The class soon finished, and most students completed the basic diagram of their desired energy pathways. On the other hand, Thorne had taken a rephrasing nap. He got up from his chair, and it was then that Thorne noticed he was not the only one who had decided to rest; Zal, with his diagram already finished, was knocked out cold. His head lay flat on the desk, a string of drool hanging from his mouth.
Thorne smacked the back of his head lightly, “Wake up Zal, goddamn.”
Zal looked around, flustered at suddenly being awakened. He saw Thorne’s disgruntled face and smiled sheepishly, “My bad, I was just following the teacher.”
Thorne shook his head, exacerbated, “Yeah, sure you were. Do you have a class soon?”
“No, I don’t have a class for hours; it’s the amber energy control one.”
Thorne nodded passively, registering the information.
“What about you? Do you have some magical class for dual spectrum cultivators next?” Zal recorded his face scrunched in sarcastic annoyance at Thorne’s noncommittal nod.
“Yes, I do,” Thorne replied evenly.
“Well?” Zal questioned while spreading his arms wide, palms facing up.
Smirking lightly, Thorne obliged; “Secret.”
“Celestial’s tits, you’re a bitch!” Zal muttered angrily, glaring down at Thorne.
“Hey, that rhymes; you should be a poet.” Thorne smiled shamelessly.
“Bastard,” Zal grunted, his thick voice almost disjointed. Tossing Thorne one last nasty look, the massive amber cultivator sulked away, heading back to the dorm room.
‘You make fun of me; I make fun of you.’ Thought Thorne, smiling merrily while walking to his next secret class.
After a short stroll through the academy halls, Thorne reached his desired location. It was a red entranceway, and upon placing his hand on it, he felt the door probing him. Usually, when the entrances did this, they looked for the distinct energy signal of the academy crest. This door was different, however. It searched his body, and Thorne could feel it distinctly as it moved throughout his bloodstream, searching intently for red-spectrum energy.
The probe soon found its target and allowed Thorne into the room. The room in question was a massive contrast to the previous two class areas. The basic combat class had been a wonderous, lifelike, never-ending desert spanning for eternity; it was the endless battlefield. The lecture hall was the complete opposite, a mystical hall of learning. The pure mysteriousness and knowledge radiating off every object in the room awed anyone who entered. This room possessed none of the aforementioned traits. It was a simple, relatively small room. A circular wooden table stood in the center with typical earthlike fluorescent lights beaming down from the low ceiling.
‘There’s only a dozen or so seats,’ Thorne noticed as he glanced at the seating arrangement around the table. As Thorn walked over, he noticed that only five people were present in the room. Of course, they all possess the red crystal somewhere on their body.
‘Hmm, I’m the only human.’ Looking around, Thorne noticed that no race appeared twice among the five already here, and all of them were incredibly unique beings. One had wings, and another appeared to be made of entirely wood. One looked human yet possessed brutish, claw-like hands and dagger-shaped teeth.
‘They all seem dangerous.’ Thorne eyed them all sharply while he took his seat. Students trickled into the room, all different races, and all evoking a feeling of barely tethered chaos. Thorne remained calm, though; he knew that these students likely possessed much higher talent in destruction than his measly fifty percent, but that did not scare him; he simply observed his classmates with a plan to proceed with caution around these fellow red cultivators.
After a few minutes, all but one seat filled, and the small group waited silently. Many seemed agitated, fidgeting with their body, and constantly in a state of movement. Thorne was quite an exception with his calm and unmoving figure and, of course, his multicolored spectrum crystal. These features caught the attention of the other students. No one bothered to talk, though, and the agitated silence continued. One red-skinned demon-looking student almost stepped up clearly, agitated over waiting for such a long time.
‘Pop.’
The red entrance disappeared, and the new addition to the room entered slowly.
‘Hmm, so it is Master Khal.’ Thorne had predicted earlier that Master Khal would be the teacher for this class simply due to the apparent rarity of red spectrum users. Let alone grade three masters of the destruction energy.
“Settle down brats.” Master Khal said coldly, his eyes penetrating the fearful students. “The new generation cannot even survive waiting a few minutes.” He stood rooted, still not moving to his seat. No one dared respond, and most students looked down in shame, especially the more agitated ones.
‘Those runes, they feel like true destruction.’ The runes on Master Khal’s body seemed to be the true essence of chaos and destruction. Even while simply existing, the runes altered and cracked Master Khal’s skin. ‘My energy can’t even compare to this, and they are just runes.’
“It’s rude to stare.” A low growl slivered into Thorne’s ear. He glanced up, taken aback when he saw Master Khal’s looming figure standing over him.
“I apologize, Master Khal.” Thorne responded, attempting to remain calm, “I was simply admiring the destructive qualities of your runes.”
Thorne gulped silently and tensed his legs, preparing an escape plan; ‘if he attacks, my only chance to escape is to first duck under the table, then sprint out of the room.’ He crossed his fingers under the table, ‘And then I have to get very, very lucky.’
Master Khal tilted his large head downward, glancing at his own runes. He looked back up at Thorne, arms crossed; “Fine, but do not stare again. If I was any other red cultivator, you would be punished or killed for that disrespect.” His words tore coldly through Thorne, but only relief was felt by the human.
“Of course, Master Khal,” Thorne said, lowering his head.
Master Khal grunted and walked past him before taking his seat at the head of the table.
