find anything good there?"


    "Not really." He put the herbs on the table. "There are many I don''t see in the forest."


    The shopkeeper examined one by one. "Hmmm... Some of them are hard to get here, but they are all common. Sorry."


    "It''s okay."


    "I can give you 9 small crystals."


    Rayen nodded and bought some food and the medicine. The money wasn''t enough, so he had to use some of what he had saved. Instead of winning money, he had lost some.


    Rayen went back and prepared food for his grandma and himself.This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    "When I was your age, young man, I battled a dragon to death!" Grandma made up a story as they ate. "I remember it clearly, it flew toward me spewing fire. The crops were ruined. I couldn''t forgive him for that. So I went there. Everybody was like ''Nooo, escape'', but I didn''t escape. I valiantly fought and killed it. In the end, I lost an arm and was full of bruises, but you should have seen how the dragon ended. Hah! With my other hand I managed to take out its heart, then I took his big heart... and squished it! Thinking back, I should have ate it instead, but it looked disgusting."


    "You have both arms."


    "It must have grown back, like hair does."


    "Arms don''t grow back..."


    "I guess for some people they don''t, just like hair. Look at the shopkeeper, his hair doesn''t grow back anymore."


    Rayen went to see the Elder. He was outside looking at Takuya''s body with the doctor. She was an old woman who knew quite a bit about medicine. Not a real doctor, but the closest they had.


    "What happened to him?" Rayen asked.


    "His heart stopped." The doctor said. "He has no injuries. The time of death was yesterday at midday."


    "That was just as he left the forest."


    "I see." The Elder nodded and looked at the distance. "This is strange. He was young, healthy and he has no injuries."


    "It may be rare, but sudden deaths are things that happen. Even to young people. It''s not unheard of."


    "We must prepare the funeral then... Rayen." The Elder said.


    Rayen was distracted looking at his sides. He felt observed. There must be someone, but he couldn''t see anyone. "Yes?" He looked at the Elder.


    "Your duty is to get the black roses."


    "I know." He had done it many times before.


    Rayen went into the forest. Black roses grew almost everywhere, which, of course, included this forest. He didn''t like them, although they looked beautiful, they always had harsh feelings attached to them, and, more importantly, they couldn''t be used in potions, or at least he didn''t knew any potion that used them.


    The bushes rustled at his side. ''An animal?'' He took out his knife to fight. The forest didn''t usually have dangerous animals, but it was better to be cautious. The bushes rustled again. He paid close attention to them. A rabbit jumped out. Just when he exhaled, he heard a sword cutting through the air. He reflexibly jumped forward and looked behind him. He saw Takuya''s sword in front of him, cutting down his neck. Blood fell from his wound tainting his clothes red. He moved back. He was still alive. He had somehow managed to evade a fatal injury.


    "Takuya?" He looked above, but what he saw wasn''t Takuya, it was his mother, she had his sword in hand. Thankfully, Lena wasn''t as skilled as Takuya, or he will be dead. "Why?"


    "You did that to my child. The only thing I had left in this world. I cannot let you live any longer. You always went with him, right? Now you must go with him again, to the afterlife. If there is any." She swung the sword once again. Rayen moved to the side, managing to evade the attack. She kept swinging wildly, not leaving Rayen the chance to close in. Even if she wasn''t skilled, she had the advantage with the sword.


    ''I need to go back and tell the Elder.''


    "You think I will let you escape?" Lena ran after him. "There is no escape."


    Each step, his wound hurt more and more, and the blood loss increased. It became harder to breath. Rayen tried to run faster, only to trip on a root. He wouldn''t reach the village, not with her pursuing him. He may die here, but he wouldn''t die without a fight. He stood up.


    Rayen''s neck burned. He couldn''t stop the pain, but he knew better than to touch it. Lena screamed as she swung the sword with all her strength. Rayen stepped back. The sword missed completely. ''I can''t believe she has such strength. But her attacks are predictable.'' Rayen fixed his vision onto her, paying attention to her every movement. The world around him slowly disappeared. She attacked once again, but he evaded it once again.


    "Argh... Just die already!!" She shouted as she swung again, again, and again.


    Rayen danced around, evading all her attacks. The pain on his throat kept increasing every time he moved. It was hard for him to keep his eyes open. He couldn''t notice the details of her movements anymore. His vision had turned blurry.


    "This is the end." She raised the sword. Rayen quickly moved to the side. Even if he couldn''t see her clearly, her attacks were too slow. The sword passed by his side. Rayen thrust with his knife into her neck. The only way was to kill her in one attack. He put all his body into the attack. *Swish* The attack went to her neck... and failed. It passed near her neck, but barely touch her.


    "Annoying piece of filth." She kicked him on the stomach. He struck against a tree and fell to the ground. His knife flew away.


    *Cough cough* He coughed blood. All his body hurt. The blood kept falling from his neck.


    "Son... I will be going next, after I take revenge for you..." She raised her sword, a smile on her face.


    Rayen felt a breeze as the sword went down. He tried to move, but somehow, he couldn''t. "I guess this is the end..." He closed his eyes, accepting his fate. Hot blood splashed on his face... but no pain came.


    He opened his eyes once again. There she was, his grandma. Standing between him and Lena. Her body was cut down to her stomach. The ground was covered with blood, you could see her bones and organs protruding. The sword still in her body. Lena tried to take it out, but she couldn''t. It was stick in grandma.


    She headbutted Lena after each word. "Toby... wanted... a... HORSE!!!" She grabbed the hand that had the sword and kept headbutting her. "Give... him... a... horse!"


    "Wha... what''s wrong with you!" Lena was dumbfounded. She couldn''t believe what''s happening, no one would.


    Rayen used a tree as support to get up and looked at her. ''That wound is too big, how is she still fighting?'' "Grandma, are you okay?"


    "I''ve lived in pain for many, many years. This little injury is nothing. Fly Toby, I''m not going to let her take you to the mines. You will die down there. I''ve seen it." One by one, grandma''s nails broke as she held Lena with unnatural strength. She will not let her go for anything in the world.


    Rayen felt burst of energy inside him. He couldn''t let grandma die here. He took a big rock. "Grandma, leave. I will take care of it."


    "Stop singing and fly, Johnny. I will give you your favorite strawberries later on."


    "Wasn''t it Toby?..." Rayen went to her. She was still headbutting and started bitting. Lena struggled, but couldn''t escape. He hit her head with the rock, blood flew everywhere and she stopped moving. He hit her again and again until she fell to the ground. He then dropped the big rock on her face.


    "Grandma!!" He hugged her, she was trembling, then put her on his shoulders. "I''ll take you to the village. The doctor is there, she will save you."


    "Uh? Rayen? What are you doing here? What happened to Toby? Is he safe?"


    "Grandma... Yeah, he is safe."


    "Those damn miners..." *Cough cough* She coughed blood. "Uh? I can''t move my arm... What''s this? Blood? Ah, I see... I''m dying, heh."


    "It''s okay, Grandma. The doctor will save you."


    "Rayen... I made a promise a long time ago. *Cough cough* I want you to..."


    "Don''t talk anymore. You can tell me once you are fine."


    "No, listen to me. This is important! I promised Toby his favorite strawberries. I don''t think I will make it. Remember, you have to give them to him once you are back."


    "Gra... Grandma..."


    "Don''t think this is without a reward! If you do it, you can take my savings. They are below the floor of my bed. I was planning to keep them as college funds for my grandson, but alas, colleges don''t exist here."


    "Eh? What did you said?"


    "That you have to give Toby his strawberries! How could you forget it so quickly?" *Cough cough* Blood fell from her mouth. "I think I shouldn''t have entrusted something so important to you." She sighed. "Oh well, you are the only one I have here. The only one..." She closed her eyes and stopped moving. "Goodbye, Rayen." Rayen couldn''t feel her breathe anymore.


    "Grandma?" He put her on the ground and shook her. "Grandma!!!"

 Chapter 5: Funeral

    Rayen opened his eyes. "Grandma..." He looked around, he was in a strange room. It had potions on a table and different instruments on the walls. "The doctor''s house? Grandma!! Where is grandma?!" He screamed. He had something on his neck. It was some herbs and a liquid.


    "Don''t touch it." The doctor appeared.


    "Where is grandma?"


    "Your grandma is... dead."


    "What?"


    "Since you were taking so long, the Elder went to see what happened. When he found you, she was already dead. You were unconscious and her corpse was above you."


    "No..." Rayen tried to get up.


    "Stay still. It will be better if you rest and move as little as possible."


    "I want to see grandma."


    "You should rest."


    "Please..."


    "Let him come." The Elder said in another room.


    "Fine." The doctor sighed. "Come with me."


    There were two corpses on the ground. One was the disfigured Lena, the other was the corpse of grandma cut in half.


    "You killed Lena, right?"


    "She attacked me first. It was self-defense."


    "I see..." The Elder handed Rayen his knife. "Here is your knife."


    "Elder!" The doctor was startled.


    "It''s fine, he isn''t the type of person who will kill another for no reason."


    "..." Rayen took the knife. "All my efforts were... worthless."


    "Is that what you think? Are you going to give up?"


    "No matter what I do, all my family will still be dead."


    "Sigh... If you plan to be a mage, come talk to me tomorrow, after the funeral." He gave Rayen two books. "For now, think."


    Rayen took the two books, looked at his grandma one more time and went back to bed.


    Rayen sat on the bed and thought.


    ''All my efforts were worthless. They were worthless because I lacked the strength to make them true. Takuya was right. Without the strength to defeat our enemies, we will die. Because I lacked strength, grandma died. If I wasn''t that weak, I would''ve been able to help Takuya. He wouldn''t have died either. It''s all my fault. All happened because I lack of strength. I need strength. Strength to protect the people I value. Strength to protect myself.


    ''No, not strength. Strength is just part of it. I need power. Power isn''t only strength, it''s knowledge too. I also lack knowledge. I need the ability to change the lives of the people around me. If I had succeeded in the experiments during these two years, nothing bad would''ve happened. I thought I knew about plants, but do I? All the failed experiments. All the times I needed to get a rare herb... Did I need to get a rare herb? For what? A real alchemist wouldn''t rely on them. They are an asset, not a necessity. I made them a necessity due to my own lack of knowledge.


    ''I thought I could fight, I practiced everyday for years. But for what? In the end, Lena could beat me. I wasn''t strong enough to defeat her. It was all my fault. She wasn''t skilled, she wasn''t that strong. I deluded myself. I had my life on the line, and I closed my eyes, accepting my destiny. What destiny? I still could have fought. I shouldn''t have given up. I should have defied my destiny. It was all my fault.


    ''What do I really know? I don''t know anything. I am just a kid. A kid pretending to be an alchemist. A kid pretending to be a warrior. Just a weak kid from an old dying village. But not anymore. I won''t be a kid anymore. I don''t want to fail anymore. I don''t want to still be a failure. I need to change myself. It''s my responsibility to change. From now on I will be what I decide to be. I will get to the top. I will get the power I need. I will get the power to defy destiny. That''s what mages are. People who can defy destiny. People who aren''t bound by the rules of the world. People who are truly powerful. That''s what I will be.


    ''It will take long, it will take many, many years, but it doesn''t matter. It doesn''t matter how many decades I need. What matters is that I will get there. Step by step. Nothing will stop me. I will get the power to change the world. I will be a great mage. The strongest mage.


    ''I understand Takuya now. I now know what my path to power is. At least I think I know. What do I know after all? Only after achieving it can I say that I do. Only after that. There is no coming back. There is only forward.


    ''I can''t just rest here. I shouldn''t exercise for now, but I can gain knowledge.'' Rayen looked at the books and started reading them.


    He spent the rest of the day reading. The next day, the doctor checked him, his wounds had closed up and he was a lot better. After eating, they went to the village''s cemetery.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.


    There were thousands of wood tablets, many of whom were so old you couldn''t read the names written anymore. They were people long forgotten, from the time when the village was thriving.


    All the villagers were reunited in the middle, there weren''t that many, less than two dozen people. Rayen haven''t seen many of them in years, but he recognized them all.


    "Hello." Rayen said to all of them.


    "Hi, Rayen." Some said. Others just grumbled. They weren''t happy that Rayen had killed Lena, but since it was in self-defense, they couldn''t say anything. They also suspected Rayen of killing Takuya, even if the Elder said otherwise. But all they could do was that, grumble.


    The Elder and the gravekeeper were in the middle, near the newly dug graves. There were three simply made wooden coffins on the ground. Rayen went with them. The Elder gave him two black roses. The Elder kept another one. It was going to be Lena who sent off Takuya, but now it was Rayen''s duty. He was the closest person to him. It wouldn''t be fit for him to send off Lena, since he killed her, so the Elder would do it himself.


    "We are here to offer our last farewell to..." The Elder spoke the customary words.


    Rayen didn''t paid attention to them. They didn''t matter, he had heard them thousands of times. They were just empty words. He looked at the graves nearby. ''Mom... Dad... Sis... Grandpa... Now Grandma will join you. In the end, I couldn''t save her.'' Rayen stepped ahead, it was his turn to say some words. First, for his grandma. "Grandma. I couldn''t save you, but I will keep my promise. Thanks for all the things you did for me." He dropped a black rose into the grave with her name.


    He walked to Takuya''s grave. "I''m sorry, it was my fault. If I hadn''t taken you into the forest, you will alive today. If I had found a way to awaken you, you wouldn''t have died. I hope you will forgive me." He dropped another rose..


    "Death comes for everyone," the Elder said. "This time, it came for three people of our village. Those who enjoy the privilege of being alive, must pay it with their lives. It''s an inescapable destiny." The Elder threw a black rose to Lena. He looked at Rayen. "Lena may have committed errors, Rayen, but it''s pointless to hold a grudge with the dead."


    Rayen nodded. "I know. I don''t hold any grudges with her."


    "Good."


    The rest of the villagers came and offered their last words to the deceased. The gravekeeper filled the holes with ground. Rayen cried for the first time since the dead of his parents.


    After the funeral, people''s lives continued like normal. Rayen spent half an hour looking at the graves, then he went to see the shopkeeper.


    "Hello, Rayen."


    "Hi... Do you have strawberries?"


    "Well... I do. But are you sure? They don''t grow here, so they are rather expensive."


    "Yes, it''s fine."


    "Here." The shopkeeper put two on the table. "10 crystals."


    "I will pay the full price." He put 16 small crystals, took the strawberries and left. "Goodbye. This may be the last time I see you, I''m going to become a mage now."


    The shopkeeper sighed. "Goodbye."


    Rayen went back to the cemetery. It was empty now. He put the two strawberries on his grandma''s grave. "I''m sorry grandma. Toby doesn''t exist, so this is all I can do." He took two sticks and put them on Takuya''s grave. "We couldn''t fight again. I would have beat you anyway." He looked at Lena''s grave. "..." Then he went home.


    His home was silent. Empty. He imagined his parents, his sister, his grandpa and grandma. Everyone was happy one time, the time when he was a little kid. Time passed, one by one they disappeared. They all died. Leaving him here. All alone.


    He walked around the house one last time. Today was the last day he will be here. He still remembered when the house was in perfect condition. Now everything was dilapidated. Ever since his parents died, no one took care of repairing it. His grandma couldn''t do it, and he was too young and concerned with getting money for food and medicine. He suspired as he walked to his grandma''s bed. He remembered her last words. They may be a delusion, but they may also be true. He moved the bed. Below the bed was one of the many holes that filled the floor. He looked at it. The small space between the floor and the ground hid a small glass jar. He took it out.


    "A glass jar, so the rats don''t eat what''s inside, uh. Grandma used to do that..." Inside the jar were many crystals, they were bigger than what Rayen was used to. Some of them were smaller, but emitted a golden light. "That''s... A full crystal!" A crystal was worth a thousand small ones. There were eleven of them. The bigger green crystals were worth fifty or a hundred small ones depending on their size. Rayen never saw such a big fortune before. With this amount of money, he would have had enough to buy the medicine many times over. "If you had that much money, why didn''t you told me before? I could have saved you..."


    ''I saved them for my grandson.'' She had said it before.


    "She... saved it for me. Instead of using it to live a few years longer without any problems, she wanted to give it to me..." He had a sad smile. "Thanks, grandma."


    Rayen looked at his clothes. The ones he had were torn apart, too old or covered in blood. None of them fit for his new life as a great mage. "I need to buy more clothes." For the first time in his life, he wasn''t lacking in money. But he knew that the money wouldn''t last if he spent it lavishly. "Only one set." He nodded. "Well, maybe two..."


