Crimson Core

The next day…

It was time for the mid-year assessment, Darcy had come and taken Kai from his chamber early that morning.

Presently they were standing in front of the mage who would admit them.

“individual or faction?” The mage asked Darcy and Kai in a gruff voice that carried the weight of lost dreams and regret.

“Faction” Darcy answered.

Darcy and Kai were the only ones eligible to enter, Samantha was not because she was not a student of any of the academies.

The mage scribbled something down and asked again. “Name of faction?”

“Shadow”

The mage looked up at them; this was the first time he had heard the name Shadow as a faction. But the mage could not care less.

“Number of participating members?”

“Two”

“You can go... Next!”

It didn’t take long for everyone to be recorded, as most students were either in a faction or alone.

Kai was uninterested in everything that was going on. he was all whistling and absent-minded… Or so it looked.

“Hello…!” A loud voice was heard. Following the sound, Darcy saw that it was a mage using a sound element spell to speak to everyone.

“Yes, thank you, This is the seven thousand fifty-sixth mid-year assessment.”

The mage spoke about the rules and all. He explained the topology of the land.

The land was divided into six lands. Well, five lands and one ocean.

The rest of the five lands were: the forest, it was a simple, flat land covered in trees and shrubs, it was a green land.

The second was the desert. It was covered in sand, and the sunlight there seemed more intense; not a drop of water was found there.

The third land was the volcanic wasteland. the whole expanse of land was covered in either molten lava or solid lava. The sun there was not as hot as the desert but the molten lava aided in the heat production.

The fourth land was a mountain range, it seemed like paradise, the sun intensity was perfect, there was water, and the grassland was not much but it was enough, it looked like a utopia… It was a utopia.

The fifth land was the most dangerous; it was covered in a purple lightning storm all day, every day. It had mountains, so high that they pierced the heavens. At the tip of the tallest mountain, there seemed to be something... Or someone controlling the purple lightning. It was all simply weird and sinister; the land was covered in snow all day, and anybody who landed there was either killed by the cold or the lightning… Or they simply never came back.

It was known as the forbidden section. That was the worst place to be sent to.

The rules were quite simple. The main objective of this test was for the mages to train themselves while gaining experience in everything, from fighting to protecting oneself.

The student mage had to kill different spirit beasts.

Spirit beasts were normal animals that had absorbed essence into their bodies, causing them to evolve into a different species of their own. Their ancestors had already become extinct, making these spirit beasts the animals that made up the animal kingdom.

The spirit beast ranking was quite simple; there were three major ranks: the bronze rank, the silver rank and the gold rank.

Each rank had ten layers; the mid-year assessment test had the bronze rank and the silver-ranked spirit beast.

The bronze rank was too easy to kill, and the gold rank was rare and powerful. Only a strong baron-level mage could contain at most a fifth-layer gold rank spirit beast.

There were cheats, though; the academic bureau was no saint organization. Students could kill other students and their merit would be moved to the student who just killed.

“Blah blah blah.” The mage spoke for some more time, utterly boring all who stood there, both students and instructors alike.

“and so... LET THE MID-YEAR ASSESSMENT BEGIN!”

—SWOOSH…. CRASH—

Behind the sound machine, the huge podium was hit by a huge blast. Surprisingly, the stone podium didn’t get destroyed. It was the key to opening the portal to the land of the assessment.

—SKZT—

Space around the podium began to distort as it opened up, on the other side, a green land could be seen, it looked like a painting… So surreal.

It didn’t take time for most of the first-year students to get the memo as second- and third-year students began running and flying, etcetera, into the rift.

“We better get going.” Darcy informed Kai as she started flying into the rift.

“This is exciting.” Kai started running as well. Following Darcy behind her.

The moment Kai stepped into the rift, he felt as though he was drowning but there was no water. He found himself in a dark place; it seemed hopeless.

It appeared to go on for infinity. Suddenly a piercing light fell into the darkness, almost blinding Kai, who had decided to swim into the light.

It didn’t take long for Kai to get to the light. When he got to the light, it turned out to be an opening.

—crash—

Kai fell into the light onto the hard ground.

Kai fell on his buttocks. “Ouch.”

It took some time for Kai to get used to the area. His eyes were burning from staying in the darkness for so long. Kai tried his best to offset the discomfort he felt.

Back in the real world...

“He has already reached the other side?”

“Yes.”

“That was quick; even Denzel never made it this quickly.”

“He has a strong soul.”

