Chapter 372 Don’t Ever Stop
Raze’s group had split up into two halves, in order to continue improving as quickly as possible. People were getting used to the free relaxation period they were in, and were slowly getting accustomed back into the academy life.
They were all still slightly on edge, even the teachers knew this because every time they saw them they would slightly flinch and even head back in the other direction, and the teachers themselves didn’t appear to even want to look directly in the faces of those that had survived.
Regardless, the students started to train again, all of them waiting for the next order. Currently in the red headband courtyard, nearly everyone was outside apart from Safa and Raze.
Meanwhile, at the very back of the courtyard next to the outer wall of the academy, both Liam and Simyon were sitting on the floor.
“You know I worry about when Raze is doing his crazy things,” Liam commented. “I mean, you remember what happened in the Dark Faction, right?”
“Yes, I do,” Simyon replied. “And do you remember who was the one that managed to help her in the end? It was Raze while we were unable to do anything, so she’s with the safest person.”
“You say that, but you know right now Raze isn’t, the same, you know?” Liam replied.
Simyon didn’t know how to reply to that; it was obvious to everyone that Raze was still being affected by the scuffle he had with Feebie. They had seen him step outside sometimes, trying an odd move or two.
Although the movements he would do would look sharp and on point, with plenty of gathered power, he could still only perform one movement before getting out of breath.
Raze could do something like the two-step shift, but then his breathing was out of sync for him to perform an adequate sword strike with Qi. Maybe if his opponent just ran right for him, he could perform a single slash, but then what?
“Why do you think he won’t let Safa heal him, does that guy get off on pain?” Liam replied.
“Why don’t you guys focus on your two’s training rather than someone else,” Dame annoyingly complained. “I finally thought that I could focus on getting myself stronger, and yet here I am again, looking after you guys.”
Although Dame was still figuring out how he could go against the statue away from the eyes of the Academy. His best shot might be to talk to the teacher Gunther; maybe he could use the facilities at the back that led to the mountain.
But to activate the statue, he would also need either Safa or Raze in the first place, so he could kill some time.
“Do you remember what the teachers said to you, to get the full effect of the Qi pill, you need to train hard and drain all of your energy. This is true for both of you, and I want you to focus on your techniques.
“Simyon, your body is strong as a weapon, but it is not a weapon meant for attacking; yours is more like a shield. Liam, your skills are great with using the sword. To put it simply, you are shield and sword.
“Rather than just focusing on expending all of your Qi through useless moves, I want you to do it in ways that will improve yourself. Simyon, I want you to only use Qi to enhance the strength of your body, especially when blocking attacks.
“Do nothing else, and consume the pills; we aren’t only aiming for both of you to reach the fifth stage, but to be useful in many ways to Raze and the rest of us! Same to you, Liam, I want you to focus on strength in your Qi, placing all of it in the strike of your weapon.
“The two of you can work together perfectly, Liam, you will do everything in your strength to try and hurt Simyon as much as possible, only using Qi in your weapon, not in your movements or techniques but to make the single strike as powerful as possible, only powering the Qi.
“Then, when you have run out of Qi, absorb the pills; you two can do that right?”
The two of them glanced at each other. They didn’t like the idea of working together. Liam and Simyon regularly got into arguments, and on top of that now, Simyon was going to have to let Liam hit him nonstop.
“Haha, hit Simyon as much as I want, of course, I will allow our mighty meat shield to become meatier.”
“Man, even your sentences are perverted,” Simyon replied back. “And do you really think you could even begin to hurt me, you have no chance, you’re someone that just flunked to be here by spying on us, like the pervert you are.”
Steam was coming out of Liam’s nostrils as he held the wooden sword in his hand tighter.
“Oh, thank you for not making me feel bad about hitting you.”
Dame shook his head, but he felt like it was better for the two of them to be energized than to not go into this full force. Just looking around, he could see that Tinson and the others weren’t doing so well still.
Even Mada, he was sitting at the staircase that led to the main building. Only Ricktor was the other one that was fully training.
‘I don’t have time to focus on the others; they will need to figure out how to pull themselves out of the rut that they are in. I should at least go ahead and see Gunther to see if I can use that other space, and then, I’ll come back and see how Raze is doing,’ Dame thought.