    He went to the Elder''s hut. The Elder had told him to come.


    "Enter," the Elder said as he got close. "Are you feeling well?"


    "Yes. I''m okay now. I plan to leave now."


    "I understand, there is no time left. Remember that you will always have a place in the village. If you fail the test, you can come back."


    "I won''t. If I fail, I plan to travel around the world." Rayen took out the books and gave them to the Elder.


    The Elder took them and nodded. "I will buy your house for 600 small crystals, that should be enough to enter a good academy."


    "Is it okay?" Rayen knew that the house wasn''t even worth 200 small crystals, much less 600.


    "Yeah, don''t worry. When I was a kid I also took the same resolution as you. I planned to become a mage or travel if I failed. I only have a magic capability of 2, so no one accepted me. I adventured around the world, risking my life, discovering many treasures and learning some magic. After over a hundred years, I came back home, to learn under the old Elder and become an Elder myself. Now, many decades later, I have little left from those days. Many people left, and I''m afraid none will ever come back. You don''t need to come back either. The village is dying, once the Dokenra completely withers, beasts will invade us and kill us. There are only old people here, we have no hope. Most people won''t leave, we will fight until the end.


    "But you are different. You are the village''s last youth. You don''t need to look back. Carry the village''s hopes with you and achieve great things, that''s all we can hope for."


    "Elder..."


    "Take this as well." The Elder pulled out a dagger with an undulating blade from a strange chest and gave it to Rayen. The hilt was made from a metal alloy Rayen never saw before, it felt comfortably warm. It was decorated with strange patterns and four weird creatures. The Elder also took out a sheath which had similar patterns. "Aside from the books, this is the last treasure I have. It was given to me by the past Elder. Now I give it to you. Use it well."


    "Thanks, Elder. I will." Rayen put the dagger on the sheath.


    "Goodbye, Rayen."


    "Goodbye..." Rayen left.


    He walked around the village one last time, trying to remember it. The village may die, but it will live forever in his memories.

 Chapter 6: New Beginning

    "I''m finally here." After walking for over an hour, he had arrived. "My new beginning starts here. I will get the power to not let destiny decide for me anymore." Rayen looked at the city of Reius. It was a walled city, with walls that reached 5 meters of height. The ground and lower half of the walls were covered with large spikes. On top of the walls, there was a metal roof, with slit windows that allowed the mages and archers to fire. The idea was that the beasts will have trouble closing in because of the spikes, during that time, the mages will bombard them with powerful spells, while being protected from flying beasts by the metal roof. Of course, if a powerful enough beast came, it wouldn''t be that useful, but you didn''t see those often. The fact that the city was still standing after many beast attacks, wars and invasions was proof of how powerful it was.


    Rayen walked the path where there were no spikes. It led to a huge door. It was open, like always during day. Since he didn''t live there, he had to give the guards one small crystal to pass. There was another huge door, just like this one, at the other side of the city. Normal beasts weren''t intelligent enough to attack both at the same time, so if worse came to happen, they could always escape.


    The mage initiation test was at the main plaza, but he first went to the shopping area. There was a shop with many elegant clothes. He came many times before and looked from the outside. Always thinking that some day, he will buy clothes from here. Now was the day.


    Rayen went into the clothes shop. He looked at one, then the next. Their prices were between 100 and 300 small crystals.


    A blue haired woman approached him, looking at him with disgust. "We don''t accept beggars here, kid."


    "I''m not a beggar. I came to buy clothes."


    "Really? Where are you parents?"


    "... Dead."


    The woman sighed. "This isn''t charity, kid. The clothes are expensive."


    "I have the money..."


    The woman made a signal. "Show it."


    Rayen took out six crystals worth fifty small crystals each.


    "Who did you steal it from?"


    "No one. They''re mine."


    Two city guards appeared at the entrance and looked at Rayen.


    "This guy is a thief," the woman said. "There is no way a beggar kid can have that much money on him otherwise."


    "I didn''t steal anything."


    "You will have to come with us..."


    Rayen stepped back. ''I should go with them and solve it... No, I have to change. I cannot let destiny decide. If I go with them, I may miss the last day of the test. I won''t let them. I can''t let anyone get in my way. I have to escape.'' Rayen touched the hilt of the dagger hidden in his clothes.


    "He is telling the truth." A tall old man with silver hair appeared. He had an uniform of the Astradid kingdom with a silver and red claw badge.


    ''The Claw attacks, the Shell protects, the Light sees, the Darkness kills.'' Claw, one of the four organizations of the Astradid kingdom, was in control of the kingdom''s army. It always attacked openly. Its members were the only ones who always showed their badges. It was their pride to have their badges on. Shell sometimes showed them as well. While Darkness and Light never showed them to anyone.


    "Do you have a report of a kid stealing?"


    "There is a thief kid, but..." One guard said.


    The other guard completed the phrase. "The descriptions don''t match and he stole an item, not money."


    "See, it''s not him. Come with me, kid." The old man said.


    Rayen went with him, he had just saved him, so he trusted him.


    "Are you retarded?" He slapped him on the back of his head. "If you took out the dagger, your head will be flying one second later."


    "If I went with them, I wouldn''t been able to get into the mage initiation test on time."


    "If you are dead you can''t go either."


    "I may not be able to defeat them, but I can escape."


    "If you escaped, do you think they will let you take the test with all the guards behind you?"


    "I... I wasn''t thinking that far ahead."


    "You really are retarded. Anyway, that store is no good. You want to be a mage, right?"


    "Are you retarded? What other reason could I have to go to the mage initiation test?"


    He slapped him again. "If you want to be a mage, then buy mage clothes, not clothes for nobles. They look nice, but are useless. Understand?"


    "Yes." Rayen nodded.


    "Do you know what mage clothes are?"


    "... No."


    The old man put his hand on his face. "Here we are."


    They stopped in front of a shop that was falling apart. Its sign was broken, it read ''Smiling Turtle''. There was a broken statue of a tortoise on the ground.


    "That''s a tortoise, not a turtle." Rayen said.


    The old man slapped him again. "This is the only good store in all the city."


    "It looks like home... Uh? There''s even a corpse here."


    The old man kicked the corpse. "Hey, wake up."


    The corpse got up. "What do you want?"


    "I''ve brought you a client."


    "Waah. The corpse talked."You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    "I''m not yet a corpse." He cracked his neck. "A claw? The client you bring me is a beggar?"


    "I''m not a beggar."


    "Okay, okay. And? What do you want?"


    "Mage clothes."


    The guy observed Rayen for a few seconds and took out a set of clothes from a bag. They looked like ordinary clothes. "This one is 500 small crystals. It''s the only one I have at your size."


    "What? That''s a scam."


    "Scam? It''s a bargain. It''s only at that price because it''s used."


    "If it''s so good, why did the previous owner sold it?"


    "He didn''t sold it. He thought he could fight a darazy alone. Hahaha."


    "What''s a darazy?"


    "You don''t know the name of beasts?"


    "Some." Very few of the Elder''s books had descriptions of beasts, much less their names.


    "I have this bestiary. 200 small crystals. And this map of the kingdom. 100 small crystals." The guy took out a book and a map.


    "What about 600 crystals for all three?"


    "No."


    "700?"


    "If you aren''t going to buy anything, leave."


    "Fine..." Rayen took out a golden crystal.


    "Thanks." He smiled as he took it and gave him his change. "Now leave. I''m busy." He threw himself on the floor.


    "What makes these clothes so special?" They looked common to Rayen.


    "They have a small cut resistance and they''re easy to clean."


    "So it was a scam."


    "You don''t know anything kid. Easy to clean is by far the most important property on clothing."


    "How so?"


    "If the clothes you have right now were easy to clean, you could clean all that blood in a second and wouldn''t need to buy a new one."


    "That makes sense, but they look bad. The other shop had much better clothes."


    "How stupid can you get... If you wear something fancy, you are asking to be robbed. And kid, remember to always reject lower academies. No matter what they offer you."


    "I know. I''m not an idiot."


    "Whatever you say, mister ICanEscapeFromAllTheGuardsOnTheCity. I have things to do. Goodbye and good luck." He left.


    "I''m not dumb." Rayen said while alone. "The Elder told me I was the most intelligent kid on the village... Well, it was only Takuya and me."


    There was a big tent with a magic symbol drawn on it in the middle of the plaza.


    "Everything will be decided here..." Rayen entered.


    A dozen academy professors were waiting for the results. Some more eager than others. The ground had hundreds of strange symbols forming a magic formation. Rayen was fascinated by them and tried to memorize as many of them as possible.


    "Hello boy. Arriving at the last minute, eh?"


    "Sorry."


    "Are you twelve?"


    "Yes."


    "Step on the circle."


    *Pzzt* Once he put a step in, a green light shined from the formation and covered his body. Rayen felt some energy flowing inside his veins, but those weren''t his veins, and that wasn''t his power. He could feel an energy on the air. He closed his eyes and tried to remember the feeling.


    "Magic capability... six." The mage said.


    Rayen smiled. A six wasn''t that bad. He could get into a good academy. Ten would''ve been ideal. In the legends people got eleven and sometimes even twelve, but realistically, ten was the highest.


    Once they heard the results, seven of the academy professors got up. Five of them were really desperate, while two were calm.


    "Son, come join us, Three Skeletons Academy, the fee is only 200 small crystals."


    "No, no, join us! The Dark Cat Academy, only 100 per month, and 50 for the inscription."


    The two calmer ones spoke first.


    "I... My academy''s fee is only 20 small crystals!"


    "Don''t listen to them! I will give you a special offer, just 10 crystals, come come."


    "No no, join us. It''s... free. Yes, free."


    "I-If you join us... Not only it will be free, I will give you a hat!"


    "I will give you two hats!" Another one tried to up him.


    "Tsk. Fine, I''ve decided. I will make you the academy''s director personal disciple!"


    "Three hats. I will give you three hats!"


    Clearly, those five were from lower academies. Such offers were too weird and suspicious. They didn''t even want to say the name of their academies.


    "I will join the Dark Cat Academy." Rayen moved closer to the Dark Cat representative. Three Skeletons sounded too creepy.


    "Wait... Five hats then!!!"


    "Come." The professor smiled and put an emblem of a black cat on Rayen''s chest.


    "Seven hats!!!"


    After receiving the money and filling a form, the professor took Rayen to the third floor of a big inn. There were a lot of people there, all of them from the many academies that were recruiting. He looked around and saw a group with the cat emblem. They were three girls and two guys.


    "Come." The professor went to the group. Everyone was doing their own thing and not paying attention. He snapped his fingers. Rayen and all those with the cat emblem instantly turned to look at him. It was strange, as if they must do it. Yet, it only affected those with the cat emblem, and not the others around. "He is the last member. He will share the room with Yune."


    "Hi, nice to meet you." A little girl with glasses said.


    "Tsk." Another girl touched her. "I will change rooms with you. I cannot let you be alone with a guy." She looked at Rayen as if she wanted to skin him alive.


    ''Hey, I didn''t choose this either.'' Rayen thought.


    Electricity run through her hand. "Ahhh!" She quickly removed it.


    "You cannot change rooms without my permission, and no, I won''t give you my permission. Next time you want something, talk to me first." The professor said and left.


    "You, what''s your name?" She glared at Rayen.


    "I''m Rayen. I come from..."


    "It doesn''t matter where you come from. I''m Saya and I will remember your name. Don''t you dare do anything to Yune. Do you hear me?" She kept glaring at Rayen while she took the third girl from her clothes and dragged her to their room.


    "Hiiii, I''m Kris." The girl waved while being dragged. "See you later." Saya threw her inside and shut the door.


    "Name Stone." A muscular guy that must be 18 years old said.


    ''I thought only 12 years old were allowed. He must be an awakened.''


    "Your celestial eyes illuminate my harsh path." A blond guy with obviously expensive clothes said. He was the last one of the group. "The privilege of viewing your outworldly face is the whole reason for which I breathe and feed myself each day."


    "Uh... Thanks?"


    "I wasn''t talking to you, you filthy beast." He jealously glared at Rayen and got in the middle of him and Yune. "It''s such a terrible, dreadful thing that destiny didn''t allow us to sleep close to one another, but I''m sure our fate will adjust at how it has to be once we reach the academy."


    ''Using elegant clothes... Tsk, tsk, tsk. You must be retarded. Hum.'' Rayen nodded.


    "Time sleep." Stone said as he entered his room.


    "I need to retire myself, my princess. I can''t wait for tomorrow to bathe upon the light of your presence once again. I will contemplate your glorious existence in my dreams. But dreams are just illusions that will never match your unparalleled beauty." He smiled and winked. Then he went behind Stone.


    "He''s Vesh," Yune said. "Just ignore him." They went to their room.


    "Please, forgive Saya," Yune said. "She was just trying to protect me, I''m sure she meant no harm."


    "Don''t worry, she didn''t do anything bad." ''At least not yet...'' "But shouldn''t she worry more about that guy? Vesh?"


    "Uh? Why?"


    ''Didn''t she notice?'' "Eh... Nothing, just saying."


    "Hehehe. You are weird."


    ''How am I weird?!'' "Where do you know Saya from?"


    "We are from the same village. She was always like an older sister to me."


    "Aren''t you two the same age?" After seeing Stone, Rayen didn''t knew anymore.


    "I''m actually one month older than her, but that doesn''t matter, she is my older sis." She nodded.


    ''And then I''m the weird one...'' Rayen sat crosslegged and closed his eyes. He tried to feel the energy around him, just like when the test happened.


    Yune interrupted him. "Uh? What are you doing, Ray?"


    ''It seems I got a new nickname.'' "I''m trying to feel the mana, just like I felt during the testing."


    She looked baffled at Rayen, then laughed. "Hahaha. Little Ray, your breathing is all wrong, and what is with that weird posture. You are really weird."


    ''Now I''m little Ray?'' "What''s weird about it? I''m just trying to remember it."


    "Didn''t you learn all this at home?"


    "No. The Elder knows some magic, but he never taught me. He said it was dangerous and I should let the academy teach me."


    "Oh, I see. It''s true that you should never practice until you are at age, but you can still learn what to do and you are already at age anyway. Let me teach you." She took out a tablet with some strange carving on it. "Visualize this. Keep it in your mind. Then put your fingers like this and match your breathing with the mana around you." She put two fingers on her head and three on her stomach. She inhaled and exhaled with her eyes closed. "Got it?"


    Rayen sat at her side and tried to imitate her, but he had no idea what matching his breathing meant.


    She shook her head. "Well, it''s okay for a weird guy, I guess..."


    "It''s my first time." Rayen felt observed. He looked toward the window and saw Saya hanging outside, glaring at him. She was moving her lips, but no sound could be heard. She seemed to be saying "Get away from her or I will kill you".


    Making sure Yune didn''t notice, he quickly closed the curtains. ''If she sees her, she may even tell her to come in... Wait, wasn''t this the third floor? That girl is crazy...''


    "Uh? Why are you closing the curtains?"


    "Oh, there was too much... moonlight and it wasn''t going to let us sleep."


    "It''s too soon to sleep anyway."


    *Bam bam* Saya hit the window.


    "What''s that?"


    "It must be a bird."


    *Bam bam* She kept punching it.


    "A very annoying bird..."

 Chapter 7: Reaching the Academy

    *Knock knock knock* The professor opened the door. "Wake up, it''s time to leave."


    "Ugghh." Rayen said.


    "We will leave in 20 minutes. If you aren''t fast, you won''t eat." The professor left.


    The door opened once again. Saya jumped to hug Yune. "Yune!! Did that guy do something to you?!"


    "Old sis, he... he..." She cried.


    "You monster!" Saya glared at Rayen. "What did you do to such a poor defenseless girl?"


    "He didn''t do anything!" Yune kicked her. "I can take care of myself."


    "But."


    "Let''s go to eat." Yune got up.


    "My beloved." Vesh was outside kneeling in front of Yune with some flowers. "I brought you these flowers. They may be pretty, but their beauty cannot compare with yours."


    Yune kept walking without even looking at him. Followed by Saya, who glared one last time at Rayen.


    "Those flowers are poisonous." Rayen said.


    "Tsk. You don''t know anything."


    "Look at your hands..."


    "Waaah" He dropped all of them. His hands were full of rashes.


    "Sigh..." Rayen shook his head and went downstairs.


