My mind was a mess.
Too much was happening. I had thought my first day as a student would just be... normal, but my life was never easy.
I lay sprawled on my bed as I stared at the ceiling.
My hands were still shaking.
"What happened?" Vaelis had manifested himself.
"I met with an... apostle."
"...!" The shock on Vaelis's face was evident.
"What did they say?" He asked in a cold tone.
"They said I found out something I shouldn't have."
Vaelis's brows furrowed. "What was it?"
"The dragons..." I turned to him, making eye contact. "Who sealed them?" I asked.
"...I can't answer that."
"Why?"
"I can't answer that either."
'A restriction, huh?' I thought to myself.
Someone or something had placed a restriction on the Great Spirit King himself, so he couldn't reveal certain information. For that to happen, they'd have to be much more powerful than him or have some sort of leverage...
'Oh...'
"It was that fucker, right?"
"..."
Vaelis didn't give me an answer, but I didn't need one. I already knew who it was.
The Old God.
That fucker had his hands in everything.
In the novel, it is said that the churches destroyed the spirit realm. Liam managed to save a few spirits, but the damage was done.
Without the spirit realm's core, they were a lot weaker and had to rely on contracts to maintain themselves. This caused a massive spike in the number of contracts humanity was making with spirits.
Sounds good, right?
No... it wasn't.
Most of the spirits that were saved were infants or younglings and had no understanding of the human world, so they contracted whoever they could... even those from the churches.
This caused the corruption of almost all of the remaining spirits due to their mana-based nature mixing with the corrupted mana of the Dark Gods.
The Old God had advised Liam to save the spirits, but they made sure he was only able to save a few.
"Haa..." I massaged my head. "It never gets easy."
I got out of my bed and headed to the door.
Sitting still wouldn't make me feel any better.
Vaelis's figure had faded away.
'I apologise, I can't tell you more.' He apologised.
'Don't worry, I expected this anyway.'
Stepping out of the dorm, I met a few faces I hadn't expected to see.
"What took you so long?" Bram asked.
"Dude, you skipped class on the first day." Liam sounded disappointed.
"I was waiting for you," Seris spoke. Her gaze was fixed directly at my chest like she could hear my heartbeat, or maybe she could see my stressed state.
I waved my hands. "Okay, wait... why are you all in front of my room?"
"The gym, dude, we said we were gonna go," Bram spoke.
"What he said." Liam pointed at Bram.
'Oh right...'
"Okay." I closed the door behind me, a small smile forming on my face. "Let's go."
------
Okay, so Bram did not exaggerate when he talked about how amazing Aethon's gym was.
The gym stood apart from the rest of the academy, which felt more modern, but at the same time, you could see the older elements.
The smooth stone floors stretched beneath soft overhead lighting. Along the walls were tall windows of reinforced glass that allowed for an overhead view of the academy grounds below.
'Damn.' I stared out the window in awe.
The air carried a smell that mixed sweat, steel, and... lavender?
"It surprisingly smells nice," I commented
"Of course it does, my aunt is part of the cleaning crew." Bram puffed his chest.
"...Congrats, I guess," Liam said.
I ignored them and continued to look around.
Rows of equipment lined the space, sleek metal frames and weighted bars. But none of them were ordinary; they all had mana stones embedded within them that gave them all unique functions.
I touched a weight that had a mana stone embedded in it.
"That increases the weight," Bram spoke.
I turned to him. "And how do you know that? I thought this was your first time here."
He shrugged. "It is. I've just seen similar equipment, but not on this level." His smile was wide with excitement. "Anyways, I've got to test out this place." He dashed forward like a child in a toy store.
"I'll also explore a bit," Liam said and left.
I turned to Seris. "Guess it's just you and me."
"Yes... Yes, it is." Her expression was unreadable.
I raised a brow. 'Where did that stuttering girl from before go... this certainly isn't her.'
"Haa..." I sighed and continued to look around with Seris following me close behind.
"So... Seris, you're Adrian's sister, right?" I spoke.
"His half-sister." She corrected me.
"You know I've got half-siblings too, and... we don't get along very well." I let out a small laugh.
"...You must still care for them, right? After all, they're... family." She didn't seem very enthusiastic to talk about family.
I smiled. "Nope... I don't care for them one bit." I spoke honestly.
Her eyes widened, and she made a look of surprise I'd never seen her make.
"In fact, even if they died brutally, I wouldn't bat an eye." I lowered my head slightly. "True family is beyond blood... It's those who cared for you in your most vulnerable moments."
"Did you have someone like that?" She stared directly into my eyes.
I looked back at her with a smile. "Yeah, I did... but they're not in this world."
"..." Her expression remained unchanged; weirdly, it was more comforting than a pitying look.
I let out a small laugh. "No need to feel sad for me. Right now... my life is better than it's ever been."
"...Okay." I couldn't tell what she was thinking.
"Look." I pointed toward a separate section in the gym with a sign that read.
[Simulation]
I turned to Seris. "You wanna try it out?"
"...Sure."
We walked to the section and found large open training zones. There seemed to be runes inscribed on the zone floors alongside mana stones and...
"What's that?" I pointed at a large machine that stood tall within each zone.
"It's what creates the simulated opponents. There was a larger one back in the entrance exam." Seris answered.
"Hmm..." I turned to Seris. "Do you know how it works?"
"...It records rift creatures and recreates them using mana circuits. The mana stones power the-"
"Wait, wait." I cut her off. "I didn't ask for a dictionary definition."
"..." She stared at me blankly, making me feel a bit bad.
"I-I mean, we can talk about it later, I just want to explore for now, okay?"
"...Okay." She turned away from me.
'Damn it, Cassian, you made it awkward.'
"Uhh... actually, I don't even want to gym right now. Professor Black's class made me exhausted. Why don't we go to the library?" I spoke.
"...Okay." She answered blankly again.
'Doesn't she like the library?'
"Let's go then."
We turned to leave the gym and...
'...damn it.'
I tapped on Seris's shoulder. "Umm... do you know the way to the library?" I asked with a nervous smile.
She stared at me blankly. "...Follow me."
'Is she disappointed in me?'
I really couldn't read her.
'Wait... why does that matter?'
I scratched my head.
'Come on, Cassian, get it together.'