Simyon and Liam got to work, and Dame had gone off to the main academy building. After an hour or so of their training, they both began to absorb the crystals, and in a way, seeing how hard the two were working had somewhat inspired the others as well.
Especially, a particular main disciple.
“Are you really going to let those guys surpass you?” Ricktor asked. “If there is one thing we have, it’s the fact that we are main disciples. Could you imagine, a world where no names are stronger than us that have been raised with a golden spoon in our mouth?”
Those words had caused Mada to stand up and grab a wooden sword, getting straight to work, and that’s when everyone could see someone else standing by the stairs, it was none other than Raze.
When he had entered the courtyard, everyone’s heads turned to him, but they didn’t stare, looking away. They were still keeping an eye on him but decided to not make it look so obvious.
When in the center, Raze then went ahead and grabbed a wooden sword, as he did, he approached one of the wooden beams that were made for striking. He picked it up and swung down, forcing it with Qi, hitting it.
As soon as he did, the wheezing had gotten heavier in an instant. It looked as if he almost dropped the wooden sword, but he hadn’t done so, he held it, and waited. Slowly Raze counted in his head, and then after 40 seconds, he picked up the sword and struck down again.
After he had struck it two times, he did the same with the two-
step shift, performing one, waiting, and then performing it again. He would alternate between the two, and after an hour, he
had headed back inside.
“It’s sad to see, honestly. I can’t believe someone who was so strong, who had taken out all of those rabid students, can now only produce so little,” Mada commented.
“Is that what you see, a sad sick person?” Ricktor replied with a smile. “Because I was watching carefully, and in my eyes, it looks like a monster is rehealing his wounds, and is coming back even stronger than before.”
Mada laughed, but it was one out of pity.
“You and your delusions, what you said makes no sense. He couldn’t even beat me right now if he wanted to.”
“And why don’t you, I thought you hated him?”
“Because, I owe him now, right, we all do. I won’t help him if it means death, and besides, it looks like he’s been punished enough.”
Ricktor was about to continue his training, and as he held the sword in his hand, he had a few last words to say.
“Next time when you watch him, count how much time is in between each strike, then you will start to know how much of a monster that guy is.”
Chapter 373 A New Spark
After training outside, Raze had returned back into the Red headband living area. There was only so much his body could handle at the moment. Due to the restriction of oxygen, his muscles would tighten up.
The buildup of lactic acid in his body was even worse. Even though he had only moved slightly, and had only swung the sword a few times, it felt like a full day’s worth of training for his body at the moment.
When entering the room, Raze immediately went to sit on his bed and started to have a coughing fit. He coughed and coughed, taking in short sharp breaths in between. It was hard for him, and his face was turning slightly red.
Immediately Safa had gotten up from her position and sprinted over to his side. She was already gathering her light magic in the palm of her hands, but before she could get close, he placed his hand out and shook his head.
The coughing had just stopped, but he was still breathing as if he was hyperventilating or in the middle of a panic attack.
“Why Raze, why won’t you let me use the restore spell!” Safa shouted out, her eyes watering up, and she was on the verge of tears.
She hated seeing Raze this way, even though she knew it wasn’t her real brother, she had a liking for Raze, and he was still in the same body as before. It was a trial reaction to want to do what she could, and the thing was she could help.
“Even if the restore skill won’t completely heal you, it will make you better, and after some time, I know you’ll get better,” Safa claimed.
Still, Raze shook his head and pointed toward the magic circle that was on the floor. The one he had set up for Safa. He then started to sign to her. It was the way her brother used to communicate to her in the past when she was a mute.
With each sign, Safa would say the words out loud.
‘Go back to the magic circle, you think I’m ready now?’
She listened to her brother but felt like if he had the time to sign something like this, then why didn’t he just sign to her what he was thinking in his head.
When she sat down before in the circle, Safa was told just to gather her light magic into her magic core. Like she had done before. The technique was quite similar to that of cultivation, and she was a quick learner, so she had no problems with that.
Just like how she would gather light magic around her throat, she was gathering it around her chest. It was easier with the magic circle, but she didn’t know why. She hadn’t had much time to study the book that had been given to her yet.
Now though, the magic crystal was pushed slightly forward by an invisible force, which was Raze’s wind magic.
Although Raze couldn’t speak, he could still use spells. It would just take him slightly more time. He would have to think about the spell and what it looked like. Rather than work off his muscle memory.