    "Guess who am I~" Kris covered his eyes.


    Rayen almost fell out of the stairs. "Don''t do that when I''m going down the stairs."


    "Tsk tsk tsk. Wrong answer. I''m I! Whoa, that was enlightening. Myself is myself. All my things are mine."


    "Hello." Stone said.


    "Good morning."


    When they arrived at the dining room, Yune and Saya were already eating. The food was a bread filled with some kind of paste and goat milk. Rayen saw that bread before in the city, but he never tried it. He felt somewhat uncomfortable. He hadn''t eat food with people other than his grandma or Takuya since many, many years. He looked at them to make sure he didn''t do anything inappropriate.


    There was some people from the other academies, but most of them weren''t there, they were still sleeping. It was too early in the morning. The professor was eating with someone Rayen never saw before. He also had a cat emblem and was around 16 years old. There were two bright spheres rotating around him.


    Vesh was having trouble holding the food.


    "What''s your favorite food?" Kris asked. "Mine is dessert."


    "I never ate a dessert."


    "How cruel it will be to live in a world without dessert. I feel sorry for you."


    Rayen bit the bread, it filled his mouth with a refreshing sweet taste. He also drunk the goat milk, but he didn''t like it.


    "Nothing beats the taste of my precious Yune''s lips." Vesh threw his hair back.


    "Me duck." Stone said.


    "I want to join." Yune said. "Mine is watermelon."


    "The best one has to be sirloin." Saya said.


    "I never tasted any of it..." Rayen looked down at his food. He only ate stew, salad, rabbit and rarely a boar. He didn''t knew all the foods they were talking about.


    "Of course, how could someone like you taste my beloved''s lips? Hah! Ridiculous."


    "You never tasted them either."


    "But I will, someday..."


    "Not a chance." Yune said.


    "It''s time to go." The professor said.


    The professor took the group outside. There was a black carriage with a cat symbol on it, it was drawn by two powerful horses. It was the carriage that will take them to the academy. The guy that ate with him went to the driver seat.


    "Raise your hand and say ''I swear for my life to protect Dark Cat Academy and its secrets.'' It''s a temporary oath, once we get to the academy we will make a permanent one." He raised his hand and a green light covered the group.


    "I swear for my life to protect Dark Cat Academy and its secrets." They all said. The green light fused with them. If they were to break the oath, the light would harm them.


    "Now enter." He went into the carriage.


    "Girls this side, guys that one." Saya said.


    Stone occupied half of the guys side while the girls hardly took any space. The carriage left the city.


    Saya stared at Rayen. "Don''t you dare cross."


    Vesh tried to cross, but Stone took him by the neck and dragged him back.


    "We will start by learning how to absorb mana. Mana exists everywhere, but it''s ownerless mana. It''s hard to use it in that form. What you have to do is convert it. Make it your own. But you guys can''t do it since you lack a foundation. You will get one once you reach the academy. For now familiarize yourselves with the absorption process.


    "First, you must inhale as much air as possible." He inhaled. "Then, you try to circulate it around your body before you exhale it." He exhaled.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.


    Rayen inhaled, while holding the air inside of him, he imagined the energy from the other day, then exhaled. It was a lot easier than the one Yune taught him. He looked at her. Her face went red and she looked at the side.


    Saya''s fury intensified. "What are you looking at?"


    Vesh stood in front of Rayen. "Have you done anything to my princess?!"


    "Your... princess?" Rayen looked at Yune.


    She shrugged. "He was like that ever since I met him two days ago."


    "It doesn''t matter, in my heart you are my princess." He proudly announced.


    Saya glared at Rayen. ''Why me?'' Rayen thought. ''I haven''t done anything. It''s that guy who is saying those things...''


    "Leave your love quarrel for later."


    "Uh? What''s that?" Rayen stood up. There was a black muck on the middle of the route. It was alive, moving.


    "A monster. An onyx slime. Watch carefully." The professor jumped down.


    The onyx slime attacked, but it was too slow. The professor could easily evade it. He put his hand into the slime and took out a core. The slime extended itself to take it back, but it didn''t matter how much it extended, it couldn''t reach him. "The core is weak once its outside the slime." The professor crushed the core and the slime dissolved. "See? Now come here. It''s your turn."


    "There are no slimes there." Vesh said.


    He snapped his fingers and a dozen jumped at him. "They are never alone." He stepped back and forward. None of them were able to hit him. "You should at least be able to defeat one of them. Their strength lies on their numbers." He waved his hand. A wind picked up two and carried them in front of Stone and Vesh.


    Stone slapped the slime, but he couldn''t get the core. He tried again and again, and nothing happened.


    "Hahahaha. Let me show you how it''s done." Vesh stuck his hand inside it. He took out the core, but his arm was covered with muck. "See? Now I crush it." He grasped the core, but it didn''t shatter. The slime attacked him, cutting him and filling his clothes with ooze. He pressed the core with both hands. It still didn''t shatter. The slime bit him and crawled into his body in search for the core. Vesh threw the core to the ground and jumped on it. The slime kept attacking him. Vesh jumped again and again until it finally broke. The slime attacks stopped and it dissolved. Vesh body was full of muck and cuts. He tried to clean himself, but the muck was sticky and he couldn''t get it out.


    Stone moved to the side and took a rock from the path. He raised it with one hand and slammed it into the slime. The slime exploded and the muck flew to Vesh''s face. "Easy." Stone went back to the carriage.


    Vesh stared at Stone, but there was nothing he could say. He was still trying to remove the muck, without sucess.


    The professor nodded. The slimes were trying to attack him, but none could hit. Two more slimes flew, one to Yune, the other to Saya.


    Yune gracefully stuck her hand in the slime, took out the core, and shattered it. It was like watching the professor do it once again. A perfect execution.


    Saya glared at Rayen. She kicked the slime in his direction. The slime flew and collided with him. He didn''t expect that. His clothes were full of muck.


    "Sorry." She said, not meaning it.


    "Tsk tsk." He shook his head. "You can''t even defeat a simple slime." He passed his sleeve into the muck and it all fell to the ground. His clothes were as good as new.


    "H-how?" Saya and Vesh were perplexed.


    "Easy to clean clothes."


    Yune chuckled. Saya frowned and killed the slime.


    "Last two." The professor said.


    Rayen took out the dagger the Elder gave him. He stood ready to attack, waiting for the right moment. Time slowed down. It was hard to see the core. It was black, like the slime. ''There.'' He slashed the slime while it was falling. *Crack* The core broke. The slime dissolved before it could even touch the ground. Rayen sheathed the dagger.


    "Oooh. That was quite good." The driver said.


    "Well done." The professor nodded.


    "With a knife is cheating." Vesh said.


    "Hehe, that''s my little Ray." Yune thumbed up. Saya just glared at him.


    The last slime fell in front of Kris. She crouched and patted it on the head. "Give me your hand!" The slime formed an arm and extended it into Kris hand. "Good boy." She patted him again. The slime moved from side to side. "Can I keep it?"


    "No." The professor said.


    "I''m sorry." Kris said. The slime partly dissolved. She took a stick and threw it away. "Go... *sniff sniff* go fetch it." The slime slowly left in that direction. It turned around to see Kris one last time, before it kept going.


    "It''s time to leave." The professor stopped evading and all the slimes that were attacking him dissolved.


    They went back to the carriage. There was still a long way to go. Kris sang while the rest practiced absorbing mana. Hours passed, mountains passed, forests passed. Many more beasts attacked, but they all became lessons for the professor. He explained how to kill them and their weaknesses. Once the sun was setting, a big castle could be seen on the distance. In front of it, a giant statue was erected. It was a huge black cat with its paws reaching for the sun. It was what gave the name to the academy. The Dark Cat.


    "Whoa." Rayen never saw anything that majestic.


    "We finally arrived." The driver said.


    "Something strange is going on." The professor and driver''s faces changed. They looked at each other with a somber expression. "Run."


    The carriage turned around as fast as it could. The two spheres that were always near the driver went into the horses, becoming one with them. "Faster!" The horses moved faster and faster.


    Rayen saw two people running to them. They were even faster than the horses. On the distance there was another person walking toward them.


    "Where do you think you are going, little kittens? Come here to play." One of the two said. Both of them moved their hands. A red ball of mana was created in front of each of them and whistled through the air toward the carriage. The professor made a quick defense barrier. But the two mana balls became claws and changed their directions, they evaded the carriage and collided with the horses. *Boooom boooom* Chunks of horse meat flew in all directions. The horses became a pool of blood and viscera on the ground.


    The carriage shook by the explosion. "Aaaahh" The people inside screamed.


    "Heh heh heh. You cannot leave." The two guys were now close. One was a skinny and creepy guy, the other one was muscular and deadpan. They both wore black clothes and had a red symbol on their foreheads.


    "Run away!!" The professor jumped out of the carriage and went to fight the two of them. He waved his hand and a staff appeared. It was a white staff, quite impressive looking, it was somewhat big, but he could hold it with one hand.


    "Tsk." The driver had no other option. He went after the professor. He joined his hands together. A small ray of mana circled around them, it became bigger and faster every time it spun. Finally, it changed form and became a sphere. The sphere fired a barrage of small mana bullets. They were weak by themselves, but the barrage was never-ending.


    Rayen and the others ran away as fast as they could, but they couldn''t prevent their curiosity, so they looked back as they ran.


    The professor''s staff shone. He waved it and a torrent of mana ran through the air. The torrent changed to the form of an ethereal blue dragon and attacked the pair. The two of them jumped back. They cast all sorts of defensive spells, barriers appeared, the ground raised, the wind formed a shield, but all of them were destroyed by the dragon as soon as they appeared.


    "Where is the director?!" The professor said.


    "Dead, like the other professors and guardians."


    "You will pay for this." The dragon flew high into the sky and circled around. More and more mana flew out of the professor and fused with the dragon. Instead of becoming bigger, the dragon was thinner each time mana fused with it, but also faster, much faster. "Die!" The professor slammed the staff on the ground.


    *Roooooooar* The whole land trembled at the dragon''s furious roar. It moved fast to the ground, ready to destroy everything.


    "Calm." A voice echoed through the battlefield. The voice stopped all magic. The dragon trembled and dissolved into mana before it could touch the ground. The voice came from the guy who was walking. He had a black uniform, much more elegant than the clothes the other two had. The symbol on his forehead was white, instead of red, and it was bigger and much more complex.


    "That''s..."


    "If I can defeat the director, how could I have trouble with you?"


    The professor trembled and stepped back.


    "Disappear." The man said. The air around the professor distorted. A void appeared where he was standing. The professor was swallowed by the void. Once the void closed, only the staff was left. He looked at the driver. "Disintegrate." The driver laughed, he had no way of defeating this, this was too absurd. His body became dust. The dust became even finer dust until there wasn''t even dust. He had disintegrated. The man looked at Rayen and the other students. "They didn''t form an oath yet, bring them." He turned around and slowly walked to the castle.


    Rayen and the rest fell to the ground. The muscular man took the staff.


    "Hi, little kitties." The skinny guy approached the group. "Don''t worry, I won''t harm you. That''s his job." He pointed at the muscular guy. "Come with me. We have some uses for you."

 Chapter 8: Red Demon

    The muscular and the skinny guy led them to the castle. The castle was desolate. All the crystal, gold and silver decorations had been taken. The statues, vases and paintings were destroyed or stolen. The only thing left behind were destruction, blood and corpses. They entered the inner ward. A red magic formation on the center illuminated everything. There were over two hundred students with cat emblems sitting on the debris around the blood and organs of those who should''ve been their seniors and professors. Dozens of black clothed guards were around them. There were some who had red symbols on their foreheads while a couple of them had complex white symbols. A very small number of students were on a separate group. They weren''t as guarded nor as sad as the rest.


    The stench was terrible, Rayen had to cover his nose to resist it a bit. He looked around, human parts covered the ground, the walls and towers were all broken. ''How bloody has the battle been.'' He saw two rakuyas with the cat emblem. They were alone, separated from the rest of the prisoners. ''Rakuyas!'' He lived all his live near rakuyas, yet this was the first time seeing one alive.


    There was noise inside the great hall. There was a party going on. Shouts and laughter could be heard. Their enjoyment was a stark contrast with the despair that existed here. Rayen couldn''t see much. He only saw a few of them drinking and looting corpses.


    Kris approached the two guys. "What will happen to my cat?"


    "Eh?" the skinny guy said. "What cat?"


    "The professor was going to give me a cat, but he is now dead."


    "You won''t get any then."


    "No way. I want a cat! I was promised one."


    "If you don''t stop, you will only get hurt." The muscular guy said.


    Kris went back with the group.


    "A cat?" Rayen asked.


    "I always wanted a pet, but my parents never let me have any..."


    "We brought you more kittens," the skinny guy said. "I think this is the last group."


    "Good," a mage sitting near the magic formation said. He had a red symbol on his forehead. "Any of you, enter the formation."


    Saya looked at Yune. She couldn''t let anything happen to her. The magic formation could be anything. Only someone skilled at magic formations would be able to tell, and she clearly wasn''t. If something bad happened, it was better if it happened to her and not to Yune. She stepped into the formation and closed her eyes.


    The formation shone and red lightnings surrounded her. The mage nearby observed it in detail. "Seven. Not enough. Go there." He pointed to the big group. "Next one."


    Seeing that it was safe, Vesh went into the formation. The quicker he did it, the safer it would be. The formation shone once again.


    "Six. Go."


    Vesh knew his capability, so he wasn''t surprised.


    Stone went ahead.


    "Oh, a gruen, first gruen here."


    "What''s a gruen?" Rayen never heard that word before.


    "Uh?" Yune looked confused at Rayen. "You didn''t know? Stone is a gruen."


    "That doesn''t tell me what a gruen is..."


    "A gruen is a race. They''re similar to humans, but twice as big and more muscular."


    "And they love rocks." Kris said.


    "Hum hum." Rayen nodded. "I see."


    "Eight," the mage said. "Quite good, but not enough."


    Stone went with Saya and Vesh.


    "Next."


    "They must be looking for a nine." Yune said.


    "I''m not a nine," Kris said. "And I don''t want to go. I don''t like them. They don''t want to give me my kitty."


    "I will go." Yune stepped ahead. The formation shone again.


    "Seven. Next one."


    Rayen looked at Kris, who still refused to go. He went into the formation. He felt the power entering inside of him. It was different from the one he felt on Reius. It was more invasive and dangerous. He tried to memorize it as well.


    "Six. Go with the others. Cat girl, come."


    "I don''t want to. Not unless you give me a cat."


    "You..." He got up.


    "Fine." She walked there. The light shone much more brightly than with the others and there were more lightnings than before.


    "This..." All the other mages were astonished and went closer.


    "T-ten." He said.


    "Why would a ten come to this academy?" Another red symbol mage said. "With a ten you could get into a much better academy!"


    "They offered me a cat, so of course I will come. Unlike you, who don''t want to give it to me. Hmph." Kris went with Rayen and the others, since she wasn''t a nine.


    "Wouldn''t the other academies offer you a cat as well?" Vesh asked.


    "They did, but they didn''t have cat on their name. So they may be lying to me. And the professor said that the founder had a pet cat as well. That''s were the name comes from. But this is unfair. Now I won''t get a cat."Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.


    "Don''t go there. You have to go there." The mage in charge of the formation pointed at the small group of people.


    "No. I want to be with my friends."


    "Do you understand the situation you are in?"


    "She clearly isn''t fit to be a follower of the Red Demon."


    "If she was a nine, okay, but we cannot let a ten become a servant."


    The guy who killed the professor appeared. "If you join us, I will give you a cat."


    "Really? Thanks, mister!" She ran to him and hugged him. Then she stopped. "But you killed the professor and made it so I couldn''t get my kitty in the first place. Hmmm... Thanks anyway." She patted him.


    He looked at the big group of people. "You guys, come with me."


    Kris went with the small group.


    "A ten... I can''t believe it." Vesh said.


    "Uh?" Rayen said. "Isn''t a ten just one higher than a nine? Why is it so special?"


    "Ha, you don''t know anything. You are just an ignorant hick. Let me explain you. A nine is rare, only one in 50,000 have a capability of nine, but ten is much rarer. Only one in a million have it."


    "And six?"


    "Six is one in 50."


    "Now I see why you are so dumb, you spent all your time memorizing a lot of useless facts."


    "You..."


    Yune chuckled.


