Thorne glanced down at the man. Like himself, he was human, and a shining full red spectrum crystal shone on his forehead.
Thorne noticed a light tremble in Dolar’s legs.
‘He’s scared; I must take advantage of this and get as much information as possible.’
He started with a simple question, “Has anything major happened at the academy lately?”
Dolar clasped his hands, thinking, “Uhm, other than a few deaths, no.”
Thorne nodded in satisfaction; he was glad not to have missed anything.
“Oh wait!” Dolar explained, “It may be minor, but a few masters began to train grade one students.”
“Is that abnormal?”
“Yes, very much so. Usually, only exceedingly talented students get personally trained by the master, and almost always, the students are already powerful rank two adepts.”
“Hmm, that is interesting.” Thorne mused, scratching his chin, “Do you know why they’re doing this?”
Dolar bowed in shame, refusing to look Thorne in the eye, “N-No, I’m sorry.”
Waving him off, Thorne moved on to the next question; “Who are the most powerful of you lot, and how powerful are they?”
Dolar hesitated slightly upon hearing this question, but Thorne raised his saber ever so slightly, and the man began to babble hurriedly. “Tolak is the strongest. He is level forty-two but can fight above his level. Then Imelda is-”
“Wait,” Thorne interrupted abruptly. “What do you mean ‘level’?” he asked in confusion.
Dolar looked back at him, perplexed, “You…don’t know what levels are?”
“No, I do not,” Thorne responded deadpan.
The man seemed even more bewildered than Thorne, “How do you not know?”
Thorne glared down at Dolar in displeasure, “How would I know, how I don’t know.” He spat, ruthlessly calling out the man's flawed logic.
“Wait, how long were you at the academy?” Dolar asked with a slight quiver permeating through his words.
“Less than a week. But I spent three days straight training before being sent here.”
Doral’s brown eyes widened in realization, “You didn’t install the system.” He whispered in shock, “Then how did you progress?”
“Training.”
“That must have been hellish.” The man said quietly, looking at Thorne with more respect than fear.
“I don’t care what you think; explain what levels are.” He replied authoritatively, as his eyes pierced into the smaller man.
“Of course, of course,” Dolar cleared his throat and began to speak rapidly, “Ahem, so after you learn basic external manipulation, it is mandatory in the academy and the entire universe to install the System into young cultivators.”
“Hmm,” Thorne grunted nonchalantly, but his mind was racing inside. ‘Was this on purpose? Does Master Khal not want me to have the system?’
“The system has many aspects.” Dolar continued, “For one, it tracks levels, which can give a more concrete idea of where one stands in cultivation. Also, it tracks skills and techniques and helps in the learning of new skills.”
“That’s interesting, I suppose, but it sounds more like a tracker than anything outstanding.” Thorne said skeptically.”
“Well, here’s the thing,” Dolar voiced excitedly, “the system is the combined force of all cultivators and all energy in the universe. Thus, it can grant boons to skills, combat, or even rewards for completing great feats of bravery or wisdom. The greatest aspect of all, though, is that In the system, you can barrow and learn skills of other spectrums!” Dolar finished his speech with that bolstering climax, “If anyone or anything can be called the ruler of the universe, only The System can!”
Thorne whistled in appreciation, “How you talk about it must be magnificent.”
Dolar smiled up at Thorne. His previous nervousness was gone, replaced by rapid-speaking enthusiasm: "It is; I don’t know how I’d live without it, let alone train and cultivate without it. That sounds horrific.”
“Hmm.” Thorne grunted in acknowledgment, ‘Is that why Master Khal did not want me to have the system? Did he want me to grow independently and not use it as a crutch?'
He shook his head in bafflement, ‘I will only know when I ask him. Until then, I need to train and grow in strength.’
“Thank you.” Thorne spoke, nodding in gratitude at Dolar, “But could you explain you and your companion’s strength in a way I would understand.”
“Oh, of course.” Dolar nodded rapidly, a smile painting his face. This short conversation seemed to have alleviated any fear that the small man previously harbored.
“Have you met a hook-claw yet?” He asked.
“Are you talking about the beast with two hook-like claws?”
Dolar nodded affirmingly, “Yes, they stand about fifteen feet tall on average.”
“Yes, I have met my fair share of those beasts.”
“Well, Tolak could kill one with minimal difficulty and only a slight risk of death. Imelda would struggle, and it would be a testing battle for her, but she would likely kill it as well.”
He then pointed to himself, “As for me, I would struggle immensely and would likely die. Though I do have a small chance to survive.”
“And the rest?” Thorne asked darkly.
“Dead.”
Sighing heavily, Thorne recalled his first battle with the ‘Hook-claw’. It had been ravaging, a true life or death battle, but now those beasts were simply fodder and not even useful for light training.
‘These guys are weak; I should ignore them.’
Looking back at Dolar, he nodded slightly in gratitude, “Thank you for the information; I will go now. I wish you good luck.”
Dolar couldn’t let out a single sound of protest before Thorne sprinted back into the dark depths of the forest with astonishing speed.