Where he had gotten into the habit of saying the word of the spell and the magic circle appearing in one’s head.
Safa closed her eyes and immediately got to work. The mana was swirling around her. A sense of bliss was coming over her. A calming sensation, and then slowly the crystal was starting to break down.
Bit by bit, particles of the crystal were entering, and she could feel the core in her heart changing; it was growing until a large explosion from within occurred.
On the outside, mana swirled out in all directions, pushing through everything in sight. Raze knew straight away what this was.
‘She’s done it, she’s finally reached the second star!’ Raze thought. ‘With this, even though her Light magic affinity hasn’t increased, she will still get somewhat of a boost and be able to control more light magic.’
However, that wasn’t the only thing that Raze noticed. Just above, several sparks were going off in the room where Safa was. The sparks were light blue, and he had seen this before.
‘This is… it’s trying to open a portal. Like Himmy and Charlotte said, magic used in Pagna attracts the other dimensions.’
As he continued to watch, the sparks eventually disappeared, and it looked as if for now, a portal wasn’t going to open up. Raze had been quite lucky; the last time a portal had opened up, it wasn’t a portal break.
He knew his luck wouldn’t always be the same though, but if a real portal break was to come, he didn’t care right now.
‘With the reaction we got from becoming a 2-star mage, then when Safa becomes a 3-star mage, it’s most likely a portal break will occur.’ With these thoughts, Raze signed to Safa, telling her to do the same again, he wanted her to reach the third star.
——-
After a couple of hours, the others were still training outside, and once again, they were witnessing Raze come out from the building. They were unsure what was happening with him coming in and out every now and again, but whenever he did come out, they knew it was time for him to train.
Just like before, he had grabbed a wooden sword and struck down on it. He did the same again, repeating the same patterns as before, leaving them to question what was the point.
However, this time, like Ricktor said, Mada had kept an eye out on him, and he couldn’t help but grip his hand tightly.
“Why, why is he doing that?” Mada claimed.
“You mean, you still don’t understand?” Ricktor replied.
“No, it’s not that, I know what’s happening. His strikes, when he first came out, it took him 38 seconds before he swung his sword again, the time after that it took 37 seconds, and the time after that 36 seconds before he struck again.
“Even now, in the poor state he’s in, he’s training, and he’s getting stronger. If he’s healing, why doesn’t he just wait for his body to heal!”
“You think he’s healing, if you listened to the sound of his breath, it has not improved,” Ricktor stated. “Instead, the amount of Qi needed, the amount of oxygen needed for him to strike again, his whole body is getting used to it.
“He’s not healing, but even in this state, his body is getting stronger. Which makes me think, if he is able to get even stronger in this current state, and then was somehow able to heal his body, I think he would be too far ahead for us to catch up after that.”
The other students didn’t quite know what was going on, but they got used to watching Raze, and they could feel it. With each swing, his determination.
“Raze… he hasn’t given up,” Tinson claimed. “We can’t either; I’m sure of it, he still plans to go through with his plan, so we need to be there for him when he does!”
Running from their room out to the courtyard was a startled Joe.
“Everyone, you need to head to the main courtyard now, and see what’s there!”
“Huh, what do you mean?” Tinson asked.
“Why don’t you just tell us what’s there?”
“It’s… students,” Joe replied. “Lots and lots of students are here, yellow, red, blue, there are lots of them.”
Chapter 374 An Army we can use, or Agianst Us?
What was the meaning of all this? The students couldn’t quite understand the words coming out of Joe’s mouth. How could there be students in the courtyard apart from them?
All headband students, including those of the second year, had taken part in the latest assessment, and with it, they were now the only ten students at the academy. It had been that way yesterday and so far today.
“Wait, do you mean like there are zombies out there or something?” Liam asked, his face covered in sweat. Until this moment, he had been training hard with Simyon.
“Yeah, maybe he means they finally brought their dead bodies back,” Simyon replied.
To which, Joe nodded, and following out of the building behind him, one of the red headband teachers emerged.
“There is a message for you all,” the Red Headband teacher claimed. “As of today, the ten of you will be treated as special case students. You will be participating in your own tests compared to the rest of the students. Think of it like you are now second years since you will be the oldest students here.”