    They stopped in front of a big room. It was the director''s old room. Now it was his room.


    "I''m Ren, a Great General of Red Demon. From now on all of you will serve the Red Demon. Enter one by one." He went inside.


    The skinny guy and the muscular guy, among other Red Demon''s members, walked back and forth around the prisoners. They made sure none of them could escape.


    Since Rayen was at the back, it would take a while for him to enter. He saw the two rakuyas from before. Most of the other prisoners were in groups of four to seven, but not them. They were together, but not in any group. He went to talk with them.


    "Hi."


    "What do you want?" One of them got in front of the other. They were both little girls. The one that got in front was a little taller than the other, still shorter than Rayen. She had short light green hair with emerald eyes. The other one looked the same, but with long hair.


    "I wanted to talk to you."


    "We''ve nothing to say to an outsider," she said. A blue ball with big frowning eyes and claws came out from inside her. It was her spirit.


    "I''m from the village that vowed with the Dokenra." Rayen remembered the Elder''s words when he met Senku.


    "Dokenra? As if I would believe you."


    "Calm down, Remya," the shorter girl said. "I''m sorry, she is like that because of all that happened."


    "I''m not lying. I have something I need to know, and you are the first living rakuyas I ever saw."


    "Living rakuyas?"


    "Yes. When I went to the Rakuya Forest..."


    "What?" Remya asked. "You went to the sacred forest? It''s prohibited to let outsiders in."


    "I went there a few days ago, but all the rakuyas were dead, spirits and beasts too, except those damn ferrets."


    "What?" Remya took Rayen by the shoulders. "All dead?"


    "Yes. I wanted to know if there is a way to stop the tree from withering."


    "What tree?"


    "The Dokenra. What other tree could it be?"


    "Wait... The sacred tree is withering?"


    "Yes. That''s what I said."


    "What?!" Both shouted.


    "Don''t shout," a guard said.


    "Do you have any idea what that means?"


    "Yes, I''m not dumb. Withering is when the leaves fall and the tree changes color, then it dies."


    "Not that, you idiot. How could it wither? The holy tree should never wither."


    "Well... That doesn''t change the fact that it''s withering."


    "How could this happen?"


    "I dunno, it was withering when I got there."


    "Ugh... We should leave and inform the others."


    "The others? Aren''t all the rakuyas from the Dokenra?"


    "No." The shorter girl said. "There are dozens of holy trees around the world. We aren''t from there."


    Rayen thought for a second. Not sure whether to show it or not. "I also got this." A badge appeared on his hand. "It was on a temple."


    "Never show that to a rakuya or she will kill you."


    "Eh? Why?"


    "That''s a Sister of the Woods'' badge. Only a Sister of the Woods can have it. If you have it, it means you killed her."


    "I didn''t kill her."


    "I know, you are too weak for that. I guess we must escape soon, this is far too important."


    The guards looked at them.


    "Come with my group. So you aren''t alone."


    They looked at each other. "Fine."


    "I''ve brought you two rakuyas." Rayen said to his group.


    "Uh?" They were a bit confused since they looked like normal girls.


    "Hi, my name is Sonya." The shorter girl said.


    "I''m Remya. This is Pakku." She pointed at his spirit.


    "Hi there." Pakku waved his little claw.


    "Oh." Sonya said. A green rabbit came out from her body, his fur made of grass. "He is Daku." *Yaaawn* He sat on her shoulder, sleeping.


    "What cute little girls." Yune caressed their heads.


    "Get your hand out of me, outsider." Remya stepped back.


    Sonya just enjoyed it while blushing.


    "I''m Yune. She is Saya. And he is Stone." She pointed at them.


    "I''m Rayen. I think I didn''t say it before."


    "Nice to meet you." Both said.


    "I think that''s all." Yune said. "Oh, there is Kris, but she isn''t here."


    "My princess... How can you forget about me? You never leave my mind for a second. I live and breathe just for you."


    "Who is that?"


    "Just ignore him." Yune said.


    After waiting for over an hour, it was finally their turn. Rayen went into the room. The general Ren was sitting there, in front of a big table. There was a statue of a red demon on the table. Ren pointed at Rayen and a ray of mana went into his head.


    "Break."


    Rayen felt something inside of him breaking and leaving his body.


    "Now, put your hands on the Red Demon."


    Rayen put his hand on the statue. The statue shook and opened his eyes. Rayen could see his red eyes looking inside of him directly into his soul. It was entrancing, he couldn''t stop looking at it.


    "Don''t take your hands out and read this." He passed Rayen a piece of paper.


    Rayen read. "From here on I make this oath to the Red Demon. I swear to obey any order of the Red Demon. I swear to never kill a servant of the Red Demon. And I swear to never attack a follower of the Red Demon. From now I will become a servant to the Red Demon. Giving my life and soul to the Red Demon and his cause."


    "Good."


    A red light came out of the statue and entered Rayen''s body. His mind shook. The red light carved the statue he saw in front of him into himself. The Red Demon materializing inside his mind. After it finished materializing, it opened his red eyes, staring at Rayen''s soul.


    "Don''t worry, you won''t need to obey the orders of normal followers. Only the orders of captains and above. The ones with the same or higher ranking can override previous orders."


    "Uff... What a relief."


    "It''s better than dying. Put all your valuable objects on the table."


    The red demon inside of him felt stirred. If he didn''t obey, he would suffer something terrible. He had to obey. He needed to obey. Rayen put his grandma''s money on the table, along with the bestiary and the map. The need to obey didn''t wane. He still didn''t do what was ordered.


    ''The dagger.'' Rayen felt bad to part from it, but he had to. He put it on the table. Yet, the need still didn''t disappeared. ''Uh? What do I have left? Is it the badge? No, my clothes. My clothes are valuable.'' He took out his clothes and put them on the table. Only then did the need stop. ''Thankfully, I didn''t need to put the badge. It must be because I think of it as part of me and not as an object.''


    "I have no interest in kid''s clothes. You can keep them."


    Rayen put his clothes back.


    "How can a kid have so much money? You don''t look like a noble." The general waved his hand above the money and it all disappeared. He extended the map on the table. "Quite a good map. A follower may find it useful." He took it. He unsheathed the dagger. "You have no idea what this is, right kid?"


    "Uh? It''s a dagger."


    "Look." The room shook and a hum could be heard. The eyes of the weird creatures on the hilt turned red and felt alive. They were similar, but not as powerful as the big statue. The decorations were filled with a strange light and moved around. The blade became longer and turned black.


    "It never did that with me."


    "That''s because you can''t use it. You are far too weak." He sheathed the dagger again. It all turned back to normal. "This thing is too fragile for me, but someone will find it useful." He opened the book. "A bestiary, uh? I have no use for it. Since you gave me so many good things, you can keep it." He gave Rayen the book. "Now leave."


    Soon after, all the prisoners had been inside. Most of the guards left, leaving only two behind. The skinny and the muscular guy from before.


    "I''m captain Suei," the skinny guy said. "It took you a while, but you all grew up. You aren''t kitties anymore. You belong to the Red Demon. All of you are now servants of the Red Demon."


    "I''m captain Yuhal," the muscular guy said. "Let''s get to work, servants."

 Chapter 9: Foundation (1)

    "I''m captain Yuhal," the muscular guy said. "Let''s get to work, servants."


    "Wait." Suei moved his head from side to side. "Two of my little ones are missing!"


    The sound of everyone chatting resounded across the room. None of the servants had noticed that two of them were missing. "Is it really true?" "How could he notice it at a glance?" They asked themselves.


    "We should have escaped as well," Remya said. "There aren''t that many guards."


    "Escape? That''s dumb," Saya said. "They let them run away on purpose. That''s why the guards left. They are confident we can''t escape, even if they don''t guard us."


    "Oh, calm down little ones. The two of them are coming back."


    Two guards entered the room, each one grabbing a dirt-covered servant by the neck. They threw them in front of the two captains.


    "How could you find us?" They were startled. They couldn''t believe they will get caught so easily.


    "Little ones. Going away without permission is no good. Don''t do it again, okay?"


    "Y-yes." Their bodies shook.


    "Don''t tremble." He patted their heads. "I won''t harm you." He walked away with a sadistic smile.


    "Watch closely." Yuhal ordered the other servants.


    Mana concentrated on the escapees hands and feet. The mana materialized and became shackles. The two escapees tried to escape, but they couldn''t move. The shackles moved in all directions, lifting them on air and extending their limbs. *Aaaaaah* They screamed, but it was useless. The shackles wouldn''t stop. Excruciating pain filled them as their limbs dislocated.


    Yuhal moved his hand and a whip materialized. "One." He said as he whipped both of them. They screamed. The whip wasn''t normal, it was a magic item. It was much more painful than a normal whip, but it did less permanent damage. "Two." He slashed again.


    "I''m sorry... Sorry... I won''t do it again."


    "Three." He whipped again. Their clothes became rags and fell on the ground. "Four." Their blood splashed into the floor forming a puddle. "Five... Six... Seven..." He whipped them again and again. Always with the same deadpan expression. The servants were disgusted by it and wanted to look away, but they couldn''t. "Seventeen... Eighteen..." The escapees stopped screaming. They didn''t move anymore. They just stood there, bleeding. "Nineteen... Twenty." After whipping them twenty times, he stopped. The shackles and whip became mana and fused back with him. They fell on their pool of blood. They were still alive, breathing, even if their eyes showed the contrary.


    "Poor things." Suei waved his hand. His mana flowed into them and their previously dislocated limbs joined together once more. Their injuries closed and left scars behind. They felt a surge of energy inside them, but their pain didn''t stop. They still felt the same agony as before. "Now you won''t need to miss a day of work. Isn''t it great? Get up."


    Like zombies without any will of their own, they stood up.


    "We cannot let this happen again, little ones. I trust that none of you will do it, but to make sure I must order it." He cleared his throat. "The Red Demon orders you to not leave the premises."


    Rayen felt something inside of him stir. Now he couldn''t leave, not unless someone else overrode the order.


    "Those who dedicate their lives to the Red Demon will receive power, joy, freedom. Those who desire to escape, to go against it, will only get pain and suffering. Their lives will be sacrificed to make the Red Demon stronger. It''s your decision, little ones. Do you want to be powerful? To stand above all this? Or do you want to suffer the consequences of going against those who own you?


    "Now, we will go to the library. My little ones, you are weak. You need to change, you need to be strong and powerful. Only then you can truly be of service to the Red Demon."


    "Those who fail to make a barrier in one week will be sacrificed." Yuhal said.


    Faces of worry appeared on most of the servants.


    "Don''t worry, little ones. It''s easy. Barrier is one of the most basic spells, so it won''t be that hard."


    "If you guys don''t have enough talent to do it, you are worthless. And if you are worthless you won''t be able to serve the Red Demon. But the Red Demon will find other uses to your lives. Understood?"


    The library was a giant separate building inside the castle. It could easily hold two thousand people. There were tens of thousands of books on the bookshelves and just as many on the floor. The bookshelves had compartments which held crystals and scrolls. There were hundreds of them. The scrolls were too old and in a precarious condition. The crystals were fine, they were hard to break and didn''t age. There were still two corpses on the floor. They must have tried to hide on the library when the Red Demon attacked, but it was futile. It seemed that those two weren''t the only ones, since the floor was covered with blood and debris, but there was no trace of the others. A dozen followers were looking at the crystals. It was strange, since most of the followers were at the party, but some liked to learn and study more than partying. Preferring not to lose one minute to improve oneself. Rayen was like that as well.


    "This is the common library. Not sure how it was called before, but now it is called that."He pointed to a metallic door that felt out of place compared with the rest of the library. "Behind that door is the advanced library. None of you are allowed there."


    "Little ones, your mission will be to clean this up. Today, you have two hours to clean it. The other days you will have one hour to clean. You can''t read anything while cleaning."This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    "How are we going to learn to make a barrier and a foundation? Are you going to teach us?"


    "We won''t waste time teaching you anything, you are on your own."


    "Once you finish cleaning, you can read anything from here. Other than during the assigned hour, you cannot enter this place. It''s only for followers. You can''t take books, crystals or scrolls with you out of the library, and you need to put everything back in place."


    "What if we don''t know how to read?" One servant asked.


    "You can use recording crystals."


    "Recording crystals transmit a memory that has been saved into your mind. With this you can learn any technique without reading it. If not you can just get another servant to teach you. You will be free to do anything you want when you aren''t working."


    "The faster you clean, the more time you will have to learn." Yuhal waved his hand, buckets full of water appeared, along with cleaning cloths, brooms and other cleaning tools. "We will be back in two hours." They left.


    Some of the servants took the cleaning tools, while others went near the entrance. There there was a huge white pillar full of little holes that had orbs inside.


    "What''s that?" Rayen asked.


    "Those are reference orbs," Vesh said. "You take one and think of a title or information about a book, it searches for the related ones and shows you where they are located and where they go." He took an orb and a book from the floor. A light appeared from the orb and pointed to a bookshelf.


    "Oh, thanks."


    Vesh sneered. "Unlike an ignorant fool like you, I prepared myself to be a mage."


    "Too bad all that preparation was wasted on you." Rayen took an orb. The other servants were taking them as well. If he wasn''t fast, he wouldn''t get one and would have to clean the floor.


    He took a few books on the ground and put them in order on the bookshelves. He wanted to start practicing as soon as possible, but the orders were absolute. He couldn''t read any of the books until he finished cleaning, and even then he only had two hours to clean and learn.


    Stone put the two corpses on his shoulders and took them outside to dispose of them. He could carry both by himself. The servants were amazed, each one of them weighed around 80 kg.


    The servants made a ruckus while cleaning. They chatted, splashed water, made noises while brushing and sweeping. The followers were annoyed by all that. All of them except one took a crystal and a few books and left the library. The other one had clothes that were different than the others. They were more complex and high-class than theirs. He left the crystal he was reading and went into the advanced library.


    There were many books that caught Rayen''s attention, books about alchemy, plants, skills, and obviously barrier and foundation techniques. He made sure to remember the location of all of them. He will be looking for them soon.


    Over an hour and a half passed. There were twenty minutes left for the two hours to pass. At last, they finished cleaning and putting the books in place. Most of the servants ran to the crystals. There wasn''t enough time to memorize all the contents of the books, and many of them didn''t know how to read. Their best bet was to use crystals. When you used one, it was like looking at it happening in front of you. Once you saw it, you will always remember it. It was less time consuming that the books. But only a few of dozen of them had foundation techniques or the barrier skill, there weren''t enough for all two hundred servants.


    Killing another servant was forbidden, but attacking him wasn''t. So they bit, kicked and punched each other. Rayen stood there, looking at the mayhem. There were hundreds of books with the wanted techniques, more than needed.


    ''Fighting for a crystal is pointless. It''s much better to just read a book. There is more variety and I won''t forget it anyway.'' Avoiding unnecessary risk, he took a book he saw earlier. It was a book that explained foundation techniques. It didn''t have any technique, only information about them. Still, it was useful to learn more about which one to pick.


    Stone headed for one of the crystals. He didn''t know how to read, so this was his only choice. There were three people fighting for it. He took two of them by their necks and lifted them. They struggled and punched his arms, but they couldn''t reach his head, his arms were much longer than theirs. He hit them against a wall. *Puuuum puuuum puuuum* Again and again, until they lost consciousness.


    "I-I give up." The third one ran away.


    Stone sat on the ground and put the crystal on his head. Seeing the two unconscious servants at his side, no one wanted to bother him.


    "My princess, don''t worry, I will get you a crystal." Vesh smiled at Yune. He ran toward a guy who just got hold of a crystal and punched him in the face. "Give it to me."


    "As if." The guy punched Vesh, but Vesh stepped to the side and he missed. Vesh took the guy head and slammed it against a bookshelf. Many books fell to the ground. They stopped the fight to put them back in place. The guy tried to attack him, but all his attacks were easily evaded by Vesh. He was constantly pushed back. Vesh finished him off with a kick on his temple. The guy collapsed.


    "Easy." Vesh took the crystal from the unconscious guy.


    Two more came, they were from his group. "Give it back."


    "Do you want help?" Rayen said.


    "Hah, I can handle it. I would rather die than receive help from you."


    "Okay..."


    They tried to punch him, but Vesh evaded them like a fly. It didn''t matter how much they tried, they couldn''t land a hit. Even if they couldn''t hit him, they didn''t give Vesh a chance to counter-attack. The battle was even. Vesh took a few books and threw them to the ground. They were forced to stop fighting to put them back in place. Vesh took the chance to punch one of them on the head.