“Indeed.”

It took some time, but Kai finally got a hang of what was going on.

Kai was in a domain made of magic. The place looked normal, but it wasn’t. Kai’s senses felt dull all of a sudden. It was a restriction established on the place to help students sharpen themselves.

He also noticed that Darcy had not been with him, although they crossed over at the same time.

“I wonder where Darcy could be.” Kai asked himself as he walked around.

Darcy experienced the same ordeal as Kai all experienced the same thing, but since Darcy was not new to all these things, she seemed fairly fine when she entered the land.

“I wonder where Kai is doing?”

“—achoo!” Kai sneezed loudly. “Who is talking about me?”

Somewhere in the land, someone dressed in white and with the silver wing insignia spoke into a million-mile stone.

“Is everybody braced?” The man spoke into the stone.

“Yes!”

“Yes!”

“Aye!”

“…”

“Mm m. If you come across him... Kill him,” The mage said, speaking into the relic.

“Yes!” The ten or so members of the Silver Wing faction spoke in unison through the million-mile stone.

The mage who had commanded them deactivated the relic and kept his stone back in its place.

The assessment was meant to go on for a month. The first day was over, and Darcy had found a cave to rest in and called her base in the meantime.

Originally the cave was occupied by a woodland bear, which was bigger and stronger than normal bears. These bears had evolved and absorbed essence into their bodies, causing alterations in appearance and abilities.

The woodland bear was a sixth-layer bronze-ranked spirit beast. Its black fur, in addition to its height of two and a half meters when fully grown, made it menacing.

Luckily, the woodland bear that Darcy encountered was just waking up from its hibernation; it hadn’t eaten anything, and as a result, it was comparatively weaker compared to its peak state, making it easier for Darcy to kill it.

Kai, on the other hand, didn’t have such luck; he didn’t see any cave or mountain in his plane of sight.

“Oh well, I have to use what I have.”

Kai found some leaves and laid them down for him to sleep on.

Soon enough, Kai was already asleep; he had been weak as he had been walking all day.

“Snore~”

The time in here was the same outside, so Kai had slept the normal length of time he always did when he was outside.

Soon enough it was morning, and the rays of the red sun hit Kai’s face, waking him up. Surprisingly, there was no one there; he was supposed to be overcome by less than enough mages wanting to take his life or something like that.

“Sigh… This is not what I was anticipating.”

Kai was disappointed, but he was helpless against fate; yesterday he hadn’t even come across any spirit beast. It was as though they were scared of Kai.

They were scared of him. Well, not actually scared of him, Kai had within him: Demon blood. His aura alone was enough to ward off different spirit beasts, but not all.

Somewhere deep inside the forest, in the forbidden section, a pair of eyes shot open.

Kai walked around the part of the land he had been dropped at.

“Argh!!…KKK!”

The gruff, croaked sound of someone screaming at the top of his lungs before being choked or so it sounded.

Two mages had been in a fight. The victorious one was covered in blood, most of which belonged to the other mage he had killed.

“—What’s this? What’s happening?”

The victorious mage was in shock; he had killed people before but this was weird. The dead mage dried up at a speed visible to the eyes. Behind the shrubs where Kai hid, his meridians were sucking crazily.

This seemed normal to Kai, as this was not the first time it was happening to him but the strange thing was that instead of the blood essence getting stored in his meridians, it was being refined without him making any effort. This was unbelievable.

Here was a simple explanation for this: Cipher was not only a knowledge receptacle. It was something more; it could be said to be a symbiote.

When it fused with Kai, it took everything and replaced it with itself. From the blood, the bones, and the muscles to the flesh, none of it was left; the only unchanged thing was Kai’s soul.

The new Kai could not exist without blood essence simply put, blood essence was the new fuel to power Kai’s new body.

Kai was a machine that ran on blood essence. Normal humans did not possess this essence; this essence was only possessed by mages who had already absorbed heaven’s essence and refined it as theirs.

Kai’s soul had been fused with Syther’s second soul. As a result, Cipher could not eat his soul up, as it had the particles of a god’s soul. Gods were immortal; they lived for so long everything that was overdone or overused.

Most gods had two or more souls, so losing one was no big deal.

Phill Nebraska

Element: fire

Rank: First layer Count mage

Loyalty: none existent

“Was he a part of a cult?”

The standing mage asked no one in particular; he was scared but still had to leave.

“I simply can’t just let you go now, can I?”

The mage stopped in his tracks as he heard the voice behind him.