“Wait!” Tinson said. “So there really are other students now, how is that even possible? I mean, unless.”
For a second, many were now taking Liam’s suggestion quite seriously. But often in situations like this, they had a simple explanation.
“There were assessments that took place while you were underground. The same assessment that you went through to join the academy. They were taken a second time with a batch of new children from other clans, including those that were rejected before.”
“Things are going to be getting a bit more noisy around here.”
Dame had returned from the main academy having spoken with Gunther, who had granted him special permission to train in the forest out back. As long as he didn’t kill the bunny beasts that were there, he was fine, since the academy used them for assessments and such. While he was there, that was when he became aware of the situation as well, with the new lot of students coming in.
When he walked past the courtyard he could see them standing, being assorted into different colored headbands like they once were.
‘A whole batch of new students… This can either be a good thing for us, an army for us, more people to utilize in our fight against the academy, or it could be bad. An army that we will have to fight against.’
When Dame returned, he could see the ten students, including Raze, were standing outside their main building, and now were looking toward the students again. They were staring at them in awe.
“It’s true, there are so many of them as well. Are there around five hundred of them in total?” Tinson asked.
“Correct, we will soon be training them, you are their seniors after all, and are steps above them. You are to be good role models for them all,” the teacher continued. “There is one more thing, none of you are to speak of the tests and trials that you have gone through since you have been here. Understood?”
Dame couldn’t help but smirk at this comment. They were trying to keep a lid on their dark practices, but things would come out, one way or another.
‘I wonder how Raze and Safa are still doing, we still have a week’s rest before they try and spring another trial on us, I need one of them to be done with whatever it is they are doing, and judging by the look of Raze, he’s still breathing like a half-dead man.’
Around fifty new Red Headband students had been selected. More so than there were last time, and now the group of students was walking over toward the base. The teacher greeted them and explained the general rules to them all.
The students that were now Red Headband students, some of them were familiar faces.
“Hey, that’s that no-name right, wait all of them are still here, can you believe it?” Opus said. One of the students, who had curly brown hair, and had taken the assessment before.
“Yeah, they stood out, but they’re Red Headband students that means they’re quite skilled right!” Another asked.
“Are you crazy, look, there’s only so few students left. I heard that they had gone on some expedition through a portal. They had met with a high-level beast which had wiped out nearly all of the students.”
“That’s why they ran the assessment again a second time so soon. They have the Red Headband, because they survived and just grouped them up together. You know they most likely just hid in a corner somewhere. They should all be embarrassed not dying a warrior’s death while other clan members had to sacrifice their lives,” Opus declared.
While he was speaking the students that were near him had overheard, and it was making them angry. They were already ashamed last time that a no-name had gotten through instead of them.
The new students as well, they were already focusing on the scum in front of them.
“Now, to your right, we have your seniors,” the teacher explained. “They have managed to survive the toughest of trials. If you wish to learn and grow stronger, you should follow in each of their footsteps. Take this week to learn from them.”
“And how do we know they’re better than us?” A voice asked.
The group turned around to look at a single Red Headband user. It was a tall, small-framed person, who had his hair wrapped up in a ponytail, with small beady eyes. It was the first time he had taken the assessment for the academy, but everyone already knew who it was.
“That’s Viker, he was the one that dominated the assessment,” Opus commented. “Now he is more like what a Pagna warrior should be. Did you see how skillful he was at the assessment?”
“Yeah, he took down ten guys all on his own with just his sword skills. He was incredibly fast. I think he might even be stronger than the main disciples when they took the assessment. I mean, he has to be at the Third Stage, right?”
“Yep, and it’s not all about what stage level you are at,” Opus explained. “Even though he is most likely at the same stage level as the main disciples, he is more skillful than them.”
Most of the Red Headband students wanted to back Viker, but there was one thing, he had a tendency to take things head-on, and a fighting nature.
“Whatever happens during this week of rest is down to you. Things happen, and we have physicians on-site that will be there to help you,” the teacher explained.
After the explanations were over, the Red Headband students had headed inside and were getting ready in their rooms. They were sorting out where they would stay and observing the facilities.
Meanwhile, the rest of the old group were outside, doing their normal training. They weren’t training as hard as they usually did, because there was quite a bit on their mind.
In the Red Headband center though, Viker was looking around and a few had gathered around him.