    ''Vesh is quite good.'' Rayen was amazed. He didn''t know Vesh could fight that well, but two more of their group went to help. Now it was four versus one.


    Vesh evaded one punch after another, but he couldn''t keep up with four. Soon he was on the floor. The four of them kicked him. Rayen kept looking, they wouldn''t kill him anyway.


    On another side, the two rakuyas were defending a crystal. One was absorbing the information, while the other one guarded her. The spirits circled outside, not letting anyone get near them. They were vicious. They would scratch and bit anyone who get near, but they couldn''t get attacked since their bodies were ethereal.


    Saya and Yune were looking at old books and scrolls. The scroll were ancient originals, from the time before books existed.


    "Those aren''t good." Rayen told them. "If the techniques were anything good, the originals would be in a safe place and not here."


    "I know," Yune said. "I''ve already decided on my technique."


    "Don''t get close." Saya stared at him.


    Rayen got the gist of it from the book. To convert ownerless mana into your own mana, you had to brand it with your soul. But the process couldn''t be done just like that. It needed special magic symbols. Most spells needed you to transform the mana, which could be done outside your body, but it was faster if it was done inside, and for that you needed magic symbols. You could also use mana to nourish your body and become stronger, which needed even more magic symbols. The problem was that your mana capability depended on how many magic symbols you had, the more you had, the lower it will be. And if you weren''t a strong mage, your mana will dissipate quickly if it wasn''t inside your body. And a foundation was a collection of all those magic symbols arranged in a particular way to boost their effectiveness.


    There were some rare techniques that used objects as well. Those were more powerful than normal techniques, but this library didn''t have them.


    ''If I had a high magic capability, I could simply get one with high mana conversion. But I don''t. Nourishing is best for when you want to use your body, but I''m a mage. Mages aren''t supposed to fight close range, that''s for warriors, mages must fight from far away.'' He nodded. He choose a technique with a good balance between capacity, conversion and nourishing. It didn''t convince him, but it was the best he had here. He spent the rest of the time left memorizing the symbols.


    Yuhal and Suei came back. "The two hours have passed. Let''s go back."


    Rayen put the book back. All the symbols were constantly appearing in Rayen''s mind. He wasn''t sure if he remembered them correctly, but he had no chance to check it back, he could only hope he did.

 Chapter 10: Foundation (2)

    The servants went back to the inner ward. They didn''t want to leave yet, but they had no other way. They couldn''t stay in the library any longer. Rayen looked around. All that surrounded him was death. Here, thousands died. The people who were supposed to help him. All that was left of them was blood on the grass. How different would it all be if the Red Demon didn''t attack this place... The silence was interrupted by the sound of the servants'' empty stomachs. They didn''t notice it before, since they were busy cleaning and learning, but they didn''t eat anything since morning.


    "Little ones, it''s time for dinner. All followers went to sleep. Go to the great hall. Now it''s your turn."


    "Eat up," Yuhal said, "don''t hold yourselves back, you won''t get another chance to eat. After you finish, clean up."


    The gates to the great hall opened. The place was empty. The followers had long since left. On the table there were the leftovers from the party. There were drinks and all types of different foods and desserts, most of them half eaten. It was barely enough for the over two hundred servants. The servants entered the hall. There was a broken sign on the floor. It read ''Welcome''.


    ''All that food... it was meant for us. It was meant to receive us as students. Yet, in the end, it went to them. To those who slaved us. To those who killed the people who were meant to teach us. But that doesn''t matter anymore, does it?'' The servants ran to the table. They pushed each other to get a bit of food. Rayen joined as well, he was starving, like the rest of them.


    Rayen ate food he never saw before. ''This is even better than the one I ate in Reius. Reius...'' That reminded him of his home, his village, it was still in danger. ''How long will it be before it all ended? Before the village is consumed by the beasts, devoured by them. What can the Elder do? He gave me the dagger, the dagger I now lost. Lost to the Red Demon. The demon who took everything from me. But what can I do? Except gain power.'' The symbols constantly appeared in Rayen''s mind. He had to get power and this was the only way he had. The symbols. Were he to forget them, he will be powerless and die. It didn''t matter if he was eating, it was instinctual at this point.


    Stone went to the center of the table. There was a big duck there. The servants were fighting for it. He pushed them aside. "Mine!" He took it and ate it. Everybody watched him. They wanted it as well, but how could they compete against a gruen?


    Vesh took out the most delicious-looking dessert on the table, it was a yellow pie with meringue on top. Half of it was already eaten, but there was more than enough for a person. The other servants tried to take it away from him, but they were no match, rather than join up and fight, they preferred to take on easier targets.


    "I''m sorrowful my ability to procure a crystal was insufficient." He knelt in front of Yune and presented the dessert to her. "I hope my princess can exonerate me. I offer you a lemon pie in compensation. You don''t need to join the uncivilized. If you so desire, I will battle for you and fetch you any delicacy you covet."


    Yune didn''t care, she didn''t even look at Vesh. She was laughing happily while she pushed people away and took their food. Rayen found it strange. It was like all this was a relief for her. People tried to fight back, but Saya teamed up with her, when someone tried to touch Yune, she will elbow them. It was incredibly unfair for the rest. They could get attacked by Yune, but couldn''t defend themselves.


    Vesh stood there, with the dessert on his hand, waiting. He was annoyed. He did everything for Yune, and what was the result? This? He tried to endure it, but he couldn''t. In the end, he ate it himself. A few people tried to take it away from him, but he punched them on the face and then kicked them. He was pissed. After that, no one tried to do anything. He took some more food, he lost too much time waiting for Yune.


    On a quiet corner, the rakuyas were eating peacefully. They didn''t have much food, but they didn''t need it. They could survive from water, sun and earth.


    Food flew all over the big table. The floor was filled with tiny bits of food. The weaker servants had no choice but to take the leftovers of the leftovers, to take the food that was on the floor or that other servants left. They could only blame themselves for their lack of power.


    Rayen observed it. He saw them, fighting for scraps. ''Those should be yours, you should be sitting on the chair, not fighting like an animal on the ground.''


    This was an humiliation. But so what? What could they do? If they dared to attack the captains, they would die. Even if they didn''t make the oath, what chance did they have? They were the weakest to begin with. And more so with the oath, just thinking of attacking them was enough to bring pain to them. They couldn''t do anything. They were powerless, but they had to endure it if they wanted to stay alive.


    ''There is always a chance, if one waits for the right moment.'' Rayen looked at the captains, they were having fun looking at the servants fight for scraps. ''There should be more food than this. The celebration was prepared for over a thousand people. Even if the followers ate, they couldn''t eat that much. They must have hid the food, but what can we do? If anyone goes to search for it, he will starve. It may be barely enough, but it is enough after all. Even if it means that we have to fight for the last bone.''


    In ten minutes, all the leftovers disappeared. They were still a bit hungry, but they ate enough. Yune and Stone were particularly full. They were the biggest winners in all of this. Now it was time to clean. Yuhal waved his hand and the cleaning tools from before appeared once more. With two hundred servants, it didn''t take long for them to clean up everything.


    "Come, little ones," Suei said. "I will take you to your new rooms."Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!


    Rayen and the other servants followed him. The corridor was unending, there were hundreds of rooms. Each servant got an individual room. Rayen entered his room, it was small, it was little more than a bed. From how close the other doors were, all the other rooms were the same.


    Rayen dropped the bestiary near his bed and sat down. "Time to form the foundation." His body shook, he was hesitant to begin. He exhaled and calmed himself. Wasting his time in doubt wasn''t good.


    *Knock knock* The door opened, it was Yune and Saya.


    "Hi Ray," Yune said. "We came to talk."


    "Why in my room?"


    "Where else will we go?" Vesh entered the room, followed by Remya and Sonya with their spirits.


    Stone tried to enter, but it was too cramped. He couldn''t fit inside. "Me guard." He left the room and stood outside.


    "We need to escape," Remya said.


    "Escape?" Saya said. "How? It''s impossible."


    "That''s why we need to discuss it," Remya said.


    "Aren''t you afraid they will hear us?"


    "They don''t care what we do or say. They are confident that we can''t escape, no matter what."


    "Seeing how Suei is, he will probably let us escape just to capture us back and torture us."


    "So long as we are safe and can gain power, I have no problem being here," Rayen said. "We can''t leave the castle, and even if we could, we will just die."


    "I concur with Remya," Vesh said. "Do you honestly believe this is the first place they conquered? I doubt it, but where are the other slaves? We weren''t the first slaves, but we are the only ones now."


    "That means..."


    "It means that we will die if we stay here. We need to escape."


    "We should wait until we are stronger," Rayen said.


    "We can''t wait," Remya said. "We need to escape now. Rayen saw a holy tree withering, and if what Rayen said is true, the world is in danger. The holy trees protect the world, if they die, the world will be defenseless."


    "I will not put Yune in danger." Saya said.


    "The world is more important than our lives."


    "I''m tired of this!" Yune raised her voice and slapped the wall. "The world will die? The only thing that will die is your holy forest. Aren''t there dozens of them? You are just afraid of your people dying. What difference can we make? What difference do we, some poor kids who aren''t even mages yet, make? Do you think they don''t know it already? They must already know it. Do you think we can change something? We can''t. We are stuck here. We can''t escape. Escaping will risk our lives pointlessly. We will die there. And for what? So that you can protect your town? You talk about protecting the world. But is it really in danger? How long until it all happens, if it ever happens? Will the planet be destroyed just because your people died? Do the attackers want to destroy the planet, or are they at war with your people? The most likely thing is that they are at war with you, and you just want to drag us in."


    "That''s why I hate outsiders, so ignorant, so full of themselves. The world is more important than our lives. If the world ends, so do we, and not only we, but also the people we care about, the places we live in. All of them will be dead. All because of your stupidity."


    "I also want to save my village," Rayen said. "Even if the world won''t end, if the holy tree there dies, the village will die with it."


    "If they were honest like you and said it''s their town what they want us to protect, I may accept it, but they talk big about the world just to drag us in."


    "Tsk." Remya took Sonya with her and went to the door. "I''m leaving, this was a waste of time. I should never have relied on outsiders."


    "Calm down." Rayen stopped her. "We don''t need to escape anyway. All we need is to inform them of what happened."


    "True," Saya said. "Kris may help us."


    "Who is Kris?" Sonya asked.


    "The girl I mentioned when we met," Yune said. "the one who asked for a cat and got a ten before."


    "Oh, her. I wasn''t paying attention. But she sure is weird. Do you think she will be able to help us?"


    "She can," Rayen said. "She is a follower, unlike us, she can leave and do things we can''t."


    "That''s not what I meant, I meant if she has the mental capacity to help us. I think she will screw it up and leave us in danger."


    "Hmm..."


    "For now let''s focus on improving ourselves," Sonya said. "Concentrate on learning the barrier and getting the foundation so we can survive this week. Then we will see."


    "Do you all have a foundation technique?" Yune asked.


    "Yes," Everyone except Vesh said.


    "No."


    "Good," Yune said. "Let''s go train. See you tomorrow."


    "Bye." Remya left. Sonya waited behind.


    "Please, forgive Remya, she may be like that, but she is good inside. Lots of things happened. She is doing what she believes is the best. I''m sorry for all the problems she caused."


    "It''s okay. We understand."


    "Let''s go." Remya came back since Sonya wasn''t following her.


    Sonya bowed and they all left. Rayen was alone once again.


    Rayen sat back, he could finally practice. The technique was called Silver Palace. It consisted in using magic symbols to form some sort of palace inside his body. When the mana entered, it will pass through a big gate and be branded his, then he will store it inside the palace. The symbols appeared in his mind once more before he began.


    He inhaled and exhaled using the method taught by the professor before he died. He felt a strange energy inside him. Rayen focused on the ownerless mana he absorbed. In his mind, everything else disappeared. He was completely focused on the mana. Now, he could see it. It was a small distorted mass floating and twisting inside his body. He took a small strand of mana and molded it into a symbol. He didn''t know nor cared about how much time the process took. It was difficult to change its shape. The strand has hard, so he needed a lot of effort to bend it. And if he left it alone, it would try to return to its previous form.


    One by one the symbols appeared inside of him. The more he did it, the more used he got to the process and the faster he went. The symbols joined in a circle and took the shape of a gate. He was now ready to convert his own mana, but he had run out of mana. He inhaled and exhaled again. The mana entered his body and passed through the gate. It stopped there. He felt his soul vibrate. The mana was slowly advancing, once it passed, it became his own.


    He used the new mana to create more symbols, he still had to form the palace itself. Now it was a lot easier. He could control it perfectly with a simple thought. Unlike the ownerless mana, molding it was easy and it won''t go back to its previous form. The process of creating the symbols accelerated exponentially. The symbols flew to their respective places and formed the palace.


    He inhaled and exhaled again. ''Something feels wrong.'' The mana wasn''t converting as fast as it should, and the palace was somewhat strange, but he couldn''t pinpoint what it was.


    He extended his hand and sent his mana into it. As soon as it got outside his body, it dissipated. ''Why is this happening? I can''t use it like this...'' He closed his eyes again and absorbed more mana. The mana stuck at the gate. It wasn''t advancing at all. The palace shook and a symbol disappeared, the symbols nearby broke out of the palace. The crack spread all over the palace and broke it into pieces. The mana and the remnants of the technique broke havoc inside his body, damaging it wherever they passed. Rayen fell to the ground and coughed blood. His consciousness started to fade.

 Chapter 11: Work

    Rayen fell to the ground and coughed up blood. His vision blurred. ''No, I can''t collapse here.'' He fought to stay awake. ''I need to stop the mana.'' His first idea was to send the mana outside, but he stopped. ''If I send the mana outside, it will break my body, I need to use it inside me, but how? I don''t know any spells...''


    The badge appeared in his mind. ''It may work...'' He visualized the badge inside his body. ''It''s part of me, I can summon it anywhere.''He saw the outline of the badge appear, then the badge materialized. This wasn''t his physical body, but an ethereal body where the mana existed.


    The mana current collided with the badge. All the mana and remnants went there. They all disappeared inside the badge. The circle that formed the eye opened. Rayen saw an image flash in front of him for an instant. It was the castle. He saw it from above, as a bird would. The image was burned into his mind. He could see all the details of the castle. There were thousands of lights floating in the there. One could see through them, as if the didn''t existed, but they clearly were there. The castle was full of those lights. They were like a liquid floating on the air, forming rivers of transparent lights around the castle. They weren''t impeded by walls. What caught his attention the most weren''t the lights, but the plants in the inconspicuous greenhouse. It was hard to access it, but from up there he could see it clearly. He didn''t know the castle had a greenhouse. It will be useful for him.


    ''I need to continue, I need to form my foundation...'' Rayen lost his consciousness, but on his subconscious mind, the foundation symbols appeared. They formed the foundation once again. They broke again, this time only in his mind. He could clearly identify those that had failed.


    "Little ones," Suei shouted outside his room, "time to work."


    Rayen woke up. He didn''t know how much time had passed. He looked down, his clothes were filled with blood.


    "Ugh..." He took his clothes out and used the back of his bed to clean them. He didn''t have any visible injury, but he could feel it, inside him, where mana was supposed to be.


    ''I think I see it now. I know where I was wrong. Those symbols... They don''t belong. Why were they there on the first place? How could I not notice before? They just... feel wrong. They shouldn''t be there. But what should exist there? Hm... I can''t comprehend it yet.''


    "Leave in one minute," Yuhal said.


    He sighed and put his clothes back on. They were now completely clean, without any hint of blood. He went outside. Everybody was going out of their rooms. He saw the rest of his group and went with them. Remya didn''t want to be near Yune, so the two rakuyas were far apart.


    ''Those two are still fighting, uh?''


    "Good morning," Yune said.


    "Good morning, Yune."


    "Leave her alone, you beast!" Saya got in front of him, so he couldn''t get close to Yune.


    "I''m just saying hi..."


    Yuhal voice interrupted them. "All those who are good at cooking, step forward. Those who aren''t, step back."


    Rayen, like most of the servants, stepped back. Saya stepped forward.


    "Ugh..." Yune sat on the floor. Her spirit leaving her mouth. "I''m good at cooking. Really..."


    "Don''t fret over such things, my princess." Vesh put his hand on her shoulder. "I will devour your food, without holding any significance to its abominable flavor."