“I will make this quick. This class will focus on how to utilize the red spectrum in combat.” The Master cast a scalding look around the room, “But as you all cannot even control the energy, I will first teach you how to feel and control the energy in your bodies.” He gestured with his massive metallic arm to a small screen in the room. There was a display of a red cultivator fighting what appeared to be a bear. “As you can see here, the cultivator fighting the beast is like you: powerless and weak.” The runes upon his body crackled menacingly, “Luckily, the way to become powerful is quite simple with the red spectrum.” He gazed around the room before delivering the finale to his monologue, “You must fight. Fighting arouses the energy, and with enough life and death battles, you can better feel and control the energy.”
He clicked a button on the small screen, and the image changed to a map of some wilderness. The land was full of different biomes and terrain: sprawling deserts, towering forests, and mountains so high that they overlooked everything.
“A month after you receive your weapons, you will travel to the great wilderness and fight until you can control your energy.” The screen then shifted back to the previously shown red cultivator instead of a still image; however, this time, it was a video. The cultivator was fighting the beast, his axes swinging a mighty arc, the air altered by the monumental force. The beast did not care. It stopped the blade with one claw before decapitating the cultivator with the other. The room, which had already been quiet, seemed suddenly permeated with the luster of deathly nothingness.
“Some of you will die.” Master Khal said frigidly before a tiny glint of a smile took his face, his red sharkish teeth shining in the fluorescent light, “But that is good. Only the strong cultivators of destruction are worthy to survive.”
Master Khal soon left the room after telling the students that class was over despite only lasting a few minutes.
One of the cultivators, a short female dwarf, muttered angrily, “Crazy bastard.” She shook her big head viciously, “None of us can survive the damn great wildness!” Her volume progressively rose until she was shouting, “IT’S THE DAMN GREAT WILDERNESS!” She slammed the table heavily with her meaty palm, her face red with fury.
The red-skinned demon who had almost protested Master Khal’s lateness sneered saliently. “If you’re a coward, leave this class.” He stood and looked down at the dwarf, “I do not desire cowards in a class of mine.”
SCREE!
The chair legs cut across the floor, screeching. The dwarf stood up and faced the demon, face red and arms up; “You believe me a coward! Let us see who the true coward is!”
The loose group of students watched silently, including Thorne, who had taken out some chips he had raided from the dorm fridge.
The dwarf noticed Thorne’s lackadaisical attitude and glared at him; “You are eating chips?” she asked incredulously. No one answered, and the people looked at her uncaringly. “Everyone here is a fool!” snarled the angry dwarf in reply to the room’s apathy.
Thorne sighed lightly, leaning back in the cushioned chair.
“Think what you want,” Thorne replied calmly, though his mind was racing with other thoughts.
‘This must be a test.’ Thorne predicted, totally uncaring over his classmate’s bickering.
‘Is it mentality he wants to test? Does he want us to remain calm? Or maybe leadership? Does he want one of us to take charge?’ Thorne grimaced, ‘This is too difficult; I’ll just lay low and focus on myself. Let the others take charge.
Thorne got up from his seat and walked towards the exit calmly, shocking the rest, especially the dwarf who had expected him to react to her provocation.
“Dual cultivators are gutless and weak after all,” She scoffed loudly.
Thorne did not care in the slightest; he was used to being insulted, and he simply ignored it. Back turned to the room of upset cultivators, Thorne opened the entrance and left the room.
‘I should read some of the cultivation manuals and ask Zal about this great wilderness.’ Thorne planned while walking the halls, ‘Even if it was an overreaction from the dwarf, I can’t afford to die due to lack of information. That is wasteful.’
Thorne reached the dorm room and immediately froze upon entering.
He gritted his teeth, restraining his frustration, “Zal, what is going on here?”
Zal popped his head up and detached his lips from a provocatively dressed human girl. “Oh, girls, this is my roommate, Thorne.” He smiled brazenly, “Say hi, Thorne.”
“Get out,” Thorne responded with venom. His eyes were cold and unamused by Zal’s antics.
The posse of girls, whom Thorne assumed were some kind of hookers, scurried out of the room while grabbing their clothes, attempting to leave with some dignity.
Thorne sat down on the edge of the bed, exacerbated and worn out from the day. Contrarily, Zal was still full of energy, which he used to fully fire his anger onto the destroyer of his fun; “Came on, Thorne, what was that? I’m just trying to have fun.” Zal protested in a betrayed tone, his face crestfallen due to the girls’ departure.
“Drop the act.” Thorne remained stalwart.
“Okay, fine.” Shaking his head, Zal leaned back into his once-occupied bed, looking blankly at the ceiling with a melancholic look. He shook his head lightly, and his face shifted downward, his eyes tired. That moment only lasted for a second, however.
“What, you want to go back to your girls?” Thorne asked flatly upon noticing his roommate’s demeanor.
“Of course I do, buddy.” He smiled wide, his eyes returning to their bright and happy disposition. “I’m just thinking of all the fun I could have had.”
Thorne smiled lightly. He wouldn’t admit it out loud, but seeing the usually jovial Zal unhappy was strange, even if it was for barely a moment.
“If you want to mess around, go somewhere else,” Thorne said sternly, but his small smile shone through his act of authority.
“Sure, I’ll make sure to do that, boss.” Zal joked, grinning at Thorne’s uncharacteristic attempt to take charge.
“Bastard,” muttered Thorne.
Zal laughed lightly, and the moment of Zal’s earlier despondency was all but forgotten as the pair hurled insults and jokes for as long as they could. Both laughing and smiling for the first time in a long time.