“Have you seen the way those guys look at us, especially the main disciples?” Viker commented. “They all think that we are nothing compared to them. Just because they’ve been here a couple of months.”
Just moments before, Ricktor had walked in and Viker had tried to give a greeting to him. Knowing what his situation and position was. However, instead, Ricktor just looked him up and down before saying a few words.
“You’re not my type.” And Ricktor ended up walking away.
“You’re right, there are even a bunch of no-names that are here as well!” Opus commented.
“Let’s give them all a nice surprise then,” Viker smiled.
Chapter 375 The Silent one, Strikes
Most of the old group of students were still doing their daily routine training outside. However, as usual, Raze wasn’t outside as he was in the room working with Safa on improving her mana control.
He was trying to get her to improve in a number of ways and learn the tier 2 spells related to Light magic, while resting himself. After that, he could continue on and make sure she broke through to become a 3-star mage.
New students, he didn’t care about that. They, the people, always existed and everything was still the same with what he had to do.
However, things were devolving rather quickly, far more than any teacher thought. The group of fifty or so Red Headband students that had passed the assessment together had finally exited the building and were now in the courtyard.
For a brief moment, the old group turned their heads to look at them, just like they would for any noise, but then continued on their way, doing nothing.
“Look at them, they’re not even paying attention to us!” Opus ground his teeth. “Just because they passed the assessment the first time. I bet they think they’re some type of elite. Even the academy wants us to learn from them. We are both wearing red headbands.”
Violet, while training, could feel a sense of energy coming off from the side.
“Hey, don’t you think that those new students are looking at us a bit strange?” Violet asked.
“Relax, we need to focus on us. Do you think we have time to bother with them? Let’s just let them do their thing and we’ll do ours. If we don’t, then we might be dead in the next trial.”
Stepping forward, Viker entered the middle of the training courtyard, and then spread his hands out wide, holding a wooden sword in one of his hands.
“We are the new Red Headband group!” Viker shouted. “We have come here on a different path from the rest of you. We weren’t part of the original assessment, but just like all of you, we worked hard, trained hard every day, to the point where we both earned this.”
Viker was pointing at his headband, and he paused for a moment to see if the others were listening to him. The new students were glued to him, but the old group looked disinterested.
“I wish to get rid of that prejudgment and prove to you all that we are deserving of this place!” Viker shouted again, and the new students cheered with excitement.
Mada, listening to all of this, was just shaking his head.
“The new guys are a bit sensitive, right? I wonder, were we like that as well? Were we thinking that everyone was looking down at us, and at every corner, we had to prove ourselves again and again. That last trial, it really did change us. Those things look stupid now, even though it was only a few months ago.”
Ricktor agreed, more so than ever, but didn’t say anything.
“Which is why, I want to challenge one of you to prove our strength in a friendly spar. Which one of you here is the strongest and willing to accept my challenge!” Viker shouted.
Everyone fell quiet, waiting for an answer, but there was no response, just the sound of several strikes being heard, mainly from Liam and Simyon in the back.
“Are you really ignoring us!” Viker shouted so loud a vein was extending out of the side of his head.
“Hey, I think his eyes are mainly looking at you,” Mada smirked. “Are you going to ignore him? If you keep doing so, then he might do something even more drastic, maybe you should just go out there and teach him a lesson.”
“Why would I do such a thing?” Ricktor replied. “Would I fight against a child that is throwing a fit? That is what this looks like in my eyes, and besides, he asked for the strongest, and I’m not the strongest, am I?”
Viker was running out of options as to what to do. He didn’t want to just start attacking the students out of the blue, especially a main disciple. He wanted to beat them in a fair fight to prove himself or it would mean nothing, but none of them were engaging.
In the middle of his ramblings, another student from the old group, one with white hair, walked through, and went toward one of the pillars. As he walked past the other students, each of them could hear his pained breathing.
Finally, Raze, ignoring everything around him, grabbed his sword, and struck down at the pillar once again, waiting for his time as he rested.
“What the… what the heck!” Opus couldn’t help but place his palm on his face and shake his head.
“What is that? Why is he still in the Red Headband students if he’s like that? Did he become a cripple from one of the assessments?” Opus had seen Raze during the assessment, so he knew he had some skill, but this, what was this?
Someone who couldn’t produce two strikes in a row? Or even combine a foot movement with a strike.