    Yune felt worse, even Vesh was mocking her.


    "Don''t worry," Rayen said. "I know how to cook, yet I also stepped back."


    "The little ones who stepped ahead, come with me." Suei left followed by some servants.


    "Nooooo," Saya screamed. "I cannot leave you, Yune, not with those guys." Still, she couldn''t resist following Suei.


    "Follow me." Yuhal turned around and left. "We will clean the rooms."


    They went into another corridor. The carpet on the floor, the paintings on the walls, it was completely different than the one they were before. Even the doors were different, these were sturdier and more pleasing to the eye. The rooms were farther apart, which meant that the rooms were much bigger compared to the ones the servants slept in.


    "Divide into groups of two and clean three rooms. You cannot take anything from the room. Go." He waved his hand and the cleaning tools from before appeared in front of the servants.


    The rakuyas entered a room together. Vesh knelt in front of Yune. "My beloved Yune, let''s merge to accomplish this endeavor."


    "Let''s go, little Ray." Yune smiled and put her hand on Rayen''s shoulder as they went into a room.


    "Going into a room with another man?" Vesh cried. Stone took him by the neck and dragged him into a room.


    Rayen felt a relaxing cool air. "This is so nice..." As expected, the interior was much bigger and luxurious. Unlike his room, it had furniture, sculptures, paintings and a much bigger and comfortable bed.


    "Ray, what happened?" Yune cleaned the room.


    "Is it that obvious?" Rayen helped her.


    "Yes."


    "I... got an accident last night, the mana went wild inside me."


    "That''s terrible. How could you survive that? You are better than you should be."


    "I was lucky."


    "Let me see." Yune closed her eyes and passed her hand on Rayen''s chest. Her hand emitted a red light. Rayen felt his chest warm up.


    "You can already use magic?"


    "Yes, but not much. This is easy."A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    "..." Rayen couldn''t even get a foundation down, while Yune clearly succeeded.


    "Don''t worry about those things, little Ray. Look, you are hurt. You can''t practice magic with those injuries."


    "This is nothing, I can continue."


    "No, listen to me. First, you need to get yourself healed, or wait a few days at least."


    "If I wait a few days, I will fail to get the barrier and die."


    "True... Normally, a professor would help you. But..."


    "Those two aren''t going to help me."


    "Yes, we need to do something."


    "I will look at the books."


    "You want to heal yourself? Are you sure? You will fail and cause a mess again."


    "It''s not like I have any other choice."


    They finished cleaning this room and went to another room. With two hundred servants, it wouldn''t take long to clean them all.


    "Ray, don''t you trust me?"


    "Eh? Why do you ask?"


    "You clearly didn''t use the technique I taught you... That makes me sad."


    "The other one was better."


    "Sigh... Teaching you was dumb on my part. Do whatever you want."


    "Fine..."


    "And please, don''t tell anyone I taught you, specially Saya."


    Rayen knew, if Saya learned, she will kill him.


    "I won''t."


    "Thanks."


    Cleaning the room was fast, there wasn''t a lot to do. In a few minutes, they finished and went to their last room.


    "Why do you treat Vesh like that?" Rayen asked.


    "Eh? How?"


    "You know how. Tell me. We''re friends. We should trust each other."


    "Okay, I will tell you. Vesh is dishonest and a liar, unlike you. You''re simple and honest."


    "Is that supposed to be a compliment?"


    "Well, yes. I like people who are honest."


    "I..." Rayen stopped and looked at her. "I like you too. You''re very pretty"


    "No, dumb-ass. I like you as a friend."


    "Oh..." He looked to the ground. "I see."


    "Hahaha." She grinned. "See? you are simple and honest. You''re a good person."


    "You''re good too."


    "Am I?" Her lips formed a desolate smile.


    "Yes." Rayen nodded. "I''m sure of it."


    The other servants finished at about the same time. When they left the room, they saw Yuhal waiting outside.


    "Let''s go." He waved his hand and the cleaning tools disappeared. "The food is ready. You will have to serve it."


    When Rayen arrived at the kitchen an irresistible sweet aroma invaded him.


    "You guys cannot eat any of the food."


    If it wasn''t for Yuhal ordering it, the servants would''ve attacked the food. They stopped and looked around. The aroma came from the big table on the middle. It had hundreds of trays, each one of them with many different pastries on it and a big cup of hot chocolate. At the other table, Saya and the other servants were cooking, their hands moved at a hard to see speed. Their bodies and the ingredients were covered by a green aura. The ingredients became pastries in a matter of seconds. All thanks to that green light. The green light came from a guy behind them. He looked at the newly arrived servants. He had green eyes, silver hair and wore clothes different than those of the captains. He had a white symbol on his forehead, just like Ren''s.


    The servants never stopped for a second. Sweat rolled from their heads, but it failed to reach the food.


    "That''s enough." He stopped giving them mana. The cooks fell to the ground, breathing as fast as they could.


    Yune went to see how Saya was. "Are you okay?"


    Saya was holding herself on a table. "It... was... terrible..." She fell to the ground like the others. "Commander Jin is a monster." She glared at the silver-haired man.


    "It''s your duty to serve the followers," Jin said. "Bring these trays to them. The cooks can stay."


    Rayen took one of the trays and went to the great hall. The great hall was filled with followers. The followers looked at the servants with derision. He noticed that Ren was missing, but he saw Kris sitting there, with clothes similar to those of the guy who went into the advanced library yesterday.


    "Hiiii." Kris shouted and waved her hand at them.


    "Kris, you shouldn''t be so loud." Yune gave her her food.


    "Hehehe. Don''t worry. They told me I''m an elite or something and gave me these funny-looking clothes." She showed her clothes. "I wanted to keep the cat emblem, but they told me not to."


    A blue-haired girl walked toward them. She also had elite clothes like Kris. "Don''t talk with those lowly slaves." She looked at Yune with disgust. "And you, scum, remember your place. How dare you talk to an elite with that tone." Her hand shone with a white light and she tried to slap her, but the slap never reached Yune. *Paaaa* Saya appeared in front of her and took the slap for her. *Baaaam* Saya slammed against the floor, throwing the nearby chairs away. Everybody looked at the scene. She tried to slap Yune again, but Saya stood up and took the slap once more. *Baaaaaaam* Her body almost cracked the floor.


    "Don''t bully Saya, she is my friend!" Kris stood up and put herself in the middle of them.


    "Heh, how can a slave and an elite possibly be friends. You are bringing dishonor to the Red Demon. You may be new, but you must learn how to behave yourself."


    "Now, now, calm down, Xuxie. Let''s not fight between elites." A handsome blond guy appeared. He was the same guy that went to the advanced library yesterday. "And you, if you finished serving, go back to get more food. Don''t be lazy."


    "Eolf... Humph, fine." She went to another table to eat.


    That guy, Eolf, sat near Kris and ate with her, sometimes talking to each other. Rayen served another tray and went back to the kitchen.


    "Ugh... That bitch slapped me." Saya glared at Rayen. "What are you looking at?"


    "Nothing, nothing..."


    Yune came to comfort Saya. "There, there..." She hugged and petted her.


    "Thanks." Saya calmed down.


    Once the followers finished eating, the empty trays were replaced with hard bread and water. "Here is your food," a captain said.


    "This?"


    "Yes, eat. You will have to work a lot later."


    They sighed and ate it.


    After breakfast, another captain took the servants to the inner ward. The place was full of dust, blood and broken pieces from the towers and castle. "We need to have this place cleaned, the sooner the better. So clean it. Now. Here are some tools to help you." He waved his hand and shovels and wheelbarrows appeared. "Remove all the rubble."


    "But... where do we throw it?" A servant asked.


    "Whatever, just throw it outside. It doesn''t really matter. It''s not like we will stay here forever. Just don''t block the gate."


    "We can''t go outside the castle."


    "Sigh... I give you permission to go fifty meters around the castle. Happy? Now get to work."


    The rakuyas took the shovels and filled a wheelbarrow with gravel. Stone went to the biggest stone and lifted it as if it was made of paper. Vesh went to a much smaller stone, but even that weighted over 30 kg. He tried to keep a relaxed expression, but his veins popped out. He was at his limit. Rayen saw this and took a similar rock. Yune and Saya carried the wheelbarrows outside.


    The hard work continued for over an hour.


    "What a strenuous labor." Vesh touched his arms. "My queen should be excluded from that drudgery."


    "Easy," Stone said.


    "Hehehe," Yune said. "Stone is big and powerful. He has no trouble with it."


    "I will greatly outdistance him. My queen, please bear witness to it." Vesh tried to lift the biggest stone that there was. It was much smaller than those Stone already carried, but still far bigger than he could. He fell back, out of breath.He got up and tried again, but to no avail.


    Saya looked at Rayen full of killing intent.


    ''Why me?'' Rayen thought.


    Dust floated on the air. The servants were sad, but that didn''t matter, they had to work anyway. The dust stuck on their clothes, which became dirty rags, except Rayen''s, Rayen were as clean as new. They kept eying him weirdly, but there was nothing he could do about it.


    "I''m used to work," Rayen said, "so I won''t complain. But moving rubble... wasn''t exactly what I had in mind when I joined the academy."


    "Yet, here you are, complaining," Saya said. "Work harder then."


    A group of followers appeared on the distance, they were going to another building. Rayen recognized them, they were the followers who were going to join the dark cat academy. Some of the servants were looking at them, but the followers looked to another side. Except for Kris, she ran toward the servants.


    "Yay." She jumped in front of Rayen. "I need to leave right now. Come with me. They will do me a foundation thingy."


    "Can we really go?" Rayen asked.


    "If I say you can, then you can."


    "Servants can''t go," a captain said.


    "I want them to go."


    "That''s not how it works."


    "If they don''t go, then I won''t go either."


    The captain held his head. "Fine, fine... I give you permission, just come."


    They followed them. The other servants'' jealousy was apparent on their eyes. They too wanted to stop working. Rayen''s group wanted to ask things to Kris, but they couldn''t do it in front of all the followers.


    They entered a big room full of the captains and commanders. The floor was covered with lines and circles made of strange powders and liquids. There were dozens of those formations.

 Chapter 12: Kris help

    Rayen followed the followers inside the big building. The first thing that caught his attention were the magic formations on the floor. He concentrated on them and did his best to memorize them. ''If they are at least a little bit helpful, I need to remember them.''


    "What are those servants doing here?" A captain walked forward and stood in front of the newly-arrived.


    "I saw them when I was coming here," Kris said, "so I said: Yay, come with me. And they came with me."


    "You can''t just tell them to come."


    "I already did."


    "You..."


    "It''s not really a problem," a commander said. "Just let her do it."


    "Fine." He walked away.


    "Everyone go to a magic formation," the same commander said.


    Rayen finished memorizing one of the formations. When he looked at the others, he noticed they were the same with very minor differences. At first, he didn''t notice, since he didn''t know them, but now it was clear. Since they didn''t matter much, Rayen paid attention to what was happening in front of him.


    All the followers sat in one of the formations. A captain walked behind each of them and placed their hands on their backs, except for Kris. Behind Kris stood a commander.


    "Let''s begin." The commander''s voice resounded across the room.


    Mana flowed from the captain''s hands into body of the followers. The mana fell into the magic formations. This made the formations shine and move in distinct patterns. Their lights illuminated the whole room.


    A black mass appeared on the foreheads of the followers. It was constantly changing, constantly transforming. Sweat drops fell to the ground. They struggled; their faces went red. That was true for most of them, Kris was relaxed as if nothing happened. A small black mass formed, but it wasn''t big enough.


    ''What does it mean to form a foundation?'' Rayen pondered about the foundation technique in silence. ''It''s the first and most important step when becoming a mage. If your foundation is weak, you will always be weak. That''s why they struggle so much to improve their foundations. That must be why the Elder was so weak, even after decades of training. What technique could he possibly have? He was weak and without guidance, the foundation he got must be like that as well.''


    One by one, the followers fell to the ground, unconscious; they couldn''t continue any longer. The captains dragged them to a corner to rest. The black symbol on their foreheads stopped moving. It was similar to the one the other followers had.


    ''A foundation is something permanent; it''s something that stays with you forever. You can destroy it and start from scratch again. But this becomes harder and harder the more you progress.


    ''Should I use the palace technique? Is this palace technique strong enough? It isn''t, it was in the common library. How could a powerful technique exist there? If I get that one, I will be stuck forever as someone powerless. I need to get a stronger one, and not rely on the first one that happens to fall in my hands. But where will I get one? It''s impossible for me to get a stronger one. If I can''t get a stronger one, then I must create it myself. I need to create my own foundation, one tailored specially to me. But how can I do that? And only in one week...''


    After half an hour, only Kris remained in place. Her expression changed. She closed her eyes and focused. It was rare to see her so concentrated. At least, it was the first time Rayen saw her like that. An aura appeared around her body. This didn''t happen with the other followers.


    The commander stepped back. He had used a lot of his mana. Even if it was far from all his mana, there was no need for him to use it all. Another commander put his hand behind Kris and continued. The exhausted commander sat down to meditate.


    After another half an hour, the second commander also stepped back and was replaced by three captains. Kris'' sweat accumulated on the floor, but she was calm. The followers already recovered and were watching her. Their faces full of astonishment. "How long does she plan to go?" they said.


    "Not only does she have a great magic capability, but also a powerful body."


    Twenty minutes went by until she finally collapsed. "Good." A commander took her to the corner. "This is excellent. The Red Demon won a great member. Not even Eolf or Xuxie could sustain it for that long. I have great hopes for you." He looked at Rayen and the others. "Leave now." He wasn''t angry, but this wasn''t a place for servants to be. They only barely allowed it because of Kris, but now that she was unconscious, they had to leave.


    "That was impressive," Saya said.


    "Yes," Rayen said, "it makes you think about foundations."


    "Solely you will reflect regarding that." Vesh shook his head.


    "Normally, something like that is too dangerous," Saya said. "I don''t know how they could stabilize it."


    "It''s just a head start," Vesh said. "They''re granted an immense amount of power for a amount of time. If they wish to retain that power, they need to exert themselves in training."


    "We should work hard," Rayen said. "It doesn''t matter if they are strong. What matters is becoming strong by ourselves."


    "You''re right, little Ray." Yune put her hand on Rayen''s shoulder.


    "That''s right." Saya took Yune''s arm. "We should train, so we will leave."


    "I will wait for Kris," Rayen said. "I''m worried about her, and I really need her help."


    "I will..." Yune said.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    "We need to train. We cannot waste time here." Saya dragged Yune away. "Let''s go, Yune."


    "Too." Stone nodded and left.


    Vesh looked at Rayen, then sat on the floor looking at the building.


    Rayen sat away from him. It looked strange to be close to him. ''Takuya...'' He missed Takuya, he was his only true friend. ''Now I have more friends, yet I feel more lonely than ever before...'' All the symbols he just saw appeared on his mind.


    An hour passed. Kris walked out of the building with a serious expression. The two commanders were talking to her. She glanced at Vesh and Rayen, made a hand signal telling them to wait and walked away.


    "I expected Kris to come jumping around," Rayen said.


    "Indeed."


    They waited there for five minutes more.


    "Yay. You waited for me." Kris appeared out of nowhere and hugged them from behind. "Where are Yune, Saya and Stone?"


    "They went to train," Rayen said.


    "Nehehe. So you guys skipped training to play with me? You rascals."


    "We need your help."


    "Sure. What do you want? I can''t help you steal Yune''s panties. Or..." She stepped back and with her hands on her chest. "Do you want mine?" She flushed.


    "Well," Vesh said. "I do desire Yune''s underwear, but that wasn''t the purpose of my plea for assistance."


    "We need books from the library, but we cannot go there. It will be better if it''s the advanced library."


    "Eh? Books are boring."


    "I prefer recording crystals," Vesh said.


    "Those are fun. They come in nice colors and you can play with them."


    "We need them to become strong. Please, help me get some books."


    "Sure, sure. I can do that. But not the ones from the other library. We can''t take them outside."


    They walked to the library. Kris smiled and jumped around. She turned around to them. "Let''s play. Let''s make animal figures with mana." She raised her hand and a tiger appeared. "Look, a little kitty. Your turn."


    "We can''t use mana, that''s what we want the books for."


    "Oh. I see. Then... tag!" She disappeared and appeared in front of Vesh.


    "Wait, wait, wait." Vesh jumped back while shaking both hands. "If you attack me, you will kill me. Your body is full of mana from early on."