“Wh—what do you want?” The mage asked as he turned around.

“Oh nothing. Just a few things, one, your merit...and your life.”

Kai was really bored, these days had not been fun for him at all. He hadn’t even activated the gauntlets… But things were about to get crazy.

“Hahaha…. You? Take my life? You can try,” The mage in front of Kai seemed confident in his capabilities. He was a count level mage after all. Nonetheless, being a third year student gave him a pride that couldn’t simply be quenched.

Although this Phill wasn’t a top student, he still was somebody to take note of. The haughty smile this Phill had on his face made Kai feel relatively good about wanting to kill him; he should have been begging for his life.

After he said those words tongues of flame appeared around him. “…come on,” The fire mage urged.

“This should be fun.”

—Duh, duh—

Kai had a smile creep upon his face as he activated the gauntlets of the gods. A sinister and menacing killing intent escaped his body.

“Gulp~”

The fire mage, Phill, looked at Kai like he was seeing a demon. The explosion of Kai’s killing intent was unexpected.

‘How many people has he killed to get this kind of killing intent?… He even has a smile on his face! Who did I just meet? I have to get out of here.’

Kai had killed people; mages to be precise, but it still wasn’t enough to get this level of killing intent. The gauntlet was not a demi-god weapon for nothing.

The gauntlet could multiply Kai’s killing intent by a thousand fold, crippling the mind of his opponent… Kai hadn’t matured yet; if not, this Phill guy would already be dead.

Phill wanted to run away but he knew that he could not escape just like that even if this mage in front of home let him… All mage students were being watched by faction heads or representatives.

Mages who came from not-so-well-to-do-families had to find a pillar to lean on. Having a faction as a backer was the next best thing. But not all were blessed.

“Come at me!” The fire mage, Phill roared.

“I guess this is only natural…”

Kai didn’t know how to fight, all he did was fight as his instincts guided him. Kai dashed forward in the most sloppy but firm form Phill had ever seen.

‘Hmmph… He has power but no style… Come and die for me.’ Phill was inwardly happy, his opponent had a very sloppy style, and he could only make up for it with strength.

On the other hand, Phill was a seasoned fighter. His fire essence was not much to talk about but he was a note worthy prodigy amongst his mates.

Kai was quiet as he darted towards Phill leaving after images behind him. Phill was confident that he could take Kai. Before Kai could get too close to him, hill threw a ball of flame towards Kai.

—Bash—

The ball of flame collided with Kai’s gauntlets and dispersed into a veil of smoke.

The moment Kai got out of the smoke he could not see Phill anywhere, he had disappeared.

“DIE!!” Phill screamed when he had gotten close enough to Kai. “KKK— how… How?”

There was terror in Phill’s eyes; his attack had failed and somehow had backfired. Phill looked confused as he choked on his blood.

The gauntlets had pierced into his throat; Phill was up in the air. Kai was lifting him, holding his neck from behind. Phill took one last look at Kai with pleading eyes.

“You are weak.”

—Crack—

That was the last thing Phill heard before his neck was broken and he died. At least he knew who killed him and how he died. Phill dried up in a few moments.

“That was quick. Sigh.”

Kai dropped Phill’s dried body on the ground and walked away.

—Duh, duh—

Kai deactivated the gauntlets and checked himself.

“—This!” Kai was shocked to see his essence even lower than the last time he checked. “What is the meaning of this?”

Kai was visibly disgusted. He wanted to increase his essence purity, but he ended up depleting it.

Mages’ bodies absorb certain types of heaven’s essence based on their affinity. The refined essence helped them bend nature’s laws to their will; mages were not releasing the essence back into the surroundings but using the essence within them to wield the power of nature’s laws, granting them ultimate power.

The purity of essence in their body equalled the power they possessed and the extent to which they could bend nature’s laws.

Mages could never run out of essence even if they wanted to, but casting spells took a lot of mental energy because this was a contest of power and speed of casting spells. But for some reason, Kai seemed not to be under the same restrictions.

His restrictions appeared to be more severe... He could run out of essence! The thought of that almost made Kai cry and give up… Almost.

“Did you see that?” One of the many faction representatives asked.

“Yes… This is weird. This new faction, Shadow. They seem strong, they have gone up.”

One event could have different meanings to different people. To the students, this was a test, but to factions, this was a competition to see what faction was strongest within the Academy. It was also a platform for them to recruit students into their factions before they graduated so that the faction could have a constant flow of recruits.