“Hey, someone like you, you don’t deserve to wear the red headband!” Opus called out as he moved forward. He saw this, maybe it was an opportunity for him to do the same as what Viker was trying to do.
However, Raze ignored him and went on to strike the pillar again.
“If you really think you’re deserving of the red headband, then why don’t you fight me in a duel, huh? If you win, I’ll leave you alone,” Opus said, but there was no response again. “Are you listening to me?”
In the middle of his break, Raze glanced behind, looking at Opus, and shook his head. Since Raze still was unable to speak, that was all he had done.
“What the F*CK, you won’t even talk to me, a no-name, and now a cripple is doing this. Just because you’re part of the old group you think you can look down on us!”
“Kick his arse, these guys have it coming, and it’s just a no-
name, you can’t get in trouble for that!”
The new students were cheering him on. They felt like they were united, while the others were fractured, and with their strength in unity, they were far stronger than the others, even with the main disciples, of which there were only two now.
Opus moved forward, and when he did, he grabbed Raze’s arm, pulling him around so he could face him. Immediately, Raze’s face changed in an instant. His heart was pumping as he felt another person touch him.
The expression on his face had completely changed as the sword was held in his hand.
‘I already told you no, and then you go and touch me! When will you people ever learn.’ Raze’s sword was raised, he knew he still didn’t have the strength to operate a full strike, but he could do something else.
The magic started to gather around the edge of the wooden sword, and as it swung across Opus’ chest, it slashed a deep cut against him, slicing through his wooden sword.
Blood was gushing out from the loud cut, and the power of the single strike was strong, with the added Qi he could muster, to the point where Opus fell to the ground. But at the same time, Raze himself fell to one knee.
‘I pushed myself a little too hard.’
Looking at the sight, Viker’s eyes lit up. This was perhaps the opportunity he needed, an excuse to start a scuffle.
“That student, he just attacked my sworn brother, no, he just tried to kill him, everyone, get him!” Viker shouted.
The new students were ready as they charged in. They would see one of the old group get beaten to the point of near death. No one would come to this person’s aid, and then they would move onto the others.
Right when Viker and the others charged in though, a sword came swinging down, hitting him right on his shoulder, pushing him to his feet. The other students were seen flying in the air, being pushed back and were already on the ground.
Multiple of them were moaning all in pain. In an instant, the moment they had charged in to attack, all of those in the old group, Tinson, Joe, Violet, Mada, Ricktor, Simyon, Liam, and Dame had come in, and pushed back all of the new students in a simple strike.
‘I didn’t even see his attack!’ Viker thought as he looked up, holding onto his shoulder. He guessed a few bones had broken.
“No one is allowed to touch him,” Simyon shouted. “All of you back off, and let him do as he wishes.”
“If you guys even try to attack him, we will deal with you!” Tinson shouted.
“Why, why are you all protecting that no-name! Why the heck would you all get involved, I was just going to get punishment for my sworn brother!” Viker shouted. “Who is that guy?”
Viker was looking over; Opus still wasn’t moving. He was quite a skilled Pagna warrior, but he was caught off guard by a strange attack. Now though, the white-haired student was standing back up and just as if nothing happened, he turned around, and continued to whack the pole again.
“That guy?” Ricktor said with a smile. “Is the one person no one should ever try to mess with while in this academy, that guy, is the White Dragon.”
Chapter 376 A Problem Rising
“The White Dragon?” Viker repeated the words, and it seemed to jog his memory slightly. A while back, he remembered his clan, not just his, but many clans were talking about a new star in the Dark Faction, and they had nicknamed him the White Dragon.
He was the person that had managed to best the main disciples, and those who had watched the fight said it was a spectacle of a future star, dubbing him the name White Dragon.
“That’s him…” Viker had a more careful eye on him, but his name, his story, it didn’t make any sense. A person who could hardly breathe, tired after a single strike, this couldn’t be the White Dragon.
Even if he was, it didn’t explain why all the other members were loyal to him.
“How did this happen, aren’t you embarrassed of yourself, look at you two, the two of you are main disciples and yet you’re working directly under a no-name, he doesn’t even belong to a clan, do your heads even know about this!”