    ''On a moment of life and dead, he didn''t use any weird words,'' Rayen thought.


    "True. If you die, you can''t play anymore. Imagine a life without playing." She trembled.


    "If you are dead, you don''t have much of a life to begin with..." Rayen said.


    "A game without mana that doesn''t use our bodies. Hmm... This is hard. What about word chain?"


    "Ehh... sure." Rayen looked at the ground. He was sad that he couldn''t reciprocate Kris'' happiness. But... he just couldn''t.


    "I will start. Kitty."


    "Yune," Vesh said, always thinking about Yune.


    "Eyes," Rayen said.


    "Stupid Vesh." Kris shook her head. "Yune will never like you."


    "Hey!"


    "You lost." Kris struck a victory pose. "Hey doesn''t start with u."


    Rayen smiled. "Thanks."


    "Eh? I haven''t got your books yet."


    "Not for that, for... everything."


    "You dummy." She pushed Rayen. "Friends help each other."


    Vesh looked at them, confused.


    Kris sang a catchy sweet song while skipping along the way.


    They reached the library, some followers were inside reading or looking at crystals.


    "Wait here." She went inside. Ten minutes later, she came back. "I forgot to ask. Which books do you want?"


    "I need books about foundation techniques and alchemy. Any will be fine. Especially if they have recipes."


    "My desires are the following; I will keep them simple for you: a foundation technique crystal and a recording crystal with the barrier skill."


    "Yeah, I need books about barrier as well."


    "Why books? Crystals far excel books," Vesh said.


    "Hmm..." Rayen doubted. "Okay, take a few foundation technique crystals."


    "They got angry last time I took many crystals. I will take those two and you share it. Okay? Sharing is caring." She went back inside.


    Vesh and Rayen stood there, waiting. The servants came back from working and stared at them. It was uncomfortable, but they stood there, they couldn''t do anything about it.


    Kris came back with many books and two crystals. "Here." She gave the items to them. "Can we play now?"


    "No, we need to read and train."


    "Okay. When you have time, come play with me. It gets boring. Those guys are boring, but they say they will bring me my kitty soon."


    "That''s great," Rayen said. "I can''t wait to see him."


    "I will pet him and hug him lots and lots. Hehehehe. I can''t wait either. I''m thinking on his or her name. It has to start with K, like my name."


    "That''s good. Thanks a lot, Kris." Rayen left with his books.


    "You have my utter appreciation." Vesh took the two crystals and left.


    Rayen left the books on the floor and fell on the bed. "Sigh... What a long day. And it just started." He sat down. "Let''s see how it looks."


    He inhaled and exhaled. Mana flowed through his body. He controlled it to see what was inside. What he saw was... terrible. His whole body was destroyed; he couldn''t form a foundation like this. "Ugh... I can''t do anything like this. Yune was right. I need to heal myself before even thinking about creating my foundation technique."


    "My little ones," Suei said, "in ten minutes you have to go to the great hall to eat lunch."


    Rayen stood up. "I can''t leave the books on the open." He looked around, but the room only had a bed. "Hmmm..." He broke the bed with his hands and hid the books inside. "That will do for now."


    He went to the great hall with the other servants. The servants were covered in dirt and were so tired that they couldn''t keep their eyes opened. Rayen and his group weren''t like that at all; which caused them to get many stares. The followers were sitting there, waiting for their food. Once again, it was the servants'' job to serve them food. Suei waved his hand and all the dirt disappeared from the servants. It was unfit for them to serve food like that.


    When it was the servants'' turn, there was more food than yesterday.


    "All of you worked hard, so you deserve this." Yuhal looked in Rayen''s direction. "Well... Almost all."


    The servants again stared at Rayen and his group. The rakuyas were safe, since they stayed working and weren''t as close to the group.


    After lunch, Rayen went back to his room, while the others went to train. In the pile of books, there was only one big alchemy book. He took it out and read it. The first half of the book described many different processes alchemists used. The second half had many different recipes. He looked for recipes that could help him heal his injuries. There were two different pills that fit that description. He read them twice, took the book and left.


    At the corridor, servants were walking around. There were some followers as well. They looked at the servants with contempt, but they had no time to waste with them, so they just kept walking. Rayen didn''t know what the servants or followers were doing. Not did he care. All he wanted was to go to the greenhouse he saw.


    ''I don''t have to worry about being seen on the corridor, but going outside will be hard. I don''t want them to follow me around, especially the followers. Just by their name you can tell that if they see me, they will follow me.''


    The inner ward was empty. None of the servants wanted to come back there after all that hard work, and none of the followers had anything to do there. Rayen waited a few minutes until no one saw him, and rushed there. He recalled the castle''s image. Which was easy, since the image was burned in his mind. He moved with ease around the inner ward, until he stopped in front of a wall.


    "This wall shouldn''t be here." He frowned. The wall didn''t appear on his vision. He closed his eyes and visualized it once again. "Yup, there definitely was no wall here..." He touched it. It was solid. "This is... just like in the Rakuya Forest, right?" He looked at the sides, making sure no one was looking at him. He ran to it and jumped... He passed as if there was nothing there. "I knew it!"


    He kept walking. The towers, empty buildings and rubble made a sort of labyrinth. Yet, this didn''t impede Rayen in the slightest. He had a mental map of the place, so he knew which paths lead nowhere and which ones lead to the greenhouse. After walking for a quarter of an hour, he stood in front of his objective. He opened the main door and went inside.


    "Good thing it was opened, or I would had to break it, and that would be a shame." He felt strange inside the greenhouse, but continued nonetheless. He took out the book and looked for the plants depicted.


    "What are you doing here?" Ren''s voice sounded across the room. "You should be working."

 Chapter 13: First Alchemy Recipe

    "What are you doing here?" Ren''s voice sounded across the room. "You should be working." He wasn''t looking at Rayen''s direction, but touching a plant Rayen couldn''t recognize.


    "We already finished working for today, so I came here. I need to look for some plants."


    "I see... Tell the me whole truth."


    The Red Demon inside Rayen moved; he had to obey. "I got injured yesterday while trying to form my foundation."


    He looked at Rayen, a green light flashed on his eyes. "So? You looked for me to cure you?"


    "No, I know you won''t do such a thing. I read on a book about a pill, and wanted to make it."


    "That book?" Ren gestured toward the book. "A servant can''t take books from the library. You''re Kris'' friend, right? That girl... doing whatever she pleases. Sigh... It''s like they said. She isn''t fit to be in the Red Demon."


    Rayen looked around and was going to take a plant when Ren interrupted him.


    "You think you can take them? These are property of the Red Demon."


    "Am I not the Red Demon''s property as well?"


    "Yes."


    "If the plants help me, they will help the Red Demon."


    "They will be wasted on you." Ren went back to look at the plant.


    "The only waste is having them here not being used."


    "What can a kid who can''t yet use magic do? Do you think you''re able to concoct a good pill?"


    "Yeah, I''m sure of it."


    "Well, let''s test it then. Good alchemists are always needed." He waved his hand and a dozen different plants and roots together with three rocks flew in front of Rayen. There were two or three of each plant and root. "Friend of Kris, let me see your alchemy skills. Some of these are what you need to concoct the pill you want, others will be lethal if you add them. You can concoct in that room over there. Go ahead."


    Rayen recognized most of the plants and roots, except for two of them. Even if he recognized them, this was his first time seeing them in person. These were rare plants he saw on the books back at home. Of course, recognizing them didn''t mean he could create a pill from them.


    "I don''t know, these aren''t the ones in the book." He showed Ren the book.


    "This pill isn''t on that book. It''s stronger and better. If you can''t do it without following a book. Then you are worthless as an alchemist and you should leave."


    Rayen took the plants and carefully touched each of their stems and leaves. He smelled them and observed every detail they had. He did the same with the roots and rocks. He closed his eyes and imagined them fusing with each other. "Can you at least give me a hint?" It was hopeless. He had no way of concocting it with just this much. He lacked the knowledge and experience.


    Ren shook his head twice. "Disappointing. But I''ll do it. Listen carefully. When the silver moon ghost reaches the red steel, the war elephants emerge just to be eaten by the blue birds. The northern sun rises on the green mountain made of the corpses of war elephants. The red birds, dyed green by the red steel, dance as the sun collapses on them. Got it? If you can''t do it with that, you are a failure."


    ''What the heck does that mean?'' Rayen thought, afraid of saying it out loud.


    "I will give you ten minutes. A proficient alchemist can finish it up in five without magic, so ten is more than enough. Do it now."


    ''Let me think... I need to put the northern sun above the green mountain. To create the green mountain I need the the war elephants, which are made with red steel and silver moon ghost, then get their corpses with the blue birds. After that I get the green mountain with those corpses. Next, I get the northern sun over it. Then... how did it go? The dancing green birds? The birds were green because they were dyed by the red steel... I combine red steel with red birds and it will get me something green. They are dancing... That must be fire. I must heat them up so they jump around. I get the green mountain, the dancing birds and the sun and it''s done. Now... Which of these plants is what? The red steel must be a metal. There aren''t that many rocks here. Hmm... None of them look red. Their insides? Do I need to heat them first?''


    Rayen took a knife and slashed the rocks. They were hard, so he had a hard time cutting them. He finally managed to cut them, but their insides weren''t red. "Argh... This is too hard."


    "Six minutes left. If you don''t begin in the next minute, there won''t be a chance for you to finish it up in time."


    "Steel..." He said in a low tone. "Steel is a mixture of iron and carbon. So, red steel must be a mixture as well. But on what proportions? Most of one and a little of the other? I have three rocks here, which ones do I need to mix? I guess I will have to try all combinations." Rayen scratched a small portion of the rocks on a recipient. He mixed three parts of one rock with one part of the other. In the end, he made six different compounds. Two of them were red. "It''s either one or the other..." He separated the two compounds from the others, and memorized which was which.


    "Time is running." Ren didn''t look at Rayen any longer and concentrated on the plants in the greenhouse.


    Rayen looked at the plants, leaving red steel for later. He took one of them. ''This plant is cultivated in the north and glows when heated up. So it must be the northern sun.'' He knew about that plant, so it was easy to guess. Rayen cut it into a paste and put it in a container. He heated up water and put the paste on a container on top. Between glancing at them in the book and his previous experiments, he got somewhat of an idea on how to use the instruments. It wasn''t that hard.The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    The paste glowed slightly. It would take time before it was ready. "That has the northern sun complete. What about the rest?"


    He looked at the others. He needed... birds, red and blue. "What''s a bird? I mean... Not even a specific bird, but in general, birds... Birds represent what? Air? An elevated place? Something light that can fly?


    "No, no, no." He shook his head. "I''m thinking it wrong. I shouldn''t choose them based on their names, but on what properties do they have. How can those properties combine with each other to help me. I know them, except for those two plants. So I should be able to do it." Rayen closed his eyes and imagined the plants and roots mixing. ''Both birds react differently, the red ones change color when the red steel touches them, while the blue ones eat the war elephants. The blue ones must be acidic. None of the plants I know are like that, so it must be one of the ones I don''t know. The red bird changes its color. Well, I guess its color should be red. But there are no blue plants, if it''s the color, then why aren''t there any blue ones? There''re three red plants, so I should test it first.''


    Rayen cut two small portions of the three plants and mixed them with the compounds. "Yes!" He jumped around. Only one of them became green. "This means that this is the red bird and that is the red steel." He touched the red bird. "Hmmm..." He touched the two unknown plants. "This feels similar. I''m not sure." The only way for him to be sure was to test it with the war elephants, but by that step it will be too late in case of being wrong.


    "Northern sun, done. Red birds, done. Blue birds, I hope done. Red steel, done. All I need now is the silver moon ghost." He looked at the plants and roots. "None of them are silver..."


    Rayen sat on the ground. "Moon... Moon. It should be night. Darkness? In the darkness, they are silver." He stood up and put his hands around a plant. He saw nothing. One by one. He tested them all. Until finally a root glowed with a slim silver light. "That''s it. Silver moon ghost."


    "I''m almost certain these are what I need. Let''s start..."


    He scratched the two rocks and mixed them to form a red compound. He dropped half of the compound onto what he believed was the red bird. Green patches extended all around the plant. He took it and dropped it on a container. "How much heat does it need?" He wasn''t sure. He read the book. He saw a procedure there. It described how to use one of the equipments that was filled with sand. He put the container with the red birds above the sand and heated it up.


    "Now the silver moon ghost on the red steel." He took the silver moon ghost and was about to mix it with the red steel, but he stopped. "No, this is wrong. This is silver moon, it glows silver under the moon, but what about the ghost? Where is the ghost part of the silver moon ghost here? I don''t need the whole root, just its spirit." He took out a knife on the table and scratched the root. "That''s it."


    *Brrrr* The red steel reacted to the silver moon. Big red bubbles appeared as the recipient shook. "What''s that?" *Boom boom boom* The bubbles exploded and even bigger bubbles formed. He jumped back. "I need to stop it." Rayen looked from one side to the other. *Booom booom* The explosions continued, each worse the last. If this continued, the container would break. "Waaah. Calm, calm, calm. Think about it. This must be the war elephant. To stop it I need... the blue birds." He took the plants he didn''t recognize. "Wait. Are they the blue birds? The plants don''t need to be acidic, since they need to calm this down. Are they even acidic? They aren''t blue either." *Boooom* Cracks appeared on the container. "Waaaah" He threw them into the red bubbles. The substance calmed down and the plants disappeared into a paste. A green paste. "Green mountain!"


    He looked at the side. The other paste was shining. "Northern sun." Then at the green plants who were jumping. "Jumping birds. It''s almost done." He took the green mountain and dropped it near the jumping birds, then threw the northern sun above them. "Please work." He stepped back. The northern sun collapsed on the mountain and mixed with it. A strange smell filled the room, like that of dead rats. "Go go." The two substances fell into the jumping birds and fused with them. Even if they were now one, you could still notice the three of them.


    "This needs more fire. You can never go wrong with more fire." He put the container on the oven. Then, he took a metal rod and mixed the three from far away. He was too nervous to get close to it. The three substances mixed and formed a strange viscous silver liquid. After the three were completely fused, he stopped the fire. "Ufff..." He exhaled and fell to the ground. The silver liquid solidified as it got colder. It didn''t even look like a pill, just some silver mass. Rayen looked at Ren. "I''m done."


    "You failed," Ren said.


    "Ugh..." Rayen was taken aback. "Why? It worked so well. How can this be a failure?"


    "It took you twenty-three minutes to complete it. Over twice the allowed time. You have failed."


    "But is the pill correct?"


    "If you are confident in your abilities, eat it. If you aren''t, then don''t. But how can you be an alchemist, if you cannot trust yourself? How can anyone eat your pills, if even you cannot do it? Trust your judgment. Do you think the one you made was the correct one or do you think it''s not?"


    After hearing him, Rayen didn''t hesitate any longer. He put the silver mass in his mouth and swallowed it. It was the sourest thing Rayen had ever tasted. He wanted to puke, but he refrained from doing so, or he will waste the pill. He fell to the ground once more. "Ugh..."


    "You will have to wait and see if it''s the right one. Since you failed, leave."


    Rayen struggled to get up and left the greenhouse. The road back was hard; he could hardly walk. Once he reached his room, he fell on the bed and slept.


    "Servants, come," Yuhal said. "It''s time to clean the library."


    Rayen woke up. He didn''t really want to go, but he had no other choice. The other servants were eager to go, since this was the only chance they had to learn.


    "You have one hour to clean."


    Rayen cleaned with listlessness. He didn''t have much interest in looking at the books now, since he had his own in his room. The same was true for his group. They got their abilities already and just wanted to train. However, this attitude caused the other servants to glare at them. They still needed to learn the techniques, so they didn''t like people being lazy.


    After cleaning, Rayen read to the book he saw yesterday. The one that had the palace technique. He compared the symbols on his head with the ones on paper. Most of them were correct, but the ones that failed had slight differences. "Now I see... I failed because I remembered them wrong." Even if the symbols were mostly right, those little differences meant the difference between a working foundation and one that could kill you. He fixed the symbols on his mind. He wasn''t going to use that technique, but he kept it as a reference for creating his own technique. He spent the rest of the time looking for books he may ask Kris next time.


    Just like yesterday, after cleaning the library, the servants went to the great hall to eat dinner. They ate the follower''s leftovers.