Thorne spent the next few days in a mundane fashion, at least by his standards. Waking up in the early morning, he would travel to grasslands, and battle for hours on end. He even implemented Bluey in the training. The bird had gotten faster and more powerful and could even kill some of the smaller beasts all by himself.
Bluey’s quick flying speed, coupled with razor-sharp talons, and piercing fangs made him a monstrous little opponent.
On rare occasions, while hunting, Thorne would sometimes see the student group, either fighting, testing, or running. Most of the time running, but he had completely steered clear of them.
Thorne groaned in annoyance as he was awoken by the greedy squawks of Bluey, “Hush down you brat. You shouldn’t be rude in front of our visitors.”
In response the bird gave Thorne an indignant look, asking ‘Where is my food!’
“Oh, whatever.” He chuckled softly and placed some meat on his shoulder.
Bluey immediately flew up and perched on Thorne and began rapidly consuming the meat.
As soon as Thorne had woken up, he followed his routine and scanned his environment. As he did that, he noticed something distinct about his surroundings this morning; there were two distinct red-energy beings standing firmly at the foot of his tree.
He hopped down from his tree and circulated the amber energy to his feet and legs in order to extinguish the damage such a fall would typically cause.
Crossing his arms, he glared silently at his two visitors; it was Dolor and Tolak. The red demon stood arrogantly. He looked haughtily down at Thorne and huffed upon viewing the unsightly figure of Bluey tearing into the meat.
This was the first time Thorne had ever really examined Tolak. He stood tall; at least seven feet, with almost perfect synchronicity with human proportions and libs. It was as if Tolak was simply a red human. There was one feature that set him apart from the race of humanity, however; his eyes, or to be put more succinctly; his eye. Tolak was a cyclops, with a red and orange singular eye in the place where there was usually two.
Tolak’s wiry arms were crossed in indifference upon seeing Thorne examine him, but after a couple of minutes passed, he seemed to grow frustrated. “Are you done?” He spoke. Tolak’s voice was high-pitched and succinct and sounded in a tone only fit for royalty. Each syllable left his mouth in an ordered, calculated manner.
Thorne did not bother to answer, and stared flatly into Tolak’s eye, “Why are you here?”
Tolak’s face scrunched in annoyance, but he surprisingly maintained his composure, “I wish to propose an alliance.” He spoke grandly, gesturing his arms wide in the air like a composer who had reached the final, wonderous crescendo.
“Why should I join?”
Tolak’s lip curled, and he opened his mouth to presumably spit insults or curses, but fat would not have it.
“Because it would benefit all of us.” Dolar stammered swiftly.
Thorne shifted his gaze over to the short human, who in turn smiled guiltily back.
Thorne then turned his attention back to Tolak and raised his eyebrows slightly, before speaking in his signature monotone, “I do not see any benefit for me.”
Upon hearing this Tolak curled his lip in glee, his trap had been sprung. “I have a cultivation manual from my family.” Thorne’s eyes widened slightly in marginal shock, “It possesses teaching on three external red spectrum techniques which can be used at the novice level, and all of these techniques are scalable to at least the realm of Master.”
This time Thorne was totally shocked, ‘external techniques that can scale all the way to Master! I must get my hands on it!’
Despite his excitement, Thorne dared not show it and only raised his eyebrows slightly, “Oh that’s interesting, what do you want in return?”
The darkness of the forest seemed to thicken slightly as Tolak smiled murderously, “I want you to kill Imelda.” He continued on in a nonchalant tone, “It should be a simple task, the only caveat is that no one must see you, and it must appear as if she was killed by a beast.”
“That’s a rather heavy restriction,” Thorne responded.
Tolak gestured his wiry arm to Dolar who stood beside him, “From what Dolar said, you should be perfectly capable.”
Thorne nodded, deep in thought.
“Why can’t you kill her yourself?”
Tolak growled slightly and looked down in shame, “Regretfully, I am not powerful enough to kill her with no trace being left.”
Thorne looked at the demon in surprise. He did not expect him to openly admit his weakness.
“That makes sense.” Thorne responded, “And why do you want her dead?”
Tolak began pacing back and forth in the gloomy forest, “Currently she has a certain…sway, with the tier students. I want to destroy that.” He remarked ruthlessly, “If she dies in such a fashion that we have described, my position as the top student in the class will be essentially set in stone.”
“Don’t I pose a threat to your position?” Thorne asked thoughtfully.
Tolak shrugged and looked at Thorne, “Maybe… if you were staying at the academy.”
Eyes widening in shock, Thorne forced himself not to sound desperate in his questioning, “What do you mean?”
The demon smiled slightly, “I have heard that you, as well as a couple of other students, will be away on an academy mission for quite some time.”
“Are the sources reliable?”
“Very” Responded the demon confidently.
“Is that all you know?” Thorne probed, leaning forward toward the demon.
Tolak did not falter, “yes.”
Thorne nodded and leaned heavily against the tree. “I want the manual right now, and she will be dead within the month.” Thorne uttered gravely, “Is that a deal?”
“Will you keep your word?” The demon asked in return.
“Yes.”
Tolak nodded and held out his hand. The red and white hands shook firmly in the firm light of the rising sun, heralding the death of a talented student in capitalistic style.