It seemed absurd. The two main disciples of the top clans were working under a no-name. It was impossible for Viker to comprehend. No matter how strong he was, even then wouldn’t another clan invite him into theirs, and still, he would have to serve under the clan head.
“Hey new guy, don’t get jealous now just because you’re not my type,” Ricktor smiled. “And don’t go around swinging your sword at any of us, because I can assure you that any one of us can take you on, it’s not just me because I’m a main disciple, you have a lot to learn, and if you don’t learn fast, you’re going to end up dead.”
In the middle of the conversation, a couple of people had tried to move, trying to strike Raze or get past, but the old group of Red Headbands was swiftly able to deal with anything that came their way.
After all, they were 2 to 3 stages above all of the other Red Headbands. Even if their skills were subpar, there was just too much of a gap in strength.
They didn’t try again, and when the place was silent once more, Raze was done with his training and started to head back to the main building.
Once he was gone, Ricktor lifted his own sword and the rest followed as they headed back to the courtyard. The new Red Headband students had a slightly sour taste in their mouths.
The new students eventually started to settle in for the rest of the day. Some of them stayed in their room, while others were outside training. They would glance over at the old students, trying to keep up with them once in a while, but they didn’t dare go up to them and ask for advice.
After their arrogance, they now felt like they truly were in a lower position compared to before. The sun was starting to set slightly, and Opus was starting to heal from his wounds.
The Red Headband teacher had actually gotten some ointment to put on the wound across his chest, and allowed the rest of his body to heal up. When Opus eventually opened his eyes, he found himself in one of the student’s rooms, with the teacher and Viker inside.
“I… already know what happened, I’m sorry for embarrassing you, Viker,” Opus declared immediately. He thought he could help Viker reach the top of the academy and he would be by his side.
Opus knew his strength. So he was trying to raise his position by staying close to those that he knew would rise.
The thing was, Viker didn’t say anything back, he had nothing to complain about. After all, he didn’t witness the humiliation that had happened to them all.
“I have to ask though, who was that guy? I mean, how did a wooden sword manage to slash through my skin like that? My Qi was activated in my body as well,” Opus stated. “Did he hide some type of sword here, isn’t that against the rules, shouldn’t he be punished?”
The teacher, who was present now seeing that Opus was fine, stood up from his seat and was ready to leave.
“Teacher, who is he!” Opus asked again.
“I believe your friend already knows the answer to that one. It’s a good thing that you learned now and not later,” the teacher claimed.
When they left the room, Viker finally spoke.
“The one who attacked you, he’s the one that is known as the White Dragon. You said you went up against him in the assessment before, right? I’m sure you would have heard that name as well.”
It took a while for Opus to put two and two together. Even when he had heard the news of the White Dragon he just never envisioned that it would be a no-name of all people.
From his information, Raze had even been placed in the Blue Headband group, which was why he assumed his position was one that wasn’t earned but given due to him being one of the few survivors.
“But, his strike, I saw it when he hit me, there was still something wrong with him. I think he’s got to be quite sick or something, right? Maybe he was poisoned,” Opus claimed.
Viker thought about this as well. It was clear that the White Dragon was only able to do one strike and no more after that. It would be easy for anyone to take him out and earn the title of Dragon Slayer, becoming the new star.
The larger issue at hand was all of those around him that were protecting him. It would be impossible to take him out, and the more he thought about it, the more it still didn’t make sense why the clan leaders would be looking after him.
“I’m thinking of one or two things, I haven’t given up just yet,” Viker claimed. “We still need to prove ourselves, we need to take out those around them one by one, lowering their guard and then go for the White Dragon.”
In his head, when he was scanning around at the old group of Red Headbands, there were two that stood out to him that appeared to be complete idiots. The dark-skinned warrior and the one with the eyepatch.
‘The two of them look to be the easiest to deal with, and are away from the others most of the time as well.’
There was a thought in the back of Viker’s mind though, and it was the words from Ricktor, about how every single one from the old group was able to best him.
‘I can see there being a big gap between me and you, but I can’t see me being weaker than all of the old group. It’s only been a couple of months since they entered this academy. They are still just looking down at us all.’
Still, just in case, Viker felt like he needed a backup plan.
“Also, I’m wondering if I can speak to the principal or the other Clan Heads, to see what they think about them working for the White Dragon. I’m sure they will be quite surprised and might even decide to act themselves.”