    After a long and hard day, Rayen sat down on his bed. He closed his eyes and imagined inside his body. He inhaled and exhaled. "I promised Yune to use her technique, but it''s just a quick look." He needed mana to be able to look inside his body. The mana flowed inside. "Let''s see if the pill worked."


    *Paaam* The door slammed against the wall. Rayen opened his eyes. He saw six servants with sticks on their hands walking toward him.

 Chapter 14: No Mercy

    Six men entered the room with sticks in their hands.


    Rayen stood up. "What do you want?"


    They looked from one side to the other. "Where are your crystals?"


    Rayen noticed that one of them had two crystals on his hand. "Are those... Vesh''s?"


    "Where are your crystals?!" Losing his patience, a guy slashed with his weapon.


    Rayen crouched and the stick passed above his head. The attack was nothing Rayen couldn''t handle. ''Much slower than Takuya.'' Rayen was about to snatch the stick away, when someone tried to kick him. He jumped back, barely evading it. He saw another stick coming his way; another guy had attacked him. *Baam* This time, they hit him. He collided with the wall and fell to the floor. A warm trail of blood traveled across his head.


    Pain filled Rayen''s head. He tried to get up, but someone kicked him. *Paa* Another guy punched him.


    "Where are your crystals?" One of them walked forward.


    "I... I don''t have any." Rayen looked at them. He recognized two of them. They were the servants who stared at him while he was waiting for the books. The others might have been there too; Rayen didn''t pay attention at that time.


    The guy took the book in the floor. "You could''ve asked for crystals, but you asked for a few stupid books? What a retard," their leader said. "Search the room, he must have hidden them somewhere."


    The guy who first attacked him slammed his stick on Rayen''s face. "How dare you evade me. I will make you pay for that." He stepped on Rayen''s stomach.


    *Cough cough* Rayen coughed blood. He moved to his side, his whole body hurt.


    "Remember that we can''t kill him," the leader said.


    One guy kicked the bed and the books fell. "I found them." He took them out. "Foundation, foundation, foundation. Why the heck do you want so many foundations?"


    "He really is a retard. Take them anyway."


    "Look, a barrier technique."


    The leader knelt in front of Rayen and held him by the neck. "Next time get us some crystals, okay?" He threw him to the floor and kicked him one last time.


    Rayen sat down. ''I have to wait. If I open the door now, they will come back.'' He put his ear on the floor. One door closed, two doors closed, three, four, five... "Now." He quickly opened the door and saw how the last door closed. "Okay, so he lives there." A man came to him, covered in blood.


    "Vesh?"


    "Indeed." Vesh brushed off some of his blood. "It befell to you as well, uh? Those lowly bastards assailed you. Yet, here you are, outside, observing them."


    "What do you want?" Rayen frowned.


    Vesh smiled. "If my guess is correct, as I hope it is, we possess identical intentions."


    "Justice. Right?"


    "I would call it revenge, but yes. Justice. They committed an abhorrent mistake; they didn''t went all the way on their attacks. When you attack, you should proceed with vehemence. Not stopping until the conclusion. They failed to do so; they did it inadequately. And they will suffer for that."


    "First, we must check Yune and Saya. I hope they are alright."


    Vesh nodded. "I will go to paradise. I mean, I will inspect my beloved''s room. You go check Saya''s."


    "Hmm... Let''s both go to check Yune."


    "Knock first," Rayen said. Vesh didn''t hear him or didn''t care, since he opened the door without knocking. A stick evaded Vesh and went in Rayen''s direction. He didn''t have time to react. *Pooom* He fell to the floor, bleeding. ''Much faster than Takuya...'' It hurt him more than the other guys'' attacks together.


    Saya stood at the door, not letting them pass. "What are you doing entering a lady''s room in the middle of the night?"


    "Ugh..." Rayen held his head to prevent it from moving from side to side. He wanted to respond, but couldn''t.


    "My princess, I have forged my path to examine your welfare. If something terrible were to befell to my beloved, I would be willing to annihilate the entire planet, since a planet without you isn''t worth existing."


    "Little Ray, are you alright?" Yune dodged Vesh and went to check on Rayen.


    "I''m not." Rayen pointed at Saya. "That almost killed me."


    "Oh, don''t exaggerate," Saya said. "It was a light strike."


    "You used mana." Rayen pointed at her hands. There were still some traces of mana on them.


    "Let''s see if I can do something to heal you." Yune put her hands on Rayen''s head and a warm light appeared.


    "I also pray for your divine assistance," Vesh said.


    Rayen didn''t felt anything except the warm.


    "Uh... I''m not skilled enough. Sorry."


    "Thanks anyway," Rayen said. "I''m glad you two are alright."


    "Come inside." Yune went back to her room.


    "My queen. I''m utmost honored. The most acclaimed time has finally occurred. I find it hard to believe, but in the depths of my soul I knew it will happen promptly. The time in which you would summon me to the most sacred of places, to your holy abode."


    "What happened to you?" Yune asked Rayen.


    "We got attacked by six servants."


    "That is indeed what transpired," Vesh said. "Those six lowly savages did unspeakable things to us. Unassisted, they''re weak, even in groups of two or three, but with them being six and armed, we couldn''t guard ourselves satisfactorily."


    "I thought you two came to do unspeakable things as well," Saya said.


    "We would never do such a thing," Rayen responded with a firm tone.


    "..." Vesh, on the other hand, didn''t say anything.


    ''Vesh, come on.'' Rayen stared at Vesh.


    "Why would they do such a thing?" Yune put her hand on her mouth and looked at him with an anxious look.


    "The servants hate us," Rayen said. "They saw us getting books and crystals from Kris, so they came to attack us."


    "What are you going to do?"


    "Justice."


    "I imagined." Yune exhaled. "Do you need help?"


    "No," Vesh said. "This is something we must do ourselves. I cannot put you in danger. It needs to be us and only us. We must show them what happens if you mess with us. If that doesn''t happen, everybody will come vent with us. First is this incompetent group, but the next one may not be so amateurish. They will go all the way. We must strike first and hard. Set them as an exemplar. Then protect ourselves."If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    "I agree." Rayen nodded.


    "Men..." Yune sighed. "With their honor and stuff. It''s safer if all four of us go. Five, with Stone as well."


    "We will be fine," Rayen said.


    "I''m sorry, my princess, but I must excuse myself now." Vesh bowed and looked at Rayen. "Let''s proceed with our revenge."


    "Let''s check on the rakuyas and Stone."


    "Stone will be fine," Vesh said. "I pity them if they go against him."


    Rayen and Vesh went to Remya''s room. This time, Rayen went ahead and knocked first. No one answered. He did it again, then entered the room. The room was empty.


    Rayen stepped back, his heartbeat increased. "Do you think something bad happened to them?"


    "Don''t be afraid," Vesh said. "They must be together in the other room."


    They went to Sonya''s room. Rayen knocked.


    "Who is it?" A voice asked inside.


    "Rayen and Vesh."


    The door opened. The two rakuyas were there together.


    "What happened?" Sonya asked. "You two are covered in wounds."


    "Six servants attacked us."


    "Why?" Remya asked. "For skipping work?" There was clear annoyance on her tone of voice.


    "We went with Kris to take out some books and crystals. They saw us and attacked us to steal them."


    "You left us all alone in there," Sonya said.


    "Right, right... If there is a next time, we will tell her to take you too."


    "Okay." Sonya nodded. "So, books and crystals? Did you asked her to rely the message to the rakuyas?"


    "I forgot," Rayen said.


    "What?!" The two of them screamed.


    "Eh..." Rayen scratched his head. "I was too busy thinking about foundations. It just went over my head." ''It will take years for the village to get in danger anyway,'' Rayen thought. He didn''t want to say that outloud for fear of angering them.


    "..." They just looked at him in silence.


    "I remembered it," Vesh said. "But I don''t think it will be appropriate yet. Think about it. Kris doesn''t have anything, how is she going to prove them that she is telling the truth. She can''t even get inside the Rakuya Forest. And even if she meets a rakuya outside, the rakuya won''t believe her a single word."


    "What do we do then? The holy trees are still in danger."


    "I don''t know," Rayen said. "We will think about this later."


    "You guys... Are the worst." Remya pushed them outside and slammed the door.


    "Well, the rakuyas are fine," Rayen said. "Let''s go."


    They went outside to look for the things they needed. Half an hour later, Vesh came back with an unlit improvised torch and a big rock. Rayen only had a stick he found, probably from a broken shovel. It was quite sturdy.


    "No mercy," Vesh said.


    "No mercy." Rayen nodded.


    Vesh left the torch on his room. He won''t need it for now.


    They went to the room of the sixth one. The one Rayen saw.


    "Who is there?" He got up. He was reading a book, he dropped it on his bed.


    Without saying anything Vesh dashed toward him and attacked him with his rock. The rock hit his chin, breaking it. A few teeth and blood stained the wall. The guy fell to the floor.


    "Where are the others?"


    "Fa fiu." His jaw was hanging. He couldn''t pronounce the words correctly. He tried to get up, but Vesh put his hand on the guy''s mouth and slammed the rock on his left knee. His leg bent in an unnatural direction. The guy screamed through Vesh'' hand.


    Vesh looked at Rayen. Rayen was taken aback. "No mercy," Vesh repeated.


    Rayen nodded and straightened himself.


    "I will say it clearly, so that even an idiot like yourself can understand me," Vesh said. "If you don''t tell us where they are. One by one, your limbs will break. Is that what you want? Let alone learning magic, you won''t even be able to leave this room. Am I clear?"


    "Fan fan." He nodded. "Wa twel fiu."


    They dragged him outside. "Point to the rooms."


    He pointed to five different rooms. "Good." Vesh dragged him back to his room. "I know where two of them reside, and he pointed them faithfully." Vesh threw him to the floor and hit him again with the rock.


    "Aaaaahhh."


    "Are you going to go back on your word?" Rayen took Vesh arm to stop him.


    "He will apprise the others."


    "You cannot go back to your word."


    "Wa won''t, wa won''t," the guy protested.


    "No mercy." Vesh raised the rock.


    "No." Rayen took the rock from Vesh''s hand.


    "Then what if they come to us?"


    "We can take them all."


    "That will put us in jeopardy for nothing."


    "We can carry him with us."


    "Carry him? Too much of a hassle. We need to carry many things and he will be a liability."


    "I won''t go back on my words."


    "You may not desire to do it, but I will."


    "I won''t let you." Rayen put the stick on Vesh neck.


    "Ugh... Fine." Vesh stood up. When Rayen took out the stick from Vesh neck, Vesh punched the lame guy twice to knock him out.


    "Hey." Rayen glared at Vesh.


    "At least that."


    Rayen took the book the guy was reading. They left and entered the room he pointed at. What he said was true. There was one of the attackers there. He was meditating with a crystal on his hand.


    Vesh slammed the rock on the guy''s head. He fell back in pain, not knowing what had happened. When clarity came back to his eyes, he saw Rayen and Vesh punching him. His body filled with pain and blood.


    "Heeelp!" He screamed.


    "Shhhhh..." Vesh covered his mouth. "It will be a problem if someone hears us."


    Rayen approached the guy. "If you didn''t want to suffer, you shouldn''t have done those things you did." He slammed the stick right on his arteries. His hand wriggled.


    "Argh."


    "This is justice. Once you attack someone, you allow them to do the same thing to you."


    "Don''t talk so highly," he said. "You''re doing what we did."


    "No. It''s not the same. Attacking an innocent and attacking someone who attacks innocents are two different things."


    "You guys made a mistake," Vesh said. "When you attack, you must go all the way. Not leave things unfinished. You must attack swiftly and leave everything on your attack." He held his mouth and with the other hand he raised the rock. "Like this" He slammed it on his elbow. *Crack* The guy screamed, but his voice was lost. Vesh raised the rock once again, and slammed it again. Blood splashed everywhere. *Poooom poooom* He slammed again and again. His elbow broke completely, leaving the arm hanging half-broke. It was one hit short from completely breaking.


    "Rayen, your turn." Vesh gave the rock to Rayen. "I need to get the torch."


    Rayen looked at the rock on his hand. The last time he attacked someone with a rock was with Lena. He smashed her head until she died. And now he was using a rock once again to attack someone.


    "Are you not going to do it? Are you a coward?"


    "I''m not." Rayen''s sight left the rock and went into Vesh''s eyes. "I was remembering the last time I killed someone with a rock."


    Vesh was taken aback. He could tell Rayen was telling the truth, but he never expected Rayen to say such a thing. The guy on the floor squirmed.


    "Don''t worry." Rayen held the guys mouth. "I won''t kill you. I can''t kill you. The oath prevents me from doing so, but not from crippling you." He slammed the rock on the guy''s shoulder. It was harder to break the arm that way, but Rayen just had to slam more times.


    Vesh left the room and went to look for the torch.


    *Pooom poooom* He kept slamming the rock on the guy''s arm until it fell to the floor. The guy was crying as the floor became a pool of blood. Rayen stood up and went to the bed nearby. The blood fell on his clothes. Thankfully, they were easy to clean. So he had no trouble cleaning them. The guy couldn''t move anyway.


    Vesh came back and used the torch on the guy''s arm to stop the bleeding. The guy squealed as his flesh blackened. He took the rock and did the last strike to break his other arm. You could see the guy''s white humerus and tendons hanging out. He closed the injury with the fire once more.


    "Now your legs." Rayen took the rock and knelt to attack his legs. He discovered a yellow fluid mixed on the pool of blood. "Disgusting." One by one, he broke the two of them. Vesh looked at him while holding the guy''s mouth and the torch. Once Rayen finished, he applied the torch to the guy''s open injury.


    In a few minutes, it all ended. The guy stood on the floor, unconscious. His legs and arms at his side, not connected to his body. Below him, a pool of blood and piss.


    "Five more to go," Vesh said. Rayen nodded and the left the room. The next room was completely empty, and so was the following one.


    "Where are they?" Rayen opened the door. A stick sped toward him. It hit him on the face. He walked back, his face covered in blood.


    "I advised you to dismember him," Vesh said. "Yet, you didn''t heed my counseling."


    Four of them walked outside. "So, it was you guys. How dare you do such a thing?!" He slammed the stick on the floor and broke it. "Dismember him you said? I will dismember each one of you and then torture you until you understand that you should never had messed with us."


    Some of the servants went outside to enjoy the show; others just closed the doors and made sure no one could enter.


    Vesh moved the torch to their faces. The two servants attacking him moved back. When they tried to hit back, Vesh defended with the rock. The stick broke in half. And Vesh pressed forward.


    While Vesh advanced, Rayen receded. Rayen received a constant barrage of strikes from both sides. He had a hard time blocking them. Some attacks slipped past his defense and hit his body and arms. It wasn''t much damage, but he didn''t have a chance to counterattack.


    Rayen exhaled. Time slowed down for him. He saw their sticks pass in front of him, one by one. He evaded each one of them. He took the initiative to smash the leader''s leg. Once he knelt on the floor. He aimed at his eye, just above his nose, not too close, not too far away. He used both hands to put as much power as possible in this attack. *Paaaam* The hit was perfect. His eye became red and bright scarlet blood filled his iris. His hands shook in front of his face. Rayen took the chance to slam his neck. The other servant was trembling. He couldn''t believe what had happened to his leader.


    With the guy like this and now in a one versus one, it took Rayen only a moment to defeat him. Vesh as well took advantage of the moment. He burned a guy''s face and slammed him with a rock. Only one guy was left.


    When the guy saw that his companions were defeated. He knelt on the floor. "Please, forgive me. Let me go. I won''t do anything to you guys aga..."


    His speech was interrupted by Vesh''s rock. His jaw deformed and pushed back in an unnatural fashion.


    Vesh dragged the two he knocked into the room. "Drag them to the room."


    Rayen did his part and dragged the other two.


    "I... I..." The guy with the broken leg who informed them from before trembled as they entered the room.


    "I forewarned you that this will ensue," Vesh said. "We should had removed his extremities before."


    "Everything turned out okay."


    "But what if it didn''t?" Vesh shook his head.


    "It''s cleaning time," Yuhal shouted. "Servants, get out of the room in one minute."


    After the minute passed, most of the servants were outside. Rayen''s face was covered with bruises and blood, which made stark contrast with his impeccable clothes. Vesh was equally bruised, but he had less blood on him. His clothes were a mess.


    "We''re missing six." Yuhal noticed. The servants went silent. If you heard carefully, you could notice six different screams. Five of which came from the same room.